corporate news sacrifices wikileaks to get 'shield law'

from techdirt: A few weeks ago, we noted, with some disappointment, that the politicians who had been pushing for a much needed federal shield law for journalism, Senators Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, were taking the politically expedient route of adding a specific amendment designed to keep Wikileaks out of the bill's protections. Apparently, a bunch of newspaper folks have stepped forward to support this move. Douglas Lee, at The First Amendment Center has an opinion piece calling those people out for sacrificing their overall principles just to get the shield law approved... It is the nature of politics today to compromise principles to get things through, but this move certainly seems unfortunate - and one that I imagine many news organizations will regret down the road.

defcon 8/26: dirty tricks & moon rocks

realtime track of x-37b: US military’s top secret x-37b shuttle 'disappeared' for 2wks, changed orbit*
flashback: military launches x-37b*
secretive mini-shuttles, dirty tricks spy sats & more*
sweden pulls wikileaks warrant*
video: scientists hack into cars' computers & control brakes, engine*
flashback: austin hacker disables more than 100 cars remotely*
missing moon rock unveiled in colorado*

video: physicist kaku talks aliens on msnbc*

defense official discloses cyberattack

or: dod & cfr vs usb
from washington post: Now it is official: The most significant breach of U.S. military computers was caused by a flash drive inserted into a U.S. military laptop on a post in the Middle East in 2008. In an article to be published Wednesday discussing the Pentagon's cyberstrategy, Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III says malicious code placed on the drive by a foreign intelligence agency uploaded itself onto a network run by the U.S. military's Central Command. "That code spread undetected on both classified and unclassified systems, establishing what amounted to a digital beachhead, from which data could be transferred to servers under foreign control," he says in the Foreign Affairs article.

update: insiders doubt hack was foreign spy attack

philadelphia attempts $300 'business privilege tax' on bloggers

or: it's always money in philadelphia
from nbc philadelphia: Taking a step closer to an eerie Orwellian state where creativity is crushed in the name of “the greater good,” the city of Philadelphia is demanding that bloggers pay $300 for the privilege of writing on the Internet. This $300 “business privilege license” is for all local bloggers – even the ones that make no money off their words. The city doesn’t stop there. In addition to the $300 for the license to write on the World Wide Web, bloggers must pay city wage taxes, business privilege taxes and taxes on any net profits - on top of state and federal taxes - even if the blogger only made $11 over two years, reports the City Paper.

Blogger Marilyn Bess, whose Ms. Philly Organic Blog has made her a whopping $50 over the past few years, went to the city’s tax amnesty program to explain that she makes pennies on her hobby. They told her to hire an accountant, she told the City Paper. In an economy where jobs are sparse and people try to make ends meet with part-time jobs, taxing the independent, scrappy freelancers and bloggers seems counterproductive. But the emptying of bloggers’ wallets may not be the worst result of these taxes. With the city’s charge being more than what most bloggers make, their voices could be silenced, as the extra expense is enough to discourage many from even having a blog.

“To say that these kinds of draconian measures are detrimental to the public discourse would be an understatement,” writes the Washington Examiner’s Mark Hemingway. So what’s next? Higher taxes for longer blogs, cutting the use of vocabulary “newspeak”-style. Oh Nineteen Eighty-Four, you still scare the spit out of us.

update: mayor defends 'business privilege tax' on bloggers

childless uk couple build robot child companion

from dvice: Meet Aimec, the creation of Tony and Judie Ellis, a robot building couple from South-East England. Aimec follows them around their 18th century country home, cracking jokes, laughing, and searching online for interesting things to tell its parents, just like a real kid. Aimec is also adept at imitating vintage robot voices, and is said to do a mean C-3PO. It even snores when you put it to sleep, and wakes up with a little stretch. The couple runs a robotics company called Conceptioneering out of their house, and made their fortune with a game called Cube World. Tony expects Aimec could be on the market within a year or two, selling for an impossibly low sounding $300.

google wi-spy lawsuits head to silicon valley court

from ars technica: Whether Google is liable for damages for secretly intercepting data on open WiFi routers across the United States is to be aired out in a Silicon Valley federal court. Eight proposed class-actions from across the country that seek unspecified monetary damages from Google were consolidated this week and transferred to US District Judge James Ware in San Jose, California. Another five cases are likely to join. The lawsuits allege Google violated federal and state privacy laws in collecting fragments of data from unencrypted wireless networks as its fleet of camera-equipped cars moseyed through neighborhoods snapping pictures for its Street View program... The deep-pocketed Google maintains that it did nothing wrong, and is likely to put up a fierce and costly defense. Google, in response to government inquiries and lawsuits, claims it is lawful to use packet-sniffing tools readily available on the internet to spy on and download payload data from others using the same open WiFi access point.

