Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Russian government edits Wikipedia on flight MH17

from telegraph.co.uk

A political battle has broken out on Wikipedia over an entry relating to the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, with the Russian government reportedly removing sections which accuse it of providing "terrorists" with missiles that were used to down the civilian airliner


People walk among the debris at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17
People walk among the debris at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the village of Grabovo Photo: AP
By , Deputy Head of Technology
6:10PM BST 18 Jul 2014
A political battle has broken out on Wikipedia over an entry relating to the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, with the Russian government reportedly removing sections which accuse it of providing "terrorists" with missiles that were used to down the civilian airliner.
A Twitter bot which monitors edits made to the online encyclopaedia from Russian government IP addresses (unique numbers relating to certain computers or networks) has spotted that changes are being made to a page relating to the crash.
It appears that an internet user from within the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) changed a Russian language version of a page listing civil aviation accidents to say that "The plane [flight MH17] was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers".
That edit replaced text – written just an hour earlier - which said MH17 had been shot down "by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation."
All edits to Wikipedia are permanently logged, with the username and IP address being stored along with the changes they have made.
An automated Twitter bot called congress-edits was created to monitor for changes made from US Congress computers and immediately tweet them. The source code powering that project was released to the public, allowing the creation of RUGovEdits which performs a similar role in Russia.
A tweet today from that account, translated into English, says: "Wikipedia article List of aircraft accidents in civil aviation has been edited by RTR [another name for VGTRK]".
Flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine on Thursday, on the border with Russia, with 298 people on board. There were no survivors.
Ukraine's interior ministry says the plane was shot down by a missile, while President Obama on Friday afternoon also said that it was likely to have been targeted by separatists.
Mr Obama said that the US does not “want to get ahead of the facts” but added: “A group of separatists cannot shoot down military planes without sophisticated equipment - and that is coming from Russia.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied any responsibility, however, telling advisers on Friday that: “certainly, the government over whose territory it occurred is responsible for this terrible tragedy.”
If the Russian government has indeed edited the page it will be far from the first time that politically or commercially embarrassing Wikipedia updates have been exposed.
In 2006 United States Congressional staff were found to have edited articles about members of Congress, Microsoft once offered an engineer money to update articles on two competing standards, PR firm Bell Pottinger tweaked articles about its clients and, in 2012, MPs were discovered to have asked their staff to remove criticism about them.
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Monday, July 21, 2014

Letter to Press

Letter to Press

7-21-2014

July 18, 2014



Letter to Press:

Dear Editor and fellow American:


For over 12 years I have fought for a judicial hearing or trial to make a Wall Street Banker, Chase Manhattan, and their perfidious service agent, Ocwen Federal Bank FSB, face justice in a court of law for undeniable violations of federal bankruptcy law, which cost my family home of 26 years in Corona California  and my home based business, Residential Fire Sprinklers, operated from that home since leaving Microsoft in 1991.

I had two attorneys fighting for me but when my money ran out, I had to continue to fight, pro-se, or give up.  I have appealed through the federal legal hierarchy three times all they way to the US Supreme Court. It is incredible to me, that judicial eyes from the Bankruptcy Court, the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the 9th circuit, the US District Court, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court  apparently did not see anything wrong, with the actions of these banksters, and turned a blind eye, to these unlawful actions, three times!  And remember, this is just to gain a hearing or trial to present the facts of my case. The violation is undeniable and the law is settled, but you have to get them in court, I need the court to order a trial. 

My story does have the properties of a 'man bites dog' story in that the judicial system, charged with upholding law, has been the invisible wall, keeping the guilty out of court, and denying me my day in court.  It's the court that has stymied my pursuit of justice by denying me a hearing.  The judge from the bankruptcy court ruled she lacked jurisdiction after my case was dismissed, so jurisdiction has been the legal hot potato, that causes all the courts to summarily dismiss my case. My fourth opening brief, submitted to the 9th Circuit can be found on my blog page www.garyo.info

I don't know if my story is newsworthy or not, but if I am rejected for a hearing again, for a fourth time, by the 9th Circuit, It will definitely be newsworthy for every American who values the rule of law. 

Gary Ozenne

firesprinklers@gmail.com
951-496-7525

July 18, 2014  
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Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Your Interest in Privacy Will Ensure You’re Targeted By The NSA

from makeuseof.com






Have you ever wondered if you’re on an NSA observation list? Turns out that if you’ve even thought about it (or online privacy in general), you’re probably more likely to be on one. A few concerning news updates regarding mass surveillance by the NSA within the past week, including revelations from an analysis of the XKeyscore data collection system, have given us an idea of who might be among the NSA’s “targeted” individuals.

Are You on the List?

