Brown slams surveillance of green activists

By
8 January 2012
56 second read
Leave a comment
In Business, Politics, Rights
575 views

Greens leader Bob Brown has accused Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson of turning Australia into a police state, after reports he pushed for increased surveillance of environmental activists.

A report in Fairfax newspapers details documents, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, that show Mr Ferguson requested additional monitoring of anti-coal mining groups and other environmental groups.

Senator Brown claims coal and fossil fuel companies pressured Mr Ferguson into having the federal police spy on environment groups who protest against energy companies — via redwolf.newsvine.com

US Threatened To Blacklist Spain For Not Implementing Site Blocking Law

By
7 January 2012
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Entertainment, Politics, Rights, Technology
598 views

In a leaked letter sent to Spain’s outgoing President, the US ambassador to the country warned that as punishment for not passing a SOPA-style file-sharing site blocking law, Spain risked being put on a United States trade blacklist. Inclusion would have left Spain open to a range of retaliatory options but already the US was working with the incoming government to reach its goals.

United States government interference in Spain’s intellectual property laws had long been suspected, but it was revelations from Wikileaks that finally confirmed the depth of its involvement.

More than 100 leaked cables showed that the US had helped draft new Spanish copyright legislation and had heavily influenced the decisions of both the government and opposition.

Now, another diplomatic leak has revealed how the US voiced its anger towards outgoing President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last month upon realizing that his government was unlikely to pass the US-drafted Sinde (site blocking) Law before leaving office — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Japan tests $2.28m cyber-defence virus

By
5 January 2012
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Technology
794 views

The Japanese government is testing a self-defence virus that has the objective of tracking down the source of cyber attacks and removing the threat.

The virus is the result of a quiet, $2.28 million project that Fujitsu had undertaken on behalf of the Japanese Defence Ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute in 2008, according to reports from The Yomiuri Shimbun.

While the virus has the ability to track immediate sources of attack, it can also allegedly determine whether computers are being used as a proxy between the original source of the attack. Beyond this, it also stops its attackers and sends the information it finds back to its owners — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Belarus Bans Browsing of All Foreign Websites

By
4 January 2012
51 second read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Technology
575 views

As citizens of the United States worry over the implications of the pending SOPA legislation, a small land-locked country on the fringes of Europe is showing how bad things can really get. Labelled by the United States as an outpost of tyranny, Belarus is certainly living up to its reputation. This Friday, browsing foreign websites will become an offence punishable by fines, with service providers taking responsibility for the actions of their user — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Is GoDaddy Blocking Domain Transfers After the SOPA Boycott?

By
27 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Business, Politics, Technology
688 views

A few days ago thousands of customers turned against domain registrar GoDaddy for their support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

Transfer requests for thousands of domains were started, and even big players such as Wikipedia threatened to move.

In a response, GoDaddy was quick to drop their support for SOPA (but not really), and the company kindly asked customers to come back.

Many customers were nevertheless determined to move to other registrar, but that presented a new problem.

It turns out that GoDaddy is delaying a significant number of the domain transfers for reasons unknown. GoDaddy competitor Namecheap suggests that the transfers are blocked on purpose — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Mexican authorities disband Veracruz police force in bid to stem corruption

By
22 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights
674 views

The entire police force in the Mexican port of Veracruz was dissolved on Wednesday in an effort to root out corruption, and armed marines were sent in to patrol.

A state spokeswoman, Gina Dominguez, said 800 police officers and 300 administrative staff had been laid off. They can re-apply for jobs, but must meet stricter standards with officers “who are better trained and more committed and who can deliver under our current security circumstances,” she said.

Armed marines barricaded police headquarters and navy helicopters flew over the city where 35 bodies were dumped in September in one of the worst gang attacks of Mexico’s drug war.

The change was agreed on Monday by the governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte, and the federal interior secretary Alejandro Poiré — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Websites allow Kenyans to report bribes and battle corruption

By
22 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Technology
663 views

Ask a Nairobi resident to name the most frustrating part of living in Nairobi, and they’re likely to answer: bribing a cop.

Well, now Kenyans have a way to combat corruption, by text messaging, emailing, or even tweeting an incident to a website called hatari.co.ke. Hatari (which means danger in Swahili), is just one of several private anti-corruption initiatives aimed at fighting corrupt practices that cost Kenya as much as $1 billion a year.

Kenya, a country where scandals make daily headlines and where public opinion polls show a declining trust in political leadership, has made small strides this year in bringing down corruption in government institutions. A Bribery Index published by Transparency International in October 2011 found that the prevalence of bribery had actually dropped slightly, making Kenya the fourth rather than the third most-corrupt nation in East Africa. Even so, Kenya’s police remained the most corrupt institution, the survey found — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader, dies

By
19 December 2011
46 second read
Leave a comment
In Politics, World
729 views

Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s dear leader, has died aged 69, state television announced this morning.

An announcer said he died on Saturday from physical and mental over-work. It is thought that he suffered a stroke in 2008, but had apparently recovered.

A tearful anchor, dressed in black, said he had died at 8.30am while on a train trip on the way to give field guidance to workers — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Serco To Run Youth Prison

By
16 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Business, Politics, Rights
692 views

Serco recently won a West Australian government contract to manage a new, one-of-a-kind youth prison that will house 18 to 24-year-old male offenders from mid-2012.

According to the WA Government, the 80-bed Young Adults Facility is designed to assist young men to take responsibility of their offending behaviour in a safe and supportive environment. Its population will be primarily Indigenous, and most inmates will be first or second time offenders. Young men make up the majority of WA’s prison population, with extremely high rates of recidivism. The facility was created by the Barnett Government in an attempt to reduce re-offending by early intervention.

