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The Media

Submission + - Red scientology tomato rotting in Firehose? (slashdot.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A posting to the Slashdot Firehose related to a Wikinews story on Wikileaks and legal threats from Scientology, seems to be stuck in the Slashdot firehose red as a ripe tomato for more than 24 hours.
The story that covers a recent press release on Wikileaks relating to copyright claims made by the Church's legal representatives towards the published "Operating Thetan" cult manual, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in scam money, already spawned a hot discussion on the Wikinews portal. With critics of cult-critics trying to shut the story down for hours, it finally went online. And now seems stuck in the Firehose. One can only hope not for the wrong reasons.
Google

Submission + - Google purges thousands of suspected malware sites (itnews.com.au) 1

Submitted by
Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: "In response to a concerted effort by cyber criminals to infect the computers of Google users with malware and make them unwitting partners in crime, Google has apparently purged tens of thousands of malicious Web pages from its index. Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software, noted that many search results on Google led to malicious Web pages that expose visitors to exploits that can compromise vulnerable systems. Sunbelt published a list of search terms that returned malicious pages, the result of search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns by cyber criminals to get their pages prominently ranked in Google — Sunbelt refers to this as "SEO poisoning."

Let's hope Google has done its research and hasn't purged legitimate sites."
Portables

Submission + - Asus' Linux-based Eee PC 701 reviewed 3

Submitted by Bongo Bob
Bongo Bob writes: CNET.co.uk has a review up of the Asus Eee PC 701 that runs Linux and according to the reviewer "It's hard to fault the Eee PC, mainly because of its price. It can be difficult to use because of the cramped keyboard, but it's better than similar-sized laptops like the Toshiba Libretto. If you're in the market for a second PC, or looking for something you can take with you almost anywhere, the Eee PC is definitely worth buying."
Music

Submission + - Slashdot Reverses Facts about Radiohead 1

Submitted by Apro+im
Apro+im writes: The popular news aggregation website, Slashdot today reported that the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows was pirated more than it was procured via legitimate means, setting off a flurry of speculation on their online discussion board as to the implications of this "fact". Strangely overlooked in much of the discussion, however, was the fact that the article they linked contained the exact opposite information, stating:

"The file was downloaded about 100,000 more times each day — adding up to more than 500,000 total illegal downloads. That's less than the 1.2 million legitimate online sales of the album reported by the British Web site Gigwise.com"
Questions about what this implies about Slashdot's editorial practices and readership remain unanswered.
The Internet

Submission + - Is SEO worth it?

Submitted by
sabre307
sabre307 writes: "Working as an IT Administrator for a small company means that I have to be the swiss army knife of technology, from programming to network administration to web master. Unfortunately, it means that quite often I get thrown into situations that I'm not really well versed in. Recently my boss approached me about Search Engine Optimization. Apparently he has been approached by a company that claims to specialize in this. I've taken a look at the company, and I'm not very impressed by them, but it has opened the door and now my boss wants me to do something to bring up our page ranking in search engines. I figured that the collective brains of /. could offer up some advice on how to handle it. First, do you have any ideas on things that could be done easily internally to improve our ranking? Second, are SEO companies worth the expense? Third, if they are worth the expense, how do you tell the wheat from the chaff or does anyone have any recommendations?"
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Has a US Nuke Just Been Stolen For Use in the USA? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "n-sphere is linking not just to the posting on The Geronimo Manifesto, in which Chuck Simpson reckons that the recent USAF B-52 blunder ("accidentally" flying across the USA with 5, no wait.... 6, no wait.... 5, nuclear-armed missiles) was in fact a (non-too slick, if you actually stop to PAY ATTENTION) bit of sleight-of-hand, resulting in the theft of a nuke, likely to be used for a "black flag" operation. Expect a city on the US mainland, with a population on the order of 100,000, with a Democrat mayor and in a Democrat-led state, to disappear in a blinding flash of light and a huge EM pulse. Oh and expect to hear that Iran was responsible and thus, Iran should also disappear a bit later, and also in a blinding flash of light and a huge EM pulse, no wait.... 10 blinding flashes....."
Privacy

Submission + - Website Age-Verification Based on Public Records

Submitted by csw
csw writes: I was checking out the website for the new movie "Superbad" (http://www.areyousuperbad.com) and when I tried to enter the restricted area which requires age verification I entered face data as usual. This site however would not work with fake data. I entered me real information and it let me in. I then tried my real information and changed spelling of my name to make it wrong and again it would not let me in. After a little research I found that some websites are basing verification on public records now (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/13/movies/13yell.h tml?ex=1339387200&en=5c292ac80cc2b0b2&ei=5088&part ner=rssnyt&emc=rss). What is everyones thoughts on this and how does one gain access to these records for verification of thier own?
Anime

Submission + - Police kill filesharer in front of family

Submitted by Shadowruni
Shadowruni writes: On July 21st, 2007 theDattebayo[www.dattebayo.com/pr/40] staff was arrested at Otakon.

