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Submission + - The Recomputation Manifesto (software.ac.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Replication of scientic experiments is critical to the advance of science.1 Unfortunately,
the discipline of Computer Science has never treated replication seriously, even though computers are very good at doing the same thing over and over again. Not only are experiments
rarely replicated, they are rarely even replicable in a meaningful way. Scientists are being
encouraged to make their source code available [13], but this is only a small step. Even in
the happy event that source code can be built and run successfully, running code is a long
way away from being able to replicate the experiment that code was used for.
I propose that the discipline of Computer Science must embrace replication of experiments
as standard practice. I propose that the only credible technique to make experiments truly
replicable is to provide copies of virtual machines in which the experiments are validated to
run. I propose that tools and repositories should be made available to make this happen. I
propose to be one of those who makes it happen.

Submission + - 3D Printing Makes Both Mechanical and Smart Keys Obsolete (vice.com)

Submitted by Daniel_Stuckey
Daniel_Stuckey writes: Two MIT students demonstrated this key hack at DEFCON last week. David Lawrence and Eric Van Albert wrote a piece of code that makes it possible create a 3D-printable model of any high-security Primus key. All thatâ(TM)s needed is a basic scanner, their software system to decipher the unique information in each key, and a 3D-printer to spit out the replica.

Thanks to high-tech cameras, would-be key pirates donâ(TM)t even need to have the key in their possession to duplicate it. A scanned photograph can be converted into a digital blueprint of the object, which can then be printed.

Submission + - Former NSA chief warns of cyber-terror attacks if Snowden apprehended (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Okian Warrior
Okian Warrior writes: The Guardian is reporting Michael Hayden speculating that hackers and transparency groups arre likely to respond with cyber-terror attacks if the United States government apprehends whistleblower Edward Snowden. From the story: "If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do? Nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years.

Submission + - Edward Snowden offered $100K tweeting job (cnet.com)

Submitted by Okian Warrior
Okian Warrior writes: Cnet is reporting that MeetAtTheAirport.com has offered Edward Snowden $100,000 to tweet on its behalf. Stipulations of the offer are that a) he mustn't leak classified information. b) he must be allowed back into the United States, and c) he must send out a minimum of 100 tweets from the airport under company profile. (It's not clear whether that last is per day, month, year, or altogether.)

Submission + - Banks' Anti-Mule Ops Behind Drop In Cash Out Fraud? (securityledger.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: Mules are the “last mile” in many online fraud operations: the unwitting dupes, or witting co-conspirators who lend their legitimate bank account (and reputation) to fraudsters who are looking for a way to cash out funds from a compromised account. Mules – lured with promises of “work-from-home” riches-- receive fraudulent transactions and then immediately withdraw the funds and wire them to the fraudsters, minus a healthy “commission.”

(It's worth noting that Brian Krebs has done the most thorough reporting on the subject, including interviews with more than 150 money mules. Krebs concludes that most fall into one of two categories: the stupid and the willfully oblivious. http://krebsonsecurity.com/?s=money+mules&x=0&y=0)

In recent years, there has been ample coverage in the media of cyber crime and fraud and the role of money mules in scams. And yet, the supply of mules seems to be endless. Or is it? According to researchers at the security firm RSA, bank account cash-out attacks are becoming less common online, and a sharp increase in busts on money mules may be the cause.

Writing on Tuesday, Idan Aharoni, RSA’s Head of Cyber Intelligence, said that his team has seen a sharp (90%) reduction in offers for fraudulent “cash out services” in criminal forums. (https://blogs.rsa.com/is-cashing-out-bank-accounts-getting-harder/)

The problem isn’t a lack of money mules. Rather ”mule accounts have become much more volatile” because banks are doing a much better job identifying and shutting down mule accounts. That, in turn, has forced mule “herders,” who recruit the accomplices who will carry out fraudulent transfers, to become more picky about who they work with, in an attempt to avoid burning a good money mule in a scheme that is likely to get broken up, Security Ledger reports.

