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Submission + - The Reality Of A High-Tech Scam: Less 'Hackers,' More 'Fargo' (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: High-profile breaches into Target and other huge retailers may make the world of computer fraud seem more glamarous than it actually is. Most are pretty low-rent and fairly bumbling, as in a recent case in Southern California, featuring corrupted cash registers sold to Subway franchises, fake gift cards sold over Craigslist and hand-delivered to buyers, and arrest, and only $40,000 made for all the trouble.

Submission + - Comcast Wants To Cap Storage Within 5 Years (techcrunch.com) 1

Submitted by finalcutmonstar
finalcutmonstar writes: With net neutrality dying a slow painful death, it is no surprise that in an investor call yesterday Comcast executive VP(and Darth Vader impersonator) David Cohen predicts bandwidth caps within the next 5 years. The cap would start at 300 GB and cost the customer subscriber an extra 10 USD for 50 GB. But, Cohen stated that “I would also predict that the vast majority of our customers would never be caught in the buying the additional buckets of usage, that we will always want to say the basic level of usage at a sufficiently high level that the vast majority of our customers are not implicated by the usage-based billing plan.”

Submission + - French Economist Thomas Piketty's Grim View Of The Wealth Gap (scmp.com)

Submitted by sasilawan11
sasilawan11 writes: French economist Thomas Piketty's new book challenges the belief that free markets will automatically produce extensive prosperity.

Thomas Piketty, the French economist who was one of those who popularised the idea of a privileged 1 per cent, rings this alarm in his new book: The US economy has started to decay according to the ways of aristocratic Europe of the 19th century. Diligent work will be of less importance while inherited wealth will become more desirable. The wealth of the few will undermine the foundations of democracy.

Capital in the 21st Century has captured great interest as US political leaders argue whether increasing income gap is an issue that needs action.

The 700-page volume has been celebrated as one of the most important economic opuses in recent years, citing data from the past three hundred year to prove that the wealthy are hoarding more of an economy’s income than before and that prevailing regulations will mean that it will only grow.

People who support this idea cite the book as evidence that the wealth disparity must be reduced. Critics, however, reject the idea as being that of a left-wing ideologue.

Last week, Piketty’s book climbed to the top of Amazon’s bestsellers.

Unearthing information from 300 years of economic data, tax records, 19th-century novels and modern TV programmes, Piketty questions the assumption that free markets automatically produce extensive wealth.
On the contrary, he believes that the rich will become richer and everyone else will have almost zero chance of catching up.

Investments in bonds, stocks, land and buildings — the “capital” referred to in his title – invariably grow more rapidly than the incomes of the masses. By its fundamental nature, capitalism generates inequality and can undermine the stability of democracies, Piketty argues.

Economists used to view the thirty years after WW II as evidence of capitalism’s capacity to create and distribute wealth. Piketty argues that the era was a historical eccentricity produced by two world wars and the Great Depression decimating the wealth of the old establishment. Piketty believes higher taxes on wealth can control the spread of inequality. Moreover, he thinks that college education for more people will sharpen their skills through and could help reduce the effect of “inegalitarian spiral.”

During an interview with The Associated Press, Piketty, 42, talked on the “dangerous illusion” of the meritocracy, and his suggested solutions for controlling inequality.
Here is an edited summary of the interview:

What is the effect of a growing wealth disparity?

The major concern for me is actually the efficient functioning of our democratic institutions. It simply does not work well with an excessive form of oligarchy where 90 per cent of the wealth is owned by an extremely small class of people. The democratic model has always been seen to function within a moderate level of inequality. I believe one main reason why electoral democracy thrived in 19th-century America better than 19th-century Europe is because you had greater distribution of wealth in America.

Your research reveals that profits on investments – capital – increase more rapidly than wages and economic growth. But many people are of the persuasion that greater inequality can help generate more growth.

When inequality reaches an extreme, it completely stifles growth. There was extreme inequality in the 19th-century and growth was markedly minimal. Because the rate of growth of productivity was only 1 to 1.5 per cent annually [in 19th-century Europe], and it was below the rate of return to wealth, which averaged from 4 to 5 per cent, leading to huge inequality of wealth. We need to realize that innovation and growth alone are not sufficient to reduce the effects of the wealth gap.

