Previously, the headline (which is essentially a sidebar) was floated to the
right; this had the benefit of allowing the content to surround it on the lower
portion of the page, though that's arguably a poor design decision. With this
change, this does not occur, but the real reason for this change was to ensure
that block elements (such as divs) do not overflow into the headline.
This uses minimalist styling---as much as possible is done using the body
element. The footer positioning was tricky with varying content length. Since
the headline currently contains only images, my decision was to just get away
with setting a min-height to something reasonable for the headline content
height.
The inline image extension does not belong in repo2html (see comments), but the
source code highlighting may be moved in (code samples do make sense in commit
messages).
This was a bit of a difficult decision. One one hand, I perferred for the user
to select his/her own font via their browser settings. That said, the user still
has the option to override the font and use his/her own defaults.
This font choice is nearly identical to the current site font choice.
Each year, the [Free Software Foundation][0] presents awards to individuals who
have made a strong contribution to free software:
The Award for the Advancement of Free Software is given annually to an
individual who has made a great contribution to the progress and development
of free software, through activities that accord with the spirit of free
software.[1]
This year, announced at the LibrePlanet 2013 conference, [the winner was Dr.
Fernando Perez][1]---creator of IPython. The winner of the Award for Projects of
Social Benefit was [OpenMRS][2], which is a free (as in freedom) medical records
system for developing countries.
[0] http://fsf.org
[1] https://www.fsf.org/news/2012-free-software-award-winners-announced-2
[2] http://openmrs.org/
[As I had mentioned late last week][0], RMS had mentioned that Defective By
Design (DBD) would be campaigning against the [introduction of DRM into the W3C
HTML5 standards][1]. (Please see [my previous mention of this topic][0] for a
detailed explanation of the problem and a slew of references for additional
information.) Well, [this campaign is now live and looking for
signatures][2]---50,000 by May 3rd, which is the [International Day Against
DRM][3]:
Hollywood is at it again. Its latest ploy to take over the Web? Use its
influence at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to weave [Digital
Restrictions Management (DRM)][4] into HTML5 -- in other words, into the very
fabric of the Web.
[...]
Help us reach 50,000 signers by May 3rd, 2013, the [International Day Against
DRM][3]. We will deliver the signatures to the W3C (they are right down the
street from us!) and make your voice heard.[1]
To summarize the issue as stated by the EFF:
W3C is there to create comprehensible, publicly-implementable standards that
will guarantee interoperability, not to facilitate an explosion of new
mutually-incompatible software and of sites and services that can only be
accessed by particular devices or applications. But EME is a proposal to bring
exactly that dysfunctional dynamic into HTML5, even risking a return to the
["bad old days, before the Web"][5] of deliberately limited
interoperability.
it would be a terrible mistake for the Web community to leave the door open
for Hollywood's gangrenous anti-technology culture to infect W3C standards.[1]
So please---[sign the petition now][2]!
[0] [cref:9d3c8c214425124acd4076750f963f538628e9e5]
[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/defend-open-web-keep-drm-out-w3c-standards
[2] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5
[3] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/dayagainstdrm
[4] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm
[5] http://www.anybrowser.org/campaign/index.html
This news is huge and an incredible win for both the EFF and all U.S. citizens.
Today, [United States District Judge Susan Illston found the National Security
Letters' gag provisions unconstitutional][0] and---since the review procedures
violate the separation of powers and cannot be separated from the rest of the
statute---has consequently [ruled the NSLs themselves to be
unconstitutional][1]:
In today's ruling, the court held that the gag order provisions of the statute
violate the First Amendment and that the review procedures violate separation
of powers. Because those provisions were not separable from the rest of the
statute, the court declared the entire statute unconstitutional.[1]
This is an exciting decision; let's see where it takes us.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to stop issuing
so-called NSLs across the board, in a stunning defeat for the Obama
administration’s surveillance practices. She also ordered the government to
cease enforcing the gag provision in any other cases. However, she stayed her
order for 90 days to give the government a chance to appeal to the Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals.[0]
[The issues surrounding NSLs][2] were highlighted just last week when [Google
released numbers relating to the orders that it received][3].
[0] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/03/nsl-found-unconstitutional/
[1] https://www.eff.org/press/releases/national-security-letters-are-unconstitutional-federal-judge-rules
[2] https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters
[3] [cref:a1f8634296246f2f771f99c04fb74af0a592481e]
Two acronyms that, until very recently, would seem entirely incompatible---HTML,
which is associated with an unencumbered, free (as in freedom) representation of
a document, and [DRM][0], which [exists for the sole purpose of restricting
freedom][1]. Unfortunately, Tim Berners-Lee---the man attributed to
``inventing'' the Internet[18]---mentioned in a keynote talk at SXSW that [he is
not opposed to introducing DRM into the HTML5 standard][4][15]:
[Tim Berners-Lee] did not, however, present himself as an opponent of digital
locks. During a post-talk Q&A, he defended proposals to add support for
``digital rights management'' usage restrictions to HTML5 as necessary to get
more content on the open Web: "If we don't put the hooks for the use of DRM
in, people will just go back to using Flash," he claimed.[4]
Many who oppose DRM refer to it as ``digital restrictions management''[0]---a
phrase that better describes how it affects the user. The ``rights'' that
``digital rights management'' describes are the ``rights'' (in terms of
copyright) of publishers and copyright holders: They wish to lock down their
content so that [you, the user, can only access it as *they* please][5]. Has
``your'' device[25][26] ever told you that [you cannot share a book with your
friends][6][17][24]? Has your device ever [deleted your content without your
permission][7][8]? Does your device grant you [less privileges if you decide to
liberate yourself from it][9] through ``jailbreaking''? Does the software you
run [potentially spy on you without telling you][11], without giving you the
option to correct it? Or perhaps the games you play [require you to be online,
even in single-player mode][12].
