blakmac - Slashdot User

Submission + - UK government will not enforce US software patents

Submitted by VJ42 on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @06:32AM

VJ42 writes: I recently signed a online petition on software patents, but instead of dismissing it the UK government sent me a reply confirming it's position against software patents.

The Government remains committed to its policy that no patents should exist for inventions which make advances lying solely in the field of software. Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK.
They also remain committed to implementing the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property which means that

The Government will implement those recommendations for which it is responsible, and will therefore continue to exclude patents from areas where they may hinder innovation: including patents which are too broad, speculative, or obvious, or where the advance they make lies in an excluded area such as software.
After all the bad press they've had, this is a welcome bit of good news for us techies.

Submission + - BBC Reported WTC7 Collapse Before it Happened.

Submitted by

zero_jd

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:57AM

zero_jd writes: "A video was recently posted to Google which originally aired on BBC world between 16:54 and 17:36 EST on September 11th, 2001. In the video, a report came in that the Salomon Smith Barney building (aka: World Trade Center 7) had just collapsed due to a weakened structure. The report, however, had come in some twenty minutes prior to the actual collapse of the building. The video then cuts to a live correspondent in New York speaking with downtown Manhattan in the background. While she is discussing the collapse with the news anchor, WTC7 is clearly still standing in the background behind her. Then, just minutes before the building actually collapsed, her feed was abruptly cut. Despite Google Video containing numerous copyrighted BBC documentaries, another embarassing BBC moment (the taxi driver incident), and 9/11 conspiracy videos, several copies of this particular video were removed within 24 hours. New copies are curretly continuing to appear, but it seems abundantly clear that someone wants them taken away. The conclusions to be drawn are left to the reader, of course."

Submission + - Concrete balls to be used to plug Java volcano

Submitted by

The Real Joe Faith

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:29AM

The Real Joe Faith writes: "No, the other Java.

The BBC reports [1] that Indonesian scientists are attempting to plug a mud-spewing volcano using chains of concrete balls. Hot mud and gas have been spewing out of the ground since May 2006; experts warn the torrent could continue for months, if not years, to come. Engineers will drop 1,000 1.5m-long metal chains into the mouth of the mud leak. Each chain has four concrete balls suspended from it; two with a 20cm diameter and two with a 40cm diameter.

The disaster is thought to have been triggered by the drilling work of gas prospectors PT Lapindo Brantas.

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6320565.stm"

Submission + - How safe is my webmail?

Submitted by

gnkieffer

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:13AM

gnkieffer writes: "Recently a tiny number of GMail users lost their mailbox content. Apparently Google was able to restore most (or all?) of the e-mails from their backup systems.
I wonder what security measures webmail providers like Yahoo or Hotmail are taking to secure their customer's e-mails; tape backups? RAIDs? do they backup live or once a week? This seems to be a subject no one wants to talk about. Until now I guess that webmail losses have been something like thousand times less frequent than... let's say hard drive crashes, so one could say that webmail is *very* safe.
Still, e-mail providers advertise with big storage space and lifelong e-mail addresses but I have not seen one praising with e-mail safety."

