X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/90ca4477a33fb76a3d0ba6cd4f29dedf6dd1a97d..ff27ea0d7bb88fbbd0710ce0f6b4698a5948298b:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 1246268487..799ce099ad 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,71 +20,65 @@
-
Graphing the Norwegian company ownership structure
-
15th June 2015
-

It is a bit work to figure out the ownership structure of companies -in Norway. The information is publicly available, but one need to -recursively look up ownership in all owners to figure out the complete -ownership graph of a given set of companies. To save me the work in -the future, I wrote a script to do this automatically, outputting the -ownership structure using the Graphviz/dotty format. The data source -is web scraping from Proff, because -I failed to find a useful source directly from the official keepers of -the ownership data, Brønnøysundsregistrene.

- -

To get a owner ship graph, fetch -the code from git and run it using the organisation number. I'm -using the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet as an example here, as its -ownership structure is very simple:

- -
-% time ./bin/eierskap-dotty 958033540 > dagbladet.dot
-
-real    0m2.841s
-user    0m0.184s
-sys     0m0.036s
-%
-
- -

The script accept several organisation numbers on the command line, -allowing a cluster of companies to be graphed in the same image. The -resulting dot file for the example above look like this. The edges -are labeled with the ownership percentage, and the nodes uses the -organisation number as their name and the name as the label:

- -
-digraph ownership {
-rankdir = LR;
-"Aller Holding A/s" -> "910119877" [label="100%"]
-"910119877" -> "998689015" [label="100%"]
-"998689015" -> "958033540" [label="99%"]
-"974530600" -> "958033540" [label="1%"]
-"958033540" [label="AS DAGBLADET"]
-"998689015" [label="Berner Media Holding AS"]
-"974530600" [label="Dagbladets Stiftelse"]
-"910119877" [label="Aller Media AS"]
-}
-
- -

To view the ownership graph, run "dotty dagbladet.dot" or -convert it to a PNG using "dot -T png dagbladet.dot > -dagbladet.png". This is the result can be seen below:

- - - -

Note that I suspect the "Aller Holding A/S" entry to be incorrect -data in the official ownership register, as that name is not -registered in the official company register for Norway. The ownership -register is sensitive to typos and there seem to be no strict checking -of the ownership information.

- -

Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources. -The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.

+
"Free Culture" by @lessig - The background story for Creative Commons - new edition available
+
23rd October 2015
+

Click +here to buy the book.

+ +

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 moved very 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.

- Tags: english, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -92,59 +86,35 @@ The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.

-
Measuring and adjusting the loudness of a TV channel using bs1770gain
-
11th June 2015
-

Television loudness is the source of frustration for viewers -everywhere. Some channels are very load, others are less loud, and -ads tend to shout very high to get the attention of the viewers, and -the viewers do not like this. This fact is well known to the TV -channels. See for example the BBC white paper -"Terminology -for loudness and level dBTP, LU, and all that" from 2011 for a -summary of the problem domain. To better address the need for even -loadness, the TV channels got together several years ago to agree on a -new way to measure loudness in digital files as one step in -standardizing loudness. From this came the ITU-R standard BS.1770, -"Algorithms to -measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level".

- -

The ITU-R BS.1770 specification describe an algorithm to measure -loadness in LUFS (Loudness Units, referenced to Full Scale). But -having a way to measure is not enough. To get the same loudness -across TV channels, one also need to decide which value to standardize -on. For European TV channels, this was done in the EBU Recommondaton -R128, "Loudness -normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals", which -specifies a recommended level of -23 LUFS. In Norway, I have been -told that NRK, TV2, MTG and SBS have decided among themselves to -follow the R128 recommondation for playout from 2016-03-01.

- -

There are free software available to measure and adjust the loudness -level using the LUFS. In Debian, I am aware of a library named -libebur128 -able to measure the loudness and since yesterday morning a new binary -named bs1770gain -capable of both measuring and adjusting was uploaded and is waiting -for NEW processing. I plan to maintain the latter in Debian under the -Debian -multimedia umbrella.

- -

The free software based TV channel I am involved in, -Frikanalen, plan to follow the -R128 recommondation ourself as soon as we can adjust the software to -do so, and the bs1770gain tool seem like a good fit for that part of -the puzzle to measure loudness on new video uploaded to Frikanalen. -Personally, I plan to use bs1770gain to adjust the loudness of videos -I upload to Frikanalen on behalf of the -NUUG member organisation. The program seem to be able to measure -the LUFS value of any media file handled by ffmpeg, but I've only -successfully adjusted the LUFS value of WAV files. I suspect it -should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.

+
EU-domstolen konkluderer motsatt av Skatteetaten når det gjelder Bitcoin
+
22nd October 2015
+

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 C‑264/14). 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 på ved kjøp og salg. +Dermed la Skatteetaten opp til dobbel MVA-betaling hvis en kjøpte noe +med Bitcoin fra Norge (først mva på kjøp av Bitcoin, deretter mva på +det en kjøper med Bitcoin). Jeg lurer på om denne avgjørelsen får +Skatteetaten til å bytte mening. Gleder meg til fortsettelsen.

- Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video. + Tags: bitcoin, norsk.
@@ -152,332 +122,34 @@ should be able to adjust it for all the formats handled by ffmpeg.

