2010 December 24 archive at Robert Pogson

Archive for December 24th, 2010

Assange Speaks, Well

Published by Robert Pogson December 24th, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

MSNBC has a good interview with Julian Assange on WikiLeaks, journalism, First Amenment, and Manning. 15 minutes covers a wide range of the issues.

Assange makes the point forcefully that he is a journalist speaking out to examine and check the power of government and his speach should be protected. He also comments on Manning’s detention without trial in conditions that could be considered torture.

- Robert Pogson

Cyberwarfare Tactics

Published by Robert Pogson December 24th, 2010 in technology. 1 Comment

One of the tactics of cyberwarfare has become persuading credit-card/payment businesses to block transfers to organizations being attacked. Recently we saw that tactic applied to WikiLeaks. Now it is a file-sharing site, MegaUpload. The RIAA has branded MegaUploads a “rogue website” even though 70% of Fortune 500 companies use MegaUpload as a file distribution service.

I would bet that either the RIAA backs down or there will be serious legal action in this matter. Lanham Act comes to mind.

43(a)1(b):”in commercial advertising or promotion, misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities, or geographic origin of his or her or another person’s goods, services, or commercial activities, shall be liable in a civil action by any person who believes that he or she is or is likely to be damaged by such act.”

MegaUpload has stated that most of their revenue comes from advertising so the loss of MasterCard may be minimal but the damage to their reputation could cut down usage and would certainly be potentially damaging. From their FAQ:
“Megaupload is a leading provider of online storage and web hosting services. We offer ad-financed free and affordable premium online storage/remote backup capacity, plus sophisticated uploading and downloading tools. Other users downloading your files earn you reward points that you can redeem for premium accounts and cash.” It seems like RIAA wants to attack a cloud service. Are they insane? Perhaps they are paranoid because they cannot see what MegaUpload is transferring.
“Can I browse your huge file archive?
No. File transmissions through Megaupload are private and confidential in nature. It is therefore impossible to download files that you do not know the links for. However, if you purchase a Megaupload Premium Account, we will give you access to our top100 public files.” That’s it. The RIAA is paranoid.

Another, older tactic, is on the loose. Bank of America is anticipating some abusive domain name usage and is buying them up…

- Robert Pogson

Smartphone Shipments Expected to Exceed PCs in 2011

Published by Robert Pogson December 24th, 2010 in technology. 0 Comments

“ For 2011, sales of smartphones will increase to 400-420 million units, accounting for 25-27% of total handset sales of 1.45-1.55 billion units projected for the year. ”

see http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20101224PD205.html

Combined with projections of 409 million PCs to be shipped in 2011 and you have really bad news for the monopoly. This probably explains M$’s sudden interest in ARM. Earlier predictions were for 2012.

“More than 50% of Asian and African mobile internet users as well as more than 20% of users in developed markets, such as the UK and US do not use the internet on a PC.“

This shows serious shrinkage in the monopoly has already happened and more is on the way in 2011. Nothing is preventing the spread of ARM+GNU/Linux to all branches of personal computing now. Merry Christmas!

- Robert Pogson