The Plain Truth

JOIN OUR DISCUSSION BOARD-- See Latest News and Views

Newest message board threads:

Title

Author

Date

VISIT OUR DISCUSSION BOARD

CLICK HERE

Doomsday clock ticking on Internet freedom

by Andrea Shea KingEmail | Archive

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither.” – Benjamin Franklin

They’re coming for it and show no signs of letting up. Once they get their foot in the door and before you know it, you’ll be worried and thinking twice about what you’re posting on your blog or Facebook or Twitter account. And if it appears on the Internet, the government will somehow try to tax it.  Readers, if you haven’t been, you’d better get interested in this now, because we are moving closer to pivoting off the relative freedom of speech of Internet into absolute government control. And if you let the Washington ruling elite control it, who knows what the result will be? One thing for sure, it “will be for our own good,” but it won’t be good for us. Are you a terrorist? No? Then why is Big Sis spying on you?

Read the story Here from WND>>

Apple’s Incredible New Plans Revealed

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office have received proposals from Apple that indicate the electronics company is working on products powered by hydrogen fuel cells, that they claim have the potential to stay charged for weeks, and “eliminates the need for a bulky and heavy battery.”

Remarks by the company in the patent fillings would indicate that the proposal to shift to hydrogen fueled products was influenced not by user experience but customer awareness:

MORE

Does Google spy on you for NSA? Judge says, 'None of your business'

Forward: Readers of The Plain Truth know about my theory concerning Microsoft, Google and other "overnight success" businesses, where college kids make billions overnight with flawed products.  For example, Microsoft Windows never works, crashes every day. My theory is that these businesses are really "shell" companies for the USA and the CIA to spy on everyone! Google, (Government Ooggling) is a great example of this theory. This recent news story adds some more fuel to my theory... (Bob Barney- The Plain Truth)

 

By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WND

A federal judge has ordered that whether Google is spying for National Security Agency or not, you have no right to know.

"The NSA need not disclose 'the organization or any function of the National Security Agency, [or] any information with respect to the activities thereof,'" U.S. District Judged Richard Leon has ordered.

"Once the agency, through affidavits, has created 'as complete a public record as is possible' and explained 'in as much detail as is possible the basis for its claim,' … 'the court is not to conduct a detailed inquiry to decide whether it agrees with the agency's opinions,'" he said.

Get the book that dedicates a chapter to explaining why Google is evil, in "Stop the Presses! The Inside Story of the New Media Revolution.

The demand for information had been raised by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which said the ruling would be appealed.

Fallen televangelists find afterlife on the Internet

In their heyday of the 1970s and 80s, televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker drew in hundreds of thousands of worshippers and millions of dollars before scandal and corruption gutted individual ministries and then the entire genre.

Now, however, the Internet has made it easy and inexpensive to distribute video sermons around the world, breathing new life into virtual ministries and even providing a second act for a few infamous televangelists, a Canadian researcher says.

Read it on Global News: Fallen televangelists find afterlife on the Internet

Police: Internet providers must keep user logs

Declan McCullagh
CNET

Law enforcement representatives are planning to endorse a proposed federal law that would require Internet service providers to store logs about their customers for 18 months, CNET has learned.

The National Sheriffs' Association will say it "strongly supports" mandatory data retention during Tuesday's U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the topic.

Michael Brown, sheriff in Bedford County, Va., and a board member and executive committee member of the National Sheriffs' Association, is planning to argue that a new law is necessary because Internet providers do not store customer records long enough.

Read Full Article

Hackers expose flaw in Apple iPad, iPhone software

(Reuters) - Hackers have disclosed a bug in software from Apple Inc that security experts said could be exploited by criminals looking to gain remote control over iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices.

The security flaw in Apple's iOS operating system came to light on Wednesday as the website www.jailbreakme.com released code that Apple customers can use to modify the iOS operating system through a process known as "jail breaking."  MORE>>>>

The Cloud: Trojan Horse For Internet Takeover

Wiki Commons

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars

Despite the corporate-driven hubbub surrounding the inevitability of “the cloud” replacing personal hard drives as the pre-eminent storage center for all web content, this system represents another dangerous trojan horse for the establishment to complete their agenda to regulate and shut down the free Internet.

