Geek News: Latest Technology, Product Reviews, Gadgets and Tech Podcast News for Geeks


Tag: Privacy

Anonymous Plans November 5th Facebook Attack – Needs to be Stopped

Posted by J Powers at 10:27 AM on August 10, 2011

The following message showed up on YouTube. I have transcribed:

Attention citizens of the world. We are anonymous. We wish to get your attention hoping you heed the warnings as follows. Your medium of communication that you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing activist, or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information, then join the cause and kill Facebook for the sake of your own privacy. Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so they can spy on people from all around the world.

Some of these so-called “White hot infosec” firms are working for a formatarian governments such as those of Egypt and Seria. Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “Privacy” settings and deleting your account is impossible – even if you delete your account all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time.

Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more private is even a dilusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family. You cannot hide from the reality in which you – the people of the internet – live in facebook – is the opposite of the anti-sec cause.

You’re not safe from them nor any government.

One day you will look back on this and realize what we have done here is right. Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history.
November 5th 2011. We are anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive, we do not forget. Expect us.

Why Nov 5th, 2011?

Guy Fawkes Mask

Guy Fawkes Mask

This is Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates when Fawkes and others placed explosives under the British House of Lords in 1605. Fawkes is the mask Anonymous wears. Therefore, they chose this date to bring a social network down.

Joke or Reality?

That is tough to say. Anonymous is an established group, so the attempt can be taken a little more serious. Since we don’t know who makes up this group, it makes this harder to determine. For all we know, several of the members used to work for Facebook. Possibly even a programmer that might have created a secure back door to initiate this attack.

Bottom Line: This Needs to be Stopped!

This is a terrorist action and Anonymous should be treated as such. There is a famous term that most of us take to heart – We shall not succumb to terrorist threat. Violence does not beget violence.

If Facebook is doing what Anonymous says, then they need to be prosecuted in a court of law. No one group gets to decide their fate.

What will be next? Google+? Twitter? Your website?

Zero Tollerance – FBI Needs to Get Involved.

Think about it – You take down a giant in Facebook like that and it has a major economic effect. People build business around Facebook and with the site forcefully taken down like that, people can literally lose millions. Bringing in a new financial crisis to an already unstable economy.

We do not know how this organization will bring Facebook down – and that is the most important part. We assume that it’s going to be something like a DDoS or major virus. What if it’s a physical attack on their server farms or offices?

Remember: Guy Fawkes Organization used explosives to take down the British House of Lords.

This is not the way to do it. With these actions, Anonymous might find that they are protecting the one thing they want to bring down. A threat is a threat, whether a joke or not.

Facebook has many protocols in place to prevent such an attack. I would suggest, however, that Facebook change some policy and review their systems just to make sure there is no back door. Then make sure they have security in place on November 5th.

This is never something you should joke about. I hope they take Anonymous down. Period.

GNC #686 Now Your Bank is Tracking You!

Posted by geeknews at 1:03 AM on July 12, 2011

Internet connection died half, way through my show tonight. No idea what happened but it made for an interesting show. The Blue Man makes an appearance plus a lot more cool tech, news, and information. Huge Mahalo to our Ohana for your continued support of the show.

Sponsored by:
$2.49 for one new or transfer .com @ GoDaddy Promo Code geek249
32% off total new order @ GoDaddy Promo Code go32off1

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Secret Service is not Playing.
Soaps Moving Online.

Show Links:
Amazon Gets Political.
Banks sell you out.
Groupon Loyalty.
Self Incrimination.
Apple users spending a lot of Money.
Artificial Sound.
Malware in your Imported Electronics?
Did Entertainment Industry Backdoor us?
Predators surfing at Local Wifi Spots?
Fukushima never ending.
Philly Papers to try Android.
Facebook Contact War.
1 in 5 is a texting accident?
Android Malware.
Hotfile vs MPAA.
Anonymous Hacks.
Gmail+ ??
Firefox Beta 6 for Android.
Hypnotize my kid no way!
Bing Maps.
Smoke Detector with Mobile Sim?
Grocery Special Delivery.
Last Shuttle Back flip.
Shuttle Mission Extended 1 day.
56 MPG end of Mercedes / Land Rover?
Hyundai Blue Link.
Insanity.
Yucca Mountain Round 11?
Google Wifi Lawsuit Moves Forward.
More peeks at Ios5.
400 Million Windows 7 copies Sold.
Machine 1/100th of Brain.
Cosmo for Guys.

