Sunday, December 22, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Google: More Gov’t Pressure than Ever to ERASE Political Content from Web
Ever wondered why you can’t find a post from your favorite alternative media website on the world’s most famous search engine?
The Register is reporting a pressure surge from politicians, judges, cops and the like to remove material from Google that’s critical of them:
Today, the advertising giant said that, in the first six months of 2013, it received 3,846 demands from public officials to remove 24,737 personal blog posts, YouTube videos and other pieces of content it hosts. That’s up 68 per cent on the second half of 2012.
And according to the web giant, which has just published its latest transparency report, 93 requests focused on content that was critical of people in public office. Defamation and copyright infringement were often cited, but less than one third of the highlighted material was removed in the first half of 2013.
A whopping 93% of the requests — basically all of them — were attempting to censor people who are critical of public officials on the web. While some content may actually be defamation, just how gray are the lines surrounding that definition?
In the U.S., requests were up 70% and included 27 federal agency requests to pull apps from the Google Play store for trademark infringement. As for the U.K., Google wrote, “We received a request from a law firm representing a former Member of Parliament to remove a preview from Google Books that allegedly defamed the MP by suggesting he was engaged in illegal activity. We removed the preview.”
Google legal director Susan Infantino wrote that these requests have become a consistent and “worrying trend” for the past four years. Worrying trend or slippery slope to a politically correct nightmare?
In 2012, the Internet Society took of poll of more than 10,000 Internet users from over 20 countries around the world and found that the majority of them (86%) strongly agreed that “Freedom of expression should be guaranteed on the Internet.”
But free expression isn’t guaranteed. In fact, depending on what country you live in, the Internet landscape can look like a very different place — one with a whole lot of “filtering” going on.
Take China for example. If you live in China, you are not allowed to access social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. They are just blocked, period. Information that might embarrass the Chinese government, such as information on the Tiananmen Square Massacre during which the government implemented martial law and killed thousands of pro-democracy protestors, simply does not exist on the Internet when accessed in China. It’s as if none of that stuff ever happened. China has essentially erased the online history books.
That’s what happened in George Orwell’s 1984 when history was literally erased and rewritten to a Big Brother-centric point of view.
And that is exactly what our so-called leaders would love to do to our Internet all over the world. Silence political dissent.
Don’t believe it? Check out the Stratfor email posted on Wikileaks claiming that CIA Director John Brennan is behind a witch hunt for “anyone printing materials negative to the Obama agenda”. (Probably not gonna find that link with a Google search…)
It’s sad we live in such an Orwellian time that politicians can just get whole chunks of the Internet they do not agree with (or that do not agree with them) erased, much like the Ministry of Truth rewriting history in the book 1984… which was a novel, not an instructional manual, for the record.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Researchers crack the world’s toughest encryption by listening to the tiny sounds made by your computer’s CPU
Security researchers have successfully broken one of the most secure encryption algorithms, 4096-bit RSA, by listening – yes, with a microphone — to a computer as it decrypts some encrypted data. The attack is fairly simple and can be carried out with rudimentary hardware. The repercussions for the average computer user are minimal, but if you’re a secret agent, power user, or some other kind of encryption-using miscreant, you may want to reach for the Rammstein when decrypting your data.
This acoustic cryptanalysis, carried out by Daniel Genkin, Adi Shamir (who co-invented RSA), and Eran Tromer, uses what’s known as a side channel attack. A side channel is an attack vector that is non-direct and unconventional, and thus hasn’t been properly secured. For example, your pass code prevents me from directly attacking your phone — but if I could work out your pass code by looking at the greasy smudges on your screen, that would be a side channel attack. In this case, the security researchers listen to the high-pitched (10 to 150 KHz) sounds produced by your computer as it decrypts data.
This might sound crazy, but with the right hardware it’s actually not that hard. For a start, if you know exactly what frequency to listen out for, you can use low- and high-pass filters to ensure that you only have the sounds that emanate from your PC while the CPU decrypts data. (In case you were wondering, the acoustic signal is actually generated by the CPU’s voltage regulator, as it tries to maintain a constant voltage during wildly varied and bursty loads). Then, once you have the signal, it’s time for the hard bit: Actually making sense of it.
