A senior administration official recently listed several ways that the United States is taking aim at the Chinese hacker community on the whole. That list includes everything from economic sanctions to a blanket ban on Chinese hackers attending conferences in the U.S. It’s actually already happening.
Handcuffs have unusual and contradictory design requirements: They must serve one human, and at the same time thwart another. More »
It’s been a long, weird and winding road, but it appears that the saga surrounding the leaked iPhone 4 prototype that got Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home raided is finally over. The two men accused of selling the device to Chen, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of theft of lost property. The two were sentenced to a year probation, 40 hours of public service and told to pay $250 in damages to Apple. The rest of the $5,000 they received for the prototype is theirs to keep. Through it all Chen and Gizmodo have escaped prosecution and, with the two who found and sold the device receiving barely a slap on the wrist, it looks like its time to close the book on this tale. Perhaps crime doesn’t pay, but it doesn’t appear to cost a whole heck of a lot either.
The saga of the leaked iPhone 4 prototype comes to an anticlimactic end originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We’re not exactly lacking in opportunities for Minority Report references these days, but sometimes they’re just unavoidable. According to a new report from CNET based on documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the US Department of Homeland security is now working on a system dubbed FAST (or Future Attribute Screening Technology) that’s designed to identify individuals who are most likely to commit a crime. That’s not done with something as simple as facial recognition and background checks, however, but rather algorithms and an array of sensors and cameras that can detect both physiological and behavioral cues that are said to be “indicative of mal-intent.” What’s more, while the DHS says that it has no plans to actually deploy the system in public just yet, it has apparently already conducted a limited trial using DHS employees — though no word on the results of how well it actually works, of course. Hit the source link below for the complete (albeit somewhat redacted) documents.
US Department of Homeland Security developing system to predict criminal intent originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Former ARRI exec pleads guilty to hacking into rival CEO’s e-mail account, faces jail time originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 08:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We know the Zetas drug cartel can be as sophisticated as any modern government. But the rest of the time, they’re as mercilessly savage as the lowest criminal thugs. And now they’re aiming the horrific bloodshed at online opponents. More »
StayLocked prototype renders your stolen bike unusable, won’t buy you another originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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According to The SF Weekly, Apple investigators looking into the missing iPhone 5 may have been impersonating San Francisco police officers. That’s a crime. More »
Search the news for “copper theft” and look through the headlines. LOOK. Why are there so many stories? Stealing wire to sell the copper? From a cell tower? What is this, the Great Depression? More »
Lending further gravity to the proposed crackdown being bandied about in British parliament, an Essex teen has been arrested for sending a BBM that ran afoul of the Serious Crime Act of 2007. The 18-year old, now free on bail, allegedly used the service to encourage copycat attacks of the violent rioting that’s swept London, and is set to appear in court on September 1st. It’s the second known case to put RIM’s private messaging service — “popular among urban teenagers” as a cheap texting alternative — in the UK’s legal hotseat. For its part, the Canadian electronics maker has since reached out to police, promising to aid the investigation “in any way [it] can.” Although no decision has yet been made to extend law enforcement’s powers over social media services, such as Twitter and Facebook, arrests like these seem to indicate a murky free speech future.
UK teen arrested for illegal BBM, social media crackdown gains steam originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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