Internet Society CEO: Most people don’t care about the .org sell-off. Grabbing money at the expense of non-profits is fine by everyone we didn’t consult or listen to their opinion.

El Reg has quizzed Andrew Sullivan, the president and CEO of the Internet Society (ISOC), about his organistion’s decision to sell the non-profit .org registry to private equity outfit Ethos Capital. We have previously covered the controversy over the proposed sale, the continued failure of ISOC and DNS overseer ICANN to answer detailed questions, and Read more about Internet Society CEO: Most people don’t care about the .org sell-off. Grabbing money at the expense of non-profits is fine by everyone we didn’t consult or listen to their opinion.[…]

Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools

The rise of the internet and the advent of social media have fundamentally changed the information ecosystem, giving the public direct access to more information than ever before. But it’s often nearly impossible to distinguish between accurate information and low-quality or false content. This means that disinformation — false or intentionally misleading information that aims Read more about Fighting Disinformation Online: A Database of Web Tools[…]

Take-Two Sends Investigators To YouTuber’s House To Crack Down On Borderlands 3 Leaks – wait you can send your own police force to muscle on people in the USA? Kafka-esque experience follows with service shutdowns

After two weeks of no uploads, a notable Borderlands personality on YouTube returned to the platform yesterday with a video explaining his absence. He said that the game’s publisher Take-Two Interactive hit his channel with several copyright strikes and sent investigators to his home in response to months of Borderlands coverage on his channel, which Read more about Take-Two Sends Investigators To YouTuber’s House To Crack Down On Borderlands 3 Leaks – wait you can send your own police force to muscle on people in the USA? Kafka-esque experience follows with service shutdowns[…]

Assange Charges Finally Reveal Why Chelsea Manning Is Sitting in Jail

Charges announced by the Justice Department on Thursday against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange provide fresh insight into why federal prosecutors sought to question whistleblower Chelsea Manning last month before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia. Manning, convicted in 2013 of leaking classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, was jailed in early Read more about Assange Charges Finally Reveal Why Chelsea Manning Is Sitting in Jail[…]

Chelsea Manning jailed for refusing to testify on Wikileaks

Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who served years in prison for leaking one of the largest troves of classified documents in U.S. history, has been sent to jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Wikileaks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ordered Manning to jail for contempt of court Friday after a Read more about Chelsea Manning jailed for refusing to testify on Wikileaks[…]

Report: Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Its Baby Powder Products for Decades

An explosive new report by Reuters released Friday may upturn the narrative surrounding the potential cancer risks of talcum powder. According to the report, Johnson & Johnson—the makers of the most popular consumer talc product, Baby Powder—knew for decades that its products at times contained carcinogenic asbestos, but did everything possible to keep its findings Read more about Report: Johnson & Johnson Knew About Asbestos in Its Baby Powder Products for Decades[…]

AI boffins rebel against closed-access academic journal Nature

Thousands of machine-learning wizards have signed an open statement boycotting a new AI-focused academic journal, disapproving of the paper’s policy of closed-access.Nature Machine Intelligence is a specialized journal concentrating on intelligent systems and robotics research. It’s expected to launch in January next year, and is part of Nature Publishing Group, one of the world’s top Read more about AI boffins rebel against closed-access academic journal Nature[…]

MS now blocking updates for Win7 & 8 on PCs with modern CPUs. User makes patch to be able to install updates after all.

GitHub user Zeffy has created a patch that removes a limitation that Microsoft imposed on users of 7th generation processors, a limit that prevents users from receiving Windows updates if they still use Windows 7 and 8.1. Source: User-Made Patch Lets Owners of Next-Gen CPUs Install Updates on Windows 7 & 8.1 MS wants to Read more about MS now blocking updates for Win7 & 8 on PCs with modern CPUs. User makes patch to be able to install updates after all.[…]

“smart” meters caught simply making up readings

A recent study from researchers at University of Twente (UT) and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) has found that three-phase static (electronic) energy meters, which are replacing traditional electromechanical meters, can exaggerate energy consumption by as much as 582 per cent. Estimates of the number of households in the Netherlands with smart meters range Read more about “smart” meters caught simply making up readings[…]

CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room releases 12m new documents

Welcome to the Central Intelligence Agency’s Freedom of Information Act Electronic Reading Room. Do UFOs fascinate you? Are you a history buff who wants to learn more about the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam or the A-12 Oxcart? Have stories about spies always fascinated you? You can find information about all of these topics and more Read more about CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room releases 12m new documents[…]

Teen in the dock on terror apologist charge for naming Wi-Fi network ‘Daesh 21’