Are we on the path back to the Gilded Age?
No one can really be sure. The main point of the book is that we are inside a pilotless plane. We must find a natural procedure or method that can assure us that we will find ourselves landing on a safe, acceptable level.

Would the impact of wealth inequality matter if wages for the middle class were still increasing?

There are two great forces that are pressing on the middle class from both sides. One is the increase of the compensation for the highest executives, which means that the share of wages going to the middle and lower class is diminishing. That has been particularly true in the United States. The other force prevailing is that the share of a nation’s income going to the workers tends to decrease when the share going to capital is growing.

You consider meritocracy a “dangerous illusion.” That runs opposite the view of many people who believe the US economy works.

Our modern democratic model is founded on the assumption that inequalities will be due to merit more than pure luck or inheritance. In some cases, meritocratic arguments are utilized by the winners of the game to justify the value of unhampered inequality. I do not believe we can find any sound justification for giving people more than 100 times the regular wage in order to produce highly-efficient managers.

People in Europe and the US have a nostalgic view of the post-WWII era. We experienced expanding national prosperity that benefited the majority of people. Can we still get back to that?

It was in reality a transitory period because of the very exceptional conditions. Growth was considerably high, partly because of post-war reconstruction and population growth, as a rule, had been extremely large in the 20th century. This is certainly not an option for policymakers. The other main reason I think we should not be nostalgic is that one of the reasons the inequalities were lower in the 1950s and 1960s is that the world wars decimated some of the inherited capital that was the cause of the previous inequality.

Why do you think a wealth tax would dampen the destabilising effect of growing inequality?

Instead of imposing a flat tax on real estate assets, you would impose a progressive tax on personal net worth. You would minimize the property tax for those who are striving to begin creating wealth.
Every American politician believes education is the solution to inequality and immobility. Can more education provide the answer?

Ultimately, education is the most potent levelling force in terms of wealth distribution. However, it is not sufficient. We need education as well as taxation.

How did watching US television programmes such as House, Bones, The West Wing and Damages assist you in writing this book?

They contain stories that show us how you can get rich, get poor, and so on. The heroes of the shows are mostly holders of PhDs. They comprise the model of skill-based inequality ... [The TV series are] like novels in the 19th-century. They can portray in an extreme manner a type of deep justification or profound satire of the structure of inequality in our societies.

Critics accuse you being motivated by a political goal.

This book contains historical facts. It is up to people what they want to do with it. It has four parts and the last part deals with policy implications ... For me, this is one of the least crucial parts. If you do not agree with these 100 pages, that is perfectly fine with me. The main objective of the first 500 pages is to assist readers and decision-makers to come up with their own conclusions.

Prior to the production and publication of the research findings done by Piketty and his fellow researchers, economists depended on less precise parameters of inequality.
For instance, there is the Gini index, from Corrado Gini, an Italian statistician who initiated the concept in 1912.

The index measures income distribution using a scale of 0 to 1. Level zero signifies a condition where everyone has the same income. On the other extreme, Level 1 means that all income goes to a single person.

The Census Bureau declares the United States possesses a Gini index of 0.48, up from 0.40 in 1967. But without the tax data introduced by Piketty and others, it would be more difficult to assess what that change connotes.
At face-value, the minimal growth hides exactly how much money has accrued at the top 0.01 per cent.

Submission + - Let's Face Facts: Mobile Wallets Are Doomed (readwrite.com)

Submitted by redletterdave
redletterdave writes: The other shoe has dropped for Square. The once-hyped mobile payments company is killing off its Wallet payments app and replacing it with a new app called Order, which will allow users to order food and beverages ahead of time at their favorite cafes and restaurants. For entrepreneurs, the concept of a mobile wallet seems so logical that the payments industry looks like it's ripe for disruption. If everybody is always carrying around a powerful computer in their pockets, it's natural to consider loading payment information onto that secure device as an alternative to cash or plastic cards. The problem comes when this logical entrepreneurial spirit merges with an industry segment that is classically illogical. The payments system in the United States is a mess of entrenched interests, fragmented business opportunities, old infrastructure (like point-of-sale systems), back room handshakes and cut throat competition. This behavior is not going to change any time soon, which means mobile wallets like Square are going to continue to struggle—at least until a more legitimate, easy-to-use and cost-effective solution comes along.

