In WTF News: Microsoft Temporarily Takes Down Whistleblower Site Cryptome

This story was originally published on February 24 and two days later, Cryptome was back online, apparently because Microsoft did not have a legal leg to stand on. Ultimately Microsoft’s attempt to conceal how they spy on their customers through a bogus copyright infringement lawsuit was a failure. Read the back and forth between John Young of Cryptome, Microsoft’s Anti-Piracy Investigator and Cryptome’s hosting provider Network Solutions here.

According to Ryan Singel of Wired:

“Microsoft has managed to do what a roomful of secretive, three-letter government agencies have wanted to do for years: get the whistleblowing, government-document sharing site Cryptome shut down.

“Microsoft dropped a DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement on Cryptome’s proprietor John Young on Tuesday after he posted a Microsoft surveillance compliance document that the company gives to law enforcement agents seeking information on Microsoft users. Young filed a counterclaim on Wednesday — arguing he had a fair use to publishing the document, a full day before the Thursday deadline set by his hosting provider, Network Solutions.

“Regardless, Cryptome was shut down by Network Solutions and its domain name locked on Wednesday — shuttering a site that thumbed its nose at the government since 1996 — posting thousands of documents that the feds would prefer never saw the light of day.

“Microsoft did not return a call for comment by press time.

“The 22-page document (.pdf) contains no trade secrets, but will tell Microsoft users things they didn’t know. (You can read it directly on your own computer from the above link, or read it inline below.)

“For instance, Xbox Live records every IP address you ever use to login and stores them for perpetuity. While that’s going to be creepy for some, there’s an upside if your house gets robbed, according to the document: ‘If your investigation involves a stolen Xbox console, if the console serial number or Xbox LIVE user gamertag is provided and the console has been connected to the Internet, IP connection records may be available.’

“The Microsoft® Online Services Global Criminal Compliance Handbook (.pdf) also goes so far as to provide sample language for subpoenas and diagrams on how to understand server logs.

“Other things you might not know and which Microsoft (sometimes oddly) doesn’t want you to know?

“Microsoft retains only the last 10 login records for Windows Live ID. As for your instant messages, it tells police that it keeps no record of what anyone says over Microsoft Messenger – though it will turn over who is on your buddy list.”

Read the rest of the article here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Website Shout Out: Mowa

From Mowa:
“The Museum Of Weird Art (Mowa) is a virtual community of like-minded people who share a passion for art and weird art in particular.

“As ‘weird’ is somehow a subjective label, it should be interpreted in a very broad sense. We interpret it mainly as a counterbalance for the overload of conventional art that is out there, and hence focus on art that goes beyond the traditional approach.

“The Mowa gallery is updated on a constant basis. New additions to the gallery will be announced on the site and via our social media channels Facebook & Twitter.

“If you have valuable content/information that is interesting for Mowa, you can fill out the submission form here.

“Mowa was founded by mx and his son Dado in the year 2005. They both live in Ghent/Belgium.”

Merel Barends

Chris Berens

Francien Krieg

posted by: Tricia Rock

Blogger Claims, “Tumblr Stole My Domain at the Behest of a Corporation” (aka Pitchkfork Media)

Pitchfork Media’s President/Founder Ryan Schreiber
…laughing at the level of his own influence perhaps

In what may prove to be one of the douchiest public relation moves ever made by two self-important websites comes news that Pitchfork Media and Tumblr stole the subdomain of a Tumblr blogger, which had been established more than a year ago.

From HIPSTERRUNOFF.com:
“Pitchfork Media.com, the world’s largest music reviews site started a Tumblr version of their blog. Tumblr is a micro-blogging community which has a loyal, growing user base, filling a niche somewhere between livejournal and twitter. Websites often start tumblr version of their websites in order to reach content creators who are looking to share their high level content on a daily basis. This was probably a ‘good idea’ to reach out to the tumblr community, but the acquisition of their URL has started a ‘huge’ backlash by tumblr and pitchfork fans + users.

“The URL pitchfork.tumblr.com had been squatted upon by the tumblogger Tumbledore. Unfortunately, he woke up one morning to see that his tumblr URL had been taken from him and given to pitchfork. At this point, we can only speculate that Pitchfork purchased the URL from tumblr. Other conspiracy theories say Tumblr and Pitchfork were looking to combine their user bases in order to get a lethal amount of mad internet page views.

