Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
typodupeerror delete not in
  • Preferences

Slashdot stories can be listened to in audio form via an RSS feed, as read by our own robotic overlord.

+-   SecondLife to Remove Free Content From Web Search-> on Thursday November 19, @10:49PM Outland Traveller

Submitted by Outland Traveller on Thursday November 19, @10:49PM
censorship
Outland Traveller writes "In a move that continues to shake the SecondLife(tm) community of content creators, merchants, and consumers, Linden Labs declared that free virtual content will no longer be searchable without listing payments on their website portal, and additional fees will be added with the intention of discouraging content listed for inexpensive selling prices. Adding to the controversy are the officially stated justifications in the FAQ, such as "They [free content listings] hinder the shopping experience because a 'sort by price' puts all freebies first" as well as the perplexing statement "They [free listings] garner so much attention that Residents are driven toward the freebies instead of quality, fairly priced items". While initially this move was explained as a response to community feedback, the residents involved in this feedback process were revealed to be less than 100 in number, primarily larger merchants among a community of millions. Within 24 hours of the announcement the feedback thread has swelled to over 1,000 overwhelming negative responses. Additionally in-world protests have erupted throughout the day, over 20,000 objects have been voluntarily removed from the online store by angered merchants. Various independent virtual content listing sites have been proposed such as http://meta-life.net/ and http://slapt.me/, but attempts to post this information on the Second Life forums has been met with aggressive administrative censorship of these links. This move by Linden Lab is particularly troubling because the online web listing service is the de facto search engine for virtual content in Second Life, since the in-world search tools are unable to provide information about an object beyond a name and location, such as basic textual descriptions, pictures, licensing, size, or content-category."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   RFID Fingerprints: Preventing RFID Counterfeits-> on Thursday November 19, @07:56PM Bourdain

Submitted by Bourdain on Thursday November 19, @07:56PM
privacy
Bourdain writes "Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed a unique and robust method to prevent cloning of passive radio frequency identification tags. The technology, based on one or more unique physical attributes of individual tags rather than information stored on them, will prevent the production of counterfeit tags and thus greatly enhance both security and privacy for government agencies, businesses and consumers."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Microsoft denies it built 'backdoor' in Windows 7-> on Thursday November 19, @04:50PM CWmike

Submitted by CWmike on Thursday November 19, @04:50PM
government
CWmike writes "Microsoft has denied that it has built a backdoor into Windows 7, a concern that surfaced yesterday after a senior National Security Agency (NSA) official testified before Congress that the agency had worked on the operating system. "Microsoft has not and will not put 'backdoors' into Windows," a company spokeswoman said, reacting to a Computerworld story Wednesday. On Monday, Richard Schaeffer, the NSA's information assurance director, told the Senate's Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security that the agency had partnered with the developer during the creation of Windows 7 "to enhance Microsoft's operating system security guide." Thursday's categorical denial by Microsoft was accompanied by further explanation of exactly how the NSA participated in the making of Windows 7. "The work being discussed here is purely in conjunction with our Security Compliance Management Toolkit," said the spokeswoman. The company rolled out the Windows 7 version of the toolkit late last month, shortly after it officially launched the operating system."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Patent Issued for Podcasting on Thursday November 19, @03:38PM pickens

Submitted by pickens on Thursday November 19, @03:38PM
patents
pickens writes "EFF reports that a company called Volomedia just got the Patent Office to grant them exclusive rights to "a method for providing episodic media" that could threaten the community of podcasters and millions of podcast listeners. "It's a ridiculously broad patent, covering something that many folks have been doing for many years," writes Rebecca Jeschke. "Worse, it could create a whole new layer of ongoing costs for podcasters and their listeners." To bust this patent, EFF is looking for additional "prior art" — or evidence that the podcasting methods described in the patent were already in use before November 19, 2003 (pdf). "In particular, we're looking for written descriptions of methods that allow a user to download pre-programmed episodic media like audio files or video files from a remote publisher, with the download occurring after the user subscribes to the episodes, and with the user continuing to automatically receive new episodes.""
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Ukraine passes "Law 404" to spy on users on Thursday November 19, @02:55PM comrade.putin

