Displaying items by tag: Internet

Friday, 23 December 2011 22:44

The Anti-SOPA movement just keeps on growing

un-censorship-InternetDespite being delayed until sometime next year the vote on SOPA is still fresh in many people’s minds. Just recently GoDaddy came under fire for their support of the bill. One of their primary accounts (Cheezburger, the group behind I Can Haz Cheezburger) has threatened to pull its 1000+ domains if GoDaddy does not stop its support of the SOPA Bill.GoDaddy has now officially pulled their support (go figure) for SOPA.

Published in Editorials
Thursday, 17 November 2011 22:14

FXI DEMONSTRATES ANY SCREEN CONNECTED COMPUTING

USB Companion Adapter Enables Screens to Access the Cloud and Mobile Content

New York, NY and Trondheim, Norway – November 17, 2011 - FXI Technologies, a hardware and software startup based in Trondheim Norway, demonstrated today the world’s first any screen, connected computing USB device.  Codenamed “Cotton Candy”, this sweet little device serves as a technology bridge between any display, the Cloud, and any input peripheral.

Published in Press Releases

anonAfter going back and forth with on an Op that would have resulted in the release of information on a very violent drug cartel, members of the collective Anonymous have called off their planned OpCartel. They had originally meant to go after this group and release information on members, corrupt police and judges as well as other people that are affiliated with the group (although at the time it was not an official Op yet). Their plans came crashing to a halt when one of their members was kidnapped by the Zetas Drug Cartel.

This incident caused the wavering back and forth as some members wanted to push forward and others were (rightfully) concerned that the kidnapped person would be injured or killed. In the end they decided to move forward and made an announcement that they would release all of the information they had gathered if the kidnapped person was not released.

Earlier today the members of the collective announced that the Anon member had been freed that while he was bruised, he is safe now. In an odd turn the Zeta Cartel released not only the kidnapped member, but also a statement saying that for every name that Anonymous releases that is related to the Cartel they will kill 10 people.

The Zeta Cartel is known as one of the most violent and is also apparently the most technologically savvy groups out there.  We have a feeling that while Anonymous does not want to see any innocent blood shed, they will not be leaving the Zetas alone completely. After all, anyone that connects a computer to the internet is at risk from intrusion and they have money and investments in banks that are also vulnerable.  I wonder how long it will take before some of those accounts start having balance errors…

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Published in News

animal_farm-pigsThere is only one constant in the universe and that is change. Although things may seem static and unmoving they are not. This chaotic nature extends from the largest black hole to the tiniest particle. Everything is in constant motion and everything is working against everything else. Even our societies exhibit this behavior; as one event happens the people in it change to adapt to it. Just look at the Internet. This giant amorphous mass (represented by a cloud) has more cultures and sub-cultures than you can find on a map of the world.

Unfortunately just like the many cultures that exist in the physical world, the online cultures are very misunderstood. Too many corporations and groups seek to control it or nail it down. Thankfully, and also unfortunately doing this is about as easy as holding water in your hand (or attempting to heard cats).

The most obvious example of this is online file sharing. Here we have watched as countless laws, rules and restrictions have been put in place. Companies have published the numbers or alleged losses to file sharing (while posting record quarters) and yet it does not seem to stop. Even the crazy (and borderline unethical) lawsuits that are files in the US court system has not been a deterrent. All that has happened is this culture has adapted and changed their tactics and method. Where before communications between groups were open now many use encrypted VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections. Sites that catalog the available shares are using SSL certificates (often self-signed to avoid being tracked back) to keep the unwanted out. Memberships are becoming invitation only to keep the eyes of the MPAA and RIAA out.

This is not to say that the stragglers won’t still get caught. There will always be the little fish that mess up and end up on the kitchen table, but the people that develop the content are extremely sophisticated and are becoming more and more difficult to find. The guys over at TorrentFreak liken this to viruses Vs. medication. Personally I like to think of this more in line with Prohibition and the costly (and widely ineffective) war on drugs in the US.  During prohibition the US spent millions of dollars fighting a losing battle. No matter what they did they could not keep liquor out of the US. The more they tried the more sophisticated the people importing the liquor became. It only stopped when they re-legalized alcohol and taxed it.

There is a growing movement to do the same thing with some of the drugs that are being brought into the US (although there are still some that really need to be controlled).  They say that History can be a great teacher for those that are willing to read it, but for some reason I think that too many people want to ignore the lessons available there. The media and software companies really need to take a look at the mobile market to see what can be done. Although there is still piracy at this level it is much less rampant. People are willing to pay the money to get the apps they want. The reason is that these apps are (for the most part) reasonably prices; unlike the hugely disproportionate prices seen in the PC, Console, and DVD/BRD world.  If these companies could finally work out a fair pricing structure (meaning the CEOs and other execs would need to get paid a little less) and a good method for content delivery then you would finally see piracy decline. It will never go away as that is part of the Internet Culture, but the number of people taking that risk would drop off as it would not be seen as “worth it”.

It really is sad that the greed of a few people (this included the actors getting pair tens of millions for a single movie) is what fuels much of the file sharing and piracy out today. Maybe one day we will see a change here, but I have a feeling that the culture that runs the show will never allow that.

Source TorrentFreak

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Published in Editorials

cupcakesApparently it has been something of a tradition for the Internet Explorer Team over at Microsoft to send a congratulatory pastry to FireFox with each new version they ship. However, now that Mozilla is pushing out a “new” release every six weeks the IE gang has shortened up on the size of the pastry. For their latest release MS sent over a small Cup Cake only. The running joke is that because of the smaller update the congratulatory gift is also smaller.

Mozilla’s new rapid release program is supposed to allow patches and fixes to get to market quicker without the normal delay of a major feature update. This decision by Mozilla has cause mixed feelings in the IT community and also the consumer market. Many feel that the short span is annoying and can be inconvenient. IE on the other hand is sticking with the larger full featured releases which, while some times better developed can also throw wrenches into web page performance and compatibility.

Honestly there really is no better way to do this, but I do wish that both companies would address some of the security and performance issues that are plaguing both browsers. FireFox needs to fix the Flash bug that it has while MS really needs to work on securing the way that Plug-in interact with it (especially allowing elevated privileges).

Still it is sort of funny to find out that the IE team sends over a (cup)cake every time a new version of FireFox ships.

Source CNET

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