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Submission + - Mexican Senate Votes To Drop Out Of ACTA (techdirt.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Mexican Senate has voted unanimously to drop out of ACTA negotiations, saying that the process has been way too secretive, left out many stakeholders and appears to deny access to knowledge and information. Of course, it's not clear if this "non-binding resolution," actually means much, as the negotiators are not under the Senate's control. At the very least, though, it appears the Mexican Senate is going to fight to keep the country from agreeing to ACTA.
Games

Submission + - Best Buy Unapologetic About Charging for Firmware (industrygamers.com) 2

Submitted by donniebaseball23
donniebaseball23 writes: After discovering that electronics retailer Best Buy was charging ignorant customers $30 for the "service" of installing updated firmware on PS3s, IndustryGamers got word from the company on its policy. Best Buy sees no problem with charging for this convenience, even though it's something Sony provides to PS3 owners completely free. "While many gamers can handle firmware upgrades easily on their own, those customers who do want help can get it from Geek Squad, and we continue to evaluate this offering to ensure it meets their needs. The service goes beyond a firmware updates, and includes user account setup, parental control setup and other components," a rep told IndustryGamers.
Ubuntu

Submission + - Canonical Begins Tracking Ubuntu Installations (phoronix.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Canonical Begins Tracking Ubuntu Installations, On a Daily Basis

Just uploaded to the Ubuntu Lucid repository for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (and we imagine it will appear shortly in Maverick too for Ubuntu 10.10) is a new package called canonical-census, which marks its initial release. Curious about what this package provides, we did some digging and found it's for tracking Ubuntu installations by sending an "I am alive" ping to Canonical on a daily basis.

When the canonical-census package is installed, the program is to be added to the daily Cron jobs to be executed so that each day it will report to Canonical over HTTP the number of times this system previously sent to Canonical (this counter is stored locally and with it running on a daily basis it's thereby indicating how many days the Ubuntu installation has been active), the Ubuntu distributor channel, the product name as acquired by the system's DMI information, and which Ubuntu release is being used. That's all that canonical-census does, at least for now. Previously there haven't been such Ubuntu tracking measures attempted by Canonical.

Phoronix: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODQ5MA
The Internet

Submission + - Just 2 Chinese ISPs Serve 20% of World Broadband U (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Just 2 Chinese ISPs Serve 20% of World Broadband Users

If you need a reminder of just how big China is—and just how important the Internet has become there—consider this stat: between them, two Chinese ISPs serve 20 percent of all broadband subscribers in the entire world and both companies continue to grow, even as growth slows significantly in more developed markets.

Every other ISP trails dramatically. Japan's NTT comes in third with 17 million subscribers, and all US providers are smaller still.

"The gap between the top two operators and the world’s remaining broadband service providers will continue to grow rapidly," said TeleGeography Research Director Tania Harvey. "Aside from the two Chinese companies, all of the top ten broadband ISPs operate in mature markets, with high levels of broadband penetration and rapidly slowing subscriber growth."

ARS Technica: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/07/just-two-chinese-isps-serve-20-of-world-broadband-users.ars
The Internet

Submission + - Network Neutrality Back in Congress for 3rd Time (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Ed Markey (D-MA : http://markey.house.gov/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=3763&Itemid=125) is a big fan of "third time's the charm." He has introduced his plan to legislate network neutrality into a third consecutive Congress, and he has a message for ISPs: upgrade your infrastructure and don't even think about blocking or degrading traffic.

The war over network neutrality has been fought in the last two Congresses, and last week's introduction of the "Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009" ( http://markey.house.gov/images/PDFs/netneutralitybill.pdf : PDF ) means that legislators will duke it out a third time. Should the bill pass, Internet service providers will not be able to "block, interfere with, discriminate against, impair, or degrade" access to any lawful content from any lawful application or device.

Rulemaking and enforcement of network neutrality would be given to the Federal Communications Commission, which would also be given the unenviable job of hashing out what constitutes "reasonable network management"--something explicitly allowed by the bill.

Neutrality would also not apply to the access and transfer of unlawful information, including "theft of content," so a mythical deep packet inspection device that could block illegal P2P transfers with 100 percent accuracy would still be allowed.

