[Quote:]

The Nosoftware Patents site is reporting that Bill Gates told the Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen that 800 jobs would go if the country opposed the European Union’s proposed directive on software patents.

It quotes a report in Danish newspaper B�rsen, which alleges that Gates told Ramissen and two other Danish ministers last November that 800 jobs at Navision would go unless the EU passed the directive.

The ginger group also alleges today that the CEO of Philips put pressure on the Dutch government to support the proposed directive.

The article from the Danish newspaper is here.

This is what Groklaw has to say about it:

[Quote:]

If you have ever wondered what Bill Gates says when he flies to Europe to meet with heads of state, we now have clarity, as business dudes might put it. Here’s an article in Danish on precisely what Bill told Denmark he’d do if they opposed the software patents directive, followed by a rough translation by an alert Groklaw reader there, one of several to send this item to us:

“Stifteren af verdens st�rste softwarevirksomhed Bill Gates er nu parat til at lukke Navision i Danmark og flytte de knap 800 udviklere bag Danmarks st�rste softwaresucces til USA.”

The founder of the world’s largest software company, Bill Gates, is now ready to shut down Navision in Denmark and move around 800 developers behind Denmarks biggest software success to the US.

“Det slog Microsoft-chefen fast, da han i november m�dtes med statsminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen (V), samt �konomi- og erhvervsminister Bendt Bendtsen (K), og videnskabsminister Helge Sander (V). ”

The Microsoft leader made that clear, when he meet with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Economic and Business Minister Bendt Bendtsen and Science Minister Helge Sander in November.

“Truslen risikerer at blive f�rt ud i livet, hvis det lykkes dele af IT-branchen at f� blokeret et omstridt EU-direktiv om patenter p� software, som Microsoft for alt i verden gerne vil have vedtaget, men som gang p� gang er blevet forhalet takket v�re modstandernes effektive lobbyarbejde. ”

The threat risks being executet, if part of the IT business manages to block the disputed EU directive on patenting software, that Microsoft wants so dearly, but time and time again has been postponed thanks to efficient lobbying by anti-patent opposition.

“�Hvis jeg skal beholde mit udviklingscenter i Danmark, kr�ver det, at der kommer en afklaring p� rettighedssp�rgsm�let. Ellers flytter jeg det til USA, hvor jeg kan beskytte mine rettigheder,� sagde Bill Gates if�lge Microsofts chefjurist Marianne Wier, der ogs� deltog p� m�det med Anders Fogh Rasmussen.”

“If I am to keep my development center in Denmark, I must have clearity on the rights issue. Otherwise I will move to the US, where I can protect my rights,” said Gates according to to Microsoft chief attorney Marianne Wier, who also attended the meeting with Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

So, how do you like it? Still want to use this nice man’s software? Here’s FFII’s statement. “B�rsen”, I’m told, is the largest financial daily in Denmark, sort of like our Wall St. Journal.

Speaking of rights, you all have the right to stop using Microsoft software, you know. Thanks to Richard Stallman and his GNU Project, Linus Torvalds, and thousands and thousands of good-hearted and skilled programmers who cared enough to give the world some very fine software, you actually do have a choice. If enough companies, individuals, and governments make that choice, this kind of bullying would be so over.

I have never heard a bigger load of baloney in all my life. It doesn’t matter one teensy bit where the software is or was developed; if it has patent protection in the US, then infringing those patents in the US is unlawful, no matter where the software was developed. Conversely, moving the development to the US wouldn’t magically give the software patent protection in the EU. The obvious reply by Denmark would have been:

“Hey, that’s actually interesting. That would free up a lot of highly skilled IT professionals and we need those to help us migrate all the public IT systems to Open Source solutions”.

MARCELLUS

Let’s follow; ’tis not fit thus to obey him.

HORATIO

Have after. To what issue will this come?

MARCELLUS

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

HORATIO

Heaven will direct it.

MARCELLUS

Nay, let’s follow him.

[Quote:]

One of the most important rules of stream ciphers is to never use the same keystream to encrypt two different documents. If someone does, you can break the encryption by XORing the two ciphertext streams together. The keystream drops out, and you end up with plaintext XORed with plaintext — and you can easily recover the two plaintexts using letter frequency analysis and other basic techniques.

It’s an amateur crypto mistake. The easy way to prevent this attack is to use a unique initialization vector (IV) in addition to the key whenever you encrypt a document.

Microsoft uses the RC4 stream cipher in both Word and Excel. And they make this mistake. According to a paper by Hongjun Wu: “In this report, we point out a serious security flaw in Microsoft Word and Excel. The stream cipher RC4 [9] with key length up to 128 bits is used in Microsoft Word and Excel to protect the documents. But when an encrypted document gets modified and saved, the initialization vector remains the same and thus the same keystream generated from RC4 is applied to encrypt the different versions of that document. The consequence is disastrous since a lot of information of the document could be recovered easily.”

