hpr_transcripts/hpr0925.txt

Episode: 925
Title: HPR0925: TGTM Tech News for 2012-02-15
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr0925/hpr0925.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-08 05:02:54

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Music
You're listening to Talk Geek 3 News, number 60, record for February the 15th, 2012.
You're listening to the Tech Only Hacker Public Radio Edition, to get the full podcast,
including political, commentary, and other controversial topics.
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And now the tech roundup from EFF.org did February the 8th, 2012, by Jillian New York.
India's downward spiral, how India is losing its footing on free expression.
The world's biggest democracy is a formidable power in the IT sector, with software exploits
compromising a approximately 10% of India's total GTP.
And a technology sector that employs more than 2.5 million people, India's poised become
a global industry leader.
Over the past 10 years, India has also experienced a rapid increase in internet penetration, growing
from 5.5 million users in 2000 to 6.1.3 million in 2009.
And government initiatives have brought the internet to rural areas by the way of setting
up cyber cafes in the hopes of closing the country's digital divide.
Despite such growth, or perhaps because of it, India has struggled to strike a balance
between security concerns and online freedom.
As we previously noted, India has been known to censor online content, typically under
the guise of national security of obscenity.
Though the country's constitution guarantees the right to frame of expression, the state
has given the right to impose reasonable restrictions, in the interests of the sovereignty, and
the integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states,
public order, decency, or morality, or in relation to the content of court, defamation,
or incitement to an offense.
As such, the 2000 Information Technology Act allows for the blocking of certain content
online.
In 2003, the Indian government created the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT-IN,
the issue blocking orders of websites.
Another provision, Section 144, of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows police commissioners
to identify and or the blocking of material that contains a threat or nuisance to society.
In recent years, online censorship has become part of the national discourse in India,
in particular a set of regulations that went to effect on April 2011.
The intermediate guidelines, rules, and cybercafe rules have inspired new dialogue in India
around the limits to speech.
The broad intermediate guidelines give power to citizens to submit complaints upon which
intermediaries are required to take down offensive content within 36 hours, with no transparency
requirement, says Pranesh Prakash of the Center for Internet and Society, which tested the
regulations by submitting frivolous requests.
If we hadn't kept track of their fulfilled take down requests, it would be as though the
content never existed.
On Monday, reports emerged that Google India had removed web pages deemed offensive to
Indian political and religious leaders to comply with a court case, filed by journalist
Vinay Rae, who demands regulation of offensive and objectionable material, Rae's case
filed a widely publicized assembly meeting in which Indian telecommunications minister
Kapil Sibbal met with top executors of internet companies and social media sites in an attempt
to compel them to proactively filter certain content.
Though at that time the company stated that such a move would be impossible, a January
deli Khaikort decision issued by Justice Sirish Kate has apparently forced their hands.
Following his decision, Justice Kate told lawyers for several of the companies that, unless
they develop the capability to regulate offensive and objectionable material on their sites,
the Indian government would block their websites like China does.
The deli Khaikort gave Google, as well as 21 other websites, two weeks to present further
plans for policing their networks, according to an AP report.
Facebook, Yahoo, and Microsoft have reportedly questioned their inclusion in the case
on the basis that no specific complaints have been presented against them.
In response to the case, communications minister Sakin Pailat claimed that there is no
question of any censorship, arguing that foreign companies must be responsible and operate
within the laws of the country.
As we have written before when a company has employees in a given country, it has little
choice when faced with a legal order.
Apart from leaving the country altogether, the company can refuse to comply and put its
employees at risk of arrest, or worse, or it can comply with the order and risk backlash
from users.
Sensorship, therefore, becomes a necessary trade-off.
A company must make in order to continue its operations, a chilling effect of choosing
to operate somewhere where freedom of expression is under threat.
Many companies, including Google and Twitter, have developed mechanisms by which they can
locally censor content.
This means that when companies comply with legal orders, content is removed on a country
per country basis, as opposed to being taken down across the entire site.
EFF views this as a good thing in that it minimizes censorship, however, with the caveat that
transparency in such decisions is vital.
Google for its part publishes a transparency report, in which the company shares information
about requests for user data and content removals.
In respect to India, the company reports that, from January to June 2011, it declined the
majority of YouTube take-down requests, but locally restricted videos that appeared to
violate local laws prohibiting speech that could incite enmity between communities.
The report shows that Google complied with 51% of the 68 requests that we see during that
period.
Twitter has also vowed to be transparent in its per country take-downs, reporting requests
to the chilling effects clearinghouse, other companies such as Facebook have not offered
transparency reports to the public.
These mechanisms for transparency are vital to all citizens' ability to seek, receive
and import information and ideas regardless of borders.
Despite the transparency EFF has concerns that these localized content removals are leading
to a fractured web, in which different countries have different views of the internet.
To that end, we encourage companies considering opening foreign offices to think carefully
about a given country's track record on freedom of expression.
As for India, we believe that by placing such pervasive restrictions on free expression,
the Indian government is losing an opportunity to be an important part of the digital revolution.
