February 24, 2008
Success - of sorts. The offensive section of he copyrights amendment act is to be
delayed until March, so some sort of code of conduct can be worked out. If an agreement cannot be reached by that time, we are promised that the section will be suspended.
This is a substantial victory - but it's not over.
Really, it still needs to be repealed completely - however, this will be a strong inducement for the big media companies to come to the table properly. It is now, in their interests, to make compromises. It is not in the ISPs interests. The power has swung the other way.
We still need to keep up support for the ISPs to push for a decent code of conduct or no section at all.
The media have been confused over how to report this - the Herald online managed a decent report. at last, but the TV News shows continue to report that this is an initiative to protect illegal downloads. (Like yesterday night TV3 Nightline. The online report is more measured than the one that went to air though.
Anyway - thank you all those who wrote to the ministers and took part in the protests. Thank you the organisations which have chosen to stand up for sanity. And a big thank you to NZ copyrights holders for saying "not in our name".
It is because of you lot that sanity stands a chance.
February 22, 2008
S92A protest moves along.
Since I wrote my last bit, the canned responce from the ministers have changed. This is a good thing - it means we are getting through! The Opinion pages of the Herald must be filling too.
herald cartoon - the basic problem is not lost on journalists.
As well as Simon Powers - here are another set of targets for you:
Remember, your letter needs to express disagreement with the law - then it needs to answer the question: "why did you wait till now to protest?" The reason is as follows: this section was protested, and changed accordingly, at the original select committee. Between the select committee and parliament, this section was changed back to it's present, broken, form. Members believed they were voting on a law which had been well-vetted, so have good reason if they feel mislead. This problem was brought to the attention of all parties during the election - and the various responses to this guided the votes of those interested. Removing this section merely returns the bill to the one that members thought they were voting for and will go a long way to restore confidence in the legislative process.
Here's a wee history lesson. Remember when taping our own compilations and sharing with our freinds was "destroying the music industry"?
This whole furore is a bit like the regular "End of the World" prophecies which entertained me so much at the start of the month ... the World is still here. It seems that the media industry finds each new technology something to get hysterical about. Instead of adjusting to the market change, which is what every other business does, they try to ban it. It has been like this since wireless radio was invented.
But this time - legislators seem to be listening. Keeping this madness out of law is what we are trying to do.
Like all doom-laden prophecies before, this one too will turn to dust. Time presses yet another technological advance from the next seasons harvest of clever people. It would be nice if this would happen, for once, without all the kicking and screaming.
NZOSS Openchat list has a wealth of well researched and considered discussion on the topic. I recommend subscribing to this list to anyone interested in freedom and computers. Example:
Gartner: NZ in top 30 outsourcing countries: means that IT jobs in NZ can come over the internet from overseas - and that this is significant. This economic benifit is threatened by S92A.
Gartner: Identifies problems with traditional music industry distribution model.
Business Software Alliance: Their fifth-annual study (2008) on global software piracy revealed that New Zealand had the third-lowest software piracy rate in the world.
RIANZ and APRA reports make out that New Zealanders are hackers, pirates, and all-round unethical file-sharers. What is this doing to NZs overseas reputation?
This law is all round terrible. But even if it were perfect and rightious, it still should not be there because of the way the leislative process was circumvented. One good law entering by the back door like this makes it easier for a dozen bad laws to follow.
Oh please: why is this not a slam-dunk?
[thanks to: Lynne Pope, of the Mambo Foundation, for bringing these details to my attention.]
February 20, 2008
Richard Stallman writes:
There is a wave of opposition New Zealand's "guilt by accusation" internet cutoff law, so how about joining your strength to it? Write to Minister Simon Power and say that they should repeal S92A.
See href="http://CreativeFreedom.org.nz/ for more about the campaign that is ongoing.
I think we should go further than what that site says. If you agree with me that sharing is good, and copyright law should respect that, why not tell him so? If you agree with me that copyright law should above all serve the readers and users of published works, and that means allowing them to copy and share, please say so.
So - write the minister.
You'll get an underling, but if his servers creak under the weight of protest, that's a powerful signal.
The minister may want to point out that there was a public consultation phase, and it's too late to protest now. You need to point out that this problem was pointed out during the proper phase, and S92A was changed to protect consumers. The changes were ignored by the (labour) government. The National Govt now has the opportunity to correct this oversight.
Also write your ISP - tell them you will support any pressure they bring to bear to stop this law and support a code of practise which protects their customers. Write to the libraries association as well as telecom and vodafone. Express support. They are in a difficult position and it will help them do the right thing if they feel their customers are behind them.
