July 2018 - cypherpunks-legacy

[tahoe-announce] ANNOUNCING Tahoe, the Least-Authority File System, v1.6.1
by Zooko O'Whielacronx 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

ANNOUNCING Tahoe, the Least-Authority File System, v1.6.1 The Tahoe-LAFS team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 1.6.1 of Tahoe-LAFS, an extremely reliable distributed data store. Tahoe-LAFS is the first cloud storage system which offers "provider-independent security" -- meaning that not even your cloud service provider can read or alter your data without your consent. Here is the one-page explanation of its unique security and fault-tolerance properties: http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/docs/about.html Tahoe-LAFS v1.6.1 is the successor to v1.6.0, which was released February 2, 2010 [1]. This is a bugfix release which fixes a few small regressions in v1.6.0. The v1.6 release includes major performance improvements, usability improvements, and one major new feature: deep-immutable directories (cryptographically unalterable permanent snapshots). See the NEWS file [2] for details. WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? With Tahoe-LAFS, you spread your filesystem across multiple servers, and even if some of the servers fail or are taken over by an attacker, the entire filesystem continues to work correctly, and continues to preserve your privacy and security. You can easily and securely share chosen files and directories with others. In addition to the core storage system itself, volunteers have developed related projects to integrate it with other tools. These include frontends for Windows, Macintosh, JavaScript, and iPhone, and plugins for Hadoop, bzr, duplicity, TiddlyWiki, and more. As of v1.6, contributors have added an Android frontend and a working read-only FUSE frontend. See the Related Projects page on the wiki [3]. We believe that strong encryption, Free/Open Source Software, erasure coding, and careful engineering practices make Tahoe-LAFS safer than RAID, removable drive, tape, on-line backup or other Cloud storage systems. This software is developed under test-driven development, and there are no known bugs or security flaws which would compromise confidentiality or data integrity under normal use. (For all currently known issues please see the known_issues.txt file [4].) COMPATIBILITY This release is fully compatible with the version 1 series of Tahoe-LAFS. Clients from this release can write files and directories in the format used by clients of all versions back to v1.0 (which was released March 25, 2008). Clients from this release can read files and directories produced by clients of all versions since v1.0. Servers from this release can serve clients of all versions back to v1.0 and clients from this release can use servers of all versions back to v1.0. This is the eigth release in the version 1 series. The version 1 series of Tahoe-LAFS will be actively supported and maintained for the forseeable future, and future versions of Tahoe-LAFS will retain the ability to read and write files compatible with Tahoe-LAFS v1. In addition, version 1.6 improves forward-compatibility with planned future directory formats, allowing updates to a directory containing both current and future links, without loss of information. LICENCE You may use this package under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or, at your option, any later version. See the file "COPYING.GPL" [5] for the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2. You may use this package under the Transitive Grace Period Public Licence, version 1 or, at your option, any later version. (The Transitive Grace Period Public Licence has requirements similar to the GPL except that it allows you to wait for up to twelve months after you redistribute a derived work before releasing the source code of your derived work.) See the file "COPYING.TGPPL.html" [6] for the terms of the Transitive Grace Period Public Licence, version 1. (You may choose to use this package under the terms of either licence, at your option.) INSTALLATION Tahoe-LAFS works on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Cygwin, Solaris, *BSD, and probably most other systems. Start with "docs/install.html" [7]. HACKING AND COMMUNITY Please join us on the mailing list [8]. Patches are gratefully accepted -- the RoadMap page [9] shows the next improvements that we plan to make and CREDITS [10] lists the names of people who've contributed to the project. The Dev page [11] contains resources for hackers. SPONSORSHIP Tahoe-LAFS was originally developed thanks to the sponsorship of Allmydata, Inc. [12], a provider of commercial backup services. Allmydata founded the Tahoe-LAFS project and contributed hardware, software, ideas, bug reports, suggestions, demands, and they employed several Tahoe-LAFS hackers and instructed them to spend part of their work time on this Free Software project. Also they awarded customized t-shirts to hackers who found security flaws in Tahoe-LAFS (see the Hack Tahoe-LAFS Hall Of Fame [13]). After discontinuing funding of Tahoe-LAFS R&D in early 2009, Allmydata, Inc. has continued to provide servers, co-lo space, bandwidth, and small personal gifts as tokens of appreciation. (Also they continue to provide bug reports.) Thank you to Allmydata, Inc. for their generous and public-spirited support. This is the fourth release of Tahoe-LAFS to be created solely as a labor of love by volunteers. Thank you very much to the dedicated team of "hackers in the public interest" who make Tahoe-LAFS possible. Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn on behalf of the Tahoe-LAFS team February 27, 2010 Boulder, Colorado, USA [1] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/relnotes.txt?rev=4220 [2] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/NEWS?rev=4243 [3] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/wiki/RelatedProjects [4] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/docs/known_issues.txt [5] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/COPYING.GPL [6] http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/COPYING.TGPPL.html [7] http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/docs/install.html [8] http://allmydata.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-dev [9] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/roadmap [10] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/CREDITS?rev=4243 [11] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/wiki/Dev [12] http://allmydata.com [13] http://hacktahoe.org _______________________________________________ tahoe-announce mailing list tahoe-announce(a)allmydata.org http://allmydata.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-announce ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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[gsc] R.I.P. - Orlin Grabbe
by unlinQ Marketing 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

We have heard an unconfirmed rumor that J. Orlin Grabbe passed away about 3 weeks ago in Costa Rica, apparently of heart-related problems. His web site, http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ which was snappshotted, was last updated on March 6th. I hear an obituary is being compiled by former LFC people. His brother, Crockett's web site is at http://www.physics.uiowa.edu/~cgrabbe/ A controversial figure in the world of finance and banking, Orlin was one of the driving forces behind Laissez Faire City and founder of the Digital Monetary Trust. He will probably be more widely known for his work on derivatives while a professor at Wharton. After DMT Orlin focused on his interesting news web site replete with art (especially nudes) and writing papers in theoretical physics. I hope Grabbe gets the credit he deserved. We will provide additional information as it becomes know to us. Hopefully others on the list will add their stories of Orlin and personal contacts. -- unlinQ Financial Services Marketing Group

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[tahoe-announce] ANNOUNCING Tahoe, the Least-Authority File System, v1.6.1
by Zooko O'Whielacronx 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

ANNOUNCING Tahoe, the Least-Authority File System, v1.6.1 The Tahoe-LAFS team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 1.6.1 of Tahoe-LAFS, an extremely reliable distributed data store. Tahoe-LAFS is the first cloud storage system which offers "provider-independent security" -- meaning that not even your cloud service provider can read or alter your data without your consent. Here is the one-page explanation of its unique security and fault-tolerance properties: http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/docs/about.html Tahoe-LAFS v1.6.1 is the successor to v1.6.0, which was released February 2, 2010 [1]. This is a bugfix release which fixes a few small regressions in v1.6.0. The v1.6 release includes major performance improvements, usability improvements, and one major new feature: deep-immutable directories (cryptographically unalterable permanent snapshots). See the NEWS file [2] for details. WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? With Tahoe-LAFS, you spread your filesystem across multiple servers, and even if some of the servers fail or are taken over by an attacker, the entire filesystem continues to work correctly, and continues to preserve your privacy and security. You can easily and securely share chosen files and directories with others. In addition to the core storage system itself, volunteers have developed related projects to integrate it with other tools. These include frontends for Windows, Macintosh, JavaScript, and iPhone, and plugins for Hadoop, bzr, duplicity, TiddlyWiki, and more. As of v1.6, contributors have added an Android frontend and a working read-only FUSE frontend. See the Related Projects page on the wiki [3]. We believe that strong encryption, Free/Open Source Software, erasure coding, and careful engineering practices make Tahoe-LAFS safer than RAID, removable drive, tape, on-line backup or other Cloud storage systems. This software is developed under test-driven development, and there are no known bugs or security flaws which would compromise confidentiality or data integrity under normal use. (For all currently known issues please see the known_issues.txt file [4].) COMPATIBILITY This release is fully compatible with the version 1 series of Tahoe-LAFS. Clients from this release can write files and directories in the format used by clients of all versions back to v1.0 (which was released March 25, 2008). Clients from this release can read files and directories produced by clients of all versions since v1.0. Servers from this release can serve clients of all versions back to v1.0 and clients from this release can use servers of all versions back to v1.0. This is the eigth release in the version 1 series. The version 1 series of Tahoe-LAFS will be actively supported and maintained for the forseeable future, and future versions of Tahoe-LAFS will retain the ability to read and write files compatible with Tahoe-LAFS v1. In addition, version 1.6 improves forward-compatibility with planned future directory formats, allowing updates to a directory containing both current and future links, without loss of information. LICENCE You may use this package under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or, at your option, any later version. See the file "COPYING.GPL" [5] for the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2. You may use this package under the Transitive Grace Period Public Licence, version 1 or, at your option, any later version. (The Transitive Grace Period Public Licence has requirements similar to the GPL except that it allows you to wait for up to twelve months after you redistribute a derived work before releasing the source code of your derived work.) See the file "COPYING.TGPPL.html" [6] for the terms of the Transitive Grace Period Public Licence, version 1. (You may choose to use this package under the terms of either licence, at your option.) INSTALLATION Tahoe-LAFS works on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Cygwin, Solaris, *BSD, and probably most other systems. Start with "docs/install.html" [7]. HACKING AND COMMUNITY Please join us on the mailing list [8]. Patches are gratefully accepted -- the RoadMap page [9] shows the next improvements that we plan to make and CREDITS [10] lists the names of people who've contributed to the project. The Dev page [11] contains resources for hackers. SPONSORSHIP Tahoe-LAFS was originally developed thanks to the sponsorship of Allmydata, Inc. [12], a provider of commercial backup services. Allmydata founded the Tahoe-LAFS project and contributed hardware, software, ideas, bug reports, suggestions, demands, and they employed several Tahoe-LAFS hackers and instructed them to spend part of their work time on this Free Software project. Also they awarded customized t-shirts to hackers who found security flaws in Tahoe-LAFS (see the Hack Tahoe-LAFS Hall Of Fame [13]). After discontinuing funding of Tahoe-LAFS R&D in early 2009, Allmydata, Inc. has continued to provide servers, co-lo space, bandwidth, and small personal gifts as tokens of appreciation. (Also they continue to provide bug reports.) Thank you to Allmydata, Inc. for their generous and public-spirited support. This is the fourth release of Tahoe-LAFS to be created solely as a labor of love by volunteers. Thank you very much to the dedicated team of "hackers in the public interest" who make Tahoe-LAFS possible. Zooko Wilcox-O'Hearn on behalf of the Tahoe-LAFS team February 27, 2010 Boulder, Colorado, USA [1] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/relnotes.txt?rev=4220 [2] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/NEWS?rev=4243 [3] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/wiki/RelatedProjects [4] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/docs/known_issues.txt [5] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/COPYING.GPL [6] http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/COPYING.TGPPL.html [7] http://allmydata.org/source/tahoe/trunk/docs/install.html [8] http://allmydata.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-dev [9] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/roadmap [10] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/browser/CREDITS?rev=4243 [11] http://allmydata.org/trac/tahoe/wiki/Dev [12] http://allmydata.com [13] http://hacktahoe.org _______________________________________________ tahoe-announce mailing list tahoe-announce(a)allmydata.org http://allmydata.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tahoe-announce ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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Re: [liberationtech] Kill the Messenger: What Russia taught Syria
