3343173
submission
dstates writes:
The municipal courts of Houston were shut down yesterday after a computer virus spread through the courts computer systems. The shutdown canceled hearings and suspended arrests for minor offenses and is expected to extend through Monday. The disruption affected many city departments, the Houston Emergency Center was briefly disconnected and police temporarily stopped making some arrests for minor offenses. The infection appeares to be contained to 475 of the city's more than 16,000 computers, but officials are still investigating. Gray Hat Research, a technology security company has been brought in on an emergency contract to eradicate the infection.
In 2006, the City spent $10M to install a new computer system and bring the Courts online, but the system has been beset by multiple problems. After threatening litigation, the city reached a $5 million settlement with the original vendor, Maximus and may seek another vendor.
2864143
submission
dstates writes:
AT&T left users across several Midwestern states without cellular phone service yesterday. The outage apparently resulted from a power failure at a Michigan switching center and spread to affect level3 Internet communications. The powerful windstorm also left 400,000 users without electricity. Interestingly, except for a few report in Chicago and Indianapolis papers AT&T has managed to keep this out of the mainstream media. Widespread communication failures also followed Hurricane Ike in Texas earlier this year. With the increasing trend for users to drop landlines and rely only on cell phones, this is becoming an emergency preparedness issue.
2838357
submission
dstates writes:
The State of Maryland has filed a $8.5M claim against Premier Election Systems (previously known as Diebold), joining Ohio in seeking damages from the company. The claim alleges that elections officials were forced to spend millions of dollars to address multiple security flaws in the machines. Previously, Diebold paid millions to settle a California lawsuit over security issues in their machines.
The dispute comes as Maryland and Virginia prepare to scrap the touch screen electronic voting systems they bought after the 2000 presidential election. California, Florida, New Mexico, and Iowa have already switched to optical scanners, and voters in Pennsylvania are suing to prevent use of paperless electronic voting systems in their state.
Meanwhile, Artifex Software is suing Diebold for violations of the GPL covering the Ghostscript software technology used in the proprietary voting machines.
1856929
submission
Statesman writes:
Only a little over a year ago, the
FCC approved the merger of XM and Sirius
satellite radio companies and the combined stock was trading at $4 a share. Despite, or perhaps because of, being a monopoly, the company is failing. They are losing subscribers, the stock is now trading
around 22 cents a share,
a 97% decline, and they have
written off $4.8 billion dollars in stock value.
So what happened? The CEO
is blaming pretty much everyone except himself and his business model. But is pay for bandwidth even a viable business plan anymore? With millions of iPhone and gPhone users out there, free streaming audio applications like FStream, and thousands of Internet radio stations to access, the question is why would anyone want to pay for proprietary hardware and a limited selection of a few hundred stations all controlled by one company?
It seems like the pay for broadcast business model is fundamentally flawed. First, satellite radio is a misnomer; if you are listening inside a big building, chances are you are really using WiFi radio, not satellite which requires line of site to the sky. In this mode, XM/Sirius offers less selection and higher cost than an iPhone and streaming audio client. Second, a monopoly is a monopoly. Sure you can get dozens of ClearChannel stations in some markets, but after a while it does not matter whether they are country, top 40 or easy listening. They all have the same format of hypercharged "personallities" and lots of ads. By contrast, the iPhone and streaming client can access thousands of stations from thousands of providers worldwide. Finally, you may say that an iPhone and service agreement are expensive compared to a satellite radio subscription, but if you already have the iPhone, the cost of adding a stream audio application is zero. And the iPhone is cheap compared to a cell phone plus an MP3 player plus a laptop plus internet access.
Bottom line, a year after being granted monopoly status, Sirius is all but bankrupt and the satellite radio business model is dead. Time for the FCC to think seriously about making better use of this bandwidth.
