Tech News
Google prepares webform for removal of search results after European court ruling
(Reuters) - Google Inc on Thursday said it has made a webform for Europeans to request the removal of results from its search engine to comply with the recent top European court ruling that subjects have the "right to be forgotten."
Google has already been receiving requests to remove objectionable personal information from its search engine after the Court of Justice of the European Union's ruling that requires Internet search services remove information deemed "inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant."
"We're creating an expert advisory committee to cultivate a public conversation about these issues," a Google representative said in a statement.
Google will also work with data protection authorities and others as the company implements this ruling, the representative said.
(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco and Shailaja Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Security enthusiasts may revive 'TrueCrypt' encryption tool after mystery shutdown
By Joseph Menn
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A team of security experts may seek to restore and improve a popular computer encryption system after its developers mysteriously shut it down, claiming "unfixed security issues," a leader of the effort told Reuters on Thursday.
TrueCrypt, one of a number of programs that encrypt all of a user’s hard drive, had gained popularity after fugitive former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden praised it and law enforcement officials complained of their inability to crack it.
The software’s code has been publicly available for years, but its developers have not spoken publicly and their true identities are unclear. After Snowden’s revelations, supporters contributed some $70,000 to an effort to verify the security of the code.
TrueCrypt had passed the earliest testing, so it shocked many technologists Wednesday when the TrueCrypt website announced it would discontinue encryption support and urged users to move to rival software.
“WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues,” the notice said.“You should migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images.”
Speculation has mounted over the cause of the reversal, with some suggesting that the developers had tired of the decade-long project and others guessing that U.S. authorities had demanded a back-door key from the programmers, as happened with anonymous email provider Lavabit.
As that debate raged Thursday, an audit team funded by the $70,000 was preparing to announce that it would continue its quest to determine the security of TrueCrypt and would seek to fix legal issues with the license to the code, said Matthew Green, a Johns Hopkins University cryptography professor helping lead the effort.
If the license issues are resolved, the group could continue to develop and improve the software, though Green said “we’re not going to commit to a `fork’ yet.” A fork is a split in development, where code can be steered in a new direction.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
[Image: A lock icon, signifying an encrypted Internet connection, is seen on an Internet Explorer browser in a photo illustration in Paris April 15, 2014. By Mal Langsdon for Reuters]
YouTube will be accessible again in Turkey after top court strikes down pre-election ban
Turkey's top court ruled on Thursday that a blanket ban on YouTube violated individual rights and freedoms, clearing the way for the popular video-sharing site to come back.
YouTube has been banned in Turkey since March 27 after the site was used to spread audio recordings where senior government, military and intelligence officials are allegedly heard weighing possible military action inside war-torn Syria.
The decision was in response to individual complaints to the constitutional court on the grounds of a breach of rights, an official from the prime minister's office told AFP.
Turkey's transportation ministry which is also in charge of communication services was due to be informed of the verdict, added the official.
The court's decision is "binding" and access to YouTube could be granted in the coming hours, the private NTV television channel reported.
Last month, the government said it would keep its block on YouTube in place despite two separate courts ordering the ban be lifted.
In March, Turkey also blocked Twitter after it was used to spread a spate of anonymous leaks implicating Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his inner circle in corruption allegations.
But the government had to comply with a constitutional court ruling that found the two-week ban on the microblogging site violated free speech.
The latest ruling is seen as another slight to Erdogan, who has accused the judiciary of "showing increasing appetite in the political sphere".
The constitutional court has provoked the wrath of the government, especially after overturning the Twitter ban and annulling parts of a ruling party-sponsored law tightening the grip of the executive over the judiciary.
Last month, the head of the constitutional court denounced Erdogan's "excessive criticism" of the judiciary, in a sign of the fallout from the huge corruption scandal that has put key state institutions at loggerheads with each other as the premier is tipped to run for president in August.
Erdogan has claimed Turkey's judiciary and police are under the sway of his ally-turned-rival Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim cleric based in the United States.
The ban on Twitter and YouTube was seen by Erdogan's critics as an attempt to prevent further details from the corruption scandal being leaked online as part of a campaign waged by Gulen and his loyalists to unseat his government.
