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Security

Submission + - Al Qaeda plans massive cyber attack on Nov. 11 (darkreading.com) 2

Submitted by
talkinsecurity
talkinsecurity writes: "No clue if it's true, but this report is all over the Web — supposedly Al Qaeda has selected 15 western targets as the beginning of a huge cyber jihad scheduled to start on Nov. 11. News media seem unable to confirm it, but blogs are going crazy. The report doesn't say what weapons they'll use — presumably denial of service — but given the wide availability of the jihad software, it doesn't seem completely out of the question. http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=137875&WT.svl=news1_1"
The Matrix

Submission + - IT displaced as users learn more (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
Technical Writing Geek
Technical Writing Geek writes: "Developers and IT staff are facing the same situation technical writers face, which is that as users become more knowledged about technology, they need less of the standard functions (write the manual, install the operating system) we are accustomed to provide.

This is positive, in that it liberates us from some of the really mundane tasks, but it means that we are viewing users for whom a conventional manual is useless until about page 78, when the information they really need starts to appear. Even more, users are identifying with being technologically savvy and now want information that boosts them ahead of where they'd be if they just starting playing with the software on their own, assuming correctly that it works about the same way the rest of their software does.

http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/2007/10/users-replacing-specialists-in-it-and.html"
Software

Submission + - Bush names anti-open source lobbyist as counselor (pressesc.com)

Submitted by
Citizen Pain
Citizen Pain writes: "President Bush today appointed as his counselor a man who received $820,000 from Microsoft to lobby during negotiations over its antitrust settlement as well as to oppose the use, especially within the government, of "open source" systems such as Linux. Enron also paid him $700,000 in 2001 alone to lobby on the "California energy crisis" and thwart efforts to re-regulate the Western electricity market through price controls."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - World of Warcraft borderline racketeering?

Submitted by jpolachak
jpolachak writes: I have been playing games for quite some time. I have even played some professionally. So I play World of Warcraft quite possibly the most dynamic and arguably the best game ever written. However I have had a severe problem with Blizzard(The makers of World of Warcraft for those of you who go outside). I woke up one morning and decided to check the auction house on WoW and see if my netherweave cloth had sold. Then I found out that my login did not work. I then decided to check my email and calm down. I then saw an email from Blizzard. It stated that your account was banned for using 3rd party software. I thought to myself are you kidding me. It also stated that if I wanted to dispute this the only way to accomplish anything was via email. So I then emailed account administration. I wrote a whole long article stating that I have never used 3rd party software. Hell I can't stand the people who use hacks in FPS games that I play. Well I then received an email in about 10 minutes stating that my account is being reviewed. Finally, after about 5 days I got a reply stating more or less we have looked at your account and our ruling stands. There was no information as to why I was banned. I then went through the whole process again hoping to get a different result. Hoping someone out there would believe me. Well in about a week after that I received more of the same email. However, none of the email ever told me what I did wrong. I have one question you need to ask yourself. Is it ok for Blizzard to never respond to people with the specifics or something as to why they were banned. I mean if you bought something at Sears you would expect that if you took it back and someone told you no. You would expect some kind of response as to why.

So my dilemma is this. I have started playing again. Not because I think Blizzard is doing things ethically but however because they quite possibly make the greatest game ever and I can help myself. So now how do I keep from getting banned again. Since I know that I did nothing wrong in the past? Thank You, Grotesk Gorefiend formerly Nekavon Burning Blade
Networking

Submission + - How to deal with an abusive web host?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I recently sent a DMCA takedown notice to a hosting company, regarding a customer who was blatantly posting copyrighted material from my website, along with attacks against me based on sexual orientation. I was told that, because they agreed with the person's attacks, the offending content would not be removed. They also claim that copyright is irrelevant, because they agree with their customer's "comments." I couldn't believe this response, but upon Googling the name of this host, I found dozens of webmasters and ISPs complaining about legal threats and spam attacks originating from this company. What is the correct way to deal with this issue?
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - Mutliplatform OpenSource Sub-Sim released (sourceforge.net)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Danger from the Deep, an Open Source World War II German uboat simulation, striving for technical and historical accuracy, is now in its 0.3 incarnation. This latest version features a considerable amount of new features as well as tons of bug fixes. For those not familiarized with it, basically it's a "Battle of the Atlantic" simulation, focused in tactical and strategic component of uboat warfare. It tries to be the most historically and technically correct as possible, which on occasions might make the typical game a bit complex, due to complexity of the uboat systems being simulated. This however, will be minimized, once collaborative (network) game-play is implemented.

