Free Software As Nigerian Scam

Grok Headline matches for Free Software As Nigerian Scam

Nigerian Scam as comment spam

Nigerian Scam as comment spam 02/01/2005 08:40 PM
Nigeria scammers using comment spamming to fish for fools is certanly a new and "novel" approach. Hopefully anyone reading this post will understand exactly what kind of a scam this is.

Pensioner accused of AUS $5m Nigerian
scam

Pensioner accused of AUS $5m Nigerian
scam 10/31/2003 10:35 AM
'I am the Australian headquarters for those scams'

Aussie arrested over Nigerian email scam

Aussie arrested over Nigerian email scam 10/31/2003 06:17 PM

Fraudster convicted over Nigerian 419
email scam

Fraudster convicted over Nigerian 419
email scam 03/13/2003 10:20 AM

Man Arrested in Australia Over Nigerian
E-mail Scam

Man Arrested in Australia Over Nigerian
E-mail Scam 10/30/2003 08:15 PM

Software To Catch Nigerian 419 Scammers

Software To Catch Nigerian 419 Scammers 06/07/2004 01:56 PM
If you've ever received an email from Nigeria asking for a small sum of money in order to get millions, you know what the 419 scam is. (Or you're still waiting for a lot of money that hasn't quite shown up yet.) The '419' comes from the Nigerian criminal code section against fraud, and to prevent the scams, Nigeria is looking into using software to help track down the scammers by scanning emails for keywords. This brings up plenty of privacy issues over who determines which keywords are used and what is done with the flagged emails. And while this proposal is probably better than passing a completely new law that would probably be ineffective, the enforcement against this scam may be a bit late as scammers have modified their scams and moved to places other than Nigeria. So scams are here to stay, and although one would hope that public education could take away the incentives for scammers, there's a sucker born every minute.

Scam Or Not: Free iPods?

Scam Or Not: Free iPods? 08/18/2004 06:32 AM
Most people admit that the idea behind a site promising free iPods if you sign up for trial offerings from various marketers (and convince others to as well) sounds like a scam. However, those who have done it insist it's no scam at all -- but a legitimate marketing practice that gets people to try various products or services in exchange for an iPod. That said, whether it's a full-out scam or simply a marketing ploy, it's still sketchy. Anything that requires you to get others to participate before you get your "prize" is going to lead to spam from people trying to get you to sign up so they can get their prize. Furthermore, you're giving up your info to a marketing company who clearly has incentive to resell it. Their privacy policy (which does not appear to show up in Firefox) admits that they're going to give your info to "marketing partners." So, while it may not be a full on scam, it is just like plenty of other marketing programs, where the end result is plenty of spam.

India's Upcoming Free Software, Free
Society Conference

India's Upcoming Free Software, Free
Society Conference 06/05/2005 11:10 PM
Free software advocates and IT delegates from around the world will be in Kerala, India, this week in the hopes of building free software collaborations for the future.

[$$] India software industry plans curbs
after online scam

[$$] India software industry plans curbs
after online scam 04/12/2005 10:55 AM
News.ft.com - Tue Apr 12, 08:19 am GMT

Barefoot Software Launch Australian
Swimsuit Edition-Free, a Free Mobile
Phone and Wireless Device Service for
Cardmate on Symbian Devices

Barefoot Software Launch Australian
Swimsuit Edition-Free, a Free Mobile
Phone and Wireless Device Service for
Cardmate on Symbian Devices 06/12/2004 02:48 AM
Barefoot Software Asia Limited (BSAL) is pleased to announce the launch Australian Swimsuit Edition-Free (ASE), via the Barefoot Software website (http://www.barefootsoft.com) for immediate download. ASE is a Cardmate application for mobile phones which is being launched for Free as a promotional application to end users who have a Symbian based mobile phone. ASE, the first Australian swimsuit model application for Smartphone devices in the World can initially be downloaded by users who have a Nokia (6600/3650/7650), Sony Ericsson P800/P900 and other compatible phones from the barefoot Web site. [PRWEB Jun 12, 2004]