Here you can see the frequency spectrogram of various CPU instructions (down the right hand side)
Without going into too much detail, the researchers focused on a very specific encryption implementation: The GnuPG (an open/free version of PGP) 1.x implementation of the RSA cryptosystem. With some very clever cryptanalysis, the researchers were able to listen for telltale signs that the CPU was decrypting some data, and then listening to the following stream of sounds to divine the decryption key. The same attack would not work on different cryptosystems or different encryption software — they’d have to start back at the beginning and work out all of the tell-tale sounds from scratch.
The researchers successfully extracted decryption keys over a distance of four meters (13 feet) with a high-quality parabolic microphone. Perhaps more intriguingly, though, they also managed to pull of this attack with a smartphone placed 30 centimeters (12 inches) away from the target laptop. The researchers performed the attack on different laptops and desktops, with varying levels of success. For what it’s worth, the same kind of electrical data can also be divined from many other sources — the power socket on the wall, the remote end of an Ethernet cable, or merely by touching the computer (while measuring your body’s potential relative to the room’s ground potential).
In this light-weight setup, only the microphone (B) needs to be positioned correctly — everything else could be hidden away, for stealthy snooping
In terms of real-world repercussions, acoustic cryptanalysis is actually surprisingly dangerous. Imagine if you were decrypting some files in a library, coffee shop, or other public space — someone could obtain your decryption key just by placing their phone near your computer. Alternatively, an attacker could use spear phishing to put malware on your phone that listens for the decryption key. With HTML5 and Flash able to access the microphone, it would be possible to build a website that listens for encryption keys too. The researchers propose one particularly nefarious scenario: Put a microphone into a co-located server, slot it into a rack in a data center, and then scoop up the encryption keys from hundreds of nearby servers.
If you want to keep your data secure, you only really have two viable options: Heavy-duty encryption, physical security, and ideally both at the same time. If an attacker can’t get physically close to your data, it instantly becomes much harder to steal it. As far as mitigating acoustic cryptanalysis attacks, you either implement physical security — keep your laptop in a sound-tight box, or never let anyone near your computer when you’re decrypting data — or you need to use a “sufficiently strong wide-band noise source.” Something like a swooping, large-orchestra classical concerto would probably do it.
Research paper: RSA Key Extraction via Low-Bandwidth Acoustic Cryptanalysis [PDF]
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Google Seeks Internet Surveillance of the Smart Grid
The “Internet of Things” just wouldn’t be “Internet” enough if Google was not involved in a major way. Fortunately for those who have designed the gadget spy system, however, Google is attempting to become heavily involved in the implementation of yet another piece of the technological control grid.
According to the The Information and The Verge, Google is now testing thermostats connected to the Internet that would allow users to view the amount of energy being consumed in their homes as well as be able to make adjustments to that level of consumption. At least that is the justification used to sell the technology to the public. The real reasons behind both Google’s foray into the relatively new field and those of other tech firms, governments, and “sustainability”-related organizations are somewhat less interested in consumer satisfaction, environmental health, and lower energy bills.
Google’s latest foray into the control grid, a wide open country for the corporate giant which never seems tired of pioneering new marketable technological control products, is called EnergySense. This new program is round two for Google, which attempted something similar a few years ago named Powermeter, although this program was terminated in mid-2011 due to “difficulties scaling it up.” The mission statement for Powermeter, similar to that of EnergySense “was that people could trim energy use by 15 percent if they could see what was happening.”
Things are looking up for Google in this regard, however, as Josh Lowensohn of The Verge writes that “This might be a better time for such a service, as indicated by a rising wave of connected home appliances. That includes Nest, which began with thermostats and has since moved onto smoke detectors. It’s joined by a host of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-connected appliances that can pipe information to the cloud, from refrigerators to web cameras.”
Interestingly enough, Google Ventures already invested in Nest in 2012.
Of course, if one is better able to monitor and observe the amount of energy being used by a household or appliance, it stands to reason that one would be better able to reduce and conserve the amount of energy he uses. However, are we really expected to believe that Google simply wants consumers to be better able to monitor their energy use to save money and the environment? Or is Google interested in something else entirely?
The Verge’s Josh Lowensohn may be on to more than he knows when he writes that “For Google, and others, those devices represent a possible wealth of data.”