Submission + - Search Technologies to Solve the Problem of Inform

Submitted by

Alena Siameshka

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:06AM

Alena Siameshka writes: "Search Technologies to Solve the Problem of Information Security Lately the problem of securing the information contained in the enterprise's data space becomes more and more critical. It's the information hidden from common access that is most valuable. Specialists in the field of information security distinguish two types of potential threats: external and internal ones. These threats are meant to be neutralized by the new security information management software. Systems providing security from external threats prevent unauthorized programs (such as worms, Trojan viruses, spy-programs, etc.) from running and block external attacks on system resources and processes. Yet in addition to all these, any company's security system is threatened from within, and it's the internal threats of information disclosure that make companies most vulnerable. What are these internal threats and how can you rid your enterprise of them? The danger lies in the fact that most employees have access to the organization's repositories of information and are exempt from such network defenses as anti-virus programs, firewalls, even e-mail filters. Information leak is not always incompetent leaders' or unqualified staff's fault, more often the software installed on the enterprise and its shortcomings are to blame. The most probable variant of information security violation is the deliberate theft of confidential data by authorized users (insiders). Such things as conflict with the management, with fellow staff, trivial dissatisfaction with the salary may trigger the leak of confidential information to competitors as well as an attempt to destroy it. On the market there's quite an extensive array of corporate applications designed to solve the problem of information security. Developers create not only complex means of information security but also systems oriented on withstanding certain groups of threats. When creating an information security system the developers try to extend its functional to the maximum so as to work in a variety of fields. Even operation systems today contain security functions designed to increase the enterprise's safety level. But this "universality" is unacceptable when speaking of important and valuable data. A universal security system becomes useless in corporate networks where internal threats (insiders' activity in particular) prevail. That's why most people responsible for their organization's information security prefer to use external security systems rather than those inbuilt into a standard operation system. Security market sees an ongoing growth in the number of security tools and large-scale monitoring systems designed to prevent internal threats. All of them strive to provide total control and consequently all aspects of information safeguarding and protecting for the entire organization. One of such tools that has already gained a high degree of popularity on the market is a security solution from SearchInform Technologies, a company well-known for developing a corporate full text search engine called SearchInform. It's next to impossible to eradicate the risk of an insider gaining access to unauthorized information with the goal of theft and later disclosure to a third party. Solution from SearchInform Technologies lets you fully control this process from the ground up. The first stage is taken care of by SearchInform Security Server, which enables the user to work both with his PC and in the local network both with open and confidential information while preventing unauthorized data from appearing where it's not supposed to. SearchInform Security Server in real time mode monitors all the file transactions and modifications taking place on user computers. The fact that this system is based on search technologies takes it to a significantly higher quality level. All the information in the local network gets indexed and becomes available for fast and quality full text search in it. While at that, the search itself is conducted not only by file names, but also by their contents. The search engine used in SearchInform Security Server acquired full functionality of SearchInform corporate search system. Quick indexing, support of over 60 file formats, correct work with databases, cashing system — to list only a few of its advantages. Search module lets you conduct information search in the data received from all the computers in the local network using a set list of keywords, phrases, or even text extracts. The information you get as a result will contain information on new, modified and deleted files containing key words; an alert system will send these results to the organization's info security pro's either through messenger, by e-mail or any other way convenient to the user. Control of internet traffic is of as high importance as the above since it has hitherto been the least controlled field. That's the weakness insiders exploit to the fullest — Internet forms the bulk of how confidential information gets disclosed. SearchInform Traffic Analyzer is designed to monitor the whole of Internet-traffic. With its help you cant track not only all the http-traffic and logs of such instant messaging programs as MSN, Trillian, ICQ, etc., but also all the e-mail correspondence. It doesn't matter which e-mail client the insider is using, even if the letters were sent through free e-mail clients (like Hotmail.com or gmail.com, for instance) rather than through the corporate mail server. Like in SearchInform Security Server, all the information gets indexed and is stored on the server for a certain period of time and is available for conducting full text search in it during that time. An alert system is set in a way that when a certain keyword or phrase appears in search results on a user computer, the corresponding information is sent to the organization's information security person. Electronic mail control is taken care of by SearchInform Mail Sniffer application. It intercepts all e-mail traffic on the protocol level, so it doesn't really matter how exactly the e-mail was sent. Full text search by key phrases is conducted not only in the heading and body of the letter, but also in the files attached to it. For instance, this way you can easily track who, how and when tried to send confidential information to the external sources as well as see which of your employees are sending their resumes to the competitors. Besides that SearchInform Mail Sniffer with its powerful search engine and a rich management functional will become an irreplaceable tool in the work of your organization with e-mail boxes. In summary security solutions from SearchInform let you process both open and confidential information while preventing unauthorized modifications and information leak to the outside sources. The system tracks the whole of information flow both on the user computer, in the local network and the information that goes into Internet. This helps to protect the organization from the harm that insiders may cause — a domineering threat, which poses an insurmountable impediment to the proper functioning of any organization and can easily cause havoc in the company's information management system. Security system from SearchInform Technologies with an inbuilt powerful search module is a new approach to this problem that can rids the enterprise of the headache related to the information leak and disclosure."

Submission + - Number 10 responds to Software Patents Petition

Submitted by jdh41 on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:05AM

jdh41 writes: The Prime Minister's Office has responded to the 2,215 signature petition to make software patents clearly unenforceable. It seems to be a positive response, hiding a do nothing action plan.

Submission + - British government confirms software unpatentable

Submitted by

oneandoneis2

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:57AM

oneandoneis2 writes: "In response to a request on the British government's e-petition website, which asked for the government to make it clear that software patents were not enforceable in this country, a statement has now been issued that does just that:

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

Submission + - UK PM responds to Software Patents Petition

Submitted by

bisscuitt

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:56AM

bisscuitt writes: "The UK Prime Minister's Office has responded to a petition asking the Prime Minister to 'make software patents clearly unenforcible.' The response states:

'The recently published Gowers Review of Intellectual Property, an independent review commissioned by the Government, recommended that patent rights should not be extended to cover pure software, business methods and genes. The Government will implement those recommendations for which it is responsible, and will therefore continue to exclude patents from areas where they may hinder innovation: including patents which are too broad, speculative, or obvious, or where the advance they make lies in an excluded area such as software.'
This can only mean good things for the FOSS in the UK."

