Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated in Germany against an international copyright treaty. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, short: ACTA, is feared as a threat to Internet freedom.

The world has witnessed an unprecedented day of protests against ACTA. Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in dozens of cities around the globe to protect what is left of the freedom of expression on the internet. Peter Bradwell, a campaigner for the Open Rights Group told RT that the treaty's biggest danger is in giving too much power to uncontrolled private interests.

Thousands of people have taken part in co-ordinated protests across Europe in opposition to a controversial anti-piracy agreement.

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

Only a few days ago, I wrote an article entitled “Merging Man and Machine: Singularity vs. Humanity,” where I discussed the growing Singularity movement and its implications for humanity as we know it.

At the center of this article was the announcement by researchers at the University of California that scientists are now able to translate human speech into computer-generated signals which are then fed back to human brains as human speech.

While this may seem like groundbreaking news to some, the University of California is by no means the only institution working on such technology. Nor is it the only institution experiencing success in these endeavors...

Egypt sends the U.S. an official indictment of over 100 pages charging arrested NGO workers with illegally funneling funds to rig elections, incite unrest, and overthrow the government.

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Four stories underground the Los Angeles Civic Center in a functioning bomb shelter, the Los Angeles Police Department’s Real-time Analysis Critical Response (RACR) center was born amidst the fear and confusion which followed the attacks on September 11, 2001.

According to local CBS affiliate KCAL, the idea began at a grass roots level with rudimentary technology and has now grown into a center where police monitor live feeds of traffic and city cameras, counter-terrorism information and real-time crime mapping with “eyes all over the city.” ...

Iran has hits their internet kill switch, cutting access to millions of people, in an effort to prevent a psychological warfare campaign ahead of an imminent U.S. invasion.

Tango supposedly down, and, strangely unlike what one would expect with a government agency, remain down.

Includes goodies such as screenshots of my personal attempts to connect, and partial copy of a traceroute.

This year, Facebook will reach 1 billion users — or one-seventh of the human population. It has elicited more participation than any single government in the world other than India and China, and it will probably surpass them in a year or two. And whereas many people are fleeing their governments as they are able, more and more people are joining Facebook voluntarily.

A large group of European nations signed ACTA two weeks ago, sparking outrage across the continent. But not all European nations signed onto the agreement. Several countries, including Germany, had not finished their internal processes for approving the treaty, but vowed to sign on shortly.
But on Friday, the German government signaled it was having second thoughts. According to Spiegel, the German government now plans to wait and see how the European Parliament votes before Germany makes a decision on the treaty itself.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012

http://mortgagemovies.blogspot.com/2012/02/kingcast-and-mortgage-movie...

KingCast and Mortgage Movies say "Live Free or Die my ass: New Hampshire will steal your children and give your house to the banks."

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Governments never seem to be satisfied with what they have, particularly when it comes to offensive technology or anything that can be used against their people, especially those who can be identified as dissenters...

Unknown members of the hacker collective “Anonymous” reportedly broke into the private email account of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad this week and learned that the embattled dictator is not one much for electronic security.

That’s because he picked the second-weakest password around: “12345,” according to documents published by Israeli news magazine Haaretz. Security researchers say the only password that’s weaker is “password.”

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

In a testament to just how fast the coming cyberization of mankind has progressed, a new report published by the Daily Mail entitled, “Hitler would have loved The Singularity: Mind-blowing benefits of merging human brains and computers,” reaffirms most of what I have been writing about for the better part of a year. Namely, that the merging of man and machine is much closer than the average person is willing to believe...

The wonders never cease do they? For example, let's wonder why Rhode Island's Federal Judge John J. McConnell granted a moratorium on foreclosures (involving 60+ foreclosures) pursuant to Fryzel v. MERS (CA 10-352-M), Cosajay v. MERS (CA No. 10-442-M) while right next door in NH the banks have a field day.

At the link below there is a video with two homeowners and Pawtucket Counsel George Babcock.

