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Submission + - Is the NSA the best thing for Open Source?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Just want to start a discussion. Is the NSA's spying on everyone, everywhere the open door for open source software and hardware? Just ask Cisco how their sales in China are doing. Of course other governments, like China, want their own back door in.

Does this give open source the dream opening to make its case? I can't think of a better opportunity myself.

Submission + - Syrian Electronic Army defaces Skype's Facebook page, Twitter account, and blog (winbeta.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft's Skype team is working extra hard right now, circumventing an attack that occurred earlier today by hackers claiming to be the Syrian Electronics Army (SEA). This group apparently defaced Skype's Facebook page, Twitter page, as well as the Skype blog. The message? "Don't use Microsoft emails (hotmail,outlook), They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments."

Submission + - Scary: Detecting or preventing abusive devices (antipope.org)

Submitted by Keybounce
Keybounce writes: This isn't "new"; but it's getting scarier.

Small computers that can run a wifi stack are small. Tiny. Getting even cheaper with their power requirements.

This blog post indicates that kettles can — and *DO* — contain computers that want to infect your home network.

With a little thought, there is no clear end in sight. We know that batteries are fairly big compared to the rest of the computer, and there's no reason not to think that the inside of an "AA" battery might be a smaller power cell and a computer.

And it's not just wireless. Heck, any USB device — and this is old now — can be given "free" power to run a wifi. As much as a USB device can do all sorts of things by pretending to be something else, consider what can happen with a USB device that doesn't lie about what it does, just sends information off elsewhere? That USB memory stick you found doesn't have to attack your computer, it just sends copies of what you put on it to someone else over any open wifi it finds — such as your trip to the coffee house.

And where does it end? Right now we have smart inventory control tags — in the future, those can be strong computers. That might either be data gatherers, or outright compromised.

How can this be detected?
How can this be stopped?

As far as I can tell, there's no good way to detect, any "security" has to start with "don't plug anything into your computer" (apparently, not even a cable is safe), and the only hope of "stopping" this would be to have the entire US government's court and law-enforcement system get involved — as in, make this sort of thing illegal.

After all, illegal activities by corporate businesses for private gain always generates appropriate penalties, fines, and jail time for the people involved, right?

So what can end users do? Anything? Nothing?

Comment Reasons for:SciFi list (Score 5, Interesting) 796

by Toe, The (#45840145) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Are the Books Everyone Should Read?

Posted too quickly and should have said why...

Stranger in a Strange Land - really stretches your mind. What is religion? What is humanity? Little questions like that.

Ender's Game - A great morality play; and a very exciting read.

Slaughterhouse Five - (or really anything and everything by Vonnegut. The guy is a great master, and every one of his books will open your mind.)

The Hobbit - Okay, not Sci Fi, but a great book on greed. Pure and simple. Or perhaps not so simple.

Aristoi - A deep look into a future of plenty, where society needs rigid controls to prevent a nano tech disaster. Also great insights into mind-computer interfaces and where they can lead.

Consider Phlebas - A different take on a future of plenty, where society is so advanced, the artificial intelligences we have developed treat us like their pets.

Steel Beach - Yet another take on a future of plenty, more near-term, and about the angst it can engender.

The Peace War - Just read it.

Submission + - Illinois Law Grounds PETA Drones Meant to Harass Hunters (breitbart.com) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Illinois passed a new state law that set back the efforts of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), making the use of drones to interfere with hunters and fishermen prohibited.

The law was created in response to PETA’s plan to employ drones called “air angels” to monitor outdoors enthusiasts engaged in hunting and fishing nationwide. Of course, the motivation for many outdoorsman is to get away from technology and be in harmony with nature.

Submission + - Increased Ski Helmet Use Isn't Reducing Brain Injuries

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: The NYT reports that the life-threatening head injury that Formula One driver Michael Schumacher recently sustained while skiing in the French Alps has focused attention on an unsettling trend — although skiers and snowboarders in the United States are wearing helmets more than ever — 70 percent of all participants, nearly triple the number from 2003 — there has been no reduction in the number of snow-sports-related fatalities or brain injuries in the country. Experts ascribe that seemingly implausible correlation to the inability of helmets to prevent serious head injuries like Schumacher’s and to the fact that more skiers and snowboarders are engaging in risky behaviors: skiing faster, jumping higher and going out of bounds. “The equipment we have now allows us to do things we really couldn’t do before," says Chris Davenport, "and people’s pushing limits has sort of surpassed people’s ability to control themselves." The population most susceptible are men in their late teens to late 30s, the same population that most often engages in high-risk behaviors like driving fast. “There’s this energy drink culture now, a high-level, high-risk culture, that’s being marketed and impacting the way people ski,” says Robb Gaffney. “That’s what people see, and that’s what people think skiing is, but really, that’s the highest level of skiers doing the highest level of tricks.”

