donderdag 27 januari 2011

Five arrested over 'Anonymous' web attacks

The five men have been arrested over a spate of recent web attacks carried out in support of Wikileaks. They men were arrested because there were attacking Paypal, Mastercard and Amazon. The five male, anonymous used a technique called ‘distributed denial of service’ attacks in a bid to take the sites offline. A online tool called LOIC is was used to allow members to easily take part in the bombardments of websites. The LOIC promised people who downloaded this had ‘next to zero’ chance that anyone who used it would be caught. But according to a study the tool makes no attempt to hide a user’s net address which would lead any investigator almost straight to an attacker.

Reaction:
Many people who do these actions have issues of free speech and preserving the openness of the net. I think some people are not aware of what will happen if these actions will continue. The people who used LOIC are not hackers but average internet citizens. I think it will be difficult for the police to arrest these people. I think is it not good that Mastercard, Paypal and Amazon denial service to Wikileaks. But it is not certain why they do not service Wikileaks anymore. According to other sources Wikileaks does maintain the rules from these companies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12299137

Trail that led Met police from Prince's household to tabloid newsroom

‘Last summer the Met insisted the phone-hacking case had been investigated 'most carefully', yet still the story unravels’
In 2006 Clive Goodman was being charged with intercepting voicemail. In December 2005 suspicions voiced aids began in the Prince of Wale’s private offices at Clarence House. It seemed that someone had been listening to the voicemail of members of the royal household. The royal editor, Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator were arrested. Convictions secured that the detective had done their work after the two were jailed pleading guilty to hacking of royal aided and named celebrities. Police appear to have persuaded prosecutors to ‘ringfence’ evidence. One interpretation is that this was a suppressing the names of hacking victims. There are questions over whether those who may have been victims were warned by police. In 2009 there was a disclosed agreement that ‘police would inform’ any potential victims not reflected in the charges brought.


Reaction: This news item shows that the British tabloids will do anything to get information from celebrities and the Royal family. The paparazzi in England can be very brutal. If you are a celebrity or a Royal the British paparazzi will follow you everwhere. In this news item they tell that there are more victims who the perpetrators have been listening to their voicemail. The police have failed to find all possible perpetrators and that lead also to a failure to who have been victims of voicemail inception. It seems weird that the some victims were not even informed by the police.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/26/met-police-prince-tabloid

woensdag 26 januari 2011

Pair jailed for Trafalgar Square homophobic killing

A couple have been jailed for manslaughter. A 62 year old man, Ian Baynham, was assaulted outside Afica house in September 2009. As he lay unconscious, he was punched by Joel Alexander (20) and then repeatedly stamped on by Ruby Thomas(19). The Old Bailey jailed Thomas and Alexander for seven years and six years respectively. Former public schoolgirl Thomas, of Anerly south-east London has been drinking before she hurled obscene abuse at Mr Baynham. 18 days after the assault in central London Mr Baynham died. Police found evidence on her handbag and the ballet pumps she was wearing as she kicked him. Thomas is blamed by the judge for sparking the violence that led to Mr Baynham’s death.

Reaction: It is very shocking to read this news. How can this happen that a young girl from a public school would do such a thing? She may have a lot of psychological and serious drinking problems otherwise you would not do this. she only geta seven years and six years respective. Maybe it is also a good idea to give this people some therapies for their behavior. According to some critics the British schools continue to fail to tackle the homophobic bullying. But in this case it is not only the homophobic problems but also the behavior of these teenagers. They have certainly issues with their manners and also there alcohol abuse. The alcohol is maybe the biggest problem for the youth in Britain.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12283937

Top Gear is back, as brilliantly bonkers as ever

‘Top Gear returned for a sixteenth series on BBC Two with the same usual brazen disregard for health and safety – and sanity’ says Ceri Radford.

