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Javascript has a major advantage of being (likely) the most installed programming language in history. It's experiencing a renaissance lately where people actually learning it, not just copying code found on someone's website. ECMAScript Harmony will bring some much needed fixes to the language (although I think ECMAScript 4 would have been a true game-changer for the web). Regardless, until we have more mature tools for sever- and DB-side javascript, Javascript is really a browser language (and faces an army of entrenched programmers who'd rather use some other language). To the second argument, I say: Javascript is an amazing language, but you can't declare it off limits to people who prefer other languages. Programming is about choice. On the server we get to use whatever combinations of web server, database, programming language, and development environment we like. Not so for the browser. We're stuck with Javascript whether we like it or not. We can't stay away from it, we can't use something else. Everyone who dislikes working in Javascript is perfectly justified because he has no other avenue. When all browsers support and are prepackaged with VMs for many languages, I'll be the first to sound the clarion: if you don't like JS, get the hell away from it. Until then, you're stuck with us and we're stuck with you. To the third: again, it's really all about to choice. If you prefer Javascript keep using it, make it better, steal ideas from other languages, and seed the community with new ideas of your own. Nobody will complain about a better overall development community. If you'd like to see Red in Python, PHP, C#, or language X then steal Jesse's code. Red was a herculean effort on Jesse's part. I know he's worked on nothing else for two months and future ports of Red to other languages will benefit from this effort.

[Copyright by Mike Masnick Mon, Oct 3rd 2011 3:55pm from the thank-goodness-for-little-things dept Ah, ASCAP. The music collection group that keeps getting more and more desperate, seems to have finally and completely lost its quixotic attempt to claim that a music download represented a "public performance," which required a separate license, beyond the mechanical reproduction license. The group had been in a legal fight with Yahoo and Rhapsody over whether or not those companies had to pay extra to songwriters (whom ASCAP represents) in addition to the money they were already paying to license songs from the record labels for downloads. The district court sided with ASCAP and presented a bizarre formula involving a percentage of all revenue (such that Yahoo would have to pay some of its search revenue to ASCAP for no clear reason). Thankfully, an appeals court overturned the ruling, noting that a download is not a public performance, and that the bizarre calculation rate didn't make much sense. ]

[# ! ... nor it pretends to be, # ! just an #alternative / #interactive #information #channel. # ! #stop #gratuitous #critics, by thxse [sic.] determined to keep on # ! #monopolizing #information, #opinion & #entertainment.] "Welcome to the official discussion forum for Outernet: Humanity's Public Library. If you are new to the forum, please look at the FAQ before poting questions. This forum is monitored regularly by Outernet staff and is a place to ask questions about the project or, even better, create discussion around various aspects of the project. "

"Welcome to the official discussion forum for Outernet: Humanity's Public Library. If you are new to the forum, please look at the FAQ before poting questions. This forum is monitored regularly by Outernet staff and is a place to ask questions about the project or, even better, create discussion around various aspects of the project. "

"Writing software is too hard and it takes too long. It's time for a new way to write software - especially application software, the user-facing software we use every day to talk to people and keep track of things. This new way should be radically simple. It should make it possible to build a prototype in a day or two, and a real production app in a few weeks. It should make everyday things easy, even when those everyday things involve hundreds of servers, millions of users, and integration with dozens of other systems. It should be built on collaboration, specialization, and division of labor, and it should be accessible to the maximum number of people. Today, there's a chance to create this new way - to build a new platform for cloud applications that will become as ubiquitous as previous platforms such as Unix, HTTP, and the relational database. It is not a small project. There are many big problems to tackle, such as: How do we transition the web from a "dumb terminal" model that is based on serving HTML, to a client/server model that is based on exchanging data? How do we design software to run in a radically distributed environment, where even everyday database apps are spread over multiple data centers and hundreds of intelligent client devices, and must integrate with other software at dozens of other organizations? How do we prepare for a world where most web APIs will be push-based (realtime), rather than polling-driven? In the face of escalating complexity, how can we simplify software engineering so that more people can do it? How will software developers collaborate and share components in this new world? Meteor is our audacious attempt to solve all of these big problems, at least for a certain large class of everyday applications. We think that success will come from hard work, respect for history and "classically beautiful" engineering patterns, and a philosophy of generally open and collaborative development. " .............. "It is not a

"How do we transition the web from a "dumb terminal" model that is based on serving HTML, to a client/server model that is based on exchanging data?" From a litigation aspect, the best bet I know of is antitrust litigation against the W3C and the WHATWG Working Group for implementing a non-interoperable specification. See e.g., Commission v. Microsoft, No. T-167/08, European Community Court of First Instance (Grand Chamber Judgment of 17 September, 2007), para. 230, 374, 421, http://preview.tinyurl.com/chsdb4w (rejecting Microsoft's argument that "interoperability" has a 1-way rather than 2-way meaning; information technology specifications must be disclosed with sufficient specificity to place competitors on an "equal footing" in regard to interoperability; "the 12th recital to Directive 91/250 defines interoperability as 'the ability to exchange information and mutually to use the information which has been exchanged'"). Note that the Microsoft case was prosecuted on the E.U.'s "abuse of market power" law that corresponds to the U.S. Sherman Act § 2 (monopolies). But undoubtedly the E.U. courts would apply the same standard to "agreements among undertakings" in restraint of trade, counterpart to the Sherman Act's § 1 (conspiracies in restraint of trade), the branch that applies to development of voluntary standards by competitors. But better to innovate and obsolete HTML, I think. DG Competition and the DoJ won't prosecute such cases soon. For example, Obama ran for office promising to "reinvigorate antitrust enforcement" but his DoJ has yet to file its first antitrust case against a big company. Nb., virtually the same definition of interoperability announced by the Court of First Instance is provided by ISO/IEC JTC-1 Directives, annex I ("eye"), which is applicable to all international standards in the IT sector: "... interoperability is understood to be the ability of two or more IT systems to exchange information at one or more standardised interfaces

