Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:nice... (Score 1, Interesting) 711

and, witch hunt-like hysterias tend to collapse when everyone can be suspected of the crime. So, although these accusations are harmful, perhaps they will ultimately contribute to the decline of child porn accusations that stray from what I presume is the law's intent (i.e., preventing harm to minors). It may be too soon to be optimistic, though; first, the false accusers may need to be (systematically, perhaps automatically) among the accused.
United States

Microsoft Executive Tapped For Top DHS Cyber Post 138

krebsatwpost writes "The Department of Homeland Security has named Microsoft's 'chief trustworthy infrastructure strategist' Phil Reitinger to be its top cyber security official. Many in the security industry praised him as a smart pick, but said he will need to confront a culture of political infighting and leadership failures at DHS. From the story: 'Reitinger comes to the position with cyber experience in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, he was executive director of the Defense Department's Computer Forensics Lab. Before that, he was deputy chief of the Justice Department's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property section, where he worked under Scott Charney, who is currently corporate vice president for trustworthy computing at Microsoft.'"

Comment Violent tendencies need to be there already (Score 1) 191

This study found that violent stimuli made some people more aggressive, but only the people who were already predisposed to being mean. Those with friendlier personalities were actually less hostile after seeing violent themes. Furthermore, a follow-up experiment found that the latter group actually had more thoughts about doing good for others after seeing violent themes. The authors suggest that these people develop mental patterns that prevent them from becoming violent after seeing violent themes.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118597331/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Violent video games are not used directly in the study; instead, it was a word task, with one group getting lots of violent words. Still, it provides evidence that one already has to have violent tendencies for violent themes to have an effect. It is also an experimental study rather than correlational, so causation is easier to infer.

If findings like these are correct, video games are probably fine as long as one as developed a mature mode of thinking with respect to these games.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Take that, you hostile sons-of-bitches!" -- James Coburn, in the finale of _The_President's_Analyst_

Working...