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Submission + - Kim Dotcom loses New Zealand extradition appeal (yahoo.com)

schwit1 writes: Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom suffered a major setback in his epic legal battle against online piracy charges Thursday when New Zealand's Court of Appeal ruled he was eligible for extradition to the United States.

The German national, who is accused of netting millions from his file sharing Megaupload empire faces charges of racketeering, fraud and money laundering in the US, carrying jail terms of up to 20 years.

Dotcom had asked the court to overturn two previous rulings that the Internet mogul and his three co-accused be sent to America to face charges.

Instead, a panel of three judges backed the FBI-led case, which began with a raid on Dotcom's Auckland mansion in January 2012 and has dragged on for more than six years.

His lawyer tweeted he would appeal to the NZ Supreme Court.

Government

Submission + - State Department CIO: What's Changed Since WikiLeaks (informationweek.com)

CowboyRobot writes: "Eighteen months after its diplomatic cables were exposed in the WikiLeaks breach, the State Department continues to lock down its confidential information, while increasing its use of using social media.

The agency is deploying new security technology, including auditing and monitoring tools that detect anomalous activity on the State Department's classified networks and systems. State has also begun tagging information with metadata to enable role-based access to those who need it, and is planning to implement public key infrastructure on its classified systems by the summer of 2014.

This is all taking place despite the recent announcement that the IT budget will be cut by nearly 5%"

Advertising

Submission + - Misleading Ads: ACCC Wins Appeal Against Google (delimiter.com.au)

theweatherelectric writes: As previously noted on Slashdot, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been involved in a long-running legal battle with Google. Vijith Vazhayil of Delimiter writes, 'The Full Federal Court of Australia has ruled that Google breached the law by displaying misleading or deceptive advertisements on its search results pages. The decision follows an appeal by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), following an earlier decision in favour of Google. The ACCC had first filed the case in July 2007 in the Federal Court alleging that Google had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by publishing eleven advertisements on Google’s search results page. The headline of each of the advertisements in question comprised a business name, product name or web address of a competitor’s business not sponsored, affiliated or associated with the particular advertiser.'
The Internet

Submission + - MPAA chief Dodd hints at talks to revive SOPA (arstechnica.com)

suraj.sun writes: Christopher Dodd, the former Connecticut senator who now leads the MPAA, hasn't given up on his dream of censoring the Internet(http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/01/2235222/riaa-ceo-hopes-sopa-protests-were-a-one-time-thing). In an interview with Hollywood Reporter(http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mpaa-christopher-dodd-sopa-bully-harvey-weinstein-ratings-308359), he said that Hollywood and the technology industry "need to come to an understanding" about new copyright legislation.

Dodd said(http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/slow-learner-mpaa-chief-hints-at-talks-to-revive-sopa.ars) that there were "conversations going on now," about SOPA-style legislation, but that he was "not going to go into more detail because obviously if I do, it becomes counterproductive." Asked whether the White House's decision(http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/obama-administration-joins-the-ranks-of-sopa-skeptics.ars) to oppose SOPA had created tensions with Hollywood, Dodd insisted that he was "not going to revisit the events of last winter," but said he hoped the president would use his "good relationships" with both Hollywood and the technology industry to broker a deal.

Businesses

Submission + - Pirate Bay Promotion Attracts 5000+ Artists (ibtimes.com)

redletterdave writes: "While the movie and music industries would have you think that torrents are a threat to their business, thousands of independent artists heartily disagree. That's why more than 5,000 musicians, actors, writers, filmmakers and artists have signed up to be promoted by The Pirate Bay, the world's largest torrent site. Earlier this year, following the seizures of many popular file-sharing domains like MegaUpload, The Pirate Bay introduced a new promotion platform for artists called "The Promo Bay," which let independent artists reach tens of millions of people by offering favorable advertising spots on the The Pirate Bay's homepage. The response to The Pirate Bay's promotion platform has been overwhelming: the company announced on Thursday that it has already received more than 5,000 applications, and has managed to be a quality platform for driving significant interest to independent artists."

Submission + - Stolen Samsung AMOLED technology sold to rival, 11 suspects arrested (bgr.com)

zacharye writes: Nearly a dozen suspects have been arrested and charged with crimes related to the theft and sale of AMOLED display technology under development at Samsung. Yonhap News Agency on Thursday reported that 11 suspects either currently or formerly employed by Samsung Mobile Display have been arrested. One 46-year-old researcher at Samsung is believed to have accepted a payment of nearly $170,000 from an unnamed “local rival firm” in exchange for trade secrets pertaining to proprietary Samsung technology used in the company’s AMOLED panels...

Submission + - Majority of landmark cancer studies cannot be replicated (yahoo.com) 3

Beeftopia writes: "NEW YORK (Reuters) — A former researcher at Amgen Inc has found that many basic studies on cancer — a high proportion of them from university labs — are unreliable, with grim consequences for producing new medicines in the future.

During a decade as head of global cancer research at Amgen, C. Glenn Begley identified 53 "landmark" publications — papers in top journals, from reputable labs — for his team to reproduce. Begley sought to double-check the findings before trying to build on them for drug development. Result: 47 of the 53 could not be replicated. He described his findings in a commentary piece published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.

[...] But they and others fear the phenomenon is the product of a skewed system of incentives that has academics cutting corners to further their careers."

The Internet

Submission + - Belfast Plots 1Gbps Ultrafast Broadband Network (techweekeurope.co.uk)

twoheadedboy writes: "Belfast is going to get ultrafast broadband, as plans for a 1Gbps network get going. Belfast’s City Council has been guaranteed £6m of the UK government's £100m Urban Broadband Fund, but could receive up to £13.7m if the Government approves its plans. The city plans to get the network up and running in three years, which will make it one of the best-connected cities in the world."

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