Apple, Google and Amazon amongst other tech giants have all jumped on board with “the cloud,” a remote server network that allows users to store their data without using hard drives.

“It’s all part of a generational trend away from owning physical media content and towards renting media content from the computing universal cloud,” reports Investmentu.com.

However, despite the convenience of having all your files easily accessible in one place wherever you go, the drawbacks are ominous.

Read more »

One in four US hackers 'is an FBI informer'

The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established.

Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

Alternative Media Rankings Surge After bin Laden Assassination Spectacle

Dees Illustration

Activist Post

A story like the assassination of "public enemy #1" is naturally going to drive people toward all news sources.  However, we in the alternative news media have been particularly busy since the announcement late Sunday night, as indicated by Alexa website rankings.

For those of us covering the government and mainstream media lies, distortions, and pure propaganda, it has been nearly overwhelming to attend to every facet of this professional wrestling-style spectacle.  As a result, traffic to alternative news sites has surged dramatically.  This is very encouraging, as it indicates that people are not immediately rushing only to the comfort and security of the official story, which is largely framed by appeals to emotion -- rather, people appear to be hungry for facts.  Given that alternative media generally does not have even a fraction of the budget of corporate media, the ranking increases are doubly satisfying.  We are honored to be included with the true news sources below as a reliable indicator of the search for truth and justice amid the miasma of the current official coverage of the bin Laden Assassination Show being peddled for obviously corporate and political reasons.

Read more »

iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go

Wiki Commons

The Guardian

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised.

The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program.

For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.

"Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you've been," said Pete Warden, one of the researchers.

Read Full Article

A Workaround For Domain Name Seizures?

David Makarewicz, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

A group of anonymous developers have concocted a clever antidote to Government domain seizures.  MAFIAA Fire is a Firefox add-on that automatically redirects a user to a website's alternative domain name if the original domain was seized.

MAFIAA Fire exploits the fact that when a domain is seized, although it appears that the Government has taken control of the entire website, they have really only gained control over the domain name.  The Government redirects the domain name to a Government IP address and website rather than the IP address containing the original website.  When a user types in a seized domain name, such as rapgodfathers.com (seized last November), their browser is not directed to the original website, it is directed to a site containing the famous DHS/ICE seal.

If a user types in the IP address or an alternative domain name for the site,  the website content would still be accessible.  The problem is that users don't know the IP address or alternative domain name, they only know the original domain name.

Read more »

Jury Says Blogger Has To Pay For His Words Even Though He Did Not Lie

Blogger Johnny Northside

David Makarewicz, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

On Friday, a Minnesota jury found that a blogger must pay $60,000 in damages because of statements he published in his blog about a public figure who was subsequently fired from his job.  Internet publishers and free speech advocates should pay close attention to this case if it is appealed because the blogger was found liable even though the jury did not find that the blogger's statements were false.

This decision is the latest example of the law's apparent struggle to apply basic constitutional protections to internet publishers.  If the Minnesota ruling holds up, it will mean that bloggers will have to worry they will be forced to pay for true statements that they publish that cause a person damages.

Read more »

Media Bloggers Association Stands Up To Copyright Troll Righthaven

It is unfortunate that Righthaven and the companies it "buys" the copyrighted property from are willing to financially wreck a person, often for mere carelessness as they are attempting to add to the public conversation.

Media Bloggers Association

David Makarewicz, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Today, the Media Bloggers Association ("MBA") filed its Reply Brief in the Righthaven, LLC v. Hyatt case.  The MBA is opposing Righthaven's attempt to convince the Nevada District Court to award it $150,000 in damages, the domain name for blogger Bill Hyatt's website (1ce.org)  and attorneys' fees.

Hyatt was sued by Righthaven last October after he allegedly copied a Las Vegas Review-Journal column titled "FX's Manly Man Shows Hold Outsider Appeal."  When Hyatt did not respond to the lawsuit, he was defaulted by the court clerk's office.

A default is basically the equivalent of an admission of all liability by the defendant.  If the default is not set aside, the Court will skip the trial on the merits of the copyright claim and proceed directly to a determination of the damages against Hyatt.

