What do computer viruses look like?

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:51:48 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: "Blinded by the beauty of a computer virus," may not have that "ring" to it but this art is fine.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

Virus art ... clockwise from left, an artist's depiction of a phishing attack, sex dating spam, encoded trojan attack and email worm.

Cyber threats like NetSky, Mydoom and Parite are the bane of IT departments around the globe, but artist Alex Dragulescu has found subtle beauty deep within the dangerous computer code that can bring down networks and bombard email inboxes with murderous spam.

Dragulescu has peeled back the code behind the world's worst tech bugs and rendered stunning images from it. The Romanian-born MIT researcher and artist was commissioned to do the artwork by MessageLabs, a computer security company that sought to put a face - or at least a shape - on computer viruses.

Dragulescu found interesting, recurring patterns. He used the data to coax pointy green tentacles from the dreaded 'Mydoom' email worm and grew pretty peach petals from the epicenter of the 'Degreediploma5' spam file.

Tags: computer, art

Aust guilty of 'sex slavery, eating child labour chocolate'

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 09:03:53 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Slavery everywhere (even if you don't include the average worker) and we spend our energies on causes such as whales or China. Our minds still have some growth left.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

An international anti-slavery expert says the problem of human trafficking and slavery in Australia is much worse than official figures suggest.

A recent parliamentary inquiry estimated there are between 300 and 1,000 female sex slaves in Australia.

At a forum in Brisbane today, University of San Francisco spokesman Dr David Batstone said most Australians do not realise the extent of the problem.

He says at another forum on the issue, he heard a report of a restaurant that kept slaves in its basement.

'Blood on our teeth'

Meanwhile, World Vision says Australians are eating cheap chocolate produced by child labour.

The charity has launched a national campaign against slavery and human trafficking.

World Vision Australia chief executive Reverend Tim Costello says on a recent visit to the Ivory Coast and Ghana he saw the chocolate industry using child labour.

"We have silly little guilts. We say 'oh, I sinned, I ate some chocolate'," he said.

Tags: china, or, chocolate, which is worse?

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What do computer viruses look like?

Aust guilty of 'sex slavery, eating child labour chocolate'

'Blood on our teeth'