And there it is. The result that folks had said wouldn’t happen has come to pass. The trial in Italy against several Google executives over the posting of a bullying video to YouTube has resulted in guilty verdicts. Fleishman et al received 6 month suspended sentences. The landscape in Italy was so uncertain that the Google execs had even opted against stepping foot in the country while the trial was underway.
What was strange was the minimal coverage that this story received at the time.
From BBC:
Google has said it will appeal after an Italian court found three executives guilty of violating the privacy of a boy with Down’s Syndrome.
The court found that Google let a video of him being bullied be posted on You Tube in 2006.
Google had argued that it removed the video immediately after being notified and co-operated with Italian authorities to help identify the bullies and bring them to justice.
Well, no good deed goes unpunished. This verdict could have a rather intriguing ripple effects across the globe. The rather odd response was from a Google communications manager, Bill Echikson, when he said, that this “poses a crucial question for the freedom on which the internet is built”. That appears to be a non sequitur. This was not a question of freedom but, a violation of Italian privacy law. Ignorance of the law is no defense. To their credit, Google responded to the request to remove the video and help find the point of origin.
Granted, when all is said and done, this has all the trappings of grandstand routine on the part of the Italian prosecutors. Now that they have their head stuffed and hanging over the mantel…what next? Google will appeal. The larger concern would be, if this were to stand as precedent there could be some very interesting legal caseload ahead.
(Image used under CC from lharkness)
It was only a matter of time before these started. And, can you blame them?
From Wired:
Seven restaurants have sued the maker of a bank card-processing system for failing to secure the product from a Romanian hacker who breached their systems.
The restaurants, located in Louisiana and Mississippi, filed a class-action suit against Georgia-based Radiant Systems for producing a point-of-sale (POS) system that they say was not compliant with payment card industry security standards and resulted in an undetermined number of customers having their debit and credit card numbers stolen.
Were these known issues? I mean when were these systems purchased and when did the restaurants know that the POS systems were failing on security? I’ll be honest I’m surprised that we have not seen more of these lawsuits.
Then I read this passage,
As a result, a hacker, believed to be based in Romania, accessed the systems of at least 19 businesses through the PCAnywhere software, and possibly others plaintiffs say. Once inside, the hacker installed malware to grab card data as it was swiped and send it to an e-mail address in Romania.
Wait, what? PCAnywhere? At this point I’m not willing to call the ne’er do wells “hackers”.
Read on.
Google execs are going out of their way to avoid stepping foot in Italy these days. Why do you ask? Well, back in February 2009 news broke about a trial in Italy that, if the prosecution is successful, the Google privacy counsel could face jail time.
Oddly, this story did not receive much attention at the time.
Now, the trial is set to proceed this week.
From Media Post:
Google’s global privacy counsel, Peter Fleischer, says he doesn’t plan to attend his criminal trial in Milan for allegedly violating the country’s data protection laws.
“I’m under clear instructions from my outside counsel not to set foot in Italy, at all,” Fleischer wrote on his blog, revived this week after a seven-month hiatus. “That’s a tragedy, since I love Italy.”
He also expects that his three co-defendants from Google likewise will remain out of the country, where they face up to three years’ imprisonment if convicted.
So, Google executives could potentially be fugitives from Italian justice? A potential interesting twist to this story. So, if found guilty, will they face justice?
From the “what the f*ck” files, we find that convicted murderers wants to muzzle Wikipedia and other sources as to their identity…even though it’s a matter of public record.
From EFF:
In 1990, Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayr was brutally murdered. Two of his business associates were convicted, imprisoned for the crime, and recently paroled. Who killed Sedlmayr? Its a matter of public record, but if one of the men and his German law firm gets their way, Wikipedia (and EFF) will not be allowed to tell you. A few days ago, the online encyclopedia received a cease and desist letter from one of the convicts—represented by the aptly named German law firm Stopp and Stopp—demanding that the perpetrator’s name be taken off of the Sedlmayr article page.
What the hell? And as per the EFF article the “convicts were….“.
[@torproject] shared a link (on identi.ca and Twitter) to an unsettling Wikileaks post…
A California court has issued a subpoena demanding Google reveal the IP addresses of journalists writing for a corruption busting journal from the Caribbean.
The August 28 subpoena, issued by the Superior Court, County of Santa Clara, as part of a “libel tourism” action taken by non-US property developers, demands detailed information about the operators of “tcijournal@gmail.com”. The account is the main email address of the TCI Journal, the most influential journal covering the Turks & Caicos Islands. The Islands are a tourist mecca and tax haven in the Caribbean sea, and until August 14 were an independent British protectorate.
(This story was also covered over at NewsCred and syndicated, via ReadWriteWeb, at USA Today)
For those of you with short-term memories (or minds that block out “the bad things”), this isn’t the first time Google’s been slapped the big SUBP — DoJ anyone? How about Rhino Sports v. Sport Court? Or maybe even the deleted email debacle?
Now would be a good time to remind everyone to use (and support) The Tor Project. Stay safe!
