The Plain Truth

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.

Google tests world's first 1GB per second broadband service - 100 times faster than normal

Silicon Valley residents are getting the first taste of Google's experimental 1Gbps broadband service, which allows download speeds 100 times faster than normal.

Download speeds on the network are up to 300 Mbps, with an upload speed of 150 Mbps, being hailed as the fastest internet speeds in the world available to the home user.

A 95-megabyte high-definition movie trailer downloaded in about nine seconds. Normal cable download speeds are about 13Mbps, or about 1/20th the speed of Google Fiber.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2031472/Google-tests-worlds-1GB-second-broadband-service--100-times-faster-normal.html#ixzz1Wdys1dY6

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 »

Crowd Identity MAP (Unbelievable Technology)

Dees Illustration

How Big Brother Watches Crowds

Rense

You used to be able to get lost in the crowd, but not anymore. Double click on any area in the picture to bring the person closer. Or, just click the mouse and use the mouse wheel to bring them closer.

SEE HERE

This is a photograph of 2009 Obama Inauguration. You can see IN FOCUS the face of EACH individual in the crowd !!!

You can scan and zoom to any section of the crowd. . . wait a few seconds.

Double click anywhere and double click again and perhaps again. The focus adjusts to give you a very identifiable close up.

The picture was taken with a robotic 1474 megapixel camera (295 times the standard 5 megapixel camera).

Every one attending could be scanned after the event, should something have gone wrong during it.

RELATED ARTICLE:
How Close Are We to a Nano-based Surveillance State?

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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 »

Snapshot of an Apple flash crash

What triggered the sell-off that knocked $10 billion off the company's market cap?

Click to enlarge. Source: Andy Zaky

Something happened to Apple's (AAPL) share price Thursday afternoon that has investors still scratching their heads.

The stock, which had been sailing along near its all-time high of $360 a share, started to drop at about 1 p.m. Then, at 1:39, it collapsed, falling from $355 to $349 in the space of four minutes.

In all, $10 billion got shaved off Apple's market capitalization before the stock began to recover.

Except for the surprisingly short iPhone lines at Verizon stores Thursday, there didn't seem to be any news behind the sell off.

"The selling is not normal just for negative news," wrote Bullish Cross' Andy Zaky in an e-mail. "There was a huge spike where dollars were being skipped in the selling. I saw Apple tick from $351.70 to $349.00 within seconds.  There's something else.  The selling was not normal.  That's for sure.  It wasn't orderly. Take a look for yourself."

The chart, Zaky suggests, bears a strikingly resemblance to the flash crash of May 6, 2010. But that event shook the entire market. This one belonged to Apple.

UPDATE: Stock Tic Toc is attributing the flash crash to rumors that Steve Jobs is back in the hospital. Funny, he was reportedly sighted on the Apple campus last week with a big smile and a spring in his step. And just yesterday, two different people tweeted that he was eating lunch near them at an Indian restaurant in Mountain View. See here and here.

Also on Fortune.com:

TUMOUR RISK TO THE YOUNG FROM USING MOBILE PHONES

CHILDREN who use mobiles could be up to five times more likely to develop a brain tumour than adults, experts claim.

More than 50 per cent of seven-year-olds own a mobile phone, with the figure rising to 75 per cent by the age of 10.

The potential risk could be a “huge time bomb”, according to independent watchdog Powerwatch, which investigates their safety. It wants children banned from using them.
Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/226474/Tumour-risk-to-the-young-from-using-mobile-phonesTumour-risk-to-the-young-from-using-mobile-phones#ixzz1CkyEuKU2

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 »

Antitrust bulldog Gary Reback pushes Google probe

In the 1990s, attorney Gary Reback helped goad the Department of Justice into launching the landmark antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. by hauling willing witnesses and damning information before any government body that would listen.

Reback, of Menlo Park law firm Carr & Ferrell LLP, is now waging a similarly relentless campaign against a technology giant of this era, Google Inc.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/23/BU6B1HCV54.DTL#ixzz1ByJ4Pd00

Goldman Sachs to offer Facebook shares only to non-US clients

Goldman Sachs decided to exclude US clients from the private offering of as much as $1.5 billion in shares of social-networking company Facebook, citing "intense media attention." In a statement provided to The Wall Street Journal Monday, Goldman said the move came after officials at the New York securities firm "concluded the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a US private placement under US law." Goldman began notifying clients of its decision on Sunday night in Asia, and clients in Europe and the US were being told on Monday, according to people familiar with the situation.

