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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 8 declined, 5 accepted (13 total, 38.46% accepted)

Submission + - Cyberlock lawyers threaten security researcher over vulnerability disclosure

Submitted by qubezz
qubezz writes: Security researcher Phar (Mike Davis/IOActive) gave his 30 days of disclosure notice to Cyberlock (apparently a company that makes electronic lock cylinders) that he would release a public advisory on vulnerabilities he found with the company's security devices. On day 29, their lawyers responded with a request to refrain, feigning ignorance of the previous notice, and invoking mention of the DMCA (this is not actually a DMCA takedown notice, as the law firm is attempting to suppress initial disclosure through legal wrangling). Mike's blog states:


The previous DMCA threats are from a company called Cyberlock, I had planned to do a fun little blog post (cause i .. hate blog posts) on the fun of how I obtained one, extracted the firmware bypassing the code protection and figured out its "encryption" and did various other fun things a lock shouldn't do for what its marketed as.. But before I could write that post I needed to let them know what issues we have deemed weaknesses in their gear.. the below axe grinderery is the results.

What should researchers do when companies make baseless legal threats to maintain their security-through-obscurity?

Submission + - Starbucks testing mobile order and pay in Portland on iOS

Submitted by qubezz
qubezz writes: For those who just can't wait in line, Starbucks announced today that the caffeinated city of Portland will be the first stop in the roll-out of an app for ordering drinks from your mobile device (iPhone only, Android anticipated in 2015). Not a delivery service — it appears your pre-paid drink will be waiting at the end of the bar for the asking. The cost? The app won't operate unless you allow it access to GPS location services, potentially turning every coffee consumer's device into a tracking beacon.

For the rest, there's still the independent site mapping which Starbucks are currently open.

Submission + - Blizzard sues Starcraft II cheat authors in US Court (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by qubezz
qubezz writes: The torrent news site TorrentFreak was first to report that Monday this week Blizzard filed a lawsuit in US District court in California against the programmers behind the popular Starcraft II cheat “ValiantChaos MapHack.”

The complaint seeks relief from "direct copyright infringement", "contributory copyright infringement", "vicarious copyright infringement", "trafficking in circumvention devices", etc. The suit seeks the identity of individuals, as it fishes for names of John Does 1-10, in addition to seeking an injunction against the software (which remains on sale) and punitive damages. Blizzard claims losses from diminished user experiences, and also that "when users of the Hacks download, install, and use the Hacks, they directly infringe Blizzard’s copyright in StarCraft II, including by creating unauthorized derivative works".

Submission + - Digitally filtering out the drone of the World Cup 1

Submitted by qubezz
qubezz writes: World Cup soccer fans may think a hornet's nest has infiltrated their TVs. However the buzz that is the background soundtrack of the South African-hosted games comes from tens of thousands of plastic horns called Vuvuzelas, that are South Africa's version of ringing cowbells or throwing rats. It looks like the horns won't be banned anytime soon though.

A savvy German hacker, 'Tube' discovered that the horn sound can be effectively filtered out by applying a couple of digital notch filters to the audio at the frequencies the horn produces (another summary in English). Now it looks like even broadcasters like the the BBC and others are considering using such filters on their broadcasts.
Security

Submission + - 700MB of MediaDefender internal emails leaked (torrentfreak.com) 2

Submitted by qubezz
qubezz writes: The company MediaDefender which works with the RIAA and MPAA against piracy (setting up fake torrents and trackers and disrupting p2p) had earlier set up a fake internet video download site designed to catch and bust users. They denied the entrapment charges. Now 700MB of internal emails from the company from the last 6 months leaked onto BitTorrent trackers detail their entire plan, how they intended to distance themselves from the fake company they set up, future strategies, and reveal other company information such as logins and passwords, wage negotiations, and numerous other aspect of their internal business! torrentfreak.com details some of the jems!

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