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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 16 declined, 10 accepted (26 total, 38.46% accepted)

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Submission + - iPads banned from UK Cabinet meetings over surveillance fears (telegraph.co.uk) 1

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: British securities services fear foreign intelligence agencies have developed the ability to turn mobile devices such as phones and tablets into bugs without the owner’s knowledge, allowing them to eavesdrop on confidential meetings.

According to the article, UK security services fear China, Russia and Pakistway have figured out a way to turn mobiles into microphones, and have them transmit even when they're off. Ministers in sensitive government departments have been issued with soundproof lead-lined boxes, which they must place their mobiles in when having sensitive conversations.
NASA

Submission + - Saturn's largest moon undergoes crater makeover (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: NASA scientists say Cassini has discovered that far fewer craters on Titan than on the other moons of Saturn. The craters they have discovered are far shallower than other moons' craters and appear to be filling with hydrocarbon sand. On top of being yet another reason Titan's active geology is very cool, it adds to the mystery of where all the methane on Titan is coming from.
Science

Submission + - Pat Robertson Rejects Creationism (cnn.com)

Submitted by
MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: "From the article:

"Televangelist Pat Robertson challenged the idea that Earth is 6,000 years old this week, saying the man who many credit with conceiving the idea, former Archbishop of Ireland James Ussher, “wasn’t inspired by the Lord when he said that it all took 6,000 years.”

And further...

Before answering the question, Robertson acknowledged the statement was controversial by saying, “I know that people will probably try to lynch me when I say this.” “If you fight science, you are going to lose your children, and I believe in telling them the way it was,” Robertson concluded.

"
Crime

Submission + - Teen Suicide Tormenter Outed By Anonymous (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: From the story:

The tragic story of a Canadian teen suicide victim Amanda Todd has taken another bizarre twist as the internet hacking and activist group Anonymous has named a man the group says was the girl's primary tormentor. Todd, 15, of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, died last Wednesday, a month after posting a haunting video on YouTube that cited the sexualized attack that set her down a path of anxiety, depression and drug and alcohol abuse.

This raises a whole nest of issues surrounding the presumption of innocence and vigilantism. Should the police and the courts be given the appropriate amount of time to determine if there is sufficient evidence, or if a crime has in fact been committed, or is Anonymous right in short-circuiting what might in fact be a lengthy process with no guarantee that anyone will face charges?

Submission + - Neanderthal-Modern Human Interbreeding Cast In Doubt (Again) (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: It appears that the back-and-forth debate over whether modern humans and Neanderthals has been swung back into the "unlikely" category.

According to the abstract (at PNAS):

"Recent comparisons between anatomically modern humans and ancient genomes of other hominins have raised the tantalizing, and hotly debated, possibility of hybridization. Although several tests of hybridization have been devised, they all rely on the degree to which different modern populations share genetic polymorphisms with the ancient genomes of other hominins. However, spatial population structure is expected to generate genetic patterns similar to those that might be attributed to hybridization. To investigate this problem, we take Neanderthals as a case study, and build a spatially explicit model of the shared history of anatomically modern humans and this hominin. We show that the excess polymorphism shared between Eurasians and Neanderthals is compatible with scenarios in which no hybridization occurred, and is strongly linked to the strength of population structure in ancient populations. Thus, we recommend caution in inferring admixture from geographic patterns of shared polymorphisms, and argue that future attempts to investigate ancient hybridization between humans and other hominins should explicitly account for population structure."
Apple

Submission + - DOJ sues Apple over price-fixing scheme (cnn.com)

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday brought a lawsuit against Apple and several publishing companies over a scheme to fix e-book prices, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNNMoney.
Encryption

Submission + - Data Remanence Solutions 3

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: The company I work for has just had their government contract renewed, which is good news, giving me several more years of near-guaranteed employment!

However, in going through all the schedules and supplementary documents related to the old contract, which we will begin winding down next spring, we've discovered some pretty stiff data remanence requirements that, for hard drives at least, boil down to "they must be sent to an appropriately recognized facility for destruction."

Now keep in mind that we are the same organization that has been delivering this contract all along, so the equipment isn't going anywhere. What's more, destruction of hard drives means we have to buy new ones, which is going to cost us a lot of money, particular with prices being so high.

I've looked at using encryption as a means of destroying data, in that if you encrypt a drive or a set of files with an appropriately long and complex key, and then destroy all copies of that key, that data effectively is destroyed. I'd like to write up a report to submit to our government contract managers, and would be interested if any Slashdotters have experience with this, or have any references or citations to academic or industry papers on dealing with data remanence without destroying physical media.
Music

Submission + - Pete Townshend Calls Apple 'A Vampire' (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: The Who guitarist Pete Townshend has urged Apple's iTunes to use its power to help new bands instead of "bleeding" artists like a "digital vampire".

He also argued against unauthorised file-sharing, saying the internet was "destroying copyright as we know it".
Advertising

Submission + - Microsoft Has Lost $5.5 Billion On Bing Since 2009

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: According to CNN Money, Microsoft has lost $5.5 billion on Bing since its launch in 2009. But it gets even better. If you include Microsoft's other online offerings, all the way back to 2007, the losses are somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 billion.

But not to worry, analysts expect Bing to become profitable in "three to four years".
The Courts

Submission + - Suit Against PZ Myers Withdrawn

Submitted by MightyMartian
MightyMartian writes: Seems the lawsuit brought against PZ Myers by Stuart Pivar has been withdrawn. It seems between all the bloggers, someone doing a story on it, and perhaps the Evil Atheist Conspiracy, PZ Myers can continue to malign kooks.

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Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (5) All right, who's the wiseguy who stuck this trigraph stuff in here?

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