Archive for 2012/07/17

Dutch ING Bank Definitely Not The Only One. Loads Of Dutch Banks, Insurers And Pension Funds Investing In Technology Vendors Of Syrian Government

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Oxfam Novib and IKV Pax Christi have discovered that the following companies are investing in technology vendors Finmeccanica and Netapp (companies that have provided filtering and deep packet inspection technologies to the Syrian government):

Aegon, Delta Lloyd, ING, ABN Amro (via subsidiary Neuflize), pension funds ABP, Bpf BOUW, Medical Specialists (Medische Specialisten), Metal & Technology (PMT), Metalektro (PME), Graphic Businesses (PGB), Railway Pension Fund, Family Doctors, Care and Well-being and Shell‘s Pension Fund.

Finmeccanica and Netapp directly and indirectly provided communication equipment (with which an eavesdropping infrastructure was built) to the Syrian government in 2011.

Dutch language news article:
http://www.nu.nl/binnenland/2861187/nederlands-geld-leveranciers-syrisch-regime.html

See also:

Dutch ING Bank Not The Only One? Drug money and terrorism fuel HSBC? – Senate probe
http://vrritti.com/2012/07/17/dutch-ing-bank-not-the-only-one-drug-money-and-terrorism-fuel-hsbc-senate-probe/

Dutch ING Bank has agreed to pay a $619 million penalty for moving billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system at the behest of Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan, falsifying the records of New York financial institutions
http://vrritti.com/2012/06/13/dutch-ing-bank-has-agreed-to-pay-a-619-million-penalty-for-moving-billions-of-dollars-through-the-u-s-financial-system-at-the-behest-of-cuba-iran-myanmar-libya-and-sudan-falsifying-the-records-o/ 

For almost a year, an ongoing campaign to infiltrate computer systems throughout the Middle East has targeted individuals across Iran, Israel, Afghanistan and others scattered across the globe

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

Together with our partner, Seculert, we’ve thoroughly investigated this operation and named it the “Madi”, based on certain strings and handles used by the attackers. You can read the Seculert analysis post here.

The campaign relied on a couple of well known, simpler attack techniques to deliver the payloads, which reveals a bit about the victims online awareness. Large amounts of data collection reveal the focus of the campaign on Middle Eastern critical infrastructure engineering firms, government agencies, financial houses, and academia. And individuals within this victim pool and their communications were selected for increased monitoring over extended periods of time.

This post is an examination of the techniques used to spread the Madi malware to victim systems, the spyware tools used, and quirks about both. In some cases, targeted organizations themselves don’t want to provide further breach information about the attack, so some perspective into the parts of the campaign can be limited.

Much more:
http://www.securelist.com/en/blog/208193677/The_Madi_Campaign_Part_I

Advertising giant Google has sent a revised package of concessions to Europe’s competition commissioner after it was asked to clarify aspects of its proposed antitrust settlement

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Google, Public Policy, Stats / reports

It’s been two weeks since the colossal advertising company submitted to Brussels’ competition watchdog what it described as a “proposal” that addressed the “abuse of dominance” claims outlined by competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia in May.

However, as the FT noted this morning, talks between the two parties now appear to be at a “critical juncture”.

More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/17/google_revises_competition_proposal/

Brussels’ competition commissioner has opened a fresh investigation into Microsoft

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Brussels may get ‘severe’ over breach of competition pact

More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/17/microsoft_ec_browser_choice_fresh_investigation/

Dutch Banking Association Attacks Dutch Department Of Justice: Authorities Have Lax Attitude Towards The Phishing Problem

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Public Policy, Stats / reports

According to the association the justice department wouldn’t do anything with the phishing complaints its receiving.

Secondly, authorities aren’t informing the banks about any progress that’s being made in relation to ongoing criminal investigations.

Thirdly, the enforcement authorities are only going after the money ‘mules’, leaving the actual high tech criminals untouched.

Dutch language news article:
http://www.telegraaf.nl/digitaal/12574991/__Lakse_aanpak_justitie_van_phishingfraude__.html

One Secret That Stops Hackers: Girlfriends

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Stats / reports

The majority of hackers “age out” of hacking as they get older and find girlfriends, families, and other responsibilities. Why not invest in educating young hackers sooner, instead of locking them up later?

Many kids involved in hacking view their activities as a benign form of protest, when the laws–as currently written–can criminalize some types of related behavior. “They are sitting at their computer and saying, ‘I’m not committing a crime,’ because it doesn’t feel like committing a crime,” explains Kirwan.

