The Register reports that Mobile networks line up to bash net snooping plan. El Reg has used FoI requests to obtain information related to the public consultation on the UK Government's euphemistically named "Internet Modernisation Programme", under which all ISPs were expected to eavesdrop and record information about their clients' communications.  Criticism has been severe enough to stall development of this vile and intrusive plan until after the next election.  The Register reports that

The mobile operators variously attack IMP's technical feasibility, its legality, its impact on customer privacy and its opaque £2bn cost estimate. They also question the consultation's assertion that the ability to access records of all communications is essential for law enforcement and intelligence agencies to do their jobs.

In an interesting approach to judgement, it appears that CONI, the Italian Olympic committee, has proposed that Danilo Di Luca's doping ban should be 3 years rather than 2 because he's aggravated the situation by not admitting his guilt (Di Luca Facing Three-year Ban For Doping | Cyclingnews.com).  Meanwhile Di Luca reportedly claims the whole situation is a result of a conspiracy and that his lawyers will prove the two samples taken during this year's Giro d'Italia are false positives.

Well, what's new.  But the EPO tests are, I believe set up quite conservatively, and tend to yield false negatives rather than false positives.  In an added attempt to punish the errant doper, CONI are imposing financial penalties:

The agency also intends to hold Di Luca to the International Cycling
Union (UCI) rule which fines riders one year's salary for a positive
doping control, as well as the costs of the results management and
B-sample analysis allowed under UCI anti-doping article 275.

Well, I'm no friend of dope cheats (but I do find their defensive bleating quite amusing), but this does seem to pile penalty upon penalty.  On the subject of conspiracy, Di Luca's lawyer said:

I ditched BT as an ISP over a year ago, in protest over their plans to implement the vile Phorm DPI system.  This proved easy to do (apart from the 4 hour New Delhi runaround trying to get them to stop charging my credit card), and resulted in a threefold increase in my download speed through the new ISP.

However, our landline has remained with BT.  But I'm getting fed up with what amounts to an added 10% surcharge for not going with Direct Debit (it's a fixed fee of £4.50).  The search is now on for a land line service that isn't run by such an avaricious bunch of money grabbing crooks.  Or I just cave in and pay by Direct Debit.

I've been thinking about doing a fresh installation of Ubuntu Gnu/Linux on my now venerable Sony notebook for some time.  I had a number of reasons for this - firstly I wanted to eliminate the two partitions associated with Vista (spit, spit), which really wasn't able to run effectively on the limited resources the notebook had to offer.  Secondly, over the last couple of years of 6-monthy updates, I've installed a variety of now unnecessary software (including much installed outside of the excellent packaging system) - much of this seemed to lead to fairly lengthy boot-up time, and I wanted to see how Karmic performs in this regard.  Finally, I was interested to see how the Ubuntu installer works nowadays.

One of the stumbling blocks to wider acceptance of Linux (as far as I can see) is the installation of an OS - most PC users never do this: they buy a computer with a stock install of some version of Windows. I recently received the January 2010 issue of Linux Format (it's always struck me as quite bizarre that the cover dates of computer magazines )are set so far in the future!) with a DVD containing Mandriva, OpenSuse 11.2 and an LXF remaster of Ubuntu 9.10.

The installation process (if defaults are selected) seems to be about 8 steps, including easy setting up of language, time zone etc.  The partitioning step is something that I always get nervous about (I am often reinstalling and I worry about losing data.  There are a few options: to install alongside the existing OS, using the whole disk, or the advanced partioner.  I chose the advances option and removed the Vista and Vista backup ntfs partitions, the existing Ubuntu root partition, and set up the partition table afresh, maintaining the partition mounting as /home.  It's never seemed sensible to me that the default install doesn't set up a separate /home partition.  The partitioner is really very straightforward, if you have a bit of experience, and for the beginner, the default partition is easy to select.

Installation, from accepting the partition arrangement to a bootable system was very quick - unfortunately I didn't time it, but it did seem rather quicker than I'd found in the past, well under an hour to reach a functional state.  Once into the system, I installed a shed-load of software I routinely use, mostly through Synaptic, and did a system update.  It was really easy to restore all my desktop settings to the way I like them.

• There are the usual irritations related to US patent law affecting sound and video codecs, but the Ubuntu forums and wikis steer one very clearly through stages required to enable (for example) DVD playing.  This page - Restricted Formats - in particular was very helpful.
• The installation of Crossover Office (now named Crossover Linux - a user friendly implementation of Wine) went west, but I wasn't too depressed about that as I'm not overwhelmingly convinced I need Windows software at the moment.  In any event, I checked my account over at Codeweavers and was able to download a deb installer.
• The GRAMPS genealogy database installed straight off from the deb file (the repos always lag), and there were no problems with the existing dataset.
• Firefox was a bit of a pest until I persuaded it to look at the correct config folder in my home directory
• I installed the Bibus bibliography app from the Karmic repositories - I still have to configure it, though I'll probably install the latest deb from the Bibus site first.
• Various bits and bobs from Google:  Chrome browser; Picasa;

Still remaining: I need to set up ssh connections to the backup computer (notebooks are backed up daily using backuppc).    I dare say there will be one or two issues...

