RELAX - Pics on the WEB

Glorious Maine Coon Cat

THE WEB - Washington DC Watchdog Shuts Down

"Website that kept watch on D.C. homicides shuts down" PBS NewsHour 12/29/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Homicide Watch, an online database that records and tracks homicide cases, was created to document under-reported crimes in Washington, D.C.  The site has been praised by law enforcement and the families of victims, but is shutting down in that city.  Co-founder Laura Amico, a Boston Globe reporter, speaks with Jeffrey Brown about sharing violent crime information with the public.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  This has been a year of extensive debate over crime and justice and public safety.  But keeping track of the ebb and flow has often fallen to organizations outside of law enforcement.  Now, one of those tracking sites is shutting down.

Jeffrey Brown is back with that story.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Mark every death.  Remember every victim.  Follow every case.  That’s been the mantra of a group called Homicide Watch started by two journalists in Washington, D.C., to comb databases and document under-reported crimes occurring in their city.

It’s received much praise from law enforcement and families of victims.  And the concept has been picked up in other cities, including Chicago, Boston, and Trenton, where sites partner with a local newspaper or university.

Now, though, the original Washington, D.C., site is shutting down, unable to find a permanent home.

Joining us is Laura Amico, a Boston Globe reporter who created the site with her husband, Chris, who we should say worked previously with the “NewsHour” online.

And, Laura Amico, welcome to you.

First, what’s the idea behind Homicide Watch?  Why did you think it was needed?

LAURA AMICO, The Boston Globe:  Hi, Jeff.  Thank you for having me.

Homicide Watch started because I had a need, and I was willing to take a risk.  We moved across the country from California so that my husband, Chris, could take that job with “PBS NewsHour.”  And I found myself an unemployed crime reporter in 2009, when there just weren’t that many jobs in journalism.

As I was searching for a job, I saw a need to be done in my local community.  I saw families of victims and suspects trying to connect on places like Facebook and Twitter and Legacy.com.  They were looking for information about cases and they were looking to connect with one another to share what they were learning.

I looked at this and I looked at my skills.  And I saw that I had a lot of free time on my hands and thought maybe there is something here I can do.  And it grew very organically out of that.

INTERNET - Criminals Steal 1.2 Billion Web Credentials

"After criminals steal 1.2 billion web credentials, how to protect personal info from data breaches" PBS NewsHour 8/6/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Computer hacking and the breaches of privacy that come with them are becoming a regular and unwelcome feature of our wired world.

Now The New York Times and a security firm based in the Midwest are reporting a massive one that includes the collection of more than a billion username and password combinations and more than 500 million e-mail addresses.  What’s more, the perpetrators appear to be a shadowy Russian crime ring.

Details, including the names of the victims, are hard to come by.  But the news has raised eyebrows around the world.  So, how serious is it?

For that, we turn to Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chief technology officer of CrowdStrike, a Web security firm.

Mr. Alperovitch, tell us just in context of all these other breaches we have had in the past year, say, how — relative to those, how big is this?

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH, CrowdStrike:  Well, the number is certainly striking; 1.2 billion credentials is a lot.  In the past, we have seen some big breaches that numbered in the hundreds of millions.

But this is certainly the biggest one that I — that I can remember.

INTERNET - Web Comments as Venue for Rudeness or Insults

"Taming the ‘Wild West’ of online comments" PBS NewsHour 4/20/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  More and more websites are including online commenting as a feature for their visitors.  But sometimes the comment boards become venues for rudeness and insults.  These comments can influence how a reader perceives the story.  Hari Sreenivasan speaks with web experts who help manage online communities and comments in different ways.

SECURITY - Heartbleed Hacks WEB Security Servers

Heartbleed hacks into the SSL protocol that protects HTTPS sites.

"Security bug Heartbleed could have provided key that unlocks personal online data" PBS NewsHour 4/9/2014

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  You may have heard headlines today about a major lapse in Internet security and the possibility that millions of passwords, credit card numbers, bank information, and commonly used Web sites could have been exposed.

