Archive for the ‘Legislation’ Category

There is no constitutional amendment that prevents corporate enterprise from abusing our need for certain tools that corporations provide

Posted: 2013/05/18 in Education / Awareness, Google, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

A stellar example is the popular website Google. Since there is a long line of useful Google products available, they are able to collect all of your information and store it in one spot. Google also analyzes everything you do to determine what ads pertain to you specifically. Syncing Google chrome is an example of how your information is saved on the Internet: Google Syncing remembers history, bookmarks, and pretty much everything else you do on the Internet. In the event someone obtained your login they could scroll through your browser history very easily. When using Google to search the Internet, the search engine logs everything you search in order to give you the “best possible experience,” by targeted advertising. There is a link where Google will list all of your likes and dislikes. Any employee or person with the intent to get your private information can retrieve it. The popular company Windows logs every file that is ever on a computer for “security purposes.” Another instance of this type of blatant and public privacy invasion is Carrier IQ. During this scandal Android, Blackberry, and other companies pre-install programs on all devices that logs everything the devices do, essentially, built-in spyware. May it be noted that they still use this technology today.

Corporate enterprise can even justify releasing such information to private interest groups around the world, because the average American consumer is forced to sign a contract and play ball at a rigged game to use common gadgets and tools. Carrier IQ comes with the ability to log everything you type on a phone, even bank pins, passwords, and more information that is crucial to keep private. CISPA allows the legal transaction of anyone’s information, regardless of warrants, to the government or corporate enterprise. So, how does corporate enterprise get away with this? Ignorance, and because Uncle Sam only has the knack of following those with the most resources, voting power, and most importantly, money. So, what can a non-violent consumer do besides playing with an aristocratic government dominated by capitalistic enterprise? Adults have the voting power and can petition. Kids are sitting ducks to be abused by enterprise. An aristocracy runs the government via legal or illegal means such as lobbyists and bribes.

More:
http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/articleid/600001/newspaperid/5348/Internet_Invasion_of_Privacy_and_Legal_Presence.aspx

New German copyright law enters into force on August 1st

Posted: 2013/05/17 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2013/05/16/new-german-copyright-law-enters-into-force-on-august-1st.html

What Is TPP? The Biggest Global Threat to the Internet Since ACTA

Posted: 2013/05/15 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://gizmodo.com/what-is-tpp-the-biggest-global-threat-to-the-internet-505873598

French report lists 75 proposals to help the country’s film, music, TV and publishing industry adapt to the digital revolution

Posted: 2013/05/13 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Litigation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

A report due to be presented to the French president and culture minister on 13 May calls for the dissolution of the Hadopi anti-piracy authority and for its functions to be taken over by audiovisual regulator CSA, Journal du Dimanche reports. The report on “Act 2 of the cultural exception” includes 75 proposals to help the country’s film, music, TV and publishing industry adapt to the digital revolution. Its author, former Canal Plus chairman Pierre Lescure, proposes replacing the suspension of internet service with fines for persistent illegal downloaders. Hadopi will disappear, but there will still be a system of regulation provided by the CSA, said a presidential advisor.

Other proposals include relaxing the chronology for films to be carried on TV and online video. The VoD window would be brought forward to three, rather than four months, after cinema release. The report also suggests reviewing the so-called “Cope tax” on ISPs and the private copy tax on recording supports. It does not address the Colin and Collin report that proposed taxing US internet giants, which is currently being discussed by the National Digital Council.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/govt-study-proposes-dissolving-hadopi-report–942930

The first hints of what can be expected from the report on cultural content in the digital era by Pierre Lescure, which will be handed to President François Hollande today at 12pm, have been leaked.
Among the 75 expected proposals, the report plans to tax connected devices such as smartphones and tablets as well as getting rid of Hadopi.
Hadopi, the authority, set up by Nicolas Sarkozy to fight illegal downloads, will be abolished and its remit transferred to TV regulator CSA which would become the new regulator for digital cultural offerings.
The tax on connected devices will include connected TV sets and aims to compensate the content value transfer from consumers who are increasingly accustomed to getting free content to manufacturers and high-priced devices.
The report, compiled by the former Canal+ Group CEO, also aims to enable consumers to access movies 18 months after their theatrical release, instead of the current 36 months, through VOD.

http://www.rapidtvnews.com/index.php/2013051327692/lescure-report-plans-to-tax-connected-devices-and-abolish-hadopi.html

 

If this is an issue that is really costing the film industry a billion dollars a year in Australia, then why aren’t they screaming the house down?

Posted: 2013/05/12 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

A PROPOSED trial to help Hollywood movie studios catch online copyright infringers has flat-lined after six months of inaction, and industry experts now hold little hope for its resuscitation.

(…)

AFACT boss Neil Gane denied the trial scheme had been abandoned despite the six-month hiatus. “The Attorney-General’s Department round-table discussions may have temporarily stalled but I am confident that a workable solution will be found,” Mr Gane said.

“It is in everyone’s interests, the content, technology and telecommunications’ industries, as well as audiences to work together to find smart and practical solutions to protecting creative content.”

A senior telecoms executive who asked to remain anonymous said the lack of action from both the Attorney-General’s Department and AFACT was “perplexing”. “If this is an issue that is really costing the film industry a billion dollars a year in Australia, then why aren’t they screaming the house down? Why aren’t they running around trying to get something going? But we’ve heard nothing from them,” the executive said.

