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Old 14-11-07, 10:13 AM   #2
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Outrage, Bile, Hardcore Punk ... and a Sensible Lost-and-Found
Kelefa Sanneh

“This next song is about the people who want to control our bodies,” said the singer known as Pink Eyes, adding, “This next song is about the police.”

Pause. No music.

“And it would start, if we were a professional band.”

Pink Eyes is the lead roarer in a ferocious band from Toronto. What band? Well, the name won’t be printed in these pages, not unless an American president, or someone similar, says it by mistake. Suffice it to say that this is an unruly hardcore punk band with a name to match. (You can find out more at the official Web site, lookingforgold.blogspot.com.)

On Saturday night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Pink Eyes and his band mates provided plenty of mayhem, although the crowd wanted more. “That’s, like, an hour set, people,” he said, incredulous, when impatient fans tried to coax the band back with a complicated combination of cheering and booing.

Someone voiced a preference for songs over speeches. Pink Eyes grew even more incredulous. “Less talking? They’re seriously gone,” he said, referring to the bassist and the drummer, and the three guitarists who sort of sounded like one, only louder. “I’m by myself.”

This band has spent about half a dozen years playing do-it-yourself shows, releasing seven-inch vinyl singles, giving interviews to fanzines and exploring radical political and social theory. Acting more or less like a 1980s hardcore band, in other words, but without seeming like a nostalgia act. And while Pink Eyes’ exhortatory roar, like the quick and dirty chord changes, sometimes evokes old hardcore acts like Poison Idea, the band also has a digressive streak

That streak explains not only “Year of the Pig,” a great and confounding 18-minute leviathan released this year, but also “Hidden World” (Jade Tree), the band’s 2006 double album, which is full of short, sharp rants lengthened by long, squally instrumental sections.

“Baiting the Public,” from that album, sounded more than ever like a riot starter at Saturday’s show. It begins, “I want to smash your house/I want to scratch your car,” and Pink Eyes made this declaration while removing his pants and rearranging his boxer shorts in ways that many other similarly unsvelte lead singers might not.

There was something farcical about the show (it began with flashing strobe lights, a woman in a bikini and lots of cameras; someone was making an independent movie), and Pink Eyes kept apologizing for it. “A little shaky tonight, I’m not gonna lie,” he said.

He also found time to hold forth on corner-store fried chicken (apparently there are side effects), the club’s high balcony (he promised a record to anyone who jumped off it) and the exchange rate. (“We want to support your American peso with our strong Canadian dollar,” he said.)

All night long fans climbed the stage and sometimes climbed the singer, who didn’t seem to mind or even, sometimes, notice. At one point someone threw a plastic trash can into the pit, where it rattled around contentedly. And at night’s end the bassist, who calls herself Mustard Gas, finally came back to the stage to help coordinate the lost-and-found. There was a stray shoe, a stray hat, some stray keys.

Great fun, then, but this band isn’t just having fun. The members are clearly, if complicatedly, committed to an underground punk scene that’s still not dead, despite many pronouncements. And in the lyrics, as in the music, punk-rock bile is only a starting point.

“Crusades,” which inspired a hearty shout-along, seems at various times like an attack on fundamentalism, a tribute to sustainable agriculture, an ambivalent ode to revolutionary passion and a vocabulary lesson. (“Ruderal”?) There’s something inspiring about hearing Pink Eyes shout, “I will rot on the ground!” You can picture him, reeking and undead, just like punk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/ar...ic/12musi.html





Too Much Information? Ignore It
Alex Williams

AS one of Silicon Valley’s most respected entrepreneurs, Marc Andreessen is something of a connoisseur of what he calls “productivity porn,” or techniques to maximize personal productivity.

But in recent months, Mr. Andreessen — a founder of Netscape Communications and more recently Ning, which allows users to create their own social networks — has become enthralled with an unlikely purveyor: Timothy Ferriss, a boyish first-time motivational author from Long Island whose curriculum vitae includes stints as a competitive kickboxer and tango champion.

Mr. Ferriss’s business lessons, focused on cutting out useless information, have been culled from his six years running a modest sports nutrition company that sells, mostly over the Internet, supplements used by athletes to increase reaction speed and muscle power. Mr. Andreessen, a luminary in technology circles, does not seem to care.

“Tim basically takes all of the time management and personal productivity theories of the last 20 to 30 years and pushes them to 11, to paraphrase ‘Spinal Tap,’” Mr. Andreessen explained in an e-mail message. In Silicon Valley, Mr. Andreessen is not alone in his enthusiasm for Mr. Ferriss.

After reading Mr. Ferriss’s recent best seller, “The 4-Hour Workweek” (Crown), Jason Hoffman, a founder of Joyent, which designs Web-based software for small businesses, urged his employees to cut out the instant-messaging and swear off multitasking. From now on, he told them, severely restrict e-mail use and conduct business the old-fashioned way, by telephone.

“All of a sudden,” Mr. Hoffman said of the results, “their evenings are free. All of a sudden Monday doesn’t feel so overwhelming.”

Last spring, Jason DeFillippo, a founder of Metroblogging Global Blog Network — a company that oversees more than 700 city-specific blogs — heard Mr. Ferriss extol his “low information diet” to a crowd of high-tech devotees at a tech conference this spring. Before the speech was finished, Mr. DeFillippo, who lives in San Francisco, had ordered his book on Amazon. Soon after reading it, he embarked on a crash diet of his own. His nasty addiction to RSS feeds is now a thing of the past, he said.

“It’s hard to describe,” said Mr. DeFillippo, 36, “but life was suddenly just more peaceful.”

Mr. Ferriss, 30, has never run a technology company. He never made millions on an initial public offering. Rather, Mr. Ferriss, who now lives in San Jose, Calif., comes off more like a half-pipe snowboarder than a traditional lacquer-haired motivational guru.

Nevertheless, without appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s show or doing a book tour, Mr. Ferriss has seen his book quickly become a best seller, largely on the strength of blog chatter in the tech community. Subsequently, he has become a pet guru of Silicon Valley, precisely by preaching apostasy in the land of shiny gadgets: just pull the plug. Crawl out from beneath the reams of data. Stand firm against the torrent of information.

HIS methods include practicing “selective ignorance” — tuning out pointless communiqués, random Twitters, and even world affairs (Mr. Ferriss says he gets most of his news by asking waiters). Work crisis? Pay someone else to worry about it — ideally in Bangalore. On a bet, Mr. Ferriss even hired low-paid, high-skilled workers abroad to find him dates online. (It worked.)

Once the e-clutter is cleared away, he argues, there will be plenty of time to scuba dive the Blue Hole in Belize, just as he does.

Or at least fantasize about it.

The technology community, after all, shares a great desire for escapism, said Fabio Rosati, the chief executive of Elance in Mountain View, Calif., which provides outsourcing for professionals and small businesses and now features Mr. Ferriss giving an unpaid video testimonial on the company’s Web site. This is why everyone is working 14-hour days in the first place: to strike it rich and cash out.

But Mr. Ferriss is selling the alluring promise that you don’t have to wait for the monster, and perhaps mythical, initial public offering.

As Mr. Rosati said: “Silicon Valley is unique in that there is a deep entrepreneurial spirit and a highly ambitious workforce, but they’re always thinking, ‘Gee, if I could only squeeze an extra hour out of the day, I could actually go on that bike ride, I could actually go surfing.’ Tim is evangelizing that lifestyle.”

Not that everyone in the Bay Area is sold. Po Bronson, author of “The Nudist on the Late Shift: And Other True Tales of Silicon Valley” (Random House, 1999), agreed that Mr. Ferriss’s book had made a mark in the tech world. “You can’t seem to go two hours without someone mentioning it,” he said.

Still, Mr. Bronson said he didn’t know anyone who had actually read it, much less abandoned a cubicle to study yabusame (horseback archery) in Japan, as Mr. Ferriss did last month. What has really turned heads is not the specific ideas, Mr. Bronson speculated, but its provocative title. In Silicon Valley, the promise of a lifestyle revolution — or hyperbole to that effect — will always find an audience.

“It’s not saying the ‘20-Hour Workweek,’” Mr. Bronson explained. “That would be something that lots of people can live. It’s 40 hours a week versus four. It’s very important in the tech world that consequences are exponential, not geometrical.”

Like most motivational gurus, Mr. Ferriss gives readers a dramatic back-story filled with recollections of the grim days in which he was lost in the wilderness — or at least the Internet cafes of Florence, Italy, working 10-hour days on his supplements company in 2003 instead of enjoying what was supposed to be a vacation. Following the predictable arc, he then offers his road-to-Damascus story of enlightenment, wherein he rebounds out of a work-induced nervous breakdown with a vow to eliminate everything that was standing in the way of happiness — starting with his Treo.

“BlackBerrys and e-mail aren’t inherently bad,” he said. “It’s just like medicine: it’s the dose that makes the poison.”

Putting his beliefs into action, he said, he set about dumping all the clients who involved more work than they were worth. He reduced and outsourced his staff, from 250 eventually down to fewer than 15, and instructed underlings to deal with all but the biggest emergencies themselves.

Most fundamentally, Mr. Ferriss turned ruthless against e-mail. He hired personal assistants in India and the Philippines to sort through and respond to most of it, and ignore the rest. Even today, he said, he typically checks e-mail messages only once a day, at 2 p.m., and only sees those few urgent ones his outsourced assistants forward to him. (He is, however, very quick to respond to media requests, in this reporter’s experience.)

With all the time left over, he said, he has lived the life that most postpone until retirement. In the last two months alone, he said, he has traveled to Scotland, Sardinia, Vienna and Bratislava, as well as Japan, all while technically “running” a company that he claims kicks off a high five-figure personal income every month.

It’s this have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too tale that has made even the jaded tech establishment take notice.

Robert Scoble, who writes the influential tech blog Scobleizer, praised Tim Ferriss’s approach, as just another techie trying to dig out from under the information rubble.

“Our lives are just getting busier, the world is starting to throw more stuff at us,” he said. “Five years ago it was still pretty rare to have relatives sending you IMs. No one had Flickr feeds or Twitter. YouTube, Facebook and MySpace didn’t exist.”

Unsurprisingly, some Tim Ferriss acolytes found that sticking to his information crash diet brought a shock to the system.

Ryan Carson, 30, who runs technology conferences around the world from his headquarters in Bath, England, said that since reading “The 4-Hour Workweek,” “it can take me two or three days to get back to people on e-mail.”

“People will get a little angry,” he admitted.

More strikingly, Mr. Carson shifted his company, Carsonified, to a four-day workweek after hearing Mr. Ferriss speak at the South by Southwest media and technology conference in Austin, Tex., in March.

“I just thought, who made these rules you have to work five days a week?” Mr. Carson said. His employees now churn out five days’ worth of work in four, in part because of reduced distractions. (You can believe that they are now Ferriss fans, too, he said.)

Critics might argue that Mr. Ferriss is hardly the first self-improvement guru to preach the clutter-free life. Indeed, it’s possibly the most overused self-help trope.

Even his admirers, like Mr. Andreessen, scoff at the idea that anyone in Silicon Valley — least of all the busy Mr. Ferriss — could ever realistically slash office face time by a factor of 10 or more.

Indeed, Mr. Ferriss makes little pretense of practicing what he preaches, at least if you count self-promotion as “work.”

LAST Monday alone, Mr. Ferriss — who has served as a guest lecturer on high-tech entrepreneurship at his alma mater, Princeton, for several years — spoke at Harvard Business School, followed by an afternoon doing an interview about his book, then finally another talk in front of 130 students at M.I.T. Mr. Ferriss, ever stimulated by yerba mate tea, was still there, hashing out personal-productivity theories over beers with Sloan School of Management graduate students at 11 p.m. on Monday night. All this, while recovering from jet lag after a flight from Japan, where he had taped a pilot for a television show — part self-help, part adventure travel — developed for the History Channel.

“If your definition of work is something primarily financially driven that you would like to do less of, like with my company, I spend far less than four hours a week on it,” he said.

All that other stuff — lecturing at the corporate campuses of Google and PayPal, blogging incessantly on his www.fourhourworkweek.com — that’s, well, “evangelizing,” he said.

Which is not to say he plans to become an Anthony Robbins for the geek set, touring relentlessly and hawking DVDs on late-night infomercials.

“I’d be much better off putting my time into three or four really good blog posts,” he said.

But, of course. That would take much less work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/fashion/11guru.html





Sensitive Guantánamo Bay Manual Leaked Through Wiki Site
Ryan Singel

A never-before-seen military manual detailing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. military's Guantánamo Bay detention facility has been leaked to the web, affording a rare inside glimpse into the institution where the United States has imprisoned hundreds of suspected terrorists since 2002.

The 238-page document, "Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures," is dated March 28, 2003. It is unclassified, but designated "For Official Use Only." It hit the web last Wednesday on Wikileaks.org.

The disclosure highlights the internet's usefulness to whistle-blowers in anonymously propagating documents the government and others would rather conceal. The Pentagon has been resisting -- since October 2003 -- a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union seeking the very same document.

Anonymous open-government activists created Wikileaks in January, hoping to turn it into a clearinghouse for such disclosures. The site uses a Wikipedia-like system to enlist the public in authenticating and analyzing the documents it publishes.

The Camp Delta document includes schematics of the camp, detailed checklists of what "comfort items" such as extra toilet paper can be given to detainees as rewards, six pages of instructions on how to process new detainees, instructions on how to psychologically manipulate prisoners, and rules for dealing with hunger strikes.

"What strikes me is the level of detail for handling all kind of situations, from admission to barbers and burials," says Jamil Dakwar, advocacy director of the ACLU's Human Rights program. Dakwar was in Guantánamo last week for a military-commission hearing.

The Pentagon did not reply to a request for comment on the document.

Dakwar sees hints of Abu Ghraib in a section instructing guards to use dogs to intimidate prisoners. He also raises concerns over a section on the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, which indicates that some prisoners were hidden from Red Cross representatives.

The manual shows how the military coded each prisoner according to the level of access the Red Cross would have. The four levels are:

• No Access
• Visual Access -- ICRC can only look at a prisoner's physical condition.
• Restricted Access -- ICRC representatives can only ask short questions about the prisoner's health.
• Unrestricted Access

The No Access level troubles Dakwar.

"That actually raises a lot of concerns about the administration's genuineness in terms of allowing ICRC full access, as was promised to the world," Dakwar says. "They are the only organization that has access to the detainees, and this raises a lot of questions."

The ICRC does not make public reports about the conditions in prisons and gulags around the world, but instead meets privately with governments to persuade them to change their policies.

The manual also includes instructions on how to use military dogs to intimidate prisoners.

"MWD (Military Working Dogs) will walk 'Main Street' in Camp Delta during shifts to demonstrate physical presence to detainees," reads a directive in the "Psychological Deterrence" section. "MWD will not be walked through the blocks unless directed by the (Joint Detention Operations Group)."

The document was signed by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller. According to media reports, Miller introduced harsh interrogation methods to Guantánamo, such as shackling detainees into stress positions and using guard dogs to exploit what the former head commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez referred to as "Arab fear of dogs."

Miller visited Iraq in 2003 to share the Guantánamo methods. Soon after that visit, the infamous Abu Ghraib photos were taken.

President Bush said in 2006 he wanted to close the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. The military is prosecuting some detainees under military-commission rules set by Congress, and trying to repatriate hundreds of others.
http://www.wired.com/politics/online.../2007/11/gitmo





My Network, My Cause
Alan Krauss

IN 2003, as Howard Dean’s presidential bid surged, the Internet was hailed as a decisive new factor in electoral politics. In 2007, the explosive growth of online social networks seems poised to drive a similar upheaval in the world of philanthropy.

A flood of new ventures — like Bill Clinton’s MyCommitment.org and Dollars for Darfur, an initiative by two high-school students — aim to use Web-based communities to raise money for charitable causes.

So far, the amounts raised online are relatively tiny. But they are increasing rapidly, paralleling the expansion of social networks themselves. The research firm Datamonitor estimates that by the end of this year sites like Facebook and MySpace will have more than 230 million members.

Until recently, philanthropic groups could accomplish little online beyond highlighting problems and trumpeting goals and programs, said Allison Fine, a senior fellow at Demos, a policy research group in New York, and the author of “Momentum: Igniting Change in the Connected Age.”

“Web 1.0 was a broadcast phenomenon; the Clinton Global Initiative would have just told us what it was doing,” Ms. Fine said. “Now, in this new interactive world, it’s a two-way conversation.”

MyCommitment.org, which was introduced in September, aims to forge connections among people who make commitments of time or money to political or social causes and want to encourage friends, online and off, to do the same.

“Giving is something that we can all do, but too often people don’t know where or how to give,” Mr. Clinton said by e-mail. “MyCommitment.org is a portal that inspires people to give and makes it easy to do so.” More than 750 people around the world responded in its first month.

“The commitments range from working with students to foster intercultural dialogue to an 8- and 6-year-old brother and sister team who have pledged to raise more than $200,000 to help blind children in India,” Mr. Clinton said.

Dollars for Darfur began after Nick Anderson, a high-school senior in Mount Hermon, Mass., visited South Africa on a school trip last year and became interested in the humanitarian crisis. He and a classmate, Ana Slavin, decided to use the Web to raise awareness among other students and money for the cause.

“We were using these social networks every day,” Mr. Anderson said. “It was a big part of our lives. And we knew there were millions of other teenagers checking them two or three times a day, too.” Their campaign, now part of the Save Darfur Coalition, an umbrella group of national religious organizations, raised $306,000 during the last school year.

Mr. Anderson, who is now a youth ambassador for Oxfam America, visited the Abu Shouk refugee camp in Darfur this summer. A second Dollars for Darfur drive, aiming to raise $375,000, is under way.

SaveDarfur.org is one of the top draws at the Causes on Facebook Project, added to Facebook, the social networking site, when it was opened to outside software developers in May. Causes allows Facebook users to set up Web pages to promote charitable or other activist goals. Perhaps more important, Causes pages can be used to solicit and keep track of donations.

In its first five months, Causes was downloaded by 6.3 million of Facebook’s 51 million users, with another 75,000 or so registering daily, said Sean Parker, 27, who developed it.

While some 25,000 causes have been created and $600,000 raised, Mr. Parker said, his priority was to demonstrate the platform’s potential. “We want to help charities raise money,” he said. “But at this point we’re focusing on making people realize the power of the tool.”

Mr. Parker, a founder of the early file-sharing service Napster, said sites like Causes offered philanthropists a new way to build momentum because they take social pressures into cyberspace. “Your Facebook profile is seen by many more people every day than you are,” he said.

Social networking also gives charities a chance to lessen their reliance on big donors, a trend that began 30 years ago. “In that sort of world, young people are left out of the equation,” Mr. Parker said. “If you can engage them, you can engage a much larger population.”

Engagement is helped by the fact that people go online to get news and information, especially “at times of crisis,” said Susan P. Crawford, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School and an expert on Internet law and technology. “And just as people rush to the Web to get news about crises, they rush to the Web to help out.”

Ms. Crawford said that sites like Causes allow people to voice support, make a donation and encourage others to join in, all with a few clicks.

While agreeing that the Web offers a sense of immediacy “that very few if any other fund-raising strategies provide,” Timothy L. Seiler, director of the Fund Raising School at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, said it would be a mistake to assume that the Web has “revolutionized” philanthropy. Since the Web’s early days, he added, “what we’ve seen is that the reality has never matched what people perceived to be the potential.”

About a third of the nonprofit groups surveyed recently by the Center on Philanthropy reported success with Internet fund-raising, about double the rate in 2000. But 24 percent of those that received donations online said the average gift was under $10. A recent survey of 103 organizations by The Chronicle of Philanthropy also put the trend in perspective, suggesting that online gifts totaled less than 1 percent of donations.

Raising money online, meanwhile, raises sticky questions, especially for larger charities. “Trust issues are still a big factor,” said Michael Schreiber, chief technical officer at United Way of America, which this year expects to raise about $400 million (out of $4.1 billion) through various online channels but is undecided about whether to undertake a Facebook-style social networking initiative.

“You really have to understand how your donors will feel about it,” Mr. Schreiber said, “and how you are going to make sure that you’re stewarding the information and transactions in a way that everybody is comfortable with. I don’t believe the sector is there yet.”

Matthew Hale, an assistant professor at Seton Hall University who studies the interaction of the news media and the nonprofit sector, drew a parallel with another Web phenomenon. “No one could touch Howard Dean online, yet he still lost,” he said. “This is an important trend, and one that is clearly going to continue to grow. But it is not going to wipe away the ways that philanthropy has happened for hundreds of years.”

Still, no one is denying that the Internet has provoked new thinking.

“It was really the teenagers across the country that did most of the work for us,” said Mr. Anderson. “People need a forum to get involved.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/giving/12social.html





New York's Slap to the Facebook
Bennett Haselton

There are three questions that any politician attacking social networking sites, should have to answer, in order to be specific about what they want. First, what kind of contact do they think the social networking sites should prohibit between adults and minors? All politicians agree on prohibiting sexual solicitation, but that's a non-issue since that's already against the law. So are they asking the sites to block adults and minors from messaging each other at all? Or only "flirtatious" messages, or only requests to meet in person? Some of these answers are more ridiculous than others, but let them pick one. Second, if the site does try to monitor for inappropriate contact between adults and minors, is there any practical way to stop someone from falsely signing up as a minor? Third, if someone's account is cancelled for inappropriate behavior, what good does that do when they can just create another one? (Cuomo's office declined to respond to these questions, referring me only to their press releases. Facebook did not respond to requests for comment.)

Complaining about the futility of Internet regulation is about as hard as complaining about media coverage of Paris Hilton. But in this case, it's not merely that the laws wouldn't do any good, it's that I can't see how the political grandstanding could even plausibly lead up to any laws, even stupid ones.

Facebook's big concession in their settlement with Cuomo was that they would respond faster to complaints sent to abuse@facebook.com about inappropriate contact. (Previously, the AG's office had sent test complaints to the abuse@facebook.com address saying things like, "My 13 YEAR OLD received this extremely inappropriate message from a local NYC man. Please take action IMMEDIATEL!" (sic), and received no response.) But what constitutes "abuse"? Facebook's Terms of Service do not mention contact between adults and minors except to say that you may not "solicit personal information from anyone under 18" (as written, this prohibition would apply to everyone, and not just adults). Does that mean you can send flirtatious messages to an underage user as long as you don't ask for contact information (which you wouldn't need to do anyway, if it's posted on their profile and they add you to their friends list)? For that matter, does that mean if you're 18 and you ask a 17-year-old Facebook user for her phone number, you're breaking the rules? (Or, wait, this applies even if you yourself are 17 as well!) Of course there's nothing new about terms of service agreements which are vaguely written and haphazardly enforced, or playing parlor games about how the terms would be absurd if taken literally. But when a government office is threatening to bring charges and possibly push for new laws unless Facebook agrees to enforce its own Terms of Service, then it's fair game to ask exactly what rules the AG's office is asking Facebook to make people follow.

What if Facebook blocked adults from contacting minors at all? Before, I would have assumed that Facebook would respond to this suggestion by saying that it was too draconian, that nobody had ever seriously tried to outlaw all contact between minors and adults on the Internet, etc. But Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer appeared at one point to endorse this policy as reasonable, by saying that, well, they did block adults from messaging minors on the site, even though they didn't. Cuomo's letter pointed out that any Facebook user can message any other user, and they still can. (I asked Facebook if their Chief Privacy Officer was misquoted in the article, but they didn't respond.) So leaving aside the question of whether Facebook should try to stop adults from messaging minors, would it even be possible? Of course you could block registered adult users from messaging registered underage users. But since any adult who planned on doing something suspicious would probably do it from a "throwaway" account instead of their real one, the question is whether you could screen people from creating "throwaway" accounts pretending to be minors -- sort of the opposite of adult credit-card verification for porn sites. (My suggestion: Make the person answer a question like, 'The way to impress a girl in high school is with (a) looks; (b) intelligence; (c) sense of humor; or (d) "confidence"'. From listening to most adults, you'd think they have no clue about the correct answer to this, except for the ones who also add, 'What do you mean, "in high school"?')

Facebook's current screening system is that anyone who registers as a high school student (and if you're under 18, you have to register as a high school or college student -- homeschoolers and dropouts are out of luck unless they lie about their age), has to be confirmed by an existing student at that school, by sending them a friend request and having them confirm that you are friends. (Your account still works before you're confirmed, but you blocked from certain things that only high school accounts can do, such as browse for other members of that high school.) This is another recent change that Facebook made that was not listed in their settlement agreement -- previously, the Attorney General had documented that anybody under 18 could sign up and join a high school network, but now, you can't do this without getting another student to confirm you.

However, this can be circumvented as well. I'm not endorsing the following trick for any mischief-making, but I think it's sufficiently obvious that there's no reason not to point it out: (1) create a profile of a non-overweight girl and sign up as a member of a high school network, pending confirmation; (2) search for several boys in that network and send them friend requests; and (3) wait for at least one of them to confirm you back, which they will probably do, without even being sure if they actually know you or not. Voila, you've got your "high school student" account. Then you can presumably use that account as a foothold to approve other accounts, for example if you're a male and you want to create a fake high schooler profile as an actual guy, assuming you only want to pretend to be a teenager, not a female, because it's not like you're not some kind of weirdo.

Facebook could conceivably require real-world verification for anyone who signed up as a minor -- confirmation from their school, for example. But this would be competitive suicide for any site whose main draw is that everybody wants to go there because everybody else is already there, so they need signups to be as easy as possible. Even if Congress passed a law draconion enough that it required all social networking sites to do this, Facebook could just re-incorporate overseas (for a billion dollars, wouldn't you move to Canada, Mark?), or else a foreign competitor could take over the teen-social-networking market by offering signups without cumbersome verifications. What would Congress do then, pass a law requiring ISPs to block access to overseas social-networking sites? They couldn't even do that with child pornography.

Finally, if Facebook does cancel your account, you can always sign up for a new one instantly with a new e-mail address. Losing your Facebook account might be a harsh punishment for someone who had built up an extensive network of contacts around their profile. But I'll bet that any adult with a network of friends on Facebook, built around a profile that gives their real name and employer, is probably using a secondary profile with a lot less information on it if they're writing to 13-year-old girls. A dispensable secondary account like that can easily be replaced, so Facebook responding to abuse reports by closing people's accounts is just playing whack-a-mole. An arrest can stop someone permanently, but you can only arrest someone if they've actually broken the law, like sending an unambiguous sexual solicitation to an underage user.

So there's really nothing that Facebook or any other social-networking site could do to prevent adults from signing up as minors, to prevent adults and minors from messaging each other, or to keep abusers from creating new accounts. Occasionally, they are able to make some minor concessions that a politician can take credit for -- in July, the attorney general of Connecticut alerted Facebook to three sex offenders who had profiles on the site, which Facebook duly removed. Did the sex offenders then sign up for new profiles? Are most sex offenders on Facebook smart enough not to sign up under their real names? Story doesn't say. That's one reason I could never make it as a regular reporter, because you're not allowed to insert your own voice into the story even to point out the crashingly obvious.

But basically, the major issues that politicians keep bringing up about social networking sites, are unsolvable. For a politician, of course, this is the best of both worlds -- they can rail against social networking sites forever, knowing that the "problems" will never go away.

This is usually the point at which the writer inserts an obligatory note that the real solution is to sit down and talk to your kids. Well, yes and no. I think first you should be as informed as possible about what the various risks are, not just for online activity but for all of life's experiences, and then sit down and talk. You could even do the research together and make a Family Fun Night out of it! (Sound of teenagers groaning and fumbling for their iPods.) For openers: one study found that in one year in the U.S., "Law enforcement at all levels made an estimated 2,577 arrests for Internet sex crimes against minors", and only 39% of those were for crimes against real, identifible minors (excluding arrests for To Catch A Predator-style sting operations). On the other hand, the National Transportation Safety Board reports that every year, about 3.4 million people are injured and 41,000 are killed in auto accidents in the U.S. Even this rough comparison would seem to suggest that until you've talked to your kid about every last detail you can think of regarding car safety, that's a better use of time than talking about Facebook. Perhaps you think it's an apples-and-oranges comparison because the sex crimes statistic counts only arrests, not actual incidents. But then the question is whether a true apples-to-apples comparison has ever been done, or how you could do one. The point is that there is some objective truth about the relative risks, and if you read even just one study comparing them, you're better informed than 90% of the people out there, including most parents. You want to be the cool Mom? You don't have to let your kids do everything, just have reasons for stuff!

