3 key provisions of the patriot act have not been extended in the House by a vote of 277 – 148. One of the provisions authorizes the FBI to continue using roving wiretaps on surveillance targets; the second allows the government to access “any tangible items,” such as library records, in the course of surveillance; Read more about Even republicans are now finding some bits of the patriot act scary[…]

Facebook introduced a handful of new ad units that combine your “Likes,” Facebook Places check ins, and your use of certain apps with advertisements for things like Starbucks, Coke, Levi’s jeans and Budweiser. In other words, if you happen to click “Like” on the Starbucks page, check into your local faux Italian coffee bar, or Read more about Facebook ads use your face for free[…]

The Dutch have a system on roads that read number plates automatically for speeding purposes. Now – surprise surprise – they want to store not only the number plate information, but also the pictoral information (including the driver’s face) for a period of four weeks. I’m sure they’ll be trotting out the paedofile capturing arguments Read more about Dutch .gov wants to store all the car trips you’ve made[…]

Not only was it prepared by a recent college graduate, agent Andrew Reynolds basically just listened to the MPAA – who have a vested and misinformed agenda. This takedown is a horrible joke gone wrong: no one seems to have any idea of how technology, or indeed just surfing the internet, works, but they have Read more about Why .gov should stay out of DNS – DHS ‘evidence’ for DNS takedowns is a joke[…]

Federal law enforcement agencies do not limit their surveillance of US residents to phone calls, emails and geo-location information. They are also interested in calling cards, credit cards, rental cars and airline reservations, as well as retail shopping clubs. The document also reveals that DOJ’s preferred method of obtaining this information is via an administrative Read more about Feds routinely track financial transactions in the US, without a judge’s consent.[…]

Why is this strange? Well, torrent-finder doesn’t host any torrents, or contain a database with the location of torrents – it doesn’t even show any torrents: it shows torrent finding sites in iframes (ie outside of its own site). It’s been taken down unilaterally by ICE in the *cough* land of the *cough* free, the Read more about This is why you need courts to make decisions – torrent-finder.com taken down with no recourse to law.[…]

The reemerging Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) means internet providers will be forced to install interception equipment in their networks to capture details of who contacts whom, when, where and how via services such as Facebook, Skype, webmail, and online games. Under the most likely scenario, Deep Packet Inspection technology will be configured by GCHQ to Read more about UK Internet snooping is back[…]

Yup, if you implement a population controlling measure ‘to save the children’ then the useage of the measure goes far beyond the original remit. The internet is meant to be free and people in democracies – being deemed intelligent enough to vote – should be allowed to choose what sites they watch. It’s none of Read more about Countrywide filters are great sliding scales – see Australia[…]

Which means they have to conform to data retention and data tapping laws, as well as a registration fee to the OPTA. Which also means that anyone offering free WiFi (MacDonalds, Airports, Starbucks, etc) is liable to be seen as an ISP. Guess the OPTA is desperate for money. OPTA jaagt op hotels met internet Read more about NL telecom oversight says hotels are ISPs[…]

UPC, one of Ireland’s largest internet service providers, has won a major legal victory against four of the world’s most powerful record companies over the much-contested issue of online music piracy. The High Court in Dublin ruled today that there was no precedent in Irish law to force ISPs to identify and disconnect people accused Read more about In Ireland, law is not made by big companies[…]

This is hardly surprising – they’ve been emailing the pictures (which resolve into full colour when you put the ‘negative’ filter over them in photoshop) and been poking fun at colleagues and now they’re basically just using them to check you out naked. Anyone suprised? Lagos — The 3D full-body scanners procured for thorough body Read more about 3D scanners now just being used for fun by airport officials[…]

Over everyone in facebook! Openbook – Connect and share whether you want to or not.

The Economist weighs in and says that extending copyright doesn’t increase creativity, it stifles it and Europe should think long and hard before going down the American way and extending it for perpituity. Protecting creativity: Copyright and wrong | The Economist.

This is an interesting read: It’s about the current EU antitrust complaint filed against Google – not by Microsoft, as it happens. It covers whitelisting of people and Google using its search engine results to push its own services, which is anti-competitive. Specifically two examples are mentioned: on line map services (where MapQuest lost out Read more about Why the Google antitrust complaint is not about Microsoft[…]

The current (demissionary) minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has made himself a total idiot by declaring a database into which he wants to put fingerprints of all the Netherlands ‘safe’. Hasn’t he learnt yet, when it comes to databases, there is no such thing as safe?! Further, the data will be stored at a third, non-governmental Read more about Dutch fingerprint database supposedly safe in 3rd party hands[…]

The BAA employee took a photo of his co-worker, Jo Margetson, when she inadvertently went through a scanner. “I can't bear to think about the body scanner thing,” she told the Sun. “I'm totally traumatised. I've spoken to the police about it. I'm in too much of a state to go to work.” BAA said: Read more about Full body scanners: fine for us, but not for them[…]

Yup, being a man sucks if you have a child. If you don’t make your payments, they will freeze your assets and sell your house. If you don’t get to see your child, however, you’re basically fucked. Child maintenance agency moves to seize 340 non-payers’ homes | Society | guardian.co.uk.

GoogleSharing is a special kind of anonymizing proxy service, designed for a very specific threat. It ultimately aims to provide a level of anonymity that will prevent google from tracking your searches, movements, and what websites you visit. GoogleSharing is not a full proxy service designed to anonymize all your traffic, but rather something designed Read more about Hide from Google with Googlesharing[…]