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Security

Submission + - Chinese Hackers Wake up to Malware

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: From ITWeek: Security researchers are noticing an increase in malware originating from China, which is adding to the challenge of investigating online threats. "The past three to four months have seen a slow increase in Chinese malware. It used to be the odd file every now and then, but it is now almost every day," said Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime Communications. China has traditionally been a hotbed of password stealers who go after log-in names and passwords for online games such as World of Warcraft. The criminals are after virtual currencies and goods which can be sold on auction websites. But FaceTime is reporting a new trend of Chinese criminals developing their own file downloaders and rootkits...
Wii

Journal Journal: The Art of Online Scamming

Journal by javiergarza4
Online scams have become increasingly common. Certain people, such as Anthony Curazzato of Rochester, NY, are very familiar with this form of, I guess you could say "art." It seems very hard to fathom, but this can occur to any unsuspecting victim who uses www.froogle.com to find an item. Without further ado, here's my story. One night in January, I was searching Froogle for places that would have the Nintendo Wii in stock. None had it, except a few individual sellers, which I decided not to tr
The Internet

Submission + - Splenda Killed My Dog

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The maker of the chemical sweetener Splenda preemptively registered chillingly expressive domains such as SplendaPoison.com, SplendaKills.net, VictimsofSplenda.com, SplendaToxicity.com and SplendaAlert.com. Do they know something that we don't?

http://www.dailydomainer.com/2007107-splenda-kille d-my-dog.html
Security

Submission + - OpenBSD second remote hole flames on mailing list.

Submitted by
Josh Stonham
Josh Stonham writes: "A second remote hole was found last week in OpenBSD, and thanks to the developers, it was patched in a very timely manner, kudos to them.

After it was updated in the errata page, an announcement was also made in the OpenBSD's miscellaneous mailing list.

However, a flame war between OpenBSD users and Theo & Theo's loyalties has almost immediately initiated on the thread in misc. since the announcement never made its way to the security-acouncement mailing list.[1] [2] [3]

Some of Theo's responses: [1] [2] [3] And the reaction of users: [4]

Majordomo at lists.openbsd.org reports 11323 subscribers to security-announce and only 3866 for misc. Correct or not, it is reasonable to assume security-announce is the important one to watch for most people"
Education

Submission + - Is computer science dead?

Submitted by
vaporland
vaporland writes: "Some say computer science as a vocation is dying. This article says that the arrival of high-level tools means vastly complex applications for business, science and leisure can be created without the coding, logic or discrete mathematics skills taught at universities.

So, head on down to Staples, buy that big red button that says "It's easy!" and drop off a job application for the warehouse manager position . . ."
The Internet

Submission + - Web Spider Sued By Colorado Woman

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Internet Archive is beind sued by a Colorado woman for spidering her site. Suzanne Shell posted a notice on her site saying she wasn't allowing it to be crawled. When it was, she sued for civil theft, breach of contract, and violations of the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations act and the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act. A court ruling last month granted the Internet Archive's motion to dismiss the charges, except for the breach of contract claim. If Shell prevails on that count, sites like Google will have to get online publishers to "opt in" before they can be crawled, radically changing the nature of Web search.
Networking

Submission + - Another person misses the point.....

Submitted by tinkerghost
tinkerghost writes: Andrew Orlowski seems to have missed the point of net neutrality as most people in the tech industry use it. His latest blog gives the distinct impression that net neutrality forbids QoS packet shaping. It doesn't. Net neutrality, as used by most IT people, is about end to end neutrality, not packet shaping to benefit QoS for latency sensitive protocols.

QoS packet shaping was designed expressly for the purpose of reducing the latency of latency sensitive protocols at the expense of latency neutral ones. As such, it works well in the existing network neutral structure — VOIP and streaming media have reduced latency on congested networks, and http, bittorrent, and FTP transfers have a slight increase in latency that is imperceptible to the end user.

