Photography Contest
Posted by in Uncategorized on December 21, 2009
If you have digital camera and want to make money out of it and photography is your passion then here is your chance to show the world your inner talent.
Please visit http://www.proofpositive.com/contests/photocontests.htm
and
http://www.equinephotocontest.com/
Kaiga nuke plant leak was inside job: Kakodkar
Posted by in Uncategorized on November 29, 2009
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: Even as the Atomic Energy Commission confirmed that the contamination of drinking water at the Kaiga atomic plant in Karnataka was an “inside job”, the heavy water that was introduced into a water cooler has been traced to vials kept in labs within the complex.
The heavy water, used as a coolant in the nuclear plant, is collected for lab tests before being released for use.
It is suspected that some vials of heavy water were diverted to “spike” the water cooler instead of being released into specified areas. The heavy water was pushed into the cooler through an outflow pipe as the machine itself is sealed and authorities do not rule out the act of sabotage being carried out by a disgruntled nuclear scientist.
“The staff who had access to vials and the various points in the chain where the vials could have been diverted are being examined,” said MoS in PMO, Prithviraj Chavan.
He said all safety related procedures would be thoroughly reviewed and those responsible for the act would be traced. The government is examining whether there was an intent to sabotage the functioning of the plant or whether a disgruntled individual had played a “vicious prank”.
The water cooler is located outside the reactor area and was found contaminated by radioactivity on the night of November 24.
While not ruling out sabotage, senior nuclear scientists emphasized there was no radiation leak in the plant itself as reported in a section of the media.
Outgoing chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar, who is laying down office on Monday, was quoted as saying that it “clearly is a malevolent act”. Sabotage has not been ruled out, he said, adding that somebody had “deliberately” put radioactive vials in a water cooler.
The heavy water samples need to be accounted for more carefully in future, sources admitted. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which is used for research, and in fusion reactors and neutron generators.
The alleged act of sabotage took place a fortnight after intelligence agencies warned of a terrorist attack on the country’s atomic plants. After the alert, security at all the units had been stepped up. Years ago, a similar incident took place at the Tarapur atomic power station. An inquiry was held, leading to the dismissal of an employee.
According to the AEC chief, investigations are now focusing on two angles. The authorities are working to identify the worker who contaminated the water cooler with tritiated (or super heavy) water. They will also review security aspects related to radiation hazard.
Kakodkar said normally small quantities of tritiated heavy water are tested for chemical parameters.
Speaking to TOI on Sunday, chairman and managing director of Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), S K Jain, said the water cooler had been padlocked and the person in charge of maintenance on the night of November 24 was being examined. “The whole area has computer-accessed control. So in course of time we will be able to narrow down on the person who did the mischief,” he said.
“I will certainly describe this as a very serious incident because it has taken place even after we initiated special security checks following the advice of the Intelligence Bureau recently,” he said.
Asked why any staffer should resort to sabotage, Jain, said he could not rule out a “small percentage of employees being disgruntled for one reason or the other”. “In a place with a manpower strength of nearly 700, discontent among a small section of workers is inevitable,” he said.
He said that credentials of workers at the plant are cleared by intelligence agencies prior to their appointment.
In an earlier statement, Jain said there were a number of measures for routine monitoring of radiation exposure of workers at a nuclear power plant. One of them is urine sampling, in which some samples had indicated contamination.
NPC chief engineer N Nagaich said the water cooler served both Kaiga 1 and 2 units, which are 220 megawatt pressurized heavy water reactors. Kaiga 1 has been shut for maintenance. “Not a single person was hospitalized because their condition was not serious,” he said. Kaiga 2 was operating normally.
Preliminary investigations were being conducted by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and NPC.
Former chairman of AEC, P K Iyengar, told TOI that prima facie it appeared that the primary motive of the employee who contaminated the water cooler was “merely to create a scare”. Another former AEC chief, M
R Srinivasan, has called for strengthening of nuclear security.
The reported act of sabotage at Kaiga has triggered speculation among a section of nuclear scientists as to whether it could possibly be a “dry run” by a disgruntled staffer.
“By resorting to such mischief he perhaps wanted to gauge the reaction of other employees and the department as a whole,” a scientist said on condition of anonymity.
Will Chrome glitter in India?
Posted by in Technical on November 29, 2009
Exactly ten days ago, Google gave a sneak preview of the latest software from its stable — the Chrome operating system. True, it will still take a year before the Chrome OS appears on netbooks (with memory chips, not hard disk drives according to Google).
