brett.jenkins

Gary McKinnon

This case makes me so angry, and this is why…

A UFO fanatic who hacked into top secret US military computers today appealed to the Home Secretary to stop his extradition after losing a last-ditch legal appeal.

Gary McKinnon is due to be extradited to the United States within two weeks and faces up to 80 years in prison in a maximum-security prison if found guilty of computer fraud…

…Mr McKinnon is being extradited under the controversial legislation which allows the American authorities to extradite British citizens without any need to provide evidence proving their case.

Although the Extradition Act 2003 was originally intended to expedite requests in terrorism cases, it has instead been used mainly in cases of other alleged offences. The US Senate refused to ratify the treaty, meaning that Britain stilll needs a higher burden of proof to extradite Americans.

Source: Times Online

Why do we get walked on by the Americans? The USA can extradite British nationals without proof, while we can’t do the same. Plus the crime was committed in the UK, the guy did no damage, and he’s already served his sentence in the UK.

OK, I’m not defending the guy, he shouldn’t have hacked into USA Military computers, that was stupid. He isn’t really worthy of being called a hacker either as he just downloaded some scripts which searched their PC’s for blank passwords, which anyone could do. I think the main reason why the USA wants to extradite him and trial him is because they are embarrassed and want to make a show of him. McKinnon has stated that he thinks it’s because the US Government want to silence him after some of the things he has accessed, which may be a possibility depending on what he has claimed to have read.

Either way, this case is scary for us British citizens. The USA can claim any of us, without proof, if they wish to do so, and it doesn’t seem that the British Government even puts up a fight.

It’s a sad case of affairs…

Photo by W.Sharp Licensed under the Creative Commons 2.5 License

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 now available.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 has been released today. I’m currently downloading and will play with it Download it over at the IE8 Beta site here.

Overview

See what we’ve done to put the web at your service and make Internet Explorer 8 the best browser for everyday browsing.

Accelerators

Accelerators let you efficiently complete your everyday browsing activities like mapping directions, translating words, emailing your friends, and more in just a few mouse clicks. Learn more.

InPrivate Browsing

Browse the web without saving your history with Internet Explorer 8’s InPrivate Browsing. Now you can shop for that special gift with confidence knowing your family won’t accidentally find out or use a shared computer without leaving a trace. Learn More.

Web Slices

Keep up with changes to the sites you care about most. Add a Web Slice and you won’t have to go back to the same website again and again for updates on news, stock quotes, online auctions, weather, or even sports scores. Learn more.

Search suggestions

Search smarter with detailed suggestions from your favorite search providers and browsing history. See visual previews and get suggested content topics while you type in the enhanced Instant Search Box.

SmartScreen Filter

New security features help to protect you against deceptive and malicious websites which can compromise your data, privacy and identity.

Source: IE8 Features Page

International Space Station catches virus

This is interesting and a little worrying:

Nasa has confirmed that laptops aboard the International Space Station (ISS) became infected with the Gammima.AG computer virus.

The computer virus that infects machines in order to steal login details for online games and although it is a nuisance, it isn’t considered to be a highly serious virus.

However, the fact that the laptops used by astronauts to send emails, watch videos and record details relating to experiments did get infected is a cause of concern.

The machines reportedly did not have anti-virus protection, although Nasa told Channel 4 News that they were not mission critical machines.

However, when I asked their spokesman Kelly Humphries whether they were connected to the ISS’s mission critical computer network, the telephone line appeared to go down.

After about twenty seconds of silence, I asked, “are you still there?”, he replied:”yes” although when I repeated the question, the line went dead again.

After repeating this part of the conversation for five minutes, Nasa refused to deny that the computers were indeed connected to the network, but then they also refused to say they were.

Nasa said it’s not the first time a computer has been infected with a virus. When I asked “is it then routine?” I was told “it’s not routine but it’s a nuisance”

Source: Channel 4 News

An iPhone advert has been banned in the UK after Advertising Standards Authority deemed it misleading.

This is the advert:

from The Telegraph:

A television advert for Apple’s iPhone has been banned after the official watchdog ruled that it misled viewers.

The advert for the handset showed the phone in someone’s hand and a finger touching the different icons on the main page.

The voice-over then boasts about how iPhone owners can access “all parts” of the internet at a touch of a button.

“You never know which part of the internet you’ll need,” it says.

“The do you need sun cream part? The what’s the quickest way to the airport part? The what about an ocean view room part? …Which is why all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone.”

Customers complained that the claim was untrue because the iPhone did not support Flash or Java, two pieces of software needed to watch some online videos and access some websites.

Apple said that the advert was not about “technical details” but about highlighting the varied websites that owners of the iPhone can access.

It added that none of the websites featured in the advert required Flash of Java. However, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the advert gave “a misleading impression” of the internet capabilities of the iPhone, which doubles as a phone, iPod and internet browser.

“We considered that, because the ad had not explained the limitations, viewers were likely to expect to be able to see all the content on a website normally accessible through a PC rather than just having the ability to reach the website,” it said in its ruling.

A spokesman for Apple declined to comment.

