...we've compiled a list of 51 open source apps that can help protect your identity. Some of these fit into traditional security categories, like anti-spam, anti-virus, and firewalls. Others, like browsers, e-mail, and PDF tools, we've included in this list because they include encryption or other security features that can help you protect yourself.

You can protect yourself from everybody some of the time and some people all of the time, but you can't protect yourself from mother ;)

I'm out at JavaOne in San Francisco this week and one discussion I've heard popping up with some regularity is, "Do we need to do something to protect open source in a cloud computing world?" I've written about aspects of this topic at length previously.

We are pleased to announce that Automattic has made a remarkable and generous donation by transferring ownership of the WordPress trademark to the WordPress Foundation. We're honored to accept this donation, and to preserve and protect the trademark in the years ahead as a keystone part of the Foundation's mission to ensure that WordPress is around and thrives for generations to come.

Yesterday was data privacy day, according to Lifehacker, and they posted a number of tips for protecting your privacy.There is one more thing you can do to protect your privacy, though: use open-source software. Open-source, while not inherently more secure, has little chance of containing any backdoors or anything you wouldn't want in your software, since all the code is open.

"While browsing the Net yesterday, I came across a couple of different articles that got me thinking about the dangers of relying upon proprietary technology to protect the common good and safeguard lives..."

The aftermath of Oracle's purchase of Sun and the subsequent forking of a number of open source projects, has highlighted the necessity to protect the integrity of the commons and to keep commercially sponsored open source projects honest, and true to the principles of free and open source software.

Launchpad is kinda hard to describe. When I’m asked what it is, I normally use three or more of the words “open source free software support project Q&A code registration bugs management listing bazaar planning hosting”. Most people make comparisons to Sourceforge, Savannah, Berlios and Google code hosting, and while those are useful, it’s only a part of the picture. The other part, which is perhaps not as well understood, is that it’s also a public project registration service, similar to Freshmeat. Well, except for a twist.

A trademark lawyer writes about the reaction to the recent decision to grant trademark registration to the term "SLART", widely used to refer to art done in the Second Life virtual world. The registrant is reportedly trying to stop others from using the term. The article includes an overview of trademark law and discussion of its application in virtual worlds.