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Google

Submission + - Google Earth using my computer? 1

Submitted by rabenja
rabenja writes: "I was using Google Earth to document a recent vacation to Costa Rica by creating a tour file.
I saved the *.kmz file but did not know the file had been placed so I searched the C: drive
for *.kmz files. What came up in the search was 2,620 files in the
    C:\Users\[ME]\AppData\Local\Temp\ge4908\kmz directory all with timestamps around
the time that I was working in Google Earth. Clicking on any of the
files in that directory showed that none of them had anything to do with what I was
working on. They were random locations around the earth, each with mulitple pushpin locations
that I did not make.

Why would Google Earth create these files if they had nothing to do with my session??
The only thing that I can think of is that Google is using users' computers as
data caches for other users."
Censorship

Submission + - Egyptian Court Wants to Block YouTube for a Month

Submitted by rogue-girl
rogue-girl writes: Cairo Administrative Court announced earlier on Feb 9 that a ruling has been issued to block YouTube within the country for 30 days. This decision comes after a lawsuit was filed back in September 2012 during the turmoil caused by the unfamous trailer 'The Innocence of Muslims' spread through the popular video platform. The Court has also asked for all websites having published parts or the entire trailer to be banned for 30 days. A more contextualized post on the story in both English and French is available here.
Space

Submission + - Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample (spaceindustrynews.com)

Submitted by littlesparkvt
littlesparkvt writes: NASA’s Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars.
Space Industry News (http://s.tt/1zA1q)
Government

Submission + - Rapiscan's "backscatter" nude-o-scopes coming to federal buildings (federaltimes.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: The Federal Times (http://www.federaltimes.com), a weekly print newspaper published by Ganette Government Media Corp, is reporting (http://www.federaltimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013302080003) that the Rapiscan Systems “backscatter” passenger screening machines used by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will likely be redeployed to federal buildings.

Rapiscan System's backscatter machines have exposed passengers to radiation since they were first installed. As previously reported on slashdot (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/01/18/0338202/tsa-terminates-its-contract-with-maker-of-full-body-scanner), TSAdecided last month to stop using the machines because the manufacturer was unable to make changes to the machines that were mandated by Congress. Now TSA is attempting to sucker another federal agency into taking the nude-o-scopes. As TSA spokesman David Castelveter explained, "“Hopefully we will be able to deploy them within other government agencies."

Although the media has reported the machines have already been removed from airports, the majority are still in use at US airports — while 76 machines have been removed, another 174 still remain in use at airports. The machines cost about $40 million, based upon a $160,000 per-unit cost.
Canada

Submission + - Canadian ISP Fights Back Against Copyright Trolls (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Distributel, an independent Canadian ISP, has fought back in a file sharing lawsuit by opposing a motion to disclose the names of subscribers alleged to have engaged in file sharing. The company did not oppose a similar request in November 2012, but says in court documents filed on Friday that several factors led to a change in position after it received another request for more names. Those concerns include evidence of copyright trolling, privacy issues, and weak evidence of actual infringement by its subscribers. The decision to fight back points to mounting ISP frustration in Canada with file sharing lawsuits that come after the Canadian government send clear signals that such actions were unwelcome.
Linux

Submission + - The Linux Foundation Secure Boot Pre-bootloader Released (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: The Linux Foundation’s UEFI Secure Boot pre-bootloader for independent Linux distros and software developers has finally been released. Announcing the release of the secure boot system James Bottomley noted that the signed pre-bootloader was delivered by Microsoft on February 6th. Bottomley has released two validated files PreLoader.efi and HashTool.efi. Bottomley has also created a bootable mini-USB image that provides “an EFI shell where the kernel should be and uses Gummiboot to boot.” Just last week the pre-bootloader had to be rewritten to accommodate booting of all version of Linux
Security

Submission + - To send a ping to every Internet address only cost 10 hours (securityartwork.es)

