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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 16 Issue 12
Volume 16, Issue 12 Atari Online News, Etc. March 21, 2014
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2014
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 #1612 03/21/14
~ Google Glass On Ropes? ~ People Are Talking! ~ Atari Dig on Hold?
~ Facebook Fights Back! ~ AT&T Rebuffs Netflix! ~ Cyber-gang Problem?
~ Gmail Scanning Case! ~ PS 4 Project Morpheus! ~ Google Drive Scam!
~ Dual-OS Tablets Halted ~ Internet Freedom Wanted ~ Feds Not Worried!
-* Turkey Blocks Twitter Access *-
-* Abandoning Internet, Obama Says No! *-
-* Google Makes It Harder To Spy on Your Gmail *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Another week, another bout of time being a luxury that doesn't appear
to be something I've found lately. There are just too many things going
on that take priority. So, rather than try to comment of any number
of interesting topics from around the globe, let's just move straight
to another interest-laden issue!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Sony Reveals Project Morpheus!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Walmart Will Accept Video Game Trade-Ins!
Search For Old Atari Games To Go On in New Mexico!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Sony Reveals Project Morpheus, Its VR Headset for PlayStation 4
Sony has revealed its plans for virtual reality technology on the
PlayStation 4. Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios,
showed off a prototype headset at a Game Developers Conference 2014 event
entitled Driving the Future of Innovation. "Nothing delivers a feeling of
immersion better than VR," said Yoshida. "VR has been a dream of many
gamers since the computer was invented. Many of us at PlayStation have
dreamed of VR and what it could mean to the gaming community."
The VR system is currently codenamed Project Morpheus, and will work with
PlayStation 4. While still in prototype form, Yoshida says that Morpheus
is the "culmination of our work over the last three years to realize our
vision of VR for games, and to push the boundaries of play." The headset
uses a 1080p LCD, offers a 90-degree field of view, and will integrate
with the PlayStation Camera for tracking and PlayStation Move for motion
control. It connects via HDMI and USB; while the current prototype uses
a 5-meter cable, Sony would like to make it wireless. The company says
the headset doesn't put weight on your nose or cheeks, and its design
allows for airflow without the lenses fogging up.
Sony Magic Lab's Richard Marks, who pioneered the EyeToy camera and
PlayStation Move, joined Yoshida on stage to offer further details on
Project Morpheus. "The thing that makes VR special is really the feeling
of being in another place... there's no way to explain it to you that
will make sense, but it's that feeling of presence," he said. "VR is
going to be pervasive, and what I mean by that is it's going to be used
for all sorts of things you might not think it would be used for." As one
example, Marks says he's been working on a project with NASA and its Jet
Propulsion Lab that will allow PS4 owners to feel like they're right
with the space agency on Mars.
Marks has identified six areas that Sony needs to crack in order for VR
to work: sight, sound, tracking, control, ease of use, and content. For
sight, Marks refers to Sony's considerable weight in optics and imaging
technology. For sound, the company is working on 3D binaural tech to aid
presence and immersion. For tracking and control, Marks says the
PlayStation Camera and PlayStation Move are ready-made solutions. For
ease of use, Sony plans to make it a comfortable, plug-and-play
experience. And for content, Marks showed a long list of software
partners including Epic Games, Crytek, Autodesk, Unity, and more. Sony
will be showing demos of Thief, EVE Valkryie, and more running on
Project Morpheus at GDC.
Although VR is yet to turn up a viable consumer product, the concept has
been gaining momentum ever since Kickstarter-funded startup Oculus VR
showed off its first headset, the Rift, in 2012. The company demonstrated
a more refined Oculus Rift prototype, codenamed Crystal Cove, earlier
this year, with more contenders set to join the fray. Valve is working on
similar VR technology of its own, and Microsoft has explored augmented
reality glasses, known as Project Fortaleza, that would work with the
Xbox One's Kinect sensor.
Sony's announcement today, however, marks the first serious effort from a
first-party platform holder, and could prove the most attractive option
yet for VR developers. "We have seen passionate people at Oculus VR and
Valve introduce VR prototypes and share their learnings," said Yoshida.
"I have an enormous amount of respect for them. This shows how all of us
as an industry can rally around a new medium like VR to push gaming
forward." No release date is set for Project Morpheus, but Sony plans to
make an SDK available to developers in the near future.
Update: Sony has confirmed to The Verge that Project Morpheus will not be
made into a consumer product this year. The company isn't yet revealing
when a finished product will arrive. The prototype shown at Game
Developers Conference will be used to help familiarize Sony's developer
partners with the VR technology.
Walmart Will Accept Video Game Trade-Ins
Not wanting to let other retailers like GameStop, Best Buy, and Amazon
have all the fun, Walmart has decided to enter the $2 billion pre-owned
video game business.
Walmart will allow for trade-ins to Walmart employees starting today, with
official trade-ins to customers beginning on March 26th at over 3,100
stores. Then, in the Summer, Walmart will be reselling the used games in
stores and online, calling them Certified Pre-Owned.
Walmart made sure to note that new releases will still remain the focus
of our business, but when it comes to trading in games for a Walmart
gift card (which can be used to buy anything in stores and online),
their strategy is to pay more for used games, sell new and used games
for less, and give our customers the flexibility to spend their money how
they want. They also added, When we disrupt markets and compete, our
customer wins.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
Not So Fast: Environmental Concerns Halt Atari 'E.T.' Cartridge Dig
Filmmakers planned to excavate millions of the cartridges, buried as part
of Atari's "corporate shame," but New Mexico regulators say an
environmental report is required first.
