Anonops #14: All about control

quote:

Anonymous doxes Cambodia after Pirate Bay arrest

Secrets from Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine released to show Cambodia what's what

Hacktivist group Anonymous has been up to its old tricks again, this time claiming to have hacked and uploaded a heap of sensitive Cambodian government documents in retaliation for the arrest and extradition back to Sweden of The Pirate Bay (TPB) co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg.

Warg was arrested in Cambodia by Swedish police under an international warrant and shipped back to the motherland last week to start the one year prison term handed down to him in 2009.

The co-founder of the world’s most famous torrent site may also face fresh charges of helping to hack the Swedish government’s tax office and IT consultancy Logica.

Anonymous released a short statement and links to over 5,000 sensitive government documents as part of a new campaign dubbed #OpTPB.

“In retaliation for extradition by Cambodian gov of our fella brother Gottfrid, we present this release of dozen government agencies and offices in Cambodia doxxed like hell,” it said.

“You will find there lotsa stuff including Cambodian and Nepal drug trafficking authorities, army, consulates, Kyrghyztan [sic] and Ukraine classified documents, Belarus, India etc etc all related to Cambodian authorities and business. Also included internet banking certificate depos and clients which belong to the mentioned authorities.”

The Wall Street Journal claimed last week that NullCrew, a group seemingly attached to Anonymous with a LulzSec-like logo, had also been up to mischief hacking various Cambodian government and armed forces web sites. ®

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White House leaks draft of CISPA-like cybersecurity executive order

The White House has leaked further details on a planned executive order that lets US President Barack Obama lay out blueprints for a program tasked with protecting America’s computer infrastructure following Congress’ failure to do so themselves.

The Associated Press has obtained a draft of what they describe as the cybersecurity executive order that has long been rumored as on the way but only recently confirmed by White House insiders. Last week, officials within the Obama administration acknowledged that the president was planning to release a directive to expedite protection of America’s cyber infrastructure, and now the AP says they have come into possession with a copy of it.

Among the AP’s claims, the executive order will establish a critical infrastructure cybersecurity council manned by the US Department of Homeland Security that will be staffed by members of the departments of defense, justice and commerce, and national intelligence office, who “would submit a report to the president to assess threats, vulnerabilities and consequences for all critical infrastructure sectors.”

The AP says the draft outlines rules for federal agencies to propose new regulations or broaden existing ones and includes other provisions involving the sharing of data between private corporations and the federal government.

The White House has not announced when the president will authorize the executive order, but its mere existence is all but certain to be a response to the Legislative Branch’s inability to compromise on a cybersecurity bill between members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Lawmakers in the House were able to largely agree on one such bill this year, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, but efforts on the part of the Senate to draft a similar bill on their own end were futile, leaving Washington essentially deadlocked on the issue, much to the chagrin of those they have made hawkish calls for an immediate and extensive law.

Had CISPA been signed into law, it would have offered incentives to private companies who shared personal user info submitted online with the US government under the guise of being a necessity for national security. The White House released a statement of administrative policy in response back in April condemning CISPA on the basis that it failed “to provide authorities to ensure that the nation's core critical infrastructure is protected while repealing important provisions of electronic surveillance law without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality and civil liberties safeguards.”

“Moreover, information sharing, while an essential component of comprehensive legislation, is not alone enough to protect the nation's core critical infrastructure from cyber threats,” the White House originally wrote.

The Obama administration said earlier this year that president would veto CISPA if a copy of the bill made its way to the oval office, but skeptics have been unsure of Mr. Obama’s take as of late, specifically after cybersecurity coordinator Howard A. Schmidt left his position within the administration in May. Now the White House has revealed their own plans for a cybersecurity bill that, while largely different from CISPA in some aspects, certainly borrows from some parts of that bill.

The AP reports that third-party companies will not necessarily be bound to sharing intelligence with the government in exchange for certain incentives, although they will be able to voluntarily provide information. Federal News Radio reporter Jason Miller claims to have seen excerpts from the executive order last week and described it more closely related to the comprehensive cyber legislation introduced by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R- Maine) than CISPA, but added, “Sources say it doesn't advocate for rewards or more tangible incentives such as liability protection like the Lieberman-Collins bill does.”

More so, however, the executive order appears to lay down the groundwork for federal staffers assigned to a committee established under the directive to design further cybersecurity acts once the order is signed.

“The private sector would collaborate with the cybersecurity council and also cooperate with NIST in the development of cybersecurity guidance,” the AP describes the order, while also seeking “better digital defenses for critical infrastructure while encouraging economic prosperity and promoting privacy and civil liberties.”

White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told the Washington Post last week, “an Executive Order is among the things we’re considering to fulfill the president’s direction to us to do absolutely everything we can to better protect our nation against today’s cyberthreats.”

Barrett Brown Anonymous Raid

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AntiSec hackers retaliate after Anon-collaborator arrested by FBI

In retaliation for a Wednesday night raid that ended with frequent Anonymous collaborator Barrett Brown placed in federal custody, the group AntiSec has released credit card data believed to belong to more than a dozen government officers.

The Dallas home of Project PM founder Barrett Brown, an independent researcher, activist and informal spokesperson for Anonymous, was raided by armed officers on Wednesday after he uploaded the last of several videos to the Internet calling for an investigation into the FBI. He is expected in court later Thursday where he is believed to be charged with threatening a federal officer.

Only hours after news of his arrest first made the rounds online, AntiSec, a branch of the Anonymous movement that seeks to expose and exploit lax security practices, responded with a statement that explains, “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“Barrett Brown, our controversial hated/loved friend,” was raided, the Thursday afternoon memo credited to the AntiSec collective reads. Brown was participating in a live video chat on the Internet at the precise moment his home was stormed by authorities, allowing many of his acquaintances to have a front-row seat to the event. AntiSec suggests all so-called Anons should view the clip, since uploaded online, “then try to come and convince us that FBI is not mad as hell at us.”

