Coffs Free and Open Technology Network

I was poking around the web and found out that the domain name had been used before by a company called Free Net Corporation. It was formed in 1999 and in 2000 it formed an alliance with ANZ. You may rember the days were they tried to give away free internet access through banner advertising.

Here are some links to historical information...

www.asx.com.au

www.zdnet.com.au

web.archive.org

Enjoy and have a laugh.

The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report is available here

http://census.waughpartners.com.au or download the pdf below.

March 26th 2008 is the first annual Document Freedom Day, a global day of grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards.

Have you ever sent out a document from your brand new version of your favourite word processor and got abusive emails in return from people who can't open the file you just sent them? They may even use the same software from the same vendor, but their version is crying "unrecognised file format"!

Ever fished an old file out of your archives and found you've got no software that can read it? Perhaps the company that made the software you used to create the file went out of business years ago. Perhaps they just didn't see any profit in continuing to support the old versions of their file formats. Either way you've just lost your data forever down the black hole of proprietary file formats.

Data loss, forced software upgrades (and associated expense), and vendor lock-in are not an inevitable part of computer use. For example, the OpenDocument format, an International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) standard for spreadsheets, charts, presentations and word processing documents, is supported by a wide range of software including OpenOffice.org, Google Docs, and IBM Lotus Symphony. OpenDocument is the file format of choice at organisations such as the National Archives of Australia, where the accessibility and long-term preservation of information is their paramount concern.

There are many other free and open file formats for text, graphics, audio, and other applications. To mark Document Freedom Day the next meetings of the Coffs Ex-Services Computer Club and ClubLinux Coffs Harbour will include a review of the best ways to ensure that your data remains accessible for as long as you want, not held hostage to the whims and fortunes of the company that wrote the software you use.

ACMA - what the... THis lastest bit of legislation that is now enforce is total maddnes. I'm refering to the 'New rules for age-restricted internet and mobile content'. From this point onward all systems that provide content and is hosted in this country and/or any content that is provide from an ofshore location but is owned/provided by an Australian citizen  is subject to this legislation. It seems there is no end to the stupidity...wait, here's more - ACMA releases tender to conduct trial of content filtering products at the internet service provider level.

A couple of weeks ago I posed a similar question to Customs re the SmartGate and Biometrics. They are very easy to contact as the email went into vapor ware, I gave them a call to see where it when - I got to speak to the person who was going to action the request (They had been away). It still took a few weeks all up as they had to vet their response. At first they thought I was from the media??? Does it matter???

The email sums it all up - Customs only uses the information to validate the passport holder...once again they ran it by DFAT and the reply is still suspect. The thing that worries me is the telephone conversation that I had with Customs - they said the only real role DFAT has with boarder security is the making of passports, so why are DFAT so vague in relation to what the Biometrics are used for??? Below is a copy of the email sent and the reply...I have bolded the intresting part(s).

I find the world an interesting place...your raise a concern hoping you are wrong and its confirmed...now I'm scared.

I have to get a new passport and I found a strange question that you have to agree to. It was about biometrics and what the intended use is.

Below is the email I sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and their reply. Read it and be very scared.

Mark Pilgrim shows how fact follows dystopian fiction in the case of the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. Looks like Amazon plagiarized the Kindle terms of service from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Richard Stallman's the Right to Read.

Medical practices around the world are rushing to roll out Electronic Health Record (EHR) software, in many cases without pausing to consider the freedoms and functionality they are sacrificing in the process. An opinion piece on the LinuxMedNews blog calls this "The Coming Electronic Health Record Software Disaster". The widespread use of proprietary EHR systems:

"... amounts to widely installing Electronic Health Record faucets of tremendous range of shapes, sizes and colors, each with toll booths attached to them, with the intervening plumbing as an afterthought. What the faucets actually do and how and when the plumbing in between will be installed is left as a future exercise."

An article in the journal ADVANCE for Health Information Executives concurs:

"New York City recently awarded a $19.8 million contract to a proprietary EHR vendor, which will permit the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to provide free software to physicians and clinics to be used for care of patients. While this may be a good idea from the standpoint of affordability and interoperability if the patients all go to the clinics that use this particular system, it won't be much help when those patients seek care somewhere else."

Forget Radiohead and Price's half-hearted independant distribution efforts, Toronto band the Craft Economy have been taping copies of their debut EP to telegraph poles, along with the posters advertising their upcoming shows. For those without access to a Canadian telegraph pole, you can also download the music from their website, under a licence that permits non-commercial sharing, unlike Radiohead and Prince's latest releases.

I'm listening to the EP at the moment. It's nice melodic power-pop reminiscent of Australian bands the Hummingbirds, the Falling Joys, or the Clouds.

Coffs Harbour City Council invites individuals, groups, organisations and firms to register to be
included in a proposed internet-based 'Coffs Harbour Creative Industries Directory'.
The directory will be located on Council's website, and will be accessible to those working in the Creative Industries as well as the general public. Eligible to register are visual, literary and performing artists and the support industries assisting them in these fields. Support industries include hire, supply and maintenance, specializing professionals, industry educators, venues, including galleries and theatres, and much more.

Go to the Online Registration Form to submit your details on www.coffsharbour.nsw.gov.au
For further information, please contact Malcolm McLeod on 6648 4840.