X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/ebfb53b51b789a038b3157fc273aaf96559b76c4..96afec717704e5954a09298d6eb04446986cccc4:/blog/index.html diff --git a/blog/index.html b/blog/index.html index 5b9b339c45..97ce303eb2 100644 --- a/blog/index.html +++ b/blog/index.html @@ -20,61 +20,30 @@
-
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 finger -print 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 now 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".

+
The Story of Aron 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. Aron 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: english, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: english, opphavsrett.
@@ -82,62 +51,68 @@ extradition is not considered disproportionate".

-
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?

+
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.
@@ -145,194 +120,32 @@ 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 Debian Edu / Skolelinux project is pleased to announce the first
-*beta* release of Debian Edu "Jessie" 8.0+edu0~b1, which for the first
-time is composed entirely of packages from the current Debian stable
-release, Debian 8 "Jessie".
-
-(As most reading this will know, Debian "Jessie" hasn't actually been
-released by now. The release is still in progress but should finish
-later today ;)
-
-We expect to make a final release of Debian Edu "Jessie" in the coming
-weeks, timed with the first point release of Debian Jessie. Upgrades
-from this beta release of Debian Edu Jessie to the final release will
-be possible and encouraged!
-
-Please report feedback to debian-edu@lists.debian.org and/or submit
-bugs: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/HowTo/ReportBugs
-
-Debian Edu - sometimes also known as "Skolelinux" - is a complete
-operating system for schools, universities and other
-organisations. Through its pre- prepared installation profiles
-administrators can install servers, workstations and laptops which
-will work in harmony on the school network.  With Debian Edu, the
-teachers themselves or their technical support staff can roll out a
-complete multi-user, multi-machine study environment within hours or
-days.
-
-Debian Edu is already in use at several hundred schools all over the
-world, particularly in Germany, Spain and Norway. Installations come
-with hundreds of applications pre-installed, plus the whole Debian
-archive of thousands of compatible packages within easy reach.
-
-For those who want to give Debian Edu Jessie a try, download and
-installation instructions are available, including detailed
-instructions in the manual explaining the first steps, such as setting
-up a network or adding users.  Please note that the password for the
-user your prompted for during installation must have a length of at
-least 5 characters!
-
-== Where to download ==
-
-A multi-architecture CD / usbstick image (649 MiB) for network booting
-can be downloaded at the following locations:
-
-    http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso
-    rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-CD.iso . 
-
-The SHA1SUM of this image is: 54a524d16246cddd8d2cfd6ea52f2dd78c47ee0a
-
-Alternatively an extended DVD / usbstick image (4.9 GiB) is also
-available, with more software included (saving additional download
-time):
-
-    http://ftp.skolelinux.org/skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso
-    rsync -avzP ftp.skolelinux.org::skolelinux-cd/debian-edu-8.0+edu0~b1-USB.iso 
-
-The SHA1SUM of this image is: fb1f1504a490c077a48653898f9d6a461cb3c636
-
-Sources are available from the Debian archive, see
-http://ftp.debian.org/debian-cd/8.0.0/source/ for some download
-options.
-
-== Debian Edu Jessie manual in seven languages ==
-
-Please see https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Documentation/Jessie/ for
-the English version of the Debian Edu jessie manual.
-
-This manual has been fully translated to German, French, Italian,
-Danish, Dutch and Norwegian Bokmål. A partly translated version exists
-for Spanish.  See http://maintainer.skolelinux.org/debian-edu-doc/ for
-online version of the translated manual.
-
-More information about Debian 8 "Jessie" itself is provided in the
-release notes and the installation manual:
-- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/releasenotes
-- http://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/installmanual
-
-
-== Errata / known problems ==
-
-    It takes up to 15 minutes for a changed hostname to be updated via
-    DHCP (#780461).
-
-    The hostname script fails to update LTSP server hostname (#783087). 
-
-Workaround: run update-hostname-from-ip on the client to update the
-hostname immediately.
-
-Check https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/Status/Jessie for a possibly
-more current and complete list.
-
-== Some more details about Debian Edu 8.0+edu0~b1 Codename Jessie released 2015-04-25 ==
-
-=== Software updates ===
-
-Everything which is new in Debian 8 Jessie, e.g.:
-
- * Linux kernel 3.16.7-ctk9; for the i386 architecture, support for
-   i486 processors has been dropped; oldest supported ones: i586 (like
-   Intel Pentium and AMD K5).
-
- * Desktop environments KDE Plasma Workspaces 4.11.13, GNOME 3.14,
-   Xfce 4.12, LXDE 0.5.6
-   * new optional desktop environment: MATE 1.8
-   * KDE Plasma Workspaces is installed by default; to choose one of
-     the others see the manual.
- * the browsers Iceweasel 31 ESR and Chromium 41
- * LibreOffice 4.3.3
- * GOsa 2.7.4
- * LTSP 5.5.4
- * CUPS print system 1.7.5
- * new boot framework: systemd
- * Educational toolbox GCompris 14.12
- * Music creator Rosegarden 14.02
- * Image editor Gimp 2.8.14
- * Virtual stargazer Stellarium 0.13.1
- * golearn 0.9
- * tuxpaint 0.9.22
- * New version of debian-installer from Debian Jessie.
- * Debian Jessie includes about 43000 packages available for installation.
- * More information about Debian 8 Jessie is provided in its release
-   notes and the installation manual, see the link above.
-
-=== Installation changes ===
-
-    Installations done via PXE now also install firmware automatically
-    for the hardware present.
-
-=== Fixed bugs ===
-
-A number of bugs have been fixed in this release; the most noticeable
-from a user perspective:
-
- * Inserting incorrect DNS information in Gosa will no longer break
-   DNS completely, but instead stop DNS updates until the incorrect
-   information is corrected (710362)
-
- * shutdown-at-night now shuts the system down if gdm3 is used (775608). 
-
-=== Sugar desktop removed ===
-
-As the Sugar desktop was removed from Debian Jessie, it is also not
-available in Debian Edu jessie.
-
-
-== About Debian Edu / Skolelinux ==
-
-Debian Edu, also known as Skolelinux, is a Linux distribution based on
-Debian providing an out-of-the box environment of a completely
-configured school network. Directly after installation a school server
-running all services needed for a school network is set up just
-waiting for users and machines being added via GOsa², a comfortable
-Web-UI. A netbooting environment is prepared using PXE, so after
-initial installation of the main server from CD or USB stick all other
-machines can be installed via the network. The provided school server
-provides LDAP database and Kerberos authentication service,
-centralized home directories, DHCP server, web proxy and many other
-services.  The desktop contains more than 60 educational software
-packages and more are available from the Debian archive, and schools
-can choose between KDE, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce and MATE desktop
-environment.
-
-== About Debian ==
-
-The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly
-free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of
-the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of
-volunteers from all over the world work together to create and
-maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and supporting a
-huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the universal
-operating system.
-
-== Thanks ==
-
-Thanks to everyone making Debian and Debian Edu / Skolelinux happen!
-You rock.
-
+
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: debian edu, english. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -340,193 +153,144 @@ 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. - -
+
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:

+ +
+#!/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"
+}
+
+cd /sys/class/power_supply
+
+for bat in BAT*; do
+    (cd $bat && log_battery >> "$logfile")
+done
+
+ +

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.

+ +

The collected log file look like this:

+ +
+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, intervju. + Tags: debian, english.
@@ -534,33 +298,56 @@ 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.

+
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: english, fiksgatami, nuug, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -568,25 +355,32 @@ 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 -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 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.

@@ -599,61 +393,68 @@ you find any.

-
Frikanalen, Norwegian TV channel for technical topics
-
9th March 2015
-

The Norwegian Unix User Group, -where I am a member, and where people interested in free software, -open standards and UNIX like operating systems like Linux and the BSDs -come together, record our monthly technical presentations on video. -The purpose is to document the talks and spread them to a wider -audience. For this, the the Norwegian nationwide open channel -Frikanalen is a useful venue. -Since a few days ago, when I figured out the -REST API to program the -channel time schedule, -the channel has been filled with NUUG talks, related recordings and -some Creative Commons licensed TED talks (from archive.org). I fill -all "leftover bits" on the channel with content from NUUG, which at -the moment is almost 17 of 24 hours every day.

- -

The list of NUUG videos -uploaded so far -include things like a -one hour talk by John -Perry Barlow when he visited Oslo, a presentation of -Haiku, the BeOS -re-implementation, the -history of FiksGataMi, -the Norwegian version of FixMyStreet, the good old -Warriors of the net -video and many others.

- -

We have a large backlog of NUUG talks not yet uploaded to -Frikanalen, and plan to upload every useful bit to the channel to -spread the word there. I also hope to find useful recordings from the -Chaos Computer Club and Debian conferences and spread them on the -channel as well. But this require locating the videos and their meta -information (title, description, license, etc), and preparing the -recordings for broadcast, and I have not yet had the spare time to -focus on this. Perhaps you want to help. Please join us on IRC, -#nuug on irc.freenode.net -if you want to help make this happen.

