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Comment Re:The Fundamental reason this is legal (Score 1) 246

by Dr Reducto (#22792380) Attached to: JP Morgan's Insider Trading How-To On Wikileaks
IIRC, these plans are published and noted in company reports and press releases. But of course, these things aren't that important, and a lot of information is priced in by nature, and the analysts who closely follow the company are going to be the only people who really care about it. So it's not really important, but it is available
Privacy

Audit Finds FBI Abused Patriot Act 341

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the watching-the-watchers dept.
happyslayer writes to mention that according to Yahoo! News a recent audit shows that the FBI has improperly and in some cases illegally utilized the Patriot Act to obtain information. "The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found that FBI agents sometimes demanded personal data on individuals without proper authorization. The 126-page audit also found the FBI improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances. The audit blames agent error and shoddy record-keeping for the bulk of the problems and did not find any indication of criminal misconduct. Still, 'we believe the improper or illegal uses we found involve serious misuses of national security letter authorities,' the audit concludes."
User Journal

Journal SPAM: Eternal Recurrence

Journal by mercedo
I can't get an answer even if I thought it over and over again. I can find many Japanese expression for this state of my mind, though, it's hard to verbalise in English. Probably, no way out, thinking thinking over with no conclusion, cul-de-sac, self food poisoning, conflict along with two opposit values. Oh, I recall it. It's a catch 22.
Security

Submission + - Cult Of The Dead Cow Announce Support For B&W

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The worlds "most influential hacking group" CULT OF THE DEAD COW have announced their support for London's forthcoming security conference The Black And White Ball. Fom the press release: "Whitedust.net has announced The Black and White Ball's keynote speakers, including our very own Oxblood Ruffin. Also note that CULT OF THE DEAD COW/cDc communications is a supporter of the event (not a sponsor because we're leaving that to all of the big money hustlas out there)."
It's funny. Laugh.

Journal Journal: "Honey, what are you thinking about?"

Journal by GMontag

Finally, a response to the goofy question guys get all of the time from women. The only problem with it is we actually have to think and remember when we are asked.

her: "Honey, what are you thinking about?"

him: "I was thinking about your rear end."

her: "What?"

him: "Yea, I was thinking about replacing that crap from the factory with a Dana 60."

Caution: "What?" could easily get into "Do/So you think I'm fat?/!" territory.
Businesses

Submission + - The Road to Economic Imperialism

Submitted by
tritorch
tritorch writes: " Commentary:

It is in any corporation's best interest to retain absolute control over any product it releases into the market. At this time, software vendors represent the most sober push to actualize a new pro-corporate industrial segment by attempting to morph the current free market model of proprietary consumer ownership into a draconian licensing scheme in which the customer no longer owns the software, but is essentially "renting" it from the content creator. This paradigm shift not only corrupts the very essence of capitalism, it has much farther reaching connotations because just to acquire such a license the consumer is forced to sign away their rights to the point that if the content holder even suspects a violation of the ToS, he can de-activate the product while retaining the licensing fees.

When you take into consideration the nature of a corporation, you can start to get a picture of what it will blindly do to survive and expand. A corporation doesn't care about you, it cares about what's in your wallet, and it will do anything and everything to maximize its ability to get it. The transparent goal of any business is to minimize its spending while maximizing yours. So why sell you the product when they can license you the product while tagging you with a long list of what you can and cannot do with the product?

A Corporation will always do whatever it considers to be in its best interest. Every time you read about an alliance or merger between two major corporate entities, take out your wallet and give it a heartfelt kiss goodbye. The Corporation just won, the consumer just lost, the rich just got richer and the rest of us just got pissed on. Excrement rolls downhill, money rolls up and forming alliances just happens to be the best way to reduce competition, reduce choice, raise prices, and implement those draconian licensing schemes outlined above.

If nothing is done to stop this then the infection will spread to every channel of product distribution, and the day will come when you will own nothing. Outrage will become mild outrage. Mild outrage will become uneasy acceptance. Uneasy acceptantce will become acceptance, and acceptance will turn the remaining outraged into outcasts. By the end we will have sold our lethargic souls to buy counterfeit commitments and economic imperialism."
The Internet

Submission + - The RIAA is trying to kill internet radio

Submitted by
sgeirk
sgeirk writes: "The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB),announced the new Soundexchange royalty rates, which could spell the end for many independent webcasters, not to mention the simulcast signals for many commercial and non-commercial radio stations. In a nutshell, rates are going to double between now and 2010. Even webcasters who stream through services like Live365 may be in jeopardy, as such firms' business models never envisioned a royalty rate this high. For more information on this story go here."
Graphics

Making Animated Fluids Look More Realistic 124

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the smoke-and-mirrors dept.
brunascle writes "Technology Review has an article about recent advances in animated fluid dynamics made by Mathieu Desbrun, a computer science professor at Caltech. 'He and his team are developing an entirely new approach to fluid motion, based on new mathematics called discrete differential geometry, that use equations designed specifically to be solved by computers rather than people.' Desbrun explains that the currently in-use equations for animating fluid dynamics were not developed with computers in mind, and were simply reworkings of older equations. He claims that his new equations use about the same amount of computer resources, but with much better results. The article includes a 5 minute (flash) video demonstrating various results using his equations, ending with 2 fascinating and vivid displays: the first of a snowglobe, and the second of a cloud of smoke filling a volume in the shape of a bunny."
The Internet

UN Official Says UN Not Taking Over Internet 104

Posted by CowboyNeal from the our-hands-are-clean dept.
kaufmanmoore writes "Hamadoun Toure, the new head of the UN's International Telecommunications Union says that he does not plan to take over governance of the internet and leave it up to groups like ICANN. In his statement he says that the ITU will instead focus on bridging the digital divide, internet security and standardize broadband communications. When asked about Chinese censorship Toure said that issue is beyond the mandate of the ITU."

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