Archive for 2011/02/19

http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=462702

A broader discussion I had with my Microsoft contact and several others was whether mobile users will stay with Apps or move to Browsing. Apps make sense for tasks. If you know where you want to go, or what you want to buy, apps are great today. Furthermore, people are creatures of habit. The more they get used to apps, especially fanatically loyal Apple iPhone users, the more it becomes ingrained by a larger-and-larger user base. So, while intuitively it makes sense to browse the web on your smart phone, just like you do on a laptop or PC, this transition to browsing may take longer than expected. Two factors that may accelerate the adoption of browsing on smart phones are 1) the pace of improvement in smart phone operating systems that improve the browsing experience, and 2) Apple’s proprietary ecosystem, which together could drive users toward browser-based Google and Microsoft operating systems

More: http://seekingalpha.com/article/253765-takeaways-from-mobile-world-congress-in-barcelona

Even companies that earn a serious chunk of their revenue from personalised web advertising are beginning to bite the hand that feeds them

Much more: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/security/365386/opinion-ad-snoops-will-get-their-comeuppance

The SuperMassive E10000 Series uses SonicWALL’s Reassembly-Free Deep Packet Inspection (RFDPI) engine to scan every byte of every packet with full content inspection of the entire stream while providing high performance and low latency. The RFDPI engine also ensures full inspection of SSL-encrypted traffic as well as non-proxyable applications

More: http://www.esecurityplanet.com/news/article.php/3925446/RSA-Conference-2011-News-Roundup.htm

Since Wikileaks has received a lot of publicity with release of the gunship video and afterwards I have been bombarded with inquiries about Wikileaks. My attempts to deflect the inquiries were unsuccessful: most wanted information about Julian Assange and little about the operation of the initiative. Quite a few aimed to foster conflict between Cryptome and Wikileaks citing my early, very brief involvement and the mail list publication.

My critique of Wikileaks — earliest and latest — is intended to be constructive and to guard against praising a fledging operation due the weakening effect of excessive praise. Instead I believe Wikileaks needs greater, well-thought-out critique to assure it survives excessive glorification and demonization — which I warned about in the earliest days and which will become more intense in the future.

Much more: http://cryptome.org/0003/wikileaks-stoned.htm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358505/Assange-Tell-biography-WikiLeaks-founder-graphic-testimony.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Vy8fFnz18&feature=player_embedded#t=36s

71-year-old Ray McGovern is a retired CIA officer turned political activist. He was a Federal employee under seven U.S. presidents over 27 years. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. McGovern was assaulted, dragged from the room and double handcuffed with metal cuffs causing profuse bleeding.
http://www.presstv.ir/usdetail/165718.html

See also:

It was made clear to McGovern that he was not standing in a free speech zone
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/truthdigger_of_the_week_ray_mcgovern_20110218/

Could it be the U.S. government thinks peaceful, civilian protest against government is fine on the streets of Cairo, Egypt but not on U.S. soil?
http://tinyurl.com/4qlpm3j

Radio Netherlands Worldwide said in its report that there has been “fierce criticism” of American Internet policy, and the U.S. is itself working on a law to shut down the Internet. “In the U.S., Wikileaks is regarded as a threat to national security,” the report said. “Contrary to official policy, Washington in practice does very little to promote or guarantee internet freedom.”

The report also mentioned that “the operation known as the “Internet kill switch” was a dream of former President George W. Bush.

More: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/7292926.html

See also:

Internet politics: an interview with hip hop journalist and internet guru Davey D
http://sfbayview.com/2011/internet-politics-an-interview-with-hip-hop-journalist-and-internet-guru-davey-d/

The Australian ambassador to Sweden, Paul Stephens, made the appeal in a letter to the Scandinavian country’s justice minister as Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, fought extradition in a London court.

http://tinyurl.com/64wuspr

“moot,” is worshipped as a “god” and “dictator.” In 2009, Time named him the “most influential person of the year” on its website. In the online voting process, fans voted for him 16 million times.

Meathead, a law student, is relatively well groomed. He used to attend meetings of the Pirate Party, but the discussions bored him. He preferred action, which led him to begin launching his own DOS attacks. Who did he attack? “I have no idea. It was always these IP addresses that they were giving me,” he says. He doesn’t care who is being targeted. He simply trusts the swarm.He Googled the punishment he would receive if caught. Section 303b of the German Criminal Code defines what he does as computer sabotage. “If you attack government agencies or critical infrastructure, you can easily be put away for a few years,” he says nonchalantly.

More: http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=28879

And he told Intellectual Property Watch that this will be followed in a few months by a separate proposal for a “notice-and-trackdown” article requiring internet service providers to divulge information about online counterfeiters so they can be gone after.

Much more: http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2011/02/17/wipo-could-enter-growing-fray-over-internet-domain-takedowns/

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/021711-anonymous-hack-lessons.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Global-Viewpoint/2011/0217/The-real-challenge-for-Internet-freedom-US-hypocrisy.-And-there-s-no-app-for-that.

See also:

Internet Freedom’ in the Age of Assange
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/17/internet_freedom_in_the_age_of_assange

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380610,00.asp

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_17414660

At issue is whether Google’s business practices hurt competition

http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/145728-texas-attorney-general-investigates-antitrust-issues-google.htm

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/can-this-man-topple-google-20110214-1at6f.html

The EFF staged its 21st bash at Bricks and Mortar Media (BAMM.tv), a “content creation factory” in SoMa. In true tech-pioneer fashion, the night featured live nerdcore performances. What’s nerdcore? Let me put it this way. When the star of Dual Core shouts into the mic, “Throw your hands in the air if you’ve got mad skills,” the people he’s addressing really do have mad skills – like programming, web design, developing apps for mobile devices, managing vast databases, creating video games, and yes, even hacking. One of Dual Core’s raps included the line, “My girlfriend is a hacker.” He’s clearly smitten.

And oh, the nerdy crowd! The knowing glint in their eyes, those people who really understand how to manipulate technology. They program software, develop apps, eat, sleep and breathe online communication, whip out iPhones and Droid phones and talk about video games, latest versions of browsers and operating systems, and other matters that this reporter could not quite comprehend, because they were using acronyms. And yet, when you hang out with hardcore nerdcore fans, you learn the most fascinating things. For example, how when you begin typing “Torrent” into a Google search engine, the word “torrent” will not show up in the automatic feed that suggests search terms. Why? Well, there are theories.

More: http://www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision/2011/02/18/%E2%80%9Cmy-girlfriend-hacker%E2%80%9D-inside-eff-party