02.16.14
Posted in News Roundup at 3:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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02.14.14
Posted in News Roundup at 6:03 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Unwise policies that breed mistrust and even hatred continue to receive scrutiny from the media
Surveillance
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Since the intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began exposing surveillance programs by the National Security Agency last June, trust overseas in U.S. technology companies has plummeted. In some cases, sales have slowed. And foreign regulators have been licking their chops in anticipation of a crackdown. Estimates of the cost to these companies have ranged from $21.5 billion to $180 billion by 2016.
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Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced this week that he is suing the Obama administration in a class-action lawsuit over the surveillance excesses of the NSA, as revealed by documents leaked by Edward Snowden. Specifically, he is challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s bulk collection of metadata.
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Top execs from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, LinkedIn and Twitter have formed a coalition known as Reform Government Surveillance, and are urging changes to the NSA spying programs that would include a government agreement not to collect bulk data from Internet communications. Tumblr, Mozilla and Reddit also support the effort.
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As the Framers conceived it, our system of government is divided into three branches — executive, legislative and judicial — each of which is designed to serve as a check on the others. If the president gets out of control, Congress can defund his efforts, or impeach him, and the judiciary can declare his acts unconstitutional. If Congress passes unconstitutional laws, the president can veto them, or refuse to enforce them, and the judiciary can declare them invalid. If the judiciary gets carried away, the president can appoint new judges, and Congress can change the laws, or even impeach.
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Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) on Thursday said he doesn’t support Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) lawsuit against President Obama and the National Security Agency.
“I believe that legislation, not a Senate-brought lawsuit is the only effective way to stop this behavior of the NSA,” Wyden said in a statement provided to The Hill.
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Thanks to everyone who participated on Tuesday. Together we demonstrated that activists, organizations, and companies can work in unison to fight mass surveillance, and laid a foundation for escalation over months to come.
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Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has become prominent in the debate. This reflects not only the extent of continuing public alarm about the activity, but also the fact that Congress is exercising growing policy leadership in this realm as in others, including fiscal and budgetary matters.
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For nine years, the U.S. government refused to let a Stanford PhD student named Rahinah Ibrahim back in the country after putting her on the no-fly list for no apparent reason. For eight years, U.S. government lawyers fought Ibrahim’s request that she be told why. Last April, despite his promise in 2009 to do so only in only the most extreme cases, Attorney General Eric Holder tried to block Ibrahim’s case by asserting the state secrets privilege, declaring under penalty of perjury that the information she wanted “could reasonably be expected to cause significant harm to national security.”
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The East German secret police, known as the Stasi, were an infamously intrusive secret police force. They amassed dossiers on about one quarter of the population of the country during the Communist regime.
But their spycraft — while incredibly invasive — was also technologically primitive by today’s standards. While researching my book Dragnet Nation, I obtained the above hand drawn social network graph and other files from the Stasi Archive in Berlin, where German citizens can see files kept about them and media can access some files, with the names of the people who were monitored removed.
Ethics
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Pete Seeger’s life, like the arc of the moral universe famously invoked by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., bent toward justice. He died this week at 94. Pete sang truth to power through the epic struggles of most of the last century, for social justice, for civil rights, for workers, for the environment and for peace. His songs, his wise words, his legacy will resonate for generations.
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That’s right, Bezos bought the grey Lady, that Washington Post-pone, and, alas, you think the WP is going to cover the Amazon contract with the guys and gals who take contracts out on us, them, anyone, with that drone thing, the favorite toy of Bezos’ Prozac mind – he wants drones all over Seattle first, to try out his 30 minute or you get it free delivery idea for orders for his useless shit, the upside down world of Maslow’s hierarchy of misneeds/deeds.
Drones
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xhaustive independent studies by the British Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the New America Foundation and the Long War Journal have documented that civilian casualties are endemic – the latest count is at least 440 since the drone campaigns began, according to the BIJ.
And countless journalistic accounts have described how the strikes are counterproductive, increasing civilians’ sympathy for al Qaeda and its allies in Yemen today as in Pakistan and Afghanstan before, and as in Somalia next.
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Every time you think the war on terror can’t get any weirder, it does.
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Zara Shahid a student at Lahore University of Management Science in Pakistan, on why she values student activism on unofficial drone warfare
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A Cambridge student has launched a campaign to encourage British universities to cease investment in companies that produce drones.
