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The Internet

Court: Homeland Security Must Disclose 'Internet Kill Switch' 228

Posted by timothy from the aw-do-I-have-ta? dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must disclose its plans for a so-called Internet 'kill switch,' a federal court ruled on Tuesday. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the agency's arguments that its protocols surrounding an Internet kill switch were exempt from public disclosure and ordered the agency to release the records in 30 days. However, the court left the door open for the agency to appeal the ruling."

Comment I wonder... (Score 5, Interesting) 212

by mitzampt (#45413509) Attached to: WikiLeaks Releases the Secret Draft Text of the TPP IP Rights Chapter
I actually wonder why it was secret to begin with. And I wonder why is there a need to start these treaties like that. It's has become a democratic tradition to empower the citizens you represent with the ability to deal with the results of your negotiations, as public opinion wouldn't react correctly to a well intended and morally sound proposal.

Submission + - IE zero-day exploit disappears on reboot (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: Criminals are taking advantage of unpatched holes in Internet Explorer to launch "diskless" attacks on PCs visiting malicious sites. Security company FireEye uncovered the zero-day flaw on at least one breached US site, describing the exploit as a "classic drive-by download attack".

But FireEye also noted the malware doesn't write to disk and disappears on reboot — provided it hasn't already taken over your PC — making it trickier to detect, though easier to purge. "[This is] a technique not typically used by advanced persistent threat (APT) actors," the company said. "This technique will further complicate network defenders' ability to triage compromised systems, using traditional forensics methods."

Submission + - International Space Station Infected With Malware Carried by Russian Astronauts (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes: Nowhere is safe. Even in the cold expanse of space, computer malware manages to find a way. According to Russian security expert Eugene Kaspersky, the SCADA systems on board the International Space Station have been infected by malware which was carried into space on USB sticks by Russian astronauts.

Submission + - Desert Farming Experiment (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: For the past year or so, a tiny scale farming experiment in has been carried out in the desert field of Qatar, using only sunlight and seawater.

A pilot plant built by the Sahara Forest Project (SFP) produced 75 kilograms of vegetables per square meter in three crops annually (or 25 kilograms per square meter, per crop)

If the yield level can be maintained, a farm of the size of 60 hectares would be enough to supply the nation of Qatar with all the cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and egglants that it needs.

The project will proceed to the next stage with an expansion to 20 hectares, to test its viability into commercial operation.

Submission + - Cassini probe sees plastic ingredient on Titan moon (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Ron024
Ron024 writes: The Cassini probe has detected propene, or propylene, on Saturn's moon Titan. It is the first definitive detection of the plastic ingredient on any moon or planet, other than our home world, says the US space agency (Nasa). The discovery, made by Cassini's infrared spectrometer, is reported in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Comment Re:Brazil has a lot of things going for it ... (Score 2) 260

by mitzampt (#44948149) Attached to: President of Brazil Lashes Out At NSA Espionage Programs In Speech To UN

Brazil doesn't even export mafia gangster like Russia.

That last sentence ruined an excellent comment. I bet you can't name half of the European countries, but on the stereotypical side you got us all figured out. If many of you can stop thinking that civilization outside US and Western Europe froze 10 years ago and stop gulping everything media/multimedia feeds you wouldn't the world be a great place?

What happened? You don't treat anyone in your country as a (true) minority anymore and go for the closest type of alien? I wonder why Brazilians would be pissed?

Submission + - Sandia Harnessing Solar Energy With Tiny Particles (cleantechnica.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, along with partner institutions Georgia Tech, Bucknell University, King Saud University and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), are using a falling particle receiver to more efficiently convert the sun’s energy to electricity in large-scale, concentrating solar power plants.

Falling particle receiver technology is attractive because it can cost-effectively capture and store heat at higher temperatures without breaking down, which is an issue for conventional molten salts. The falling particle receiver developed at Sandia drops sand-like ceramic particles through a beam of concentrated sunlight, and captures and stores the heated particles in an insulated container below. The technique enables operating temperatures of nearly 1,000 degrees Celsius. Such high temperatures translate into greater availability of energy and cheaper storage costs because at higher temperatures, less heat-transfer material is needed.

Central receiver systems use mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a target, typically a fluid, to generate heat, which powers a turbine and generator to produce electricity. Currently, such systems offer about 40 percent thermal-to-electric efficiency. The falling particle receiver enables higher temperatures and can work with higher-temperature power cycles that can achieve efficiencies of 50 percent or more.

Submission + - Brazil announces plans to move away from US-Centric Internet (time.com)

Submitted by trbdavies
trbdavies writes: Associated Press reports: "President Dilma Rousseff ordered a series of measures aimed at greater Brazilian online independence and security following revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency intercepted her communications, hacked into the state-owned Petrobras oil company’s network and spied on Brazilians who entrusted their personal data to U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Google. The leader is so angered by the espionage that on Tuesday she postponed next month’s scheduled trip to Washington, where she was to be honored with a state dinner." Among Brazil's plans are a domestic encrypted email service, laying its own fiber optic cable to Europe, requiring services like Facebook and Google to store data generated by Brazilians on servers located in Brazil, and pushing for "international rules on privacy and security in hardware and software during the U.N. General Assembly meeting later this month."

Comment Re:For once Bill Gates is right (Score 1) 174

by mitzampt (#44632659) Attached to: Internet.org: Altruistic, Or the Ultimate In Cynicism?
And after that I start a long chain of messages concerning your upbringing, mental sanity, political or sexual orientation, detailed expositions about specific relatives you have in order to fully reinforce the full meaning of a rebuttal :).

But even if I would actually attack your argument with a good counter-argument, even bringing conclusive evidence how would that stop someone to blindly defend or attack a wrong, unfounded, biased opinion? And after witnessing repeated examples of such conversations turning the worse why would you try?

Submission + - Emacs gets Easiest Ever Package Management with 2000+ Packages under one Roof

Submitted by chris.kohlhepp
chris.kohlhepp writes: The Emacs editor just got consolidated package management with 2000+ packages under one roof. No struggle with convoluted keyboard shortcuts — only easy GUI navigation via toolbar buttons! Every conceivable programming language is handled. Cuts the Emacs learning curve to a minimum for learners. See https://sourceforge.net/projects/felineherd/

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