Submission + - What Are the Books that EVERYONE Should Read? 3

Submitted by dpu
dpu writes: Part of my NYR is to encourage reading as a hobby in those around me — especially my friends' children (ages 2 to 22), but my wife and I as well. There is a lot of "classic" literature out there I'm familiar with and will be pimping to the short masses here (Fahrenheit 451, To Kill A Mockingbird, In The Heat of the Night, Huckleberry Finn, Cryptonomicon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Wrinkle In Time, When Rabbit Howls, etc.), but I know many of you are much better read than I am.

What recommendations would you make? What are the books that everyone should read? I don't care if it's been banned by schools, burned by communists, or illuminated by 15th century monks. If you think everyone around you should read it, I'd love to know about it.

Comment Busting out my tinfoil hat... (Score 4, Insightful) 462

How implausible is it to imagine that a system could be set up to suck all data off every device (especially solid state storage) as it passes through airport security?

Since it's legal, why wouldn't the government want to do it? Ya know. Just in case. To protect us.

Submission + - US Lets Church Group Opt Out of Birth Control Coverage

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: First approved for contraceptive use in the U.S. in 1960, "The Pill" is currently used by more than 100 million women worldwide and by almost 12 million women in the U.S. But just hours before the Affordable Care Act was to go into effect, Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a stay temporarily blocking a mandate requiring health insurance coverage of birth control, and gave the Obama administration until Friday to respond to the Supreme Court on the matter. Sotomayor’s order applies to a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and other Roman Catholic nonprofit groups that use the same health plan, known as the Christian Brothers Employee Benefit Trust (PDF). The group is one of many challenging the federal requirement for contraceptive coverage, but a decision on the merits of that case by the full Supreme Court could have broader implications. One imagines Melinda Gates is none too pleased. So, will U.S. health care require a Department of Personal Belief Exemptions that are dictated by employers (PDF, "The Trustees of CBEBT and the management of Christian Brothers Services are dedicated to protecting the employers participating in the CBEBT from having to face the choice of violating their faith or violating the law")?

Submission + - US federal judge on laptop search laws at U.S. borders (aclu.org)

Submitted by AHuxley
AHuxley writes: The American Civil Liberties Union sought to challenge the Ul legal "border exemption" three years ago.
Can your laptop be seized and searched at the border?
A 32 page decision provides new legal insight into legal thinking around suspicion less searches, making copies, keeping copies.
"think twice about the information you carry on your laptop.."
“Is it really necessary to have so much information accessible to you on your computer?”
i.e. your electronic devices searchable and sizeable for any reason at the U.S. border.
ACLU may appeal. The decision: https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/abidor_decision.pdf Also note the Kool-Aid comment.

Submission + - Snapchat hacked, partially censored database released (techienews.co.uk)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Just days after Australia-based Gibson Security disclosed two hacks in Snapchat that could allow hackers to gain access to personal data of its users, hackers have managed to get their hands onto basic information of 4.6 million Snapchat users and have leaked it online partially censored. The database dump is available on SnapchatDB and allows anyone to grab it as a SQL dump or CSV text file. The hackers have claimed that they managed to siphon off the data through a recently patched exploit and that they have leaked the details to raise awareness on the issue. “This information was acquired through the recently patched Snapchat exploit and is being shared with the public to raise awareness on the issue”, reads a statement on SnapchatDB.

Submission + - The pointless existence of anti-virus software .. (alchemistowl.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Why don't users demand better? Why do they still accept software which will happily execute an attachment "no questions asked"? In an era when you can't bring on board of a plane something that remotely resembles a blade we have people continuing to accept dangeous attachments as if nothing had ever happened before, including people who have already been hit by virii!

Wouldn't it be the anti-virus software's job to stop the execution of these attachments outright, perhaps mentioning that it isn't normal for a document to be called "document.doc.exe"?

It would but unfortunately there would then be little incentive to keep updating the signatures and finance the business model of the anti-virus companies...

Submission + - NSA tech in electric toothbrushes, toaster ovens, more

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the latest, now-only-slightly-shocking revelation from the Snowden files, Italian news service el Fantastico reports that the NSA has successfully planted eavesdropping equipment in millions of consumer devices around the world. Infected devices include Sonicare toothbrushes, Mr. Coffee coffee makers, GE microwaves, and every single product made by Cuisinart. These devices have been retrofitted by the NSA to capture audio and video as well as location information and ambient odors. In a statement today, President Obama said, "Please just go home and go about your business. If you have any complaints, just say them into the air... we'll hear you."

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