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Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Sony Sued For Not Protecting Leaked Movie From Pirates - TorrentFreak [# ! Note] - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/aked-movie-from-pirates-160729

sony sued leaked movie industry Hollywood Hollywood vs. Silicon Valley sharing so-called piracy is free of charge free promotion promoting diffusion sales anti-piracy propaganda censorship

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 01 Aug 16 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 01 Aug 16
       
      # ! Hollywood knows that '#Piracy' is #Promotion -> more #sales. # ! #Antipiracy #pantomime is just a #way to #manipulate #laws... and the #market (of #ideas) itself
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 01 Aug 16
     
    " Andy on July 29, 2016 C: 39 News In 2014, Sony was subjected to a massive cyberattack which resulted in the leak of huge quantities of data. The trove contained several movies, all of which appeared online for anyone to download for free. Now the owner of one of the titles is suing Sony, claiming that company failed in its obligation to protect the movie from Internet pirates."
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 01 Aug 16
     
    " Andy on July 29, 2016 C: 39 News In 2014, Sony was subjected to a massive cyberattack which resulted in the leak of huge quantities of data. The trove contained several movies, all of which appeared online for anyone to download for free. Now the owner of one of the titles is suing Sony, claiming that company failed in its obligation to protect the movie from Internet pirates."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Most Top Films Are Not Available on Netflix, Research Finds | TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/-netflix-research-finds-140926

most top films not Netflis available the magnificent entertainment media industry strategy culture neds free file-sharing

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 27 Sep 14 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 27 Sep 14
       
      # Anotheer sample of the cultural market manipulation...
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 27 Sep 14
     
    [ Ernesto on September 26, 2014 C: 0 [Breaking A new study published by research firm KPMG reveals that only 16% of the most popular and critically acclaimed films are available via Netflix and other on-demand subscription services. ] [# ! ...The '#Magnificent' #Entertainment #Industry #Strategy: # ! A new envelopment for '#Their' #censorship. # ! Wanna #Thrive? #monetize (fairly and proportionally) #Free # ! #FileSharing (through ISPs, non-invasive advertising and, of # ! course, a little help from #governments, that already collect a lot # ! of Aficionados/consumers'/taxpayers'/citizens' #Money... )]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 27 Sep 14
     
    [ Ernesto on September 26, 2014 C: 0 [Breaking A new study published by research firm KPMG reveals that only 16% of the most popular and critically acclaimed films are available via Netflix and other on-demand subscription services. ]
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Search Engines Can Diminish Online Piracy, Research Finds | TorrentFreak - 1 views

torrentfreak.com/e-piracy-research-finds-140916

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Sep 14 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Sep 14
       
      # ! This siege against Search Engines # ! a is just pa bunch of unitive measures related to # ! other issues.
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Sep 14
       
      # ! People is already aware that (so-called) 'Legal' sites # ! have a manipulated -limited- supply. # ! Industry has t '#monetize' -Fairly!- free file-sharing...
  • Paul Merrell on 17 Sep 14
     
    "It has to be noted that Professor Telang and his colleagues received a generous donation from the MPAA for their research program. However, the researchers suggest that their work is carried out independently. "As a word of caution the researchers point out that meddling with search results in the real world may be much more challenging. False positives could lead to significant social costs and should be avoided, for example."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Killing Spotify's Free Version Will Boost Piracy | TorrentFreak [# ! Note] - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/rsion-will-boost-piracy-150510

killing free freedom access music Spotify will boost piracy industry does not want competitive alternative keep abuses thought culture control

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 May 15 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 May 15
       
      # ! The Truth is That Industry DOESN'T WANT any competitive, affordable and convenient online music service, as '#They' want to keep on manipulating market and, this, way, try to control the #FreeThinking' that a wide supply of music contents provides... # ! And, of course, preserve its de facto monopoly in the (music related) market panorama...
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 May 15
     
