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For several years on this blog and my previous blog, I have warned that the government will stage a cyberattack and claim that the hackers used open-source software. I warned that the government would use that as a pretext to ban open-source software – including Linux – and declare users/advocates of open-source software and GNU/Linux are cyberterrorists.

Now it has come out that the Wikileaks-inspired DDoS attacks were carried out using open-source software.

The government now has a pretext to ban open-source software, including GNU/Linux. The government now has a pretext to investigate users of open-source software and GNU/Linux as potential cyberterrorists. The Department of Homeland Security now has a pretext to seize domain names of websites which promote or advocate open-source software and GNU/Linux. So do not be surprised if in the near future you visit Ubuntu’s website and come across something similar to this:

 

Comment: If the government-approved mandatory antivirus software is not made available for Linux or if currently-available Linux antivirus tools such as ClamAV are not approved by the government, Linux users will be essentially kicked off the internet. This is not about fighting government-created malware. This is about a corporate monopoly using the government to eliminate its competition and stifiling the dwindling of its market share.

Big Brother Microsoft Proposes Government Licensing of Internet Access

  • October 8th, 2010 2:01 pm ET

The latest megalomaniacal proposal by a top Microsoft executive would open the door for government licensing to access the Internet. This would grant governmental and corporate authorities power to block individual computers from connecting to the world wide web under the pretext of preventing malware attacks.

Scott Charney, Microsoft vice president of Trustworthy Computing, stated while speaking at the 2010 SSE computer security conference that cybersecurity should mirror public health safety laws, with infected PC’s being “quarantined” by government decree and prevented from accessing the Internet.

“If a device is known to be a danger to the internet, the user should be notified and the device should be cleaned before it is allowed unfettered access to the internet, minimizing the risk of the infected device contaminating other devices, Charney said.

Charney said the system would be a “global collective defense” run by corporations and government and would “track and control” people’s computers similar to how government health bodies track diseases.

FULL ARTICLE

I have to say I’m quite disappointed so far with the latest build on Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. I have tested the latest build on my netbook (HP Mini 110-1116NR) as well as Sun VirtualBox 3.1.8. When I go to run the OS “live”, it brings up nothing except for the default wallpaper. When I choose “Install Ubuntu” from the boot screen, it installs without a hitch. After it installs, I rebooted into the new system. When I log in and choose “Ubuntu Netbook” as my session, it brings up the default wallpaper…and nothing else. When I choose “Ubuntu Desktop Edition” as my session, it brings up Ubuntu’s GNOME desktop without a hitch.

Canonical has less than 3 weeks in order to iron out the bugs with the Unity interface. If they are unable to do so, then they should port the classic netbook interface – the default netbook interface used from Hardy Heron to Lucid Lynx – to Maverick Meerkat and take Unity back to the drawing board. So until things change, I cannot recommend Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. If things do not improve by then, then I will recommend that people stay with Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition. Alternatively, you can wait for the next versions of Peppermint One and Peppermint Ice which will use the 2.6.35 Linux kernel just like Ubuntu Maverick.

According to this thread on the Freespire forum, the Freespire website and domain will expire on August 22, 2010, which at this time is a mere two weeks away. If Xandros doesn’t renew the website and domain and allows the Freespire website to go offline, then Freespire will be officially dead. Xandros cares more about kissing Microsoft’s ass and making insignificant OEM deals and killing off everything associated with Linspire, especially Freespire and CNR. The CNR Warehouse has been down for at least THREE MONTHS. Xandros, do you realize the money you could make from selling “Click N Buy” software on CNR? How are you going to make money on Linspire’s old cash cow CNR when you don’t even maintain the freakin’ site to begin with?! CNR was a golden opportunity for you to make money, and you managed to screw that up. Xandros, your management is BEYOND incompetent. Just put yourself out of your misery and either liquidate your company or sell to a rival. For all I care, you can sell your company to Microsoft. After all, you did sell your soul to Microsoft back in early 2007 when you signed the patent deal.

EDIT: It seems that yesterday on August 12, 2010, Xandros renewed the Freespire domain name. Source

In addition, the CNR website is back online.

EDIT: Since the last edit, both the Freespire website (main site and forum) and the CNR website are both down. It is now safe to say that Freespire is in fact dead.

Facts.

Xandros hasn’t released a new version of Xandros Desktop since November 2006 when they released Xandros 4.1. That’s almost four years without a new OS.

Xandros hasn’t released a new version of Xandros Server since May 2007. That’s over three years.

