Resistance

Welcome to the Malware-Industrial Complex

"Freshly discovered weakness in a popular piece of software, known in the trade as a 'zero-day' vulnerability because the software makers have had no time to develop a fix, can command prices in the hundreds of thousands of dollars from defense contractors, security agencies and governments. This trade in zero-day exploits is poorly documented, but it is perhaps the most visible part of a new industry that in the years to come is likely to swallow growing portions of the U.S. national defense budget, reshape international relations, and perhaps make the Web less safe for everyone." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWelcome to the Malware-Industrial Complex

Cyber security battle looms after Obama issues executive order

"President Barack Obama’s order aimed at ramping up protection from cyberattacks will address only a small portion of threats and sets up a fresh battle in Congress over legislation. Obama acted this week after two failed attempts in Congress to pass measures to protect critical infrastructure from computer attacks. Because most of the networks in question are in private hands, officials say they must rely on voluntary reporting by industry of any cyber threats or attacks. Legislation would be needed to shield businesses from liability when they do report potential malware threats." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyber security battle looms after Obama issues executive order

Italy’s ex-intelligence chief given 10-year sentence for role in CIA kidnapping

"Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu Omar), who in 2001 had been granted asylum by Italy from persecution in Egypt, was abducted by the CIA and then shipped back to Egypt where he was imprisoned for four years without charges and, he says, brutally tortured by America's long-standing ally, the Mubarak regime. Nasr 'was seized in broad daylight on the open street, pushed into a white van, taken to the Aviano military airport and then flown to Egypt via the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany'. Yesterday, an Italian appellate court sentenced the country's former intelligence chief, Niccolò Pollari, to ten years in prison 'for complicity' in that kidnapping." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItaly’s ex-intelligence chief given 10-year sentence for role in CIA kidnapping

At least 20 prisoners still missing from CIA ‘black sites’

"In one of President Barack Obama first acts in the White House, he ordered the closure of the CIA’s so-called 'black-site' prisons, where terror suspects had been held and, sometimes, tortured. But the CIA’s prisons left some unfinished business. In 2009, ProPublica’s Dafna Linzer listed more than thirty people who had been held in CIA prisons and were still missing. Some of those prisoners have since resurfaced, but at least twenty are still unaccounted for. A few emerged from foreign prisons after the turmoil of the Arab Spring. One has died." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAt least 20 prisoners still missing from CIA ‘black sites’

Veterans Administration again accused of covering up the causes of ‘Gulf War Syndrome’

"An alarming but widely-ignored report by a federal panel of high-level scientists charged with advising the government on the disease accused the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of covering up the true nature and cause of a profound systemic illness that medical scientists have traced to wartime exposures — including neurotoxins, depleted uranium, and microbes, among others. The culprits, the committee claims, are bureaucrats in the Veterans’ Administration Office of Public Health, whose coordination of a robust strategic plan for Gulf War Illness (on which RAC had consulted) has 'gutted' science, 'focus,' 'energy,' and budgetary resources." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingVeterans Administration again accused of covering up the causes of ‘Gulf War Syndrome’

Afghan official: NATO airstrike kills 9 civilians, five children and four women

"A NATO airstrike struck two houses, killing as many as nine Afghan civilians and four insurgents in an eastern province near the Pakistani border, officials said Wednesday. The attack occurred about 10 p.m. Tuesday during a joint NATO-Afghan operation in the Shigal district of Kunar province, a lawmaker from the area said. The U.S.-led military alliance in Kabul said it was looking into the reports. Wagma Sapay, a member of parliament from Kunar, said the civilians killed were in one house while four senior Taliban leaders were slain as they were gathering next door in the village of Sharpool in the Chawkam area." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAfghan official: NATO airstrike kills 9 civilians, five children and four women

US Killed Hundreds of Children in Afghanistan, Says New Report — US Rejects Report

"The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child reported that it was 'alarmed' by reports that hundreds of children died as a result of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan because of a 'reported lack of precautionary measures and indiscriminate use of force,' the Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend. The UN report also condemned the arrest and detention of children in Afghanistan. But the U.S. military said 'the reports were unsubstantiated and cited figures from the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan showing that the vast majority of civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan over the last several years were caused by insurgents.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS Killed Hundreds of Children in Afghanistan, Says New Report — US Rejects Report

Pentagon to Start Awarding Medals for Drone Strikes and Cyberattacks

"The Defense Department is reportedly inventing a new medal designed to reward soliders who fight battles from the safety of their computer consoles. The Associated Press says the Pentagon is creating a new ribbon, called the Distinguished Warfare Medal that will be given for 'extra achievement' related to a military operation. That would include drone pilots operating unmanned planes from halfway around the world, or even hackers who launch a successful cyberattack on an enemy. Unlike all other combat-related medals, this would be the first one that you can be awarded without actually putting your life on the line." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPentagon to Start Awarding Medals for Drone Strikes and Cyberattacks

L.A. Residents Plead With LAPD On Signs, Shirts: ‘Don’t Shoot, I’m Not Chris Dorner’

"In response to the LAPD shooting at least 3 innocent people in a manhunt for Chris Dorner, the fugitive ex-cop and alleged murderer they’re hunting with U.S. military spy drones, residents of Los Angeles have begun wearing shirts and placing signs and bumper stickers on their vehicles that read, 'Don’t shoot, I’m not Chris Dorner. Thank you.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingL.A. Residents Plead With LAPD On Signs, Shirts: ‘Don’t Shoot, I’m Not Chris Dorner’

Why Police Lie Under Oath

"Are police officers necessarily more trustworthy than alleged criminals? I think not. Not just because the police have a special inclination toward confabulation, but because, disturbingly, they have an incentive to lie. In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so. Agencies receive cash rewards for arresting high numbers of people for drug offenses, no matter how minor the offenses or how weak the evidence. Law enforcement has increasingly become a numbers game. And as it has, police officers’ tendency to regard procedural rules as optional and to lie and distort the facts has grown as well." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Police Lie Under Oath