An original E.T. game cartridge, signed by the lead designer. Millions
were made, and most of them were buried in a New Mexico landfill after
the game was deemed one of the worst ever.
New Mexico environmental regulators have put the kibosh on the excavation
of millions of Atari "E.T." game cartridges from a garbage dump there.
According to The Guardian, the New Mexico Environment Department has said
that filmmakers planning a documentary about the burial of the cartridges
in 1983 owing to catastrophic sales must first acquire a waste excavation
plan.
At South by Southwest earlier this month, filmmakers from Lightbox and
Fuel Entertainment said they were almost ready to start digging into the
garbage dump in Alamogordo, N.M., to look for the cartridges. Their
research had led them there, they said, and they were planning on a long
dig, since they didn't know precisely where in the dump the millions of
games might be found.
Atari's E.T. game is universally considered one of the worst in history,
brought to market in just weeks following the monumental success of
Steven Spielberg's 1983 film "E.T." It was thought to be boring,
aesthetically ugly, and shallow. Though it immediately sold 1.5 million
copies thanks to its ties to the movie, sales quickly stalled, and the
result was a $500 million loss for Atari, a financial disaster that drove
the once high-flying company into ruin.
The episode has been referred to as Atari's "corporate shame."
Last June, the Guardian reported, city officials in Alamogordo approved
the excavation. But New Mexico Environment Department spokesperson Jim
Winchester told the publication that state environmental officials, who
have the final say on the approval of a waste excavation plan, rejected
it last month. He added that the filmmakers have yet to submit a new
plan.
Requests for comment by CNET to the New Mexico Environment Department and
Fuel Entertainment were not immediately returned.
Search For Old Atari Games To Go On in New Mexico
Organizers say a planned dig into a New Mexico landfill for a rumored
cache of what some consider the worst Atari video game of all time is
expected to proceed despite state environmental regulators' concerns.
Fuel Entertainment and LightBox Interactive are seeking to excavate an
old Alamogordo landfill that reportedly was a dumping ground for "E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial" game cartridges.
Jonathan Chinn, an executive producer at Los Angeles-based LightBox, said
Thursday that the search hasn't been halted.
Chinn says a local waste-management consultant who filed an excavation
permit is addressing questions raised by the New Mexico Environmental
Department.
A department spokesman has said the agency was waiting on a revised waste
excavation plan.
"E.T." the video game, inspired by the hit 1982 movie, is said to have
contributed to Atari's decline.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
No, The U.S. Isnt Really Giving Up the Internet It Doesnt Own It Anyway
The United States National Telecommunications and Information
Administration announced Friday evening that it would hand over its
limited oversight of the Internets domain-name system to an undefined,
new decision-making process.
Clearly, then, were giving up on U.S. oversight of the Internet, and our
government is hiding the fact by making the announcement on a Friday
night.
If theres a 5:00 on Friday news dump, youd better be concerned. Keep
the Internet! tweeted former Republican Rep. Mary Bono. She had company
in that assessment, as a variety of other GOPers denounced the proposal.
The idea of surrendering American control over one of the best things ever
made in America isnt something to take lightly. Taken to an extreme, it
suggests weve jacked into a future where Vladimir Putin deletes the
registration for usa.gov (presumably while being whisked somewhere in a
black helicopter).
But, surprise, last Fridays announcement doesnt mean that. Its not even
new.
The U.S. began moving in this direction back in 1997, then reaffirmed it
in 1998 when it transferred domain-name management duties to a Los
Angelesbased nonprofit called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers.
Ever since, its been ICANN calling the shots over the machinery that
assigns domain names like yahoo.com. Its also ICANN that decides whether
to create new top-level domains such as .biz, .info, and maybe
someday .sucks.
The governments remaining responsibility has essentially been OKing
ICANNs proposed changes to the root zone of the domain name
systemthe beating heart of the mechanism that routes Internet requests
for particular site names that humans can read to numerical Internet
Protocol addresses like 206.190.36.45, which computers understand.
Our role has always been a clerical, administrative role to make sure the
system worked, said an NTIA official Monday afternoon.
In 2006, the government confirmed once again its intention to hand over
that role to the global Internet community.
Fridays news amounts to the feds saying, The last two administrations
werent kidding. We still mean it.
So what has changed to make this news look so loaded in some quarters?
Some blame goes to the absurd level of inter-party hostility in
Washington, and in particular the if the Obama administration wants
this, it must be wrong school of thinking. But responsibility can be
found all around Washington.
Foolish, failed attempts to rewrite the Internets core code to stop
pornography (the Communications Decency Act) and copyright infringement
(the Stop Online Piracy Act) were bipartisan offenses. The NSAs bulk
surveillance and efforts to weaken Internet-security standards also had
support in both parties.
All those things seem to have led to a general suspicion of any
government-instigated change to the Interneteven if that change is to
reduce governments role in the Internet.
And then something called WCIT happened. At the 12th annual World
onference on International Telecommunications in Dubai two Decembers ago,
other countries teamed up with the International Telecommunications Union
to try to place Internet governance under that United Nations body.
The U.S. and like-minded countries balked at that and finally walked out
of WCIT. Fridays announcement from the NTIA included this pointed
deal-breaker: NTIA will not accept a proposal that replaces the NTIA
role with a government-led or an inter-governmental organization solution.
