Judge Orders Cloudflare To Turn Over Identifying Data In Copyright Case Slashdotby BeauHD on court at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at September 23, 2018, 11:36 pm)

Cal Jeffrey reporting for TechSpot: Back in May, several studios started targeting movie-pirating sites and services. Dallas Buyers Club, Cobbler Nevada, Bodyguard Productions, and several other copyright owners filed a lawsuit against ShowBox, a movie-streaming app for mobile devices. The companies tried pressuring CDN and DDoS protection provider Cloudflare into releasing information on the operators of some of these platforms. However, Cloudflare told them if they wanted such information they would have to get it the right way -- through legal action. The plaintiffs did just that. A subpoena was issued in the case from a federal court in Hawaii. The documents were not made public, but TorrentFreak was able to obtain a portion of the subpoena from a source. The court order demands the details of the operators behind the Showboxbuzz website, Showbox.software, website Rawapk, Popcorn Time, and others. Cloudflare has not filed a motion to quash, so it appears likely that the company will hand over the requested data.

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Nepal set to double tiger population under WWF global plan AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 11:00 pm)

Nepal's efforts to increase its tigers are part of a 13-country plan to double the number of tigers worldwide.
Wendy's Faces Lawsuit For Unlawfully Collecting Employee Fingerprints Slashdotby BeauHD on privacy at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at September 23, 2018, 10:37 pm)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: A class-action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois against fast food restaurant chain Wendy's accusing the company of breaking state laws in regards to the way it stores and handles employee fingerprints. The complaint is centered around Wendy's practice of using biometric clocks that scan employees' fingerprints when they arrive at work, when they leave, and when they use the Point-Of-Sale and cash register systems. Plaintiffs, represented by former Wendy's employees Martinique Owens and Amelia Garcia, claim that Wendy's breaks state law -- the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) -- because the company does not make employees aware of how it handles their data. More specifically, the lawsuit claims that Wendy's does not inform employees in writing of the specific purpose and length of time for which their fingerprints were being collected, stored, and used, as required by the BIPA, and nor does it obtain a written release from employees with explicit consent to obtain and handle the fingerprints in the first place. Wendy's also doesn't provide a publicly available retention schedule and guidelines for permanently destroying employees' fingerprints after they leave the company, plaintiffs said. [The plaintiffs also claim that Wendy's sends this data to a third-party without their consent.]

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Philippines landslide: Anger over quarry operations in area AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 10:00 pm)

Three days since a massive landslide slammed into a village in the central Philippines, families of victims are desperate for assistance.
Trump travel ban: Waiver process remains long, unclear AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 10:00 pm)

US grants some waivers for spouses, others on case-by-case basis. But those applying say process is long and uncertain.
Maldives opposition 'takes lead' in tense presidential poll AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 10:00 pm)

Coalition of four opposition parties, headed by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, confident of election victory.
IAU Ad Hoc Committee Publishes Revised Set of Definitions For SETI Terms Slashdotby BeauHD on scifi at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at September 23, 2018, 9:36 pm)

RockDoctor writes: An ad hoc committee of the International Astronomical Union has been working for 5 months on revisions and clarifications to the definitions of various terms used in technical and popular discussions of SETI -- the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence. They've published their draft report. The terms of reference -- to account for existing popular and technical uses of the terms -- should mean that no major changes in usage occur, but interesting points do emerge from the discussion paper. For example, in discussing the term "extraterrestrial," their proposed definition ("shorthand for life or technology not originating recently on Earth") includes cover for possibilities such as "panspermia" which may be popular in "popular science," but certainly are not popular in the technical discussions. They go on to discuss that "by this definition, life on another planet with a common origin to Earth life but which diverged billions of years ago would be extraterrestrial, but Earth life accidentally brought to Mars on a human-built lander would not." Waiting for the invasion of the pedants, clutching their feet in their hands.

