EDRi » Human rights court: Website not liable for anonymous comment »
Month: March 2017
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Wikileaks #Vault7 Dark Matter – bad news for Apple
Today, March 23rd 2017, WikiLeaks releases Vault 7 “Dark Matter”, which contains documentation for several CIA projects that infect Apple Mac Computer firmware (meaning the infection persists even if the operating system is re-installed) developed by the CIA’s Embedded Development Branch (EDB). These documents explain the techniques used by CIA to gain ‘persistence’ on Apple Mac devices, including Macs and iPhones and demonstrate their use of EFI/UEFI and firmware malware.
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Decrypt, or else…
Falkvinge:
An appeals court has denied the appeal of a person who is jailed indefinitely for refusing to decrypt files. The man has not been charged with anything, but was ordered to hand over the unencrypted contents on police assertion of what the contents were. When this can result in lifetime imprisonment under “contempt of court”, the United States has effectively outlawed file-level encryption – without even going through Congress.
Falkvinge: With appeals ruling, the United States has effectively outlawed file encryption »
Ars Technica: Man jailed indefinitely for refusing to decrypt hard drives loses appeal »
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The Assange case – coming to a close, or not?
In the Assange case, Swedish prosecutors seem to be running out of excuses for dragging their feet.
The hearing at the Ecuadorian embassy in London is completed, after many years of delays. The transcript has been translated into Swedish. At least almost. On its web page, the Prosecutors’ Office writes (my translation)…
The prosecutors still awaits the translation of minor sections of the report. These are expected to be completed shortly.
Now, the Prosecutors’ Office will analyze the report and subsequently decide what other investigative meassures could be taken to move the investigation forward.
I suspect that the phrase »other investigative measures« will be of importance.
This case has dragged out for years, partly because of Assange – but mainly because of Swedish prosecutors unwillingness to move the case forward.
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect that there are interested parties who are quite happy having Julian Assange tucked away and guarded in a small embassy behind Harrods in London. This will hamper the work of Wikileaks and take a mental toll on Assange himself. Even a U.N. panel has objected to this form of treatment.
Once again, all attention will be directed at the Swedish Prosecutors’ Office. Will it finally decide to move the case forward or maybe close it? The latter would make most sense – if you look at the facts in this case, already well known to the world.
Or will they invent some new »investigative measures« as an excuse to keep Assange in limbo? I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.
This is no longer about justice. It’s about Sweden handling this case in a biased and unjust way – because of who Julian Assange is. And this goes all the way back to the Prosecutors Special Unit for »Advancement« of Sex Crimes re-opening this case after it had been closed by the regular branch of the Prosecutors’ Office.
I guess we’ll know what’s going to happen within the next few weeks. Or maybe not.
/ HAX
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Mixed signals from the EU on Bitcoin and virtual currencies
The past year, there have been very mixed signals about Bitcoin and virtual currencies from the EU. They range from the opinion that it is too early to regulate, as we cannot tell how they will develop – to demands for mandatory registration of all players and all transactions.
This piece might give you a picture of the current state of the debate: EU Parliament states Virtual Currencies cannot be anonymous »
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Assange investigation held up by translation issues
A hold-up translating a key document is delaying a decision by Swedish prosecutors over whether to continue their investigation of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange on allegations of sexual assault.
The Swedish prosecutors said they would make a decision when they receive a full translation of the interview conducted with Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in November.
The prosecutors received the report from Ecuadorian authorities on January 5, and said that it is “almost completed.”
RT » Lost in translation: Swedish prosecutors explain bizarre delay in Assange investigation »