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Linux Pipeline Newsletter www.LinuxPipeline.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2006 In This Issue: - Mozilla Readies Firefox 2.0 Alpha Release - Novell Launches SUSE Linux 10, Lays Out OES Roadmap - Judge Slashes Government Request For Google Data - More News... - Six Options For Open-Source Support - Review: The Beat Goes On For Internet Explorer - Novell CEO Looks To Fuel Enterprise Linux Push - More Picks... Rackspace Managed Hosting: Security is not an option-it's a must. 67% of Internet users declared they would take their business elsewhere if their data was compromised. Protect your server and customers with a secure managed hosting solution from Rackspace. Sign up and get a free SSL certificate in the month of March! Hurry! This offer expires March 31! Click here for details: "http://www.rackspace.com/promo/marchthawte.php?CMP=LinuxPipeline_Marchthawte" ----------------------------------------- Editor's Note: Google Wins One For The Team Google deserves credit this week for fighting, and winning, an important legal battle. Think of it as yet another free ride, courtesy of a company that has earned a fortune giving away its services. It's ironic that Google's competitors will also benefit -- even if none of them were willing to stand up for their shareholders' or customers' true best interests by picking a high-profile fight over the Justice Department's demands. Instead, when the Feds came calling, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL decided upon a somewhat less challenging response: they covered their butts, showed their bellies, and coughed up their data. Google did not get everything it wanted: The judge allowed the government to ask for 50,000 randomly-selected URLs from the company's Internet search-and-indexing data, to serve as research fodder in its efforts to defend the utterly appalling Child Online Protection Act. In relative terms, however, it's hard to imagine a more satisfying outcome for the company. As it stands, the government's original subpoena demanded that Google turn over billions of URLs, along with millions of search terms mined from the company's data-storage systems. Now, the feds will get a tiny fraction of their original request in one case, and nothing in the other case: the judge denied the government's request for search terms, in part due to the more proprietary nature of this data. Google was lucky in at least one respect: James Ware, the presiding U.S. District judge, was more than equal to the task of assessing the technologies involved in the case. As a result, he never lost sight of the single most important issue at stake: Whether the government should feel free to help itself to private data repositories that will, in many cases, yield information unrelated to its original request, but which is bound to tempt investigators who stumble across it. This is our modern-day encounter with the dreaded "slippery slope" -- and it's a long way to the bottom, given the sheer volume of data being collected and warehoused these days, often without our consent or knowledge. Google's competitors, including Microsoft and Yahoo, claim they negotiated with the government to turn over less data than they were initially asked to provide, even though they did not see fit to mount formal legal challenges. Even if it's true, it's a tactic that is worse than useless in one crucial respect: It does nothing to limit the government's ability, through both public exposure and legal precedent, to show up in the future, again and again, expecting free access to whatever data it sees fit to troll for "research purposes." Google may or may not have fought this legal battle as a matter of principle: It's enough to note that the company protected its shareholders' best interests. Unlike its competitors, however, Google played this game from the very beginning with a long-term, strategic goal in mind: making the government think twice before it launches any future fishing expeditions to the company's data well. By fighting what could easily have been a costly and damaging legal battle, Google also presented all of us with a gift that will keep on giving for many years to come: a legal precedent that will force the government to weigh similar, future requests for information far more carefully than it would have otherwise. In the process, the company has proved that, now as always, the only way to protect one's rights is to stand up and fight for them. Enjoy the rest of your week, and stay in touch.
Matt McKenzie
Don't let future editions of Linux Pipeline Newsletter go missing. Take a moment to add the newsletter's address to your anti-spam whitelist: linuxed@techwire.com If you're not sure how to do that, ask your administrator or ISP. Or check your anti-spam utility's documentation. Thanks. Top Linux News Mozilla Readies Firefox 2.0 Alpha Release The Mozilla Foundation is close to releasing the first alpha edition of the next Firefox, the group's Web site announced, with a Tuesday unveiling likely.
Novell Launches SUSE Linux 10, Lays Out OES Roadmap
Judge Slashes Government Request For Google Data
Gates Commits Internet Explorer To Yearly Updates
Sun Releases Open-Source Processor
Microsoft Refreshes IE 7 Beta 2 Preview
Novell Plans SUSE Linux 11 For 2008
Linux Tools Tackle Network-Management Challenges
Novell, SpikeSource Partner On LAMP Stack
EclipseCon To Spotlight New Members, Projects Editor's Picks Six Options For Open-Source Support Support is a key issue for any firm considering open-source software, and it can vary wildly, depending on the maturity of a particular open-source project. We'll show you the most common open-source support options, and discuss how to choose the best one to suit your organization's needs.
Review: The Beat Goes On For Internet Explorer
Novell CEO Looks To Fuel Enterprise Linux Push
Review: Gcast Podcasting Service
Disney's Iger: No Net Neutrality Laws Needed Cast Your Vote Now! This week's poll question: What will happen to Firefox when Internet Explorer 7 is released later this year? Will Microsoft finally squash Mozilla with a quality Web browser, or does Firefox still have plenty of tricks to keep Redmond second-guessing? Let us know, cast your vote! Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline Try Linux Pipeline's RSS Feed Linux Pipeline's content is available via RSS feed: Get RSS link. The feed is also auto-discoverable to many RSS readers from the Linux Pipeline home page. Note: RSS feeds are not viewable in most Web browsers. You need an RSS reader, Web-based service, or plug-in to view RSS. Find out which RSS readers the Pipeline editors recommend.
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