- main - earth.li

RE: [ALUG] Linux Newbie Book
by Jenny Hopkins 03 Mar '04

03 Mar '04

Nick Daniels wrote: > They all ask me the same question . Where can I find a > basic book on using Linux? > Can anyone reccomend one please? > P.S. I promise never to ask about parallel port modems again. > Regards Hi Nick, "Running Linux" by O'Reilly is an excellent first book. Jen (parallel port modem expert extraordinaire :-)) ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________

6 5

Elliott 803B (pre-Linux)
by Christopher Dawkins 03 Mar '04

03 Mar '04

> Myself (BJ), John (with homemade biscuits, thanks) MJR, Adam, Kirty, Brett, > Peter Onion (with very interesting emulator of a very old mainframe... > something begining with E 800 which had very cool graphics and noises). > Elliott 803. Here is a picture of the machine I used to use when I was > at school. http://www.g6lvb.com/803.htm > More pictures at http://members.ozemail.com.au/~jacksmth/ell803.htm > including a shot of the Calcomp 565 plotter Ah, these are names I recognise. An emulation of the 803, or just of the Calcomp plotter? Sounds exciting anyway: I'm most interested. If it might compile on FreeBSD and run in KDE? I have here various 803B parts, in particular a flexowriter and a Creed teleprinter that might soon have to go for scrap unless someone can find a good home. Not working, but not rusty - could work given a lot of TLC. All the bins around our Computer Centre are Elliot paper tape bins. I have core planes on my desk. There's not many other places you can point and say "There's a bit ... ". -- Christopher Dawkins, Felsted School, Dunmow, Essex CM6 3JG 01371-822698, mobile 07816 821659 cchd(a)felsted.essex.sch.uk

5 4

Flexbackup
by bjsamuels＠beenthere-donethat.org.uk 03 Mar '04

03 Mar '04

I discovered, a few weeks ago, a backup script called Flexbackup which I rather like. I can use it to backup a remote machine via ssh. Once ssh is setup to do a password-less login Flexbackup can do the rest. What it doesn't provide is an option to restore to a remote machine. Is there a way of retrieving a file or files from a tape on the local machine, using Afio, and passing it across directly to the remote machine via ssh rather than restoring locally and copying across? Any technical gems gratefully received. Barry Samuels http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk The Unofficial Guide to Great Britain

4 3

Linux Newbie Book
by Nick Daniels 03 Mar '04

03 Mar '04

Hi I have been installing Linux f.o.c. for a number of people at their request, most of these people are just home computer users who are fed up with M$ , viruses, etc They only wish to use their computer for office, internet, Mp3s etc. and have little or no knowledge of computing They all ask me the same question . Where can I find a basic book on using Linux? Can anyone reccomend one please? P.S. I promise never to ask about parallel port modems again. Regards Nick Daniels

2 1

Re: [ALUG] OT: e-mail accounts
by Tristan Scott 03 Mar '04

03 Mar '04

IanBell wrote: > On Thursday 26 Feb 2004 9:55 pm, Tristan Scott wrote: > >>MJ Ray wrote: >> >>>On 2004-02-15 10:27:57 +0000 Richard Lewis <richard.lewis(a)uea.ac.uk> > > wrote: > >>>>wandering if anyone knew of anyone who provides free e-mail accounts >>>>that would work well with a normal mail client (like KMail, Evolution >>>>etc.) >> >>Ive had no problems with geek.com, plus you get an email @geek.com, whoohoo >>anyway, their web mail client allows you to check up to 5 pop accounts >>too, which is cool (and handy when in weird places and unable to simply >>telnet). There was rumblings about having to pay to keep your account >>months ago, but my rarely-accessed 3 year old account's still there, and >>working. >> > > > Just been there and tried to sign in. I got the following message: > > Due to a business decision, Geek.com is no longer offering Geek.com e-mail > addresses. We apologise if this causes any distress. > > Ian > > oh. well, that explains why mine's still working i guess.

