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Programming

Submission + - Can rev="canonical" save the Internet? (shiflett.org)

Submitted by
Chris Shiflett
Chris Shiflett writes: "There's a new proposal ("URL shortening that doesn't hurt the Internet") floating around for using rev="canonical" to help put a stop to the URL-shortening madness. In order to avoid the great linkrot apocalypse, we can opt to specify short URLs for our own pages, so that compliant services (adoption is still low, because the idea is pretty fresh) will use our short URLs instead of TinyURL.com (or some other third-party alternative) replacements."
Government

Submission + - Finnish court dismisses e-voting result (mbnet.fi)

Submitted by
wizzor
wizzor writes: "The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland rejected a (previously discussed) municipal election result. Previously, The Helsinki Administrative Court found the result acceptable, even though 2% of votes where lost due to a fault in the voting system.

Here is a Google translation of the news item.

Apparently 98% of the votes isn't enough to determine how the remaining 2% voted after all."

Comment Re:Government goons hot on strippers tracks (Score 1) 384

by Celc (#27540299) Attached to: Swedish Tax Office Targets Webcam Strippers

You won't find any Sweeds living in tent cities, people dropping out of college because they can't afford tuition or people not getting healthcare because they couldn't afford to pay their health insurance because they lost their jobs either. The recession is hitting the world hard but we take care of the ones who are down on their luck.

I for one don't mind high taxes even if that mean I might not be as rich as I could have been in another country if it means I wouldn't have to be as poor as I could have been when my luck is down.
The Courts

Submission + - Copyright Scholar Challenges RIAA/DOJ Position (blogspot.com) 1

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Leading Copyright Law scholar Prof. Pamela Samuelson, of the University of California law school, has published a 'working paper' which directly refutes the position taken by the US Department of Justice in RIAA cases on the constitutionality of the RIAA's statutory damages theories. The Department of Justice had argued in its briefs that the Court should follow a 1919 United States Supreme Court case which upheld the constitutionality of a statutory damages award that was 116 times the actual damages sustained, under a statute which gave consumers a right of action against railway companies. The Free Software Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the view that the more modern, State Farm/Gore test applied by the United States Supreme Court to punitive damages awards is controlling. The paper with Prof. Samuelson is consistent with the FSF brief, and contradicts the DOJ briefs, arguing that the Gore test should be applied. A full copy of the paper, in *pdf format, is available for download online here."
Power

Submission + - Living organism triple solar cell efficiency (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: By harnessing the shells of living organisms in the sea--microscopic algae called diatoms--engineers have tripled the efficiency of experimental dye-sensitized solar cells. The diatoms were fed a diet of titanium dioxide--the main ingredient for thin film solar cells--instead of their usual meal which is silica (silicon dioxide). As a result, their shells became photovoltaic when coated with dyes. The result is a thin-film dye-sensitized solar cell that is three times more efficient than those without the diatoms.
Privacy

Submission + - Church files complaint against online blogger. (jacksonville.com)

Submitted by
Scr3wFace
Scr3wFace writes: "After a church filed a complaint about a blog, a police detective — who also is a member of the pastor's security detail — opened an investigation. The detective got a subpoena from the State Attorney's Office requiring Google Inc. to provide information about whoever was behind the site. Names, addresses, etc. It's important to note that the blog never threatened violence. Was it harshly critical? Sarcastic? Unfair? That's a matter of opinion. But it never threatened violence. And the detective closed the investigation, finding no criminal wrongdoing.He also provided the church, his church, the identity of the blogger. The church then issued a trespass warning against Thomas A. Rich and his wife. Most chilling about all of this: Those in power — from the police to the church leaders — not only defend this chain of events, they say it's how things should work. The Sheriff's Office says there wasn't a conflict of interest and that the detective did the right thing by passing along the blogger's identity to the church. The State Attorney's Office says there wasn't anything unusual about the subpoena, which made it possible to figure out who was tapping away at a computer keyboard. Happens all the time. Not just with blogs. With e-mails, text messages, etc. And I'm not sure what to make of one detail of the saga, other than perhaps the irony of it, but one form of communication that wasn't part of this investigation — face-to-face talking with the blogger. This isn't necessarily unusual, police say, especially considering that no criminal wrongdoing was found. But what if, as the blogger believes, the ultimate goal of this process wasn't to find wrongdoing but to find him? More details to this can be found here. http://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/ http://www.newbbc.accura.net/FBCSubpoenas.pdf http://www.newbbc.accura.net/JSO-InvestRep-Sept29.pdf http://www.newbbc.accura.net/JSO-InvestRep-Nov13.pdf"
Google

Submission + - google locks out normanfinkelstein.com. Possibly. (philipweiss.org) 2

Submitted by tinkerton
tinkerton writes: Google doesn't show any search results for site:normanfinkelstein.com ,and doesn't list the site if you type 'norman finkelstein'. Finkelstein is a very vocal critic of Israel's policies. Is there a technical explanation for this?
Mars

