Technology

from EFF, 18 June 2010: "Today EFF and the Tor Project are launching a public beta of a new Firefox extension called HTTPS Everywhere. This Firefox extension was inspired by the launch of Google's encrypted search option. We wanted a way to ensure that every search our browsers sent was encrypted. At the same time, we were also able to encrypt most or all of the browser's communications with some other sites..." more

from email, updated 24 February 2010: "A five year plan on deviant behaviour, creating a European space of freedom, anti-capitalism and rebellion. The European wide network "Out Of Control" was created in 2009 with the purpose of a cross-border collaboration of activists against a European security architecture..." more

from freedompress, 16 January 2010: "A 33-year old has been sentenced to nine months imprisonment for refusing to decrypt his personal computer files. Judge Hetherington declared that the man, in spite of initial police suspicions, poses no threat to national security, and made it clear that his failure to cooperate with the police and to comply with a section 49 notice to provide passphrases to his encrypted computers was the reason the harsh sentence was handed down... more

from corporate media, 13 January 2010: "Israel is developing an army of robotic fighting machines that offers a window onto the potential future of warfare... In 10 to 15 years, one-third of Israel's military machines will be unmanned, predicts Giora Katz, vice president of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., one of Israel's leading weapons manufacturers..."  more

from riseup, 26 December 2009: "Two riseup birds recently did a presentation at the People's Summit celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Seattle WTO protests. We discussed the dangers of using corporate tools to do organizing work, in particular, the fact that you don't know what they do with your data. Thanks to some anonymous comments in a blogger's post about his research regarding a U.S. mobile phone company's release to law enforcement of its customers' geographic location information, we now have some answers..." more

from eff, 29 November 2009: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created this Surveillance Self-Defense site to educate the American public about the law and technology of government surveillance in the United States, providing the information and tools necessary to evaluate the threat of surveillance and take appropriate steps to defend against it..." more

from corporatewatch, 18 November 2009: "The culture of fear and distrust that has grown up around this century’s terror culture and its associated wars has created vast new markets for anything that can be branded with the words security or defence. In April 2010, London’s Kensington Olympia will play host to a Counter Terror Expo, put on by DSEi’s infamous events’ organiser, Clarion, and sponsored by French arms company, Thales..." more

from corpwatch, 3 November 2009: "The mass mobilisation against September's G20 Summit in Pittsburgh was met with a characteristically brutal response from US Homeland 'Security'. In many ways, police repression of UK protests pales in comparison to American political policing, with activists being routinely arrested under various terrorism-related charges and local and federal law enforcement agencies rolling out military style operations, complete with temporary detention facilities and costing hundreds of thousands of dollars each..." more

from tortuga, 3 November 2009: "In the face of a PR nightmare, Pennsylvania authorities have withdrawn all charges against two members of Tortuga accused of using Twitter to aid protesters at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. At a hearing today, instead of oral arguments regarding a defense motion to unseal the secret 18-page affidavit authorizing the arrests of Elliott Madison and Michael Wallschlager at a motel just outside of Pittsburgh, the prosecution immediately moved to withdraw all charges against the two before the defense had a chance to argue its case..."  more

from imc, 11 June 2009: "In case you missed it the guide to anonymous browing published by Global Voices was updated in March this year to take account of the changes in TOR. The simple to understand guide is online as html or downloadable as a pdf..." more

from MobileActive Wiki, updated 20 February 2009: "Mobiles can be useful tools for collecting, planning, coordinating and recording activities of NGO staff and activists. But did you know that whenever your phone is on, your location is known to the network operator? Or that each phone and SIM card transmits a unique identifying code, which, unless you are very careful about how you acquire the phone and SIM, can be traced uniquely to you? " more

from Cyptogon.con, reposted here 4 January 2008: This is a relatively old article but its all relevant to those people interested in surveillance, social control, data mining, online security, anonymity and traceability. Its written by someone who knows how the internet was developed and how it really works. As he says "A lot of times, ignorant people refer to things they don’t understand as “tinfoil” ... What follows, however, is so far out that it seems like tinfoil even to me. But then again, I haven’t been targeted by a death squad for my activities online, like some people are in many countries around the world. So, is it tinfoil? For you, maybe. For people struggling against repressive regimes, maybe not." more