6 5

What is Opne Source
by Vasko Tomanov 02 Mar '04

02 Mar '04

What is Open Source: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040226003735733 video vresion: http://jolt.law.harvard.edu./p.cgi/speakers.html

3 2

Alternatives to hash and binary chop search - are there any others?
by Chris Green 02 Mar '04

02 Mar '04

This isn't really a Linux question but members of this list might have some ideas/answers. I have a little 68000 assembler project I'm doing for someone (paid!) and basically it consists of replacing a 'built on the fly' look-up table with a ready made one which is uploaded with the code. The existing code uses a rather messy hash look-up and one of the reasons for the re-write is to make it simpler and more reliable. A linear search of the table probably isn't a good idea as it would mean that there would be significant differences in look-up time for entries at the beginning and end of the table. I'm leaning towards a binary-chop search but wondered if anyone had any other ideas. Binary-chop is easy in principle but it's often quite difficult to implement in practice because one has to deal with messy boundary conditions. It's also a bit more difficult to create the sorted table necessary automatically and relying on the creator of the table to sort it might be a bit dodgy. The table looks up ATM addresses (16 bit values) given an IP address (32 bit values), maximum size is of the order of 400 entries. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

6 8

RE: [ALUG] Linux Newbie Book
by Jenny Hopkins 02 Mar '04

02 Mar '04

Stan Fraser wrote: > only if you have a brain as big as a planet Jenny > > Hey, that's me! ;-) jen ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________

1 0

Syleham Meeting Sunday 29th
by Peter Onion 02 Mar '04

02 Mar '04

I'm a bit of a "sleeping member" but I'm intending to come up to Syleham on Sunday. I'll bring my Mini-ITX SuSE 9.0 machine along. It's got images of the the SuSE 9.0 CDs on it for network (nfs) installs if anyone wants to do that. It'll run as a wireless access point as well if needs be. Peter Onion

10 20

TV cards and DVD writers in Linux
by Chris Green 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

Does anyone here have any experience of running TV cards and/or DVD writers under Linux? I have a Kworld V-Stream Xpert 883 card (Conexant CX2388x based) and wonder if there might be any Linux software to drive it, the windows software for it is generally pretty awful. Lots of "lets try and make it look like a TV/Video" and very little actual usability. In addition I'd quite like to record the captured video (presumably MPG2) to a DVD (in 'playable on a DVD player; format). I currently have a Liteon LDW811-S DVD writer in my Win2k system, I sort of can write captured MPG2 files to the DVD writer as DVDs but the whole process is distinctly flakey. Will I have all the same problems in Linux because the software is still in its infancy or are things more 'together' unde Linux? -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

3 6

Patitioning
by IanBell 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

I often try new distros or upgrade the one I am using. Currently I have four partitions on my hard drive. Two are for two different linux distros, one for swap and another for M$. I have just moved from mainly working on one linux distro to the other which has meant copying lots of files from one /home/myuser directory to the other and changing lots of permissions. basically a pain. I am thinking of re-partitioning to include a permanent /home partition which can be used by either linux distro. This way I can install or upgrade distros to my hearts content without having to worry about transferring user files. So the question, does this work, is it practical, are ther any pitfalls? Cheers Ian

3 3

RE: [ALUG] Syleham Meeting Sunday 29th
by Jenny Hopkins 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

MJRay wrote: >I thought the meeting was quite fun, with old machine emulators, >Revolution OS, and talking about all of you in your absence. :) Did >your ears burn? Well, you know what they say...."If there's one thing worse than being talked about, it's not being talked about" Jen ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Syleham Meeting Sunday 29th
by Jenny Hopkins 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

Chris Green wrote: > I live down down one of "those tiny lanes" and rode my > motorbike to work this morning. I have to admit I did wonder > if I was being stupid but I made it without any disasters. > Ditto :-) Cold hands, eh? John - sorry not to be there, it's my Favourite Venue. Jen ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________

1 0

Weekly IRC reminder
by Neill Newman 01 Mar '04

01 Mar '04

This is the automated ALUG IRC meeting reminder sent to remind you that there is an IRC meeting tonight (Monday) at 8.00pm. The meeting takes place on the irc server irc.alug.org.uk in the #alug channel. Most IRC clients should allow you to get there with the commands "/server irc.alug.org.uk" and "/join #alug". Popular IRC clients include tkirc, bitchx, xchat and EPIC on Unix, and Mirc under windows. Here are some links to help you get started with irc. Unix http://www.xchat.org/ http://freshmeat.net/ http://www.epicsol.org/ Windows http://www.mirc.com (loads of help with irc for newbies!)

