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Submission + - Sony Reportedly is Using Cyber-Attacks to Keep Leaked Files From Spreading

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Lily Hay Newman reports at Slate that Sony is counterhacking to keep its leaked files from spreading across torrent sites. According to Recode, Sony is using hundreds of computers in Asia to execute a denial of service attack on sites where its pilfered data is available, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Sony used a similar approach in the early 2000s working with an anti-piracy firm called MediaDefender, when illegal file sharing exploded. The firm populated file-sharing networks with decoy files labeled with the names of such popular movies as “Spider-Man,” to entice users to spend hours downloading an empty file. "Using counterattacks to contain leaks and deal with malicious hackers has been gaining legitimacy," writes Newman. "Some cybersecurity experts even feel that the Second Amendment can be interpreted as applying to 'cyber arms'.”

Submission + - Bank security software EULA allows spying on users

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Trusteer Rapport, a software package whose installation is promoted by several major banks as an anti-fraud tool, has recently been acquired by IBM and has an updated EULA. Among other things, the new EULA includes this gem: "In addition, You authorize personnel of IBM, as Your Sponsoring Enterprise's data processor, to use the Program remotely to collect any files or other information from your computer that IBM security experts suspect may be related to malware or other malicious activity, or that may be associated with general Program malfunction."

Welcome to the future...

Submission + - Congress passes bill allowing warrantless forfeiture of private communications (thehill.com)

Submitted by Prune
Prune writes: Congress has quietly passed an Intelligence Authorization Bill that includes warrantless forfeiture of private communications to local law enforcement.
http://thehill.com/policy/tech...
Representative Justin Amash unsuccessfully attempted a late bid to oppose the bill, which passed 325-100. According to Amash, the bill "grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American"

Submission + - Also Lenovo Recalls LS-15 Power Cords

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: US Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that Lenovo is recalling a batch of laptop AC power cords due to fire hazard. The power cords have been bundled with IdeaPad brand B-, G-, S-, U-, V- and Z-series laptop computers and Lenovo brand B-, G- and V-series laptop computers. The recalled power cords are black in color and have the "LS-15" molded mark on the base of the IEC 60320 connector. The company seems to have been bitten by the exact same problem that HP faced this summer. Lenovo has set up an info page for affected customers.

Submission + - New compilation of banned Chinese search-terms reveals curiosities (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Canada’s Citizen Lab has compiled data from various research projects around the world in an attempt to create a manageable Github repository of government-banned Chinese keywords in internet search terms and which may appear in Chinese websites. Until now the study of such terms has proved problematic due to disparate research methods and publishing formats. A publicly available online spreadsheet which CCL have provided to demonstrate the project gives an interesting insight into the reactive and eccentric nature of the Great Blacklist of China, as far as outside research can deduce. Aside from the inevitable column listings of dissidents and references to government officials and the events in Tiananmen Square in 1989, search terms as basic as 'system' and 'human body' appear to be blocked.

Submission + - MIT Removes Online Physics Lectures and Courses by Walter Lewin (mit.edu)

Submitted by jIyajbe
jIyajbe writes: MIT is indefinitely removing retired physics faculty member Walter Lewin’s online lectures from MIT OpenCourseWare and online MITx courses from edX, the online learning platform co-founded by MIT, following a determination that Dr. Lewin engaged in online sexual harassment in violation of MIT policies.

Submission + - Keurig 2.0 Genuine K-Cup Spoofing Vulnerability (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A security researcher has released a humorous vulnerability description for the Keurig 2.0 coffee maker, which includes DRM designed to only brew Keurig brand coffe pods (K-Cups)

Keurig 2.0 Coffee Maker contains a vulnerability in which the authenticity of coffee pods, known as K-Cups, uses weak verification methods, which are subject to a spoofing attack through re-use of a previously verified K-Cup.

The vulnerability description even includes mitigating controls, such as keeping the Keurig in a locked cabinet when not in use.

Submission + - Canadian Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Warrantless Cellphone Searches (michaelgeist.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In a surprising decision, a split Supreme Court of Canada ruled this morning that police can search cellphones without a warrant incident to an arrest. The majority established some conditions, but ultimately ruled that it could navigate the privacy balance by establishing some safeguards with the practice. Michael Geist notes that a strongly worded dissent disagreed, emphasizing the privacy implications of access to cellphones and the need for judicial pre-authorization as the best method of addressing the privacy implications. The U.S. Supreme Court's June 2014 decision in Riley addressed similar issues and ruled that a warrant is needed to search a phone.
Displays

Submission + - The case for the vertical monitor revolution (dailydot.com) 1

Submitted by Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh writes: The vast majority of computer-related tasks see no benefit from a screen that is longer than it is tall. Sure, video playback and gaming are some key exceptions, but if you watch Netflix on your TV instead of your computer monitor and you’re not into PC gaming, that long, wide display is doing nothing but hampering your experience. Let’s flip it.
No, seriously. Let’s flip it sideways.

