Many years ago, a friend of mine calculated how much it would cost -to store the sound of all phone calls in Norway, and came up with the -cost of around 20 million NOK for all the calls in a year. I got -curious and wondered what the same calculation would look like today. -To do so one need an idea of how much data storage is needed for each -minute of sound, how many minutes all the calls in Norway sums up to, -and the cost of data storage.
- -The 2005 numbers are from -digi.no, -the 2012 numbers are from -a -NKOM report, and I got the 2013 numbers after asking NKOM via -email. I was told the numbers for 2014 will be presented May 20th, -and decided not to wait for those, as I doubt they will be very -different from the numbers from 2013.
- -The amount of data storage per minute sound depend on the wanted -quality, and for phone calls it is generally believed that 8 Kbit/s is -enough. See for example a -summary -on voice quality from Cisco for some alternatives. 8 Kbit/s is 60 -Kbytes/min, and this can be multiplied with the number of call minutes -to get the storage requirements.
- -Storage prices varies a lot, depending on speed, backup strategies, -availability requirements etc. But a simple way to calculate can be -to use the price of a TiB-disk (around 1000 NOK) and double it to take -space, power and redundancy. It could be much higher with high speed -and good redundancy requirements.
- -But back to the question, What would it cost to store all phone -calls in Norway? Not much. Here is a small table showing the -estimated cost, which is within the budget constraint of most medium -and large organisations:
- -Year | Call minutes | Size | Price in NOK |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | 24 000 000 000 | 1.3 PiB | 3 mill |
2012 | 18 000 000 000 | 1.0 PiB | 2.2 mill |
2013 | 17 000 000 000 | 950 TiB | 2.1 mill |
This is the cost of buying the storage. Maintenance need to be -taken into account too, but calculating that is left as an exercise -for the reader. But it is obvious to me from those numbers that -recording the sound of all phone calls in Norway is not going to be -stopped because it is too expensive. I wonder if someone already is -collecting the data?
+ +Tenk om et norsk sykehus delte informasjon om hva som blir lest og +hvem som leser på sykehusets nettsted, med noen som samarbeider med et +fremmed lands etterretningsvesen, og at flere andre fremmede lands +etterretningstjenester kan snappe opp informasjonen.
+ +Tenk om flere sykehus, kommuner, helsestasjoner, universitet, +høyskoler, grunnskoler, Stortinget, det meste av offentlig +forvaltning, medier, adopsjonstjenester og krisesenter gjør det +samme?
+ +Tenk om de som lytter kan holde oversikt over norske borgeres +interesser, sykdommer, rusmisbruk, adopsjon, abort, barnehager, +politiske interesser og sympatier samt hvilke argumenter som har best +effekt på beslutningstagere og måter de kan påvirkes. Ville det gitt +grunn til bekymring?
+ +Høres det ut som noe tatt ut fra fantasien til George Orwell, +forfatteren av dystopien 1984? Det er virkeligheten i Norge i dag, +takket være bruken av statistikktjenester som Google Analytics.
+ +Du kan beskytte deg
+ +Men borgerne har et forsvar mot dette angrepet på privatsfæren. +Dagens nettlesere har utvidelser som støtter å blokkere slik +utlevering av informasjon. Personlig bruker jeg Privacy Badger, +Ghostery, NoScript og AdBlock, og anbefaler alle å gjøre noe +tilsvarende. Merk at noen av verktøyene lekker informasjon, i tillegg +til å gjøre en nyttig jobb, så det er lurt å bruke flere sammen. I +tillegg bør hver og en av oss sende inn protest til organisasjonene +bak nettsteder som bidrar til dette inngrepet i privatsfæren.
+ +Hvem bidrar til overvåkningen?
+ +Takket være Ghostery la jeg merke til at flere og flere norske +nettsteder begynte Ã¥ la Google Analytics overvÃ¥ke brukerne. Jeg ble +nysgjerrig pÃ¥ hvor mange det gjaldt, og gikk igjennom ca. 2700 norske +nettsteder, hovedsakelig offentlig forvaltning. Jeg laget et system +for Ã¥ koble seg opp automatisk og sjekke hvor nettstedene spredte +informasjon om besøket. Jeg ble overrasket bÃ¥de over omfanget og hva +slags nettsteder som rapporterer besøksinformasjon ut av landet. +Omtrent 70 prosent av de 2700 sender informasjon til Google Analytics. +Noen tilfeldige eksempler er Akershus Universitetssykehus, Sykehuset +Ãstfold, Lommelegen, Oslo krisesenter, Stortinget, den norske +regjering, de fleste politiske partier pÃ¥ Stortinget, NAV, Altinn, +NRK, TV2, Helse Førde, Helse Stavanger, Oslo kommune, +Nasjonalbiblioteket, Pasientombudet, Kongehuset, Politiet, +TeknologirÃ¥det, Tollvesenet, Norsk romsenter, Forsvarsbygg og +Sivilforsvaret. Og det er mange flere.
+ +Hvordan kan det offentlige Norge omfavne en slik praksis? Det er +gode hensikter bak. Google har laget en god tjeneste for +nettstedseiere, der de uten å betale med noe annet enn en bit av de +besøkenes privatsfære får tilgang til nyttig og presis statistikk over +nettstedets bruk ved å besøke netttjenesten hos Google. De færreste +merker ulempene angrepet på privatsfæren som nettstedene og Google +utgjør.
+ +Hvordan foregår det?