This isn’t new. Microsoft made the same mistake in 1999 with RC4 in WinNT Syskey. Five years later, Microsoft has the same flaw in other products.

The report (PDF)

Microsoft’s 1999 mistake

[Quote:]

For at least seven months last year, a hacker had access to T-Mobile’s customer network. He’s known to have accessed information belonging to 400 customers — names, Social Security numbers, voicemail messages, SMS messages, photos — and probably had the ability to access data belonging to any of T-Mobile’s 16.3 million U.S. customers. But in its fervor to report on the security of cell phones, and T-Mobile in particular, the media missed the most important point of the story: The security of much of our data is not under our control.

This is new. A dozen years ago, if someone wanted to look through your mail, they would have to break into your house. Now they can just break into your ISP. Ten years ago, your voicemail was on an answering machine in your house; now it’s on a computer owned by a telephone company. Your financial data is on websites protected only by passwords. The list of books you browse, and the books you buy, is stored in the computers of some online bookseller. Your affinity card allows your supermarket to know what food you like. Data that used to be under your direct control is now controlled by others.

We have no choice but to trust these companies with our privacy, even though the companies have little incentive to protect that privacy. T-Mobile suffered some bad press for its lousy security, nothing more. It’ll spend some money improving its security, but it’ll be security designed to protect its reputation from bad PR, not security designed to protect the privacy of its customers.

This loss of control over our data has other effects, too. Our protections against police abuse have been severely watered down. The courts have ruled that the police can search your data without a warrant, as long as that data is held by others. The police need a warrant to read the e-mail on your computer; but they don’t need one to read it off the backup tapes at your ISP. According to the Supreme Court, that’s not a search as defined by the 4th Amendment.

This isn’t a technology problem, it’s a legal problem. The courts need to recognize that in the information age, virtual privacy and physical privacy don’t have the same boundaries. We should be able to control our own data, regardless of where it is stored. We should be able to make decisions about the security and privacy of that data, and have legal recourse should companies fail to honor those decisions. And just as the Supreme Court eventually ruled that tapping a telephone was a Fourth Amendment search, requiring a warrant — even though it occurred at the phone company switching office — the Supreme Court must recognize that reading e-mail at an ISP is no different.

That’s one of the many reasons I host my own servers (mail, web, etc).

Google Maps is now available at http://maps.google.com. Besides giving you locations and directions, you can perform searches on different topics, so are some searches and top results in Washington, DC:

“joke” yields George W Bush, American Associates of Physicists in Medicine (click here to see for yourself)

anarchy: President of the United States, Watergate East, Public Health Foundation, District of Columbia Public Relations

assholes: Evans Novak Political Report, Kenneth Starr

bankrupt: Planet Hollywood, Small Business Survival Committee, Better Business Bureau of Metro DC, Board on Professional Responsibility

beheading: Nothing But Doughnuts, Embassies of Armenia & Bulgaria, Unification Church of Washington

bezoar (hairball): Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

brothel: DC Government: System Administration

cocaine: National Security Archive, Embassy of Mexico

communists: Trilateral Commission, Embassies of Mongolia and Romania, National Home Equity Mortgage Association, American Red Cross, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, National Public Radio, American Free Press

crystal meth: Debtors Anonymous, National Associations Convenience Stores, Recording Industry Association of America

cunnilingus: Kenneth Starr, John Paul II Institute, Asian and Pacific Islander Partnership for Health, Embassy of Israel

distorted: Associated Press, American Library Association, Securities & Exchange Commission

dope: Capitol Hill Publishing, Embassy of Israel, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Conservative Caucus

dope fiend: Planet Hollywood, US China Policy Foundation

douchebags: National Peace Corps Association, Nader 2000, Democratic National Committee

drunkard: Citizens For A Sound Economy, Catholic News Service, American Society For Industrial Security

ecstacy: Virginia Tech Undergraduate Admissions, Catholic University Graduate Studies

fascists: BBC News, Associated Press, Embassy of Italy, Robert Dole, Human Rights Access

fellatio: Kenneth Starr, The Family Institute, American Association of University Professors

hypocrite: Americans for Tax Reform, National Indian Gaming Association, Senator Paul Sarbanes, Friends of the Earth

ignorant asshole: Christian Coalition, Consulate of Ecuador, Alexandria Public Schools – TC Williams High

imbecile: Nuclear Energy Institute, Bush Cheney 04, Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Democratic National Committee

