14-year jail for SMS joke on Pakistani president Economic Times
It would seem that in Pakistan, there is nothing you need to watch out for more than making a joke about President Asif Ali Zardari by SMS (Short Messaging Service). If you mistakenly, or just for fun, share with a friend one of the hundreds of derisory jokes about the leader floating around electronically, you could get a 14-year prison sentence. Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik announced last week that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been tasked to trace SMS (or text messages) and e-mails that “slander the political leadership of the country” under the vague Cyber Crimes Act. In addition to facing up to 14 years in the jail, violators could have their property seized, Malik said, adding that the government would seek Interpol assistance in deporting foreign offenders… “Jokes in Pakistani political culture are a very effective way to delegitimise rulers. Historically, these have been used by the weak and helpless against the powerful,” said Rasool Bux Raees, a political analyst at Lahore University of Management Sciences. Local media, human rights activists and bloggers have been swift in criticising the proposed law against anti-government SMS and online texts as “draconian and authoritarian”…. The former director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I.A. Rehman, condemned the legislation as “standing in conflict with the freedom of expression that is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan”.

Open-source firmware vuln exposes wireless routers The Register
Back door to complete control – A hacker has discovered a critical vulnerability in open-source firmware available for wireless routers made my Linksys and other manufacturers that allows attackers to remotely penetrate the device and take full control of it. The remote root vulnerability affects the most recent version of DD-WRT, a piece of firmware many router users install to give their device capabilities not available by default. The bug allows unauthenticated users to remotely gain root access simply by luring someone on the local network to a malicious website. “This means someone can even post some crafted [img] link on a forum and a dd-wrt router owner visiting the forum will get owned,”…

FCC urged to support net-neutrality in U.S. broadband plan Computerworld
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission should include net-neutrality rules in a national broadband plan the agency is developing over the next seven months, thousands of U.S. residents have told the FCC. With the public comment period for the FCC’s national broadband plan closing today, comments continued to flow into the agency’s Web site, with many using a form letter from media reform group Free Press to ask the FCC to include net-neutrality and open-access rules in the plan. As of noon, more than 9,700 comments had been filed with the FCC on the national broadband plan. “An open and accessible Internet is essential to America’s future,” says the form letter. “In crafting the national broadband plan, the Federal Communications Commission must protect Internet users from corporate gatekeepers who seek to keep prices high and speeds slow, limit access to content and stifle innovation and market choice.

Oldest UK television discovered BBC
Britain’s oldest working television has been tracked down in a house in London. The 1936 Marconiphone is thought to have been made in the months that Britain’s first “high-definition” television service began. The set belongs to Jeffrey Borinsky, an electrical engineer and collector of antique television and radio sets. He bought the set, which has a 12-inch (30cm) screen from another collector 10 years ago and is still working on restoring it to its original state. The screen is mounted inside a wooden cabinet. The image from the cathode ray tube, mounted vertically inside the cabinet, is reflected onto a mirror. The few controls include volume and vertical hold, but there is no channel changer, as there was only one channel when it was made: the BBC.

Will France’s Three Strikes Law Also Allow Gov’t Email Surveillance? TechDirt
With the effort underway to have Sarkozy’s new “three strikes” law approved in France, much of the focus has been on the slightly ridiculous five minute rule it gives to judges reviewing charges of copyright infringement online. An anonymous reader points us to a much more worrisome issue: that the law appears to sneak in provisions that allow for email surveillance by the government. [Refer to: France one step closer to state surveillance of email
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/275878]

Streaming, not P2P, behind mobile broadband data usage surge Ars Technica
Mobile data use grew by 30 percent in the second quarter of this year as HTTP streaming from sites like YouTube and Hulu surged 58 percent. P2P use can cause mobile data congestion, but it’s growing far more slowly than other kinds of data traffic.

