Associated Press Twitter hacked by Syrian Electronic Army

The Associated Press said its Twitter account was hacked and a fake tweet was sent out saying explosions occurred at the White House and Obama was injured. AP suspended their Twitter account and advised that all tweets should be ignored until further notice. The fake tweet sent at 1:07pm ET said, “Breaking: Two Explosion in the White House and Barack Obama is injured.” The US markets reacted almost immediately to the tweet and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 150 points, but quickly bounced back after news of the hack. It seems that hackers gained access to the AP account after a phishing email was sent to several AP reporters from the email account of…

Chinese army unit behind US hack attacks

US computer security firm Mandiant has published a report linking a Chinese military unit to a series of sophisticated hacking attacks throughout the world. Mandiant identified People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398, aka The Comment Crew, based in Shanghai’s Pudong district, as the source of the hacking attacks. Western media outlets that publish stories critical of the Chinese Communist Party have been frequently attacked by hackers based in China. The report also detailed how big US corporations were also targeted for their intellectual property. The most troubling part of Mandiant’s report details how Chinese hackers were able to get into systems that could affect US infrastructure, like gas and electricity. Of course, the CCP has denied…

Antigua threatens to become internet piracy haven

Antigua and Barbuda, the tiny Caribbean nation whose economy was devastated by a US embargo on online gambling, is threatening to retaliate by legalizing internet piracy. The WTO says the US embargo violates international trade rules and has given Antigua the okay to retaliate by using US intellectual property. Internet gambling was a boon for Antigua’s economy. At one point more than 4,000 people out of a population of less than 100,000 were working in the industry. Then the US placed an embargo on Antigua’s online gaming industry, under the logic that placing bets across state lines violates American law. Now the industry only employs 500 people. Antigua is threatening to allow ultra-cheap subscription or…

Julian Assange extradited, sent to Sweden

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange lost his Supreme court appeal against extradition to Sweden where he is wanted in connection with alleged sexual offences including rape. Assange, the founder of the whistleblower Web site, is wanted in Sweden where he stands accused of raping one woman and “sexually molesting” another while visiting the country in 2010. Assange has dismissed the claims, saying the sex was consensual. He adds the allegations are politically motivated and part of an attempt to silence him and the Wikileaks Web site after it embarrassed governments around the world with leaks of diplomatic cables. His lawyers had argued that the European arrest warrant issued against him was ‘invalid and unenforceable’, but this…

Megaupload shut down, founder Kim Dotcom arrested

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom was arrested today in New Zealand, a day after his filesharing site Megaupload.com shut down by US prosecutors. Dotcom was arrested at the request of US authorities. Megaupload allowed anyone to upload and download video and audio files for free. User could pay extra for perks like faster download speeds. Rights holders claim Megaupload fosters piracy. Its business model encourages users to upload pirated material. Anonymous retaliated by shutting down government and entertainment industry websites including sites for the US Department of Justice, the US Copyright Office, The Recording Industry Association of America, The Motion Picture Association of America, Universal Music Group, the BMI record label and French copyright authority HADOPI….

Wikipedia, Reddit blackout to protest SOPA & PIPA

To protest SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing and other sites are shutting down for a day on Jan. 18. The blackout seeks to educate the public about SOPA, which opponents say will “break the internet.” As hard as it is to go a whole day without Reddit or the cute animals of the Cheezeburger network, the site participating in the blackout with the biggest impact is likely to be Wikipedia. Tens of millions of people around the world check Wikipedia daily for fast information for free. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales warned students with a tweet: “Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday! #sopa.” As the…

Anti-SOPA hackers eye space-based internet

A group of hackers want to launch a satellite to build their own private internet, free from government censorship. Angry with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) now pending in Congress, the hackers announced at this Year’s Chaos Communication Congress that a spaced-based internet is just the first step of an ambitious plan to put “a hacker on the moon” in 23 years. The Hackerspace Global Grid, as the project has been dubbed, will be no east task. Launching satellites with rockets is expensive. Satellites sent up with balloons are less precisely placed and harder to keep track of. And the “hackernet” is likely to be slow because of the time it would take for…

Go Daddy’s support for SOPA leads to Reddit boycott

Go Daddy, the largest domain registrar company in the world, raised the ire of the internet by supporting the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA for short. The users of Reddit, in particular, spearheaded a boycott of Go Daddy. Since then, thousands of users have moved their domain elsewhere. Go Daddy has since reversed their stance on SOPA. But it’s too little too late. The redditors are going ahead with “Leave Go Daddy Day” on the 29th of December. Competitors such as Hostgator and Namecheap has offered special deals with coupon codes such as NODADDY or SOPASucks. This is not the first time Go Daddy has attracted controversy. Founder Bob Parsons is fond of…