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Security

Emerging Fallout from Facebook and Twitter DDoS->

Submitted by
Erris
Erris writes "The emerging Facebook and Twitter DDoS attack story has Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols saying, "It's time to get rid of Windows."

It happened because Windows is an insecure piece of junk. Anyone who knows anything about security knows that this kind of disaster was only a matter of time. Windows botnets are responsible for DDoS attacks and most of e-mail spam. You cannot secure Windows. Microsoft keeps saying that they will, and they always fail. Period.

Twitter and Facebook users are just the kind of people M$ can't afford to lose. They are the decision makers who decided Vista's fate and will soon do the same for Windows 7. They are generally aware of Windows performance problems that 7 is still slower than XP and that Ubuntu is faster than both. Will people finally heed the security warning and walk away from Windows at work?"
Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:Brings me back (Score 1, Informative) 361

by Erris (#27682731) Attached to: The History of Microsoft's Anti-Competitive Behavior

He's probably talking about the Disney that's had a hand in every copyright extension in the 20th century aftery your 1909 case. 28 years + the posibility of renewal is not nearly as bad as 90 years + DMCA and other absurdly broken laws we have now. People are waking up to the tyrany around them and they won't tollerate ACTA and further foolishness.

None of it really matters now. Broadcast is dying and their little file clerks at M$ are going down with them. Good riddance to bad rubbish, it's all downhill from here.

Microsoft

M$ Funds Publisher's Lawsuits Vrs Google Books->

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes "M$'s Plot to Kill Google has taken an ugly turn as M$ is funding opposition to the Google book settlement.

The $125 million deal gives Google the right to store digital copies of the books, include them in its search results, sell online versions and license its book-scans to libraries. It also allows millions of "orphan" works (books still under copyright but whose copyright-holders can't be found) to be included in Google's program.

The only obstacle remaining for the settlement to take effect is final court approval. ... [it is not] surprising that at least one party nudging its way into the settlement is an internet-issues-oriented group from New York Law School. But what does raise an eyebrow is the source of New York Law's funding on this matter: Microsoft.

This is especially interesting given M$'s proven inability to make money with books. The Wired article goes on to expose curious grants to law schools favorable to M$'s positions on various issues. So goes the war on sharing and universal access to knowledge."
Link to Original Source

Windows

Texas Vista Ban is one Signature Away->

Submitted by twitter
twitter writes "Texas state Senator Juan Hinojosa did not like the results of Vista deployment and put a statewide ban on the OS into the state's budget. Apparently, his peers agreed and the ban now only needs Governor Rick Perry's signature to be law.

"I have read a lot about the problems they have with this particular software. ... We have a lot of problems with the Vista program. It had a lot of bugs. It takes up a lot of memory. It's not compatible with other equipment, and it's supposed to be an upgrade from the XP program that is being used by state agencies, and it's not," said Hinojosa.

Hinojosa's budget provision wouldn't eliminate these ongoing uses nor outright banish Vista from the state. It would, however, require any state agencies (save for higher education institutions) to receive formal approval from the Legislative Budget Board [to purchase Windows Vista-related software, hardware, or licenses]

If passed, Texas would join the FAA, DOT, BECTA, most IT professionals, Windows "pirates", Intel and the mainstream press in their avoidance and opinion of the hated OS"
Link to Original Source

Comment: Blog Police. (Score -1) 300

by Erris (#27404177) Attached to: Anonymous Blogger Outed By Politician

Representatives are special. There's nothing to keep them from stalking people in their spare time. The minute he uses any of his state privileges or state employees to do the job, he's crossed the line. The only way you can spend state time and money is by passing a law telling everyone how the money is to be spent. We do not and never should have a blog police.

A full investigation of the means of discovery should be launched in this case. The representative obviously meant the outing as a form of retribution and punishment. He may also have violated the US Constitution by searching private property without reasonable suspicion of a crime. Where there is malice and means there is often crime.

Privacy

Anonymous Blogger Outed By Politician 300

Posted by kdawson
from the by-what-right dept.
Snoskred writes with the story of a blogger who chose to remain pseudonymous, who has been outed by an Alaskan politician in his legislative newsletter. Alaska Rep. Mike Doogan had been writing bizarre emails to people who emailed him, and the Alaskan blogger "Mudflats" was one of those who called him on it. (Mudflats first began getting noticed after blogging about Sarah Palin from a local point of view.) Doogan seems to have developed a particular itch to learn who Mudflats is, and he finally found out, though he got her last name wrong, and named her in his official newsletter. The Huffington Post is one of the many outlets writing about the affair. The blogger happens to be Democrat — as is Doogan — but that is immaterial to the question of the right to anonymity in political speech. Does an American have the right to post political opinion online anonymously? May a government official breach that anonymity absent a compelling state interest?

Comment: Yes, humor and pride are manly. (Score -1, Troll) 993

by Erris (#27393993) Attached to: How Do I Make My Netbook More Manly?

The mod needs to be in his head. A laptop won't change his presence/personality. Insecurity over mistaken perception ... why? Now for some mods that I've done.

Aluminum up armoring is a practical mod. You can use cheap flashing aluminum and silicone type adhesives to make a durable, tough and relatively light weight cover for easily scratched or soiled plastic. If your plastic is hard enough and in good shape, you don't need this.

Support GNU with stickers. GNU is good for you.

Security

Taming Conficker, the Easy Way 288

Posted by kdawson
from the scanner-lightly dept.
Dan Kaminsky writes "We may not know what the Conficker authors have in store for us on April 1st, but I doubt many network administrators want to find out. Maybe they don't have to: I've been working with the Honeynet Project'sTillmann Werner and Felix Leder, who have been digging into Conficker's profile on the network. What we've found is pretty cool: Conficker actually changes what Windows looks like on the network, and this change can be detected remotely, anonymously, and very, very quickly. You can literally ask a server if it's infected with Conficker, and it will give you an honest answer. Tillmann and Felix have their own proof of concept scanner, and with the help of Securosis' Rich Mogull and the multivendor Conficker Working Group, enterprise-class scanners should already be out from Tenable (Nessus), McAfee/Foundstone, nmap, ncircle, and Qualys. We figured this out on Friday, and got code put together for Monday. It's been one heck of a weekend."
Windows

Microsoft's Vista-capable debacle spills over Acer->

Submitted by N!NJA
N!NJA writes "With a lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Francisco, California, two residents of Fostoria, Ohio seek damages and relief from the world's third-largest computer maker after purchasing a sub-$600 Aspire notebook that included Windows Vista Premium and a gigabyte of shared system and graphics memory."
Link to Original Source

QOTD: I've heard about civil Engineers, but I've never met one.