Typesetting DocBook footnotes as endnotes with dblatex

16th July 2015

I'm still working on the Norwegian version of the -Free Culture book by Lawrence -Lessig, and is now working on the final typesetting and layout. -One of the features I want to get the structure similar to the -original book is to typeset the footnotes as endnotes in the notes -chapter. Based on the -feedback from the Debian -maintainer and the dblatex developer, I came up with this recipe I -would like to share with you. The proposal was to create a new LaTeX -class file and add the LaTeX code there, but this is not always -practical, when I want to be able to replace the class using a make -file variable. So my proposal misuses the latex.begindocument XSL -parameter value, to get a small fragment into the correct location in -the generated LaTeX File.

- -

First, decide where in the DocBook document to place the endnotes, -and add this text there:

- -

-<?latex \theendnotes ?>
-

- -

Next, create a xsl stylesheet file dblatex-endnotes.xsl to add the -code needed to add the endnote instructions in the preamble of the -generated LaTeX document, with content like this:

- -

-<?xml version='1.0'?>
-<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version='1.0'>
-  <xsl:param name="latex.begindocument">
-    <xsl:text>
-\usepackage{endnotes}
-\let\footnote=\endnote
-\def\enoteheading{\mbox{}\par\vskip-\baselineskip }
-\begin{document}
-    </xsl:text>
-  </xsl:param>
-</xsl:stylesheet>
-

- -

Finally, load this xsl file when running dblatex, for example like -this:

- -

-dblatex --xsl-user=dblatex-endnotes.xsl freeculture.nb.xml
-

- -

The end result can be seen on github, where -my -book project is located.

Simpler recipe on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher using Debian

9th August 2017

On friday, I came across an interesting article in the Norwegian +web based ICT news magazine digi.no on +how +to collect the IMSI numbers of nearby cell phones using the cheap +DVB-T software defined radios. The article refered to instructions +and a recipe by +Keld Norman on Youtube on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher, and I decided to test them out.

+ +

The instructions said to use Ubuntu, install pip using apt (to +bypass apt), use pip to install pybombs (to bypass both apt and pip), +and the ask pybombs to fetch and build everything you need from +scratch. I wanted to see if I could do the same on the most recent +Debian packages, but this did not work because pybombs tried to build +stuff that no longer build with the most recent openssl library or +some other version skew problem. While trying to get this recipe +working, I learned that the apt->pip->pybombs route was a long detour, +and the only piece of software dependency missing in Debian was the +gr-gsm package. I also found out that the lead upstream developer of +gr-gsm (the name stand for GNU Radio GSM) project already had a set of +Debian packages provided in an Ubuntu PPA repository. All I needed to +do was to dget the Debian source package and built it.

+ +

The IMSI collector is a python script listening for packages on the +loopback network device and printing to the terminal some specific GSM +packages with IMSI numbers in them. The code is fairly short and easy +to understand. The reason this work is because gr-gsm include a tool +to read GSM data from a software defined radio like a DVB-T USB stick +and other software defined radios, decode them and inject them into a +network device on your Linux machine (using the loopback device by +default). This proved to work just fine, and I've been testing the +collector for a few days now.

+ +

The updated and simpler recipe is thus to

+ +

start with a Debian machine running Stretch or newer,
build and install the gr-gsm package available from +http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/,
clone the git repostory from https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher,
run grgsm_livemon and adjust the frequency until the terminal +where it was started is filled with a stream of text (meaning you +found a GSM station).
go into the IMSI-catcher directory and run 'sudo python simple_IMSI-catcher.py' to extract the IMSI numbers.

+ +

To make it even easier in the future to get this sniffer up and +running, I decided to package +the gr-gsm project +for Debian (WNPP +#871055), and the package was uploaded into the NEW queue today. +Luckily the gnuradio maintainer has promised to help me, as I do not +know much about gnuradio stuff yet.

+ +

I doubt this "IMSI cacher" is anywhere near as powerfull as +commercial tools like +The +Spy Phone Portable IMSI / IMEI Catcher or the +Harris +Stingray, but I hope the existance of cheap alternatives can make +more people realise how their whereabouts when carrying a cell phone +is easily tracked. Seeing the data flow on the screen, realizing that +I live close to a police station and knowing that the police is also +wearing cell phones, I wonder how hard it would be for criminals to +track the position of the police officers to discover when there are +police near by, or for foreign military forces to track the location +of the Norwegian military forces, or for anyone to track the location +of government officials...

+ +

It is worth noting that the data reported by the IMSI-catcher +script mentioned above is only a fraction of the data broadcasted on +the GSM network. It will only collect one frequency at the time, +while a typical phone will be using several frequencies, and not all +phones will be using the frequencies tracked by the grgsm_livemod +program. Also, there is a lot of radio chatter being ignored by the +simple_IMSI-catcher script, which would be collected by extending the +parser code. I wonder if gr-gsm can be set up to listen to more than +one frequency?

- Tags: docbook, english, freeculture. + Tags: debian, english, personvern, surveillance.

@@ -84,38 +117,37 @@ book project is located.

Mimes brÃ¸nn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert

9th July 2015

I gÃ¥r fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys -WhatDoTheyKnow. -Tjenesten heter Mimes brÃ¸nn, og ble -annonsert -av NUUG via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer. -Det har tatt noen Ã¥r, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til Ã¥ fÃ¥ -pÃ¥ plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vÃ¦rt -primus motor for det hele, men vi har fÃ¥tt hjelp med oversettelser og -oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem, -og er veldig fornÃ¸yd med at vi klarte Ã¥ fÃ¥ tjenesten opp Ã¥ kjÃ¸re fÃ¸r -ferietiden slo inn for fullt.

- -

Vi er usikker pÃ¥ hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der -tjenesten kjÃ¸rer klarer, sÃ¥ vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke -til for mange folk for Ã¥ se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren, -fÃ¸r vi gÃ¥r mer aktivt ut og annonserer til hÃ¸sten. Ta en titt, og se -om du kanskje har et spÃ¸rsmÃ¥l til det offentlige som er egnet Ã¥ sende -inn via Mimes brÃ¸nn.

- -

Hvis du lurer pÃ¥ hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til, -anbefaler jeg deg Ã¥ se -TED-foredraget til -Heather Brook om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til Ã¥ lÃ¦re -hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende -historie.

Norwegian BokmÃ¥l edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook is now available

25th July 2017

+ +

I finally received a copy of the Norwegian BokmÃ¥l edition of +"The Debian Administrator's +Handbook". This test copy arrived in the mail a few days ago, and +I am very happy to hold the result in my hand. We spent around one and a half year translating it. This paperbook edition +is available +from lulu.com. If you buy it quickly, you save 25% on the list +price. The book is also available for download in electronic form as +PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket, as can be +read online +as a web page.

+ +

This is the second book I publish (the first was the book +"Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig +in +English, +French +and +Norwegian +BokmÃ¥l), and I am very excited to finally wrap up this +project. I hope +"HÃ¥ndbok +for Debian-administratoren" will be well received.

- Tags: norsk, nuug, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: debian, debian-handbook, english.

@@ -123,268 +155,50 @@ historie.

MPEG LA on "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" licensing and non-private use

7th July 2015

After asking the Norwegian Broadcasting Company (NRK) -why -they can broadcast and stream H.264 video without an agreement with -the MPEG LA, I was wiser, but still confused. So I asked MPEG LA -if their understanding matched that of NRK. As far as I can tell, it -does not.

