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Submission + - FDA Tells Google-Backed 23andMe to Halt DNA Test Service

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Bloomberg reports that 23andMe Inc., the Google-backed DNA analysis company, has been told by US regulators to halt sales of its main product, the Saliva Collection Kit and Personal Genome Service, or PGS that tells users whether they carry a disease, are at risk of a disease and would respond to a drug because the kit is being sold without FDA's marketing clearance or approval. “FDA is concerned about the public health consequences of inaccurate results from the PGS device,” says the agency. “The main purpose of compliance with FDA’s regulatory requirements is to ensure that the tests work." 23andMe was founded six years ago by Anne Wojcicki, who recently separated from her husband, Google co-founder Sergey Brin. The FDA decided in 2010 that services claiming to evaluate a customer’s risk of disease must be cleared by regulators if the companies sell directly to consumers. Most FDA-cleared genetic tests are for a single disease while 23andMe’s would be the first to test for multiple conditions. 23andMe submitted FDA applications in July and September of 2012 for the least stringent of two types of medical device reviews but the FDA said the company failed to address “the issues described during previous interactions.”

Submission + - Researchers present covert acoustical mesh networks in air (www.jocm.us)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at Fraunhofer FKIE, Germany have presented a paper on covert acoustical communications between laptop computers.
In their paper "On Covert Acoustical Mesh Networks in Air", they describe how acoustical communication can be used to secretly bridge air gaps between computers and connect computers and networks that are thought to be completely isolated from each other. By using ad-hoc routing protocols, they are able to build up a complete mesh network of infected computers that leaks data over multiple hops. A multi-hop acoustical keylogger is also presented where keystrokes are forwarded to an attacker over multiple hops between different office rooms. The fundamental part of the communication system is a piece of software that has originally been developed for acoustic underwater communications. The researchers also provide different countermeasures against malicious participation in a covert acoustical network.

The limitations of air gaps have been discussed recently in the context of a highly advanced malware, although reports on this so-called badBIOS malware could not yet be confirmed.

Submission + - Only 25% of Yahoo staff "eat their own dog food" (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by nk497
nk497 writes: Only 25% of Yahoo staff have obeyed the company's request to "eat their own dog food" and switch to Yahoo Mail, a colourful internal memo has revealed. The leaked email, acquired by All Things Digital, implores staff to move over to the corporate version of Yahoo's webmail system, gently lambasting staff who refuse to part with Microsoft Outlook.

The message goes on to take a swipe at what appears to be Yahoo employees' preferred mail client, Microsoft Outlook, describing it as "anachronism of the now defunct 90s PC era, a pre-web program written at a time when NT Server terrorised the data centre landscape with the confidence of a T-Rex born to yuppie dinosaur parents who fully bought into the illusion of their son’s utter uniqueness because the big-mouthed, tiny-armed monster infant could mimic the gestures of The Itsy-Bitsy Pterodactyl".

Submission + - Vint Cerf Thinks Privacy is the Anomaly (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Vint Cerf, widely considered one of the “founders of the Internet,” told an audience at the Federal Trade Commission’s Internet of Things workshop that privacy could be considered “an anomaly.” That workshop, held Nov. 19 in Washington, DC, explored (via speeches and panel discussions) how the proliferation of sensors on everything from cars to household devices is fundamentally changing how people live and work—while raising questions of how to best maintain privacy and security in an environment where more and more things are “watchers.” “The technology that we use today has far outraced our social intuition, our headlights,” he added. “[There's a] need to develop social conventions that are more respectful of people’s privacy.” Current social behaviors, such as instantly posting images from smartphones to social networks, can result in a whole lot of embarrassment—and maybe even penalties, if data and media happens to catch someone in the act of doing something illegal. Cerf currently works at Google as chief Internet evangelist, which would make him uniquely positioned to comment on these sorts of issues even if he hadn’t co-created the TCP/IP backbone that supports the modern Web. (Back in April, he told an audience that, if he had to do it all over again, he’d construct the Internet in the mold of Software-Defined Networking—but that’s a whole different, tangled discussion.)

Submission + - Software Patent Reform Stalls Thanks To IBM and Microsoft Lobbying (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Washington post reports on the progress of a piece of legislation many hoped would address the glut of meaningless software patents used as weapons by patent trolls. Unfortunately, the provision that would have helped the USPTO nix these patents has been nixed itself. The article credits IBM, Microsoft, and other companies with huge patent portfolios for the change, citing an 'aggressive lobbying campaign' that apparently succeeded. Quoting: 'A September letter signed by IBM, Microsoft and several dozen other firms made the case against expanding the program. The proposal, they wrote, "could harm U.S. innovators by unnecessarily undermining the rights of patent holders. Subjecting data processing patents to the CBM program would create uncertainty and risk that discourage investment in any number of fields where we should be trying to spur continued innovation." ... Last week, IBM escalated its campaign against expanding the CBM program. An IBM spokesman told Politico, "While we support what Mr. Goodlatte’s trying to do on trolls, if the CBM is included, we’d be forced to oppose the bill."
Insiders say the campaign against the CBM provisions of the Goodlatte bill has succeeded. The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a markup of the legislation Wednesday, and Goodlatte will introduce a "manager's amendment" to remove the CBM language from his own bill. IBM hailed that change in a Monday letter to Goodlatte.'

