Archive for 2010/07/26

PGP, Now Part of Symantec

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection

There has been significant progress in the 6 weeks since Symantec’s acquisition of PGP was finalized, and this Webcast will walk PGP customers through our vision for the next generation of data protection solutions. In addition to discussing our overall product direction, we’ll also discuss: 1. Symantec’s intention to build upon the PGP Encryption Platform to deliver a consolidated, centralized policy and key management offering across the entire suite of encryption solutions; 2. Possible integrations between PGP Universal Server™ and PGP® Key Management Server with the Symantec Protection Center (SPC), endpoint security solutions, data loss prevention and gateway security products, allowing customers to more seamlessly protect information throughout their organization.

July 27th at 12.30pm,BST register at:

http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/22040

Government to axe UK Film Council – Industry reacts to abolition of UK Film Council

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy

Government to axe UK Film Council

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jul/26/uk-film-council

Industry reacts to abolition of UK Film Council

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10766130

IBM faces EU antitrust investigations

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy

Europe’s top competition watchdog has opened probes into IBM over concerns that the US company may have abused its dominant position in the multibillion-dollar market for mainframe computers.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5960b57a-98ba-11df-a0b7-00144feab49a.html

From pillar to post, enforcing copyright online in the Netherlands

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Public Policy

Although from a legal perspective, appealing against individual users is certainly less invasive than a general blockade, we should take into consideration how effective and desirably legal action against thousands of individual infringers really is.

http://futureofcopyright.com/index.php?page=news&id=1157

Dell Pays $100 Million to Settle Fraud Charges From SEC

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, Litigation, Public Policy

Dell used payments from semiconductor giant Intel to boost its profits to meet Wall Street earnings targets, according to news reports. And, in exchange, the computer maker agreed not to use CPUs manufactured by Intel’s rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) without disclosing it to its investors. These payments were so huge that they accounted for 76 percent of Dell’s operating income in the first quarter of 2007.  And, in several other quarters, the payments were running in double-digit percentages of its earnings, according to SEC.

http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/93088-dell-pays-100-million-settle-fraud-charges-from.htm

Just say no to fake Net neutrality

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Net Neutrality

But what’s being floated in Washington, dubbed “paid prioritization,” is fake Net neutrality. And a slightly more sanitized version of this known as “managed services” could secure today’s online giants a spot in the fast lane, while everyone else is left fighting over the scraps.

What’s in it for the big guys? If they can’t kill Net neutrality outright, the dominant phone and cable companies like AT&T and Comcast still want to be able to favor their own video, voice, and text content, protecting themselves from the forces of competition and reducing their need to make investments in capacity expansions.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20011565-38.html

UFC Subpoenas Streaming Sites To Track Down Uploader

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Illegal File Sharing, Litigation

http://torrentfreak.com/ufc-subpoenas-streaming-sites-to-track-down-uploaders-100726/

Big Name Authors Realize Their Old Contracts Don’t Cover eBooks; Route Around Old Publishers To Release New Versions

Posted: 2010/07/26 in New Business Models

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100723/17020410345.shtml

Yes Men Release Movie Via BitTorrent To Avoid Legal Hassles

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, File Sharing, New Business Models, Uncategorized

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100723/17032510346.shtml

See also: http://vodo.net/yesmen

LAPD questions Google Apps security credentials

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Google, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy

“The City Council was presented with clear evidence that Google posed a very significant risk to the security of the City and citizen data, much of it highly confidential. In addition, independent financial data showed that the new system will actually cost more, not less.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/26/google_apps_la_delay/

Meanwhile:

In what vendors consider a key step, the GSA on Thursday certified that Google’s email and word-processing service, known as Google Apps, meets security requirements to qualify for use by the agency, a GSA spokeswoman said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704719104575388374158004334.html

UK ISP Demon Internet Restricts Unlimited Business Broadband Packages

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Bandwidth Management

The recently re-launched ISP Demon Internet (THUS Group, Cable & Wireless) has been forced to impose a Fair Usage Policy (FUP) on its new “unlimited” business broadband packages. The provider claims that it has recently seen a big increase in the amount of heavy users, which are forcing it to make “tough decisions to protect our network and quality of service“.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2010/07/26/uk-isp-demon-internet-restricts-unlimited-business-broadband-packages.html

Sony’s trojan horse for 3D and Move: games you already own

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models

If you don’t have a 3D TV or the Move hardware, the three full games still justify the cost, and then the extra content will already be there in your home, waiting for you to upgrade

This strategy is a strong one, and very simple: you’re going to be buying games that are ready for the Move and 3D support even before you buy either of the technologies

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/07/sonys-trojan-horse-for-3d-and-move-games-you-already-own.ars

‘I’m just dying to download it’

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Legislation

Part 1: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/blogs/connector/3949734/I-m-just-dying-to-download-it

Part 2: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/blogs/connector/3956331/Dying-to-download-part-2

The Love Parade Catastrophe, or: to watch a cover up in progress

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection

SPIEGEL ONLINE learned that at the offices of the Federal Police all the documents related to the Love Parade – operational orders, situation reports, maps – have been deleted from the computers of officials and from their e-mail accounts as well. ”Very quickly a really big vacuum cleaner passed by,” said an official who even feels a “cover-up” is in progress.

