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Comment Re:Well... (Score 1) 734

by Zocalo (#49192399) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Should I Let My Kids Become American Citizens?
I'd go with this too; defer the decision until your kids are 16, going on 18 and hopefully have a better idea what they want to do and can understand the pros and cons themselves, but you probably want to raise the point before then so they can be considering it ahead of time. There's simply no point burdening them with US taxes that they might otherwise not have had to pay unless there is a good reason for doing so - especially since they'll probably be paying taxes in the EU as well if they choose to stay there. Even if they do want to go and study/work in the US, there's always the option of applying to go as EU citizens which should be good for most things, and if their longer plans might involve the prospect of longer term residency or positions that require US nationality then they could always apply for US citizenship then.

Submission + - Red Hat strips down for Docker (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes: Reacting to the surging popularity of the Docker virtualization technology, Red Hat has customized a version of its Linux distribution to run Docker containers. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Atomic Host strips away all the utilities residing in the stock distribution of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that aren't needed to run Docker containers. Removing unneeded components saves on storage space, and reduces the time needed for updating and booting up. It also provides fewer potential entry points for attackers. (Product page is here.)

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Should I let my kids become American citizens? 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dear fellow Slashdotters,

Can you help me decide whether to allow my small daughter and son to become American citizens?

I am American and my partner is Swedish. We have both lived in Belgium for many years and have no plans to leave. I became a Belgian citizen some years ago and kept my American citizenship. My partner has both her original Swedish and now Belgian citizenship. We are not married. Instead we have a registered partnership, which is common in northern Europe, confers most of the benefits of marriage, and raises no eyebrows. However, the American government does not recognize such partnerships so in their eyes I am still single.

Generally, children of American citizens abroad automatically become American citizens themselves at birth. But our kids fall under an exception. Male American citizens who live abroad and have children out of wedlock with a non-citizen mother do not automatically transmit citizenship to their children unless they sign an “affidavit of support” promising to support their children until the age of 18. If you don’t sign before the child reaches 18, the child is not considered an American citizen. This has been upheld by two Supreme Court rulings (Nguyen v. INS and Flores-Villar v. United States). For legal beagles, the relevant statutes are 8 U.S.C. 1401 and 1409.

The kids have Swedish and Belgian citizenship. We could go down to the American consulate and get American citizenship for them any time, but I keep putting off the decision and I am not sure I want to do it at all. Sentimentally I would like the kids to have American citizenship, but there is really only one practical pro to it:

* American citizenship would allow them to live, work, or study in America more easily, if they choose, when they get older.

The cons:

* They would be immediately enmeshed in the U.S. tax bureaucracy, which would require them to file U.S. tax returns for life even if they never set foot in the U.S. This, as I know from experience, is a huge bother, even when you don’t owe anything.
* Sometimes they would owe U.S. tax, though, for example for capital gains, unearned income, and in some countries self-employment income.
* My son would have to register for the draft.
* The decision, once made, is difficult to back out of: renouncing one’s U.S. citizenship costs $2300 and a lot of paperwork.
* They can easily travel to the US for family visits as Belgian/Swedish citizens.
* There are lots of good universities in Europe. And if they really wanted to study in the U.S., it’s not too hard to do as a European.

What do you think I should do? The clock is ticking, and I find it hard to choose between the evil of not being able to be American if they choose, and the evil of unjust, lifelong pursuit by the IRS.

Yours sincerely,
A loyal Slashdotter.

Here are two good relevant links:
https://americansabroad.org/is...
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12...

Submission + - Mars Had an Ocean, Scientists Say, Pointing to New Data (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: After six years of planetary observations, scientists at NASA say they have found convincing new evidence that ancient Mars had an ocean.

It was probably the size of the Arctic Ocean, larger than previously estimated, the researchers reported on Thursday. The body of water spread across the low-lying plain of the planet’s northern hemisphere for millions of years, they said.

If confirmed, the findings would add significantly to scientists’ understanding of the planet’s history and lend new weight to the view that ancient Mars had everything needed for life to emerge.

Submission + - EU free data roaming & net neutrality plans in jeopardy (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: EU free data roaming and net neutrality plans now look like they are in doubt as European regulators have dropped plans to ban roaming charges and have proposed net neutrality rules allowing privileged access in some cases."
This comes as an about u-turn of plans in 2014 when EU MEPs voted to scrap mobile roaming fees in Europe by 15th December 2015 with the proposal orginally covered in slashdot in 2010

Submission + - Anthem Blocking Federal Auditor from Doing Vulnerability Scans (digitalguardian.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: File this one under "suspicious behavior." Anthem Inc., the Indiana-based health insurer has informed a federal auditor, the Office of Personnel Management, that it will not permit vulnerability scans of its network — even after acknowledging that it was the victim of a massive breach that leaked data on tens of millions of patients.

According to this article (http://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/anthem-refuses-full-security-audit-a-7980/op-1), Anthem is citing "company policy" that prohibits third party access to its network in declining to let auditors from OPM's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conduct scans for vulnerable systems. OPM's OIG performs a variety of audits on health insurers that provide health plans to federal employees under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program, or FEHBP. Insurers aren't mandated to comply — though most do.

