Image of Google Drive leaked online

Mumbai: Google testing new Cloud servers based storage service for common masses and image of the Drive leaks out on the Internet.

Google seems to be very close to launching its cloud storage service. According to a website, the Google Drive has been quietly enabled for select users and is being privately tested.

Google is set out to compete with the Cloud servers based storage services providers such as Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, Amazon's Cloud Drive and Apple iCloud. The Google Drive interface, as was shown in the report, is very similar to that of the new Gmail for desktop.

A screenshot of the cloud storage service, mentioned in the report, shows a list of documents with an option to install the Google Drive. This could be for both desktop client and also for mobile phones. Google Drive will allow users to upload and store the documents as well as files to make them accessible from anywhere on any device with Internet connectivity.

Apparently, even the favicon and the logo of the Google Drive has been circulating on Google+ social network since quite a while.

The Google Drive is expected to be announced formally at the Google I/O Conference scheduled to take place from June 27-29 later this year. As of now, there is no detail whether this service will be desktop exclusive feature or will support the Android smartphones through a separate native App as well.

Microsoft redesigns Windows iconic four-colour Windows logo

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Friday announced that it was redesigning the logo of Windows software, making a fundamental change to the iconic four-colour Windows logo users have been used to for 20 years. 

Meshing with the Metro design of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8, the new logo is a slightly-angled blue block with a thin white cross in the middle, making it look like a window instead of the four-colour wavy flag in the past, reported Xinhua. 

"The Windows logo is a strong and widely recognized mark but when we stepped back and analyzed it, we realized an evolution of our logo would better reflect our Metro style design principles and we also felt there was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the powerful characteristics of previous incarnations," said Microsoft in a blog post. 

"We did less of a re-design and more to return it to its original meaning and bringing Windows back to its roots -- reimagining the Windows logo as just that -- a window," the company said. 

The new logo is designed by Paula Scher from the Pentagram Design Agency, whose notable works include the Citibank logo. 

The first Windows logo debuted in November 1985. Since then, the logo has gone through several redesigns, which were all based on the design of a four-color wavy flag.

Apple Loses China Smartphone Market Share in Q4

Apple Inc's share of China's smartphone market slipped for a second straight quarter in the fourth quarter of 2011 amid competition from Chinese vendors and as some consumers delayed purchases to wait for the iPhone 4S launch.

China has not been an easy market for Apple, with the U.S. technology giant grappling with a lawsuit from a Chinese company over the iPad name and issues at its suppliers' factories over wages and working conditions.

In the world's largest mobile phone market, where the number of subscribers is set to hit 1 billion this year, there is keen competition from vendors such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and domestic players Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp .

"Chinese handset makers have been actively promoting their smartphones with China's three telecommunications operators, so we saw ZTE and Huawei gain significant market share," said Taipei-based analyst CK Lu at research firm Gartner.

Apple's market share fell to 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, from 10.4 percent in the previous three months. Huawei's share rose to 12.6 percent, while ZTE's was up at 11.1 percent, Gartner data showed.

Samsung displaced Nokia Oyj as the top smartphone vendor in China during the fourth quarter, data obtained by Reuters showed.

China Unicom , the country's No.2 telecoms operator, is the only carrier to officially carry the iPhone.

The market expects the third and smallest operator China Telecom Corp Ltd to be next to clinch a similar deal with Apple later this year.

Interactive response systems vulnerable to hacking: experts

The phone based interactive voice response systems used by banks are vulnerable to data theft and manipulation of information, warn some cyber experts.

The vulnerabilities of Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) were exposed at the Nullcon — a conference of cyber security personnel attended by ethical hackers, government officials, intelligence organisations and cyber security firms here.

A leading cyber security expert explained today how IVRS can be a hacker’s paradise for stealing anyone’s personal information using their phones as these systems remain mostly unaudited and lack key security features.

Rahul Sasi, a cyber security expert and a member of global community garage4hackers.com, said one of the major lacunae with the IVRS is lack of confirmation procedure whether data is entered by human or machine — called as capatcha.

