BIG BROTHER in the age of INTERNET # (Ongoing - Links, Articles & Videos)

Copyright Scofflaws Beware: ISPs to Begin Monitoring Illicit File Sharing
By David Kravets
10.08.12

The nation’s major internet service providers by year’s end will institute a so-called six-strikes plan, the “Copyright Alert System” initiative backed by the Obama administration and pushed by Hollywood and the major record labels to disrupt and possibly terminate internet access for online copyright scofflaws.

The plan, now four years in the making, includes participation by AT&T, Cablevision Systems, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon. After four offenses, the historic plan calls for these residential internet providers to initiate so-called “mitigation measures” (.pdf) that might include reducing internet speeds and redirecting a subscriber’s service to an “educational” landing page about infringement.


Read more here: [link to www.wired.com]

UK to Introduce National ID Scheme Using Mobile Phones and Social Media Profiles
Brandon Turbeville
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Activist Post

Early in 2012, I wrote an article regarding India’s implementation of the Unique Identification (UID) Program for all of its 1.2 billion residents entitled, “Cashless Society: India Implements First Biometric ID Program Despite Growing Concern,” where I detailed the history, mechanisms and ultimate goals of the program. I followed this report by an article entitled, “Japan Proposes Next Phase of Centralized Surveillance,” dealing with the new Japanese UID with a similar analysis. But, while news of India and Japan’s massive National ID program was met with much surprise by many even in the alternative media, it may once again come as a surprise that yet another push for a National ID push is on the way - this time, in the UK.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

AT&T Starts Six-Strikes Anti-Piracy Plan Next Month, Will Block Websites
Ernesto
October 12, 2012

A set of leaked internal AT&T training documents obtained by TorrentFreak reveal that the Internet provider will start sending out anti-piracy warning notices to its subscribers on November 28. Customers whose accounts are repeatedly flagged for alleged copyright infringements will have their access to frequently visited websites blocked, until they complete an online copyright course. It’s expected that most other participating ISPs will start their versions of the anti-piracy plan on the same date.

Last year the MPAA and RIAA teamed up with five major Internet providers in the United States to launch the Center for Copyright Information (CCI).

The parties agreed on a system through which subscribers are warned that their copyright infringements are unacceptable. After several warnings ISPs may then take a variety of repressive measures to punish the alleged infringers.

Thus far the participating Internet providers have refused to comment to the press on any of the details including the launch date. But, leaked internal AT&T training documents obtained by TorrentFreak provide a unique insight into the controversial plan.

CONTINUE: [link to torrentfreak.com]

Company settles lawsuit over unstoppable user tracking methods once used by Hulu, Spotify and others
Madison Ruppert, Contributor
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Activist Post

The website analytics firm KISSmetrics finally settled a lawsuit which accused the company of violating the law by creating an unstoppable tracking method which allowed them to recreate cookies after users deleted them and even track users who chose to block cookies.

While the settlement is relatively small, it could very well set a precedent and perhaps create a climate less conducive to the ongoing Silicon Valley data mining arms race, the blatant disregard for the privacy rights of users and digital spying operations in general.

Note: to learn how to block many of the various tracking methods please read our guides here and here. Implementation is quick, relatively easy and affordable.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Meet the Internet Gatekeepers
Julie Beal, Contributor
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Activist Post

A gated community on the Internet is about to take shape. It begins with identity and deals with mis/trust; sorting the wheat from the chaff. It facilitates auditing of all e-transactions, to fight cybercrime and ensure compliance. This is the new smart world, where control of identity is key.

Eleven years in the making, the system of global Identity Management (IdM) is backed by those with the most to protect, and will bring in Internet Governance by the back door. It will give everyone a unique ID, for life, and make us all very careful about what we do online, as all e-transactions will be marked with the time, date, and identities of those involved.

All the public is being told, however, is that we need these measures to protect against identity theft, and other cybercrimes, and that surfing the Net will be easier. IdM experts in the US have just released a short draft of scenarios envisaged for online ID:

Mary is tired of remembering dozens of user names and passwords, so she obtains a digital credential from her Internet service provider that is stored on a smart card [and so] is willing to conduct more sensitive transactions... logging into her bank and obtaining digital cash; buying a sweater at a new online retailer… signing documents to refinance her mortgage; reading the note her doctor left in her personal health record…sending an email to confirm dinner with a friend; and checking her day's schedule on her employer’s intranet portal.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

How Long After the Election Will Obama Sign Executive Order to Control the Internet?
Friday, November 2, 2012
Activist Post

Internet legislation has failed to pass in the halls of Congress in any form. The most recent attempt was the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 which was voted down by the Senate in August of this year.

