No freedom of speech, no freedom of information and no net neutrality in the European Union in cases such as these?
English language video:
http://nos.nl/video/420619-schulz-bekritiseert-de-antimoslimfilm.html
Archive for 2012/09/19
President Of The EU Parliament Condemns Not Only The Contents Of The Anti-Islam Movie But Also Its Distribution (Video)
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Net Neutrality, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reportsGoogle published a research paper detailing the ins and outs of Spanner
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionAccording to Google, it’s the first database that can quickly store and retrieve information across a worldwide network of data centers while keeping that information “consistent” — meaning all users see the same collection of information at all times — and it’s been driving the company’s ad system and various other web services for years.
Spanner borrows techniques from some of the other massive software platforms Google built for its data centers, but at its heart is something completely new. Spanner plugs into a network of servers equipped with super-precise atomic clocks or GPS antennas akin to the one in your smartphone, using these time keepers to more accurately synchronize the distribution of data across such a vast network. That’s right, Google attaches GPS antennas and honest-to-goodness atomic clocks to its servers.
“It’s a big deal — and it’s really novel,” says Andy Gross, the principal architect of Basho, an outfit that builds an open source database called Riak that runs across thousands of servers — though not nearly as many as Spanner. “The conventional wisdom — at least among people with modest resources — is that time synchronization like that, on a global scale, that is accurate enough for such a big distributed database … just isn’t practical.”
Much more:
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/09/google-spanner/
Euro watchdog: We need ONE definition of ‘illegal content’ across EU. (Because We Also Have ONE Definition Of Crime??)
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reportsWhy does ‘handling of personal details’ almost always become an issue only when it’s about FIGHTING and SOLVING crimes, rather than situations wherein people are in the process of COMMITTING crimes?
Officials at the UK Government Communications Headquarters are after potential cyber spooks aged 16 and over who are not already working in computer security and could possibly guard the country’s networks against the hacking ambitions of hostile states, crooks and script kiddies
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reportsFour of the publishers in the Europe’s antitrust ebooks price-fixing probe, along with Apple, have offered to scrap their agency model in Europe and allow retailers to set any price they want for ebooks
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reportsThe offer, if accepted, would hold good for two years. The parties have also offered to suspend “most favoured nation” clauses for five years.
The publishers – Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, the Hachette Book Group – made the offer last month, but it’s been disclosed by the European Commission today.
More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/19/eu_ebooks_antitrust_offer/
Samsung plans new R&D center for Silicon Valley
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionNew GMO study: Rats fed lifetime of GM corn grow tumors, 70% of females die early
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reportsEating genetically modified corn (GM corn) and consuming trace levels of Monsanto’s Roundup chemical fertilizer caused rats to develop horrifying tumors, widespread organ damage, and premature death. That’s the conclusion of a shocking new study that looked at the long-term effects of consuming Monsanto’s genetically modified corn.
The study has been deemed “the most thorough research ever published into the health effects of GM food crops and the herbicide Roundup on rats.”
Findings from the study
Here are some of the shocking findings from the study:
• Up to 50% of males and 70% of females suffered premature death.
• Rats that drank trace amounts of Roundup (at levels legally allowed in the water supply) had a 200% to 300% increase in large tumors.
• Rats fed GM corn and traces of Roundup suffered severe organic damage including liver damage and kidney damage.
• The study fed these rats NK603, the Monsanto variety of GM corn that’s grown across North America and widely fed to animals and humans. This is the same corn that’s in your corn-based breakfast cereal, corn tortillas and corn snack chips.
Miracast will allow you to stream in full 1080p. You’ll also be able to use media like DVDs and other stuff that has DRM on it
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionMiracast also does a bunch of nerdy grunt work behind the scenes; you should never have to worry about format or codec or anything else when streaming something—just click a button and play
Google Books case delayed awaiting a decision on class action
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Google, Litigation, Stats / reportsGoogle-owned Motorola wants an import ban on every Apple device that uses iMessage
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reportsThe International Trade Commission voted yesterday to investigate Apple for patent infringement allegations launched by the Google-owned Motorola Mobility. As expected, Motorola is asking for import bans on just about every iOS device, including iPhones, iPods, and iPads. What might be surprising is that Motorola is also asking for a ban on every type of Mac OS X computer, claiming Apple’s iMessage technology infringes a Motorola patent.
More:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/09/motorola-asks-itc-to-ban-every-mac-ipad-and-most-iphones/
New Philippine law outlaws cybersex
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reportsWhen you choose to ignore someone, you no longer see comments from that person on front page discussions
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionYou enter into a blissful world where that person’s posts largely vanish, except when they are quoted by other users
Dutch Security Researchers Discover Security Problem In iOS 5 And 6 Which Allows Attacker To Steal Pictures, Videos, The Address Book And The Browser History Data
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reportsAnd what would be enabling them to do all this? Javascript of course!
Dutch language news article:
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/84472/nederlanders-vinden-beveiligingsprobleem-in-browser-ios-6.html
Hackers vs. Pirates. Aliens vs. Predators? Hackers Leak Thousands of Passwords From Large Private BitTorrent Tracker
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Copyright, Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reportsInformation wants to be free indeed…
In an unprecedented data breach, tens of thousands of usernames and passwords from large private BitTorrent tracker RevTT have been leaked onto the Internet. The attackers, who call themselves Afghanistan Hackers, leaked the user/pass combinations via The Pirate Bay. The initial response from RevTT was to censor all discussion of the data breach, even as hundreds – possibly thousands – of accounts were being used without their owners’ permission.
RevTT is short for RevolutionTT, a private BitTorrent tracker that was founded around 6 years ago with a reputation for indexing a wide range of content. It is unclear exactly how many users are on the site since its operators appear to hide stats from regular user view. However, all the indications suggest that there are at least 40,000 and very probably tens of thousands more.
While the ‘hackers’ claim to have the entire RevTT database along with 50,000 user/pass combinations, the text file uploaded by Afghanis actually contains around 19,000 pairs.
Very quickly people who had downloaded the torrent started logging into RevTT using not only regular accounts but those of so-called VIPs who have access to exclusive sections of the site.
While some undoubtedly decided to grab whatever content they could, others carried out other activities including sending out invitations to people who aren’t already members. Worse still, all details of the compromised accounts were available to the intruders including email addresses, statistics and all activity associated with the accounts.
Needless to say, if users maintained the same username and password on other sites their accounts elsewhere immediately became vulnerable. Judging by the number of users who used the word “password” as their password, the chances of major screw ups seems high.
After trying to alert site staff, TorrentFreak watched as panicked users (don’t worry, it’s just a copy) learned of the breach and posted their concerns in the forums, begging site staff for information. Site staff responded by quickly removing all discussion of the breach, banning the accounts of people posting in the thread.
Much more:
http://torrentfreak.com/hackers-leak-38000-passwords-from-large-private-bittorrent-tracker-120919/
Google’s Arnd Haller: Governments Should Stop Listening To Rights Owners
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech EvolutionHaller appears to have made this statement at the Future Forum Copyright Event in Germany.
See also:
On 19 September, the Federal Ministry of Justice, and Google’s legal chief for Northern Europe, Dr. Arnd Haller, will both take part in the Future Forum Copyright event. What do you expect to happen?
Google is involved whenever possible in debates on the future of copyright. The copyright of creative works must be protected on the internet, and copyright laws should be carefully adapted to the changes in the digital world. A modern copyright law must protect the poet and promotes thinkers – so that in the digital domain, Germany remains the land of poets and thinkers.
More:
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/interview/german-copyright-google-news-92748
And:
Die ganztägige Veranstaltung findet am 19. September 2012 in der Akademie der Künste statt. Es diskutieren im Rahmen von vier aufeinanderfolgenden Debatten:
- Markus Beckedahl, Digitale Gesellschaft e.V.