Through a computer program, he explained how easy it was to get an account number and four digit ATM pin code in a phone banking system as the IVRS could not detect whether data was entered by a human user or a computer.

“Since there is no capatcha, method in which simple questions are asked like 1+1 equals to what, which are common in computer based systems to determine whether user is human or machine one can enter loads of permutations as account number and passwords to get a new password using softwares,” he said and also gave a demonstration on how he managed to enter into his own account using the method.

“The worst part is most of these phone banking methods are usually unaudited for security checks and the programs are also not up to the mark, making them vulnerable,” Mr. Sasi told PTI.

He said although through phone banking the hackers have only characters from 0-9 besides star and hash key but even then they can be used to enter complex commands to infect the system with virus.

23-year-old Mr. Sasi is working in the field of cyber security for last six years and is a known name in the field of ethical hackers who are exposing vulnerability of computer systems used by various organisation including the government agencies.

“I found that no one was paying attention to vulnerability of IVRS because it was considered safe. With some perseverance I was able to find the loop holes. It is important that security audits are done for the IVRS also just like web based applications.

“In the absence of these we could not know if such cases happened in banks. Our job is to expose vulnerability now it is their job to pull up their socks and install security measures,” he said.

Keywords: cyber security, cyber crime, Interactive response systems, Interactive Voice Response System, IVRS, capatcha, Nullcon, banking, data theft.

Google, Facebook reps can skip court hearings

The Delhi High Court will continue with the hearing against the 21 websites, who have been accused of allegedly hosting objectionable content in May, but it did offer Google India and Facebook India a concession. Both Google and Facebook can now choose to make their court appearances by the way of their lawyers, and not their representatives, necessarily before the magistrate. The court, however,  has granted this concession to only Google India and Facebook India, and not the remaining 19 websites, confirms a report in the Indian Express. The representatives of the remaining 19 websites will have to make appearances before the magistrate, each time a hearing a scheduled. Alongwith postponing the next scheduled hearing to May, the court also decided that in the meanwhile the criminal proceedings against the websites would continue, and subsequently refused to implement a stay order.
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Google tricked Apple's Safari to track users‎: Report

NEW YORK: Google and other online advertisers bypassed the privacy settings of anApple Web browser on iPhones and computers in order to survey millions of users, stated a report on Friday. 

The report said the companies used a special code that tricks Apple's Safari software into letting them monitor the browsing habits of many users. 

Safari -- the most widely used browser on mobile devices and the default browser on iPhones and Mac laptops -- is designed to block such tracking by default, the report said. 

The Journal said Google disabled the code after the newspaper contacted it and that Google removed a message on its website saying users could rely on Safari to prevent the search giant from tracking them. 

It quoted Google as saying the report "mischaracterises what happened and why." 

"We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled. It's important to stress that these advertising cookies do not collect personal information." 

The report quoted an Apple official as saying the company was "working to put a stop" to the circumvention of the privacy settings. 

The code was first spotted by Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer and independently confirmed by Ashkan Soltani, a technical adviser to the report. 

Google and Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

Toshiba launches Sparkling Satellite laptops in India, starting Rs. 24,000

Toshiba has launched two new laptops in India, in its Sparkling Satellite series, featuring ‘exhilarating colours.’ With the stylish look, Toshiba hopes to give customers “a luxurious laptop experience,” at an “affordable price.”

A total of 14 models are available in the two range, divided between the Sparkling Satellite L740 and L750, which according to the press release, start at Rs. 24,000, and ship with 1 year onsite warranty. Toshiba’s India site quotes slightly higher prices. The laptops will be available in ‘grace silver, maroon brown and precious black’ colours.

According to Toshiba, the Sparkling Satellite series devices, featuring premium IMR (In Mold Rolling) finishes, are not just good-looking, but also offer outstanding reliability and solid performance. They are available with Intel Pentium, Core i3 and Core i5 processors, and feature Toshiba face recognition technology, apart from multi-touch touchpads with gesture control.