by Brian Conley 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

I have to respecfully disagree. If our only concern is to properly scare people about the implications of targeting based on RF transmissions, then yes, the article does a good job of that. My concern is to ensure that journalists, activists, and their enablers have access to the best information and the most likely/accurate review of events about which we may never have "facts." I guess I should specify the elements of the article that I consider to be sensational, speculative, and/or downright misleading/scare-mongering. First of all, Mr. Pelton is well known for being a glory-hound, his book "The World's Most Dangerous Places" should be enough to make that clear. So firstly, he starts with his own "glory days" covering Chechnya, and the first issue I would raise is this quote: "As we walked briskly back to the safe house, it was exactly 10 minutes before the cascade of double *wa-whumps* announced the Grad rocket batteries pounding the vacant neighborhood we had just left." Mr. Pelton has mentioned previously in a forum of journalists, human rights reporters, and their colleagues(fixers, translators etc), known as the Vulture Club, that the Russians have equipment that can lock onto an RF signal and fire Grad rockets at the location within a matter of minutes, taking merely 10 minutes from starting a phone call to hitting the location. I asked him repeatedly if he would clarify which targeting system, specifically, Unfortunately none of the details he provided suggested such a capacity, therefore while it's certainly possible this capacity exists, to just state it as fact, to my mind, qualifies as scaremongering, and does not serve to improve our general understanding of the risks of satellite communications. There follows three paragraphs serving only to establish that yes indeed journalists have been directly targeted in Russia's war in Chechnya. This is then used to suggest it is self-evident that: " journalists were specifically targeted to prevent sympathetic or embarrassing reports from escaping the killing zone." This is just outright unsubstantiated. There was one account in the Telegraph paper that sourced Lebanese intelligence stating that the Syrian regime has claimed it would target journalists directly. If it is prime facie fact, isn't it strange that there is only one source and no other papers directly carried this allegation? Next Mr. Pelton asserts that satellite phone uplinks: "could well have cost Colvin her life." and "Multiple reports have suggested<http://cpj.org/blog/2012/02/caveat-utilitor-satellite-phones-can-always-be-…> that Syrian forces used phone signals to pinpoint her location" Now then, if Mr. Pelton were simply another ignorant journalist printing what he understood as potential threats, that would be one thing, however he has been privy to extended discussions about the relative improbability that satellite phones were targeted, vs the much more likely case that the VSAT and/or BGAN on the roof of the "makeshift media centre" or, equally likely, old-fashioned human intelligence targeting resulted in the deaths of the individuals noted. Further these "multiple reports" are essentially rehashings of the same initial report, of which Mr. Pelton should be well aware. It is very sad that Colvin and Ochlik were killed, and other journalists grievously wounded. It's even more sad that so many Syrians lost their lives evacuating the survivors. Given these facts and the importance of honoring their loss, I would prefer to see less hyperbole and sensationalism and more soul-searching and review of just how these events happened. As I stated last week on this list, Marie Colvin herself was quoted as saying that she would not use her satellite phone because of her fear that it could be intercepted/targeted. Instead she opted to depend on Skype which, though variously secure, relies on a much higher bandwidth connection which is vastly easier to target. Rather than continuing the magical thinking that may well have led to Colvin's death, we should take a hard look at what we know about the facts and review the lack of approachable, available documentation about communications security, particularly satellite-based communications. Brian On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 6:47 PM, Jillian C. York <jilliancyork(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Not really. The writer clearly notes that this is reported, not fact, and > these lessons, if not pertinent to Colvin specifically, no doubt will be. > > As you note, it's still all speculation, but the author makes that pretty > clear. > On Mar 3, 2012 5:49 PM, "Brian Conley" <brianc(a)smallworldnews.tv> wrote: > >> There is all kinds of sensationalism and speculation in this article. >> >> Further, I think I've already clearly explained that the speculation the >> journalists were directly targeted is speculation and the most likely >> transmissions related target is the satellite modem setup likely provided >> by Avaaz to the opposition, not the phones. >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On Mar 3, 2012, at 17:16, Rafal Rohozinski <r.rohozinski(a)psiphon.ca> >> wrote: >> >> Good article on TAC SIGINT capabilities for laypersons. >> >> Rafal >> >> >> >> >> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/02/kill_the_messenger?page=fu… >> >> >> Kill the Messenger<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/02/kill_the_messenger> What >> Russia taught Syria: When you destroy a city, make sure no one -- not even >> the story -- gets out alive. >> BY ROBERT YOUNG PELTON | MARCH 2, 2012 >> >> >> It was a star-filled night in Chechnya's besieged capital of Grozny. The >> snow crunched under my feet as I walked with the Chechen rebel commander >> away from the warmth of our safe house. When we entered a bombed-out >> neighborhood 15 minutes away, I put the battery in my Iridium satellite >> phone**and waited for the glowing screen to signal that I had locked on >> to the satellites. >> >> I made my call. It was short. Then the commander made a call; he quickly >> hung up and handed me back the phone. "Enough," he said, motioning for me >> to remove the battery. >> >> As we walked briskly back to the safe house, it was exactly 10 minutes >> before the cascade of double *wa-whumps* announced the Grad rocket >> batteries pounding the vacant neighborhood we had just left. >> >> It was December 1999, and the Russian assault on Grozny was unfolding in >> all its gruesome detail. After the dissolution of so much of the former >> Soviet empire, Chechnya was one country that the newly minted prime >> minister, Vladimir Putin, refused to let go of. His boss, Boris Yeltsin, >> and the Russian army had been defeated and then humiliated in the media by >> Chechen forces in the first war. Five years later, Russia was back. And >> Putin's new strategy was unbending: silence, encircle, pulverize, and >> "cleanse." It was a combination of brutal tactics -- a Stalinist purge of >> fighting-age males plus Orwellian propaganda that fed Russians a narrative >> wherein Chechen freedom fighters were transformed into Islamist mercenaries >> and terrorists. More than 200,000 civilians were to die in this war, the >> echoes of which continue to this day. >> >> This time, journalists were specifically targeted to prevent sympathetic >> or embarrassing reports from escaping the killing zone. As such, you can't >> find a lot of stories about the second Chechen war. One of the few and best >> accounts was written by Marie Colvin, who described her terrifying escape >> from Grozny for the *Sunday Times*. Last month, Colvin thought she could >> roll the dice and enter the besieged Syrian city of Homs to defy yet >> another brutal war of oppression. This time she lost. >> >> It's impossible to know whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- a >> longtime ally of Russia -- studied the success of the last Chechen war >> before launching his own assault on the restive city of Homs. However, his >> Russian military advisors surely know the tactics well. The crackdown in >> Homs carries a grim echo of Grozny, both in its use of signals intelligence >> to track down and silence the regime's enemies and in its bloody >> determination to obliterate any opposition, including Western journalists. >> >> Assad's ability to lethally target journalists using satellite-phone >> uplinks could well have cost Colvin her life. Multiple reports have >> suggested<http://cpj.org/blog/2012/02/caveat-utilitor-satellite-phones-can-always-be-…> that >> Syrian forces used phone signals to pinpoint her location and then launched >> a rocket barrage that resulted in her death on Feb. 22, along with that of >> French photographer Remi Ochlik and multiple Syrian civilians. >> >> The use of satellite and cellular transmissions to determine a subject's >> location was relatively new a decade ago, when I was in Grozny. Tracking >> phone transmissions to hunt down targets began in earnest with a covert >> unit of U.S. intelligence officers from the National Security Agency (NSA), >> CIA, Navy, Air Force, and special operations called "The Activity." This >> snooping unit was also called the Army of Northern Virginia, Grey Fox, and >> even Task Force Orange. We see much of this technology used to inform >> modern drone and U.S. Joint Special Operations Command strikes. My decade >> covering U.S. spec ops, intelligence gathering, and their contractors >> highlighted the impressive ability of various countries to monitor, locate, >> network, and act on what is called SIGINT, or signals intelligence. >> >> The Russians have their own version of this capability, which fell under >> the command of the Federal Agency of Government Communications and >> Information <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAPSI>, now part of the >> Federal Protective Service. In the United States, it would be equivalent to >> the NSA and FBI combined, and the agency provides sophisticated >> eavesdropping support to Russia's military, intelligence, and >> counterterrorism units -- and to Russia's allies, including Syria. >> >> Russia has spent a long time perfecting these techniques. On April 21, >> 1996, Chechnya's breakaway president, Dzhokhar Dudayev, was speaking on a >> satellite phone* *with Russian envoy Konstantin Borovoi about setting >> peace talks with Yeltsin. During the phone call, he was killed<http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/25/world/chechen-rebels-say-leader-died-in-r…> by >> a signal-guided missile fired from a Russian jet fighter. The warplane had >> received Dudayev's coordinates from a Russian ELINT (electronic >> intelligence)* *plane that had picked up and locked on to the signal >> emitted by the satellite phone. It was Russian deception and brutality at >> its finest. >> >> It should have been clear even back then that there was a benefit and a >> distinct penalty to modern communications on the battlefield. >> >> Flash forward to Syria today. The opposition Free Syrian Army is >> officially run by a former air force colonel who commands a barely >> organized group of army defectors supported by energetic youth. They rely >> almost entirely on cell-phone service, satellite phones, the Internet, and >> social media to organize and communicate. Early in February, according to a >> Fox News report, Qatar provided3,000 satellite phones<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/08/report-us-and-allies-were-consid…>, >> which the Syrian rebels have used to upload numerous impactful videos and >> stories. >> >> These past few weeks, under a barrage of mortar, tank, and artillery >> shells, their plaintive calls for help from inside the besieged Baba Amr >> neighborhood of Homs sparked international outrage. But without Western >> journalists filing for newspapers and television outlets, these videos -- >> mostly shaky, low-resolution footage of corpses and artillery strikes -- >> wouldn't have had the impact they deserve. >> >> In a welcome resurgence of non-embedded journalism, brave reporters like >> Colvin and many others risked their lives to enter Homs and report from the >> ground. What they showed us was moving, horrific, and embarrassing. Once >> again, Western governments were caught doing nothing -- while women, >> children, and innocents were murdered by their own government. It's a >> playbook the Syrians are good at: The shelling of Homs began on Feb. 3, >> 2012 -- exactly 30 years after the Hama massacre, in which Hafez al-Assad, >> Bashar's father, killed up to 15,000 civilians over three weeks in a >> similar program of wanton destruction. >> >> What we haven't seen as clearly is the extent to which the Syrian regime >> (thanks to its Russian advisors) now has the tools of electronic warfare to >> crush this popular uprising -- and anything that happens to get in the way. >> Syria is one of Russia's biggest clients for weapons, training, and >> intelligence. In return for such largesse, it has offered the Russian Navy >> use of Tartus, a new deep-water military port in the Mediterranean. Moscow >> sold Damascus nearly $1 billion<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-syria-russia-arms-idUSTRE81K13…> worth >> of weapons in 2011, despite growing sanctions against the oppressive Assad >> regime. With these high-tech weapons comes the less visible >> Russian-supplied training on technologies, tactics, and strategies. >> >> The sounds of rockets pulverizing civilians should have brought back >> memories and warnings to Colvin. She would have recognized all