Archive for 2012/05/24

Apple design chief Jonathan Ive is knighted

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The 45-year-old said the investiture in front of the Princess Royal was “really thrilling and particularly humbling”.

Now based in the US, Apple’s senior vice-president of industrial design flew in to the UK with his wife and eight-year-old twin sons for the event.

He was born in Chingford, east London, and studied at Newcastle Polytechnic.

Sir Jonathan had a brief chat with Princess Anne and later revealed they had talked about how often he comes back to the UK while she spoke of her iPad.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the New Year Honours list for services to design and enterprise.

More:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18171093

35 Years After Star Wars, Effects Whiz Phil Tippett Is Slowly Crafting a Mad God

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness

“I’ve collected a little group of people — guys around here that really missed the era when you actually made things”

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/05/phil-tippett-feature/

Russian satellite beams home 121-megapixel pics of Earth. Even NASA admits it can’t match the Russian bird for sheer mega-pixelage

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/24/electro_l_121_megapixel_earth_photo/

Google quizzed AGAIN by French data watchdog. Could do with a privacy Transparency Report

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/24/cnil_orders_google_to_answer_more_privacy_questions/

Congress Proposes Giving Another $10 Million To ICE To Censor More Websites For Hollywood

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120524/01504819055/congress-proposes-giving-another-10-million-to-ice-to-censor-more-websites-hollywood.shtml

Google Lifts The Veil On Copyright Takedowns: Reveals Detailed Data On Who Requests Link Removals

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Google, Illegal File Sharing, Stats / reports

Much more:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120523/17520119054/google-lifts-veil-copyright-takedowns-reveals-detailed-data-who-requests-link-removals.shtml

Welcome to Life: The Singularity (video)

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Future Developments?

“When 75 percent of Web pages are encoded in a language called PHP, which is designed to enable the sharing of content, that’s where we get into trouble”

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2012/05/researcher-alleged-breach-dating-site-shows-flaws-militarys-social-media-policies/55884/

Security researchers from Sophos are reporting on an intercepted Comcast-themed phishing email, which contains a valid TRUSTe seal

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

Cybercriminals often take advantage of visual social engineering elements, by embedding logos of reputable and trusted brands in order to improve of authenticity of their bogus content.

Users are advised to keep in mind the fact that these security and privacy seals often have limited applicability in real-life situations, in particular in the process of ensuring a web site’s CIA (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability).

More:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/comcast-phishing-site-contains-valid-truste-seal/12292

45 Signs That China Is Colonizing America

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.infowars.com/45-signs-that-china-is-colonizing-america/

Google, which spent $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola and its patents in a deal that closed Tuesday, has suffered a major legal defeat at the hands of Microsoft, which successfully argued to a German court that Motorola has violated a patent related to text messaging

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Google, Jurisprudence, Stats / reports

The ruling means Microsoft can enforce a ban onAndroid products in Germany. But more importantly, it could signal an end to at least one long-running dispute between Microsoft and Android players. In the increasingly popular game of technology legal warfare, the side that gets to a significant ban first typically has the upper hand in negotiating a settlement.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57440902-94/microsoft-legal-win-over-google-may-signal-ceasefire/

Facebook Camera makes its debut

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

The social network launches an official iOS app that lets you capture, filter, edit, and share photos

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57441049-93/facebook-camera-makes-its-debut/

New Jersey mayor, son, arrested on charges they nuked recall website

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/05/new-jersey-mayor-son-arrested-on-charges-they-nuked-recall-website/

Apple has accused the US government of siding “with monopoly, rather than competition”

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Litigation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/apple-says-doj-sides-with-monopoly-rather-than-competition/

Africa is one of the most exciting places in the world today for innovation and growth. The technological imaginations of Africans are growing to a point where they are taking ownership of building the tools to serve that imagination

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/05/africa-developing-its-first-supercomputer-outside-south-africa/

Italian Court Orders All ISPs To Block KickAssTorrents

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Public Policy, Stats / reports

KickAssTorrents, one of the most popular BitTorrent websites on the Internet today, is facing a total blackout in Italy

http://torrentfreak.com/italian-court-orders-all-isps-to-block-kickasstorrents-120524/

Previously:

Italian ISP blocking of Pirate Bay leads to significantly fewer visitors – thepiratebay.org is now only the 673rd most visited site in Italy
http://vrritti.com/2011/01/05/italian-isp-blocking-of-pirate-bay-leads-to-significantly-fewer-visitors-thepiratebay-org-is-now-only-the-673th-most-visited-site-in-italy/

US government hacked al-Qaeda websites – Clinton

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Public Policy, Stats / reports

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was successful in hacking Yemeni tribal websites, replacing al-Qaeda propaganda with altered versions showing the damage the terrorist group has done to the Yemeni people.

