France puts its foot down on English tech-speak, banning the use of the word “e-mail” in all official correspondence in favor of a more homegrown term. [CNET News.com]
Just ridiculous…but what do you expect from France.
a multi-tasked stream of consciousness or perhaps just emails to myself
France puts its foot down on English tech-speak, banning the use of the word “e-mail” in all official correspondence in favor of a more homegrown term. [CNET News.com]
Just ridiculous…but what do you expect from France.
The Department of Homeland Security has awarded a five-year, $90 million agreement to Microsoft to become the department’s primary technology provider. Under the contract announced Tuesday, Microsoft will supply desktop and server software to the newly created department, which has merged parts of 22 government agencies into one entity.
The agreement delivers licensing coverage for about 140,000 desktops and will help the department to establish a common computing environment, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Marketing was selected as the reseller, to provide the day-to-day management of the agreement, the department said. [CNET News.com]
I guess this is because Microsoft has a proven track record with reliability, security and limited exposure to viruses… I hope they use Passport as well to make things even easier for hackers to attack.
An appeals court decides small-time online publishers can’t be held responsible for libel if they just republish information. The ruling is a victory for free speech advocates and bloggers. By Xeni Jardin. [Wired News]
Lawmakers question ICANN decision to give secondary market for .com and .net names exclusively to VeriSign. [internetnews.com]
Rival domain registrars across the country have expressed concern over the ICANN effort to implement an exclusive Wait List Service (WLS) to be maintained by VeriSign for customers interested in registering domain names that are in use by others. Currently, customers may purchase expired domain names through a number of registrar firms.
If the WLS becomes reality, VeriSign’s competitors will be eliminated from the secondary market for .com and .net domain names.
CNET News.com’s Declan McCullagh explains why a pending FCC proposal will substantially jack up monthly rates for owners of cable modems. [CNET News.com]
What a mess…
The idea is a simple one: Fifty years after a work has been published, the copyright owner must pay a $1 maintanence fee. If the copyright owner pays the fee, then the copyright continues. If the owner fails to pay the fee, the work passes into the public domain. Based on historical precedent, we expect 98% of copyrighted works would pass into the public domain after just 50 years. They could keep Mickey for as long as Congress lets them. But we would get a public domain.
[Lessig]
TOM FRIEDMAN IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT: India should replace France on the Security Council: Why replace France with India? Because India… [Instapundit.com]
Newsweek: “Larry Lessig admits it: he’s nervous.”
30/09/2002 – 07:51:34 Rudolph Giuliani asked US President George Bush three days after the September 11 attacks whether he could personally execute Osama bin Laden if US forces caught him. Pic: AP
Rudolph Giuliani asked US President George Bush three days after the September 11 attacks whether he could personally execute Osama bin Laden if US forces caught him. The revelations by the former New York mayor come in a new book, Leadership, which goes on sale in the US tomorrow. ãI am sure he thought I was just speaking rhetorically,ä Giuliani wrote of the presidentâs reaction. ãBut I was serious. Bin Laden had attacked my city, and as its mayor I had the strong feeling that I was the most appropriate person to do it.ä Giuliani also writes about the fire-fighters who died in the collapse of the World Trade Centreâs twin towers. Many were killed because they ignored orders to evacuate, not because of lapses in training or communications, he said. ãThey were not going to abandon ship,ä the former mayor said. © Thomas Crosbie Media, 2002. I caught this on Google News this morning and thought the whole thing was worthy of reprinting.Oct. 9, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case being led by Digital Rights legal activist Lawrence Lessig
A Case to Define the Digital Age. A Supreme Court challenge to a 20-year extension on copyright protection could decide much of what Web surfers get to read and share [Business Week: Daily Briefing]