p2pnet news

Rebate $310.8 million, Bell, et al, ordered

Jon — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:06:51 +0000

p2pnet view P2P:- “Large” telephone companies have been ordered to rebate $310.8 million to urban home telephone customers, says the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

“Our decision to rebate consumers was contested all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada”, says CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein.

The CRTC also approved a plan for “the deployment of broadband Internet service to 287 rural and remote communities”, it says.

Over the next four years, “broadband Internet service will be rolled out to communities where it is currently not available”, says the CRTC, continuing >>>

This service will be comparable to urban areas and fast enough to link residents to telehealth services and bring about business and educational opportunities. The large telephone companies will use funds that have accumulated in their deferral accounts to pay for these initiatives.

The companies will make investments totalling $421.9 million to expand their networks: Bell Canada and Bell Aliant Regional Communications will connect 112 communities in Ontario and Quebec; Telus Communications Company will connect 159 communities in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec; and MTS Allstream Inc. will connect 16 communities in Manitoba.

The CRTC has ordered the companies to rebate the remaining funds to their existing customers in urban areas.

“The rebate must be credited within the next six months and will range from approximately $25 to $90 per subscriber”, it says.

Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-637
Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-638
Telecom Decision CRTC 2010-639

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CRTC – CRTC orders rebate for Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Telus and MTS Allstream’s home telephone customers and approves a plan to bring broadband Internet to 287 communities, August 31, 2010

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‘Environmental militant’ shot and killed

Jon — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:43:14 +0000

p2pnet view Crime:- “Environmental militant” James J. Lee (right), angry with the Discovery Channel over its programming, was shot and killed during a stand-off at the TV station’s HQ.

Wielding a gun and wearing “explosive devices” Lee, 43, “took a security guard and two other employees hostage, police said”, according to the Los Angeles Times, which goes on >>>

“After several hours of telephone negotiations, Lee pulled out his gun and pointed it at one of the hostages, police said. Tactical officers then took aim at Lee, killing him. It was unclear whether Lee had been able to fire his gun, but all three hostages were able to escape safely, according to officials.

“I know that he had some history with folks at Discovery Channel,” Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said at a news conference after the shooting.

Lee “once threw money to bystanders as a protest along a Silver Spring street and who believed that the world would be better off without people”, says the Washington Post, adding:

“Lee held a grudge against Discovery, viewing the network as a purveyor of ideas he considered environmentally destructive and staging protests outside its headquarters, according to authorities and court records.

“Yet he got little farther than the lobby of the vast complex while the company alerted its thousands of employees and urged them to stay in locked offices and then evacuate using a designated stairwell.”

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Los Angeles Times – Discovery Channel hostage crisis ends with gunman’s death, September 2, 2010
Washington Post – James J. Lee, environmental militant, slain at Discovery building after taking hostages, September 2, 2010

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Back to school – with spy chips

Jon — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:19:18 +0000

p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- Back in 2004, kids at a school in Osaka, Japan, are to be tagged with Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) spy chips”, said p2pnet, going on the chips would be read by at school gates and other key locations to track their movements.

“The chips will be put onto kids’ schoolbags, name tags or clothing in one Wakayama prefecture school”, said a now defunct ZDNet post, adding, “Denmark’s Legoland introduced a similar scheme last month to stop young children going astray.”

A year later, the principal of the California school that forced its students to wear spy-chip ID cards around their necks said he was disappointed the project had collapsed, said p2pnet, continuing >>>

Pupils at the Brittan Elementary School in Sutter near Yuba City had RFID (Radion Frequency Identification) badges that held their names, photos, grades, school names, class year and a four-digit school ID number.

A wireless transmitter transmitted the ID number to a teacher’s handheld computer when each child passed under an antenna above a classroom door.

However, Sutter-based technology company InCom Corp that developed the technology pulled out, says the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I’m disappointed; that’s about all I can say at this point,” it has Earnie Graham, the superintendent and principal saying. “I think I let my staff down. Nobody on this campus knows every student.”

But, “I’m not convinced it’s over,” parent Dawn Cantrall, who filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union, told the (Marysville) Appeal-Democrat, is quoted as saying.

“I’m happy for now that kids are not being tagged, but I’m still fighting to keep it out of our school system”, said Cantrall.

“It has to stop here.”

But it hasn’t.

“Scary news from California’s Contra Costa County”, says Rebecca Jeschke (right) in Deep Links.

School officials there have “reportedly decided to track some preschoolers with RFID chips, thanks to a federal grant supplying the funding”, she says, going on >>>

According to a story from the Associated Press, the students will wear a jersey at school that has the RFID tag attached. The tag will track the children’s movements and collect other data, like if the child has eaten or not. According to a Contra Costa County official, this is a cost-savings move, as teachers used to have to manually keep track of a child’s attendance and meal schedule.

But of course, an RFID chip allows for far more than that minimal record-keeping. Instead, it provides the potential for nearly constant monitoring of a child’s physical location. If readings are taken often enough, you could create an extraordinarily detailed portrait of a child’s school day — one that’s easy to imagine being misused, particularly as the chips substitute for direct adult monitoring and judgment.

If RFID records show a child moving around a lot, could she be tagged as hyper-active? If he doesn’t move around a lot, could he get a reputation for laziness?

How long will this data and the conclusions rightly or wrongly drawn from it be stored in these children’s school records? Can parents opt-out of this invasive tracking?

How many other federal grants are underwriting programs like these?

“These are questions that desperately need answers”, says Deep Links, adding:

“California is in the middle of a terrible budget crunch, but the solution is not federally funded surveillance of children who are too young to understand the implications.”

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p2pnet – Japan school gets spy chips, July 14, 2004
p2pnet- CA school drops spy-chip ID, February 17, 2005
Deep Links – Reading, Writing, and RFID Chips: A Scary Back-to-School Future in California

August, 2010

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Mark Zuckerberg vs Paul Ceglia

Jon — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:41:54 +0000

p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- Who controls Fa$ebook?