It involves a bug or security leak called Heartbleed, which can be used to read encrypted information.

Hari Sreenivasan gets a breakdown on what you need to know.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Essentially, Heartbleed can be used to read the memory of computer servers, the places behind a Web site that store your information, including the lock and key system which protects your usernames and passwords.

You probably see this encryption in the form of a green lock when you conduct a transaction and exchange information.  The breach was revealed this week, but apparently has existed for a long time.

Russell Brandom of The Verge, an online site covering tech news, is here to help explain.

INTERNET - Who Should Oversee the World Wide Web?

The title of this article is slightly misleading to non-techies.  NO single entity controls the WEB.  The issue is who assigns the Internet Protocol (IP) Addressing and assigning of Domain Names to IPs.

"As the U.S. government relinquishes control, who should oversee the Web?" PBS NewsHour 3/24/2014

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The Commerce Department recently announced it would give up oversight of ICANN, the California nonprofit that manages the unique domains of the world's websites and email servers.  There's been international pressure to make the change, especially in light of revelations about NSA surveillance.  Vint Cerf of Google and Randolph May of the Free State Foundation join Judy Woodruff to offer debate.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Who controls the World Wide Web, and how is it overseen and governed?  These are the questions that most of us don’t really know the answers to, but the Obama administration announced a change in the role played by the United States, one that’s stirring up concerns about the Internet’s future and freedom from censorship.

FADI CHEHADE, CEO, ICANN:  To become the world’s ICANN, we have to go to the world.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Change was in the wind as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN, kicked off a meeting in Singapore this weekend, its purpose, to start crafting a transition from U.S. control of administration of the Internet.

Since 1998, the California nonprofit has had a federal contract to manage the unique identifiers of the world’s Web sites and e-mail servers, regulating domain names such as dot-com and dot-gov.

WORLD WIDE WEB - 25th Birthday

"25 years on, still adapting to life tangled up in the Web" PBS NewsHour 3/12/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The World Wide Web turns 25 years old today.  The date marks the publication of a paper that originally laid out the concept, which eventually led to the vast system of Internet sites we now use.

Jeffrey Brown looks at how it’s changed the world we live in.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  One way to do that is to look at how individual Americans think about the Internet and its impact on their lives.

The Pew Research Internet Project did that in a survey just out.  Among much else, it finds that 87 percent of American adults now use the Internet, and the number goes up to 97 percent for young adults from 18 to 29.  Ninety percent of Internet users say the Internet has been a good thing for them personally, though the number drops to 76 percent when asked if the Internet has been a good thing for society generally, with 15 percent saying it’s been bad for society.

And 53 percent of Internet users say the Internet would be, at minimum, very hard to give up.

We’re joined by three people who’ve watched the growth of the Internet from different angles.  Xeni Jardin is a journalist and editor at the Web blog Boing Boing, which covers technology and culture.  Catherine Steiner-Adair is a clinical and consulting psychologist at Harvard Medical School, and author of “The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age.”  And Daniel Weitzner teaches computer science and Internet public policy in at MIT.  From 2011 to 2012, he was U.S. deputy chief technology officer in the White House.

And welcome to all of you.

And, Daniel Weitzner, I will start with you, because you worked with Tim Berners-Lee, who — one of the main people that started all this 25 years ago.  What has — what surprises you now, sitting here 25 years later, about where we’re at?

DANIEL WEITZNER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology:  Well, it does surprise me how tremendously the Internet and the Web has grown into every aspect of our lives.

I think that a lot of us who were involved in the early days of the Internet and the Web had hoped that it could really reach the whole world.  And there’s no question that Tim Berners-Lee, who — whose architecture for the World Wide Web really helped it to grow, had the ambition that it in fact cover the whole world — represent everything in the world.  But I think it’s amazing how far we have actually come in that direction.

FACEBOOK - Why WhatsApp?

"Messaging monopoly?  Why Facebook is willing to pay $19 billion for WhatsApp" PBS Newshour 2/20/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  ....... Why is Facebook willing to pay $19 billion for a messaging application and service that’s just 4 years old and has only 55 employees?  Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp eclipses just about any other deal made for a startup in recent years.

As an instant messaging service for mobile devices, it’s attracting an enormous number of users around the world at a rapid pace.  People can send texts, photos and video on WhatsApp over their phones.  There are now more than 50 billion messages sent that way each day.  The first year of service is free to consumers.  Afterwards, it charges just $1 a year, cheaper than text service in many countries, and there is no advertising.

In the past nine months, its use has doubled to 450 million monthly users, most of them outside the U.S.

Reporter Ellis Hamburger has been covering this for The Verge.  It’s a technology-centered news Web site.  And he joins me now.

NSA - Another Leak From Traitor Snowden

"NSA 'taking full advantage' of spying laws to tap into Yahoo, Google traffic" PBS Newshour 10/31/2013

Excerpts

GWEN IFILL (Newshour):  Newly published information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is reinforcing the notion that U.S. spying spreads wide and goes deep.

The latest bombshell, partly denied by the Obama administration, appears in The Washington Post.  It says U.S. intelligence agencies have gained access to hundreds of millions of Google and Yahoo! user accounts by secretly tapping into company data centers.  Late today, six top tech companies Yahoo!, Google, AOL, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, sent a letter to Congress, calling for enhanced privacy protections.

Barton Gellman broke the story for The Washington Post.

Welcome, Bart Gellman.  How are you?  Welcome to the NewsHour.

What is the difference between what you're reporting that happened and what the White House and the administration is pushing back at and saying didn't happen?
----
GWEN IFILL:  In -- so, in this case, what you're saying is what they did is not illegal because it was -- involved international networks?

BARTON GELLMAN, The Washington Post:  Well, it's a bit of a rough analogy, but if your -- your accountant would say you're allowed to avoid taxes.  You're not allowed to evade them.

So they're taking full advantage of the rules as they interpret them.  There are some outside surveillance lawyers who say it may raise some interesting questions about lawfulness, but on its face I don't see any evidence that they're flouting the law here.  They're using it in ways that the companies and the public didn't expect.

OPINION - The Sick and Hateful OnLine

I am for Freedom of Speech, but one has to wonder about sick people who post messages like this on on a Usenet Group:

"There is absolutely no evidence that any children were killed in Sandy Hook, Connecticut" from "Too_Many_Tools"

None.

Not skinny little lifeless corpse one.

Where are the bodies?

Where are the pictures?

Where is the proof this happened?

You know damned well Obama's anus lapping media pundits would
swear to any lie he tells.

This is all another lie just like the financial bailout.

This was a reply from "TMT" (on Usenet) to "Too_Many_Tools" post:

Millions of Americans would disagree.

Please keep posting...we need a continuing record of your mental
illness so we can confiscate your guns when the time comes...

I do agree with "TMT" and  since "Too_Many_Tools" is obviously mentally ill, he should be banded from owning any guns IF he actually commits any crime with a gun.

Then "Too_Many_Tools" post MAY be a 'troll' which means he just wants to trigger replies to an outlandish post.  A Newsgroup technique to get attention, like a child throwing a tantrum.

INTERNET - Prodigy, Innovator, Activist, Dead at 26

"Internet Innovator and Activist Aaron Swartz, 26, Faced Legal Trouble" PBS Newshour 1/14/2013

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Aaron Swartz, prodigy co-developer of RSS code and the website Reddit, faced federal charges for distributing articles from a subscription-based database. Swartz committed suicide at the age of 26. Margaret Warner talks to Wired magazine's Kevin Poulsen about Schwartz's advocacy to make data available to the public online.

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): Aaron Swartz, found dead Friday of an apparent suicide at the age of 26, was a prodigy of the digital age.

At 14, the programmer helped develop RSS, a popular system to subscribe to breaking content on the Web. He went on to help develop the social news sharing sight Reddit. And he crusaded to make data stored in databases more available to the public.

That cause led to his arrest in 2011 for hacking into a scholarly database known as JSTOR through the MIT network. JSTOR archives and distributes academic articles to subscribers. Swartz surreptitiously downloaded nearly five million of them. He was to be tried this spring on 13 federal felony accounts, which carried hefty fines and prison time.

Swartz, who had battled depression, hanged himself.

For more about him and the reaction to his death, we turn to Kevin Poulsen, a senior editor at Wired magazine. Charged with hacking himself some 25 years ago, Poulsen knew Swartz personally.

MEDIA - Facebook and Personal Privacy

"Could Facebook Get Squashed by a 'Better Mousetrap?'" PBS Newshour 6/22/2012

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And now to social media and personal privacy.

Facebook and other companies have been in the news recently. As analysts debate whether their profits justify their stock prices, still lingering in the background are concerns over privacy violations.

NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman looks at that part of the story. It's part of his ongoing reporting Making Sense of financial news.

PAUL SOLMAN: It was one of biggest initial public stock offerings history, one of the most hyped, and one of the most disappointing. After the IPO, shares of the social networking giant Facebook swooned and are still well below the initial price.

But in his new book, "Friends, Followers and the Future," filmmaker, author, and longtime media blogger Rory O'Connor argues that Facebook faces even bigger problems in the long run.

INTERNET - Online Protests Win the Day!

I'm a bit late with this news....

"After an Online Firestorm, Congress Shelves Antipiracy Bills" by JONATHAN WEISMAN, New York Times 1/20/2012

Excerpt

Congressional leaders on Friday indefinitely shelved two antipiracy bills that had rallied the Internet and rocked Capitol Hill, dealing a major defeat to the traditional media industry while emboldening a new breed of online political activists.

Using a medium that helped organize protests against the legislation, Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, announced via Twitter that the vote would be delayed. But he indicated that the issue, which had been scheduled for a vote Tuesday, had not died.

“There’s no reason that legitimate issues raised about PROTECT IP can’t be resolved,” he wrote, referring to the Senate bill by its shorthand name. “Counterfeiting & piracy cost 1000s of #jobs yearly. Americans rightfully expect to be fairly compensated 4 their work. I’m optimistic that we can reach compromise on PROTECT IP in coming week.”

In the House, Representative Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called off plans to formally draft his version of the antipiracy bill next month.

After vowing two days ago to move forward, Mr. Smith said in a statement on Friday: “The committee remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.” But he added, “The House Judiciary Committee will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

Speaker John A. Boehner, talking with reporters Friday in Baltimore, where House Republicans held their annual retreat, called the bill “well meaning,” but said it needed “more consensus.”

Supporters of the shelved bills as well as opponents pushing an alternative backed by the Internet giants Google and Facebook said differences could be bridged. But privately, Congressional aides and lobbyists say the pressures of an election year make action this year unlikely. Lawmakers will not be eager to brave another firestorm incited by Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and other popular Web sites.

Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and a key opponent of the bills, said lawmakers had collected more than 14 million names — more than 10 million of them voters — who contacted them to protest the once-obscure legislation.

ALSO

Debating SOPA. UP with Chris Hayes
MSNBC (18:44)

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.

SECURITY - Worm, the First Digital World War

"Book Chronicles Fight to Save Web From Sophisticated Computer Worm" PBS Newshour 11/21/2011

Excerpt

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): In November 2008, computer security experts began detecting a new, highly sophisticated computer worm. They called it Conficker. Ultimately, it invaded at least 12 million computers worldwide.

The story of the campaign to defeat it is chronicled in a new book, "Worm: The First Digital World War." The author is journalist Mark Bowden.

COMMENT: I'm a computer specialist and IT Technician by trade, so I am aware of BOTnets and other malware.

There are protections for users, one mentioned in video is to keep your Windows OS updated.

The specific tool is Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool downloaded during updates (or via their PC Security site).

There is a simpler protection method. This malware cannot be use, or get on your system, IF you are NOT ONLINE. If you do not have a pressing reason to be online, don't; either disconnect your internet or log-off your system. Even better, turn off your PC when you are not actually using it.

