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Privacy

Submission + - Google Maps Street View NOT invasion of privacy (blogspot.com)

airshowfan writes: "Applicable laws say that Google Maps Street View is NOT a violation of privacy. The most relevant law here is probably the one used by Jennifer Aniston to sue a paparazzo! It says that an invasion of privacy only occurs when someone looks into your window while using "enhancing devices" (telephoto lenses, binoculars, etc) and sees/takes a picture that is more detailed than what a passerby could see from the street with the naked eye. So as long as Google's images are not as sharp as what you could see as you walk past, Google should be ok. This article explains these issues of how private your home really is, and goes into issues of surveillance and sousveillance, of how much privacy one can expect while in a public place, and of how the information age is all about organizing the crumbs of information you leave behind. It is no longer reasonable to expect that your information trail cannot be easily organized, interpreted, and broadcast to the world."
Mozilla

The Secrets of Firefox about:config 263

jcatcw writes "While Firefox is very customizable, many of its settings aren't in the Options. Each setting is named and stored as a string, integer, or Boolean in a file called prefs.js and accessed via about:config from the nav bar. Computerworld provides instructions on 20 tweaks for speeding up page loads, making tabs behave, reducing memory drain, and generally making the interface act the way you want it to. Customization also comes through the must-have FF extensions (but be sure to skip these)."
United States

Submission + - US Changes Story on Spy Coins

Aqua_boy17 writes: As a follow up to a story previously reported on Slashdot regarding bugged Canadian coins, the US Defense Department is now claiming that the original story was false. In an AP story published today the department states that its previous claims have proven to be unsubstatiated according to subsequent investigations. The US Defense Security Service was never able to provide evidence to support its original claim regarding the fake coins, and has now begun an internal investigation to determine how the original report was leaked to the public. Industry experts were intially baffled by the first reports, as such devices would have had a very limited capability to deliver significant amounts of reliable intelligence data.
Microsoft

Submission + - Evidence that MS violated 2002 judgement surfaces

whoever57 writes: In the Comes Vs. Microsoft case, the plaintiffs believe they have found evidence that Microsoft has failed to fully disclose APIs to competitors. If true, this would mean that Microsoft has violated the 2002 judgement. Once again, Groklaw has the scoop. This information has become avaialble since the plaintiffs have obtained an order allowing them to disclose Microsoft's alleged mis-behavior to the DOJ ("appropriate enforcement and compliance authorities").
Operating Systems

Submission + - When Mac OSX is worse that Windows XP?

Meitham Jamaa writes: "I love Unix (and Linux) and planning to move away of Windows to Mac, not because I love Mac, but only because Mac OSX is a stable Unix based OS. Lots of people have wrote about how good is mac compared to pc but they all view it from a user point of view. I am a developer (mainly Python and Java) and I am a newbie in the Linux world (having a virtual Ubuntu working on VMware). People only tends to highlight the points where OSX is better than windows in. I want to know what will I lose when I switch to Mac before I make any step forward. Can anyone please tell me when Windows is better than OSX.

Thanks
~Meitham"
The Internet

Submission + - Blake Ross- thoughts Firefox and Opera

elcid73 writes: "OperaWatch.com readers submitted a handful of questions to FireFox founder and creator Blake Ross, and here are his responses. It's one of the most balanced and open minded reads on browsers and the future of web that I've come across in recent memory...
I think Opera is better geared toward advanced users out of the box, whereas Firefox is tailored to mainstream users by default and relies on its extension model to cater to an advanced audience. However, I see both browsers naturally drifting toward the middle. Firefox is growing more advanced as the mainstream becomes Web-savvier, and I see Opera scaling back its interface, since it started from the other end of the spectrum.
I especially enjoyed the diplomatic "three word description" of Opera that he ended with...
Opera: Our best ally
"
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - GPL to shine on Solaris

kspiteri writes: "eWeek is claiming that Sun will dual license Solaris using the GPL3 once the license is ready. As arstechnica points out, it seems unlikely that code mingling with Linux will be facilitated, especially considering that there are no plans to migrate Linux from GPL2 to GPL3."
Security

Submission + - German govt plans to bug and online search PCs

gd23ka writes: "Heise Online News is carrying an article the German Government plans to create
trojan software to penetrate privately owned computers and search them online. Infecting computers
with government malware is not new, the only question is how will American spyware and antivirus detection
kits deal with it. Oh and of course the entire concept of secretly searching computers opens a can of
worms for itself, the infection mechanism could for example be installed at one of the few big national internet
providers like T-Online and be triggered by whatever you choose to do with your internet connection.
As always the babelfish is your friend but I'm also providing a translation of the article:

In its answer to a minor inquiry of the Die Linke ("The Left") party on the lawfulness of searching the contents of
computers online the government of Germany has published details to the "Bundestrojaner" (Federal Trojan) it has
planned. The inofficial Federal Trojan designation refers to parts of a program that will infect a PC with spyware
code in order to allow police authorities and secret services to search computers online. ...
As far as the lawfulness of such an online search is concerned, the German government points towards a lawsuit that is
held in German Federal Court. Early december one of the investigating judges had ruled online searches of computers
illegal however the General Federal Attorney Harms immediately filed an objection to this ruling. ...
All told, the answer of the government to the inquiry leaves no doubt that the online search of computers will be an
indispensable instrument of criminal investigators and in-land security agencies. One advantage in contrast to
the physical search of a computer is that the accused does not know of the investigations conducted against them
and can't interfere with the investigation. ...
According to the German government there has not been an online search of a computer since due to the fact that
the only known incident that was authorized by an investigating judge in Bonn was stopped through a motion
filed at the German Federal Court. ..."
The Media

Submission + - Which phone caused the fire? Help solve mystery.

netbuzz writes: "It's the morning after a worldwide press blitz about the so-called "exploding cell phone" that seriously injured a California man. And despite the voluminous headlines and TV chatter we still don't know who made the phone or what model it was — because fire officials refuse to tell. Correcting this wrong seems to be a perfect opportunity for "community journalism" to shine. Network World is inviting any and all to call their own cell-phone suppliers and ask the simple question: "Was my phone involved?" Let the magazine know what you learn.

http://www.networkworld.com/community3/?q=node/105 05"
Windows

Submission + - Windows based installer for Linux

Verunks writes: The guys at ubuntu are working on a easier way to install linux for windows users:
"The aim of this installer is to provide an easier way for a Windows user to install Ubuntu without having to know how to burn a cd iso, set the bios to boot from cd, repartition the disks, set up a multiboot system, etc. It will not replace any of the current Ubuntu installation options, and will not require that windows is installed prior to the installation of Ubuntu."
Internet Explorer

After 100M IE7 Downloads, Firefox Still Gaining 425

Kelson writes "Internet Explorer 7 hit the 100 million download mark last week. Yet in the three months it's been available, Firefox's market share has continued to grow. InformationWeek reports that nearly all of IE7's growth has been upgrades from IE6. People don't seem to be switching back to IE in significant numbers, prompting analysts to wonder: has Microsoft finally met its match?"
Movies

Submission + - isohunt taken down by ISP pending legal action

An anonymous reader writes: isohunt.com is down pending the outcome from their legal wrangle with the MPAA. How long before all torrent distributions are taken down?
Nintendo

Submission + - 10 people fired over Wii radio contest

Skadet writes: 10 people have been fired in the aftermath of the tragic death of one of the contestants for Sacramento radio station 107.9 The End's "Hold your Wee for a Wii" promotion (first covered on Slashdot here).

From TFA:
The hosts of KDND-FM's "Morning Rave" — who go by the on-air names Trish, Maney and Lukas — were fired a day after the station announced it was suspending the show and investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Jennifer Lea Strange. [...] John Geary, vice president and general manager of KDND parent company, Entercom/Sacramento, made the announcement Tuesday in an e-mail to reporters.

"Effective immediately, the 'Morning Rave' program is canceled and ten employees are no longer with the station."

A company spokesman, Charles Sipkins, confirmed the three DJs, as well as two other on-air personalities, "Carter" and "Fester," were among those fired. Five other employees who worked on the "Morning Rave" also were let go. All 10 were fired, the spokesman said, for violating terms of their employee agreements.
I used to work at a corporately owned radio station (full disclosure: not for Entercom, KDND's owner. I was a techie in radio in a previous life). But I can tell you from experience that most of the people fired were most likely not responsible for this event. At my station group, no events happened without the express consent of #1, the station manager, and #2, the promotions director. They're the ones ultimately responsible. So why isn't John Geary the one getting the boot? Is this just an example of Corporate America scapegoating the peons? What if you had been commissioned by your boss to write code that ended up being a danger? Would you be culpable, or your boss?

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