  Amongst the new features, Dangerdeep now appears in full OpenGL2.0/GLSL1.1 goodness, now uses VBOs and FBOs, and it's now multi-threaded. Add to that the new functionality, such as a "captain's cabin", a new ship's log, new models, improved ocean render, and tons of bug fixes. At the moment, it's supported on x86-32/64 Linux, Windows, and there are intel OSX and ppc64 OSX packages under-way. There were reports of Danger from the Deep working on Sparc64 Linux, as well as x86-32/64, IA64 and Sparc64 FreeBSD (5.x though).

Notice that you do need 3d hardware acceleration, with OpenGL 1.5 being the minimum required, and OpenGL2.0 being the recommended for all the eye candy, but you can find more informations on this release, and Danger from the Deep in general, at the project web page, http://dangerdeep.sourceforge.net/
The Internet

Submission + - AT&T willing to do MPAA, RIAA's dirty work (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Peerless
Peerless writes: AT&T plans to begin monitoring its network for pirated content. An AT&T VP says that his company's decision to offer IPTV made them realize that their interests are a lot more closely aligned with those of Hollywood than they used to be, but it's going to be tough to pull this off. 'The company says it will target only repeat offenders and that it will not violate user privacy or FCC directives on network openness. Who knows how this is all supposed to work, especially as legal, unencrypted files flow across the Internet from sites like iTunes and eMusic, along with thousands of smaller sites that serve as promotional vehicles for independent bands and filmmakers? We suspect that AT&T will start small, deploying some sort of P2P solution that looks for the transfer of unencrypted Hollywood blockbusters and major-label bands in complete form.' Ars points out that even if the solution is 99.5% effective, that's still going to result in a huge number of false positives. First the NSA, and now the MPAA and RIAA. Is there anyone AT&T won't spy for?
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Municipal Fiber Gets Final Approval (theadvertiser.com)

Submitted by
Teh Treag
Teh Treag writes: "After over three years of court battles with BellSouth, and Cox Communications over providing fiber to residential customers for broadband, telephone, and television, the final hurdles were crossed. The city of Lafayette, LA. expects the fiber to increase competition, drive down broadband prices, and attract technology business development. Expect the battle over funding the $125 million project to continue.
From the Daily Advertiser
"Certainly this is a day we've all been waiting for," said LUS Director Terry Huval...
John St. Julien has been maintaining a blog following this story from the beginning."
Spam

Submission + - FBI announces results of BotNet investigation

Submitted by E_Block
E_Block writes: The FBI and DOJ have announced (http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel07/botnet0613 07.htm) the results of "OPERATION BOT ROAST", which has identified over 1 million victims of "bot hearders".
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - FDA considering diluting chocolate

Submitted by shewfig
shewfig writes: The FDA is considering a redefinition of "chocolate" to allow substitution of vegetable oil ($0.70/lb) instead of cocoa butter ($2.30/lb) and whey protein instead of dry whole milk. There are already standard terms to differentiate these products from chocolate, such as "chocolatey" and "chocolate-flavored". The change, requested by industry group the Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA) http://www.chocolateusa.org/About-Us/ , will allow inferior products to masquerade as the real thing. Leading the resistance is high-end chocolate maker Guittard, from their website http://dontmesswithourchocolate.guittard.com/ with significant grass-roots support from the "Candyblog" — http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/

Deadline for consumer comments is April 25, so action is needed now.

FDA website on proposed change, oddly enough missing the exact proposed changes: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dockets/07p0085/0 7p-0085.htm

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