(Hi-LAR-ious Strongbad image CC licensed from thefleeg)
How much do I detest patent trolls? Let me count the ways.
From TG Daily:
A case started in a Delaware court which accuses Cisco, IBM, Check Point Software, 3Com, Nokia, Fortinet and Sourcefire of infringing a network security patent.
Enhanced Security Research alleges that the firms breached a patent it has, US 6,119,236 called Intelligent Network Security Device and Method, and another patent, 6,304,975B1. The patent was granted to inventor Peter Shipley on September 12, 2000. Shipley has assigned the patent to Enhanced Security Research.
The patent in question can be found here US 6,119,236.
(Image used under CC from zzathras777’s Flickr feed)
So, how would the US respond to a (gak) cyber attack? My concern would be, are they retaliating against the correct opponent. Its not like we’ve never relayed through a third party to attack…um, read about, yeah, that’s it, read about such a tactic.
But, in all seriousness I have heard a certain character in the US military recently imply that a nuclear option would be on the table. This caused me to choke on my coffee and wonder what colour the sky might be in his world. The media has been having a field day vilifying the Chinese and Russians and scaring folks in government. This will not help build level heads.
From the Associated Press:
“In the face of our almost universal reliance on untrusted systems, the United States currently is facing a grave national security challenge in the form of exploitation of our government and private-sector networks and information,” said Steven Chabinsky, assistant deputy director of cyber issues for the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence. “This exploitation is occurring on an unprecedented scale by a growing array of state and nonstate actors.”
OK, no argument there. Then he added this,
Chabinsky said the U.S. needs to figure out what it is prepared to do in the face of a cyber assault, such as an action that takes down the electrical grid. And, since the grid is privately run, officials must also decide how any counterattack should be coordinated with the corporate world.
Having been a part of the electricity vertical I can safely say that you can’t just hit the big red button that says, “shut down” and the grid goes dark. It’s no where near as simplistic as the media have lead folks to believe.
Damn you “Die Hard 4“.
So, as they examine their options I hope that cooler heads prevail and spend less time worrying about counter attacks and more on shoring up defenses.
(Image: risingpowers.foreignpolicyblogs.com)
Looks like a regular whodunnit.
From IT World:
A presale product demonstration software package that is key to Waste Management’s rancorous lawsuit against SAP has gone missing and both sides are claiming the other should have it, according to documents filed in a U.S. District Court.
Waste Management sued SAP in March 2008 in District Court of Harris County, Texas, 164th Judicial District, claiming more than US$100 million in damages in connection with an allegedly failed ERP (enterprise resource planning) project.
So, there must be backups yes? Apparently not.
But in a May 22 filing, SAP said it had the system until August or September 2006, but does not any longer.
SAP has “searched extensively” for the system and wants it “as much or more” as Waste Management, since it “will help SAP disprove WM’s fraud claim,” the filing states.
OK, so, WTF? No clue as to who might be at fault here but, it certainly doesn’t help SAP that they can’t find the demo in question.
I’ll be back. Going for popcorn.
Oh, for $EXPLETIVE sakes.
From MSNBC:
“Proxy” servers are an everyday part of Internet surfing. But using one in a crime could soon lead to more time in the clink.
A key vote Wednesday on new federal sentencing guidelines would classify the use of proxies as evidence of “sophistication,” increasing sentences by about 25 percent — which could mean years or even decades longer behind bars, depending on the crime. It’s akin to judges handing down stiffer sentences when a gun is used in a robbery.
So, if you use a proxy to commit a crime you’re a 1337 hacker? Gimmie a bloody break. This is so broadly based that there doesn’t appear to be any account given for compromised users. Mind you; crime, bad. The rules would only apply to people found guilty and were awaiting sentencing. Thankfully no one is ever wrongly convicted /sarcasm
So, how will the affect computer crime sentencing guidelines?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission is to vote Wednesday on a series of amendments to the sentencing guidelines, which heavily influence the sentences that judges hand down. The amendment in question would treat the use of proxies as evidence of “sophistication” in planning certain types of crimes, from embezzlement to forgery and other types of fraud.
If the commission approves it, the change takes effect Nov. 1 unless Congress takes the rare step of blocking it beforehand.
Proposed sentencing guidelines? Dumber than a bag of wet mice.
The EFF has launched a new online search tool that will allow people to search through their treasure trove of documents that they have garnered through Freedom of Information Act requests.
From EFF:
EFF’s document collection — obtained through requests and litigation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — casts light on several controversial government initiatives, including the FBI’s Investigative Data Warehouse and DCS 3000 surveillance program, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Targeting System and ADVISE data-mining project. The documents also provide details on Justice Department collection of communications routing data, Pentagon monitoring of soldiers’ blogs, mismatches in the Terrorist Screening Center’s watchlist, and FBI misuse of its national security letter subpoena authority.
The new search capability enables visitors to EFF’s website to conduct keyword searches across the universe of government documents obtained by EFF, maximizing the value of the material.
Here is a screen cap of the search interface. Strangely that search term only returned 4 hits.
I gave it a whirl with limited results. Must have been my search queries.
