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Submission + - You can't resell Valve games in Germany – court (muktware.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: A German court has dismissed a ‘reselling’ case in favour of Valve Software, the maker of Steam OS. German consumer group Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) had filed a complaint against Valve as Valve’s EULA (End User Licence Agreement) prohibits users from re-selling their games. What it means is that German user's can't resell their Steam Games.

Submission + - How Russia Transformed a Subtropical Beach Resort to Host the Winter Olympics 1

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Duncan Geere reports at The Verge that Russian resort as Sochi, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, is humid and subtropical with temperatures averaging about 52 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, and 75 degrees in the summer. "There is almost no snow here — at the moment it's raining," says Olga Mironova, a local resident. It's estimated that the cost of staging the Olympics in Sochi has been greater than the previous three Winter Games combined — ballooning to a whopping $51 billion including the cost of implementing an extensive system of safeguards to ensure there'll be sufficient snow in Sochi for the games including the cost of implementing one of the largest snowmaking systems in Europe. The system includes two huge water reservoirs that feed 400 snow cannons installed along the slopes that can generate snow in temperatures of up to 60 degrees fahrenheit. If that snow isn't enough, then the authorities will fall back on 710,000 cubic meters of snow collected during the winters of previous years leading up to the games. To keep it from melting in the region's hot summers, 10 separate stockpiles have been kept packed tight under insulating covers high up in the mountains, safe from the sun's rays. Down in Sochi itself the other half of the games will be held in five indoor arenas that will host figure skating, speed skating, hockey, and curling, and an additional outdoor area will host the opening and closing ceremonies. In each of these indoor arenas, underfloor cooling systems are installed so that the ice stays frozen above it using propylene glycol, which doesn't freeze until temperatures reach 8.6 F. Climatologists predict that even under a best-case scenario, almost half the venues that have hosted the Winter Olympics over the last century would be unable to do so by 2080 without resorting to extensive and expensive artificial snowmaking techniques. Renowned sites, including Squaw Valley in the U.S. Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, Vancouver in Canada and Sochi in Russia will probably no longer have climates suitable to reliably host the games by the middle of the 21st century. "It will be more problematic than ever to find suitable and snow-safe places," says Hans Linderholm, a climatologist at the University of Gothenburg. "It's likely the use of indoor arenas will become more common in the future. Then the Winter Games can be held almost anywhere — even Qatar!"

Submission + - LinkedIn ditches feature that was a 'dream for attackers' (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes: LinkedIn is shutting down Intro, its recently launched mobile service for connecting people over email, that raised security concerns. Intro was launched last October and described at the time as a 'dream come true for hackers' The service was made for the iPhone, and was designed to grab LinkedIn profile information and insert it into emails received on phones. The service displayed that information to the recipient from the email's sender if the sender was also on LinkedIn.

Submission + - Carriers Won't Win the War on Netflix

Submitted by Nemo the Magnificent
Nemo the Magnificent writes: A few days ago we talked over a post by David Raphael accusing Verizon of slowing down Netflix, by way of throttling Amazon AWS. Now Jonathan Feldman gives us reason to believe that the carriers won't win the war on Netflix, because tools for monitoring the performance of carriers will emerge nd we'll catch them if they try. I just now exercised one such tool, NetNeutralityTest.com from Speedchedker Ltd. My carrier is Verizon (FiOS), and the test showed my download speed at the moment to be 12 Mbps. It was the same to Linode in NJ but only 3 Mbps to AWS East. Hmm.

Submission + - Internet Surveillance - You're being watched at all times; act accordingly. (threatpost.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Kaspersky Lab’s Internet security expert Costin Raiu discussing internet surveillance claims that you should assume that you’re being watched at all times. The article reports that Raiu conducts his online activities under the assumption that his movements are being monitored by government hackers. Raiu: “I operate under the principle that my computer is owned by at least three governments” ... "this is not meant as a scare tactic, but a rather as a statement of fact that should now be the default setting for everyone.