“From Tumbledore’s rant against the Tumblr corporation:

‘Recently, one of my friends who is subscribed to my pitchfork tumblr was surprised to see a sudden change in the content I was posting. That’s because Tumblr stole my subdomain and gave (sold?) it to Pitchfork Media Inc. Keep in mind that the word “pitchfork” is not a proprietary name, it is a noun dating back to the year 1364, so they had no legal right to the word or the subdomain. It clearly wasn’t a case of impersonation as none of my posts had anything to do with music. If there was some kind of content quality threshold that failed to be met which led to my blog’s demise, then 98% of Tumblr should now be blank. Is it possible there’s a certain amount of time that can pass between posts before Tumblr deletes your blog? If so, they should probably make that information public just in case someone accidentally makes the mistake of going on vacation.’”

Read Tumbledore’s account of what happened here
Read Hipster Runoff’s article in full here
Read Pitchfork President Ryan Scriberer’s defense here
Read Tumblr’s defense here

For even more Pitchfork drama read The Daily Swarm’s article about the site here

posted by: Harold Johns III

In WTF News: FBI’s Most Wanted List Now Includes Your Internet History

According to Mashable:

“FBI Director Robert Mueller wants ISPs to track ‘origin and destination information’ about their customers’ browsing habits and store them for authorities’ use for two years, according to a CNET report.

“That would mean monitoring the IP addresses, domains and exact websites users visit, and then storing that information for months. If officials who support this measure get their way, federal, state and local law enforcement would be able to access the information via search warrant or subpoena.”

“Access to exact URLs would require deep-packet inspection, which could be a violation of the Wiretap Act. The courts would end up having to make a ruling one way or the other if authorities try it.

“The argument in favor is that the FBI has long been able to do this with telephone call information, but since so much telephone communication has been replaced by web activity, this would just be a preservation of existing powers. And those in favor insist that no actual content would be released to authorities — only points of contact. For example, authorities can see that a phone call was made from one number to another, but they don’t know what was said unless they wiretap.

“The FBI says it could use an ISP’s data to investigate suspected child pornographers, but there are obviously potential abuses as well. The good news for privacy hawks who oppose this sort of thing just as strongly as they do the CIA’s alleged use of social networking data is that no significant progress has been made to get this done; consider this more a statement of intent. It’s not the first though; a formal request was sent to congress almost two years ago.”

From the CNET report cited in the Mashable article:

“The FBI is not alone in renewing its push for data retention. As CNET reported earlier this week, a survey of state computer crime investigators found them to be nearly unanimous in supporting the idea. Matt Dunn, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the Department of Homeland Security, also expressed support for the idea during the task force meeting.

“If logs of Web sites visited began to be kept, they would be available only to local, state, and federal police with legal authorization such as a subpoena or search warrant.

“What remains unclear are the details of what the FBI is proposing. The possibilities include requiring an Internet provider to log the Internet protocol (IP) address of a Web site visited, or the domain name such as cnet.com, a host name such as news.cnet.com, or the actual URL such as http://reviews.cnet.com/Music/2001-6450_7-0.html.

“While the first three categories could be logged without doing deep packet inspection, the fourth category would require it. That could run up against opposition in Congress, which lambasted the concept in a series of hearings in 2008, causing the demise of a company, NebuAd, which pioneered it inside the United States.

“A Justice Department representative said the department does not have an official position on data retention.”

This diagram is from the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) 2007 report on the FBI’s use of National Security Letters (NSLs).  The FBI used these NSLs to obtain phone and financial records without a court order.  The OIG report can be downloaded and read in full here

posted by: Brent Carter

Check Out Our New Facebook Fan Page

As you may (or may not) know, our friends at Facebook have recently added the “Fan Page” option – which is basically a newer and better version of the “Group Page.”

We’ve just finished setting up our new Rathaus Fan Page and would love for all of you to “become a fan.”

What does this mean for you? Well, it means that you’ll be able to see updates a little easier from The Rathaus – they’ll show up in your newsfeed and you won’t have to seek them out on the group page. Plus you can browse the photos used on the blog, click on the caption link and it will take you straight to the corresponding post on The Rathaus. We’ll also begin to post discussion topics and want encourage our readers to send us any feedback/comments/opinions you may have.

You can also use the handy Facebook application located on the toolbar at the bottom of the blog as another means to become a fan and to see what we’ve recently posted.

Thanks and much love from The Rathaus.

posted by: Brent Carter