-
Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale med MPEG LA?
-
10th June 2015
-

Helt siden jeg i 2012 fikk beskjed fra MPEG LA om at -NRK -trengte patentavtale med dem hvis de distribuerte H.264-video til -sluttbrukere, har jeg lurt på hva som gjør at NRK ikke har slik -avtale. For noen dager siden fikk jeg endelig gjort noe med min -undring, og sendte 2015-05-28 følgende epost til info (at) nrk.no med -tittel "Hva gjør at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale -med MPEG LA?":

- -

-

Jeg lurer på en ting rundt NRKs bruk av H.264-video på sine -websider samt distribusjon via RiksTV og kabel-TV. Har NRK vurdert om -det er behov for en patentavtale med -MPEG LA slik det står i -programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe -Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X?

- -

Hvis dere har vurdert dette, hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering?

- -

Hvis dere ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om å vurdere behovet -for patentavtale?

- -

I følge en artikkel på -NRK -Beta i 2012 har NRK brukt eller testet både Apple Final Cut -Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X til bruk -for å redigere video før sending. Alle disse har bruksvilkår -understøttet av opphavsretten som sier at de kun kan brukes til å lage -filmer til personlig og ikke-kommersiell bruk - med mindre en har en -lisensavtale med MPEG LA om bruk av patenter utstedt i USA for H.264. -Se f.eks. bruksvilkårene for Avid, Adobe Premiere og Apple Final -Cut Studio og søk etter "MPEG LA".

- -

Dette får meg til å lure på om det er brudd på opphavsretten å bruke -disse verktøyene i strid med bruksvilkårene uten patentavtale med MPEG -LA. Men NRK bruker jo tilsynelatende disse verktøyene uten patentavtale -med MPEG LA.

- -

I følge forfatteren av Open Broadcast Encoder finnes det to typer -H.264-relaterte avtaler en kan få med MPEG LA. Det er én for å lage -programvare og utstyr som produserer H.264-video, og en annen for å -kringkaste video som bruker H.264. Dette forteller meg at selv om -produsentene av utstyr og programvare som NRK bruker har en slik avtale -med MPEG LA, så trenges det en egen avtale for å kringkaste video på det -formatet.

- -

I følge Ryan Rodriguez hos MPEG LA, da jeg spurte ham på epost i -juni 2012, har NRK ikke en slik avtale med MPEG LA. Han sa videre at -NRK trenger en slik avtale hvis NRK tilbyr H.264-kodet video til -sluttbrukere. Jeg sjekket listen med -organisasjoner -med avtale med MPEG LA og NRK står fortsatt ikke der.

- -

Jeg lurer dermed på hva som gjør at NRK kan bruke de overnevnte -videoredigeringsverktøyene, som tilsynelatende har krav om avtale med -MPEG LA for å kunne brukes slik NRK bruker dem, til å lage videofiler -for distribusjon uten å ha en avtale med MPEG LA om distribusjon av -H.264-video? Dette er spesielt interessant å vite for oss andre som -også vurderer å spre H.264-video etter å ha redigert dem med disse mye -brukte videoredigeringsverktøyene.

-

- -

Samme dag fikk jeg automatisk svar om at min henvendelse hadde fått -saksid 1294699. Jeg fikk deretter følgende respons fra NRK -2015-06-09:

- -

-

Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som kunne -svare på dette.

- -

For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks -NRKs nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike -tjenester uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd -noen patentavtale.

- -

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

- -

Med vennlig hilsen -
Gunn Helen Berg -
Informasjonskonsulent, Publikumsservice

- -

NRK -
Strategidivisjonen -
Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 -
Post: NRK Publikumsservice, 8608 Mo i Rana -
nrk.no / info (at) nrk.no

-

- -Da dette ikke helt var svar på det jeg lurte på, sendte jeg samme dag -oppfølgerepost tilbake: - -

-

[Gunn Helen Berg] -
> Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid å finne ut hvem som -
> kunne svare på dette.

- -

Takk for svar. Men det besvarte ikke helt det jeg spurte om.

- -

> For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett (f.eks NRKs -
> nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike tjenester -
> uten betaling fra forbrukere – er det heller ikke påkrevd noen -
> patentavtale. -
> -
> http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y

- -

Spørsmålet er ikke kun om MPEG LA krever patentavtale eller ikke -(hvilket ikke helt besvares av pressemeldingen omtalt over, gitt at -pressemeldingen kom i 2010, to år før MPEG LA ansvarlige for -internasjonal lisensiering egen Ryan Rodriguez fortalte meg på epost -at NRK trenger en lisens.

- -

Det er uklart fra pressemeldingen hva "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video" konkret betyr, men i følge en -presentasjon -fra MPEG LA med tema "AVC PAtent Portfoli License Briefing" datert -2015-05-15 gjelder "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" kun kringkasting -på Internet som ikke tilbyr valg av enkeltinnslag ("not -title-by-title"), hvilket jo NRK gjør på sine nettsider. I tillegg -kringkaster jo NRK H.264-video også utenom Internet (RiksTV, kabel, -satelitt), hvilket helt klart ikke er dekket av vilkårene omtalt i -pressemeldingen.