Gulen is believed to have an extensive network of supporters in the police and the judiciary but denied claims that he has masterminded the corruption scandal against the prime minister and his allies.
The Internet bans ahead of March 30 local elections -- in which Erdogan's ruling party scored a stunning victory -- earned Turkey strong rebuke from rights groups deploring the curbs as a setback to freedom of expression in the country that hopes to join the European Union.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Iranian hackers used fake Facebook accounts, news portal to spy on US, others
In an unprecedented, three-year cyber espionage campaign, Iranian hackers created false social networking accounts and a fake news website to spy on military and political leaders in the United States, Israel and other countries, a cyber intelligence firm said on Thursday.
ISight Partners, which uncovered the operation, said the hackers' targets include a four-star U.S. Navy admiral, U.S. lawmakers and ambassadors, members of the U.S.-Israeli lobby, and personnel from Britain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The firm declined to identify the victims and said it could not say what data had been stolen by the hackers, who were seeking credentials to access government and corporate networks, as well as infect machines with malicious software.
"If it's been going on for so long, clearly they have had success," iSight Executive Vice President Tiffany Jones told Reuters. The privately held company is based in Dallas, Texas and provides intelligence on cyber threats.
ISight dubbed the operation "Newscaster" because it said the Iranian hackers created six "personas" who appeared to work for a fake news site, NewsOnAir.org, which used content from the Associated Press, BBC, Reuters and other media outlets. The hackers created another eight personas who purported to work for defense contractors and other organizations, iSight said.
The hackers set up false accounts on Facebook and other online social networks for these 14 personas, populated their profiles with fictitious personal content, and then tried to befriend target victims, according to iSight.
The operation has been active since at least 2011, iSight said, noting that it was the most elaborate cyber espionage campaign using "social engineering" that has been uncovered to date from any nation.
To build credibility, the hackers would approach high-value targets by first establishing ties with the victims' friends, classmates, colleagues, relatives and other connections over social networks run by Facebook Inc, Google Inc and its YouTube, LinkedIn Corp and Twitter Inc.
The hackers would initially send the targets content that was not malicious, such as links to news articles on NewsOnAir.org, in a bid to establish trust. Then they would send links that infected PCs with malicious software, or direct targets to web portals that ask for network log-in credentials, iSight said.
The hackers used the 14 personas to make connections with more than 2,000 people, the firm said, adding that it believed the group ultimately targeted several hundred individuals.
"This campaign is not loud. It is low and slow," said Jones. "They want to be stealth. They want to be under the radar."
ISight said it had alerted some victims and social networking sites as well as the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and overseas authorities. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
Facebook Inc spokesman Jay Nancarrow said his company had discovered the hacking group while investigating suspicious friend requests and other activity on its website.
"We removed all of the offending profiles we found to be associated with the fake NewsOnAir organization and we have used this case to further refine our systems that catch fake accounts at various points of interaction on the site and block malware from spreading," Nancarrow said.
LinkedIn spokesman Doug Madey said the site was investigating the report, though none of the 14 fake profiles uncovered by iSight were currently active.
Twitter declined to comment and Google could not immediately be reached for comment.
Post-Stuxnet era
ISight disclosed its findings as evidence emerges that Iranian hacking groups are becoming increasingly aggressive.
Cybersecurity company FireEye Inc reported earlier this month that a group known as the Ajax Security Team has become the first Iranian hacking group to use custom-built malicious software for espionage.
Iranian hackers stepped up their activity in the wake of the Stuxnet attack on Tehran's nuclear program in 2010. The Stuxnet computer virus is widely believed to have been launched by the United States and Israel.
ISight said it could not ascertain whether the hackers were tied to the government in Tehran, though it believed they were supported by a nation state because of the complexity of the operation.
The firm said NewsOnAir.org was registered in Tehran and likely hosted by an Iranian provider. The Persian term "Parastoo" was used as a password for malware associated with the group, which appeared to work during business hours in Tehran, according to iSight.
Among the 14 false personas were reporters for NewsOnAir, including one with the same name as a Reuters journalist in Washington; six employees who purportedly worked for defense contractors; a systems administrator with the U.S. Navy; and an accountant working for a payment processor.
