ShorePiper82 - Slashdot User

Submission + - New Security Survival Guide: Defending with Layers

Submitted by lizzyben on Wednesday May 16, 2007 @03:17PM

lizzyben writes: In this special security report, Baseline magazine takes a detailed look at an emerging class of security tools and the pitfalls that can ensue when they are not properly configured, managed or integrated with existing systems.

From the story: "Organizations can get caught in a cycle of adding layers of technology every time a new class of security products emerges, says John Pescatore, a vice president and research fellow at Gartner in Stamford, Conn. "If you keep spending on more and more layers, you start eating up more and more of the I.T. budget, leaving less money for meeting new business demands and applications," he warns.

Submission + - Fruit fly free will could lead to robot domination

Submitted by

Lucas123

on Wednesday May 16, 2007 @03:12PM

Lucas123 writes: "A study performed at the Free University Berlin on human free will has produced some unexpected results showing that fruit flies may have a spark of free will in their tiny brains, according to an MSNBC story. 'Their behavior seemed to match up with a mathematical algorithm called Levy's distribution ... Future research delving further into free will could lead to more advanced robots, scientists added. The result, joked neurobiologist Björn Brembs from the Free University Berlin, could be "world robot domination."'"

Submission + - Stanford kowtows to **AA campaign

Submitted by

Gogl

on Wednesday May 16, 2007 @03:10PM

Gogl writes: "With RIAA (read: Sony et al.) "pre-litigation" threats looming, Stanford has decided to (warning, PDF) pass the costs down to the students "who are jeopardizing the Stanford network by using it as platform to steal songs, movies, TV shows, video games, books and software." DMCA violations will result in a network disconnection, with reconnection costing $100 the first time, $500 the second, and $1000 the third. Stands in pretty sharp contrast to the stance taken by the Harvard law professor discussed here earlier."

Submission + - Judge in internet case: "What's a 'web site'?&

Submitted by

mcgrew

on Wednesday May 16, 2007 @02:19PM

mcgrew writes: "A British judge in the trial of three men in a terrorism case where the internet was central to the case admitted he didn't know what a "web site" was. The Reuters article says that "Violent Islamist material posted on the Internet, including beheadings of Western hostages, is central to the case."

"The trouble is I don't understand the language. I don't really understand what a Web site is," the judge said.

From TFA: "Concluding Wednesday's session and looking ahead to testimony on Thursday by a computer expert, the judge told Ellison: 'Will you ask him to keep it simple, we've got to start from basics'.""

Submission + - E-Gold Taken Down by Feds for Money Laundering

Submitted by loqi on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:36PM

loqi writes: Citing child pornographers and online scammers as the beneficiaries of an effectively anonymous payment system, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed charges of conspiracy and money laundering against the online payment system E-Gold. With advances in cryptographic techniques like Brands credentials and transparent servers, will money laundering laws continue to be enforceable?

Submission + - Lone Programmer Writes 253 Webcam Drivers for Linu

Submitted by mrneutron2004 on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:26PM

mrneutron2004 writes: We ran across this interview/story today and felt compelled to repost it. A French physician and ardent linux support is the ONE MAN you can all thank for adding support for 253 webcam's in Linux. The Open Source OS world may still be a bit of a mess when competing with the ease of Windows, but efforts like this make you wonder. One man with drive, tenacity, and no funding does what noone else can do. And none of the major linux distributions back this guy's efforts, even the big players dipping into the corporate worlds coffers. http://www.fastsilicon.com/latest-news/lone-progra mmer-writes-253-webcam-drivers-for-linux.html?Item id=60

Submission + - Net Neutrality Strikes Again

Submitted by

Trek1394

on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:24PM

Trek1394 writes: "In the past few years the Net Neutrality debate has gained popularity among major bandwidth users such as google, skype, and YouTube. The New York City Council is considering a resolution on net neutrality to define “strong net neutrality principles,” and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) of the Congressional Internet Caucus told C-SPAN the FCC is looking further into the issue — "Goodlatte predicted more hearings on network neutrality this session, and said that in the "not too distant future" there would be a network neutrality bill introduced."

The SPARC Open Access Newsletter has a good summary and links to outside sources on the issue in “Three gathering storms that could cause collateral damage for open access.” Educause review has another basic summary of the debate, and John Crowcroft in “Net Neutrality: The Technical Side of the Debate” has outlined the issue from a more technical standpoint.

Net Neutrality policy will have a dramatic effect on the open-network principles the Internet has enjoyed since the NSF relinquished control in 1995, and may set a precedent for future policies to be created and enforced on the Internet. Is this really the best means of solving the ISP problem, or is there a better solution out there?"

