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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 11 declined, 2 accepted (13 total, 15.38% accepted)

Privacy

Redefining Privacy in the Panopticon->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "An interesting insight into how we are all colluding in building a Panopticon for ourselves and how Governments are late to the party. From the article:

Welcome to the Panopticon. Originally a concept created by a philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, in 1785 the Panopticon is a prison where every corner of the designated space is covered by a camera so prisoners feel that they are being watched all of the time and thus are more likely to behave.
Our problem is that the dividing line between what we consider private and public is getting increasingly fuzzy, we merrily publish great swathes of detail about our lives on blogs and increasingly on social networking sites.

"
Link to Original Source
Security

McKinnon appeals to the Prime Minister->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "In a last ditch effort to avoid extradition to the US, self confessed hacker Gary McKinnon's supporters have submitted an appeal direct to Prime Minister Gordon Brown asking that his trial be held in the UK and held vigils outside 10 Downing Street and the US Embassy. McKinnon's case has already been turned down by the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights says it can not help as we have previously discussed. This is the last throw of the dice for Gary as, according to his own site, a Judicial Review of the decision to extradite Gary to the USA is set for 20th January."
Link to Original Source
Space

Warp Drive Engine Would Travel Faster Than Light-> 2

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "Discovery News is reporting that two physicists from Baylor University are releasing a paper on how to build a warp drive. From the article:

The fabric of space has moved faster than light before, says Cleaver, right after the Big Bang, when the universe expanded faster than the speed of light. "We're recreating the inflationary period of the universe behind the ship," said Cleaver.

The paper is an expansion of the Alcubierre drive principle where the ship technically stays stationary but space is moved around it."
Link to Original Source

Security

Twitter Profile Pages Pushing Trojans->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "The BBC is reporting that

Micro blogging site Twitter is the latest target of cyber criminals who are increasingly finding fertile ground on social networks. A fake Twitter profile with a malicious payload has been spotted by security firm Kaspersky.

Kapersky's page on the subject tells us that the broken profile pages contain a Trojan downloader that proceeds to download 10 banker Trojans onto the infected machine, all of which are disguised as MP3 files. They also say that it isn't really new news, as compromised Twitter profiles were first last year."
Link to Original Source

Social Networks

Social Networking's Impact on Global Business->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "Peter Day's BBC World Service Global Business radio show just covered the hot topic of how social networking sites are impacting businesses. From those that run them, like Facebook or LinkedIn, to companies that leverage them as free customer feedback he looks at the whole spectrum of opinion from "our staff having a quick poke around increases their productivity as long as they don't spend their whole time doing it" or even "we actively encourage use as part of our recruitment mechanism" to "absolutely all such sites are banned". The 23 minute program available here offers a fascinating business eye view of this emerging technology's impact across the board and should be available until Tuesday 22nd April."
Link to Original Source
Social Networks

Virtual Burglary Leads to Arrest->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "The BBC is reporting that a 'Virtual theft' has lead to an arrest in the Netherlands. A Dutch teenager who scammed people out of their Habbo Hotel usernames and passwords allegedly used the information to steal virtual designer furniture from his victims and moved it to his own virtual home. The police have become interested because, although the furniture was bought with "Habbo Credits", these have a cash value. From the article:

"It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money. But the only way to be a thief in Habbo is to get people's usernames and passwords and then log in and take the furniture. "We got involved because of an increasing number of sites which are pretending to be Habbo. People might then try and log in and get their details stolen."
Can't wait to see this come to court and the judge asking the prosecution to show the jury some of the swag..."
Link to Original Source
The Internet

Vint Cerf on the Past and Future of the Internet->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "Vint Cerf, founding father of the internet and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google has an interesting piece on the BBC's The Tech Lab on the past, present and future of the internet. From the article:

The internet, however, stands poised to become the greatest communications platform humanity has ever known. It has profoundly increased access to information around the world, and it has likewise provided a platform for free expression on a scale unimaginable a generation ago.
He discusses the amazing rate of expansion of the medium, compared to say the telephone or TV, and addresses upcoming infrastructure concerns and comments on the increasing power of the Internet to affect all of our lives:

The idea that all the world's knowledge could be discoverable not just by humans but by programs acting on their behalf at speeds well beyond the superhuman, is one of this century's most exciting opportunities.
"
Link to Original Source
Hardware Hacking

Personal LASER Weaponary for the Masses->

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "From the Argh!-My-eyes! department

You've always wanted one and now you can have one. Your own, personal, handheld LASER gun!

DIYer Kipkay extracts the laser from a DVD burner and mounts it in a small flashlight to create a handheld laser burner that can light matches and burst balloons.
Watch the demo video, grab a DVD burner and follow the instructible. Normal safety warnings apply: this probably isn't safe."
Link to Original Source
The Courts

Gary McKinnon loses Extradition Appeal

Submitted by
G0rAk
G0rAk writes "The BBC is reporting that [hacker cracker] Gary McKinnon has lost his High Court appeal against extradition to the United States. The fight is not yet over "We will certainly be applying for this court to certify a point of law of public importance and to grant leave." said his lawyer referring to alleged threats by US authorities, including one from New Jersey prosecutors that "he would fry", would be among issues raised when they take he appeal to the House of Lords."

The only constant is change.