Internetnews Blog

BroCo fires back on hacking, stock manipulation claims

2010-03-19T16:51:07Z

It's a bit of a strange story, and now it seems to be getting even stranger. But for those of us familiar with the shady, difficult-to-trace, and often cleverly obfuscated ways (and I use the term "cleverly" only begrudgingly) in... The following statement was sent to InternetNews from one M.Wael Alkel, Broco Investments' marketing officer, and is published here unedited. Enjoy.

SEC has contacted Broco Investments regarding the accounts release

Russian swindlers have used the company's brokerage services for manipulations at NYSE and will be taken on control by Russian and US law-enforcement authorities.

US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has contacted Broco Investments on March 18, 2010 and expressed a desire to solve the situation with company's frozen accounts as soon as possible. Preliminary hearings in the case are scheduled for March 23, 2010.

SEC representatives have contacted us at about 18:00 MSK and said that now they understand that the picture of this situation what they see now differs from that one in the beginning. Now they know that Broco Investments is working with Genesis Securities using a sub-broker scheme and they are very surprised to get this information from news and not from Genesis Securities. Genesis has all of our client agreements and did not inform SEC about this fact. We have agreed to start a close collaboration with the Commission in order to correct all the misunderstandings appeared after the information from SEC has came along with their accusations. Moreover after our application sent to Department of the Interior the Commission will cooperate with the Russian law-enforcement authorities in order to investigate the fact of brokerage account intruding.

The company's security has conducted an investigation and now found out those persons whose manipulations caused groundless complaints from SEC to Broco Investments.

"The equivocal account belongs to our client", says head of Broco legal department Dmitry Zelenko. "This client has been conducting his trading on his own and Broco have just provided him with technical facilities and brokerage services in cooperation with licensed Genesis Securities. This account was identified as belonging to Broco by a mistake".

Now the company has facts of evidence of the client' fraud manipulations and this facts have been shared with Russian law-enforcement authorities as this client is a Russian citizen.

"During the investigation we found out that the swindler has entered into collusion with unknown persons who have provided him with instructions regarding his trading activity. They have supposed to be rewarded with the part of the client's profit", said Dmitry Zelenko. The client's name is keeping closed in order not to prevent the official investigation.

"Our further steps are to initiate criminal proceedings of swindlers within Russian Federation, to recover damages from the swindlers and to protect the company's reputation in the court of New York", says Valery Maltsev, the President of Broco. Moreover, as Valery Maltsev says, the company is now considering new offers from other providers of trading access to the US financial markets.

Original story: Feds Crack Hackers' Stock Manipulation Cybercrime

]]>

Internet Explorer 9 vs Firefox 3.7 : Open beats Closed

2010-03-17T14:02:02Z

From the 'Developer Preview' files:Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 is now out for developers to try out and test -- well kinda/sorta. You see the IE9 Test Drive Platform Preview isn't really a browser is it?IE9 as it is currently available... Currently Mozilla has a Firefox 3.7 developer preview available, testing all kinds of new features including out-of-process plugins (something that IE 9 isn't currently testing). It's a real browser with back button, tabs and address bar and it resembles the real world modern browser. It enables developers to actually see how the browser will work and doesn't try to hide its flaws by limiting critical functions.

Yes it is a positive step forward for Microsoft to offer an early preview of IE 9, but for open source browser vendors that's par for the course. It is only by having an open and transparent development process that all bugs can be found and developers can truly engage with the platform.

Microsoft will have a beta of IE 9 available at some point which will be a full fledged browser and I think that will be a decent starting point for developers to test apps and sites. Until then the IE 9 preview is interesting to look at but isn't as practically useful as it could have been.

]]>

Dot Com Turns 25: How Failure Turned to Success

2010-03-15T12:55:35Z

From the 'Significant Internet Milestones' files:The very first dot com domain symbolics.com was registered 25 years ago today on March 15, 1985. From that event a quarter century ago, there are now over 192 million total domain name registrations,... To be sure, with domain names users of the nascent Internet could move beyond typing in IP addresses in order to access whatever service might have been available and that definitely was a convenience. With a domain name it masks the complexity of the underlying IP system to users and allows for the scalability and simplicity that the web 10 years after the first dot com was registered - would really demand.

The success of dot com is that it was first and became the brand for the Web. For that reason dot com owes its success not to its own birth 25 years ago but rather to Tim Berners-Lee with the Web and Marc Andreeson with the web browser.

The fact that the first dot com was registered 25 years ago is an interesting trivia question in my view, but it's important to remember that dot com on its own back in 1985 wasn't a runaway success.

The domain system which dot com leads to this day in terms of total domains registered is an enabling technology and an important one. It was the evolution of the broader Internet space that made dot com successful.

]]>

Comcast CEO defends NBC deal, unsure on Hulu

2010-03-12T04:12:00Z

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts headed back to Capitol Hill on Thursday to defend his company's proposed merger with NBC Universal, offering what by now are familiar assurances that the combined company won't use its market power to bully smaller cable... Varney offered, "I can assure you that there is no rubber stamp at the Department of Justice."