A spokesman for Thomson Reuters Corp, which owns Reuters, declined to comment.
[Image via Agence France-Presse]
Google unveils self-driving cars that don't need steering wheels or brake pedals
By Alexei Oreskovic
RANCHO PALOS VERDES Calif. (Reuters) - Google Inc is building cars that don't have steering wheels, accelerator pedals or brake pedals, in an ambitious expansion of the Internet company's efforts to develop self-driving cars.
The small electric cars, which seat two passengers, are currently prototypes that Google has been building through partnerships with automotive suppliers and manufacturers, Google co-founder Sergey Brin said at the Code conference in Southern California on Tuesday.
Google aims to build up to 200 such cars in the near term and hopes the vehicles will be available in various cities within a couple of years, he said.
Google has been testing self-driving cars since 2009, incorporating laser sensors and radars into standard automobiles such as the Prius from Toyota Motor Corp and sport-utility vehicles from Toyota luxury car division Lexus.
While those vehicles require a human to remain in the driver's seat and to take over in certain situations, the new cars operate completely autonomously.
Brin said the cars could operate as a service, picking up passengers when summoned, and potentially even operate as fleets of interconnected "trains".
"Ten seconds after getting in I was doing my email, I had forgotten I was there," Brin said of his experience riding in one of the pod-like vehicles, which resemble a cross between a Smart car and Volkswagen Beetle. "It ultimately reminded me of catching a chairlift."
Brin declined to specify whether Google intended to build and sell the cars itself, saying only that the company would "work with partners".
The driverless cars are currently limited to a maximum speed of 25 miles (40 km) an hour, but Brin said there was no reason the cars could not go as fast as 100 miles an hour or more once they had been proven to be safe.
The front of the cars contain about 2 feet (61 cm) of foam and the windshield is made out of plastic instead of glass to make the cars safer, he said.
"Within a couple of years I hope we will surpass the safety metrics we've put in place, which is to be significantly safer than a human driver, and we will start testing them without drivers and hopefully you'll be able to utilize them at some limited cities," Brin said.
A handful of U.S. states, including California and Nevada, have passed legislation to allow testing of self-driving cars on public roads. Brin said he was optimistic that the new, passenger-only self-driving cars would be approved for testing in the U.S. and overseas in the future.
(Editing by Christopher Cushing)
[Image: Google’s Self-Driving Car prototype. REUTERS/Google]
Apple signs $3 billion deal to buy Dr. Dre's streaming music site Beats
By Christina Farr
(Reuters) - Apple Inc will buy Beats for about $3 billion and bring recording mogul Jimmy Iovine into its ranks, in a bid to make headway in the fast-growing music-subscription market.
Through the acquisition, the iPhone maker also gains a line of high-end headphones popular with a young and urban demographic.
As expected, Beats co-founders Iovine and rapper Dr. Dre will join Apple as part of the acquisition.
The deal is seen as Apple's effort to jump-start a so-far uneven attempt to make headway in music streaming, the fastest-growing segment of the market. Pandora Media Inc
and Spotify have raced ahead while Apple's eight-month-old iTunes Radio has not made much of an impact.The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, Apple said on Wednesday. Shares in the company stood largely unchanged in after-hours trade.
(Reporting by Avik Das in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
[Image: The Apple logo is pictured at its flagship retail store in San Francisco,California January 27, 2014. By Robert Galbraith for Reuters]
Meet 'Jimmy': Intel prepares to release 3D-printed robots that can be built at home
By Noel Randewich and Alexei Oreskovic
RANCHO PALOS VERDE California (Reuters) - Intel Corp introduced a walking, talking robot on Wednesday made from 3D-printed parts that will be available to consumers later this year, if they are willing to assemble it with a kit that costs around $1,600.
The company's Chief Executive Brian Krzanich was accompanied by "Jimmy" on stage at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The white 2-foot tall robot shuffled onto the stage, introduced itself and then waved its arms.
