DHS Allowed To Take Laptops Indefinitely 1123

Posted by kdawson on Friday August 01, 2008 @08:08AM from the reasonable-expectation dept.

andy1307 writes with a Washington Post story giving details of Department of Homeland Security policies for border searches of laptops and other electronic devices (as well as papers). (We have been discussing border searches for a while now.) DHS says such procedures have long been in place but were "disclosed last month because of public interest in the matter," according to the article. Here is a link to the policy (PDF, 5 pages). "Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed. Also, officials may share copies of the laptop's contents with other agencies and private entities for language translation, data decryption, or other reasons, according to the policies, dated July 16 and issued by two DHS agencies, US Customs and Border Protection and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement... DHS officials said that the newly disclosed policies — which apply to anyone entering the country, including US citizens — are reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism... The policies cover 'any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form,' including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover 'all papers and other written documentation,' including books, pamphlets and 'written materials commonly referred to as "pocket trash..."'"

Microsoft Applies For "Digital Manners" Patent 289

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday June 12, 2008 @04:54AM from the what-mouse-do-you-use-for-salad dept.

SirLurksAlot writes "Ars Technica reports that Microsoft has recently applied for a patent for a technology which would attempt to enforce manners in the use of cell phones, digital cameras, DVRs and other digital devices. According to the article, the technology could be used to bring common social conventions such as 'No flash photography' and 'No talking out loud' to these devices by disabling features or disabling the device entirely. The article also points out that the technology could be implemented in situations involving sensitive equipment, such as in airplanes or hospitals. The patent application itself is also an interesting read, as it describes a number of possible uses for the technology, including 'in particular zones to limit the speed and/or acceleration of vehicles, to require the use of lights, to verify an indication of insurance coverage and/or current registration, or the like.' While this technology could certainly be of interest to any number of organizations one has to wonder how the individuals who own devices which obey so-called 'Digital Manners Policies' would feel about it."

RIAA Wants $1.5 Million Per CD Copied 408

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday January 30, 2008 @06:04PM from the even-the-beatles-aren't-that-great dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Not content with current statutory damages, the RIAA is pushing for higher damages for infringement, damages that would total $1.5 million for copying a CD with ten songs. It's all part of debate over the proposed PRO-IP Act. William Patry, a lawyer who wrote the seminal seven-volume reference on US copyright law, called it the most 'outrageously gluttonous IP bill ever introduced in the US.'"

National ID Cards Mandated in the US, If You're Under 50 869

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday January 11, 2008 @02:15PM from the 1984-is-about-the-good-old-days dept.

charleste writes "CNN is reporting that the US Homeland Security Department has mandated Real ID for drivers licenses. According to the article, this will not include a 'chip', but a list of options by state. Despite legislation passed in various states and objections by groups such as ACLU, this appears to be a done deal. Without one of the new IDs you will be unable to board a plane after 2014 if you are under 50."

RIAA Now Filing Suits Against Consumers Who Rip CDs 403

Posted by Zonk on Sunday December 30, 2007 @01:31AM from the because-we-needed-another-reason-to-be-cranky-at-them dept.

mrneutron2003 writes "With this past week's announcement by Warner to release its entire catalog to Amazon in MP3 format with no Digital Rights Management, you would think that the organization that represents them, The RIAA, would begin changing its tune. Instead, they are pressing on in their campaign against consumers by suing individuals who merely rip CDs they've purchased legally. 'The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.'"

Journal Journal: Universexuality: The New Sexual Revolution

Journal by Anti Globalism on Saturday December 01, 2007 @12:01PM

When Robert Stewart was found at the Aberley House Hostel in south west Scotland, desperately trying to have sex with his bike, he couldn't possibly have foreseen the immense effects of his deviant act. Although critics told the case off as "absurd" and "impossible," Robert's case would turn out to be just a small drop in the ocean of a growing trend in our modern society: universexuality.

End of Moore's Law in 10-15 years? 248

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday September 19, 2007 @10:52AM from the no-for-real-this-time dept.

javipas writes "In 1965 Gordon Moore — Intel's co-founder — predicted that the number of transistors on integrated circuits would double every two years. Moore's Law has been with us for over 40 years, but it seems that the limits of microelectronics are now not that far from us. Moore has predicted the end of his own law in 10 to 15 years, but he predicted that end before, and failed."

