e-ignite

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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Well, it seems that the issue of privacy is becoming more important. Perhaps to set herself as far from the Bush administration as possible, Hillary Clinton has announced that she intends to introduce a “Privacy Bill of Rights” to protect the privacy of American citizens in light of the many surveillance issues introduced during the Bush presidency. I’m not going to take a stance on the forthcoming election and push my political opinion on you all - not being from the USA kind of disqualifies me from doing so anyway! However, this is something that I thought was extremely interesting in terms of global privacy issues. It is a fact that recent “counter-terrorism measures” and other surveillance practices have been steadily eroding the privacy of the general public, and personally, I was worried that once lost, we would never regain our right to privacy in today’s digital world. A recent article I wrote discussed the effects of these new “security” measures and how they have actually taken away our right to privacy. I find it extremely interesting (possibly even heart-warming) that I’m not the only one thinking like this.

Hillary Clinton’s new “Privacy Bill of Rights” is covered in detail in this Wired News article, but it brings up the issue of “opt-in” as opposed to “opt-out” when it comes to privacy: Why should your details be given to just anyone unless you specifically object? In my opinion, your details should be kept in strict privacy until you give permission for them to be given to specific parties.

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A recent article on The Register reported that msn messenger (the network itself rather than the program) bans you from sending certain phrases to your contacts. One of which is “scroogle.org” - this is odd considering that Scroogle is a tool that alters Google searches and has nothing to do with Microsoft whatsoever. As El Reg also stated, it may just be that the term “Scroogle” is something particularly unsavoury and it’s just that nobody knows it’s true meaning. However, this story got me (and hopefully you) thinking.

Every time you perform a Google search, your IP address is logged and a uniquely identifiable cookie is placed on your system. This means that there will always be a record somewhere of all the searches you’ve ever made. Google say that they won’t hand out this information to anyone unless requested to by a law enforcement agency. But this begs the question… if Google don’t use the data, why do they keep it?

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An incredible news story was recently published by the Telegraph that shows details of just how much information about you is given to the US authorities if you fly from Europe to America.? A recent Freedom of Information request showed that when you book your flights to the USA electronically (using a Credit Card, giving an email address etc), the US authorities have the right to examine past purchases on your credit card, and even to gain access to your past emails. The news article goes into detail about the previous fight between the EU and US over illegal passenger data transfer, but shows that the US has demanded access to far more data than they did originally.? What is most worrying is the fact the the European Union seems to have simply rolled over and given the US whatever they wanted!

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Star Tribune reports on a new lawsuit that’s making its way to court in the US that challenges the government’s right to read your email.? Under current law, the US authorities require a search warrant to read your postal mail, however they don’t need one if your email is stored on someone else’s computer.? Bear in mind that “Someone Else” could be Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc etc etc.? This lawsuit is being closely watched by several privacy groups who argue that email should be protected in the same way that snail mail is - a stance that I wholeheartedly agree with.? Email is increasing in use day by day, and with online shopping and banking becoming more and more commonplace, private data and personal details are being sent by email at an increasing rate.? There is therefore absolutely no reason for email not to be protected in law.

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A strange thing happened to me the other day. I realised that I’d used way over my “free minute” quota on my mobile, so I logged into my O2 Online account to check just how much I had been stung for the extra calls. I got 2 surprises - one good and one bad. The good thing being that it turns out O2 have started giving out rollover minutes - this has only taken about 5 years of me being with the company, so good thing! The bad thing was that I had been charged for a premium rate “multimedia service” that I received. I never use these premium text services, and since starting my account with O2 about 5 years ago, not one of these messages has ever left or arrived at my phone. So why now…?

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By far the most common search queries for people visiting my main site are about SHA settings with GnuPG.? These are a little complex, and depend on the type of key that you use (see my totorial on generating keys for more details on doing this), but once you understand what SHA algorithms do, it’s not quite so daunting

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As part of an ongoing project, I’ll be adding several specific tutorials to this site. Most will be regarding the use of OpenPGP communication and file encryption - if you’re at all interested, just select the Tutorials link from the right hand side of the screen.

In order to use OpenPGP email encryption, you need a key pair. Once you have installed Thunderbird, Enigmail and GnuPG you can generate your own key pair. There are two ways - an easy way giving you a basic setup with few options, or a slightly more complex way, giving you many more options. Read the rest of this entry »