Lastly, run a GOOD Antivirus Utility. All that I know of will protect you from KNOWN BOTnet malware.

INTERNET - Apple's iCloud

"Apple Unveils New iCloud Music Service, but Privacy Issues May Lurk"
PBS Newshour 6/6/2011


Excerpt from transcript, security

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): If I put my stored and accumulated content on the cloud, is it private?

CECILIA KANG, The Washington Post: Well, that's a good question.

The -- the devices will be encrypted. And that's what Apple said in passing. But there's a lot of questions as to your privacy and the security of cloud-based applications, Internet-based services. We have seen a lot of attacks on information, hacking attacks into Sony, Nintendo, PBS. You have seen a lot of these -- this -- the vulnerability of information that resides on the Internet.

And when I say it resides on the Internet, I mean that it resides on servers. You don't know where they are, but there are large data farms all over the country around the world, where bits -- your bits and pieces, the bits, I should say, of the music that you have, the videos that you have, the bits, the actual digital packets, they reside in these places that you don't really as much control of.

So, when you make this decision to switch to cloud-based applications, it's much easier, more convenient and often much cheaper. But there often is the -- there is the consideration of a tradeoff, perhaps, in that there may be less security involved. It's much safer when you have your information on your own computer that only you can access than on the Internet.

And your privacy is also perhaps in -- in question, in that more people, more companies have access to what you're doing. And they can see what you're doing online.

MEDIA - Hacker Attack on PBS Newshour and Frontline

The following NYT story is of special interest to me because, as you can tell, PBS Newshour is one of my prime sources. I consider the Newshour to be the finest, and most balanced, news program on TV. I was wondering why I could not reach the Newshour home page Monday 5/30/2011.

"Web Hackings Rattle Media Companies" by BRIAN STELTER, New York Times 5/31/2011

Excerpt

It might just be the most worrisome letter to the editor any news organization can receive.

PBS fought on Monday and Tuesday to restore the Web sites for two news programs on public television, “Frontline” and “PBS NewsHour,” which were crippled by hackers who said they were angered by coverage of WikiLeaks.

The incidents were the latest examples of what security experts call “reputational attacks” on media companies that publish material that the hackers disagree with. Such companies are particularly vulnerable to such attacks because many of them depend on online advertising and subscription revenue from Web sites that can be upended by the clicks of a hacker’s keyboard — and because unlike other targets, like government entities and defense contractors, they are less likely to have state-of-the-art security to thwart attacks.

The PBS attack was said to be motivated by a “Frontline” film about WikiLeaks that was broadcast and published online on May 24. Some supporters of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, and Bradley Manning, a soldier who is suspected of having shared hundreds of thousands of government files with WikiLeaks, criticized the film and claimed that it portrayed the two men in a negative light.

When the anonymous hackers posted a fake news article on a PBS blog and published passwords apparently obtained from PBS servers late Sunday night, they attached complaints about the film, which was titled “WikiSecrets.”

Staff member at PBS said they were appalled by the hackings — which were perceived to be attempts to chill independent journalism — and, to a lesser extent, by the long delay in having the sites restored. In a telephone interview on Tuesday, David Fanning, the executive producer of “Frontline,” called the incidents a “real intrusion into the press” and said they should not be characterized as mere pranks.

“This is what repressive governments do,” he said. “This is what people who don’t want information out in the world do — they try to shut the presses.”

Mr. Fanning said “Frontline” included multiple points of view in “WikiSecrets” and provided forums for criticism of the film. Other staffers, speaking anonymously because they had not been authorized by PBS to speak on the record, did not point the finger for the hack directly at WikiLeaks, but some did suggest that it would be hypocritical for any supporters of such a group to try to tamp down on freedom of information.

WORLD - Global Cybersecurity Proposal

"U.S. Calls for Global Cybersecurity Strategy" by HELENE COOPER, New York Times 5/16/2011

The Obama administration on Monday proposed creating international computer security standards with penalties for countries and organizations that fell short.