The FBI’s Strom said the bureau tries to draw a clear line between online protests and online attacks. “Certainly if they’re just complaining about something, they have every right to do that–and we don’t have any problem with that,” said Strom. But if they hack into a system or go after someone in law enforcement and their family, that’s a different story.

It helps to know why hackers hack. In fact, most hackers–who are older minors or young adults–”are desperately trying to assert their own independence, and believe they can make a change in the world that their parents can’t. They kind of forget that it’s their parents’ generation who invented hacking.”

More:
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/management/240003767

Dutch ING Bank Not The Only One? Drug money and terrorism fuel HSBC? – Senate probe

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The international banking giant HSBC may have financed terrorist groups and allowed Mexican drug money into the US economy through its lax policies, a damning Senate report reveals.

The findings are the results of a year-long Senate probe into HSBC’s activities, highlighting negligence throughout the bank’s international structure. The probe will be published in a 340-page report in Washington on Tuesday, and senior members of the bank will be called to account for the allegations.

“HSBC used its US bank as a gateway into the US financial system for some HSBC affiliates around the world to provide US dollar services to clients while playing fast and loose with US banking rules,” said Senator Carl Levin in a press release. He added that the US branch of the corporation “exposed the United States to Mexican drug money, suspicious travelers’ checks, bearer share corporations, and rogue jurisdictions.”

“The culture at HSBC was pervasively polluted for a long time,” Senator Levin said.

Much more:
http://www.rt.com/news/hsbc-us-senate-report-344/

Previously:

Dutch ING Bank has agreed to pay a $619 million penalty for moving billions of dollars through the U.S. financial system at the behest of Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, Libya and Sudan, falsifying the records of New York financial institutions
http://vrritti.com/2012/06/13/dutch-ing-bank-has-agreed-to-pay-a-619-million-penalty-for-moving-billions-of-dollars-through-the-u-s-financial-system-at-the-behest-of-cuba-iran-myanmar-libya-and-sudan-falsifying-the-records-o/ 

Outrage After News Channel Helps Public Identify Gun Owners

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

http://www.infowars.com/outrage-after-news-channel-helps-public-identify-gun-owners/

Physical Assault By McDonald’s Staff In Paris For Wearing Digital Eye Glass

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

I don’t have the resources to take on a branch of a large multi-national corporation operating in a distant country, but I could use some help and advice as to how to resolve this matter, how to ensure it doesn’t happen again to me or anyone else wearing Eye Glass, and what can be done to advance Digital Eye Glass research in not just the technological realm, but also the realm of social responsibility and “culture and technology.

In my research, I came across Penny Sheldon, a travel agent from Boise, Id., who was physically assaulted by McDonalds staff in Paris, France, because she photographed their menu. This seems surprising because many people use a handheld camera as a seeing aid to magnify and read signs, etc. (zooming into a picture to see it on screen).

Because we’d spent the day going to various museums and historical landmark sites guarded by military and police, I had brought with me the letter from my doctor regarding my computer vision eyeglass, along with documentation, etc., although I’d not needed to present any of this at any of the other places I visited (McDonald’s was the only establishement that seemed to have any problem with my eyeglass during our entire 2 week trip).

Much more:

http://eyetap.blogspot.ca/#!/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdonalds-for.html

In Sweden, the home country of Spotify, streaming music is booming

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, New Business Models, Stats / reports

Revenues from digital streaming grew by 79.4% in the first half of 2012. Revenues from digital downloads decreased by 14% and physical sales by 2.2%. Overall, music sales increased by 30.1% in Sweden. That’s good news for the music industry.

However, these figures do not apply to all countries yet. Globally, revenues from digital music sales are 30%. The Netherlands is lagging behind: revenues from online music are only 15%. This appears from a research report from the Dutch Ministery of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

More:
http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2012/07/17/online-music-sales-booming-in-sweden.html

Facebook engineer accidentally blocks Imgur, apologizes on Reddit

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

When things go wrong on Facebook, they go disastrously wrong. But one Facebook engineer faced the Web’s wrath head on and mitigated a public relations disaster for the world’s largest social network.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57473544-93/facebook-engineer-accidentally-blocks-imgur-apologizes-on-reddit/

Sedo.co.uk, the popular domain name marketplace, is blocked in India

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Filtering, Public Policy, Stats / reports

On visiting Sedo.co.uk from MTNL Delhi, we’re getting the boilerplate message “This website/URL has been blocked until further notice either pursuant to Court orders or on the Directions issued by the Department of Telecommunications”.  (hat tip: @mohak)

This exercise is futile because you can access the site going to https://sedo.co.uk instead of http://sedo.co.uk. Secondly, you can always go to sedo.com. Why the UK URL of a domain marketplace would be blocked is beyond my reasoning.

