FCC Asks FAA for gadget use during flights !

Every single person who travels with planes frequently gets frustrated since no use of gadgets is allowed. However, it seems that this matter will change soon.

Rewritten U.S. Bill will allow security agencies and police to read user E-mails without warrants

The United States government is set to vote an e-mail privacy bill which, will enable government agencies to read e-mails without warrants.

Rumors: Facebook chance of Using Phone Numbers For Targeted Advertising

Since not only privacy is a matter, now Facebook targets on advertising too using it's users phones.

November 5 Hacking Spree as anti surveillance protest.

Several hacking groups went on a hacking spree, by hacking many company and government sites.

Cisco forecasts Explosive Cloud Data Growth.

Cisco, the colossus company of network products and services, forecasts that the total data center traffic will increase in volume of 6.6 zettabytes by 2016, with cloud traffic alone reaching 4.3 zettabytes by that year. 

The United Nations want to pursue more Internet Surveillance.

The United Nations expressed the will to increase surveillance of internet users in order to prevent any possible terrorism actions.

European Union Gives Google a Privacy To-Do List.

European privacy authorities asked Google to modify its global privacy policy in order to give users a better understanding of what personal data is being collected. They stated strong doubts about Google's privacy and suggested that it might violate their privacy rules. 

Facebook users concerns of privacy due to companys tweaking security settings

Several reports about Facebook have been made about privacy issues.The company said that last Thursday, a statistic usage showed that Facebook had a billion users worldwide who logged into Facebook at least once a month. 

So questions arise. Is it time for the social network to be more open with users?

ISPs Reveal that censoring the Pirate Bay is pointless

All over the world the copyright industry is increasing its censorship efforts against so called ‘pirate’ websites. One of the most well known sites is The Pirate Bay. Groups like the RIAA and MPAA have been pursuing it for years, resulting in court-ordered blockades in several countries including the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. However according to recent evidence these blocking efforts are futile. BitTorrent traffic doesn't seem to be decreasing and the blockades may actually be bringing the opposite results.

Last week, Dutch Internet provider XS4All revealed that after they started to enforce the Pirate Bay blockade, instead of BitTorrent traffic decreasing, it actually went up. Now, two other major ISPs in the Netherlands – KPN and UPC – have made statements suggesting that censoring The Pirate Bay does very little to reduce BitTorrent traffic.

KPN saw no decline in BitTorrent traffic whatsoever. UPC saw a slight decline initially, which then climbed back to normal afterwards. A third ISP, Ziggo, has decided to keep its findings private until it appeals against the blockade.

Researchers from the University of Amsterdam found no difference after comparing the number of Dutch participants in popular BitTorrent swarms. The results are not so unexpected, since there are many ways to download the torrents available on The Pirate Bay even if your ISP is blocking it. One way is through hundreds of proxy websites that allow blocked subscribers to access site.

One popular proxy websites for The Pirate Bay is operated by the UK Pirate Party. Its leader Loz Kaye writes in the Guardian today: “The Pirate Party’s website is now in the top 500 websites in the UK – above any other political party. If the aim was to change people’s behavior, the most noticeable change we have seen is an upsurge in interest in our kind of politics. I doubt this was the BPI’s intention.”

US House to consider prosecution of journalists due to Stuxnet leak

House lawmakers are considering amending the Espionage Act in order to be able to prosecute journalists who disclose sensitive information, in part due to newspaper stories about the US role in the Stuxnet worm.

During a House Judiciary Committee panel hearing on Wednesday, Rep. James Sensenbrenner said the committee was considering revamping the Espionage Act to allow prosecution of journalists for exposing state secrets, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor.

Sensenbrenner acknowledged the First Amendment issues such a law would cause. “We’ve got the constitutional issue about the First Amendment protecting the freedom of the press, but there has to be a balance”, he was quoted as saying.

Texas Representative Lamar Smith, author of popular bills like SOPA and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, accused the Obama administration of playing politics with national security.

“What sets these leaks apart from other leaks we have seen is that the media reports that many of these have come from highly placed administration officials. If true, this means that administration officials are weakening our national security and endangering American lives”, he said in a statement.

Smith called on the Justice Department to “bring the full force of the law” against those who leaked national security secrets and said, “We can judge whether the administration is willing to conduct a serious and objective investigation by considering two factors: (1) whether they will hold administration officials responsible and (2) whether the investigation is completed before the general election”.

Lucy Dalglish, he executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press says that there is “no need for a new law, and certainly not one that was rushed through Congress without careful consideration.”