Tracking students by placing antennas everywhere isn't that feasible. The ORCA cards use the ISO 14443 standard (they're Mifare DESFire cards), so their read range maxes out at about 10 cm.
The more problematic parts of the system include the fact that your last 10 rides per transit agency (there are 7 in ORCA) are stored on the card, and a database of your bus rides will exist. That database is subject to records retention laws, and the media (under certain conditions) and law enforcement can request the data using Washington's public records law. Finally, as it stands now, the institution selling you the discounted passes will be able to access this database as well, although we're hoping that there will be some policies developed to limit access.
A more practical way to track people with a large deployment of RFID antennas is to use the new Washington Enhanced Drivers License. Washington was content on using a barcode as a way for customs to index into the EDL database, but DHS insisted on implanting long-rage, EPC Gen2 tags into these cards. This is exactly the same technology used in the RFID Ecosystem.
Yes, RFID cards can be fairly secure, but Homeland Security is mandating EPC Gen2 Class 1 tags in these cards (at least here in Washington). What's wonderful about these tags are that they have ZERO security (besides a 32-bit kill and write password) AND they are designed to be read from a long distance. Gen2 is absolutely the wrong choice for this application. ISO 14443 (which is used by passports and credit cards) makes a hell of a lot more sense since that protocol is designed to be a close-range, contact smartcard replacement.
Apparently, there's been several issues with G1G1 fulfillment. They expected to have shipped every laptop by now, but discovered at least 5,000 orders that have fallen through the cracks. Those will be sent tomorrow, if possible. More information is at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/G1G1_Fulfillment_Information
Well, frankly, that was the first thing EVERYONE wondered, even among the mildly computer-literate, especially since Seattle is Microsoft's backyard. It's easy (and fun) to make fun of Microsoft's legendary reliability, even if they don't deserve it.
Now, a comment on a blog is hardly trustworthy, so the second thing pointing this out does is put the claim out there for actual reporters to verify, if they choose to do so. It might even stir up some comments by Microsoft or the company hired to do the show.
More than likely, though, the OS had nothing to do with it.
Would you rather them leave the vulnerabilities unpatched so that any web site could 0wn your iPhone if it wanted to? Granted, there should be a way to load third-party apps without resorting to these kinds of hacks, but we'll see what Apple does when they release the SDK.
While I'm a fan of the OLPC project (I'm writing this on my own XO laptop), and think it has the potential to improve education dramatically, the article didn't say much about how the laptop has affected learning. Sure, the kids love them, but aside from mentioning that many of them aspire to be something other than farmers, there wasn't much evidence presented that the laptop improved education.
Actually, it's based in part on Photosynth. Photosynth is the commercial version of Photo Tourism, which was a joint project between UW CSE and Microsoft Research. From what I understand, this new technology uses the camera pose (location, orientation, etc.) estimator from Photo Tourism and combines it with some multiview stereo algorithms (PDF) to generate a 3D model.
You can't really compare hard drive writes to flash writes. Even if you change one bit in flash, you have to erase the whole block and write it out again. Of course, as the size of the writes approaches the block size, this becomes less of an issue.
AFAIK, only T-Mobile and AT&T use GSM in the United States. Everyone else uses CDMA (with the exception of Nextel, which uses iDEN). I think Verizon might offer GSM/CDMA combo phones for use outside their coverage area, but since GSM is not what they run on their own network, they won't let you use a pure GSM phone.
CS researchers are always coming up with new ideas, and prove that their ideas are actually useful, they need to perform experiments. This can range from measuring the number of branch prediction failures in a CPU (when designing a new branch prediction system) to conducting user studies to evaluate how easy it is to operate a novel user interface. Virtually every CS paper has hard data to back up their claims. These results are peer-reviewed and ultimately published. It very much follows the scientific method.
Not only that, but they have no way to know if you've accepted the EULA.
AFAIK, Gateway doesn't offer Linux as an OS option. If you want to run Linux, you'll probably boot to a Linux install disc the first time you turn on your machine, bypassing any EULA and nuking it in the install process. I suppose they could build it into the BIOS, but if they combine all of the EULAs into one, then you'll be forced to accept them even if you never use the software the EULAs cover.
Really, the proper thing to do is make these conditions part of the terms of sale, made known to the customer BEFORE the sale is made.
How do they prevent man-in-the-middle-type attacks? It seems like you could easily defeat this by having the phisher's web server retrieve the photo and caption from the real web site.
Actually, they do collect royalties for Internet streaming. This covers the right to perform the songs. The composers own the copyrights to these songs, and this is (in theory) how they get paid.
This would be sufficient to make an Internet radio station legal if they only played live music, but most don't. Instead, they play pre-recorded music. The record companies own the copyrights on particular recordings of songs. This is where SoundExchange gets into the act. They collect royalties for the recordings of songs, not the songs themselves. See SoundExchange's Licensing 101 for more information.
Of course, broadcast radio is exempt from paying royalties on sound recordings, so they only have to pay ASCAP/BMI/SESAC, unless they also stream online. See 17 USC 114 for more information.
Of course, the "HD" in HD Radio doesn't stand for "high defintion" -- it stands for "hybrid digital," meaning that it co-exists with standard analog transmissions in the same channel. iBiquity is taking advtange of the fact that many consumers assume the HD prefix means "high definition," when there's no requirement for the digital transmissions to sound any better (especially if they use the bandwidth for additional subchannels).
See 17 USC 512(i) (part of the "safe harbor" provisions of the DMCA):
The limitations on liability established by this section shall apply to a service provider only if the service provider-- (A) has adopted and reasonably implemented, and informs subscribers and account holders of the service provider's system or network of, a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of subscribers and account holders of the service provider's system or network who are repeat infringers
Sounds a lot like the proposed "three strikes" law.
Sadly, these tracks are more expensive -- but they claim that they've increased the audio quality, so perhaps that's an acceptable trade-off. They're also allowing you to upgrade your existing purchases.
Apple has announced that iTunes will make individual AAC format tracks available from EMI artists at twice the sound quality of existing downloads, with their DRM removed, at a price of $1.29/1.29/£0.99. iTunes will continue to offer consumers the ability to pay $0.99/0.99/£0.79 for standard sound quality tracks with DRM still applied. Complete albums from EMI Music artists purchased on the iTunes Store will automatically be sold at the higher sound quality and DRM-free, with no change in the price. Consumers who have already purchased standard tracks or albums with DRM will be able to upgrade their digital music for $0.30/0.30/£0.20 per track. All EMI music videos will also be available on the iTunes Store DRM-free with no change in price.
Steve Jobs just announced that iTunes will start selling these tracks in May, at 256kbps AAC. He also explained how to circumvent the existing DRM with burning songs to a CD and re-ripping them.;)
"The term D.R.M. is steeped and mired in its legacy definition. Today, call it something else. I dont care what you call it. Get rid of it. But we need to make this work so we can get a deal."
Indeed, they will. I went to Google Patents to look at the images from the referenced patent, and on the front page, I saw a patent for... wait for it...
From what I understand, they aren't actually required to act on a takedown notice. However, if they fail to do so, they are no longer shielded from liability if the claim is valid. On the other hand, if they do act on the notice, they can't be held liable if the claim is bogus. So, most service providers will act on ANY DMCA notice, regardless of validity, just to be on the safe side.
However, I do know that some service providers have refused to act on certain DMCA notices where it's clear that issuer of the notice has no rights to the material in question.
Warner Music Group is #542 in the Fortune 1000. The rest of the big four are either totally foreign (e.g. EMI, based in London), or owned by foreign companies (e.g. Sony BMG and Universal Music Group).
Besides, we already have the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, and I can't recall any P2P prosecutions based on it. I'm not too surprised either, given that the authorities likely have bigger problems to tackle, and the standard of proof is much high in a criminal case ("beyond a reasonable doubt"). The RIAA is already having trouble proving their cases with the lower, civil standard.
After she sent the Internet Archive an email demanding payment of $100,000, the Internet Archive sued to have their actions declared legal.
She is proceeding pro se, most likely because she got caught off-guard by the Internet Archive's legal action. Still, you can't go around demanding $100,000 without expecting a legal response.
One of her counterclaims was for copyright infringment. However, the Internet Archive did not move to have that counterclaim dismissed.
Slashdot Mirror
Tracking students by placing antennas everywhere isn't that feasible. The ORCA cards use the ISO 14443 standard (they're Mifare DESFire cards), so their read range maxes out at about 10 cm.
The more problematic parts of the system include the fact that your last 10 rides per transit agency (there are 7 in ORCA) are stored on the card, and a database of your bus rides will exist. That database is subject to records retention laws, and the media (under certain conditions) and law enforcement can request the data using Washington's public records law. Finally, as it stands now, the institution selling you the discounted passes will be able to access this database as well, although we're hoping that there will be some policies developed to limit access.
A more practical way to track people with a large deployment of RFID antennas is to use the new Washington Enhanced Drivers License. Washington was content on using a barcode as a way for customs to index into the EDL database, but DHS insisted on implanting long-rage, EPC Gen2 tags into these cards. This is exactly the same technology used in the RFID Ecosystem.
Of course, PBS also sets the broadcast flag on their digital transmissions.
Yes, RFID cards can be fairly secure, but Homeland Security is mandating EPC Gen2 Class 1 tags in these cards (at least here in Washington). What's wonderful about these tags are that they have ZERO security (besides a 32-bit kill and write password) AND they are designed to be read from a long distance. Gen2 is absolutely the wrong choice for this application. ISO 14443 (which is used by passports and credit cards) makes a hell of a lot more sense since that protocol is designed to be a close-range, contact smartcard replacement.
Apparently, there's been several issues with G1G1 fulfillment. They expected to have shipped every laptop by now, but discovered at least 5,000 orders that have fallen through the cracks. Those will be sent tomorrow, if possible. More information is at http://wiki.laptop.org/go/G1G1_Fulfillment_Information
Well, frankly, that was the first thing EVERYONE wondered, even among the mildly computer-literate, especially since Seattle is Microsoft's backyard. It's easy (and fun) to make fun of Microsoft's legendary reliability, even if they don't deserve it.
Now, a comment on a blog is hardly trustworthy, so the second thing pointing this out does is put the claim out there for actual reporters to verify, if they choose to do so. It might even stir up some comments by Microsoft or the company hired to do the show.
More than likely, though, the OS had nothing to do with it.
Would you rather them leave the vulnerabilities unpatched so that any web site could 0wn your iPhone if it wanted to? Granted, there should be a way to load third-party apps without resorting to these kinds of hacks, but we'll see what Apple does when they release the SDK.
While I'm a fan of the OLPC project (I'm writing this on my own XO laptop), and think it has the potential to improve education dramatically, the article didn't say much about how the laptop has affected learning. Sure, the kids love them, but aside from mentioning that many of them aspire to be something other than farmers, there wasn't much evidence presented that the laptop improved education.
Actually, it's based in part on Photosynth. Photosynth is the commercial version of Photo Tourism, which was a joint project between UW CSE and Microsoft Research. From what I understand, this new technology uses the camera pose (location, orientation, etc.) estimator from Photo Tourism and combines it with some multiview stereo algorithms (PDF) to generate a 3D model.
You can't really compare hard drive writes to flash writes. Even if you change one bit in flash, you have to erase the whole block and write it out again. Of course, as the size of the writes approaches the block size, this becomes less of an issue.
