[Slashdot] Stories for 2008-02-12

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Slashdot Daily Newsletter

In this issue:
* Semantic Web Getting Real
* Security Research and Blackmail
* Nanowires of Unlimited Length
* Ethics In IT
* The Grammy In Mathematics
* SP1 Unsuccessful in Preventing Vista Hacks
* Live Blogs From the Hans Reiser Trial
* Domain Key Identified Mail vs Phishing
* Benchmarking the Benchmarks
* Next Year's Laws, Now Out In Beta!
* Encryption Could Make You More Vulnerable
* ISP Block on Pirate Bay Not Having Desired Effect
* Internet "Creates Pedophiles" According to "Expert"
* Microsoft Trolling for New Acquisitions
* DARPA Advances AI Program For Air Traffic Control
* EU Plans to Require Biometrics for Visitors
* "Anonymous" Takes Scientology Protest to the Streets
* Trend Micro Draws Boycott Over AV Patent Case
* Space Shuttle Secrets Stolen For China

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Semantic Web Getting Real |
| from the open-it-up-and-give-it-away dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Sunday February 10, @20:12 (The Internet) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/10/2041235

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

BlueSalamander writes "Tim O'Reilly just did an [0]interview with Devin
Wenig, the CEO-designate of Reuters. With no great enthusiasm I started
to read yet another interview on how the semantic web was going to make
everything great for everybody. Wenig made some good points about the end
of the latency wars in news and the beginning of the battle for
automatically detecting linkages and connections in the news. Smart news,
not just fast news. Great stuff ��� but just more words? Nope ��� a little
searching revealed that Reuters just [1]opened access to their
[2]corporate semantic technology [3]crown jewels. For free. For anyone.
Their [4]Calais API lets you turn unstructured text into a formal RDF
graph in about one second. I ran about 5,000 documents through it and
played with a subset of them in [5]RDF-Gravity. The results were
impressive overall. Is this the start of the [6]semantic web getting real?
When big names and big money start to act, [7]not just talk, it may be
time to pay attention. Semantic applications anyone? The foundation
appears to be here."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/10/2041235

Links:
0. http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/02/reuters_semantic_web_moneytech.html

1. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/reuters_calais.php

2. http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9861841-16.html?tag=blg.orig

3. http://www.clearforest.com/

4. http://www.opencalais.com/

5. http://semweb.salzburgresearch.at/apps/rdf-gravity/index.html

6. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080131/115224140.shtml

7. http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071102/025323.shtml

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Security Research and Blackmail |
| from the pay-to-play dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Sunday February 10, @22:36 (Security) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/0159238

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]harryjohnston alerts us to a story picked up by a few bloggers in the
security space. A Russian security research company, Gleg, has discovered
a zero-day in the latest version of RealPlayer 11. But they [1]won't
reveal details to Real, or to CERT, despite repeated requests. Details
are available only to their clients who pay a lot of money for early
access to such knowledge. To describe Gleg's business model Daniweb
rather cautiously puts forward the word "blackmail." The story was first
exposed in Ryan Nariane's [2]Securitywach blog.

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/0159238

Links:
0. http://www.scms.waikato.ac.nz/~harry/

1. http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2060.html

2. http://securitywatch.eweek.com/browsers/russian_firm_demos_realplayer_zeroday_exploit.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nanowires of Unlimited Length |
| from the eat-your-heart-out-spiderman dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday February 11, @01:43 (Science) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/0230201

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

StCredZero writes with word of a research team from the University of
Illinois who have developed a way to manufacture [0]nanowires of any
length from various materials. Not, unfortunately, carbon nanotubes, or
we would be looking for news on space elevators soon. The process is
analogous to drawing with a fountain pen ��� as liquid is drawn from a
reservoir, a solvent (water or an organic) evaporates and the solute
precipitates onto a substrate. The researchers have demonstrated a way to
spin and wind a nanowire onto a spool; they have produced a coil of
microfiber 850 nm in diameter and 40 cm long. Here's the [1]abstract from
the journal Advanced Materials.