Submission + - Apple grants DRM-free distribution to all labels

Submitted by SexCaptain on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:24PM

SexCaptain writes: AppleInsider gives details of a letter circulated by Apple to all producers of content for the iTunes Store, announcing that from May onwards they can sell their music at higher quality and free of DRM. Hopefully this opens the doors for labels like Netwerk, and although its unclear exactly what Apple means by 'higher quality', and there is no mention of price changes, this is a big step in the right direction.

"Many of you have reached out to iTunes to find out how you can make your songs available higher quality and DRM-free," Apple wrote in the communication. "Starting next month, iTunes will begin offering higher-quality, DRM-free music and DRM-free music videos to all customers."

Submission + - The F-bomb most popular, N-word most offensive

Submitted by

word munger

on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:23PM

word munger writes: "The F-word is censored from nearly all U.S. broadcast TV (except when someone like Bono slips it into a live telecast), but people use it every day in casual conversation. Meanwhile vicious insults like "nappy-headed ho," while they did result in Don Imus's firing, are repeated ad nauseum on every newscast covering the event. What curse words are truly offensive, and who do they offend the most? On Cognitive Daily, we surveyed over 700 readers to find out. The results? The F-word is only mildly offensive — not even as offensive as "ho." What's more, as people get older, they react more negatively to some words, like "suck" and "ho," but other words bother them less. It all suggests that censoring particular words makes less sense than evaluating words in context. Depending on who is watching and when, the FCC might want to reassess its censorship policy."

Submission + - New toys read brain waves

Submitted by Jeff Tranter on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:03PM

Jeff Tranter writes: CBC News reports on some companies that are developing games and other computer products that are controlled by brainwaves.

Submission + - E-Gold Indicted for Money Laundering.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 30, 2007 @03:02PM

An anonymous reader writes: A U.S. Department of Justice propag^h^h^h^h press release has announced the unsealing of an indictment charging E-Gold Ltd., Gold & Silver Reserve, Inc., and their owners each with conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and money transmission without a license under US Federal law. This comes despite repeated attempts by e-gold to be classified for regulatory purposes as a currency, enabling G&SR to register as a currency exchange, and the Department of Treasury reaffirming their interpretation of the USC and CFR definitions of currency as excluding e-gold.

Since the US government is answering e-gold's attempts to be transparent with a heavy handed enforcement action, while ignoring massive customer complaints against companies like PayPal, one must wonder: Is this the first step in an effort to destroy any open currency backed by gold, not controlled by a nation state, or not linked to the US Dollar?

Journal Journal: Supreme Court sides with Microsoft Over AT&T 122

Journal by trianglman on Monday April 30, 2007 @02:58PM

The Supreme Court today sided with Microsoft in a patent case filed by AT&T. The case centered around whether selling Windows overseas infringed on AT&T's patents that are in Windows. Microsoft argued (pdf) that since the copies being sold in Asia, etc. are only made from a copy of a mas

Submission + - Creating a Computer Science Alumni Network?

Submitted by BASICman on Monday April 30, 2007 @02:55PM

BASICman writes: Next week I will be graduating from a small, public liberal arts college with my B.A. in Computer Science. Talking amongst the other CS majors, I have heard some common concerns about not knowing who the other students in the department are, not having a centralized place from where to organize or get involved in new (side) projects, and also some griping at the lack of active alumni connections from which to find internships or jobs.

I think that creating some sort of student-alumni network would go a long way to help with all three of these points. What are the thoughts of the Slashdot community on this idea? What are the legal implications of starting an organization like this and should I make it a non-profit? Has anyone here started a similar project or are a part of an active student-alumni group?

Submission + - Linking Video Games to Violence

Submitted by

ahoehn

on Monday April 30, 2007 @02:53PM

ahoehn writes: "Amanda Schaffer has written a refreshingly balanced piece about the connection between video games and violence. Instead of regurgitating the typical reactionary voices in this debate, she looks at what scientific studies suggest about the issue.

From the article: "Pathological acts of course have multiple, complex causes and are terribly hard to predict. And clearly, millions of people play Counter-Strike, Halo, and Doom and never commit crimes. But the subtler question is whether exposure to video-game violence is one risk factor for increased aggression: Is it associated with shifts in attitudes or responses that may predispose kids to act out? A large body of evidence suggests that this may be so.""

Submission + - Small business and homebase business : How to succ

Submitted by

jiraiyax

on Monday April 30, 2007 @02:35PM

jiraiyax writes: "http://www.business-successful.com/"

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