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Piracy

Submission + - UK Piracy Insight By New Study (bbc.com)

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "The UK has been named in a new study as the second most pirating nation by number of downloads, behind the US — despite the much smaller population. In the study, Musicmetric investigated the illegal download of music by monitoring BitTorrent traffic worldwide. It is estimated that 345 million tracks were downloaded, compared to 240 million legally purchased."
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Pirate Bay Founder Suspected of Cracking (torrentfreak.com) 1

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "Having been arrested in and now deported from Cambodia, Gottfrid Svartholm is being detained in Sweden under suspicion of gaining access to computer systems belonging to Logica that are connected with Sweden's tax system. Nacka District Court has ruled that Svartholm, who denies the charges, may be detained for a further two weeks pending an investigation into the incident."
The Internet

Submission + - Europe Rationing Last IPv4 Address Block (bbc.com)

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "As IPv4 exhaustion draws ever nearer, European ISPs are now unable to acquire more than a handful (1024) of new IPv4 addresses. The measures are being brought in to ration the last /8 available to RIPE NCC, with 400,000 address previously being allocated every day. In addition to the limit, organizations applying for IPv4 addresses will be required to demonstrate that they are deploying IPv6."
Censorship

Submission + - Police could start blocking phone cameras based on GPS (rt.com)

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "Apple has patented a means to transmit commands to mobile devices to disable their cameras if the device is located within a "geofenced" — or specified range of locations. It says that cameras would usually only be disabled around places such as performance venues, however it admits the technology could also be used by authorities which may require "complete blackout conditions". This has lead many to wonder if this technology might be used to censor politically sensitive events such as demonstrations — amateur footage of which we are now used to seeing in the news."
Crime

Submission + - BMW Cars Vulnerable to Blank Key Attack (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "Thieves have discovered how to steal BMW cars produced since 2006 by using the onboard computer that is able to program blank keys. The device used — originally intended for use by garages — is able to reprogram the key to start the engine in around three minutes. The blank keys, and reprogramming devices, have made their way onto the black market and are available for purchase over the Internet."
Crime

Submission + - The Case Against DNA

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Thanks to fast-paced television crime shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, we have come to regard DNA evidence as uncontestable. But BBC reports that David Butler has every right to be cynical about the use of DNA evidence by the police. Butler spent eight months in prison, on remand, facing murder charges after his DNA was allegedly found on the victim. ""I think in the current climate [DNA] has made police lazy," says Butler. "It doesn't matter how many times someone like me writes to them, imploring they look at the evidence... they put every hope they had in the DNA result."" The police had accused Butler of murdering a woman, Anne Marie Foy, in 2005 — his DNA sample was on record after he had willingly given it to them as part of an investigation into a burglary at his mother's home some years earlier. But Butler has a rare skin condition, which means he sheds flakes of skin, leaving behind much larger traces of DNA than the average person and Butler worked as a taxi driver, and so it was possible for his DNA to be transferred from his taxi via money or another person, onto the murder victim. The case eventually went to trial and Butler was acquitted after CCTV evidence allegedly placing Butler in the area where the murder took place was disproved. Professor Allan Jamieson, head of the Glasgow-based Forensic Institute, has become a familiar thorn in the side of prosecutors seeking to rely on DNA evidence and has appeared as an expert witness for the defense in several important DNA-centered trials, most notably that of Sean Hoey, who was cleared of carrying out the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people. Jamieson’s main concern about the growing use of DNA in court cases is that a number of important factors -human error, contamination, simple accident — can suggest guilt where there is none. “Does anyone realize how easy it is to leave a couple of cells of your DNA somewhere?” says Jamieson. “You could shake my hand and I could put that hand down hundreds of miles away and leave your cells behind. In many cases, the question is not ‘Is it my DNA?’, but ‘How did it get there?’”"

Comment Why not? (Score 1) 2

by Techmeology (#41185195) Attached to: If Extinct Species Can be Brought Back... Should We?
There are plenty of people who get irate at the notion of allowing human activity to result in the extinction of a species. Surely resurrecting such a species is merely an effort to undo the damage caused? As for species that died out naturally, well again - why not? So long as we're wise enough not to introduce a new predator into an ecosystem, or such like.
Earth

Submission + - If Extinct Species Can be Brought Back... Should We? (theatlantic.com) 2

Submitted by
retroworks
retroworks writes: "Rebecca J. Rosen interviews experts in this edtion of The Atlantic, to ask about the ethics and wisdom of using cloning, backbreeding, or genome editing. Over 90% of species ever to exist on earth are no more. The article ponders the moral and environmental challenges of humans reintroducing species which humans made extinct."

Comment But processors are still reliable (Score 1) 1

by Techmeology (#41179793) Attached to: Your PC Just Crashed? Dont Blame Microsoft
Although the soft error problem is real, and indeed is becoming more of a challenge, the fact remains that today's software is extremely brittle in that a single bit flip will very likely break it. The fact that programs such as memory testers are able to complete with no errors indicates that we have not reached the abyss of unreliability yet.
Hardware

Submission + - Your PC Just Crashed? Dont Blame Microsoft (wired.com) 1

Submitted by
jader3rd
jader3rd writes: "Wired writes Your PC Just Crashed? Don’t Blame Microsoft
"Chipmakers work hard to make sure their products are tested and working properly before they ship, but they don’t like to talk about the fact that it can be a struggle to keep the chips working accurately over time. Since the late 1970s, the industry has known that obscure hardware problems could cause bits to flip inside microprocessor transistors. As transistors have shrunk in size, it’s become even easier for stray particles to bash into them and flip their state. Industry insiders call this the “soft error” problem, and it’s something that’s going to become more pronounced as we move to smaller and smaller transistors where even a single particle can do much more damage.""

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