US Department of Justice objects to Google book plan | |
The US Department of Justice has said that it is still not satisfied with a deal that would allow search giant Google to build a vast digital library. It said the plan failed to address antitrust and copyright concerns. It echoes objections by online retailer Amazon, which has said that Google's plan to scan and distribute millions of books online could lead to a monopoly. Google were forced to amend details of the plan in 2009 after objections by the Department of Justice (DoJ). "The amended settlement agreement still confers significant and possibly anti-competitive advantages on Google as a single entity," the DOJ said. It said that the agreement would allow the Google to be "the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute and otherwise exploit a vast array of works in multiple formats". 'Unaddressed issues' Google Books - formerly known as Google print - was first launched in 2004. It was put on hold a year later when the Authors Guild of America and Association of American Publishers sued over "massive copyright infringement". In 2008 Google agreed to pay $125m (£77m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works A decision on whether the deal could go through was originally scheduled for October 2009. But, District Judge Denny Chin, presiding over the trial, sent the deal back to the drawing board after objections from around the world, including criticism by the DoJ. The DoJ has once again waded into the debate. It says the proposed settlement posed potential copyright and antitrust issues. It also criticised the agreement for requiring authors to opt out of having their books included in the deal, rather than opting in. It also said that authors and representatives of the publishing industry who had brokered the deal had inappropriately spoken for foreign authors and for authors of "orphan works". Orphan books - of which there are thought to be five million - are titles where the authors cannot be found. The DoJ said that Google's exclusive access to these orphan works "remains unaddressed, producing a less than optimal result from a competition standpoint." But Google said that the Department of Justice's filing recognised "the progress made with the revised settlement". "It once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the US," it said. "We look forward to Judge Chin's review of the statement of interest from the Department and the comments from the many supporters who have filed submissions with the court in the last months." A hearing on the settlement has been scheduled on 18 February. receive compensation for scanned books. | |
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Genes reveal 'biological ageing' | |
Gene variants that might show how fast people's bodies are actually ageing have been pinpointed by scientists. Researchers from the University of Leicester and Kings College London say the finding could help spot people at higher risk of age-related illnesses. People carrying the variant had differences in the "biological clock" within all their cells. The British Heart Foundation said the findings could offer a clue to ways of preventing heart disease. While doctors know that as people age they are more at risk from diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and heart disease, some people fall prey to these at an earlier age than expected. Telomeres One theory suggests that biological timers called "telomeres", part of the chromosomes in every cell that carry genetic code, From birth, every time a cell divides, the telomeres get shorter and there is some evidence that people with shorter telomeres, either because they diminish more quickly or because they were born with shorter versions, may be at higher risk from age-related illness. The researchers say in the journal, Nature Genetics, that they looked at more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to see which variants cropped up more frequently in people known to have shorter telomeres. They eventually located a number of variants located near a gene called TERC which, in people carrying them, seemed to be equivalent to an extra three or four years of "biological ageing". Bad lifestyles Professor Tim Spector, from King's College London, said: "What our study suggests is that some people are genetically programmed to age at a faster rate. "Alternatively, genetically susceptible people may age even faster when exposed to proven 'bad' environments for telomeres such as smoking, obesity or lack of exercise - and end up several years biologically older or succumbing to more age-related diseases." Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study, said it was not yet clear whether telomeres did contribute to an increased risk of disease. He said: "Understanding how our cells age is an important step in our quest for better ways to prevent and treat heart disease. "Perhaps in the future one of the ways we try to reduce the risk of, or treat, heart disease would be to use an 'anti-ageing' approach for our arteries." be a factor in this. | |
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Microsoft to patch 17-year-old computer bug