+ +I nettsider kan nettsteder legge inn lenker til programkode som +skal kjøres av brukerens nettleser. De som tar i bruk Google +Analytics legger typisk inn lenke til et javascript-program hos Google +som ber nettleseren ta kontakt med Google og dele IP-adresse, side +besøkt, aktuelle cookies og endel informasjon om nettleseren med +Google Analytics. Programmet trenger ikke være det samme for alle som +henter det fra Google. Det finnes et Google Analytics-tilvalg kalt +«anonymisering» som nettstedeier kan ta i bruk. Dette instruerer det +omtalte programmet om å be Google slette deler av den oversendte +IP-adressen. Full IP-adresse sendes likevel over og er tilgjengelig +for alle som snapper opp informasjonen underveis.
+ +Takket være varsleren Edward Snowden, som bidro til uvurderlig +dokumentasjon på snurpenot-overvåkningen som nordmenn blir utsatt for, +vet vi at Google samarbeider med USAs etteretning som avlytter trafikk +sendt til Google Analytics.
+ +Men allerede før Snowden var det bekreftet at både britiske GCHQ og +USAs NSA avlytter og lagrer blant annet Internett-trafikk som er innom +et av landene, i tillegg til at FRA i Sverige avlytter og lagrer +trafikk som passerte grensa til Sverige.
+ +Og som +Datatilsynet +sa til Dagens Næringsliv i 2013 kunne de vanskelig nekte bruk av +skytjenester som Google Analytics når Norge var bundet av EUs «Safe +Harbour»-avtale med USA. De måtte derfor se bort fra +f.eks. FISAAA-loven (som lar NSA avlytte Internett-trafikk) i sine +vurderinger. Når nå EUs «Safe Harbour»-avtale er underkjent, og det +foreslås å bruke individuell avtalerett mellom selskaper som juridisk +grunnlag for å sende personopplysninger til USA, er det greit å huske +på at FISAA-loven og andre som brukes av USA som grunnlag for +masseovervåkning overstyrer slike avtaler.
+ +For øvrig burde varsleren Edward Snowden få politisk asyl i +Norge.
I am happy to report that the Debian Edu team sent out -this -announcement today:
- --the Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first -*beta* release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first -time is composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable -release, Debian 8 "Jessie". - -(As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been -released by now. The release is still in progress but should finish -later today ;) - -We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming -weeks, timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades -from this beta release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will -be possible and encouraged! - -Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit -bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs - -Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete -operating system for schools, universities and other -organisations. Through its pre- prepared installation profiles -administrators can install servers, workstations and laptops which -will work in harmony on the school network. With Debian Edu, the -teachers themselves or their technical support staff can roll out a -complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours or -days. - -Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the -world, particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come -with hundreds of applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian -archive of thousands of compatible packages within easy reach. - -For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and -installation instructions are available, including detailed -instructions in the manual explaining the first steps, such as setting -up a network or adding users. Please note that the password for the -user your prompted for during installation must have a length of at -least 5 characters! - -== Where to download == - -A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting -can be downloaded at the following locations: - - http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso - rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso . - -The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a - -Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also -available, with more software included (saving additional download -time): - - http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso - rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso - -The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636 - -Sources are available from the Debian archive, see -http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download -options. - -== Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages == - -Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for -the English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual. - -This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian, -Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists -for Spanish. See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for -online version of the translated manual. - -More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the -release notes and the installation manual: -- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes -- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual - - -== Errata / known problems == - - It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via - DHCP (#780461). - - The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087). - -Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the -hostname immediately. - -Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly -more current and complete list. - -== Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released 2015-04-25 == - -=== Software updates === - -Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.: - - * Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for - i486 processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like - Intel Pentium and AMD K5). - - * Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14, - Xfce 4.12, LXDE 0.5.6 - * new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8 - * KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of - the others see the manual. - * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41 - * LibreOffice 4.3.3 - * GOsa 2.7.4 - * LTSP 5.5.4 - * CUPS print system 1.7.5 - * new boot framework: systemd - * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12 - * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02 - * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14 - * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1 - * golearn 0.9 - * tuxpaint 0.9.22 - * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie. - * Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation. - * More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release - notes and the installation manual, see the link above. - -=== Installation changes === - - Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically - for the hardware present. - -=== Fixed bugs === - -A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable -from a user perspective: - - * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break - DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect - information is corrected (710362) - - * shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608). - -=== Sugar desktop removed === - -As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not -available in Debian Edu jessie. - - -== About Debian Edu / Skolelinux == - -Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on -Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely -configured school network. Directly after installation a school server -running all services needed for a school network is set up just -waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable -Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after -initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other -machines can be installed via the network. The provided school server -provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service, -centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other -services. The desktop contains more than 60 educational software -packages and more are available from the Debian archive, and schools -can choose between KDE, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop -environment. - -== About Debian == - -The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly -free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of -the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of -volunteers from all over the world work together to create and -maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a -huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal -operating system. - -== Thanks == - -Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen! -You rock. -+ +
Norge er aktiv i Trade in Services Agreement-forhandlingene, og +regjeringen forteller at +«TISA +vil sikre norske tjenesteeksportører forutsigbar og +ikke-diskriminerende adgang til utenlandske tjenestemarkeder». +Det er mulig at det stemmer. Men den gjør mye mer enn det. Avtalen +forhandles i hemmelighet, og kun takket være +Wikileaks er +utkast og biter kjent i offentligheten. Det som er blitt kjent er +for eksempel at TISA kan +blokkere +myndigheter fra å kreve bruk av fri programvare i mange +situasjoner, hvilket vil fjerne muligheten vår til å ha kontroll +over egne datasystemer i slike tilfeller. Den kan også +blokkere +Norges mulighet til å holde kontroll med overføring av +personinformasjon ut av landet, hvilket Snowden-bekreftelsene har +dokumentert er svært problematisk. + +
Jeg ble derfor veldig glad da jeg i dag ble tipset i dag om at det +allerede finnes en aktiv organisasjon, +Folkeaksjonen mot +TISA, som jobber for å hindre at Norge signerer på TISA-avtalen. +Her må alle gode krefter jobbe sammen. Jeg skal sende dem litt +penger, og se om jeg har kapasitet til å bidra med mer.