- -

I started by asking for more information about the various -licensing classes and what exactly is covered by the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" class that NRK pointed me at to explain why NRK -did not need a license for streaming H.264 video: - -

- -
According to -a -MPEG LA press release dated 2010-02-02, there is no charge when -using MPEG AVC/H.264 according to the terms of "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video". I am trying to understand exactly what the terms of "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is, and wondered if you could help me. What -exactly is covered by these terms, and what is not?
- -
The only source of more information I have been able to find is a -PDF named -AVC -Patent Portfolio License Briefing, which states this about the -fees:
- -
-
Where End User pays for AVC Video -
-
Subscription (not limited by title) â 100,000 or fewer - subscribers/yr = no royalty; > 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr = - $25,000; >250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000; >500,000 to - 1M subscribers/yr = $75,000; >1M subscribers/yr = $100,000
- -
Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; >12 minutes in - length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title
-
- -
Where remuneration is from other sources -
-
Free Television - (a) one-time $2,500 per transmission encoder or - (b) annual fee starting at $2,500 for > 100,000 HH rising to - maximum $10,000 for >1,000,000 HH
- -
Internet Broadcast AVC Video (not title-by-title, not subscription) - â no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License
-
-
- -
Am I correct in assuming that the four categories listed is the -categories used when selecting licensing terms, and that "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video" is the category for things that do not fall into -one of the other three categories? Can you point me to a good source -explaining what is ment by "title-by-title" and "Free Television" in -the license terms for AVC/H.264?
- -
Will a web service providing H.264 encoded video content in a -"video on demand" fashing similar to Youtube and Vimeo, where no -subscription is required and no payment is required from end users to -get access to the videos, fall under the terms of the "Internet -Broadcast AVC Video", ie no royalty for life of the AVC Patent -Portfolio license? Does it matter if some users are subscribed to get -access to personalized services?
- -
Note, this request and all answers will be published on the -Internet.
-

- -

The answer came quickly from Benjamin J. Myers, Licensing Associate -with the MPEG LA:

- -

-
Thank you for your message and for your interest in MPEG LA. We -appreciate hearing from you and I will be happy to assist you.
- -
As you are aware, MPEG LA offers our AVC Patent Portfolio License -which provides coverage under patents that are essential for use of -the AVC/H.264 Standard (MPEG-4 Part 10). Specifically, coverage is -provided for end products and video content that make use of AVC/H.264 -technology. Accordingly, the party offering such end products and -video to End Users concludes the AVC License and is responsible for -paying the applicable royalties.
- -
Regarding Internet Broadcast AVC Video, the AVC License generally -defines such content to be video that is distributed to End Users over -the Internet free-of-charge. Therefore, if a party offers a service -which allows users to upload AVC/H.264 video to its website, and such -AVC Video is delivered to End Users for free, then such video would -receive coverage under the sublicense for Internet Broadcast AVC -Video, which is not subject to any royalties for the life of the AVC -License. This would also apply in the scenario where a user creates a -free online account in order to receive a customized offering of free -AVC Video content. In other words, as long as the End User is given -access to or views AVC Video content at no cost to the End User, then -no royalties would be payable under our AVC License.
- -
On the other hand, if End Users pay for access to AVC Video for a -specific period of time (e.g., one month, one year, etc.), then such -video would constitute Subscription AVC Video. In cases where AVC -Video is delivered to End Users on a pay-per-view basis, then such -content would constitute Title-by-Title AVC Video. If a party offers -Subscription or Title-by-Title AVC Video to End Users, then they would -be responsible for paying the applicable royalties you noted below.
- -
Finally, in the case where AVC Video is distributed for free -through an "over-the-air, satellite and/or cable transmission", then -such content would constitute Free Television AVC Video and would be -subject to the applicable royalties.
- -
For your reference, I have attached -a -.pdf copy of the AVC License. You will find the relevant -sublicense information regarding AVC Video in Sections 2.2 through -2.5, and the corresponding royalties in Section 3.1.2 through 3.1.4. -You will also find the definitions of Title-by-Title AVC Video, -Subscription AVC Video, Free Television AVC Video, and Internet -Broadcast AVC Video in Section 1 of the License. Please note that the -electronic copy is provided for informational purposes only and cannot -be used for execution.
- -
I hope the above information is helpful. If you have additional -questions or need further assistance with the AVC License, please feel -free to contact me directly.
-

- -

Having a fresh copy of the license text was useful, and knowing -that the definition of Title-by-Title required payment per title made -me aware that my earlier understanding of that phrase had been wrong. -But I still had a few questions:

- -

-
I have a small followup question. Would it be possible for me to get -a license with MPEG LA even if there are no royalties to be paid? The -reason I ask, is that some video related products have a copyright -clause limiting their use without a license with MPEG LA. The clauses -typically look similar to this: +
Â«Rapporten ser ikke pÃ¥ informasjonssikkerhet knyttet til personlig integritetÂ»
+
27th June 2017
+
Jeg kom over teksten +Â«Killing +car privacy by federal mandateÂ» av Leonid Reyzin pÃ¥ Freedom to +Tinker i dag, og det gleder meg Ã¥ se en god gjennomgang om hvorfor det +er et urimelig inngrep i privatsfÃ¦ren Ã¥ la alle biler kringkaste sin +posisjon og bevegelse via radio. Det omtalte forslaget basert pÃ¥ +Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) kalles Basic Safety Message +(BSM) i USA og Cooperative Awareness Message (CAM) i Europa, og det +norske Vegvesenet er en av de som ser ut til Ã¥ kunne tenke seg Ã¥ +pÃ¥legge alle biler Ã¥ fjerne nok en bit av innbyggernes privatsfÃ¦re. +Anbefaler alle Ã¥ lese det som stÃ¥r der. + +
Mens jeg tittet litt pÃ¥ DSRC pÃ¥ biler i Norge kom jeg over et sitat +jeg synes er illustrativt for hvordan det offentlige Norge hÃ¥ndterer +problemstillinger rundt innbyggernes privatsfÃ¦re i SINTEF-rapporten +Â«Informasjonssikkerhet +i AutoPASS-brikkerÂ» av Trond Foss:

- This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for - the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer to (a) encode - video in compliance with the AVC standard ("AVC video") and/or (b) - decode AVC video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a - personal and non-commercial activity and/or AVC video that was - obtained from a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No - license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. additional - information may be obtained from MPEG LA L.L.C. +Â«Rapporten ser ikke pÃ¥ informasjonssikkerhet knyttet til personlig + integritet.Â»
-
It is unclear to me if this clause mean that I need to enter into -an agreement with MPEG LA to use the product in question, even if -there are no royalties to be paid to MPEG LA. I suspect it will -differ depending on the jurisdiction, and mine is Norway. What is -MPEG LAs view on this?
-

- -

According to the answer, MPEG LA believe those using such tools for -non-personal or commercial use need a license with them:

- -

- -
With regard to the Notice to Customers, I would like to begin by -clarifying that the Notice from Section 7.1 of the AVC License -reads:
- -
THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSE FOR -THE PERSONAL USE OF A CONSUMER OR OTHER USES IN WHICH IT DOES NOT -RECEIVE REMUNERATION TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC -STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED -BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL ACTIVITY AND/OR WAS OBTAINED FROM -A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. NO LICENSE IS GRANTED -OR SHALL BE IMPLIED FOR ANY OTHER USE. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION MAY BE -OBTAINED FROM MPEG LA, L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM
- -
The Notice to Customers is intended to inform End Users of the -personal usage rights (for example, to watch video content) included -with the product they purchased, and to encourage any party using the -product for commercial purposes to contact MPEG LA in order to become -licensed for such use (for example, when they use an AVC Product to -deliver Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free Television or Internet -Broadcast AVC Video to End Users, or to re-Sell a third party's AVC -Product as their own branded AVC Product).
- -
Therefore, if a party is to be licensed for its use of an AVC -Product to Sell AVC Video on a Title-by-Title, Subscription, Free -Television or Internet Broadcast basis, that party would need to -conclude the AVC License, even in the case where no royalties were -payable under the License. On the other hand, if that party (either a -Consumer or business customer) simply uses an AVC Product for their -own internal purposes and not for the commercial purposes referenced -above, then such use would be included in the royalty paid for the AVC -Products by the licensed supplier.
- -
Finally, I note that our AVC License provides worldwide coverage in -countries that have AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, including -Norway.
- -
I hope this clarification is helpful. If I may be of any further -assistance, just let me know.
-

