Archive for 2012/04/19

Former Secret Service Agent: Dutch Princess Mabel Worked For Secret Service

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy

Former Secret Service agent Frits Hoekstra has published a book, disclosing that the Dutch princess Mabel must have been working for the Dutch Secret Service AIVD. Hoekstra notes that:

  • before her graduation, Mabel worked at ABN-AMRO, SHELL, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations (the latter two require background checks as conducted by the AIVD)
  • she had a relationship with Muhamed Sacirbey, the Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • when she got engaged with Dutch Prince Friso, the Dutch Secret Service completed her background check within a week, something that would normally have taken months.
Wikipedia adds to the above: After announcing their marriage Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende wrote in a letter to parliament that Mabel Wisse Smit had given “incomplete and incorrect information” about the duration and extent of her contacts with a known drug trade figure, Klaas Bruinsma. Something which had been exposed by Peter R. de Vries among others.
Wikipedia also adds that:

Wisse Smit was co-founder of the “European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans” in 1994, which was a non-governmental organisation that strived for peace, democracy and stability in the Balkan, and had Margaret Thatcher, Simon Wiesenthal and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing among its members.

In 1995 she was one of the co-founders of War Child Netherlands, she was on the Trustee Board until 1999. In 1997, she was appointed director of EU affairs of the “Open Society Institute” in Brussels, one of the foundations of Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros.[2] From 2002 to 2008, Princess Mabel has worked in the London branch of the Open Society Institute where she is the “International Advocacy Director”, she “helps to coordinate all international OSI advocacy activities aimed at international policy change.”[3]

The World Economic Forum in Switzerland counted her as one of the hundred “Global Leaders for Tomorrow”. She is a member of the worldwide Forum of Young Global Leaders, a thinktank and lobbygroup that aims to tackle global issues.

She is one of the founding members of the European thinktank European Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of the Interpeace Governing Council.[4]

As of 1 July 2008 she is the first Chief Executive Officer of the Global Elders, a group of eminent individuals convened by Nelson Mandela to use their wisdom, independent leadership and experience to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems.[5] She oversees the day-to-day operations for the Elders.

English language Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Mabel_of_Orange-Nassau

Lawyer of Dutch Provider UPC Tells BREIN To Hunt Down Uploaders Instead Of Downloaders

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Litigation, Stats / reports

That would be less obtrusive when compared to a website blockade that affects millions of people

Dutch language news article:
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/81436/providers-blokkade-the-pirate-bay-is-zinloos.html

The Irish courts have stepped in to protect the country’s largest telco from creditors after the firm careered €4bn into debt

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

The Irish courts have stepped in to protect the country’s largest telco from creditors after the firm careered €4bn into debt. A judge yesterday granted Eircom 100 days’ grace to restructure its balance-sheet busting debts. This is the biggest such move in Irish corporate history.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/19/irish_telco_eircom_debt/

Facebook Blocking Stories About Richard O’Dwyer’s Fight Against Extradition To The US

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Filtering

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120418/15531718548/facebook-blocking-stories-about-richard-odwyers-fight-against-extradition-to-us.shtml

Anonymous Launches A New & Secure Alternative To PasteBin

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Privacy / Data Protection

http://www.peoplesliberationfront.net/anonpaste/index.php?f77e6760ee863006#GZIF9S28dOZ7Qhs4FhbEAftRk5NPIFDqlstEzF9hR2A=

Top UK websites have, on average, 14 trackers (e.g., cookies) per page, of which 68 percent are from third-parties

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

http://www.truste.com/about-TRUSTe/press-room/news_truste_uk_website_study_reveals_extensive_tracking

LeaseWeb and StopBadware unite to combat cybercrime

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, New Business Models

LeaseWeb, a leading global hosting provider, is sponsoring StopBadware (www.stopbadware.org) to make the internet safer through the prevention, mitigation, and remediation of malware websites. LeaseWeb will provide hosted server infrastructure, physical capacity and redundancy for the network and services, to support the growth of the global initiative.

StopBadware is a nonprofit anti-malware organization that coordinates and brings together stakeholders throughout the internet ecosystem. StopBadware’s presence is growing across the globe, especially in Europe where several major internet hubs are located. By uniting the industry, StopBadware intends to create a common, transparent view on dealing with issues associated with all types of malware.

Maxim Weinstein, President & Executive Director of StopBadware, said: “LeaseWeb has been invaluable in providing us with free support and giving StopBadware and its partners an understanding of differences in the constraints and environment of hosting providers operating in Europe. This expertise will really help us to make this a collective, global effort to fight crime on the Web.”

