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Spam

Submission + - Anti-spammer sued for complaining of spam

Submitted by
www.sorehands.com
www.sorehands.com writes: "E360Insight, LLC and David Linhardt sues more anti-spammers. E360Insight and Lindhardt is known for their $11.7M Default Judgement against Spamhaus.

This time, suit was filed against Mark Ferguson (of Ferguson v. Friendfinder fame), Susan Wilson, Kelly Chien, and Tim Skirvin along with a couple of undientified people for posting on usenet saying that E360Insight and Linhardt are spammers.

This is a disturbing trend. I have had spammer's attorney threaten libel actions, but never followed through. Prior to e360Insight, EmarketersAmerica.org filed a lawsuit lawsuit against Spamhaus. When Spamhaus appeared in the EmarketersAmerica.org case, EmarketersAmerica.org ran with its tail between its legs by filing request dismissal with prejudice. We need to stand up to these spammers and show them that filing suits against people complaining of spam is not in their best interest. These are SLAPP lawsuits brought solely to intimidate and silence — not because the suit has merit."
Privacy

Submission + - Audit finds FBI Abused Patriot Act

Submitted by
happyslayer
happyslayer writes: "One topic that's sure to get heavy and fierce discussion on Slashdot is the US PATRIOT ACT and the use of security letters, particularly if you run a network, ISP, or hosting service with registered users from outside your organization.

According to this story, the US Government Accounting Office, the FBI has not always been "forthcoming" about the numbers, reasons, and results of the security letters.

From the article:



Over the entire three-year period, the audit found the FBI issued 143,074 national security letters requesting customer data from businesses.

The FBI vastly underreported the numbers. In 2005, the FBI told Congress that its agents in 2003 and 2004 had delivered only 9,254 national security letters seeking e-mail, telephone or financial information on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents over the previous two years.

Additionally, the audit found, the FBI identified 26 possible violations in its use of the national security letters, including failing to get proper authorization, making improper requests under the law and unauthorized collection of telephone or Internet e-mail records.
"
Privacy

Submission + - USG to spy all telecommunications in Mexico

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The US government, by the contract S-INLEC-06-R-4042, Title 58 will monitor the full spectrum of telecommunications in Mexico. From the Contract description:
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs intends to issue Request for Proposal S-INLEC-06-R-4042 for the purchase of Communications Intercept Systems to include installation, technical support and training on-site in Mexico.
The scope of the contract is "the purchase and installation of a communications intercept system that enables the collection and analysis of information transmitted over all types of communications systems" in Mexico; this system sould enable the "timely receipt, processing, analysis, and storage of intercepted communications from the national telephonic and other communications service providers in Mexico. The proposed system must comply with the following AFI stated requirements for interception of target calls and sessions from (1) TELMEX PSTN network, through analog lines, (2) TELCEL TDMA network, (3) NEXTEL iDEIM/GSM network, (4) TELEFONICA network, (5) UNEFON network, (6) ISUACEL CDMA network and TDMA network, (7) Existing CISCO VoIP network at customer's premises, (8) packet data from the Mexico PRODIGY ISP network. Additionally the client desires the establishment of a central monitoring center with the capabilities of (1) real-time and off-line playback, (2) fax decoding, (3) packet data decoding, (4) storage of all calls for at least 25,000 hours, (5) storage of all session related information, (6) 30 monitoring stations and 30 printers, (7) cellular location and tracking. Capabilities must include TDMA, GSM, CDMA, iDEN, AMPS, PCS, landline, FAX, Email, chat, internet, SMS and VoIP"
Supposedly this will "strengthen the United States Government's (USG) and Mexico's protective posture to disseminate timely and accurate, actionable information to each countries respective federal, state, local, private (emphasis added), and international partners".
The leftist blog "Sendero del Peje" has more data in spanish and english on this post. This level of monitoring is illegal under the articles 7 and 16 of the Mexican Constitution, that provide similar protections to the 4th, 9th and 14th amendments to US Constitution.
This news have been meet with a deafening silence by the press, the Mexican Congress and the corporate media.
Toys

Journal Journal: We all fake orgasm

Journal by zaximka

Fake orgasm seems to be mysterious thing to me. Everyone knows that people fake orgasm and at the same time everyone denies the fact that one of her or his partners has ever faked orgasm. Why does it happen? Perhaps we all want to be unique, we all do not want to recognize the fact that our partners might deceive us. Did you never pretend to achieve orgasm?

Than perhaps you are not aware of main reasons for fake climax. Here are they.
Announcements

Submission + - AACS Processing Key discovered, HD DRM is toast.

Submitted by
passthecrackpipe
passthecrackpipe writes: "The nice folks over at doom9 really don't like DRM. After the discovery of the individual title keys used for AACS "protection" a while back, and the subsequent release of a tool that makes it nice and simple for you to back up your (obviously legally purchased) HD-DVD or Blue-Ray discs, arnezami has found the processing keys — this key can be used to decrypt *all* titles as opposed to just a single title of which the key is known. His approach sounds actually pretty easy (but is probably a lot harder then it sounds):

what I wanted to do is "record" all changes in this part of memory during startup of the movie. Hopefully I would catch something insteresting. In the end I did something a little more effiecient: I used the hd dvd vuk extractor (thanks ape!) and adapted it to slow down the software player (while scanning its memory continously) and at the very moment the Media Key (which I now knew: my bottom-up approach really paid off here) was detected it halted the player. I then made a memdump with WinHex. I now had the feeling I had something.

And I did. Not suprisingly the very first C-value was a hit. I then checked if everyting was correct, asked for confirmation and here we are.

For me, the best part is imagining the insane amount of money the *IAA pumps into these braindead schemes to begin with.

Well done arnezami, beer's on me!"
Supercomputing

Submission + - Canadian Company Builds First Quantum Computer

Submitted by StarvingSE
StarvingSE writes: D-Wave Systems, Inc., based near Vancouver, claims to have built the world's first computer based on quantum physics. Its machine is described as a computer that can perform 64,000 calculations at once.

From the article: "There are certain classes of problems that can't be solved with digital computers," said Herb Martin, the firm's CEO, over a decidedly-noisy digital cell phone. "Digital computers are good at running programs; quantum computers are good at handling massive sets of variables."

Perhaps we are finally at the brink of a major breakthrough in supercomputing technology.
Lord of the Rings

Submission + - A day in the life of a Hobbit Minstrel - LOTRO

Submitted by
steven williamson
steven williamson writes: "HEXUS.gaming have written a narrative based on their experience of being a Hobbit Minstrel in the beta phase of Lord of The Rings Online.

Shire-folk often meet and gather at the Party Tree to eat, tell tales and make merry; this magnificent monument provides an ideal starting place for the days' adventures and the opportunity to catch up with fellow Hobbits.
"
Biotech

Submission + - Scientists Find Cure For Cancer, No One Notices

Submitted by
Tastycat
Tastycat writes: "Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.

The drug also has no patent, which means it could be produced for bargain basement prices in comparison to what drug companies research and develop.

Scientists tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body where it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but left healthy cells alone. Rats plump with tumors shrank when they were fed water supplemented with DCA.

Cancer cells don't use the little power stations found in most human cells — the mitochondria. Instead, they use glycolysis, which is less effective and more wasteful. Doctors have long believed the reason for this is because the mitochondria were damaged somehow. But, it turns out the mitochondria were just dormant, and DCA starts them back up again.

The side effect of this is it also reactivates a process called apoptosis. You see, mitochondria contain an all-too-important self-destruct button that can't be pressed in cancer cells. Without it, tumors grow larger as cells refuse to be extinguished. Fully functioning mitochondria, thanks to DCA, can once again die. With glycolysis turned off, the body produces less lactic acid, so the bad tissue around cancer cells doesn't break down and seed new tumors.

Here's the big catch. Pharmaceutical companies probably won't invest in research into DCA because they won't profit from it. It's easy to make, unpatented and could be added to drinking water. Imagine, Gatorade with cancer control.

So, the groundwork will have to be done at universities and independently funded laboratories. But, how are they supposed to drum up support if the media aren't even talking about it?

All I can do is write this and hope Google News picks it up. In the meantime, tell everyone you know and do your own research."
Programming

Submission + - Best language for an occasional programmer?

Submitted by
the_womble
the_womble writes: "I am never going to be a developer, but I write a little bit of code occasionally. A simple CMS written in TCL a few years ago, a few Wordpress plugins, things like that. I am now thinking of more ambitious projects.

I am most interested in websites and CMSs, but it would be useful to be able to whip up a simple GUI as well. What languages and tools should I learn. Programming only occasionally needs a language with a clear syntax and a small core language — so I do not forget it all between times. Development tools also need to be simple. Libraries need to be well documented. Finally, it should be fun to work with.

So, what should I learn? My own research has not got me further than "Ruby and Scheme look nice". What do you think?"
Security

Submission + - Daylight saving: What's up with those time servers

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "While time servers keep networked devices synchronized, they don't recognize daylight saving shifts. As several experts noted in our recent "Daylight saving changes: No Y2K, but there could be headaches" story, a time server will do nothing to solve daylight-saving snafus. To help clear up the issue, we spoke with Paul Skoog, with Symmetricom, which sells time and frequency products and services. He says unless the user updates each computer to follow the new daylight saving rules, it will follow the old rules and have the incorrect time for three weeks starting on March 11. Like your article brought out, I can only imagine the headaches this may generate for the unprepared. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/020107-dayli ght-saving-time-servers.html"
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - World of Warcraft now the size of New York City

Submitted by
DeadBugs
DeadBugs writes: "World Of Warcraft has passed 8 Million subscribers. This would put it on par with the population of New York (the largest city in the United States). With the first expansion coming out since the game was released, the game could easily pass 10 million people.

From the press release: "Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world. Today, World of Warcraft is available in seven different languages and is played in North America, Europe, mainland China, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.""
Networking

Submission + - Networking in Extreme Conditions?

Submitted by
222
222 writes: "Mission: Create an intermediate distribution frame. Difficulty: A few feet away, industrial equipment will be generating roughly 2000 degree heat. Bonus: Keep the network switches inside the IDF from melting.
Does anyone have experience in making IT work in such extreme conditions? Is there an enclosure in existence that can handle this type of abuse? This is essentially what I've been asked to accomplish, and now I'm asking my Slashdot brethren the questions; "Can it be done? Do we have the technology?""
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Is it dangerous to share my 802.11b/g?

Submitted by
oiarbovnb
oiarbovnb writes: "I recently moved into a new house and it took me a while to get my internet connected. For the first couple of weeks, I connected to an unsecured network one of my neighbors provided (they changed the name of the network, so I think they knew what they were doing, but left it open anyway). Now that I have my own internet (cable-modem), what are the problems with sharing this? I already know that they can read any non-encrypted information, but they cannot view information that is sent via https. I also know that I should install a software firewall and have anti-virus going and all that jazz. I named my network "Free!!! Be Nice!" in the hopes that if my neighbors do use my network, they don't try to hose my system. Karma-security I guess you could call it..."

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Truly simple systems... require infinite testing. -- Norman Augustine

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