Blogs / 80beats

The self-proclaimed spam king of the Internet, Sam “Spamford” Wallace, was ordered to pay Facebook $711 million in civil damages for slinging spam on the social networking site. Wallace allegedly accessed Facebook accounts without obtaining permission, and used them to make bogus wall posts and spam the account holders’ friends. Those actions run afoul of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which sets guidelines for commercial e-mails, which are enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [PC World]. The judge also referred Wallace to the U.S. Attorney’s Office with a request that he be prosecuted for criminal contempt, which means he could actually face jail time if convicted.

If you’ve ever received an unsolicited email (and who hasn’t), chances are good that it came from Wallace’s company, Cyber Promotions, which was once the largest source of spam. So not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Spamford has run afoul of the law. In May, 2008, MySpace won a $230 million judgment against Wallace for sending junk messages. Wallace was also fined $4 million by the Federal Trade Commission in 2006 for his excessive pop-up ads [CNN]. Officials at Facebook said they don’t expect to see much of the $711 million, seeing as how Wallace is bankrupt and may soon have to send out his spam as hand written letters from behind bars.

Related Content:
80beats: Happy 40th Birthday, Internet! (Um, Again.)
80beats: Twitter Security Breach Reveals Confidential Company Documents
80beats: Attack That Took Down Twitter May’ve Been Aimed at Just One Blogger

Image: flickr / benstein

It seems that every day brings a new electronic gadget to the market, whether it’s a smart phone, an electronic reader, a laptop the size and weight of a magazine, or a television the size of a wall. But each advance adds to the world’s electronic waste, which is the fastest-growing component of solid waste. Much of the electronic refuse ends up in developing countries, where workers strip down the gadgets to get at the copper and other valuable metals inside, often exposing themselves to toxins in the process. Now, scientists are calling for federal regulations in the United States to stem the tide.

Although the U.S. is one the world’s largest producers of electronic waste (e-waste), it is hardly a leader in addressing this problem, given that the country has “no legally enforceable federal policies requiring comprehensive recycling of e-waste or elimination of hazardous substances from electronic products,” the researchers say [Scientific American]. Instead, e-waste policies are left to the states, not all of which have laws on the books. In the article, published in Science, the authors note that the United States has not ratified the Basel Convention, which regulates the movement of hazardous wastes across international borders and has the support of 169 of the 192 United Nations member countries [Scientific American].

Electronics can contain a host of dangerous materials, from heavy metals to toxic chemicals. Toxic e-waste shows up in forms as varied as high lead levels in the blood of children in Guiya, China, where millions of tonnes of e-waste are illegally dumped, and as fire-retardant chemicals in the eggs of California’s peregrine falcons [CBC News].

Related Content:
80beats: In a Bad Economy, Recyclables Are Just Pieces of Junk
80beats: Government Report Slams EPA for Lax Regulation of Electronic Waste
DISCOVER: 20 Thing You Didn’t Know About… Recycling

Image: Basel Action Network. E-waste in a Nigerian dump.

Yes, in early September we sent the Internet our birthday best wishes, noting that it had been 40 years since computer scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles connected two computers via a 15-foot cable, allowing for the transmission of data between them. But it wasn’t until October 29, 1969 that the first message passed between two different computer nodes, one at UCLA and the other at Stanford University. The message that researcher Leonard Kleinrock intended to send to Stanford was “login” but Kleinrock was only able to type “lo” before the system crashed. On his second attempt, the message went through successfully [ABC News]. With that, a net was born.

The system dubbed ARPANET, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, would lead directly to the Internet that we know, love, despise, and rely on utterly today. To date, over 1 billion people are online, and last year, Google announced that it had detected over 1 trillion pages [PC World].

Vinton Cerf, an Internet pioneer and the current Chief Internet Evangelist at Google says the online world will continue to evolve in ways we can barely imagine, but which serve humanity’s basic drive to communicate. “Don’t let anyone tell you that information is power…. It’s information-sharing that’s power” [LiveScience], he says.

Related Content:
80beats: Happy 40th Birthday, Internet!
80beats: 40 Years Ago Today, the World Saw Its First Personal Computer
80beats: “Interplanetary Internet” Will Soon Bring Twitter to the ISS
DISCOVER: The “Father of the Internet” Would Rather You Call Him “Vint”
DISCOVER: The Emoticon Turns 25

Image: NIH. ARPANET began with only four nodes, located at the University of California-Los Angeles, Stanford University, the University of California-Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah.