liar: George W Bush, Embassy of Honduras

load of crap: Coalition To Stop Gun Violence, Commission On Presidential Debates, Council For A Liveable World Education Fund

lying sack of shit: The Board on Professional Responsibility, CNN, Commission of Presidential Debates, George W Bush

marijuana: Renewable Energy Policy Project, Executive Conference & Training Center at Tysons Corner, Comptroller of the Currency

miserable failure: George W Bush, NBC 4, Embassy of Australia

nymphomaniac: Embassy of Peoples Republic of China, The White House

oral sex: Xerox Corporation Government Sales, Employers Council on Flexible Compensation

orgasm: Migraine Awareness Group, DC Society of Young Professionals

orgy: New Democrat Network, Commission on Presidential Debates, Whole Foods Market, National Public Radio

putz: Club for Growth

prostitution: United Press International, Radio Free Europe, Americans For Our Heritage Recreation

psychotic: Dupont Clinical Research, Recording INdustry Association of America, CHurch of Scientology, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, The Endocrine Society

rotflmao (rolling on the floor laughing my ass off): Middle East Media & Research Institute, Georgetown Aveda Salon & Spa, Consumer Federation of America, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Christian Action Council, Democratic National Committee, Bush Cheney 04, C-SPAN

rtfm (read the f’in manual): US Government Clerk’s Office/Information, Embassy of Pakistan Army Navy & Air Attaches, UUNET Technologies

scrotum: Leather Rack, Statistical Assessment Service, Starbucks Coffee

sleazy: Planned Parenthood, Club For Growth, Public Citizen: Global Trade Watch

subterfuge: National Easter Seal Society, Youth Law Center, Robert Kennedy Memorial

turd: Arena Rotisserie Chicken, City of College Park Recreation Department

warped: Cisco Systems Gov’t Affairs, Project for Excellence in Journalism, Federal Railroad Administration

weapons of mass destruction: The Fertilizer Institute, Physicians For Social Responsibility of Baltimore

worthless: Mail Boxes Etc, Citizens for Tax Justice, American Association for the Advancement of Science

[Quote:]

President Bush’s planned ballistic missile shield suffered another setback on Monday when an interceptor missile again failed to launch during a test of the U.S. missile defense system.

The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency said it could not complete the planned $85 million repeat of a failed December test after the interceptor missile failed to launch from its base in the Pacific Ocean.

Why don’t we start a “No ballistic missile left behind” program to hold the missile accountable, and reward missiles for perfomance???

Is our missile learning?

[Quote:]

Spanish prosecutors are seeking a total of 222,000 years in prison and nearly $1.17 billion in fines for three suspects accused of aiding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The punishments are among a total of 230,000 years of prison terms sought for 24 suspects held in jail on charges of belonging to an al Qaeda unit in Spain, according to court documents filed Monday.

The trial was due to start this month but has been delayed indefinitely because of a backlog of cases at the High Court.

The prison terms correspond to all the charges, including 2,973 murders for those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks, but Spanish law would limit jail sentences to a maximum of 40 years.

[Quote:]

De Europese grondwet kan rekenen op de steun van 29 procent van de Nederlandse bevolking. Ruim 42 procent van de mensen die zeggen mee te gaan doen aan het referendum over de grondwet, zal tegenstemmen. Dat blijkt uit een peiling van Maurice de Hond, in opdracht van de NOS.

Ruim 40 procent van de Nederlandse stemgerechtigden is van plan te gaan stemmen. Drie weken geleden was dat percentage ongeveer hetzelfde. Het aantal tegenstemmers steeg wel fors, van 34 naar 42 procent.

Laten we ‘s kijken. Wie heeft de macht in Europa volgens de nieuwe grondwet? Zie artikel I-26:

I-26 De Europese Commissie

1.
De Commissie bevordert het algemeen belang van de Unie en neemt daartoe passende initiatieven.

Zij ziet toe op de toepassing zowel van de Grondwet als van de maatregelen die de instellingen krachtens de Grondwet vaststellen.

Onder de controle van het Hof van Justitie van de Europese Unie ziet zij toe op de toepassing van het recht van de Unie.

Zij voert de begroting uit en beheert de programma’s.

Zij oefent onder de bij de Grondwet bepaalde voorwaarden co�rdinerende, uitvoerende en beheerstaken uit.

Zij zorgt voor de externe vertegenwoordiging van de Unie, behalve wat betreft het gemeenschappelijk buitenlands en veiligheidsbeleid en de andere bij de Grondwet bepaalde gevallen.

Zij neemt de initiatieven tot de jaarlijkse en meerjarige programmering van de Unie om interinstitutionele akkoorden tot stand te brengen.

