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Cisco and US Gov't Conspire to Abuse Legal Process->

Submitted by
Mantle
Mantle writes "Justice Ronald McKinnon of the BC Supreme Court has ordered a stay of extradition for a British citizen to face criminal charges in the US after finding the US Prosecutors and Cisco conspired to mislead the Canadian courts about the nature of the crime. Justice McKinnon found that in reality, the criminal charges were based on exaggerations and misleading representations in order to pressure the accused into dropping a civil suit against Cisco.

The entire incident was a planned and deliberate act by Cisco, which prevailed on U.S. prosecutors to “grotesquely inflate” a minor civil complaint into a criminal charge requiring 500 years imprisonment.

"Justice McKinnon said that his main offence was that he “dared to take on a multinational giant.”"
Link to Original Source

Comment: Step one: understand the issue (Score 1) 226

by Mantle (#34261186) Attached to: UK Minister Backs 'Two-Speed' Internet
What you are describing is not "net neutrality", but usage based billing. There is no problem with that on /..

What /.ers are talking about when they refer to net neutrality is the neutral treatment of data based on the content of the data, NOT the manner in which the content is transmitted. That is a very important technical distinction to make that is commonly misapplied when the term "net neutrality" is used without understanding the underlying issue.

Your electricity bill is "electric neutral" already. If BC Hydro were to overturn "electric neutral" they would bill you differently not only the quantity of electricity you used, but for the purpose to which you put the electricity. They could do things like bill you more for powering a non-BC Hydro branded/partner TV or fridge, but they would sell it to you as a "discount" for using their services. If you complained, they would say oh just switch to a competing provider!

Except the only other "competition" colludes with them in price.

Games

Blizzard Claims Ownership of All Starcraft II Maps 5

Submitted by ccherlin
ccherlin writes "The EULA of Starcraft II contains an extremely disturbing clause:

3. Map Editor. The Game includes a program that allows you to create custom levels, maps, scenarios
or other materials for use in connection with the Game (the “Map Editor”). The following terms are specific to the Map Editor:
a. Map Content. You understand that the content required to create or modify STARCRAFT® II
Modified Maps (as defined below) is included in the STARCRAFT® II game client, and that all
such content is owned by Blizzard and governed by this Agreement. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND
AGREE THAT ALL MAPS, LEVELS AND OTHER CONTENT CREATED OR MODIFIED USING THE MAP
EDITOR (COLLECTIVELY, “MODIFIED MAPS”) ARE AND SHALL REMAIN THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OF BLIZZARD. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU HERE BY ASSIGN TO
BLIZZARD ALL OF YOUR RIGHTS, TITLE AND INTEREST IN AND TO ALL MODIFIED MAPS, AND
AGREE THAT YOU WILL EXECUTE FUTURE ASSIGNMENTS PROMPTLY UPON RECEIVING SUCH
A REQUEST FROM BLIZZARD.

Prior Blizzard games like Warcraft III had EULA provisions that prohibited selling maps created with their editor, but the copyright remained with the map maker. Now? Anyone who creates a new, popular mod like DotA with the Starcraft II editor will have no rights to their own creation."

Major Oil Company Data Leaked By Service Provider ->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "At the recent Black Hat USA 2010 security conference, a well known security service provider accidentally leaked a sensitive penetration test report on a major US-based oil company containing enough sensitive information to gain Windows domain administrator access rights as well as the username and password for everyone in the target company's domain. According to the detailed, 39-page report, these access rights included the ability to access servers containing SCADA system information. The report was not encrypted or password-protected in any way. Anyone with access to the leaked document and a copy of Microsoft Word could read the report in full.

The file was inadvertently distributed on USB keys provided to some attendees.

Reference:
http://sharpesecurity.blogspot.com/2010/07/major-oil-company-data-leaked-by.html"
Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:Someone doesn't like second hand market? (Score 1) 461

by Mantle (#31202924) Attached to: Sony Joins the Offensive Against Pre-Owned Games

While technically this correct, in practice you cannot always de-authorize your consoles.

*You must MANUALLY deauthorize your PSN account on EACH PS3 which you have ever logged in.*

That means:
If your PS3 crashed and you were unable to get to the deauthorize menu item, you lose that "slot" forever.
If you reformat YOUR OWN PS3 without deauthorizing your PSN account, you lose that "slot" forever.
If you have shared your PSN account with someone and they don't deauthorize the account, you lose that "slot" forever.

Citation: I've read this on the official Sony FAQ some time in the past but I can't find it right now, so here is another link that explains how things work: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=158147

Comment: Re:This is all wrong. (Score 1) 327

by Mantle (#29237993) Attached to: Crime Expert Backs Call For "License To Compute"
That's all fine and dandy if the attacker/zombie is under the jurisdiction of the Australia government, but what if it is not? Is the insurance company really going to step into your shoes and chase someone halfway across the world to get a judgment and enforce it? What if you don't have a cause of action against the attacker/zombie in the foreign jurisdiction? Ironically, the effect of your proposed law would be to protect foreign victims of Australian attackers. I guess what you are proposing is some sort of multi-national treaty whereby all signatories of the treaty would enact similar legislation to force internet users to take liability for the actions of their computers. Good luck!

Ah, the Tsar's bazaar's bizarre beaux-arts!