They've released subtitled (AKA fansubbed) copies of Naurto and Bleach online. The reason these even show on Cartoon network can likely be traced back to these guys making those shows available to American audiances.

The Dattebayo staff were arrested at the Baltimore Convention Center as they prepared for their panel as part of the Otakon Convention. Uniformed police officers, along with legal counsel of a complaintent company, approached the stage shortly before the presentation was to begin. Witnesses said that along with the arrest, the officers seized the laptop of one of the group members, which was intended to be used for presentation purposes.

When they arrived at the home of one of the staff members they were surprised to find that the member had removed all the hard drives from his computer and they now lay in pieces in a garbage bag. Frustrated officers then began to yell at that staff member and accused him of destroying evidence. When the staff member met their response with silence they decided to take him into custody. Family members looked on in shock as they tasered this individual repeatedly despite him not fighting back. Suddenly, the staff member began to convulse on the floor. Doctors would later say that the individual had suffered an epileptic seizure, possibly resulting from the repeated tasering. Officers claim they then mistook these convulsions for an attempt at escape and one of the officers fired his firearm, injuring the individual. The injured staff member, in handcuffs, was later transported to a local hospital where he is now in critical condition in the ICU.

He died at 2:43 AM the next morning, leaving behind a wide and two young children.
Anime

Submission + - Dattebayo staff member shot and killed during raid (dattebayo.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: This morning at 02:43, Dattebayo staff member ImpSyn, also known as David Pryor, age 29, was pronounced dead. His death comes following a gunshot injury inflicted by a state police officer during the execution of a search and seizure warrant on his home yesterday afternoon
Communications

Submission + - Verizon Cripples 'High Speed Business DSL'

Submitted by mjmccarn
mjmccarn writes: One of my clients ordered "Verizon High Speed Internet for Business and other Internet services" last week.

This week they find that none of their custom applications (Bloomberg, online bank or brokerage accounts, etc) work through the Verizon connection.

On calling Verizon, they were told that their new "Verizon High Speed Internet for Business and other Internet services" connection will only support internet access using Internet Explorer on standard ports.

Has anyone else seen or heard of Verizon crippling internet access in this way?
Security

Submission + - Business documents, Personal computers

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: It is against our company policy for employees to use their home computers for business purposes. In the industry that we work, we find that certain types of employees are breaking this policy. Is there a way to legally retrieve company documents saved on the personal computer or require that the documents are deleted?
The Courts

Submission + - Judge puts brakes on RIAA John Doe lawsuit (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Moondoggie
Moondoggie writes: A federal judge in New Mexico has denied the RIAA's ex parte application for discovery in a John Doe lawsuit targeting 16 University of New Mexico students. The judge noted that 'there is "no reasonable way" to ensure that prospective defendants are made aware of the lawsuits and requests for disclosure — which is exactly how the RIAA wants it. He wants to ensure that the John Does are notified and "are given a reasonable opportunity to intervene in order to stop the disclosure of sensitive information." Accordingly, the judge has ordered the record labels and the University of New Mexico to work out an "appropriate process" to ensure that individual Does will be informed that a subpoena has been issued. More importantly, those targeted will be able to respond to such requests to protect their own interests.' Similar rulings in other cases could make the discovery process much more expensive and tedious for the RIAA.
Upgrades

Submission + - Are there any new motherboards without a TPM?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: For those of us who don't want any piece of "treacherous computing" in our PC's, that means not having a TPM chip on the motherboard. That's easy enough if you're using an older computer, but what about the latest offerings? Are there any late-model motherboards or laptops being sold that do not have a TPM chip?
Censorship

Submission + - Overzealous lawyers and DMCA notices on YouTube

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: ThoughtFix of TabletBlog.com got smacked with a DMCA notice from YouTube this morning stating that Nokia Corporation claimed copyright to his Nokia N800 Dissection video. He composed the video himself — it just showed off a Nokia product. It does not show any proprietary IP that any competitor can't get simply by grabbing an N800 off the shelves. Even the photos of the dissection are still up.

Imagine the slippery slope here. If they can take down videos because their product appears in the content, every clothing manufacturer will be totally rich by suing people for royalties for wearing their designs. Every musical instrument maker will be amazingly wealthy for suing bands for videos of performances with their gear.

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