e-ignite

A recent Slashdot article has highlighted new official figures released by the UK government, claiming that between 2005 and 2006, 439,000 telephones and email addresses were monitored by UK agencies. Furthermore, it seems that the Interception of Communications Commissioner is looking for new laws to be passed that allows them to monitor the communications of various Members of Parliament (the country’s political decision-makers). Monitoring MP’s communications was outlawed in the 1960s.

You can read the full article on Slashdot and make up your own mind. However, the gaining momentum of the anti-privacy movement is becoming alarming.

Well, you guys all know me by now - I’m always looking for a new project or new ways to make a little money. I decided to invest some time in creating a free web directory for everyone to submit their sites to. In turn, I’ll be updating a load of sitemaps to Google to help get pageranks of all the users up. Most of the directories I’ve found all want reciprocal links this, or pay me extra for that… I longed for the day I could go to a site, add my link and a bit of blurb about the site, then be on my merry way (hoping that my pagerank would increase).

Well, I launched it today and have been advertising hard through various forums, other directories and sites so hopefully, this will have a positive impact on the pagerank (currently zero) quite quickly. Within the space of about an hour and a half, I was inundated with about 80 site submissions! What do I get out of this? Well, partly I wanted to do something for the Frihost users (help them improve their site rankings), but I also wanted to do a little something for me: distract me from all the work I should be doing!!! Don’t fret though - I added a few advertising boxes to hopefully gain a little extra pocket money… although it is looking very much like a “little”

So get yourselves to the directory and start submitting some links:

http://ignite.frih.net/

Well, it’s being reported that Viacom has issued 100,000 takedown notices to YouTube regarding content used in videos that are subject to their copyright. YouTube has obliged and removed all the videos, but it’s interesting (and quite funny) that Viacom have had to admit to “no more than” 60 mistakes, so far. Basically, they’ve made up legal demands that YouTube remove people’s home videos over which they have no copyright interest whatsoever!

I found this quite funny, and I hate to see the all-powerful legal threats being thrown around… especially when they’re wrong! Enjoy the video clip below from the EFF - you may want to read their comment on this story.

Many of you will have heard of the Keylogger - usually a piece of software that records everything you type. Usernames, passwords, personal emails… the risk to your security is immense. However, I’d be willing to bet that you think you’re safe. You run an Anti-Virus application and an Anti-Spyware application, so these things can’t touch you… right?

Wrong. Until very recently, I was unaware of the availability of Hardware Keyloggers just like the ones shown in the pictures on this page. How often do you use a shared computer? When you do use one, do you look at the cables to see if a nasty little device has been clipped to the keyboard input? I’m guessing not - but if you did, do you think you would spot something as small and unobtrusive looking as this?

These things really could be a concern for those of you who use internet cafes, or computers in any shared environment - think schools, universities and even work! All it takes is some unscrupulous person to try to make some money out of these, and you could find your financial details are compromised, usernames and passwords stolen and you may even find that your bank accounts and life savings have been emptied. All because your password was intercepted.

Here’s a quote from a site that sells hardware keyloggers:

[our] hardware keylogger is the smallest and most compact hardware keylogger on the market! [it] is a small device that connects between your keyboard and computer on the back of the PC and directly records every keystroke typed: bar none. [the keylogger] can store up to 64,000 keystrokes, which equates to weeks worth of data.

• Holds 64KB worth of keystrokes (roughly 64,000 typed keystrokes).
• Compatible with all IBM/PC Computers.
• Compatible with PS/2 Keyboards.
• Undetectable by AntiVirus and other third party detection programs.
• Captures passwords, usernames, chats, e-mails, websites, and more!
• Completely Plug-And-Play - installs in seconds

These things are available to buy, and are used much more than we think. Personally, I find it frightening and can think of no legitimate use for a hardware keylogger whatsoever. It is designed to be undetectable by security software and the untrained eye.

So, you think “It’s ok. I only ever bank online at home, so I’m totally safe…” Well, you may be safe from hardware keyloggers (it would be unlikely that someone you allow into your home would have the ability or inclination to hook one of these up to your computer), but trust me… you may be just as vulnerable, if not more vulnerable at home!

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