What next, instead? Thats an outstanding question.
The idea is to turn supervision of ICANN over to a multi-stakeholder
process involving the Internet community worldwide that must keep the
Internet secure, stable, resilient, and open. In tech-policy circles,
the phrase multi-stakeholder process can translate to mañana or when
I get around to it, but NTIAs current contract with ICANN runs out in
September 2015.
If all goes wellseriously, dont ask me how we get there from herethe
domain-name system will look and work about as it does now, but without
crucial sign-offs coming from a Washington, D.C., address.
And that alone will count for something on a symbolic level. Other
countries have never particularly liked the sense that the U.S.
government had a privileged position relating to Internet governance,
wrote Wendy Seltzer, policy counsel for the World Wide Web Consortium.
Christian Dawson, chairman of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition, made
the same point: All this will really mean is different oversight for
the same taskoversight that better reflects the global Internet
community.
But on a philosophical level, reinforcing that the Internet functions
beyond any one .govs controla step toward a world in which
governments no longer assert oversight over the technology of
communication, as George Mason University Mercatus Center scholar Eli
Dourado wrote Mondaywould promote a longstanding libertarian
aspiration.
That would be a remarkable accomplishment by this Democratic
administration. Will it get any credit for that?
Obama Administration Denies 'Abandoning the Internet'
A top Commerce Department official pushed back Wednesday against concerns
that the Obama administration is opening the door to an Internet takeover
by Russia, China, and other authoritarian regimes.
The fears stem from the Commerce Department's announcement last Friday
that it plans to give the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers, an international nonprofit group, control over the technical
system that allows computers to connect to Web addresses.
"Our announcement has led to some misunderstanding about our plan, with
some individuals raising concern that the U.S. government is abandoning
the Internet. Nothing could be further from the truth," Lawrence
Strickling, the assistant Commerce secretary for communications and
information, said in a statement. "This announcement in no way diminishes
our commitment to preserving the Internet as an engine for economic
growth and innovation."
He said the U.S. government will continue to push ICANN to adopt polices
that are in the interest of the United States and an open Internet.
The transition to full ICANN control of the Internet's address system
won't happen until October 2015, and even then, there likely won't be any
sudden changes. ICANN was already managing the system under a contract
from the Commerce Department.
But having the ultimate authority over the domain-name system was the most
important leverage the United States had in debates over the operation of
the Internet. It was a trump card the U.S. could play if it wanted to
veto an ICANN decision or fend off an international attack on Internet
freedom.
Some have expressed concern that giving up that leverage could allow
authoritarian governments or the United Nations to pressure ICANN to
censor online content. For example, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee
Republican, called the administration's announcement a "hostile step"
against free speech.
"Giving up control of ICANN will allow countries like China and Russia
that don't place the same value in freedom of speech to better define how
the Internet looks and operates," she said in a statement on Monday.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on the plan
next month and has promised "aggressive oversight." In a joint statement,
Committee Chairman Fred Upton and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg
Walden said that any changes to Internet governance should "be approached
with a cautious and careful eye."
But Strickling noted that the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration, a Commerce Department agency that he heads, will need to
sign off on ICANN's proposal for managing the Internet address system.
"We have been clear throughout this process that any transition plan must
meet the conditions of supporting the multistakeholder process and
protecting the security, stability and resiliency of the Internet,"
Strickling said. "I have emphasized that we will not accept a proposal
that replaces NTIA's role with a government-led or an intergovernmental
solution. Until the community comes together on a proposal that meets
these conditions, we will continue to perform our current stewardship
role."
Strickling also pointed to supportive statements from Democrats including
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Anna Eshoo,
as well as Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and John Thune. AT&T, Verizon,
Cisco, Microsoft, and Google have also endorsed the move.
The U.S. government has long supported the "multistakeholder" model for
Internet governance in which businesses, advocacy groups, and governments
come together to make decisions. But because the Internet was invented in
the United States, this country has historically had a central role in
its management. As the Internet has grown, other countries have demanded
a greater voice in decision-making. Edward Snowden's leaks about U.S.
surveillance have only intensified the international pressure on the
United States to relinquish its power.
Facebook Fights Back Against the NSA Spy Machine
Mark Zuckerberg was apparently peeved enough to phone the president when
he read recent reports that the NSA was using fake Facebook websites to
intercept the social networks traffic and infect private computers with
surveillance software. But Joe Sullivanthe ex-federal prosecutor who
now serves as Facebooks chief security officersaid the company has
now steeled its online services so that such a ploy is no longer
possible.
That particular attack is not viable, the 45-year-old Sullivan told a
room full of reporters yesterday at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park,
Calif. It hasnt been viable, he explained, since the company rolled out
whats called SSL data encryption for all its web traffic, a process it
completed in the summer of last year.
According to outside security researchers, there are still ways of
working around Facebooks encryption. But these methods are much harder
to pull off, and Sullivans message was clear: The situation around the
NSAs surveillance campaigns isnt quite as dire as many have painted
it. Unlike his counterparts at places like Google and Microsoft,
Sullivan said the revelations from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
arent really that surprising, and he indicated that the leaked
information has changed little about how his company approaches
security.