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Second Swiss region votes to ban 'burqa' in public places AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 9:01 pm)

Northeastern canton of St Gallen bans face veils in what critics call an Islamophobic move.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard vows to avenge Ahvaz attack AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 9:01 pm)

A 'deadly and unforgiving revenge' for attack that killed 29 people, says Iranian elite force as UAE denies involvement.
PlayStation Now Is Making Its Games Downloadable Slashdotby BeauHD on playstation at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at September 23, 2018, 8:37 pm)

PlayStation revealed in a blog post that PS Now subscribers will be able to download most PS4 and PS2 games currently in the PS Now Library and play them locally, offline. "Almost all PS4 games in the service, including Bloodborne, God of War 3 Remastered, NBA 2K16, and Until Dawn, will be available for download, in addition to the PS Now lineup of classic PS2 games remastered for PS4," the announcement reads. "This feature will be gradually rolled out to PS Now subscribers over the next couple of days, so if you don't see the feature on your PS Now today, make sure to check back again soon." Kotaku reports: While being connected to the internet isn't required to play PS Now games once they've been downloaded, the support page says your system will have to go online "every few days" in order to validate the PS Now subscription. In the past, PS Now had been exclusively for streaming games to your PS4. When it was announced in 2014, it was building off of Sony's 2012 acquisition of the Gaikai video game streaming service. While it offered a way for people to play older games on the newer console (since, unlike Xbox One, the PS4 isn't backwards compatible), it was hardly ideal due to problems with latency and its reliance on a consistently strong internet connection. Honestly, the only surprise here is that Sony didn't make this move sooner.

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[no title] Scripting News(cached at September 23, 2018, 8:04 pm)

I don't see the point of polling for ordinary people. I get why political consultants and candidates would care. Even donors. But why should a voter care? I can't imagine ever making a decision on who to vote for based on poll results.
Armenians head to municipal polls in first post-revolution vote AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 8:00 pm)

Municipal elections in the country's capital are crucial for Armenia's new, reform-minded government.
Injured India sailor awaits rescue 3,300km from Australia's coast AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (AJE)(cached at September 23, 2018, 8:00 pm)

Indian Navy officer Tomy suffered serious back injury in extreme weather during the Golden Globe Race.
Coding Error Sends 2019 Subaru Ascents To the Car Crusher Slashdotby BeauHD on programming at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at September 23, 2018, 7:35 pm)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: [A] software remedy can't solve Subaru's issue with 293 of its 2019 Ascent SUVs. All 293 of the SUVs that were built in July will be scrapped because they are missing critical spot welds. According to Subaru's recall notice [PDF] filed with the U.S. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, the welding robots at the Subaru Indiana Automotive plant in Lafayette, Ind., were improperly coded, which meant the robots omitted the spot welds required on the Ascents' B-pillar. Consumer Reports states that the B-pillar holds the second-row door hinges. As a result, the strength of the affected Ascents' bodies may be reduced, increasing the possibility of passenger injuries in a crash. Subaru indicated in the recall that "there is no physical remedy available; therefore, any vehicles found with missing welds will be destroyed." Luckily, only nine Ascents had been sold, and those customers are going to receive new vehicles. The rest were on dealer lots or in transit.

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Lifestyle real estate Scripting News(cached at September 23, 2018, 7:33 pm)

Suppose you could live in any time zone, as long as there was a major airport nearby, and you had certain requirements about weather, nearby universities, quality of bike riding, places to eat, real estate prices, or climate, even legal cannabis, politics (I can't live in a mostly-Republican place, I've tried).

The consultant would have a good idea about the markets in each geography, and was pretty good at listening. The things that make a good real estate agent, but without being tied to specific geography.

With the advent of a global network, where you park yourself in physical space is more a matter of preference, it might not limit you in terms of employment.

I imagine totally virtual companies might even provide this kind of service to their most valued people. "I feel like living in the mountains for few years, starting in August, make it so."