It was a surprise to me to learn that project to create a complete -computer system for schools I've involved in, -Debian Edu / Skolelinux, was -being used in India. But apparently it is, and I managed to get an -interview with one of the friends of the project there, Shirish -Agarwal.
- -Who are you, and how do you spend your days?
- -My name is Shirish Agarwal. Based out of the educational and -historical city of Pune, from the western state of Maharashtra, India. -My bread comes from giving training, giving policy tips, -installations on free software to mom and pop shops in different -fields from Desktop publishing to retail shops as well as work with -few software start-ups as well.
- -How did you get in contact with the Skolelinux / Debian Edu -project?
- -It started innocently enough. I have been using Debian for a few -years and in one local minidebconf / debutsav I was asked if there was -anything for schools or education. I had worked / played with free -educational softwares such as Gcompris and Stellarium for my many -nieces and nephews so researched and found Debian Edu or Skolelinux as -it was known then. Since then I have started using the various -education meta-packages provided by the project.
- -What do you see as the advantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?
- -It's closest I have seen where a package full of educational -software are packed, which are free and open (both literally and -figuratively). Even if I take the simplest software which is -gcompris, the number of activities therein are amazing. Another one of -the softwares that I have liked for a long time is stellarium. Even -pysycache is cool except for couple of issues I encountered -#781841 and -#781842.
- -I prefer software installed on the system over web based solutions, -as a web site can disappear any time but the software on disk has the -possibility of a larger life span. Of course with both it's more a -question if it has enough users who make it fun or sustainable or both -for the developer per-se.
- -What do you see as the disadvantages of Skolelinux / Debian -Edu?
- -I do see that the Debian Edu team seems to be short-handed and I -think more efforts should be made to make it popular and ask and take -help from people and the larger community wherever possible.
- -I don't see any disadvantage to use Skolelinux apart from the fact -that most apps. are generic which is good or bad how you see it. -However, saying that I do acknowledge the fact that the canvas is -pretty big and there are lot of interesting ideas that could be done -but for reasons not known not done or if done I don't know about them. -Let me share some of the ideas (these are more upstream based but -still) I have had for a long time :
- -1. Classical maths question of two trains in opposing directions -each running @x kmph/mph at y distance, when they will meet and how -far would each travel and similar questions like these. - -
The computer is a fantastic system where questions like these can -be drawn, animated and the methodology and answers teased out in -interactive manner. While sites such as the -Ask -Dr. Math FAQ on The Two Trains problem (as an example or point of -inspiration) can be used there is lot more that can be done. I dunno -if there is a free software which does something like this. The idea -being a blend of objects + animation + interaction which does -this. The whole interaction could be gamified with points or sounds or -colourful celebration whenever the user gets even part of the question -or/and methodology right. That would help reinforce good behaviour. -This understanding could be used to share/showcase everything from how -the first wheel came to be, to evolution to how astronomy started, -psychics and everything in-between.
- -One specific idea in the train part was having the Linux mascot on -one train and the BSD or GNU mascot on the other train and they -meeting somewhere in-between. Characters from blender movies could -also be used.
- -2. Loads of crossword-puzzles with reference to subjects: We have -enormous data sets in Wikipedia and Wikitionary. I don't think it -should be a big job to design crossword puzzles. Using categories and -sub-categories it should be doable to have Q&A single word answers -from the existing data-sets. What would make it easy or hard could be -the length of the word + existence of many or few vowels depending on -the user's input.
- -3. Jigsaw puzzles - We already have a great software called -palapeli with number of slicers making it pretty interesting. What -needs to be done is to download large number of public domain and -copyleft images, tease and use IPTC tags to categorise them into -nature, history etc. and let it loose. This could turn to be really -huge collection of images. One source could be taken from -commons.wikimedia.org, others could be huge collection of royalty-free -stock photos. Potential is immense.
- -Apart from this, free software suffers in two directions, we lag -both in development (of using new features per-se) and maintenance a -lot. This is more so in educational software as these applications -need to be timely and the opportunity cost of missing deadlines is -immense. If we are able to solve issues of funding for development and -maintenance of such software I don't see any big difficulties. I know -of few start-ups in and around India who would love to develop and -maintain such software if funding issues could be solved.
- -Which free software do you use daily?
- -That would be huge list. Some of the softwares are obviously apt, -aptitude, debdelta, leafpad, the shell of course (zsh nowadays), -quassel for IRC. In games I use shisen-sho while card-games are evenly -between kpat and Aiselriot. In desktops it's a tie between -gnome-flashback and mate.
- -Which strategy do you believe is the right one to use to -get schools to use free software?
- -I think it should first start with using specific FOSS apps. in -whatever environment they are. If it's MS-Windows or Mac so be it. -Once they are habitual with the apps. and there is buy-in from the -school management then it could be installed anywhere. Most of the -people now understand the concept of a repository because of the -various online stores so it isn't hard to convince on that front.
- -What is harder is having enough people with technical skills and -passion to service them. If you get buy-in from one or two teachers -then ideas like above could also be asked to be done as a project as -well.
- -I think where we fall short more than anything is in marketing. For -instance, Debian has this whole range of fonts in its archive but -there isn't even a page where all those different fonts in the La -Ipsum format could be tried out for newcomers.
- -One of the issues faced constantly in installations is with updates -and upgrades. People have this myth that each update and upgrade -means the user interface will / has to change. I have seen this -innumerable times. That perhaps is one of the reasons which browsers -like Iceweasel / Firefox change user interfaces so much, not because -it might be needed or be functional but because people believe that -changed user interfaces are better. This, can easily be pointed with -the user interfaces changed with almost every MS-Windows and Mac OS -releases.
