FSMK protests against the attack of freedom in the Internet

FSMK protests against the attack of freedom in the Internet

Internet Freedom is under sever attack from many quarters – the Ministry of Information and Technology, various state governments, the police, international lobbying and now certain major Internet Service Providers (ISP's) such as Reliance Communications, Airtel and MTNL have joined the league.

After trying to constrain the nature of opinion that could be put up on the Internet in the form of the hasty IT Intermediaries Bill which faced tremendous opposition, now major websites such as Vimeo for video sharing, and various peer-to-peer file sharing or the Torrent sites commonly used for exchange of large files between users are being blocked by these ISP's, without any instructions issued by the Government.

We have already seen the effect of the IT Rules in which a huge number of requests are now being directed to intermediaries such as Google, Facebook, etc for taking down statements critical of the Government and political figures. Cases are being instituted by the Police under the IT Act against circulating of cartoons, calling it a cyber crime. All this shows that our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms in a democratic framework are currently under attack.

Equally worrying is the tendency of courts to issue blanket orders -- called John Doe orders – in the USA to protect the Intellectual Property of certain media companies, which have been wholeheartedly endorsed by corporations like Reliance Communications – an Internet Service Provider acting in the interest of Reliance as a Media company to block a large number of Torrent sites.

Free Software Movement Karnataka is a team of Internet activists and technology enthusiasts coming from various walks of life. We understand that without openly criticising the stands and actions of the freedom curbing authorities today freedom in the Internet is at stake,which consequentially would cripple the transparent functioning of democracy.

Join us to understand details of the Internet censorship and shutting down of websites issue; how it would impact you and the nation as a whole.

Internet is the voice of people today, don't let them dumb us down!

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.

Thomas Paine

June 9th Internet Freedom protest

Attack on Internet freedom is going on in an unprecedented scale. Nothing less than a digital mutiny will be able to show the disgruntle we as users of the Internet are facing.

Censorship of expression, shutting down of content sharing websites, and autonomous blocking of websites by ISPs have all been going on, taking us users for a ride. It is high time we all stand up for our rights in the internet, else this cancer will perpetuate stagnating the dynamic system that the internet has grown into.

Various groups are associating to demonstrate their anguish by various means. Our methods might be different, our understanding varied but the objective is one - Securing freedom in the internet, for us users.

FSMI, will also be joining in the campaign called on the 9th of June in the name of OpIndia. Here is what we have to say:

There is an attack on Internet Freedom from many quarters – the Ministry of IT, various state governments and the police and now certain major
Internet Service Providers (ISP's) such as Reliance and Airtel. Major sites such as Vimeo and various Torrent sites commonly used for exchange
of large files are being blocked by these ISP's, even though no instructions have been issued by the Government.

We have already seen the effect of the IT Rules in which a huge number of requests are now being directed to intermediaries such as Google,
Facebook, etc for taking down statements critical of the Government and political figures. Cases are being instituted by the Police under the IT
Act against circulating of cartoons, calling it a cyber crime. All this shows that our democratic freedoms guaranteed under the constitution are
currently under attack. Equally worrying is the tendency of courts to issue blanket orders – called John Doe orders -- to protect the Intellectual Property of certain media companies. Reliance, a ISP is acting in the interest of Reliance as a Media company to block a large number of Torrent sites.

To protest against such actions of the Government and the ISP's, FSMI calls for protests accross the country on the 9th of June 2012. FSMI also will co-ordinate with other organisations who have called for similar protests on 9th June.

World inside your head

The ability to create a world inside your head at whim can be painful at times, and a real pleasure at others. When you create the same world repeatedly, successively, passionately you might feel slightly schizophrenic. A sharp awareness of reality can be manna, at such times. 

Ever since I saw Anbe Sivam or to go back further, read Che's Motorcycle Diaries, I have fancied myself a communist. I've often tried to ignore the temptation to dress up, have sub consciously been shabby at times because the communist in my head wildly approves, of this idea so far from communism, and yet so dear to the imagination. My first protest on Saturday shall be memorable to me for one of two reasons, I am not sure : Either it made the emotion in my stomach soar, at the idea of being a real and physical voice for a few hours or it introduced me to new facets of whimsical dreaming. (Smiles)

When I reached the Town Hall my instinctive desire was to change, by some magical force, the location of the protest to the opposite side of the Town Hall, because I wanted to watch the sun set behind the Hall while I was feeling incredible. The statue of Kittur Rani Channamma on a horse with a machete in her hand quickened my heart, though I walked soberly. 5 minutes later, there I was holding a poster, looking sheepish, the expression compounded by my fear of cameras and my guilt at not having brought a poster of my own.

