SiliconANGLE » Tech Policy

Massively Multiplayer Online Games as a Model for Business Collaboration

Kit Dotson — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:22:21 +0000

Video games aren’t just a wave of the future; they’re the current reality for millions of players who take to their consoles and PCs every day. The video game industry is the fastest growing entertainment market on Earth right now and we’re constantly seeing new innovations extend from it that effect as-yet-unknown markets. One of those regions that video games could really bring some insight is to that of social collaboration, especially games that rely heavily on a multitude of players interacting socially.

Michael Hugos has published an article at CIO Blogs addressing just this question: how can we look at massively multiplayer online (MMO) games as models for business collaboration?

His example game is actually quite brilliant. EVE Online is one of the best-known sandbox MMO games ever produced, run by CCP Games headquartered in Iceland, this MMO has been at the center of a great deal of controversy because it broke the mold for a game played by and for players. In its science fiction environment, players are given all the tools they need to build a career from a multitude of actions that affect other players from resource gathering, hauling, trading, playing with the internal stock market, or even fighting wars as a mercenary.

The high fidelity model of social interaction with a corporate and resource model, however, isn’t what makes EVE Online perfect for looking at how MMOs could be an excellent model for business collaboration. It’s how the game allows players to communicate and pay attention the current status of what they’re working on in relation to everyone that they’re collaborating with. In many ways, the heads-up-display (HUD) and user interface of EVE Online generates a sort of near-technological telepathy between players working together in a corporation to get things done.

Essentially, EVE Online—sometimes chided as being “spreadsheets in space”—envelops a gamified approach to logistics and resource management.

Hugos presents this in his article and I’d like to expand on it,

Business intelligence and analytics software has something to learn from games and from MMOs in particular. MMOs use well designed heads-up displays that combine data analysis with group collaboration capabilities. This is illustrated below in screenshots showing two of the heads-up displays used by players flying spaceships in a battle. Note how they use moving 3D displays to present information from real-time data feeds provided by the game.

In addition to the moving 3D displays in the center of the screens, notice the other information shown around the edges of the screens. There are dials and readouts with relevant data, and thumbnail displays showing their status and the actions of other players they are collaborating with. To supplement these visual displays, players also communicate with each other moment to moment using text messages via chat features and Internet-based voice messages that can be directed to individual players or the entire group through headphones and microphones.

What makes MMO games engaging and interesting to players often can be boiled down to entanglement and immersion. If what a player does has an impact on the world that they’re playing in, and they can see the fruits of their labor (and that labor is not intense) they feel rewarded by the experience. What I’ve just described may even be seen as the benefits of working for a real-world company, making an impact on that company’s outcome, and providing some sort of tangible labor.

With the advent of the mobile phone and apps that allow for close collaboration we’ve moved closer to having on-demand communication with colleagues through the day. With the introduction of gesture-detection we’ll even be able to bring intense amounts of data into an immersive format with 3D displays (the peripheral relevant data that Hugos refers to.) Video games even present a way to collect vast amounts of behavioral and active big data and democratize massive small-actions by a multitude of people into organized work—directed by a person with an interface that could allow them to direct that work it would become the next-gen of human resources.

While games like EVE Online may feel like “spreadsheets in space” and to some may become a second job (being CEO of a corporation in a video game can be quite stressful) these sorts of social and technological interaction provide keen insights into how we can engage workers, management, and executives in the businesses of the future.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games as a Model for Business Collaboration is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Nokia to Layoff 4,000 Workers, Apple Sued for iPad Trademark

Mellisa Tolentino — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:15:28 +0000

Nokia, the Finnish-mobile manufacturer, will be laying off approximately 4,000 workers from three factories as they move manufacturing to Asia.

The factories in Komarom, Hungary, Reynosa, Mexico, and Salo, Finland, have a total of 8,900 employees and Nokia wants to cut it in half as they move manufacturing to Asia. Nokia wants to concentrate on Asia to regain competitive market value.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop wants Windows Phone-based devices to be quickly reproduced and introduced to new markets, as they wean from their Symbian-based phones. Elop also wants to pick up the pace at which new models are launched.

And according to a Nokia spokewoman, the employees who will not be terminated will work on “smartphone product customization,” which could include tailoring the software of smaller batches of phones for specific operators.

“With the planned changes, our factories at Komarom, Reynosa and Salo will continue to play an important role serving our smartphone customers. They give us a unique ability to both provide customization and be more responsive to customer needs,” said Niklas Savander, Nokia executive vice president, Markets.

Google’s Plan For MoMo Patent-licensing, Chrome for Android

According to unnamed sources, Google is going to send a letter to standards organizations such as the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, a nonprofit recognized by the European Union, to assure them that their acquisition of Motorola Mobility will not affect licensing patents of the said company.

“Having the blessing of wireless standards committees could help Google’s position,” Maulin Shah, managing director of patent research firm Envision IP Inc. in New York said in an interview. “The regulators might see that as a sign that this is not going to lead to a monopoly position.”

The European Commission is still scrutinizing the Google-MoMo deal, with concerns that it will violate the fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms, or FRAND.

