tech

  • Paris adds open data clause to public contracts

    The City of Paris has added an open data clause to its public contracts Le Monde Informatique reports.

    The City of Paris is continuing its open data process which was launched in 2011 and made a reality by the launch of the opendata.paris.fr website. It has recently launched a series of meetings between its departments and the re-users of data, to whom it is now offering data challenges.

    Since 17th April, the city council’s public contracts have included a clause asking suppliers responding to invitations to tender to “release the data” produced within the scope of fulfilling the contract. This is one of the council’s latest open data initiatives, a field in which it has been active for more than 3 years. Via Open Data France, the City of Paris wants to share these items with other local authorities who would like to include this type of clause in their invitations to tender.

    Paris has also just started a series of meetings it is planning to organise regularly between council departments and open data users. Under the name “Open Data Paris meetups”, these meetings are open to developers, sponsors, students and more broadly all who are interested in the city’s open data project. The first of these meetings was held at the Hôtel de Ville on 28th April. This meeting featured the launch of the city’s data challenges.

    95 datasets on opendataparis.fr

    screenshot of Paris Open Data website
    Screenshot of licensing page of Paris Open Data website

    Paris set up its open data website in January 2011. It is now on version 2 and currently offers 95 datasets and an API enabling visitors to use them. Amongst the most recently added or amended data are the results of the 2014 local elections, the list of works contracts awarded by the Département de Paris and by the city from 2009 to 2013, as well as, for example, the geographical data for the city’s parks and gardens or a list of outlets in Paris selling coffees for €1.00.

  • FSFE sends open letter to the EU Commission

    FSFE logoThe Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) has written an open letter to the EU Commission today – the international “Day against DRM” – asking the EU to prevent Digital Rights Management (or Digital Restrictions Management as termed by the FSFE. Ed.) technology from being closely integrated into the HTML5 standard.

    The FSFE is concerned about efforts currently in progress at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), to encourage the integration of DRM technology into web browsers. The W3C oversees many of the key standards on which the World Wide Web is based.

    The full text of the letter is reproduced below.

    To: Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem (Home Affairs)

    cc: Antonio Tajani (Enterprise)
    Viviane Reding (Justice)
    Joaquin Almunia (Competition)
    Michel Barnier (Internal Market)
    Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda)

    Dear Commissioner Malmstroem,

    we are writing to you on the occasion of the international Day Against Digital Restrictions Management, which today is being celebrated around the world. We are very concerned about the security of European citizens, and we ask you to take action to protect them.

    The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is an independent charitable non-profit dedicated to promoting Free Software and freedom in the information society. Today we would like to direct your attention to a very specific threat to the freedom and security of computer users everywhere.

    Both at work and in our personal lives, we conduct a large part of our activity through Web browsers. Ever more of our work and life migrates into the digital domain, and many people use a growing number of web services to work, create, socialise, and express themselves. Businesses and public sector organisations similarly rely on web browsers as crucial tools to perform their everyday tasks.

    Recently, the importance of the Web browser was highlighted when numerous state agencies and IT security companies warned about a long-standing critical security problem in the widely used Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, soon followed by warnings of a vulnerability in the also widely used Adobe Flash Player.

    These incidents were only the most recent ones to highlight the importance of ensuring that such a crucial piece of software as the Web browser is fully under the control of its user. The German Federal Office of Information Security (BSI) issued a list of recommendations for secure Web browsers and their components for use in companies and public bodies on April 14. The BSI notes that due to the way they are used, “Web browsers are exposed to especially high risk from malware”. In the list of recommendations for a secure Web browser, the BSI includes the demand that Web browsers and their components should be completely auditable (Point 1.6).

    Web browsers like Mozilla Firefox or the Chromium browser have succeeded in this regard, providing the public with web browsers that are not only fully auditable, but which can also be freely shared and improved. This is in line with the Open Standards approach which has made it possible for the Internet and the World Wide Web to thrive and grow into its current role as a vital platform for economic activity, social interaction without borders, and unchained creativity.

    The protocols on which the Internet is built, such as the TCP/IP stack and the HTML standard, are fully open and implemented in myriad Free Software products. Free Software powers the vast majority of Web servers, smartphones, embedded devices, and many other applications of technology. The rise of today’s leading Web companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, would not have been possible without Free Software, and they could not operate without it today. Whatever European companies step up to challenge them are inevitably going to rely on Free Software and Open Standards as well. Free Software and Open Standards are both the foundation of our digital world, and the condicio sine qua non for its future.