- -

The mentioning of Norwegian patents made me a bit confused, so I -asked for more information:

- -

- -
But one minor question at the end. If I understand you correctly, -you state in the quote above that there are patents in the AVC Patent -Portfolio that are valid in Norway. This make me believe I read the -list available from <URL: -http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/PatentList.aspx -> incorrectly, as I believed the "NO" prefix in front of patents -were Norwegian patents, and the only one I could find under Mitsubishi -Electric Corporation expired in 2012. Which patents are you referring -to that are relevant for Norway?
- -

- -

Again, the quick answer explained how to read the list of patents -in that list:

- -

- -
Your understanding is correct that the last AVC Patent Portfolio -Patent in Norway expired on 21 October 2012. Therefore, where AVC -Video is both made and Sold in Norway after that date, then no -royalties would be payable for such AVC Video under the AVC License. -With that said, our AVC License provides historic coverage for AVC -Products and AVC Video that may have been manufactured or Sold before -the last Norwegian AVC patent expired. I would also like to clarify -that coverage is provided for the country of manufacture and the -country of Sale that has active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents.
- -
Therefore, if a party offers AVC Products or AVC Video for Sale in -a country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents (for example, -Sweden, Denmark, Finland, etc.), then that party would still need -coverage under the AVC License even if such products or video are -initially made in a country without active AVC Patent Portfolio -Patents (for example, Norway). Similarly, a party would need to -conclude the AVC License if they make AVC Products or AVC Video in a -country with active AVC Patent Portfolio Patents, but eventually Sell -such AVC Products or AVC Video in a country without active AVC Patent -Portfolio Patents.
-

- -

As far as I understand it, MPEG LA believe anyone using Adobe -Premiere and other video related software with a H.264 distribution -license need a license agreement with MPEG LA to use such tools for -anything non-private or commercial, while it is OK to set up a -Youtube-like service as long as no-one pays to get access to the -content. I still have no clear idea how this applies to Norway, where -none of the patents MPEG LA is licensing are valid. Will the -copyright terms take precedence or can those terms be ignored because -the patents are not valid in Norway?

SÃ¥ enkelt kan det tydeligvis gjÃ¸res nÃ¥r en vurderer +informasjonssikkerheten. Det holder vel at folkene pÃ¥ toppen kan si +at Â«Personvernet er ivaretattÂ», som jo er den populÃ¦re intetsigende +frasen som gjÃ¸r at mange tror enkeltindividers integritet tas vare pÃ¥. +Sitatet fikk meg til Ã¥ undres pÃ¥ hvor ofte samme tilnÃ¦rming, Ã¥ bare se +bort fra behovet for personlig itegritet, blir valgt nÃ¥r en velger Ã¥ +legge til rette for nok et inngrep i privatsfÃ¦ren til personer i +Norge. Det er jo sjelden det fÃ¥r reaksjoner. Historien om +reaksjonene pÃ¥ Helse SÃ¸r-Ãsts tjenesteutsetting er jo sÃ¸rgelig nok et +unntak og toppen av isfjellet, desverre. Tror jeg fortsatt takker nei +til bÃ¥de AutoPASS og holder meg sÃ¥ langt unna det norske helsevesenet +som jeg kan, inntil de har demonstrert og dokumentert at de verdsetter +individets privatsfÃ¦re og personlige integritet hÃ¸yere enn kortsiktig +gevist og samfunnsnytte.

- Tags: english, h264, multimedia, opphavsrett, standard, video, web. + Tags: norsk, personvern, sikkerhet.

@@ -392,62 +206,66 @@ the patents are not valid in Norway?

New laptop - some more clues and ideas based on feedback

5th July 2015

Several people contacted me after my previous blog post about my -need for a new laptop, and provided very useful feedback. I wish to -thank every one of these. Several pointed me to the possibility of -fixing my X230, and I am already in the process of getting Lenovo to -do so thanks to the on site, next day support contract covering the -machine. But the battery is almost useless (I expect to replace it -with a non-official battery) and I do not expect the machine to live -for many more years, so it is time to plan its replacement. If I did -not have a support contract, it was suggested to find replacement parts -using FrancEcrans, but it -might present a language barrier as I do not understand French.

- -

One tip I got was to use the -Skinflint web service to -compare laptop models. It seem to have more models available than -prisjakt.no. Another tip I got from someone I know have similar -keyboard preferences was that the HP EliteBook 840 keyboard is not -very good, and this matches my experience with earlier EliteBook -keyboards I tested. Because of this, I will not consider it any further. - -

When I wrote my blog post, I was not aware of Thinkpad X250, the -newest Thinkpad X model. The keyboard reintroduces mouse buttons -(which is missing from the X240), and is working fairly well with -Debian Sid/Unstable according to -Corsac.net. The reports I -got on the keyboard quality are not consistent. Some say the keyboard -is good, others say it is ok, while others say it is not very good. -Those with experience from X41 and and X60 agree that the X250 -keyboard is not as good as those trusty old laptops, and suggest I -keep and fix my X230 instead of upgrading, or get a used X230 to -replace it. I'm also told that the X250 lack leds for caps lock, disk -activity and battery status, which is very convenient on my X230. I'm -also told that the CPU fan is running very often, making it a bit -noisy. In any case, the X250 do not work out of the box with Debian -Stable/Jessie, one of my requirements.

- -

I have also gotten a few vendor proposals, one was -Pro-Star, another was -Libreboot. -The latter look very attractive to me.

- -

Again, thank you all for the very useful feedback. It help a lot -as I keep looking for a replacement.

- -

Update 2015-07-06: I was recommended to check out the -lapstore.de web shop for used laptops. They got several -different -old -thinkpad X models, and provide one year warranty.

Updated sales number for my Free Culture paper editions

12th June 2017

It is pleasing to see that the work we put down in publishing new +editions of the classic Free +Culture book by the founder of the Creative Commons movement, +Lawrence Lessig, is still being appreciated. I had a look at the +latest sales numbers for the paper edition today. Not too impressive, +but happy to see some buyers still exist. All the revenue from the +books is sent to the Creative +Commons Corporation, and they receive the largest cut if you buy +directly from Lulu. Most books are sold via Amazon, with Ingram +second and only a small fraction directly from Lulu. The ebook +edition is available for free from +Github.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Title / language	Quantity
Title / language	2016 jan-jun	2016 jul-dec	2017 jan-may
Culture Libre / French	3	6	15
Fri kultur / Norwegian	7	1	0
Free Culture / English	14	27	16
Total	24	34	31

+ +

A bit sad to see the low sales number on the Norwegian edition, and +a bit surprising the English edition still selling so well.

+ +

If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native +language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in +touch.

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.

@@ -455,38 +273,59 @@ thinkpad X models, and provide one year warranty.

Time to find a new laptop, as the old one is broken after only two years

3rd July 2015

My primary work horse laptop is failing, and will need a -replacement soon. The left 5 cm of the screen on my Thinkpad X230 -started flickering yesterday, and I suspect the cause is a broken -cable, as changing the angle of the screen some times get rid of the -flickering.