NZOSS could also use some encouragement. They've been tracking this problem for some time. Subscribe to their list for more information.
February 18, 2008
Got a nice wee ad from Vodaphone today... time to wake up:
You may have heard talk in the media lately about the Conficker Worm and other viruses that have infected some computers in New Zealand.
Well - yes - last month, actually.
The conficker worm surfaced in October last year, affects only Windows systems which have been left (which is by default) in a vulnerable state. My computer does not run Windows and does not accept RPC requests ... so I'm immune, and not a carrier, and I didn't even need to know about the threat.
It only hit the news in January - which is somewhat sad. However, not nearly as sad as a major ISP only informing clients [i]now[/i]. (I would be interested in hearing if anyone knows the date of the earliest confirmed incedence of the Conficker worm in NZ.)
Microsoft still insists that these worms are not a serious threat, yet this particular Worm has been messing up judicial, government and hospital(!) computers. Sounds like the effect of ILY from way back.
To be fair - the RPC vulnerability was patched in October. They have even been thorough - releasing patches for XP SP2 and 3 as well as Vista and Win2k SP4. If you have an earlier Windows - well, you are so completely infected by now it's a wonder you can do anything at all.
It also highlights a big problem with computer security - a patch not used may as well not exist. People - you [i]must[/i] patch your machines. Ubuntu sends me security updates every day - installing is a mouse-click away. I can even set it to auto-update security fixes, but I like to know what's going in and when.
There is little research done on how patches propagate and estimates to how many users are vulnerable to worms like above are guesswork - at best. However, some gets done. For example, this one examines the patch rate of common browsers (not IE - it's too secret). (Schneier blogged this too.) It turns out that the openness of opens source and free software makes it possible to condict this kind of study. More of this kind of research in other feilds make us all safer - but some proprietary software firms have a vested interest in hindering it. This is not through any Machiavellian conspiracy to keep your computer vulnerable, but because their business model demands secrecy and insecurity is a side effect of that.
Some people still give me the complacent "I don't care if someone hacks my computer - I have nothing I care about on there." Which is all fine and dandy for you. Thing is, the authors of Storm, and the rest don't care about you. They care about your internet access and processing power. They want to inlist your computer as part of a network called a botnet which can be used to hack computers of people they do care about.
It's like innoculation - we are better off if everyone does it.
Back with vodaphone - they are using the threat news to push their AV filtering service. Remember, these are threats that have already been fixed at the time of publication.
They make a big deal of AV software and so on, but buried down there at the bottom with no reference to the threat at the top I see - Make sure the latest security patches have been applied
... and there you have it.
The rest of the list is good advise for everyone - especially, but not restricted to, Windows users. But really, it's old news and generic.
You can go back to sleep now.
February 16, 2008
Soon ISPs will be forced to take down internet connections and websites of anyone accused (not convicted) of copyright infringement. Copyright law is now having the effect of limiting artists, restricting businesses, and harming public rights.
Visit: http://creativefreedom.org.nz/
I've written about this before. While the Copyright Amendment Bill has some positive connotations for Software Freedom, there are disturbing toughening the enforcement aspects in favor of big media. Laws can be changed or rendered moot by civil disobediance. Boycott S92.
Februaray 15, 2008
Wow - another Valentine's bites the dust. Chocolate roses semm to be in this year - though we also did the mexican-food and wine (not mexican) again. The Hola restaurant has done well, taking over two adjacent shops and a large chunk of the lane.
Weather cooled off - those of you who did not notice, it got rather warm for a bit last week. The weather forcast was for " a bit warmer" and they were right. Suddenly I'm glad there's a pool right here. The following forcast was for "cooler weather" Not a bad prediction since it followed the hottest two days since the Maori land wars.
Wondering what to eat when stifling - try the food from some place which is that hot all the time. So it was currys and chillies all the way. It works. What you don't want is ice-cream (unless you are under 10) - the sugar in those things just warms you up more. (If you are a kid it still warms you up, but you don't eat ice cream to cool down - you eat them to have fun.)
Curiously, this means that, to be comfortable, you must eat hot food in hot weather and cold food in cold weather. A winter dessert: apple pie and ice cream.
I made a huge pot of very gingery curry which we are still shovelling our way through - and the temperature plummets.
Valentine's Movies - Stardust, Nim's Island and Good Luck Chuck.
That last one I'd like to rip and distribute widely in the hope the producers lose lots of money and never make another one ever again. However, it's not even that good. Nim's Island, however, was exactly Cathy. That little girl, was her. It's just a pleasant fantasy/romance where all the issues get resolved as a matter of course. Stardust is, of course, great.