[ Ernesto on January 14, 2015 C: 0 News Hoping to deter and stop the ongoing threat of 'cyber' attacks President Obama unveiled new cybersecurity plans yesterday. While the plans don't reference copyright infringement, the MPAA notes that Congress should keep online piracy in mind as it drafts its new cybersecurity bill. ] # Again, gnarled 'Authorities, linking -falsely, of course- sharing with any kind of 'threats'... (since 2001: Peer-to-peer terrorism http://www.salon.com/2001/09/26/osama_bin_napster/ and, of course, earlier references -from Techdirt, for example, "Seriously: Where Is The Link Between Copyright Infringement And Terrorism/Organized Crime" https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100129/0630057974.shtml)

EFF has launched an email campagin to press members of Congress not to renew sectiion 215 of the Patriot Act when it expires on June 1, 2015.   Sectjon 215 authorizes FBI officials to "make an application for an order requiring the production of *any tangible things* (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution." http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1861 The section has been abused to obtain bulk collecdtion of all telephone records for the NSA's storage and processing.But the section goes farther and lists as specific examples of records that can be obtained under section 215's authority, "library circulation records, library patron lists, book sales records, book customer lists, firearms sales records, tax return records, educational records, or medical records."  Think of the NSA's voracious appetite for new "haystacks" it can store  and search in its gigantic new data center in Utah. Then ask yourself, "do I want the NSA to obtain all of my personal data, store it, and search it at will?" If your anser is "no," you might consider visiting this page to send your Congress critters an email urging them to vote against renewal of section 215 and to vote for other NSA reforms listed in the EFF sample email text. Please do not procrastinate. Do it now, before you forget. Every voice counts. 

" Ernesto on October 28, 2014 C: 50 Breaking The RIAA has just submitted its latest list of "rogue" websites to the U.S. Government. The report includes many of the usual suspects and also calls out websites who claim that they're protecting the Internet from censorship, specifically naming The Pirate Bay. "We must end this assault on our humanity and the misappropriation of fundamental human rights," RIAA writes." [# ! Funny # ! ... coming from those who #scorn #culture, keep #prices artificially # ! high, treat all Pe@ple as #Thieves, and #lobby #politics to # ! #manipulate #laws for the (#extreme) #benefit of just a #few...]

" Ernesto on October 28, 2014 C: 50 Breaking The RIAA has just submitted its latest list of "rogue" websites to the U.S. Government. The report includes many of the usual suspects and also calls out websites who claim that they're protecting the Internet from censorship, specifically naming The Pirate Bay. "We must end this assault on our humanity and the misappropriation of fundamental human rights," RIAA writes."

"This guide explains howto install Google Chrome Web browser on Fedora 21/20/19/18 and CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL) 7. Best way to install and keep up-to-date with Google Chrome browser is use Google's own YUM repository."

" Ernesto on October 27, 2015 C: 25 Breaking The European Parliament adopted Europe's first net neutrality rules today, as part of the new telecoms package. However, many net neutrality proponents see the new regulation as a loss rather than a win, as it leaves the door open for widespread throttling and paid prioritization."

"Microsoft says its most recent attempt to force older systems to upgrade to Windows 10 was caused by a bug in the Windows Update utility."

"The Internet is a big, scary place, and so we must protect our small business networks with strong, reliable firewalls. Firewalls can range from a simple gadget that keeps bad data packets out of networks to sophisticated multi-function gateways. "

" Rick Falkvinge on February 7, 2016 C: 1 Opinion The copyright industry keeps repeating the mantra that the copyright monopoly is somehow "necessary". Creative Commons proves conclusively that it isn't. "

"Postby weazy » Fri May 30, 2003 5:19 pm Methodology Simplicity The simplicity methodology seeks to increase security by reducing vulnerability. In the rest of this tutorial you will learn to: 1. Reduce network access to your machine using a firewall (we'll teach you how to build your own) 2. Decrease the number of priveleged programs. You help yourself by decreasing priveleged programs because you reduce the ways ppl can gain access 3. Tighten configuration of those priveleged programs you want to keep 4. Reduce number of paths to root, that is restrict access of non-priveleged users 5. Deploy intrusion detection by using file integrity checking "

"Dear Lifehacker, How can I check and see how much bandwidth I've been using? Is there any way to keep a running tally of my bandwidth so I can see when I use the most, or if something's using a lot of bandwidth that I'm not aware of? "

"The lessons we should have learned from post-9/11 government overreach. By Karen J. Greenberg / TomDispatch "

With social media censorship ramping up in the West, it's good to keep in mind who started it. From 2016.