Archive for 2010/12/23

Home Internet with Anonymity Built In – A router that runs the Tor software prevents Web tracking

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Tech Evolution

Many political activists, nonprofits, and businesses use an anonymity system called Tor to encrypt and obscure what they do on the Internet. Now the U.S.-based nonprofit that distributes Tor is developing a low-cost home router with the same privacy protection built in.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/26981/page1/?a=f

Previously:

WikiLeaks Intercepted Private Communications via TOR proxy network, Maintains Access
http://vrritti.com/2010/12/10/wikileaks-intercepted-private-communications-via-tor-proxy-network-maintains-access/

FTC Charges Massive Internet Enterprise with Scamming Consumers Out of Millions Billing Month-After-Month for Products and Services They Never Ordered

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Litigation

Defendants Allegedly Created 51 Shell Companies to Carry Out Deception. Internet enterprise has allegedly made millions of dollars by luring consumers into “trial” memberships for bogus government-grant and money-making schemes, and then repeatedly charging them monthly fees for these and other memberships that they never signed up for. The FTC seeks to stop the illegal practices and make the defendants pay redress to consumers and give up their ill-gotten gains.

More: http://ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/iworks.shtm

WikiLeaks.org moves next door to the CIA, hosting provider’s offices offices are adjacent to the CIA in McLean, Virginia

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness

The WikiLeaks.org website has moved again and now appears to be hosted within walking distance of the CIA’s headquarters. The site was previously hosted by Silicon Valley Web Hosting, but has now switched to ServInt, whose offices are adjacent to the CIA in McLean, Virginia.

Hosting the WikiLeaks.org site within such close proximity of the CIA headquarters is surprising given that earlier this year, WikiLeaks asked the CIA to stop spying on it, though it will presumably be helpful for the CIA’s WikiLeaks Task Force (WTF!)

A = ServInt headquarters, B = CIA headquarters (both approximate)

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2010/12/22/wikileaks-org-moves-next-door-to-the-cia.html

Previously:

(2007): Conspiracy theorists have filled the void, suggesting, among other things, that Wikileaks is a CIA front
The contact number on Wikileaks.org—which consistently goes straight to voicemail—has a D.C. area code and is a Verizon cell phone number registered in Adelphi, Maryland. Intellus.com, a Web tracking service, connected the number to a “Va Reston.” Twenty miles down the road from Adelphi is Reston, Virginia, home to iDefense labs, whose Web site says it is “a comprehensive provider of security intelligence to governments.”
http://vrritti.com/2010/12/13/2007-the-contact-number-on-wikileaks-org%e2%80%94which-consistently-goes-straight-to-voicemail%e2%80%94has-a-d-c-area-code-and-is-a-verizon-cell-phone-number-registered-in-adelphi-maryland-intel/

Did the CIA Hijack a Wikileaks Mirror?
“Looks like the CIA created a ‘honeypot’ wikileaks mirror at wikileaks.psytek.net, presumably to see who is downloading the leaks – but they screwed up the anonymization,” writes Xeni Jardin.
http://vrritti.com/2010/12/13/did-the-cia-hijack-a-wikileaks-mirror/

Suspicions abound that Wikileaks is part of U.S. cyber-warfare operations – CIA, Mossad and Soros behind Wikileaks
http://vrritti.com/2010/12/13/suspicions-abound-that-wikileaks-is-part-of-u-s-cyber-warfare-operations-cia-mossad-and-soros-behind-wikileaks/

Google’s UK Street View wi-fi data ‘deleted’

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection

The first batch of wi-fi data, which included snippets of e-mails, URLs and passwords, was deleted in November. But legal wrangles in other countries meant that the remaining data, all of which the firm said was collected in error, took more time to erase. “We can confirm that the UK data has now been deleted, and that this has been independently certified,” said Google. The deletion was carried out by US forensics firm Stroz Friedberg.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12040923

TeleGeography’s Colocation Database (profiles of 2,216 colocation sites around the world)

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

More: http://www.telegeography.com/product-info/colo/download/colo_exec_summary.pdf

The Man-Made Rainbow Machine

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Tech Evolution

McKean’s current machine is a prototype for one he will install on the roof of the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska this summer. It’ll shoot two rainbows a day for 15 minutes, visible up to 1000 feet away. And that machine will have the distinction of mimicking nature solely with the stuff nature provides: it’ll only spray collected rainwater and run exclusively on solar power.

