12.20.13
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 3:00 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Ars Technica hardly pretends to be journalism anymore; advertisers get the bias they must be paying for (money for ads in expectation of reciprocity, e.g. in coverage)
GIVEN what we know about the NSA (thanks to whistleblowers), UEFI Restricted Boot is quite the horrific thing which blocks choice and can also remotely brick PCs (at hardware level). Germany has already banned UEFI on its PCs, perhaps precisely for these reasons (advice from its secret services must have led to this).
Peter Bright, a longtime Microsoft booster who gives Ars Technica somewhat of a tabloid's reputation (and he is not alone), is trying to Windowswash the GNU/Linux-powered Steambox and his disgusting (sub)headline says: “In the brave (relatively) new world of UEFI, things happen to mostly just work.”
That’s utter nonsense; UEFI is still a mess for GNU/Linux users (new example in [1]) and even Microsoft could not properly deal with UEFI. It bricked PCs. To Bright’s credit, he has shed off his camouflage a bit. He recently changed his bio to better show his real agenda (more like a mole). He now describes himself as “Microsoft Contributor at Ars.” He also moved to Texas.
So, Microsoft is a whole section at Ars Technica now? Good to know. Well, it sure seems to be accepting a lot of advertising money from Microsoft (sometimes the front page of the site is a collage of Microsoft ads and promotions); it must feel like it needs to give something in return, much like CBS (grossly filled with Microsoft boosters and even former Microsoft employees).
Once upon a time Ars Technica had an “Open Source” section. It has been dead for years (the only person who sometimes covers FOSS over there is a Microsoft booster from a FOSS-hostile site, Network World/IDG), just like the analogous section at CBS sites like CNET and ZDNet.
We need to identify sites that seed disinformation and pin down the reasons for it. Sometimes the choice of authors is a managerial choice made by publishers seeking to appease particular sponsors. █
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12.19.13
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft at 3:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Hanging out too much with the Microsoft Cult clouds one’s judgment
Credit: Scott Hanselman
Summary: Microsoft is proving once again that no sane OEM should have pre-installed Windows; a little revisionism and spin from Mary Jo Foley (Microsoft’s Mouth) is rebutted
IT IS TOO easy to get distracted by the fiction of Windows ‘sales’, conveniently forgetting that Microsoft does not really sell anything, it just licences Windows for OEMs. This accounts for almost all installations of Windows, which is an NSA Trojan horse that nations must broadly reject.
Tim Worstall, the autor of many bad articles in Forbes, helps relay some Microsoft talking points again. Amplifying the words of the bribing CEO (Steve Ballmer bribes officials to take the NSA Trojan horses) and quoting Microsoft’s Mouth (Mary Jo Foley, CBS), Worstall speaks about the practice of tying the operating systems to hardware, sometimes with the aid of selective (manipulative) bribes to OEMs. Worstall makes it look banal and normal, perhaps failing to recall (or even know) about antitrust cases against Microsoft. Worstall’s article is titled “Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer “Nobody Ever Buys Windows. They Buy Windows PCs.”” (Mary Jo Foley got granted access to Ballmer after she had sucked up to Microsoft for years). Here is what Worstall says: “For it certainly used to be true that you would buy a Windows box. The vast majority of the world’s software was written to run on that operating system and that’s what you wanted to have access to. It wasn’t Windows per se that was being bought, it was a computer that ran most of the available software that was: and that just happened to be a computer with Windows on/in it.
“This is probably still true in much of the corporate world: companies will have built systems that rely upon this specific OS, or rather will have built their packages on top of it and therefore when a replacement cycle comes around it’s going to be Windows boxes again.”
It’s actually a lot worse and a glimpse at antitrust evidence explains why. Microsoft made it virtually impossible for OEMs to offer anything but Windows on hardware systems. It’s not a choice, it’s imposition by secret deals (which the court made less secret). Microsoft is still trying to bundle hardware and Windows, but this no longer works too well. Since the number of non-desktop systems sold with Windows is so small, defects have become common. Here is the latest: “SOFTWARE FIRM Microsoft has pulled back a software update for the Surface Pro 2 because it didn’t work and caused issues.
“Microsoft has removed the update, released just over a week ago, and apologised to users for its faults.
“”To ensure the best experience for our customers during the holiday season, we have taken steps to remove the update for Surface Pro 2 that was previously published through Windows Update on 10 December 2013,” says a post from Josh, a forum admin. “We are working to release an alternative update package after the holidays.”"