Submitted by comrade.putin on Thursday November 19, @02:55PM
censorship
comrade.putin writes "In second reading Ukrainian senate passed amendments to Protection of Social Morals Act, Telecommunication Act and the Criminal Code that would force Internet Service Providers to monitor and record all activity by subscribers and report any illegal activity. The law claims to combat child pornography, but the language in the bill does not limit illegal activity to only that. Originally the bill would force disconnection of questionable resources, but that clause was scrapped after realization that most news sites could potentially be disconnected for criticism of the government. Public ironically started referring to this bill as "Law 404"(Google Translation), because it passed the first reading with 404 votes. This comes after numerous petitions, IT expert and lawyer opinions against it. Since ISPs would be responsible for monitoring and filtering, the cost for implementation falls on ISPs themselves.
The bill is currently waiting for the President's signature. There's still a chance for it to be vetoed."
Read More... 0 comments submission

Comments: 2 +-   Backdoor worries with NSA's help on Windows 7-> on Wednesday November 18, @07:02PM CWmike

Submitted by CWmike on Wednesday November 18, @07:02PM
government
CWmike writes "The National Security Agency (NSA) worked with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7, an agency official acknowledged yesterday before Congress. Alarmed? Same story with Vista. Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronics Privacy Information Center (EPIC), says the NSA's involvement with OS development goes back even farther. "This battle goes back to at least the crypto wars of the early '90s," said Rotenberg, who remembered testifying about the agency's role in private sector computer security standards in 1989. But the NSA's hands on Windows raises a red flag for Rotenberg, who heads the public interest research center. "When NSA offers to help the private sector on computer security, the obvious concern is that it will also build in backdoors that enables tracking users and intercepting user communications," Rotenberg said. "And private sector firms are reluctant to oppose these 'suggestions' since the US government is also their biggest customer and opposition to the NSA could mean to loss of sales." But Andrew Storms, the director of security operations at nCircle Security, didn't put much credence in the idea that Microsoft would allow the NSA to build a hidden entrance to Windows 7. "Would it be surprising to most people that there was a backdoor? No, not with the political agenda of prior administrations," said Storms. "My gut, though, tells me that Microsoft, as a business, would not want to do that, at least not in a secretive way.""
Link to Original Source
Read More... 2 comments submission

+-   DNA testing firm goes bankrupt, who gets the data? on Wednesday November 18, @02:47PM wiedzmin

Submitted by wiedzmin on Wednesday November 18, @02:47PM
privacy
wiedzmin writes "DeCODE Genetics, a genetics research firm from Iceland has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and Saga Investments, a U.S. venture capital firm, has already put in a bid to buy deCODE’s operations, raising privacy concerns about the fate of customer DNA samples and records. The company hasn’t disclosed how many clients signed up for its service, but provides a number of customer testimonials on its site, including Dorrit Mousaieff, Iceland’s first lady."
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Smart Grid could pose threat to privacy-> on Wednesday November 18, @02:21PM Presto Vivace

Submitted by Presto Vivace on Wednesday November 18, @02:21PM
privacy
Presto Vivace writes "Brian Kreps of the Washington Post reports on a study jointly released Tuesday by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Future of Privacy Forum. It seems that in the process of collecting all that feedback about energy use utility companies will inevitably collect a great deal of information about us.

"Instead of measuring energy use at the end of each billing period, smart meters will provide this information at much shorter intervals," the report notes. "Even if electricity use is not recorded minute by minute, or at the appliance level, information may be gleaned from ongoing monitoring of electricity consumption such as the approximate number of occupants, when they are present, as well as when they are awake or asleep. For many, this will resonate as a 'sanctity of the home' issue, where such intimate details of daily life should not be accessible."