- -

Spørsmålet mitt er hvordan NRK kan bruke verktøy med bruksvilkår -som krever avtale med MPEG LA for det NRK bruker dem til, når NRK ikke -har avtale med MPEG LA. Hvis jeg forsto spørsmålet riktig, så mener -NRK at dere ikke trenger avtale med MPEG LA, men uten slik avtale kan -dere vel ikke bruke hverken Apple Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere -Pro, Avid eller Apples Final Cut Pro X for å redigere video før -sending?

- -

Mine konkrete spørsmål var altså:

- -
    - -
  • Hvis NRK har vurdert om det er behov for en patentavtale med MPEG LA - slik det er krav om i programvarelisensene til blant annet Apple - Final Cut Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X, - hva var utfallet av en slik vurdering? Kan jeg fÃ¥ kopi av vurderingen - hvis den er gjort skriftlig?
    • - -
  • Hvis NRK ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om Ã¥ vurdere behovet - for patentavtale?
    • - -
  • Hva slags saksnummer fikk min henvendelse i NRKs offentlige - postjournal? Jeg ser at postjournalen ikke er publisert for den - aktuelle perioden ennÃ¥, sÃ¥ jeg fikk ikke sjekket selv.
    • - -
-

- -

Det hjelper å ha funnet rette vedkommende i NRK, for denne gangen -fikk jeg svar tilbake dagen etter (2015-06-10), fra Geir Børdalen i -NRK:

- -

-

Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

- -

Jeg har sjekket saken med distribusjonssjef for tv, Arild Hellgren -(som var teknologidirektør da bakkenettet ble satt opp). NRK v/ -Hellgren hadde møte med MPEG LA sammen med den europeiske -kringkastingsunionen EBU før bakkenettet for TV ble satt opp -(igangsatt høsten 2007). I dette møtet ble det avklart at NRK/EBU ikke -trengte noen patentavtale for h.264 i forbindelse med oppsett av -bakkenettet eller bruk av MPEG4 h.264 som kompresjonsalgoritme fordi -tjenesten «in full»(nor: helt) var betalt av utsendelseselskapene og -ikke av forbrukerne.

- -

http://www.nrk.no/oppdrag/digitalt-bakkenett-1.3214555

- -

Det er også klart slått fast at selskaper som leverer video basert -på MPEG4 h.264 til sluttbrukere på nett, heller ikke påkrevd noen -patentavtale – så lenge de leverer slike tjenester uten betaling fra -sluttbrukere.

- -http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y - -

“MPEG LA announced today that its AVC Patent Portfolio License will -continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to -end users (known as “Internet Broadcast AVC Video”) during the entire -life of this License. MPEG LA previously announced it would not charge -royalties for such video through December 31, 2015 (see -http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf), -and today’s announcement makes clear that royalties will continue not -to be charged for such video beyond that time. Products and services -other than Internet Broadcast AVC Video continue to be -royalty-bearing.”

- -

Vi har derfor ikke noe behov for å vurdere noen patentavtale med -MPEG LA.

- -

Understreker for øvrig at NRK ikke er låst til MPEG4 – h.264 som -utsendelsesformat – og at vi har brukt og bruker flere andre -alternativer i våre tjenester. Ulike «devicer» har ofte behov for -forskjellige løsninger – og NRK har forsøkt å levere med best mulig -kvalitet /økonomi /stabilitet avhengig av -plattform. Produksjonsformater i NRK spenner for øvrig over en rekke -forskjellige formater – hvor MPEG4 bare er en av disse. Når NRK kjøper -teknisk utstyr er betaling for kodekstøtte ofte en del av -anskaffelsesprisen for denne maskinvaren (enten dette er spesialiserte -enkodere eller forskjellige typer produksjonsutstyr).

- -

Vennlig hilsen -
Geir Børdalen

- -

________________________________________ -
Geir Børdalen -
Investeringsansvarlig NRK / Hovedprosjektleder - Origo -
Avdeling for utvikling, innovasjon, investering og eiendom -
NRK medietjenester -
Sentralbord: +47 23 04 70 00 -
Post: NRK, AUTV (RBM5), Pb. 8500 Majorstuen, 0340 Oslo -
nrk.no -

- -

Et godt og grundig svar, som var informativt om hvordan NRK tenker -rundt patentavtale med MPEG LA, men heller ikke helt besvarte det jeg -lurte på, så jeg sendte epostoppfølging samme dag.

- -

-

[Geir Børdalen] -
> Hei Petter Reinholdtsen

- -

Hei, og takk for raskt svar. Er min henvendelse journalført slik -at den dukker opp i NRKs postjournal?

- -

Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du skriver -at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via bakkenettet -gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge. Hvilke saksnummer fikk dokumenter -som ble opprettet i forbindelse med det omtalte møtet NRK v/Hellgren -og EBU hadde med MPEG LA (dvs. referater, avtaler, etc), -f.eks. dokumentet der formuleringen "in full" som du omtaler -finnes?

- -

Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. Det ene er -hvorfor NRKs forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" dekker -ser ut til å avvike fra det som presenteres i -lysark -fra MPEG LA i mai, der MPEG LA på lysark med overskriften -"AVC/H.264 License Terms Participation Fees" og undertittel "Where -remuneration is from other sources" skriver "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) – no royalty for life of -the AVC Patent Portfolio License".