Sara Aslam, a Masters student in Modern South Asian studies, has started a petition which calls for higher education institutions to consider the human costs of the use of drones and to divest from drone technologies.
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In an interesting turn of events which indicate a visible policy change on the part of the agencies, Karim Khan, an anti-drone campaigner from North Waziristan, seems to have been picked up by the same people who had been accused of blowing off the security cover of three previous CIA station chiefs in Islamabad who used to supervise the US drone campaign, writes Amir Mir.
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But hardly a few days before he was due to travel to Britain to brief parliamentarians from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands about the impact of the drone strikes in the tribal belt of Pakistan, up to 20 armed men stormed into his home in Rawalpindi on the night of February 4, 2014 and took him away without even telling his family members who they were and what they actually wanted.
War
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What are these words, after all, next to the iron realities of the post–September 11 world? The defense budget has more than doubled, including a Special Operations Command able to launch secret, lethal raids anywhere in the world that has grown from 30,000 elite troops to more than 67,000. The drone force has expanded from fewer than 200 unmanned aerial vehicles to more than 11,000, including perhaps 400 “armed-capable” drones that can and do target and kill from the sky—and that, following the computer directives of “pilots” manning terminals in Virginia and Nevada and elsewhere in the United States, have killed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia an estimated 3,600 people.
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And I’m Renee Montagne. Good morning. We have been hearing for months about how disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have shaken the intelligence community and spurred Congress to try to impose new limits on surveillance. In recent weeks, after-shocks from those leaks have been rippling through the courts as well. NPR’s Carrie Johnson reports some judges have signaled they’re no longer willing to take the government’s word when it comes to national security.
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Posted in News Roundup at 7:21 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Cuts to public health in the UK and increased subsidies to corporations that are harming everybody’s health
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We often worry about lying awake in the middle of the night – but it could be good for you. A growing body of evidence from both science and history suggests that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural.
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In 2001, seven years after joining the biology faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, Tyrone Hayes stopped talking about his research with people he didn’t trust. He instructed the students in his lab, where he was raising three thousand frogs, to hang up the phone if they heard a click, a signal that a third party might be on the line. Other scientists seemed to remember events differently, he noticed, so he started carrying an audio recorder to meetings. “The secret to a happy, successful life of paranoia,” he liked to say, “is to keep careful track of your persecutors.”
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Conflict of interest concerns as Specialised Healthcare Alliance, funded by pharmaceutical companies, advises NHS England
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Lawyers representing a West Australian farmer who is suing his neighbour over genetically-modified canola which allegedly contaminated his property, say the court case will hinge on the principle of negligence.
The landmark case was taken by Kojonup organic farmer Steve Marsh.
The lawyers say neighbour Michael Baxter had a duty to contain his own crop of GM canola, and the contamination resulted in Mr Marsh losing his organic accreditation for 70 per cent of his property.
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While the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association, along with Monsanto and other poison makers try to slip a labeling-by-choice campaign past citizens in the US, Russia is preparing a bill that would heavily restrict the import of genetically modified agricultural produce, as well as stop it altogether from being produced domestically.
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Despite a full-court press defending the supposed benefits of genetically engineered “golden rice,” it has never entered production. According to Jonathan Latham of Independent Science News, the science media has utterly failed to report accurately on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) — on their failures and criticisms rather than just their potential successes. A transgenic high-protein cassava, a type of starchy edible root, was lauded in the scientific press but fizzled not long after. So did a supposedly virus-resistant sweet potato that was widely hailed in the media. According to Jonathan Latham of Independent Science News, these and others are just a few examples of what he says is the utter failure of the science media to report accurately and critically on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) — on their failures rather than just their touted successes.
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Monsanto is best-known for its controversial use of genetically-modified organisms, and less well-known for being involved in the story of the defoliant Agent Orange (the company’s long and involved story is well told in the book and film “The World According to Monsanto”, by Marie-Monique Robin.) Its shadow also looms large over the current TPP talks: the USTR’s Chief Agricultural Negotiator is Islam A. Siddiqui, a former lobbyist for Monsanto. But it would seem that the company is starting to explore new fields, so to speak; as Salon reports in a fascinating and important post, Monsanto is going digital
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An “arbitrary” straitjacket on the NHS’s budget by Whitehall is leading to job losses, recruitment freezes and inadequate care for patients, the leader of the country’s doctors warns on Tuesday.