These are but a small handful of [examples of the many mistakes and injustices
of Digital Restrictions Management][5]. These restrictions take additional
effort---that is, development time, which also means more money---to build into
software; computers, by their very nature, do exactly as they are told, meaning
that they can only work against you if someone else tells it to (unless you tell
your computer to make your life miserable...if you're into that sort of thing).
As such, we refer to these restrictions as [``anti-features''][23].
Corporations claim that DRM is necessary to fight copyright infringement
online and keep consumers safe from viruses. But there's no evidence that DRM
helps fight either of those. Instead DRM helps big business stifle innovation
and competition by making it easy to quash ``unauthorized'' uses of media and
technology.[5]
It is this logic that corporations[13] (and even some individuals, such as
authors[14]) use to influence entities such as the W3C---and Tim
Berners-Lee---into [thinking that DRM is necessary][15]. The [W3C describes a
``trust infastructure''][16] that could be standardized for bringing DRM to the
web:
It is clear that user domains (eg eBook trading, sub-rights trading, streaming
music, etc.) each require sets of Rights Primitives that those domains wish do
useful things with.[16]
This is an unfortunate perspective, especially since those ``useful things'' are
exactly the opposite for users. The Internet strongly promotes the free,
(generally) unencumbered flow of information. To quote W3C:
The social value of the Web is that it enables human communication, commerce,
and opportunities to share knowledge. One of W3C's primary goals is to make
these benefits available to all people, whatever their hardware, software,
network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or
physical or mental ability.[19]
A DRM implementation flies in the face of those goals, as it is, by definition,
restrictive---how can we be encouraged to share by using systems that aim to
[prevent that very thing][0]?
Richard Stallman has already announced that the [FSF will ``campaign against W3C
support for DRM''][20]; let's hope that many others will join in on this
campaign, hope that organizations like the EFF will continue to fight for our
rights, and further hope that users will [reject DRM-laden products][22]
outright. [DRM cannot exist in free software][25] and it cannot exist on a
network that facilitates free information.
[0] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm (Disclaimer: I am an associate
member of the [Free Software Foundation][2] and, as such, this reference is
intentionally bias; feel free to see the [Wikipedia article on DRM][3] for more
general information.)
[1] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/
[2] http://fsf.org
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management
[4] http://boingboing.net/2013/03/10/tim-berners-lee-the-web-needs.html
[5] https://www.eff.org/issues/drm
[6] http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200549320
[7] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1248
[8] http://boingboing.net/2012/10/22/kindle-user-claims-amazon-dele.html
[9] http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/02/ibooks-to-jailbreakers-no-yuo/ (I go
into more detail on jailbreaking and its current legality as of the time of
writing [in a previous article of mine][10].)
[10] [cref:7631ac2857e8655c50da5653d49e3c6046ff8286]
[11] [cref:3fa69da6531cb2131a7f52d17eb77a75e01794ba]
[12] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/tale-simcity-users-struggle-against-onerous-drm
[13] http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/12/together-html5-and-drm-can-take-out-native-apps/
[14] [cref:1ac60452f78af07fbef4da288be1048ca37c34e2]
[15] http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2013/mar/12/tim-berners-lee-drm-cory-doctorow
[16] http://www.w3.org/2000/12/drm-ws/
[17] https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/e-books-must-increase-our-freedom-not-decrease-it
[18] http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/
[19] http://www.w3.org/Consortium/mission#principles
[20] http://lists.libreplanet.org/archive/html/libreplanet-discuss/2013-03/msg00007.html
[21] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/11/2012-dmca-rulemaking-what-we-got-what-we-didnt-and-how-to-improve
[22] http://www.defectivebydesign.org/guide
[23] https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2007/fall/antifeatures/
[24] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
[25] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html
[26] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/who-does-that-server-really-serve.html
Earlier this week, the starter of the [White House petition to ``Make Unlocking
Cell Phones Legal''][0] posted a [thread on Hacker News][1] stating that the
White House had officially responded[0], stating:
The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers
should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other
penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to
tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones. And if you have paid
for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other
obligation, you should be able to use it on another network. It's common
sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we
continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers
innovative products and solid service to meet consumers' needs.[0]
The petition---as stated in the above response---garnered over 114,000
signatures. The response is exciting news because the Library of Congress had
[removed the phone unlocking exemption][2] at the beginning of this year. (As
the EFF points out, [this may not necessarily mean that unlocking your phone is
``illegal''][3]).
However, although this response is getting a lot of attention (I was surprised
to see my local news station report on it), this is not yet cause for
celebration; it is my hope that the White House will now follow through with
this statement and act upon it appropriately.
(The [EFF has also posted their own comments on the White House's response][4].)
This is just one issue in [a string of problems that is the DMCA][5].
[0] https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-unlocking-cell-phones-legal/1g9KhZG7
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5319577
[2] [cref:9ceb4331746f11dcb21aa92e09184514a183e61b]
[3] https://www.eff.org/is-it-illegal-to-unlock-a-phone
[4] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/white-house-supports-unlocking-phones-real-problem-runs-deeper
[5] https://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca
Mike Gerwitz