01101101 - Slashdot User

Court Orders Breathalyzer Source Code Released 0

Submitted by

AtomicSnarl

on Friday August 10 2007, @12:42PM

AtomicSnarl writes "An accused DUI Driver has won access to the breathalyzer source code by the Minnesota Supreme Court. Voting Machines are already under intense scrutiny — what other police or government tools, like radar units, need to be open for public review?"

Police kill filesharer in front of family 0

Submitted by Shadowruni on Monday July 30 2007, @09:39AM

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."

MPAA Fires Back at AACS Decryption Utility

Submitted by RulerOf on Wednesday February 28 2007, @03:23PM

RulerOf writes "The AACS Decryption utility released this past December known as BackupHDDVD originally authored by Muslix64 of the Doom9 forums has received its first official DMCA Takedown Notice. It has been widely speculated that the utility itself was not an infringing piece of software due to the fact that it is merely "a textbook implementation of AACS," written with the help of documents publicly available at the AACS LA's website, and that the AACS Volume Unique Keys that the end user isn't supposed to have access to are in fact the infringing content, but it appears that such is not the case. From the thread:

"...you must input keys and then it will decrypt the encrypted content. If this is the case, than according to the language of the DMCA it does sound like it is infringing. Section 1201(a) says that it is an infringement to "circumvent a technological measure." The phrase, "circumvent a technological measure" is defined as "descramb(ling) a scrambled work or decrypt(ing) an encrypted work, ... without the authority of the copyright owner." If BackupHDDVD does in fact decrypt encrypted content than per the DMCA it needs a license to do that."

Comment: Re:Sales (Score 5, Insightful) 81

by 01101101 on Monday October 09 2006, @07:50PM (#16372163) Attached to: Life Behind The Counter

How does the customer know whether the salesman is giving him good advice or just trying to push some POS game for other reasons, like higher profit margins or pressure from management?

Which is pretty much true anywhere a salesperson is involved. At least with video games I never feel like when I am at the store I HAVE to buy a game right then. If I see a few that look good, but I am not familiar with them, I can come home and look for some reviews and screenshots and be able to make a more informed decision next time I am out shopping.