Nine found open wireless group for shared Wi-Fi resources

Why we need an open wireless movement (Photo credit: opensourceway)

New project promotes shared open Wi-Fi with tips and how-to’s

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /San Francisco/ +++ A new open wireless group has been formed that will open up the airwaves to shared Wi-Fi resources.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and a coalition of nine groups has launched the ‘Open Wireless Movement’, a new project to promote a landscape of shared, wireless Internet.

Renewal of smartphone jailbreaking and video remixing rights

Jailbreaking now ok for ‘smart’ phones

Copyright Office Announces Exemptions to Mitigate DMCA Harms

San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation has won renewal of critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in a new ruling, including the upholding of jailbreaking rights for smartphones – and new and expanded legal protections for video remixing.

FSF crashes Windows 8 launch with free software campaign

Activists trick-or-treat for free software at Windows 8 launch event

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /New York/ +++ Visitors to the primary Windows 8 launch event were greeted by an unexpected and uninvited visitor – a gnu.

Activists, one dressed as the free software movement’s buffalo-like mascot, converged on Microsoft’s event to distribute pamphlets about the hidden dangers of Microsoft’s latest proprietary creation. The Halloween-themed action included plastic pumpkin buckets full of DVDs loaded with Trisquel, a free software distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system.

Oil giant demands disclosure of private emails

Chevron Corporation headquarters in San Ramon, California. (Photo: Wikipedia)

EFF and ERI fight to quash ‘speech-chilling’ subpoenas from Chevron

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and EarthRights International (ERI) have requested judges in California and New York to quash subpoenas issued by Chevron Corporation to three email providers demanding identifying information about the users of more than 100 email accounts.

Britain suffering from inflated data centre pricing – report

Racks of Servers (Photo credit: beezly)

Pricing remains one of highest in Europe, increase in new raised floor space outside the London area will constrain growth in future pricing

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ A new report published by Tariff Consultancy Ltd (TCL) ‘Data Centre Pricing UK 2012’ reveals that the British data centre market is set to rise by 35 percent to 767,000 square metres of raised floor space by the end of 2017, whilst at the same time, seeing average rack space pricing remaining high at above £800 per month.

According to the report, the main reason for the increase in data centre development is the growth in new campus-based data centres outside London, which will also act as a brake on forecast future average rack space price increases.

Encrypted web moves step closer with HTTPS Everywhere 3.0

The Electronic Frontier Foundation backing HTTPS Everywhere 3.0 web site encryption

EFF partners boost HTTPS Everywhere 3.0, now protecting 1,500 more sites

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation has stated its long-term mission to ‘encrypt as much of the Web as possible’.

The Foudantion said it now hopes to encrypt all of it.

According to the EFF, HTTPS Everywhere, the browser extension it produces with the ‘Tor’ Project and a community of volunteers, is now used by more than 2.5 million people around the world, the EFF said.

Flickr Killer? FSF backs MediaGoblin for free media sharing platform

FSF backing MediaGoblin and StatusNet

FSF rallies support for GNU MediaGoblin to make media publishing free “as in freedom”

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ The Free Software Foundation is backing the GNU MediaGoblin project’s fundraiser at http://mediagoblin.org/pages/campaign.html – a community-developed free – as in freedom – software that enables users to share their experiences through photos, videos, and audio in a decentralised way.

MediaGoblin ‘sidesteps’ current media-publishing gatekeepers, FSF said.

Massive 65% rise in data centre power consumption – survey

Power requirements surging across globalised data centres – survey

Exponential gigawatts more energy being siphoned into globalised corporate data centres

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ In a sharp rise in expected power consumption by data centres used for cloud computing as a result of globalisation of the IT and corporatist sectors, research firm DCD Intelligence has just taken the wrsps off stark findings from its DatacenterDynamics 2012 Global Census report.

Chaos abounds as BYOD costs prompt confusion

Cost confusion and chaos in BYOD (Photo: s_falkow)

Fiercely divided opinion on BYOD despite ‘hype’

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ A new survey has revealed that fears are rising around the hidden costs of BYOD deployment – as well as ‘class divides’ and evidence that company managers are using BYOD to ‘pacify’  staff.

Moreover, some IT managers are even asking ‘is it worth surrendering control just to raise staff morale?’

Opinion is still divided when it comes to implementing ‘Bring Your Own Device’ strategies within businesses, with many at the top suggesting that such deployments create more problems than they solve.

Hearing to probe cellular data legal status

A cell phone tower in Palatine, Illinois, USA.

Foundation fights for cellular phone users’ privacy in Tuesday hearing

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation will urge a federal appeals court on Tuesday to recognize cellular phone users’ privacy rights and require that the government obtain a warrant before collecting cell phone location information.

According to the Foundation, the oral argument is set for 9 a.m. on October 2nd in New Orleans.

At issue in Tuesday’s hearing are government requests for judicial orders authorizing the disclosure of 60 days of location data from two separate cell phone companies as part of a routine law enforcement investigation.