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Comment Re:It is the artists (Score 2, Interesting) 172

by sickspeed6 (#23224714) Attached to: Who Runs RIAA's Settlement Information Center?
This is only slightly true. As it turns out, i was recently graced with the excellent opportunity to attend a Q&A with Mitch Glazier the Executive Vice President of Government and Industry Relations and Jonathan Lamy the Senior Vice President of Communications. Right now the RIAA is funding its campaign, in large part, by the money it makes off of the pre-settlement letters and lawsuits that they win. now, if the artist simply said, we take away your rights to all future music, eventually, the RIAA would cease to exist. As a side note, I have never met two more idiotic morons in my life, literally the dumbest people I have ever met, also, slimy...it was like talking to the Lucifer himself, only x2.
Privacy

Submission + - Linux based phonesystem phones home (trixbox.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Users of Trixbox, a PBX based on Asterisk, discovered that the software has been calling home with their usage and statistics.
From the article:
"I have just been made aware of a file '/var/adm/bin/registry.pl' that contain the following commented lines describing the program:

# This file is design to be executed regularly by an external controller such as cron.
# It retrieves a list of commands to be executed from the specified URI and executes them, saving the output
# and returning it to the webserver as an encrypted string."

Trixbox is owned by Fonality, which makes customised PBXs (again based on asterisk) for paying customers and this is not the first time that Fonality has been called out for their data collection.

See http://voxilla.com/component/option,...emid,107/p,27/
Music

Submission + - Embrace digital or die, EMI told

Submitted by
no0b
no0b writes: "Guy Hands the new head honcho over at EMI must have had a nice whack upside his haid with the ClueStick : The new owner of EMI, Britain's largest music group, has warned that the industry will not survive if it continues to rely on CD sales alone. "The recorded music industry... has for too long been dependent on how many CDs can be sold," he wrote. "Rather than embracing digitalisation and the opportunities it brings for promotion of product and distribution through multiple channels, the industry has stuck its head in the sand." The story is here and the link to Radiohead generation believes music is free is a related good read. I wonder if he'll take the ClueStick to next meeting of the RIAA?"
Censorship

Holocaust Dropped From Some UK Schools 1286

Posted by kdawson from the careful-you-might-offend-somebody dept.
dteichman2 writes "It appears that some UK schools are ignoring the Holocaust. A government-backed study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, found that some teachers are reluctant to teach history lessons on the Holocaust for fear of offending Muslim students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial. Additionally, similar problems are being encountered with lessons on the Crusades because these lessons contradict teachings from local mosques."
Security

Submission + - WordPress Bloggers in for a shock

Submitted by
BlogSecurity
BlogSecurity writes: "David Kierznowski, a security analyst shocked bloggers yesterday with a survey showing that 49 out of the 50 blogs he checked may be running exploitable versions of the famous WordPress software.

"The main concern here, is the lack of security awareness amongst bloggers with a non-technical background, and even those with a technical background," Mr Kierznowski said.

Mr Kierznowski also uncovered recent vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins that ship by default with the software. He added: "WordPress users developing plugins must be aware of the security functions that WordPress supports, and ensure that these functions are used in their code."

The following statement was taken from WordPress: "[WordPress Versions that] are safe to use... [include] 2.0 or 2.1 series, which are both actively maintained."

Users not using the latest versions of the software may be putting their blogs at risk.

References "
Microsoft

Supreme Court Sides With Microsoft Over AT&T 122

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the fluent-in-loopholeanese dept.
The Supreme Court today sided with Microsoft in another important patent case filed by AT&T. The case centered around whether selling Windows overseas infringed on AT&T's patents that are in Windows. Microsoft argued [PDF] that the copies being sold in Asia were "...not technically supplied from the United States because overseas manufacturers of its computers made copies of the software from a master disk and installed those copies into the operating system. Microsoft said it could not be considered a supplier since the copies, not the original software, were in the computers built abroad." Now, while I support the weakening of software patents in general, by this logic, would that mean that MS's patents don't apply to those that use pirated copies of Windows?

