She’s taken on the horrific effects of vaccines, to the point where her Wikipedia page, through a series of unethical maneuvers, continues to characterize her as irrationally “anti-vaccine.” … Read More
Oliver Letwin outlines new thinking on Leveson reforms
Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty ImagesDavid Cameron’s policy fixer is proposing to introduce a statute to ensure the government could not interfere in the workings of a new regulator for the press – a measure that in principle contradicts the prime minister’s post-Leveson promise not to introduce a law to oversee press regulation.Oliver Letwin, the Cabinet Office minister, spelled out his evolving thinking in a meeting with Hacked Off, the campaign group that represents victims of media intrusion, including the Dowler and McCann families, and suggested a bill might be introduced to ensure ministers could not meddle in a press regulatory watchdog.Letwin has already been canvassing the idea of using a royal charter to establish a body that will verify whether a revamped Press Complaints Commission will be compliant with the Leveson report, but on Thursday told Hacked Off he was considering a bill to ensure ministers could not tamper with the charter.The Leveson bill mooted by Letwin would mean the constitution of the charter body could be changed only by a “super majority” (perhaps two-thirds) vote in the Lords and the Commons. Normally royal charters can be amended on the say so of ministers, using the power of the monarch as wielded through the privy council.But there were signs of press nervousness at his proposals, with Lord Hunt, the chairman of the PCC, warning against mission creep at a press briefing on Thursday. He said he believed the charter proposal “can be a way through, but only if it doesn’t seek to interfere with anything other than a verification of the independence of the overall structure”.Hacked Off, which has been campaigning for statutory underpinning for the new watchdog, said it was “pleased” ministers have conceded that legislation is necessary to ensure the regulator is effective and independent. However, the group said Letwin’s proposals did not go far enough and did not offer a permanent solution along the lines proposed by Lord Justice Leveson following his 16-month inquiry into press ethics and culture.In a statement, the pressure group said: “We urge ministers now to do as the judge recommended. Instead of engaging in elaborate political manoeuvres tha
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t rely on undemocratic royal prerogative, they should introduce a single, straightforward bill to parliament that creates an effective recognition body and at the same time guarantees press freedom.”Letwin also indicated to Hacked Off that two more clauses of legislation would be needed to guarantee the effectiveness of a new tribunal arm for the press regulator, which would aim to offer an alternative resolution to the high court for privacy and libel claims.One clause would ensure costs were reduced for those who were inside the system. A second would make it legal to levy exemplary damages on those who lose a libel or privacy action and stay outside the new regulator – although Hunt, a lawyer, said he thought Letwin was wrong and that judges could be instructed via non-legislative changes to civil procedure rules.A group of 100 editors representing national and regional newspapers and magazines also met in central London on Thursday to try to develop their own proposals for revamping the PCC. The plan is to have a developed scheme ready for 10 January 10th – – and newspapers will be asked to sign up to the regulator for five years. The regulator will also have the power to ratify changes to the industry code of practice, with changes proposed by a body composed of 10 editors and five lay members. … Read More
Team GhostShell Finishes The Year With Megahack on Orgs Including NASA and Pentagon Defense Contractor
Team GhostShell’s Project WhiteFox logo.
Team GhostShell published their “last project” Monday, “Project WhiteFox.” The hacking crew again used their signature method of announcing the large-scale hack, hijacking numerous Twitter profiles to link to their Pastebin page and notify tech blogs and writers who have covered them in the past.
On the page linking to data taken as part of Project WhiteFox, Team GhostShell explained some of their actions over the past year or so. They also revealed that “DeadMellox” was a ploy, writing that he “was a ghost to begin with.”
“We used the name afterwards to trackback all mentions of that name all over the place,” the hackers wrote, adding, “Well, the whole plan is a bit more complicated than that, part of a bigger story, but let’s leave it at that for now.”
The organizations hit by Project WhiteFox include The European Space Agency, NASA’s Center For Advanced Engineering, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), a defense contractor for the Pentagon and Aquilent, an intelligence firm that states on its website that it makes “technology work for you.”
In a survey of some of the data Team GhostShell posted to various paste-up sites, Betabeat noted login information including emails and passwords as well as the texts of what appear to be internal communications.
Team GhostShell ended the long list of links to hacked data with a rundown of its ops from 2012. These included #ProjectDragonFly, which Team GhostShell termed “a real cyberwar upon China” in the name of freedom of speech and #ProjectWestWind, which famously hacked top-shelf educational institutions around the world to protest “school policies that had spiked tuition fees, outdated reforms and unprepared school faculty.”
While Project WhiteFox is supposedly the team’s final exploit for this year, Team GhostShell signed off with a hint they’d return, writing, “who knows, maybe we’ll see each other again next year.”
Hundreds of systems administrators and IT security staff around the world probably hope Team GhostShell is done for good. … Read More
Mossad Minute: Anonymous Hacks DEBKA.com
According to numerous posts claiming to originate from Anonymous, the Israeli based news agency Debkafile has been hacked by the hactivist group. … Read More
International Atomic Energy Agency reports being hacked
VIENNA (AP) — The International Atomic Energy Agency has acknowledged that one of its servers has been hacked.The U.N. nuclear watchdog commented Tuesday after a previously unknown group critical of Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program posted contact information for more than 100 experts working for the IAEA.A group called “Parastoo” — Farsi for a swallow bird and a common Iranian girl’s name — claimed responsibility for posting the names on its website two days ago.Israel is commonly acknowledged to possess nuclear weapons — something it neither confirms nor denies. It says Iran is secretly working on nuclear arms — something Tehran denies — and describes the Islamic republic as the greatest threat to the Mideast.Iran and Arab countries, however, say the Jewish state’s nuclear capacities pose the greatest menace.Continue Reading… … Read More
Twitter Says It Was Not Hacked
Many Twitter users received e-mails Thursday asking them to reset the password to their Twitter accounts, sparking concerns that their Twitter account, or that Twitter itself, may have been breached. Not so. … Read More
NBC Sports Rotoworld forums and Mobile website defaced
<!– adsense –>Mobile version of Official NBC website (m.nbc.com) and NBC Sports Rotoworld forums (forums.rotoworld.com) are currently defaced with a message reading “hacked by pyknic.” and ”Remember, Remember The Fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.”
Hacker also claim that “user info” and “passwords” had been
