StJulians_ITGS

Government control exemplified....

in commie china... oh wait

This article further increases the already notorious fear of databases containing people's details being accessed by undesired people, who could potentially use this data to cause harm. This raises a serious privacy issue, as, although it has not been confirmed, these hackers have accessed the Steam database which holds up to 35 million people's credit card data and email addresses, posing a threat to a large amount of people. Although it is not known if any harm came of this attack, security measures such as changing password and transferring credit card data to a more secure service (Steam Guard security service) were suggested to Steam users. This is a solution that doesn't undo the harm that has already been made, but is still a positive measure as it can help prevent potential future attacks from hackers on this database.

"Valve has officially rolled out its new Steam security system, Steam Guard, which allows users to lock their accounts to a single PC if they so choose. Steam Guard essentially blocks all attempts to access a protected Steam account, then sends verification emails to a registered email address which allow the account owner to monitor account activity and grant access on a single PC at a time. " http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2011/03/17/valve-launches-steam-guard-security/1 This ensures the 35 million users "the account security they need as they purchase more and more digital goods", especially if they use Steam in public spaces such as cibercafés. http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/03/valve-introduces-steam-guard-to-fight-acount-phishing-and-hijack/

If the proposed blackout were to occur, a greater awareness and understanding could be achieved. This would likely garner more support against SOPA, as websites like Facebook, Google and Twitter are used by millions of people worldwide, most of these people being casual internet users who have no idea what SOPA really is, meaning some would attempt to educate themselves on the subject and try to do something about it. The potential increase in support could lead to more people demanding big companies to 'drop' their support by threatning to boycott said comapnies products/services. As mentioned in an article bookmarked by Tranny Franny (http://www.slashgear.com/sony-and-nintendo-drop-sopa-support-amid-anonymous-threats-03205579), Sony and Nintendo appear to have dropped their suppor after being threatned by Anonymous. Although what Anonymous threatned to do was wrong, it certainly go the point across to both companies meaning a boycott from customers worldwide could change other companies minds on whether or not to support SOPA

Although that seems like a good way to reach a wider audience in order for them to understand the severity of how SOPA would affect the internet, it could be seen as quite unethical. These casual internet users could only use websites such as Facebook to get an quick update, so these could be people who would be indifferent after knowing the affect of SOPA. Why should these people be prevented to access a website they use simply because the website feels the need to make a statement. And in terms of big companies dropping their support, is it really correct for them to drop their support? why did they support it in the first place? If they believe that this act should be made official is it correct for them to "drop" their support simply because too many people are going against it? So they would be "changing sides" out of fear, rather than due to their opinion, which in a way goes agaisnt the point of voting or supporting somethis such as SOPA

Some interesting reflections on gaming

At last a valid use for the iPad!

Map of online comunities

... How?!

From a combination of anonymous sources and leaks. Each one varies depending on the nature of material being "leaked"

This article refers to the authenticity of the identity of web shops, and the security of shoppers' credentials. "DI Hoare said shoppers should also be wary of unsolicited offers that arrive via email." A common scamming tool that cyber thieves resort to in order to "harvest credit card and banking details" is phishing. "Phishing emails usually appear to come from a well-known organization and ask for your personal information - such as credit card number, social security number, account number or password. Often times phishing attempts appear to come from sites, services and companies with which you do not even have an account. In order for Internet criminals to successfully "phish" your personal information, they must get you to go from an email to a website. Phishing emails will almost always tell you to click a link that takes you to a site where your personal information is requested. Legitimate organizations would never request this information of you via email." http://www.phishtank.com/what_is_phishing.php

this gives a similar example where they used a real store and created the fake website then... the shop owners would receive all the complaints with out actually knowing what was going on http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/01/caveat_emptor.html

Plot for a "The Social Network" sequel? I think so.

25 January 2012 Last updated at 12:23 ET O2 has apologised for a technical problem which caused users' phone numbers to be disclosed when using its mobile data. The company said it normally only passed numbers to "trusted partners". A problem during routine maintenance meant that from 10 January numbers could have been seen by other websites.

As mentioned above the the issue concerned about in this article is privacy as peoples information (mobile phone numbers) are displayed on websites without their consent. Obviously the fact of having others know personal information may leave people concerned, however they must be aware that their personal information is spread all over the internet. From pictures on facebook to a gmail/youtube accounts peoples names, adresses and surnames are most likely known by some companies. Google and Facebook holds personal information that belongs to each one of us. What companies like such do to profit from this is sell a list of names, adresses and emails to third party which will then have means of communication with us to advertise their products and this is responsible for some of the spam we receive. The solution for this specific scenario of mobile phones isn't very clear, although it has been fixed no way of how it could of been prevented was suggested. Perhaps a the server could be shut down while it was under maintenance and another one should've been running in the meanwhile. Clearly the issue here had nothing to do with the mobile phone users and there was nothing they could have done as they were unnaware of the situation. I personally believe that privacy does not exist on the internet. It someone wishes to have privacy then the safest way to go do so is to not use/be connected to the internet. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/09/30/when-it-comes-to-cell-phone-privacy-youre-an-open-book/ Shows how mobile phones can cause privacy issues and how police officers now have gadgets that allows then to see everything that a person has done in their mobile phone, this clearly violates peoples privacy.

