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Privacy

Submission + - UK Local Councils Spy on Emails and Calls (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by MrSteveSD
MrSteveSD writes: The Daily Mail is reporting that local councils have been using the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to spy on peoples phone and email records. Reasons given for the surveillance include checking for evidence of people storing petrol without permission and investigating unburied animal carcasses. The surveillance was uncovered using the Freedom of Information Act. The scope of the RIPA act is staggering. It would be simpler to list who isn't allowed to access your phone and email records. Aside from political action, what can be done technologically to combat this threat? Use Skype rather than the normal telephone?
Microsoft

Submission + - Codeplex fails; MS doesn't understand Open Source

Submitted by nickos
nickos writes: Microsoft's answer to SourceForge, CodePlex is supposed to be "Microsoft's open source project hosting web site" where users can "Start a new project, join an existing one, or download software created by the community". Why is it then that despite being released on Microsoft's CodePlex website, there is no source code available for Sandcastle (a "Documentation Compiler for Managed Class Libraries")? Sandcastle has been released under the Ms-PL (Microsoft Public License) which does not explicitly state source code must be available, but since it's an OSI approved license it has to conform strictly to the OSI definition which includes the requirement that "The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form".

There's a good discussion of the problem on Sandcastle's discussion board here. Looks like Microsoft's still having problems getting it's head around open source.
Government

Submission + - Water leak at Slovenian nuclear power plant (msn.com)

Submitted by
Mak
Mak writes: "A faulty valve caused a water leak at a nuclear power plant in southwestern Slovenia that raised alarms across Europe a day earlier, officials said Thursday. This is the first time that a State activates the European Community Urgent Radiological Information Exchange (ECURIE). In Italy and in Croatia there are no reported rises in radiation levels and the Slovenian government says that "Everything is normal." I live in Italy, at 140 km from Krsko and I have a warm and fuzzy feeling about this story."
Censorship

Submission + - UK government to outlaw cartoons of child abuse

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: The British government announced proposals on Wednesday to make possession of drawings and computer-generated images of child abuse illegal. Many will say "fair enough", but others worry this will be yet another piece of ill-conceived legislation from the current government. From this article at The Register:

Professor Julian Petley is an expert on media policy and regulation. He believes this government "won't rest content until it has terrified people into viewing only material which bears the official seal of moral approval — an ambition which it shares with Iran, Saudi Arabia and China."

He adds: "For a government which boasts of its commitment to 'deregulation' and new technology, this measure, taken in conjunction with the anti-porn proposals in the Criminal Justice Bill, presents an utterly ludicrous spectacle and one which reduces the UK to an international laughing stock."
Censorship

Submission + - UK to Criminalise Virtual Child Pornography 1

Submitted by
Brian Ribbon
Brian Ribbon writes: "The English Ministry of Justice has today announced that it will criminalise "all images of child sexual abuse, including drawings and computer-generated images". A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice justified the decision by claiming that "paedophiles could be circumventing the law by using computer technology to manipulate real photographs or videos of abuse into drawings or cartoons", however it is already illegal to do this or to possess any image derived from an indecent photograph of a child, under Section 69 of the 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act. It is presently illegal to distribute any obscene publication, so the proposed new law will actually target only the possession of virtual child pornography for which no real child has ever been abused."
Media

Submission + - UK proposes banning computer generated abuse (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by peterprior
peterprior writes: The UK Justice Minister is planning to outlaw computer generated images and drawings of child sex abuse. While photographs and videos of child sex abuse are already illegal, undoubtedly to protect children from being exploited by these acts, what children will be protected by this new law? If there is no actual child involved is the law merely protecting against the possibility of offenders committing future crimes against real children?
Communications

