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Submission + - Rightscorp Exploiting Canadian Copyright Notice-and-Notice System: Citing False (michaelgeist.ca)

An anonymous reader writes: Canada's new copyright notice-and-notice system has been in place for less than a week, but rights holders are already exploiting a loophole to send demands for payment citing false legal information. Earlier this week, a Canadian ISP forwarded to Michael Geist a sample notice it received from Rightscorp on behalf of BMG. The notice falsely warns that the recipient could be liable for up to $150,000 per infringement when the reality is that Canadian law caps liability for non-commercial infringement at $5,000 for all infringements. The notice also warns that the user's Internet service could be suspended, yet there is no such provision under Canadian law. In a nutshell, Rightscorp and BMG are using the notice-and-notice system to require ISPs to send threats and misstatements of Canadian law in an effort to extract payments based on unproven infringement allegations.
AT&T

Ask Slashdot: What To Do About Repeated Internet Overbilling? 355

An anonymous reader writes "AT&T has been overbilling my account based on overcounting DSL internet usage (they charge in 50 gigabyte units after the first 150). I have been using a Buffalo NFinity Airstation as a managed switch to count all traffic. As you may know, this device runs firmware based on dd-wrt and has hidden telnet functionality, so I am able to load a script to count traffic directly onto the device. I have an auto-scraper that collects the data and saves it on my computer's hard disk every two minutes while the computer is running. While it is not running, the 2 minute counters accumulate in RAM on the device. Power problems are not normally an issue here; and even when they are I can tell it has happened. The upshot of all this is I can measure the exact amount of download bandwidth and a guaranteed overestimate of upload bandwidth in bytes reliably. I have tested this by transferring known amounts of data and can account for every byte counted, including ethernet frame headers. AT&T's billing reporting reports usage by day only, lags two days, and uses some time basis other than midnight. It is also reading in my testing a fairly consistent 14% higher whenever the basis doesn't disturb the test by using too much bandwidth too close to midnight.

AT&T has already refused to attempt to fix the billing meter, and asserts they have tested it and found it correct. Yet they refuse to provide a realtime readout of the counter that would make independent testing trivial. I've been through the agencies (CPUC, FCC, and Weights & Measures) and can't find one that is interested, AT&T will not provide any means for reasonable independent testing of the meter. It is my understanding that if there is a meter and its calibration cannot be checked, there is a violation of the law, yet I can't find an agency that can even accept such a claim (I'm not getting "your claim is meritless", but "we don't handle that"). If indeed they are not overbilling, my claim of no way to verify the meter still stands. My options are running thin here. So that my account can be identified by someone who recognizes the case: 7a6c74964fafd56c61e06abf6c820845cbcd4fc0 (bit commitment).

Comment We're already using this (Score 4, Interesting) 125

We're using this. BES5 server for the old devices. BES10 BDS (BlackBerry Device Server) for a couple Q10s and a couple Playbooks, then UDS (Universal Device Server) for a bunch of ipads. All three servers are managed by one interface, Mobile Fusion. For us, it's not about "hey, apple has this" or "hey android already has this" it's about "hey, I can manage these all from one console". Saves a tonne of time, and a tonne of hassle. I am not super happy that with BDS/UDS they moved to Active Sync, but our AS Server is behind a firewall and we have the UDS devices set to VPN in automatically to get to it. The BDS devices are "in the network" like the old BES stuff and don't need a VPN. Hell, I had a case open with BlackBerry as I needed RRAS and the UDS/BDS working on one server, long story short, it looks like a KB article will be made based on that support case.
The Internet

A Free Internet, If You Can Keep It 102

Kethinov writes "My Congresswoman, Zoe Lofgren, a prominent opponent of the infamous Stop Online Piracy Act, has introduced two bills to the U.S. House of Representatives designed to protect the free and open internet, expand the protections of the Fourth Amendment to digital communications, and protect against the introduction of any further SOPA-like bills. Since these are issues Slashdotters care deeply about, I wanted to open up the bills for discussion on Slashdot. The bills are: ECPA 2.0 and the Global Free Internet Act. Is my Congresswoman doing a good job? Is there room for improvement in the language of the bills? If you're as excited by her work as I am, please reach out to your representatives as well and ask them to work with Rep. Lofgren. It will take a big coalition to beat the pro-RIAA/MPAA establishment politics on internet regulation."
Government