A 17-year-old bug in Windows will be patched by Microsoft in its latest security update. The February update for Windows will close the loophole that dates from the time of the DOS operating system. First appearing in Windows NT 3.1, the vulnerability has been carried over into almost every version of Windows that has appeared since. The monthly security update will also tackle a further 25 holes in Windows, five of which are rated as "critical". Home hijack The ancient bug was discovered by Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy in January 2010 and involves a utility that allows newer versions of Windows to run very old programs. Mr Ormandy has found a way to exploit this utility in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and 2008 as well as Windows Vista and Windows 7. The patch for this vulnerability will appear in the February security update. Five of the vulnerabilities being patched at the same time allow attackers to effectively hijack a Windows PC and run their own programs on it. As well as fixing holes in many versions of Windows, the update also tackles bugs in Office XP, Office 2003 and Office 2004 for Apple Macintosh machines. The bumper update is not the largest that Microsoft has ever released. The security update for October 2009 tackled a total of 34 vulnerabilities. Eight of those updates were rated as critical - the highest level. In January 2010, Microsoft released an "out of band" patch for a serious vulnerability in Internet Explorer that was being exploited online. The vulnerability was also thought to be the one used to attack Google in China. Following the attack on Google, many other cyber criminals started seeking ways to exploit the loophole. Also this week, a security researcher has reported the discovery of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer that allows attackers to view the files held on a victim's machine. Microsoft has issued a security bulletin about the problem and aims to tackle it at a future date. At the moment there is no evidence that this latest find is being actively exploited online. |
Climate scepticism 'on the rise', BBC poll shows
The number of British people who are sceptical about climate change is rising, a poll for BBC News suggests. The Populus poll of 1,001 adults found 25% did not think global warming was happening, a rise of 8% since a similar poll was conducted in November. The percentage of respondents who said climate change was a reality had fallen from 83% in November to 75% this month. And only 26% of those asked believed climate change was happening and "now established as largely man-made". The findings are based on interviews carried out on 3-4 February. In November 2009, a similar poll by Populus - commissioned by the Times newspaper - showed that 41% agreed that climate change was happening and it was largely the result of human activities.  "It is very unusual indeed to see such a dramatic shift in opinion in such a short period," Populus managing director Michael Simmonds told BBC News. "The British public are sceptical about man's contribution to climate change - and becoming more so," he added. "More people are now doubters than firm believers." The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) chief scientific adviser, Professor Bob Watson, called the findings "very disappointing". "The fact that there has been a very significant drop in the number of people that believe that we humans are changing the Earth's climate is serious," he told BBC News. "Action is urgently needed," Professor Watson warned. "We need the public to understand that climate change is serious so they will change their habits and help us move towards a low carbon economy." 'Exaggerated risks' Of the 75% of respondents who agreed that climate change was happening, one-in-three people felt that the potential The number of people who felt the risks of climate change had been understated dropped from 38% in November to 25% in the latest poll. During the intervening period between the two polls, there was a series of high profile climate-related stories, some of which made grim reading for climate scientists and policymakers. In November, the contents of emails stolen from a leading climate science unit led to accusations that a number of researchers had manipulated data. And in January, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted that it had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035. All of this happened against the backdrop of many parts of the northern hemisphere being gripped by a prolonged period of sub-zero temperatures. However, 73% of the people who said that they were aware of the "science flaws" stories stated that the media coverage had not changed their views about the risks of climate change. "People tend to make judgements over time based on a whole range of different sources," Mr Simmonds explained. He added that it was very unusual for single events to have a dramatic impact on public opinion. "Normally, people make their minds up over a longer period and are influenced by all the voices they hear, what they read and what people they know are talking about." of living in a warming world had been exaggerated, up from one-in-five people in November. |
Endeavour shuttle to deliver giant window to ISS
The US shuttle Endeavour is preparing to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The pre-dawn launch on Sunday will be the last time the orbiter climbs into dark skies. Just five shuttle flights remain before the re-useable fleet is retired at the end of the year. The mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will deliver a connecting unit and a large bay window that will be used as a robotic control room. The launch is timed for 0439 local time (0939 GMT). Weather forecasters say there is an 80% chance of favourable conditions. The shuttle mission is the first since President Barack Obama announced a new vision for US space exploration. Last Monday, he cancelled the rockets and capsule Nasa was developing to replace the shuttle, and urged the commercial sector to provide future transport needs.