Sullivans message stands in contrast to the one Zuckerberg unloaded on
his Facebook page after phoning the president. The Facebook founder
expressed extreme frustration over the NSAs practices, calling for
sweeping changes to government policies. But the contrast isnt that
surprising. It very clearly shows the awkward situation that has
engulfed companies like Facebook in the wake of Snowdens revelations,
which started tumbling out last summer. The giants of the web are
certainly concerned over NSA surveillancedespite indications that they
may have been complicit in some waysand theyre actively fighting
against it. But they must also reassure customers that the situation is
well in handthat its safe to use their services today. This can be a
difficult line to walk.
Certainly, the webs largest operationsincluding Google, Yahoo, and
Microsoft, as well as Facebookhave now taken at least the basic steps
needed to guard their online traffic against interlopers. Facebook not
only uses SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, encryption to protect all data
moving between its computer servers and virtually all of the more than
1.2 billion people who use the social networking service, but it has
also installed technology that uses similarly hefty encryption
techniques to protect information that flows between the massive data
centers that underpin its online empire. This is just the sort of thing
Snowden himself called for last week while appearing via video feed at
a conference in Texas.
In using SSL to encode all data sent and received by its millions of
members, Facebook can indeed thwart the sort of fake-Facebook-server
attack discussed in the press last week. As described, these attacks
redirected people to NSA websites that looked exactly like Facebook by
surreptitiously slipping certain Internet addresses into their browsers.
SSL encryption provides what is probably solid protection against such
methods, said Nicholas Weaver, a staff researcher who specializes in
network security at the International Computer Science Institute.
Weaver does acknowledge that attackers could compromise Facebook SSL
encryption by somehow obtaining or creating fake encryption certificates,
but he believes that such attacks are now unlikely. That is very risky
these days, he said, pointing out that many companies are now on the
lookout for such fake certificates.
Its equally important that Facebook is now encrypting information as it
moves between data centers. Documents released by Snowden have shown that
the NSA has ways of tapping lines that connect the massive computing
centers operated by the likes of Google and Facebook. Sullivan declined
to say when Facebook had secured these lines, but hes now confident that
this makes it much more difficult for agencies like the NSA to eavesdrop
on Facebook data as it travels through network service providers outside
of the companys control. And Weaver agrees. Assuming that the companys
encryption devices arent sabotaged, he said, the data is secure as it
travels across the wire. Youd need to break into the data center
computers or the encryption devices themselves to access that data, he
said.
But Sullivans rather sunny view of Facebook security doesnt tell the
whole story. Much of the rest of the web has yet to adopt similar
encryption techniques, and theres still so much we dont know about what
the NSA is capable of. Its also worth noting that Facebooks chief
security officer sidestepped questions about future threats to the
companys operation, including the possibility of a quantum computer that
could break current encryption techniques. In the post-Snowden age, the
giants of the web have certainly increased their security efforts. But
there is always more to do.
Google Just Made It Harder For People (Cough Cough the NSA) to Spy on Your Gmail
Google has enhanced the encryption technology for its flagship email
service in ways that will make it harder for the National Security Agency
to intercept messages moving among the companys worldwide data centers.
Among the most extraordinary disclosures in documents leaked by former NSA
systems analyst Edward Snowden were reports that the NSA had secretly
tapped into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google
data centers around the world.
Google, whose executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, said in November that he
was outraged over the practice, didnt mention the NSA in Thursdays
announcement, except in a veiled reference to last summers
revelations. The change affects more than 425 million users of Googles
Gmail service.
Yahoo has promised similar steps for its email service by this spring.
Google and other technology companies have been outspoken about the U.S.
governments spy programs. The companies are worried more people will
reduce their online activities if they believe almost everything they do
is being monitored by the government. A decline in Internet use could
hurt the companies financially by giving them fewer opportunities to
show online ads and sell other services.
"Your email is important to you, and making sure it stays safe and always
available is important to us," Nicolas Lidzborski, Gmails security
engineering lead, wrote in a blog post.
Lidzborski said that all Gmail messages a consumer sends or receives are
now encrypted.
"This ensures that your messages are safe not only when they move between
you and Gmails servers, but also as they move between Googles data
centers something we made a top priority after last summers
revelations," Lidzborski wrote.
The NSA has said it only focuses on targets with foreign intelligence
value.
A secret Jan. 9, 2013, accounting indicated that NSA sends millions of
records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data
warehouses at the NSAs Fort Meade, Md., headquarters, according to
documents released by Snowden and obtained by The Washington Post last
year.
The NSAs principal tool to exploit the Google and Yahoo data links is a
project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agencys British
counterpart, GCHQ. NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across
fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the
Silicon Valley giants, the Post reported.
President Barack Obama has promised to consider changing some of the
surveillance programs that Snowden disclosed. But the type of surveillance
Google is trying to prevent by improving its encryption technology is not
among the reforms Obama has discussed.
Google and other technology companies provide information to the NSA and
other government agencies when required by a court order.
"Google is making it tougher for the government to spy on its customers
without going through Google," said Chris Soghoian, a senior policy
analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union.
"There are still ways for NSA to spy on the bad guys," Soghoian said. "But
this will prevent them from spying on 500 million people at once."
Turkey Blocks Access to Twitter for Entire Country Days Before Major Election
Turkeys courts have blocked access to Twitter days before elections as
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan battles a corruption scandal that has seen
social media platforms awash with alleged evidence of government
wrongdoing.
The ban came hours after a defiant Erdogan, on the campaign trail ahead of
key March 30 local elections, vowed to wipe out Twitter and said he did
not care what the international community had to say about it.