Anyone at Slashdot have any ideas for a possible solution?"
Link to Original Source

Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   T-Mobile UK employees sold customers' information-> on Tuesday November 17, @05:50PM angry tapir

Submitted by angry tapir on Tuesday November 17, @05:50PM
privacy
angry tapir writes "Workers at T-Mobile UK have been selling customer data to brokers who work for the competition, according to T-Mobile and the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office. "Many thousands" of customer account details were sold to several brokers for substantial amounts of money, the ICO said. In an announcement (PDF) from the ICO, the agency does not name the operator involved, but T-Mobile acknowledged that it alerted ICO about the data breach. The BBC reported that after the other mobile operators said they were not the subject of the investigation, T-Mobile confirmed its involvement."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Spain Codifies 'The Right to Broadband'-> on Tuesday November 17, @04:26PM adeelarshad82

Submitted by adeelarshad82 on Tuesday November 17, @04:26PM
internet
adeelarshad82 writes "Country's industry minister announced that Spanish citizens will have a legal right from 2011 to be able to buy broadband internet of at least one megabyte per second at a regulated price wherever they live. The telecoms operator holding the so-called "universal service" contract would have to guarantee it could offer "reasonably" priced broadband throughout Spain."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Phone network sells customer details-> on Tuesday November 17, @10:55AM Barence

Submitted by Barence on Tuesday November 17, @10:55AM
cellphones
Barence writes "The Information Commissioner's Office has revealed that a UK mobile network has sold thousands of customers details without permission — but won't name the network involved. Staff from the unnamed network allegedly sold thousands of customers records for what the Information Commissioner describes as a "substantial sum of money". The data was used to cold-call customers whose contracts were due to expire soon. A prosecution case is being prepared."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   USPTO Bilski-es Amazon CEO's Patent Claims on Sunday November 15, @03:48PM theodp

Submitted by theodp on Sunday November 15, @03:48PM
patents
theodp writes "As the Supreme Court grapples with clarifying what's not patently obvious, it's worth noting that the USPTO has already started using Bilski to torpedo patent claims. In dismissing Amazon.com's patent claims (pdf) for its Method and System for Placing a Purchase Order Via a Communications Network (a 1-Click spin-off), a USPTO Examiner cited Bilski, explaining that elements of CEO Jeff Bezos' gift delivery invention 'may be performed largely within the human mind.' A NY Post reporter arrived at essentially the same conclusion — way back in 2002. Attorneys for self-proclaimed patent reformer Amazon are appealing the non-final rejection."
Read More... 0 comments submission

Comments: 2 +-   Hackers fail to hack Brazilian Voting Machines on Saturday November 14, @12:11PM blueser

Submitted by blueser on Saturday November 14, @12:11PM
government
blueser writes "From Nov 10th to Nov 13th the Brazilian Government hosted a public hacking contest to test the robustness of its voting machines. 38 participants from private and public IT companies (including the Brazilian Federal Police) were divided into 9 teams which tried several different approaches to try to tamper the software installed on the machines, and even physically interfere on other stages of the process. All attempts (aside from a minor one which would not compromise the overall results) failed, and observations from the participants and neutral observers will be taken into account to improve even further the process. The official announcement for the contest can be read (in Portuguese) here, and a summary of the results (also in Portuguese) can be read on Brazilian newspapers. Brazilian voting machines use Linux"
Read More... 2 comments submission

Comments: 1 +-   TSA changes its rules, lawsuit dropped-> on Friday November 13, @10:20PM ndogg

Submitted by ndogg on Friday November 13, @10:20PM
government
ndogg writes "A while back, there was much ado about a Ron Paul staffer, Steve Bierfeldt, being detained by the TSA for carrying large sums of money. The ACLU sued on his behalf, and the TSA changed its rules stating that its screeners can only screen for unsafe materials. With that, the ACLU dropped its suit."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 1 comments submission

Comments: 2 +-   City laws only available via license-> on Thursday November 12, @07:09PM MrLint

Submitted by MrLint on Thursday November 12, @07:09PM
MrLint writes "The City of Schenectady has decided that their laws are copyrighted, and that you cannot know them without paying for an "exclusive license" for $200. This is not really the first time things of this nature has occurred, Oregon has claimed publishing of laws online is a copyright violation (http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/04/oregon-publishing-our-laws-online-is-a-copyright-violation.ars). As the internet continues to make inroads as the primary, or sole source of information for people, will we end up with a society where all the laws are behind a paywall? Will the inability to find out the law become a reasonable defense?"
Link to Original Source
Read More... 2 comments submission

+-   Recovering the slums of the internet?-> on Thursday November 12, @01:52PM turtleshadow

Submitted by turtleshadow on Thursday November 12, @01:52PM
internet
turtleshadow writes "Brian Krebs of Security Fix Blog analyzed the McColo Spamming one year later and asks an interesting question.
"How does one renovate and recoup the lost trust to the slums of the Internet and reclaim back all the domains and IP's that have been blacklisted?"