Endeavour's mission, which includes three spacewalks, will end construction on the Western part of the space station. Once installed, the Node 3 and Cupola modules will make the platform 90% complete. The mission is an important moment for the European Space Agency's (Esa) contribution to the ISS project. Both modules being ferried to orbit were constructed in Italy by Thales Alenia Space. Their production concludes a barter arrangement made between Esa and Nasa in which Europe agreed to supply significant components for the platform in return for a free trip into space for its Columbus science laboratory and supporting equipment. Some 7m in length and about 4.5m in width, Node 3 is built around the same design principles as Europe's other space station contributions. Columbus, Node 2, the ATV space freighter, and the Multi-Purpose Logistics Modules (which serve as the packing boxes for major re-supply missions carried out by the US shuttle) all have a similar cylindrical look about them. Node 3 has several bays inside its multi-layer, meteoroid impact-hardened shell. These bays will quickly become filled in orbit by equipment already on the station. Chief among these will be the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS). Their jobs involve scrubbing the air of carbon dioxide to maintain its oxygen concentration; and recycling waste water, including urine, so it can be drunk again and again. Node 3 will also store a treadmill the crew will need to use regularly to exercise their bodies and maintain bone density.  The node has several berthing ports that could conceivably even allow the ISS to be expanded one day. "Node 3 is an interconnecting module," explained Simonetta Di Pippo, Esa's director of human spaceflight. "It's a door open to the future, because if we decide to develop new modules, new extensions, new capabilities, we will be able to do it because we are now launching Node 3." The Cupola is a dome-shaped module with seven windows. At 80cm in diameter, its top window will be the biggest ever flown in space.
The module will act as a control room to direct robotic operations on the exterior of the platform, and provide a vantage point for the astronauts to view their home planet. The UK-born American astronaut Nicholas Patrick will be one of the spacewalkers who will help install the modules. "I will be undoing the bolts that hold the Cupola shutters down," he said. "Once those 21 bolts are released, one of my colleagues on the inside can open up the window shutters and take a first look out through the Cupola windows, which will be, I think, just a fantastic thing on the space station," he told BBC News. This will be the 130th space shuttle flight, the 24th flight for shuttle Endeavour and the 32nd flight to the station. Nasa hopes to run out the final four shuttle flights before the end of the year, although President Obama has promised the agency funding to support the schedule should it slip into 2011. |
Friday, February 5, 2010
Digital Economy Bill bill could 'breach rights'
An influential group of MPs and peers has said the government's approach to illegal file-sharing could breach the rights of internet users. The Joint Select Committee on Human Rights said the government's Digital Economy Bill needed clarification. It said that technical measures - which include cutting off persistent pirates - were not "sufficiently specified". In addition, it said that it was concerned that the Bill could create "over-broad powers". "The internet is constantly creating new challenges for policy-makers but that cannot justify ill-defined or sweeping legislative responses, especially when there is the possibility of restricting freedom of expression or the privacy of individual users," said Andrew Dismore MP and chair of the Committee. A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which oversees the Digital Economy Bill, said that government had "always been clear that [its] proposals to deal with unlawful file-sharing should not contravene human rights". 'Sweeping powers' The Select Committee only examined the parts of the Bill that focus on plans to tackle illegal file-sharing as well as a controversial amendment to copyright law. "The concern we have with this Bill is that it lacks detail," said Mr Dismore. "It has been difficult, even in the narrow area we have focussed on, to get a clear picture of the scope and impact of the provisions." The Digital Economy Bill was outlined in the Queen's speech in November 2009. One of the most hotly-debated elements is the so-called "three strikes rule" that would give regulator Ofcom new powers to disconnect or slow down the connections of persistent net pirates. The For example, the government has not specified whether a whole household could be cut off if only one member of a family was identified as a persistent file-sharer. The committee said that measures such as this have "the potential to breach internet users' rights" and had not been "sufficiently specified to allow for an assessment of proportionality". Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group, which has campaigned against the measures, said that disconnecting alleged file-sharers was "draconian and unpredictably damaging". A spokesperson for BIS said: "slowing down or suspending peoples broadband would only be invoked following several clear warnings". Any technical measures would require "secondary legislation", he added. "There will be no technical measures imposed at all if the initial measures taken are as successful as we expect." The Committee also examined Clause 17 of the bill, which would give the government the power to amend the copyright law without passing further primary legislation. The clause has proved controversial. In late 2009, a consortium of web companies including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and eBay wrote to the business secretary Peter Mandelson objecting to the clause. The web firms urged MPs to remove the clause, which they said could give government "unprecedented and sweeping powers" to amend copyright laws. The Select Committee said that it had been told that changes would be made to the clause to ensure that any amendments to copyright law would be "better scrutinised by Parliament". "Despite this the Committee remains concerned that Clause 17 remains overly broad and that parliamentary scrutiny may remain inadequate," it said. The BIS spokesperson said that government had already tabled "a series of amendments which aim to clarify the breadth and scope of clause 17". The Digital Economy bill is currently being scrutinised by the House of Lords. It was dealt a blow recently when Sion Simon, one of the MPs charged with pushing it through parliament, announced he was standing down. said it had concerns about "technical measures" like these and how they would be applied. |
Auklets and penguins: birds use feathers 'to touch'
  A whiskered auklet feels in the dark Birds may use their feathers for touch, using them to feel their surroundings just as cats use their whiskers. The revelation that feathers have this hitherto unknown function comes from research on auklets, birds that sport prominent plumes on their heads. Auklets with bigger crests, that stick out further, bump into things less. A wider analysis suggests that numerous birds, from parrots, penguins, pheasants and hummingbirds, also use their feathers to feel their way. Details Many species of bird sport elegant long feathers, either crests, beards or whiskers that adorn the head and face, or striking tail feathers. Many of these feathers are thought to have a sexual function, being used to advertise a bird's virility to potential mates. But Dr Sampath Seneviratne of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and Professor Ian Jones of Memorial University in St John's, Canada suspect they may also have a tactile function. Bumping heads They explored why a group of birds called auklets have evolved such elaborate head feathers. Within the genus Aethia, a number of species have different shaped feathers, but both males and females tend to look the same. The birds usually breed in dark, rocky crevices.
The researchers placed individual auklets into a dark experimental maze, designed to resemble a natural crevice, and recorded how often they bumped into things. Both crested and whiskered auklets bumped their heads 2.5 times more often if their feathers on their heads had been artificially flattened. Also, "without the aid of the crest, naturally long-crested individuals had more head bumps than short-crested individuals," Dr Seneviratne told the BBC. The two ornithologists then conducted a wider comparative analysis: checking which bird species sport long ornamental feathers against their lifestyles and where such birds live. What emerged was a striking pattern. "Birds that live in complex, cluttered habitats and are active at night tend to have a greater probability to express such facial feathers," says Dr Seneviratne. "We found a highly significant correlation for the observed trend." Penguins to parrots The pattern held true across all non-passerine birds, which comprise about half of all bird species. The researchers did not include passerine, or perching birds, in their analysis. That means that various species of penguin, parrot, cormorant, owl, hummingbird, kingfisher, woodpecker and game birds such as partridge and pheasant, may all use certain feathers for touch. Such species have facial feathers variously called crests, beards, whiskers, rictal bristles and orbital plumes.
Dr Seneviratne and Prof Jones suspect that similar feathers, such as the long streamers found on birds of paradise or the pin and forked tails of other species, and even protruding feathers on some birds' wings, may fulfil a similar function. Biologists have long wondered and debated why birds have long ornamental feathers. Many do so for camouflage, as a warning to startle predators, or to advertise their prowess. For example, "long facial feathers are generally thought to be 'sexy ornaments' used to seduce choosers and for assessment of the presenter," says Dr Seneviratne. Cat's whiskers But while such feathers may have acquired these functions, their original purpose may have been to provide a similar function as a cats' By providing sensory feedback to a bird about its environment, such feathers can provide a distinct advantage, particularly to birds living in dark or crowded environments."Birds living in complex habitats are likely to encounter greater density of objects or clutter that they have to avoid." So such feathers could help birds avoid bumping into burrow ceilings, tree branches and undergrowth. Feathers around the face would prove especially useful, as they might stop a bird damaging vital organs, such as eyes, eardrums, nostrils and bill. "We describe the first comparative evidence for this widespread but entirely overlooked sensory function of long facial feathers. "We argue that this provides a hitherto missing explanation for the origin of ornamental feathers," says Dr Seneviratne. or a blind person's cane. the discovery are published in the journal Animal Behaviour. |