Today I am once again esconced with my computer - I am informed that the Nightschool course has been cancelled due to only two people actually booking. Mental note: update the course web-page.
Light reading tonight - Cryptogram just dropped into my mailbox. Through a maze of links from using gummi bears to circumvent biometric scanners I found Bruce Schneiers advice on normal person internet security ... the short version is "give up, you're skrewed". The longer version is more enlightening, wih 11 handy tips.
I note that tip 4 is "Don't use Outlook, or Outlook Express", tip 6 is "don't use IE", and tip 11 is "don't use Windows". Tip 4 also goes on about MS Office stuff - which amounts to "don't use MS Office".
The article is actually from 2001 - maybe things are improved. But it can hardly be a coincedence that this was the year GNU/Linux really took off.
February 9, 2008
Open Source Computing - the nightschool course, is slated to start on the 12th this month. I have had two enquiries so far, but not a peep from Orewa College.
You have to book or the course will be cancelled!
Last few days hove been spent in basic maintenance - have applied to start a Masters in Education - it would have been a PhD except my existing MSc is just a smidge too low-brow for them.
Pool maintenance - after the week away the pool was in a state. Got a close look at it a few days ago. The water was brown - but no smell. Odd ... turned out that the starver I added to the pool even earlier has paid off: no algae. I speculate that the brown is dead algae - shock dosed the chlorine, added a clarifier, and set the pump to recirculate. Now it is milky (chlorine bleached the dirt) and still no algae.
Turn the pump off tomorrow and let it all settle - then vaccuum, and it's back to filtration again.
Pools are a lot of trouble and expence.
Oolite procedes a-pace. I have now got a photobucket page to house all the pics I'm taking, and the odd tutorial as I learn stuff. Here's one of the shots (click the thumb above)
February 5, 2008
Hope you enjoyed the change of style for this month.
There have been over 100 visitors this month already - with that acer page topping the bill. I see three downloads of the neolite oxp, but fair's fair: it's still alpha.
Last month saw 1080 unique visitors generating some 20000 hits. So I'm slipping. Too much oolite, not enough ubuntu. We'll see what we can do about that.
However, the visitors are staying longer - reading?
Most are from the USA, but the number surfing anonimously is still growing. Most are after the acer+ubuntu 8.04 page - with the blog coming in second. If you don't find what you are looking for in the pages - just ask (that's one of the things the feedback button is for.)
Windows is half the OSs and IE is a quarter of the browsers. C'mon, if you must use Windows, at least do not use IE. The sash across the bottom right corner is a link to help you out.
Time for new music - this month's music leans towards a heavier rock sound. Enjoy Penguin Dust by Atomic Opera. As usual, there is an m3u ogg stream for people who are wise enough not to enable javascript.
February 4, 2008
Waiheke Trip concluded.
Cathy and I have just returned from a whole week away at our house on Waiheke Island. A week of Sun, sand,surf and cleaning - photos to follow.
Our house is in bush at the edge of the royal Forest and Bird Reserve in Onetangi. One side is underground, the other is in the canopy. We get Piwakawaka, Kereru, and Tui in the daytime, and Ruru at night. Utterly enchanting.
(The Maori names are very PC of me I know - it's a sort-of skite - just mouse-over the Maori for the more familiar English name.)
Dispite appearances, the house has all the mod-cons - and a huge spa bath which we made full use of. It is unusual to be ale to have big baths every day on Waiheke, because everyone relies on rain-water, so we were the envy of the community.
As well as clearing rubbish left on the property, we took in the Headland art exhibition - which is well worth the look, the local weekend Market and sampled Bevan Kaan’s "Dragonfired" Pizzas.
Photos
(Click on the image for the bigger version.)
The house is approached through thick bush - along a shell-trail. This was our home for five years... secluded, in the middle of things, private ... very romantic.
At around 5pm (shown) the beach empties. Locals consider this "crowded". Giant
pohutukawa provide shade.
The dragon head is a simple wood-burning oven - shown dormant. The product is smokey and slightly charred - yummy.
A big cross on a hill. An ambiguous statement accompanied by arty (meaningless) explaination.
"If I make it impractically large then it's art" ... or is it?
Ha ha! Very funny. Nobody tried it out.
This I found quite broody - it was called "Learning to Breath Underwater". Perhaps the model tried out the diving board in the previous pic?
Finally
Cathy seemed to have the Kiwi attitude that a trail must be blazed!
"I'm taking in the scenery" she protests.
As I struggle to match the break-neck pace she sets, I speculate that what she enjoys most about the scenery is the thrilling burring noise it makes as it zips by.