The most comforting part of a students' protest is the conviviality at the site of the protest in spite of how seriously everyone takes the issue. You feel at ease because the protesters can roughly be divided into two groups-people who're there for the first time and therefore look as sheepish for varying reasons and people who've been to a protest before and have discarded their inhibitions so conclusively that their nonchalance can cause you to chide yourself and become sensible.

I was quietly pleased by the effort that had been made by most of those who turned up; their spontaneity, their awareness of the issue, their willingness to speak on a public platform, pose for the media in cardboard jails and scream out slogans. I thoroughly approved when someone screamed, “It's fucking wrong” into the mike because I realised that in that breach we had all made the protest our own, in every way. That it was seeping slowly, into the thickest skins.

There are several faults with the revision of rules proposed by the Indian government:

The double standards- The creator of content is always the victim while the complainant need not worry about the consequences of his action.

The absurdity- Google argues against censorship by giving this example : Censoring the word 'sex' on the internet can cause erasure of all passport information!

The legal consequences seem to be oppressive and overdone as the impromptu skit, again keeping with the mood of the atmosphere conveyed in a conversation between several criminals in a jail cell. All of them ministers( Keeping with the Anti corruption movement) except one, who played a pitiful blogger.

The power that it gives a person to dictate their opinions - Someone remarked that censoring the internet was equivalent to censoring art, bringing to fore the analogy between the M.F.Hussain issue and this one.

As the hours progressed, I was feeling more strongly about the issue and appreciated the songs that several people sang; hoarsely, slightly out of pitch but never lacking in conviction. I tried to gauge the meaning of the Kannada songs, laughed with everyone as someone sang sportively in Malayalam, a language that no one there understood. I was losing my weakness of feeling self-conscious in the middle of strangers and I was enjoying it. The candles in the end added solemnity and as I walked back home, under the eagles flying so high, I promised myself that I would protest again, perhaps with more conviction. That it would mean more, much more the next time. 

(Written by a new free software enthusiast, who participated in FSMK's protest against the Internet censorship debate.

The author has sought anonymity )

How To Set up a repository cache with apt-cacher

By Pallavi Shastry

When running multiple machine with the same distribution, it is sensible to set up a repository cache on your network so that once a package is downloaded from an official repository, all other machines will download it from your local area network.
Having different machines running the same linux distribution, it becomes interesting to set up a repository cache in your local network. This way, you won't download common packages more than 1 time from official repositories.
Here is the situation, we have one machine called repository-cache, this machine is going to act as the repository cache, basically, any other machines in your network is going to use it as a repository.

1. Getting started : Server configuration

As usual, you need to install the required packages in the first place. So type in a terminal:

$sudo apt-get install apt-cacher apache2

To start the service of the apache web server. 

 $sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start

 

Then test by going to http://repository-cache:3142/apt-cacher to verify that it's running. 

repository-cache in the URL above is the host name or IP of the cache server in the LAN. 

Once this is done, it is time to get into the configuration files in /etc/apt-cacher/apt-cacher.conf

$sudo gedit /etc/apt-cacher/apt-cacher.conf

The default port apt-cacher is running on is port 3142.

Allowed_hosts: by default, all host are allowed to use the repository cache. You can change this value if you want to only allow certain host.

Generate_reports: This directive makes apt-cacher create a report on how efficient your cache was on a daily basis. Default is 1, if you want to disable this, set it to 0.apt-cacher will generate report on the usage of the cache every day.

Clean cache: This directive makes apt-cacher clean the cache every 24 hours . So reset it , clean cache =0

2. Activating apt-cacher to start

In order to start, apt-cacher needs to be activated from /etc/default/apt-cacher. So open /etc/default/apt-cacher and set AUTOSTART to 1:

AUTOSTART=1

Now restart apt-cacher:
$sudo /etc/init.d/apt-cacher restart
Now that apt-cacher runs, it is time to update all our clients /etc/apt/sources.list files so every host on the network will use our repository-cache machine.

