Now the EFF informs us that your investment in Microsoft DRM-laden tracks may be wasted if you hope to take them on the road with Zune: In yesterday’s announcement of the new Zune media player and Zune Marketplace, Microsoft (and many press reports) glossed over a remarkable misfeature that should demonstrate once and for all [...]
According to the New York Times: Those briefed on the company’s review of the operation say detectives tried to plant software on at least one journalist’s computer that would enable messages to be traced, and also followed directors and possibly a journalist in an attempt to identify a leaker on the board. I don’t tend [...]
MacOS X software is commonly distributed in an installer package file which allows the user to easily add new programs to their system by double-clicking an icon and dragging a program to the folder where applications are stored. According to various sources, there is a problem with the MacOS X installer program. Six weeks ago, [...]
Inter Press Service reports More than 43 million children living in conflict-affected countries are not able to attend school, according to a new report released Tuesday by the International Save the Children Alliance, which called on donor countries and multilateral agencies to commit 5.8 billion dollars a year to address the problem. Relatedly, CommonDreams.org carries [...]
LISnews reports that J.K. Rowling might have chosen not to fly home if she couldn’t take a copy of her latest Harry Potter book with her instead of trusting it to airline luggage handlers. You’ll forgive me if I have no pity when someone worth billions of dollars is mildly inconvenienced to the point where [...]
Apple released a new version of their proprietary music player iTunes. iTunes is both a music player program and a music download service. Apparently this new version can make your purchased iTunes music vanish and only the administrators at Apple can restore what you lost if you made no backups of your own. When you [...]
Apparently the BBC can’t be bothered to name Sen. Clinton’s opponent, Jonathan Tasini, who was basically excluded from any real competition by colluding media opposition to Tasini’s campaign: In New York, former First Lady Mrs Clinton trounced an anti-war candidate by an 83-17% margin for the chance to face Republican John Spencer in the mid-terms. [...]
Andreas Jaeger on Novell’s GNU/Linux distribution discusses Novell’s decision to stop distributing proprietary kernel modules but speaks favorably of distributing proprietary software as a “user’s choice”. The difference between kernel modules and “userland” programs is easily lost when viewed in terms of a user’s software freedom. Jaeger says that he agrees with Groklaw’s Pamela Jones [...]
Danny Katch, field coordinator, Hawkins for Senate, New York City in the Socialist Worker: Many progressives will argue that supporting a third party is unrealistic, and that Ned Lamont’s primary victory is proof that they are “taking back” the Democratic Party. It looks more like it’s the Democratic Party that is once again taking them [...]
Or, put differently, if you get people asking the wrong questions you don’t have to care about the answers they give. The BBC reports on “Concerns over security software” and fails to account for the value of giving users software freedom. The bottom line, according to Mr Day, is that when you download free security [...]
GNU Software Freedom Law Center FSF blogs Electronic Frontier Foundation Nina Paley