vigilant.tv

Dated May 21, but worth mentioning: Italian police say they've been unable to read PGP-encrypted files stored on Psion PLCs by members of the Red Brigade. Much of the article is spent detailing the use of PGP by human rights groups, and has quotes from Phil Zimmermann defending PGP and crypto. InfoWorld seems a little unsure on the availability of PGP for the Psion, but there's a version available here that seems to support most Epoc models.

The Psion devices were seized on March 2 after a shootout on a train travelling between Rome and Florence, Italian media and sources close to the investigation said. The devices, believed to number two or three, were seized from Nadia Desdemona Lioce and her Red Brigades comrade Mario Galesi, who was killed in the shootout. An Italian police officer was also killed. At least one of the devices contains information protected by encryption software and has been sent for analysis to the FBI facility in Quantico, Va., news reports and sources said.

[...]

The software separating the investigators from a potentially invaluable mine of information about the shadowy terrorist group, which destabilized Italy during the 1970s and 1980s and revived its practice of political assassination four years ago after a decade of quiescence, was PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), the Rome daily La Repubblica reported. So far the system has defied all efforts to penetrate it, the paper said.

[...]

Italian investigators have been particularly frustrated by their failure to break into the captured Psions because so little is known about the new generation of Red Brigades. Their predecessors left a swathe of blood behind them, assassinating politicians, businessmen and security officials and terrorizing the population by "knee-capping," or shooting in the legs, perceived opponents. Since re-emerging from the shadows in 1999 they have shot dead two university professors who advised the government on labor law reform.

- InfoWorld, Red Brigades PDA highlights encryption controversy.

The Cuban government has demanded a halt to radio broadcasts from the US, saying they are in breach of international law and describing the broadcasts as "aggression[s]". The Cuban government attempts to jam reception of the offending stations, which regularly broadcast shows hosted by exiled journalists and opposition leaders.

Cuba charged Friday that the U.S. government was stepping up radio and television transmissions into the communist island, saying that the broadcasts violate international law and the island's sovereignty.

[...]

Cuba's Foreign Ministry said in a statement in the Communist Party daily Granma that it was also protesting to the International Telecommunications Union, which oversees radio frequencies worldwide. "Cuba will denounce the scaled up radio and television aggressions from the United States," the statement said.

Cuba has long complained that Radio Marti and the newer TV Marti, both U.S. operated, send anti-Cuba propaganda to the communist island. Cuba calls the broadcasts an arrogant attempt by the U.S. government and Cuban exiles to impose their political views.

[...]

Cuba's Foreign Ministry also complains that such broadcasts interfere with local programing but says that it had successfully blocked most of them.

- AP, Cuba charges that U.S. boosting its broadcasts into Cuba.

The Guardian reports on torture and intimidation by Uzbekistan's police and intelligence services. The article suggests US aid money is helping to fund the agencies responsible, despite State Department condemnation of their actions.

Independent human rights groups estimate that there are more than 600 politically motivated arrests a year in Uzbekistan, and 6,500 political prisoners, some tortured to death. According to a forensic report commissioned by the British embassy, in August two prisoners were even boiled to death.

[...]

The US is funding those it once condemned. Last year Washington gave Uzbekistan $500m (£300m) in aid. The police and intelligence services - which the state department's website says use "torture as a routine investigation technique" received $79m of this sum.

[...]

The US is also funding some human rights groups in Uzbekistan. Last year it gave $26m towards democracy programmes. A state department spokesman said America's policy was "reform through engagement" and that Uzbekistan had "taken some positive steps", including "registering a human rights group and a new newspaper".

- Guardian, US looks away as new ally tortures Islamists: Uzbekistan's president steps up repression of opponents.

Syrian journalist Ibrahim Hmeidi has been released, five months after his detention on charges of reporting information about refugee camps.

Hmeidi, 34, said he was arrested for interrogation at the Adra prison near Damascus for five months. He refused to clarify the charges leveled against him and whether he was referred to the State Security Court as his lawyers said earlier. He also refrained from giving details about how he was treated under arrest and whether he was to resume his work as journalist.

[...]

The Syrian authorities had said in an official statement that Hmeidi was arrested for "publishing unfounded news" and "violating the Public Law, especially Article 51." The statement gave no further details. His arrest last December was believed linked to an article he published in al-Hayat saying that the Syrian authorities set up camps near the border with Iraq as a prelude to receive nearly 1 million refugees once the United States began its war on Iraq.

- UPI, Syrian journalist freed.

An Australian government report details the extent of government torture, censorship and intimidation against opposition supporters. It also describes the effect of President Mugabe's campaign to "reclaim" land from white farmers: as much as 80% of previously productive land is now unused, lying fallow while the population starves.

The report does not appear to be available online.

The Sunday Times newspaper said the "Record of Abuse and Repression by the Zimbabwean Government", was presented to a Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting in London by Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. "This crackdown occurs amid serious allegations of rape and torture at camps in Zimbabwe, with particular concern regarding Border Gezi youth camps set up to indoctrinate young Zimbabweans," the report said.

[...]

It documented the "repression of the opposition"; how the March 2002 presidential election was rigged; the politicisation of food distribution; and infringements of civil and political rights, including the curtailing of media freedom. During the past 18 months, 42 senior opposition Movement for Democratic Change officials had been arrested and many of them tortured in custody, the report said. It quoted a human rights political report which found that 58 murders, 111 cases of unlawful detention, 170 cases of unlawful arrest, 67 cases of assault, 227 cases of abduction and 1060 cases of torture had occurred.

[...]

The report said only between 20 and 50 per cent of redistributed commercial farms had been taken up, with the rest lying fallow. It said according to the Famine Early Warning System Network, between 600 and 1000 commercial farms were operational, a sharp decrease from 4400 in 2000.

- AFP, Report slams Zimbabwe govt.

DARPA's Total Information Awareness program is getting plenty of press, due largely to a name change - it's now Terrorist Information Awareness - intended to draw the focus away from planned surveillance of the entire US population. There's not much new information, so rather than excerpts, here's a collection of headlines:

Wired, Pentagon Defends Data Search Plan.

Guardian, Alarm at Pentagon's email snooping.

Wired, A Spy Machine of DARPA's Dreams.

Fox News, Surveillance System to Access Gov't, Commercial Records.

Washington Post, The Pentagon's PR Play.

The Register, DARPA dabbles in real-world 'Matrix'.

InfoWorld, Privacy advocates: Congress must police data gathering.

The World Health Organization is pushing for global restrictions on cigarette advertising. The proposal cites passive smoking as a justification, despite recent evidence suggesting there is no measurable correlation between second-hand tobacco smoke and health problems.

The treaty was approved without a vote Wednesday by the WHO's policy-making assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, but needs to be ratified by the 192 member states. It bans or restricts tobacco advertising, introduces stiffer health warnings and control the uses of terms like "low-tar" on cigarette packs. It is also intended to stop hard-sell techniques aimed at adolescents. It also calls for stricter measures against passive smoking and cigarette smuggling with more responsibility on manufacturers. The WHO believes the new measures could save million of lives.

- CNN, WHO backs tobacco advert controls.

The editor of a Moroccan newspaper faces a possible prison term for publishing a satirical cartoon accusing the king of corruption.

Ali Lmrabet is accused of insulting the king and is also alleged to have undermined the monarchy and the territorial integrity of Morocco in his colourful, hard-hitting weekly newspaper, Demain. The charges were put at a one-day trial last week and the verdict is due today. If he is convicted and jailed, it would mark a significant backward step in the liberalisation of the press in Morocco over recent years, according to observers. The charges are based on a cartoon showing anonymous people receiving bags of cash from royal messengers, in reference to the lack of parliamentary control over civil list money paid to the king from state coffers. A photomontage, which shows the young king being carried on a traditional bridegroom's litter, has also been produced as evidence against him.

- Guardian, Editor faces jail for lampooning king.

Guardian journalist Andrew Meldrum has been deported from Zimbabwe, despite three court rulings overturning the order. Meldrum says there are few remaining reporters who are not controlled by the government, despite a recent Supreme Court decision that struck down portions of President Mugabe's repressive media laws.

Meldrum arrived in Britain on Saturday after being seized by President Robert Mugabe's police force and bundled onto a London-bound flight, in defiance of a court order for his release.

[...]

Meldrum, who was forced to leave Zimbabwe after being accused of writing "bad things" about President Mugabe's regime, was one of the few foreign journalists remaining in the country. He warned today that now the government had finally got rid of him after nearly a year of trying, it might try to expel other journalists whose reports do not tally with the official line.

[...]

"There are other journalists who write for the government-controlled newspapers and the radio and television. They are reduced to writing government propaganda that in some cases can be quite vicious and hateful. It is a shame to see how unprofessional many of them are," he added.

[...]

Last Friday, May 16, Meldrum was bundled by police into a car outside the offices of Zimbabwe's immigration service, driven to Harare airport and put on a flight to London, even though the country's high court issued three orders stating he should not be deported.

- Guardian, I'll be back, says expelled Guardian reporter.

A new report details some of ways US law enforcement has used Patriot Act powers in investigations unrelated to terrorism.

In a 60-page report to the House Judiciary Committee, Justice officials also confirmed for the first time that nearly 50 defendants were secretly detained as material witnesses in connection with the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks. The government has not previously characterized how many defendants had been held.

[...]

Although the Patriot Act was passed in response to Sept. 11, the report shows prosecutors have used many of the legislation's new powers to pursue cases not related to terrorism. The report cites a case in which prosecutors were able to use the Patriot Act to seize stolen funds that a fugitive lawyer had stashed in bank accounts in Belize. Similar tactics have been used in cases involving drugs, credit card fraud, theft from a bank account and kidnapping, the report shows.

- Washington Post, Anti-Terror Power Used Broadly: Laws Invoked Against Crimes Unrelated to Terror, Report Says.

Washington government Gary Locke has signed into law a controversial bill banning video games that depict violence against police. Publishers are planning an appeal.