More: http://gizmodo.com/5716792/the-man+made-rainbow-machine

By 2015, Cellphones Will Do 3D Holographic Video Calls (Says IBM Survey)

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Future Developments?

http://gizmodo.com/5716654/by-2015-cellphones-will-do-3d-holographic-video-calls-says-ibm-survey

Report: Newspapers make big gains in online video streams

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

Newspapers are gaining ground when it comes to online video offerings, beating their television counterparts in several key metrics, according to an online video report commissioned by BrightCove and TubeMugul.

In particular, the report noted that newspapers saw a 51 percent jump from last quarter in the number of titles uploaded. On a year-to-year basis, the number of titles was up 110 percent. In all, newspapers uploaded 482,000 titles in the quarter.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/report-newspapers-make-big-gains-in-online-video-streams/43033

ISP Demon Internet Finds Broadband Helps UK Remote Working on XMas Day

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

One in six Brits will use their broadband connection to work from home on Christmas Day. Furthermore workers are set to spend nearly 10 hours working from home during their annual leave over the Christmas period.

Almost everybody (95%) working from home said they would be sending and receiving work emails; over two thirds (68%) will be accessing files and documents on the business network through a remote connection; 30% will be making the most of ‘the cloud’ to access files and documents over the internet; 45% will be working from files saved on the desktop or USB/CD or similar device; and just over half of respondents (53%) will also be making business phone calls.

More: http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2010/12/23/isp-demon-internet-finds-broadband-helps-uk-remote-working-on-xmas-day.html

IsoHunt contests the imposition of a site-wide keyword filter based on a list of movie industry keywords

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Filtering, Litigation

By doing so, the search engine also makes a case for the public’s ‘freedom of search’, not just on BitTorrent, but on the Internet in general

http://torrentfreak.com/isohunt-continues-legal-fight-to-thwart-mpaa-censorship-101221/

Will Visa, MasterCard, Paypal, BofA & Apple Terminate Relationships With The NYTimes For Revealing Military Secrets?

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101222/04353612381/will-visa-mastercard-paypal-bofa-apple-terminate-relationships-with-nytimes-revealing-military-secrets.shtml

Congress Brings Back Recently Removed ‘IP Subcommittee’ Now That Copyright Reformer Won’t Lead It

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101220/23143712353/congress-brings-back-recently-removed-ip-subcommittee-now-that-copyright-reformer-wont-lead-it.shtml

JFK On Secrecy And Censorship

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhZk8ronces

More: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101206/01134912143/jfk-secrecy-censorship.shtml

EU’s Main ACTA Supporter Caught Lying About ACTA

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101222/17002012390/eus-main-acta-supporter-caught-lying-about-acta.shtml

Hungary, Venezuela Each Start To Regulate Internet Content To Stop Political Commentary The Gov’t Doesn’t Like

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Public Policy

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/02482212355/hungary-venezuela-each-start-to-regulate-internet-content-to-stop-political-commentary-govt-doesnt-like.shtml

Now Random Webhosts Are Demanding Wikileaks Mirrors Be Taken Down Over Possibility Of DDoS?

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Network Security

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101222/22394012391/now-random-webhosts-are-demanding-wikileaks-mirrors-be-taken-down-over-possibility-ddos.shtml

“The use of copyrighted works for scholarship or research, like in Chilling Effects, is clearly a fair use of the material and protected under the law”

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Copyright, Google, Litigation

EFF and others urged an appeals court to reject Perfect 10’s attempts to block Google’s contributions to the copyright resource

“Chilling Effects is an important public resource for educating the public and studying the effects of online copyright law — so important that Perfect 10 itself has used the data as part of its copyright infringement lawsuits. Google’s contributions to this resource don’t infringe copyright simply because Perfect 10 chooses to attach samples of its adult photos in its infringement notices.”