PlayPlay

GNC #679 Wisconsin Internet Battle

Posted by geeknews at 8:48 PM on June 13, 2011

Geek News Central Podcast Start the show out talking about the Wisconsin Internet Battle and close out talking about big medias battle of Roku, Boxee, etc..

Sponsored by:
$2.49 for one new or transfer .com @ GoDaddy Promo Code geek249
32% off total new order @ GoDaddy Promo Code go32off1

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Show Links
Wisconsin Internet Battle.
Cable 4.5 gbps?
Skype coming to Comcast.
50% of iPhones never Synced.
Is Your Pin on the List.
Twitter.com going after Twiter.com.
Instagram at 5 Million Users.
Anonymous going after Fed Reserve?
YouTube going after Money Makers.
Flying Radiation Calculator.
Great Pyramid Video.
Ingenuity at its best.
Apple Genius Unionized?
Cardiac Arrest Algorithm.
New Surveillance Initiative.
Judges Fed Up.
Space Station on Mars Swamp gas.
Opportunity keeps on Trucking.
Meteorite Analysis.
Archive.org Black Listed.
Gee No Evil.
32 Anonymous Operatives Arrested.
New Heart Pump.
Apple TV Apps Close?
FCC tells Traditional Media your on your own.
Advertising Changes that is good!
Hope for Xbox.
Court Battle on Seized Domains.
Apple iCloud Security.
Google Doc Templates.
Mixtab Rss Reader.
Car Sales Tips.
Canadian Streaming Sites.
1gbps Internet Service.
Turn your iPad into a Phone.
Boxee Update Coming.
Hack Shield for Pace Makers.
Roku in Walmart.
Galaxy Tab to AA.
Web Designer Tools.
More Android Malware.
Cable Providers get Some Help with IPTV.

GNC #665 Tech Takes Over Store!

Posted by geeknews at 1:04 AM on April 26, 2011

I hope you have been pleased with the format tweak, while all may not be 100% apparent I have made some major process changes here over the past 2-3 shows that I am going to work very to keep in check. One thing should be obvious slightly shorter show.. 1 hour and 10 minutes +/- 4 minutes is the goal.. Keeps you listening longer and keeps the cream of the crop content in the heart of the show.. Going long is something that grew into a monster that I hope to keep tame..

Sponsored by:
$2.49 for one new or transfer .com @ GoDaddy Promo Code geek249
32% off total new order @ GoDaddy Promo Code go32off1

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links
Cell Tower in a Suitcase.

Show Notes:
We don’t track Anyone! (Yea Right)
Apple and Google Summoned to Washington D.C>
South Korea / Europe Start Investigations on Apple!
Facebook Send Button.
Sprint wants a Look at AT&T Docs.
Not your Standard Internet Cafe.
Facebook Locals.
God Particle at LHC?
The Sun!
Wifi on Plane but no Power Plugs?
New Lunch bag for Kids ;)
Simply Ridiculous!
Webm Coalition
Seagate Hybrid SSD.
HeyTell.
Whistle “Free Calling” App.
Make Reservation to Charge your Car?
Apple Record Sales.
11 Billion Product Lock In.
More Dumb Criminals.
SurveyMonkey Buys Form Company.
Netflix still growing.
Dropbox tries to kill Open Source Project.
Demand Media Fallout Bad.
Google Preview for Ads.
Android App Giveaway.
Tech Takes Over Store.
Rent Videos from YouTube?
Did you turn on Do Not Track?
Trolls Winning?
TV Waking Up?
Wanna buy a IP address?
Amazon Outage.
Nook has Apps?
Yahoo buys TV Interaction Company.
FBI raids Actors Guild Member.
Level3 Buys Global Crossing.

PlayPlay

GNC-2011-03-03 #652 We have a Winner

Posted by geeknews at 1:33 AM on March 4, 2011

A winner is announced in the show today congrats to Anthony Y for winning and Apple TV. Big thank you to the 32 people that participated in this round of contributions and the 14 new insiders that are now supporting the show. We will giveaway another cool product in the next couple of weeks. As an insider you are automatically entered in all of our contest here at GNC. I am very excited about our PowerPress update coming tomorrow and you get an inside look at what is coming plus a whole bunch of Tech news!