Submission + - Pandemics won't stop until health organizations take zoonotic diseases seriously

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Laura Kahn examines why efforts to combat outbreaks of diseases like MERS, SARS, ebola and other diseases will never be successful until world health organizations pay attention to animal health: ‘The most important shared characteristic of ailments like MERS, SARS, Ebola, avian influenza, West Nile virus, and even diseases of bioterrorism like anthrax, though, is the fact that they are zoonotic: That is, they originate in animals and then spread to humans.’ Kahn goes on to document several instances in which disease outbreaks in humans came on the heels of similar outbreaks in nearby animal communities: camels (MERS), and domestic livestock (anthrax), are two examples. The lack of animal health surveillance in many countries should come as no surprise, however, as surveillance and reporting of disease outbreaks in humans is also lacking, particularly in Africa. The most recent outbreak of Ebola in Guinea is a prime example: it took authorities at least 3 months to report the outbreak to the World Health Organization.

Submission + - The Internet's broken. Who's going to invent a new one? (nsf.gov) 1

Submitted by aarondubrow
aarondubrow writes: The Internet has evolved to support an incredibly diverse set of needs, but we may be reaching a point at which new solutions and new infrastructure are needed in particular to improve security, connect with the Internet of Things and address an increasingly mobile computing landscape. Today, NSF announced $15 million in awards to develop, deploy and test future Internet architecture in challenging real-world environments. These clean-slate designs explore novel network architectures and networking concepts and also consider the larger societal, economic and legal issues that arise from the interplay between the Internet and society.

Each project will partner with cities, non-profit organizations, academic institutions and industrial partners across the nation to test their Internet architectures. Some of the test environments include: a vehicular network deployment in Pittsburgh, a context-aware weather emergency notification system for Dallas/Fort Worth, and a partnership with Open mHealth, a patient-centric health ecosystem based in San Francisco.

Submission + - Price for Nevada dad to see state's school files on his kids: $10G (eagnews.org)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Nevada dad John Eppolito got a bad case of sticker shock when he asked state education officials to see the permanent records of his four children.

He was told it would cost $10,194. Eppolito was concerned about Nevada's recent decision to join a multi-state consortium that shares students’ data. He wanted to know exactly what information had been compiled on his school-age kids. But state officials told him he would have to pay fees and the cost of programming and running a custom report.

“The problem is that I can’t stop them from collecting the data,” Eppolito said. “I just wanted to know what it [collected data] was. It almost seems impossible. Certainly $10,000 is enough reason to prevent a parent from getting the data.”

“This data is for everyone except the parents," Eppolito said. "It’s wrong.”

According to the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), parents have the right to review their kids' records. Small fees are allowed to be issued for records unless they in any way prevent them from obtaining them.

The Nevada Department of Education attempted to justify the hefty price tag for viewing copies of student records in a response to Eppolito.“Because the SAIN system is not designed to create reports that display individual student data in a readable format, the parent was initially told that the requested reports do not exist and cannot be produced,”

Submission + - Should the unlicensed be allowed to 'drive' an autonomous car? Share your ideas (robohub.org)

Submitted by Hallie Siegel
Hallie Siegel writes: How comfortable are you in putting unlicensed persons as the only passengers of autonomous cars? Would you feel comfortable letting your eight year old daughter ride an autonomous car alone to get to school? How about those who are legally blind? Let us know what you think in this opinion poll from the Open Roboethics Initiative.

