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Privacy

Submission + - Amazon allows email address hijacking

Submitted by Grendel_Prime
Grendel_Prime writes: Recently Amazon started sending me emails confirming purchases — for things I never bought. My first reaction was this might be a phishing scam of some sort, so I ignored the emails. Then more came, and I got really concerned, so I contacted Amazon customer support, only to have them tell me that another user has signed up using my email address as their account name.

When I asked the customer support rep how this could happen, they suggested that I change my email address in my account. After trying to explain to the rep that this would not solve the problem — since the emails are coming to at my genuine email address — I spoke with a manager only to get an apology that there was nothing they could do about this.

I have no idea what to do but to complain to the FTC, but this seems a bit extreme since it was probably simple idiocy on the other user's part, but Amazon — the only party that can really solve this problem — is either unwilling or unable to do anything about this.

Is this a known issue for other Amazon users? If so, how is everyone else dealing with this?
Supercomputing

IEEE Says Multicore is Bad News For Supercomputers 251

Posted by timothy from the unexpected-downsides dept.
Richard Kelleher writes "It seems the current design of multi-core processors is not good for the design of supercomputers. According to IEEE: 'Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, in New Mexico, have simulated future high-performance computers containing the 8-core, 16-core, and 32-core microprocessors that chip makers say are the future of the industry. The results are distressing. Because of limited memory bandwidth and memory-management schemes that are poorly suited to supercomputers, the performance of these machines would level off or even decline with more cores.'"
The Media

Online Reporters Now the Journalists Most Often Jailed 147

Posted by timothy from the three-hots-and-cot-and-a-beating dept.
bckspc writes "The Committee to Protect Journalists today released the results of its annual survey of journalists in prison. For the first time, they found more Internet journalists jailed worldwide than journalists working in any other medium. CPJ found that 45 percent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors. Their chart of journalists jailed by year is also interesting."
Bug

Players Furious Over Buggy GTA IV PC Release 384

Posted by Soulskill from the strike-two dept.
Jupix writes "It took Rockstar most of a year to port Grand Theft Auto IV to the PC, and while they claim this was because they wanted polish and quality with their PC release, it appears the result has been less than satisfactory. Players all over the internet are furious over numerous bugs in the release, ranging from nonfunctional internet registration and graphics glitches to completely inoperative installations. One of the game's largest retailers, Steam, has reportedly gone so far as to start handing out refunds to hordes of unsatisfied (and no doubt uncomfortably noisy) customers."
The Internet

Submission + - Dumping loved ones via text messaging all the rage (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "It seems heartless and gutless to me but a survey out in the UK today says one in seven people have had their relationship end via text, email or instant messaging. While hiding behind such digital technology might appear a cowardly way of splitting up, it contrasts with the four percent who simply drop all communication with their lovers without notice. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23054"
Education

Submission + - Earning an "A" playing videogames in high (brandgames.com)

Submitted by
Grendel_Prime
Grendel_Prime writes: "In the interest of full disclosure, I work for the company that developed the game for Deloitte and Touche.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Tuesday wasn't too shabby for Bishop Canevin High School, either, thanks to a team of student business whizzes who won a virtual-world fund-raising challenge sponsored by Deloitte. The Canevin team, one of seven winning groups among some 500 nationwide, was presented with certificates and gained plenty of national recognition while earning the school $500 and furthering United Way goals.

The chances of them earning "A" grades from their accounting teacher were pretty fair, too.

View the full story here."
The Internet

Submission + - Industry bigwigs form the Network Neutrality Squad

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: Some of the biggest names in the computing industry have teamed up to form the Network Neutrality Squad. The group will set up an open forum of volunteers to monitor the activities of telecoms companies, and name and shame those that start to block open access to all internet sites. Founding members include Google web evangelist Vint Cerf, security guru Bruce Schneier, Qualcomm vice president of technology Phil Karn, Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility and Slashdot's very own moderator Keith Dawson.
Privacy

Submission + - Opposition to Google's DoubleClick Deal Mounting (itworld.com)

Submitted by
narramissic
narramissic writes: "Privacy concerns have been front and center ever since Google announced its plans to acquire DoubleClick. And now it's not just privacy groups who are waving red flags. On Tuesday a group of 12 Republican members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Democratic chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, calling for hearings. From the letter:

Google and DoubleClick would have one of the largest search query databases with one of the world's largest online user behavioral profile databases. The privacy implications of such a merger are enormous and, without an in-depth examination, we and the American public will not fully understand what all of those implications are.
"

The Dumber Android Is, the Better, Say Experts 165

Posted by Zonk from the are-we-talking-lore-dumb-or-kryton-dumb dept.
ZDOne writes "ZDNet UK is reporting that it will not be known until the Android software development kit comes out on Monday whether the Gphone will be strictly Java-based, but security experts claim that the less smart a phone is, the less vulnerable it is. Android developers should stick to a semi-smartphone platform because the Java sandbox can protect against the normal kinds of attacks, experts claim. The article also discusses some of the pros and cons of open vs. closed source security. 'The debate about the relative security merits of open-source as opposed to proprietary software development has been a very long-running one. Open-source software development has the advantage of many pairs of eyes scrutinizing the code, meaning irregularities can be spotted and ironed out, while updates to plug vulnerabilities can be written and pushed out very quickly. However, one of the disadvantages of open-source development is that anyone can scrutinize the source code to find vulnerabilities and write exploits. The source code in proprietary software, on the other hand, can't be directly viewed, meaning vulnerabilities need to be found through reverse engineering.'"

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