Easy as pie
Proving that information posted online is indelible and trivial to mine, an academic researcher has dumped names, email addresses and biographical information made available in 35 million Google Profiles into a massive database that took just one month to assemble.
University of Amsterdam Ph.D. student Matthijs R. Koot said he compiled the database as an experiment to see how easy it would be for private detectives, spear phishers and others to mine the vast amount of personal information stored in Google Profiles. The verdict: It wasn't hard at all. Unlike Facebook policies that strictly forbid the practice, the permissions file for the Google Profiles URL makes no prohibitions against indexing the list.
What's more, Google engineers didn't impose any technical limitations in accessing the data, which is made available in an extensible markup language file called profiles-sitemap.xml. The code he used for the data-mining proof of concept is available here.
Puppet Masters
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Congress is set to reauthorize three controversial provisions of the surveillance law as early as Thursday. But Wyden says that what Congress will renew is a mere fig leaf for a far broader legal interpretation of the Patriot Act that the government keeps to itself - entirely in secret. Worse, there are hints that the government uses this secret interpretation to gather what one Patriot-watcher calls a "dragnet" for massive amounts of information on private citizens; the government portrays its data-collection efforts much differently.
"We're getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says," Wyden tells Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. "When you've got that kind of a gap, you're going to have a problem on your hands."
What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can't precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called "business records provision," which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any "tangible things" it deems relevant to a security investigation.
"It is fair to say that the business records provision is a part of the Patriot Act that I am extremely interested in reforming," Wyden says. "I know a fair amount about how it's interpreted, and I am going to keep pushing, as I have, to get more information about how the Patriot Act is being interpreted declassified. I think the public has a right to public debate about it."
© Oli Scarff/Getty Images
During his trip to London this week, President Obama signs the Westminster Abbey guestbook, not realizing he's making an indelible mistake.
During his trip to London this week, President Obama signs the Westminster Abbey guestbook, not realizing he's making an indelible mistake.
The image: Is President Obama still living in the past? His visit on Tuesday to Westminster Abbey, where he laid a memorial wreath on the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, was marked by a "bizarre" gaffe. In signing the Abbey's "distinguished" guestbook, Obama wrote a touching note: "It is a great privilege to commemorate our common heritage and our common sacrifice." Then he dated the entry "24 May 2008." (See the image below.)
The reaction: A White House official suggested the error may have been caused by jet lag," says Jake Tapper at ABC News. But Obama's rally in Dublin the day before sure had a campaign feel. Maybe the president had mentally returned to the "more joyous days of yesteryear." Yes, "it's only natural for a man to revert to thoughts of his glory days when everything around him is falling apart," says Allahpundit at Hot Air. "That's why I've been dating checks '1995' for the past 15 years." Or maybe this was the lingering aftereffect of Obama's visit to a Dublin pub, says Matt Schneider at Mediaite. Perhaps "someone may have slammed a Guinness or two more than they could handle?" Check it out:
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The proposed law would have levied misdemeanor charges against security agents who "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly [touch] the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of the other person, including touching through clothing, or touching the other person in a manner that would be offensive to a reasonable person."
An earlier version of House Bill 1937 would have made such action a felony.
"If [the legislation] passes, the federal government would likely seek an emergency stay of the statute," a letter from the Department of Justice explained (PDF). "Unless or until a such a stay were granted, TSA would likely be required to cancel any flight or series of flights for which it could not ensure the safety of passengers and crew."
Insurers could suffer as much as $10 billion from weather-related losses in the United States in 2011, which is up from the average of $2 billion to $4 billion, according to EQECAT Inc, which provides disaster and risk models to insurance companies.
The U.S. Justice Department has refused to pay $750,000 to a Michigan insurance company for a Ferrari that was wrecked in Kentucky while driven by an FBI agent.
In a recent response to a lawsuit in Detroit, the Justice Department insisted it's immune to tort claims when certain goods are in the hands of law enforcement. The government refused to release most documents related to the crash.
The rare Ferrari F50 was stolen in 2003 from a dealer in Rosemont, Pa., and discovered five years later in Kentucky. The FBI kept it in Lexington, Ky., as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
In a recent response to a lawsuit in Detroit, the Justice Department insisted it's immune to tort claims when certain goods are in the hands of law enforcement. The government refused to release most documents related to the crash.
The rare Ferrari F50 was stolen in 2003 from a dealer in Rosemont, Pa., and discovered five years later in Kentucky. The FBI kept it in Lexington, Ky., as part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
© AP, Reuters
Marc Dubois, an Air France Airbus A330-200
Marc Dubois, an Air France Airbus A330-200
German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel quoted an expert who said Captain Marc Dubois, 58, could be heard on the black box recordings rushing into the cockpit when the plane hit bad weather.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has vowed to throw his weight behind recognition of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.
"Every nation needs unity, or the more so the Palestinian people... (who are) striving to create a Palestinian state in accordance with UN resolutions, the Quartet of international mediators (the UN, the EU, Russia, and the US), and the Arab peace initiative," the Russian foreign minister said.
Lavrov voiced his support in a meeting with representatives of Hamas and Fatah in Moscow. The Palestinians and Russians later issued a joint statement.
"Every nation needs unity, or the more so the Palestinian people... (who are) striving to create a Palestinian state in accordance with UN resolutions, the Quartet of international mediators (the UN, the EU, Russia, and the US), and the Arab peace initiative," the Russian foreign minister said.
Lavrov voiced his support in a meeting with representatives of Hamas and Fatah in Moscow. The Palestinians and Russians later issued a joint statement.
© e-G8
John Barlow
John Barlow
John Perry Barlow - EFF co-founder, Grateful Dead lyricist, and, improbably, now a rancher - arrived in Paris and began tweeting up a storm from the e-G8 summit gathered there this week to discuss the future of the Internet.
After listening to French President Nicolas Sarkozy call repeatedly for Internet regulation and more copyright protection, Barlow added, "You'd have thought from Sarkozy's talk he was addressing a convocation of Anonymous and the Pirate Party. He wasn't."
And then it was his turn to take the stage: "I am about to enter the Lion's Den at #eG8."
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Addressing the US Congress on Tuesday, Netanyahu ruled out a return to what he has repeatedly described as "indefensible" pre-1967 borders.
He also pledged to keep key parts of the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- which is widely regarded as the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Wrapping up his chaotic visit to Washington, the Israeli premier, however, claimed that he was willing to make "painful compromises" and abandon "some" Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Comment: The reader should ask the same question as the following Flashback article does: What are they hiding? Flight 447 and Tunguska Type Events