Archive for 2011/11/26

Blokpoel stated that he only wants to deal with those who are able to shape a new culture and feels that older employees are ‘a lost generation’. A younger employee has posted these statements on a blog.

A union has already received 400 complaints.

Dutch language news article:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/11007335/___Ouderen_verloren_generatie___.html?p=13,1

 

The conference called Freedom Online: Joint action for Free Expression on the Internet, will gather Ministers from Sweden, Canada, Estonia, Kenya and Tunisia as well as representatives of companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Telecom and Internet Providers.

Human Rights Watch and Free Press Unlimited will participate too.

http://www.facebook.com/ifreedom2011

http://twitter.com/ifreedom_2011

Dutch language government press release:
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/ministeries/bz/nieuws/2011/11/24/clinton-naar-den-haag-voor-conferentie-over-internetvrijheid.html

Previously:

Those who disrupt the free flow of information in our society or any other pose a threat to our economy, our government, and our civil society. Remarks on Internet Freedom – Hillary Rodham Clinton, January 21, 2010

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135519.htm

Events that could occur:

  1. Spam algorithms blocking e-mails containing certain references;
  2. Video distribution algorithms arguing that spam, copyright or other policies have been violated and removing content;
  3. Video distribution algorithms turning off the option to have third parties embed videos on their sites;
  4. Video distribution algorithms arguing that ‘the user’ has removed content or that his account has been terminated for some reason;
  5. Trending and ranking algorithms forgetting to trend and rank certain content;
  6. Content, websites and blogs accidentally being taken down “due to an automated process;”
  7. Network  algorithms stating “The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request. Please try again in 30 seconds. That’s all we know;”
  8. Algorithms deciding that posted content should only be showing up to the person who posted it;
  9. Algorithms accidentally polluting search indices with an abundance of irrelevant search results;
  10. Algorithms stating that there was a content delivery failure for whatever reason;
  11. Algorithms redirecting internet users from the content the user intended to visit to content that is probably much more to the user’s liking.

Seemingly mundane technical specifications of Internet routers and social-networking software platforms have powerful political implications. In virtual realms, programmers essentially set the laws of physics, or at least the rules of interaction, for their cyberspaces. If it sometimes seems that media pundits treat Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg or Apple’s Steve Jobs as gods, that’s because in a sense they are—sitting on Mount Olympus with the power to hurl digital thunderbolts with a worldwide impact on people.

Instead of just complaining, many believe they can build alternatives that reduce the power of those virtual deities and give more control to mere mortals.

Instead of simply removing critical content causing all kinds of public outrage and civil disorder, it’s probably much more effective to have people believe that either it has been taken down accidentally, that it’s still out there somewhere but couldn’t reach its destination due to a technical malfunction, or that people are just not that interested in the message.

More:
http://vrritti.com/2011/10/03/occupywallstreet-demonstrates-that-there-are-many-ways-to-intentionally-accidentally-or-unconsciously-but-automatically-disrupt-the-free-flow-of-information/ 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57331212-264/googles-new-ad-space-chrome/

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/11/24/isps-oppose-nominet-proposal-to-remove-uk-domains-without-a-court-order.html

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/11/24/aaisp-uk-deploys-first-consumer-affordable-technicolor-ipv6-broadband-router.html

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/11/24/ofcom-sets-out-soft-traffic-management-and-net-neutrality-rules-for-uk-isps.html

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/11/25/sky-broadband-claims-uk-people-suffer-from-anxiety-when-the-internet-is-down.html

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/11/25/sky-broadband-and-virgin-media-top-ofcom-study-of-uk-customer-satisfaction.html

It sets out how the UK will support economic prosperity, protect national security and safeguard the public’s way of life by building a more trusted and resilient digital environment.

Downloads

The UK Cyber Security Strategy (pdf, 1.1mb)
File type: PDF – Portable Document format | File size: 514.41 kB
The UK Cyber Security Strategy – Written Ministerial Statement (pdf, 50kb)
File type: PDF – Portable Document format | File size: 49.87 kB

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/cyber-security-strategy

And in that no man’s land bureaucracy rules.

Policy and law are nothing but paperwork. And paperwork can be very patient. And pay attention…when the effectuation of a law or policy fails, new laws or policies are being introduced.

The current system supports the view of those who never want to carry any responsibility for the effectuation of any policy or law. “It was before my time, or after my time, but certainly not during my time.”

Dutch politics has forgotten how to rule.