defcon 8/19: flashback flares & jackal hacktivism

video: top physicist says solar flare would set us back 100yrs*
sun affects earth more than you might realize*
call it 'operation ajax truth':
iranian activists deface uk genetics website*
19 aug '53 - anglo-american military coup in iran*
'day of the jackal' & 'odessa file' author/journalist blames nsa for wife's laptop hack*
wikileaks says pentagon offers afghan files help*

no charges in pennsylvania school's webcam spygate

related: young people will have to change their names to escape 'cyber past' warns google ceo
from threat level: Federal authorities announced Tuesday they will not prosecute administrators connected to a webcam spying scandal at a suburban Philadelphia school district. Prosecutors and the FBI opened an inquiry following a February privacy lawsuit accusing Lower Merion School District officials of spying on students with webcams on the 2,300 district-issued MacBooks. The lawyers who filed the lawsuit claim the district secretly snapped thousands of webcam images of students, including images of youths at home, in bed or even “partially dressed.” Zane David Memeger, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said he found no criminal intent in the alleged surveillance. “I have concluded that bringing criminal charges is not warranted in this matter,” Memeger said in a statement. “For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with criminal intent. We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent.”

flashbacks: school spied on kids via webcams on school-supplied laptops & webcamgate expands as lawyers say 1000s of pictures taken

'hate blogger' hal turner burned by government he served

racist provocateur & radio host, hal turner, worked for fbi
from kurt nimmo: On Friday [aug13], a jury found “National Security Intelligence” asset Hal Turner guilty of threatening to kill a judge. Prosecutors argued the former radio host threatened federal judges Richard Posner, William Bauer and Frank Easterbrook after they upheld a law banning handguns in Chicago. “Let me be the first to say this plainly: these judges deserve to be killed,” Turner posted on his website in June 2009. He also posted the judges’ phone numbers and office addresses. Two previous attempts by the government to convict Turner resulted in mistrials with deadlocked juries.

Hal Turner’s conviction and possible ten year prison term is yet another example of the government habitually burning trusted assets.

Turner was not a garden variety operative working for the FBI. He was a National Security Intelligence asset and worked for the FBI on “National Security, terrorism, foreign counterintelligence. There are people that are giving information that affects the national security of the United States, terrorism, matters that are going to affect the population or people overall, something that’s really going to hinder and hurt a large group of people or the national security of the United States,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge Amy Pickett, the third highest ranking FBI Official in New York City, said in December, 2009. His code name was “Valhalla” and “he received thousands of dollars from the FBI to report on such groups as the Aryan Nations and the white supremacist National Alliance, and even a member of the Blue Eyed Devils skinhead punk band,” according to The Record. Turner’s service was apparently so valuable to the government he was sent to Brazil where he reported a scheme to send non-military supplies to Iraqi resistance fighters.

Government burning formerly prized minions and those who follow illegal directives is nothing new. After Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued orders to torture Iraq detainees in violation of the Geneva Conventions, a number of military personnel were prosecuted. Eleven soldiers were convicted of various charges relating to torture at Abu Ghraib. Two soldiers, Specialist Charles Graner, and his former fiancée, Specialist Lynndie England, were sentenced to ten years and three years in prison.

In 1934, Hitler betrayed and had the Gestapo murder trusted members of of the Sturmabteilung, also known as the Brownshirts, a paramilitary group responsible for engaging in terrorism and mass murder as Hitler ascended to power. “The measures taken on June 30, July 1 and 2 to suppress treasonous assaults are legal as acts of self-defense by the State,” Hitler declared after the Gestapo killed hundreds of people.

In much the same way, the formerly trusted operative Hal Turner was declared a threat to the state, although he has yet to suffer the fate of Ernst Röhm, the leader of the SA, who was assassinated.

If anything, the case of Hal Turner should serve as a warning to those considering cooperating with the government in its ongoing effort to infiltrate and “neutralize” — as the late FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover characterized the actions of his COINTELPRO — any organized opposition to the establishment.

disney, warner bros. spied on children's web surfing habits

users profiles 'bought & sold on stock-market-like exchanges'
from raw story: A class-action lawsuit filed in a federal court last week alleges that Disney and other large corporations spied on visitors to their Web sites using "Flash cookies" installed on users' browsers.

The lawsuit, filed in a US District Court in California on behalf of a group of parents and their children, alleges that Clearpsring, a company contracted by Disney, Warner Bros. Records, Playlist.com and other Web site operators, used its AddThis Web page tool to install "Flash cookies" in computer browsers which would then track individual computer users.