3. Importing existing package from /var/cache/apt/archives/ to apt-cacher repository

It might happen that your server already has got a whole lot of packages cached in its local repository: /var/cache/apt/archives/.  
apt-cacher offers a tool to import those files to apt-cacher repository logically without in fact replicating copies of these packages.
There are whole lot of cool and useful scripts that can be found in /usr/share/apt-cacher/
The one we are interested in here is apt-cacher-import.pl which is handy to import deb files from /var/cache/apt/archives to apt-cacher repository run:

$sudo /usr/share/apt-cacher/apt-cacher-import.pl -s /var/cache/apt/archives

5. Setting up the Clients sources.list

Now it is time to set up the client hosts apt source list files: /etc/apt/sources.list
It make sense to use the repository cache on the server too, as that way, any updates made by the server will fill up the cache.

In each line , ie every instance of the sources.list file, if for example there is an entry

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ main restricted

becomes

deb http://repository-server:3142/apt-cacher/archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ main restricted

Cool, now, every host should be able to retrieve the .deb packages from our repository cache once has been ran on every host.

$ sudo apt-get update

Then test report by going to http://repository-cache:3142/reports to verify that it's running. The report is generated once a day, but if you need it at a certain time, you can force it by running:

$sudo /usr/share/apt-cacher/apt-cacher-report.pl

6. Conclusion

apt-cacher is an easy and efficient package which will save you both time and bandwidth when using multiple machines with the same distribution like it could happen in a home network or at a company.

The Internet Censorship debate

Freedom of expression takes a new dimension altogether when placed in the context of the digital channels like blogs, social networks or microblogs in the Internet. While there is no absolutism associated with any freedom, the applicability or the non applicability of restrictions and laws between the real world and the digital space needs clear understanding and a distinction based on this understanding.

The stand of Free Software Movement, has always been to sustain and perpetuate the freedom of computer users and information technology benefactors. When the Government of India today has proposed severe but unsubstantiated endorsement of censorship, leading to the curbing of fundamental rights of expression, we would want to reiterate our stand to Free Software supporters by presenting the the threat this move would pose to the essence of neutrality in the Internet and democracy in the country.

Expressing oneself in the conventional media like press, books, television and radio are entirely different, than when an individual is expressing via digital vents on the Internet. The accessibility to the media itself, and the broadcast range of the channels in both the realms are fundamentally different.

In conventional media, not everyone has a say, and the chances of rebutting to the opinions of the 'media privileged' people expressing them is seriously restricted; In the Internet it is quite the opposite. By design the Internet provides equal footing to everyone to express their own views. Anyone can express their views, or counter an expressed view without having to depend on 'media partners' to attach a voice to their opinions. Hence, it could be said that the Internet is self conditioned, and does not require external regulators.

Secondly, the views presented in newspapers, books and television, or any other form of conventional media are in a sense 'imposed', wherein except from unsubscribing to those services there is little of resentment one can demonstrate. Moreover the conventional media vents have percolated deep into the society in a country like India, where it is not the Internet but newspapers and television which build opinions of people. In contrast, the content put up on the Internet operates and caters to a relatively small portion of the population. The sensibilities of the information on the Internet makes sense to the communities of people on that particular service or platform alone, and does not spill over to the streets. It is the user who seeks content on the Interent and nothing is imposed, in comparison with the conventional media.

Further the current stand of the Government to curb and hone down the views expressed on the Internet comes as a shock. Authorities headed by Mr Kapil Sibal, whose lack of comprehension of the problem at hand is being debated heavily on all platforms, well beyond the online platforms. 

http://www.labnol.org/india/censorship-in-india/20527/

It seems he has suddenly gotten aware of the censorship trick. Mr. Sibal and the rest of the Government have been projecting that “religious blasphemy” is what they are trying to counter in the Internet – which is far from the whole truth.

There has been a lot of active propaganda on the net about the plethora of scams that the current UPA Government has been involved in. The facts being circulated might not be audited, and very just but the essence these streams online have been carrying have certainly put the Government at guard and now are using a masquerade of “religious blasphemy” to curb the freedom of expression in the Internet.

