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Comment democracies like Russia and Venezuela? (Score 1) 239

by ghrucla (#35144366) Attached to: The Relationship Between FOSS and Democracy
Meanwhile, back in reality, half the time I see a story on Slashdot about a country adopting FOSS it's an autocracy (eg, here, here, and here). Of course plenty of democratic governments (eg, the city of Paris) use open source software and good for them, but it's the silliest kind of naive techno-utopianism to equate FOSS with democracy.

Comment Re:Ahem, the other 24... (Score 1) 129

by ghrucla (#34700172) Attached to: The Empire Strikes Back Added To National Film Registry
Saturday Night Fever is an amazingly good movie if you realize that there's a lot more to it than disco and really ugly suits but rather there's lots of stuff about working class masculinity. Roger Ebert includes it in his 100 Greatest Movies http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19990307/REVIEWS08/401010357/1023
Youtube

Submission + - TSA Investigates Pilot who Exposed Security Flaws (go.com)

Submitted by stewart_maximus
stewart_maximus writes: The TSA is investigating a TSA deputized pilot who posted videos to YouTube pointing out security flaws. Flaws exposed include ground crew clearing security with just a card swipe while pilots have to go through metal detectors, and a 'medieval-looking rescue ax' being available on the flight deck. Three days after posting the video, 6 government officials arrived at his door to question him and confiscated his federal firearm (and his concealed weapon permit).

Comment Re:Gladwell is a profesional contrarian (Score 2, Informative) 305

by ghrucla (#33763516) Attached to: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
Maybe so, but what he's saying is consistent with the academic literature on social networks and social movements, some of which he cites. I know this literature very well and Gladwell's argument is consistent with the academic consensus that a lot of weak connections are good for spreading information and could promote low-cost activism, but you need strong ties in a dense clique to promote high-cost activism. For example:
  • Centola, Damon and Michael Macy. 2007. “Complex Contagions and the Weakness of Long Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 113:702–734.
  • Centola, Damon, Robb Willer, and Michael Macy. 2005. “The Emperor’s Dilemma: A Computational Model of Self-Enforcing Norms.” American Journal of Sociology 110:1009–1040.
  • Granovetter, Mark S. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 78:1360-1380.
  • McAdam, Doug. 1990. Freedom Summer. Oxford University Press.
Transportation

Submission + - If You Don't Want Your Car Stolen, Make It Pink (familyhomesecurity.com) 1

Submitted by pickens
pickens writes: A study in the Netherlands illustrates car thieves’ preferences. From 2004-2008, the most commonly colored vehicle stolen was black. This may be because black vehicles look more luxurious. Following close behind black were gray/silver automobiles. Of the 109 pink cars in the study, not one was stolen. A bright and uncommon color, like pink, may be as effective deterrent as an expensive security system. Ben Vollaard, who conducted the research, wrote, “If the aversion to driving a car in an offbeat color is not too high – or if someone actually enjoys it – then buying deterrence through an uncommon car color may be at least as good a deal as buying deterrence through an expensive car security device.”
Security

Submission + - OAuth, OpenID Password Crack Could Affect Millions (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Researchers Nate Lawson and Taylor Nelson say they've discovered a basic security flaw that affects dozens of open-source software libraries — including those used by software that implements the OAuth and OpenID standards — that are used to check passwords and user names when people log into websites such as Twitter and Digg. By trying to log in again and again, cycling through characters and measuring the time it takes for the computer to respond, hackers can ultimately figure out the correct passwords. This may all sound very theoretical, but timing attacks can actually succeed in the real world. Three years ago, one was used to hack Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming system, and people who build smart cards have added timing attack protection for years. The researchers plan to discuss their attacks at the Black Hat conference later this month in Las Vegas.
Piracy

Submission + - PRS Wants ISPs To Pay For Pirating Customers (ft.com)

Submitted by Idbar
Idbar writes: A group representing British songwriters and composers will on Wednesday call for the introduction of a levy on broadband providers based on the amount of pirated music they allow to pass through their networks.

Will Page, chief economist at PRS for Music, will argue at a Westminster conference that a piracy fee would better align the financial interests of internet service providers (ISPs) with rights holders at a time when the two industries are at odds over who should bear the costs of online song swapping.
Idle

Submission + - Nigerian Scammer Gets A Laptop From Me (notla.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: After switching to a Mac recently, I decided to put my old laptop up for sale to help recoup a little of the Mac cost. I received an email almost immediately from a girl named Rebecca and we had this email exchange
Digital

Submission + - Slow acceptance of digital radio in UK (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by beschra
beschra writes: Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) was developed as early as 1981. After launching in the UK 10 years ago, only 24% of listeners listen on DAB. The article credits a good part of the delay to the fact that the technology was largely developed under the Europe-wide Eureka 147 research project. How does government vs. commercial development help or hinder acceptance of new technology? From TFA:

[analyst Grant Goddard says] "If Nokia develop something, they'll be bringing out the handsets before you know it," he says. "Because DAB was a pan-European development, you had to have agreement from all sides before you could do anything. That meant progress was extremely slow." But this alone did not account for the hold-up. The sheer complexity of introducing and regulating the system was also a major factor, Mr Goddard adds.
Science

Submission + - ScienceBlogs.com Facing Writer Mutiny over PepsiCo (guardian.co.uk) 2

Submitted by History's Coming To
History's Coming To writes: Several writers for the ScienceBlogs.com collective have Publicly resigned from the site, and many more have voiced concerns over parent company Seed's decision to include a paid blog under the nutrition category from PepsiCo. The blog is written by PepsiCo food scientists, detailing their work. The UK's Guardian newspaper has picked up on the story, and includes a letter from Seed editor Adam Bly which covers the company's rationale. Troy McClure has been quoted as saying "Now, turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system?".
Music

Submission + - Open Source Music Fingerprinter C&D'd (google.com)

Submitted by Nushio
Nushio writes: The code wasn't even released, and yet Roy van Rijn, a Music & Free Software enthusiast received a C&D from Landmark Digital Services, owners of Shazam, an Android application that allows you to find a song, by listening to a part of it. And if that wasn't enough, they want him to take down his blog post (Google Cache) explaining how he did it because it "may be viewed internationally. As a result, [it] may contribute to someone infringing our patents in any part of the world".
Security

Submission + - Hotels the industry leader in credit card theft. (nytimes.com)

Submitted by katarn
katarn writes: A study released this year found that 38 percent of the credit card hacking cases last year involved the hotel industry. At hotels with inadequate data security, the greatest amount of credit card information can be obtained using the most simplified methods. It doesn’t require brilliance on the part of the hacker. Most of the chronic security breaches in the hotel industry are the result of a failure to equip, or to properly store or transmit this kind of data, and that starts with the point-of-sale credit card swiping systems.
Technology

Submission + - Bluetooth 4.0 Spec Adopted

Submitted by adeelarshad82
adeelarshad82 writes: The Bluetooth SIG announced the formal adoption of Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0, which begins the qualification process for new, low-power devices. Bluetooth 4.0 was formally announced in April, and added a new, ultra-low-power aspect to the short-range personal-area-network technology. According to the SIG, the new 4.0 core specification should allow devices to run on coin-cell batteries for years with a new ultra-low-power duty mode.

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