The Hill recently reported that the cybersecurity bill is likely dead in Congress despite the Administrations best efforts to ratchet up the fear of a imminent "Cyber 9/11". The Hill writes:

Cybersecurity legislation faces long odds of passing Congress this year despite forceful calls for action from the White House and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

After Panetta warned in a speech last month that the cyber threat facing the United States represents a 'pre-9/11 moment,' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he planned to bring cybersecurity legislation to the floor in November and take another shot at clearing a bill through the upper chamber.

But there are several roadblocks that could prevent a bill from even reaching the Senate floor, and observers say Congress will likely punt the issue to next year.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

US & Canada Team Up to Use Propaganda Campaigns For Public Support of Cybersecurity
Susanne Posel, Contributor
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Activist Post

Last week, both the US and Canadian governments revealed that they will combine efforts against cyber-attacks with the creation of an action plan between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Public Safety Canada (PSC) to improve digital infrastructure.

In a 2011 document entitled “Beyond the Border: A Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness” this relationship was laid out for the purpose of "interweaving the two nations to increase the resiliency of our networks, enhance public-private partnerships, and build a culture of shared responsibility,” according to Janet Napolitano, Secretary of DHS.

Because governmental officials state that “the Internet knows no borders” there would only be benefits from creating “a shared infrastructure” to protect government secrets and digital information.

The connection between “vital cyber systems” is borne out of a “mutual interest in partnering to protect shared” organization. In Washington, DC and Ottawa, Canada there will be a collaboration of cyber security operation centers as well as shared information and the establishment of guidelines on private sector corporations. Added to this endeavor is the governmental alliance on propaganda methods to convince the citizens of both nations that cyber security must become an over-arching control by the two governments.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

State-Sponsored Hackers Disrupt Networks and Justify DHS New Digital Militia
Susanne Posel, Contributor
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Activist Post

Last month Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims that unspecified reports coming from US financial institutions assert that hackers are “actively” attacking them. Napolitano said:

Right now, financial institutions are actively under attack. We know that. I’m not giving you any classified information… I will say this has involved some of our nation’s largest institutions. We’ve also had our stock exchanges attacked over the last [few] years, so we know… there are vulnerabilities.

Being mysterious, Napolitano said that an unverified $400,000 had been stolen by hackers from Bank of America. The DHS is responsible for securing computer networks that are deemed unclassified for the benefit of civilian agencies, private sector corporations and individuals.

Napolitano confirmed that hackers are infiltrating banking networks but said:

I really don’t want to go into that per se. All I want to say is that there are active matters going on with financial institutions.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

:whitespace::whitespace: :wow03:

Australian Government Dumps Mandatory Internet Filtering Scheme
Contributor
Friday, November 9, 2012
Activist Post

The Australian Federal Government has withdrawn a proposal to implement an Internet filtering scheme.

The scheme initially was proposed by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2007, and would have forced all Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) to block all websites that have been identified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority as restricted.

Opposition to the policy came from many groups when the Australian Government announced the concept of an Internet filter in Australia, including ISP’s, children’s welfare groups, Google, the US Ambassador and other prominent civil libertarian groups.

Cyber-activists in Australia even compared the Internet filtering scheme to firewalls operating in China and Iran.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Data mining firms admit to legislators that personal info is collected from social networks then sold
Madison Ruppert, Contributor
Friday, November 9, 2012
Activist Post

The data mining industry is booming with no signs of slowing down thanks to increasing integration with other systems like facial recognition and an increasing reluctance to comply with any and all requests from users to maintain privacy.

Now a group of the largest data mining companies admitted to a bipartisan body of legislators in the House that they indeed mine social networks like Facebook for personal information which they then sell to third parties for advertising and “other purposes,” according to Hillicon Valley.

The admission came after Reps. Edward Markey and Joe Barton along with others “sent letters to nine major data brokerage companies asking how they collect, assemble and sell consumer information to third parties.”

Harte-Hanks, one of the firms that responded to the letters claimed that they only collect information “in accordance with [the social networking sites'] terms of service, and as authorized by the users.”

Similarly, Intelius stated that they only gather publicly available information like “screen names, website addresses, professional history, and interests.”


CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

COINTELPRO Techniques for Dilution, Misdirection and Control of an Internet Forum
By Washington's Blog
October 29, 2012
Washington's Blog

The Gentleman’s Guide To Forum Disruption
We have repeatedly addressed the topic of disruption of logical debate on the Internet.

