Friday, 12. July 2013

Tired of helping the CIA? Quit Facebook, Venezuela minister urges


A Venezuelan government minister on Wednesday urged citizens to shut Facebook accounts to avoid being unwitting informants for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, referring to recent revelations about U.S. surveillance programs.

Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who is stuck in a Moscow airport while seeking to avoid capture by the United States, last month leaked details about American intelligence agencies obtaining information from popular websites including Facebook.

reuters.com

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Edward Snowden to meet Amnesty and Human Rights Watch at Moscow airport – live coverage


NSA whistleblower to meet human rights groups at Sheremetyevo airport to discuss his next steps forward as he claims US is illegally denying his right to seek asylum

guardian.co.uk

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Snowden ist ein Glücksfall für die Gesellschaft


Sind die Überwachungsprogramme der amerikanischen und britischen Geheimdienste illegal? Ja, sagte der Passauer Sicherheits- und Internetrechtler Dirk Heckmann. Er ruft im Interview zu Klagen gegen Prism auf - und warnt vor dem Entstehen eines totalitären Systems.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Herr Heckmann, müssen wir uns damit abfinden, dass große Teile unseres Verhaltens im Internet von ausländischen Geheimdiensten aufgezeichnet und überwacht werden?

Heckmann: Wir sollten es zumindest nicht. Wir müssen uns klar machen, dass da offenbar Dinge passieren, die nach unserem Verfassungsrecht nie passieren dürften.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Warum?

Heckmann: Dass Geheimdienste für unsere Sicherheit sorgen wollen, ist an sich legitim. Der Zweck heiligt aber nicht die Mittel. Man stelle sich vor, jeder Vermieter würde heimlich einen Wohnungsschlüssel an den Geheimdienst liefern und dazu Informationen zu Grundriss, Mobiliar, und wann seine Mieter nicht zu Hause sind. Und das wäre noch harmlos im Vergleich zu dem Ausmaß, in dem das NSA-Programm Prism in die Privatsphäre eingreift.

spiegel.de

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



US-Bedienstete von Polizei, Zoll und Militär übernehmen Sicherheitsaufgaben in Deutschland und der EU


Die gegenwärtige Auseinandersetzung um die digitale Bespitzelung durch Behörden der USA und Großbritanniens dreht sich vornehmlich um die Geheimdienste. Entsprechende Absprachen oder Abkommen (etwa gemäß dem sogenannten “NATO-Truppenstatut”) werden unter Verschluss gehalten; sogar der Regierungssprecher wollte hierzu in der Bundespressekonferenz am Montag keine Angaben machen.

Im Polizei- und Zollbereich jedoch unterhält vor allem Deutschland beste Beziehungen zu den USA. Der frühere Innenminister Wolfgang Schäuble nutzte die EU-Präsidentschaft Deutschlands 2007, um einen “transatlantischen Raum der Freiheit, der Sicherheit und des Rechts” einzufädeln. Auf der Webseite des Weißen Hauses liest sich das so:

Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement Cooperation: Germany and the United States have a robust cooperative relationship on counterterrorism, law enforcement and homeland security matters.</p>

netzpolitik.org

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Neue Snowden-Enthüllungen zeigen Details der Kollaboration von NSA und Microsoft


Microsoft hat gerade ein Problem. Der Guardian berichtet über neue ausgewertete Dokumente, die das PRISM-Überwachungsprojekt weiter beschreiben. Demnach arbeitet Microsoft und seine Tochterfirma Skype sehr eng mit dem FBI und der NSA zusammen, um diesen Zugriff auf die Kommunikation der eigenen Kunden zu ermöglichen. Grob war das durch die ersten Prism-Enthüllungen bekannt. In dem Artikel “Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages” beschreibt der Guardian detaillierter, wie die Zusammenarbeit funktioniert.

netzpolitik.org Wer Microsoft seine Daten anvertraut, handelt fahrlässig

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



How Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages


Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

guardian.co.uk

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Edward Snowden: US officials are preventing me claiming asylum


The NSA surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has said US officials are waging a campaign to prevent him from taking up asylum offers as he called a meeting in Moscow airport with human rights groups.

In a letter sent to groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, the former intelligence agency contractor claimed there was "an unlawful campaign by officials in the US government to deny my right to seek and enjoy … asylum under article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and invited them to meet him at 5pm local time.

guardian.co.uk

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment


Thursday, 11. July 2013

Man arrested for having sex with pool raft


Owner of raft told police that the suspect took the raft with him after being shouted at to stop.

A Hamilton man repeatedly arrested for public indecency has again been indicted after a child saw him engaging in sex with a rubber raft last month, according to police.

Edwin Charles Tobergta, 34, of 1320 Harmon Ave., was arrested June 17 for allegedly stepping out his back door naked at about 1:20 p.m. and having “sexual relations with a rubber pool float,” according to the Hamilton police report.

norwalkreflector.com

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Dammit Mother Nature: Weird-Ass Living Rocks With Guts


“Period Rock? You’re calling me Period Rock now? Guys, seriously, I might look like a stone, but that doesn’t mean I have the heart of one. Why doesn’t anyone ever just call me Michael?”

Despite appearances, this is not some kind of cruelly bisected alien stone organism or a tomato thunderegg. This is Pyura chilensis, a sea creature that lives on the rocky coast of Chile and Peru. And if (like me, very recently) you’ve never seen one of these before, you’ll probably be interested to know that in Chile, they are fished commercially, and the locals eat them raw or cooked with salad and rice because apparently they’re delicious.

geekologie.com

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Israel gets Green Light to Launch Major Sinai Offensive against Hamas & Muslim Brotherhood


Israel Thursday July 11 approved a major Egyptian offensive for curbing the mounting aggression in Sinai of armed Salafis gangs, Muslim Brotherhood raiders and Hamas terrorists. A day earlier, Egypt’s Second Army commander, Maj.-Gen. Ahmad Wasfi, who is assigned to lead the offensive, escaped unhurt from an attempt on his life. Some of his bodyguards and soldiers were killed.

Maj.-Gen. Wasfi arrived in Sinai just four days ago to set up headquarters in the northern town of El Arish. He was targeted for the first attempt by radical Islamists to murder a high-ranking Egyptian general. As a close associate of Defense Minister Gen. Fattah El-Sisi, Wasfi took part in the military coup which ousted President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo on July 3.

debka.com

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Android Master Key Vulnerability Checker Now Live


Last week, Rain Forrest Puppy (aka Jeff Forristal) first disclosed the initial public report about an Android Master Key flaw. Code was released earlier this week for attackers to exploit the flaw — but what about users? Google has claimed that it has patched the issue but how do you know if your phone/carrier is safe? Forristal's company now has an app for that.

slashdot.org

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment



Three-Quarters Of All Smartphones Contain NSA Code In Operating System


Security-Enhanced Android: NSA Edition

Tech giants listed as part of the National Security Agency’s Prism spying program have gone to some lengths to convince the world they aren’t in bed with the U.S. government. Google (GOOG) has filed a request with the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court asking permission to disclose more information about the government’s data requests. So there’s a certain irony that NSA programmers are now refining code that Google has approved for the company’s mobile operating system, Android. Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano confirms that the company has already inserted some of the NSA’s programming in Android OS. “All Android code and contributors are publicly available for review at source.android.com,” Scigliano says, declining to comment further.

businessweek.com

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment