


Why the Trolls Will Always Win 728
It turned out that a man named Andrew Auernheimer was responsible for having harassed Sierra. Known as 'Weev', he admitted it in a 2008 New York Times story on Internet Trolls. There, he spoke to the lengths which he and his cohorts went to discredit and destroy the woman. "Over a candlelit dinner of tuna sashimi, Weev asked if I would attribute his comments to Memphis Two, the handle he used to troll Kathy Sierra, a blogger. Inspired by her touchy response to online commenters, Weev said he "dropped docs" on Sierra, posting a fabricated narrative of her career alongside her real Social Security number and address. This was part of a larger trolling campaign against Sierra, one that culminated in death threats."
Now, seven years later, Kathy Sierra has returned to explain why she left and what recent spates of online harassment against women portend for the future if decent people don't organize. The situation has grown much more serious since she went into hiding all those years ago. It's more than just the threat of Doxxing to incite physical violence by random crazies with a screw loose. Read on for the rest of maynard's thoughts.

Ask Slashdot: Swift Or Objective-C As New iOS Developer's 1st Language? 316

Rosetta Code Study Weighs In On the Programming Language Debate 165

How Flickr Is Courting the Next Generation of Photographers 97

Malware Distributed Through Twitch Chat Is Hijacking Steam Accounts 53

Scala Designer Martin Odersky On Next Steps 94

DMCA Claim Over GPL Non-Compliance Shuts Off Minecraft Plug-Ins 354
The programmer says that Mojang must release the Minecraft server code to the public domain since decompiled, deobfuscated versions of the Java code are included in the Bukkit project before he will withdraw the DMCA. Mojang has never released the real source code and has stated they will not open source the server code to meet the GPL and LGPL licensing requirements. This approach might be a risk for other GPL and LGPL projects out there which are derivative of or enhance non GPL programs or products. Mojang COO Vu Bui writes in a post at the Bukkit forums The official Minecraft Server software that we have made available is not included in CraftBukkit. Therefore there is no obligation for us to provide the original code or any source code to the Minecraft Server, nor any obligation to authorize its use. Our refusal to make available or authorize the use of the original / source code of the Minecraft Server software cannot therefore be considered to give rise to an infringement of any copyright of Wesley, nor any other person. Wesley’s allegations are therefore wholly unfounded.

Carmack On Mobile VR Development 60

If Java Wasn't Cool 10 Years Ago, What About Now? 511

Interviews: Bjarne Stroustrup Answers Your Questions 102

Russia Cracks Down On Public Wi-Fi; Oracle Blocks Java Downloads In Russia 254

Oracle Hasn't Killed Java -- But There's Still Time 371

Ask Slashdot: Best PDF Handling Library? 132
- open source, with a community following ; the kind of stuff Slashdotters would prefer
- tidy software architecture; simple things should remain simple
- allow open API allowing usage across many languages (say: Python & Java)
- clear licensing status, not estranging future commercial use
- serious multilingual & font support
- PDF-handling rich features, not limiting usage for invoicing, e-commerce, reports & data mining
- digital signing should not go against other features
I'd like to poll the collective Slashdot crowd wisdom about if/which PDF related libraries, they have written software with, keeps them happy for *all* the above reasons. And if not happy with that all, what do they thing is the best bet for learning one piece of software in the area, with great reusability across different circumstances and little need for extra hacks? I'd really like to hear the smoked out war stories. It is easy to obtain a list of such libraries, yet tricky to understand whethe people have obtained success with them!

Ask Slashdot: "Real" Computer Scientists vs. Modern Curriculum? 637

Interviews: Dr. Andy Chun Answers Your Questions About Artificial Intelligence 33

Old Apache Code At Root of Android FakeID Mess 127
The security implications of this are vast. Malicious actors could create a malicious mobile application with a digital identity certificate that claims to be issued by Adobe Systems. Once installed, vulnerable versions of Android will treat the application as if it was actually signed by Adobe and give it access to local resources, like the special webview plugin privilege, that can be used to sidestep security controls and virtual 'sandbox' environments that keep malicious programs from accessing sensitive data and other applications running on the Android device. The flaw appears to have been introduced to Android through an open source component, Apache Harmony. Google turned to Harmony as an alternative means of supporting Java in the absence of a deal with Oracle to license Java directly.
Work on Harmony was discontinued in November, 2011. However, Google has continued using native Android libraries that are based on Harmony code. The vulnerability concerning certificate validation in the package installer module persisted even as the two codebases diverged.

Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities Increase 100% 137

Autonomous Sea-Robot Survives Massive Typhoon 47
