Microsoft Shuts off HTTPS in Hotmail for Over a Dozen Countries

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26 March 2011
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Microsoft appears to have turned off the always-use-HTTPS option in Hotmail for users in more than a dozen countries, including Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Hotmail users who have set their location to any of these countries receive the following error message when they attempt to turn on the always-use-HTTPS feature in order to read their mail securely:

Your Windows Live ID can’t use HTTPS automatically because this feature is not available for your account type

— via redwolf.newsvine.com

State sanctioned violence on asylum seekers

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24 March 2011
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The use of rubber bullets by security officers last week at the Christmas Island detention centre is a chilling reminder that our society allows state sanctioned violence against asylum seekers in a way that would be considered intolerable even in the most repressive parts of our prison system.

Furthermore, it says something very sad about Australia that there is not an outcry by the media, politicians and the community against the use of such instruments of violence on children and women. Would we sit on our hands and say nothing if the police threw tear gas into a group of demonstrators in Martin Place or Collins Street? — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Dutch Court Rules WiFi Hacking Is Now Legal

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19 March 2011
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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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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

Secrecy and Darkness Surround Mysterious $900m Piracy Report

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16 March 2011
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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

Weak rule of law lets down Australian politics

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16 March 2011
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Are both major political parties are failing us – you betcha they are! And this proposition is no better exemplified than in their abject failure to uphold that fundamental pillar of liberal democracy – the rule of law.

It is not only manifest in the egregious and outrageous cases such as the Liberal-National parties Tampa laws, with which a supine ALP agreed in 2001, but it is in the blithely ignorant or at worst, opportunistic and cynical, statements of our current Prime Minister Julia Gillard about Julian Assange’s conduct — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Gmail disruption in China could signal tighter control

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14 March 2011
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Chinese Internet users have reported greater difficulty accessing Gmail in recent weeks, prompting speculation that the Chinese government is again stepping up its efforts to control the flow of information on the again stepping up its efforts to control the flow of information on the Web.

Gmail users are complaining on Chinese microblogs that the service has been slow or inaccessible. Google has reported no problems with access in China, but the complaints are ongoing and appear to have started late last month — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Queensland gets tough on animal cruelty

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14 March 2011
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The maximum penalty for serious animal cruelty will be tripled in Queensland following a spate of attacks.

The state’s criminal code will be amended to create a new serious animal cruelty offence carrying a maximum seven years’ jail, increasing the penalty from the current maximum of two years’ imprisonment, Premier Anna Bligh said on Monday — via redwolf.newsvine.com

5 Reasons Why the US Domain Seizures Are Unconstitutional

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14 March 2011
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Last week, Bryan McCarthy, the 32-year-old operator of ChannelSurfing.net, was arrested on charges of criminal copyright infringement. This arrest has once again raised questions about the seizure of domains operated by those that are accused, but not convicted, of copyright infringement related crimes. Critics ranging from bloggers to individual rights advocates to Senators have rightfully questioned the constitutionality of these seizures — via redwolf.newsvine.com

How The So-Called Guardians Of Free Speech Are Silencing The Messenger

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11 March 2011
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As the United States and Britain look for an excuse to invade another oil-rich Arab country, the hypocrisy is familiar. Colonel Gaddafi is delusional and blood-drenched while the authors of an invasion that killed a million Iraqis, who have kidnapped and tortured in our name, are entirely sane, never blood-drenched and once again the arbiters of stability.

But something has changed. Reality is no longer what the powerful say it is. Of all the spectacular revolts across the world, the most exciting is the insurrection of knowledge sparked by WikiLeaks. This is not a new idea. In 1792, the revolutionary Tom Paine warned his readers in England that their government believed that people must be hoodwinked and held in superstitious ignorance by some bugbear or other. Paine’s The Rights of Man was considered such a threat to elite control that a secret grand jury was ordered to charge him with a dangerous and treasonable conspiracy. Wisely, he sought refuge in France — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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