A failure to reach an outcome on the spread of online copyright infringement could lead the government to intervene and write into copyright law an industry code on internet piracy.

More:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/telecommunications/telcos-bid-to-combat-online-film-piracy-sinks-without-trace/story-fn4iyzsr-1226636328820

Barrister Barbara Hewson at Hardwicke in London in desperate need of training about effects of sexual abuse on children (and adults)

Posted: 2013/05/12 in Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Jurisprudence, Legislation, Litigation, Organized Crime, Public Policy, Stats / reports

…or regarding the atrocities in the Soviet Union for that matter…And by her logic, she would probably not support the persecution of (old) Nazis…

Barbara Hewson writes:

  • With its emphasis on outcomes over process, the post-Savile witch-hunting of ageing celebs echoes the Soviet Union.
  • I do not support the persecution of old men. The manipulation of the rule of law by the Savile Inquisition – otherwise known as Operation Yewtree – and its attendant zealots poses a far graver threat to society than anything Jimmy Savile ever did.
  • What is strikingly different today is how Britain’s law-enforcement apparatus has been infiltrated by moral crusaders, like the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC). Both groups take part in Operation Yewtree, which looks into alleged offences both by and not by Savile.
  • These pressure groups have a vested interest in universalising the notion of abuse, making it almost as prevalent as original sin, but with the modern complication that it carries no possibility of redemption, only ‘survival’. The problem with this approach is that it makes abuse banal, and reduces the sympathy that we should feel for victims of really serious assaults.
  • But the most remarkable facet of the Savile scandal is how adult complainants are invited to act like children. Hence we have witnessed the strange spectacle of mature adults calling a children’s charity to complain about the distant past.
  • (Is she really suggesting that the following is the only type of conduct displayed by Savile and his friends???) Touching a 17-year-old’s breast, kissing a 13-year-old, or putting one’s hand up a 16-year-old’s skirt, are not remotely comparable to the horrors of the Ealing Vicarage assaults and gang rape, or the Fordingbridge gang rape and murders, both dating from 1986. Anyone suggesting otherwise has lost touch with reality.
  • Ordinarily, Hall’s misdemeanors would not be prosecuted, and certainly not decades after the event. What we have here is the manipulation of the British criminal-justice system to produce scapegoats on demand. It is a grotesque spectacle.
  • It’s time to end this prurient charade, which has nothing to do with justice or the public interest. Adults and law-enforcement agencies must stop fetishising victimhood. Instead, we should focus on arming today’s youngsters with the savoir-faire and social skills to avoid drifting into compromising situations, and prosecute modern crime. As for law reform, now regrettably necessary, my recommendations are: remove complainant anonymity; introduce a strict statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions and civil actions; and reduce the age of consent to 13. (Ah, what she actually may be after is damage control in relation her group of close friends, by limiting the amount of potential targets and complainants. We have seen that one before…The only thing that Hewson is proving here is that the police in the UK is doing a good job and some people are finally starting to feel threatened).

More:
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/13604/

More:
http://vrritti.com/?s=savile

New privacy bill requires apps to disclose how they share personal data

Posted: 2013/05/11 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/new-privacy-bill-requires-apps-to-disclose-how-they-share-personal-data/

The way in which Apple collects and shares personal data (with advertisers) is in conflict with German law

Posted: 2013/05/08 in Education / Awareness, Jurisprudence, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Dutch language news article:

http://webwereld.nl/beveiliging/77689-privacybeleid-apple-in-strijd-met-duitse-wet

Pirate Site Blocking Legislation Approved By Norwegian Parliament

Posted: 2013/05/01 in Blocking, Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-blocking-legislation-approved-by-norwegian-parliament-130501/

International privacy organisations: Don’t let corporations strip citizens of their right to privacy

Posted: 2013/04/25 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

This report has been put together by members of European Digital Rights including Bits of Freedom, Open Rights.

Group and Privacy International. The coalition of organisations supporting this initiative include Digitale Gesellschaft, Access and La Quadrature du Net.

http://tweakimg.net/files/upload/International-coalition-DPR-report%20(1).pdf

Google, Facebook and Microsoft LOBBYING AGAINST PRIVACY BILL

Posted: 2013/04/24 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, New Business Models, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

The American Civil Liberties Union, a co-sponsor of the Right to Know Act, accuses the business groups of overreacting to hide their true intentions: to keep out of the public’s eye the lucrative practice of amassing personal information on people who use online services, computer apps, social networking sites and other portals that track people’s locations, buying habits, favorite foods and movies, and even their sexual orientation.

“A lot of companies don’t want consumers to know what’s happening to their personal information,” said Nicole Ozer, an attorney with the ACLU who specializes in privacy issues. “Companies are collecting and sharing this information with third parties in ways the people might not realize and in ways they might not want.”

