Right now several major websites are holding an Internet blackout over Congresses coquettish attempt at regulating the web for the IP industry. Sites like wikipedia have decided to ‘blackout’ their website in order to raise awareness about this issue. Maybe they’re succeeding, maybe they are not. At this point it doesn’t really matter.
Last weekend, in response to petitions made via We the People on WhiteHouse.gov the Obama administration clarified what they would and would not support in an anti-piracy bill; which means they wont be supporting the two bills that congress is debating (unless they are changed drastically). This is a good example responsible citizenry influencing policy, using tools available to express their will to their government. Effective democracy effectively killed these bills before sites like wikipedia could put together their high profile protest.
So rather than use the moment to highlight a bill that is already dead in the water, I’d rather use the moment to point out this tool.
For issues related to privacy, freedom of information etc, EFF generally has petitions that you can support. They make it easy for you and do the legwork. EFF.org and (http://blacklists.eff.org for this issues specifically)
"We the People" is an online tool that the White House set up to allow the citizenry to petition the administration to take action on any issue. Petitions with enough support are reviewed by White House staff, sent to appropriate policy experts, and garner an official response. You might also consider checking the Open Government Initiative website as it has links to Federal Agency websites that may have similar tools.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Friday, September 9, 2011
Three years to the date...
I started the free-chrome project three years ago as a public service providing a binary of Chromium for others who couldn't...
At that time Chrome had a really terrible EULA. The agreement would legally "give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and nonexclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services." (story on gizmodo). They would essentially inherit rights to anything you posted or wrote using Chrome.
When I saw the legal implications of the EULA, I decided to compile my own version of Chrome from the Chromium source code. With the huge outcry about the EULA, it occurred to me that others might want to use Chomium as well. The free-chrome project was born. Later that month Google did the right thing and changed the EULA.
I provided binaries for Chromium until version five (sometime in 2009). This was before they decided to include flash player in the Chromium build. Once they put flash in Chromium the game was up. The browser was no longer the light, nimble piece of software that I had loved. It began to take on a trend... Chromium and Chrome in general became bloatware.
I toyed with the idea of just maintaining a branch of Chromium that only implemented security patches at version five. Updates and patches flood that project however... it was and is just too much for one guy to dive into... Eventually I lost interest in even considering it and haven't been able to rekindle interest since. It's been over a year and so it is time for me to admit that i'm no longer maintaining the project. Three years to the date..
At that time Chrome had a really terrible EULA. The agreement would legally "give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and nonexclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services." (story on gizmodo). They would essentially inherit rights to anything you posted or wrote using Chrome.
When I saw the legal implications of the EULA, I decided to compile my own version of Chrome from the Chromium source code. With the huge outcry about the EULA, it occurred to me that others might want to use Chomium as well. The free-chrome project was born. Later that month Google did the right thing and changed the EULA.
I provided binaries for Chromium until version five (sometime in 2009). This was before they decided to include flash player in the Chromium build. Once they put flash in Chromium the game was up. The browser was no longer the light, nimble piece of software that I had loved. It began to take on a trend... Chromium and Chrome in general became bloatware.
I toyed with the idea of just maintaining a branch of Chromium that only implemented security patches at version five. Updates and patches flood that project however... it was and is just too much for one guy to dive into... Eventually I lost interest in even considering it and haven't been able to rekindle interest since. It's been over a year and so it is time for me to admit that i'm no longer maintaining the project. Three years to the date..
Thursday, September 1, 2011
VIM does not have spell-check
Back in 2008 I released a program called USB History Dump. It's a program that I wrote in C that is used to trace evidence of USB thumb-drive activity from the Windows Registry. It's one of the more useful pieces of code that i've written. Like most of my code it's written to be compiled in Pelles C (it uses some compiler specific string functions) and I wrote it in VIM (much preferable to the editor in Pelles C). I spent a bit of time on it using some more advanced techniques in C like linked lists and such.
Today I was reviewing the code (i'm considering updating it and maybe adding a feature or two) when I noticed the most embarrassing thing... and it's right in the beginning of my code..
Yeah you catch that? USB History Dumb, not Dump. What the heck... a few years and several thousand downloads later... how many people noticed that i wonder?
Today I was reviewing the code (i'm considering updating it and maybe adding a feature or two) when I noticed the most embarrassing thing... and it's right in the beginning of my code..
/* * usbHistory.c - USB History Dumb * a tool to extract USB Trace Evidence * (c) nabiy . http://nabiy.sdf1.org * This program uses non-standard generic string functions * compile with Pelles C http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/ * or switch them with standard strings functions. */
#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN #define WIN32_DEFAULT_LIBSYeah you catch that? USB History Dumb, not Dump. What the heck... a few years and several thousand downloads later... how many people noticed that i wonder?
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Mohammed Nabbous
I woke up this morning to the news of Mohammed Nabbous death. Like many people I had been following his livestream and catching his reports via twitter. He gave real coverage to what was going on in Libya, investigating, interviewing, gathering first hand accounts.
When Gaddafi declared a ceasefire, Mo drove around Benghazi to show the world that his words did not reflect what was really happening on the ground. I think this is a huge loss for not only citizen journalism but for journalism, Libya and the world. He quite likely would have been one of the new leaders in Libya. I hope things turn out well there and honor the sacrifice he and citizens like him are making.
When Gaddafi declared a ceasefire, Mo drove around Benghazi to show the world that his words did not reflect what was really happening on the ground. I think this is a huge loss for not only citizen journalism but for journalism, Libya and the world. He quite likely would have been one of the new leaders in Libya. I hope things turn out well there and honor the sacrifice he and citizens like him are making.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
genetic intolerance
I read something today that really irritated me. It was an article on antisemitism (full article here). Actually, calling it an article is too generous. I'd call it a poorly written rant on 'Anti-Semitic Slurs'. Anyways, onto the portion that gave me grievance.
By implication, they are saying Jews do not have a certain gene that distinguishes them from others. This is hogwash. As a people, of course they have a gene that distinguishes them from other peoples! Genetic genealogy is built on this fact. Real genetic difference also has practical application in the medical field, even for those of Jewish heritage. This is real science. If someone says your racial heritage has a distinct gene by itself it is a statement of fact, not a slur.
This kind of prejudice and intolerance toward any science or remark that is remotely connected to Eugenics (a valid science) is just bigotry. The fact that it is published often in major liberal media groups is the quintessence of hypocrisy.
The economist: "All Jews have a certain gene … that distinguishes them from others." That remark, reminiscent of the master-race thinking of Nazi Germany, comes from Thilo Sarrazin, an economist who once sat on the board of Germany's central bank.
By implication, they are saying Jews do not have a certain gene that distinguishes them from others. This is hogwash. As a people, of course they have a gene that distinguishes them from other peoples! Genetic genealogy is built on this fact. Real genetic difference also has practical application in the medical field, even for those of Jewish heritage. This is real science. If someone says your racial heritage has a distinct gene by itself it is a statement of fact, not a slur.
This kind of prejudice and intolerance toward any science or remark that is remotely connected to Eugenics (a valid science) is just bigotry. The fact that it is published often in major liberal media groups is the quintessence of hypocrisy.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Is there a Santa Claus?
Printed on September 21, 1897 in New York's Sun.
Yes, there is. link on newseum.org
"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Yes, there is. link on newseum.org
Monday, December 6, 2010
Condor Cluster
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