My promise to my own future kids is that I won't ever make the mistake of thinking that just because I paid for their room and board for a few years, that makes me better informed about the various risks factors of different activities. I will probably be better informed than my kids, for a long while anyway, but that won't be why. And I hope we can teach them so much that before long they'll be better informed than most people, including most of their friends' parents. Then my wife will teach them to be polite enough not to point this out to their friends' parents, but with half their genes coming from me I wouldn't bet on it.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/12/142212





Mother: Hoax on MySpace Triggered Daughter's Suicide
Betsy Taylor

Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Now Megan's parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet.

The girl's mother, Tina Meier, said she doesn't think anyone involved intended for her daughter to kill herself.

"But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.

Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told her the case did not fit into any law. But sheriff's officials have not closed the case and pledged to consider new evidence if it emerges.

Megan Meier hanged herself in her bedroom on Oct. 16, 2006, and died the next day. She was described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved spending time with her friends, watching movies and fishing with her dad.

Megan had been on medication, but had been upbeat before her death, her mother said, after striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh Evans about six weeks before her death.

Josh told her he was born in Florida and had recently moved to the nearby community of O'Fallon. He said he was homeschooled, and didn't yet have a phone number in the area to give her.

Megan's parents said she received a message from him on Oct. 15 of last year, essentially saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore, that he had heard she wasn't nice to her friends.

The next day, as Megan's mother headed out the door to take another daughter to the orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off. Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though Megan was not when she opened her account. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."

Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.

Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried to tell her everything would be fine. About 20 minutes later, she was found in her bedroom. She died the next day.

Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.

Another parent, who learned of the MySpace account from her own daughter who had access to the Josh profile, told Megan's parents about the hoax in a counselor's office about six weeks after Megan died. That's when they learned Josh was imaginary, they said.

The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.

The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.

A person who answered the door at the family's house told an Associated Press reporter on Friday afternoon that they had been advised not to comment.

Megan's parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan's death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors' driveway and encouraging them to move away.

Megan's parents are now separated and plan to divorce.

Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.

"Is this enough?" Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday. "No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's something, and you have to start somewhere."
http://www.newstimes.com/latestnews/ci_7491652





China Confirms Toys Had Toxic Substance
AP

China's safety watchdog confirmed Saturday that toy beads recalled in the United States and Australia after sickening children contain a substance that can turn into the ''date-rape'' drug after ingested.

The toys, coated with the industrial chemical 1,4-butanediol, were made by the Wangqi Product Factory in Shenzhen, a city just over the border from Hong Kong, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine said in a statement.

When ingested, the chemical metabolizes into the ''date-rape'' drug gamma hydroxy butyrate, also known as GHB, which can cause breathing problems, loss of consciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death.

Millions of units of the popular toys, which are sold as Aqua Dots in the United States and as Bindeez in Australia, were recalled in those countries as well as Britain, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere this past week after children began falling sick from swallowing the toy's bead-like parts.

The recall is the latest in a slew of product quality scandals that has tarnished China's image as an exporter of reliable goods. The government has tried to shore up the country's reputation by increasing inspections, selectively punishing companies and launching a publicity campaign to boost quality.

The toys are manufactured for Australia-based Moose Enterprises, and production was outsourced to Wangqi by a Hong Kong agent, the safety watchdog said. It did not identify the Hong Kong company.

''The Shenzhen factory started to produce the bead toys after its trial products provided to the agent received no objection,'' the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.

At least nine children in the U.S. and three in Australia have fallen sick.

A man identifying himself as Mr. Liang who answered the phone at Wangqi confirmed the company made toys but said he did not know if the toys were the same ones in the recalls. Liang said the company's managers were not available to comment.

The Chinese government has already suspended exports of the toys, the safety watchdog said.

The watchdog said it asked the United States for information on the medical problems the children suffered because of the toys so that it can carry out more tests.

Companies worldwide have increasingly outsourced manufacturing, often choosing Chinese factories for their cost and quality. But heated competition among factories and the rising cost of labor, land and fuel have sometimes put pressure on profits, causing some producers to cut corners.

In the latest case, the Aqua Dots or Bindeez were supposed to have been coated with nontoxic 1,5-pentanediol, a chemical commonly used in computer printer ink. But that chemical generally sells for three or four times the price of the toxic compound found on the tainted toys, 1,4-butanediol.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/worl...Rape-Drug.html





Truck Driver in Texas Kills all the Websites You Really Use

Remember the power mishap in July that brought down 365 Main, the San Francisco datacenter? A similar incident took place today at the Dallas datacenter of Rackspace, a San Antonio, Texas-based firm which serves several local Web outfits. Unlike the July outage, which killed all the websites we waste time with -- LiveJournal, Craigslist, and so on -- this one took out some sites which really mattered. Laughing Squid, Scott Beale's popular Web-hosting company, went down, taking a long list of customers with it, and 37signals, the maker of Web-based software, went out -- a serious matter, since 37signals actually charges for using its software. So what exactly happened at Rackspace?

Like 365 Main, Rackspace was hit by a utility power outage on Sunday. Unlike 365 Main, Rackspace saw its generators kick in, and all was well. This evening, however, a truck drove into a power transformer, causing it to explode. Rackspace techs described this in an email to customers, with admirable sangfroid, as leading to "additional power issues." Further word from Rackspace is that the chillers that keep the servers cool lost power when the transformer blew. An unknown number of servers were taken offline to prevent damage from excessive heat. Currently, the chillers are back online and Rackspace techs are in the process of bringing all the affected customers back online.

Interestingly, as Scott Beale of Laughing Squid points out, "Rackspace does not have a status page or blog." Beale, who's using a status blog to keep his customers informed, later noted that Rackspace does have a "customer portal" -- I guess that counts as a blog -- which they eventually updated late tonight.
http://valleywag.com/tech/breakdowns...use-321881.php





Man Cited for Porn on Wheels
Deanna Boyd

This X-rated movie was moving, Fort Worth police say.

Literally.

Monday morning, a 24-year-old Irving man was cited after a Fort Worth police officer spotted porn playing inside the man’s car.

The officer was conducting extra patrol at a club at in the 100 block of S. Main Street, south of downtown, when he saw the car drive by, then park near the club, said Lt. Dean Sullivan, police spokesman.

According to a police report, a 10-inch screen pointed toward the rear of the vehicle showed “multiple people, naked, having sexual intercourse.”

As the driver began to drive off, the officer pulled him over. Inside the man’s car, the officer spotted an open beer.

The driver, Cameron Walker, was issued several misdemeanor citations, including for obscene display or distribution, not having a driver’s license and for the open container of alcohol.
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/301099.html





Porn Filters' Costs Tallied

$285,000 to install at S.J. libraries, plus yearly outlays
John Woolfolk

Filtering pornographic Web sites out of San Jose's public library computers would cost the city more than $200,000 a year and would face legal and technical hurdles at the heavily used main downtown branch.

Those were the conclusions of the city attorney and library director after reviewing Councilman Pete Constant's proposal to reconsider Internet filtering at the libraries.

A City Council committee Wednesday ordered continued research on filtering and agreed to consider in January whether to schedule a council vote on it.

The council in 1997 rejected filtering on grounds that the technology was too crude to distinguish between the prurient and legitimate information protected by free-speech rights. Five people who spoke before the committee Wednesday said those concerns remain and questioned the need to revisit the policy.

Ernest Guzman, a former library commissioner, said he's taken his daughter to city libraries for 10 years and never encountered problems.

"If it isn't broken, you don't need to fix it," Guzman said.

But Mayor Chuck Reed said that, like Constant, he's troubled that "you've got thousands of kids with access to those computers" where there's nothing to block out pornography.

According to City Attorney Rick Doyle, the city's unique joint operating agreement with San Jose State University for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. main library at Fourth and San Fernando streets may limit filtering there.

King library's 2.6 million visitors accounted for more than a third of the 7.6 million people who visited all 19 city libraries over the past year.

The King library is also where police records indicate most complaints about viewing pornography have originated. University police, who primarily patrol that library, reported 26 complaints this year of lewd behavior involving computer use, 17 of which led to arrests or citations. By contrast, San Jose police reported just six cases of sex-related offenses at all city libraries since 2005.

The joint operating agreement prohibits the city from restricting university users' access to library collections and from requiring university staff to enforce city regulations. Doyle said the city would need university cooperation in implementing filters.

University spokeswoman Pat Lopes Harris said SJSU has not taken a position on the proposed policy.

"We understand the issues that are being raised; we take safety very seriously," Harris said. "But we also take our joint operating agreement seriously."

Library director Jane Light said it would cost cash-strapped San Jose $285,000 to implement library computer filtering and $265,000 a year to maintain it. Most of that cost - $210,000 - would come from adding staff seven days a week to handle requests to unblock legitimate Internet sites, as Constant has suggested.

The remaining costs would be for computer hardware, software and annual licensing fees plus staff training, Light said. Filtering would make the city eligible for additional federal funding of about $30,000 to $35,000 a year to offset some of those costs.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci...nclick_check=1





Report: Singapore Bans Microsoft's Video Game for Sex Scene

Singapore has banned a Microsoft video game that contains a scene showing a human woman and an alien woman kissing and caressing each other, a local newspaper reported Thursday. The Straits Times said Mass Effect, a highly anticipated futuristic-space adventure game from Microsoft, was banned by Singapore's Media Development Authority. In October, Singapore's parliament decided to keep a ban on sex between men, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the city-state should keep its conservative values and not allow special rights for homosexuals.

Singapore is the only country to have banned the game, so far, and Mass Effect is the first Microsoft video game to be banned in the city-state, The Straits Times said. The move has caused an outcry among local and international gamers, who said the decision was too strict, the newspaper said. The report said Singapore has in the past banned at least two other video games: Sony's God Of War II, for nudity, and unlisted Top Cow Productions' The Darkness, for excessive violence and religiously offensive expletives.
http://www.news.com/Report-Singapore...3-6218674.html





Sex Offender's Beheading a 'Thrill Kill;' Teens Arrested
Lance Murray

Michigan authorities now say they have two teenagers in custody in connection with the decapitation slaying of a registered sex offender.

Fox News is reporting that police are calling Wednesday's slaying of 26-year-old Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen a "thrill kill."

The suspects are Jean-Pierre Orlewicz, 17, and Alexander James Letkemann, 18. They will be arraigned today, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says.

"Any time anyone kills just because they want to — and that's what the evidence seems to suggest here — is bone-chilling. Why anybody would want to do that, especially being 17 years old, it makes us think and ask a lot of questions about our society," Worthy told reporters at a press conference.

Worthy said that Sorensen, who was registered sex offender in Illinois, was repeatedly stabbed and his head sawed off before his body was set on fire. His body was found Thursday morning and a head was discovered Saturday about five miles away in in Dearborn Heights. The medical examiner is trying to determine if it is Sorensen's head.
http://startelegram.typepad.com/crim...fenders-1.html





14 Year Old BitTorrent Hacker Threatens to Sue What.cd Users
enigmax

Users of OiNK-replacement What.cd, are receiving emails from what appears to be the RIAA. In it are threats that users must either stop their ‘criminal acts of piracy’ or have charges pressed against them. But is it the RIAA? Rival Waffles.fm? No, it’s a 14 yr old script kiddie out for revenge, says What.cd

Users of What.cd were in for more than a little shock today. Members of one of the OiNK replacement sites started receiving worrying emails from the music file-sharers arch nemesis - the mighty RIAA.

The email reads:

Quote:
Date: 12 Nov 2007 11:35:46 +0100
Message-ID: <2007111XXXXXXX.XXXXX.qmail@bitient.org>
To: XXXXXXX
Subject: Music Piracy
From: piracy@riaa.org
Reply-To: piracy@riaa.org
X-Originating-IP: [76.74.24.143]
X-Originating-Email: [piracy@riaa.org]
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service

Dear registered user of the site What.cd,

We have recently been investigating the activities of the users of the site http://www.what.cd/ and we have found that this site exists for the sole purpose of music piracy.

Pirating music is a criminal offence and we believe it should be obvious to you that the results outweigh the benefits - hard working artists won’t be rewarded for their work and will stop producing music, ultimately leading to a severely reduced selection of music both in the shops and for download.

The RIAA had hoped that the disabling by the police of the large illegal music site, Oink.cd, would stop a lot of people from engaging in piracy, as they don’t want to be seen as criminals. However, this appears to not be the case, as two large new sites have sprung up in its place.

This email is the final warning to all of you who were members of Oink.cd and are current members of What.cd. If we find you to be committing any more criminal acts of piracy then we will have to press charges against you, as representatives of the major record companies of
America.

Yours Faithfully,

The RIAA
Worrying, especially as the IP address in the email seems to indicate it really is from the RIAA. Visitors to the What.cd site were then greeted with this message:

Quote:
This week has been terrible. After we did two code audits and fixed our security issues, our wonderful attackers couldn’t get in (yay!), so they turned to brute force. After having been hit by several port scans and a rather fearsome DDoS attack (traffic reaching almost 80 megabits per second (note: that’s 10 megabytes per second)) our server pretty much went to hell. After an extended downtime (ending a couple hours ago) during which we tweaked firewall settings, etc., we decided that it was safe enough to bring the site back up.

Pretty much immediately after the site came back up we had someone trying to brute force our (well passworded) ssh accounts (they’ve now met the hot burny side of the firewall).

What have we learned from all this? That there is a person or a group of people somewhere that wants us to disappear. We originally thought that the attacks were by bored kids, but whoever was behind the DDoS appears to be much more serious than that. We aren’t going to publicly speculate on who is behind the attacks - we’ll leave that to you guys.

Despite these attacks, we are still up and running, and we hope to stay this way for a very long time. We have plans for this site, and we aren’t going to flush them down the drain just because some people don’t like what we’re doing. The first of our plans involves a very cool freeleech plan, but we’re going to wait until we’re sure the tracker’s relatively stable for that. For the time being, we’re keeping freeleech on until further notice.
But what about the emails? Is the RIAA really sending them out? If not, then who is and how did they get the What.cd user database? What.cd think they have the answer in a post on their site, replicated on this Pastebin page.

Other sites are already publishing the information above and a quick Google search does indeed reveal some interesting details. Apparently, the person held responsible for the hacking and the RIAA email is only 14 year old and not as much as a threat some believed him to be. The alleged hacker’s date of birth, his hometown, hobbies and much more are detailed on Google.

Before today, he probably enjoyed telling the world about himself on social networking sites too.

He’s also mentioned on this Pastebin page full of haxor code - along with what.cd.

The youth of today….what’s the world coming to?

Update: It appears someone claiming to be ‘biscuit’ offered the database for sale and even threatened to send it to the RIAA. After deciding that he should keep it - for later ‘blackmail’ purposes he hopefully considered this link and realized it’s not worth it, deleted the database and forgot all about it.

Update: biscuit wrote that he’s not responsible for the hacking and claims that the bash log is doctored.
http://torrentfreak.com/14-year-old-...whatcd-071112/





Dear Torrentfreak: I Was NOT the One Responsible for the Hacking of What.cd

Everyone who knows me online and in real life knows that I am a thorough supporter of torrent sites and would never wish to do damage to one of them.

I watched in horror as What.cd was sabotaged, first getting redirected to nimp.org, and then I saw the RIAA message.

Then at 11pm, 2 days ago, I got this email, from Noah, who is the owner of the server I host on, and until today I'd thought that he also was pro-p2p.

Quote:
Someone with access to the box was responsible for the What.cd? MySQL injections. That pretty much isolates you since you are probably the only one with enough knowledge to know how to 'root the box. I really hope it wasn't you, but the fact that I've got authentication failures for su from your user doesn't really help the fact.
I had definitely not tried to 'root the box' any time recently. And on my normal user level ssh account, I didn't have any access to the What.cd files on the server. So I just ignored the email and let life carry on. But now I knew that it was someone with ssh access to the server, probably needing root, and I started to think, hmm...

Today at 10:30am, I had a day off school, and so I was just chilling at my computer, watching a film while idling in various IRC channels. Then some people began to post about emails from the RIAA in #what.cd, then I got one shortly after.

People in the channel immediately decided it was fake, as in the email headers it had "Return-Path: <riaa@bitient.org>". Bitient.org is the hostname of Noah's server, and this made me start to suspect Noah even more, as only he, being the only one with root, could create a shell account called 'riaa' and send emails from it. I didn't say anything yet, I thought I'd let it stew, and maybe Noah had a good reason for doing all this, or maybe his server had been hacked by a third party, maybe even the RIAA.

Then after having a powercut for 3 hours at home I came back on IRC. I did a CTCP on the #what.cd channel, as being a curious guy, I wanted to find out what IRC clients everyone was using.

'What' posts on the frontpage of What.cd: "Sending version requests to everyone in a channel is the sort of thing script kiddies looking for someone to hack would do."

That's funny, because I've never heard of any modern IRC clients having vulnerabilities in the CTCP protocol that could be exploited. And even if they could, the What.cd IRCd hides users' IP addresses, so I'd have had no way of trying to exploit them.

Soon after, in #home on the IRCd on bitient.org, WhatMan came in and said "P3T3R and biscuitaway: You guys are so fucked." Said a load more stuff then: "<WhatMan> Fuck you." Then "* *** You are permanently banned from irc.bitient.org (motherfucker) Email irc@bitient.org for more information."

So, apparently now Noah had lied to the What.cd admins about me doing it as well.

By now I was 100% sure that Noah had done all this exploitation. I don't know for sure why but I have an idea. The reason he left What.cd as an admin was because he'd plastered his personal information all over his domains' whois info, and had used his real name and address when signing up with his leaseweb server. Apparently he hadn't thought about it when he started what.cd, but then it hit him that if what.cd suffered the same fate as OiNK, he could end up in trouble with the law. As a 14 year old, spoilt, Jewish kid living in Canada, which is cracking down a lot on p2p recently, he couldn't face it, and left What.cd. But apparently this wasn't enough. He wanted to destroy the site's reputation once and for all. But he didn't want to be held responsible.
Instead of just deleting the files, or anything like that, which he could have done with root, he tried to make it look like a SQL injection vulnerability, by just messing with the What.cd database.

Pretty smart thing to do, I realised. But there's one problem. The What.cd admins realised that it wasn't actually a SQL injection. They realised it was being done by PhpMyAdmin. Which Noah had access to, using the Plesk control panel on his server.

Then he must have created an account called 'riaa' on the server - as I said earlier, the root user is the only one who can do this on Linux. With the database dump he'd taken using phpMyAdmin, he must have sent out all the fake emails from 'the RIAA' using the mail program on his server.

He then tried to lay the blame on me, as I'm the only person who hosts on his server that he deems capable of doing such a thing.

Then WhatMan, one of What.cd's admins somehow deduced that it was P3T3R, my brother, in conjuction with me. He's been outspoken against What.cd from the start, thinking they were 'invading the server', as he has an account on Noah's server too, and that all the admins were retards. So somehow it's all over the internet that a '14 year old hacker' took down What.cd. Which is complete bollocks. Especially since P3T3R is 13.

So, to conclude:
His name is Xxxx Xxxxxxxxx.
He is 14 years old.
His phone number seems to be +1.XXXXXXXXX
He lives in Xxxxxx, Xxxxxx.
So go flame him. And leave me and my family alone.

Biscuit

http://pastebin.ca/771164





Malware-Pushing Web Sites on the Rise, Say Researchers: 66,000 and Counting
Jacqui Cheng

The number of malware-infected web sites has risen to 66,000 so far this month and continues to rise, despite the fact that the malicious application is detectable by most antivirus products on the market. A major culprit for all this malware is a malicious script from yl18.net. According to Mark Hofman at the SANS Internet Storm Center, the number of sites infected by the script has more than doubled.

In fact, Hofman believes that this is the same script from a mass Super Bowl-related infection earlier this year that hit some 200,000 web sites. He did a bit of digging and found that the infection from February used some of the same servers this time around, including 137wg.com and Zj5173.com. The older script used SQL injection to deface the site and force executable downloads upon visitors, and SANS is seeing the same pattern of activity this time around.

It's not just small sites that have been affected by malware, either. Indian news site and content portal IndiaTimes began to force malware upon visitors over the weekend, much of which is not yet detected by antivirus software, ScanSafe security researcher Mary Landesman wrote on the company's blog. "The choice of initial vulnerabilities suggests the Metasploit Framework may have been used to carry out the attacks. Successful exploit results in a massive download of malware and assorted other files," she said. "We counted 434 before we finally pulled the plug (figuratively and literally speaking)."

ScanSafe notes in its Threat Center advisory that the malware "may be may be intended to create sites used to attack others."

Landesman is careful to point out that even savvy Internet users who are careful about their activities could be hit by these infections. As usual, users are urged to be careful of sites that push downloads of any kind without permission and to keep safe, clean backups of their data. You do back up regularly, don't you?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...searchers.html





Bureau Warns on Tainted Discs

FOCUSED ATTACK: Large-capacity hard disks often used by government agencies were found to contain Trojan horse viruses, Investigation Bureau officials warned
Yang Kuo-wen, Lin Ching-chuan and Rich Chang

Portable hard discs sold locally and produced by US disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology have been found to carry Trojan horse viruses that automatically upload to Beijing Web sites anything the computer user saves on the hard disc, the Investigation Bureau said.

Around 1,800 of the portable Maxtor hard discs, produced in Thailand, carried two Trojan horse viruses: autorun.inf and ghost.pif, the bureau under the Ministry of Justice said.

The tainted portable hard disc uploads any information saved on the computer automatically and without the owner's knowledge to www.nice8.org and www.we168.org, the bureau said.

The affected hard discs are Maxtor Basics 500G discs.

The bureau said that hard discs with such a large capacity are usually used by government agencies to store databases and other information.

Sensitive information may have already been intercepted by Beijing through the two Web sites, the bureau said.

The bureau said that the method of attack was unusual, adding that it suspected Chinese authorities were involved.

In recent years, the Chinese government has run an aggressive spying program relying on information technology and the Internet, the bureau said.

The bureau said this was the first time it had found that Trojan horse viruses had been placed on hard discs before they even reach the market.

The bureau said that it had instructed the product's Taiwanese distributor, Xander International, to remove the products from shelves immediately.

The bureau said that it first received complaints from consumers last month, saying they had detected Trojan horse viruses on brand new hard discs purchased in Taiwan.

Agents began examining hard discs on the market and found the viruses linked to the two Web sites.

Anyone who has purchased this kind of hard disc should return it to the place of purchase, the bureau said.

The distributor told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) that the company had sold 1,800 tainted discs to stores last month.

It said it had pulled 1,500 discs from shelves, while the remaining 300 had been sold by the stores to consumers.

Seagate's Asian Pacific branch said it was looking into the matter.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiw.../11/2003387202





Firefox Security Threat - Google is Vulnerable

A Malicious exploit has been discovered in Firefox that would allow a Hacker to use a Malicious JAR file to get access to your Google Account and all your confidential information.

Firefox is falling into some serious trouble over the past few months, with more and more security exploits being discovered and being exploited. The latest threat involves the usage of a malicious JAR file. The flaw is still in the wild and the problem persists with the websites of Major Internet companies that includes Google. Beford.org has found a way to use the JAR exploit to get details of Google Accounts using a Malicious JAR file specially crafted to take advantage of the exploit.

Well I’m going to refrain myself from writing about the Exploit. I have tested this exploit on my own spare Google Account, and I can confirm that this works. Its better be to safe because I’m not sure when exactly is Google and Mozilla planning to patch up the security holes. I suggest you download the NoScript addon for Firefox. Right now NoScript seems to be the only solution. If you are wondering what NoScript is, then here is what its developer has to say about it :

It allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice, e.g. your home-banking web site, and guards the “trust boundaries” against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS). Such a preemptive approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even unknown!) with no loss of functionality…

The other way to stay safe would be to visit sites that you trust and not download anything that looks suspicious. Given the vastness of the Internet, however careful you are, this can be still a threat. Keep yourself signed out of all Accounts until this is patched. But do remember to stay safe.

This exploit was known to Mozilla for quite sometime and hasn’t still patched it. Given that this vulnerability affects both Google and Firefox lets see who gets this patched first.

Via GNUCitizen and Bedford
http://dailyapps.net/2007/11/firefox...is-vulnerable/





Microsoft Exec Calls XP Hack 'Frightening'
Tom Espiner

A Microsoft executive calls the ease with which two British e-crime specialists managed to hack into a Windows XP computer as both "enlightening and frightening."

The demonstration took place Monday at an event sponsored by Get Safe Online--a joint initiative of the U.K. government and industry. At the event, which was aimed at heightening security awareness among small businesses, two members of the U.K. government intelligence group Serious Organized Crime Agency connected a machine running Windows XP with Service Pack 1 to an unsecured wireless network. The machine was running no antivirus, firewall, or anti-spyware software and contained a sample target file of passwords to be stolen.

The SOCA officials wished to remain anonymous. One of them, "Mick," remained behind a screen while carrying out the hack into the unpatched computer of a fellow officer, "Andy."

"It's easy to connect to an unsecured wireless network," said Mick. "You could equate Andy with being in his bedroom, while I'm scanning for networks outside in my car. If I ordered or viewed illegal materials, it would come back to Andy."

Mick used a common, open-source exploit-finding tool he had downloaded from the Internet. SOCA asked ZDNet UK not to divulge the name of the tool.

"You can download attack tools from the Internet, and even script kiddies can use this one," said Mick.

Mick found the IP address of his own computer by using the XP Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box. He deduced the IP address of Andy's computer by typing different numerically adjacent addresses in that IP range into the attack tool, then scanning the addresses to see if they belonged to a vulnerable machine.

Using a different attack tool, he produced a security report detailing the vulnerabilities found on the system. Mick decided to exploit one of them. Using the attack tool, Mick built a piece of malware in MS-DOS, giving it a payload that would exploit the flaw within a couple of minutes.

Getting onto the unsecured wireless network, pinging possible IP addresses of other computers on the network, finding Andy's unpatched computer, scanning open ports for vulnerabilities, using the attack tool to build an exploit, and using the malware to get into the XP command shell took six minutes.

"If you were in (a cafe with Wi-Fi access), your coffee wouldn't even have cooled down yet," said Sharon Lemon, deputy director of SOCA's e-crime unit.

Mick then went into the My Documents folder and, using a trivial transfer protocol, transferred the document containing passwords to his own computer. The whole process took 11 minutes.

A SOCA representative said that the demonstration was "purely to point out that, if a system hasn't had patches, it's a relatively simple matter to hack into it." SOCA stopped short of recommending small businesses move to Vista; a SOCA representative said that applying Service Pack 2 to XP, with all the patches applied, and running a secured wireless network is "perfectly sensible way to do it."

Nick McGrath, head of platform strategy for Microsoft U.K., was surprised by the incident.

"In the demonstration we saw, it was both enlightening and frightening to witness the seeming ease of the attack on the (Windows) computer," said McGrath. "But the computer was new, not updated, and not patched."

McGrath said that having anti-spyware installed was not as important as having the software updated. He added that Microsoft works closely with original equipment manufacturers to encourage the preloading of antivirus and anti-spyware on a 30-day trial basis. McGrath also said that Service Pack 2 for XP had a firewall and that Vista was not as "accessible to the average hacker" due to "operating system components."

Tom Espiner of ZDNet UK reported from London.
http://www.news.com/Microsoft-exec-c...3-6218238.html





Half a Million Database Servers 'Have no Firewall'

Major security risk is enough to sustain another mass worm outbreak
Robert McMillan

There are nearly half a million database servers exposed on the Internet, without firewall protection according to UK-based security researcher David Litchfield.

Litchfield took a look at just over 1 million randomly generated Internet Protocol [IP] addresses, checking them to see if he could access them on the IP ports reserved for Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle's database.

