The Internet is barreling down the same road of regulation and not-so-subtle censorship that has turned every other means of mass communication into a centralized and vanilla fountain of useless information. Kinda like television. . That The link for this article located at ThreatPost is no longer available. . Navigating digital freedom today involves balancing complex challenges of regulation and censorship, as stakeholders debate public safety against personal rights.. Censorship Challenges, Internet Regulation, Digital Rights, Online Privacy, Mass Communication. . Alex
Security researchers need to fight for the rights to study, modify and reverse engineer Internet hardware and software or the general population risks losing Internet freedom, the Black Hat 2015 conference was told.. . Security researchers need to fight for the rights to study, modify and reverse engineer Internet har. security, researchers, fight, rights, study, modify, reverse, engineer, internet. . Anthony Pell
There's one piece of blowback that isn't being discussed -- aside from the fact that Snowden killed the chances of a liberal arts major getting a job at the DoD for a decade -- and that's how the massive NSA surveillance of the Internet affects the US's role in Internet governance.. But there are unintended consequences of the NSA scandal that will undermine U.S. foreign policy interests -- in particular, the "Internet Freedom" agenda espoused by the U.S. State Department and its allies. The link for this article located at Schneier on Security is no longer available. . The unforeseen effects of NSA surveillance have deeply impacted U.S. foreign relations and its pursuit of internet freedoms, shaking global trust in American digital services. Internet Policy, Government Surveillance, Digital Rights. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
In December 2010 the heat-seeking internet pranksters known as Anonymous attacked PayPal, the online bill-paying business. PayPal had been a conduit for donations to WikiLeaks, the rogue whistle-blower site, until WikiLeaks released a huge cache of State Department internal messages. . PayPal cut off donations to the WikiLeaks website. Then PayPal's own site was shut down, as Anonymous did what it did best: exaggerate the weight of its own influence. But, according to "We Are Anonymous," by Parmy Olson, the London bureau chief for Forbes magazine, it had taken a single hacker and his botnet to close PayPal. "He then signed off and went to have his breakfast," she writes. The link for this article located at India Times is no longer available. . Delve into the realm of Anonymous, tracing its origins and examining the notorious cyber strike against PayPal associated with WikiLeaks.. Anonymous Hackers, Cybersecurity Threats, Online Activism, Internet Pranksters. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Hackers under the AntiSec banner appeared to have hacked late Monday the website of OnGuardOnline.gov, the U.S. federal government's online security website, in protest against controversial legislation. . In a message on the OnGuardOnline website and on Pastebin, the hackers threatened "a relentless war against the corporate internet", destroying what it said would be "dozens upon dozens" of government and company websites, if the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA), Protect IP Act (PIPA) and Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) are passed. The link for this article located at Network World is no longer available. . Cybercriminals assaulting a U.S. digital security platform warn of consequences following proposed laws affecting web liberties.. Cyber Attack News, Online Security Threats, Internet Freedom Issues, AntiSec Attacks. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
If he has his way, Meinrath. He and a team of software engineers are developing open-source software to turn cheap wireless access points and Android smartphones into nodes on the network, which could then be used by dissidents to evade censorship and to spread low-cost connections everywhere around the world. Proponents of the plan include the U.S. State Department, which has given Meinrath a $2 million grant to develop the code. The link for this article located at Wired is no longer available. . Creating collaborative software solutions that leverage affordable technology to enhance worldwide connectivity, empowering activists to fight against suppression.. Open Source Technology, Global Connectivity, Censorship Evading Software. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Three U.S. senators criticized for past legislation that would allow the president to potentially quarantine or shut down parts of the Internet during a major cyberattack have introduced a new bill that would put limits on that authority.. The Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act, introduced late Thursday, would explicitly deny the president or other U.S. officials "authority to shut down the Internet." The legislation, similar in many ways to a controversial 2010 bill, comes after persistent criticism that the bill's sponsors want to give the president a so-called Internet kill switch. "We want to clear the air once and for all," Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, said in a statement. "There is no so-called 'kill switch' in our legislation because the very notion is antithetical to our goal of providing precise and targeted authorities to the president. Furthermore, it is impossible to turn off the Internet in this country." The link for this article located at Network World is no longer available. . The Cybersecurity and Internet Freedom Act, introduced late Thursday, would explicitly deny the pres. three, senators, criticized, legislation, would, allow, president, potentially. . Alex
What are we permitted to post legally on the Internet? Who is responsible for the content of materials posted on Web sites? Two recent legal cases have highlighted the ongoing battles over control of information being posted on the Internet.. In Italy, the government of neo-Fascist Silvio Berlusconi, the media magnate who detests the very idea of having anyone else in control of any news media, has drafted legislation to impose government examination of all videos before they can be uploaded to the Web. In a related case, an Italian judge convicted Google executives of violating a child's privacy rights because someone posted an abusive video on Google Video and Google staff didn't remove it fast enough to suit the judge. In contrast, in Iceland, the Wikileaks organization, devoted to open publication of information about government malfeasance, is receiving support from legislators. These cases raise questions about who decides what can legally be posted on Internet-accessible venues such as blogs and Web sites. If you, personally, run a blog where visitors can leave comments, are you immediately legally responsible for what total strangers post on your Web site? What if they post stolen software? What if a group of religious fanatics who seized power over an entire nation object to cartoons that you have posted on your Web site and issue death threats against you? What if a totalitarian regime objects to a description of its Dear Leader as a degenerate nitwit who lives in luxury while his people starve to death? The link for this article located at Network World is no longer available. . Ongoing legal disputes in Sweden and Norway underscore the persistent challenge of digital rights and accountability of online content.. Internet Rights, Content Control, Media Law, Online Expression Rights, Government Legislation. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.