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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45541475#45541475
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Stealthy cellphone software stirs outcry
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Technology bloggers are asking if our cellphones are spying on us after a security researcher said a piece of software hidden on millions of phones was recording virtually everything people do with them.
Amid a broad outcry, Sen. Al Franken is calling for an investigation. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the software's maker, Carrier IQ Inc. of Mountain View, California
The software, which Carrier IQ says is used on some 150 million mobile devices, appears relatively innocuous. It does watch what owners of Sprint Nextel Corp. and AT&T Inc. smartphones do with them, including what people type and the numbers they dial. But it doesn't seem to transmit every keystroke to the company. Instead, it kicks into action when there's a problem, like a call that doesn't go through, and it lets the phone company know.
"It is software that is developed in partnership with carriers with the intent to improve network performance. As far as we can tell, it meets this description in execution," said Tim Wyatt, principal engineer at Lookout, a cellphone security company.
"In line with our privacy policy, we solely use CIQ software data to improve wireless network and service performance," AT&T said in a statement.
Carrier IQ says the data its software gathers is stored by the phone companies or at Carrier IQ's facilities. It doesn't sell the data to third parties. Phone companies, of course, already are custodians of a wealth of private information, including whom you call, where you surf and what your text messages say.
The brouhaha started a few weeks ago, when a programmer named Trevor Eckhart documented Carrier IQ's workings with videos on his blog. The software company threatened him with a lawsuit if he didn't take the information down. The Electronic Frontier Foundation took on Eckhart's case, and the company backed down.
Eckhart posted another video this week, showing Carrier IQ's software logging keystrokes on an HTC EVO 3D from Sprint.
A central privacy worry is what kind of data Carrier IQ is retaining.
Andrew Coward, a Carrier IQ vice president, said the software doesn't record every keystroke or send information about all of them back to the company. The only keystrokes it cares about are specific administrative commands, including those instructing the software to phone "home." The rest it discards, Coward said.
"We never expected to need the content of SMS messages, so we didn't code for it," Coward told The Associated Press in an interview.
Apple Inc. has said it has stopped supporting Carrier IQ in most of its products. Separately, the company came under fire last year over location-tracking features of the iPhone and made a software change to keep data on users' movements for less time.
For now, there's no easy way to uninstall the Carrier IQ software without unsanctioned third-party software. Coward said it is "too early to tell" whether the company will make any substantial changes to the software because of the uproar.
___
Svensson reported from New York.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
You Must Get The Free NASA Ascent Shuttle App for iPad [Video]
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Israel's Barak plays down "shadow war" against Iran (Reuters)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) ? Defense Minister Ehud Barak played down speculation on Saturday that Israel and U.S.-led allies were waging clandestine war on Iran, saying sanctions and the threat of military strikes were still the way to curb its nuclear program.
Barak was asked in an interview whether two explosions in Iran last month showed "the war has already begun" through sabotage.
"I don't think so," he told Channel Two television. "I think that the answer to your question is negative."
One of last month's explosions in Iran killed at least a dozen members of the Revolutionary Guards, including a general. Iran called it an accident that occurred while weapons were being moved.
The Iranians have suffered from computer viruses in industrial systems. Several nuclear scientists have been killed or disappeared over the years in what Tehran says were Israeli or U.S. covert operations.
The idea that such operations may have escalated to include spectacular blasts with double-digit death tolls has stirred concern in Israel, where some commentators warned of a possible spillover into reprisals by Iran or its sympathizers abroad.
Barak neither confirmed nor denied that Israel or Western powers were trying to delay Iran's uranium enrichment and missile programs through sabotage. But his remarks signaled doubt in the long-term efficacy of any such tactics.
"I have nothing to say about the actions themselves. I just say that if you compare the situation eight years ago, or four years ago, to today's situation, the Iranians are much closer to nuclear capability," he said.
"Therefore the sanctions have to be intensified, quick, determined ... and therefore everyone is saying that no option should be taken off the table," Barak added, using a phrase favored by Israel and the United States to show they consider military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites a last-ditch option.
Barak said Israel and the United States were coordinating closely on Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons and has vowed to retaliate for any preemptive attack.
But the Jewish state has sovereignty and ultimate responsibility for its security, Barak added - comments that, in the past, have been widely interpreted as a threat to strike Iran unilaterally if the Israelis deems diplomacy a dead end.