- -The problems with Debian Edu for deployment are many. The biggest -is the huge gap between what is taught in schools and what Debian Edu -is aimed at. - -
Me and my friends did teach on week-ends in a government school for -around 2 years, and -gathered -some experience there. Some of the things we learnt/discovered -there was :
- --
-
-
- Most of the teachers are very territorial about their subjects - and they do not want you to teach anything out of the - portion/syllabus given. - -
- They want any activity on the system in accordance to whatever - is in the syllabus. - -
- There are huge barriers both with the English language and at - times with objects or whatever. An example, let's say in gcompris - you have objects falling down and you have to name them and let's - say the falling object is a hat or a fedora hat, this would not be - as recognizable as say a - Puneri - Pagdi so there is need to inject local objects, words wherever - possible. Especially for word-games there are so many hindi words - which have become part of english vocabulary (for instance in - parley), those could be made into a hinglish collection or - something but that is something for upstream to do. - -
In Norway, all government offices are required by law to keep a +list of every document or letter arriving and leaving their offices. +Internal notes should also be documented. The document list (called a mail +journal - "postjournal" in Norwegian) is public information and thanks +to the Norwegian Freedom of Information Act (Offentleglova) the mail +journal is available for everyone. Most offices even publish the mail +journal on their web pages, as PDFs or tables in web pages. The state-level offices even have a shared web based search service (called +Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal - +OEP) to make it possible to search the entries in the list. Not +all journal entries show up on OEP, and the search service is hard to +use, but OEP does make it easier to find at least some interesting +journal entries .
+ +In 2012 I came across a document in the mail journal for the +Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications on OEP that +piqued my interest. The title of the document was +"Internet +Governance and how it affects national security" (Norwegian: +"Internet Governance og påvirkning på nasjonal sikkerhet"). The +document date was 2012-05-22, and it was said to be sent from the +"Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations". I asked for a +copy, but my request was rejected with a reference to a legal clause said to authorize them to reject it +(offentleglova § 20, +letter c) and an explanation that the document was exempt because +of foreign policy interests as it contained information related to the +Norwegian negotiating position, negotiating strategies or similar. I +was told the information in the document related to the ongoing +negotiation in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). The +explanation made sense to me in early January 2013, as a ITU +conference in Dubay discussing Internet Governance +(World +Conference on International Telecommunications - WCIT-12) had just +ended, +reportedly +in chaos when USA walked out of the negotiations and 25 countries +including Norway refused to sign the new treaty. It seemed +reasonable to believe talks were still going on a few weeks later. +Norway was represented at the ITU meeting by two authorities, the +Norwegian Communications Authority +and the Ministry of +Transport and Communications. This might be the reason the letter +was sent to the ministry. As I was unable to find the document in the +mail journal of any Norwegian UN mission, I asked the ministry who had +sent the document to the ministry, and was told that it was the Deputy +Permanent Representative with the Permanent Mission of Norway in +Geneva.
+ +Three years later, I was still curious about the content of that +document, and again asked for a copy, believing the negotiation was +over now. This time +I +asked both the Ministry of Transport and Communications as the +receiver and +asked +the Permanent Mission of Norway in Geneva as the sender for a +copy, to see if they both agreed that it should be withheld from the +public. The ministry upheld its rejection quoting the same law +reference as before, while the permanent mission rejected it quoting a +different clause +(offentleglova § 20 +letter b), claiming that they were required to keep the +content of the document from the public because it contained +information given to Norway with the expressed or implied expectation +that the information should not be made public. I asked the permanent +mission for an explanation, and was told that the document contained +an account from a meeting held in the Pentagon for a limited group of NATO +nations where the organiser of the meeting did not intend the content +of the meeting to be publicly known. They explained that giving me a +copy might cause Norway to not get access to similar information in +the future and thus hurt the future foreign interests of Norway. They +also explained that the Permanent Mission of Norway in Geneva was not +the author of the document, they only got a copy of it, and because of +this had not listed it in their mail journal.
+ +Armed with this +knowledge I asked the Ministry to reconsider and asked who was the +author of the document, now realising that it was not same as the +"sender" according to Ministry of Transport and Communications. The +ministry upheld its rejection but told me the name of the author of +the document. According to +a +government report the author was with the Permanent Mission of +Norway in New York a bit more than a year later (2014-09-22), so I +guessed that might be the office responsible for writing and sending +the report initially and +asked +them for a copy but I was obviously wrong as I was told that the +document was unknown to them and that the author did not work there +when the document was written. Next, I asked the Permanent Mission of +Norway in Geneva and the Foreign Ministry to reconsider and at least +tell me who sent the document to Deputy Permanent Representative with +the Permanent Mission of Norway in Geneva. The Foreign Ministry also +upheld its rejection, but told me that the person sending the document +to Permanent Mission of Norway in Geneva was the defence attaché with +the Norwegian Embassy in Washington. I do not know if this is the +same person as the author of the document.
+ +If I understand the situation correctly, someone capable of +inviting selected NATO nations to a meeting in Pentagon organised a +meeting where someone representing the Norwegian defence attaché in +Washington attended, and the account from this meeting is interpreted +by the Ministry of Transport and Communications to expose Norways +negotiating position, negotiating strategies and similar regarding the +ITU negotiations on Internet Governance. It is truly amazing what can +be derived from mere meta-data.
+ +I wonder which NATO countries besides Norway attended this meeting? +And what exactly was said and done at the meeting? Anyone know?
I am happy to let you all know that I'm going to the Open Source Developers' -Conference Nordic 2015!
- -It take place Friday 8th to Sunday 10th of May in Oslo next to -where I work, and I finally got around to submitting -a talk proposal for -it (dead link for most people until the talk is accepted). As -part of my involvement with the -Norwegian Unix User Group member -association I have been slightly involved in the planning of this -conference for a while now, with a focus on organising a Civic Hacking -Hackathon with our friends -over at mySociety and -Holder de ord. This part is -named the 'My Society' track in the program. There is still space for -more talks and participants. I hope to see you there.
