[Greennet-l] GreenNet Newsletter: December 04
GreenNet Support
support at gn.apc.org
Fri Dec 17 16:09:18 GMT 2004
GreenNet Newsletter: December 04
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*Contents*
* *Services <#Services>*
* *Support News <#Support_News>*
* *Projects* <#Projects>
* *New Sites* <#New_Sites>
* *Staff* <#Staff>
* *Move* <#Move>
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**Services***
Standard Membership*
We had a lot of enquiries after the announcement in our last newsletter,
that we are no longer offering new standard memberships. Apologies for
any confusion caused there. Hopefully we can make it all clearer now.
As a current GreenNet user with standard membership, you have three options:
1. Stay exactly as you are -- although we are no longer offering
standard membership to new GreenNet users, existing users can keep this
membership for as long as they wish. The cost continues to be £117.50 p.a.
2. Home/Activist membership: This replaces standard membership for new
users. Also for people with standard membership who have moved to
broadband for their internet connection, no longer wish to keep their
dial-up connection, want to keep their email address with us and would
like their own subdomain website. This costs £94 p.a.
3. Email only (POP account only): This is for people with standard
membership who have moved to broadband for their internet connection, no
longer wish to keep their dial-up connection and want to keep just their
email address with us. This costs £58.75 p.a.
If you want to change your subscription please can you e-mail billing
<mailto:billing at gn.apc.org> at least one month before renewal indicating
which option you want to change to and what your billing ID is (found on
the top left of your invoices).
*Maxi Membership*
We have developed this new package to cater for the needs of
organisations and individuals that have a large amount of data, e.g.
audio and video files, on their web site. It includes a MySQL database
that enables you to build dynamic database driven web sites. The Maxi
Membership is flexible -- if you do not need twenty mail boxes you can
chose to have three mailing lists instead for instance. More details and
features of this new form of membership are listed on our Services page
<http://www.gn.apc.org/services/services.html#maxi>.
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****Support News
*****GreenNet office hours over Christmas and New Year*
Our office will be closed from 5.30pm on 22 December 2004 (Wednesday)
until 4 January 2005 (Tuesday). We will not be taking voice calls or
enquiries during that period. However, we will have technicians
monitoring the systems daily (aside from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and
New Years Day). If you have any urgent problems, please call us on +44
(0)20 7065 0942 and leave a message on our answer phone or email support
<mailto:support at gn.apc.org>. We will try to help you as far as possible.
Please make sure you include any error messages that you are getting and
your email address.
Please do also remember to switch your computers off periodically, and
enjoy a peaceful, happy and healthy holiday time.
*PC security roundup*
Several security holes have been found in Microsoft software over the
past few months - the last /critical/ one being on 1st December. If you
run any version of Windows, even if you don't use Internet Explorer,
it's worth visiting http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com every few weeks
to update your system (assuming you've not set Windows XP to do this
automatically). People who use Outlook Express should also check under
Tools > Options > Security, that the incoming messages are classified as
/restricted zone/.
*
*GreenNet does filter out most viruses and spam, but many people will
occasionally receive messages that a message that they sent was
infected. In almost all cases, these warnings are erroneous. The vast
of viruses, mass-mailing worms, and spam have a fake /From/ address that
may have either been randomly generated, or previously taken from e.g.
address books or websites. This is to make the actual sender harder to
trace. Delivery error messages or virus warnings are then sent to your
address which is not the source and has absolutely no connection with
the original infected message. Although we stop viruses like MyDoom or
Bagle at our servers, we no longer send warnings about them because they
would only go to a faked address. In these cases, a quick glance at the
time sent is enough to confirm that the message is in error and can be
ignored and deleted. More often than not, panic about viruses causes
more problems than the virus itself.
It's increasingly common to hear of an Internet Explorer home page
becoming stuck at some unwanted search directory or commercial web site,
as the result of some malicious program taking control of a Windows PC.