Submission + - Gecko-inspired dry adhesive set for space (canadianmanufacturing.com) 1

Submitted by
AndreV
AndreV writes: "Biomimetic adhesives aren't new, but a PhD graduate in British Columbia has developed a new method of creating microscopic, mushroom-like plastic structures in order to produce a dry adhesive that mimics the stickiness of gecko feet—and is prepping his glue-free innovation for outer space. A research group at his university, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, is engineering a spider-like, sticky-footed climbing robot destined to explore Mars, and it is also developing reusable attaching systems for astronauts to use where magnetic and suction systems generally fail. In the future, he says, single-use versions could be used in any number of medical applications as well as for replacements for everyday sticky needs, such as Post-It notes and Scotch tape."
The Courts

Submission + - MP3 of RIAA Argument Available Online (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Download this: an MP3 file of the hearing in the First Circuit Court of Appeals, over whether a lower court proceeding in an RIAA case can be made available online, is now available online. The irony of course is palpable, not only because a court which freely makes its proceedings available across the internet is being asked by the RIAA, in SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, to prevent the district court from making similar proceedings available across the internet, but also because the end product is an MP3 file which can be freely downloaded, shared by email, shared through p2p file sharing, and even "remixed". The legal arguments focused on relatively narrow issues: the interpretation of a rule enacted in the District Court of Massachusetts, and the legal effect of a resolution by the First Circuit Judicial Council, rather than on broader First Amendment grounds."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft order to pay $388 million in patent case 1

Submitted by jeffmeden
jeffmeden writes: BusinessWeek reports today that Microsoft suffered a loss in federal court Monday. The judge rendering the verdict ordered Microsoft to pay $388 Million in damages for violating a patent held by Uniloc, a California maker of software that prevents people from illegally installing software on multiple computers. Uniloc claims Microsoft's Windows XP and some Office programs infringe on a related patent they hold. It's hard to take sides on this one but one thing is certain, should the verdict hold up it will be heavily ironic if the extra copies of XP and Office sold due to crafty copy protection end up not being worth $388 million.
The Military

Submission + - SPAM: Pentagon cyber defense bill: $100M for 6 months

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Protecting defense departments networks cost taxpayers more than $100 million over the past six months, U.S. Strategic Command officials said yesterday. The motives of those attacking the networks go from just plain vandalism to theft of money or information to espionage. Protecting the networks is a huge challenge for the command, Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton told a cyber security conference in Omaha, Neb., this week. "Pay me now or pay me later," Davis said. "In the last six months, we spent more than $100 million reacting to things on our networks after the fact. It would be nice to spend that money proactively to put things in place so we'd be more active and proactive in posture rather than cleaning up after the fact." [spam URL stripped]"
Link to Original Source
Networking

Submission + - Piracy To Save The Internet (adbusters.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In response to France and Sweden's recent anti-piracy laws, Anti-consumerism magazine Adbusters is calling for mainstream support of online piracy as the only of protecting the original dream of the Internet. Contributing Editor, Micah White writes that "if online piracy is the backdoor by which control of the internet will come, then we must openly acknowledge what many of us already secretly believe — that online culture should be free and remixable, the laws of capitalism shall not apply here."
Privacy

Submission + - IPRED law in Sweden - Watching the watchers

Submitted by digithed
digithed writes: In response to Sweden's recent introduction of new laws implementating the European IPRED directive a new Swedish website has been launched allowing users to check if their IP address is currently under investigation. The site also allows users to subscribe for email updates telling them if their IP address comes under investigation in the future, or to report IP addresses known to be under investigation. The site can be found at: http://ipred.bitchware.se/

This is an interesting use of people power "watching the watchers". The new Swedish laws implementing the IPRED directive require a public request to the courts in order to get ISPs to forcibly disclose potentially sensitive private information, and since all court records are public in Sweden (as are all government records) it will be easy to compile a list of IP addresses which are currently being investigated.
Privacy

Submission + - Canadian Privacy Commissioner educates on DPI

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Canadian Privacy Commissioner has published a website to educate Canadians and others to Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology. Online are some essays from different interested parties. The site is: http://dpi.priv.gc.ca/ CBC article regarding new site is: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/04/06/tech-090406-deep-packet-inspection-privacy-commissioner.html
Earth

Submission + - Solar Powered Car Can Get Close To 60 MPH! (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by
Jason Sahler
Jason Sahler writes: "The World Solar Challenge across the Australian outback is coming up, and we're already seeing some truly incredible vehicles going for the gold. Take the Bethany, a solar powered vehicle designed by Cambridge University students. The vehicles is capable of achieving close to 60 miles per hour. Doesn't sound to impressive? Try doing it by using the power required to run a hairdryer."

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