In previous documents, interviews, and other now-public materials, the NSA has stated that, while they can collect data from nearly anyone, they only target a small number of people who could be engaged in suspicious activity. Exactly what constitutes suspicious activity has never been very clear, but it’s safe to assume that anyone trying to get in touch with a terrorist organization, buy drugs online, or be in another way clearly intending to break the law, would be a target.
Turns out that a lot of things can get you on the list, including visiting a number of privacy-related websites, or even running searching for privacy-related tools. For example, a recent analysis of an alleged piece of XKeyscore code revealed that people would be targeted for surveillance if they searched for articles on TAILS, a secure operating system. The code states that TAILS is “advocated by extremists on extremist forums.” (I wonder if they know that it’s also advocated as a very secure Linux distro by tech writers on MakeUseOf.)
xkeyscore Your Interest in Privacy Will Ensure Youre Targeted By The NSA

Unsurprisingly, searches for Tor also land people on the targeted surveillance list. Other apps that make an appearance include “HotSpotShield, FreeNet, Centurian, FreeProxies.org, MegaProxy, privacy.li and an anonymous email service called MixMinion as well as its predecessor MixMaster.” (daserste.de)
It’s reasonable to assume that VPNs, encryption software, and other security-related apps and services will also earn you a spot on the surveillance list.
If this is the case, it seems likely that a huge number of MakeUseOf readers are already being monitored, and many more will be on the list before long.

How Do We Know About XKeyscore?

Hearing something like this might make you wonder about the source of the information that has a lot of security experts riled up. The XKeyscore program was first detailed in Edward Snowden’s revelations, and has been profiled a number of times since then (here’s a good overview of XKeyscore from The Guardian). In short, it’s a system that allows NSA employees to search a massive database of collected information, including e-mail, and allows for the monitoring of real data, not just meta-data.
The XKeyscore code that’s making waves at the moment was first published in a German publication called Taggeschau, though they declined to state where the information came from. There was nothing to indicate that the code came from documents released last year by Snowden, leading a number of leading privacy and security experts to speculate that there is now a second NSA leaker.

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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Tommy Ramone, the Ramones’ original drummer and driving influence, dies at 65

from washingtonpost





Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Tommy Ramone died at age 62. According to public records, he was 65.

The Ramones in action in the 1970s. From left, Johnny, Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone in the 1970s. Tommy Ramone, the band’s original drummer, died July 11 at 62. ( (c) Magnolia Pictures)
By Matt Schudel July 12 
Tom Erdelyi hadn’t planned to become Tommy Ramone, but circumstances forced him into a new identity as the drummer and driving force behind one of the most influential and unforgettable rock-and-roll bands of the 1970s.
He was the last surviving member of the Ramones, the seminal New York punk group whose buzzsaw music and don’t-give-a-rip attitude have been a lasting influence for more than a generation. Mr. Erdelyi (or Ramone, as he was better known), who was 65, died July 11 at his home in Queens.
The official Facebook and Twitter accounts of the Ramones confirmed his death. The cause was bile-duct cancer.
There had been other stripped-down groups before the Ramones, but the four leather-clad kids from Queens created a distinctive no-frills identity, with their torn jeans and style-free haircuts, as they pounded out songs that had the speed and subtlety of a machine gun.
It didn’t matter that they could barely play their instruments: The Ramones were a rock-and-roll primal scream, an expression of rebellion, loneliness, spite and raw, unfiltered fun.
As a show of brotherly solidarity, each band member adopted the last name Ramone. The band had read that Paul McCartney had checked into hotels as Paul Ramone, derived from the name of pop-music producer Phil Ramone.
The other original Ramones included Joey (Jeffrey Hyman) on vocals; Johnny (John Cummings) on guitar; and Dee Dee (Douglas Colvin) on bass.
Mr. Erdelyi, who had worked as a record producer beginning in his teens, was going to be the band’s manager and was helping audition drummers when the group was forming in 1974. When none of them could follow the Ramones’ style, he picked up the sticks himself, learned to play drums on the job and became Tommy Ramone.
The group’s first album, “Ramones,” came out in 1976, with the quartet posing against a brick wall, hands in pockets. Tommy Ramone was wearing sunglasses, as he usually did while performing.
Critics sensed something important about the band from the beginning.
“For me, it blows everything else off the radio,” Robert Christgau wrote in the Village Voice about the Ramones’ debut album.
When the group first performed in Washington in 1976, an unsigned review in The Washington Post was not so complimentary. The Ramones “demonstrated that they are perhaps the worst of the New York punk bands,” the anonymous reviewer wrote. “Wrapped in black leather, the Ramones — Johnny, Joey, Tommy and DeDe [sic] — assault, insult, stalk, posture and swagger their way through a collection of mindless numbers.”
Of course, in the Ramones’ alternative universe, that spirit of wild, careless anti-conformity was precisely the point. The band was an upthrust finger pointed toward the sappy, overproduced pop music of the time.