According to a report at CNET, the lawsuit states these cookies can't be erased using the usual methods of erasing browser history because they are built on Flash technology. Additionally, SecPoint.com reports that these Flash cookies can even un-delete, or "re-spawn," regular cookies that were erased by the user.

Once installed, these small pieces of software tracked users "across numerous Web sites, even spotting and tracking users when they accessed the Web from different computers, at home and at work," the lawsuit alleges.

apple manager arrested over $1 million in kickbacks

from computerworld: An Apple manager with responsibilities for the company's contract manufacturing in Asia was arrested Friday and charged with accepting kickbacks. Global supply manager Paul Shin Devine was charged with accepting $1 million in kickbacks from half a dozen Asian suppliers of iPhone and iPod accessories in a federal indictment and a civil suit, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Devine allegedly was paid for sharing confidential Apple information with contractors that helped them win Apple business on favorable terms, the paper said. The Wall Street Journal reports that Devine gave confidential information to companies like Cresyn Co. Ltd. in South Korea, Kaedar Electronics Co. Ltd. in China and Jin Li Mould Manufacturing Pte. Ltd. in Singapore. He allegedly shared the kickbacks with Andrew Ang, an employee of Jin Li who the indictment charges helped broker deals with his employer and others. Meanwhile, Apple Friday sued Devine in a case in U.S. District Court in San Jose, and he is scheduled to appear on Monday, the Journal said.

defcon 8/12: cyber lies & gag orders

cyber lie exposed: power plants not connected to internet*
dhs needs to take threat of emp attack seriously, physicist warns*
google ceo: no anonymity is the future of web*
google raided by s. korea police street view probe*
appeals court rules against secret police gps tracking*
cars hacked through wireless tire sensors*
geoeye & digitalglobe get $7b from intel agency to implement next-gen sat imaging*
'john doe' who fought fbi spying freed from gag order after 6yrs*

cops love iphone data trails

criminals who use device may be left without alibi
from chicago sun-times: Detective Josh Fazio of the Will County Sheriff's Department loves it when an iPhone turns up as evidence in a criminal case. The sophisticated cell phone and mobile computer is becoming as popular with police as it is with consumers because it can provide investigators with so much information that can help in solving crimes. "When someone tells me they have an iPhone in a case, I say, 'Yeah!' I can do tons with an iPhone," said Fazio, who works in the sheriff's department high-tech crimes unit.

The iPhones generally store more data than other high-end phones - and investigators such as Fazio frequently can tap in to that information for evidence. And while some phone users routinely delete information from their devices, that step is seldom as final as it seems. "When you hit the delete button, it's never really deleted," Fazio said. The devices can help police learn where you've been, what you were doing there and whether you've got something to hide...

Sometimes, the phones can help even if the case isn't a matter of life or death. In Kane County, the sheriff's department used GPS information from one of the phones to help reunite a worried father with his runaway daughter, who was staying at a friend's house.

google-verizon deal: the end of the net as we know it

verizoogle unveils private net neutrality deal
from josh silver: For years, Internet advocates have warned of the doomsday scenario that will play out on Monday: Google and Verizon will announce a deal that the New York Times reports "could allow Verizon to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content's creators are willing to pay for the privilege."

The deal marks the beginning of the end of the Internet as you know it. Since its beginnings, the Net was a level playing field that allowed all content to move at the same speed, whether it's ABC News or your uncle's video blog. That's all about to change, and the result couldn't be more bleak for the future of the Internet, for television, radio and independent voices.

How did this happen? We have a Federal Communications Commission that has been denied authority by the courts to police the activities of Internet service providers like Verizon and Comcast; All because of a bad decision by the Bush-era FCC. We have a pro-industry FCC Chairman who is terrified of making a decision, conducting back room dealmaking, and willing to sit on his hands rather than reassert his agency's authority. We have a president who promised to "take a back seat to no one on Net Neutrality" yet remains silent. We have a congress that is nearly completely captured by industry. Yes, more than half of the US congress will do pretty much whatever the phone and cable companies ask them to. Add the clout of Google, and you have near-complete control of Capitol Hill.

A non-neutral Internet means that companies like AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and Google can turn the Net into cable TV and pick winners and losers online. A problem just for Internet geeks? You wish. All video, radio, phone and other services will soon be delivered through an Internet connection. Ending Net Neutrality would end the revolutionary potential that any website can act as a television or radio network. It would spell the end of our opportunity to wrest access and distribution of media content away from the handful of massive media corporations that currently control the television and radio dial.

So the Google-Verizon deal can be summed up as this: "FCC, you have no authority over us and you're not going to do anything about it. Congress, we own you, and we'll get whatever legislation we want. And American people, you can't stop us."

