Hardened-PHP project
No idea how good this really is, but the Hardened-PHP project already sounds quite nice. Due to the high prevalence of PHP for web applications, it is a central point of entry for servers. Should put this on my ToDo list.
Archive 6. July 2005
Music industry wants to taboo Allofmp3.com
Actually, it's more like censorship of positive reports about allofmp3 that the music industry is aiming for. So if you've ever said something good about allofmp3, or linked to it, or even recommended it: Waldorf and Stettler will surely send you a letter. And so the madness of cease and desist orders will continue, and the music industry will continue to finance lawyers but do nothing to stop their decline and will therefore eventually become completely insignificant. But of course, it's always someone else's fault ...
Software patents temporarily halted
Occasionally, there is some positive news: European Parliament says no to software patents. However:
Now the European Patent Office must be democratized so that software patents are no longer granted in Europe without legal basis. And we must ensure that software patents are not introduced through some other back door, such as the efforts for a common EU patent.
That is the problem - we must be extremely careful that the same thing is not now attempted through other means. I do not believe that the EU Council will simply abandon its ideas, on the contrary, I suspect that it is now evading to other solutions. Therefore, I would have preferred an adopted patent directive with the intended changes rather than the general rejection, because the topic is still open. And ultimately, a directive with clear definitions could have helped prevent pure software patents, for example, to remove patents like the MP3 patent - because after all, there are already quite a number of pure software patents in Europe, and these must be eliminated somehow.
Social welfare fraud intensified
To make it clear what it would mean if Black/Yellow instead of Red/Green ruled: CDU Minister wants relatives to pay for ALG II:
The Hessian Minister of Social Affairs spoke out in favor of reintroducing the so-called maintenance recourse for unemployment benefit II (ALG II) according to the "Berliner Zeitung" on Wednesday. As already with the social benefit, non-cohabiting parents or adult children would then also be held liable for the maintenance of an unemployed person before he receives state support.
This would then not only destroy the life of the unemployed person through unemployment, but also introduce collective punishment. Where all this is heading is also clear. And the minister does not hide this:
The election program of the Union will make it clear, "that we want to revive the low-wage sector," Lautenschläger continued.
The Union presumably envisions something like India in Germany. Are there real prospects for the citizens of the Federal Republic ...