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Latest Freshmeat Releases
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Slashdot News
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 Department: industry-strangely-averse-to-voluntary-protections Date: 2013-05-22T04:05:00Z Comments: An anonymous reader writes "Despite warnings that a cyberattack could cripple the nation's power supply, a U.S. Congressional report (PDF) finds that power companies' efforts to protect the power grid are insufficient. Attacks are apparently commonplace, with one utility claiming they fight off some 10,000 attempted attacks every month. The report also found that while most power companies are complying with mandatory standards for protection, few do much else above and beyond that to protect the grid. 'For example, NERC has established both mandatory standards and voluntary measures to protect against the computer worm known as Stuxnet. Of those that responded, 91% of IOUs [Investor-Owned Utilities], 83% of municipally- or cooperatively-owned utilities, and 80% of federal entities that own major pieces of the bulk power system reported compliance with the Stuxnet mandatory standards. By contrast, of those that responded to a separate question regarding compliance with voluntary Stuxnet measures, only 21% of IOUs, 44% of municipally- or cooperatively-owned utilities, and 62.5% of federal entities reported compliance.'"Read more of this storyat Slashdot. 
  
Department: still-winning-the-version-race-against-firefox Date: 2013-05-22T03:05:00Z Comments: An anonymous reader writes "Google on Tuesday released Chrome version 27 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The new version features a big boost to page loads (now 5 percent faster on average) as well as significant updates for developers. The speed improvement is thanks to the introduction of 'smarter behind-the-scenes resource scheduling,' according to Google. Starting with this release, the scheduler more aggressively uses an idle connection and demotes the priority of preloaded resources so that they don’t interfere with critical assets."Read more of this storyat Slashdot. 
  
Department: i-don't-think-you'll-find-them-up-there Date: 2013-05-22T02:03:00Z Comments: Wired reports on a cluster of mini-satellites that will soon be launched into orbit that will assist U.S. special forces personnel during manhunts. "SOCOM is putting eight miniature communications satellites, each about the size of a water jug, on top of the Minotaur rocket that's getting ready to launch from Wallops Island, Virginia. They’ll sit more than 300 miles above the earth and provide a new way for the beacons to call back to their masters." When special forces are able to tag their target, the target can be tracked and located through the use of satellites and cell towers, but coverage is poor in many areas of the world. The satellites going up in September will help to fill in some gaps. "This array of configurable 'cubesats' is designed to stay aloft for three years or more. Yes, it will serve as further research project. But 'operators are going to use it,' Richardson promised an industry conference in Tampa last week."Read more of this storyat Slashdot. 
  
Department: go-big-or-go-home Date: 2013-05-22T00:00:00Z Comments: An anonymous reader writes "When in early 2010 Google shared with the public that they had been breached in what became known as the Aurora attacks, they said that the attackers got their hands on some source code and were looking to access Gmail accounts of Tibetan activists. What they didn't make public is that the hackers have also accessed a database containing information about court-issued surveillance orders that enabled law enforcement agencies to monitor email accounts belonging to diplomats, suspected spies and terrorists. Whether this was the primary goal of the attacks as well as how much information was exfiltrated is unknown. current and former U.S. government officials interviewed by the Washington Post say that the database in question was possibly accessed in order to discover which Chinese intelligence operatives located in the U.S. were under surveillance."Read more of this storyat Slashdot. 
  
Department: it's-actually-cobol-in-a-funny-hat Date: 2013-05-21T23:20:00Z Comments: 1 An anonymous reader writes "Seth Ladd has an excellent write-up of Dart: 'When Dart was originally launched, many developers mistook it for some sort of Java clone. In truth, Dart is inspired by a range of languages such as Smalltalk, Strongtalk, Erlang, C#, and JavaScript. Get past the semicolons and curly braces, and you'll see a terse language without ceremony. ... Dart understands that sometimes you just don’t feel like appeasing a ceremonial type checker. Dart’s inclusion of an optional type system means you can use type annotations when you want, or use dynamic when that’s easier. For example, you can explore a new idea without having to first think about type hierarchies. Just experiment and use var for your types. Once the idea is tested and you’re comfortable with the design, you can add type annotations."Read more of this storyat Slashdot. 
  