The Sparkling Satellite L750 bears a 15.6-inch display with a 1366x768 pixel resolution, Windows® 7 Home Basic 32/64-bit, and a base configuration of a Intel Pentium Dual Core Processor B960 (2.20 GHz, 2MB Cache), Intel HM65 Express Chipset with integrated Intel HD graphics, 2GB of DDR3 1333 MHz RAM (up to 8GB), 500 GB SATA @ 5400 RPM HDD, DVD Writer, 3 x USB2.0 with "sleep-n-charge" support), HDMI-out, RJ45 and RGB ports, headphone & microphone slot, 3-in-1 card reader, 6 Cell Lithium-Ion battery, weight of 2.4 kgs, 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 (b/g/n), Bluetooth V3.0+HS, 1.3MP webcam, and a numeric keypad.

The smaller Sparkling Satellite L740 bears much the same specifications and features, except for a 14-inch (1366x768 pixel) display, and a base configuration of a dual-core Intel Pentium B940 Processor (2.00 GHz, 2MB Cache), 640 GB SATA @ 5400 RPM HDD, 2xUSB2.0 and 1xUSB3.0 with ("sleep-n-charge" support), and no numeric keypad.

Facebook and Saavn tie-up for music

Just like Spotify brings music to Facebook users in the U.S, and certain other countries (hint: not India), Saavn, the music streaming radio service is tying up with Facebook to bring Bollywood music, Indian music and regional South Asian music to the social network. According to TechCrunch, the integration began in December and has already brought more than 7,00,000 new Facebook users to the Saavn network. Saavn license music from over 200 providers, and have more than a million songs licensed. The service is free and makes its money through targeted display and rich media ad units.There is also a premium version, for which users pay and they can use the service offline.
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Nokia's rocky road under Elop

Struggling Finnish phone maker Nokia said on Wednesday it would cut 4,000 extra jobs and move more smartphone assembly work to Asia, its latest move to slash costs. The following are key measures and events since Chief Executive Stephen Elop took over in September 2010: 

FEBRUARY 2011: Nokia announces it is teaming up with Microsoft Corp for its new smartphones and dumping its own Symbian platform. Elop confirms the company will cut jobs in Finland and elsewhere. 

APRIL 2011: Nokia says it will axe 7,000 jobs and outsource its Symbian software development unit to cut 1 billion euros in costs. The move includes laying off 4,000 staff and transferring another 3,000 to services firm Accenture - a total of 12 percent of its phone unit workforce. Accenture takes over Nokia's Symbian software activities. 

SEPTEMBER 2011: Nokia says it will close its plant in Cluj, Romania, slashing 2,200 jobs, and cut 1,300 jobs in its location and commerce business unit which develops maps for mobile phones. 

OCTOBER 2011: Nokia unveils two sleek new Microsoft Windows phones in time for Christmas, the first step in its fightback against Apple and Google. 

NOVEMBER 2011: Nokia Siemens Networks, Nokia's network equipment joint venture with Siemens, announces it will cut 17,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its workforce. The move aims to save about 1 billion euros a year. 

FEBRUARY 2012: Nokia unveils the latest plan, cutting 4,000 more jobs at its plants in Finland, Hungary and Mexico as it moves smartphone assembly work to Asia.

Android's Chrome finish comes too late for Flash coating

Google may have got its Chrome browser running on Android, but Adobe is standing by its decision not to port Flash to any new mobile browsers, not even Chrome.

Flash content works fine in Android's embedded browser, and Adobe has previously said that it will be porting Flash to Android 4 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich), but that port will be limited to supporting the embedded browser, not the new beta – and desktop-integrated – Chrome.

Ars Technica spotted the omission, and Adobe has clarified its position inexplicitly stating that the beta version of Chrome doesn't support Flash content, and that Adobe has no intention of making that happen. Adobe sees its future in helping people make money from content, rather than helping to distribute it, so the software biz has no interest in creating more versions of its Flash player.

That's not to say Google couldn't decide to port Flash, as RIM has said it intends to do. Adobe happily supports such efforts, though it would prefer to see the world moving to more open standards for playback.
Google's video promoting Chrome on Android shows a YouTube video playing back, which is fine as long as that video isn't copy-protected in any way. Try to watch an episode ofSpaced or Father Ted and you'll need to use the default browser (or a specialist app, if you're on iOS which has never supported Flash).
Channel 4, like everyone else, will probably to find alternatives to Flash for secure distribution, and well before Google decides to make Chrome the default option on all Android handsets.

