July 2016 - Free-software-melb - lists.softwarefreedom.com.au

Shackles of substance: Patents on software ideas in gambling machines
by Ben Finney 31 Jul '16

31 Jul '16

Howdy all, The relentless efforts of patent monopolists to restrict software ideas are evident in this article. Mark Summerfield discusses gambling machines, and the legal question of what makes a software idea eligible for patent: The Australian Patent Office has recently issued two decisions resulting from applicants requesting to be heard following examination objections that their respective inventions did not constitute patent-eligible subject matter, i.e. a ‘manner of manufacture’ under the Australian patent law. Both decisions relate to electronic gaming machines (commonly known as ‘poker machines’ or ‘slot machines’), and both involve the question of whether particular computer-implemented features of such machines are patentable. They differ, however, in the outcome. <URL:http://blog.patentology.com.au/2016/07/australian-patent-office-clarifies.html> Rather wonkish; it assumes familiarity with, and acceptance of, the terminology of patentable software ideas. The issue is important though; courts seem to be dunned quite frequently with applicants insisting their idea is special and no-one gets to share it, and lawyers spend their time on esoterica at the fringes instead of challenging the notion altogether. How is the movement to end software idea patents going? -- \ “Only the shallow know themselves.” —Oscar Wilde, _Phrases and | `\ Philosophies for the Use of the Young_, 1894 | _o__) | Ben Finney

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Roads and Bridges: free software as public infrastructure
by Ben Finney 28 Jul '16

28 Jul '16

Howdy all, >From the Ford Foundation [0] comes a report this month about the public infrastructure that everyone in modern society relies on: free software. The report is named _Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure_ [1], where they refer to free software as “shared code”: Everybody relies on shared code to write software, including Fortune 500 companies, government, major software companies and startups. In a world driven by technology, we are putting increased demand on those who maintain our digital infrastructure. Yet because these communities are not highly visible, the rest of the world has been slow to notice. Just like physical infrastructure, digital infrastructure needs regular upkeep and maintenance. But financial support for digital infrastructure is much harder to come by. In the face of unprecedented demand, the costs of not supporting our digital infrastructure are numerous. No individual company or organization is incentivized to address the public good problem alone. In order to support our digital infrastructure, we must find ways to work together. You may even recognise some of the names who helped Nadia Eghbal in her work of writing this comprehensive report. This looks like a good resource for talking with people in a position to fund free software. [0] http://www.fordfoundation.org/about-us/ [1] http://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges… http://ur1.ca/picgc -- \ “I watched the Indy 500, and I was thinking that if they left | `\ earlier they wouldn't have to go so fast.” —Steven Wright | _o__) | Ben Finney

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no DRM, the Gnews and working group
by Ben M 21 Jul '16

21 Jul '16

Hi all, Just a few bits and pieces from our meetup... I've posted a gallery to our mediagoblin site of our "no DRM selfies": https://media.freesoftware.org.au/u/benm/collection/hollyweb/ I've also uploaded the Gnews to our site: http://freesoftware.org.au/static/media/uploads/gnews-2016-07-21.html and last but not least a reminder we'll be getting together to kick off the working group on Thursday the 4th of August at La La Porchetta (308 Victoria St, North Melbourne) ... see you there! ~~ Ben M

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Free Software Melbourne, Thu 2016-07-12: Scientific Hooliganism
by Ben Finney 21 Jul '16

21 Jul '16

Howdy all, “Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?” —Glinda the Good Witch; The Wizard of Oz In the drive to bring software quickly to our devices, and to lock it down so its users have no legitimate access to it, who is motivated to verify the security of the software we rely on for our communication and identity? In 1903, Guglielmo Marconi prepared to unveil his world-first, long-distance wireless communication technology to the Royal Institution in London. He was looking forward to roaring success — but he didn't count upon falling victim to the first crack in history. Over a century later, the tech industry is still repeating Marconi's mistakes. Lilly Ryan, a software developer and digital rights activist, joins us at this month's Free Software Melbourne meeting, with the topic of Scientific Hooliganism: What we can learn from the first hack in history. Come to talk with Lilly about claims of security, software freedom, and what security cracking means for the technology we all use. We will also discuss the latest Gnews, and our involvement in the recent City of Casey budget for software. Then we'll head out for dinner and continued chatting in North Melbourne. Electron Workshop, 31 Arden Street, North Melbourne <URL:https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2556615434#map=19/-37.80118/144.95071> on Thursday 2016-07-21, 18:00 (6p.m.) until dinner at 20:00. Bring a friend, bring a question or three. See you all there! -- \ “I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance | `\ any day.” —Douglas Adams | _o__) | Ben Finney

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FSM Working group
by Ben M 20 Jul '16

20 Jul '16

Hi everybody, A few of us at FSM have been throwing around the idea of forming a working group of some kind to look at issues like the recent Casey budget proposal and similar things we could do. The group could do things like preparing templates that could be used in petitions, develop materials to support people speaking at events, looking out for similar opportunities and better tracking our own efforts... but there could also be so much more and that's why we need your input! To kick it off we'll be having a dinner on the 4th of August, venue TBD but probably near EW where we'll put our heads together and put together a plan of action for the group. So come along or send me any suggestions for the group if you won't be able to make the 4th ~~ Ben M

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Ben's Libreboot X60 looking for a new home
by Ben Sturmfels 20 Jul '16

