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ITN News — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:27:35 +0000

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Zuckerberg describes FB’s ‘hacker way’

ITN News — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:40:14 +0000

In Facebook's regulatory filing for an initial public offering of stock, CEO Mark Zuckerberg included a letter to potential investors about the company's thinking. He described it as a social mission to make the world more open and connected. He also discussed Facebook's approach to culture and management: "As part of building a strong company, we work hard at making Facebook the best place for great people to have a big impact on the world and learn from other great people. We have cultivated a unique culture and management approach that we call the Hacker Way. "The word 'hacker' has an unfairly negative connotation from being portrayed in the media as people who break into computers. In reality, hacking just means building something quickly or testing the boundaries of what can be done. Like most things, it can be used for good or bad, but the vast majority of hackers I've met tend to be idealistic people who want to have a positive impact on the world. "The Hacker Way is an approach to building that involves continuous improvement and iteration. Hackers believe that something can always be better, and that nothing is ever complete. They just have to go fix it - often in the face of people who say it's impossible or are content with the status quo. "Hackers try to build the best services over the long term by quickly releasing and learning from smaller iterations rather than trying to get everything right all at once. To support this, we have built a testing framework that at any given time can try out thousands of versions of Facebook. We have the words 'Done is better than perfect' painted on our walls to remind ourselves to always keep shipping. "Hacking is also an inherently hands-on and active discipline. Instead of debating for days whether a new idea is possible or what the best way to build something is, hackers would rather just prototype something and see what works. There's a hacker mantra that you'll hear a lot around Facebook offices: 'Code wins arguments.' "Hacker culture is also extremely open and meritocratic. Hackers believe that the best idea and implementation should always win - not the person who is best at lobbying for an idea or the person who manages the most people. "To encourage this approach, every few months we have a hackathon, where everyone builds prototypes for new ideas they have. At the end, the whole team gets together and looks at everything that has been built. Many of our most successful products came out of hackathons, including Timeline, chat, video, our mobile development framework and some of our most important infrastructure like the HipHop compiler. "To make sure all our engineers share this approach, we require all new engineers - even managers whose primary job will not be to write code - to go through a program called Bootcamp where they learn our codebase, our tools and our approach. There are a lot of folks in the industry who manage engineers and don't want to code themselves, but the type of hands-on people we're looking for are willing and able to go through Bootcamp."

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Ukraine Shuts Down Leading File-Sharing Site

ITN News — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:11:27 +0000

Ukrainian authorities have shut down a popular file-sharing website saying it violates copyright laws, officials said Wednesday. Interior Ministry Spokesman Volodymyr Polishchuk said that Ex.ua was closed Tuesday after complaints from Microsoft, Adobe and other companies. The ministry said it has confiscated 200 servers that were used to support the website and law enforcement agents were questioning 16 of its employees. The Recording Industry Association of America has named Ex.ua among the world’s worst Internet piracy sites. Shortly after Ex.ua went down Tuesday, the Interior Ministry’s own website became inoperable. Polishchuk said this was likely a work of hackers. Ex.ua representatives could not be immediately reached for comment. Millions of Ukrainians have uploaded and downloaded music, movies, and software from the website since it was founded in 2009.

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Did the FBI use spyware on Megaupload?

