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Comment Re:Here we go (Score 1) 223

Allow me to add that security is not only a matter of the algorithm used, what also matters is how it is implemented and how the system handles it. A metaphor I love to use is this: The best, most stable security steel door is useless if your walls are made out of paper. For reference, play Monkey Island.

This is very true. Reminds me of a story someone told me once. He was going over to a secure datacenter his company was using to see for himself how they handled things. He got there and had to admit they seemed to actually know what they were doing. Until he felt a draft... One of the employees inside the center had decided it was a bit too hot in there and propped open a door to let air in. All it took was one person's bad decision to nullify everything else they had done. Remember people, weakest link...

Open Source

Licensing an Abandonware Game? 148

WolverineOfLove writes "I'm recreating a 1980s abandonware game with copyrights that have been seemingly unused for the past 18 years. The situation is detailed further in a Slashdot journal entry I just wrote, but in short: Is it worth dealing with all the copyrights and paying money if I want to recreate an abandonware title as an open source game? I know there are legal implications to certain decisions I might make, but there is a real possibility that this game's copyright holder will do nothing with the rights, and I'd much prefer preserving it for others than letting it fade away."
Image

Using Classical Music As a Form of Social Control 721

cyberfringe writes "Classical music is being used increasingly in Great Britain as a tool for social control and a deterrent to bad behavior. One school district subjects badly behaving children to hours of Mozart in special detention. Unsurprisingly, some of these youth now find classical music unbearable. Recorded classical music is blared through speakers at bus stops, outside stores, train stations and elsewhere to drive away loitering youth. Apparently it works. Detentions are down, graffiti is reduced, and naughty youth flee because they find classical music repugnant."
Google

Google Toolbar Tracks Your Browsing, Even When Off 118

garg0yle writes "Google's Toolbar is supposed to allow the user to disable it. However, it was discovered by a researcher that it was still sending information even when disabled. A patch is now available, and Google claims this was just a bug, not a feature."

Comment Re:Time to move the servers? (Score 1) 396

I really have no knowledge of the particulars of this group or incident. I’m just refuting your blanket statement, because it’s entirely possible to restrict freedom of speech by selective enforcement of regulations and laws and through untimely handling of paperwork. I can’t say whether or not this happened, only that I know it’s possible.

Biotech

Scientists To Breed the Auroch From Extinction 277

ImNotARealPerson writes "Scientists in Italy are hoping to breed back from extinction the mighty auroch, a bovine species which has been extinct since 1627. The auroch weighed 2,200 pounds (1000kg) and its shoulders stood at 6'6". The beasts once roamed most of Asia and northern Africa. The animal was depicted in cave paintings and Julius Caesar described it as being a little less in size than an elephant. A member of the Consortium for Experimental Biotechnology suggests that 99% of the auroch's DNA can be recreated from genetic material found in surviving bone material. Wikipedia mentions that researchers in Poland are working on the same problem."
Games

How To Judge Legal Risk When Making a Game Clone? 270

An anonymous reader writes "I'm an indie game developer making a clone of a rather obscure old game. Gameplay in my clone is very similar to the old game, and my clone even has a very similar name because I want to attract fans of the original. The original game has no trademark or software patent associated with it, and my clone isn't infringing on the original's copyright in any way (all the programming and artwork is original), but nevertheless I'm still worried about the possibility of running afoul of a look and feel lawsuit or something similar. How do I make sure I'm legally in the clear without hiring an expensive lawyer that my indie developer budget can't afford?"

Comment Re: Just like the FBI is not under local jurisdict (Score 1) 450

This basically allows a law enforcement officer to carry out his duties.

Why, exactly, do they need this protection? Especially given that criminal infiltration of law enforcement is something to guard against.

It is identical to when the FBI comes to a local town to investigate, they can not be hindered or stopped by the local law enforcement.

What if they hinder otherwise interfere with the investigations of local law enforcement? What if they break the law in the course of their activities?

This is obvious and should not raise any issues.

Anyone being "above the law" comes with a whole host of issues. Even more so if they are "law enforcement".

Comment Re:only 4 active windows at the moment... (Score 1) 258

I also heard the memory availabe to store applications is quite small, despite the shitload of memory the device has, which looks dumb. Is that true?

It is 2GB. The other 30GB is dynamically mounted/umounted when syncing to a external USB host (/home/user/MyDocs)

It should be possible to repartition /dev/mmcblk0 to increase the size of /home (and hence /home/opt) and reduce the size of /home/user/MyDocs.

Comment technical issue (Score 1) 308

this is, from my perspective, without a doubt a technical issue.

the people who got wiped out, if the killboards are correct - only destroyed 3 ships (helios, onyx and anathema)

for them to not have dropped any other ships in such and engagement, given their capability - can only mean they could not move or couldn't even see they were in a fight.

the killboards would also suggest the engagement was 421 against 65, even at those odds they should have destroyed a portion of the other fleet. even if it was 842 vs 65, nothing would prevent them from attacking except a technical issue.

i have been in engagements with over 800 in system (before dominion) and was able to function.

so, certainly there was a record broken on sheer lost of assets in one stroke, but it defiantly needs a foot note.

(also, if there was a deliberate attempt to drop the node, well yea - strike against them too, anyway)

there will no doubt be a rematch as the attacking alliance still owns another 20 titans

Comment Re:still flogging this old dead horse? (Score 1) 360

Sigh. You're not being creative enough. I never said that adjusting price upward cannot result in lower profits. I said that it comes out of profit doesn't mean you have to adjust downward the amount of profit you expect. Your original claim was that it follows necessarily ("their cost has got to come out of your profit"). My hypo gave an admittedly simplistic example of why that is not necessarily true.
Space

Russia Plans To Divert Asteroid 305

CyberDong writes "Roscosmos, Russia's Federal Space Agency, will start working on a project to save planet Earth from a possible collision with Asteroid Apophis, which may happen in 2036. NASA specialists believe that the collision is extremely unlikely. Russian specialists will choose the strategy and then invite the world's leading space agencies to join the project."

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