samj - Slashdot User

Submission + - Obama Helicopter Security Breached by File Sharing 1

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Saturday February 28, 2009 @11:12PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "A company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks has discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Barack Obama's helicopter. "We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One, which is the president's helicopter," says Bob Boback, CEO of Tiversa, a security company that specializes in peer-to-peer technology. Tiversa was able to track the files, discovered at an IP address in Tehran, Iran, back to its original source. "What appears to be a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file-sharing program on one of their systems that also contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One," says Boback adding that someone from the company most likely downloaded a file-sharing program, typically used to exchange music, not realizing the potential problems. "I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went." Iran is not the only country that appears to be accessing this type of information through file-sharing programs. "We've noticed it out of Pakistan, Yemen, Qatar and China. They are actively searching for information that is disclosed in this fashion because it is a great source of intelligence.""

Submission + - Does climate change affect bushfires? 1

Submitted by TapeCutter on Saturday February 28, 2009 @02:05AM

TapeCutter writes: After the devastating firestorm in Australia, there has been a lot of speculation in the press about the role of climate change. For the 'pro' argument the BBC article points to reaseach by the CSIRO. For the 'con' argument they quote David Packham of Monash university who is not alone in thinking "...excluding prescribed burning and fuel management has led to the highest fuel concentrations we have ever had...". However the DSE's 2008 annual report states; "[The DSE] achieved a planned burning program of more than 156,000 hectares, the best result for more than a decade. The planned burning of forest undergrowth is by far the most powerful management tool available... ".

I drove through Kilmore on the evening of the firestorm and in my 50yrs of living with fire have never seen a smoke plume anything like it. It was reported to be 15km high and creating it's own lightning, there were also reports of car windscreens and engine blocks melting. So what was it that made such an unusual firestorm possible and will it happen again?

Submission + - Prof peer to peer to access medical files (nextgov.com)

Submitted by Gov IT on Friday February 27, 2009 @07:27PM

Gov IT writes: Just days after President Obama signed a law giving billions of dollars to develop electronic health records, a university technology professor submitted a paper showing that he was able to uncover tens of thousands of medical files containing names, addresses and Social Security numbers for patients seeking treatment for conditions ranging from AIDS to mental health problems.

Submission + - SPAM: Eminem v. Universal: What It Says About Apple

Submitted by

narramissic

on Friday February 27, 2009 @10:52AM

narramissic writes: "America may be an overly litigious society, but you can't deny that 'stuff comes out in courtroom dramas that you wouldn't hear anywhere else,' says Josh Fruhlinger in a recent blog post. And this is how we learn a little bit about how the relationship between Apple and the music labels works from the battle between rapper Eminem and Universal Music Group. One such nugget: Universal 'asks' companies to pay a service charge for the master music files they send over, but, as former UMG attorney Lawrence Kenswil testified, 'we didn't always manage to collect it.'
The thrust of Eminem's argument is that record labels are taking "distribution costs" out of the artist's cut of music for digital downloads that are based on the model of distributing physical media and that don't actually exist in electronic distribution. But more philosophical questions about the digital music business are being raised in courtroom testimony that could have a huge impact on how the law treats the digital download market. For instance, Eminem's lawyers are emphasizing that customers aren't buying music that they download, but licensing it. And while UMG is insisting that the music is still a real product that it owns, Michael Ostroff, the company's general counsel and executive VP of business and legal affairs, admitted that 'I don't know what ownership of a digital file means.'

"
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Microsoft 'Elevates America' with 15% Pay Cuts

Submitted by

theodp

on Friday February 27, 2009 @12:44AM

theodp writes: "Be skeptical of PowerPoint-challenged, H-1B lobbying Microsoft execs who pledge to Elevate America. Citing the 'realities of a deteriorating economy,' Microsoft will reduce by 10% the amount it pays agencies for many of its temp workers and cut by 15% the target billing rate for future temporary work. TechFlash snagged a copy of the take-it-or-leave-it letter describing 'fair and equitable' changes that will be applied to 'the entire U.S. Talent Source program population.' Guess that's the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that justifies $20 million bonuses. The pay cut revelations come on the heels of news that Microsoft plans to fire 5,000 employees and as word leaked that Microsoft received the most H-1B visa approvals amongst U.S. tech companies in 2008, and was bested only by Indian outsourcers."