- -

Her leser jeg MPEG LA dithen at det kun er kringkasting uten -abonnement via Internet som er dekket at vilkårne omtalt i -pressemeldingen, mens jeg forstår deg dithen at NRK mener NRKs -nettsider som også har enkeltfilmer og innslag (som jeg forstår dekket -av formuleringen "title-by-title") dekkes av "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video" fra MPEG LA. Hva baserer dere denne tolkningen på? Jeg har -ikke sett noe skriftlig fra MPEG LA som støtter NRKs tolkning, og -lurer på om dere har andre kilder enn den pressemeldingen fra 5 år -tilbake, der NRKS forståelse av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" -dekker er beskrevet?

- -

Det andre er at eposten din ikke nevnte spørsmålet mitt om -bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene som NRK bruker. Disse -har som tidligere nevnt krav om at de kun skal brukes til private og -ikke-kommersielle formål med mindre en har avtale med MPEG LA, og uten -avtale med MPEG LA kan det jo virke som om NRK bruker verktøyene i -strid med bruksvilkårene. Hva gjør at disse bruksvilkårene ikke -gjelder for NRK?

-

- -

Noen minutter senere får jeg foreløpig siste svar i -føljetongen:

- -

-

Hei igjen

- -

Vårt dokumentarkiv har fått en kopi (journalføringsnr kan jeg -dessverre ikke gi deg).

- -

> Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstår ut fra det du -
> skriver at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via -
> bakkenettet gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge.

- -

Svar: Kan ikke svare for andre enn for NRK/EBU - og for bakkenettet -i Norge er det kun NRK som er et lisensbasert selskap. Kan ikke gi noe -svar på saksnr på dokumenter eller ytterligere informasjon da jeg selv -ikke var del i dette.

- -

> Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstår. ...

- -

Svar: Kan ikke gå ytterligere inn i dette fra min side og mitt -fagfelt som er produksjon/publisering og systemstrukturene bak -disse. For øvrig ligger det etter vår formening ingen begrensninger -for NRK i mulighetene til publisering mht til kodek i -produksjonssystemer. Som tidligere skrevet mener vi at NRK ikke -trenger noen avtale med MPEG LA og støtter oss til det vi allerede har -kommunisert i forrige epost.

- -

Mvh -
Geir Børdalen

-

- -

Det syntes vanskelig å komme videre når NRK ikke ønsker å gå inn i -problemstillingen rundt bruksvilkårene til videoredigeringsverktøyene -NRK bruker, så jeg sendte takk for svarene og avsluttet utvekslingen -så langt:

- -

-

Tusen takk for rask respons, og oppklarende forklaring om hvordan -NRK tenker rundt MPEG LA.

- -

Jeg vil høre med NRK-arkivet for å se om de kan spore opp de -omtalte dokumentene. Jeg setter pris på om du kan dele titler, dato -eller annen informasjon som kan gjøre det enklere for arkivet å finne -dem.

- -

Når det gjelder hvordan bruksvilkårene til -videoredigeringsverktøyene skal tolkes, så skal jeg høre med MPEG LA -og produsentene av verktøyene for å forsøke å få klarhet i hva de -mener er rikgig rettstilstand.

-

- -

Jeg ble litt klokere, men fortsatt er det uklart for meg hva som er -grunnlaget til NRK for å se bort fra bruksvilkår i -videoredigeringsprogramvare som krever MPEG LA-avtale til alt annet -enn privat og ikke-kommersiell bruk.

+
Lawrence Lessig interviewed Edward Snowden a year ago
+
19th October 2015
+

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.

- Tags: h264, multimedia, norsk, opphavsrett, standard, video, web. + Tags: english, personvern, sikkerhet, surveillance.
@@ -485,92 +157,30 @@ enn privat og ikke-kommersiell bruk.

-
Blir det virkelig krav om fingeravtrykk i nasjonale ID-kort?
-
12th May 2015
-

Noen finner det vanskelig å tro at Stortinget faktisk har vedtatt å -kreve at alle norske borgerne må avgi fingeravtrykk til politiet for å -fungere i samfunnet. Jeg er blitt spurt hva som er grunnlaget for -min -påstand i forrige bloggpost om at det nå blir krav om å avgi -fingeravtrykk til politiet for å fungere som borger i Norge. De som -spør klarer ikke lese det ut fra det som er vedtatt. Her er en liten -oppsummering om hva jeg baserer det på. Det sies ikke direkte i -hverken proposisjon, innstilling eller vedtak, men fremgår når en ser -på indirekte formuleringer.

- -

I -stortingsproposisjon -66, avsnitt 6.3.5 (Avgivelse av biometriske personopplysninger) -står det

- -

- -

Departementet foreslår at både ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk skal - kunne opptas og lagres som identifikasjonsdata i de nasjonale - ID-kortene, på samme måte som i passene. Lovforslaget er derfor - utformet i tråd med passloven § 6 annet ledd, som fastslår at det - til bruk for senere verifisering eller kontroll av passinnehaverens - identitet kan innhentes og lagres i passet biometrisk - personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk (to - fingre). Dagens ordning med lagring av ansiktsfoto og fingeravtrykk - i et kontaktløst smartkort i passet er basert på internasjonale - standarder. Fingeravtrykkene i nasjonalt ID-kort vil bli beskyttet - på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene i passene.

