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Submission + - Wyden to Introduce Bill to Prohibit Warrantless Phone Searches at Border

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: A senator from Oregon who has a long track record of involvement on security and privacy issues says he plans to introduce a bill soon that would prevent border agents from forcing Americans returning to the country to unlock their phones without a warrant.

Sen. Ron Wyden said in a letter to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security that he is concerned about reports that Customs and Border Patrol agents are pressuring returning Americans into handing over their phone PINs or using their fingerprints to unlock their phones. DHS Secretary John Kelly has said that he’s considering the idea of asking visitors for the login data for their various social media accounts, information that typically would require a warrant to obtain.

“Circumventing the normal protection for such private information is simply unacceptable,” Wyden said in the letter, sent Monday.

Submission + - EFF Unveils Plan For Ending Mass Surveillance (eff.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published a detailed, global strategy for ridding ourselves of mass surveillance. They stress that this must be an international effort — while citizens of many countries can vote against politicians who support surveillance, there are also many countries where the citizens have to resort to other methods. The central part of the EFF's plan is: encryption, encryption, encryption. They say we need to build new secure communications tools, pressure existing tech companies to make their products secure against everyone, and get ordinary internet-goers to recognize that encryption is a fundamental part of communication in the surveillance age. They also advocate fighting for transparency and against overreach on a national level. "[T]he more people worldwide understand the threat and the more they understand how to protect themselves—and just as importantly, what they should expect in the way of support from companies and governments—the more we can agitate for the changes we need online to fend off the dragnet collection of data." The EFF references a document created to apply the principles of human rights to communications surveillance, which they say are "our way of making sure that the global norm for human rights in the context of communication surveillance isn't the warped viewpoint of NSA and its four closest allies, but that of 50 years of human rights standards showing mass surveillance to be unnecessary and disproportionate."

Submission + - Google Plans Major Play In Wireless Partnering With Sprint And T-Mobile (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: Is Google trying to win the wireless wars? There's a new report suggesting Google is partnering with select wireless carriers to sell its own branded wireless voice and data plans directly to consumers. According to sources and the "three people with knowledge of the plans," Google will tap into networks belonging to Sprint and T-Mobile for its new service, buying wholesale access to mobile voice and data in order to make itself a virtual network operator. That might sound disappointing on the surface. Had Google struck a deal with Verizon and AT&T, or even just Verizon, the deal could potentially have more critical mass, with great coverage backed by a company like Google and its services. The former might be a winning combination but at least this is a start. The project will be known as "Nova," which is reportedly being led by Google's Nick Fox, a longtime executive with the company. Apparently Fox has been overseeing this for some time now, and it seems likely a launch will take place this year.

Submission + - FCC Confirms Delay Of New Net Neutrality Rules Until 2015

Submitted by blottsie
blottsie writes: The Federal Communications Commission will abandon its earlier promise to make a decision on new net neutrality rules this year. Instead, FCC Press Secretary Kim Hart said, "there will not be a vote on open internet rules on the December meeting agenda. That would mean rules would now be finalized in 2015."

The FCC's confirmation of the delay came just as President Barack Obama launched a campaign to persuade the agency to reclassify broadband Internet service as a public utility.

Comment My two cents (Score 1) 415

by Eric Bacus (#48272151) Attached to: How Apple Watch Is Really a Regression In Watchmaking
I received a Pebble as a wedding gift, and I was reluctant as to whether or not I'd like it...I now wear it every single day, and feel naked when it's not with me. The benefit of an "always-at-a-glance" notification system can't be overstated. Granted, the battery life is such that I only need to recharge it a few times a week. While the prospect of charging my watch every night would be a step down for me, I'm already in the habit of charging my smartphone every night, so my evening routine wouldn't change all that much... Given the aforementioned benefits, I wouldn't consider the nightly charge a dealbreaker whatsoever. I think this is a "Don't knock it til you try it." situation.

Submission + - Carl Sagan Smoked Cannabis (sfgate.com) 2

Submitted by Colin Castro
Colin Castro writes: “I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs,” Sagan wrote in 1971, under the name Mr. X.

MarijuanaMajority.com founder Tom Angell spent a few days this summer in the Library of Congress researching the iconic American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist and author and has come away with a bounty.

Angell says he found some never-before-released writings on marijuana policy from the author of classics such as ‘Contact’ and the TV show ‘Cosmos’, which is the most widely watched series in the history of American public television.

Submission + - GlaxoSmithKline "Accidentally" Released 45 Lts of Live Polio Virus (globalresearch.ca)

Submitted by ferespo
ferespo writes: Belgium – As reported to ECDC by Belgian authorities, on 2 September 2014, following a human error, 45 litres of concentrated live polio virus solution were released into the environment by the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Rixensart city, Belgium. The liquid was conducted directly to a water-treatment plant (Rosieres) and released after treatment in river Lasne affluent of river Dyle which is affluent of the Escaut/Scheldt river. Belgium’s High Council of Public Health conducted a risk assessment that concluded that the risk of infection for the population exposed to the contaminated water is extremely low due to the high level of dilution and the high vaccination coverage (95%) in Belgium. (Official ECDC press release http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/p...)

Submission + - Senator wants all US cops to wear video cameras (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Ferguson teen's shooting death may dramatically expand the surveillance society.

Claire McCaskill, the Democratic senator from Missouri, says police departments nationwide should require their officers to wear body cameras in order to qualify for the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding they receive each year.

McCaskill's comments come in the wake of the Ferguson, Missouri, shooting death of Michael Brown and is one of a myriad of calls in the episode's aftermath for police officers to wear video cams.

"Everywhere I go, people now have cameras," McCaskill said Tuesday during a question-and-answer session with voters in her home state. "And police officers are now at a disadvantage because someone can tape the last part of an encounter and not tape the first part of the encounter. And it gives the impression that the police officer has overreacted when they haven't."

The lawmaker did not offer legislation to support her words.

McCaskill, however, is not alone in her thinking. Last week, an online petition asking the White House to require all police departments to wear lapel cameras hit 100,000 signatures. The Obama administration has promised to publicly address petitions reaching 100,000 signatures.

Submission + - 'MythBusters' drop Kari Byron, Grant Imahara, Tory Belleci 1

Submitted by rbrandis
rbrandis writes: In a video announcement Thursday on Discovery Channel, "MythBusters" hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman revealed that longtime co-hosts and fan favorites Kari Byron, Grant Imahara, and Tory Belleci are no longer on the show.

"This next season we're going back to our origins with just Adam and me," Hyneman said in the video, which explained that the change took hold as of the season's last episode on August 21.

Submission + - U.S. University Restricts Network Access to Social Media, Political Content 1

Submitted by onproton
onproton writes: Northern Illinois University recently began restricting student access to webpages that contain "illegal or unethical" content which, according to University policy, includes resources used for "political activities...and the organization or participation in meetings, rallies and demonstrations." A student raised concerns after attempting to access the Wikipedia page for Westboro Baptist Church, and receiving a filter message informing him that his access of this page would likely violate the University's Acceptable Use Policy, along with a warning that "all violations would be reviewed." This has lead to questions about whether some policies that restrict student access to information are in the best interest of the primary goal of education.

Submission + - Scientists Confirm Life Under Antarctic Ice for the First Time (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by MikeChino
MikeChino writes: A new paper by a group of researchers from Montana State University confirms that life can survive under antarctic ice. Researchers led by John Priscu drilled down into the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and pulled up organisms called Archaea. These organisms survive by converting methane into energy, enabling them to survive where there is no wind or sunlight, buried deep under the ice.
User Journal

Journal Journal: My Second Journal Entry Evar!

Journal by biffnix

Well, my arm did stop itching back in 2004. It's not itchy at all today. Glad I found my journal again today. The world needs to know!

Submission + - Biohackers Are Engineering Yeast to Make THC 1

Submitted by meghan elizabeth
meghan elizabeth writes: How do you get weed without the weed? By genetically engineering yeast to produce THC, of course.
Once theorized in a stoner magazine column more than a decade ago, a biotech startup working in Ireland is actively trying to transplant the genetic information that codes for both THC and another cannabinoid called CBD into yeast so that "marijuana" can be grown in a lab—no plants necessary.

Submission + - The Internet's broken. Who's going to invent a new one? (nsf.gov) 1

Submitted by aarondubrow
aarondubrow writes: The Internet has evolved to support an incredibly diverse set of needs, but we may be reaching a point at which new solutions and new infrastructure are needed in particular to improve security, connect with the Internet of Things and address an increasingly mobile computing landscape. Today, NSF announced $15 million in awards to develop, deploy and test future Internet architecture in challenging real-world environments. These clean-slate designs explore novel network architectures and networking concepts and also consider the larger societal, economic and legal issues that arise from the interplay between the Internet and society.

Each project will partner with cities, non-profit organizations, academic institutions and industrial partners across the nation to test their Internet architectures. Some of the test environments include: a vehicular network deployment in Pittsburgh, a context-aware weather emergency notification system for Dallas/Fort Worth, and a partnership with Open mHealth, a patient-centric health ecosystem based in San Francisco.

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