Security company F-Secure says it is expecting to see viruses exploiting the rootkit technology used in Sony's DRM software anytime now.

F-Secure's Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypp�nen said that the company was already in discussions with Sony before the news broke on Monday, but because of the huge security risks that this information poses those talks were behind closed doors.

'We didn't go public with the info at the time as we were worried with the implications (especially with the info on how outsiders can hide files which have names starting with "$sys$"),' he said. 'We're waiting for the first virus which uses filenames like that.'

[ And we move one step further... now Sony feels they have the right to root my box in order to keep me from ripping audio tracks. This is all going to end badly for everyone. There's gonna have to be a compromise at some point, because the road paved with heavy duty DRM leads to the utter destruction of the industry, in my opinion. And that's not just the music industry, but the better part of the entire entertainment industry unless lessons are learned. Ridiculous. -k]

PC Pro: News: Sony rootkit DRM to spark copycat viruses

The schedule for the D*C space and science track, headed up by our own jonnyx, is available for your perusal.

Dragon*Con Space and Science Track Schedule

Yes, it could be stopped. First, we have to look at the root cause for this mayhem. We have to accept the fact that a group of people with a high level of education, coordination and sophistication, scattered around all over the world, cannot become crazy and willing to commit heinous crime simultaneously without any reason.

Obviously written by a non-native English speaker, look past the missing pronouns and definite articles. While I doubt any of these things will happen with the current political climate, I think he's right in thinking his course of action would minimize Islamic terrorism.

And Now Bombings in London: Can Islamic Terrorism be Stopped? (by Falsafay Ghaalib) - Media Monitors Network (MMN)

Acidus wrote:
] Here are my estimates for the
] Interz0nes
]
] 1: ~125 +-10
] 2: ~275 +-50
] 3: ~250 +-25
]
] Interz0ne 3 felt like it had less people than IZ2, (of course,
] any observations I can make about IZ2 are probably wrong as I
] had a lot of shit to handle!)

Actually, I believe IZ3 only had about 150 paid attendees, including staff and speakers.

I won't be attending IZ4 for several reasons, but that $50 price tag is definitely high on the list of why I'm not.

RE: Con attendence

] Marshall Wittman, a former Republican who is now a senior
] fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council, called this
] the first instance of the overreaching that officials in
] both parties had expected after Bush won reelection and
] claimed a broad mandate.
]
] "When you believe you are invulnerable, you will always
] take a step too far, and this was it," Wittman said. "The
] most cursory checking would have shown this guy has more
] skeletons than a haunted house. This choice was political
] from the beginning to the end."

Use u/p bugoff54@hotmail.com/bugoff to view article without registering, courtesy of www.bugmenot.com.

On Kerik Nomination, White House Missed Red Flags (washingtonpost.com)

] Waxman's staff reviewed 13 of the most commonly used
] abstinence-only sex education curricula in the United
] States and found that 11 of the programs -- which are
] used by 69 organizations in 25 states -- contain
] "unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright
] falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits
] and when life begins," the Post reports.
]
]
] According to the report, some of the claims made by the
] programs include: that a fetus at 43 days gestation is a
] "thinking person," that a boy or man can impregnate a
] woman or girl by touching her genitals, that women who
] undergo abortion are "more prone to suicide," that 10% of
] women who undergo abortion become sterile, that 50% of
] gay male teenagers are HIV-positive, that HIV can be
] spread through sweat and tears and that condoms fail to
] prevent sexually transmitted diseases 31% of the time
] when used during heterosexual intercourse, according to
] the report, the Post reports.

Not only does abstinence only education not work, but it's spreading misinformation as well. Just great.

Fed Funded Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Programs Give 'False' HIV Information

] The map gives the superficial impression that the "red
] states" dominate the country, since they cover far more
] area than the blue ones. However, as pointed out by many
] others, this is misleading because it fails to take into
] account the fact that most of the red states have small
] populations, whereas most of the blue states have large
] ones. The blue may be small in area, but they are large
] in terms of numbers of people, which is what matters in
] an election.
]
]
] We can correct for this by making use of a cartogram, a
] map in which the sizes of states have been rescaled
] according to their population.

[ Neat. Particularly the last two maps... -k]

Election result maps

] In his five years as governor of Texas, the state has
] executed 131 prisoners -- far more than any other state.
] Mr. Bush has lately granted a stay of execution for the
] first time, for a DNA test.
]
] In answer to questions about that record, Governor Bush
] has repeatedly said that he has no qualms. "I'm
] confident," he said last February, "that every person
] that has been put to death in Texas under my watch has
] been guilty of the crime charged, and has had full access
] to the courts."
]
] That defense of the record ignores many notorious
] examples of unfairness in Texas death penalty cases.
] Lawyers have been under the influence of cocaine during
] the trial, or been drunk or asleep. One court dismissed a
] complaint about a lawyer who slept through a trial with
] the comment that courts are not "obligated to either
] constantly monitor trial counsel's wakefulness or
] endeavor to wake counsel should he fall asleep."
]
]
] This past week The Chicago Tribune published a compelling
] report on an investigation of all 131 death cases in
] Governor Bush's time. It made chilling reading.
]
]
] In one-third of those cases, the report showed, the
] lawyer who represented the death penalty defendant at
] trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or
] otherwise sanctioned. In 40 cases the lawyers presented
] no evidence at all or only one witness at the sentencing
] phase of the trial.

And the article goes on to list even more facts about the lawyers and trials that are just stunningly abhorrent.

I think I'll pass on moving to Texas anytime soon.

Texas Executions: GW Bush Has Defined Himself, Unforgettably, As Shallow And Callous

] JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Dario Cruz has lived in the United
] States for 16 years, but just became a citizen last week
] as he and about 200 other immigrants were naturalized.
]
] One of the things he had always wanted to was register to
] vote, but when he was offered the chance to do that right
] outside the ceremony, he knew something wasn't right --
] the place on the form where you're asked to choose
] Democrat, Republican or independent was already filled
] out.
]
]
] "It's like one side," Cruz said. "You don't get to
] choose."
]
]
] According to Cruz and his family, every form was checked
] off Republican.
]
]
] It was something his wife, Linda Cross, first noticed.
] She said she asked what was going on, and was told the
] woman registering voters said they were with a Republican
] organization.
]
]
] "I am Republican," she told Channel 4's Jim Piggott. "I
] was very angry with that if they want to register
] whatever party, you shouldn't try to dictate to people
] what party they are going to register; who they are going
] to vote for, because then you don't have any freedom."

Later it mentions that "For the record, any registered voter can vote for any candidate of any party in a general election, but in most primaries in Florida, people can only vote for candidates of their own party." While this is true, it's still a slap in the face to new immigrants to have their party choice made for them.

News4Jax.com - Election 2004 - New Citizens Say GOP Took Away Their Right To Choose

Somewhere, someone failed because they needed yesterday what you only finished today.

Don't wait. Go.

Mantra #1