Indeed the economic benefits abound when a huge swath of illegal and annoying activity ceases but given the basic design of the internet what happens over the long run to IP space and DNS when hosting companies come and go and vary in their trustworthiness.

So too also now that Geocities is dead by economic means but does that still live in your filter list? It still appears in OpenDNS under several policy categories
How in a few years will I tell if some Hosting/Colo sold me Whitechapel Road/Ventura Avenue for Mayfair/Boardwalk prices and no one is going to accept my mail from a former slum?

I ask Slashdotters — when do you, if ever roll back the blacklists and filters for "dead" threats and spammers? Else is there a risk of garbage/crud lists all over the place interfering with routing and access to content?"
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   U.S. House passes National CS Education Week-> on Thursday November 12, @01:47PM Jedi74

Submitted by Jedi74 on Thursday November 12, @01:47PM
education
Jedi74 writes "A Calvin computer science professor (and Microwulf inventor) has paired with a Calvin graduate serving in the U.S. House of Representatives to designate the week of December 7, 2009, as National Computer Science Education Week. House Resolution 558 was introduced by former Calvin physics professor Vern Ehlers, a long-serving member of Congress, because of concerns, raised to him by Calvin professor Joel Adams, about the small numbers of computer scientists that U.S. colleges are graduating. Ehlers' resolution, which passed 405-0, encourages greater exposure of students to computer science concepts and more opportunities for females and underrepresented minorities in computer science."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   USPTO Director Launches Blog on Thursday November 12, @09:03AM Byzantine

Submitted by Byzantine on Thursday November 12, @09:03AM
government
Byzantine writes "The US Office of Science and Technology Policy has announced that, following the lead of a number of governmental agencies, the director of the Patent and Trademark Office has started a blog. The many Slashdotters with strong opinions on patents might find the comments section a forum for communication with the PTO."
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   RFID Privacy Bill Vetoed in RI-> on Wednesday November 11, @01:31PM smitty777

Submitted by smitty777 on Wednesday November 11, @01:31PM
smitty777 writes "The governor of Rhode Island vetoed a bill putting privacy restrictions on RFID chips used for tracking schoolchildren, government employees, and EZPass transponders.

His logic? "Why would the General Assembly therefore place restrictions on the use of this technology as an option for all students?" Carcieri wrote. "In certain circumstances, it may be helpful for schools to have the ability to quickly identify where each of their students is located... Such circumstances may include weather-related natural disasters, terrorist or criminal events or even a need for use during field trips and outside school activities."

Thoughts on the warrantless tracking of toll information for legal purposes is currently being debated — with Mass saying no and Wisconsin saying yes"
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission

+-   Managed Copies for Blu-ray Mandatory on December 4-> on Tuesday November 10, @06:58AM eldavojohn

Submitted by eldavojohn on Tuesday November 10, @06:58AM
movies
eldavojohn writes "Remember in 2007 when the rumors circulated about "managed copies" of DVDs that never really materialized? Well, the same thing is being promised for Blu-ray. In fact, it's part of the AACS licensing agreement that by December 4th the consumers should be able to have managed copies from a centralized authorization server. Finally a rare development in favor the customer, right? Problem is that no devices support it. While 600 companies have signed the licensing agreement, there's no clear way for us to take advantage of our managed copies. The AACS-LA makes this sound like a dream come true but it's becoming more and more clear that it may just be vaporware déjà vu all over again."
Link to Original Source
Read More... 0 comments submission
Search
Some men are so interested in their wives' continued happiness that they hire detectives to find out the reason for it.

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.