Submission + - Darling, a Wine-like emulator to run Mac OSX apps on Linux (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Lubo Doleel of the Chez Republic has created an app called Darling, a Wine like emulator for OS X. The name Darling comes from Darvin (Apple’s open source operating system) and Linux. I don’t know where the G came from, may be from GNU to keep RMS happy :-) Which Mac OSX apps would you like to run under GNULinux?

Submission + - E-Reader manufacturers seek waiver from disabilities act (mobileread.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Amazon, Kobo, and Sony filed filed a petition (PDF) seeking a waiver for their e-reading devices (such as the Amazon Kindle, the Kobo Glo, and the Sony Reader) from the Federal Communications Commission's recently adopted rules that would impose certain disabilities act requirements on providers of advanced communications services (ACS). The petition notes that while communications may be integrated into e-reading devices, it is not the primary purpose of these devices ("designed and optimized for reading digital written work"), and that "the theoretical ACS ability of ereaders is irrelevant to how the overwhelming majority of users actually use the devices."

Comment Stephen King (Score 4, Insightful) 103

by Okian Warrior (#44478527) Attached to: Project Anonymizes Your Writing Style To Hide Your Identity

Stephen King seems to agree with you.

In his book "On Writing", he explains (among many other good points) that one hallmark of good writing is finding the right combination of words for imagery.

He uses examples like "I lit a cigarette, tasted like a plumber's handkerchief'" from Raymond Chandler and "'It was darker than a carload of assholes' by George V Higgins.

The Odyssey (IIRC) has the phrase "it was a wine dark sea", so this has been around for a very long time.

For casual writing the project may be useful, but I wonder how much imagery will be lost in translation.

Many of the works of revolutionaries, radicals, and dissenters are memorable for their specific imagery. Simon Sinek analyzed "I have a dream", and noted the difference between "I have a dream" and "I have a plan". The two are very different, and have different effects on people. (Viz. TED talk "How Great Leaders Inspire Action")

I'm doubtful that AI has progressed to the point where the mood and emotional content will be preserved in such a translation.

To be effective, defiant writing will still require courage.

Comment Fourth Amendment (Score 5, Interesting) 143

by Okian Warrior (#44463625) Attached to: NSA Provided £100m Funding For GCHQ Operations

The 4th amendment says that people have a right to be secure against unreasonable searches.

This simple prohibition has no context - the fact that someone else (a foreign government, a corporation, another citizen) gives the information to the government doesn't matter. It's still a violation, the fourth amendment makes no distinction for how the government gets the data.

The fact that the legislature passed a law saying that they can doesn't matter, and the fact that the executive branch says that they can doesn't matter either. The executive branch cannot and must not be the ones to judge the legality of their actions - that would be tyranny.

Determining whether something is legal is, and always has been, the purview of the judicial branch. In cases of ambiguity or differing interpretations, there is always the option of bringing it to the supreme court.

Many legal scholars count the government's actions as illegal, and a common-sense reading of the fourth amendment seems to agree.

I wish the people who keep repeating that the government hasn't broken any laws would shut up - they're giving tyranny a measure of respectability just by saying that. I also wish people who don't care about their own privacy would shut up - many people do care, and since you don't care there is nothing to be gained by arguing... or even voicing your position.

If you think what the government is doing is OK, please STFU and let people bring the issue to the supreme court. If you're correct, then it won't matter and you shouldn't object to raising the question. There's no honourable reason to argue against verification.

Comment Monopoles and quantized charge (Score 3, Interesting) 67

by Okian Warrior (#44462975) Attached to: Monopoles and Magnetricity

As a followup to the excellent relativistic answer above...

As one of my professors put it: "if there is one monopole anywhere, then charge is quantized everywhere". This was at the end of a fairly straightforward derivation, first done by Paul Dirac IIRC.

We see by experiment that charge is quantized everywhere, but this doesn't prove the existence of monopoles. It's a tantalizing clue to why things may be the way they are in our universe.

Monopoles are predicted by some of the unified theories, so if they exist how come we don't see any?

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