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Submission + - China rejects 545,000 tons of US genetically modified corn (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by hawkinspeter
hawkinspeter writes: The BBC is reporting that US corn that was found to contain an unapproved genetically modified strain. Although China doesn't have a problem per se with GM crops (they've been importing GM soybeans since 1997), their product safety agency found MIR162 in 12 batches of corn.

"The safety evaluation process [for MIR162] has not been completed and no imports are allowed at the moment before the safety certificate is issued" said Nui Din, China's vice agricultural minister.

The Chinese are now calling on US authorities to tighten their controls to prevent unapproved strains from being sent to China after the first batch of corn was rejected in November due to MIR162.

Submission + - Microsoft Security Essentials misses 39% of malware (pcpro.co.uk)

Submitted by Barence
Barence writes: The latest tests from Dennis Publishing's security labs saw Microsoft Security Essentials fail to detect 39% of the real-world malware thrown at it. Dennis Technology Labs (DTL) tested nine home security products on a Windows 7 PC, including Security Essentials, which is distributed free to Windows users and built into Windows 8 in the form of Windows Defender. While the other eight packages all achieved protection scores of 87% or higher — with five scoring 98% or 99% — Microsoft's free antivirus software protected against only 61% of the malware samples used in the test. Microsoft conceded last year that its security software was intended to offer only "baseline" performance".

Submission + - Academics should not remain silent on hacking (nature.com)

Submitted by ananyo
ananyo writes: The Guardian's technology editor, Charles Arthur, asks in an opinion piece in Nature why researchers have remained largely silent in the wake of the revelation that the US National Institute of Standards and Technology's standard for random numbers used for cryptography had been weakened by the NSA:
"The nature of the subversions sounds abstruse: the random-number generator, the 'Dual EC DRBG' standard, had been hacked by the NSA and the UK's GCHQ so that its output would not be as random as it should have been. That might not sound like much, but if you are trying to break an encrypted message, the knowledge that it is hundreds or thousands of times weaker than advertised is a great encouragement."
Arthur attributes the silence of UK academics, at least, to pressure from GCHQ. He goes on to say:
"For those who do care, White and Matthew Green, who teaches cryptography at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, have embarked on an ambitious effort to clean up the mess — one that needs help.
They have created a non-profit organization called OpenAudit.org, which aims to recruit experts to provide technical assistance for security projects in the public interest, especially open-source security software."

Submission + - US Judge explains why few indicted for the fraud created the mortgage crisis (nybooks.com)

Submitted by smaxp
smaxp writes: As the statute of limitations on the fraud committed during the financial crisis is about to expire with few indictments US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff explains why.

According to Rakoff "I suggest that this is not the best way to proceed. Although it is supposedly justified because it prevents future crimes, I suggest that the future deterrent value of successfully prosecuting individuals far outweighs the prophylactic benefits of imposing internal compliance measures that are often little more than window-dressing. Just going after the company is also both technically and morally suspect."

Submission + - Police in Slovenia to have "clandestine entry" rights to install spyware. (monitor.si)

Submitted by Vlado
Vlado writes: There is a law in emergency express discussion that, if and when it passes, will grant police in Slovenia rights to enter private premisses in "a clandestine manner" in order to install "monitoring software" on computer equipment at the point before communication channels are encrypted (link to a local article in Slovenian below). Reasoning by the police is that it is not always possible to remotely install spyware when they want to monitor their targeted subjects.
All standard excuses apply: This will only be used in extreme scenarios. This will only be used for the most serious offences (children, saving, think...?).

The law, if enacted will be very problematic on multiple levels:
In Slovenia, currently private property and especially homes are considered fairly inviolate. Police cannot enter a private home without search warrant, or if they're not in direct pursuit of a suspect who flees through private premises, or if they don't suspect that there's an immediate threat to life. Even with search warrant witnesses are required in order to guarantee some level of oversight.
This law will remove that oversight as otherwise it will probably not be very "clandestine" of the police to enter the home in question.

Also, even though the law stipulates, that the spyware in question should only allow for "monitoring" of communications on the affected equipment and does not give permission for the spyware to actively change any content, it's fairly difficult to assume that this will actually work out like that in practice.