- Prof. Dr. Fred Breinersdorfer – Filmproduzent, Autor und Rechtsanwalt
- Mark Chung, freibank music publishing
- Dr. Arnd Haller, Google – Leiter Recht Nordeuropa
- Joerg Heidrich, Heise Zeitschriftenverlag – Fachautor und Justitiar
- Thomas Mosch, Bitkom – Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung
- Tim Renner, Motor Entertainment – Musikproduzent und Autor
- Frank Rieger, Chaos Computer Club – Sprecher und Autor
- Prof. Dr. Robert Schweizer – Vorstand bei Burda (vorläufig zugesagt)
- Christian Solmecke, Kanzlei WBS in Köln – Rechtsanwalt
- Matthias Spielkamp, iRights.info – Journalist, Referent und Berater
- Cornelia Tausch, VZBV – Leiterin Fachbereich Wirtschaft im vzbv
- Peter Weber, ZDF – Justitiar
- Prof. Dr. Stephan Wernicke, DIHK – Chefjustitiar
- C. Cay Wesnigk, OnlineFilm AG – Vorstand
- Alexander Wolf, GEMA/CELAS – Chefsyndikus/Geschäftsführer
- Stefan Zilch, Spotify – Country Manager DACH
FAIL – Prominent Pirate Party Politician Goes After Book Pirates
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, New Business Models, Stats / reportsPirates are pirates
Julia Schramm, a prominent board member of the German Pirate Party, had success in scoring a lucrative book deal and finally had her work published this week. Nothing out of the ordinary there, if it wasn’t for the fact that Schramm and her publisher are now clamping down on book pirates. Dropbox removed a copy of Schramm’s book after it received a DMCA take-down request today and another copy hosted on the Pirate Party’s own site also vanished into thin air.
More:
http://torrentfreak.com/fail-prominent-pirate-party-politician-polices-book-pirates-120918/
Apple is next under the patent spotlight after Motorola Mobility (Google) filed a complaint last month, claiming the iPhone and iPad maker had infringed seven of its patents
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Google, Litigation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reportsGoogle undoubtedly hopes that Motorola Mobility’s lawsuits against Apple may at some point lead to a situation in which Apple may back down and tolerate unfettered infringement of its rights by Google and its device maker partners — which I doubt very much to be honest.
The complaint has come a week before the ITC ruled that Apple had not violated three 3G patents owned by Motorola Mobility, a division of Google, which bought the company in 2011 for $12.5 billion. A fourth patent was sent back to a judge to determine whether any Apple products have infringed the technology. As sister site CNET noted, it could take more than a year before a decision is made.
http://www.zdnet.com/itc-to-investigate-apple-following-motorola-complaint-7000004438/
Quietly, without fanfare or Congressional hearings, the USA Patriot Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Banks, domestic policing powers
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reportsThe Federal Reserve Has Been Given Police Powers, Glock 22s and Patrol Cars
Russia Has More Diamonds Hiding in an Asteroid Crater Than the Rest of the World Has Combined
Posted: 2012/09/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reportsFirst reported by the Christian Science Monitor, the crater, which rests in the upper reaches of Siberia, was left by an asteroid that crashed into Earth 35 million years ago, creating an impact zone that’s 62 miles in diameter. In the intervening eons, it’s believed to have spawned enough diamonds to power the global market for the next 3,000 years. By context, the next biggest Russian reserve at the Yakutia mines is believed to have one billion carats—several orders of magnitude less than this current haul.
What makes these diamonds especially valuable to prospective buyers is the fact that they’re impact diamonds, or diamonds formed as a result of an asteroid or meteor crashing into the carbon-based compound graphite. According to IDEX, these are diamonds that can never be used as jewels, but rather are extremely valuable for their industrial applications. For starters, Russian officials claim these newly revealed diamonds, known as impactite, are twice as hard as normal diamonds, while others value these diamonds for their grain size and abrasive cuts.
