05.26.08
The Monopolistic Digital Suppression Act (aka ACTA)
Only a couple of days ago, Glyn Moody mentioned and warned about the ACTA. Readers’ attention is advised. It should ideally be diverted the following large-scale document that has just been posted to a blog. Accompanying remarks from Hans at LXer:
[This is news because May 22th a discussion paper appeared at WikiLeaks. In March, when it was yet unknown what ACTA would look like, IP Justice published the white paper the ‘Full Story” links too. It’s a paper about how the rich governments try to almost forbid P2P, stifle innovation through broader ‘piracy protection’, colonize poor countries and create more opportunities to spy on its citizens. All that in a secret undemocratic way; taking away digital rights. However, their excuses are quite good: Stopping dangerous fake-medicines, car parts etc. - hkwint]
In a separate yet related context, namely encryption of E-mail, especially now that Britain intends to snoop on every bit of communication, the following came up yesterday in conversation with a reader: “FWIW you’ll have to look for the original, to be authoritative, but here is a copy. Note points 29-33.”
All of this is related laterally to what we cover in this Web site. Think along the lines of “Trusted Computing” (computers that won’t trust you), back doors, DRM, borderless network filtering (censorship), software patents and DMCA law. All those Orwellian things which Free software prepared to combat are trying to raise their ugly heads with the help of politicians. Be alert and spread the knowledge. █
“If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today.”
–Bill Gates
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.