Navigation

Germany: No liability for open WiFi

By on February 27, 2017 in Anonymity, File Sharing, Free Information, Germany, Intellectual Property, Internet

Wenn Gäste illegale Downloads starten, müssen Cafébetreiber keine Gerichtskosten mehr fürchten. Das soll ein neuer Gesetzentwurf regeln, der auch klarstellt: Es gibt weiterhin keine Passwortpflicht für offene Netze.

So, it seems that operators (cafés, hotels, etc.) of open WiFi nets in Germany no longer will be held liable or risk legal costs if it is used by someone for e.g. illegal downloads.

Nor will there be any requirement as such for password protection. However, a court or a national authority can issue an order against a WLAN operator to prevent the repetition of an infringement.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Weniger Haftungsrisiken für offene W-Lan-Netze »

0

Meanwhile, in the war on terror

By on February 24, 2017 in Civil rights, FBI, Intelligence, Law enforcement, Police state, US

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE proudly announced the first FBI terror arrest of the Trump administration on Tuesday: an elaborate sting operation that snared a 25-year-old Missouri man who had no terrorism contacts besides the two undercover FBI agents who paid him to buy hardware supplies they said was for a bomb — and who at one point pulled a knife on him and threatened his family.

There have been many reports (and at least one documentary film) about the FBI framing people who probably are not that dangerous at all – just to be seen doing something.

Law enforcement should focus on real terrorist, not creating their own ones.

The Intercept » Trump’s first terror arrest: A broke stoner the FBI threatened at knifepoint »

0

EU tech still used to suppress democracy

By on February 23, 2017 in Big Brother, Civil liberties, Civil rights, EU, Global Politics, Human rights

In order to prevent dictatorships from abusing European technology to crack down on political opposition, the EU started regulating the export of surveillance technology a few years ago. But that has far from stopped the exports to problematic countries, a cross-border investigation reveals.

A problem is that non-democratic countries use European standard configurated IT-systems – that have mass surveillance functions as a default feature.

Information.dk: Europe’s exports of spy tech to authoritarian countries revealed »

0

Trump, CIA, NSA, Palantir, Facebook & the common denominator

By on February 22, 2017 in Big Brother, Big Data, Big Government, Civil rights, Democracy, Facebook, Intelligence, NSA, Police state, Privacy, Snowden

In the demo, Palantir engineers showed how their software could be used to identify Wikipedia users who belonged to a fictional radical religious sect and graph their social relationships. In Palantir’s pitch, its approach to the VAST Challenge involved using software to enable “many analysts working together [to] truly leverage their collective mind.” The fake scenario’s target, a cartoonishly sinister religious sect called “the Paraiso Movement,” was suspected of a terrorist bombing, but the unmentioned and obvious subtext of the experiment was the fact that such techniques could be applied to de-anonymize and track members of any political or ideological group.

The Intercept describes the (partly CIA financed) Palantir mass surveillance analysis software.

As if the above is not chilling enough, consider that Palantir owner Peter Thiel has become an advisor to President Trump and is on the board of directors at Facebook.

The Intercept: How Peter Thiel’s Palantir helped the NSA spy on the whole world »

/ HAX

0

US Senator challenging border search of devices

By on February 21, 2017 in Big Brother, IT security, Police state, Privacy, US

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 »

0

“We Won’t Block Pirate Bay”

By 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 »

0