Xandros’ Presto OS pretty much came into the market with a whimper and went out with a sigh – most likely in the span of one month.

DistroWatch has declared Xandros Desktop to be a discontinued distribution.

Many former Xandrosians – myself included – have moved on to other OSes such as Ubuntu, Mint, and PCLinuxOS. Most abandoned Xandros when they sold out to Microsoft’s racketeering scam (the “patent agreement”). (I should note that I abandoned Xandros upon release of Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake LTS.)

And now it seems that CNR.com – the only reason Xandros bought Linspire – has been down for at least two weeks.

Over the last two years, it seems that Xandros has make empty promise after empty promise. They promised to keep Freespire, return Freespire to its Debian roots, and base the next version of Xandros on Freespire.

Last year, I speculated that reliance on netbook OSes would be Xandros’ undoing. Looks like I was correct. Shortly after Xandros and Asus teamed up to make Linux-powered netbooks (the eeePC), Asus and Microsoft signed a deal where Windows netbooks would be given priority over Linux netbooks. In fact, Asus no longer offers netbooks with Linux pre-installed.

Face it. Xandros is a dead company. It had a bright, rosy future in 2004 and 2005. It was a serious alternative to Windows XP. It was the reason I got into desktop Linux. (The first Linux that I used constantly was Xandros Desktop 3.0 Deluxe.) Unfortunately, all the reasons to use Xandros are no longer there. It’s no longer updated. It’s ancient technology. And its userbase is abandoning it in droves. Xandros no longer has anything to offer other than its brand name and assets which I forsee being bought by a rival company – Canonical, Redhat, Oracle, or perhaps Microsoft (or if you believe the rumors, former Linspire owner Michael Robertson) in the near future. Xandros CEO Andy Typaldos needs to either get his company’s priorities straightened out or just get out of the market.

Comment: Will the Australian government provide antivirus software and firewall software to Linux users, or will they ignore Linux users and therefore prevent Linux users from using the internet? Think that can’t happen? Think again. Scott “sk0t” McCausland pleaded guilty in 2006 to uploading Star Wars III and was told by his probation officer that he had to install an OS which would support and run the monitoring software which he was required to install and use if he wished to use the internet. If Scott McCausland can be forced to abandon Linux and use Windows, it can happen to millions of Australians.

Australian Government To Force Internet Users To Install State-Approved Software

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Australian Government To Force Internet Users To Install State Approved Software 220610top

The Australian government is set to intensify its war against Internet freedom by forcing web users to install state-approved anti-virus software. If they fail to do so, they will be denied an Internet connection, or if their computer is later infected, the user’s connection will be terminated.

“AUSTRALIANS would be forced to install anti-virus and firewall software on their computers before being allowed to connect to the internet under a new plan to fight cyber crime. And if their computer did get infected, internet service providers like Telstra and Optus could cut off their connection until the problem was resolved,” reports News.com.au.

A 260-page report released by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Communications outlines a plan to mandate Internet users to install government-approved software before their Internet connection can be activated.

Of course, the vast majority of Internet users already use anti-virus software, but by creating the precedent of having to conform to government mandates simply to get online, this opens the door to later requiring government permission to use the Internet at all, as well as a Chinese-style ID verification system which will prevent “undesirables” from using the web.

It also makes it easier for the government to use the law to subsequently demand that a mandatory Internet filter also be installed as part of the software package that blocks websites deemed “offensive” to the authorities.

Efforts to place restrictions on the internet are unfolding apace in Australia where the government is implementing a mandatory and wide-ranging Internet filter modeled on that of the Communist Chinese government.

Australian communication minister Stephen Conroy said the government would be the final arbiter on what sites would be blacklisted under “refused classification.”

The official justification for the filter is to block child pornography, however, as the watchdog group Electronic Frontiers Australia has pointed out, the law will also allow the government to block any website it desires while the pornographers can relatively easily skirt around the filters.

Earlier this year, the Wikileaks website published a leaked secret list of sites slated to be blocked by Australia’s state-sponsored parental filter.

The list revealed that blacklisted sites included “online poker sites, YouTube links, regular gay and straight porn sites, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions such as satanic sites, fetish sites, Christian sites, the website of a tour operator and even a Queensland dentist.”

The filter will even block web-based games deemed unsuitable for anyone over the age of fifteen, according to the Australian government.

Senator Joe Lieberman on Sunday called for the United States to move towards a a Chinese-style system of Internet control. Under Lieberman’s 197-page Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act (PDF), President Obama would be given a ‘kill switch’ to shut down parts of the Internet.

