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Operating Systems

Submission + - Torvalds On Linux In 2008

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Linux Torvalds has engaged in a middling-length email interview with InformationWeek's Charlie Babcock, in which he outlines his objectives for 2008, takes a jab at Microsoft and also says he's not much worried about patent litigation. On next year's plans: "The situation in graphics and wireless networking devices — both of which have been somewhat weak spots — is changing, and I suspect that will be a large part of what continues to happen during 2008 too." On Microsoft: "I simply don't use Microsoft products, not because I hate them, but because they aren't interesting to me." On legal: "I really don't think there is anything real behind that whole intellectual property FUD machine." Torvalds is also very interested in SSDs (solid-state drives), and says they're a game-changer when it comes to reducing latency.
Security

Submission + - The Evolving Face of Credit Card Scams

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The 12 Angry Men have a follow up to their piece on the evolving cross sell scam credit card companies have begun using. Their new article concerns another evolving scam being employed, where users are racking up huge fees, and charges on cards which have never even been activated. The article goes deep into the standard way the scam plays out, as well as detailing some interesting history on how credit applications are processed, and where they are typically (and frighteningly) subject to tampering.
The Courts

Submission + - FBI Doesn't Tell Courts About Bogus Evidence

Submitted by dprovine
dprovine writes: According to a joint investigation by series of articles in The Washington Post and 60 Minutes, a forensic test used by the FBI for decades is known to be invalid. The National Academy of Science issued a report in 2004 that FBI investigators had given "problematic" testimony to juries. The FBI later stopped using "bullet lead analysis", but sent a letter to law enforcement officials saying that they still fully supported the science behind it. Hundreds of criminal defendants — some already convicted in part on the testimony of FBI experts — were not informed about the problems with the evidence used against them in court. Does anyone at the Justice Department even care about what effect this will have on how the public in general (and juries in particular) regards the trustworthiness of FBI testimony?
Moon

Submission + - Vote to Eliminate Leap Seconds 6

Submitted by Mortimer.CA
Mortimer.CA writes: As mentionted on Slahdot previously, there is a proposal to remove leap seconds from UTC (nee 'Greenwich' time). It wil be put to a vote to ITU member states, and if 70% agree, the leap second will be eliminated by 2013. There is some debate as to whether this change is a good or bad idea. One philosophical point opponents make is that the 'official' time on Earth should match the time of the sun and heavens. People with appliances that blink '12:00' can probably ignore this issue.
United States

Submission + - 15% of United States Workforce Routinely Drunk (sciencedaily.com) 3

Submitted by
bl8n8r
bl8n8r writes: "According to an article based on research conducted by the University of Buffalo, Alcohol use and impairment at work is a problem for 15% of the U.S. workforce (19.2 million people). Not surprisingly, Among the broad group of occupations with the highest rate of use were the management and sales occupations with grounds maintenance pulling in an honorable mention. Perhaps the next interview will go better if you bring along some Crown Royal"
Software

Submission + - RealNetworks releases zero-day ActiveX fix

Submitted by rbn
rbn writes: RealNetworks has issued a fix for a zero-day flaw reported by Symantec, Thurday, which affects the import method of an Active X control. The flaw is actively being exploited and the attacks appear to be targeting specific organizations, including NASA, which reportedly banned the use of Internet Explorer in response to this incident. The issue affects an ActiveX object installed by RealPlayer, accessible over the web using Internet Explorer. By instantiating the object and invoking a specific method an attacker is able to corrupt process memory and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the browser. The attack currently known to be in-the-wild has been confirmed to download malicious code to the compromised host. RealNetworks has issued an advice to its users to upgrade immediately to its latest player and apply the patch.
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Hellgate EULA: EA checks out your apps. (bluesnews.com)

Submitted by wild_quinine
wild_quinine writes: Bluesnews reports on a controversy sweeping web forums at the moment: article 3 of the EULA for the Hellgate: London demo specifies an unusually large amount of information about your system can be obtained, and transferred to any third parties EA sees fit.

