US entertainment industry calls for use of rootkits against Internet pirates

So, if going after Internet piracy with DMCA takedowns and ISP throttling of Net connections aren’t enough, the music and movie industries in the US are looking to take their Internet piracy fight to the next level with legalizing the use of malware, such as spyware and rootkits, to go up against Internet pirates on the web.

One of many measures looked at, is the ability to lock your PC with a notice saying for example, that you broke a law and need to pay a fine (known as ransomware).

Such as measure like this takes the fight directly to the user.

Source: Boing Boing

Boston marathon bomber left behind digital trail

Russia Today America video on one of the Boston bombers that left behind a digital past on YouTube, Twitter and other social media sites that may reveal more about both of the suspects.

How Twitter can get you fired

Russia Today video on how social media sites like Twitter can get people fired from their jobs.

Even digital dirt (info out there about you on the web) may be enough to raise an eyebrow or two from employers, because most of them keep tabs on you on the web, and so will job recruiters.

It serves as a reminder to keep your private stuff private and be mindful on what info you put out on the web.

New Apple security measure creates a flaw or two

After Apple's recent security breach, the company has rolled out two-step verification for its Apple accounts, to send a code to their devices. Before then, all it takes for you to authenticate yourself is your email address and date of birth to recover your password.

Apple fixed the issue, but are they any more flaws left behind?

Porn on Ice: RT video on Iceland Internet porn ban attempt

Russia Today video on Iceland's Internet blocking of porn, also the country will prevent buyers from purchasing pay-per-view porn, subscriptions and paid downloads.

Iceland looking to censor Internet porn

Just as we thought Iceland has long respected Internet freedom and free from Internet surveillance, now it looks to censor porn altogether instead of just child porn.

Halla Gunnarsdottir had this to say about the Internet being somewhat lawless: “There are laws in our society. Why should they not apply to the Internet”?

Sounds like a huge response for taking a country’s law books and presence to the Internet, while the authoritarian regimes are already doing the same, such as Iran, China and Russia.

The UK ISPs wanted to block out porn by default, by making it an option for Internet subscribers to opt in if needed, if they want to view this kind of content. Will Iceland resort to this model?

Australia conducted a test in 2008 on Internet filtering of porn and depictions of crime and drug use. Some parts of that country are still doing this now.

As soon as a regime censors one form of Internet, it’s a pretext to censor anything else that they think violates the laws in their country, or simply do not approve of.

So fellow Icelanders: Tell those politicians to respect Internet freedom by not posing as Internet cops over what you can do and post like in Communist China and Islamic Iran.

Source: MSN News

Twitter wants to track TV trends

CNN video on Twitter's newest move on gathering analytic data on TV trends -because when people watch TV or go to the movies, Internet users are likely to leave feedback.

Twitter is looking into this after its acquisition of Bluefin Labs.

Perhaps not the first social media to begin data gathering on media trends - YouTube may have done a study with Neilsen on video viewership.