Erdogans ruling AK Party has already tightened Internet controls, handed
government more influence over the courts, and reassigned thousands of
police and hundreds of prosecutors and judges as it fights a corruption
scandal he has cast as a plot by political enemies to oust him.
Telecoms watchdog BTK said the social media platform had been blocked by
the courts after complaints were made by citizens that it was breaching
privacy. It said Twitter had ignored previous requests to remove content.
Because there was no other choice, access to Twitter was blocked in line
with court decisions to avoid the possible future victimization of
citizens, it said.
San Franciscobased Twitter said it was looking into the matter but had
not issued a formal statement. The company did publish a tweet addressed
to Turkish members instructing them on how to continue tweeting via SMS
text message.
Twitter, mwitter! Erdogan told thousands of supporters at a rally late
on Thursday, in a phrase translating roughly as Twitter, schmitter!
We will wipe out all of these, said Erdogan, who has cast the
corruption scandal as part of a smear campaign by his political enemies.
The international community can say this, can say that. I dont care at
all. Everyone will see how powerful the Republic of Turkey is, he said
in a characteristically unyielding tone.
Twitter members in Turkey began reporting widespread outages overnight.
Some trying to open the Twitter.com website were taken to a statement
apparently from another regulator (TIB) citing four court orders as the
basis for the ban.
The corruption investigation became public on Dec. 17, when police
detained the sons of three cabinet ministers and businessmen close to
Erdogan. The three ministers resigned a week later, while others were
removed in a cabinet reshuffle.
At an extraordinary session on Wednesday, Parliaments speaker blocked
opposition pleas to have a prosecutors report with allegations against
the former ministers read out.
A document purporting to be that report appeared on Twitter last week. It
included alleged transcripts of wiretapped phone conversations, pictures
from physical surveillance, and pictures of official documents accusing
the former ministers and two of their sons of involvement with an Iranian
businessman in a bribery and smuggling racket.
Reuters has not been able to verify the authenticity of the document.
Turkish citizens were quick to come up with ways to circumvent the block.
The hashtag #TwitterisblockedinTurkey quickly moved among the top
trending globally.
The disruption sparked a virtual uproar, with many comparing Turkey with
Iran and North Korea, where social media platforms are tightly controlled.
There were also calls to take to the street to protest, although some
equally called for calm.
Nazli Ilicak, a columnist who used to work for the pro-government Sabah
newspaper described the move as a civil coup in an interview on
broadcaster CNN Turk.
The move was only the latest clash between Turkeys ruling party and
social media companies including Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
After a series of popular protests partly fueled by Twitter last summer,
Erdogan slammed the service as a scourge.
Shortly thereafter, a government minister asked Twitter to establish an
office in Turkey so that it could better communicate requests to take down
content or hold the company accountable to Turkish law. Twitter did not
respond to the request.
Erdogan said two weeks ago that Turkey could also ban Facebook and
YouTube, which he says have been abused by his enemies after a stream of
audio recordings purportedly revealing corruption in his inner circle
emerged online.
But a senior official said on Friday there were no immediate plans to do
so.
The path was taken to block access within the framework of a court
decision because of the failure to overcome the problem with the
management of Twitter, the official said.
At the moment there is no such a decision for Facebook and other social
media, he told Reuters.
California Has a Cyber-Gang Problem
International criminal enterprises follow the money, and a report being
released Thursday says they are increasingly focusing on California
because of its wealth and innovation.
Aside from longtime trafficking in drugs, guns, and people, the report by
California Attorney General Kamala Harris says criminals are turning to
cybercrime to target businesses and financial institutions.
It calls California the top target in the United States for organizations
that often operate from safe havens in Eastern Europe, Africa, and China.
California is a global leader on a number of fronts and, unfortunately,
transnational criminal activity is one of them, the report states.
Harris said it is the first comprehensive report to outline the effects
international criminal organizations are having on Californians and
businesses in the state. She released a 181-page report during a
late-morning news conference with other law enforcement officials in Los
Angeles.
California leads all states in the number of computer systems hacked or
infected by malware, the number of victims of Internet crimes, the amount
of financial losses suffered as a result, and the number of victims of
identity fraud. The report says the state also is particularly vulnerable
to thefts of intellectual property because of its leading role in
developing new technologies and mass-media entertainment.
Not surprisingly, transnational organized crime has tapped into this new
criminal frontier, the report says. Many of these breaches have been
tied to transnational criminal organizations operating from Russia,
Ukraine, Romania, Israel, Egypt, China, and Nigeria, among other places.
Californias gross domestic product of $2 trillion, significant foreign
trade activity, and border with Mexico also make the state an easy target
for international money-laundering schemes, the report says. It estimates
that more than $30 billion is laundered through Californias economy each
year.
Some is filtered through legitimate businesses or by using virtual
currencies such as Bitcoin. But the report says backpacks and duffel bags
stuffed with cash have been seized more frequently since Mexico began
toughening its money-laundering laws in 2010.
Seizures of bulk cash increased 40 percent by 2011 in California, which
now leads the nation in the number of currency seizures.
California should alter state law to make it easier for prosecutors to
crack down on money laundering, the report says. Unlike federal law,
state law currently requires prosecutors to prove that a suspect
deliberately carried out a financial transaction in a way designed to
hide the fact that the money came from or was used for a criminal
activity.
The report also recommends that the Legislature change state law to let
prosecutors temporarily freeze the assets of transnational criminal
organizations and associated gangs before they seek an indictment.
