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Privacy

Submission + - Can Blockbuster be sued over Facebook/Beacon? (computerworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A professor at the New York Law School is arguing that Blockbuster violated the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (Bork law) when movie choices that Facebook members made on its Web site were made available to other members of the social network via Beacon. The law basically prohibits video rental outfits from disclosing rental choice of their customers to anyone else without specific writtine consent. Facebook's legal liability in all of this is unclear though with Blockbuster it's a straightforward case of not complying with the VPPA, the law professor says. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9053002&intsrc=hm_list
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's OOXML claims its first scalp! (theopensourcerer.com)

Submitted by
The Open Sourcerer
The Open Sourcerer writes: "In what is an astonishingly outspoken report, Martin Bryan, Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1 has given insight into the total mess that Microsoft/ECMA has caused during their scandalous, underhand and unremitting attempts to get — what is a very poorly written specification — approved as an ISO standard. "The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles. The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are getting "standardization by corporation", something I have been fighting against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees. I am glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible. I wish my colleagues every success for their future efforts, which I sincerely hope will not prove to be as wasted as I fear they could be." The Open Sourcerer"
Education

Submission + - Survey shows colleges serious about copyright (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: According to survey results published yesterday, colleges and universities take copyright issues and P2P traffic very seriously, despite claims to the contrary.

Some in Congress have accused schools of turning a blind eye "to the theft of the creative works of others," but only one of the respondents said his or her school didn't have a bandwidth policy in place and all of the schools said that they had someone designated to handle DMCA complaints. The results also chip away at the logic behind legislation such as last month's education bill that would require schools to develop education plans warning students about the dangers of infringement and to evaluate technological countermeasures. It appears that schools are doing exactly that.

The raw survey data is also available.
PC Games (Games)

EVE-Online Patch Makes XP Unbootable 572

Posted by kdawson from the boot-hill dept.
Nobo writes "CCP's latest major patch to the EVE-Online client, Trinity, comes with an optional DX9-enhanced graphics patch that dramatically improves the visual quality of the in-game graphics through remade models, textures, and HDR. It also has an unfortunate bug: the incredibly stupid choice of boot.ini as a game configuration file, coupled with an errant extra backslash in the installer configuration. The result is that anyone who installs the enhanced graphics patch overwrites the windows XP c:\boot.ini file with the EVE client configuration file, bricking the machine on the next boot. Discussion in a couple of forums threads is becoming understandably heated."
NASA

Submission + - NASA to scientists: Reveal sex history or lose job 1

Submitted by
Markmarkmark
Markmarkmark writes: "Wired is reporting that all NASA JPL scientists must 'voluntarily' (or be fired) sign a document giving the government the right to investigate their personal lives and history 'without limit'. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists this includes snooping into sexual orientation, mental & physical health as well as credit history and 'personality conflict'. 28 senior NASA scientists and engineers, including Mars Rover team members, refused to sign by the deadline and are now subject to being fired despite a decade or more of exemplary service. None of them even work on anything classified or defense related. They are suing the government and documenting their fight for their jobs and right to personal privacy."
Privacy

Submission + - FBI slammed as Amazon wins customer privacy battle

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: The FBI has been slammed in a court ruling after attempting to get Amazon to hand over details on its customers and their reading habits. The agency had taken Amazon to court after the company refused to hand over customer records.

"The [subpoena's] chilling effect on expressive e-commerce would frost keyboards across America," US magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker wrote in an August 2006 ruling which he has just unsealed. "Well-founded or not, rumours of an Orwellian federal criminal investigation into the reading habits of Amazon's customers could frighten countless potential customers into cancelling planned online book purchases."
Government

Submission + - Connect Arkansas Broadband Act signed into law (connect-arkansas.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On March 28, 2007, Governor Mike Beebe signed the Connect Arkansas Broadband Act into law to expand broadband infrastructure throughout Arkansas. The legislation paved the way to make internet access and usage available to all Arkansans. Connect Arkansas, a 501(c)(3) private, non-profit organization, was formed to implement this plan and progress is actively underway. Words such as "delivery platform neutral" may sound unusual, but the concept is clear. Connect Arkansas will work with all internet service providers to accomplish its two initial objectives Prepare the people and businesses of Arkansas to secure the economic, educational, health, social and other benefits available via broadband use. Facilitate the availability of broadband service to every home and business in Arkansas.
The Internet

