TechEye |  |
- AMD releases new dual core APU
- US, Germany agree not to spy on industry or government
- Oracle's Larry Ellison enthusiastically applauds NSA spying
- Ambient backscatter threatens end of batteries
- Internet of Things lighting systems hacked
- Google says no "legitimate privacy" for Gmail users
- PirateBrowser downloaded 100K+ times in days
- Microsoft 8.1 will be available 17 October
- Brazil sues Samsung for alleged factory worker abuses
- Pro-civil liberties politicians losing battle with Big Brother
| AMD releases new dual core APU Posted: 15 Aug 2013 04:54 AM PDT AMD seems to be putting out more embedded designs faster that it can write press releases for them. This week it has released a new dual core APU which it says offers high performance at approximately 3W average power. It is selling for $74.00 Released with the catchy title GX-210JA, the chip is being launched as part of the company's Embedded G-Series processor family. According to New Electronics, the chip has been designed for controls and automation, digital gaming, communications infrastructure and visual embedded products including thin client, digital signage and medical imaging. All this gets AMD further away from the troubled PC market. Arun Iyengar, vice president and general manager, AMD Embedded Systems said that the new GX-210JA operates at an average of approximately 3W, enabling a new generation of fanless designs for content rich, multimedia and traditional workload processing. The GX-210JA is a system on a chip, that combines two CPU cores, 1 MB of L2 cache, DDR3 memory controller, HD 8180 graphics and FCH on a single die. The processor runs at 1 GHz, which is identical to previously released GX-210HA. The GPU on the 210JA is clocked lower, at 225MHz, which helps it to reach lower 6 Watt TDP. The processor supports DDR3-1066 memory, and is offered in FT3 BGA package. |
| US, Germany agree not to spy on industry or government Posted: 15 Aug 2013 04:47 AM PDT In the wake of the Snowden leaks, the US has been trying to patch up its relationship with its long running ally Germany. The German government said it was furious when it discovered US spooks were spying on its government. Now it seems that the US has verbally committed to enter into a no-spying agreement with Germany. But this will just block government and industrial espionage, so presumably citizens are fair game. According to IT World, the verbal commitment was given in talks with the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND). According to the German government, this means that there must be no governmental or industrial espionage between the two countries. Standards for the cooperation of EU intelligence services are being hammered out. While the US has no problems trusting Germany, there are others in the EU it wants to keep an eye on. The no spying agreement talks were part of an eight-point programme proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany found that US intelligence services comply with German law. The operators of large German Internet exchanges and the federal government did not find any evidence that the US spies on Germans, the government said. We would have thought that meant that the US was pretty good at it. The NSA spying revelations should lead to an acceleration of data protection agreement negotiations between the EU and the US, Merkel said in an interview on German radio. |
| Oracle's Larry Ellison enthusiastically applauds NSA spying Posted: 15 Aug 2013 04:02 AM PDT Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has given his enthusiastic support for the National Security Agency's global surveillance of the internet and everyone on it. In a CBS interview, Ellison said some things people were saying about the NSA were misleading. He said that data was already being collected long before the NSA was seeing it, besides, firms like credit card companies had all this data long before the NSA. There are some significant differences between a credit card company building a file on you and the most powerful government of the world potentially keeping files on absolutely everyone. Credit card companies usually don't have the power to arrest you and lock you up in solitary for the rest of your life, either, and we can't think of a single time a failed card application confiscated someone's passport. Ellison said that the privacy debate is "fascinating" to him as he has never heard of information being misused by the government. He can't have been looking very hard or has had his fingers in his ears. Clearly Ellison has never heard of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court which said that on at least one occasion, the Fourth Amendment protections of an American citizen were violated. Through collusion with other allies such as the United Kingdom, it is possible for the US to get around irritating technicalities like Amendment protections - so in all likelihood it was many more. The NSA, though, is as transparent as a brick, so most details about the spying programmes were classified for "national security" and would have never been revealed if not for the actions of a whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who was horrified by the actions of his representatives. Ellison said that surveillance is "great" and "essential", citing the need to minimise terror attacks like in Boston. But blanket surveillance of citizens did not stop that tragedy from happening, and the FBI even admitted snooping could not have flagged the Boston bombers. Ellison admits that he is a little concerned about the possibily of the technology being used for political targeting rather than terrorism, but the US government would never do that - would it? Why, then, could Ellison be such an enthusiastic supporter of the NSA spying programme? Well, the answer is that the technology does not come cheap and a top supplier for the NSA just happens to be Larry Ellison's Oracle. Oracle, the Atlantic points out, also solicits other defence contracts and just last June signed a $680 million deal with the Defense Information Systems Agency. Based on that, Ellison is never going to question the antics of one of his best customers using gear his company has designed. In fact , the way Ellison downplays the Snowden revelations is downright misleading. The extreme, systemic surveillance, and collaboration between US allies to get around pesky barriers like the constitution, is one of the most important stories this decade. |