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg? Or Paul Ceglia from New York, who says a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg entitles him to 84% of the data mining advertising site?

Watching the “twists and turns of the Paul Ceglia v Mark Zuckerberg lawsuit is like a real-life soap opera”, says All Facebook.

Ceglia reckons Zuckerberg once worked for him as a coder and “says he was only reminded of the contract when he was arrested for fraud over an unrelated matter”, it says, going on >>>

Now WellsvilleDaily.com reports that Ceglia has produced another check payable to Zuckerberg, this one for $3,000 in April 2003. However, since it is a cashier’s check rather than a personal one, Ceglia’s name or signature is not anywhere on the check.

Previously Ceglia had produced one check stub to Zuckerberg for $1,000 and an electronic copy of a contract that purports to give Ceglia a stake in “The Face Book” or “The Page Book”. But Facebook describes the case as “frivolous” and argues that Zuckerberg didn’t conceive of Facebook until a year later in 2004. The company’s position is that Zuckerberg did some unrelated contract programming work for Ceglia as an undergraduate but did not sell a stake in a non-existent company.

Says DiTii.com >>>

Ceglia, a Web designer was developing a project called “StreetFax” in spring of 2003. Ceglia’s plan was to put millions of photos of streets into a database and charge insurers money to access it. “What he needed was a coder,” Connors told the judge.

Ceglia solicited bids, and the lowest bidder Zuckerberg, then a Harvard freshman, said he would do the job for $1,000. “But I’ve got a project of my own,” Connors said Zuckerberg told his client. “I’m developing an online yearbook for Harvard kids now, but I’m thinking of expanding it.”

The contract was intended to cover the coding work on StreetFax and Ceglia’s investment in Zuckerberg’s “fledgling project,” Connors said. “Who knew then that it would turn into what it is today?”

In Ceglia v Zuckerberg, “Facebook Lawyer, Lisa Simpson said to a U.S. District Judge in Buffalo, N.Y.’Whether he signed this piece of paper, we’re unsure at this moment’,” says the story, adding, “On the othe [sic] hand, Paul Ceglia’s attorney, Terrence Connors, produced a copy of two-page ‘work for hire’ contract that entitle Ceglia to control ’social-networking service’.”

Now Ceglia wants the case to be heard in New York, but Zuckerberg says Ceglia is “using a request to return the case to state court ’solely to burden and harass’ him”, says Bloomberg News.

Ceglia’s lawyers say Zuckerberg’s legal residence is his parents’ Dobbs Ferry, New York, home, not Palo Alto, California, where Facebook is based.

“They claim the federal court in Buffalo, New York, lacks jurisdiction over the suit because both men live in the same state”, says the post, quoting lawyers for Facebook and Zuckerberg, “who had the case moved from state to federal court July 9″, as stating, “Mark Zuckerberg lives year-round in California and has made California his permanent home.

“Federal courts that otherwise wouldn’t have jurisdiction can hear civil suits between parties from different states”, the story explains, adding:

“Ceglia, who lives in Wellsville, New York, is trying to have the case moved back to state court, where a judge entered an order June 30 blocking Facebook from transferring company assets. That order expired July 23.”

Stay tuned.

Click here to see the complaint.

(Cheers, RW)

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All Facebook – Paul Ceglia Produces Another Check Stub Payable To Zuckerberg, August 17, 2010
DiTii.com – Facebook Lawyer “Unsure” whether Mark Zuckerberg signed contract- Ceglia produces “Work for Hire” contract, July 17, 2010
Bloomberg News – Facebook Chief Calls Venue Motion a Ploy to ‘Harass’, August 31, 2010

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p2pnet World Headlines: Sept 1, 2010

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:15:46 +0000

Algerian web pirates 2,000 miles astray in siege of Belvoir Castle Telegraph
One of Britain’s best-known castles fell victim to a band of hapless Middle-Eastern ‘cyber-pirates’ last week after they mistook it for a Crusader fortress of the same name more than 2,000 miles away. Belvoir Castle, the family seat of the 11th Duke of Rutland, was mistakenly targeted by a subversive group of Algerian hackers who confused its website with that of Belvoir Fortress in Israel. The hackers hijacked the castle’s homepage and replaced images of the stately home nestled in rolling Leicestershire countryside with a black page displaying the Algerian flag and a tirade against the Jewish state in Arabic.

Vivendi, Time Warner Seek Arbitration in `Ellen’ Show Music Copyright Case Bloomberg News
Vivendi SA’s music labels and Time Warner Inc. are seeking arbitration in a copyright case in which the labels charged that ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ played its recordings without a license. Lawyers for the two sides said they’d entered into an arbitration agreement and asked U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson to halt the case and transfer it to binding arbitration, according to a filing in federal court in Los Angeles yesterday. Labels in Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, the largest record company in the world, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in March against the producers of the daily ‘Ellen’ talk show and Time Warner, whose television unit distributes the program to stations. Universal said ‘Ellen’ played without permission ‘hundreds of sound recordings owned or controlled by’ the label group.

Orange rolls out high-definition voice for mobiles BBC
Mobile firm Orange has become the first UK network to use a technology that offers higher quality voice calls. High Definition (HD) voice claims to reduce background noise and the “hisses and crackles” often heard on a normal mobile call. The technology, known as, Adaptive Multi Rate Wideband (AMR-WB) has been adopted as an international standard for 3G mobile networks. Other networks are expected to follow Orange soon, experts said.

