199 lignes
7.5 KiB
HTML
199 lignes
7.5 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html newsdate="2014-08-04" type="newsletter">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>FSFE Newsletter - August 2014</title>
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</head>
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<body microformats="h-entry">
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<h1 class="p-name">FSFE Newsletter – August 2014</h1>
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<h2>Privilege and Power</h2>
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<p>
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In the olden days a common citizen of a republic going about their
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everyday business was quite, shall we say, free. While tending to their
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chores they would occasionally need a new tool or some advice, but the
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old Latin proverb <em>scientia potentia est</em> dictated the limits of
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their freedom to be the limits of their knowledge: if they needed a new
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tool and lacked the knowledge to make it, they became dependent on the
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toolmaker only to obtain the tool.
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</p>
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<p>
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In the brave new world it is different: not only do we depend on the
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toolmaker when we wish to obtain a new tool, but oft we remain dependent
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on them forever after. In the olden days a hammer could be used both to
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put stakes in the ground (or vampires) and nail planks atop the
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vampire's coffin. Today, the customer buying a general purpose tool has
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to pay twice for it: once to put stakes in the vampire and then again to
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nail planks atop its coffin.
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</p>
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<p>
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This is great if you happen to be one of the few toolmakers: not only
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are they one of the few privileged to be in control of their
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own property, but they have also stripped the rest of us of our rights
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and have the power to command our tools and hence have the power over
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us. Unfortunately, the privilege blinds them to the situation's
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revoltingness.
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</p>
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<p>
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Times have not been kind and, in addition to the revolting consequences
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of failed regulations and cold, unjust, profit-oriented business logic,
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we have been treated with a revelation after a revelation of agencies
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and offices founded to protect us, and subsequently given an impossible
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mission, preying on us. These developments, while despicable, can at
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least be rationally understood.
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</p>
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<p>
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However, it cannot be rationally comprehended why our <em>democratically
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elected representatives</em> would seek to entrench these unfortunate
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encroaches on our rights, on their own rights. Yet many of them do: the
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European Commission is
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<a href="/news/2014/news-20140708-01.html">refusing to break Microsoft's stranglehold on the EU</a>
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and, as an even more deeply unsettling development, the Communications
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Committee of the UK parliament's House of Lords
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<a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201415/ldselect/ldcomuni/37/3704.htm#a14">has proposed to end anonymity on the Internet</a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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If the danger to privacy and freedom were not so grave, the latter's
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technical ineptitude and arguments utterly unsuitable to the birthplace
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of liberalism would be highly amusing. Yet the danger posed by people
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who have been corrupted by power or greed is real and our resolve to
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confront that danger with more decentralization, security, privacy, and
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anonymity must become ever greater.
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</p>
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<h2>We are all Targets</h2>
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<p>
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According to
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<a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/07/nsa-targets-users-of-privacy-services/">new revelations</a>
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from early July pretty much anyone in the technological community is a
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target for surveillance. Among other activities we have been, or will
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be picked out, for visiting the
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<a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor website</a>, reading the
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<a href="http://www.linuxjournal.com/">Linux Journal</a>, connecting to
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<a href="http://mixminion.net/">Mixminion anonymous remailer service</a>,
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and downloading <a href="https://tails.boum.org/">Tails</a>, a
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privacy-sensitive GNU/Linux distribution. These sobering facts ought to
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be remembered every hour, every day. In the end our greatest weapon is
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developing and promoting projects that will one day land people
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interested in them on that very same list.
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</p>
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<h2>Something Completely Different</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>
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FSFE will have a booth at
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<a href="https://www.froscon.de/en/home/">FrOSCon</a>, where our Vice
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President <a href="/about/people/kirschner/kirschner.html">Matthias Kirschner</a>
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will also give a
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<a href="http://programm.froscon.de/2014/events/1321.html">talk</a>
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on the demise of the general purpose computer.
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</li>
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<li>
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Our President <a href="/about/people/gerloff/gerloff.html">Karsten Gerloff</a>
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writes about <a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/2014/07/03/evaluating-free-software-for-procurement/">evaluating Free Software for procurement</a>.
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="/about/people/roy/roy.html">Hugo Roy</a>, our Deputy Legal
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Coordinator writes about
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<a href="http://hroy.eu/posts/intro-defpubs/">defensive publications and his work for the Open Invention network</a> at his blog.
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</li>
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<li>
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Matthias writes at his Fellowship blog about
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<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/mk/an-invisible-part-of-the-free-software-foundation-europe/">the invisible tasks</a>
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that are being attended to by
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<a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Fellows/reinhard">Reinhard Müller</a>,
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our Financial Officer.
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</li>
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<li>
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Guido Arnold, our Education
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Team Coordinator, has finished composing his collection of
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<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/guido/2014/07/free-software-in-education-news-june/">Free Software in Education News for June</a>.
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</li>
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<li>
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From the <a href="https://planet.fsfe.org/">planet aggregation:</a>
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<ul>
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<li>
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Kevin Keijzer writes about
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<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/the_unconventional/2014/07/17/watching-dvb-t-without-a-tv/">receiving TV using a DVB-T USB dongle</a>. For our
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more adventurous readers we suggest tuning the receiver to
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1090 MHz and obtaining an overview of the local civilian air air
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traffic as reported by ADS-B transmitters on the aircraft.
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</li>
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<li>
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Sergey Matveev reports on
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<a href="https://blogs.fsfe.org/stargrave/archives/122">the GoVPN daemon</a>
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he wrote in the Go programming language.
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</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Get Active!</h2>
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<ol>
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<li>
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Use and spread the word about
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<a href="https://www.gnupg.org/">GnuPG</a>,
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<a href="https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/">Off-the-Record messaging</a>,
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<a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a>,
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<a href="https://code.google.com/p/cryptsetup/">cryptsetup</a>,
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<a href="https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere">HTTPS Everywhere</a>,
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<a href="https://www.eff.org/privacybadger">Privacy Badger</a>
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and other privacy-enhancing Free Software.
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</li>
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<li>
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If you can write code and understand a bit of computer science,
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find a cool privacy-or-anonymity-enhancing concept in a scientific
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journal and make it come to life.
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</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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We thank all our <a href="/contribute/contribute.html">volunteers</a>,
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<a href="https://my.fsfe.org/donate">Fellows</a>, and
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<a href="/donate/thankgnus.html">donors</a> who make our efforts
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possible,<br />
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<a href="/about/ojasild/ojasild.html">Heiki Ojasild</a> –
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<a href="/index.html">FSFE</a>
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</p>
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</body>
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<sidebar promo="about-fsfe"><!--
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<h3>FSFE News</h3>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="/news/">Press Releases</a></li>
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<li><a href="/news/newsletter.html">Newsletters Archive</a></li>
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<li><a href="/events/">Upcoming Events</a></li>
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<li><a href="https://planet.fsfe.org/">Planet Blogs</a></li>
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<li><a href="/about/contact.html#community">Free Software Discussions</a></li>
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</ul>
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--></sidebar>
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<author id="repentinus" />
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<date>
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<original content="2014-08-04" />
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</date>
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<followup>donate</followup>
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<tags>
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<tag key="newsletter"/>
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</tags>
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</html>
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