It also calls for the state to devote more money to the state Department
of Justice, which Harris leads. That would include $7.5 million to fund
five new teams that would target international criminals.
Beware of This Google Drive Scam Stealing Your Info
Usually, you can tell a legitimate Google notification from a phishing
scam by reading the URLs domain namea message that redirects you to a
non-Google address is sure to be a scam. However, a sophisticated phisher
has come up with a method of stealing Google login information by using
the companys own servers against it.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based security firm Symantec discovered the phishing
attempt and reported the incident on its blog. The scam comes in an email
titled Documents and encourages you to click on an included link to
check out an important message on Google Drive.
This link leads to a login page hosted on a bona fide Google URL,
complete with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) authentication. The login prompt
is identical to that of a real Google site, inviting you to sign in for
One account. All of Google. Those who log in get access to a Google
Drive document that says nothing of great import.
Of course, the document isnt the point; the point is that the phishers
now have access to your Google account. This gives them access to Google
Drive documents, private email, andperhaps most damningpayment
information for Google Play.
The trick works because the lure document is actually hosted on Google
Drive. Combined with the convincing login page, this trick could
theoretically fool the tech savvy as well as the uninformed.
Still, cautious people would spot a few red flags in this otherwise
clever scam. First of all, the email itself does not come from an
official Google email address, even if its preferred display name
indicates otherwise. Clicking on links embedded in emails is also
generally a bad practice, although in this case, even copying and pasting
it would still bring you to a verified Google page.
If you get an email message purporting to come from a big organization
such as Google, its generally a good idea to check the content of the
email against the companys official blog or Twitter feed. A company will
rarely institute policy changes without informing you on a grand scale.
Dont feel too bad if you got taken in by this one, but do change your
password as soon as possible, and consider implementing two-step
authentication for your Google account.
Judge Rejects Class-Action Bid in Gmail-Scanning Case
Google scored a victory this week in a long-running Gmail lawsuit when a
California judge denied a request to turn it into a class-action suit.
As a result, plaintiffs will be forced to pursue the case separately, a
costly move that might not have a lucrative enough outcome to make it a
worthwhile endeavor.
At issue is a feature within Gmail that anonymously scans the contents of
peoples' emails to serve up targeted ads on the right-hand side of the
inbox. The lawsuit claims the practice violates federal and state wiretap
laws, but Google has long held that scanning is done via an algorithm; no
humans at Google are reading peoples' emails.
In September, Judge Lucy Koh rejected Google's request for dismissal
after the search giant argued that "just as a sender of a letter to a
business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant
opens the letter, people who use Web-based email today cannot be
surprised if their communications are processed by the recipient's ECS
[electronic communications service] provider in the course of delivery."
But Judge Koh found that the scanning of emails is not considered an
"instrumental part of the transmission of email."
Today, however, Judge Koh focused on whether the plaintiffs consented to
the alleged interceptions within Gmail. In this case, she found, the
consent issues are too different to combine into a class action.
"Specifically, there is a panoply of sources from which email users could
have learned of Google's interceptions other than Google's TOS and
Privacy Policies," she wrote, pointing to Google-crafted websites, as
well as media reports.
"Some Class members likely viewed some of these Google and non-Google
disclosures, but others likely did not," she continued. "A fact-finder,
in determining whether Class members impliedly consented, would have to
evaluate to which of the various sources each individual user had been
exposed and whether each individual 'knew about and consented to the
interception' based on the sources to which she was exposed."
Ultimately, that would "lead to numerous individualized inquiries that
will overwhelm any common questions," the judge concluded.
AT&T Rebuffs Netflix CEO's Net Neutrality Defense
It probably isn't often that AT&T and Verizon Wireless find themselves to
be allies, but net neutrality might be one subject on which their
interests align.
In direct response to a pointed memo by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on
Thursday, AT&T's public policy chief Jim Cicconi presented a rebuttal on
Friday.
Much like Hastings, Cicconi doesn't mince words in defending the stance
of the nation's second largest wireless provider, which essenitally boils
down to the somewhat rhetorical question that headlines the memo, "Who
Should Pay for Netflix?"
Here's an excerpt:
As we all know, there is no free lunch, and theres also no cost-free
delivery of streaming movies. Someone has to pay that cost. Mr.
Hastings arrogant proposition is that everyone else should pay but
Netflix. That may be a nice deal if he can get it. But its not how the
Internet, or telecommunication for that matter, has ever worked.
To recall, Verizon Wireless won a court challenge to net neutrality
rules, leading the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. to send the
rules back to the FCC in January.
This immediately sparked a debate about the future of the Internet as the
move essentially means broadband companies would be able to charge tech
companies, such as Netflix or Hulu, more money for fast connections
needed to deliver their services.
It's up to the FCC now to rewrite the rules. In February, FCC chairman Tom
Wheeler published a proposal he asserted will preserve the Internet as
"an open platform for innovation and expression."
If there is one company that would benefit from the upholding of net
neutrality, it is Netflix.
Microsoft and Google Ruin Intel's Plan for Dual-OS Tablets
Asus' dual-boot Transformer Book Duet is dead. At CES this year, one of
the big stories was dual-OS devices. Spurred on by encouragement from
chipmaker Intel, Asus announced the Transformer Book Duet, a hybrid
laptop and tablet that switches between Microsoft Windows and Google's
Android on the fly. The device was an intriguing highlight at a trade
show that was generally devoid of interesting laptops and tablets, and
was scheduled forrelease in the US this month. Unfortunately, the device
has likely been cancelled due to strong opposition from Microsoft and
Google, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Even before it was announced, the writing was on the wall for the
Transformer Book Duet. "[Google and Microsoft] each have their
sensitivities to this," one source told us in early January. With pressure
mounting from both sides, Asus was forced to abandon the Duet, and,
according a leaked memo obtained by the WSJ, it will also stop selling a
pair of dual-OS all-in-one PCs it launched last year.