Submitted by
nereidsol
nereidsol writes: "Bandwith and computer resources makes Internet a very small place, on this experiment someone send a ping to all the IPV4 Internet only on 10 hours, with a very normal server. http://www.securityartwork.es/2013/01/21/how-much-does-it-take-to-ping-the-whole-internet-12/?lang=en and after that it gives us some stats from the answered packets
http://www.securityartwork.es/2013/02/07/the-result-of-pinging-all-the-internet-ip-addresses/?lang=en"
Windows

Submission + - Samsung laptop bug is not Linux specific (dreamwidth.org)

Submitted by
YurB
YurB writes: "Matthew Garret, a Linux kernel developer who was investigating the recent Linux-on-Samsung-in-UEFI-mode problem, has bricked a Samsung laptop using a test userspace program in Windows. The most fascinating part of the story is on what is actually causing the firmware boot failure:

Unfortunately, it turns out that some Samsung laptops will fail to boot if too much of the [UEFI] variable storage space is used. We don't know what "too much" is yet, but writing a bunch of variables from Windows is enough to trigger it. I put some sample code here — it writes out 36 variables each containing a kilobyte of random data. I ran this as an administrator under Windows and then rebooted the system. It never came back.

"

Submission + - Facebook sued by Rembrandt IP for two patent violations (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ars is reporting that the patent-holding company, along with the heirs of dutch programmer, Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer (deceased 2004), have filed suit against Facebook for violating two patents relating to social media web sites. The two patents in question were filed for back in 1998, a full four years before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg first entered university at Harvard. Among the claims made in the lawsuit is that Facebook's "Like" button violates one of Van Der Meer's patents. Facebook even cited one of Van Der Meer's patents in one of their own filings later on. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Submission + - Super Bowl Blackout Caused by Defective Rrotective Relay (nationalgeographic.com)

Submitted by wilby
wilby writes: Power company says Super Bowl blackout was caused by device designed to prevent power outages. A device designed to improve the Superdome electrical system reliability instead caused it to shut down dramatically during Super Bowl 47.

Entergy New Orleans, which provides power to the venue, said testing traced the source of the problem to an "electrical relay device "it had installed in December to protect Superdome equipment in case a cable failure occurred between the company's switchgear and the stadium.

Submission + - Documentary: The Pirate Bay AFK (tpbafk.tv)

Submitted by terbeaux
terbeaux writes: The documentary "TPB AFK" follows the creators of The Pirate Bay: Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij and Gottfrid Svartholm; through their technical and logistical trials of keeping TPB online as well as their court appearances in Sweden.

After its premiere at Berlin International Film Festival, TechCrunch is reporting that TPB AFK is now available under a Creative Commons license for purchase, download on TPB, or viewing on YouTube. The budget for the film was raised on kickstarter where they achieved twice the funding goal in the allotted month long funding campaign.

The film already has 40,000 YouTube views, 19,000 torrent seeders, and over 2,000 paid downloads. There are public screenings happening world wide.
Privacy

Submission + - DHS Watchdog OKs "Suspicionless" Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border (wired.com)

Submitted by dreamstateseven
dreamstateseven writes: In a not-so-unexpected move, the Department of Homeland Security has concluded that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security. According to legal precedent, the Fourth Amendment — the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures — does not apply along the border. The memo highlights the friction between today’s reality that electronic devices have become virtual extensions of ourselves housing everything from e-mail to instant-message chats to photos and our papers and effects — juxtaposed against the government’s stated quest for national security.

By the way, the government contends the Fourth-Amendment-Free Zone stretches 100 miles inland from the nation’s actual border.
Internet Explorer

Submission + - IE patch to fix 57 vulnerabilities (zdnet.com) 1

Submitted by Billly Gates
Billly Gates writes: Microsoft is advising users to stick with other browsers until Tuesday when 57 patches for Internet Explorer 6,7,8,9, and even 10.. There is no word if this patch is to protect IE from the +50 java exploits that were patched last week or the new Adobe flash vulnerabilities that were just posted earlier today. Microsoft has more information here. In semi related news IE 10 is almost done for Windows 7 and has a IE10blocker available for the corporations. No word on whether IE 10 will be included as part of the 57 updates.

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