He found 157 SQL servers and 53 Oracle servers. Litchfield then relied on known estimates of the number of systems on the Internet to arrive at his conclusion: "There are approximately 368,000 Microsoft SQl Servers... and about 124,000 Oracle database servers directly accessible on the Internet," he wrote in his report, due to be made public next week.

This is not the first time that Litchfield, managing director of NGSSoftware, has conducted this type of research. Two years ago, he released his first Database Exposure Survey, estimating that there were about 350,000 Microsoft and Oracle databases exposed.

This 2007 version of the Database Exposure Survey is set to be published Monday on Litchfield's Databasesecurity.com Web site. IDG News was given a preliminary copy of the findings.

With no firewall, databases are exposed to hackers, putting corporate data at risk. Litchfield said that, given the amount of press generated by corporate data breaches over the past two years, it's amazing to find that there are more databases exposed than ever before.

"It's terrible," he said in an interview. "We all run around like headless chickens following these data breach headlines... organisations out there really don't care. Why are all these sites hanging out there without the protection of a firewall?"

This year's Oracle tally is actually down from Litchfield's 2005 estimate, which counted 140,000 Oracle systems. That same study placed the SQL server total at 210,000.

The security researcher wasn't sure why Oracle's numbers had declined while Microsoft's had risen. "Microsoft's technology is certainly easier to install. Maybe the increase in SQL server numbers is simply a function of that," he said.

In the 2005 survey, Litchfield found an even larger number of the open-source MySQL databases outside of the firewall. The 2007 survey does not count MySQL, however.

There was one other disturbing finding in Litchfield's 2007 survey: Many of these unprotected databases are also unpatched. In fact, 4% of the SQL Server databases Litchfield found were still vulnerable to the flaw that was exploited by 2003's widespread SQL Slammer worm. "People aren't protecting themselves with firewalls and the patch levels are atrocious," he said.

About 82 percent of the SQL Servers were running older SQL Server 2000 software, and less than half of those had the product's latest Service Pack updates installed. On the Oracle side, 13% of the servers were running older versions of the database that no longer receive patches. These Oracle 9.0 and earlier databases are known to have security vulnerabilities, Litchfield said.

Litchfield, who wrote the proof of concept code that was eventually used by Slammer, said that this many unsecured databases is enough to sustain another worm outbreak. "There's certainly potential there," he said. "So the question is what's the likelihood? [That's] much more difficult to answer."
http://www.computerworlduk.com/manag...fm?newsid=6198





Apple Admits to ‘Misleading’ Leopard Firewall Settings
Ryan Naraine

Apple has fessed up to at least three serious design weaknesses in the new application-based firewall that ships with Mac OS X Leopard.

The acknowledgment from Cupertino comes less than a month after independent researchers threw cold water on Apple’s claim that Leopard’s firewall can block all incoming connections.

In an advisory accompanying the Mac OS X v10.5.1 update, Apple admitted that the “Block all incoming connections” setting for the firewall is misleading.

“The ‘Block all incoming connections’ setting for the Application Firewall allows any process running as user “root” (UID 0) to receive incoming connections, and also allows mDNSResponder to receive connections. This could result in the unexpected exposure of network services,” Apple said.

With the fix, the firewall will more accurately describe the option as “Allow only essential services”, and by limiting the processes permitted to receive incoming connections under this setting to a small fixed set of system services, Apple said

Two other Application Firewall flaws are addressed:

CVE-2007-4703: The “Set access for specific services and applications” setting for the Application Firewall allows any process running as user “root” (UID 0) to receive incoming connections, even if its executable is specifically added to the list of programs and its entry in the list is marked as “Block incoming connections”. This could result in the unexpected exposure of network services.

CVE-2007-4704: When the Application Firewall settings are changed, a running process started by launchd will not be affected until it is restarted. A user might expect changes to take effect immediately and so leave their system exposed to network access.
The Leopard firewall patch comes less than 24 hours after Apple shipped a monster update to cover at least 41 Mac OS X and Safari for Windows (beta) vulnerabilities.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=673





The Hack of the Year
Patrick Gray

In August, Swedish hacker Dan Egerstad gained access to sensitive embassy, NGO and corporate email accounts. Were they captured from the clutches of hackers? Or were they being used by spies? Patrick Gray investigates the most sensational hack of 2007.

IT WASN'T supposed to be this easy. Swedish hacker Dan Egerstad had infiltrated a global communications network carrying the often-sensitive emails of scores of embassies scattered throughout the world. It had taken him just minutes, using tools freely available for download on the internet.

He says he broke no laws.

In time, Egerstad gained access to 1000 high-value email accounts. He would later post 100 sets of sensitive email logins and passwords on the internet for criminals, spies or just curious teenagers to use to snoop on inter-governmental, NGO and high-value corporate email.

The question on everybody's lips was: how did he do it? The answer came more than a week later and was somewhat anti-climactic. The 22-year-old Swedish security consultant had merely installed free, open-source software - called Tor - on five computers in data centres around the globe and monitored it. Ironically, Tor is designed to prevent intelligence agencies, corporations and computer hackers from determining the virtual - and physical - location of the people who use it.

"Tor is like having caller ID blocking for your internet address," says Shava Nerad, development director with the Tor Project. "All it does is hide where you're communicating from."

Tor was developed by the US Navy to allow personnel to conceal their locations from websites and online services they would access while overseas. By downloading the simple software, personnel could hide the internet protocol address of their computers - the tell-tale number that allows website operators or intelligence services to determine a user's location.

Eventually the navy realised it must take Tor beyond the armed forces. "The problem is, if you make Tor a tool that's only used by the military . . . by using Tor you're advertising that you're military," Nerad says.

So Tor was cast into the public domain. It is now maintained and distributed by a registered charity as an open-source tool that anyone can freely download and install. Hundreds of thousands of internet users have installed Tor, according to the project's website.

Mostly it is workers who want to browse pornographic websites anonymously. "If you analyse the traffic, it's just porn," Egerstad told Next by phone from Sweden. "It's kind of sad."

However, Dmitri Vitaliev, a Russian-born, Australian-educated computer security professional who lives in Canada, says Tor is a vital tool in the fight for democracy. Vitaliev trains human-rights campaigners on how to stay safe when online in oppressive regimes. "It's incredibly important," he said in a Skype chat from the unrecognised state of Transnistria, a breakaway region in Moldova where he's assisting a local group working to stop the trafficking of women. "Anonymity is a high advantage in countries that perform targeted surveillance on activists."

It's also used to bypass website censorship in more than 20 countries that censor political and human rights sites, he says.

Tor works by connecting its users' internet requests, randomly, to volunteer-run Tor network nodes. Anyone can run a Tor node, which relays the user's traffic through other nodes as encrypted data that can't be intercepted.

When the user's data reaches the edge of the Tor network, after bouncing through several nodes, it pops out the other side as unencrypted, readable data. Egerstad was able to get his mitts on sensitive information by running an exit node and monitoring the traffic that passed through it.

The problem, says Vitaliev, is some Tor users assume their data is protected from end to end. "As in pretty much any other internet technology, its vulnerabilities are not well understood by those who use it (and) need it most," he says.

The discovery that sensitive, government emails were passing through Tor exit nodes as unencrypted, readable data was only mildly surprising to Egerstad. It made sense - because Tor documentation mentions "encryption", many users assume they're safe from all snooping, he says.

"People think they're protected just because they use Tor. Not only do they think it's encrypted, but they also think 'no one can find me'," Egerstad says. "But if you've configured your computer wrong, which probably more than 50 per cent of the people using Tor have, you can still find the person (on) the other side."

Initially it seemed that government, embassy, NGO and corporate staffers were using Tor but had misconfigured their systems, allowing Egerstad to sniff sensitive information off the wire. After Egerstad posted the passwords, blame for the embarrassing breach was initially placed on the owners of the passwords he had intercepted.

However, Egerstad now believes the victims of his experiment may not have been using Tor. It's quite possible he stumbled on an underground intelligence gathering exercise, carried out by parties unknown.

"The whole point of the story that has been forgotten, and I haven't said much about it, (is that) many of these accounts had been compromised," he says. "The logins I caught were not legit users but actual hackers who'd been reading these accounts."

In other words, the people using Tor to access embassy email accounts may not have been embassy staff at all. Egerstad says they were computer hackers using Tor to hide their origins from their victims.

The cloaking nature of Tor is appealing in the extreme to computer hackers of all persuasions - criminal, recreational and government sponsored.

If it weren't for the "last-hop" exit node issue Egerstad exposed in such a spectacular way, parties unknown would still be rifling the inboxes of embassies belonging to dozens of countries. Diplomatic memos, sensitive emails and the itineraries of government staffers were all up for grabs.

After a couple of months sniffing and capturing information, Egerstad was faced with a moral dilemma: what to do with all the intercepted passwords and emails.

If he turned his findings over to the Swedish authorities, his experiment might be used by his country's intelligence services to continue monitoring the compromised accounts. That was a little too close to espionage for his liking.

So Egerstad set about notifying the affected governments. He approached a few, but the only one to respond was Iran. "They wanted to know everything I knew," he says. "That's the only response I got, except a couple of calls from the Swedish security police, but that was pretty much all the response I got from any authority."

Frustrated by the lack of a response, Egerstad's next step caused high anxiety for government staffers - and perhaps intelligence services - across the globe. He posted 100 email log-ins and passwords on his blog, DEranged Security. "I just ended up (saying) 'Screw it, I'm just going to put it online and see what happens'."

The news hit the internet like a tonne of bricks, despite some initial scepticism. The email logins were quickly and officially acknowledged by some countries as genuine, while others were independently verified.

US-based security consultant - and Tor user - Sam Stover says he has mixed feelings about Egerstad's actions. "People all of a sudden (said) 'maybe Tor isn't the silver bullet that we thought it was'," Stover says. "However, I'm not sure I condone the mechanism by which that sort of information had to be exposed in order to do that."

Stover admits that he, too, once set up a Tor exit node. "It's pretty easy . . . I set it up once real quick just to make sure that I could see other people's traffic and, sure enough, you can," he says. "(But) I'm not interested in that sort of intelligence gathering."

While there's no direct evidence, it's possible Egerstad's actions shut down an active intelligence-gathering exercise. Wired.com journalist Kim Zetter blogged the claims of an Indian Express reporter that he was able to access the email account for the Indian ambassador in China and download a transcript of a meeting between the Chinese foreign minister and an Indian official. In addition to hackers using Tor to hide their origins, it's plausible that intelligence services had set up rogue exit nodes to sniff data from the Tor network.

"Domestic, or international . . . if you want to do intelligence gathering, there's definitely data to be had there," says Stover. "(When using Tor) you have no idea if some guy in China is watching all your traffic, or some guy in Germany, or a guy in Illinois. You don't know."

Egerstad is circumspect about the possible subversion of Tor by intelligence agencies. "If you actually look in to where these Tor nodes are hosted and how big they are, some of these nodes cost thousands of dollars each month just to host because they're using lots of bandwidth, they're heavy-duty servers and so on," Egerstad says. "Who would pay for this and be anonymous?"

While Stover regards Tor as a useful tool, he says its value is greatly overestimated by those who promote and use it. "I would not use or recommend the tool to hide from people between you and your endpoint. It's really purely a tool to hide from the endpoint," he says.

As a trained security professional, Stover has the nous to understand its limitations, he says. Most people don't.

The lesson remains but the data Egerstad captured is gone, the Swedish hacker insists. He's now focusing on his career as a freelance security consultant. "I deleted everything I had because the information I had was belonging to so many countries that no single person should have this information so I actually deleted it and the hard drives are long gone," he says.

Patrick Gray's interviews with Dan Egerstad and Sam Stover can be heard in his podcast from http://ITRadio.com.au/security.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...766589522.html





Police Swoop on 'Hacker of the Year'
Asher Moses

The Swedish hacker who perpetrated the so-called hack of the year has been arrested in a dramatic raid on his apartment, during which he was taken in for questioning and several of his computers confiscated.

Dan Egerstad, a security consultant, intercepted data carried over a global communications network used by embassies around the world in August and gained access to 1000 sensitive email accounts. They contained confidential diplomatic memos and other sensitive government emails.

Details of the hack were reported on this site on Tuesday.

After informing the governments involved of their security failings and receiving no response, Egerstad published 100 of the email accounts, including login details and passwords, on his website for anyone curious enough to have a look. The site, derangedsecurity.com, has since been taken offline.

The hack required little more than tools freely available on the internet, and Egerstad maintains he broke no laws. In fact, he is confident the email accounts he gained access to were already compromised by other hackers, so his efforts in fact prevented them from continuing their spying.

Egerstad was soon back to his regular routine but, on Monday morning, his apartment, located 650 kilometres from Stockholm, was raided by four agents from Swedish National Crime (which Egerstad calls "our FBI") and Swedish Security Police ("our CIA").

About 9am Egerstad walked downstairs to move his car when he was accosted by the officers in a scene "taken out of a bad movie", he said in an email interview.

"I got a couple of police IDs in my face while told that they are taking me in for questioning," he said.

But not before the agents, who had staked out his house in undercover blue and grey Saabs ("something that screams cop to every person in Sweden from miles away"), searched his apartment and confiscated computers, CDs and portable hard drives.

"They broke my wardrobe, short cutted my electricity, pulled out my speakers, phone and other cables having nothing to do with this and been touching my bookkeeping, which they have no right to do," he said.

While questioning Egerstad at the station, the police "played every trick in the book, good cop, bad cop and crazy mysterious guy in the corner not wanting to tell his name and just staring at me".

"Well, if they want to try to manipulate, I can play that game too. [i] gave every known body signal there is telling of lies ... covered my mouth, scratched my elbow, looked away and so on."

Egerstad said the police also accused him of theft because he had eight PlayStation 2 consoles in his apartment. He said he owns a company that "handles consoles".

Egerstad was released and no charges have been laid against him, but the police are in the process of investigating the matter and nothing has been ruled out.

Linus Larsson, a reporter for Computer Sweden magazine whom Egerstad called after the ordeal, said in a phone interview he had confirmed with Swedish police that the raid took place.

"We don't know exactly what they [police] are doing now but they took his hard drives and his computers, and according to him the interrogation went on for about 2 hours and he was then released but he did not get his equipment back," Larsson said.

Egerstad said his lawyer was looking into whether the Swedish police had broken the law by making several "unnecessary actions".

"They aren't giving me any information on who filed the report but said that they have been exchanging information with other countries."

He said he hadn't heard anything from police since the raid but he did not expect to receive the seized equipment back for months, even years.

"[I'm] losing money and trust in my company and even if i'm never charged I will not get any compensation it looks like."

The raid occurred around the same time a feature article on Egerstad's hack appeared in the Next IT section in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, but it is unlikely the story sparked the raid.

Patrick Gray, who wrote the article, has published a detailed audio interview with Egerstad, which took place before the raid, on his website ( http://itradio.com.au/security/).
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/...766821481.html





Hacker Pleads Guilty to Creating Botnets

A hacker in California admits distributing malware that let him steal usernames and passwords for Paypal accounts.
Nancy Gohring

A hacker has pleaded guilty to infecting hundreds of thousands of computers with malware in order to steal money from Paypal accounts. He could spend 60 years in prison and face a US$1.75 million fine.

John Schiefer, 26, admitted that he and some associates developed malware that allowed them to create botnet armies of as many as 250,000 computers. Schiefer was able to collect information sent from the infected computers, including usernames and passwords for Paypal accounts. He and his associates were then able to make purchases using the Paypal accounts. They also shared the password information with others.

This is the first prosecution of a hacker for this type of activity, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. The Federal Bureau of Investigation pursued the case.

Schiefer says he also found Paypal usernames and passwords using malware that could access usernames filed in a secure storage area on the computers. The malware would send that information to Schiefer, who used it to access the accounts.

Schiefer also acknowledged fraudulently earning more than $19,000 from a Dutch Internet advertising agency that hired him as a consultant. He was supposed to install the company's programs on computers after receiving consent from computer owners. Instead, he and his associates installed it on 150,000 computers that were infected with his malware.

Schiefer is scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Nov. 28 and be arraigned on Dec. 3.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...111100055.html





Bluetooth Tracking

In Sept 2007 I plugged in a 100-meter USB bluetooth adaptor and I noticed names of phones/devices with bluetooth in the area popping up on my computer screen. This was when the idea to set up a network of scanners around my towm (Apeldoorn, the Netherlands) to track people was born.

I then set up 4 locations with a little USB bluetooth stick in each location to collect data. There has to be an internet connection at those locations. Therefore I am using locations where my family and friends live. They 'lend' me the space and the bandwidth. To keep the budget low I am using Capio's (Windows CE powered terminals). By reprogramming the Disk on Chip module inside I could run Linux (DSL) on the device and script it. The data collected would be sent to and processed in a central database (running MySQL). The end-result is what you will see on these pages.

The amount of data collected from just those 4 locations was impressive. Within a month after I set the network up, I registered over 15,000 unique mobile-phones,carkits, pda's, navigation systems and many other devices. The matches of phones/devices with bluetooth between locations were obvious. Some phones that were picked up by the sensor in the city center were also picked up by the sensor in other locations. Some of these matches were only minutes apart. Therefore I could even calculate the approximate speed of someone moving from one location to another.

Whenever someone turns on the visible mode on his bluetooth phone/device, it could in theory be picked up by one of the sensors in the network. The sensor usually picks up the MAC id of the phone/device (a unique heximal code) and sometimes, the broadcast name. This name can be changed by the user. So far, some interesting names have been picked up by my sensors. Some people even used the broadcast name as a statement.

The challenge in this project is the amount of data collected. My database server can be lightning fast but at times, e.g. during the day, the same query takes very long.

I am still looking for locations to expand my project. The ideal location would be a busy area like shopping malls, railway stations, etc. This location should have an internet connection and a 220v electricity. If you want to volunteer a location, please contact me.
http://www.bluetoothtracking.org/





AT&T to Sell Equipment to Monitor Workplaces
Janet Morrissey

AT&T plans to introduce a nationwide program today that gives owners of small- and medium-size businesses some of the same tools big security companies offer for monitoring employees, customers and operations from remote locations.

Under AT&T’s Remote Monitor program, a business owner could install adjustable cameras, door sensors and other gadgets at up to five different company locations across the country.

Using a Java-enabled mobile device or a personal computer connected to the Internet, the owner would be able to view any of the images in real time, control room lighting and track equipment temperatures remotely. All the images are recorded on digital video, which can be viewed for up to 30 days.

“It is Big Brother, but in this day and age, you need these type of tools” for theft protection, weeding out false accident claims and other risks, said Beaux Roby, owner of a chain of five Mama’s Café restaurants and two banquet halls in Texas. Mr. Roby has been using the system for nine weeks as part of a pilot program. “You have fraudulent claims from customers that trip and fall and things like that,” he said.

Aside from helping to verify insurance claims, the system can detect break-ins, alert an owner if a boiler breaks down and monitor employees who “are just sitting around on the clock not doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” Mr. Roby said. In one instance, he said, a worker seen operating a meat slicer without wearing protective gloves was reprimanded.

The program from AT&T, the only phone company to offer a remote monitoring system to businesses, expands a residential initiative that began in late 2006 that offered limited remote monitoring and captured still pictures from a home. For businesses, digital video monitoring at multiple sites is added. “It’s a unique and affordable option for a small business that wants to keep in touch with various locations,” said Steve Loop, executive director for business development at AT&T. “It saves them a lot of time in their day from having to physically go to all of their locations.”

Equipment costs range from $199 for a fixed camera starter kit in a single location to $349 for multiple cameras including ones that will pan or tilt. Monthly monitoring charges range from $9.95 for a single location to $39.95 for five locations.

AT&T’s main competitors in this field, ADT and Digital Witness, charge higher prices and do not offer sensors to control lighting or to monitor temperatures.

The AT&T system is not foolproof, however. As a Web-based service, it is vulnerable to the loss of a broadband connection. If the system fails, the monitor would lose the ability to view locations remotely. “This is not positioned as a security service,” Mr. Loop said.

ADT and Digital Witness’s equipment and services, while more costly than AT&T’s, are able to continue monitoring a business even if a broadband connection fails.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/te...14monitor.html





House Rejects Immunity for Phone Companies in Spy Suits
Anne Broache

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to permit lawsuits that allege the illicit cooperation of telephone and Internet companies with government spy programs.

By a 227-189 vote largely along party lines on Thursday night, politicians approved the Democrat-backed Restore Act. The action, however, promptly renewed veto vows from the White House, which said the proposal "would dangerously weaken our ability to protect the nation from foreign threats."

Congressional Democrats who endorsed the bill disagreed. "Today's bill helps restore the balance between security and liberty," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat, said in a statement after the vote.

The legislation is partially an outgrowth of still-unresolved allegations that U.S. telecommunications companies provided assistance to the National Security Agency's surveillance programs in violation of federal laws since--and possibly even before--the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Bush administration has requested that Congress approve legislation granting retroactive legal immunity to any telecommunications company that aided government spying.

Democratic leaders deny that their bill will make it harder to spy on foreign terrorists, but Republican leaders claim that the bill contains enough loopholes to require a warrant for eavesdropping on Osama bin Laden and other foreign terrorists.

"The bill gives terrorists overseas more rights under the law, than individuals inside the U.S.," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. "That is simply absurd."

Supporters of the House bill say it allows intelligence agents to continue to snoop on foreigners without a warrant and to obtain "basket warrants" for surveilling foreign terrorist organizations.

At the same time, supporters say, the bill will provide additional safeguards for Americans' privacy and more oversight over the shadowy court that's charged with approving eavesdropping requests when one end of the communications belongs to a U.S. person.

The legislation is part of an update to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, that the Bush administration argues is necessary to make intelligence gathering more efficient amid changing technologies.

Now focus will shift to the Senate, where a new battle over the immunity issue is likely to heat up soon.

The House vote arrived just hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved its own spy law rewrite but punted on the issue of whether to approve retroactive immunity for companies with access to electronic communications.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has already approved a different version of that legislation, containing a sweeping provision that would crush all pending lawsuits alleging illegal spying by companies like AT&T and Verizon Communications, as well as any future suits or state utility commission investigations.

The White House has already made it clear it vastly prefers the Senate Intelligence Committee version, but critics say that one gives the executive branch too much unchecked authority to eavesdrop, without a court order, on communications between Americans and people "reasonably believed to be outside the United States."

Both the Senate and House are attempting to craft a more permanent replacement to a Bush administration-backed temporary law called the Protect America Act, which hurriedly passed in Congress in August with what civil-liberties advocates and most Democrats said were insufficient privacy safeguards for Americans. Set to expire in early February, it currently immunizes companies that have cooperated with any government wiretapping regimes since the law was passed.

The existing law, however, does not grant immunity to companies that may have cooperated in the past. The Bush administration has been threatening to veto any bill that does not contain that retroactive protection.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), one of the Restore Act's authors, said the politicians "cannot even begin to consider this request" until they receive administration documents, which they say they requested 10 months ago, describing the telephone companies' activities in more depth.
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_210...3-6218943.html





Definition Changing for People's Privacy
Pamela Hess

As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.

Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information.

Kerr's comments come as Congress is taking a second look at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Lawmakers hastily changed the 1978 law last summer to allow the government to eavesdrop inside the United States without court permission, so long as one end of the conversation was reasonably believed to be located outside the U.S.

The original law required a court order for any surveillance conducted on U.S. soil, to protect Americans' privacy. The White House argued that the law was obstructing intelligence gathering because, as technology has changed, a growing amount of foreign communications passes through U.S.-based channels.

The most contentious issue in the new legislation is whether to shield telecommunications companies from civil lawsuits for allegedly giving the government access to people's private e-mails and phone calls without a FISA court order between 2001 and 2007.

Some lawmakers, including members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, appear reluctant to grant immunity. Suits might be the only way to determine how far the government has burrowed into people's privacy without court permission.

The committee is expected to decide this week whether its version of the bill will protect telecommunications companies. About 40 wiretapping suits are pending.

The central witness in a California lawsuit against AT&T says the government is vacuuming up billions of e-mails and phone calls as they pass through an AT&T switching station in San Francisco.

Mark Klein, a retired AT&T technician, helped connect a device in 2003 that he says diverted and copied onto a government supercomputer every call, e-mail, and Internet site access on AT&T lines.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which filed the class-action suit, claims there are as many as 20 such sites in the U.S.

The White House has promised to veto any bill that does not grant immunity from suits such as this one.

Congressional leaders hope to finish the bill by Thanksgiving. It would replace the FISA update enacted in August that privacy groups and civil libertarians say allows the government to read Americans' e-mails and listen to their phone calls without court oversight.

Kerr said at an October intelligence conference in San Antonio that he finds concerns that the government may be listening in odd when people are ``perfectly willing for a green-card holder at an (Internet service provider) who may or may have not have been an illegal entrant to the United States to handle their data.''

He noted that government employees face up to five years in prison and $100,000 in fines if convicted of misusing private information.

Millions of people in this country - particularly young people - already have surrendered anonymity to social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and to Internet commerce. These sites reveal to the public, government and corporations what was once closely guarded information, like personal statistics and credit card numbers.

``Those two generations younger than we are have a very different idea of what is essential privacy, what they would wish to protect about their lives and affairs. And so, it's not for us to inflict one size fits all,'' said Kerr, 68. ``Protecting anonymity isn't a fight that can be won. Anyone that's typed in their name on Google understands that.''

``Our job now is to engage in a productive debate, which focuses on privacy as a component of appropriate levels of security and public safety,'' Kerr said. ``I think all of us have to really take stock of what we already are willing to give up, in terms of anonymity, but (also) what safeguards we want in place to be sure that giving that doesn't empty our bank account or do something equally bad elsewhere.''

Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group that defends online free speech, privacy and intellectual property rights, said Kerr's argument ignores both privacy laws and American history.

``Anonymity has been important since the Federalist Papers were written under pseudonyms,'' Opsahl said. ``The government has tremendous power: the police power, the ability to arrest, to detain, to take away rights. Tying together that someone has spoken out on an issue with their identity is a far more dangerous thing if it is the government that is trying to tie it together.''

Opsahl also said Kerr ignores the distinction between sacrificing protection from an intrusive government and voluntarily disclosing information in exchange for a service.

``There is something fundamentally different from the government having information about you than private parties,'' he said. ``We shouldn't have to give people the choice between taking advantage of modern communication tools and sacrificing their privacy.''

``It's just another 'trust us, we're the government,''' he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...068964,00.html





In DNA Era, New Worries About Prejudice
Amy Harmon

When scientists first decoded the human genome in 2000, they were quick to portray it as proof of humankind’s remarkable similarity. The DNA of any two people, they emphasized, is at least 99 percent identical.

But new research is exploring the remaining fraction to explain differences between people of different continental origins.

Scientists, for instance, have recently identified small changes in DNA that account for the pale skin of Europeans, the tendency of Asians to sweat less and West Africans’ resistance to certain diseases.

At the same time, genetic information is slipping out of the laboratory and into everyday life, carrying with it the inescapable message that people of different races have different DNA. Ancestry tests tell customers what percentage of their genes are from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. The heart-disease drug BiDil is marketed exclusively to African-Americans, who seem genetically predisposed to respond to it. Jews are offered prenatal tests for genetic disorders rarely found in other ethnic groups.

Such developments are providing some of the first tangible benefits of the genetic revolution. Yet some social critics fear they may also be giving long-discredited racial prejudices a new potency. The notion that race is more than skin deep, they fear, could undermine principles of equal treatment and opportunity that have relied on the presumption that we are all fundamentally equal.

“We are living through an era of the ascendance of biology, and we have to be very careful,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. “We will all be walking a fine line between using biology and allowing it to be abused.”

Certain superficial traits like skin pigmentation have long been presumed to be genetic. But the ability to pinpoint their DNA source makes the link between genes and race more palpable. And on mainstream blogs, in college classrooms and among the growing community of ancestry test-takers, it is prompting the question of whether more profound differences may also be attributed to DNA.