Facebook has started to roll out Google Plus styled photo viewer

Facebook has begun rolling out a new way to view photos that has the very same 'lightbox' look as Google+, with a huge photo in the centre and darkened edges.

Now if you click on any photo it'll pop-up to fill most of your screen and the background becomes dark. You can then scroll through photos with the arrows at the sides or 'tag' or 'like' a photo with the buttons that are in the bottom left hand corner.

Comments now sit on the right side of the photo and there are a couple of cheeky ads and sponsored stories at the bottom of some images too.   Many online commentators (and Google+ advocates) have been moaning that the new photo viewer looks like a rip-off of Google+. Admittedly it does, but who cares. It makes our photos look better and we're not giving up the social network in favour of Google's offering anytime soon.

Hacker releases Symantec source code

(Reuters) - A hacker released the source code for antivirus firm Symantec's pcAnywhere utility on Tuesday, raising fears that others could find security holes in the product and attempt takeovers of customer computers.

The release followed failed email negotiations over a $50,000 payout to the hacker calling himself YamaTough to destroy the code.

The email thread was published on Monday, but the hacker and the company said their participation had been a ruse. YamaTough said he was always going to publish the code, while Symantec said law enforcement had been directing its side of the talks.

The negotiations also might have bought Symantec time while it issued fixes to the pcAnywhere program, which allows customers to access their desktop machines from another location.

"Symantec was prepared for the code to be posted at some point and has developed and distributed a series of patches since January 23rd to protect our users against known vulnerabilities," said company spokesman Cris Paden.

Symantec had taken the extraordinary step of asking customers to stop using the software temporarily until it readied the patches. It issued fixes for "known vulnerabilities" in version 12.5 of the software on January 23 and fixes for versions 12.0 and 12.1 on Friday January 27.

Paden said that Symantec had contacted its customers and that it had not lost any customers. He said that if they were running up-to-date, patched versions they should not face increased risk.

Symantec also expects hackers to release other source code in their possession, 2006 versions of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition and Norton Internet Security. "As we have already stated publicly, this is old code, and Symantec and Norton customers will not be at an increased risk as a result of any disclosure," Paden said.

The emails over the $50,000 payoff was widely circulated, with some mocking the world's largest standalone security company for its apparent attempt to buy protection.

But the company said the emails were in fact between the hacker and law enforcement officials posing as a Symantec employee.

"The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation," Paden said, adding that no money was paid.

Paden declined to name the law enforcement agency, saying it could compromise the investigation.

Symantec had previously confirmed the hacker, part of a group called Lords of Dharmaraja and affiliated with Anonymous, was in possession of source code for its products, obtained in a 2006 breach of the company's networks.

The email exchange released by the hacker, who claims to be based in Mumbai, India, shows drawn-out negotiations with a purported Symantec employee starting on January 18.

pastebin.com/GJEKf1T9

The email negotiations echoed conversations in past years, viewed by Reuters, in which police agencies directed talks between victims and hackers.

"We can't pay you $50,000 at once for the reasons we discussed previously," said one email from a purported Symantec employee Sam Thomas, who offered to pay the full amount at a later date.

"In exchange, you will make a public statement on behalf of your group that you lied about the hack."

A common tactic of the FBI and others investigating extortionists and kidnappers is to seek to break down the amount of money sought by the suspects into multiple smaller payments.

This stretches out the negotiation, giving authorities more insight into the suspect and more time in which to make an arrest. It also lessens the risk to any victim inclined to pay the entire amount demanded.

Most important, it creates more transactions, each one of which provides a trail of records and human beings that can be traced as the police seek their quarry.

The hacker said he never intended to take the money.

"We tricked them into offering us a bribe so we could humiliate them," YamaTough told Reuters.

In recent weeks, the hacker has posted segments of code for Norton Utilities and other programs. A software maker's intellectual property, specifically its source code, is its most precious asset.

