Month: January 2013

Originally published in ZDnet. The U.S. Department of Justice still has egg on its face after hacktivist group Anonymous launched 'Operation Last Resort' commandeering Federal websites, threatening to release government information, and demanding legal reform. Late evening Friday, January 25, U.S. Sentencing Commission website was hacked and government files distributed by Anonymous in what the group… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. The U.S. Sentencing Commission website has been hacked again and a code distributed by Anonymous "Operation Last Resort" turns ussc.gov into a playable video game. Visitors enter the code, and then the website that sets guidelines for sentencing in United States Federal courts becomes "Asteroids." Shooting away at the ussc.gov webpage… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. Hacktivist group Anonymous took control of the U.S. Sentencing Commission website Friday, January 25 in a new campaign called "Operation Last Resort." The first attack on the website was early Friday morning. The second – successful – attack came around 9pm PST that evening.  By 3am PST ussc.gov was down (it had been… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. The website for MIT's was been hacked and defaced for around an hour this morning. It is now fully restored. Upon visiting the site, The Star Spangled Banner song autoplayed and the site read, "R.I.P Aaron Swartz." Read also: Hacker, activist Aaron Swartz commits suicide Upon loading the site read,  R.I.P Aaron… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. One year ago today, the largest internet coalition in history came together to stop lawmaking that threatened a free and open Internet. Digital rights and free speech groups around the world have established January 18th, 2013, as the first official Internet Freedom Day. To celebrate a free and open internet – and call… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. A petition to de-fund the U.N.'s telecom arm emerges just as the ITU readies to hammer out internet governance plans at the World Telecommunication Information and Communication Technology Policy Forum meetings in February and May 2013. The website De-fund the ITU surfaced on the January NANOG (North American Network Operators' Group) email… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. Reddit, Creative Commons and Demand Progress co-founder Aaron Swartz committed suicide in New York City on Friday, Jan. 11. He was 26 years old. public.resource.org has gone dark for @aaronsw. So shld the Net. public.resource.org/aaron/ — Lessig (@lessig) January 12, 2013 The tragedy was confirmed to MIT's The Tech by Swarz's uncle,… Read more…

Originally published in ZDnet. Audible, owned by Amazon Inc., has the largest catalog of audio books in the world. Its DRM only allows consumers to play books on three "Audible Ready" devices. Audible's DRM is a greedy, outdated way of cheating customers When Audible was purchased by Amazon Inc. in 2008 most authors and audio book… Read more…