Comment Correction... (Score 1) 229
Disney actually DID fire a couple of hundred people. This is the second round at Disney ABC, where they changed their minds after getting caught misusing H1B visas to take jobs away from US workers.
Submission + - First trailer for scathing Scientology documentary 'Going Clear' (ew.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The scathing Scientology documentary by Alex Gibney that’s based on Lawrence Wright’s book created quite a stir in Park City last month for taking on the controversial organization and claiming many bombshell revelations about the group’s history and tactics. The film features interviews with former members of the controversial organization who describe widespread abuse and intimidation from the upper echelons of the Church’s power structure. The Church of Scientology has even sent up an online response center devoted to taking on the film.
Submission + - A123 Sues Apple for Poaching Employees (xconomy.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Electric-car battery maker A123 Systems is suing Apple in federal court for allegedly poaching five employees to help it develop a competing battery business. The suit accuses the workers, including A123’s former chief technology officer, of breaking noncompete and nonsolicit agreements. The news adds some credibility to rumors that Apple is getting into the automotive market.
Submission + - Revenge Porn King Faces At Least Two Years In Prison (itworld.com)
jfruh writes: Hunter Moore, the infamous creator of Is Anybody Up, a site that posted nude photos that had been pilfered from people's email accounts, is facing prison time. He pled guilty to unauthorized access to a protected computer for private financial gain, and will serve a minimum prison sentence of two years in prison. But the legality of the act of posting nude photos online without the subjects' permission is still up in the air.
Journal Journal: Triplanetary 1
I've uploaded a new book to mcgrewbooks.com. Edgar E. Smith was a well known science fiction writer known as "the father of space opera", and Doctor Smith was a food engineer in his other life. The novel I've uploaded is Triplanetary, first published in serial form in Amazing Stories in 1934.
Some of the dialogue is a bit juvenile, but it would make a great movie.
Submission + - Sony is Trying to Sell a "Premium Sound" SD Card for 5 Times the Normal Price 1
nateman1352 writes: Don’t you just hate all that noise your memory cards make? No? Then you probably aren’t going to want to buy Sony’s new $160 memory cards, which the company brags offers “Premium Sound” that generates less electrical noise when reading data.
Submission + - Windows 7 Activation Down - Buy Windows 8 1
fibrewire writes: I am getting hammered for license compliance issues due to users reporting that their copy of Windows is not genuine. When I use online actiavtion or call 1-888-725-1047 to activate my copy of Windows 7 Pro, I am told that "activation services are experiencing technical difficulties, please call back in 2 hours." Unfortunately I've been getting this message for several days now, and my clients are getting frustrated. Good news is that Windows 8 activation services are not experiencing this problem. Is this a ploy to force users to upgrade to Windows 8?
Submission + - Scotland's police lose data because of programmer's error
Bruce66423 writes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-s...
records how a computer programmer deleted over 20,000 records from a live data base which had to be restored by manual reentry. The idea that a LARGE police force should be so lacking in meaningful backups casts serious doubt on the competence of the organisation. However it might also encourage other to FOI their local police about data backup strategies — AND WHEN THEY WERE LAST TESTED!!
records how a computer programmer deleted over 20,000 records from a live data base which had to be restored by manual reentry. The idea that a LARGE police force should be so lacking in meaningful backups casts serious doubt on the competence of the organisation. However it might also encourage other to FOI their local police about data backup strategies — AND WHEN THEY WERE LAST TESTED!!
Feed Google News Sci Tech: NSA and UK spies hacked world's largest SIM card manufacturer, report says - Mas (google.com)
Mashable
NSA and UK spies hacked world's largest SIM card manufacturer, report says
Mashable
New York, NY. Oct 11th 2014. Edward Snowden talks w/Jane Mayer via Satalite at the SVA Theatre Photography by (Christopher Lane/AP Images for The New Yorker Magazine). Image: Christopher Lane/Associated Press. Rex-s. By Rex Santus 23 minutes...
NSA, UK's GCHQ reportedly hacked encryption of SIM card makerPCWorld
The NSA and its allies stole the keys to your phone's securityThe Verge
NSA, GCHQ reportedly stole mobile network encryption keysGigaom
SlashGear-New York Daily News-The Guardian
all 15 news articles
Mashable
New York, NY. Oct 11th 2014. Edward Snowden talks w/Jane Mayer via Satalite at the SVA Theatre Photography by (Christopher Lane/AP Images for The New Yorker Magazine). Image: Christopher Lane/Associated Press. Rex-s. By Rex Santus 23 minutes...
