Wax_and_Wane - Slashdot User

Submission + - Viacom Says "YouTube Depends on Us"

Submitted by

Anonycat

on Saturday March 24, 2007 @09:39PM

Anonycat writes: "Michael Fricklas, a lawyer for Viacom, has an opinion piece in the Washington Post that asserts that YouTube is responsible for damages in the $1B lawsuit initiated by Viacom. Fricklas attacks on several fronts, including that the DMCA's "safe harbor" provisions don't apply because YouTube is knowledgeable to infringement and furthermore derives financial benefit from it, that putting the burden of spotting infringement on the content providers is an undue burden to them, and notably that "Google and YouTube wouldn't be here if not for investment in software and technologies spurred by patent and copyright laws" in defending the relevance of the IP sector. Whether you agree with the case being made or not, it's a nice look into the minds on the pro-Viacom side."

Submission + - Vonage headed for Trouble?

Submitted by

PCanonD

on Saturday March 24, 2007 @09:31PM

PCanonD writes: "http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/03/23/AR2007032300986.html Though the federal judge involved in the case gave a two week break before this ruling can take effect, Vonage may be headed for the way of many dot coms before it. Verizon is blaming part of their continued financial losses on the alleged patent-infringement activities of VOIP leader Vonage. For its part, Vonage is claiming that it used publicly available "off the shelf" technology, and did not infringe on anyones, let alone Verizon's, patents. In two weeks we'll all see what more the judge has to say."

Submission + - Protest over free speech online turns violent

Submitted by BitterOak on Saturday March 24, 2007 @09:18PM

BitterOak writes: Four high school students were arrested in Toronto Friday, charged with assaulting police and obstruction, during a protest over the suspension of students for posting derogatory comments about the vice principal on their private Facebook pages. 60 students showed up for the protest, and only four were charged with any wrong doing. This story raises interesting questions. I'm sure no one condones disorderly conduct at a protest, but should public schools have the right to suspend students over online speech? The article doesn't make it clear whether or not the student used school computers to post the comments.

Submission + - Karl Rove's E-Mail - Compromise National Security?

Submitted by citizen92 on Saturday March 24, 2007 @08:43PM

citizen92 writes: (Crossposted at Daily Kos)

Over the past few days, there have been many great diaries about the recent discovery of the gwb43.com e-mail system. One example. Another. A story in the National Journal (only available by subcription) yesterday added an additional nugget — that Karl Rove does 95% of his e-mailing over that server. Nice. And end run around the Presidential Records Act. And a political move to hide what could be incriminating records.

What has not yet been mentioned, however, is the likely huge national security breach that might have resulted from Karl's cavalier practices.

The White House is a huge target for electronic espionage by friendly and hostile foreign powers. For those of you who may have visited Washington, this may be evident when you stroll by the various embassies scattered around the city — with their unusual sculptures of antennas and wires on their roofs. The Russians have a compound just three blocks north of the White House.

The US Government spends undisclosed amounts on countermeasures to protect its critical information and its secure networks. And it has the experts to make sure that those countermeasures are working.

But, as usual, the government is focused on the foes outside — not the foes within. Government, meet Karl Rove's OpSec (operational security) program.

As you read, I would have to guess (but I have absolutely no knowlegde if this is true or not) that foreign intelligence services have already paid thorough visits to the various servers that are operated by the RNC down in Chattanooga. You know, GWB43.com. RNCHQ.COM. Bobcorker.com. Why? Well, it's been made pretty clear that Karl Rove conducts business through those domains. 95% of his business. And so do other senior White House staff. If you were a foreign spy, wouldn't you be interested? And might it be a possibility, that MAYBE the RNC servers aren't quite as secure as the government servers? MAYBE?

If I were an Information Security Officer for the White House, my system would be "flashing red." Don't forget that Karl Rove is a Deputy Chief of Staff (the number 3 position) at the White House. He likely see's PDB's and other classified information. And for him to be able to do 95% of his work from the RNC account, he would have to get some of this information flowing from the White House network. Heck, maybe he forwards his eop.gov e-mail to the RNC account.

Point being, this could represent a HUGE SECURITY BREACH. I hope that the RNC servers have been seized by someone in US Government (NSA, CIA or otherwise) to find out exactly what has happened here. And I really hope that political muscle hasn't blocked that.

There is a lot more riding on this than just Karl Rove's political future....

Submission + - Russinovich on UAC, Security Boundaries, Win Arch

Submitted by LifeForm42 on Saturday March 24, 2007 @08:08PM

LifeForm42 writes: Channel 9 has a fascinating interview with Winternal's (now Microsoft's) Mark Russinovich. From the post: "If you write code on Windows or like to know what goes on under the hood in Windows, then you've no doubt heard of Mark Russinovich. He's an OS kernel expert and a co-founder of Winternals; a company that produced must-have operating system and development utilities for Windows (Winternals is now a Microsoft subsidiary as we purchased them in July, 2006. Yay!). Mark is now a Technical Fellow in Windows and is a member of the Windows Core Architecture team (you met some of the other big brains on the CoreArch team last year on Channel 9). Here we talk frankly about Mark's history, his coming to Microsoft, Windows security, what the CoreArch team does, what his role is, etc. Tune in."

Voters Vote Yes, County Says No 645

Posted by kdawson on Saturday March 24, 2007 @08:07PM from the what-part-of-yes-do-you-not-understand dept.

Khyber writes in with a story from Montana, where residents of Missoula County voted in a referendum intended to advise county law-enforcement types to treat marijuana offenses as low-profile. The referendum would not have changed any laws, but was advisory only. After voters approved it, county commissioners overturned it by a 2-to-1 vote. They were swayed by the argument of the county attorney, who had a "gut feeling" that Missoula's electorate had misinterpreted the ballot language. The move has resulted in a flood of disaffection among voters, especially young voters. "Is there even a point to voting any more if the will of the people can so easily be subverted by two people?" one voter posted on a comment blog.

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