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Submission + - Iranian coder faces execution 'for building smut w (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
phands
phands writes: "The Register is running a story from Amnesty International about the case of Saeed Malekpour, whose only crime was to write photo uploading software that was later used by pornographic websites without his permission. Malekpour, who has permanent residence status in Canada, has been in prison since he was arrested in October 2008 during a visit to see his terminally ill father. He is facing a death sentence.

If as many organisations as possible make this travesty public, there may be a chance to save a life."
Businesses

Submission + - How the US Lost Out on iPhone Work

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year manufactured overseas. "It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad," write Charles Duhig and Keith Bradsher. "Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have outpaced their American counterparts so much that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products." Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option and recount the time Apple redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. “The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,” says one Apple executive. “There’s no American plant that can match that.” Apple’s success has benefited the US economy by empowering entrepreneurs and creating jobs at companies like cellular providers and businesses shipping Apple products but ultimately, Apple executives say curing unemployment is not Apple's job. “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.”"
Crime

Submission + - Weaponizable Police UAV Now Operational in Texas (click2houston.com) 2

Submitted by crackspackle
crackspackle writes: The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office in suburban Houston, Texas is preparing to launch operations with a newly received Vanguard Defense Industries Shadowhawk MK-III unmanned aerial vehicle, paid for by grant money received by the Department of Homeland Security. The MK-III is a product marketed for both military and law enforcement applications. Michael Buscher, chief executive officer of manufacturer Vanguard Defense Industries, said this is the first local law enforcement agency to buy one of his units. "The aircraft has the capability to have a number of different systems on board. Mostly, for law enforcement, we focus on what we call less lethal systems," he said, including Tazers that can send a jolt to a criminal on the ground or a gun that fires bean bags known as a "stun baton.You have a stun baton where you can actually engage somebody at altitude with the aircraft. A stun baton would essentially disable a suspect," he said. "To be in on the ground floor of this is pretty exciting for us here in Montgomery County," Sheriff Tommy Gage said. The MK-III also has more lethal options available, capable of carrying either a 40mm or 37mm grenade launcher or 12 gauge shotgun with laser designator. Sheriff Gage has stated he has no immediate plans to outfit his drone with weapons.
Android

RMS: 'Is Android Really Free Software?' 433

Posted by Soulskill from the android-is-no-braveheart dept.
An anonymous reader points out an article by Richard Stallman in The Guardian which questions whether Android should be described as 'free' or 'open.' Quoting: "Google has complied with the requirements of the GNU General Public License for Linux, but the Apache license on the rest of Android does not require source release. Google has said it will never publish the source code of Android 3.0 (aside from Linux), even though executables have been released to the public. Android 3.1 source code is also being withheld. Thus, Android 3, apart from Linux, is non-free software, pure and simple. ... Android is a major step towards an ethical, user-controlled, free-software portable phone, but there is a long way to go. Hackers are working on Replicant, but it's a big job to support a new phone model, and there remains the problem of the firmware. Even though the Android phones of today are considerably less bad than Apple or Windows smartphones, they cannot be said to respect your freedom."
Medicine

Magnetic Nanoparticles Fry Tumors 111

Posted by Soulskill from the fried-tumors-are-a-delicacy-in-the-south dept.
sciencehabit writes "In a new study, a team found that injecting mice with tiny magnets and cranking up the heat eliminated tumors from the animals' bodies with no apparent side effects. The nanoparticles heat up when a magnetic field is applied, and because they are only injected into tumors, only cancerous cells get fried. Researchers hope the technique, known as magnetic hyperthermia, could be used in cancer patients, obviating the need for chemotherapy and radiation."
Government

US Pressing Its Crackdown Against Leaks 213

Posted by Soulskill from the you-can't-handle-the-truth dept.
NotSanguine writes with this quote from a NY Times article: "The Justice Department shows no sign of rethinking its campaign to punish unauthorized disclosures to the news media, with five criminal cases so far under President Obama, compared with three under all previous presidents combined. This week, a grand jury in Virginia heard testimony in a continuing investigation of WikiLeaks, the antisecrecy group, a rare effort to prosecute those who publish secrets, rather than those who leak them. The string of cases reflects a broad belief across two administrations and in both parties in Congress that leaks have gotten out of hand, endangering intelligence agents and exposing American spying methods."
Crime

25% of US Hackers Are FBI/CIA Informers 185

Posted by Soulskill from the trading-hats dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian reports that the FBI and CIA have 'persuaded' up to 25% of US hackers to 'work' for them. 'In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as "carders" – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars. ... The best-known example of the phenomenon is Adrian Lamo, a convicted hacker who turned informant on Bradley Manning, who is suspected of passing secret documents to WikiLeaks.' What implications does this hold for privacy? Or is it just good work by the authorities?" As you may have guessed, the estimate appears to be based only on the number of black hats, rather than all hackers.
Advertising