- -

[...]

- -

For norske forhold understreker departementet at innføring av - nasjonale ID-kort sammen med innføring av nye systemer for sikrere - utstedelse og kontroll av pass og relaterte dokumenter gir mulighet - til å utforme ordningen slik at den best mulig møter utfordringene - forbundet med identitetskriminalitet. Det tilsier at fingeravtrykk - opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort.

-

- -

Departementet sier altså at sin anbefaling er at fingeravtrykk skal -opptas og lagres i alle nasjonale ID-kort. Det skrives som om det -blir valgfritt, på samme måten som det skrives passloven, der det i -loven sier at det kan -«innhentes -og lagres i passet biometrisk personinformasjon i form av ansiktsfoto -og fingeravtrykk (to fingre)». Men på tross av bruken av «kan» i -passloven er det innført krav om å avgi fingeravtrykk for å få et pass -i Norge. Proposisjonen sier i tillegg i del 1 (Proposisjonens -hovedinnhold) at ID-kortene skal være like pålitelig som pass og ha -samme sikkerhetsnivå som pass. Departementet foreslår altså at -ID-kortene skal gis etter samme regler som for pass.

- -

Formuleringene fra hovedinnholdet i proposisjonen er videreført i -innstillingen -fra stortingskomiteen, der det konkret står «De foreslåtte reglene -vil gi befolkningen tilbud om et offentlig utstedt identitetsbevis som -vil være like pålitelig som passet, og mer praktisk å bruke som -legitimasjon» og «Det nasjonale ID-kortet skal også holde samme -sikkerhetsnivå som passet». Komiteen har altså ingen kommentarer -eller innsigelser til dette forslaget, og gjorde i debatten da saken -ble vedtatt det klart at dette var en god sak og at en enstemmig -komité var glad for resultatet. Stortinget har dermed stilt seg helt -og fullt bak departementets forslag.

- -

For meg er det åpenbart når en leser proposisjonen at «like -pålitelig» og «samme sikkerhetsnivå» vil bli tolket av departementet -som «med samme biometrisk informasjon som i passene», og departementet -forklarer i tillegg i proposisjonen at de har tenkt at -fingeravtrykkene «vil bli beskyttet på samme måte som fingeravtrykkene -i passene». Jeg ser det dermed som åpenbart at den samme -tvangsinnhentingen av fingeravtrykk som gjelder for pass vil bli -viderført til de nasjonale ID-kortene.

- -

Det eneste som kan endre dette er massive protester fra -befolkningen på at folk som ikke er mistenkt for noe kriminelt skal -tvinges til å gi fingeravtrykket til politiet for å f.eks. kunne få -bankkonto eller stemme ved valg. Det kunne få departementet til å -snu. Det tror jeg ikke vil skje.

+
The Story of Aaron Swartz - Let us all weep!
+
8th October 2015
+

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.

- Tags: norsk, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: english, opphavsrett.
@@ -578,67 +188,68 @@ snu. Det tror jeg ikke vil skje.

-
Norwegian citizens now required by law to give their fingerprint to the police
-
10th May 2015
-

5 days ago, the Norwegian Parliament decided, unanimously, that all -citizens of Norway, no matter if they are suspected of something -criminal or not, are -required to -give fingerprints to the police (vote details from Holder de -ord). The law make it sound like it will be optional, but in a few -years there will be no option any more. The ID will be required to -vote, to get a bank account, a bank card, to change address on the -post office, to receive an electronic ID or to get a drivers license -and many other tasks required to function in Norway. The banks plan -to stop providing their own ID on the bank cards when this new -national ID is introduced, and the national road authorities plan to -change the drivers license to no longer be usable as identity cards. -In effect, to function as a citizen in Norway a national ID card will -be required, and to get it one need to provide the fingerprints to -the police.

- -

In addition to handing the fingerprint to the police (which -promised to not make a copy of the fingerprint image at that point in -time, but say nothing about doing it later), a picture of the -fingerprint will be stored on the RFID chip, along with a picture of -the face and other information about the person. Some of the -information will be encrypted, but the encryption will be the same -system as currently used in the passports. The codes to decrypt will -be available to a lot of government offices and their suppliers around -the globe, but for those that do not know anyone in those circles it -is good to know that -the -encryption is already broken. And they -can -be read from 70 meters away. This can be mitigated a bit by -keeping it in a Faraday cage (metal box or metal wire container), but -one will be required to take it out of there often enough to expose -ones private and personal information to a lot of people that have no -business getting access to that information.

- -

The new Norwegian national IDs are a vehicle for identity theft, -and I feel sorry for us all having politicians accepting such invasion -of privacy without any objections. So are the Norwegian passports, -but it has been possible to function in Norway without those so far. -That option is going away with the passing of the new law. In this, I -envy the Germans, because for them it is optional how much biometric -information is stored in their national ID.

- -

And if forced collection of fingerprints was not bad enough, the -information collected in the national ID card register can be handed -over to foreign intelligence services and police authorities, "when -extradition is not considered disproportionate".

- -

Update 2015-05-12: For those unable to believe that the Parliament -really could make such decision, I wrote -a -summary of the sources I have for concluding the way I do -(Norwegian Only, as the sources are all in Norwegian).