More:

http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_23067322/silicon-valley-companies-quietly-try-kill-internet-privacy

See also:

Dutch MP Sharon Gesthuizen: Online Businesses Are (Re)Selling Personal And Traffic Data They’ve Collected Using Cookies. Third Parties Are De-Anonymizing That Data
http://vrritti.com/2013/02/13/dutch-mp-sharon-gesthuizen-online-businesses-are-reselling-personal-and-traffic-data-theyve-collected-using-cookies-third-parties-are-de-anonymizing-that-data/

Facebook Likes, can be used to automatically and accurately predict a range of highly sensitive personal attributes including: sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious and political views, personality traits, intelligence, happiness, use of addictive substances, parental separation, age, and gender
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/12/facebook-likes-can-be-used-to-automatically-and-accurately-predict-a-range-of-highly-sensitive-personal-attributes-including-sexual-orientation-ethnicity-religious-and-political-views-personality/

Apple remembers where you wanted to get drunk for up to 2 years
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/20/apple-remembers-where-you-wanted-to-get-drunk-for-up-to-2-years/

Disguise, Disrupt, Dough…No Matter The Consequences. Only Change Your Ways When You Get Something In Return Or You Risk Losing Money. Is That Google’s Strategy?
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/13/disguise-disrupt-dough-no-matter-the-consequences-only-change-your-ways-when-you-get-something-in-return-or-you-risk-losing-money-is-that-googles-strategy/

Brussels Court of Appeal: embedding illegal YouTube content is no copyright breach

Posted: 2013/04/22 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Jurisprudence, Legislation, Litigation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

On 19 March 2013, the Court of Appeal of Brussels decided that embedding a YouTube video with illegal content doesn’t constitute a copyright infringement. In the underlying case, the Belgian movie Fait d’Hiver was uploaded integrally on YouTube by a user with a IP address that belongs to a Russian website. Thereafter, a Belgian Fait d’Hiver fan embedded the YouTube movie on his website. He placed a banner on his website via Google AdSense and generated a minimal revenue from the advertisements. The right holders sued the Belgian fan in criminal proceedings for copyright infringement.

However, according to the Court, the Belgian fan didn’t infringe the copyrights of the right holders, as he was allowed to assume that the content uploaded on YouTube was legal. After all, YouTube’s terms of use prohibit the uploading of illegal content that infringes copyrights of others.  The fact that the Belgian fan earned 2 cents per click with the banner on his website doesn’t prove that he had fraudulent intentions, the Court argues.

This decision provides us some interesting observations on the law in Belgium.

Much more:
http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2013/04/22/brussels-court-of-appeal-embedding-illegal-youtube-content-is-no-copyright-breach.html

Film ‘War for Web’ warns of CISPA, SOPA, future threats

Posted: 2013/04/21 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57580583-38/film-war-for-web-warns-of-cispa-sopa-future-threats/

Megaupload says US trying to change rules to allow prosecution

Posted: 2013/04/20 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Litigation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The shuttered file-sharing site Megaupload has accused the United States government of trying to change criminal court procedures to make it easier to prosecute the firm for copyright infringement. In addition to naming CEO Kim Dotcom as a defendant in the criminal case, the US government also named Megaupload, a corporation based in Hong Kong, as a separate defendant.

Megaupload has argued that US law doesn’t allow criminal prosecution of corporations based entirely overseas. Federal rules require notice of an indictment to be sent to a corporation’s last known US address. But Megaupload has never had a US address, the firm argues, so it can’t be prosecuted.

Judge Liam O’Grady rejected that argument in October, reasoning that the government may be able to satisfy the notice requirement by serving papers on Kim Dotcom after he has been extradited to the United States.

More:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/megaupload-says-us-trying-to-change-rules-to-allow-prosecution/

House passes controversial “cybersecurity” bill CISPA in 288-127 vote. Almost half of Democrats support info-sharing bill despite Obama’s veto threat

Posted: 2013/04/19 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/house-passes-controversial-cybersecurity-bill-cispa-in-288-127-vote/

Obama threatens CISPA veto, sponsor calls opponents basement-dwelling 14-year-olds

Posted: 2013/04/17 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/obama-threatens-cispa-veto-sponsor-calls-opponents-basement-dwelling-14-year-olds/

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft execs back CISPA through trade group

Posted: 2013/04/14 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Google, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

Tech trade group whose members include Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer sends letter to House Intelligence panel commending its work on the controversial bill and expressing interest in added privacy protections.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57579480-38/google-yahoo-microsoft-execs-back-cispa-through-trade-group/

Disguise: Company that brought you Google Glass warns against facial recognition database

Posted: 2013/04/13 in Education / Awareness, Google, Legislation, New Business Models, Online advertising, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

So they’re gonna block Google Glass apps that will use facial recognition technology? Schmidt is like a Pope who hasn’t got a clue what’s going on in his own church…or cannot do anything about it anyway…

Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has warned Governments against ‘foolish’ legislation – and said facial recognition is too creepy even for Google

Much more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8522574/Google-warns-against-facial-recognition-database.html

Previously:

Disguise, Disrupt, Dough…No Matter The Consequences. Only Change Your Ways When You Get Something In Return Or You Risk Losing Money. Is That Google’s Strategy?
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/13/disguise-disrupt-dough-no-matter-the-consequences-only-change-your-ways-when-you-get-something-in-return-or-you-risk-losing-money-is-that-googles-strategy/

US still pressing allies for tougher anti-piracy laws

Posted: 2013/04/12 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/us-still-pressing-allies-for-tougher-anti-piracy-laws/

British Library to begin scraping content from UK websites

Posted: 2013/04/05 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Under the rules – known as legal deposit – the country’s biggest collector of publications produced in the UK and Ireland will start harvesting what it described as “ephemeral materials like websites” to ensure that the content is “preserved forever”.