Constant fearmongering about cyber attacks is the cover for a global assault on Internet freedom by authorities. The web is being overtaken by independent media outlets which are now beginning to eclipse establishment news organs. This has enabled activists and the politically oppressed to expose government atrocities and cover-ups at lightning pace, something the system is keen to curtail.

Comment: According to the list of Bilderberg attendees, Microsoft’s Craig Mundie and Google’s Eric Schmidt were in attendance. I noticed this comment on the article hosted at Prison Planet:

Next time I need another computer, I’m going with Apple instead. Screw microsoft, their products suck anyway.

I wonder what they’ll say when an Apple bigwig such as Steve Jobs is invited to a future Bilderberg meeting.

But then again, Mundie and Schmidt may be planning out their strategy of Google co-opting the Linux movement to where hardcore Linux users become disenfranchised with Linux and either give up or submit to Microsoft or Apple. Or maybe they are going to do as I predicted a few years ago: stage a cyber false-flag and claim that Linux users were behind the cyberattacks and use that as a pretext to ban Linux wordwide as a terrorist tool.

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Nato warns of assassinations, torture, bombings, and rape against patsies in false flag cyber attacks
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article7144856.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093
Michael Smith and Peter Warren June 6, 2010

NATO is considering the use of military force against enemies who launch cyber attacks on its member states.

The move follows a series of Russian-linked hacking against Nato members and warnings from intelligence services of the growing threat from China.

A team of Nato experts led by Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, has warned that the next attack on a Nato country “may well come down a fibre-optic cable”.

A report by Albright’s group said that a cyber attack on the critical infrastructure of a Nato country could equate to an armed attack, justifying retaliation.

“A large-scale attack on Nato’s command and control systems or energy grids could possibly lead to collective defence measures under article 5,” the experts said.

Article 5 is the cornerstone of the 1949 Nato charter, laying down that “an armed attack” against one or more Nato countries “shall be considered an attack against them all”.

It was the clause in the charter that was invoked following the September 11 attacks to justify the removal of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Nato is now considering how severe the attack would have to be to justify retaliation, what military force could be used and what targets would be attacked.

The organisation’s lawyers say that because the effect of a cyber attack can be similar to an armed assault, there is no need to redraft existing treaties.

Eneken Tikk, a lawyer at Nato’s cyber defence centre in Estonia, said it would be enough to invoke the mutual defence clause “if, for example, a cyber attack on a country’s power networks or critical infrastructure resulted in casualties and destruction comparable to a military attack”.

Nato heads of government are expected to discuss the potential use of military force in response to cyber attacks at a summit in Lisbon in November that will debate the alliance’s future. General Keith Alexander, head of the newly created US cyber command, said last week there was a need for “clear rules of engagement that say what we can stop”.

The concerns follow warnings from intelligence services across Europe that computer-launched attacks from Russia and China are a mounting threat. Russian hackers have been blamed for an attack against Estonia in April and May of 2007 which crippled government, media and banking communications and internet sites.

They also attacked Georgian computer systems during the August 2008 invasion of the country, bringing down air defence networks and telecommunications systems belonging to the president, the government and banks.

Alexander disclosed last week that a 2008 attack on the Pentagon’s systems, believed to have been mounted by the Chinese, successfully broke through into classified areas.

Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee cautioned last year that Chinese-made parts in the BT phone network could be used to bring down systems running the country’s power and food supplies.

Some experts have warned that it is often hard to establish government involvement. Many Russian attacks, for example, have been blamed on the Russian mafia. The Kremlin has consistently refused to sign an international treaty banning internet crime.

Comment: It’s amazing. Microsoft is so scared of competition that they are willing to deliberately force retailers to help them implode a market in order to kill the competition.

Found this post on comp.os.linux.advocacy

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/browse_thread/thread/0f45de43b6e3416b#

According to this graph (see below), YoY (Year over Year) sales of the
Netbook in the USA have slumped from 641% in Jul 2009 to 25% in Mar 2010
and 5% in Apr 2010.

We all know that tens of millions of Linux netbooks were sold before
Microsoft strongarmed the netbook manufacturers into providing only
Windows7 on Netbooks whose hardware specs were also dictated by Microsoft
to be much reduced compared to a Laptop. i.e. ram was limited.

Retailers were ‘persuaded’ not to offer Linux Netbooks where Windows
Netbooks were on display, or to make sure the Linux Netbooks were powered
off, or not just available.

