Anonops #15: Last or not to Last

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‘Anonymous’ hacks 600,000 Israeli email accounts

In the latest action targeting Israel, the international computer hacking network known as ‘Anonymous’ has claimed credit for publishing the personal information, including encrypted passwords, of over 600,000 Israelis as part of its ‘Operation Israel (#OpIsrael) on Friday.

In November 2012, Anonymous published a video announcing the launch of a campaign called #opIsrael to hack Israeli websites and emails to try to bring an end to Israeli policies that it claimed were in violation of international law.

The campaign, according to Anonymous, is for the “children and families in Gaza that are suffering as a result of the policies of the Israeli government.” In addition to assaults on Israeli websites, the hacker group also provided Gazans with communications tools in the event their Intrnet connections were to be severed during the Israeli assault on Gaza in early December 2012.

As part of the campaign, hackers took down the Israeli military spokesperson’s website, and hacked into the Israeli Prime Minister’s site. The group managed to steal passwords, erase databases and deface websites of these and other Israeli government agencies as well as private groups.

The email provider that was hacked in Friday’s attack, Walla!, told Australia’s SC Magazine that they are working on “'hermetically' sealing off user details in Walla! Accounts”.

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Op maandag 18 februari 2013 17:03 schreef Probably_on_pcp het volgende:

[..]

Ik bedank je ook nog even een keer PV

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Burger King Twitter Account Hacked

Hackers took over Burger King's Twitter account on Monday.

The cyber tricksters changed the fast food company's avatar and name to "McDonalds" and sent a McFlurry of questionable and offensive tweets. The Twitter mishap isn't all bad news for Burger King though — the account added 5,000 new followers in the first 30 minutes since the hackers took over.

Mashable has reached out to the company and will update this post with any response.

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Anonymous hacks U.S. State Department and investment firm, leaks data

Anonymous continues with its Operation Last Resort, and its latest targets were the websites of the U.S. Department of State (state.gov) and of investment firm George K. Baum and Company (gkbaum.com).

From the former they exfiltrated - and published - databases containing a treasure trove of personal information about their employees (names, birth dates, phone numbers, email addresses, home and work addresses, and so on).

"Our reasons for this attack are very simple. You've imprisoned or either censored our people. […] Basically, you tried to put an end to us and you got owned, there's nothing more you can say or do. You took away Topiary, Avunit, Neuron, Pwnsauce, lolspoon, Aaron Swartz shall we go on?" they wrote in a not accompanying the leak, reiterating that Operation Last Resort has been launched in memory of recently tragically deceased Internet activist Aaron Swartz.

George K. Baum and Company's website was defaced, and a link to a ZeroBin post containing details of their customers' accounts (names, email addresses, passwords and more) in clear text was published on it.

According to a post on the @OpLastResort Twitter account, the investment firm was hit because its Vice President Joshua Magden was a client of Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting Inc.), a US-based think-tank that Anonymous hacked in December 2011.

Operation Last Resort started with the DDoS attack on MIT's official website and the defacement of one of its subdomains, on which Anonymous called for a reform of "computer crime laws, and the overzealous prosecutors who use them", "reform of copyright and intellectual property law", "greater recognition of the oppression and injustices heaped daily by certain persons and institutions of authority upon anyone who dares to stand up and be counted for their beliefs, and for greater solidarity and mutual aid in response", and a "renewed and unwavering commitment to a free and unfettered internet, spared from censorship with equality of access and franchise for all."

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Op dinsdag 19 februari 2013 20:29 schreef sp3c het volgende:
is er nu eigenlijk wat gebeurt met al die prive informatie die ze online gegooit hebben?

lezen mensen het uberhaupt nog?

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Op dinsdag 19 februari 2013 20:39 schreef sp3c het volgende:
nee ik bedoel dit soort dingen

[..]

ik krijg niet de indruk dat mensen er nog heel erg van onder de indruk raken

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Op dinsdag 19 februari 2013 20:55 schreef sp3c het volgende:

[..]

tuurlijk en de schending van de privacy van die mensen ook

maar ja ... lekker belangrijk ofzo

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I'm not really sure. All that I can say is that according to Xero Flux, no one there knows who they are. I guess that doesn't mean I guess they aren't willing to dump the data for them though...

