OK – given that most of the spam referrals talk about "Online Poker", there seems to be a plot about to boost the Wikipedia page by Googlebombing so that those who Google search for things like "Play Online Poker" get the Wikipedia page on playing poker online instead.

Seeing as I get hit by this referral spam a lot, and nobody can see my referral logs anyway, I’m happy to contribute to this!

Well, we all know that if you’re not using encryption then it’s a fairly trivial task to capture what someone sends in an email, in an instant message or through a webpage.

However, AOL have recently changed their Terms of “Service” to explicitly state that they are free to record and re-use anything you send via AIM, and that by using their service you are granting them (and anyone they feel like) a world wide license for anything you type with AIM. The text of the relevant section Content You Post says:

Although you or the owner of the Content retain ownership of all right, title and interest in Content that you post to any AIM Product, AOL owns all right, title and interest in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by AOL using or incorporating this Content. In addition, by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Content or to be compensated for any such uses.

I’ve highlighted in bold the most chilling sections. In case you didn’t spot it, they say really did say:

You waive any right to privacy.

Not nice..

Jabber – The Open Alternative
If you’ve been using AIM and are feeling a little unhappy about all of this, then I suggest that you take a long hard look at using Jabber instead. There are plenty of clients available for practicaly any operating system and plenty of open servers around the world, and you’ll probably want to pick the one closest to you.

The sad news is that Jef Raskin, the creator of the original Apple Macintosh has died. His website has the announcement.

User Friendly has a tribute cartoon.

The Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper is reporting that the Japanese Fair Trade Commission will find that Intel is in violation of the Antimonopoly Law for its method of selling central processing units to computer makers because it offers discounted prices to companies that limit their purchases of competitors CPUs.

There are more reports via Google news.

ZDNet has a blog entry about who is the leader of open source which makes a good fist of explaining why there is no leader and that this is a good thing.

I couldn’t resist drawing the following comparison (posted on ZDNet here).

The inability of some sections of the population to grasp how Open Source doesn’t have a leader reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail where King Arthur has a similar problem..

ARTHUR: Then who is your lord?
WOMAN: We don’t have a lord.
ARTHUR: What?
DENNIS: I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week,…

This lack of a single focal point is actually a strength, there is, as you put it, no single person who can fall under that hypothetical bus and whose loss will render the movement powerless. Of course we would mourn the loss of any of them, but there’ll always be plenty to stand up and take their place.

We’d have to put up a giant penguin statue if Linus bit the dust though.. 🙂

According to the new
8K filed at the SEC

On February 28, 2005, on management’s recommendation, the
Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of The SCO Group,
Inc. (the “Company”) concluded, and KPMG LLP, the Company’s
independent auditors agreed, that, due to certain
accounting errors, the Company’s financial statements for
the quarters ending January 31, 2004, April 30, 2004 and
July 31, 2004 should no longer be relied upon and should be
restated.

Specifically

For the first, second and third quarters, the Company
expects to reclassify amounts related to certain shares of
common stock that the Company may have issued under its
equity compensation plans without complying with the
registration requirements of federal and applicable state
securities laws from permanent equity to temporary equity
in the amounts of approximately $272,000, $231,000, and
$557,000, respectively. The Company may make a rescission
offer to holders of certain shares and expects an amount to
be classified as temporary equity until the completion of a
rescission offer or until the Company no longer has an
obligation to the holders of such shares.

For the first quarter and the second quarter, the Company
expects to reclassify accrued dividends related to the
Company’s previously issued Series A and Series A-1
Convertible Preferred Stock from equity to current
liabilities in the amounts of approximately $879,000 and
$1,619,000, respectively. In October 2003, the Company
issued shares of Series A Convertible Preferred Stock in
connection with its $50,000,000 private placement, which
shares were subsequently exchanged for and replaced with
shares of Series A-1 Convertible Preferred Stock. When the
Company repurchased all outstanding shares of Series A-1
Convertible Preferred Stock in July 2004, the Company’s
obligation to pay dividends on such shares terminated. The
accrued dividends were never paid and ultimately were
recorded in equity upon the completion of the repurchase
transaction. In addition, the dividends were properly
captured in the calculation of earnings per share in the
periods above.

For the first and second quarter, the Company expects to
restate approximately $233,000 of stock-based compensation
expense which was recorded in the second quarter, but
incurred in the first quarter. There will be no change to
the total stock-based compensation expense for the fiscal
year ended October 31, 2004.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..

I think I’ve found what is probably the most useful web page in existence. Read it and obey..