The great WiFi robbery: [AU] police to patrol down your street Sydney Morning Herald
The Queensland Police fraud squad says it will be the first police force in the world to go on “wardriving” missions to warn homes and businesses if their wireless networks are not secure. Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said criminals were piggy-backing on the WiFi connections of ordinary computer users and using them to anonymously commit crimes such as fraud and identity theft. The process of searching for open wireless networks using a laptop or handheld in a moving vehicle is known in the geek community as “wardriving”… Detective Superintendent Hay said it was important for police to get “ahead of the game” as crooks were now sharing information on satellite maps showing vulnerable areas with large numbers of unsecured networks.

Yet Another Call for An ISP Levy Michael Geist
Marian Hebb writes an op-ed (http://www.straight.com/article-241403/marian-hebb-collective-licensing-would-help-writers-get-paid-online) in the Georgia Straight calling for a collective rights model for written materials found online, arguing that it “would likely mean a small subscription increase, payable by users to their Internet service provider, to cover most copyright material they can download freely from the Internet.” [Comment: Copied/pasted in whole]

Bank fined £3m for data loss The Register
The Financial Services Authority has fined HSBC £3m for failing to properly look after its customers’ information and private data. These failures to follow proper processes led to at least two losses of customer data. The FSA investigated the bank and found unencrypted customer details on open shelves and unlocked cabinets. Customer details were also sent via the post or couriers to third parties, and staff were not trained in dealing with risks associated with identity theft. In April 2007 HSBC Actuaries lost details on 1,917 pension scheme members. In July HSBC Actuaries, along with two other subsidiaries, were warned by HSBC Group Insurance’s compliance department to sort out data security. But in February 2008 HSBC Life sent an unencrypted CD through the post containing details of 180,000 customers. The CD was lost. HSBC Life UK Limited (HSBC Life) was fined £1,610,000, HSBC Actuaries and Consultants Limited (HSBC Actuaries) was fined £875,000 and HSBC Insurance Brokers Limited (HSBC Insurance Brokers) was fined £700,000.

Brawl in South Korea parliament Canoe
Hundreds of competing lawmakers screamed and wrestled in South Korea’s parliament on Wednesday as a rivalry over contentious media reform bills descended into a brawl that sent at least one to a hospital…. The parliament plunged into chaos, as lawmakers scuffled and shouted abuse at each other. Women lawmakers from the rival parties joined in the melee, grabbing each other by the neck and trying to bring opponents to the floor…. The opposition strongly opposes the proposed media reforms that would ease restrictions on large businesses and newspapers owning stakes in major broadcasting stations. They claim the move is a ploy by the government of President Lee Myung-bak to get more sympathetic media coverage by allowing large conservative newspapers to get into the broadcasting business… Despite the opposition lawmakers’ attempt to blockade the National Assembly, ruling party legislators managed to get into the hall and rammed through the bills amid angry shouts from their opponents. Some opposition lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to jump on to the speaker’s podium. They were dragged away by ruling party lawmakers. [Comment: Now this is what I would have liked to have seen at the CRTC New Media and Neutrality hearings!]

Tiburon Wants To Photograph Every Car Entering And Leaving… But Don’t Worry About Your Privacy TechDirt
Tiburon is a nice little wealthy coastal town a little ways north from where I happen to live. It’s a cozy place to go for a nice meal out or something — usually somewhere I’ll take visiting friends or relatives. It’s certainly not a place where you’d expect there to be a big crime problem, and, indeed, the facts seem to bear that out. But, apparently, that’s not stopping the local gov’t from deciding to set up cameras to photograph and record every car entering and leaving the town. It will also record and use the license plate info. If that sounds like a bit of an invasion of privacy, well, the town’s Manager, Peggy Curran, insists you’re just paranoid: “As long as you don’t arrive in a stolen vehicle or go on a crime spree while you’re here, your anonymity will be preserved. We don’t care who you are and we don’t know who you are.” Actually, if you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be recording the info, now would you?

This Message will Self-Destruct: New Tool Makes Online Postings Disappear Read Write Web
On the internet, data lives forever. Once you post something to the web, you see, you simply can’t take it back…. That may be about to change, though, thanks to a new tool created by researchers at the University of Washington. Called “Vanish,” the system places a time limit on any message posted to any web service through a web browser…. Currently, the prototype is available as a free, open-source tool that works as a combination of downloadable software and a Firefox plugin. Both sender and recipient have to use the software and plugin in order for Vanish to work. If you would prefer to not install anything on your computer, there’s also the Vanish Online Service which you can use from your web browser. Both options are available here (http://vanish.cs.washington.edu/download.html) if you’d like to try them out now.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About Wired
…#19. The scream of a modem connecting #33. Having to delete something to make room on your hard drive #39. Doing Bank business only when the Bank is open #96 Libraries as a place to get books rather than a place to use the

B.C. bars violating personal information by scanning I.D. Vancouver Sun
Identity-scanning technology used by about 100 bars and clubs provincewide violates the B.C. Personal Information and Protection Act, the province`s information and privacy commissioner decided Tuesday. The decision arose from a customer`s complaint about the Wild Coyote Club, a bar on Southwest Marine Drive in Vancouver, which requires patrons to swipe their driver`s licences and have their photo taken. Customers` names, photos and ages are stored in a database. The technology is used by Bar Watch members — a coalition of bar owners — to make it easier to identify violent individuals and deter potential violence. Commissioner David Loukidelis ruled the Wild Coyote Club is not allowed to force customers to give up that extent of personal information in order to enter.

Microsoft Looks For Bing Singers, Offers $500 Toms Hardware
Continuing its multimillion dollar marketing campaign for Bing, the company’s new “decision making engine,” Microsoft has launched a contest that challenged users to come up with the best Bing jingle, or “Bingle.” If you want the chance to win a $500 American Express gift check, you can submit a video response to the sample video shot by the two unnamed Bing interns below. From the two video responses already submitted, we can tell there’s going to be a lot of sub-par submissions.

HP builds darknet The Inquirer
Two HOP insecurity experts are planning to tell the Black Hat USA 2009 security conference next week about their plans to build a browser-based darknet. Darknets are overt, private computer networks used for ultra-secure communications and file sharing. Billy Hoffman, manager of HP’s web security group, and Matt Wood, senior security researcher at HP, have been using the new generation of JavaScript engines in Chrome’s V8 and Firefox’s TraceMonkey to carry out the encryption necessary to make a darknet work easily. Apparently they have developed a prototype browser-based darknet called Veiled as proof of concept. Information Week said that the pair don’t intend to release the software or make the source code available. [hehe - Jon]

John McCain Settles Jackson Browne Lawsuit Over Song Use TechDirt
Last year, during the presidential campaign, singer Jackson Browne sued John McCain for using one of his songs in an ad. There were a few questionable aspects to the lawsuit. First, the ad wasn’t actually from the McCain campaign. There were also some questions about whether or not this was fair use since it was ostensibly used for “political speech,” but so far the court didn’t seem too amenable to that. And so, McCain has settled the lawsuit and publicly apologized to Browne, who claims this wasn’t a partisan issue (yeah, right), but about the rights of musicians. This actually would have been an interesting fair use battle, so it’s a little disappointing that it’s ended,…

Adobe Chided For Insecure Acrobat Reader Slashdot
The Register covers security firm Secunia calling out Adobe for its insecure distribution practices with regard to Adobe Reader. (Here is Secunia’s note.) The accusation is that the way Adobe provides Reader extends the software’s window of vulnerability once an exploit has begun to circulate. Version 9.1 of Reader, which is what you get when you visit the official download site, contains 10 vulnerabilities that were patched by later releases….

