Tuesday, May 22, 2012

CISPA : Passes House In Last Minute Unexpected Vote.

The House of Representatives has approved Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act with a vote count of 248-168. The bill is now headed for the Senate. President Barack Obama will be able to sign or cancel it pending Senate approval.

Initially slated to vote on the bill Friday, the House of Representatives decided to pass Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Thursday after approving a number of amendments.

 
Apart from cyber and national security purposes, the bill would now allow the government to use private information obtained through CISPA for the investigation and prosecution of “cybersecurity crime,” protection of individuals and the protection of children. The new clauses define “cybersecurity crime” as any crime involving network disruption or hacking.

“Basically this means CISPA can no longer be called a cyber security bill at all. The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a 'cybersecurity crime.' Basically it says the Fourth Amendment does not apply online, at all,” Techdirt's Leigh Beadon said.
Declan McCullagh, correspondent from CNET News, says CISPA will cause more trouble than is immediately apparent.

“The most controversial section of CISPA is the language – that notwithstanding any other portion the of law, companies can share what they want as long as it’s for what they call a ‘cyber security purpose,'" he told RT.

The CISPA battleground in numbers


CISPA was introduced in the House last November.  Critics chided the bill, saying its broad wording could allow the government to spy on individual Internet users and block websites that publish vaguely defined ‘sensitive’ data.

 "[CISPA] doesn’t really have any protections against cyber threats, all it does is make people share their information. But that’s not going to solve the problem. What’s going to solve the problem is actual security measures, protecting the service in the first place, not spying on people after the fact," Internet activist Aaron Swartz told RT.

The White House issued a statement Wednesday saying President Barack Obama would be advised to veto the bill if he receives it. The Obama administration denounces the proposed law for potentially giving the government cyber-sleuthing powers that would allow both federal authorities and private businesses to sneak into inboxes and online activities in the name of combating Internet terrorism tactics.

We asked our Twitter followers what they think of CISPA's possible adoption into law – and they don't seem happy.


http://www.rt.com/news/house-cispa-vote-thursday-083/

Saturday, May 19, 2012

#Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976.

A few pointers  for those who are unsure of the copyright act.

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Friday, May 18, 2012

#Twitter Backs Privacy Browser Project.

Micro-blogging service Twitter has declared its support for an initiative that lets people browse the web without being monitored.
The "Do Not Track" initiative stops firms tracking people as they visit several different websites.
The monitoring is done to help advertisers craft ads to a user's preferences and lifestyle.
Blocking the tracking depends on websites honouring requests from users to browse anonymously.
Do Not Track (DNT) has been brokered by the US Federal Trade Commission which wants people to be able to tell websites to stop gathering and sharing data when they visit.
Sites that decide to ignore users' requests to stop tracking them could be subject to FTC action.
A DNT option is available in the recent versions of the Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari browsers. Turning on Do Not Track in Google's Chrome involves installing an add-on.

Browsers backing Do Not Track

  • Firefox 5+
  • IE 9+
  • Safari 5.1+
  • Chrome 17 (with add-on)
For DNT to work, websites have to agree to discard any data they would otherwise collect and share about what people do when they visit a site.
In a help document, Twitter said it would now respect the Do Not Track option in all the browsers that supported it.
However, it said that those that turn on DNT would notice a change in the information Twitter presented to them.
"We stop collecting the information that allows us to tailor Twitter based on your recent visits to websites that have integrated our buttons or widgets," it said in its help document.
A survey carried out by Mozilla, which makes the Firefox web browser, found that 8.6% of the users of its desktop browser and 19% of mobile browser users were opted in to Do Not Track.


http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18114990

#Facebook hacked the #Nasdaq opening bell. Here's how....



 
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has rung the opening bell on the Nasdaq stock exchange on the day his company launches its Initial Public Offering.

Zuckerberg opened the stock exchange by remote control from Facebook's HQ at 1 Hacker Way in California.