The inhibition of free speech to such a degree poses a real threat to India's once thriving
democracy.
As UN Special Repetua on Freedom of Expression, Frank LaRue stayed last year in his widely
cited report, quote, by vastly expanding the capacity of individuals to enjoy their right
to freedom of opinion and expression, which is an enabler of other human rights, the
instant boost economic, social and political development, and contributes to the progress
of humankind as a whole, unquote.
EFF calls upon the government of India to respect the principles of free expression, laid
out an article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and halt further regression
of rights and freedoms.
From EFF.O, date February 7, 2012, by Mitch Stullitz, letters to the copyright office,
why I jailbreak.
EFF has asked the U.S. copyright office to declare that jailbreaking smartphones, tablets and
game consoles does not violate the DMCA, and there are only two days left to submit comments
to the copyright office or to sign on to letter supporting our exemption request from
video game system Hacker Bunny Huang, and everything is a remix film make a Kirby Ferguson.
We've already heard from many device users who have spoken up to explain why installing
the software they choose on the devices they own should stay legal.
Richard McLeod is a deaf man who uses his Android phone, a Samsung Epic 4G to assist
him with communication, record keeping and time management.
Like many deaf people, he uses video relay service, the R.S. software on his phone, to
quote, work on a level playing field with hearing peers and have productive and meaningful
careers, unquote.
He had these comments for the copyright office, quote, quote, I need a phone that can run
VRS software through the day without having to recharge every other hour.
The stock phone I received can't do that.
I had to upgrade to a more powerful battery, then I installed an alternative version of
the Android operating system called CleanGB that removes most of the carrier installed software.
This freed up memory and battery resources I need to stay connected.
We need the ability to modify our devices because manufacturers and carriers can possibly
anticipate all the needs of their customers.
We need flexibility to make the most of the terrific tools they build for us.
I love the power and connectivity my phone gives me.
I love that I can customize it to meet my unique needs.
End quote.
And Tom Van Nordstrom sent these comments from Kuwait, quote, quote, I work on an army
base in the Middle East and at night it is very dark.
Often times for my job I have walk outside the trailer and there's rock, scorpion,
spiny tailed lizards, wild dogs, et cetera, to look out for outside.
I jailbreak my phone specifically so that I can set a button to immediately turn on the
flashlight of my camera when I need it.
Please do not make it against the law for me to be safe while supporting the US army's
troops.
End quote.
Stephanie Hughes had this to say quote, I'm a nurse and the customizations I can
make to my devices after jailbreaking increases my productivity and success in my job every
day.
I can track my performance treatments used on patients and the effects of those treatments,
much faster with customizations that are not available on a device that is not jailbroken.
End quote.
Reasons for jailbreaking personal devices are is varied as the people who use them but
they share two common themes.
And the low shounen fear with people's use of their own devices and two personal devices
can't reach their full potential when manufacturers artificially limit their uses.
If you have a compelling story for the copyright office, submit your comments today and sign
on to the jailbreaking is not a crime and rip mix make letters from torrentfreak.com by Ernesto
day of February 6, 2012, bit torrent giant BT junkie shuts down for good.
BT junkie, one of the largest bit torrent indexes on the internet, has decided to shut down
voluntarily today.
A combination of legal actions against fellow file sharing sites and time-consuming projects
have led to the drastic decision that takes out one of the main players in the bit torrent
landscape.
Founded in June 2005, BT junkie has been among the top bit torrent sites for more than
half a decade.
The site was never involved in any legal action and to keep it this way, the sites operates
decided to shut the site down for good today.
The following message was posted on the BT junkie homepage a few minutes ago.
This is the end of the line my friends, the decision does not come easy but we've decided
to voluntarily shut down, we've been fighting for years for your right to communicate, but
it's time to move on, it's been an experience of a lifetime, we wish you all the best.
Talking to torrentfreak, BT junkies founder said that the legal actions against other file
sharing sites such as mega upload and the pirate bay played an important role in making
the difficult decision, witnessing all the trouble colleagues got into was caused for
a lot of worry and stress and those will now belong to the past.
That said, BT junkies own a still things there might be a future for other bit torrents
sites.
Quote, I really do hope so, the war is far from over for sure, unquote, he told torrentfreak.
While BT junkie was never targeted directly by copyright holders, the site was reported
to the US trade representative, November last year, both the RIA and MPAA listed the
torrent index as a rogue site, that facilitated mass copyright infringement.
BT junkie is also one of the search terms censored by Google because it's piracy related
alongside the pirate bay, rapid share, you torrent and others.
As a result of the decision to shut down BT junkie, one of the top five torrent sites with
dozens of millions of users in lunch is no more.
Judging from previous shutdowns like that of torrents buy and mini-nover, users will
quickly find a new home at one of the many alternatives, nonetheless, it's the end of
the era.
Rest in peace, BT junkie.
From tech.com by Mike Masnick, they had February 9, 2012.
Congress actually helping the internet, rather than mucking it up, were so used to Congress
trying to muck up the internet that it's rare we hear about cases where they're actually
looking to make things better.