Query, could it have anything to do with Senator Kelly Ayotte's primary campaign financiers, including Goldman, Sachs and Bank of America? Here's this morning's email to the shady lawyers and Nashua PD:

Open letter to Judge McConnell regarding Mortgage Fraud, other NH government malfeasance.

Any American Who Criticizes the Government May Be Labeled a Terrorist

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is re-branding SOPA and the Protect IP act under a new name to launch a second round of attacks in an attempt to censor the Internet.

Major western news outlets, including FOX, CBS, NBC and Reuters, rent rooftops, prepare emergency broadcast infrastructure, and deploy senior producers to Israel to cover war with Iran.

Trevor Timm
EFF

On Wednesday, EFF will give recommendations to the European Parliament for how to combat one of the most troubling problems facing democracy activists around the world: the fact that European and American companies are providing key surveillance technology to authoritarian governments that is then being used to aid repression...

U.K. Home Affairs Committee has issued a call to Internet Service Providers clamp down on “violent extremists” by censoring to “extremist” websites.

A fake news page saying, 'U.S. attacks Iran and Saudi Arabia, the begin (sic) of World War 3,' is the latest virus scam to circulate on Facebook.

The story uses CNN's logos, and appears to offer video footage of a breaking news story, but says users need to upgrade their Flash video software to watch.

When they 'upgrade', they in fact infect their PC with a trojan. Security experts Sophos reported at least 60,000 people have already fallen victim.

Widespread protests sweep Europe in opposition to the anti-democracy bill ACTA as politicians attend government functions wearing Anonymous masks in protest.

Despite promises the 2012 NDAA did not apply to military operations on U.S. soil or against American Citizens, a massive military drone deployment into U.S airspace is being planned.

Following Poland's lead, the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Necas has announced that the government there will suspend the ACTA ratification process until the country has had more time to analyze the agreement. This follows a "wave of protests" across Europe, in which this agreement, that everyone assumed was going through with no questions asked, has suddenly generated significant public interest:

Google India has removed web pages deemed offensive to Indian political and religious leaders

Deleted Facebook photos don't disappear but can still be accessed by anyone with a link to the images themselves.

The company admits that its systems 'do not always delete images in a reasonable period of time.'

The news is liable to be a shock to users who've relied on the delete function to remove embarrassing photos from office parties or nights out.

Deleted images vanish from 'normal' views of the site - ie if you log in to Facebook and look on somebody's photo page, they won't be visible - but remain visible to anyone with a direct URL link to the picture.

Widespread Protests Are Starting to Turn the Tide Against Anti-Democratic Bill

The widespread protests against the anti-democracy bill ACTA by the Polish people have forced Poland’s prime minister to stall – or perhaps even back out – of the treaty. As TechDirt notes:

Following the growing protests about ACTA in Europe, as well as signs of US meddling, Poland’s prime minister is making it clear that Poland will not ratify ACTA for the time being, leading to speculation that the EU may not actually join ACTA.

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

In yet another Smartphone-related push to increase the intensity of the global police state, a “new” company, CrimePush, has released a smartphone app that will allow individuals greater ability to report “crimes” in real time...

John Galt
Activist Post

Australia continues trying to outdo America's march toward authoritarian control over its population. The two countries seem to be trading salvos to see which can eradicate the rights of their citizens faster...

The Pirate Party was right on every detail. The hunt for ordinary Joes who share music and movies with one another has been behind the largest dismantlement of civil liberties in modern history, and American interests have been behind every part of it.

Author: Brian D. Hill

Source: USWGO Alternative News.. via wearechange.com

Now with evidence coming out that Alex Jones does still own the copyright to his films Endgame:Blueprint for Global Enslavement and not eOne like they claim on YouTube, more and more evidence is slowly coming out that Copyright is not what the U.S. Constitution stated in their copyright clause but is now a Protection and Extortion Racket where they demand money for protection and ability to sue people whether they solely created the material or not.