1 0

Postfix and Bogofilter
by Graham Trott 29 Feb '04

29 Feb '04

I've done something - dunno what - to break my Postfix setup. No mail is getting through (so I may have trouble reading any replies!) and the following messages are appearing in /var/log/mail: >>> Feb 23 20:39:02 server postfix/qmgr[1456]: warning: connect to transport filter;: No such file or directory Feb 23 20:39:11 server popper[5855]: Stats: graham 0 0 0 0 dsl-217-155-232-206.zen.co.uk 217.155.232.206 [pop_updt.c:296] Feb 23 20:40:02 server postfix/qmgr[1456]: warning: connect to transport filter;: No such file or directory Feb 23 20:40:16 server popper[5856]: Stats: graham 0 0 0 0 dsl-217-155-232-206.zen.co.uk 217.155.232.206 [pop_updt.c:296] <<< It's something to do with setting up Bogofilter as a spam filter. The alterations to /etc/postfix/master.cf are as follows: >>> smtp inet n - n - - smtpd -o content_filter=filter: . . filter unix - n n - - pipe flags=R user=filter argv=/home/filter/postfix-filter.sh -f ${sender} -- ${recipient} <<< and /home/filter/postfix-filter.sh is a script in accordance with instructions at http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/*checkout*/bogofilter/bogofilter/doc/ integrating-with-postfix?content-type=text%2Fplain&rev=1.3 Any clues would be most welcome. -- GT

3 4

How to find what fonts are available for enscript/CUPS
by Chris Green 28 Feb '04

28 Feb '04

I have a Slackware 9.1 system with CUPS installed and working. I'm using enscript to print some files. How can I find out what fonts are available (i.e. what can I put after the -f parameter in enscript)? Both Courier and Times-roman work but there are probably others. I don't think they're the same as the X fonts. In /usr/share/cups/fonts there's just Courier so it must be getting Times-roman from somewhere else. If I could find the somewhere else I might be able to see what other fonts are there. -- Chris Green (chris(a)areti.co.uk)

1 0

Re: [ALUG] Headless RedHat
by Matt Parker 28 Feb '04

28 Feb '04

On Fri, 2004-02-27 at 13:13, Peter Onion wrote: > On Fri, 2004-02-27 at 12:33, Matt Parker wrote: > > Hi All, > > > > I've got 3 boxen I want to use in my configuration - 2 RedHat 7.3 boxen > > (one running Oracle 9i, one running IBM WebSphere) and 1 Mandrake 9.1 > > box. I've got 1 two-port KVM switch so I can view one of the RedHat > > boxen as well as my Mandrake desktop. The problem is that I cannot get > > the other RedHat box to boot in headless mode (I don't want to reinstall > > since a lot of time and effort went into getting Oracle and WebSphere > > set up correctly). I've tried using serial cable/minicom for the second > > box, but no joy. Anyone here managed to get Linux/x86 booting in > > headless mode? > > How does it fail ? > Who knows? I'm trying to run it headless!!! Matt -- http://www.mpcontracting.co.uk Experts in Java development and website design