House Bill 1009, known as the Videogame Violence Bill, will go into effect July 27 unless a lawsuit by the Washington, D.C.-based Interactive Digital Software Association, set to be filed within the next few weeks, halts its implementation before then.

     That group represents about 25 makers of computer games.

     The new law levies a fine of up to $500 on any person who rents or sells to someone 17 or under computer games in which the player kills or injures "a human form who is depicted, by dress or other recognizable symbols, as a public law enforcement officer." Police officers and fire fighters are included in that category.

- Seattle PI, Law limits some violent video games.

AP reports on a US court challenge to police use of GPS tracking beacons. Note that the challenge is against the circumstances in which the device was used, not the nature of the surveillance. Police claim they don't need a warrant to track vehicles driving on public roads.

In a first-in-the-nation case, the state's high court heard arguments Tuesday on whether authorities had sufficient grounds to install the GPS tracker.

[...]

On Tuesday, Jackson's lawyer argued that Spokane County sheriff's deputies obtained a court order to wire the device to his car on the slimmest of premises: if guilty, Jackson might return to the crime scene. "All they had was a theory. They didn't have any concrete proof," attorney Paul Wasson told the court. Wasson wants the warrant for the GPS device thrown out for lack of probable cause. And without the warrant, he and the American Civil Liberties Union argue, the tracking device violates the state constitution's tough privacy protections.

Prosecutors contend the warrant isn't the issue. They say sheriff's deputies didn't need it to keep track of Jackson's movements on public roadways, something they could have physically done without a warrant. - AP, Cops Challenged on GPS Use.

BBC has some speculation on "Echelon"-style communications interception capabilities. There's a mix of deduction and speculation here: there's no reference given for the idea that traffic is excluded from scrutiny by filtering on source email addresses, for example.

Simply firing off an e-mail with the words "bomb" and "bin Laden" is unlikely to set alarm bells ringing, says Neil Robinson, of the Information Assurance Advisory Council. If, for instance, a journalist were to e-mail the cyber security expert to ask about surveillance and terror attacks, the message could be picked up by an automated system sifting for potentially suspicious key words. Yet it is unlikely to be flagged up for the attention of a human analyst, for the system also checks e-mail accounts and IP addresses. Thus an exchange between the BBC's west London office and the Cambridge-based think tank would be of little interest to the intelligence services.

[...]

Mobile phones are among the easiest communications devices to scrutinize. When Army tanks rolled in to protect Heathrow against a possible missile attack last February, the GCHQ - which usually listens in on communications abroad - tuned into domestic airwaves to try to pick up any conversations of a hidden terror cell. Mr Robinson says much of the "chatter" reported probably refers to scrutinisers noting a surge in the volume of traffic between suspects, rather than tapping into what is being discussed. "They may track how long a call is made for; where a call is made from and to; the number of calls made or e-mails sent."

[...]

For a phone call gave away the Karachi hide-out of Ramzi Binalshibh, the senior al-Qaeda suspect caught last September. It is thought a sample of his voice - recorded from an al-Jazeera interview - was fed into the NSA's computers; within days he made a satellite phone call, and the US had a location. And an intercepted e-mail led to the arrest last March of another suspected bin Laden aide, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. As "chatter" indicated he was planning further attacks, satellite tracking of his associates' communications threw up an e-mail with his address.

- BBC, How terror talk is tracked.

Fox News has some details on a gait recognition project being funded by DARPA as a possible addition to the Total Information Awareness project.

At a cost of less than $1 million over the past three years, [Gene Greneker at Georgia Tech] has been aiming a 1-foot-square radar dish at 100 test volunteers to record how they walk. Elsewhere at Georgia Tech, DARPA is funding other researchers to use video cameras and computers to try to develop distinctive gait signatures. "One of the nice things about radar is we see through bad weather, darkness, even a heavy robe shrouding the legs, and video cameras can't," Greneker said in an interview. "At 600 feet we can do quite well." And the target doesn't have to be doing a Michael Jackson moonwalk to be distinctive because the radar detects small frequency shifts in the reflected signal off legs, arms and the torso as they move in a combination of different speeds and directions. "There's a signature that's somewhat unique to the individual," Greneker said. "We've demonstrated proof of this concept." The researchers are anticipating ways the system might be fooled. "A woman switching from flats to high heels probably wouldn't change her signature significantly," Greneker said. "But if she switched to combat boots, that might have a difference."

- Fox News, Pentagon Hopes to ID People by Way They Walk.

A Chinese democracy activist has been jailed for 5 years on subversion charges for publishing articles on the web.

Huang Qi, 40, was sentenced on charges of inciting the overthrow of the government by the Intermediate People's Court in in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the Information Center for Human Rights & Democracy said in a statement.

[...]

Huang was arrested in June 2000 for posting information on his Web site www.6-4tianwang.com asking officials to reassess the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, officially labelled counter-revolutionary, and for his writing on democracy, the group said.

- Reuters, China jails Internet dissident--rights group.

RSF has a press release, Webmaster Huang Qi sentenced to five years in prison.