The extreme interest Mr. Sibal has been taking in this regard comes as a bigger surprise, for, the issues pertaining to the infrastructural problems of e-Governance in India, the security issues related to the Aadhaar Unique Identification project and the secretive NATGRID are not being given the same importance. These issues about Internet and technology which have been growing steadily for sometime now have to be addressed firstly, which neither Mr. Sibal nor his instigators have bothered about.

The enthusiastic involvement which Mr. Sibal, representing the Government of India has demonstrated, to curb the freedom of expression in the digital sphere manifests the unreasonable apprehensions of our current governors. If implemented, this censorship would beyond curbing the freedom of expression, cripple the democracy, or the little of it which remains.

Free Software Movement with this clear understanding, urges Internet users and activists to take up online campaigns, propagate the nuances of the issue at hand and stand up for the freedom in the Internet. 

Running 32 bit compiled binaries on 64 bit machines

Although the officially supported packages for GNU/Linux platforms from major corporations like Texas instruments might not wholly adhere to the Free Software guidelines, when the user is in desparate need to run an application from such corporations, the most optimal solution would be to get the binaries running on GNU/Linux rather than out of compulsion to use Windoze.


Code Composer by Texas Instruments is one such handy environment for all Electronics engineers. Although the tool itself is a propreitary one, TI does give a GNU/Linux version of it. It comprises of the binaries and dependencies for easy porting onto different flavours.

And because this is a precompiled package, and mostly compiled for the scenario of 32 bit architecture running a 32 bit kernel, if the necessary dependencies are not installed the binaries wouldn't run on 64 bit machines running 64 bit kernel.

"ia32libs" is the package which contains runtime libraries for the ia32/i386 architecture, configured for use on an amd64 or ia64 Debian system running a 64-bit kernel.Without these libraries, the above mentioned binaries will not get installed on the system.

Default installation,
fossphosis@raghu # apt-get install ia32-libs

That's all!
Now, your machine will be able to run the binaries compiled for 32 bit scenarios as well!

Rendezvous with a Debian Developer

Just about an hour ago is when I dropped of Jonas Smedegaard on his way to the Bangalore International airport after his week's stay here.

courtesy vigneshwar shankar

Although I haven't been writing about any person in specific even in my personal blog, in this post I only intend to reflect upon the paradigms of Jonas in comparison to my own. I won't repeat all the technicalities discussed through the week, but will try to project my perception of this hacker, who is more than a mere geek.

Now, why Jonas, and not compare myself to someone I've already known?
I believe our perceptions, and hence our deep principles heavily depend on the circumstances we are faced with, and it cannot be universal - will be relative.
Me and Jonas, as I did very well realize are from different societies, and hence have different mental worlds.

In Jonas' own terms, he comes from a different world and many a times we from this world (as many of us kept proving it through the week) here get duped into just looking at the surface, and not the details of them.
"Surface is narcotics", as he said, is so apt.

I have had a different perception of westernization. I would never be a hypocrite, or a dumb emulator of people from different societies. I must have exhibited some tendencies towards some "unreasonable" emulation, and this week long interaction with Jonas has help me sort out my prerogative in my realms.

Another important aspect which got me all inspired was, the way he correlates his work, its impact to the grand scenario. I think I fail to recognize (at least for now), the ramifications of my own small contributions to the big picture. Being inert about an issue is equivalent to encouraging it, is another point he reiterated many a times.

Leaders need to inspire, and make space for the team to grow and express themselves : A nice notion about leadership I heard Jonas say, and I, like him too have been trying to get closer to this ideal.


All said and done, respecting differences between people and each taking the better of the paths for oneself is what is the ultimate path to harmony and cooperation, both in dissimilar communities of similar individuals, and similar communities of dissimilar individuals.

PS: If you missed the technicalities, here are some reports of the events in Bangalore
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/karnataka/article2601600.ece
http://fossphosis.blogspot.com/2011/11/jonas-smedegaard-in-bangalore.html
https://alieniscogitationibus.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/debian-pureblends-and-the-freedom-box/
http://sreejithsblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/freedom-debian-pure-blends-and-jonaas.html