5 8

Was: [alug social] lugs 'round these parts?
by Duncan Sample 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Just moving this discussion to this list, and adding to it :o) -----Forwarded Message----- > From: Duncan Sample > To: social(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: [alug social] lugs 'round these parts? > > Are the LUGs round generally weekly or monthly? Apart from the Cambridge one being weekly I haven't heard much about the LUGs round these parts, and the websites don't say much :o) > > I was wondering lately about whether it would be a good idea to start up a Cambridgeshire Fenland LUG (oh no, not another LUG!, lol), to bridge the gap between Peterborough and Cambridge. > > I want to have a regular social LUG like the classic LUG model of the home-brew club... people submitting bugs online and saying what gathering they're planning to go to, then people can try and find a solution if they have a free moment, and if it's not fixed online, I'd print the list of unsolved problems for people turning up that night and take the list along for people to thrash out. > > That's the main thing I thought of for the site, the fact that there would be a central store of people's questions (I know there's sites for that already), but most importantly, them saying where they're planning to meet, and whether they'll have their computer there for people to hack there ideas out until it's solved :o) > > I'm starting to make the site for it anyway, since I get bored at the weekend and start doodling new things (hey, it keeps me occupied) lol, just wanted to ask for the general opinions, and any other ideas for things that would help the running of LUGs :o) > > Duncan > > PS: Of course if it turns out my hair-brain idea would be useful, I'd see about starting an SF project for it so everyone can benefit -----MJ Ray replied----- > An ALUG question-site seems a good idea. I'd link to it. How would it > play with the email? Are you planning to use a bug tracker like mantis > or something like that? There's probably things that would need > adding, like being able to subscribe to get email notices of problems. I was thinking of making it from scratch, with the possibility of bringing in code from other projects to produce a cohesive tool that any LUG/group of LUGS could use. The questions side of things I was thinking would be made so that people could submit questions through the web (and possibly link into an e-mail account/SMS system so people can send questions in different ways). The person would enter the question, possibly a category, and the route they'd like to get their answer (Just e-mail/web or through a gathering) and details about the gathering they want to attend. The question would then get e-mailed out to everyone who's selected to get new questions (either all new questions, or all for that LUG/venue/particular gathering). All responses to the question (again web/sms/wap/email, etc) would get sent to the originator (and anyone subscribed to the question) and added to the discussion for that question. Before a gathering (I'm thinking pub social), the organiser would go onto the site and print out a summary of all the questions that people would like answered at that gathering (export to PDA compatible file/PDF an option), this would print all the questions that haven't been marked as 'answered', and depending on the quantity of responses those aswell. After a gathering, any answers would be entered onto the website against the relevant questions, and those questions then closed (e-mailing all interested users about the final answer). ----- Other things I thought might be useful to include in the package are: An in depth venue and gatherings/events database... with links to maps, directions, type of venue, features(net connection, pool table, private room, etc) for each venue. Gatherings would have details such as the type of gathering (social, hack/install fest, etc), and possibly a list of everyone interested in that event. Guides Archive... more than just a howto archive, more of a book about running Linux in the real world, written by the people who use it, the LUGs/users could make chapters/articles to go into an central ebook. Each chapter could be set up in a discussion-thread-like format (or wiki) while in development, and a system made so that when a chapter is finalised it is brought together nicely into one document. People would then be able to read the current finalised book online or download it as a PDF or XML. If it was made so that things are assigned to users/LUGs then we could make the site customisable enough that every LUG could have their own complete site within the system (template completely customisable through a content manager), then they could link to events/questions/venues from all LUGs on the system (especially useful for LUGs that share coverage or partner up as with ALUG), and generally interweave all the LUGs into one cohesive community. ----- So... as I have thoroughly bored everyone with my ramblings I'll stop there (I just realised how much rambling I'd done, lol). The ideas are just that at the moment, but if enough people are interested/would like to help develop the ideas into a workable system with me, then I'll draw up a plan and we can get the ball moving on getting a SourceForge project started. Duncan Sample http://www.antimatters.org.uk http://antimatters.homelinux.net

