geekwench - Slashdot User

Submission + - Manitoba: Report child porn or go to jail

Submitted by biggknifeparty on Thursday November 29, 2007 @01:41AM

biggknifeparty writes: The NDP government in the Canadian province of Manitoba is introducing legislation requiring anyone who becomes aware of child pornography to report it to the authorities or face up to 2 years in prison and a $50000 dollar fine. Internet Service Providers and computer service shops will now have to forward their suspicions to cybertip.ca. There is no doubt that the intentions are positive, to protect our children above all else, but is this not a slippery slope that will lead to privacy concerns? In Soviet Manitoba citizens spy on each other.

Submission + - Linux Users Can't Sell On eBay (ubuntuforums.org) 2

Submitted by bobintetley on Tuesday November 27, 2007 @06:23PM

bobintetley writes: Many Linux/Firefox users are reporting problems uploading images to eBay. Having tested this myself, it is indeed completely broken. Why eBay would break standard HTTP uploads by using IE specific javascript to "check the file exists" boggles the mind. This problem has been reported to eBay since late October, but so far with no resolution. eBay have since stated that only IE is supported. I guess when you have no real competition you can pull stunts like this.

Submission + - A cancer-resistant mouse?

Submitted by

Roland Piquepaille

on Tuesday November 27, 2007 @02:01PM

Roland Piquepaille writes: "University of Kentucky researchers have created a cancer-resistant mouse by introducing a tumor-suppressor gene called 'Par-4' into an egg. The 'Par-4' gene, discovered in 1993, kills cancer cells, but not normal cells. It was originally found in the prostate, but this gene also can lead to the death of a broad range of cancer cells. In their new experiments, the scientists discovered that the 'Par-4' gene was transmitted to new generations of mice. The next step will to use this gene in humans through bone marrow transplantation, but there is still work to be done before that. Anyway, this sounds like good news for people affected with cancers. But read more for additional details and references."

Submission + - FTC says 8.3 million hit with identity theft (networkworld.com)

Submitted by

coondoggie

on Tuesday November 27, 2007 @12:38PM

coondoggie writes: "The Federal Trade Commission today released a survey showing that 8.3 million American adults, or almost 4% of all American adults, were victims of identity theft in 2005. A Gartner study in 2006 said ID theft victims numbered 15 million victims. Of the 2005 victims, the FTC said 3.2 million experienced misuse of their existing credit card accounts; 3.3 million experienced misuse of non-credit card accounts; and 1.8 million victims found that new accounts were opened or other frauds were committed using their personal identifying information.The survey found that the costs associated with identity theft varied widely. In at least half of all incidents, thieves obtained goods or services worth $500 or less. In 10 percent of cases, however, thieves got at least $6,000 worth of goods or services. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/22306"

Submission + - Major QuickTime Vulnerability in Latest Version (beskerming.com)

Submitted by

SkiifGeek

on Sunday November 25, 2007 @08:09AM

SkiifGeek writes: "Less than a month after news of active OS X fake codec malware, a major vulnerability in the latest version of QuickTime (7.3, only released two weeks ago) has been discovered and has already gone from proof-of-concept exploit code to two readily available exploit samples.

With the ease by which this exploit can be integrated with media streams, it marks a greater threat for end users than a fake codec. At this stage, about the best mitigation recommended is to disable support for RTSP via the File Type / Advanced -> MIME Settings option in QuickTime's Control Panel / PreferencePane. Even though the exploit is only for Windows systems (including Vista — QuickTime apparently doesn't utilise ASLR), OS X users could be at threat from related problems, given historical RTSP vulnerabilities."

Submission + - Marvel / DC Shut Down Comic Torrents on ZCultFM

Submitted by

trekbody

on Thursday November 22, 2007 @11:07AM

trekbody writes: "After getting into the digital comics business themselves, Marvel along with marketplace rival DC have contacted the proprietory of www.zcultfm.com, a comic community and torrent sharing site. ZCult has taken their tracker down to assess the problem, after receiving e-mail letters from both companies. Marvel apparently had asked for the entire site to be taken down, but ZCult owner "Serj" vows to keep the site alive, even without torrents. More information is available in zCultFM forums... http://zcultfm.com/~comic/ or this page from TorrentFreak... http://torrentfreak.com/marvel-dc-comics-target-bittorrent-071122/"

Submission + - Japan Immigration directed to forcibly take prints (yahoo.co.jp)

Submitted by CB-in-Tokyo on Wednesday November 21, 2007 @05:09PM

CB-in-Tokyo writes: In reaction to the protests caused by Japan's new fingerprinting system, the Ministry of Justice has issued a directive (English Translation) that all foreigners that do not agree to give their fingerprints be incarcerated and "pursuaded" to give their prints, immediately to be followed by deportation. Immigration officials state that during the period of incarceration, "We will sufficiently persuade the refuser to cooperate, and endeavor not to do this by force."

The new fingerprinting and photographing system is under a lot of fire by the foreign community in Japan as it targets not only tourists, but also permanent residents. The system is being presented outwardly as a way to counter terrorism, but is being touted internally by celebrity spokespeople as a way to cut down on foreign crime in Japan. It is illegal under Japanese law to fingerprint citizens, unless they have been accused of a crime, however foreign residents have no such protection, and now under the new directive foreigners who refuse will no longer not just be refused entry, but also coerced into providing personal biometric data.

Submission + - Divorce PC-Style

Submitted by

Hugh Pickens

on Monday September 17, 2007 @01:49PM

Hugh Pickens writes: "The New York Times is running a story on how traces of Web site visits, mobile telephone records, and hacked e-mail accounts are becoming the fodder of many divorce proceedings. "Google and Yahoo may know everything, but they don't really care about you," says one attorney but "no one cares more about the things you do than the person that used to be married to you." One lawyer says three-quarters of her cases now involve some kind of electronic communications and that she routinely asks judges for court orders to seize and copy the hard drives of her clients' spouses. Although lawyers must navigate a complex legal landscape governing the admissibility of electronic evidence, if the computer in question is shared by the whole family, or couples have revealed their passwords to each other, reading a spouse's e-mail messages and introducing them as evidence in a divorce case is often allowed. "The only thing you can truly erase these things with is a specialty Smith & Wesson product," says one investigator. "Throw your computer into the air and play skeet with it.""

Submission + - Fantasy Author Robert Jordan Dead at 58 (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by on Monday September 17, 2007 @01:35PM

An anonymous reader writes: Author Robert Jordan, whose was best known for the Wheel of Time series of fantasy novels has died of a rare blood disease aged 58.

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