    [ Ernesto on May 10, 2015 C: 0 Opinion Spotify is generally hailed as a piracy killer, with music file-sharing traffic dropping in virtually every country where the service launches. However, much of this effect may be lost if recent calls to end Spotify's free tier are honored. ...]
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Spotify: Piracy May Surge Without a Freemium Option - TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/thout-a-freemium-option-150821

spotify warns warning greedy manipulative music labels without freemium piracy surge

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 22 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 22 Aug 15
     
    " Ernesto on August 21, 2015 C: 39 Breaking Spotify is generally considered to be a piracy killer. Thanks to the company's ad-supported free tier it guarantees a smooth transition from the dark corners of the Internet to a fully licensed service. However, Spotify is now warning that without its freemium option, piracy may surge once again."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Leaked TPP Chapter Proposes Drastic Copyright Changes - TorrentFreak [# ! Note] - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/astic-copyright-changes-151011

leaked chapter TPP drastic copyright changes messy manipulative language

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 11 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 11 Oct 15
     
    " Ernesto on October 10, 2015 C: 57 News A leaked chapter of the final Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement proposes several changes to the copyright laws of participating countries. The intellectual property chapter covers a broad range of issues including extended copyright terms, ISP liability and criminalization of non-commercial piracy."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Once Again, Political Speech Is Silenced By Copyright/ContentID | Techdirt - 1 views

www.techdirt.com/...enced-copyrightcontentid.shtml

copyright just censorship tool politics culture knowledge manipulation world

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Apr 15 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Apr 15
       
      # ! The Real #Copyright issue: #Censorship. # ! :/
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Apr 15
     
    from the because-that's-how-it-works dept This seems to happen every political season. When he was a Presidential candidate, John McCain got annoyed at YouTube taking down political videos based on copyright claims. During the last Presidential election, a...
Matteo Spreafico

Advocacy Group Asks DOJ To Probe Google Search Results - 2 views

www.neurosoftware.ro/...christine-varney

google antitrust searchengine

shared by Matteo Spreafico on 25 Feb 10 - Cached
  • The nonprofit advocacy group said it sent a letter to Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Division, after news that the European Commission had received three complaints against Google alleging the company manipulated search engine results in an anticompetitive way.
  • "As part of your continued antitrust investigation we call on you to shine a light on Google’s black box, and require it to explain what’s behind search results," Simpson wrote.
  • "If, as it appears, Google is tweaking results to further its narrow agenda, this anticompetitive behavior must be stopped."
  • Paul Merrell on 25 Feb 10
     
    If the evidence supports the allegations, this is a plausible antitrust theory, a company with a dominant market position leveraging that position into new markets via integration. In essence this is the same theory as that applied against Microsoft's bundling and integration of Windows, Internet Explorer, and Windows Media Player.  
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

U.S. 'Strikes' Scheme Fails to Impact Piracy Landscape | TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/impact-piracy-landscape-150111

strikes three strikes six strikes scheme fails Intellectual Property enforcement censorship maket culture manipulation fail renew business respect society people

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 12 Jan 15 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 12 Jan 15
       
      [... The movie group currently has no idea...]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 12 Jan 15
     
    [ Andy on January 11, 2015 C: 0 Breaking According to leaked MPAA documents the U.S. "six strikes" ISP warning scheme has thus far failed to impact the overall piracy landscape.]
Paul Merrell