Submission + - John Oliver on Climate Change: 'You Don't Need People's Opinions On A Fact'

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Erik Wemple writes at the Washington Post about how late night host John Oliver addresses the imbalance in how news shows handle the “debate” there on climate change. According to Oliver the standard procedure is to fire up a panel with someone who believes the warnings about troublesome climate trends pitted against a skeptic. To represent just how vastly climate change “believers”/scientists outnumber the skeptics, Oliver hauled in 97 scientists to oppose the three climate-change skeptics. The bigger crowd shouted down the skeptics. Oliver also skewered polling questions regarding climate change. An April Gallup poll found that 25 percent of respondents were “solidly skeptical” of global warming. Who cares? asked Oliver, though he used different, less family newspaper-friendly language. “That doesn’t matter. You don’t need people’s opinions on a fact,” says Oliver. “You might as well have a poll asking which number is bigger — 15 or 5?” All scientists and media outlets should heed the “advice to climate scientists on how to avoid being swift-boated,” from History professor Juan Cole: “Any broadcast that pits a climate change skeptic against a serious climate scientist is automatically a win for the skeptic, since a false position is being given equal time and legitimacy.”

Submission + - Indonesia Bans Video Sharing Site Vimeo for Hosting Porn (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by concertina226
concertina226 writes: Indonesia has banned popular video-sharing website Vimeo for hosting pornographic content.

According to the Jakarta-based Ministry of Communications and Information, numerous complaints had been received about Vimeo, and an investigation by the government turned up several channels on the site containing thousands of videos of sexually explicit content.

The channels highlighted by the Indonesian government include "Art of Nakedness", a Vimeo channel hosting 6,120 videos, "Beautiful of Nakedness" with 1,188 videos, and "Nudie Cutie" with 8,611 videos. The three channels have been up for between eight months and two years.

Indonesia passed an anti-pornography law in 2008 which prohibits anyone from creating, selling or distributing any form of sexually explicit content. The government currently maintains a database of 120 blocked websites on the Trust+ Positif List.

Since the ban was announced, communications and information minister Tifatul Sembiring has been attacked on his official Twitter account.

Submission + - Illinois Doctor is Building a Library of 3D Printable Hearts (3dprint.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Doctor Matthew Bramlet is working on a game changer for the cardiac field of medicine. He is creating a online database of 3D printable MRI and CT scans of hearts with congenital defects His goal is to have a complete database of models for each defect which surgeons can 3D print out and use as important guides for surgery. Doctors and institutions are being asked to donate scans to help build up Bramlet's library of hearts. More details: http://3dprint.com/3655/librar...

Submission + - H-1B Spouses Employment Authorization Rulemaking Now Accepting Comments (regulations.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Department of Homeland Security finally published the full text of the proposed rulemaking to give employment authorization for "certain" H-1B spouses. The agency is now accepting comments, for which the commenting period lasts a month. The rule would allow as many as 100,600 H-1B spouses to legally work in the US in the beginning, and in subsequent years the number would be as many as 35,900 per annum. "All interested parties are invited to participate in this rulemaking by submitting written data, views, comments and/or arguments on all aspects of this proposed rule."

Submission + - Police ask blogger to remove tweet about Ukip (theguardian.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Police have asked a blogger to remove a tweet that fact-checked Ukip policies but did not break any laws after receiving a complaint from a Ukip councillor, prompting concern over attempts to stifle debate.

Michael Abberton was visited by two Cambridgeshire police officers on Saturday. He was told he had not committed any crimes and no action was taken against him, but he was asked to delete some of his tweets, particularly a tongue-in-cheek one on 10 reasons to vote for Ukip, such as scrapping paid maternity leave and raising income tax for the poorest 88% of Britons.

Submission + - Tory 'push' to give MI5 more powers to spy on internet (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The security services will be given new powers to spy on people's Internet use under Tory plans following claims that they could have stopped the killers of Drummer Lee Rigby.

In May last year Drummer Rigby was hacked to death by Michael Adebolajo and his accomplice, Michael Adebowale, in front of passers-by in Woolwich, south east London.

The Intelligence and Security Committee, the parliamentary body which scrutinises the services, has been told by MI5 that in the six months up to the murder there were "a number of incidents" where Adebolajo signalled his intent on the Internet.

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