“if u dont want to trust us, it's ok, you shouldn't. but dont be dumb and at least to not realise something here is kinda fishy currently,” the statement reads.

Brown’s mug shot and a brief profile were posted on the Dallas County Jail Lookup System’s website momentarily on Wednesday before his status was updated to read “in transit.” Thursday morning, Brown’s information disappeared from the database and the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas confirmed that the suspect had been taken into federal custody to make a court appearance that afternoon. The Dallas County clerk’s office was uncertain if Brown would be arraigned immediately, but said he was scheduled to have his charges read and be presented with an attorney. RT was directed to the US Attorney’s Office in Dallas for more information preceding the court appearance but our calls have not immediately been returned.

Attorney Jay Leiderman, a California-based lawyer that has provided legal assistance and representation to accused members of Anonymous in the past, confirms that Brown was apprehended over alleged threats made against an FBI officer.

Through his work with Project PM, Brown has spearheaded probes into several governmental contractors, notable Palantir and HBGary, and believes that the US Justice Department has been routinely involved in criminal activity targeting activists. This week, Brown said that both the FBI and HBGary had sought the services of a paid informant to help drum up charges against himself relating to fraud and hacking, and that federal agents, led by FBI Officer Robert Smith, had put his life at risk.

In emails Brown claims to have obtained between HBGary staffers and alleged FBI informant Jennifer Emick, the two parties are said to discuss searching for “Something to get Barrett Brown picked up on” while Emick was on the payroll of both the private company and federal investigators looking to trump up charges.

“I don’t know if the FBI knew that, but they know that now. Because I know it, and they monitor me,” Brown said in the video, uploaded only one day before he was detained.

Just hours before his arrest, Brown claimed through a YouTube video he uploaded that Officer Smith and other FBI agents have threatened the safety of himself and his mother by engaging with informants who sought to expose personal details that would put both him and his family in immediate danger since, as Brown claims, the FBI is aware that the Zeta drug cartel has threatened him in the past. He uploaded around 30 minutes worth of material discussing the case onto YouTube in the hours before the raid.

In retaliation for his arrest, Antisec posted the full credit-card use data for 13 accounts believed to belong to government officials, complete with .gov email addresses registered with the data.

“This data could be potentially and underteminatedly false as FBI could potentially claim,” writes AntiSec, “they also would be a potentially different set than those we released from Stratfor and they could just potentially bring an underterminate amount of lulz. but what the hell, you are free to try them if u want. spend a lot!!!! send flowers to Barrett!!!”

Brown was detained by the FBI earlier this year and had several of his personal computers taken into custody by the authorities as a result. This week, Brown uploaded a video ultimatum to the FBI, demanding that they return his possessions within the next 14 days.

“I want everyone to know a demand I’m making to the FBI today. That I will have my stuff returned to me in two weeks. No later,” Brown insists, specifying that among the items taken from him were his laptop, his mom’s computer, his personal calendar, notebook, and X-Box video game system.

“When I get it back I’m going to release some stuff that’s on there, and they don’t know what I have access to. That I have copies of that is on there. They don’t want me to have it back. There’s a reason they’re not giving it back, even copies of it. They aren’t done with it,” Brown says.

Later, Brown says, “They have two weeks and 24 hours from now I will receive a call from Robert Smith himself apologizing for what happened.” The next day, Brown released a third video claiming that Officer Smith threatened that the District Attorney’s office was filing obstruction of justice charges against Brown’s mother.

“My fucking mom is being threatened by a fucking US DA and a fucking chickenshit little faggot cocksucker, a little FBI agent — Robert Smith, who we are investigating now,” he said.

In the video, uploaded with the title, Why I'm Going to Destroy FBI Agent Robert Smith Part Three: Revenge of the Lithe, Brown explains, “So that’s why Robert Smith’s life is over. And when I say his life is over, I don’t say I’m going to kill him. But I am going to ruin his life and look into his fucking kids because (HB Gary CEO) Aaron Burr did the same thing and he didn’t get raided for it. How do you like them apples?”

If convicted of making a threat made against a federal law enforcement officer with intent to retaliate against the performance of official duties, Brown could be sentenced to no more than 10 years in prison.

BarrettBrownLOL - Raided on Tinychat 12th Sept 2012

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Anonymous support to #Occupy Monsanto

17th/23rd September, Occupy Monsanto, International Mobilization

On the occasion of the international mobilization against Monsanto Inc., we join the efforts of all the groups involved saying STOP.
STOP GMO production aimed at conquering ever larger market shares.
STOP the logic of a market which produces products such as RR2, that are resilient to gylcophosphates* produced by Monsanto Inc. itself, which are very dangerous
for humans. (The first documentations about genetic malformations begin to appear) and habitats (The overexploitation of the soil caused by pesticides and
monoculture)

In particular, in Paraguay, wealthy landowners of the UGP group use more and more violent methods against citizens who occupy lands entrusted to them by a past
agrarian reform.
One of the goals of the UGP group is to plant on the lands the kind of genetically modified seeds from Monsanto Inc. which are resilient to glycophosphate pesticides.
Once again we see the environment polluted and destroyed and large companies interests put before the law and food safety.
Once again we see small and very small farmers, whose rights are denied and their lives disrupted in the name of profit.

We join the struggle that Vandana Shiva has been carrying on for 30 years against Monsanto and intensive farming with the Navdanya (www.navdanya.org/) association.

Recently in Europe, the EU has reiterated that the country may not prevent the Community directives which provide for the introduction of transgenic seeds resistant to glycophosates.
This of course will cause the intensive use of the aforementioned carcinogenic pesticides and genetically modified seeds.
Let us also note that Monsanto has established the "Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)" and the "Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)"
How can transgenic crops, grown by destroying small farmers and the biodiversity that they are protecting, where carcinogenic pesticides, even harmful for the fetus, are employed, be labelled as eco-sustainable?
Many areas where Monsanto works are subject to deforestation. This means that, for example, the Amazonic forest has been partly destroyed to make space for Monsanto crops.