While the idea has been floating around for a little while, and the actual bill was
introduced back in December when we were focused on the whole soup of people debate, the
stock act is starting to get some attention, with co-sponsors, senators Jerry Moran and
Mark Warner taking to the Wall Street Journal to explain why the stock act is important.
The basic idea behind the bill is to remove some of the regulatory hassles of starting and
building a new company.
As we pointed out repeatedly, studies have shown that pretty much all of the net job growth
in the US comes from start-ups, and a bill like the stock act should help make it
easier for stocks to get going.
To be honest, the bill could even be stronger in a bunch of places, but as a starting point,
it's definitely nice to see.
The focus is on making it easier for stocks to be start-ups by doing the following.
It will make permanent, a capital gains tax exemption on the sale of certain kinds of small
business stock that is held for at least five years, in other words, it will encourage
long-term investment in start-ups, which is just the kind of investing we should be
encouraging rather than quick flip-type investing, which is more about gambling on changes
while investing in an economic growth.
It decreases corporate taxes on new businesses during the first three years of profitability,
again making it easier for young companies to grow and to reinvest their own profits
in jobs and growth.
While it doesn't do away with crippling government regulations for small businesses,
it does require a cost-benefit analysis of the economic impact of many of those regulations
on start-ups.
It implements a simplified form of stock founders visa, which is about helping non-Americans
start companies and create jobs in the US.
We've talked about stock visa in the past and why it's a good idea, no matter how you
feel about other immigration issues, this one is pretty clearly about having immigrants
create jobs in the US rather than elsewhere.
There are a few other things in the bill, but overall, the key point is to basically
get overbearing regulations out of the way.
These are regulations that bogged down many start-ups or prevent them from getting started
at all, and really put a drain on the key part of the economy that is contributing to both
job growth and economic growth.
It's rare to see Congress trying to do something that helps the internet rather than mucks
it up, so we should certainly highlight when such efforts are being pushed forward.
I have a few cripples around the edges on pieces of the bill, and really think it should
go further in other areas, but on the whole, it's a really good stock.
From torrentfreak.com, by Ernesto did February 9, 2012, download a copy of the pirate bay.
It's only 90 megabytes.
Soon the pirate bay will stop linking to dot torrent files, instead the world's largest
bit torrent site will only list so-called magnet links.
One of the advantages of the switches that the pirate bay will be much more portable
and easier to copy.
A new torrent listing, all titles and magnet links on the pirate bay proves this point
as the public can download the copy that fits easily on a small USB stick, or even a few
dozen floppies.
Last month, the pirate bay announced that it will stop hosting torrents in the very near
future.
This change is expected to go into effect before the end of the month.
From then on, pirate bay users can only download files through magnet links.
The pirate bay team told torrentfreak that one of the advantages to the transition to
a magnet site is that it requires relatively little bandwidth to host a proxy site.
This is needed because the pirate bay is currently blocked in several countries and more
are bound to follow in the months to come.
About torrents, the pirate bay also becomes extremely portable, which makes it possible
for people to download a personal backup.
As we said before, such a copy would easily fit on a thumb drive.
Pirate Bay user, Alice Fine, was intrigued by this idea and decided to find out how
small a copy of the torrent site would be.
Quote, I did a complete snapshot of all the pirate bay torrents in case somebody wants
to close it or something similarly crazy.
Quote, he told torrentfreak.
Using this script, which is available at the article, Alice Fine managed to copy the
title, ID, file size, seeds, leachers, and magnet links of 1,643,194 torrents.
Comments were not copied to keep the files as small as possible, and the end result is
a full copy of all magnet links.
On the pirate bay, in a 90 megabyte file, 164 megabytes unzipped.
There is some confusion as to whether the 1,643,194 torrents are indeed a full copy of
the site, as the pirate bay itself lists 4,199,832 torrents in the footer link on its site.
However, the lattice stats apply to the number of torrents that are available on several
public trackers.
The pirate bay itself only hosts a fraction of those.
With the release of the copy anyone can now download a personal backup of the pirate
bay in a few minutes.
Although searching the copy isn't as convenient as using the pirate bay itself, there is
little doubt that someone else will soon come up with another script that solves this problem.
Modern history has shown that when a site is threatened with shutdown, or censored,
the internet is very quick to come up with a workaround, and with thousands of backups
of the pirate bay floating around, it will be very hard at this point to get rid of
the famous torrents site.
What's perhaps even more striking is that the greatest arch rival of a billion dollar
entertainment industry is nothing more than 164 megabytes of text.
Something to think about.
Here's a copy of 17 million torrents from BitSnoop.com, pretty much the same format but
nicely categorized, it's only 535 megabytes.
News from Havana at times.org, magamackneil.wordpress.com, techdirt.com, and UFCW blockspot.com used under
a range permission.
News from eff.org and torrentfreak.com used under permission of the Creative Commons
by Attribution License.
News from DemocracyNow.org used under permission of the Creative Commons by Attribution, non-commercial
no-derotive license.
News sources retain their respective copyrights.
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