China Requires ID for Mobile Phone Numbers New York Times
China’s government began on Wednesday to require cellphone users to furnish identification when buying SIM cards, a move officials cast as an attempt to rein in burgeoning cellphone spam, pornography and fraud schemes. The requirement, which has been in the works for years, is not unlike rules in many developed nations that force users to present credit card data or other proof of identification to buy cellphone numbers. The government’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that about 40 percent of China’s 800 million cellphone users currently are unidentified. Those users will be ordered to furnish an ID by 2013 or lose their service, the Communist Party’s English-language newspaper, Global Times, reported.

Reading, Writing, and RFID Chips: A Scary Back-to-School Future in California Deep Links
Scary news from California’s Contra Costa County — school officials there have reportedly decided to track some preschoolers with RFID chips, thanks to a federal grant supplying the funding. According to a story from the Associated Press, the students will wear a jersey at school that has the RFID tag attached. The tag will track the children’s movements and collect other data, like if the child has eaten or not. According to a Contra Costa County official, this is a cost-savings move, as teachers used to have to manually keep track of a child’s attendance and meal schedule.

MySpace Throws In The Towel, Connects To Facebook Mediapost
Waving the proverbial white flag, MySpace on Monday said its members can now synchronize posts, and other activity, with their Facebook profiles. To some, the move represents a last-ditch effort by the once-reigning social network to live on by riding the coattails of Facebook’s unprecedented global success.

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September, 2010

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The ’scourge of music piracy’: Gary Locke

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:58:53 +0000

2pnet view P2P | Politics:- “Thank you, Rob for that introduction — and for all the work you’ve done to bring attention to the scourge of music piracy.”

That’s entertainment cartel spokesman Gary Locke (right), who also doubles as the US commerce secretary.

Rob? Someone from Nashville who introduced Locke at the “Intellectual Property Enforcement” dog-and-pony show staged at the Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee”, on Monday.

“Worldwide and certainly in the United States, consumers are spending less on recorded music in all formats”, he said on behalf of Vivendi Universal (France), Sony (Japan), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music (US, but controlled by a Canadian), going on:

“Compounding the problem is the fact that, like everyone else, Nashville has been dealing with the difficult crosscurrents in the global economy. And of course most recently, Nashville was flooded by the currents of the overflowing Cumberland River.”

Although “This flood is a challenge that the people of Nashville have faced with remarkable fortitude and determination”, there are “some things, like Mother Nature that you can’t control — you just have to deal with” Locke declared.

He got that right. But not in the context of working with the people instead of against them.

There are “other problems that we have within our power to solve”, he said, “And one of them is the rampant piracy of music, and of intellectual property, that are the lifeblood of this region’s economy.”

Enter another corporate entertainment industy stalwart, Joe Biden, whose second job is 2/ic of the United States of America.

“As Vice President Biden has said on more than one occasion, ‘Piracy is flat, unadulterated theft,’ and it should be dealt with accordingly” said Locke.

But “This isn’t just an issue of right and wrong”, he [Locke] said, going on >>>

This is a fundamental issue of America’s economic competitiveness.

As the president has said before, America’s ’single greatest asset is the innovation and ingenuity and creativity of the American people. It is central to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century.’

Our founding fathers understood this as well as anyone, which is why they put in place a set of rules and laws to reward and protect the ideas and inventions of the artists, engineers and scientists who create them.

But this copyright and patent framework needs to evolve to meet the evolving challenges of the 21st century.

Recently, I’ve had a chance to read letters from award winning writers and artists whose livelihoods have been destroyed by music piracy. One letter that stuck out for me was a guy who said the songwriting royalties he had depended on to ‘be a golden parachute to fund his retirement had turned out to be a lead balloon.’

This just isn’t right.

And this administration is doing everything it can to ensure our creators and our innovators are compensated for the great work that they do.

From day one, the Obama administration has placed a strong focus on:

establishing global intellectual property norms,
promoting compliance with global norms; and
strengthening the international copyright system.

And I think that the Administration’s recent release of a Joint Strategic Plan by the newly created Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator reflects the depth of our commitment to curb intellectual property piracy both here and abroad.

This plan, which contained input from eight different federal agencies and over 1,600 public comments, has over 33 different discrete action items to ensure that everyone across the government is working together, and presenting a united front on the protection of intellectual property.

To take just one area that I know is important to this group, in our government-wide strategy, we endorsed and affirmatively encouraged the private sector – including content owners and Internet service providers – to work collaboratively to combat intellectual property infringement online.

Especially to combat repeat infringement.

While those cooperative efforts are underway, the Administration will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute online criminal activity, and at the Commerce Department we will continue to press these issues in our dealings with foreign officials, like those in China.

To learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing America’s creative industries, the Department is also conducting a comprehensive review of the relationship among copyright policy, creativity, and innovation in the Internet economy.

The Internet is of course a double-edged sword for the music industry. On the one hand, online copyright infringement is a growing threat, with cyberlockers as well as peer-to-peer, file sharing, streaming and user generated content sites providing a constant challenge to the music industry.

But the Internet, if used correctly, can be a great growth engine. In the United States alone, sales of digital music downloads reached $3.1 billion in 2009, a 19 percent increase above the previous year.

At the Commerce Department, we are trying to figure out how we shut out the pirates, while preserving the Internet as an avenue for commerce for music and for other creative industries.

That’s why earlier this summer, the Department’s Patent and Trademark Office and our National Telecommunications and Information Administration hosted a conference that brought together representatives of the music industry and other content owners, Internet service providers, and public interest groups to help chart a new way forward.

In the very near future, the Department will be issuing a Notice of Inquiry, seeking public comment on the challenges of protecting copyrighted works on-line and the relationship between copyright law and innovation.

And I would invite any of you here today to throw in your two cents.

We’ll be using these comments to create a report that will help shape the administration-wide policy on copyright protection and innovation.

But the scourge of music piracy wasn’t all.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one other issue that I know is of serious concern to people in this room”, said Locke, adding:

“Under current copyright law, a traditional AM/FM radio broadcaster pays royalties to song writers for playing their songs but – under a decades’ old carve out — the other contributors to the recording – the artists, musicians, and record labels – are not compensated.