Microsoft Backs Away From CISPA Support, Citing Privacy 132

suraj.sun writes "CISPA, the hotly-contested cybersecurity bill making its way through Congress, has been supported by Microsoft since it was introduced. However, the company now tells CNET that any such legislation must 'honor the privacy and security promises we make to our customers,' while also 'protecting consumer privacy.' As you may recall, the U.S. House passed CISPA on Thursday. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill. Quoting CNET: 'That's a noticeable change — albeit not a complete reversal — from Microsoft's position when CISPA was introduced in November 2011. To be sure, Microsoft's initial reaction to CISPA came before many of the privacy concerns had been raised. An anti-CISPA coalition letter (PDF) wasn't sent out until April 16, and a petition that garnered nearly 800,000 signatures wasn't set up until April 5. What makes CISPA so controversial is a section saying that, "notwithstanding any other provision of law," companies may share information with Homeland Security, the IRS, the NSA, or other agencies. By including the word "notwithstanding," CISPA's drafters intended to make their legislation trump all existing federal and state laws, including ones dealing with wiretaps, educational records, medical privacy, and more.'"

Comment Re:Who cares (Score 1) 560

Yeah, I'm going to have to call complete utter bullshit on that one. There isn't a UGLE recognized jurisdiction in this world that does any sacrificing of animals or humans, dead or alive. And I doubt any of the clandestine lodges (not real Freemasonry lodges, but ones that purport themselves to be) do either.

Comment Re:They've taken a leaf out of the UK's book (Score 1) 584

Actually. CB Radio is outlawed as well. I know, I have one and I feel like a rebel using it HAH!

In seriousness, the ONLY exemption to CB radio is (and I am paraphrasing here): Truckers and delivery vehicles *performing* their duties while on the clock, other highway maintenance agencies *performing* their duties while on the clock, and HAMS. As a normal person, unless I have an *valid* Amatuer Radio License, I cannot use my CB. (I don't have a valid HAM license).
The Internet

Bell Starts Hijacking NX Domain Queries 310

inject_hotmail.com writes "Bell Canada started hijacking non-existent domains (in the same manner as Rogers), redirecting NX-response queries to themselves, of course. Before opting-out, you get their wonderfully self-promoting and self-serving search page. When you 'opt-out,' your browser receives a cookie (isn't that nice) that tells them that you don't want the search page. It will still use their broken DNS server's non-NX response, but it will show a 'Domain Not Found' mock-up page that they (I surmise) tailor to your browser-agent string. During the opt-out process, they claim to be interested in feedback, but provide no method on that page (or any other page within the 'domainnotfound.ca' site) to contact them with complaints. They note that opting-in is 'recommended' (!), and that 'In order for opt-out to work properly, you need to accept a "cookie" indicating that you have opted out of this service. If you use a program that removes cookies, you will have to repeat this opt-out process when the cookie is deleted. The cookie placed on your computer will contain the site name: "www.domainnotfound.ca."' Unfortunately most Bell Internet users won't understand the difference between their true NX domain response, and Bell's injected NX response."
Supercomputing

Collaborative Map-Reduce In the Browser 188

igrigorik writes "The generality and simplicity of Google's Map-Reduce is what makes it such a powerful tool. However, what if instead of using proprietary protocols we could crowd-source the CPU power of millions of users online every day? Javascript is the most widely deployed language — every browser can run it — and we could use it to push the job to the client. Then, all we would need is a browser and an HTTP server to power our self-assembling supercomputer (proof of concept + code). Imagine if all it took to join a compute job was to open a URL."

Comment Re:There's no way they'll abuse this (Score 1) 570

No way! I was on the board at Friendship's installation last month of the new WM. I'm the WT go-to guy it would seem ;) Actually, having said that, there's a Friendship up in Sudbury, ON too. Could be either one I suppose. Crazy if it's the one in Pickering/Toronto... that would be a small world.

Instead of saying "District 3" I should have said "East District" - they redrew the boundaries a few years ago. I always forget. My bad.

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