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Submission + - Lawsuit Against US Gov Alleges 60,000,000 Medical Records Seized (dailycaller.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Daily Caller reports a troubling development for privacy: ". . .Robert Barnes filed the lawsuit . . . on behalf of a John Doe Company and individuals . . . “In a case involving solely a tax matter involving a former employee of the company, these agents stole more than 60,000,000 medical records of more than 10,000,000 Americans," . . . there was no warrant authorizing the seizure of the medical records and the records were not germane to the IRS search. “These medical records contained intimate and private information . . . that by its nature includes information about treatment for any kind of medical concern, including psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual or drug treatment, and a wide range of medical matters . . . ” the complaint reads. The records are believed to concern the medical records of every judge in California, every state court employee in California, members of the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild, and people in “all walks of life.”" — More at Forbes. The Health Care Office at IRS has a new boss. The agency is a key enforcer for the Affordable Care Act.

Submission + - Nintendo Hijacks Ad Revenue From Youtube Playthroughs (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by mcleland
mcleland writes: The BBC reports that Nintendo is now using the content ID match feature in Youtube to identify screencap videos of people playing their games. They then take over the advertising that appears with the video, and thus the ad revenue. Nintendo gets it all and the creators of these videos (which are like extended fan-made commercials for the games) get nothing. Corporate gibberish to justify this:

In a statement, the firm said the move was part of an "on-going push to ensure Nintendo content is shared across social media".

Submission + - Australian Government Backdoor Internet Filter shuts down 1,000 websites (crikey.com.au)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Australian government has secretly censored over 1,000 web sites through a hitherto-unused internet censorship law. In April the Melbourne Free University was blocked without any explanation. Section 313 of the Telecommunications Act allows the government to close web sites without warning to "uphold laws, protect public revenue and safeguard national security". This is open to abuse as Australians only have limited free speech rights which already make it difficult for the press to report corruption.

Submission + - NEC Medias X, First Smartphone with Liquid Cooling (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Japan’s NEC has created a smartphone that actually employs liquid cooling, which is a development that is either awesome or stupid, and we’re not decided as to which it is yet. In any case, the NEC Medias X N-06E smartphone indeed has a water-filled heatpipe that pulls heat away from the device’s processor, apparently dispelling the heat through the phone’s polycarbonate exterior; there’s also a graphene sheet on the motherboard, providing a nice additional heat buffer.

Comment Re:I dont want to live on this planet anymore (Score 1) 353

by zephvark (#43704701) Attached to: Engineering the $325,000 Burger
What's not to like is, it's grown outside an animal. Even with live animals, there is a tremendous variation in meat quality, both in the ways it appeals to you and in the nutritional value, depending on a great many factors. How did they live and what did they eat? I am somewhat skeptical that these miniscule chunks of flesh, brought up in isolation on some sort of artificial broth, are likely to entirely reproduce the flavor, texture, or nutritional value of the real thing. Maybe some decade real soon now. Maybe.

Submission + - Mozilla Handing Out Free Firefox OS Developer Phones To Bolster App Marketplace (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Is the world really ready to shift from native apps to HTML5 Web apps? Probably not, at least not in North America yet, but developing nations may see it differently. That's the hope with Firefox OS, a web-based operating system that's (in theory) a lot more open. Of course, one needs only look at Microsoft's battle to get Windows Phone into a place of competition to realize that gaining market share is no easy task, which is why Mozilla will soon be handing out Firefox OS developer phones in order to bolster that. The company's goal is to get app builders to build for Firefox OS, so Mozilla is sending out free Preview handsets for folks to tinker with.

Submission + - Apple deluged by police demands to decrypt iPhones (cnet.com)

Submitted by ukemike
ukemike writes:

ATF says no law enforcement agency could unlock a defendant's iPhone, but Apple can "bypass the security software" if it chooses. Apple has created a police waiting list because of high demand.

Clearly the iPhone 4s has a built-in backdoor.

Submission + - Proposed 3-D printer regulations (cbslocal.com) 2

Submitted by phrackthat
phrackthat writes: Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) wants regulations that would possibly track 3-D printers and who has access to them — effectively creating a 3-D printer registry. Of course he apparently hasn't figured out that people can build them from plans off the Net. He's wetting his pants because they can be used to make weapons and he can't stand anyone having weapons that isn't employed by the government. He said, “Terrorists can make these guns and do some horrible things to an individual and then walk away scott-free, and that is something that is really dangerous.” He says background checks, requiring serial numbers and even registering them could be part of new legislation that he says will protect the public.

Submission + - 17-Year Old Girl Wins Boston TV API Programming Contest

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Jenny Lamere, a graduating high school senior from Nashua NH, was the youngest of 80 participants (and one of only four women) in the Hill Holiday TVnext hackathon held in Boston this past April, a programming contest sponsored by TV API providers. Her submission of 'Twivo', an app that allows TV viewers to block spoiler tweets while watching a show and recover them later, won the contest's 'Sync to Broadcast' category (one of five), and was also named the event's 'Best in Show' (overall winner). At least one tech company has expressed interest in her app (a short demo and interview with the judges starts at 3:30 in the embedded youtube clip). Lamere plans to enter the Rochester Institute of Technology in the fall, and will pursue a career in software development.

Submission + - How Aussie Uni Creates World's Best Hackers (smh.com.au)

Submitted by bennyboy64
bennyboy64 writes: An Australian university appears to be excelling at cultivating some of Australia's best computer hackers. Following the University of NSW's students recently placing first, second and third in a hacking war game (the first place winners also won first place last year), The Sydney Morning Herald reports on what exactly about the NSW institution is breeding some of Australia's best hackers. It finds that a lecturer and mentor to the students with controversial views on responsible disclosure appears to the be the reason for their success.

Submission + - Web Developer - Transition to software developer

Submitted by grimdev
grimdev writes: I did not get a degree in CS while in college. I Realized my senior year I love programming. I was able to get a job as a full time web developer (mostly php/mysql/js/jquery). I would like to transition into a software development job and want some input! I am learning on my own of course, and will be applying to a graduate program in cs for next year.

I do not know if I will attempt to finish the degree, but plan on completing most of the pre-req's that would be required by my conditional acceptance (data structures, algorithms, db systems, oo design, formal languages / functional prog, concurrent prog, networks, linear alg, prob / stats, and year calculus.

Does slashdot feel the masters is useless for my purpose? Should I take the experience and run?

Does the fact I am a web developer already help my situation?

Submission + - Tax Authorities launch largest TAX Investigations in history (icij.org)

Submitted by lxrocks
lxrocks writes: Tax authorities in the U.S., Britain, and Australia today announced they are working with a gigantic cache of leaked data that may be the beginnings of one of the largest tax investigations in history.

The secret records are believed to include those obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that lay bare the individuals behind covert companies and private trusts in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands, Singapore and other offshore hideaways.

Submission + - State Department Demands Takedown of Printable Gun Schematics. (forbes.com)

Submitted by moeinvt
moeinvt writes: In the latest episode of the 3D-printed gun saga, Forbes reports that the U.S. Department of State has demanded that the plans and blueprints for the 3D-printed gun components be immediately "removed from public access". In a letter sent to Cody Wilson, the feds claim that the plans must be reviewed and approved by the "Directorate of Defense Trade Controls" (DDTC) to ensure that making them publicly available does not violate the "International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)" rules. Full text of the letter published in the Forbes article.

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