bulled - Slashdot User

Submission + - SPAM: Killer asteroids getting free pass on NASA's watch

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @11:26AM

coondoggie writes: "NASA seems hamstrung on this one. Tasked with watching out for huge chunks of space rocks that could smash into the earth, it has been denied the money to actually do the job. The problem is that while Congress mandated four years ago that NASA detect and track 90% of space rocks known as near earth objects (NEO) 140 kilometer in diameter or larger, it has not authorized any funds to build additional observatories, either in space or on the ground, to help NASA achieve its goals, according to a wide-ranging interim report on the topic released by the National Academy of Sciences this week. The report notes that NASA has managed to accomplish some of the killer asteroids mandate with existing telescopes but with over 6,000 known objects and countless others the task is relentless. NASA does carry out the "Spaceguard Survey" to find NEOs greater than 1 kilometer in diameter, and this program is currently budgeted at $4.1 million per year for FY 2006 through FY 2012. [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source

Submission + - $18M Contract For Transparency Website Blacked Out (propublica.org) 2

Submitted by

zokuga

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @11:25AM

zokuga writes: "The U.S. government recently approved an $18 million contract for Smartronix to build a website where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money, as part of President Obama's promise to make government more transparent through the Internet.

However, the contract, which was released only through repeated Freedom of Information Act requests, is itself heavily blacked out. ProPublica reports:
After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the Government Services Agency released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless.

In all, 25 pages of a 59-page technical proposal — the main document in the package — were redacted completely. Of the remaining pages, 14 had half or more of their content blacked out.

Sections that were heavily or entirely redacted dealt with subjects such as site navigation, user experience, and everything in the pricing table.

The entire contract, in all its blacked-out glory, is here"

Submission + - US Report: NASA Can't Track Deadly Asteroids (spacefellowship.com) 1

Submitted by

xp65

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @11:05AM

xp65 writes: "A new U.S. government report says the U.S. space agency does not have enough money to find asteroids that could destroy life on Earth. The National Academy of Sciences said Wednesday that Congress has yet to give NASA the money it needs to build telescopes to track the potentially deadly space objects. Congress passed a law in 2005 ordering NASA to find 90 percent of asteroids bigger than 140 kilometers by 2020. The academy report says NASA cannot meet this goal under its existing budget."

Submission + - WTO Rules China too restrictive on media import

Submitted by bulled on Thursday August 13, 2009 @11:02AM

bulled writes: Business Week is running a story on a recent WTO complaint lodged by the USA against China. The complaint states that China is too restrictive on import of music and movies. The WTO sided with the USA on two of the three complaints but denied the third complaint that China's laws were not strict enough on copyright infringement.

I wonder if the USA plans on listening to WTO complaints by Antigua against them.

Submission + - Australian ISPs soon to become copyright cops (zeropaid.com)

Submitted by srjh on Thursday August 13, 2009 @10:49AM

srjh writes: In the Australian Federal Government's latest assault on the internet, draft legislation has been released that allows network operators to intercept communications to ensure that their networks are being "appropriately used". Such legislation is particularly important given the interference of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy in a recent copyright lawsuit against iiNet, one of the largest ISPs in the country. Conroy called prominent filtering opponent iiNet's inaction over copyright infringement "stunning", whereas iiNet claimed that it would be illegal under current Australian law to intercept its users' downloads. While this latest legislation appears to be a concession of that point, the government is said to be watching the case closely and along with attempts to introduce a three-strikes law in Australia, it appears the law will be changed if the government dislikes the outcome of the case. The internet villain of the year just continues to earn his title.

Submission + - Virtual property is a bad idea; here is why

Submitted by pacergh on Thursday August 13, 2009 @10:49AM

pacergh writes: Many legal commentaries on virtual property argue that it should exist. Others argue why it can exist. None seem to explicitly spell out what virtual property will look like or how it will affect online worlds.

Lost in the technology love-fest are the problems virtual property might bring. The Virtual Property Problem lays out a model for what virtual property might look like and then applies it to various scenarios. This highlights the problems of carving virtual property out of a game developer's rights in his creation.

From the abstract, "'Virtual property' is a solution looking for a problem." The article explains the "failure of property rights to benefit the users, developers, and virtual resources of virtual worlds."

Submission + - Open textbooks win over publishers in CA (misuse.org)

Submitted by

Unequivocal

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @10:40AM

Unequivocal writes: "Recently California's Governor announced a free digital textbook competition. The results of that competition were announced today. Many traditional publishers submitted textbooks in this digital textbook competition in CA as well as open publishers. An upstart nonprofit organization named CK-12 contributed a number of textbook (all free and open source material). "Of the 16 free digital textbooks for high school math and science reviewed, ten meet at least 90 percent of California's standards. Four meet 100 percent of standards." Three of those recognized as 100% aligned to California standards were from CK-12 and one from H. Jerome Keisler. None of the publisher's submissions were so recognized. CK-12 has a very small staff, so this is a great proof of the power of open textbooks and open educational resources."