1 0

Was: [alug social] lugs 'round these parts?
by Duncan Sample 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Just moving this discussion to this list, and adding to it :o) -----Forwarded Message----- > From: Duncan Sample > To: social(a)lists.alug.org.uk > Subject: [alug social] lugs 'round these parts? > > Are the LUGs round generally weekly or monthly? Apart from the Cambridge one being weekly I haven't heard much about the LUGs round these parts, and the websites don't say much :o) > > I was wondering lately about whether it would be a good idea to start up a Cambridgeshire Fenland LUG (oh no, not another LUG!, lol), to bridge the gap between Peterborough and Cambridge. > > I want to have a regular social LUG like the classic LUG model of the home-brew club... people submitting bugs online and saying what gathering they're planning to go to, then people can try and find a solution if they have a free moment, and if it's not fixed online, I'd print the list of unsolved problems for people turning up that night and take the list along for people to thrash out. > > That's the main thing I thought of for the site, the fact that there would be a central store of people's questions (I know there's sites for that already), but most importantly, them saying where they're planning to meet, and whether they'll have their computer there for people to hack there ideas out until it's solved :o) > > I'm starting to make the site for it anyway, since I get bored at the weekend and start doodling new things (hey, it keeps me occupied) lol, just wanted to ask for the general opinions, and any other ideas for things that would help the running of LUGs :o) > > Duncan > > PS: Of course if it turns out my hair-brain idea would be useful, I'd see about starting an SF project for it so everyone can benefit -----MJ Ray replied----- > An ALUG question-site seems a good idea. I'd link to it. How would it > play with the email? Are you planning to use a bug tracker like mantis > or something like that? There's probably things that would need > adding, like being able to subscribe to get email notices of problems. I was thinking of making it from scratch, with the possibility of bringing in code from other projects to produce a cohesive tool that any LUG/group of LUGS could use. The questions side of things I was thinking would be made so that people could submit questions through the web (and possibly link into an e-mail account/SMS system so people can send questions in different ways). The person would enter the question, possibly a category, and the route they'd like to get their answer (Just e-mail/web or through a gathering) and details about the gathering they want to attend. The question would then get e-mailed out to everyone who's selected to get new questions (either all new questions, or all for that LUG/venue/particular gathering). All responses to the question (again web/sms/wap/email, etc) would get sent to the originator (and anyone subscribed to the question) and added to the discussion for that question. Before a gathering (I'm thinking pub social), the organiser would go onto the site and print out a summary of all the questions that people would like answered at that gathering (export to PDA compatible file/PDF an option), this would print all the questions that haven't been marked as 'answered', and depending on the quantity of responses those aswell. After a gathering, any answers would be entered onto the website against the relevant questions, and those questions then closed (e-mailing all interested users about the final answer). ----- Other things I thought might be useful to include in the package are: An in depth venue and gatherings/events database... with links to maps, directions, type of venue, features(net connection, pool table, private room, etc) for each venue. Gatherings would have details such as the type of gathering (social, hack/install fest, etc), and possibly a list of everyone interested in that event. Guides Archive... more than just a howto archive, more of a book about running Linux in the real world, written by the people who use it, the LUGs/users could make chapters/articles to go into an central ebook. Each chapter could be set up in a discussion-thread-like format (or wiki) while in development, and a system made so that when a chapter is finalised it is brought together nicely into one document. People would then be able to read the current finalised book online or download it as a PDF or XML. If it was made so that things are assigned to users/LUGs then we could make the site customisable enough that every LUG could have their own complete site within the system (template completely customisable through a content manager), then they could link to events/questions/venues from all LUGs on the system (especially useful for LUGs that share coverage or partner up as with ALUG), and generally interweave all the LUGs into one cohesive community. ----- So... as I have thoroughly bored everyone with my ramblings I'll stop there (I just realised how much rambling I'd done, lol). The ideas are just that at the moment, but if enough people are interested/would like to help develop the ideas into a workable system with me, then I'll draw up a plan and we can get the ball moving on getting a SourceForge project started. Duncan Sample http://www.antimatters.org.uk http://antimatters.homelinux.net -- "Imagine what it took for Microsoft to piss off so many people that they're all willing to work night and day without pay just to bring that company down." - Bruce Perens

1 0

Headless RedHat
by Matt Parker 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Hi All, I've got 3 boxen I want to use in my configuration - 2 RedHat 7.3 boxen (one running Oracle 9i, one running IBM WebSphere) and 1 Mandrake 9.1 box. I've got 1 two-port KVM switch so I can view one of the RedHat boxen as well as my Mandrake desktop. The problem is that I cannot get the other RedHat box to boot in headless mode (I don't want to reinstall since a lot of time and effort went into getting Oracle and WebSphere set up correctly). I've tried using serial cable/minicom for the second box, but no joy. Anyone here managed to get Linux/x86 booting in headless mode? Matt -- http://www.mpcontracting.co.uk Experts in Java development and website design

2 1

RE: [alug social] Re: [ALUG] OpenSSH
by MJ Ray 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

