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Comment So they aren't a victim of anything but their... (Score 1) 1

by andy_from_nc (#41302945) Attached to: GoDaddy claims it wasn't hacked or DDOS'd

So they aren't a victim of anything but their own incompetence? Being DDOSed isn't exactly anything to be ashamed of, with enough horsepower or enough bots anyone can DDOS anything in the end. However, DOSing yourself is a bigger problem. Taking a long time to fix a corrupt routing table means they don't have very good processes and procedures available to recover from a pretty minor problem. This isn't the first time GoDaddy has looked like they don't have someone with all their scruples firmly at the helm. No one is perfect, but maybe they should stick to shooting elephants, other PR debacles, misogyny and taking sites off the internet and get out of the rest ;-)

Feed Techdirt: DoublePlusUngood Legislation? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
As Slate's Dahlia Lithwick aptly observes, the largely neglected "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007," which passed by an overwhelming margin in the House and will now be taken up by the Senate, seems to have provoked two types of reactions among those who've noticed it: Half think it's a pointless, redundant boondoggle, the other half think it's a first step toward an Orwellian War on Thoughtcrime. The stated purpose of the bill is to try to come up with ways to stop "radicalized thought" from turning into terrorist action -- but that's pretty open ended.

After a cursory read of the bill itself, I tend toward the former interpretation: The law, which would establish a commission to study the causes of "ideologically based violence," evokes MiniLuv less readily than it does Tom Chapin's satirical folk song "A Study's About to Begin." And, indeed, the government has already conducted ample research [PDF] on the psychology and sociology of terrorism. Still, it's not hard to see why civil libertarians get uneasy when the bill's sponsor, California Democrat Jane Harman, is prone to talk about formulating plans "to intervene before a person crosses that line separating radical views from violent behavior," which, presumably, means "intervening" while the person is still only holding radical views. Nor is it especially comforting to reflect on the bill's "finding" that "The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States," which suggests a mandate to focus on offensive online speech. Precisely because the bill is redundant, it seems more useful to worry about the actual steps law enforcement agencies take in service of "prevention." Depending on the composition of any commission convened under the law, there's a fair chance it will produce, if not a boot stamping on a human face forever, then at least a generous helping of national security FUD.

Julian Sanchez is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Julian Sanchez and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.



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Feed The Register: Dell moves 40,000 Ubuntu PCs (theregister.com) 1

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Frugal faithful

Dell agreed to ship PCs and laptops with the Ubuntu operating system after more than 130,000 people promoted the notion on the company's IdeaStorm web site. It would seem, however, that only a fraction of these zealots were willing to back their votes with cash.
Government

Submission + - Swiss DMCA quietly adopted (boingboing.net)

Submitted by roady
roady writes: We have seen a lot of talk about the Canadian DMCA. But few know about the Swiss version recently adopted by law makers, not even the Swiss people. The government and media have been very quiet, probably to avoid a referendum. Indeed, Switzerland is a direct democracy and if 50'000 citizens sign a referendum, the whole country will have a chance to vote against the new copyright law. In this version of the DMCA, sharing a file on P2P networks will land you one year in jail, even though the law mandates a levy on blank media. The history of the law can be read here.
Biotech

Submission + - Scientific Study of Coffee Bean Aroma

Submitted by CupOJoe
CupOJoe writes: Chemists from the University of Munich have performed a detailed analysis of green coffee beans. Using Gas Chromatography and GC-Mass Spectrometry, they concluded that after nine months of storage in tropical conditions, the coffee would take on an increased apple, clove, and smoky aroma. The smoky chemical had never been observed in coffee before, but has previously been observed in marijuana. Apparently, it is a very good indicator that the beans have spoiled. Their advice is to keep coffee cool and dry during storage.
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Will Linux Win the Next Presidential Election?

Submitted by i_like_spam
i_like_spam writes: Douglas Karr has posted an interesting breakdown, complete with bar charts, of the operating systems and server software used by the websites for 23 declared and undeclared presidential candidates. The breakdown shows that there is nearly an equal split between Linux and Windows servers among the whole candidate pool. More interesting, all of the Democratic candidates except for Hillary favor Linux or FreeBSD. 69% of the Republican candidates, in contrast, prefer Windows. Is this preference for OSS or Microsoft a true reflection of differing political philosophies? And, more importantly, will Linux win the next election?
United States

Journal Journal: The Rationalizer 2

Journal by pudge

So this guy, Randy Cohen, writes an ethics column for the New York Times and Times Magazine. His syndicated column is called "The Ethicist."

He violated the Times ethics policy donating $585 to MoveOn.org in August 2004. He says he didn't think it violated the policy at the time (though he now concedes it does), because he thought of MoveOn as nonpartisan.

MoveOn in August 2004, was nonpartisan.

Feed Engadget: T-Mobile goes national with HotSpot @Home WiFi calling (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Cellphones

Following a limited launch last year in its hometown of Seattle, T-Mobile's finally pulling all the stops and taking its "HotSpot @Home" hybrid GSM / WiFi calling service national. A first among the US' big four carriers, @Home relies on traditional cell airwaves out in the field but switches seamlessly to WiFi when it gets within range of a T-Mobile hotspot or any other wireless router you've configured your phone to latch onto. For the millions of us with less-than-stellar reception in our homes, the service could be a life-saver -- and even better, WiFi minutes aren't deducted from your plan. Launch handsets are the Nokia 6086 and Samsung t409, both of which will go out the door for $49.99 on contract and include a Linksys or D-Link router -- both specially designed for @Home service -- for free after rebate, though any 802.11b access point should work. The service itself will run $9.99 per month on individual and $19.99 on family plans for up to five handsets. Look for the equipment today in T-Mobile stores and on the carrier's website.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Prof: So the American government went to IBM to come up with a data encryption standard and they came up with ... Student: EBCDIC!"

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