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Government

CIA Launches WTF To Investigate Wikileaks 402

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that's-just-adorable dept.
krou writes "In an effort to investigate the impact of the leaked diplomatic cables, the CIA have launched the Wikileaks Task Force, commonly referred to at CIA headquarters as 'WTF.' 'The Washington Post said the panel was being led by the CIA's counter-intelligence centre, although it has drawn in two dozen members from departments across the agency.' Although the agency has not seen much of its own information leaked in the cables, some revelations (such as spying at the UN) originated from direct requests by the CIA. The Guardian notes that, 'WTF is more commonly associated with the Facebook and Twitter profiles of teenagers than secret agency committees. Given that its expanded version is usually an expression of extreme disbelief, perhaps the term is apt for the CIA's investigation.'"

Submission + - Opt-Out Day: A Peep at the Numbers (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Willtor
Willtor writes: According to the New York Times:

"According to a blog operated by the security agency, 39 people had opted out of the body scans in Atlanta by 5 p.m. In Los Angeles, 113 had. One had opted out in Charlotte, N.C. Boston seemed to have something of a mini-spike, with 300."

This is a tiny fraction of passengers, of course. But when I flew out of Boston this afternoon, they had opened a line that led to a traditional metal detector. When I flew out in June all lines went to the nudie scanners. Is it safe to be optimistic that we have been heard and policies have changed? I am not particularly concerned whether we get credit or whether it is reported that the protest fizzled. But it would be nice to know that some of the more invasive theatrics have become optional.

Comment Re:7x0 = (Score 1) 491

by Willtor (#34313164) Attached to: Wikileaks Vows Release '7x the Size' of Iraq Leak

You're going to get a lot of replies about U.S.-centric or U.S.-favoring media. And there's some truth to that. But a much bigger issue, methinks, is that the modern American media is _really_ lazy. It takes legwork to sift through gigabytes of information and follow up on leads. On the other hand, checking Twitter is trivial -- and it even comes in chunks of the right size. My grandfather used to criticize the news for "man on the street interviews" because it was really easy to do but virtually devoid of content. I think the same criticism applies to tweets, emails, random and radical guests (or worse, celebrities), and most everything else they do, these days. But this sort of non-news constitutes the bulk of American media on a good day.

None of this is to say that there was anything damning, vindicating, or otherwise valuable in the last batch. Merely, I wouldn't make inferences from the media's relative silence regarding the content.
Education

A Robot In Every Korean Kindergarten By 2013? 136

Posted by timothy from the here-robot-teachers-are-normal-already dept.
kkleiner writes "Elementary school children in Korea in the cities of Masan and Daegu are among the first to be exposed to EngKey, a robotic teacher. The arrival of EngKey to Masan and Daegu is just a small step in the mechanization of Korean classrooms: the Education Ministry wants all 8400 kindergartens in the nation to have robotic instructors by the end of 2013. Plans are already under way to place 830 bots in preschools by year's end. EngKey can hold scripted conversations with students to help them improve their language skills, or a modified version can act as a telepresence tool to allow distant teachers to interact with children."
Businesses

Leaked Letter — BSA Pressures Europe To Kill Open Standards 156

Posted by Soulskill from the open-and-shut-investigation dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Business Software Alliance is trying to kill open standards. Free Software Foundation Europe has gotten hold of a letter in which the BSA tries to bully the European Commission into removing the last traces of support for open standards from its IT recommendations to the public sector. FSFE published the BSA's letter (PDF), and picked apart its arguments one by one."
Transportation

Denver Airport Overrun by Car-Eating Rabbits 278

Posted by samzenpus from the night-of-the-lepus dept.
It turns out the soy-based wire covering on cars built after 2002 is irresistible to rodents. Nobody knows this better than those unlucky enough to park at DIA's Pikes Peak lot. The rabbits surrounding the area have been using the lot as an all-you-can-eat wiring buffet. Looks like it's time to break out The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Comment Re:Awesome (Score 1) 438

by Willtor (#33286518) Attached to: Wikileaks Now Hosted By the Swedish Pirate Party

This is a terrible rationalization. America kills tens of thousands of innocents, so Sweden should sleep comfortably knowing they've only knowingly killed a few hundred?

That blood aside, you don't seriously think the loss of informants will cause the U.S. to step down its attacks, merely because we have less reliable information? I mean, I like Obama, as politicians go, but I don't trust him. When it's been expedient for him to follow the Bush policies, he's done so.

Not removing critical names from documents is criminally irresponsible. The informants knew they were putting themselves in danger by helping the U.S., I don't think they expected their names to be posted on the web.

Comment Re:the point is not the collections (Score 2, Insightful) 387

by Willtor (#32897872) Attached to: RIAA Paid $16M+ In Legal Fees To Collect $391K

I don't think it's about selling more albums at all. It doesn't really matter whether they do.

The issue is that if they have a bad quarter (or worse, a series of bad quarters), they need to justify it to shareholders. Illegal downloading is a good scapegoat (and, for all I know, that's what's causing lost sales under their current business model), but in order for that excuse to work they have to launch a campaign against illegal downloaders. It's all about the perception the shareholders have of the executives.

By this reasoning, almost any amount of money they spend prosecuting illegal downloaders is justified because it's fighting a war against piracy. This is doubly effective if they have a successful quarter in which they sell more albums because it ostensibly means that their campaign is working. And now shareholders are convinced that these executives are the right people for the job.
Businesses

Ninth Suicide At iPhone Factory 539

Posted by Soulskill from the need-a-union-app dept.
shar303 writes "A ninth employee has jumped to his death at Taiwanese iPhone and iPad manufacturer Foxconn, China's state media reports. The 21-year-old worker was the eighth fatality this year. This raises questions as to whether the shiny finish of the latest gadgets available from mega corporations are tarnished by such information, and whether the mistreatment of workers deserves to be highlighted when considering such firms."

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