GeorgeS - Slashdot User

Submission + - Apple Loses Ebook Price Fixing Appeal, Must Pay $450 Million (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @04:28PM

An anonymous reader writes: A federal appeals court ruled 2-1 today that Apple indeed conspired to with publishers to increase ebook prices. The ruling puts Apple on the hook for the $450 million settlement reached in 2014 with lawyers and attorneys general from 33 states. The Justice Dept. contended that the price-fixing conspiracy raised the price of some e-books from the $10 standard set by Amazon to $13-$15. The one dissenting judge argued that Apple's efforts weren't anti-competitive because Amazon held 90% of the market at the time. Apple is unhappy with the ruling, but they haven't announced plans to take the case further. They said, "While we want to put this behind us, the case is about principles and values. We know we did nothing wrong back in 2010 and are assessing next steps."

Submission + - Tech Vendors Say They Can Stop Hackers (esecurityplanet.com)

Submitted by storagedude on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @03:58PM

storagedude writes: A group of eleven tech vendors say they've developed a data infrastructure that can stop hackers in their tracks.

At the heart of the Multilevel Secure System (MLS) is a modified version of SELinux, with role-based access control with a policy for each role, so no one can get to the system root and the root can’t see user data. Policies are based on roles such as security admin, audit admin and sysadmin, and each file is tagged with a security level so some users can see it while others can’t.

Lockheed Martin, Seagate and Red Hat are among the vendors who developed the system, which was unveiled at last week's Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) conference in DC.

Submission + - Popular VPNs Leak Data, Don't Offer Promised Privacy And Anonymity

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @08:24AM

An anonymous reader writes: VPN services can be used for circumventing Internet censorship and accessing blocked content, but researchers warn that you shouldn't believe the companies' claims that they offer privacy and anonymity. A group of researchers from the Sapienza University (Rome) and Queen Mary University (London) have recently tested 14 of the most popular commercial VPN services: Hide My Ass, IPVanish, Astrill, ExpressVPN, StrongVPN, PureVPN, TorGuard, AirVPN, PrivateInternetAccess, VyprVPN, Tunnelbear, proXPN, Mullvad, and Hotspot Shield Elite. They found that ten of them leak IP data, and all except one are vulnerable to IPv6 DNS hijacking attacks.

Submission + - NSA denies engaging in economic espionage (techdirt.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30, 2015 @08:02AM

An anonymous reader writes: Anyway, with all that it should be obvious that of course the NSA engages in economic espionage — but as if to highlight this even more strongly, Wikileaks has now released more documents showing pretty clear economic espionage in the form of snooping on French finance ministers, looking to get information on "French export contracts, trade and budget talks."

Submission + - Creating bacterial 'fight clubs' to discover new drugs (vanderbilt.edu)

Submitted by Science_afficionado on Monday June 29, 2015 @06:31PM

Science_afficionado writes: Vanderbilt chemists have shown that creating bacterial "fight clubs" is an effective way to discover natural biomolecules with the properties required for new drugs. They have demonstrated the method by using it to discover a new class of antibiotic with anti-cancer properties.

Submission + - Asteroid Day on June 30 Aims to Raise Awareness of Collision Risks (insidescience.org)

Submitted by benonemusic on Monday June 29, 2015 @05:25PM

benonemusic writes: International organizers--including Queen's Brian May, an astrophysicist--have organized the world's first Asteroid Day on June 30, as a means to raise awareness for future collision risks and encourage actions to minimize the threats from such events.

Submission + - Steve Wozniak Projects AI Will Become Smarter Than Humans, Keep Us As Pets (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid on Monday June 29, 2015 @02:41PM

MojoKid writes: No matter what your opinion is of Steve Wozniak, there is little doubt he's one of the most influential people in the history of Personal Computing. Often times noted for making bold enthusiastic claims, especially when it comes to the advancement of technology in every day life, Woz may have stepped slightly off the deep end in a recent interview where he projected the advancement of AI (Artificial Intelligence) so capable that it would be smarter than humans and eventually turn us into pets of the Internet of Things. Woz also joked, "I got this idea a few years ago and so I started feeding my dog filet steak and chicken every night because, do unto others." The projection was made for hundreds of years in the future and Woz doesn't necessarily view it as a bad thing because he feels AI would want to take care of us and "make things nice for humans."

