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Comment Re:Facebook discovers HTTPS (Score 1) 273

I would guess that it's likely that the photos they choose will be based on when someone has been tagged in the photo. They could even make sure they only choose from photos that you yourself tagged someone else in, or perhaps photos where you've been tagged along with some other people. Taking it a step further, if they used some sort of algorithm to determine if it's a person that's been tagged (some people tag images with people's names to get their attention), that would help eliminate errors. However, it's not going to eliminate all of them.
Businesses

Submission + - Visa Probe Finds Wikileaks Broke No Laws (washingtonpost.com)

krou writes: After Visa blocked donations to Wikileaks, they asked Norway-based financial services company Teller AS to investigate Wikileaks and its fund-raising body, Sunshine Press, to see if they broke the law. However, in a letter from Teller's chief executive, Peter Wiren, he states that 'Our lawyers have now completed their work and have found no indications that Sunshine Press ... acted in contravention of Visa's rules or Icelandic legislation'. Later, he said they were ready to start processing payments again, but Visa Europe Ltd. has said that they will not give the go-ahead until they complete their own internal investigation.
Advertising

Your Face Will Soon Be In Facebook Ads 344

jfruhlinger writes "If you're planning on checking into Starbucks using Facebook Places, your friends may soon see your profile picture in a Facebook ad for Starbucks — and, it goes without saying, you won't be paid a dime. You can't opt out, unless, as Dan Tynan puts it, "studiously avoid clicking "Like" or checking into any place that has a six- or seven-figure ad budget." The ad will also include whatever text you use in your checkin, so Tynan suggests some judicious pranksterism ("Just checked into the Starbucks around the corner and this doppio mocha latte tastes like goat urine")."

Comment Re:Everyone here should go see (Score 1) 201

I wouldn't say a rock solid script and good acting make a film worth the money to see on the big screen (at least, not any more). A film like Inception, which has the visuals to match, sure, but the vast majority are just as good, and far more cost-effective, in the comfort of your own home. I stopped watching films in the cinema years ago because it's just way too expensive here in the UK. For just a bit more than the price of a single ticket (less, if it's a 3D film), I can buy the DVD brand new if I wait a few months. Since I'm married, and that means two tickets, the DVD is always way, way cheaper, and that's before even considering buying popcorn etc. (Never mind the fact that the cinemas almost always run the same garbage week after week, unless you're lucky enough to live near an independent cinema). It's a pity, because going to the cinema was one of my greatest joys as a kid. And I just wish those damn kids would get off my lawn.

Comment Re:Its really (Score 1) 760

Right, so because of the messenger, the message is obviously false?

According to the Guardian:

Many of the 1,600 leaked documents – drawn up by PA officials and lawyers working for the British-funded PLO negotiations support unit and include extensive verbatim transcripts of private meetings – have been independently authenticated by the Guardian and corroborated by former participants in the talks and intelligence and diplomatic sources.

Also, in case you hadn't noticed, this leak made the Palestinian Authority look terrible, possibly as much as Israel, because they're the ones trying to sell the Palestinians down the fucking river, so I don't quite buy your claim that only Israel look bad. I would go as so far to say that this leak demonstrates just how useless they all are - the US, the UK, Israel, PA, the lot.

Comment Re:Pshaw (Score 1) 270

Urm, to be fair to DuckDuckGo, they don't just scrape Bing. From their FAQ:

How do you get your results?

From many sources, including DuckDuckBot (our own crawler), crowd-sourced sites, Yahoo! "BOSS", "embed.ly", "WolframAlpha", "EntireWeb" & "Bing".

Also, the reason people (like myself) promote DuckDuckGo is because they're getting better success using it.

Apple

Submission + - Apple Joint Last In Transparency Study (guardian.co.uk)

krou writes: A new transparency study, which looks at the openness of IT companies and their responsiveness to possible environmental violations by their suppliers, placed Apple joint last in a list of 29 IT companies and firms. Hewlett Packard, British Telecom, Samsung, Sony, Siemens and Alcatel ranked highest. The report's authors, a group of 36 anti-pollution groups involved in the Green Choice Initiative, claimed in a statement that 'Behind their stylish image, Apple products have a side many do not know about – pollution and poison. This side is hidden deep within the company's secretive supply chain.' In their report, none of the companies forced their suppliers to disclose details about waste discharges, but Apple was worst at providing data or answering questions. One such example was last May 'when at least 62 workers fell sick after inhaling n-hexane used to clean touch screens at a Wintek electronics factory in Suzhou', which is believed to be supplying Apple. 'The managers at the Taiwan-owned plant reportedly switched to the noxious chemical – which can cause nerve damage for up to two years – apparently because it dried more quickly than alcohol, thus increasing efficiency.' The report's authors claim they tried for months to get information from Apple, but it refused to make any comment. Ma Jun of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs comments that 'This attitude means it is impossible to have any public supervision over their supply chain. Without that how can we trust them? When environmental violations become public knowledge, they should not use commercial confidentiality as an excuse for silence. This is different from other leading brands. Apple can say it is completely 'green' because it is a brand with no factory, but if it doesn't manage its supply chain, these are just empty words. Far from being the best on planet, it is bottom among 29 IT brands. Apple should be a leader. If it can move on this, it can change the whole industry.'

Comment Re:"can't really do much damge"? (Score 4, Insightful) 123

I recently submitted a story to /. that is related to this very topic. Chief of defence staff in the UK, General Sir David Richards, argued a little while ago that the UK should have a cyber command, and that the UK faces what he called a 'horse verses tank moment' in coping with modern warfare, saying the the rules of war had changed as a result of the success of insurgents in Iraq/Afghanistan, and the threat of non-state actors. In particular, he said that 'We must learn to defend, delay, attack and manoeuvre in cyberspace, just as we might on the land, sea or air and all together at the same time. Future war will always include a cyber dimension and it could become the dominant form. At the moment we don't have a cyber command and I'm very keen we have one. Whether we like it or not, cyber is going to be part of future warfare, just as tanks and aircraft are today. It's a cultural change. In the future I don't think state-to-state warfare will start in the way it did even 10 years ago. It will be cyber or banking attacks — that's how I'd conduct a war if I was running a belligerent state or a rebel movement. It's semi-anonymous, cheap and doesn't risk people.'"

Comment Re:Only Tax Evaders and Criminals to Be Named (Score 5, Informative) 783

Indeed. The UK Observer had more info direct from Elmer:

'What I am objecting to is not one particular bank, but a system of structures. I have worked for major banks other than Julius Baer, and the one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes, and other things such as money-laundering – although these cases involve tax evasion. I agree with privacy in banking for the person in the street, and legitimate activity, but in these instances privacy is being abused so that big people can get big banking organisations to service them. The normal, hard-working taxpayer is being abused also. Once you become part of senior management, and gain international experience, as I did, then you are part of the inner circle – and things become much clearer. You are part of the plot. You know what the real products and service are, and why they are so expensive. It should be no surprise that the main product is secrecy ... Crimes are committed and lies spread in order to protect this secrecy.'

Comment Re:Hit them back (Score 4, Informative) 783

Actually, it's more interesting than that. Julius Baer, the bank Elmer worked at, is the same bank that, in 2008, tried to take down the Wikileaks domain. From here:

Assange is now talking: he is explaining how Julius Baer, Elmer's former bank, tried to use a US court in 2008 to take down the WikiLeaks.org domain. He said it was then WikiLeaks realised that the techniques it had developed to deal with Chinese censorship would be needed for operating in western countries too.

The bank lost their injunction on first ammendment (freedom of speech) grounds with WikiLeaks supported in the case by US campaigners and media organisations, Assange tells the conference. He compares this to what he calls the "McCarthyist" state of play today.

Karma's a bitch ...

Businesses

Submission + - T-Mobile Backs Down (Sort Of) On Data Cap (guardian.co.uk)

krou writes: After a backlash from T-Mobile users threatening protests and legal action — as well as threats of regulatory action — T-Mobile has made a partial climb down on its plan to cap existing customers. In a statement, they said: 'Following a further review of our this policy, these changes will now be introduced from 1 February, to new and upgrading customers only – not existing customers. There will be no change to the data packages for existing customers for the duration of their contract and we apologise for any confusion caused.' However, as the Guardian notes, its original plans would have constituted a breach of contract, which would have allowed customers to cancel their contracts without penalty. Also, in a Q&A, they elaborated on the planned cap: 'T-Mobile has a very sophisticated network management tool which can identify what sort of content is on the site. [After you exceed your 500MB limit] you'll be able to see text on a site, but not anything that requires streaming or downloading.' This includes blocking YouTube content, Flash games and other Flash content, and email attachments (although they're a little hazy on how that will work).
Image

Florida Man Sues WikiLeaks For Scaring Him Screenshot-sm 340

Stoobalou writes "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been accused of 'treason' by a Florida man seeking damages for distress caused by the site's revelations about the US government. From the article: 'David Pitchford, a Florida trailer park resident, names Assange and WikiLeaks as defendants in a personal injury suit filed with the Florida Southern District Court in Miami. In the complaint filed on 6th January, Pitchford alleges that Assange's negligence has caused "hypertension," "depression" and "living in fear of being stricken by another heart attack and/or stroke" as a result of living "in fear of being on the brink of another nuclear [sic] WAR."' Just for good measure, it also alleges that Assange and WikiLeaks are guilty of 'terorism [sic], espionage and treason.'"
Power

Submission + - Proven Focus Fusion Could Power Civilization (pesn.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP) LLC has announced that they have indisputable evidence that they have achieved 1 billion degrees via plasma confinement . With another year of experimentation followed by three years of development, they could be ready to bring to market a 5 MW plant (size of the largest wind turbines) that only costs $300,000. Slashdot reported previously that LPP had achieved billion-degree results. But critics had said that the previous set-up could not rule out the possibility that this temperature was merely a function of the beam they were creating. The new results show definitively that "confinement" is indeed happening, and is the source of the temperature, which is a key attribute needed to develop a practical commercial reactor. The reults will be published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Fusion Energy describing the basic theory guiding LPP's pursuit of useful fusion energy from the dense plasma focus, as well as featuring these first experimental results from the team's Focus Fusion-1 experimental device in Middlesex, NJ.

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