gchaix - Slashdot User

Comment: OSU Open Source Lab (Score 1) 263

by gchaix on Wednesday September 19, 2012 @02:42AM (#41383763) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Where Should a Geek's Charitable Donations Go?

The OSU Open Source Lab is a donation-funded organization that supports the open source software community by providing project hosting, development, and mirrors for many open source projects. Apache, the Linux Foundation, Drupal, Busybox, Plone, PHPbb, Sahana, OpenMRS, and many others rely on the OSL for some or all of their infrastructure. http://osuosl.org/donate Full disclosure: I work for the OSL.

+ - Link Between Violent Computer Games and Aggressiveness Questioned-> 0

Submitted by silentbrad on Tuesday April 10, 2012 @03:12PM

silentbrad writes "An article on Science Daily — and another on IGN — brings us back to the debate violent games and aggressiveness. From the article: "There is a long-lasting and at times intense debate about the possible link between violent computer games and aggressiveness. A group of researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, are now questioning the entire basis of the discussion. In a recently published article, they present a new study showing that, more than anything, a good ability to cooperate is a prerequisite for success in the violent gaming environment. ... The Gothenburg-based research group spent hundreds of hours playing online games and observing other gamers, including on video recordings. They focused on complex games with portrayals of violence and aggressive action where the participants have to fight with and against each other. ... Inconsiderate gamers, as well as those who act aggressively or emotionally, generally do not do well. 'The suggested link between games and aggression is based on the notion of transfer, which means that knowledge gained in a certain situation can be used in an entirely different context. The whole idea of transfer has been central in education research for a very long time. The question of how a learning situation should be designed in order for learners to be able to use the learned material in real life is very difficult, and has no clear answers,' says Ivarsson. ... 'In a nutshell, we're questioning the whole gaming and violence debate, since it's not based on a real problem but rather on some hypothetical reasoning,' he says."
Link to Original Source

+ - US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau embraces FOSS, publishes on github-> 0

Submitted by

gchaix

on Tuesday April 10, 2012 @02:17PM

gchaix writes "The US Federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has publicly embraced open source software and has begun posting its code to GitHub.

From the fine article:

Until recently, the federal government was hesitant to adopt open-source software due to a perceived ambiguity around its legal status as a commercial good. In 2009, however, the Department of Defense made it clear that open-source software products are on equal footing with their proprietary counterparts.

We agree, and the first section of our source code policy is unequivocal: We use open-source software, and we do so because it helps us fulfill our mission.

Open-source software works because it enables people from around the world to share their contributions with each other. The CFPB has benefited tremendously from other people’s efforts, so it’s only right that we give back to the community by sharing our work with others.

This brings us to the second part of our policy: When we build our own software or contract with a third party to build it for us, we will share the code with the public at no charge. Exceptions will be made when source code exposes sensitive details that would put the Bureau at risk for security breaches; but we believe that, in general, hiding source code does not make the software safer.

More coverage here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/09/u-s-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-gets-open-source-publishes-on-github/"
Link to Original Source

+ - Interview With TSA Screener Reveals 'Fatal Flaws'-> 0

Submitted by OverTheGeicoE on Tuesday April 10, 2012 @01:53PM

OverTheGeicoE writes "Jonathan Corbett, creator of the video showing that TSA's body scanners can't see metal objects on our sides, has a new video out. This time he's interviewing an experienced TSA screener identified only as 'Jennifer,' and her allegations point to 'fatal flaws' in TSA and its procedures. Worse, TSA's screeners are well aware of these flaws. According to 'Jennifer,' body scanners frequently fail to detect objects on passengers, and this flaw is well known to the screeners on the job. People with visible items in their pockets can pass through scanners without detection, even when the items are simulated weapons or explosives. 'Jennifer' also alleges that training for screeners is severely lacking. Screeners are directed to operate body scanners, even the X-ray scanners, without any training whatsoever. The manual of standard operating procedures often can't be found at the checkpoints, let alone read. 'Jennifer' was so alarmed by what she experienced that she wrote her congressional representative to complain. She was ultimately fired as a result, effective today."
Link to Original Source

+ - Google, Cisco & 10 more big tech firms rally around open source networking-> 0

Submitted by alphadogg on Tuesday April 10, 2012 @01:38PM

alphadogg writes "Cisco, Google, HP and nine other technology companies have joined forces with two leading universities to form a research center focused on software-defined networking. The announcement of the Open Networking Research Center (ONRC) comes a week before the Open Networking Summit, which focuses on OpenFlow and SDN, will be held in Santa Clara. The ONRC, which is developing "a comprehensive intellectual framework" for software-defined networking, will consist of research groups at Stanford and UC Berkeley as well as an independent, nonprofit Open Networking Laboratory that will develop an open-source SDN infrastructure."
Link to Original Source

+ - Kubuntu to be Sponsored by Blue Systems-> 1

Submitted by

JRiddell

on Tuesday April 10, 2012 @12:32PM

JRiddell writes "Kubuntu, the KDE flavour from Ubuntu, has found a new sponsor in Blue Systems. They will be providing more resources than were available by previous sponsor Canonical. The project will remain much the same, community led, KDE focused, Ubuntu flavour. With the new independence it can branch out into new markets such as a Kubuntu Active flavour for tablets."
Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:How did they hack it? (Score 1) 312

by gchaix on Wednesday August 31, 2011 @08:39PM (#37270792) Attached to: Kernel.org Compromised

How did the so called user account compromise result in root access? Care to explain?

