US tops "dirty dozen" of spam-relaying countries by a landslide
Critics of the inadequacy of antispam legislation like the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act have more tinder for the fire this week, thanks to a new report from security firm Sophos. The report, which ranks the top twelve countries by the sheer amount of spam they relay, places the US in the number one spot for the third quarter of 2007, sending more than 28 percent of the world's spam. In other words, that's 500 percent more than its nearest competitor, South Korea, which came in at 5.2 percent. It appears that, despite claims from the FTC and Microsoft and a slew of high-profile spam convictions, the US still has a ways to go in the war on spam.
AT&T's guilt-by-association algorithm for finding "terrorists" - Boing Boing
Andrew Appel has some fascinating analysis of the "guilt by association" algorithm that AT&T uses to help the FBI. They use high-tech data-mining algorithms to scan through the huge
daily logs of every call made on the AT&T network; then they use
sophisticated algorithms to analyze the connections between phone
numbers: who is talking to whom? The paper literally uses the term
“Guilt by Association” to describe what they’re looking for: what phone
numbers are in contact with other numbers that are in contact with the
bad guys?
UK government: Schools shouldn't sign licensing agreements with Microsoft
Concerns over Microsoft's Office 2007 and Vista licensing terms have prompted a UK government agency to warn schools against signing licensing agreements. Becta, the UK's education technology branch, has also filed a complaint with the UK's Office of Fair Trading, alleging that Microsoft engages in anticompetitive practices in the academic software license marketplace.
Microsoft's EU patent pledge incompatible with GPL - Linux & Open Source - www.itnews.com.au
Linux vendors will be unable to license Microsoft's interoperability patents under the terms that were mandated by the European Commission, open source legal experts argue.
It is claimed that the the terms are incompatible with the General Public Licence (GPL), the licence that governs the Linux operating system.
"The agreement is going to run foul of the GPL," Mark Webbink, a director with the Software Freedom Law Center said. The group offers legal support to open source developers and users.
Class action targeting mobile phone locking practices green-lighted
The practice of locking cell phones to a specific carrier is heading for court in the US. The California Supreme Court has given the go-ahead to a lawsuit that targets T-Mobile for the practice, after the company had tried to get the suit dismissed.
Learn More About Your Linux: Ten Absolutely Stupid Quotes By Steve Ballmer
Steve Ballmer has been the CEO of Microsoft since year 2000. As you probably know, he is a bit eccentric guy. So far Steve has produced dozens of absolutely "outstanding" quotations which definitely should be known. So, here is the list of Steve Ballmer's most famous quotes. Have fun ;)
1. "I'm going to f---ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f---ing kill Google." [Sydney Morning Herald]
2. "Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers..." [Watch at YouTube]
3. "Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches." [Chicago Sun-Times]
4. "My children - in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod." [money.cnn.com]
5. "We've had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is "stolen"." [The Register]
6. "I have never, honestly, thrown a chair in my life." [CNET News]
7. "Google's not a real company. It's a house of cards." [Court transcript]
8. "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." [unsourced]
9. We don't have a monopoly. We have market share. There's a difference. [unsourced]
10. DRM is the future. [unsourced]
Digg - Mythbuntu 7.10 hits 20,000 downloads in one week
The Ubuntu based MythTV distribution, Mythubuntu 7.10, released on Monday 25th October 2007, and in less then a week tracked it’s 20,000th download.
Slashdot | EMI Caught Offering Illegal Downloads
"While the RIAA is swift to punish any person caught offering illegal downloads, they're not very swift with outrage when a member company like EMI offers illegal downloads. Not only did the band King Crimson's contract never allow digital distribution to begin with, but band member Robert Fripp claims that EMI offered their music for sale even after their contract ended entirely."
Not over yet: Microsoft Final Judgments extended until January 31
The Final Judgments from the antitrust case against Microsoft are due to expire on November 12, thus putting an end to the whole drawn-out affair. Now, though, the states say that they need more time to argue for an extension of court oversight, and Microsoft has agreed to extend the Final Judgments through January 31, 2008.
OiNK’s new piglets proof positive that Big Content’s efforts often backfire
It took investigators two years to infiltrate and bring down UK-based OiNK, an invite-only music sharing site that was much loved by its smallish community. As we reported at the time, the IFPI and the BPI lauded the takedown as a major victory against piracy.
After the echoes of OiNK's final snort dissipated, one could hear the virtual rumbling of a new stampede: the post-OiNK explosion. The closure of OiNK has led directly or indirectly to the establishment of nearly half a dozen new file-sharing sites. Is this what the IFPI and BPI had in mind? Somehow we doubt it.
OpenDocument Foundation drops support for ODF, backs obscure W3C format
The OpenDocument Foundation has decided to end its support for OASIS's OpenDocument Format (ODF) and instead support W3C's Compound Document Format (CDF), which is currently described in the Web Integration Compound Document Core 1.0 draft. This move reflects growing concerns within the interoperability advocacy community about the long-term viability of both ODF and Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML).