Submission + - Lawsuit Filed Over Domain Name Registered 16 Years Before Plaintiff's Use

Submitted by HughPickens.com on Monday June 29, 2015 @02:04PM

HughPickens.com writes: Cybersquatting is registering, selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark. It generally refers to the practice of buying up domain names that use the names of existing businesses with the intent to sell the names for a profit to those businesses. Now Andrew Allmann writes at Domain Name Wire that New York company Office Space Solutions, Inc. has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against Jason Kneen over the domain name WorkBetter.com that Kneen registered in 1999 although Office Space Solutions didn't use the term “Work Better” in commerce until 2015. "Workbetter.com is virtually identical to, and/or confusingly similar to the WORK BETTER Service Mark, which was distinctive at the time that the Defendant renewed and/or updated the registration of workbetter.com," says the lawsuit. But according to an Office Space Solutions’ filing with the USPTO, it didn’t use the term “Work Better” in commerce until 2015. Office Space Solutions is making the argument that the domain name was renewed in bad faith. According to Kneen, Office Space previously tried to purchase the domain name from him and after it failed to acquire the domain name, is now trying to take it via a lawsuit.

Submission + - Open Source Mashup

Submitted by NicknamesAreStupid on Monday June 29, 2015 @02:00PM

NicknamesAreStupid writes: I need to choose an open source license.

I am developing an open source iOS application that use a significant number of other open source projects which, in turn, use a number of different open source licenses such as MPL/GPL, MIT, and BSD. I am also using sample code from Apple's developer site, which has their own terms of use. The code dependencies are such that my code would not be of much use without theirs.

If this project is used, then it would be nice to pick a license that best fits in with this mashup. I am interested in maintaining the freedom of my code but do not want to create a catch-22 or make life hard for people who need to use this project for personal use or profit.

My inclination is to use MIT's, as I have done so before. I asked an IP lawyer about this matter, and she replied (pro bono), "it probably doesn't matter." Of course, that advice was worth every penny.

Moving away from legal issues and looking at this from a social perspective, which license would appeal most and offend least? I thought about no license but was warned (pro bono), "If you do not, then someone else may." That one might have been worth paying for but please do not tell her ;-/.

Any suggestions?

Submission + - Avira wins case upholding its right to block adware (betanews.com)

Submitted by Mark Wilson on Monday June 29, 2015 @01:55PM

Mark Wilson writes: Security firm Avira has won a court case that can not only be chalked up as a win for consumer rights, but could also set something of a precedent. Germany company Freemium.com took Avira to court for warning users about 'potentially unwanted applications' that could be bundled along with a number of popular games and applications.

Freemium.com downloads included a number of unwanted extras in the form of browser toolbars, free trial applications, adware, and other crapware. Avira's antivirus software warned users installing such applications; Freemium took objection to this and filed a cease and desist letter, claiming anti-competitive practices. But the court ruled in Avira favor, saying it could continue to flag up and block questionable software.

Submission + - SCOTUS denies Google's request to appeal Oracle API (c) case

Submitted by Neil_Brown on Monday June 29, 2015 @12:59PM

Neil_Brown writes: The Supreme Court of the United States has today denied Google's request to appeal against the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's ruling (PDF) that the structure, sequence and organization of 37 of Oracle's APIs (application program interfaces) was capable of copyright protection. The case is not over, as Google can now seek to argue that, despite the APIs being restricted by copyright, its handling amounts to "fair use".

Professor Pamela Samuelson has previously commented (PDF) on the implications if SCOTUS declined to hear the appeal.