While administration officials did not single out any countries in announcing the strategy, several officials said privately that the hope was that the initiative would prod China and Russia into allowing more Internet freedom, cracking down on intellectual property theft and enacting stricter laws to protect computer users’ privacy.

“The effort to build trust in the cyberspace realm is one which should be pushed in capitals around the world,” said Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who will soon be taking over as President Obama’s ambassador to China.

The strategy calls for officials from the State Department, the Pentagon, the Justice Department, the Commerce Department and the Department of Homeland Security to work with their counterparts around the world to come up with standards aimed at preventing theft of private information and ensuring Internet freedom. A fact sheet released by the White House also promised that the United States would respond to attempted hacking “as we would to any other threat to our country.”

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called it a “historic strategy,” adding that “the 21st-century threats that we now face to both our national and international security really have no borders.”

Last week the administration released the domestic component of its new computer security strategy, increasing and clarifying the penalties for computer crimes, and giving the domestic security agency a clear mandate for the protection of the government’s own networks. That effort was intended to reverse a growing perception that penalties for attacks on government, corporate and personal computers had been relatively small.

In addition to giving the Homeland Security Department new authority over federal computer systems, the legislation calls for the agency to work with energy companies, water suppliers and financial institutions to rank the most serious threats and find ways to counter them. The law would also require each business to have an independent commercial auditor assess its plans and, in the case of financial firms, report those plans to the Security and Exchange Commission.

About time. We have international law enforcement agreements, and military security agreements, why not this one? While nations like China or North Kora will ignore this, that should not prevent the majority of nations to come up with a plan. It would protect national interests as well as individual people.

CHINA - Another Strike Against Freedom and FOR Greed

"China Creates New Agency for Patrolling the Internet" by MICHAEL WINES, New York Times 5/4/2011

Excerpt

A powerful arm of China’s government said Wednesday that it had created a new central agency to regulate every corner of the nation’s vast Internet community, a move that appeared to complement a continuing crackdown on political dissidents and other social critics.

But the vaguely worded announcement left unclear whether the new agency, the State Internet Information Office, would in fact supersede a welter of ministries and other government offices that already claim jurisdiction over parts of cyberspace.

China’s State Council Information Office said it was transferring its own staff of Internet regulators to the new agency, which would operate under its jurisdiction. Among many other duties, the agency will direct “online content management;” supervise online gaming, video and publications; promote major news Web sites; and oversee online government propaganda. The agency will also have authority to investigate and punish violators of online content rules, and it will oversee the huge telecommunications companies that provide access for Internet users and content providers alike.

The State Council is a cabinet-like agency that effectively manages the government’s day-to-day operations. Two former officials at its Information Office will run the new agency, and executives from two central ministries — public security and information technology — will also serve in senior positions, the announcement stated.

The mushrooming growth of China’s Internet business has spawned a sort of land rush for regulatory turf by government agencies that see in it a chance to gain more authority or more money, or both. At least 14 government units, from the culture and information technology ministries to offices that oversee films and books, have some hand in what appears on China’s Internet. Others have interests in Internet-related ventures like the sale of censorship software that could prove to be lucrative sources of income.

Again the government proves afraid of criticism and truth, that they have much to hide from their own citizens.

SECURITY - Cybercrime With World-Wide Impact

This is about more than PlayStation users. The information gleaned by this crime is a threat to any personal information on your personal computers (directly for PlayStation users, indirectly for others) or by way of any online business you deal with.


"Sony PlayStation System Hacking Incident Highlights Web-Security Gaps" PBS Newshour Transcript 4/27/2011 (includes video)

Excerpt

RAY SUAREZ (Newshour): The latest episode involved millions of people around the world who use Sony's PlayStation video game system and who may have had their credit card information stolen in a hacking incident.

The intrusion caused the company to shut down PlayStation's Internet network a week ago. It provides access to online gaming, music, movies, sports and TV shows. Seventy-seven million user accounts were disconnected worldwide. But it wasn't until yesterday that Sony disclosed a hacker obtained information, including players' names, addresses, birth dates, email addresses, passwords and log-in names.

