At the heart of the whole debate is whether a company who has the responsibility of providing the internet infrastructure (or the “Internet Backbone”) has the right to sell higher speed access to the backbone to those client companies that might want their website to display faster.

There are two ways to look at the this situation, in more or less black and white terms.   Unfortunately, this is anything but a black and white situation, so I admit that this breakdown of terms will be rather simplistic.  Here is the nutshell version of each:

• If you are for the continued lack of regulation of the Internet, and opt for more of a laissez-faire angle, then you are considered to be AGAINST Net Neutrality.   You join the ranks of large companies like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, etc.   Just recently, Google has announced a desire to work with Verizon, so they are now changing sides.
• If you vote to regulate the Internet, then you are FOR Net Neutrality.  You join the ranks of groups like Free Press, Public Knowledge, Amazon, and Yahoo.  Google used to be on this side, but because they are now in talks with Verizon Wireless about a bundling deal, they have concievably changed sides…

People who are AGAINST Net Neutrality want to be able to sell the Googles of the world a far superior connection to the Internet compared to the small business websites.   The major argument here is that allowing these backbone companies to charge more for faster connections gives these companies the necessary incentives to continue to invest in their own networks and infrastructure.

People who are FOR Net Neutrality want the Amazons of the world to have the same visibility on the Internet that the average Small Business website has.   They say that regulations to prevent (or at least restrict) any possible discrimination are required to keep the big businesses of the world from conspiring to limit options of regular users.

For a really good list of articles on the issue, please visit the New York Times Room for Debate topic of “Who Gets Priority on the Web?”  There are articles from 9 different Contributors available for your perusal, so you’ll get both sides of the story.  Highly recommended read.

It’s Free App Friday again at Handango, and this weeks App is really cool!

This week, the application of choice is Resco Photo Manager.   This program is the best program for managing Pictures and Photos on your Mobile devices that I have yet to review.

	Touch optimized with gestures3 interfaces to choose from: Browser, Viewer and Slideshow. Zoom, rotation and move gestures make image handling very comfortable.			Upload to the social networks: Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, TwitterUsers can choose among four popular social networks to upload their photos.
	Quick image accessHome screen offers 4 main image databases: My Documents, Camera Roll, Favorites and My Albums.			Add GPS positionAdd GPS position to any of the images and make diary of a trip. Afterwards locate the image on a map (using Google Maps).
	Editing toolsResize, crop, set image as Home Screen, color corrections, attach drawings and much more.			SlideshowImpress your clients, colleagues or friends with a slide-show presentation!

To reach the Free-App Friday webpage for Resco Photo Manager, click here.

I just purchased a new XBox360 game called “DarkStar One: Broken Alliance”, and I have to say: I really like what I see.    The graphics are amazing. 

I’ll be writing-up a Product Review after I have had some additional time to play it further…

Today is Free App Friday at Handango.   Today’s free App is Chess Pro II:

Ready to unleash your Chess skills? ZingMagic’s multi-award winning Chess application is renowned for its superb playability for players of all levels, from beginner to expert. Whatever level of Chess you play at, you can be sure that ZingMagic’s Chess Pro II will give you a stimulating and challenging game. Chess Pro II allows you to play against the computer or another human player. Do you have what it takes to be a Chess master? Download Chess Pro II for FREE using 100% off code FAF730.

Features include:

• Award winning artificial intelligence engine
• Multiple player and multiple game support options
• Full undo and redo of moves
• Find Hints
• English, French, German, Spanish and Italian support

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won a critical exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anti-circumvention provisions on Monday July 26th.  This exemption provides new legal protections for consumers who modify their cell phones in order to make them more operable for their own personal use.   Previously, these actions could have been used as grounds to sue them for their non-infringing or fair use activities.

Read onward after the break to see the rest of the article!

"By granting all of EFF’s applications, the Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress have taken three important steps today to mitigate some of the harms caused by the DMCA," said Jennifer Granick, EFF’s Civil Liberties Director. "We are thrilled to have helped free jailbreakers, unlockers and vidders from this law’s overbroad reach."

