Skyped

The Likely Sale of Skype Will Be Another Kick in the Head to Old-Line Phone Companies Worldwide

By Robert X. Cringely

In high tech, the theory goes, advantage lies with the pioneers -- the first company to introduce a product in a new category. And that's true except when it is not, which is typically when the pioneers were too early, too expensive, or too difficult to use. In those cases, a second model generally holds, and in that one, the dominant company is a later entrant who simply does the task far better than it had been done before. For Internet searching, Google is a perfect example of this latter effect, entering the market years after Alta Vista and Excite. And the Google of VoIP looks like it might be Skype, which was almost sold last week to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. for $3 billion.

It may seem odd for me to be writing a story about a company ALMOST being sold, but there is still plenty to be learned from this story that never really happened, especially if Skype ends up being sold next week or the week after, which is a very real possibility.

Skype, for those who've never heard of or used the service, is a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) company based in Luxembourg. Remember when all the hot Internet startups were in the U.S.? No more. That started to change years ago when Mirabilis, an Israeli company, invented the ICQ messaging system, later sold to AOL.

[...]

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050728.html

My emphasis.

The suspect's constant use of cell phones betrayed his attempt to find refuge. As well as calling his brother in Rome, he talked to his father who lives in Brescia, in northern Italy.

The suspect, who speaks good Italian, told investigators that he was brought up in Italy after his family sought asylum from Somalia when he was a child. [...]

A phone centre and internet cafe run by his brother near Rome's Termini railway station is also being searched by Italian police. [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4730265.stm

My Emphasis.

Data retention is no solution!

Madrassa foreigners 'must leave'

Madrassas must not be misused for extremism, says Musharraf
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says all foreign students at madrassas, or religious schools, some 1,400 pupils, must leave the country.

"Any [foreigners] in the madrassas - even dual nationality holders - will leave Pakistan," Gen Musharraf said.

This is the latest in a series of measures the president has announced in a renewed clampdown on extremism.

Madrassas have been in the spotlight after one of the London bombers was reported to have studied at one.

Invalid

Gen Musharraf told foreign journalists in Islamabad: "They must leave. We will not issue visas to such people.

"We will not allow madrassas to be misused for extremism, hatred being projected in our society."

He also told journalists that action would be taken against any of the madrassas that did not register with the authorities.

Pakistani forces have detained hundreds of clerics and suspected militants since President Musharraf announced a new crackdown on 15 July.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4728643.stm

Mr Haw has been protesting outside Parliament since 2001

A man who has held a four-year anti-war protest outside Parliament, has won a legal battle to continue his vigil.

From 1 August all protests in a half-mile zone in Westminster, London, must have prior permission from police.

But the High Court has ruled Brian Haw, 56, from Worcestershire, who claimed he was exempt as his protest pre-dated the new laws, can continue his protest.

The government said Mr Haw posed a potential security risk and described his argument as "absurd".

The BBC News website traces his final journey.

[...]

Scotland Yard are not commenting on details of the shooting because it is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. But earlier they said Mr Menezes was wearing a padded jacket which heightened their suspicions.

They said they pursued him into the station after he began running, and shot him after he failed to obey their orders to stop and tried to board a Tube train.

1: Jean Charles de Menezes enters Stockwell station 2: Witnesses say he vaults the automatic ticket barriers and heads for the platforms 3: He runs down an escalator after being approached by up to 20 plain-clothed police officers and tries to board a train 4: He apparently refuses to obey police instructions and after running onto a northbound Northern line train, he is shot dead

And so truth is forged.

Police were tonight questioning one of the four main suspects in the failed bomb attacks in London on July 21, security sources said.

Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, a Somali connected to the attempted suicide bombing at Warren Street tube station, was arrested when anti-terrorist officers swooped on a home in the Hay Mills area of Birmingham at 4.30am, Guardian Unlimited understands.

He was felled with a Taser stun gun, which fires an electric charge, after a scuffle with police officers who raided a house in Heybarnes Road.

[...]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536957,00.html

What Is the Plan If There's Another 9/11?

LENNY BRUCE

A CHILD BEFORE HIS TIME


"In freedom of speech,
the accent is on freedom,
not on speech"

Hidden in public, A Secret Service offers a valuable service to computer users dealing with the problem of password management; and you reading this are very likely to be one of them.

When you memorize your passwords you're going to forget them at some point: when you write them on a piece of paper you're either going to lose it or someone else will see it, so this is UNSAFE. When you store the in an encrypted file on your computer it is not only unsafe but also you still need another password to open this file, which not only principally FEELS BAD but is philosophically still NOT A SOLUTION.

A Secret Service invites you to submit your passwords and a timestamp for storage on the Secret Service website, asecretservice.org . It is then translated (text-to-speech), automated and broadcasted via webradio and live at Mediamatic Groundfloor every hour on the time of your choice. Because nobody can know that this is your password or what the purpose is, this seemingly paradoxical way of storing something very secret and intimate in public space can be considered completely safe.

To guarantee the absolute safety of your information, Mediamatic has taken advanced security measures to protect the server on which your passwords will be saved. You are invited to place your most sensitive information in our care ( asecretservice.org ) and take a look at Mediamatic's exhibition space where the safety of these measures are on display. [...]