66557179
submission
whoever57 writes:
The US Marshals Service is running cell tower spoofers on small planes. These devices are called "dirtboxes". The devices are made by Boeing Co. and can collect information from tens of thousands of cellphones in a single flight. When asked about the program, the US Justice department could neither confirm nor deny the reports.
66546341
submission
whoever57 writes:
On refreshing my user page on /., I just received a pop-up informing me that I need a new modem. I don't really need a new modem — it is just that Comcast would like to use my house as a wireless POP, providing WiFi service to anyone with a Comcast login.
Since I have wifi in my house, I have zero interest in providing a location from which Comcast can provide wireless service to all and sundry, so the pop-up was a little annoying.
Nevertheless, the wider issue is Comcase deploying technologies to monitor and modify http: requests on the fly.
Have other COmcast users on /. seen this?
66039477
submission
whoever57 writes:
How widely is DKIM and DMARC being implemented? Some time ago, Yahoo implemented strict checks on DKIM before accepting email, breaking many mailing lists. However, Spamassassin actually assigns a positive score (more likely to be spam) to DKIM-signed emails, unless the signer domain matches the from domain. Some email marketing companies don't provide a way for emails to be signed with the sender's domain — instead, using their own domain to sign emails. DMARC doesn't seem to have a delegation mechanism, by which a domain owner could delegate other domains as acceptable signatures for emails their emails.
All of these issues suggest that the value of DKIM and DMARC is quite low, both as a mechanism to identify valid emails and as a mechanism to identify spam. In fact, spam is often dkim-signed.
Are /. users who manage email delivery actually using DKIM and DMARC?
65284057
submission
whoever57 writes:
Google has asked the Supreme Court to review the issue of whether APIs can be copyrighted. Google beat Oracle in the trial court, where a judge with a software background ruled that APIs could not be copyrighted. but the Appeals court sided with Oracle, ruling that APIs can be copyrighted. Now Google is asking the Supreme Court to overturn that decision.
65250289
submission
whoever57 writes:
All official numbers for fuel economy in the EU typically overstate the miles-per-gallon figure that drivers can expect to achieve in typical driving. A recent study confirmed this once again. However, what the study also found was that MPG figures are more urealistic for cars with smaller engines than for cars with larger engines. Actual MPG figures achieved based on typical drives for cars with small engines could be as much as 36% under the offical number, while those cars with 3 liter engines would typically achieve 15% less than the official figure.
62985395
submission
whoever57 writes:
The UK's Daily Telegraph has an interesting and somewhat balanced view of the world of fan fiction, providing an historical perspective, the different types of audiences and how different authors and publishers react to fan fiction. Of particular note, is how the author of Fifty Shades of Grey (originally a fan fiction based on the Twilight series) reacts to parties themed around the novel (not well). The article notes how some publishers and authors welcome fan fiction because it enables the original author to make more money.
62156489
submission
whoever57 writes:
Shaun Nichols at The Register interpets Satya Nadella's open letter as "prepare for layoffs". The letter suggests radical changes are coming to Microsoft and, combined with duplication of functions because of the Nokia handset business acquisition, he thinks that layoffs are highly likely. Wes Miller, research vice-president at Directions on Microsoft, says that Microsoft is shifting from the Windows-everywhere approach, towards supporting productivity applications on different platforms. More details will be forthcoming from Microsoft on July 22.
61754385
submission
whoever57 writes:
A study of "Yeti" hair samples shows some interesting results. Most of the samples were not hair at all, some were human, some were from horses, some from known bear types but two samples showed a surprising match: a 100% match to 40,000 year old DNA from a polar bear. One sample came from the carcass of an animal killed 40 years ago in India and the other from Bhutan. The scientists report that: “It seems more likely that the two hairs reported here are from either a previously unrecognised bear species, or brown bear/polar bear hybrids.”
58375943
submission
whoever57 writes:
The UK Government has signed a contract worth £5.5M (almost $9M) for extended support and security updates for Windows XP for 12 months after April 8. The deal covers XP, Exchange 2003 and Office 2003 for users in central and local government, schools and the National Health Service. The NHS is in need of this deal because it was estimated last September that 85% of the NHS's 800,000 computers were running XP.
54808193
submission
whoever57 writes:
According to an orginal report in Der Spiegel, and
secondary reporting in the Washington Post, the NSA intercepts deliveries of PCs and installs logging software or hardware on them before the customer receives them. According to a document cited by Der Spegel, interception is one of the NSA's "most productive operations"
Der Spiegel also reported that the NSA intercepts and uses Windows crash reports in order to gather information that is used to develop new methods to crack Windows machines.
54534387
submission
whoever57 writes:
On Decemer 10, Microsoft released a firmware update for Surface Pro 2. Now, due to widespread issues with battery life, charging, sleeping, etc., Microsoft has pulled the update. It appears that some of the tablets failed to completely install the update. The number of people posting about the the problem in the Microsoft Community site shows that there are at least hundreds of users with this problem. What propeortion of the Surface Pro 2 user base does this represent?
53958797
submission
whoever57 writes:
The technique most commonly used by police in the USA for interrogations produces a shockingly high rate of false confessions. People who have solid alibis tend to be found guilty purely because of their confession. This technique was developed by John Reid and the defendant who confessed in the case that made Reid's reputation was shown, years later, to be innocent. The technique discussed in an article in the New Yorker magazine (subscription required). The author of the article also discuses it in an interview on NPR's Fresh Air program. The underpinnings of the Reid technique have been shown to be based on pseudo-science. The UK police now use a different technique, which is not focussed on obtaining a confession, but rather eliciting information which may be used to show the guilt or innocence of the interviewee: the PEACE technique, which is closer to the way journalists conduct interviews. Good cop/bad cop doesn't seem to feature in any techniques.
52891911
submission
whoever57 writes:
Almost 150 years ago, the Church of England rejected Charles Darwin's theories. Now, 150 years later, the church is comparing that rejection to the rejection of Galileo's work. The CoE will publish an apology, written by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church's director of mission and public affairs. The apology will be on a CoE website, going live on Monday, which will promote Charles Darwin's ideas.
50210107
submission
whoever57 writes:
On Saturday, Oracle Team USA and Team New Zealand begin racing for the America's Cup in the amazing AC72 boats. However, the Oracle team starts with a siginficant handicap. It was recently discovered that members of Oracle Team USA made illegal changes to the boats used in the Americas Cup Series (which is sailed in the smaller AC45 boats). After a hearing on Friday, the International Jury has decided on the penalty: Team Oracle will have to pay a fine, sail without some team members and more significantly, loses 2 points before starting the Americas Cup races against Team New Zealand. A tiny amount of weight had been added to the kingposts, in violation of the measurement rules for the class. This was reported to the measurement committee some weeks ago after its discovery by boatbuilders working for America's Cup Regatta Management (ACRM), not members of Oracle Team USA.
48925051
submission
whoever57 writes:
The NSA responded to an FOI request asking that the requestor narrow the information required because its email system is "a little antiquated and archaic". This followed a request for information on emails between the NSA and the National Geographic channel, following the latter broadcasting a documentary that was very friendly to the NSA. The intent was to investigate the NSA's PR efforts. Apparently the NSA can only search individual employees' mailboxes and cannot search all emails across the agency.