When you use the Internet in a public place, do you prefer to have as much privacy as possible? Well, that makes you a potential terrorist. According to the FBI, Internet privacy is now considered to be suspicious activity. If you are out in public and you attempt to keep snoopers from peeking at your computer screen, then according to the FBI they should gather as much information about you as they can and they should report you to the authorities immediately. If this seems completely and totally ridiculous to you, then you are not alone. Millions of Americans have become deeply concerned about the constantly expanding definition of "suspicious activity" in the United States.

Michael Snyder, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

When you use the Internet in a public place, do you prefer to have as much privacy as possible? Well, that makes you a potential terrorist...

Michael Edwards
Activist Post

The stage has already been set and played upon for divisions of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to patrol and strike undeclared war zones abroad.

Even though lip service has been paid to express minor outrage over villages bombed in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, or someplace "over there," there has been relatively little true outrage by countries heretofore unaffected by computer bombing raids upon their own Homeland -- countries like America.

Well, seeing is believing they say...

In the aftermath of the Stuxnet worm that attacked Iran's nuclear facilities, there was speculation by security researchers working for Symantec that a number found in the Stuxnet code - "19790509" - which was used as a marker to identify computers that should not be affected, was a reference to his execution date.

(Sorry about the Wiki reference)

Also: "Buried in Stuxnet's code is a marker with the digits "19790509" that the researchers believe is a "do-not infect" indicator. If the marker equals that value, Stuxnet stops in its tracks, and does not infect the targeted PC. Here: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9188982/Stuxnet_code_hints_at_p...

Not surprisingly, the Israelis are not saying whether Stuxnet has any connection to the secretive cyberwar unit it has built inside Israel’s intelligence service. Nor is the Obama administration, which while talking about cyberdefenses has also rapidly ramped up a broad covert program, inherited from the Bush administration, to undermine Iran’s nuclear program.

wolf in sheep's clothing -- that's how ACTA opponents have described the international copyright treaty. Thousands are to protest in Sweden on Saturday while in Poland the legislation has been suspended after attacks on government websites.

­Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday that a wider discussion should be held before the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement comes into force. The talks should involve both Internet users and privacy protection agencies, Tusk added. Ratification of the document has been postponed pending the results of those talks.

The hacktivist group Anonymous is at it again. This Friday is being called F**k FBI Friday, and Anonymous led their attacks today by releasing the audio of a teleconference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard which they intercepted. In addition, the group was able to bring down the Department of Homeland Security website for a few minutes and have dumped nearly three gigs of emails from Frank Wuterich's lawyers. Barrett Brown, founder of Project PM, joins us to discuss why Anon deployed the attacks.

Obama czar proposed government should ‘infiltrate’ social network sites, chat rooms, message boards.

Senator Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) launched an investigation in response to a lawsuit filed by six FDA whistleblowers and documents released by the National Whistleblowers Center that show the FDA targeted whistleblowers for special monitoring and intercepted personal communications to Congress, including emails to Senator Grassley's staff...

The chances of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement becoming law in Europe dwindled suddenly on Friday, after Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said he was suspending ACTA's ratification in his country.

A group of European regulators has written to Google Inc calling on it to halt the introduction of its new privacy policy, saying it needs to investigate whether the proposals sufficiently protect users' personal data.

I believe in paying money for products that earn it. I do not believe in a pricing and distribution model that still thinks it’s 1998. And I really don’t believe in censoring the internet so that studio and label executives can add a few more millions onto their already enormous money pile.

Treat your customers with respect , and they’ll do the same to you. And that is how you fight piracy.

The anti-counterfeiting trade agreement could criminalise internet users globally. But it hasn't been ratified yet …

Doug Hornig, Senior Editor
Casey Research

Lovers of liberty have seemingly had a good bit to celebrate recently...

While some of your tweets might be of utmost importance to you, most people could not care less, according to a study from a group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, and Georgia Tech.

Pickpockets no longer need to touch their victims — they can use cheap technology to read credit cards through peoples’ pants.

