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Security

Submission + - 20 Years of Innovative Windows Malware (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "InfoWorld's Woody Leonhard takes a look at the past 20 years of innovative Windows malware — an evolution that provides insights into the kinds of attacks to come. From macro viruses, to interstitial infections, to spray attacks, to industrial espionage, 'there's been a clear succession, with the means, methods, and goals changing definitively over time,' Leonhard writes, outlining the rise of Windows malware as a succession of ingenious breakthroughs to nefarious ends."
Databases

Submission + - US House crimps consumer safety database money (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: In a move that reeks of party politics and lobbyist influence, the US House this week made moves to gut the funding of an online database that was to become a repository for consumer safety information three weeks before it was to debut. The database is required as part of the over-arching Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, passed in 2008 that was supposed to put some teeth in the Consumer Product Safety Commission overseeing the database. Once in the public domain, consumers will be able to search the product safety complaints of thousands of consumer products.

Submission + - Cyanobacterium Produces Diesel Directly (dailytech.com) 1

Submitted by olsmeister
olsmeister writes: A Massachusetts based company has developed a form of cyanobacteria that can take water, sunlight, and CO2, and turn it into diesel fuel. Not only that, but they claim they can do it efficiently and at $30 per barrel. They say they can be operating commercially in 2 years.
Government

Submission + - Comcast-NBC Deal Accidentally Protects Internet (itworld.com)

Submitted by
jfruhlinger
jfruhlinger writes: "Details of the conditions that the Department of Justice required to approve Comcast's purchase of NBC have emerged today. Blogger Kevin Fogarty looks at the details — Comcast is forbidden from blocking Netflix over its pipes, and must sell NBC shows via iTunes and other similar services — and concludes that Internet access for everybody, including business users, has been protected, more or less by accident."

Submission + - Betty Boop and Indefinite Copyright (cartoonbrew.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: US Court of Appeals officially recognizes that under the current regime, characters like Betty Boopy "would essentially never enter the public domain".

"Apparently the Fleischer estate has lost a court battle for the rights to Betty Boop, a character created by Grim Natwick at Max Fleischer’s studio in 1930."

"The Fleischer Studio tried to sue Avela Inc. over its licensing of public domain Betty Boop poster images (for handbags and T-shirts). The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (based in San Francisco) ruled against the Fleischers, saying in their decision, “If we ruled that AVELA’s depictions of Betty Boop infringed Fleischer’s trademarks, the Betty Boop character would essentially never enter the public domain.”"

"So where does that leave Ms. Boop? No longer represented by the heirs of Max Fleischer and King Features Syndicate? Does this make Harvey Comics – or by extention, its current owner Classic Media – the owner of the property? Or is the character now in public domain."
Cloud

Submission + - Cloud computing sweeping through Hollywood (hostedftp.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: “The King’s Speech” was the big news from Hollywood as they were winning Academy Awards, the most impactful sweeping Hollywood could be Cloud computing as animated films and some of the top visual effects could be powered by the Cloud. John Rath of Data Center Knowledge.com highlights how Cloud assisted in the creation of Toy Story 3 when he writes “One of the primary rendering tools used at Pixar is called Renderman and is available as a stand-alone tool, or for use within Autodesk’s Maya. At Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference (PDC) last fall, Pixar’s RenderMan team unveiled a proof of concept demonstration showing RenderMan Pro Server running in the Cloud on Windows Azure.”
The Military

Submission + - DOD commissions Terminator-like robot (nydailynews.com)

Submitted by
sourcehunter
sourcehunter writes: "The US Department of Defense has contracted with Boston Dynamics to create two new battlefield bots — a cheetah that will eventually be able to run up to 70 mph and a "Terminator-like droid" that would eventually be used for emergency response, firefighting, advanced agriculture and vehicular travel in areas inaccessible to tanks, Humvees and other wheeled vehicles."
Security

Submission + - Major Russian Hacker Forum Hacked (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: One of the premiere forums used by cyber criminals has been breached and a database of over 2,000 members leaked.

Maza.la, a closed forum that is frequented by high profile members of the cyber underground was allegedly attacked on February 18 by members of a rival forum, Direct Connection, and its members list and content was exposed, according to the Lifenew report, dated Feb. 25. The Web site was unreachable on Monday and Whois records suggest that the domain registration was updated on February 22, four days after the alleged hack.
Security

Submission + - Huawei calls US "bluff"

Submitted by mvar
mvar writes: Chinese telecommunications equipment supplier Huawei wants to clear its reputation and has asked the U.S. government to investigate the company for concerns that it poses a national security risk. The call for the formal investigation comes after Huawei saw a U.S. acquisition unravel after a government panel requested the Chinese company reverse the deal. Analysts say that Huawei's struggles in the U.S. have more to do with politics than real worries the company is a national security threat. In the past, Huawei has lost out on bids for contracts and was forced to abandon a $2.2 billion deal to acquire network equipment vendor 3Com due to the national security concerns. However, the security concerns seem to be inconsistently leveled at Huawei, because many U.S. companies also have manufacturing in China

Comment Re:Ron Paul... (Score 1) 849

by sourcehunter (#26460875) Attached to: South Carolina Seeking To Outlaw Profanity
You are correct - Ron Paul has, and I didn't say success was a measure of the quality of the legislation... I merely pointed out that nothing that particular Senator has pushed through recently has made it through, indicating he's not the most effective senator out there.

Comment CALM DOWN (Score 5, Informative) 849

by sourcehunter (#26458519) Attached to: South Carolina Seeking To Outlaw Profanity
Ok folks - I live in SC - So I can say with some certanty - CALM DOWN.

1) This is just a BILL introduced in the Senate. I don't see anything on the House calendar indicating that it was also filed there, and if there was a SERIOUS push to make this happen, you'd see a similar bill in the house.

2) He submitted this SAME BILL the last THREE sessions. Thats the last 6 years. See session 117, 116 and 115. Quite frankly I didn't go back any further but he may have introduced this same bill before that, too. EVERY TIME this bill has been introduced, it has died in committee.

3) This guy has a terrible clearance rate. ZERO general bills on which he's the primary sponsor have passed in the last few sessions .

4) I bet if you look, you'll find this same type of legislation popping up in other state houses or county councils... and dying just as quickly. Someone's always going to try - doesn't mean they'll get anywhere and DOES NOT mean to freak out.

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