Symantec's Norton Internet Security is among the most popular software available to stop viruses, spyware, and online identity theft.

Why Samsung's Galaxy Tab 750 trumps Apple's iPad 2

The Galaxy Tab comes in at just 8.6mm — thin enough for Samsung to tag it “the world’s thinnest tablet”. Compared to the iPad, it is 0.2mm thinner and 36g lighter, weighing in at just 565g. Reuters

When Apple released the iPad in 2010, it made us question our need to lug around our heavy (yes, heavy!) laptops everywhere. Was the iPad a replacement for the notebooks and/or netbooks? Of course not, but it was definitely a valuable extension to our connected lives. A year later, after having enjoyed laughing at the competition (or lack thereof), Apple released its upgrade to their original piece of art, the iPad 2. However, this time, it wasn’t the only kid on the block — it had competition, tough competition.

In June 2011, Samsung released their sleek slab — the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (called the Galaxy Tab 750 in India which released in August 2011) — and guess what, the new kid on the block trumps the old in more than a couple of aspects. Here’s a look at where and why.

Design:

The Galaxy Tab comes in at just 8.6mm — thin enough for Samsung to tag it “the world’s thinnest tablet”. Compared to the iPad, it is 0.2mm thinner and 36g lighter, weighing in at just 565g. The plastic construction of the Galaxy Tab feels comfortable, yet stylish and is extremely well built — from the glossy black bezel garnishing the display to the soft plastic that surrounds the back of the tablet to its smooth curved edges — and one can see that its makers have not skimped on either its quality or presentation. Comparatively, the iPad2 has an aluminum outlay similar to what was used for the original iPad. This aluminium casing, while looking good, translates into the heavy feel of the iPad2.

Internal makeup and Screen:

The processor in the Galaxy Tab doesn’t take a back seat to the iPad2 which has a 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 chip with 512MB of RAM. In fact the Galaxy tab trumps the iPad2 when it comes to space capabilities. The Tab is powered by a 1GHz Dual-Core NVIDIA TEGRA 2 processor and 1GB of RAM, the worth of which is realised while multi-tasking. Samsung’s bluetooth capabilities come with a 3.0 version which ensures the faster transfer of files, compared to the iPad2 which has Bluetooth 2.1. The Galaxy Tab is a winner even with its display. It has a slightly larger display at 10.1 inch compared to the iPad’s 9.7 inch screen and a vibrant TFT LCD display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels, giving the tab an edge over the iPad’s resolution of 1024×768 pixels.

Camera and Sound:
The Tab has a significantly better camera compared to its rival, the iPad 2. It packs a 3.2MP autofocus camera accompanied by an LED flash, which can make snapping pictures in low light conditions very useful. Additionally, the camera doubles up as a 720p HD video recorder. And while the iPad2 also captures HD quality video at 720p and has a 5X digital zoom its primary camera captures images at a measly 0.7MP.

The Tab’s front (or secondary) camera also beats the iPad 2. Its 2MP front facing camera can be used for video conferencing with friends and family via Google Talk which is not limited to one single platform —unlike the iPad 2 which uses Face Time (Apple’s proprietary video conferencing software) on its VGA camera up front.

On the sound front, the iPad 2 has a single speaker located on the back of the tablet, while the Galaxy Tab 10.1 offers stereo support with its dual speakers, one on each side of the tablet when held in landscape mode.

Software:

Now this is where the Galaxy Tab shines the most. It runs the Honeycomb version of Android (3.2). Samsung said in a blog post that the Ice-Cream Sandwich a.k.a. 4.0 update will be pushed out to the Tab early this year. This update will keep the tablet fresh, especially considering the heap of new tablets scheduled to release this year. The Tab’s Honeycomb version is dressed with Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz User Interface that brings a number of new features to the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The browser is faster and the availability of Adobe Flash allows the user to conveniently view millions of websites. The iPad 2 on the other hand lacks the Flash support and thus makes the browsing experience a little starved.