- -

But as I said, already the channel is already almost exclusively -filled with technical topics, and if you want to learn something new -today, check out the Ogg Theora -web stream or use one of the other ways to get access to the -channel. Unfortunately the Ogg Theora recoding for distribution still -do not properly sync the video and sound. It is generated by recoding -a internal MPEG transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to -Ogg Theora / Vorbis, and we have not been able to find a way that -produces acceptable quality. Help needed, please get in touch if you -know how to fix it using free software.

+
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 +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.

- Tags: english, frikanalen, nuug, video. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -661,36 +462,63 @@ know how to fix it using free software.

-
The Citizenfour documentary on the Snowden confirmations to Norway
-
28th February 2015
-

Today I was happy to learn that the documentary -Citizenfour by -Laura Poitras -finally will show up in Norway. According to the magazine -Montages, a deal has finally been -made for -Cinema -distribution in Norway and the movie will have its premiere soon. -This is great news. As part of my involvement with -the Norwegian Unix User Group, me and -a friend have -tried -to get the movie to Norway ourselves, but obviously -we -were too late and Tor Fosse beat us to it. I am happy he did, as -the movie will make its way to the public and we do not have to make -it happen ourselves. -The trailer -can be seen on youtube, if you are curious what kind of film this -is.

- -

The whistle blower Edward Snowden really deserve political asylum -here in Norway, but I am afraid he would not be safe.

+
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.

- Tags: english, nuug, personvern, surveillance. + Tags: docbook, english, freeculture.
@@ -698,59 +526,38 @@ here in Norway, but I am afraid he would not be safe.

-
The Norwegian open channel Frikanalen - 24x7 on the Internet
-
25th February 2015
-

The Norwegian nationwide open channel -Frikanalen is still going -strong. It allow everyone to send the video they want on national -television. It is a TV station administrated completely using a web -browser, running only Free -Software, providing a REST -api for administrators and members, and with distribution on the -national DVB-T distribution network RiksTV. But only between 12:00 -and 17:30 Norwegian time. This has finally changed, after many years -with limited distribution. A few weeks ago, we set up a Ogg Theora -stream via icecast to allow everyone with Internet access to check out -the channel the rest of the day. This is presented on -the Frikanalen web site now. And -since a few days ago, the channel is also available -via multicast on -UNINETT, available for those using IPTV TVs and set-top boxes in -the Norwegian National Research and Education network.

- -

If you want to see what is on the channel, point your media player -to one of these sources. The first should work with most players and -browsers, while as far as I know, the multicast UDP stream only work -with VLC.

- - - -

The Ogg Theora / icecast stream is not working well, as the video -and audio is slightly out of sync. We have not been able to figure -out how to fix it. It is generated by recoding a internal MPEG -transport stream with MPEG4 coded video (ie H.264) to Ogg Theora / -Vorbis, and the result is less then stellar. If you have ideas how to -fix it, please let us know on frikanalen (at) nuug.no. We currently -use this with ffmpeg2theora 0.29:

- -
-./ffmpeg2theora.linux <OBE_gemini_URL.ts> -F 25 -x 720 -y 405 \
- --deinterlace --inputfps 25 -c 1 -H 48000 --keyint 8 --buf-delay 100 \
- --nosync -V 700 -o - | oggfwd video.nuug.no 8000 <pw> /frikanalen.ogv
-
- -

If you get the multicast UDP stream working, please let me know, as -I am curious how far the multicast stream reach. It do not make it to -my home network, nor any other commercially available network in -Norway that I am aware of.

+
Mimes brønn, norsk utgave av Alaveteli / WhatDoTheyKnow, endelig lansert
+
9th July 2015
+

I går fikk vi endelig lansert en norsk version av mySocietys +WhatDoTheyKnow. +Tjenesten heter Mimes brønn, og ble +annonsert +av NUUG via blogg, epost og twitter til NUUG-assosierte personer. +Det har tatt noen år, men de siste dagene fikk vi endelig tid til å få +på plass de siste bitene. Vi er to, Gorm og meg selv, som har vært +primus motor for det hele, men vi har fått hjelp med oversettelser og +oppsett fra mange flere. Jeg vil si tusen takk til hver og en av dem, +og er veldig fornøyd med at vi klarte å få tjenesten opp å kjøre før +ferietiden slo inn for fullt.