This is in sharp contrast to a non-network neutral structure — wherein your latency is not shaped based on the QoS requirements of your protocol, but on the fee paid by both you & the host on the other end. Since both the client & the server are currently paying their providers for the bandwidth they are using, I can only assume that latency fees in this new non-neutral network will have to be paid to each & every provider that the signal crosses in order to maintain your higher QoS rating — imagine the nightmare of trying to sort your bill at the end of the month & finding you owe 200+ telcos for QoS fees.
Biotech

Submission + - An autonomous anti-cancer drug

Submitted by
Roland Piquepaille
Roland Piquepaille writes: "As you probably know, researchers have been working for a while to find more efficient ways to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to their targets. But instead of finding a new drug carrier, why not focusing on a drug that knows its path to the target and which delivers itself to the tumor? This is what University at Buffalo (UB) scientists have done by developing a solution in which the delivery system is the drug itself by using nanocrystals of a hydrophobic drug. But this research work needs to be confirmed before this drug can be approved by the medical regulators. And it will take time... But read more for many additional references and pictures showing these nanocrystals in action."
Communications

Submission + - AT&T/Cingular Blocking legitimate phone number

Submitted by
kickassweb
kickassweb writes: "PennPIRG is reporting that AT&T/Cingular is blocking calls to the popular, and competing, service, FreeConferenceCall.com, as well as other similar services.

PennPIRG has learned that AT&T/Cingular recently began blocking phone numbers on its wireless service used by consumers to access free conference call services, such as those provided by Free Conference Call.com. The telephone giant has argued that calls to free conference call services are resulting in millions of dollars in losses to the company due to re-routing and termination fees, and has sued free conference call services and local phone companies in Iowa over the fees.


The article goes on to state that the free conference call service being blocked competes directly with Cingular's conference call service, and that this is the type of anti-consumer action we can expect on the internet if Net Neutrality is not mandated."
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Sprint Tests Unlimited Wireless Plan

Submitted by Humble7
Humble7 writes: Sprint Nextel is testing a novel cellular plan in the San Francisco Bay area that features unlimited call time, text messages and Internet access on a mobile phone for $120 a month. While not inexpensive, the unusual approach to pricing wireless service could carry profound consequences for the industry if it proves popular and Sprint decides to roll it out nationally.
Communications

Submission + - Once Popular ICQ Instant Messenger Faltering

Submitted by
Steve McMaster
Steve McMaster writes: "Hundreds of ICQ users have been attempting to connect to their ICQ accounts in the last month only to discover their passwords are being rejected as incorrect. Batches of corrupted passwords appear to be occurring regularly, hinting at a serious fault with the ICQ system. Furthermore, attempts to retrieve passwords from the automatic retrieval site are also being thwarted, with the process faltering at various stages, suggesting user details may have become corrupted. AOL, who currently maintain the ICQ Network, has ceased to provide any technical support, meaning affected users appear to be stranded for options. With older, and therefore shorter, ICQ numbers a popular commodity on eBay auctions, rumours of an ICQ security flaw being discovered are rife amongst community ICQ support groups. However the dramatic increase in incidences of users receiving the password error in recent weeks suggests a more general problem with the ICQ servers which store user information. Once the premier instant messenger client for the Internet, ICQ has fallen behind competitors such as MSN Messenger in recent years due to a poor business structure and difficulty competing with large companies such as Microsoft. The introduction of advertising into the ICQ product was not popular, and ICQ has since struggled to be viable as a profitable product. The author suggests perhaps it is time for those still using ICQ to move to other, more supported clients, to avoid being caught out like he did!"
Biotech

Submission + - Polymers from Maple Syrup

Submitted by codegen
codegen writes: The CBC is reporting a discovery where the syrup of the maple tree can be used as a base for a polymer that is biodegradable. Bacteria are used to transform the sugars into naturally occuring polymers. Maple syrup apparently works better than other sources such as apple juce waste products or corn/cane sugars. The polymers may also have medical applications as well.
The Courts

Take Two Files Suit Against Jack Thompson 99

Posted by Zonk from the just-wow dept.
Bullied writes "Take Two has tired of Jack Thompson's frivolous lawsuits and has filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida to prevent him from filing any more 'nuisance' lawsuits. 'Take Two argues that the lawsuits violate its First Amendment rights to free expression, but it also claims that the suits are so vague as to be unconstitutional. "This unconstitutional vagueness will have a chilling effect on Plaintiff as well as Plaintiff's customers," says the company. "Plaintiff's distributors likely will respond to the uncertainty and fear of penalties by withholding Plaintiff's video games from the public."' Take Two also cites the disruptive effect Thompson's suits have on its retail partners."

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