But the unveiling of the web-based OS’ features on November 20, four months after Google first announced its plan to launch such an application, was enough to convince most that Microsoft’s monopoly in the OS segment was over. Still others took the Google announcement with a pinch of salt.
We give you a complete rundown of Google’s new OS.
What is Google Chrome OS?
Google Chrome OS is an open-source operating system, based on the cloud-computing format, which will not eat into your PC’s hardware resources. Basically, this means, unlike other OS (Microsoft’s Windows, for instance), it will not be physically installed on the computer’s hard disk. Instead, it will need an internet connection every time you wish to log on to Chrome OS.
How is it different from Microsoft’s Windows?
As mentioned, this is a web-based OS. So nothing gets stored on the hard disk. In case of a Windows OS, you need a hard disk to install the software.
Google claims the Chrome OS will run on even old PCs and it is working with multiple original equipment manufacturers to bring into the market a number of netbooks next year, which will specifically be built to support the Chrome OS.
Acer, Adobe, Asus, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Toshiba are helping Google launch the Chrome OS on the netbook platform.
Does this mean that Microsoft Windows is in a big trouble?
Considering that Chrome OS is still in the Beta (testing) stage, Microsoft does not have anything to worry about. Google has said it will target the netbook market initially.
That can be a worrying aspect, as netbooks have been the fastest-growing segment. Analysts and international blogs have said the Chrome OS could actually work along with a Windows OS. One way a user can do this is to use the dual-boot system, where he can choose the OS through a menu at the computer’s start-up stage itself.
Trouble is, the Chrome OS will not be available if you are not connected to the internet. Most users are still not comfortable with working on spreadsheets and documents off the internet.
Moreover, Google has said that the OS will only support solid-state drives, or flash drives, rather than hard disks, which, in turn, allows faster boot times.
Get this: According to Google, Chrome OS can boot within 7 seconds, faster than Microsoft’s latest operating system, the Windows 7, which boots in under 40 seconds.
What do Google lovers think of this?
Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames, feels this development is about cloud-based software getting powerful. He prefers Google Docs for spreadsheets. He opines that the Google Chrome OS goes a step forward in creating an ecosystem that will allow a user to be always connected.
Should Indian users get excited?
Honestly, no. That’s because the web-based Chrome OS will be of limited use in India, where the internet user base is at 50 million only, dominated by the enterprise sector.
Analysts suggest Google might initially be aggressive in developed markets, where internet speeds are good.
Only time, and the spread of IT infrastructure, will tell the script of the Chrome OS’ success in India.
BSNL JTO(Junior Telecom Officer) 2009
Posted by in Uncategorized on October 2, 2009
BSNL JTO 2009 Exam results are soon to be declared at www.bsnl.co.n
Nokia S60 hacked
Posted by in Uncategorized on September 4, 2009
Vulnerability Advisory
======================
Remote SMS/MMS Denial of Service – “Curse Of Silence”
for Nokia S60 phones
URL
https://berlin.ccc.de/~tobias/cos/s60-curse-of-silence-advisory.txt
Video
=====
https://berlin.ccc.de/~tobias/cos/s60-curse-of-silence-demo.avi
Affected Products
=================
All Nokia Series60 2.6, 2.8, 3.0, 3.1 devices, see detailed list at
the end of the document.
Requirements to Execute Attack
==============================
- MSISDN of the target
- mobile phone contract that allows sending of SMS messages
- (almost) any Nokia phone (or some other means of sending SMS
messages with TP-PID set to “Internet Electronic Mail”)
Risk Level
==========
Medium (for S60 2.8 and 3.1 devices): Target will not be able to
receive any SMS or MMS messages while the attack is ongoing. After
that, only very limited message receiving is possible until the device
is Factory Resetted
High (for S60 2.6 and 3.0 devices): Target will not be able to receive
any SMS or MMS messages until the device is Factory Resetted
Summary
=======
Emails can be sent via SMS by setting the messages Protocol Identifier
to “Internet Electronic Mail” and formatting the message like this:
If such messages contain an with more than 32
characters, S60 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 and 3.1 devices are not able to receive
other SMS or MMS messages anymore. 2.6 and 3.0 devices lock up after
only one message, 2.8 and 3.1 devices after 11 messages.