On Friday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta used some of his strongest language yet to explain why Washington is wary of the consequences of any such action.
Addressing a pro-Israel forum in Washington, Panetta said an attack could disrupt the already fragile economies of Europe and the United States, trigger Iranian retaliation against U.S. forces, and ultimately spark a popular backlash in Iran that would bolster its rulers.
It also may not be effective. Panetta cited estimates from the Israelis that a military strike might set back Iran's nuclear program by one to two years "at best."
Iran has weathered several rounds of sanctions passed by the U.N. Security Council and Western powers. A U.N. watchdog report last month suggested Iran has worked on a nuclear bomb program, heightening the international pressure.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Peter Graff)
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Italian government approves new measures (AP)
ROME ? Premier Mario Monti said Sunday that his government of technocrats has approved a package of austerity and growth measures to "reawaken" the Italian economy and help save the euro common currency from collapse.
The measures include immediate cuts to the costs of maintaining Italy's bulky political class as well as significant measures to fight tax evasion, Monti told a news conference following a three-hour Cabinet meeting.
As part of the political cost cuts, Monti said he would forego his salary as premiere.
The package also includes measures to spur growth and competition, while aiming to stamp out rampant nepotism.
"We gave a lot of weight to fairness, we had to distribute some of the sacrifices but we took a lot of care to distribute them in a fair way," Monti said.
Monti will outline the measures on Monday to Parliament, which must approve them.
The premier spent the weekend briefing political parties, unions, business groups, consumer lobbies and others.
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18 people killed in Congo election, rights group (AP)
KINSHASA, Congo ? At least 18 people have been killed and 100 seriously injured in election violence in Congo, with most of the deaths caused by troops loyal to President Joseph Kabila, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
The violence peaked on Saturday when tens of thousands of people descended on Kinshasa's airport to welcome leading opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi who was returning from campaigning in the interior. In the government crackdown that followed, at least 14 people were killed, according to a report by the New York-based human rights group.
Soldiers fired into the crowd, hitting Ndelela Aminata, a 27-year-old mother of five in the head, the report said. Among the other victims was a 22-year-old who was shot dead while walking outside a manioc granary near the airport.
The group says others were killed in mob violence on the first day of voting on Monday and in clashes between political parties.
Analysts are concerned that there could be further bloodshed when the election results are announced, scheduled for next Tuesday. The Human Rights Watch report blamed most of the deaths on Kabila's Republican Guard. Kabila is seeking re-election.
Congo's enormous territory still includes sections of the bush that are controlled by rebel groups, like in the east where the brutal Lord's Resistance Army is known to be based.
In Oriental province near the town of Faradje, Human Rights Watch says the Lord's Resistance Army attacked a group of voters on their way to the polling place. Three men were killed, and ten women and three boys were abducted. The report says that one of the women, who was six months' pregnant, was raped. She was later released and taken to the hospital but lost her baby.
In several parts of the country, polling stations were burned by angry voters after ballots failed to arrive, and suspicion grew about possible vote rigging. The voting was finally wrapped up on Thursday
This is only the second free election in Congo's 51-year history, and the first to be organized entirely by the government instead of by the international community. The logistical challenges are casting a cloud of doubt over the vote, and three of the 11 candidates running for president have already called for the ballot to be annulled.
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
EA Buys Social Gaming Company KlickNation - News - www ...
Ugh. Another excuse to drag down the Bioware name that much more, eh, EA?
Listen, buy up all the stupid casual clicky game companies you want. But stop capitalizing on the Bioware name. Or any other studio name you own - Origin should be the name that brings to mind Wing Commander, Bio-Forge and Privateer, or Crusader. Not synonymous with Steam's largest competitor (and really fellow gamers, you guys made Origin the no.2 - even with all the complaints - that quickly? Over Direct2Drive, Gamersgate and others? C'MON!)
In 10 years, Bioware will be no more. That's how EA works. IF Bioware ships 2 bad games in a row, and EA has to cut losses to make investors happy, guess who's getting closed down. Now that "Bioware" means one of, like, 5 studios, there's a better chance than ever before that they'll start slipping up...
Don't forget what happened to Pandemic guys. Or Team Bondi, Bizarre Creations, Visceral Melbourne, Propaganda, Black Rock, THQ Studio Oz, or any other number of studios who were owned by a large publisher.
Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/12/01/ea-buys-social-gaming-company-klicknation.aspx
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