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Microsoft

Microsoft Pushes For Single Global Patent System 495

Xerolooper writes "What would the world be like if everyone could enjoy the same patent system we use in the USA? From the article: 'A senior lawyer at Microsoft is calling for the creation of a global patent system to make it easier and faster for corporations to enforce their intellectual property rights around the world.' They have already attracted opposition from the open-source community and the Pirate Party. According to the article, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will be meeting in Geneva on the 17th and 18th of September."

Comment Re:This is all wrong. (Score 1) 327

That's all fine and dandy if the attacker/zombie is under the jurisdiction of the Australia government, but what if it is not? Is the insurance company really going to step into your shoes and chase someone halfway across the world to get a judgment and enforce it? What if you don't have a cause of action against the attacker/zombie in the foreign jurisdiction? Ironically, the effect of your proposed law would be to protect foreign victims of Australian attackers. I guess what you are proposing is some sort of multi-national treaty whereby all signatories of the treaty would enact similar legislation to force internet users to take liability for the actions of their computers. Good luck!
Bug

Apple Faces Inquiries In the EU On iPhone Accidents 174

o'reor writes "As more cases of iPhone screen explosions emerge in the news on this side of the pond, Apple is now facing official inquiries and lawsuits in France. This situation has forced Apple finally to break silence and acknowledge the incidents: 'We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the iPhones from the customers. Until we have the full details, we don't have anything further to add.' Following those reports, the European Commission had already decided last week to step in, while Apple tried to dismiss the problem as 'isolated incidents.' Meanwhile, iPhone explosion-related sites are now popping up on the Internet, releasing games such as iPop to chill out and relax on the subject, but also giving users advice on preventing iPhone accidents, or detecting imminent explosions."
Space

Astronomer Photographs Meteor Through Telescope 81

Matt Rogers writes "Amateur astronomer Mike Hankey may be the first person on earth to take a picture of a fireball meteor through a telescope. The picture has been confirmed authentic by numerous professional astronomers and asteroid hunters. This picture could possibly be the first of its kind. Taking a picture of a meteor is a very difficult thing to do, taking a picture of a meteor through a telescope is near impossible. The hunt is on in southern PA for the meteorites that broke away from this space rock. Using Hankey's picture, as well as security tape, meteorite hunters have been able to narrow down the crash site to a smaller area. Even with the trajectory roughly determined, professional meteorite hunters think finding these meteorites may be near impossible. However if they are found they will be immensely valuable and could be very large."
Security

FBI Vaguely Warns of Asterisk Vishing Vulnerability 57

coondoggie writes in to let us know about a fraud alert issued by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, warning that an unspecified bug in unspecified versions of Asterisk IP PBX software could allow criminals to generate "thousands of vishing telephone calls to consumers within one hour." PC World checked with Digium, developer of Asterisk, and found some puzzlement as to what bug the FBI had in mind. "In March, researchers at Mu Security reported a bug that could allow an attacker to take control of an Asterisk system. Digium wasn't certain what vulnerability the FBI was referencing in its advisory. However John Todd, the company's Asterisk open-source community director, believes that it was probably this March bug. That vulnerability 'basically allowed you to take over the account of one individual,' he said. ... However, the attack described by the FBI would be extremely hard to pull off, Todd said." Update: 12/09 02:54 GMT by KD : Digium has put out a statement on the IC3 warning (further details), confirming that what the FBI had in mind was an old bug and difficult in the extreme to exploit.
Medicine

Diet of Fast Food and Candy May Cause Alzheimer's 224

lurking_giant sends along a Reuters report on research out of Sweden indicating that a diet rich in fat, sugar, and cholesterol could increase the risk of Alzheimer's, at least in mice. "'On examining the brains of these mice, we found a chemical change not unlike that found in the Alzheimer brain,' [said] Susanne Akterin, a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center... 'We now suspect that a high intake of fat and cholesterol in combination with genetic factors... can adversely affect several brain substances, which can be a contributory factor in the development of Alzheimer's.' ... These mice showed chemical changes in their brains, indicating an abnormal build-up of the protein tau as well as signs that cholesterol in food reduced levels of another protein called Arc involved in memory storage."

Comment Flawed premise (Score 4, Insightful) 1085

The entire "study" has one huge glaring problem: A PIRATED GAME DOES NOT MEAN A LOST SALE.

He asks what he can do to "convert more people to become buyers". You can't convert people that wouldn't have bought your game in the first place. The only way to stop people copying your game is to provide more value to a so-called pirate such that the "pirate" gets more utility from the game by paying for it than by downloading it. If your game sucks and provides only marginal utility, even if he couldn't play the game for free the game he wouldn't have paid for it.

Government

Submission + - UK Government has another data lapse

twofish writes: "Hot on the heels of news that the British Government has lost two CDs containing 25m records including names, addresses and bank details is the UK's, and probably the world's, largest ever data loss, come reports that an ex-contractor at the Department for Work and Pensions had two disks containing names, addresses, dates of birth and National Insurance numbers for up to 18,000 people in an unencrypted format at home for more than a year after leaving her job. Chris Grayling, the Conservatives' work and pensions secretary remarked:

"The fact that it hasn't been copy protected is further evidence of a cavalier attitude towards data protection in government departments""
Education

Submission + - Sudan President Pardons Teddy Row Teacher (techluver.com)

Tech.Luver writes: "Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir on Monday pardoned a British teacher jailed after letting her students name a teddy bear Muhammad, and officials said she would be released and would fly back to England later in the day. Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Monday at his presidential palace to plead for Gillian Gibbons' pardon. Gibbons had been sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because her students gave the teddy bear the same name as Islam's revered prophet — a violation under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law. The jailing of Mrs Gibbons has led to an international outcry and has embarrassed the government. The case inflamed passions among many in Sudan, where demonstrators called for her to be put to death. ( http://techluver.com/2007/12/03/sudan-president-pardons-teddy-row-teacher/ )"
The Courts

Submission + - What Constitutes Commercial Use?

rtobyr writes: "I have always assumed that when I am working for a government agency or not-for-profit organization that I my employer is entitled to freely use software that claims to be "free for non-commercial use." It seems to me that the term, "commercial" is derived from "commerce," meaning that profit is involved. Then I ran across a program whose EULA is an excellent example of ambiguity in this matter: Sandboxie, whose author — apparently — interprets commercial use as being installed on an Active Directory member computer. So I checked the EULA and found this:

This Agreement grants You the right to use the Software for personal use only. Commercial use of the Software is not permitted under this Agreement.
The statement totally ignores the possibility of use that is neither personal nor commercial. Yeah, I could contact the author (and I will) to clear up his intent; but Sandboxie is just an example. What do you suppose that "free for non-commercial use" means in general for non-commercial organizations? Do you suppose that the type of non-commercial organization matters? Should the military have the same freedoms with "free for non-commercial use" software as, say, a charitable non-profit? What about organizations in between those two extreme examples, such as credit unions or local or state government?"
OS X

Leopard as the New Vista? 734

ninja_assault_kitten writes "There's an interesting rant from Oliver Rist up on the PC Magazine site. He compares the catastrophe that is Vista to the recently released OS X Leopard. While clearly one is a lion and the other a cub, there do appear to be some frustrating similarities. From the article: 'A month of using Leopard with the same software I had under Tiger and the OS has dumped six times. That's six cold reboots for Oliver. Apple isn't even honest enough to admit that Leopard is crashing: The OS just grays out my desktop and pops up a dialog box telling me I've got to reboot. Like the whole thing is my fault. I even snapped a picture of it. After all, I HAD PLENTY OF CHANCES!'"

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