The following Sponsors keep GNC running your support of them is greatly appreciated!
GoDaddy services saves you lot’s of money, check out my Promo Codes Today.
Sponsor: Get your 14 day Free Trial of Audible Gold to start Listening

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links
Secret Scanning of your Body by Home Land Security?
3TB Drive is Shipping.
Robotics Shutdown in Space.

Show Notes:
Post PC World Non Sense.
Trade In Prices drop like a Rock!
Bloggers in Australia get more Protections.
Antitrust Investigation on H.264 Consortium!
Print with your Droid.
10 PC gaming Emulators from 80′s
Is a Site Safe or Not?
Airplay Expanding!
HBO Expanding Media.
Android Set Top Boxes?
Blu-Ray versus DVD
Easier to Use Bit Torrent Client.
DDOS on BREIN.
iPad 2 Accessory.
Roku iPhone App Updated.
P2P lawsuits and Real People’s Lives.
Illegal TV Streamers feel arm of Federal Gov’t.
New Tablet Plans from AT&T.
New Hotspot Plans AT&T.
Malware + Android = Easy Victims.
Stop Snooping on Email.
Beam me up Scotty.
Twitter Battle with Police and Party Animals.
Carbon Credit Legislation under Fire.
Do FCC Fee’s help Poor?
ICE in Antarctica.
Timezone Database Keeper?
Groupon Class Action Suit.
Recording Police in Conn, about to get easier.
X-37 Sister Ship?
Facebook Comments on Blogs?
Techmeme and Hacker News head to head.
Angry Bird 30 Million Downloads?
WordPress.com DDOS Today.
Twitter App update hammers you with Ads.
Chrome + Hardware Acceleration = Faster Images on Web.
Latest UFO Scam Video.
VW Parody
Google Self Driving Car not American Made?
Netflix iPad Update.
Ford Sync in 19 Languages!
Gmail Fixed.
iPad Apple Smart Covers?
A Windows Journey.

PlayPlay

GNC-2011-02-10 #646 Having a Blast Stay Till End!

Posted by geeknews at 1:53 AM on February 11, 2011

I delve a lot deeper than I normally do, but they are worthy discussions. Had a blast doing this show even though I had a late start. You will want to weigh in on this one folks I think some of the community are starting to wake up that many of us are just pawns and not really appreciated. That being said, I want all of you to feel welcome and give a warm Aloha to the Ohana.

The following Sponsors support GNC your support of them is appreciated!
GoDaddy services saves you money, check out my Promo Codes Today.
Sponsor: Get your 14 day Free Trial of Audible Gold to start Listening

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Battery Bill in Hawaii
Booking Cargo and Science to the Moon.

Show Notes:
China Ghost Cities?
Stardust Mission.
Daily Galaxy with host space news.
The Hubber Effect.
Spizer Image of Nebula.
No more Unlimited AT&T 4G.
BBC Android App.
Google Then and Now.
Yahoo iPad News App?
Don’t follow this Truck!
Apple Gaming TV?
HP Touchpad!
Cool Shredder
Sculptedeers!
More Security at Google!
Sparrow for Mac.
Transparent Monitors.
Twitter Evaluation Explained.
iPhone Rush in Fargo N.D.
New Sponsor Model.
Bobble Bottle with Filter for Adults!
IE9 Release Candidate.
4.49 Gigs of RIAA free SXSW music.
BitTorrent and Saving BBC Content.
IE9 Yawn.
No 3D at Super Bowl?
Vatican Says Hold On!
Kelvin + Glass = Melt.
Man Finds Rocket on Road?
What if No Facebook IPO?
Twitter going to Facebook or Google?
Should you be Paid?
Techmeme Blew it on Whitelist.
Sprint adds customers.
Verizon iPhone $171.30!
Facebook says no Google Ads!
Are ISP’s like Police?
Sony gets to look insider Computer!
State Run Chinese hackers attack US Systems.
Don’t surf Adult material at home with work PC.
Why some people steal software and music.
Huffington Post bites hands that feed them.
Time Warner crying about not being able to LIE.
***The full Story to Anonymous and a Idiot CEO.

GNC-2010-12-27 #638 Raining Cats and Dogs

Posted by geeknews at 12:52 AM on December 28, 2010

I want to welcome all the new listeners to the show make sure you get subscribed to the podcast and get signed up for the newsletter. I have a lot on my mind today as we I have a lot to share about what is happening, whats coming and what to expect over the next week. I am as excited as I have ever been to cover the biggest show of the year. All live 24/7 from CES we will have coverage unlike any other network.

The following Sponsors support GNC your support of them is appreciated!
GoDaddy services saves you money, check out my Promo Codes Today.

Sponsor: Get your 14 day Free Trial of Audible Gold to start Listening

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Follow @geeknews on Twitter
Geek News Central Facebook Page
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links
Hospital makes moms to be Angry!
Data Transfer via the lights overhead.

Show Notes:
Mobile 3d?
Panasonic AF100
Logitech Google TV still a go!
Spot Beam Internet comes to Europe.
FiRe
Gift Tips.
300 Million for all the AOL CD’s
iPad App for Disabled Kids.
Chinese Stealth Fighter Outed.
Body Scanner at your Airport?
Paul Colligan Predictions and Outcomes.
Verification Hell.
Apple Suit on Privacy Violations.
RIM iPhon Response in 2007!
US re-opens rare metal mine.
Stuxnet Over-sped Centrifuges :)
Net Neutrality Complaint?
iPad Competition?
Time Warner protects Porn P2P Violators.
CityVille 16.8 Million Daily?
Are we 400,000 years old?
Gas Saving Tech by Ford?
CMCS wants payment of music previews.
Swiss not happy with US forced IPRED.
Get your own Steve Jobs Figure.
TSA Goes after Pilot concerned about Security.
Massive Storm on Saturn.
Geek Culture Dying?
Indian Sat Launch Fails.
Pre-Exchange Gifts?
Twas the Shuttles Last Christmas.
VidTonic
Time Lapse Snow Storm.
Camcorder Software.
Boxee, Roku, Apple TV Debate.
Canadian Airborne Internet in 2011.
Amazon Christmas Stats!

Google Acted Illegally in UK

Posted by Andrew at 8:40 AM on November 3, 2010

Google LogoThe UK’s Information Commissioner today confirmed that Google breached UK’s Data Protection Act when the Street View cars captured personal data while collecting wi-fi network information.

As a result of this, Google will be required to sign an undertaking to take steps to ensure that breaches of the Act don’t re-occur.  Google will then be audited in nine month’s time to confirm that the required policies and training has taken place. Finally, once any legal obstacles have been cleared, Google will have to delete the personal data from the UK.

Currently, the Information Commissioner does not intend to fine Google, but will take further action if necessary

Information Commissioner's OfficeThe Commissioner, Christopher Graham said,  “It is my view that the collection of this information was not fair or lawful and constitutes a significant breach of the first principle of the Data Protection Act.  The most appropriate and proportionate regulatory action in these circumstances is to get written legal assurance from Google that this will not happen again – and to follow this up with an ICO audit.”

What’s interesting about this is that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) had previously decided not to take action against Google because the sample data shown to the ICO was considered to be fragmentary and therefore unlikely to constitute personal data.

However, Google’s Alan Eustace admitted on Google’s own blog that, “A number of external regulators have inspected the data as part of their investigations (seven of which have now been concluded). It’s clear from those inspections that whilst most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords.”

The Commissioner then infers that because this happened in other countries, it happened in the UK, even if most of the data was fragmentary.  You can read the Commissioner’s letter to Google Inc here.

Personally, I’m pleased that Google is being held to account.  Far too often it seems that big business gets away with abusing our personal information.

GNC-2010-11-01 #623 On the Road Again

Posted by geeknews at 9:01 PM on November 1, 2010

I have a fantastic show for you tonight one that you will not want to miss. Lots going on in the Privacy front that you need to get up to speed. Big thank you to all of the Insiders you all are making a difference and it is appreciated. Will have a double insider for you this week. Have had a pretty fast adaption back to the new time zone, guess my body never caught up while I was at home.