This Google-Verizon deal, this industry-captured FCC, and the way this is playing out is akin to the largest banks and the largest hedge funds writing the regulatory policy on derivative trading without any oversight or input from the public, and having it rubber stamped by the SEC. It's like BP and Halliburton ironing out the rules for offshore oil drilling with no public input, and having MMS sign off.

Fortunately, while they are outnumbered, there are several powerful Net Neutrality champions on Capitol Hill, like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Henry Waxman, Jay Rockefeller, Ed Markey, Jay Inslee and many others. But they will not be able to turn this tide unless they have massive, visible support from every American who uses the Internet - whether it's for news, email, shopping, Facebook, Twitter - whatever. So stop what you're doing and tell them you're not letting the Internet go the way of Big Oil and Big Banks. The future of the Internet, and your access to information depends on it.

defcon 8/5: gold mines & greatest threats

the web's new gold mine: your secrets*
obama wants fbi to access browsing history without warrant*
google & verizon near deal on pay tiers for web*
biometric & other locks fail to foil hackers at defcon*
now aiming to seize control, hackers target power plants as US, industry scramble to respond*
'greatest threat': dhs battles hackers head on*

tax-funded pentagon software ends up owned by corporations

pentagon is losing the softwar(e)
from defense news: The Department of Defense spends tens of billions of dollars annually creating software that is rarely reused & difficult to adapt to new threats.

Instead, much of this software is allowed to become the property of defense companies, resulting in DoD repeatedly funding the same solutions or, worse, repaying to use previously created software.

The lack of a coherent set of policies and regulations for the DoD’s intellectual property has eroded the U.S. military competitive advantage, leading to compromised missions and lost lives. Improvised explosive device countermeasure systems can’t be upgraded rapidly without replacing entire systems; personnel position systems can’t update in real time; billions are wasted on software radios that don’t interoperate.

The byzantine rules governing the military’s intellectual property portfolio use an antiquated rights structure where the contractor always retains copyright, and therefore effective monopoly, control over taxpayer-funded software ideas. By contrast, commercial industry ruthlessly exercises control over its own software ideas.

related: cia software developer goes open source

shadowy spy group building dossiers on internet users for feds

from paul joseph watson: An organization that tracks 250 million IP addresses a day has been developing portfolios on Internet users and handing the information to U.S. federal agencies as the latest incarnation of the supposedly defunct Total Information Awareness spy program is revealed.

A group calling itself Project Vigilant went public at yesterday’s Defcon security conference in an effort to add more recruits to its 600 member strong cyber spy force. The outfit announced that it had been tracking “Internet villains” for no less than 14 years and handing the information to federal authorities as part of a massive intelligence gathering program.

However, the target of one such investigation did not fall into the category of cyber criminals - “terrorists, drug cartels, mobsters” - that the group claims to be fighting.

The organization “encouraged one of its 'volunteers', researcher Adrian Lamo, to inform the federal government about the alleged source of a controversial video of civilian deaths in Iraq leaked to whistle-blower site Wikileaks in April,” reports Forbes.

Project Vigilant director Chet Uber used Lamo’s friendship with Bradley Manning, the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst who allegedly released the classified video, to out Manning, who now faces criminal charges...

Uber also founded InfraGard, the ominous FBI-affiliated public-private partnership that is a key component of the unfolding implementation of martial law in the United States. InfraGard made its intentions to act as a political police force clear in March 2009 when the group announced that questions surrounding Barack Obama’s presidential eligibility were “potentially harmful to civil order and national security”.

Uber’s organization poses as a volunteer orientated crime-fighting private outfit, and yet it is nothing more than a tentacle of the military-industrial complex’s sprawling unconstitutional internal spy apparatus.

related updates:
project vigilant is a fraud*
wikileaks posts mysterious 'insurance' file*
wikileaks' julian assange & conspiracy theories*
diarydig.org: 'afghan war diary' search tool*
jacob appelbaum, wikileaks volunteer, detained at US border for 3hrs*
pentagon demands wikileaks return all documents*

sun storms may bring northern lights south

coronal mass ejection headed for earth
from ap: The sun may be about to put on a colorful light show. That's because of two minor solar storms that flared on Sunday and are shooting tons of plasma directly at Earth. Scientists said residents of northern regions - from Maine to Michigan and anywhere farther north around the globe - may see unusual northern lights. Usually only regions closer to the Arctic can see the aurora of rippling reds and greens, but solar storms pull them south. The federal Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., said the plasma will likely arrive late Tuesday night or early Wednesday. The storms are not much of a threat to satellites or power grids. Until recently, the sun was in a phase with few storms.

update: 'solar tsunami': northern lights seen as far as michigan after sun's flare