­Speaking at a conference of US and international special commanders, Clinton said cyber intelligence experts were able to take down pages extolling the murder of Americans and substitute them with pages describing the toll al-Qaeda attacks have taken on Yemenis. She noted that the extremists responded by telling supporters not to believe everything they see on the Internet.

Clinton said it was all part of a larger, multi-pronged effort to combat the spread of extremist propaganda.

“Together, they will work to pre-empt, discredit and outmaneuver extremist propaganda,” she stressed.

The cyber-attack was launched by the Center for Strategic Counter-Terrorism Communications, a group of specialists, diplomats and intelligence analysts from different agencies housed at the State Department. Their prime task is to prowl the Internet and social media to prevent al-Qaeda’s recruitment of new members.

More:
http://www.rt.com/news/us-al-qaeda-websites-clinton-063/

NSA Announces New Program to Prime College Students for Careers in Cyber Ops

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Network Security, Stats / reports

The National Security Agency has launched a National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations Program to ultimately yield a larger pool of professionals with expertise in this area.

An outgrowth of the President’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, the program also supports the government’s work to better protect cyberspace. It is designed to identify institutions that offer a deeply technical, interdisciplinary curriculum centered on fields such as computer science, computer engineering, and electrical engineering. In addition, it will offer some participants opportunities to apply their learning or enhance their teaching in cutting-edge summer seminars at NSA. The agency has long worked with schools at all levels to improve education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

More:
http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/press_room/2012/new_college_cyber_ops_program.shtml

Govt lawyers red-faced after FBI spirits Dotcom evidence to US (MegaUpload)

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Copyright, Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The Government’s lawyers have been ordered to explain how the FBI left the country with evidence in the Kim Dotcom case meant to be kept in “secure custody” by New Zealand police.

High Court chief judge Helen Winkelmann has told the Attorney-General’s lawyer, Mike Ruffin, he has until Monday to explain why FBI agents were allowed to take 135 cloned computer and data storage devices to the United States.

At a legal challenge at the High Court in Auckland yesterday, Dotcom’s lawyer Paul Davison, QC, called the revelation “high-handed” at best and “at the worst misleading”.

Mr Davison and lawyers for Dotcom’s three co-accused want a judicial review into search warrants used during FBI-inspired raids on January 20. Dotcom, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortman and Bram van der Kolk were arrested over allegations of criminal copyright violation through their file-sharing website Megaupload.

Mr Davison said he asked for assurances in correspondence with Mr Ruffin’s predecessor, Anne Toohey, that no evidence would leave New Zealand shores unless on the back of a court decision.

More:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10808032

Hacker Adrian Lamo Who Betrayed Wikileaks’ Manning Turns Fire on Anonymous

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

The ex-hacker, who was once feted for his attacks on the servers at The New York Times, WorldCom and Microsoft, warns of media misrepresentations that make Anonymous appear almost unbeatable. According to the Colombian-American, Anonymous enjoys a rather big “PR success” among media organisations, and it is not being effectively questioned by journalists.

“There’s a societal trend to make Anonymous appear rather larger than life, cheerleaded by Anonymous themselves, various security and threat analysis firms who benefit from the added stress on the market, and by the media itself which well knows the public is head-over-heels for a vaguely human villain,” he told the IBTimes UK.

According to Lamo, Anonymous needs to be fact-checked by media organisations otherwise “it can be emboldened to carry out more ambitious targets”.

“Anonymous is a loosened collective, eventually associated with everyone who takes their name, there is no war being waged against them ,” he added. “I can see no rational point in what they’re doing.”

However, according to Lamo, Anonymous’ members are not all unreasonable. “I have an ongoing dialogue with people at the senior levels of the collective,” he claims.

More:

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/344388/20120523/adrian-lamo-snitch-anonymous-bradley-manning-wikileaks.htm

Chinese authorities have already tried to make it rain on over 560,000 separate occasions using their aforementioned arsenal and a ‘weather army’ of over 47,000 individuals, generating around 489.7 billion tons of rain in the process which the Daily says prevented economic losses of 66 billion yuan (£6.6bn)

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/24/china_rain_cloud_seeding_plans/

Hogan Lovells’ Revealing Study About Governmental Access to Data in the Cloud

Posted: 2012/05/24 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports, The Cloud

This White Paper debunks the frequently-expressed assumption that the United States is alone in permitting governmental access to data for law enforcement or national security reasons. It examines the laws of ten countries, including the United States, with respect to governmental authorities’ ability to access data stored in or transmitted through the Cloud, and documents the similarities and differences among the various legal regimes. The White Paper reveals that every jurisdiction examined vests authority in the government to require a Cloud service provider to disclose customer data.

The White Paper also reveals that, unlike in the United States where the law specifically protects Cloud data from access by the government without legal process, data stored in the Cloud may be disclosed to governmental authorities voluntarily in some jurisdictions, without legal process and protections.

Much more:
http://www.hoganlovells.com/newsmedia/newspubs/detail.aspx?news=2268