Celerus Networks® Unveils All-In-One
Wi-Fi Management Software Suite in a
Free Software License Package – Offer
Makes Wi-Fi More Affordable than Ever

Celerus Networks® Unveils All-In-One
Wi-Fi Management Software Suite in a
Free Software License Package – Offer
Makes Wi-Fi More Affordable than Ever 06/22/2005 02:31 AM
Celerus Networks ships its feature-rich Wi-Fi management software suite with a no-cost software license delivering unprecedented savings to network builders & managers. The wireless management package offers unsurpassed affordability coupled with comprehensive support services. [PRWEB Jun 20, 2005]

Mobilization of Software Developers: The
Free Software Movement

Mobilization of Software Developers: The
Free Software Movement 06/17/2004 05:32 AM
Mobilization of Software Developers: The Free Software Movement by Margret S. Elliott and Walter Scacchi
http://ope nsource.mit.edu/papers/elliottscacchi2.pdf

Abstract by Author:
Free/open source software (F/OSS) development projects are growing at a rapid rate. Globally dispersed virtual communities with large groups of software developers contribute time and effort often without pay. One force behind this phenomenon is the Free Software Movement (FSM), a 20 year-old social movement whose purpose is to promote the use of free software instead of proprietary software. We show how the ideology of the FSM influences software development work practices in F/OSS communities and how an occupational community of F/OSS developers has emerged from this movement. We present results from an empirical study of a F/OSS development community, GNUenterprise (GNUe) whose purpose is to build an Enterprise Resource Planning system. We show how the beliefs in freedom and freedom of choice, and the values of cooperative work and community building are manifested in the GNUe norms of informal self-management, immediate acceptance of fellow contributors, and open disclosure.

The Not Really Free, Not Really
Broadband, Free Broadband Scam

The Not Really Free, Not Really
Broadband, Free Broadband Scam 08/06/2004 04:41 PM
Aaron writes in to point us to a story at Broadband Reports about a scam claiming to offer "free" broadband, when the truth is anything but that. The company in question is really just offering one of those silly web "accelerator" tools that speed up some dialup web surfing by caching images and using some compression. It's not really broadband at all, though if you're stuck on dialup, apparently it helps. It's also not free at all, since it's a typical pyramid scam, where you need to get others to sign up first. Since they know otherwise intelligent people will know it's a scam, the site doesn't make outrageous claims on their home page, but leaves those only for those who come via a referral code (which is all part of the scam) at which point they start making outlandish claims anyone with a bit of broadband knowledge would know were false.

PHP: Free Software on Free Tools

PHP: Free Software on Free Tools 05/17/2004 10:25 AM

Open Source: Open Source Scripting Made Easy: This is an article about PHP scripting tools that makes an important point:

Commercial scripting languages have drawn success from powerful and widely used development tools: ASP has Visual Studio, ColdFusion has Macromedia's Dreamweaver, and JSP has a variety of tools from commercial sources such as Borland and open source projects such as Eclipse and NetBeans. PHP's enormous success, however, is not tied to specific tools.

Some friends of mine have been working with Microsoft's .Net platform. They tell me it's amazing ("fan-friggin'-tastic," one of them called it). This is great, but I guess I don't like anything where the barrier to entry is so high — first you have to have a Windows server, then you have to have the Windows dev environment.

I code PHP in EditPlus, which cost me all of $30, and that was an optional purchase because there are so many other free alternatives. Maybe I'm just a snob. Via PHP|Architect.

Click here to comment on this entry

Scam Busters Just As Bad As Scam
Victims?

