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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 15 Issue 22
Volume 15, Issue 22 Atari Online News, Etc. June 7, 2013
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2013
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1522 06/07/13
~ Letter Re. Windows Red ~ People Are Talking! ~ Calling Out China!
~ Punishing Cyber Theft! ~ NH Approves Protection ~ Mass. Teen Freed!
~ Camino Is Discontinued ~ Foxconn & Mozilla Team ~ NSA "Surveillance"!
~ Turkey Arresting Twits ~ What To Expect at WWDC ~ No to Direct Access!
-* U.S. Cyber War Preparations! *-
-* Used Games Will Work on New Xbox One *-
-* Digging for [Fool's] Gold in New Mexico Dump *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Another week, another batch of weather anomalies! Last weekend, we had a
heat wave. This weekend, we're encountering a tropical storm! Amazing.
I don't know what's planned for next weekend, but the way things have been
going, I'm not looking forward to any more extremes! Hopefully, your late
Spring is going a lot better than we're experiencing on the east coast!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Studio To Comb N.M. Landfill for Bad Atari Games!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Microsoft Says Used Games Will Work on Xbox One!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Studio To Comb N.M. Landfill for Bad Atari Games
A New Mexico city commission agreed to allow a Canadian studio to search a
landfill where old, terrible Atari games are rumored to be buried.
Alamogordo commissioners decided last week that they will allow Fuel
Industries to search the landfill for games, according to The Alamogordo
Daily News. The company has offices in Ontario and Culver City, Calif.
One sought-after cartridge, the E.T. video game, is thought by some to be
among the worst video games of all time. Atari paid Steven Spielberg tens
of millions of dollars to license the wildly popular 1982 movie's name,
and the dud of a game caused the troubled company's worth to sink even
further at the time.
The game has since developed a cult following.
The rumored Atari graveyard has long been a fascination of some who
consider the commercial flop a part of video game history. It is believed
that nine semi-trucks dumped the E.T. game and other Atari toys in the
southern New Mexico landfill in 1983.
Alamogordo Commissioner Jason Baldwin says he played the Extra-Terrestrial
game and it was horrible. There are listings for the game on eBay that run
from under a dollar to more than $30.
Fuel Industries, a multimedia company, has been given six months to search
the landfill. The company hopes to document the search.
Microsoft Says Used Games Will Work on Xbox One
Microsoft's upcoming Xbox One gaming console will be able to play used
games, clearing up a worry among gamers and video game retailers such as
GameStop, which trade in used games.
That means video games discs users buy will not be limited to one Xbox One
device, and players can share or trade in the games they have bought for
other used games, just as they have been able to do in the past.
Microsoft Corp. said in a blog post Thursday that it will not charge a fee
to retailers, publishers or gamers for transferring their old games.
The Xbox One, which goes on sale later this year, will need to be
connected online at least once every 24 hours to work. Some players had
been concerned that the console was going to require a constant Internet
connection.
Users will be able to access their games from other consoles through an
online library after installing them on their primary device, but they
will need to connect to the Internet at least every hour. They will be
able to watch live TV and Blu-ray and DVD movies on the Xbox One without
an Internet connection, Microsoft said.
Microsoft will give more details about the Xbox One next week at the E3
video game conference in Los Angeles.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
With Troops and Techies, U.S. Prepares for Cyber Warfare
On the site of a former military golf course where President Dwight
Eisenhower once played, the future of U.S. warfare is rising in the shape
of the new $358 million headquarters for the military's Cyber Command.
The command, based at Fort Meade, Maryland, about 25 miles north of
Washington, is rushing to add between 3,000 and 4,000 new cyber warriors
under its wing by late 2015, more than quadrupling its size.
Most of Cyber Command's new troops will focus on defense, detecting and
stopping computer penetrations of military and other critical networks by
America's adversaries like China, Iran or North Korea.
But there is an increasing focus on offense as military commanders beef up
plans to execute cyber strikes or switch to attack mode if the nation
comes under electronic assault.
"We're going to train them to the highest standard we can," Army General
Keith Alexander, head of Cyber Command, told the Reuters Cybersecurity
Summit last month. "And not just on defense, but on both sides. You've got
to have that."
Officials and experts have warned for years that U.S. computer networks
are falling prey to espionage, intellectual property theft and disruption
from nations such as China and Russia, as well as hackers and criminal
groups. President Barack Obama will bring up allegations of Chinese
hacking when he meets President Xi Jinping at a summit in California
beginning on Friday - charges that Beijing has denied.
The Pentagon has accused China of using cyber espionage to modernize its
military and a recent report said Chinese hackers had gained access to the
designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems in recent years.
Earlier this year, U.S. computer security company Mandiant said a
secretive Chinese military unit was probably behind a series of hacking
attacks that had stolen data from 100 U.S. companies.
There is a growing fear that cyber threats will escalate from mainly
espionage and disruptive activities to far more catastrophic attacks that
destroy or severely degrade military systems, power grids, financial
networks and air travel.
Now, the United States is redoubling its preparations to strike back if
attacked, and is making cyber warfare an integral part of future military
campaigns.
