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Reddit removes “warrant canary” from its latest transparency report

(credit: Cyrus Farivar) Reddit has removed the warrant canary posted on its website, suggesting that the company may have been served with some sort of secret court order or document for user information. At the bottom of its 2014 transparency report , the company wrote: “As of January 29, 2015, reddit has never received a National Security Letter, an order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or any other classified request for user information. If we ever receive such a request, we would seek to let the public know it existed.” That language was conspicuously missing from the 2015 transparency report that was published Thursday morning. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Reddit removes “warrant canary” from its latest transparency report

Bitcoin transactions could consume as much energy as Denmark by the year 2020

The numbers in this study are very back-of-the-envelope and assume a worst case: widespread adoption of Bitcoin and not much improvement in Bitcoin mining activity, along with long replacement cycles for older, less efficient mining rigs. Even the best case scenario has Bitcoin consuming a shocking amount of electricity. (more…)

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Bitcoin transactions could consume as much energy as Denmark by the year 2020

FCC expands Lifeline to help low-income Americans afford internet

Today the FCC voted 3-2 to approve expanding its Lifeline program that has subsidized phone and prepaid wireless access for low-income Americans since the 80s, so that now it covers internet access too. The $9.25 household subsidy is paid directly to service providers, and now it can be applied to standalone internet access, or bundled voice/data service. There are requirements for the services provided, like a minimum 150GB monthly usage cap, as well as minimums for mobile broadband usage and cellphone voice minutes. The point here is to shrink the “digital divide” between households that can and cannot afford internet access, as necessary elements for education, job-hunting, health care and more increasingly move online. The vote was not without political drama however, as it was held up for several hours before eventually the commissioners voted along party lines. Deliberative process did work. At 10:30 we had bipartisan agreement. Chairman Wheeler delayed meeting to work to blow it up! — Matthew Berry (@matthewberryfcc) March 31, 2016 A proposed compromise to get a unanimous vote including Republican commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Reilly would’ve put a hard $2 billion per year cap on spending (funding for the program comes from a fee placed on consumer’s phone bills). That did not come to fruition, as Pai’s chief of staff Matthew Berry told reporters that the chairman Tom Wheeler pressured fellow commissioner Mignon Clyburn to back off of the compromise deal — which both Wheeler and Clyburn denied. The plan adopted has a soft cap of $2.25 billion per year, which could be adjusted as necessary. According to the LA Times , the program spent $1.5 billion last year, after peaking at $2.2 billion in 2012. Source: FCC

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FCC expands Lifeline to help low-income Americans afford internet

Patch Out For ‘Ridiculous’ Trend Micro Command Execution Vulnerability

An anonymous reader shares a report on The Register: A bug in its software meant that Trend Micro accidentally left a remote debugging server running on customer machines. The flaw, discovered by Google’s Project Zero researcher Tavis Ormandy, opened the door to command execution of vulnerable systems (running either Trend Micro Maximum Security, Trend Micro Premium Security or Trend Micro Password Manager). Ormandy — who previously discovered a somewhat similar flaw in Trend Micro’s technology — described the latest flaw as ‘ridiculous’. Trend Micro issued a patch for the flaw, a little over a week after Ormandy reported the bug to it on 22 March. The patch is not complete but does address the most critical issues at hand, according to the security firm. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Patch Out For ‘Ridiculous’ Trend Micro Command Execution Vulnerability

‘Final Fantasy XV’ lands September 30th, ten years in the making

Final Fantasy XV hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30th, Square Enix announced during its Uncovered live event in Los Angeles. The release date may not be a surprise for everyone, considering it leaked a tad early , but this announcement marks official confirmation. A new teaser for FFXV launches tonight, called Platinum Demo , and it’s free to download on PS4 and Xbox One. PC players, you’re out of luck — for now. FFXV director Hajime Tabata told Engadget that the studio isn’t currently working on a PC version of the game. But, Tabata said he was “aware of the big call for a PC version.” “Unfortunately we weren’t able to do simultaneous development on a PC and console version for XV, ” he said. “We had to focus on the console version and our goal was to maximize, optimize everything for the HD consoles. Once that’s done, then we will definitely take a good, hard look at PC and what we need to do, and consider all our options. But right now we aren’t decided, we’re still considering a lot of things.” For Xbox One and PS4 players, there is a Deluxe Edition and Ultimate Collector’s Edition available to purchase on the official Square Enix online store. FFXV stars Prince Noctis and his friends as they take one final, epic road trip together before Noctis is married to a neighboring princess. Players will control Noctis only throughout the entire game, though his friends are independent AI helpers and he can give commands to them. The main characters in FFXV have rich backstories and personalities, and these will be on full display in two supplemental pieces of media set to launch before the game itself. Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV is a five-episode animated series from A-1 Pictures, the studio behind Sword Art Online and Black Butler . Its story focuses on the strong emotional bonds connecting Noctis and his best buds, and explains how they became friends. The first episode is available now for free on YouTube . Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV is a full-length, 3D-animated feature film a la Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children , directed by veteran Final Fantasy director and animator Takeshi Nozue. It takes place during the events of FFXV , but it focuses on King Regis (Noctis’ dad) and the Crown City once the bro trip leaves the kingdom. Game of Thrones stars Lena Headey and Sean Bean provide their voice-acting talents to the film, as does Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul. Kingsglaive will be released digitally in 2016, and the studio is still figuring out if it will pursue other formats as well. FFXV has traveled a long and rocky path toward release: Square Enix announced it in 2006 under the name Final Fantasy Versus XIII , but over the years, it changed titles and directors. Final Fantasy XV is led by Type-0 director Tabata, who took over from long-time Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts mastermind Tetsuya Nomura.

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‘Final Fantasy XV’ lands September 30th, ten years in the making

Chinese Scammers Take Mattel To the Bank, Phishing Them For $3 Million

itwbennett quotes a report from The Associated Press: Mattel, the popular toy maker behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, was the victim of a phishing attack last year that nearly cost them $3 million. On April 30, 2015, a Mattel finance executive got a note from the new CEO, Christopher Sinclair, requesting a new vendor payment to China. Transfers required approval from two high-ranking managers; the finance exec qualified and so did the CEO. The transfer was made. The only thing preventing a total loss was the fact that the following day was a bank holiday. Details of the attack against Mattel come from a report by the Associated Press, investigating money laundering and other financial crime in Wenzhou, China. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Scammers Take Mattel To the Bank, Phishing Them For $3 Million

Transparent Wood Could Replace Glass, Become Coolest Building Material Ever

Wood is a great material because it’s cheap, renewable, and versatile. But this crazy transparent wood that scientists in Sweden brewed up is nuts. It could replace glass for some seriously eye-catching architecture, and even be used in cheap solar panels or windows. Read more…

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Transparent Wood Could Replace Glass, Become Coolest Building Material Ever

Massive email leak reveals the worst bribery scandal in history

Reporters from Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post obtained a huge trove of email from Unaoil, a business run by a rich Monaco family, that reveal that the family ran a corrupt bribery empire that spanned the world’s oil-producing states, and that they world with companies like Rolls-Royce, Halliburton, Leighton Holding, Samsung and Hyundai, to rig contracts through a system of bribes and kickbacks that looted the national treasuries of some of the world’s poorest countries. (more…)

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Massive email leak reveals the worst bribery scandal in history