sagthang - Slashdot User

Comment To clarify what Trusteer is and isn't (Score 1) 135

by sagthang on Saturday December 13, 2014 @04:51AM (#48588237) Attached to: Bank Security Software EULA Allows Spying On Users

Lots of apparent confusion here as to what Trusteer is and isn't.

Trusteer is sold as a "holistic" solution. I don't have much experience with what they do in the browser, but it's also built into mobile banking apps. It's an anti-fraud measure (which isn't inherently bad, we all like to keep our money), and as such it's always used in a customer-facing way, not inside a bank. Most customers using mobile banking apps will probably never see a Trusteer EULA, as this would be covered by the bank's own legal boilerplate. And nobody ever reads these...

Comment Re:Authors Guild Recommends It if You Plan to Sue (Score 1) 125

by sagthang on Thursday August 20, 2009 @04:30AM (#29130349) Attached to: Opting Out of the Google Books Settlement, Pro & Con

Of course William Morris is against it. The settlement is bad for them and bad for our society. It's bad for authors, even.

It also angers the twin gods Yun-Yammka and Yun-Harla, stops it from ever raining in Arizona again, and will make Sergey Brin immortal. If you show me the arguments in favour of your statement, I'll show you mine.

Comment Re:What about future authors? (Score 1) 125

by sagthang on Thursday August 20, 2009 @04:26AM (#29130327) Attached to: Opting Out of the Google Books Settlement, Pro & Con

Even if every page in the book was available on Google Books (which I suspect won't be the case), the analogy with music would be like listening to music on the radio. Nothing stops you from recording every song played on your favourite radio station, then compiling your own albums or playlists. Yet very few people, if anyone, does that.

Comment Re:What about future authors? (Score 1) 125

by sagthang on Thursday August 20, 2009 @04:21AM (#29130297) Attached to: Opting Out of the Google Books Settlement, Pro & Con

Are they really "allowing them to be read online"? You sure about that? The way the system currently works, the default for copyrighted works and works in print appears to be "No preview available", "Limited preview" or "Snippet view". Only older books (and not even all older books) and a small number of apparently self-published books seem to be available in full view.

And as for people reading books online: why wouldn't they simply read the book standing in a bookshop? It would be just as painful reading War & Peace four pages at a time before the Borders staff throw you out as scrolling through one badly scanned page after another on Google Books.

UK Gov. Wants IWF List To Cover 100% of UK Broadband 281

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 24, 2009 @03:30AM from the tackling-blocking dept.

wild_quinine writes "The UK government stated in 2006 that they wished to see 100% of UK consumer broadband ISPs' connections covered by blocking, which includes images of child abuse. 95% of ISPs have complied, but children's charities are calling for firmer action by the government as the last 5% cite costs and concerns over the effectiveness of the system. According to Home Office Minister Alan Campbell, 'The government is currently looking at ways to progress the final 5%.' With a lack of transparency in the IWF list, firm government involvement, and blocking that only 'includes' (but may not be limited to) images of child abuse, it looks like the writing is on the wall for unfiltered, uncensored Internet connections in the UK."

First Evidence of Supernovae Found In Ice Cores 145

Posted by kdawson on Monday February 23, 2009 @10:44PM from the hot-and-the-cold-of-it dept.

KentuckyFC writes "Supernovae in our part of the Milky Way ought to have a significant impact on the atmosphere. In particular, the intense gamma-ray burst would ionize oxygen and nitrogen in the mid to upper atmosphere, increasing the levels of nitrogen oxide there by an order of magnitude or so. Now a team of Japanese researchers has found the first evidence of a supernova's impact on the atmosphere in an ice core taken from Dome Fuji in Antarctica. The team examined ice that was laid down in the 11th century and found three nitrogen oxide spikes, two of which correspond to well known supernovae: one event in 1006 AD and another in 1054 AD, which was the birth of the Crab Nebula (abstract). Both were widely reported by Chinese and Arabic astronomers at the time. The third spike is unexplained, but the team suggests it may have been caused by a supernova visible only from the southern hemisphere or one that was obscured by interstellar dust."

European Crackdown On Skype "Loophole" 230

Posted by timothy on Monday February 23, 2009 @08:36AM from the only-the-suspicious-ones-of-course dept.

angry tapir writes "Suspicious phone conversations on Skype could be targeted for tapping as part of a pan-European crackdown on what law authorities believe is a massive technical loophole in current wiretapping laws, allowing criminals to communicate without fear of being overheard by the police. Eurojust, a European Union agency responsible for coordinating judicial investigations across different jurisdictions, has announced the opening of an investigation involving all 27 countries of the European Union."

The Downsides of Software as Service 326

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday August 28, 2007 @11:32AM from the with-a-little-ranting-to-boot dept.

JustinBrock writes "Dvorak's article yesterday, entitled Don't Trust the Servers, argues that the danger of software as a service was highlighted when 'the WGA [Windows Genuine Advantage] server outage hit on Friday evening and was finally repaired on Saturday. It was down for 19 long hours.' The whole fiasco raises an interesting perspective on the software as a service 'fetish'. Dvorak highlights it hypothetically: What if the timeline were reversed, and we were moving from online apps to the desktop. Hear his prophecy of the marketing: 'You can image the advertising push. "Now control your own data!" "Faster processing power now." "Cheaper!" "Everything at your fingertips." "No need to worry about network outages." "Faster, cheaper, more reliable." On and on. I can almost hear the marketing types brag about how much better "shrink wrap" software is than the flaky online apps. The best line for the emergence of the desktop computer in a reverse timeline would be "It's about time!"'"

US School Curriculum to Include Online Safety? 137

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday August 17, 2007 @10:54AM from the more-information-is-rarely-a-bad-thing dept.

Stony Stevenson writes to mention that the US National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is pushing for school's to include cyber-security, online safety, and ethics lessons in their normal curriculum. "The National School Boards Association reported that 96 per cent of school districts claim that at least some of their teachers assign homework requiring internet use. But there is still no formal education on how to stay safe, secure and ethical online, despite the fact that the internet, like the real world, has threats and dangers which students may come across in the normal course of a day. These include communications from identity thieves, online predators and cyber-bullies."

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