“In other words, if a radio station plays a Carole King/James Taylor duet – and Carole King wrote the song – Carole King gets paid a royalty, but there is nothing in existing law that says James Taylor has to get paid as well.”

Stay tuned.

Or not.

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cartel spokesman – US comsec Gary Locke: copyright group leader, July 22, 2009
dog-and-pony show – Remarks at Intellectual Property Enforcement, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, August 30, 2010
corporate entertainment industy stalwart – US hosts secret anti-P2P meeting, December 16, 2009

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WikiLeaks Assange in renewed rape furor

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:04:39 +0000

p2pnet view Crime:- Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is once again in the limelight over rape claims.

Two Swedish women claimed he’d raped them, but the charges against him were later dropped.

Chief prosecutor Eva Finne said “there was no reason to believe a crime had been committed”, but said she nonetheless “had enough evidence to keep looking into a molestation allegation” against him, says The Local.

But the lawyer for Assange’s alleged victims, Claes Borgstroem, “lodged an appeal against Finne’s decision to a special department in the public prosecutions office”, says the story.

Assange insists the allegations are meant to discredit WikiLeaks and its Afghan War Diary document leaks.

But “That man does have a way of making a lot of female enemies”, his son, Daniel Assange, 21, wrote in Facebook “after two Swedish women came forward with allegations that led to rape and molestation charges against his dad”, said the New York Daily Post, recently, going on:

“Daniel also wondered about his father’s claim that the accusations were part of a Pentagon ’smear campaign. ‘Interesting to see whether this is the result of a government plot or personal grudges’,” he wrote, according to the story.

Now director of prosecutions Marianne Ny has overturned Finne’s decision on the rape claim, “and also said the investigation into the molestation claim would be extended” The Local states, continuing >>>

“Based on the information available, the crimes in question come under the heading of sexual coercion and sexual molestation,” she said.

Ny told AFP that overturning another prosecutor’s decision was “not an ordinary (procedure), but not so out of the ordinary either.”

“In this investigation, I have decided it should continue and we will decide on measures, including interrogations” of the suspect, she said, refusing to provide more details.

She wouldn’t say when or if an arrest warrant for Assange would be issued, the story adds.

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The Local – Renewed rape suspicions for WikiLeaks’ Assange, September 1, 2010
Afghan War Diary – WikiLeaks ‘Afghan War Diary’, July 27, 2010
New York Daily Post – My Wiki dad’s just awful with the ladies, August 31, 2010

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UK ad watchdog gets power over Facebook

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:38:44 +0000

p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) now has the power ban false claims on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

Online marketing and ads will, from 1 March 2011, be subject to the same tough advertising rules as traditional media, says the ASA.

The new rules will apply to adverts and statement on a website selling products or services, it says, stating sites will have until March, 2011, to comply.

The new rules cover >>>

Advertisers’ own marketing communications on their own websites and;
Marketing communications in other non-paid-for space under their control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

“The ASA’s present remit online includes ads in paid-for space and sales promotions wherever they appear”, says the organisation, going on >>>

But from next year, the rules in the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (the CAP Code) will apply in full to marketing communications online, including the rules relating to misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children. The remit will apply to all sectors and all businesses and organisations regardless of size.

But “journalistic and editorial content and material related to causes and ideas — except those that are direct solicitations of donations for fund-raising — are excluded from the remit”, which will apply to all sectors and all businesses and organisations regardless of size, states the ASA.

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) has a document detailing the new remit and sanctions.

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ASA – Landmark agreement extends ASA’s digital remit, September 1, 2010

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Cuba’s cellphone bypass code

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:12:53 +0000

p2pnet view Mobiles | P2P:- In Canada, it’s easy to make a cellphone call, or receive one, the competition vacuum notwithstanding.

We take it for granted.

But things are very different in Cuba, blogs Yoani Sánchez in Generation Y.

“My cellphone rings but I don’t answer”, says, going on >>>

I wait for the ringing to stop and go to a nearby phone to call the number shown on the screen. I’ve warned my friends that I’ll let a call go and call them back later, but some insist, forgetting about the high cost of a minute of conversation on the cell network. I have a code with them: two rings if it’s urgent and three if it’s about something that can wait.

When I’m in the street and the device I carry in my purse vibrates, I look for a public phone that takes coins and doesn’t have the handset ripped off.

Although the telecommunications company ETESCA reported that the number of cell phone users will soon surpass one million, we remain handicapped with regards to this technology. To receive a domestic call is madness, configuring the texting can take hours of fighting with the operators, and finding a place that sells recharge cards is like the movie Mission Impossible.

Like a teenager whose growing feet no longer fit in his shoes, our cellphone system has increased the number of subscribers but without the corresponding improvement in infrastructure. Well, the growth doesn’t follow an integrated development of the system, but is led by the desire to collect — at all costs — those colored convertible notes that simulate the dollar.

Despite recent reductions in the high rates, even a doctor can’t afford cellphone service, but the political police enjoy subsidized rates which they can pay in national currency. Nor is it possible to open an account and pay at the end of the month, we have to pay in advance to be able to communicate.

Many of us feel defrauded by ETESCA, but the State monopoly doesn’t allow other competitors to offer us better and cheaper service.

“Meanwhile a solution appears”, says Yoani.

Thousands of users “work out a strange Morse code with cellphones: One ring, two, three… Don’t answer on the other end! Just run to the nearest phone.”

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Generation Y – Don’t Answer, August 24, 2010

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Baidu launches beta software search

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:56:28 +0000

p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- Google is about to face drastically increased competition in China.

Baidu.com has confirmed its software search service is now up for beta testing and will go online officially tomorrow, says ChinaTechNews.

