Comment Re:Big Battle (Score 1) 463
there was this site that compared Bing/Google/Yahoo and had you pick your favorite and then told you what it was, don't know the URL at the time
Obama Appointee Sunstein Favors Infiltrating Online Groups 689
megamerican writes "President Barack Obama's appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated in a recent paper the 'cognitive infiltration' of groups that advocate 'conspiracy theories' like the ones surrounding 9/11 via 'chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups and attempt to undermine' those groups. Sunstein admits that 'some conspiracy theories, under our definition, have turned out to be true' Sunstein has also recently advocated banning websites which post 'right-wing rumors' and bringing back the Fairness Doctrine. You can find a PDF of his paper here. For decades (1956-1971), the FBI under COINTELPRO focused on disrupting, marginalizing and neutralizing political dissidents, most notably the Black Panthers. More recently CENTCOM announced it would be engaging bloggers 'who are posting inaccurate or untrue information, as well as bloggers who are posting incomplete information.' In January 2009 the USAF released a flow-chart for 'counter-bloggers' to 'counter the people out there in the blogosphere who have negative opinions about the US government and the Air Force.'"
The Rise of Machine-Written Journalism 134
Hugh Pickens writes "Peter Kirwan has an interesting article in Wired UK on the emergence of software that automates the collection, evaluation, and even reporting of news events. Thomson Reuters, the world's largest news agency, has started moving down this path, courtesy of an intriguing product with the nondescript name NewsScope, a machine-readable news service designed for financial institutions that make their money from automated, event-driven trading. The latest iteration of NewsScope 'scans and automatically extracts critical pieces of information' from US corporate press releases, eliminating the 'manual processes' that have traditionally kept so many financial journalists in gainful employment. At Northwestern University, a group of computer science and journalism students have developed a program called Stats Monkey that uses statistical data to generate news reports on baseball games. Stats Monkey identifies the players who change the course of games, alongside specific turning points in the action. The rest of the process involves on-the-fly assembly of templated 'narrative arcs' to describe the action in a format recognizable as a news story. 'No doubt Kurt Cagle, editor of XMLToday.org, was engaging in a bit of provocation when he recently suggested that an intelligent agent might win a Pulitzer Prize by 2030,' writes Kirwin. 'Of course, it won't be the software that takes home the prize: it'll be the programmers who wrote the code in the first place, something that Joseph Pultizer could never have anticipated.'"
Comment Re:Typical! (Score 1) 176
A point, followed by a counterpoint, followed by a rebuttal, countered by a request for citations, and actual citations given.
You, sir, have won Slashdot. Congratulations.
Comment Re:-1: Strawman (Score 1) 391
Why should things be any different? As I recall it, the standard excuse for the last 8 years was, "It's Clinton's fault."
Doom-Like Video Surveillance For Ports In Development 56
oranghutan writes "A research and development group down under is working to develop an advanced video surveillance system for ports around the world that uses video superimposed onto a 3D map. With 16-megapixel high-definition cameras on a distributed (cabled) network and a proprietary system written in a variety of languages (C++, Python, SQL, etc.), the group from NICTA is aiming to allow security teams at the Port of Brisbane — which is 110km long — to monitor shipping movements, cargo and people. By scrolling along a 3D map, the security teams can click on a location and then get a real-time video feed superimposed onto the map. Authorities from around the world with the right permissions can then access the same system. The main difference from regular surveillance systems is the ability to switch views without having to know camera numbers/locations and the one screen view."
Comment Re:For the love of God... (Score 2, Interesting) 502
I decided to read a couple of articles about the situation after reading the parent post. That's led me to believe that IT admins everywhere should be supporting this guy wholeheartedly. When you get down to the point of it, this is a guy getting shafted as a result of sticking to the documented policy.
I realize that it's a long-running joke around here that people don't RTFA. RTFA.
Comment If you're going to "bar" someone... (Score 1) 2
...you've got to make sure it sticks. Don't be a sucker.
Otherwise, you just end up with the same series of events again and again, and all it does is make you angry. There's no reasoning with some people, your forgiveness has no worth.
If you're not serious about being done with the lady, and you're not willing to go all the way with it, then you're just doing the song and dance, and she knows it. Good luck.
Comment Re:High profile target and popular CMS' (Score 2, Insightful) 219
Proper firewalls do more than simply block ports.
Comment Re:BS (Score 1) 219
I suspect that your intent is sarcasm, but some would agree on those points.
Comment Re:HIPAA - SHMIPAA (Score 1) 319
A decently competent IT department should be able to come up with several different ideas that would, if implemented, be a tenable solution to this issue without impacting the medical staff's workflow. The response you got from the grandparent post is probably the result of a mind that has been blown by the story. There are a number of things fundamentally wrong with whatever process that allowed the situation to even be possible.
Comment Re:Friends (Score 1) 11
It's only harassment if they have to say "no" more than once... and obviously, if you wind out taking someone from work out, for heaven's sake, don't take them to Felber's!
Comment Best wishes in your continued search (Score 1) 11
One test for a certain type of woman to avoid: if they become argumentative, act hurt or upset, or fly off the handle whenever you express your core needs or expectations (in a controlled manner - arguments don't count), run away; they care nothing for you as an individual. Possibly, they are incapable of it. My dear fellow, you seem to be surrounded by sociopaths.
Time Denies Issuing DMCA Over Obama Joker Image 324
An anonymous reader writes "Last week Slashdot posted on the Flickr censorship case where Flickr removed the controversial Obama/Joker image from their site. A representative from Flickr claimed that they only removed the image because they received a DMCA takedown notice over the image and then accused the press and blogosphere of being 'makey uppey,' subsequently locking the thread where Flickr users were complaining about the takedown. But now it appears that Time, DC Comics, and the photographer of the original photograph used to make the parody image are all denying having issued Flickr a takedown notice. Flickr was asked who issued the notice by the Los Angeles Times and told the Times that they were not able to provide that information. The original artist says Flickr has not told him who filed it either, despite the fact that Yahoo has in the past provided the information to people when DMCA takedown requests are issued. So if Time didn't file the DMCA notice, and DC Comics didn't file the DMCA notice, and the original photographer did not file the DMCA notice, then who exactly did?"
Team Aims To Create Pure Evil AI
527
puroresu writes "Scientific American reports on the efforts of Selmer Bringsjord and his team at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who have been attempting to develop an AI possessed of an interesting character trait: pure evil. From the article, 'He and his research team began developing their computer representation of evil by posing a series of questions beginning with the basics: name, age, sex, etc., and progressing to inquiries about this fictional person's beliefs and motivations. This exercise resulted in "E," a computer character first created in 2005 to meet the criteria of Bringsjord's working definition of evil. Whereas the original E was simply a program designed to respond to questions in a manner consistent with Bringsjord's definition, the researchers have since given E a physical identity: It's a relatively young, white man with short black hair and dark stubble on his face.'"
