Wednesday, August 7, 2013

TechEye

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Fracking gagging order placed on two young children

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 05:27 AM PDT

Gag orders are common in all sorts of court cases, but they aren't usually applied to children and rarely last a lifetime. Some American lawyers are really pushing the envelope - by ordering a lifelong gag on two kids, aged 7 and 10, that prevents them from discussing fracking for good.

The kids ended up with the gag order after their parents reached a $750,000 settlement with Range Resources Corp, an oil and gas company that was accused of wrecking their 10-acre farm in Pennsylvania.

The company is a big player in Pennsylvania's shale gas boom and it placed several industrial facilities right next to the Hallowich's farm. These included four gas wells, gas compressor stations and a waste pond, according to the Guardian.

The family took the company to court, claiming that their water supply was contaminated as a result of Range Resources' operations. Like most legal battles nowadays, the dispute ended in a settlement reached in 2011 and unsealed last week.

Under the settlement, the family had to sign a gag order - which is fairly common for a cash handout. But it was extended to include a couple of children. Unusual, even in America.

The father, Chris Hallowich, told the court that it might be difficult to ensure the children keep absolutely quiet on fracking, namely because they don't know what fracking or a gag order is. Then there is the small matter that they are aged 7 and 10. The family's lawyer said he had never seen a gag order imposed on children in his 30 years of practicing law.

However, the attorney representing Range Resources reaffirmed that the company sought the gag order.

"Our position is it does apply to the whole family. We would certainly enforce it," the attorney told the court.

Now that the order is public, the company is facing some rather bad press and is trying to distance itself from comments made by its illustrious legal team. We guess they could have done that before the story went public. 

Former NSA boss compares privacy activists to al Qaida terrorists

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 05:13 AM PDT

Former NSA chief Michael Hayden, who ran the shady US spying bureaucracy from 1999 to 2009, responded to a question about Edward Snowden by painting privacy activists as terrorists and comparing them to al Qaida.

"If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?" Hayden asked, reffering to "nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years".

He continued: "They may want to come after the US government, but frankly, you know, the dot-mil stuff is about the hardest target in the United States".

'Dot mil' is American jargon for its military networks.

"So if they can't create great harm to dot-mil, who are they going after?" Hayden said, according to the Guardian. "Who for them are the World Trade Centers? The World Trade Centers, as they were for al-Qaida".

Hayden was in charge of the NSA when it began its unprecedented surveillance operation. He also ran the CIA. He conclude that the situation he outlined was speculation and "imaginative", but also that Snowden "has created quite a stir among these folks who are very committed to transparency and global transparency".

Big Brother Watch, the British privacy rights group, responded. Speaking with TechEye, its director, Nick Pickles, said: “Given the testimony given under oath about what the NSA was doing, it is understandable that Hayden may be showing signs of nerves, as Edward Snowden’s disclosures blow apart assurances that there  was no surveillance of American citizens.

“Perhaps if Mr Hayden had spent more time trying to recruit the people he now so gleefully traduces and compares to terrorists it wouldn’t have been possible to walk out of a high-security facility with so much classified information on a USB stick," Pickles continued.

"More Americans now think that security measures have gone too far than think we need more surveillance," he said. "If we are to have a sensible debate about what is necessary and proportionate to keep us safe in the modern communications age, we need to start by stopping the utterly ridiculous pastime of some securocrats to brand anyone who disagrees with them a terrorist.”

Apple patents tech to let cops switch off iPhone video, camera and wi-fi

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 04:52 AM PDT

Police forces around the world have had the problem that when their officers get a bit carried away and start pepper spraying tied captives there is someone on hand filming the event on their mobile phones.

While six police lay into prone grannies on the floor with long batons, the pictures can be on the net in seconds, meaning supervisors have to answer embarrassing questions.

But they may not need to fear scrutiny much longer - Apple has patented a piece of technology which would allow government and police to block transmission of information, including video and photographs, whenever they like.

All the coppers have to do is decide that a public gathering or venue is deemed "sensitive", and needs to be "protected from externalities" and Apple will switch off all its gear.