“The new software search service provides searches for computer software and mobile software”, says the story, going on:

“The searching results are mainly from six websites, including Skycn.com, Onlinedown.net, Duote.com, Sina.com, Zol.com.cn, and Pconline.com.cn, which offer downloads of software.

The official entrance link isn’t online yet, but surfers can for the moment reach Baidu software search through soft.baidu.com.

“Apart from the search function, Baidu.com’s software search page also recommends software in different categories, including instant messaging software, anti-virus software, and system tools, to users”, says ChinaTechNews, adding:

“Users can directly choose those recommended software from the list and download them.”

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ChinaTechNews – Baidu To Officially Launch Software Search Service Tomorrow, September 1, 2010

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Wikipedia reveals ending of The Mousetrap

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:43:49 +0000

p2pnet view Off Topic:- Famed author Agatha Christie (right) will have turned in her grave.

The Wikipedia did what no one else had done before it —-

—- it revealed the ending of her whodunnit, The Mousetrap, the world’s longest running play.

The online encyclopedia states that the famous country house murder mystery is “known for its twist ending, which at the end of every performance the audience is asked not to reveal”, says the Telegraph.

But “the entry then goes on to reveal the identity of the murderer without any warning that it is about to be revealed”, it says.

Not that it’s anything new, apparently

“Fans of the author, famous for writing 80 murder mystery novels translated into more than 100 languages, have been petitioning the website to take down their spoiler, or at least include a warning”, says the Independent on Sunday, going on, “And now the Christie family has joined the chorus.

“Matthew Prichard, Christie’s grandson, was given the rights to The Mousetrap on his ninth birthday. This weekend he called the situation ‘unfortunate’, telling the Independent on Sunday that he intended to take the matter up with the play’s producer for the past 23 of its 58 years in the West End, Sir Stephen Waley-Cohen.

“My grandmother always got upset if the plots of her books or plays were revealed in reviews – and I don’t think this is any different,” he says in the story. “I think it is a pity if a publication, if I can call it that, potentially spoils the enjoyment for those people who go to see the play. It’s not a question of money or anything like that. It’s just a pity.”

But the Wikipedia hasn’t been swayed, the story says.

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Telegraph – Agatha Christie’s family criticise Wikipedia for revealing Mousetrap ending, August 29, 2010
Independent on Sunday – Wikipedia springs ‘Mousetrap’ ending, August 29, 2010

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Virginia Quarterly Review shuts down

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:18:03 +0000

p2pnet view P2P:- “Today is our first day back to work, after Kevin Morrissey’s (right) death a week and a half ago”, wrote Waldo Jaquith in the Virginia Quarterly Review on August 10, going on:

“On the one hand, it’s not easy. On the other hand, it’s good to get back in a routine and back into the office, where we spent so much time with Kevin. The immediate task at hand is finishing the fall issue.”

But that was also the last task.

The magazine has canceled its winter issue and closed its offices “in the aftermath of the suicide last month of its managing editor and a subsequent investigation by the University of Virginia, which operates the journal”, says the New York Times, going on:

” ‘According to his family, the editor, Kevin Morrissey, 52, had been the target of bullying by Ted Genoways (left), the journal’s top editor, who was on leave at the time of Mr. Morrissey’s death. Mr. Genoways has denied the accusations.

Three of the five remaining staff members “have removed their names from the masthead, said Carol Wood, a spokeswoman for the University of Virginia”, the story adds.

Morrissey, the review’s 52-year-old managing editor, “walked to the old coal tower near campus and shot himself in the head”, says ABC News.

“Co-workers said Morrissey’s death underscored the management turmoil at the high-profile journal”, it said, going on, “Morrissey’s sister, Maria Morrissey, and co-workers acknowledged that he long suffered from depression.

“But they insisted that he took his life only after the university failed to respond to repeated complaints about alleged bullying by his boss, Ted Genoways. Other employees, they said, also complained about being bullied by the journal’s top editor. Genoways vehemently denied the bullying charges.”

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Virginia Quarterly Review – It’s All Hands on Deck for the Fall Issue, August 10, 2010
aftermath of the suicide – Bullying at the Virginia Quarterly Review, August 20, 2010
New York Times – Esteemed Literary Journal Closes Offices After Suicide, August 30, 2010
ABC News – Staff of Virginia Quarterly Rebel in Wake of Editor’s Suicide, August 30, 2010

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Digg disses users. Reddit scores.

Jon — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:52:24 +0000

p2pnet view P2P:- Kevin Rose and the Diggers are learning the painful lesson Hollywood and the Big 4 record labels can’t get into their heads.

They depend on us, not the other way around.

Until now, Digg has relied on users to decide what’s news, and what isn’t. Same as Reddit.

Then Digg decided it time to go up against Twitter and Fa$ebook.

Result? A mass exodus of users to Reddit in a Quit Digg day.

According to PC World, The primary complaints were as follows >>>

Removal of the upcoming news page
Default setting of “My News”
Deleted favorites
Removal of the “bury” or “dislike” button
Front page domination of a handful of popular publishers

But “The most contentious issue was about high-profile news sites dominating (and seemingly controlling) the Digg.com front page”, says the story.

Says ReadWriteWeb >>>

If Kevin Rose and the rest of the Digg team thought that a long weekend would be enough to calm the furor over the latest changes to the popular site, they were clearly mistaken. Not only did Digg’s users declare today “quit Digg day,” but in order to protest Digg’s new auto-submission system, users are now upvoting every Reddit story on the site.

These stories are being submitted to Digg by Reddit itself through the new auto-submission system that is a core part of Digg v4.

It adds:

“For years now, Digg’s unofficial etiquette stated that users should never submit their own content. The new submission system, however, now encourages publishers to submit their own stories and many are doing so. The fact that a link to Leo Laporte’s Google Buzz stream appeared on the Digg front page earlier this weekend was apparently the last straw for many.”

Stay tuned.

