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Crime

Wikileaks DDoS Attacker Arrested, Equipment Seized 429

Posted by samzenpus
from the I-feel-safer-already dept.
kaptink writes "The self proclaimed hacker that waged a DDoS attack on Wikileaks has been arrested and has had all his equipment seized. What is interesting is that local police conducted the raid and not a federal authority such as the FBI. The Jester (th3j35t3r) who has a reputation for attacking websites he disagrees with is said to be trying to raise $10,000 in expected lawyers fees. If anyone is going to be alight in the whole Wikileaks debacle, its going to be the lawyers. Personally I think anyone who spells their nick with numbers in an effort to look 'leet' deserves to have their computer confiscated."
Networking

Wikipedia Could Block 67 Million Verizon Customers 481

Posted by timothy
from the but-that's-why-the-internet-exists dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A particularly nasty Wikipedia vandal has forced a discussion to take place over whether to block edits from an address range used by over 67 million Verizon customers. Verizon has not responded to abusive Wikipedia users on their network before, even though the abusive Verizon users have released private information (phone numbers, etc.) of numerous individuals, and made countless threats that have also been reported to law enforcement. Wikipedia has done something similar in the past with users on the AOL network, which used proxy servers and thus allowed vandals to continue disrupting the site. Discussion is also taking place on alternate solutions to deal with abuse from this Verizon user, named 'Zsfgseg' on Wikipedia. If a block of millions is enacted, Verizon could potentially change how they assign IP addresses, or be forced at least to address a PR nightmare."
Math

Claimed Proof That P != NP 457

Posted by kdawson
from the sufficiently-complex dept.
morsch writes "Researcher Vinay Deolalikar from HP Labs claims proof that P != NP. The 100-page paper has apparently not been peer-reviewed yet, so feel free to dig in and find some flaws. However, the attempt seems to be quite genuine, and Deolalikar has published papers in the same field in the past. So this may be the real thing. Given that $1M from the Millennium Prize is involved, it will certainly get enough scrutiny. Greg Baker broke the story on his blog, including the email Deolalikar sent around."
Cellphones

Open Source cell phone hackers

Submitted by A. Craig West
A. Craig West writes "Like most people on the planet (I think that might even be true, now), I have a cell phone. And like most cell phones, certainly in North America, it has been locked down so tight it is practically useless. The cellular networks tend to prefer to restrict what the phones can do, in various ways. One of the major things they tend to be restricted from doing is transfer from one network to another. It is, of course, possible to buy an unlocked cellphone, although there are exceptions. It is also possible, and much more common, to have your cell phone unlocked. In most cases, this requires the application of money, although eventually, free methods make it into the wild. The thing that I have noticed is even when the software for doing this becomes free, it is always in the free beer sense, and pretty much never in the free speech sense.
So does anybody know why this is? What is it about unlocking and jailbreaking cell phones that keeps people from wanting to make their source code available? One could argue that it's a money thing, because the people doing this work tend to start with a version that you need to pay to use, then introduce free versions with limited functionality, usually a few versions behind the pay one. The only problem with this argument is that it applies equally well for all other types of software, too. somehow, we have managed to develop a rather extensive collection of open source software in spite of this. Except in the area of cell phone hacking. I don't get it..."
Microsoft

Microsoft Rumored To Lay Off Thousands Worldwide 506

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the that's-not-good dept.
nandemoari writes "It seems not even Microsoft is impervious to the effects of this increasingly painful recession. According to reports, the Redmond-based company is preparing to lay off about 17 per cent of its entire workforce in the coming months. Despite its portfolio diversity — including operating systems, antivirus software, and video game consoles — Microsoft is clearly feeling the pressure applied by a tightening global economy. In fact, there seems to be a sense of emergency to the massive cuts (about 15,000 workers out of 90,000), which rumors suggest should be made official by January 15."

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