- -

My requirements have not really changed since I bought it, and is -still as -I -described them in 2013. The last time I bought a laptop, I had -good help from -prisjakt.no -where I could select at least a few of the requirements (mouse pin, -wifi, weight) and go through the rest manually. Three button mouse -and a good keyboard is not available as an option, and all the three -laptop models proposed today (Thinkpad X240, HP EliteBook 820 G1 and -G2) lack three mouse buttons). It is also unclear to me how good the -keyboard on the HP EliteBooks are. I hope Lenovo have not messed up -the keyboard, even if the quality and robustness in the X series have -deteriorated since X41.

- -

I wonder how I can find a sensible laptop when none of the options -seem sensible to me? Are there better services around to search the -set of available laptops for features? Please send me an email if you -have suggestions.

Release 0.1.1 of free software archive system Nikita announced

10th June 2017

I am very happy to report that the +Nikita Noark 5 +core project tagged its second release today. The free software +solution is an implementation of the Norwegian archive standard Noark +5 used by government offices in Norway. These were the changes in +version 0.1.1 since version 0.1.0 (from NEWS.md): + +

Continued work on the angularjs GUI, including document upload.
Implemented correspondencepartPerson, correspondencepartUnit and + correspondencepartInternal
Applied for coverity coverage and started submitting code on + regualr basis.
Started fixing bugs reported by coverity
Corrected and completed HATEOAS links to make sure entire API is + available via URLs in _links.
Corrected all relation URLs to use trailing slash.
Add initial support for storing data in ElasticSearch.
Now able to receive and store uploaded files in the archive.
Changed JSON output for object lists to have relations in _links.
Improve JSON output for empty object lists.
Now uses correct MIME type application/vnd.noark5-v4+json.
Added support for docker container images.
Added simple API browser implemented in JavaScript/Angular.
Started on archive client implemented in JavaScript/Angular.
Started on prototype to show the public mail journal.
Improved performance by disabling Sprint FileWatcher.
Added support for 'arkivskaper', 'saksmappe' and 'journalpost'.
Added support for some metadata codelists.
Added support for Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).
Changed login method from Basic Auth to JSON Web Token (RFC 7519) + style.
Added support for GET-ing ny-* URLs.
Added support for modifying entities using PUT and eTag.
Added support for returning XML output on request.
Removed support for English field and class names, limiting ourself + to the official names.
...

+ +

If this sound interesting to you, please contact us on IRC (#nikita +on irc.freenode.net) or email +(nikita-noark +mailing list).

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, nuug, offentlig innsyn, standard.

@@ -494,82 +333,99 @@ have suggestions.

MakerCon Nordic videos now available on Frikanalen

2nd July 2015

Last oktober I was involved on behalf of -NUUG with recording the talks at -MakerCon Nordic, a conference for -the Maker movement. Since then it has been the plan to publish the -recordings on Frikanalen, which -finally happened the last few days. A few talks are missing because -the speakers asked the organizers to not publish them, but most of the -talks are available. The talks are being broadcasted on RiksTV -channel 50 and using multicast on Uninett, as well as being available -from the Frikanalen web site. The unedited recordings are -available on -Youtube too.

- -

This is the list of talks available at the moment. Visit the -Frikanalen video -pages to view them.

Idea for storing trusted timestamps in a Noark 5 archive

7th June 2017

This is a copy of +an +email I posted to the nikita-noark mailing list. Please follow up +there if you would like to discuss this topic. The background is that +we are making a free software archive system based on the Norwegian +Noark +5 standard for government archives.

+ +

I've been wondering a bit lately how trusted timestamps could be +stored in Noark 5. +Trusted +timestamps can be used to verify that some information +(document/file/checksum/metadata) have not been changed since a +specific time in the past. This is useful to verify the integrity of +the documents in the archive.

+ +

Then it occured to me, perhaps the trusted timestamps could be +stored as dokument variants (ie dokumentobjekt referered to from +dokumentbeskrivelse) with the filename set to the hash it is +stamping?

+ +

Given a "dokumentbeskrivelse" with an associated "dokumentobjekt", +a new dokumentobjekt is associated with "dokumentbeskrivelse" with the +same attributes as the stamped dokumentobjekt except these +attributes:

Evolutionary algorithms as a design tool - from art - to robotics (Kyrre Glette)
Make and break (Hans Gerhard Meier)
Making a one year school course for young makers - (Olav Helland)
Innovation Inspiration - IPR Databases as a Source of - Inspiration (Hege Langlo)
Making a toy for makers (Erik Torstensson)
How to make 3D printer electronics (Elias Bakken)
Hovering Clouds: Looking at online tool offerings for Product - Design and 3D Printing (William Kempton)
Travelling maker stories (Ãyvind Nydal Dahl)
Making the first Maker Faire in Sweden (Nils Olander)
Breaking the mold: Printing 1000âs of parts (Espen Sivertsen)
Ultimaker â and open source 3D printing (Erik de Bruijn)
Autodeskâs 3D Printing Platform: Sparking innovation (Hilde - Sevens)
How Making is Changing the World â and How You Can Too! - (Jennifer Turliuk)
Open-Source Adventuring: OpenROV, OpenExplorer and the Future of - Connected Exploration (David Lang)
Making in Norway (Haakon Karlsen Jr., Graham Hayward and Jens - Dyvik)
The Impact of the Maker Movement (Mike Senese)
format -> "RFC3161" +
mimeType -> "application/timestamp-reply" +
formatDetaljer -> "<source URL for timestamp service>" +
filenavn -> "<sjekksum>.tsr"

Part of the reason this took so long was that the scripts NUUG had -to prepare a recording for publication were five years old and no -longer worked with the current video processing tools (command line -argument changes). In addition, we needed better audio normalization, -which sent me on a detour to -package -bs1770gain for Debian. Now this is in place and it became a lot -easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.

This assume a service following +IETF RFC 3161 is +used, which specifiy the given MIME type for replies and the .tsr file +ending for the content of such trusted timestamp. As far as I can +tell from the Noark 5 specifications, it is OK to have several +variants/renderings of a dokument attached to a given +dokumentbeskrivelse objekt. It might be stretching it a bit to make +some of these variants represent crypto-signatures useful for +verifying the document integrity instead of representing the dokument +itself.

+ +

Using the source of the service in formatDetaljer allow several +timestamping services to be used. This is useful to spread the risk +of key compromise over several organisations. It would only be a +problem to trust the timestamps if all of the organisations are +compromised.

+ +

The following oneliner on Linux can be used to generate the tsr +file. $input is the path to the file to checksum, and $sha256 is the +SHA-256 checksum of the file (ie the ".tsr" value mentioned +above).

+ +

+openssl ts -query -data "$inputfile" -cert -sha256 -no_nonce \
+  | curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/timestamp-query" \
+      --data-binary "@-" http://zeitstempel.dfn.de > $sha256.tsr
+

+ +

To verify the timestamp, you first need to download the public key +of the trusted timestamp service, for example using this command:

+ +

+wget -O ca-cert.txt \
+  https://pki.pca.dfn.de/global-services-ca/pub/cacert/chain.txt
+

+ +

Note, the public key should be stored alongside the timestamps in +the archive to make sure it is also available 100 years from now. It +is probably a good idea to standardise how and were to store such +public keys, to make it easier to find for those trying to verify +documents 100 or 1000 years from now. :)

+ +

The verification itself is a simple openssl command:

+ +

+openssl ts -verify -data $inputfile -in $sha256.tsr \
+  -CAfile ca-cert.txt -text
+

+ +

Is there any reason this approach would not work? Is it somehow against +the Noark 5 specification?

- Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video. + Tags: english, offentlig innsyn, standard.

@@ -577,125 +433,129 @@ easier to publish NUUG videos on Frikanalen.

Hvem fÃ¸rer Medietilsynet tilsyn med?

28th June 2015

I en global verden med eierskap pÃ¥ tvers, trengs det informasjon om -hvem som har kontrollen i selskaper og bedrifter. Og for Ã¥ fÃ¥ tilgang -til slik informasjon for alle som Ã¸nsker Ã¥ analysere eierskap, holder -med ikke med nasjonale databaser over eierskap, det mÃ¥ globale -samledatabaser med Ã¥pne data til. Heldigvis finnes det en -internasjonal bevegelse for Ã¥ gjÃ¸re selskapsinformasjon for alle land -offentlig tilgjengelig. En slik database heter -OpenCorporates, der -informasjonen er gratis tilgjengelig med en "del pÃ¥ samme -vilkÃ¥r"-lisens. De samler inn selskapsinformasjon, eierskap, -konsesjonstildelinger og lignende. De manglet ganske mye for Norge, -da bruksvilkÃ¥rene til Norsk offentlig informasjon i stor grad -blokkerer OpenCorporates fra Ã¥ samle den inn.

- -

Men jeg er jo involvert i -Frikanalen, som har -TV-konsesjon, og tenkte det kunne vÃ¦re fint om informasjon om alle -mediakonsesjoner var tilgjengelig i OpenCorporates, sÃ¥ jeg sendte -avgÃ¥rde fÃ¸lgende spÃ¸rsmÃ¥l til Medietilsynet 2015-06-22:

NÃ¥r nynorskoversettelsen svikter til eksamen...

3rd June 2017

Aftenposten +melder i dag om feil i eksamensoppgavene for eksamen i politikk og +menneskerettigheter, der teksten i bokmÃ¥ls og nynorskutgaven ikke var +like. Oppgaveteksten er gjengitt i artikkelen, og jeg ble nysgjerring +pÃ¥ om den fri oversetterlÃ¸sningen +Apertium ville gjort en bedre +jobb enn Utdanningsdirektoratet. Det kan se slik ut.

+ +

Her er bokmÃ¥lsoppgaven fra eksamenen:

-
Hei. Finnes det en oversikt over enhetene som Mediatilsynet fÃ¸rer -tilsyn med som Ã¥pne data? Jeg lette etter den pÃ¥ -<URL:http://data.norge.no/> og -<URL:http://hotell.difi.no/> uten Ã¥ -finne noe der, og fant heller ikke noe under -<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/>.
- -
Jeg tenker pÃ¥ alle som har fÃ¥tt kringkastingskonsesjon og alle som -er omtalt under -<URL:http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebildet/>.
- -
Jeg skulle gjerne hatt dette maskinlesbart, og inkludert -organisasjonsnummer og hva slags forhold mediatilsynet har til -organisasjonene. Tanken er Ã¥ importere det i -<URL:https://opencorporates.com/> for analyse, sÃ¥ det bÃ¸r ikke ha -bruksbegresninger som gjÃ¸r dette umulig.
+
DrÃ¸ft utfordringene knyttet til nasjonalstatenes og andre aktÃ¸rers +rolle og muligheter til Ã¥ hÃ¥ndtere internasjonale utfordringer, som +for eksempel flykningekrisen.
+ +
Vedlegge er eksempler pÃ¥ tekster som kan gi relevante perspektiver +pÃ¥ temaet:
+
+
Flykningeregnskapet 2016, UNHCR og IDMC +
Â«GrenselÃ¸st Europa for fallÂ» A-Magasinet, 26. november 2015 +
+

To dager senere fikk jeg svar, med de datasettene de hadde -tilgjengelig. Svaret fra Hanne Sekkelsten hos Medietilsynet var -informativt og imÃ¸tekommende.

Dette oversetter Apertium slik:

-
Vi viser til din e-post av 22. juni, der du ber om Ã¥ fÃ¥ tilsendt oversikter -over aktÃ¸rer Medietilsynet fÃ¸rer tilsyn med.
- -
Medietilsynet fÃ¸rer tilsyn med kringkastere og audiovisuelle -bestillingstjenester som omfattes av kringkastingsloven, og med -eierskap i aviser, fjernsyn radio og elektroniske medier etter -medieeierskapsloven. I tillegg vil Medietilsynet etter at -beskyttelsesloven trer i kraft fra 1. juli ha tilsyn med en rekke nye -aktÃ¸rer. NÃ¦rmere informasjon om den nye loven finnes pÃ¥ Medietilsynets -nettsted, her: -http://www.medietilsynet.no/mediebransjen/bildeprogramloven/ -. Vi har ikke utarbeidet oversikter over alle aktÃ¸rene, men vi sender -deg her de listene vi har utarbeidet, hentet fra vÃ¥re databaser. Vi -har dessverre ikke ferdige rapporter som inneholder -organisasjonsnummer. Dersom du Ã¸nsker flere opplysninger ber vi om at -du tar kontakt med oss slik at vi kan finne ut av hvilke opplysninger -du trenger, og hvilke vi kan fremskaffe.
- -
Vedlagt fÃ¸lger: +
DrÃ¸ft utfordringane knytte til nasjonalstatane sine og rolla til +andre aktÃ¸rar og hÃ¸ve til Ã¥ handtera internasjonale utfordringar, som +til dÃ¸mes *flykningekrisen.
-
+
Vedleggja er dÃ¸me pÃ¥ tekster som kan gje relevante perspektiv pÃ¥ +temaet:
-
Konsesjoner - lokalradio FM pr. 31.12.2014 [PDF (original)]
+
+
*Flykningeregnskapet 2016, *UNHCR og *IDMC
+
Â«*GrenselÃ¸st Europa for fallÂ» A-Magasinet, 26. november 2015
+
-
Konsesjoner - lokalfjernsyn i det digitale bakkenettet for fjernsyn, pr. mars 2015 [DOCX (original), -PDF]
+

Konsesjoner - DAB-radio, status mars 2015 [XPS (original), -PDF]

Ord som ikke ble forstÃ¥tt er markert med stjerne (*), og trenger +ekstra sprÃ¥ksjekk. Men ingen ord er forsvunnet, slik det var i +oppgaven elevene fikk presentert pÃ¥ eksamen. Jeg mistenker dog at +"andre aktÃ¸rers rolle og muligheter til ..." burde vÃ¦rt oversatt til +"rolla til andre aktÃ¸rar og deira hÃ¸ve til ..." eller noe slikt, men +det er kanskje flisespikking. Det understreker vel bare at det alltid +trengs korrekturlesning etter automatisk oversettelse.

+ + + Tags: debian, norsk, stavekontroll. + + +

+ +

Epost inn som arkivformat i Riksarkivarens forskrift?

27th April 2017

I disse dager, med frist 1. mai, har Riksarkivaren ute en hÃ¸ring pÃ¥ +sin forskrift. Som en kan se er det ikke mye tid igjen fÃ¸r fristen +som gÃ¥r ut pÃ¥ sÃ¸ndag. Denne forskriften er det som lister opp hvilke +formater det er greit Ã¥ arkivere i +Noark +5-lÃ¸sninger i Norge.

+ +

Jeg fant hÃ¸ringsdokumentene hos +Norsk +ArkivrÃ¥d etter Ã¥ ha blitt tipset pÃ¥ epostlisten til +fri +programvareprosjektet Nikita Noark5-Core, som lager et Noark 5 +Tjenestegresesnitt. Jeg er involvert i Nikita-prosjektet og takket +vÃ¦re min interesse for tjenestegrensesnittsprosjektet har jeg lest en +god del Noark 5-relaterte dokumenter, og til min overraskelse oppdaget +at standard epost ikke er pÃ¥ listen over godkjente formater som kan +arkiveres. HÃ¸ringen med frist sÃ¸ndag er en glimrende mulighet til Ã¥ +forsÃ¸ke Ã¥ gjÃ¸re noe med det. Jeg holder pÃ¥ med +egen +hÃ¸ringsuttalelse, og lurer pÃ¥ om andre er interessert i Ã¥ stÃ¸tte +forslaget om Ã¥ tillate arkivering av epost som epost i arkivet.

