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Censorship

Submission + - YouTube, MySpace banned on DoD computers

Submitted by
vivaoporto
vivaoporto writes: "The U.S. Department of Defense said it will block worldwide access to 13 websites including MySpace and YouTube Today from the unclassified defense Department Internet(NIPRNet), according to media reports.

The ban, which takes place immediately, actually was imposed in February and was not prompted by any event or study, according to Army Col. Gary Keck, a Defense Department spokesman. He confirmed that bandwidth was the issue and said the decision is "not about content."

The new policy takes effect as the military has, ironically, aggressively turned to YouTube as a means of broadcasting what it considers to be the more positive aspects of its work in Iraq and Afghanistan as a way of countering what it considers to be negative news coverage.

The sites blocked by the Defense Department: MySpace, YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos, FileCabi, BlackPlanet, hi5, Photobucket, Pandora, MTV, 1.fm and Live365."
Graphics

Submission + - NVIDIA will release Lost Planet benchmark tomorrow

Submitted by
crazyeyes
crazyeyes writes: "Odd choice for Capcom to have NVIDIA release the Lost Planet benchmark on nZone.com, instead of their own website. Must speak wonders about the power of NVIDIA's TWIMTBP program. According to this editorial, NVIDIA will release the benchmark tomorrow. It will be one of the few DX10 benchmarks. Will be interesting to see how the NVIDIA 8800 cards run. ATI fans will probably want to avoid this benchmark. Apparently, it sucks on ATI cards ."
Privacy

Submission + - National ID: Biometrics Pinned to Social Security

Submitted by
magicsquid
magicsquid writes: "The Social Security card faces its first major upgrade in 70 years under two immigration-reform proposals slated for debate this week that would add biometric information to the card and finally complete its slow metamorphosis into a national ID."
Java

Submission + - James Gosling on Open Sourcing Java

Submitted by
eldavojohn
eldavojohn writes: "James Gosling, the father of Java, gave an interesting interview at JavaOne in which he spoke about a lot of things including JavaFX & the recent events of Java becoming Open Source. What he had to say about the problems they were facing with the open source community(s): "One of the issues we've had with open-sourcing is that often people try to generalize the open-source community as this one big kumbaya happy family, but in fact it's a bunch of warring states. They all have their Great Wall of China and they lob stones back and forth.""
Patents

Submission + - US patents Yoga

Submitted by
SmellTheCoffee
SmellTheCoffee writes: "Members of Parliament (MPs) in India on Tuesday slammed the US patenting authority for granting yoga-related copyrights to American companies, saying yoga is a part of Indian heritage. Terming the whole exercise as preposterous, the MPs said yoga had originated in India. Till date, the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted 150 yoga-related copyrights, 134 patents on yoga accessories and 2,315 yoga trademarks. TOI is reporting on this."
Censorship

Submission + - DOD blocks worldwide access to 13 popular sites

Submitted by
tinahdee
tinahdee writes: "Bet you can guess which sites are restricted from any DOD access worldwide. The memo, a PDF linked to from gasperson.com, says home computers are exempt from the restriction, but that staffers should be careful not to forward links to any DOD servers, which could compromise security."
Security

Submission + - New online merchants can now have Free SSL

Submitted by
Yuvaraj
Yuvaraj writes: "New online merchants can now have Free SSL Certification while they build their businesses Just minutes to install, Comodo's fully functional Free SSL certificate offers an unmatched three month term

Jersey City, NJ (May 15, 2007) — Comodo, a global Certification Authority and leading provider of Identity and Trust Assurance Management solutions, announced today that it is offering its fully-functional Free SSL certificate for a full three month term, longer than any leading CA. Competitors' SSL trial offers are often as short as 14 days. Comodo's Free SSL certificate runs a full quarter, allowing new businesses time to develop their trusted online presence without worrying about an initial expenditure.

Comodo is offering this long-term Free SSL certificate because, as a leading Certification Authority, Comodo is committed to promoting trust in the online space through authentication and security solutions geared for eCommerce conversion. Businesses just starting out need to find a way to secure their site while giving them time to build their business. With Comodo's Free SSL certificate, businesses can secure their customers in their initial days as they build more traffic that they can then convert to volume. Importantly, like Comodo's other SSL certificates, installation is nearly effortless and the user can be up and running in a matter of minutes. Visitors to these protected sites will see the padlock on the site ensuring visitors that sensitive information is encrypted during transmission.

To take advantage of this free three month offer or for more information, visit www.instantssl.com. About Comodo

Comodo, through itsgroup ofInternet securitycompanies, is a leading Certification Authority and global provider of Identity and Trust Assurance services on the Internet.Comodo securesand authenticates online transactions and communications for over2,000,000 businesses and consumers.

Withaglobal presence Comodooffersbusinesses and consumers third-generation solutions for intelligent security and authentication technologies that create trust online. Comodo's technological expertise includes PKI digital certification, Code signing certification, integrated authentication infrastructure services, Web Content authentication, Secure messaging solutions, regulatory compliance solutions, and digital e- commerce services.

For additional information on Comodo — Creating Trust Online visit http://www.comodo.com

For more information, media representatives should contact
Judy Shapiro
Comodo
(201) 963-9471
Email: judy.shapiro@comodo.com"
Software

Submission + - Start-ups hardest hit by Microsoft patent claims

Submitted by MsManhattan
MsManhattan writes: Microsoft's patent claims will hit start-ups and other small businesses based on the open-source model the hardest, legal experts and open-source advocates say. Even if the company pursues licensing arrangements instead of legal action, as it has indicated it would prefer, "There's no way a small company ... can compete against the patent portfolio of any big company. The very people that Microsoft's trying to collect from are the people least likely to be able to pay them any significant amount of money," says Matt Asay, vice president of business development for open-source developer Alfresco Software Inc. In general, open-source supporters view Microsoft's actions this week as "an attempt to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt and make people hesitant to use open source as an alternative to commercial products" and to mask the lackluster reception for Vista, Office 2007 and other under-performing products. And some have suggested that Microsoft will suffer a backlash effect. Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, notes "The same threat ... Microsoft is holding over open-source users' heads could be turned on the software giant, which itself has used open-source or freely available technology to develop its own commercial products. In fact, there is just as much potential patent infringement in Windows than there is in open source."

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