Insect Attack May Have Finished Off Dinosaurs
Asteroid impacts or massive volcanic flows might have occurred around the time dinosaurs became extinct, but a new arguemet is that the mightiest creatures the world has ever known may have been brought down by a tiny, much less dramatic force -- biting, disease-carrying insects.
A Wi-Fi virus outbreak? Researchers say it's possible - Network World
If criminals were to target unsecured wireless routers, they could create an attack that could piggyback across thousands of Wi-Fi networks in urban areas like Chicago or New York City, according to researchers at Indiana University.
The researchers estimate that a Wi-Fi attack could take over 20,000 wireless routers in New York City within a two-week period, with most of the infections occurring within the first day.
PC World - Firefox Hit With Spoofing Bug
A serious flaw in how Firefox handles log-ons could be used by identity thieves to dupe users into disclosing passwords, a noted security researcher said Wednesday.
Aviv Raff, an Israeli researcher best known for ferreting out browser flaws, revealed the Firefox spoofing vulnerability on his personal blog, and posted a demonstration video there. He did not go public with any proof-of-concept code or working exploit, however.
According to Raff, Firefox 2.0.0.11 -- Mozilla Corp.'s most current version -- fails to sanitize single quotation marks and spaces in what's called the "Realm" value of an authentication header. "This makes it possible for an attacker to create a specially crafted Realm value which will look as if the authentication dialog came from a trusted site," said Raff.
Slashdot | Spammer Alan Ralsky Indicted
Several users have written to tell us that notorious spammer Alan Ralsky has been indicted along with ten others on 41 counts of spam-related illegal activity. Ralsky has had trouble with the law in the past, and the current litany of charges includes mail and wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and violation of federal spamming laws. From the Detroit Free Press: "The 41-count indictment said Ralsky ... and others used unsolicited e-mail to pump up the price of largely worthless stock in Chinese companies and sold the stock reaping huge profits and leaving Internet subscribers who purchased it holding the bag. The operation also used illegal methods to maximize the amount of spam that could be sent while evading spam-blocking devices and tricked recipients into opening and acting on advertisements, prosecutors said."
Slashdot | HD Monitor Causes DRM Issues with Netflix
Jeremiah Cornelius points us to Davis Freeberg's blog, where he discusses his "nightmare scenario" of losing access to his DRM-protected purchases by upgrading his PC monitor. "When I called them they confirmed my worst fears. In order to access the Watch Now service, I had to give Microsoft's DRM sniffing program access to all of the files on my hard drive. If the software found any non-Netflix video files, it would revoke my rights to the content and invalidate the DRM. This means that I would lose all the movies that I've purchased from Amazon's Unbox, just to troubleshoot the issue. Because my computer allows me to send an unrestricted HDTV feed to my monitor, Hollywood has decided to revoke my ability to stream 480 resolution video files from Netflix. In order to fix my problem, Netflix recommended that I downgrade to a lower res VGA setup."
Slashdot | Sears Installs Spyware
Gandalf_the_Beardy writes in with news that's been around a while but is getting more attention lately. Last month Benjamin Googins, a security researcher at CA, determined that Sears Holding Corp. installed ComScore spyware without adequate disclosure. Sears said, yes we tell people about tracking their browsing. On Jan. 1 spyware researcher Ben Edelman weighed in, noting that Sears' notice occurs on page 10 of a 54-page privacy statement, and twits Sears because its installation identifies the software as "VoiceFive" and later claims it's coming from a company called "TMRG, Inc." even though a packet sniffer confirms the software belongs to ComScore, adding "These confusing name-changes fit the trend among spyware vendors."
Slashdot | Airport Profilers Learn to Read Facial Expressions
"There has been a rather scary development in airport security. Airport profilers are watching people's facial expressions for clues of terrorist intent. According to the article,"Travelers at Sea-Tac and dozens of other major airports across America are being scrutinized by teams of TSA behavior-detection officers specially trained to discern the subtlest suspicious behaviors.""
Slashdot | The 5 Coolest Hacks of '07
"Nothing was sacred to hackers in '07 — not cars, not truckers, and not even the stock exchange. Dark Reading reviews five hacks that went after everyday things we take for granted even more than our PC's — our car navigation system, a trucker's freight, WiFi connections, iPhone, and (gulp) the electronic financial trading systems that record our stock purchases and other online transactions."
Is MSN Premium a rip-off? | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News.com
It's not the company's main focus these days, but Microsoft does still offer a paid service called MSN Premium, which offering services like a phishing filter and parental controls.
The thing is, most of the product's "premium" features are available for free in some form via Windows, Windows Live, or both.
Enthusiast site Windows Secrets thought it was time to point this fact out to the people who are paying Microsoft as much as $10 a month for MSN Premium. Of the 21 features Microsoft touts, Windows Secrets figures only one or two aren't available for free in the same or similar form.
