MALAYSIA - Flight MH370 an Act of Piracy?

"Window may be closing on possibility that Malaysian jetliner disappearance was aviation accident" PBS NewsHour 3/14/2014

Excerpt

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  After nearly a week, the search and speculation continue to grow.  Ships and planes from a growing number of nations have expanded the hunt to the west and the east.  Various news accounts today quoted unnamed officials, both Malaysian and U.S., that it’s increasingly likely the Boeing 777 changed course, possibly in an act of piracy.

What’s now known is the plane left Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, reached an altitude of 35,000 feet, and then stopped communicating with air traffic controllers around 1:30 in the morning last Saturday, somewhere over the South China Sea.  One possibility, it made a hard left turn.  The search areas now encompass thousands of miles, stretching further into the South China Sea and also pushing Westward into the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

That’s in keeping with reports the plane traveled several hours after disappearing, although Malaysia won’t confirm or deny it.

"New details on missing plane emerge shifting investigation’s direction" PBS NewsHour 3/16/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  With new information released Sunday about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, authorities have taken both the search and investigation in a new direction.  Where are investigators focusing their efforts?  Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Michael Schmidt, who has been covering the story for the New York Times, about the current focus on the pilot and other recent developments.

SOMALIA - Replay.... Pirate Hostages Freed

"U.S. Navy SEALs Free 2 Western Hostages From Somali Captors" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 1/25/2012

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): An American woman and a Danish man were free today after U.S. commandos whisked them away from their pirate captors in Somalia. The operation unfolded in secret, even as President Obama made ready to address the nation.

The first hint of action came in the president's cryptic greeting to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta just before delivering the State of the Union address last night.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Good job tonight. Good job tonight.

JEFFREY BROWN: The president said nothing else during his speech, but confirmation came several hours later.

U.S. Navy SEALs had raided a site near Adado in central Somalia. They freed two aid workers who'd been kidnapped from another town, Galkayo, three months ago. At the time, American Jessica Buchanan and her Danish colleague, Poul Thisted, had been part of a project to clear land mines.

Today, they were being reunited with their families. Emerging accounts said the SEALs parachuted in, and took the sleeping pirates by surprise, killing nine. There were no American casualties.

Vice President Biden praised the operation this morning on ABC.

VICE PRESIDENT JOSEPH BIDEN: It just takes your breath away, their capacity and their bravery and their incredible timing.

JEFFREY BROWN: The raiders were from SEAL Team 6, the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan last May.

The president approved the Somalia mission on Monday. In his own statement today, he said, "This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people."

There have been other raids against Somali pirates in recent years to combat their hijackings of ships at sea. The piracy problem is part of the larger lawlessness that has gripped Somalia for decades and left it a broken state.

"Who Was Behind Kidnapping, Rescue in Somalia?" (Part-2)
PBS Newshour 1/25/2012

INTERNET - Online Piracy Fight, Push-Back

"Hackers Retaliate Against DOJ in Raging Online Piracy Fight" PBS Newshour 1/20/2012

Excerpt

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): It's one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought. The target is a website based in Hong Kong that's been used to share large files, including movies, videos, television shows, e-books, games, and music.

It's called Megaupload, and the heavily visited site is said to have 150 million registered users and 50 million visits a day. Now it stands charged with storing and distributing pirated material, and thus robbing copyright holders of more than $500,000.

Yesterday, the Justice Department shut it down and released indictments against seven executives. Four were arrested at the New Zealand mansion of its founder, who goes by the name Kim Dotcom.

Within hours, the hacker collective called Anonymous retaliated, shutting down the websites of the Justice Department and major media groups, including Universal Music and the Motion Picture Association of America. The government's crackdown came one day after this week's online protests against anti-piracy bills in Congress.

Another excerpt

CECILIA KANG, The Washington Post: So there's a lot of -- there's a lot of suspicion around the timing of this. But these are two -- one should keep in mind that these are two discreet issues. There's the federal indictment of a criminal case, and then there are the two bills right now that are being proposed on the Hill that I should say actually have been on hold, today were put on hold because of all the controversy around them.

GEEK FILES - Internet cowboy has taste for Fast Cars, High Living, and Strange Behavior

"Megaupload chief had wild ride before arrest" by Austin Carr, MSNBC 1/20/2012

In the Wild, Wild West-era of digital media, there is no cowboy quite like Kim Dotcom. Part Sean Parker, part Kevin Mitnick, with a whiff of Notorious B.I.G., Dotcom embodies the wildest age of piracy having made a fortune on the edges of Internet freedom.

Dotcom, the megamind behind Megaupload, was arrested yesterday in New Zealand, his panic-room door busted down by officials, who found the hacker clinging to a sawed-off shotgun. Dotcom faces up to 55 years in prison if extradited to the U.S. and convicted on charges of racketeering, copyright infringement, and money laundering. The hacker-turned-multimillionaire businessman has been accused of costing the entertainment industry $500 million through pirated content uploaded to his popular file-sharing site, which boasted 180 million registered users and celebrity endorsements from Kanye West to Kim Kardashian.

Before Megaupload was shut down by federal prosecutors, a statement was reportedly posted on the site calling the charges "grotesquely overblown."

Dotcom has long been a controversial and flamboyant figure. Pictures of the Megaupload founder online show him with yachts, private jets and Playboy bunnies in exotic locations such as Monaco, Cuba, and Brazil. According to court filings, prosecutors are seeking the forfeiture of $175 million, dozens of bank accounts, as well as sports cars including Mercedes-Benzes, Rolls-Royces, and Lamborghinis (with vanity plates such as "God" and "CEO".

Long before SOPA, Dotcom saw a potential market in taking advantage of the system--and ran wild with the opportunity. How wild? Here's a look inside Dotcom's life of excess--a lifestyle afforded to a guy who's both tech savvy and unencumbered by business ethics, and who has a taste for shotguns, black Benzes, and wraparound shades.

- In 1994, 20 cops raided Dotcom's home, in what appeared to be a sting operation set up by MCI. The police confiscated $80,000 in computer equipment, arresting Dotcom and charging him with selling stolen credit cards. Dotcom claimed to be working undercover for MCI, and that he was only trying to help make the company's systems more secure.

- In 1998, Dotcom wore black sunglasses to his trial in Germany, and boasted that he loved "feeling like a spy." He was convicted of fraud and other hacking charges, including embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was sentenced to two years of probation, and fined 20,000 marks. The judge at the time said the court viewed his actions as "youthful foolishness."

This is just a taste. There's more in the full article.