An anonymous writer posted an important new report on disruption at Pastebin. It is in the style of a leaked law enforcement memo, although we cannot vouch for its authenticity as a document produced by a whistleblower. However, we have seen these techniques repeatedly used to disrupt Internet debate, and so – even if only copying the style of a real memo – it contains valuable information which all web user should know.

COINTELPRO Techniques for dilution, misdirection and control of a internet forum.
There are several techniques for the control and manipulation of a internet forum no matter what, or who is on it. We will go over each technique and demonstrate that only a minimal number of operatives can be used to eventually and effectively gain a control of a ‘uncontrolled forum.’

CONTINUE: [link to www.globalresearch.ca]

AT&T Breaching Net-Neutrality Rules Despite Lifting Some FaceTime Restrictions
By David KravetsEmail Author
11.08.12

AT&T continues to breach net-neutrality regulations despite an announcement that it would begin offering Apple’s FaceTime service to more of its iPhone and iPad subscribers, digital rights groups said.

The nation’s second-largest carrier said Thursday it was expanding the ability of its customers to use the FaceTime application, at no extra charge, for Apple iOS 6 customers with LTE coverage who have subscribed to any tiered plan. The company said the changeover should begin rolling out in the “next eight to 10 weeks.”

AT&T was limiting the iPhone’s FaceTime video-chat service on its cellular networks to users with new, shared data plans, which are generally more expensive. In September, the iPad 3 and newer iPad models, the iPhone 4S and the new iPhone 5 running iOS 6 became capable of using FaceTime over cellular networks instead of solely Wi-Fi.

But despite the change, Public Knowledge said that, until AT&T begins offering the service on all of its cellular plans like Sprint and Verizon do — including for AT&T customers with unlimited data — the company will be violating net neutrality rules.

CONTINUE: [link to www.wired.com]

U.S.-Canada Integrated Cybersecurity Agenda
Dana Gabriel, Contributor
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Activist Post

As part of the Beyond the Border initiative, the U.S. and Canada are strengthening cybersecurity cooperation. In a move that received little attention, both countries recently announced a joint cybersecurity action plan. Cyber threats know no national borders which has made the issue an important security concern. A fully integrated North American security perimeter would be entrusted with preventing and responding to any such attacks.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Senate Narrowly Votes Down Cybersecurity Act Again, Obama Signs Secret Directive
Eric Blair
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Activist Post

Desperate for Internet control, Senate leaders once again put the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 up for a vote yesterday, and yet again, it failed to pass. But this time it was one vote closer (51 to 47) to passing than its August defeat (52 to 46).

The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, first introduced in 2010 by Joe Lieberman, was quickly dubbed the Internet Kill Switch Bill because of the power it gives to the executive branch to seize or shut down parts of the Internet in a cyber emergency.

At the time Lieberman justified this draconian power grab by saying, "Right now, China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have that here, too."

Here's the interview where he made these statements along with some commentary on why this policy is so dangerous:



CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

U.S. Copyright Surveillance Machine About To Be Switched On, Promises of Transparency Already Broken
Mitch Stoltz
Thursday, November 15, 2012
EFF

The "Copyright Alert System" – an elaborate combination of surveillance, warnings, punishments, and "education" directed at customers of most major U.S. Internet service providers – is poised to launch in the next few weeks, as has been widely reported. The problems with it are legion.

Big media companies are launching a massive peer-to-peer surveillance scheme to snoop on subscribers. Based on the results of that snooping, ISPs will be serving as Hollywood’s private enforcement arm, without the checks and balances public enforcement requires. Once a subscriber is accused, she must prove her innocence, without many of the legal defenses she’d have in a courtroom. The "educational" materials posted for subscribers thus far look more like propaganda, slanted towards major entertainment companies' view of copyright. And all of this was set up with the encouragement and endorsement of the U.S. government.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

As CIA Chief Scandal Looms, Lawmakers Consider Tightening E-Mail Privacy
By David Kravets
11.15.12

Recent intrusions by the FBI into e-mail correspondence between former CIA Director David Petraeus and his mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell, have raised a lot of questions and concerns about the government’s ability to access private e-mails.

The current law covering access to e-mail gives the government the right to snoop without a court order on email that’s older than 180 days, but requires a court order for missives that are newer than this, a fact that privacy activists have been trying to change for years.

Now they might finally be getting closer to that wish.

