Archive for 2012/05/02

More:

http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-enjoys-12-million-traffic-boost-shares-unblocking-tips-120502/

Previously:

BREIN vs The Dutch Pirate Party (and Geenstijl.nl) – Democracy, Censorship & The Effectiveness Of Blocking The Pirate Bay
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/24/brein-vs-the-dutch-pirate-party-and-geenstijl-nl-democracy-censorship-the-effectiveness-of-blocking-the-pirate-bay/

“Blocking the Pirate Bay is pointless and dangerous. It will fuel calls for further, wider and even more drastic calls for Internet censorship of many kinds, from pornography to extremism”
http://vrritti.com/2012/05/01/blocking-the-pirate-bay-is-pointless-and-dangerous-it-will-fuel-calls-for-further-wider-and-even-more-drastic-calls-for-internet-censorship-of-many-kinds-from-pornography-to-extremism/

High Court has ruled that several UK ISPs including Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media must block The Pirate Bay website
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/30/high-court-has-ruled-that-several-uk-isps-including-sky-everything-everywhere-talktalk-o2-and-virgin-media-must-block-the-pirate-bay-website/

When Facing Online Crimes, Are Proactive “Disruption Of Service” And Immediate “Seizure Of Funds” Better Sanctions In The Internet Age When Compared To “Old School” Civil Litigation Or Criminal Prosecution?
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/26/when-facing-online-crimes-are-proactive-disruption-of-service-and-immediate-seizure-of-funds-better-sanctions-in-the-internet-age-when-compared-to-old-school-civil-litigation-or-criminal/

The Disadvantages Of Using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) For Illegal Purposes
http://vrritti.com/2012/05/01/the-disadvantages-of-using-virtual-private-networks-vpns-for-illegal-purposes/

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/05/02/uk_ebook_sales_leap/

http://rt.com/news/afghanistan-obama-twitter-secrecy-385/

http://gizmodo.com/5906968/nbcs-free-olympics-livestream-is-misleading-and-a-bummer

http://gizmodo.com/5906899/apple-is-rejecting-apps-that-use-dropbox-functionality

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57426211-93/amazon-seeks-comedies-and-kids-shows-to-rival-netflix/

May have been “duped” by a multitude of data gobblers to whom money is the only truth

In light of the recent FCC report on Google outlining the fact that the company had deliberately captured people’s WiFi payload data with its roaming Street View cars, European privacy regulators now say that they feel misled by Google.

“Well, deceived is a big word—maybe somewhat duped,” wrote Ulrich Kühn, a spokesperson for the Hamburg data protection authority, in an e-mail to Ars. The Hamburg DPA has led the investigation in Germany, since Google’s German corporate headquarters are located there.

“Google always admitted just as much as they were forced to by hard evidence,” Kühn added. (Google did not immediately respond to our request for comment.)

More:
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/european-privacy-police-say-google-duped-them-over-street-view.ars

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/may/02/madeleine-mccann-parents-review-hope

Previously:

Great Britain has at its disposal the world’s biggest data bank on homicide of children under five years old. Since 1960, the count is 1528. Harrison is well acquainted with its contents. He often draws information from there which helps him to resolve similar cases. Valuable information can be found there on on various criminal modus operandi, places where bodies are hidden, techniques used to get rid of a body. He relates that on one occasion, thanks to the data, he was able to deduce the maximum distance a body might be found in relation to where the crime had been committed.

The figures quoted in the report he hands over give us the shivers. The crimes, including those of a sexual nature, are committed by the parents in 84% of cases; 96% are perpetrated by friends and relatives. In only 4% of them is the murderer or abductor a total stranger to the victim. In this roundabout way, Mark Harrison points out that the guilty party may be a person close to Madeleine, and even her own parents. From now on, we have to explore this track, especially as the others have proved fruitless.

A little later, Eddie is examining the floor in the parents’ bedroom, near the wardrobe, when he lets out a strident howl, indicating that he has detected a cadaver odour. The investigators have hardly recovered from their amazement, when another, equally impressive, howl startles them. This time, Eddie has picked out that same odour under the window, just behind the sofa, on one of the walls in the lounge. That evening, in apartment 5A, the investigators begin to glimpse what might have happened (…) we are sure that, at a given moment, there was a body in apartment 5A. We now have to interview firemen, medical services personnel, previous tenants and employees of the Ocean Club to make sure that no death has taken place in this accommodation, which they confirm. So, we can conclude that the odour discovered is certainly that of Madeleine Beth McCann.

Let’s remember: it is totally logical to find Madeleine’s DNA in the home, but absolutely not in a car rented more than twenty days after her disappearance.

Our conclusions rest on the proven facts and the evidence interpreted within the principles of the law. Our work was done in the cause of justice, based on the material truth, the only thing that must prevail in a universe where the lie is raised up as truth.

Much more:

http://thetruthaboutthelie.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/complete-book-on-one-page.html

The death of MI6 spy Gareth Williams was ‘criminally mediated’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9241216/The-death-of-MI6-spy-Gareth-Williams-was-criminally-meditated.html

Previously:

How And Why Did GCHQ / MI6 Codebreaker Gareth Williams Die?
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/20/how-and-why-did-gchq-mi6-codebreaker-gareth-williams-die/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/503d7a7c-9459-11e1-bb47-00144feab49a.html#axzz1tirXEasP

A man has gone on trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of conspiring with another man who set off a bomb in Sweden.

Taimour Abdulwahab died after he detonated an improvised explosive device in Stockholm on December 11 2010, having earlier set fire to a car containing an improvised explosive device to try to detonate it.

Nasserdine Menni, whose age is not known, is accused of conspiring with Abdulwahab and others to further terrorist aims by criminal and other means, including the use of explosive devices in the commission of an act of terrorism directed against members of the public in Sweden, with intent to murder members of the public.

It is alleged he did so in Glasgow, Luton, Bedford, Sweden, Syria, Iraq and other unknown locations between January 1 2003 and March 8 2011.

More:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gWRl8e4wJqaC2tCGAv4DeroNLXmw?docId=N0051101335964572455A

Actions are grouped around four main goals:

  • To stimulate the production of creative and educational online content for children and develop platforms which give access to age-appropriate content
  • To scale up awareness raising and teaching of online safety in all EU schools to develop children’s digital and media literacy and self-responsibility online
  • Creating a safe environment for children where parents and children are given the tools necessary for ensuring their protection online – such as easy-to-use mechanisms to report harmful content and conduct online, transparent default age-appropriate privacy settings or user-friendly parental controls;
  • Combating child sexual abuse material online by promoting research into, and use of, innovative technical solutions by police investigations.

More:

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/445&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

ISP Comcast Praises Voluntary BitTorrent Crackdown Agreement

Under the agreement a third-party company will collect the IP-addresses of alleged infringers on BitTorrent and other public file-sharing networks. The ISPs will then notify these offenders and tell them that their behavior is unacceptable. After six warnings the ISP may then take a variety of repressive measures, which includes the option to cut off the offender’s connection temporarily.

In his talk Comcast’s Vice President explained that the “six-strikes” system is needed because the DMCA law doesn’t work well for P2P infringements. Instead, the copyright holders and ISPs needed a more flexible approach, which culminated in the copyright alerts system and a historic memorandum of understanding.

Lewis went on to emphasize that the deal safeguards the privacy of subscribers, as copyright holders don’t get the personal details of alleged pirates. The warnings are mostly educational, informative, and point people to sources where they can download content legally. Additionally, Lewis said it’s important that the repressive measures don’t disrupt vital services such as phone calls.

He further noted that while ISPs are now playing a valuable role, more anti-piracy work can be done with other parties. Payment processors and search engines could be around the table as well according to Comcast’s Vice President.

Overall, Lewis said that a flexible and voluntary agreement is a good model to follow, but that they are still learning as the system is being rolled out. The effectiveness of the copyright alerts system remains to be seen.

More:

http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-praises-voluntary-bittorrent-crackdown-agreement-120501/

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/over-15-million-visa-mastercard-credit-card-numbers-stolen/11755

http://gizmodo.com/5906839/automatic-translation-is-just-one-of-gmails-newest-tricks

Sony finally confirmed that it’s working on a broadband TV service to compete with the reviled cable companies. Great! Except that the project is on hold over concerns about cable companies, data caps, and net neutrality. That means fewer choices for you and more power to big cable.

http://gizmodo.com/5906769/sonys-stalls-its-streaming-tv-service-because-cable-controls-data

http://gizmodo.com/5906650/your-work-ethic-depends-on-dopamine-levels-across-the-brain

http://gizmodo.com/5906707/teens-are-planning-raging-parties-at-vacant-multi-million-dollar-mansions-with-google-and-twitter

http://gizmodo.com/5906435/why-wont-the-lapd-help-recover-this-stolen-laptop

Cybercrime – unlike piracy – predominantly a nuisance

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57425719-83/mozilla-is-first-major-tech-company-to-denounce-cispa/

Next step? Posting medical information? May lengthen your friend list

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57425701-93/organ-donors-multiply-with-facebooks-new-timeline-feature/

Call center algorithm still in the works?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57425696-93/frustrated-advertisers-to-facebook-take-our-money-please/

Follow the money hackers

The engineer responsible for writing the code that led to tons of personal and private data being collected from the Google’s Street View cars is found out and called a “GOD in the wireless community.”

Marius Milner is his name and the Times reported that his LinkedIn profile occupation was listed as “hacker” and under the social network’s specialties category his entry said, “I know more than I want to about Wi-Fi.” As of this writing, his LinkedIn profile no longer has these listings but does confirm that he has worked for Google since 2003.

Milner, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., declined to answer the Times’ questions and referred all questions to his lawyer, Martha Boersch, who also declined to comment.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57425675-93/google-engineer-in-street-view-probe-identifies-as-a-hacker/

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/french-group-sues-because-google-suggest-thinks-jon-hamm-is-jewish.ars

Fifteen officials of ECAD, the Brazilian organization in charge of collecting copyright licensing fees for music, face indictment after a Senate investigation there. The organization is the Brazilian counterpart to American collecting societies such as ASCAP and BMI. The Senate committee also recommended new legislation to overhaul the copyright licensing system in Brazil.

In the political arena, copyright debates are often portrayed as morality plays with industry incumbents as the good guys and file-sharing firms like Megaupload and the Pirate Bay wearing the black hats. Yet the controversy in Brazil is a useful reminder that the picture isn’t always so black and white. Incumbents in Brazil and elsewhere have also skirted the law, taking money that rightfully belongs to artists or consumers.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/copyright-cops-behaving-badly.ars

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/how-a-fake-justin-bieber-sextorted-hundreds-of-girls-through-facebook.ars

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/new-york-city-imposes-new-social-media-rules-for-teachers.ars

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/firefox-security-add-in-exposes-users-web-browsing-history.ars