The desktop monopoly too is about to end because Windows XP is reaching its end of life. Despite the claim that half of IT ‘pros’ plan to stay with this unpatched OS (very easily remotely accessible not just to the NSA), it is already clear that some nations explore moving to GNU/Linux. Apple is not even an option. Apple, which basically sells hardware it does not even make, fails to provide a decent warranty policy [1,2].
It is worth remembering that Microsoft used criminal activities to make almost every PC come with Windows; it’s not a choice, it’s corruption. Now that Microsoft actually has to compete for preinstalls it is failing very badly and resorting to FUD campaigns. Watch out for revisionism and spin; if it’s seeded by Microsoft’s Mouth, be extra cautious. Steve Ballmer and other Microsoft executives might soon be called into courts over bribery, so twisting the story is important to them and they use corruptible ‘journalists’ (CBS is good at that, as the NSA showed last Sunday). █
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12.05.13
Posted in Deception, Intellectual Monopoly, Microsoft at 10:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Schools become a target of shameless copyright propaganda and promotion (advertising) of copyright boosters/maximalists
THE Open (as in libre) Access movement has brought great benefits to students, as this new article reminds us [1]. Now that we have sharing-friendly licences such as Creative Commons 4.0 [2] it is no surprise that extensive encyclopaedias like Wikipedia are available for download by all [3]. It maxmimises sharing of knowledge, much to the disdain of “Copyright And Patent Maximalists” [4] who promote criminal cartels (the “Copyright Monopoly” [5]). All sorts of proxies and fronts, including some British thing that’s deceivingly called “Culture Committee” [6] (back in Sept.), continue to promote the fiction of piracy and those who the “Culture Committee” claims to represent do not even agree [7]. Basically, a bunch of non-artists in suits are manipulating and misrepresenting society’s interests so that they can hoard money and tax everyone while limiting dissemination of culture.
One jaw-dropping gallery of propaganda at schools was assembled and explained by Will Hill the other day. Watch how the cartel is now working to indoctrinate everyone’s children under the obligatory system known as schools. As Hill put it: “Here is some of what public school students are being taught about computers, the internet copyright and sharing. These are screen captures from a film my twelve year old daughter was shown and quizzed on. Some of the message is useful but the overall tone is one of paranoia, distrust of your neighbors and obedience to authorities, such as publishers and government officials. Facebook, Microsoft and Google are promoted, with the lion’s share of promotion going to Facebook and Microsoft. There’s more than a hint of racism at one or two points.”
Watch the images and be disgusted. This is the cartel taking its propaganda into the classrooms. We need to fight back against this. Culture is at stake as some opportunists want to privatise it. █
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The average cost for college textbooks for the 2013-2014 school year at OU is $848 per student, according to OU’s website. If you plan on obtaining a four/five-year education, those costs can really add up.
But what if some of your books were free to use and accessible to anyone with Internet access at any time? Doesn’t sound too bad, right? This initiative is called open-source textbooks, and colleges across the nation, including OU, are giving this alternative method of providing resources for students a glance. Not only are certain schools looking into this, the general book cost issue has gained national attention.
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Creative Commons proudly introduces our 4.0 licenses, now available for adoption worldwide. The 4.0 licenses—more than two years in the making—are the most global, legally robust licenses produced by CC to date. Dozens of improvements have been incorporated that make sharing and reusing CC-licensed materials easier and more dependable than ever before.
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Tim Lee, over at the Washington Post’s The Switch, has an excellent, detailed look at why the USTR seems to think that patent and copyright maximalism is in the best interests of America. There are two key reasons, which I’ll paraphrase as (1) the employees at USTR have strong connections to copyright and patent maximalists, and there’s a constant revolving door between USTR and IP maximalists, and (2) they’re basically ignorant of how the digital world works today.
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The emergence of experimental legally autonomous startup zones in Honduras and other places is one of the most exciting developments in a long time, and forebodes the collapse of the copyright industry’s tyranny over culture and knowledge.
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This morning the Culture, Media and Sport Committee published its report into how to support the creative industries. While it is a wide-ranging report, on copyright reform there is plenty to be disappointed about.
