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Communications

Piracy law cuts internet traffic by 33%

Submitted by
Linux Admin Blog
Linux Admin Blog writes "Sweden's new anti piracy laws are based on an EU directive. From the BBC "Internet traffic in Sweden fell by 33% as the country's new anti-piracy law came into effect, reports suggest. Sweden's new policy — the Local IPRED law — allows copyright holders to force internet service providers (ISP) to reveal details of users sharing files.""
Robotics

Robot does science without human help

Submitted by
holy_calamity
holy_calamity writes "An automated genetics lab hooked up to artificial intelligence software has become the first robot to make scientific discoveries without human help. Adam, in Aberystwyth, UK, worked out the function of several yeast genes by performing experiments and interpreting the results — work apparently equivalent to that usually performed by grad students."
Linux Business

The Open Source Enterprise Trap->

Submitted by AndyST
AndyST writes "Dj Walker-Morgan writes about a lock-in effect with vendors of open source enterprise software, apparently similar to what you know from the proprietary world. He calls this "limited support lock in".

By only supporting binary versions that they have supplied to enterprise customers, [open source enterprise vendors] have taken away the advantages of open source from the customer. What open source does for [the vendor] is give them a cheaper way of developing their software by allowing people to take the community code and enhance it, and they get the benefits of those enhancements. [...] An enterprise has to be prepared to ensure that the enterprise open source vendor they are dealing with is really as open as they need.

He closes with a checklist which helps to receive all advantages and freedom open source software."
Link to Original Source

SuSE

openSUSE 11.0 Beta 1 Has Been Released->

Submitted by
Francis Giannaros
Francis Giannaros writes "The first beta release for openSUSE 11.0 is now available. Some of the highlights include the fast package management, KDE 3.5.9 and 4.0.3, GNOME 2.22.1 and an impressive new installer using Qt4 CSS-like stylesheets. Changes behind the scenes include switching to RPM LZMA payload, making RPMs smaller (faster to download), and quicker to decompress (faster installation)."
Link to Original Source
Security

Software to Randomize Police Operations at LAX 221

Posted by samzenpus
from the random-protection dept.
owlgorithm writes "A USC research group has created software, named ARMOR (Assistant for Randomized Monitoring over Routes), that will be used at LAX Airport to make security and police operations there truly unpredictable. The software records the locations of routine, random vehicle checkpoints and canine searches at the airport, and police provide data on possible terrorist targets, based in part on recent security breaches or suspicious activity. The software then makes random decisions (which are thankfully based on calculated probabilities of terrorist attacks) and tells the police where to dispatch and when. The most notable detail is that terrorists who had access to ARMOR still wouldn't be able to predict the searches."
Robotics

The Inside Story of the Armed Robot Pullout Rumor 105

Posted by Zonk
from the see-how-these-things-get-started dept.
An anonymous reader writes "It appears that the initial rumor of the SWORDS robots being pulled out of Iraq — and its subsequent correction — were just that: sensationalizing in the blogosphere. Popular Mechanics has a lengthy update to its original scoop, digging into the sketchy responses from defense contractors when pressed about the bot's actual duties in battle. From the article: 'Although others have used our story to generate a false online rumor about these armed UGVs, the nature of those "technical issues" that Gotvald mentioned in his statement, and that Qinetiq and Foster-Miller have yet to address directly, remains a mystery. Until someone can explain why SWORDS lost its funding, and what exactly it is — and isn't — being used for in Iraq, the rumors are likely to continue. If this is the dawn of the era of robotic infantry, things are off to a decidedly rocky start.""
Microsoft

EU hits Microsoft with record 899 million euro fne->

Submitted by
jd
jd writes "Microsoft has been slammed with a 899 million euro (1.4 billion dollars) fine for perpetuating violations of the 2004 antitrust ruling. It is the first company to be fined for non-compliance, the amazing thing being that the EU expects Microsoft to comply now and "close a dark chapter" in their history. There is something seriously wrong about this, in light of all the other accusations being made. Will Microsoft comply at long last, or does this hint at the battle intensifying?"
Link to Original Source
Businesses

Personal computer seized by employer 11

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "I was recently laid off from my job as a developer / sys admin. The company I worked for was a small family owned company. The computer I was provided (and pretty much all computer systems) was very old and was not really useable as a development machine so on the days I was programming I brought my computer in from home. On the day I was let go they refused to let me take my computer home with me and threatened to call the police if I tried to take it. When the computer was returned to me 6 days later I was told they had made an image of the hard drive and deleted all files related to their business. After getting the PC home I discovered they had deleted many files not related to their business. They had even deleted software that I was developing in my own time for another purpose. My question is do they have the right to do this or would my personal files (or my wife's or my kid's) be protected under the Fourth amendment? The company has no written computer usage policy. I have lost weeks of development time and I can't imagine that this is legal."
Security

