d-r0ck - Slashdot User

Submission + - RIAA File Sharing Hearing to Be Broadcast (wired.com)

Submitted by d-r0ck on Thursday January 15, 2009 @11:34AM

d-r0ck writes: The internet will get a chance to watch live as lawyers spar in a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit this month, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner of Massachusetts granted over-the-internet coverage for a Jan. 22 motions hearing in the RIAA's lawsuit against Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum and others. The defendants are seeking to dismiss allegations they shared copyrighted music over peer-to-peer networks. The RIAA opposed the broadcast, requested by the defendant's attorney, Charles Nesson, a Harvard University legal scholar. On Wednesday, the judge called the RIAA's position "curious." "At previous hearings and status conferences, the Plaintiffs have represented that they initiated these lawsuits not because they believe they will identify every person illegally downloading copyrighted material. Rather, they believe that the lawsuits will deter the Defendants and the wider public from engaging in illegal file-sharing activities. Their strategy effectively relies on the publicity resulting from this litigation," she ruled. The ruling is groundbreaking. Federal trial courts rarely, if ever, permit still pictures or live feeds from their courtrooms, though appeals courts are more open. Most states allow some type of photography, and vest the decision exclusively with the judge presiding over the case. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/riaa-court-hear.html

Royal Society of Chemistry Slams UK Exam Standards 408

Posted by kdawson on Sunday November 30, 2008 @07:01AM from the easy-button dept.

cheesethegreat writes "The Royal Society of Chemistry has sharply criticized the 'catastrophically' falling standards for UK school exams in the sciences. The RSC had 1,300 highly achieving students take an exam made up of questions taken from the last 50 years. The students averaged an appalling 15% on 'hard' numerical questions set in the 1960s, but managing much higher marks on the more recent 'soft' non-numerical questions. This latest report has garnered mainstream media attention. The RSC has also created a petition on the UK Prime Minister's official website, calling for urgent intervention to halt the slide, which has garnered over 3,000 signatures. The issue of declining exam standards has been an ongoing concern in the UK, with allegations that exam results have been manipulated by the government to increase pass rates and meet its own targets."

Fictional Town "Eureka" To Become Real? 337

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday October 27, 2008 @03:49PM from the next-terrorist-targets dept.

Zarath writes "The fictional town of Eureka (from the TV series by the same name) is going to potentially become a real life town as the University of Queensland, in Australia, plans to build a multibillion-dollar 'brain city' dedicated to science and research. The city, hoping to hold at least 10,000 people, is looking to attract 4,500 of the brightest scientists from around the world to live and work there. The city is planned to be built west of the city of Brisbane, in Queensland. While not funded by the Department of Defense (like the [city of the] TV series), the potential for such a community is very interesting and exciting."

Comment This is a good idea, asterisk is not for joe avg (Score 1) 274

by d-r0ck on Wednesday October 22, 2008 @10:11AM (#25467853) Attached to: New Gadget Blocks 'Spam' Phone Calls

This is a good product for an average person. An average person is NOT going to be using asterisk in their home. It likely has the option to block anonymous calls, and if not it should in a future version. It's basically just a whitelist of who can call. It should also have an option to whitelist numbers in advance. Numbers not yet listed should be able to be screened at a later date rather than making the screening immediate. Maybe not a perfect product but a step in the right direction.

Compromising Wired Keyboards 277

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday October 20, 2008 @09:30AM from the not-a-lot-of-substance-here dept.

Flavien writes "A team from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory (LASEC) in Lausanne, Switzerland, found 4 different ways to fully or partially recover keystrokes from wired keyboards at a distance up to 20 meters, even through walls. They tested 11 different wired keyboard models bought between 2001 and 2008 (PS/2, USB and laptop). They are all vulnerable to at least one of the 4 attacks. While more information on these attacks will be published soon, a short description with 2 videos is available."

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