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Encryption

In UK, Two Convicted of Refusing To Decrypt Data 554

Posted by kdawson
from the no-pleading-the-fifth dept.
ACKyushu clues us to recent news out of the UK, where two people have been successfully prosecuted for refusing to provide authorities with their encryption keys, resulting in landmark convictions that may have carried jail sentences of up to five years. There is uncertainty in that the names of the people convicted were not released; and without those names, the Crown Prosecution Service said it was unable to track down details of the cases. "Failure to comply with a section 49 notice carries a sentence of up to two years jail plus fines. Failure to comply during a national security investigation carries up to five years jail. ... Of the 15 individuals served, 11 did not comply with the notices. Of the 11, seven were charged and two convicted. Sir Christopher [Rose, the government's Chief Surveillance Commissioner] did not report whether prosecutions failed or are pending against the five charged but not convicted in the period covered by his report."
Books

Scribd Becomes DRM-Optional E-Bookstore

Submitted by
Miracle Jones
Miracle Jones writes "In an effort to compete with Amazon and Google, the document-hosting website Scribd will now be letting writers and publishers sell documents that they upload. They will be offering an 80/20 profit-sharing deal in favor of writers, and will let writers charge whatever they want. Additionally, Scribd will not force any content control (although they will have a piracy database and bounce copyrighted scans) and will let writers choose to encrypt their books with DRM or not. This is big news for people in publishing, who have been seeking an alternative to Amazon for fear that Amazon is amassing too much power too quickly in this brand new marketplace, especially after Amazon's announcement last week that they will now be publishing books in addition to selling them."
Power

50% of Electricity Generated by Wind Scenario->

Submitted by jeroen8
jeroen8 writes "Would a "50% of electricity generated by wind scenario" work in North America by 2030? In the article A North American Wind Energy Scenario of Neil Howes, who has recently retired from his position as an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, a rough cut estimate of what might be required to make such a transition in about 20 years time can be found. Most proposals that are being made rely on a very big increase in carbon free energy, both to charge electric vehicles (EV's) and to replace oil and natural gas (NG) presently used for hot water and space heating. In this article, he lays out a path by which 50% of North American energy might come from wind by 2030, including replacement of a large share of oil and natural gas use by electricity."
Link to Original Source
The Military

US Military Inspects Student Laptops for P2P Use->

Submitted by bfire
bfire writes "Recruits at the United States Military Academy in New York have to line up in the corridors outside their rooms in the barracks every Saturday morning for a notebook computer inspection or "IT SAMI" to check for attached shares and illicit or unauthorised content and use, according to a Colonel stationed there. "They're college students and they do what all college students do ... they share music," said Col Adams, who is assistant professor and senior research scientist at West Point's IT operations centre. He said management of the academy that trained US President Dwight Eisenhower and General David Petraeus wants to make sure no honour codes are broken that could lead to a cadet's expulsion from the school and return to the ranks."
Link to Original Source
Windows

Dell says Windows 7 pricing may be a 'problem'

Submitted by ausekilis
ausekilis writes "On Tom's Hardware is a brief article concerning the price for the upcoming Windows 7

The director of product management for Dell's business client product group, Darrel Ward, thinks that the price for the upcoming Windows 7 operating system may potentially be an obstacle for early adopters.

Considering Dell sells Ubuntu-equipped Inspiron 15n for ~$350, and Vista Equipped Inspiron 15 for ~$399, and "If there's one thing that may influence adoption, make things slower or cause customers to pause, it's that generally the ASPs (average selling price) of the operating systems are higher than they were for Vista and XP", it makes you wonder exactly what they hidden "Windows 7 fee" will be on machines later.

Let the flames begin."

Transportation

US to Require New Cars Get 42 mpg 1

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes "New cars and trucks will have to get 30 percent better mileage starting in 2016 under an Obama administration move to curb emissions tied to smog and global warming. While the 30 percent increase would be an average for both cars and light trucks, the percentage increase in cars would be much greater rising from the current 27.5 mpg standard to 42 mpg. Environmentalists praised the move. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, called it "one of the most significant efforts undertaken by any president, ever, to end our addiction to oil and seriously slash our global warming emissions." Obama's plan also would effectively end litigation between states and automakers who had opposed state-specific rules, arguing that having to meet several state standards would be much more expensive for them than just one federal rule. The Detroit News reported that automakers were on board with the new rule and had worked with the administration on creating a timeline for the transition. Daniel Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, described the new rule as "a triple play: It will help move America off foreign oil, save families money and spur American businesses to take the lead in developing the job-creating, clean-energy technologies of the future.""
Privacy

Speeders to now be electronically fingerprinted->

Submitted by
SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes "Motorists stopped for traffic violations in Tennessee could be fingerprinted if state lawmakers approve a bill pending in the legislature. Currently, when drivers are cited during traffic stops, police officers ask for the driver's signature on the ticket, but the proposed bill would allow police departments to eliminate signatures and collect fingerprints. Supporters say collecting fingerprints would save money and help police determine whether the driver is wanted for a criminal offense, but opponents worry that it allows the government to tread on individual privacy rights. "It's scary. I really think that these fingerprints will be used to create a database eventually, if not right away. If you don't think it is, then you're just kidding yourself." quips Rep. Stacey Campfield a local Republican."
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Social Networks

Israel warns of spy recruitment via Facebook->

Submitted by
Yehuda Berlinger
Yehuda Berlinger writes "The Israeli government is warning that terrorism groups are using Facebook and other social networks to recruit citizens for spying and other such nefarious reasons. Worse, if you travel internationally to meet these recruiters, you may be subject to kidnap. In other words, as the later part of the story confirms, one person was approached by one group with an offer of cash for information. The fact that Facebook was involved somehow makes this important to the Israeli government, where the standard rules of caution apply, like: don't go off alone to a foreign country to sell secrets to some anonymous enemy."
Link to Original Source

And it should be the law: If you use the word `paradigm' without knowing what the dictionary says it means, you go to jail. No exceptions. -- David Jones