ITN News — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:35:10 +0000

In one exchange, Megaupload managers fretted via Skype IM chat in 2007 that founder Kim Dotcom wasn't "safe with his money" and "the current situation is a bit risky", according to documents US authorities filed with a New Zealand court this month as part of their criminal pursuit of the embattled cyberlocker service. While it's still not clear how federal investigators gained access to the conversations of founder Kim Dotcom and other top managers, there are hints that the FBI managed to place government-issued spyware on the defendants' computers. The FBI cites alleged conversations between Dotcom and his top lieutenants, including email and Skype instant-messaging logs. Some of the records go back nearly five years, to Megaupload's earliest days as a cyberlocker service — even though Skype says "IM history messages will be stored for a maximum of 30 days" and the criminal investigation didn't begin until a few months ago. Sources told ZDNet Australia's sister site CNET yesterday that Skype, the internet phone service now owned by Microsoft, was not asked by the feds to turn over information and was not served with legal process. The US Department of Justice told CNET that it obtained a judge's approval before securing the correspondence, which wouldn't have been necessary in the case of an informant. "Electronic evidence was obtained through search warrants, which are reviewed and approved by a US court," a spokesperson for the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia said. In 2007, the FBI obtained court approval to implant spyware called CIPAV on a suspect's computer, which transmitted to government computers an ongoing log of the user's outbound connections. Documents obtained by CNET through the Freedom of Information Act in 2009 show that CIPAV has been used in investigations designed to nab extortionists, database-deleting hackers, child molesters and hitmen. Skype saves chat records with contacts in a directory on the local hard drive, which could be accessed by FBI-planted spyware. It's not only the FBI that uses spyware to intercept communications. Last year, the Chaos Computer Club discovered that German police were using spyware that could activate the suspect's microphone and webcam. The Megaupload indictment is unusually long and detailed, weighing in at over 70 pages, and was drafted last year. US officials filed additional documents with the New Zealand court during Dotcom's bail hearing. Dotcom (aka Kim Schmitz) wasn't arrested in New Zealand until 19 January. Yesterday, Megaupload users learned that their data would not be deleted for at least two weeks. The feds allege that Dotcom and six other Megaupload employees enabled millions of people to use the company's cyberlockers to store pirated TV shows and films and then share them with each other without compensating creators. The government accuses Megaupload's administrators of pocketing millions and has charged them with money laundering, racketeering and piracy. Ira Rothken, Megaupload's attorney, declined to comment yesterday about how his client's internal documents were obtained by the government, but said the government's "allegations are flimsy under the law". New Zealand police raided the home of Dotcom in a rural area outside of Auckland. The US Government is seeking to extradite Dotcom; a local judge denied bail and an extradition hearing is scheduled for 22 February. Via CNET

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Pirate Bay appeal refused by Swedish Supreme Court

ITN News — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:25:49 +0000

The Swedish Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from the founders of The Pirate Bay against prison sentences and fines imposed by the Swedish Court of Appeals, the court said on Wednesday. Over a year ago, the Court of Appeals sentenced Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde, and Carl Lundström to 10 months, eight months and four months of jail time, respectively. The court also said they must collectively pay a 46 million kronor (£4.3 million) fine. The Supreme Court hears cases that are considered important for the direction of Swedish law enforcement, or when there are special circumstances. The court has reviewed the material in the Pirate Bay case and found that neither reason to hear the case exists, it said. Separately, Gottfrid Swartholm Warg has been sentenced to one year in prison. Due to illness, Warg never showed up at the appeals trial, and recently had his verdict in the district court confirmed. The Pirate Bay case has been contentious from day one, and not everyone thinks Wednesday's decision was the right choice. "The Pirate Bay case is fundamentally important and it is unfortunate that the Supreme Court chooses not to hear the case," said Anna Troberg, leader of the Pirate Party in Sweden, in a statement. The case has been handled inadequately since the raid back in May 2006, and it would have been desirable that the Supreme Court heard the case, she said. The entertainment industry is happier. The verdict is a defining moment in the battle over copyright on the Internet, according to the industry-funded Antipiratbyrån (Anti-Piracy Office). The Supreme Court has made it clear that all involved are responsible for any violations, including those that deliver the Internet connection, said the industry group. Now that the sentence has been confirmed, Antipiratbyrån will act against the nearly 150 illegal file-sharing services that have Swedish connections, it said. The Pirate Bay today posted a blog in response to the ruling, promising to keep fighting: "But what enrages us to our inner core is that the system, the empire, the governments, are still allowed to try to boss you and us around with one law crazier than the other. Do you think they will stop with SOPA/ACTA/PIPA? They will not. Because you won't stop sharing those files. Because we will not stay down. Because no one can turn back time. Together, we are the iron that hardens with each strike. In this year of the storm, the winners will build windmills and the losers will raise shelters. So flex your muscles, fellow pirates, and give power to us all! Build more sites! More nets! More protocols! Scream louder than ever and take it to the next level!"