Scam Busters Just As Bad As Scam
Victims? 01/19/2004 05:05 AM
An odd article out of South Africa complaining that scam busters are just as bad as scam victims - in that they act in just as predictable a manner. Of course, the scam busters aren't the folks losing money to the scammers, and, in fact, they often are doing a good job to spread news of a scam to protect potential victims. So, I'm a bit confused as to what's so upsetting about people taking it upon themselves to tell others about a scam. Certainly, there are some things that don't deserve to be publicized, but are, due to the intensity of the efforts against them. However, scams are something that clearly should be publicized to limit the negative impact. It seems that the real complaint of the writer isn't so much scam busters, but "fad" busters who complain about people getting hooked on the latest fad. However, fads and scams are two very different things.

You don't have to use free software
until you're ready

You don't have to use free software
until you're ready 08/02/2004 08:24 AM
One thing I try to drive home when speaking or giving an interview about Linux and open source software is the concept that, unlike commercial software, open source doesn't need more people to use it. You can take your time and use what you want when you want.

Not just free software under threat

Not just free software under threat 06/01/2004 10:32 AM
Letter Richard Stallman writes

Apple Software: The End Of Free

Apple Software: The End Of Free 01/11/2004 09:23 PM
I am not going to suggest that Apple reverse its path... On the other hand, I do want to see Apple set as low a price point for its stuff as possible. By Gene Steinberg (Mac Night Owl via MyAppleMenu)

help the British think about free
software?

help the British think about free
software? 09/03/2004 09:26 PM
The UK Parliamentary Office on Science and Technology is preparing a POST note on 'Open Source'. (No, I didn't know what a POST note is exactly either, but check it out here.) The author is looking for helpful comments. I've created a temporary email address for David Berry. You can send him comments at that address for a week.

Unmaintained Free Software

Unmaintained Free Software 04/07/2005 05:18 AM
New Wiki

Free Software at the Local Library?

Free Software at the Local Library? 04/16/2004 07:50 PM

Free Computer Art Software for Kids

Free Computer Art Software for Kids 03/25/2005 01:20 AM
About Mar 25 2005 4:50AM GMT

Replacing FileMaker with Free Software?

Replacing FileMaker with Free Software? 08/31/2004 01:44 PM

UN drive to boost free software

UN drive to boost free software 08/28/2004 02:20 AM
The UN is holding events across Asia to encourage the region to adopt free and open source software.

Free software Java platforms

Free software Java platforms 01/14/2003 02:28 PM

Richard Stallman is interested whether XSLT-process, my XSLT processor and debugger Emacs interface for the Saxon and Xalan XSLT processors runs on top of a free software JDK.

As far as I know Kaffe is one such free-software implementation of a Java virtual machine. There are many other implementations listed at Kaffe's Web site.

Does anybody have any experience with any of these in a real project? How much of the JVM functionality and the associated class libraries in JDK 1.3 are implemented? Can one run an XML parser and an XSLT processor like Saxon or Xalan on top of them?

Free Software Group Not Well With Mono

Free Software Group Not Well With Mono 06/02/2004 08:45 AM
Open source .NET implementations are at odds with one another.

Free Software In Iran, KDE In Farsi

Free Software In Iran, KDE In Farsi 12/29/2003 03:40 AM
Elektroschock writes "KDE, the leading *nix desktop environment, is translated to Farsi (=Persian). Now native language KDE can be used in Iran as well. Farsi ...

Will free software kill shareware?

Will free software kill shareware? 08/28/2004 09:44 AM
Will free software kill shareware? Every day we celebrate the victories of open source software against the big guns, enjoying each corporate and governmental adoption as it comes. We talk about how wonderful it is that open source software is taking part in a larger social and economic revolution and comment on how we're looking forward to the day when open source software will dominate the software industry. The little guys, the story will go, put together a series of tools that evolved into a complete operating system which ultimately took over and threw down the big monolithic software giants. And all along, we, the little guys, kept to our values and ideals, held strong in the face of corporate threats, and banded together to Fight the Good Fight. What started as a bunch of little guys turned into several companies, and these companies grew until they were big guys. Then we garnered the support of several large companies and flirted with even more. Until one day we looked around and realized we weren't the little guys anymore.

