Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror

Comment Re:The Economist's opinion (Score 1) 691

by Dues (#32658922) Attached to: Louisiana Federal Judge Blocks Drilling Moratorium
"had government done a better job of regulating the oil industry in the first place, BP's shoddy practices might not have gone unchecked and this disaster might never have happened."

And had the girl not worn slutty clothes to the bar, maybe she wouldn't have gotten raped.
Blaming the victim is NOT the right answer.

Comment Re:Aged badly (Score 3, Informative) 298

by Dues (#26657969) Attached to: Red Dwarf To Return, Find Earth
I think it's funny how you mentioned "Friends" and the US version of "Red Dwarf" in the same post. That "super jock" you mentioned was actually offered the roll of Joey on friends, but he turned it down and took the gig as Lister instead because he didn't think friends had any chance of success...
The Internet

We're In Danger of Losing Our Memories 398

Posted by kdawson from the black-hole-of-history dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The chief executive of the British Library, Lynne Brindley, says that our cultural heritage is at risk as the Internet evolves and technologies become obsolete, and that historians and citizens face a 'black hole' in the knowledge base of the 21st century unless urgent action is taken to preserve websites and other digital records. For example, when Barack Obama was inaugurated as US president last week, all traces of George W. Bush disappeared from the White House website. There were more than 150 websites relating to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney that vanished instantly at the end of the games and are now stored only by the National Library of Australia. 'If websites continue to disappear in the same way as those on President Bush and the Sydney Olympics... the memory of the nation disappears too,' says Brindley. The library plans to create a comprehensive archive of material from the 8M .uk domain websites, and also is organizing a collecting and archiving project for the London 2012 Olympics. 'The task of capturing our online intellectual heritage and preserving it for the long term falls, quite rightly, to the same libraries and archives that have over centuries systematically collected books, periodicals, newspapers, and recordings...'" Over the years we've discussed various aspects of this archiving problem.
Security

OpenID Fan Club Is Shrinking 333

Posted by timothy from the and-watch-that-basket-carefully dept.
A.B. VerHausen writes "Even though there's a whole new Web site devoted to understanding and using OpenID, some companies are dropping the login method altogether. OStatic is reporting that the 'free Web site network Wetpaint announced recently that it will no longer support OpenID as a login option for its wiki, citing low usage and high support costs as reasons.' Apparently, fewer than 200 registered users bothered with OpenID, and the extra QA and development time doesn't make it worthwhile to support. This can't come as welcome news on top of the internal issues the article mentions the OpenID Foundation is having now, too." I've actually been quite happy with OpenID, since I have spawned far too many username/password pairs over the last 20-plus years, but it's a major chicken-and-egg problem. Hopefully someone out there will build a better mousetrap ...
PC Games (Games)

Video Games Linked To Child Aggression 500

Posted by CmdrTaco from the zomg-this-makes-hulk-smash dept.
the4thdimension writes "CNN is running a story this morning that explains new research showing a correlation between video games and aggression in children. The study monitored groups of US and Japanese children, asking them to rate their violent behavior over a period of several months while they played video games in their free time. The study concludes that it has 'pretty good evidence' that there is a link between video games and childhood aggression." Stories like this make me want to smash things.
Government

Paper Ballots Will Return In MD and VA 420

Posted by timothy from the but-this-baby-is-soaked-in-bathwater dept.
cheezitmike writes "According to a story in the Washington Post, 'Maryland and Virginia are going old school after Tuesday's election. Maryland will scrap its $65 million electronic system and go back to paper ballots in time for the 2010 midterm elections. In Virginia, localities are moving to paper after the General Assembly voted last year to phase out electronic voting machines as they wear out. "The battle for the hearts and minds of voters on whether electronic systems are good or bad has been lost," Brace said. The academics and computer scientists who said they were unreliable "have won that battle."'"

Comment From the other side of the fence (Score 2, Informative) 680

by Dues (#25527919) Attached to: Should You Break TOS Because Work Asks You?
As someone who works for a web company that is full of high-demand listing information, we are constantly having to deal with this kind of activity. Any site with dynamic data that is in demand will already have a procedure to deal with the kind of activity you are driving to it, as they have almost certainly dealt with it before. In our case, we have a network appliance that can detect if you are a scraper based on your traffic, and then serve you a "you've been throttled" page. In short, your script will be an exercise in futility. Here is a better solution for your company - contact the source of the data, and offer to purchase a feed from them. Chances our they will be willing to comply to keep you from loading their website with stupid traffic. You will end up having to pay money, but at least your process won't break. You should suggest this to your boss at least. A side note: your peers will definitely frown on your actions. If I knew a person behind this kind of activity they'd get branded scarlet-letter-style.
Communications

Handling Caller ID Spoofing? 556

Posted by timothy from the advocate-violence-in-this-case dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A nice little old lady I know has had her number spoofed by some car warranty scammers. They're calling hundreds of potential victims per day pretending to use her phone number, and the angry ones call her back; some of them have even left death threats. She's terrified. Some well-intending anti-telemarketing folks have posted her address on the 'net as well. How can we figure out where these scammer bastards are, and what's the state of the current legislation to prevent caller ID spoofing? I called the FBI in Boston (near where she lives) and they said they can't help. She's called her phone company, but they said they can't help either. She's had the same number for over 50 years and doesn't want to change it." If the Feds can't or won't handle it, what's the best approach here?
The Almighty Buck

Report Indicates Widespread H-1B Visa Fraud 397

Posted by kdawson from the imagine-our-surprise dept.
Vrst1013 notes a Business Week account of a government report examining fraud in the H-1B program. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services just released a report to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee examining issues with fraud and technical violations within this program. Based on a sample size of 246 H-1B petitions, 13.4 percent showed fraud and 7.3 percent showed technical violations, for an overall violation rate of 20.7 percent. There was slso evidence of payment below the prevailing wage, offers of non-existent jobs, and fraudulent documentation. "'The report makes it clear that the H-1B program is rife with abuse and misuse,' says Ron Hira, [a professor] at the Rochester Institute of Technology ... However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain, have said they support expanding the program."
Security

World Bank Under Cybersiege In "Unprecedented Crisis" 377

Posted by kdawson from the wolf-really dept.
JagsLive sends in a Fox News report on large-scale and possibly ongoing security breaches at the World Bank. "The World Bank Group's computer network — one of the largest repositories of sensitive data about the economies of every nation — has been raided repeatedly by outsiders for more than a year, FOX News has learned. It is still not known how much information was stolen. But sources inside the bank confirm that servers in the institution's highly-restricted treasury unit were deeply penetrated with spy software last April. Invaders also had full access to the rest of the bank's network for nearly a month in June and July. In total, at least six major intrusions — two of them using the same group of IP addresses originating from China — have been detected at the World Bank since the summer of 2007, with the most recent breach occurring just last month. In a frantic midnight e-mail to colleagues, the bank's senior technology manager referred to the situation as an 'unprecedented crisis.' In fact, it may be the worst security breach ever at a global financial institution. And it has left bank officials scrambling to try to understand the nature of the year-long cyber-assault, while also trying to keep the news from leaking to the public." Update: 10/11 01:15 GMT by T : Massive spyware infestations might be good cause to reevaluate the TCO of non-Windows systems on the desktop.

Slashdot Top Deals

In practice, failures in system development, like unemployment in Russia, happens a lot despite official propaganda to the contrary. -- Paul Licker

Close