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The Basics Behind Google’s New Privacy Policies

ITN News — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:17:17 +0000

Last week, Google announced new privacy standards that essentially created a single, unified policy across all of its properties. What’s so bad about that? Well, users kind of freaked out when they realized that Google would be tracking them across all of its services to tailor ads to them — meaning that if you were cruising YouTube for videos of awesome Blake Griffin dunks, you might end up with a Nike ad in your Gmail. People complained, a group of Congressmen including Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican from Florida, and Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat from California, got involved, and now Google is defending itself with a letter. Here’s the gist of what it says (or you can read the entire thing online):

You don’t have to sign in. You can use YouTube, Search and other Google products even if you aren’t signed into your Google account. Of course, if you’re an avid Gmail user, that means you’d have to constantly be signing in and out. But hey, that’s the price you pay for “a better user experience.”
If that sounds like a pain, just make separate accounts for each site.
Google isn’t collecting any new information. It’s simply taking the information it was already gathering and consolidating it.
It’s all in the name of simplicity. Google was a single search engine in 1998 and now it’s an Internet behemoth that has accrued more than “60 product-specific privacy policies.”
Users can request Google delete their personal information from its archives after they’ve closed their accounts provided they’re willing to wait a “reasonable period of time,” whatever that means.

To be fair, if you’re not concerned about privacy, the integration between services is pretty cool. A few examples Google gives:

For example, today we make it easy for a signed-in user to immediately add an appointment to her Calendar when a message in Gmail looks like it’s about a meeting. As a signed-in user she can also read a Google Docs document right in her Gmail, rather than having to leave Gmail to read the document. Our ability to share information for one account across services also allows signed-in users to use Google+’s sharing feature — called “circles” — to send directions to family and friends without leaving Google Maps.

The fact is, if you’re already using Gmail, then you probably shouldn’t be up in arms about privacy since you basically haven’t had any for years. For social-media users, you can always leave Google+ for Facebook. Oh, wait, you hate Timeline? Well this is awkward. While you are at it feel free to add IT-Networks to your Google+ KGghlPmebCY

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Shit Programmers Say

ITN News — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:25:10 +0000

Yes, this "Shit say" meme is getting tiresome, but I actually laughed at the end of this video, so I can't resist sharing. (Warning: NSFW language.) My apologies if you didn't find it funny. Over at Reddit, they are debating not the humor or lack thereof, but whether the young people appearing in the video could be honest-to-goodness programmers given the nature of the equipment they are using.

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Megaupload: User Data Has Two Weeks to Live

ITN News — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:51 +0000

Former users of Megaupload have at least two more weeks to worry about what will happen to their data. Despite the government’s indications that the Megaupload user data could be deleted by Thursday, Megaupload’s data hosting services, Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications, have agreed to preserve users’ files for a minimum of two weeks, Ira Rothken, Megaupload’s attorney in the United States, told CNet. Although the stay of data execution is good news for Megaupload customers who were using the file-sharing service legally, it’s no guarantee that they’ll get their files back. Rothken told CNet that he’s in negotiations with the government to figure out a solution, but the U.S. Department of Justice has so far seemed unconcerned about users who relied on the service. Those users agreed to the service at their own risk, a DOJ spokesman said in a statement to PCMag last week. “It is important to note that Mega clearly warned users to keep copies of any files they uploaded,” the DOJ spokesman said. It’s also unclear how users would get their data back even if Megaupload and the government came to an agreement. Would they simply open the site again with uploads and sign ups disabled, or come up with some other way to access the data? And how would they ensure that users weren’t helping themselves to content that infringes copyrights? Any method would require time and development efforts — the process could easily get messy. So while Megaupload users can breathe easy for now, they shouldn’t get their hopes up. Getting their data back is still a long shot.