(English language) http://thomasrhart.blogspot.com/2010/07/love-parade-catastrophe-or-cover-up-in.html

(German language) http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,708426,00.html

CIA: INTellingence: Open Source Intelligence

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy

Information does not have to be secret to be valuable. Whether in the blogs we browse, the broadcasts we watch, or the specialized journals we read, there is an endless supply of information that contributes to our understanding of the world. The Intelligence Community generally refers to this information as Open Source Intelligence (OSINT). OSINT plays an essential role in giving the national security community as a whole insight and context at a relatively low cost

As with all intelligence disciplines, OSINT has its challenges. The sheer volume is daunting, and separating wheat from chaff requires skill, knowledge, and a reliance on sophisticated information technology. It also takes a concerted effort to coordinate with partners to avoid duplication and make the best use of resources, but the payoff in both effectiveness and efficiency is high.

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2010-featured-story-archive/open-source-intelligence.html

See also:

Law Enforcement Intelligence:
A Guide for State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/le-spy-guide.zip

and

Privacy, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
Compliance Verification for the Intelligence Enterprise
http://cryptome.org/isp-spy/spy-verify.zip

Call for Papers: The Pirate Book

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Illegal File Sharing

The few books that so far have been published on this subject are sensationalistic accounts of the ‘Piracy-sponsors-terrorism’-ilk. They more often than not simply condemn piracy in a way that gives no justice to the complexities of the topic.

The proposed book will try to develop a more nuanced view on this phenomenon. Therefore, we are seeking submissions of new and unpublished papers for an anthology on the global phenomenon of piracy. The reader will not focus on the rights and wrongs of piracy, but rather on how piracy actually works in different parts of the world.

However, it will have a special focus on the rationale of piracy in developing countries, and discuss piracy in the frame work of digital culture and phenomena such as Free/Open Source Software, Creative Commons etc. A strong emphasis will be on media piracy.

http://cryptome.org/0001/pirate-book.htm

Wikileaks Afghanistan files: download the key incidents as a spreadsheet

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection

It must be one of the biggest leaks in intelligence history. An archive of almost 90,000 files has come to light thanks to Wikileaks, logging the history of the war in Afghanistan, practically blow-by-blow. We’ve trawled through these incidents to help you make sense of the key events.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/datablog/2010/jul/25/wikileaks-afghanistan-data

See also:

Wikileaks releases massive set of Afghan war files

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20011594-83.html

White House condemns Afghan leaks

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40202.html

Previously: http://contentprotection.wordpress.com/?s=wikileaks

India – Act now: a national toll-free number to report movie piracy

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing

We have got close to 600 such calls till now from the Mumbai and Thane area, and many raids were conducted on the information received over the phone

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Act-now–a-national-toll-free-number-to-report-movie-piracy/651596

Content is King: Choosing the Right Partner Ecosystem to Create High Value Multimedia Services

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models

content and service providers must examine content and delivery from the perspective of the consumer instead of categorizing consumers according to platform

http://tinyurl.com/32cqmyg

ISPs Battle Against Three-strikes Rule Throughout EU

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Three Strikes

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/201767/isps_battle_against_threestrikes_rule_throughout_eu.html

Pirated Inception Copies Used to Spread Malware

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Illegal File Sharing, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

Titles such as Robin Hood and Predators are leveraged by attackers in the same way

According to BitDefender, the Wimad Trojan horse has been packaged into multiple bootlegged movies offered for download free of charge through various illegal third-party sources, including BitTorrent trackers.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Pirated-Inception-Copies-Used-to-Spread-Malware-148809.shtml

See also:

http://www.malwarecity.com/blog/inception-robin-hood-and-other-blockbusters-haunted-by-wimad-857.html

BitDefender report: http://www.bitdefender.com/site/view/BitDefender-E-Threats-Landscape-Report.html

Tech News Sites Tout Misleading BitTorrent Piracy Study

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Illegal File Sharing, Stats / reports

http://torrentfreak.com/tech-news-sites-tout-misleading-bittorrent-piracy-study-100724/

Mass BitTorrent Lawsuits Now Target Private Trackers

Posted: 2010/07/26 in Illegal File Sharing, Litigation

http://torrentfreak.com/mass-bittorrent-lawsuits-now-target-private-tracker-100725/