Eric Blair
Activist Post

Google and Twitter have been under great pressure to censor content on their platforms from several countries. Twitter has been blamed for stoking revolutionary and protest uprisings around the world, assuredly sparking concerns in all leaders who seek to hold onto power. Meanwhile, Google has already succumbed to censorship demands in China, as well as individual YouTube removal requests from various nations.

Most recently, in America, Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Senator Joe Lieberman, sent a letter to Google requesting that they censor violent content on their Blogger platform. Lieberman also made a similar request to Twitter, that they deactivate accounts that tweet anti-West content...

Boston Herald struggles to defend against Defamation case after losing on Summary Judgment. They are going to trial folks after lying and saying a woman had sex with an inmate and snuck into prison with State Rep Gloria Fox. The women were there to report on abuses within the prison, and the Herald is all buddy-buddy with the prison folks so they had to try to put her down. Thing is, the victim/survivor is like a magna cum laude college grad and her father is an attorney. I met her on a talk show I was co-hosting a couple years ago and helped her present her case to her attorneys, who took it on pro bono/contingency.

According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, Google spent approximately $390,000 (out of $3,760,000.00 total) on SOPA and PIPA lobbying including efforts to educate lawmakers on SOPA and the DMCA. The question, then, is whether the massive search and advertising giant was for or against the bill – and why so much money was spent to argue the case.

Andre Evans
Activist Post

Scientists have recently developed a complex process that allows them to seemingly decode and depict our brain activity as language.

Neuroscientists at University of California Berkeley used a technique where they monitored the brain activity of individuals as they listened to words being spoken. As the subjects listened to the words being spoken, a computer program analyzed brain activity in the temporal lobe, and how the brain interpreted and recreated specific words or sounds...

A flyer designed by the FBI and the Department of Justice to promote suspicious activity reporting in internet cafes lists basic tools used for online privacy as potential signs of terrorist activity. The document, part of a program called “Communities Against Terrorism”, lists the use of “anonymizers, portals, or other means to shield IP address” as a sign that a person could be engaged in or supporting terrorist activity. The use of encryption is also listed as a suspicious activity along with steganography, the practice of using “software to hide encrypted data in digital photos” or other media.

Google announced three and 1/2 weeks ago that it would be redirecting blogger traffic based upon the viewer's country, which will make it easier for Google to censor content on a country-by-country basis.

In other words, if you try to view Blogspot.com from India, your browser will automatically be redirected to Blogspot.in (a redirect which is already taking place for Indian users).

"Migrating to localized domains will allow us to continue promoting free expression and responsible publishing while providing greater flexibility in complying with valid removal requests pursuant to local law." — Google support

According to Korean National Security Act, an anti-communist law enacted in 1948, expressing "praise, support, and cooperation" for North Korea may be illegal. The wordings in the law are very broad and vague, so anyone could find themselves behind bars.

Park Jung-geun(or spelled Park Jong-kun in some foreign media) has been investigated by the police for months just because he RETWEETED pro-North-Korean posts, and got jailed recently.

PIRATES OF THE WORLD, UNITE AND PIRATE EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WRITTEN

Twitter just announced that it has set up the ability to block content on a country specific basis (e.g., if Germany demanded some content be taken down, Twitter can now just have that content blocked in Germany). I know some people saw this and got upset about "censorship!" but looking at the details, it actually looks like Twitter is doing a smart thing here. You could argue that the proper response would be to stand up to local governments and say, "sorry, we don't block anything" -- and I'd actually have sympathy with that response. But the truth is that if a government is demanding censorship, then Twitter is likely going to have to comply or face complete blocking.

Google has quietly announced changes to its Blogger free-blogging platform that will enable the blocking of content only in countries where censorship is required.

Twitter announced technology last week addressing the same topic. It said it had acquired the ability to censor tweets in the countries only where it was ordered removed, instead of on an internet-wide basis.

