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Comment Re:Serious question (Score 1) 335

The Hurd has one thing going for it. It's design called for putting as much functionality as possible into client-server interfaces. This made it run horrifically slow. However, now that we're in the multicore era... It might actually be a path forward. Fortunately, BeOS went the same direction, and it's not quite dead yet.

Comment The Net interprets censorship... (Score 3, Insightful) 529

John Gilmore's quote was always an oversimplification. The net itself doesn't do anything but move packets. The people that use the net are the ones that find ways over, under, and around censorship. And this is censorship. We can argue about whether or not it's justified (and in the case of websites selling Chanel knockoffs as the real thing, it might be) but the fact the ICE and DHS have exerted control over ICANN is not good.

I'm a US citizen, born and raised here. The prospect of my government having the power to control the web scares me shitless. It's time to start working on a decentralized, cryptographically sound successor to DNS. It's also time to get serious about IPv6 and IPSec (encryption at the network layer) as a way to foil deep packet inspection.

Censorship

Submission + - AT&T Blocks Select 4chan Boards (spectralcoding.com) 3

SmarkWoW writes: "In what appears to be the first major steps toward stifling Net Neutrality, AT&T blocks a select few boards from the major imageboard 4chan. First reported by the official 4chan Status Blog, it appears that those who have residential AT&T DSL connections are unable to view certain boards on 4chan. The boards in question are /rk9/ and the infamous /b/. As most readers know, /b/ is the home of Anonymous, a large group of computer users responsible for spawning many memes such as RickRolling and LOLcats. Sources estimate that 15.5% of all internet users user AT&T DSL. A few short hours after reports of the blockage surfaced, members of /b/ have already begun to retaliate. The first strike appears to be toward the AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson. Needless to say, this is going to get ugly."
Censorship

Submission + - AT&T blocks access to several 4chan boards (wordpress.com)

An anonymous reader writes: from the article:
"Firing one of the first shots in the net neutrality war, AT&T has blocked 4chan's /b/ image board. AT&T subscribers are unable to connect to /b/ and /r9k/ (both of which are hosted on img.4chan.org). However, subscribers can get on any of the so-called worksafe boards that 4chan.org offers. The problem seems to be present only for wired connections only (AT&T Mobility customers are not affected). The problem is not caused by an DNS-error, as traceroutes indicates that AT&T is dropping img.4chan.org requests in the AT&T network."

The block has been confirmed by moot: http://status.4chan.org/

The Military

Israelis Sue Government For Laser Cannons 736

An anonymous reader writes "Residents of a southern Israeli town want a real-life laser cannon to protect them against Palestinian rocket attacks. And they're suing the national government, for failing to provide the ray gun defense. The U.S.-Israeli Tactical High Energy Laser project was widely considered to be the most successful energy weapon ever built. But the toxic chemicals needed to generate THEL's megawatts of power made the thing a logistical nightmare. It was scrapped. Now, the residents of Sderot want it back. And they're taking Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to court to make it happen."
GNOME

Gnome 2.22 Released 97

kie writes "The latest version of the Gnome Desktop is being released today. New features in 2.22 include Cheese (an application for webcam photos and videos), window compositing, PolicyKit integration and much more. The full details are in the Release Notes."

A Robotic Taxi Named robuCAB 69

Roland Piquepaille writes "According to ICT Results, an EU-funded project named Embounded 'has achieved the twin, and apparently contradictory, goals of making embedded systems both smarter and tougher.' One example is the robuCAB, a '4 seat automated people mover' developed by a French company and built from a 4 wheel-drive electric chassis with on-board PC. This autonomous vehicle follows the curb and carries several embedded systems, with one camera on the path edge, another device tracking the angle and direction of the curb, while others control the gearing and acceleration. robuCABs are not totally independent. They move over pre-defined circuits which contain a series of sensors below the ground. But read more for additional references and a picture of two robuCABs on the road."
Censorship

Submission + - Wikileaks - CCHR Exposed As Scientology front (wikileaks.org) 2

Anonymous writes: "Wikileaks is now hosting a compressed archive of leaked emails that prove once and for all the "Citizens Commission on Human Rights" (CCHR), which mostly campaigns against Psychiatry, is a front of the Church of Scientology.

These files, submitted to Wikileaks by members of the 'Anonymous' group dedicated to peacefully protesting the Church of Scientology (CoS) organization, are internal e-mails sent to them from someone who formerly was, or maybe currently still is, on the inside of one of the organizations.

They reveal outlines of plans on how CCHR/CoS intend to distribute propaganda on the Internet, and compelling evidence that practice of 'Fair Game' in many forms is still alive and well, and aimed at not just critics but media establishments and members of the press. Though the term 'Fair Game' itself is no longer used by the organization, the intent is clear.

There is also potential evidence of the Scientologists often denied policy of "Disconnection" from families that was recently once again brought to light by the launching of exscientologykids by the ex scientologists Kendra Wiseman, Astra Woodcraft, and most damning of all Jenna Miscavige, the niece of the Chairman of the Board of the Church of Scientology.

The emails concerning their propaganda campaign may prove that the CCHR is guilty of breaking US laws against illegal lobbying, "The intent of these laws is to keep rich lobbying interests from looking bigger than they are. So that a small group of people (who may be pushing a particular piece of legislation) can make it look like there is a groundswell of public support (or opposition) when there is in fact no such thing."

Finally, if even $1 is proved to have transferred between the CCHR and the CoS, it is highly illegal, and should bring about the downfall of the Church of Scientology's US Tax exemption from the IRS and these emails certainly give cause for an investigation into their accounts."

Censorship

Apple Lawyering Up On "Fake Steve Jobs" 346

An anonymous reader sends us to The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs for a developing situation. Daniel Lyons, a.k.a. Fake Steve Jobs, made a post earlier today revealing that Apple was offering him some money (in the wake of the ThinkSecret shutdown) to close down his blog. He said he was interested in taking it. A few hours later, Lyons posted again revealing that Apple's lawyers had contacted him angrily, saying the details of the deal were supposed to remain private. Fake Steve replied 'we either deal out in the open, completely transparently, or we don't deal.' A third post gives details of Apple's lawyers' next response, going totally medieval on him. Since then the situation has calmed down a bit.
Google

Submission + - Google Homepage Not Working 1

jackli writes: "So I'm sitting on the couch trying to google a youtube video, but to my distress, the webpage http://www.google.com/ is down! Mail and other auxillary Google outlets work, but the main page is definitely not working. Several browsers and pings later (pings work!), I'm wondering how much money Google is losing by the second. Can anyone else back me up on this?"

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