M&M’s World Headlines: Feb 23, 2009
Tortured Canadians sue government The Star
Three Canadians who were jailed and tortured in Syria are filing new lawsuits against the federal government, armed with fresh information from an inquiry that implicated several agencies in their ordeals. The renewed legal actions come four months after a commission of inquiry said Canadian officials contributed to the brutalization of Ahmad El Maati, Muayyed Nureddin and Abdullah Almalki by sharing information – including unfounded and inflammatory accounts of extremist links – with foreign intelligence and police agencies. Former Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci cited the RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Foreign Affairs for mistakes. Iacobucci concluded the three men were tortured in Syrian custody and, in the case of El Maati, in Egypt as well. None of the men – all of whom are now in Canada and deny involvement in terrorism – has ever been charged.
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British intelligence officials ‘colluded with torture’ of UK citizens abroad UK Telegraph
At least 10 Britons have been tortured by security services in foreign countries acting in collusion with MI5, according to a report by a civil liberties group. Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims the UK citizens were tortured in Pakistan and subsequently questioned by British intelligence officials. It said evidence collated from Pakistan intelligence officials indicated a “systemic” operation among British security services, involving a significant number of agents. HRW warned more cases may surface and the issue of terrorism suspects interrogated by British agents is likely to “run much deeper”. The report will embarrass David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary who has been criticised for refusing to disclose documents relating to the treatment of Binyam Mohamed, the Guantánamo detainee and former British resident who is due to arrive in Britain this week where is expected to be examined by doctors.
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Tortured-British Gitmo detainee freed after 4 years Montreal Gazette
Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years, was released and put on a plane to Britain on Monday and accused the U.S. government of orchestrating his torture. Mohamed, 30, was due to arrive back in Britain shortly following his release from the U.S. prison camp in Cuba. His statement was issued via his lawyers after his release. “I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares,” said Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen who has British residency.
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iTunes leaks Kelly Clarkson’s new album weeks before its release Edible Apple
The Norway division of iTunes made a huge blunder yesterday when it accidentally made copies of Kelly Clarkson’s upcoming album, All I Ever Wanted, available for download via iTunes. Norwegian iTunes users noticed yesterday that 30 second previews of Clarkson’s new CD had become available, only to soon find out that full track downloads were possible as well.
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Scientists make advances on “nano” electronics Reuters
Two U.S. teams have developed new materials that may pave the way for ever smaller, faster and more powerful electronics as current semiconductor technology begins to reach the limits of miniaturization. One team has made tiny transistors — the building block of computer processors — a fraction of the size of those used on advanced silicon chips. Another has made a film material capable of storing data from 250 DVDs onto a surface the size of a coin. Both advances, published on Thursday in the journal Science, use nanotechnology — the design and manipulation of materials thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Nanotechnology has been hailed as a way to make strong, lightweight materials, better cosmetics and even tastier food.
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Cell phone checks if you have cancer by checking your breath Gadgetell
Can’t say I saw this coming. Applied Nanodetectors (AND) showed off a modified Nokia handset that can analyze your breath to tell if you have diseases. You read that right. A cell phone that plays doctor. AND makes a chip that fits within a cell phone. When you breathe into the a sensor on the phone, the chip can determine concentrations of gasses. With this information, AND claims that they can detect things like how sauced you are, if you have diabetes, or even lung cancer.
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Nigerian Swindles Citibank New York Times
Swindles in which someone overseas seeks access to a person’s bank account are so well known that most potential victims can spot them in seconds. But one man found success by tweaking the formula, prosecutors say: Rather than trying to dupe an account holder into giving up information, he duped the bank.
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Bill proposes ISPs, Wi-Fi keep logs for police CNet News
Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations. The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates.
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Path of Illicit DVD Amounts to File Sharing on Steroids Wired
Authorities said Friday they arrested a Los Angeles man in connection to last year’s pre-release uploading of “The Love Guru,” which found its way to the online Mininova BitTorrent site. According to an FBI affidavit (.pdf), authorities at one point eyed an Irvine, California man whose open Wi-Fi connection was used to upload the movie. In the end, it was his neighbor who uploaded the movie, which originated from a Los Angeles print shop that was producing a screener DVD for Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” last year. In the end, the Irvine man who uploaded the DVD was the neighbor of another man who the FBI initial focused on. The first suspect told authorities he was technologically inept, and did not know how to lock his Wi-Fi connection.