The police can then get on with the very difficult task of kettling protesters without having to worry about a few beating anyone to death.

Apple insists that the affected sites are mostly cinemas, theatres, concert grounds and similar locations, but it does admit that it could be used in "covert police or government operations which may require complete 'blackout' conditions".

According to RT it could also be used to prevent whistleblowers like Edward Snowden from taking pictures and broadcasting them on the interent.

Apple said that the wireless transmission of sensitive information to a remote source is one example of a threat to security.

But it said that this sensitive information could be anything from classified government information to questions or answers to an examination administered in an academic setting.

Apple patented the means to transmit an encoded signal to all wireless devices, commanding them to disable recording functions.

The policies would be activated by GPS, and wi-fi or mobile base-stations, which would ring-fence ("geofence") around a building or a "sensitive area" to prevent phone cameras from taking pictures or recording video.

Odd that the company made famous by its 1984 Big Brother video can't really see what it is doing. Perhaps its own secretive culture and an overzealous security treatment of its staff have fostered sympathy for Big Brother after all.

 

 

 

Ex Microsoft man says big software publishers' days are numbered

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 03:47 AM PDT

Former Microsoft executive and father of the Xbox Ed Fries said that the days of "big publishers" could be drawing to a close.

Fries told VG247 he was both surprised and impressed with Microsoft's policy reversal on allowing self-publishing on Xbox One.

He said that such moves mean that Microsoft has worked out that the days of "big publishers" may vanish.

Microsoft's policy reversal is more to do with pressure from customers than anything else.

Fries said that he is waiting to see the details, but he thinks the world of games software is changing, and that it might be difficult for large parts of the industry to change along with it.

Big publishers and developers are going to have to adapt to free-to-play and he is glad that consoles are starting to adopt the idea.

Fries said that there will not have to be big publishers in the future. In fact the way things are shaping up there could be lots of small developers, getting together and then breaking up into little teams all over the world.

Big publishers were formed because games were really expensive, and distribution was a lot more difficult. But this has changed with digital distribution, and it's not as important to deal with bricks and mortar stores any more.

Microsoft is expected to outline its self-publishing policies in more detail during Gamescom later this month. 

TOR advises abandoning Windows

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 03:13 AM PDT

TOR has warned its users to stay away from Windows after it was revealed that US spooks were spreading malware on the anonymising network using a Firefox zero-day vulnerability

The zero-day vulnerability allowed the FBI and other spooks to to use JavaScript code to collect crucial identifying information on computers visiting some websites using The Onion Router (TOR) network.

According to a security advisory posted by the TOR Project, the work around is switching away from Windows.

This is because the malicious Javascript that exploited the zero-day vulnerability was written to target Windows computers running Firefox 17 ESR (Extended Support Release), a version of the browser customised to view websites using TOR.

Those using Linux and OS X were unaffected. While there is nothing to stop the spooks writing a version of the code which targets Linux and OS X, it is less likely to happen.

The fake Javascript was likely planted on websites where the attacker was interested to see who visited. The script collected the hostname and MAC address of a person's computer and sent it to a remote computer.

The exploit is targeted specifically to unmask Tor Browser Bundle users without actually installing any backdoors on their host.

The TOR Project also advised users to turn off Javascript by clicking the blue "S" by the green onion within the TOR browser.

"Disabling JavaScript will reduce your vulnerability to other attacks like this one, but disabling JavaScript will make some websites not work like you expect," TOR wrote. "A future version of Tor Browser Bundle will have an easier interface for letting you configure your JavaScript settings."

Mozilla has patched the hole in later versions of Firefox, but some people may still be using the older versions of the TOR Browser Bundle. 

Microsoft manager charged with rape

Posted: 07 Aug 2013 02:59 AM PDT

A former programming manager at Microsoft was accused of raping a female cleaner on the Redmond campus.

According to the Seattle Times, Vineet Kumar Srivastava, 36, has been arrested and charged with second degree rape.

Police say that the attack took place on July 22 in Building 27 on Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus.

