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Submission + - U.S. hastens offshore wind developments with new l (ecoseed.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The United States Department of the Interior aims to implement a more efficient and coordinated permitting process for offshore wind to accelerate the development of projects along the Atlantic coast.

The Smart from the Start initiative for the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf will facilitate siting, leasing and construction of new projects, which will help developers go through the permitting process without the burden of red tape, said interior secretary Ken Salazar.

Submission + - My GPL code has been... patented! 4

Submitted by ttsiod
ttsiod writes: Back in 2001, I coded HeapCheck, a GPL library for Windows (inspired by ElectricFence) that detected invalid read/write accesses on any heap allocations at runtime — thus greatly helping my debugging sessions. I published it on my site, and got a few users who were kind enough to thank me — a Serbian programmer even sent me 250$ as a thank you (I still have his mails). After a few years, Microsoft included very similar technology in the operating system itself, calling it PageHeap. I had more or less forgotten these stuff, since for the last 7 years I've been coding for UNIX/Linux, where valgrind superseeded Efence/dmalloc/etc. Imagine my surprise, when yesterday, Googling for references to my site, I found out that the technology I implemented, of runtime detection of invalid heap accesses, has been patented in the States, and to add insult to injury, even mentions my site (via a non-working link to an old version of my page) in the patent references! After the necessary "WTFs" and "bloody hells" I thought this merrits (a) a Slashdotting, and (b) a set of honest questions: what should I do about this? I am not an American citizen, but the "inventors" of this technology (see their names in the top of the patent) have apparently succeeded in passing this ludicrous patent in the States. If my code doesn't count as prior art, Bruce Perens's Efence (which I clearly state my code was inspired from) is at least 12 years prior! Suggestions/cursing patent trolls most welcome.

Submission + - UK law body targets RIAA style settlement letters (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by PerformanceDude
PerformanceDude writes: The Register reports that a major UK law firm knew it sometimes had no reliable evidence of unlawful filesharing when it demanded hundreds of pounds damages from internet users, according to the solicitors' watchdog.

London-based Davenport Lyons threatened thousands of people with legal action for alleged copyright infringement between 2006 and 2009. They were told that by quickly paying around £500 damages, plus costs, they could avoid court.

Following complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Davenport Lyons now stands accused of deliberately ignoring concerns over the standard of its evidence.
Government

Submission + - Cybersecurity bill gives DHS power to punish tech (cnet.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Cybersecurity bill gives DHS power to punish tech firms:

Democratic politicians are proposing a novel approach to cybersecurity: fine technology companies $100,000 a day unless they comply with directives imposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Legislation introduced this week would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to levy those and other civil penalties on noncompliant companies that the government deems "critical," a broad term that could sweep in Web firms, broadband providers, and even software companies and search engines.

"This bill will make our nation more secure and better positions DHS--the 'focal point for the security of cyberspace'--to fulfill its critical homeland security mission," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

CNET News: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20023464-38.html

Submission + - Bruce Schneier Vs. The TSA (schneier.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Bruce Schneier has posted a huge recap of the TSA controversy, including more information about the lawsuit he joined to ban them. There's too much news to summarize, but it covers everything from Penn of Penn & Teller and Dave Barry's grope stories, other Israeli experts who say this isn't needed and hasn't ever stopped a bomb, the four-year-old girl who was traumatized by being groped and much, much more.
Privacy

Submission + - Use of stolen SSN wasn’t criminal, court rul (networkworld.com)

Submitted by netbuzz
netbuzz writes: The Colorado Supreme Court by a vote of 4-3 recently overturned the conviction of a man who used a woman’s Social Security number to apply for a car loan. The action did not constitute criminal impersonation, ruled the court’s majority, because the man provided the auto dealership with his real name, address and place of employment, in addition to the stolen Social Security number. It should come as no surprise that privacy experts are taking exception to the majority’s position.
Education

Submission + - For-Profit University 'Owns' DHS STEM Program

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Citing Bill Gates' Congressional testimony, the Department of Homeland Security enacted a controversial 'emergency' rule in 2008 to allow foreign students who earn degrees in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) in the U.S. to work for American employers for 29 months of Optional Practical Training (OPT) without the need for an H-1B visa. By doing so, explained DHS chief Michael Chertoff, he was 'giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage in the world economy.' Microsoft applauded the move, saying the program would allow U.S. companies to recruit and retain the 'best' science and tech students educated at the top U.S. universities. A legal challenge to the action was mounted, but the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to review the case in April after receiving a DHS brief reiterating that 'the public interest would be disserved' without the program. Noticeably absent from the DHS brief, however, were any details on the two-year old program's participants. But now, a Computerworld report on How the 'Tech Worker Visa' is Remaking IT in America suggests why the agency may have been less-than-eager to have any details emerge. Not only is the DHS STEM program dominated by for-profit Stratford University and the private University of Bridgeport (the two accounted for 8% of all STEM extension requests), it's also been embraced by IT outsourcing and offshoring companies — hardly how Microsoft and DHS sold the program to the public and the Courts. More details on the 20,000 OPT STEM extension requests filed since mid-2008 can be found in Computerworld's interactive database.
News

Submission + - Fatal Online & Offline Journalism in Russia (pulitzercenter.org)

Submitted by reporter
reporter writes: With the recent attempted murder of Oleg Kashin, we should examine the recent history of fatal journalism in and around Russia. A summary of the recent bloody history of Russian journalism appears at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and was written by Fatima Tlisova.

Freedom of the press and the safety of journalists should have special meaning for Slashdot and its many readers, for freedom of the press is the very reason that Slashdot can exist in the West. What can Slashdotters do to help journalists in and around Russia?
Facebook

Submission + - Worker Rights Extend to Facebook (nytimes.com) 1

Submitted by wjousts
wjousts writes: From the NY Times:

In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page.

American Medical Response of Connecticut had a policy that barred employees from depicting the company "in any way" on Facebook or other social media. The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that this policy runs afoul of the National Labor Relations Act which gives employees the right to form unions and prohibits employers from punishing workers for discussing working conditions.
Facebook

Submission + - Cisco social software lets you "stalk" customers (networkworld.com)

Submitted by coondoggie
coondoggie writes: Cisco this week unveiled software designed to let companies track customers and prospects on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other public forums and sites. Cisco SocialMiner allows users to monitor status updates, forum posts and blogs of customers so they can be alerted of conversations related to their brand. The software is designed to not only enable enterprises to monitor the conversations of their customers but to engage those that require service, Cisco says.
Google

Submission + - Google Sues The US For Only Considering Microsoft (techdirt.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Late last week, Google sued the US government for putting out a Request For Quotation for the messaging needs of the Department of the Interior that specified only Microsoft solutions would be considered. Google apparently had spent plenty of time talking to DOI officials to understand their needs and make sure they had a solution ready to go — and were promised that there wasn't a deal already in place with Microsoft... and then the RFQ came out. Google protested, but the protest was dismissed, with the claim that Google was "not an interested party."
Government

Submission + - Americans Support an Internet 'Kill Switch' (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Sixty-one percent of Americans said the President should have the ability to shut down portions of the Internet in the event of a coordinated malicious cyber attack, according to a recent study. The findings suggest the public may support a pending cybersecurity bill that would give the President far-reaching authority over the Internet in the case of an emergency.

The "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010" introduced in June, and being debated in congress, would allow the president to take emergency measures to protect the nation's most critical infrastructure if a cyber vulnerability is being exploited or is about to be exploited...

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