| Ambient backscatter threatens end of batteries Posted: 15 Aug 2013 03:22 AM PDT A team of researchers at the University of Washington have emerged from their smoke filled labs with a new wireless communication system that allows devices to interact with each other without relying on batteries or wires. The gear uses ambient backscatter technology to interact with users and communicate with each other without using batteries. They exchange information by reflecting or absorbing pre-existing radio signals. This takes advantage of the TV and mobile transmissions that already surround us. The two devices piggy back on the existing signals using built small, battery-free devices. They need antennas that can detect, harness and reflect a TV signal and that is all. It means that it could be possible to have a network of devices and sensors to communicate with no power source or human attention. Lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, a UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering, said that it is possible to repurpose wireless signals that are already around us into both a source of power and for communication. This will be important in areas like wearable computing, smart homes and self-sustaining sensor networks. The team published their results at the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Data Communication 2013 shindig in Hong Kong, MIT Technology Review reports. They received the conference's best-paper award for their research. Everyday objects could also be enabled with battery-free tags to communicate with each other. One example is a sofa which could use ambient backscatter to let the user know where they left a set of keys. The receiving devices picked up a signal from their transmitting counterparts at a rate of 1 kilobit per second when up to 2.5 feet apart outdoors and 1.5 feet apart indoors. This is enough to send information such as a sensor reading, text messages and contact information. |
| Internet of Things lighting systems hacked Posted: 15 Aug 2013 02:58 AM PDT While Intel and its ilk talk up the Internet of Things idea, it turns out that some of the early moves into the field are completely insecure. Philips created a Hue LED lighting system, a smart lightbulb which uses wi-fi to connect to the net. Users can use their smartphones or computers connected to the web or local networks to turn lights on and off and control the colour of ambient lighting. Unfortunately it is so insecure a hacker can get in and turn your lights off. Nitesh Dhanjani, the researcher who discovered the weaknesses and developed proof-of-concept attacks that exploit them, wrote in his blog that smart lightbulb systems are likely to be deployed in current and new residential and corporate constructions. The flaw means an intruder can remotely shut off lighting in locations such as hospitals and other public venues. The Philips wireless controller has an authentication controller which consists of a security token containing the device's unique media access control identifier, that has been cryptographically hashed using a known algorithm. These hardware addresses are trivial to detect by anyone on the same network or often by people within radio range of a device, making them unsuitable for authentication. Dhanjani's hack uses Java which is delivered when browsing compromised websites or websites dedicated to serving attack pages. It combs through the address resolution protocol cache of a local network to find all connected devices. The hack runs the MAC address of each discovered device through the MD5 hash algorithm and includes the output in a security token used to send commands to the light controller. If a command is successfully executed, the hack will repeat it. If a command doesn't succeed, the malware will register a new token every second or so using a different MAC address until a valid one is found. It is just as well the lighting system is not that popular yet. Dhanjani said that a remote botnet system could cause a perpetual blackout of millions of consumer lightbulbs. The other problem is that Philips has not really worked out how to deal with security problems yet. Dhanjani found it impossible to notify the company of its problems. |
| Google says no "legitimate privacy" for Gmail users Posted: 14 Aug 2013 10:31 AM PDT Gmail users should not expect "legitimate privacy" when they send emails using the service, according to a legal brief representing Google. In a brief filed in federal court, Google lawyers said users "cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient's email provider in the course of delivery". "Indeed, a person has not legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties," the brief said. A highly redacted copy of the complaint is available at the Consumer Watchdog website here (PDF). It argues that, due to Google's silence, users do not consent to Google reading the content of email messages, as well as asserting Google is violating state and federal wiretap laws because the company combs through emails to help it with its targeted advertising. Google's motion to dismiss is available here (PDF) and repeatedly references how the process is automated, and suggests users are aware. Google also says if the way it access emails are changed, it could criminalise services like spam filtering and search. The motion reads:
