There is no such thing as anonymous online tracking A 1993 New Yorker cartoon famously proclaimed, "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." The Web is a very different place today; you now leave countless footprints online. You log into websites. You share stuff on social networks. You search for information about yourself and your friends, family, and colleagues. In the language of computer science, clickstreams — browsing histories that companies collect — are not anonymous at all; rather, they are pseudonymous. Will tracking companies actually take steps to identify or deanonymize users? Regardless, what I will show you is that if they’re not doing it, it’s not because there are any technical barriers. Here are five concrete ways in which your identity can be attached to data that was initially collected without identifying information. 1. Most of the companies with the biggest reach in terms of third-party tracking, such as Google and Facebook, are also companies that users have a first-party relationship with. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Indicting the US Government for crimes against humanity – unsealing the evidence It is opportune that only a couple of weeks after three-times human rights awardee Bradley Manning presented his case against the US Government for war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan, details have been released (see video trailer above) of a 15 month investigation by the Guardian and the BBC into torture centres in Iraq, coordinated by US Special Forces commander, James Steele, and former US General Petraeus. Add in evidence of system-wide torture and massacres in Iraq and Afghanistan as compiled by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (see below) with additional evidence from a number of other sources (also below) and what we have is much more than a dossier but an indictment – unsealed and without need for a grand jury – that could form the basis of charges raised against the US Administration either in the World Court or – deliciously turning the tables – at the military tribunal of Bradley Manning. The game is afoot! Note 1. Note 2. Note 3. Note 4. Note 5. Note 6. A. B.
Web 2.0 Suicide Machine - Meet your Real Neighbours again! - Sign out forever! Who is Neustar? Brad Stone at the New York Times reports on an industry group working on a new platform for portable digital movie downloads: The [Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem or DECE] is setting out to create a common digital standard that would let consumers buy or rent a digital video once and then play it on any device... Under the proposed system, proof of digital purchases would be stored online in a so-called rights locker, and consumers would be permitted to play the movies they bought or rented on any DECE-compatible device. Most consumers have likely never heard of Neustar, yet the firm plays an important role in the telecommunications industry, and has built a highly profitable business faciliating the disclosure of information regarding consumers' communications to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. How many times a year does Neustar hand over information on individuals to law enforcement and intelligence agencies? On the firm's website, Neustar describes its LEAP service:
Tracking James Steele, the alleged coordinator of Iraqi torture centres: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #1 James Steele today We have tracked down the man identified by The Guardian and the BBC who they alleged supervised death squads and torture squads, first in El Salvador, then Iraq (under General Petraeus). James Steele, named in the joint Guardian/BBC investigation, lives in Texas and operates as a counter-insurgency consultant. Note: Between now and June and the commencement of the Tribunal of the US Government for War Crimes (which the media is myopically reporting as the Trial of Bradley Manning, the person responsible for reporting these war crimes) we will be providing further details of these crimes and who the perpetrators are. To see specific allegations made against Steele and to find out more about the accusations of war crimes against the US Government, click here . A. * From May 2003, until assuming the position of senior counselor to Ambassador Bremer for Iraqi security forces in November 2003, Steele was the senior police adviser with the Iraqi police SWAT unit in Baghdad.
The Intimate Social Graph October 14, 2010, 11:02 AM — For a number of years I have had a privacy concern that is just now beginning to peep into view on the Internet at large. Around 2001 I spent some time in a casual multiuser game hosted by PopCap. It featured a way that two players could chat in a private space while playing the game. The game was centrally hosted: each user's local Java applet talked with a PopCap server, so every keystroke typed in those private conversations was sent up to the server and back out to the other party's client. I wondered at the time: were those conversations being stored? The privacy of one-to-one communications in Facebook messages, LinkedIn InMail and Twitter direct messages is protected mainly under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Fast-forward to 2010. Of course the privacy of social networking data is dependent on security. Users of Facebook and LinkedIn can choose which information appears on their public pages for all the world to see.