- -Check out the talks -submitted and accepted so far.
+ +People keep asking me where to get the various forms of the book I +published last week, the Norwegian Bokmål edition of Lawrence Lessigs +book Free Culture. It was +published on paper via lulu.com, and is also available in PDF, ePub +and MOBI format. I currently sell the paper edition for self cost +from lulu.com, but might extend the distribution to book stores like +Amazon and Barnes & Noble later. This will double the price and force +me to make a profit from selling the book. Anyway, here are links to +get the book in different formats:
+ +-
+
+
- Buy + paper edition from lulu.com + +
- Download + PDF, size 7.9 MiB (gratis/free) + +
- Download + ePub, size 11 MiB (gratis/free) + +
- Download + MOBI, size 3.8 MiB (gratis/free) + +
Note that the MOBI version have problems with the table of content, +at least with the viewers I have been able to test. And the ePub file +have several problems according to +epubcheck, but seem +to display fine in the viewers I have tested. All the files needed to +create the book in various forms are available from +the +github project page.
+ +The project got press coverage from the Norwegian IT news site +digi.no. Check out the article +"Vil +åpne politikernes øyne for Creative Commons". + +
I've blogged +about the project as it moved along. The blogs document the translation +progress and insights I had along the way.
During eastern I had some time to continue working on the Norwegian -docbook version of the 2004 book -Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. -At the moment I am proof reading the finished text, looking for typos, -inconsistent wordings and sentences that do not flow as they should. -I'm more than two thirds done with the text, and welcome others to -check the text up to chapter 13. The current status is available on the -github -project pages. You can also check out the -PDF, -EPUB -and HTML version available in the -archive -directory.
- -Please report typos, bugs and improvements to the github project if -you find any.
+ +Like før kl. 11 i dag leverte jeg fem esker med gaveinnpakkede +bøker til Stortinget, for utdeling til alle stortingsrepresentanter. +Det ble etterfulgt av følgende pressemelding. Stor takk til NUUG for +lån av epostliste for å sende ut pressemeldingen.
+ ++ ++ +Er opphavsretten for streng, spør ny bok
+ +I dag kommer boken «Fri +kultur» av Lawrence Lessig ut på norsk. Boken handler om +utviklingen og utvidelsene opphavsretten har hatt de siste 40 årene. +Boken er i dag gitt i gave til alle stortingsrepresentantene. +Oversetter og utgiver Petter Reinholdtsen håper Stortinget vil tenke +seg om to ganger neste gang det er snakk om utvidelse av +opphavsretten.
+ +Boken forteller om hvordan store medieaktører ved hjelp av +opphavsretten bruker teknologi til å begrense kulturen og kontrollere +kreativiteten. Den er skrevet av stifteren av +Creative Commons, professor +Lawrence Lessig, som for tiden er med i kampen om å bli Demokratenes +presidentkandidat i USA sitt +presidentvalg i 2016. Lessig ble sist omtalt i norske medier da +NRK i høst viste dokumentaren «Kampen for et demokratisk internett» +som også er +tilgjengelig +fra The Internet Archive.
+ +Boken beskriver hvordan opphavsrettens makt i USA har blitt +betydelig utvidet etter 1974 langs fem kritiske akser: varighet (fra +32 til 95 år), omfang (fra utgivere til alle), rekkevidde (gjelder nå +enhver fremvisning via datamaskin), kontroll (avledede verk er +definert så bredt at i praksis alle nye åndsverk risikerer søksmål fra +en opphavsrettsinnehaver) og til sist maktkonsentrasjon og integrering +av mediebransjen. Den dokumenterer også hvordan medieindustrien har +lyktes med å bruke rettsvesenet til å begrense konkurranse, og i +praksis har skaffet seg vetorett over teknologiske nyvinninger. +Nedlasting av fritt, lovlig og i utgangspunktet gratis materiale +stoppes med tekniske sperrer og lobbyert lovvern av sperrene.
+ +Utvidelsene illustreres i boken med ulike eksempler. For eksempel +en demonstrasjon av at Walt Disney ville ha blitt ansett som en +opphavsrettspirat dersom han gjorde i dag det han gjorde på +1930-tallet. Boken beskriver hvordan vern av åndsverk er bra, men at +mer vern ikke nødvendigvis er bedre. + +
Petter Reinholdtsen, som sammen med flere frivillige har oversatt +boken på fritiden de siste 3 årene, håper at boken vil gjøre en +forskjell. «Når en vet hvordan opphavsrettens varighet i Norge, uten +opposisjon på Stortinget, ble utvidet nok en gang i mai i fjor, og +hvordan Norges handelspartner USA gjennom de nye handelsavtalene +Trans-Pacific Partnership og Transatlantic Trade and Investment +Partnership +ønsker +å utvide opphavsrettens makt også i andre land, håper jeg at flere +vil spørre: Er det virkelig fornuftig å gjøre de samme utvidelsene i +Norge?», spør han. «Jeg håper boken kan bidra til kunnskap og +forståelse, og kan gi Stortinget et bedre grunnlag til å ta riktige +beslutninger som ivaretar befolkningens og samfunnets interesser i +Norge.»
+ +Petter Reinholdtsen er en mangeårig fri programvareutvikler som har +vært med på å lage systemer som operativsystemet Debian, IT-løsningen +Skolelinux, borgerportalen FiksGataMi og innsynstjenesten Mimes brønn. +Han forteller han selv har opplevd problemene utvidet varighet, +omfang, rekkevidde og kontroll i opphavsretten medfører og at boken +var en oppvekker. «Jeg håper andre finner boken like interessant som +jeg gjorde. Boken kan +lastes +gratis ned fra github eller +kjøpes +på papir fra lulu.com,» avslutter Reinholdtsen.