There is significant concern from community groups, unions, and the Labor Opposition about the way the contract was acquired, and how the centre will be run given Serco’s notorious track record at Australia’s immigration detention centres — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Punk ‘Re-Education’ Not A Good Look For Aceh

By
16 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights
579 views

Indonesian media reported that police under the supervision of the Banda Aceh administration arrested on the weekend 64 punk youth who were gathering at a charity music concert for orphans. The police detained the men and women in a police camp 60 kilometres from of the city.

All the men were shaved and left with uniform bald heads. All the women had their hair cut into a bob in the style of a police woman. The men were then forced into the lake, reportedly for spiritual cleansing. The police plan to keep them for ten days to re-educate them before releasing them. For those who are from Banda Aceh, the re-education will take longer than that. All this without a criminal charge and without being brought before a court — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Gentlemen, We Shot a Judge

By
15 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Business, Politics
597 views

Every time a Blackwater centurion discharged his weapon in Iraq, the company filed a written report with the US State Department. Blackwater shot Iraq to shit. Here are the reports.

Blackwater, the private mercenary firm that became synonymous with Bush-era war profiteering and reckless combat-tourism, announced yesterday that it has changed its name to Academi (after a previous incarnation as Xe Services) in a bid to distance itself from its history of wanton lawlessness. We’ve obtained a 4,500-page record of that history in the form of State Department incident reports documenting every time a Blackwater guard shot at an Iraqi between 2005 and 2007.

We got them in response to a Freedom of Information Act request we filed four years ago. They come from the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which was charged with overseeing and monitoring the contractors hired by State to secure its diplomats and other VIPs in the war zone — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Sniffer dogs get it wrong four out of five times

By
13 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights
655 views

A record 80 per cent of sniffer dog searches for drugs resulted in false positives this year, figures show.

The figures obtained from the state government in response to parliamentary questions on notice show 14,102 searches were conducted after a dog sat next to a person, indicating they might be carrying drugs. But, in 11,248 cases, no drugs were found.

Only 2854 searches — 20 per cent — in the first nine months of this year, resulted in drugs being found, the figures show.

Last year, of the 15,779 searches conducted after police-dog identification, no drugs were found in 11,694 cases. Drugs were found in 4085 cases, resulting in a false positive rate of 74 per cent, said the Greens MP David Shoebridge, who obtained the figures — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Swiss Government: Downloading Movies and Music Will Stay Legal

By
7 December 2011
49 second read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Technology
683 views

One in three people in Switzerland download unauthorised music, movies and games from the Internet and since last year the government has been wondering what to do about it. This week their response was published and it was crystal clear. Not only will downloading for personal use stay completely legal, but the copyright holders won’t suffer because of it, since people eventually spend the money saved on entertainment products — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Farmers unleash cobras on Indian taxmen

By
6 December 2011
39 second read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Wildlife
701 views

Two angry farmers have let loose dozens of snakes, including deadly cobras, in a government office in northern India.

The farmers were reportedly fed up after officials demanded bribes in exchange for their tax records.

They dumped about 40 snakes on the floor of the tax office, sending panicked officials scrambling on top of their desks — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Organ donation overhaul pushed for NSW

By
6 December 2011
58 second read
Leave a comment
In Health, Politics, Rights
754 views

The New South Wales Government has proposed a radical overhaul of organ donation rules to stop families overruling their relatives’ wishes.

The Government says it is acting because the state has the lowest organ donation rate in Australia.

More than two million NSW residents have indicated via their driver’s licence that they wish to donate at least some of their organs if they die.

But Health Minister Jillian Skinner says in many cases the families of potential donors are vetoing that decision — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Inside the shadow world of commercialised spook spyware

By
2 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights, Technology
609 views

Western and Chinese high-tech companies are competing aggressively to sell, install and manage intrusive and dangerous internet surveillance and communications control equipment for the world’s most brutal regimes, a six-month investigation has found.

During 2011, investigators from Privacy International, a London-based NGO, infiltrated a circuit of closed international surveillance equipment marketing conferences, obtaining private briefings and technical product specifications from contract-hungry sales executives. The group will publish its data and document haul on the net today, in conjunction with other campaigners.

The scale and audacity of the proposals in many of the companies’ documents and hand-out DVDs is breathtaking. They describe and offer for unrestricted sale technologies which were in existence a decade ago, but which were held in utmost secrecy by major intelligence agencies such as the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Britain’s GCHQ — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Anti-Gay Russian Lawmaker: ‘The Issue Of Same-Sex Love Is Somewhat Like The Jewish Problem’

By
1 December 2011
44 second read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Rights
647 views

Elena Babich, a deputy of St Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly and a supporter of the city’s proposed anti-gay propaganda law, has suggested that rainbow flags and homosexuality will lead to national extinction. Now, the St Petersburg Times reports that Babich is linking the so-called gay problem to the Jewish problem, a term that is typically associated with Germany’s Third Reich — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Killer Mould Too Risky In US War On Drugs: Report

By
1 December 2011
1 min read
Leave a comment
In Politics, Science
668 views

Using fungi to kill coca and other illegal drug crops would be a risky tactic, as there is not enough data about how to control these killer moulds and what effect they could have on people and the environment, according to a US study released Wednesday.

The US Congress asked scientists to look into whether some types of fungi, called mycoherbicides, could stem the flow of illicit drugs into the United States by killing the plants used to make cocaine, marijuana and opium.

But scientists from the National Research Council, one of the national academies of science that advises US policymakers, said evidence about the fungi was sketchy and incomplete — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Previous 20 21 2223 24 Next