This graph, http://mashable.com/2010/05/06/ipad-netbook-market/ shows the
sales data I have quoted above, although it attempts to suggest that the
Apple Ipad is the reason for the Netbook slump.

As the Apple Ipad was not released into the American market until April
2010, the Ipad may be responsible for some of the April slump, but it
can’t be responsible for the prior decline.

I think the likely suspect for the decline is Microsoft, Windows7, a
maximum of three concurrent apps, and pricing that in some cases, rivals
larger dual core laptops.

Who needs to innovate, … when you can exterminate?

I have an HP Mini 110 1116NR netbook. When I first install Ubuntu Netbook Remix on there, bluetooth works out of the box, but wifi doesn’t. If I enable and activate the Broadcom STA wifi drivers from the Karmic repository, wifi works upon reboot, but bluetooth no longer works. However, I have found a way to get the wifi working and keep the bluetooth working as well! All you have to do is download the Lucid Lynx version of the bcmwl-kernel-source package which is available here. Once you get connected to the internet (try to connect via ethernet), double-click on the package you downloaded and allow it to download and install all dependencies and then allow it to install. Reboot, and your wifi will now work, and your bluetooth should still work!

Found this gem on ubuntuforums.org. Note to self: Add Staples to your “do not shop” list for implying that Linux is illegal and that Linux users are cyberterrorists.

Related story: Looking to apply online with Staples? Mac, Linux users need not apply.

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http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1351146

My god, how I hate uninformed people. But what’s worse is uninformed people that will not accept anything other than what they know. This is what happened to me last week:

I was dog-sitting for one of my mother-in-laws friends. She was going to be gone for three days, so I was sleeping in her guest room. I brought my laptop with me (I run Ubuntu 9.10). She had given me permission to use her wireless connection while I was there.

I was installing ffmpeg from the Terminal when she came home, and she invited me to stay for dinner. I gratefully accepted. A few minutes later (the Terminal was still going through its gobbledygook) she looked over my shoulder for a minute and said started this conversation (as much of it as I can remember):

Her: What system are you running?
Me: Ubuntu.
Her: Huh? No, I don’t mean the program, I mean your operating system.
Me: Ubuntu is the operating system.
Her: I think you’re mistaken… I don’t know of a system called “Ubuntu”
Me: It’s a derivative of Linux.
Her: You’re joking, right?
Me: Umm… no.
Her: But… Linux is illegal!
Me: Huh? Who told you that?
Her: My son. He works for tech support at Staples.
Me: There’s nothing illegal about it, a lot of people use it.
Her: No, it’s illegal! It’s all hacker tools to crack passwords and break into servers! You didn’t use my internet with that, did you?
Me: Yeah, but I’m telling you, it’s not illegal.
Her: Oh no, what if the police find out? I’ll be in so much trouble! They’ll think I’m a hacker! I need to call my son!

At this point, she dials her son from her cellphone. But, he doesn’t answer. She is becoming increasingly distraught, and I’m worried she’s going to panic.

Me: If you’ll calm down, I can prove to you that there’s nothing illegal on my computer.
Her: Listen to me. How much did you pay for your Linux system?
Me: Nothing. It’s free and open source.
Her: Exactly! Do you honestly believe that any legitimate system would be available for free?
Me: Have you ever heard of the open source community, or open source software?
Her: Yeah, my son mentioned it… He said it’s like a cyber-community of hackers all over the world. They share virus programs and illegal software.
Me: Your son is seriously misinformed. They write, fix, and improve on software and redistribute it to make it better and help others.
Her: That’s ridiculous! How would they make money?
Me: Same as you and I–Go to work.
Her: Not to mention, giving away software is illegal!
Me: No, giving away proprietary software is illegal. Free and open source software is software that people have written and decided to give away, and allow people to change and improve on.
Her: Don’t lie to me. Do you really believe that?
Me: Well, it’s true.
Her: Are you dumb? You think people just have the time to write programs without any monetary gain?
Me: Well, yeah.
Her: I want you to leave. I need to figure out what to do about this. I don’t want to report you to the authorities, but I will not take the fall for this. If I’m going to be arrested, I’m telling them the truth.

We exchanged a few more words, but I was getting so pissed at that point that I don’t really remember what was said. It was not friendly. But I left, and I haven’t heard anything since.

I understand not knowing about Linux and maybe thinking that it’s illegal. But refusing to accept any other possibility… Calling be a liar… Calling me dumb… It really grinds my gears!

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The lady probably believes everything the establishment dishes out.

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