Zuckerberg pictures exposed by Facebook privacy roll-back • The Register
Serves him right.  And everyone should take care to keep their Facebook data restricted to those they actually want to see it. 

Powered by ScribeFire.

Oh dear.

Cyclingnews.com reports that the investigation into one of the biggest sporting doping scandals in recent years has fizzled out like a damp squib (Operación Puerto: Case Closed | Cyclingnews.com).  Despite there being freezers with bags of easily identifiable blood stored for future use, very few of these cases have ever resulted in action taken against the drug cheats.  To my mind this is a travesty and a failure in justice.  Why should some of these cheats pay the penalty (often resulting career-ending suspension), while others get away scot-free?

Operación Puerto began in May 2006 when the Spanish Civil Guard arrested Madrid doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and Liberty Seguros manager Manolo Saiz, amongst others, after having found massive amounts of doping products and blood doping evidence in an apartment belonging to Fuentes.

I've been using version 3 of the original Squeezebox for some time now for streaming digital music via the home network.  Didn't quite fancy the later Squeezebox Boom.  The Squeezebox radio looks like it might fit the bill, however...

On the other hand, to restrict the remote and battery to an aftermarket pack does feel like, in the words of The Register, "an act of frankly shocking tight-fistedness".  The red version pictured is only available in the USA, here in Blighty we are apparently restricted to the standard Squeezebox glossy black finish.

Is it worth £159?  Mmmm...don't know about that.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Cyclingnews reports that Lance Armstrong: RadioShack Not Built Around Me.  Well, I'm not so sure - look what happened when he got parachuted into Astana last year.  He says they have 8 of the 9 riders that rode the Tour for Astana last year, plus Bruyneel.  And don't forget the external pressure - I would expect the selling point for the team was his presence, and even if he wanted to take a back seat, I doubt it's possible.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Google's Chrome browser is now out in beta for Linux (Google Chrome for Linux).  Installation on Ubuntu Karmic 32 bit is straightforward, and the app launches quickly.  Only been running it for a short while, but so far, I've noticed:

1 - The default Chrome window doesn't obey my normal window management.  So the title bar is different, and the behaviour also differs (I have my windows set to roll up when the title bar is double clicked - in Chrome double clicking maximises the window).  However, the options in Chrome are easily accessed, and it's obvious there how to set Chrome's appearance to that of the rest of my desktop.

2 - On first run, Chrome offers to import data from Firefox -  this seems to be effective and quick.  Bookmarks seem to be moved effectively.

3 - Been quickly looking through Chrome extensions, and installed a couple.  As an inveterate Firefox extension user, I would miss quite a few of my favourite extensions, including this one, ScribeFire, which I use for blogging to a variety of blogging platforms (Joomla, Wordpress and Blogspot).  There's a neat-looking  Chrome extension for Blogger, which will bear investigationure the number of extensions will grow rapidly.

I'm looking forward to using Chrome...it's too early to say whether I'll make a major shift to using it.  At the very least having it is essential for website development.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Cyclingnews.com provides an update on the Alejandro Valverde doping saga - WADA Frustrated By Delays In Valverde CAS Cases. I blogged the other day that I felt that judicial delays in dealing with the fallout of Operacion Puerto would lead to injustice as many of the dopers will have retired by the time much of this mess has been sorted out.  If, indeed, it will ever be sorted out.

Cyclingnews reports that the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) is indeed upset at the length of time it's taking to resolve two cases concerning Valverde:

The first is the Caisse d'Epargne's rider's own appeal against a two-year ban from competition in Italy, enforced by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) for his alleged involvement in the Puerto affair. The second case is a joint action by WADA and the International Cycling Union (UCI), who have appealed the Spanish cycling federation's (RFEC) decision not to launch their own disciplinary proceedings against Valverde as a result of evidence gathered during the Puerto investigation.

This really cuts to the heart of the matter: if Valverde is Valv. Piti, and is guilty of blood doping via the Fuentes clinic, then, yes, he should be punished.  But what if he's actually innocent?  Should he be made to serve a lengthy ban before an appeal is heard?  Similarly, why should Valverde have proceedings against him while all the other implicated athletes carry on training and competing without sanction?

As with all athletes, a professional cyclist's career is short: these cases need to be completed quickly and efficiently.