Experts and former officials say the United States is among the best - if
not the best - in the world at penetrating adversaries' computer networks
and, if necessary, inserting viruses or other digital weapons.
Washington might say it will only strike back if attacked, but other
countries disagree, pointing to the "Stuxnet" virus. Developed jointly by
the U.S. government and Israel, current and former U.S. officials told
Reuters last year, Stuxnet was highly sophisticated and damaged nuclear
enrichment centrifuges at Iran's Natanz facility.
U.S. government officials frequently discuss America's cyber
vulnerabilities in public. By contrast, details about U.S. offensive
cyberwarfare capabilities and operations are almost all classified.
Possible U.S. offensive cyber attacks could range from invading other
nations' command and control networks to disrupting military
communications or air defenses - or even putting up decoy radar screens on
an enemy's computers to prevent U.S. aircraft from being detected in its
airspace.
The shift toward a greater reliance on offense is an important one for a
nation which has mostly been cautious about wading into the uncertain
arena of cyberwar - in part because gaps in U.S. cybersecurity make it
vulnerable to retaliation.
But former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the United
States must be ready and should articulate - soon - what level of cyber
aggression would be seen as an act of war, bringing a U.S. response.
"One of the things the military learned, going back to 9/11, is whether
you have a doctrine or not, if something really bad happens you're going
to be ordered to do something," he told the Reuters summit. "So you
better have the capability and the plan to execute."
Reuters has learned that new Pentagon rules of engagement, detailing what
actions military commanders can take to defend against cyber attacks, have
been finalized after a year of "hard core" debate. The classified rules
await Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's signature, a senior defense official
said.
The official would not give details of the rules but said, "they will cover
who has the authority to do specific actions if the nation is attacked."
At Cyber Command, military officers in crisp uniforms mix with technical
experts in T-shirts as the armed forces takes up the challenge of how to
fend off cyber penetrations from individuals or rival countries.
Even as overall U.S. defense spending gets chopped in President Barack
Obama's proposed 2014 budget, cyber spending would grow by $800 million,
to $4.7 billion while overall Pentagon spending is cut by $3.9 billion.
Until its new headquarters is ready, Cyber Command shares a home with the
U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), which for 60 years has used
technological wizardry to crack foreign codes and eavesdrop on adversaries
while blocking others from doing the same to the United States. Alexander
heads both agencies.
"The greatest concentration of cyber power in this planet is at the
intersection of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Maryland Route 32,"
said retired General Michael Hayden, a former CIA and NSA director,
referring to NSA's Fort Meade location.
But NSA's role in helping protect civilian, government and private networks
has been controversial - and is likely to come under greater scrutiny with
this week's revelation that it has been collecting telephone records of
millions of Verizon Communications customers under a secret court order.
A January report by the Pentagon's Defense Science Board gave a general
picture of how the United States might exploit and then attack an
adversary's computer systems.
In some cases, U.S. intelligence might already have gained access for
spying, the report said. From there, Cyber Command "may desire to develop
an order of battle plan against that target" and would require deeper
access, "down to the terminal or device level in order to support attack
plans," it said.
Because gaining access to an enemy's computers for sustained periods
without detection is not easy, "offensive cyber will always be a fragile
capability," it said.
In cyberspace, reconnaissance of foreign networks is "almost always harder
than the attack" itself because the challenging part is finding a way into
a network and staying undetected, said Hayden, now with the Chertoff Group
consulting firm.
Cyber Command's new Joint Operations Center, due to be complete in 2018,
will pull disparate units together and house 650 personnel, officials
said. Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps components will be nearby
and, a former U.S. intelligence official said, the complex will have power
and cooling to handle its massive computing needs.
Those who have worked at Cyber Command say the atmosphere is a mixture of
intensity and geek-style creativity. Military precision is present, but
it is not unusual to see young civilian computer whiz kids with purple
hair, a tie-dyed shirt and blue jeans.
"It's made to be a fun environment for them. These are people who are
invested and want to serve their nation. But there is some military rigor
and structure around all that - like a wrapper," said Doug Steelman, who
was director of Network Defense at Cyber Command until 2011 and is now
Chief Information Security Officer at Dell SecureWorks.
Cyber Command's growth and expanding mission come with serious challenges
and questions.
For example, how to prevent U.S. military action in cyberspace from also
damaging civilian facilities in the target country, such as a hospital
that shares an electric grid or computer network with a military base?
And some doubt that the military can train many cyber warriors quickly
enough. Alexander has identified that as his biggest challenge.
The former intelligence official said Cyber Command's new teams won't be
fully ready until at least 2016 due to military bureaucracy and because it
takes time to pull together people with the special skills needed.
"To be a good cyber warrior, you have to be thinking, How is the attacker
discovering what I'm doing? How are they working around it?' ... Cyber
security really is a cat and mouse game," said Raphael Mudge, a private
cybersecurity expert and Air Force reservist. "That kind of thinking can't
be taught. It has to be nurtured. There are too few who can do that."