+ +

Er du igang med Ã¥ skrive egen hÃ¸ringsuttalelse allerede? I sÃ¥ fall +kan du jo vurdere Ã¥ ta med en formulering om epost-lagring. Jeg tror +ikke det trengs sÃ¥ mye. Her et kort forslag til tekst:

Registreringspliktige kringkastere - status mars 2015: [XPS (original), PDF] +

-
-
Kabelsendt fjernsyn -
Satellittsendt fjernsyn -
Nett-tv -
Kabelsendt radio -
Satellittsendt radio -
Nett-radio -

- +

Viser til hÃ¸ring sendt ut 2017-02-17 (Riksarkivarens referanse + 2016/9840 HELHJO), og tillater oss Ã¥ sende inn noen innspill om + revisjon av Forskrift om utfyllende tekniske og arkivfaglige + bestemmelser om behandling av offentlige arkiver (Riksarkivarens + forskrift).

Vi mÃ¥ ta forbehold om at det kan vÃ¦re enkelte feil i oversiktene -siden disse ikke er oppdaterte pr. dags dato. Vi vil foreta nye -oppdateringer i august.

SvÃ¦rt mye av vÃ¥r kommuikasjon foregÃ¥r i dag pÃ¥ e-post.Â Vi + foreslÃ¥r derfor at Internett-e-post, slik det er beskrevet i IETF + RFC 5322, + https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5322. bÃ¸r + inn som godkjent dokumentformat.Â Vi foreslÃ¥r at forskriftens + oversikt over godkjente dokumentformater ved innlevering i Â§ 5-16 + endres til Ã¥ ta med Internett-e-post.

Med hilsen

Hanne Nistad Sekkelsten -
SeniorrÃ¥dgiver | Senior Legal Adviser -
Medietilsynet | Norwegian Media Authority -
A: Nygata 4, NO-1607 Fredrikstad -
T: [telefonnummer fjernet] -
E: [adresse fjernet] | W: www.medietilsynet.no -

- +

Som del av arbeidet med tjenestegrensesnitt har vi testet hvordan +epost kan lagres i en Noark 5-struktur, og holder pÃ¥ Ã¥ skrive et +forslag om hvordan dette kan gjÃ¸res som vil bli sendt over til +arkivverket sÃ¥ snart det er ferdig. De som er interesserte kan +fÃ¸lge +fremdriften pÃ¥ web.

Desverre er formatene for ustrukturerte til maskinell behandling og -mangler endel informasjon, men det er gode oversikter over hvem -Medietilsynet fÃ¸rer tilsyn med. Filene er pÃ¥ formatene PDF, XPS -(XML-basert PDF-lignende format fra Microsoft) og DOCX, sÃ¥ det vil -vÃ¦re en stor jobb Ã¥ strukturere informasjonen pÃ¥ en mÃ¥te som kan -importeres i OpenCorporates. Svaret er ikke i trÃ¥d med -Forskrift -om IT-standarder i offentlig forvaltning som sier epostvedlegg -skal sendes som PDF, sÃ¥ jeg har gjorde PDF-utgaver av XPS og -DOCX-utgavene tilgjengelig for Ã¥ gjÃ¸re det enklere for alle Ã¥ se -innholdet.

Oppdatering 2017-04-28: I dag ble hÃ¸ringuttalelsen jeg skrev + sendt + inn av foreningen NUUG.

- Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn, standard.

@@ -703,79 +563,52 @@ innholdet.

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 for 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, BrÃ¸nnÃ¸ysundsregistrene.

- -

To get an ownership graph for a set of companies, 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
+      Offentlig elektronisk postjournal blokkerer tilgang for utvalgte webklienter
+      20th April 2017
+      Jeg oppdaget i dag at nettstedet som
+publiserer offentlige postjournaler fra statlige etater, OEP, har
+begynt Ã¥ blokkerer enkelte typer webklienter fra Ã¥ fÃ¥ tilgang.  Vet
+ikke hvor mange det gjelder, men det gjelder i hvert fall libwww-perl
+og curl.  For Ã¥ teste selv, kjÃ¸r fÃ¸lgende:
+
++% curl -v -s https://www.oep.no/pub/report.xhtml?reportId=3 2>&1 |grep '< HTTP'
+< HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
+% curl -v -s --header 'User-Agent:Opera/12.0' https://www.oep.no/pub/report.xhtml?reportId=3 2>&1 |grep '< HTTP'
+< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
 %
-
-
-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".  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 links.
-
-Let me know if you improve the script or find better data sources.
-The code is licensed according to GPL 2 or newer.
-
-Update 2015-06-15: Since the initial post I've been told that
-"Aller
-Holding A/S" is a Danish company, which explain why it did not
-have a Norwegian organisation number.  I've also been told that there
-is a web
-services API available from BrÃ¸nnÃ¸ysundsregistrene, for those
-willing to accept the terms or pay the price.
+

+ +

Her kan en se at tjenesten gir Â«404 Not FoundÂ» for curl i +standardoppsettet, mens den gir Â«200 OKÂ» hvis curl hevder Ã¥ vÃ¦re Opera +versjon 12.0. Offentlig elektronisk postjournal startet blokkeringen +2017-03-02.

+ +

Blokkeringen vil gjÃ¸re det litt vanskeligere Ã¥ maskinelt hente +informasjon fra oep.no. Kan blokkeringen vÃ¦re gjort for Ã¥ hindre +automatisert innsamling av informasjon fra OEP, slik Pressens +Offentlighetsutvalg gjorde for Ã¥ dokumentere hvordan departementene +hindrer innsyn i +rapporten +Â«Slik hindrer departementer innsynÂ» som ble publiserte i januar +2017. Det virker usannsynlig, da det jo er trivielt Ã¥ bytte +User-Agent til noe nytt.

+ +

Finnes det juridisk grunnlag for det offentlige Ã¥ diskriminere +webklienter slik det gjÃ¸res her? Der tilgang gis eller ikke alt etter +hva klienten sier at den heter? Da OEP eies av DIFI og driftes av +Basefarm, finnes det kanskje noen dokumenter sendt mellom disse to +aktÃ¸rene man kan be om innsyn i for Ã¥ forstÃ¥ hva som har skjedd. Men +postjournalen +til DIFI viser kun to dokumenter det siste Ã¥ret mellom DIFI og +Basefarm. +Mimes brÃ¸nn neste, +tenker jeg.

- Tags: english, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: norsk, offentlig innsyn.

@@ -783,405 +616,162 @@ willing to accept the terms or pay the price.

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.

Free software archive system Nikita now able to store documents

19th March 2017

The Nikita +Noark 5 core project is implementing the Norwegian standard for +keeping an electronic archive of government documents. +The +Noark 5 standard document the requirement for data systems used by +the archives in the Norwegian government, and the Noark 5 web interface +specification document a REST web service for storing, searching and +retrieving documents and metadata in such archive. I've been involved +in the project since a few weeks before Christmas, when the Norwegian +Unix User Group +announced +it supported the project. I believe this is an important project, +and hope it can make it possible for the government archives in the +future to use free software to keep the archives we citizens depend +on. But as I do not hold such archive myself, personally my first use +case is to store and analyse public mail journal metadata published +from the government. I find it useful to have a clear use case in +mind when developing, to make sure the system scratches one of my +itches.