The exemptions were granted as part of a statutorily prescribed rulemaking process, conducted every three years to mitigate the danger the DMCA poses to legitimate, non-infringing uses of copyrighted materials. The DMCA prohibits "circumventing" digital rights management (DRM) and "other technical protection measures" used to control access to copyrighted works. While the DMCA still chills competition, free speech, and fair use, today’s exemptions take unprecedented new strides towards protecting more consumers and artists from its extensive reach.

The first of EFF’s three successful requests clarifies the legality of cell phone "jailbreaking" — software modifications that liberate iPhones and other handsets to run applications from sources other than those approved by the phone maker. More than a million iPhone owners are said to have "jailbroken" their handsets in order to change wireless providers or use applications obtained from sources other than Apple’s own iTunes "App Store," and many more have expressed a desire to do so. But the threat of DMCA liability had previously endangered these customers and alternate applications stores.

In its reasoning in favor of EFF’s jailbreaking exemption, the Copyright Office rejected Apple’s claim that copyright law prevents people from installing unapproved programs on iPhones: "When one jailbreaks a smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses."

"Copyright law has long held that making programs interoperable is fair use," confirmed Corynne McSherry, EFF’s Senior Staff Attorney. "It’s gratifying that the Copyright Office acknowledges this right and agrees that the anticircumvention laws should not interfere with interoperability."

We really like this idea, and hope that it helps reverse the existing chilling effect that has kept innovation stifled for years..

To read the full text of the EFF article, and how the other two requests help clarify the legality of fair use and free speech, click here:

EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers

Essentially, .menc (Mobile Encryption) files are just your personal data (the PIM.VOL file that contains all of your Contacts for example) that are encrypted.  The extension of .menc lets the Operating System (OS) know which files are encrypted, and whether or not they can be opened by the user.   To do so, the previously recorded key (user password) must match the key provided by the user when unlocking the device.  But you won’t see those .menc files, because they are typically hidden by the OS so as not to be visible to the end-user during casual browsing.   If you ever chose to encrypt the files you store on your external storage (external memory card, etc), then they may be visible if you took that card to another computer or device for viewing.

If you’re trying to recover those files, then you have to meet some rather special requirements in order to proceed.  Unfortunately, if you have Hard Reset the device, or have a different device than the one that the files were originally created on, then the encryption/decryption keys are now lost or no longer the same, then sadly your files are totally inaccessible. 

However, if you have access to the same device that the .menc files were originally created on, and you have NOT performed a Hard Reset on the device, then you can still salvage the files:

1. Turn the storage card encryption off: Go to Start > Settings > System > Encryption (varies by your Operating System version) and uncheck the “Encrypt files when placed on a storage card” box. From this point forward, all NEW files created on that card will be unencrypted, but existing files will still be encrypted.
2. Next, bring-up your favorite File Explorer, then browse to your Storage Card. Make a new folder on the storage card, and call it “OLDData”.  This folder will, of course, be unencrypted.
3. Now, find whatever files you want to decrypt and copy them into this folder.  Those files will be decypted as they copy into the new folder.  You can now read these files on any other computer or phone.

Congratulations, you’ve just saved some data.   Hopefully it will turn out to be highly important data, which will make your victory taste just a little bit sweeter…

Head on over to Handango to grab your weekly FREE Application!   This weeks App is:

“NetworkAcc – Mobile Network Accelerator”

Accelerate all your mobile-network based activities using NetworkAcc, a 2009 Handango Champion Award Nominee! Speed up browsing, downloading, uploading, streaming, online gaming, sending and receiving email. Optimization technology is applied to fine-tune several key network parameters to prevent data fragmentation and to improve data throughput to make your device faster than you ever imagined. Don’t be limited by your device’s configuration again!! Download NetworkAcc Mobile Network Accelerator for FREE using 100% off code FAF723.

Features include:

• Absolutely hardware free: 100% software solution, no additional hardware needed.
• Easy-to-use: One click to speed up your mobile network performance without forcing you to understand a bunch of network jargon.
• The ultimate in convenience: Runs in the background, automatically analyzes and optimizes your mobile network on-the-go.
• Options: Multiple accelerator gears available to accelerate your mobile network on demand with advanced ‘Settings’ support.