mikesmind - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Just watch your back (Score 1) 848

by mikesmind on Friday May 04, 2007 @04:46PM (#18994625) Attached to: Would You Install Pirated Software at Work?

I had a similar directive at a past job. The company president told me to install Windows 3.1 or he would do it. His logic was that the company purchased one copy, and since it was so expensive, we should be able to put it on as many PCs as we wanted. Needless to say, I found another job.

You can't go wrong by doing the right thing. You may suffer in the short term, but in the long term things work out for the better. That's how it worked for me.

Pentagon Reveals News Correction Unit 757

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 31, 2006 @05:16AM from the propaganda-juggernauts dept.

Jonas Wisser writes "BBC is reporting that a newly created Pentagon unit has a mandate to fight 'inaccurate' news stories. From the article: 'The Pentagon has set up a new unit to focus on promoting its message across 24-hour rolling news outlets, and particularly on the internet. [...] A Pentagon memo seen by the Associated Press news agency said the new unit will "develop messages" for the 24-hour news cycle and aim to "correct the record". A spokesman said the unit would monitor media such as weblogs and would also employ "surrogates", or top politicians or lobbyists who could be interviewed on TV and radio shows.'"

Face Recognition - Real or Science Fiction? 202

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @10:42AM from the oops-i-did-it-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Facial recognition software has been touted as one of the technologies that will change our future, particularly in law enforcement. How close are we to being recognized by a computer anywhere we go, as portrayed in movies like Minority Report? According to the industry's recent Public Relations releases, these products are closer than we think. The reality though, is that current products work only when utilizing a small comparative sample, and any attempts for an individual to disguise themselves typically throw off the results. To see how far this technology needs to go before becoming mainstream, one site utilized Government-tested face recognition software, available freely through MyHeritage.com, to compare hundreds of famous people, animals, and cartoons to a database of 2,000 celebrities. Some of the results showed promise for the technology, but most were just funny — for example, who would mistake Barbara Streisand for Shrek, or Lance Bass of N'Sync for a Teletubby?"

RFID In Government Issued ID? 89

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday October 25, 2006 @12:35AM from the your-RF-papers-please dept.

RFID! writes, "The Department of Homeland Security's Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee published a draft report that poured cold water on using RFID in government-mandated identity cards and documents (PDF link). But this met with some consternation among the DHS bureaus that plan to use RFID in this way and the businesses eager to sell the technology to the government, and now a vote on the report has been delayed until December."

US Slips Again In Freedom of the Press Ranking 989

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 24, 2006 @07:39AM from the gosh-at-least-citizen's-rights-aren't-being-eroded dept.

npwa writes to tell us Reporters Without Borders has released their annual worldwide press freedom index. While developing nations like Haiti and Mauritania continue to gain ground developed nations like France, Japan, and the US continue their downward spiral. From the article: "The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security' to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his 'war on terrorism.' The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media's right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism."

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