NSA, UK's GCHQ reportedly hacked encryption of SIM card makerPCWorld
The NSA and its allies stole the keys to your phone's securityThe Verge
NSA, GCHQ reportedly stole mobile network encryption keysGigaom
SlashGear-New York Daily News-The Guardian
all 15 news articles
Submission + - Federal Court: Theft of Medical Records Not An 'Imminent Danger' To Victim (digitalguardian.com)
chicksdaddy writes: A federal court in Texas ruled last week that a massive data breach at a hospital in that state didn’t put patients at imminent risk of identity theft, even when presented with evidence that suggested stolen patient information was being used in attempted fraud and identity theft schemes.
According to this post over at Digital Guardian's blog (https://digitalguardian.com/blog/court-finds-data-breach-not-imminent-risk-victim) Beverly Peters was one more than 400,000 patients of St. Joseph Hospital whose information was stolen by hackers in an attack that took place between December 16 and 18, 2013. Peters alleged that her personal information had been exposed in the breach and then disseminated in the public domain, where it was being “misused by unauthorized and unknown third parties.” Specifically: Peters reported that, subsequent to the breach at St. Josephs, her Discover credit card was used to make a fraudulent purchase and that hackers had tried to infiltrate her Amazon.com account — posing as her son. Also: telemarketers were using the stolen information. Peters claimed that, after the breach, she was besieged with calls and solicitations for medical products and services companies, with telemarketers asking to speak to her and with specific family members, whose contact information was part of the record stolen from St. Joseph's.
As a result, Peters argued that she faced an “imminent injury” due to “increased risk” of future identity theft and fraud because of the breach at St. Joseph, and wished to sue the hospital for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
But the court found otherwise, ruling that Peters lacked standing to bring the case in federal court under Article III of the Constitution. That was because she hadn’t been able to prove any direct damages from the attempted identity theft that occurred in the past (Discover reversed the fraudulent charge), while the threat she faced in the future was not “imminent.”
As this article notes (http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/02/13/judge-throws-out-hospital-data-hack-case.htm), the ruling turns on a high profile case involving government surveillance and the now-infamous FISA courts dating back to the Carter administration: Clapper v. Amnesty International USA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapper_v._Amnesty_International_USA) In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the human rights group and a collection of lawyers and reporters in a challenge to part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The plaintiffs said they feared that their sources, colleagues and clients would be targets of U.S. government surveillance, and the threat would force them to take expensive security measures to keep their communications private. The High Court ruled otherwise, saying the threat of government surveillance was hypothetical, but not “certainly impending.”
In his 15 page ruling (http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/02/13/st%20%20joseph%20data%20breach.pdf), U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt said the same logic applied to Peters’ suit as well. “Under Clapper, Peters must at least plausibly establish a “certainly impending” or “substantial” risk that she will be victimized,” Hoyt wrote. “The allegation that risk has been increased does not transform that assertion into a cognizable injury.”
According to this post over at Digital Guardian's blog (https://digitalguardian.com/blog/court-finds-data-breach-not-imminent-risk-victim) Beverly Peters was one more than 400,000 patients of St. Joseph Hospital whose information was stolen by hackers in an attack that took place between December 16 and 18, 2013. Peters alleged that her personal information had been exposed in the breach and then disseminated in the public domain, where it was being “misused by unauthorized and unknown third parties.” Specifically: Peters reported that, subsequent to the breach at St. Josephs, her Discover credit card was used to make a fraudulent purchase and that hackers had tried to infiltrate her Amazon.com account — posing as her son. Also: telemarketers were using the stolen information. Peters claimed that, after the breach, she was besieged with calls and solicitations for medical products and services companies, with telemarketers asking to speak to her and with specific family members, whose contact information was part of the record stolen from St. Joseph's.
As a result, Peters argued that she faced an “imminent injury” due to “increased risk” of future identity theft and fraud because of the breach at St. Joseph, and wished to sue the hospital for violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
But the court found otherwise, ruling that Peters lacked standing to bring the case in federal court under Article III of the Constitution. That was because she hadn’t been able to prove any direct damages from the attempted identity theft that occurred in the past (Discover reversed the fraudulent charge), while the threat she faced in the future was not “imminent.”