Android’s unique selling point as the platform of choice is due to its ability to let individuals customise their phone and/or tablet. Unlike the iPad 2, the Galaxy Tab can be customised to one’s heart’s content — from live wallpapers to third party launchers to various browsers — ultimately transforming the Tab into a “you” device.

Battery and Pricing:
Here’s an aspect that both, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab and the Apple iPad are on par. The Galaxy Tab is powered by a 7000mAh battery which according to Samsung, can clock up to 9 hours of video and 72 hours of music — similar to what Apple’s iPad2 offers. The 16 GB Wi-Fi only versions for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (or the Galaxy Tab 750 in India) and the Apple iPad2 are being sold for Rs 33,000 and Rs 29,500 respectively at retail stores.

Conclusion:
So, if you are in the market to buy a tablet, ask yourself who you are. If you are the do it yourself tech type who is both meticulous and choosy and want a “YOU” device, then look no further than the Galaxy Tab. For those that like others making choices for them and leaving it to the exclusive club of the “experts” – the iPad 2 may be the safest bet.

"Facebook is a surveillance engine, not friend"

Richard Stallman

"You know about the two rules right for interviewing Richard?" a volunteer asks before leading us to meet Richard Stallman, the man who fights for free software day in and out. One, don't use the term Open Source to mean free software. 

Two, don't say Linux but say GNU/Linux. Dr Stallman, who started the Free Software Foundation in 1985 to promote freedom to create, share and modify software, is extremely sensitive to whether the goals of his initiative are rightly communicated. 

A computer engineer and self-proclaimed hacker, the 58-year-old Dr Stallman lives the life of an activist. He lives frugally, like a student, he has said once. The philosophy behind the support for free software reflects in other things too. 

During this interview, he gave back a Kinley water bottle, because he doesn't consume Coca-Cola bottles for the way it handles labour. Ditto is his feeling about Walmart. He uses the low-profile Lemote Yeeloong computer, browses the Net only once or twice daily and doesn't own a cell phone, because he believes it creates privacy issues. 

He's a Green Party supporter. And can cut down to size all the new age iconic business corporations, which he has done in this interview. In fact, in what raised a storm, he re-quoted the famous lines 'I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone,' after the death of Steve Jobs. Excerpts: 

How do you see the recent move by Facebook to go for listing? 

I don't care about that. Facebook mistreats its users. Facebook is not your friend, it is a surveillance engine. For instance, if you browse the Web and you see a 'like' button in some page or some other site that has been displayed from Facebook. 

Therefore, Facebook knows that your machine visited that page. So, Facebook carries out surveillance over visitors to thousands of different Websites, even for people who are not Facebook users. I hope we will have something for free browsers to block Facebook 'like' buttons so that people won't be under surveillance. 

In any case, this is why I ask people not to put photographs of me on Facebook, because Facebook collects data about the names of people in photos. It might as well be working directly for Big Brother. 

Mark Zuckerberg says the likes of Google and Microsoft are collecting information behind your back. 

They all do it in a secret way. Facebook collects a lot of data from people and admits it. And it also collects data which isn't admitted. And Google does too. As for Microsoft, I don't know. But I do know that Windows has features that send data about the user. 

Proprietary software tends to have malicious features. The point is with a proprietary program, when the users don't have the source code, we can never tell. So you must consider every proprietary program as potential malware. So to that extent, he's right. But that doesn't make Facebook okay. 

A recent book called Master Switch (by Tim Wu) discusses whether the Net could be taken over by a private monopoly in future. 

In the US, it almost has been. Because I think there are three major ISPs that are the only ones that most Americans can use. As a result, those three together could shut down almost all theInternet if they want. The further step from three companies controlling most people's access to one company controlling all is a substantial step but most of the way has gone already. 

The philosophy of free software is competing with the big proprietary software firms, who can spend a lot. 

It's actually the free software itself that opposes them. Competing is too weak a word. This is not a competition for success at all. 

As an idea? 

The idea that users deserve freedom and should control their computing competes with the idea that people should let companies control them with digital colonisation. But most of the time they don't say it's good to lose your freedom and good to be a victim of digital colonisation. What they do is they distract attention away from it entirely and they ask people to think about other things. 