More: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/46884

LG pitches Blu-ray media streamer ahead of CES

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Tech Evolution

BD, 3D and DLNA all in one

http://www.reghardware.com/2010/12/23/lg_bd690/

The ITU has decided that both LTE and WiMAX may be known as “4G” technologies, despite neither properly qualifying as part of the fourth generation of mobile technologies

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Mobile tech, Online advertising, Tech Evolution

So the ITU has relented, admitting that “it is recognized that [4G] … may also be applied to … LTE and WiMax”. But not content with stopping there, the ITU admits that the term may also be used to refer to “other evolved 3G technologies”, basically giving the marketeers free rein to use the term as they feel fit.

Which is what they where going to do anyway, of course. The ITU has no power to prevent anyone calling their technology 4G, 5G or anything else they like. This change in policy will simply prevent the few geeks who thought they knew better from pointing the use of incorrect generational terms out to others who don’t really care anyway.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/22/4g_itu/

An alleged hacker has been charged with breaking into the e-commerce systems of Digital River before redirecting more than $250,000

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Litigation

Jeremey Parker of Houston, Texas, 35, is charged with fraudulently obtaining more than $274K between December 2008 and October 2009 following an alleged hack against the network of SWReg Inc, a Digital River subsidiary. SWReg specialises in running e-commerce fulfillment systems for smaller software developers who don’t want the hassle of developing and maintaining their own online store. An indictment in the case, filed in a federal court in Minnesota, was unsealed on Tuesday.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/23/digital_river_hack_charges/

How Uncle Sam invented television

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/future-of-tv/2010/12/how-uncle-sam-invented-television.ars

Republicans on new FCC net neutrality rules: kill!

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Net Neutrality, Public Policy

Armageddon has arrived once again: the FCC has unleashed net neutrality rules, and the GOP has a problem with that.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/12/gop-on-new-fcc-net-neutrality-rules-kill.ars

ACAPOR president Nuno Pereira is calling for Portuguese law to be changed to follow the French lead of a graduated response. Announces ‘lawsuit DDOS’ campaign

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Three Strikes

Starting January 5th 2011, ACAPOR will begin filing “the largest collection of criminal complaints submitted simultaneously in the history of Portuguese Justice” against individuals alleged to have shared movies online.

“From that day on, every month we will file 1,000 new complaints,” said Pereira, adding that although file-sharing is a crime in Portugal, ACAPOR is being forced to act privately because their complaints to the government have come to nothing.

http://torrentfreak.com/movie-group-to-ddos-the-courts-to-have-file-sharing-laws-weakened-101223/

When did espionage become so dull?

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy

If the spy scandals during the Cold War had been this routine, the world would have been deprived of great spy novelists like Ian Fleming or John Le Carre. There would have been no James Bond or George Smiley. Sadly, this is the direction we seem to be moving in; this is exactly what these masters of the spy novel predicted after the recent spy swaps and expulsions.

More: http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20101223/161902223.html

Call for “bank run” could become illegal in The Netherlands

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, Public Policy

Dutch Justice and Finance Ministers are looking into the possibility of making it illegal to call for a bank run, much like WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange did recently in relation to the Bank of America as well as a Dutch financial expert in relation to the Dutch Bank DSB. The latter went bankrupt in a matter of hours.

The maximum penalty could be a 4 year prison sentence or a fine of 19,000 euros and the new law should primarily be aiming at “people with a certain authority in the financial world”.

The Ministers aim to protect the stability of the banking system, especially since a call for a bank run can spread quickly nowadays using modern means of communication. Banks cannot protect themselves against that and therefore have a need for protection through criminal law, the thought seems to be.

(my summary and translation)

Dutch language article: http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/8572176/__Oproep__bankrun__bestraft__.html

Dutch Court issues dismissal in criminal case against infringing file sharing websites

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence

The prosecutor had not conducted sufficient additional research after receiving a file on the sites and the suspects. A criminal case was therefore a step too far.

http://www.futureofcopyright.com/index.php?page=news&id=1493

Assange Extradition Shows EU Power Over British Law

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy

The Swedish case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a clear example of the loss of the once-globally admired system of British justice caused by the implementation of the European Arrest Warrant (eaw).