Details
=======
3GPP TS 23.040 specifies a method for sending emails via SMS in
section 3.8 (”SMS and Internet Electronic Mail interworking”). In its
most basic form, such a SMS message starts with the from- (MT-SMS) or
to-email-address (MO-SMS), followed by a space character, and then the
message body. The TP-Procotol-Identifier of the SMS message has to be
set to “Internet Electronic Mail” (value: 50 / 0×32).
It is not specified how such a message should be displayed when
received by the phone. Before S60 2.6, Series60 devices displayed such
messages exactly as they were sent. Starting with S60 2.6, when the
part of the message that should contain the from-address looks
anything like an email address (i.e. it contains an “@” somewhere),
this address is then displayed as the message sender instead of the
usually shown TP-Originating-Address.
If this email address is longer than 32 characters, Series60 2.6, 2.8,
3.0 and 3.1 devices fail to display the message or give any indication
on the user interface that such a message has been received. They do,
however, signal to the SMSC that they received the message by sending
an RP-ACK.
Devices running S60 2.6 or 3.0 will not be able to receive any other
SMS message after that. The user interface does not give any
indication of this situation. The only action to remedy this situation
seems to be a Factory Reset of the device (by entering “*#7370#”).
Devices running S60 2.8 or 3.1 react a little different: They do not
lock up until they received at least 11 SMS-email messages with an
email address that is longer than 32 characters. The device will not
be able to receive any other SMS message after that – upon receiving
the next message, the phone will just display a warning that there is
not enough memory to receive further messages and that data should be
deleted first. This message is even displayed on an otherwise
completely “empty” device.
After switching the phone off and on again, it has limited capability
for receiving SMS messages again: If it receives a SMS message that is
split up into several parts (3GPP TS 23.040, 9.2.3.24.1 Concatenated
Short Messages) it is only able to receive the first part and will
display the “not enough memory” warning again. After powercycling the
device again, it can then receive the second part. If there is a third
part, it has to be powercycled again, and so on.
Also, an attacker now just needs to send one more “Curse Of Silence”
message to lock the phone up again. By always sending yet another one
as soon as the status report for delivery of the previous message is
received, the attacker could completely prevent a target from
receiving any other SMS/MMS messages.
Only Factory Resetting the device will restore its full message
receiving capabilities. Note that, if a backup is made using Nokia
PC-Suite *after* being attacked, the blocking messages are also
backuped and will be sent to the device again when restoring the
backup after the Factory Reset.
Note that not being able to receive SMS messages also means not being
able to receive MMS messages, since they are signalled by sending an
SMS message to the device.
“Curse Of Silence” messages can be generated with any phone or
cellular modem that supports 3GPP TS 27.005 AT commands and with most
Nokia phones also directly from the user interface. For example, on
S60 devices, when in the message editor, the type of the message can
be switched to “E-mail” under “Options” -> “Sending options” ->
“Message sent as”. The 6310i conveniently offers a “Write email” menu
entry in the messaging menu.
The simplest form of content for a Curse Of Silence would be something
like “123456789@123456789.1234567890123 ” (the digits are used only to
illustrate the length of the “email address” of more than 32
characters). Note the space at the end of the message!
Workaround
==========
None known for the user side.
Until a firmware fix is available, network operators should filter
messages with TP-PID “Internet Electronic Mail” and an email address
of more than 32 characters or reset the TP-PID of these messages to 0.
Credits
=======
Tobias Engel
November 9, 2008
Many thanks to Frank Rieger for spending countless hours cutting and
editing the video.
Detailed List of Affected Products
==================================
Tested on several S60 2.6, 3.0 and 3.1 devices. Since the vulnerable
component is a S60 base functionality, it seems safe to assume that
all devices with these OS versions are affected.
