Archive | February, 2017
US Senator challenging border search of devices
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden called for accountability around reports that U.S. Customs and Border agents are obtaining the passwords to locked devices that belong to detainees at the border. Invoking the Fourth Amendment, Wyden dismissed such practices as extralegal, lacking probable cause and a warrant required for such searches.
Techcrunch » Legislation to stop U.S. border agents from demanding passwords and logins is on the way »
“We Won’t Block Pirate Bay”
By HAX on February 21, 2017 in Big Entertainment, Censorship, Copyright, File Sharing, Internet, Sweden
Last week’s landmark ruling compelling a Swedish ISP to block The Pirate Bay won’t spread quickly, despite copyright holders’ wishes. Telecoms giant Telia says that the ruling does not apply to them, so connectivity to the site will continue unless a court orders otherwise. Copyright holders are assessing their options.
Torrentfreak » “We Won’t Block Pirate Bay,” Swedish Telecoms Giant Says »
The young ones
A new study from Sweden has found that just over half of all young people admit to obtaining movies and TV shows from the Internet without paying, a figure that rockets to 70% among young men. With The Pirate Bay about to be blocked by one ISP with more to follow, can piracy rates be controlled?
TorrentFreak » Study: 70% of Young Swedish Men Are Video Pirates »
Encryption vs. Law Enforcement
By HAX on February 20, 2017 in Big Brother, Cryptography, IT security, Law enforcement, Privacy, surveillance
CSIS (Center for Strategic and International Studies) has just released its report on encryption and it comes to the same conclusions many other reports have: encryption is good for everyone and law enforcement fears are overstated and mostly-unrealized.
Italy treads carefully…
By HAX on February 20, 2017 in Big Brother, Civil liberties, Democracy, Human rights, Intelligence, IT security, Italy, Rule of law
The underlying principle is that a government trojan is only allowed to operate in ways that have been explicitly authorized by an Italian judge’s signed warrant.
And there are lots of security requirements.
Techdirt: Italy Proposes Astonishingly Sensible Rules To Regulate Government Hacking Using Trojans »
Kim Dotcom – NZ extradition ruling
The New Zealand High Court today ruled that Kim Dotcom can be extradited to the US, but it won’t be on copyright grounds. After months of deliberation, Justice Murray Gilbert agreed with the US Government’s position that this is a fraud case at its core, an offense that is extraditable. Dotcom says he will fight on.
It’s a political case.
It’s a political judgement.
I told you I can’t be extradited for Copyright and I was right.
What is this? Sharia law?— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) 20 februari 2017
TorrentFreak: Kim Dotcom Extradition to Go Ahead, But Not on Copyright Grounds »
BBC: Kim Dotcom can be extradited, New Zealand High Court rules »
“Big Brother in the U.K.”
By HAX on February 19, 2017 in Big Brother, Big Government, Data Protection, Privacy, surveillance, UK
The United Kingdom’s Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority is not part of an agency tasked with fighting terrorism. It’s a licensing body that “regulates businesses who provide workers to the fresh produce supply chain and horticulture industry, to make sure they meet the employment standards required by law,” according to its mission statement.
Nevertheless, under a new mass surveillance law, high-ranking officials in this agency will have as much access to the private internet information of British citizens as agencies that actually do fight terrorism. So will officials in the U.K.’s Department of Health, its Food Standards Agency, and its Gambling Commission, along with dozens of other government bodies.
Reason: Big Brother in the U.K. »
More web censorship
Poorly crafted court orders threaten the open Internet, Cloudflare says. (…)
“This is part of the danger you get into when you start to censor the Internet or you get orders to pull things down,” Kramer said. “It may not be so easy to limit access to a specific domain,” or to make sure a block applies only in a certain country.
Ars Technica: A court order blocked pirate sites that weren’t supposed to be blocked »
TorrentFreak: Cloudflare Puts Pirate Sites on New IP Addresses, Avoids Cogent Blockade »
The real Cryptocurrency Revolution
Cryptocurrency will cripple governmental ability to collect taxes, and they won’t see it coming. When it’s already happened, expect major changes to take place in how society is organized on a large scale – but also expect governments to act in desperation to retain control. (…)
The deployment of cryptocurrency is to tax collection what deployment of end-to-end encryption is to mass surveillance.
Rick Falkvinge: How cryptocurrency will cripple today’s governments – and they won’t see it coming »