Whether or not Mr. Assange is guilty of the accusations brought against him in Sweden, this case clearly demonstrates that, under the eaw, the British courts have no right to take into account the evidence against an accused Briton or foreign guest in Britain. It is a clear case of the once-sovereign British law being trumped by EU imperial law.

In fact, under the all-powerful eaw, EU law even trumps the sovereign law of any nation to which a foreign national is subject in his own country, if that foreign national is charged under EU law while resident in Britain.

More: http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=7777.6360.0.0

Apple drops WikiLeaks app, Google keeps it

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models

Google Inc, which operates the second-largest online mobile applications store, has kept more than half a dozen apps available on its Android Marketplace that make it easier to access the confidential U.S. government documents WikiLeaks had released on its site.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BL2VH20101222

also:

Banned unofficial Wikileaks app earned $5,840 before removal
http://www.examiner.com/technology-in-national/booted-unofficial-wikileaks-app-earned-5-840-before-ban

Wikileaks is not the leader but the leaks. And news from Spain suggests we should be learning from those leaks

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Three Strikes

So far I’ve seen nothing that wasn’t already the product of informed cynicism, but a useful confirmation casts light on “three-strikes”-style copyright-owner protection laws. Wikileaks has confirmed that the invisible something at the centre of them all is indeed what we thought it was – USTR, proxied by US diplomats.

Cables released already show they have been “helping” a range of governments. Indeed, the unseemly rush to impose the Digital Economy Act without discussion in Britain with the connivance of all political parties spoke loudly of civil servants briefing every MP who asked on a top-secret imperative to obey the Americans or face the awful consequences. I’ve no doubt that we’ll find the data to support the conjecture that every instance of three-strikes legislation globally has their fingerprints.

Here are some of the traces of USTR’s activities reported in the cables so far:

First, the Spanish experience sets an important precedent. No politician wants to champion a new law as their own and then have it disclosed that actually they are acting as an agent for a foreign power.

Second, USTR’s magnum opus – ACTA – is still not a done deal. The Wikileaks cables confirm USTR is the driving force, and also confirm that European politicians are getting cold feet over some of the ACTA malarkey.

More: http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2010/12/three-strikes-typhoid-mary-identified/

Would someone please explain to me why Julian Assange and WikiLeaks aren’t tried in a court of law for espionage and treason?

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20101223/OPINION03/12230335

See also:

It’s time for a serious response
http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/535346/It-s-time-for-a-serious-response.html

It’s hard to charge hackers with crimes, even when they gleefully commit them, because it’s hard to find prosecutors and judges willing to bone up on the drudgery of understanding what they did

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement

http://www.webstock.org.nz/blog/2010/the-blast-shack/

Frost over the World – Interview With WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness

The WikiLeaks founder talks about secrets, leaks and why he will not go back to Sweden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6mcSXge4Qo

See also:

Exclusive Julian Assange Interview With Cenk Uygur

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL8g3vye4xo

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/my-exclusive-interview-with-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been named “Man of the Year” by France’s Le Monde newspaper

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness

one of the five publications to cooperate with the whistleblowing website on its latest release of leaked documents

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20101223-310541/WikiLeaks-Assange-is-Le-Monde-Man-of-the-Year

Julian Assange: “All members of the press and all the American people who believe in freedom and the good founding principles of the Revolutionary fathers have got to pull together and resist this attack on the First Amendment”

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/22/julian-assange-bradley-manning-political-prisoner_n_800499.html

A Norwegian newspaper confirmed today that it had gotten hold of the entire file of more than 250,000 secret US embassy cables first leaked to WikiLeaks

Posted: 2010/12/23 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection

 ”We’re free to do what we want with these documents … We’re free to publish the documents or not publish the documents, we can publish on the internet or on paper. We are handling these documents just like all other journalistic material to which we have gained access.”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/norwegian-newpaper-gets-its-hands-on-wikileaks-cables/story-e6frf7jx-1225975270507

How did Aftenposten get access? They won’t say, and Wikileaks won’t either, but one guess could involve the database being stored on a server within Norway.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/22/wikileaks-all-250000.html