February , 2009
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February 23rd, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Youd think a bank could protect themselves from such scams but pwnage lol
What are those logs going to contain? I guess the Police will hate to learn what encryption is the hard way =P Jumbled letters and Numbers
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
I would love someone to write some software where you could add or rewrite the information on packets when someone sniffs them
Dont stick your nose where it dosent belong!!!
and the Government has no right or place to say to ISPs to keep logs Catch Murderers!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
@Comeonecomcast:
How could you handle the rewrite of a packet when it was sniffed? There might be a liability issue if the OS running on the router detects packet sniffing software, changes the contents of the packet, allows sniffing, and resets the contents back before passing it on. Would that not impact the throughput of the router?
Packet sniffing is already marketed, see BlueCoat Systems. They make Proxy servers that analyze the packets that come through with very little impact on performance. I can’t say much more because I interviewed with them (Dec 2008) and went to their info session back in 2006. But they have some amazing technology.
I don’t know who their customers are though or how they plan to handle 128-bit encryption without the key, that’s assuming BT uses encryption. I haven’t a clue, I’ve never used it.
What would really be helpful is for the government to say “OK, we’re going to demand your ISP keep track of your surf records and file sharing and all that, but, anytime we need it, we’ll have an oversight committee who’ll ensure no third party access is permitted. We’ll only allow police to access this information for pedo cases.”
February 24th, 2009 at 12:08 am
@Robert,
it won’t end there. Why do you think the first 3 articles above have people who have been tortured for nothing?
Bad info, partial info etc… This will be used by national/homeland security and people will be off to Egypt to have their genitals slashed for what they do online or who they talk to. The people above have already been tortured due to guilt by association.
This any different? No.
February 24th, 2009 at 2:12 am
ya and that UK law about police in photos is really not about some terrorist its about YOUR right to a free press and the ability to stop them form abuses and to nail anyone taking pictures at rallies and also at any repeat any dignitary meetings.
Wonder how that will play in the news ……now all they have to do is place a few cops about and poof no news UNLESS they want it.
in case ya don’t get it Afghanistan’s only internet is in kabul and the hills and caves where osama is doesn’t have it, and they don’t use cell phones
February 24th, 2009 at 8:43 am
@Robert
Not that I would rewrite that information (A)
Its just going to far, I think
February 24th, 2009 at 9:56 am
CHRoNoSS:
The people in the caves are using highly sophisticated communications equipment, combined with messengers. Are Afghans really into the internet? Do they have the infrastructure to support it?
Perhaps providing broadband was not one of the Taliban’s directives while it was in power and that’s why they don’t have it.
What’s this about the UK and photos of police?
All:
Of course it is going to far. The problem is too many people actually believe they will be safer or their children will be safer by more strict rules and by privacy invasion. “I have nothing to hide” is their defense, along with the belief no one will really be doing that to them. I have tried to argue about civil liberties and how they will be monitoring your information, your net usage, your phone usage, cameras in your home, etc… His reply? “If it helps them find the terrorist next door to me, then it is find with me.”
So naive. And as others have said, it won’t stop at DPI. They will push and push until everything is monitored. And there’s no accountability; no one is punished for false information or mistakes. Lives of the innocent will undoubtedly be ruined and the powers that be will get away with it. As long as we have people who continue to sacrifice freedom for security, we’ll see civil liberties eroded.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:04 am
” So naive. And as others have said, it won’t stop at DPI. They will push and push until everything is monitored. And there’s no accountability; no one is punished for false information or mistakes. Lives of the innocent will undoubtedly be ruined and the powers that be will get away with it. As long as we have people who continue to sacrifice freedom for security, we’ll see civil liberties eroded. ”
This has all happened before.
We’ve forgotten history, soon we’ll enjoy the repeat.
It looks like a race to see who gets to play the Nazi’s.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
@Robert
“What’s this about the UK and photos of police?”
The UK passed a new law a week ago (covered in one of the M&M postings) making it against the law to take a pic with a cop in it. Jail time, fines and so forth. All while the UK has the most amount of camera’s on the street in the world.
Journalists, photographers, media people and many other are pissed. Film/take a pic of a cop. Against the law now in the UK.
Think of the implications…
Think of the unbalanced implications.
The UK is the model of things to come here.