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Music

Submission + - Universal Says Dancing Baby Isn't Fair Use (techdirt.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Back in 2007, Stephanie Lenz sued Universal Music because it issued a DMCA takedown notice on her video of her toddler son dancing to 29-seconds of a Prince song. Lenz, backed by the EFF, claimed that the video was fair use. Universal claimed that it didn't have to check for fair use before issuing takedowns. A court, however, sided with Lenz. The case has continued as they try to determine if Universal has to pay up for the bogus DMCA notice, and in the latest twist, Universal Music has filed for a summary judgment where it tries to explain how a 29-second video of a baby dancing to some music on the radio is not fair use. It seems clear that to Universal Music, absolutely nothing is fair use.
Privacy

Submission + - Inside a Full-Body Scanning X-Ray Van (foxnews.com)

Velcroman1 writes: In August, Slashdotters learned that full-body scanners were roaming the streets in vans: "The same technology used at airport check points, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on US streets where law enforcement agencies have deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs." FoxNews.com just took a ride in one of the $800,000 vans, videotaping the entire event — and continues the debate about security, privacy, and health risks.
Google

Submission + - Google Breaks Internet Traffic Record (arbornetworks.com)

sturgeon writes: Google is now the second largest ISP on the planet according to a new study by the Arbor Networks. Google generates over 6% of all Internet traffic in the world. From the article, "While its not news that Google is Big, what is amazing is how much bigger Google continues to get. Only one global tier1 provider still carries more traffic than Google (and this ISP also provides a large portion of Google's transit)." The report says Google gained more than 1% of all Internet traffic share since just January. This is a crazy amount of traffic.

Submission + - Maybe the motto should be "Don't be arrogant" (allthingsd.com)

pcause writes: Here is yet more proof of the arrogance of the leadership of Google. Eric Schmidt says that if you don't like Street View taking your picture, move! Wow, this guy really doesn't have any clue about civility, privacy and just how to keep his mouth shut when his brain has something dumb to say.

Comment Re:Afghan informers will be killed (Score 1) 837

1. No I'm not. I work with both military and civilian researchers that have gone to Afghanistan. In the open press (search through the NY Times archive) are accounts of field commanders working with villagers, tribal elders, and farmers to understand the "human terrain." This community cooperation was utilized in Iraq and has been chronicled in many unclassified sources.

2. You're assuming that the Afghans have a mature court system. They do not, as should be evident by even a cursory review of reports in the open press. Commanders have to weigh and cross-check the evidence gathered from sources while also protecting these sources from reprisal. This is not a court of law; it's a battlefield and the methods of gathering, processing, and prosecuting intelligence from the local populace reflects the different context. This should be self evident.

3. The Army does its best to protect secrets, but like any organization, there are those that for either ideological, venal, or plain stupid reasons leak classified information. To expect otherwise is to be naiive. In a position of trust, it is fairly easy to steal 100K documents if they are electronic and can be burned surreptitiously to a CD or DVD. Which is just what Bradley Manning did.

I generally support WikiLeaks, but in this case Julian Assange has published information that most likely will cost Afghans their lives. The Taliban have already threatened as much. What's really tragic is that this leaked information, again at the possible cost of human lives, does not substantially broaden the public's understanding of the Afghan war.

I must say that the nature and tone of your questions betray a fundamental lack of understanding of how intelligence in counter-insurgency operations is gathered and how classified material is used and distributed.

Worst yet, your characterization of Afghans that work with ISAF against the Taliban as Quislings betrays true ignorance (and bigotry) on your part.

Comment Re:Afghan informers will be killed (Score 1) 837

The documents contain identities of Afghans who are providing information to us about the Taliban. The Taliban have issued a press release promising to extract the names from the documents and kill our sources.

There can be no question that WikiLeaks has done evil here - and not against American or NATO forces, but against Afghan civilians who merely wish to remain free of Taliban dictatorship.

Why isn't the US military just as evil or even more so for putting the names in the documents in the first place?

Are you purposely being obtuse?

The names are necessary for building cases against the Taliban militants and governors that are fighting American/NATO forces as well as terrorizing the civilian populace. The documents containing the names were classified *precisely* to safeguard them from prying eyes and those that would do the sources harm.

And remember that those who aided and abetted the US military can hardly be considered innocent civilians -- to the occupied, they are fifth colonists or worse: Quislings.

So, you blithely dismiss folks that are striving to keep the repressive Taliban regime from returning to power? Including fathers who want their daughters to go to school without fear of acid thrown in their face.

Really?

Real Time Strategy (Games)

StarCraft II To Be Released On July 27 220

Blizzard announced today that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, the first game in a series of three, will be released on July 27. The game will contain the Terran campaign (29 missions), the full multiplayer experience, and "several challenge-mode mini-games," with "focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies." It will launch alongside the revamped Battle.net, which we've previously discussed. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said, "We've been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we're excited that the time for that is almost here. Thanks to our beta testers, we're making great progress on the final stages of development, and we'll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months."
Idle

Directed Energy Weapon Downs Mosquitos 428

wisebabo writes "Nathan Myhrvol demonstrated at TED a laser, built from parts scrounged from eBay, capable of shooting down not one but 50 to 100 mosquitos a second. The system is 'so precise that it can specify the species, and even the gender, of the mosquito being targeted.' Currently, for the sake of efficiency, it leaves the males alone because only females are bloodsuckers. Best of all the system could cost as little as $50. Maybe that's too expensive for use in preventing malaria in Africa but I'd buy one in a second!" We ran a story about this last year. It looks like the company has added a bit more polish, and burning mosquito footage to their marketing.
Space

A Hyper-Velocity Impact In the Asteroid Belt? 114

astroengine writes "Astronomers have spotted something rather odd in the asteroid belt. It looks like a comet, but it's got a circular orbit, similar to an asteroid. Whether it's an asteroid or a comet, it has a long, comet-like tail, suggesting something is being vented into space. Some experts think it could be a very rare comet/asteroid hybrid being heated by the sun, but there's an even more exciting possibility: It could be the first ever observation of two asteroids colliding in the asteroid belt."

Apple Orders 10 Million Tablets? 221

Arvisp writes "According to a blog post by former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee, Apple plans to produce nearly 10 million tablets in the still-unannounced product's first year. If Lee's blog post is to be believed, Apple plans to sell nearly twice as many tablets as it did iPhones in the product's first year."

Comment Re:Dose of Reality (Score 1) 391

"Just about every intelligence agency on the planet said before the Afghan campaign that invading Afghanistan would not yield a positive result vis a vis terrorism.."

Err... WTF are *you* smoking? Most of the world supported the overthrow of the Taliban and the putting of Al Qaeda on the run. Revisionist history already? C'mon, this happened only 8 years ago!

Image

Best Man Rigs Newlyweds' Bed To Tweet During Sex 272

When an UK man was asked to be the best man at a friend's wedding he agreed that he would not pull any pranks before or during the ceremony. Now the groom wishes he had extended the agreement to after the blessed occasion as well. The best man snuck into the newlyweds' house while they were away on their honeymoon and placed a pressure-sensitive device under their mattress. The device now automatically tweets when the couple have sex. The updates include the length of activity and how vigorous the act was on a scale of 1-10.
Earth

Yellowstone Supervolcano Larger Than First Thought 451

drewtheman writes "New studies of the plumbing that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park shows the plume and the magma chamber under the volcano are larger than first thought and contradicts claims that only shallow hot rock exists. University of Utah research professor of geophysics Robert Smith led four separate studies that verify a plume of hot and molten rock at least 410 miles deep that rises at an angle from the northwest."

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