It's unclear how many people are actually paying Microsoft these days for MSN Premium. Many of those who subscribe to MSN Premium get it not by paying Microsoft directly, but rather because the software maker has a deal with their Internet service provider. So they may not be getting much, but they probably aren't paying anything extra either.
For me, this all points to the fact that Microsoft has some legacy issues it needs to deal with and highlights the benefit that the Microsoft vs. Google war is having for consumers.Slashdot | Investors, "Beware" of Record Companies
"The Motley Fool investment Web site warns investors to beware of 'Sony, BMG, Warner Music Group, Vivendi Universal, and EMI.' In an article entitled 'We're All Thieves to the RIAA,' a Motley Fool columnist, referring to the RIAA's pronouncement in early December in Atlantic v. Howell, that the copies which Mr. Howell had ripped from his CDs to MP3s in a shared files folder on his computer were 'unauthorized,' writer Alyce Lomax said 'a good sign of a dying industry that investors might want to avoid is when it would rather litigate than innovate, signaling a potential destroyer of value.'"
Sears: Come see the softer side of spyware
Sears and Kmart are places you might go when you need a new air conditioner filter or a lawnmower; they're not generally thought of as havens for spyware. But that's what the two stores have become, at least online, where their web sites were found to be installing software to track users' every online move—all without their knowledge. Security researchers are now hammering Sears (the owner of both Sears.com and Kmart.com) for the move, despite Sears' claims that users were notified adequately beforehand.
Slashdot | Scammers Continue to Wreak Havoc in MMO's
"We're all well aware of the scams that sometimes happen in online games like Eve Online. But despite this looking primarily like a problem with Eve Online, the MIT Technology Review brings us stories from Second Life and the very real $700,000 (USD) in Linden Dollars that has recently disappeared in what is appearing to be a classic ponzi scheme by a company named Ginko Banking. Unbelievably high interest rates coupled with some shady withdrawal limits leads to classic epic losses to investors. Eve Online was merely virtual currency but Second Life has a real monetary value associated with Linden Dollars & therefore is certain to see more and more scams pop up like this. How can Linden Labs set up a safety net to catch things like this?"
AlterNet: Blogs: Election 2008: Huckabee: 'I Don’t Know' If People Are 'Born' Gay, But It’s a 'Choice' to Act Gay [VIDEO]: "Huckabee has a record of using the power of government to discriminate against the choices that gay Americans make in their private lives."
AlterNet: Blogs: PEEK: The 2007 GOP Adulterers Hall of Fame Nominees...
2007 GOP Adulterers Hall of Fame Nominees [minus one]
* Ronald Reagan: Lived like a Hollywood playboy during his first marriage
* Richard Mellon Scaife: Rightwing billionaire caught by his wife in LTR with a former hooker
* Larry Craig: Homo-hating U.S. senator nabbed seeking sex in men's room
* David Vitter: Another senator with a morals agenda, his hid an irresistible penchant for prostitutes
* Dick Morris: Current advisor to Rev. Huckabee, was embroiled in a prostitute scandal in the 1990s that involved toe sucking
* Ted Haggard: Megachurch founder, Bush advisor and professional homophobe, he was outed by a male escort in 2006
* Bob Allen: Homophobic Florida politician tried to buy sex from an undercover cop in the men's room of a park
* Richard Curtis: A rightwing gay-hating Washington pol who accused a hustler nicknamed "The Stallion" of extortion
AlterNet: Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: The Year in Pain: Top Ten Economic Stories of 2007
The Big Corporate Motherhood Conspiracy
By Janina Stajic, AlterNet
Retailers have created a new trend and are selling yet another a myth: the problem- and pain-free motherhood. Too bad reality doesn't measure up.
9. Twenty Things You Should Know About Corporate Crime
By Russell Mokhiber, AlterNet
Did you know that corporate crime inflicts far more damage on society than all street crime combined? This and 19 more amazing facts about the state of corporations in America.
8. Why Having More No Longer Makes Us Happy
By Bill McKibben, Mother Jones
The formula of human well-being used to be simple: Make money, get happy. So why is the old axiom suddenly turning on us?
7. Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water
By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
The Bush administration is helping multinationals buy U.S. municipal water systems, putting our most important resource in the hands of corporations with no public accountability.
6 Why Working Women Are Stuck in the 1950s
By Ruth Rosen, The Nation
Though most mothers are in the workforce, Americans remain trapped in a time warp, convinced that women should and will care for children, the elderly, homes and communities.
5. How to Save the Middle Class from Extinction
By Paul Krugman, AlterNet
Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman explains in simple terms how the American economy went from having the world's most dynamic middle class to being on the verge of a rich-poor state in only 30 years.
4. America Gone Wrong: A Slashed Safety Net Turns Libraries into Homeless Shelters
By Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com
A dirty little secret about America is that public libraries have become de facto daytime shelters for the nation's street people while librarians are increasingly our unofficial social workers for the homeless and mentally disturbed.
