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Submission + - Edward Snowden's coworker refutes NSA claims (forbes.com)

Submitted by wannabegeek2
wannabegeek2 writes: check for dupes.

in an article which purportedly was carefully verified, a former coworker states that the NSA's current PR blitz amounts to a smear campaign against Mr. Snowden. Further, he describes him as a genius among genius's, who was given the access he needed by the NSA, and did not need to steal or dupe his coworkers to obtain passwords to accomplish his task.

Submission + - Eeuronews Names Edward Snowden 'Person of 2013' (euronews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Euronews reports, "... Edward Snowden, responsible for the most significant intelligence leaks in US history, has been voted euronews’ Person of 2013. ... Snowden, unknown six months ago, shot to prominence after leaking hundreds of thousands of National Security Agency (NSA) files. His revelations exposed the extent of internet surveillance and intelligence gathering by the US and its western allies. ... They also uncovered the NSA’s practice of collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans. Security chiefs ordered one of the US’ biggest phone companies to disclose metadata of all the calls that it processes. This included telephone numbers, serial numbers of phones used and the time and duration of the calls. But it did not include the content of the call or the callers’ addresses. The revelations by Snowden, a former NSA contractor, transformed his life and forced him to go on the run. He is effectively trapped in Russia – if he leaves he is likely to face arrest and extradition to the US, where he has been charged with espionage. ... Snowden has said his sole motive for leaking was to “inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them”. ... he told the Guardian: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions. I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”” — The Guardian reports, "Edward Snowden says judge's ruling vindicates NSA surveillance disclosures" — CBS reports the White House rejects amnesty for Snowden, BBC has video."

Submission + - Multivitamin researchers say "case is closed" as studies find no health benefits (cbsnews.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: “Enough” with the multivitamins already.

That’s the message from doctors behind three new studies and an editorial that tackled an oft-debated question in medicine: Do daily multivitamins make you healthier?

After reviewing the available evidence and conducting new trials, the authors have come to a conclusion of “no.”

“We believe that the case is closed — supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful,” concluded the authors of the editorial summarizing the new research papers, published Dec. 16 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. “These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough.”

They went on to urge consumers to not “waste” their money on multivitamins.

Submission + - Why Do Hobbits Always Win? Credit Vitamin D (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Ever wonder how a hobbit and his small band of allies were able to defeat armies of goblins and trolls in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings? Vitamin D. That’s the conclusion of a study published today in The Medical Journal of Australia, which proposes that good always triumphs in fantasy literature because villains are sun-deprived and eat poorly.

Submission + - NSA Phone Program Likely Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules (huffingtonpost.com) 3

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency's phone surveillance program is likely unconstitutional, Politico reports.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon said that the agency's controversial program, first unveiled by former government contractor Edward Snowden earlier this year, appears to violate the Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which states that the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” Leon wrote in the ruling.

The federal ruling came down after activist Larry Klayman filed a lawsuit in June over the program. The suit claimed that the NSA's surveillance “violates the U.S. Constitution and also federal laws, including, but not limited to, the outrageous breach of privacy, freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the due process rights of American citizens."

Submission + - Disney pulls a reverse Santa, takes back Christmas shows from Amazon customers

Submitted by Sockatume
Sockatume writes: Since 2011, Amazon Instant Video has sold a series of Christmas shorts from Disney called "Prep and Landing". Unfortunately this holiday season, Disney has had a change of heart and has decided to make the shorts exclusive to its own channels. Showing an abundance of Christmas cheer, the Mickey Mouse company went so far as to retroactively withdrawn the shows from Amazon, so that customers who have already paid for them no longer have access. Apparently this reverse-Santa facility is a feature Amazon provides all publishers, and customers have little recourse but to go cap-in-hand to a Disney outlet and pay for the shows again.

Submission + - NSA Says Snowden Used Legit Access to Steal Data (threatpost.com)

Submitted by Gunkerty Jeb
Gunkerty Jeb writes: It’s taken more than six months, but top officials at the National Security Agency are finally discussing some of the details of how former agency contractor Edward Snowden got access to all of the documents he stole and what kind of damage they believe the publication of the information they contain could do. A senior NSA employee tasked with investigating what Snowden did and how he did it said that Snowden simply used the legitimate access he had as a systems administrator to steal and store the millions of documents he’s been slowly leaking to the media, and that the information in those documents could give U.S. enemies a “road map” of the country’s intelligence capabilities and blind spots.

Submission + - Particles Filled with Spice Compound Boost Memory in Rats with Alzheimer's (acs.org) 2

Submitted by MTorrice
MTorrice writes: Curcumin, a natural compound found in turmeric, has shown promise as a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease but delivering it to the brain has been a challenge. Now researchers have packaged the compound inside polymer nanoparticles to help it get into the brain. For the first time, they’ve shown that this encapsulated curcumin can stimulate the production of neurons and improve memory in a rat model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Submission + - DRM has always been a horrible idea (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For years, the reaction of the big entertainment companies to digital disruption has been to try and restrict and control, a wrong-headed approach that was bound to backfire. But the entertainment companies were never known for being forward thinking whether it was radio in the 20s or cassette tapes in the 70s or VCRs in the 80s or Napster in the 90s. The reaction was the always the same. Take a defensive position and try to battle the disruptive force --and it never worked.

And DRM was perhaps the worst reaction of all, place restrictions on your content that punish the very people who were willing to pay for it, while others were free to use it without restriction. It was an approach that never made much sense, and it's good to know that mounting evidence proves that's the case.

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