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PC World – Has Digg Dug its Own Grave?, August 31, 2010
ReadWriteWeb – Digg User Rebellion Continues: Reddit Now Rules the Front Page, August 30, 2010

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p2pnet World Headlines: Aug 31, 2010

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:46:42 +0000

Google and Skype could be hit by India data curbs BBC
India has toughened its scrutiny of telecoms firms with a directive demanding “access to everything”. An Indian Home Ministry official told the BBC that “any company with a telecoms network should be accessible”. “It could be Google or Skype, but anyone operating in India will have to provide data,” he said. The move follows high-profile talks with Blackberry maker Research in Motion about ways to allow Indian security forces to monitor data. The government is also likely to target virtual private networks, which give secure access to company networks for employees working away from their offices.

Warner Bros., Disney Take New Tack On Piracy MediaPost
Hollywood studios have often argued in court that Web sites hosing pirated clips infringe on copyright, but this week Warner Bros. and Disney tried a more unusual approach: They sued a company for allegedly enabling infringement by placing ads on sites with infringing clips. The company, Scottsdale, Ariz.- based Triton Media, allegedly “materially contributed” to potentially unlawful sites by advising them about how to increase ad revenue and by providing ad referrals, according to the lawsuit. That business is unrelated to Triton Digital Media LLC in Sherman Oaks, Calif. The complaint, which was filed this week in federal district court in Los Angeles, alleges that Triton of Scottsdale “has owned, operated, provided advertising consulting and referrals for, and/or provided other material assistance,” to eight sites: www.free-tv-video-online.info, supernovatube.com, donogo.com, watch-movies.net, watch-movies-online.tv , watch-movies-links.net, havenvideo.com and thepiratecity.org.

Julian Assange applies for Swedish residency The Local
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has applied for a permit to work and reside in the country, a spokesperson for the Swedish Migration Board confirmed on Tuesday. “He has applied for permission to work and stay in Sweden and (the request) came in on August 18,” Haakan Gestrin told AFP. He added it was not possible to give more details about the 39-year-old Australian’s application because it had not yet been processed. Another migration board spokesperson, Gunilla Wikström, told Swedish news agency TT that the application was on hold since some information was missing, but did not provide further details. Assange’s application was submitted shortly before rape and molestation allegations against him by two Swedish women were made public.

New QuickTime Flaw Bypasses ASLR, DEP Slashdot
A Spanish security researcher has discovered a new vulnerability in Apple’s QuickTime software that can be used to bypass both ASLR and DEP on current versions of Windows and give an attacker control of a remote PC. The flaw apparently results from a parameter from an older version of QuickTime that was left in the code by mistake. It was discovered by Ruben Santamarta of Wintercore, who said the vulnerability can be exploited remotely via a malicious Web site. On a machine running Internet Explorer on Windows 7, Vista or XP with QuickTime 7.x or 6.x installed, the problem can be exploited by using a heap-spraying technique. In his explanation of the details of the vulnerability and the exploit for it, Santamarta said he believes the parameter at the heart of the problem simply was not cleared out of older versions of the QuickTime code. ‘The QuickTime plugin is widely installed and exploitable through IE; ASLR and DEP are not effective in this case and we will likely see this in the wild,’ said HD Moore, founder of the Metasploit Project.

Little black dress that’s also a phone Telegraph
A little black dress that doubles up as a mobile phone is to be launched in Britain. The garment, branded the M-Dress, lets wearers make and receive calls by slipping their sim card under the label, allowing them to keep their usual numbers. Gesture recognition software allows users to pick up a call by raising their hand to their ear and end a conversation by letting it fall to their side.

Advances Offer Path to Shrink Computer Chips Again New York Times
Scientists at Rice University and Hewlett-Packard are reporting this week that they can overcome a fundamental barrier to the continued rapid miniaturization of computer memory that has been the basis for the consumer electronics revolution. In recent years the limits of physics and finance faced by chip makers had loomed so large that experts feared a slowdown in the pace of miniaturization that would act like a brake on the ability to pack ever more power into ever smaller devices like laptops, smartphones and digital cameras. But the new announcements, along with competing technologies being pursued by companies like IBM and Intel, offer hope that the brake will not be applied any time soon. In one of the two new developments, Rice researchers are reporting in Nano Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society, that they have succeeded in building reliable small digital switches — an essential part of computer memory — that could shrink to a significantly smaller scale than is possible using conventional methods.

Three arrested over Pakistan cricket betting claims Guardian
Customs officials have arrested three people in connection with betting allegations against Pakistan cricket players, it emerged today. The development came as it was announced that the three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of the alleged betting scam that has thrown the sport into crisis will return to London tomorrow to meet team officials, while it appears increasingly likely they will be asked to withdraw from the remainder of the tour. The captain, Salman Butt, and bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif will travel to London on Wednesday to meet Pakistan officials after the allegations. The team manager, Yawar Saeed, made the announcement in the team hotel today, saying the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Ijaz Butt, and the country’s high commissioner would attend the meeting. Saeed said the three players would then be expected to return to the squad. The News of the World reported on Sunday that Pakistan’s bowlers were paid to bowl no-balls deliberately on the opening day of the fourth Test against England at Lord’s. The three players and the wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal were spoken to by police after being implicated in the story. HM Revenue and Customs said today that two men and a woman, all from London, were arrested on Sunday and questioned as part of an investigation into money laundering before being released on bail. [Oh! The Horror!]

Prison Without Walls The Atlantic
Incarceration in America is a failure by almost any measure. But what if the prisons could be turned inside out, with convicts released into society under constant electronic surveillance? Radical though it may seem, early experiments suggest that such a science-fiction scenario might cut crime, reduce costs, and even prove more just.