When the Human Genome Project finished sequencing the first human genome earlier this decade, the price tag for the endeavor had reached almost $3 billion. Now, IBM has announced details of its effort to bring the cost of sequencing a person’s genome down to below $1,000–and the company says it could go as low as $100. While IBM is hardly the only company racing towards these goals, the company’s chip-based approach makes it a serious contender.

The company’s technique involves drilling tiny nanometer-size holes through computer-like silicon chips, then passing DNA strands through them to read the information contained in their genetic code. “We are merging computational biology and nanotechnology skills to produce something that will be very useful to the future of medicine” [Wired.com], says IBM scientist Gustavo Stolovitzky.

Stolovitzky says the work could usher in a new era of personalized medicine, in which patients routinely have their genomes scanned to help doctors make medical decisions. “Ultimately, it could improve the quality of medical care by identifying patients who will gain the greatest benefit from a particular medicine and those who are most at risk of adverse reaction,” said Stolovitzky [InformationWeek].

(more…)

Three scientists who mastered light through technology have been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for physics, for breakthroughs that the prize committee said “helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies.” Half of the $1.4 million prize goes to Charles Kao (pictured), for his work on fiber optics, while the other half will be divided between Willard Boyle and George Smith, two retired researchers from Bell Labs who invented the first imaging technology using a digital sensor instead of film, paving the way for the creation of digital cameras.

Kao’s discovery in fiber optics set the stage for the technological revolution that underpins today’s global communication systems, powering broadband internet connections and carrying data transmissions around the world. In 1966, he figured out how to transmit light for more than 100 kilometers using optical glass fibers, five times the length of the most advanced fibers then available [Bloomberg]. Fiber optics have become ubiquitous in today’s wired, networked world; the Nobel committee noted that if all the optical cables in use today were unraveled, it would equal a single thread more than a billion kilometers long, enough to circle the globe 25,000 times.

(more…)

Looking for an easy, cheap way to spy on your neighbors? Researchers are working on a device that may be just the thing, which uses a simple wireless network to “see” through a wall and detect people moving around in the room beyond. But paranoid apartment-dwellers will be glad to know that the system still has plenty of limitations. At the moment the system can only track movement within a three-foot range, and it can only sense motion–it can’t put together a picture of what or who’s moving.

The system relies on the variations of radio signals in a wireless network. The signal strength at any point in a network is the sum of all the paths the radio waves can take to get to the receiver. Any change in the volume of space through which the signals pass, for example caused by the movement of a person, makes the signal strength vary. So by “interrogating” this volume of space with many signals, picked up by multiple receivers, it is possible to build up a picture of the movement within it [Technology Review]. The paper describing the technology has been posted on the arXiv pre-print server, and has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The device could be more than a boon for voyeurs or robbers. The researchers argue that the technology could be used in search and rescue operations, with emergency teams using the same radio technology used by Wi-Fi networks to build a web of sensors around a disaster site, revealing the location of victims and survivors [Telegraph].

Related Content:
Science Not Fiction: Knight Rider: Seeing Through Walls With Infrared Glasses?
80beats: Light-Bending Scientists Take a Step Closer to Invisibility

Image: Joey Wilson and Neal Patwari

To make one of the most sensitive diagnoses, hospitals might do well to call in a computer program. Researchers created a program that can sift through medical records and flag those patients who show signs of domestic violence. While emergency room doctors are always on the lookout for telltale signs, it may be hard to make the diagnosis from one or two isolated incidents. With this program, says lead researcher Ben Reis, “You are potentially able to detect high abuse risk years ahead of time: you don’t wait for a very bad thing to happen” [New Scientist].

Researchers first let the program scan through more than 350,000 medical records which included a substantial number of people who were eventually diagnosed as victims of domestic abuse, and asked the program to look for differences in their medical histories. The computer came up with a collection of risk factors that were highly associated with a future diagnosis.

(more…)

The 28-year-old hacker Albert Gonzalez who stole credit and debit card numbers from millions of people pleaded guilty on Friday to 19 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Gonzalez, also known by his handles “Soupnazi” and “Segvec,” reached a deal with the federal government on charges brought against him in Massachusetts and New York, where he and his co-conspirators stole more than 40 million card numbers from retailers like T.J. Maxx and Barnes & Noble. Gonzalez and his co-conspirators sold the numbers to others for fraudulent use and engaged in ATM fraud by encoding the data on the magnetic stripes of blank cards and withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars at a time from ATMs [PC World], according to the Department of Justice.

