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Government

Submission + - UK's ICO Struggling Against Anonymous Splinter Group (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by
judgecorp
judgecorp writes: "A rogue splinter group from Anonymous is repeatedly knocking offline the web site of Britain's Information Commissionor's Office (ICO). The ICO is the watchdog for corporate data breaches, and the so-called ATeam said it is attacking it over its weakness in dealing with privacy breaches by media organisation News Corporation. The same rogue group also attacked the web site of Home Secretary Theresa May. Other hackers have poured scorn on the Ateam, and it defends itself by saying that "Anonymous is falling apart", riven by internal division."
Security

Submission + - Fearmongering About Cyberwar And Cybersecurity Is Working: American Public Very, (techdirt.com)

Submitted by
TheGift73
TheGift73 writes: "Well, it looks like all the fearmongering about hackers shutting down electrical grids and making planes fall from the sky is working. No matter that there's no evidence of any actual risk, or that the only real issue is if anyone is stupid enough to actually connect such critical infrastructure to the internet (the proper response to which is: take it off the internet), fear is spreading. Of course, this is mostly due to the work of a neat combination of ex-politicians/now lobbyists working for defense contractors who stand to make a ton of money from the panic — enabled by politicians who seem to have no shame in telling scary bedtime stories that have no basis in reality.

But it's all working. And, by working, I mean scaring the public unnecessarily. As reported by Wired, a new survey from Unisys finds that Americans are more worried about cybersecurity threats than terrorism, and they seem pretty worried about those threats. When asked about which security issues were the highest priority, survey respondents noted:"
Windows

Submission + - Avira Update kills millions of computors (heise.de)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A problematic update from Avira is bringing computers to a halt across the world. All users of
Avira Antivirus Premium 2012 and Business customers that use the 32-bit version of Avira's software

According to the German report on heise.de over 70 million downloads has already been made.The update causes Avira to block critical system services like iexplorer.exe, regedit.exe and may more.

The update has been stopped, so a representative said from Avira, and they are working on a solution.
Science

Submission + - Fungi Discovered In The Amazon Will Eat Your Plastic

Submitted by DaneM
DaneM writes: Recently, a group of student researchers from Yale University brought home a previously-undiscovered fungus that has a voracious appetite for polyurethane. For those not aware, polyurethane comprises many garden hoses, truck seats, shoes, and other durable plastic items--and will be around for your great-grandchildren to watch decompose if you throw it in the dump today. Depending on further study, this new organism may prove to be a solution to a significant part of our slow-decomposing waste problem.
Microsoft

Submission + - Xbox will get Skype app (pcadvisor.co.uk)

Submitted by blusquid
blusquid writes: The firm which bought Skype for more than $8m has accidentally made the announcement by way of a job listing.

The software development engineer position is within a new Xbox Skype team suggesting development will be underway soon.

The job listing said: "We’re building the next generations of our products and technology right here in London and Skype is looking to hire a Software Development Engineer to contribute to the development of our experiences on Xbox."
"You will be designing and developing next generation scalable services for millions of end users." it added.
Security

Submission + - Student hacks school computer and changes grades (whdh.com)

Submitted by
concealment
concealment writes: "Bueller changed the number of absences he had, but investigators say a Pelham High School student allegedly changed his grades.

School officials aren’t saying how the student got access or if any other students are involved. The superintendent is only saying the student was disciplined, but declined to elaborate."
Privacy

Submission + - Berners-Lee: You've Got Our Data, Show Restraint (itworld.com)

Submitted by
itwbennett
itwbennett writes: "Your browsing behavior may reveal more personal information than you'd tell your own mother. Which is why Tim Berners-Lee is urging technology companies to 'show more restraint' in how they use the information they hoover up. 'We're moving towards a world in which people agree not to use information for particular purposes. It's not whether you can get my information, it's when you've got it, what you promise not to do with it,' said Berners-Lee, speaking out against the U.K.'s proposal to allow government intelligence to monitor digital communications."

Submission + - Can Beetroots Make Burgers Healthier? (medindia.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from University of Aberdeen are currently conducting a new study to test whether adding beetroot could make burgers healthier.
Security

Submission + - Tech experts rubbish UK gov't web snooping tactics (techworld.com)

Submitted by sweetpea86
sweetpea86 writes: The UK government's proposal to separate communications data from content, as part of new plans to allow intelligence services to monitor all internet activity, is infeasible according to a panel of technology experts.

Speaking at the 'Scrambling for Safety' conference in London, Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, said that the distinction between traffic data as being harmless and content as being sensitive is becoming less and less relevant.

“Now that people are living more and more of their lives online, the pattern of who you communicate with and in what order gives away pretty well everything,” he said. “This means that, in data protection terms, traffic data is now very often going to be specially sensitive data.”
Privacy

Submission + - Europe agrees to send airline passenger data to US (computerworlduk.com) 1

Submitted by Qedward
Qedward writes: The European Parliament has approved the controversial data transfer agreement, the bilateral PNR (passenger name register), with the US which requires European airlines to pass on passenger information, including name, contact details, payment data, itinerary, email and phone numbers to the Department of Homeland Security.

Under the new agreement, PNR data will be "depersonalised" after six months and would be moved into a "dormant database" after five years. However the information would still be held for a further 15 years before being fully "anonymised".

The PNR data will be stored in the US's Automated Targeting System (ATS). ATS is used to improve the collection, use, analysis, and dissemination of information that is gathered for the primary purpose of targeting, identifying, and preventing potential terrorists and terrorist weapons from entering the US...

Comment Disgusting (Score 1) 1

by blusquid (#39662033) Attached to: Women in Uzbekistan Forcibly or Unknowingly Sterilized By the Gov't
This is horrible, and a major human rights' violation. "The government stressed that Uzbekistan's exceptional record in protecting mothers and babies should be considered a model of the world." A model? Protecting? To take out a woman's uterus and sterilize them without their consent or knowledge? More like cruel and inhumane. This needs to be investigated and stopped immediately. Population control to address certain societal problems is absolutely possible without cutting women open and taking out their organs and forcibly taking away their right to be mothers.
Google

Submission + - Google+ Gets a Simple and Beautiful Design Overhaul (gizmaestro.com)

Submitted by
gizmaestro
gizmaestro writes: "Google has announced that Google+ is getting a major design with a new user interface to make things easier to share. With a new focus on customisation, improved photo and video experiences, and a new hangouts interface — among many other changes. The new design has not rolled out to everyone yet, it should be rolling out over the next few days.

Read more: http://gizmaestro.com/11/04/2012/social-media/google-gets-a-simple-and-beautiful-design-overhaul/#ixzz1rqqFInET"

Submission + - Researchers Discover Fungi That Eat Plastics (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by AstroPhilosopher
AstroPhilosopher writes: Recycling has long been used to attempt to limit plastic waste disposal. However, it does nothing to limit the amount of new plastic we produce along with the plastic that makes it to landfills.

Now researchers have discovered a fungus that can eat polyurethane even in anaeorbic environments; along with another that when combined with cornhusks, can be used to create biodegradable styrofoam.

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