Month: September 2015

Hey Cloudera & MapR: Open Data Platform is the Real Deal

This seems like great news!!!!  Too bad http://opendataplatform.org/ is down.  :-/  On the other hand, maybe that just gives it more open-source cred.  😉  No slick hype and marketing there!

This morning at the Hadoop Summit in Brussels, three big data crunching giants —Hortonworks, IBM and Pivotal Software — are making big news.

The three will announce that their Hadoop platforms are all standardized on identical versions of Apache Hadoop 2.6, as well as Apache Ambari, and available on the market. The aforementioned configuration is known as ODP.

Source: Hey Cloudera & MapR: Open Data Platform is the Real Deal

Internet 2016: Take the Pledge: Become an Internet Voter

Calling all hashtaggers, retweeters, creators, uploaders, organizers and voters! The 2016 presidential campaign is well underway and the future of the Internet is at stake. Sign the pledge and make sure your voice is heard.

Source: Internet 2016: Take the Pledge: Become an Internet Voter

Six Easy Ways to Tell If That Viral Story Is a Hoax

“And so it begins … ISIS flag among refugees in Germany fighting the police,” blared the headline on the Conservative Post; “with this new leaked picture, everything seems confirmed”. The image in question purported to show a group of Syrian refugees holding ISIS flags and attacking German police officers.

Source: Six Easy Ways to Tell If That Viral Story Is a Hoax

Tor relay reinstated in the Kilton Library: a win for free software-based anonymity

<img src="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/nB2JbvN-wogU-_kldijp9IkNa_RAnOizs1CgEPsTYDmjqADXOgm1Rs4VRS9ivGK_nUdUyNlEp56ycOl9PkXTP4tUrNc=s0-d-e1-ft#https://static.fsf.org/common/img/logo-new.png">

Dear free software supporter,

In July, Kilton Library in Lebanon, New Hampshire set up a relay server in the Tor network, which lets Internet users surf the Web anonymously. Tor is relied on every day by whistleblowers, journalists, and dissidents in oppressive regimes, and each relay makes the network stronger. This was the first time a library had set up a relay, and the FSF was excited to see a public institution participating.

<img src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/WToFqsJE2ElFVLDILk0RaiEFkixifgTGHAxq8N0OTY0cImtTXP58oRR9URcH3GB5R3WLS30aJiwNh2ZtWEdMUMPgPtp5l8lid0evYtz0jgJHHmOEQTU9Fk8=s0-d-e1-ft#http://static.fsf.org/nosvn/images/tor-library-letter-thumbnail.png">

Read the letter in support of Kilton Library’s Tor node.

However, things took a turn for the worse this month when the US government’s Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement intimidated the library into shutting down the relay (also known as a node). In response, the FSF, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and others signed a public letter supporting the library and its Tor initiative. Even more importantly, local patrons of Kilton Library crammed a public hearing yesterday to express their conviction that the relay should be reactivated. The campaign worked and, as of Thursday September 16th, the relay is running again!

Tor relies on thousands of relay servers worldwide, which route traffic in tricky ways to dodge surveillance and circumvent censorship. The more relays, the stronger and faster the network, and more are always needed. That’s why Alison Macrina of the Library Freedom Project and Nima Fatemi, a Tor developer, are working to launch nodes in American libraries. Kilton was the pilot for this project.

This isn’t the first time that law enforcement has worked to shut down a Tor relay — in fact, it’s common for those who run relays to be harassed by police. The stated justification is usually that anonymity software can be used by criminals, but by that argument, roads should also be illegal because some people drive drunk.

The FSF has long supported the Tor project in its effort provide free software-based anonymity. We run a Tor middle relay on one of our servers, and have been partners with Tor and the Electronic Frontier Foundation in holding the Tor Challenge, an initiative to encourage people to run Tor nodes. In 2010 we awarded Tor the Free Software Award for Projects of Social Benefit.

Our support for Tor is connected to our work to fight bulk surveillance and its pernicious effects on computer users’ rights. This is a historic moment in that battle, and a major success. Expect to see more Tor relays in libraries soon! If you think your local library would be interested in running a relay, check out the Library Freedom Project’s resources to get started.

Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager

Read online: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/tor-relay-reinstated-in-the-kilton-library-a-win-for-free-software-based-anonymity.

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App for Repeating Location-Based Reminders

I use a few different reminder apps for various situations:

Most of those provide location-based reminders.  I ran into a situation where I thought it would be handy to have a *repeating* location-based reminder, i.e., a reminder every time I visit a location.  I was surprised how hard it was to find an app that does this.  I found this useful thread on reddit in which someone recommended Reminders – Task reminder app on the Google Play store.  Seems great!