Much more (Dutch language article):
http://www.security.nl/artikel/39311/1/Ik_Zal_Niet_Handhaven.html

 

 

We still see Conficker dominate the cloud lookups from Sophos customers with more than 4 million queries in the last year from more than 1 million unique computers.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/11/24/the-conficker-worm-three-years-and-counting/

The Fartown man believes that the machines emit a dangerous amount of radiation and are also unethical – as they create an image of a person’s naked body.

Now, the EU has told member states not to install any more machines for the next year until a full scientific risk assessment has been carried out.

But the UK Government has decided to make scans mandatory in the meantime.

Law enforcement cooperation with the West on cybercrime is lagging behind other areas

http://themoscownews.com/siloviks_scoundrels/20111121/189221309.html

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111123/04322816886/sarkozy-worried-about-internet-stealing-audience-share-regulated-tv-services.shtml

Author Arjen Kamphuis argues that during recent years, anything centralized is failing, while BitTorrent, the Arab Spring, Open Source Software, hacktivism and perhaps even Occupy are making huge leaps forward.

He makes a plea for more and better educational campaigns for netizens by civil rights organizations and hacktivists, instead of the latter two trying to influence a system that does not take the interests of netizens at heart anyway.

As such, he closes his plea with some practical advice:

1. Locate your mailserver abroad. Open a VPN line and connect to your server via an SSL connection.

2. Encrypt your emails using GPG and run your VOIP communication within a VPN environment.

3. Learn to hack your anonimized Public Transport card, use BitCoin-like services for payments and install everything on your Linux laptop with encrypted hard drive.

Now resist the temptation to put your entire life on Facebook – or any Electronic Patient Record – and you’re done!

Kamphuis: Digital Privacy doesn’t require any government. As a modern netizen, you can take care of that yourself! Too bad that it had to come to this. Because that democracy thing was an interesting concept in itself.

Dutch language article:
http://webwereld.nl/column/108664/nooit-meer-vertrouwen-op-de-overheid–column-.html

Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/108677/belgen-protesteren-heftig-tegen-google-street-view.html

Hacker argues that he did this to show the seriousness of the situation, that one cannot trust businesses when they say that they’ve properly secured their systems and he is wondering whether businesses are not adequately securing their networks because they lack the necessary technical skills or because they simply do not want to invest time and money.

Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/108680/publieke-omroep-lekt-2-3-miljoen-persoonsgegevens.html

Also used phishing techniques. Law enforcement does not want to share information on how the cybercriminals hacked into the Dutch banks

Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/108685/cyberbende-rooft-miljoenen-bij-nederlandse-banken.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/24/harold-goddijn-tomtom

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/25/foi_act_stifling_ministerial_debate/

Plans to allow Blighty cops to “switch off” websites used by criminals have been delayed following pressure from internet firms and campaigners, who claimed such a move would hamper freedom of expression online.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/25/nominet_domain_takedowns/

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/25/us_district_court_judge_tosses_out_netflix_walmat_dvd_conspiracy_claim/

Penguin pulled its titles from e-book libraries last week after a kerfuffle between the publishers, library e-book suppliers Overdrive and Kindle-makers Amazon. The precise cause of the problem, described as a security concern by Penguin, remains unclear, though it was presumed to have something to do with copyright.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/25/penguin_ebooks_back_in_libraries/

On Tuesday November 29th, several Dutch associations (Consumentenbond, Ntb and FNV KIEM) will jointly try to convince the Dutch Parliament to stop their plan to prohibit downloading from illegal sources for private use.

http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2011/11/25/dutch-unions-legalize-illegal-filesharing-introduce-copyright-levy-on-internet.html

IFPI, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, with support from Finnish anti-piracy group Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Center (CIAPC), filed a lawsuit yesterday in the Helsinki District Court against the administrators of The Pirate Bay.

The admins, whoever and wherever they may be, are ordered to stop facilitating the unauthorized distribution of music and pay compensation to IFPI and CIAPC-affiliated rightsholders for the damages they have allegedly caused through their website.

http://torrentfreak.com/ifpi-sues-pirate-bay-admins-in-finland-demands-further-isp-blocks-111126/

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have resumed “Operation In Our Sites”, the domain name seizing initiative designed to crack down on online piracy and counterfeiting.

http://torrentfreak.com/feds-seize-130-domain-names-in-mass-crackdown-111125/

The paper proposes the implementation of a warning letter process, but unlike the 3 strikes-style regime in neighboring New Zealand, would not include an Internet disconnection sanction. Instead, rightsholders would head back to the legal system to punish persistent infringers.

http://torrentfreak.com/aussie-isps-propose-anti-filesharing-warning-notice-scheme-111125/

Direct link to proposal of Australian Internet Providers:
http://www.commsalliance.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/32293/Copyright-Industry-Scheme-Proposal-Final.pdf