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Groklaw: Court Grants OLPC's Motions Dismissing Lancor's Claims - Update: Correction - US Case
Do you remember the horrible case against OLPC in Nigeria, where a company called Lancor claimed infringement of its design patent on a keyboard? They were asking for $20 million in damages.
I have some happy news from OLPC News' recent newsletter: In the domestic Nigerian keyboard case, the court granted OLPC's motions to dismiss Lancor's claims. This means all of Lancor's claims against OLPC, Nicholas Negroponte, and Quanta were dismissed. Nicholas and ...
[Link]Schneier on Security: Friday Squid Blogging: Preserving Giant Squid
At the Smithsonian: At the centerof the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History's gleaming new Sant Ocean Hall lies a preserved giant female squid -- the arresting, spineless star among the vibrant exhibition's animal specimens. Tentacles menacingly outstretched and seemingly frozen in time, the 24-foot squid embodies humans' fascination with the briny deep. But this squid also symbolizes something... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Lego Safe
Nice: You might think that a Lego safe would be easy to open. Maybe just remove a few bricks and you're in. But that's not the case with this thing, the cutting edge of Lego safe technology. The safe weighs 14 pounds and has a motion detecting alarm so it can't be moved without creating a huge ruckus.... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Online Age Verification
A discussion of the security trade-off: Child-safety activists charge that some of the age-verification firms want to help Internet companies tailor ads for children. They say these firms are substituting one exaggerated threat -- the menace of online sex predators -- with a far more pervasive danger from online marketers like junk food and toy companies that will rush to... [Link]
Schneier on Security: When Sky Marshals Do Bad Things
They're not even close to perfect: Since 9/11, more than three dozen federal air marshals have been charged with crimes, and hundreds more have been accused of misconduct, an investigation by ProPublica, a non-profit journalism organization, has found. Cases range from drunken driving and domestic violence to aiding a human-trafficking ring and trying to smuggle explosives from Afghanistan. The meta-problem... [Link]
Groklaw: Final Judgment in SCO v. Novell: SCO Loses Again
The final judgment [PDF] from Utah is here at last. It recites what the August 10, 2007 and July 16, 2008 orders said, but it also resolves the recent dispute over SCO's desire to voluntarily waive some claims and then bring them back to the table after an appeal, should it prove successful. Here's SCO's motion to voluntarily dismiss, and Novell's response, so you can verify that this judgment indeed represents another loss ... [Link]
Joel on Software: Stack Overflow Podcast #30
Stack Overflow Podcast episode 30 is up, with special guest Richard White of UserVoice.
Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.
[Link]Schneier on Security: Secret German IP Addresses Leaked
From Wikileaks: The PDF document holds a single paged scan of an internally distributed mail from German telecommunications company T-Systems (Deutsche Telekom), revealing over two dozen secret IP address ranges in use by the German intelligence service Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). Independent evidence shows that the claim is almost certainly true and the document itself has been verified by a demand letter... [Link]
Groklaw: SCO Bankruptcy: SCO Withdraws Motion Re Confidentiality
SCO has withdrawn its "Motion of the Debtors for an Order Providing that Creditors' Committees are not Authorized or Required to Provide Access to Confidential Information of the Debtors or to Privileged Information", which it filed in September of 2007, when it first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Remember that? They filed it back when SCO thought someone might care enough to actually form a creditors' committee. But since that never happened -- the top 20 unsecured creditors ...
[Link]Schneier on Security: RIAA Lawsuits May Be Unconstitutional
Harvard law professor Charles Nesson is arguing, in court, that the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is unconstitutional: He makes the argument that the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 is very much unconstitutional, in that its hefty fines for copyright infringement (misleadingly called "theft" in the title of the bill)... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Skein and SHA-3 News
There are two bugs in the Skein code. They are subtle and esoteric, but they're there. We have revised both the reference and optimized code -- and provided new test vectors -- on the Skein website. A revision of the paper -- Version 1.1 -- has new IVs, new test vectors, and also fixes a few typos in the paper.... [Link]
Joel on Software: Anecdotes
Michiko Kakutani reviews Malcolm Gladwell's latest book in the New York Times: “Much of what Mr. Gladwell has to say about superstars is little more than common sense: that talent alone is not enough to ensure success, that opportunity, hard work, timing and luck play important roles as well. The problem is that he then tries to extrapolate these observations into broader hypotheses about success. These hypotheses not only rely heavily on suggestion and innuendo, but they also ...
[Link]Groklaw: SCO and Novell Settle Constructive Trust/Payment Matter "In Principal"
There is a bankruptcy hearing scheduled for November 20th, and there's a Notice of Matters Scheduled for Hearing [PDF] just filed that tells us that the issue of the constructive trust has been resolved "in principal" and there will be a stipulation or consensual order filed. Good Golly, Miss Molly. Is Novell finally going to see some of its money from SCO? Has somebody sprinkled fairy dust in the air or something? [Link]
Groklaw: All Psystar's Counterclaims Against Apple Dismissed! Told 'Ya - Updated: The Order as Text
Psystar's counterclaims against Apple have been dismissed, which does not in the least surprise me. I told you they were off the wall, in my view. The judge agreed. He curls his lip to add that he found Psystar's cases "unenlightening". That's legalese for "are you kidding??" Here's the order [PDF], so you can read all about it.
