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The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

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ASIO blueprints stolen in cyber attack .. | 401 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
The better to see you with: Scientists build record-setting metamaterial flat lens
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, May 25 2013 @ 12:45 PM EDT
For the first time, scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have demonstrated a new type of lens that bends and focuses ultraviolet (UV) light in such an unusual way that it can create ghostly, 3D images of objects that float in free space.

The easy-to-build lens could lead to improved photolithography, nanoscale manipulation and manufacturing, and even high-resolution three-dimensional imaging, as well as a number of as-yet-unimagined applications in a diverse range of fields.

[...]

An article published in the journal Nature explains that the new lens is formed from a flat slab of metamaterial with special characteristics that cause light to flow backward—a counterintuitive situation in which waves and energy travel in opposite directions, creating a negative refractive index.

http://phys.org/news/2013-05-scientists-record-setting-metamaterial-flat-lens.ht ml

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Nature abstract
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v497/n7450/full/nature12158.html

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Android is winning. Apple is winning.
Authored by: SilverWave on Saturday, May 25 2013 @ 03:34 PM EDT
Android is winning. Apple is winning.

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RMS: The 4 Freedoms
0 run the program for any purpose
1 study the source code and change it
2 make copies and distribute them
3 publish modified versions

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Microsoft & Nokia ad
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, May 25 2013 @ 08:41 PM EDT
Why in the world did MSFT & Nokia use Alt-J's song Fitz
pleasure for their new ad? And don't watch the original music
video on which the ad is based, it is very disturbing, as are
the lyrics at the link below.

http://www.songmeanings.net/m/songs/view/3530822107859433246/

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Terabit Ethernet Is in Your Future
Authored by: JamesK on Sunday, May 26 2013 @ 08:23 AM EDT
NEWS ANALYSIS: Over the past 40 years, Ethernet—a standard that a bunch of tinkerers at Xerox PARC created to run a printer—continues to deliver as it grows bigger and faster.

"And those devices also demand something else—an address. Intel's Radia Perlman, inventor of Spanning Tree, noted that the 48-bit address that was once thought to be enough to last forever may now be in danger. So what's next beyond that? Perhaps we'll start to see addresses that are defined by a 64-bit number."

As it is, there is already a move toward 64 bit MAC addresses, known as EUI-64. In MAC address based IPv6 addresses, the 48 bit EUI-48 address is padded out to 64 bits by inserting FFFE in the middle. Also, while MAC addresses were intended to be globally unique, they don't have to be. They only have to be unique on the local network, as the MAC address is discarded when the packet passes through a routers.

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The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Steve Jobs donated millions to Charity
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, May 26 2013 @ 02:27 PM EDT
"In his lifetime, Steve Jobs was roundly criticized for seemingly not donating enough money to philanthropic causes.

However, it has been revealed recently that the late founder of Apple and his wife - both intensely private individuals - quietly made large donations to charity.

Jobs never addressed his philanthropic endeavors and refused to discuss the subject even with his biographer, Walter Isaacson. But now, his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, has publicly spoken out about her charitable work
." link

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

The MPAA are killing a copyright treaty that gives rights to disabled people
Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, May 26 2013 @ 11:11 PM EDT
Jim Fruchterman, founder of the NGO Benetech, writes in frustration from the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, where the US Trade Representative is scuttling a treaty that will help blind people and people with other disabilities access copyrighted works, largely by making the (actually rather good) US laws the standard around the world.

Rather than promoting the US approach -- which allows for the creation of works in accessible formats without permission -- the US Trade Rep and his friends from the MPAA are advocating for a treaty that is far more restrictive than US law, ensuring that the US itself could never sign it.

In the process, they're killing a badly needed project to help people with disabilities around the world help each other to access creative works in formats that are adapted for their use.