WWF members with Monsanto representatives participate in associations with RTRS and RSPO, associations that certify that the land where Monsanto grows its crops, were subject to "sustainable deforestation".

We think that it's important to remember the very existence that big areas of the Amazonic forest are already under the threat of hydroelectric projects by many South American states, projects that are being implemented by forcing native populations, the last representative of antique cultures, to abandon their lands and their customs. This is a true ethnic cleansing committed by big brick firms and energy companies against South American natives. For example, in Belo Monte (Brazil), natives are seeing the existence of their very community threatened by the big hydroelectric barrage project of Norte Energia. Against this dam that will flood many hectares of Amazonic forest and will drain the Xingu river, threatening the very existence of many native populations, OperationGreenRights is fighting and will continue to fight.
Other lands have been stolen from the Amazonic forest by the RS 163, the way of the biggest traffics on earth: from cocaine to niobium*.
With this operation we want to put on the same level Monsanto and a global NGO that we were taught to respect: WWF.
We intend to fight against those international crimes, that see governmental and non-governmental organizations created and subsidized by multinationals and States, with the goal of increasing a civic sense to fight with morality the most shameful of human actions.
Monsanto, WWF: no round table, no eco-sustainable certificate will negate the damage to the forests caused by the intensive farming, your paper sheets will not make the soil of your crops less damaged by the Round Up, a glyphosate-based pesticide that Monsanto itself produces and uses. Your useless pretended warranties will not compensate the Paraguayan farmer for the violent campaign to expulse them from the properties that the land reform gives them.

Monsanto: nothing can hide the social and ecological havoc that the diffusion of your seeds and pesticides is generating globally.


*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobium
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto#Glyphosate_herbicides

We are coming,
We are anonymous
We are Legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us!

quote:

Anonymous hacks BJP website

NEW DELHI: Hackers allegedly belonging to Anonymous attacked BJP website and hacked it on Tuesday night. The hackers posted several messages on www.bjp.org, including one video message hosted at Youtube.

The video was posted at YouTube by a user called AnonD3vil on 26 August.

In the video, which is full of images that were shot during the June 9 protests Anonymous organized against blocking of several websites, a man says, "since many days we are observing the deteriorating condition of free speech in India and how the government is trying to suppress the every dissenting voice."

The man then added that every Indian "should go out and say (to the government) that I will not tolerate your misdoings anymore."

The hackers also posted a message against FDI in retail and price hike in fuel as well as pictures that allegedly show police brutality in the country.

On the BJP website's home page, Anonymous claimed it would launch an "Occupy India" movement against the government policies from September 23.

"We are calling to the people of India to join the movement now. Time to start a mass movement to remove the corrupt politicians, and correct the system in a way where the people holds power and the representatives are puppets of the people which is opposite of what it is today," hackers wrote on the website.

The 'occupy' part comes from the Occupy Wall Street Movement that became quite popular in the US earlier this year. Anonymous allegedly played a big role in making the movement popular by raising awareness about it through web campaign on Twitter and other websites.

However, the protests called by Anonymous India in several cities in June had failed with just a handful of people gathering to protest against the blocking of several websites on the orders by Madras high court.

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Papers from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

This archive contains 18,592 scientific publications totaling
33GiB, all from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
and which should be available to everyone at no cost, but most
have previously only been made available at high prices through
paywall gatekeepers like JSTOR.

Limited access to the documents here is typically sold for $19
USD per article, though some of the older ones are available as
cheaply as $8. Purchasing access to this collection one article
at a time would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Also included is the basic factual metadata allowing you to
locate works by title, author, or publication date, and a
checksum file to allow you to check for corruption.

ef8c02959e947d7f4e4699f399ade838431692d972661f145b782c2fa3ebcc6a sha256sum.txt

I've had these files for a long time, but I've been afraid that if I
published them I would be subject to unjust legal harassment by those who
profit from controlling access to these works.

I now feel that I've been making the wrong decision.

On July 19th 2011, Aaron Swartz was criminally charged by the US Attorney
General's office for, effectively, downloading too many academic papers
from JSTOR.

Academic publishing is an odd system⤔the authors are not paid for their
writing, nor are the peer reviewers (they're just more unpaid academics),
and in some fields even the journal editors are unpaid. Sometimes the
authors must even pay the publishers.

And yet scientific publications are some of the most outrageously
expensive pieces of literature you can buy. In the past, the high access
fees supported the costly mechanical reproduction of niche paper journals,
but online distribution has mostly made this function obsolete.

As far as I can tell, the money paid for access today serves little
significant purpose except to perpetuate dead business models. The
"publish or perish" pressure in academia gives the authors an impossibly
weak negotiating position, and the existing system has enormous inertia.

Those with the most power to change the system--the long-tenured luminary
scholars whose works give legitimacy and prestige to the journals, rather
than the other way around--are the least impacted by its failures. They
are supported by institutions who invisibly provide access to all of the
resources they need. And as the journals depend on them, they may ask
for alterations to the standard contract without risking their career on
the loss of a publication offer. Many don't even realize the extent to
which academic work is inaccessible to the general public, nor do they
realize what sort of work is being done outside universities that would
benefit by it.

Large publishers are now able to purchase the political clout needed
to abuse the narrow commercial scope of copyright protection, extending
it to completely inapplicable areas: slavish reproductions of historic
documents and art, for example, and exploiting the labors of unpaid
scientists. They're even able to make the taxpayers pay for their
attacks on free society by pursuing criminal prosecution (copyright has
classically been a civil matter) and by burdening public institutions
with outrageous subscription fees.

Copyright is a legal fiction representing a narrow compromise: we give
up some of our natural right to exchange information in exchange for
creating an economic incentive to author, so that we may all enjoy more
works. When publishers abuse the system to prop up their existence,
when they misrepresent the extent of copyright coverage, when they use
threats of frivolous litigation to suppress the dissemination of publicly
owned works, they are stealing from everyone else.