+
Alle Stortingets mobiltelefoner kontrolleres fra USA...
+
7th October 2015
+

Jeg lot meg fascinere av +en +artikkel i Aftenposten der det fortelles at «over 600 telefoner som +benyttes av stortingsrepresentanter, rådgivere og ansatte på +Stortinget, kan «fjernstyres» ved hjelp av +programvaren +Airwatch, et såkalte MDM-program (Mobile Device Managment)». Det +hele bagatelliseres av Stortingets IT-stab, men det er i hovedsak på +grunn av at journalisten ikke stiller de relevante spørsmålene. For +meg er det relevante spørsmålet hvem som har lovlig tilgang (i henhold +til lokal lovgiving, dvs. i hvert fall i Norge, Sverige, UK og USA) +til informasjon om og på telefonene, og hvor enkelt det er å skaffe +seg tilgang til hvor mobilene befinner seg og informasjon som befinner +seg på telefonene ved hjelp av utro tjenere, trusler, innbrudd og +andre ulovlige metoder.

+ +

Bruken av AirWatch betyr i realiteten at USAs etteretning og +politimyndigheter har full tilgang til stortingets mobiltelefoner, +inkludert posisjon og innhold, takket være +FISAAA-loven +og +"National +Security Letters" og det enkle faktum at selskapet +AirWatch er kontrollert av et +selskap i USA. I tillegg er det kjent at flere lands +etterretningstjenester kan lytte på trafikken når den passerer +landegrensene.

+ +

Jeg har bedt om mer informasjon +fra +Stortinget om bruken av AirWatch via Mimes brønn så får vi se hva +de har å fortelle om saken. Fant ingenting om 'airwatch' i +postjournalen til Stortinget, så jeg trenger hjelp før jeg kan be om +innsyn i konkrete dokumenter.

+ +

Oppdatering 2015-10-07: Jeg er blitt spurt hvorfor jeg antar at +AirWatch-agenten rapporterer til USA og ikke direkte til Stortingets +egen infrastruktur. Det stemmer at det er teknisk mulig å sette +opp mobiltelefonene til å rapportere til datamaskiner som eies av +Stortinget. Jeg antar det rapporteres til AirWatch sine sentrale +tjenester basert på det jeg leste fra beskrivelsen av +Mobile +Device Management på AirWatch sine egne nettsider, koblet med at +det brukes en standard app som kan hentes fra "app-butikkene" for å få +tilgang. Enten må app-en settes opp individuelt hos Stortinget, eller +så får den beskjed fra AirWatch i USA om hvor den skal koble seg opp. +I det første tilfellet vil den ikke rapportere direkte til USA, men +til programvare utviklet av AirWatch som kjører på en maskin under +Stortingets kontroll. Det er litt bedre, men fortsatt vil det være +umulig for Stortinget å være sikker på hva programvaren som tar imot +forbindelser gjør. Jeg ser fra beskrivelsen av +Enterprice +Integration hos AirWatch at det er mulig å ha lokal installasjon, +og håper innsynsforespørsler mot Stortinget kan fortelle mer om +hvordan ting konkret fungerer der.

- Tags: english, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn, personvern, sikkerhet, stortinget, surveillance.
@@ -646,62 +257,32 @@ summary of the sources I have for concluding the way I do
-
What would it cost to store all phone calls in Norway?
-
1st May 2015
-

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 (2.4 mill EUR) 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 / 120 EUR) and double -it to take space, power and redundancy into account. 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:

- - - - - - -
YearCall minutesSizePrice in NOK / EUR
200524 000 000 0001.3 PiB3 mill / 358 000
201218 000 000 0001.0 PiB2.2 mill / 262 000
201317 000 000 000950 TiB2.1 mill / 250 000
- -

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?

+
French Docbook/PDF/EPUB/MOBI edition of the Free Culture book
+
1st October 2015
+

As I wrap up the Norwegian version of +Free +Culture book by Lawrence Lessig (still waiting for my final proof +reading copy to arrive in the mail), my great +dblatex helper and +developer of the dblatex docbook processor, Benoît Guillon, decided a +to try to create a French version of the book. He started with the +French translation available from the +Wikilivres wiki +pages, and wrote a program to convert it into a PO file, allowing +the translation to be integrated into the po4a based framework I use +to create the Norwegian translation from the English edition. We meet +on the #dblatex IRC +channel to discuss the work. If you want to help create a French +edition, check out +his git +repository and join us on IRC. If the French edition look good, +we might publish it as a paper book on lulu.com. A French version of +the drawings and the cover need to be provided for this to happen.

- Tags: english, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -709,194 +290,144 @@ collecting the data?

-
First Jessie based Debian Edu beta release
-
26th April 2015
-

I am happy to report that the Debian Edu team sent out -this -announcement today:

+
The life and death of a laptop battery
+
24th September 2015
+

When I get a new laptop, the battery life time at the start is OK. +But this do not last. The last few laptops gave me a feeling that +within a year, the life time is just a fraction of what it used to be, +and it slowly become painful to use the laptop without power connected +all the time. Because of this, when I got a new Thinkpad X230 laptop +about two years ago, I decided to monitor its battery state to have +more hard facts when the battery started to fail.