The ISP hasn’t specified who exactly has directed it to block access to Sedo, and this could be one of many domains that are blocked without most users being aware of why the site has been blocked.  If you’re running an Internet or Mobile Internet business, it could happen to you, just like it happened to Mauj owned apps marketplace Mobango last year.

On a slightly positive note, at least there is a message this time, since in case of blocks earlier, pages just didnt load.

More:
http://www.medianama.com/2012/07/223-domain-marketplace-sedo-co-uk-blocked-in-india/

Chinese Twitter-like website blocked from showing results for phrase ‘the truth’

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/07/15/184-Chinese-Twitter-like-website-blocked-from-showing-results-for-phrase-the-truth-.html

China has started blocking SlideShare, a document sharing service recently acquired by LinkedIn, making the site inaccessible to users in the country

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Filtering, Public Policy, Stats / reports

China, known for its Internet censorship, routinely blocks and deletes Internet content deemed politically sensitive or anti-government. But it’s unclear why authorities have targeted SlideShare, an English language service that allows users to upload PowerPoint presentations, along with other document types and videos to share with the public. The site reports having 60 million monthly visitors.

More:
http://www.techworld.com.au/article/430541/linkedin_slideshare_site_blocked_china/

A team of Canadian researchers has uncovered an unusual new example of “upstream filtering-, where online content blocked in India is inaccessible in Oman also due to the filtering that happens in transit

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Filtering, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto have revealed that some Internet users in Oman who are using the Omantel ISP (Internet Service Provider) are also being subjected to Indian content restrictions because of the traffic flowing through India.

“It goes to show what you can find when you begin to probe beneath the surface of the Internet, and what you see when you have governments starting to mess with the openness of the Internet,- Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab’s director, told the media while adding that, “in this case you have a perverse situation where citizens in one country are subject to filtering in another country.-

The sites affected include Indian and Pakistani entertainment sites, political blogs, file-sharing websites, and even IndyBay, a San Francisco-based online news site.

While there have been numerous examples of specific countries blocking foreign or domestic content that they find objectionable, as it runs afoul of their own laws or regulations, it’s rare for one country to accidentally block sites due to peering agreements and traffic flows.

Much more:
http://www.timesofoman.com/echoice.aspx?detail=8318

Morality in Media is working to block new Internet pornography domains, months after the initiation of the .xxx portal, which was promoted as a central adult gateway to Internet porn

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

At issue is an application .xxx-domain owner ICM Registry has made to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers for approval of three additional pornography domains: .sex, .porn and .adult.

Morality in Media is asking the public to block approval of these domains that would only increase the number of porn sites on the Internet proven harmful to children, adults and families.

“What we need to do is overwhelm the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers with complaints about the new porn domains so that it calls attention to the problem with them and the fact that we don’t need more porn on the Internet, which is all this will be,” said Patrick Trueman, Morality in Media president and former chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. “We are working today, in fact, on our current campaign to get organizations and individuals to file objections to these new domains, .sex, .adult and .porn.”

MIM is contacting such groups as Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the Alliance Defending Freedom and others and has posted on its website http://www.pornharms.com, a petition gathering signatures against IMC Registry’s application.

The public has until Aug. 12 to file complaints with ICANN, an international agency.

More:
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=38274

See also:

IT Company Unisys Prohibits Employee From Presenting On The Topic Of Censorship. Presentation Shows Just How The Internet Economy Relies On Pornography And How Censorship Would Affect That
http://vrritti.com/2012/07/12/it-company-unisys-prohibits-employee-from-presenting-on-the-topic-of-censorship-presentation-shows-just-how-the-internet-economy-relies-on-pornography-and-how-censorship-would-affect-that/

“Injunctions against ISPs forcing blocks on Newzbin2 and Pirate Bay have short-circuited the democratic process”

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Legislation, Litigation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Democracy vs Court of Law

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/11/pirate-bay-ban

See also:
http://www.mondaq.com/x/186298/music+arts/High+Court+Orders+ISPs+To+Block+Access+To+FileSharing

Wikipedia closes site in Russia to protest internet law

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Internet rule #1: there are no rules

http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/07/10/wikipedia-closes-site-in-russia-to-protest-internet-law/

Pirate Bay Website Now Less Popular Than Product Review Website ‘Which?’ In The United Kingdom Due To Blocking Order

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Online advertising, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;12/GB

Previously:
http://vrritti.com/?s=pirate+bay+block&submit=Search

Pirate Bay Website Now Less Popular Than Website Of Public Broadcaster In The Netherlands Due To Blocking Order

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Online advertising, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries;11/NL

Previously:
http://vrritti.com/?s=pirate+bay+block&submit=Search

Major label uses DMCA to take down Romney ad of Obama crooning

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The incident highlights how the DMCA can hinder free speech.

More:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/07/major-label-uses-dmca-to-take-down-romney-ad-of-obama-crooning/

Facebook users not as satisfied as Google+ users

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Google, Stats / reports

More:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57473470-93/facebook-users-not-as-satisfied-as-google-users/

Super-investor Peter Thiel commended Schmidt for “doing a fantastic job” as “minister of propaganda” for Google

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Google, Stats / reports

Thiel argued that while the tech sector has made remarkable strides in the areas of computers and software in recent decades, it has also seen a “catastrophic” failure in other areas such as energy innovation.

The PayPal co-founder and noted Libertarian firebrand continued to go after Schmidt and Google, criticizing the search company for not investing enough in innovation.

“Google has no idea how to invest in tech effectively,” Thiel told the audience while Schmidt sat by, appearing both irritated and amused at once.

Thiel gave credit to Google for its many experimental projects, including those self-drivingcars in Nevada, but said he believed Amazon was the only major tech company re-investing in innovation in a meaningful way.

“Google is out of ideas,” Thiel said.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57473518-1/thiel-tells-schmidt-google-is-out-of-ideas/

Google is not just about finding a good deal on an iPad or searching for cat videos – what if its technology could be used to hunt criminals?

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Google, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.zdnet.com/the-google-search-human-trafficking-and-drug-cartels-7000001027/

Dutch Collecting Society STEMRA Has To Pay Up For Unauthorized Use Of Music In Educational Anti-Piracy Video, Used On 71 Commercial DVD Titles

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Stats / reports

Amsterdam Court of Law has ordered STEMRA to pay a 20,000 Euro fine.

Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/111174/stemra-schendt-rechten-in-antipiraterij-spotje.html

Five top multinational oil companies have been targeted by members of Anonymous, who published about 1,000 email addresses for accounts belonging to the firms, as well as hashed and unencrypted passwords

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/oil-companies-hacked/

Osaka Cops Bust First Store Employee in Game Piracy Crackdown

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/07/japan-piracy-arrest/

41-page guide to effective social media, put out by the Air Force Public Affairs Agency

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/07/air-force-social-media-guide/

Video: How to Destroy a Building With Light

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

More:
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/07/moment-factory-duality/

Is The Peter Sunde Petition Offensive, Inflammatory or Objectionable?

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Litigation, Stats / reports

Last week, an online petition was started supporting former Pirate Bay spokesman Peter Sunde’s request for a pardon from the Swedish government. However, in an interesting twist, the site is now polling its own users as to whether the petition should be removed on the basis it might be “offensive, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable.” Well, that all depends on who you ask, doesn’t it?

More:
http://torrentfreak.com/is-the-peter-sunde-petition-offensive-inflammatory-or-objectionable-120716/

See also:
http://vrritti.com/?s=peter+sunde&submit=Search

The number of registered domain names on the internet increased by 7.5 million to stand at 233 million in the first quarter of the year

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, New Business Models, Stats / reports

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/16/q1_verisign_domains_report/

Olympics security cockup down to software errors – Tech blunders at G4S lie behind mobilisation of troops

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Network Security, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/16/software_caused_olympic_security_fiasco/

How privacy-conscious consumers are fooling, hacking smart meters

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports

http://www.infowars.com/how-privacy-conscious-consumers-are-fooling-hacking-smart-meters/

Verizon Claims Right to “Edit” What You See on the Internet

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Blocking, Education / Awareness, Filtering, Net Neutrality, New Business Models, Stats / reports

http://www.infowars.com/verizon-claims-right-to-edit-what-you-see-on-the-internet/

A German scientific research institute has warned that most condoms on the market contain a cancer-causing chemical

Posted: 2012/07/17 in Education / Awareness, Stats / reports

The Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Institute in Stuttgart said on Friday it had found the carcinogen N-Nitrosamine in 29 of 32 types of condoms it tested in simulated conditions.

The condoms, which were kept in a solution with artificial sweat, exuded huge amounts of cancer-causing N-Nitrosamine from its rubber coating. Researchers measured amounts of N-Nitrosamine, that were way above the prescribed limits for other rubber products such as baby pacifiers.

“N-Nitrosamine is one of the most carcinogenic substances,” the study’s authors said. “There is a pressing need for manufacturers to tackle this problem.”

More:
http://www.infowars.com/german-study-says-condoms-contain-cancer-causing-chemical/

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