the signs >> from her previous reporting in Chechnya, where she and her escorts were >> hunted relentlessly by Russian domestic security agents who sought to >> arrest, silence, or kill any journalist attempting to report on the >> slaughter of civilians. >> >> My time in Grozny included being surrounded three times by the Russian >> army, numerous direct bombardments, and frequent close calls. I paid >> attention to the safety warnings of the Chechen rebel commanders who kept >> me alive. These rebels were once part of the Soviet military and >> intelligence apparatus and were fully schooled in Russia's dirty tricks. >> They taught me much. Chief among them was not communicating electronically >> while in country, not trusting "media guides," and never telling people >> where I was going. If captured by Russian troops, they urged me -- for my >> own safety -- to say that I had been kidnapped by Chechen forces. >> >> Just as I exited Chechnya, I met Colvin, who was heading in. She wanted >> to know as much as she could. I warned her of the duplicity and violent >> intent of the Russian military and their Chechen proxies. Despite my >> warnings, she bravely entered Chechnya and wrote riveting, award-winning >> stories<http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/MarieColvin/article8762…> that >> now sound almost identical to her coverage from Syria. >> >> I was distressed to read of Colvin's death in Syria, and even more >> distressed to think she might still be alive now if she had remembered some >> basic warnings. Her first error was that she stayed inside the rebel "media >> center" -- in reality, a four-story family home converted to this use as it >> was one of the few places that had a generator. >> >> The second was communication. The Syrian army had shut down the >> cell-phone system and much of the power in Baba Amr -- and when journalists >> sent up signals it made them a clear target. After CNN's Arwa Damon broadcast >> live<http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/17/video-arwa-damon-reports-from-homs/> from >> the "media center" for a week, the house was bombarded until the top floor >> collapsed. Colvin may have been trapped, but she chose to make multiple >> phone reports and even went live on CNN<http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-22/world/world_marie-colvin-interview-trans…> and >> other media channels, clearly mentioning that she was staying in the bombed >> building. >> >> The third mistake was one of tone. She made her sympathies in the >> besieged city clearly known as she emotionally described the horrors and >> documented the crimes of the Syrian government. >> >> Unsurprisingly, the next day at 9 a.m., a barrage of rockets was launched >> at the "media center." She was killed -- along her cameraman, Remi Ochlik<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/02/22/remi_ochlik_photos_in_memo…>, >> and at least 80 Syrian civilians across the city -- targeted with precision >> rocket barrages, bombs, and the full violence of the Syrian army. >> >> In Grozny, Russian forces decided that they would eliminate everything, >> everybody, and every voice that stood up to the state -- including >> journalists who tried to enter. Syria has clearly made the same >> determination in Homs. This military action is intended to be a massacre, a >> Stalinist-style lesson to those who dare defy the rulers of Syria. >> >> The United Nations estimates<http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/UN-Assads-Crackdown-Has-Kil…> that >> more than 7,500 Syrians have so far been killed in the yearlong spasm of >> violence there. Perhaps this ghastly toll would be even higher now if brave >> reporters like Colvin had not entered. With the recent news that the rebels >> have retreated from the bombardment of Baba Amr to safer territory, Assad's >> forces, as well as their Russian advisors, are claiming victory. According >> to official news reports from the Syrian Information Ministry, "the >> foreign-backed mercenaries and armed terrorist groups" have fled, the >> corpses of three Western journalists have been "discovered," and Homs is >> now "peaceful." >> >> Despite what Damascus claims, this fight is not yet over. And we need >> more brave and bright journalists who will shine a light in places like >> Syria, where a regime works diligently to plunge its people into darkness. >> But let's not forget whose callous playbook they're using. >> **** >> Save big when you *subscribe* to FP.<https://www.cambeywest.com/subscribe/?p=frp&f=paid&s=I101AEL> >> >> LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images >> >> _______________________________________________ >> liberationtech mailing list >> liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu >> >> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: >> >> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech >> >> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click >> above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily >> digest?" >> >> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list >> moderator in monthly reminders. >> >> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. >> >> Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> liberationtech mailing list >> liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu >> >> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: >> >> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech >> >> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click >> above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily >> digest?" >> >> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list >> moderator in monthly reminders. >> >> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. >> >> Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech >> > -- Brian Conley Director, Small World News http://smallworldnews.tv m: 646.285.2046 Skype: brianjoelconley public key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xCEEF938A1DBDD587<http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xE827FACCB139C9F0> _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders. Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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For IP: Spying on phone calls started *before 9/11*
by Brett Glass 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court papers filed in New York federal court. The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers, the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages. ``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after 9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview. ``This undermines that assertion.'' The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists. ``The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause `exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes,'' AT&T spokesman Dave Pacholczyk said in an e-mail. U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller and NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment. More at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news? pid=20601087&sid=abIV0cO64zJE ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as eugen(a)leitl.org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE [demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature which had a name of signature.asc]

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[IP] Spying on phone calls started *before 9/11*
by David Farber 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Begin forwarded message:

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Re: [liberationtech] Kill the Messenger: What Russia taught Syria
by Brian Conley 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

I have to respecfully disagree. If our only concern is to properly scare people about the implications of targeting based on RF transmissions, then yes, the article does a good job of that. My concern is to ensure that journalists, activists, and their enablers have access to the best information and the most likely/accurate review of events about which we may never have "facts." I guess I should specify the elements of the article that I consider to be sensational, speculative, and/or downright misleading/scare-mongering. First of all, Mr. Pelton is well known for being a glory-hound, his book "The World's Most Dangerous Places" should be enough to make that clear. So firstly, he starts with his own "glory days" covering Chechnya, and the first issue I would raise is this quote: "As we walked briskly back to the safe house, it was exactly 10 minutes before the cascade of double *wa-whumps* announced the Grad rocket batteries pounding the vacant neighborhood we had just left." Mr. Pelton has mentioned previously in a forum of journalists, human rights reporters, and their colleagues(fixers, translators etc), known as the Vulture Club, that the Russians have equipment that can lock onto an RF signal and fire Grad rockets at the location within a matter of minutes, taking merely 10 minutes from starting a phone call to hitting the location. I asked him repeatedly if he would clarify which targeting system, specifically, Unfortunately none of the details he provided suggested such a capacity, therefore while it's certainly possible this capacity exists, to just state it as fact, to my mind, qualifies as scaremongering, and does not serve to improve our general understanding of the risks of satellite communications. There follows three paragraphs serving only to establish that yes indeed journalists have been directly targeted in Russia's war in Chechnya. This is then used to suggest it is self-evident that: " journalists were specifically targeted to prevent sympathetic or embarrassing reports from escaping the killing zone." This is just outright unsubstantiated. There was one account in the Telegraph paper that sourced Lebanese intelligence stating that the Syrian regime has claimed it would target journalists directly. If it is prime facie fact, isn't it strange that there is only one source and no other papers directly carried this allegation? Next Mr. Pelton asserts that satellite phone uplinks: "could well have cost Colvin her life." and "Multiple reports have suggested<http://cpj.org/blog/2012/02/caveat-utilitor-satellite-phones-can-always-be-…> that Syrian forces used phone signals to pinpoint her location" Now then, if Mr. Pelton were simply another ignorant journalist printing what he understood as potential threats, that would be one thing, however he has been privy to extended discussions about the relative improbability that satellite phones were targeted, vs the much more likely case that the VSAT and/or BGAN on the roof of the "makeshift media centre" or, equally likely, old-fashioned human intelligence targeting resulted in the deaths of the individuals noted. Further these "multiple reports" are essentially rehashings of the same initial report, of which Mr. Pelton should be well aware. It is very sad that Colvin and Ochlik were killed, and other journalists grievously wounded. It's even more sad that so many Syrians lost their lives evacuating the survivors. Given these facts and the importance of honoring their loss, I would prefer to see less hyperbole and sensationalism and more soul-searching and review of just how these events happened. As I stated last week on this list, Marie Colvin herself was quoted as saying that she would not use her satellite phone because of her fear that it could be intercepted/targeted. Instead she opted to depend on Skype which, though variously secure, relies on a much higher bandwidth connection which is vastly easier to target. Rather than continuing the magical thinking that may well have led to Colvin's death, we should take a hard look at what we know about the facts and review the lack of approachable, available documentation about communications security, particularly satellite-based communications. Brian On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 6:47 PM, Jillian C. York <jilliancyork(a)gmail.com>wrote: > Not really. The writer clearly notes that this is reported, not fact, and > these lessons, if not pertinent to Colvin specifically, no doubt will be. > > As you note, it's still all speculation, but the author makes that pretty > clear. > On Mar 3, 2012 5:49 PM, "Brian Conley" <brianc(a)smallworldnews.tv> wrote: > >> There is all kinds of sensationalism and speculation in this article. >> >> Further, I think I've already clearly explained that the speculation the >> journalists were directly targeted is speculation and the most likely >> transmissions related target is the satellite modem setup likely provided >> by Avaaz to the opposition, not the phones. >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On Mar 3, 2012, at 17:16, Rafal Rohozinski <r.rohozinski(a)psiphon.ca> >> wrote: >> >> Good article on TAC SIGINT capabilities for laypersons. >> >> Rafal >> >> >> >> >> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/02/kill_the_messenger?page=fu… >> >> >> Kill the Messenger<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/02/kill_the_messenger> What >> Russia taught Syria: When you destroy a city, make sure no one -- not even >> the story -- gets out alive. >> BY ROBERT YOUNG PELTON | MARCH 2, 2012 >> >> >> It was a star-filled night in Chechnya's besieged capital of Grozny. The >> snow crunched under my feet as I walked with the Chechen rebel commander >> away from the warmth of our safe house. When we entered a bombed-out >> neighborhood 15 minutes away, I put the battery in my Iridium satellite >> phone**and waited for the glowing screen to signal that I had locked on >> to the satellites. >> >> I made my call. It was short. Then the commander made a call; he quickly >> hung up and handed me back the phone. "Enough," he said, motioning for me >> to remove the battery. >> >> As we walked briskly back to the safe house, it was exactly 10 minutes >> before the cascade of double *wa-whumps* announced the Grad rocket >> batteries pounding the vacant neighborhood we had just left. >> >> It was December 1999, and the Russian assault on Grozny was unfolding in >> all its gruesome detail. After the dissolution of so much of the former >> Soviet