Murdock Says Wall Street Journal Still Under Hacker Attack
February 15, 2013
Now, isn’t this ironic? TNW reports, “Rupert Murdoch Claims Chinese Hackers Are Still Attacking the Wall Street Journal.” Didn’t Murdoch’s own News Corp. use improper methods to obtain information? I didn’t think Karma usually worked that quickly.
Following revelations that the New York Times had been hacked, the world learned that the WSJ had also been targeted. Now, the paper’s (in)famous owner claims the attacks have not been stopped. Writer John Russell tells us:
“The Australia-born media mogul took to Twitter to reveal that the newspaper was still being targeted by Chinese hackers over the weekend. That’s just days after the WSJ bolstered its network security last week after its computer systems ‘had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper’s China coverage’.
“Murdoch has not provided any further substantiation of his claims.”
These two news outlets, as well as Bloomberg, seem to have been targeted as a result of their coverage of Chinese politics. Though there is yet no evidence to support the theory, security experts suspect that the Chinese government is behind the intrusions. Such charges are nothing new to China, who is also known for its embrace of Internet censorship.
Cynthia Murrell, February 15, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
New Tech Allows China to Tighten Internet Control
January 10, 2013
If you hoped China might see the light and ease up on its Internet censorship, I’m afraid they’re going the other direction. The Guardian informs us, “China Tightens ‘Great Firewall’ Internet Control with New Technology.” Reportedly, the government is using new tools to interfere with VPN services that some in China have been using to skirt its constraints. This should make search interesting.
The article states:
“China Unicom, one of the biggest telecoms providers in the country, is now killing connections where a VPN is detected, according to one company with a number of users in China.
“VPNs encrypt internet communications between two points so that even if the data being passed is tapped, it cannot be read. A VPN connection from inside China to outside it also mean that the user’s internet connection effectively starts outside the ‘Great Firewall’ – in theory giving access to the vast range of information and sites that the Chinese government blocks. That includes many western newspaper sites as well as resources such as Twitter, Facebook and Google.”
Though VPN providers are just noticing the effects of government interference, Chinese users got an inkling in May of 2011 that the government would attempt to disrupt VPN use. Now, according to VPN provider Astrill, at least four of the common protocols are being blocked by China’s “Great Firewall.” Though Astrill is working on a system it hopes will outstride censors, the company compared the effort to a cat-and-mouse game. Yes, that sounds about right.
Will China ever respect its citizens enough to trust them unfettered online?
Cynthia Murrell, January 10, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Will Twitter Lead to US Spring?
August 28, 2012
Any doubts about Internet censorship as the next big thing? Check out TechNewsWorld’s “How Twitter Could Trigger a US Revolution” for an example of tech-related alarmism. The piece starts by explaining why our country is not immune to the sort of turmoil many other countries have been experiencing. Writer Rob Enderle supplies several reasons, which he summarizes with:
“In short, there is a growing number of increasingly heavily armed people [in the US] becoming convinced that their government is catastrophically flawed, and that the system itself — not just the people in it — is the cause. That would appear to be a formula for revolution, and key indicators appear to be drifting in that direction at the moment.”
Okay. . . . Enderle goes on to tie in the Twitter factor. He writes:
“What Twitter does that is unique is that it puts no time between the concept of a news item and what is published. . . .
“This suggests that a revolutionary group, hostile country, or terrorist group could relatively easily manufacture an event that could cause several large-scale riots — and if they controlled enough of the tweets, propagate them into revolution.”
The potential scene he describes involves disgruntled and understaffed law enforcement; rioters who will ignore all accurate but non-Twitter-hosted news stories; and revolutionaries egging each other on with hyperbole-filled tweets. He thinks the scenario unlikely—what a relief!—but says the thought exercise shows that we are vulnerable to Twitter-based upheaval.
Sigh. Enderle has a good point here and there, but the whole write up makes me think back over my history. Prophecies of doom have accompanied every step of our society’s advancement, and most (though not all) have proven to be off the mark. Let us hope that is the case with Enderle’s observations.
Let us also hope that such speculation does not give our lawmakers any restrictive ideas.
Cynthia Murrell, August 28, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Russia Passes Internet Censorship Legislation Impacting LiveJournal Blog
August 26, 2012
Internet censorship is a hot topic these days due to the fact that some countries do not value freedom of speech and choose to restrict it. ZeroPaid recently reported on this issue in the article “Russia Censors LiveJournal.”
According to the article, Russia has passed internet censorship legislation in the name of protecting its citizens from suicide, drug use, and other criminal activity. The impetus for censoring LiveJournal, a social network owned by SUP Media where Internet users can keep a blog, occurred on July 18 when:
“Local law enforcement informed a Yaroslavl court about pat-index, a neo-Nazi blog it had found on LiveJournal during a sweep. The blog’s hateful message violates Russian federal laws against extremism. Because of Bill 89417-6, the court now has the power to stamp it out completely and immediately. The court ordered Internet provider Netis Telekom to block, among other illegal sites, this blog’s IP. The court order shows the IP to be blocked as 208.93.0.128.
However, LiveJournal blogs don’t have unique IP addresses. That IP belongs to all of LiveJournal Russia, effectively blacking out LiveJournal for everyone in Yaroslavl (a city of nearly 600,000) and all the surrounding areas to which Netis Telekom provides service.”
Despite the fact that the censorship only occurred for a short period of time, the fact that legislation restricting Internet rights, which have been deemed part of freedom of speech by the United Nations, exists is very problematic.
Jasmine Ashton, August 26, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Russian Government Embraces Internet Censorship
August 9, 2012
Is this the future of the Internet? MIT’s Technology Review announces, “Russia Tightens Its Grip on the Net.” Framed as an attempt to protect children (who could argue against protecting children?), a new bill passed by Russia’s lower parliamentary house calls for the creation of an official roster of sites with “forbidden” information. The bill is expected to make it through the upper house and across Putin’s desk into law.
Images of drug use and child porn are listed as ban-able, of course, but so is anything that “may cause children to undertake actions threatening their life or health” and “any other information banned by court decisions.” That’s quite a lot of wiggle room. Research editor Mike Orcutt writes:
“Russia’s online scene is vibrant and diverse, and, at least until now, has been relatively open to many kinds of expression. Services like blogging network LiveJournal, which is immensely popular in Russia, have become platforms for outspoken dissent. LiveJournal expressed doubt that the new law would be enforced fairly, since a banned website’s only outlet for appeal would be the Russian court system, known to be loyal to the Kremlin. ‘Unfortunately the practice of law in Russia indicates a high probability of the worst case scenario.'”
What a surprise. First China, now Russia. Elsewhere the calls for suppression are not (yet)as evident, but many governments are “nervous” about uncontrolled and free information. For these folks, control is desirable. Informed citizens, not so much. After all, that can get very messy.
Cynthia Murrell, August 9, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