+ +

Vi er usikker på hvor mye belastning den virtuelle maskinen der +tjenesten kjører klarer, så vi har lansert litt i det stille og ikke +til for mange folk for å se hvordan maskinen klarer seg over sommeren, +før vi går mer aktivt ut og annonserer til høsten. Ta en titt, og se +om du kanskje har et spørsmål til det offentlige som er egnet å sende +inn via Mimes brønn.

+ +

Hvis du lurer på hva i alle dager en slik tjenestes kan brukes til, +anbefaler jeg deg å se +TED-foredraget til +Heather Brook om hvordan hun brukte WhatDoTheyKnow til å lære +hvordan offentlige midler ble misbrukt. Det er en inspirerende +historie.

- Tags: english, frikanalen, nuug, video. + Tags: norsk, nuug, offentlig innsyn.
@@ -758,118 +565,268 @@ Norway that I am aware of.

-
En enklere Osloskolehverdag med automatisk sjekk av Fronter
-
12th February 2015
-

En stund nå har jeg vært nødt til å forholde meg til -Fronter, en nettløsning -Osloskolen bruker for kontakt mellom hjem og skole. Løsningen -imponerer ikke, og det er lagt opp til at vi foreldre skal logge inn -regelmessig for å se om noe har endret seg. Idéen om å la folk stikke -innom nettsider for å se om det har skjedd endringer er så idiotisk at -jeg har lett etter et alternativ. Fronterløsningen har en innebygget -løsning der en kan abonnere på forsiden (som viser en oppsummering av -det en har tilgang til), og få tilsendt en kopi hver natt, men det -fjerner jo bare behovet for å stikke innom, ikke den idiotiske ideen -om at folk skal huske hvordan nettsiden så ut sist og oppdage hva som -er endret.

- -

For å gjøre livet enklere har jeg derfor brukt litt tid på å lage -et program som kobler seg opp og sjekker etter endringer automatisk, -slik at jeg kan få beskjed fra datamaskinen når noe endrer seg i -stedet for å forsøke å finne ut av det selv. I går ble scriptet -brukbart, og jeg er dermed klar til å dele det med deg.

- -

Jeg startet med å skrive programmet i Python, og hadde en versjon -som logget inn og hentet ned enkeltsider fra Fronter. Men -Fronter-websidene suger golfballer gjennom en hageslange, med -uleselig HTML, flere nivåer av iframes og en struktur på innholdet som -er svært vanskelig å finne ut av, så jeg ga til slutt opp lxml-parsing -med Python og forsøkte meg med WWW::Mechanize for Perl som jeg kjente -fra før. I ettertid har jeg oppdaget at WWW:Mechanize også finnes for -Python, så jeg kunne antagelig droppet språkbyttet. Men da jeg -oppdaget det hadde jeg kommet så langt med Perl-utgaven, så jeg hoppet -ikke tilbake.

- -

For å logge inn i Fronter besøker en enten skolens websider eller -den sentrale innloggingsiden https://fronter.com/osloskoler/. -Perl-koden for å logge inn ser slik ut:

+
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:

-
-my $mech = WWW::Mechanize->new();
-$mech->get('https://fronter.com/osloskoler/');
-$mech->submit_form(fields => {
-    username => $username,
-    password => $password,
-} );
-
- -

Neste steg er å få oversikt over hvilke «rom» en har tilgang til. -På vår skole er det rom for skolen, biblioteket, elevrådet, -aktivitetsskolen og klasser der en har unger, og dette vil være -forskjellig fra person til person. Etter å ha romstert rundt i -Fronter-grensesnittet endel kom jeg over en grei HTML-side med -oversikt over rommene, -https://fronter.com/osloskoler/adm/projects.phtml?mode=displayRoomchooser, -så jeg bruker denne til å hente ut romoversikt med rom-ID.

- -
-my %room;
-$mech->get('https://fronter.com/osloskoler/adm/projects.phtml?mode=displayRoomchooser');
-for my $link ($mech->links()) {
-    my $url = $link->url();
-    if ($url =~ m%/links/list_files.phtml\?edit=(\d+)$%) {
-        $room{$link->text()} = $1;
-    }
-}
-
- -

Når en har rom-ID kan en slå opp websiden for rommet, som starter -på -https://fronter.com/osloskoler/contentframeset.phtml?goto_prjid=$ROMID -(der $ROMID byttes ut med rom-ID-tallet). Det gir en side med -iframes, og en må tre nivåer ned i iframes før en får tak i -HTML-informasjonen som vises frem når en ser på det aktuelle rommet. -Her ga jeg opp den robuste parsingen og hardkodet endel URL-er som i -stedet bør spores opp maskinelt. HTML-informasjonen som vises lagres -i en fil etter at økt- og innloggings-nøkkel er fjernet og deretter -bruker jeg lynx --dump --nolist for å hente ut en tekstlig -utgave av websiden. Denne tekstlige utgaven sammenlignes med forrige -versjon og oversikt over endringer kan så sendes ut på egnet vis.

