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Comment Appropriate for large $ funding efforts (Score 1) 366

This a result of the increasing size of the asks from crowdsourcing. I hope the outcome is that crowdsourcing regulations define a reasonable 'small venture' definition, and put the focus back on funding individual ideas rather than whole start-ups. In my opinion, Kickstarter is not the right place to raise millions of dollars. Managing a multi-million dollar venture does require overhead and proper accounting, which these proposed regulations acknowledge. Most of us just don't have to deal with it, so we trivialize its importance.

Comment Risk pool payment, not payback. (Score 5, Interesting) 356

Absolutely right, they shouldn't be forced to pay back government losses. They, along with every other too big to fail corporation, should pay annually in perpetuity into risk pool that will handle all future bail-outs. Not as a tax, but as an insurance pool, that coincidentally, should be required to be held in US treasury bonds.

I'm sure if you presented that idea, they'd rush to substitute the $10b payback.

Comment change or same mistake I made about announcement? (Score 4, Informative) 195

Is this a new change, because after I saw the google announcement, I saw a report that they would share all that data about loading of images with marketers. End result: safer images, but just as much information for marketers, as along as they make nice with Google as 'official' email marketers. Would love to be wrong. Here's my source, Ars Technica article.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/12/dear-gmailer-i-know-what-you-read-last-summer-and-last-night-and-today/

Comment Re:what makes this white hat? (Score 1) 68

Excellent point. It's an assumption of mine that no request to check vulnerabilities was made. That would make all the difference.
My other assumption is that people on a public wifi network are informed they should be using it for only routine non-secure tasks.
If the public network was being used for official business, then that's a problem, but it's not a technical problem. It's a training and education problem.
Public Wifi is never secure.

Comment what makes this white hat? (Score 5, Insightful) 68

'Hey, I just kicked in your door to show how easy it is to kick in your door!'
'Hey, I just graffitied your wall to show how easy it is to graffiti your wall!'
'Hey, I just kicked you in the balls to show how easy it is kick you in the balls!'

Calling yourself a security researcher doesn't magically give you rights to go dick with other people's networks.
Email over a public wifi network is no less secure than a cellphone call, hallway conversation or written notes.

A public wifi is a convenience and very useful for the right purposes. A white hat researcher reveals unknown vulnerabilities to the people who build protocols. This was an asshole with a script, a laptop and a desire for attention.

Comment Maybe use it to notify, rather than block... still (Score 1) 213

It would seem like a good system to help copyright holders be aware of usage. If it flagged videos for review by the holder, then left it to them to request take-down, that would seem to re-enforce Google's existing safe harbor protection, and would give artists the opportunity to not be douche bags. Of course, even with this, if you wanted to block something from being uploaded to youtube, like perhaps a political speech, you could just walk around with a boombox blaring Metallica's greatest hits in the background.

Comment Google great on resume, if U still need resume... (Score 1) 543

My guess would be that most of the original hires have long since moved on, due to financial stability and better opportunities. That leaves lots of 20 nothings competing hard to get those jobs. They are going to beat out inexperienced older workers easily. Most well-qualified older IT workers are not looking to start new jobs at Google, there's simply too many other exciting opportunities (Google is not going to have another IPO, afterall), and they don't need a career starting resume bullet. That said, I'd gladly work at Google (39), but they'd have to match my current 6 figure income, which is not going to be entry-level.

RIAA Defendant Says Kazaa Settlement Bars Case 174

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The defendant in Arista v. Greubel has filed an answering statement. The statement says that the RIAA's case against him, since it's based upon his use of Kazaa, is barred by the RIAA's receipt of $115 million from Kazaa. Mr. Greubel also challenged the constitutionality of the RIAA's $750-per-song damages theory, saying damages should be limited to $2.80 per song. See the previous Slashdot discussion of that issue and Judge Trager's decision in UMG v. Lindor."

NASA Proposes Manned Asteroid Mission 219

eldavojohn writes "NASA has proposed a manned asteroid mission to a near earth object. They mention this being viewed as a "gap-filler" to keep the public's attention between a lunar exploration & manned mars mission. The article also cites these goals as in line with the Constellation Program. From the article, 'Furthermore, a human venture to a space rock may well accelerate precursor robotic surveys of asteroids, Schweickart observed. "Early unmanned visits to asteroids ... it's the same pattern as we did with the Moon and we're doing right now with Mars. It's all pretty logical," he told SPACE.com.'"
Moon

NASA Weighs Moon Plans 133

mknewman writes "Space.com is reporting that NASA is set to roll out next month a U.S. national strategy for lunar exploration, one that outlines both robotic exploration needs and the rationale for sending humans back to the Moon. This has been sorely missing in Bush's Vision for Space Exploration."
DRM

Second Life Businesses Close Due To Cloning 409

Warren Ellis is reporting that many Second Life vendors are closing up shop due to the recent explosion of a program called "Copybot," designed to clone other people's possessions. From the article: "The night before last, I was looking around a no-fire combat sandbox, where people design and test weapons and vehicles, when an argument broke out; a thing going by the name Nimrod Yaffle was cloning things out of other people's inventories, and claiming he could freely do it because he'd been playing with Copybot with employees of SL creator/operators Linden Lab. All hell broke loose, in the sort of drama you can only find on the internet. Linden Lab's first official response? If you feel your IP has been compromised by Copybot, we'll sort of help you lodge a DCMA complaint in the US. Businesses started shutting down moments later." Update 20:43 GMT by SM Several users have mentioned that the Second Life blog has a few thoughts on this issue and quite a few comments from users already.

Wikipedia Explodes In China 151

eldavojohn writes "The Chinese have recently been allowed to enjoy the Chinese version of Wikipedia now that the ban has been lifted. And the result is an explosion in use after being banned for a year. From the article, 'Activity on nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation's Chinese Wikipedia site has skyrocketed since its release, which Internet users in China first started reporting on Nov. 10. Since then, the number of new users registering to contribute to the site has exceeded 1,200 a day, up from an average of 300 to 400 prior to the unblocking. The number of new articles posted daily has increased 75% from the week before, with the total now surpassing 100,000, according to the foundation.' No one's sure how long this will be available to the People's Republic of China but hopefully the government will recognize that at least a significant part of the populace enjoys a Wikipedia community."

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