Intel describes Jimmy as a research robot, but the company intends to make 3D-printable plans available without charge for a slightly less advanced version, and partners will sell components that cannot be 3D-printed, such as motors and an Intel Edison processor, in kits.
Jimmy can be programmed to sing, translate languages, send tweets and even serve a cold beer.
Under Krzanich, who took over a year ago, the chipmaker is trying to be an early player in emerging technologies like smart clothing, after coming late to the mobile revolution and making little progress in smartphones and tablets.
Its strategy includes engaging tech-savvy do-it-yourselfers and weekend hobbyists working on everything from Internet-connected baby blankets to robots and drones.
Owners of the robots will be able to program them to perform unique tasks. They can then share the programs with other owners as downloadable apps.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, hopes the price for the robot kits will fall below $1,000 within five years.
Separately on Wednesday, entrepreneur Bill Gross announced plans for a 3D printer that would sell for $149, far less than devices that now typically sell for $1,000 or more.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich and Alexei Oreskovic)
[Image: Intel's Jimmy the Robot is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters May 28, 2014. REUTERS/Intel/Handout via Reuters]
FTC calls on Congress to shine light on the shadowy data broker industry
US regulators called Tuesday for more transparency from data brokers, citing potential for abuse in a rapidly growing industry that buys and sells information on people's Internet and offline activities.
A study by the US Federal Trade Commission said the industry collects vast amounts of potentially sensitive data on ethnicity, income, religion, political leanings, age, and health conditions, with little accountability.
"You may not know them, but data brokers know you," FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a conference call with media.
"They know where you live, what you buy, your income, your ethnicity, how old your kids are, your health conditions, and your interests and hobbies."
The FTC urged Congress to consider legislation to allow consumers to learn of the existence and activities of data brokers and allow them to review and correct inaccurate information.
"This is an industry that largely operates in the dark," Ramirez said.
"Most consumers have never heard of the data broker industry, let alone the names of even the largest data brokers."
Ramirez said Congress should consider rules that allow consumers to use a central database to find information being gathered and to correct misinformation.
"Data brokers collect and store billions of data points about nearly every US consumer, which they use to compile extensive profiles about us," the FTC chief said.
"This information comes from widespread sources -- sources as varied as social media posts, Census data, retailers, and (motor vehicle) and real property records.... If a consumer wanted to trace the original source of a data broker’s information about her, she would have to sift through a complex maze of companies."
Ramirez said the recommendation "would not limit the ability of data brokers to continue to provide important products and services," which she said can "benefit businesses, consumers, and our economy more generally."
The nine data brokers studied by the FTC were Acxiom, Corelogic, Datalogix, eBureau, ID Analytics, Intelius, PeekYou, Rapleaf, and Recorded Future.
Ramirez said the data broker industry can hurt consumers in several ways -- by categorizing them as poor credit risks, or with health issues that may affect their careers, even if the information is inaccurate.
"Another concern is that a cell phone company may not let me get a cell phone contract because a data broker product suggests I'm an identity thief," she said.
"If this is a mistake, I may have no way to learn about the source of the problem, let alone fix any incorrect information."
The Center for Digital Democracy, an activist group focused on privacy, welcomed the FTC study but said the recommendations failed to go far enough.
A blog post by the group called the FTC report "a powerful and disturbing privacy wake-up call," but said "the commission's calls for greater transparency and consumer control are insufficient."
"The real problem is that data brokers -- including Google and Facebook -- have embraced a business model designed to collect and use everything about us and our friends, 24/7. Legislation is required to help stem the tide of business practices purposeful designed to make a mockery out of the idea of privacy for Americans," the group said.
Apple pulls popular weed-growing game from App Store
It should be clear by now that Apple sees most of us as the proverbial unwashed masses and is on something of a mission to immolate immoral thought patterns by trying to put everyone's head in the collective sand. That seems to be the only explanation…
Release of 'The Evil Within' video game delayed
Video game publisher Bethesda Softworks delayed release of eagerly awaited horror action title "The Evil Within" to October. The team at Tango Gameworks wanted more time to "deliver the polished, terrifying pure survival horror experience they set out…
LulzSec hacker 'Sabu' avoids more jail time after helping FBI track down 8 suspects
By Bernard Vaughan and Nate Raymond
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A leading hacker who authorities say helped disrupt at least 300 cyber attacks after agreeing to become an FBI cooperator was sentenced to time served on Tuesday.
Authorities say Hector Xavier Monsegur, a onetime member of the cyber-activist hacking group Anonymous who under the name "Sabu" co-founded the offshoot LulzSec, had assisted in pursuing cases against eight other suspected hackers since 2011.
Monsegur's cooperation shocked the hacking community, but during his sentencing in a large ceremonial courtroom in New York filled with journalists and observers, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska repeatedly saluted his help as extraordinary.
"That personal characteristic of turning on a dime and doing good and not evil is the most important factor in this sentence," said Preska.
Monsegur had served about seven months in prison and the judge also sentenced him to a year of probation.
Monsegur, wearing a black shirt, khaki pants and wire-rim glasses, nodded affirmatively while Preska described his assistance to the government.
"I assure you, I'm not the same person you saw three years ago," Monsegur told the judge. "I'm ready to move on."
According to a court filing by U.S. prosecutors, Monsegur, 30, and five other members of Anonymous formed LulzSec, which engaged in hacks on companies including Internet security firm HB Gary, News Corp's Fox Television, Tribune Co and Sony Corp, as well as the website for the U.S. Senate.
After the FBI approached him at his home in June 2011, Monsegur agreed to cooperate with law enforcement.
Monsegur secretly pleaded guilty to charges including computer hacking in August 2011, a fact that did not become public until charges were announced against five other hackers connected with LulzSec in 2012.
Among those charged was Jeremy Hammond, a Chicago resident who at the time was the FBI's No.1 cyber criminal target.
Hammond, 29, was sentenced in November to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to cyber attacks on various government agencies and businesses.
U.S. prosecutors said in the court filing that Monsegur's cooperation also led to the prosecution of Matthew Keys, a former deputy social media editor of Reuters.com. Keys has pleaded not guilty to charges that he aided members of Anonymous.
Monsegur also engaged in a "significant undercover operation" that exposed an unnamed subject's role in an existing investigation soliciting cyber attacks on a foreign government, prosecutors said. No charges have resulted in the case.
The roughly 300 computer hacks Monsegur helped prevent included targets such as the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Congress, the federal courts, and NASA, prosecutors said.
He also provided information about vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure such as a city's water utility and a foreign energy company.
While U.S. authorities praised Monsegur's cooperation, they also said in the court filing that contrary to rumor, Monsegur was not involved in the prosecution of operators of Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar that accepted Bitcoin.
(Editing by Grant McCool)
Iranian judge summons Facebook CEO after citizens complain of breach of privacy
DUBAI (Reuters) - A conservative Iranian court opened a case against instant messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram while also summoning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over complaints of privacy violation, state news agency ISNA reported on Tuesday.
The case underscores the growing struggle between moderate Iranian president Hassan Rouhani's drive to increase Internet freedoms and demands by the conservative judiciary for tighter controls.
The Iranian court in the southern province of Fars opened the cases against the social networks after citizens complained of breaches of privacy.
"According to the court's ruling, the Zionist director of the company of Facebook, or his official attorney must appear in court to defend himself and pay for possible losses," said Ruhollah Momen-Nasab, an Iranian internet official, according to state news agency ISNA, referring to Zuckerberg's Jewish background.
Zuckerberg, whose company owns WhatsApp and Instagram, is unlikely to heed the summons.
Iran is still under international sanctions over its disputed nuclear activities and it is difficult for U.S. citizens to secure travel visas, even if they want to visit.
Internet use is high in Iran, partly because many young Iranians turn to it to bypass an official ban on Western cultural products, and Tehran occasionally filters popular websites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Rouhani, in remarks that challenge hardliners who have stepped up measures to censor the Web, said earlier this month that Iran should embrace the Internet rather than see it as a threat.
A Rouhani administration official said Iran would loosen Internet censorship by introducing "smart filtering", which only keeps out sites the Islamic government considers immoral.
(Reporting by Michelle Moghtader; editing by Sami Aboudi and Alister Doyle)
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