Much more:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/05/british_library_to_harvest_web/

New Dutch Legislative Proposal Is Targeting…Judges

Posted: 2013/04/04 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The Dutch Minister of Justice, Mr. Ivo Opstelten, may have noticed that nowadays, it’s generally not a good idea to allow people to become ‘untouchable’. They typically tend to abuse their power and influence at one point in time, as they feel they have nothing to fear.

As such the Minister will introduce new legislation that will require Dutch judges to:

  1. Hand over a certificate of good conduct before they’re being appointed;
  2. Behave themselves properly;
  3. Report any activities for which they are being reimbursed;

Whenever judges decide to neglect these rules, they can be dismissed (proactively), transferred to another court of law, suspended or even be fired.

In 2011, 1,412 complaints were filed regarding Dutch judges. Almost 50% of those complaints were not even being accepted nor properly processed.

Dutch language news article:
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/04/03/rechter-bij-wangedrag-voortaan-geschorst-of-overgeplaatst/

The internet has erupted into a fury over Obama’s signing of the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act”

Posted: 2013/03/29 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

a rider to a federal appropriations bill that hands Monsanto the power to nullify the decisions of federal courts. If the courts decide that a genetically engineered crop is dangerous to the public or the environment, it can no longer order Monsanto (or any other company) to stop planting the crops. Instead, the law mandates the Secretary of Agriculture to issue permits and deregulation orders that allow the “continued cultivation, commercialization and other specifically enumerated activities” even if a crop is deemed to be causing a plague or unleashing dangerous genetic pollution.

The actual language of the bill is barely-recognizable lawyerspeak, of course, but it’s not difficult to see how it will be interpreted by a federal government which routinely conspires with Monsanto and the biotech industry to sneak GMOs into the food supply. To read the bill language yourself, visit:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr933enr/pdf/BILLS-113hr933enr….
… and search for “735.” (Thanks to Anthony Gucciardi for finding this link.)

More:
http://www.infowars.com/obamas-signing-of-monsanto-protection-act-proves-he-will-betray-progressives-too/

Spain presents new intellectual property legislation

Posted: 2013/03/29 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2013/03/28/spain-presents-new-intellectual-property-legislation.html

Blast From The Past: “I guess all I can say is I’ll take what I can get” (Cyberbunker, Sven Olaf Kamphuis, CB3ROB, XTC, Porn, Pirate Bay, WikiLeaks, Fake WHOIS, Leaked Prefix, IP Tunnel)

Posted: 2013/03/28 in Copyright, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Jurisprudence, Legislation, Litigation, Net Neutrality, Network Security, Organized Crime, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

“I guess all I can say is I’ll take what I can get”
Source: http://hermes-grp.com/spammers/cb3robthreat.txt

“From a reliable source I have learned that SIDN doesn’t like the fact that their customer leaves his offices to head for Arnhem with a couple of friends and some metal objects. Very good method to ‘advise’ them to provide some service to their customer.”
CB3ROB BBS,
HRH Sven Olaf Kamphuis, Prince of CyberBunker.
Dutch language source:
http://web.archive.org/web/20120426150443/http://www.ispx.nl/archives/50/sven-olaf-kamphuis-cb3rob-gaat-los-op-de-sidn-mailinglijst/

This is going to be a story mixed with details such as a nuclear bunker with XTC production, a suspected IRA operative, Turkish interests and the collaboration of KPMG, Meyburg, RABO and (again) Tiscali. (…) Kamphuis: “We were the largest porn “farmer” of Europe. Adult entertainment distributors from every European country knew where to find us“. (…) When a fire broke loose, the fire department ran into an XTC lab within the bunker.
Dutch language news article:
http://www.netkwesties.nl/564/bizarre-domeinhandel-voor-rechter.htm

Herman Xennt the man behind INAIC first came to public attention in 2002 as the man behind the XTC bunker. The “bunker” is a former NATO base built in 1955.In 1995 Herman purchased the facility from the dutch government and installed himself as a constitutional monarch (http://www.republic-cyberbunker.org/). He also installed an XTC lab to manufacture the psychoactive and psychedelic drugs ecstasy and MDMA. On Saturday July 27th 2002 the XTC lab went up in flames and the dutch fire brigade was called. This prompted a police investigation into the XTC lab and Xennt was arrested the next day for drug trafficking. Herman became an infamous local celebrity overnight and was widely reported in the local papers. But at the local police station in the City of Goes Herman is best known as a commercial fraud artist. Adriaan Capello is the police officer who keeps an eye on Herman. Capello has an impressive file of complaints from people swindled by Xennt in various technology investment schemes. Capello points out there is nothing the local police can do. Capello tries his best to investigate but in the end the police don’t have the time, resources, or expertise to investigate commercial crime involving high technology fraud and the cases end up in limbo.
Source: http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/ga-200709/msg03184.html

On Wednesday (26th November 2009), it became public that The Pirate Bay (TPB), where people are able to download illegal movies and music, is broadcasting via the provider CB3ROB in Germany. CB3ROB has a network of servers, routers and racks all over the world; one of those locations is the bunker in Kloetinge, but according to Kamphuis, TPB is not hosted there, he has stated: “But if they wanted too I could arrange it right away”
Dutch language news article:
http://www.pzc.nl/regio/wasteland-begint-civiele-procedure-tegen-goes-1.1811598