- -

Jeg valgte å bruke git til å holde rede på endringer, så jeg -sjekker inn HTML og tekst-utgaver i git og bruker git til å vise frem -endringene i tekstutgavene. Programvaren for å gjøre dette er testet -på Debian GNU/Linux og kan -lastes -ned fra github.

- -

For å bruke dette selv, kjør følgende kommandoer på din -Debian-maskin (forutsetter sudo-tilgang for installasjon av -programvare):

- -
-sudo apt-get install git lynx-cur libio-prompter-perl libwww-mechanize-perl \
-      libconfig-inifiles-perl
-git clone https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/fronter-scraper-oslo
-cd fronter-scraper-oslo
-./update-git
-
+
    +
  • Where End User pays for AVC Video +
      +
    • Subscription (not limited by title) – 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) + – no royalty for life of the AVC Patent Portfolio License
      • +
    • +
-

Det gjenstår endel, men systemet er allerede nyttig for meg. Jeg -ønsker at systemet også skal laste ned PDF-er og slikt som er lagt ut -for nedlasting på sidene, slik at f.eks. ukeplaner kommer inn i -git-arkivet mitt automatisk og jeg får automatisk beskjed når ny -ukeplan er lagt ut. Kanskje du kan bidra med å få det på plass, eller -kanskje du har andre ting du vil fikse? Jeg tar gjerne imot endringer -og forbedringer. Det er mye som kan gjøres bedre, og scriptet er ikke -veldig robust mot endringer hos nettsidene til Fronter. Jeg regner -dermed med at det vil trengs oppdateringer jevnlig etter hvert som -Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

+

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: + +

+ 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. +

+ +

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?

- Tags: norsk, web. + Tags: english, h264, multimedia, opphavsrett, standard, video, web.
@@ -895,7 +852,17 @@ Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

  • April (4)
    • -
  • May (2)
    • +
  • May (3)
    • + +
  • June (4)
    • + +
  • July (6)
    • + +
  • August (2)
    • + +
  • September (2)
    • + +
  • October (3)
    • @@ -1105,7 +1072,7 @@ Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

  • chrpath (2)
    • -
  • debian (109)
    • +
  • debian (112)
  • debian edu (153)
    • @@ -1113,21 +1080,23 @@ Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

  • dld (15)
    • -
  • docbook (13)
    • +
  • docbook (18)
  • drivstoffpriser (4)
    • -
  • english (277)
    • +
  • english (290)
  • fiksgatami (23)
  • fildeling (12)
    • -
  • freeculture (15)
    • +
  • freeculture (20)
  • freedombox (9)
    • -
  • frikanalen (14)
    • +
  • frikanalen (16)
    • + +
  • h264 (20)
  • intervju (42)
    • @@ -1145,19 +1114,19 @@ Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

  • mesh network (8)
    • -
  • multimedia (32)
    • +
  • multimedia (36)
    • -
  • norsk (260)
    • +
  • norsk (265)
    • -
  • nuug (176)
    • +
  • nuug (177)
    • -
  • offentlig innsyn (16)
    • +
  • offentlig innsyn (20)
  • open311 (2)
    • -
  • opphavsrett (51)
    • +
  • opphavsrett (54)
    • -
  • personvern (85)
    • +
  • personvern (87)
  • raid (1)
    • @@ -1175,19 +1144,19 @@ Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

  • scraperwiki (2)
    • -
  • sikkerhet (41)
    • +
  • sikkerhet (42)
  • sitesummary (4)
  • skepsis (4)
    • -
  • standard (46)
    • +
  • standard (48)
  • stavekontroll (3)
    • -
  • stortinget (9)
    • +
  • stortinget (10)
    • -
  • surveillance (32)
    • +
  • surveillance (34)
  • sysadmin (2)
    • @@ -1195,11 +1164,11 @@ Fronter-løsningen endrer seg.

  • valg (8)
    • -
  • video (50)
    • +
  • video (54)
  • vitenskap (4)
    • -
  • web (35)
    • +
  • web (37)