As this article notes (http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/02/13/judge-throws-out-hospital-data-hack-case.htm), the ruling turns on a high profile case involving government surveillance and the now-infamous FISA courts dating back to the Carter administration: Clapper v. Amnesty International USA. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapper_v._Amnesty_International_USA) In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the human rights group and a collection of lawyers and reporters in a challenge to part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The plaintiffs said they feared that their sources, colleagues and clients would be targets of U.S. government surveillance, and the threat would force them to take expensive security measures to keep their communications private. The High Court ruled otherwise, saying the threat of government surveillance was hypothetical, but not “certainly impending.”
In his 15 page ruling (http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/02/13/st%20%20joseph%20data%20breach.pdf), U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt said the same logic applied to Peters’ suit as well. “Under Clapper, Peters must at least plausibly establish a “certainly impending” or “substantial” risk that she will be victimized,” Hoyt wrote. “The allegation that risk has been increased does not transform that assertion into a cognizable injury.”
Submission + - All About That Base (strictlycurious.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A clear take on number systems.
Submission + - 300 Million Year Old Fossil Fish Likely Had Color Vision (nature.com)
westlake writes: Nature is reporting the discovery of mineralized rods and cones in a 300 million year old fossil fish found in Kansas. The soft tissues of the eye and brain decay rapidly after death, within 64 days and 11 days, respectively, and are almost never preserved in the fossil record — making this is the first discovery of fossil rods and cones in general and the first evidence for color vision in a fossilized vertebrate eye.
Submission + - North Korean Defector Spills Details On The Country's Elite Hacking Force (businessinsider.com)
mattydread23 writes: Business Insider interviewed Jang Se-yul, a North Korean defector who trained in the country's Mirim University alongside some of the hackers who make up its elite Bureau 121 hacking squad. He explains how they train: "They take six 90-minute classes every day, learning different coding languages and operating systems, from C to Linux. Jang says a lot of time was spent dissecting Microsoft programs, like the Windows operating system, and how to attack the overall computer IT systems of enemy countries like the US or South Korea." He also explains that these hackers are among the elite in North Korea, and even though they have unfiltered information about the outside world that their countrymen lack, most of them would never dream of leaving.
Submission + - Did North Korea Really Attack Sony? 1
An anonymous reader writes: Many security experts remain skeptical of North Korea's incolvment in the recent Sony hacks. Schneier writes: "Clues in the hackers' attack code seem to point in all directions at once. The FBI points to reused code from previous attacks associated with North Korea, as well as similarities in the networks used to launch the attacks. Korean language in the code also suggests a Korean origin, though not necessarily a North Korean one, since North Koreans use a unique dialect. However you read it, this sort of evidence is circumstantial at best. It's easy to fake, and it's even easier to interpret it incorrectly. In general, it's a situation that rapidly devolves into storytelling, where analysts pick bits and pieces of the "evidence" to suit the narrative they already have worked out in their heads."
Submission + - Sony to release The Interview online today; Apple won't play ball (bbc.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The BBC writes (http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30599836):
"Sony Pictures is to distribute its film The Interview online, after a cyber-attack and a row over its release. The film will be offered on a dedicated website — seetheinterview.com — as well as via Google and Microsoft services."
Notably absent among the services to provide The Interview is Apple. The New York Times reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/business/media/sonys-the-interview-will-come-to-some-theaters-after-all.html):
"According to people briefed on the matter, Sony had in recent days asked the White House for help in lining up a single technology partner — Apple, which operates iTunes — but the tech company was not interested, at least not on a speedy time table. An Apple spokesman declined to comment. "
"Sony Pictures is to distribute its film The Interview online, after a cyber-attack and a row over its release. The film will be offered on a dedicated website — seetheinterview.com — as well as via Google and Microsoft services."
Notably absent among the services to provide The Interview is Apple. The New York Times reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/business/media/sonys-the-interview-will-come-to-some-theaters-after-all.html):
"According to people briefed on the matter, Sony had in recent days asked the White House for help in lining up a single technology partner — Apple, which operates iTunes — but the tech company was not interested, at least not on a speedy time table. An Apple spokesman declined to comment. "
