SOPA Bill Creates Protests Online

January 18 is a date that will live in ignorance, as many websites including Wikipedia, Google and Reddit started a 24-hour blackout, joining other sites in protesting pending U.S. legislation aimed at shutting down sites that share pirated movies and other content.

The legislation has been a major priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and many industry groups. They maintain the proposed law is critical to curbing online piracy they say costs them billions of dollars annually.

Internet companies are concerned that the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act under consideration in the Senate, if passed, could be used to target legitimate sites like USENET, where users share content.

There are many reasons to dislike Sopa and Pipa, the pair of internet censorship bills working their way through the US Congress. They are examples of the influence of corporate money on American politics: US media firms have cumulatively donated tens of millions of dollars to the bills’ authors. They are (another) example of representatives refusal to represent the public: they tried to rush the bills through at the end of last year, with no public consultation. And the proposed technical solution – censorship enforced through the domain name system – would not have the effect they want it to have, but its technical side-effects would break important parts of the internet and USENET.

But finding common ground is more difficult in this case than in most intra-corporate squabbles, because the two sides — or powerful elements within them, at least — have largely irreconcilable world views. One senior Senate aide said that the technology side consistently refuses to specify precise changes they want to the bill. Indeed, improving the bill would be counterproductive if the ultimate goal is killing it outright — which it certainly is for many elements of the anti-SOPA coalition.

The shutdown adds to a very vocal body of critics who are speaking out against the legislation. But the bill’s many supporters — including the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and News Corp. — argue that those critics simply misunderstand the bill.

Though the Stop Online Piracy Act has the support from the likes of Hollywood, the music industry, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, many Silicon Valley firms say it effectively amounts to censorship.

Some might call these protests a great example of grass roots democracy in action. The MPAAcalls them a “gimmick… designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals.”

If SOPA passes, copyright holders would be able to complain to law enforcement officials and get websites shut down. Search engines and other providers would have to block rogue sites when ordered to do so by a judge. Sites could be punished for hosting pirated content — and Internet companies are worried they could be held liable for users’ actions.

Join the largest online protest in history.
Tell Congress to stop this bill now!

From: http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/sopa-bill-creates-protests-online/

SOPA Bill Creates Protests Online http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/sopa-bill-creates-protests-online/

USENET Finds The Force

If confirmed next week, this will be the biggest news in the history of physics since the birth of the Theory of Relativity: USENET newsgroups report that CERN scientists may have already found evidence of the existence of the elusive Higgs boson. THE FORCE, Luke!

Newsgroups cite that a respected scientist from the Cern particle physics laboratory has reported that he expects to see “the first glimpse” of the Higgs boson next week.

That would be tomorrow, when two Large Hadron Collider teams would reveal the results of their research, highlighting ten candidates that show evidence of Higgs. Those ten candidates were found from the remains of about 350 trillion collisions using the ATLAS and CMS detectors.

What’s the Higgs boson?

According to most physicists, there’s a Higgs field that is everywhere. The elusive Higgs particle would be the carrier of that field, interacting with all the other particles, “sort of the way a Jedi knight in Star Wars is the carrier of the “force”, as National Geographic eloquently put it when the Large Hadron Collider was being built. Or like Obi Wan said, “the Force surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”

Why is it important?

The Higgs boson is a pivotal part of the standard model of particle physics but nobody has ever found evidence of its existence. It’s one of the main reasons of why the Large Hadron Collider was built. Other than time travel and opening portals to alternate dimensions, that is.

The discovery of this particle is fundamental to our understanding of how the Universe works. So important that—according to the former theoretical physics lead at CERN, John Ellis—”we’ve been living with Higgs theory now for almost 50 years… it’s become our Holy Grail.” Ellis said the excitement among all scientist at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is very high. That may not sound impressive, given that Switzerland is the most boring country on Earth after Belgium, but if they call it the God Particle, you know it has to be important.

When would we get a photo of the God particle?

Not yet. Tomorrow’s data will not be confirmed until they are able to produce repeated evidence in future experiments. Scientists expect this to happen around next summer.

As Sergio Bertolucci—director of research at CERN—puts it: “It’s too early to say…I think we may get indications that are not consistent with its non-existence [but] we are on a good path to the discovery.”

From: http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/usenet-finds-the-force/

USENET Finds The Force http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/usenet-finds-the-force/

Happy Binary Day USENET

Today, 11/01/11 (or 11/1/11 – the choice is yours) is one of a select few dates solely composed of only 0s and 1s. In fact, the year 2011 has 9 binary days, just like every other binary date-capable year.

But enjoy it while it lasts. After November 11, which is perhaps one of the most booked days for weddings ever, you’ll have to wait a whole century before the calendar hits a binary date. (If you can make it until January 1, 2100, we’ll be impressed.)