This isn't Anthem's first time saying "no thanks" to the offer of a network vulnerability scan. The company also declined to let OIG scan its network in 2013. A partial audit report issued at the time (http://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-general/reports/2013/audit-of-information-systems-general-and-application-controls-at-wellpoint-inc-1a-10-00-13-012.pdf) warned that the company, then known as WellPoint, "provided us with conflicting statements" on issues related to information security, including Wellpoint's practices regarding regular configuration audits and its plans to shift to IBM's Tivoli Endpoint Manager (TEM) platform.

Submission + - CRTC issues $1.1 million penalty to Compu-Finder for spamming Canadians

Submitted by zentigger
zentigger writes: Canadians rejoice! It looks like the new anti-spam regulations might actually have some teeth! Today, the CRTC issued a $1.1 million fine to Compu-Finder for violating Canada’s anti-spam legislation by sending commercial emails without consent, as well as messages in which the unsubscribe mechanisms did not function properly. Furthermore, an analysis of the complaints made to the Spam Reporting Centre of this industry sector shows that Compu-Finder accounts for 26% of all complaints submitted.

Submission + - Sun light for your lair (lumilabs.co)

Submitted by MakeItGlow
MakeItGlow writes: A Pittsburgh based start-up has addressed a common problem of geeks everywhere. Natural light is biologically essential, but it's outside. A new light called Lumious changes like the sun. It hacks your photo-receptors to keep your circadian rhythms in check.

Submission + - World's first fully digital radio transmitter built purely from microprocessor t (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For the first time in history, a prototype radio has been created that is claimed to be completely digital, generating high-frequency radio waves purely through the use of integrated circuits and a set of patented algorithms without using conventional analog radio circuits in any way whatsoever. This breakthrough technology promises to vastly improve the wireless communications capabilities of everything from 5G mobile technology to the multitude devices

Submission + - Anthem Refuses Full IT Security Audit (databreachtoday.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A federal watchdog agency says Anthem Inc. has refused to allow it to conduct vulnerability scans of the health insurer's systems in the wake of its recent massive data breach affecting 78.8 million individuals. Anthem also refused to allow scans by the same agency in 2013.

Submission + - Unity Releases Full-Featured Free Edition (gamasutra.com)

Submitted by fsagx
fsagx writes: On the heels of Epic's announcement of a free-to-download version, Unity releases Unity 5, the latest version of its popular multiplatform engine. Unity 5 Personal is completely free to developers with revenue or funding less than $100,000 a year, and includes the full engine (but no advanced services package.)

Submission + - Intel Reveals Unlocked, Socketed Broadwell CPU And Core i7 NUC w/ Iris Graphics (hothardware.com) 1

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Intel held an event at a location adjacent to GDC last night, where the company discussed some updates to its 5th Gen Core processor line-up, Intel graphics developments, the Intel Hardware SDK, and its various game developer tools. Chris Silva, Director of Marketing for Premium Notebook and Client Graphics teams disclosed a few details that a socketed, unlocked, 65W desktop processor based on Intel's Broadwell architecture, featuring Iris graphics, is due to arrive sometime in mid-2015. It's noteworthy because this will be Intel's first desktop CPU with Iris Pro graphics and because it is multiplier unlocked. It will be interesting to see what Iris Pro can do with some overclocking. Intel then showed off a new NUC mini PC powered by a 28W, quad-core Core i7 Broadwell processor, which also featured Iris graphics. The device has a tiny .63 liter enclosure with support for high-performance M.2 solid state drives and features an array of built-in IO options, like USB3, BT4, and 802.11ac WiFi. Bryan Langley, Principal PM for Windows Graphics also talked a bit about DirectX 12, disclosing that the company would be ready with DX12 support when Windows 10 arrives and that there are optimizations in DX12 and their drivers that would deliver performance enhancements to current and future Intel graphics platforms.

Submission + - Major security flaw in Mac password system. (cnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: CNET is putting a positive spin on a major security flaw in the Mac ecosystem. Apparently, Apple created a "feature" where if you forget the password to your Mac, simply pressing command R at boot up lets you into administrator settings allowing you to reset the computer's password. This is a great "feature" to forgetful owners, hackers, and thiefs alike.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Why there is not a campaign against "Cloud Exclusive Hardware" ?

Submitted by martiniturbide
martiniturbide writes: Today we can see a lot of hardware that is being sold that only works only against a cloud. There are many examples, like the Belkin NetCam HD+ (wifi webcam) that only works if you run it against their service (by seedonk) and if you don’t want to use their cloud, this hardware is useless. This is happening with a lot of new hardware and it does mean that you get the device cheap for being locked to their cloud, you are paying full price for this devices. On the internet there are just little groups trying to hack some of this hardware, but the consumer does not seems to care that if the manufacturer discontinue the service the hardware will be useless. Why there are no complains against this kind of hardware on the internet? Is it useless to fight “cloud exclusive hardware”? Should we care about it? Or we are so used to disposable hardware that we don’t care anymore?

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