Submission + - China ditches compulsory Green Dam plans (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by scrubl on Thursday August 13, 2009 @10:29AM

scrubl writes: China has ditched plans to force foreign and domestic computer manufacturers to install internet filtering technology in computers sold inside its borders. The Chinese government paid $5.85m to develop the software called Green Dam and claimed it was being installed to stop access to porn on computers and protect children. China's industry and information technology minister, Li Yizhong said manufacturers, internet users and organisations opposed to the plans had received the wrong message from his department and that installation was never planned to be compulsory.

Submission + - How to cure diseases before they even evolve (newscientist.com)

Submitted by caveman on Thursday August 13, 2009 @10:15AM

caveman writes: Researchers at Functional Genetics are developing an entirely new approach to fighting viral diseases. Rather then develop specific drugs for each virus, which become ineffective if the virus mutates even slightly, they are focusing on attacking the human cell processes which viruses exploit to reproduce within the cell. If the virus can't reproduce, it's dead in the water. If this technique lives up to it's potential, it will be on par with the discover on penicillin. Nobel prize winning stuff.

Submission + - Does powerline networking nuke radio hams? (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by

Barence

on Thursday August 13, 2009 @09:46AM

Barence writes: "Since writing about the success he's had with powerline networking, a number of readers emailed PC Pro's Paul Ockendon to castigate him for recommending these products, such as HomePlug. They were all amateur radio enthusiasts, claiming the products affect their hobby in much the same way that urban lighting affects amateur astronomers, but rather than causing light pollution they claim powerline networking causes radio pollution in the HF band (otherwise known as shortwave). Paul's follow-up feature, "Does powerline networking nuke radio hams?" documents his investigation into these claims, which found evidence to support both sides of an intriguing debate."

Submission + - FreeBSD developer sues Lenovo for Vista on laptops (freebsd.dk) 2

Submitted by __aaxwdb6741 on Thursday August 13, 2009 @09:43AM

__aaxwdb6741 writes: The Danish FreeBSD developer Poul-Henning aka. "Hero" Kamp has sued Lenovo because they do not offer a refund for Windows Vista on their laptops. The Windows EULA clearly states that the user can, if they do not accept the license, have their money refunded by the entity which installed the OS on their system, which in this case is Lenovo.

Submission + - Firewire-Based Security Attacks on Windows 7 (net-security.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13, 2009 @09:32AM

An anonymous reader writes: This paper discusses Firewire-based physical security attacks on Microsoft Windows 7. In the course of his research, the author was successfully able to bypass the Windows 7 RTM authentication check and logon with any password. He also describes the impact of Firewire-based Windows authentication bypassing on Microsoft's full-disk encryption solution BitLocker, the Windows EFS and Windows domains.

Submission + - IBM executive to head up U.S. patent office (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

jbrodkin

on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @04:10PM

jbrodkin writes: "Nobody has dominated the annual list of new U.S. patents like IBM. Now Big Blue may put one of its own officials at the top of the government office that oversees patents in America. David Kappos, vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property at IBM, was nominated by President Obama for the post last month and went through a confirmation hearing Wednesday. If confirmed, he will become the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Kappos would be charged with reforming an office that suffers from a backlog of 770,000 patent applications. IBM is also one of the key contributors to the patent backlog, having been awarded the most patents of any company for 16 consecutive years. IBM set a record in 2008 with 4,000 new patents, and could benefit substantially from a patent office equipped to more speedily approve applications."

Submission + - Congress Claims P2P leaks sensitive information (cnet.com)

Submitted by bulled on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @04:05PM

bulled writes: According to CNET news the US House of Representatives, p2p file sharing networks expose sensitive information such as Secret Service safehouse locations, military rosters, and IRS tax returns. The claim is that contractors and government employees have installed file sharing programs without checking what files would be shared.

I wonder if RIAA member profits are included in the list.

Submission + - P2P network exposes Obama's safehouse location (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

Lucas123

on Wednesday July 29, 2009 @03:26PM

Lucas123 writes: "The location of the safe house used in times of emergency for the First Family was leaked on a LimeWire file-sharing network recently, a fact revealed today to members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Along with the safe house location, the LimeWire networks also disclosed presidential motorcade routes, as well as sensitive but unclassified document that listed details on every nuclear facility in the country. Now lawmakers are considering a bill to ban P2P use on government, contractor networks."

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