Techdirt. Stories filed under "virus"

Techdirt. Stories filed under "virus" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "virus"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:00:00 PST DailyDirt: The Flu Season Is Here... Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101116/11074311893/dailydirt-flu-season-is-here.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101116/11074311893/dailydirt-flu-season-is-here.shtml

The Khan academy has a lesson on what the flu is, making sure everyone knows the difference between the flu and a cold. It'd be cool to see online classes for all kinds of medical information -- and maybe even medical degree badges....? [url]

The 2013 flu vaccine wards against three strains: H3N2, H1N1 and Influenza B. However, the vaccine this year has been labeled only "moderately effective" by the CDC. [url]

Flu season comes around during the winter generally and not spring, summer or fall. But why? It could be the humidity; the flu virus survives well in warm, low-humidity air -- just like the conditions in most homes in the winter. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101116/11074311893 Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:00:00 PDT DailyDirt: Real Zombies... Michael Ho http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101215/03534512288/dailydirt-real-zombies.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101215/03534512288/dailydirt-real-zombies.shtml mentioned before, Mother Nature has created a few of her own actual zombies. Here are just a few more examples.

Did you know that the government sprays a baculovirus into the forest that can cause gypsy moth caterpillars to act reckless and even suicidal? The virus infects the caterpillars, takes over their molting genes, and re-programs the zombie caterpillars to liquify and rain contagious bodily fluids down upon other gypsy moth larvae. [url]
North American wood frogs can survive being partially frozen (up to 70 percent of their internal water turned to ice) and twitch back to life. The frogs can stay in suspended animation for about 4 weeks, and it takes them about a day to thaw out and return to the living world. [url]
Ants in Borneo have been found with a curious ability to explode and spew a sticky yellow glue over their enemies. The lethal sticky substance can take out other insect invaders and protect an ant colony from attack. [url]
European paper wasps, infected by parasites, are turned into zombies that leave their hive to gather with other zombie wasps -- so that the parasites can mate. Wasps with female parasites become crazy queen wasps that fly off to infect more wasps. [url]
To discover more interesting biological curiosities, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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]]> urls-we-dig-up http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20101215/03534512288 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 18:54:30 PST Programmer Faces 15 Years In Jail For Planting Virus That Automatically Broke Whac-A-Mole Games Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110226/15223313285/programmer-faces-15-years-jail-planting-virus-that-automatically-broke-whac-a-mole-games.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110226/15223313285/programmer-faces-15-years-jail-planting-virus-that-automatically-broke-whac-a-mole-games.shtml Slashdot points us to a fascinating story of a programmer named Marvin Wimberly, who is facing charges for sabotaging the famous Whac-A-Mole games with a logic bomb that would "break" the machines after a pre-determined number of times that it was turned on and off. The idea was that each time these broke, Wimberly would be called in for a repair. Of course, with each "repair," he'd install another logic bomb. Since he was the only one who knew the real "problem," he figured it was a form of job security. His company couldn't let him go, because no one else could fix the problem.

Of course, now that it's been discovered he's apparently facing 15 years in prison. What's a bit odd, though, is the statute under which he's being charged. It's a Florida state law for "offenses against intellectual property." Reading through the statute, it seems like a rather odd use of the phrase "intellectual property."

Whoever willfully, knowingly, and without authorization modifies data, programs, or supporting documentation residing or existing internal or external to a computer, computer system, or computer network commits an offense against intellectual property.

The statute definitely seems pretty broad. What's wrong with just charging the guy with garden variety fraud statutes?

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]]> offense-against-intellectual-property http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20110226/15223313285 Wed, 27 May 2009 05:33:00 PDT No, You Don't Get To Sue Facebook Because Your Account Got Hacked Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090526/1900285016.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090526/1900285016.shtml sued Facebook because his account got hacked and started sending out links to a virus. He's claiming that the site failed to protect its users, and he's upset that, even though he got his account back, he lost his photos and had to re-add his friends. He's only asking for $70.50 ($0.30 for every friend he had to re-add), which got a bit of a joking response from Facebook:

"We're very interested to hear how he came up with the figure of $70.50," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt wrote in an e-mail to CNET News. "He's not going to get it but we promise to refund all the money he paid to use Facebook. Seriously, we're glad to know how important Facebook is to Mr. Karantsalis but his account was not disabled, is currently active, and he is using it, so I'm not sure what the problem is."

Facebook can afford to laugh since the case appears to have no legal merit. Section 230 clearly protects Facebook from liability in this situation (as it should), and the case law on similar cases backs that up. In fact, Eric Goldman notes that: "If anything, Karantsalis might be on the hook to Facebook for filing such a meritless lawsuit." The guy claims he filed the lawsuit to make a point, but the point he may end up making is that you shouldn't file frivolous lawsuits just because you don't like how things happened.

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]]> sorry,-try-again http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090526/1900285016 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 07:11:00 PST Microsoft's Virus Bounty Plan Sound Familiar? It Should Carlo Longino http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090213/1049533765.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090213/1049533765.shtml Microsoft's offer of a $250,000 bounty for the authors of the Conficker virus, I thought that the plan sounded awfully familiar. Going through the Techdirt archives, I turned up some stories on bounties for phishers and spammers, then found a post from 2003 talking about how the company had set aside $5 million for bounties on people who wrote viruses and worms. While it's not clear if Microsoft has actually paid out any of that cash, it is pretty clear that the bounty plan hasn't done much to make Windows any more secure since it was announced. And neither will this latest bounty. Like the previous plan, it's gotten Microsoft tons of press that makes the company look tough -- but it doesn't solve the underlying security problems of the Windows platform. Catching the people who wrote the Conficker worm won't undo any of the problems they've exposed, and it certainly won't make Windows users any more secure.

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]]> worked-so-well-the-first-time http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20090213/1049533765 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:20:58 PDT All Fear The Mobile Phone Botnets... That Don't Actually Exist Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081017/0242262573.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081017/0242262573.shtml huge threat that had to be dealt with quickly before they spread around the world. Of course, that hasn't actually happened -- and there are some good reasons why it's unlikely. In fact, it seemed like such stories had been decreasing lately, perhaps in part due to some security firms scolding competitors for mobile virus FUD.

So, we were a bit surprised to see yet another story on the subject, this time suggesting that we're on the verge of (I'm not making this up) a "Cell Phone Zombie Uprising." Some researchers are predicting that mobile phones would be perfect for botnets, though, again it's not clear how that would actually happen, given the limitations of phones. While it is true that phones have become more powerful (and open) over the past few years, there still hasn't been much evidence that viruses and such are a real threat. Most phones are designed well enough to not make it easy for apps to just install themselves -- so consider us skeptical until there's real evidence of a mobile botnet rising.

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]]> this-again? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20081017/0242262573 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:20:00 PDT Pharma Patents And Why Indonesia Is Hoarding Bird Flu Samples Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080815/0314171990.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080815/0314171990.shtml hold back life-saving cures, and here's another example. It's actually a continuation of a story we wrote about a year and a half ago, about Indonesia's decision to stop supplying bird flu samples to the World Health Organization, claiming it was worried that a big pharma would patent a drug based off of it, and Indonesia wouldn't receive any of the benefit. The country has something of a point: as pharma companies have made various cures incredibly expensive in the past.

However, Indonesia is now taking this a step further, claiming "viral sovereignty" over the bird flu. In other words, it's claiming that since the virus samples are found in the country, Indonesia owns the virus -- and it's fighting pretty much every attempt by others to do anything with the virus, sometimes using questionable claims such as one about how a US medical research facility is trying to use the virus not to create a cure, but to create biological weapons. It's basing this claim of "viral sovereignty" on the same ridiculous patent rules that allow a country to claim "ownership" and patents over indigenous plants.

While there's obviously a huge political component to this dispute, at the heart of the trouble is this idea of "ownership" of something like a plant, virus or drug -- and that's an idea that the US has been a huge supporter of, so it can hardly complain about Indonesia taking it to the logical conclusion. And, of course, that logical conclusion is the exact opposite of what supporters of pharma patents insist the system is designed to encourage. That is, thanks to this hoarding and claims of ownership, not nearly enough research is being done to try to create vaccines for bird flu. And, to make this even worse, it appears other countries are starting to consider "viral sovereignty," as well -- meaning that research into curing various diseases may grind to halt while various countries argue over who owns what.

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]]> this-isn't-good-for-health http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20080815/0314171990 Thu, 22 May 2008 17:41:00 PDT Japan Successfully Misuses Copyright Law To Convict Virus Author Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080522/0028211203.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080522/0028211203.shtml twisted copyright law to charge a guy who had embedded a virus in a graphic -- where the graphic used was infringing. While it's nice to see the government go after malicious virus writers, it's troublesome to stretch a different law for that purpose. However, it appears the Japanese courts didn't agree and have now convicted the guy. It's always troubling when governments twist laws to serve a different purpose.

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]]> good-outcome,-bad-reason? http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20080522/0028211203