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English comedian Russell Brand is no stranger to controversy and in the past few days the funnyman has been at it again, this time concerning the release of his new DVD. Brand informed his Twitter followers that obtaining Messiah Complex can be achieved in various ways, not least via The Pirate Bay. Potential UK viewers need not be concerned about ISP censorship either, as Brand helpfully provided a link to a Pirate Bay proxy.
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11.24.13
Posted in Deception, DRM, Google at 6:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
A Protestant Allegory: The four evangelists stoning the pope, together with hipocrisy and avarice
Summary: The definition of hypocrisy matches some of those (high-profile figures) who claim to be against censorship
IF someone criticises censorship and promotes free speech, then it is imperative to see that someone’s own response to speech s/he does not like. A lot of people say that they are for free speech only when they defend the rights of those with whom they agree; a lot of people complain about censorship only when their own views are being suppressed or banned. One can only be a champion of free speech when he or she can tolerate uncomfortable messages, sometimes even libel (for which there are solutions other than censorship).
The other day we saw DRM apologist [1, 2, 3] Tim Berners-Lee expressing concern about censorship and lack of privacy [1,2], two things which DRM pretty much assures. So who is he to speak out for free speech and anonymity while promoting DRM? In similar news, see Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt speaking out about the end of censorship [3] — a problem that Google is a part of [1, 2]. Then there’s Neelie Kroes, whose “think about the children” mentality and betrayal of net neutrality [4] (which is necessary for free speech) cannot be forgotten when she speaks about “online safety” (common excuse for imposing censorship) [5].
Here in the UK things aren’t getting better. There are fresh attacks on free speech in universities [6] and this can be seen a lot more frequently these days when it comes to journalism which touches GCHQ et al. — meaning software vandals, crackers, and saboteurs from the NSA and its ilk (people who break the law under the veil of secrecy and immunity by affiliation with statism). Those in power are also using legal threats in an attempt to silence voices by proxy (via site maintainers) [7], so even those who defend free speech are increasingly being threatened with lawsuits. It is horrifying.
This state of affairs is ill-gotten and we need to find a way out of it. For a start, let’s name defenders of free speech who aren’t. They’re just posers. Sadly, some FOSS sites are also hypocrites on the subject of free speech (we won’t name them to avoid embarrassment or infighting). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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‘Tide of surveillance and censorship’ threatens future of democracy, says inventor of world wide web
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Google Inc (GOOG.O) Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has a bold prediction: Censorship around the world could end in a decade, and better use of encryption will help people overcome government surveillance.
In a lecture at Johns Hopkins University on Wednesday, the executive of the world’s biggest web search company made a pitch for ending censorship in China and other countries with restricted freedom of speech by connecting everyone to the Internet and protecting their communication from spying.
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The rapporteur Pilar del Castillo Vera (EPP – Spain) has concluded her draft report on Neelie Kroes’ proposal for a Regulation on the Telecom Package. Despite numerous criticisms1 made against the unacceptable anti-Net neutrality provisions in the proposal, del Castillo Vera has chosen not to correct them. Before it is too late, citizens must contact the rapporteur and Members of the ITRE committee, and urge them to ensure the European Parliament guarantees a genuine and unconditional Net neutrality principle.
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hildren now go online at a very young age. This is good thing: they can benefit from better digital and media literacy; and explore creative and educational online content. This is why Androulla Vassiliou and I launched the Opening up Education initiative.
The Internet is a fantastic opportunity for young people. But they need to act responsibly too: and in particular to be aware of and able to cope with potential dangers. They must understand that our digital footprint is ever growing, and information put on the web can be misused.
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The censorship of an atheist bookstall at freshers’ week is just another example of heavy-handed repression in our universities
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We’ve covered the bizarre case of Sarah Jones vs. Dirty World (operators of the website “thedirty.com”) for quite some time. If you don’t recall, this former professional cheerleader/school teacher got upset when a user of thedirty.com posted some statements about her that were potentially defamatory. Rather than go after the actual person who made those claims, Jones sued the site. Well, technically, she and her lawyers first sued the wrong site, which made for quite a mess at the beginning. Eventually, though, she sued the right site, which correctly pointed out that they were protected from liability for their users statements under Section 230 of the CDA. Every court that has taken on a Section 230 case like this has ruled the same way — that sites are not responsible for the statements of their users. E
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11.13.13
Posted in Apple, Deception, Google, Microsoft, Samsung at 9:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Surveillance Don James R. Clapper back in his military days
Summary: Popular manufacturers of phones (and software platforms for phones) say that they cannot track switched-off phones, but they are lying using carefully-crafted statements
TECHRIGHTS is no friend of Nokia and Samsung, especially after what they did with Microsoft (regarding patents and beyond), but today we deal with a completely separate issue. It’s irrespective of brands. There is a lot of media hype (even brainwash) — accompanied at times by expectations from employers, peers, family and friends — to purchase and constantly carry a mobile (cellular) phone. I never really carried one, except in unusual circumstances (e.g. when going somewhere dangerous or an important meeting).