For sale: Systems that can secretly track where cellphone users go around the globe - T... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html

surveillance-state Verint cellphone-tracking SS7 IMSI surveillance-proliferation

shared by Paul Merrell on 26 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Makers of surveillance systems are offering governments across the world the ability to track the movements of almost anybody who carries a cellphone, whether they are blocks away or on another continent. The technology works by exploiting an essential fact of all cellular networks: They must keep detailed, up-to-the-minute records on the locations of their customers to deliver calls and other services to them. Surveillance systems are secretly collecting these records to map people’s travels over days, weeks or longer, according to company marketing documents and experts in surveillance technology.
  • The world’s most powerful intelligence services, such as the National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ, long have used cellphone data to track targets around the globe. But experts say these new systems allow less technically advanced governments to track people in any nation — including the United States — with relative ease and precision.
  • It is unclear which governments have acquired these tracking systems, but one industry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive trade information, said that dozens of countries have bought or leased such technology in recent years. This rapid spread underscores how the burgeoning, multibillion-dollar surveillance industry makes advanced spying technology available worldwide. “Any tin-pot dictator with enough money to buy the system could spy on people anywhere in the world,” said Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International, a London-based activist group that warns about the abuse of surveillance technology. “This is a huge problem.”
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Security experts say hackers, sophisticated criminal gangs and nations under sanctions also could use this tracking technology, which operates in a legal gray area. It is illegal in many countries to track people without their consent or a court order, but there is no clear international legal standard for secretly tracking people in other countries, nor is there a global entity with the authority to police potential abuses.
  • tracking systems that access carrier location databases are unusual in their ability to allow virtually any government to track people across borders, with any type of cellular phone, across a wide range of carriers — without the carriers even knowing. These systems also can be used in tandem with other technologies that, when the general location of a person is already known, can intercept calls and Internet traffic, activate microphones, and access contact lists, photos and other documents. Companies that make and sell surveillance technology seek to limit public information about their systems’ capabilities and client lists, typically marketing their technology directly to law enforcement and intelligence services through international conferences that are closed to journalists and other members of the public.
  • Yet marketing documents obtained by The Washington Post show that companies are offering powerful systems that are designed to evade detection while plotting movements of surveillance targets on computerized maps. The documents claim system success rates of more than 70 percent. A 24-page marketing brochure for SkyLock, a cellular tracking system sold by Verint, a maker of analytics systems based in Melville, N.Y., carries the subtitle “Locate. Track. Manipulate.” The document, dated January 2013 and labeled “Commercially Confidential,” says the system offers government agencies “a cost-effective, new approach to obtaining global location information concerning known targets.”
  • (Privacy International has collected several marketing brochures on cellular surveillance systems, including one that refers briefly to SkyLock, and posted them on its Web site. The 24-page SkyLock brochure and other material was independently provided to The Post by people concerned that such systems are being abused.)
  • Verint, which also has substantial operations in Israel, declined to comment for this story. It says in the marketing brochure that it does not use SkyLock against U.S. or Israeli phones, which could violate national laws. But several similar systems, marketed in recent years by companies based in Switzerland, Ukraine and elsewhere, likely are free of such limitations.
  • The tracking technology takes advantage of the lax security of SS7, a global network that cellular carriers use to communicate with one another when directing calls, texts and Internet data. The system was built decades ago, when only a few large carriers controlled the bulk of global phone traffic. Now thousands of companies use SS7 to provide services to billions of phones and other mobile devices, security experts say. All of these companies have access to the network and can send queries to other companies on the SS7 system, making the entire network more vulnerable to exploitation. Any one of these companies could share its access with others, including makers of surveillance systems.
  • Companies that market SS7 tracking systems recommend using them in tandem with “IMSI catchers,” increasingly common surveillance devices that use cellular signals collected directly from the air to intercept calls and Internet traffic, send fake texts, install spyware on a phone, and determine precise locations. IMSI catchers — also known by one popular trade name, StingRay — can home in on somebody a mile or two away but are useless if a target’s general location is not known. SS7 tracking systems solve that problem by locating the general area of a target so that IMSI catchers can be deployed effectively. (The term “IMSI” refers to a unique identifying code on a cellular phone.)
  • Verint can install SkyLock on the networks of cellular carriers if they are cooperative — something that telecommunications experts say is common in countries where carriers have close relationships with their national governments. Verint also has its own “worldwide SS7 hubs” that “are spread in various locations around the world,” says the brochure. It does not list prices for the services, though it says that Verint charges more for the ability to track targets in many far-flung countries, as opposed to only a few nearby ones. Among the most appealing features of the system, the brochure says, is its ability to sidestep the cellular operators that sometimes protect their users’ personal information by refusing government requests or insisting on formal court orders before releasing information.
  • Another company, Defentek, markets a similar system called Infiltrator Global Real-Time Tracking System on its Web site, claiming to “locate and track any phone number in the world.” The site adds: “It is a strategic solution that infiltrates and is undetected and unknown by the network, carrier, or the target.”
  • Paul Merrell on 26 Aug 14
     