And on the company's blog, Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said, "While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility."

Near Sony headquarters in Tokyo, some said the breach may stop them from using PlayStation.

KAZUNORI SANO, resident of Tokyo (through translator): I will be afraid of playing with the game machine after hearing of this. I don't want my credit card information to be leaked out somewhere else in the world.

RAY SUAREZ: And in Australia, police urged PlayStation users to be vigilant.

DETECTIVE SUPERINTENDENT COL DYSON, New South Wales State Police Force: It would appear that the risk in relation to credit cards may be low. But if people have concerns, they should be talking to their banks and watching for unauthorized usage of the cards.

RAY SUAREZ: Some industry experts say the scale of the breach could cost the company billions of dollars.

THOMAS PUHA, "Pelaaja": This is going to have a very negative impact on a business that they have built up, because I think a lot of -- obviously, a lot of consumers will really be very wary of putting their credit card information back online or even buying anything.

RAY SUAREZ: Sony said it expects the PlayStation Network to be restored in a week. In the meantime, an outside security firm has been hired to investigate what Sony deems the malicious intrusion.

For a closer look at all this, we turn to Kevin Poulsen, senior editor at Wired.com. A former hacker himself, he's also author of a new book, "Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground."

And, Kevin, for those people who aren't gamers, why would you have to load personal information into a game console in the first place?

KEVIN POULSEN, Wired.com: Well, a lot of gaming takes place now online. You have multiplayer games where you could play with or against opponents live in real time.

And, of course, a game console isn't just a game console anymore. You want to be able to download movies and other content. And all -- you pay for all of that, which means you have to give up this information.

RAY SUAREZ: Sony says it has no direct evidence that credit card numbers were taken, but it says -- quote -- "We cannot rule out the possibility."

When you have had a breach, when someone has been rifling around in your files electronically, can you tell what they have seen and what they haven't?

KEVIN POULSEN: There are usually -- there's usually some kind of trail left, yes. But if the hacker is good and took steps to cover his or her tracks, then it could -- it could take a while to extract that.

I imagine that's why Sony took so long to announce this. They were probably hoping to find better news. They were probably hoping to find evidence that the -- that information wasn't accessed. Now that they have brought in an outside company, I expect they will know a lot more than they do now, eventually. Of course, they -- they may know more than they're telling us now.

RAY SUAREZ: The PlayStation system has been down for over week, disappointing a lot of people who are frequent users.

Does that long-term shutdown tell you something about the seriousness of the breach, that they're not patching it, but rebuilding the whole network?

KEVIN POULSEN: Absolutely.

It's a really radical measure to take. And it's surely going to cost them a lot of money and a lot of fan loyalty. There are people that aren't even going care about the breach itself who are just going to be extremely angry that they were denied access to the PlayStation Network for so long. So, it's bad news all around.

If this had just been a casual intruder, a recreational intruder, some kid working from his bedroom, I doubt they would have taken this measure. So, they probably have some indication that this was a serious, focused attack.

RAY SUAREZ: Well, as we reported earlier, they got user names, passwords, various other kinds of personal information. What's the risk to account holders at this point?

KEVIN POULSEN: You know, the biggest risk is probably with the personal information, especially the passwords, because a lot of people use the same passwords everywhere.

So, that, coupled with your email address and your real name and your date of birth, the hackers will, if this was done for profit, then, all of that could wind up being sold on the black market, probably for a nice sum of money.

And then, whoever buys it, other computer intruders could use the information to try and hack into other accounts held by these PlayStation Network users. It could be anything from Facebook to online banking. You could use it to stage scams targeting the users in other ways.

So, it could be -- it could wind up that this becomes the first stage in a lingering problem that haunts users for a long time, if, in fact, that that was the nature of the breach.

Stress this quote, "You know, the biggest risk is probably with the personal information, especially the passwords, because a lot of people use the same passwords everywhere."

HINT, do not use the same password for all your online accounts.