I clicked a link for hot judicial action and I got 0wn3d. I'd like to thank the academy, my parents for warping me, Tom and Nick for letting me do this, and my hero Acidus.

The 'const' system is one of the really messy features of C++.

It is simple in concept, variables declared with ‘const’ added become constants and cannot be altered by the program, but, in the way is has to be used to bodge in a substitute for one of the missing features of C++, it gets horridly complicated and frustratingly restrictive. The following attempts to explain how 'const' is used and why it exists.

The C++ 'const' Declaration: Why & How

Recently, I noticed that my Acer TravelMate 4150 notebook contains the LunchApp.APlunch ActiveX control, which is marked as "safe for scripting" and "safe for initializing from persistent data".
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Checking the interface of the control reveals it has a method named "Run()" as shown below. The method supports parameters "Drive", "FileName", and "CmdLine". Isn't it strange for a control that's marked "safe for scripting" to allow a method that is suggestive of possible abuse?
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It isn't long before I'm using this control from a webpage to execute arbitrary commands on my notebook when the page is loaded in IE6. And it's too simple....

From the site this has only been tested on two Acer laptops - the Acer Aspire 5600 and the Acer TravelMate 4150 - and both from Singapore, but if it is more widespread then this could be dangerous...

Possible backdoor in Acer laptops

LID is a quite simple, but powerful technology that empowers individuals to keep control over and manage their on-line digital identities. LID uses URLs as identifiers, is fully decentralized and supports multiple underlying protocols such as OpenID, Yadis and PGP/GPG. LID functionality can be easily added to a URL that you own already, such as your blog. It's also very simple, interoperable, extensible, and secure. It is the original URL-based User-centric Digital Identity technology.

Light-Weight Identity™ (LID™)

Privacy International has a world map showing 36 countries rated on their ability to protect privacy. Not too surprisingly, the UK and US come out towards the bottom (Though with the UK doing worse than the US), and Canada and Germany come out as best.

Leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World

A new army of council tax 'inspectors' is to be given the right to enter people's homes and issue fines to anyone who refuses to cooperate.

Camera-wielding officials will be able to take photographs inside properties, including bedrooms, and rule they should pay more if they have home improvements such as patios and conservatories.

£1,000 fine for householders who refuse council tax 'snoopers'

The software maker said it will merge its security response unit, its Trustworthy Computing effort and an engineering excellence product in one group to be led by Scott Charney. That unit will be part of the Windows Core Operating System Division, now headed by Jon DeVaan.

By moving the unit inside Windows, DeVaan said Microsoft believes it can "become more effective and efficient at understanding what's going on with security".

Microsoft moves key security into Windows unit

Freeculture.org is pleased to announce the contest winners for our Down With DRM video contest. We had a lot of great entries, and want to thank *all* of the participants for their submissions. They’ve all contributed greatly to raising awareness in the fight against DRM.

Down With DRM Video Contest Winners Announced!

The point of terrorism is to cause terror, sometimes to further a political goal and sometimes out of sheer hatred. The people terrorists kill are not the targets; they are collateral damage. And blowing up planes, trains, markets or buses is not the goal; those are just tactics.

The real targets of terrorism are the rest of us: the billions of us who are not killed but are terrorized because of the killing. The real point of terrorism is not the act itself, but our reaction to the act.

And we're doing exactly what the terrorists want.

Refuse to be Terrorized - Wired News

Hey. This is a handy reference for all the various getElementsBy*() JavaScript functions that are out there, from the DOM standard getElementById to the very advanced getElementsBySelector functions. I've put this together because it's near impossible to write any useful scripts that use the DOM without these functions, and its nice to know the different methods available.

getElement(s)By... reference