Other users on here have also questioned anonymousIRC's legitimacy as well. Idk.

All that can really be said about all this is that OpLastResort isn't making any sense. Why leak the personal information of innocent people that don't have anything to do with anything, and then turn around and demand cyber legislation reform? If they aren't the FEDs they are the most useful idiots I've ever seen.

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Aaron Swartz files reveal how FBI tracked internet activist

Firedoglake blogger Daniel Wright publishes once-classified FBI documents that show extent of agency's investigation into Swartz

A blogger has published once-classified FBI files that show how the agency tracked and collected information on internet activist Aaron Swartz.

Swartz, who killed himself in January aged 26, had previously requested his files and posted them on his blog, but some new documents and redactions are included in the files published by Firedoglake blogger Daniel Wright.

Wright was given 21 of 23 declassified documents, thanks to a rule that declassifies FBI files on the deceased. Wright said that he was told the other two pages of documents were not provided because of Freedom of Inorfamtion subsections concerning privacy, "sources and methods," and that can "put someone's life in danger."

The FBI's files concern Swartz's involvement in accessing the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (Pacer) documents. In pursuit of their investigation, the FBI had collected his personal information and was surveilling an Illinois address where he had his IP address registered.

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How Anonymous accidentally helped expose two Chinese hackers

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How did security firm Mandiant put names to two previously unknown Chinese hackers who, it says, steal American corporate secrets for the Chinese government? With a little inadvertent help from Anonymous.

Mandiant's 74-page report covers a particular hacking group referred to as "APT1" and contends that the group works for or under the direction of the Chinese government as part of the military's secretive "Unit 61398." The report ties a huge string of hacks over the last few years to Unit 61398 and goes on to show the building where the hacks might be hatched. The report is stuffed with detail uncommon in these types of stories; it even includes a translated Chinese document showing a local telecom company agreeing to Unit 61398's request for additional fiber optic connections in the name of state security.

The Mandiant researchers then tried to go one step further, putting at least a few real names to the coders involved. (BusinessWeek recently did something similar, with fascinating results.) Mandiant began with a malware coder who goes by the name "UglyGorilla"—a name which is left repeatedly in code tied to the APT1 group.

Back in 2007, for instance, Mandiant says that UglyGorilla "authored the first known sample of the MANITSME family of malware and, like a good artist, left his clearly identifiable signature in the code: 'v1.0 No Doubt to Hack You, Writed by UglyGorilla, 06/29/2007'[sic]." But despite all the uses of the name "UglyGorilla" buried in code samples, leads to the person's actual identity were hard to come by—until Anonymous hacked security firm HBGary Federal in early 2011.

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Pirate Party Threatened With Lawsuit for Hosting The Pirate Bay

For several years the Swedish Pirate Party has provided hosting services to The Pirate Bay. One of the main reasons for the BitTorrent site to team up with the political party was because it wouldn’t easily cave in to pressure from the entertainment industry. This promise will now be put to the test as the Swedish copyright watchdog “Rights Alliance” threatens to sue the Pirate Party next week if they refuse to pull the plug on TPB.


To serve its millions of daily visitors, The Pirate Bay uses a variety of hosting providers.

While the locations and providers of most cloud servers are unknown to the public, it is no secret that some of TPB’s traffic is routed through the Swedish Pirate Party.

TPB turned to the Pirate Party in 2010 after several major Hollywood movie studios obtained injunctions against its former hosting providers. The Pirate Party wanted to make a stand against the “bullying” tactics of the entertainment industry, and after three years this promise will now be put to its most serious test yet.

Today the Pirates announced that they have received a letter from the Swedish “Rights Alliance,” who are threatening legal action against the party and its representatives if they don’t stop servicing TPB within a week.

In the letter, which also targets bandwidth provider Serious Tubes, the group cites last year’s Supreme Court rejection of The Pirate Bay case as a precedent that hosting providers can be held liable for providing Internet services to file-sharing sites.

“With that decision, it was finally determined that not only those who operate illegal file sharing services, but also the Internet providers to such illegal services are committing a criminal act,” the Rights Alliance writes.