Comment Psion Teklogix may^H^H will lose Netbook trademark (Score 1) 2

by samj on Thursday February 19, 2009 @08:22AM (#26915021) Attached to: Dell accuses Psion of "fraud" over netbook

This is from an earlier post - seems certain they'll lose it now:

STN writes "Psion Teklogix, who own international trademarks on the term "netbook" relating to a product that was discontinued in 2003, had recently sent cease and desist letters to "literally hundreds" of recipients, including netbook enthusiast sites. The Save the Netbooks campaign was launched by an Australian firm "to fight the impending trademark threat" and has since declared victory and retired after only 48 hours. Having already had some success in their first mission to reverse the AdWords ban, they were in the process of filing a petition to cancel with USPTO when they discovered they had been beaten to it by none other than Dell Computer (who we discussed last year on the other side of a similar scandal relating to the "cloud computing" trademark). In the petition, in addition to abandonment and genericness Dell also alleged fraud, claiming that a Sr Product Manager at Psion Teklogix had given a false declaration of use under penalty of purgery back in 2006. In any case it is now very likely that the term "netbook" will be unencumbered and free for all to use (for better or worse)."
Link To Original Source

Submission + - Dell accuses Psion of "fraud" over netbook (pcpro.co.uk) 2

Submitted by

Barence

on Thursday February 19, 2009 @06:28AM

Barence writes: "Dell has issued court papers in the US, accusing Psion of fraudulently laying claim to the term netbook. Psion sent out warning letters late last year to PC manufacturers, retailers and bloggers alike, asking them to stop using the term netbook, which the company registered as a trademark in the late 1990s. But in a Petition for Cancellation of Psion's trademark, the PC manufacturer accuses Psion of abandoning the term and fraudulently claiming it was still in use. "Psion is not currently offering laptop computers under the Netbook trademark," Dell's petition claims. The petition also claims that Psion made false statements about its use of the term Netbook in a sworn declaration to the US Trademark Office."

Pirate Bay Day 3 — Defense Requests Dismissal 685

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday February 19, 2009 @12:16AM from the ninja-lawyers dept.

Hodejo1 writes "Yesterday was a big day for the Pirate Bay when half of the charges against them were dropped leaving only the lesser charges of assisting making copyrighted material available in place. TorrentFreak is following the English twitter feed of the trial in the wee hours of the night, documenting more missteps by the prosecution. 'The Pirate Bay trial is moving forward rapidly and again the day in court has ended early. On the third day the prosecution presented the amended charges. The defendants all called for acquittal while Carl Lundström's lawyer scored points with the already legendary "King Kong" defense.'"

Submission + - Psion Teklogix may lose Netbook trademark (savethenetbooks.com)

Submitted by

STN

on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @11:33PM

STN writes: "Psion Teklogix, who own international trademarks on the term "netbook" relating to a product that was discontinued in 2003, had recently sent cease and desist letters to "literally hundreds" of recipients, including netbook enthusiast sites. The Save the Netbooks campaign was launched by an Australian firm "to fight the impending trademark threat" and has since declared victory and retired after only 48 hours. Having already had some success in their first mission to reverse the AdWords ban, they were in the process of filing a petition to cancel with USPTO when they discovered they had been beaten to it by none other than Dell Computer (who we discussed last year on the other side of a similar scandal relating to the "cloud computing" trademark). In the petition, in addition to abandonment and genericness Dell also alleged fraud, claiming that a Sr Product Manager at Psion Teklogix had given a false declaration of use under penalty of purgery back in 2006. In any case it is now very likely that the term "netbook" will be unencumbered and free for all to use (for better or worse)."

