7/14 defcon: murdoch's watergate, military meltdown & more

hacking scandal could be murdoch's watergate*

video: rupert murdoch's son could be prosecuted by US*
video: murdoch papers could have hacked US phones as well*
update: news corp uk newspaper ceo brooks resigns*
washington post website jobs section hacked*
anonymous hacks monsanto computers; posts employee info*
hackers claim they exposed booz allen hamilton data*
'military meltdown monday' - 90k military usernames, hashes released*
how digital detectives deciphered stuxnet, the most menacing malware in history*
stuxnet timeline shows correlation among events*
wi-fi–hacking neighbor from hell sentenced to 18yrs*
smart meters deconstructed*
zuckerberg & google elite hit google+ privacy button*
google turning us into forgetful morons*
cbs faked 4th of july fireworks display*

google+ leading to 'creepy' omnipresence online?

from pcworld: Google+'s creepy integration everwhere may extend your online identity when you surf, and its social Circles can be very useful and flexible. But it remains to be seen how Google's foray into social networking will lead to a stable version of identity online like what Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt talked up at a recent event. After all, the identity you can build on Google+ right now is almost identical to the one you can build on Facebook -- the same profile, pictures and status updates. The main difference right now is the friends you can add to your Circles, due to the problems Google's been having with letting people into the system, which Schmidt cites as Google+'s biggest hiccup. Given all the hatred for Facebook over privacy and security snafus, it seems to me the issue on the Internet is not just lack of identity, but lack of control over your personal persona online. At the recent event, Schmidt shared some of his thoughts on the newly launched Google+. He implied that the Google+ system is designed for building identity -- the real issue of the Internet. As Tech Crunch reports, Schmidt said Google tried to build a system that you could use for relationships over time. "Circles is particularly well-suited to the contact list you have in your phone," he was quoted as saying. Schmidt is right about one thing. We don't need another Facebook, and online social interaction could definitely use more authenticity. Schmidt said more products are planned for Google+. Let's hope they include strong privacy controls and actually useful applications, lest Google+ turns into just another social obligation.

7/7 defcon: the atlantis event & awesome announcements

atlantis launch will be iconic event, the last of its kind*

full range of opinions & emotions surrounds last shuttle flight*
video: space shuttle atlantis' big-screen launch events & tributes*
nasa's dramatic rescue plan in case of shuttle emergency*
plans to strip mine the moon may soon be more than just sci-fi*
security grifters partner-up on sinister cyber-surveillance project*
army's $2.7b cloud computing system does not work*
hackers are everywhere. panic!*
hackers claim apple security breach*
hacker allegedly breaches florida voting database*
@foxnewspolitics twitter feed hacked; assassination hoax tweeted*
facebook's "awesome" announcement is... skype video chat*
one in three 'overwhelmed by technology'*
video: geocaching treasure hunt leads to uk bomb scare*

6/30 defcon: copywrong, dislike, discoveries

leaked: uk copyright lobby holds closed-door meetings with govt to discuss national web-censorship regime*

terrorists terrorised: al qaeda hacked*
scotus term in review: it's a mixed bag*
as hulu flirts, comcast must stay mum*
facebook 10th most hated company in US*
news corp. on verge of myspace sale*
judge: google can be sued for wiretapping in street view debacle*
kkr - kohlberg, kravis, roberts - to buy top web hosting/domain registrar 'go daddy'; but who is kkr?*
scientists discover most distant quasar known to exist*

6/23 defcon: strategies, taxes & trident tribunal

executive orders give pentagon new cyberwar guidelines*
officials 'expected to announce the entire strategy soon'*
ex-dhs chief warns of cyberwar with hackers*
cyber attacks grow more severe, frequent, say it practitioners*
bitcoin prices plummet on hacked exchange*
malware bitcoin theft a false flag on revolutionary currency?*
states look to internet taxes to close budget gaps*
righthaven loss: judge rules reposting entire article is fair use*
fbi seizes web servers, knocking sites offline*
$74m scareware ring raided in 'operation trident tribunal'*
winklevoss twins end appeal of facebook settlement*
google breaks billion-visitor barrier*
video: at new nyc hotel, a robot handles the luggage*

facebook loses 6m US users in may

social network is still growing, but not as fast
from computerworld: Facebook may continue to gain users, but the world's biggest social network isn't gaining them as quickly as it has been and is actually losing users in the U.S. Facebook gained 11.8 million more users last month alone, according to a study by Inside Facebook. While that's a lot of new users, it's less than the 13.9 million new users who joined the site in April, or the 20 million gain during some months in the past year. And while Inside Facebook reports that the social network is approaching 700 million users worldwide, the number of U.S. users has dropped. The study found that Facebook lost 6 million U.S. users in May. The study noted that Facebook had 155.2 million U.S. users at the beginning of May but 149.4 million at the end of the month. Other countries showed losses as well; Canada dropped by 1.52 million and the U.K. dropped by more than 100,000, but the U.S. showed the biggest loss for Facebook last month.

one in four US hackers 'is an fbi informer'

from guardian: The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established. Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as "carders" – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.

So ubiquitous has the FBI informant network become that Eric Corley, who publishes the hacker quarterly, 2600, has estimated that 25% of hackers in the US may have been recruited by the federal authorities to be their eyes and ears. "Owing to the harsh penalties involved and the relative inexperience with the law that many hackers have, they are rather susceptible to intimidation," Corley told the Guardian.

"It makes for very tense relationships," said John Young, who runs Cryptome, a website depository for secret documents along the lines of WikiLeaks. "There are dozens and dozens of hackers who have been shopped by people they thought they trusted."

related defcon updates:
hackers attack fbi partner website; atlanta infraguard exposed*
pbs website hacked with fake news*
video: did hackers deface fox news building in nyc?*
after cyberattack targeted lockheed martin -
second defense contractor l-3 'actively targeted' with rsa securid hacks*
gmail hack targeted white house*
cyber attacks can count as act of war*
writer urges internet junkies to 'switch off' and think*
video: sony loses $3.2b after playstation network hacked*
hackers attack another sony network, post data*
'world of warcraft' blamed for divorce as men 'prefer them to their wives'*
un report declares internet access a human right*
oregon senator wyden freezes second internet censorship bill*
facebook quietly switches on facial recognition tech by default*
apple patent will cripple devices when in proximity of 'a concert or a classified facility'*
how could so many crooks have managed to scam the national security agency?*

dhs to gain 'autonomy' under obama cybersecurity plan

dhs merges with dod/nsa under obama's cyber threat plan
from kurt nimmo: Obama has proposed legislation that will give the Department of Homeland Security more “autonomy” in its effort to protect civilian computer networks from ostensible cyber attack, according to Information Week. White House officials testified Monday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the comprehensive plan presented by the administration two weeks ago to create legislation to protect critical infrastructure and networks. It will merge operations with the Pentagon.

“One key aspect of the plan is to put the DHS’s mission to protect U.S. federal civilian networks on par with the DOD’s mission to protect U.S. military networks, giving the DHS more autonomy to act against cyberthreats on behalf of the government than before,” writes Elizabeth Montalbano for the technology publication.

DHS has also sought to merge the effort with the NSA and various civilian operations.

Last October, the Obama administration adopted new procedures for using the Defense Department’s vast array of cyberwarfare capabilities in case of an attack on vital computer networks inside the United States, “delicately navigating historic rules that restrict military action on American soil,” according to the New York Times.

According to the Times, a team of military networking experts would be assigned to the operations center at the Homeland Security Department. The new approach will begin with a Department of Homeland Security team deploying to Fort Meade, Maryland, home to both the National Security Agency, which specializes in electronic espionage, and the military’s new Cyber Command.

At the time, government officials said the new rules contain “a rapid response to a cyberthreat while balancing concerns that civil liberties might be at risk should the military take over such domestic operations,” in other words the government announced effort to protect against the hyped threat of cyber terrorism would require a sacrifice of liberty.

The DHS plan announced on Monday will give “the DHS – recognizing our similar role to DOD with regard to federal civilian networks – similar authority with regard to personnel so we can bring them on board rapidly,” Philip R. Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, told Congress.

The plan also gives DHS “much clearer authority and responsibility to work in a voluntary way” with the private sector, something it already has been doing, Reitinger added.

In 2009, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman sidestepped answering if the Pentagon’s cyber command would be capable of offensive operations as well as protecting the Department of Defense. “This command is going to focus on the protection and operation of DoD’s networks,” he said. “This command is going to do what is necessary to be able to do that.”

