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Software

Submission + - MySQL CEO says open source is unstoppable

Submitted by StonyandCher
StonyandCher writes: Despite a growing acceptance of open-source software, MySQL CEO Marten Mickos, said Monday in a keynote speech at the first-ever Ubuntu Live Conference, that there are also ongoing threats to open source development. Those threats, he told attendees, come from proprietary software companies such as Microsoft, which can spread criticism and doubt — backed by their legal and economic might — to push proprietary products.

"Microsoft can use [its] money in other ways to threaten free and open-source software, and I'm sure that they have," Mickos said. "But I think we will see less of that in the future because they've done it and it hasn't helped them."

"...I'm not too worried," Mickos said. "This open source movement is so strong that nothing can stop it anymore."
XBox (Games)

Submission + - Microsoft hit with second Xbox lawsuit

Submitted by StonyandCher
StonyandCher writes: A second lawsuit was filed last week against Microsoft by customers complaining about the Xbox 360 console scratching and ruining video game discs.

In the California filing, state residents Christine Moskowitz and David Wood claim that "during regular use, the Xbox 360 scratches the surface of the game discs, often to the point that they will no longer play in the console."

The suit, filed Monday with a Los Angeles federal court, followed a similar lawsuit submitted to a south Florida court the week before.
Education

Submission + - OLPC Kids Surf Pr0n Just Like Us (reuters.com)

Submitted by joe_n_bloe
joe_n_bloe writes: Here comes solid evidence that those OLPC laptops have all the essential functionality of conventional laptops. According to Reuters, 'Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization [OLPC] have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet.' Apparently OLPC is responding to this by outfitting the computers with filters.
User Journal

Journal SPAM: Job Experience 1

Journal by melpol
I always thought that an extremely attractive and intelligent girl straight out of college would face a world of opportunity and happiness. But I was wrong. Life is full of surprises and some of them can be painful. I hate to be cynical but caution is the best defense against a world full of horny men. Not all men are bad, but one must always be on the alert for people that will use you and throw you away like an old rag doll. I am wiser now, but it took a bad experience to gain that wisdom . I
Security

Submission + - Ohio ID theft verification site not encrypted

Submitted by Apher
Apher writes: The State of Ohio recently had one of their backup tapes stolen from an intern's car. As a result, they've setup a site where those impacted can submit the last four of their social and their name to verify if their data was on the tape. ( http://ohio.gov/idprotect/lookup/lookup.aspx ) The lookup site offers no encryption. Ohio IT's second stated goal: "Be the provider of choice for Ohio governmental information technology by identifying, procuring, providing and supporting (where appropriate) reliable, secure, optimally performing products, services, and infrastructure that encourage the use of common technology." if they don't find this to be an appropriate time to deploy some basic security, when will they?
 
Intel

Submission + - Crucial PC2-8500 CL5 Ballistix DDR2 RAM (benchmarkreviews.com)

Submitted by
Benchmark Reviews
Benchmark Reviews writes: "Everyone always wants good stable system memory, but not everyone wants to pay the price. When computer enthusiasts build or upgrade a system, RAM purchases are often relegated to the cheapest parts available, saving money at the expense of performance. Benchmark Reviews has tested the 2GB set of Crucial PC2-8500 CL5 Ballistix BL12864AA1065 DDR2 RAM against the rest of the competition, and the results may just be enough to sway your opinion away from discount memory."
Privacy

Submission + - internet privacy ruling (blogspot.com)

Submitted by ecoshift
ecoshift writes: Now it's official...

SAN FRANCISCO / Judges OK warrantless monitoring of Web use / Privacy rules don't apply to Internet messages, court says "Federal agents do not need a search warrant to monitor a suspect's computer use and determine the e-mail addresses and Web pages the suspect is contacting, a federal appeals court ruled Friday."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2 007/07/07/BAGMNQSJDA1.DTL&feed=rss.news
Windows

Submission + - Linux Genuine Advantage

Submitted by cwsulliv
cwsulliv writes: Linux users: Are you continuing to maintain a Microsoft Windows dual-boot partition on your system because "... Windows has features not available under Linux"? Linux Genuine Advantage http://www.linuxgenuineadvantage.org/ eliminates the final excuse for wasting this space on your hard drive.

Per the website:
  "According to an independent study conducted by some scientists, many users of Linux are running non-Genuine versions of their operating system. This puts them at the disadvantage of having their computers work normally, without periodically phoning home unannounced to see if it's OK for their computer to continue functioning. These users are also missing out on the Advantage of paying ongoing licensing fees to ensure their computer keeps operating properly.

To remedy this, we have created a new program available as a required free download: Linux Genuine Advantage!"
The Internet

Submission + - Owner of Rizon to serve time for DDOS attacks. (spamfighter.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A man from Kentucky is sentenced for prison after being convicted in Detroit of charges that he carried out attacks on computers numbering in thousands and cutting them off from the Internet, as per the news published by Crime-research on June 22, 2007.

Jason Michael Downey, 24 and belonging to Dry Ridge, Kentucky admitted having committed computer fraud in order to operate a botnet. When Downey was pleading guilty in the court, the information presented there served as evidence of Downey's ownership of the Rizon.net Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network from June 18, 2004 to September 5, 2004.

Downey infected large number of computers with various kinds of bot viruses after which the computers responded to Downey's commands. He built a network with about 6,000 computers he had infected.

Through the Internet Relay Chat network, Downey controlled and issued commands to the botnet to hurl a series of 'Denial of Service' (DoS) attacks on different kinds of computer systems connected to the Internet. The attacks overloaded the systems with network data and therefore could not operate properly.

Rizon themselves have not issued any statements regarding the charges, they can be found at http://www.rizon.net/

More of the story can be read at http://www.spamfighter.com/News-8671-Man-Pleads-Gu ilty-To-Cyber-Crime.htm

The full U.S. Department of Justice briefing and sentencing guidelines can be found at the following address.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/mie/press/2007/2007-6-20 _mdowney.pdf
The Courts

Submission + - "Jihadist James Bond" Sentenced for Websit (guardian.co.uk)

Submitted by
Nadsat
Nadsat writes: "In London, a 23 year-old man was sentenced for 10 years for posting online suicide vest guides and videos of the killings of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl. He went by the handle "irhabi007," which combines the Arabic word for terrorist and the code name for James Bond. The sentencing judge said he was a danger, even though "he came no closer to a bomb or a firearm than a computer keyboard.""

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