    The Verint company has very close ties to the Iraeli government. Its former parent company Comverse, was heavily subsidized by Israel and the bulk of its manufacturing and code development was done in Israel. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comverse_Technology "In December 2001, a Fox News report raised the concern that wiretapping equipment provided by Comverse Infosys to the U.S. government for electronic eavesdropping may have been vulnerable, as these systems allegedly had a back door through which the wiretaps could be intercepted by unauthorized parties.[55] Fox News reporter Carl Cameron said there was no reason to believe the Israeli government was implicated, but that "a classified top-secret investigation is underway".[55] A March 2002 story by Le Monde recapped the Fox report and concluded: "Comverse is suspected of having introduced into its systems of the 'catch gates' in order to 'intercept, record and store' these wire-taps. This hardware would render the 'listener' himself 'listened to'."[56] Fox News did not pursue the allegations, and in the years since, there have been no legal or commercial actions of any type taken against Comverse by the FBI or any other branch of the US Government related to data access and security issues. While no real evidence has been presented against Comverse or Verint, the allegations have become a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists.[57] By 2005, the company had $959 million in sales and employed over 5,000 people, of whom about half were located in Israel.[16]" Verint is also the company that got the Dept. of Homeland Security contract to provide and install an electronic and video surveillance system across the entire U.S. border with Mexico.  One need not be much of a conspiracy theorist to have concerns about Verint's likely interactions and data sharing with the NSA and its Israeli equivalent, Unit 8200. 
Paul Merrell

Lawmakers Say TPP Meetings Classified To Keep Americans in the Dark | Global Research - 0 views

www.globalresearch.ca/...5437233

U.S.-foreign-policy trade agreements TPP secrecy Congress

shared by Paul Merrell on 17 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • US Trade Representative Michael Froman is drawing fire from Congressional Democrats for the Obama adminstration’s continued imposition of secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Parternship. (Photo: AP file) Democratic lawmaker says tightly-controlled briefings on Trans-Pacific Partnership deal are aimed at keeping US constituents ignorant about what’s at stake Lawmakers in Congress who remain wary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement are raising further objections this week to the degree of secrecy surrounding briefings on the deal, with some arguing that the main reason at least one meeting has been registered “classified” is to help keep the American public ignorant about giveaways to corporate interests and its long-term implications.
  • Among its other critics, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has slammed the idea of ISDS provisions as a surrender of democratic ideals to corporate interests. According to Warren, ISDS would simply “tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations.” By having unchallenged input on secretive TPP talks, Warren argued last month, these large companies and financial interests “are increasingly realizing this is an opportunity to gut U.S. regulations they don’t like.” According to Grayson, putting Wednesday’s ISDS briefing in a classified setting “is part of a multi-year campaign of deception and destruction. Why do we classify information? It’s to keep sensitive information out of the hands of foreign governments. In this case, foreign governments already have this information. They’re the people the administration is negotiating with. The only purpose of classifying this information is to keep it from the American people.”
  • “I’m not happy about it,” Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) told the Huffington Post, referring to the briefing with Froman and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez on Wednesday. The meeting—focused on the section of the TPP that deals with the controversial ‘Investor-State Dispute Settlement’ (ISDS) mechanism—has been labeled “classified,” so that lawmakers and any of their staff who attend will be barred, under threat of punishment, of revealing what they learn with constituents or outside experts. According to the Huffington Post: ISDS has been part of U.S. free trade agreements since NAFTA was signed into law in 1993, and has become a particularly popular tool for multinational firms over the past few years. But while the topic remains controversial, particularly with Democrats, many critics of the administration emphasize that applying national security-style restrictions on such information is an abuse of the classified information system. An additional meeting earlier on Wednesday on currency manipulation with Froman and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is not classified.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • As The Hill reports: Members will be allowed to attend the briefing on the proposed trade pact with 12 Latin American and Asian countries with one staff member who possesses an “active Secret-level or high clearance” compliant with House security rules. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told The Hill that the administration is being “needlessly secretive.” “Even now, when they are finally beginning to share details of the proposed deal with members of Congress, they are denying us the ability to consult with our staff or discuss details of the agreement with experts,” DeLauro told The Hill. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) condemned the classified briefing. “Making it classified further ensures that, even if we accidentally learn something, we cannot share it. What is [Froman]working so hard to hide? What is the specific legal basis for all this senseless secrecy?” Doggett said to The Hill. “Open trade should begin with open access,” Doggett said. “Members expected to vote on trade deals should be able to read the unredacted negotiating text.”
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Copyright Education Needed in Every School, Parliament Hears | TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/school-parliament-hears-140709