Alex De Joode, Security Officer, LeaseWeb, added: “The overall objective of our Community Outreach Program is to make the internet a safer place for all users. Non-profit organizations often have very few resources to work with, so we see it as a benefit to our customers and their users to support initiatives like StopBadware. With the insight and data that StopBadware can provide, LeaseWeb can pro-actively take steps to quickly identify the sources of potentially harmful online activity. This concept of collaboration and collective spirit is one that we endorse in helping to make the Web safer.”

Much more:
http://www.leaseweb.com/en/about-us/press/leaseweb-and-stopbadware-unite-to-combat-cybercrime

EPIC files FOIA request seeking full FCC report on Google

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Google

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/identity/epic-files-foia-request-seeking-full-fcc-report-on-google/429

In order to identify an internet subscriber or user, an internet service provider in civil proceedings is permitted to be ordered to give a copyright holder or its representative information on the subscriber to whom the internet service provider provided an IP address which was allegedly used in an infringement

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Jurisprudence, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

(Copyright and related rights – Processing of data by internet – Infringement of an exclusive right – Audio books made available via an FTP server via internet by an IP address supplied by an internet service provider – Injunction issued against the internet service provider ordering it to provide the name and address of the user of the IP address)

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=121743&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=1159304

Occupy ‘spy base’: UK activists cry espionage over US surveillance center

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness

Comprised of 33 satellite dishes housed inside large golf-ball structures, the site has the technology to intercept telephone calls, faxes and emails from around the world.

http://rt.com/news/protesters-occupy-menwith-base-429/

Human rights activist and WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson was stopped at a London airport on the basis that she is on an “inhibited fly list”

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness

Ms. Robinson works as a director of legal advocacy at the Bertha Foundation in London and acted as an advisor for whistleblower Julian Assange, also an Australian national, regarding extradition proceedings in Britain.

She also appeared recently as the trial of Bradley Manning in the US on behalf of WikiLeaks. Private Manning was accused of leaking classified information from the US military while he worked as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad to the whistle-blowing website.

There has been speculation as to whether Ms. Robinson’s role in the legal proceedings may have also had some bearing on the immigration incident.

The event comes two days after the airing of Julian Assange’s new talk show on RT, which featured the first interview with Hezbollah leader Sayyid Nasrallah since 2006. The pilot of The World Tomorrow triggered a media frenzy and aggressive criticism, labeling the whistleblower a puppet of the Kremlin.

More:

http://rt.com/news/assange-wikileaks-lawyer-inhibited-452/

A controversial bill that will give the United States access to personal information about airline passengers has been approved by the European Parliament

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The deal, which was held up for two years over privacy concerns, was agreed by MEPs in a vote of 409 to 226 on Thursday. It sets out the legal parameters governing the transfer of passengers’ personal data to the US Department of Homeland Security.

Passenger Name Record (PNR) data is provided by travellers and collected by airline staff during reservation and check-in procedures.

The deal covers issues such as storage periods, purpose of the data use, data protection safeguards, administrative and judicial redress.

It also includes information such as names, addresses, credit card and phone numbers, travel agency data, baggage information (such as the number of bags), seat number as well as “sensitive” data such as ethnic origin, a religious meal choice or request for special assistance due to a medical condition.

The agreement applies to airlines that operate flights between EU countries and the US.

http://rt.com/news/eu-us-data-deal-491/

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta : Unfortunately, these days there’s a helluva lot that keeps me awake

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/222387-panetta-were-within-an-inch-of-war-almost-every-day

Breast Cancer Is Actually Ten Different Diseases

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness

http://gizmodo.com/5903362/breast-cancer-is-actually-ten-different-diseases

Flight Aborted 392 Feet Before Landing Because Pilot Was Texting

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness

Upon arrival in Singapore, Jetstar flight JQ57 had to abort its landing at a frightening 392 feet from the ground when the pilot plum forgot to put down the landing gear because he was distracted by his phone. A pilot! Operating a 220-passenger aircraft!

http://gizmodo.com/5903386/flight-aborted-392-feet-before-landing-because-pilot-was-texting

Electrons Can Split Into Two

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

The electrons split into two separate parts, each carrying a particular property of the electron. In layman’s terms? The first, called a “spinon” carries its spin—which causes electrons to behave a bit like compass point. The second, called an “orbiton” carries its orbital moment—that’s what keeps electrons moving around the nucleus of atoms.