Submission + - EFF fires an upper-cut at Internet traffic futzers (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Looking to keep the pressure on Comcast and any other ISPs who might be messing with Internet traffic, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today has released software and documentation instructing 'Net users on how to test for packet forgery or other forms of interference by their own service providers.The EFF also published what it calls a comprehensive account of Comcast's packet-forging activities. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22375"
Space

Submission + - Organic Building Blocks Seen in Titan's Atmosphere (eurekalert.org)

Submitted by
Invisible Pink Unicorn
Invisible Pink Unicorn writes: "Scientists analyzing data gathered by the Cassini spacecraft have confirmed the presence of heavy negative ions in the upper regions of Titan's atmosphere. These particles may act as organic building blocks for even more complicated molecules. This discovery was completely unexpected because of the chemical composition of the atmosphere, mainly consisting of nitrogen and methane. According to the lead researcher at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, "Additional rings of carbon can build up on these ions, forming molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which may act as a basis for the earliest forms of life." The article abstract is available from Geophysical Research Letters."
Space

Submission + - Earth's Evil Twin (esa.int)

Submitted by
Riding with Robots
Riding with Robots writes: "For the past two years, Europe's Venus Express orbiter has been studying Earth's planetary neighbor up close. Today, mission scientists have released a new collection of findings and amazing images. They include evidence of lightning and other results that flesh out a portrait of a planet that is in many ways like ours, and in many ways hellishly different, such as surface temperatures over 400C and air pressure a hundred times that on Earth."
Music

Submission + - Deutsche Grammophon offering DRM-free downloads (deutschegrammophon.com)

Submitted by C3c6e6
C3c6e6 writes: Deutsche Grammophon, one of world's leading record labels for classical music, has launched today an online-shop where people can download high-quality (320Kbps) versions of 2400 classical recordings, including 600 albums that are currently out of print. The idea is apparently to make the entire catalog of probably the oldest surviving record label (founded in 1898) available online.

It's nice to see that yet another record company is steering clear of DRM.
Software

Submission + - Asus resolves Eee GPL violation (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by
Jety
Jety writes: "Last week, software developer Cliff Biffle wrote a blog post pointing out certain discrepancies in the source code archive made available by Asus for the Linux-based software platform distributed on the Eee PC.
In response to criticism from Linux enthusiasts, Asus has made additional source code archives available for download with code for the asus_acpi module, BusyBox, and several other components. The code released by Asus brings the company into compliance with its obligations under the GPL and should satisfy most of the critics.
It's always nice to see companies in touch with their audience who are able to respond quickly to issues raised by the community, especially when it involves adhering to the licensing requirements for the software they are distributing."
Media

Submission + - Harper to succumb to US bullying on copyright law (canadians.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Activist
Anonymous Activist writes: "According to an entry on the Slyck.com news website, and a recent article from CanWest columnist Deirdre McMurdy, Canada is about to announce a revised Copyright Act to bring its intellectual property regime in line with stricter (and some say unreasonable) U.S. standards."
...
"This isn't just pandering to U.S. demands, it would be a bad move for Canada, said Geist in a column in the Toronto Star from this past April. "While the USTR report and its supporters seek to paint Canada as a laggard on copyright, this rhetoric ignores the fact that Canada is compliant with its international obligations and that Canadian law is consistent with the laws in most countries around the world," he wrote."

Time to make noise & object, write a letter, contact the COC to help organize the campaign against it (they're one of the main groups that helped defeat the MIA & caught the under cover cops at the SPP summit in Quebec), etc.
United States

U.S. House Says the Internet is Terrorist Threat 457

Posted by CmdrTaco from the so-is-my-chilli dept.
GayBliss writes "The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 1955) last month, by a vote of 404 to 6, that says the Internet is a terrorist tool and that Congress needs to develop and implement methods to combat it."
Linux Business

Microsoft Claims Patent On Elements of Embedded Linux? 191

Posted by Zonk from the strange-bedfellows dept.
Preedit writes "An InformationWeek story points out a recent deal between Microsoft and Japanese printer maker Kyocera Mita. Under the agreement, Kyocera obtained from Microsoft a license to patents used in 'certain Linux-based embedded technologies.' The question the author asks is why Kyocera needs a patent license from Microsoft to develop its embedded Linux products."

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