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Two Manawatu fathers have won a major battle in their fight to have wi-fi removed from their local school, TVNZ reports.
Fathers Damon Wyman and David Bird have been leading a campaign to remove the wireless networking from Te Horo School and replace it with cable-based internet due to concerns it could cause cancer and other health problems.
Science Media Centre manager Peter Griffin says the death of Te Horo pupil Ethan Wyman from a brain tumour was a tragedy for his family, friends and school mates, but that to blame it on wi-fi is wrong.
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Posted in News Roundup at 7:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: A look at some of the mess we are in (along with other species) and the role played by greed
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Like it or not, everything dies. But these days, it seems, things are dying a little bit faster. From disappearing ice caps and bone-chilling polar vortices to historic drought and worldwide super storms, Mother Earth is behaving in ways well outside the norm with an ever increasing frequency matched perhaps only by the speed at which climate-change deniers are learning to bite their tongues.
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Have you noticed anything missing from your garden lately? Monarch butterflies, North America’s most recognized butterfly, are vanishing. According to a new report from the World Wildlife Fund, fewer Monarchs migrated in 2013 than in any year since researchers began keeping records two decades ago.
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A new document providing rare insight into the political machine of the Koch Brothers has surfaced revealing the names of up to 40 donors, as well as senior Koch officials, Washington Post reported.
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Emergency rooms surrounding the site of a West Virginia chemical spill are treating scores of patients with symptoms related to exposure to chemical-tainted water, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.
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A coalition of national and state business groups launched an effort Thursday to fight new rules on greenhouse gas emissions that would affect Indiana more than most states.
“We will block anything that is not in the interest of the American economy,” said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Karen Harbert.
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Posted in News Roundup at 6:51 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Over time the GNU project grew as thousands of programmers throughout the world donated free software code to Stallman’s pet, causing everyone involved save lots of time and even more money. All that was left was a kernel to put the GNU project’s free, opensource software on. In comes Linus Torvalds.
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Although its timetable may not always be ideal, Valve has come through for Linux users lately. Not only has it released a native Linux version of Steam (with many native games!), it also has expanded its Linux support as the basis for its standalone SteamBox. The first step toward a Steam-powered console is the operating system. Thankfully for nerds like me, Valve released its operating system (SteamOS) to the public.
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The currently in-beta Jagged Alliance: Back in Action is due to be pushed out properly to Linux users on the 14th of February.
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Valve has opened up their Steamworks virtual reality (VR) API and posted the code to GitHub.
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In a move that will please developers Valve has opened up the source code to their VR API so anyone can now dive in.
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Valve has pushed another update to it’s Steam Client which brings many improvements to In-Home Steaming. Before you go ahead to download the client keep in mind that there is an issue with the updater which may download two or three times before ‘settling down’, as Sloken writes on the Steam Community page.
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The distribution of Steam keys to the Debian and Ubuntu developers is being handled by a third-party company called Collabora, which is consulting Valve in open source matters.
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I’m not really much of a computer gamer. That said, I’m both ashamed and oddly proud of the hours (probably thousands!) I spent playing Dune 2000 back when it was cutting-edge gaming technology. There’s just something about real-time strategy games that appeals to those of us lacking the reflexes for the more action-packed first-person shooters. If you also enjoy games like Dune 2000, Starcraft, Warcraft, Civilization or other RTS classics, Warzone 2100 will be right up your alley.
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Valve has updated SteamOS beta which brings better support for wireless cards. If you are running beta of SteamOS you will be getting these updates. Those who are using stable version may change to beta version to get advantage of these packages. The update adds additional packages to the repo to support gdb, NFS, and creating an alchemist chroot.
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Posted in News Roundup at 6:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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Tomahawk is a ultimate, open source and next-generation cross platform social music player that allows you to access music stored on your hard-drive (as any self-respecting music player does), but it also taps a wide variety of music sources such as SoundCloud, Spotify, Youtube and other music subscription services to organize everything at one place. This fundamentally turns the entire internet into one music library. From there, you can share your playlists, search for media on a variety of services at once.
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PageTech has delivered a Linux version of its flagship PCL2PDF conversion software to HP Enterprise Services for implementation into California’s CalWORKS Information Network (CalWIN). The PCL to PDF transformation tool converts complex PCL5e print files generated by various legacy and enterprise systems into Adobe text-searchable PDF portable document format.