Nonscientists are already beginning to stitch together highly speculative conclusions about the historically charged subject of race and intelligence from the new biological data. Last month, a blogger in Manhattan described a recently published study that linked several snippets of DNA to high I.Q. An online genetic database used by medical researchers, he told readers, showed that two of the snippets were found more often in Europeans and Asians than in Africans.

No matter that the link between I.Q. and those particular bits of DNA was unconfirmed, or that other high I.Q. snippets are more common in Africans, or that hundreds or thousands of others may also affect intelligence, or that their combined influence might be dwarfed by environmental factors. Just the existence of such genetic differences between races, proclaimed the author of the Half Sigma blog, a 40-year-old software developer, means “the egalitarian theory,” that all races are equal, “is proven false.”

Though few of the bits of human genetic code that vary between individuals have yet to be tied to physical or behavioral traits, scientists have found that roughly 10 percent of them are more common in certain continental groups and can be used to distinguish people of different races. They say that studying the differences, which arose during the tens of thousands of years that human populations evolved on separate continents after their ancestors dispersed from humanity’s birthplace in East Africa, is crucial to mapping the genetic basis for disease.

But many geneticists, wary of fueling discrimination and worried that speaking openly about race could endanger support for their research, are loath to discuss the social implications of their findings. Still, some acknowledge that as their data and methods are extended to nonmedical traits, the field is at what one leading researcher recently called “a very delicate time, and a dangerous time.”

“There are clear differences between people of different continental ancestries,” said Marcus W. Feldman, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University. “It’s not there yet for things like I.Q., but I can see it coming. And it has the potential to spark a new era of racism if we do not start explaining it better.”

Dr. Feldman said any finding on intelligence was likely to be exceedingly hard to pin down. But given that some may emerge, he said he wanted to create “ready response teams” of geneticists to put such socially fraught discoveries in perspective.

The authority that DNA has earned through its use in freeing falsely convicted inmates, preventing disease and reconstructing family ties leads people to wrongly elevate genetics over other explanations for differences between groups.

“I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life researching how much genetic variability there is between populations,” said Dr. David Altshuler, director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. “But living in America, it is so clear that the economic and social and educational differences have so much more influence than genes. People just somehow fixate on genetics, even if the influence is very small.”

But on the Half Sigma blog and elsewhere, the conversation is already flashing forward to what might happen if genetically encoded racial differences in socially desirable — or undesirable — traits are identified.

“If I were to believe the ‘facts’ in this post, what should I do?” one reader responded on Half Sigma. “Should I advocate discrimination against blacks because they are less smart? Should I not hire them to my company because odds are I could find a smarter white person? Stop trying to prove that one group of people are genetically inferior to your group. Just stop.”

Renata McGriff, 52, a health care consultant who had been encouraging black clients to volunteer genetic information to scientists, said she and other African-Americans have lately been discussing “opting out of genetic research until it’s clear we’re not going to use science to validate prejudices.”

“I don’t want the children in my family to be born thinking they are less than someone else based on their DNA,” added Ms. McGriff, of Manhattan.

Such discussions are among thousands that followed the geneticist James D. Watson’s assertion last month that Africans are innately less intelligent than other races. Dr. Watson, a Nobel Prize winner, subsequently apologized and quit his post at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island.

But the incident has added to uneasiness about whether society is prepared to handle the consequences of science that may eventually reveal appreciable differences between races in the genes that influence socially important traits.

New genetic information, some liberal critics say, could become the latest rallying point for a conservative political camp that objects to social policies like affirmative action, as happened with “The Bell Curve,” the controversial 1994 book that examined the relationship between race and I.Q.

Yet even some self-described liberals argue that accepting that there may be genetic differences between races is important in preparing to address them politically.

“Let’s say the genetic data says we’ll have to spend two times as much for every black child to close the achievement gap,” said Jason Malloy, 28, an artist in Madison, Wis., who wrote a defense of Dr. Watson for the widely read science blog Gene Expression. Society, he said, would need to consider how individuals “can be given educational and occupational opportunities that work best for their unique talents and limitations.”

Others hope that the genetic data may overturn preconceived notions of racial superiority by, for example, showing that Africans are innately more intelligent than other groups. But either way, the increased outpouring of conversation on the normally taboo subject of race and genetics has prompted some to suggest that innate differences should be accepted but, at some level, ignored.

“Regardless of any such genetic variation, it is our moral duty to treat all as equal before God and before the law,” Perry Clark, 44, wrote on a New York Times blog. It is not necessary, argued Dr. Clark, a retired neonatologist in Leawood, Kan., who is white, to maintain the pretense that inborn racial differences do not exist.

“When was the last time a nonblack sprinter won the Olympic 100 meters?” he asked.

“To say that such differences aren’t real,” Dr. Clark later said in an interview, “is to stick your head in the sand and go blah blah blah blah blah until the band marches by.”

Race, many sociologists and anthropologists have argued for decades, is a social invention historically used to justify prejudice and persecution. But when Samuel M. Richards gave his students at Pennsylvania State University genetic ancestry tests to establish the imprecision of socially constructed racial categories, he found the exercise reinforced them instead.

One white-skinned student, told she was 9 percent West African, went to a Kwanzaa celebration, for instance, but would not dream of going to an Asian cultural event because her DNA did not match, Dr. Richards said. Preconceived notions of race seemed all the more authentic when quantified by DNA.

“Before, it was, ‘I’m white because I have white skin and grew up in white culture,’ ” Dr. Richards said. “Now it’s, ‘I really know I’m white, so white is this big neon sign hanging over my head.’ It’s like, oh, no, come on. That wasn’t the point.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/us/11dna.html





Fifty States Face Voting Machine Lawsuits; “Uncounted” Documents DRE Issues
Christine Anne Piesyk

Business as usual will not be the norm over the next 48 hours as Secretaries of State in all fifty states will each receive subpoenas in the National Clean Election lawsuit, according to an announcement made Monday night by activist Bernie Ellis at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville. There is still time, Ellis said, to require a paper trail for the 2008 election.

The announcement was made in a panel discussion following the sold out Nashville premiere of the David Earnhardt film, Uncounted [The Movie], which ended with a standing ovation for its writer/director. The documentary film addressed the issue of voting machine error/failure, the need for a paper trail of votes, the political and business ties between government officials and manufacturers of these DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines, and the ease of tampering with such machine and “flipping” votes that are electronically counted.

“I cannot think of anything more important than to save the core of our democracy — the vote! — David Earnhardt

The film also reviewed extensive cases of mechanical errors, lost votes, voters turned away from polls, incomplete ballots and the installation of uncertified software into voting machine reported from across the nation.

“The lawsuit aims to establish that all computer systems (or other systems) which hide the ballots from the people for even a short period of time before the count is accomplished and the results are posted – are unconstitutional…

“The lawsuit argues persuasively … that the use of computer and machine election systems violate each citizen’s right to vote, as defined at least twice by the Supreme Court of the United States. ”

– Jim Condit Jr., NetworkAmerica.

The lawsuit is aimed at prohibiting the use of all types of vote counting machines, and requiring hand-counting of all primary and general election ballots in full view of the public. The lawsuit has raised significant constitutional questions challenging the generally accepted practices of state election officials of relying on “black box” voting machines to record and count the votes at each polling station, and allow tallying of votes by election officials outside the view of the general public. In many cases, states have officially authorized voting “systems” that leave virtually no paper trail from which to audit the vote. [We The People Foundation].

Ellis said that regardless of what voters are being told, there is still time to pass legislation that would mandate voter verifiable paper ballots in 2008. The Tennessee Voter Confidence Act of 2007 [Senate Bill 1363/House Bill 1256], sponsored by Senator Joe Haynes and Rep. Gary Moore, mandates a paper trail.

“Today in Tennessee, 93 of our 95 counties use nonverifiable, paperless touch-screen voting machines . In 2006, over one in every six Tennessee counties reported problems with this equipment. Our state is not alone, but (sadly) it is now one of the worst states for voting security and accountability in this nation.” — Bernie Ellis

What began as lawsuits in ten keys states including Iowa, Ohio, New York and Florida has burgeoned into a nationwide effort. Earnhardt’s film, which was ignored by corporate media during this world premiere, exposes the vulnerability in current technology of voting machines, or at least, the lack of oversight in acquiring and using them without hacking, flipping or under/overcounting votes, and other problems. Earnhardt asked why, when it is so easy to get a printed receipt from anything from an ATM machine to the drive-through register at a Krispy Kreme, it should be so difficult to get a verifiable voting machine receipt.

The lawsuit seeks an Order from the Court prohibiting the use of all voting machines and to force election officials to instead utilize paper ballots and to count and total all votes by hand, always in full view of the public. Plaintiffs from all fifty states have signed on to the lawsuit.

In the question and answer period following the screening, an Iraq veteran said he had pledged to protect his country “from all enemies foreign and domestic” and viewed the issues of voting machines as a domestic threat to voters across the country.
http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/200...ts-dre-issues/





Most at NYU Say their Vote has a Price
Lily Quateman

Two-thirds say they'll do it for a year's tuition. And for a few, even an iPod touch will do.

That's what NYU students said they'd take in exchange for their right to vote in the next presidential election, a recent survey by an NYU journalism class found.

Only 20 percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPod touch.

But 66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.

But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."

Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.

"The part that I find amazing is that so many folks think one vote can make a difference," Sociology Department Chairman Dalton Conley said. He added, "If we take them at their word, then perhaps they really think votes matter, and that's why someone might pay a year's tuition to buy theirs."

Sixty percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for tuition also described their families' income as upper-middle or high.

Their reasons for giving up their votes varied.

"At the moment, no candidate who truly represents my political beliefs has a chance of winning a presidential election," one male junior studying film and television at the Tisch School of the Arts wrote on the survey.

"It is very easy to convince myself that my vote is not essential," wrote a female CAS sophomore. "After all, I'm from New York, which will always be a blue state."

Other students wrote that they were disgusted by the thought.

"I would be reversing history — a lot of people fought so that every citizen could be enfranchised," said a female in her second year at the Stern School of Business.

One CAS junior went even further, writing that "anyone who'd sell his lifelong right to vote should be deported."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/6892.html





Study Compares States’ Math and Science Scores With Other Countries’
Sam Dillon

American students even in low-performing states like Alabama do better on math and science tests than students in most foreign countries, including Italy and Norway, according to a new study released yesterday. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that students in Singapore and several other Asian countries significantly outperform American students, even those in high-achieving states like Massachusetts, the study found.

“In this case, the bad news trumps the good because our Asian economic competitors are winning the race to prepare students in math and science,” said the study’s author, Gary W. Phillips, chief scientist at the American Institutes of Research, a nonprofit independent scientific research firm.

The study equated standardized test scores of eighth-grade students in each of the 50 states with those of their peers in 45 countries. Experts said it was the first such effort to link standardized test scores, state by state, with scores from other nations.

Gage Kingsbury, the chief research and development officer at the Northwest Evaluation Association, a group in Oregon that carries out testing in 2,700 school districts, praised the study’s methodology but said “a flock of difficulties” made it hazardous to compare test results from one country to another and from one state to another. “Kids don’t start school at the same age in different countries,” he said. “Not all kids are in school in grade eight, and the percentage differs from country to country.”

Because of such differences, Dr. Kingsbury said, it would be a mistake to infer too much about the relative rigor of the educational systems across the states and nations in the study based merely on test score differences.

The scores for students in the United States came from tests administered by the federal Department of Education in most states in 2005 and 2007. For foreign students, the scores came from math and science tests administered worldwide in 2003, as part of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, known as the Timss.

Concern that science and math achievement was not keeping pace with the nation’s economic competitors had been building even before the most recent Timss survey, in which the highest-performing nations were Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan. American students lagged far behind those nations, but earned scores that were comparable to peers in European nations like Slovakia and Estonia, and were well above countries like Egypt, Chile and Saudi Arabia.

The Timss survey gives each country a metric by which to compare its educational attainment with other nations’. The nationwide American test, known as the National Assessments of Educational Progress, allows policy makers in each state to compare their students’ results with those in other states.

The new study used statistical linking to compare scores on the national assessment, state by state, with other nations’ scores on the Timss. Dr. Phillips, who from 1999 to 2002 led the agency of the Department of Education that administers the national assessment, likened the methodology to what economists do when they convert international currencies into dollars to compare poverty levels across various countries, for instance.

On the most recent national assessment, the highest-performing state in math was Massachusetts, and in science, North Dakota. The new study shows that average math achievement in Massachusetts was lower than in the leading Asian nations and in Belgium, but higher than in 40 other countries, including Australia, Russia, England and Israel.

Mississippi was the lowest-performing state in both math and science. In math, Mississippi students’ achievement was comparable to those of peers in Bulgaria and Moldova, and in science, to those in Norway and Romania.

In math, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York students were roughly equivalent with each other and with their peers in Australia, the Netherlands and Hungary.

The study’s contribution is the high-level perspective it offers on the nation’s education system, a bit the way a satellite image highlights the nation’s topography, said Thomas Toch, a co-director of Education Sector, an independent policy group.

“It shows we’re not doing as badly as some say,” Mr. Toch said. “We’re in the top half of the table, and a number of states are outperforming the majority of the nations in the study. But our performance in math and science lags behind that of the front-running Asian nations.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/14/ed...4students.html





Gene Simmons: College Kids Killed Music Biz

Gene Simmons is a busy man. The legendary KISS founder fills his time with a variety of projects. There's filming for "Gene Simmons Family Jewels," the reality show entering its third season on A&E. And there's an animated show on Nickelodeon called "My Dad the Rock Star."

Simmons is writing his third book -- "Ladies of the Night," a "personal and historical overview" on the profession of prostitution -- coming this spring via his own publishing company, Simmons Books. He also has Simmons Comics, with three comic book series based on characters he's created. The list goes on.

Simmons recently chatted with Billboard about KISS and the music industry.

You've Got The Third Series Of The Kissology DVD Coming Out Next Month. Is There Much More We Can Expect Coming?

There'll be 10. No one -- and that includes the Beatles and Elvis -- can touch our (KISS') merchandising and licensing. Nobody. Outside of the music world, it's only Disney and Lucas. But in the music world, they can't shine our shoes.

Any Touring Plans?

We'll tour a few dates next year. We don't have anything to prove to anybody or do press to convince anybody we're important. We're doing KISS festivals around the Indy car racing series. Simmons Abramson Marketing (his business partnership with entertainment industry veteran Richard Abramson) markets and brands Indy cars. I came up with the I Am Indy brand, by the way. They go on the night before. We'll do 15 dates or so. We'll also go to Australia and New Zealand and maybe to four to six shows -- but nothing comprehensive until we feel like it.

It Has Been Nine Years Since We've Seen A New KISS Album. Any Plans To Get Back Into The Studio?

The record industry is in such a mess. I called for what it was when college kids first started download music for free -- that they were crooks. I told every record label I spoke with that they just lit the fuse to their own bomb that was going to explode from under them and put them on the street.

There is nothing in me that wants to go in there and do new music. How are you going to deliver it? How are you going to get paid for it if people can just get it for free? I will be putting out a Gene Simmons box set called "Monster" -- a collection of 150 unreleased songs. KISS will have another box set of unreleased music in the next year.

The record industry doesn't have a f---ing clue how to make money. It's only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there's no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid's face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work. How can you pick on them? They've got freckles. That's a crook. He may as well be wearing a bandit's mask.

Doesn't affect me. But imagine being a new band with dreams of getting on stage and putting out your own record. Forget it.

But Some Artists Like Radiohead And Trent Reznor Are Trying To Find A New Business MODEL.

That doesn't count. You can't pick on one person as an exception. And that's not a business model that works. I open a store and say "Come on in and pay whatever you want." Are you on f---ing crack? Do you really believe that's a business model that works?

So What If Music Just Becomes Free And Artists Make Their Living Off Of Touring And Merchandise?

Well therein lies the most stupid mistake anybody can make. The most important part is the music. Without that, why would you care? Even the idea that you're considering giving the music away for free makes it easier to give it away for free. The only reason why gold is expensive is because we all agree that it is. There's no real use for it, except we all agree and abide by the idea that gold costs a certain amount per ounce. As soon as you give people the choice to deviate from it, you have chaos and anarchy. And that's what going on.
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/new...T-KISS-COL.XML





Judge Orders RIAA to Show Cause in DC Case
NewYorkCountryLawyer

The RIAA's "bumpy ride" in its "ex parte" litigation campaign against college students just got a whole lot bumpier. After reading the motion to quash filed by a George Washington University student, the Judge took it upon herself to issue an order to show cause. The order now requires the plaintiffs to show cause, no later than November 29th, why the ex parte order she'd signed at the RIAA's request should not be vacated. She's also requested information showing why her ruling should not be applicable not only to John Doe #3, but to all the other John Does as well. p2pnet called this a "potentially huge setback" for the recording companies.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/17/0229238





Allard: The Failures of the Zune and the Record Labels
Saul Hansell

I posted a few excerpts from my conversation earlier this week with J Allard of Microsoft about the company’s grand plans and its ideas about cellphones.

What about Zune itself, the music player that Mr. Allard oversees? The technology press dismissed the first generation, introduced a year ago, as a non-event. The second generation, which hit the market this week, is getting mixed reviews.

Before I met with Mr. Allard, I spoke with Chris Stephenson, the head of marketing for Zune. He was in his own way convincing that Zune hadn’t been a total flop. The first line sold 1.2 million, making it No. 2 to Apple. That is a distant No. 2, as Apple has about three-quarters of the market — that is, if you define the category as music players with hard drives. In North America, Apple had a share of 75 percent in the category to Microsoft’s 15 percent.

Of course, smaller players with flash memory account for three-quarters of the roughly 40 million music players to be sold this year. So earlier this week Microsoft added cheaper Flash Zunes to its line. And Mr. Stephenson said the company hopes to displace Sandisk as the second-ranked vendor of MP3 players next year.

“Fifteen percent [market share] would be great for us,” he said.

When I spoke to Mr. Allard, he was up front about Microsoft’s slow start. But he defended the approach of “fail fast” and learn. And in typical Microsoft fashion, he talked about the first generations of Zune as early moves in a long-term strategy. (That Xbox actually has become successful, unlike many recent Microsoft efforts, bolsters his credibility on this somewhat.)

And he was equally frank about the idea that the main ways that Microsoft sells music — on behalf of the major record labels — don’t really work in today’s world. He said he expects much music to be free, probably accompanied by advertising. He didn’t have much to say about what sort of advertising, but figuring that out is now a priority in light of Microsoft’s $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive, an online ad firm.

Here are some of his comments related to the Zune and the music industry.
The less-than-enthusiastic response to the first generation of Zunes was an important learning experience.

I’m a big believer in failing fast… If we skipped last year, we would have never come out with the product we did this year… We learned that because of the shortfalls in the PC client [software], the device was less useful… People hated that there was no podcasts, that they couldn’t fill their cultural cache [the Zune] with the stuff that was meaningful to them.

We would not have added Wi-Fi sync [a feature that adds music to the Zune over a wireless network]. That’s not a very sexy feature to demo. If you are out for a run, your girl comes home and rips 5 new CDs on the PC upstairs. You come back home, dock your device and make some risotto. When you go out for a run the next day, the CDs magically appear. That’s cool. The confidence that NPR is always going to be there. That’s cool.
For tracks purchased, digital rights management systems (of which Microsoft is the leading provider) have failed for consumers.

People are unhappy with DRM download-to-own. If I buy a track with DRM and it has fewer rights than the CD, that is where people get their nose out of joint. There is no art, no track information, no liner notes. I can’t sell it for four bucks to buy a burrito if I’m hungry. [The Zune marketplace sells tracks in MP3 format for labels that allow it.]
Music subscription services are very promising. But the music labels have hurt them, imposing too many restrictions. (Microsoft’s Zune Pass service costs $15 a month to load any of 3 million songs onto the Zune Player).

It is easy to get subscriptions right, if we could reinvent rights. If we had full rights to every piece of music recorded since the beginning of time, and we could choose what to do with it, we could build a dynamite service….

It would be free and available on every device…. There would be advertising. Or it would be a loss leader to a higher value proposition.
Record labels are simply going to have to change what business they are in.

The music industry is very healthy. The record industry is the problem. The notion that the only way to monetize artist creation is 10 songs that come out every 18 months, in a package called an album — the classic record model — isn’t what it used to be. [Musicians can profit from] reality shows. Fashion. Maybe I release five or six tracks and the rest comes in a paid subscription, that is basically a fan club…. Most labels are going to become management companies [making money from booking concerts, etc. rather than selling CDs.] There will be a lot of pain.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/1...els/index.html





Exploded iPod Encased in Glass, and Still Works!
Chillybasen

I love exploded diagrams of objects where you see every piece of the thing. I had the idea to try and make a real life version of one, and picked my iPod to be the victim. The catch was, I wanted it to work even in its exploded form.



It's actually a resin, not glass. I also embedded the internals of the dock on the bottom. That's how I can control it, charge it, and listen to it (and why there are lego support legs for the photos.). The bubbles happened during a mistake on my last pour, but a lot of people have now told me they like the serendipitous addition.
http://anerroroccurredwhileprocessin...d-still-works/





Warner Music Chief has Epiphany, Praises Apple
Slash Lane

Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman this week conceded that the music industry is partly to blame for the proliferation of illegal music sharing and -- in an apparent change of heart -- suggested that his peers in the mobile industry could learn a lot from Apple.

Speaking at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau this week, Bronfman warned mobile operators against making the same mistake that the music industry made.

"We used to fool ourselves," he said. "We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

MacUser, which reported on Bronfman's comments, said the executive told mobile operators they presently face the same risk, as fewer than 10 percent of cell phone owners buy music on their phones, and the majority of those who do are only buying ringtones.

"The sad truth is that most of what consumers are being offered today on the mobile platform is boring, banal and basic," he said. "People want a more interesting form of mobile music content. They want it to be easy to buy with a single click - yes, a single click, not a dozen. And they want access to it, quickly and easily, wherever they are. 24/7. Any player in the mobile value chain who thinks they can provide less than a great experience for consumers and remain competitive is fooling themselves."

Bronfman, who had criticized Apple in the past over its iTunes pricing model and revenue share demands, even went as far as to suggest that operators follow the Cupertino-based company's lead in simplicity and catering to the demands of consumers.

"For years now, Warner Music has been offering a choice to consumers at Apple's iTunes Store the option to purchase something more than just single tracks, which constitute the mainstay of that store's sales," he continued. "By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variation we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We've sold tons of them. And with Apple's co-operation to make discovering, accessing and purchasing these products even more seamless and intuitive, we'll be offering many, many more of these products going forward."

The Warner Music chief went on to praise Apple for its "beautifully designed" iPhone which includes "brilliantly written software." It has a "spectacular user interface" that "throws all the accepted notions about pricing, billing platforms and brand loyalty right out the window," he said.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ses_apple.html





First 6 Takes on Zune 80 (Verdict: Better Than iPod Classic?)

The $249 Zune 80 is Microsoft's latest attempt to kick the iPod in the nuts, praying to crack Jobs' titanium-diamond alloy cup through Wi-Fi features and a touch of divine intervention. CNET, Wired, Dean Takahashi, PCWorld and YahooTech struck first with reviews on the new device. Their verdicts? The cup has not yet been breeched, but Microsoft is making very solid improvements on the brand.

PCMag
We'll just come out and say it: The 80GB Zune trumps the iPod Classic...For the same $250 price as the 80GB iPod classic, the new Zune 80GB offers a much larger screen, FM radio, wireless player-to-player sharing, Wi-Fi syncing with your PC, and a rear panel that can be customized with some cool artwork--for free. Simply put, Apple is no longer the leader in the realm of hard drive-based players. While the Zune 80GB and the iPod classic are both outstanding devices, the Zune has more features--and it's more fun.

CNET
The 80GB Zune cuts a much slimmer figure than its bricklike older brother. Measuring 4.3 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.5 inch deep, Microsoft shaved some considerable bulk off the Zune's thickness, while nearly tripling its capacity...we believe the latest crop of Zunes should finally take hold as a true iPod alternative. (83/100)

PCWorld
All of the new Zunes are built around a rounded touch-sensitive control that also doubles as a clickable d-pad-style controler, much like the Click Wheel on Apple's iPods. Flick your thumb up or down the pad repeatedly, and you begin to build up momentum while scrolling through long lists. At any time, you can tap to stop the scrolling, though it will eventually come to stop naturally. In my experience, it's a very fun way to navigate through a music collection, even in a long view of artists on the 80GB player...All in all, the 80GB Zune is a decent choice as an 80GB MP3 player. (no score at this time)

Wired
Video performance is very good, with the screen size really helping...Battery life didn't meet the published specs of 20 hours for music and 4 hours for video with the Wi-Fi turned off. My rundown test on music was 18 hours, and video was 3.5 hours, which is, you know, fine.... Would I recommend the Zune? Yeah, I think I would. If you're not invested in the iPod/iTunes ecosystem, it's the most polished competitor I've used to date. Especially if you're looking for a subscription service, the integration of player and service just crushes everyone else. (6/10)

YahooTech
...the most innovative new feature on the Zune: wireless syncing. Setup was a piece of cake: you just connect the Zune to your PC via USB, fire up the Zune software, and enable wireless syncing under the Settings menu. If your system is already connected to a wireless network, those settings are transferred to the Zune automatically—no need to key in the access point name or password...automatic syncing only works when the Zune is plugged into its charging dock. Overall, I thought wireless syncing worked pretty seamlessly, and I loved being able to sync new songs and playlists over the air (why can't the iPhone or the iPod Touch do this?)

Dean Takahashi
The Zune Marketplace website looks better than iTunes because it feels less like a spreadsheet. It still uses the MTV Urge back-end but is completely redesigned.... All of these things represent improvements that allow Microsoft to claim that it is going its own way. Clearly, they aren't copying Apple...At this rate of improvement, Microsoft will be a contender. But it has a long way to go before it keeps Steve Jobs up at night.

- Zune fans should be happy with the improvements, but even more, that the big new features are software based and free for everyone.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/frankenre...sic-321510.php





The Weekend Techie's Holiday Gift Guide
Buzz McClain

Special to the Star-Telegram
You think you get a lot of catalogs this time of year? You should see MY stack. And I actually turn the pages. Here, in this special edition of the Weekend Techie, I share some of the newest and nuttiest things I've discovered that might help you with your holiday shopping list, or at least inspire some comfort-zone pushing of your own.

All of these items are just a few mouse clicks and credit-card charges away.

The Selk'bag

This is one of those "why didn't I think of that" head-slapping products that make you ponder exactly how many uses -- fanciful and practical -- the thing might have. Chilean graphic designer Rodrigo Alonso Schramm has made a sleeping bag YOU WEAR LIKE PAJAMAS! Just like any sleeping bag, it's a nylon shell filled with poly fiber -- boasting a minus-8.4 Celsius rating -- but it's also netted with a web of belts and zippers that custom-fit it to your arms, legs and torso. There are vents in case you get a bit warm. Camping, sleepovers, waiting in line for Halo IV ... Small, medium and large in yellow or green for a mere $180. There's no U.S. distributor yet, but try www.pebble27.com, or www.lazyboneuk.com.

Now & Zen Bamboo Digital Alarm Clock

This is one for the spouse with the obnoxious alarm clock -- the one that gets YOUR day off to a needlessly nerve-jarring start. There's a hand-tuned acoustic chime -- not an electronic buzzer -- that wakes you up with a 10-minute series of chime strikes. The sustainable bamboo box is elegant; the digital clock inside is mellow. Two models, $99.90 and $109.95; now-zen.com.

The Bevy by mophie

It's a protective case for that teeny, tiny second-generation 1 GB iPod Shuffle, and while it keeps the player safe, it also is a key chain. And it sprouts its own ear buds. But wait! That's not all. It's also a bottle opener! $15; www.mophie.com

Lego Monster Dino

The folks at Lego never quit. Now comes this three-in-one dinosaur that operates by remote control. There are two motors you build in, and the thing walks and roars when you activate the control. Some assembly required -- duh. $89.99; see lego.com for a store locator.