As some USENET newsgroup subscribers are quick to describe, binary is a numbering scheme in which there are only two possible values for each digit: 0 and 1. The term also refers to any digital encoding/decoding system in which there are exactly two possible states. In digital data memory, storage, processing, and communications, the 0 and 1 values are sometimes called “low” and “high,” respectively.

In any case, the date is a great excuse to play with the code that lies at the core of modern computing. Though the fundamental coding method has been replaced by much more sophisticated and functional coding languages like Java, C++ and Python, that doesn’t mean it’s lost its place in the hearts and minds of nerds everywhere.

We use the decimal system in everyday life because it seems more natural (we have ten fingers and ten toes). For the computer, the binary system is more natural because of its electrical nature (charged versus uncharged).

Speaking of binary, did you know that NewsDemon.com Newsgroups supports over 1,179 days of binary retention on all 107,000 active uncensored newsgroups?

01001000011000010111000001110000011110010010000001000010011010010110111001100001011100100111100100100000010001000110000101111001001000000100011001110010011011110110110100100000010000010110110001101100001000000100111101100110001000000101010101110011001000000100000101110100001000000100111001100101011101110111001101000100011001010110110101101111011011100010111001100011011011110110110100100000010011100110010101110111011100110110011101110010011011110111010101110000

From: http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/happy-binary-day-usenet/

Happy Binary Day USENET http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/happy-binary-day-usenet/

Windows XP Turns 10 On USENET

Windows XP officially turned 10 years old on USENET newsgroups on Tuesday. Microsoft introduced the software back in 2001, following development under the code name Whistler. It featured numerous enhancements compared to its most immediate predecessor, Windows 2000. XP introduced a streamlined, task-based user interface that allowed advanced users like USENET newsgroup subscribers to more quickly find their go-to applications and files through the Start Menu or lockable Taskbar.

Windows XP didn’t boast exciting new features or radical changes, but it was nonetheless a pivotal moment in Microsoft’s history. It was Microsoft‘s first mass-market operating system in the Windows NT family. It was also Microsoft’s first consumer operating system that offered true protected memory, preemptive multitasking, multiprocessor support, and multiuser security.

When it launched, Windows XP was brilliant. It looked cool and modern compared to Windows 95, 98 and – yikes! – Windows Me, and it introduced a whole bunch of important improvements.

Windows Explorer was overhauled, the system was made much more reliable, driver support was massively improved, ClearType improved legibility for incoming LCD displays, the networking was beefed up, security was tightened, the graphics system was improved… upgrading to XP especially for USENET newsgroup subscribers was a big deal.

By 2006, XP had reached a milestone of 400 million active copies, according to an IDC analyst. The successor Windows Vista was launched in January of 2006, but enthusiasts as well as the notebook segment held on to XP and widely rejected Vista. Microsoft announced the discontinuance of Windows XP several times, but delayed the end of retail sales until June 30, 2008. OEM distribution of XP ended on October 22, 2010. Extended support for XP users is still available until April 8, 2014.

Even if it is a decade old, Windows XP is far from being dead. Industry discussion groups on USENET suggests that Windows XP lost its OS market share leadership position to Windows 7 this month. Windows 7 has 40.41 percent of the market, while XP has fallen to 38.51 percent. This is still far more than Vista ever reached; Vista peaked at 23.60 percent in October of 2009. The new and revised Windows 8 is due out sometime early next year.

From: http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/windows-xp-turns-10-on-usenet/

Windows XP Turns 10 On USENET http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/windows-xp-turns-10-on-usenet/

Is Microsoft Manipulating Ratings to Call IE the Safest Browser?

At risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, could Microsoft manipulate browser ratings so that its Internet Explorer always comes out on top? USENET newsgroup subscribers are noting the point in many Microsoft related newsgroups.
“Microsoft has always been fond of paying analysts to say that its products are best,” one USENET post reads, “or having partners release reports showing how their rivals’ products are second-rate, and, now, Web sites that ‘show’ how Internet Explorer (IE) is better than Chrome and Firefox when it comes to security.”
They argue that Microsoft manipulates the important aspects of rating browsers. Explorer was given high marks for including the SmartScreen malware detection program that allows software signed using a trusted certificate will be allowed to run, while Chrome allows unknown dangerous programs to be saved but stored in a sandbox to make it difficult to attack the system. Automatic updates with Chrome keep security at a high level, though. Microsoft does not, yet no points were deducted for this shortcoming.
Just as browsers should take security seriously, so should Usenet providers. If you’re in the market for a Usenet provider, make sure they offer SSL encryption security technology to protect your data and system while you browse and share on Usenet. NewsDemon.com Newsgroups offers SSL security encryption for its subscribers.

From: http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/is-microsoft-manipulating-ratings-to-call-ie-the-safest-browser/

Is Microsoft Manipulating Ratings to Call IE the Safest Browser? http://www.newsdemon.com/blog/is-microsoft-manipulating-ratings-to-call-ie-the-safest-browser/