Friday, 6 September 2013

The European Union Times

New WikiLeaks docs expose secretive, unruly surveillance industry

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 03:14 PM PDT

The growing surveillance industry complex is providing governments with increasingly sophisticated spying software to track and control their citizens, the latest documents obtained by the pro-transparency group, WikiLeaks reveal.
A trove of documents, outlining the activities of dozens of companies operating in the ever-expanding electronic snooping industry, were made available by the pro-transparency group on Wednesday.
‘Lawful interception’, mass monitoring, network recording, signals and communication intelligence, and tactical interception devices were among the services and products provided by a litany of Western based firms, as outlined in hundreds of pages of documents covering trade brochures, internal memos, and invoices.
“WikiLeaks’ Spy Files #3 is part of our ongoing commitment to shining a light on the secretive mass surveillance industry. This publication doubles the WikiLeaks Spy Files database,” the accompanying press release cites Julian Assange. “The WikiLeaks Spy Files form a valuable resource for journalists and citizens alike, detailing and explaining how secretive state intelligence agencies are merging with the corporate world in their bid to harvest all human electronic communication.”
One 2011 document showed how companies such as UK-based Gamma Group, German-based Desoma and Swiss-based Dreamlab are working in concert to “create Telecommunications Intelligence Systems for different telecommunications networks to fulfill the customers’ needs” regarding “massive data interception and retention.”
In March, Gamma International, which is a subsidiary of Gamma group, made Reporters Without Borders ‘Corporate Enemies of the Internet’ list for 2013, which singled out five “digital mercenaries” who sell their surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes.
The firm’s FinFisher Suite (which includes Trojans to infect PCs, mobile phones, other consumer electronics and servers, as well as technical consulting), is considered to be one of the most sophisticated in the world. During the search of an Egyptian intelligence agency office in 2011, human rights activists found a contract proposal from Gamma International to sell FinFisher to Egypt.
Bill Marczak, a computer science doctoral candidate at the University of California, helped investigate the use of FinFisher spyware against activists and journalists in Bahrain in 2012, as well as in other states.
“We don’t have any sort of contracts, so that we could see financial dealings between companies and these governments. The only indications that we have as to where the spyware has been used are based on the research. In cases that we’ve seen the spyware has been targeted against activists and journalists in a particular country. We’ve been scanning the internet looking for this technology. So we found, as I said, spywares in Bahrain. We saw it being targeted against Bahraini journalists and activists last year. We’ve also found servers for the spyware in a number of other countries, such as Turkmenistan, Qatar, Ethiopia,” Marczak told RT.
RT was the only Russian broadcaster that collaborated with WikiLeaks in this investigation, which also brought into the spotlight other companies including Cobham, Amees, Digital Barriers, ETL group, UTIMACO, Telesoft Technologies and Trovicor.
Trovicor, incidentally, also features among Reporters Without Borders “digital mercenaries.” The firm, whose monitoring centers are capable of intercepting phone calls, text messages, voice over IP calls (like Skype) and Internet traffic, has also been accused by of helping Bahrain imprison and torture activists and journalists.

While a smoking gun in the form of government contracts or invoices was not forthcoming, internal documents discovered by WikiLeaks do confirm that the firm’s dealings with autocratic states.
In a December 2010 correspondence between Nicolas Mayencourt, the CEO of Dreamlab Technologies AG, and Thomas Fischer from Gamma Group’s Germany-based branch Gamma International GmbH, a “quotation concerning the Monitoring system for iproxy (infection proxy)-project” is provided for an unspecified end customer in Oman.
One concern involved keeping the client [Oman] aware of any changes made to the proxy [intermediary] server infected with their software for the sake of culling information from select targets.
“During the integration tests in Oman in September 2010 the end customer figured out that not all of the components of the iproxy infrastructure are under their full control. It is, for example possible that changes of the Oman-network may occur without their knowledge. Thus, it might occur that ISPs [Internet service providers] may modify some of the current configuration. Therefore, the question arose whether it is possible to identify such a modification in the network setup by monitoring the whole iproxy infrastructure.
From this point of view, a request for an efficient and user-friendly monitoring of the iproxy infrastructure including all components of the systems was derived. This requirement is discussed and a proposal for solution is described in this offer.”
The infection process as was conducted on-site in Oman in 2010 can be conducted in two different variants, as described in a separate document, ‘System Manual Project O’, prepared for the Gulf client.
The first is described as a binary infection, whereby binaries (non-text computer files) are infected after being downloaded by the configured target.
“In order to do this, the software analyzes the data streams on the NDPs [network data processors] at both of the Internet exchanges (IX). As soon as a matching type of binary is downloaded, the infection mechanism is initiated, then it attaches loader and payload (trojan) to the binary.”