The Senate Judiciary Committee announced Thursday that it will be voting Nov. 29 on whether to advance legislation that would require authorities to obtain a probable-cause warrant to get access to all e-mail and other content stored in the cloud, just as a warrant is required to search a car or house.

CONTINUE: [link to www.wired.com]

Xbox Kinect Cameras and Smart TVs - Who is Watching Who?
Brandon Turbeville
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Activist Post

Back in April, I wrote an article entitled, “CIA Home Invasion: Smart TVs and the ‘Internet of Things,’” where I detailed the roll-out of the then-new Samsung LED HD Smart Tvs and the inherent dangers that lay therein.

At the time, the dangers related to the televisions were the fact that these new TV sets came fitted with their own built-in cameras and microphones, thus making the potential for remote spying intensely more acute. Coupled with a virtually simultaneous announcement by then-CIA Director David Petraeus that, due to the increase in the amount of household gadgets which are capable of being controlled by apps, the CIA would soon be able to read these devices via the Internet or radio waves outside of the home, the release of television sets with built-in cameras and microphones, some of which are attached to the Samsung cloud, should have been a cause for much alarm.

Unfortunately, the new Big Brother TVs were not met with serious skepticism nor did they even draw significant ire of privacy proponents. After all, what would the CIA or a corporation gain by watching you in your living room? Why would the government want to see you sinking lower into the couch? They have much more important things to do, right?

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Senate Bill Gives The Federal Reserve Warrantless Access to Your Emails and Facebook Posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Activist Post

CNET is reporting that "A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law."

Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns, according to three individuals who have been negotiating with Leahy's staff over the changes. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.

Leahy's rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies - including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission - to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

‘Cypherpunks’: New Assange book says Internet may enslave us
Published: 26 November, 2012

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has co-authored a book arguing that the world is at a pivotal decision: Whether the Internet will free us, or enslave us. Assange, famous for his ‘hacktivism,’ used a decidedly low-tech medium for his latest polemic.

Titled ‘Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet,’ the book is partially based on RT’s ‘The World Tomorrow’ television series. In several episodes, Assange interviewed his co-authors, Jacob Applebaum of the US, Jeremie Zimmermann of France and Andy Müller-Maguhn of Germany.

The book describes cypherpunks as advocates of citizens using cryptography to secure their electronic communications from both government and corporate spying. In the book, they discuss how the Internet can be both an instrument of freedom and oppression.

‘Cypherpunks’ examines issues like government and corporate online surveillance, the filesharing phenomenon and attempts to curb it with anti-piracy laws, and how users have become willing collaborators with those who collect their personal data.

CONTINUE: [link to rt.com]

The U.N.'s Internet Sneak Attack - Letting the Internet be rewired by bureaucrats would be like handing a Stradivarius to a gorilla.
November 25, 2012

Who runs the Internet? For now, the answer remains no one, or at least no government, which explains the Web's success as a new technology. But as of next week, unless the U.S. gets serious, the answer could be the United Nations.

Many of the U.N.'s 193 member states oppose the open, uncontrolled nature of the Internet. Its interconnected global networks ignore national boundaries, making it hard for governments to censor or tax. And so, to send the freewheeling digital world back to the state control of the analog era, China, Russia, Iran and Arab countries are trying to hijack a U.N. agency that has nothing to do with the Internet.

For more than a year, these countries have lobbied an agency called the International Telecommunications Union to take over the rules and workings of the Internet. Created in 1865 as the International Telegraph Union, the ITU last drafted a treaty on communications in 1988, before the commercial Internet, when telecommunications meant voice telephone calls via national telephone monopolies.

CONTINUE: [link to online.wsj.com]

John McAfee, Unhinged: His Bizarre Breaks From Reality
By Joshua Davis
11.20.12

On November 12, Belizean police announced that anti-virus software tycoon John McAfee was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of Gregory Faull, his neighbor on a tropical island. The police launched a manhunt in the tiny Central American nation, which is still ongoing.

As the news broke, I was just finishing up a six-month investigation into McAfee’s life for a Wired magazine feature planned for the January issue. In light of the murder and ensuing manhunt, Wired published the feature early, and at expanded length, as a 13-chapter e-book.

The short version: McAfee is a complex and volatile person. I can say that in my two visits to Belize, and in dozens of phone conversations, McAfee was reasonable and lucid. But on a number of occasions, he snapped.

A few weeks before Faull was killed and the police went after McAfee, the retired millionaire called me in the middle of the night. He told me that he was staying at a resort near his villa called Captain Morgan’s Retreat and had gone for a walk on the beach at dusk. In a breathless, spooked tone, he recounted how he’d heard loud motors approaching and instantly knew it was the Gang Suppression Unit (GSU), an elite force within the Belize police that had previously detained McAfee on suspicion of manufacturing drugs.