Miro talks trash, takes aim at Joost with its over 2,000 channels
The makers of Miro, the open-source video player and television platform, have stepped up and challenged the big guys behind Joost. Citing Joost as the competition "with the most hype," Miro has posted a list of features and how they compare between the two platforms. The point of this chart is clearly to bring more viewers over to the charity-backed Miro
Rockstar may end up with big headache over unlocked AO content in Manhunt 2
It had to have been a relief for Rockstar when the hyper-violent Manhunt 2 finally received its M rating and was shipped to store shelves. From countries that banned the game outright to fights with the ESRB over an AO rating, the story of the game's release is a long one. However, it looks like Rockstar may have taken some shortcuts when exorcising the over-the-top violence, as Russian hackers have discovered that the original Adults Only content still exists on the PlayStation Portable version of the game.
IP firm sues... everyone for WiFi patent infringement
Another day, another patent infringement lawsuit. This time, Canada-based Wi-LAN—"a leader in technology licensing"—has filed two suits against 22 total companies that it alleges have infringed on its patents relating to WiFi and power consumption in DSL products. Those companies include some strange bedfellows: PC manufacturers like Apple, Acer, Gateway, and HP; WiFi gear makers such as Atheros Communications, Belkin, Broadcom, Buffalo Technology, and D-Link; and a pair of big-box retailers—Best Buy and Circuit City—just for kicks.
It's official: Google announces open-source mobile phone OS, Android
The Google Phone has arrived, sort of, but not in the long-rumored embodiment that many had expected. Google announced this morning that it has developed a new mobile OS called "Android"—a result of its acquisition of a mobile software company of the same name in 2005—that will allow the company to get Google's mobile apps into as many hands as possible starting in mid-2008. Android is Linux-based and open source, and aspects of the platform will be made available to handset manufacturers for free under the Apache license.
Google's handset partners upon launch will include Motorola, HTC, Samsung, and LG, confirming many of the recent rumors that Google would not be developing the hardware on its own. Google has a number of carrier partners worldwide as well, such as T-Mobile and Sprint in the US, T-Mobile/Deutsche Telekom in Europe, and China Mobile in China, to name a few. The whole thing comes as part of the Open Handset Alliance—also announced by Google today.
Congress unimpressed by Yahoo apology for China dissident e-mail testimony
Congress has lambasted Yahoo again over its actions relating to the jailing of two Chinese dissidents. The House Foreign Affairs Committee held the hearing today so that Yahoo officials could explain why they previously withheld information from the government over its role in human rights violations in China. Yahoo's executive VP and general counsel Michael Callahan called Yahoo's foibles a "misunderstanding," but the committee was having none of it. "Yahoo claims that this is just one big misunderstanding. Let me be clear—this was no misunderstanding. This was inexcusably negligent behavior at best, and deliberately deceptive behavior at worst," said panel chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA).
Judge forces telcos to retain data in NSA spy case
In a victory for the EFF, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled today that AT&T, Verizon, Cingular (now part of AT&T), Sprint, and BellSouth (also part of AT&T now) must all maintain any data or papers related to the NSA spying case that Walker is overseeing in California. The EFF had requested the ruling out of concern that documents would be destroyed as part of routine data deletion practices before the case could even progress to discovery.
The move was opposed not only by the telcos but also by the federal government, which has repeatedly pursued the claim that the case involves "state secrets" and should not proceed.
dmiessler.com | New OS X “Trojan” In the Wild
A new “trojan” has been identified by Intego that enables phishing attacks to take place against Mac users. But before you get too worried, let’s take a look at how it works.
1. Go to a malicious site.
2. Get prompted to install software.
3. Choose to install it.
4. Put in your admin password when it asks for it.
5. Get pwned.
So basically a hostile, unknown website asks you to install software on your system with elevated privileges, and if you willfully go through the entire install process (including entering your administrator password) something bad will happen.
Digg - Designer makes 15+ Leopard Docks - And Still Making More!
Looking for a new Dock pattern in Leopard? Well, you've just hit the right place, as the designer here has made over 15 docks for Leopard, and he continues to make more! Stop in and have a look. You're bound to find a dock you like!
Digg - Quicksilver goes Open Source
Now after previously making promises to that effect, the developer (who likes to go by Alcor) has released the source for Quicksilver as a Google Code project
Digg - Mass Collection of Leopard Dock Designs, Auto Dock Replacer App
Over 35 dock designs and counting, an app that automatically replaces the dock design with whichever you choose, idea from digg, created by a digger, designs submitted by diggers.
Mac OS X 10.5.1 on the way, everyone dies of shock
In addition to the nasty data loss issue discussed earlier today, the launch version of Leopard has had its share of other bugs. Although many of the problems seem to be related to specific people's computers and/or user accounts, some others include widespread issues with 802.11, QuickLook, and closing applications. Fortunately, Apple is on the case: AppleInsider is reporting that 10.5.1 is already on the way and that Apple plans to issue builds to testers in the coming week.
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment