Uncle Sam’s Values – At Bat for Monsanto WikiLeaks US targets EU over GM crops

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4 January 2011
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The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released WikiLeaks cables show.

In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in late 2007, the ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of former US president George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not support the use of GM crops — via pameladrew.newsvine.com

California Bill Criminalizing Online Impersonations In Effect Starting Today

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3 January 2011
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California’s SB 1411, which adds a layer of criminal and civil penalties for certain online impersonations, goes into effect starting today. The consequences include a fine of up to $1,000, and/ or up to a year in jail. So don’t go and do something crazy like impersonate Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Facebook. There may be consequences — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Hungary Introduces Europe’s Most Restrictive Media Law

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2 January 2011
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Hungary is introducing on Saturday a controversial media law that critics say will turn the clock back and re-introduce totalitarian rule in the former Communist nation. Under the legislation, journalists can face huge fines if their coverage is deemed unbalanced. The controversy comes as Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Saturday — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Group offers ‘liberty’ from same-sex attraction

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31 December 2010
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Describing himself as having spanned the entire gamut of relationships, Lung is now the executive director of Liberty League, a controversial Singapore support group which says it aims to help people who want to overcome same-sex attractions

We think that it is something that can be managed, it can be something that can be overcome, and there are people who have successfully come out of it, said Lung, who considered sex-change surgery when he was younger.

Set up in 2004, Liberty League is staffed by 10 volunteers and financed by grants from the government and private donors — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Girl, 14, better off in ‘destructive cult’

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27 December 2010
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A teenager has been ordered by the Family Court to live with her father in a religious community, despite her mother’s claims it was a destructive cult that exposed the girl to harm.

The 14-year-old was born into the community her parents joined 30 years ago. The father said it was a nurturing environment teaching Christian ideals; the mother said it was controlled by a self-proclaimed prophet and rife with psychological abuse.

After the mother left and moved in with a new partner, the father said she would burn in hell. For legal reasons, the family cannot be named — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Music Is Better Off On BitTorrent, Than With Apple or Big Music

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26 December 2010
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The music industry is changing rapidly. On the one hand there are tens of thousands of artists who use the Internet as a distribution channel and share their music online for free, but on the other side of the spectrum Big Music and Apple are tightening the bolts. We discuss the upside of the Internet and the evil ways of the corporate interests with Benn Jordan, one of the first musicians to embrace BitTorrent and turn free music into a business — via redwolf.newsvine.com

A Merry Christmas to all Bankers

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26 December 2010
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The bankers’ trade association has written to Cambridge University [PDF] asking for the MPhil thesis [PDF] of one of our research students, Omar Choudary, to be taken offline. They complain it contains too much detail of our No-PIN attack on Chip-and-PIN and thus breaches the boundary of responsible disclosure; they also complain about Omar’s post on the subject to this blog — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Wikileaks Mirror Taken Down: Host Buckles Under Demands from Upstream Provider

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24 December 2010
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WikiLeaks isn’t the only site struggling to stay up these days because service providers are pulling their support. It appears that at least one person who wants to provide mirror access to Wikileaks documents is having the same trouble.

Recently we heard from a user who mirrored the Cablegate documents on his website. His hosting provider SiteGround suspended his account, claiming that he severely violated the SiteGround Terms of Use and Acceptable Use Policy. SiteGround explained that it had gotten a complaint from an upstream provider, SoftLayer, and had taken action in order to prevent any further issues caused by the illegal activity — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The Blast Shack

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23 December 2010
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The WikiLeaks Cablegate scandal is the most exciting and interesting hacker scandal ever. I rather commonly write about such things, and I’m surrounded by online acquaintances who take a burning interest in every little jot and tittle of this ongoing saga. So it’s going to take me a while to explain why this highly newsworthy event fills me with such a chilly, deadening sense of Edgar Allen Poe melancholia.

But it sure does.

Part of this dull, icy feeling, I think, must be the agonizing slowness with which this has happened. At last — at long last — the homemade nitroglycerin in the old cypherpunks blast shack has gone off. Those cypherpunks, of all people — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Steve Wozniak to the FCC: Keep the Internet Free

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22 December 2010
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I frequently speak to different types of audiences all over the country. When I’m asked my feeling on Net Neutrality I tell the open truth. When I was first asked to sign on with some good people interested in Net Neutrality my initial thought was that the economic system works better with tiered pricing for various customers. On the other hand, I’m a founder of the EFF and I care a lot about individuals and their own importance. Finally, the thought hit me that every time and in every way that the telecommunications careers have had power or control, we the people wind up getting screwed. Every audience that I speak this statement and phrase to bursts into applause.

That’s how the people think. They don’t want this to encroach on their Internet freedom — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Le gouvernement autorisé à filtrer Internet [The government is allowed to filter the Internet]

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20 December 2010
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Les échanges ont été tendus à l’Assemblée, mercredi soir, où l’atmosphère rappelait celle entourant l’adoption de la loi antipiratage Hadopi. Dans un hémicycle peu garni, quelques députés technophiles de tous bords se battaient contre une machine législative qui leur semble s’être quelque peu emballée. L’article 4 du projet de loi Loppsi 2, texte fourre-tout sur la sécurité intérieure, a finalement été adopté. Il permettra au gouvernement de filtrer Internet au moyen d’une liste noire établie par le ministère de l’Intérieur, sans intervention du pouvoir judiciaire. Une mesure que le gouvernement justifie par la nécessité de mieux lutter contre les sites pédophiles et la cybercriminalité en général.

via Google Translate: The exchanges were stretched to the Assembly on Wednesday night, where the atmosphere was reminiscent surrounding the adoption of anti-piracy law Hadopi. In a packed chamber just a few technophiles MPs from all sides were fighting against a legislative machine that seems to have somewhat excited. Section 4 of the Bill Loppsi 2, text tote on Homeland Security, was finally adopted. It will allow the government to filter the Internet using a blacklist issued by the Ministry of Interior, without the intervention of the judiciary. A measure that the government justify the need to better fight against child pornography sites and cybercrime in general — via redwolf.newsvine.com

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