copyright education children school in need parliaments politicians

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 Jul 14 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 Jul 14
       
      # ! #Perfect: This way, children will learn soon about the abuses committed 'in the name of culture' while really are weapons of 'Thought Control'... and can work to change the 'copy laws' once and forever... # ! ... if They are really educated... and not manipulated...
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Piracy Fight Needs Content Available at a Fair Price, Minister Says | TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/air-price-minister-says-140731

piracy fight needs content availability fair price minister says stop media manipulation democracy culture access requirements

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 31 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 31 Jul 14
     
    " Andy on July 31, 2014 C: 13 Breaking Content owners need to up their game if they want to be taken seriously in the battle to reduce online piracy, a leading Australian minister said this morning. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said making content universally and at a fair price is a key "obligation" if copyright owners are to be taken seriously in their piracy fight."
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 31 Jul 14
     
    " Andy on July 31, 2014 C: 13 Breaking Content owners need to up their game if they want to be taken seriously in the battle to reduce online piracy, a leading Australian minister said this morning. Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said making content universally and at a fair price is a key "obligation" if copyright owners are to be taken seriously in their piracy fight."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

File sharing is alive and well, to the tune of 300 million users a month - Tech News an... - 0 views

gigaom.com/...e-of-300-million-users-a-month

file sharing goes well as media industry stop manipulation

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 27 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 27 Jun 14
     
    "Americans download more movies, music and TV shows that BitTorrent users in any other country. So why is everyone talking about the decline of P2P?"
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

MPAA Pays University $1,000,000 For Piracy Research | TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/ity-for-piracy-research-141118

MPAA pays university manipulate piracy research pamphlets disguise truth defence bribe

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 19 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 19 Nov 14
     
    " Ernesto on November 18, 2014 C: 11 Breaking The MPAA has donated over a million dollars Carnegie Mellon University in support of its piracy research program. The movie industry group sees academic research as a valuable tool to steer future copyright policies and uses the program's results to further its cause. " # ! #imagine...[ # ! ... the ‪#‎kind‬ of '‪#‎Research‬' is going to come from this... # ! ...where the last '‪#‎truth‬ ‪#‎defence‬ line' is ‪#‎impudently‬ ‪#‎tipped‬.]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 19 Nov 14
     