Cory Doctorow,Boing Boing

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

NASA lab gets B.C. company’s quantum computer
Authored by: JamesK on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 08:02 AM EDT
D-Wave Systems is installing one of its advanced high performance computers to help research into machine learning, speech recognition and the search for exoplanets

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The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

404 Error...
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 05:01 PM EDT
We're sorry, but we can't find the page you have requested.
Please feel free to check the main page or the search page.

http://groklawstatic.ibiblio.org/www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2013/s13
05.pdf%E2%80%8E

Looks like some funny characters accidentally tacked on at
the end?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Apple 1 auction
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 05:11 PM EDT
Apple 1 sells at auction for >600 billion.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

How an Apple affiliate made $30 billion and paid no taxes
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 05:41 PM EDT
http://theweek.com/article/index/244482/how-an-apple-affiliate-made-30-billion-a
nd-paid-no-taxes

"Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the tech giant's tax strategies before a
Senate panel on Tuesday, saying that Apple is proud to be an American company.
"We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar," Cook said.
"We don't depend on tax gimmicks." Cook faced harsh questioning,
however, from the members of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations, which unveiled a report Monday accusing Apple of using a
"complex web" of offshore shell subsidiaries to avoid paying taxes on
$74 billion in profits earned overseas between 2009 and 2012."

Apple, scum? Well, it appears so after all.


[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Aussie teen "hacker"
Authored by: SirHumphrey on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 06:36 PM EDT
Clicky

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

ASIO blueprints stolen in cyber attack ..
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 07:29 PM EDT
"Classified blueprints of the new ASIO headquarters in Canberra have been stolen in a cyber hit believed to have been mounted by hackers in China" link

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

In defense of digital freedom
Authored by: SpaceLifeForm on Monday, May 27 2013 @ 09:10 PM EDT
Link

It is impossible to follow the news without being confronted with ‘cyber’ related issues. Cybercrime, cyber police, cyber-attack, cyber war, cyber terrorism, cyber Monday, cyber punk, cyber party, cybersex and cyberspace are only a few of a long list of words that have joined our vocabulary in recent years. Everything seems to be ‘cyber’.

Though so far, cyber-attacks have not lead to immediate deaths or large-scale destruction, when talking about cyber security, it is important to know what it is we seek to defend: digital freedoms and our open societies. We need to defend democratic principles not only against outside attacks, but also against erosion from within. Too often freedom is compromised for alleged security or by a focus on a misperceived threat.

...

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You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies
Authored by: Gringo_ on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 08:39 AM EDT

The Washington Post has yet another report on the extent of Chinese penetration into US military technology. AFAIK, technology is what gives (or gave) the US the edge and allowed it to become a superpower on the world stage. Now they are in the process of losing that edge, what have they got, outnumber as they are by the Chinese ten to one?

The Defense Science Board report also listed broad technologies that have been compromised, such as drone video systems, nanotechnology, tactical data links and electronic warfare systems — all areas where the Pentagon and Chinese military are investing heavily.

Winslow T. Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Project on Government Oversight, made a similar point. “If they got into the combat systems, it enables them to understand it to be able to jam it or otherwise disable it,” he said. “If they’ve got into the basic algorithms for the missile and how they behave, somebody better get out a clean piece of paper and start to design all over again.”

The experts said the cybertheft creates three major problems. First, access to advanced U.S. designs gives China an immediate operational edge that could be exploited in a conflict. Second, it accelerates China’s acquisition of advanced military technology and saves billions in development costs. And third, the U.S. designs can be used to benefit China’s own defense industry. There are long- standing suspicions that China’s theft of designs for the F- 35 fighter allowed Beijing to develop its version much faster.

Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.

Experts warn that the electronic intrusions gave China access to advanced technology that could accelerate the development of its weapons systems and weaken the U.S. military advantage in a future conflict.

The magnitude of the stupidity involved here on the part of the US government, the military, and defence contractors is staggering. They have known they have been under surveillance by the Chinese for years, even a decade or more, yet they go right on nonchalantly making this technology available on the Internet to anyone who cares to go looking for it. They have already lost the war.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Decline in PC 1st 1/4 sales was more precipitous than expected
Authored by: Gringo_ on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 12:15 PM EDT

From PC World...

