70618289
submission
retroworks writes:
Washington Post reporter Caitlin Dewey leads with "Revenge-porn impresario Craig Brittain is learning the hard way that karma is a real witch."
The report states that the Federal Trade Commission has settled a complaint against Brittain, whose defunct site, "Is Anybody Down" was accused of unfair business practices. TFA: "The site paid its bills by soliciting women’s nude photos on Craigslist and/or from their exes, publishing the photos without the women’s permission (and often with their names and phone numbers attached), and then charging fees of $200 to $500 to take the photos down."
Brittain agreed to destroy the image and never operate a revenge porn site again. However, On Feb. 9, "Brittain filed a takedown request to Google, demanding that the search engine stop linking to nearly two dozen URLs — including a number of news articles, and files on the case from the FTC — because they used photos of him and information about him without his permission."
Ars Technica explains. “In this instance,” writes David Kravets, “fair use and general First Amendment principles are on Google’s and the media’s side.”
70370357
submission
retroworks writes:
Hans Rosling, one of the most influential speakers at TED talks http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_... during the past 2 years, presented to the UAE Government Summit 2015 in Dubai. Rosling, Co-Founder of Gapminder [http://www.gapminder.org/], said that population growth in Africa and Asia would push the center of focus from Europe to Dubai.
Using raw data from the UN to base his predictions, Dr Rosling said of the world’s current population of seven billion, one billion live in the Americas, one billion live in Africa, one billion live in Europe, and four billion live in Asia. By the year 2050, the European population will decline through a dip in new births but the African population will double to two billion, and Asia’s population will climb to over five billion people.
"By year 2100, America would have less than 10 per cent of the world’s population while 80 per cent of the population would be in Africa and Asia. The surge in population growth in Africa and Asia would make Dubai the centre of the world by 2100," Dr Rosling predicted.
Rosling's analysis is based on a very positive prognosis for world growth. "The world over, in all countries, two-child families has become the norm. "Families and governments are today keen on supporting the young population with education and better facilities. The emerging market of the world is the young couple in any country with their ambitions and dreams. These young couples are the driving force behind the changes in the world," Dr. Rosling said. In his TED talk, Rosling pokes fun of the stereotypes of "third world" countries, which he associates with the press' obsession with leading with bad news.
70209419
submission
retroworks writes:
First we had "planned obsolescence", the term coined by Vance Packard in 1960's bestseller "The Waste Makers". Next we had EULA agreements. Today, even farm tractor owners are not allowed to fix their agricultural equipment with wire and duct tape. Maker/Fixer Kyle Wiens of IFIXIT writes about trying to hack a neighbor's harvester, without success, in Wired News.
69663553
submission
retroworks writes:
WSJ reports on a race between Google (partnered with Sprint and T-Moble) and Cablevision to offer monthly "wifi only" cell phone service plans which would dramatically decrease the costs of monthly data and phone services for people living in cities with strong wifi infrastructure. The report emphasizes Google's caution in not creating enemies out of the cell phone companies (whom they need to support Android OS).
I remember the idea pitched in Burlington, VT over ten years ago. FTA
"Both efforts face substantial challenges—from stitching individual Wi-Fi hot spots into a reliable network to handling new customer-relations issues. And there is no guarantee the services would catch on with subscribers. Still, Google and Cablevision are throwing their weight behind an idea that up to this point has been pursued only by a handful of startups with names like FreedomPop, Republic Wireless and Scratch Wireless."
69584563
submission
retroworks writes:
The American football (NFL) rules were not written by physicists. They prescribe the rules that teams must follow to inflate the football. Some quarterbacks like the footballs tight, others softer for easier grip, but the rules define 12.5-13.5 pounds. During their winning game against the Baltimore Colts, the New England Patriots were accused of supplying a football or footballs which were under-inflated, potentially (?) giving their quarterback (Tom Brady) an advantage during the game.
Dr. Allen Sanderson, a research scientist at the University of Utah, told USA TODAY, "We think this is naturally occurring." A good cheater (like the Patriots are accused of being) could inflate the ball to NFL standards — inside a hot room. While defenders of the Patriots have suggested cold climate could explain the de-flation, it would have affected all of the footballs... unless (as Sanderson explains) the Patriots thought of filling the ball — legally — inside a hotter room.
69563699
submission
retroworks writes:
The Guardian, Nature, and other periodicals cover a report by Dr. James Gibbs of the State University of New York (SUNY-ESF) on the recent Pinzon Island population survey of giant tortoises. The survey of Galapogos (which means "tortoise" in Spanish) turned up the first reported sightings of baby tortoises in 150 years. Gibbs attributes the hopeful signs to a 2012 program to exterminate or control invasive rats, which are blamed for the low fertility rates, along with a 1982 repatriation of fertile tortoises from zoos. However, it's also possible, according to the article, that the researchers are just looking harder. The rare sightings may simply correlate with more frequent population surveys.
http://www.galapagos.org/blog/...
69330121
submission
retroworks writes:
There are clear signs already that humans are harming the oceans to a remarkable degree, according to research published in the journal Science.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cont...
Overharvesting, warming, and large-scale habitat loss are likely to accelerate as technology advances the human footprint. Ocean floor mining contracts, the paper says, could be the last straw.
69224491
submission
retroworks writes:
Motherboard reports on how US Congress directives against hiring pot users collides with FBI's need to recruit cyber security experts. The FBI now says that its drug-testing policies are keeping experts off the payroll.
“I have to hire a great work force to compete with those cyber criminals and some of those kids want to smoke weed on the way to the interview,” says FBI Director James Coney.
