Submission + - Happy 2007 System Administrator Day (sysadminday.com)
cbelle13013 writes: Today is the international day of recognition for Systems Administrators. Help Celebrate Systems Administrator Day by patting yourself on the back, having your office manager take you out to lunch, or changing your cell phone number on the company phone list.
I'm enjoying my new sports car!Let's face it, System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work. But seriously, we are asking for a nice token gift and some public acknowledgment. It's the least you could do.
Submission + - University of Kansas will not forward RIAA letters
Bonewalker writes: Looks like the University of Kansas may not be as pro-RIAA (or anti-student) as initially assumed last week from this recent Slashdot story. Of course, this doesn't make that "one-strike" policy any less flawed, but it shows that they aren't simply throwing their students under the RIAA bus, as one poster put it. As an alum, I am happy to see this. I wonder if they needed to get a story like this out to help combat the backlash and stigma from that previous article, though?
Submission + - German court: No P2P IP lookup for music industry (heise.de)
RichiH writes: German news site heise.de reports (Babelfish) that a court in Offenburg rejected the state attorney's request to get the private data of a file sharer because it was 'obviously unreasonable'. 'Based on logic', the study speaking of 5 billion traded files per year in 2001 and 2002 which the music industry in Germany often cites can not apply as the user in question uploaded only a single song that the music industry knows of. The court also said that many p2p users are not aware that the programs automatically starts hidden and mandatory upload of files it has access to, so that, unless proven otherwise, the person in question did not upload anything on purpose. Furthermore, the court said that the claim of high damages does not hold water as a song typically costs less than a Euro and 'at a price of 0, someone who will not even spend a single cent will still want to get a product', citing a study that shows no negative impact of p2p on revenues. Finally, the court said that the music simply wants the data of the person in question so it can sue them in civil court and that it did not have any right to the data trying 'via several tens of thousands of criminal charges' to 'get at information the law is explicitly keeping from them'. Several state attorneys said, under strict promise of anonymity, that they would now try to get similar rules so that they 'dedicate their time to more severe crimes'. Go ahead, tag this one 'haha' :)
Submission + - Identity Thief Apprehended by Victim
ewhac writes: "Karen Lodrick was entering her sixth month of hell dealing with the repercussions of having her identity stolen and used to loot her accounts. But while she was waiting for a beverage, there standing in line was the woman who appeared on Wells Fargo security video emptying her accounts. What followed was a 45 minute chase through San Francisco streets that ended with the thief being taken into custody by police."
Submission + - IBM loses tapes with former employees' data (ibm.com)
An anonymous reader writes: I was an intern with IBM ten years ago and just today received a letter informing me that tapes containing my and other former employees' data (including social security numbers) were lost on February 23, 2007 while being transported by a vendor. IBM is offering free membership with the ID TheftSmart Enhanced Identity Theft Restoration and Continuous Credit Monitoring program from Kroll Inc for one year for everyone affected. It just goes to show that no matter how long it's been, your personal information in someone else's hands is never safe.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
The full text of the letter can be found here.
Submission + - IT ads from the past: From the quaint to the weird (computerworld.com)
PetManimal writes: "Computerworld has dug up some funny IT advertising gems from decades past. The highlights include "The Personal Mainframe", Elvira hawking engineering software, and an image of the earliest screenless "briefcase portables." Strange to think that people not only took these technologies so seriously, but also paid big bucks for gear that seems positively primitive now."
Submission + - LA wants 911 callers to be able to send pics (mercurynews.com)
mikesd81 writes: "San Jose Mercury News reports the Police Commission on Tuesday approved a proposal to buy a software program that would allow witnesses with cell phone cameras to take pictures of accident and crime scenes and transmit the images to 911 call centers.
When a witness dials 911 to report an incident and has taken cell phone pictures of the scene, a dispatcher can send a text message to the caller requesting the image. The caller replies to the message with the images attached, according to software maker PowerPhone Inc. of Madison, Conn. "It seems like a good way to make our city safer and help law enforcement officials know about the crime scene," said City Council President Eric Garcetti, who introduced a motion in April asking the city to implement the program. The cost of the program hasn't been determined, but Garcetti estimated it will be "in the hundreds of thousands range." "If it saves a life, if it helps prevent a crime from occurring, then it's a price well worth it," Garcetti said."
When a witness dials 911 to report an incident and has taken cell phone pictures of the scene, a dispatcher can send a text message to the caller requesting the image. The caller replies to the message with the images attached, according to software maker PowerPhone Inc. of Madison, Conn. "It seems like a good way to make our city safer and help law enforcement officials know about the crime scene," said City Council President Eric Garcetti, who introduced a motion in April asking the city to implement the program. The cost of the program hasn't been determined, but Garcetti estimated it will be "in the hundreds of thousands range." "If it saves a life, if it helps prevent a crime from occurring, then it's a price well worth it," Garcetti said."
Submission + - Weapon found in Whale blubber from the 1800's (cnn.com)
LABarr writes: AP and CNN are carrying this story. "A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old. The bomb lance fragment, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time. It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890." One tough whale...
Submission + - Law students sue anonymous message board posters (wsj.com)
The Xoxo Reader writes: "The Wall Street Journal reports that two female students at Yale Law School have filed suit for defamation and infliction of emotional distress against an administrator and several anonymous posters (identified only by their pseudoynms) at the popular law student discussion board AutoAdmit (a.k.a. Xoxohth). One of the claims is that the posters have violated copyright laws by reposting pictures of the women without their permission. Since AutoAdmit's administrators have previously said that they do not retain IP logs of posters, it is unclear how the plaintiffs will ultimately be able to identify the actual people behind the pseudonyms named in the complaint. Apparently, one method was to post the summons on the message board itself and ask the posters to step forward. The controversy leading to this lawsuit was previously discussed on Slashdot here."
Submission + - NASA Chief attacked for Global Warming Stance (npr.org)
bagsc writes: "NASA Administrator Michael Griffin did an interview for NPR's Science Friday, saying "I have no doubt that ... a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with."
Then, the media attacks. Sure, he's a political appointee, and NASA released a study this week that the Earth is within 1.8 degrees of the safe maximum standard. But aren't government Administrators supposed to say when they don't have good policy options to implement, or should we just spend on anything (like corn ethanol) to make people feel better until we analyze the options better?"
Submission + - NASA Chief: Who says global warming is bad?
guanxi writes: In an NPR interview NASA chief Michael Griffin, a rocket scientist, put the reputation of his famous research organization (not to mention the United States) behind this statement: "I have no doubt that ... a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with." I was going to add commentary, but there's little you can add to statements like this one: "To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change. First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings." To most people, of course, the words of the head of NASA are authoritative.
Submission + - Microsoft is using Linux for their Servers!
jhepoy writes: http://pinoygeek.org/2007/05/27/microsoft-is-using -linux-for-their-servers/
Yahoo.com is a consistent FreeBSD on their servers. Apple.com which is known for OSX as based in Unix is not surprising to see MacOSX and Linux running on their servers. The most surprising part is when I looked for Microsoft.com statistics and found out that they are running Linux on some of their web servers. The irony is that Microsoft is attacking Linux as an insecure OS which can be found on their Get The Facts campaign.
Submission + - Life Imprisonment for Copyright Infringement
ronadams writes: "P. Parameswaran writes in his AFP article:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he proposed comprehensive legislation to Congress Monday against copyright thieves, including raising the maximum penalty to life imprisonment and seizing the illicit profits of offenders.
Nick Ferrel at the Inquirer confirms the reports and adds a few interesting insights of his own.
Good to know RIAA is a vital part of the US Government. I must have been asleep when my Government & Law professor glossed over that one."
Submission + - Cinemas use night goggles to nab pirates
fluffman86 writes: "Reuters reports that movie theaters in Malaysia are cracking down on movie piracy by giving military style night vision goggles to ushers. According to the article, after cinema staff seat patrons, they don the NVGs in order to catch people who are recording the film with hand held camcorders.
The article also mentions that Malaysia has purchased two DVD sniffing dogs — Lucky and Flo, in order to find large quantities of burned and pirated DVDs. There are some reports that there is a bounty for killing the dogs."