We have a short guide on dealing with this /browser hijacking/ at
http://phorum.greennet.org.uk/read.php?f=13&i=45&t=45
<http://phorum.greennet.org.uk/read.php?f=13&i=45&t=45>
One of the types of spam that does still occasionally come through our
anti-spam system is the /phishing scam/. This has been a popular way of
defrauding innocent users worldwide of their bank balances for the past
year, by setting up a site copied from the banks own so as to collect
your account details, and many banks now refuse to compensate for anyone
conned in this way. The golden rule here of course is never to click on
a link in an unsolicited email, even if it appears to come from your
bank or any online service you use -- PayPal and eBay are also common
targets. Usually the link in the email is disguised using HTML to look
like the legitimate address. Always type the URL (web address) of your
bank into the address bar of your web browser. You can also check that
the site you visit is secure, that is the address begins with
/https:///. While we've yet to see a secure site used for phishing,
though, that doesn't mean it will never happen.
*Domain names*
Not all scams come by email though. In the last few months we've seen
two letter campaigns targetted at owners of domains and websites. The
companies, calling themselves /Domain Registry of America/ and /EU
Registry Services/ obtain your address by abusing a public database of
WHOIS information, most recently that for .ORG domains. Superficially
these /domain expiration notices/ may look like bills, but they are
actually agreements to transfer your domain to another provider at an
inflated price without including any hosting. Please be assured that
GreenNet automatically renews your domain while you have hosting
services with us, without you needing to do anything.
If you own a domain that ends .UK, you may receive valid direct
communication from Nominet UK, the registrar for all such domains, and
it's worth keeping your /registrant/ details up-to-date with them. In
October, Nominet made minor updates to their terms & conditions, which
are available at http://www.nic.uk/ref/terms.html
While we're on the subject, also look out for semi-legal companies which
claim to be taking registrations for /Data Protection/. Valid charges
which come directly from the Information Commissioner will be for
£35+VAT for one year and have an address of Wilmslow SK9 5AF.
*
OpenSource Alternatives
*There are good reasons to consider OpenSource alternatives to Internet
Explorer and Outlook Express: not only do they offer better security and
are seldom affected by viruses, they are also being developed by a
community that shares its ideals and values with the our mission - as
the software is /free to use/, /open to change/ and c/ollaborative in
its development/. And there are many ways that you can contribute and
participate in open source projects. Check out the Mozilla Homepage
<http://www.mozilla.org/> and our Software to Download
<http://phorum.greennet.org.uk/list.php?f=13> section.
For more information and consultation on complete software migrations to
OpenSource software, contact us at GreenNet OpenSource
<mailto:opensource at gn.apc.org>. We can talk you through the options and
have a range of training programmes to help you through the transition.
****
****
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*******New Sites*****
**** *ESF Logo* <http://www.fse-esf.org/> **European Social Forum UK
2004 <http://www.fse-esf.org/>**
More than 20,000 people from nearly 70 countries came to the European
Social Forum in London on 15-17 October. The event hosted 2500 speakers
at over 500 meetings, engaging participants in discussions about how to
make 'Another World Possible'. GreenNet built the ESF's site
<http://www.fse-esf.org/en/>, which successfully managed the
registration and payment of participants, and the dynamic publication of
the programme. The web site now features a comprehensive list of all the
events of the ESF and asks participants to submit their reports to
become part of the /memory project/. (http://www.fse-esf.org/en/) *
**
*Privacy International* <http://www.privacyinternational.org/>**
*PI LogoA human rights group working as a watchdog on surveillance and
privacy invasions by governments and corporations. PI has conducted
campaigns and research globally on issues ranging from wiretapping and
national security, to ID cards, video surveillance, data matching,
police information systems, medical privacy, and freedom of information
and expression. The rebuilt site has a new interface, and a new database
for all the old content and new stuff too - transforming it into a
fantastic educational resource.
