Charles Kern came to speak about Stanford CourseWork last week. Presentation slides are now online [not permalink, may eventually break]. Was a well put together slideshow, and the QA was useful. CourseWork isn’t OKI compliant and is of limited use moving forward, but it’s interesting seeing how they approached solving some of the problems. Future products look interesting.

• D-Lib Magazine: MIT DSpace: An Open Source Dynamic Digital Repository
• OKI: Open Knowledge Initiative – latest specs published soon
• cetis: the centre for educational technology interoperability standards (British)
• Peter on eLearning – a good edublog
• Geometry.Net: Science: Knowledge Management

“Technorati” Sifry launches first Sputnik AP. What’s special about them? Oh, autoconfig w/ dynamic firewalling, SSL based user auth, usage tracking, and policy routing via central control, all based on open tech and way cheaper than other enterprise offerings. Good deal.

I think I’ve managed to kick the warblog habit. Am going to try to limit most future links specifically to civil rights issues. Of course, all the regular sources are still still more or less on my reading list:

• Daily Kos
• The Agonist
• Warblogs:cc
• Warblogging.com
• Reuters (Trust Principles)
• Google News: World
• Iraq-O-Meter
• Politech
• AlterNet
• FAIR
• Talking Points Memo
• Stand Down
• rc3.org
• Counterspin Central
• TBOGG
• The Scrum
• Hullabaloo
• IMC
• Cursor.org
• This Modern World
• Common Dreams

Hopefully to finish this week: better blogrolling.

UPX: the Ultimate Packer for eXecutables – good if you’re running on a quota or limited portable drive space

Mentioned earlier, but now not showing up in the Time archives, well, another one for the memory hole. Why We Didn’t Remove Saddam, By George Bush [Sr.] and Brent Scowcroft. (microfilm scan)

jko reviews Elements of User Experience. My co-worker just got her copy from the adaptive path workshop she took last year, so it’ll be on my to-read list soon. Looking forward to it.

Linksys Gigabit 8-Port Workgroup Switch for $160? Granted, it’s Linksys, but that seems really cheap. Wait… D-Link has a 9 port switch for $130. Wow, networking hardware sure has gotten cheap.

Shamelessy ripped off (and better integrated with the original quote) [more]. New DRM sales pitch:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety … should look into Microsoft Palladium™!

Related: Cryptographers sound warnings on Microsoft security plan

Declan McCullagh on Hawash case: Guilty until proven innocent

“It’s remarkable–none of us has ever seen anything like this,” says Dave Fidanque, director of the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is unprecedented. We have no idea what kind of evidence they might have…Our Constitution was designed to prevent secret court procedures. Our Constitution was intended to guarantee every individual the right to due process. Since Sept. 11, Attorney General Ashcroft and the Justice Department have taken the position that they’re entitled only to the rights that John Ashcroft thinks they’re entitled to.”

Recent headlines:

• EPIC establishes Privacy Threat Index: [note to self: contribute this year]



• Super-DMCA Outlaws Ph.D. Thesis (all honeyd info has been moved to a server in the Netherlands). related: EFF opposes Digital Lockdown (“super-DMCA“), EFF analysis of Super-DMCA. From Poulsen’s SecurityFocus article:

A University of Michigan graduate student noted for his research into steganography and honeypots — techniques for concealing messages and detecting hackers, respectively — says he’s been forced to move his research papers and software offshore and prohibit U.S. residents from accessing it, in response to a controversial new state law that makes it a felony to possess software capable of concealing the existence or source of any electronic communication.

• Computer seizures of riot footage at MSU

“That’s personal property,” he said. “If police would have taken the footage then it would be valid. If they’re taking them from students then it’s out of control.”

• Testing Microsoft and the DMCA – MIT grad students dropped by Wiley subsid Hungry Minds, then dropped by shopping cart company after self publishing. Related: see iSONEWS (US vs Rocci)
• AT&T Blackboard Campus ID system secured via Cease & Desist – I remember seeing the original articles in the 2600 last year. USC uses this ID system.