    HTML5 is the latest revision of the HTML standard. It is hard to think of a standard that is more crucial for the World Wide Web. HTML5 will deliver a number of important improvements, and is set to be the basis of the World Wide Web for the coming years, and to allow for the kind of rich, responsive interactivity that will allow browsers to replace “apps” as controllers for everything from thermostats to automobiles.

    This is why we are very concerned about efforts currently in progress at the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees many of the key standards on which the Internet and the World Wide Web are based, to encourage use of the Content Decryption Module (CDM) which cannot be audited. The CDM, though not specified in the HTML5 standard itself, is required by the so-called “Encrypted Media Extension” (EME), developed by a W3C working group. This extension’s primary purpose is to satisfy the desire of a limited number of content providers with traditional business models to generate revenue through restrictive distribution practices. With EME, the W3C would be building a bridge to let content providers take control of users’ computers, letting them impose restrictions far in excess of what consumers’ rights and copyright allow.

    The discussion about EME at W3C is largely driven by a few large US-based companies, and except the BBC takes place without significant European involvement. Given these circumstances, the discussion will likely result in a solution that fails to take the needs of European citizens, businesses and governments fully into account.

    Auditing the Content Decryption Module will be difficult, because the source code of this functionality will be a closely held secret of the company which provides it. Performing such an audit and reporting security flaws would also be illegal in the many countries which have adopted so-called “anti-circumvention” laws. Reporting a security problem in CDM would expose the reporter to the risk of prosecution for making a circumvention device.

    In consequence, individuals, companies and organisations (including the European Commission) would likely end up increasing the amount of software with unknowable security problems which it uses in a high-risk setting.

    Integrating DRM facilities into HTML5 is the antithesis of everything that has made the Internet and the World Wide Web successful. It is directly contrary to the interests of the vast majority of Internet users everywhere, and especially in Europe.

    Recommendations

    The discussions within W3C are now at a crucial juncture in this regard. It is still just about possible to prevent the W3C from making it too easy to effectively require the inclusion of such secret, inauditable software in Web browsers.

    • We urge the Commission to engage with the W3C and ensure that the organisation takes these concerns on board as it decides on the adoption of the Encrypted Media Extension (EME).
    • We further ask the Commission to underline its commitment to the security and freedom of Europe’s citizens by pledging not to make use of the Encrypted Media Extension in its own infrastructure, even if EME would be standardised by W3C.
    • At a minimum, the W3C should require covenants from EME participants through which they promise not to take action against entities who report and demonstrate vulnerabilities in EME and the CDM; and covenants to safeguard entities who reverse-engineer and publish details of EME and CDM implementations for the purpose of interoperability, including interoperability with Free Software.

    At FSFE, we look forward to supporting the Commission in taking the appropriate actions to safeguard the interests of Europe’s citizens and companies, and remain at the Commission’s service.

    Sincerely,
    Karsten Gerloff, President Free Software Foundation Europe

  • Bryan Lunduke says: “Linux sucks”

    I’m indebted to Linux.com for alerting me to the video below.

    Bryan Lunduke is social media marketing manager at SUSE (the first Linux distribution your correspondent used daily. Ed.), as well as a writer and commentator.

    The talk was delivered at LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday 26th April 2014.

    Lunduke takes a good-humoured critical aim at some of the things that make Linux annoying, the development process which is likened to ‘herding millions of cats’, the large amount of forking that goes on, the age of the X.Org display server and the insistence of some distributions, particularly Fedora and Ubuntu on developing their own alternatives – Wayland and Mir respectively – for what is essentially something old, trusted and reliable, like X.Org.

    Fedora and Ubuntu/Canonical come in for plenty of gentle ribbing from Lunduke.

    About halfway through, Lunduke then turns the criticism completely on its head by stating that all the annoyances are actually what make Linux great and why we users love it. Furthermore, he points out that we can criticise our operating system of choice – and have it criticised – without acrimony; at this point Lunduke mentions something about Mac users… 🙂

    Anyway, the video itself is 45 minutes long, but well worth it. I hope you watch it all the way through and enjoy it (you should do if you you’re more than just content with running Linux as an operating system. Ed.). I certainly did.

  • LibreOffice 4.3 bug hunting session announced

    The first bug hunting session for LibreOffice 4.3 will take place from 23rd to 25th May 2014, The Document Foundation blog announced yesterday. This will coincide with the availability of the first beta of the new major release.

    image of LibreOffice Mime type icons
    LibreOffice for all your office suite needs: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, drawing and formulas

    Those wishing to contribute and participating in the bug hunting session can find details on The Document Foundation wiki./ The wiki also has a list of new features and improvements for LibreOffice 4.3 to check for bugs and regression.