20 Jul '16

Hi Folks, My much-loved Libreboot X60 laptop is looking for a new home, so if you're looking to get started with Libreboot, this could be for you. I've now upgraded to an X200, but used this device for several years as my secondary machine, including presenting on it at LibrePlanet 2015. Happy to sell to an FSM member for $50 (which is less than the cost of the brand new battery it has). I can bring it along to Free Software Melbourne tomorrow. The laptop works well, but keep in mind that the version of Libreboot installed doesn't seem to be properly using the CPU power saving features. It runs quite warm, uses battery fairly quickly and sometimes shuts down if left on 100% CPU for a while. It is quite reliable if you override the fan settings, which I've blogged about[1]. There may well be a solution to the power saving, but I've never had the time to investigate. If you're looking for a fuss-free laptop, take a look at an X200 or T400 from Minifree.org[2]. Details: - Libreboot X60 from Minifree.org (then Gluglug) in 2013 - compatible with fully-free Trisquel 7.0 - Atheros WiFi chipset (requires no proprietary software) - brand new official Lenovo battery (cost me about $80) - includes Ultrabase dock with DVD drive - power adaptor - 1024x768 monitor - 2G RAM - BYO hard drive Regards, Ben [1] https://stumbles.id.au/controlling-fan-speed-on-thinkpad-x60.html [2] https://minifree.org/product/libreboot-x200/

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Fairphone: The smartphone with social values
by Ben Finney 13 Jul '16

13 Jul '16

Howdy all, Many of our recent meetings have touched on the difficulty of obtaining a handheld computer (a “smartphone”) that works with only free software. Has anyone looked into the Fairphone <URL:https://www.fairphone.com/>? There have been some models historically that could be made to work with some degree of free software, but this is one where the designers are proud of how the hardware is in control of the owner who bought it. They deliver only within Europe for now. Does anyone know someone in the EU (which for now still includes the UK!) who could help some of us by ordering a few Fairphone devices and delivering them to Australia? -- \ “When we talk to God, we're praying. When God talks to us, | `\ we're schizophrenic.” —Jane Wagner, via Lily Tomlin, 1985 | _o__) | Ben Finney

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Re: [free-software-melb] Free-software-melb Digest, Vol 67, Issue 9
by Andri Effendi 12 Jul '16

12 Jul '16

Hi Victorian Free Software Friends, Regarding Pump.IO This is mine if you would like to add me: iAndri133(a)1realtime.net Kind Regards, -- Andri Effendi <fusionman133(a)gmx.de> Organiser of The Free Software Movement in Sydney www.freesoftware.org.au/ GPG fingerprint: 8438 138D ECDA 05E0 591F F2B4 4721 0F03 AC24 DF73 Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed on emails sent or received unencrypted.

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Re: [free-software-melb] Free-software-melb Digest, Vol 67, Issue 6
by Ben M 11 Jul '16

11 Jul '16

> Hi Folks, > > Is there anyone else here on either Diaspora or Pump.io social networks? > I'm trying Diaspora for the first time and I need some friends! > > Diaspora: > stumbles(a)diasporabrazil.org > > Pump.io: > stumbles(a)identi.ca > > I can be found on Diaspora: puzzleduck(a)joindiaspora.com and Pump.io: puzzleduck(a)urmf.net Although now I've got to go update the old profiles! ~~ Ben M

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Re: [free-software-melb] Fairphone: The smartphone with social, values
by FVZ 10 Jul '16

10 Jul '16

Fairphone is a work in progress from what I can see. The first revision was mostly focusing on just making a phone that was built from conflicts-free materials, and much easier to self repair. There has been a great deal of moral support from them for free software but it hasn't been a major focus as of yet. With the Fairphone 2 they are trying to get much more free software friendly but this isn't going much deeper than the current AOSP level, the drivers will still be proprietary simply due to the manufactures not playing nice as usual. It isn't much more free than a phone running Cyanogen. Now that they have already successful shipped a product and are going into a second round they will start to get more leverage in trying to free up the lower level hardware. They heading in the right direction but this will take time and trying to get stubborn hardware manufacturers to pay attention. About the only warning I will give about the current phone is 529,38 € before shipping which is approximately $780 AUD, also considering the phone is designed for EU phone standards and I am not sure how compatible that is with our local networks. Michael Verrenkamp On 01/07/16 22:00, free-software-melb-request(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au wrote: > Send Free-software-melb mailing list submissions to > free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-software-… > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > free-software-melb-request(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > > You can reach the person managing the list at > free-software-melb-owner(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Free-software-melb digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Fairphone: The smartphone with social values (Ben Finney) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 01 Jul 2016 08:40:08 +1000 > From: Ben Finney <ben+freesoftware(a)benfinney.id.au> > To: free-software-melb(a)lists.softwarefreedom.com.au > Subject: [free-software-melb] Fairphone: The smartphone with social > values > Message-ID: <85bn2iuwqf.fsf(a)benfinney.id.au> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 > > Howdy all, > > Many of our recent meetings have touched on the difficulty of obtaining > a handheld computer (a “smartphone”) that works with only free software. > > Has anyone looked into the Fairphone <URL:https://www.fairphone.com/>? > > There have been some models historically that could be made to work with > some degree of free software, but this is one where the designers are > proud of how the hardware is in control of the owner who bought it. > > They deliver only within Europe for now. Does anyone know someone in the > EU (which for now still includes the UK!) who could help some of us by > ordering a few Fairphone devices and delivering them to Australia? >

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