empire, Chechnya was one country that the newly minted prime >> minister, Vladimir Putin, refused to let go of. His boss, Boris Yeltsin, >> and the Russian army had been defeated and then humiliated in the media by >> Chechen forces in the first war. Five years later, Russia was back. And >> Putin's new strategy was unbending: silence, encircle, pulverize, and >> "cleanse." It was a combination of brutal tactics -- a Stalinist purge of >> fighting-age males plus Orwellian propaganda that fed Russians a narrative >> wherein Chechen freedom fighters were transformed into Islamist mercenaries >> and terrorists. More than 200,000 civilians were to die in this war, the >> echoes of which continue to this day. >> >> This time, journalists were specifically targeted to prevent sympathetic >> or embarrassing reports from escaping the killing zone. As such, you can't >> find a lot of stories about the second Chechen war. One of the few and best >> accounts was written by Marie Colvin, who described her terrifying escape >> from Grozny for the *Sunday Times*. Last month, Colvin thought she could >> roll the dice and enter the besieged Syrian city of Homs to defy yet >> another brutal war of oppression. This time she lost. >> >> It's impossible to know whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- a >> longtime ally of Russia -- studied the success of the last Chechen war >> before launching his own assault on the restive city of Homs. However, his >> Russian military advisors surely know the tactics well. The crackdown in >> Homs carries a grim echo of Grozny, both in its use of signals intelligence >> to track down and silence the regime's enemies and in its bloody >> determination to obliterate any opposition, including Western journalists. >> >> Assad's ability to lethally target journalists using satellite-phone >> uplinks could well have cost Colvin her life. Multiple reports have >> suggested<http://cpj.org/blog/2012/02/caveat-utilitor-satellite-phones-can-always-be-…> that >> Syrian forces used phone signals to pinpoint her location and then launched >> a rocket barrage that resulted in her death on Feb. 22, along with that of >> French photographer Remi Ochlik and multiple Syrian civilians. >> >> The use of satellite and cellular transmissions to determine a subject's >> location was relatively new a decade ago, when I was in Grozny. Tracking >> phone transmissions to hunt down targets began in earnest with a covert >> unit of U.S. intelligence officers from the National Security Agency (NSA), >> CIA, Navy, Air Force, and special operations called "The Activity." This >> snooping unit was also called the Army of Northern Virginia, Grey Fox, and >> even Task Force Orange. We see much of this technology used to inform >> modern drone and U.S. Joint Special Operations Command strikes. My decade >> covering U.S. spec ops, intelligence gathering, and their contractors >> highlighted the impressive ability of various countries to monitor, locate, >> network, and act on what is called SIGINT, or signals intelligence. >> >> The Russians have their own version of this capability, which fell under >> the command of the Federal Agency of Government Communications and >> Information <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAPSI>, now part of the >> Federal Protective Service. In the United States, it would be equivalent to >> the NSA and FBI combined, and the agency provides sophisticated >> eavesdropping support to Russia's military, intelligence, and >> counterterrorism units -- and to Russia's allies, including Syria. >> >> Russia has spent a long time perfecting these techniques. On April 21, >> 1996, Chechnya's breakaway president, Dzhokhar Dudayev, was speaking on a >> satellite phone* *with Russian envoy Konstantin Borovoi about setting >> peace talks with Yeltsin. During the phone call, he was killed<http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/25/world/chechen-rebels-say-leader-died-in-r…> by >> a signal-guided missile fired from a Russian jet fighter. The warplane had >> received Dudayev's coordinates from a Russian ELINT (electronic >> intelligence)* *plane that had picked up and locked on to the signal >> emitted by the satellite phone. It was Russian deception and brutality at >> its finest. >> >> It should have been clear even back then that there was a benefit and a >> distinct penalty to modern communications on the battlefield. >> >> Flash forward to Syria today. The opposition Free Syrian Army is >> officially run by a former air force colonel who commands a barely >> organized group of army defectors supported by energetic youth. They rely >> almost entirely on cell-phone service, satellite phones, the Internet, and >> social media to organize and communicate. Early in February, according to a >> Fox News report, Qatar provided3,000 satellite phones<http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/08/report-us-and-allies-were-consid…>, >> which the Syrian rebels have used to upload numerous impactful videos and >> stories. >> >> These past few weeks, under a barrage of mortar, tank, and artillery >> shells, their plaintive calls for help from inside the besieged Baba Amr >> neighborhood of Homs sparked international outrage. But without Western >> journalists filing for newspapers and television outlets, these videos -- >> mostly shaky, low-resolution footage of corpses and artillery strikes -- >> wouldn't have had the impact they deserve. >> >> In a welcome resurgence of non-embedded journalism, brave reporters like >> Colvin and many others risked their lives to enter Homs and report from the >> ground. What they showed us was moving, horrific, and embarrassing. Once >> again, Western governments were caught doing nothing -- while women, >> children, and innocents were murdered by their own government. It's a >> playbook the Syrians are good at: The shelling of Homs began on Feb. 3, >> 2012 -- exactly 30 years after the Hama massacre, in which Hafez al-Assad, >> Bashar's father, killed up to 15,000 civilians over three weeks in a >> similar program of wanton destruction. >> >> What we haven't seen as clearly is the extent to which the Syrian regime >> (thanks to its Russian advisors) now has the tools of electronic warfare to >> crush this popular uprising -- and anything that happens to get in the way. >> Syria is one of Russia's biggest clients for weapons, training, and >> intelligence. In return for such largesse, it has offered the Russian Navy >> use of Tartus, a new deep-water military port in the Mediterranean. Moscow >> sold Damascus nearly $1 billion<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-syria-russia-arms-idUSTRE81K13…> worth >> of weapons in 2011, despite growing sanctions against the oppressive Assad >> regime. With these high-tech weapons comes the less visible >> Russian-supplied training on technologies, tactics, and strategies. >> >> The sounds of rockets pulverizing civilians should have brought back >> memories and warnings to Colvin. She would have recognized all the signs >> from her previous reporting in Chechnya, where she and her escorts were >> hunted relentlessly by Russian domestic security agents who sought to >> arrest, silence, or kill any journalist attempting to report on the >> slaughter of civilians. >> >> My time in Grozny included being surrounded three times by the Russian >> army, numerous direct bombardments, and frequent close calls. I paid >> attention to the safety warnings of the Chechen rebel commanders who kept >> me alive. These rebels were once part of the Soviet military and >> intelligence apparatus and were fully schooled in Russia's dirty tricks. >> They taught me much. Chief among them was not communicating electronically >> while in country, not trusting "media guides," and never telling people >> where I was going. If captured by Russian troops, they urged me -- for my >> own safety -- to say that I had been kidnapped by Chechen forces. >> >> Just as I exited Chechnya, I met Colvin, who was heading in. She wanted >> to know as much as she could. I warned her of the duplicity and violent >> intent of the Russian military and their Chechen proxies. Despite my >> warnings, she bravely entered Chechnya and wrote riveting, award-winning >> stories<http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/world_news/MarieColvin/article8762…> that >> now sound almost identical to her coverage from Syria. >> >> I was distressed to read of Colvin's death in Syria, and even more >> distressed to think she might still be alive now if she had remembered some >> basic warnings. Her first error was that she stayed inside the rebel "media >> center" -- in reality, a four-story family home converted to this use as it >> was one of the few places that had a generator. >> >> The second was communication. The Syrian army had shut down the >> cell-phone system and much of the power in Baba Amr -- and when journalists >> sent up signals it made them a clear target. After CNN's Arwa Damon broadcast >> live<http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/17/video-arwa-damon-reports-from-homs/> from >> the "media center" for a week, the house was bombarded until the top floor >> collapsed. Colvin may have been trapped, but she chose to make multiple >> phone reports and even went live on CNN<http://articles.cnn.com/2012-02-22/world/world_marie-colvin-interview-trans…> and >> other media channels, clearly mentioning that she was staying in the bombed >> building. >> >> The third mistake was one of tone. She made her sympathies in the >> besieged city clearly known as she emotionally described the horrors and >> documented the crimes of the Syrian government. >> >> Unsurprisingly, the next day at 9 a.m., a barrage of rockets was launched >> at the "media center." She was killed -- along her cameraman, Remi Ochlik<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/02/22/remi_ochlik_photos_in_memo…>, >> and at least 80 Syrian civilians across the city -- targeted with precision >> rocket barrages, bombs, and the full violence of the Syrian army. >> >> In Grozny, Russian forces decided that they would eliminate everything, >> everybody, and every voice that stood up to the state -- including >> journalists who tried to enter. Syria has clearly made the same >> determination in Homs. This military action is intended to be a massacre, a >> Stalinist-style lesson to those who dare defy the rulers of Syria. >> >> The United Nations estimates<http://www.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/UN-Assads-Crackdown-Has-Kil…> that >> more than 7,500 Syrians have so far been killed in the yearlong spasm of >> violence there. Perhaps this ghastly toll would be even higher now if brave >> reporters like Colvin had not entered. With the recent news that the rebels >> have retreated from the bombardment of Baba Amr to safer territory, Assad's >> forces, as well as their Russian advisors, are claiming victory. According >> to official news reports from the Syrian Information Ministry, "the >> foreign-backed mercenaries and armed terrorist groups" have fled, the >> corpses of three Western journalists have been "discovered," and Homs is >> now "peaceful." >> >> Despite what Damascus claims, this fight is not yet over. And we need >> more brave and bright journalists who will shine a light in places like >> Syria, where a regime works diligently to plunge its people into darkness. >> But let's not forget whose callous playbook they're using. >> **** >> Save big when you *subscribe* to FP.<https://www.cambeywest.com/subscribe/?p=frp&f=paid&s=I101AEL> >> >> LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images >> >> _______________________________________________ >> liberationtech mailing list >> liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu >> >> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: >> >> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech >> >> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click >> above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily >> digest?" >> >> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list >> moderator in monthly reminders. >> >> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. >> >> Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> liberationtech mailing list >> liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu >> >> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: >> >> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech >> >> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click >> above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily >> digest?" >> >> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list >> moderator in monthly reminders. >> >> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. >> >> Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech >> > -- Brian Conley Director, Small World News http://smallworldnews.tv m: 646.285.2046 Skype: brianjoelconley public key: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xCEEF938A1DBDD587<http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xE827FACCB139C9F0> _______________________________________________ liberationtech mailing list liberationtech(a)lists.stanford.edu Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?" You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders. Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator. Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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Re: [ZS] ZS reboot seed
by Bryce Lynch 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 8:19 AM, R|diger Koch <rudiger.koch(a)gmail.com> wrote: > We should focus on getting things done instead of doing magic with complex > crypto to avoid problems that aren't real (yet). That said, we might want > to put such info into the NameCoin blockchain some day. > http://dot-bit.org/Main_Page The same accessibility problems exist for NameCoin as BitCoin: NameCoins are destoyed as domains are (re-)registered, and CUDA and FPGA mining will shortly make it next to impossible to register quietly. There are other technologies with a lower barrier to entry. -- The Doctor [412/724/301/703] [ZS] https://drwho.virtadpt.net/ "I am everywhere." -- -- Zero State mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/DoctrineZero ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE

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EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.8, 26 April 2006
by EDRI-gram newsletter 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

============================================================ EDRI-gram biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe Number 4.8, 26 April 2006 ============================================================ Contents ============================================================ 1. EU report recommends open access to publicly funded scientific research 2. European Data Protection Supervisor presents annual report 3. Debate on the revision of Swiss copyright law 4. Hamburg court rules against forum providers 5. Access to Knowledge in the digital world 6. German music industry wants new powers 7. OECD focuses on global cooperation in tackling spam 8. EU pays for surveillance and control technologies 9. Agenda 10. About ============================================================ 1. EU report recommends open access to publicly funded scientific research ============================================================ The EU report drafted by economists from Toulouse University and the Free University of Brussels on the economic and technical evolution of scientific publishing in Europe, published on 31 March 2006, recommends public access to scientific research funded by the European taxpayer. The report proposes the development of a European policy that would allow researchers receiving EU funding to place copies of articles published in subscription journals on web-based archives that can be accessed by everyone for free. It also expressed the need to b specify standards that will insure that the archives are [accessible], interoperable, and have cross-searching facilities. In addition, set up a general European archive for researchers with access to a subject-based or institutional archive.b Among many other recommendations, the report suggests the development of electronic publications through the elimination of the b unfavorable tax treatment of electronic publicationsb by reducing the VAT rate or by introducing a tax refund. It is considered that the b higher rate applied to electronic delivery of information in Europe strongly affects European research institutions, especially when compared to other countries where electronic services are exempt from tax.b The authors also believe that public funding and public-private partnerships should be formed to create journal digital archives in areas such as social sciences and humanities when there is little commercial interest. This is a serious blow for traditional publishers of scientific journals who are worried that subscriptions will drop. According to the report, the price of scientific journals increased 300% more than the inflation rate during the last 10 years, which put a limitation to the dissemination of knowledge and scientific progress. Janez Potocnik, European Science and Research Commissioner stated: b It is in all our interests to find a model for scientific publication that serves research excellence. We are ready to work with readers, authors, publishers, and funding bodies to develop such a model.b The European Commission waits for reactions and comments to the report as well as other contributions related to scientific publications until June 2006. Study of the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe (31.03.2006) http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publicati… -study_en.pdf Brussels delivers blow to Reed Elsevier (19.04.2006) http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1756426,00.html European Commission Releases Key Scientific Publishing Report (10.04.2006) http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb060410-1.shtml ============================================================ 2. European Data Protection Supervisor presents annual report ============================================================ European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) 2005 annual report was presented on the 19 April . As stated by the report, following the first year of setting up the new independent authority on protecting personal data and privacy, 2005 was a year of consolidation confirming its main activities: supervision, consultation and cooperation. The authority increased its staff and set up its own press service. Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor, stated that EDPS is now advising the European Commission, Council and Parliament on proposals of new legislation affecting privacy and six formal opinions were published last year in this context. Related mainly to the policy area "Justice, Freedom and Security", these opinions included proposals such as the highly controversial one on data retention, but also for large scale IT-systems such as the second generation Schengen information system (SIS II) and the Visa information system (VIS). In 2005 efforts were made to further develop the network of Data Protection Officers (DPOs) of institutions and bodies. A paper on the role of the compulsory Data Protection Officers was published and advice and training was also provided to DPOs. Resources were used to prior checking risky operations (although most of them b ex postb as the respective systems already existed before EDPS was created). EDPS ensured a series of tools facilitating the compliance of data protection obligations by the EU administration as well as 34 opinions out of which 30 on systems existing in various institutions and bodies. It established some thematic priorities such as medical files, staff appraisal, disciplinary procedures, social services and e-monitoring. A background paper was also elaborated on how public access to documents and data protection relate in the context of EU institutions and bodies. As the supervisory authority of the central unit of Eurodac, EDPS prepared a series of activities in 2005 expressing a general satisfaction on the findings of the first stage of inspections. Peter Hustinx expressed his trust in EDPS achievements during the first two years of activity and considered progress has been made in developing a data protection culture. Consolidating the EDPS bsecond Annual Report presented b press release (19.04.2006) http://www.edps.eu.int/Press/EDPS-2006-5-EN_annual%20report.pdf EDPS 2005 Annual Report (19.04.2006) http://www.edps.eu.int/publications/annual_report/2005/AR_2005_EN.pdf EDRI-gram : Results data protection inspection EURODAC kept secret (15.03.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.5/eurodac EDRI-gram : EU Visa Database under scrutiny of the European Data Protection (2.02.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.2/visadatabase ============================================================ 3. Debate on the revision of Swiss copyright law ============================================================ On April 6, the Swiss copyright office launched a discussion on the proposal for the revision of the copyright law in Switzerland at its media event in Berne. The Swiss copyright office presented a pocket guide as well as a website and commented on the most important changes. The primary goal of the copyright revision is the ratification of the two WIPO Internet Treaties. A crucial point is the legal status conferred to technical copyright protection measures, such as Digital Rights Management (DRM), and ensuring prohibition of their circumvention. However, in contrast with copyright laws passed in other countries, circumvention would be allowed for uses authorized in general by copyright law (personal copies, fair use). File downloading will remain legal, because users cannot be required to decide whether a file is offered legally or not. The proposed law clarifies the legal status of Internet Providers, stating that they can't be held responsible for their customers' copyright infringements. The Federal Council would also install an Observatory (Observatoire des mesures techniques) to arbitrate between the different parties and to watch over the use and misuse of technical protection measures. The Observatory was heavily criticised by all sides, especially by consumer organisations because it would lack power. Regarding the payment of rights, the Federal Council favors the co-existence of their traditional levying by collecting societies, and of direct automated levying through DRM technologies. The website and the pocket guide are the result of a joint effort by different interest groups and the Swiss copyright office. Their aim is to stimulate the public debate and give a balanced view on the topic, e.g. the harms and benefits of DRM systems. The pocket guide tries to explain the proposed changes on a very general level, and quotations of different actors give a first view on the debated issues. On the website, however, there is a dubious flash game, sponsored by Microsoft, where people are encouraged to hunt "pirates of ideas". The Parliament will decide about the revision later this year. It is expected that the different groups will try to change the law and even expand the revision to include further regulations such as the introduction of a tax levy for copy machines, or the rights on works made for an employer. Several civil liberty groups, such as SIUG, comunica-ch and Digitale Allmend are planning to protect their interests as users and producers of digital content. Proposal for the revision of copyright in Switzerland http://www.ige.ch/E/jurinfo/j103.shtm Swiss Copyright Office - website and pocket guide http://www.swiss-copyright.ch (Contribution by Daniel Boos, Member of SIUG and Digitale Allmend) ============================================================ 4. Hamburg court rules against forum providers ============================================================ The first-instance court of Hamburg gave its final ruling on the liability of forum comments, stating that moderators of internet forums are liable for content posted on their sites. Initially, the legislation held forum providers liable for illegal content they had knowledge about and there was no obligation for them to search for such content. This interpretation was now overruled by the Hamburg court who considered providing forums as a business operation. Therefore forum providers should be able to have sufficient staff and means to check out comments on their forums. As the court stated, in case they cannot operate accordingly, b they either have to expand their in-house resources or [...] reduce the scope of their business operations," The case originating the ruling was that of a forum member of German news site Heise Online, who posted a script disrupting the business practices of Universal Boards, a Munich company criticised for allegedly distributing premium rate internet dialers and also accused of buying up expired domain names to use them for advertising porn. The company asked the publisher to remove the script, which it did, but it refused to sign a formal obligation. Universal Boards then obtained from the district court a temporary restraining order. Without taking account of the argument given by Heise that verifying the contents of more than 200,000 comments per month would be an unreasonable burden on the publisher, the court considered that a publisher should have been able to prevent such situations by "reviewing the content of the comments before publishing them." The court was not clear in whether every Web forum could be held liable or only the services of the press. The statement refers to "people who operate facilities in which content is disseminated as in the press." And this "also applied for companies that disseminate content via the Internet." As a result, probably every Internet forum will enter this category. Heise is appealing this ruling. First-instance district court of Hamburg says forum operators are liable for comments (18.04.2006) http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/72085 German court rules moderators liable for forum comments (21.04.2006) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/21/moderator_liable_for_comments/ ============================================================ 5. Access to Knowledge in the digital world ============================================================ >From 21 June to 23 June, Yale Law School hosted the first international "Access to Knowledge" (A2K) conference. Following two workshops on the same theme held in 2005 in Geneva and London, the aim of this conference was to "come up with a new analytic framework for analysing the possibly distortive effects of public policies relying exclusively on intellectual property rightsb and to "support the adoption and development of alternative ways to foster greater access to knowledge in the digitally connected environment." The Conference saw the participation of a large number of speakers and observers from numerous countries, distributed among a packed set of panels, ranging from larger, conceptual discussions on how political actions and academic discourses around A2K should be framed, to the nitty-gritty details of global Digital Rights Management laws and regulations, licensing frameworks, wireless technologies, genetically modified food and organisms etc. The introductory plenary panel on "Framing Access To Knowledge" set up the beat for the three days; Jack Balkin (law professor and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School) highlighted how A2K is a matter of distributional justice in "promoting economic development and human flourishing in [this] historical moment, the global information economy." On the other hand, Balkin continued, A2K is about intellectual property but also goes beyond that. As expected, intellectual property issues were a central element of the overall debate during the conference, but Balkin's last remark was generally recognized; and, arguably due to the widespread participation of delegates and observers from developing countries, several panels highlighted how, more often than not, infrastructural obstacles are at least as much a worry for a proper policy maximizing A2K as are laws