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/0230201

Links:
0. http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/08/0130nanofiber.html

1. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/117901964/ABSTRACT

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Ethics In IT |
| from the oxymoron-of-the-day dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday February 11, @04:50 (Education) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/10/2021234

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

chiefloko writes "I am presently taking a Business Ethics class while
earning my MBA. For my final paper topic I have chosen 'Ethics within the
Information Technology realm.' Over the past 13 years I have worked for
three corporations and have seen everything from the typical BOFH to
ungodly pirated software use. I also bore witness to a remote user
logging in to a poorly administrated Sun station, finding out s/he was
root, and then reading co-workers' emails. I am interested in what the
norm is for ethics in the IT world and some of the stories and outcomes."

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/10/2021234

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Grammy In Mathematics |
| from the woodie-rides-again dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday February 11, @08:01 (Music) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/032210

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

An anonymous reader writes "A mathematician will receive a Grammy award
for [0]restoring the only known recording of a live Woody Guthrie
performance ��� a bootleg someone made in 1949 using a wire recorder.
Guthrie's daughter, who had never heard her father perform in front of a
live audience, oversaw the restoration. The article links very cool
[1]before and [2]after clips."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/032210

Links:
0. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080209/mathtrek.asp

1. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080209/Guthrie1.aif

2. http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080209/Guthrie2.aif

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| SP1 Unsuccessful in Preventing Vista Hacks |
| from the oh-my-god-i'm-so-shocked dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 11, @08:38 (Microsoft) |
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1316209

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

"The other A. N. Other" writes "It seems that Microsoft has been
unsuccessful with SP1 in preventing hackers from [0]turning a pirated,
non-genuine copy of Vista into genuine copies that pass activation. The
article initially looked at two of the most popular hacks (OEM BIOS hack
and the grace timer hack) but after a little digging ZDNet were able to
transform a non-genuine install into a genuine one. 'After a few minutes
of searching the darker corners of the Internet and a few seconds in the
Command Prompt I was able to fool Windows into thinking that it was
genuine.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1316209

Links:
0. http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1267

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Live Blogs From the Hans Reiser Trial |
| from the can't-help-but-pay-attention dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 11, @09:18 (The Courts) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1349230

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

whoever57 writes "The Hans Reiser trial has been underway for some time
now, the prosecution is moving towards the end of its case. For those
interested, not only in the outcome of the trial, but a detailed
description of the trial, including some insights into police methods,
two reporters are live-blogging. One report is by [0] Henry K. Lee for
the San Francisco Chronicle and the other is [1] by David Kravets and
published by Wired"

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1349230

Links:
0. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/category?blogid=37&cat=1428

1. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/hans_reiser_trial/index.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Domain Key Identified Mail vs Phishing |
| from the fifty-six-thousand-spam-in-the-last-thirty-days dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 11, @10:00 (Spam) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/148209

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

alphadogg writes "Some of the Internet's most powerful companies ���
including Yahoo, Google, PayPal and AOL ��� are brandishing a new weapon in
the ongoing battle against e-mail fraud. [0]DKIM is an emerging e-mail
authentication standard developed by the IETF. DKIM, which stands for
DomainKeys Identified Mail, allows an organization to cryptographically
sign outgoing e-mail to verify that it sent the message. DKIM addresses
one of the Internet's biggest threats: e-mail fraud. As much as 80% of
e-mail that purports to be from leading brands, banks and ISPs is
spoofed, according to a report released in late January by the
Authentication and Online Trust Alliance (AOTA)."

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/148209

Links:
0. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/021108-antiphising.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Benchmarking the Benchmarks |
| from the blogging-the-bloggers dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 11, @10:45 (PC Games (Games|
|

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1536202

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]apoppin writes "HardOCP put [1]video card benchmarking on trial and
comes back with some pretty incredible verdicts. They show one video
returning benchmark scores much better than another compared to what you
get when you actually play the game. Lies, damn lies, and benchmarks."

Discuss this story at:

http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1536202

Links:
0. mailto:apoppn@netzero.net
1. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQ2MSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Next Year's Laws, Now Out In Beta! |
| from the something-to-read dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 11, @11:30 (Editorial) |
|

http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1353207

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Frequent Slashdot Contributor [0]Bennett Haselton writes with his latest
which starts "If I were writing laws such that I wanted everybody to
agree on how to interpret them, I would use the software development life
cycle: First, have lawmakers (analogous to "developers") write drafts of
the laws. Then a second group (the "test case writers") would try to come
up with situations that would be interpreted ambiguously under the law.
Then a third group, the "testers", would read the proposed law, read the
test case situations, and try to determine how the law should be applied
to those cases, without communicating with the law writers, the test case
writers, or each other. If there's too much disagreement in the third
group on how the law should be applied, then it's too vague to be a
proper law. The only laws which made it through this process would be
ones such that when they were finally passed, most citizens (the "users")
could agree on how to interpret them, in cases sufficiently similar to
the ones the test case writers could come up with."