Google Announces "Open Phone" Coalition, No gPhone [Updated] 225

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-isn't-that-special dept.
Ponca City, We Love You writes "USA Today has an advance story on Google's plans to announce a new operating system, geared specifically for cellphones with partners that include Sprint, Motorola, Samsung and Japanese wireless giant NTT DoCoMo. Although details won't be released until later today the new G-system will be based on Linux overlaid with Java and Google hopes to have a branded device ready for worldwide shipment by spring. Mobile Web browsing is notoriously slow and Google plans to change that by providing easy access to the Internet at PC-type speeds. Google plans to basically give away the software developer tools, used by programmers to write new applications. "If you're a developer, you'll be able to develop (applications) for the new Google Phone very quickly," said Morgan Gillis of the LiMo Foundation. AT&T and Verizon Wireless are noticeably absent from the coalition not wanting to support a device that favors Google over other providers. Sprint, the No. 3 carrier, supports the coalition, but it hasn't formally agreed to make the Google Phone available to its 54 million subscribers." Update 1727 GMT by SM: It's official, Google is releasing the mobile "Android" OS in place of the Google branded mobile phone that many expected.
Programming

Submission + - Elastic tabstops can now be used with spaces

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Remember elastic tabstops? Well, it seems that they've just been added to Gedit along with the ability to import and export files which use spaces to align columns. To see a screencast of it in action or download it, visit nickgravgaard.com/elastictabstops/#gedit

Now that this can inter-operate with the code standard I use at work (4 spaces) I just have to get Gedit running on my Windows machine...

Feed Optimus Maximus gets price and date (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Displays, Peripherals

After some OLED display supply issues and a few setbacks, it looks like Lebedev and company have finally settled on a launch date and price for the king of keyboard, the Optimus Maximus. Hold your breath, it'll be due late November (the 30th, to be specific) for $1536 US ("Shakespeare's birthday"). Bad news, we know, but the worst news is still to come: only 200 keyboards per month for November and December, and 400 keyboards are scheduled to be made next January. (On second thought, at over $1500 apiece, maybe that's not so few keyboards.) Ok, exhale, it's going to be alright.

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Operating Systems

Submission + - macbookinux: the first Mac specialized penguin

Submitted by
aiop631
aiop631 writes: "A new project is under way to develop a Linux distribution designed especially for Macbooks: MacBook Linux. This distributions will have advanced Linux technologies built-in like Compiz, OpenOffice and KOffice for office tools, development tools like GCC and Java, and server technologies like Apache and Bind to turn your machine into a server. A powerful package management system similar to that of OS X will be available (yes, no dependency hell). The first stable release date is aimed for later this summer. This is part of a broader project to develop a Linux distribution family for Intel-powered Macs — that is, 3 Linux distributions specialized for MacBooks, MacBook Pros and Mac Pros."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Australian MacBook bursts into flames

Submitted by
Currawong
Currawong writes: "MacTalk Australia reports that one of its users has had their MacBook burst into flames, awaking in the middle of the night to find the MacBook, along with some magazines adjacent to where the MacBook was sitting, alight. His housemate stated that, "she heard it hissing like a steam valve, then smoke started pouring out of it and a couple of seconds later, a very large flash fire started." The owner stated that available charge in the battery of the 11 month old MacBook had become suddenly poor in the 3 weeks leading up to the fire, the day of the fire almost completely failing to work properly at all. Apple last year issued a recall of over 1 million batteries after issues with Sony manufactured batteries caught fire in Dell laptops. Since contacting Apple Australia, they have offered to replace the MacBook with a MacBook Pro and possibly compensate the owner for the damage caused, once they have determined the cause of the fire."
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - Another Macbook Fire

Submitted by dsgfh
dsgfh writes: Unfortunately for apple, another Macbook has gone up in flames over the weekend. Apparently not part of the original battery recall, the machine in question was in standby mode on a bookcase, plugged in to charge when it ignited at 3 in the morning. http://www.betanews.com/article/Apple_MacBook_Fire _Poses_New_Safety_Questions/1173715199 BTW... where's the Fire Breathing Batteries topic when I submit a story?

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