Smoked cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain: a randomized controlled trial CMAJ
Smoked cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain: a randomized controlled trialCannabis smoked three times per day reduced the intensity of neuropathic pain, improved sleep and was well tolerated. In this randomized crossover trial of 23 patients, Ware and colleagues used three strengths of cannabis as well as placebo to test the effects of the drug. These findings are suggestive, but they need to be confirmed in larger long-term safety and efficacy studies, say the authors.

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August, 2010

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Google scarfs up SocialDeck

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:14:59 +0000

p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- Lessee — Giant US advertising company Google is into medical records, on- and offline political lobbying, maps, videos, music, Gmail ‘filtering’, social networking, renewable-energy, phones, movie and music (and other stuff) indexing, libraries, language translation, browsers, operating systems, spreadsheets, etc, and so on —- and on and on and on.

Oh, and data piracy, big time.

Makes social ad site Fa$ebook look like a piker.

Now “Google has acquired Canadian Company, SocialDeck! www.socialdeck.com”, SocialDeck tweets joyously.

Gargle is already reportedly in bed with Facebook partner Zynga, one of the most reprehensible ’social’ gaming sites ever, and’Big News!’ shout the people at SocialDeck, going on >>>

We’re super excited to announce that someone found out social games as fun as you have — in this case, that “someone” is Google.

“SocialDeck raised its first financing round from the BlackBerry Partners Fund in March 2009″, it says. “The company’s core team splits its time between Toronto and San Francisco.”

It must have been doing well to have caught Gargoyle’s avaricious eye and one wonders whether or not it could’ve continued its success under its own flag, instead of becoming yet another Google possession.

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Facebook partner Zynga – Google.me — coming soon?, August 19, 2010

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Governments must help tobacco addicts

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:19:10 +0000

p2pnet view P2P:- Governments should take an active role in help tobacco addicts quit smoking — and that should include paying for treatments shown to be effective.

So say Erika D. Penz, Braden J. Manns, Paul C. Hébert, and Matthew B. Stanbrook in a Canadian Medical Association Journal editorial.

“Given the high cost of tobacco addiction and our inability to decrease the rates of smoking in Canada below 19% in recent years, governments should complement population-level public health strategies against tobacco with a marked increase in investment in individual-level smoking cessation programs”, they say, pointing out each province has enacted legislation banning smoking in workplaces and public areas.

“For many, if not most, smoking is a powerful addiction, similar to alcoholism and other forms of substance abuse”, they say, continuing >>>

Provincial health ministries already reimburse the cost of pharmacotherapy for other drug addictions, such as methadone for heroin addiction or naltrexone for alcohol dependence. Perhaps funding for smoking cessation lacks political and public support because of the social stigma associated with smoking, ironically a deliberate achievement of tobacco prevention campaigns.

“Why, then,” they ask, “do most provincial governments provide little or no direct funding for smoking cessation?”

In 2007, “Canada’s Common Drug Review recommended that varenicline, the newest drug for smoking cessation, be added to provincial drug formularies”, says the article, and yet “only Quebec provides public funding for all smoking cessation pharmacotherapies, and only the Yukon and Prince Edward Island reimburse for at least one product”.

In Australia and the United Kingdom, drug insurance is provided to all citizens and reimbursement is available without restriction for all smoking cessation products, including prescription medications and over-the-counter nicotine replacement, says the Canadian Medical Association Journal, also noting, “In the United States, smoking cessation products are reimbursed by Veterans Affairs and Part D Medicare.”

Perhaps policy-makers “think we should not be subsidizing poor lifestyle choices”, suggest Penz, Manns, Hébert, and Stanbrook. If so, they say, “we ought to deny public funding for heart surgery to patients who continue to smoke or stop paying for care of patients with smoking-related cancers”, going on:

“But we have decided to care for patients who suffer because of poor lifestyle choices, whether smoking, poor diet or physical inactivity, recognizing that few of us follow perfect lifestyles. Perhaps policy-makers subscribe to the naive view that quitting — or failing to quit — is an individual choice and responsibility.”

Most important, “perhaps policy-makers fail to understand how the cost of smoking cessation products acts as an insurmountable barrier or a powerful disincentive for smokers”, says the editorial, stating:

“When considered with evidence that people who quit smoking long term gain an average of four years of life, full coverage of smoking cessation products among the 5.5 million Canadian smokers might be expected to result in 1.9 million life-years gained, at a cost of $220 for every life-year gained — a bargain compared with most other health interventions.

As an immediate first step, “all provincial drug formularies should begin reimbursing evidence-based smoking cessation therapies”, it says, adding, “This will provide coverage to smokers receiving social assistance and to those over 65 years of age.

“To treat the rest of Canada’s smokers, we should follow the lead of other countries and reimburse smoking cessation therapies for everyone.”

Where would the money come from?

The “substantial tax revenues collected with the sale of every tobacco product”.

Stay tuned.

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Canadian Medical Association Journal – Governments, pay for smoking cessation, August 30, 2010

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Paris Hilton officially nailed in cocaine charge

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:10:44 +0000

p2pnet view P2P:- Paris Hilton has now been officially charged with cocaine possession.

“The worst-case scenario would only be a few days in the pokey, right? – reckons the Vancouver Sun, going on:

“And besides, she was well overdue for an updated mug shot — one that shows off her new highlights. (The New York Daily News reports that Hilton wiled away Friday afternoon prettying up at a Las Vegas salon. Who wouldn’t want to have her picture taken after that — even by a booking officer?)”

But Hilton’s boyfriend, Cy Waits, “who was driving when the pair was pulled over because of a pesky ‘vapour trail’ of marijuana emanating from their Cadillac Escalade”, wasn’t just hit with a DUI arrest, says the story, adding:

“As E! News reports, Waits was booted from his job following the arrest. According to the outlet, Waits had just received a promotion at Wynn and Encore properties in Vegas and was their head of nightclub operations. ”

Meanwhile, Hilton’s lawyer, David Chesnoff, is “urging people not to presume anything about the situation”, says the Vancouver Sun.