District judge Luck H Koh will hear the case on 5 September in a San Francisco District Court. Consumer Watchdog's privacy project director, John M Simpson, said users should take Google at its word. " If you care about your email correspondents' privacy don't use Gmail," Simpson said. "Google's brief uses a wrong-headed analogy. Sending an email is like giving a letter to the Post Office, I expect the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope. I don't expect the mail carrier to open my letter and read it". TechEye has approached Google for a response. |
| PirateBrowser downloaded 100K+ times in days Posted: 14 Aug 2013 08:55 AM PDT Torrent indexing website the Pirate Bay is celebrating a massive 100,000 downloads of its 10th anniversary, censorship dodging 'PirateBrowser' in just a few days. Countries like the UK, Belgium, Italy, and Ireland have imposed blocks on accessing the Pirate Bay and more. In the United Kingdom, internet filters will become default for all ISP packages, so the browser has its purposes beyond torrenting. The Pirate Bay itself has long been a target of content industry backed politicians, who are told piracy is an enormous threat to the economy. The website, its admins and owners have frequently been vocal about its opposition to policies it views as restrictive to web freedoms. |
| Microsoft 8.1 will be available 17 October Posted: 14 Aug 2013 08:39 AM PDT Microsoft's Windows 8 update, Windows 8.1, will roll out in the UK 12PM on the 17th October as a free update for anyone already on the Windows 8 OS, and 4am 17 October in the USA. The update will be available through the Windows Store for existing customers and will also be available at retail and new devices 18 October. It'll feature an updated Windows Store and cloud connectivity with the soon-to-be-renamed SkyDrive. The Preview is already available for a quick look here. Senior marketing comms manager at Microsoft, Brandon LeBlanc, said on the Windows blog that customers will appreciate increased personalisation, IE11, some built in apps "including a few new ones" like Bing Food & Drink. Customers may not be looking forward to Bing-powered search, which reportedly sends searches on your desktop online to Microsoft servers. But LeBlanc would not offer any further information in the comments about upcoming apps beyond what was talked about at the Build conference, such as the native Facebook and Foursquare apps. |
| Brazil sues Samsung for alleged factory worker abuses Posted: 14 Aug 2013 07:45 AM PDT Prosecutors in Brazil are suing Samsung over allegations of labour abuses at a Zona Franca de Manaus factory. The Zona Franca de Manaus is a special economic area where a lot of factories, particularly electronics factories, operate. Once established in the free zone, companies are exempt from import and export tax, as well as making them liable to discounts from government and exemption from property tax for ten years. Samsung has told Brazilian authorities that it will cooperate. "As Samsung is a global company, we strictly abide by all laws in the regions we operate". |
| Pro-civil liberties politicians losing battle with Big Brother Posted: 14 Aug 2013 07:44 AM PDT The fight is looking increasingly tough for anti-surveillance polticians hoping to gain successes in the American political establishment. There are people on both sides of the political spectrum who who don't like big government - and progressive liberals like Charlotte Scot who do, but favour civil liberties. There are a fair few politicians who are worried about the political fallout of standing up to the NSA in the event of an attack on American soil. They could win the battle against surveillance and then be blamed for allowing such an attack to happen. On the other hand, some reports say the Boston bombers were known to intelligence, yet that attack went ahead anyway. Political pundits don't expect questions of surveillance to be enormous in the midterm elections next year, Associated Press reports. In fact politicians are just likely to spin this as being tough on national security. Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who collaborated with whistleblower Edward Snowden, pointed out in a Democracy Now interview that senators have full constitutional immunity against prosecution for anything that they say on the floor of the Senate. It may well be their political careers they are worried about if they speak out. Last month, a Washington Post-ABC News poll indicated that a slight majority of Americans think it's more important for the government to investigate terrorism than to put privacy first. This makes the efforts of senators against the whole idea, such as Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Rand Paul could be seen to be fighting a losing battle in favour of civil liberties. They are seeing few co-sponsors joining their legislative proposals to limit NSA spying powers, while influential senators as Dianne Feinstein have defended the programme. As Feinstein and her ilk see their star ascend, there are more calls for the crucifixion of Edward Snowden. For the political establishment, Snowden is being painted not as a whistleblower but as a spy who is guilty of treason. Public opinion, however, remains supportive of Snowden. There are still some politicans who want to see a middle of the road approach where security and privacy are considered, which means activists have a very slim chance of getting their ideas accepted. Another problem is with the IT industry itself. It is not as if telcos are in favour of weaker spying for ideological reasons, it's just that they don't want to spend heaps of cash on providing intelligence agencies with data. In this case the industry has been late to fight back. Companies were cheerfully handing over data until Snowden made it all public. If they have any reluctance, it is about having to tell their customers that they handed over data in the first place. |
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