Topic: SECURITY - on July 11, 2016 at 1:17:00 PM CEST
BND-Spionage unter Freunden: Dutzende Regierungsstellen im Visier
Kanzlerin Merkel hatte 2013 gesagt: "Ausspähen unter Freunden – das geht gar nicht." Dann wurde klar: Das geht doch. Kontrolleure des Bundestags haben nun ein Fazit gezogen und das birgt gehörig Sprengstoff. In der BND-Affäre um Spionage unter Freunden sind neue Details über den Umfang der bis Oktober 2013 laufenden Aktionen bekannt geworden. Nach einer der dpa vorliegenden Bewertung des Bundestagsgremiums zur Kontrolle der Geheimdienste (PKGr) wurde "eine niedrige zweistellige Zahl von Teilnehmern" abgehört, die Regierungen von EU- oder Nato-Ländern zuzuordnen sind. Darunter sind Staats- oder Regierungschefs und Minister, deren Umfeld – also der Amtssitz, der Stab oder das Büro – sowie militärische Einrichtungen. Es gehe um "mehrere Dutzend" solcher Fälle, erfuhr die dpa.
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Topic: SECURITY - on July 11, 2016 at 1:16:00 PM CEST
Do You Own Your Own Fingerprints?
An obscure law could lead to broader limits on biometrics. These days, many of us regularly feed pieces of ourselves into machines for convenience and security. Our fingerprints unlock our smartphones, and companies are experimenting with more novel biometric markers—voice, heartbeat, grip—as ID for banking and other transactions. But there are almost no laws in place to control how companies use such information. Nor is it clear what rights people have to protect scans of their retinas or the contours of their face from cataloging by the private sector.
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Topic: EU - on July 11, 2016 at 1:12:00 PM CEST
The Italian job - Italy’s teetering banks will be Europe’s next crisis
INVESTORS around the world are extraordinarily nervous. Yields on ten-year Treasuries fell to their lowest-ever level this week; buyers of 50-year Swiss government bonds are prepared to accept a negative yield. Some of the disquiet stems from Britain’s decision to hurl itself into the unknown. The pound, which hit a 31-year low against the dollar on July 6th, has yet to find a floor; several British commercial-property funds have suspended redemptions as the value of their assets tumbles. But the Brexit vote does not explain all the current unease. Another, potentially more dangerous, financial menace looms on the other side of the Channel—as Italy’s wobbly lenders teeter on the brink of a banking crisis.
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Topic: EU - on July 11, 2016 at 1:10:00 PM CEST
EU Banks Need $166 Billion, Deutsche Bank Economist Tells Welt
Europe urgently needs a 150 billion-euro ($166 billion) bailout fund to recapitalize its beleaguered banks, particularly those in Italy, Deutsche Bank AG’s chief economist said in an interview with Welt am Sonntag. "Europe is extremely sick and must start dealing with its problems extremely quickly, or else there may be an accident," Deutsche Bank’s David Folkerts-Landau said, according to the newspaper. "I’m no doomsday prophet, I am a realist."
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Topic: SCIENCE - on July 11, 2016 at 1:09:00 PM CEST
A Telescope the Size of Earth Just Captured a Supermassive Black Hole Eating a Star
Astronomers just got their most precise look to-date at a supermassive black hole gobbling up a star. The research could help us figure out what exactly happens when stars get eaten by black holes — and why those black holes sometimes shoot out jets of particles at nearly the speed of light.
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Topic: DRUGS - on July 9, 2016 at 5:54:00 PM CEST
Cannabisforscher Rudolf Brenneisen: "Die Natur ist nicht immer besser"
Der Schweizer Pharmakologe über Apotheken statt Schwarzmarkt, Leberzirrhosen im Weinland und die Legalisierungsdebatte an sich Wien – Rudolf Brenneisen sitzt in einem gepolsterten Rattansofa im Park vor dem Festsaal des niederösterreichischen Landesklinikums Mauer-Öhling. Er trägt ein dunkles Hemd, auf das kleine, bunte Kakteen gedruckt sind, und die Socken unter der senfgelben Hose sind mit großen Hanfblättern bestickt. Der 67-jährige Schweizer hielt bei der Fachtagung Sucht in Mauer-Öhling einen Vortrag mit dem Titel "Cannabis: Was die Pflanze kann, und was wir daraus machen". Der nunmehr emeritierte Professor für Pharmazie an der Universität Bern forschte seit den 1970er-Jahren an der Wirkung der Staude, arbeitete unter anderem für das Internationale Drogenkontrollprogramm der Vereinten Nationen (UNDCP) und die US-Drogenbehörde DEA. Als Mitglied einer Expertengruppe wurde er heuer vom Schweizer Bundesrat beauftragt, im Rahmen eines wissenschaftlichen Pilotprojektes die praktischen Möglichkeiten im medizinischen Bereich auszuloten.
