13:20 GMT: Demonstrations in support of Manning which exploded over the weekend have continued into the day of the trial, as his allies keep vigil outside in the rain. Very large media turnout for start of Bradley #Manning trial this AM. And protesters out in force too twitter.com/Edpilkington/s… — Ed Pilkington (@Edpilkington) June 3, 2013 13:11 GMT: Around 350 aimed to secure one of the 70 spaces available to observe the trial. All 70 or so seats in the Ft. Meade media center are full as the court-martial of Bradley Manning is finally about to begin. — Andrew Panda Blake (@apblake) June 3, 2013 13:00 GMT: Proceedings begin at the trial of Private Bradley Manning. ‘Truth’ T-shirts are reportedly banned from the courtroom, with their wearers being directed to turn them inside out, as influencing judicial opinion is not allowed. 13:00 GMT: RT starts live updates from the courtroom. RT’s own correspondent, Andrew Blake, is reporting live from Fort Meade. Manning, 25, has already pleaded guilty to charges of leaking information to the anti-secrecy website, which alone could confine him to prison for 20 years. However, it is a small fraction of the further 21 counts the prosecutors are seeking to convict him on, one of which includes allegedly aiding of the enemy, which he did not believe he was doing. The court-martial trial is being held at Fort Meade military base in Baltimore. Military tribunals are frequently held in extremely secretive conditions. He has reportedly opted to have it heard by a judge instead of a jury and the final verdict could take as long as three months to be announced. Manning stated at a pre-trial hearing in February that the scenes he witnessed left him deeply unsettled. “The most alarming aspect of the video” was the “seemingly delightful bloodlust the aerial weapons team happened to have,” he said, suggesting the soldiers were akin to children “torturing ants with a magnifying glass.” Worldwide demonstrations in support of Manning took place over the weekend at Fort Meade, Toronto, Berlin, Paris and even South Korea’s Seoul. … Read More
Newegg scores new victory against "corporate troll" Alcatel-Lucent
For a few years now Newegg.com has made it policy never to settle with patent trolls. Following up from their victory over Soverain Software in January, who claimed to have invented the online shopping cart, now the retailer has scored another favorable verdict against French telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent over… … Read More
US drone strikes illegal – Pakistani court
The Peshawar High Court has recommended the Pakistani government advance a resolution against the attacks in the United Nations. The court issued its verdict on the CIA-run air strikes in response to four petitions charging the attacks killed civilians and caused “collateral damage.” Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan heard the petitions, and ruled that drone strikes on sovereign Pakistani territory were illegal, inhumane and a violation of the UN charter on human rights.“The government of Pakistan must ensure that no drone strike takes place in the future,” the court said on Thursday, according to the Press Trust of India. The court also recommended that if the US rejects these findings in the UN, Pakistan should break off relations with Washington: “If the US vetoes the resolution, then the country should think about breaking diplomatic ties with the US.” The Pakistani case was filed last year by the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, a charity based in Islamabad, on behalf of the families of victims killed in a drone attack on a tribal jirga, including more than 50 tribal elders and a number of government officials.According to a report submitted by political officials of North Waziristan Agency, 896 Pakistani residents of the region were killed in the last five years ending December 2012, and 209 were seriously injured. A report by the South Waziristan Agency showed that 70 drone strikes were carried out in the last five years ending June 2012, in which 553 people were killed and 126 injured.”In view of the established facts, undeniable in nature, under the UN Charter and Conventions, the people of Pakistan have every right to ask the security forces either to prevent such strikes by force or to shoot down intruding drones,” the court verdict said.Shahzad Akbar, a lawyer for victims in the case, hailed this as a “landmark” judgment: “Drone victims in Waziristan will now get some justice after a long wait. This judgment will also prove to be a test for the new government: If drone strikes continue and the government fails to act, it will run the risk of contempt of court,” he said, according to the website of legal action charity Reprieve.Killing terrorists, breeding enemiesThe United States regularly targets Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan’s mountainous tribal regions accused of carrying out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Washington claims the operations are done in cooperation with Pakistan’s military.Human rights groups, however, criticize the “collateral damage” of innocent civilian deaths caused by the attacks, and point to the shroud of secrecy surrounding drone use.“Drone attacks on northwest Pakistan, which commenced under former US President George W. Bush in 2004, have increased sevenfold under Obama and has caused the deaths of thousands of suspected terrorists and at least hundreds of civilians in Pakistan and Yemen,” Bloomberg reported in April. Even some of America’s leading commanders fear blowback over the indiscriminate use of this new military technology.“The resentment created” by Washington’s newfound reliance on drone strikes “is much greater than the average American appreciates,” General Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, told Reuters in January. The use of drones adds to “the perception of American arrogance that says, ‘We can fly where we want, we can shoot where we want, because we can.”’At the same time, America’s foreign critics seem to be gaining ground as Washington continues to pursue drone warfare.Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party is considered the favorite in this Saturday’s election, recently vowed that he would not permit drone attacks on Pakistani soil.“Drone attacks are against the national sovereignty and a challenge for the country’s autonomy and independence,” he said.Clive Stafford Smith of the London-based group Reprieve said the court’s ruling is a step toward greater transparency in Washington’s use of drone technology: “Today’s momentous decision by the Peshawar High Court shines the first rays of accountability onto the CIA’s secret drone war,” the Independent quoted him as saying.The innocent people killed by American drone strikes are civilian victims of US war crimes, he added. … Read More
uTorrent and BitTorrent Reject “High Risk” VPN Ads
To protect themselves against excessive monitoring, security exploits and ISP throttling, many BitTorrent users have taken an interest in anonymizing services such as VPNs and proxies.
Not surprisingly, providers of such services are eager to advertise their products to this ‘niche’ group. Many VPN providers are buying ads through Google and other ad-networks, but there is a more direct method.
Last year BitTorrent Inc. added advertisements to its uTorrent and BitTorrent clients, which cater to over 150 million monthly users. The owner of VPN and proxy provider TorGuard therefore made inquiries to the San-Francisco based company to learn more about advertising opportunities, but he was in for a surprise.
In a phone conversation the Vice President of advertising at BitTorrent Inc. told TorGuard that his brand was not a good match since it’s categorized as “high risk.” According to BitTorrent, TorGuard is seen as a service that promotes the use of torrents, which is apparently not allowed.
To find out what is wrong with his service, TorGuard agreed to an extensive review by BitTorrent Inc’s legal team and late last week the final verdict came in. The VPN provider is welcome to advertise with BitTorrent, but not before all torrent related references are removed.
To be accepted, TorGuard has to remove the “tor” from its brand name and website URL, because this directly relates to torrents. In addition, all images even remotely relating to BitTorrent or torrents in general have to go. And it doesn’t stop there.
“Any text content containing the words ‘BitTorrent’,’utorrent’ or ‘torrent’ would also need to be removed. This would of course include landing pages, knowledge base articles, forum/blog posts, and more,” TorGuard’s Ben Van Pelt tells TorrentFreak.
The long list of demands is a bit much for TorGuard’s owner, who is baffled by the entire ordeal.
“Needless to say, we won’t be censoring any of these concerns and will continue to pursue other advertisement initiatives,” Van Pelt says.
“We’ve worked with some of the biggest names in marketing like Google, Cnet and Bing, but never expected censorship requests of this extent from the likes of BitTorrent. It really is wildly ironic,” TorGuard’s owner adds.
The question that remains is why BitTorrent doesn’t want to work with BitTorrent-friendly VPN and proxy services. After all, both the uTorrent and BitTorrent clients have built-in support for proxy connections. And like BitTorrent, VPNs and proxies are nothing more than a technology.
Before the weekend TorrentFreak asked BitTorrent Inc. for a comment on their rules and regulations regarding VPN advertisements, but we have yet to receive a response.
The irony of the situation is amplified by BitTorrent Inc’s ongoing attempts to distance itself from everything piracy related. Deals with content partners are hard to get when people associate your company with illegal downloading, and time and time again the company has been forced to explain that there are plenty of legitimate uses for BitTorrent.
However, BitTorrent now appears to be doing the same to TorGuard.
TorGuard’s owner tells TorrentFreak that he understands that BitTorrent is protecting its brand, but he disagrees with the way the company is going about it. He was willing to make a few changes here and there, but completely banning all references to torrents, suggesting these are somehow evil, is simply not an option.
“To me, the name ‘TorGuard’ first represents anonymity, overcoming censorship and encryption, before it has anything to do with BitTorrent,” Van Pelt concludes.
Source: uTorrent and BitTorrent Reject “High Risk” VPN Ads
Search warrants issued as investigation continues in Steubenville
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is making good on his promise to investigate and hold accountable those who failed to speak up after two Steubenville High School football players raped an unconscious 16-year-old girl last summer. Following the March guilty verdict against Trent Mays and Mal’ik Richmond, DeWine said that he had “reached the conclusion that this investigation cannot be completed, simply cannot be completed, that we cannot bring finality to this matter without the convening of a grand jury.”With the grand jury case looming next week, search warrants have been executed against Steubenville High School and the offices of the local school board in order to determine if other laws were broken in connection with the rape. Under particular scrutiny is Steubenville football coach Reno Saccoccia, who, evidence suggets, knew about the rape early on, but didn’t report the crime to school administrators or local police, as is required by Ohio law. Saccoccia’s contract with the school was renewed on Monday.”What I hope people will believe when we’re done is that we did everything we could to find the truth and that justice was done,” DeWine told the Associated Press. “What you’re seeing today is just part of that effort.” ;Continue Reading… … Read More
George W. Bush seeks vindication with new presidential library and museum
George W. Bush says he will be long gone when posterity delivers a final verdict on his tumultuous presidency. But he will give history a shove in Dallas on Thursday when he opens his presidential library, showcasing his self-image as a leader of a land under attack who made tough decisions that…
Chuck Hagel: Reform military judicial system to combat sexual assault
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday said US commanders should be barred from overturning criminal convictions, in the wake of anger over a quashed guilty verdict in a sexual assault case. Under Hagel’s proposal, which would have to be approved by lawmakers, commanders would still have the…