Data, indeed. Google’s latest “new” venture is but one more step in the merger between the “Internet of Things” and the “Smart Grid,” the solidification of the surveillance state and eco-fascism into one entity that itself is only part of a much larger agenda.
For those who are unaware of what the term “Smart Grid” means, the Smart Grid is essentially a computerized system that allows the monitoring and control over energy use from power at the plant source to every appliance in the home. Smart Grid technology is a major part of UN Agenda 21, the United Nations’ plan to herd a drastically reduced population into “human habitat areas,” meaning ultra-modern super cities with stack em’ and pack em’ dwelling structures and zero contact with nature and the outside world.
The “Internet of Things,” of course, is the term used by disgraced former General and CIA Director David Petraeus to describe the rise of gadgets which are connected and controlled by apps.Petreaus himself discussed the fact that, because of this new technology, intelligence agencies will no longer need to place spy devices inside your home – you will do it for them.
As I wrote in my article, “New Report: ‘Recording Everything’ Details How Governments Can Shape The Dynamics Of Dissent,” within the next few years, it will be possible for the intelligence wing of the U.S. government to collect, store, and centralize every type of data in existence on every human being in the country, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for one year for a total cost ranging in the few hundred thousands. And this is only what has been announced. It doesn’t include the secret black projects that currently remain under wraps or the fact that these programs have been ongoing for years.
Not only that, but with the open desire by the U.S. government to create a Total Information Awareness network, as well as the legal infrastructure such as the Patriot Act and other Big Brother legislation, a climate has been created where all of the data acquired by “Smart” appliances will inevitably be soaked into this government network. Not only that, the snooping infrastructure is such that one can assume that every piece of information that finds its way into the Cloud will not eventually find its way to a centralized government database, but will do so immediately.
The fact is, while even those few individuals who are still concerned with their privacy complain about their constant loss of it, the all-too-familiar warning of our descent into a world spoken of in George Orwell’s 1984 is often repeated ad nauseum. However, one need only look around to understand that we are not in danger of turning into the Orwellian surveillance state in the near future. We are already in it.
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Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of six books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1and volume 2, and The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria. Turbeville has published over 275 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.
Facebook & Google Poised to Begin the REAL Takeover
Major tech corporations such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Amazon are purchasing fiber optic cables used for the internet to become the suppliers of the information, servicing the internet themselves.
When a user visits Amazon.com, they are standing on private digital property and are subject to the rights and laws where the servers are housed.
This enables the governments, through direct contact with the literal connections to the internet via these corporations, the systematic control over the free flow of information continues on.
Regardless of SOPA, PIPA, ACTA or any other legislator action by governments, the ability for users to maintain their 1st Amendment rights on the internet is being placed into the hands of the corporations.
Google already owns more than 100,000 miles of global private FOC routes.
Facebook has recently installed a network that connects user information to the Arctic Circle Datacenter (ACD).
Both Microsoft and Amazon have invested in cloud services.
Google’s Project Link (PL) wants to build “fiber-optic networks, making it possible for local providers to connect more people to the Internet and each other.”
To attain the goal of creating a “faster, more reliable internet” PL is seeking to construct “fiber-optic networks” that “enables internet service providers (ISPs) and mobile operators to provide faster connections.”
Google said: “Beyond basic access, local providers will be able to offer new mobile data plans or high-speed Internet to support new services. With a fast fiber-optic network in Kampala, for instance, ISPs can better support the city’s entrepreneurs.”
This ideal location comes complete with high-speed undersea cables.
To solidify their influence over government, the titans of the internet, including Google, eBay, Amazon and Facebook, combined forces under the blanket of a newly formed lobby group that wants to influence lawmakers on how they can manipulate the internet as well as how important they truly are.
The lobby group is called the Internet Association , and is based in Washington, DC, and headed by Michael Beckerman, former adviser of the Energy and Commerce Committee within the House of Representatives.
The Internet Association’s goal is to control the perspective of elected officials on internet technologies, their uses and cooperation with various federal agencies. Their website claims they are “dedicated to advancing public policy solutions to strengthen and protect an open, innovative and free Internet.”
Beckerman explains : “The Internet isn’t just Silicon Valley anymore. The Internet has moved to Main Street. Our top priority is to ensure that elected leaders in Washington understand the profound impacts on the Internet and Internet companies on jobs, economic growth, and freedom.”