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Topic: SECURITY - on July 9, 2016 at 5:53:00 PM CEST
NSA targets the privacy-conscious
The investigation discloses the following: Two servers in Germany - in Berlin and Nuremberg - are under surveillance by the NSA. Merely searching the web for the privacy-enhancing software tools outlined in the XKeyscore rules causes the NSA to mark and track the IP address of the person doing the search. Not only are German privacy software users tracked, but the source code shows that privacy software users worldwide are tracked by the NSA. Among the NSA's targets is the Tor network funded primarily by the US government to aid democracy advocates in authoritarian states. The XKeyscore rules reveal that the NSA tracks all connections to a server that hosts part of an anonymous email service at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It also records details about visits to a popular internet journal for Linux operating system users called "the Linux Journal - the Original Magazine of the Linux Community", and calls it an "extremist forum".
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Topic: SECURITY - on July 9, 2016 at 5:51:00 PM CEST
Quellcode entschlüsselt: Beweis für NSA-Spionage in Deutschland
Deutsche, die sich mit Verschlüsselung im Internet beschäftigen, werden gezielt vom US-Geheimdienst NSA ausgespäht. Anhand eines geheimen Quellcodes der NSA konnten WDR und NDR nun in Deutschland Opfer der NSA Überwachung namentlich identifizieren. Einer davon ist der Erlanger Student Sebastian Hahn, der sich in seiner Freizeit mit Anonymisierungstechnologie beschäftigt. Er ist nach Angela Merkel das erste namentlich bekannte Opfer der NSA.
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Topic: Phone - on July 9, 2016 at 5:49:00 PM CEST
Your guide to secret iPhone codes
Your iPhone has been keeping secrets from you. But now you can learn how to use them yourself. Every iPhone has a hidden “Field Test Mode” that will reveal helpful details like its signal strength and unique identifiers like its IMEI number. These aren’t normal features that you can find in your device’s Settings menu, which is where the secret codes come into play. You don’t have to be Alan Turing to use your iPhone’s Field Test Mode. The codes are relatively idiot proof and limited in their functionality. You’re able to pop up your iPhone’s internal hood, but you won’t have much of a chance to mess things up. This field test mode is by no means unique to Apple. Many mobile devices have a hidden menu for its “backdoors” already built in. Many of the codes have been in place for years and can even work on Android, while some vary by device or network.
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Topic: AUSTRIA - on July 9, 2016 at 1:03:00 PM CEST
Austria: The up-and-coming early-stage investment capital of europe
To many, Austria can seem like a country of the past, one whose very charm lies in the fact that its best days are behind it. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed almost 100 years ago, and, with it, the aspirations this landlocked, Central European nation of 8.5 million had to control the global stage. Perhaps that’s why the Austrian startup scene has been so easy to overlook. With Germany to the north and the high-tech Netherlands beyond that, few have paid attention to the rapid changes taking place on the other side of the Alps.
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Topic: SEX - on July 9, 2016 at 10:42:00 AM CEST
Japan’s first VR porn festival closed down due to overcrowding
Japan's first festival of VR porn was reportedly prematurely evacuated due to overcrowding. Adult VR Fest, which was held in the Akihabara district of Tokyo last month, drew a crowd of hundreds—but according to reports from the ground, just a few dozen people were allowed into the event before the organisers decided to close it down. It seems that the organisers simply weren't prepared for so many visitors—and indeed, the venue itself looks like it was much too small to legally or safely accommodate the throngs.
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Topic: Phone - on July 9, 2016 at 10:40:00 AM CEST
Hidden Voice Commands Embedded in YouTube Videos Can Hijack Your Smartphone
A series of distorted voice commands surreptitiously hidden in YouTube videos can force unprotected Android or iOS smartphones to carry out malicious operations, researchers have discovered. Controlling smartphones with voice commands was already done last year when two security researchers from French agency ANSSI have used radio waves to send hidden commands to smartphones running Siri or Google Now. The attack was possible only if the phone had its headphones plugged in.
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