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Comment Re:So what? (Score 1) 152

by Al_Maverick (#33330940) Attached to: Argentine Government Orders Major ISP To Close
You need a license to drive, a license to own a restaurant, and a license to do pretty much anything else in most any civilized country. Don't pretend now that requiring a license to provide internet is an unsurmountable requirement. Cablevision shot itself in the foot. It was cheap to keep Fibertel open, but they couldn't to that, because they are way too cheap. And I've been an employee on the other ISP of the group, so I know how really really cheap and clueless they are. On top of that, add the packet shaping, throttling, and spying your traffic (for legal reasons, mostly)
Medicine

PARC Builds iPod-Sized HIV Detector 93

Posted by timothy from the use-the-y-jack dept.
MikeChino writes "Right now it's difficult, if not impossible, to quickly detect HIV in patients living in impoverished countries. That may all change soon, though — researchers at a California outfit called the Palo Alto Research Center have built an iPod-sized handheld device that can provide an immune check-up in under 10 minutes — all with a prick of the finger. With millions of people around the world without access to a full-size laboratory, PARC's device could revolutionize the detection and treatment of HIV."
Security

Adobe Download Manager Installing Software Without Consent 98

Posted by timothy from the plus-one-invitation dept.
"Not all is worth cheering about as Adobe turns 20," writes reader adeelarshad82, who excerpts from a story at PC Magazine's Security Watch: "Researcher Aviv Raff has found a problem in ADM (Adobe Download Manager) and the method through which it is delivered from adobe.com. The net effect of the problem is that a user can be tricked into downloading and installing software using ADM without actual consent. Tonight Adobe acknowledged the report and said they were working on the issue with Raff and NOS Microsystems, the company that wrote ADM."
Censorship

Italy Floats Official Permission Requirement for Web Video Uploads 131

Posted by timothy from the state-v.-man dept.
An anonymous reader writes with some bad news from Italy, noting that new rules proposed there would "require people who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorization from the Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web." Understandably, some say such controls represent a conflict of interest for Silvio Berlusconi, "who exercises political control over the state broadcaster RAI in his role as prime minister and is also the owner of Italy's largest private broadcaster, Mediaset."
Image

Police Called Over 11-Year-Old's Science Project 687

Posted by samzenpus from the duck-and-cover dept.
garg0yle writes "Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of 'a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics,' after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family 'get counseling.' Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?"
Censorship

China Begins Monitoring Billions of Text Messages 178

Posted by Soulskill from the that-would-be-a-terrible-job dept.
eldavojohn writes "The Telegraph is reporting that China has begun monitoring 'billions of text messages' in order to increase censorship. However, a People's Daily article claims they only monitor users who have been reported, and only shut down their message service if the complaints are true. Anything considered pornographic will require the user to bring a letter of guarantee to the local public security bureau promising to never again send such messages before service can be reactivated."
Programming

Russia's New Official Holiday — Programmer's Day 306

Posted by Soulskill from the feel-free-to-take-sunday-off dept.
Glyn Moody writes "Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, has decreed a new holiday for his country: Programmer's Day. Appropriately enough, it will be celebrated on the 256th day of the year: September 13th (September 12th for a leap year). Do programmers deserve their own holiday ahead of other professions? Should the rest of the world follow suit?"
Image

Land Rover Unveils "World's Toughest Phone" 146

Posted by samzenpus from the crushed-by-the-foot-of-a-humble-ant dept.
Land Rover says their new S1 mobile is the world's strongest phone. Testing done by Land Rover and the staff at The Sun showed the S1 would still work after being stepped on by an elephant, run over by a Land Rover, dropped from a second-story window, buried in mud, soaked in a pint of beer, and roasted in an oven at 150 degrees centigrade. A forklift truck proved to be its match, and was able to crush the S1 under its three-tonne weight. The phone comes with 1,500 hours of battery life, a 2.0 megapixel camera, an extra loud ringtone and an unconditional three-year guarantee.

Comment Re:OK With Me (Score 2, Interesting) 173

by Al_Maverick (#28149729) Attached to: Microsoft Not the Only Firm Blocking IM Service To US Enemies
Free world. I guess that's why the US keeps the torture prisons outside of that fairy-tale free world of yours (Cuba, Irak, and outsourcing all over the world) And you trade with dictators every time it is good for your economy. China, and the rest of Latinamerica durind the cold war comes to mind. Your ideology is never as good as the health of your economy. Cuba, you are only angry at them because they closed your casinos and whorehouses.
The Almighty Buck

Paper Companies' Windfall of Unintended Consequences 284

Posted by kdawson from the pulp-nonfiction dept.
Jamie found a post on ScienceBlogs that serves as a stark example of the law of unintended consequences, as well as the ability of private industry to game a system of laws to their advantage. It seems that large paper companies stand to reap as much as $8 billion this year by doing the opposite of what an alternative-fuel bill intended. Here is the article from The Nation with more details and a mild reaction from a Congressional staffer. "[T]he United States government stands to pay out as much as $8 billion this year to the ten largest paper companies.... even though the money comes from a transportation bill whose manifest intent was to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, paper mills are adding diesel fuel to a process that requires none in order to qualify for the tax credit. In other words, we are paying the industry — handsomely — to use more fossil fuel. 'Which is,' as a Goldman Sachs report archly noted, the 'opposite of what lawmakers likely had in mind when the tax credit was established.'"
Security

Submission + - Eavesdropping on Google Voice and Skype

Submitted by Simmons
Simmons writes: In a partnership between Secure Science Corporation, Red Keep, SpoofCard.com, and InGuardians, Inc., research was conducted on Google's newest offering, Google Voice (beta). As a result of this research, flaws were found that would allow an attacker, not only access to an users unheard voicemails, but also access to change the users voicemail PIN, access to disrupt communications for the user, ability to make outbound calls, determine the users forwarded cell phone number and also access to intercept phone conversations.
The story can be found at The Standard and the full press release for Google Voice can be found at Secure Science or at Red Keep's website. Skype mischive can be found at the Secure Science blog.

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