The Pirate Party clearly sees things differently and are convinced that they aren’t doing anything that’s against the law.

“The Pirate Party’s activity is legal and lawful activities should not be subjected to threats of this type. It is not illegal to provide the Pirate Bay with Internet access,” Pirate Party leader Anna Troberg says in a comment.

“There is no list of illegal sites which ISPs can not provide internet access to,” she adds.

The Pirate Party goes on to highlight that these type of “blackmail” campaigns are a way for the copyright holders to get what they want.

“Unfortunately, the kind of blackmail that the Pirate Party is now exposed to is not uncommon. Large and small Internet service providers are often subjected to similar pressure from the copyright industry lawyers,” Troberg notes.

“It is sad that they are allowed to continue this way, with both politicians and judicial blessing,” she adds.

While the Pirate Party doesn’t think they are breaking any laws, they are not sure whether the court will give them a fair hearing if the case goes to trial. Adding to that, the criminal conviction against the Pirate Bay founders and previous injunctions against TPB’s hosting providers will not be in their favor.

“Unfortunately, the fact that an activity is legal is not a guarantee that you will get a fair trial. This is precisely why the Pirate Party and is needed more than ever,” Troberg concludes.

The Pirate Party has until February 26 to decide how to respond to Rights Alliance’s threats.

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Jeremy Hammond on Aaron Swartz and the Criminalization of Digital Dissent.

_{A statement released today, Feb 20th, by Jeremy Hammonds lawyer. This is Jeremy Hammond in his own words. Written from solitary confinement.}

Jeremy Hammond on Aaron Swartz and the Criminalization of Digital Dissent

The tragic death of internet freedom fighter Aaron Swartz reveals the government’s flawed “cyber security strategy” as well as its systematic corruption involving computer crime investigations, intellectual property law, and government/corporate transparency. In a society supposedly based on principles of democracy and due process, Aaron’s efforts to liberate the internet, including free distribution of JSTOR academic essays, access to public court records on PACER, stopping the passage of SOPA/PIPA, and developing the Creative Commons, make him a hero, not a criminal. It is not the “crimes” Aaron may have committed that made him a target of federal prosecution, but his ideas – elaborated in his “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto” – that the government has found so dangerous. The United States Attorney’s aggressive prosecution, riddled with abuse and misconduct, is what led to the death of this hero. This sad and angering chapter should serve as a wake up call for all of us to acknowledge the danger inherent in our criminal justice system.

Aaron’s case is part of the recent aggressive, politically-motivated expansion of computer crime law where hackers and activists are increasingly criminalized because of alleged “cyber-terrorist” threats. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, whose office is prosecuting me and my co-defendants in the Lulzsec indictment, has used alarmist rhetoric such as the threat of an imminent “Pearl Harbor like cyber attack” to justify these prosecutions. At the same time the government routinely trains and deploys their own hackers to launch sophisticated cyber attacks against the infrastructure of foreign countries, such as the Stuxnet and Flame viruses, without public knowledge, oversight, declarations of war, or consent from international authorities. DARPA, US Cyber Command, the NSA, and numerous federally-contracted private corporations openly recruit hackers to develop defensive and offensive capabilities and build Orwellian digital surveillance networks, designed not to enhance national security but to advance U.S. imperialism. They even attend and speak at hacker conferences, such as DEFCON, offer to bribe hackerspaces for their research, and created the insulting “National Civic Hacker Day” – efforts which should be boycotted or confronted every step of the way.

Aaron is a hero because he refused to play along with the government’s agenda, instead he used his brilliance and passion to create a more transparent society. Through the free software movement, open publishing and file sharing, and development of cryptography and anonymity technology, digital activists have revealed the poverty of neo-liberalism and intellectual property. Aaron opposed reducing everything to a commodity to be bought or sold for a profit.

