Slashdot Mirror

kris writes "First Monday has an interesting article on Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Rule, presenting evidence that The Internet may not be automatic downfall of authoritan regimes as anecdotes commonly suggest. In their words: The authors trace Internet use in eight authoritarian and semi-authoritarian countries: China, Cuba, Singapore, Vietnam, Burma, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. They discover that authoritarian governments, far from fearing the information age, have chosen to direct Internet development in ways that bolster the state. At the same time, many regimes are struggling to cope with the potent challenges posed by new technologies. The authors encourage policy makers in the U.S. and other industrialized democracies to promote specific Internet-based initiatives that foster political liberalization, rather than perpetuating the myth of the Internet as an unstoppable "virus of freedom.""

calx sent us a link to this image (mirrors please!) which appears to be Microsoft's first-ever ad directly against Linux. Not bad for an operating system that Microsoft claims is nothing to worry about. The ad essentially says not to trust Linux 'cuz it could mutate (it's actually pretty cool). Here's more information at LinuxToday. [Updated 19:51 GMT by timothy:] dicast threw this mirror onto the sacrificial fire, too.

Kristian Köhntopp writes "IGEL Systems, a german maker of embedded and thin client Linux systems, is promising DM 30.000 (approx. US $20.000) for the development of a functioning X11 RDP-client, German Linux Magazin reports. The resulting program will be made available under the GNU GPL. The english translation follows." Here is the english translation of the original German text:

Augsburg based IGEL GmbH, known for the Flash-Linux Thin Client Devices, promises a reward of DM 30.000 for the development of a functional X11 RDP-Client, which can access NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition. The winning program will be made available under GPL. For interested developers joining into this effort could be interesting, but the complexity of this problem is hard to estimate because the RDP protocol is little known.

At Exponet '98 from Nov 24th to 26th in Düsseldorf you will have the chance to talk to IGEL directly about this challenge and you will have the chance to test-drive their new (linux-based) Etherterminals. Finally, IGEL is hiring - C, network and hardware knowledge required.

Kristian Köhntopp writes "The Rensselaer Drop Squad was famous for dropping things from great height for pure fun value. Seems that the russians have a similar hobby, only bigger toys: "Crashing Mir down to Earth" is the title of a CNN story describing how the russion space station is going to splash into the North Pacific (hopefully!) in December 1999. Happy New Millenium, everybody! These guys surely know how to party! " I'm excited for the day that I can watch an mpeg of this over and over again...

Kristian Köhntopp writes "News.COM reported yesterday that Charles Booher of Sync Systems was probed by the California Office of Export Enforcement because of the Browser Crypto Plugin he wrote. His plugin allegedly features triple-DES 168 bit encryption, which is restricted by the US government. The Commerce Department declined to comment on matters that may or may not be under investigation. "

Kristian Köhntopp wrote in to tell us that Salon Magazine has an article on TransMeta. Read here, about the company that employs Linus, has a web server (but no content), is funded by Paul Allen, and produces nothing that anybody can discern. Neato.

Kristian Köhntopp writes "The german publication Telepolis served a pointer to the federal trade commision of the US of A today outlining a roadmap to consumer privacy. The FTC is looking for ways to limit uncontrolled data exchange between governmetal organizations and between private organizations and companies, which are increasingly into gathering data about persons.

The FTC has to engage such a plan to comply with the new European privacy laws. These laws prohibit export of person-related data into legislations where privacy rights are less strongly enforced that in Europe. Without a proper privacy legislation, US outsourcing companies will be effectively closed out of the European market. "

I've been writing articles for Slashdot for an hour now, so forgive me for lumping these together guys- I need to do something else eventually. First, Kristian Köhntopp wrote in to tell us that Linux has claimed 2 of the top 10 books at many german book stores. Next, Alan wrote in to tell us about an InfoWorld letter praising Linux, written by the CEO of 4front. Finally This articleis from the UKs Computing Trade Magazine. Its good PR for Linux and Netscape, even if they did misspell Linus' name. Thanks to Mike Brodbelt for that one.