+ +

If you would like to help make sure there is a free software +alternatives for the archives, please join our IRC channel +(#nikita on +irc.freenode.net) and +the +project mailing list.

+ +

When I got involved, the web service could store metadata about +documents. But a few weeks ago, a new milestone was reached when it +became possible to store full text documents too. Yesterday, I +completed an implementation of a command line tool +archive-pdf to upload a PDF file to the archive using this +API. The tool is very simple at the moment, and find existing +fonds, series and +files while asking the user to select which one to use if more than +one exist. Once a file is identified, the PDF is associated with the +file and uploaded, using the title extracted from the PDF itself. The +process is fairly similar to visiting the archive, opening a cabinet, +locating a file and storing a piece of paper in the archive. Here is +a test run directly after populating the database with test data using +our API tester:

+ +

+~/src//noark5-tester$ ./archive-pdf mangelmelding/mangler.pdf
+using arkiv: Title of the test fonds created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446
+using arkivdel: Title of the test series created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446
+
+ 0 - Title of the test case file created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446
+ 1 - Title of the test file created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446
+Select which mappe you want (or search term): 0
+Uploading mangelmelding/mangler.pdf
+  PDF title: Mangler i spesifikasjonsdokumentet for NOARK 5 Tjenestegrensesnitt
+  File 2017/1: Title of the test case file created 2017-03-18T23:49:32.103446
+~/src//noark5-tester$
+

+ +

You can see here how the fonds (arkiv) and serie (arkivdel) only had +one option, while the user need to choose which file (mappe) to use +among the two created by the API tester. The archive-pdf +tool can be found in the git repository for the API tester.

+ +

In the project, I have been mostly working on +the API +tester so far, while getting to know the code base. The API +tester currently use +the HATEOAS links +to traverse the entire exposed service API and verify that the exposed +operations and objects match the specification, as well as trying to +create objects holding metadata and uploading a simple XML file to +store. The tester has proved very useful for finding flaws in our +implementation, as well as flaws in the reference site and the +specification.

+ +

The test document I uploaded is a summary of all the specification +defects we have collected so far while implementing the web service. +There are several unclear and conflicting parts of the specification, +and we have +started +writing down the questions we get from implementing it. We use a +format inspired by how The +Austin Group collect defect reports for the POSIX standard with +their +instructions for the MANTIS defect tracker system, in lack of an official way to structure defect reports for Noark 5 (our first submitted defect report was a request for a procedure for submitting defect reports :). + +

The Nikita project is implemented using Java and Spring, and is +fairly easy to get up and running using Docker containers for those +that want to test the current code base. The API tester is +implemented in Python.

- Tags: english, frikanalen, multimedia, video. + Tags: english, nuug, offentlig innsyn, standard.

Hva gjÃ¸r 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 pÃ¥ hva som gjÃ¸r at NRK ikke har slik -avtale. For noen dager siden fikk jeg endelig gjort noe med min -undring, og sendte 2015-05-28 fÃ¸lgende epost til info (at) nrk.no med -tittel "Hva gjÃ¸r at NRK kan distribuere H.264-video uten patentavtale -med MPEG LA?":

- -

-
Jeg lurer pÃ¥ en ting rundt NRKs bruk av H.264-video pÃ¥ sine -websider samt distribusjon via RiksTV og kabel-TV. Har NRK vurdert om -det er behov for en patentavtale med -MPEG LA slik det stÃ¥r 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 Ã¥ vurdere behovet -for patentavtale?
- -
I fÃ¸lge en artikkel pÃ¥ -NRK -Beta i 2012 har NRK brukt eller testet bÃ¥de Apple Final Cut -Studio, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid og Apples Final Cut Pro X til bruk -for Ã¥ redigere video fÃ¸r sending. Alle disse har bruksvilkÃ¥r -understÃ¸ttet av opphavsretten som sier at de kun kan brukes til Ã¥ 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. bruksvilkÃ¥rene for Avid, Adobe Premiere og Apple Final -Cut Studio og sÃ¸k etter "MPEG LA".
- -
Dette fÃ¥r meg til Ã¥ lure pÃ¥ om det er brudd pÃ¥ opphavsretten Ã¥ bruke -disse verktÃ¸yene i strid med bruksvilkÃ¥rene uten patentavtale med MPEG -LA. Men NRK bruker jo tilsynelatende disse verktÃ¸yene uten patentavtale -med MPEG LA.
- -
I fÃ¸lge forfatteren av Open Broadcast Encoder finnes det to typer -H.264-relaterte avtaler en kan fÃ¥ med MPEG LA. Det er Ã©n for Ã¥ lage -programvare og utstyr som produserer H.264-video, og en annen for Ã¥ -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, sÃ¥ trenges det en egen avtale for Ã¥ kringkaste video pÃ¥ det -formatet.
- -
I fÃ¸lge Ryan Rodriguez hos MPEG LA, da jeg spurte ham pÃ¥ 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 stÃ¥r fortsatt ikke der.
- -
Jeg lurer dermed pÃ¥ hva som gjÃ¸r at NRK kan bruke de overnevnte -videoredigeringsverktÃ¸yene, som tilsynelatende har krav om avtale med -MPEG LA for Ã¥ kunne brukes slik NRK bruker dem, til Ã¥ lage videofiler -for distribusjon uten Ã¥ ha en avtale med MPEG LA om distribusjon av -H.264-video? Dette er spesielt interessant Ã¥ vite for oss andre som -ogsÃ¥ vurderer Ã¥ spre H.264-video etter Ã¥ ha redigert dem med disse mye -brukte videoredigeringsverktÃ¸yene.
-

- -

Samme dag fikk jeg automatisk svar om at min henvendelse hadde fÃ¥tt -saksid 1294699. Jeg fikk deretter fÃ¸lgende respons fra NRK -2015-06-09:

- -

-
Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid Ã¥ finne ut hvem som kunne -svare pÃ¥ dette.
- -
For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere pÃ¥ nett (f.eks -NRKs nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike -tjenester uten betaling fra forbrukere â er det heller ikke pÃ¥krevd -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 pÃ¥ det jeg lurte pÃ¥, sendte jeg samme dag -oppfÃ¸lgerepost tilbake: -

-
[Gunn Helen Berg] -
> Hei, beklager lang svartid, men det tok litt tid Ã¥ finne ut hvem som -
> kunne svare pÃ¥ dette.
- -
Takk for svar. Men det besvarte ikke helt det jeg spurte om.
- -
> For selskaper som leverer h.264 til sluttbrukere pÃ¥ nett (f.eks NRKs -
> nett- tv utgaver som bruker h.264) - og som leverer slike tjenester -
> uten betaling fra forbrukere â er det heller ikke pÃ¥krevd noen -
> patentavtale. -
> -
> http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100825006629/en/MPEG-LA%E2%80%99s-AVC-License-Charge-Royalties-Internet#.VWb2ws_774Y
- -
SpÃ¸rsmÃ¥let 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 Ã¥r fÃ¸r MPEG LA ansvarlige for -internasjonal lisensiering egen Ryan Rodriguez fortalte meg pÃ¥ epost -at NRK trenger en lisens.
- -
Det er uklart fra pressemeldingen hva "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video" konkret betyr, men i fÃ¸lge en -presentasjon -fra MPEG LA med tema "AVC PAtent Portfoli License Briefing" datert -2015-05-15 gjelder "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" kun kringkasting -pÃ¥ Internet som ikke tilbyr valg av enkeltinnslag ("not -title-by-title"), hvilket jo NRK gjÃ¸r pÃ¥ sine nettsider. I tillegg -kringkaster jo NRK H.264-video ogsÃ¥ utenom Internet (RiksTV, kabel, -satelitt), hvilket helt klart ikke er dekket av vilkÃ¥rene omtalt i -pressemeldingen.
- -
SpÃ¸rsmÃ¥let mitt er hvordan NRK kan bruke verktÃ¸y med bruksvilkÃ¥r -som krever avtale med MPEG LA for det NRK bruker dem til, nÃ¥r NRK ikke -har avtale med MPEG LA. Hvis jeg forsto spÃ¸rsmÃ¥let riktig, sÃ¥ 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 Ã¥ redigere video fÃ¸r -sending?
- -
Mine konkrete spÃ¸rsmÃ¥l var altsÃ¥:
+
Archive
+
+
2017
-
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?
+
January (4)
-
Hvis NRK ikke har vurdert dette, har NRK planer om Ã¥ vurdere behovet - for patentavtale?
+
February (3)
-
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.
+
March (5)
-
-