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Contractors Could Wipe Megaupload User Data Thursday [Updated]

ITN News — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:21:42 +0000

Who knew the ‘D’ in D-Day stood for delete? Make that this Thursday then, when there’s a chance your Megaupload data — legal or no — could be obliterated, according to a letter filed last Friday by the feds. The conundrum’s simple enough: You’re one of the world’s largest file sharing sites, you’ve paid for a bunch of third-party computers to host your data, but you’ve since been indicted for copyright infringement, your site’s been shutdown, and the funds you used to pay those third-party storage sites are on ice. What do you do? There’s not much you can, and the third-parties in this case — storage companies Carpathia Hosting and Cogent Communications Group — can’t maintain all that data for free, meaning at some point it has to go. That could happen as early as Thursday, warns a letter filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. According to an AP story, the feds say they copied some of the data off the servers, but that’s it, and there’s no going back for seconds since the search warrants have already been executed. U.S. prosecutors say it’ll be up to Carpathia and Cogent to determine what happens next. To be clear: While the feds are warning the data could be deleted by Thursday, Carpathia and Cogent haven’t yet said what they’ll do, or when. Of course they could just strike a deal: “We’re cautiously optimistic at this point that because the United States, as well as Megaupload, should have a common desire to protect consumers, that this type of agreement will get done,” said Megaupload attorney Ira Rothken. There’s that, plus Rothken says Megaupload wants the data to help defend itself in the case (implying it believes much of the data’s legitimate). I’m not sure it’ll do any good, but if you’re a Megaupload user with legal data at stake, you can contact Carpathia here and Cogent here. UPDATE: Carpathia is disavowing ties to Megaupload, writing in a press statement:

In reference to the letter filed by the U.S. Department of Justice with the Eastern District of Virginia on Jan. 27, 2012, Carpathia Hosting does not have, and has never had, access to the content on MegaUpload servers and has no mechanism for returning any content residing on such servers to MegaUpload’s customers. The reference to the Feb. 2, 2012 date in the Department of Justice letter for the deletion of content is not based on any information provided by Carpathia to the U.S. Government. We would recommend that anyone who believes that they have content on MegaUpload servers contact MegaUpload. Please do not contact Carpathia Hosting.

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Madden NFL 12 Simulates Super Bowl

ITN News — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:39:51 +0000

Electronic Arts is predicting that the New York Giants will defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, by a single field goal. For the past several years, the videogame publisher has been using its hit title Madden NFL to simulate the outcome of the Super Bowl — and in six out of the past eight matchups, it has guessed correctly. But unlike the camel in the New Jersey zoo that has picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls, EA breaks down the score quarter by quarter. EA simulates the Super Bowl by using artificial intelligence and real data from each team. It even includes variables such as injuries. The simulation is powered by Madden NFL and Xbox 360, the official console sponsor of the NFL. EA replays the game’s highlights in a video, including Giants quarterback Eli Manning being named MVP for completing 25 of 39 passes with two touchdowns, and the Patriots’ Tom Brady throwing for 327 yards and three touchdowns. Spoiler Alert: To win the game, Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes will make a 40-yard field goal, with the final score 27-24. EA’s Super Bowl simulation has been an annual occurrence since 2004 — for your reference, here’s how the past years have shaped up:

2004 – Prediction: Patriots 23, Panthers 20 | Actual: Patriots 32, Panthers 29
2005 – Prediction: Patriots 47, Eagles 31 | Actual: Patriots 24, Eagles 21
2006 – Prediction: Steelers 24, Seahawks 19 | Actual: Steelers 21, Seahawks 10
2007 – Prediction: Colts 38, Bears 27 | Actual: Colts 29, Bears 17
2008 – Prediction: Patriots 38, Giants 30 | Actual: Giants 17, Patriots 14
2009 – Prediction: Steelers 28, Cardinals 24 | Actual: Steelers 27, Cardinals 23
2010 – Prediction: Saints 35, Colts 31 | Actual: Saints 31, Colts 17
2011 – Prediction: Steelers 24, Packers 20 | Actual: Packers 31, Steelers 25

So not a perfect record by any means, but the company’s 75% accuracy isn’t too shabby. Note that it incorrectly picked the 2007 game between the Patriots and Giants, though.

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