"[We have] the government hiring practices of the 1940s and 50s in the 21st century," Gregory Wilshusen, director of information at the General Accountability Office, is quoted from a linked article at InformationWeek. http://www.informationweek.com...
69045293
submission
retroworks writes:
Matthew Braga of Motherboard writes an article on a new "proof-of-concept" virus developed in Germany to demonstrate how Apple computers can be given an undetectible, uncleanable case of keylogging.
"Thunderstrike is a new proof-of-concept attack on Mac computers that was unveiled by programmer and hardware hacker Trammell Hudson at the annual Chaos Communication Congress last month—a well-known conference in Germany attended by hackers and digital activists worldwide. What makes Thunderstrike so different from your typical malware infection isn't how it's installed, but where. Rather than infect a computer's operating system, Thunderstrike targets the software that sits underneath—the firmware or BIOS."
The virus is similar to NSA reverse-engineered firmware-malware, such as StuccoMontana. (described https://www.schneier.com/cgi-b...)
68880001
submission
retroworks writes:
"The average Class of 2014 graduate with student-loan debt has to pay back some $33,000, according to an analysis of government data by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher at Edvisors, a group of web sites about planning and paying for college. Even after adjusting for inflation that’s nearly double the amount borrowers had to pay back 20 years ago."
The college debt expert says that most of the debt will still probably pay for itself, so long as the student doesn't borrow more than the first year expected salary upon graduation. But do colleges just use that to finance the "arms race" for modern campuses?
68801851
submission
retroworks writes:
NPR's Weekend program "TED Talk" interviews journalist Leslie T. Chang, second generation USA child of Chinese immigrants. Her book "Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China" traces the lives of two young women working in Dongguan, a factory city in South China. Leaving their home villages far behind in pursuit of work, Chunming and Min are part of an estimated 10 million young migrants who work in China's booming factories. These migrants live in a "perpetual present," forging individual and nontraditional lives amid the breakneck pace of manufacturing.
The interview and book reveal a very un-exotic and normal image of Chinese technology workers, who do not appear to feel victimized or abused. Her TED Talk takes a rather different view than the anti-Apple, anti-globalization rhetoric. Is guilt over technology being oversold? If so, who does the exaggeration benefit? Arguably the alarm bells improve working condiitions (the Nike Effect on sweatshops). But do exaggerations and false alarms also diminish effects on consumer consciences?
68709195
submission
retroworks writes:
Asia based Bloomberg News columnist Adam Minter documents the move of Chinese steel mills to Africa, and speculates that China's years of adolescent rates of economic growth may already be over. The one steel mill's move to Africa, by itself, increases Africa's production by 2/3. Asking Slashdotters whether to see China as a most rapid industrial revolution transition to clean economy, or whether export of mill jobs will be a plague on Africa's environment (or both)?
67954987
submission
retroworks writes:
Motherboard.vice offers an interesting scoop from the hacked Sony Pictures email trove. A plan championed by Polish marketing employee Magda Mastalerz was to upload false versions of highly-pirated Sony programming, effectively polluting torrent sites with false positives. For example, a “Hannibal”-themed anti-piracy ad to popular torrent sites disguised as the first episode. Sony Pictures legal department quashed the idea, saying that if pirate sites were illegal, it would also be illegal for Sony Pictures to upload onto them.
There were plans in WW2 to drop phony counterfeit currency to disrupt markets, and I wonder why flooding underground markets with phony products isn't widespread. Why don't credit card companies manufacture fake lists of stolen credit card numbers, or phony social security numbers, for illegal trading sites? For that matter, would fake ivory, fake illegal porn, and other "false positives" discourage buyers? Or create alibis? or distract police.
67624305
submission
retroworks writes:
This week's print edition of The Economist has an essay on the Right to Tinker with hardware. "Exactly why copyright law should be involved in something that ought to be a simple matter of consumer rights is hard to fathom. Any rational interpretation would suggest that when people buy or pay off the loan on a piece of equipment—whether a car, a refrigerator or a mobile phone—they own it, and should be free to do what they want with it. Least of all should they have to seek permission from the manufacturer or the government."
67142595
submission
retroworks writes:
Harvard Business Review (5 free articles until payall warning) has an interesting article about groupthink. The authors describe a study of two focus groups. One is from classically "red state" conservative Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. A second focus group hailed from more liberal leaning Boulder, Colorado. Individually, members of each focus group were surveyed for their opinions before the groups met. Individual members (as anticipated) trended conservatively in Colorado Springs, and liberally in Boulder. Everyone was re-surveyed (anonymously and otherwise) after the groups met. After meeting with their opinionated peers, respondents opinions hardened. Conservatives answered the same surveys responded MORE conservatively, and liberals MORE liberally. When focus groups are randomized (blues and reds in proportion, in the same group), opinions become less polarized. The article discusses the effects on public policy and business decision making when groups assigned a problem to solve self-select and recruit people like themselves. Diversity leads to more intelligent decision making. Or if you are selling a specific (weaker) solution, be obnoxious to reduce participation from competitive views. Incentive-driven opinion benefits from the lack of diversity, protecting its agenda by driving away newbies who avoid trolls.
Maybe this is nothing new... the effect of co-ed dorms vs. single-sex dorms and fraternities has been studied for decades. As someone who has participated in /. for about 15 years, attracted to intelligent discourse, I notice how many mod points must today be spent on flamebait. There is still good debate, but frequently someone making an otherwise very valid counter-argument dilutes its effect with emphatic hostility and ad hominem attacks on the original poster. Is the ratio of "inciteful" to "insightful" going down? It's no way to attract women slashdotters, btw.