I'm not privy to the details, but I expect disclosure will be forthcoming as soon as they've traced and patched whatever vulnerability was exploited.

Comment: Re:How did they hack it? (Score 4, Informative) 312

by gchaix on Wednesday August 31, 2011 @08:10PM (#37270576) Attached to: Kernel.org Compromised

The post on kernel.org states that it was possibly due to a compromised user account. They stated that they discovered it through some errors related to Xnest /dev/mem and that they captured some of the exploit code. I believe they're still looking at everything to figure how how the intruders got in and what they touched.

Kudos to the kernel.org team for their prompt action and immediate disclosure.

+ - Social media a threat to undercover cops-> 0

Submitted by

angry tapir

on Thursday August 25, 2011 @08:22PM

angry tapir writes "Facebook has proven to be one of the biggest dangers in keeping undercover police officers safe due to applications such as facial recognition and photo tagging, according to a adjunct professor at ANU and Charles Sturt University. Mick Keelty, a former Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner, told the audience at Security 2011 in Sydney that because of the convergence of a number of technologies undercover policing may be "impossible" in the future."
Link to Original Source

+ - AntiWar.com grapples with FBI surveillance FOIAs-> 0

Submitted by

BeatTheChip

on Thursday August 25, 2011 @08:19PM

BeatTheChip writes "Antiwar.com an International war and opinion news coverage site recently discovered they were under surveillance by the FBI, after a blogger found a redacted 8 page document about their newsite from a FOIA reseach request. Jason Ditz, news editor, for the site followed up with more insights about the legal road ahead."
Link to Original Source

+ - CIA and NYPD Alliance-> 1

Submitted by the eric conspiracy on Thursday August 25, 2011 @08:09PM

the eric conspiracy writes "The AP reports that post 9-11, the NYPD has been conducting intelligence operations covertly and independently from city government at the behest and with funding from the CIA.

The NYPD is able to conduct operations that would be illegal under civil liberties restrictions for the Federal Government to conduct, in particular targeting various ethnic communities.

The CIA, under US law is forbidden from spying on Americans."
Link to Original Source

+ - The EFF reflects on ICE seizing a Tor exit node-> 0

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25, 2011 @08:08PM

An anonymous reader writes "Senior staff attorney at the EFF, Marcia Hofmann gives more information on the first known seizure of equipment in the US, due to a warrant executed against a private individual running a Tor exit node. 'This spring, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a search warrant at the home of Nolan King and seized six computer hard drives in connection with a criminal investigation. The warrant was issued on the basis of an Internet Protocol (IP) address that traced back to an account connected to Mr. King's home, where he was operating a Tor exit relay.' The EFF was able to get Mr King's equipment returned, and Marcia points out that 'While we think it's important to let the public know about this unfortunate event, it doesn't change our belief that running a Tor exit relay is legal.' She also links to the EFF's Tor Legal FAQ. This again brings up an interesting dichotomy in my mind, concerning protecting yourself from the Big digital Brother: Running an open Wi-Fi hotspot, or Tor exit node, would make you both more likely to be investigated but less likely to be convicted of any cyber crimes."
Link to Original Source

+ - Irene's Danger: How Do Experts Measure Catastrophe 0

Submitted by oxide7 on Thursday August 25, 2011 @05:30PM

oxide7 writes "As Hurricane Irene barrels her way up the Eastern Seaboard, supercomputers fortified by high-speed analysis software are preparing models of potential damage and its costs. While nobody can know ahead of time just how much destruction a Category 3 Hurricane like Irene will do, specialty companies that specialize in catastrophic risk analysis are armed with historical data as well as links to national computer centers that track the storm in real time. "There's a huge market for this kind of material," said a spokesman for the Cornell Theory Center, a national supercomputer center at Cornell University."

+ - Verizon skip GALAXY S II for better Samsung phone-> 0

Submitted by zacharye on Thursday August 25, 2011 @02:30PM

zacharye writes "Verizon Wireless is passing on the Galaxy S II smartphone according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. BGR has confirmed with multiple trusted sources that this is accurate — Samsung will not unveil a Verizon-branded GALAXY S II smartphone next week at its New York City launch event on August 29th. Instead, Samsung will take the wraps off of GALAXY S II handsets that will soon launch on T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T. We’re told two of those carriers will maintain the “GALAXY S II” branding but one may offer a unique name for the handset. BGR has also confirmed, however, that Verizon Wireless will soon launch a Samsung device with very similar specifications — as in, nearly identical specifications — but it just won’t be a “GALAXY S II” phone..."
Link to Original Source

+ - Alien Planet Made of Diamond Discovered-> 0

Submitted by bs0d3 on Thursday August 25, 2011 @02:23PM

bs0d3 writes "A newly discovered alien planet that formed from a dead star maybe comprised of diamond. The planet probably formed into diamond from carbon which was under extreme pressure, it's 5x the size of earth and orbits a fast pulsing neutron star."
Link to Original Source