S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1 (S60 3.1):
Nokia E90 Communicator
Nokia E71
Nokia E66
Nokia E51
Nokia N95 8GB
Nokia N95
Nokia N82
Nokia N81 8GB
Nokia N81
Nokia N76
Nokia 6290
Nokia 6124 classic
Nokia 6121 classic
Nokia 6120 classic
Nokia 6110 Navigator
Nokia 5700 XpressMusic
S60 3rd Edition, initial release (S60 3.0):
Nokia E70
Nokia E65
Nokia E62
Nokia E61i
Nokia E61
Nokia E60
Nokia E50
Nokia N93i
Nokia N93
Nokia N92
Nokia N91 8GB
Nokia N91
Nokia N80
Nokia N77
Nokia N73
Nokia N71
Nokia 5500
Nokia 3250
S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 3 (S60 2.8):
Nokia N90
Nokia N72
Nokia N70
S60 2nd Edition, Feature Pack 2 (S60 2.6):
Nokia 6682
Nokia 6681
Nokia 6680
Nokia 6630
Change History
==============
December 30, 2008:
Removed auth details since they are no longer required
December 21, 2008:
Corrected version numbers for S60 2nd Edition
December 13, 2008:
S60 2.8 devices react like S60 3.1 devices, not like S60 2.6 or 3.0
devices
Assets information with CJI comes under RTI: Delhi High Court
Posted by in Uncategorized on September 3, 2009
New Delhi: Information on assets declared by Supreme Court judges in the possession of the Chief Justice of India will come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act, the Delhi High Court ruled on Wednesday.
Justice S. Ravindra Bhat said: “The CJI is a public authority under the RTI Act and the CJI holds the information pertaining to asset declarations in his capacity as Chief Justice; that office is a ‘public authority’ under the Act and is covered by its provisions. Information pertaining to declarations given to the CJI and the contents of such declaration are ‘information’ and subject to the provisions of the RTI Act.”
Verdict to be challenged
The judge was disposing of a writ petition filed by the Supreme Court Information Officer against an order of the Central Information Commission asking him to furnish to applicant Subash Chandra Agarwal information in the CJI’s possession on assets of the judges.
When approached, CJI K.G. Balakrishnan declined to comment on the judgment.
Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati, who represented the Supreme Court Information Officer, told The Hindu that an appeal would be filed before a Division Bench of the High Court.
Rejecting the argument that the CJI was holding such information in a ‘fiduciary capacity’, Justice Bhat said: “It cannot be held that asset information shared with the CJI by the judges is held by him in the capacity of a fiduciary, which, if directed to be revealed, would result in breach of such duty.”
On the submission that the 1997 Supreme Court resolution imposed a confidentiality obligation on the CJI to ensure non-disclosure of the asset declarations by the judges, Justice Bhat said that with the advent of the RTI Act, and the provision in Section 22 — which overrides all other laws, etc. (even overriding the Official Secrets Act) — “the argument about such a confidentiality condition is on a weak foundation and insubstantial.” He said, “The mere marking of a document as ‘confidential’ does not undermine the overbearing nature of Section 22.”
The judge, however, held that the contents of the asset declarations, pursuant to the 1997 resolution, “are entitled to be treated as personal information, and may be accessed in accordance with the procedure prescribed under Section 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act; they are not otherwise subject to disclosure.”
The court directed the petitioner to release within four weeks the information sought by the respondent-applicant about the declaration of assets (and not the contents of the declarations, as that was not sought for) made by the judges.
Will judges’ appointment details be public?
Posted by in Uncategorized on September 3, 2009
NEW DELHI: The worst fears of Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan have come true. He tried to preempt the Delhi High Court on asset
declaration by persuading Supreme Court judges to agree to make public their wealth sheet.
The HC’s unambiguous ruling that “the CJI is a public authority under the Right to Information Act” will enable people to seek even those information from the CJI’s office which Justice Balakrishnan thinks are too sensitive to be tossed into public domain.
Time and again, the CJI had voiced concern over making public “huge volume of sensitive information” entrusted to him, especially as the head of the Collegium of Judges which decides the appointment of judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court.
Appointment and transfer of judges in the higher judiciary, though one may contest the collegium’s method and argue in favour of executive having a role in it, is quite a sensitive process as it discusses the conduct and character of judges based on mostly unverified information received through different channels. Many a time, these unsubstantiated reports have proved to be major impediments for judges’ elevation to the HCs and the SC.
Should this information, to which only the CJI and a few judges are privy to, be made public if an application was made under the RTI Act?
Former attorney general Soli J Sorabjee seems to have an inkling of the abuse of the well-meaning HC judgment at the hands of unscrupulous elements. “It is a judgment that will have far reaching repercussions not only because of its conclusions but because of its implications,” he said, refusing to be drawn into the elements of the consequences.
The CJI had admitted recently that he received a good number of letters from the President, PM and governors related to judges, their conduct and problems in judiciary as well as suggestions. Should these also be put in the public domain, he would often ask.
Under the existing mechanism, the CJI also sets up in-house inquiry panels to go into complaints about misconduct of judges. These reports are considered by him and contents are kept confidential as it could prejudice the stature and standing of a judge even before he had been pronounced guilty. Should these reports be made public?