“This matter will be dealt with in the courts, not in the media, and I encourage people not to rush to judgment until all of the facts have been dealt with in a court of law,” he states.

The clearly outdated mug shot on the right is from a Freaking News post.

Now you know.

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Vancouver Sun – Paris Hilton says she’s not worried about the cocaine bust, August 31, 2010

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Higher speeds for smaller Canadian ISPs

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:48:45 +0000

p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- TekSavvy CEO Rocky Gaudrault (right) isn’t overly impressed by the CRTC decision that Canada’s big telecom carriers must now give smaller ISPs access to their high-speed fiber networks at the same speed they offer to their own customers.

This “equal speeds decision is good for today, but future investments and our ability to innovate/differentiate are still hampered with the denial of adsl-co”, Gaudrault told p2pnet.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruling hasn’t pleased the monopoly companies either, despite the fact they can charge a 10% mark-up for providing the smaller ISPs with speed boosts

The mark-up “will not apply to access to existing Internet services, which the carriers, such as BCE Inc’s BCE.TO Bell Canada and Telus Corp, must continue to provide to the smaller Internet service providers (ISPs), the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said”, according to Reuters, which has CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein stating:

“Requiring these companies to provide access to their networks will lead to more opportunities for competition in retail Internet services and better serve consumers.”

The likes of Bell, Rogers and Telusa could “throttle” third-party services, by slowing them down or limiting downloads, notes the story, going on:

“The established carriers, which also include MTS Allstream, appealed a similar CRTC decision in 2009, saying they spend significant portions of their profits on expanding their networks and should not have to share expensive fiber cable with competitors at wholesale costs.”

The CRTC “also said that the country’s big cable companies must make it easier for the ISPs to gain access their networks to offer their services”, Reuters adds.

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Reuters – Canada’s small Internet providers get higher speed, August 30, 2010

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Google will ‘prioritize’ your email for you

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:26:52 +0000

p2pnet view P2P | Advertising:- Online adco Google says it wants to censor your email —- but in a friendly, Googly way.

People get a lot of (G)mail “that isn’t outright junk but isn’t very important—bologna, or ‘bacn’,” it blogs.

Enter Priority Inbox, a “filter” to not only classify outright spam, “but also to help users separate this ‘bologna’ from the important stuff”.

“In a way” says Gargle, “Priority Inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules.”

How will it censor your email on your behalf?

By reading it before you do.

“Gmail uses a variety of signals to predict which messages are important, including the people you email most (if you email Bob a lot, a message from Bob is probably important) and which messages you open and reply to (these are likely more important than the ones you skip over)”, it says, going on >>>

And as you use Gmail, it will get better at categorizing messages for you. You can help it get better by clicking the or buttons at the top of the inbox to correctly mark a conversation as important or not important. (You can even set up filters to always mark certain things important or unimportant, or rearrange and customize the three inbox sections.)

“Priority Inbox will be rolling out to all Gmail users, including those of you who use Google Apps, over the next week or so”, says Google, adding:

“Once you see the ‘New! Priority Inbox’ link in the top right corner of your Gmail account (or the new Priority Inbox tab in Gmail Settings), take a look.”

Scary.

No thanks.

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blogs – Email overload? Try Priority Inbox, August 30, 2010

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‘We don’t spy on Canadians’, says CSIS

Jon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:00:33 +0000

p2pnet view Freedom | P2P:- Canada’s spy agency has torn a page from Google’s implausible deniability book.

When the Google’s Street View SnoopMobiles were caught after three years of collecting data from unsecured WiFi systems, it claimed it was all just an ‘accident’.

Statements by an ex-Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) operative suggested the agency secretly monitors public library computers, emails and web sites for ‘key words’.

Ex-CSIS operator Michel Juneau-Katsuya (right) told the Ottawa Citizen alleged ‘terror’ cell ringleader Hiva Alizadeh “used Ottawa Public Library computers to communicate with other members of the Ottawa-based cell”, said p2pnet yesterday, quoting the Montreal Gazette.

“Internet messages among the men triggered computer ’sniffers’ monitoring electronic signals at Ottawa’s Communication’s Security Establishment, the national cryptologic agency, which alerted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)”, said the story, which had Juneau-Katsuya stating >>>

They wanted to hit Parliament Hill and there was discussion of going against public transportation in Montreal because one of the guys had studied there and knew the system.

One of the (CSE) filters picked up their chat. The way the system is established, we’ve got red flags everywhere and you can trip one of those flags anytime.

If you’re travelling to Pakistan, that’s a red flag. If you’re going on certain web sites, that’s another red flag, and if you use in e-mail certain key words. When you’ve got enough red flags, then you become a person of interest. My understanding is they were caught from the Internet.

But No Worries, says CSIS. If does pick up private emails or cellphone chats, it’s “unintentional”.

A Montreal Gazette follow-up has Communications Security Establishment (CSE) spokesman Adrian Simpson promising “the agency only spies on the electronic communication of foreign targets — non-Canadians living outside of Canada”.

According to the story, he said the only way the agency “would be able to pick up the communications of a Canadian is if that foreign entity corresponded with a Canadian.”

“Three Ontario men — all Canadian citizens — were arrested last week”, it says, adding:

“Authorities allege the men conspired with individuals or groups in Canada and abroad, including in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan, to carry out terrorist activities.”

But “Legal experts have said that one area that defence lawyers will likely scrutinize is how authorities went about collecting the suspects’ communications.”

(Cheers, Marc)

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p2pnet – ‘Terrorist’ suspects ’sniffed’ online, August 30, 2010
Montreal Gazette – Montreal métro, Parliament Hill reported terror targets, August 28, 2010
Montreal Gazette – We don’t peek into emails or eavesdrop on Canadians: Spy agency, August 30, 2010

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