There is a new season from top gear. People who do not have interests in cars can enjoy this series. It will continue to appeal watching Jeremy Clarkson drive through a burning building while eating a ice cream. There is also a stunt called ‘road ‘test’. To prove that a Skoda Yeti was the car of cars and not a four wheeled embarrassment, Clarkson, landed a helicopter on its rood, made a team fireman clamber through it, testes out its air conditioning with the afore mentioned ice cream stunt, and turned the vehicle on a itinerant tattoo parlour. The white hemeted racing driver known as the stick is the mysterious of this serie. Many people want to know who that is.


Reaction: This tv program is running for years. Many people watch this series. It is a very popular program in Britain. Even if you do not like cars it is fun to watch because they have a lot of humor. Nowhere on television can you find quite such braze insanity. Some critics, predominantly people who love cars, say that top gear has become a parody of itself. I think that is also true but it is fun to watch. You can say that the humor in this program stands for the British humor. It is very absurd and insane humor .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/top-gear/8278392/Top-Gear-is-back-as-brilliantly-bonkers-as-ever.html

BBC World Service cuts outlined to staff

‘The BBC has confirmed plans to close five of its 32 World Service language services’

Over the next three years 650 jobs will be lost from a workforce of 2,400 , that is 25 percent of the total. They want to save 46m a year. The English for the Caribbean , Portuguese for Africas, Macedonian and Albian services will be axed. There will be more focus on online, mobile and TV content distributions in these languages. Foreign Secretary William Hague, made in a written statement clear to the MPs that the in cuts in funding required ‘difficult decisions to be made’. He also said that the World Service had a ‘viable and promising future’, but was ‘not immune from public spending constraints’. He also said that ‘it is absolutely right for the World Service to move more services to online and mobile. That is the way the world is going.

My reaction: It is not only difficult for the employees that they lose their jobs but also for the listeners of countries where they

not have access to the internet. I think is it not necessary that they stop broadcasting in lands like Africa and other countries because they not have internet and would not have access to the programmes. They must focus their efforts in the languages where there is the greatest need and were they have the strongest impact. It is also awful for British foreign policy because there are weakening substantially one of the most important elements of international television.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12283356

Sue Kyi seeks peaceful revolution

(15 november 2010)

Sue Kyi, who is just 2 days released after 15 years house arrest, has said that her aim is for a peaceful revolution in Burma. Burma held its first election in 20 years. Six days later after this election, pro democracy leader Sue Kyi was released. BBC news did an exclusive interview with her. She was saying that democracy would come to Burma eventually, although she did not know how long it would take. Some analysts suggest that if Aung San Suu Kyi's release leads to a change in the sanctions against trade and investment in Burma, China's leading role in the economy could be challenged.



My opnion: This item reminded me that she maybe is inspired by Martin Luther King and Gandhi because she wants a peaceful non violent revolution. I think this ‘revolution’ could take a while because she said that many things have to change like the mindset and values of the Burma people. I think this could be the beginning of the revolution. Also I think it is obvious that she is released just after 6 days Burma held its first election in 20 years. This could be a bad situation or an opportunity for her.

Egypt warns against political protest

‘Egypt is to crack down on public protest and has vowed to arrest and prosecute anyone found taking to the streets against the government’.

The nationwide protest were broken up overnight because a fourth person died. The demonstrations are already illegal without government permission which is in contrast from the foreign ministry that claimed the country had an open environment of freedom of expression. There have been some calls for new demonstration. The recent uprising in Tunisia had inspired the protestors. They are vowing to stay until the government fell. The crowd’s anger was largely focused on the president. President Hosni Mubarak ruled this country since 1981. The demonstration are illegal in Egypt. The White House describing the situation as ‘an important opportunity’ for the nation to protest and urged the Egyptian government allow this.





My opinion: I think it is not good that the government forbids the demonstration. I think non violent demonstrations are a way good way to show opnions. The people of Egypt must show that they are against the government. It is an important opportunity for the nation. It is also an opportunity for the government to be responsive to the aspiration of the Egyptian people. This is not a democracy. The people must have a open environment of freedom and expression. I think the president of Egypt must react and listen to the people of Egypt.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12283849