On 2004-02-27 10:23:32 +0000 Jenny Hopkins <Jenny(a)toby-churchill.com> wrote: >> From: Duncan Sample [mailto:linux@antimatters.co.uk] > >> On a slightly more serious note... when are the LUG meets around >> here? by >> here I mean peterborough/huntingdon area Peterborough meetings are normally the last Thursday or Tuesday of each month. I'm a bit confused about when the next one is, as I've not followed their mailing list closely enough. Anyone for a drink^Wmeeting in Ely? > Look out, all the techie grrrls on this list are DANGEROUS. Hrm, modem and parallel ports? -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef(a)jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/

1 0

RE: [ALUG] Onboard modem Suse 9.0 K7s5a
by Jenny Hopkins 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Keith Watson wrote: > > > a) Put external modem on parallel port!!! > > > > Are you sure this is possible??? > > Of course, no problem!. Just ask Jen, she the list's > resident expert on this. > :o) Heh heh! I was wondering if I should comment when I saw the original mail, but I'm not one to give advice! My modem did survive its unpleasant experience of being plugged into the parallel port and has been working well since, though. Syleham - hoping to make it but weekends get shorter and shorter, had anyone else noticed this? Got to return my library book and dredge a review from somewhere. Jen ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________

1 0

Onboard modem Suse 9.0 K7s5a
by Nick Daniels 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Hi I have been trying to configure my onboard modem on my K7S5A board as I need my serial port for ham radio control. Suse 9.0, finds the modem but I have tried TTYS0 to S4 with no luck. Does anybody know what I should assign it to, or is there other things I should look at? Regards Nick Daniels

5 7

Shell buzzer
by Wayne Stallwood 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

I am running SuSE 9.0 here, but I've seen this on other distros When in either a tty session on a shell using konsole I have a really annoying warning bleep when I do certain things, an example is pressing backspace when there is nothing to backspace to of if I try to tab complete something that does not exist. In konsole it is using the soundcard and on the tty sessions it uses the PC speaker. How do you get rid of it ? Regards Wayne

9 9

Announce digest, Vol 3 #4 - 1 msg
by announce-request＠lists.alug.org.uk 27 Feb '04

