Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Google

Submission + - Google Maps for iPhone violates European data protection law (itworld.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When users install Google Maps on their iPhone, the option to share location data with Google is switched on by default. By doing this, Google violates European data protection law, according to a German data protection watchdog.

When the app is downloaded, Google prompts users to accept its terms of service and privacy policy in the startup screen. On the same screen, the Maps app warns users that they are about to share their location data with Google. "Help us improve Google, including traffic and other services. Anonymous location data will be collected by Google's location service and sent to Google, and may be stored on your device," Google tells users.

However, the option box next to the text is switched on by default, which isn't allowed by European data protection law, said Marit Hansen, deputy privacy and information commissioner at the Independent Centre for Privacy Protection Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in an email.

When a company wants to process personal data, users have to give informed consent instead of opting out, she said. "So I conclude that the current implementation is not compliant with current European data protection law, even if Google now offers an opt-out possibility," Hansen said.
Android

Submission + - California sues Delta Air Lines over mobile privacy (ca.gov)

Submitted by mrheckman
mrheckman writes: California is suing Delta Air Lines for violation of California's on-line privacy law. Delta failed to "conspicuously post a privacy policy within their mobile app that informs users of what personally identifiable information is being collected and what will be done with it" after a 30-day notice. Delta's app collects "substantial personally identifiable information such as a user’s full name, telephone number, email address, frequent flyer account number and pin code, photographs, and geo-location". Why is it we still can't control what permissions an app has on our phones? It's absurd and disturbing that an app for checking flights and baggage demands all of those permissions.

Submission + - Raspberry Pi Model A, First Photos and Video (adafruit.com)

Submitted by
coop0030
coop0030 writes: "The first photos and videos of the Model A production samples are now available. The Raspberry Pi Model A is the newest low-cost computer from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Compared to the popular Model B, the Model A forgoes the Ethernet Controller, has 256MB of RAM, and has a single USB port. A benefit of the missing Ethernet controller is that power consumption is reduced. This allowed them to reach their goals of a low-cost $25 computer. The release date is for sometime early in 2013."
Biotech

Fast DNA Origami Opens Way For Nanoscale Machines 21

Posted by Soulskill from the building-with-nano-cranes dept.
ananyo writes "DNA strands can be coaxed to fold up into shapes in a matter of minutes, reveals a study published in Science (abstract). The finding could radically speed up progress in the field of DNA origami. DNA origami involves using short DNA strands to hold a longer, folded strand in place at certain points, like sticky tape. Until now, assembling the shape has involved heating the DNA and allowing it to cool slowly for up to a week. But researchers at the Technical University of Munich in Germany have worked out that for most of the cooling period, nothing happens. But when a crucial temperature is reached, the whole structure forms suddenly. The researchers now aim to design nanostructures with optimal folding temperatures close to 37 C, the temperature at which mammalian cell cultures are grown, so that DNA machines could one day be used in biological settings."

Comment It's not arrogance . . . (Score 1) 823

by smarkham01 (#41766489) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Rectifying Nerd Arrogance?

It's a life style based on a personality defect. Never being willing to accept that others are your equal, or betters, puts you in the lowest class of humanity. I have done what you're learning to o and am better at it simply because it is colored with experience. I have also rebuilt engines and transmissions for heavy equipment and made a decent living at it. Yet I except that there are others out there who have it faster and better then I have.

You'll either learn to accept people and your place among them or grow up to be another Sheridan.
Space

Virgin Galactic's Quiet News: Virgin Now Owns The SpaceShip Company 112

Posted by timothy from the big-spaceship dept.
RocketAcademy writes "While all eyes were focused on SpaceX, which is preparing for another launch to the International Space Station, Virgin Galactic quietly put out a press release. Virgin Galactic has acquired full ownership of The SpaceShip Company, which will build production versions of SpaceShip Two. Ownership was previously shared with Scaled Composites, which built SpaceShip One and is building the SpaceShip Two prototype. There have been rumors of strained relations between Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites. This news, which was not announced until after the close of business Friday, raises some interesting questions about Virgin's relationship with Scaled and its plans for the future."