2.
Tenzij in de Grondwet anders is bepaald, kunnen wetgevingshandelingen van de Unie alleen op voorstel van de Commissie worden vastgesteld. Andere handelingen worden op voorstel van de Commissie vastgesteld in de gevallen waarin de Grondwet daarin voorziet.

En hoe komen we aan een Commissie?

4. De leden van de Commissie worden op grond van hun algemene bekwaamheid en Europese inzet gekozen uit personen die alle waarborgen voor onafhankelijkheid bieden.

5.
De eerste Commissie die wordt benoemd krachtens de Grondwet, bestaat uit ��n onderdaan van iedere lidstaat, met inbegrip van de voorzitter van de Commissie en van de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken van de Unie, die een van de vice-voorzitters van de Commissie is.

6.
Vanaf het verstrijken van de ambtstermijn van de in lid 5 bedoelde Commissie bestaat de Commissie uit een aantal leden, met inbegrip van de voorzitter van de Commissie en van de minister van Buitenlandse Zaken van de Unie, dat overeenstemt met tweederde van het aantal lidstaten, tenzij de Europese Raad met eenparigheid van stemmen besluit dit aantal te wijzigen.

De leden van de Commissie worden volgens een toerbeurtsysteem op basis van gelijkheid tussen de lidstaten, uit de onderdanen van de lidstaten gekozen. Dit systeem wordt door de Europese Raad met eenparigheid van stemmen vastgesteld bij een Europees besluit dat op de volgende beginselen wordt gebaseerd:

a)
de lidstaten worden volstrekt gelijk behandeld wat betreft de bepaling van de volgorde en de ambtstermijn van hun onderdanen als leden van de Commissie; derhalve kan het verschil tussen het totale aantal mandaten van onderdanen van twee willekeurige lidstaten nooit meer dan ��n bedragen;
b)
behoudens het bepaalde onder a), weerspiegelt de samenstelling van de Commissie te allen tijde in voldoende mate de demografische en geografische verscheidenheid van alle lidstaten.

HOE worden leden van de commissie gekozen? In eerdere versies van de tekst stond het nog gewoon open en bloot vermeld: vriendjespolitiek. In de huidige versie is elke verwijzing naar het feitelijk kiezen van leden van de commissie verwijderd. Men kan dus doen wat men wil, alles mag volgens de grondwet, zolang de samenstelling maar voldoet aan “in voldoende mate de demografische en geografische verscheidenheid”.

Oftewel, de Unie is zeer beslist geen democratie. Rest ons om “Nee” te stemmen net zo lang tot dit gat op fatsoenlijke wijze gedicht is.

[Quote:]

The world’s largest mobile phone maker Nokia and software giant Microsoft struck a deal on Monday to make it easier for consumers to buy digital music on-line and play it back on their handsets. In a comprehensive agreement, which involves a separate deal with digital media company Loudeye, Nokia agreed to put Microsoft’s music player software into its handsets.

Except in Europe, of course, where Microsoft will be forced to ship “Microsoft Reduced Ring-Tone Phones” by the European Commission.

[Quote:]

Internet Protocol, the language of most online communications, was supposed to have revolutionized the way we watch television by now, enabling a wide range of multimedia bells and whistles: from multiple camera angles to on-screen Web searches while viewing Gilligan’s Island to see which actors are still living.

But just as the tech bubble’s promise of “IP” telephone service over an Internet connection is only now becoming a widespread reality, IPTV finally appears to be on the verge of cracking the U.S. mainstream.

Not the cable TV establishment – which questions the technology and the demand for so much interactivity – but rather three Bell telephone companies are taking IPTV off the drawing board in the United States, much as telecom players in Asia and Europe have led the way abroad.

The extent of the Bells’ plans vary considerably, but perhaps a dozen markets will see some form of IPTV starting later this year, and millions of homes may have the option by the end of 2006.

[..]

The three Bells are using technology from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), a coup for the software maker after a decade of frustrated attempts to extend its software’s dominance from the personal computer to cable television.

Many bemoan that dominance in the PC world, but the choice of Microsoft might mean greater ease in the effort to meld TV with the Internet.

“If you’re going to be implementing some new capability that requires software, they’re the go-to company,” regardless of whether they have the best technology, said Leigh. “Who’s going to fire you if you choose Microsoft? If you choose Digital Data Wack, and it doesn’t work, then you’re going to get fired.”

Nope. If it doesn’t work, you simply redefine “work” to whatever piece of crap you currently have. In the early 80′s, you couldn’t get fired for buying IBM. This is almost the same thing. So we’ll get the crappy content you get on TV; combined with the poor consistency in quality of service and poor customer support you get from an ISP; combined with the restrictive DRM, poor interoperability, and vendor lock-in you get from Microsoft software. I’m sure it’ll be a raving success…