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Aptik is a open source package that simplify backup and restore of PPAs, Applications and Packages after a fresh installation or upgradation of Debian based Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other Ubuntu derivatives.
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Posted in News Roundup at 6:46 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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02.13.14
Posted in News Roundup at 5:22 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Afternoon and evening news picks about an apparatus of indiscriminate surveillance and merciless assassination
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I’ve already written one piece about Cory Doctorow’s incredible column at the Guardian concerning digital rights management and anti-circumvention, in which I focused on how the combination of DRM and anti-circumvention laws allows companies to make up their own copyright laws in a way that removes the rights of the public. Those rights are fairly important, and the reason we have them encoded within our copyright laws is to make sure that copyright isn’t abused to stifle speech. But, anti-circumvention laws combined with DRM allow the industry to route around that entirely.
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A decade and a half later, and given the recent Edward Snowden-fueled brouhaha over the National Security Agency’s snooping on Americans, I wondered how much had changed. Today, about 250 million Americans are on the Internet, and spend an average of 23 hours a week online and texting, with 27 percent of that engaged in social media. Like most people, I’m on the Internet, in some fashion, most of my waking hours, if not through a computer then via a tablet or smart phone.
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The fall of the United States in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index seems attributable mostly to the war on whistleblowers. “The whistleblower is the enemy,” the report states, singling out the harsh treatment of Barrett Brown, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.
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A number of media organizations have published stories based on a leaked National Security Agency memo that suggests NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden “swiped” the password of a co-worker, a civilian NSA employee, who has been forced to resign for sharing his password. The forced resignation by the civilian NSA employee is being reported as part of disciplining people for allowing breaches of security to happen, not as a part of the NSA’s effort to find people to take the fall for something the agency did not prevent from happening.
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BitTorrent has no more control over how others use the code its founder developed than Google has over what people search for, but it has spent the past few years struggling to shake off the stigma of its technology being used by pirates.
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I am used to very polite answers from Huawei executives about how they want to be more open, transparent and gain the trust of the wider community outside of its home market, and Dr Li didn’t disappoint. However, as he continued, it dawned on me there had been at least one winner following the revelations of Edward Snowden in 2013…
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“Let us be very clear: Millennial Media has not and does not work with, nor pass information to, the NSA, GCHQ, or any other such agencies,” stated a Millennial spokesperson who said the company did not want to be interviewed for this story.
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Michael Hayden, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA), used a lecture at Oxford University Monday to candidly praise the Obama administration for constructing and exponentially strengthening the NSA’s illegal spying apparatus.
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After an ambitious year marked by an explosion of privacy and accountability legislation nationwide, the drone war marches on in 2014.
But has another, more urgent privacy battle — the global snooping assault by the U.S. National Security Agency — taken some of the fire out of the anti-drone movement?
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As reported previously, Mask was discovered recently by Kaspersky Lab as hitting targets in more than 30 countries and infecting at least 380 separate organisations. The malware uses several techniques to compromise PCs and servers, reportedly tapping various undocumented vulnerabilities in software to ensure success.
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Obama asked Holder and Clapper to develop additional possible reforms by the time the NSA’s phone records programs needs to be reauthorized in March.
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The key is finding a way to reap the benefits of self-reflection and letting your guard down outside the walls of the dorm. In other words, replicating the effects of “privacy” without literal privacy. It could be in a library, coffee shop, Chipotle, Bascom (when it isn’t an arctic precipice), a friend’s apartment, the handicap stall or during a long walk or run.
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Senior Obama administration officials say our government is sharply scaling back its drone strikes in Pakistan. That’s a step in the right direction. It would be even better if the entire U.S. program of targeted killings in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia were scrapped.
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A target that emerges from electronic surveillance cannot be assumed to align with a body on the ground to kill
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The World Council of Churches (WCC) today issued a statement condemning the use of drones which indiscriminately target civilian populations, injuring and killing innocent civilians in complete violation of international human right law
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The Los Angeles Times had a great story today that helps explain why few Americans — including the ones who make the country’s laws — know much about the drone program that is the vanguard of the endless war against terror. The basic reason, of course, is that the Obama administration wants to keep everyone in the dark, but the lengths to which officials will go can sometimes be surprising.
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