Comment Re:Bipartisan support (Score 1) 548

by smarkham01 (#38008024) Attached to: Bipartisan Internet Sales Tax Bill Introduced

> In many places the amount of property tax is fixed at the time of purchase and never increases.
Sorry, but that is local or state problem, easily fixed b y requiring periodic re-appraisal for taxes. My property is reevaluated at least every three years, and if the re-evaluation misses the FMV by xx percent, the State has a value they are more than ready to replace the County's valuation with.
Image

Scientists Find Tears Are the Anti-Viagra Screenshot-sm 207

Posted by samzenpus from the blood-hound-gang-is-wrong dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The male test subjects didn't know what they were smelling, they were just given little vials of clear liquid and told to sniff. But when those vials contained a woman's tears (collected while she watched a sad movie), the men rated pictures of women's faces as less sexually attractive, and their saliva contained less testosterone. Is this proof that humans make and respond to pheromones? The researcher behind the study doesn't use that controversial word, but he says his findings do prove that tears contain meaningful chemical messages."
Facebook

Twitter Fights US Court For WikiLeaks Details 268

Posted by samzenpus from the we're-not-gonna-take-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Micro-blogging site Twitter is opposing an order from a US court to reveal the account details of supporters of WikiLeaks. Twitter has called on Facebook and Google to reveal whether they also received similar court orders. As part of the US government's investigation into WikiLeaks, a court ordered Twitter, in mid-December, to give details of accounts owned by supporters of the whistle-blower site. Twitter has protested against the subpoena and informed the individuals whose account information has been requested, while raising the possibility that other social networking players have received similar orders."
Censorship

UK Banks Attempt To Censor Academic Publication 162

Posted by timothy from the here-are-some-rugs-for-your-eyes dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Representatives of the UK banking industry have sent a take-down notice (PDF link) to Cambridge University, demanding that they censor a student's webpage as well as his masters thesis (PDF). The banks' objection is that the information contained in the report might be used to exploit a vulnerability in the Chip and PIN system, used throughout Europe and Canada for credit and debit card payments. The system was revealed to be fundamentally flawed earlier this year, as it allowed criminals to use a stolen card with any PIN. Cambridge University has resisted the demands and has sent a response to the bankers explaining why they will keep the page online."
Image

Russian Scholar Warns Of US Climate Change Weapon Screenshot-sm 415

Posted by samzenpus from the hurricane-cannon dept.
According to Russian political scientist, and conspiracy aficionado Andrei Areshev the high heat, and poor crop yields of Russia, and other Central Asian countries may be the result of a climate weapon created by the US military. From the article: "... Areshev voiced suspicions about the High-Frequency Active Aural Research Program (HAARP), funded by the US Defense Department and the University of Alaska. HAARP, which has long been the target of conspiracy theorists, analyzes the ionosphere and seeks to develop technologies to improve radio communications, surveillance, and missile detection. Areshev writes, however, that its true aim is to create new weapons of mass destruction 'in order to destabilize environmental and agricultural systems in local countries.'"
Crime

Madoff's Programmers Indicted 147

Posted by Soulskill from the just-an-off-by-one-billion-bug-i-swear dept.
jason8 writes with news that two programmers who worked at Bernie Madoff's investment firm have now been indicted on charges of 'conspiracy, falsifying records of a broker-dealer and falsifying records of an investment adviser,' for their role in hiding the firm's activities (PDF) from the SEC and external accountants. Quoting Reuters: "O'Hara and Perez, employed at the firm from 1990 and 1991, respectively, were primarily responsible for developing and maintaining computer programs in the investment advisory unit at the center of the fraud. Many of the programs were run on an IBM server known as 'House 17,' according to court documents. Prosecutors said the men took hush money to help keep the fraud going and designed codes to make up fake trade blotters and phantom records. US prosecutors said the two men worked under the supervision of Madoff and his top aide, Frank DiPascali, to deceive the US Securities and Exchange Commission and a European accounting firm. DiPascali is cooperating with prosecutors, who said his information led to the arrests of the programmers and the now defunct firm's outside accountant."

Slashdot Top Deals

Love may laugh at locksmiths, but he has a profound respect for money bags. -- Sidney Paternoster, "The Folly of the Wise"

Close