An 18-year-old broke France’s anti-terror laws by naming his home Wi-Fi network “Daesh 21” – after the medieval murder bastards ISIS. The unnamed teen was given a three-month jail sentence, suspended for now, after he was found guilty of essentially publicly condoning a terrorist act or group. Source: Teen in the dock on terror apologist Read more about Teen in the dock on terror apologist charge for naming Wi-Fi network ‘Daesh 21’[…]

Tesla Suspension Breakage: It’s Not The Crime, It’s The Coverup – Slashdot

You find a fault in a Tesla. You ask for repairs. Tesla comes back offering 50% of the repair price, but only if you promise to not tell anyone about the problem you found! This offer, to repair a defective part in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement, is unheard of in the auto industry. More Read more about Tesla Suspension Breakage: It’s Not The Crime, It’s The Coverup – Slashdot[…]

Microsoft removes the X to close the Windows 10 update after they decided the closing X meant yes, do it now

Recently, Microsoft’s policy had been to throw up a dialogue box asking you whether you wanted to install Windows 10. If you clicked the red “X” to close the box – the tried-and-tested way to make dialogue boxes vanish without agreeing to do anything – Microsoft began taking that as permission for the upgrade to Read more about Microsoft removes the X to close the Windows 10 update after they decided the closing X meant yes, do it now[…]

Linksys WRT routers won’t block open source firmware despite FCC rules

Linksys has been collaborating with chipmaker Marvell and the makers of OpenWrt to make sure its latest WRT routers can comply with the new rules without blocking open source firmware, company officials told Ars. Linksys’s effort stands in contrast with TP-Link, which said it would entirely prevent loading of open source firmware on its routers Read more about Linksys WRT routers won’t block open source firmware despite FCC rules[…]

The Trouble With the TPP, Day 50: The Case Against Ratifying the Trans Pacific Partnership – Michael Geist

Nearly two-and-a-half months ago, I started a daily examination of the Trans Pacific Partnership focused on the intellectual property and digital policy issues raised by the agreement. My initial plan for the Trouble with the TPP series was to write for one month leading up to the planned signing in New Zealand on February 4th. Read more about The Trouble With the TPP, Day 50: The Case Against Ratifying the Trans Pacific Partnership – Michael Geist[…]

Oxford Prof calulates how long it would take for large-scale conspiracies to reveal themselves

Dr Grimes initially created an equation to express the probability of a conspiracy being either deliberately uncovered by a whistle-blower or inadvertently revealed by a bungler. This factors in the number of conspirators, the length of time, and even the effects of conspirators dying, whether of old age or more nefarious means, for those conspiracies Read more about Oxford Prof calulates how long it would take for large-scale conspiracies to reveal themselves[…]

Lenovo, still spying on all PCs

Following up Lenovo’s blunders regarding the Superfish malware and altered BIOS, Michael Horowitz at ComputerWorld reports that a refurbished ThinkPad he bought includes Lenovo spyware under the guise of “Customer Feedback”. After some digging around, he found the following in a support document: “Lenovo says here that all ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and ThinkStation PCs, running Windows Read more about Lenovo, still spying on all PCs[…]

381 Wikipedia editors ban hammered for extorting article subjects to pay “protection money”

Wikipedia is no stranger to scandals, but a quiet update on its administrators’ announcement board reveals a big problem. The site’s CheckUser team recently banned 381 editors’ accounts for “undisclosed paid advocacy.” In other words, these Wikipedians were secretly shilling for brands and even resorting to extortion. The scam is relatively straightforward. Using sockpuppet accounts, Read more about 381 Wikipedia editors ban hammered for extorting article subjects to pay “protection money”[…]

Massive 36 volume collection of KGB information given to the UK released to public

From 1972 onwards, until his retirement in 1984, he took extensive manuscript notes of many of the papers passing through his hands. Following his retirement he organised this material geographically and typed out systematic studies of KGB operations in different parts of the world in 10 volumes. He and his family and his archive were Read more about Massive 36 volume collection of KGB information given to the UK released to public[…]

Predicting Successful Memes using Network and Community Structure [on Twitter]

Lilian Weng, Filippo Menczer, Yong-Yeol Ahn from Cornell University have created a model that can take a small amount of tweets and tell 2 months in advance whether the tweets will go viral and become a meme or not. This is a network based model, that takes into account: connectivity: number of early adopters, size Read more about Predicting Successful Memes using Network and Community Structure [on Twitter][…]

Police will have ‘backdoor’ access to health records despite opt-out, says MP

The database that will store the entire nation’s health records has a series of "backdoors" that will allow police and government bodies to access people’s medical data. David Davis MP, a former shadow home secretary, told the Guardian he has established that police will be able to access the health records of patients when investigating Read more about Police will have ‘backdoor’ access to health records despite opt-out, says MP[…]