    [# Paid Pamphlets disguised as Research...?] " Ernesto on November 18, 2014 C: 11 Breaking The MPAA has donated over a million dollars Carnegie Mellon University in support of its piracy research program. The movie industry group sees academic research as a valuable tool to steer future copyright policies and uses the program's results to further its cause. "
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Movie Chief: Obama is Scared to Push Google, ISPs on Piracy | TorrentFreak - 1 views

torrentfreak.com/h-google-isps-on-piracy-141107

movie chiefs studios producers steer piracy to control media Internet since long promotion aside

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Nov 14 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Nov 14
       
      "Movie chiefs"steer piracy to obtain control over Internet Media flow. Full stop. http://www.neowin.net/news/bittorrent-downloads-linked-to-hollywood-film-studios
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Internet Pirates Always a Step Ahead , Aussies Say | TorrentFreak - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/-step-ahead-aussies-say-141112

piracy pirates always ahead law stop repression start dialogue maket manipulation culture belongs society new business models

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 13 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 13 Nov 14
     
    " Andy on November 12, 2014 C: 16 Breaking Almost three-quarters of Australians believe that using technical measures to end Internet piracy are doomed to fail and will only lead to higher ISP bills for consumers. Those are just two of the findings of a new survey carried out by the Communications Alliance, the industry body for the Australian telecoms industry." [# ! ...and #ban has #never #worked... # ! #stop #repression, # ! #start #dialogue... # ! with everyb@dy.]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 13 Nov 14
     
    " Andy on November 12, 2014 C: 16 Breaking Almost three-quarters of Australians believe that using technical measures to end Internet piracy are doomed to fail and will only lead to higher ISP bills for consumers. Those are just two of the findings of a new survey carried out by the Communications Alliance, the industry body for the Australian telecoms industry."
Paul Merrell

The Great SIM Heist: How Spies Stole the Keys to the Encryption Castle - 0 views

firstlook.org/...great-sim-heist

surveillance state NSA GCHQ SIM-card-keys mobile-devices decryption

shared by Paul Merrell on 20 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack was perpetrated by a joint unit consisting of operatives from the NSA and its British counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. The breach, detailed in a secret 2010 GCHQ document, gave the surveillance agencies the potential to secretly monitor a large portion of the world’s cellular communications, including both voice and data. The company targeted by the intelligence agencies, Gemalto, is a multinational firm incorporated in the Netherlands that makes the chips used in mobile phones and next-generation credit cards. Among its clients are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and some 450 wireless network providers around the world. The company operates in 85 countries and has more than 40 manufacturing facilities. One of its three global headquarters is in Austin, Texas and it has a large factory in Pennsylvania. In all, Gemalto produces some 2 billion SIM cards a year. Its motto is “Security to be Free.”
  • With these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless provider’s network that the communications were intercepted. Bulk key theft additionally enables the intelligence agencies to unlock any previously encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but did not yet have the ability to decrypt.
  • Leading privacy advocates and security experts say that the theft of encryption keys from major wireless network providers is tantamount to a thief obtaining the master ring of a building superintendent who holds the keys to every apartment. “Once you have the keys, decrypting traffic is trivial,” says Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union. “The news of this key theft will send a shock wave through the security community.”
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • According to one secret GCHQ slide, the British intelligence agency penetrated Gemalto’s internal networks, planting malware on several computers, giving GCHQ secret access. We “believe we have their entire network,” the slide’s author boasted about the operation against Gemalto. Additionally, the spy agency targeted unnamed cellular companies’ core networks, giving it access to “sales staff machines for customer information and network engineers machines for network maps.” GCHQ also claimed the ability to manipulate the billing servers of cell companies to “suppress” charges in an effort to conceal the spy agency’s secret actions against an individual’s phone. Most significantly, GCHQ also penetrated “authentication servers,” allowing it to decrypt data and voice communications between a targeted individual’s phone and his or her telecom provider’s network. A note accompanying the slide asserted that the spy agency was “very happy with the data so far and [was] working through the vast quantity of product.”
  • The U.S. and British intelligence agencies pulled off the encryption key heist in great stealth, giving them the ability to intercept and decrypt communications without alerting the wireless network provider, the foreign government or the individual user that they have been targeted. “Gaining access to a database of keys is pretty much game over for cellular encryption,” says Matthew Green, a cryptography specialist at the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute. The massive key theft is “bad news for phone security. Really bad news.”
  • Paul Merrell on 20 Feb 15
     