The rise in effectiveness of, and public support for, movements like Anonymous and Wikileaks has led to an expansion of computer crime investigations – most importantly enhancements to 18 U.S.C § 1030, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Over the years the CFAA has been amended five times and has gone through a number of important court rulings that have greatly expanded what the act covers concerning “accessing a protected computer without authorization.” It is now difficult to determine exactly what conduct would be considered legal. The definition of a “protected computer” has been incrementally expanded to include any government or corporate computer in or outside the U.S. “Authorization,” not explicitly defined by the CFAA, has also been expanded to be so ambiguous that any use of a website, network, or PC that is outside of the interest, agenda, or contractual obligations of a private or government entity could be criminalized. In Aaron’s case and others the government has defined violating a service’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), Terms of Service (TOS), or End-User License Agreement (EULA) as illegal. Every time you sign up for a service like Gmail, Hotmail, or Facebook and click the “I agree” button that follows a long contract that no one ever reads, you could be prosecuted under the CFAA if you violate any of the terms.

The sheer number of everyday computer users who could be considered criminals under these broad and ambiguous definitions enables the politically motivated prosecution of anyone who voices dissent. The CFAA should be found unconstitutional under the void-for-vagueness doctrine of the due process clause. Instead, Congress proposed bills last year which would double the statutory maximum sentences and introduce mandatory minimum sentences, similar to the excessive sentences imposed in drug cases which have been widely opposed by many federal and state judges.

The “Operation Payback” case in San Jose, California is another miscarriage of justice where 16 suspected Anonymous members (including a 16 year old boy) allegedly participated in a denial-of-service action against PayPal in protest of it’s financial blockade of Wikileaks. Denial-of-service does not “exceed authorized access,” as it is virtually indistinguishable from standard web requests. It is more akin to an electronic sit-in protest, overloading the website’s servers making it incapable of serving legitimate traffic, than a criminal act involving stolen private information or destruction of servers. PayPal’s website was only slow or unavailable for a matter of hours, yet these digital activists face prison time of more that 10 years, $250,000 in fines, and felony convictions because the government wants to criminalize this form of internet protest and send a warning to would be Wikileaks supporters.

Another recent case is that of Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer, who last November was convicted under the CFAA. Andrew discovered that AT&T was publishing customer names and email addresses on it’s public-facing website, without password protection, encryption, or firewalls. Instead of acknowledging their own mistake in violating customer privacy, AT&T sought prison time for Andrew. Andrew has defended his actions saying, “We have not only a right as Americans to analyze things that corporations publish and make publicly accessible but perhaps a moral obligation to tell people about it.”
I am currently facing multiple computer hacking conspiracy charges due to my alleged involvement with Anonymous, LulzSec, andAntiSec, groups which have targeted and exposed corruption in government institutions and corporations such as Stratfor, The Arizona Department of Public Safety, and HB Gary Federal. My potential sentence is dramatically increased because the Patriot Act expanded the CFAA’s definition of “loss.” This allowed Stratfor to claim over 5 million dollars in damages, including the exorbitant cost of hiring outside credit protection agencies and “infosec” corporations, purchasing new servers, 1.6 million dollars in “lost potential revenue” for the time their website was down, and even the cost of a 1.3 million dollar settlement for a class action lawsuit filed against them. Coupled with use of “sophisticated means” and “affecting critical infrastructure” sentence enhancements, if convicted at trial I am facing a sentence of 30-years-to-life.

Dirty trial tactics and lengthy sentences are not anomalies but are part of a fundamentally flawed and corrupt two-tiered system of “justice” which seeks to reap profits from the mass incarceration of millions, especially people of color and the impoverished. The use of informants who cooperate in exchange for lighter sentences is not just utilized in the repressive prosecutions of protest movements and manufactured “terrorist” Islamophobic witch-hunts, but also in most drug cases, where defendants face some of the harshest sentences in the world.

For Aaron Swartz, himself facing 13 felony CFAA charges, it is likely that it was this intense pressure from relentless and uncompromising prosecutors, who, while being aware of Aaron’s psychological fragility, continued to demand prison time, that led to his untimely death.

Due to widespread public outrage, there is talk of congressional investigations into the CFAA. But since the same Congress had proposed increased penalties not even one year ago, any efforts at reform are unlikely to be more than symbolic. What is needed is not reform but total transformation; not amendments but abolition. Aaron is a hero to me because he did not wait for those in power to realize his vision and change their game, he sought to change the game himself, and he did so without fear of being labeled a criminal and imprisoned by a backwards system of justice.