April (2)

Det hjelper Ã¥ ha funnet rette vedkommende i NRK, for denne gangen -fikk jeg svar tilbake dagen etter (2015-06-10), fra Geir BÃ¸rdalen i -NRK:

June (5)

-
Hei Petter Reinholdtsen
- -
Jeg har sjekket saken med distribusjonssjef for tv, Arild Hellgren -(som var teknologidirektÃ¸r da bakkenettet ble satt opp). NRK v/ -Hellgren hadde mÃ¸te med MPEG LA sammen med den europeiske -kringkastingsunionen EBU fÃ¸r bakkenettet for TV ble satt opp -(igangsatt hÃ¸sten 2007). I dette mÃ¸tet 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 Â«in fullÂ»(nor: helt) var betalt av utsendelseselskapene og -ikke av forbrukerne.
- -
http://www.nrk.no/oppdrag/digitalt-bakkenett-1.3214555
- -
Det er ogsÃ¥ klart slÃ¥tt fast at selskaper som leverer video basert -pÃ¥ MPEG4 h.264 til sluttbrukere pÃ¥ nett, heller ikke pÃ¥krevd noen -patentavtale â sÃ¥ 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 - -
âMPEG 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 âInternet Broadcast AVC Videoâ) 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 todayâs 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.â
- -
Vi har derfor ikke noe behov for Ã¥ vurdere noen patentavtale med -MPEG LA.
- -
Understreker for Ã¸vrig at NRK ikke er lÃ¥st til MPEG4 â h.264 som -utsendelsesformat â og at vi har brukt og bruker flere andre -alternativer i vÃ¥re tjenester. Ulike Â«devicerÂ» har ofte behov for -forskjellige lÃ¸sninger â og NRK har forsÃ¸kt Ã¥ levere med best mulig -kvalitet /Ã¸konomi /stabilitet avhengig av -plattform. Produksjonsformater i NRK spenner for Ã¸vrig over en rekke -forskjellige formater â hvor MPEG4 bare er en av disse. NÃ¥r NRK kjÃ¸per -teknisk utstyr er betaling for kodekstÃ¸tte ofte en del av -anskaffelsesprisen for denne maskinvaren (enten dette er spesialiserte -enkodere eller forskjellige typer produksjonsutstyr).
- -
Vennlig hilsen -
Geir BÃ¸rdalen
- -
________________________________________ -
Geir BÃ¸rdalen -
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 -

July (1)

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 pÃ¥, sÃ¥ jeg sendte epostoppfÃ¸lging samme dag.

August (1)

-
[Geir BÃ¸rdalen] -
> Hei Petter Reinholdtsen
- -
Hei, og takk for raskt svar. Er min henvendelse journalfÃ¸rt slik -at den dukker opp i NRKs postjournal?
- -
Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstÃ¥r 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 mÃ¸tet 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 forstÃ¥r. Det ene er -hvorfor NRKs forstÃ¥else av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" dekker -ser ut til Ã¥ avvike fra det som presenteres i -lysark -fra MPEG LA i mai, der MPEG LA pÃ¥ 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) â 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 vilkÃ¥rne omtalt i -pressemeldingen, mens jeg forstÃ¥r deg dithen at NRK mener NRKs -nettsider som ogsÃ¥ har enkeltfilmer og innslag (som jeg forstÃ¥r dekket -av formuleringen "title-by-title") dekkes av "Internet Broadcast AVC -Video" fra MPEG LA. Hva baserer dere denne tolkningen pÃ¥? Jeg har -ikke sett noe skriftlig fra MPEG LA som stÃ¸tter NRKs tolkning, og -lurer pÃ¥ om dere har andre kilder enn den pressemeldingen fra 5 Ã¥r -tilbake, der NRKS forstÃ¥else av hva "Internet Broadcast AVC Video" -dekker er beskrevet?
- -
Det andre er at eposten din ikke nevnte spÃ¸rsmÃ¥let mitt om -bruksvilkÃ¥rene til videoredigeringsverktÃ¸yene som NRK bruker. Disse -har som tidligere nevnt krav om at de kun skal brukes til private og -ikke-kommersielle formÃ¥l med mindre en har avtale med MPEG LA, og uten -avtale med MPEG LA kan det jo virke som om NRK bruker verktÃ¸yene i -strid med bruksvilkÃ¥rene. Hva gjÃ¸r at disse bruksvilkÃ¥rene ikke -gjelder for NRK?
-

+ -

Noen minutter senere fÃ¥r jeg forelÃ¸pig siste svar i -fÃ¸ljetongen:

2016 +

-
Hei igjen
+
January (3)
-
VÃ¥rt dokumentarkiv har fÃ¥tt en kopi (journalfÃ¸ringsnr kan jeg -dessverre ikke gi deg).
+
February (2)
-
> Svaret ditt var meget nyttig, og jeg forstÃ¥r ut fra det du -
> skriver at avklaringen med MPEG LA rundt H.264-distribusjon via -
> bakkenettet gjelder alle TV-kanaler i Norge.
+
March (3)
-
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 pÃ¥ saksnr pÃ¥ dokumenter eller ytterligere informasjon da jeg selv -ikke var del i dette.
+
April (8)
-
> Men det er et par ting jeg fortsatt ikke forstÃ¥r. ...
+
May (8)
-
Svar: Kan ikke gÃ¥ ytterligere inn i dette fra min side og mitt -fagfelt som er produksjon/publisering og systemstrukturene bak -disse. For Ã¸vrig ligger det etter vÃ¥r 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 stÃ¸tter oss til det vi allerede har -kommunisert i forrige epost.
+
June (2)
-
Mvh -
Geir BÃ¸rdalen
-

July (2)

Det syntes vanskelig Ã¥ komme videre nÃ¥r NRK ikke Ã¸nsker Ã¥ gÃ¥ inn i -problemstillingen rundt bruksvilkÃ¥rene til videoredigeringsverktÃ¸yene -NRK bruker, sÃ¥ jeg sendte takk for svarene og avsluttet utvekslingen -sÃ¥ langt:

August (5)

-
Tusen takk for rask respons, og oppklarende forklaring om hvordan -NRK tenker rundt MPEG LA.
- -
Jeg vil hÃ¸re med NRK-arkivet for Ã¥ se om de kan spore opp de -omtalte dokumentene. Jeg setter pris pÃ¥ om du kan dele titler, dato -eller annen informasjon som kan gjÃ¸re det enklere for arkivet Ã¥ finne -dem.
- -
NÃ¥r det gjelder hvordan bruksvilkÃ¥rene til -videoredigeringsverktÃ¸yene skal tolkes, sÃ¥ skal jeg hÃ¸re med MPEG LA -og produsentene av verktÃ¸yene for Ã¥ forsÃ¸ke Ã¥ fÃ¥ klarhet i hva de -mener er rikgig rettstilstand.
-

September (2)

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

- - - Tags: h264, multimedia, norsk, opphavsrett, standard, video, web. - - -

- -