Several years ago I came into possession, through rather boring and
lawful means, of a large collection of JSTOR documents.

These particular documents are the historic back archives of the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society⤔a prestigious scientific
journal with a history extending back to the 1600s.

The portion of the collection included in this archive, ones published
prior to 1923 and therefore obviously in the public domain, total some
18,592 papers and 33 gigabytes of data.

The documents are part of the shared heritage of all mankind,
and are rightfully in the public domain, but they are not available
freely. Instead the articles are available at $19 each--for one month's
viewing, by one person, on one computer. It's a steal. From you.

When I received these documents I had grand plans of uploading them to
Wikipedia's sister site for reference works, Wikisource⤔ where they
could be tightly interlinked with Wikipedia, providing interesting
historical context to the encyclopedia articles. For example, Uranus
was discovered in 1781 by William Herschel; why not take a look at
the paper where he originally disclosed his discovery? (Or one of the
several follow on publications about its satellites, or the dozens of
other papers he authored?)

But I soon found the reality of the situation to be less than appealing:
publishing the documents freely was likely to bring frivolous litigation
from the publishers.

As in many other cases, I could expect them to claim that their slavish
reproduction⤔scanning the documents⤔ created a new copyright
interest. Or that distributing the documents complete with the trivial
watermarks they added constituted unlawful copying of that mark. They
might even pursue strawman criminal charges claiming that whoever obtained
the files must have violated some kind of anti-hacking laws.

In my discreet inquiry, I was unable to find anyone willing to cover
the potentially unbounded legal costs I risked, even though the only
unlawful action here is the fraudulent misuse of copyright by JSTOR and
the Royal Society to withhold access from the public to that which is
legally and morally everyone's property.

In the meantime, and to great fanfare as part of their 350th anniversary,
the RSOL opened up "free" access to their historic archives⤔but "free"
only meant "with many odious terms", and access was limited to about
100 articles.

All too often journals, galleries, and museums are becoming not
disseminators of knowledge⤔as their lofty mission statements
suggest⤔but censors of knowledge, because censoring is the one thing
they do better than the Internet does. Stewardship and curation are
valuable functions, but their value is negative when there is only one
steward and one curator, whose judgment reigns supreme as the final word
on what everyone else sees and knows. If their recommendations have value
they can be heeded without the coercive abuse of copyright to silence
competition.

The liberal dissemination of knowledge is essential to scientific
inquiry. More than in any other area, the application of restrictive
copyright is inappropriate for academic works: there is no sticky question
of how to pay authors or reviewers, as the publishers are already not
paying them. And unlike 'mere' works of entertainment, liberal access
to scientific work impacts the well-being of all mankind. Our continued
survival may even depend on it.

If I can remove even one dollar of ill-gained income from a poisonous
industry which acts to suppress scientific and historic understanding,
then whatever personal cost I suffer will be justified⤔it will be one
less dollar spent in the war against knowledge. One less dollar spent
lobbying for laws that make downloading too many scientific papers
a crime.

I had considered releasing this collection anonymously, but others pointed
out that the obviously overzealous prosecutors of Aaron Swartz would
probably accuse him of it and add it to their growing list of ridiculous
charges. This didn't sit well with my conscience, and I generally believe
that anything worth doing is worth attaching your name to.

I'm interested in hearing about any enjoyable discoveries or even useful
applications which come of this archive.

- ----
Greg Maxwell - July 20th 2011
gmaxwell@gmail.com Bitcoin: 14csFEJHk3SYbkBmajyJ3ktpsd2TmwDEBb

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Internet giants unite to lobby Congress

The biggest names from Silicon Valley are flocking to Washington in order to make an impact on Capitol Hill. Under the name ‘The Internet Association,” Google, Facebook, Amazon and others have set up shop on K Street to lobby Congress.

The Internet Association officially got off the ground on Wednesday by announcing that after months of work, the coalition that includes employees from the Web’s biggest entities has entered the world of lobbying.

“A free and innovative Internet is vital to our nation’s economic growth,” Michael Beckerman, president and CEO of The Internet Association, says in a statement this week. “These companies are all fierce competitors in the market place, but they recognize the Internet needs a unified voice in Washington. They understand the future of the Internet is at stake and that we must work together to protect it.”

In all, 14 companies have so far signed on to be part of the group, including Amazon, AOL, eBay, Expedia, IAC, LinkedIn, Monster, Rackspace, salesforce.com, TripAdvisor, Yahoo and Zynga. The full roster is listed on the coalition’s website, which advertises itself as being “dedicated to advancing public policy solutions to strengthen and protect Internet freedom, foster innovation and economic growth and empower users.” In order to do as much, though, it’ll require some serious campaigning in Washington, which has some skeptics already concerned about how cozy lobbyists and lawmakers will become when the future of the Internet is at stake.

Google, without a question the biggest name on the Web, has already argued in Washington in hopes of being heard by Congress, but it’s been an effort that hasn’t come cheaply. In only the first half of 2012, Google’s political action committee, NetPAC, spent $423,000 on the campaign efforts of lawmakers, with an additional $36,500 coming by way of Yahoo. In terms of direct lobbying, though, that amount seems meager. Google’s lobbying efforts during the first two quarters of 2012 cost them $9 million, with Facebook forking over another $1.6 million on their own.

Tim Worstall, a contributor with Forbes, writes that something seems amiss that these entities are about to spend even more to have their voices heard together. “When anyone even remotely successful has to run to Washington to stop them ending that success then yes, we’ve got a problem, don’t we?” he writes in an op-ed published this week.

For Michael Beckerman, the coalition’s CEO, it’s a maneuver that is necessary in order to make sure legislation that’ll grossly regulate the Web isn’t weighed by Congress, such as the Stop Online Piracy Act that spurred a massive blackout and protests earlier this year and last.

“Congress nearly altered the Internet's fundamental DNA without fully appreciating the perspectives and concerns of the engineers, entrepreneurs, innovators and tens of millions of individual users that make the Internet what it is today,” Becerkmen writes in a column published this week by the Huffington Post. “The Internet Association was formed to protect an innovative and free Internet and to relentlessly represent this critical economic sector, in collaboration with main street businesses and individual users, to ensure that the Internet will always have a seat at the table in Washington.”

“The Internet provides incredible benefits to our economy and to society at large. Policymakers must understand that our country, and the world, depends on a free Internet. As we approach another presidential election, the gold standard of democracy around the world, our message to both parties and both candidates is simple: The Internet is one of the greatest engines for economic growth, freedom and prosperity the world has ever known. The Internet Association, and millions of active users (and voters), stand ready to protect a free Internet and the innovation it fosters,” he adds.

When the powers and payrolls of the members of the Internet Association are combined, though, almost anything could be possible, especially when carry the amount of clout that Google and Facebook carry. Under the direction of Mr. Beckerman, those battles could extend pass issues such as net neutrality and Internet freedoms if the group elects to do so. Previously some members of The Internet Alliance came together to rally against the Stop Online Privacy Act, or SOPA, although their lobbying counterparts in Hollywood attempted to have the legislation signed into law by way of some serious urging from the Motion Picture Association of America, a trade group represented by former Senator Chris Dodd.

Before signing on with The Internet Association, Beckerman sat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee as deputy staff director, a position that he received payment for as recently as June 30 of this year, according to records published on Legistorm.com. Reuters reports that Beckerman was employed as an aide to Fred Upton, a Republican representative from Michigan who serves as chairman of the House Committee. During his tenure, Upton’s efforts have included proposing penalties for companies that abuse the content rating and labeling system set up for video games and attempts to prohibit late-term abortion under law. He also went on the record to speak out against both same-sex marriage and gun control, and his ideas about limiting government regulation doesn’t end with just the Internet either. Upton told the Wall Street Journal in 2010 that he was "not convinced" that "carbon is a problem in need of regulation” and fought to ensure that federal efforts to clean up the air would go unapproved.

It is also a possibility that The Internet Alliance will heed to calls for action from Google, who is expected to be bringing the most money to the table. In the past, however, Google’s political contributions to congressmen have raised questions about what they think exactly about Internet legislation. CNet.com reports that Google has handed over $5,000 apiece to Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), all lawmakers who have advocated for the government to continue the warrantless wiretapping of Americans’ electronic communications. All three representatives voted last week to reauthorize the federal eavesdropping of phone calls and emails as granted under the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is now expected to be approved by the Senate and left on the books for at least another five years.

Google made an equal donation to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), who asked Congress in 2010 to give the president of the United States control of the Internet “in times of an emergency."

Noxious Security: Message to Anonymous

SPOILER

Om spoilers te kunnen lezen moet je zijn ingelogd. Je moet je daarvoor eerst gratis Registreren. Ook kun je spoilers niet lezen als je een ban hebt.

quote:

Secretive TrapWire company's affiliations revealed

Just discovered documentation concerning the TrapWire secret surveillance system suggests that the San Diego-based Cubic Corporation did have a direct connection with the program, despite repeated attempts to dismiss allegations of their involvement.

Although Cubic has gone on the record on several occasions to refute claims that they have at one time or another been directly tied to the Abraxas Applications, the Northern Virginia company believed to have developed TrapWire, a post published this week on the PrivacySos.org blog discusses evidence that links the two firms to one another. Cubic has repeatedly insisted that it has no link to TrapWire, a widespread, international surveillance and intelligence system brought to light in emails distributed by WikiLeaks, but new revelations expose a relationship between the two that was documented on a federal website as recently as February of last year.

As RT unraveled the TrapWire saga earlier this year, investigations into both Cubic and Abraxas revealed a number of associations among the two. In an August 13, 2012 press release, Cubic came forth and admitted to acquiring Abraxas Corp in December of 2010, but insisted, “Abraxas Corporation then and now has no affiliation with Abraxas Applications now known as Trapwire, Inc.” The latest revelation directly discredits that claim.

PrivacySos reports that a website maintained by the US Homeland Security Department’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) includes TrapWire as a product for sale to law enforcement agencies and first responders. It’s there that the background and operational concept of the system are described in detail and direct curious customers to AbraxasCorp.com for more information. When a link to the URL is clicked, the banner at the top of the developer’s homepage described Abraxas as “A Cubic Company.” On the FEMA page, the product information is detailed as provided directly by Abraxas Applications

"The Products Section includes commercially available product information that has been uploaded directly and voluntarily by the manufacturer,” the FEMA page acknowledges.

If that is indeed the case, either the federal government is hosting falsified information about TrapWire to prospective customers, or else the program was overseen to a degree by Cubic as previously suspected. If it’s the latter, then the August 13 statement was a downright lie.

On the PrivacySos post, published Tuesday, its acknowledged that Cubic has previously been confirmed as operating fare systems for major mass transit programs and Anonymizer, an IP-masked tool described by its publicists as “the leader in consumer online anonymity solutions.”

“If the government's facts are correct, the Abraxas Corporation was managing sales for the TrapWire system at least as recently as February 2011 – meaning Cubic had its hands on both highly sensitive private information on millions of ordinary people and a networked surveillance system sold to governments,” PrivacySOS notes.

In addition to the press release that attempted to distance Cubic from TrapWire, activist and Project PM founder Barrett Brown uploaded a phone call to YouTube he alleged to be between himself and Cubic Corp. Communication Director Tim Hall. In the clip, published August 21, Mr. Hall denied his company’s involvement with TrapWire and also insisted that Cubic has never been tied to Ntrepid, a separate corporation that was awarded $2.76 million worth of taxpayer dollars to create phony Internet “sock puppets” to propagate US support.

