#DataDump: Megagovernment, Microbes and more

Wyden Protects Privacy, Blocks FISA Surveillance Law*
Sen. Detours Obama Drive to Retain Controversial Wiretap Powers*
Assange to Be Extradited to Sweden, Court Refuses Final Appeal*
Feds Tell Megaupload Users to Forget About Their Data*
Ret. Judge Against Outrageous Seizures in Megaupload Case*
Microbes Capable Of Surviving On Mars Found*

The Worst Yet to Come From Fukushima?

Are politicians finally alert to real Fukushima threat?  Or, is it just posturing and a little CYA?  It's been a year since the open maw of Fukushima began leaking a steady stream of radiation into the atmosphere.  A recent Alternet aritcle reports, "alarmed by the precarious nature of spent fuel storage during his recent tour of the Fukushima Daiichi site, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, subsequently fired off letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko and Japanese ambassador to the U.S. Ichiro Fujisaki. He implored all parties to work together and with the international community to address this situation as swiftly as possible." This should have been the reaction, over a year ago!  You can't helped but take cynical view and just shoot back" "No S--t Sherlock, Where You Been?"

12/29 #defcon: ç¥∫´®ßπåç´∑å® - 404 file or directory not found

#2012 watch: the countdown begins*

how the world might end in 2012 (or maybe later)*
top 10 most bizarre tech stories of 2011*
ten plotlines you'll find in science fiction - over & over again*
twin probes to orbit moon, study gravity field*
sen. ron wyden leaps into middle of internet piracy fight*
army 'red teams' test communications security*
epic sues dhs over covert surveillance of facebook & twitter*
video: giant solar flare slams earth, could disrupt phone & gps*

wyden wants answers from dhs over domain name seizures

from threat level: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said Friday he would demand answers from the Department of Homeland Security about its domain seizure program known as Operation in Our Sites after it was revealed that the government kept a hip-hop music review site’s name for a year without affording the owner a chance to challenge the seizure. Wyden also wants to know why there was no court record of the case, other than the initial seizure filing a year ago.

hillary tells world leaders "hands off the internet" -
meanwhile, US govt prepares its own censorship regime

one in four US hackers 'is an fbi informer'

from guardian: The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established. Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as "carders" – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.

So ubiquitous has the FBI informant network become that Eric Corley, who publishes the hacker quarterly, 2600, has estimated that 25% of hackers in the US may have been recruited by the federal authorities to be their eyes and ears. "Owing to the harsh penalties involved and the relative inexperience with the law that many hackers have, they are rather susceptible to intimidation," Corley told the Guardian.

"It makes for very tense relationships," said John Young, who runs Cryptome, a website depository for secret documents along the lines of WikiLeaks. "There are dozens and dozens of hackers who have been shopped by people they thought they trusted."

related defcon updates:
hackers attack fbi partner website; atlanta infraguard exposed*
pbs website hacked with fake news*
video: did hackers deface fox news building in nyc?*
after cyberattack targeted lockheed martin -
second defense contractor l-3 'actively targeted' with rsa securid hacks*
gmail hack targeted white house*
cyber attacks can count as act of war*
writer urges internet junkies to 'switch off' and think*
video: sony loses $3.2b after playstation network hacked*
hackers attack another sony network, post data*
'world of warcraft' blamed for divorce as men 'prefer them to their wives'*
un report declares internet access a human right*
oregon senator wyden freezes second internet censorship bill*
facebook quietly switches on facial recognition tech by default*
apple patent will cripple devices when in proximity of 'a concert or a classified facility'*
how could so many crooks have managed to scam the national security agency?*

oregon senator wyden effectively kills internet censorship bill

from raw story: It's too early to say for sure, but Oregon Senator Ron Wyden could very well go down in the history books as the man who saved the Internet.

A bill that critics say would have given the government power to censor the Internet will not pass this year thanks to the Oregon Democrat, who announced his opposition during a recent committee hearing. Individual Senators can place holds on pending legislation, in this case meaning proponents of the bill will be forced to reintroduce the measure and will not be able to proceed until the next Congress convenes.

Even then, its passage is not certain.

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) would have permitted a blanket takedown of any domain alleged to be assisting activities that violate copyright law, based upon the judgment of state attorneys general.

"Deploying this statute to combat online copyright infringement seems almost like using a bunker-busting cluster bomb, when what you need is a precision-guided missile," Wyden said.