The Vectrix

The expression "whatever blows your hair back" describes this sleek, sexy 462-pound set of citywise wheels to a T (though we strongly suggest a helmet in this case). Not only does it go from zero to 50 in 6.8 seconds, you don't take it to the gas station for refueling. Instead, you plug it into a standard 110-volt outlet for two to three hours. As good as you'll feel about saving cash at the pump, you'll feel even better knowing this maxi-scooter (it tops out at 62 mph even though it looks like a racer) is a zero-emissions vehicle. We hope you haven't sent that letter to Santa yet. $11,000; see myvectrix.com for a preview.

Concerto Table

Designers Demain Repucci and Nick Lovegrove have created a table that tricks the eye as well as the ear. At first blush the sleek 6-foot-long poplar and steel table appears to be a baby grand piano, and until you put chairs around it, the illusion is convincing. But it's also an iPod docking station, and an elegant one at that, with two hidden 50-watt speakers and a remote control. It also has a hidden drawer for cutlery and the center leaf props up for the full piano effect. Bright white or black high-gloss enamel. $14,000; lovegroverepucci.com.

NRG Phoenix Fury Potato Chips

This is all you need to know about these: caffeinated snack food! Finally, salty snacks that keep your head in the game and not on the sofa pillow. Taurine, caffeine and B vitamins -- and potato, don't forget potato -- is served up in spicy hot bits. $29.70 for a box of 30 1.75-ounce bags; www.nrgsnax.com.

Breath Palette Toothpaste

You asked for it, you got it. Well, maybe you didn't ask for it, but Santa Claus thinks you might like this anyway. It's an elegantly presented box of 32 flavors of sugar- and alcohol-free toothpaste. Did you ever think you'd brush your teeth with Kyoto Style Tea toothpaste? Or L'Espresso? Or -- what were they thinking? -- Indian curry? Don't worry: We're assured the taste is a fleeting fragrance that gives the impression of the flavor before providing a menthol finish. That would be worth the money right there. There's also a line of Breath Palette Water mouthwash. Combo boxes of five start at $21.99; breathpalette.com.

Lighted Knitting Needles

Is there someone on your holiday gift list who is always complaining about not being able to knit, crochet or use scissors in the dark? No? No matter, the KnitLite, CrochetLite and ScissorLite line of craft tools illuminated with LED lights is pretty clever, not to mention handy. Batteries included. Prices range from $5.99 to $19.99; www.knitlite .com.

The Komfort Pets Carrier

You know how hot it gets in these parts in, oh, about March? How would you like to be covered in fur and toted around in the Texas heat? Of course you wouldn't, and neither would your dog. Which is why Komfort came up with this climate-controlled pet carrier. The carrier automatically changes interior temperature that complements the natural body temperature regulation of the dog. The crate works off a 110-volt outlet with a 12-volt DC converter, or by means of the power outlet in your car, truck, boat or plane. Several sizes and colors, including camouflage for hunting. Up to $399; komfortpets.com

'GALLOP!': A Scanimation picture book

You know those newspapers in the Harry Potter movies, the ones in which the photographs move on the printed paper? Well, don't look now, but that technology is here. The new children's book Gallop! uses "Scanimation" artwork to help tell the story; when you turn the page the pictures remain in continuous, multiphase motion. A turtle swims up the page. A butterfly flutters. And the titular horse gallops. Magic? Check it out and see. $12.95; www.workman.com.

Sumseeds

This is all you need to know about Sumseeds: Caffeinated sunflower seeds. Never nod off in the dugout again with these potent bits of taurine, lysine and ginseng on roasted sunflower seeds. From $4.95 for 3.5 ounces to $29.95 for a 12-pack; sumseeds .com.
Zilopop, aka Smellkiller

This is the gift for that coworker who has everything -- including bad breath! This stainless steel lollipop is activated when it comes in contact with saliva, at which point some sort of molecular transformation takes place and your breath is neutralized. It comes with an attractive -- or at least, handy -- neck lanyard. $13; frielingmall.frieling.com

Mark-My-Time Digital Bookmark

Does everything have to be digital? Even bookmarks? This one not only keeps your child's place in her book but it also records how much time she's spent reading, using a countdown timer with an alarm; there's a cumulative timer that tracks daily reading time. $8.95; mark-my-time.com.

The Plastic Surgeon

Just about everything comes encased in a tear-resistant, hard-bodied clamshell case. Those dangerous things develop sharp edges when you try to rip them open with scissors and they can ruin Christmas morning. Now comes the Plastic Surgeon (which gets props for having a clever name): The tool, made with surgical-grade stainless steel, is designed to open the hardest clamshells in one easy motion. Tellingly, it comes in -- yes -- a clamshell package. $8.95; plasticsurgeonopener .com
http://www.star-telegram.com/408/story/298861.html





Top 10 P2P File Sharing Softwares

1. µTorrent is an efficient BitTorrent client, designed for Windows. It needs as little CPU, memory and space as possible and offers good functionality that advanced clients expect. It has most of the features present in other BitTorrent clients. There are various icon, toolbar graphic and status icon replacements available.

2. StrongDC++ is a free client for sharing in Direct Connect network. It is based on CZDC++ and has partial file sharing, download/upload speed limiter, safe segmented downloading and other interesting features. StrongDC++ is an Open Source so you can download a source code and modify it.

3. eMule is one of the biggest p2p file sharing clients around the world. It is based on the eDonkey2000 network but offers more features than the standard client. eMule is easy to configure, but also, with many options and controls, good for the advanced user. Thanks to its open source policy many developers are able to contribute to the project, making the network more efficient with each release.

4. LimeWire is a free file sharing Gnutella client for Windows, Mac, OSX, Linux. It allows you to search for multiple files at the same time and it is compatible with all major platforms and running over the Gnutella network. LimeWire is a fast, easy-to-use and open source code, so is freely available to the public.

5. Soulseek is an ad-free, spyware-free, just plain free file sharing application. It is good p2p software for finding non-mainstream music. It was created by a former Napster programmer, Nir Arbel. It's virtual rooms allow you to meet people with the same interests, share information, and chat, so it is a great way to make new friends.

6. Azureus implements the BitTorrent protocol using java language. It comes with many features for both beginners and advanced users. Multiple torrent downloads, upload and download speed limiting, advanced seeding rules, only uses one port for all the torrents, and others. Azureus has many useful plugins and supported languages.

7. Shareaza is a multi-network peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing client supporting Gnutella2, Gnutella, eDonkey2000 (eMule), HTTP, FTP and BitTorrent protocols. It has the ability to simultaneously download parts of the same file from multiple networks. Shareaza is the most sophisticated file sharing system you will find on the network.

8. Ares is a free open source file sharing program that enables users to share any digital file. It has powerful library organizer, built-in audio/video player, filesharing chat rooms. Ares automatically finds more sources and downloads files from many users at once.

9. BitComet is a BitTorrent client, which is powerful, fast and very easy-to-use. It supports simultaneous downloads, download queuing, selected downloads inside a torrent package, fast-resume, speed limits, port mapping, peer exchange and IP filtering. BitComet available in 43 different languages and the current preview release comes bundled with the BitComet FLV Player.

10. KCeasy is a windows p2p free and open source file sharing software which uses giFT. Its plugins allow giFT to support different kinds of file sharing networks. KCeasy is giving you all the files on Gnutella, Ares and OpenFT. KCeasy works only on windows but there are similar programs for other platforms.
http://www.techlicious.tv/2007/11/to...softwares.html





Retroshare V0.3.52a
toni66

Quote:
Retroshare V0.3.52a: Improvements:

New improved search system.
New Translations.
Fixed Bugs in UPnP
Can now remove Shared Directories.
Attached the 'Recommend to' Context Menus.
New Timestamps in Chats / Messages.
Notification of Offline Peer in Chats.
Example Games (not networked yet)
Updated About Text.

Download:
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ret...52A_setup.exe?
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ret...bian_etch.deb?
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ret...ntu_gutsy.deb?
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/ret...-v0.3.52a.tgz?

http://www.p2p-zone.com/underground/...ad.php?t=24318





What’s on Tonight? Just Tape it Off the Internet
Mike Butcher

Paul Cleghorn sent a ripple of sniggers through the crowd.

At an NMK event called Aggregators and Upsetters, the Tape It Off The Internet co-founder was amusing those assembled with what appeared to be a ‘laid-back designer’ attitude to the labyrinthine world of file-sharing and commercial downloading that is filling out the “edge” of the Internet with video content today. “We’ll work it out,” he said casually.

But despite appearances, his thesis was deadly serious. TV’s ad-funded model, he believed, meant that the transition to online was going to be a different kettle of fish to the bloodbath that had met the music industry when it refused to address online.

When we meet last week, deep in the bowels of London’s Adam Street club, he repeated that view: “TV has always been an ad-funded medium so we’re looking at helping that exist online. TIOTI will be a lab to test that theory and test out new ideas.”

And it looks like he’s is going to get every opportunity to do so. Since being written up in the mainstream press recently, TIOTI has seen a wave of sign-ups to its beta phase. So many in fact, that Paul woke up to find over 1,000 emails in his in-box after Telewest went down for a day at his house.

It seems TIOTI’s aim to be the first TV-based “social media aggregator” may prove more popular than that convoluted name suggests. Already it seems to be tapping into a pent-up desire among users to share and discover TV shows, employing several Web 2.0 techniques like tagging and user ratings.

The back-story to all this will touch a familiar chord with anyone who has watched TV and realised how the global release schedule of shows is anathema to the new Internet economy. The 33 year-old Cleghorn was inspired to start work on TIOTI when he became frustrated that the US drama The West Wing took so long to be aired in the UK. He rightly surmised that instead of going though the legal hassle of hosting the actual video, a good way to start would be to simply pull feeds from BitTorrent search engines, Apple’s iTunes Store and the burgeoning range of downloadable TV sources.

He designed the site a year ago when BitTorrent was the main source of online TV. However, as he says, “This year has been a complete turnaround and the TV networks and rights owners are now realising the long tail of TV can be something you can make money out of. TV is such a wasteful industry and they are realising the costs of entry in terms of offering content online are now so low that they can easily release the shows. Which validates Chris Anderson’s Long tail theory right there.”

TIOTI started as a development blog, which talked about information architecture in terms of tagging versus monolithic directories. After a while the site was turned into a holding page with a sign-up email field and the company was founded in 2005.

But real work began in March this year with a team of developers in the Ukraine (”The best mix of European sensibilities and the price is better” says Cleghorn). Everything to date has been done on a “sweat equity” basis. In the all-important realm of funding, TIOTI is currently negotiating with more than one unnamed potential investor with a view to securing funding for marketing and the next stage of development.

Cleghorn has co-founded the company - which is a US entity - with a Seattle-based colleague, Marc Colando, whom he met in London during the heady days of the Razorfish web agency.

Cleghorn only quit his day job at Aggregator.tv last month to concentrate on TIOTI. Prior to TIOTI, he ran the design agency Neuromantics, and before this held senior design positions at Poke, Razorfish, BT Research Labs and Xerox.

But he has “form” in the area of aggregation. With over 10 years experience in visual design, information architecture and design strategy Cleghorn has worked on projects related to the aggregation field with Aggregator.tv, Nokia, the BBC, Orange and Vodafone. (Aggregator.tv is a high quality video-on-demand service that is soon to launch a new Russian TV service online called Moe.tv)

Colando formerly ran Interactive Planet Inc that developed sites and intranets for clients including Bank of America, The Coca-Cola Company, Earthlink, Equifax, Kodak, The US Marine Corps and Vodafone.

As far as the source it tracks, the three main commercial areas TIOTI searches are iTunes, AOL video and Amazon’s Unbox service. Despite the fact that Amazon and Unbox don’t produce workable RSS feeds, TIOTI has written software - ‘smarter screen scrapes‘ independent of the page’s design - to pull into the information it needs.

At the heart of TIOTI is its svelte black interface - it’s notable that Cleghorn is much more designer than coder - and a social experience, which has an iPod-like ease of use. (Ironically, Cleghorn’s nick-name is ‘Paul Pod’ - although this pre-dates the ubiquitous MP3 player).

The TIOTI backend is built on the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) Spring framework, and uses open source products like Apache Tomcat and MySQL. The tools available include TV guides and episode data, which enable users to write and edit reviews and pull RSS feeds out of their preferences to keep track of the shows they want.

“The advantage of a niche social site is that people are passionate about it, they want to get involved in adding more to it. Right now we have a little meta data but testers have told us they want us to add more to the shows, such as links about the show to Wikipedia, official TV Guides, pulling collaborative content from places like Fickr etc. or linked to fan fiction sites,” says Cleghorn.

The main user home page displays recommendations, with the right hand area destined to become prime real estate for rich media advertising. “Video adverts here should make more contextual sense than being on a flat newspaper page” says Cleghorn, revealing that their baseline revenue targets involve the juicy rich media ads currently commanding rates as high as £35/cpm.

TIOTI will also make recommendations to users based on what they rate. Each show and episode can be recommended to other users, rated, discussed with others, and - a little like surfing ‘friends of friends’ networks in social network sites - it’s possible to see what shows other users rate.

The TIOTI front-end uses AJAX to make the user experience slicker. All of the show and episode data is editable via a WiKi-style editing engine and the systems spits out a large variety of RSS feeds. User discussion boards and on-site user-to-user messaging are also active features.

There are also some interesting ways to pull content out of the site. For instance, a user could use the Open Source Democracy Player, which has an RSS reader, a BitTorrent client and VLC player. One could then paste feed from TIOTI into Democracy Player as a new channel and watch it download shows automatically, even an entire season. Cleghorn lets slip that they are even talking to Apple about integrating the site with iTunes.

Currently being beta tested by over 2,000 beta users, with 12,000 lined-up to invite in, TIOTI also links to new DVD releases from retailers like Amazon. It is indexing over 1,600 TV shows and almost 90,000 episodes right now. However, Cleghorn indicated that there was “no reason” why it could not also point to the DVD rental firms such as Blockbuster, LoveFilm and ScreenSelect.

Indeed, he sees no reason why TIOTI could actually one day play the shows themselves via the site. “A good example is the BBC whose mission is to deliver shows to as many people in the right way, such as on geography, so it shouldn’t be a big deal,” says Cleghorn.

He thinks TIOTI is a step up from simple time-shifting TV via a recorder, and also goes beyond video-on-demand. Since by aggregating feeds from a variety of TV guides and download sources it effectively does the “remote flipping” for the user: “Like TiVo for the internet if you like,” he says.

Co-founder Colando believes that because the market for TV is becoming more segmented as content owners try to coral their TV shows into their own sites, TIOTI has a good opportunity to aggregate all the schedules, release dates and download sources under one brand.

“Do I need to know viacom makes a particular show?” explains Cleghorn. “Add in the additional retailers like Amazon Unbox, iTunes, AOL, upcoming outlets like Google Video/YouTube, Brightcove… each with technological and geographical restrictions and you start to get a pretty sliced up marketplace.”

It would appear he has a point. A look at potential competitors reveals that other sites may do some of what TIOTI does, but not all of it. YouTube, while aggregating user generated content, is fast becoming a desert for professionally produced TV shows as legal action pulls a lot of content away. And TV shows on the Apple store remain languishing in the low numbers while the studios work out what to do next.

Says Cleghorn: “Lots of people are doing parts of what we are doing but so far no-one has joined all the dots we have”. Cheekily he adds: “In the big picture the Radio Times [the leading UK-based TV guide] should be doing this but they are not, so we’ll do it for them and sell them a white label license!”

More seriously he adds: “We think we can do the social space better and offer better tools for user generated content about and around TV shows too.” He does however admit that they are “keeping an eye on the Venice project“, the P2P TV project floated by the former founders of Skype.

Possibly the most contentious aspect of what TIOTI does is alert users to new shows they can download from BitTorrent or other file-sharing systems. Cleghorn’s answer to this is that they “don’t see BitTorrent being in there a great deal longer. We are being as careful as possible. We are based in the US and signed up the DMC safe harbour agreement and we don’t host any of the BitTorrent streams, just point to them. We are two steps removed from the torrent.”

Cleghorn is confident that the ‘napsterisation’ of TV won’t actually come to pass: “What happened to music won’t happen to TV as the music industry was slow and in denial, and characterised us all as thieves from day one. TV is moving faster and being more open minded. TV has always been ad-supported too, so they are less worried where the shows appear so long as they are paid somehow.”

He believes, given that about 80 percent of what people want is just 20 percent of the content, the big TV networks will make sure that the legal aspects of pointing to illegal BitTorrent sites will be sorted out quickly. However, this may sound like wishful thinking and there is still plenty of money to be made by lawyers, as the newly acquired YouTube has found.

But, much like another dotcom founder with long hair associated with video, YouTube’s Chad Hurley, the normally reserved Cleghorn is quite clear about the goal for TIOTI.

With a ‘half-joking’ smile and a hint of that Blackpool-born accent, he says: “We’re trying to take over the world here.”
http://uk.techcrunch.com/2006/11/01/...-the-internet/





Flickr Hits Two Billion Photo Uploads
Kristen Nicole

Two billion photo uploads on Flickr. That’s a lot of f****n’ photos. You’ll be glad to know that Flickr staffers have spent the past weeks placing bets on the exact date and time for passing the milestone, which went down sometime on Sunday.

So the user who made that fateful move to upload the photo that has gone down in history? yukesmooks (this would be a very inopportune time to have a bad username). And for all that hard work, she didn’t even get a prize. Booooo! Even Revver and Stardoll gave away prizes to users that have helped them reach their milestones.

So what would have made this magical moment even more hilarious?

If yukesmooks were a first time user. It’d be like that non-helpful husband that finally goes to the grocery store and gets 3 tons of confetti dumped on him for being the 1 millionth customer.

If the photo were anything but what it is. For instance, a really blurry picture that never should have been uploaded to begin with. Or one of those really annoying close ups of someone’s eyeball, that so many photographers seem to think is intriguing.
http://mashable.com/2007/11/13/flick...llion-uploads/





Reinventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age
Jeffrey Barlow

Reinventing the Wheel: A Buddhist Response to the Information Age
Hershock, Peter D.
Albany, State University of New York Press, 1999.

The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture
Keen, Andrew.
New York, Doubleday, 2007.

At the Berglund Center for Internet Studies we value thoughtful criticisms of the Internet as much or more than the more frequently encountered breathless appreciations of it. In this essay we wish to examine not only two works offering very different critiques of the Internet, but to better understand the current nature of critical views themselves. We think something important has changed in the last several years. Criticisms of the Internet necessarily must now largely come from inside it, rather than from outside it—a distinction we attempt to clarify below.

The two books considered here are each very critical. The inside view, Andrew Keen's The Cult of the Amateur, is rather lightweight and we treat it here as an example of a traditional approach: "The cultural sky is falling, and it is all the fault of the Internet!"

The second, Peter D. Hershock's Reinventing the Wheel is much more complex, fundamentally an outsider's view in that it criticizes not only the Internet, but the very Western culture which has led to it.

It would be very difficult to conceive of any possible circumstance, other than a review essay such as this one, which might bring these two works together for one audience. The two authors' definitions of technology are so different as to cause a reader to wonder if they are looking at even the same general subject area, but the works share a critical view of the status quo.

Andrew Keen [1] has been a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and is now a frequent writer and event speaker on the topic of the Internet, usually from a highly critical viewpoint. This particular work focuses, if one can stretch the meaning of "focus" to include such a discursive and repetitive approach as it utilizes, upon Web 2.0.

The concept of Web 2.0 has grown so broad in the several years since it was first introduced [2] that it has become correspondingly elusive. Keen never bothers to define it. Tim O'Reilly defines it from a business perspective as:

• Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
• Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
• Trusting users as co-developers
• Harnessing collective intelligence
• Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
• Software above the level of a single device
• Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models" [3]

Web 2.0 is as much an approach to the creation and use of Internet content as it is a restricted set of applications. Web 2.0 content depends primarily upon a distributed model for both the creation and housing of electronic information and applications. Simply put, closely related content usually has multiple authors and may be distributed across multiple sites.

In Keen's analysis, Wikipedia is the quintessential Web 2.0 project, involving as it does a widely distributed group of contributors with all the attendant evils of questionable information, anonymity and, "...killing the traditional information business..." [4]

As the title suggests, the chief gripe of the author is that "The Cult of the Amateur" is destroying both culture and economy. Although the title also suggests that the work is going to deal primarily with Web 2.0, it quickly becomes a compost pile of familiar rants about the Internet, including even yet again blaming it for the destruction of that sacred artifact, the book.

However, the crimes of the Internet continue to mount and now include, in Keen's estimation, the destruction of network television, music, advertising, newspapers, the movies, and the creation of "...an infestation of anonymous sexual predators and pedophiles." [5]

One of the many delicious ironies of this work is that the author so frequently practices that which he condemns. Perhaps his major criticism of the Internet is that it empowers millions of users, described at one point as "not quite monkeys" [6] to publish. These writers, of course, lack all the values, credentials, and proper approaches of traditional purveyors of high culture. They don't even have editors! Hence, presumably, they might produce passages such as Keen's own: "The result? The decline of the quality and reliability of the information we receive, thereby distorting, if not outrightly corrupting, our national civic conversation." [7]

The reason for discussing this work here is not to belabor Mr. Keen—he needs no assistance in that regard—but to gauge the level to which criticism of the Internet currently has fallen. The work is a pastiche of familiar diatribes, aimed at all those who worry about change. This book does, however, finally identify the agent responsible for the decline of Western Man—The Internet.

The work might have had the value of at least functioning as a sort of one-man Wikipedia of Internet criticism, but it lacks real notes and rarely cites any of the many thoughtful authorities who have distinguished themselves as critics of the Internet. The work is simply stitched together with breathless rhetorical questions such as "What happens, you might ask, when ignorance meets egoism meets bad taste meets mob rule?" We answer: Andrew Keen's The Cult of the Amateur!

We regret that for works on recent criticism of the Internet we are reduced to discussing this one. In defense of our choice, we observe that the book is on most bookstore shelves dealing with the Internet and that the author is tirelessly promoting it, over the Internet itself, of course.

However, we utilize the work to make a larger point: criticism of the Internet now comes increasingly from, in effect, inside the Internet itself. That is, the impact of the Internet is so pervasive that we now cannot approach it from outside. We must use electronic sources, Internet enabled applications, even thoughts and metaphors conditioned if not created by the impact of the Internet. It has become us.

The reasons why this change has occurred and are inevitable are exhaustively laid out in Peter D. Hershock's work, Reinventing the Wheel. Hershock is both a practicing Buddhist and an authoritative scholar of Buddhism, working at the East West Center in Honolulu associated with the University of Hawaii, at the time this work was written in 1996. [8]

This is not an easy book. If the value of Keen's work is depreciated by slapdash writing and organization, Hershock's is somewhat vitiated by his architectonic thoughtfulness. The book requires mindful effort to get through.

But the effort is worthwhile. Reinventing the Wheel presents a thorough criticism of the "Information Age," including, of course, the Internet.

Many might find it surprising that such an ancient philosophy as Buddhism has anything fresh to say about cyberculture or the Internet. [9] However, at the Berglund Center we held a summer symposium in 2002. Among the topics covered were religion and the Internet. We found, to our surprise, that at that time Buddhist institutional sites were probably the most numerous on the Internet as opposed to Christian church sites, Jewish synagogue sites, or those of other religions. As the Internet developed, this ratio changed significantly. [10]

There are many reasons why Buddhists find the Internet attractive. As Hershock points out, the nature of Buddhism is to stress connectivity and relatedness. Too, the distinction between Buddhism as philosophy and as religion may be important here. In the West in particular, there are certainly far more practitioners of Buddhist ethics than there are religious practitioners and the Internet is probably their most useful study source. True religious believers, lacking local temples, may find the Internet a critical tool for developing and understanding their beliefs. [11]

Hershock himself is clearly an extremely intellectual sort of Buddhist, practicing a form of Chinese Chan (transmitted via a Korean teacher in his case), known more familiarly in the West as Zen, from its Japanese form.

Hershock would probably reject any separation between "practice" and "belief," but it might be useful for us to ground ourselves in the elemental teachings of Buddhism as widely accepted. The central teachings are the Four Noble (or Holy) Truths:

• All existence is unsatisfactory and filled with suffering.
• The root of suffering can be defined as a craving or clinging to the wrong things; searching to find stability in a shifting world is the wrong way.
• It is possible to find an end to suffering.
• The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to finding the solution to suffering and bringing it to an end. [12]

The Eightfold Path is divided into three basic categories as follows [13]:

Wisdom

1. Right view
2. Right intention

Ethical conduct

3. Right speech
4. Right action
5. Right livelihood

Mental discipline

6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration

These teachings are the essence of Buddhist belief—life is painful, because we crave both things and pleasurable states; we can end this pain, by certain practices and beliefs described above as the Eightfold Path.

While important to an understanding of Buddhism, the above information is only tangentially important to reading Hershock. Part of his skill in explaining a very alien and unfamiliar tradition of Buddhism, lies in his ability to abstract from the above important points, and to relate them to the daily life of a modern Western audience.

Hershock can relate to us, and can bring us to relate to Buddhism, however, he markedly disapproves of our modern daily life. He believes that the Western tradition has diverged from human practices and beliefs, particularly in the modern era of the Information Age.

Hershock believes that the technology itself is inherently not "right". It grows out of and reflects Western culture, which is, in his analysis, a culture emphasizing control and distancing between users. We should be "connected" not to electronic others, but to all of creation, to all sentient beings. The Information Age is reinforcing a commoditized culture that destroys the essence of our humanity. To quote him at length:
...I want to argue that the rapid spread of high-tech media is adversely related to the ideal of cultural diversity, not because of their explicit content or the varied intentions directing their use, but rather because of the way in which they tacitly reconfigure our awareness as such. Used ubiquitously enough, the media and the technologies on which they depend "invisibly" alter the structure of personhood in ways that erode the differences on which viable cultural diversity—and so harmony—finally depend. [14]

Hershock's condemnation is thoroughgoing. It would be hard to isolate any element of the technologically enabled life that is not ultimately destructive, in his view, of key human values and institutions. Take any of the usual hopeful bromides about the benefits of technology and you will find a passage, or several pages, or an entire chapter in Hershock's work that convincingly disproves them.

For example, does the Internet facilitate democracy? No, Grasshopper, see Chapter 8 wherein it is shown that the media restricts and controls all promise of democracy and rather facilitates a sort of corporate "colonization of consciousness" [15] of individual attention and energy that ultimately precludes meaningful democracy.

Has the information age given us more access to information, thus freeing our consciousness and increasing diversity of thought and opportunity? No, the more technology a given society can deploy, the more highly structured its economic classes and the greater the disparity there is in the distribution of wealth, and therefore of opportunity. The more technology, worldwide, the more poverty.

Hershock's definition of technology is key to his analysis, and somewhat idiosyncratic:

In the vernacular, technologies are not things. To the contrary, technologies have much the same status as the cultural, political, or economic institutions that so definitively shape our day-to-day lives....a technology is a way of making things happen. In this sense, technologies are perhaps best seen as practices. [16]

Distinguishing technology from what it is not might further illuminate this very complex definition: technology is not a tool or tools. A tool is "something we control directly". But technology becomes an end, perhaps in Hershock's schema, a "desire" in and of itself.

Those familiar with Western critical social thought might see Hershock's as just another thinly veiled Marxist discussion of alienation; it is not. Marx, as a card-carrying member of the Western intellectual tradition, necessarily comes in for his own lambasting, at great length and again in highly organized and convincing argumentation. [17]

Neither does Hershock see the corporatization of the Internet as a simple "us" vs. "them" conflict, but rather a result of "our" wants. The problem is a direct consequence of technology itself.

What is to be done? Hershock bundles the usual criticisms of technology—and specifically of the Internet—into two groups.

The first is the school of "monkey-wrenching"&mdah;a romantic refusal to use computers, cell-phones, etc., sometimes extending even to a Luddite attack upon them. Obviously this school—which we might, with Hershock, typify also as the Unibomber approach—is now seldom encountered outside of certain high-security federal institutions. This, of course, furthers our argument here that criticism increasingly comes from inside the Internet, not from outside it.

