p2pnet World Headlines: Feb 4, 2010
Google Asks Spy Agency for Help With Inquiry Into Cyberattacks New York Times
Google has turned to the National Security Agency for technical assistance to learn more about the computer network attackers who breached the company’s cybersecurity defenses last year, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement said Thursday. The collaboration between Google, the world’s largest search engine company, and the federal agency in charge of global electronic surveillance raises both civil liberties issues and new questions about how much Google knew about the electronic thefts it experienced when it stated last month that it might end its business operations in China. The agreement was first reported on Wednesday evening by The Washington Post. [Now THAT is scary! A hard-core advertising corporation suborning the NSA? Only in America. One hopes.]
Wikileaks reaches funding target Telegraph
WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing site that hosts leaked documents, has taken a step towards becoming fully operational. The website, which had closed down to concentrate on fundraising, announced via Twitter that it had raised enough money to keep going, although it remains $400,000 short of being able to pay its staff. The site, however, has yet to actually go back online, and the main page continues only to invite donations. It is now able to accept PayPal donations again, however, despite being briefly barred from using the service during its fundraising drive. All money raised goes primarily towards the infrastructure costs of running a large network of servers in several countries so that the service cannot be sabotaged.
Police want backdoor to Web users’ private data CNet News
Anyone with an e-mail account likely knows that police can peek inside it if they have a paper search warrant. But cybercrime investigators are frustrated by the speed of traditional methods of faxing, mailing, or e-mailing companies these documents. They’re pushing for the creation of a national Web interface linking police computers with those of Internet and e-mail providers so requests can be sent and received electronically. CNET has reviewed a survey scheduled to be released at a federal task force meeting on Thursday, which says that law enforcement agencies are virtually unanimous in calling for such an interface to be created. Eighty-nine percent of police surveyed, it says, want to be able to “exchange legal process requests and responses to legal process” through an encrypted, police-only “nationwide computer network.” (See one excerpt and another.) The survey, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, is part of a broader push from law enforcement agencies to alter the ground rules of online investigations. Other components include renewed calls for laws requiring Internet companies to store data about their users for up to five years and increased pressure on companies to respond to police inquiries in hours instead of days. But the most controversial element is probably the private Web interface, which raises novel security and privacy concerns, especially in the wake of a recent inspector general’s report (PDF) from the Justice Department.
Loto-Québec to offer online gambling Montreal Gazette
The Quebec government hopes its move into online gambling will cannibalize illegal gambling sites that now offer an array of gambling opportunities to QuebecersThe Quebec government hopes its move into online gambling will cannibalize illegal gambling sites that now offer an array of gambling opportunities to Quebecers. If all goes according to plan, Loto-Québec will be offering online gambling, including poker tournaments, before Christmas. Finance Minister Raymond Bachand announced Wednesday that the cabinet has approved the move in a bid ‘to cannibalize illegal gambling’ sites that now offer an array of gambling opportunities to Quebecers.
Kookaburra publisher wins down under copyright case cmumusicnews
Music publishers Larrikin Music have won a case in the Australian courts in which they accused Men At Work’s 1981 song ‘Down Under’ of stealing the melody from famous Aussie children’s folk tune ‘Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree’. Larrikin won the right to fight the case after a separate court ruling last July confirmed them as owners of the ‘Kookaburra’ song. Sony Music and EMI Songs Australia, who respectively represent the recording and publishing rights in the Men At Work song, argued ownership of ‘Kookaburra’ was unclear because the song had come to popular attention when its writer, Marion Sinclair, entered it into a competition run by the Girl Guides in 1934. According to the terms of that competition the Girl Guides Association would own the rights, and Larrikin’s claim to the song came via the Sinclair estate. But the court ruled Larrikin nevertheless had ownership.
Libya must halt web crackdown, says rights group BBC
Libya must stop blocking access to opposition websites and internet pages such as YouTube, US-based Human Rights Watch has warned. The activists say Tripoli began a crackdown on 24 January, blocking several foreign-based sites reporting on Libya, and the entire YouTube site. “The government is returning to the dark days of total media control,” the group said in a statement. In December, the group praised Libya for allowing reporters to work there. But they said the latest move was a “disturbing step away from press freedom”.
Denmark chooses open formats Politiken
As of April next year, Danish state communication will be in open formats that fulfill set principles for open standards. After four years of discussion, Parliamentary parties have decided to use open formats and to produce a list of acceptable document types. A previous suggestion that this immediately precludes Microsoft’s OOXML format proves not to be the case. ‘My ambition is that in the future we will only communicate using open standards,’ Science Minister Helge Sander told Parliament. But he later rejected as ‘ridiculous’ media reports that the decision excluded Microsoft’s products. “Parties have agreed that document formats that fulfill determined principles in 14 months time can be used by the state, wherever they come from. The list of products will be continually added to,” Sander says in a news release.
..… and identi.ca
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
February, 2010
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February 5th, 2010 at 12:33 am
“Loto-Québec to offer online gambling”
Of special note. Most “legal” gambling in Quebec, if not all, are Indian reservations where they state QC law and some Canadians laws do not apply. Hence they do this legally.
QC is calling them illegal and whats the whole gambling racket to itself now. A monopoly State run gambling racket.
More dirt to this that what it seems…. The Indians will not put up with this for sure.
More to follow for sure…