+ + + +

First I tried to find a sensible Debian package to record the +battery status, assuming that this must be a problem already handled +by someone else. I found +battery-stats, +which collects statistics from the battery, but it was completely +broken. I sent a few suggestions to the maintainer, but decided to +write my own collector as a shell script while I waited for feedback +from him. Via +a +blog post about the battery development on a MacBook Air I also +discovered +batlog, not +available in Debian.

+ +

I started my collector 2013-07-15, and it has been collecting +battery stats ever since. Now my +/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log file contain around 115,000 +measurements, from the time the battery was working great until now, +when it is unable to charge above 7% of original capacity. My +collector shell script is quite simple and look like this:

-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 ==
+#!/bin/sh
+# Inspired by
+# http://www.ifweassume.com/2013/08/the-de-evolution-of-my-laptop-battery.html
+# See also
+# http://blog.sleeplessbeastie.eu/2013/01/02/debian-how-to-monitor-battery-capacity/
+logfile=/var/log/hjemmenett-battery-status.log
+
+files="manufacturer model_name technology serial_number \
+    energy_full energy_full_design energy_now cycle_count status"
+
+if [ ! -e "$logfile" ] ; then
+    (
+	printf "timestamp,"
+	for f in $files; do
+	    printf "%s," $f
+	done
+	echo
+    ) > "$logfile"
+fi
+
+log_battery() {
+    # Print complete message in one echo call, to avoid race condition
+    # when several log processes run in parallel.
+    msg=$(printf "%s," $(date +%s); \
+	for f in $files; do \
+	    printf "%s," $(cat $f); \
+	done)
+    echo "$msg"
+}
 
-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.
+cd /sys/class/power_supply
 
-== About Debian ==
+for bat in BAT*; do
+    (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile")
+done
+
-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. +

The script is called when the power management system detect a +change in the power status (power plug in or out), and when going into +and out of hibernation and suspend. In addition, it collect a value +every 10 minutes. This make it possible for me know when the battery +is discharging, charging and how the maximum charge change over time. +The code for the Debian package +is now +available on github.

-== Thanks == +

The collected log file look like this:

-Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen! -You rock. +
+timestamp,manufacturer,model_name,technology,serial_number,energy_full,energy_full_design,energy_now,cycle_count,status,
+1376591133,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,62800000,62160000,39050000,0,Discharging,
+[...]
+1443090528,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full,
+1443090601,LGC,45N1025,Li-ion,974,4900000,62160000,4900000,0,Full,
+ +

I wrote a small script to create a graph of the charge development +over time. This graph depicted above show the slow death of my laptop +battery.

+ +

But why is this happening? Why are my laptop batteries always +dying in a year or two, while the batteries of space probes and +satellites keep working year after year. If we are to believe +Battery +University, the cause is me charging the battery whenever I have a +chance, and the fix is to not charge the Lithium-ion batteries to 100% +all the time, but to stay below 90% of full charge most of the time. +I've been told that the Tesla electric cars +limit +the charge of their batteries to 80%, with the option to charge to +100% when preparing for a longer trip (not that I would want a car +like Tesla where rights to privacy is abandoned, but that is another +story), which I guess is the option we should have for laptops on +Linux too.

+ +

Is there a good and generic way with Linux to tell the battery to +stop charging at 80%, unless requested to charge to 100% once in +preparation for a longer trip? I found +one +recipe on askubuntu for Ubuntu to limit charging on Thinkpad to +80%, but could not get it to work (kernel module refused to +load).

+ +

I wonder why the battery capacity was reported to be more than 100% +at the start. I also wonder why the "full capacity" increases some +times, and if it is possible to repeat the process to get the battery +back to design capacity. And I wonder if the discharge and charge +speed change over time, or if this stay the same. I did not yet try +to write a tool to calculate the derivative values of the battery +level, but suspect some interesting insights might be learned from +those.

+ +

Update 2015-09-24: I got a tip to install the packages +acpi-call-dkms and tlp (unfortunately missing in Debian stable) +packages instead of the tp-smapi-dkms package I had tried to use +initially, and use 'tlp setcharge 40 80' to change when charging start +and stop. I've done so now, but expect my existing battery is toast +and need to be replaced. The proposal is unfortunately Thinkpad +specific.

- Tags: debian edu, english. + Tags: debian, english.
@@ -904,193 +435,56 @@ You rock.
-
Debian Edu interview: Shirish Agarwal
-
15th April 2015
-

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 :

- -
    - -
  1. 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.
    2. - -
  2. They want any activity on the system in accordance to whatever - is in the syllabus.
    3. - -
  3. 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.
    4. - -
+
Book cover for the Free Culture book finally done
+
3rd September 2015
+

Creating a good looking book cover proved harder than I expected. +I wanted to create a cover looking similar to the original cover of +the +Free +Culture book we are translating to Norwegian, and I wanted it in +vector format for high resolution printing. But my inkscape knowledge +were not nearly good enough to pull that off. + +

But thanks to the great inkscape community, I was able to wrap up +the cover yesterday evening. I asked on the +#inkscape IRC channel +on Freenode for help and clues, and Marc Jeanmougin (Mc-) volunteered +to try to recreate it based on the PDF of the cover from the HTML +version. Not only did he create a +SVG document with +the original and his vector version side by side, he even provided +an instruction +video explaining how he did it. But the instruction video is +not easy to follow for an untrained inkscape user. The video is a +recording on how he did it, and he is obviously very experienced as +the menu selections are very quick and he mentioned on IRC that he did +use some keyboard shortcuts that can't be seen on the video, but it +give a good idea about the inkscape operations to use to create the +stripes with the embossed copyright sign in the center.