Also from inside is the second school comes what Hershock calls the "Greening" position. This school argues for better laws, more purposive use, more education, increased parental guidance—the 95 Theses of the Internet Reformation.

The problem with this second school, Hershock argues, is that in attacking the failures of the Information Age with the concentration and intensity necessary to reform it, we wind up in a sense worshipping it, and thus becoming part of the problem itself. That way, Hershock believes, ultimately lays terrorism. [18

With Hershock, if we have followed his criticisms we may well accept them; they are thoughtful and thought provoking. We come away from Reinventing the Wheel with a better understanding of the Internet and the Information Age in which it is embedded. But we want a solution. If we cannot blow it up or reform it, what can we do?

Hershock tells us to walk away and meditate until we have changed our desires—to make an axiological adjustment. This is, of course, the only possible Buddhist answer. But while Buddhism may come to many of us as a fresh new solution, this particular form of Buddhism has been criticized from within the tradition itself.

An early Buddhist critique of this meditative approach to axiological reform was to point out that it is only suitable for those who can somehow live substantially outside the world—perhaps in a meditative environment such as a temple, perhaps in a high degree of self-imposed social isolation—perhaps like Hershock and myself, in a professor's office.

That major criticism resulted historically in the development of new schools of Buddhism which were truly religious in that they permitted believers to call upon (via activities and attitudes fairly described as "worship" rather than meditation) successful practitioners who chose to linger in a spiritual sense in the world and lend assistance to the less able. These "saints" then, assist the rest of us, if properly called upon.

It seems to me, that as valuable as Hershock's criticism is, his solution, too, is outside the real world, and in a world which so very few of us can reach that it is no more than a tantalizing and perhaps temporary refuge from our endless desires, electronically enabled or otherwise.

In short, meditation doesn't answer e-mail, though I it might well make us happier while doing so. A Zen master might well tell us, "When e-mailing, just e-mail." Doubtless this would improve our email as well as our orientation toward the noisy world in which we necessarily live.

Read together, these two works, as different as they are, amply support one point: Henceforth, criticisms of the Internet will necessarily come from inside it.

The first author under review here, Andrew Keen, may stand on muddy ground, but his criticism is recognizably from what the second author, Peter D. Hershock, typifies as the Greening School-reform the monstrous thing or lose Western culture! We may disagree with Keen's criticisms but we recognize them and can argue with them on the basis of commonly held assumptions and evidence.

But Hershock, the ultimate outsider, shows us the fate of truly axiological critiques—critiques that take on the Internet not in some limited shortcoming, but confront its very existence head-on. The problem in launching one's barbs from outside the Internet, however persuasive they may be, is that the critic still needs a place to stand. And there is now no place to stand that does not necessarily recognize the Internet as inextricably woven into and through world culture, economy and daily life.

There are, of course, many who do not enjoy these "benefits" and Hershock ably shows the dark side of this particular form of progress, but for better or worse, the questions that can now be asked about the Internet are largely reduced to how to improve and extend it.
http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2007/05/hershock.php





An Artist’s Famous Smile: What Lies Behind It?
Richard Bernstein

Your first reaction upon meeting Yue Minjun might be, yes, it is indeed he! The face with the enigmatic, jaw-breaking grin, perhaps the most recognizable image in contemporary Chinese painting, is a self-portrait.

“Yes, it’s me,” Mr. Yue said in a recent interview, and he smiled, though in a gentler, less face-splitting fashion than the man in his paintings — the one who drifts Zelig-like past various familiar backgrounds making a sardonic, or perhaps ironically despairing, comment on the passing scene.

Mr. Yue, 45, was in New York in October for the opening of an exhibition of his paintings and sculptures that continues through Jan. 6 at the Queens Museum of Art. The show, “Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile,” is the first American museum exhibition of Mr. Yue’s work and further evidence of his remarkable rise in the superheated field of Chinese contemporary art.

A few years ago, Mr. Yue was eking out a precarious existence in one of Beijing’s artist colonies, trying to figure out a way to weave China’s tumultuous experience into his works. Now, largely on the strength of that signature grin, he has achieved stardom internationally.

Most conspicuously, one of his paintings, “Execution” (1995), a satirical Pop Art-like version of Manet’s “Execution of Maximilian” that was inspired by the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square, sold for $5.9 million last month at an auction at Sotheby’s in London. It was a record sum for a contemporary Chinese painting. For Mr. Yue, the huge sums suddenly commanded by his works — “The Pope” (1997), depicting him as a prelate, went for $4.3 million in June — have involved a readjustment.

“I never thought about this in the past,” he said. “What was important to me was the creation part of painting. But it seems that something has changed. Maybe it’s the way money is becoming more important in society.”

He is not always comfortable with how his work is analyzed. The mesmerizing enigma of that reddish face painted over and over again, with the wide laugh and the eyes tightly shut from the hilarious strain, is subject to a multitude of interpretations. One Chinese art critic has identified the artist as a member of what he calls the school of “cynical realism,” though Mr. Yue doesn’t feel that he belongs to a school or movement and he doesn’t think he’s cynical.

“I’m actually trying to make sense of the world,” he said. “There’s nothing cynical or absurd in what I do.”

Mr. Yue was born in 1962 in the far northern Heilongjiang Province of China and as a child moved to Beijing with his parents. He studied oil painting at the Hebei Normal University and graduated in 1989, when China was rocked by student-led demonstrations and their suppression on Tiananmen Square in June of that year.

“My mood changed at that time,” he said. “I was very down. I realized the gap between reality and the ideal, and I wanted to create my own artistic definition, whereby there could be a meeting with social life and the social environment.”

“The first step,” he added, “was to create a style to express my feelings accurately, starting with something that I knew really well —myself.” That was the first step toward forging what has become the image that has now made him famous. The second step was to devise the laugh, which, he said, was inspired by a painting he saw by another Chinese artist, Geng Jianyi, in which a smile is deformed to mean the opposite of what it normally means.

“So I developed this painting where you see someone laughing,” he said. “At first you think he’s happy, but when you look more carefully, there’s something else there.”

“A smile,” Mr. Yue said, “doesn’t necessarily mean happiness; it could be something else.”

The smile has been variously interpreted as a sort of joke at the absurdity of it all, or the illusion of happiness in lives inevitably heading toward extinction.

Karen Smith, a Beijing expert on Chinese art, suggests that Mr. Yue’s grin is a mask for real feelings of helplessness.

“In China there’s a long history of the smile,” Mr. Yue said. “There is the Maitreya Buddha who can tell the future and whose facial expression is a laugh. Normally there’s an inscription saying that you should be optimistic and laugh in the face of reality.”

“There were also paintings during the Cultural Revolution period, those Soviet-style posters showing happy people laughing,” he continued. “But what’s interesting is that normally what you see in those posters is the opposite of reality.”

Mr. Yue said his smile was in a way a parody of those posters. But, since it’s a self-portrait, it’s also necessarily a parody of himself, he added.

“I’m not laughing at anybody else, because once you laugh at others, you’ll run into trouble, and can create obstacles,” he said. “This is the way to do it if you want to make a parody of the things that are behind the image.”

The real reason he paints himself is that it gives him a greater margin for freedom of expression, he explained.

The work at the Queens Museum ranges from a grouping of 20 life-size terra cotta soldiers, grinning versions of the famous statues unearthed years ago at the tomb of China’s first emperor, to a painting of a laughing version of himself holding another self-image aloft in front of the Statue of Liberty.

There is also a series called “Hats,” in which Mr. Yue has painted himself in all sorts of headgear, from an American football helmet to a peaked cap of a soldier in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, with that unvarying laugh on his face.

“It’s not a denial of reality but a questioning of it,” Mr. Yue said of his work in general. “And that laugh — anybody who’s gone through Chinese recent experience would understand it.”

“Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile” continues through Jan. 6 at the Queens Museum of Art, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park; (718) 592-9700, queensmuseum.org.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/ar...13smil.html?hp





Mac Claims More Japan OS Sales than Windows

Microsoft's has taken a bruising in the Japanese marketplace just as Apple's Mac OS X Leopard was released, according to a new report by the country's Business Computer News. The publication notes that while sales of Mac OS X increased dramatically between September and October, climbing from a rate of 15.5 percent year-over-year to 60.5 percent, Microsoft suffered from the reverse effect. Sales growth of Windows plummeted from 75.3 percent to 28.7 percent. The sudden switch provided Apple with about 53.9 of the total OS-only marketshare in Japan during October -- a breakthrough for the company, BCN says.

Although the results are expected to cool in the wake of Leopard's release, the reversal highlights several factors that provide Mac users a stronger incentive to upgrade outside of their normal computer replacement schedule than for Windows users, the report says. Microsoft is charging more for Vista in Japan, offering the upgrade-only Vista Home Premium package for 19,600 Yen ($179) and 30,300 Yen ($276) for a full version; The Week in Review is edited and published by Jack Spratts. Apple's full standard OS sells for 14,700 Yen ($134). Pricing for the Mac version is also less intimidating and includes just a single version compared to the several full and upgrade copies of Vista buyers encounter in the store when updating their systems. Less stringent minimum requirements for Leopard compared to Vista upon their respective launches are also said to improve the appeal of the Mac OS.

This validates Apple's strategy of releasing OS updates at shorter intervals and generates "muzzle velocity" for the Mac's adoption in Japan, BCN says. The publication also notes the sharp increase is more than 10 points stronger than the growth in Mac OS X sales triggered by the release of Tiger in April 2005 and that Apple sold 2 million copies of Leopard in its first weekend on sale versus multiple weeks to reach the same threshold for the earlier software.

Japan has frequently been cited as one of the most difficult markets to breach in the world today, with a rapid decline in overall computer sales forcing Hitachi out of the market entirely and numerous other PC vendors turning to alternate computer designs such as Sharp's Internet AQUOS. Apple has posted modest gains in shipments of Macs to the country but has seen its revenue decline as customers opt for lower-cost systems.
http://www.electronista.com/articles...down.in.japan/





Ex-Publisher Says News Corp. Official Wanted Her to Lie to Protect Giuliani
Russ Buettner

Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired by the News Corporation last year, asserts in a lawsuit filed today that a senior executive at the media conglomerate encouraged her to mislead federal investigators about her relationship with Bernard B. Kerik during his bid to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.

The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.

Ms. Regan makes the charge at the start of a 70-page filing that seeks $100 million in damages for what she says was a campaign to smear and discredit her by her bosses at HarperCollins and its parent company, the News Corporation, after her project to publish a book with O.J. Simpson was abandoned amid a storm of protest.

In the civil complaint filed in state court in Manhattan, Ms. Regan says the company has long sought to promote Mr. Giuliani’s ambitions. But the lawsuit does not elaborate on that charge, or identify the executive who she alleged pressured her to mislead investigators, nor does it offer details or evidence to back up her claim.

Ms. Regan had an affair with Mr. Kerik, who is married, beginning in the spring of 2001, when her imprint, Regan Books, began work on his memoir, “The Lost Son.” In December 2004, after the relationship had ended and shortly after Mr. Kerik’s homeland security nomination fell apart, newspapers reported that the two had carried on the affair at an apartment near Ground Zero that had been donated as a respite for rescue and recovery workers.

Mr. Kerik, who in 2004 said he withdrew his nomination because of problems with his hiring of a nanny, was indicted last week on federal tax fraud and other charges.

“Defendants were well aware that Regan had a personal relationship with Kerik,” the complaint says. “In fact, a senior executive in the News Corporation organization told Regan that he believed she had information about Kerik that, if disclosed, would harm Giuliani’s presidential campaign. This executive advised Regan to lie to, and to withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik.”

Officials of the News Corporation were asked in a telephone call for comment on the lawsuit, but had yet to issue a statement.

One of Ms. Regan’s lawyers, Brian C. Kerr of the firm Dreier L.L.P., said she possesses evidence to support her claim that she was advised to lie to federal investigators who were vetting Mr. Kerik. But Mr. Kerr declined to discuss the nature of the evidence.

“We’re fully confident that the evidence will show that Judith Regan was the victim of a vicious smear campaign engineered by News Corp. and HarperCollins,” Mr. Kerr said.

The News Corporation controls a vast array of media outlets worldwide, including Twentieth Century Fox, the New York Post and the Fox News Channel, where Ms. Regan once hosted a talk show.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/ny...-regan.html?hp





Judge Orders White House to Hold E – Mails
AP

A federal judge Monday ordered the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails, a move that Bush administration lawyers had argued strongly against.

U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy directed the Executive Office of the President to safeguard the material in response to two lawsuits that seek to determine whether the White House has destroyed e-mails in violation of federal law.

In response, the White House said it has been taking steps to preserve copies of all e-mails and will continue to do so. The administration is seeking dismissal of the lawsuits brought by two private groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive.

The organizations allege the disappearance of 5 million White House e-mails. The court order issued by Kennedy, an appointee of President Clinton, is directed at maintaining backup tapes which contain copies of White House e-mails.

The Federal Records Act details strict standards prohibiting the destruction of government documents including electronic messages, unless first approved by the archivist of the United States.

Justice Department lawyers had urged the courts to accept a proposed White House declaration promising to preserve all backup tapes.

''The judge decided that wasn't enough,'' said Anne Weismann, an attorney for CREW, which has gone to court over secrecy issues involving the Bush administration and has pursued ethical issues involving Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The judge's order ''should stop any future destruction of e-mails, but the White House stopped archiving its e-mail in 2003 and we don't know if some backup tapes for those e-mails were already taped over before we went to court. It's a mystery,'' said Meredith Fuchs, a lawyer for the National Security Archive.

CREW and the National Security Archive are seeking to force the White House to immediately explain in court what happened to its e-mail, an issue that first surfaced nearly two years ago in the leak probe of administration officials who disclosed Valerie Plame's CIA identity to reporters.

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald revealed early in 2006 that relevant e-mails could be missing because of an archiving problem at the White House.

The White House has provided little public information about the matter, saying that some e-mails may not have been automatically archived on a computer server for the Executive Office of the President and that the e-mails may have been preserved on backup tapes.

The White House has said that its Office of Administration is looking into whether there are e-mails that were not automatically archived and that if there is a problem, the necessary steps will be taken to address it.

Kennedy issued the order following recommendations to do so by a federal magistrate who held a hearing on the matter.

''We will study the court's order and the magistrate's recommendations,'' said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. ''However, the Office of Administration has been taking steps to maintain and preserve backup tapes for the official e-mail system. We have provided assurances to the plaintiffs and to the court that these steps were being taken. We will continue preserving the tapes in compliance with the court's order.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/A...se-E-Mail.html





Hushmail Turns Out to be Anything But
Iain Thomson

A court document in a drug smuggling case has shown that the private email service Hushmail has been cooperating with police in handing over user emails..

Hushmail claims to offer unreadable email as it uses PGP encryption technology and a company specific key management system that it says will ensure only the sender and recipient can read the emails. However it seems the Canadian company has been divulging keys to the American authorities.

The document describes the tracking of an anabolic steroid manufacturer who was being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The document alleges that the majority of those engaged in the trade in anabolic steroids use Hushmail to communicate.

The DEA agents received three CDs of decrypted emails which contained decrypted emails for the targets of the investigation that had been decrypted as part of a mutual legal assistance treaty between the United States and Canada.

The news will be embarrassing to the company, which has made much of its ability to ensure that emails are not read by the authorise, including the FBI's Carnivore email monitoring software.

"Hushmail's security cannot be broken or weakened by this government sponsored snooping software," the company states.

"The only way to decrypt or unscramble Hush messages is by using your passphrase when you open up your Hushmail account. Carnivore cannot decrypt your mail, and is therefore, powerless against messages sent between Hush users."
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/65213,...thing-but.aspx





Your privacy is an illusion

Gun Owner Says Facebook Gave Employer Access to Her Private Profile

Last month we told you that Facebook employees can see your profile even if it is private. Now we hear that they are willing to share your private profile with your boss. All he has to do is ask. A poster on the AR-15 Forums, a firearms-enthusiast website, says her bosses asked Facebook for permission to see her profile -- which is normally set to private for everyone but her friends -- through something called Administrators Access. (That may be the same internal feature, also known as "super," we wrote about earlier.)

Facebook's privacy policy has this to say:

We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies.

The poster had pictures of himself with his firearms -- which, though legal and taken on the employee's own time, the company was concerned about. Perhaps Facebook was trying to "prevent imminent bodily harm?"

Think Facebook might be helping your employer out with a glimpse of your private profile? Drop us a line.
http://valleywag.com/tech/your-priva...ile-323882.php





C.I.A. Officer Pleads Guilty to Illegal Searches on Government Computers
Philip Shenon

A Lebanese-born C.I.A. officer who had previously worked as an F.B.I. agent pleaded guilty today to charges that she illegally sought classified information from government computers about the radical Islamic group Hezbollah.

The defendant, Nada Nadim Prouty, who also confessed that she had obtained American citizenship fraudulently, faces up to 16 years in prison under the plea agreement, which appeared to expose grave flaws in the methods used by both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct background checks on its investigators.

Court papers do not say specifically why Ms. Prouty, 37, sought information about Hezbollah, the militant group based in southern Lebanon, from the F.B.I.’s computer case files in June 2003, the month she left the bureau to join the C.I.A.

There is no allegation in the documents that she passed information on to Hezbollah or any other extremist group.

The plea agreement noted, however, that Ms. Prouty’s sister and brother-in-law attended a fundraising event in Lebanon in August 2002 at which the keynote speaker was Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah. Sheikh Fadallah has been designated by the United States government as a terrorist leader.

The plea agreement said that Ms. Prouty specifically went searching in 2003 for computerized case files maintained by the F.B.I.’s Detroit field office in an investigation that centered on Hezbollah although she “was not assigned to work on Hezbollah cases as part of her F.B.I. duties and she was not authorized by her supervisor, the case agent assigned to the case or anybody else to access information about the investigation in question.”

The C.I.A. would not describe Ms. Prouty’s duties at the agency, apart from describing her as a “mid-level” employee, nor would the agency say if she traveled abroad as part of her duties or had been considered undercover.

Government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation with reporters, said Ms. Prouty was an “operations” officer at the C.I.A., meaning she was involved in some way in basic espionage work at the agency, not as an analyst or translator.

As part of the plea agreement, she agreed to resign from the C.I.A. and give up any claim to American citizenship.

“It is fitting that she now stands to lose both her citizenship and her liberty,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein said in an announcing the guilty plea, which was entered in federal district court in Detroit.

Mr. Wainstein, who runs the Justice Department’s national security division, said that Ms. Proudy “engaged in a pattern of deceit to secure U.S. citizenship, to gain employment in the intelligence community and to obtain and exploit her access to sensitive counterterrorism intelligence.”

She pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal conspiracy, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine; unauthorized computer access, which has a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, and naturalization fraud, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In her plea agreement, Ms. Proudy, who lived mostly recently in Vienna, Va., close to C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., acknowledged that her crimes began shortly after she entered the United States from Lebanon in June 1989 on a one-year student visa.

She acknowledged that after overstaying her visa, she had offered money to an unemployed American man to marry her in 1990, which allowed her to remain in the United States as his wife, although the couple never lived together.

She then submitted a series of false and forged documents to obtain American citizenship, which she was granted in 1994. She obtained a divorce the next year and worked in a series of jobs, including as a waitress and hostess in a chain of restaurants in the Detroit area owned by her brother-in-law, Talal Khalil Chahine, who is a fugitive from federal charges in Michigan of tax evasion in a scheme to funnel millions of dollars from his business to people in Lebanon.

In 1997, she was hired as a special agent of the F.B.I., which has been under pressure for years to hire more agents and other employees who speak Arabic for terrorism investigations. She was assigned to the bureau’s Washington D.C. field office, given a security clearance and placed in “an extraterritorial squad investigating crimes against U.S. persons overseas,” the Justice Department said in a statement to reporters.

Ms. Prouty acknowledged two sets of illegal computer searches at the F.B.I. The first, in September 2002, involved case files that contained her name, her sister’s name or her brother-in-law’s name. The second, in June 2003, involved files from the national-security investigation of Hezbollah that was being conducted in Detroit, which has one of the nation’s largest Arabic-speaking communities.

The court papers say that Ms. Prouty’s crimes first became known to the F.B.I. in December 2005 and have been under investigation for nearly two years. The documents suggest that she came under scrutiny as part of an investigation of her brother-in-law, Mr. Chahine.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/wa...nd-spy.html?hp





Government Broke Data Protection Laws

Privacy watchdog rules that UK government departments failed to adequately protect the security of online visa applications
Bobbie Johnson

A security breach that affected thousands of online applications for British visas was the result of the government's failure to adhere to data protection laws, a privacy watchdog ruled yesterday.

The Information Commissioner's Office said the government had broken the terms of the Data Protection Act by failing to properly protect visa applications made over the internet using its UKvisas website.

The breach was detected in May, when it emerged that applications made through the site - run jointly by the Foreign Office and the Home Office and outsourced to an Indian company called VFS - were not secure from intruders.

VFS had been alerted to the problems in December 2005 by a member of the public who was concerned that he could access the details of other visa applicants. But it was not until an investigation by Channel 4 News earlier this year that VFS and the Foreign Office admitted the security breach.

The investigation revealed that at least 50,000 applications to the British High Commission in India had been affected.

"Piecemeal" approach to privacy

A full inquiry by the Information Commissioner found that the Foreign Office had showed "inadequate central control of the moves to outsourcing" and that officials had a "piecemeal" approach to privacy.

"Sound security needs to be woven into the business and cannot be simply bolted on as an extra," said the report. "The earlier contracts paid insufficient attention to the requirements of the Data Protection Act and to basic IT security."

As well as its head offices in Mumbai, VFS also administered the UKvisas website through operations in Russia and Nigeria - two of the world's worst hotspots for internet crime.

As a result of the ruling, the Foreign Office has agreed to a full review of its operations and will end its contract with VFS.

"Organisations have a duty to keep our personal information secure," said Mick Gorrill, assistant commissioner at the Information Commissioner's Office. "If they fail to take this responsibility seriously, they not only leave individuals vulnerable to identity theft, but risk losing confidence and trust."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...tection.breach





Britain Wants Net Companies to Fight Terror
AP

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants Internet companies to help stifle online terrorist propaganda, he told lawmakers Wednesday, as officials say they plan to meet leading service providers to find ways of putting a lid on extremist content.
But the providers argue they already do all they can to fight illegal terrorist material online, and experts say even powerful filters cannot block determined users from getting their message out.

"Fundamentally, it's a losing proposition," said Ian Brown, a research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, noting that even countries such as China and Myanmar have had trouble with their online censorship efforts.

The prime minister's proposal comes as the European Union considers ways to sanction Web sites that display terror propaganda or recruit for terrorist groups.

Addressing lawmakers, the prime minister said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was "inviting the largest global technology and Internet companies to work together to ensure that our best technical expertise is galvanized to counter online incitement to hatred."

The Home Office said it would meet leading British Internet service providers to examine ways of curbing online propaganda, but said Brown's plan had not yet been considered in detail. Not clear, for instance, was whether the plan would require new laws or different ways of enforcing existing regulations.

British law already forbids the publication of statements likely to be seen as encouraging terrorism or the dissemination of terrorist material, such as bomb-making information, according to the Internet Watch Foundation, an EU-funded body that works with the British government to monitor and remove illegal online content.

Under so-called "notice and take down" procedures, authorities, companies and individuals can demand that Internet service providers remove content considered to be unlawful. That includes child pornography, as well libelous, obscene or terrorist material, the group said.

Although the removal of child pornography is relatively uncontroversial, service providers have expressed unhappiness at having to shut down their customers' sites over, for example, allegations of libel, where guilt is difficult to determine at a glance. They are unlikely to welcome similar demands over material that allegedly glorifies terrorism.

Besides taking down their own customers' sites, service providers also might be pressured to block ones hosted abroad. The government might draw up a list of banned sites, similar to one the Internet Watch Foundation has maintained since 2004 and updates twice daily to block Britons from visiting child pornography sites hosted overseas.

Another method might be to persuade search engines like Google Inc. or Yahoo Inc. to filter out prohibited content from their search results, or manage their searches so that the words "bomb," "al-Qaeda," or "video" did not lead users to terrorist-related sites.

But both these measures would do little to deter the computer-literate youth being targeted by al-Qaeda, Ian Brown said. He noted that users could still swap terror-related content through file-sharing networks, discussion forums, or access material through sophisticated proxy servers and programs that allow users to browse the Net anonymously.

Efforts to use Internet service providers to police online content amounted to a "censorship proposal" and was bound to be problematic, said John Gage, vice-president and chief researcher for Sun Microsystems Inc.

"It's one of these things that's going to be very difficult to implement," he said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl....wgtterror1114





Stopping Cars with Radiation

A beam of microwave energy could stop vehicles in their tracks.
Brittany Sauser

Researchers at Eureka Aerospace are turning a fictional concept from the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious into reality: they're creating an electromagnetic system that can quickly bring a vehicle to a stop. The system, which can be attached to an automobile or aircraft carrier, sends out pulses of microwave radiation to disable the microprocessors that control the central engine functions in a car. Such a device could be used by law enforcement to stop fleeing and noncooperative vehicles at security checkpoints, or as perimeter protection for military bases, communication centers, and oil platforms in the open seas.

The system has been tested on a variety of stationary vehicles and could be ready for deployment in automobiles within 18 months, says James Tatoian, the chief executive officer of Eureka Aerospace and the project's leader.

To bring an opposing vehicle to a halt, the 200-pound device is attached to the roof of a car. The car's alternator serves as the system's power source, whose direct-current (DC) power feeds into a power supply. This generates a stream of 50-nanosecond-duration pulses of energy. These pulses are amplified to 640 kilovolts using a 16-stage Marx generator.

The 640 kilovolts of DC power are then converted into microwaves using an oscillator that consists of a pair of coupled transmission lines and several spark-gap switches. Finally, a specially designed antenna beams the microwave energy toward an opposing vehicle through a part of the car, such as the windshield, window, grill, or spacing between the hood and main body, that is not made of metal. (Metal acts as a shield against microwave energy.)

The radiated microwave energy will upset or damage the vehicle's electronic systems, particularly the microprocessors that control important engine functions, such as the ignition control, the fuel injector, and the fuel-pump control. However, electronic control modules were not built into most cars until 1972, hence the system will not work on automobiles made before that year.

The concept of disabling vehicles' electronic system with microwaves was first tested in 1997 by the U.S. Army using bulky and heavy military equipment. But the Eureka Aerospace system is only six to eight feet long (antennae included) and not quite three feet wide. "It is much more efficient and compact than anything previously used in military vehicles," says Tatoian.

The device's peak power output is two gigawatts, although the average power emitted in a single shot is about 100 watts. Each radiated pulse lasts about 50 nanoseconds. All the test cars' engines were shut off using a single pulse at a distance of approximately 15 meters, making the total energy output 100 joules, says Tatoian. His company is currently developing a more compact high-power microwave pulse system with the goal of disabling engines at ranges from as far away as 200 meters.

"I have no doubt that if you set up a microprocessor and get a high-powered, well-focused beam of energy on [a car], you can disrupt its operation," says Peter Fisher, a professor of physics and the division head in particle and nuclear experimental physics at MIT. But to be able to deploy such a system safely will take some work, he says.

Imagine if a police officer is in a high-speed chase near a shopping mall and turns on one of these systems to stop the perpetrator: a lot of elevators have microprocessor controls, so if the officer is pointing the device in the direction of the mall, he or she could end up trapping 12 people in an elevator, says Fisher. Many other electronic systems, such as an automated teller machine or a security system, could also be disrupted.

Furthermore, Fisher cautions that, while the system may seem like an easier and more efficient solution than spike strips, it could still cause a huge accident if a car is disabled and a driver loses steering control. The system could pose a safety concern as well: radiation can burn human skin, and microwaves have long been suspected of being a cancer-causing agent.

At the moment, the most practical application for the system would be in the U.S. Army or Marine Corp, for perimeter protection of areas that are generally remote, says Fisher. Initial funding for the project came from the U.S. Marine Corp, but now Eureka Aerospace is looking to other governmental agencies for financial support as the company continues to work to make the device smaller, lighter, and more efficient. (Tatoian says that details regarding future work with the military are confidential.)
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19699/?a=f





'Stealth' Antenna Made Of Gas, Impervious To Jamming

A new antenna made of plasma (a gas heated to the point that the electrons are ripped free of atoms and molecules) works just like conventional metal antennas, except that it vanishes when you turn it off.

