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Submission + - Snooping Google engineer is in legal hot water (techeye.net)

Submitted by bossanovalithium
bossanovalithium writes: Remember that 27 year old ex Google engineer, David Barksdale, who's allegedly been hassling minors, not miners, with cyber-stalking and snooping? The great and mighty 'Ogle fired him, but here's exactly how he's in trouble according to federal law in the US.

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“ECPA”) or Title 18 2511 of the United States Criminal Code would likely apply in this case. The law has a number of safe-harbor provisions but it is unlikely any of them apply here because the employee was obviously not acting in the “normal course of business,” he didn’t have any sort of “legitimate business purpose” for obtaining or disseminating the information he obtained, and he was not authorized either by the owner of the information, his employer or a law enforcement agency.

And that's just for starters.
AMD

Submission + - AMD to update drivers over Steam (thinq.co.uk)

Submitted by Stoobalou
Stoobalou writes: AMD has joined forces with Valve to distribute driver updates over Steam.

Nvidia might have grabbed the headlines recently for its release of the performance-enhancing ForceWare 260-series drivers, but AMD is looking to go one better — and has joined forces with Valve to distribute driver updates via Steam.

Valve's Steam platform is proving to be an incredibly popular software distribution system, offering users an easy way to buy software and keep it up to date — and providing developers with a robust platform that has anti-piracy features built in.

The company's deal with AMD, however, marks the first time Steam has been used to keep critical sections of the operating system updated.
Hardware

Submission + - New Chip Captures Specialized Immune Cells (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by Tootech
Tootech writes: A novel microfluidics chip developed by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) will let doctors examine how white blood cells called neutrophils help the body cope with burns and other traumatic injuries. It may also shed light on why the immune system sometimes spirals out of control, resulting in dangerous inflammation.

The chip lets scientists do something they've never before been able to do: quickly and easily capture neutrophils from a small volume of blood. In the long term, scientists hope to use this technology to predict which patients are most likely to develop serious infections after an injury and therefore need the most aggressive treatment. "People have been looking for biomarkers for injury and sepsis [blood poisoning] for a long time," says Steven Calvano, a researcher at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Calvano, who was not directly involved in the project, says, "This could be an extremely valuable clinical tool."

Damage to the skin's protective barrier, like the kind that occurs with traumatic injuries and severe burns, makes patients dangerously susceptible to infection. Neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cell in the body, are one of the immune system's first responders. They rush to the site of damage, where they devour bacteria and other invaders.

Recent research suggests that these cells also play a subtle role in the immune system, helping to regulate the immune response. An overreaction of the immune system after injury can cause systemic inflammation, which can be just as dangerous as the initial infection or damage. So if researchers can get a better picture of how these cells behave, that could lead to new drug targets to prevent or treat sepsis and inflammation. "Regulation of these cells is really the key to be able to target and change the overall response," says Carol Miller-Graziano, director of the Immunobiology and Stress Response Laboratories at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Miller-Graziano took part in the MGH project.

Until now, isolating these cells from blood has been lengthy and technically challenging. But a novel microfluidics chip developed by Ken Kotz and collaborators at the Center for Engineering in Medicine at MGH is changing that.

Submission + - Geotagging + Spoofing = GeoSpoof

Submitted by AcerbusNoir
AcerbusNoir writes: Have you ever wanted to add your own geotag to a photo but didn't know how? Do you want to protect your privacy by removing your location from a photo? Now you can with a free (free as in beer) service from http://www.geospoof.me/

The service is in beta so any comments or critiques are welcome.
Education

Submission + - U.S. Universities' Bloated Costs (economist.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Economist points out that while American universities are getting more expensive, the bang for your buck may not be getting any better. Schumpeter writes, "The most plausible explanation is that professors are not particularly interested in students’ welfare. Promotion and tenure depend on published research, not good teaching. Professors strike an implicit bargain with their students: we will give you light workloads and inflated grades so long as you leave us alone to do our research."

Submission + - DOD Workers not investigated for Child Porn (yahoo.com)

Submitted by FriendlyLurker
FriendlyLurker writes: A recent Freedom of Information request identified 264 Department Of Defense employees or contractors who had purchased child pornography online. Surprisingly, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service did not investigate 212 of the individuals identified, including some with the highest available security clearance.

Submission + - Netbooks vs. iPads -- can they coexist? - Computer (computerworld.com)

Submitted by bsk_cw
bsk_cw writes: According to Computerworld's Serdar Yegulalp, there has been a lot of talk about whether the iPad will take the place of the netbook — or, in fact, whether it will eat into the market share for more mainstream desktop and laptop computers. But, he continues, the iPad has a long way to go before it becomes a netbook killer — if only because it has created a space all its own.