Twitter’s announcement via its blog sparked a huge online backlash. The microblogging service was accused of becoming a censoring agent.

Yet Google’s announcement three weeks ago — buried in a Blogger help page — went unnoticed until it was highlighted by TechDows on Tuesday.

From Facebook to Google, websites are tracking your every move to deliver 'personalised advertising'. But now regulators have hit back.
Parker said the UK was now responsible for more complaints over advertising than the rest of Europe put together. "They say that British people don't complain. They don't complain face-to-face... but they don't mind complaining remotely. Now far more than half of all the complaints made to advertising regulatory bodies in all 27 EU member states are made by the UK public to us, it's 60-65 per cent."

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post

If current events continue in their present direction, seven of the world’s largest and most influential tech companies may have to pay anywhere from 5% to 10% of the yearly earnings of tens of thousands of their employees. Not only that, but these payouts may have to be calculated all the way back to 2005...

Like a sharp two-edged sword, the internet and the very rapidly evolving technologies surrounding it, are poised to either usher in a new era of intellectual, cultural and spiritual enlightenment, material well-being and true cooperation amongst nations bent on resolving common global problems; or we may be about to fall into a black abyss of absolute totalitarian control; intellectual, physical and spiritual violence; and mass slavery on an unprecedented scale.

How to resolve this dilemma? We should certainly start by understanding three key issues: who really controls these technologies, what are their medium and long term objectives, why are they being used the way they are...

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Some time ago I covered the atrocious software covertly loaded onto most major smartphones by the largest carriers in the United States which is known as Carrier IQ.

This software, which is a massive breach of privacy, records and transmits disturbing amounts of information back to the carrier without the user being aware of what it is doing, or being able to stop the process.

Thankfully, one individual amongst the gaggle of useless so-called representatives, Representative Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has stepped up to the plate to fight back...

SOPA Protest Day: the largest digital protest ever (infographic)

This year’s US presidential race will be ‘the Twitter election’, according to the site’s chief executive, Dick Costolo.

The Twitter boss has revealed that the majority if the Republican candidates are buying adverts, otherwise known as promoted tweets, trends or accounts, in the lead up to the election.Speaking at an ‘All Things D’ (the digital division of The Wall Street Journal) technology conference in California last night, Costolo said that most of the candidates were buying adverts and would continue doing so.

The case of Richard O'Dwyer was raised during an online questioning session in the White House, after thousands of web users voted it to the top issue to be put to the president.

Mr O'Dwyer, 23, is accused by American authorities of creating a website from his Sheffield university bedroom that would serve as a directory to guide viewers to illegal downloading sites.

His defence team have argued that the site breaks no British laws but earlier this month he was cleared for extradition to the US, where a conviction could see him serve 10 years in prison.

Oh, boy.

http://mortgagemovies.blogspot.com/2012/01/kingcastmortgage-movies-pre...

MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012

KingCast/Mortgage Movies presents Book and Page of Mortgage with Forged Signature and Demands that Nashua PD and Senator Kelly Ayotte: Quit Lying and Covering Up and Finally Take Action.

This is interesting. Kader Arif, the "rapporteur" for ACTA, has quit that role in disgust over the process behind getting the EU to sign onto ACTA. A rapporteur is a person "appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue." However, it appears his investigation of ACTA didn't make him very pleased:

I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament's demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly...

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post

Imagine if you suddenly had many hours of new-found time each day and could have more meaningful connections with true friends? Even enough to find love? A wish come true? Jake Reilly had no idea he would find this and more with his “Amish Project.” ...

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Recently, the Sun-Sentinel out of Fort Lauderdale, run by the Tribune Company which runs the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, among others, covered how the Fort Lauderdale Police Department has deployed “The Peacemaker,” which is an armored bank truck converted into a surveillance powerhouse.

The police purchased the discontinued armored truck from Brink’s for $10 then retrofitted it with cameras on all of the bullet-proof windows and it now has the ability to stream live panoramic video to the police headquarters for up to 700 hours...