That's important on the battlefield and in other applications where antennas need to be kept out of sight. In addition, unlike metal antennas, the electrical characteristics of a plasma antenna can be rapidly adjusted to counteract signal jamming attempts.

Plasma antennas behave much like solid metal antennas because electrons flow freely in the hot gas, just as they do in metal conductors. But plasmas only exist when the gasses they're made of are very hot. The moment the energy source heating a plasma antenna is shut off, the plasma turns back into a plain old (non conductive) gas. As far as radio signals and antenna detectors go, the antenna effectively disappears when the plasma cools down.

The antenna design being presented at next week's APS Division of Plasma Physics meeting in Orlando consists of gas-filled tubes reminiscent of neon bulbs. The physicists presenting the design propose that an array of many small plasma elements could lead to a highly versatile antenna that could be reconfigured simply by turning on or off various elements.
http://www.scientificblogging.com/ne...ous_to_jamming





Microbes Churn Out Hydrogen at Record Rate
Press release

In new table-top reactor, bacteria from wastewater produce abundant, clean hydrogen from cellulose, or even vinegar, and a little electricity

By adding a few modifications to their successful wastewater fuel cell, researchers have coaxed common bacteria to produce hydrogen in a new, efficient way.

Bruce Logan and colleagues at Penn State University had already shown success at using microbes to produce electricity. Now, using starter material that could theoretically be sourced from a salad bar, the researchers have coaxed those same microbes to generate hydrogen.

By tweaking their design, improving conditions for the bacteria, and adding a small jolt of electricity, they increased the hydrogen yield to a new record for this type of system.

"We achieved the highest hydrogen yields ever obtained with this approach from different sources of organic matter, such as yields of 91 percent using vinegar (acetic acid) and 68 percent using cellulose," said Logan.

In certain configurations, nearly all of the hydrogen contained in the molecules of source material converted to useable hydrogen gas, an efficiency that could eventually open the door to bacterial hydrogen production on a larger scale.

Logan and lead author Shaoan Cheng announced their results in the Nov. 12, 2007, online version of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Bruce Logan is a clear leader in this area of research on sustainable energy," said Bruce Hamilton, NSF director of the environmental sustainability program at NSF and the officer overseeing Logan's research grant. "Advances in sustainable energy capabilities are of paramount importance to our nation's security and economic well-being. We have been supporting his cutting-edge research on microbial fuel cells for a number of years and it is wonderful to see the outstanding results that he continues to produce."

Other systems produce hydrogen on a larger scale, but few if any match the new system for energy efficiency.

Even with the small amount of electricity applied, the hydrogen ultimately provides more energy as a fuel than the electricity needed to drive the reactor. Incorporating all energy inputs and outputs, the overall efficiency of the vinegar-fueled system is better than 80 percent, far better than the efficiency for generation of the leading alternative fuel, ethanol.

Even most electrolysis techniques, methods to extract hydrogen from water using electricity, pale in comparison to the new method.

"We can do that by using the bacteria to efficiently extract energy from the organic matter," said Logan. By perfecting the environment for the bacteria to do what they already do in nature, the new approach can be three to ten times more efficient than standard electrolysis.

Additional information about the new technology and how it works can be found in the Penn State press release at http://www.psu.edu/ur/2007/biohydrogen.htm.
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.js...=NSF&from=news





You Say Fake Ads, They Say Satire
Andrew Adam Newman

“CALLING all Roys or Troys or Leroys,” began an ad posted to Craigslist in October. A photo of a heart-shaped tattoo with “Roy” inside accompanied the ad, which continued: “I was with a Roy before but it didn’t last as long as my tattoo. Getting the tattoo removed is not something I want to do, plus I’m so accustomed to bellowing it (Roy) out in bed.” The writer said she was seeking a new Roy, or anyone whose name could be inked around the word, Scrabble-style.

It was signed Dynah, but actually written by Johnna Gattinella, a 31-year-old writer in Santa Rosa, Calif. Ms. Gattinella is working on a book called “My Year on Craigslist” that will include her fake ads and the often earnest responses.

“A lot of men took the photo of the tattoo and put it in Photoshop and then altered it with their names or different variations and e-mailed it back,” said Ms. Gattinella, who hasn’t shopped the book to publishers yet.

The tattoo, by the way, is real, as is her husband, Roy.

Across the country, aspiring writers are using Craigslist not just as a place to offload their futons, but as a pixeled writing workshop where they test their stabs at social satire on some of the more than 30 million visitors that the site draws each month. Their personal ads ostensibly seek a soul mate, but what they’re really looking for is an audience.

Some, like Ms. Gattinella, are working on a book, while others are just trying out material. Some find Internet fame when popular blogs link to the ads.

“One of the motives is they are trying to start something viral that takes off,” said Peggy Wang, an editor at Buzzfeed, a trend-tracking site that recently linked to several fake Craigslist ads.

Blog-worthy ads tend to fall into three categories: outlandish yet grounded by an internal logic and clearly true; probably fake, but funny; so absurd only a naif would believe them. The best fake-ad writers telegraph the parody but never wink.

Some ads defy forensics. In September, bloggers were agog over a New York Craigslist posting in which a 25-year-old woman who described herself as “spectacularly beautiful” sought a husband who earned at least $500,000 a year. The author, dubbed “the gold digger,” has never come forward.

Craigslist is “a fun place to look when you should be doing something else,” said Debbie Newman, an editor at the gossip blog Jossip who trawls Craigslist for offbeat ads. “If you’re a talented writer and maybe a frustrated one working somewhere like a law firm that limits your day-to-day creativity, you take your opportunities where you can find them.”

Craigslist has advantages over other soapboxes. “You can set up your own blog, but people are not necessarily going to go there,” said Jim Buckmaster, the chief executive of Craigslist. “If you haven’t established an audience, you can do worse than Craigslist.”

Scott Den Herder, a freelance writer, was moving from California to New York in March but could not find an apartment share on Craigslist. What he did find were roommate-seekers’ ads that could be persnickety, even hostile. So Mr. Den Herder, 30, posted a series of fake roommate ads, one of them seeking someone who would “let me perform hypnosis on you liberally.”

One respondent asked, “Would the hypnosis deter me from attending work regularly or affect me in any negative way?” Another wondered, “Are you a licensed therapist or are you learning hypnosis by a trained medical professional or is this something you’re teaching yourself?”

Mr. Den Herder, who now lives in Arlington, Va., has queried literary agents with a book proposal about the ads and their responses, but has had no replies.

Craigslist prohibits ads that are “false or misinformative,” but Mr. Buckmaster said that as long as they were not afoul of other standards, such as being pornographic or defamatory, spoofers have nothing to fear. Still, he said, many fake ads are removed when users flag them.

“For one good satire,” he said, “there tend to be 10 bad ones that get flagged down because, face it, they’re not funny.”

Kate McDade, a 30-year-old student at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, said she was gleeful that her latest ad — she has written about 20 in the last two years — is currently featured in the “Best of Craigslist” section, the site’s equivalent of being published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Posted in the personals category, the ad reads in part: “Due to shortages in men in the Greater Portland Area, the following categories of unforgivable lowlifes have been promoted to ‘potential relationship material’ for me.”

The list of 44 descriptors includes “Liars,” “Cheaters,” “Daily pot smokers,” “Dirty, smelly coffee shop poets,” “Men old enough to be my Dad,” “My Dad,” “The dental-hygienically challenged,” and “Your dumb friend, age 37, who still plays video games after work.”

As a single mother, Ms. McDade said that she was largely satirizing herself and the dearth of suitable men. When people respond to her ads, often men in on the joke who laud her wit, she never replies. “I wouldn’t look for someone on Craigslist,” she said.

Brett Michael Dykes, whose fake ads and their responses have been popular features of his blog, Cajun Boy in the City (cajunboyinthecity.blogspot.com), usually posts in the “Missed Connections” category. (Many suspected Mr. Dykes wrote the “gold digger” ad, but he insists he didn’t.)

He posted an ad in April from the perspective of a woman to the “skinny boy on the L train in manhattan this morning” and went on to describe the quintessential hipster (“your jeans were tight but sagged just enough to expose the waistband of your knickers,” “slightly androgynous, you looked upset about something, often staring into nothingness, perhaps contemplating infinity, kafka, or both”). The ad writer, meanwhile, came across as attractive but conceited, claiming that “every other guy on the L was checking me out.” Responses poured in, as they did for another ad whose presumed writer also described herself as attractive but made racist remarks.

“When you break it down, guys are just really pathetic,” said Mr. Dykes, 35, who lives in Manhattan.

The most buzz Mr. Dykes generated was with a September post, from the perspective of a male who offered sexual favors to anyone for tickets to a Genesis reunion concert at Giants Stadium. Web sites, including Gawker, New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer, and Buzzfeed, linked to the ad. Jossip even ran an interview with Mr. Dykes.

A San Francisco comedy troupe, Kasper Hauser, first posted fake ads to Craigslist two years ago and now posts them directly onto its parody sight, Khraigslist (www.kasperhauser.com/khmc). One with the heading “Into Meeting New People” follows with the message, “But I am a dancer and busy with dental school and gardening, so you know what, forget it.” Another heading, “One half of twin stroller,” continues with the message “Will saw off Tony’s seat — we are only keeping one of the twins.”

“It’s like an Advent calendar of humor,” said John Reichmuth, 37, a member of the troupe. “There’s an outside wrapping and then there’s an inside that can be set up and punch-lined.”

Among those who appreciate the parody site is Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, who once linked to it from his personal blog.

Ms. Gattinella, for one, is glad that Craigslist insiders are not upset.

“I don’t want to forever be banned from Craigslist,” she said. “That would be terrible. I still have an old lawn mower I need to get rid of.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/fashion/15craigs.html





Fake Prada Fuels Senegal's Muslim Brotherhood
Nick Tattersall

For Senegalese street sellers from Manhattan to the Vatican, selling fake Prada purses and Chinese-made Gucci sunglasses is as much a question of religious devotion as of making a quick buck.

Many traders are members of the Mouride brotherhood, a branch of African Sufi Islam which has become Senegal's most influential religious, political and economic force.

A unique mix of militant capitalism and moderate Islam, its central doctrine of hard work as a means to paradise has led thousands to leave Senegal's sunny shores with one goal -- to earn money and send it back to the holy city of Touba.

"Work and don't complain much. That's the only doctrine they have," said Moustapha Diao, 53, a Mouride born in Touba who now lives in Harlem, the heart of New York's Senegalese community.

Diao used to peddle goods on Manhattan streets at a mark-up after buying them cheaply in Chinatown.

"The only network they have is workaholic," he said.

Remittances from Mourides abroad have helped the brotherhood grow exponentially since it was founded in the 1880s by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, a Muslim mystic, poet and pacifist sent into exile by French colonial authorities who feared his influence.

Known as "little Mecca", the holy city of Touba has grown from a tiny village into the hub of a global network of small businessmen whose trading acumen means the latest gadgets are available in Senegal as quickly as anywhere in the world.

"My conviction is that if it weren't for Ahmadou Bamba, I wouldn't have all this," said Djily Diop, 22, among fridges, televisions and satellite receivers in his shop in Touba.

School Of Hard Knocks

Diop had wanted to finish school and maybe go to university. But in a country with tens of thousands of graduates unable to find work, his parents encouraged him to go to a Daara, a Koranic school run by a Marabout or religious teacher.

Unemployment is so high that many young Senegalese have risked their lives taking unseaworthy, overcrowded fishing boats to Spain's Canary Islands in the hope of finding work in Europe.

"My classmates went to university for three years and now they are unemployed. My parents knew (a Daara) was the best route," Diop said, dressed in gold-coloured robes.

His access to the Mouride network has enabled him to set up a business and will support him wherever he travels.

"If I go to New York, even if it is someone who does not know me, when I say I am a Mouride he will take me as his brother and share with me," he said.

"What we have in common -- the Marabout -- is more important than family ties, community ties, even the fact we are from the same country."

Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba's teachings -- notably "pray as if you will die tomorrow and work as if you will live forever" -- are learned from an early age by many of his followers.

In the peanut fields around Touba, given by the state to the brotherhood's current caliph Serigne Saliou Mbacke, children as young as 10 tend the crops, part of a Daara education based on hard physical labour as well as religious texts.

"I learned never to get angry. There were people who beat me but it taught me to be strong," said Cheikh Beye, a Daara-educated trader who sells goods sent by his brother from Dubai and China. "Mourides want to succeed whatever the cost."

Powerful But Tolerant

The brotherhood dominates life in much of Senegal.

Homages like "Djeuredjef Serigne Saliou" -- thank you Serigne Saliou -- are painted all over brightly coloured buses and taxis. Bedroom walls and pendants carry images of the movement's Marabouts.

Some critics argue the Mourides' reverence for Bamba and the Marabouts eclipses their respect for the Prophet Mohammad, one of the pillars of Islam, and say the brotherhood has become too powerful a political force in Senegal.

Bamba's followers emphasize the tolerant nature of his teachings. They say support from Mouride leaders helped keep independence president Leopold Sedar Senghor, a Christian in a predominantly Muslim country, in power.

They regard their readiness to engage other cultures as central to the brotherhood's global success.

"Here, we do not know this fierce form of Islam in which you have to kill others because they do not believe the same as you, because they are Christian or Jew," said Cheikh Bethio, one of the most influential of the movement's living Marabouts.

"That is why it hurts us when the West confuses Islam and terrorism," he told Reuters as his followers knelt around him in a courtyard near Touba, his brand new Hummer off-roader parked in the shade of a tamarind tree.

(Additional reporting by Edith Honan in New York and Silvia Aloisi in Rome; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Sara Ledwith)
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...39421820071112





Jihadist e-Bomb Fails to Explode on November 11, Experts Doubt Claim
Nate Anderson

A purported worldwide cyber-Jihad was supposed to take place on November 11, but the date has passed without any apparent attacks. Security experts are skeptical that such a threat, even if acted upon, could do much real damage to the Internet.

The cyber-Jihad story gained legs when the military intelligence site DEBKAfile announced that its "counter-terror sources" had picked up an Arabic message from Al Qaeda on October 29. The messages announced an "Electronic Jihad" that would target "Western, Jewish, Israeli, Muslim apostate and Shiite websites" beginning November 11. That's a pretty big target list, and security experts were skeptical of the claim from the start.

On November 5, SANS (SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security) Institute's Johannes Ullrich argued that the proposed attack would not be a serious problem. He pointed out that "the site calling for it has tried to do so before without success," that November 11 is the first day of Carnival and a day for hoaxes, and that "even if something is going to happen, I doubt it will be more than a lame DoS attack."

In fact, even the lame DoS attack failed to materialize. Marcus Sachs, the SANS Internet Storm Center Director, said yesterday that no cyber-Jihad was apparent, and he asked to hear from any "terrorists hanging out here reading this diary."

Sachs went on to dismiss the whole idea of such an attack, saying that the "odds of a terrorist group 'terrorizing' the Internet with cyber-bullets and e-bombs are about as small as the odds of the Morse Code coming back as a primary means of communication. It's not zero, but it's also not much more than zero."

Sadly, no terrorists contacted Sachs to talk about what had (or had not) happened. Perhaps cyber-Jihadists just aren't that hot with dates? Or perhaps they realized that disrupting their own best communications and fundraising channel wasn't such a bright idea.

When it comes to Internet threats, current criminal botnets and even spammers pose more of a threat to sites and security researchers than do unsubstantiated tales of cyber-Jihad (though holy war makes for much better headlines).
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post...ubt-claim.html





Report Puts Hidden War Costs at $1.6T
Jeannine Aversa

The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion -- roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee.

The report, released Tuesday, attempted to put a price tag on the two conflicts, including ''hidden'' costs such as interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars, lost investment, the expense of long-term health care for injured veterans and the cost of oil market disruptions.

The $1.6 trillion figure, for the period from 2002 to 2008, translates into a cost of $20,900 for a family of four, the report said. The Bush administration has requested $804 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined, the report stated.

For the Iraq war only, total economic costs were estimated at $1.3 trillion for the period from 2002 to 2008. That would cost a family of four $16,500, the report said.

Future economic costs would be even greater. The report estimated that both wars would cost $3.5 trillion between 2003 and 2017. Under that scenario, it would cost a family of four $46,400, the report said.

The report, from the committee's Democratic majority, was not vetted with Republican members. Democratic leaders in Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., seized on the report to criticize Bush's war strategy. The White House countered that the report was politically motivated.

''This report was put out by Democrats on Capitol Hill. This committee is known for being partisan and political. They did not consult or cooperate with the Republicans on the committee. And so I think it is an attempt to muddy the waters on what has been some positive developments being reported out of Iraq,'' said White House press secretary Dana Perino. ''I haven't seen the report, but it's obvious the motivations behind it.''

The report comes as the House and Senate planned to vote this week on another effort by Democrats to set a deadline for withdrawing troops from Iraq as a condition for providing another $50 billion for the war.

Reid said the report ''is another reminder of how President Bush's stubborn refusal to change course in Iraq and congressional Republicans' willingness to rubber stamp his failed strategy -- has real consequences at home for all Americans.''

Perino, while acknowledging the dangers in Iraq, defended Bush's stance.

''Obviously it remains a dangerous situation in Iraq. But the reduction in violence, the increased economic capacity of the country, as well as, hopefully, some continued political reconciliation that is moving from the bottom up, is a positive trend and one that we -- well, it's positive and we hope it is a trend that will take hold,'' Perino said.

Israel Klein, spokesman for the Joint Economic Committee, took issue with the White House's characterization of the panel's report.

''Instead of dealing with the substance of this report, the White House is once again trying to deflect attention away from the blistering costs of this war in Iraq,'' Klein said. ''This report uses the nonpartisan CBO (Congressional Budget Office) budget estimates and was prepared by the JEC's professional economists using the same process this committee has always used, regardless of which party is in the majority.''

However, the committee's top-ranking Republican members -- Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rep. Jim Saxton of New Jersey -- called on the Democratic leadership to ''withdraw this defective report.'' A joint statement from the two Republican lawmakers said the report is a ''thinly veiled exercise in political hyperbole masquerading as academic research.''

White House Budget Director Jim Nussle accused Democrats of ''trying to distort reality for political gain.''

Oil prices have surged since the start of the war, from about $37 a barrel to well over $90 a barrel in recent weeks, the report said. ''Consistent disruptions from the war have affected oil prices,'' although the Iraq war is not responsible for all of the increase in oil prices, the report said.

Still, the report estimated that high oil prices have hit U.S. consumers in the pocket, transferring ''approximately $124 billion from U.S. oil consumers to foreign (oil) producers'' from 2003 to 2008, the report said.

High oil prices can slow overall economic growth if that chills spending and investment by consumers and businesses. At the same time, high oil prices can spread inflation throughout the economy if companies decide to boost the prices of many other goods and services.

Meanwhile, ''the sum of interest paid on Iraq-related debt from 2003 to 2017 will total over $550 billion,'' the report said. The government has to make interest payments on the money it borrows to finance the national debt, which recently hit $9 trillion for the first time.

The report was obtained by The Associated Press before its release. An earlier draft of the report, which also had been obtained by The AP, had put the economic cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars slightly lower, at $1.5 trillion.

''What this report makes crystal clear,'' said Joint Economic Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., ''is that the cost to our country in lives lost and dollars spent is tragically unacceptable.'' Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the panel's vice chair, said of the Iraq war: ''By every measure, this war has cost Americans far too much.''
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...rveNwD8ST20L01





Dodd Revs Up Partisan Rhetoric

Senator hopes to break into conscience of voters
Peter Urban

Chris Dodd's voice echoed through the near empty Senate chamber as he launched an attack on President Bush with C-SPAN cameras rolling on a recent Friday morning.

In rat-a-tat fashion, Dodd laid waste to a slew of Bush's policies that have been vilified by liberal Democrats who deeply oppose the Iraq war: the scandal at Abu Ghraib "¦ Guantanamo Bay "¦ secret prisons run by the CIA "¦ warrantless wiretapping "¦ torture "¦ the list goes on.

"No more trampling our Constitution. No more excusing those who violate the rule of law. These are our principles. They have been around at least since the Magna Carta. They are enduring. What they are not is temporary. And what we do not do in a time where our country is at risk is abandon them," the Connecticut Democrat boomed.

The speech, restating his opposition to granting immunity to telecommunications companies that may have illegally assisted the National Security Agency wiretap without warrants, was ostensibly directed at his colleagues already on their ways home for the weekend.

In reality, it was a made-for-YouTube moment designed to feed a surge of support that Dodd's presidential candidacy has garnered among Netroots progressives, who helped fuel Howard Dean's 2004 presidential bid.

In Iowa and New Hampshire, Dodd has revved up such partisan rhetoric, hoping to break into the conscience of voters in the early primary states who have focused instead on New York Sen. Hillary

Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

On Capitol Hill, Dodd has taken a different path and has directed his efforts at building bipartisan support for his legislative policies rather than alienating Senate Republicans with partisan bomb throwing.

Campaigning and legislating are two different animals, according to Gary Rose, a professor of politics at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.

"There is such a different set of values at work," he said. "In the realm of governing, there has to be an element of collegiality and bipartisan support. But when you run for president, you can conduct yourself as a strident liberal vehemently opposed to the Republican Party as Dodd has done. It is a different set of circumstances and requirements."

Scott McLean, a professor of politics at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, said voters have grown weary of the Bush administration and partisan backbiting, which is why Dodd can press both buttons.

"The Senate is distancing itself from Bush, so I don't think there necessarily a contradiction in attacking the president and working with Republican senators," he said.

In Iowa and New Hampshire, where Dodd is concentrating his presidential efforts, he can "hammer away at Bush without seeming partisan" because the majority of voters are not happy with the direction the president has taken the country, McLean said.

On Capitol Hill, Dodd has touted a string of legislative successes.

Earlier this month, the Senate voted to extended benefits provided under his landmark Family and Medical Leave Act that allows families of wounded military personnel to take up to six months of unpaid leave. Dodd co-wrote the provision with Clinton and had the support of Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Pat Roberts of Kansas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Obama also signed onto it.

The Senate also approved a resolution co-sponsored by Dodd and Sen.

John Ensign, R-Nevada, to promote after-school programs. The two co-chair the Senate's Afterschool Caucus, which now has 35 members.

And, the Senate Banking Committee last month approved three bills with near unanimity: The Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007, the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007, and the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007.

Dodd thanked Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama, Mel Martinez of Florida and Sam Brownback of Kansas for their help in refining the Sudan bill. He also thanked Republican Jim Bunning of Kentucky for his work on the flood insurance bill.

Dodd is serving his fifth term in the Senate and is well aware of the need to work across party lines in order to accomplish anything -- particularly when the chamber is nearly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. The minority party can block passage of most bills -- using their filibuster threat -- with only 41 votes, and there are 49 Republicans now seated in the Senate.

Dodd has authored 23 bills this year with Republican co-sponsors. In all, 30 of his Republican colleagues have signed onto at least one piece of his legislation. In turn, Dodd has co-sponsored 39 GOP bills authored by 22 of his Republican colleagues.

Clinton has Republican co-sponsors on 31 bills and has co-sponsored 47 Republican bills. Biden has authored 15 bills with Republican co-sponsors and has co-sponsored 27 GOP bills. Obama has Republican co-sponsors on 14 bills and co-sponsored 39 GOP bills.
Michael Lewan, a lobbyist for Brown Rudnick and former chief of staff for Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, is not surprised that veteran lawmakers like Dodd, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden or Clinton are reaching out to Republicans to get things done.

"I think it is the smart thing to do and frankly what the American people want," he said. "Just because you are a Democrat or Republican or because you are running against them doesn't mean you shouldn't find areas of agreement."

Attracting co-sponsors to legislation is serious business in the Senate. It can make or break your chances for success, he said. A co-sponsor who sits on a committee of interest can lead to a public hearing and potentially a mark up of the bill. Having bipartisan support can also signal leadership that there is enough support to bring the issue to a floor vote.

"They absolutely look for co-sponsors. Frankly, lobbyist also go out and recruit for them," he said.

Dodd always strives for consensus on Capitol Hill, Lewan said.

"He is a master of the legislative process, not just because he is smart and works hard, but because he understands the business of building alliances on the left and right," Lewan said.

On the campaign trail, Lewan said that Dodd understands he needs to reach out to liberal activists that participate heavily in party primaries.

"A very aggressive left wing of the Democratic Party has developed today because of the situation in Iraq; exemplified by the Netroots movement -- the same people who caused so much aggravation for Joe Lieberman. And, they are making themselves known to Democratic presidential candidates," he said.

McLean is not surprised that Republicans colleagues are teaming up with their Democratic counterparts even as they run for president.

However, he does not see that changing the tone on the campaign trail --particularly for Clinton.

Clinton's outreach efforts will not quiet the GOP drumbeat that she would only exacerbate the partisan gridlock in Washington, he said.

"They need to whip up their base, and I don't think they care if it is accurate or not," McLean said. "Republicans are going to attack her and make her the most polarizing issue."

Clinton understands the gamesmanship but also knows that she must build a record of cooperation to convince Democratic voters that she can work with Republicans despite their rhetoric.

As to why so many Senate Republicans co-sponsor her legislation rather than shun her, McLean said they must not have gotten the memo from the Republican National Committee.

For his part, Dodd does not shy away on the campaign trail from pointing to his bipartisan efforts.

Asked recently by seniors in New Hampshire how he would heal a divided nation, Dodd ran off a half-dozen bills he co-sponsored with conservative Republicans and said he would host a dinner soon after his inauguration that would include prominent Republicans and Democrats as guests, according to an Associated Press report.

"I'm not going spend a couple of years getting to know these people," he said. "We trust each other, we disagree, we agree, we've argued, we've fought with each other on things. But we've also come to terms, and I think that's the kind of leadership we need right now."
http://www.newstimes.com/ci_7440358





Yahoo Settles with Chinese Writers
Sarah Lai Stirland

Yahoo on Tuesday settled a lawsuit filed in the United States by two mainland Chinese writers who were imprisoned after the technology company handed over their private account information to Chinese law enforcement authorities.

Terms of the settlement weren't disclosed. But a source at Yahoo said the company has been "working with the families, and we're working with them to provide them with financial, humanitarian and legal assistance."

Yahoo has also agreed to establish a global human rights fund to provide "humanitarian relief" to support dissidents and their families. The source said that details still have to be worked out.

"After meeting with the families, it was clear to me what we had to do to make this right for them, for Yahoo! and for the future," said Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang in a statement. "Yahoo! was founded on the idea that the free exchange of information can fundamentally change how people lead their lives, conduct their business and interact with their governments."

"We are committed to making sure our actions match our values around the world. That's why we are also working to establish a Human Rights Fund to provide humanitarian and legal aid to dissidents who have been imprisoned for expressing their views online," he said.

Yahoo also agreed in a court filing to pay the attorneys' fees for the plaintiffs.

Yahoo said nothing, however, about the future provision of e-mail services to users in China. Its competitor Google has decided not to host e-mail or blogging services for users within the jurisdiction of mainland Chinese authorities.

The settlement comes after lawmakers blasted Yang and Yahoo's top lawyer Michael Callahan last week in a congressional hearing over how Yahoo has handled the entire chain of events surrounding the arrests.

"It took a tongue-lashing from Congress before these high-tech titans did the right thing and coughed up some concrete assistance for the family of a journalist whom Yahoo had helped to send to jail," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos in a statement issued Tuesday. "In my view, today's settlement is long overdue."

The two writers are engineer Wang Xiaoning and business journalist Shi Tao. They're both still currently serving 10 year prison terms for their online activities. Wang wrote tracts in e-mail messages calling for democratic reforms and posted them to a Yahoo group, and Shi e-mailed a Communist party communique about press coverage of some returning Chinese pro-democracy activists to an overseas non-profit.