He pressed the button in front of a cheering crowd of employees, surrounded by Facebook execs and to the soundtrack of an apparently slightly-warped loop of dramatic music.
Facebook's engineers apparently hacked the Nasdaq button before the sale, so that the message "Mark Zuckerberg has listed a company on NASDAQ – FB" was automatically posted to his Facebook Timeline.

Before the opening bell Facebook hosted its 31st 'Hackathon' event to develop new ideas and products.

Facebook's shares are being offered to the public for $38, and the company - valued at $104bn - stands take in $18.4bn from the sale.

Trading is set to begin under the ticker symbol FB two days after massive interest in the sale prompted the company to boost the number of shares it plans to sell, with 84m more being added to the IPO.

Investors such as U2 frontman Bono stand to make huge sums, with music magazine NME predicting the singer will become the richest rock star on the planet when the company floats.

#Facebook #IPO:Full coverage of Facebook IPO - The largest tech IPO in history

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Natalie Phillips : Missing Sister Known As 'Tal'

 
QUOTE
 

My sister, Natalie Phillips (née Conboy), known as ‘Tal’, has gone missing. She was dropped off at Blackburn train station (Vue entrance) at around 5:55pm on Friday 20/04/12 carrying a small black suitcase on 4 wheels and a black quicksilver rucksack with white writing on. She was wearing jeans and had with her a hoody with ‘Talie’ embroidered on the back and also a large 3/4 length black vinyl coat (shiny) with grey streaks. 

We last had contact with Tal at around 8pm on the same day. Normally, she’d return home as planned by midday the following day. We have still had no contact as I write this at 10:34am on 22/04/12. 

The only information she gave us about her plans, included on the last received text, were her intention of going to the Frog and Bucket comedy club on Oldham Street. We’re trying to spread the word just in case anyone has any information whatsoever.
Please try and help. If you know anything, no matter how insignificant it may seem, it may help to bring our Tal back.

She’s 21, about 5 foot 5”, between 12 and 12.5 stone, blonde hair (dyed).
Please reblog, share, whatever you can do. 

Thanks

#taliecomehome


http://abadcoverversion.tumblr.com/post/21561533520/my-sister-natalie-phillips-nee-conboy-known-as

Friday, May 4, 2012

Private UK #PoliceState :Dozens of people involved in Britain's biggest private-sector policing contract have been ordered to sign "anti-corruption" agreements

Dozens of people involved in Britain's biggest private-sector policing contract have been ordered to sign "anti-corruption" agreements amid concerns about senior officers retiring and then immediately rejoining on lucrative deals with security firms.
Surrey Chief Constable Lynne Owens – the head of one of the forces involved in the £1.5bn tender – said she found it "quite distasteful" that officers could retire and shift to similar jobs in the private sector almost overnight, but that she was unable to prevent it.

Fourteen rival consortiums are bidding for the contracts offered by the West Midlands and Surrey forces. They include some of the world's biggest security companies, including the huge US multinational KBR which helped to build the Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

Previous multimillion-pound deals with Cleveland Police have seen officers who were involved in planning the project move to the private sector company that won the bidding.

The forces say they want any private sector involvement to transform the way the police does its business, but it has prompted protests from rank-and-file officers and public sector unions because of concerns over accountability and job cuts.
Officers and officials working on the huge bids have had to sign documents detailing the business interests and investments of both themselves and their families....read more 
http://govermentterrorism.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/httpwww.html

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

#findnellie :Family "desperate" to find missing Nellie


The family of a 96-year-old woman, missing for almost a week, say they're becomingly increasingly worried. The search for Nellie Herriott from Brighton has been stepped up by Sussex police, and celebrities on the internet. She has Alzheimer and was last seen on a bus last Tuesday.

Andy Dickenson speaks to Nellie's nephew George Holland and Det Sgt Duncan Elliott of Sussex Police:..please go to link to watch family appeal. Thank-you.

We are ALL hoping Nellie will be found safe and well.

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2012-04-30/family-desperate-to-find-missing-nellie/