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Firefox Infects Vietnamese Users With Trojan Code - Via Threat Level:
Mozilla, the maker of the open source Firefox browser, is redoubling its efforts to check user created add-ons for viruses and Trojans after it discovered that a language pack on its official add-on page had been infected for months with rogue code, the organization reported Wednesday.
Starting in mid-Feburary, Vietnamese users of Mozilla's open source Firefox browser were at risk of infection from malicious Trojan Horse code seemingly accidentally embedded in a language pack available on its Add-ons site.
The virus's signature was unknown at the time, and thus passed Mozilla's testing of add-ons. read more »
Global minilinks for 2008-03-22 - Via EFF: Deep Links: read more »
- Antigua Says It Will Start Ignoring US CopyrightsWTO gave Antigua the right to ignore US IP rights as part of a judgement over online gambling bans. Now the small country is threatening to begin its data haven status, starting in April.
- France's Oliviennes Law in Final Negotiations (Google Translation)Sticking point among parties to the discussion is ISP filtering; outside, users are worried about government access to IP addresses and end-user liability for others using their network.
Three Strikes, Three Countries: France, Japan and Sweden - Via EFF: Deep Links:
The music and movie industries have been making a concerted attempt to introduce a "three strikes" rule for Net users in many countries simultaneously — pressuring ISPs to throw their customers offline, possibly permanently, if the rightsholders report that they have been infringing.
The response by national ISPs and governments has varied: in the same week as Japanese ISPs declared they would voluntarily follow such a scheme, Sweden's Ministers for Justice and Culture came out strongly (Swedish article) against shutting down subscribers in their country. read more »
Japanese ISPs To Cut Net Access For File Sharers - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
modemac writes "Four major Japanese telecom organizations, which represent 'about 1,000 major and smaller' domestic ISPs, have agreed to forcibly cut the Internet connection of filesharers. They're specifically targeting users of the 'Winny' program, trading copied gaming software and music. The article states that a new set of ISP guidelines will be drawn up on how to cut off users who 'leak illegally copied material onto the Net.'"
10,000-website Strong Malware Maze Created by Criminals - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Stony Stevenson passed us an ITnews article about the newest scam in online crime. Some 10,000 web pages have been rigged by IT-minded criminals, with the aim of hijacking unsuspecting PCs. The site reports that the users are redirected through a maze of malware, all with the goal of gaining access to personal user information. read more »
Pentagon Hid Magnitude of Data Loss From Recent Breach - Via Slashdot:
blueton tips us to a brief story about recent revelations from the Pentagon which indicate that the attack on their computer network in June 2007 was more serious than they originally claimed. A DoD official recently remarked that the hackers were able to obtain an "amazing amount" of data. We previously discussed rumors that the Chinese People's Liberation Army was behind the attack. read more »
Japan IDs All Its Citizens - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Edis Krad writes "While RealID in the US is a threat whose implementation is a ways in the future, the Japanese long ago implemented something similar; and there has been very little complaint raised about it. The Juki Net (Residents Registration Network — link in Japanese) has been silently developing since 1992. The system involves an 11-digit unique number to identify every citizen in Japan, and the data stored against that ID covers name, address, date of birth, and gender. Many Japanese citizens seem to be oblivious that such a government-run network exists. Juki Net had a spotlight shone on it recently because a number of citizens around the country sued against it, citing concerns of information misuse or leakage. read more »
Video Shows How Pakistani YouTube Censorship Spread - Via Threat Level:
The RIPE Network Coordination Center, an independent organization involved in high-level internet address allocation, released a video that demonstrating what happened when Pakistan Telecom's attempt to censor YouTube managed to wreak havoc globally on Sunday.
Pakistan's Accidental YouTube Re-Routing Exposes Trust Flaw in Net - Via Threat Level:
A Pakistan ISP that was ordered to censor YouTube accidentally managed to take down the video site around the world for several hours Sunday.
The Pakistani government ordered ISPs to censor YouTube to prevent Pakistanis from seeing a trailer to an anti-Islamic film by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. YouTube has since removed the clip for violating its terms of service, but a screenshot of the film, available via Google, shows a crude drawing of a pig defecating with the word Allah underneath it.
Pakistan Telecom complied by changing the BGP entry for YouTube -- essentially updating its local internet address book for where YouTube's section of the internet is. The idea was to direct its internet users to a page that said YouTube was blocked. read more »
Regulators now spooked by ghost stories - Via Oddly Enough | Reuters:
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has added ghosts, monsters and other things that go bump in the night to its list of banned video and audio content in an intensified crackdown ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
Producers have around three weeks to look through their tapes for "horror" and report it to authorities, the General Administration of Press and Publications said in a statement posted on the government Web site. read more »
China Bans Horror Movies - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
KublaiKhan writes "According to an article on Reuters, the Chinese censors have decided that horror movies are verboten. 'Offending content included "wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror," the administration said. This is apparently a sort of Chinese version of the Jack Thompson effect, as the "mental health of adolescents" is cited as one of the reasons for the ban. read more »
Google's Research on Malware Distribution - Via Slashdot:
GSGKT writes "Google's Anti-Malware Team has made available some of their research data on malware distribution mechanisms while the research paper[PDF] is under peer review. Among their conclusions are that the majority of malware distribution sites are hosted in China, and that 1.3% of Google searches return at least one link to a malicious site. read more »
Filtering holiday - Via Susan Crawford blog:
In preparation for the Olympics, China announces that it is thinking about weakening the Great Firewall. And that it may allow access to the BBC.
Meanwhile, the Federal Times reports that our U.S. State Dept. is planning to hand out $15 million to developers to “produce ‘Internet technology programs and protocols’ that enable ‘widespread and secure Internet use’ in countries where the Internet is now heavily censored.” As one of my colleages said today, it’s Voice of America in software form.
But - wait - it’s not all free-flow-bliss out there. read more »
Olympic gag row leads to review - Via BBC SPORT | Olympics & Olympic sport:
British Olympic officials have insisted there is no intention to gag athletes from making political comment in China during the 2008 Games in Beijing.
UK Olympians had been required to sign contracts which would have prohibited political demonstrations or propaganda.
But the British Olympic Association (BOA) has said it will now look again at the wording of the draft agreement.
Chief executive Simon Clegg said the BOA had "no desire to restrict athletes' freedom of speech". read more »
Britain kow tows to China as athletes are forced to sign no criticism contracts - Via the Daily Mail(UK):
British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.
The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.
The controversial clause has been inserted into athletes' contracts for the first time and forbids them from making any political comment about countries staging the Olympic Games.
It is contained in a 32-page document that will be presented to all those who reach the qualifying standard and are chosen for the team. read more »
American Security Firms Collaborate on Chinese Olympics - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
A New York Times story at News.com notes the efforts of American security organizations to help the Chinese government prepare for the coming Olympic games. Critics argue this assistance violates the spirit of Congressional sanctions, and that the technology left behind after the games are over could be used to track dissident elements. "'I don't know of an intelligence-gathering operation in the world that, when given a new toy, doesn't use it,' read more »
Regulating the Japanese cyberspace, one step at a time :: gyaku.jp - Via gyaku.jp :
With little fanfare from local or foreign media, the Japanese government made major moves this month toward legislating extensive regulation over online communication and information exchange within its national borders. In a series of little-publicized meetings attracting minimal mainstream coverage, two distinct government ministries, that of Internal Affairs and Communications (Somusho) and that of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho), pushed ahead with regulation in three major areas of online communication: web content, mobile phone access, and file sharing. read more »
Japanese Government to Regulate Online Communication - Via Slashdot: Your Rights Online:
Chris Salzberg writes "The Japanese government made major moves this month toward legislating extensive regulation over online communication. In a series of little-publicized meetings, two distinct government ministries pushed ahead with regulation in three major areas of online communication: web content, mobile phone access, and file sharing. Content regulation will cover anything on the web, including personal blogs and web pages. read more »
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