New Coalition To Promote OSS To Feds Slashdot
“Red Hat, Mozilla, Novell, Oracle, and Sun are among the 50-plus member Open Source for America coalition that will be officially announced today by Tim O’Reilly at OSCON. The OSA will be a strong advocate for free and open source software, and plans to boost US Federal government support and adoption of FOSS. From their website: ‘The mission of OSA is to educate decision makers in the US Federal government about the advantages of using free and open source software; to encourage the Federal agencies to give equal priority to procuring free and open source software in all of their procurement decisions;

I can’t believe someone makes… Mobile phone cigarette lighters Electronics Weekly
Dubbed the SB6309, this mobile features its very own built-in cigarette lighter. Who would have believed it? Kudos to CraziestGadgets.com for the tag line – Cigarette Lighter Phone is the iPhone Killer [Comment: As per http://craziestgadgets.com/2009/07/17/cigarette-lighter-phone-is-the-iphone-killer/ (as is the website it`s featured on-Engadget says it`s malware-laced so I won`t link to it here)]

49% of Americans would be Lost Without Cell Phones, Survey Suggests TeleClick
Almost half of Americans now describe mobile phones as an essential part of their daily life that they’d be “lost without,” according to a recent survey by Lightspeed Research. [Comment: ]

At 90, call tortoise papa George The Star
Lonesome George, the last remaining giant tortoise of his kind, may soon be a father to the delight of conservationists. Unhatched eggs have been found in his “bachelor” pen in the Galapagos Islands, his keepers said yesterday. For decades, the last known Pinta island tortoise had shown little interest in reproducing. But at age 90, George is said to be in his sexual prime. Galapagos tortoises were among the species Charles Darwin observed to formulate his theory of evolution. [Comment: ok not internet related, but, it is the last of a species.]

Poisonous spider extends her web to GTA [Toronto] The Star
She’ll blithely poison and eat her own boys after she mates with them, of course. One of nature’s most notorious predators, the black widow spider is as indiscriminate about her partners as she is about her meals. Her abdomen is no bigger than the tip of a pinky finger, but her venom could kill a small child…. “I don’t want it to be a scare story … the risk is very low to people,” says Antonia Guidotti, a Royal Ontario Museum entomologist and one of the province’s point people for identifying strange bug species. “But I’m a mom. I have two children. So it doesn’t hurt to be aware that there is a very small potential that they could be around (you).” [Comment: GTA readers may want to aquaint themselves with the picture and/or video of this spider from the Star link above]

Sussex cops try to suppress publication of damning traffic-cam photos by claiming copyright BoingBoing
The Sussex, England police are trying to suppress publication of images from speed cameras — images that show technical shortcomings in the cameras — by claiming that they are copyrighted. Copyright is meant to protect creativity; I’m not sure who the aggrieved artist is meant to be here. Is there some tortured constable who spent hours on a ladder getting the composition of the camera’s shots just right? “It has been brought to our attention that the photographs from the Gatso camera, produced for your recent court case, have been published on TheNewspaper.com website,” Sussex Police Solicitor Alexandra Karrouze wrote to Barker in a June 28 letter. “The content of these photographs are the property of Sussex Police and publication of them is a breach of copyright. They should be removed from the website forthwith. If they are not removed further action may be contemplated.” Barker believes that the local council and police do not want motorists to know that a time-distance calculation can be performed on the images to check the vehicle’s speed against the radar reading. A difference of more than ten percent between the two figures renders the machine’s speed estimate “unreliable” under UK guidelines.

NCTA Offers Comments On Broadband Plan Multi Channel
The FCC won’t be able to get broadband to every American, or meet any other of Congress’ goals, if its grand broadband plan discourages broadband investment. It also should not get bogged down in the openness debate. That was the message from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association in the second round of comments on that plan, which were due to the FCC by Tuesday night. The bottom lines for the cable group were deployment and adoption, and beyond that, the FCC should get out of the way and let the industry continue writing its broadband success story…. 4. Keep the network “openness” debate out of the proceeding. “[M]any of the regulatory proposals related to “openness” on the Internet do not directly bear on the deployment and adoption of broadband (except to the extent that they will deter investment),” said NCTA, “and need not be addressed in order to develop a National Broadband Plan by February 2010.” [Comment: ah, no competition and locked down services is the key to success... Anyone surprised?]

Marc – p2pnet

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