*
**IFI Watchnet Shared Area <http://www.ifiwatchnet.org/sa> *
The IFI Watchnet Shared Area features a discussion board that integrates
the Phorum Message Board <http://www.phorum.org/> with ActionApps. It
features an elaborate permissions system (Note: The Shared Area requires
a login. Please contact us if you would like to know more about it.)
The Shared Area was developed together Philip King
<http://www.king-graphics.co.uk/>.
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*Projects*****
*****Wireless Community Networking
*Wireless technologies are presenting us with exciting opportunities for
new approaches to networking. We are now in touch with an increasing
number of innovative wireless projects around the world, connecting
previously disconnected communities -- in a social and politically
empowering way. Looking ahead to 2005, we want to work more at
supporting community wireless networking amongst our UK user groups. If
you are interested in exploring ways of setting up you own local
community network, cutting your connection costs, improving your
connectivity and strengthening your community's networking
infrastructure, get in touch with us at GreenNet Wireless
<mailto:wireless at gn.apc.org>. We're also really interested to hear from
any of you who are already working with (community) wireless technology.
For more more information on what this is all about check out the
following resources: Wireless London <http://wirelesslondon.info/>,
Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network
<http://www.cuwireless.net/>, The town that turned off BT (Guardian)
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1121103,00.html>,
freifunk.net summer convention
<http://www.freifunk.net:8080/sc2004/wiki/FrontPage>
*
Indymedia Mirror
*After the seizure of the UK Indymedia servers by the US FBI on British
soil <http://indymedia.org/en/static/fbi> and shortages of the numbers
of Indymedia mirrors we have decided to provide a short term mirroring
for the Indymedia web site. Indymedia UK Web site
<http://www.indymedia.org.uk/>
*Institute for Mass Information Mirror
*During the critical phases of the Ukranian elections we received a
request to mirror this web site as it was under threat and unreachable
at times. Thanks to the support of one of our subscribers we managed to
get an emergency mirror site up very quickly. English Verion of the IMI
web site <http://eng.imi.gn.apc.org/>
*Media, Culture and Communication Rights Network*
The European Forum on Communication Rights (EFCR)
<http://www.efcr2004.net/> was an initiative of a collective of
organisations including, among others, the GreenNet Educational Trust
(GN's parent charity), Indymedia and WACC. It was timed to coincide with
the European Social Forum, and worked at bringing together those working
at different levels on communication rights -- from grass roots
activists working on practical projects and street level campaigns, to
those engaged in lobbying and advocacy, to researchers and academics.
There were a series of keynote speakers, presentations and open-floor
discussions that looked at what is at stake in the information
revolution, who owns what, who has the power, and what it means for us
all. Focusing on the global issues of Security and the Surveillance
State, Migration and Borders, and the Corporatisation of our
Communication spaces and knowledge, the forum aimed to find common
ground to link the various strands together to produce vibrant, relevant
and powerful campaigns.
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****Staff
*****Liz is back!
*We're delighted to to have Liz Probert back in the office after her
maternity leave. Some of you may have already noticed as she is helping
with support and sysadmin, as well as working on new web projects. Liz
is now in her sixth year with GreenNet. She also contributes to the work
of the APC Women's Networking Support Program, Currently busy lobbying
at the NGO session of the preparatory meetings for the UN Beijing +10
meeting. Welcome back Liz! and welcome also Alexandra -- our youngest
member of the GreenNet family.
* *
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****Move
*****We have moved offices..
*.. no, not again. But since Royal Mail now refuses to forward our post
to the new address this is a friendly reminder to please send any
correspondence, cheques, etc. to our new address:
GreenNet,
56-64 Leonard Street,
London EC2A 4JX
We now also have a contemporary telephone system with dedicated extensions:
- Support: +44 (0)20 7065 0942
- Billing and accounts: +44 (0)20 7065 0938
- Fax: +44 (0)20 7253 2616
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For further details on any of the newsletter items, email newsletter
<mailto:newsletter at gn.apc.org>. The GreenNet Newsletter appears
quarterly and is sent out to all GreenNet subscribers. Written and
edited by the GreenNet collective.
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