+ +
Så får vi se om det har noen positiv effekt. :)
The Norwegian Unix User Group, -where I am a member, and where people interested in free software, -open standards and UNIX like operating systems like Linux and the BSDs -come together, record our monthly technical presentations on video. -The purpose is to document the talks and spread them to a wider -audience. For this, the the Norwegian nationwide open channel -Frikanalen is a useful venue. -Since a few days ago, when I figured out the -REST API to program the -channel time schedule, -the channel has been filled with NUUG talks, related recordings and -some Creative Commons licensed TED talks (from archive.org). I fill -all "leftover bits" on the channel with content from NUUG, which at -the moment is almost 17 of 24 hours every day.
- -The list of NUUG videos -uploaded so far -include things like a -one hour talk by John -Perry Barlow when he visited Oslo, a presentation of -Haiku, the BeOS -re-implementation, the -history of FiksGataMi, -the Norwegian version of FixMyStreet, the good old -Warriors of the net -video and many others.
- -We have a large backlog of NUUG talks not yet uploaded to -Frikanalen, and plan to upload every useful bit to the channel to -spread the word there. I also hope to find useful recordings from the -Chaos Computer Club and Debian conferences and spread them on the -channel as well. But this require locating the videos and their meta -information (title, description, license, etc), and preparing the -recordings for broadcast, and I have not yet had the spare time to -focus on this. Perhaps you want to help. Please join us on IRC, -#nuug on irc.freenode.net -if you want to help make this happen.
- -But as I said, already the channel is already almost exclusively -filled with technical topics, and if you want to learn something new -today, check out the Ogg Theora -web stream or use one of the other ways to get access to the -channel. Unfortunately the Ogg Theora recoding for distribution still -do not properly sync the video and sound. It is generated by recoding -a internal MPEG transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to -Ogg Theora / Vorbis, and we have not been able to find a way that -produces acceptable quality. Help needed, please get in touch if you -know how to fix it using free software.
+ +Klikk her for å kjøpe boken.
+ +I 2004, mens Creative +Commons-bevegelsen vokste frem, skrev bevegelsens stifter Lawrence +Lessig boken +Free +Culture for å forklare problemene med økene åndsverksregulering og +for å foreslå noen løsninger. Jeg leste boken den gangen, og den både +inspirerte meg og endret på hvordan jeg så på opphavsrettslovigving. +Jeg skulle ønske flere folk leste denne boken. Den gir en god +gjennomgang av hvordan økende åndsverksregulering skader både +nyskapning og kulturlivet, og skisserer hvordan både lovgivere og oss +vanlige borgere kan bidra for å få slutt på dette.
+ +Derfor bestemte jeg meg sommeren 2012 for å oversette den til norsk +bokmål og gjøre den tilgjengelig for de blant mine venner og familie +som foretrekker å lese bøker på norsk. Jeg oversatte boken ved hjelp +av docbook og en gettext PO-fil, og endte opp med to utgaver, en på +norsk og en på engelsk. Den engelske publiserte jeg i forrige uke, og +den norske utgaven på papir +er +nå klar for salg. Jeg fikk heldigvis hjelp med oversetting og +korrekturlesing av den norske utgaven fra en rekke frivillige. Se +side 245 for en komplett liste. Slik ser omslaget ut: + +
+ +I tillegg til den norske og engelske utgaven holder vi på med en +fransk utgave. Den koordineres av dblatex-utvikleren Benoît Guillon, +og oversettelsen var komplett denne uka men må korrekturleses før den +kan gis ut. Flere frivillige trengs her, så ta kontakt med Benoît +hvis du vil bidra.
+ +Boken er også tilgjengelig i PDF, ePub og MOBI-format fra +min +github-prosjektside. Merk at ePub og MOBI-utgavene har noen +formatteringsproblemer som jeg tror kommer av feil i docbook-verktøyet +dbtoepub (Debian BTS-rapporter +#795842 +og +#796871), +men jeg har ikke tatt meg tid til å undersøke problemene. For de som +vil ha elektronisk kopi anbefaler jeg å bruke PDF- og ePub-utgaven i +denne omgang, da de ser ut til å hånderes bra av de fremviserne jeg +har tilgjengelig.
+ +Etter at oversettelsen til bokmål var ferdig klarte jeg å overtale +NUUG Foundation til å +sponse trykking av boken. Det er årsaken til at stiftelsens logo er +på baksiden av omslaget. Jeg er svært takknemlig for dette, og bruker +bidraget til å gi en kopi av den norske utgaven til alle +Stortingsrepresentanter og andre beslutningstakere her i Norge.
Today I was happy to learn that the documentary -Citizenfour by -Laura Poitras -finally will show up in Norway. According to the magazine -Montages, a deal has finally been -made for -Cinema -distribution in Norway and the movie will have its premiere soon. -This is great news. As part of my involvement with -the Norwegian Unix User Group, me and -a friend have -tried -to get the movie to Norway ourselves, but obviously -we -were too late and Tor Fosse beat us to it. I am happy he did, as -the movie will make its way to the public and we do not have to make -it happen ourselves. -The trailer -can be seen on youtube, if you are curious what kind of film this -is.
- -The whistle blower Edward Snowden really deserve political asylum -here in Norway, but I am afraid he would not be safe.
+ +In 2004, as the Creative Commons +movement gained momentum, its creator Lawrence Lessig wrote the +book Free +Culture to explain the problems with increasing copyright +regulation and suggest some solutions. I read the book back then and +was very moved by it. Reading the book inspired me and changed the +way I looked on copyright law, and I would love it if more people +would read it too.