AFAIK, only T-Mobile and AT&T use GSM in the United States. Everyone else uses CDMA (with the exception of Nextel, which uses iDEN). I think Verizon might offer GSM/CDMA combo phones for use outside their coverage area, but since GSM is not what they run on their own network, they won't let you use a pure GSM phone.
Computer Science is very much a science.
CS researchers are always coming up with new ideas, and prove that their ideas are actually useful, they need to perform experiments. This can range from measuring the number of branch prediction failures in a CPU (when designing a new branch prediction system) to conducting user studies to evaluate how easy it is to operate a novel user interface. Virtually every CS paper has hard data to back up their claims. These results are peer-reviewed and ultimately published. It very much follows the scientific method.
Just as porn relies on math, math (or at least image compression research) relies on porn.
It's a symbiotic relationship.
Not only that, but they have no way to know if you've accepted the EULA.
AFAIK, Gateway doesn't offer Linux as an OS option. If you want to run Linux, you'll probably boot to a Linux install disc the first time you turn on your machine, bypassing any EULA and nuking it in the install process. I suppose they could build it into the BIOS, but if they combine all of the EULAs into one, then you'll be forced to accept them even if you never use the software the EULAs cover.
Really, the proper thing to do is make these conditions part of the terms of sale, made known to the customer BEFORE the sale is made.
How do they prevent man-in-the-middle-type attacks? It seems like you could easily defeat this by having the phisher's web server retrieve the photo and caption from the real web site.
Actually, they do collect royalties for Internet streaming. This covers the right to perform the songs. The composers own the copyrights to these songs, and this is (in theory) how they get paid.
This would be sufficient to make an Internet radio station legal if they only played live music, but most don't. Instead, they play pre-recorded music. The record companies own the copyrights on particular recordings of songs. This is where SoundExchange gets into the act. They collect royalties for the recordings of songs, not the songs themselves. See SoundExchange's Licensing 101 for more information.
Of course, broadcast radio is exempt from paying royalties on sound recordings, so they only have to pay ASCAP/BMI/SESAC, unless they also stream online. See 17 USC 114 for more information.
Of course, the "HD" in HD Radio doesn't stand for "high defintion" -- it stands for "hybrid digital," meaning that it co-exists with standard analog transmissions in the same channel. iBiquity is taking advtange of the fact that many consumers assume the HD prefix means "high definition," when there's no requirement for the digital transmissions to sound any better (especially if they use the bandwidth for additional subchannels).
A choice quote from TFA:
"The term D.R.M. is steeped and mired in its legacy definition. Today, call it something else. I dont care what you call it. Get rid of it. But we need to make this work so we can get a deal."
Indeed, they will. I went to Google Patents to look at the images from the referenced patent, and on the front page, I saw a patent for... wait for it...
A jumping snail.
Okay, yeah, it's a design patent, but still...
From what I understand, they aren't actually required to act on a takedown notice. However, if they fail to do so, they are no longer shielded from liability if the claim is valid. On the other hand, if they do act on the notice, they can't be held liable if the claim is bogus. So, most service providers will act on ANY DMCA notice, regardless of validity, just to be on the safe side.
However, I do know that some service providers have refused to act on certain DMCA notices where it's clear that issuer of the notice has no rights to the material in question.
5 of the largest 50? According to what list?
Warner Music Group is #542 in the Fortune 1000. The rest of the big four are either totally foreign (e.g. EMI, based in London), or owned by foreign companies (e.g. Sony BMG and Universal Music Group).
Besides, we already have the No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, and I can't recall any P2P prosecutions based on it. I'm not too surprised either, given that the authorities likely have bigger problems to tackle, and the standard of proof is much high in a criminal case ("beyond a reasonable doubt"). The RIAA is already having trouble proving their cases with the lower, civil standard.
- Atlantic Records (owned by Warner Music Group)
- Priority Records (owned by EMI)
- Capitol Records (owned by EMI)
- Universal Music Group
- Bertelsmann Music Group
So, the big four are all part of this lawsuit.