regulating the distribution and widespread usage of intellectual assets. On the other hand, Joel Mokyr (professor of economic history at Northwestern University) remarked how the debate around A2K should strive to properly conceptualise what does "knowledge" mean, and care on the costs of access should always be kept firmly in mind when devising any policy in this area. Prof. Mokyr suggested that the sheer amount of information - and the need for such information to be properly categorized, as well as the different needs of different people and communities - will produce the occurance of "access specialists", i.e. people that will serve as intermediaries and help reducing the unavoidable information-gathering transaction costs that are already emerging. Many other points of view were presented during the three days; although it would be impossible to cover all of them in this article, luckily the conference organizers have set up a wiki, where it is already possible to find notes from all the panels and related references. "Access To Knowledge" Conference http://research.yale.edu/isp/eventsa2k.html Yale Access To Knowledge Wiki http://research.yale.edu/isp/a2k/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Access To Knowledge Initiative Portal http://www.access2knowledge.org/cs/ CPTech's Access to Knowledge page http://www.cptech.org/a2k/ UNU-MERIT's Access 2 Knowledge Hub http://www.merit.unu.edu/a2k/ (Contribution by Andrea Glorioso - Italian consultant on digital policies) ============================================================ 6. German music industry wants new powers ============================================================ Representatives of the German music industry asked for new powers in order to obtain, without court order, personal information about alleged file-sharers from Internet Service Providers. In a recent event held in Munich by the Institute of Copyright and Media Law, representatives of the rights holder associations claimed that this change would improve the fight against piracy, through easier civil-law suits against the alleged copyright infringers. This new obligation should be imposed through the new changes in the copyright law for the implementation of the IPR enforcement directive. Director of the German Chapter of IFPI, Peter Zombik, explained, "The EU Directive does not require a court order for the disclosure of such information." He also called for an earlier implementation of the data retention Directive, hoping that the retained data could be used in the civil-law copyright cases. IFPI Germany is blaming the file-sharers for a seventh consecutive annual decrease in turnover in CD sales. On the other hand, Hannes Federrath, Professor of Information Security Management at the University of Regensburg reminded that "What you are demanding here goes beyond what prosecutors of consumers of child pornography get." These actions of the rights holder associations are also confirming the worries of the privacy experts that the data retained in Europe on the basis of the new Data retention Directive will be used with a much broader scope than initially suggested b fighting terrorism. Holders of copyrights want to have providers hand over information without court orders (10.04.2006) http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/71866 EDRI-gram: Data Retention Directive: reactions related to the costs involved (18.01.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.1/dataretentioncosts German Music Biz Hit by Pirates For Seventh Straight Year (22.03.2006) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1941076,00.html ============================================================ 7. OECD focuses on global cooperation in tackling spam ============================================================ A new recommendation on the cross-border co-operation in the enforcement of laws against spam was adopted by the OECD Council session on 13 April 2006, completing the Anti-spam toolkit promoted by OECD since 2004. The recommendation admits that there is not single solution for tackling the spam issues and the international cooperation is the key in solving the problem. The OECD document urges countries to ensure that their laws enable enforcement authorities to share information with other countries and promote the establishment of a single national contact point to facilitate international cooperation. According to OECD recommendation there are four important areas that need to be taken into account by the member countries: establishing a domestic framework, improving the ability to cooperate, improving procedures for co-operation and cooperating with relevant private sector entities. Also the education and awareness on the risks of spam and how to deal with it should be an important factor to take into consideration. The OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam has been included in the updated version of the OECD Anti-Spam toolkit that gives policy makers a comprehensive package of concrete regulatory approaches, technical solutions, and industry initiatives to fight spam. The recent top of twelve spam relaying countries, over the first quarter of 2006, released by Sophos, presents six European countries as part of this top: France, Poland, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and Netherlands. The top also shows that Europe is in danger of overtaking North America as the second worst spam-relaying part of the world. OECD urges governments and industry to do more to tackle spam (19.04.2006) http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,2340,en_2649_34487_36488702_1_1_1_1,00.ht… OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam (19.04.2006) http://www.oecd-antispam.org/article.php3?id_article=238 Sophos report reveals latest 'dirty dozen' spam relaying countries (20.04.2006) http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/04/dirtydozapr06.html EDRI-gram: ITU wants codes of conduct for tackling global spam (15.03.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.5/ituspam OECD Anti-Spam Toolkit http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/63/28/36494147.pdf ============================================================ 8. EU pays for surveillance and control technologies ============================================================ b Arming Big Brotherb, a new report by Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch, reveals the army industry lobbying has led to creating a new European security-industrial complex. According to this report, EU is preparing to spend to b,1 billion per year on new "research" into surveillance and control technologies. Following the demands made in 2003 by the GoP (Group of Personalities) including EU officials and Europebs largest IT and arms companies arguing Europe multinationals needed a billion euros per year to compete with US multinationals and Government, the European Commission appointed a European Security Research Advisory Board to develop and implement the future European Security Research Programme (ESRP). Ben Hayes, the author of the report stated b The ESRP is completely unaccountable and gives multinational corporations an unacceptable role in EU decision-making. This is contributing to a European security agenda in the corporate rather than the public interestb&b This claim is supported by the fact that 24 projects have already received funding from the Commission out of which military organisations and defence sector contractors are leading 17 of them. Another 10 projects deal with research into high-tech surveillance systems. The big four European arms companies have a combined annual revenue of around 84 billion dollars, not far off the total EU budget. The author of the report raises the question of whether the European citizens should therefore pay the bill for the research of these companies. Although some of the projects funded under the ESRP have a legitimate objective focusing on radio-nuclear fallout and the protection of critical infrastructure, the majority of these projects b deal with surveillance and the development of military technologies of political control offering little guarantee as far as bsecurityb is concernedb. The report argues that rather than facing serious threats like terrorism, environmental degradation, climate change, diseases or other types of insecurity, the ESRP is part of a EU strategy b focused almost exclusively on the use of military force and new law enforcement technologies. Freedom and democracy are being undermined by the very policies adopted in their name.b There is already clear evidence that new law enforcement technologies, unless under strict control, can damage civil liberties. The EU legislation on the introduction of biometrics into passports and travel documents raises serious privacy concerns. This creates an alarming image of a Europe in which everybody is registered and fingerprinted, in which communications and movements are monitored and in which this control is rather imposed by b military force rather than civilianconsentb. Arming Big Brother makes an appeal to civil society to resist the development of the security-industrial complex and the militarization of the EU. Its author expresses his hope that the report may contribute to a larger campaign against EU militarism and that independent groups will continue to monitor the development and implementation of the ERSP. Press release - Arming Big Brother: new research reveals the true costs of Europe's security-industrial complex (25.04.2006) http://www.statewatch.org/news/2006/apr/bigbro-press-release.pdf Arming Big Brother The EUbs Security Research Programme (04.2006) http://www.statewatch.org/news/2006/apr/bigbrother.pdf ============================================================ 9. Agenda ============================================================ 27-28 April 2006, Washington, USA IP Disputes of the Future - TACD This conference will ask what will be the IP disputes in new fields of technology, and how advances in biotechnology and information technologies will change the nature of IP disputes. http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=287 30 April - 2 May 2006, Hamburg, Germany LSPI Conference 2006 The First International Conference on Legal, Security and Privacy Issues in IT http://www.kierkegaard.co.uk/ 1-5 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/14) Crucial meeting which will decide on recommendations to the WIPO General Assemblies in September on a draft WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=9943 2-5 May 2006, Washington, USA CFP2006 The Sixteenth Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy http://www.cfp2006.org 3 May 2006, ZC<rich, Switzerland Foundation of Digitale Allmend Access to knowledge in Switzerland http://www.allmend.ch 3-6 May 2006, Wiesbaden, Germany LinuxTag - Europe's biggest fair and congress around free software http://www.linuxtag.org 11-18 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland Consultations on WSIS implementation by action lines. 9 meetings on different thematic action lines will be held by respective UN Agencies facilitators. Open to all WSIS stakeholders. http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/index.html 10 May - 23 July 2006, Austria Annual decentralized community event around free software lectures, panel discussions, workshops, fairs and socialising http://www.linuxwochen.at 19 - 23 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland A new round of consultations on the convening of the Internet Governance Forum will be held at the United Nations in Geneva on 19 May. The consultations will be followed by a meeting of the IGF Advisory Group on 22 - 23 May 2006. http://www.intgovforum.org 19-20 May 2006, Florence, Italy E-privacy 2006 Trusted Computing, Data retention: privacy between new technologies and new laws. The central theme of this year's edition is data retention, but several interventions on other relevant aspects of privacy protection are planned, including Trusted Computing and the new issues raised by the draft reform of Italian Criminal Law, with specific reference to Cybercrime. http://e-privacy.firenze.linux.it 20 May 2006, Florence, Italy Big Brother Award Italia 2006 Nominations accepted until 28 April 2006 http://bba.winstonsmith.info 19-20 June 2006, Paris, France New relations between creative individuals and communities, consumers and citizens. Hosted by the TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=296 21 June 2006, Luxembourg Safer Internet Forum 2006 Focus on two topics: "Children's use of new media" and "Blocking access to illegal content: child sexual abuse images" http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/sip/si_forum/forum... 26-27 June 2006, Berlin, Germany The Rising Power of Search-Engines on the Internet: Impacts on Users, Media Policy, and Media Business http://www.uni-leipzig.de/journalistik/suma/home_e.html 16 - 28 July 2006, Oxford, UK Annenberg/Oxford Summer Institute: Global Media Policy: Technology and New Themes in Media Regulation Application deadline 1 May 2006. http://www.pgcs.asc.upenn.edu/events/ox06/index.php 2-4 August 2006, Bregenz, Austria 2nd International Workshop on Electronic Voting 2006 Students may apply for funds to attend the workshop until 30 June 2006. http://www.e-voting.cc/stories/1246056/ 14-16 September 2006, Berlin, Germany Wizards of OS 4 Information Freedom Rules http://wizards-of-os.org/ =========================================================== 10. About =========================================================== EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe. Currently EDRI has 21 members from 14 European countries and 5 observers from 5 more countries (Italy, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia). European Digital Rights takes an active interest in developments in the EU accession countries and wants to share knowledge and awareness through the EDRI-grams. All contributions, suggestions for content, corrections or agenda-tips are most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and visibly on the EDRI website. Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. 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EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 4.8, 26 April 2006