CONTINUE (TO AUDIO) [link to www.wired.com]

McAfee AUDIO 1 + 2: [link to soundcloud.com]

5 Reasons to Be Terrified That Computers Can Now Read Faces
By: Monte Richard
November 29, 2012

The ability of computers to recognize faces is so common now that your Xbox Kinect can do it, logging you in the moment you step in front of the thing. It seems like a fairly harmless invention - if anything, it will save you a few seconds when (for instance) your future house will recognize that it's you at the door instead of a burglar. But this technology is going in a series of extremely creepy directions.

Recognizing you is just the beginning - the goal is to create software that can all but read your goddamned mind. Don't believe us? Because the technology exists so that ...

Read more: [link to www.cracked.com]

Be Good Because The Feds Will Use All Your Facebook Likes And Dislikes Against You In Court
Geoffrey Ingersoll
Nov. 29, 2012

A recent indictment of American terror suspects revealed that the FBI considers Facebook 'Likes' and 'Shares' admissible as evidence.

Mike Masnick of TechDirt reports that the FBI actually counted how many 'Likes' and what kind of media got those 'Likes' in their somewhat high-visibility indictment of a homegrown terror plot.

Here's a screengrab of the part of the official statement which explains use of the social media:

Read more: [link to www.businessinsider.com]

The Plot Against The Internet
By ELIZA KRIGMAN
12/1/12

Bureaucrats from around the world will gather behind closed doors in Dubai next week to plot an end to the Internet as we know it — or so Washington would have you believe.

Hill lawmakers warn that the 120-plus U.S. delegation needs to fend off efforts by China, Russia and developing nations to use a United Nations branch organization to censor or tax the Net. Google is orchestrating an online petition drive, and even Grover Norquist is involved.

The hype is a perfect storm for Matt Drudge: The U.N. will take over the Internet — unless you act fast.

"It was very important for the United States to send a shot across the bow and let countries like China and Russia know that we are onto the games they’re trying to play,” said Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), who led a successful effort to pass a resolution against the interference in August. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) backed a companion measure in the Senate.

Read more: [link to www.politico.com]

UN Control Of The Internet Would Mean UN Control Of Free Speech
Michael Snyder, Contributor
Monday, December 3, 2012
Activist Post

If the UN is given control of the Internet, that would be a massive step toward making the UN a true global government. The Internet is the number one venue for free speech and freedom of expression on the planet today, and if the UN is given authority over the Internet it would only be a matter of time before free speech is severely cracked down on. Of course it would not happen immediately. At first, UN officials would likely mostly keep their promises of maintaining a "free and open Internet". But inevitably you would see them act to remove "terrorists" from the Internet, to crack down on "hate speech" and to repress any "politically incorrect" speech that is likely to insult anyone in any way.

If you were censored or banned from the Internet, you could scream about the 1st Amendment all you want, but the United Nations is not bound by the 1st Amendment. The UN is not there to protect you or your freedoms. If the UN becomes "the government of the Internet", you can essentially kiss freedom of speech goodbye.

If you do not believe that this could ever happen, you might want to pay close attention to a UN conference that is being held over in Dubai starting today. It is called "the World Conference on International Telecommunications", and it is scheduled to last for two weeks.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Here is one for you Roxy.


EP32B. The Future of Human-Landscape Systems II

[link to youtu.be]

New Boeing missile disables computers.

[link to vr-zone.com]

YouTube Caught Reducing Burien Video View Count
From Walter Burien - CAFR1
12-9-12


CAFR1 NATIONAL POST

Yesterday Bill Windsor released an 8-min YouTube of Walter Burien's commentary for his documentary "Lawless America" - [link to www.youtube.com]

I sent the link to view the segment to the CAFR1 National email list; had the same published on Rense.com and a few other news sites where thousands of views would be generated.

Well, I kept an eye on the video view counter. Hit about 1,753 the last I looked yesterday. Checked this morning and it was verging on breaking 1,900 of which was low for the thousands that were clicking and viewing.

Well, just looked a few minutes ago and I used the search feature from YouTube to find the segment and the icon hits for the search showed 1,545 views which is usually running behind being lower than the actual video views. Well, when I clicked on the icon to go to the video page, now the view count said and was frozen at 1,331 - YOUTUBE REDACTED!

CONTINUE: [link to rense.com]

Thanx Isis!