castrox writes to tell us that The Pirate Bay’s legal concerns are continuing to grow. Prince and the Village People are planning to sue the popular torrent site with the help of the Web Sheriff law firm. John Giacobbi of Web Sheriff has also asked Swedish band ABBA to join the cause. The suit is seeking “millions of dollars” in damages, even though it’s still uncertain to whom the charges will be directed. The likely targets are the four Pirate Bay founders who were indicted a few weeks ago on charges of breaking copyright law. Prince has taken investigative action against The Pirate Bay in the past.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

mmtux writes: “As technology becomes more advanced, I am increasingly worried about privacy in all aspects of my life. Unfortunately, whenever I attempt to discuss the matter with my friends, they show tiny understanding and write me off as a hyper-neurotic IT student. They say they simply don’t care that the data they share on social networks may be accessible by others, that some laws passed by governments this day might be privacy-infringing and perilous, or that they shouldn’t use on-line banking without a virus scanner and a firewall. Have you ever attempted to discuss data security and privacy concerns with a friend who isn’t tech-savvy? How do you convince the average modern user that they should think about their privacy and the privacy of others when turning on their computer?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

An anonymous reader brings us a whitepaper from Codenomicon which discusses the say and future of wireless security. They examine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and also take a preliminary look at WiMAX. The results are almost universally dismal; vulnerabilities were found in 90% of the tested devices[PDF]. The paper also looks at methods for vendors to preemptively block some types of threats. Quoting: “Despite boasts of hardened security measures, security researchers and black-hat hackers keep embarrassing vendors. Security assessment of software by source code auditing is expensive and laborious. There are only a few methods for security analysis without access to the source code, and they’re usually limited in scope. This may be one reason why many major software vendors have been stuck randomly fixing vulnerabilities that have been found and providing countless patches to their clients to keep the systems protected.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

An anonymous reader brings us a whitepaper from Codenomicon which discusses the say and future of wireless security. They examine Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and also take a preliminary look at WiMAX. The results are nearly universally dismal; vulnerabilities were found in 90% of the tested devices[PDF]. The paper also looks at methods for vendors to preemptively block some types of threats. Quoting: “Despite boasts of hardened security measures, security researchers and black-hat hackers keep embarrassing vendors. Security assessment of software by source code auditing is high-priced and laborious. There are only a few methods for security analysis without access to the source code, and they’re usually limited in scope. This might be one reason why many major software vendors have been stuck randomly fixing vulnerabilities that have been found and providing countless patches to their clients to keep the systems protected.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

Reservoir Hill brings us a New York Times story about a man who will be granted to keep the money he gained through hacking into a computer system in order to gain early access to a company’s earnings statement. From the Times: “On Oct. 17, 2007, someone hacked into a computer system that had information on an earnings announcement to be made by IMS Health a few hours later. Minutes after the breach of computer security, Mr. Dorozhko invested $41,671 in put options that would expire worthless three days later unless IMS shares plunged before that. The next morning the share price did plunge, and Mr. Dorozhko made his money by selling the puts. ‘Dorozhko’s alleged “stealing and trading” or “hacking and trading” does not amount to a violation’ of securities laws, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of United Says District Court ruled last month. Although he might have broken laws by stealing the information, the judge concluded, ‘Dorozhko didn’t breach any fiduciary or similar duty “in connection with” the buy or sale of a security.’ She ordered the S.E.C. to let him have his profits.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Fun, World wide web, Children, News, Web services, web 2.0

A job posting on Gamasutra recommends Amazon will soon start a Personal computer game download store to compliment Unbox, its video-on-demand service, and the site’s MP3 download store. The job posting asks programmer/engineers to apply to become a part of the Software and Video Games Digital Technology Team at Amazon, which is “responsible for digital distribution of software and video game products from the Amazon website, including the newly launched Amazon Software Download store.”

The job posting itself is unsurprising as Amazon recently launched the software branch of its download services, but the job post includes the bit about the distribution of “video game products,” which is currently not happening at the Amazon Software Download Store. The only software presently available from the very new service is unfortunately tax software.

But fear not! We’re sure a few competent souls will apply, molding the new service into a very happy reality for those of us that hate visiting and supporting major retail stores like Best Buy and Circuit City.

[via Joystiq]

Read

Share This

Share This

DavidGarganta writes “A patent troll firm in suburban Philadelphia, Rembrandt IP Management, is trying to force big cable operators and major broadcasters to pay substantial license fees on the transmission of digital Television signals and Internet services. The firm is apparently trying to get 0.5% of all revenues from services that supposedly infringe on the patents. The targeted companies include ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Charter and Cablevision. According to MultiChannel News, Rembrandt’s assault is especially aggressive, even for a patent troll: ‘It is attacking two key technology standards used by the cable and broadcast industries, CableLabs’ DOCSIS and the Advanced TV Systems Committee’s digital-TV spec. “If they’re successful, this could affect everything from the cost of cable service to the price of Televisions,” stated the attorney close to the litigation, who spoke only on condition of anonymity.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

Reservoir Hill brings us a New York Times story about a man who will be granted to keep the money he gained through hacking into a computer system in order to gain early access to a company’s earnings statement. From the Times: “On Oct. 17, 2007, someone hacked into a personal system that had information on an earnings announcement to be made by IMS Health a few hours later. Minutes after the breach of personal security, Mr. Dorozhko invested $41,671 in put options that would expire worthless three days later unless IMS shares plunged before that. The next morning the share price did plunge, and Mr. Dorozhko made his money by selling the puts. ‘Dorozhko’s alleged “stealing and trading” or “hacking and trading” does not amount to a violation’ of securities laws, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of United States District Court ruled last month. Even though he may have broken laws by stealing the information, the judge concluded, ‘Dorozhko did not breach any fiduciary or similar duty “in connection with” the buy or sale of a security.’ She ordered the S.E.C. to let him have his profits.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

New York City Department of Finance
Arrow Graphic, Finance values your feedback. Please take our survey. … Welcome to the City of New York Department of Finance …

UCLA Anderson School of Management | Finance
Banking and finance data on a monthly or quarterly basis beginning with the …. Current articles on personal finance, including retirement and kids …

Education Finance Statistics Center (EDFIN) - About EDFIN
Information on all aspects of Public School Finance including data, surveys, graphs, tools, and publications.

Finance
QuickMBA Finance - Topics in corporate finance, investment management, security analysis, stock indices, and other finance resources.

State of Alabama - Department of Finance
Personal finance and money commentary, news, resources, tips, and tricks.

Posts from the Finance Category at Download Squad
Google Finance to the UK For those of you that have been itching to get a pulse on more European company information and UK mutual fund data, Google Finance …

Finance and Record-keeping Jobs, Financial Careers - JobsintheMoney.com
jobsinthemoney is the #1 financial job site. Financial jobs, banking jobs, record-keeping jobs for finance professionals. Salary survey, career information and …

California Department of Finance: Home
The California Department of Finance serves as the Governor's chief fiscal policy advisor, promotes responsible resource allocation through the state's …

finance
Marin Bezio, Finance Coordinator, mbezio@contosopharm.com … Helge Hoeing, Finance Curriculum Manager, hhoeing@contosopharm.com …

Auto Loans and vehicle financing tips, information and services are …
Several calculators and convertors related to finance.

Government Finance Officers Association
Program encourages interdisciplinary research in quantitative finance. Provides list of degree programs.

GOOG - Google Inc. - Google Finance
Get the latest on Google Inc. (GOOG) including stock quotes, interactive charts, up to date news, high quality discussion groups and more on Google Finance.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, Books

Since the announcement on Oprah’s TV program that Suze Orman’s financial advice book Money & Women would be available for free as an e-book from Oprah.com, more than a million copies in English have been downloaded, as well as an additional 19,000 in Spanish, according to a statement released Saturday. This puts it the same league as such other free download sensations as the 9-11 Commission Report and Stephen King’s “Riding the Bullet.”

Yet, the offer hasn’t kept people from buying the version of Money & Women published by a division of Random House last year. The book was ranked number 6 on Amazon on Saturday, behind Oprah Book Club selection A New Earth and just ahead of Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. The 9-11 Commission Report remained a bestseller for months despite its availability for free on the web.

The large publishers remain skeptical about providing content for free on the internet. While some see it as a valuable marketing tool, others suspect that it harms sales of traditional books. But the tide might be turning, albeit in baby steps. HarperCollins has announced plans to make available free electronic versions of some of its books, or portions thereof, the New York Times reported last week. They’ll not be downloadable, however.

Providing some free content is “like taking the shrink wrap off a book,” said a spokesperson for HarperCollins, which will grant consumers to sample the content. “I didn’t grow up buying each book I read,” added fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman, author of some of the free content. “I read books at libraries, I read books at friend’s houses, I read books that I found on people’s window sills.”

Suze Orman recommends that sales are a secondary concern for her in the Oprah offer. “This wasn’t about getting people to purchase the book, but getting them to read it, and that was the intention behind this offer.”

Share This

Share This