If enacted, the bill would allow any US Internet user to file a neutrality complaint with the FCC and receive a ruling within 90 days.

ARS Technica : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/08/the-war-over-network-neutrality.ars
United States

Submission + - FCC Probing Apple, AT&T Rejection of Google Vo (cnet.com) 4

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: FCC Probing Apple, AT&T Rejection of Google Voice App

Already having raised the ire of some developers and customers, the decision to disallow the Google Voice application on Apple's App Store has also attracted the attention of the FCC.

According to a Dow Jones Newswire report, on Friday afternoon the FCC sent letters to Apple, AT&T, and Google. The FCC inquiry asks Apple why the Google Voice application was rejected from its App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and why it removed third-party applications built on the Google app that had been previously approved.

The FCC also asks whether AT&T was allowed to weigh in on the application before it was rejected, and seeks a description of the application from its creator, Google, according to the report.

CNET News : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10301259-37.html
The Internet

Submission + - Inside the AP's Plan to Wrap/DRM its News Content (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Associated Press, reeling from the newspaper apocalypse, has a new plan to "wrap" and "protect" its content though a "digital permissions framework.

The Associated Press last week rolled out its brave new plan to "apply protective format to news." The AP's news registry will "tag and track all AP content online to assure compliance with terms of use," and it will provide a "platform for protect, point, and pay." That's a lot of "p"-prefaced jargon, but it boils down to a sort of DRM for news--"enforcement," in AP-speak.

According to the AP's announcement ( http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_072309a.html ), the news registry it plans to set up relies on a new "microformat," described thusly:

        The microformat will essentially encapsulate AP and member content in an informational "wrapper" that includes a digital permissions framework that lets publishers specify how their content is to be used online and which also supplies the critical information needed to track and monitor its usage.

        The registry also will enable content owners and publishers to more effectively manage and control digital use of their content, by providing detailed metrics on content consumption, payment services and enforcement support. It will support a variety of payment models, including pay walls.

To make the system clear, the AP also released this not-in-any-way confusing chart ( http://static.arstechnica.com/2009/07/28/AP-chart.jpg ) of what it intends to do.

ARSTechnica : http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/drm-for-news-inside-the-aps-plan-to-wrap-its-content.ars
Wireless Networking

Submission + - SPAM: Zer01's mobile offer may be too good to be true

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Imagine downloading a two-hour HD movie in three minutes to your new cell phone, then plugging the phone into your TV to watch the film. Make unlimited phone calls, surf online as much as you like and send unlimited text messaging for $70 a month, without a contract. Sign up to sell the same service to other people and get $10 a month for each person you sell to. That's what a group of related companies including Zer01 Mobile, Buzzirk, Global Verge and Unified Technologies Group are promoting heavily online and at industry trade shows. The offer is attractive enough to garner coverage in top business and technology publications, at least one positive review from an analyst and even a "best in show" award from a magazine at the CTIA wireless industry trade show earlier this year. Does it all sound too good to be true? If so, that's because it probably is. What little information is available about the services is vague, technically inconsistent, and doesn't match up with public records.
Link to Original Source
The Courts

Submission + - Court Sets Rules for RIAA Hard Drive Inspection (blogspot.com) 2

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "In a Boston RIAA case, SONY BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, the Court has issued a detailed protective order establishing strict protocols for the RIAA's requested inspection of the defendant's hard drive, in order to protect the defendant's privacy. The order (PDF) provides that the hard drive will be turned over to a computer forensics expert of the RIAA's choosing, for mirror imaging, but that only the forensics expert — and not the the plaintiffs or their attorneys — will be able to examine the mirror image. The forensics expert will then issue a report which will describe (a) any music files found on the drive, (b) any file-sharing information associated with each file, and any other records of file-sharing activity, and (c) any evidence that the hard-drive has been 'wiped' or erased since the initiation of the litigation. The expert will be precluded from examining 'any non-relevant files or data, including ...emails, word-processing documents, PDF documents, spreadsheet documents, image files, video files, or stored web-pages.'"
Handhelds

Submission + - Google & others sued over Android trademark (engadget.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Erich Specht has sued Google and seemingly every company that has ever thought about using its mobile OS (like T-Mobile, Vodafone, Intel, Motorola, Samsung, and lots more) for infringing use of the name "Android." He's the owner of the trademark for Android Data Corporation, granted way back in October of 2002.