835321
submission
dstates writes:
The Center for Disease Control has released a frightening map of obesity in the US population. Over the last 20 years Americans have become dramatically more obese. What is to blame? The amount of physical activity and exercise has not changed much since 1980. An article in BusinessWeek argues cheap high fructose corn syrup is to blame. Thanks to $5 billion Federal Government subsidies for corn we are surrounded by gigantic servings of sugary soft drinks, supersized candy bars and loads and loads of junk food. Fat free does not mean calorie free, and the more we eat the more weight we gain. As a result, the USA spends $61 billion a year on the health-care costs of obesity.
Next time you feel that urge for a soda, think about a walk across the building to a drinking fountain.
820265
submission
dstates writes:
In letters to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Internet and broadband companies, including Google, have acknowledged using targeted-advertising technology without explicitly informing customers. The revelations came in response to a bipartisan inquiry of how more Internet companies have gathered data on customers. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said "Increasingly, there are no limits technologically as to what a company can do in terms of collecting information . . . and then selling it as a commodity to other providers." Some companies like NebuAd have tested deep-packet inspection with some broadband providers Knology and Cable One. Google said that it had begun to use the DoubleClick ad-serving cookie that allow the tracking of Web surfing across different sites but said it was not using deep packet inspection. [Note: if the traffic is a Google search or email to or from your Gmail account, Google does not need deep packet inspection to see the contents of the message]. Google promotes the fact that its merger with DoubleClick provides advertisers "insight into the number of people who have seen an ad campaign," as well as "how many users visited their sites after seeing an ad." Microsoft and Yahoo acknowledge the use of behavioral targeting. Yahoo says it allows users to turn off targeted advertising on its Web sites; Microsoft has not yet responded to the committee.
The Committee is considering legislation to require explicitly informing the consumer of the type of information that is being gathered and any intent to use it for a different purpose, and a right to say 'no' to the collection or use.
816323
submission
Statesman writes:
The New York Times reports that a Russian physicist has found flaws in the DNS patch that is currently being circulated. On his blog, the physicist, Evgeniy Polyakov, wrote that he had fooled the software that serves as the Internet's telephone book into returning an incorrect address in just 10 hours, using two standard desktop computers and a high-speed network link. The basic vulnerability of the network was identified by Dan Kaminsky, a Seattle-based researcher at the security firm IOActive earlier this year. The root of the problem is that the DNS system was developed in 1983 and was not designed for services like electronic banking that require strict verification of identity. Some experts are proposing an encryption-based solution known as DNSSEC to insure that the Internet addresses are correct. "DNSSEC is not an overnight solution for the Kaminsky problem, but it's the right solution in the long run," said Richard Lamb, a technical expert at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
812617
submission
dstates writes:
The Columbus Post Dispatch reports that the State of Ohio is suing Premier Election Systems (previously known as Diebold over malfunctions in electronic voting machines. Election workers found that votes were "dropped" in at least 11 counties when memory cards were uploaded to computer servers. The same voting machines are used nationwide. The company blames a conflict between their software and antivirus software for the problem and says that an advisory was issued on the subject. The Ohio lawsuit contends that the company made false representations and failed to live up to contractual obligations and seeks punitive damages.
805913
submission
dstates writes:
The New York Times reports that the launch of the private Falcon rocket failed destroying the three satellites on board. This is the third failure in a row for SpaceX, the private space exploration company founded by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk. Company spokesman said "the first stage of the launching as "picture perfect, but unfortunately, a problem occurred with stage separation, causing the stages to be held together." The first Falcon 1 launch, in March 2006, failed about a minute into its ascent because of a fuel line leak. A second rocket, launched in March 2007, made it to space but was lost about five minutes after launching.
The Falcon carried three satellites: Trailblazer, a Department of Defense quick-turnaround demonstration, a small NASA laboratory, PRESat, and NanoSail-D, a test of the solar sail concept. The rocket was also carrying the ashes of 208 people who had paid to have their remains shot into space, including the astronaut Gordon Cooper and the actor James Doohan, who played Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on the original "Star Trek" television series.