This story continues at:

http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1353207

Discuss this story at:

http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1353207

Links:
0. mailto:bennett@peacefire.org


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Encryption Could Make You More Vulnerable |
| from the also-condoms-give-you-aids dept. |
| posted by CmdrTaco on Monday February 11, @12:18 (Security) |
|

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1659232

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]narramissic writes "It sounds like a headline straight out of The
Onion, but security researchers from IBM Internet Security Systems,
Juniper, nCipher and elsewhere are warning that the use of data
encryption could make organizations vulnerable to [1]new risks and
threats. There is potential for 'A new class of DoS attack,' says Richard
Moulds, nCipher's product strategy EVP. 'If you can go in and revoke a
key and then demand a ransom, it's a fantastic way of attacking a
business.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1659232

Links:
0. http://www.itworld.com/

1. http://security.itworld.com/4341/encryption-makes-you-more-vulnerable-080211/page_1.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ISP Block on Pirate Bay Not Having Desired Effect |
| from the never-underestimate-the-pirates dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @13:03 (The Intern|
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/172230

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

TechDirt is reporting that the recent block placed on The Pirate Bay
torrent site is not only relatively ineffective, but actually [0]driving
more traffic to the site because of the attention. "The news from The
Pirate Bay appears to confirm this suspicion. According to The Pirate
Bay's new Court Blog, Danish traffic has not dropped since the
implementation of the block. '...the number of visits from Denmark has
increased by 12% thanks to IFPI,' the blog post reads. 'Our site
http://thejesperbay.org is growing more because of the media attention
than people actually coming to learn how to bypass the filter - our guess
is that alot of the users on the site now run OpenDNS instead of the
censoring DNS at Tele2.dk.' 'We also started tracking some stats before
and after the block. There's no noticeable difference between the number
of users from Tele2.dk before and after.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/172230

Links:
0. http://techdirt.com/articles/20080211/031224223.shtml

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet "Creates Pedophiles" According to "Expert" |
| from the unbridled-stupidity dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @13:46 (The Intern|
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1725238

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Brian Ribbon writes "In the latest sensationalist article about
pedophiles on the internet, the director of a Spanish vigilante
organization has [1]claimed that the internet 'creates pedophiles'. While
conflating pedophilia with child sexual abuse, the 'expert' quoted in the
article incorrectly states that 'studies show that some pedophiles feel
attracted to children from an early age, but the majority of them develop
the tendency later on'; he then claims that 'the internet can become a
catalyst for people belonging to the latter group.'"

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1725238

Links:
0. http://anu.nfshost.com/users/blueribbon

1. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/184780,internet-contacts-increase-paedophilia-spanish-experts-sayfeature.html

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Trolling for New Acquisitions |
| from the playing-catch-up dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @14:29 (Businesses|
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1752226

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

NewShinyCD writes "Sources tell Valleywag that startup Ustream.tv is in
advanced discussions with Microsoft to [0]acquire the lifecasting service
for more than $50 million, but there are other companies in the bidding
as well. Ustream is currently raising a very large initial round of VC
financing, and Microsoft is attempting to grab them prefunding for a
cheap price. Our tipster also mentions that Microsoft would use Ustream
as a way to promote its Adobe Flash competitor, Silverlight." Relatedly,
Microsoft has also announced their intent to [1]buy Sidekick maker Danger.
Financial details of the Danger buyout were not disclosed.

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1752226

Links:
0. http://valleywag.com/354140/ustreamtv-negotiating-50-million-sale-to-microsoft

1. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200802111032DOWJONESDJONLINE000348_FORTUNE5.htm

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| DARPA Advances AI Program For Air Traffic Control |
| from the you-have-the-type-of-job-robots-will-be-doing-soon dept.|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @15:11 (Software) |
|

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1814257

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]coondoggie writes to tell us that DARPA has taken the next step in a
program that aims to utilize artificial intelligence for the [1]purposes
of air traffic control. "GILA will also help Air Force planners use and
retain the skills of expert operators, especially as they rotate out of
the Air Force. DARPA says the artificial intelligence software will learn
by assembling knowledge from different sources ��� including generating
knowledge by reasoning. According to a Military & Aerospace item, such
software has to combine limited observations with subject expertise,
general knowledge, reasoning, and by asking what-if questions."