    Participants will need to have a PC with Windows, MacOS or Linux and LibreOffice 4.3 Beta 1.

    Filing bug reports will be extremely easy thanks to the help of experienced volunteers who will be available via the QA mailing list (libreoffice-qa@lists.freedesktop.org) and IRC channel (irc://irc.freenode.net/#libreoffice-qa).

    A second LibreOffice 4.3 bug hunting session will be organised immediately after the release of LibreOffice 4.3 Release Candidate 1 in mid-June.

  • ORG meet-up at St Werburghs

    ORG logoThe Open Rights Group (ORG), an organisation which exists to preserve and promote your rights in the digital age, is holding a meet-up at 8.00 pm on Thursday 24th April 2014 at St Werburgh’s Community Centre, Horley Road, Bristol, BS2 9TJ (map).

    Following the Snowden revelations on GCHQ’s role in Prism, Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, English PEN and Chaos Computer Club spokesperson Constanze Kurz are challenging the UK government at the European Court of Human Rights.

    The European Court has completed its preliminary examination of the case and has asked the British Government to justify how GCHQ’s practices and the current system of oversight comply with the right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

    The court has also given the case a rare priority designation. The British government now has until 2nd May to respond, after which the case will move into the final stages before judgement.

    Join ORG in Bristol to hear from Dan Carey, the solicitor for the application, as he explains what the challenge hopes to achieve and how it will progress from here.

    We’ll also be hearing about the Don’t Spy On Us campaign from ORG’s Policy Director, Javier Ruiz, as ORG asks the public to sign its 6 key principles on mass surveillance.

    The event will provide a fun and informal way to meet with other local ORG supporters, as well as an opportunity to learn about mass surveillance.

    Please join the meetup group if you’re interested in coming along.

  • OPW’s success partly to blame for GNOME expenditure freeze

    Gnome logoAccording to German IT news site Heise, the financial cushion of the Gnome Foundation -non-profit organisation that furthers the goals of the GNOME Project, helping it to create a free software computing platform for the general public that is designed to be elegant, efficient, and easy to use – has declined so sharply that the organisation has frozen part of its expenditure. The success of the Gnome Outreach Program for Women (OPW) is said to be partly to blame for this situation (posts passim).

    The situation was explained in an email to Foundation members over the weekend.

    Dear Foundation members,

    Due to a shortfall in the budget, the Foundation board voted on 2014-04-08 to freeze all expenditure which is not essential to the running of the Foundation. This freeze affects sponsorship expenses
    which are unpaid at this time, but it does not affect the funds which we hold for other organisations.

    By keeping our expenditures to a minimum while we regain some delayed revenue, we aim to have things back to normal within a few months. All Foundation members who expect to receive reimbursements within the next three months have already been informed of the issue and most have responded positively. The board will prioritise these pending reimbursements over other expenses.

    The issue has been caused by a number of factors. These include increased administrative overheads in the last few years due to the increased turnover which has been caused by to the Outreach Program
    for Women (OPW), and the associated payments going out while the associated income has been slow to come in.

    The board expects that you may have some questions or would like to know more details about the problem, please read https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/CurrentBudgetFAQ and contact the board at board-list gnome org if you have any further questions.

  • LibreOffice 4.2.3 released

    The Document Foundation has announced on its blog the release of LibreOffice 4.2.3, the third minor release of the LibreOffice 4.2 family. Codenamed “Fresh”, LibreOffice 4.2.3 is the most feature rich version to date of this free and open source office suite. The release itself is described by The Document Foundation as being suited for early adopters. For enterprise use and more conservative users, The Document Foundation recommends the more mature LibreOffice 4.1.5 release.

    People interested in this release’s technical details and bug fixes can view the change logs as follows:

    In addition, the released version of LibreOffice 4.2.3 adds a security fix for the Heartbleed bug (CVE-2014-0160).

    screenshot of Calc spreadsheet program
    LibreOffice’s Calc spreadsheet program running on Ubuntu Linux

    Downloading LibreOffice

    LibreOffice 4.2.3 and LibreOffice 4.1.5 are both available for download from http://www.libreoffice.org/download/. Extensions and templates to increase the software’s functionality and add specific features are available at http://extensions.libreoffice.org/.