Gonzalez faces a prison sentence of 15 to 25 years in Massachusetts and a maximum sentence of 20 years in New York, but based on the terms of his plea agreements the sentences will be served concurrently. Gonzalez also agreed to pay restitution for the loss suffered by his victims, and to forfeit more than $2.7 million, plus real estate, a 2006 BMW, a Tiffany diamond ring and Rolex watches, the DOJ said. Included in the forfeited currency is more than $1 million in cash, which Gonzalez had buried in a container in his backyard [PC World]. He’ll be sentenced in December for the Massachusetts and New York cases, but that’s far from the end of his legal troubles.

(more…)

It may not look a day over 35, but the Internet turned 40 years old today. On September 2, 1969, computer scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, hooked up two computers via a 15-foot cable, allowing them to exchange data. It marked a milestone in the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET, which later gave rise to the Internet.

Still, it wasn’t until October 29 of the same year that the first message was sent between computer nodes; for that reason, some say the Internet was really born at the end of October. In any case, the Internet has come a long way since 1969: The first message was supposed to be “login” but [computer scientist Leonard] Kleinrock was only able to type “lo” before the system crashed [ABC News]. Now, life without the Web seems almost unimaginable (especially to these bloggers!). It’s impossible to get your brain around all that the Internet is and what is has done for us these 40 years. Luckily, the Internet is organized in such a way that we don’t have to [NPR].

Related Content:
80beats: 40 Years Ago Today, the World Saw Its First Personal Computer
80beats: Twitter Security Breach Reveals Confidential Company Documents
80beats: “Interplanetary Internet” Will Soon Bring Twitter to the ISS
80beats: China’s Internet Users Force Government to Back Down on Censorship

Image: flickr /Justin Marty

Every time you go online, your privacy is at stake. As you surf Web sites and enter search terms, large Internet companies and ad networks are collecting data about you, your hobbies, your habits, and your purchases in order to figure out which ads to display for you next. The companies argue that this practice, known as behavioral advertising, produces ads that are far more relevant to users than simply spamming them with whatever is selling that week, but privacy advocates are concerned about the amount of data that is being collected and what might be happening with that data behind the scenes [CNET].

Earlier this year a congressional committee held hearings on the topic, and asked for input from privacy groups. On Tuesday, representatives from a range of privacy and consumer protection groups asked the House Commerce Committee to prohibit online marketers from collecting sensitive data, require them to inform users what the data is being collected for and give individuals the right to see data collected about them [Wired.com]. U.S. Representative Rick Boucher of Virginia is expected to introduce a privacy bill this fall, and privacy advocates are hopeful that he’ll incorporate their ideas.

The off-limits “sensitive data” could include information about an Internet user’s race, political activity, and sexual orientation, as well as medical and financial data. The privacy groups also said in their recommendations (pdf) that data should not be collected from any user under the age of 18, if age could be determined. They also suggest that Web sites and advertisers only retain behavioral data for 24 hours, after which they must receive consent from users or get rid of it [The Wall Street Journal], in what amounts to an “opt-in” system for consumers.

(more…)

A petition that seeks a posthumous apology from the British government for its treatment of Alan Turing, a key WWII codebreaker and a father of computer science, has garnished more than 5,500 signatures. Among the signatories are the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and the novelist Ian McEwan.

In 1952, Turing was found guilty of gross indecency after admitting to a sexual relationship with a man (homosexuality was illegal at the time). His sentence? Estrogen injections in an experimental chemical castration treatment, along with the removal of his security clearance, thereby costing him his job for the U.K. Government. Two years later, he ended his life with a poison-laced apple–but not before he had made significant contributions to the world of computer science. In 1936 he established the conceptual and philosophical basis for the rise of computers in a seminal paper called On Computable Numbers, while in 1950 he devised a test to measure the intelligence of a machine. Today it is known as the Turing Test [BBC].

Many say that had Turing’s life not ended prematurely, he could have advanced the worlds of computer science and codebreaking even further. “There is no doubt in my mind that if Turing had lived past age 41 his international impact would have been great and that he likely would have received a knighthood while alive” [CNN], wrote computer scientist John Graham-Cumming, who initiated the petition.