803275
submission
dstates writes:
The Washington Post reports that a new Department of Homeland Security policy allows agents to seize a laptop or other electronic device at a border crossing without the need to show any cause for suspicion. Further, the device can be held for an unspecified period of time, and both the device and its contents may be shared with other government agencies and private entities. The new policies apply to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens and covers "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cellphones, iPods, pagers, beepers, video and audio tapes and "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.'" Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) is quoted as saying "The policies . . . are truly alarming,". He is probing the government's border search practices and intends to introduce legislation soon that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches. The full DHS policy statement is available on line.
797031
submission
dstates writes:
The automobile industry may be hurting, but Microsoft is doubling down and making a massive new investment in its automotive business unit. Microsoft already works closely with a number of car companies and will enhance that effort with more people and more resources. Sync developed as a collaboration with Ford Motor Co. allows motorists to control their cell phones, music players and navigation systems with voice commands while they drive. Microsoft is also making "Live Search" technology available to automakers to develop in-car search and navigation. Detroit native Tom Philips, the new unit leader said "There are a lot of technologies that are two to three years out that are going to provide even more connectivity and innovation. There's such a disconnect between what people experience in their cars and what they experience in the rest of their lives."
781503
submission
Statesman writes:
The Los Angeles Times reports that an Arizona crime lab technician found two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles, so similar that they would ordinarily be accepted in court as a match, but one felon was black and the other white. The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. Dozens of similar matches have been found, and these findings raise questions about the accuracy of the FBI's DNA statistics. Scientists and legal experts want to test the accuracy of official statistics using the nearly 6 million profiles in CODIS, the national system that includes most state and local databases. The FBI has tried to block distribution of the Arizona results and is blocking people from performing similar searches using CODIS. A legal fight is brewing over whether the nation's genetic databases ought to be opened to wider scrutiny. At stake is the credibility of the odds often cited in DNA cases, which can suggest an all but certain link between a suspect and a crime scene.
733801
submission
dstates writes:
Scientists at the University of Leicester have developed a new method to recover fingerprints on metallic objects such as bullet cartridges, guns and bomb fragments, even after the surface has been wiped clean. The technique relies on subtle corrosion of metal surfaces caused by sweat and biological residues. To visualize the patterns, high voltage is passed through the metal while sprinkling a fine conducting powder on it. The current causes the powder to stick to the corroded areas. The patterns of corrosion remain even after the surface has been cleaned, heated to 600C or even painted over. Wonder how many cold cases this is going to open up?
676462
submission
dstates writes:
USA Today reports that Federal prosecutors used a novel interpretation of computer hacking law to indict a Missouri mother on charges connected to the suicide of a 13-year-old MySpace user. Prosecutors alleged that by helping create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist, Lori Drew, 49, violated the News Corp.-owned site's terms of service and thus illegally accessed protected computers. Legal experts warned that such an interpretation could criminalize routine behavior on the Internet (e.g. how many Slashdot items are posted by "names" who are not real people). This new interpretation also gives a business contract the force of a law: Violations of a website's user agreement could now lead to criminal sanction, not just civil lawsuits or ejection from a site.
Prosecutors argue that to access MySpace's servers, Drew first had to sign up for the service providing her name and date of birth and agreeing to abide by the site's terms of service. Those terms bar false registration information, solicitation of personal information from anyone under 18 and use of any information gathered from the website to "harass, abuse, or harm another person." By using a fictitious name, among other things, Drew violated MySpace's terms and thus had no authority to access the MySpace service, and prosecutors charged.
624580
submission
dstates writes:
Details of George Bush's Cyber Initiative are beginning to trickle out.
The Cyber Initiative was created in January to secure government against electronic attacks.
NewsWeek says that over the next seven years, Bush's Cyber Initiative will spend as much as $30 billion to create a new monitoring system for all federal networks, a combined project of the DHS, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The U.S. government has launched a classified operation called Byzantine Foothold to detect, track, and disarm intrusions on the government's most critical networks. ComputerWorld reports that all data traffic flowing through agency networks will be checked, and that it will be inspected at a deeper level than the current system is capable of now.
BusinessWeek reports that one requirement is to reduce the number of internet access points in the Federal Government from the thousands now in use to only 100 sites by June 2008. How this will impact public information resources such as the Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine or even the US Congress remains to be seen.