“It was time for a change, and we felt we could bring back the spirit and the feel of rock-and-roll,” Tommy Ramone told USA Today in 2004. “I knew from the start what we were doing was innovative and had the potential to start a genre and a movement. What we didn’t know is that it wouldn’t explode until years later.”
Almost every Ramones song began with Dee Dee shouting, “1-2-3-4!” The band then launched into its peculiarly fresh teen anthems, most played with the force of a fire hose.
There was a bizarre kind of wistful nihilism underlying such early tunes as “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Suzy Is a Headbanger,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” “Rockaway Beach” and the 1978 classic “I Wanna Be Sedated.” (All the band’s songs were credited to “The Ramones,” but Tommy Ramone was a major contributor to many.)
At the band’s live shows, devoted fans crowded the stage in a sweaty throng, screaming along with the simple lyrics: “Hey! Ho! Let’s go!” or “Rock, rock, Rockaway Beach. We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach!”
There was no illusion of high art, and the Ramones came off as just what they were: a bunch of blue-collar outcasts who wanted to snarl at the world, make a lot of noise and get some kicks. Tommy Ramone left the band in 1978 but continued to work as producer on the band’s records well into the 1980s.
“Touring was very hard for me,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2007. “What made them so good also made them very hard to deal with on a 24-hour basis. They were such intense personalities.”
The Ramones broke up in 1996 and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. They influenced British punk bands who became more famous and a generation of younger groups, from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Nirvana to Green Day.
The Ramones captured the spirit of their time, yet none of their early recordings became a top-selling hit.
“If the Ramones hadn’t been such a magnificent band, if their songs hadn’t been so instantly transporting and their style so undeniably influential,” rock critic Kurt Loder wrote in 2004, “their utter commercial neglect wouldn’t have been so heartbreaking.”
Tamas Erdelyi was born Jan. 29, 1949, in Budapest. (Some accounts give his name at birth as Erdelyi Tamas.) His parents, who were Jewish, were in hiding during World War II and left Hungary during the country’s short-lived revolution of 1956.
Mr. Erdelyi grew up, like the other Ramones, in the Forest Hills section of Queens. He played in a garage band with Cummings (Johnny Ramone) in the 1960s. At 18, he was an assistant engineer on Jimi Hendrix’s “Band of Gypsys” live album.
He later worked as a producer of albums by the Replacements, Redd Kross and other groups. In recent years, he performed with his longtime partner, Claudia Tienan, as a bluegrass duo called Uncle Monk.
“What we do is take old-time music and bluegrass influences and create modern songs with them,” he said in 2007. “It is not unusual to find punk rockers gravitating toward this type of music. It’s a natural fit, even if it might not seem that way.”
Survivors include Tienan and a brother.
As the last torch-bearer of the Ramones, Mr. Erdelyi kept the memories of an indelible band and its uncompromising ethos alive.


“What we did was change the slant back to the prime essence of rock-and-roll, not just the musicality but the idea behind it, the freedom and rebellion, the real alternative scene,” he said in 2004.
“In my heart I’ve always been a Ramone.”
Matt Schudel has been an obituary writer at The Washington Post since 2004.

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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Whale Oil blogger wants journalists' privileges

from tuff.co.nz

 LAURA WALTERS



Last updated 11:30 23/06/201
Cameron Slater

Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater says blogs should be seen as independent media organisations and he should have the same rights as journalists to protect their sources.
Slater is in the High Court in Auckland this morning appealing a District Court decision that he could not be considered part of the media.
Slater was being sued by businessman Matthew Blomfield for defamation relating to 2012 blog entries.
The blogger has tried to rely on Section 68 of the Evidence Act as he defends a defamation suit brought by Blomfield in the Auckland District Court.
Section 68 deals with protection of journalists' sources.
The District Court had ordered the blogger to hand over his sources but Slater argued he had the same rights as journalists to protect their sources.
He won leave to appeal the decision.
Slater told the High Court today that the key points to his appeal were whether Whale Oil was a news medium and in turn whether he could be considered a journalist.
The blogger, who was representing himself, said that according to the Evidence Act a news medium broke and disseminated news.
"Since the day the website started in 2005 that's all I've ever done," he said.
Whale Oil had more than 100,000 page views a day and therefore the public were interested in the news and opinions that were published on the site.
Justice Raynor Asher spent some time discussing the definition of a blog versus a traditional news medium.
At one point the judge said blogs were centred on opinions while traditional news media did not try and put a slant on the news.
There was a smattering of laughter from Slater and the packed public gallery at the judge's comments that traditional news media did not write biased stories.
In March, when the High Court gave Slater the right to appeal, Justice Asher said it "seems likely" Slater did publish news, but the question remained whether this was the case two years ago.
The appeal was adjourned in April with Justice Asher saying the issue was important and would require an interpretation of an aspect of Section 68 of the Evidence Act for the first time.
Experienced media lawyer Julian Miles, QC was appointed as amicus curiae - an advisor to the court - to research the law and give the judge an impartial view before he made his decision.
Today Slater ran through a list of articles and videos he published in and before 2012 that he considered to be news, therefore making him a journalist at the time.
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He also pointed to his Canon Media Award, won at this year's ceremony as evidence.
The hearing continues. 
- Stuff


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International Surfing Day, celebrating 10 years of stoke!

from latimes


Surfing ASP World Tour
Surfing ASP World Tour
STEVE ROBERTSON / EPA
Jordy Smith of South Africa in action during round 1 of the Fiji Pro surfing event as part of the ASP World Tour in Tavarua, Fiji.






The Huntington Beach/Seal Beach Chapter and the Newport Beach Chapter will host a beach cleanup, surf contest and music on the beach north of the pier from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 21.





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