Discuss this story at:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1814257

Links:
0. http://networkworld.com/

1. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/24924

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EU Plans to Require Biometrics for Visitors |
| from the tourism-killers dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @16:53 (Government|
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/1821204

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

bushwhacker2000 writes to tell us that the EU may soon be requiring
travelers to [0]provide biometric data before crossing into Europe. They
are trying to soften the blow by offering "streamlined" services for
frequent travelers but the end result seems the same. "The proposals,
contained in draft documents examined by the International Herald Tribune
and scheduled to go to the European Commission on Wednesday, were
designed to bring the EU visa regime into line with a new era in which
passports include biometric data. The commission, the EU executive,
argues that migratory pressure, organized crime and terrorism are obvious
challenges to the Union and that the bloc's border and visa policy needs
to be brought up to date."

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/1821204

Links:
0. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/10/europe/union.php

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "Anonymous" Takes Scientology Protest to the Streets |
| from the watch-out-for-the-hit-squads dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @17:35 (The Intern|
|

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/2022207

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

This past Sunday members of the group "Anonymous" that has been running
an attack on the church of Scientology took their battle from the tubes
of the internet to the pavement of real life, [0]staging a protest
outside the central Phoenix Church of Scientology. "The protesters said
they gathered Sunday in lieu of the birthday of Lisa McPherson, a
Scientologist once cared for by church staffers. Her 1995 death sparked
media attention and a civil wrongful death suit against a branch of the
Church of Scientology. A wrongful death suit by her family was a
public-relations nightmare for the church for years until it was settled
in 2004. The Church of Scientology declined to comment on the Phoenix
protests. It did provide a news release calling members of Anonymous
cyber-terrorists."

Discuss this story at:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/2022207

Links:
0. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4271465

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Trend Micro Draws Boycott Over AV Patent Case |
| from the going-the-way-of-the-scosco dept. |
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday February 11, @18:17 (Software) |
|

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/2011258

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

Linux.com is reporting that in addition to the bad press, Trend Micro's
patent case against Barracuda Networks' use of ClamAV has drawn an
apparent [0]boycott of Trend Micro. "Dutch free knowledge and culture
advocacy group ScriptumLibre called for 'a worldwide boycott on Trend
Micro products.' In its news release, ScriptumLibre summarizes the case,
with its chairman, Wiebe van der Worp, describing Trend Micro's actions
as 'well beyond the borders of decency.' The ScriptumLibre site includes
link to free graphics that supporters can add to their Web pages to show
their support and a call for IT professionals that provides a links to
help people to educate themselves about the case and suggests a series of
actions that people can take in the boycott." Linux.com and Slashdot are
both owned by SourceForge Inc.

Discuss this story at:

http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/2011258

Links:
0. http://www.linux.com/feature/126851

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Space Shuttle Secrets Stolen For China |
| from the just-because-we're-paranoid dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday February 11, @18:53 (NASA) |
|

http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/02/11/239202

|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

[0]Ponca City, We Love You writes "The Department of Justice has
announced the indictment of former Boeing engineer Dongfan Chung on
charges of economic espionage in the [1]theft of company trade secrets
relating to the Space Shuttle, the C-17 military transport aircraft, and
the Delta IV rocket. Chung is a native of China and a naturalized US
citizen. According to the indictment, Chinese aviation industry
representatives began sending Chung 'tasking' letters as early as 1979.
Over the years, the letters directed Chung to collect specific
technological information, including data related to the Space Shuttle
and various military and civilian aircraft. Chung allegedly responded in
one letter indicating a desire to contribute to the 'motherland,' the DOJ
said. It was not immediately clear how much, if any, damage the
[2]alleged espionage did to US national security but DOJ officials said
the cases reflect the determination of the Chinese government to
penetrate US intelligence and obtain vital national defense secrets.
'Today's prosecution demonstrates that foreign spying remains a serious
threat in the post-Cold War world,' said Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant
Attorney General for National Security"

Discuss this story at:

http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/02/11/239202

Links:
0. http://poncacityweloveyou.com/

1. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-22936164.htm

2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021101283.html

Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.

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