Archive for 2012/05/12

Pirate Bay’s Alexa Rank For UK And NL Continues To Drop After Blocking Measures

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Filtering, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Stats / reports

In the UK, The Pirate Bay website – before the blockade – was more popular than the websites of Virgin Media, NatWest and The Sun. That no longer seems to be the case.

back then:

now:

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;1/GB

In The Netherlands The Pirate Bay website was the 27th most popular website before the blockade and the name change from thepiratebay.org to thepiratebay.se. It then dropped to the 41st spot and is now the 43rd most popular website in The Netherlands. As such it is no longer more popular than the websites of Microsoft, Apple or Amazon.

back then:

now:

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;1/NL

Dutch Provider ZeelandNet Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay Website. Says It Does Not Want To Act Like “Internet Police”

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Litigation, Stats / reports

The provider also argues that any issues should be taken up with The Pirate Bay website itself, which is an interesting statement considering the fact that The Pirate Bay website itself has already been declared illegal in The Netherlands and follow up blocking verdicts have been based on that legal assessment. Also, in Sweden, the founders of The Piratebay have been convicted and are now being sanctioned for their crimes.

Dutch copyright enforcer BREIN has decided to now go and sue ZeelandNet. This situation does make one wonder whether complainants in The Netherlands will always have to go and sue each and every internet service provider individually, even if a judge has already decided that a certain website is illegal. Will this require laws to be changed, or will complainants just have to sue all the Dutch ISPs in one go, for any nation-wide blockade to be put in place?

At this point in time Ziggo, Xs4all, KPN, UPC, T-Mobile, Tele2 and Telfort have been ordered by the Dutch courts to block The Pirate Bay website.

Dutch language news articles:
http://www.omroepzeeland.nl/nieuws/2012-05-11/119964/zeelandnet-geen-blokkade-op-pirate-bay
http://www.nu.nl/internet/2809109/zeelandnet-aangeklaagd-weigering-pirate-bay-blokkade.html
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/81929/brein-daagt-zeelandnet-om-the-pirate-bay-ook-te-blokkeren.html

See also:

Dutch Court: Piratebay has to cease activities in The Netherlands
http://vrritti.com/2010/07/16/dutch-court-piratebay-has-to-cease-activities-in-the-netherlands/

Dutch Internet Provider Greenhost Offers WordPress Plug-in To Circumvent Pirate Bay Blockade
http://vrritti.com/2012/01/19/dutch-internet-provider-greenhost-offers-wordpress-plug-in-to-circumvent-pirate-bay-blockade/

More Americans Worried About Cybarmegeddon Than Terrorism, Study Finds

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/cyberarmegeddon-terrorism/

Court Upholds Google-NSA Relationship Secrecy

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, Google, Jurisprudence, Public Policy, Stats / reports

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the National Security Agency’s decision to withhold from the public documents confirming or denying any relationship it has with Google concerning encryption and cybersecurity.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/google-nsa-secrecy-upheld/

763 Domain Names Containing The Word “Google” Transferred To Google

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Google, Stats / reports

http://www.udrpsearch.com/naf/1434643

See also:
http://domains.adrforum.com/domains/decisions/1434643.htm

In its lawsuits against hundreds of alleged BitTorrent users, book publisher John Wiley and Sons has met unexpected resistance from Internet provider Verizon

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation

For a variety of reasons including privacy concerns, the ISP is refusing to comply with a subpoena which orders the company to hand over the personal details of subscribers who are accused of pirating “For Dummies” books.

http://torrentfreak.com/verizon-refuses-to-identify-alleged-bittorrent-pirates-120511/

Facebook co-founder renounces US citizenship pre-IPO

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

Singapore has no capital gains tax, so renouncing his citizenship ahead of the IPO is a very smart idea, according to Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, director of the international tax program at the University of Michigan’s law school. “Once it’s public you can’t fool around with the value.” He’ll still get a hefty bill from the IRS, but it shouldn’t be too hard to swallow.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Saverin moved to Singapore in 2009 and has become the darling of the celebrity nightclub circuit, spending his evenings drinking Cristal Champagne and Belvedere vodka at the city’s most fashionable hotspots in the company of models and local celebrities. His spokesman said Singapore was a “home base” for monitoring his investments in Asia and Brazil.

More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/11/eduardo_saverin_facebook_tax/

See also:

By routing huge amounts of income through low-tax places like Nevada, Ireland, Luxembourg, and the British Virgin Islands, Apple probably avoided paying $2.4 billion dollars in U.S. taxes
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/29/by-routing-huge-amounts-of-income-through-low-tax-places-like-nevada-ireland-luxembourg-and-the-british-virgin-islands-apple-probably-avoided-paying-2-4-billion-dollars-in-u-s-taxes/

First Amazon; now Apple, Google in the ‘tax-evading’ spotlight
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/12/first-amazon-now-apple-google-in-the-tax-evading-spotlight/

The 1% may reside in Wall Street, but their money is in The Netherlands, a tax haven for 15.7% of businesses related to the top 100 companies on the London Stock Exchange
http://vrritti.com/2011/10/14/the-1-may-reside-in-wall-street-but-their-money-is-in-the-netherlands-a-tax-haven-for-15-7-of-businesses-related-to-the-top-100-companies-on-the-london-stock-exchange/

Google’s Shady Tax Evasion Practices Screw the Government (and You) Out of $3.1 Billion
http://vrritti.com/2010/10/22/googles-shady-tax-evasion-practices-screw-the-government-and-you-out-of-3-1-billion/

India investing $3.1 Billion in defense network, to build cyber defense system

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Network Security, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/india/india-investing-31-billion-in-defense-network-to-build-cyber-defense-system/1058

Facebook policy change may open ad front against Google

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Online advertising, Stats / reports

Changes to the data use policy are explained in a 2,800-word document. In the “advertising” section, Facebook says, “We’re also clarifying our existing disclosure that we might show ads off Facebook to explain that, if we showed these ads, they may or may not include social context (such as whether your friends have ‘liked’ a particular business).”

Barry Schnitt, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Policy at Facebook, told CNET that “We can foresee a future where we might serve ads off of Facebook, and they may be standard ads or they might be, ‘your friend John liked’ a product.” Schnitt explains that both types of ads — standard and social — are currently available to advertisers on the Facebook site itself.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57432916-93/facebook-policy-change-may-open-ad-front-against-google/

European Commission officially referred ACTA to the European Court of Justice

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The question the Commission asked to the Court is:

“Is the envisaged Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) compatible with the Treaties and in particular with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union?”

More:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=799

Some police cars have radioactivity detectors

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Tech Evolution

http://gizmodo.com/5909616/man-pulled-over-by-cops-for-being-too-radioactive

When there aren’t enough people to warrant building up antennae, accidents can have even more disastrous consequences

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, Mobile tech, Stats / reports

http://gizmodo.com/5909545/elderly-couple-killed-by-att-dropped-calls-after-escaping-nazis

For Those Of You With A Popularity Issue: Facebook Is Testing a Pay-For-Promotion System Everyone Can Use

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

Facebook is reportedly testing a scheme which will allow any user—not just businesses—to promote their status, in exchange for cold, hard cash.

The new feature, called “Highlight”, lets a user pay a few dollars in order to have a single post appear more prominently in the news feeds of friends

http://gizmodo.com/5909486/facebook-is-testing-a-pay+for+promotion-system-everyone-can-use

Foxconn chief: We’re preparing to build the Apple television

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57432464-37/foxconn-chief-were-preparing-to-build-the-apple-television/

Shattering the myth that only disreputable sites push malware, Amnesty International’s UK website was recently compromised

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

Used to install a notorious backdoor trojan that allows hackers to spy on political activists and government employees

http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/05/amnesty-international-malware-attack-when-bad-things-happen-on-good-sites/

Bitcoins worth $87,000 plundered in brazen server breach

Posted: 2012/05/12 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

“It is with much regret that we write to inform our users of a recent security breach at Bitcoinica,” Friday’s blog post stated. “The overwhelming majority of our bitcoin deposits were not stolen. The thief stole from us not you. All withdrawal requests will be honored.”

The post went on to warn that a database storing user names, e-mail addresses, and account histories was also accessed, and it also suggested cryptographically hashed passwords may also have been compromised. It advised customers who reused their Bitcoinica passwords on other sites to change them. Documents used to legally verify users’ identities are stored on separate servers at a separate data center with a different encryption regimen.

“Even full access to website database would not give the attacker access to this data,” the post stated. “We will have more to say soon about the circumstances surrounding this attack and what we will do to handle it.”

More:
http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2012/05/bitcoins-worth-87000-plundered/