THE DEEPER IN DEBT, THE HARDER YOU BET
1 hour ago
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Murdoch’s Nemesis
“F--k me,” he said. “I’ve got Rupert Murdoch in front of me in a week.”
Just days before, News of the World, News International’s flagship tabloid, had ceased to exist, its office in the company’s gated complex near the Tower of London sealed off as a crime scene. That morning, Britain’s top cops had been grilled in Parliament over their failure to properly investigate the news conglomerate, and suspicions of corruption and cover-up were running high. It was easy to forget that for the last two years, Watson had appeared to many as a lonely and possibly unhinged figure as he railed against the apparent lawlessness of the Murdoch empire. While British politicians and media ignored the issue, Watson hammered away at it in speeches and parliamentary sessions, in the process becoming its public face—which was not necessarily a good image to have.
Some friends, Watson admitted, “probably said, ‘This is getting a bit obsessive.‘”
Stocky and bespectacled, Watson doesn’t cut the figure of crusading scourge. But with the News International executives heading to his committee room, the M.P. has become one of the scandal’s most lauded heroes. On Sunday, the British newspaper The Guardian called him Rupert Murdoch’s “tormenter in chief...”
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Mike Giglio @'The Daily Beast'
Anticensorship software to help rebels get the word out
State-backed internet censorship is the method of choice for countries that want to crack down on citizens spreading messages of revolution online. But now dissidents have a tool to help them fight back.
Telex, developed by computer scientists at the University of Michigan, US and the University of Waterloo, Canada, transmits information to blocked websites by piggybacking on uncensored connections with the aid of friendly foreign internet service providers (ISPs).
Dissidents install the Telex client, perhaps from a USB stick smuggled over the border. They then make a secure connection to an uncensored site outside of the censor's network - nearly any site that uses password logins will do. The connection looks normal, but Telex tags the traffic with a secret key.
Foreign ISPs in the network between the client and destination site can look for these tags and redirect the connection to an anonymising service such as a proxy server, which allows users to connect from one location while appearing to be elsewhere. Using Telex is more robust than using such servers directly, as censors can easily block access to a proxy once it is discovered.
The researchers have tested the system by watching YouTube videos in Beijing, China, despite the site being blocked in that country, but they say it's not yet ready for real users. One barrier might be the need for foreign ISPs to install Telex software. "Widespread ISP deployment might require incentives from governments," suggest the researchers - something that the US government might be interested in given its plans to provide rebels with an "internet in a suitcase". Telex also wouldn't be able to help during an Egypt-style disconnect, as dissidents must at least be able to connect to uncensored sites.
Jacob Aron @'New Scientist'
Telex, developed by computer scientists at the University of Michigan, US and the University of Waterloo, Canada, transmits information to blocked websites by piggybacking on uncensored connections with the aid of friendly foreign internet service providers (ISPs).
Dissidents install the Telex client, perhaps from a USB stick smuggled over the border. They then make a secure connection to an uncensored site outside of the censor's network - nearly any site that uses password logins will do. The connection looks normal, but Telex tags the traffic with a secret key.
Foreign ISPs in the network between the client and destination site can look for these tags and redirect the connection to an anonymising service such as a proxy server, which allows users to connect from one location while appearing to be elsewhere. Using Telex is more robust than using such servers directly, as censors can easily block access to a proxy once it is discovered.
The researchers have tested the system by watching YouTube videos in Beijing, China, despite the site being blocked in that country, but they say it's not yet ready for real users. One barrier might be the need for foreign ISPs to install Telex software. "Widespread ISP deployment might require incentives from governments," suggest the researchers - something that the US government might be interested in given its plans to provide rebels with an "internet in a suitcase". Telex also wouldn't be able to help during an Egypt-style disconnect, as dissidents must at least be able to connect to uncensored sites.
Jacob Aron @'New Scientist'
The Obama Doctrine: Drones, Targeted Killings and Secret Prisons
The Bush Doctrine was that the world was our battlefield—we were at liberty to carry out drone attacks and unlawful interrogations throughout the world. But many Americans may be surprised to discover that far from fading away with the former president, these policies have in fact expanded and intensified under President Obama.
As The Nation's Jeremy Scahill explained on MSNBC's Morning Joe today, Obama has succeeded in normalizing and legitimizing these policies that were considered illegal in the extreme only a few years ago. Recounting his recent investigation of increasing CIA involvement in counterterrorism efforts in Somalia, Scahill says we have to decide, "are we a country that operates under the rule of law or do we believe we're emperors who can wage war on the world?"
For more on US involvement in East Africa, read Scahill's article in this week's issue, The CIA's Secret Sites in Somalia, and view a slide show of exclusive photographs from his trip to Mogadishu.
Anna Lekas Miller @'The Nation'
WTF???
@JonnieMarbles Jonnie Marbles
It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat
Rupert Murdoch attacked: an eyewitness account
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
tom_watson tom_watson
1st dirty trick of the day. Tory MP Nick Debois shouted "object" to Cathy Jamieson being appointed to our committee. So we're one down.
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism is a 2004 documentary film by filmmaker Robert Greenwald that criticises the Fox News Channel, and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, claiming that the channel is used to promote and advocate right-wing views. The film says this pervasive bias contradicts the channel's claim of being "Fair and Balanced", and argues that Fox News has been engaging in what amounts to consumer fraud.
Wiki
Wiki
9 Questions for Rupert
Rupert Murdoch’s appearance before a parliamentary select committee is drawing the kind of international attention usually reserved for royal marriages. The committee, appropriately enough, is for “culture, media and sport,” and the Elizabethan sport that public anticipation calls to mind is that of bear baiting: a powerful, blinded beast maddened by small dogs. That would be to underestimate Rupert, who has been rehearsing for days, and certainly to overestimate the forensic ability of members of the committee (“selected” from unpromoted MPs, but in no qualitative sense “select”). It will operate under severe constraints as a result of the arrest of Rebekah Brooks.
The main constraint will be the presumption of innocence—or at least the British sense of fair play: Ms. Brooks was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to hack unlawfully and to corrupt police, and the Murdochs themselves may soon follow her into the finger-printing room. So "The Wapping Three" have a right to remain silent. When the Maxwells were called before a select committee inquiring into the pilfering of The Mirror pension fund, they brought along George Carman, the country’s top barrister.
The Murdochs will be tempted to attend with a row of Queen’s Counsels—a purse of silks, so to speak—but this would be a public-relations error. If Rupert ever says, “I will not answer that question on the grounds it could incriminate me,” News Limited shares would go into freefall. His best strategy would be to adopt the pose that enabled some screenwriters to survive dishonor before the McCarthy hearings—“I will answer any and every question about my own role but because others may face criminal investigation, Mr. Chairman, you will understand why it would be improper for me to speak what I know about them.” This pose plays well—it suggests courage in taking all responsibility, although in reality it masks a position that covers up part of the truth.
The committee hearing may well disappoint, because it is not designed for cross-examination. U.S. Senate committees have counsel and investigators, and their questioning can last hours and be very searching. U.K. select committees have few staff and limited time for a few questions from each committee member. There can be no effective cross-examination, which usually requires sustained questioning before it can be effective. “Laying the ground” is the most important part of the art. In court, it might go like this...
The committee hearing may well disappoint, because it is not designed for cross-examination. U.S. Senate committees have counsel and investigators, and their questioning can last hours and be very searching. U.K. select committees have few staff and limited time for a few questions from each committee member. There can be no effective cross-examination, which usually requires sustained questioning before it can be effective. “Laying the ground” is the most important part of the art. In court, it might go like this...
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Geoffrey Robertson @'The Daily Beast'
jonstribling Jon Stribling
Why couldn't @LulzSec take the heraldsun and Australian news sites down to give us all a bit of respite from their poisonous s**t?
Panorama: Tabloid Hacks Exposed
(Thanx Dangerous Minds!)