Submission + - Republicans Using Fake Websites to Trick Democratic Donors 3

Submitted by AdamnSelene
AdamnSelene writes: Forbes reports on a National Republican Congressional Committee sanctioned campaign worthy of the NSA: Fake Candidate Websites that use identical or similar pictures and color schemes to solicit donations to defeat the Democratic candidate. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the NRCC initially refused to refund the contribution from a Tampa Bay doctor who caught onto the scam, and he had to contact his credit card company to challenge the charges. The National Journal reports that the NRCC-sponsored effort may run afoul of Federal Election Commission regulations, though it expects that the bipartisan FEC will be toothless when it comes to enforcement. However, I have to wonder whether this is finally a good enough reason to use the DMCA and file take-down notices against the faux websites. Perhaps the candidates could solve this themselves, and get a judgement for copyright infringement so absurdly large that it puts the NRCC out of business?
User Journal

Journal Journal: Everything that has a beginning has an end 2

Journal by Velex

Well, here we are. We'll see how the slashcott goes.

I may be back on the 17th, but I intend to use the beta exclusively. If "classic's" days are numbered, then so be it. Maybe the beta will improve. If the things that kept me coming back since I registered this UID here over a decade ago are gone for good, then it's time to move on.

I've voiced my suspicions, and well, if Dice wanted to chase me away, they've succeeded, certainly for the next week, perhaps for good.
The Military

Do Hypersonic Missiles Make Defense Systems Obsolete? 365

Posted by Soulskill from the harder-better-faster-stronger dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The Diplomat's Zachary Keck wonders why the U.S. government is doubling down on missile defense systems even as hypersonic missiles threaten to render them obsolete. Keck notes that hypersonic missiles pose two distinct challenges to current missile defense systems. First, they travel far faster than the missiles the defense systems are designed to intercept. Second, they travel at lower altitudes and possess greater maneuverability than the missiles the current systems have been built to destroy. Nonetheless, the U.S. was planning on spending $2 billion a year on missile defense through 2017, and now the Pentagon is asking for an additional $4.5 billion over the next five years."

Submission + - German Domain Registrar Liable For Copyright Infringment (itworld.com)

Submitted by jfruh
jfruh writes: When the German domain registrar Key-Systems registered and maintained the domain h33t.com, should it have been obvious that their customer would use the site for unauthorized distribution of Robin Thicke albums? A regional German court says that they should've known, and once they had been notified they should have taken steps to prevent it from happening. Obviously domain registrars are worried that this will upend their entire business model.

Comment The word "cyber" is so 1999. (Score 4, Insightful) 144

by j_presper_eckert (#46183359) Attached to: NBC News Confuses the World About Cyber-Security
No one here gives a shit about that lame "o noes hax0rz in mah cup of coffee" NBC article.

The real news is that, after having read tonight's even *more* lame, unhelpful, patronizing and disappointing Slashdot Beta feedback thread, it's now clearer than ever that this ship of ours is sinking. At long last, I think that Netcraft really HAS confirmed it. :/

Soulskill and the other Dice weasels may indeed be "listening" to us, but they've still got a righteous hard-on for destroying this website regardless of how many times we've rubbed their noses in the beta's odiferous offal. I don't believe their calculated, faux-caring, used-car-salesmen spiel for one moment.

The question now is: Exactly when do we take to the lifeboats, and to what safe harbor do we start rowing towards?