A large reason for the halt of sales, says the memo, is Microsoft has a
"new policy" of not supporting dual-OS products. Patrick Moorhead,
principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, told us in January that
"Microsoft does not want [dual-OS devices] to happen," and now tells The
Wall Street Journal that "Google wants all-Android devices" as well. It
looks like the software giants got their way this time, and will now
force hardware manufacturers and consumers to choose between Windows
8.1, Android, Windows RT, and Chrome OS for their upcoming devices.
Google Glass Is on the Ropes. Could be Finished
Google Glass has been an inspired product. Along the way, however, Google
forgot one important thing: to create a thoughtful and beloved product,
support it, and develop a considered path to market. That's why Glass
looks to be history according to one of its strongest supporters, Robert
Scoble.
When Paul Thurrott launched his straight talk about Windows 8, the
fantasy was over for Microsoft. Mr. Thurrott exposed the fundamental
weakness of the Windows 8 strategy. The product is now hopelessly
damaged, and Microsoft will likely write it off as mistake, like Vista,
and move on with Windows 9.
On March 19, Robert "Mister Google Glass" Scoble did the same thing to
Goggle. The most notable fan of Google Glass, the ultimate glasshole, has
bluntly exposed critical problems with Google's handling of the product.
Mr. Scoble, in a recent Google+ post sums it up:
Larry Page is on stage at TED right now. I'm at home watching. He is
not wearing Google Glass.
This fits the new narrative that's going on in my head: that Google
doesn't know how to stick with a product. Remember Google Wave? It was a
very interesting idea, but Google gave up on it very quickly. Why?
Because it was controversial and the execution wasn't good.
R. Scoble when he was in love with Google Glass in early 2013.
Suddenly the stark contrast between Google and Apple is brought into
focus. Google has been highly praised lately for its aggressive
introduction of technologies, but now we're seeing how a complete product
strategy is lacking. Goggle throws cool technology against the wall to
see what sticks while Apple thinks deeply about solving fundamental human
problems with the assistance technology. That takes more time.
Even Slate has created a holding spot for Google Glass in the Google
Graveyard of products.
Because Google has had no well thought-out product strategy and because
the technology has basically drifted for two years, Mr. Scoble observes:
"Google Glass is a deeply flawed product [emphasis mine]. I wrote about
how in my 'Glass is doomed' post."
Part of the problem has been that the social issues of Glass have proved
too difficult to overcome. A person near others wearing Google Glass is
irrationally ostracized. That's just the way it will be until the
technology is so well miniaturized that it's no longer visible to others.
I've seen some last-gasp activity going on by tech writers. Mike Elgan, a
fantastic observer and writer, has written what may turn out to be a
brilliant epitaph for Google Glass. It boils down to a plea to be loved,
yet left alone while in public with Glass, and it's oh-so poignant. "Am I
a Glasshole? Or Are You a Self-Absorbed, Irrational Luddite?" The article
tells us everything that's wrong about people, but also punctuates
everything that's wrong with Glass at the same time.
In another last-gasp attempt to turn the product around, Google itself is
trying to undo so many of the Glass myths that have evolved. "The Top 10
Google Glass Myths."
What have we learned? It's a mistake to conclude that because some company
has rushed a futuristic product to market with lots of fanfare that Apple
is doomed if it doesn't respond in kind right away. Apple's competitors
have shown little interest in fundamentally changing the world with deep
insights in to industrial design and human factors, and that's why they
can toss products and services our way, scattergun, to see what sticks.
Only the tech press panics, not Apple.
To put a gentle twist on it, photos of pretty women wearing Google Glass
do not fully define a product or create a solid foundation for the
product's future. The photos only mask the social reality with a fantasy.
For those who have forgotten, we thank Apple every day for its deep
insights into product design and its ability to then follow-through in
the marketplace with a supported, growing, and eventually a beloved
product like the iPod and iPad.
Apple doesn't try to do everything. It says "no!" to a lot of things when
there's no fundamental human solution to be embraced. We've been reminded
of the truth once again. Pay no attention to the wizards behind their
curtains, flashing around their toys.
$30K Worth of Multimeters Must Be Destroyed Because They're Yellow
An anonymous reader points out a post at the blog of Sparkfun, a hobbyist
electronics retailer. They recently received a letter from U.S. Customs
saying a shipment of 2,000 multimeters was being barred from entry into
the country. The reason? Trademark law. A company named Fluke holds a
trademark on multimeters that have a 'contrasting yellow border.'
Sparkfun's multimeters are a yellowish orange, but it was enough for
Customs to stop the shipment. Returning the shipment is not an option
because of import taxes in China, so the multimeters must now be
destroyed. At $15 per item, it'll cost Sparkfun $30,000, plus the
$150/hr fee for destroying them. Sparkfun had no idea about the
trademark, and doesn't mind changing the color, but they say
restrictions like these are a flaw in the trademark system. "Small
business does not have the resources to stay abreast of all trademarks
for all the products they don't carry. If youre going to put the onus
on the little guy to avoid infringing IP then you shouldn't need an
army of consultants or attorneys to find this information."