The Chinese authorities jailed Wang for "incitement to subvert state power," and Shi was imprisoned for leaking state secrets.

The writers' lawyer Morton Sklar of the World Organization for Human Rights hinted on Tuesday that one of the terms of the settlement was that Yahoo would continue to lobby the Chinese government to release his clients. He said that the terms covered many of the issues discussed in the hearing.

"There is certainly the need to do something to get the individuals out of prison as soon as possible," he said.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey said that the settlement doesn't obviate the need for his proposed bill, which would among other things make it illegal for US tech companies to divulge identifying user information to repressive regimes, and allow affected parties to bring civil suits against such companies in the United States.

"As a nation, we have a responsibility to continue to push for the release of these human rights leaders and pass the Global Online Freedom Act to prevent this egregious human rights abuse from happening to others," said Smith in a statement. "Much like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, my legislation will make certain that US companies are not compelled to comply with local Secret Police or any other unlawful policies when operating in foreign markets."

Yahoo is working "pro-actively" with lawmakers on the bill, said the Yahoo source. They added that Yahoo supports the "overall objectives" of the bill, but that there are still provisions in it that would effectively ban the company from doing business in China.

Lantos said in his statement Tuesday that as far as he was concerned, the settlement isn't the end of the issue.

“Yahoo! Inc. and other U.S.-based Internet companies need to work harder to ensure that they resist any attempts by authoritarian regimes to make them complicit in cracking down on free speech – otherwise, they simply should not do business in those markets," he said.

Yahoo is working with other US technology companies, academics and human-rights groups to craft a "code of conduct" to protect freedom of expression online.

Separately, the government-run China Daily reported Monday that Chinese officials are trying to track all the journalists "allowed" to work in China during the Olympic Games next year. The story says that the Chinese government has already compiled a database of 8,000 "overseas reporters," and is currently building another one that will contain information on an additional 20,000 foreign reporters who are expected to be in China during the games. The story says that the databases are being built so that the authorities can crack down on "bogus reporters."
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/200...settles-w.html





Yahoo China Appeals 'Deep Link' Ruling
Steve McClure

Yahoo China this week launched an appeal against an April 24 ruling by the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court that found Yahoo China parent company, Beijing-based Alibaba, guilty of copyright violation due to the portal's practice of providing "deep links" to Web sites offering unauthorized content such as mp3 downloads, lyrics and ringtones.

Eleven separate claims were brought against Yahoo China in January by IFPI local and international record companies, who presented evidence of widespread infringement of their copyrights.

The court ordered Yahoo China to pay 200,000 yuan ($27,200) in damages to the labels and to delete the links to the free-download Web sites.

"It is incredible that the music industry should have to defend its rights in a Chinese court against a company in which an American corporate icon has such a large stake," said IFPI chairman/CEO John Kennedy in a statement. "Yahoo is one of the best-known international brands on the Internet, which runs its own legitimate music services all over the world, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Yet in mainland China, Yahoo is investing in and profiting from the widespread breach of intellectual-property rights."

Yahoo China could not be reached for comment at press time.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/conte...68a9717db23c6d





Chinese Spying Is a Threat, Panel Says

Report also cites outsourcing by weapons makers
David Cho and Ariana Eunjung Cha

Spying by China in the United States is the biggest threat to keeping American technology secrets, a bipartisan government panel concluded in a report released yesterday.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission also said that advances by the Chinese military are catching U.S. intelligence officials by surprise and that the Defense Department may be inadvertently outsourcing the manufacturing of key weapons and military equipment to factories in China.

The report, the panel's fifth, noted that China appears to be reversing its move toward free markets by setting up state-owned enterprises to maintain control over 12 key industries, including oil, telecommunications, shipping, automobiles, steel and information technology.

The commission also urged Congress to work with China to reduce its pollution, which is responsible for significant amounts of smog over the western United States, according to new studies quoted by the report. China is scheduled to build 562 coal-fired plants over the next five years and may have already replaced the United States as the largest greenhouse-gas producer in the world, the report said.

The panel, which was created by Congress in 2001 and has six members appointed by Democrats and six by Republicans, has been criticized for taking a hawkish stance on China in its annual reports. In the one released yesterday, it made 42 recommendations to Congress, and several of them raised questions about whether the Defense Department has been lax in overseeing the production of sensitive military technologies and gathering intelligence on the Chinese military.

The Pentagon is increasingly buying planes, weapons and military vehicles from private contractors that outsource the manufacturing to plants in China and elsewhere in Asia, the report said. But when questioned by the commission, defense officials admitted that they do not have the ability to track where the components of military equipment are made.

"As weaponry gets more and more sophisticated . . . I think well find ourselves more vulnerable for parts that are being manufactured by an adversary. It's really something the Pentagon needs to look at seriously," said commission member William A. Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, which promotes free trade on behalf of businesses. Members said that the commission had never before delved so deeply into national security issues.

The report said China's military advances "have surprised U.S. defense and intelligence officials, and raised questions about the quality of our assessments of China's military capabilities."

In January, the Chinese military successfully blew up an old weather satellite. Some analysts said that was a signal that it could take out U.S. military satellites if a conflict broke out in the Taiwan Strait. China has also made attempts to blind U.S. spy satellites with lasers and is building a fleet of diesel-powered submarines that could sneak up on aircraft carriers.

Jia Qingguo, vice dean of the School of International Studies at Peking University, said he thinks the conclusions in the report are "exaggerations."

"When talking about spying technologies, the U.S. is second to no other," Jia said. "It's is true and fair to say that the speed of the modernization of China's national defense technology has been really fast, but it still lags substantially behind the United States."

Jia said China has given no indication that it wants a military confrontation with the United States. "As long as the United States doesn't want to invade China, China should not be a threat to the United States," he said.

Shen Dingli, a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai who focuses on China-U.S. relations, said that if U.S. companies that outsource sensitive technology to China "are afraid we will take their technology, they don't have to let us work on it."

"When companies come to China for outsourcing, it is them asking for favors, not the opposite," Shen said. "But then they turn around and say we are bad."

Responding to the report, Defense Department spokesman Stewart Upton said: "We are closely watching China's military modernization. China's lack of transparency regarding its military modernization raises uncertainty -- for the U.S. and for others -- regarding its strategic intent, and causes hedging against the unknown."

"These are not just unilateral concerns, these are concerns voiced by China's neighbors, others in the region," Upton said. "All of us are looking for a China that emphasizes transparency over opacity, substance over symbolism, and implementation over negotiation."

In the past, the U.S.-China review commission has come under fire for its criticism of China. C. Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, who has testified before the commission, said its annual reports tend to be "reflexively critical of China."

"The commission is primarily concerned about the threats and the risk of China and probably does not give enough weight to the potential benefits and opportunities that arise for the U.S. from the rapidly rising China power," Bergsten said

The panel has also been criticized by its members. Reinsch has refused to support two previous reports because he disagreed with their harsh rhetoric and stances.

However, Reinsch said, the current report got unanimous support, largely because it is more objective and supported cooperative efforts on pollution issues even as it criticized China for its trade surplus with the United States.

"This year we are more boring," Reinsch said, "but the result is a more balanced and more thoughtful report."

Cha reported from Shanghai.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...111501099.html





Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?
Bruce Schneier

Random numbers are critical for cryptography: for encryption keys, random authentication challenges, initialization vectors, nonces, key-agreement schemes, generating prime numbers and so on. Break the random-number generator, and most of the time you break the entire security system. Which is why you should worry about a new random-number standard that includes an algorithm that is slow, badly designed and just might contain a backdoor for the National Security Agency.

Generating random numbers isn't easy, and researchers have discovered lots of problems and attacks over the years. A recent paper found a flaw in the Windows 2000 random-number generator. Another paper found flaws in the Linux random-number generator. Back in 1996, an early version of SSL was broken because of flaws in its random-number generator. With John Kelsey and Niels Ferguson in 1999, I co-authored Yarrow, a random-number generator based on our own cryptanalysis work. I improved this design four years later -- and renamed it Fortuna -- in the book Practical Cryptography, which I co-authored with Ferguson.

The U.S. government released a new official standard for random-number generators this year, and it will likely be followed by software and hardware developers around the world. Called NIST Special Publication 800-90 (.pdf), the 130-page document contains four different approved techniques, called DRBGs, or "Deterministic Random Bit Generators." All four are based on existing cryptographic primitives. One is based on hash functions, one on HMAC, one on block ciphers and one on elliptic curves. It's smart cryptographic design to use only a few well-trusted cryptographic primitives, so building a random-number generator out of existing parts is a good thing.

But one of those generators -- the one based on elliptic curves -- is not like the others. Called Dual_EC_DRBG, not only is it a mouthful to say, it's also three orders of magnitude slower than its peers. It's in the standard only because it's been championed by the NSA, which first proposed it years ago in a related standardization project at the American National Standards Institute.

The NSA has always been intimately involved in U.S. cryptography standards -- it is, after all, expert in making and breaking secret codes. So the agency's participation in the NIST (the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology) standard is not sinister in itself. It's only when you look under the hood at the NSA's contribution that questions arise.

Problems with Dual_EC_DRBG were first described in early 2006. The math is complicated, but the general point is that the random numbers it produces have a small bias. The problem isn't large enough to make the algorithm unusable -- and Appendix E of the NIST standard describes an optional work-around to avoid the issue -- but it's cause for concern. Cryptographers are a conservative bunch: We don't like to use algorithms that have even a whiff of a problem.

But today there's an even bigger stink brewing around Dual_EC_DRBG. In an informal presentation (.pdf) at the CRYPTO 2007 conference in August, Dan Shumow and Niels Ferguson showed that the algorithm contains a weakness that can only be described a backdoor.

This is how it works: There are a bunch of constants -- fixed numbers -- in the standard used to define the algorithm's elliptic curve. These constants are listed in Appendix A of the NIST publication, but nowhere is it explained where they came from.

What Shumow and Ferguson showed is that these numbers have a relationship with a second, secret set of numbers that can act as a kind of skeleton key. If you know the secret numbers, you can predict the output of the random-number generator after collecting just 32 bytes of its output. To put that in real terms, you only need to monitor one TLS internet encryption connection in order to crack the security of that protocol. If you know the secret numbers, you can completely break any instantiation of Dual_EC_DRBG.

The researchers don't know what the secret numbers are. But because of the way the algorithm works, the person who produced the constants might know; he had the mathematical opportunity to produce the constants and the secret numbers in tandem.

Of course, we have no way of knowing whether the NSA knows the secret numbers that break Dual_EC-DRBG. We have no way of knowing whether an NSA employee working on his own came up with the constants -- and has the secret numbers. We don't know if someone from NIST, or someone in the ANSI working group, has them. Maybe nobody does.

We don't know where the constants came from in the first place. We only know that whoever came up with them could have the key to this backdoor. And we know there's no way for NIST -- or anyone else -- to prove otherwise.

This is scary stuff indeed.

Even if no one knows the secret numbers, the fact that the backdoor is present makes Dual_EC_DRBG very fragile. If someone were to solve just one instance of the algorithm's elliptic-curve problem, he would effectively have the keys to the kingdom. He could then use it for whatever nefarious purpose he wanted. Or he could publish his result, and render every implementation of the random-number generator completely insecure.

It's possible to implement Dual_EC_DRBG in such a way as to protect it against this backdoor, by generating new constants with another secure random-number generator and then publishing the seed. This method is even in the NIST document, in Appendix A. But the procedure is optional, and my guess is that most implementations of the Dual_EC_DRBG won't bother.

If this story leaves you confused, join the club. I don't understand why the NSA was so insistent about including Dual_EC_DRBG in the standard. It makes no sense as a trap door: It's public, and rather obvious. It makes no sense from an engineering perspective: It's too slow for anyone to willingly use it. And it makes no sense from a backwards-compatibility perspective: Swapping one random-number generator for another is easy.

My recommendation, if you're in need of a random-number generator, is not to use Dual_EC_DRBG under any circumstances. If you have to use something in SP 800-90, use CTR_DRBG or Hash_DRBG.

In the meantime, both NIST and the NSA have some explaining to do.
http://www.wired.com/politics/securi...tymatters_1115





Animal Rights Activist Hit with RIPA Key Decrypt Demand
John Leyden

An animal rights activist has been ordered to hand over her encryption keys to the authorities.

Section Three of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) came into force at the start in October 2007, seven years after the original legislation passed through parliament. Intended primarily to deal with terror suspects, it allows police to demand encryption keys or provide a clear text transcript of encrypted text.

Failure to comply can result in up to two years imprisonment for cases not involving national security, or five years for terrorism offences and the like. Orders can be made to turn over data months or even years old.

The contentious measure, introduced (http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/ri...ic-information) after years of consultation, was sold to Parliament as a necessary tool for law enforcement in the fight against organised crime and terrorism.

But an animal rights activist is one of the first people at the receiving end of a notice to give up encryption keys. Her computer was seized by police in May, and she has been given 12 days to hand over a pass-phrase to unlock encrypted data held on the drive - or face the consequences.

The woman, who claims to have not used encryption, relates her experiences in an anonymous posting (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/385589.html) on Indymedia (http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/static/about_us.html).

"Now apparently they have found some encrypted files on my computer (which was stolen by police thugs in May this year) which they think they have 'reasonable suspicion' to pry into using the excuse of 'preventing or detecting a crime'," she writes.

"Now I have been 'invited' (how nice, will there be tea and biccies?) to reveal my keys to the police so they can look at these files. If I do not comply and tell them to keep their great big hooters out of my private affairs I could be charged under RIPA."

The woman says that any encrypted data put on the PC must have been put there by somebody else.

"Funny thing is PGP and I never got on together I confess that I am far too dense for such a complex (well to me anyway) programme. Therefore in a so-called democracy I am being threatened with prison simply because I cannot access encrypted files on my computer."

She argues that even if she had used encryption she'd be disinclined to hand over her pass phrase. "The police are my enemy, I know that they have given information about me to Huntingdon Life Sciences (as well as hospitalising me)," she writes. "Would I really want them to see and then pass around private communications with my solicitors which could be used against me at a later date in the civil courts, medical records, embarrassing poetry which was never meant to be read by anyone else, soppy love letters or indeed personal financial transactions?"

Indymedia reports that similar demands have been served against other animal rights activists, a point we have not been able to verify.

The woman was issued a notice by the Crown Prosecution Service, and not (as might be expected) the police. According to the code of conduct (http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/ri...c-information), the authorities would normally ask a suspect to put the files into intelligible form, though how this would work when a PC is being held by the police is far from clear.

It's unclear if the woman was given an official Section 49 notice or simply "invited" to hand over the data voluntarily as part of a bluff by the authorities.

Richard Clayton, a security researcher at Cambridge University and long-time contributor to UK security policy working groups, said (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/pi...er/082429.html) that only the police are authorised to issue Section 49 notices. "What seems to have happened is that the CPS (who couldn't issue a notice anyway) have written asking the person to volunteer their key," he adds.

"Should they refuse this polite request, they are being threatened with the subsequent issuing of a notice, which might or might not require the key to be produced (it might of course just require the putting into an intelligible form of the data)."

Clayton expressed concern that the incident illustrates possible holes in the long-delayed code of practice. "It would clearly be desirable to seek NTAC (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/pipermail/ukcrypto/2002-March/057923.html)'s views before approaching suspects with requests for keys (rather than requests to put into an intelligible form) - lest the authorities give the impression that they know rather less about the rules (and the operation of encryption systems) than everyone else," he said.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11...on_key_notice/





Critical of Digg = Be Censored by Digg?
Greg

So an interested thing happened last night. I had posted a blog entry about how annoyed I was with the quality and type of ads that Digg has been showing over the last couple of weeks. And sent it off to Digg

I didn't really mean for it to go anywhere, I was just venting. But I guess others had gotten tired of the annoying video ads, so it ended up getting voted up. It entered the front page, and was on the "top in 24 hours" in 2 hours.

By 5 PM EST it was in the #1 spot on the Top 10 in All Topics, and by 11 PM it was in the #2 spot for "top in 24 hours", and rising fast.

Around 11:45 PM it was removed.

So, my question is, why? I would guess it had either been buried by users, or Digg itself removed it.

It very well COULD have been buried - a lot of the comments seemed to be thinking the point of the post was about having to look at ads (and from there, pointing on there are ad blockers that could be used). That wasn't the point.

I've been using various forms of Ad blockers for a long time, so am aware of them. I happen to be on a new install and had not gotten around to installing Adblocker (something I did a hour after the first post, as I was really really tired of watching that $@!#$ girl every time I brought up Digg).

The point was the low quality of ads on Digg, almost NSWF, and very distracting. A lot of people want to support the site through ads so don’t install blockers; some don't have a clue about ad blockers (or are using IE). And some can't control what they can install on their machine ('cause they are at work, or are using a public machine or someone else’s machine).

Considering how many people DID support what I was saying, and after seeing the continuing Diggs (I was watching it on Stack), I do have to wondered how a post like that could all of a sudden been buried? It would have probably hit the number 1 spot for 24 hours.

So was it buried or censored by Digg? Did someone at Digg not like the amount of slams they were getting on their partners poor choice of Ads? I realize this is a touchy subject, as the site is getting 100% of their revenue via ads, and they don't want to piss those people off (and as I said before, I SUPPORT Digg using ads – I just would like less intrusive, SFW ads, you know?)

Anyway. I don't really care that much, just thought it was interesting. I haven't had anything I've submitted go up like that before; it was cool, and then disappointing to just have it removed. I really HOPE it wasn't Digg that censored my opinion - if so, then the site has a lot more to worry about then the lousy selection of ads they are running!
http://newznozzl.blogspot.com/2007/1...d-by-digg.html





Russia Casts A Selective Net in Piracy Crackdown

Political Bias Alleged In Pursuit of Groups Using Illicit Software
Peter Finn

The newspaper Novaya Gazeta, one of the last outposts of critical journalism in Russia, suspended publication of its regional edition in the southern city of Samara on Monday after prosecutors opened a criminal case against its editor, alleging that his publication used unlicensed software.

The case is part of a larger assault on independent news media, advocacy organizations and political activists, according to government critics. But it is one that is specifically tailored to deflect foreign criticism.

In multiple police raids against such groups, authorities are ostensibly targeting the alleged use of counterfeit software. Western governments and companies have long urged action against the widespread piracy in Russia.

"Our law enforcement finally realized that computers are very important tools for their opponents, and they have decided to take away these tools by doing something close to the West's agenda," said Vladimir Pribylovsky, head of the Panorama research institute in Moscow. "I suppose you could say it's very clever."

In the past 10 months, police in at least five Russian cities have raided the offices of media outlets, political parties and private advocacy groups and seized computers allegedly containing illegal software, paralyzing the work of the organizations. Often, authorities demand that employees submit to questioning and order them not to leave town until legal action is completed.

According to some estimates, the piracy rate for all kinds of intellectual property in Russia is as high as 80 percent. The International Intellectual Property Alliance, a U.S. coalition of rights holders, estimates that its members suffered piracy losses of $2 billion in Russia in 2006, according to a letter the coalition recently sent to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The organization said that progress in enforcing intellectual property rights in Russia has been "insufficient."

Most of the Russian groups targeted by the authorities deny buying counterfeit software or say they used it only unwittingly. They charge that with authorities doing little to challenge the rampant piracy in Russia, including illicit production of disks in defense facilities and other agencies, the raids on their own offices amount to selective enforcement of the law.

"This is not a campaign against piracy, it's a campaign against dissent," said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, a deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta in Moscow, who is in charge of the newspaper's regional editions. "The authorities want to destroy an opposition newspaper. It doesn't matter if we send more computers to Samara. It doesn't matter if we show we bought computers legally. It will change nothing." The paper says it believes its software is legal.

Russian officials declined to comment on the piracy cases Tuesday, but police and prosecutors had previously told Russian news media that the raids are simply part of a broader crackdown on illegal software and other forms of piracy.

Police have raided businesses that play no political role, but without the sustained effort directed toward groups that are critical of the Kremlin.

"It's cynical, but it's also very difficult for us to say anything," said one Western observer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the subject.

Most of those accused of using unlicensed software appear to have some connection, sometimes quite tentative, to the opposition coalition called Other Russia, which is led by Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster and fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin.

Police in Samara, for instance, first raided Golos, a private group that monitors elections, in May, just before Kasparov's organization held what it called the March of Dissent to coincide with a Russian-European Union summit in the city. Ludmila Kuzmina, the head of Golos, said police showed up in her office 90 minutes after she made a statement on the Echo Moskvy radio station saying that she supported the march.

Police seized the group's computers and opened an investigation into the alleged use of unlicensed software. Kuzmina had to sign documents agreeing not to leave the city until the investigation, which is still continuing, is completed.

"The quality of our work is suffering," Kuzmina said. "I am under pressure all the time. They call me for interrogations. All I do is deal with the police."

Also in May, police in the city of Tula seized a computer at the offices of one of Kasparov's coalition partners at the time, former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Private groups and a Novaya Gazeta office in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod were also raided and accused of using illegal software before a March of Dissent in that city in August.

Advocacy groups have been accused of the offense in the cities of Volgograd and Syktyvkar, according to Pavel Chikov, head of Agora, a coalition of Russian private groups. "They have suddenly decided it's a great tactic," Chikov said. "They can stop all the activities of a group at a key moment, before a march or during the election period."

Last month, police in Samara raided another news media organization, the Internet outlet 63.ru, which had a reputation for reporting that was critical of the government. Five desktop and two notebook computers were taken for "expert evaluation," 63.ru said.

The offices of the Samara Novaya Gazeta, a weekly, were first raided by Interior Ministry investigators before Kasparov's rally in May. Police seized financial documents, as well as computers. The paper was one of the few media outlets that had planned to cover the march, according to its editor in chief in Samara, Sergey Kurt-Adzhiyev. Moreover, the editor said, his daughter, Anastasia, 21, was one of the local organizers of the march.

The paper had continued to publish since May but Kurt-Adzhiyev said that in the past two months, investigators also began pressuring its distributors and advertisers. Last Thursday, police seized the last of the newspaper's computers in Samara.

"They visited all organizations and companies with which I work and told them to terminate all cooperation," said Kurt-Adzhiyev, 50, who is now barred from leaving Samara. "They told them if they didn't agree, they would have problems. I even lost my own personal computer. It became impossible for us to go on."

Kurt-Adzhiyev said the paper would now attempt to sell its Moscow edition in Samara, but he said he worried that local newsstands would be reluctant to carry it.

Meanwhile, according to Tatyana Lokshina, head of Demos, a Moscow-based human rights group, activist groups across the country are hastily checking the legality of their software. "Most people are trying to put things in order," she said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...302070_pf.html





SPECIAL NOTICE: (11/08/07)
TO: Listeners of Rush Limbaugh on Thursday, November 8, 2007
FROM: Roy W. Spencer
RE: GLOBAL WARMING STUDY HOAX

Yesterday (11/7/07), a "research study" was circulating on the internet which claimed to have found the "real" reason for global warming. Even though the hoax was quite elaborate, and the paper looked genuine, a little digging revealed that the authors, research center, and even the scientific journal the study was publishebd in, did not exist. I sent an e-mail to Rush about the issue regarding the hoax, with a copy of the "research study". Unfortunately, my very brief note to Rush was not very clear, and he thought that I was calling global warming a hoax, rather than the study. Even though Rush has told me not to worry about it, and that "the buck stops here" with him, I just wanted to apologize to everyone for this misunderstanding, as I feel that better wording on my part would have prevented this from happening.

-Roy W. Spencer

http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-...al-warming.htm





Display of Anti-Bush Sign Has Competitive Bridge World in an Uproar



Stephanie Strom

In the genteel world of bridge, disputes are usually handled quietly and rarely involve issues of national policy. But in a fight reminiscent of the brouhaha over an anti-Bush statement by Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks in 2003, a team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest.

At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.”

By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”

“This isn’t a free-speech issue,” said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. “There isn’t any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them.”

Not so, said Danny Kleinman, a professional bridge player, teacher and columnist. “If the U.S.B.F. wants to impose conditions of membership that involve curtailment of free speech, then it cannot claim to represent our country in international competition,” he said by e-mail.

Ms. Martel said the action by the team, which had won the Venice Cup, the women’s title, at the Shanghai event, could cost the federation corporate sponsors.

The players have been stunned by the reaction to what they saw as a spontaneous gesture, “a moment of levity,” said Gail Greenberg, the team’s nonplaying captain and winner of 11 world championships.

“What we were trying to say, not to Americans but to our friends from other countries, was that we understand that they are questioning and critical of what our country is doing these days, and we want you to know that we, too, are critical,” Ms. Greenberg said, stressing that she was speaking for herself and not her six teammates.

The controversy has gone global, with the French team offering support for its American counterparts.

“By trying to address these issues in a nonviolent, nonthreatening and lighthearted manner,” the French team wrote in by e-mail to the federation’s board and others, “you were doing only what women of the world have always tried to do when opposing the folly of men who have lost their perspective of reality.”

The proposed sanctions would hurt the team’s playing members financially. “I earn my living from bridge, and a substantial part of that from being hired to compete in high-level competitions,” Debbie Rosenberg, a team member, said. “So being barred would directly affect much of my ability to earn a living.”

A hearing is scheduled this month in San Francisco, where thousands of players will be gathered for the Fall North American Bridge Championships. It will determine whether displaying the sign constitutes conduct unbecoming a federation member.

Three players— Hansa Narasimhan, JoAnna Stansby and Jill Meyers — have expressed regret that the action offended some people. The federation has proposed a settlement to Ms. Greenberg and the three other players, Jill Levin, Irina Levitina and Ms. Rosenberg, who have not made any mollifying statements.

It calls for a one-year suspension from federation events, including the World Bridge Olympiad next year in Beijing; a one-year probation after that suspension; 200 hours of community service “that furthers the interests of organized bridge”; and an apology drafted by the federation’s lawyer.

It would also require them to write a statement telling “who broached the idea of displaying the sign, when the idea was adopted, etc.”

Alan Falk, a lawyer for the federation, wrote the four team members on Nov. 6, “I am instructed to press for greater sanction against anyone who rejects this compromise offer.”

Ms. Greenberg said she decided to put up the sign in response to questions from players from other countries about American interrogation techniques, the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues.

“There was a lot of anti-Bush feeling, questioning of our Iraq policy and about torture,” Ms. Greenberg said. “I can’t tell you it was an overwhelming amount, but there were several specific comments, and there wasn’t the same warmth you usually feel at these events.”

Ms. Rosenberg said the team members intended the sign as a personal statement that demonstrated American values and noted that it was held up at the same time some team members were singing along to “The Star-Spangled Banner” and waving small American flags.

“Freedom to express dissent against our leaders has traditionally been a core American value,” she wrote by e-mail. “Unfortunately, the Bush brand of patriotism, where criticizing Bush means you are a traitor, seems to have penetrated a significant minority of U.S. bridge players.”

Through a spokesman, the other team members declined to discuss the matter. Ms. Narasimhan, Ms. Stansby and Ms. Meyers have been offered a different settlement agreement, but Ms. Martel declined to discuss it in detail.

Many of those offended by the sign do not consider the expressions of regret sufficient. “I think an apology is kind of specious,” said Jim Kirkham, who has played in several bridge championships. “It’s not that I don’t forgive them, but I still think they should be punished.”

Mr. Kirkham sits on the board of the American Contract Bridge League, which accounts for a substantial portion of the federation’s financing, Ms. Martel said, and has submitted a proposal that would cut the league’s support for the federation, one of two such proposals pending.

Robert S. Wolff, one of the country’s pre-eminent bridge players, who has served as an executive and board member of several bridge organizations, said that he understood that the women might have had a legal right to do what they did but that they had offended many people.

“While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn’t give anyone the right to criticize one’s leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical event,” he wrote by e-mail.

David L. Anderson, a bridge player who supports the team, said it was common to see players at international tournaments sporting buttons bearing the date “1-20-09,” when George W. Bush will hand off to a new president, as well as buttons reading “Support Our Troops.”

“They don’t go after those people,” Mr. Anderson said.
http://nytimes.com/2007/11/14/arts/14brid.html?8dpc

















Until next week,

- js.



















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