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.

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.

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.

Canon to acquire Belgian document imaging firm

Canon blasts into Europe

Japanese vendor Canon plans to acquire I.R.I.S. Group SA to accelerate solutions and services business

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Imaging behemoth Canon is to launch, via its subsidiary in Europe, a voluntary and conditional public takeover bid in cash for all shares, warrants and stock options of I.R.I.S. Group SA.

According to the Japanese vendor, their bid relates to all shares, including treasury shares, issued by I.R.I.S. Group SA, which are not held by Canon Europa N.V. The bid offers a price of 44.50 euros per share, and the price for warrants 

Good acquires Copiun in collaboration move

Copiun acquired by Good Technology. Photo: Enterprise 2.0 Conference

Good Technology signs agreement to acquire Copiun

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Good Technology has acquired Copiun Inc., a privately-held company specialising in secure mobile collaboration.

According to the company, Copiun’s products enable mobile users to access file shares, SharePoint or other document stores from anywhere without a VPN connection or firewall reconfiguration.

Foundation sues over email and phone hacking allegations

Electronic Frontier Foundation

EFF says government ‘withholding information’ about ‘unconstitutional spying’

Washington, D.C. – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Department of Justice (DOJ) today, demanding answers about illegal email and telephone call surveillance at the National Security Agency (NSA).

EMI taps Sunrise for publishing management

Music publishing company taps Sostenuto

British sofware firm Sunrise Software signs up EMI Music Publishing

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Music publisher EMI Publishing has just inked a new deal with British service management sofware specialists Sunrise Software for its Sostenuto software to support 900 users in 55 countries..

Accordin to EMI, the Software as a Service (SaaS) IT Service Management solution went live in one week and is already providing greater visibility of EMI’s IT activities and tighter integration between its two main Service Desks in London and New York.

EFF Frisco bound for ‘pioneers’ gong fest

EFF ‘Pioneer Awards’ 2010 postcard invite

Hardware Hacker, Anti-ACTA Activist, and Groundbreaking Anonymity Group Win EFF Pioneer Awards

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /San Francisco/ +++ The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is to reveal their distinguished winners of the 2012 Pioneer Awards, with hardware hacker Andrew (bunnie) Huang, anti-ACTA activist Jérémie Zimmermann, and the Tor Project – the organization behind the groundbreaking anonymity tool Tor.

The award ceremony will be held the evening of September 20 at Project One Gallery in San Francisco. The founding developer of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg, will be the keynote speaker.

Alfresco unveils Records Management 2.0

Open source Alfresco launches Records Management 2.0

Open source doyen Alfresco takes wraps off latest Records Management 2.0 for enterprise file capabilities

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Alfresco’s newest Records Management 2.0 is now available for serving enterprise organisations and government departments for management of governance and compliance processes.

According to the open source content software specialist, RM 2.0 boasts open source records management and retention tools.

Location data takes centre stage in legal case

U.S. Supreme Court building.

Government faces new warrantless surveillance battle after losing landmark GPS tracking case as defendant pushes to exclude cell phone location data obtained without a warrant

A federal district court is poised to determine whether the government can use cell phone data obtained without a warrant to establish an individual’s location.

In an amicus brief filed last Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) argue that this form of surveillance is just as unconstitutional as the warrantless GPS tracking the U.S. Supreme Court already shot down in this case.

Smart grids at risk from cyber security in intelligent buildings

Intelligent building system – diagram.

Cyber attacks render smart grids intrinsically unsafe

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /London/ +++ Building owners and designers, and particularly members of the building services industry, are racing to implement intelligent buildings and smart grids, aaccording to new research from a London academic institution.

Social media shunned by Euro CIOs as 67% block content

Europe’s chief information officers banning YouTube, Facebook, Twitter

By ECM Plus staff

ECM Plus /LONDON/ +++ European CIOs are shunning social media for business, according to a new study by Easynet and Ipanema Technologies.

The research study said that chief information officers are risking ‘alienating customers’, as well as ‘creating ineffective marketing strategies’, and ‘demotivating’ their staff and ‘eliminating’ their competitive edge.