The Pirate Bay have now moved operations to a nuclear bunker in the Netherlands. Now called Cyberbunker and operating as an ISP, the location is a former NATO bunker built in 1955. The bunker is capable of withstanding both electromagnetic pulse bombs and nuclear attacks. The Cyberbunker domain was created on 23 March 2000 and is registered to a ‘Mr Xennt, Cyberbunker, Snelweg 1, Juinen 4036 BH, NL’. Cyberbunker is owned by the Cyberbunker Foundation. Carriers had initially refused to carry traffic from The Pirate Bay after receiving threats from the formidable BREIN in the Netherlands, but now matters have been settled amicably. ‘I don’t expect BREIN to do pretty much anything at this point’, said Sven Kamphuis of Cyberbunker. ‘The last conversation we had with them was about some MP3 site they wanted to have shut down somewhere in 2001-2002. It took around 3 hours at 2:00 AM at night and the end result was that both parties agreed not to agree.’
Source: http://radsoft.net/news/20091006,00.shtml

According to Sven Kamphuis, one of the owners of CB3ROB/Cyberbunker, there were some initial troubles with setting up The Pirate Bay in its new location as several carriers refused to pass on the relay information after they received threats from the entertainment industry led by the Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN.
Source: http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-relocates-to-a-nuclear-bunker-091006/

Why CB3ROB is based in Germany? Kamphuis: “Over here, things like data protection are regulated in a much better way. And the German legal system will generally favor the party that had it right in the first place…”. (…) “We will not allow ourselves to be threatened. It’s not up to BREIN to dictated what can and cannot be broadcasted on the internet. Before you know it Scientology and the Chinese government will knock on our door. Obviously we cannot give into that.” (…) The Pirate Bay blockade did not last very long. On Tuesday afternoon The Pirate Bay was available again, almost anywhere in the world. One can thank Sven Kamphuis for that, the general manager of CB3ROB, located in Germany. He is offering a so-called IP tunnel to facilitate all traffic related to The Pirate Bay, as of last Tuesday. “We put all the packets in a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel they will go to load balancers in a data center where the site is hosted“, Kamphuis explains from Berlin, Germany. That setup will obfuscate the location of The Pirate Bay.
Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/63904/nederlander-helpt-pirate-bay-weer-online—update.html

please leak piratebay prefix 194.71.107.0/24
we currently announce 194.71.107.0/24, unfortunately some of our carriers have been threattened by the illegal entertainment kartell mafia and dont really feel like relaying this prefix for us. if you do have this prefix over one of our peerings as i know many of you do, feel free to accidentially leak it to the rest of the world until something better is worked out :P (in a later stadium the old DCP AS is planned to be behind AS34109 again on its own, this is a temporary workaround)

origin: AS34109 (CB3ROB / CYBERBUNKER)
prefix: 194.71.107.0/24
action: leak :P

if you want to “pick up” the piratebay prefix for your eyeballs you can do
so by setting up peering with us at NL-IX (noc@cb3rob.net) or obtain it from several of our
larger peers.

Sven Olaf Kamphuis
CB3ROB DataServices
Source: http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg00832.html

Dutch hacker Sven Olaf ‘CB3ROB’ Kamphuis used fake Whois records to shield his clients
Whois records contain information about the owner of a site, the provider, and the nameservers and DNS-servers associated with the site. The Whois registry enables people to find out who is running a site. By faking Whois records, it becomes much harder to establish who is running a certain site. Naturally, spammers, phishers, pirates and other cybercriminals prefer to use providers that are willing to hide their identities.Faking Whois records is a violation of the rules set forth by ICANN, the organisation responsible for the operation of the Domain Name System (DNS). While providers like Cyberbunker claim that they protect the privacy of their users, the reality is that their services mainly attract cybercriminals.
Source: http://www.thelocal.se/22502#comment464616

you can’t give any idiot with some fake “morals” their way. furthermore, we own the internet, we make the rules. use is on an as-is basis and if anyone is to be kicked out they can be damn sure it will be the MPAA/RIAA members first (there is after all, as they so nicely point out themselves, no basic right to having your packets relayed, so they’d better act friendly to isps, or paramount pictures may well find their own networks inaccessible from most of the world rather soon). at this moment, we can see such people as nothing else but a clear threat to the internet itself.

Sven Olaf Kamphuis
CB3ROB DataServices
Source: http://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2009-October/014574.html

RUPTLY: Have you had any contact with WikiLeaks or Julian Assange?
SOK: We did have contact with some Wikileaks people back in the days when there were some issues but it didn’t get any further than them running a Wikileaks mirror in the end. The original plan was to put it all in one of our facilities.
RUPTLY: Which person or organization angers you the most?
SOK: The Spamhaus mafia tactics definitely are the largest threat to the freedom of the internet at this moment, yes so they piss me off the most.
Probably the copyright people, that’s a good second. The IRAA and the MPAA and all their wannabe attorneys are a good second but at least they go to court even though they may try to corrupt the court, at least they go to court which is something that cannot be said for Spamhaus.
Source:
http://rt.com/news/spamhaus-threat-cyberbunker-ddos-attack-956/

I also want to advise you that during the time period that I have been in Germany Mr. Scheepers made a number of accusations against me. Namely that my luggage which was returned to Mr. Burger under the custody of an individual by the name of Sven Olaf Kamphuis (also arrested during the XTC lab incident) contained heroin. Mr. Scheepers has withdrawn this allegation and apologized to me. H (…) Currently Joe is wandering around. Sven Kamphuis, who helped Joe to cross the German border told us that he discovered a large quantity of Heroine in Joe’s luggage. Sven Kamphuis did not report this to the authorities.
Source: http://www.cynikal.net/users/baptista/P-R/Internation%20incident%20involving%20IRA%20and%20turkish%20government.pdf

The Pirate Bay / CyberBunker / MPA Injunction In Full
Earlier this week it became apparent that the main Hollywood studios had made good on their threat to take legal action against Pirate Bay bandwidth provider CB3ROB/CyberBunker. At the time, CB3ROB owner Sven Kamphuis told us that he had yet to see the injunction. TorrentFreak has obtained a copy along with an English translation.
Source: http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-cyberbunker-mpa-injunction-in-full-100516/

Previously:

Pictures And Video From Within The Spanish Hideout Of Cyberbunker Operator Sven Olaf Kamphuis
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/28/pictures-and-video-from-within-the-spanish-hideout-of-cyberbunker-operator-sven-olaf-kamphuis/

Cyberbunker Operator And DDOS Suspect Sven Olaf Kamphuis Operated From Bunker In Spain As Well As His Mobile “Hacker Van”
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/28/cyberbunker-operator-and-ddos-suspect-sven-olaf-kamphuis-operated-from-bunker-in-spain-as-well-as-his-mobile-hacker-van/

Cyberbunker Operator And Alleged Spamhaus DOS Attacker Sven Olaf Kamphuis Arrested In Spain
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/26/cyberbunker-operator-and-alleged-spamhaus-dos-attacker-sven-olaf-kamphuis-arrested-in-spain/

“It was all Photoshop,” says Guido Blaauw (aka Rik van Esser?), of Bunkerinfra Datacenters (aka Cyberbunker), and Kamphuis fled to Spain
http://vrritti.com/2013/04/08/it-was-all-photoshop-says-guido-blaauw-aka-rik-van-esser-of-bunkerinfra-datacenters-aka-cyberbunker-and-kamphuis-fled-to-spain/

It seems clear that the CB3ROB network hijacked one (or more) of the IP addresses of Spamhaus, and installed a DNS server there which incorrectly returns positive results to every query (Cyberbunker)
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/30/it-seems-clear-that-the-cb3rob-network-hijacked-one-or-more-of-the-ip-addresses-of-spamhaus-and-installed-a-dns-server-there-which-incorrectly-returns-positive-results-to-every-query-cyberbunker/

“Yo anons, we could use a little help in shutting down illegal slander and blackmail censorship project ‘spamhaus.org,’” Cyberbunker’s Sven Kamphuis wrote on his Facebook wall March 23
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/30/yo-anons-we-could-use-a-little-help-in-shutting-down-illegal-slander-and-blackmail-censorship-project-spamhaus-org-cyberbunkers-sven-kamphuis-wrote-on-his-facebook-wal/

Current owner of “NATO bunker” – Bunkerinfra Datacenters – states that “Cyberbunker” and Sven Olaf Kamphuis have left the building
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/29/current-owner-of-nato-bunker-bunkerinfra-datacenters-states-that-cyberbunker-and-sven-olaf-kamphuis-have-left-the-building/

The Cyberbunker Revisited: The American Dream, Swindlers, Aliases, Big Money, Fraud, Dope, Governments And…Terrorists?
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/29/the-cyberbunker-revisited-the-american-dream-swindlers-aliases-big-money-fraud-dope-governments-and-terrorists/

In Spamhaus’s view, cb3rob is the worst spam ISP in the world (Cyberbunker)
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/29/in-spamhauss-view-cb3rob-is-the-worst-spam-isp-in-the-world-cyberbunker/

How Spamhaus’ attackers turned DNS into a weapon of mass destruction (Cyberbunker)
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/29/how-spamhaus-attackers-turned-dns-into-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction-cyberbunker/

Cloudflare reveals details of ‘world’s biggest’ cyber attack (Cyberbunker)
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/28/cloudflare-reveals-details-of-worlds-biggest-cyber-attack-cyberbunker/

The sheer scale of the attack by Cyberbunker is having an impact on services like Netflix and could eventually affect banking, email and other systems
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/28/the-sheer-scale-of-the-attack-by-cyberbunker-is-having-an-impact-on-services-like-netflix-and-could-eventually-affect-banking-email-and-other-systems/

Cyberbunker’s Sven Olaf Kamphuis To SpiegelOnline: “I brought in a few of my customers (…) and then it all started”
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/28/cyberbunkers-sven-olaf-kamphuis-to-spiegelonline-i-brought-in-a-few-of-my-customers-and-then-it-all-started/

Five national cyber-police-forces are investigating the unprecedented Denial of Service attacks by Cyberbunker
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/28/five-national-cyber-police-forces-are-investigating-the-unprecedented-denial-of-service-attacks-by-cyberbunker/