Feds Aren't Worried About Windows XP Vulnerabilities
Federal agencies do not anticipate trouble when Microsoft early next
month stops providing updated fixes for security flaws in the Windows XP
operating system, top Obama administration officials say.
The Washington Post reported that about 10 percent of government
computers, out of several million, will still be running XP when support
ends on April 8. According to the newspaper, the problem is urgent,
because vulnerabilities in the XP computers could allow intruders into
larger networks.
But White House officials say they feel individual agencies are prepared
for the expiration of XP support and dont see a need to take top-down
action.
Agencies have made significant progress in moving off Windows XP, and
the federal government is ahead of the private sector in this regard," a
White House Office of Management and Budget official said. During
conversations with agency personnel, "we have received no indication that
agencies require any additional OMB intervention at this time."
Banks have been scrambling to upgrade the 2.2 million XP-based ATMs still
using the 12-year-old operating system. According to Reuters, the cost of
special deals with Microsoft for extended support or upgrades could be
about $100 million for each of Britain's main banks.
Some agencies have decided it is cheaper or more efficient to stick with
XP. Typically, this is because their systems are not connected to the
Internet where viruses spread - or are impossible to overhaul.
Agencies continuing to use XP "have put in place contingency plans to
ensure that the risks associated with maintaining XP are mitigated," the
OMB official said. "This is not an approach that is unique to the
government the private sector is approaching the migration in a similar
way."
Administration officials could not tabulate the total cost of the
changeover.
The Homeland Security Department, tasked with overseeing governmentwide
cybersecurity, has been providing agencies with free "continuous
diagnostics" tools to help pinpoint vulnerabilities in their systems.
This aid should allow agencies to focus time and money on resolving the
most significant weaknesses first, including the updating of software as
necessary," DHS spokesman S.Y. Lee said.
"As a matter of law and policy, all agencies are responsible for the
security of their networks and systems, and that includes addressing
these known software vulnerabilities through ongoing patching," he said.
At Lees own department, a switch to Windows 7 is expected to complete
before April 8, according to DHS officials.
Microsoft's website states that, after April 8, XP users will stop
receiving updates that "help protect your PC from harmful viruses,
spyware, and other malicious software, which can steal your personal
information. Also, the reliability of Windows might wane without the
installation of new drivers for hardware and other tools, company
officials said.
But Microsoft officials seem confident that federal customers will be
shielded from hackers come April 9.
Because we are tightly working with our customers, and because of the
types of systems that have yet to make the move off XP, we do not feel
there is a substantially greater risk for the federal government on
April 9 than there is on April 7, Mark Williams, Microsofts chief
security officer for federal systems, told The Post. That being said, at
the end of the day, its important to remember that the most safe system
is a modern one.
Microsoft Office for iPad Will Be Unveiled This Month
Satya Nadella is planning to host his first press event as Microsoft CEO
next week. The software maker has been inviting members of the media to
a special cloud- and mobile-focused event in San Francisco on March 27th.
Nadella is expected to discuss Microsofts "mobile first, cloud first"
strategy, and there will be some major news ahead of the companys Build
conference in early April. Sources familiar with Microsofts plans tell
The Verge that the event will mark the introduction of Office for iPad.
Microsoft has been working on the software for a number of months now,
having first introduced an iOS version of Office for the iPhone in June
last year. We understand the iPad variant of Office will be similar to
the iPhone version, and will require an Office 365 subscription for
editing. Were told that document creation and editing is fully supported
for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps. Overall, the interface and features
are expected to be similar to the existing iPhone version.
Nadellas unveiling of Office for iPad will be the first major press event
for the new CEO, but it will also underline his strategy for Microsoft.
Nadella hinted at "cloud first, mobile first" shortly after he was named
CEO last month, and Microsoft launched a Mac version of its OneNote Office
app today, along with Office Online recently. The March 27th event will
set the stage for further announcements at the Build developer conference
on April 2nd. Microsoft will unveil Windows Phone 8.1 at Build, and the
company is expected to fully detail its Windows 8.1 Update and hint at
some future plans for Windows 9.
Developing Countries: We Want Internet Freedom!
A censorship-free Internet is a priority for most people in emerging
countries, especially the younger population, according to a new report.
Pew Research Center interviewed nearly 22,000 people in 24 emerging and
developing countries between March and May for the report released
Wednesday.
In 22 of those 24 countries, the majority of respondents think "it is
important that people have access to the internet without government
censorship." (Uganda just missed the cutoff, at 49 percent, and
Pakistan was significantly lower at just 22 percent.)
The strength of censorship opposition varied by country, as well as
other factors. Support of Internet freedom is prevalent in Latin
American countries as well as Lebanon and Egypt, Pew said.
Unsurprisingly, anti-censorship sentiment tends to be strong in nations
where Internet use is more common, such as Chile and Argentina. The trend
is reversed in less connected nations like Uganda.
But two countries bucked that trend: Internet-freedom support in Russia
(63 percent) and Pakistan (22 percent) came in low compared with the
level of Internet penetration in those countries.
Age is also a major factor: In 14 of the 24 countries surveyed, people
ages 18-29 are more likely than those 50 or older to think a free
Internet is important. In nations including Russia and Lebanon, that age
gap came in at 20 percentage points or more.
"These age differences suggest that support for internet freedom will
only become more widespread with the passage of time," Pew said in its
report.
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