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Submission + - My Social Security Number, should I give it up? 2

An anonymous reader writes: I've recently gone through hell with my ISP and everytime I call them up they want the last 4 digits of my SSN. WHY? Do they think someone is impersonating me to falsely report that my modem is getting no signal from Comcast?

This drove me mad enough that I called Qwest to set up DSL service, I thought they were charging too much, but I was willing to give it a try just so I could tell Comcast to pound salt. But they wanted my SSN too. I said no and the customer rep said he could try to get it approved without a SSN. After waiting about 10 minutes he came back and said I couldn't get DSL from Qwest without a SSN. This is despite the fact that I offered to pre-pay with a credit card. He said I might be a deadbeat who had skipped out on Qwest in the past.

The point here is that denying your SSN to private enterprises will likely result in you being unable to obtain these services.

If I'm offering cash in hand, or credit which is backed up by Visa/MasterCard or whoever, but refuse to give up my SSN why would you turn down my money?
Politics

Submission + - Global Warming Skeptics Discover Global Warming (latimes.com) 7

Black Parrot writes: A team of Berkely Scientists skeptical of global warming, led by prominent skeptic physicist Richard Muller (and funded by the Koch Brothers) unexpectedly testified to skeptical politicians in the US House of Representatives that theiir results — still preliminary — is finding the same thing mainstream climate scientists have been telling us. Other scientists are unsuprised; the article quotes Peter Thorne (not on the team) as saying "Even if the thermometer had never been invented, the evidence is there from deep ocean changes, from receding glaciers, from rising sea levels and receding sea ice and spring snow cover." However, Thorne criticizes the team for announcing the preliminary results before publishing an peer-reviewed papers on their work.

Comment if only... (Score 1) 311

Researchers on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland, have seen hints of what may be the hot, dense state of matter thought to have filled the universe in its first nanoseconds."

if only i could get a penny every time i read this in a news article mentioning LHC

Canada

Cheap Cancer Drug Finally Tested In Humans 363

John Bayko writes "Mentioned on Slashdot a couple of years ago, the drug dichloroacetate (DCA) has finally finished its first clinical trial against brain tumors in humans. Drug companies weren't willing to test a drug they could not patent, so money was raised in the community through donations, auctions, and finally government support, but the study was still limited to five patients. It showed extremely positive results in four of them. This episode raises the question of what happens to all the money donated to Canadian and other cancer societies, and especially the billions spent buying merchandise with little pink ribbons on it, if not to actual cancer research like this."
Image

Facebook Master Password Was "Chuck Norris" 319

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "A Facebook employee has given a tell-all interview with some very interesting things about Facebook's internals. Especially interesting are all the things relating to Facebook privacy. Basically, you don't have any. Nearly everything you've ever done on the site is recorded into a database. While they fire employees for snooping, more than a few have done it. There's an internal system to let them log into anyone's profile, though they have to be able to defend their reason for doing so. And they used to have a master password that could log into any Facebook profile: 'Chuck Norris.' Bruce Schneier might be jealous of that one."
Censorship

Submission + - China to pull 2D Avatar from its cinemas (chinadaily.com.cn)

gaelfx writes: The China Daily has a story up about the Chinese government pulling the 2D version of 'Avatar' from Chinese cinemas due to its overt popularity and the soon to be released 'Confucius'. According to the article, the 3D version will still be available to moviegoers, though it should be noted that tickets for that particular version are significantly more expensive.

Reportedly, part of the reason is to reduce competition for China's homegrown films, like the state-backed biopic of Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher, starring Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat, which opens this Thursday. The Beijing Youth Daily on Tuesday quoted UME International Cineplex assistant manager Liu Hui confirming the pullout at theaters in the capital. She said it won't affect the cinema's revenues. "In UME, the 3D and Imax version make up 90 percent of our box-office income, so it won't affect the majority of viewers. With the pullout of the 2D version, movies like Confucius will gain some room for showing," she said. Next month is Lunar New Year, the nation's biggest holiday. With a week of vacation or more, many Chinese are expected to flock to the country's theaters. China boasts about a dozen IMAX screens, another 800 3D screens and an estimated 4,500 regular screens. It's unclear how many 2D screens Avatar was playing on.

Another thing I've noticed since this announcement is that IMDB seems to be inaccessible in China. I wonder if this is another prong of the attack against foreign films in China or just a coincidence. I'm uncertain exactly how long it has been inaccessible.

The Internet

Submission + - APNIC warns IPv6 delay could cost you more (computerworld.com.au)

An anonymous reader writes: Computerworld is reporting that APNIC — one of the regional bodies responsible for distributing IP addresses — is warning it could cost consumers and businesses more for their internet access if the adoption of IPv6 isn't sped up.

The official representative of the five regional bodies that oversee distribution of Internet number resources — the Number Resource Organization (NRO) — has announced the remaining allocation of IPv4 addresses had dropped below 10 per cent.

The article quotes APNIC chief scientist Geoff Huston as saying the rise of many Asian economies along with mobile devices is driving the accelerated decline of IPv4

"It's not that there won't be addresses [IPv4] to be had, but the price will make folks' eyes water," Huston is quoted as saying. "Because the only source of addresses will be someone who already has them and, in a market where scarcity dominates, you start to get an entirely different pricing structure."

http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/333162/apnic_ipv6_adoption_delay_could_create_costs/?c=4717

Input Devices

Submission + - Apple To Launch Eye-Tracking Technology This Year?

andylim writes: An article on recombu.com explores the possibility that Apple is gearing up to launch eye-tracking technology soon. Citing a patent filed in 2008 that mentions “gaze vectors” and a recent purchase of units from a Swedish eye-tracking company, the author suggests that the inclusion of eye-tracking tech in the company’s forthcoming tablet would be Job’s magnum opus. "What better flourish to a career that began with the popularisation of windows, icons, mouse and pointer than to usurp them all?"
Security

Submission + - Infected PCs Won't Be Allowed on Facebook (pcmag.com) 1

adeelarshad82 writes: Facebook has joined forces with McAfee to provide discounted security services to all of its 350 million members. Facebook users will be eligible for a free, six-month trial of McAfee Internet Security Suite software and a discounted price thereafter. If Facebook uncovers any sort of threat, it would take steps to secure a user's computer, a process that includes a sweep of the affected computer by McAfee technology.
Security

Submission + - PDF Exploit Leads Infections (net-security.org)

An anonymous reader writes: BitDefender's top e-threat for December is Exploit.PDF-JS.Gen, with 12.04 percent of the total amount of infections. This generic detection deals with specially crafted PDF files exploiting different vulnerabilities found in Adobe PDF Reader's Javascript engine in order to execute malicious code on the user's computer. Upon opening an infected PDF file, a specially crafted Javascript code triggers the download of malicious binaries from remote locations.

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