Rustock Botnet Flatlined, Spam Volumes Plummet

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20 March 2011
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The global volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide took a massive nosedive today following what appears to be a coordinated takedown of the Rustock botnet, one of the world’s most active spam-generating machines.

For years, Rustock has been the most prolific purveyor of spam — mainly junk messages touting online pharmacies and male enhancement pills. But late Wednesday morning Eastern Time, dozens of Internet servers used to coordinate these spam campaigns ceased operating, apparently almost simultaneously — via redwolf.newsvine.com

HTTPS Is More Secure, So Why Isn’t the Web Using It?

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20 March 2011
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You wouldn’t write your username and passwords on a postcard and mail it for the world to see, so why are you doing it online? Every time you log in to Twitter, Facebook or any other service that uses a plain HTTP connection, that’s essentially what you’re doing.

There is a better way, the secure version of HTTP — HTTPS. That extra “S” in the URL means your connection is secure, and it’s much harder for anyone else to see what you’re doing. But if HTTPS is more secure, why doesn’t the entire web use it? — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The million-pound mutt: Red Tibetan Mastiff becomes world’s most expensive dog

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20 March 2011
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They say money can’t buy love – but £1million will get you man’s most expensive best friend.

A red Tibetan mastiff has become the priciest dog in the world after being sold for 10 million Chinese yuan, or £945,000.

Big Splash, or Hong Dong in Chinese, was bought by a coal baron from the north of China — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Dutch Court Rules WiFi Hacking Is Now Legal

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19 March 2011
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In Politics, Rights, Technology, World
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Breaking in to an encrypted router and using the WiFi connection is not an criminal offence, a Dutch court ruled. WiFi hackers can not be prosecuted for breaching router security.

A court in The Hague ruled earlier this month that it is legal to break WiFi security to use the internet connection. The court also decided that piggybacking on open WiFi networks in bars and hotels can not be prosecuted. In many countries both actions are illegal and often can be fined — via benno.newsvine.com

Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media

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18 March 2011
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In Politics, Technology
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The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media using fake online personas designed to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with the US Central Command (Centcom) to develop what is described as an online persona management service that will allow one serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities at once.

The contract stipulates each persona must have a convincing background, history and supporting details, and that up to 50 controllers must be able to operate false identities from their workstations without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries.

The project has been likened by web experts to China’s attempts to control and restrict free speech on the internet — via smd12364.newsvine.com

Research in Motion: Executives Thought The iPhone Was Badly Flawed, And Assumed It Would Bomb

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17 March 2011
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Research in Motion thought the iPhone would bomb, basically, because it’s not a BlackBerry.

A Reuters report (PDF) on RIM’s prospects quotes an anonymous former employee as saying that RIM was convinced the iPhone was so badly flawed from day one. They thought users wanted great battery life, great security, great mail handling, minimal network use, and a great keyboard experience. It turns out, a great user experience beats all those things — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Toxic weight-loss seeds recalled

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16 March 2011
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A nut-based diet product has been recalled around Australia after tests indicated it was highly toxic and possibly lethal.

Australians taking The Latin Seed, which bills itself as a natural weight-loss product and is sold through health stores, chemists and online, are urged to stop doing so immediately — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Secrecy and Darkness Surround Mysterious $900m Piracy Report

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16 March 2011
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In Politics, Technology
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Anti-piracy reports that are commissioned by the entertainment industries are suspicious by definition, but the mystery that surrounds a recent study goes far beyond that. Despite being widely covered in the press, no journalist has actually seen a copy of the report. Even worse, the company that produced the in-depth report was registered only four months ago, and appears to be carefully hidden from the public — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Japan Quake

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16 March 2011
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In Technology, World
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Today’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan has had surprisingly limited impacts on the structure and routing dynamics of the regional Internet. Of roughly 6,000 Japanese network prefixes in the global routing table, only about 100 were temporarily withdrawn from service — and that number has actually decreased in the hours since the event. Other carriers around the region have reported congestion and drops in traffic due to follow-on effects of the quake, but most websites are up and operational, and the Internet is available to support critical communications.

Those who have been following our blogs on Libya will be familiar with the excellent Google Transparency Report, which summarizes the rate of queries coming from each country over time. Despite terrible fires, floods, and power outages, traffic from Japanese clients just keeps going. It’s quite a remarkable plot — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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