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The Courts

Submission + - eBay 'scammer' animations imply linux = scammer OS

Submitted by
inflex
inflex writes: "While going through some eBay pages today it was noticed that eBay has an anti-scammer / dunk-the-scammer flash animation showing a Witch 'zapping' an evil glasses-wearing scammer on a laptop. The laptop itself is adorned with two stickers, one saying "Phishing since '02" and the other is a small 'tux' logo.

Is there any law against this? The tux logo is strongly associated with Linux. Why isn't there any other OS logo, or more importantly, why was the tux put there in the first place! (I'd be curious to see how long the use of OS X, Windows or Solaris logos would have lasted)."
Google

Submission + - Who Owns Google Search Terms?

Submitted by
Law Student
Law Student writes: "I'm a law student taking an intellectual property course at the University of Texas at Austin. I've recently learned that in order to prove copyright infringement in a civil suit, a plaintiff need not establish that an alleged infringer knowingly copied the protected work in question; rather, unknowing copying is enough. This obviously puts something of a burden on creators of new works to ensure that their purportedly new works don't infringe upon pre-existing copyright. I've written some lyrics to a tune I also wrote. My gut reaction is to google phrases from the lyrics in quotations to test their originality. However, I'm hesitant to do so becuase I'm not sure whether Google might have a valid claim of ownership (worst-case scenario), or whether those lyrics might arguably pass into the public domain once submitted (not quite as bad). Any IP attorneys or others out there who could shed some light on this issue?"
Television

Submission + - Analog TV cards banned by FCC as of yesterday

Submitted by
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward writes: "Beginning yesterday, the FCC requirement went in to effect that 'All TV receiving devices sold must possess the capability of supporting digital television signals.' NVidia has already discontinued their fairly new and very popular DualTV MCE (http://www.nvidia.com/page/dualtvmce.html) card, and soon all Non-ATSC cards will be gone from shelves and available only on Ebay."
Google

Submission + - Google employee perks versus state prison perks

Submitted by
Wee
Wee writes: "Google recently topped Fortune's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For" partly due to its huge set of employee perks. But who really has the best perks: Google or your local state prison?

Mike Nicholson wrote a cleverly humorous article on Google employee perks compared to the stuff that prisoners are entitled to. The verdict? If you're really after perks, you should commit a major crime rather than work for Google."
Democrats

Submission + - Al Gore use 20x more electricity per year

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Last night, Al Gore's global-warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, collected an Oscar for best documentary feature, but the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has found that Gore deserves a gold statue for hypocrisy.
The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, according to the Department of Energy. In 2006, Gore devoured nearly 221,000 kWh — more than 20 times the national average.
  http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?ar ticle_id=367
Security

Submission + - New Controversy over Black Hat presentation

Submitted by
uniquebydegrees
uniquebydegrees writes: "InfoWorld is reporting about a new controversy swirling around a planned presentation at Black Hat Federal in Washington D.C. this week. Security researcher Chris Paget of IOActive will demo an RFID hacking tool that can crack HID brand door access cards. HID Corp., which makes the cards, is miffed and is accusing IOActive of patent infringement over the presentation, recalling the legal wrangling over Michael Lynn's presentation of a Cisco IOS hole at Black Hat in 2005. Black Hat's Jeff Moss says they're standing by their speaker. A news conference is scheduled for tomorrow AM. Read it here: http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/26/HNblackh atrfid_1.html"
Microsoft

Submission + - Keyloggers Installed via Windows Update Service?

Submitted by
sedimentary_rock
sedimentary_rock writes: "A Dell computer user found a keylogger installed on his computer with Guardian Monitor registry keys after updating the OS through the Microsoft Windows Update service. The article suggests that Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), which "calls home" to Microsoft, functions as a mechanism to surreptitiously install surveillance software on a computer.

http://www.dellideastorm.com/article/show/63923/No _WGA_preinstalled"
Nintendo

Submission + - Wii Virtual Console to Get MSX, Neo Geo Titles

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Things just keep getting better and better for the Wii's Virtual Console, as Nintendo has announced the introduction of two new systems to the service: the MSX and the Neo Geo. However, the announcement right now only pertains to Japanese Wiis; no North American or European news has been released as of yet.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - 12 Games from the Year 2010

Submitted by
Mike Michelson
Mike Michelson writes: "Or at least, the ones a bunch of gamers got together and dreamed up screenshots for. This article really begs the question of just what developers will be getting out of our consoles three years from now. And whether these games are hopeless wishful thinking or not, it sure is fun to think about."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - How to Get Yourself Permanently Banned

Submitted by
Stinkerbelle
Stinkerbelle writes: "www.WanderingGoblin.com is covering a story of a dedicated World of Warcraft player and the royal screwing he received at the hands of a gold-selling company. The goblin staffers give the scoop on how Booz the Mage got used, lied to, mistreated, and even managed to get all his accounts permanently banned from World of Warcraft. On top of everything else, Booz paid them to do it to him."
Software

Submission + - UK government rejects software patents

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes: The governments new epetition system has received a response from the prime minister with regard to their current stand on software patents in the UK....

"The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software."

Another response on a petition of open source software use in the government was also released which explains the governments stance on open standards.
The Internet

Submission + - CGI Webserver ported to 8052 Microcontroller

Submitted by Marvin TPA
Marvin TPA writes: Adam Dunkels' astonishing open-source uIP v0.9 TCP/IP stack has recently been ported to run on the tiny 8-bit 8052 microcontroller. Murray R. Van Luyn's implementation runs the full CGI Webserver application on an SOIC microcontroller chip no larger than a postage stamp! Using just over 1200 bytes of RAM the port delivers SLIP protocol connectivity, and when combined with a Realtek RTL8019AS network interface card it connects directly to the web via Ethernet.
The Matrix

Submission + - Do we need to make voting mandatory?

Submitted by
gd23ka
gd23ka writes: "Australia and Belgium force their electorate to the ballot boxes. Disaffected in Australia and don't want to get out of bed on election day? Pay a fine or go to jail or at least explain why you couldn't come. With these laws on their books both countries enjoy a high percentage of participation in their elections. Proponents say that forced participation in the elections strengthens democracy. What are your thoughts on the matter? You can read Slate's opinion piece first or tell me right away: Is mandatory voting a good idea for America?"

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