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News International mail server password fail exposed

Kelly Fiveash
The Register
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:01 UTC
Full login details published along with damning letters

A letter from News International chairman James Murdoch to the Commons Culture Select Committee has let slip details of how to gain full access to the company's MS Exchange email system - albeit the information is from four years ago.

MPs published a raft of letters this lunchtime including one from jailed News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman, who claimed senior figures at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid knew that phone hacking was going on at the publication.

James Murdoch has consistently denied any knowledge of widespread phone-tapping beyond the illegal methods employed by "one rogue reporter" at the newspaper.

Among the evidence submitted to the committee was an email between an individual named Simon Avery and the company's London law firm Harbottle & Lewis co-founder Lawrence Abramson.
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Radar

Street View Wi-Fi collection incident could happen again, ICO warns

Dan Worth
V3
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:06 UTC
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said that changes to Google's privacy and data protection policies "do not eliminate" the risk of another Street View Wi-Fi data collection fiasco.

The ICO carried out an audit of Google in July after an undertaking signed by the search company in November, and said that, while the watchdog is broadly satisfied with the changes, it is still concerned that a similar event could occur.

"The audit has provided reasonable assurance over the accuracy and findings of the Privacy Report as provided by Google to the ICO. It has also provided reasonable assurance that Google has implemented the privacy process changes outlined in the Undertaking," the ICO said.

"The audit provided reasonable assurance that these changes reduce, but do not eliminate, the risk of an incident similar to the mistaken collection of payload data by Google Street View vehicles occurring again."
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Cookie

Man reveals secret recipe behind undeletable cookies

Dan Goodin
The Register
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:12 UTC
New and improved cookie 'respawning' revealed

A privacy researcher has revealed the evil genius behind a for-profit web analytics service capable of following users across more than 500 sites, even when all cookie storage was disabled and sites were viewed using a browser's privacy mode.

The technique, which worked with sites including Hulu, Spotify and GigaOm, is controversial because it allowed analytics startup KISSmetrics to construct detailed browsing histories even when users went through considerable trouble to prevent tracking of the websites they viewed. It had the ability to resurrect cookies that were deleted, and could also compile a user's browsing history across two or more different browsers. It came to light only after academic researchers published a paper late last month.

KISSmetrics CEO responded with a post on its website claiming the research "significantly distorts our technology and business practices." The company also responded by adding a "consumer-level opt-out for those who wish to be entirely removed from all KISSmetrics tracking, going well beyond the options that other analytics companies provide."
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Eye 1

Germany, France propose collective 'government' for the eurozone led by EU president

Sarah DiLorenzo, David McHugh and Tali Arbel
Associated Press
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:11 UTC
Image
The leaders of France and Germany called Tuesday for greater economic discipline and unity among European nations but declined to take immediate financial measures seen by many investors as the only way to halt the continent's spiraling debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell, the euro slid against the dollar and key European markets edged down in off-hour trading after Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the results of their emergency talks in Paris.

Sarkozy called for a "new economic government" for Europe that would meet at least twice a year with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy as its head, but he offered few other details or indications that the body would have real power.

Merkel and Sarkozy also called for all euro zone nations to enact constitutional amendments requiring balanced budgets. They said they want the process completed by the summer of 2012, but it would almost certainly run into protracted political difficulties in many countries.
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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: US: Meet the Christian Dominionist 'Prayer Warriors' Who Have Chosen Rick Perry as Their Vehicle to Power

Rachel Tabachnick
AlterNet
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:53 UTC
Rick Perry
© Veronica Zaragovia/AFP/Getty
The New Apostolic Reformation seeks dominion over society and government -- and it looks like Perry is their chosen candidate.

Since he announced his candidacy on Saturday, Texas Governor Rick Perry has been hailed as the great GOP hope of 2012. Perry's entry into the chaotic Republican primary race has excited the establishment in part because he does not have Michele Bachmann's reputation for religious zealotry, yet can likely count on the support of the Religious Right.

Another advantage for Perry is support from an extensive 50-state "prayer warrior" network, organized by the New Apostolic Reformation. A religious-political movement whose leaders call themselves apostles and prophets, NAR shares its agenda for control of society and government with other "dominionists," but has a distinctly different theology than other groups in the Religious Right. They have their roots in Pentecostalism (though their theology has been denounced as a heresy by Pentecostal denominations in the past). The movement is controversial, even inside conservative evangelical circles.

Nevertheless, Perry took the gamble that NAR could help him win the primaries, a testament to the power of the apostles' 50-state prayer warrior network.

Comment: For more information on the Seven Mountains and Dominionism see:

America's own Taliban

The Terrifying Christian Right

Hijacking The Holy - C Street, Dominionism and Sarah Palin

America's Dirty Secret: How a Psycho-Sexual Cult Holds America Prisoner

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Bad Guys

Could an Alien Invasion Really Save The U.S. Economy?


The Week
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 13:37 UTC
Alien Invasion
© Mike Agliolo / CorbisEconomist Paul Krugman posits a faked alien invasion as a way to create fiscal stimulus.

Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman says the spending required to repel a threat from space would stimulate the economy in ways Congress won't.

