DDoS Mitigation Firm Founder Admits to DDoS

A Georgia man who co-founded a service designed to protect companies from crippling distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks has pleaded to paying a DDoS-for-hire service to launch attacks against others. Continue reading DDoS Mitigation Firm Founder Admits to DDoS

The Internet Was Built on the Free Labor of Open Source Developers. Is That Sustainable?

A look at the complicated business of funding open source software development. Continue reading The Internet Was Built on the Free Labor of Open Source Developers. Is That Sustainable?

Chromebook Trades Camera for Wi-Fi Freedom

There are a number of companies now providing turn-key computers that meet the Free Software Foundation’s criteria for their “Respects Your Freedom” certification. This means, in a general sense, that the computer is guaranteed not to spy on you or otherwise do anything else you didn’t explicitly ask it to. Unfortunately these machines often have a hefty premium tacked on, making it an unpleasant decision between privacy and performance.

Freedom-loving hacker [SolidHal] writes in to tell us about his quest to create a FSF-compliant laptop without breaking the bank. Based on a cheap Asus C201 Chromebook, his custom machine checks …read more

Continue reading Chromebook Trades Camera for Wi-Fi Freedom

DDoS Mitigation Firm Has History of Hijacks

Last week, KrebsOnSecurity detailed how BackConnect Inc. — a company that defends victims against large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks — admitted to hijacking hundreds of Internet addresses from a European Internet service provider in order to glean information about attackers who were targeting BackConnect. According to an exhaustive analysis of historic Internet records, the BackConnect appears to have a history of such “hacking back” activity. Continue reading DDoS Mitigation Firm Has History of Hijacks

Richard Stallman Braved a Winter Storm Last Night to March Against DRM

As representatives of Comcast, Netflix and Microsoft meet to discuss the future of the web, an angry crowd is forming outside. Continue reading Richard Stallman Braved a Winter Storm Last Night to March Against DRM