2/3 defcon: killswitch, bandwidth, floodgates

as egypt returns to the internet: lieberman says US internet killswitch bill is different than egypt's internet killswitch*
US tests system that beats internet censorship by dictatorships*
certified lies: detecting & defeating govt interception attacks against ssl*
vodafone volluded with egyptian regime's information warfare psyop*
metered bandwidth isn't about stopping bandwidth hogs; it's about preserving old media business models*
US p2p traffic lower than world average*
US cyber challenge partners with lockmart & microsoft*
US recruiting young cyber warriors*
docs in assange rape investigation leak onto web*
video: assange's boring 60 minutes interview*
no, hackers can't open hoover dam floodgates*
nasa spots 54 life-friendly planets*
video: ufo hovers over jerusalem*

growing up digital, wired for distraction

from nytimes: On the eve of a pivotal academic year in Vishal Singh’s life, he faces a stark choice on his bedroom desk: book or computer? By all rights, Vishal, a bright 17-year-old, should already have finished the book, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle,” his summer reading assignment. But he has managed 43 pages in two months.

He typically favors Facebook, YouTube and making digital videos. That is the case this August afternoon. Bypassing Vonnegut, he clicks over to YouTube, meaning that tomorrow he will enter his senior year of high school hoping to see an improvement in his grades, but without having completed his only summer homework.

On YouTube, “you can get a whole story in six minutes,” he explains. “A book takes so long. I prefer the immediate gratification.” Students have always faced distractions and time-wasters. But computers and cellphones, and the constant stream of stimuli they offer, pose a profound new challenge to focusing and learning.

11/11 defcon: brain drain & smart viruses

'vendetta' hacker strikes washington state u*
fcc probing google wi-fi spy scandal*
google's brain drain - employee fired for leaking pay raise info*
'cyber europe 2010' proves successful stress test for public bodies*
new cyber attack linked to fake nobel prize email*
smart viruses threaten global peace*
congresswoman says chance of cyber attack against electric grid is 100%*
oregonhumane.org: lure kittens to play online with (computer) mice*

cyberpervs peeping on schoolgirls

Thomas Floss, a data protection advisor, discovered cases while visiting schools for presentations on data protection and sensible behavior on internet. The Local reported, "on examining one of the computers, Floss discovered a so-called Trojan computer program which was being used to control the equipment, and which had been spread via the chat service ICQ." Hacker traced and when police arrived several live feeds to bedrooms were on individual's computer. Floss adds there is at least one student at each school, after visiting 50-60 schools, who report light doesn't turn off as it should when webcam is off--a possible indication a Trojan program is in control.

10/14 defcon: settlements, citizenship & commercial gain

school district pays $610k to settle webcam spying lawsuits*
dhs scoured social media sites during obama inauguration for 'items of interest'*
applying for citizenship? US citizenship & immigration wants to be your 'friend'*
iranian, chinese computers also hacked dc internet voting system*
comcast pushes bot alert program nationwide*
facebook is 'killing privacy for commercial gain'*
update: superbombs & secret jails:
what to look for in wikileaks' upcoming iraq docs*

uk schools running ufo crash drills

from dateline zero: There seems to be a growing trend among schools to stage a UFO crash, and then teach students how to react, as well as to “properly” investigate and report on the incident... The latest “UFO drill” took place Wed, Sept 29, at Sandford Primary School in the UK. The kids were treated to a full UFO crash scenario that included wreckage, police tape, and real police officers. (Perhaps it was only lacking men from the government telling the children not to talk about what was seen.) What’s interesting is that “police were on hand to show the children how to properly investigate the UFO crash site.” Um, were any of the officers speaking from experience? A news article at The Weston Mercury elaborates on the role played by the officers:

Teacher and organiser Victoria Shepherd said: “PCSO Wright and PC Church were brilliant. They helped the children secure the scene and talked about what to do in an emergency, how they gathered evidence, how to interview witnesses etc.”

Are UFO drills becoming something of a routine part of the curriculum in the UK? It’s certainly becoming more and more of a common event. Each time, it’s a joint exercise put in place by the school and local law enforcement. A similar drill took place in Feb of 2009 when Lanchester Endowed Parochial Primary, in County Durham, staged a surprise “crash” behind the school. In Sept 2008 “children from an Edgware school were made to believe aliens had landed in their playground by teachers and police.” Again, each time it was conducted by the school system and police — teaching children what to do in event of a UFO event. Afterward, the kids are asked to write about their experience.

related: strange signal comes from alien planet, scientist says

defcon 9/2: cyborg, spy school, asteroids

intel developing improved mind reading computers*
pentagon may apply preemptive warfare policy to the internet*
flashback: defense official discloses cyberattack*
judge says pennsylvania district must pay $260k in spying case*
flashback: no charges in pennsylvania school's webcam spygate*
video: our terrifyingly crowded solar system - how the asteroids are closing in*

no charges in pennsylvania school's webcam spygate

related: young people will have to change their names to escape 'cyber past' warns google ceo
from threat level: Federal authorities announced Tuesday they will not prosecute administrators connected to a webcam spying scandal at a suburban Philadelphia school district. Prosecutors and the FBI opened an inquiry following a February privacy lawsuit accusing Lower Merion School District officials of spying on students with webcams on the 2,300 district-issued MacBooks. The lawyers who filed the lawsuit claim the district secretly snapped thousands of webcam images of students, including images of youths at home, in bed or even “partially dressed.” Zane David Memeger, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, said he found no criminal intent in the alleged surveillance. “I have concluded that bringing criminal charges is not warranted in this matter,” Memeger said in a statement. “For the government to prosecute a criminal case, it must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person charged acted with criminal intent. We have not found evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone involved had criminal intent.”

flashbacks: school spied on kids via webcams on school-supplied laptops & webcamgate expands as lawyers say 1000s of pictures taken

defcon 5/6: global cooperation & orwellian legislation

cybersecurity meet ends with calls for 'global cooperation'*
summit in dallas targets cybercrime - sponsored by goldman sachs & microsoft, etc*
should google try to prevent terrorism?*
getting ready for tomorrow's space wars*
ibm's city sim trains planners to tackle future problems for growing urban centers*
watch the skies! are aliens really coming or is it a govt plot?*
internet 'hate sites' jump 20% in 1yr*
cyber attacks hyped to justify net regulation*
groups call 'privacy' legislation orwellian*
blackberry 'predicted a century ago' by pioneering physicist nikola tesla*
report reams admins for secretly snapping student pics*
facebook bug allowed users to eavesdrop on chats*
top 10 reasons to quit facebook*

defcon 4/29: global strike, space planes & electronic warfare

missing soviet nuclear electrocar found on the moon!*
lockmart supports nsa's 2010 cyber defense exercise*
ex-nsa official pleads not guilty to helping reporter*
air force launched secretive x-37b space plane:
'we don’t know when it’s coming back'*
US military launches top-secret robotic spacecraft*
launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon*
chavez accuses US plane of 'electronic warfare'*
pentagon's mach20 glider htv-2 disappears, whacking 'global strike' plans*
police seize gizmodo's computers in lost iphone probe*
students struggle to go without media for 24hrs*

webcamgate expands as lawyers say 1000s of pictures taken

school secretly snapped 1000s of students at home

from threat level: A webcam spying scandal at a suburban Philadelphia school district is broadening, with lawyers claiming the district secretly snapped thousands of webcam images of students using school-issued laptops without the pupils’ knowledge or consent.

Some of the images included pictures of youths at home, in bed or even “partially dressed,” according to a Thursday filing in the case. Pupils’ online chats were also captured, as well as a record of the websites they visited.

When the story first broke in February, the district said the cameras were activated only handful of times when a laptop was reported stolen or missing — an assertion lawyers suing the district say is false.

“Discovery to date has now revealed that thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots (.pdf) have been taken from numerous other students in their homes, many of which never reported their laptops lost or missing,” attorney Mark Haltzman wrote in a Thursday federal court filing.

In February, the Lower Merion School District deactivated the webcam-tracking program secretly lodged on 2,300 student laptops...

Thursday’s filing, which claims 400 images of Robbins were taken during a two-week period last fall, also says that an IT administrator at the district “may be a voyeur.” Lawyers suing the district are urging a federal judge presiding over the case to grant a forensic examination of administrator’s personal computer.

The lawsuit said the administrator, who has been placed on paid leave, “invokes the Fifth Amendment to every question asked of her, including a question asked as to whether she had ever downloading (sic) pictures to her own computer, including pictures of students who were naked while in their home.”

The lawsuit seeks class-action status to represent all the district’s 2,300 high school students.

Proposed legislation announced late Thursday by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pennsylvania) would make it a federal felony to remotely spy on private residences and hotel rooms with video cameras.

defcon 4/1: cybercensors & torrents of controversy

censorship act: new amendment could block wikileaks*
army intel acorn-ing wikileaks? web publisher under attack*
uk lords pass controversial internet piracy bill*
computer-controlled swarm of bacteria builds tiny pyramid*
don't believe the hype: there's no such thing as 'cyber'*

school laptop spy case prompts wiretap act rethink*
isohunt told to pull .torrent files offline, likely to close*
indie filmmakers sue 1000s of bittorrent users*
how the fbi busted one youtube nutjob in under a day*
comcast rolls out broadband meters coast to coast*