Srivastava, 36, is accused of luring the 32 year-old victim into his office. He allegedly showed her a pornographic video on his mobile phone.

When the janitor pushed him away and attempted to flee, Srivastava allegedly demanded that the janitor perform oral sex, saying his wife was in India. According to prosecutors, he then raped her.

The victim reported the alleged rape to her supervisor at the contractor that Microsoft uses for its cleaners, called ABM. The supervisor reportedly dismissed her allegations and failed to contact police. Another ABM manager called the police a day later.

Police interviewed the 32-year-old victim, noting that her shoulders bore finger-shaped bruises consistent with a sexual assault. She identified Srivastava as the man who had raped her from a photographic line-up.

Srivastava was interviewed and insisted that he was the victim, claiming that the female custodian forced him to have sex with her.

Microsoft said that Srivastava was no longer employed by the company. 

ARM: IBM Power licensing is "validation" of IP model

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 11:07 AM PDT

Following the news that IBM is seeking to claw back more market share with its Power chips by adopting an ARM-style attitude to licencing, ARM's CMO and EVP business development has told TechEye the adoption of this model serves as a validation to its approach.

In an interview, Drew said: "We saw this announcement and it basically validates a lot of things we've been saying in the server market - that people are looking for new ideas, and differentiation in the market, and I think the IP way is the way forward".

Commenting on how this will affect the top current player in servers, Intel, Drew said: "It's not going to make it any easier for them - ultimately it's a battle of horizontal versus a vertical business model.

"Even Intel said that they're looking at doing customisable chips, so I think that validates exactly what we're doing".

TechEye asked whether it was a question of company versus company per se, but instead about the emergence of the successful models we're going to see.

"I think in the server market you'll need differentiation," Drew said. "And I think differentiation comes from ecosystems, multiple players, and listening to what the customer really wants. One size does not fit all. I think we'll see that in the server space the same as it's been in the phone and the tablet space. It's a business model conversation, even more than it is a technology conversation".

Drew added that "momentum continues around building ARM in the server space".

"We're really pleased with that," Drew said. "It's continuing along at a faster pace than we could have imagined two years ago. If you look at some of the announcements that have come out, the way in which software has been adopted, I'm really pleased with it". 

IBM launches Intel server challenge

Posted: 06 Aug 2013 10:56 AM PDT

IBM and a consortium of semiconductor players are planning to build the userbase for IBM microprocessors beyond its limited current market, essentially staking a claim on Intel's traditional territory.

Although IBM Power chips are primarly found in the company's own servers, a group of semiconductor companies are planning to open them up to licensing, with licensees then able to use IBM's designs in their chips. Nvidia is backing the plans, while Mellanox and Tyan are also on board.

This may in part be a reaction to a 25 percent year-on-year decline for Power based systems, the WSJ points out. Intel's dominance in servers, with its x86 chips, is challenged somewhat by IBM but revenues have declined.

If it can spur on the industry to accept further competition, IBM may be able to drive up revenues for Power.

IBM veep Bradley McCredie told the WSJ that the company "absolutely wants to get into a broader ecosystem, that is why we are doing this".

First from IBM will be Power8, which the company is expected to explain in further detail some time this month.

Nvidia hopes that IBM opening up its target market could help it further push its graphics chips in Power servers. An Nvidia GM, Sumit Gupta, said IBM "knows enterprise computing best" and has "one of the best sales teams out there". Tyan's GM Albert Mu, meanwhile, hinted that IBM-led competition is essential, telling the Wall Street Journal that server buyers "now have no choice - it's like 100 percent Intel". Tyan has top server customers like Amazon and Tencent Holdings that the group will be trying to woo.

Intel maintains a tight grip on the server market, but is beginning to face challenges from ARM licensees who believe power efficiencies and wider customisation could undermine the company's near-monopoly. AMD is on board with that idea, recently committing to ARM chips as well as x86.

IBM has its work cut out, but considering its industry relationships, cash, and dedication to R&D, if a company has a fighting chance, arguably it is Big Blue. 
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