grassy_knoll - Slashdot User

Submission + - How did Wikileaks do it? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by grassy_knoll on Wednesday April 07, 2010 @02:17PM

grassy_knoll writes: Related to the wikileaks video recently released and discussed previously the NY Times reports:
Somehow — it will not say how — WikiLeaks found the necessary computer time to decrypt a graphic video, released Monday, of a United States Army assault in Baghdad in 2007 that left 12 people dead, including two employees of the news agency Reuters. The video has been viewed more than two million times on YouTube, and has been replayed hundreds of times in television news reports.

Which is light on details; what encryption algorithm was used? Was this a brute force attack? Did someone pass the decryption keys to wikileaks along with the video? Something else?

Submission + - Lori-Drew trial results in misdemeanor convictions (salon.com)

Submitted by grassy_knoll on Wednesday November 26, 2008 @04:12PM

grassy_knoll writes: As a follow up to an earlier story, the Lori Drew Cyber-Bullying Trial has resulted in misdemeanor convictions:
The Los Angeles federal court jury on Wednesday rejected felony charges of accessing a computer without authorization to inflict emotional distress on young Megan Meier. However, the jury found defendant Lori Drew guilty of three counts of the lesser offense of accessing a computer without authorization. The jurors could not reach a verdict on a conspiracy count. Prosecutors said Drew violated the MySpace terms of service by conspiring with her young daughter and a business assistant to create a fictitious profile of a teen boy on the MySpace social networking site to harass Megan. Megan, who had been treated for depression, hanged herself in 2006 after receiving a message saying the world would be better without her.

Submission + - Rector shutdown darkens south Florida (google.com) 3

Submitted by grassy_knoll on Tuesday February 26, 2008 @04:16PM

grassy_knoll writes: From the AFP News Agency

MIAMI, Feb 26, 2008 (AFP) — Five reactors at a nuclear power plant in Florida had gone down on Tuesday and two were now back online amid a massive power outage in the southern state, CNN reported. The report on the Turkey Point nuclear plant came as four million people had lost electricity in Miami and elsewhere in Florida, with traffic signals out and major delays on roads, authorities and media said.

So how fragile is the electrical grid, and just what technical problems could shut down five reactors?

Submission + - FBI Wiretaps canceled for non-payment. (myway.com)

Submitted by grassy_knoll on Thursday January 10, 2008 @01:40PM

grassy_knoll writes: Apparently, the FBI hasn't been paying the telcos for the wiretaps they've initiated, so the telcos have canceled the wiretaps.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time. A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said. In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found.

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