Would-be cyber warriors go through extensive training, which can take
years. A recruit with proven aptitude will be sent to courses such as the
Navy-led Joint Cyber Analysis Course in Pensacola, Florida, a 6-month
intensive training program.
The top 10 percent of JCAC's students will be selected for advanced cyber
operations training, said Greg Dixon, a vice president at private KEYW
Corp, which conducts intensive training classes.
The company can train a JCAC graduate to become an analyst in five weeks,
but it takes 20 weeks to become a cyber operator. Dixon would not divulge
what an operator would be capable of doing after graduation, but said it
would be "a lot."
"They're going to pick the cream of the crop for the 'full spectrum cyber
missions'," the former U.S. intelligence official said, using a euphemism
for cyber offense.
Before a future cyber warrior can begin advanced training, he or she has
to pass through the arduous security clearance process, which can take
six to nine months for personnel who are not already cleared.
Troops earmarked for cyber warfare have found themselves washing floors,
mowing lawns and painting at military installations as they bide time
waiting for a clearance.
There is the concern about retaliation for a U.S. cyber attack. Some
analysts say Iran increased its cyber capabilities after being infected
with Stuxnet, which was revealed in 2010.
"The old saying, he who lives in a glass house should be careful of
throwing stones ... but if the stone that you threw at someone, when you
live in a glass house, is a stone that in some way they could pick back
up and throw back at you, that's an even dumber idea," the defense
official said. "We definitely think about that as one aspect of
considering action."
U.S. Lawmakers To Introduce New Bill To Punish Cyber Theft
A day before Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the United States, three
U.S. lawmakers plan to propose a new law that would punish hackers backed
by China, Russia or other foreign governments for cyber spying and theft.
The new bill that would go after specific hackers from "offending nations"
with "real consequences and punishments" will be introduced on Thursday by
House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a
Republican from Michigan, Democratic Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio and
Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Rogers, whose office did not immediately release further details of the
bill, leads cybersecurity efforts in Congress. He has co-authored a
cybersecurity bill meant to ease sharing of cyber threat data between
companies and the government that passed the House earlier this year.
President Barack Obama will meet China's Xi at a California summit this
week and plans to tell him that Washington considers Beijing responsible
for any cyber attacks launched from Chinese soil and that China must
abide by international "rules of the road" on cybersecurity.
China has consistently denied U.S. accusations of cyber hacking and has
insisted it is more a victim than a perpetrator.
The White House declined to specify what, if any, punitive measures the
United States might take if Xi refuses to cooperate and the cyber threats
persist.
"Cyber hackers from nation-states like China and Russia have been
aggressively targeting U.S. markets, stealing valuable intellectual
property, and then repurposing it and selling it as their own," Rogers'
office said in announcing the plans for the bill's introduction.
The new bill will be the second such legislation taken up by Congress. A
group of powerful senior senators last month introduced the Deter Cyber
Theft Act to combat computer espionage and the theft of commercial data
from U.S. companies.
The differences are for now unclear between the new Rogers bill to be
introduced on Thursday and last month's Senate bill introduced by
Democrats Carl Levin of Michigan and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia,
and Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.
The Senate bill requires the Director of National Intelligence to compile
an annual report that includes a list of nations that engage in economic
or industrial espionage in cyberspace against U.S. firms or individuals.
The president would also be required to block imports of products
containing stolen U.S. technology, among others.
The new bill is expected to face a challenge in Congress this year. A
divided Congress has not approved much legislation in recent years, given
a string of partisan fiscal battles.
Cyber Experts Say Calling Out China May Be Working
After years of quiet and largely unsuccessful diplomacy, the U.S. has
brought its persistent computer-hacking problems with China into the
open, delivering a steady drumbeat of reports accusing Beijing's
government and military of computer-based attacks against America.
Officials say the new strategy may be having some impact.
In recent private meetings with U.S. officials, Chinese leaders have moved
past their once-intractable denials of cyber espionage and are
acknowledging there is a problem. And while there have been no actual
admissions of guilt, officials say the Chinese seem more open to trying
to work with the U.S. to address the problems.
"By going public the administration has made a lot of progress," said
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies who has met with Chinese leaders on cyber issues.
But it will likely be a long and bumpy road, as any number of regional
disputes and tensions could suddenly stir dissent and stall progress.
On Wednesday, China's Internet security chief told state media that Beijing
has amassed large amounts of data about U.S.-based hacking attacks against
China but refrains from blaming the White House or the Pentagon because it
would be irresponsible.
The state-run English-language China Daily reported that Huang Chengqing,
director of the government's Internet emergency response agency, said
Beijing and Washington should cooperate rather than confront each other
in the fight against cyberattacks. Huang also called for mutual trust.
President Barack Obama is expected to bring up the issue when he meets
with China's new president, Xi Jinping, in Southern California later this
week. The officials from the two nations have agreed to meet and discuss
the issue in a new working group that Secretary of State John Kerry
announced in April. Obama's Cabinet members and staff have been laying
the groundwork for those discussions.