Europa Selected As Target of Next Flagship Mission 168

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @10:00PM from the my-favorite-moon dept.

volcanopele writes "NASA and the European Space Agency announced today that they have selected the Europa/Jupiter System Mission as the next large mission to the outer solar system. For the last year, the Europa mission has been in competition with a proposal to send a mission to Saturn's moon Titan, as reported on Slashdot earlier. The Europa Mission includes two orbiters: one developed by NASA to orbit the icy moon Europa and another developed by ESA to orbit the solar system's largest moon, Ganymede. Both orbiters would spend up to 2.5 years in orbit around Jupiter before settling into orbit around their respective targets, studying Jupiter's satellites, rings, and of course the planet itself. The mission is scheduled to launch in 2020 and arrive at Jupiter in 2025 and 2026."

Feed The Register: Blogger fights Psion's right to 'netbook' name (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @09:52PM

'Considerable chutzpah'

A campaign has been launched to thwart Psion Techlogix's attempt to re-assert its trademark over the name "netbook".

Twitter Leads Social Networks In Downtime 175

Posted by timothy on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @03:26PM from the great-to-be-top-of-the-list dept.

illectro writes "A study on site availability by monitoring service Pingdom shows that in 2008 Twitter greeted users with the 'Fail Whale' for more than 84 hours, almost twice as much as any other site. At the other end of the scale imeem and Xanga managed less than 4 hours of downtime for 99.95% uptime. Myspace, Facebook and Classmates.com were the only other sites studied which managed to stay up more than 99.9% of the time."

Submission + - Accused rogue admin Terry Childs makes his case (idg.com.au)

Submitted by

angry tapir

on Wednesday February 18, 2009 @12:14AM

angry tapir writes: "He's been in jail for seven months now, but former San Francisco network administrator Terry Childs says he's going to keep fighting to prove he's innocent of computer crime charges. Childs was arrested on July 12, charged with disrupting the City of San Francisco's Wide Area Network during a tense standoff with management. Infoworld has also conducted an interview with Childs"

Submission + - Pirate Bay prosecutors suffer legal setback (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by jonbryce on Tuesday February 17, 2009 @06:31PM

jonbryce writes: Swedish prosecutors today dropped the most serious charges against The Pirate Bay after failing to prove that the illegally distributed files had been distributed from The Pirate Bay's website.

This means they have been found not guilty of the more serious charge of assisting copyright infringement, but they are still being tried for the lesser offence of "assisting making available copyrighted content".

Clearly the prosecutor doesn't understand bittorrent technology, and this hasn't helped him in this case.

This case is getting pretty good coverage in the European mainstream media. In addition to the Manchester Guardian report above, it has also been reported in the Times (London), and the Independent. VNU Net describes it as a farce.

Feed Techdirt: Effort Underway To Save The Netbook Name (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed on Tuesday February 17, 2009 @09:32AM

You may recall that Psion is waging an uphill battle to try to reclaim the term "Netbook." It is true that Psion had a product called a "netBook" (not the capitalization) which was marginally popular in Europe nearly a decade ago. But, it went away. It's also true that Psion still holds a trademark on the term -- though, you'd be hard pressed to show how they're using it in commerce, considering they stopped selling netBooks years ago. The current popularity of the term has to do with a new category of devices, and has absolutely nothing to do with building on the work of Psion. But that hasn't stopped the company from aggressively asserting its right to the name, demanding manufacturers and others stop referring to what is commonly known as netbooks as netbooks, and even getting Google to ban the use of the word "netbook" in ads.

It looks like some are fed up with this, and have begun a campaign to Save the Netbooks, noting that the name has reached a point that it's generic, and that the success of the term has nothing to do with Psion, but is entirely separate from Psion. The group points to a legal analysis of why Psion probably has no right to the term, and wants to drum up more support to get Psion to stop its misuse of trademark law. No one buying a "netbook" today is confused and thinking they're buying an old Psion product. It's about time that Psion back down and give up the term. After all... they already gave up the term a while ago. Trying to reclaim it now is simply trying to grab the value that was built by others.

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