It's an extremely disturbing turn of events, which would give local police unprecedented amount of power with virtually no oversight in their actions.

Submission + - ADA Compliance at the ATM – To be or not to be, that is the question. (afsiatms.com)

Submitted by afsiatms
afsiatms writes: In 2011, an amendment to the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requiring ATM owners to install audio-based capabilities for easy access of blind and vision impaired customers has caused a debacle in the banking sector. The requirements actually imposed by the Department of Justice on 15 September 2010, took effect in March of 2011, with updates to all ATMs at banks and credit unions required to be in compliance with the ADA guidelines by March 2012.

Submission + - Dark Souls 2: Slaying the curse of the sequel (redbull.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dark Souls 2 is coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 this March, but it's got a tough act to follow. A really tough one: Dark Souls has the reputation of being this generation's toughest game, with brutal and unforgiving boss after boss. In a new interview published this week, DS2 director Yui Tanimura discusses the tough considerations the team at From Software had to make on what to include, what to introduce, and how to make sure hardcore fans don't find a more accessible game any easier. The trick, he says, is to make the difficulty related precisely to the player's decisions and movements.

"One pillar of our decision making is whether the player will feel as if the results were a result of the player’s choices and actions. We feel that the fun and enjoyment comes from the results coming from the player’s efforts, decisions, successes and failures.”

Tanimura also reveals that there were "never" any plans to bring the game to next-gen consoles, which leaves us wondering — just how epic could Dark Souls 3 look on a PS4 or Xbox One?

Submission + - Standardised laptop charger approved by IEC

Submitted by Sockatume
Sockatume writes: The IEC, the standards body which wrote the phone charger specification used in the EU, has approved a standardised laptop charger. While the "DC Power Supply for Portable Personal Computer" doesn't have a legal mandate behind it, the IEC is still optimistic that it will lead to a reduction in electronics waste and make it easier to find a replacement charger. Unfortunately the technical documentation does not seem to be available yet, but previous comments indicate that it will be a barrel plug of some kind.

Comment Re:Embedded clothing network? (Score 1) 45

by Rande (#45701853) Attached to: Graphene-based Nanoantennas Could Allow WLANs of Nanodevices

Not in the Star Trek universe, no. The computer is never allowed to make suggestions even though it almost always knows the answer if the crew just asks.
And the Self-Destruct....just no.
I think I'd rather go for being a Replicator in the Stargate universe....just a little smarter and realizing that as a machine I could just go colonize some planets that the carbon based lifeforms don't care about.

Submission + - Microsoft joins group seeking to replace passwords (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Microsoft has joined the FIDO Alliance, an industry group attempting to craft industry standards that reduce reliance on passwords, long regarded as a weak point in Web security. Launched in July 2012, FIDO, which stands for Fast IDentity Online, is hoping its specifications for security devices and browser plugins will be widely adopted across the technology industry. FIDO envisions a software client that's installed on computers that employ public key cryptography to authenticate users. All major Web browsers will be supported.

Submission + - British Police Censor The Global Internet (techweekeurope.co.uk)

Submitted by judgecorp
judgecorp writes: A branch of the City of London police seems to be censoring suspected pirates worldwide, using threats. The Police Intellectual Proerty Crime Unit (PIPCU), acts on tip-offs from copyright owners to attempt to close down websites accused of piracy. the process involves cease-and-desist letters, followed by pressure on advertisers not to fund the site, and finally PIPCU uses threats to the domain registrar (not the ISP), all without any sort of court order.

Submission + - Apple Rejecting Bitcoin Apps

Submitted by mrspoonsi
mrspoonsi writes: Techcrunch: Over the past couple of months, there have been a few Bitcoin app rejections by Apple that have made some waves. First, the venture-backed startup Coinbase had its app removed entirely from the App Store. Rob Banagale, writes in a blog post about the rejection for Gliph, a peer-to-peer messaging and payments app. The rejection, Banagale notes, was based largely off of section 22.1 of Apple’s App Store review guidelines. The rule states that “apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.” Bitcoin is not illegal, but it is also not legally recognized by governments as a currency. This gray area is what is leading Apple to reject Bitcoin-transaction apps.

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