“There is no connection at all with Abraxas Applications and Trapwire and or Ntrepid,” the man perpetrated to be Hall explains in the clip. Research into the entities, however, led to the discovery of Abraxas Corporation’s tax filings from late 2011, and with it, a common bond: TrapWire Inc. was registered in 2009 to a Margaret A Lee from Virginia, who also served on the Ntrepid board of directors.

“Since the government's intelligence and data management contracting operations are so secretive and opaque, we may never know what's really going on – whether Cubic in fact operates transit data systems, so-called IP anonymizers and surveillance systems sold to governments,” the PrivacySOS post reads. “[It] doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. That's because we know more than enough to be convinced that we need a mass movement for privacy in the United States, whether or not these connections are real.”

quote:

Plannen omstreden anti-terrorisme project gelekt

Er is een document gelekt met Europese plannen van project Clean IT, dit project zou bedoeld zijn om terrorisme en cybercrime op internet te bestrijden. Dit conceptueel plan is opgezet door Nederland en bevat vergaande maatregelen, zo wordt onder andere het bewust linken naar sites die terroristische content bevatten illegaal verklaard.

In april van dit jaar werd er nog een brief verzonden van But Klaasen, coördinator van Clean IT naar Bits of Freedom, hierin werd vermeld dat het Clean IT project alleen bedoeld zou zijn om een aantal voorstellen te formuleren. "Het doel van het project is niet om gedrag te beperken dat volgens de wet legaal is"

In de voorstellen wordt vervolgens aan internetbedrijven met klem gevraagd om alle ongewenste activiteiten te vermelden in de gebruikersovereenkomst, maar deze moeten "niet erg gedetailleerd" zijn. Vervolgens wordt er gesteld dat het mogelijk moet zijn om zaken die volgens de wet legaal zijn, alsnog via de gebruikersovereenkomst te verbieden, als deze bijvoorbeeld niet stroken met de ethiek van het bedrijf.

Een aantal andere maatregelen die genoemd worden in het document zijn bijvoorbeeld het feit dat politie de autoriteit moet krijgen om inhoud van sites te blokkeren, zonder alle formele procedures en een rechter die er nu nog aan te pas moeten komen. Ook moeten hostingproviders verantwoordelijk worden gesteld wanneer zij “niet genoeg doen” aan het opmerken van terroristische inhoud dat aanwezig is op hun servers. De bedenkers van het Clean IT project willen overigens ook dat internetproviders filters instellen die uploads controleren op terroristische inhoud om deze vervolgens te blokkeren.

Ook willen ze dat de anonimiteit van mensen die mogelijke illegale praktijken aangeven bewaard moet blijven, maar toch moet het IP-adres van die persoon wel opgeslagen worden om die persoon te kunnen vervolgen wanneer deze persoon met opzet legale inhoud aangeeft. Ook helpt het IP-adres om bij vertrouwde gebruikers sneller aan te nemen dat het om illegale inhoud zou gaan.

Voor het gelekte document van project Clean IT dat alle voorstellen bevat kan je hier terecht.

Het is in elk geval duidelijk dat er zeer vergaande voorstellen in staan die de internet vrijheid zeker belemmeren en daarmee haaks staan op eerdere uitspraken van politici. Het is dan ook nog maar de vraag in hoeverre dit project ooit van de grond gaat komen.

quote:

NYPD footage of Zuccotti Park raid leaked

Anonymous releases secret police film from the Zuccotti raid

The presence of NYPD TARU (Technical Assistance Response Unit) officers at Occupy protests has long been a source of contention among occupiers and legal observers. The precise role and remit of the camera-wielding officers is ill-defined; the end product of their constant filming usually goes unseen by those featured in it.

However, on Sunday a group claiming Anonymous affiliation released 60 hours of TARU footage from the night of the Zuccotti Park eviction on Nov. 15. The footage is considered particularly relevant in fleshing out the NYPD versus Occupy narrative, since both mainstream and citizen journalists and videographers were forcibly kept away from the park as officers dismantled the encampment and rounded up protesters that night.

A release introducing the footage dump notes, “The NYPD denied freedom of the press the night of the Zuccotti raid by kicking out media and keeping them two blocks away … Much of the video being released is edited by the NYPD, and at times edits are quite blatant, probably trying to cover up their brutality.”

The release urges that readers share the TARU footage and take note of any glitches or time stamp changes, which might suggest selective editing. “We ask for an unedited version of the tapes,” it notes.

A YouTube trailer teasing the footage (introduced, of course, by a trademark Anonymous Guy Fawkes masked man) highlights instances of aggressive arrests and police treatment of the encampment structures.

NYPD Taru Zuccotti Raid Footage

quote:

Anonymous Video Leak

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost."
Thomas Jefferson

Citizens of The internet.

Have you ever been filmed by the police and wondered what their footage looked like?
Well you're in luck!
Because today we release to you a cache of hours Zuccotti park raid footage. Brought to you by the N.Y.P.D. TARU!
As many of you know, the N.Y.P.D denied freedom of press the night of the Zuccotti raid by kicking out the media and keeping them two blocks away.
They also detained and arressted several journalists.
Much of the video being released is edited by the NYPD, and at times the edits are quite blatant, probably trying to cover up their brutality.
Actually, no probably about it, they are covering up their attrocities committed November 15th in Zuccotti park.
As it is clear the film is edited in a byast prospective.
Citizens of the internet, we ask you to download and share this mini-archive.
Bearing in mind that the police now use video surveillance all over the country at peacefull protests, and whereever else they want because they are not being held accountable.
The totality of this mini-archive brings home the reality of the amount of surveillance US citizens are subjected to as they exercise their political rights, and this isnt even close to the amount of footage they have taken.
But surveillance cuts both ways... It can also be used to make the authoroties accountable for their actions.
As you watch the videos in this archive...
We Ask you to take down the badge numbers of those that committed crimes against the peacefull occupation protest.
If the badge is unclear, that nifty number on their storm trooper helmets is the badge number.
Report and makes complaints how you see fit.
We ask you to keep an eye out for glitches in tape, timestamp changes, or other things that just are not quite right with the film.
Make Note Of Them
We ask you seek the truth.
We Ask that you demand for the unedited versions of the tapes.
We ask fellow netzens, that you seek the evidence that proves OWS was in violation of the The Handschu agreement,
Which was won in a class action lawsuit against the NYPD as a result of their inability to uphold constitutional rights.
We ask you to demand they prove that they had lawful use to use the TARU.
Share these clips with the world. Let them see how the United States "Respects" it's citizens First Admendment Right to Peaceful Assembly.
Most people don't relize, most of the "laws" and "rules" that the OWS Encampment "broke", were designed specifically to be against the movement, after the movement began.
This is something that is happening coast to coast, sea to sea.
Dictators in other countries have been known to drive street sweepers up and down roads, often for days at a time when they knew a protest
is supposed to be taking place there.
Sound familiar?
The tactics are the same, the methods are the same, the power, is the same.
We ask the people to stand in solidarity with your brothers and sisters around the world.
For our struggle is the same.
The struggle for equality, justice, peace and freedom.
Your secrets keep me peaceful.
Your lies keep me safe.
You are satisfied with my ignorance, and you are in control.
But we are aware.
We are Anonymous
We do not forgive And we do not...Forget.