More:

http://gizmodo.com/5903391/electrons-can-split-into-two

There’s a Fake Instagram For Android That Could Steal Your Information

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness

http://gizmodo.com/5903414/psa-theres-a-fake-instagram-for-android-that-could-steal-your-information

Path: The smaller, simpler alternative to Facebook

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57416066-94/path-the-smaller-simpler-alternative-to-facebook/

Microsoft’s Windows Store goes global with 33 more countries

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Tech Evolution

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57416115-93/microsofts-windows-store-goes-global-with-33-more-countries/

How to run the new Chrome OS environment without a Chromebook

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Google

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/howto-run-the-new-chrome-os-environment-without-a-chromebook.ars

Breivik says he trained for Norwegian massacre using Modern Warfare

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

Anders Behring Breivik, the 33-year-old Norwegian ultranationalist who has admitted to killing 69 people in a shooting rampage and eight more in a bomb blast last July, said during his trial today that he “prepared” for the attacks by playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

As reported by The Guardian, Breivik said the game, which includes many tasks that could be compared with a real attack, was good for practicing “target acquisition” and for getting experience with realistic holographic gun sights:

“If you are familiar with a holographic sight, it’s built up in such a way that you could have given it to your grandmother and she would have been a super marksman. It’s designed to be used by anyone. In reality it requires very little training to use it in an optimal way. But of course it does help if you’ve practised using a simulator.”

More:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2012/04/norwegian-shooter-breivik-says-he-trained-using-modern-warfare.ars

Previously:

Anders Behring Breivik spent a year playing World of Warcraft role-playing game online
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/17/anders-behring-breivik-spent-a-year-playing-world-of-warcraft-role-playing-game-online/

RapidShare struggles to placate Big Content with anti-piracy plan

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

Can locker sites survive in a world without total freedom to go and share any file of choice?

Under the DMCA, online service providers who promptly respond to takedown requests, terminate the accounts of repeat infringers, and take certain other steps are legally immunized from liability for the infringing actions of their users. In principle, sites that qualify for the safe harbor don’t have to do anything else to police piracy on their network. But RapidShare has chosen to go “above and beyond” what the DMCA requires. It urges other locker sites to do the same.

But the Recording Industry Association of America has a different perspective. “We welcome the fact that RapidShare recognizes that its service is used as an illegal distribution hub for copyrighted material and that it has a shared responsibility to prevent this theft,” an RIAA spokesperson told Ars. “Unfortunately the new measures announced fall short if the goal is indeed to meaningfully and effectively reduce the massive amount of copyright theft occurring on its service.”

Much more:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/rapidshare-struggles-to-placate-hollywood-with-anti-piracy-plan.ars

See also:

RapidShare, MediaFire distance themselves from MegaUpload
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57416538-93/rapidshare-mediafire-distance-themselves-from-megaupload/

Punters want BBC iPlayer in TVs, not 3D

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/04/19/uk_consumers_want_bbc_iplayer_more_than_3d/

‘Perfect storm’ drives electronics stores to extinction

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Future Developments?, Tech Evolution

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2012/04/19/consumer_electronics_retail_devastation/

ISPs torch UK.gov’s smut-blocking master plan – Porn is even more popular than pirated files

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Filtering, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/19/ispa_criticises_smut_blocking_plan/

Pornography is regarded by some as one of the driving forces behind the expansion of the World Wide Web, like the camcorder VCR and cable television before it.[1] Pornographic images had been transmitted over the Internet as ASCII porn but to send images over network needed computers with graphics capability and also higher network bandwidth. This was possible in the late ’80s and early ’90s through the use of anonymous FTP servers and through Gopher. At this time the internet was mainly an academic and military network and there was not widespread use of the internet. One of the early Gopher/FTP sites was at tudelft and was called the Digital Archive on the 17th Floor (List of websites founded before 1995). This small image archive contained some low quality scanned pornographic images that were initially available to anyone anonymously, but the site soon became restricted to Netherlands only access.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_pornography#Internet_pornography_formats

See also:

The statistics are truly staggering. According to compiled numbers from respected news and research organizations, every second $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography. Every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. In that same second 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines. Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the U.S.

It’s big business. The pornography industry has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined. 2006 Worldwide Pornography Revenues ballooned to $97.06 billion. 2006 & 2005 U.S. Pornography Industry Revenue Statistics, 2006 Top Adult Search Requests, 2006 Search Engine Request Trends are some of the other statistics revealed here.

http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

And: http://www.mykidsbrowser.com/internet-pornography-statistics.php

UK ISP TalkTalk Reveals that 1 in 3 New Customers Enable Parental Controls

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Filtering, New Business Models, Stats / reports

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/04/uk-isp-talktalk-reveals-that-1-in-3-new-customers-enable-parental-controls.html

Delayed UK YouView Broadband TV Launch Hints at Exclusive ISP Content

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/04/delayed-uk-youview-broadband-tv-launch-hints-at-exclusive-isp-content.html

Google’s Cloud Print Now Lets You Send Documents Direct to FedEx

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models, Tech Evolution

http://gizmodo.com/5903321/googles-cloud-print-now-lets-you-send-documents-direct-to-fedex

California may eliminate oversight for VOIP services

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Mobile tech, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/california-may-eliminate-oversight-for-voip-services.ars

Tumblr to launch ads starting May 2

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Online advertising

Advertising is nourishing the internet

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/tumblr-to-launch-ads-on-site-starting-may-2.ars

ISPs Have to Identify Alleged Pirates, EU Court Rules

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

A dispute over whether a Swedish ISP can be forced to hand over the details of one its subscribers to an anti-piracy group has just received its long-awaited ruling from the Europe’s highest court. A few moments ago the ECJ announced that there are no EU barriers which prevent the ISP handing over its customers’ private details to copyright holders.