    Remember all those NSA claims that no evidence of their misbehavior has emerged? That one should never take wing again. Monitoring call content without the involvement of any court? Without a warrant? Without probable cause?  Was there even any Congressional authorization?  Wiretapping unequivocally requires a judicially-approved search warrant. It's going to be very interesting to learn the government's argument for this misconduct's legality. 
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

#howgoogleworks: Why did the Federal Trade Commission ignore staff recommendations to p... - 0 views

musictechpolicy.wordpress.com/...oogle-for-antitrust-violations

Google political power influence information politics search engine reality truth manipulation FTC Minessota lobbying problem

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 24 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 24 Mar 15
     
    "OK, now that you've stopped laughing, that's not a trick question. We all know why Google has never been prosecuted by the U.S. government. One way or another, they buy their way out of it through Google's unprecedented network of lobbyists, fake academics and shadowy nonprofits like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge."
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 24 Mar 15
     
    "OK, now that you've stopped laughing, that's not a trick question. We all know why Google has never been prosecuted by the U.S. government. One way or another, they buy their way out of it through Google's unprecedented network of lobbyists, fake academics and shadowy nonprofits like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge."
Paul Merrell

Free At Last: New DMCA Rules Might Make the Web a Better Place | nsnbc international - 0 views

nsnbc.me/...ht-make-the-web-a-better-place

DMCA-exemptions auto-software VW-scandal video-games remixers

shared by Paul Merrell on 28 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • David Mao, the Librarian of Congress, has issued new rules pertaining to exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) after a 3 year battle that was expedited in the wake of the Volkswagen scandal.
  • Opposition to this new decision is coming from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the auto industry because the DMCA prohibits “circumventing encryption or access controls to copy or modify copyrighted works.” For example, GM “claimed the exemption ‘could introduce safety and security issues as well as facilitate violation of various laws designed specifically to regulate the modern car, including emissions, fuel economy, and vehicle safety regulations’.” The exemption in question is in Section 1201 which forbids the unlocking of software access controls which has given the auto industry the unique ability to “threaten legal action against anyone who needs to get around those restrictions, no matter how legitimate the reason.” Journalist Nick Statt points out that this provision “made it illegal in the past to unlock your smartphone from its carrier or even to share your HBO Go password with a friend. It’s designed to let corporations protect copyrighted material, but it allows them to crackdown on circumventions even when they’re not infringing on those copyrights or trying to access or steal proprietary information.”
  • Kit Walsh, staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), explained that the “‘access control’ rule is supposed to protect against unlawful copying. But as we’ve seen in the recent Volkswagen scandal—where VW was caught manipulating smog tests—it can be used instead to hide wrongdoing hidden in computer code.” Walsh continued: “We are pleased that analysts will now be able to examine the software in the cars we drive without facing legal threats from car manufacturers, and that the Librarian has acted to promote competition in the vehicle aftermarket and protect the long tradition of vehicle owners tinkering with their cars and tractors. The year-long delay in implementing the exemptions, though, is disappointing and unjustified. The VW smog tests and a long run of security vulnerabilities have shown researchers and drivers need the exemptions now.” As part of the new changes, gamers can “modify an old video game so it doesn’t perform a check with an authentication server that has since been shut down” and after the publisher cuts of support for the video game.
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  • Another positive from the change is that smartphone users will be able to jailbreak their phone and finally enjoy running operating systems and applications from any source, not just those approved by the manufacturer. And finally, those who remix excerpts from DVDs, Blu – Ray discs or downloading services will be allowed to mix the material into theirs without violating the DMCA.
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