Note also that Alex Marunchak worked as an interpreter for the Met between 1980-2000 while still a reporter at the News of the World!!!
FourTet Four Tet
Computer hacking always seems so damn cool to me... ever since this dude youtu.be/AByemfK_qD4 bet he's working with @LulzSec
LulzSec hack The Scum
Those naughty boys...and they have apparently harvested lots of e/mails!!!
'Breast Milk Baby' Breastfeeding Doll Heading To U.S. Retailers
In a press release yesterday, Alicante, Spain-based Berjuan Toys announced their commitment to bring their Breast Milk Baby doll Stateside after it sold well overseas. The company has generated more than $2 million in sales since the dolls were first released in Spain four years ago.
“Even before we released the dolls in Europe, we have been receiving e-mails, letters, phone calls and messages from breastfeeding activists all over the States,” said Berjuan Toys’ U.S. spokesperson Dennis Lewis in an interview I conducted yesterday. He added that the doll previously received a formal endorsement from the Spanish breastfeeding organization FEDALMA, as well as support from members of other international breastfeeding organizations.
Each doll comes with a “fashionable” halter-top to be worn by the child; it’s decorated with two flowers carefully positioned where the nipples would be. The doll then makes motions and suckling sounds when a sensor in its mouth comes close to sensors inside the flowers. Available in both genders and three different skin colors, the six types of Breast Milk Babies are currently on sale in Europe and available online for $89, though Lewis said that they expect them to be on sale in U.S. brick-and-mortar stores after the company meets with various retailers and buyers at the Las Vegas ASD merchandise trade show later this month...
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Tracey John @'Forbes'
News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead
Hoare first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World. Photograph: Hazel Thompson/Eyevine
Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbusiness reporter who was the first named journalist to allege that Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead .Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, was said to have been found at his Watford home.
Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but said in a statement: "At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for the welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.
"The death is currently being treated as unexplained but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing."
There was an unexplained delay in the arrival of forensics officers at the scene .
Neighbours said three police cars and three police cars and two ambulances arrived at the property shortly before 11am. They left around four hours later, around 3pm, shortly after a man and a woman, believed to be grieving relatives, arrived at the premises. There was no police presence at the scene at all for several hours.
The curtains were drawn at the first-floor apartment in a new-build block of flats .
At about 9.15pm, three hours after the Guardian revealed Hoare had been found dead a police van marked "Scientific Services Unit" pulled up at the address, where a police car was already parked. Two officers emerged carrying evidence bags, clipboards, torches and laptop-style bags and entered the building. Three officers carrying cameras and wearing white forensic suits went into the flat at around 9.30pm.
Hoare was in his mid-40s. He first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World. He told the newspaper that not only did Coulson know of the hacking, but he also actively encouraged his staff to intercept the calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives.
In a subsequent interview with the BBC he alleged he was personally asked by his editor at the time, Coulson, to tap into phones. In an interview with the PM programme he said Coulson's insistence he did not know of the practice was "a lie, it is simply a lie". At the time a Downing Street spokeswoman said Coulson totally and utterly denied the allegations; he had "never condoned the use of phone hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where hacking took place".
Hoare said he was once a close friend of Coulson's, and told the New York Times the two first worked together at the Sun, where, Hoare said, he played recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At the News of the World, Hoare said, he continued to inform Coulson of his activities. He "actively encouraged me to do it", Hoare said. In September last year he was interviewed under caution by police over his claim the former Tory communications chief asked him to hack into phones when editor of the paper, but declined to make any comment.
Hoare returned to the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at the NoW were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone signals, in exchange for payments to police officers. He said journalists were able to use "pinging", which measured the distance between a mobile handset and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location.
Hoare gave further details about "pinging" to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: "Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say 'Right, that's where they are.'"
He said: "You'd just go to the news desk and they'd come back to you. You don't ask any questions. You'd consider it a job done.
"The chain of command is one of absolute discipline, and that's why I never bought into it, like with Andy saying he wasn't aware of it and all that. That's bollocks."
He said he stood by everything he told the New York Times of "pinging". "I don't know how often it happened. That would be wrong of me. But if I had access, as a humble reporter … "
He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs, and had been in rehab. "But that's irrelevant," he said. "There's more to come. This is not going to go away."
Hoare named a private investigator who he said had links with the News of the World, adding: "He may want to talk now, because I think what you'll find now is a lot of people are going to want to cover their arse." Speaking to another Guardian journalist last week, Hoare repeatedly expressed the hope that the hacking scandal would lead to journalism in general being cleaned up, and said he had decided to blow the whistle on the activities of some of his former NoW colleagues with that aim in mind.
He also said he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children's party. He said he broke his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a pole from the marquee. Hoare also emphasised that he was not making any money from telling his story.
Having been treated for drug and alcohol problems, Hoare reminisced about his partying with former pop stars and said that he missed the days when he was able to go out on the town.
On Monday evening the curtains were drawn at his home, a first-floor apartment in a new-build block of flats.
A neighbour living opposite, Nicky Dormer, said three police cars and two ambulances arrived at the property at 11am; police left at 3pm, shortly after a man and a woman, believed to be grieving relatives, arrived at the premises.
She and another neighbour described Hoare as a jovial man who would often sit on his balcony, overlooking the block entrance, and talk to residents. They said he lived in the block with his partner, a woman called Jo, who they believed had been away on holiday. Neither had seen Hoare for a few days.
Paul Pritchard, 30, another neighbour, said Sean Hoare was "the most sociable" resident, and they would regularly see him watering the communal front lawn.
"It is just such a shock. About a month ago he said he felt unwell and he said he went to the doctors for a checkup. Then I saw him again and he seemed well."
Amelia Hill, James Robison and Caroline Davies @The Guardian'
Sean Hoare knew how destructive the News of the World could be
Patti Smith - Rolling In the Deep
The Godmother of Punk declared Adele’s hit “Rolling In the Deep” to be the “song of the summer” the other night in NYC, followed by her faithful take, which — despite a few lyric flubs that Smith is never afraid to risk in the name of seizing the moment — must be heard to be believed. While a decent video has yet to surface, an audio glimpse into Smith’s performance did arrive this morning. Preview the clip above while we keep an eye out for footage of the living legend’s latest tribute.
Via
Monday, 18 July 2011
NumberTenCat Larry the cat
#sky #BBC Breaking News: Larry the cat from No.10 resigns. Position untenable as he is continually mistaken for Rebekah Brooks' hair #ohyes
John Yates resigns
Met Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates has resigned as the phone-hacking scandal fall-out continues.
He checked the credentials of Neil Wallis before the Met employed the ex-News of the World executive, arrested last week over hacking allegations.Mr Yates indicated his intention to resign to the chairman of the Met Police Authority, which was accepted.
Mr Yates's decison to quit comes after Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson resigned on Sunday.
@'BBC'
Terra Nova Trailer Edit
Antarctica, the only uninhabited continent, belongs to no single country and has no government. While certain countries lay claim to portions of the landmass, it is the only solid land on the planet with no unified national affiliation. Drawing on the continent’s rich history of inspiring exploration and artistic endeavors, Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky has put together his own multimedia, multidisciplinary study of Antactica. Book of Ice is one aspect of this ongoing project.
In light of climate change and tireless human enterprise to be present everywhere on the planet, Miller uses Antarctica as a point on entry for contemplating humanity’s relationship with the natural world. The two additional contributors to The Book Of Ice - Columbia University's Brian Greene, best selling author of The Elegant Universe, and Ross A. Virginia, Director of Arctic Studies at Dartmouth College, a world renowned expert on Antarctica - add several layers of analysis to the books exploration of the theme of science and graphic design.
Using photographs and film stills from his journey to the bottom of the world, along with original artworks and re-appropriated archival materials, Miller ponders how Antarctica could liberate itself from the rest of the world. Part fictional manifesto, part history and part science book, Book of Ice furthers Miller’s reputation as an innovative artist capable of making the old look new. Out July 1st on Mark Batty Publisher.
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