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Privacy

Submission + - Church files complaint against online blogger. (jacksonville.com)

Submitted by
Scr3wFace
Scr3wFace writes: "After a church filed a complaint about a blog, a police detective — who also is a member of the pastor's security detail — opened an investigation. The detective got a subpoena from the State Attorney's Office requiring Google Inc. to provide information about whoever was behind the site. Names, addresses, etc. It's important to note that the blog never threatened violence. Was it harshly critical? Sarcastic? Unfair? That's a matter of opinion. But it never threatened violence. And the detective closed the investigation, finding no criminal wrongdoing.He also provided the church, his church, the identity of the blogger. The church then issued a trespass warning against Thomas A. Rich and his wife. Most chilling about all of this: Those in power — from the police to the church leaders — not only defend this chain of events, they say it's how things should work. The Sheriff's Office says there wasn't a conflict of interest and that the detective did the right thing by passing along the blogger's identity to the church. The State Attorney's Office says there wasn't anything unusual about the subpoena, which made it possible to figure out who was tapping away at a computer keyboard. Happens all the time. Not just with blogs. With e-mails, text messages, etc. And I'm not sure what to make of one detail of the saga, other than perhaps the irony of it, but one form of communication that wasn't part of this investigation — face-to-face talking with the blogger. This isn't necessarily unusual, police say, especially considering that no criminal wrongdoing was found. But what if, as the blogger believes, the ultimate goal of this process wasn't to find wrongdoing but to find him? More details to this can be found here. http://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/ http://www.newbbc.accura.net/FBCSubpoenas.pdf http://www.newbbc.accura.net/JSO-InvestRep-Sept29.pdf http://www.newbbc.accura.net/JSO-InvestRep-Nov13.pdf"
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's 'Pseudotransparent' and Fold-Up PCs (xconomy.com)

Submitted by
waderoush
waderoush writes: "At the CHI 2009 conference, which wrapped up yesterday in Boston, Microsoft researchers showed off two radical prototypes that push the boundaries of user interfaces. One was a 'pseudotransparent' iPhone-like device called nanoTouch, which has a trackpad on the back rather than a traditional touch screen and gives visual feedback in the form of a simulated image of the user's finger (the effect is like looking straight through the device). The other was a folding dual-screen device called Codex that can switch automatically between landscape, portrait, collaborative, or competitive modes depending on its 'posture' or orientation. If Microsoft doesn't build such devices itself, 'somebody else will, so it's really important to understand what the issues are,' said researcher Ken Hinckley."
Medicine

Submission + - Leg-paralysis stimulation, sensing device steps up (canadianmanufacturing.com)

Submitted by
AndreV
AndreV writes: "After 30 years of development, a device developed at Simon Fraser University that assists people who have paralysis in one leg to walk will soon be on the market in Europe and, eventually, in the U.S. and Canada. The pacemaker-like Neurostep uses nerve cuffs to sense and stimulate nerve activity in the paralyzed leg, allowing greater mobility for those suffering from neurological disabilities such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or cerebral palsy. About the size of a cell phone, the "brain" integrates three digital modules: the neurosensing module (receives nerve impulses), real-time adaptive control module (interrogates the signals and identifies physical events), and neurostimulation module (delivers stimulation to the target nerve). It was recently approved for use in Europe, the first of its kind, and they are working to begin clinical trials and introduce the device in the U.S."
Power

Submission + - Can Companies Really Afford Telepresence? (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "Telepresence has been championed as a sustainable-minded practice that can cut down significantly on travel expenditures, but for many organizations the technology simply remains out of reach. High monthly costs, management, and room setup continue to deter companies from deploying telepresence, which if rolled out in earnest stands to cut down significantly on the overall carbon footprint of business. 'The initial setup costs of a telepresence system in two locations equals about 350 one-night trips per room over the lifetime of the telepresence rooms, and the monthly fees equal about 20 one-night trips per month,' InfoWorld reports. Put in other terms, a telepresence system must be used 25 percent of the business day to justify its investment, analysts contend. But interoperability may be the chief hurdle to realizing the environmental upsides of telepresence, as major vendors' appear to be moving slow to standardize their systems to be interoperable with one another, and with the kind of commodity components that will make telepresence affordable on a wide scale."
Privacy

Submission + - IPRED law in Sweden - Watching the watchers

Submitted by digithed
digithed writes: In response to Sweden's recent introduction of new laws implementating the European IPRED directive a new Swedish website has been launched allowing users to check if their IP address is currently under investigation. The site also allows users to subscribe for email updates telling them if their IP address comes under investigation in the future, or to report IP addresses known to be under investigation. The site can be found at: http://ipred.bitchware.se/

This is an interesting use of people power "watching the watchers". The new Swedish laws implementing the IPRED directive require a public request to the courts in order to get ISPs to forcibly disclose potentially sensitive private information, and since all court records are public in Sweden (as are all government records) it will be easy to compile a list of IP addresses which are currently being investigated.

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