Related Content:
80beats: Attack That Took Down Twitter May’ve Been Aimed at Just One Blogger
80beats: Twitter Security Breach Reveals Confidential Company Documents
80beats: Cyber Attack Hits Government Web Sites; North Korea Is Blamed

Image: flickr / Wikimedia Commons. A statue of Turing at the University of Manchester.

A 28-year-old hacker has been charged in what federal prosecutors are calling the largest case of identity theft ever seen. The man, Albert Gonzalez, worked with two unnamed Russian conspirators to run wild through the computer networks of a handful of prominent corporations, including 7-Eleven, the supermarket chain Hannaford Brothers, and the payment processor Heartland Payment Center. The size of the heist—130 million credit and debit card numbers, according to prosecutors—have many people wondering: How exactly is such a massive theft carried out?

The Justice Department’s indictment (pdf) describes how Gonzales (a.k.a. “segvec” and “soupnazi,” among other aliases) and his co-conspirators pulled it off. They began the job by scanning lists of Fortune 500 companies for likely targets, and then visited retail outlets to scope out the payment systems used at checkout counters and to look for vulnerabilities. Then they would write specific codes to corrupt their data systems and launch a virus from computers in the United States and Europe to pull hundreds and thousands of credit card numbers, and sort through them using a “sniffer,” which is basically a data analysis system that decodes big chunks of information [The Atlantic].

(more…)

The next big leap in computing power may come from a surprising source: the genetic code. Researchers at IBM have found a way to use DNA strands as the scaffolding on which to place carbon nanotubes, creating tiny microchips that could eventually be more efficient and cheaper to produce than today’s silicon chips. To keep pace with Moore’s Law, which postulates that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every two years, chip makers have to squeeze an increasing number of transistors onto every chip [Wired.com]. The new process offers an entirely different route to miniaturization.

Microchips are used in computers, cell phones and other electronic devices…. Right now, the tinier the chip, the more expensive the equipment. [An IBM spokesman] said that if the DNA origami process scales to production-level, manufacturers could trade hundreds of millions of dollars in complex tools for less than a million dollars of polymers, DNA solutions, and heating implements [Reuters].

(more…)

The cyber-attack that temporarily disabled Twitter and compromised Facebook and LiveJournal was politically motivated and was directed at a pro-Georgian blogger called Cyxymu, says a representative from Facebook.

The attack, which paralyzed Twitter for two hours and “degraded” service on Facebook, was one known as a distributed denial of service attack. This technique uses a network of tens of thousands of compromised computers, known as a “botnet”, to flood a website’s servers with page view requests, leaving legitimate traffic unable to get through. This huge amount of connection requests can quickly overwhelm a server and, in some cases, cause an entire website to crash [Telegraph]. It seems Twitter, a relatively new service with a U.S.-based infrastructure, couldn’t handle the surge in traffic, while Facebook and Google, which have many key services located internationally, were better-prepared for it.

It has not been confirmed who perpetrated the attack, but the blogger says he believes it could have been an attempt by the Russian government to squelch his criticism of over Russia’s conduct in the war over the disputed South Ossetia region, which began a year ago today. “Maybe it was carried out by ordinary hackers but I’m certain the order came from the Russian government” [Guardian], the blogger said. Such a widespread attack, some believe, would only be possible if the coordinator of the attack had access to significant resources.

(more…)

Evaluating the happiness of an entire society is tricky–after all, the traditional survey-based method of collecting data doesn’t work for such a huge population. But now scientists say they have come up with a way to quantify the well-being of a society: by analyzing song lyrics and blog posts for emotionally charged words, according to a study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies. Among their findings, researchers determined that bloggers in their 50s and 60s are most content, and that popular music has become increasingly less happy since the 1960s.

To evaluate the overall happiness of the public, researchers pulled data from nearly two-and-a-half million blogs and 230,000 song lyrics. With the aid of their own computers, the researchers scanned the texts for more than 1000 emotionally charged words that a 1999 psychology study had ranked on a scale from 1 (miserable) to 9 (ecstatic). “Triumphant” and “love” topped the list with average scores greater than 8.7, whereas “disgusted” was one of the lowest at 2.45. The researchers then calculated an average happiness score for each text based on the words’ scores and frequencies [ScienceNOW Daily News]. They found that although certain days of the year always show fluctuations in the blog world (Christmas and Valentine’s Day show a spike in happiness, while September 11 shows a dip in well-being), overall happiness among the bloggers since 2005 has increased about 4 percent.

(more…)