Antivirus protection worse than a year ago->

Submitted by
juct
juct writes "In a test of 17 antivirus products, the german magazine c't concluded, that the effectiveness has fallen off, and more and more pests can now slip past these barriers. Most of the products perform reasonably well if they can rely on their database of signatures. But if they have to detect new malware with heuristics, the results were worse than last year. Besides this c't did the first comprehensive test of behaviour blocking in antivirus products and found that more than half of them did not react on suspicious behaviour at all. The test itself is available only in the printed magazine, heise Security published a summary."
Link to Original Source
Novell

Novell, RedHat being corporate on Real Time Linux->

Submitted by
AndyST
AndyST writes "Always interesting to see how rival GNU/Linux vendors treat each other. (Spoiler: Just like any other two companies.) On the subject of real time linux, and the companies' respective procucts, a Redhad executive claimed Novell was selling beta code, their code. Novell's rebuttal, with a smirk, contins a "Note to Red Hat: this is open source, remember? [...] Just because Red Hat is again late to market [...] doesn't mean Linux contains "beta code."" It's just business, nothing personal."
Link to Original Source
Science

Nano Safety Worries Scientists More Than Public 167

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the what-aren't-they-telling-us dept.
Nanotech Coward writes "The unknown human health and environmental impacts of nanotechnology are a bigger worry for scientists than for the public, according to a new report in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The new report was based on a national telephone survey of American households and a sampling of 363 leading U.S. nanotechnology scientists and engineers. It reveals that those with the most insight into a technology with enormous potential — and that is already emerging in hundreds of products — are unsure what health and environmental problems might be posed by the technology."
It's funny. Laugh.

SCO found guilty of lying about Unix code in Linux->

Submitted by
mlauzon
mlauzon writes "In the United States, SCO's Linux/Unix litigation has been stalled out while the company's bankruptcy trial is being dealt with. In Germany, however, several court cases have found SCO Group GmbH, SCO's Germany branch, guilty of lying about Linux containing stolen Unix code.

In the first case, reported on by Heise Online, the pro-Linux German companies, Tarent GmbH and Univention found that SCO was once more making claims that Linux contained Unix IP (intellectual property). Specifically, SCO GmbH made the familiar claims that "As we have progressed in our discovery related to this action, SCO has found compelling evidence that the Linux operating system contains unauthorized SCO UNIX intellectual property (IP)." This was followed by the usual threat "If a customer refuses to compensate SCO for its UNIX intellectual property found in Linux by purchasing a license, then SCO may consider litigation."

The German Linux companies had already successfully protested against these statements in 2003. Then they were granted an injunction against SCO from making its claims that Linux contains illegally obtained SCO IP, a.k.a. Unix source code. If SCO violated this injunction, SCO would have to pay a fine of 250,000 Euros.

Since Tarent and Univention brought the matter to the attention of the courts, SCO has taken down the offending page with its claims.

Of course, in the U.S. court system, it has already been ruled that SCO has no Unix IP. Novell, not SCO, owns Unix.

Tarent's managing director told Heise Online that he found "It disconcerting, though not surprising, to see SCO trying to do towards the end what it is really being paid for by its supporters: spreading falsities as disparaging as possible about Linux." Unlike 2003, where Linux companies had to nip things in the bud, exercising vigilance is due now where things are coming to an end: "Even though SCO has reached the end of the line in our opinion, one should not let them get away with this."

In a similar case, Andreas Kuckartz, a German Linux advocate, had been publicly stating since 2003 that "SCO IP Licenses for Linux" amounted to little more than "protection money pricelists" and that SCO is "spreading rumors about copyright violations in Linux." Further, Kuckartz claimed that "The SCO Group Inc. is probably is involved in crimes such as stock manipulation and filing a fraudulent complaint against IBM."

SCO took him to court over these claims and SCO has lost (German PDF document). The Higher Regional Court in Munich ruled, Kuckartz said in e-mails to Linux-Watch, "that my statements are allowed because none of the factual statements I made to support those accusations are false. I can now even go to a business partner of The SCO Group GmbH and tell him or her that SCO is probably involved in the named crimes."

Kuckartz claim that he believes is the most important one is that in the four years the case has dragged out, SCO never objected "to my statement that SCO has not presented any proof of copyright violations in the lawsuit SCO vs. IBM."

In the United States, however, SCO, even now, continues to drag out its unsubstantiated claims that IBM has stolen SCO's Unix IP. In the SCO bankruptcy hearing, SCO attorney Arthur Spector once more claims, "Our litigation is a tremendous asset" and "Our litigation with IBM could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.""
Link to Original Source
Google

The sixty-five dollar click-> 2

Submitted by PessimisticLitigator
PessimisticLitigator writes "Adam Liptak wrote a great article, in the New York Times, on how competition in the legal field is driving the cost per click of Google ad to remarkable levels Phrases such as "Oakland personal injury lawyer," "Asbestos attorney," and "mesothelioma attorney Texas" are bringing in between $58 and $66 per click. Is this an example of commonsense left at the door, or is it a brilliant use of technology? It seems like the prior to me.

There is an interesting side note where the article calls Google a middle aged technology, and it cites the historically slow adaptation of technology by attorneys as evidence.

   "
Link to Original Source

It is sweet to let the mind unbend on occasion. -- Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace)