US cybersecurity efforts trigger privacy concerns

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties.

In a report for release Friday, The Constitution Project warns that as the Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial, communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks, sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.

While the government may have good intentions, it "runs the risk of establishing a program akin to wiretapping all network users' communications," the nonpartisan legal think tank says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report in advance.

Cybersecurity has become a rapidly expanding priority for the government as federal agencies, private companies and everyday people come under persistent and increasingly sophisticated computer attacks. The threat is diverse, ranging from computer hackers going after banking and financial accounts to terrorists or other nations breaching government networks to steal sensitive data or sabotage critical systems such as the electrical grid, nuclear plants or Wall Street.

Privacy has been a hotly debated issue, particularly as the Pentagon broadens its pilot program to help defense contractors protect their networks and systems. Several companies, including critical jet fighter and drone programs, have been attacked, although the Pentagon has said that no classified information was lost.

And there are plans for the Homeland Security Department to use the defense program as a model to prevent hackers and hostile nations from breaching critical infrastructure. Officials have suggested that Congress needs to craft legislation that would protect companies from certain privacy and other laws in order to share information with the government for cybersecurity purposes.

DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said the legislative proposals reflect the administration's commitment to privacy protections and contain standards to minimize contact with personal information while dealing with cybersecurity threats. "DHS builds strong privacy protections into the core of all cybersecurity programs and initiatives," Chandler said, adding that the agency realizes that providing assistance to private companies is a sensitive task that requires "trust and strict confidentiality."

The Constitution Project report recommends that officials limit the amount and nature of personal information shared between the public and private sectors. And it calls for strict oversight of the cyber programs by Congress and independent audits, to ensure that privacy rights have not been violated.

"The government should not be permitted to conduct an end-run around Fourth Amendment safeguards by relying upon private companies to monitor networks," it said.

In addition, the report raised concerns about the ongoing development of the Einstein 3 program, a government network monitoring system that would both detect and take action against cyberattacks on federal systems. DHS officials have said that extensive privacy protections are in place.

But the report expressed concerns that as DHS and the secretive National Security Agency share information about potential computer-based threats, the NSA could review communications from U.S. individuals without setting up privacy safeguards.

"With more and more people needing to share sensitive personal and financial data over the Internet, it is absolutely vital that, while we are looking to protect our networks against cyberattack, we also preserve our constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy," said Constitution Project committee member Asa Hutchinson, a former DHS undersecretary who also served as a GOP congressman from Arkansas.

Lawmakers who have been wrestling with these issues over the past several years have several bills in the works, and most include some privacy provisions.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-27-Internet%20Privacy/id-9cec67cc18dc4730937605684c5763b8

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Nigeria police chief tarnished over 2001 violence (AP)

ABUJA, Nigeria ? Nigeria's president has selected a new officer to lead the nation's police force as a radical Islamist sect increasingly targets the force, but that man already has a past tarnished by allegations he allowed religious and ethnic violence that killed 1,000 people to spiral out of control.

Mohammed D. Abubakar served as police commissioner in Plateau state in 2001, leading up to rioting that saw Muslim and Christian groups armed with machetes and firearms attack each other in the restive central Nigerian city of Jos. And while some victims burned to the death in the street, civil society groups said Abubakar refused to send officers into the street to stop the violence.

"The police commissioner kept saying everything was under control while the whole town was on fire," one local human rights activist told Human Rights Watch after the rioting.

Abubakar took over Thursday as inspector general of the Nigeria Police Force, an agency still roughly organized and as maligned as it was when the British colonial government created it in 1861. Today, more than a fourth of its officers serve as personal attendants and drivers to the oil-rich nation's elite, while others extort bribes from motorists at checkpoints.

Abubakar, who previously served as police commissioner in Lagos, found himself appointed to the position after President Goodluck Jonathan forced Inspector Gen. Hafiz Ringim to retire several months early Wednesday. Criticism had grown over Ringim's management after a series of attacks by the sect known as Boko Haram, including one that saw the force's headquarters bombed in June. The final straw appeared to be the sect's coordinated assault last week in the northern city of Kano that saw at least 185 people killed.

Yet in 2001, Abubakar served as the top police official for Jos as the city edged closer to violence. Civil rights activists accused the commissioner of ignoring warning signs and their messages asking him to mediate the growing turmoil. On Sept. 7, 2001, the city erupted in violence, pitting Christians against Muslims in violence that has repeated itself in years since.

The attacks killed about 1,000 people, Human Rights Watch said, violence that went unnoticed on the world stage as the Sept. 11 terror attack happened soon after. Some of the violence could have been averted by the police ? including one instance where officers turned away a Muslim man trying to find protection for a Christian later killed, Human Rights Watch said. Officers also did not deploy to stop attacks at the city's university.

Abubakar was transferred to Abia state in November 2001.

In a statement Wednesday announcing Ringim's ouster, the presidency described Abubakar's appointment "as a first step towards the comprehensive reorganization and repositioning of the Nigeria Police Force to make it more effective and capable of meeting emerging internal security challenges." Presidential spokesman Reuben Abati did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a federal police spokesman.

It remains unclear what effect Abubakar's leadership will have on police, though he has been lauded for his anti-robbery campaigns in the time since the 2001 Jos violence. Nigeria's police force remains under-equipped and unable to investigate major terror attacks like those carried out by Boko Haram.

Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, has now killed at least 262 people in 2012, more than half of the at least 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an Associated Press count.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

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LockInfo vs IntelliscreenX for iOS 5 jailbreak ? which should you get?

Jailbroken on iOS 5 and wondering whether you should get LockInfo or IntelliscreenX? While both are utilities that aim to give you more control over your iPhone notifications and lockscreen, they do have key differences. Which is better for you?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/viLxwBpUAL4/story01.htm

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HP: Open webOS 1.0 arriving in September, Enyo 2.0 framework free to developers today

When HP announced last month that it would open-source webOS, the outfit seemed mighty pleased (and relieved) to have finally made a definitive decision regarding the fate of its $1.2 billion software experiment. In fact, though, the company's initial announcement was light on detail, other than the fact that webOS will live on with the help of developers both inside and outside HP. Now, the company's ready to talk specifics: HP says it expects the software will be fully open-sourced by September, at which point its official name will be Open webOS 1.0. The first piece of the puzzle is arriving today in the form of the second-gen Enyo framework, a free tool that lets developers write webOS apps for tablets, phones and desktop browsers. Like the original framework, it supports WebKit, but version 2.0 also expands compatibility to modern desktop browsers such as Firefox, Chrome and Safari. The company also revealed that it's moving to a standard Linux kernel -- a clear attempt to sweeten the pot for hardware manufacturers that have never experimented with webOS, but at least know how to build systems running Linux / Android. For now, that Enyo framework is available for free (more details at the source links), and we've got the PR below, which details HP's plans between now and the OS' September release.

Continue reading HP: Open webOS 1.0 arriving in September, Enyo 2.0 framework free to developers today

HP: Open webOS 1.0 arriving in September, Enyo 2.0 framework free to developers today originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Myanmar Reforms: 'No Turning Back' On Road To Democracy

NEW DELHI ? Myanmar's foreign minister said Wednesday that the transition to democracy in the once-authoritarian southeast Asian country will be gradual and systematic.

"The reform process that we have started is irreversible," Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin said in New Delhi during a trip to meet with Indian leaders. "There will be no turning back or derailment on the road to democracy."

Myanmar's military-backed but elected government has eased restrictions on political activity and released hundreds of political prisoners since it took office in March 2011. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is now a candidate in parliamentary elections, and President Thein Sein has even suggested that she could be considered for a Cabinet post if she wins.

Maung Lwin said future reforms will be "incremental, systematic and dynamic."

However, he warned that the transition to democracy was not without challenges. He said Myanmar was "prepared and resolute to overcome all these challenges," but did not elaborate on what they were.

For much of the past two decades, Myanmar was a pariah to Western democracies for holding Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and maintaining autocratic military rule.

The easing of political and economic restrictions under the new government was already yielding better relations. A host of top Western diplomats has visited Myanmar to witness the situation and encourage the reforms.

On Monday, the European Union lifted some restrictions including the removal of a visa ban on Myanmar's leaders. Most Western sanctions are still in place as countries watch the reforms' progress and the fairness of an upcoming election.

Maung Lwin said Myanmar was determined to reach out to the international community and to step up its engagement as it prepared to head the ASEAN regional grouping in 2014.

India has stepped up its ties with Myanmar as New Delhi competes to assert its influence in the region. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit Myanmar in May.

Talks between Maung Lwin and his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna centered on ways to combat insurgencies, drug trafficking and arms smuggling across the long and porous border shared by the two countries.

Krishna reiterated India's support for infrastructure development and economic projects in Myanmar.

Energy-hungry India and China are competing for access to Myanmar's large natural gas resources.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/myanmar-reforms-wunna-maung-lwin_n_1230380.html

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Lisa Vanderpump: It's "Bitchy" to Say I Upstaged My Daughter's Wedding

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star dishes about Pandora's big day and how wedding planner Kevin Lee lived up to his own hype

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/lisa-vanderpump-its-bitchy-say-i-upstaged-my-daughters-wedding/1-h-422220?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Alisa-vanderpump-its-bitchy-say-i-upstaged-my-daughters-wedding-422220

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Russian probe crash sparks conspiracy theories, confusion

Russia's Phobos-Grunt space probesuffered a debilitating malfunction shortly after its November 2011 launch, which stranded it in low-Earth orbit for more than two months before it succumbed to gravitational forces and plummeted through the atmosphere on Jan. 15.

When an ill-fated Russian Mars probe fell to Earth over the weekend, the spacecraft's untimely demise set off a flurry of conflicting media reports and conspiracy theories.

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Russia's?Phobos-Grunt space probe?suffered a debilitating malfunction shortly after its November 2011 launch, which stranded it in low-Earth orbit for more than two months before it succumbed to gravitational forces and plummeted through the atmosphere on Jan. 15.

The $165 million spacecraft reportedly broke apart over the Pacific Ocean, but inconsistent reports soon surfaced, which sparked different theories about?where the probe had landed, and what had caused it to malfunction in the first place.

The Russian Federal Space Agency is notorious for closely controlling any information released, but part of the issue is the tricky nature of calculating re-entry predictions for dead satellites and other?pieces of orbital debris.

"Predicting an impact point is problematic because it involves fundamental factors that cannot be noted in advance and cannot be measured in real time, such as atmospheric density," space consultant James Oberg, a former NASA space shuttle mission control engineer, told SPACE.com. "These can only be averaged or guessed, sometimes even after re-entry. These known unknowns are more than enough to throw off any kind of prediction by thousands of kilometers." [Photos: Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mission to Mars Moon]

A curious case

Still, the Phobos-Grunt saga was shrouded in mystery long before it crashed back to Earth. The cause of the spacecraft's malfunction has not yet been determined, and claims ranging from accidental radar interference to outright sabotage have been reported by Russian news outlets.?

Russian space officials suggested that strong?emissions from an American radar station?on an island in the Pacific Ocean could have accidentally interfered with Phobos-Grunt, reported the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

But, these claims were later dismissed by a Russian scientist who was involved with the development of Phobos-Grunt. Alexander Zakharov, a scientist at the Russian Academy of Science Space Research Institute, told Ria Novosti that the radar theory is "far-fetched," and suggested instead that issues with the spacecraft itself were likely to blame.

American experts were also quick to write off the idea that a U.S. radar station could have been the source of the spacecraft's demise ? accidental or otherwise.

"I do not see any evidence that supports the suggestion that the United States somehow played a role in the failure of Phobos-Grunt," Brian Weeden, an orbital debris expert at the Secure World Foundation in Washington, D.C., told SPACE.com in an email. "I have examined the claims made about the U.S. tracking radar on the South Pacific potentially interfering with Phobos-Grunt and they are without any credibility whatsoever."

Following?Phobos-Grunt's fall from space, the Russian Federal Space Agency released an official statement confirming that the spacecraft had landed in the Pacific Ocean. But, the agency admitted this impact zone was based on orbital predictions, and they lacked tracking or visual?data.

This fueled speculation that the spacecraft had overshot its predicted landing zone and broke apart elsewhere along its orbital track, such as over Argentina or Brazil. [6 Biggest Spacecraft to Fall Uncontrolled From Space]

"You're never quite sure," said Emmet Fletcher, Space Surveillance and Tracking Manager at the European Space Agency (ESA). "Eyewitness accounts are good, so if someone sees it coming in and takes a picture, that can tell you about where it lands. But, if you're fortunate and it lands in the ocean, which is where we like things to go, there shouldn't be anyone there. So, if something lands in the South Pacific, you won't have anyone there to observe it."

Tracking a falling spacecraft

Fletcher is part of ESA's?Space Situational Awareness?team which monitors space junk and operates a network of tracking stations. Fletcher could not comment specifically on Phobos-Grunt, but he has worked on coordinated international efforts to deal with spacecraft and orbital debris that has re-entered the atmosphere.

"It's all a learning experience," Fletcher said. "There are lessons learned and conclusions about what we can do better. A lot of work is being done to standardize data."

Right now, different agencies and organizations have different methods for calculating re-entry predictions. This has advantages and disadvantages, Fletcher said, but ultimately, a more standardized approach could help foster more efficient cooperation between entities.

But the story of Phobos-Grunt doesn't end there.

In a recent development, the U.S. military appeared to have?removed links to Phobos-Grunt tracking dataon a public website that ordinarily details such events.

Information about the doomed Russian probe's re-entry was removed from Space Track, a website operated by U.S. Strategic Command. The military also did not publish any confirmation of the probe's fall, which breaks with standard protocol.

This handling of the data seemed unusual, said Weeden, a former U.S. Air Force officer, who once also directed the Joint Space Operations Center's orbital analyst?training?program.

"[T]he final re-entry prediction data is still missing from the U.S. military's website where they normally publish the information," Weeden said. "I do not really have any idea why they would withhold this information for Phobos-Grunt. They have published the full?re-entry prediction data?on three other space objects so far this year, and they are continuing to publish re-entry predictions as normal for the next object, Cosmos 2176, which is a Russian Kompass-2 satellite that is due to re-enter in the next several days. "

Falling spacecraft and human error

But Friday evening (Jan. 20), a spokesperson from U.S. Strategic Command told SPACE.com that data was not, in fact, removed from the Space Track website. Rather, a human error had accidentally misfiled the information.

"All actions taken during the Phobos-Grunt re-entry were designed to improve international data sharing on this event," Julie Ziegenhorn, Deputy Chief of Public Affairs at U.S. Strategic Command, said in an email statement. "Unfortunately, shortly after the re-entry event, there was human error that led to all Phobos-Grunt entries on spacetrack.org being misfiled into the year 2011 data, which made it difficult for customers to access the information. Shortly after the error was discovered, the information was re-posted to the site and is accessible at this time."

Still, experts are hoping that more precise information about Phobos-Grunt's impact zone will be released, but it's unclear which agencies will make their reports available to the public. ESA plans to release a final report on Phobos-Grunt, but officials are currently still waiting for "additional data from non-ESA sources," agency spokesperson Andreas Schepers said in an email.

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was?designed to collect soil samples?from the Mars moon Phobos and return them to Earth in 2014. The botched mission is one of several space failures that plagued the Russian Federal Space Agency over the past year.

"It was one of the boldest cavalry charges, and they said it was a cavalry charge to restore Russia's honor in space," Oberg said. "But, cavalry charges can also wind up disastrously, so the use of that metaphor was particularly apt."

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter?@denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/VriRWoZoLG8/Russian-probe-crash-sparks-conspiracy-theories-confusion

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