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Latest from Techdirt.com
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Tue, 21 May 2013 20:16:20 PDT
There was one odd side note in all of the attention last week to the DOJspyingon the AP under questionable circumstances. Right after being confronted about it, the Obama administration released some talking points about how theysupport a reintroduction of a reporter's shield law. There have been various attempts to pass a special shield law for journalists for afew yearsnow, though in the past it's been blocked each time. Also, we've been fairly skeptical about the whole process, because different politicians always seek to carve out key parties, whether it'sbloggersorWikileaks. Frankly, it's always seemed to us that a shield law shouldprotectacts of journalism. That is, it should apply to specific situations, rather than specific people.
In the past, the Obama administration has claimed to support such a shield law, but withserious limitations, such as not having that law apply when the administration decides (by itself) that it's a matter that involves "significant" harm to national security. Given that Eric Holder has already argued that this case involved such a situation (even if theevidencesuggests otherwise), it seems likely that any such shield law for journalists wouldn't have mattered in the AP case. There may have beensome procedural differences, but the end result would have likely been pretty much the same.
But, really, using this story as a nail to hang their support for a shield law seems pretty ridiculous. "Oh, yeah, you caught us spying on reporters -- here's a bill that we want that wouldn't have stopped that, but if you're really concerned about a pretend level of privacy for journalists and their sources, it's something, sorta."
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Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:00 PDT
Completely autonomous drones that can decide who or what to strike are still many years away from becoming a reality, but the military has already developed various unmanned aircraft that it's been using primarily for gathering intelligence (rather than for attacking targets). Here are a few more examples of some of the high-tech flying weapons that exist today.If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!)Techdirt postvia StumbleUpon.
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Tue, 21 May 2013 16:02:45 PDT
Prenda's not having a very good day (or month, for that matter). We noted yesterday that Paul Hansmeier had asked the appeals court to put a stay on the attorney's feesawardedby Judge Otis Wright in California. The courtrejectedthe request, partly on procedural grounds, noting that you have to put in the request at the district court first, not jumping the gun and going straight to the appeals court. Soon after that, the lawyer representing many of Team Prenda, Heather Rosing,filedfor a stay in the district court, claiming that Prenda was "deprived of due process."
Judge Wright made quick work of this, noting the filing irregularity, and the pattern of seeking "eleventh-hour pleas for relief," and then rejected the request, and added a $1,000 per day penalty for every day that they fail to put up a bond in the amount owed. Oh yeah, also he asks them to explain to the court why they didn't pay up as ordered. Might as well include the full text here:Prenda Law, Inc., through its attorneys at Klinedinst PC, filed a notice of appealto the Ninth Circuit. (ECF No. 157.) Oddly, to this notice of appeal, Prenda attachedan ex parte application seeking a stay of enforcement of the Court’s May 6, 2013Order Issuing Sanctions. (ECF No. 157-1.) Not only was this application improperlyfiled; but once again, Prenda resorted to an eleventh-hour plea for relief.
Even assuming this application was properly filed, the Court finds no basis togrant Prenda’s request. Under the Court’s order, Prenda, along with John Steele, PaulHansmeier, Paul Duffy, Brett Gibbs, AF Holdings LLC, and Ingenuity 13 LLC, wererequired to pay by May 20, 2013, an attorney’s-fee award of $81,319.72. By filingthis application, it appears no such payment was made.
Instead, an emergency motion was filed with the Ninth Circuit to stayenforcement of the order. That motion was promptly denied. (ECF No. 150.) Prendanow seeks to remedy a problem of their own making. By refusing to pay, or at leastrefusing to post a supersedeas bond, Prenda (and the other parties) cannot establishthat it“is without fault in creating the crisis that requires ex parte relief, or that thecrisis occurred as a result of excusable neglect.” Mission Power Eng’g Co. v. Cont’lCasualty Co., 883 F. Supp. 488, 492 (C.D. Cal. 1995). Prenda’s application isthereforeDENIED.
Further, Steele, Hansmeier, Duffy, Gibbs, AF Holdings, Ingenuity 13, andPrenda are herebyORDERED TO SHOW CAUSEwhy they have contravened theCourt’s order to pay the attorney’s-fee award. The Court hereby imposes a penalty of$1,000 per day, per person or entity,1 until this attorney’s-fee award is paid or a bondfor the same amount is posted. This penalty shall be paid to the Clerk of Court on thesame day the attorney’s-fee award is paid or the bond is posted. This penalty must bepaid unless it is evident that the award was paid or the bond was posted on or beforeMay 20, 2013. Failure to comply will result in additional sanctions.
Upon motion and posting of a supersedeas bond, the Court will stay executionof the attorney’s-fee award. Fed. R. Civ. P. 62(d).
Finally, as a housekeeping matter, the Court requests Brett Gibbs to filerequests for withdrawal of attorney in this and the related cases. Brett Gibbs appearsto have withdrawn from these cases. (OSC Hr’g Tr. 87:1–8, Mar. 11, 2013 (“I am nolonger employed by Prenda or any other corporation or LLC that is involved in thesecases.”).) Given the circumstances and the relationship between Gibbs and his clients,the Court will approve his requests for withdrawal.
IT IS SO ORDERED. And so it is. Perhaps, rather than spending so much time talking to the press, John Steele should have been counting his pennies to pay up.
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Tue, 21 May 2013 15:01:48 PDT
Looks like Prenda continues to have problems in court. In the lawsuit in Minnesota that Alan Cooper brought against Prenda and John Steele for fraudulent use of his name, it appears thatJudge Ann Altonmade fairly quick work of getting the whole thing off of her docket. Someone going by the twitter handle"J.P. Baggins"was in attendance, and says that the judgeordered Prenda to stop using Alan Cooper's nameand brought the case to a close. There won't be any damages awarded, but it seems clear that the judge was not at all happy with Prenda. She referred to Paul Hansmeier, appearing for Prenda Law, as acting in a way that is "not appropriate for an attorney" while also claiming that what they had done was"fraud, pure and simple."She also told him that she believed him"to be in violation of a whole lot of rules"and she'll bereporting him to the lawyer's board(just one more to pile on, I guess).
Another person in the courtroom,Matthew Sparbynoted that the judge was a bit confused at the beginning, apparently misreading Judge Otis Wright'sinfamous orderto alsoimplicate Cooper as well, and while that was eventually cleared up by Cooper's lawyer, Paul Godfread, Sparby thinks that may be whyno damages were awarded.
She apparently also closed by telling Hansmeierto "never EVER send" fraudulent letters "EVER again"and noted that she was "offended this case is here" before abruptly ending the whole thing. Seems like another bad day for Prenda.
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