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Comment Re:Hmm (Score 1) 61

You have one little problem, the program has to know, which instructions cancel out. So you probably have a list of pairs in there somewhere. As soon as that is known, the program can be normalized back to the "core code". The other problem is, that you would have to be very careful to remove the canceling instructions in the virus before you rescramble it or the size would quickly get prohibitively large.

The randomly chosen registry keys won't help you, you have to get the thing to be executed, so you have to write something in a fixed number of keys. That should be enough to detect it.

The "scrambled" server key is a tactic Conficker is using. It generates and queries a large number of domains, but obviously the sequence has to be in the code somewhere so a server can be setup which has the right name at the time the thing tries to connect to it. Just scrambling the address in the "client" is useless, if there is no server.

Comment Re:Why exactly is an issue? (Score 1) 447

The web server says "hey, here's a cookie you can store for me, if you like, and send it back later to assist me. Do with it as you please." The user's browser either ignores it, or later sends a copy. If this isn't consent, I don't know what the hell is. So the HTTP protocol itself already ensures that all websites are compliant.

I would so like to see you argue like that before a judge. Do you honestly believe that a computer can agree to something for its user without the user knowing about it in a way the law would accept? Sorry, but I don't believe that it is possible and I have a hard time to believe that something along the way of "but the user could have changed his browser settings so he gets a chance to agree" would work either.

Comment Re:Don't use them (Score 1) 303

For international users there is also often the problem that some of the questions make no sense. I never was to anything I could compare to a high school as the system is different here. So the number of questions is even smaller. I also saw a system you had to select two questions. From two lists of 4 non overlapping questions. So even there reducing the number of possibilities.

But what really annoys me is, when one of those things only accepts characters and perhaps numbers and even limits the length (I think Yahoo Mail did that, but I am not sure, I just filled the field with random stuff and forgot it).

Comment Re:This shows a failure of imagination. (Score 1) 87

The idea that there is no further use for it than to deorbit garbage is crazy.

Why? That is exactly what it was designed for. It carries supplies to the ISS, then is a bit of storage/extension to the space station and uses its fuel to lift the ISS so it doesn't fall out of orbit. When the surplus fuel is burnt, it is loaded with garbage, does two deorbit burns and enters the atmosphere. And then provides a spectacular light show.

Of what use would a space craft without fuel and loaded with garbage be to anybody? As all the things it does have to be done, I don't see where the problem is. Leaving it in orbit would just be creating dangerous space debris, so that is no option. The changes needed to make it reusable would seriously drive the price up, would have the issues the space shuttle shows (wear on material, high cost of maintenance) and would limit the loading capabilities. So to repeat, it does exactly what it was designed to do.

Space

Why ISS Computers Failed 324

Geoffrey.landis writes "It was only a small news item four months ago: all three of the Russian computers that control the International Space Station failed shortly after the Space Shuttle brought up a new solar array. But why did they fail? James Oberg, writing in IEEE Spectrum, details the detective work that led to a diagnosis." The article has good insights into the role the ISS plays as a laboratory for US-Russian technology cooperation — something that is likely to be crucial in any manned Mars mission.
Toys

James Randi Posts $1M Award On Speaker Cables 1239

elrond amandil writes "James Randi offered US$ 1 million to anyone who can prove that a pair of $7,250 Pear Anjou speaker cables is any better than ordinary (and also overpriced) Monster Cables. Pointing out the absurd review by audiophile Dave Clark, who called the cables 'danceable,' Randi called it 'hilarious and preposterous.' He added that if the cables could do what their makers claimed, 'they would be paranormal.'"
The Courts

SCO Blames Linux For Bankruptcy Filing 321

Stony Stevenson writes "SCO Group CEO Darl McBride is now claiming that competition from Linux was behind the company's filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 'In a court filing in support of SCO's bankruptcy petition, McBride noted that SCO's sales of Unix-based products "have been declining over the past several years." The slump, McBride said, "has been primarily attributable to significant competition from alternative operating systems, including Linux." McBride listed IBM, Red Hat, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems as distributors of Linux or other software that is "aggressively taking market share away from Unix.""
It's funny.  Laugh.

