Comment Re:doesn't europe spy as well? (Score 1) 166
In Europe the news was exactly the other way around... with the US spying for Boeing on Airbus.
Comment Re:The Third World was first (Score 2) 184
Not directly, but at least my expectation of a first world country would include excellent public transport. In the US public transport has been killed by privatisation and corporate lobbying.
Poor public services are an indication of a third world country however, the way things seems to be going in the US is that the only thing that's going to be 'first world' quality is the military.
Not only happening in the US though in Europe the neo-liberalist governments are killing affordable public transport, housing, healthcare and education as well. That does seem to happen due to influences from the US government; EU politicians trying to be more like the US.
Comment Anybody still actually following Sony? (Score 0) 86
At this point in time I couldn't care less about Sony or what they 'invent'.
The only reason I actually bothered to check out the story at all, was to look at responses; it appears I am not the only person totally uninterested in Sony anymore.
Comment Re:Big Mistake (Score 1) 159
Terrorist. Grab the dolphin lover.
Humans are the only sub-sapient species on this planet. The proof is all around us.
Comment Re:We can't win without eliminating FISA. (Score 2) 413
That's just not true. BP gave it good go just fairly recently.
Comment Re:IF ONLY ... !! (Score 2) 771
Republicans vs Democrats
Who ever wins, we lose.
Comment Re:We are living in interesting times (Score 1) 583
Why does everyone get this wrong?
It's supposed to be 'innocent UNLESS proven guilty'.
Although in this decade you're probably correct. Alphabet Soup agencies dig until they're able to prove you're guilty of something
Ask Slashdot: High-School Suitable Books On How Computers Affect Society? 140
An anonymous reader writes "We are teaching an introductory class in computer science for high school students. We have the technical aspects of the course covered, there is a lot of information on the internet on designing that aspect of the class. We also want to cover some aspects of how computers affect society, privacy, expectations, digital divide etc. We were suggested Blown to Bits, which covers a lot of this but I'm not sure high school students are really going to enjoy it or even take away the right implications ... any recommendations for anything else ? Movies, Fiction, Non-Fiction Books and any other media are all welcome. Students are expected to read no more than 200 pages (that's all the time they have)."
Small Town Builds Its Own Gigabyte Network; Cost To Citizens $57/month 269
An anonymous reader writes "On Thursday, the board of O-Net gave approval for residents to get access to [full gigabit bandwidth] for the same price that they currently pay for a guaranteed download speed of 100 megabits per second — $57 to $90 a month, depending on whether they have bundled their internet with TV and phone service. ... the town realized that it couldn't attract technology-based businesses and that bandwidth was a challenge even to ordinary businesses. It came up with a plan — it would install a fibre network throughout the town that would connect to the larger inter-community network being built by the government at that time — the Alberta Supernet."
Comment Re:No shit (Score 1) 491
Brothel owners need to be discreet to stay in business and have, depending on the brothel, probably quite a lot of high ranking officials visiting. So, yes, I do believe that would be quite reliable.
Although I live in a part of the world where prostitution is not necessarily a crime, so that might colour my view. Then again if you live somewhere where it does equate to being a crime, that'll probably colour your view as well.
Comment Re:as noted, android does this (Score 2) 608
I thought Bing was just scraping Google results?
UK Steps Up the Search For Alien Life 119
An anonymous reader writes "If aliens are out there, the United Kingdom is determined to find them, as seen in the recent launch of a network called the UK Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (UKSETI), which combines the efforts and know-how of academics from 11 institutions from across the country."
Comment Re:Hmm... (Score 5, Informative) 248
And that attack vector can completely be negated by having the BIOS read-only by default, while only enabling updates when the user toggles a physical switch when the BIOS needs an update.
Comment Re:Why not promote motherboard manufacturers (Score 1) 248
For now, anyway.
Comment Re:My problem with "the IT department" in general (Score 1) 572
And that's exactly the same thing for the people you're complaining about. They're doing their job to the full extent of what policy allows them to provide. If you don't like it, you either change policy or ask for exemption of the policy. The things you're complaining about needs to go through management, who should fix policy or give you an exemption, it then trickles down to the IT people actually implementing the changed policy/exemption, so you can do your job.
It does look like you are complaining mostly and not addressing the issues that are keeping you from doing your work (i.e. get management involved to change policy).