The following Sponsors support GNC your support of them is appreciated!
GoDaddy services saves you money, check out my Promo Codes Today.
Visit gotomeeting.com, click the try it free button & use promo code: Podcast.
Infusionsoft, leader in marketing automation software for businesses see how they can help your Business..

Subscribe Today: Audio | Video | iTunes | Zune
Download the Show File

Check me out @geeknews on Twitter
Follow me on Facebook
Geek News Central Facebook Page
My YouTube Channel
Purchase GNC gear from the Ohana Store!
Live Streams Justin.tv / Ustream.TV
Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Live.GeekNewsCentral.com
NYC 4G Speed!
Hearing Aid for Time Traveler.
Second Run
Qwest to Ease Network Congestion on wireless networks.

Show Links:
Stunning Time Lapse Video.
Saturn giving up some Secrets.
Watch for Venus.
Google Sues US Government.
Netflix available for Windows Phone 7.
Hadron Collider doomsday watch site.
Windows XP Business Adoption thru 2014.
Update to iPad coming Soon.
Sony Bluray Player and Google TV.
NYC gets 4G!
Gmail on Twitter.
Hate Facebook?
Cablevision pays off Fox.
Google TV and Karaoke?
Other P2P Sites dramatic Increase in Usage.
Facebook puts developers in Time Out Box.
Texting under the Covers.
Anti-Cyberbullying 101
Assume the Position (I did).
Xbox 1 Billion Viewer Hours per Month!
T-Mobile new Data Plans.
Roku kills Playon!
Robot to the Moon?
Twitter Ads in Stream.
Devs running from OpenOffice.
North Korea and battle against Technology.
Where you late for work in the UK?
FOIA becoming Political?
Blogger in Canada sued for Linking.
EFF Suing Government.
You cannot Patent Genes.
ACTA and Secondary Liability.
NYC 311 Calls Data Mining.
Geocities available for download.
2600 available on Kindle.
iPad helps disabled child.
Insta Table.

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!

Horse, Barn Door, Oops

Posted by susabelle at 5:13 PM on October 13, 2010

Every other week, it seems, we hear about some Facebook change or other that opens up more privacy concerns.  The most recent change is Facebook “Groups,” which I’ve looked into but don’t quite understand.  I had filtered some of my friends through the available “lists” function, which worked just fine for me.  But apparently that was too complicated, so Groups was rolled out, which is incredibly easy to use, but is also a big gaping hole in the privacy wall many have built.  Turns out you can create groups and add people to them without their permission. Yes, that person can then remove themselves from a group they’ve been added to, but that whole “opt out” thing just sets a lot of people’s nerves on edge.  I rather agree; I’d rather be opting in than opting out.

But the truth is, nothing about Facebook considers individuals’ privacy.  It has never considered privacy concerns at more than a superficial level, and that is not likely to change.  Whether that is right or wrong, if you signed up for Facebook and have posted on Facebook and have used Facebook, your privacy is like the horse out the barn door — long gone.

All the privacy settings employed fully will still make it possible for people to find you.  It’s all about associations, and how others who are in your inner circle protect their privacy.  And considering I have quite a few people on my friends’ list who are not geeks or are young and/or immature or just ignorant about how it all works, then it is inevitable that more people will know about my comings and goings, and my attitude, than I might realize.

It’s one thing to draw graffiti on the wall with a Sharpie.  It’s a whole other to draw that graffiti and signing it with your full name and hometown and finishing it off with a picture of yourself next to your graffiti.

Of course, now that the horse is out of the barn, what can you do?  You can pretend you never owned a horse and burn down the barn to remove all evidence (i.e., leave Facebook and cancel your account) but the reality is, the forensic science of today would easily find evidence of the horse and what exactly you were doing in that barn.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone.  And even caution up front and vigilance along the way has not saved most people; I’m about as cautious as they come and I have found myself exposed in more ways than I’d like.

The best advice, always, is to be careful what you post online.  If you don’t want a particular someone seeing something, then don’t post it, anywhere.  Period.  Because things have a way of finding their way to the person you lease want to see it.  There is truly no such thing as anonymous on the web, much less on Facebook.  The web is an open book, and anyone can find and read that open book.