Half of SCO's Accountants Quit 371

Groklaw Reader writes "Apparently, SCO's lawyers were working overtime last Sunday, because they wrote a quick plea to the bankruptcy court for permission to hire accounting temps. Why? Approximately half of SCO's finance department has resigned or been fired. Two who resigned had over ten years of experience each. One can only assume that they know what's about to happen to SCO."
Microsoft

Submission + - MS loses European anti-trust case (europa.eu)

Tom writes: "The court has spoken in Microsoft's case against the EU anti-trust commission, and the result is even more damaging to the monopoly company than analysts expected.
The court upholds all major decisions of the commission, including the record half a billion Euro fines. Most importantly, it smacks down MS entire defense line of "we can't make interoperability possible because we need to protect our copyrights and patents"."

The Courts

RIAA Complaint Dismissed as "Boilerplate" 197

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The decision many lawyers had been expecting — that the RIAA's 'boilerplate' complaint fails to state a claim for relief under the Copyright Act — has indeed come down, but from an unlikely source. While the legal community has been looking towards a Manhattan case (Elektra v. Barker) for guidance, the decision instead came from Senior District Court Judge Rudi M. Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California. The decision handed down denied a default judgment (i.e. the defendant had not even appeared in the action). Judge Brewster not only denied the default judgment motion but dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Echoing the words of Judge Karas at the oral argument in Barker , Judge Brewster held (pdf) that 'Plaintiff here must present at least some facts to show the plausibility of their allegations of copyright infringement against the Defendant. However, other than the bare conclusory statement that on "information and belief" Defendant has downloaded, distributed and/or made available for distribution to the public copyrighted works, Plaintiffs have presented no facts that would indicate that this allegation is anything more than speculation.'"
GNU is Not Unix

FSF Positioning To Sue Microsoft Over GPLv3? 369

mjasay writes "Groklaw notes that the Free Software Foundation has decried Microsoft's attempts to distance itself from its obligations to abide by GPL Version 3 (press release here). Citing Microsoft's earlier declaration that they are not bound by GPLv3, the Free Software Foundation declared, 'Microsoft cannot by any act of anticipatory repudiation divest itself of its obligation to respect others' copyrights.' The press release implies that the Free Software Foundation may sue Microsoft over the issue."
The Almighty Buck

Copyright Advocacy Group Violates Copyright 176

word munger writes "Commercial scholarly publishers are beginning to get afraid of the open access movement. They've hired a high-priced consultant to help them sway public opinion in favor of copyright restrictions on taxpayer-funded research. Funny thing is, their own website contains several copyright violations. It seems they pulled their images directly from the Getty Images website — watermarks and all — without paying for their use."
PHP

PHP 4 End of Life Announcement 125

perbert writes "The PHP development team has announced that support for PHP 4 will continue until the end of this year only. After 2007-12-31 there will be no more releases of PHP 4.4. Critical security fixes will be made available on a case-by-case basis until 2008-08-08. For documentation on migration for PHP 4 to PHP 5, there is a migration guide. There is additional information available in the PHP 5.0 to PHP 5.1 and PHP 5.1 to PHP 5.2 migration guides as well."
Republicans

Submission + - Elaine Chao: US workers are smelly complainers 1

Tablizer writes: According to Parade Magazine, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao says American employees are rude and have B.O., and this is allegedly why foreign workers are preferred. "U.S. employers say that many workers abroad simply have a better attitude toward work. 'American employees must be punctual, dress appropriately and have good personal hygiene,' says Chao. 'They need anger-management and conflict-resolution skills, and they have to be able to accept direction. Too many young people bristle when a supervisor asks them to do something.'" Do we need to reshape ourselves into compliant borg?

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