Youtube-

NYPD Taru Zuccotti Raid Footage

Temporary torrent file located at:

https://filetea.me/t1s59815

TORRENT MAGNET

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:D99F46FC1216F1C3A5255B9244A18350C6D3C61A&dn=OWSN15&tr=udp%3a//tracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80

VIDEO STILLS:

http://imgur.com/Hmb34

http://imgur.com/0b9vN

http://imgur.com/jtseX

http://imgur.com/hEipf

http://imgur.com/wFG5z

quote:

Anonymous Operation Spain - Press Release

Anonymous Operation Spain - Press Release Tuesday - September 25, 2012 5:30 PM ET USA

Greetings World -- Anonymous sends it's solidarity to our brothers and sisters in Spain who at this very moment have completely surrounded the Parliament Building in Madrid. The are calling for the resignation of a government that like so many in our world today has failed to serve the needs of it's people. We encourage our comrades in Spain to remain steadfast until their demands are met, and we promise to do all we can to assist them.

Anonymous watched on the independent livestreams the horrendous brutality on the part of the Spanish National Police. It is always intolerable to us, but it is especially deplorable when we witness this level of senseless violence used against peaceful protesters in a supposedly western and modern "democracy". In response to this wanton violence by the Spanish National Police against our brothers and sisters in Madrid, Anonymous has removed from the Internet the web site of the Spanish National Police located at www.policia.es - and we will keep it offline so long as we continue to watch scenes of brutality.

Beginning tomorrow, Anonymous will also begin an attack on the primary website of the Parliament of Spain located at www.congreso.es - this attack will include not only DdoS and hacking, but also Black Fax & E-Mail bombs - effectively removing the Parliament of Spain from the Internet entirely.

We Are Anonymous

We Are Everywhere

We Are Legion

We Do Not Forgive

We Do Not Forget

Government of Spain, it's to late to Expect Us.

SIGNED -- Anonymous

Anonymous Global - www.AnonymousGlobal.tk

quote:

'Anonymous Philippines' on a hacking spree

MANILA, Philippines – A hacktivist group struck down several government websites Wednesday night in protest against the recently enacted anti-cybercrime law that imposes penalties on hacking, online libel and similar activities.

The group identified as “Anonymous Philippines” attacked the websites of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Health Anti-Smoking, the University of the Philippines' Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Philippines’ Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT), the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Region 3 and the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

The hackers replaced the websites with a predominantly black interface, an animated logo and a statement against the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The group calls the new law "the most notorious act ever witnessed in the cyber-history of the Philippines."

Anonymous Philippines, whose Facebook page boasts over 250 fans, also called the new law's provisions on libel "cunningly deceptive" in implying that everyone can be imprisoned even for their licit online activities.

"It can imprison anyone who commits libel either by written messages, comments, blogs or posts in sites such as Facebook, Twitter or any other comment-spaces of other social media in the Internet," the group claimed, tagging themselves with the lines "We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."

As of posting time, some of the hacked websites have not been restored.

Traditionally, .gov domains are considered the most secure online sites.

'Up and restored'

Certain links at the official website of the BSP remain inaccessible to public hours after the portal was defaced by a group condemning the passage of the anti-cybercrime law..

"As of 2 a.m. today, the website of the (BSP) has been up and running, restored and able to serve the public once again," a statement released on Thursday said.

"The BSP's internal Information Technology Group worked on the immediate restoration of our website after ensuring that our security firewall kept our databse protected," it added.

The BSP website was one of the government portals hacked by Anonymous Philippines in its protest against Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which the group sees as a form of online censorship. A group of journalists on Tuesday filed a stay order petition against the law before the Supreme Court.

However upon checking, despite the website already being restored, certain links to electronic files of BSP issuances and publications remained unavailable.

Recently, the Department of Science and Technology’s Information and Communications Technology Office issued directives to all government system administrators to review their websites’ security to prevent more hacking attacks.

The directive was issued after a series of attacks on government websites at the height of the tense territorial dispute between China and the Philippines over the Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

quote:

Anonymous Hackers Threaten Philadelphia Officials in Property Clean-Up Scandal

Hacktivists have published a video message for the authorities of the US city of Philadelphia, especially the representatives of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, after they threatened to pursue a man that cleaned up the trash from an area he did not own.

The scandal has been going on for quite some time. Business developer Ori Feibush removed the thrash from a location that neighbored a coffee shop he was about to open. Philadelphia city officials were not too happy with it because the man didn't own the piece of land which he sanitized.

Shortly after learning of the news, Anonymous hackers issued a video statement, protesting against the city’s decision, demanding that officials “retract all claims of wrong doing by Mr Feibush.”

The online activists did not say exactly how they would act, but many people, including some media outlets and city representatives, assumed that the protest would involve cyberattacks.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office, Mark McDonald, came forward saying that the “threat” was taken seriously, Philly.com reports. The city’s response followed numerous comments in which Anonymous supporters boasted about how easy it would be to take down Philadelphia websites.

McDonald also highlighted the fact that the “factual basis for those statements [the ones of hacktivists] is utterly false.”

Yesterday, on September 23, Anonymous released another statement, clarifying that their initial message shouldn’t have been received as a threat, but a call to peaceful protesting.

“NBC 10 has twisted the words of Anonymous, who simply asked the people of Philly to stand up in peaceful, civil disobedience to let the government know that the people of Philadelphia want the local government to apologize to Ori Feibush and to repay him for the sacrifice he has made for the city,” they wrote.

They also sent a message to Councilman Kenyatta Johnson.

“We now know why you purposefully destroy the land value. We have discovered that you have purchased 2040 Ellsworth Street four years ago for a mere five hundred dollars, despite being valued in excess of fifty thousand dollars,” they said.

“The Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority does not discuss that sale, because City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson just bought a new house on that very lot. How is this not tax fraud?”

Here is the initial video statement issued by Anonymous:

Anonymous Message: #OpPRA

quote:

Personal file-sharing is legal in Portugal, prosecutor says

Portuguese prosecutors have declined to press charges against individuals accused of file sharing, arguing that the non-commercial sharing of copyrighted material is not a violation of Portuguese law. The move was a serious setback for ACAPOR, the Portuguese trade association that had sought the prosecutions.

According to Torrent Freak, ACAPOR had provided prosecutors with a list of 2000 Portuguese citizens who it accused of illicit file sharing. But instead of pressing charges against the accused copyright infringers, the prosecutor questioned whether personal file-sharing was against the law at all:

. “From a legal point of view, while taking into account that users are both uploaders and downloaders in these file-sharing networks, we see this conduct as lawful, even when it’s considered that the users continue to share once the download is finished.”

The prosecutor adds that the right to education, culture, and freedom of expression on the Internet should not be restricted in cases where the copyright infringements are clearly non-commercial. In addition, the order notes that an IP-address is not a person.

The prosecutor also pointed out that the owner of a particular IP address may or may not be the person who engaged in any particular act of file-sharing, a point that some US judges have made as well.

ACAPOR denounced the decision in a blog post, calling it a "desperate argument to justify doing nothing."

quote:

Anonymous' Barrett Brown Writes Letter from Prison, Claims the FBI Broke His Ribs

It's been almost two weeks since law enforcement swept into a Dallas apartment and arrested Barrett Brown, frontman for that merry band of hackers at Anonymous, for threatening an FBI agent on YouTube. Brown was taken briefly to Dallas County Jail before being released to the FBI and reportedly sent to Mansfield Federal Detention Center. (The Bureau of Prisons website lists his location as "in transit.")

It was there that Brown, who hasn't yet been charged with anything, apparently wrote his letter from a Mansfield jail discussing his arrest and detention. At least, Anonymous presented the letter as his work in a tweet last night.

It's hard to know for sure the missive was penned from Brown. It was posted anonymously to Pastebin yesterday afternoon, and the first digit of Brown's prisoner ID number is wrong. Then again, it's hard to believe someone would take the effort to forge a 3,000-word letter aping Brown's rambling, eclectic style. So, it's most likely him.

He begins by claiming that the FBI crushed his ribs and his jailers denied him medical treatment.

. I believe (the injury) will be healed in time even if I've had trouble acquiring medical attention due to me under Geneva; put in formal request for X-ray last night here at Mansfield, whereas last week at Lew Sterrett I was sent to medic by an officer Tamer before being instead re-directed to what is intended as a temporary holding cell for those about to be released on bond, this change of plan being instigated by an officer Roeun (sic?) whom I have since reported to the proper authorities. Despite my having explained her mistake politely twice over the course of the next seven hours, and despite my condition having been serious enough to have prompted other inmates to suggest I check for internal bleeding, I was screamed at and then later simply ordered to lay down, all of which was witnessed by two other inmates, one of whom promised to inform Tim Rogers of D Magazine that I was potentially dying and needed intervention ASAP as soon as he himself was released a few minutes hence (again, this was the temporary outgoing holding cell, not meant for housing inmates for anything longer than an hour or so as their bond is processed; as such, I was not fed, either, much less given my medication, suboxone.

Brown ties his arrest to the hack of HBGary, the security firm whose CEO last year claimed publicly that he had figured out who was behind Anyonymous. The company, he writes, had worked with a paid FBI informant to find dirt on him. He doesn't delve into the reasons for his present incarceration since a judge has forbidden discussion of the case.

A good deal of the letter is spent dissecting and disassembling his public image. The misrepresentations started when he was identified on Fox News in 2009 as a spokesman for the American Athiest Society, which he was not. He also is not and has never been "the spokesman for Anonymous, nor its 'public face' or, worse, 'self-proclaimed' 'face' or 'spokesperson' or 'leader.' That, he says, was all cooked up by lazy journalists.

The letter ends with a confession of sorts, half-sorrowful, half apologetic.

. I shudder when I look back on some of the things I wrote or said when I got my first real taste of power at the dawn of 2011, and I continue to bring shame upon myself and upon my family and work by some of the things I say even lately. ... I am humiliated at not being able to protect my own mother from the FBI, or to shield my own girlfriend from watching heavily-armed men step on my spine as I scream in pain. I cannot forget how my mom cried on March 6th after the FBI had left with my equipment and hers, and how she whispered through tears that she wanted to be able to protect me from prison but couldn't; I will never forget the look on Jenna's face as the federal thugs swept through my efficiency apartment with guns drawn and safeties off, in search of hidden assailants and non-existent weapons. That these things are unjust and increasingly insane does not change the fact that they are the result of my own behavior, my own miscalculations, my own choices.