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Submission + - What Happened to Diaspora, the Facebook Killer? It's Complicated (vice.com)

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes: "Created by four New York University students, Diaspora tried to destroy the notion that one network could completely dominate the web. Diaspora – "the privacy aware, personally controlled, do-it-all distributed open source social network,” as described on their Kickstarter page – offered what seemed like the perfect antidote to Zuckerbergian tyranny. The New York Times quickly got wind. Tired of being bullied, technologists rallied behind the burgeoning startup spectacle, transforming what began as a fun project into a political movement. Before a single line of code had been written, Diaspora was a sensation. Its anti establishment rallying cry and garage hacker ethos earned it kudos from across an Internet eager for signs of life among a generation grown addicted to status updates.

And yet, the battle may have been lost before it even began. Beyond the difficulty of actually executing a project of this scope and magnitude, the team of four young kids with little real-world programming experience found themselves crushed under the weight of expectation. Even before they had tried to produce an actual product, bloggers, technologists and open-source geeks everywhere were already looking to them to save the world from tyranny and oppression. Not surprisingly, the first release, on September 15, 2010 was a public disaster, mainly for its bugs and security holes. Former fans mockingly dismissed it as “swiss cheese.”"
IT

Submission + - Why Women in IT Need Men (wsj.com) 1

Submitted by onehitwonder
onehitwonder writes: This is not your typical "Women in IT" story bemoaning the under-representation of women in the field. Rather, this story focuses on the critical role men can play in attracting women to--and keeping them in--IT careers by mentoring them. Women in IT need male mentors because there simply aren't enough female mentors. Are you man enough to mentor a woman?
Government

Submission + - Security at nuclear Y-12 National Security Complex Nun Too good (thebulletin.org) 1

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Private security contractors strike again, this time at the Y-12 National Security Complex. How a nun, a gardener, and a housepainter cut through 3 security fences to find themselves 20 feet away from highly dangerous nuclear material. And of course, only 1 guard has been fired (the one who arguably acted the bravest and did the right thing). Contractors still have the contracts, etc.
Earth

Submission + - How Technology Is Making the U.S. More Energy Independent (wsj.com) 1

Submitted by onehitwonder
onehitwonder writes: The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal has a story that explains how big data, analytics, geo-spatial, and visualization technologies are decreasing the U.S.'s dependance on foreign oil/a. Before environmentalists start rejoicing, they should understand that this story explains how these technologies are being used to increase domestic drilling and facilitate hydrofracking.
Cloud

Submission + - US Congressmen: Facebook Evading Privacy Questions

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Two US congressmen have accused Facebook of evading questions about whether it tracks users in order to deliver targeted ads. Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, and Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the social networking giant failed to adequately answer questions raised by a patent application that suggests Facebook could be tracking users on other websites. The duo previously asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate accusations that Facebook tracks its users even after they log out of the social network, an issue the company says it has since fixed.
Privacy

Submission + - Anti-SOPA crew woos Electronic Arts (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: A new petition on Change.org, whose previous petitions have brought about policy reversals at Bank of America and Verizon regarding proposed new fees, is urging gaming powerhouse Electronic Arts to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act. The Change.org petition was started by New York University student and directed toward EA, which has yet to take a public stance on SOPA. The petition reads in part: ""The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a tool that protects monopolists and targets sites relied on by small-time businesses, like indie game developers and artists, condoning disproportionate action against these sites for any evidence of copyright infringement from any of their users. If EA wants to protect their monopoly so badly, we need to let them know that they will lose far more business by supporting this bill than by allowing indie developers to operate unimpeded."
Wikipedia

Submission + - Vatican's Bios Lifted Verbatim from Wikipedia

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "The Vatican's ancient library holds more than 75,000 manuscripts and 1.1 million books, while it's secret archives pack priceless documents onto 50 miles of shelving, but in a move that "Catholic Culture" called an "embarrassing public-relations gaffe", when Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals, the Vatican released short biographies of the prelates that had been copied verbatim from Wikipedia without attribution. One clue was that many new cardinals were described as being "Catholic" while another was that Willem Jacobus Eijk, the archbishop of Utrecht, is described as having a "strong tendency to conservatism, specially regarding abortion and homosexuality, which has made him one of the most talked about religious men in the country". Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi pointed out that the bios were carefully labelled as "unofficial" and says the decision to use Wikipedia was a temporary measure driven by haste. "Since then we have been putting up official bios on our site." In recent years Pope Benedict has increasingly embraced the internet speaking of how "spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship.""

Submission + - Manning's Gender Identity raised in Wikileaks case (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by
orangesquid
orangesquid writes: "This news is a few weeks old, but I don't think it has been mentioned on slashdot yet. The Washington Post is reporting on Bradley Manning's various psychological issues, including hir gender identity (classified by the DSM under "gender identity disorder," a controversial designation since items like sexual orientation are no longer considered disorders). CNN also has a similar story. The Washington Post article describes Manning as a 'a gifted intelligence analyst', an interesting topic considering that some ongoing research has suggested a correlation between transsexualism and increased IQ. Some opinions suggest transsexualism to be correlated with a greater capacity for creativity, an often invaluable part of deeper insight. Various studies on gender and empathy sometimes suggest a link, perhaps substantiating the notion that Manning's desire to leak classified information was driven by hir own internal sense of ethics. Any thoughts, slashdotters? Given the particular sensitivities of this topic, I hope that flaming/trolling will be kept to a minimum, but intelligent/insightful discourse and humor done in good taste will surely be appreciated!"
Government

Submission + - Who are the go-to cybersecurity help groups? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "There are a ton of groups out there that offer cybersecurity help and guidance, the trick, it seems is finding the right one for your organization. The Government Accountability Office this week issued a report on just that notion saying: " Given the plethora of guidance available, individual entities within the sectors may be challenged in identifying the guidance that is most applicable and effective in improving their security posture. Greater knowledge of the guidance that is available could help both federal and private sector decision makers better coordinate their efforts to protect critical cyber-reliant assets.""
Security

Submission + - Anonymous, LulzSec, AntiSec, Etc.: A Brief History (cio.com)

Submitted by
onehitwonder
onehitwonder writes: "CIO.com has created a visual timeline that illustrates many of the most notorious attacks that Anonymous, LulzSec, the PLF, etc. have launched on U.S.-based organizations over the last three years. By highlighting major breaches at government contractors, security firms, and multinational corporations, the timeline shows (in pictures) just how powerful and fearless these hacktivist groups are."
Space

Submission + - A Guide to the Dark Side (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Astronomers have made the largest map yet of dark matter in the universe. This invisible stuff gives off no light, but it does exert gravity on its surroundings. It probably consists of unknown elementary particles, and it's much more prevalent than the normal matter from which stars, planets, and people are made.

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