  • ODF recommended for Galicia’s public sector

    Galicia's coat of armsJoinup, the EU’s public sector open source news website, reports that the government of Spain’s autonomous region of Galicia is recommending that the region’s public sector organisations adopt Open Document Format (ODF, ISO 26300) for editable electronic documents and PDF for non-editable electronic documents.

    “This will facilitate the re-use of documents and the creation of derivative works”, the government writes in a guide which was published on 26 March, Document Freedom Day (posts passim). Public sector bodies are also being advised to make their documents available using a copyleft licence, such as Creative Commons’ CC-by-SA.

    The guide ‘Boas prácticas para a liberación de publicacións da Xunta de Galicia‘ (Good Practice Guide for liberating Galicia government documents) has been written by Galicia’s free software resource centre, the ‘Oficina de Coordinación de Software Libre’ (Ocfloss). The report is available in both ODT and PDF formats is also published under the CC-by-SA licence.

    The guide also contains advice for the public sector on how to manage intellectual property rights in respect of its documents, images and multimedia files, as well as guidance on the creation of derivative works.

  • Progress

    Technology is advancing at a pace that’s blistering.

    If anything can illustrate the progress of technological change, it’s the picture below: a smaller footprint and a massive increase in storage capacity in under 10 years.

    tech_advance

    It’s not just capacity that’s changed. Prices have changed too. Back in 1998 I paid £140 for a 3.5 hard drive with 8 GB of storage. Nowadays I can buy a USB device with an equivalent capacity for £10 in most large supermarkets.

    Hat tip: OpenSure

  • Big Retail is watching you

    Cabot Circus is hardly my favourite place in Bristol. It’s an out-of-town shopping centre with associated multi-storey car park plonked at the inner city end of the M32. It consists of 3 floors full of identikit national chain stores, plus CCTV and surly security guards to track and/or keep out those who have no intention of buying overpriced, mass-produced consumer tat they probably don’t want, definitely don’t need and most likely cannot really afford.

    Today I noticed another reason for avoiding Cabot Circus – mobile phone surveillance.

    image of notice at Cabot Circus
    Warning! Big Retail is watching you.

    Note the exemplary use of newspeak: spying on your mobile is “in use at this site to improve our customer service“.

    I’m not convinced by the bland assurance regarding personal data either, as will be explained below.

    The Footpath technology in use in Cabot Circus has been developed by a company called Path Intelligence and is in use in a number of shopping centres around the UK, including Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, Princesshay in Exeter, the Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow, Bon Accord & St Nicholas in Aberdeen and The Centre, Livingston, all of which like Cabot Circus are operated by Land Securities Ltd. The surveillance system works through units placed in shops which detect the changing signals of mobile phones.

    Unless people entering the shopping centre happen to see the warning signs (which are conveniently placed alongside lots of others telling the public what they’re not allowed to do, such as use skateboard, take photographs. Ed.) they’re probably unaware that their phones are being monitored.

    According to Path Intelligence
    , the Footpath technology works as follows:

    The vast majority of visitors to any given location now carry a mobile (cell) phone. To be able to make and receive calls, the telephone network must understand the phone’s geographical location. The technology behind this is complicated, but in basic terms, the phone and the network continuously ‘talk’ (ping) to each other (sending a unique signal), sending and updating information every time the location of the phone changes.

    Footpath technology from Path Intelligence consists of discreet monitoring units able to read the anonymous signals that all mobile phones send. So we’re able to ‘see’ where the phone is (but not the data on it) and map its geographic movements from location to location accurately to within a few meters [sic]. In isolation the information isn’t very revealing but when aggregated, patterns and trends start to emerge. It’s those patterns and trends that are of interest in business planning.

    The data collected is fed back to our data centers [sic] 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to be audited and have sophisticated statistical analysis applied. This results in continuously updated information on the flow of people in any monitored location.

    As no source code is available for Footpath, no check can be made on its lack of ability to collect personal data or telephone numbers.

    Concerns were expressed by Big Brother Watch about the tracking of shoppers’ mobiles 2 years ago.

    At present the technology is not capable of recording phone numbers or personal information, but this will probably change as the system improves and as highlighted by Big Brother Watch:

    However, as technology improves, those facilities will become more accessible, and consumers need to have faith that the law protects their privacy. Uncertainty over when and how technology is being used only undermines trust and confidence in any system using mobile phones.

    To avoid being tracked, turn off your mobile when visiting Cabot Circus or any other shopping centre operated by Land Securities.

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