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Submission + - Facebook tracks the Status Updates and Messages You Don't Write too. (slate.com) 1

Submitted by Jah-Wren Ryel
Jah-Wren Ryel writes: Do you think that facebook tracks the stuff that people type and then erase before hitting (or the “post” button)? Turns out the answer is yes. If you start writing a message, and then think better of it and decide not to post it, Facebook still adds it to the dossier they keep on you.

Submission + - Simulations back up theory that Universe is a hologram (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: A team of physicists has provided some of the clearest evidence yet that our Universe could be just one big projection.
In 1997, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed that an audacious model of the Universe in which gravity arises from infinitesimally thin, vibrating strings could be reinterpreted in terms of well-established physics. The mathematically intricate world of strings, which exist in nine dimensions of space plus one of time, would be merely a hologram: the real action would play out in a simpler, flatter cosmos where there is no gravity.
Maldacena's idea thrilled physicists because it offered a way to put the popular but still unproven theory of strings on solid footing — and because it solved apparent inconsistencies between quantum physics and Einstein's theory of gravity. It provided physicists with a mathematical Rosetta stone, a 'duality', that allowed them to translate back and forth between the two languages, and solve problems in one model that seemed intractable in the other and vice versa. But although the validity of Maldacena's ideas has pretty much been taken for granted ever since, a rigorous proof has been elusive.
In two papers posted on the arXiv repository, Yoshifumi Hyakutake of Ibaraki University in Japan and his colleagues now provide, if not an actual proof, at least compelling evidence that Maldacena’s conjecture is true.

Submission + - Encrypted traffic being intercepted

Submitted by lucag
lucag writes: It appears that most of the encrypted traffic over the net is currently being intercepted and in some way decoded by NSA.
Here there are some references, unfortunately scant on the details that matter; actually it is not clear if it is broken algorithms, compromised protocols, MITM attacks or just plain old simple "enforced" cooperation by the providers.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

Submission + - New tool to measure consciousness (nature.com)

Submitted by bmahersciwriter
bmahersciwriter writes: The line between consciousness and non-consciousness is thin, hard to define and, as the Terri Schiavo case taught us, often rife with ethical quandaries. A research team is developing a tool that will be able to quantify just how conscious a person is, which could prove to be quite useful for research and clinical practices.

Submission + - US, Germany To Enter No-Spying Agreement (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: From the solving-nonexistent-problems department. The German Federal Intelligence Service said in a news release that the U.S. has verbally committed to enter into a no-spying agreement with Germany. The no-spying agreement talks were announced as part of a progress report on an eight-point program proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkelin July with measures to better protect the privacy of German citizens. In the progress report, the German government found that U.S. intelligence services comply with German law. Also, the operators of large German Internet exchanges and the federal government did not find any evidence that the U.S. spies on Germans, the government said.

Submission + - NSA Story Leads To First: Spy Vs Spy Guys On Mad Magazine Cover w/ Obama (politico.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Timeless as ever, the usual gang of idiots at Mad Magazine will be poking fun at President Obama and the NSA reports Politico, "Think there’s nothing funny about the federal government invading your privacy? Check out the next issue of MAD magazine. Its latest issue, on newsstands Aug. 28, features President Barack Obama overseeing the magazine’s Spy vs. Spy characters as they sharpen their best eavesdropping devices. (For loyal MAD magazine fans, this is the first time that Spy vs. Spy has been featured as main cover characters.)"

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