+ +Because of this, I decided in the summer of 2012 to translate it to +Norwegian Bokmål and publish it for those of my friends and family +that prefer to read books in Norwegian. I translated the book using +docbook and a gettext PO file, and a byproduct of this process is a +new edition of the English original. I've been in touch with the +author during by work, and he said it was fine with him if I also +published an English version. So I decided to do so. Today, I made +this edition +available +for sale on Lulu.com, for those interested in a paper book. This +is the cover: + +
+ +The Norwegian Bokmål version will be available for purchase in a +few days. I also plan to publish a French version in a few weeks or +months, depending on the amount of people with knowledge of French to +join the translation project. So far there is only one active +person, but the French book is almost completely translated but +need some proof reading.
+ +The book is also available in PDF, ePub and MOBI formats from +my +github project page. Note the ePub and MOBI versions have some +formatting problems I believe is due to bugs in the docbook tool +dbtoepub (Debian BTS issues +#795842 +and +#796871), +but I have not taken the time to investigate. I recommend the PDF and +ePub version for now, as they seem to show up fine in the viewers I +have available.
+ +After the translation to Norwegian Bokmål was complete, I was able +to secure some sponsoring from +the NUUG Foundation to +print the book. This is the reason their logo is located on the back +cover. I am very grateful for their contribution, and will use it to +give a copy of the Norwegian edition to members of the Norwegian +Parliament and other decision makers here in Norway.
The Norwegian nationwide open channel
-Frikanalen is still going
-strong. It allow everyone to send the video they want on national
-television. It is a TV station administrated completely using a web
-browser, running only
If you want to see what is on the channel, point your media player -to one of these sources. The first should work with most players and -browsers, while as far as I know, the multicast UDP stream only work -with VLC.
- --
-
- http://video.nuug.no/frikanalen.ogv -
- udp://@224.17.43.129:1234 -
The Ogg Theora / icecast stream is not working well, as the video -and audio is slightly out of sync. We have not been able to figure -out how to fix it. It is generated by recoding a internal MPEG -transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to Ogg Theora / -Vorbis, and the result is less then stellar. If you have ideas how to -fix it, please let us know on frikanalen (at) nuug.no. We currently -use this with ffmpeg2theora 0.29:
- -- --./ffmpeg2theora.linux <OBE_gemini_URL.ts> -F 25 -x 720 -y 405 \ - --deinterlace --inputfps 25 -c 1 -H 48000 --keyint 8 --buf-delay 100 \ - --nosync -V 700 -o - | oggfwd video.nuug.no 8000 <pw> /frikanalen.ogv -
If you get the multicast UDP stream working, please let me know, as -I am curious how far the multicast stream reach. It do not make it to -my home network, nor any other commercially available network in -Norway that I am aware of.
+ +Bitcoin er i litt vinden i Norge for tiden, med +kronikk +om bitcoin-overføringer på tvers av landegrensene hos NRK Ytring +for to dager siden og +dokumentar +om bitcoin på NRK 2 i forgårs og i går. I den sammenhengen er det +spesielt hyggelig med en gladnyhet fra EU om Bitcoin.
+ +I dag konkluderte EU-domstolen at +Bitcoin-kjøp +fra Bitcoin-børser ikke er MVA-pliktig (sak Câ264/14). Fant +nyheten +først hos Reuters, etter tips fra innehaveren av +Bitmynt. EU-domstolens avgjørelse +er stikk i strid med +annonseringen +fra Skatteetaten i 2013, der de konkluderte med at bitcoin er et +«formuesobjekter» som det skulle betales mva pÃ¥ ved kjøp og salg. +Dermed la Skatteetaten opp til dobbel MVA-betaling hvis en kjøpte noe +med Bitcoin fra Norge (først mva pÃ¥ kjøp av Bitcoin, deretter mva pÃ¥ +det en kjøper med Bitcoin). Jeg lurer pÃ¥ om denne avgjørelsen fÃ¥r +Skatteetaten til Ã¥ bytte mening. Gleder meg til fortsettelsen.
En stund nå har jeg vært nødt til å forholde meg til -Fronter, en nettløsning -Osloskolen bruker for kontakt mellom hjem og skole. Løsningen -imponerer ikke, og det er lagt opp til at vi foreldre skal logge inn -regelmessig for å se om noe har endret seg. Idéen om å la folk stikke -innom nettsider for å se om det har skjedd endringer er så idiotisk at -jeg har lett etter et alternativ. Fronterløsningen har en innebygget -løsning der en kan abonnere på forsiden (som viser en oppsummering av -det en har tilgang til), og få tilsendt en kopi hver natt, men det -fjerner jo bare behovet for å stikke innom, ikke den idiotiske ideen -om at folk skal huske hvordan nettsiden så ut sist og oppdage hva som -er endret.
- -For å gjøre livet enklere har jeg derfor brukt litt tid på å lage -et program som kobler seg opp og sjekker etter endringer automatisk, -slik at jeg kan få beskjed fra datamaskinen når noe endrer seg i -stedet for å forsøke å finne ut av det selv. I går ble scriptet -brukbart, og jeg er dermed klar til å dele det med deg.
- -Jeg startet med å skrive programmet i Python, og hadde en versjon -som logget inn og hentet ned enkeltsider fra Fronter. Men -Fronter-websidene suger golfballer gjennom en hageslange, med -uleselig HTML, flere nivåer av iframes og en struktur på innholdet som -er svært vanskelig å finne ut av, så jeg ga til slutt opp lxml-parsing -med Python og forsøkte meg med WWW::Mechanize for Perl som jeg kjente -fra før. I ettertid har jeg oppdaget at WWW:Mechanize også finnes for -Python, så jeg kunne antagelig droppet språkbyttet. Men da jeg -oppdaget det hadde jeg kommet så langt med Perl-utgaven, så jeg hoppet -ikke tilbake.
