Slashback: AMD/ATI, Tokamak Fusion, Laptop Privacy

Slashback tonight brings some clarifications and updates to previous Slashdot stories including: An inside look at the AMD/ATI merger, school admins backing down on cell phone invasion policies, a new launch date for Scotty's ashes, a second test for China's Tokamak fusion device, Forbe's missed the mark on IBM destruction of evidence, Skype for Mac 1.5 released, and the courts rule that customs can still rifle through your laptop - Read on for details.

An inside look at the AMD/ATI merger. Spinnerbait writes "HotHardware spent some sit-down time with a few folks close to the AMD and ATI merger, asked some probing questions and received a few insightful answers in return. They dug in deep with AMD Execs, learned all there is to know currently and even got a hint of what the future might hold for the dynamic duo (no pun intended), now joined as one. A tighter coupling of the CPU and GPU is in our future perhaps?"

School admins back down on cell phone invasion policy. Reverberant writes "In a follow up to earlier coverage about school admins wanting access to students' cellphones, Framingham officials have decided to hold off on the policy for now because they need school committee approval. The head of the school policy committee has 'no interest in bringing it up.'"

New launch date for Scotty's ashes. wolfdvh writes "The BBC reports that Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played the engineer Scotty in the original TV series, will now have his remains blasted into space in October. The actor's ashes were supposed to be sent into orbit last year, but the flight was delayed as tests were carried out on the rocket."

Second test for China's Tokamak fusion device. Haxx writes "The first plasma discharge from China's experimental advanced superconducting research center dubbed 'artificial sun' is set to occur next month. The discharge, expected about Aug. 15, will be conducted at Science Island in Hefei, in east China's Anhui Province. The experiment will test the world's first Tokamak fusion device of this kind. The new device will be an upgrade of China`s first superconducting Tokamak device. The plasma discharge will draw international attention since some scientists are concerned with risks involved in such a process"

Forbe's missed the mark on IBM destruction of evidence. An anonymous reader writes "It turns out that Forbes.com was wrong and, based on analysis of Pacer no motion has been filed against IBM for destruction of evidence. Shortly following from a major collapse in SCO's share price, a recent article Slashdot reported Forbes.com's claim that a motion had been filed against IBM for destruction of evidence. In fact, Groklaw, the main site covering the SCO vs. IBM lawsuit, now reports that SCO has filed no motions of this type whatsoever in March."

Skype for Mac 1.5 released. Billy C writes "A few weeks after warez versions made the rounds on the Internet, the official Skype for Mac with video is here." While still only a preview version, brave users can now give it a shot.

Courts rule customs can rifle through your laptop. monstermagnet writes "On Monday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the files of a person's laptop may be searched at U.S. borders [PDF] without probable cause or even reasonable suspicion."

Cyrix

[TheRealMindChild]

Cyrix already had a cpu/gpu/whatever else combo. It was the MediaGX

Thank heavens for crypto.

[saintlupus]

On Monday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the files of a person's laptop may be searched at U.S. borders [PDF] without probable cause or even reasonable suspicion."

TrueCrypt for Windows or Linux. Check it out.

--saint

Romm's lawyer dropped the ball

[rdwald]

A quick reading of the brief in the "searching laptops at the border" case suggests that the reason they're considering a laptop search as part of the "routine search" they're already allowed to do at borders is because the defendant's lawyer didn't raise the question of whether this search differed from a routine search during the first phase of the trial, and therefore the appellate court can't look at the issue now. Seems more like a dodge to duck the issue rather than an actual ruling. Here, I'll even give you the specific wording:

Finally, and for the first time in his reply brief, Romm argues the search of his laptop was too intrusive on his First Amendment interests to qualify as a "routine" border search. See generally Okafor, 285 F.3d at 846 (noting the difference between routine and non-routine searches). We decline to consider this issue here because "arguments not raised by a party in its opening brief are deemed waived." See Smith v. Marsh, 194 F.3d 1045, 1052 (9th Cir. 1999). Therefore, evaluating the border search of Romm's laptop solely as a routine search, we hold the district court correctly denied Romm's motion to suppress.

Re:Romm's lawyer dropped the ball

[TubeSteak]

Well, that's just how the legal system works.

You can't bring up new issues on appeal.

The appeals process is almost solely focused on arguing over the facts, arguments and legal manuevers that were presented at trial.

Smith v. Marsh is a very oft quoted precedent which establishes this rule.

Customs

[TopSpin]

"Customs" can rifle through your anus without probable cause or even reasonable suspicion. Why anyone would suspect that laptops are somehow sacred and take it up with the courts mystifies me.