We the people demand free and equal access to information and technology. We demand transparency and accountability from governments and big corporations, and privacy for the masses from invasive surveillance networks.

The government will never be forgiven. Aaron Swartz will never be forgotten.

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White House warns of dangers posed by WikiLeaks, LulzSec, other 'hacktivists'

New Obama administration strategy says organizations such as WikiLeaks and hacking group LulzSec may conduct "economic espionage against U.S. companies."

The White House warned today of the threat posed by WikiLeaks, LulzSec, and other "hacktivist" groups that have the ability to target U.S. companies and expropriate confidential data.

A new administration-wide strategy (PDF) disclosed at a high-profile event in Washington that included Attorney General Eric Holder says the theft of trade secrets is on the rise and predicts such theft will undermine U.S. national security unless halted.

It's a "steadily increasing threat to America's economy and national security interests," Holder said at the event, which also featured officials from the State Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"Disgruntled insiders [may leak] information about corporate trade secrets or critical U.S. technology to 'hacktivist' groups like WikiLeaks," the White House warns. Such groups could "develop customized malware or remote-access exploits to steal sensitive U.S. economic or technology information."

It's an unanticipated inclusion in a strategy that was expected to be focused on state-sponsored intrusions -- especially in the wake of disclosures this week about the Chinese military's involvement in penetrating the networks of U.S.-headquartered companies -- and signals that the government's interest in WikiLeaks has not abated. Vice President Joe Biden has called WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange a "high-tech terrorist," and a grand jury has been empaneled in Alexandria, Va., as part of a criminal investigation of the group.

While WikiLeaks is probably best known for disclosing sensitive U.S. government files, it has also released internal bank documents (and once promised to release more) and has been the subject of a controversial funds blockade by Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal. For its part, LulzSec successfully targeted News Corp., HBGary, and Sony in 2011, but has been far less active since, especially after it was infiltrated by the FBI.

The White House strategy views both organizations as part of a broader problem of nongovernment groups taking aim at U.S. companies' networks, and predicts:

. Some intelligence services with less developed cyberprograms already use relationships with nominally independent hackers to augment their capabilities to target political and military information or to carry out operations against regime enemies. For example, the Iranian Cyber Army, a hacker group with links to the Iranian Government, has used social engineering techniques to obtain control over Internet domains and disrupt the political opposition...

. Political or social activists also may use the tools of economic espionage against U.S. companies, agencies, or other entities. The self-styled whistle-blowing group WikiLeaks has already published computer files provided by corporate insiders indicating allegedly illegal or unethical behavior at a Swiss bank, a Netherlands-based commodities company, and an international pharmaceutical trade association. LulzSec -- another hacktivist group -- has exfiltrated data from several businesses that it posted for public viewing on its Web site.

In response to these threats, as well as to state-sponsored groups such as the ones Mandiant disclosed this week, the administration says it will increase "international law enforcement cooperation" and that the FBI and Justice Department will "prioritize these investigations and prosecutions."

WikiLeaks' Assange said in November in an appearance from Ecuador's London embassy that prosecutors want alleged source Bradley Manning, who's currently facing criminal charges inside the military justice system, to identify him as a party to the extraction and delivery of secret U.S. government files.

The Army wants, Assange said from his embassy room where he has sought refuge to avoid an extradition attempt, "to break him, to force him to testify against WikiLeaks and me" -- an apparent reference to the Justice Department's grand jury probe. If prosecutors allege conspiracy to commit computer crimes, they could avoid some of the free speech problems they'd face in an Espionage Act prosecution.

twitter:

YourAnonNews twitterde op zaterdag 23-02-2013 om 19:42:58 Project PM has disappeared from the internet. If anyone has a copy of the site, contact us we will mirror with new TLD. PLF@riseup.net reageer retweet

twitter:

AnonymousIRC twitterde op maandag 25-02-2013 om 14:01:20 Bank Of America spy team working lurking on #Anonymous networks. [teaser #1] http://t.co/2EE6yOYhWW #Anonymous #OWS #Wikileaks reageer retweet

twitter:

AnonymousIRC twitterde op maandag 25-02-2013 om 19:07:50 the pastebins for the teasers all down? Why u so mad, Bank of America? #Anonymous #OWS #Wikileaks reageer retweet

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http://par-anoia.net/assessment/us/bofa/teaser.txt

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Bank of America went totally nuts and fucking mad cow
and censored all the previous releases, as we love so
much fingering prolapses after buttraeping. here we go
again.

so....

