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Congress passes resolution condemning U.N. Internet "takeover"
- In response to a set of Internet eavesdropping standards recently adopted by the International Telecommunications Union, Congress has voted unanimously(!) in favor of a resolution which opposes any sort of U.N. Internet "takeover". Finally, something which American legislators seem to…
Syrian Internet outage persists, Speak2Tweet allows phone tweets
- It appears Syria's recent and continued Internet outage has rekindled public interest in Google's Speak2Tweet service. Speak2Tweet allows individuals without Internet access to use Twitter by calling a voicemail system. The audio messages left behind are then made publicly available on…
U.S. blamed for spying on French government with Flame malware
- According to The Telegram and sources close to French news outlet L'Express, politically-driven U.S. hackers were responsible for a cyberattack that occurred just days before French voters cast their ballots in April. Those sources claim hackers were able to infiltrate French…
Privacy bill reportedly rewritten to allow warrantless surveillance
- An update to the 26-year-old Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is due for a vote next week. But it seems that rather bringing it up to modern standards while guaranteeing protections for people’s digital communications, the rewrite actually expands the…
Egypt state prosecutor issues order to ban Internet pornography
- Egypt state prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmud has ordered a ban on Internet pornography according to an official statement from his office. The attempt isn’t the first of its kind though as a previous court order was never put into effect,…
MegaUpload's me.ga domain suspended prior to launch
- Well -- that didn't take long. It appears MegaUpload's resurrection as me.ga has already been thwarted by the Gabonese government. The republic's Minster of Communications Blaise Lourmbe insisted that Gabon will not "serve as a platform or screen for committing…
Federal court: If users don't click, your terms of service is invalid
- A Federal court in Nevada has ruled that because users weren't forced to click through Zappos' terms of service agreement, the company's terms are invalid. The ruling is the result of a lawsuit regarding an unfortunate security breach at Zappos…
Pentagon drops exclusive BlackBerry contract for iOS, Android
- Despite RIM's impending BlackBerry revamp with BB10 and updated hardware, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) announced it would be dropping its exclusivity contract with RIM. According to Reuters, ICE will be transitioning to Apple's iPhone to fill gaps…
Jailbreaking smartphones remains legal. Tablets? Not so much.
- The U.S. Copyright Office has performed its triennial review of exceptions to the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Officials have most notably determined jailbreaking smartphones (but not tablets) remains legal, unlocking phones is legal -- but only with your carrier's…
FTC offers $50,000 prize to stop illegal robocalls
- The Federal Trade Commission is calling upon the private sector to solve a modern-day plight: reliably detecting and eliminating robocalls to both landlines and cell phones. The FTC is offering a cool $50,000 prize to the person or company who…
Solar panel management systems vulnerable to attack, DHS warns
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued another industrial control warning (pdf) regarding critical vulnerabilities found across a number of solar panel systems. Affected systems can be easily exploited using "proof of concept" code developed by security researchers Roberto Paleari…
NASA hacker won't be extradited to U.S. due to Asperger's
- U.K. citizen Gary McKinnon will not be extradited to the U.S. for his suspected role in the intrusion of sensitive government computers, namely those of NASA, the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. British officials have refused to send McKinnon abroad…
Major scamware creator fined $163 million by U.S. authorities
- Software scam artist Kristy Ross has been fined $163 million by U.S. authorities for running an unscrupulous "scareware" operation. The Federal Trade Commission had been following Ross since 2008 in hopes of closing in on her dealings and the judgment includes…
ISPs ask city for deal matching Google Fiber's special treatment
- Envious communications companies are requesting parity deals from Kansas City's local government -- deals which match the special treatment Google received while deploying its city-wide gigabit fiber service. Google Fiber went live about two months ago for both KC and KCMO,…
NZ Prime Minister apologizes to MegaUpload's Kim DotCom
- Today New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key issued an apology to Kim DotCom for failing to protect him against illegal surveillance performed by NZ authorities. DotCom is the brains behind the long defunct MegaUpload, a file sharing service shut down…
Iran blocks Google due to video controversy, readies own Internet
- According to Reuters, Google's search and Gmail services have been blocked from public view in Iran. Tehran officials say these latest additions to Iran's web filter are the result of a much publicized anti-Islamic video called "Innocence of Muslims". The…
Tiny NASA satellites to be powered by Android phones
- HTC's Nexus One is about to make its own giant leap into the inky blackness of space, courtesy of NASA. The iconic agency aims to make headway in its Small Spacecraft Technology Program by determining if inexpensive consumer hardware can…
Apple calls e-book settlement "unfair, unlawful, and unprecedented"
- In a statement issued yesterday, Apple lambasted the Department of Justice over supporting a government-proposed settlement intended to resolve possible e-book price-fixing practices. The company criticized the settlement as "fundamentally unfair, unlawful and unprecedented", accusing the DOJ of attempting to…
WikiLeaks reveals massive surveillance effort, crippled by DDoS attack
- Last week, Wikileaks released internal documents and emails obtained by hackers regarding TrapWire, a privately-owned surveillance technology utilized by various private and public agencies. It appears TrapWire works by collecting surveillance data from participating private and public sources (CCTV cameras,…
Flame virus created by U.S. and Israel sources say, Iran is target
- The Washington Post reports that Flame, an extremely sophisticated virus which was first discovered in Iranian oil refineries, is the brainchild of U.S. and Israeli efforts to slow Iran's nuclear program. This information comes from several Western officials who purportedly…
Google Transparency Report reveals global political censorship trend
- Google blogged Sunday that it continues to be regularly disheartened by a portion of the removal requests it receives, requests which appear to promote "alarming" types of censorship. Political speech, in particular, is a growing request pegged for removal by…
FCC plans to re-evaluate cell phone radiation safety standards
- The FCC plans to re-examine its cellular phone safety standards -- a set of wireless safety guidelines chiseled out in 1996. The communications agency is expected to discuss its own testing methodologies and guidelines in order to determine if their…
Flame malware subverts Windows Updates, infects networked PCs
- Flame or Flamer, an admittedly sophisticated piece of malware, appears to have more tricks up its sleeve than security researchers had initially believed. Security firm Kaspersky has discovered that the virus turns infected PCs into Windows Update servers which may…
Microsoft talks IE10, "Do Not Track" will be enabled by default
- Yesterday, Microsoft posted an interesting look at the current state of Internet Explorer 10 on its MSDN blog. In the article, readers will discover that Microsoft is touting a faster and more fluid experience, natural touch and gesture control, metro-influenced…
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