I would just like to mention that I posted this, not fiche galinha -.- diigo is trolling me.

The arrest of Megaupload's founders has led to other file storage sites taking action in an apparent attempt to protect themselves from legal action. The following is a link to a news story describing the disciplinary action taken against the founder of Megaupload: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16711416

How online storage works Online storage in websites such as Megaupload, upload.to and Rapidshare work using cloud storage. This is similar to the storage used in Gmail, Youtube and Facebook Essentially this is how it works: 1. User accesses websites and selects file he/she wants to upload 2. File is uploaded to the cloud storage server, which is located in the house cloud storage systems called data centers. 3. Usually the files are then copied to other servers around the world in case one of them goes down or needs repairing, this is known as redundancy. Without redundancy cloud storage cannot guarantee that the user will be ble to access his files. Servers are also powered by multiple power supplies in case one of them fails. 4. When the user wants to access the files he uploaded he may do so through a web-based interface. For more information on how cloud storage systems work http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-storage1.htm

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120121/16551717500/jonathan-coulton-destroys-rationale-behind-megaupload-seizure-with-single-tweet-follows-up-with-epic-blog-post.shtml In the article above Jonathon Coultron makes a good point. Although there might be a lot of illegal activity on MegaUpload such as: sharing DVDs and CDs, there are also a large group of people that use MegaUpload as a tool to legally upload data that they wish to share with others or keep a backup for themselves. Furthermore, I think his tweet says it all in regards to the millions of dollars the music and film industry will gain from the death of MegaUpload.

SOPA and PIPA Shelved But Is ACTA Unstoppable?

Better than just stopping SOPA/PIPA/ACTA is to pass well drafted legislation like the OPEN Act: http://keepthewebopen.com/

Criminal hackers have found a way round the latest generation of online banking security devices given out by banks, the BBC has learned.

I agree with Jorge. There are various ways in which hackers can obtain personal information by the internet. One way by which hackers can do this is by phishing. In this article, account holders are being tricked by the offer of training in a new "upgraded security system", meaning that account holders click on the link and their money is moved out of their account without them even noticing! This is a big problem, and as this article says "Online banking fraud losses totalled £16.9 million in the first six months of 2011, according to Financial Fraud Action UK" therefore in only 6 months, millions of pounds were gone! Phishing is increasing more and more, some day we can't even click a link because we're scared it could be something similar!

Here is a website which is explaining how China is trying to combat hi-tech spyware! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16357238

1.11_people_machines 2.3_environment 2.3_ewaste 3.1_hardware

1.11_people_machines 1.9_policies 2.3_ewaste 3.1_hardware

I could never thought that such things could lead to such problems! This social and ethical issue (people and machines) is surely affecting the world around us, not only use but the environment as well. Not everyone is aware of this, that these electronics can lead to a lot of harm! Yet, even if more people would be aware of this, I don't think anything special would be made to reduce so many pollution and harm to the society as people are becoming so dependent of technology that eventhough they would like to reduce such pollution, they wouldn't abdicate their electronics in order to reduce pollution (in my opinion) Furthermore, technology has been increasing rapidly and will continue to increase even more. This means that more pollution due to more electronics will be made. The question is, for how long will Earth continue 'alive'? Because by this passe, how technology and pollution is increasing drastically, not many more centuries.

"This is an innovative technique which is going to bring a great advance,"

Here's a proof of how technology is increasing. Who would think, lots of years ago, that such thing would be possible. This technique consists of "implanting a microchip into the human brain to translate the nerve pulses into electric pulses, making it possible for the patient to move robotic prosthetics" which means that technoogy has increase to the point that even microchip's can by implanted in order to be able to move robotic prosthetics! Would this mean than in unknown years time, our body will be taken over by robotic implants, therefore humans would be taken over by robots? Yet, despite that, this is a great advantage for people who don't have arms or have arm problems, with this, they will be able to do what they always wanted with their robotic arm just like normal people!

I do not think that "humans would be taken over by robots". As long as we keep our emotions and all the other things that makes us human, we will not become robots. Anyway. This is a great leap forward in prosthetic and one, if successful, will help a great many people. It is going to take time to perfect though, at the moment I doubt they are able to do this without bugs. Here is a link to a duke article on "Monkey Adapt Robot Arm as Their Own" http://today.duke.edu/2005/05/monkeyrobot.html

The blurring of reality and the virtual world has come full circle. Just over twenty years ago I can remember watching the first stirrings of the Gulf War, arguably the first television war, and one where the images of missile strikes were commonplace.

This is a major security and reliability issue as government servers are not taking the right measures to protect people's personal information. Anonymous claim they only acquired a small amount of information just to prove how incompetent the system is, if it were a hacking group looking to use the data in illegal ways then this would be a big problem.