Source: Telegraph Website

Yes, you’ve read that right. Mail Source, a company which stores customer data for banks, has sold a server on ebay for £35 with Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland data on it amongst others.

The decommissioned server was stored in a secure room, but for some reason that server ended up on eBay, and sold for £35.

Does anyone in the real world know anything about Computer Security!? Why should we give our data to people who seem to know nothing about basic data security? It was so lucky that a good guy ended up with the servers rather than a less honest person.

Sigh.

Source: Google News

This is an interesting way to attract younger voters:

Xbox Live in youth voting drive

Americans will soon be able to use Xbox Live to register to vote in the November presidential elections.

Microsoft has signed a partnership with activist group Rock The Vote to boost interest in the upcoming election among young people.

As part of the tie-up Xbox Live members will also be able to take part in polls to gauge their voting intentions.

A forum on Xbox Live will also be used to gather opinions from gamers that will be shared with candidates.

Party politics

“To realise our goal of registering two million young Americans by this fall, we need to go where young Americans are,” said Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, in a statement. “There’s no doubt in our minds that many are on Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.”

Microsoft said that the Rock The Vote campaign to use Xbox Live would begin on 25 August.

In the past Rock The Vote has also worked with MySpace to encourage bands that promote their music via the social networking site to get fans to register to vote.

Through the partnership with Rock The Vote, Microsoft is also planning to have a presence at the Republican and Democrat party conventions to educate politicians about it and its members views.

Some aspects of Xbox Live are free but for a monthly fee members can take on other console owners in online games. In the UK the annual fee for the service is £39.99.

In May 2008 Microsoft announced that it had 12 million subscribers for Xbox Live spread across 26 countries

Will this work? Well, I don’t think it will. People playing on an xbox, won’t suddenly decide to register to vote… will they? However time will tell, it will be interesting to see how this ends up.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7576956.stm

More data lost

Now the UK Government has lost more data…

The memory stick contained un-encrypted details about [sic] 10,000 prolific offenders as well as names, dates of births and some release date of all 84,000 prisoners in England and Wales – and 33,000 records from the police national computer.

This is an absolute farce, encrypted data was supplied to this external contractor for the government, and then data was stored in an unencrypted form on a memory stick, and now that memory stick has been ‘mis-laid’. Firstly storing that kind of data in an unencrypted format is ridiculous. The person who did that should be fired.

The Government are quick to try and disassociate themselves with the leak, by blaming it all on the external contractor. This doesn’t change the fact that the Government are ultimately responsible, and it asks the question can the Government be trusted with our personal data? As I posted the other day, the Government want to create a database of all UK citizens calls, emails and Internet logs (http://www.brettjenkins.co.uk/blog/2008/08/20/uk-government-plans-spy-database/). Even if that law is passed, the Government clearly can not be trusted to protect that data!

All the data lost so far:

Nov 2007: 25m people’s child benefit details, held on two discs
Dec 2007: 7,685 Northern Ireland drivers’ details
Dec 2007: 3m learner drivers’ details lost in US
Jan 2008: 600,000 people’s details lost on Navy officer’s stolen laptop
June 2008: Six laptops holding 20,000 patients’ details stolen from hospital
July 2008: MoD reveals 658 laptops stolen in four years

I wonder who’s data the Government will lose next? The saga continues…

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7575989.stm (That Jacqui Smith interview is a must watch, how many times can she say an external contractor in one interview?)

Intel shows off a new wireless power broadcaster

These things have been tried before, but this technology has got to make an entrance into the market in the near future, if only to charge small devices like mobile phones. Efficiency is always a problem though, however Intel claim to get 75% efficiency, which is pretty impressive, although you can see the argument from the green side of things, thats 25% power wasted just because people are too lazy to use a cable! I personally think however that this technology should be researched and played with, as it is very very cool.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/21/intel-demos-a-wireless-power-broadcasting-system-villagers-terr/

Microsoft as part of their new Vista advertising campaign which started with the Mojave Experiement, have now recruited Jerry Seinfeld, to star in new Microsoft ad’s with Bill Gates. I wonder if we’ll get them over here in the UK? Seinfeld isn’t as well known over here as in the US, so will they have as much of an effect? We will see.

Sources:

http://neowin.net/news/main/08/08/21/microsoft-signs-seinfeld

http://gizmodo.com/5039860/gates-and-seinfeld-to-answer-apples-pc-vs-mac-ads

This is very scary, and hopefully this will fall through and not be implemented:

The government has plans to create a massive database that will store all phone calls, emails, and internet logs of all UK citizens. The information can be stored for as long as 2 years.

The database will take time to create, but there are trials and tests set in place with pre-determined people.

This is a feasible solution to solving criminal cases, and lowering crime rates, however, many will see it as a very large invasion of privacy.

UK Home Office minister, Lord West, noted:
“It is a cross-government program, led by the Home Office, to ensure that our capability to lawfully intercept and exploit data when fighting crime and terrorism is not lost.”

http://neowin.net/news/main/08/08/20/uk-to-invest-in-massive-spy-database

It is unacceptable that the UK government would even be allowed to do this, this is a serious invasion of privacy. I’ll be watching this story with great interest.