3. The Crash of 1929: Are We on the Verge of a Repeat?
By Scott Thill, AlterNet
Hedge funds have helped create a counterfeit economy that some experts say could lead to another full-blown economic depression.
2. Ten Ways to Prepare for a Post-Oil Society
By James Howard Kunstler, Kunstler.com
The best way to feel hopeful about our looming energy crisis is to get active now and prepare for living arrangements in a post-oil society.
And, now, with much fanfare, the top story of 2007 …
1. Maybe We Deserve to Be Ripped Off By Bush's BillionairesAlterNet: GOP Mess in Iowa: Romney Stalls, Giuliani's Flailing, Huckabee Scares the GOP Establishment
The destiny the Republicans fear is that of the Conservatives in Britain in 1997: an unpopular leader overshadowed by a long-serving predecessor, a loss of direction and unity, a charismatic opponent promising change, and a hammering at the polls that spells years in the wilderness. The Republicans have plenty of candidates, but none has captured the imagination or threatened to dominate the landscape. Whereas the Democratic debates have shown an embarrassment of riches, including a woman and a black man with star quality, the Republicans have lined up mostly grey-haired men in suits and has lacked an ace. Whereas the Democratic race is thrilling -- Clinton, Obama and John Edwards are virtually neck-and-neck -- quantity rather than quality is the Republican byword.
The World of Tomorrow - New York Times
ON Jan. 1, 1908 — New Year’s Day one century ago — The New York World greeted readers with a stirring rumination about the past and future of America. The title of the article was simply “1808 — 1908 — 2008.” The World began by marveling at how far America had come since 1808, then turned to the question of the future: “What will the year 2008 bring us? What marvels of development await the youth of tomorrow?”
The essay’s visions were not timid. “We may have gyroscopic trains as broad as houses swinging at 200 miles an hour up steep grades and around dizzying curves,” the newspaper went on. “We may have aeroplanes winging the once inconquerable air. The tides that ebb and flow to waste may take the place of our spent coal and flash their strength by wire to every point of need. Who can say?”
Predictions about the future were a staple of New York journalism in the early 20th century. Newspapers, including this one, frequently solicited prominent citizens for their thoughts on the future of the world, of America and, most urgent, of New York.
Slashdot | PCWorld Says Firefox is Strong, Vista is Weak
"PC World has released their year in review statistics and 2007 was not kind to Microsoft. IE 6 users are equally likely to move to Firefox as they are to IE7 and no one wants Vista. 'How much of an accomplishment is it for a new version of Windows to get to 14 percent usage in 11 months? The logical benchmark is to compare it to the first eleven months of Windows XP, back in 2001 and 2002. In that period, that operating system went from nothing to 36 percent usage on PCWorld.com--more than 250 percent of the usage that Vista has mustered so far.'"
Slashdot | RIAA Not Suing Over CD Ripping, Still Calling Rips 'Unauthorized'
An Engadget article notes that the Washington Post RIAA article we discussed earlier today may have been poorly phrased. The original article implied that the Association's suit stemmed from the music ripping. As it actually stands the defendant isn't being sued over CD ripping, but for placing files in a shared directory. Engadget notes that the difference here is that the RIAA is deliberately describing ripped MP3 backups as 'unauthorized copies' ... "something it's been doing quietly for a while, but now it looks like the gloves are off. While there's a pretty good argument for the legality of ripping under the market factor of fair use, it's never actually been ruled as such by a judge -- so paradoxically, the RIAA might be shooting itself in the foot here."
Slashdot | RIAA Now Filing Suits Against Consumers Who Rip CDs
"With this past week's announcement by Warner to release its entire catalog to Amazon in MP3 format with no Digital Rights Management, you would think that the organization that represents them, The RIAA, would begin changing its tune. Instead, they are pressing on in their campaign against consumers by suing individuals who merely rip CDs they've purchased legally. 'The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.'"
Slashdot | Arguing For Open Electronic Health Records
"openEHR guru Tim Cook discusses why Electronic Health Record developers should use open standards in a guest blog at A Scanner Brightly. Why are so few doctors using EHR systems? And, as more and more hospital EHR systems come online across the country, what do we have to fear from proprietary databases? It's one thing to find out your social security number was stolen. Now add your mental health and STD results to those records."
Slashdot | Ohio's Alternative to Diebold Machines May Be Equally Bad
"One would have thought the choice of Ohio lawmakers to move away from Diebold touch-screen voting terminals would be welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Instead, the group is warning the elections board that their alternative might be illegal under state laws. 'The main dispute is whether a central optical scan of ballots at the board's headquarters downtown would result in votes not being counted on ballots that are incorrectly filled out. The ACLU believes the intent of election law is to ensure voters can be notified immediately of a voting error and be able to make a second-chance vote.'"