Vista Pirates To Get "Black Screen of Darkness" 873

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday September 11, 2007 @01:43PM from the there-goes-china dept.

jcatcw writes "Microsoft has just turned on Reduced Functionality mode, worldwide, and sent a letter to OEMs explaining the consequences of Vista piracy. These include a black screen after 1 hour of browsing, no start menu or task bar, and no desktop. Using fear as a motivator, the email warns resellers to 'make sure your customers always get genuine Windows Vista preinstalled.'"

Comcast Cuts Off Users Who Exceed Secret Limit 574

Posted by kdawson on Monday August 27, 2007 @02:22AM from the we-won't-tell-you-and-we-won't-tell-you-why dept.

ConsumerAffairs.com has an article up spotlighting Comcast's tendency to cuts off heavy Internet users without defining in their AUP exactly what the bandwidth limit is. Frank Carreiro of West Jordan, Utah, got cut off by the mystery limit and started a 'Comcast Broadband dispute' blog.

Pirate Banned From Using Linux 698

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday August 23, 2007 @05:24PM from the take-that dept.

dsinc writes "A guy who uploaded the latest Star Wars movie got arrested, pleaded guilty to 'conspiracy to commit copyright infringement' and 'criminal copyright infringement' and got jail and home confinement. As part of his home confinement, he agreed to install some tracking software on his computer. The problem is He's an Ubuntu Linux user and the gov't doesn't have any tracking software for Linux. So he's been told that he must use Windows for the term of his confinement. Looks like a case of cruel and unusual punishment to me"

Executive Order Overturns US Fifth Amendment 853

Posted by kdawson on Thursday July 19, 2007 @01:03PM from the deprived-of-life-liberty-or-property-without-due-process-of-law dept.

RalphTWaP writes "Tuesday, there wasn't even a fuss. Wednesday, the world was a little different. By executive order, the Secretary of the Treasury may now seize the property of any person who undermines efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq. The Secretary may make his determination in secret and after the fact." There hasn't been much media notice of this; the UK's Guardian has an article explaining how the new authority will only be used to go after terrorists.

RIAA Claims Ownership of All Artist Royalties For Internet Radio 458

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 29, 2007 @01:22AM from the isn't-that-called-stealing dept.

ISurfTooMuch writes "With the furor over the impending rate hike for Internet radio stations, wouldn't a good solution be for streaming internet stations to simply not play RIAA-affiliated labels' music and focus on independent artists? Sounds good, except that the RIAA's affiliate organization SoundExchange claims it has the right to collect royalties for any artist, no matter if they have signed with an RIAA label or not. 'SoundExchange (the RIAA) considers any digital performance of a song as falling under their compulsory license. If any artist records a song, SoundExchange has the right to collect royalties for its performance on Internet radio. Artists can offer to download their music for free, but they cannot offer their songs to Internet radio for free ... So how it works is that SoundExchange collects money through compulsory royalties from Webcasters and holds onto the money. If a label or artist wants their share of the money, they must become a member of SoundExchange and pay a fee to collect their royalties.'"

Feed A Linux for the rest of us? (theregister.com)

From feed by registerfeed on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @10:13AM

Zero config distro tailored for newbies

Serial entrepreneur Peter Dawe, who helped bring the internet to the UK, is launching a "safe" Linux distro tailored for the technophobe.

Feed Would A Greentech Bubble Be Such A Bad Thing? (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed on Tuesday April 17, 2007 @09:52AM

Paul Kedrosky highlights a key point all the way at the end of an article in the new business magazine, Portfolio, about the the growing interest from venture capital investors in "green tech" or "clean tech." What Kedrosky notes is Kleiner Perkins partner Ray Lane saying he expects there to eventually be a "bubble" in the space, as too much money starts chasing deals. Lane notes that a bubble can be bad for late investors, but usually works out for early investors. However, he misses the more important point about what bubbles mean for everyone else. As we've noted in the past, while bubbles may be bad for investors who pick the wrong players, overall, they can be very good for innovation. That's because investment bubbles allow for an awful lot of excess cash to be thrown at a large variety of attempts to innovate in a certain area. In other words, they allow a lot of ideas to be tried in a very short period of time to see what sticks. Obviously, lots of them will fail, but a few key ideas tend to survive and make it through. That's competition at its best -- and the net result is that some really innovative ideas are developed, tested and proved (or disproved) very quickly. While it may not work out for some of the investors in the space, the net result in terms of innovation can be quite beneficial.

Feed Worm exploits Windows DNS hole (com.com)

From feed by cnetfeed on Monday April 16, 2007 @08:32PM

Blog: McAfee on Monday afternoon said it had spotted a variant of Nirbot that appears to exploit the recently disclosed vulnerability...