by EDRI-gram newsletter 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

============================================================ EDRI-gram biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe Number 4.8, 26 April 2006 ============================================================ Contents ============================================================ 1. EU report recommends open access to publicly funded scientific research 2. European Data Protection Supervisor presents annual report 3. Debate on the revision of Swiss copyright law 4. Hamburg court rules against forum providers 5. Access to Knowledge in the digital world 6. German music industry wants new powers 7. OECD focuses on global cooperation in tackling spam 8. EU pays for surveillance and control technologies 9. Agenda 10. About ============================================================ 1. EU report recommends open access to publicly funded scientific research ============================================================ The EU report drafted by economists from Toulouse University and the Free University of Brussels on the economic and technical evolution of scientific publishing in Europe, published on 31 March 2006, recommends public access to scientific research funded by the European taxpayer. The report proposes the development of a European policy that would allow researchers receiving EU funding to place copies of articles published in subscription journals on web-based archives that can be accessed by everyone for free. It also expressed the need to b specify standards that will insure that the archives are [accessible], interoperable, and have cross-searching facilities. In addition, set up a general European archive for researchers with access to a subject-based or institutional archive.b Among many other recommendations, the report suggests the development of electronic publications through the elimination of the b unfavorable tax treatment of electronic publicationsb by reducing the VAT rate or by introducing a tax refund. It is considered that the b higher rate applied to electronic delivery of information in Europe strongly affects European research institutions, especially when compared to other countries where electronic services are exempt from tax.b The authors also believe that public funding and public-private partnerships should be formed to create journal digital archives in areas such as social sciences and humanities when there is little commercial interest. This is a serious blow for traditional publishers of scientific journals who are worried that subscriptions will drop. According to the report, the price of scientific journals increased 300% more than the inflation rate during the last 10 years, which put a limitation to the dissemination of knowledge and scientific progress. Janez Potocnik, European Science and Research Commissioner stated: b It is in all our interests to find a model for scientific publication that serves research excellence. We are ready to work with readers, authors, publishers, and funding bodies to develop such a model.b The European Commission waits for reactions and comments to the report as well as other contributions related to scientific publications until June 2006. Study of the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe (31.03.2006) http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/science-society/pdf/scientific-publicati… -study_en.pdf Brussels delivers blow to Reed Elsevier (19.04.2006) http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1756426,00.html European Commission Releases Key Scientific Publishing Report (10.04.2006) http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb060410-1.shtml ============================================================ 2. European Data Protection Supervisor presents annual report ============================================================ European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) 2005 annual report was presented on the 19 April . As stated by the report, following the first year of setting up the new independent authority on protecting personal data and privacy, 2005 was a year of consolidation confirming its main activities: supervision, consultation and cooperation. The authority increased its staff and set up its own press service. Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor, stated that EDPS is now advising the European Commission, Council and Parliament on proposals of new legislation affecting privacy and six formal opinions were published last year in this context. Related mainly to the policy area "Justice, Freedom and Security", these opinions included proposals such as the highly controversial one on data retention, but also for large scale IT-systems such as the second generation Schengen information system (SIS II) and the Visa information system (VIS). In 2005 efforts were made to further develop the network of Data Protection Officers (DPOs) of institutions and bodies. A paper on the role of the compulsory Data Protection Officers was published and advice and training was also provided to DPOs. Resources were used to prior checking risky operations (although most of them b ex postb as the respective systems already existed before EDPS was created). EDPS ensured a series of tools facilitating the compliance of data protection obligations by the EU administration as well as 34 opinions out of which 30 on systems existing in various institutions and bodies. It established some thematic priorities such as medical files, staff appraisal, disciplinary procedures, social services and e-monitoring. A background paper was also elaborated on how public access to documents and data protection relate in the context of EU institutions and bodies. As the supervisory authority of the central unit of Eurodac, EDPS prepared a series of activities in 2005 expressing a general satisfaction on the findings of the first stage of inspections. Peter Hustinx expressed his trust in EDPS achievements during the first two years of activity and considered progress has been made in developing a data protection culture. Consolidating the EDPS bsecond Annual Report presented b press release (19.04.2006) http://www.edps.eu.int/Press/EDPS-2006-5-EN_annual%20report.pdf EDPS 2005 Annual Report (19.04.2006) http://www.edps.eu.int/publications/annual_report/2005/AR_2005_EN.pdf EDRI-gram : Results data protection inspection EURODAC kept secret (15.03.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.5/eurodac EDRI-gram : EU Visa Database under scrutiny of the European Data Protection (2.02.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.2/visadatabase ============================================================ 3. Debate on the revision of Swiss copyright law ============================================================ On April 6, the Swiss copyright office launched a discussion on the proposal for the revision of the copyright law in Switzerland at its media event in Berne. The Swiss copyright office presented a pocket guide as well as a website and commented on the most important changes. The primary goal of the copyright revision is the ratification of the two WIPO Internet Treaties. A crucial point is the legal status conferred to technical copyright protection measures, such as Digital Rights Management (DRM), and ensuring prohibition of their circumvention. However, in contrast with copyright laws passed in other countries, circumvention would be allowed for uses authorized in general by copyright law (personal copies, fair use). File downloading will remain legal, because users cannot be required to decide whether a file is offered legally or not. The proposed law clarifies the legal status of Internet Providers, stating that they can't be held responsible for their customers' copyright infringements. The Federal Council would also install an Observatory (Observatoire des mesures techniques) to arbitrate between the different parties and to watch over the use and misuse of technical protection measures. The Observatory was heavily criticised by all sides, especially by consumer organisations because it would lack power. Regarding the payment of rights, the Federal Council favors the co-existence of their traditional levying by collecting societies, and of direct automated levying through DRM technologies. The website and the pocket guide are the result of a joint effort by different interest groups and the Swiss copyright office. Their aim is to stimulate the public debate and give a balanced view on the topic, e.g. the harms and benefits of DRM systems. The pocket guide tries to explain the proposed changes on a very general level, and quotations of different actors give a first view on the debated issues. On the website, however, there is a dubious flash game, sponsored by Microsoft, where people are encouraged to hunt "pirates of ideas". The Parliament will decide about the revision later this year. It is expected that the different groups will try to change the law and even expand the revision to include further regulations such as the introduction of a tax levy for copy machines, or the rights on works made for an employer. Several civil liberty groups, such as SIUG, comunica-ch and Digitale Allmend are planning to protect their interests as users and producers of digital content. Proposal for the revision of copyright in Switzerland http://www.ige.ch/E/jurinfo/j103.shtm Swiss Copyright Office - website and pocket guide http://www.swiss-copyright.ch (Contribution by Daniel Boos, Member of SIUG and Digitale Allmend) ============================================================ 4. Hamburg court rules against forum providers ============================================================ The first-instance court of Hamburg gave its final ruling on the liability of forum comments, stating that moderators of internet forums are liable for content posted on their sites. Initially, the legislation held forum providers liable for illegal content they had knowledge about and there was no obligation for them to search for such content. This interpretation was now overruled by the Hamburg court who considered providing forums as a business operation. Therefore forum providers should be able to have sufficient staff and means to check out comments on their forums. As the court stated, in case they cannot operate accordingly, b they either have to expand their in-house resources or [...] reduce the scope of their business operations," The case originating the ruling was that of a forum member of German news site Heise Online, who posted a script disrupting the business practices of Universal Boards, a Munich company criticised for allegedly distributing premium rate internet dialers and also accused of buying up expired domain names to use them for advertising porn. The company asked the publisher to remove the script, which it did, but it refused to sign a formal obligation. Universal Boards then obtained from the district court a temporary restraining order. Without taking account of the argument given by Heise that verifying the contents of more than 200,000 comments per month would be an unreasonable burden on the publisher, the court considered that a publisher should have been able to prevent such situations by "reviewing the content of the comments before publishing them." The court was not clear in whether every Web forum could be held liable or only the services of the press. The statement refers to "people who operate facilities in which content is disseminated as in the press." And this "also applied for companies that disseminate content via the Internet." As a result, probably every Internet forum will enter this category. Heise is appealing this ruling. First-instance district court of Hamburg says forum operators are liable for comments (18.04.2006) http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/72085 German court rules moderators liable for forum comments (21.04.2006) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/21/moderator_liable_for_comments/ ============================================================ 5. Access to Knowledge in the digital world ============================================================ >From 21 June to 23 June, Yale Law School hosted the first international "Access to Knowledge" (A2K) conference. Following two workshops on the same theme held in 2005 in Geneva and London, the aim of this conference was to "come up with a new analytic framework for analysing the possibly distortive effects of public policies relying exclusively on intellectual property rightsb and to "support the adoption and development of alternative ways to foster greater access to knowledge in the digitally connected environment." The Conference saw the participation of a large number of speakers and observers from numerous countries, distributed among a packed set of panels, ranging from larger, conceptual discussions on how political actions and academic discourses around A2K should be framed, to the nitty-gritty details of global Digital Rights Management laws and regulations, licensing frameworks, wireless technologies, genetically modified food and organisms etc. The introductory plenary panel on "Framing Access To Knowledge" set up the beat for the three days; Jack Balkin (law professor and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School) highlighted how A2K is a matter of distributional justice in "promoting economic development and human flourishing in [this] historical moment, the global information economy." On the other hand, Balkin continued, A2K is about intellectual property but also goes beyond that. As expected, intellectual property issues were a central element of the overall debate during the conference, but Balkin's last remark was generally recognized; and, arguably due to the widespread participation of delegates and observers from developing countries, several panels highlighted how, more often than not, infrastructural obstacles are at least as much a worry for a proper policy maximizing A2K as are laws regulating the distribution and widespread usage of intellectual assets. On the other hand, Joel Mokyr (professor of economic history at Northwestern