Read more »

Egypt Internet Shutdown Should Serve As Warning To Americans

James McKibbin
The Publius Foundation

Last month we saw Egyptians of all political leanings rise up for a single purpose: the overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak. There was much bloodshed and violence, usually instigated by pro-government groups or the police. Mubarak was well-entrenched and exercised all means of power in order to quell dissent and rebellion. One of his tactics, shutting down the majority of internet access and telecommunications in Egypt, received widespread international condemnation.

The Internet provided the means through which protestors were able to organize and share information amongst themselves. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook were the main vehicles for individual citizens to mobilize against government tyranny. Who knows whether this revolt would have been possible or succeeded without the technology of the Internet?

Among those critical of Mubarak’s heavy-handed approach was the United States. However, any call for democracy or the rights of the people out of the US government carries the bitter taste of hypocrisy these days. Politicians here are constantly pushing for more government regulation and power including over the Internet.

Read more »

Righthaven appeals loss of "fair-use" ruling, settles with Drudge

source

Eric Blair
Activist Post

In October, 2010 copyright infringement extortionist, Righthaven, received its first judgment to date among their 238 lawsuits against websites and blogs; the case was dismissed on "fair-use" grounds. The defendant re-posted the first 8 sentences of a 30-sentence article originally published by Righthaven's partner Las Vegas Review-Journal.  U.S. District Judge, Larry Hicks, who granted the motion, explained his decision:

'The court finds that this use weighs in favor of a fair use of the copyrighted material,' Hicks wrote in his ruling, citing case law stating 'copying only as much as necessary in a greater work (story) to provide relevant factual information weighs in favor of fair use.'

Although this decision is potentially great news for all blogs and sites who aggregate information, Righthaven announced this week that it will appeal the decision.  Steve Green of the Las Vegas Sun quoted Righthaven lawyers as saying, “Righthaven strenuously maintains the court erred in dismissing Mr. Nelson from this case by finding his infringing conduct was protected by the defense of fair use.”

However, Green reported that the dismissal of the case has caused "Righthaven to alter its litigation strategy to limit its lawsuits to entire stories, photos and graphics — rather than partial stories — that were reproduced without authorization."  Yet, even lawsuits against websites that posted full articles are looking as though they may also be dismissed.

Read more »

Get Internet Access When Your Government Shuts It Down

Does your government have an Internet kill-switch? Read our guide to Guerrilla Networking and be prepared for when the lines get cut.

Image source

Patrick Miller and David Daw
PC World

These days, no popular movement goes without an Internet presence of some kind, whether it's organizing on Facebook or spreading the word through Twitter. And as we've seen in Egypt, that means that your Internet connection can be the first to go. Whether you're trying to check in with your family, contact your friends, or simply spread the word, here are a few ways to build some basic network connectivity when you can't rely on your cellular or landline Internet connections.

Read more »

What is Traitorware? And why you need to know!

Commentary by Eva Galperin

Your digital camera may embed metadata into photographs with the camera's serial number or your location. Your printer may be incorporating a secret code on every page it prints which could be used to identify the printer and potentially the person who used it. If Apple puts a particularly creepy patent it has recently applied for into use, you can look forward to a day when your iPhone may record your voice, take a picture of your location, record your heartbeat, and send that information back to the mothership.

This is traitorware: devices that act behind your back to betray your privacy.

Perhaps the most notable example of traitorware was the Sony rootkit. In 2005 Sony BMG produced CD's which clandestinely installed a rootkit onto PC's that provided administrative-level access to the users' computer. The copy-protected music CD’s would surreptitiously install its DRM technology onto PC’s. Ostensibly, Sony was trying prevent consumers from making multiple copies of their CD’s, but the software also rendered the CD incompatible with many CD-ROM players in PC’s, CD players in cars, and DVD players. Additionally, the software left a back door open on all infected PC’s which would give Sony, or any hacker familiar with the rootkit, control over the PC. And if a consumer should have the temerity to find the rootkit and try to remove the offending drivers, the software would execute code designed to disable the CD drive and trash the PC.  Read More........

The FCC’s Threat to Internet Freedom

'Net neutrality' sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.

Robert M. McDowell
Wall St Journal

Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government’s reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.

How did the FCC get here?

For years, proponents of so-called “net neutrality” have been calling for strong regulation of broadband “on-ramps” to the Internet, like those provided by your local cable or phone companies. Rules are needed, the argument goes, to ensure that the Internet remains open and free, and to discourage broadband providers from thwarting consumer demand. That sounds good if you say it fast.

Nothing is broken and needs fixing, however. The Internet has been open and freedom-enhancing since it was spun off from a government research project in the early 1990s. Its nature as a diffuse and dynamic global network of networks defies top-down authority. Ample laws to protect consumers already exist.

Read Full Article

The Plain Truth- Biggest Month Ever! 70,000 Readers in November

CLICK HERE FOR STATS BY MONTH!

ISRAEL- In Living Pictures! Awesome!

Israel is a place, a way of life, faith, religion,heritage, a dream, hope, coping, pioneering, scenery and man. It is the past, war and peace, agriculture, fauna and flora, coexistence, an experience.

Israel may be a tiny country but the more one visits it the more one discovers its many, wondrous layers.

Israel is teeming with exciting vistas, rare historical sites and a variegated human encounter with various heritages. Wars and a fragile coexistence – a pioneering spirit, hopes, dreams and their realization.

Israel features a broad kaleidoscope of scenery, from snow in the Hermon with its plentiful sources of water in Jordan and Hermonim, to the arid, stark scenery of the Judean Desert and the Negev.

The land is strewn with historical sites, which are being revealed even now, and its archaeological treasures grow ever richer. We are regularly informed of new revelations that shed light on the amazing history of this ancient land, which is constantly being rebuilt – at times shrunken and at others gracefully embellished, with an ever-changing face.

 

CLICK HERE FOR A UNIQUE LIVING PHOTO TOUR!!!!!!!!!!

Legal attack dog sicked on websites accused of violating R-J copyrights

When it comes to fighting copyright theft in the news industry — the piracy of stories, editorials, columns, photos and videos — there are watchdogs and there are attack dogs.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal and its copyright enforcement partner, a Las Vegas startup called Righthaven LLC, are squarely in the attack-dog category.

In a strategic campaign that is attracting growing interest nationwide in legal and media circles, Righthaven — without warning — has sued at least 86 website owners in federal court in Las Vegas since March for copyright infringement.  read the rest

New Bill Gives Obama ‘Kill Switch’ To Shut Down The Internet

Government would have “absolute power” to seize control of the world wide web under Lieberman legislation

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The federal government would have “absolute power” to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative “kill switch” to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive.

Lieberman has been pushing for government regulation of the Internet for years under the guise of cybersecurity, but this new bill goes even further in handing emergency powers over to the feds which could be used to silence free speech under the pretext of a national emergency.

“The legislation says that companies such as broadband providers, search engines or software firms that the US Government selects “shall immediately comply with any emergency measure or action developed” by the Department of Homeland Security. Anyone failing to comply would be fined,” reports ZDNet’s Declan McCullagh.

The 197-page bill (PDF) is entitled Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, or PCNAA.

Technology lobbying group TechAmerica warned that the legislation created “the potential for absolute power,” while the Center for Democracy and Technology worried that the bill’s emergency powers “include authority to shut down or limit internet traffic on private systems.”

The bill has the vehement support of Senator Jay Rockefeller, who last year asked during a congressional hearing, “Would it had been better if we’d have never invented the Internet?” while fearmongering about cyber-terrorists preparing attacks.

The largest Internet-based corporations are seemingly happy with the bill, primarily because it contains language that will give them immunity from civil lawsuits and also reimburse them for any costs incurred if the Internet is shut down for a period of time.

People leaving FACEBOOK in droves - Privacy Concerns

Facebook is to simplify its privacy controls after controversy over its handling of personal information. The number of Facebook users considering deleting their accounts appeared to rise after censure from European data protection officials and critical press coverage prompted several prominent technology commentators to remove their data from the site.  MORE>>>>>>>

Stolen Facebook Accounts for Sale

Researchers at VeriSign’s iDefense division tracking the digital underworld say bogus and stolen accounts on the Facebook are now on sale in high volume on the black market.

Enlarge This Image

Kimberly White/Reuters