The second method is described as update infection, which “works by sending counterfeit server responses to predefined applications (for example iTunes, Winamp, OpenOffice and SimpleLite), when they are searching for updates.”
Data can be captured both through traditional public switch telephone networks (PSTN), mobile providers and internet protocol suites across a range of devices.
The user’s information, including his or her IP address, user name, [cell] phone number, the date time and identity of the person being communicated with, and the method or protocol (mail, WWW, Skype, chat, voice, fax, and SMS) are all up for grabs.
Upon being captured, the data is stored in a ‘Data Warehouse’ and “retrieved on command.”
Quotations for the project, enumerated in Swiss francs (CHF), are broken down in multiple categories:
Monitoring and alarming 83,355.00
Services provided by Dreamlab 34,400.00
Training 5,400.00
Annual solution maintenance 24,000.00
Redundant monitoring implementation 57,955.00
Services provided by Dreamlab for redundancy 5,760.00
Annual solution maintenance for redundant system 12,000.00
Note: 1 CHF = 1.06720 USD
Although such software does have legitimate applications for law enforcement, it can easily be used to stifle civil society, as Marczak argues was the case in Bahrain.
Apart from journalists and activists, he noted that in the Malaysia and Ethiopia, members of the political opposition were apparently being targeted as well. One piece of FinFisher spyware discovered, for example, contained details relating to the upcoming Malaysian elections.
“You couldn’t say exactly who was targeted against, but the use of election-related content suggests politically motivated targeting. We also found a sample of this spyware that appeared to be targeted at activists in Ethiopia. The spyware contained a picture of Ethiopian opposition leaders that was displayed when the user opened it. By opening the picture the user copied the spyware,” he said.
Source

60% of crimes in Manchester go unanswered, officer says

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 03:02 PM PDT

Greater Manchester police chief constable Sir Peter Fahy

Only 40 percent of all reported crimes in Greater Manchester are investigated, leaving a large amount of criminal cases filed by the public unsolved, a high-ranking police officer says.
Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said only the “most serious crimes” and those that have a high likelihood to “produce evidence of the offender” can be dealt with due to an overwhelming amount of reported crimes.
“In practice, this translates into about 40 percent of crime being actively pursued at any time. We look at all crimes to identify patterns of offending and to build the picture of where we need to target police patrols,” Fahy said.
“In many crimes there are no witnesses, no CCTV and no forensic opportunities,” he added.

This comes as austerity measures bite into the salaries of the law enforcement in Britain and the government has reduced their resources needed to combat thugs.
According to a report by HMIC, which is responsible for the inspection of the police forces in England and Wales, the GMP has until March 2015 to slash police officer posts by 19 percent.
The cuts mean there will be 1,525 fewer police officers in GMP in the four years to 2015 and is equivalent to a budget cut of almost £150 million.
Greater Manchester has a population of 5.5 million and in April 2012-13 had over 300,000 reported crimes.
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Syrian Activists Form ‘Human Shields’ Around Military Installations

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 02:32 PM PDT

Will Obama take the ultimate step to embodying ‘war criminal’ status?
Syrian activists have taken to forming “human shields” around military installations in the capital of Damascus in efforts to discourage the Obama administration from authorizing “limited” military strikes on the Syrian regime.
According to RT, a coalition of activists have placed themselves around the predicted target of Mount Qasioun, an installation northeast of the Syrian capital of Damascus home to “security and military buildings” as well as Syrian regime armed forces.

“Protesters rallying beside the place called themselves a ‘human shield’ and hold banners featuring slogans such as ‘No more American bombing democracy’ and ‘Hands off Syria,’” RT reported today.

“We are here to express our loyalty to our country in the face of American threats,” a participant reportedly told RT, adding, “We don’t want what they did in Iraq over chemical weapons claims to be done in our country.”

Should Obama authorize military strikes in the face of this form of protest, he will have assuredly assumed the role of war criminal, if his past transgressions haven’t already earned him that title.
Late last month, we documented how the Syrian people were already hard-pressed to find places they could safely hide from Obama’s “humanitarian love bombs” should he sway in the direction of cruise missile strikes.
“We live in the capital. Every turn, every street, every neighborhood has some government target. Where do we hide?” one panicked Damascus resident told Reuters.
“What about my friend?” asked another woman whose family was lucky enough to escape to a safe area. “Her whole family lives in this neighborhood. There is no place for them to go.”
Apparently unfazed by the UK parliament’s historic “no” vote last week in response to Prime Minister David Cameron’s request to attack Syria, Obama, bellicose members of Congress and a compliant lapdog media have been undeterred in their efforts to try to convince the American people chemical weapons used in Syria pose a serious threat to American interests, despite the fact no evidence has been produced directly implicating the Syrian government.
Source

Snowstorm kills 6 people, 30,000 domestic animals in Peru

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 02:20 PM PDT

A man attends his motorcar during a foggy morning in Lima, Peru on August 12, 2013.

Ongoing snowstorms along the border of Peru and Bolivia have left at least six people dead and claimed the lives of more than 30,000 domestic animals.
The cold spell affected about 80,000 mostly poor highlanders in Peru, damaging their main source of revenue – livestock including sheep, llamas and alpacas, and crops, officials said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala travelled to the Apurimac region to deliver aid to affected residents.
Head of Peru’s Civil Defense Institute, Alfredo Murgueytio, called the storm the worst weather in a decade in the country’s south.
The abnormal storm has seen the first snowfall in Chile’s Atacama Desert in 30 years, stranding 12,000 families as nearly three feet of snow fell in the Puno district, officials said.
Temperatures are expected to reach below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) in the next few days.
Peruvian authorities extended a state of emergency to 10 regions of the country through September 20.
Peru’s geography varies from arid plains along the coast to the peaks of the Andes Mountains, to tropical forests of the Amazon Basin.
Source

Russian MP moves to strip gays of parental rights

Posted: 05 Sep 2013 02:13 PM PDT

The State Duma’s assembly hall.

State Duma deputy from United Russia parliamentary caucus claims that the recently introduced ban on promotion of non-traditional sex relations to minors should be extended to families. Therefore, homosexual parents have no right to raise their children.
MP Aleksey Zhuravlev submitted the suggested amendments to the Family Code to the State Duma on Thursday. The explanatory note to the bill reads that non-traditional sexual orientation of one or both parents would become sufficient reason to deprive both of them of their parental rights.
“Following the letter of the law that forbids propaganda of non-traditional sex to minors we must restrict such propaganda not only in mass media but also the family,” Zhuravlev wrote. His reasoning is that “if one of the child’s parents indulges in sexual contact with persons of the same sex, the damage to the child’s psyche is immense as a mother or father serves as an example for their offspring.”
The amendments should apply to those whose families have already collapsed because of the non-traditional contacts of one of the spouses and also to the families where non-traditional sex is openly practiced by one of the parents, the note reads. It adds that for cases when a wife simply suspects her husband of non-traditional sex, the court and the Investigative Committee (Russia’s top law enforcement agency created for dealing with especially important and resonant cases), “have specialists trained in everything.”
Currently, Russian law lists alcohol and drug addiction, premeditated crime against a child’s life and voluntary refusal as sufficient grounds for depriving someone of parental rights.
So far, MPs are very skeptical about the initiative. Olga Batalina, deputy head of the State Duma Committee for Family and Children, told Kommersant daily that instead of investing new reasons to break families the deputy should think more about how to keep children with their parents. Batalina also noted that Russia only recognizes traditional marriage and all other types of relationships are outside the legal sphere, and thus cannot be regulated by the state.
“Communist Party parliamentarians are ready to discuss the bill if Zhuravlev agrees to personally monitor the non-traditional sexual practices in families and presents an official report on results of such monitoring,” party secretary Sergey Obukhov said.
In the documents attached to the bill, Zhuravlev referred not to personal monitoring, but to research conducted by Mark Regnerus, an associate professor at the University of Texas in Austin. Regnerus claims that the children of people who have homosexual relations are less likely to call themselves ‘fully straight’ than the children of heterosexual parents (60-70 percent against 90 percent).
In addition, Regnerus claims that children of homosexual parents demonstrated three times the incidences of VD (25 percent against 8 percent), five times greater suicidal tendencies (25 percent against 5 percent) and three times the level of “inability to remain faithful to partners” (40 percent against 13 percent).
Prominent Russian gay rights activist Nikolay Alekseyev told the press that he could not believe that the lower house could approve the bill or that it could be signed by the Russian president.
”The president has said that the rights of people of homosexual orientation are not infringed in our country. Such initiatives create unwanted tensions between Russia and the West. This is a provocation against the Russian authorities,” Interfax quoted Alekseyev as saying.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly dismissed the allegations that the recent legislative initiatives in Russia were discriminatory towards gays. In the most recent interview to Associated Press and Russia’s Channel One, Putin said that he had “absolutely normal relations” with representatives of the LGBT movement adding that he is working with such people and sometimes even hands them state awards.
The chairman of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, said the fresh bill was a disaster and an attempt to gain popularity through inflating the unimportant yet controversial problems.
“Maybe we should also take driving licenses from all left-handed people? They are left-handed and the cars have steering wheels on the left, it must be harder for them to drive,” Fedotov told reporters. “It is a disaster when an issue that is on the 30th place by its importance is elevated to the top of social mind and inflated to the size of a global cataclysm because afterwards we don’t know what to do with it,” the rights activist said.
Source