After the steep losses in the disastrous first quarter, IDC now predicts PC shipments to drop a whopping 7.8 percent in 2013—nearly twice the rate of 2012's 4 percent decline

The update that is supposed to fix Windows 8 is not expected to arrive in time for back-to-school sales, and this will have a disastrous impact in itself.

In any event, the Windows Blue update will be too little, too late to save Microsoft. Metro was a bad idea for many reasons, both aesthetic and technical, and no number of tweaks will make it palatable to the masses.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Google to bring net access to Africa using blimps, masts and satellites
Authored by: squib on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 02:15 PM EDT
Give people in third wold countries access to knowledge about how they can look after their own health and make their own water safe to drink will probably be more cost effective than Billy G. injecting them with vaccines but leaving them still living in an unhealthy germ ridden environment. People can only do what they know how to do – give them access to ideas and solutions that match their needs and they can shrug off their dependance on well meant hand-outs that imprison them in a cycle of never-ending poverty and disease.

Google to bring net access to Africa using blimps, masts and satellites

Now why didn't Billy - that great technological visionary - think of this?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

From the Land of Compulsory Voting Comes Mandatory Vaccinations
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 03:25 PM EDT
Vaccinate your children or declare why not, parents told

Parents will be forced to either vaccinate their children or register for an exemption in order to enrol them in childcare, after changes to the Public Health Act passed through cabinet Monday night.

The changes mean parents or guardians must provide evidence their child is fully vaccinated for age, is on a recognised catch-up schedule, or has an exemption approved by a doctor when they enrol their child.

To get an exemption, parents will have to receive counselling and fill out forms along with their doctor. Valid exemptions include personal, philosophical or religious beliefs.

Childcare facilities may be fined if directors fail to comply with the changes and obtain vaccination records before enrollment.

Melissa Davey, The Sydney Morning Herald

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Compulsory voting in Australia

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Proprietary software is better says BSA ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 07:58 PM EDT
"software contributes considerably more value to national economies if it is properly licensed than it does if it is pirated .. Every dollar invested in properly licensed software in low-income countries yields an astounding $437 in additional national production, on average .. Fully licensed software, in particular, improves effectiveness and efficiencies in enterprises by reducing exposure to viruses"

link

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

10 years of defending Linux's legalities: Groklaw
Authored by: JamesK on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 09:08 PM EDT
A decade ago, SCO attacked Linux but it hadn't counted on running into a paralegal turned legal journalist named Pamela Jones and her Website Groklaw.

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The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

The Canadian Link to Copyright Enforcement Spyware Tools
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 09:12 PM EDT
It is worth noting that earlier this year Canadian business groups led by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce recommended that the Canadian government introduce a regulation that would permit the use of spyware for these kinds of purposes.

The proposed regulation would remove the need for express consent for:

a program that is installed by or on behalf of a person to prevent, detect, investigate, or terminate activities that the person reasonably believes (i) present a risk or threatens the security, privacy, or unauthorized or fraudulent use, of a computer system, telecommunications facility, or network, or (ii) involves the contravention of any law of Canada, of a province or municipality of Canada or of a foreign state;

As I noted at the time, this provision would effectively legalize spyware in Canada on behalf of these industry groups.
Michael Geist

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Nice ePub reader
Authored by: JamesK on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 09:13 PM EDT
I recently came across a Firefox add-on, called "EPUBReader" which
allows Firefox to be used as an ePub e=book reader. It seems to work well so
far and looks nice too. I had been using FBReader, but, while generally working
OK, it had some issues. I also us Aldiko on my tablet for e-books. Another
add-on is "Save as EPUB" which enables saving web sites as epub. Both
add-ons are available through the Firefox add-on manager.


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The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Can you make good laws with bad science ?
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 28 2013 @ 10:51 PM EDT
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a study last week that found the majority of arrestees in five metropolitan areas tested positive for marijuana at the time they were booked, and that many other arrestees tested positive for harder drugs.

There was one drug missing from the report, however, and it appears it was omitted intentionally. That drug is alcohol.

Mike Riggs, Reason

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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