MEGA TEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR
ALSO COCKS
\:D/

Summary of Information: By the way, if you asked Santa for a present
this #LulzXmas BE PATIENT. Santa has another week people. Questions?
Twitter @ DesructiveSec - Anontastic - Comment: This new information
suggests that we may not be seeing any �Big� releases from #LulzXmas
just yet, however it is advised that we not let our guards down as this
could be what they are hoping for. Ends.



Respectfully,



Jay Haak

Threat Analyst - 24/7 Early Warning Team

TEKsystems Contractor for Bank Of America

Cell: (281) 840-1822

Email: jay.haak@bankofamerica.com

BAML-EWT email.png

Subject: EWT - TACTO - Tracking Occupiers
-----------------------------------------
BAML-EWT logo.png



Source: RawStory.com / Twitter



Date / Time: Tweeted � 28 APR 12 @ 21:07EST / Story Posted � 28 APR 12 @
19:19EDT



Summary of Information: The following tweet was observed: �Banks
cooperating with police to track #Occupy protestors: goo.gl/tpvko #OWS #MAY1st
#MAYDAY @M1GS� � AnonInfoWarfare. The link is to a story that was written
by Andrew Jones of RawStory claiming that American banks and those overseas are
working with law enforcement officials in order to detect and deter the Occupy
Protestors attacks. Currently there are 20 comments from readers, 193
Recommendations to Facebook Users, and 27 Tweets About this Story have been
observed.



http://www.rawstory.com/r(...)-police-to-track-occ
upy-protesters/



Comment: Some comments that have been observed have been individuals claiming
their not surprised while others are outraged. By this story being spread
through the normal social media venues and #MAYDAY quickly approaching we could
see some changes in the way Occupy decides to get the word out to their fellow
protestors. EWT will continue to monitor for any developments regarding this
story, or any suggestions of alternate means of communication regarding protest
activities. Ends.



Respectfully,



Jay Haak

Threat Analyst - 24/7 Early Warning Team

TEKsystems Contractor for Bank Of America

Cell: (281) 840-1822

Email: jay.haak@bankofamerica.com

BAML-EWT email.png

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Bank of America (and their lackeys)

We have anchored at U.S. shores again to accept a consignment of a data package that probably belongs to our dear friends at Bank of America, though lots of contractors and subsidiaries (aka lackeys) are involved as usual.

It is a known fact that Bank of America is paying contractors to discredit journalist and sabotage their work as well as spying on the Occupy Movement and Anonymous ever since. It was to be expected that these efforts continue and it was also expected that their security remains - at best - lousy.

To start with, we present you about 320mb of internal reports and and emails assembled for Bank of America by a sub-contractor named TEKSystems (who in turn are a subsidiary of the Allegio Group whose founder also owns the Baltimore Ravens). These reports and emails assembled "intelligence" from sources like public channels on Anonymous and other IRC networks like Anonops, Voxanon and Cryto, as well as other social media.

We were geniously amused by the fact that there are actually paid analysts sitting somewhere, reading the vast amount garbage that scrolls by in large public channels like #anonops and #voxanon. Even more amusing is the keyword list that was found, containing trigger words like "Jihad" or "Homosexual".

Additionally about 6 Gigabyte of source code was looted, which is currently under assessment. We can tell so far that this software belongs to ClearForest, a company specializing on text and social network analysis. It is reasonable to assume that this code is the base system for what was used to categorize and store the acquired information. We will add the complete source code once we have finshied the initial assessment.

In the meantime, amuse yourself with the incredibly sensitive and important intelligence that BofA has gathered on Anonops and Voxanon (*smirk*). Please also note that the source has provided an accompanying release statement with the data.