Cyberbunker’s Sven Olaf Kamphuis: “They (SpamHaus) Think That They Are In Charge On The Internet, But WE Are In Charge”
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/28/cyberbunkers-sven-olaf-kamphuis-they-spamhaus-think-that-they-are-in-charge-on-the-internet-but-we-are-in-charge/

Has Cyberbunker Launched The Largest Publicly Announced DDoS Attack In The History Of The Internet?
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/27/has-cyberbunker-launched-the-largest-publicly-announced-ddos-attack-in-the-history-of-the-internet/

A2B Internet to sue Spamhaus for extortion. Spamhaus accused of threatening A2B and its customers with “Denial of Service” attacks if A2B would refrain from taking action against “Pirate Bay and WikiLeaks hoster” Cyberbunker / CB3ROB
http://vrritti.com/2011/10/11/a2b-internet-to-sue-spamhaus-for-extortion-spamhaus-accused-of-threatening-a2b-and-its-customers-with-denial-of-service-attacks-if-a2b-would-refrain-from-taking-action-against-pirate-bay-and-wi/

Supervision of Dutch Collecting Societies to Increase

Posted: 2013/03/27 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Earlier this month, the Dutch First Chamber accepted a law proposal that increases the monitoring of so-called collective rights organizations. These organizations collect and divide royalties for different groups of stakeholders. The Second Chamber already gave its approval for the bill a year ago. As From 1 July 2013, the new law will come into force in the Netherlands.

Draft House Judiciary cybersecurity bill would stiffen anti-hacking law

Posted: 2013/03/27 in Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, Network Security, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

A draft cybersecurity bill circulating among House Judiciary Committee members would stiffen a computer hacking law used to bring charges against Internet activist Aaron Swartz.

The bill draft would tighten penalties for cyber crimes and establish a standard for when companies would have to notify consumers that their personal data has been hacked, according to a copy obtained by The Hill.

It would also change existing law so that an attempt at a cyber crime can be punished as harshly as an actual offense.

More:
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/290103-draft-cybersecurity-bill-aims-to-stiffen-computer-hacking-law

Controversial Copyright Bill Passes German Upper House. European Commission May Feel Bill Has Too Many Downsides For Google

Posted: 2013/03/23 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

Do the Germans realize how much MONEY Google has???

The new bill would require search engines and news aggregators like Google News to pay a fee for displaying content longer than “individual words or short excerpts” (snippets). Read more in our previous article on this topic.

Yet, an investigation of the European Commission might delay the implementation of the bill considerably. At the moment, the Commission is studying whether the bill should have been presented to other EU member states before adoption. If the Commission decides so, member states will still get their chance to comment on the new law. This procedure might take up to 18 months.

More:
http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2013/03/22/controversial-copyright-bill-passes-german-upper-house.html

Give Google a COLD HARD SLAP – web rivals’ plea to Euro watchdog
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/22/give-google-a-cold-hard-slap-web-rivals-plea-to-euro-watchdog/

There You Go RIAA: “Online Music Piracy Doesn’t Hurt Sales”, European Commission Finds
http://vrritti.com/2013/03/18/there-you-go-riaa-online-music-piracy-doesnt-hurt-sales-european-commission-finds/

U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante has presented the United States House of Representatives’s Judiciary Committee with a plan to amend current copyright law

Posted: 2013/03/22 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

http://www.futureofcopyright.com/home/blog-post/2013/03/21/us-congress-presented-with-plan-for-next-great-copyright-act.html

Senate Democrats to drop assault weapon ban from gun bill

Posted: 2013/03/20 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21849814

Facebook Likes, can be used to automatically and accurately predict a range of highly sensitive personal attributes including: sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious and political views, personality traits, intelligence, happiness, use of addictive substances, parental separation, age, and gender

Posted: 2013/03/12 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

The analysis presented is based on a dataset of over 58,000 volunteers who provided their Facebook Likes, detailed demographic profiles, and the results of several psychometric tests. The proposed model uses dimensionality reduction for preprocessing the Likes data, which are then entered into logistic/ linear regression to predict individual psychodemographic profiles from Likes. The model correctly discriminates between homosexual and heterosexual men in 88% of cases, African Americans and Caucasian Americans in 95% of cases, and between Democrat and Republican in 85% of cases. For the personality trait “Openness,” prediction accuracy is close to the test–retest accuracy of a standard personality test. We give examples of associations between attributes and Likes and discuss implications for online personalization and privacy.

A growing proportion of human activities, such as social interactions, entertainment, shopping, and gathering information, are now mediated by digital services and devices. Such digitally mediated behaviors can easily be recorded and analyzed, fueling the emergence of computational social science (1) and new services such as personalized search engines, recommender systems (2), and targeted online marketing (3). However, the widespread availability of extensive records of individual behavior, together with the desire to learn more about customers and citizens, presents serious challenges related to privacy and data ownership (4, 5).

