Internet

Hacking Politics is a firsthand account of how a ragtag band of activists and technologists overcame a $90 million lobbying machine to defeat the most serious threat to Internet freedom in memory. The book is a revealing look at how Washington works today – and how citizens successfully fought back. Written by the core Internet [...]

Monoskop Log http://monoskop.org/log/?p=8175

Wendy Hui-Kyong Chun: Control And Freedom: Power And Paranoia In The Age Of Fiber Optics (2006)

How has the Internet, a medium that thrives on control, been accepted as a medium of freedom? Why is freedom increasingly indistinguishable from paranoid control? In Control and Freedom, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun explores the current political and technological coupling of freedom with control by tracing the emergence of the Internet as a mass medium. [...]

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Finn Brunton: Spam: Shadow History of the Internet (2013)

The vast majority of all email sent every day is spam, a variety of idiosyncratically spelled requests to provide account information, invitations to spend money on dubious products, and pleas to send cash overseas. Most of it is caught by filters before ever reaching an in-box. Where does it come from? As Finn Brunton explains [...]

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National Security Agency: Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research (2007)

“The manual just released by the NSA following a FOIA request filed in April by MuckRock, a site that charges fees to process public records for activists and others. The book is filled with advice for using search engines, the Internet Archive and other online tools.” (source) Publisher Center for Digital Content of the National [...]

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Evgeny Morozov: To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism (2013)

Our society is at a crossroads. Smart technology is transforming our world, making many aspects of our lives more convenient, efficient and – in some cases – fun. Better and cheaper sensors can now be embedded in almost everything, and technologies can log the products we buy and the way we use them. But, argues [...]

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Giovanni Ziccardi: Resistance, Liberation Technology and Human Rights in the Digital Age (2013)

This book explains strategies, techniques, legal issues and the relationships between digital resistance activities, information warfare actions, liberation technology and human rights. It studies the concept of authority in the digital era and focuses in particular on the actions of so-called digital dissidents. Moving from the difference between hacking and computer crimes, the book explains [...]

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Yongming Zhou: Historicizing Online Politics: Telegraphy, the Internet, and Political Participation in China (2006)

It is widely recognized that internet technology has had a profound effect on political participation in China, but this new use of technology is not unprecedented in Chinese history. This is a pioneering work that systematically describes and analyzes the manner in which the Chinese used telegraphy during the late Qing, and the internet in [...]

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China, Russia buying surveillance technologies to ‘control’ the Internet: US | NDTV Gadgets

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China and Russia are buying increasingly powerful surveillance technologies to intercept communications and try to take control of the Internet, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Alec Ross, the U.S. secretary of state’s senior adviser for innovation, said new players such as Thailand and Ukraine would determine the future shape of the Internet by [...]

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Copyright Trolls Order WordPress To Hand Over Critics’ IP Addresses

In what is becoming one of the strangest, most unbelievable and over-broad farces in the history of United States copyright trolling, the ante has just been upped yet again. In a direct attack on the troll defense blogs FightCopyrightTrolls and DieTrollDie, Prenda Law has just ordered WordPress to hand over all IP addresses of users who accessed either site in the last two years. Just to be clear, that’s everyone’s details.

Source: Copyright Trolls Order WordPress To Hand Over Critics’ IP Addresses

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French Govt Reports Large Increase in Three Strikes Piracy Warnings

The French government has significantly stepped up its game in the war against online piracy. In a new report the country’s anti-piracy agency reveals that in January 2013 it sent 82,000 “first strike” warnings, twice the amount it issued in the same month last year. To find more people receiving a second strike than they did in February 2013 we have to look all the way back to October 2011. Despite the uplift, roughly the same numbers of people are going on to a third strike.

Source: French Govt Reports Large Increase in Three Strikes Piracy Warnings

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Comcast’s “Six Strikes” Email With Infringement Details Surfaces

comcast

Together with four other internet providers in the United States, Comcast has started sending copyright alerts to customers who use BitTorrent and other P2P networks to pirate movies, TV-shows and music. Those who are “caught” will receive a browser notification, a voice-mail message and an email with details on the file that was allegedly shared. We have a copy of one of the first emails that went out on Tuesday.

Source: Comcast’s “Six Strikes” Email With Infringement Details Surfaces

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Cablevision Disconnects Persistent Pirates for 24 Hours

optimum

Cablevision / Optimum Online has revealed how it will respond to serial copyright infringers under the six strikes system. The Internet provider says it will temporarily disconnect customers from the Internet after they have received multiple copyright alerts. The disconnection will last for 24 hours but will be lifted when the customer calls a Cablevision hotline.

Source: Cablevision Disconnects Persistent Pirates for 24 Hours

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High Court Orders UK ISPs to Block Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy

The website blocking phenomenon has continued today in the UK, with the High Court adding three major torrent sites to the country’s unofficial ban list. Following complaints from the music industry led by the BPI, the Court ordered the UK’s leading Internet service providers to begin censoring subscriber access to Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy.

Source: High Court Orders UK ISPs to Block Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy

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Comcast Punishes BitTorrent Pirates With Browser Hijack

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Comcast revealed today how it will deal with customers who receive multiple warnings under the newly launched “six-strikes” anti-piracy system. After four alerts the ISP will “hijack” web-browsers of suspected serial pirates with a persistent pop-up notification, making it impossible to browse the Internet. The pop-up will disappear after the customer “resolves the issue” with a Customer Security Assurance professional.

Source: Comcast Punishes BitTorrent Pirates With Browser Hijack

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“Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Starts, With Mystery Punishments

copyright alerts

After a long wait, the controversial “six-strikes” anti-piracy system kicks off in the United States. Soon the first BitTorrent users will receive so-called copyright alerts from their Internet provider and after multiple warnings subscribers will be punished. But, what these punishments entail remains a bit of a mystery. None of the participating ISPs have officially announced how they will treat repeat infringers and the CCI doesn’t have this information either.

Source: “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Starts, With Mystery Punishments

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Dead Megaupload Still Has Millions of Visitors

megaupload

More than a year after Megaupload was shutdown by the feds the site still has millions of visitors every month. Even without content the defunct file-hosting site is among the top 2,500 most-visited websites on the Internet, and only sightly behind Kim Dotcom’s new Mega. The baffling statistics show once again how enormous the site was.

Source: Dead Megaupload Still Has Millions of Visitors

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“Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Starts Monday

pirate

The much-discussed U.S. six strikes anti-piracy scheme is expected to go live on Monday. The start date hasn’t been announced officially by the CCI but a source close to the scheme confirmed the plans. During the coming months millions of BitTorrent users will be actively monitored by copyright holders. After repeated warnings, Internet subscribers risk a heavy reduction in download speeds and temporary browsing restrictions.

Source: “Six Strikes” Anti-Piracy Scheme Starts Monday

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Scammers Extort BitTorrent Users Posing as Law Enforcement

internet copyright law enforcement agency

A mysterious company using the name “Internet Copyright Law Enforcement Agency” is sending letters to home addresses of alleged BitTorrent users, asking them to pay a settlement fee of hundreds of dollars or face jail time. The outfit claims to work with law enforcement and says it protects the rights of popular artists such as Skrillex and Cee Lo Green . The sophisticated scam goes beyond what we’ve ever seen before, and suggests that there may be people at the ISP level involved.

Source: Scammers Extort BitTorrent Users Posing as Law Enforcement

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