Standing on the stage at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference last
weekend, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel became the latest U.S. official to
openly accuse the Chinese government of cyber espionage as members of
Beijing's delegation sat in the audience in front of him. The U.S., he
said, "has expressed our concerns about the growing threat of cyber
intrusions, some of which appear to be tied to the Chinese government and
military."
But speaking to reporters traveling with him to the meeting in this island
nation in China's backyard, Hagel said it's important to use both public
diplomacy and private engagements when dealing with other nations such as
China on cyber problems.
"I've rarely seen that public engagement resolves a problem, but it's
important," he said, adding that governments have the responsibility to
keep their people informed about such issues.
The hacking issue also featured prominently over two days of meetings
between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a leading Chinese trade think
tank in Beijing.
"This is arguably the single most consequential issue that is serving to
erode trust in the relationship," said Jeremie Waterman, the chamber's
executive director for greater China. "Over time, it could undermine
business support for U.S.-China relations."
According to Lewis and other defense officials familiar with the issue,
China's willingness to engage in talks with the U.S. about the problem
even without admitting to some of the breaches is a step in the right
direction.
Cybersecurity experts say China-based instances of cyber intrusions into
U.S. agencies and programs including defense contractors and military
weapons systems have been going on since the late 1990s. And they went
along largely unfettered for as much as a decade.
A recent Pentagon report compiled by the Defense Science Board laid out
what it called a partial list of 37 programs that were breached in
computer-based attacks, including the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
weapon, a land-based missile defense system that was recently deployed to
Guam to help counter the North Korean threat. Other programs whose systems
were breached include the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 Raptor
fighter jet and the hybrid MV-22 Osprey, which can take off and land like
a helicopter and fly like an airplane.
The report also listed 29 broader defense technologies that have been
compromised, including drone video systems and high-tech avionics. The
information was gathered more than two years ago, so some of the data are
dated and a few of the breaches such as the F-35 had already become
public.
According to U.S. officials and cyber experts, China hackers use gaps in
software or scams that target users' email systems to infiltrate
government and corporate networks. They are then often able to view or
steal files or use those computers to move through the network accessing
other data.
Chinese officials have long denied any role in cyberattacks and insisted
that the law forbids hacking and that their military has no role in it.
They have also asserted that they, too, are often the victim.
Cyber experts say some of the breaches that emanate from Internet
locations in China may be the product of patriotic hackers who are not
working at the behest of Beijing's government or military but in
independent support of it.
The Chinese government's control of the Internet, however, suggests that
those hackers are likely operating with at least the knowledge of
authorities who may choose to look the other way.
U.S. officials have quietly grumbled about the problem for several years
but steadfastly refused to speak publicly about it. As the intrusions grew
in number and sophistication, affecting an increasing number of government
agencies, private companies and citizens, alarmed authorities began to
rethink that strategy.
They were pressed on by cybersecurity experts including prominent former
government officials who argued that using cyberattacks to steal
intellectual property, weapons and financial data and other corporate
secrets brought great gain at very little cost to the hackers. The U.S.
government, they said, had to make it clear to the Chinese that continued
bad behavior would trigger consequences.
In November 2011, U.S. intelligence officials for the first time publicly
accused China and Russia of systematically stealing American high-tech
data for economic gain.
That was followed by specific warnings about Chinese cyberattacks in the
last two annual Pentagon reports on China's military power. And in
February, the Virginia-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant laid out a
detailed report directly linking a secret Chinese military unit in
Shanghai to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. After
analyzing breaches that compromised more than 140 companies, Mandiant
concluded that they can be linked to a unit that experts believe is part
of the People's Liberation Army's cyber command.
The change in tone from the Chinese leaders came through during recent
meetings with Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
and has continued, according to officials and experts familiar with more
recent discussions with Chinese leaders.
Still, experts say that progress with the Chinese will still be slow and
that it's naive to think the cyberattacks will stop.
"This will take continuous pressure for a number of years," said Lewis.
"We will need both carrots and sticks, and the question is when do you use
them."
Turkey Is Now Arresting Dozens for Using Twitter
Freedom of speech is not high on the shifting priorities list of Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And after he chastised "every kind of
lie on" Twitter and blamed almost everything else but his government for
the outbreak of violence across his country at least 25 people have been
arrested this week for messages of protest, perhaps centered on a few
videos or one photo, that they've posted on the social network. "Nine of
those arrested were detained in the city of Izmir. It remained unclear
which comments on the microblogging site prompted the detentions," the
Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. As we explained on Tuesday night, the
origin of social-media messages has been difficult to track down in the
eight days of spreading resistance in Turkey, but the western coastal
city of Izmir has been featured in several YouTube clips purportedly
showed police delivering beatings to protesters.... (Warning: graphic.)
As the DPA notes, it's extremely unclear, given the chaos as misreporting
out of the country, which pieces of social-media protest got these 25
people arrested or if their arrests are tied to more beyond, you know,
free speech. Right now, of course, thousands upon thousands of Turks are
tweeting messages speaking out against Ergodan, who said on Sunday that
the violent uproar was due in large part to social media:
There is a problem called Twitter right now and you can find every
kind of lie there ... The thing that is called social media is the biggest
trouble for society right now.