Well, as pointed out the other day, the thing about companies that say they can’t track switched off phones is that they are lying. They use semantics and wording that’s shrewdly designed to sort of say the truth while actually dodging the more accurate/well-targeted questions and the real issues (same as ‘cloud’ companies did after PRISM became public knowledge).
Leading companies in the mobile phones arena insist that they can’t track/listen to powered-down phones, but they can release updates which enable this, so in a sense they really can listen (they just need to take a step before doing this, it cannot typically be done directly). The phones cannot be switched off, they merely pretend to be powered down (mimicking this behaviour). There is a new article titled “Cell Phone Manufacturers Offer Carefully Worded Denials To Question Of Whether NSA Can Track Powered-Down Cell Phones” and it says the following: “Short of pulling out the battery (notably not an option in some phones), there seems to be little anyone can do to prevent the device from being tracked and/or used as a listening device. The responding companies listed above have somewhat hedged their answers to the researcher’s questions, most likely not out of any deference to government intelligence agencies, but rather to prevent looking ignorant later if (or when) subsequent leaks make these tactics public knowledge.
“Any powered up cell phone performs a lot of legwork for intelligence agencies, supplying a steady stream of location and communications data. If nothing else, the leaks have proven the NSA (and to a slightly lesser extent, the FBI) has an unquenchable thirst for data. If such exploits exist (and they seem to), it would be ridiculous to believe they aren’t being used to their fullest extent.”
“Apple’s devices are surveillance devices on steroids; they go a a long way (more than counterparts) to maintain the integrity of the eavesdropping functionality.”The problem is being downplayed, too. It’s actually a lot worse than just tracking. Phones with camera/s and microphone in them can also transmit images, video, and/or audio once they are converted into surveillance devices (carried by s/he who is surveilled and his/her surroundings). Earlier this year the Wall Street Journal released a report which says even Android is susceptible to this. The FBI exploits the back doors in order to take over microphones of Android devices.
I happen to be the only person I’m aware of who has been pulling batteries out of phones (inevitably reverting clock back to factory defaults) for a number of years now. I have written about this for a long time, but only after Snowden’s leaks can more people appreciate this. Removal of batteries is not “paranoid”. This ought to become more common a practice and everyone should be doing this, even if they “do nothing wrong” (we need to make it the norm if we are ever to impede abusive entities like the NSA). No phone that I ever touched or used had my name attached to it at the carrier. Never.
It is worth adding that Apple won’t even answer the questions. Apple is worse in many ways because it makes it virtually impossible to remove the batteries (sometimes there is more than one, and some may not be detachable). Apple’s devices are surveillance devices on steroids; they go a a long way (more than counterparts) to maintain the integrity of the eavesdropping functionality. Microsoft too is rather unique because there is no need to convert devices with Windows into listening devices; there are back doors there 'out of the box', which is hardly surprising because Microsoft and the NSA are in bed together. █
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11.12.13
Posted in Action, Deception, Free/Libre Software at 6:53 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
An illustration of James Bond by artist John McLusky for the Daily Express newspaper.
Summary: The job of spooks in the US and the UK is anything but sexy and professional, new leaks continue to reveal
Bombshells regarding the NSA and its British offshoot GCHQ just can’t help coming. There is so much dirty laundry and Snowden et al. bring it out by the bucketload (to be attributed to Snowden). Techrights might have an exclusive story of its own pretty soon. We are still trying to ascertain/verify the facts in a case involving Arizona’s corrupt authorities (we asked for court documents to support the claims and to potentially publish). If the claims are true, then not only the NSA and FBI inject malware into people’s computers (e.g. CIPAV) but local authorities too are trying to do this, completely against the law. They spy without warrants, crack computers, and also pass new laws as means of revenge against people whom they are desperate to prosecute (but can’t). It sounds like a movie plot, but it sure seems to be real.