Submission + - Craigslist urged to pull out of sex worldwide (skunkpost.com)

Submitted by crimeandpunishment
crimeandpunishment writes: Craiglist may have cleaned up its act in the United States....but what about the rest of the world? Connecticut's Attorney General and four anti-child trafficking organizations want the site to get rid of its adult services section around the world. The nonprofit groups issued a statement saying "there are still more than 250 other Craigslist 'erotic' pages around the world where children and young women are still being sold for sex through Craigslist".

Submission + - Assange asks for new lawyer, Denies blaming CIA (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by Tootech
Tootech writes: Julian Assange has requested a new lawyer to represent him during a rape investigation in Sweden because his previous brief, Leif Silbersky, was not engaged enough with the case.

Assange wants Bjorn Hurtig to represent him as authorities continue to investigate the allegations, according to AP.

Various alleged Wikileaks insiders are busy giving anonymous briefings to the press in support of, or opposition to, Assange's continued role as spokesman for the organisation.

Assange told Sweden's TV4 that he had never blamed the CIA for the "smears".

He said: "I don't describe other people's private lives. I don't describe my own private life, because it's private. That is the correct discretion for all people to have and is certainly the correct discretion for a man to have. However I've never done anything unconsensual in my private life...in Sweden or anywhere else."
Earth

Submission + - BP's Gulf Spill Report Shows String of Failures (bp.com) 1

Submitted by eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: News is out of BP's report on the gulf spill that shifts some of the blame on to other companies like Transocean that worked with BP in erecting the Deepwater Horizon rig. If you were affected by the spill, you might find the video, executive summary and 193 page report an interesting read. The summary outlines six or seven major failures in safety and engineering that all built up to the deaths of eleven workers and widespread contamination of the gulf. From incorrectly using seawater instead of drilling fluid to misinterpreting pressure test results, this report is just BP's side of the story as the blowout preventer has been pulled up and is still on its way to NASA where it will be analyzed by government investigators who will be able to compile their own report.

Submission + - Europarliament signs declaration against ACTA (europa.eu)

Submitted by
Alioth
Alioth writes: "All is not well with ACTA amongst the members of the European Parliament. Now, 369 members of parliament have signed a declaration against the provisions in ACTA, most significantly against the proposed measures to make ISPs responsible for data that travels over their network, privacy issues, the fact that the ACTA negotiations are being held in secret, and that the ACTA may result in a loss of due process. The declaration is here. There is also a news article in El País about the parliament's declaration (original article in Spanish, and a Google Translation."

Submission + - Court: ITunes Songs Aren't Purchased but Licensed (wsj.com)

Submitted by Tootech
Tootech writes: In a decision that could affect the financial relationships between record labels and performers, a federal appeals court in San Francisco on Friday ruled that songs downloaded from Apple’s iTunes store are not actually purchased, but are rather “licensed” by the ostensible buyer.

The distinction is hardly academic. Under most recording contracts, artists are entitled to 50% of revenue from licensed uses of their music. That usually means soundtracks for movies, TV shows and ads. Sales, on the other hand generate royalties for the artist at a much lower rate—generally in the low teens, and rarely more than 20%.

But in reviewing a decision in a suit brought against Universal Music Group by producers affiliated with rapper Eminem, the Ninth Circuit held that iTunes downloads (even the DRM-free variety) are encumbered by enough restrictions that they can’t be considered sales at all.

Submission + - Supreme Court Hears Texting Privacy Case (supremecourt.gov)

Submitted by Bryan Gividen
Bryan Gividen writes: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in City of Chino v. Quon today. As Slashdot reported, the case is about a policy officer from Ontario, California who used his government issued pager to receive sexually explicit messages. The department pulled the records of his messages and the employee sued for a violation of his civil rights. A copy of the transcript is available from the Supreme Court's website.

Submission + - Starcraft II rated 18+ in South Korea (gosugamers.net)

Submitted by ThinkerR
ThinkerR writes: Starcraft 2 has been rated 18+ in South Korea the 19th of April. But why ? An article published eight months ago says it's because there is no LAN. With no LAN every tournament has to happen through Battle.net, which means more royalties for Blizzard and less money for Kespa (Korean e-Sports Players Association).

Submission + - US Federal Judge Rules NSA Wiretapping Illegal (nytimes.com)

Submitted by
Dan Fuhry
Dan Fuhry writes: ""A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Security Agency’s program of surveillance without warrants was illegal, rejecting the Obama administration’s effort to keep shrouded in secrecy one of the most disputed counterterrorism policies of former President George W. Bush. In a 45-page opinion, Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruled that the government had violated a 1978 federal statute requiring court approval for domestic surveillance when it intercepted phone calls of Al Haramain, a now-defunct Islamic charity in Oregon."

This is a considerable step in the right direction for the privacy of United States citizens. Now if only they would decide the same about warrantless laptop confiscation and searching at the border."

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