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Government

Submission + - Stream a YouTube video, go directly to jail (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
fysdt
fysdt writes: "Welcome to the United States of the RIAA: A new bill that just flew through a U.S. Senate committee could make embedding copyrighted videos a crime, punishable by five years in the pokey.

In effect, the bill is pretty simple. Senate Bill 978 takes existing copyright laws that make the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works a felony and adds the pungent phrase "public performances by electronic means" (that is, video streaming) to the list of things that can land you in the slammer."
Government

Submission + - LulzSec Hacks The US Senate (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "LulzSec might not be as famous as Anonymous — they're really best known for hacking sites they like, to prove a point about security — but they may have just raised their profile significantly, posting what appears to be data taken from an internally facing server at the U.S. Senate. However, they fun-loving group might find that the Senate reacts a lot more harshly to intrusions than, say, PBS did."
Government

Submission + - First Challenge To US Domain Seizures Filed (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: You may recall that the US government, mainly through Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division (ICE) has been seizing domain names over the past year, based on bad evidence, even leading to the "accidental" seizure of 84,000 sites. While it has taken some time, the first challenge has been filed to the domain seizures, by the company Puerto 80, who runs Rojadirecta, a Spanish internet forum that was seized because users linked to streaming sporting events. Rojadirecta was declared perfectly legal (twice!) in Spain, but the challenge obviously focuses on US law, and how the seizure was improper and did not meet the qualifications for a seizure, how the seizure violates the First Amendment by being improper prior restraint on protected speech, and how Rojadirecta is not guilty of criminal copyright infringement. This could represent a very important case in determining the government's legal right to simply seize domain names.
Idle

Submission + - Bakebot Robot Makes Cookies, Saves Grandma a Job (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
fysdt
fysdt writes: "Cookies are a pretty awesome treat, but sometimes making them from scratch can be a bit of a chore. Fortunately, there is now a robot created to specifically create cookies--although it probably isn't good enough to replace human kitchen staff or grandma just yet.

Created by MIT Lab student Mario Bollini, the PR2 Bakebot loves nothing more than to bake up a batch of cookies from scratch. Bakebot loves it that much, it even gets to wear a fetching protective gown. The robot's left hand holds onto the mixing bowl, while its right hand does the hard work, mixing ingredients with a rubber spatula. Its head contains a laser scanner and sensor camera used to determine what each ingredients is and how much mixing and stirring it needs to do."
Science

Submission + - Brain structure adapts to environmental change (medicalxpress.com)

Submitted by
fysdt
fysdt writes: "Scientists have known for years that neurogenesis takes place throughout adulthood in the hippocampus of the mammalian brain. Now Columbia researchers have found that under stressful conditions, neural stem cells in the adult hippocampus can produce not only neurons, but also new stem cells. The brain stockpiles the neural stem cells, which later may produce neurons when conditions become favorable. This response to environmental conditions represents a novel form of brain plasticity. The findings were published online in Neuron on June 9, 2011."
Medicine

Submission + - Researchers find new clues about aging (medicalxpress.com)

Submitted by
fysdt
fysdt writes: "National Institutes of Health researchers have identified a new pathway that sets the clock for programmed aging in normal cells. The study provides insights about the interaction between a toxic protein called progerin and telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes like aglets, the plastic tips that bind the ends of shoelaces."
Censorship

Submission + - Turkish websites attacked by Anonymous before vote (reuters.com)

Submitted by
fysdt
fysdt writes: "Official Turkish websites were attacked by Internet vigilante group Anonymous on Thursday as part of a protest against what it says is government Internet censorship.

With an election three days away, access to Turkey's telecoms authority website, identified as a main target in the protest against a planned new Internet filtering system, was blocked as planned at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT).

While authorities worked to limit the disruption, other sites were also blocked including those related to social security, meteorology and several telecoms-related sites."
Software

Submission + - Apple offers free Lion upgrade for new Macs (computerworld.com)

Submitted by
fysdt
fysdt writes: "Apple will provide a free upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7 to all customers who purchase a new Mac notebook or desktop before Lion ships next month.

The Mac OS Lion Up-to-Date program will allow people who buy a new machine between June 6 and Lion's release date to download the operating system free-of-charge, Apple said in a statement this week."

Comment Re:Ignorance of net neutrality (Score 1) 72

by fysdt (#36324342) Attached to: Inside the DOJ's Domain Name Graveyard
I was trying to explain that website owners can comply with the law by taking down copyrighted material if copyrighted material resides on their website. Anyway, torrent-finder was taken down by the ICE. However, the website does not contain copyrighted material. Is an iframe to isohunt considered as copyright infringement?

Comment Re:Ignorance of net neutrality (Score 1) 72

by fysdt (#36324120) Attached to: Inside the DOJ's Domain Name Graveyard
The Internet has had a great effect on society by boosting innovation and the economy. I'm worried about blocking domains because this can certainly be misused. Suppose that a powerful organization lobbies the DoJ to block the next Google because is 'against their' policy or because 'they have a patent on it' .

Comment Re:Ignorance of net neutrality (Score 2) 72

by fysdt (#36323770) Attached to: Inside the DOJ's Domain Name Graveyard
Are you telling me that you are perfectly fine with a government that blocks domains because they do not *like* it? What's next?
- Block a domain because it has offended the president
- Block a domain because they are 'against us'
- Block a domain because of activists

and the list goes on...

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