The big story in the news this week is that Slashdot got used by GCHQ to inject malware. This is criminal. When one is hijacking, infecting and distributing malware it is a serious crime — well, typically a crime when done by entities not connected to the government. The NSA-subsidised operations base known as GCHQ sure is damaging the British software industry [1] and the British “information commissioner” sure misses the point [2]; the real issue here is the illegal spying, not those who expose the illegal spying (whistleblowing/reporting). The British press which covers this the most is promoting Darkmail right now [3] and the ‘British Snowden’ explains to us how serious a problem we are dealing with [4]. Over 80% of US citizens are not satisfied with NSA oversight [5]. The NSA basically collects everything quite indiscriminately [6] and even phones that are switched off (powered off) are believed to be tracked by the NSA [7]. Services that require one’s real identity to use are getting more aggressive [8], the surveillance is being used for an expanding number of purposes (drug enforcement, taxes, etc.) [9], and even NIST turns out to be somewhat of a fraud with fake (moles-based) peer review [10].
Finally, for those who don’t know, Microsoft allegedly puts Windows back doors for the NSA [11]. What we know for sure is that Microsoft does tell the NSA how to remotely crack Windows PCs. Microsoft and the NSA are in bed together, so anyone who values his/her privacy should avoid everything from Microsoft and Microsoft-owned companies like Facebook. Now is a good time to move to Free/libre software. It’s never too late. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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GCHQ’s online surveillance has destroyed trust in British technology companies and irrevocably damaged the nation’s information security industry, according to a cryptography expert.
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Liberty’s director, Shami Chakrabarti, asked about the impact of the Snowden revelations on the security services’ attempts to tackle terrorism, said: “I’m sure it creates challenges and irritations [but] any challenges are probably overblown. The serious bad boys know all about the technological possibilities.”
Chakrabarti said Snowden had revealed “not just blanket surveillance and intrusion of privacy [but] that we got taken for mugs.
“There was a big debate in this country about a snooper’s charter. That bill was dropped and now we find out they were doing this stuff anyway. That is not just a breach of privacy it is a fundamental breach of the rule of law, contempt for people, parliament and contempt of the law.
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Silent Circle and Lavabit hope to respond to Snowden leaks with service stopping ‘state snoopers’ accessing email metadata
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As the Snowden-related disclosures continue to flow, each new one refuting the last dissembling statements of the desperate spies, diplomats around the world must be cursing the overweening ambitions of the NSA and it vassals.
American ambassadors are being summoned from their fortified embassies to account for US malfeasance in country after country: Brazil, Spain, France and, of course, Germany.
In this last country there has been scandal after scandal: first the hoovering up of billions of private communications; the revelation that the German intelligence agency, the BND, had been an enthusiastic partner of the NSA in developing the XKeyScore programme and more; then, despite this, humiliatingly to learn that Germany is only considered a 3rd Party intelligence partner by the Yanks — putting them on a par with countries like Iran, China and Russia.
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One of the key responses from the NSA and its defenders to all of these Snowden leaks is that there is “rigorous oversight” of the NSA by the courts and Congress. Of course, that talking point has been debunked thoroughly, but NSA defenders keep trotting it out. It appears that the public is not buying it. At all. A recent poll from YouGov found that only 17% of people believe that Congress provides “adequate oversight” on the spying of Americans. A marginally better 20% (though, within the 4.6% margin of error, so meaningless difference really) felt that Congress provides adequate oversight of the NSA when it comes to collecting data on foreigners. Basically, that part of the NSA story just isn’t particularly believable in light of everything that’s come out. Oh, and people are paying attention to the news. A full 87% had heard something about the spying on foreign countries — with only 14% thinking that such a program has helped US interests abroad.
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Privacy International still awaits answers from Apple, BlackBerry, and others.
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Back when the Eric Snowden brouhaha first began, we said that this was going to have serious repercussions on the tech sector here in the United States, especially after it became evident that Microsoft was actively working with the spooks by allegedly designing back doors into their operating system and keeping federal intelligence agents informed about unpatched security holes that could be used against foreign governments and “terrorist,” which now days seems to be everyone who doesn’t work for the NSA, FBI or CIA.
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10.31.13
Posted in Deception, Google at 8:34 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Famous staff, lowered credibility
By Вени Марковски
Summary: US-based Internet giants which openly deceive the public when it comes to privacy should not be trusted; without freedom-respecting and secure hosting there will always be surveillance
TECHRIGHTS has been anything but a Google critic. However, when there is pretence and deception we should be honest and balanced enough to expand our scope and deal with GNU/Linux backers critically where they deserve it.