The pitfalls of making available all information held by CJI by declaring it a public office under RTI are many and could be stretched to an oft-repeated example cited by the CJI: If a litigant makes an application wanting to know what notes the CJI took during the arguments on a case to write the judgment, should it also be made public? If he says he has not taken substantial notes, then he would be accused of not listening to arguments.
That is why, even after the full court of the SC decided that judges would make public their assets by posting it on the SC website, the CJI said the judges had not shed the fear of being hounded by vexatious and frivolous litigation. As he aptly put, “We will wait and see the public reaction.”
Assets under RTI, need to live by standards we set: HC rules to SC
Posted by in Uncategorized on September 3, 2009
“Judging is not a job, it is a way of life. Whenever I enter the courtroom, I do so with the deep sense that, as I sit at trial, I stand on trial,” Justice S Ravindra Bhatt of the Delhi High Court said on Wednesday, ruling that the Chief Justice of India was a “public authority” obliged to disclose information on judges’ declared assets under the RTI.
Describing his “humbling experience” as a judge who agrees that the “little man” can no longer be kept in the dark about judges’ assets, Bhatt said in the verdict: “It would be highly anomalous to say that in exercise of the legitimate jurisdiction to impact people’s lives, property, liberties and individual freedoms, judges have no obligation to disclose their personal assets to someone or authority.”
The judge, the verdict said, was “a casual law-maker, just filling in the gaps”.
However, the court said, the Right to Information Act does not put an obligation on a judge to disclose the assets of family members. The contents of the declaration will be deemed as “personal information” unless its disclosure proves to be of larger public interest.
Gloom descends on Secretariat, Congress
Posted by in Uncategorized on September 3, 2009
HYDERABAD: An air of gloom descended on the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat and the Congress as there was no breakthrough in the search operations or about the well-being and safety of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, whose helicopter went missing on Wednesday.
Political leaders made a beeline for the Secretariat, even as others including the main Opposition Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, held prayers. Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi called on Finance Minister K. Rosaiah for latest information on Dr. Reddy.
There was all-round concern at Dr. Reddy’s whereabouts. His colleagues, party legislators and anxious party cadres, besides officials and employees, thronged ‘Samatha’ ‘C’ block that houses the Chief Minister’s office.
It was utter chaos outside the building housing the CMO as journalists and officials tried desperately to get some positive information.
A sense of relief was palpable for some time as news came that the chopper had been traced and that the VVIP landed safely, albeit in a thick forest of the Nallamala range. But the respite was short-lived.
“We hope the Chief Minister has landed safely. We are trying to locate the chopper,” Mr. Rosaiah said, much to the dismay of the news channels that claimed that contact had been established and Dr. Reddy had spoken to his Political Adviser, K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao.
The mood at the Gandhi Bhavan and in the Congress Legislature Party was one of tension and anxiety. No sooner the information broke that the chopper was missing than panic-stricken leaders rushed to the State Congress headquarters. Congress MLA Erasu Pratap Reddy, who represents the Srisailam constituency, where the chopper is feared to have landed, telephonically asked his party supporters in Atmakur and nearby mandals to scout for Dr. Reddy after preliminary information reached here that his helicopter had landed at Bhanumokkula in Pamulapadu in Kurnool district.
Always in demand, flying visits are YSR’s signature style
Posted by in Uncategorized on September 3, 2009
When Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy took off on his chopper on Wednesday morning, he had already clocked over 100 flying hours in the last four months. The most powerful leader and chief minister in the history of the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy’s charisma and popularity are unmatched by any party leader in the state. And this was reflected in his busy itinerary, with the Chief Minister flying down to stamp his signature on every small or big project, state and central-sponsored scheme or welfare measure across the state.
Records at the Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy, which maintains the government’s choppers, show the frequency of YSR’s air travel.
“The Chief Minister takes personal care and interest in implementation of government projects, especially schemes related to irrigation works, health, family welfare and housing. The Rajiv Arogyasri Health Insurance Scheme and Indiramma Low-cost Housing Project are close to his heart. He would make sure to be present when these schemes were introduced in various districts phase wise. He did not leave it after inaugurating the first phase. Similarly, he is present at the inauguration of every irrigation project in the state and there have been at least 24 inaugurations in the last few months,” says Andhra PCC spokesperson Venkateshwara Paladugu.
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