Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Security

Technical Risks of the US Protect America Act 141

Posted by kdawson from the holes-and-sherman-tanks dept.
A group of respected security researchers has released a paper on the security holes that would be opened up if a broad warrantless wiretapping law is passed. The subject could hardly be more timely, as Congress is debating the subject now. Steve Bellovin, Matt Blaze, Whit Diffie, Susan Landau, Peter Neumann, and Jennifer Rexford have released a preprint of Risking Communications Security: Potential Hazards of the Protect America Act (PDF), which will appear in the January/February 2008 issue of IEEE Security and Privacy. It will hit the stands in a few weeks. From Matt Blaze's blog posting: "As someone who began his professional carrier in the Bell System (and who stayed around through several of its successors), the push for telco immunity represents an especially bitter disillusionment for me. Say what you will about the old Phone Company, but respect for customer privacy was once a deeply rooted point of pride in the corporate ethos. There was no faster way to be fired (or worse) than to snoop into call records or facilitate illegal wiretaps, well intentioned or not. And it was genuinely part of the culture; we believed in it, even those of us ordinarily disposed toward a skeptical view of the official company line. Now it all seems like just another bit of cynical, focus-group-tested PR."
Idle

Man Hides Castle Behind Hay Bales

Posted by samzenpus
A UK farmer built an entire mock castle and kept it hidden behind bales of hay for 4 years to avoid building regulations. The builder wants to take advantage of a provision of planning law that allows buildings without planning permission to be declared legal if no objections have been made after four years. The county council is not happy and is moving their mock seige weaponry towards the farm.
Games

Introversion On Staying An Independent Games Studio 36

Posted by Zonk from the staying-sane-under-pressure dept.
Dr. Eggman writes "bit-tech.net has up an interview with Introversion Games, creators of Uplink, Darwinia, and Defcon, on the hard work it takes to make games independently. They discuss the challenges and rewards, ranging from developing new technologies for their upcoming game, Subversion, to defining their own style in Darwinia — and nearly bankrupting themselves in the process. 'When we first set out to write video games we knew the damage that publishers could do both to games themselves, and the people writing them, and we were not willing to let that happen to us. In order to ensure our creative freedom, we had to be independent from publishers and license holders, and that independence has become a guiding mantra for us.'"

Comment I not a supporter of theft, but... (Score 1) 658

by eint (#22223050) Attached to: U2's Manager Calls For Mandatory Disconnects For Music Downloaders
Why exactly do musicians such as "rock stars" feel as though they are entitled to be rich and famous? All they freaking do is play music that people like, right? I have yet to understand why all the sudden when their industry undergoes change they try in every way possible to fight the change that is going to happen no matter what. While I don't feel that it is fair to steal and mass distribute music, why do they feel that their industry shouldn't ever undergo change? In this case actually they are still making off quite nice, as opposed to the 99.999999999% (repeating of course) rest of us that work in industries where when the company hits trouble we just outright lose our jobs....

Slashdot Top Deals

"Mr. Spock succumbs to a powerful mating urge and nearly kills Captain Kirk." -- TV Guide, describing the Star Trek episode _Amok_Time_

Close