- -For å logge inn i Fronter besøker en enten skolens websider eller -den sentrale innloggingsiden https://fronter.com/osloskoler/. -Perl-koden for å logge inn ser slik ut:
- --my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new(); -$mech->get('https://fronter.com/osloskoler/'); -$mech->submit_form(fields => { - username => $username, - password => $password, -} ); -- -
Neste steg er å få oversikt over hvilke «rom» en har tilgang til. -På vår skole er det rom for skolen, biblioteket, elevrådet, -aktivitetsskolen og klasser der en har unger, og dette vil være -forskjellig fra person til person. Etter å ha romstert rundt i -Fronter-grensesnittet endel kom jeg over en grei HTML-side med -oversikt over rommene, -https://fronter.com/osloskoler/adm/projects.phtml?mode=displayRoomchooser, -så jeg bruker denne til å hente ut romoversikt med rom-ID.
- --my %room; -$mech->get('https://fronter.com/osloskoler/adm/projects.phtml?mode=displayRoomchooser'); -for my $link ($mech->links()) { - my $url = $link->url(); - if ($url =~ m%/links/list_files.phtml\?edit=(\d+)$%) { - $room{$link->text()} = $1; - } -} -- -
Når en har rom-ID kan en slå opp websiden for rommet, som starter -på -https://fronter.com/osloskoler/contentframeset.phtml?goto_prjid=$ROMID -(der $ROMID byttes ut med rom-ID-tallet). Det gir en side med -iframes, og en må tre nivåer ned i iframes før en får tak i -HTML-informasjonen som vises frem når en ser på det aktuelle rommet. -Her ga jeg opp den robuste parsingen og hardkodet endel URL-er som i -stedet bør spores opp maskinelt. HTML-informasjonen som vises lagres -i en fil etter at økt- og innloggings-nøkkel er fjernet og deretter -bruker jeg lynx --dump --nolist for å hente ut en tekstlig -utgave av websiden. Denne tekstlige utgaven sammenlignes med forrige -versjon og oversikt over endringer kan så sendes ut på egnet vis.
- -Jeg valgte å bruke git til å holde rede på endringer, så jeg -sjekker inn HTML og tekst-utgaver i git og bruker git til å vise frem -endringene i tekstutgavene. Programvaren for å gjøre dette er testet -på Debian GNU/Linux og kan -lastes -ned fra github.
- -For å bruke dette selv, kjør følgende kommandoer på din -Debian-maskin (forutsetter sudo-tilgang for installasjon av -programvare):
- --sudo apt-get install git lynx-cur libio-prompter-perl libwww-mechanize-perl \ - libconfig-inifiles-perl -git clone https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/fronter-scraper-oslo -cd fronter-scraper-oslo -./update-git -- -
Det gjenstår endel, men systemet er allerede nyttig for meg. Jeg -ønsker at systemet også skal laste ned PDF-er og slikt som er lagt ut -for nedlasting på sidene, slik at f.eks. ukeplaner kommer inn i -git-arkivet mitt automatisk og jeg får automatisk beskjed når ny -ukeplan er lagt ut. Kanskje du kan bidra med å få det på plass, eller -kanskje du har andre ting du vil fikse? Jeg tar gjerne imot endringer -og forbedringer. Det er mye som kan gjøres bedre, og scriptet er ikke -veldig robust mot endringer hos nettsidene til Fronter. Jeg regner -dermed med at det vil trengs oppdateringer jevnlig etter hvert som -Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.
+ +Last year, US president candidate +in the Democratic Party Lawrence interviewed Edward Snowden. The +one hour interview was +published by +Harvard Law School 2014-10-23 on Youtube, and the meeting took +place 2014-10-20.
+ +The questions are very good, and there is lots of useful +information to be learned and very interesting issues to think about +being raised. Please check it out.
+ + + +I find it especially interesting to hear again that Snowden did try +to bring up his reservations through the official channels without any +luck. It is in sharp contrast to the answers made 2013-11-06 by the +Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg to the Norwegian Parliament, +claiming +Snowden is no Whistle-Blower because he should have taken up his +concerns internally and using official channels. It make me sad +that this is the political leadership we have here in Norway.
Aftenposten, one of the largest newspapers in Norway, today report -that -three -of the nude body scanners now is put to use at Gardermoen, the -main airport in Norway. This way the travelers can have their body -photographed without cloths when visiting Norway. Of course this -horrible news is presented with a positive spin, stating that "now -travelers can move past the security check point faster and more -efficiently", but fail to mention that the machines in question take -pictures of their nude bodies and store them internally in the -computer, while only presenting sketch figure of the body to the -public. The article is written in a way that leave the impression -that the new machines do not take these nude pictures and only create -the sketch figures. In reality the same nude pictures are still -taken, but not presented to everyone. They are still available for -the owners of the system and the people doing maintenance of the -scanners, as long as they are taken and stored.
- -Wikipedia have a more on -Full body -scanners, including example images and a summary of the -controversy about these scanners.
- -Personally I will decline to use these machines, as I believe strip -searches of my body is a very intrusive attack on my privacy, and not -something everyone should have to accept to travel.
+ +The movie "The +Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" is both inspiring +and depressing at the same time. The work of Aaron Swartz has +inspired me in my work, and I am grateful of all the improvements he +was able to initiate or complete. I wish I am able to do as much good +in my life as he did in his. Every minute of this 1:45 long movie is +inspiring in documenting how much impact a single person can have on +improving the society and this world. And it is depressing in +documenting how the law enforcement of USA (and other countries) is +corrupted to a point where they can push a bright kid to his death for +downloading too many scientific articles. Aaron is dead. Let us all +weep.
+ +The movie is also available on +Youtube. I +wish there were Norwegian subtitles available, so I could show it to +my parents.