Submission + - The Perfect Desktop - Part 2: Mandriva Free 2007

Submitted by

hausmasta

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:55AM

hausmasta writes: "With the release of Microsoft's new Windows operating system (Vista), more and more people are looking for alternatives to Windows for various reasons. This tutorial is the second in a series of articles where I will show people who are willing to switch to Linux how they can set up a Linux desktop (Mandriva Free 2007 in this article) that fully replaces their Windows desktop, i.e. that has all software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

http://www.howtoforge.com/the_perfect_desktop_mand riva_free2007"

Submission + - UK Government Answers Patent Petition

Submitted by

outsidethe.net

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:49AM

outsidethe.net writes: "This morning, the UK goverment responded to a petition asking it to make software patents unenforcible 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. Although certain jurisdictions, such as the US, allow more liberal patenting of software-based inventions, these patents cannot be enforced in the UK."

What ramifications does this have for recent issues such as the SCO/IBM/Linux debacle or companies such as Microsoft, whom rely on software patents for their business strategy. What about the impact for new developments in the UK?"

Avoiding the Word "Evolution" 895

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:45AM from the can't-say-that-wait-two-years dept.

jakosc tips us to a disturbing article in PloS Biology on the avoidance of the word "Evolution" in scientific papers and grants. From the paper: "In spite of the importance of antimicrobial resistance, we show that the actual word 'evolution' is rarely used in the papers describing this research. Instead, antimicrobial resistance is said to 'emerge,' 'arise,' or 'spread' rather than 'evolve.' Moreover, we show that the failure to use the word 'evolution' by the scientific community may have a direct impact on the public perception of the importance of evolutionary biology in our everyday lives... It has been repeatedly rumored (and reiterated by one of the reviewers of this article) that both the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have in the past actively discouraged the use of the word 'evolution' in titles or abstracts of proposals so as to avoid controversy."

Submission + - Oracle Renews Sole Source Contract with Prometric

Submitted by

M Alani

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:36AM

M Alani writes: "Oracle renewed the sole source contract with prometric for certification exams for whole five years. Prometric announced yesterday that Oracle, the world's largest enterprise software company, has signed a new five-year agreement with Prometric for the global delivery of certification exams. Oracle's certification exams will be administered solely in Prometric's worldwide testing centers and via its Internet-based testing solution. This is another strong boost for Prometric over VUE as I see it. And although Oracle exams are kind of expensive, they still form a group of important exams in the datebase and applications field. And the contract being a five-year contract means that prometric did well in the past with Oracle. Read the full story here: http://www.certificationist.com/content/view/70/45 /"

Submission + - New KDE 4 preview shows progress

Submitted by Verunks on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:27AM

Verunks writes: On Friday, the KDE Project released the third in a series of development previews for the upcoming KDE 4.0 release. Dubbed "Kludge," the 3.80.3 release includes the Sonnet language library, the new Dolphin file manager, and the Solid hardware library. Linux.com has done an overview of this new KDE 4 preview.

Submission + - Inside Chat Spy - the latest product released by I

Submitted by

Inside Logger Team

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:26AM

Inside Logger Team writes: "Inside Chat Spy, the new monitoring solution launched by Inside-Logger, helps you reveal all the chat conversations that took place on your computer regardless the person who is using it. As a parent, you have to be aware of the potential harmful influences computer usage may have on your child. That's why, the monitoring application helps you keep an eye on the sort of interaction your child may develop over the Internet. In this manner one can emphasize the educational purpose of the computer usage. Inside Chat Spy can also be used for gathering information regarding inappropriate behavior affecting interpersonal relationships between spouses, friends, relatives and anyone whose action may have an unwanted effect on the other person. In order to evaluate the new monitoring solution and to find out more about monitoring, please visit www.inside-logger.com or e-mail us at info@inside-logger.com."

Submission + - Rainbow Tables for Download - Free!

Submitted by

Tristan Gamilis

on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @04:13AM

Tristan Gamilis writes: "Rainbow Tables are well and good, but for those of us with single cores and less than 10 years to sit and wait for them to generate, they are more than a little beyond reach.

Enter Free Rainbow Tables.com
Nearing their first Terabyte of tables, and all for free — No strings attached.

The tables are generated by their community using DistrRTgen, a distributed Rainbow Tables Generator. Breaking tables down into parts, the program then assigns the parts to the many users running the DistrRTgen client. The parts are completed and uploaded back to the server where they are compiled, compressed, and made available for download to anyone and everyone with a hash that needs cracking.

Progress can be followed, as well as User Stats.

The site is currently focusing on NTLM tables to give Windows Vista a warm welcome!"

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