Submission + - Pupils tracked in UK college via ultrawideband RFID for 1-3 years (theguardian.com)

Submitted by wendyg
wendyg writes: As part of redeveloping its three-site campus and without consultation with parents or the Information Commissioner, the UK's West Cheshire College installed a highly detailed tracking system using ultrawideband RFID tags handed out to its 14 to 17-year-old students. The system, which cost up approximately £1 million, was abandoned earlier this year because of escalating costs and lack of the functionality the college wanted. The college has been reluctant to answer questions, dubbing privacy campaigner and persistent questioner Pippa King "vexatious", and material relating to the trial has been vanishing off the Net. The law requiring parental consent for the use of biometrics in schools (for things like taking attendance and paying for meals) came into force last month. It seems it already needs to be updated.

Submission + - Glut in Stolen Identities Forces Price Cut (darkreading.com)

Submitted by CowboyRobot
CowboyRobot writes: The price of a stolen identity has dropped as much as 37 percent in the cybercrime underground: to $25 for a U.S. identity, and $40 for an overseas identity. For $300 or less, you can acquire credentials for a bank account with a balance of $70,000 to $150,000, and $400 is all it takes to get a rival or targeted business knocked offline with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)-for-hire attack. Meanwhile, ID theft and bank account credentials are getting cheaper because there is just so much inventory (a.k.a. stolen personal information) out there. Bots are cheap, too: 1,000 bots go for $20, and 15,000, for $250.

Submission + - Crowdsourcing goes mainstream in typhoon response (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: Nature has an article up about how crowdsourcing and social media were integrated as never before by the United Nations, the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders in the relief efforts following typhoon Haiyan:
After typhoon Haiyan smashed into the Philippines on 8 November, an army of volunteers mobilized and worked around the clock to help guide relief efforts. But these were no boots on the ground. Instead, they were citizens from around the world who quickly analysed satellite imagery and other data, generating maps to provide relief agencies with invaluable crowdsourced information.
Crowdsourced disaster response, until a few years ago informal and often haphazard, is now getting more organized, and is being embraced by official humanitarian organizations and integrated into relief operations. Volunteer efforts have multiplied thanks to the arrival of online mapping tools, the increasing popularity of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, and the spread of mobile phones. A suite of volunteer groups are emerging that contribute to disaster response in tight coordination with conventional relief organizations.

Submission + - Macy's Uses iBeacon for New In-Store Rewards Program

Submitted by cagraham
cagraham writes: Macy's is preparing to test a new in-store rewards program using Apple's iBeacon standard, reports the WSJ's Digits blog. The program, run through rewards company Shopkick, will detect nearby customers and send them targeted discount offers based on which department they're in. iBeacon currently works with Apple devices and Samsung's Android phones. If the initial tests in New York and San Francisco prove successful, the program will be rolled out nationwide.

Submission + - Airline Pilots Rely Too Much on Automation Says Safety Panel

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Nearly all people connected to the aviation industry agree that automation has helped to dramatically improve airline safety over the past 30 years but Tom Costello reports at NBC News that according to a new Federal Aviation Administration report commercial airline pilots rely too much on automation in the cockpit and are losing basic flying skills. Relying too heavily on computer-driven flight decks now pose the biggest threats to airliner safety world-wide, the study concluded. The results can range from degraded manual-flying skills to poor decision-making to possible erosion of confidence among some aviators when automation abruptly malfunctions or disconnects during an emergency. “Pilots sometimes rely too much on automated systems," says the report adding that some pilots “lack sufficient or in-depth knowledge and skills” to properly control their plane’s trajectory. Basic piloting errors are thought to have contributed to the crash of an Air France Airbus A330 plane over the Atlantic in 2009, which killed all 228 aboard, as well as a commuter plane crash in Buffalo, NY, that same year. Tom Casey, a retired airline pilot who flew the giant Boeing 777, said he once kept track of how rarely he had to touch the controls on an auto-pilot flight from New York to London. From takeoff to landing, he said he only had to touch the controls seven times. "There were seven moments when I actually touched the airplane — and the plane flew beautifully,” he said. “Now that is being in command of a system, of wonderful computers that do a great job — but that isn’t flying." Real flying is exemplified by Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, says Casey, who famously landed his US Airways plane without engines on the Hudson River and saved all the passengers in what came to be known as the “Miracle on the Hudson.” The new report calls for more manual flying by pilots — in the cockpit and in simulations. The FAA says the agency and industry representatives will work on next steps to make training programs stronger in the interest of safety.

