The NSA’s Internet Surveillance Program And You Doug Bernard | Washington DC This has not been a good week for keeping secrets. Late Wednesday, it was revealed that America’s National Security Agency, or NSA, got secret court permission to access millions of telephone records of the Verizon telecommunications company’s domestic customers. The following day, the […]
The Year Anonymous Disappeared
Just What Happened to the Internet’s Great Terror? Doug Bernard | Washington DC Prediction is a fool’s game. Just ask anyone leaving Las Vegas. Or Nate Silver. Generally speaking, we don’t play the “Top Ten 2013” list-type entries that populate blogs and other journalism this time of year. There aren’t many things about the future […]
Spying Online In Syria
Damascus Mines The Web To Target Activists Doug Bernard | Washington DC As the situation and armed conflicts in Syria enter a new period of uncertainty and militarization, it increasingly appears the same may well be said about Syria’s Internet. Of course, it’s old news to say that Damascus restricts citizen’s access to the web […]
When Will Anonymous Go Too Far?
Pushing Bounds And Tempting A Fight Doug Bernard | Washington DC If one could speak about Anonymous as a singular entity, then it’s clear that Anonymous is spoiling for a fight. But of course, Anonymous is anything but a singular thing. It’s been called a hive of numberless drones, an amorphous hidden collective of computer […]
UPDATE: Wiki Blackout, One Day Later
Just What, If Anything, Did Wednesday’s Protest Achieve? Doug Bernard | Washington DC UPDATE: Friday, January 20, 2012: Not content to leave the battle un-joined, the hacker group Anonymous stepped into the SOPA fray Thursday evening by launching a massive denial of service attack on several SOPA supporters, including Universal Music, the RIAA and MPAA. […]
An Anonymous Year
A Year That Began And Ended Anonymously Doug Bernard | Washington DC It’s something of a party game, this time of year, to look back and put together lists. Top ten this, bottom five that; trends that are in or out, predictions about the coming calendar year. Of course, it is largely that: a party […]
Anonymous vs. the Zetas
And Taking the OWS Protests Online Doug Bernard | Washington DC Periodically we like to share a few of the stories and posts from across the web that caught our eye. There are no editorial threads implied connecting these items together, other than being interesting. #1: Anonymous vs. the Zetas. Over the last year, the […]
Back For More Lulz?
And Spreading Malware Hits Big and Small Alike Periodically we like to share a few of the stories and posts from across the web that caught our eye. There are no editorial threads implied connecting these items together, other than being interesting. #1: LulzSec vs. NewsCorp: After very publicly disbanding just a few weeks ago, […]
Security or Idiocy?
Who, And Where, Are The Greatest Threats To Internet Security? The web has been humming with talk this week – talk, concern, worry and general shpilkes – about Internet security. There’s good reason: not only are there renewed questions about just which hacker group is responsible for what cyber-attack, but the rate and severity of […]
LulzSec Laughs Last
Why the Latest, Hottest Hacker Group May Never Have Existed. I’ll admit it. Like many of my colleagues, I’m a sucker for a great story. Sure, I run it through the standard fact-checking traps, and try to question and independently confirm each detail. And always, I remind myself that if it smells too good to […]