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Comment The problem's not finding things on the internet (Score 2) 191

I'm more concerned about my searches - looking for things on the internet scares me. What you search for can define what you're thinking about more than what you find. For example, just today I was asked by a website, based on a search I ran, if I had metastatic prostate cancer. Umm, (long pause here because I don't have a prostate) no.

Submission + - Microsoft Wants To Keep The NSA Out Of Your OneDrive And Outlook Accounts (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Ever since Edward Snowden leaked details on how the government had forced various IT companies to disclose information (or secured their willing cooperation), companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have been desperate to regain their users' trust. Six months ago, Microsoft announced that it would re-engineer its products and services to provide a much higher level of security — today, the company revealed that it has reached an important milestone in that process. As of now, Outlook.com uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) to provide end-to-end encryption for inbound and outbound email — assuming that the provider on the other end also uses TLS. The TLS standard has been in the news fairly recently after discovery of a major security flaw in one popular package (gnuTLS), but Microsoft notes that it worked with multiple international companies to secure its version of the standard. Second, OneDrive now uses Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Microsoft refers to this as a type of encryption, but PFS isn't a standard like AES or 3DES — instead, it's a particular method of ensuring that an attacker who intercepts a particular key cannot use that information to break the entire key sequence. Even if you manage to gain access to one file or folder, in other words, that information can't be used to compromise the entire account.

Submission + - NSA possibly using loophole for additional unconstitutional surveillance

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: By routing American traffic out of the country using either BGP or DNS attacks, a new research paper posits that the NSA could be using an Executive Order permitting unfiltered foreign data collection to justify thwarting its duty to protect the constitutional rights of American citizens. From a new article:

the lesser-known Executive Order (EO) 12333, which remains solely the domain of the Executive Branch — along with United States Signals Intelligence Directive (USSID) 18, designed to regulate the collection of American's data from surveillance conducted on foreign soil — can be used as a legal basis for vast and near-unrestricted domestic surveillance on Americans.

The legal provisions offered under EO 12333, which the researchers say "explicitly allows for intentional targeting of U.S. persons" for surveillance purposes when FISA protections do not apply, was the basis of the authority that reportedly allowed the NSA to tap into the fiber cables that connected Google and Yahoo's overseas to U.S. data centers.

Submission + - FTC Says T-Mobile Made Hundreds of Millions From Bogus SMS Charges (ftc.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Today the FTC filed a complaint (PDF) against T-Mobile USA, alleging the carrier made hundreds of millions of dollars from bogus charges placed on customers' bills for unauthorized SMS services. "The FTC alleges that T-Mobile received anywhere from 35 to 40 percent of the total amount charged to consumers for subscriptions for content such as flirting tips, horoscope information or celebrity gossip that typically cost $9.99 per month. According to the FTC’s complaint, T-Mobile in some cases continued to bill its customers for these services offered by scammers years after becoming aware of signs that the charges were fraudulent." FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, "It’s wrong for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent. It’s wrong for a company like T-Mobile to profit from scams against its customers when there were clear warning signs the charges it was imposing were fraudulent." According to the complaint, T-Mobile also made it hard for customers to figure out they were being billed for these services, failed to provide refunds when customers complained.

Submission + - IEEE launches anti-malware services to improve security

Submitted by Aryeh Goretsky
Aryeh Goretsky writes: The IEEE Standards Assocation has launched an Anti-Malware Support Service (AMSS) to help the computer security industry respond more quickly to malware.

The first two services available are a Clean file Metadata Exchange [PDF], to help prevent false positives in anti-malware software, and a Taggant System [PDF] to help prevent software packers from being abused.

Official announcement is here.

Submission + - Fuel Cells From Nanomaterials made from Human Urine (nature.com)

Submitted by turning in circles
turning in circles writes: Carbon based fuel cells require carbon doped with other elements, normally platinum, for oxygen reduction reactions. Urine contains carbon with an exciting splash of nitrogen, sulfur, potassium, silicon, and so on, and you don't have to manufacture it, the stuff just comes out by itself. In an article published this week in an open journal, researchers from Korea this week reported a new nanomaterial for fuel cells, which they dub "Urine Carbon." Upon drying, and then heating at 1000C, and rinsing of salts, the resulting Urine Carbon porous nanostructures outperformed Carbon/platinum in electrodes. Now this is Gee Whiz science for you.

Comment Re:Link to the actual report tool (Score 1) 66

by turning in circles (#47126049) Attached to: YouTube Releases the Google Video Quality Report
I agree. The so-called "Report" doesn't tell me my current video quality at all, it just gives the average over 30 days over all the customers in my area using my provider (so how does this compare me with my neighbor???). The only one who benefits from this is the ISP who will no doubt tout it in endless commercials. (And by the way, I'm in the 29th largest metropolitan area in the US, and it has results for here).

Comment Re:Does anyone look at ads anyway? (Score 1) 355

What I hate is when I go to a website, and then all I get for the next week are ads from that website all over my other screens. Makes me want to scream, and actually is a large disincentive for going back to that website short of an Onion Browser (yes, StubHub, that's why I won't buy tickets from you).

Comment Re:Corporate speak (Score 2) 373

by turning in circles (#47046443) Attached to: The 69 Words GM Employees Can Never Say
I think - in extension to this point - that the lawyers suing GM are too lazy/unable to read every document GM could produce in discovery and therefore they simply do word searches among the documents for the 69 words. The other alternative for protecting yourself from lawsuits (besides never using the words the lawyers will find) is to delete all copies of all emails, memos, and presentations that are more than 6 months old. I have heard about a company that tries to use this method to reduce its legal exposure.

Submission + - Wichita Lineman 2.0: Bill Gates Wants Accelerometers on Power Lines

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: GeekWire reports that Bill Gates is listed as an inventor on a newly surfaced patent filing that proposes putting accelerometers on power lines to understand how far they move in wind and other conditions, and monitor how close they come to trees and other nearby objects. The idea is to detect issues with power lines before they cause serious problems. Gates and power go way back — a legacy system BillG worked on as a teen that helped manage the electrical grid for the Bonneville Power Administration was just retired after keeping the lights on for 38 years.

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