Roberts reiterated the public-interest assurances Comcast has offered about the merger, including the pledge not to move NBC's network programming to cable, and adhere to program access commitments to ensure that content isn't withheld from smaller providers that Comcast may compete with.

Some lawmakers and witnesses also warned of the impact on Internet video, where Comcast and many other providers are tinkering with verification models that would limit access to premium Web video to cable subscribers.

"Comcast will acquire 30 percent of Hulu, and will likely put it behind an authentication wall," said John Wells, president of the Writer's Guild of America, West.

But that wasn't a charge Roberts was ready to cop to. In fact, he said little about the prospects for Hulu, telling the panel that he hadn't yet met with the video site's executive team, and that he understood from reading the "trade press" that its business model remained a work in progress.

"We have no intention of changing NBC's relationship with Hulu," Roberts said. "Comcast does not want to block NBC content or frankly any content on the Internet."

Some Republicans at the hearing also warned against regulatory mission creep, urging Genachowski and Varney to refrain from imposing conditions that would further unrelated policy goals (i.e. net neutrality) in the guise of the merger review.

]]>

Time for Google's Eric Schmidt to go?

2010-03-11T20:00:52Z

Like any good pundit, Rob Enderle knows how to stir things up. You may have read some of Rob’s commentary at our sister site, Datamation. For example, he’s regularly bombarded with hate mail by iPhone fans for criticizing Apple’s strategy...

Firefox 3.6.2 Coming March 30th - Where is 3.6.1?

2010-03-11T15:27:28Z

From the 'What Happened to Firefox 3.6.1?' files:No, that's not a typo. Mozilla is currently scheduled to release its next open source Firefox browser version 3.6.2 on March 30th.The Firefox 3.6.2 release will be joined by the 3.5.9 and... Mozilla's Director of Firefox Mike Beltzner wrote in a mailing list posting early Thursday that, " over 100 bugs were taken for 1.9.2.2, and we had to close down on the release in order to limit risk.."

I'd suspect given that's it's a release for 3.6.x, 3.5.x and 3.x that there will also be some security fixes as part of the release. If I was a betting man, I'd bet that I'd least one of those flaws is a 'Crashes with Evidence of Memory Corruption' issues which tends to be on nearly every Firefox release.

The March 30th release will also mark the end of updates for Firefox 3.x with the 3.0.19 release.]]>

First Fedora 13 Linux Alpha Shows Promise

2010-03-10T21:27:52Z

From the 'Next Gen Linux Features' files:The first alpha milestone of the Fedora 13 Linux distribution is now available and it's loaded with a number of innovative features.Among the desktop features that users will enjoy is a new automatic...

Mozilla Apologies Over Jetpack Mockup Design

2010-03-10T14:51:02Z

From the 'Coming Clean' files:Mozilla today posted a public apology to design firm MetaLab over a design mockup for a new Jetpack feature.Jetpack Flightdeck is an upcoming feature that is intended to make it easier for developers to build... With design, open source licensing isn't always the norm though there are Creative Commons licenses that can be applicable. I can certainly understand why MetaLab would be upset, especially if they weren't financially compensated for their work.

Then again this small example might well once again cause Mozilla to rethink how and when it chooses to engage with non-open source third parties.

With the tremendous community and staff that they already have, I wouldn't be surprised if they could do all the Jetpack work entirely on their own.]]>

Does Oracle Losing Sun's Open Source Chief Matter?

2010-03-09T21:01:28Z

From the 'Human Resources' files:I've had the good fortune to speak with Simon Phipps - now the former Chief Open Source Officer at Sun - a number of times over the last several years.Phipps always provided insightful comments on... As opposed to being an 'open source is the best' kind of company, Oracle sees open source as part of a larger whole. Make no mistake about it, prior to Sun, Oracle was very active in open source and with Sun that activity will only increase. But Oracle is still also very much in the proprietary software business too and that fact will likely never change.

The way I see it, Oracle's open source direction is driven by engineering and money (not always in that order). Open source is a means to an end, whether that end is meeting customer requirements or making money.

Certainly Phipps' wisdom, insight and experience have tremendous value, but again Oracle has assets of its own. In the core Linux engineering space, I've had the good fortune to speak with Wim Coekaerts VP Linux and Virtualization Engineering a number of times of the years and he's no slouch either.

Coekaerts Linux skills and ability to grasp both the technical and community complexity of open source is astounding.

Yes Oracle has lost a tremendous resource in Phipps and yes they are also losing other open source personnel too. But the bottom line in my view is that Oracle's open source future is not in doubt. They have other assets and people that will take up the open source mantle - perhaps in a different direction - but that doesn't mean that Oracle is giving up on open source.

Oracle's open source motivation and direction are different than Sun's - time will tell if it's better or not.