 In its statement, Goldman said the decision to limit the offering to "offshore" investors was not "required or requested by any other party," including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company remained tight-lipped about the offering despite the frenzy unleashed when the deal surfaced two weeks ago. Prospective investors were repeatedly told by Goldman not to publicly disclose details about the private offering. Private placements like the Facebook deal are subject to strict SEC guidelines, and Goldman's statement Monday suggested that executives grew concerned that huge interest in the offering could expose the securities firm to regulatory vulnerability. One Goldman client was told the deal is being offered only to non-US clients because of regulatory concerns. In its statement, Goldman said it "regrets the consequences of this decision, but we believe this is the most prudent path to take." To read more, go to WSJ.com.

"Perfect Storm" Forming for Cyberattacks in the Next Decade

Web Application Security Will Grow to Be a Bigger Area of Concern

SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwire - January 25, 2010) - The first decade of this century has been a significant period for cyber security. Attacks at the network layer by major worms like Nimda and SQL Slammer ushered in the new century while the combination of major incidents like the Heartland Security Breach, which resulted in the compromising of up to 100 million credit cards, and many attacks against social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, closed out the decade. The coming ten years promises to be even more dramatic.

"Over the next ten years, attacks will become much more sophisticated and organized, supported by criminal organizations capitalizing on the latest trends and Internet fads to trick unsuspecting users along with the escalation of cyber warfare as other nations infiltrate our infrastructure to bring about chaos and financial ruin," said Mandeep Khera, CMO of Cenzic. "With an increased number of new applications using Web 2.0 technologies and a rise in application level vulnerabilities, we have all the conditions of a perfect storm for cyberattacks."

In particular, Khera projects the following key trends for 2010 and over the next decade:

1. Despite government efforts, cyber war will become much more common with more severe attacks exploiting the Web. We have been predicting cyberwars for the last few years and in 2009 significant breaches, including an incident with N. Korea have raised awareness. Along with Cyber warfare, we'll also see more instances of cyberterror as hackers target the telecommunications and utility infrastructures of target nations.

2. Social network sites like Facebook and Twitter will continue to be targeted for attacks due to their popularity and usage. New and game changing social networking apps will emerge each with a unique set of security challenges. Social networking will become even more prevalent as hackers go after these user bases looking for personal financial information to enable them to siphon money from bank accounts and credit cards. Data from social networks will also give rise to increased identity theft as hackers sort through social networks to gather clues to unlock passwords and steal identities.

3. The rise in smartphone use, particularly the popularity of specific phones such as the iPhone, begets an escalation in mobile app use. As these apps become ubiquitous for users seeking to enhance both their business and personal worlds, they will increasingly become a target for hackers who see millions of potential targets in these apps, most of which use a Web infrastructure for hackers to exploit.

4. Cloud computing will become more prevalent as organizations try to optimize their infrastructure to streamline costs, however the cloud comes with inherent security risks. Cloud providers will increasingly become a target especially for hackers using Web attacks.

5. The collective security consciousness will be raised. Businesses large and small will adopt technologies to secure their Web sites, regulations will be developed and fines increased. Universities will make security, especially application security, a mandatory requirement for all development courses and there will be more regulations around cyber security including increases in fines to companies found negligent along with more severe criminal punishment for hackers. Yet, hackers will also become more organized and sophisticated.

About Cenzic

Cenzic, a trusted provider of software and SaaS security products, helps organizations secure their websites against hacker attacks. Unlike network security and SSL solutions, Cenzic focuses on Web Application Security, automating the process of identifying security defects at the Web application level where more than 75 percent of attacks occur. Our dynamic, black box testing of Web applications is built on a non-signature-based technology that finds more "real" vulnerabilities and helps companies with vulnerability management, risk management, and compliance with regulations and standards. The Cenzic solution suite fits the needs of companies across all industries and government agencies -- from testing Websites remotely via our managed service (Cenzic ClickToSecure®), to a full enterprise-wide software product (Cenzic Hailstorm® Enterprise ARC™) for managing security risks across the entire company.

For more information, please visit

http://www.cenzic.com

http://blog.cenzic.com

http://twitter.com/cenzic

http://twitter.com/appsecurity

Contact Information:
Tami Casey
Kulesa Faul for Cenzic
(650) 340-1984
Email Contact

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

Electronic pickpocketing puts your credit cards at risk

St. Petersburg, Florida - If you had any doubt that someone could steal your credit card numbers by simply walking past you, a few minutes with Walt Augustinowicz will probably chance your mind.

"Wow that is crazy. It kind of makes me nervous," said Reina Monsour after watching one of Augustinowicz's demonstrations.

"Technology is getting scarier and scarier," added Ivan Marik after watching another demonstration.

By simply using a credit card scanner attached to a battery pack, Augustinowicz shows how easy it is to grab sensitive information from an unsuspecting person.

"If I just get kind of close to (a person's) back pocket or purse, where ever their wallet is, I can read their credit card numbers, expiration date, actually the whole tracking data," Augustinowicz said.  MORE

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