Much more:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/06/1218772110.full.pdf

See also:

EU mulls almost-anonymisation of folks’ data to cut biz some slack

Knowing full well that data that has even been fully anonymized can also be de-anonymized in retrospect, using the right sets of data…

Much more:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/11/pseudonymisation_eu_investigates/

Dutch MP Sharon Gesthuizen: Online Businesses Are (Re)Selling Personal And Traffic Data They’ve Collected Using Cookies. Third Parties Are De-Anonymizing That Data
http://vrritti.com/2013/02/13/dutch-mp-sharon-gesthuizen-online-businesses-are-reselling-personal-and-traffic-data-theyve-collected-using-cookies-third-parties-are-de-anonymizing-that-data/

Children are more likely to use software they are familiar with, and Google’s education play is worrying many at Redmond

Posted: 2013/03/09 in Education / Awareness, Google, Legislation, New Business Models, Stats / reports, Tech Evolution

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/08/microsoft_massachusetts_law_google_cloud_block/

Ofcom Claims 16 Percent of UK Internet Users Make Illegal Downloads, while 5% “exclusively consumed illegal content”

Posted: 2013/03/07 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Illegal File Sharing, Legislation, Public Policy, Stats / reports

The communications regulator, Ofcom, has today released a new study into online copyright infringement (internet piracy), which estimates that 16% of UK internet users aged 12+ have consumed at least one item of online content illegally between August-October 2012 and 5% “exclusively consumed illegal content“.

Ofcom, as part of the government’s Digital Economy Act 2010 (DEAct), is required to assess the level of use of the internet to infringe copyright. In particular the first warning letters are due to be sent to ISP customers in early 2014 (assuming cost concerns don’t delay them) and thus the regulator needs to know if their new Obligations Code is having any impact.

The new report, which was carried out by Kantar Media, is actually the second wave of a quarterly consumer research study (the first study was released in November 2012). Overall Ofcom claims that there are “very few significant differences” in the results of the second-wave report and those of the first wave (not surprising as the new rules have yet to be enforced).

The study, which surveyed 5,500 thousand people aged 12+ via the phone, online or face-to-face, estimated that 10% of internet users consumed at least some music track illegally over the three-month period, while 6% did so for films, 2% for video games or computer software and just 1% for e-books. Infringers were generally more likely to be male (58%) or male and under 35 (69%).

Overall Volumes of Illegal Content Consumed

Music Tracks – 297 Million
TV Programmes – 56 Million
Films – 44 Million
Video Games – 35 Million
Computer Software – 27 Million
e-Books – 8 Million

Some 35% of those who consumed any content illegally claimed to use P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing services and 13% used Cyberlockers (online file storage and sharing websites like Rapidshare).

The most common reasons cited for infringing were because it’s free (50%), convenient (46%) and quick (43%). Close to a quarter (26%) of infringers said they do so to try content before buying (though there’s little evidence to show that related trying converts to additional buying).

Factors that infringers said would encourage them to stop included the availability of cheaper legal services (30%), if it was clearer what is legal and what isn’t (25%), and if everything they wanted was available legally (24%). All factors were mentioned by a higher proportion of those who consumed a mix of legal and illegal content than by those who consumed content exclusively illegally (10% of the latter said that nothing would encourage them to stop).

Regarding the threat of a letter from their ISP, some 18% of all infringers indicated that if their ISP sent them a letter saying they would suspend their internet access it would put them off, falling to 12% if their ISP sent them a letter saying they would restrict their internet access, and 11% if their ISP sent them a letter informing them their account had been used to infringe.

Finally 41% of all internet users aged 12+ claimed to be either ‘not particularly confident’ or ‘not at all’ confident about what is and isn’t legal online. Confidence was lower among females (46%).

Ofcom’s Online Copyright Infringement Tracker Wave 2 (PDF)
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/…/online-copyright/w2/report-wave2.pdf

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/03/ofcom-study-claims-6-7-million-illegal-downloaders-in-the-uk.html

 

Hello Money, Bye Bye Privacy? EU feeling pressure to tweak data, privacy legislation

Posted: 2013/03/07 in Education / Awareness, Legislation, Privacy / Data Protection, Public Policy, Stats / reports

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57573051-83/eu-feeling-pressure-to-tweak-data-privacy-legislation/

Copyright reformers launch attack on DMCA’s “digital locks” rule

Posted: 2013/03/07 in Copyright, Education / Awareness, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Supporters of copyright reform are hoping that 2013 is the year they get some real momentum going. In the wake of Monday’s news that the White House and FCC now support consumers’ rights to unlock their cell phones, a new coalition called has launched an effort to repeal the section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that forbids breaking “digital locks.”

The group has a website called FixTheDMCA.org, which lays out the problem in a simple, graphical way, and provides tools for people to contact their Congressional representatives. The group’s goal is to build support for a repeal of section 1201 of the DMCA, the so-called “anti-circumvention” clause.

That won’t be an easy task, since the entertainment industry has fought hard to make digital lock-breaking illegal. When creating DVD copy-protection, for instance, the industry was keen to make sure that getting around such technology would be illegal. This proposal goes further than some others, such as a bill introduced yesterday by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) aimed specifically at unlocking cell phones.

More:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/copyright-reformers-launch-attack-on-dmcas-digital-locks-rule/

Australia ratifies cybercrime convention

Posted: 2013/03/05 in Copyright, Cybercrime, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, Legislation, New Business Models, Public Policy, Stats / reports

Australia’s Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has announced that the government has formally signed the European Convention on Cybercrime.

Doing so was the final step in becoming party to the convention, after the Cybercrime Amendment Bill passed through Australia’s Parliament in 2012.

The A-G said the move will “will help combat criminal offences relating to forgery, fraud, child pornography, and infringement of copyright and intellectual property”.

More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/04/oz_rubber_stamps_cybercrime_convention/

Older Entries