University) remarked how the debate around A2K should strive to properly conceptualise what does "knowledge" mean, and care on the costs of access should always be kept firmly in mind when devising any policy in this area. Prof. Mokyr suggested that the sheer amount of information - and the need for such information to be properly categorized, as well as the different needs of different people and communities - will produce the occurance of "access specialists", i.e. people that will serve as intermediaries and help reducing the unavoidable information-gathering transaction costs that are already emerging. Many other points of view were presented during the three days; although it would be impossible to cover all of them in this article, luckily the conference organizers have set up a wiki, where it is already possible to find notes from all the panels and related references. "Access To Knowledge" Conference http://research.yale.edu/isp/eventsa2k.html Yale Access To Knowledge Wiki http://research.yale.edu/isp/a2k/wiki/index.php/Main_Page Access To Knowledge Initiative Portal http://www.access2knowledge.org/cs/ CPTech's Access to Knowledge page http://www.cptech.org/a2k/ UNU-MERIT's Access 2 Knowledge Hub http://www.merit.unu.edu/a2k/ (Contribution by Andrea Glorioso - Italian consultant on digital policies) ============================================================ 6. German music industry wants new powers ============================================================ Representatives of the German music industry asked for new powers in order to obtain, without court order, personal information about alleged file-sharers from Internet Service Providers. In a recent event held in Munich by the Institute of Copyright and Media Law, representatives of the rights holder associations claimed that this change would improve the fight against piracy, through easier civil-law suits against the alleged copyright infringers. This new obligation should be imposed through the new changes in the copyright law for the implementation of the IPR enforcement directive. Director of the German Chapter of IFPI, Peter Zombik, explained, "The EU Directive does not require a court order for the disclosure of such information." He also called for an earlier implementation of the data retention Directive, hoping that the retained data could be used in the civil-law copyright cases. IFPI Germany is blaming the file-sharers for a seventh consecutive annual decrease in turnover in CD sales. On the other hand, Hannes Federrath, Professor of Information Security Management at the University of Regensburg reminded that "What you are demanding here goes beyond what prosecutors of consumers of child pornography get." These actions of the rights holder associations are also confirming the worries of the privacy experts that the data retained in Europe on the basis of the new Data retention Directive will be used with a much broader scope than initially suggested b fighting terrorism. Holders of copyrights want to have providers hand over information without court orders (10.04.2006) http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/71866 EDRI-gram: Data Retention Directive: reactions related to the costs involved (18.01.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.1/dataretentioncosts German Music Biz Hit by Pirates For Seventh Straight Year (22.03.2006) http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1941076,00.html ============================================================ 7. OECD focuses on global cooperation in tackling spam ============================================================ A new recommendation on the cross-border co-operation in the enforcement of laws against spam was adopted by the OECD Council session on 13 April 2006, completing the Anti-spam toolkit promoted by OECD since 2004. The recommendation admits that there is not single solution for tackling the spam issues and the international cooperation is the key in solving the problem. The OECD document urges countries to ensure that their laws enable enforcement authorities to share information with other countries and promote the establishment of a single national contact point to facilitate international cooperation. According to OECD recommendation there are four important areas that need to be taken into account by the member countries: establishing a domestic framework, improving the ability to cooperate, improving procedures for co-operation and cooperating with relevant private sector entities. Also the education and awareness on the risks of spam and how to deal with it should be an important factor to take into consideration. The OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam has been included in the updated version of the OECD Anti-Spam toolkit that gives policy makers a comprehensive package of concrete regulatory approaches, technical solutions, and industry initiatives to fight spam. The recent top of twelve spam relaying countries, over the first quarter of 2006, released by Sophos, presents six European countries as part of this top: France, Poland, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and Netherlands. The top also shows that Europe is in danger of overtaking North America as the second worst spam-relaying part of the world. OECD urges governments and industry to do more to tackle spam (19.04.2006) http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,2340,en_2649_34487_36488702_1_1_1_1,00.ht… OECD Recommendation on Cross-Border Co-operation in the Enforcement of Laws against Spam (19.04.2006) http://www.oecd-antispam.org/article.php3?id_article=238 Sophos report reveals latest 'dirty dozen' spam relaying countries (20.04.2006) http://www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2006/04/dirtydozapr06.html EDRI-gram: ITU wants codes of conduct for tackling global spam (15.03.2006) http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number4.5/ituspam OECD Anti-Spam Toolkit http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/63/28/36494147.pdf ============================================================ 8. EU pays for surveillance and control technologies ============================================================ b Arming Big Brotherb, a new report by Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch, reveals the army industry lobbying has led to creating a new European security-industrial complex. According to this report, EU is preparing to spend to b,1 billion per year on new "research" into surveillance and control technologies. Following the demands made in 2003 by the GoP (Group of Personalities) including EU officials and Europebs largest IT and arms companies arguing Europe multinationals needed a billion euros per year to compete with US multinationals and Government, the European Commission appointed a European Security Research Advisory Board to develop and implement the future European Security Research Programme (ESRP). Ben Hayes, the author of the report stated b The ESRP is completely unaccountable and gives multinational corporations an unacceptable role in EU decision-making. This is contributing to a European security agenda in the corporate rather than the public interestb&b This claim is supported by the fact that 24 projects have already received funding from the Commission out of which military organisations and defence sector contractors are leading 17 of them. Another 10 projects deal with research into high-tech surveillance systems. The big four European arms companies have a combined annual revenue of around 84 billion dollars, not far off the total EU budget. The author of the report raises the question of whether the European citizens should therefore pay the bill for the research of these companies. Although some of the projects funded under the ESRP have a legitimate objective focusing on radio-nuclear fallout and the protection of critical infrastructure, the majority of these projects b deal with surveillance and the development of military technologies of political control offering little guarantee as far as bsecurityb is concernedb. The report argues that rather than facing serious threats like terrorism, environmental degradation, climate change, diseases or other types of insecurity, the ESRP is part of a EU strategy b focused almost exclusively on the use of military force and new law enforcement technologies. Freedom and democracy are being undermined by the very policies adopted in their name.b There is already clear evidence that new law enforcement technologies, unless under strict control, can damage civil liberties. The EU legislation on the introduction of biometrics into passports and travel documents raises serious privacy concerns. This creates an alarming image of a Europe in which everybody is registered and fingerprinted, in which communications and movements are monitored and in which this control is rather imposed by b military force rather than civilianconsentb. Arming Big Brother makes an appeal to civil society to resist the development of the security-industrial complex and the militarization of the EU. Its author expresses his hope that the report may contribute to a larger campaign against EU militarism and that independent groups will continue to monitor the development and implementation of the ERSP. Press release - Arming Big Brother: new research reveals the true costs of Europe's security-industrial complex (25.04.2006) http://www.statewatch.org/news/2006/apr/bigbro-press-release.pdf Arming Big Brother The EUbs Security Research Programme (04.2006) http://www.statewatch.org/news/2006/apr/bigbrother.pdf ============================================================ 9. Agenda ============================================================ 27-28 April 2006, Washington, USA IP Disputes of the Future - TACD This conference will ask what will be the IP disputes in new fields of technology, and how advances in biotechnology and information technologies will change the nature of IP disputes. http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=287 30 April - 2 May 2006, Hamburg, Germany LSPI Conference 2006 The First International Conference on Legal, Security and Privacy Issues in IT http://www.kierkegaard.co.uk/ 1-5 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/14) Crucial meeting which will decide on recommendations to the WIPO General Assemblies in September on a draft WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organisations http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=9943 2-5 May 2006, Washington, USA CFP2006 The Sixteenth Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy http://www.cfp2006.org 3 May 2006, ZC<rich, Switzerland Foundation of Digitale Allmend Access to knowledge in Switzerland http://www.allmend.ch 3-6 May 2006, Wiesbaden, Germany LinuxTag - Europe's biggest fair and congress around free software http://www.linuxtag.org 11-18 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland Consultations on WSIS implementation by action lines. 9 meetings on different thematic action lines will be held by respective UN Agencies facilitators. Open to all WSIS stakeholders. http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/index.html 10 May - 23 July 2006, Austria Annual decentralized community event around free software lectures, panel discussions, workshops, fairs and socialising http://www.linuxwochen.at 19 - 23 May 2006, Geneva, Switzerland A new round of consultations on the convening of the Internet Governance Forum will be held at the United Nations in Geneva on 19 May. The consultations will be followed by a meeting of the IGF Advisory Group on 22 - 23 May 2006. http://www.intgovforum.org 19-20 May 2006, Florence, Italy E-privacy 2006 Trusted Computing, Data retention: privacy between new technologies and new laws. The central theme of this year's edition is data retention, but several interventions on other relevant aspects of privacy protection are planned, including Trusted Computing and the new issues raised by the draft reform of Italian Criminal Law, with specific reference to Cybercrime. http://e-privacy.firenze.linux.it 20 May 2006, Florence, Italy Big Brother Award Italia 2006 Nominations accepted until 28 April 2006 http://bba.winstonsmith.info 19-20 June 2006, Paris, France New relations between creative individuals and communities, consumers and citizens. Hosted by the TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) http://www.tacd.org/docs/?id=296 21 June 2006, Luxembourg Safer Internet Forum 2006 Focus on two topics: "Children's use of new media" and "Blocking access to illegal content: child sexual abuse images" http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/sip/si_forum/forum... 26-27 June 2006, Berlin, Germany The Rising Power of Search-Engines on the Internet: Impacts on Users, Media Policy, and Media Business http://www.uni-leipzig.de/journalistik/suma/home_e.html 16 - 28 July 2006, Oxford, UK Annenberg/Oxford Summer Institute: Global Media Policy: Technology and New Themes in Media Regulation Application deadline 1 May 2006. http://www.pgcs.asc.upenn.edu/events/ox06/index.php 2-4 August 2006, Bregenz, Austria 2nd International Workshop on Electronic Voting 2006 Students may apply for funds to attend the workshop until 30 June 2006. http://www.e-voting.cc/stories/1246056/ 14-16 September 2006, Berlin, Germany Wizards of OS 4 Information Freedom Rules http://wizards-of-os.org/ =========================================================== 10. About =========================================================== EDRI-gram is a biweekly newsletter about digital civil rights in Europe. Currently EDRI has 21 members from 14 European countries and 5 observers from 5 more countries (Italy, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia). European Digital Rights takes an active interest in developments in the EU accession countries and wants to share knowledge and awareness through the EDRI-grams. All contributions, suggestions for content, corrections or agenda-tips are most welcome. Errors are corrected as soon as possible and visibly on the EDRI website. Except where otherwise noted, this newsletter is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License. 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