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Comment Quid Pro Quo (Score 1) 695

by Number6.2 (#28184307) Attached to: Keeping a PC Personal At School?

I have to agree with the parent. By being a "nice guy" you buy brownie points from the people you lend your PC to...maybe. On the other hand, they may be leeches who will not hesitate to guilt you into doing what they want, and then not reciprocate at a future time. How do you tell the difference? Ah, college, it's all about learning to be social in a social environment.

In the end, though, it's your computer. You'll be amazed at how fast all these "friends" disappear once some lunk-head breaks your PC. And sticks you with the repair bill.

I'm just saying.
Privacy

Court Sets Rules For RIAA Hard Drive Inspection 470

Posted by Soulskill from the this-far-and-no-farther dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In a Boston RIAA case, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Court has issued a detailed protective order establishing strict protocols for the RIAA's requested inspection of the defendant's hard drive, in order to protect the defendant's privacy. The order (PDF) provides that the hard drive will be turned over to a computer forensics expert of the RIAA's choosing, for mirror imaging, but that only the forensics expert — and not the plaintiffs or their attorneys — will be able to examine the mirror image. The forensics expert will then issue a report which will describe (a) any music files found on the drive, (b) any file-sharing information associated with each file, and any other records of file-sharing activity, and (c) any evidence that the hard-drive has been 'wiped' or erased since the initiation of the litigation. The expert will be precluded from examining 'any non-relevant files or data, including ... emails, word-processing documents, PDF documents, spreadsheet documents, image files, video files, or stored web-pages.'"

Comment Re:Biotech & Nanotech improvements (Score 1) 409

by Number6.2 (#27302087) Attached to: I expect the last human on Earth to be born ...

That's why those "herds" of Feral Humans will have to be carefully managed! Granted, they're dirty, forgetful, vain, cranky and needlessly aggressive, and nearly psychotic as a rule, but the "Ferals" will still be the only easily obtainable life form capable of building it's replacements from scratch (with a lead time of, oh, say, ten thousand years).

And they're the only ones crazy enough to think that doing so is a good idea.

Yes, my transapient friends, they're the ultimate fail-safe. And so much fun to watch!

Comment Re:Don't Blame the Equation (Score 1) 561

by Number6.2 (#27052767) Attached to: The Formula That Killed Wall Street

Zactly. Or, more to the point, you have people who may be people-skill brilliant (and you can always cut a deal with people, right? Just say the right word, tell the right lie, make the right threat, grease the right palm, and they'll do what you want...) but reality-skill stupid (ever try arguing with Ma Nature? Not happening) running the show.

The Map is Not The Territory. But Busy Executives still use Excel spread sheets like it was Gospel.

Just saying...
Space

Black Hole At Center of Milky Way Confirmed 392

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i-can-see-it-from-here dept.
Smivs writes "The BBC are reporting that a German team has confirmed the existence of a Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way. Astronomers tracked the movement of 28 stars circling the center of the Milky Way, using the 3.5m New Technology Telescope and the 8.2m Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Both are operated by the European Southern Observatory (Eso). The black hole is four million times heavier than our Sun, according to the paper in The Astrophysical Journal. According to Dr Robert Massey, of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the results suggest that galaxies form around giant black holes in the way that a pearl forms around grit."
Security

FBI Says Military Had Counterfeit Cisco Routers 186

Posted by kdawson from the who-do-you-trust dept.
There are new developments in the case of the counterfeit Cisco routers, which we have been discussing for some time. The NYTimes updates the story after an FBI PowerPoint presentation made its way onto the Web. It seems that experts at Cisco have examined some of the counterfeit routers in detail and proclaimed that they contain no back doors. Others don't believe we can be so sure. "Last month, [DARPA] began distributing chips with hidden Trojan horse circuitry to military contractors who are participating in the agency's Trusted Integrated Circuits program. The goal is to test forensic techniques for finding hidden electronic trap doors, which can be maddeningly elusive... The threat was demonstrated in April when a team of computer scientists from the University of Illinois presented a paper at a technical conference in San Francisco detailing how they had modified a Sun Microsystems SPARC microprocessor... The researchers were able to create a stealth system that would allow them to automatically log in to a computer and steal passwords."

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