27 Feb '04

Send Announce mailing list submissions to announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to announce-request(a)lists.alug.org.uk You can reach the person managing the list at announce-admin(a)lists.alug.org.uk When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Announce digest..." --------------.--------------------------------------------.------------ alug-announce | Newsletter of the Anglian Linux User Group | Weekly(ish) --------------'--------------------------------------------'------------ ** Please send articles for this letter to announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk ** *** Please send replies to main(a)lists.alug.org.uk, not announce... *** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today's Topics: 1. [lugmaster] Update on the EU's IP Enforcement Directive (James Heald) --__--__-- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 18:50:08 +0000 From: James Heald <j.heald(a)ucl.ac.uk> To: lugmaster(a)mailman.lug.org.uk Reply-To: "A closed discussion list for UK LUGMasters." <lugmaster(a)mailman.lug.org.uk> Subject: [Alug Announce][lugmaster] Update on the EU's IP Enforcement Directive -- FFII News Update -- 25 February 2004 -- +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ +++ -- For immediate release -- Please redistribute widely As expected, the proposed text for the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED) was nodded through by the European Parliament's Legal Affairs committee without a vote on Monday afternoon. The Directive is now scheduled to be debated by the full Parliament on Monday 8 March, and voted on (with amendments possible) on Tuesday 9 March, ready to be approved by ministers on Thursday 11 March. A report of the MEP's discussion can be found at: http://www.ipjustice.org/CODE/Report_of_JURI_Committee_Meeting.html =09 One notable comment is that of Malcolm Harbour (UK Conservative MEP), who said that: "This Directive, contrary to public presentation, is not mainly about the commercial interests of the software industry, but about important brandnames that are an incentive for criminal elements (tangibles)... When getting e-mails MEPs should reply that the Directive is not about Free Software and not even about the digital world. It should pass in First Reading". This should be read in the context of Article 2 of the Directive, which states that: "...the measures and procedures provided for by this Directive shall apply, in accordance with Article 3, to any infringement of intellectual property rights as provided for by Community law and/or by the national law of the Member State concerned". A page by Ian Brown of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), outlines some of the measures in the directive and how they could be used by claimed rightsholders against small software projects: http://www.ffii.org.uk/ip_enforce/oss.html EFF Alert =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Electronic Freedom Frontier (EFF) today also issued a briefing about the directive, and an online petition which will be sent to key MEPs, http://action.eff.org/action/moreinfo.asp?item=3D2873 http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=3D2&item=3D2873 =09 "The European Parliament is poised to adopt a controversial directive on Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement that would give rights-holders incredibly powerful tools in their fight against intellectual property infringers. While this might sound like a good idea at first, a closer look reveals that the directive doesn't distinguish between unintentional, non-commercial infringers and for-profit, criminal counterfeiting organizations. If this directive is adopted, a person who unwittingly infringes copyright -- even if it has no effect on the market -- could potentially have her assets seized, bank accounts frozen and home invaded. Don=92t let these tactics become the latest weapons in intellectual property rights-holders' destructive war on "piracy".=09 =09 "The key to the directive is the definition of 'commercial scale'. Several of the more extreme new remedies are only available for commercial- scale infringement. However, this is largely undermined by the definition in new recital 13a of the directive, which states, 'The acts which are committed on a commercial scale are those carried out for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage'. "Although it goes on to say, 'This would normally exclude acts done by end consumers acting in good faith,' the meaning of 'indirect economic advantage' is unclear and the directive is not limited to intentional infringements. Therefore, there is concern that rights-holders will be able to use the new tougher penalties against consumers who accidentally or unknowingly infringe, including those who commit minor infringements without any commercial purpose or impact." FFII view =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =09 FFII stands by its previous statements about the Directive, as picked up for example in this Slashdot discussion: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=3D04/02/20/216227 =09 In particular FFII draws attention to the proposal to make "Anton Piller" orders available for all alleged IP infringements, without even the proposed restriction to commercial scale. Currently these measures are unknown outside the UK and France. Furthermore, in the UK, after very strong criticisms from the most senior judges, a strict new code of practice was brought in in the early 90s which cut the number of applications granted by a factor of ten.=09 =09 "We are talking about unannounced dawn raids by private security firms, piling in with legal authority and seizing entire computer systems and filing cabinets full of documents. That is a terrifying and destructive experience for a small firm," explains FFII's James Heald. That is why FFII is arguing that such measures should only be available in the most extreme circumstances, and where there is clear evidence of a deliberate knowing intent to infringe for commercial gain on a commercial scale. Such measures are simply not appropriate where there is no such deliberate piracy, and no such emergency, in cases as complex as those in patent law and disputed ownership of confidential information/trade secrets, which routinely can take five years in court. "FFII says that without better defined safeguards the Directive will lead to a far more agressive, lawyer-driven legal environment for creative businesses. Having seen how similar legislation is used in the United States, FFII fears that it will provide the perfect means for agressive litigators holding dubious intellectual property rights to "pull a SCO" and use the powers of the Directive to seriously harass and damage small open-source projects and innovative businesses". FFII believes that: 1. Disputes about patents and trade secrets/confidential information should be taken out of the scope of the directive altogether. The draconian measures being discussed are completely inappropriate for such complex disputes. Ideally the directive should be limited back to its original proposed scope, namely commercially organised, fully intentional, copyright and trademark infringement. 2. The Directive should only apply where there is intent to infringe for commercial gain on a commercial scale. It should not apply unless there is good evidence of recklessness or a deliberate knowing intention to infringe. 3. Articles 7 to 10 should even then only apply in exceptional cases. It should be clearly stated in the Directive (as at the moment it is not) that they are not intended to become automatic standard procedure in all IP disputes. *** FFII urges all European citizens to contact their local constituency MEPs as soon as possible, to make them aware of the dangers of this Directive. *** Contact details for UK MEPs can be found at: http://www.europarl.org.uk/uk_meps/MembersMain.htm =09 =09 James Heald, UK co-ordinator, FFII http://www.ffii.org.uk/ip_enforce/ipred.html _______________________________________________ lugmaster mailing list lugmaster(a)mailman.lug.org.uk http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/lugmaster --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Announce mailing list Announce(a)lists.alug.org.uk http://lists.alug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/announce End of Announce Digest

1 0