Protests continue to be organized on Twitter, and users have captured
brutal scenes in person and shared them on platforms like Twitter,
YouTube, and Facebook as any protester would do these days. But this
movement and Erdogan's political pushback erupted because of the violence
and the tear gas police used on environmentalists and protesters on
May 28, not because of Twitter. That just raised the profile.
"Polis raided 38 addresses and took the ones they captured to the police
station," reported CNN Turk (with a translation via Reddit). "Sixteen
people are taken into custody for encouraging rebellion using social media
and making propaganda ... It is reported that the number of people in
custody may increase while the police is still questioning the ones taken
into custody."
But again, it's remains almost completely unclear what these tweeters did
or who these tweeters are reports only suggest that they furthered the
protests from their accounts. The terms "encouraging rebellion" and
"making propaganda" aren't really specific, and considering Erdogan's
aversion to Twitter and protesters in general, those terms could be broad
and encompass things like retweeting protest plans, or circulating photos
of the violence. "If thats a crime, then we all did it," Ali Engin, a
local representative from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)
in Izmir, told the DPA.
If you look at tweets coming out of the country, a popular meme is getting
passed around and it seems that people were arrested for tweeting this
specific photo:
Apparently 29 people were arrested in #Turkey for tweeting this photo
of Turkish police assaulting two girls twitter.com/VOT99/status/3
Voice of Turkey (@VOT99) June 5, 2013
That'd be troubling if true. But that hasn't been verified.
Perhaps more troubling is the free-speech crackdown that could follow, and
make Turkey's moment so much different from and at once similar to the
Arab Spring protests to which it's already been compared: Could the
Turkish government eventually crack down on text messages and phone calls?
Will Turkey do what the Egyptian government did in 2011 and shut down the
Internet and cell phone service? That didn't exactly work then, and that's
unlikely to quell protesters now.
U.S. Intelligence Chief Says Surveillance Targets Non-U.S. Citizens
U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said on Thursday the law that allows
American government agencies to collect communications from internet
companies only permits the targeting of "non-U.S. persons" outside the
United States.
Responding to articles published by the Washington Post and Britain's
Guardian newspaper, Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said
in a statement that the stories contained "numerous inaccuracies," but he
did not offer any details.
The Post and Guardian reported that the U.S. government tapped directly
into the servers of leading U.S. internet companies, allowing agents to
examine emails, photos and other documents.
Microsoft Says Not Part of Broad Government Online Monitoring
Microsoft Corp said on Thursday it provides customer data to the U.S.
government only when it receives a legally binding order and only on
specific accounts, after the Washington Post reported U.S. security
agencies had access to its central servers.
The Post reported on Thursday the U.S. National Security Agency and the
FBI were "tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S.
Internet companies" - including Microsoft - through a highly classified
program known as PRISM, extracting audio, video, photographs, emails,
documents and connection logs.
Microsoft made no mention of the PRISM program in a statement released
after the Post report, and denied it was part of any voluntary data
collection mechanism.
"We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or
subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis," Microsoft said in the
emailed statement.
"In addition we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific
accounts or identifiers. If the government has a broader voluntary
national security program to gather customer data we don't participate in
it."
Facebook Denies Providing Government 'Direct Access' to Servers
Facebook Inc said Thursday it does not provide any government agency with
"direct access" to its servers, denying a central element of a Washington
Post report.
The Post reported on Thursday that the U.S. National Security Agency and
the FBI are "tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading
U.S. Internet companies" through a highly classified program known as
PRISM, extracting audio, video, photographs, emails, documents and
connection logs.
"We do not provide any government organization with direct access to
Facebook servers," Facebook Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan said in a
statement. "When Facebook is asked for data or information about specific
individuals, we carefully scrutinize any such request for compliance with
all applicable laws, and provide information only to the extent required
by law."
Apple Denies Giving Government "Direct Access" to Servers
Apple Inc on Thursday said it does not provide any government agency with
direct access to its servers, denying a key aspect of a Washington Post
report.
The Post reported on Thursday that the U.S. National Security Agency and
the FBI are "tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading
U.S. Internet companies" through a highly classified program known as
PRISM, extracting audio, video, photographs, emails, documents and
connection logs.
"We have never heard of PRISM," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. "We do
not provide any government agency with direct access to our servers, and
any government agency requesting customer data must get a court order."
Asked whether Apple joined the NSA-FBI data collection program, Apple
declined to comment beyond its brief statement.
The Washington Post reported that Apple held out for more than five years
after PRISM enlisted its first corporate partner, in May 2007, for
"unknown reasons."
NH Senate Approves Social Media Protections
New Hampshire's Senate voted unanimously Thursday to prohibit bosses from
requiring employees or job applicants to disclose user names or passwords
to personal Facebook, Twitter or other social media or email accounts.
But the Republican-controlled chamber voted 13-11 along party lines to add
an amendment on union contracts that could spell trouble when the bill
goes back to the House to consider changes to the bill.
The bill would apply the ban to the workers' personal accounts unrelated
to the employer's business. The bill does not prevent employers from
enforcing workplace policies about company equipment.
The measure would not prohibit an employer from obtaining information in
the public domain or prevent the employer from investigating whether the
employee is complying with securities or financial laws based on the
person's personal website used for business purposes.
The House passed the bill in March, but the Senate amended it Thursday so
the House must review the changes.
Democrats were upset the Republican majority added what they view is a
"poison pill" to the bill the contents of a bill the Democratic House
killed that gave a 10-member joint legislative committee power to approve
cost items in collective bargaining contracts with state employee unions.
Senate Democratic Leader Sylvia Larsen of Concord objected the added
provision could doom the social media provisions. The Senate passed the
social media part of the bill unanimously, but added the contract
provisions 13-11 along party lines.
Last year, six states California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan
and New Jersey passed similar laws barring employers from requiring the
disclosure of Facebook, Twitter or other account information, according to
the National Conference of State Legislatures.
NCSL reports that legislation is pending in at least 35 states this year
including New Hampshire. Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Washington passed laws this year and bills have been sent to the governor
in Oregon and Vermont.
Some states have similar laws to protect college students from having to
grant access to social networking accounts, according to NCSL.
In their effort to vet job applicants, some companies and government
agencies have started asking for passwords to log into a prospective
employee's accounts on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.
Critics call it an invasion of privacy akin to handing over the keys to
the person's house.
Sen. Donna Soucy, a co-sponsor of the New Hampshire bill, said employers
can gain access to information about an employee or job applicant through
social media accounts like Facebook that they otherwise could not legally
obtain. She said people post personal information about themselves on
Facebook, or others post on the person's page. That information, she
said, should be protected.
She said she had not heard of any New Hampshire employers demanding the
information.
Soucy, D-Manchester, said employers can use information on social media
accounts to discriminate, such as not interviewing someone whose Facebook
picture shows the applicant to be obese when weight would not be required
on the application.
Soucy said other people can post information on the person's page that the
person might not delete before a prospective employer saw it.
Allowing employers access to social media accounts also gives them access
to others linked to the account, which could infringe on their privacy.
Massachusetts Teen Accused of Facebook Terror Post Freed
A Massachusetts teenager jailed a month ago for a Facebook post that
suggested he could do worse than the Boston Marathon bombers was released,
a court official said on Friday, after a grand jury refused to indict him.
Cameron D'Ambrosio was arrested on May 1 and accused of "communicating a
terrorist threat." The 18-year-old aspiring rapper from Methuen, 30 miles
north of Boston, posted lyrics online that included the words "a boston
bombing wait till u see the shit I do."
The case sparked a viral online effort by rights activists to have him
freed, and demonstrated the growing tension between law enforcement and
free speech proponents after a spate of terror and school-violence
incidents across the country.
Lawrence District Court Judge Lynn Rooney issued an order on Thursday to
release D'Ambrosio after a grand jury chose not to indict, the court
clerk's office said. An official at the county prosecutor's office was not
available to comment.
"While today is a major victory for Cam, the chilling effect that this
case has already had on free speech cannot be undone," said Evan Greer, of
Boston's Center for Rights and Fight For The Future, which organized an
online petition supporting D'Ambrosio that gathered 90,000 signatures.
Police had arrested D'Ambrosio after fellow students at Methuen High School
alerted them of his Facebook posts. If D'Ambrosio had been convicted of the
terrorism charge, he would have faced as many as 20 years in prison.
The case came weeks after twin bombs exploded at the finish line of the
Boston Marathon on April 15, killing three people and injuring 264.
Investigators said the attack was the work of two brothers of Chechen
descent.
Some lawmakers have criticized the FBI's handling of the case, given that
the older of the brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had been on a U.S. master
list of potential terrorism suspects. Tamerlan was killed in a shootout
with police days after the bombing and his younger brother Dzhokhar was
wounded after a manhunt and is in prison for the crime.
Police are also under pressure to avoid a repeat of recent school
shootings, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown,
Connecticut last year in which 20 students and six school staff were
killed.
"Law enforcement wants to preempt acts of violence before they occur,"
said Shirin Sinnar, assistant professor of law at Stanford University Law
School. "The risk is that you sweep in people who had no intent to cause
a crime."
Foxconn and Mozilla Are Collaborating To Develop 5 Devices for OEMs
Mozilla and Foxconn have officially announced a partnership and confirmed
that the two firms are developing at least 5 new devices, including a
tablet computer.
At a press conference today at Computex 2013 in Taipei, Li Gong, CEO of
Mozilla Taiwan, and Young Liu, General Manager of Foxconn innovation
Digital System Business Group, unveiled a new tablet prototype model
designed for an unnamed OEM.
Further details remain scarce, as no specs or price points were revealed.
However, in a Q&A session, Mozilla stated that it was optimistic that its
HTML5 OS would help it position itself in both developed markets and
emerging ones.
In addition to unveiling the tablet in question, Foxconn and Mozilla
stated they are working on at least 5 devices, and stressed that their
partnership wouldnt be limited to smartphones and tablets. Foxconns
broad portfolio, the firms stressed, put it in a prime position to extend
Mozillas OS into television screens or signage.
When asked what these developments meant for Foxconns status as a brand,
Li and Liu stated that Foxconn would remain a manufacturer, not a brand,
and the purpose of the collaboration is to optimally integrate of
Mozillas OS with hardware. Details related to specs and marketing will be
left to the OEMs.
The partnership marks a turning point as both firms attempt to move beyond
their flagship products and services. Mozilla is continuing to push its
vision for the mobile Web via its mobile OS which includes a starry
array of partnerships while Foxconn is diversifying its business beyond
manufacturing devices for consumer brands.
Last February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the firm officially
announced the mobile OS and deals with LG, ZTE, Huawei, and others to roll
out devices to markets in Latin America and Europe.
Since then, the first manufacturer to bring the OS to physical reality was
Geeksphone, the relatively unknown Spanish hardfirm which released
developer versions of two smartphones in April. The Peak and Keone
proved to be popular, with initially batches selling out in hours.
Foxconn, meanwhile, has made efforts to broaden its portfolio beyond making
devices for Huawei, ZTE, and most famously, Apple. It was recently
discovered that Apples largest supplier is no longer Foxconn, but instead
Pegatron.
Camino Browser Project Discontinued After Ten Years
Pour one out for Camino. The Mac-only browser, born a decade ago, is no
longer under active development.
Camino was a free, open-source browser for the Mac, built on Mozillas
Gecko engine. Unlike other Mozilla-based browsers of its era, Camino
featured a totally native OS X interface from day one. By contrast, Firefox
has long used a cross-platform interface markup language, which to this day
makes some Mac users feel that the app isnt quite Mac-like.
First launched in February 2002 as Chimera, Camino started as a project
within Netscape; it was originally created by Dave Hyatt, who went on to
join Apples Safari team later that year, where he remains today. (Hyatt
also co-created Firefox.) Legal considerations later forced the name change
to Camino.
One of the Chimera/Camino projects co-founders was Mike Pinkerton, who
became the projects lead when Hyatt left for Apple. Pinkerton later moved
onto Google, where he worked on Camino in his twenty-percent time. He
also worked on Firefox, and is now part of the Chrome browser team.
On Caminos website, a message announced the browsers end of life, saying
that it is no longer being developed, and we encourage all users to
upgrade to a more modern browser. The page states that the browser is
increasingly lagging behind the fast pace of changes on the web, and more
importantly it is not receiving security updates, making it increasingly
unsafe to use.
The page also references the Camino browsers impressive pedigree: Former
Camino developers have helped build
Chrome, Firefox, and Safari,
concluding that the community that helped build [Camino] is still making
the web better for Mac users.
The final released version of the browser is 2.1, which is still available
for download.
Camino Reaches Its End
After a decade-long run, Camino is no longer being developed, and we
encourage all users to upgrade to a more modern browser. Camino is
increasingly lagging behind the fast pace of changes on the web, and more
importantly it is not receiving security updates, making it increasingly
unsafe to use.
Fortunately, Mac users have many more browsers to choose from than they
did when Camino started ten years ago. Former Camino developers have
helped build the three most popular Chrome, Firefox, and Safari so
while this is the end of Camino itself, the community that helped build it
is still making the web better for Mac users.
Thank you to all our loyal users, and to everyone who contributed in
countless ways over the years to make Camino what it was.
iOS 7, Mac OS X Updates, MacBooks and More: What to Expect at Apple's WWDC
It has been nearly nine months since Apple has held its last big event. In
that time the company has suffered from some issues on Wall Street, been
scrutinized for tax evasion and most recently defended its E-Book pricing
against the Department of Justice.
But on Monday the maker of the iPhone and iPad will take the stage to
focus on the future of its products at its annual Worldwide Developer's
Conference (WWDC). Held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the
company will preview the next versions of its iOS operating system for the
iPhone and iPad and the next version of Mac OS X.
We know those two things for sure, Apple CEO Tim Cook said so himself last
week. But the details of those new software platforms and some more
products are shrouded in Apple's usual secrecy. As Monday's keynote event
approaches, the rumors and speculation have come along with it. Here are
a few of the things that Apple is expected to have been saving up for the
big event, which ABCNews.com will be covering live at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.
ET.
No matter what else Apple shows at the event, the next version of its
iPhone and iPad software will likely be the most important thing for the
company to talk about. According to 9to5Mac, the next version of iOS will
have a flat design. What does that mean? Well, it will shave off some of
the textures you see around the software and apps.
"For example, the yellow notepad-inspired Notes app and Leather-bound
Calendar interfaces on the iPhone and iPad will no longer be present,"
9to5Mac's Mark Gurman reports. His sources also say that the casino game
icons and design of Game Center will be wiped out.
iOS 7 is the first version of the software that has been worked on by
Apple's chief designer Jony Ive. Ive replaced Scott Forstall in October
2012.
Beyond the design, there are said to be new native sharing capabilities
tied in, similar to what is available now for Facebook and Twitter. Flickr
and Vimeo are pegged to get tighter integration. There is also speculation
that photo filter options will be added to the Camera app.
Do not expect to hear about or see a new iPhone or iPad at this event.
Although, we might hear about Apple's rumored iPhone trade-in program.
Over the last couple of years Apple has continued to bring aspects of iOS
to its Mac operating system, and the expectation is that there will be
more of the same this year.
9to5Mac reports that there won't be major design changes to the software,
but that Apple might add the app switcher from iOS to Mac for when users
are in full screen mode.
Apple is also said to release some Mac hardware at the show. While the new
rumored MacBook Air and Pro computers won't likely run the new software,
they are said to be thinner and faster thanks to Intel's new Haswell
chips. The new processors offer better battery life while providing faster
processing power.
Earlier this week The New York Times reported that Apple is working hard
to finalize music deals as to announce its streaming music and radio
service at the event next week. According to that report, the service will
compete with apps like Rdio, Pandora and Spotify with streaming radio
based on your music preferences. It is said to be free and have integrated
advertising.
An Open Letter to Microsoft About Windows Red
Dear Microsoft,
InfoWorld has reviewed your products for more than three decades. Some
we've loved, like Windows 7 or Windows Server 2012. Others, like Windows
Vista or Windows 8, not so much.
Now, with the "release" of InfoWorld's Windows Red, we'd like you to
review one of ours. Sure, Windows Red is a proposal rather than an actual
product - an article plus a slideshow created by us - but the changes
we've laid out are perfectly feasible. Perhaps some are already built
into your Windows 8.1 upgrade, code-named Windows "Blue," due to arrive
on June 26 (though the chances appear to be slight). Or you may believe
Windows Red is a fatally flawed idea. Either way, go ahead: Turn the
tables and let us know what you think.
You've said you're bringing back the Start button in Windows "Blue." In
Windows Red, we've gone much further. Almost every reviewer has said the
same thing: Windows 8 is two operating systems awkwardly bolted together
and difficult for users to navigate. So in Windows Red, we've taken the
obvious measure of separating them.
There's no other way to say it: Metro is a touch UI that has no business
on a desktop or laptop screen. It's impractical to raise your hand from
the keyboard to touch the screen and studies have shown it can be
ergonomically harmful. On the flip side, a tablet should not be forced to
run the traditional Windows Desktop, whose icons are too small for a
touch interface and which demands so much power that Windows 8 tablets
have been burdened by heavy batteries and short battery life.
Separation is good, but so is some degree of interoperability. Windows Red
preserves the ability to run Metro apps on the desktop, including live
tiles, but in a way that doesn't compromise the Windows Desktop
experience. We also suggest you make Windows Phone and Windows tablet
(Win8 and RT) apps binary compatible, so Metro apps can run on any Windows
platform.
Beyond these fundamental fixes, the Desktop version of Windows Red proposes
new capabilities, many inspired by Metro's own innovations: integrated
sharing functionality, an improved Control Panel, a Desktop version of
Windows Phone's People app, and a new grouping function for Desktop apps
and folders. The Mobile version of Windows Red, based on Windows RT,
ditches the unintuitive Charms bar, enhances the Applications bar,
features a more flexible Snap View, and adds a much-needed Settings app.
We also believe Microsoft should create a native Windows RT version of
Microsoft Office designed specifically for touch.
We hope you take Windows Red in the spirit in which it was intended: a
practical proposal for fixing Windows 8 rather than another harsh
critique. Judging by previous user comments that have appeared on our
site, we believe the basic tenets of Windows Red will be supported by many
InfoWorld readers. No doubt they'll let us know. Meanwhile, Microsoft,
we'd like to hear what you think.
Sincerely,
Eric Knorr
Editor in Chief, InfoWorld
Why Facebook No Longer Looks Destined To Take Over The Internet
Just a little more than a year ago, Wall Streets IPO hype machine went
into overdrive pushing Facebook as the next Google or Amazon that is,
a company destined to branch out from its original mission to conquer a
large segment of services on the Internet. But now that Facebook has been
public for more than a year, its prospects becoming a Google or
Amazon-style behemoth seem much more distant, Reuters reports. To be
clear, theres little chance that Facebook will be like MySpace, which
saw its user count completely crash over the span of a year in 2010, but
theres also little sign that the companys ambitions to challenge
Google in the search realm will ever bear any fruit.
Whats more, Facebook faces a long-term challenge in competing against
the plethora of messaging and photo-sharing applications that have popped
up around the web in recent months. Facebook took one big potential
competitor out of commission when it bought Instagram but that hasnt
stopped new apps such as SnapChat from rising up seemingly overnight to
become instant sensations. Chuck Jones, founder of technology research
firm Sand Hill Insights, tells Reuters that Facebook could suffer death
by a thousand SnapChats
in three-to-five years if it cant keep pace
with the frantic pace of innovation in todays mobile app market.
For the time being, though, Facebook has maintained its hold as the
worlds top comprehensive social network as competing services such as
Google+ have remained comparative ghost towns. Whether the company will
ever become anything more, however, is still very much up in the air.
=~=~=~=
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