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Comment Re:How do you control them? (Score 1) 348

by gracefool (#38499362) Attached to: Sorry, IT: These 5 Technologies Belong To Users

iOS hardware encryption is better than nothing - but only slightly better. It rarely protects against an attacker with any skill who has physical access to the iPhone, for several reasons:

1. At best, it's only as good as the PIN used - most people use a four-digit PIN - that can be cracked very easily
2. Only some applications have their data encrypted (it's opt-in).
3. An "escrow keybag" that's used to decrypt everything is kept on any computers that sync with the iPhone - so if the user's home computer is compromised, so is their phone.

So generally it's only really useful for the remote-wipe feature. Which can be defeated by simply wrapping the phone in tin-foil or removing the SIM, then copying the data.
Businesses

PayPal Withholding Indie Game Dev's €600,000 Account 775

Posted by Soulskill from the money-for-nothin' dept.
epee1221 writes "Markus Persson, a.k.a. Notch, the developer of Minecraft, posted on his development blog today that PayPal limited his account with unspecified cause on August 25th. Since then, payments for the alpha version of Minecraft have continued accumulating while Notch has been unable to withdraw them, and the account now contains over €600,000. PayPal recently told him it may take up to two more weeks for things to get sorted out and that if they conclude that there is funny business involved, they will keep the money." This unfortunate news followed an announcement a few days ago that he and a friend would be starting a studio of their own to continue development on Minecraft and start working on a new project.
Open Source

Broadcom Releases Source Code For Drivers 350

Posted by timothy from the they-sure-get-my-goodwill dept.
I'm Not There (1956) writes "Broadcom, the world's largest manufacturer of Wi-Fi transceivers, open sources its Linux device drivers. This is a big win for Linux users, as there are a lot of users that face Wi-Fi problems when they use Linux on their laptops. With these device drivers now open source, distributions can ship them out-of-the-box, and that means no Linux Wi-Fi problems for new devices and upcoming distributions at all."
Censorship

Rackspace Shuts Down Quran-Burning Church's Sites 1695

Posted by CmdrTaco from the that's-a-sticky-wicket dept.
theodp writes "In response to a complaint, Rackspace has shut down the websites of the Dove World Outreach Center, a small 50-member church which has received national and international criticism for a planned book burning of the Quran on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. The center 'violated the hate-speech provision of our acceptable-use policy,' explained Rackspace spokesman Dan Goodgame. 'This is not a constitutional issue. This is a contract issue,' said Goodgame, who added he did not know how long it had hosted the church's sites. Not quite the same thing, but would Kurt Westergaard's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad also violate Rackspace's AUP? How about Christopher Hitchens' Slate articles? Could articles from one-time Rackspace poster child The Onion pass muster?"
The Almighty Buck

Pirate Bay Announces Sale to Swedish Company For $7.8 Million 406

Posted by timothy from the fully-support-new-overlords dept.
paulraps writes "The Pirate Bay is to be bought for $7.8 million by Global Gaming Factory X, a Swedish company specializing in internet café management software, the company has announced. As well as taking over the controversial brand, GGF has also bought Peerialism, a small IT company with roots at Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology, which has developed a new file sharing technology. The acquisitions mean that GGF will be at the heart of 'the international digital distribution market,' allowing it to introduce a new pay model for file sharing." Reader pyzondar adds "However, the press statement also states that the deal will only go through 'if GGF and its Board of Directors can use the asset in a legal and appropriate way.'"
Sony

Sony Begins Shipping PCs With Green Dam In China 90

Posted by kdawson from the thought-the-good-color-was-red dept.
Dotnaught writes "Sony is now shipping computers in China with Green Dam installed, in advance of the Chinese government's July 1 deadline. But the company is disclaiming responsibility for any damage caused by the Web filtering software. Documents posted by Hong Kong-based media studies professor Rebecca MacKinnon also suggest that the Chinese government is considering similar filtering requirements for mobile phones."
Privacy

Will Security Firms Detect Police Spyware? 269

Posted by kdawson from the who-do-you-trust dept.
cnet-declan writes "A recent appeals court case dealt with Drug Enforcement Administration agents using a key logger to investigate a suspect using PGP and Hushmail. That invites the obvious question: Will security companies ever intentionally overlook police spyware? There were somewhat-muddled reports in 2001 that Symantec and McAfee would do just that, so over at News.com we figured we'd do a survey of the top 13 security firms. We asked them if it is their policy to detect policeware. Notably, Check Point said it would 'afford law enforcement' the courtesy of whitelisting if requested. We've also posted the full results, with the companies' complete answers. Another question we asked is if they have ever received a court order requiring them to overlook police key loggers or spyware. Symantec, IBM, Kaspersky, and others said no. Only Microsoft and McAfee refused to answer."
XBox (Games)

Microsoft Acknowledges 360 Issues, Extends Warranty to 3 Years 205

Posted by Zonk from the red-rings-of-awesome dept.
RamblinLonghorn writes "Microsoft has announced that they are extending the warranty for all Xbox 360s to 3 years. This appears to be entirely retroactive and that 'those who have already paid for such repair charges can expect reimbursement checks for the amount of their console repair.' It seems as though Microsoft is accepting the blame for the hardware malfunctions, but it is worth noting that this warranty modification only applies in the 'Red Rings of Death' situation."
Power

Tiny Generator Runs Off Vibrations 182

Posted by kdawson from the shaken-not-stirred dept.
Warbothong writes "Researchers at Southampton University in the UK have developed a tiny generator that uses local vibrations to output microwatts of power. The device is smaller than one cubic centimeter. It shows promise as an alternative to batteries for applications where frequent battery replacement would not be feasible. The devices are currently being used in industry where 'there is the potential for embedding sensors in previously inaccessible locations,' but its creators imagine it could be used in devices such as pacemakers, where the beating of the heart would produce ample movement to power the magnetic mechanism."
The Internet

MPAA Sets Up Fake Site to Catch Pirates 617

Posted by samzenpus from the be-sure-to-include-your-social-security-number dept.
thefickler writes "Media Defender, a company which does the dirty work for the MPAA, has been caught setting up 'dummy' websites in an attempt to catch those who download copyrighted videos. The site, MiiVi.com, complete with a user registration, forum, and "family filter", offered complete downloads of movies and "fast and easy video downloading all in one great site." But that's not all; MiiVi also offered client software to speed up the downloading process. The only catch is, after it was installed, it searched your computer for other copyrighted files and reported back."

AMD Bumps Up Socket AM2 Launch Date 234

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the scrambling-the-alert-five dept.
Thrill-Ki1l writes "According to DailyTech AMD has moved up the launch date for their new socket AM2 processors. The manufacturers of the new AM2 chipsets and motherboards have their hardware ready to ship early so AMD decided to launch the chips 2 weeks early. The new launch date is May 23rd."

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