3. Consent to Use of Data. You agree that EA, its affiliates, and each Related Party may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, including without limitation your Internet Protocol address, operating system, application software and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online play. EA and/or the Related Parties may also use this information in the aggregate and, in a form which does not personally identify you, to improve our products and services and we may share that aggregate data with our third party service providers.
Security

Submission + - iPhone/Yahoo mail security vulnerability (isode.com)

Submitted by
Will Sheward
Will Sheward writes: "Whilst trying to figure out how the iPhone was doing it's 'push' email with Yahoo (it seems it doesn't — but that's another story) we came across another security flaw. The iPhone authenticates with Yahoo using a private protocol called XYMPKI, used in conjunction with IMAP. Yahoo do not provide a general IMAP service — they use IMAP only for iPhone access. Although the iPhone supports TLS (Transport Layer Security) Yahoo! IMAP doesn't, which can lead to a replay attack. Anyone able to eavesdrop on the authentication exchange, such as when using any open (public or private) wi-fi service, can easily gain full access to the user's email account until the user changes their password. We would advise against using the Yahoo service with an iPhone, because of this security risk. Full details here"
United States

Wi-Fi Hack Aids Boarding Parties 69

Posted by Zonk from the guess-where-i'm-iming-from dept.
Kage-Yojimbo writes with a link to the site Strategy Page. There, they're reporting on a military adaptation of civilian wi-fi equipment to use in boarding operations on the high seas. Modifications to normal off-the-shelf gear can result in a range of over 700 meters, allowing information to be passed through on-shore internet connections. "The main reason for all this was to speed up the transmission of passport photos and other personal data back to the ship, so that it could be run through databases to check for terrorists or criminals. This wi-fi hack cut several hours off the time required to check documents. The Expanded Maritime Interception Operations (EIMO) wireless system was developed last year, to provide several kilometers of range to the original wi-fi gear (which has been in use for over three years). Each pair of wi-fi units costs about $1400 to construct, using common parts to add more powerful antennae to standard 802.11g wi-fi equipment."
The Internet

Submission + - Bill proposed to redefine 'broadband' in the US

Submitted by
edmicman
edmicman writes: "Infoworld is reporting on a new bill introduced in the U.S. Senate that would have the FCC revise what bandwidth rates qualify as "broadband":

Senator Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, introduced the Broadband Data Improvement Act Thursday along with five Democratic cosponsors. The bill would require the FCC to re-evaluate whether 200Kbps is sufficient bandwidth to justify being called broadband, and it would require the agency to create a new measurement, known as second-generation broadband, to identify networks' capability of transmitting high-definition video.

The bill would also require broadband providers to report availability of broadband and second-generation broadband connections within smaller geography areas than the postal zip codes the FCC now uses to measure the availability of such services.
"
Privacy

Submission + - No charges for chatroom suicide observers

Submitted by
Benjamin Fox
Benjamin Fox writes: "The BBC reports that chatroom participants who apparently "watched" a man commit kill himself will not face charges for the comments made up to and during the suicide. A crown prosecution spokesman said, "We examined all the evidence passed to us by the police and have concluded that none of the comments made in the chatroom amounted to a criminal offense." What could this mean for electronic witnesses of other meatspace crimes and tragedies in the UK?"
Security

Submission + - Simple Comm Technique Beats Quantum Crypto

Submitted by
Atario
Atario writes: "Spying is big business, and avoiding being spied on an even bigger one. So imagine if someone came up with a simple, cheap way of encrypting messages that is almost impossible to hack into?

American computer engineer Laszlo Kish at Texas A&M University in College Station claims to have done just that. He says the thermal properties of a simple wire can be exploited to create a secure communications channel, one that outperforms quantum cryptography keys."
Google

Submission + - Google search by employer not illegal, say judges

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A court of appeals for the federal circuit has upheld a ruling (PDF) against a man who sued his former employer for Googling his name before firing him. He had accused his former employer of participating in "ex parte" communications — off-the-record communications that are used to play a part in the final outcome of a decision — that ultimately affected the decision to fire him from his job. However, the three-judge panel ruled that an ex parte communication did not occur in the case when the employer used Google.

The man in question, David Mullins, was a government employee at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Forecast Office in Indianapolis, IN. Through a series of events, Mullins' employer found that he had misused his government vehicle and government funds for his own purposes — such as sleeping in his car and falsifying hotel documents to receive reimbursements, withdrawing unauthorized amounts of cash from the company card, traveling to destinations sometimes hundreds of miles away from where he was supposed to be (and using his company card to fill up on gas there), and spending company time to visit friends and/or his children. Mullins' supervisor provided a 23-page document listing 102 separate instances of misconduct.

Mullins took issue with a Google search that Capell performed just before authorizing his firing. During this Google search, Capell found that Mullins had been fired from his previous job at the Smithsonian Institution and had been removed from Federal Service by the Air Force. Mullins argued that his right to fundamental fairness was violated when Capell performed the search and that she committed perjury when she stated that the search did not influence her decision to fire him.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070510-goog le-search-by-employer-not-illegal-say-judges.html

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