Google came around and filed a trademark application for Android five years later and, wait for it, had that trademark application denied due to confusion with Mr. Specht's. In other words, it looks like Google and its Open Handset Alliance cronies are on the defensive and, seemingly, not on particularly firm ground. Specht wants damages and a name-change for Google's OS.

Engadget : http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/01/google-and-dozens-of-android-purveyors-slapped-with-trademark-la/
Graphics

Submission + - Scientists Build World's Fastest Camera

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens
Hugh Pickens writes: "Researchers have developed a camera that snaps images less than a half a billionth of a second long and can capture over six million images in a second continuously. Dubbed Serial Time-Encoded Amplified imaging, or Steam, the technique depends on carefully manipulating so-called "supercontinuum" laser pulses. While other cameras used in scientific research can capture shorter-lived images, they can only capture about eight images, and have to be triggered to do so for a given event. The Steam camera, by contrast, can capture images continuously, making it ideal for random events that cannot be triggered. Keisuke Gode, lead author of the study, and his colleagues used their camera to image minute spheres flowing along a thin tube of water in a microfluidic device. Using the STEAM camera they were able to image the spheres at a frame rate of 6.1 megahertz — in other words, the camera took a picture once every 163 nanoseconds. The camera could be used for studies of combustion, laser cutting and any system that changes quickly and unpredictably. One important application would be analyzing flowing blood samples. Because the imaging of individual cells in a volume of blood is impossible for current cameras, a small random sample is taken and those few cells are imaged manually with a microscope. "But, what if you needed to detect the presence of very rare cells that, although few in number, signify early stages of a disease?," asks Gode, citing circulating tumor cells as a perfect example of such a target. The team is working to extend the technique to 3-D imaging with the same time resolution, and to increase the effective number of pixels in a given image from 2,500 to 100,000."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft to disable Autorun!!! (technet.com)

Submitted by
jchrisos
jchrisos writes: "Microsoft is planning to disable autorun in the next Release Candidate of Windows 7 and future updates to Windows XP and Vista. In order to maintain a "balance between security and usability", non-writable media will maintain its current behavior however. In any case, if it means no more autorun on flash drives, removable hard drives and network shares, that is definitely a step in the right direction. Will be interesting to see what malware creators do to get around this..."
Communications

Submission + - Verizon Charges You For NOT Making Long-Dist Calls

Submitted by JagsLive
JagsLive writes: Call it a "you're not making us enough money" fee. If you don't make at least 12.5 minutes of long-distance calls, Verizon is assessing some home phone customers a $3.49/month "shortfall charge."

If you want to get rid of the fee, you can, but you'll have to pay a one-time $5.50 fee. Verizon told KING5, "that even if a person doesn't make long-distance calls, they still have access to the phone network. The "shortfall charge" helps pay for maintenance of the network." What a crock.

Consumerist : http://consumerist.com/5173620/verizon-charges-you-fee-for-not-making-long+distance-calls
United States

Submission + - Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police (cnet.com)

Submitted by suraj.sun
suraj.sun writes: Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations.

The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed ( http://news.cnet.com/Congress%20may%20consider%20mandatory%20ISP%20snooping/2100-1028_3-6066608.html ) by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates.

Joining Cornyn was Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the senior Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who said such a measure would let "law enforcement stay ahead of the criminals."

Two bills have been introduced so far--S.436 ( http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.00436: ) in the Senate and H.R.1076 ( http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.01076: ) in the House. Each of the companion bills is titled "Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act," or Internet Safety Act.

Each contains the same language: "A provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user."

Translated, the Internet Safety Act applies not just to AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and so on--but also to the tens of millions of homes with Wi-Fi access points or wired routers that use the standard method of dynamically assigning temporary addresses. (That method is called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP.)

CNET News : http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10168114-38.html

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