~JPE
Security

NBC News Confuses the World About Cyber-Security 144

Posted by samzenpus from the think-of-the-athletes dept.
Nerval's Lobster writes "In a video report posted Feb. 4, NBC News reporter Richard Engel, with the help of a security analyst, two fresh laptops, a new cell phone, and a fake identity, pretended to go online with the technical naiveté of a Neanderthal housepet. (Engel's video blog is here.) Almost as soon as he turned on the phone in the Sochi airport, Engel reported hackers snooping around, testing the security of the machines. Engel's story didn't explain whether 'snooping around' meant someone was port-scanning his device in particular with the intention of cracking its security and prying out its secrets, no matter how much effort it took, or if the 'snooping' was other WiFi devices looking for access points and trying automatically to connect with those that were unprotected. Judging from the rest of his story, it was more likely the latter. Engel also reported hackers snooping around a honeypot set up by his security consultant which, as Gartner analyst Paul Proctor also pointed out in a blog posting, is like leaving the honey open and complaining when it attracts flies. When you try to communicate with anything, it also tries to communicate with you; that's how networked computers work: They communicate with each other. None of the 'hacks' or intrusions Engel created or sought out for himself have anything to do with Russia or Sochi, however; those 'hacks' he experienced could have happened in any Starbucks in the country, and does almost every day, Proctor wrote. That's why there is antivirus software for phones and laptops. It's why every expert, document, video, audio clip or even game that has anything at all to do with cybersecurity makes sure to mention you should never open attachments from spam email, or in email from people you don't know, and you should set up your browser to keep random web sites from downloading and installing anything they want on your computer. But keep up the fear-mongering."

Submission + - Russia bans Bitcoin (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by mask.of.sanity
mask.of.sanity writes: Russia has banned digital currency Bitcoin under existing laws and dubbed use of the crypto-currency as "suspicious". The Central Bank of Russia considers Bitcoin as a form of "money substitute" or "money surrogate" (statement in Russian) which is restricted under Russian law. However, unlike use of restricted foreign currencies, Bitcoin has been outright banned. The US Library of Congress has issued a report examining the regulatory approaches national financial authorities have taken to the currency.

Comment Our community transcends any mere "place". (Score 1) 100

An iWatch??? Oooooh shiny! I wish that I had an iWatch prototype so that I knew exactly when 2359 hrs rolls around on Feb. 8, and I can leave this inglorious Beta disaster once the week-long "slashcot" begins. There might not be much point in waiting for the trainwreck to begin; it's already in progress, and we're all starring in it. Dunno if I can masochistically "tough out" this entirely needless murder of my favorite discussion forum. I very rarely post, but I read a great deal of it and am always entertained, challenged, and (most of all) educated by the entire Slashdot experience.

Fuck Dice. Fuck 'em right in the wallet; fuck 'em in the share price; fuck 'em in the investment portfolio and cut the strings on everyone's golden parachutes. :P

Anyone at Dice who cheerfully refers one more time to us as a motherfucking "audience" is a complete smeg-head.

I'm not sure I want to stick around and watch Dice's inept version of Mount St. Helens erupt in slow-motion destruction. Seeing it deserted en masse in coming months due to the Beta's inevitable victory, and having it start resembling something like sad old deserted kuro5hin, is probably too much for me.

In the big feedback thread, Soulskill's oozed forth nothing but laughably transparent management-speak platitudes that are devoid of any actual understanding of, let alone respect FOR, the community that comprises Slashdot. if he doesn't get it, or is studiously AVOIDING getting-it, then i'm sure his Chad Lumbergh superiors at Dice Central Command sure as hell don't get it. Tonight's presently-in-progress Beta feedback thread is pointless 'cos the suits really have no intention of switching gears, and the usability-destroying "OMG Ponies!"-ization of ye olde 'dot is a solid certainty.

Up until this moment the whole thing made me rage, but now I'm just feeling a bit more sad than angry. Yeah, we're being sold out. I'm not going to pretend I'm not pissed-off and unhappy about that.

Stick a fork in ye olde 'dot, folks; it's done. Last one out, please turn off the hot-grits spigot.

I look forward to some other new site/wiki/blog/Fuhrerbunker/casino where I can digitally rub shoulders with y'all in the VERY near future. There are already several posts in other current threads about a possible Altslashdot.org; who knows what other new purpose-built destinations might come to be? But I truly have very little further hope for this fascinating & enlightening place that I've been visiting since before 9/11. It's a place that I miss already, if you know what I mean.

But then again, Dice's chronic greedy misunderstandings about that are a huge part of this needless mess, hey? This crufty ol' comment-friendly website, as a place, does not matter. Why?

Because we're Slashdot.
Our community transcends any mere "place".
Together, we can exist anywhere we choose.

~JPE

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