BAGHDAD — A month after the last American troops left Iraq, the State Department is operating a small fleet of surveillance drones here to help protect the United States Embassy and consulates, as well as American personnel. Some senior Iraqi officials expressed outrage at the program, saying the unarmed aircraft are an affront to Iraqi sovereignty.

Aside from updating their anti-spam and anti-malware tools, users can fight the new attack by deactivating the display of HTML e-mails in their email client, eleven advises. They can choose the option of displaying emails in pure-text format only.

Google, you want to be all things to all people. It won't work. Stop it and go back to doing what you once did well: totally unbiased search, excellent email, great photo storage, wonderful voice mail, and so many other useful services. Wrapping this all together in a way that users haven't requested is doing the very kind of evil that your founders eschewed.

It would be different if the new policy invited users to go to the Google Dashboard and link those services that the user wanted to be shared. But as with most companies, Google has chosen the approach that is most irritating: the default for everything is on, and it can't be changed by the user.

Apple, the computer giant whose sleek products have become a mainstay of modern life, is dealing with a public relations disaster and the threat of calls for a boycott of its iPhones and iPads.

The company's public image took a dive after revelations about working conditions in the factories of some of its network of Chinese suppliers. The allegations, reported at length in the New York Times, build on previous concerns about abuses at firms that Apple uses to make its bestselling computers and phones. Now the dreaded word "boycott" has started to appear in media coverage of its activities.

Micro-blogging service Twitter has announced that it will filter tweets on a country-by-country basis due to differing legal demands. Critics were quick to accuse the company of attacking freedom of online speech to make extra profit. Aaron Schwartz, the founder and executive director of Demand Progress.org, an organization campaigning against Internet censorship, thinks the newly introduced measure will hardly achieve its goal of censoring Twitter.

Dear friends: I am pleased to bring to you Gerald Celente’s assessment of the threats posed to Internet freedom. Celente’s Trends Journal is one of the most insightful publications of our era. PCR

Paul Craig Roberts
Activist Post

Do you remember the Safe-Cyber instructions they taught you in the mandatory Computer Ed class (operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology)? First you fire up your Secured Computing Device (SCD) and its hardware token authenticator.

Then you enter the six-digit algorithmically generated password displayed (a new one flashes every 60 seconds) and are asked to supply your biometric identifier. You place your thumb on the built-in fingerprint pad, click, and wait for the Internet connection to begin. But it doesn’t...

Note:

There are videos for each example at the main link:
http://mortgagemovies.blogspot.com/2012/01/kingcastmortgage-movies-ope...
SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 2012

KingCast/Mortgage Movies Open Letter to U.S. AG Eric Holder, NY AG Eric Schneiderman and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan: Issue more subpoenas.

A new Greek scientific study has demonstrated how frequency electromagnetic fields, namely cell phones, portable phones, WiFi, and wireless computer equipment, alter important protein changes in the brains of animals. Exposure to electromagnetic frequencies is the result of our advancing technologies, but it is important to study these effects so people know exactly what they’re dealing with in order to take the necessary precautionary measures.

What is the role of robots and drones in wars and how will they shape the future of the US military?

It's official. The biometric cataloging of the human race has begun. India's intent to record it's entire nations' 1.2 billion people by iris and fingerprint scans signals a devious high tech human monitoring and control agenda.

Although no one ever asks for such systems, biometrics will be sold to the populace as cool, sexy, convenient, safe and secure but will eventually prove to be a living hell for everyone on planet earth. Most just don't know it yet.

--- To surveil and identify, sold as to serve and protect

In order to recognize biometrics as the human equivalent of a dairy cow's ear tag, a brief explanation is in order. One of many current biometrics systems is referred to as "facial recognition" technology.

Jillian C. York
EFF

Throughout history, there have been a number of reasons why individuals have taken to writing or producing art under a pseudonym...

Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.

It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics — in a barrage of tweets — proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.