This Halloween it is reported that there is exceptionally high demand for masks bearing Edward Snowden’s face. He sure helped change the way many of us view the world, and not just the digital world (although most of the documents he leaked address digital means of surveillance). NSA access to Microsoft stuff (all of people’s data at Microsoft) is almost automatically implied, as Microsoft was the first company in the PRISM program and perhaps its main facilitator. Snowden showed documents that support these facts. There is no room for spin and no need for speculation; the raw material also eliminates bias that could be attributed to some reporters and their trustworthiness. Putting Microsoft aside (it’s the biggest violator of privacy), Google and Yahoo! are in the news right now [1,2] because it is shown that the NSA secretly accessed Yahoo and Google datacentres. That’s useful to know. This means that there is yet another reason never to host any sensitive data in the United States and by extension it would be unwise to work with north American Internet companies. They cannot guarantee privacy at all. Amazon, a CIA partner, even makes it very explicit in its terms of agreement.
“NSA access to Microsoft stuff (all of people’s data at Microsoft) is almost automatically implied, as Microsoft was the first company in the PRISM program and perhaps its main facilitator.”The NSA is not protecting the United States. It does the very opposite. It is destroying the reputation of many strong companies with talented people (hired from all over the world). The NSA is trying to save its own reputation by gagging critics [3], but the crimes speak for themselves and the Swedish Pirate Party accuses the NSA is treating Merkel (head of Europe’s largest economy) like she is a terrorist or a paedophile [4]. Well, here in Manchester some acquaintances of mine are organising a CryptoParty [5], helping people to avoid snooping from the NSA and its British offshoots (at least two are known) which spy on Europe.
It’s hard to escape surveillance when giants like Google and Yahoo won’t tell the truth. They give a false sense of security/privacy. It really boils down to trust and this is why Techrights is hosted by CoPilotCo, which is managed by a guy who is very serious about security. He guards the hardware. He even does Bitcoin Secure Hosting. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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The National Security Agency has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, according to documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and interviews with knowledgeable officials.
By tapping those links, the agency has positioned itself to collect at will from among hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans. The NSA does not keep everything it collects, but it keeps a lot.
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10.28.13
Posted in Deception, Google at 11:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Nobody knows Google censorship better than Seth Finkelstein
Summary: Google has a new charm offence/PR trying to paint itself as a battling force against censorship (depends whose)
In this age of intimidation and terror by secret agencies we quickly learn that British press is under attack by those secret agencies and overzealous politicians [1, 2, 3]. Some newspapers buckle [1], whereas others don’t, although even those that pretend not to are selling out in other ways (yes, that would be The Guardian). The whole NSA scandal has taught us and continues to show us just how aggressive Western censorship can become. Wikileaks showed us something similar 3 years ago.
“Google is trying to impress us by saying that it’s a force for good, but serious questions remain for Google to answer.”Google says it will battle country-specific Internet censorship [2], but how does it intend to tackle surveillance, which acts as means of self-censorship? This is not going to help against Western censorship, which Google is collaborating with (many of examples exist*, including the infamous copyright censorship examples). Google says it will also help fight DDOS attacks which can attack NGOs [3] (DDOS can be an attack on free speech), but why does Google collaborate with the potentially biggest sources of DDOS attacks (some are initiated by the NSA, FBI, and their proxies/minions)?
Google is trying to impress us by saying that it’s a force for good, but serious questions remain for Google to answer. Google wants people to view itself as a tool of emancipation rather than oppression (like Facebook or Microsoft, which are even worse). Be sceptical. █
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* Seth Finkelstein wrote about Google censorship even a decade ago. Wikipedia has a long article about it.
Related/contextual items from the news:
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‘If MI5 warns that this is not in the public interest who am I to disbelieve them?’, says the former editor of The Independent
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At its Ideas Summit in New York, Google has announced that it is working on developing a browser extension that will act as an easy-to-use way to bypass country-specific Internet censorship and make connections safer and more private.
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DDoS attacks are a doubled edged sword – while it’s used by hacktivism groups anonymous as a means of online protest, they are also used to attack NGOs and activites to bring their sites down. Now Google is taking a stand against DDoS attackers by offering a service called Project Shield.
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