More:
http://torrentfreak.com/isps-have-to-identify-alleged-pirates-eu-court-rules-120419/

Tim Berners-Lee: We mustn’t allow record companies’ fear that their business model isn’t working to upset the openness of the internet

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Litigation, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

But in relation to spam, phishing, ID-theft, botnets, malware, spyware, dDoS, fake reviews, manipulated search results, manipulation of clicks, manipulation of advertising and other types of (cyber)crime Google, Apple, Facebook, banks and governments can do whatever they want because their business models are not outdated…

“Record labels have a very strong voice when it comes to arguing for their particular business model, which is in fact out of date,” he said. “The result is that laws have been created which make out as if the only problem on the internet is teenagers stealing music. The world is bigger than that. The internet is bigger than the music industry. The economic impact of the internet is bigger than the music industry.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/berners-lee-dont-let-record-labels-upset-web-openness.ars

Previously:

Google fighting a war against a huge number of bad actors—from websites selling counterfeit goods and fraudulent tickets to underground international operations trying to spread malware and spyware
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/16/google-fighting-a-war-against-a-huge-number-of-bad-actors-from-websites-selling-counterfeit-goods-and-fraudulent-tickets-to-underground-international-operations-trying-to-spread-malware-and-sp/

Google-backed study designed to seek out organized groups of comment fraudsters, and automate the process of identifying and shutting them down
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/17/google-backed-study-designed-to-seek-out-organized-groups-of-comment-fraudsters-and-automate-the-process-of-identifying-and-shutting-them-down/

Microsoft: Our filtering systems can block all URLs from a given domain if we observe a sufficient number of abusive URLs from that domain
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/28/microsoft-our-filtering-systems-can-block-all-urls-from-a-given-domain-if-we-observe-a-sufficient-number-of-abusive-urls-from-that-domain/

Massive Use Of Deep Packet Inspection By European Telcom Operators. They’re Blocking, Throttling And Capping All Day Long
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/13/massive-use-of-deep-packet-inspection-by-european-telcom-operators-theyre-blocking-throttling-and-capping-all-day-long/

Facebook has started throwing a CAPTCHA prompt for all Google Blogger blog links. Any Thoughts EFF?
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/12/facebook-has-started-throwing-a-captcha-prompt-for-all-google-blogger-blog-links-any-thoughts-eff/

Facebook has blocked “thousands” of accounts in India for using the word “chutia.” Any Thoughts EFF?
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/12/facebook-has-blocked-thousands-of-accounts-in-india-for-using-the-word-chutia-any-thoughts-eff/

Apple, apparently, won’t carry an ebook that contains a link to buy a hardcover book from Amazon
http://vrritti.com/2012/03/02/apple-apparently-wont-carry-an-ebook-that-contains-a-link-to-buy-a-hardcover-book-from-amazon/

Apple reportedly putting DMCA squeeze on App Store pirates
http://vrritti.com/2012/01/04/apple-reportedly-putting-dmca-squeeze-on-app-store-pirates/

John Wiley & Sons, one of the world’s largest book publishers, is continuing its efforts to crack down on BitTorrent piracy

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation, Stats / reports

The company has now named several people who allegedly shared Wiley titles online, and is demanding a jury trial against them. If these actually go ahead it will be the first time that BitTorrent-related evidence is tested in a US court.

Last fall, John Wiley and Sons became the first book publisher to go after BitTorrent users in the US.

By filing a mass-BitTorrent lawsuit the company followed mostly in the footsteps of several movie studios, who together have sued more than 250,000 people in the US since early 2010. And the publisher didn’t stop at just one.

More:
http://torrentfreak.com/major-book-publisher-demands-jury-trial-against-bittorrent-pirates-120418/

All new cars in the United States to be fitted with black box data recorders from 2015 onwards?

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy

http://www.infowars.com/mandatory-big-brother-black-boxes-in-all-new-cars-from-2015/

eBay blows away Wall Street in Q1

Posted: 2012/04/19 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57415980-93/ebay-blows-away-wall-street-in-q1/

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