UltraViolet shines light on locker in the cloud UltraViolet is the consumer brand for an ambitious initiative from the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, a cross-industry consortium including major media companies, consumer electronics manufacturers and digital rights management providers. It aims to provide a system to allow consumers to share digital media they purchase in a controlled manner. UltraViolet will provide a centralized licence locker that grants access to material on compatible devices registered to a household account. It sounds fine in principle but there could be problems in practice. The UltraViolet licensing programme for media, technology and service providers has now opened. The technical specifications include a common file format for downloads, designed to work with multiple digital rights management systems. The centralized UltraViolet license broker will be developed and operated by Neustar, a directory and registry operator for telephony and internet services. www.uvvu.com
The Iraqi Wolf Brigade & ‘Frago 234′: US War Crimes Tribunal investigation #2 The Wolf Brigade together with order Frago 234 (see below) was first exposed over two years ago when Wikileaks began to publish material provided by whistleblower Bradley Manning. This article merely pulls together that material, given that in less than three months time a trial will commence. The Wolf Brigade – an Iraqi death squad, set up by US Special Forces coordinator James Steele – was the subject of a recent Guardian/BBC investigation: the full 50 minute video of this investigation is provided below. A Wolf Brigade raid at close quarters is shown above. Note 1. Bradley Manning provided information to the public domain in accordance with the guidance issued by the ICRC and subsequently is the victim of a political prosecution by the US Administration in order to deflect any investigation into war crimes he revealed. Note 2. The Wolf Brigade The US advisor to the Wolf Brigade from the time of its formation until April 2005 was James J. Torture and Frago 234 See also
Thoughts on the DOJ wikileaks/twitter court order The world's media has jumped on the news that the US Department of Justice has sought, and obtained a court order seeking to compel Twitter to reveal account information associated with several of its users who are associated with Wikileaks. Communications privacy law is exceedingly complex, and unfortunately, none of the legal experts who actually specialize in this area (people like Orin Kerr, Paul Ohm, Jennifer Granick and Kevin Bankston) have yet to chime in with their thoughts. As such, many commentators and journalists are completely botching their analysis of this interesting event. While I'm not a lawyer, the topic of government requests to Internet companies is the focus of my dissertation, so I'm going to try to provide a bit of useful analysis. However, as always, I'm not a lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt. A quick introduction to the law The order to twitter It is the second part of the order that is more interesting. Reading between the lines 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
internet4.org - internet4.org Guantanamo | Gareth Peirce, Andy Worthington, Wikileaks, interviews with former detainees: US war crimes tribunal investigation #3 As part of our series of investigations for a proposed US war crimes tribunal we decided on the matter of Guantanamo Bay to go direct to the experts: Gareth Pierce, Andy Worthington, Wikileaks and, of course, the former detainees. Below, we present highlights of the investigations conducted by Andy Worthington, links to the Wikileaks files on Guantanamo and audio interviews with former Guantanamo detainees. Above is a video of a talk (January, 2012) by Gareth Peirce, who has written a book on Guantanamo (‘Dispatches from the dark side: on Torture and the death of justice’) and whose clients include Moazzam Begg and Shakar Aamer. Breaking… Gitmo detainees on now indefinite hunger strike. The overall picture that emerges from the Wikileaks files, Worthington’s flawless analysis, and Peirce’s observations is of a facility that history will show is of a level that any Nazi (and we use that term here in its true historical context not as a pejorative) would be proud of. A. B. 1. 2. C. Links
Google+ and Privacy: A Roundup July 3, 2011 at 7:04 pm By all accounts, Google has done a great job with Plus, both on privacy and on the closely related goal of better capturing real-life social nuances. [1] This article will summarize the privacy discussions I’ve had in the first few days of using the service and the news I’ve come across. The origin of Circles “Circles,” as you’re probably aware, is the big privacy-enhancing feature. But Adams defected to Facebook a few months later, which lead to speculation that it was the end of whatever plans Google may have had for the concept. Meanwhile, Facebook introduced a friend-lists feature but it was DOA. Why are circles effective? I did an informal poll to see if people are taking advantage of Circles to organize their friend groups. One obvious explanation is that Circles captures real-life boundaries, and this is what users have been waiting for all along. There are several other UI features that contribute to the success of Circles. The resharing bug
Android phones keep location cache, too, but it's harder to access After this week's disturbing revelation that iPhones and 3G iPads keep a log of location data based on cell tower and WiFi base station triangulation, developer Magnus Eriksson set out to demonstrate that Android smartphones store the exact same type of data for its location services. While the data is harder to access for the average user, it's as trivial to access for a knowledgeable hacker or forensics expert. On Wednesday, security researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden revealed their findings that 3G-capable iOS devices keep a database of location data based on cell tower triangulation and WiFi basestation proximity in a file called "consolidated.db." The iPhone, as well as 3G-equipped iPads, generate this cache even if you don't explicitly use location-based services. This data is also backed up to your computer every time it is synced with iTunes. Eriksson suspected that his Android device collected similar information.
Afghanistan atrocities: US war crimes tribunal investigation #4 Kabul, March 2013 Recently a small but significant demonstration in support of Bradley Manning took place in Afghanistan (see photo above). Via Wikileaks, Manning told the world the truth about what was happening there. Below, as part of our series of investigations for a proposed prosecution of the US for war crimes, we compile the evidence Manning raised (in the Afghan War Diaries) about war crimes in Afghanistan, as well as more recent evidence and extensive links. Incidentally, ask any historian and they will explain that no one – not even the Russians, not the British, not the Tartars, nor the Mongols – ever won a war in Afghanistan. War crimes 11 June, 2007. . 17 June, 2007. August 21, 2008. May 5, 2009. September 4, 2009. December 26, 2009. February 12, 2010 . February 21, 2010. March 11, 2012. Links: