18th April 2010 Archive

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Google: botnet takedowns fail to stem spam tide

'If one goes offline, spammers buy, rent, or deploy another'

Spam levels have remained resolutely stable despite recent botnet takedowns, according to a survey from Google's email filtering business. Google Postini reports no lasting effect from the recent takedown of spam-spewing botnet, such as Mariposa and Mega-D. The command-and-control servers associated with the Mega-D botnet were …

Security 18 Apr 2010, 04:17
Omegle invites you to show world+Facebook your bewbs

Can we say ‘Twatroulette’ in a sub-head? No? OK then

The UK’s online child protection agency, CEOP, reacted with alarm today at the latest manifestation of the new trend in random online chat, Omegle. CEOP is concerned that there is no online panic button for users who find themselves getting into situations that they find uncomfortable or abusive. This isn’t surprising given …

Bootnotes 18 Apr 2010, 11:02
UK Gov, and privacy invasion without a safety net

Comment Your data, their hands, that button

It’s scarcely unusual. You’re preparing an email, you start typing an email address, autocomplete fills one in from you, and then you may or may not notice as the email speeds off that it’s going to someone entirely different from the intended recipient. If the email includes personal details of 10,000 people and the person you’ …

Law 18 Apr 2010, 12:12
Astroboffin says 'black holes murder galaxies'

But not ours

About 25,000 light years from earth, nestled in the center of our galaxy, lurks a supermassive black hole. Luckily for us, our galaxy's matter-sucking hub is far less active than those at the core of many other galaxies. If it weren't, we'd all be dead. Or, more likely, our earth would never have come to be in the first place …

Science 18 Apr 2010, 19:54