Submission + - Wikimedia Sends Cease And Desist Letter to Firm Providing Paid Editing Services

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: For months, Wikipedia has been battling a company called “Wiki-PR,” which purportedly sells paid editing services on Wikipedia and in October announced it had blocked or banned hundreds of Wiki-PR's sockpuppet accounts in response. Now Cyrus Farivar reports at Ars Technica that the Wikimedia Foundation (which runs Wikipedia) is escalating its game issuing a cease and desist letter to Wiki-PR, demanding that the company immediately halt editing Wikipedia “unless and until [Wiki-PR has] fully complied with the terms and conditions outlined by the Wikimedia Community.” The attorney representing the Wikimedia Foundation, Patrick Gunn, wrote that "you admitted that Wiki-PR has continued to actively market paid advocacy editing services despite the ban—consistent with evidence that we have discovered independently." "Should you fail to comply with the terms of this cease and desist letter, Wikimedia Foundation is prepared to take any necessary legal action to protect its rights."

Submission + - US Considering Mandate That New Cars Broadcast Location, Direction & Speed (cnsnews.com) 1

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: CNS News reports, "Before the end of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide whether or not to begin the rulemaking process to mandate that newly manufactured cars include what is being called “vehicle-to-vehicle” (V2V) communications technology that constantly broadcasts via radio wave the car’s location, direction, speed and, possibly, even the number of passengers it is carrying. ... NHTSA sees this technology as the first step on a “continuum” of automotive evolution that will ultimately lead to fully automated vehicles navigated by internal electronics linked to external infrastructure, communications and database systems. The upside of a government-mandated movement toward cars that are not controlled by the people riding in them is that it could make transportation safer, allow people to use time spent in a vehicle for work, rest or entertainment, and give people who are currently incapable of driving because of age or disability the opportunity to move as freely as those who can now drive. The downside is that such a transportation system would give the government at least the capability to exert increasing control over when, where, if — or for how much additional taxation — people are allowed to go places in individually owned vehicles. It could also give government the ability to track where people go and when. "

Submission + - Google, Microsoft blocks searches related to child abuse material online (latesttoptechnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At the request of UK's Prime Minister David Cameroun at an internet summit on child safety, Google and Microsoft have both decided to adjust their engines in such a way that search terms related child abuse materials will be blocked. Google said it has tweaked its search engine to block 100,000 search terms related to the topic.

Submission + - Microsoft's software contains NSA backdoor .. (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: “We know that Microsoft's software contains a backdoor do we provide for a specific patch against that backdoor, or is the parliament's network open to intrusion by the US government?”,

“the primary documents are in the public domain, that Microsoft is under a legal obligation to open that security hole every device in this building has been backdoored,”

Submission + - European Parliament considers decriminalization of File Sharing 1

Submitted by pavlz
pavlz writes: discussed to the European Parliament 12 November 2013, read below: We can not reform CopyRight, without guaranteeing free access to culture. Last year, in December a group of MEPs sent a letter to European Commission President, José Barroso, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Manuel_Durão_Barroso that promoted a reform of CopyRight. The legislation in force in the EU, the Infosoc, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Directive has more than 10 years and refers to a world profoundly changed, especially with regard to the Internet. In these last 12 months nothing has moved, and the signatories of the letter are tired of waiting. So, with an eye to next year's elections, on November 12, some of them have shown how they intend to reform the European copyright. The occasion was the event The Case of Text and Data Mining http://copyright4creativity.eu/2013/10/29/the-case-of-text-and-data-mining-12-nov-2013-european-parliament-brussels in closing which Members Amelia Andersdotter, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Andersdotter Marietje Schaake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marietje_Schaake Pawel Zalewski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawe_Zalewski had the opportunity to present the proposal. "The Infosoc has created a horrible nightmare of licenses that nobody is able to penetrate. Those who use culture — file sharers, DJs, libraries, schools — are living in a state of constant uncertainty, "explained Amelia Andersdotter, and then continued: "It is really hard to understand what are the freedoms and rights. What is allowed and what is not? When you are in danger of being sued? The law should be clearer. " The Swedish MEP has clear in mind what are the priorities for CopyRight reform in Europe. "We want a reform that ensures greater legal certainty for those who use cultural works. We need more flexibility in the system to expand access to culture by libraries, archives online, researchers, people with poor eyesight and educators. " Another important point is the "decriminalization of file sharing. This would greatly decrease the negative pressure against the new online business models and non- commercial use of the works. " The idea behind the initiative is to create collaboration between all the MEPs who share the idea that a copyright reform is needed, in order to present a proposal at the beginning of the next term. "I am convinced that we must coordinate immediately to ensure greater legal certainty, and that the freer use of culture is protected by a rule. More than ever, in the history of the Internet, it is important to build a common and shared platform for cultural exchange and dialogue”. "Mrs. Amelia Andersdooter" on twitter: http://twitter.com/teirdes "Mrs. Marietje Schaake" on twitter https://twitter.com/MarietjeSchaake "Mr Pawel Zalewski" on twitter: http://twitter.com/ZalewskiPawel

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