What is open source and what is free
software?

What is open source and what is free
software? 03/06/2004 01:59 AM
Whenever I mention open source software, or the Linux operating system, I can be sure of getting lots of "interesting" mail in my inbox. There's a good bit of confusion about open source software among members of the general public, journalists of the general press and even among those of us who should know better.

Commentary: Free software on Windows

Commentary: Free software on Windows 07/17/2004 08:16 AM
I haven't used Windows very often in the past seven or eight years. I declared my independence on July 4, 1998, and I've never looked back. Recently I was issued a company laptop. It came with Windows XP preinstalled, of course, since it is an IBM ThinkPad and only Microsoft operating systems are available preloaded on IBM (and HP, and Dell) desktops and laptops destined for North American consumers. I decided for various reasons to make the ThinkPad a dual-boot machine. Color me surprised at what I've learned about the Windows platform since. Who knew there is so much free -- as in speech -- software available for Windows these days?

The gift economy and free software

The gift economy and free software 06/05/2004 04:31 AM
A "gift economy" is a social system in which status is given by how much one shares or gives to one's community, as opposed to an "exchange economy" where status is given to those who own or control the most stuff. In today's world we're used to the latter economic philosophy, as it has been closely affiliated with the capitalist system since at least the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the corporation. But the Industrial Age is over -- this is the Information Age now, and things are changing.

"Picasa Software Now Available from
Google (Free)"

"Picasa Software Now Available from
Google (Free)" 07/17/2004 08:59 PM

CleanSoftware.org - Free software, no
nasties!

CleanSoftware.org - Free software, no
nasties! 12/28/2004 01:17 PM
Clean Software .. CleanSoftware .. software

cleansoftware.org
track this site | 5 links

CA revives free AV software offer

CA revives free AV software offer 11/18/2003 05:30 PM
Microsoft supplies 'kiss of life'

Brazil picks free software

Brazil picks free software 03/31/2005 03:28 AM
CBS MarketWatch Mar 31 2005 7:21AM GMT

Free Software Foundation meeting this
Sat at MIT

Free Software Foundation meeting this
Sat at MIT 03/23/2005 02:53 AM
Cory Doctorow:  John sez, "but the Free Software Foundation associate membership meeting is this coming Saturday, March 26, at MIT's Stata Center in Cambridge, MA. The meeting will feature a solid day of presentations from Lawrence Lessig, Eben Moglen, Richard Stallman, and other free software luminaries. The members get a chance to hang out, eat good food, maybe even sign some GPG keys. We said the RSVP deadline was March 18th, but we'll still take 'em if people want to sign up as a member and then RSVP." Link (Thanks, John!)

Why schools should use exclusively free
software

Why schools should use exclusively free
software 11/10/2003 10:58 PM
There are general reasons why all computer users should insist on free software. It gives users the freedom to control their own computers--with proprietary software, the computer does what the software owner wants it to do, not what you want it to do. And it gives users the freedom to cooperate with each other, to lead an upright life. These apply to schools as they do to everyone. But there are special reasons that apply to schools.

A Brief History of Free Software, Part 1

A Brief History of Free Software, Part 1 08/07/2004 01:40 AM
We all love free software, but how much do we know about the origins of it? Interested to find out what Open Source, GNU and GPL really mean?

Join me for a unique Freeloader Friday look at what could be software's most important movement, and find out how it effects you as a Mac user.

The New Standard for Web Development:
Free Software

The New Standard for Web Development:
Free Software 08/05/2002 10:43 PM
LinuxPlanet Aug 5 2002 8:46PM ET
Grok Description matches for Free Software As Nigerian Scam
GrokA matches for Free Software As Nigerian Scam

Free Software As Nigerian Scam

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