Submission + - Study of massive preprint archive hints at the geography of plagiarism (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: New analyses of the hundreds of thousands of technical manuscripts submitted to arXiv, the repository of digital preprint articles, are offering some intriguing insights into the consequences—and geography—of scientific plagiarism. It appears that copying text from other papers is more common in some nations than others, but the outcome is generally the same for authors who copy extensively: Their papers don’t get cited much.

Submission + - The shale boom won't stop climate change; it may make it worse. (thebulletin.org)

Submitted by Lasrick
Lasrick writes: Energy expert H-Holger Rogner walks through the realities of the shale-gas boom, the 'game-changer' that has brought about a drop in energy prices and greatly reduced carbon emissions. But despite the positive impact on carbon emissions, Rogner points out that the cheap gas brought about by fracking shale may already be affecting investments into renewable energy, nuclear energy, and energy efficiency by offering more attractive investment opportunities: 'At today’s prices of $4 to $5 per million British thermal units, gas-fired electricity holds a definite competitive advantage over new nuclear construction and unsubsidized renewables.' But natural gas is still a fossil fuel that emits carbon dioxide. 'A much higher share of natural gas in the energy mix would eventually raise emissions again, especially if gas not only displaces coal but also non-fossil energy sources. Moreover, methane, the chief component of natural gas, is itself a heat-trapping greenhouse gas with 25 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide. If total methane leakage—from drilling through end use—is greater than about 4 percent, that could negate any climate benefits of switching from coal and oil to gas.' Terrific information.

Submission + - Army building an airport just for drones (defensesystems.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The Army's ever-growing use of unmanned aerial systems has gotten to the point where two of the most commonly used UAS are getting their own airport.

The service's Corps of Engineers at Fort Worth, Texas, has awarded a $33 million contract to SGS to build a 150-acre unmanned aircraft launch and recovery complex at Fort Bliss for Grey Eagle and Shadow UAS.

Submission + - Microsoft accepting Bitcoin as payment method (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A new page in the help guide in the payment information of Microsoft's website reveals that the Redmond giant is now accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for products and services on Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox. Currently the payments must go through to credit a Microsoft Wallet account, and the service is initially only available to U.S. users. But the wording of the new page combines with an expansive year for Microsoft and a number of positive statements about Bitcoin from Bill Gates to indicate that this first step is more than just an experiment. Microsoft is now the largest commercial entity accepting the Bitcoin currency, which it processes via the BitPay system, thus protecting the company from fluctuations in the value of Bitcoin.

Submission + - Google News to shut down in Spain on December 16th, 2014. (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The news aggregation services offered by Google is set to be no longer available for Spain starting December 16th, 2014. The decision of Google comes as response to new Spanish legislation that gives publishers the right to claim compensation for republishing any part of their content. This follows news of services of startup Uber being forbidden in countries like Spain as well as Germany and some city councils worldwide like Delhi, or other services like AirBnb being put under pressure to cope with local laws in other jurisdictions. Big tech giants and aggressive startups, under the well-marketed flag of cool innovation and globalized modernity, keep bringing disruption to well established, albeit sometimes outdated, business models, laws and basic society rules (from fire regulations to content ownership), often not paying taxes in countries they take profits from with their activities, fees and advertisement. Sometimes they also pretend to be above the local laws by chiefly dismissing or fighting back court orders in countries other than America where the courts don't make the laws. While the political institutions of separate nations will stay apart for many years to come, (Internet) corporations are more and more globalized for the sake of business, sometimes seemingly imposing a flat model of culture, tradition and habits to anybody else in the world who is not aligned to their own. How far might the quest for new, modern services and business models reasonably go and can it go as far as pretending to disrupt the foundation of legal rights in well established societies that have taken many centuries to fine tune their current model of civilization?

Submission + - Simply hand the law enforcement officer your mobile phone.

Submitted by dubner
dubner writes: That's what you can do in Iowa rather than "digging through clutter in your glove compartment for an insurance card". And soon your driver's license will be available on your phone too, according to a story in the (Des Moines Register). Iowans will soon be able to use a mobile app on their smartphones as their official driver's license issued by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Some marvelous quotes in TFA: "The new app should be highly secure ... People will use a pin number for verification." And "Branstad (Iowa governor)... noted that even Iowa children are now working on digital development projects."

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