A New Idea, For People Who Want To See More Banner Ads 167

Posted by timothy from the y'know-as-y'do dept.
Jacob53 writes "Scott Kurnit is a very bright guy. He founded About.com, and has raised over $8,000,000 for his new business AdKeeper. So, who am I to judge? But his new start-up sounds more like a Saturday Night Live skit than an emerging marketplace." As someone who actually enjoys a lot of advertising, it sounds only mildly weird to me — the basic idea is to let people easily archive ads they think might be interesting for perusing later.
Biotech

Chip Allows Blind People To See 231

Posted by samzenpus from the bionic-eye dept.
crabel writes "3 blind people have been implanted with a retinal chip that allowed them to see shapes and objects within days of the procedure. From the article: 'One of the patients surprised researchers by identifying and locating objects on a table; he was also able to walk around a room unaided, approach specific people, tell the time from a clock face, and describe seven different shades of gray in front of him.'"

Comment Re:So *that* is how it works... (Score 1) 527

by Aragorn DeLunar (#33847426) Attached to: Facebook Billionaire Gives Money To Legalize Marijuana

There should be campaign finance laws, of course, but the law is a blunt instrument. The problem has to be attacked at its root.

Precisely. The root cause is that the government is in the business of taking large sums of money from some groups and giving it to other groups. This creates incentives for lobbying, whereby people seek to get a slice of the government pie, at the expense of real production which enriches a nation.

Comment So...? (Score 5, Insightful) 484

by Aragorn DeLunar (#33772616) Attached to: 'The Laws Are Written By Lobbyists,' Says Google's Schmidt

Who do you want writing laws that govern complicated industries (high-tech, medical, etc.): a bunch of politicians, or people who actually work in those respective industries? Does the average congressman with a law degree understand the nuances of intertube technology (too soon? nah.), for example? I have no problem with industries proposing or even drafting legislation, provided that our elected representatives and their staffs actually read and digest the bills to ensure that the law is fair, enforceable, and beneficial.

Comment Re:Dark Wizard for Sega CD (Score 1) 272

by Aragorn DeLunar (#33453400) Attached to: The Best Video Games On Awful Systems

Dark Wizard and the Lunar series for Sega CD are easily in my all-time top 10. I find myself wondering why we haven't seen any Sega CD games on Virtual Console, since there are games for other CD-based systems.

The cynic in me tends to think that Nintendo has discovered that time spent playing classic games means less money spent on new releases. The recent trend for Virtual Console and WiiWare leans heavily toward novelty games with a short lifespan.

Comment Why Privacy? (Score 2, Interesting) 926

by Aragorn DeLunar (#33375576) Attached to: GPS Tracking Without a Warrant Declared Legal

Because a government that can search any person at any time can incriminate anyone it wants.

"During a routine anti-terrorism sweep, civil liberties activist John Doe was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, child pornography, concealed weapons, and pirated ABBA songs. He was immediately taken into custody and is being held at an undisclosed location for the public's safety..."

Right now we have an important check in the form of a search warrant. Before searching me, a law enforcement agent must demonstrate to a judge probable cause that I have committed, or will commit, a crime. It's not perfect, and there are notable loopholes, but at least there is some documentation and accountability.
Businesses

HP CEO Resigns During Sexual Harassment Investigation 233

Posted by kdawson from the sure-can-pick-'em dept.
A number of readers are letting us know that HP CEO Mark Hurd just resigned over sexual harassment accusations. The company's board has appointed CFO Cathie Lesjak as interim CEO. A contractor had accused Hurd of sexual harassment, and the board brought in outside counsel to investigate. While the harassment claim could not be substantiated, the investigation did uncover other misconduct. Hurd's "close personal relationship" with the contractor created a conflict of interest, and he was also found to have misused company assets. In a statement, Hurd said, "As the investigation progressed, I realized there were instances in which I did not live up to the standards and principles of trust, respect and integrity that I have espoused at HP and which have guided me throughout my career."
Privacy

FTC Wants Browsers To Block Online Tracking 205

Posted by samzenpus from the poof-just-like-that-he's-gone dept.
storagedude writes "The FTC wants a do-not-track mechanism that would allow Web users to opt out of online behavioral tracking, similar to the national do-not-call registry. The agency's preferred method for accomplishing this would be a browser-based tool that would give users the option of blocking data collection across the Web. The only problem is that the agency may not have the authority to require this, thanks to concerted lobbying efforts by the advertising industry. The first step may just be voluntary measures, to be released this fall."

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