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Comment Re:Simple enough (Score 1) 789

You hear stories about this all the time. And I'm sure they were true. With the computerization of vital records, this is now nearly impossible. Back in the day, each state used to keep its own birth and death records in sepearte files and did not cross-reference them. However, today, it is easy for the government to verify if a death certificate has been issued for a birth certificate before issuing you new credentials.

Hardware Hacking

Feds Bust Cable Modem Hacker 658

Several readers noted the indictment of hardware hacker Ryan Harris, known as DerEngel. Harris wrote the 2006 book Hacking the Cable Modem, explaining how to get upgraded speed or even free Internet service by bypassing the firmware locks on Motorola Surfboard modems. He has run a profitable business at tcniso.net since 2003, selling unlocked cable modems. (The site is now offline.) Harris has been charged with conspiracy, aiding and abetting computer intrusion, and wire fraud. Wired quotes Harris's reaction: "I read the indictment — it's complete bull****. I'll tell you right now I'm not going to plead guilty."
Data Storage

Submission + - Lenses that bring everything into focus

Roland Piquepaille writes: "Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed a new lens device that will shrink huge light waves to pinpoints. The superlens looks like a plate and "is etched with a specific pattern. As the waves pass through the patterned lens, it is sculpted into different sizes and shapes. The lens does not refract, or bend the light waves — which is how conventional lenses work — but rather it reshapes the wave." This discovery could lead to CDs or DVDs holding 100 times more information than current ones. Read more for additional references and a picture of how this superlens focuses light."
Privacy

Submission + - Call Printer Makers To Turn off Tracking Dots (seeingyellow.com)

makohill writes: "The EFF has been talking about tracking dots in printers for some time now. What we didn't know until now is that when people have asked the manufacturers of their printers to turn off the spy dots, they were ratted out by their printer makers and subsequently paid a visit by the secret service.

In response, the Computing Culture group at the MIT Media Lab is organizing folks to call in to their printer manufacturers to complain about the dots and to demand that they are turned off. If we all stand up together, the secret service can't visit us all. The whole story and information on how to call in is online at Seeing Yellow."

Security

Submission + - China Crafts Cyberweapons

MitmWatcher writes: The People's Liberation Army (PLA) continues to build cyberwarfare units and develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems as part of its information-warfare strategy, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) warned in a report released on Friday. "The PLA has established information warfare units to develop viruses to attack enemy computer systems and networks," the annual DOD report on China's military warned. At the same, Chinese armed forces are developing ways to protect its own systems from an enemy attack, it said, echoing similar warnings made in previous years. http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,132284-pg,1/arti cle.html(News) http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/070523-China- Military-Power-final.pdf(Report)

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Our OS who art in CPU, UNIX be thy name. Thy programs run, thy syscalls done, In kernel as it is in user!

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