Feed Navy patent reveals underwater sound weapon (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets


The U.S. Navy certainly doesn't seem to have any shortage of unconventional weapons in development, but it looks like it still has plenty more ideas on its plate, with a recent patent revealing yet another new weapon that takes a slightly different path towards its target. While this one is unconventional, it certainly doesn't appear to be non-lethal, employing sonar to generate what the Navy describes as "acoustic remote cavitation," which can supposedly destroy torpedoes, mines, and any other "undesirable objects" in its path. What's more, the Navy says that can be done from a distance of up to one kilometer away, which is apparently far greater than other similar examples of the technology. Less clear, however, is how the Navy plans to deal with the seemingly inevitable swarms of irate dolphins set on enacting some revenge.

[Via Danger Room]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
PlayStation (Games)

Jaffe's Calling All Cars Coming Soon 17

Posted by Zonk from the downloadable-but-high-polish dept.
Via Joystiq, the news on David Jaffe's blog is that Calling All Cars will be released soon via the PlayStation Network. The first downloadable title from one of Sony's AAA developers, this marks the start of what should be a string of high-profile games for the service. The initial post about the game 'going gold' appears to have been taken down but Jaffe reviews the reviews that have been released so far, and gives PS3 owners an idea of what they can expect. "Has it been worth the wait? Reviews are slowly coming in, but IGN is calling it 'Sony's first truly original, must-have title on the PlayStation Network' and claiming it bests just about everything on Xbox Live Arcade. Strong words; we'll see for ourselves [this] week."
The Internet

How Will Governments Keep Up With Technology? 150

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the just-like-a-large-poorly-managed-corporation dept.
Andy Updegrove writes "Governments are beginning to realize that perhaps the Internet really has changed everything, at least for them, and that they are going to have to deal with new responsibilities in this area. How will they deal with financial and medical data breaches? What can they do to ensure that first responders will be able to communicate the next time that terrorists strike in the Homeland, and how will the refugees of the next Katrina be able to access their electronic medical records? And what must governments do to ensure that public records will be available in fifty years, if they no longer maintain paper archives? Whether government should incline towards leading, following or simply getting out of the way is a matter upon which there are likely to be strongly held differences of opinion. It's also likely, though, that government will not have the luxury of opting for the third choice in some of the areas just mentioned. How well government chooses among those roles, and how well it executes when it chooses to lead, will likely have a profound impact on our lives in the years ahead."

Feed Dell "designs," you decide: lame or very lame? (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Desktops

Can't help but chuckle at Dell's semi-admirable attempts at "community involvement" in product design decisions. To its credit, Dell does seem to be listening up on the Linux issue -- though we have to wait and see how well the execution goes -- but this latest "You Choose" question posed to the Dell IdeaStorm community isn't exactly going to change the world. Dell wants your vote on two different clear sidepanel designs for its XPS 710 H2C desktop which was unveiled at CES. Sounds like a good idea, unfortunately, the options are laughable: you can vote for a decent but perhaps over the top "X" design, or a square window that was clearly drummed up after the marketing team decided it'd be a good thing to "ask the community" in an attempt to generate interest. In the end, it's all pretty silly -- don't they know that what the people really want is to pay double the price for a gaming desktop with pretty pictures on it?

[Via Geekzone]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
The Courts

RIAA Security Expert's Quest For Reliability 170

Posted by Zonk from the is-he-who-he-says-he-is dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "In the ongoing case of UMG v. Lindor, Ms. Lindor has now moved to exclude the trial testimony of the RIAA's 'expert' witness, Dr. Doug Jacobson. Jacobson is the CTO and co-founder of Palisade Systems, Inc, and a teacher of internet security at Iowa State, but in his February 23rd deposition testimony she argues he failed to meet the reliability standards prescribed by Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Federal Rule of Evidence 702. The Groklaw and Slashdot communities participated in both the preparation of the deposition questions, and the vetting of the witness's responses."

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