The judge did give them 20 days to try again to get it right, following the map he lays out ...
[Link]Schneier on Security: Schneier for TSA Administrator
It's been suggested. For the record, I don't want the job. Since the election, the newspapers and Internet have been flooded with unsolicited advice for President-elect Barack Obama. I'll go ahead and add mine. [...] And by "revamp," I mean "start over." Most security experts agree that the rigmarole we go through at the airport is mere security theater, designed... [Link]
Schneier on Security: The Neuroscience of Cons
Fascinating: The key to a con is not that you trust the conman, but that he shows he trusts you. Conmen ply their trade by appearing fragile or needing help, by seeming vulnerable. Because of THOMAS [The Human Oxytocin Mediated Attachment System], the human brain makes us feel good when we help others--this is the basis for attachment to family... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Most Spam Came from a Single Web Hosting Firm
Really: Experts say the precipitous drop-off in spam comes from Internet providers unplugging McColo Corp., a hosting provider in Northern California that was the home base for machines responsible for coordinating the sending of roughly 75 percent of all spam each day. Certainly this won't last: Bhandari said he expects the spam volume to recover to normal levels in about... [Link]
Groklaw: SCO Files an Amended Schedule F
SCO, or more precisely, SCO Operations has filed an amended Schedule F [PDF], its list of unsecured nonpriority creditors, or in bankruptcy lingo "creditors holding unsecured nonpriority claims". Here's the original Schedule F [PDF], if you wish to compare the lists. Schedule F is found on page 7 of the older PDF.
It is interesting to compare, even without fully understanding what it all means.
[Link]Groklaw: Answering Gene Quinn, Patent Attorney - Updated
Well. I got a very nice note from Gene Quinn. He's reading Groklaw. I'm reading what he is writing, because it's fascinating, and it's an opportunity to speak directly with a patent attorney who is a true believer.
His most recent article is one I think we should answer, since his fundamental question is this: why should software *not* be patentable? From a conceptual standpoint why not allow for software to be patented. What is the harm? I know ...
[Link]Schneier on Security: Friday Squid Blogging: Vintage Squid Can Labels
Mostly sardines, but some squid.... [Link]
Ideas: One Good Thing About the Election Outcome
I don't know whether Barack Obama will do a good or bad job of being President. But I think it is already clear that listening to him will be a pleasanter experience than listening to most politicians.
My most recent basis for that opinion is an interview with Sarah Palin, where she reports Obama, in a phone call, wishing her "luck--but not that much luck." A while earlier, I saw a news clip where Obama was discussing the question of ... [Link]
Ideas: When a Pecuniary Externality Isn't
[Warning: About Economics]
The CEO of a corporation releases an optimistic report on its future prospects; the stock goes up. Six months later the future arrives and the optimism turns out to have been misplaced. The stock goes back down. An enterprising lawyer sues the corporation in a class action on behalf of everyone who bought stock between the two events, claiming that their loss when the price fell was due to their being fraudulently induced to buy at too ... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Datamation Interview
Interview with me from Datamation.... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Me on Passwords
My Guardian article also appeared in The Hindu. Nothing I haven't said before.... [Link]
Groklaw: Bills in the SCO Bankruptcy Show Activity in the Swiss Arbitration
More bills are in for SCO to pay in the bankruptcy. Tanner, Berger Singerman, and Pachulski Stang all have filed for mo' money. From the bills, we can discern through a glass darkly what's been going on. Here's what: the Swiss SUSE arbitration shows activity. You can find it on page 11 of Berger's Exhibit A, where we see a notation that SUSE has filed a "submission" to the tribunal. It references "SUSE arbitration statement to tribunal" also, ... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Reducing the Risk of Human Extinction
Not a threat people think a lot about.... [Link]
Ideas: Earthquake Precautions and Judging Sources of Information
"When it strikes at 1000 local time, millions of participants across the region will 'drop, cover and hold on' - drop to the ground, take cover under a sturdy desk and hold on until the shaking stops."
(BBC news story on a planned massive earthquake drill in southern California)
Not long ago, I came across a fairly detailed discussion of earthquake precautions, somewhere online; unfortunately I no longer remember where. The author appeared to be well informed, with extensive ... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Giving Out Replacement Hotel Keys
It's a tough security trade-off. Guests lose their hotel room keys, and the hotel staff needs to be accommodating. But at the same time, they can't be giving out hotel room keys to anyone claiming to have lost one. Generally, hotels ask to see some ID before giving out a replacement key and, if the guest doesn't have his wallet... [Link]
Schneier on Security: Watching a Malware Author Work
Using the incremental update feature of pdf files to watch a malware author create his exploit.... [Link]
Groklaw: Norris Did Attend SCO's Tec Forum; Investors "Excited" About Prospects
It turns out that Stephen Norris did attend SCO's Tec Forum after all, at least according to SCO's latest SCO Partner News newsletter someone sent me. He expressed that SCO's strengths are its customers and its products. That's why the investors he says he represents are "so excited about the business prospects of working with SCO" and in particular because of SCO's commitment to backward compatibility of "all its products -- going all the way back to Xenix". Hmm. [Link]
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