Just how deep does the rabbit hole go?
Posts tagged Yahoo
Which companies help protect your data from the government (An important infographic)
03 weeks ago
Source: http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org
The folks at the Electronic Frontier Foundation do such good work. Everyone who cares about freedom in the online world should send them a check (or some bitcoin.)
Click here for the article from Reason.
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See where the companies you use stand regarding your internet freedom.
Yahoo Voice hack leaks 450,000 usernames and passwords
0Source: http://www.rawstory.com
By Charles Arthur, The Guardian
Usernames and unencrypted passwords posted online after hack attack on Yahoo Voice network
More than 450,000 usernames and unencrypted passwords appear to have been stolen from Yahoo Voice, a user-contribution services on Yahoo’s network, and posted online.
Similar attacks have been reported separately against other online services, including Android Forums and Formspring, where users are being encouraged to change their passwords immediately, and to check whether they used the same password on other services.
How Microsoft and Yahoo Are Selling Politicians Access to You
011 months ago
in Politics
Source: http://www.propublica.org
By Lois Beckett
Microsoft and Yahoo are selling political campaigns the ability to target voters online with tailored ads using names, Zip codes and other registration information that users provide when they sign up for free email and other services.
The Web giants provide users no notification that their information is being used for political targeting.
(File photo illustration by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In one sense, campaigns are doing a more sophisticated version of what they’ve always done through the post office — sending political fliers to selected households. But the Internet allows for more subtle targeting. It relies not on email but on advertisements that surfers may not realize have been customized for them.
Campaigns use voters records to assemble lists of people they’re trying to reach — for instance, “registered Republicans that have made a donation,” Yahoo’s director of sales Andy Cotten told ProPublica. Microsoft and Yahoo help campaigns find these people online and then send them tailored ads.
These messages don’t just pop up in Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. Because Microsoft and Yahoo operate huge networks that provide advertising on some of the most popular web destinations, targeted ads can appear when a voter visits a swath of different sites.
Microsoft and Yahoo said they safeguard the privacy of their users and do not share their users’ personal information directly with the campaigns. Both companies also said they do not see the campaigns’ political data, because the match of voter names and registration data is done by a third company. They say the matching is done to target groups of similar voters, and not named individuals.
According to Microsoft, President Obama’s re-election campaign has recently done this kind of targeting, and both national political parties have done so previously.
The marketing site ClickZ, the Wall Street Journal, Slate and others have previously noted the ability of campaigns to target online ads to specific groups of voters. But what has not been detailed is which companies are now making the targeting possible by providing users’ personal information — and which have decided it’s off-limits.
This Week in Censorship: News from Iran, India, Vietnam, and China
01 year ago
Source: https://www.eff.org
By Maira Sutton
Iran: Authorities Seeking Information on Censorship Tools
The Islamic Republic of Iran has recently become notorious for its efforts to create a “halal” Internet. This week, a security researcher found that Iranian authorities published a “Request for Information” (RFI) seeking details on new types of censorship tools that are available in the market. Ars Technica reported that the Persian language RFI calls for “proper conditions for domestic experts in order to build a healthy Web and organize the current filtering situation.” The deadline for response was yesterday, April 19.
The existence of the RFI suggests that Iran is seeking to nationally expand its scope of online content blocking and filtering. The RFI states:
The creation of a comprehensive Internet purifying system that works based on analysis of Web content is considered among the most important activities in this area and efforts must be made to cultivate domestic technologies…In addition to creating a domestic industry, among other goals of the institute are the purchase and acquisition of foreign technical knowledge and leveraging of the latest technology alongside domestic ones.
What’s clear is that the Iranian government is seeking a more sophisticated system to block content, beyond its current mandate of blacklisting entire sites and banning words. EFF will continue to monitor this initiative and the Iranian government’s efforts to facilitate online censorship.
India: Professor arrested over a political cartoon; CIS urges Parliament to overturn 2011 censorship legislation
A chemistry professor in the state of West Bengal was arrested on Friday for posting political cartoons about the state’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee. Ambikesh Mahapatra’s arrest follows increasing public discontent with Minister Banerjee and her style of governance. The local police charged Mahapatra with cyber crime offenses, claiming he had spread “derogatory messages against respectable persons.”
Following the arrest last week, there has been a massive backlash and an online campaign to condemn the charges. The highest trending Twitter hashtag in India is currently #arrestmenow, which has been adopted by users to tweet critical, often humorous, opposition to the police action. It echoed a similar situation in December, when the Indian blogosphere and Twitterverse was aflame with criticism against Minister of Communications and IT, Kapil Sibal after he demanded that websites such as Google and Facebook filter content deemed offensive. Indian netizens’ increasing use of social media to fight back against state-mandated efforts to censor online speech is a welcome sight.
AP Poll: Frontrunners Paul, Perry, Romney
01 year ago
Source: http://www.ronpaul2012.com
Reports Yahoo News:
AP photo
“In yet another sign that perhaps the news media ought to think about treating his presidential campaign more seriously, Ron Paul was viewed about as favorably as Rick Perry and Mitt Romney by Americans in a new poll.
In an Associated Press-GfK telephone survey of the general population, 37 percent of the respondents said they have a positive view of the libertarian-leaning representative from Texas, while 36 percent said they did not.
Perry, the Texas governor, and Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, invoked similar favorable/unfavorable ratings that also fell within the poll’s 4.1 percent margin of error. Romney was viewed favorably by 39 percent of Americans, and Perry was viewed favorably by 33 percent. Another 41 percent said they viewed Romney unfavorably, and 36 percent viewed Perry unfavorably.”
This is a work in progess, a self learning tool and fun little project. Please excuse the slow development as it seems the needed proper time is always lacking. It is my hope that the combination of content and links to other sources of information in this simple blog may help awaken a few of the sleeping masses and encourage and inspire others to initiate their own research, ultimately for each person to be a light to help awaken others. Opinions expressed belong to me, myself and I. Also, a big thank you to all that take the time to visit, it is appreciated :)