+ +

I took his SVG file, copied the vector image and re-sized it to fit +on the cover I was drawing. I am happy with the end result, and the +current english version look like this:

+ + + +

I am not quite sure about the text on the back, but guess it will +do. I picked three quotes from the official site for the book, and +hope it will work to trigger the interest of potential readers. The +Norwegian cover will look the same, but with the texts and bar code +replaced with the Norwegian version.

+ +

The book is very close to being ready for publication, and I expect +to upload the final draft to Lulu in the next few days and order a +final proof reading copy to verify that everything look like it should +before allowing everyone to order their own copy of Free Culture, in +English or Norwegian Bokmål. I'm waiting to give the the productive +proof readers a chance to complete their work.

- Tags: debian edu, english, intervju. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -1098,33 +492,37 @@ there was :

-
I'm going to the Open Source Developers' Conference Nordic 2015!
-
7th April 2015
-

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.

+
In my hand, a pocket book edition of the Norwegian Free Culture book!
+
19th August 2015
+

Today, finally, my first printed draft edition of the Norwegian +translation of Free Culture I have been working on for the last few +years arrived in the mail. I had to fake a cover to get the interior +printed, and the exterior of the book look awful, but that is +irrelevant at this point. I asked for a printed pocket book version +to get an idea about the font sizes and paper format as well as how +good the figures and images look in print, but also to test what the +pocket book version would look like. After receiving the 500 page +pocket book, it became obvious to me that that pocket book size is too +small for this book. I believe the book is too thick, and several +tables and figures do not look good in the size they get with that +small page sizes. I believe I will go with the 5.5x8.5 inch size +instead. A surprise discovery from the paper version was how bad the +URLs look in print. They are very hard to read in the colophon page. +The URLs are red in the PDF, but light gray on paper. I need to +change the color of links somehow to look better. But there is a +printed book in my hand, and it feels great. :)

+ +

Now I only need to fix the cover, wrap up the postscript with the +store behind the book, and collect the last corrections from the proof +readers before the book is ready for proper printing. Cover artists +willing to work for free and create a Creative Commons licensed vector +file looking similar to the original is most welcome, as my skills as +a graphics designer are mostly missing.

- Tags: english, fiksgatami, nuug, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -1132,25 +530,63 @@ submitted and accepted so far.

-
Proof reading the Norwegian translation of Free Culture by Lessig
-
4th April 2015
-

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 +

First paper version of the Norwegian Free Culture book heading my way
+
9th August 2015
+

Typesetting a book is harder than I hoped. As the translation is +mostly done, and a volunteer proof reader was going to check the text +on paper, it was time this summer to focus on formatting my translated +docbook based version of the +Free Culture book by Lawrence +Lessig. I've been trying to get both docboox-xsl+fop and dblatex to +give me a good looking PDF, but in the end I went with dblatex, because +its Debian maintainer and upstream developer were responsive and very +helpful in solving my formatting challenges.

+ +

Last night, I finally managed to create a PDF that no longer made +Lulu.com complain after uploading, +and I ordered a text version of the book on paper. It is lacking a +proper book cover and is not tagged with the correct ISBN number, but +should give me an idea what the finished book will look like.

+ +

Instead of using Lulu, I did consider printing the book using +CreateSpace, but ended up +using Lulu because it had smaller book size options (CreateSpace seem +to lack pocket book with extended distribution). I looked for a +similar service in Norway, but have not seen anything so far. Please +let me know if I am missing out on something here.

+ +

But I still struggle to decide the book size. Should I go for +pocket book (4.25x6.875 inches / 10.8x17.5 cm) with 556 pages, Digest +(5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.6 cm) with 323 pages or US Trade (6x8 inches / +15.3x22.9 cm) with 280 pages? Fewer pager give a cheaper book, and a +smaller book is easier to carry around. The test book I ordered was +pocket book sized, to give me an idea how well that fit in my hand, +but I suspect I will end up using a digest sized book in the end to +bring the prize down further.

+ +

My biggest challenge at the moment is making nice cover art. My +inkscape skills are not yet up to the task of replicating the original +cover in SVG format. I also need to figure out what to write about +the book on the back (will most likely use the same text as the +description on web based book stores). I would love help with this, +if you are willing to license the art source and final version using +the same CC license as the book. My artistic skills are not really up +to the task.

+ +

I plan to publish the book in both English and Norwegian and on +paper, in PDF form as well as EPUB and MOBI format. The current +status can as usual be found on 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.

+in the archive/ directory. So far I have spent all time on making the +PDF version look good. Someone should probably do the same with the +dbtoepub generated e-book. Help is definitely needed here, as I +expect to run out of steem before I find time to improve the epub +formatting.

+ +

Please let me know via github if you find typos in the book or +discover translations that should be improved. The final proof +reading is being done right now, and I expect to publish the finished +result in a few months.

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