There's no shortage of ideas on how to help the faltering economy, but Nobel Prize winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has come up with what has to be the oddest suggestion yet: Fake a looming invasion from outer space. In an interview with CNN, Krugman cited "a Twilight Zone episode in which scientists fake an alien threat in order to achieve world peace.

Well, this time... we'd need it in order to get some fiscal stimulus." According to Krugman's tossed-off theory, we'd need a massive buildup to counter the apparently looming invasion. "[If] inflation and budget deficits took secondary place to that, this slump would be over in 18 months." (Watch the video below). Valid hypothesis... or just plain silly?

Sounds daffy, but Krugman is right: "If this fear of an alien invasion prompted the government to spend, say, $1 trillion on telescopes and lasers," says Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider, that would improve the bottom lines of American businesses by $1 trillion, if nothing else. It would obviously be wiser to spend the money more usefully, by fixing clogged airports and crumbling bridges. "But that would take political will that we don't have."
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Blackbox

Best of the Web: US: Tax the super-rich or riots will rage in 2012

Paul B. Farrell
Market Watch
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:35 UTC
Image
© ReutersPolice officers in riot gear drag a man along a street in London Aug. 8, 2011.
Commentary: 6 reasons we can't stop coming economic meltdown

What a year. Rage in London, Egypt, Athens, Damascus. All real. Just a metaphor in the new "Planet of the Apes" film? No, much more. Warning: More rage is dead ahead. Across our planet a new generation is filled with rage. High unemployment. Raging inflation. Dreams lost. Hope gone. While the super -rich get richer and richer.

Listen to that hissing: The fuse is rapidly burning, warning us. Wake up before the rage explodes in your face. This firestorm is endangering America's future. From forces outside, yes. But far more deadly, from deep within our collective psyche. We have lost our moral compass. We are self-destructing.

Crackpot warning? No. This warning comes from the elite International Monetary Fund. A recent IMF report looked at "the causes of the two major U.S. economic crises over the past 100 years, the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2007," writes Rana Foroohar, an economics editor at Time magazine.

"There are two remarkable similarities in the eras that preceded these crises. Both saw a sharp increase in income inequality and household-debt-to-income ratios." And in each case, "as the poor and middle-class were squeezed, they tried to cope by borrowing to maintain their standard of living."
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Stormtrooper

UK Riots: Police Could Get New Curfew Powers


Metro
Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:00 UTC
Theresa May
© ReutersTheresa May delivered a speech on police reform in central London
Police could be given new powers to impose curfews to clear streets of rioters, home secretary Theresa May has said.

Changes to the law were being discussed by the Home Office to give officers extra capability to handle disturbances, she revealed.

Current legislation does not permit a general curfew to be imposed in a particular area.
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Question

SOTT Focus: Who Started The London Riots?

Joe Quinn
Sott.net
Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:52 UTC
When state 'security' forces murder a citizen in cold blood in broad daylight, and members of his community vent their anger in the only way they know how, who's to blame for the fallout? The British government and the mainstream media would like us to believe that it's the victim and members of his community. But then, we all know better than to believe the words of government officials and media whores. Or at least we should. In fact, how many times do we need to have cold, hard evidence of government and media lies dropped in our laps before we get the message once and for all?

Oh well, once more with feeling...
Image
© unknownFather of four, Mark Duggan, was assassinated by London police
IPCC: No Evidence Mark Duggan Shot At PCs

An IPCC ballistics report said there was "no evidence" that a handgun found near where Mark Duggan was shot by armed officers had been used.

The 29-year-old died after a gunshot to the chest on Thursday. The death sparked the first night of rioting in London in Tottenham.

Mr Duggan had been a passenger in a silver Toyota Estima minicab in Ferry Lane, close to Tottenham Hale Tube station, which was believed to have been stopped by police.

His death came after two shots were fired by a Scotland Yard CO19 firearms officer, investigations show.

The initial results confirmed reports that a bullet found lodged in a police radio at the scene was police issue.
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Ambulance

Best of the Web: Corrupt Science: Cancer Research of 10 Years Useless: Fraudulent Studies, Says Mayo Clinic

Heidi Stevenson
Gaia-Health
Sun, 14 Aug 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Gaia-HealthMoney passing hands in front of death's head caduceus
Lancet's editor calls fraudulent medical research a 'scar on the moral body of science'. But it's really just part of an entire system of fraud in medicine.

Medical science is rampant with fraud. At the Mayo Clinic, ten years of research that appeared to be leading towards harnessing the immune system to fight cancer is worthless because of fraudulent studies and later research based on the fraudulent ones.

Retraction of medical research papers is at an all-time high. Though error was cited at a 3 to 1 rate over fraud, one must seriously question whether simple error is the primary reason. After all, these studies are peer-reviewed. They are supposed to have passed rigorous examination. But, what's the reality?

Of course, as Gaia Health readers have seen over and over, the reality is that flaws in much of medical research are blatant. Often, merely examining a study, instead of taking it at face value, demonstrates that the conclusions are not supported by the evidence.

Nonetheless, those same studies are cited as evidence of efficacy of drugs and procedures. Even after papers have been retracted, the impression they've given doesn't disappear. Research based on those papers is already designed and in process.
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