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Pirate Bay abandons Sweden for Norway and Spain after legal threats

The Swedish Pirate Party has handed over hosting of the Pirate Bay to sister parties in Norway and Spain after the country’s copyright lobby sent a letter threatening criminal charges for hosting the controversial file-sharing website.

The Swedish Rights Alliance gave the party until Tuesday to cut all ties with the Pirate Bay following threats of serious legal consequences. In a letter sent directly to the party's board members, the Swedish Pirate Party was accused of violating copyright law by acting as an Internet service provider for the popular bittorrent site.

The alliance also charged that the Supreme Court of Sweden had “legally settled that not only those who operate an illegal file-sharing service, but also those who provide internet access to such an illegal service are committing a criminal act.”

The Rights Alliance said that such violations of copyright law could entail stiff fines for noncompliance, payment of damages and even potential prison terms. “These rules apply to legal entities, including non-profit organizations such as The Pirate Party and Serious Tubes, their board members, and other representatives of the organizations,” the letter continued.

The Pirate Bay’s decision to move its web-hosting services to Norway and Spain likely stems from legal precedents indicating more favorable climates for file-sharing sites.

In 2010, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and several movie studios were unable to force a Norwegian ISP to block the Pirate Bay. Spanish courts have so far failed to react to dozens of site closure requests from rightsholders, and threats from the United States that Spain will be put on a trade blacklist.

Swedish Pirate Party Leader Anna Troberg hailed the shift as a positive sign that despite legal pressure at home, the movement is continuing to become an international platform for reforming copyright laws and patents.

“Today, there are more than sixty different Pirate Parties all around the world. Every cut connection to The Pirate Bay will generate two new connections,” Torrent Freak quoted her as saying.

She further said that to take the Rights Alliance on at this time would not be prudent, despite the tenuous legal claims leveled at the Pirate Party.

“It would be crazy to enter a game where the rules are decided by the other team,” she said. “The Pirate Party’s mission is not to produce martyrs for the copyright industry. Our mission is to create longterm political change that ensures that the copyright industry in the future will not be allowed to threaten companies, organizations and individuals into silence with our common judicial system as a weapon.”

twitter:

YourAnonNews twitterde op dinsdag 26-02-2013 om 21:32:41 While we work with our ISP to register a new TLD, you can access Project PM at http://t.co/12CGG4C39c | We apologize for the inconvenience. reageer retweet

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Anti-protest: Bahrain bans import of plastic Guy Fawkes masks

The Kingdom of Bahrain’s Industry and Commerce Minister, Hassan Fakhro, issued an unusual decree this week: he banned the importation of a plastic face mask. Anyone caught importing the V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes mask now faces arrest, as anti-government protesters in the country have been using them to stay anonymous.

The stylised visage of Guy Fawkes became popular among protesters after the 2005 Hollywood film depicted thousands marching on Parliament wearing them.

Yet, while it has became an icon for protesters from members of the Occupy Wall Street movement to London demonstrators taking on the Church of Scientology, it has also been a key part of protests in the Arab Spring and Middle Eastern protests that have continued since the heady days of 2011.

Sadly, though, it is but a mask. And the thing about a masks is, you can print them, paint them or draw them yourself. Unless the minister plans to ban all such activity it seems an action as futile as the real Guy Fawkes’s.

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Leaked Info Allegedly Shows The Absurd Lengths BofA Goes To Spy On Hackers

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"[T]he data was not acquired by a hack but because it was stored on a misconfigured server and basically open for grabs. Even more alarming, the data was retrieved from an Israeli server in Tel Aviv."

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Anonymous Hacked Bank of America

And Seemingly Revealed That They Are Spying on Hacktivists

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Having a team on staff to protect a corporation from potential cyber-threats is nothing new. This isn’t what caught the attention of Anonymous to begin with; it was the methods being employed by Bank of America to gather data. Each of the 500+ e-mails pilfered reads like a surveillance report, most of them reporting on the activities of online activists from Anonymous to Occupy Wall St.

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The stolen data was spread through various Anonymous accounts, but one group in particular took responsibility for its release. They’re called “Par:AnoIA,” and I had the opportunity to interview one of their members.