As for Phipps and other ex-Sun open source personnel, I suspect that deeply talented and intelligent IT people are always in demand and open source by definition is a very portable skill set.
]]>

Google Summer of Code 2010 Kicks Off

2010-03-09T13:54:21Z

From the 'Summertime Coding Fun' files:It's that time of year again. For the fifth year Google is running its popular Summer of Code (SoC) program which matches students with mentoring organization to develop open source code. And oh yeah,... The overall breadth and scope of the SoC project that have been worked on is overwhelming.

The actual net effect of the SoC is difficult to measure as so many project have been built over the last five years. There is little doubt in my mind that the millions of dollars that Google has invested in the program has had tangible results for both Google and the broader open source community impacting nearly every major open source project.

The SoC program is now accepting application from mentoring organizations with student applications opening up on March 29th.]]>

400,000+ lines added in Linux 2.6.34-rc1 kernel

2010-03-08T22:48:33Z

From the 'Big Numbers' files:Linux founder Linus Torvalds has just pushed out the first Linux 2.6.34 kernel release candidate and he's included some big stats as part of the announcement.According to Torvalds, the 2.6.34 kernel even in its rc1... Perhaps why I'm surprised with 2.6.34-rc1 is because it was just a few weeks ago that the 2.6.33 kernel was released.

The volume of changes in just a few short weeks that have been merged into the kernel just never ceases to amaze me. The fact that such volume is managed and controlled is a testament to Torvalds stewardship, git and the Linux development process in general that promotes such massive changes in the process of continuous improvement.

The 2.6.34 kernel is like still a few months and six or more release candidates away from being ready for public consumption and as such much more work will be done.]]>

Microsoft's Linux Patent Scare Trumps SCO

2010-03-04T18:51:57Z

From the 'Legal Linux' files:Microsoft has a bone to pick with Linux and open source software. Since at least 2007, Microsoft has been stating that open source software somehow infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property.Remember SCO? They kind of alleged the... Time and again, people in the open source community have asked that Microsoft lay their patents on the table so that Linux vendors could deal with Microsoft's concerns. To date Microsoft has not done so.

So why has Microsoft succeeded where SCO failed when it comes to Linux patents?

Microsoft has managed to get vendors to license -- and in many cases cross-license - patents. SCO never had the leverage that Microsoft does in that the vendors that Microsoft has done deals with all want (and need) to work with Microsoft in some capacity. SCO's tactic was more of 'you owe us- pay up' mentality.

The legal strategy that Microsoft is on is nothing short of brilliant. Rather than challenge Linux vendors in court, they're making a business case to vendors to license patents (that haven't yet been court tested). Yes, there is a degree of FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) that Microsoft is banking on here, but they're doing it as a business case.

With all these Linux patent licensing agreements in place now should other Linux vendors and users be worried?

Microsoft is trying to make the case that if you want to work with them you need to properly license their intellectual property (which they state open source infringes on). Yes it's an argument that multiple vendors have bought into - but not all. Look at Red Hat for example, they work with Microsoft on virtualization interoperability. There is NO patent cross licensing deal between Red Hat and Microsoft.

No doubt, there will continue to be vendors that buy into Microsoft Linux patent licensing efforts until such time that those patents are court tested and rendered invalid.

That's the other reason why Microsoft will not challenge certain vendors and won't go after users either. They don't need too, they're already getting vendors to buy-in. If there was a court battle there is a risk that those patents could be challenged and lost, without such a confrontation the risk is minimized.

SCO wasn't as lucky or as smart. They went to court (and are still there) and didn't try and make a business case the same way that Microsoft has done.]]>

Mozilla Lands Out-Of-Process Plugins in Firefox 3.7

2010-03-03T21:11:16Z

From the 'Plugin Improvement' files:One of the big things that Google Chrome introduced is the idea of out of process plugins. It's something that has now (finally!) landed in Mozilla -- albeit in the Alpha 2 release of Firefox 3.7...

Feds tapping Google, PayPal, Equifax for trusted logins

2010-03-03T21:23:18Z

Federal government Web sites will soon begin allowing users to sign in with their account credentials furnished by Google, PayPal and Equifax. The Open Identity Exchange (OIX) debuted today as the certification body to authorize private firms offering Web credentials...

Should Novell Go Private?

2010-03-03T14:13:50Z

From the 'Time to Sell' files:Novell is now in play. The company received what they call an "unsolicited proposal from Elliott Associates, L.P. to acquire the Company for $5.75 per share in cash," which values the company at just... The other issue with this unsolicited bid is it means that now other bidders could emerge to try and take Novell. I suspect that given Novell's current financial status at least one or two other bidders (IT vendor or funds) might emerge to pick up some strategic assets.

In the short term, uncertainty over Novell's ownership position might cause some market movement as rivals (likely Red Hat) will likely be quick to note that they have had better financial success. Red Hat however doesn't have the legacy businesses that Novell has tried to bring into the modern era.

I don't know if Novell's board will accept the offer or not, but we do know they have to consider it. Being a public company is not the best route for everyone and we'll soon find out if it's the right path for Novell.
]]>