In 2006, a Pentagon document entitled the Information Operation Roadmap was released to the public after a Freedom of Information Request by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. It states that the Pentagon has developed a “robust offensive suite of capabilities to include full-range electronic and computer network attack… We Must Fight the Net.”

related updates:
facebook & google join forces to oppose privacy bill*
18 places censored by google maps:
from aberdeen proving grounds in maryland to... north korea*
nsa collects as much data as is stored in the entire library of congress every 6hrs?*
video: nsa whistleblower tom drake talks espionage act, 9/11 & intel with '60 minutes'*

5/19 defcon: blockage, bills, threats & storms

obama doj tries to block unclassified info from nsa leaker trial*
new yorker mag sheds new light on nsa's warrantless wiretapping & data mining*
senate bill requires warrant for email, cloud content*
senate bill makes illegal internet streaming a felony*
bill clinton: create internet agency*
US secret service questions 13yr-old over facebook 'threat'*
twitter feed @omgfacts lawsuit underscores power of a tweet*
prolific 'spokesman' for 'anonymous' leaves hacker group*
dhs's top cybersecurity official resigns*
giant storm revealed on saturn*
video: scientists discover habitable earth-like planet*

leuren moret reveals google shocker!

You need wonder no further whether Orwell's vision came true! Leuren Moret, radiation expert, will drop a brick on your head!On Jeff Rense's program, Moret informs Microsoft, Google, Facebook social networking sites, Ebay, all have roots in military intelligence. Microsoft software insures backdoors into computers. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google founders, park their private jet at a NASA facility. Perhaps, most shocking, Moret reveals Google is doing DNA surveys from space! Whew! The Human Genome Project is just one means along with computing, medicine and the police state to establish a totalitarian scientific oligarchy with a depop agenda. If you still aren't convinced, Moret relates depleted uranium particles stick to DNA and mitochondria, which provides the body's energy! Moret credits Bertrand Russell with these ideas of control and believes sterilization is in most people's future,"...wild reproduction is no longer an option," according to Moret's recap of Russell's message! There's still more with human beings as electric transmitters with control integrated into the HAARP system! It's a can't miss program!

as smartphone scandal grows, tech firms run for cover

while they reap windfall profits...
from antifascist calling: Recent revelations that Apple's iPhone and iPad, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating systems collect, store and transmit records of users' physical locations to central databases--secretly, and without consent--have ignited a firestorm over Americans' privacy rights in an age of hypersurveillance.

And with a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Florida by two iPhone users, The Register reports, Apple guru Steve Jobs was forced to respond to complaints after the firm's usual tactic--deafening silence--failed to assuage customer's anxieties.

The lawsuit alleges that "irreparable injury has resulted and continues to result from Apple's unauthorized tracking of millions of Americans," plaintiffs Vikram Ajjampur and William Devito averred. They are requesting their case be granted class-action status, a move likely to send shudders along the silicon spine of the secretive Cupertino high-tech powerhouse.

In response to the outcry, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple "is scaling back how much information its iPhones store about where they have been and said it will stop collecting such data when consumers request it, as the company tries to quell concerns it was tracking iPhone owners."

But as journalists Yukari Iwatani Kane and Jennifer Valentino-Devries point out, "a week of silence on the growing controversy, raised new questions and criticism about its data-handling practices."

related video: assange calls facebook 'most appalling spy machine' ever

4/28 defcon: guilt trips down the surveillance highway

obama on manning: 'he broke the law' - so much for fair trial*
video: 'pentagon papers' whistleblower daniel ellsberg says bradley manning can't get fair trial after obama's comment*
some fbi cyber agents lack adequate skills, report finds*
tomtom apologies for giving customer driving data to cops*
android data tied to users? some say yes*
facebook looks to cash in on user data*
apple says they 'must have' comprehensive user location data on you - and you will comply*
sony says credit card data at risk in playstation hack*
sony unveils ipad rival tablets*
'a vast, global online network of homeless people'*
miniature drone to drop tracking dust onto people*
cryptogon.com on 'the future where soda cans have screens'*
limewire facing billion-dollar damages trial*
video: ice uses seized domains for 'best anti-piracy video ever'*
spacex aims to put man on mars in 10-20yrs*
seti institute to shut down alien-seeking radio dishes*
alpha magnetic spectrometer to go on endeavour shuttle*
gabrielle giffords can attend husband's shuttle launch*
endeavor shuttle launch: time, where to watch*

4/21 defcon: manning up & tracking you down

manning under mental evaluation, being moved to kansas*
protesters interrupt obama to sing support for wikileaks suspect*
neo-nazi freed, online speech protected*
president obama's 4/20 facebook townhall*
facebook installs solar panels at new data center*
poker today, alternative news tomorrow?:
video: US shuttering online gambling sites*
video: white house authoring new cybersecurity bill granting expanded powers to dhs*
obama pushes chinese-style internet id system*
iphone keeps record of everywhere you go*
researcher says iphone location data already used by cops*
oak ridge, top federal lab, hacked in phishing attack*
nasa awards $270m in spaceship contracts*
video: april 29 set for shuttle launch*

4/14 defcon: opt-out botnet & fakebook revolutions

law would let you 'opt-out' of online web tracking*
private records of 3.5m people exposed by texas*
in a surprise appeal: tjx hacker claims US authorized his crimes as 'key undercover secret service informant'*
'facebook revolutions' & people-powered coups: US trains activists to evade security forces*
with an actual court order, fbi hijacks 'coreflood' botnet, sends kill signal*
police increasingly peeping at email, instant messages*
report: chinese far outstrip US cyber-spy fight for military, business secrets*
rhode island lawmakers look at law to school cyberbullying*
dozens apply for space pilot jobs at virgin galactic*
kochab star in little dipper about to go supernova;
last supernova observed by galileo in 1604*
audio satire: fbi director wishes he had some alien thing to cover up*

3/31 defcon: morpheus, auroras, smartbombs & omg's!

secret space plane can't hide from amateur sleuths*
secret x-37b space plane caught on video by skywatchers*
nasa tracking 'a large object approaching the sun'*
video: will 'morpheus' be the first vehicle on the moon since apollo?*
video: stunningly beautiful time-lapse footage of aurora*
nsa said to focus its decrypting skills on nasdaq cyber attack*
australia pm julia gillard's computer hacked*
federal courts worry your smartphone might be a smartbomb*
facebook says no revolution for the palestinians*
omg! online abbreviations make it into oxford dictionary*

myspace loses 10 million users in a month

from telegraph: MySpace lost 10 million unique users in one month at the start of the year, according to new figures. The steep decline follows a further round of major redundancies at the start of 2011 and the continued growth of Facebook, which now has 30 million registered users in the UK. According to the latest comScore figures, MySpace lost 10 million unique users between January and February of this year, going form 73 million to 63 million in a matter of four weeks. This time last year, when site began the first in a series of major relaunches, MySpace attracted 95 million unique users. Parent company News Corporation is reportedly still trying to sell off the ailing social network – which had hopes to reinvent itself through its streaming service, MySpace Music and its renewed focus on entertainment content. At the start of the year Mike Jones, MySpace’s chief executive announced that the company was making 500 staff members redundant and slashing its international operation to a skeleton staff.

related updates: facebook wants to add friends in washington*
fmr obama press secretary gibbs may join facebook executive branch*

3/24 defcon: mobile, micro, mystery, messenger

at&t to purchase t-mobile for US$39b;
as strangling of the free internet begins continues*
microsoft, feds pull plug on spam network*
fbook traffic mysteriously passed through chinese isp*
goldman programmer gets 8yrs for code theft*
tracking your wi-fi trail at the airport*
first tweet & other communication firsts*
nasa 'messenger' enters orbit around mercury*
chavez says capitalism may have ended life on mars*
video: 'red' rocker sammy hagar abducted by aliens*

satire?: cia 'facebook' program dramatically cut agency's costs

from onn: The CIA's invention of Facebook has saved the government millions of dollars.

3/10 defcon: supermoon, double sun, mirage men

extreme 'supermoon' to take place next week*
mystery of two suns in chinese sky leaves scientists puzzled*
does the sun have jupiter-sized companion star in far reaches of solar system?*
persistent evidence of a jovian mass solar companion in the oort cloud*
'mirage men' book on paranoia, technology, psyops & ufo's*
giffords plans to attend husband's space shuttle launch*
US probes 'anonymous' hacker threat over wikileaks soldier*
manning's father condemns treatment of imprisoned son*
zuckerberg's dog, 'beast', gets facebook page*
google is america's british east india company*
video: new robot has incredibly realistic facial expressions*

2/17 defcon: cyber-coup, backdoor & track more

cyber-attack hits canadian government computers*
report: egypt shut down net with big switch, not phone calls*
voice of america uses social media to aid foreign dissent*
surveillance footage & code clues indicate stuxnet hit iran*
cia head panetta warns of possible cyber-pearl harbor*
lynn urges partnership against cyber threat*
dod talks up plans to deploy cybercommandos 3.0*
video: hillary announces expanded US cyber-coup campaign*
US intelligence officials concerned about cyber attack*
'kill switch' internet bill alarms privacy experts*
cyberwar issues likely to be addressed only after a catastrophe*
fema loses official lesson reports on katrina, floods, fires*
feds seize 18 more domains in piracy crackdown*
fbi to announce significant new wiretap push:
backdoors galore in everything from skype to bittorrent*
online 'do not track' bill introduced in congress*
internet searches beginning to be used as evidence in trials*
obama/holder case against assange dribbles away*
jobs, schmidt & zuckerberg meet with obama in san francisco*
reminder: facebook & google are cia fronts*