Feel The Burn Baby

[DumbSwede]

Here is a better link from a Chinese news source Super-heated fusion experiment to reach 100 million degrees [people.com.cn]

Evidently this isn't just aiming to achieve "break-even" but an actual "fusion burn" lasting 1000 seconds or approximately 16 minutes. I can't help but wonder that if they reach this goal whether it will massively accelerate the arrival of commercial fusion energy. The difference between break-even and burn is that break-even merely releases more energy than input, whereas burn requires self sustained reaction without additional input of energy.

Many people think controlled fusion is "undoable" so such a demonstration would go a long way towards getting rid of the "30 years away and always will be" assumption.
We only have to wait until Mid-August to find out.

Re:Probable Cause

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Customs is not police, searching for evidence of a crime.

Customs is treasury department border guards.

They're not accusing you of a crime. They're just checking that your taxes are paid and you're not bringing in prohibited items.

They don't need a warrant. They don't need probable cause. They get to check without suspicion.

And if they happen to find evidence of a crime during their search, they get to file charges, just like any other official who happened to see evidence of a crime while performing their normal duties.

Re:Courts rule customs can rifle through your lapt

[Bogtha]

Dude, this has been the norm in the UK and much of Europe for several years.

Has it? I live in the UK and have travelled all over Europe, and I've never had anybody ask to see what's on my laptop.

Re:Feel The Burn Baby

[kidtexas]

I didn't read the article. I am a plasma physicist though. Just because a plasma gives off energy doesn't mean its burning. Heck it doesn't even mean it has any fusion reactions going on. No doubt EAST will have fusion events though. I really didn't think EAST was shooting for break even; I thought they were focussing on high plasma current almost steady state discharges which is quite significant in and of itself. It's a very cool machine - superconducting field coils, discharges up to 1000s, 1 MA of current. I wish it was in the US.

But I don't think they are going for break even. They'd have to put tritium in it, and if that does happen, it won't happen for a bunch of years. You might read about them claiming break even based on a DD shot they did and extrapolating what the fusion output would have been if was a DT reaction... But its not quite the same.

Re:Paedo-hysteria

[Monster_Juice]

He did a search on Google for sites containing child pornography, went to the sites and viewed images and later opened the thumbnails and viewed the pictures for about five minutes while masturbating twice. He later went in and emptied his temporary internet files but did not delete his internet history.

Unfortunately in many states you would get a shorter sentence for molesting a child. There are many organizations trying to get the laws changed to carry a stiffer sentence. In fact in Nebraska if you are short you only get probation [go.com].

Cases like this are further proof that we do not need the Constitution to be a living document. We also need to get Judges to quit looking for precedence to decide every case. I hope this goes to a higher court or appealed again on the grounds of illegal search and seizure. Do I think the guy is guilty? Hell yes but the ends do not justify the means. There should be border searches, but I also feel there should be a limit to what they are searching for and what they can search.

My final thought is that I have seen no proof that the images were actually of a child. He was looking for child porn but did he find it or did he just find an 18 year old that looks younger than she/he really is? Splitting a hair yes, but if they cannot prove the person in the picture is under 18 this would only be attempt to commit a crime.

Re:Probable Cause

[Eivind]

But in the end you're going to do yourself in with your attempts to protect yourself. If they can't get at your files to see that you're free of child porn, they're going to get upset, and they're going to make things difficult for you.

But with TrueCrypt that's not the case. It works like this:

• They notice the encrypted partition.
• They ask for the password to read it.
• You give them the password for the outer filesystem.
• They verify that it contains harmless but mildly embarassing emails to your girlfriend.
• They have *NO* way of knowing that there even *IS* an inner filesystem in the unused part of the outer filesystem.

This works because even the *existence* of the inner filesystem can't be demonstrated without knowing the passphrase. Because encrypted, the filesystem looks like random noise, so there's no way of knowing that it is not, infact, random noise.

Look into TrueCrypt.

Re:Paedo-hysteria

[Calinous]

He was a repeat offender, and there was already a conviction that blocked him to look at child porn

Re:Paedo-hysteria

[Quila]

A border search is reasonable because it's a border search?

Yep, it's part of the ability of a sovereign nation to defend its borders. This is a very narrow exception though, as warrantless searches just within the border, past the fixed entry point, are not allowed.

In case you are wondering whether this is some modern Republico-fascist policy, these searches were authorized by the first Congress. The precedent over this includes the authority of Customs to inspect incoming container ships.