So Microsoft had a slogan, 'Where do you want to go today?' Whereas ours is, 'How do you want to live in five or 10 years?' It's clear that the second question is more important. But Microsoft's goal was simply to get people distracted with something else, so they would never ask themselves the deeper questions. 

In your blog, you have also raised questions against Amazon.com? 

In addition to mistreating its workers, Amazon mistreats its customers. And that's what I focus on. E-books from Amazon and most publishers take away readers' tradition of freedoms. And this is an injustice. 

With paper printed books, you have certain freedoms. You can acquire the book anonymously by paying cash, which is the way I always buy books. I never use a credit card. I don't identify to any database when I buy books. Amazon takes away that freedom. 

Most books are available for the Amazon Swindle (Stallman's pun on Kindle) only from Amazon and Amazon requires users to identify themselves. So Amazon has a database of all the books each user has read. Such a database is a threat to human rights. It must not be allowed to exist. 

There's also a freedom to give the book to someone else or lend the book without telling anyone else. And there's the freedom to sell the book to a used bookstore. Amazon abolishes these freedoms with digital handcuffs. And there's the freedom to keep a book for as long as you wish, which Amazon abolishes with a backdoor in the Swindle. 

We know about this backdoor because in 2009 it was observed that Amazon remotely deleted thousands of copies of a particular book. Those were until that day authorised copies. And then they disappeared. And you know which book it was that Amazon showed the Orwellian nature of its product with? It was 1984, by George Orwell! There was a lot of criticism, so Amazon promised it would never do it again unless ordered to do so by the State. That does not make me feel safe. 

Do you fear for a time when you won't be able to pay in cash to buy a book? 

I am worried about that. But that means I won't get books. There are books available now that I can't get by paying cash. And I don't get them. It's that simple. You have got to be firm when you are standing up for freedom. 

If you say I want freedom but if it's inconvenient for me to keep it I will give it up, then you are weak. That means all that the businesses that are working together have to do is set up a situation where you encounter an inconvenience in maintaining your freedom and you give it up. 

Surveillance is also one of the reasons why you opposed the ID projects of different countries including India? 

Yes, I heard that India has a national population registry which is taking lot of biometrics of people. People in India should organise to fight against and resist the national population registry as well as the ID number. I'm not surprised. What else do you expect governments to do? Governments want total control over people. 

Looking back, do you think if the OS was called GNU/Linux, it would have boosted the entire free software community? 

The issue is not about boosting the community. It's about teaching people to demand freedom. I started developing the GNU operating system as a means to an end and that end is so that we can have freedom in our computing. 

However, it turns out that in order to establish freedom in an everlasting way it is not enough to give people free software. It's not enough to give people freedom if they don't appreciate it. They will have many opportunities to lose it. 

So, to establish lasting freedom you need to teach people to value freedom and demand freedom and we try to do that. We in the GNU project, which is the project to develop the GNU operating system, is a part of the free software movement which says we demand that our software be free and we will work hard to escape from proprietary software because we want to have freedom in our computing. 

However, it turns out that in order to establish freedom in an everlasting way it is not enough to give people free software. It's not enough to give people freedom if they don't appreciate it. They will have many opportunities to lose it. 

So, to establish lasting freedom you need to teach people to value freedom and demand freedom and we try to do that. We in the GNU project, which is the project to develop the GNU operating system, is a part of the free software movement which says we demand that our software be free and we will work hard to escape from proprietary software because we want to have freedom in our computing. 

However, there are people in the free software community who don't agree with this. For instance, Torvalds (Linus Torvalds) who wrote the kernel Linux. Well they have a right to their views. They have the right to disagree with us and say so. 

But the error of referring to the operating system use as Linux when Linux is just one component of it means that people think that the whole system was started by Torvalds in 1991 rather than by me in 1984. And he tells them I don't think about freedom and that what we need is a powerful, reliable software. 

Well he has got rights to state his views and I would be against censoring his views. But people should know that the system that we use, which is basically GNU plus Linux, exists because of the free software movement.