More details at The Verge.

Submission + - Researchers Break Fibre Optic Transmission Rate Records

Submitted by Mickeycaskill on Monday June 29, 2015 @12:40PM

Mickeycaskill writes: Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have been able to increase the maximum data transmission rate of a fibre optic cable using "frequency combs”, potentially boosting the speed and capacity of networks powering broadband, landline and cellular services.

Using current techniques, transmissions deteriorate once a power threshold is reached due to signal distortions known as “crosstalk”, caused by the different channels of information interfering with each other. This means the signal is unrecognised by the receiver at the end of the connection and electronic generators must be used to extend reach, hampering speeds.

The team of photonic experts achieved this by predicting the crosstalk"so the receiver at the end of the link could reverse it. The researchers were able to send a signal across 12 kilometres of fibre without it deteriorating and without the need for electro-generators.

Submission + - FCC CIO on how to stay relevant in the Internet of Everything era

Submitted by Lemeowski on Monday June 29, 2015 @10:27AM

Lemeowski writes: "We’re going into uncharted territory with Internet of Everything – there is no rule book. The best way for a CIO or CEO to operate in this undefined future is to create a space for creativity to blossom into innovation." That's the advice of U.S. Federal Communications Commission CIO David Bray, an Eisenhower Fellow who recently traveled to Taiwan and Australia to discuss the Internet of Everything with industry and government leaders. In this interview, Bray shares the strategic actions he believes leaders should take now to prepare for the future ahead, including updating legacy infrastructure and embracing new models of collecting, sharing, and making sense of data collected and shared by Internet-enabled devices. Perhaps most importantly though, Bray emphasizes the need for organizations of all sizes to embrace change, and encourage positive “change agents” if they want to remain relevant in an Internet of Everything era: "With the pace of change that the IoE will bring, if you try to take a top-down approach and assume you have all the answers, you’ll quickly become obsolete in this new world," Bray says.

Submission + - Bill Gates To Invest $2 Billion In Renewables (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29, 2015 @10:13AM

An anonymous reader writes: Bill Gates has invested about a billion dollars in renewable energy, and now he's ready to double down. Gates announced he will increase his investment in renewable energy technologies to $2 billion in an attempt to "bend the curve" on limiting climate change. He is focusing on risky investments that favor "breakthrough" technologies because he thinks incremental improvements to existing tech won't be enough to meet energy needs while avoiding a climate catastrophe. "There’s no battery technology that’s even close to allowing us to take all of our energy from renewables and be able to use battery storage in order to deal not only with the 24-hour cycle but also with long periods of time where it’s cloudy and you don’t have sun or you don’t have wind. Power is about reliability. We need to get something that works reliably." At the same time, Gates rejected calls to divest himself and his charitable foundation of investments in fossil fuel companies.

Submission + - When a Company Gets Sold, Your Data May Be Sold, Too (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29, 2015 @09:34AM

An anonymous reader writes: A new report points out that many of the top internet sites have language in their privacy policies saying that your private data might be transferred in the event of an acquisition, bankruptcy sale, or other transaction. They effectively say, "We won't ever sell your information, unless things go bad for us." 85 of the top 100 websites in the U.S. (ranked by Alexa), had this sort of language, including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Hulu, and LinkedIn. (RadioShack did this recently.) "The potential ramifications of the fire sale provisions became clear two years ago when True.com, a dating site based in Plano, Tex., that was going through a bankruptcy proceeding, tried to sell its customer database on 43 million members to a dating site based in Canada. The profiles included consumers’ names, birth dates, sexual orientation, race, religion, criminal convictions, photos, videos, contact information and more. Because the site’s privacy policy had promised never to sell or share members’ personal details without their permission, Texas was able to intervene to stop the sale of customer data, including intimate details on about two million Texans." But with this new language, users no longer enjoy that sort of protection. Only 17 of the top 100 sites even say they will notify customers of the data transfer. Only a handful allow users to opt out.

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