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Journal Journal: IT Non-profit as a post-retirement career? 2

Journal by paganizer

I'm bored.
I retired on disability back in 2002, spending the previous 20+ years as a WAN admin, Network Engineer, Security consultant, Unix SysAdmin, Computer retail store owner, Navy Electronics Tech, etc, etc.
While sitting around playing computer games and working on open source projects is fun, it is starting to get a little old.
I've been thinking fairly seriously about starting a not-for-profit business; recycling old computers for use by cash-strapped schools, libraries and l

Feed Techdirt: Washington State Sues Company For Fake Error Messages (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
For years, questionable "software" firms would buy up ads that pretended to look like computer warning messages telling you that your computer was at risk. Then there were scamming companies that would include a web-based "test" of your computer to see if it was at risk -- and, of course, it always found that you were. The scam is just to get you to download (and buy) their software which rarely does anything (and most of the time you don't need it). The FTC had cracked down on these companies a while back, but it appears at least some are still in business. Washington state is now suing a software company that apparently did something similar sending messages to computer users claiming "CRITICAL ERROR!" and demanding that they download the company's product immediately to repair the problem. Of course, there was almost never an actual problem... but the software cost $40.

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Feed news.com: Facebook being used to recruit spies (cnet.com)

From feed by cnetfeed

Featured links from the CNET Blog Network

Facebook being used to recruit spies -- It has emerged that Britain's Secret Service has admitted to using Facebook to recruit tomorrow's James Bonds.

Adding a second router: living with the new setup -- What it's like to use a high value computer after it has been protected with a second router.

Use Web apps offline with Google Gears -- Although the offline-browsing technology is currently available only for a small number of sites, Gears can keep you working--sort of--when your Internet connection fails.

Zarafa: Open-source e-mail gets competitive -- Zimbra used to rule the roost in the open-source e-mail world. Now Zarafa is giving it a run for its money.
Censorship

Submission + - W3C.org Censored in Finland (proliferationoflinux.org)

Submitted by
k33l0r
k33l0r writes: "The web site of W3C, w3.org or w3c.org, was briefly censored (Google Translation) by at least some of the local ISPs. For an unknown reason the URL was mistakenly entered into the Federal Police's censor database. Some of the Finnish ISPs use the database to filter out questionable content such as child pornography. The censor database is itself already highly questionable and largely ineffective, as online activist Matti Nikki writes:

For example a document that goes by the name "Railaksen Selvitys" and dated 2005-12-16 lists several critical problems and unanswered questions regarding the censorship. These problems are listed in the very beginning of the document and include things like effectiveness of the filtering solutions, the problem of collateral damage when censorship affects more material than it should, freedom of speech, what kind of crimes the censorship should exactly target, etc. Most of these went unanswered and the problems are seen with the current implementation of the censorship. Some of the issues were only addressed partially, for example the freedom of speech regarding reception of illegal material was touched but the police has now been found censoring even sites that do not contain illegal material themselves. What is being practiced now isn't what was planned.

This isn't the first time that a site has been wrongly blocked; at least for a period in the past the lapsiporno.info site protesting against the filtering, maintained by Matti Nikki, was blocked. (NB. 'Lapsiporno' is 'child pornography' in Finnish, but the Lapsiporno.info site has nothing to do with pornography, or indeed any other sordid materials)"
United States

Submission + - DOJ puts pressure over NAND to boost industry (mercurynews.com)

Submitted by Ep0xi
Ep0xi writes: The Department of Justice said Friday that it has begun an antitrust investigation of the NAND flash-memory industry, a volatile business where price swings are dramatic and profits substantial.

Feed Techdirt: Russia Cracking Down On Software Piracy... But Only On Gov't Critics? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
It's no secret that the US has been pressuring Russia to crack down on intellectual property abuses which are rampant throughout the country. And, in fact, there's been some evidence that Russia is now trying to crack down on abuses in order to keep the US happy (and aid its own chances in joining the WTO). However, some are suggesting that while things like unauthorized software use is rampant almost everywhere in Russia, the only ones who are being targeted in the "crackdown" happen to be those who are critical of the current Russian government. Perhaps the authorities in Russia saw it as a way of killing two birds with one stone: show a crackdown on companies using unauthorized software to make the US happy... and come up with something to use to silence local government critics. Remember how the Big Copyright players were claiming that file sharing helps support terrorism (without any real evidence to support it)? Does that mean we can now claim that cracking down on software "piracy" helps stifle gov't dissent? Yes, it's ridiculous, but it's no less ridiculous than the terrorism claims.
Space

Submission + - French Threat to ID Secret US Satellites (beskerming.com)

Submitted by
SkiifGeek
SkiifGeek writes: "Space.com has reported that the French have identified numerous objects in orbit that do not appear in the ephemeris data reported by the US Space Surveillance Network. Since the US has claimed that if it doesn't appear in the ephemeris data, then it doesn't exist, and the French claim that at least some of the objects have solar arrays, it seems that the French have found secret US satellites.

While the French don't plan to release the information publicly, they are planning to use it as leverage to get the US to suppress reporting of sensitive French satellites in their published ephemeris.

The Graves surveillance radar (the French system) and a comparable German system may form the basis of a pan-European Space Surveillance network — another system that the Europeans don't want to rely on the US for."
The Internet

Thieves Hacking Security Cameras? 181

Posted by samzenpus from the steal-from-home dept.
The FBI is investigating fifteen store robberies in eleven states, committed via phone and internet. The perpetrators hack the store's security system so they can observe their victims. They then make customers take their clothes off and get the store to wire money. From the article, "A telephone caller making a bomb threat to a Hutchinson, Kan., grocery store kept more than 100 people hostage, demanding they disrobe and that the store wire money to his bank account. ... officials were investigating whether the caller was out of state and may have hacked into the store's security system. "If they can access the Internet, they can get to anything," Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt said. "Anyone in the whole world could have access, if that's what really happened.""
Software

Submission + - GPL Violations On Windows Go Unnoticed?

Submitted by Scott_F
Scott_F writes: I recently reviewed several commercial, closed-source slideshow authoring packages for Windows and came across an alarming trend. Several of the packages I installed included GPL and LGPL software without any mention of the GPL, much less source code. For example, DVD Photo Slideshow (www.dvd-photo-slideshow.com) included mkisofs, cdrdao, dvdauthor, spumux, id3lib, lame, mpeg2enc and mplex (all of which are GPL or LGPL). What's worse is that the company tried to hide this by wrapping them all in DLL's! There are other violations in other packages as well. It seems that use of GPL software in commercial Windows applications is on the rise based on my testing of other software. My question is how much are GPL violations in the Windows world being pursued? Does the FSF or EFF follow-up on these if the platform is not GPL? How aware is the community of this trend?
United States

Submission + - Homeland Security Commissions LED-based Puke-Saber (foxnews.com)

Submitted by
E++99
E++99 writes: "Homeland Security has contracted with Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc. to develop an "LED Incapacitator," a nonlethal weapon consisting of a large flashlight with a cluster of LEDs capable of emitting "super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths." Sounds innocuous enough... until they they shine "the evil color" at you and you start puking! A working prototype has been completed, and they will soon be putting it through its paces. Homeland Security hopes to give it to Border Patrol agents and National Guardsmen by 2010."

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