Archive for 2011/01/30

WikiLeaks and similar organisations are generally admirable in their single-minded view of transparency and openness

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/30/julian-assange-wikileaks-guardian-book

Assange, according to the AFP, claims that the Norwegian newspaper Afterposten is a “media partner’ of WikiLeaks. That, according to the newspaper editors, is categorically untrue

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

“According to our information, Julian assange is, to put it mildly, not very pleased that Afterposten, too, has obtained … the U.S. diplomatic cables from a source,’ the paper’s chief editor wrote earlier this month, according to AFP.

This isn’t the first time Assange has been beaten at his own game.

More: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/01/30/2011-01-30_norwegian_newspaper_beating_wikileaks_at_its_own_game_assange_denies_hes_been_sc.html

Brazil: Exclusive Internet Interview with the Founder of WikiLeaks

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

After Cablegate, Wikileaks got very powerful. Julian’s declarations about future leaks influence markets and government policies. While it becomes a power, shouldn’t WL create a mechanism of accountability by the public opinion?

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/01/30/brazil-exclusive-internet-interview-with-the-founder-of-wikileaks/

The flaw in Anonymous’s argument is that when one elects to take part in a demonstration, one accepts the legal consequences. If the demonstration is a perfectly legal street march, no consequences (should) ensue. But if it’s a sit-in that disrupts a business or traffic, one is liable to being physically handled or arrested. Plainly DDOS attacks are closer to the latter than the former

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Organized Crime

This is the basic social contract around the rule of law for protestors: individuals don’t get to pick and choose which laws they are bound by and which they aren’t, even if their goal is to change the law or expose injustice. Whether someone who participated in a DDOS attack knew they were exposing themselves to arrest or not (bearing in mind the most widely-used DDOS tool, Low Orbit Ion Cannon, does nothing to hide your IP address), they face the consequences of that social contract: DDOSing is illegal.

Much more: http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2011/01/30/anonymous-arrests-shine-a-light-on-some-much-bigger-issues/

Dutch mobile operator T-Mobile investigates selective blocking of data traffic

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Bandwidth Management, Education / Awareness, Future Developments?, Mobile tech, New Business Models, Tech Evolution

Dutch web magazine Tweakers.net is reporting that mobile operator T-Mobile is doing research to find out whether it can block heavy data traffic such as uploading pictures or video conferencing via Skype to guarantee functionality of text messaging and Twitter services during peak traffic and during concerts or other events where tens of thousands want to use a limited number of antennae. “Smartphones are treating data in a different way,” T-Mobile spokesperson Priscilla Tomasoa argues, “so we are looking for different ways to manage traffic”. The provider does not know whether the system they’re looking at will actually be implemented.

T-Mobile already uses technologies such as Cell_PCH aka Network Controlled Fast Dormancy (by Nokia-Siemens) to manage the data traffic burden by having data connections enter ‘sleep mode’ whenever they’re not being used. That already saves 30 percent of data traffic.

(My translation)

Dutch language article: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/72307/t-mobile-doet-proef-met-blokkeren-bepaald-dataverkeer-bij-drukte.html

Did Belgian ISP Belgacom block a website without a court order?

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection

Dutch web magazine Tweakers.net suggests that Belgian Internet Service Provider Belgacom could have blocked the website http://bgcmap.narod.ru/ without a court order, at least temporarily…until internet users reported it to the media.

The website provides information about technical facilities such as local exhanges, local distribution centres and local street cabinets all belonging to Belgacom.

The site turned out to be inaccessible last week on both the networks of Belgacom and its mobile branch Proximus unless the internet users would go and use a proxy server to circumvent the blockade. Customers of other providers could easily access the website.

Traceroute information would stall at Belgacom’s servers which led to the conclusion that it wasn’t a DNS blockade but a blockade of a specific website. One commenter argued that Belgacom would not go and block a site without a court order.

At first Belgacom was not able to quickly provide comments over the weekend but now the provider states:
The information about the street cabinets has been stolen. Belgacom did have a court order. The information is no longer accurate.Meanwhile internet users report that the site is accessible again. Probably due to the fact that another user had copied the stolen data and uploaded it to Google Maps. Secondly, the source code of the website itself has been copied and made available online. This renders any blocking activity useless.

(My translation)

Dutch language article: http://tweakers.net/nieuws/72309/belgacom-blokkeert-website-zonder-gerechtelijk-bevel-update.html

Behold: PirateBox. PirateBox is a self-contained mobile collaboration and file sharing device. Simply turn it on to transform any space into a free and open file sharing network

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness, Future Developments?

Share Freely Inspired by pirate radio and the free culture movements, PirateBox utilizes Free, Libre and Open Source software (FLOSS) to create mobile wireless file sharing networks where users can anonymously share images, video, audio, documents, and other digital content.

More: http://wiki.daviddarts.com/PirateBox

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

See also:

Online file-sharers disheartened at the news that Google has begun censoring peer-to-peer search terms can now take their data into the real world with the PirateBox, a lunchbox-sized device created by David Darts, a professor of art and technology at NYU Steinhardt.

If you fancy making your own PirateBox, Darts provides instructions for building one at a cost of around $100. It’s not the first time file-sharing has entered the real world though – last year artist Aram Bartholl installed USB sticks in walls and buildings around New York to create a series of digital dead drops.

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/01/piratebox.html

Studios use iTunes to fight Oscar piracy

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/morning_call/2011/01/studios-use-itunes-to-fight-oscar-piracy.html

China is planning to introduce a blacklist system for websites charged with online piracy of films and TV series as part of a major effort to better protect copyright

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Public Policy

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-01/29/c_13712525.htm

PhD student Robert Layton and researcher Prof Paul Watters, of Ballarat University’s Internet Commerce Security Laboratory (ICSL), wrote a program that can track illegal downloads through torrent websites

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness, Illegal File Sharing, New Business Models, Tech Evolution

The program maps the extent of criminal activity and copyright infringement online.

It uses a tagging technique to track files through networks commonly used by movie and music pirates to transfer large files in fragments from multiple users simultaneously.

“We have found that while many people download copyright infringing material, only about 100 people in the world upload most of the content.”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/online-peril-for-internet-pirates/story-fn6bfkm6-1225996731913

 

It’s not, however, Keller’s or Schumer’s definition of journalism that is relevant. It’s the definition under the law. That makes Assange, whom Keller described as “arrogant” and “conspiratorial,” very difficult – if not impossible – to prosecute

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/28/AR2011012803042.html

For New York Times, a Complex Relationship With Wikileaks, Government

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCVWeoc-jeU

Hacks is an English and German language documentary by Christine Bader. It was shot over a period of four years, starting in 1993 and released in 1997. This documentary deals with social aspects of hacking by covering not only the more traditional “computer” hacks, but expanding the definition to the realms of society, politics, environment, and art

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

We move back to technological aspects of hacking and spend time discussion the creation and inherent decentralized architecture of the Internet with Rop Gonggrijp and Wau Holland. As an example of Internet freedom, Felipe Rodriquez, Haneke Vermeulen, and Marleen Stikker describe efforts of XS4ALL to bring access to the Internet to common people.

We learn about ‘subversive way of thinking’ from several CCC members, as well as about their exploits hacking into a bank in Hanover

More: http://www.thesprawl.org/hacktube/?entry=37

Direct link to video (right click + ‘save as’): http://www.thesprawl.org/hacktube/videos/1/Hacks%20by%20Christine%20Bader.m4v

See also:

Unauthorized access
Site: http://www.thesprawl.org/hacktube/?entry=9
Direct link to video (right click + ‘save as’): http://www.thesprawl.org/hacktube/videos/1/unauthorized_access.m4v

Hippies from Hell
Site: http://www.thesprawl.org/hacktube/?entry=17
Direct link to video (right click + ‘save as’): http://connectmedia.waag.org/hippies/HFHdivx.AVI

Blast From The Past. The 2009 WikiLeaks Panel – Daniel, Rop, Julian, ex-MI6 officer and others. ‘Child pornography is sort of used as a sweetener for censorship. It’s the entry for censorship’

Posted: 2011/01/30 in Education / Awareness

Part 1/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0E-AScyqq4
Part 2/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EFSyQLoBPI
Part 3/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kAtEuUWYgc
Part 4/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heq8hlqZEUg
Part 5/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT_HL5yKCZs
Part 6/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fflqJFvnPy8: ‘Child pornography is sort of used as a sweetener for censorship. It’s the entry for censorship’
Part 7/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnLXhkUnoLI
Part 8/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dX3ddKJ57s
Part 9/9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMbCafRRmqo

Daniel, Rop, Julian, ex-MI6 officer and others

Previously:

Picture Gallery: Adrian Lamo, Rop Gonggrijp, and Cryptome‘s John Young at H2K2, July 2002
http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/h2k2-july02.html