“Since we announced our agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility last August, we’ve heard questions about whether Motorola Mobility’s standard-essential patents will continue to be licensed on FRAND terms once we’ve closed this transaction,” Niki Fenwick, a spokeswoman for Google said. “The answer is simple: They will.”

Google’s been steadily updating its software offerings for its mobile devices while waiting for the MoMo acquisition to go through. Yesterday they released the Chrome for Android, which is seen as a move to accelerate browser update since Chrome for desktop rolls out faster and more stable.

“Right now, our focus is on making Chrome for Android Beta available to Android 4.0 phone/tablet users to gather initial feedback…. [But] our long-term plan is for Chrome to become the standard browser on Android 4.0 and above,” said a Google spokeswoman in an email to ComputerWorld.

Chrome for Android is available only for devices with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Apple Sued By Chinese Company Over “iPad”

The Chinese company Proview Technology (Shenzhen), a subsidiary of Proview International in Hong Kong, is suing Apple for $38 million, and demands an apology for the illegal use of the iPad trademark.

Apple bought the iPad trademark from Proview Electronics (Taiwan) for $55,000 in 2006 by way of a front company called IP Application Development. But the Taiwanese company claims that the deal did not include the rights to the trademark in China.

Proview sued Apple, seeking a total of 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in damages, but Apple countersued, claiming that they are the rightful owner of the trademark. A Chinese court sided with Proview, so Apple appealed the case. Proview is said to be ready to slap Apple with a $38 million legal fine, but Apple has managed to delay the hearing.

Aside from that, Proview Shenzhen’s lawyer Xie Xianghui claims an apology from Apple is more important for them.

“We ask the court to stop selling and marketing for Apple’s iPad in China. We also demand an apology,” Xie said.

Other Mobile News

When Hewlett-Packard’s TouchPad went on a fire-sale, some tablets shipped were allegedly running on the Android platform and not webOS. The people from HP were dumbfounded as to how that happened, and the incident created quite a frenzy because companies shipping Android devices are required to make the kernel open source. Since HP didn’t officially release the tablets running Android, it was not required to make the kernel of its internal build open-source. But, since HP is such a good sport, they now offer the internal Android build to the open-source movement.

Ahead of the upcoming Mobile World Congress, LG is teasing consumers with the ad for the LG Optimus Vu, a smartphone believed to measure at 5 inches, having a 4:3 aspect ratio display, 1.5GHz Qualcomm WPQ8060 dual-core paired with 1GB of RAM, 8-megapixel main camera, front-facing camera, 8GB of ROM space and NFC-capable.

GreenSimian, the brainchild of two Seattle veterans from Microsoft and Texas Instruments, will be launching SolMate, a smartphone power casing packing solar electricity, inductive charging, battery storage and energy management software that ups the ante on smartphone battery life, by Spring 2012.

“SolMate is not another iPhone casing. It’s a seductive combination of software, microelectronics and power-generating semi-conductors that take mobile power to a new level,” said Jamie Wojcik, GreenSimian CTO and co-founder.

Nokia to Layoff 4,000 Workers, Apple Sued for iPad Trademark is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Symantec Code Leak Happens Where Sidewalk Ends in Law Enforcement Sting Attempt

Kit Dotson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:47:23 +0000

The source code stolen from Symantec in 2006 has been waiting in limbo for the past month as part of a hostage negotiation between the hacker Yama Tough and a persona invented by law enforcement officials to attempt to get the hacker to reveal themselves. This story first began to unfold back in January when it was discovered that Symantec had lost old source code (ancient in terms of software development) and that it was about to go onto the Internet.

Negotiations ended recently with the 1.27 gigabytes of source code released Monday night, claimed to be source from Symantec’s PCAnywhere. The company also makes Norton Antivirus, they warned users to disable PCAnywhere until they patched it (which happened earlier this month.) Thus, this leak may have little to do effect on the market altogether.

What really looks interesting about this is the saga of the sting and the involvement of law enforcement.

It all starts with a persona generated by law enforcement under the pretense of being a Symantec staffer offering $50,000 to not release the code. This started a month-long drama with the hacker Yama Tough, part of the Anonymous hactivist collective and also a member of the now notorious Lords of Dharamaja.

“You won’t believe it but Symantec offered us money to keep quiet,” YamaTough wrote on Twitter. “And quess what they couldn’t make it over 50k for the whole range of their src shit, therefore the show starts as of tuday.”

Of course we know now that the supposed Symantec staffer, “Sam Thomas,” is really a false identity used to attempt to lure the Lords of Dharamaja out and get them to reveal the code and perhaps set themselves up for arrest. The entire conversation that Yama Tough had with who they believed to be Symantec had been with law enforcement.

Over the weeks, a protracted negotiation for the $50k amount began to draw out. While the amount had been agreed upon YamaTough and cohorts would not accept it in small increments over time, they wanted it all at once in a lump sum or not at all. The hacker offered a Liberty Reserve account for the extorted money, refusing to accept PayPal transfers (possibly because of how easily it could be traced or stopped.) During the negotiations YamaTough revealed suspicions by accounting a belief that Symantec was working with the FBI.

We know now all of this had been for naught: the code is now leaked onto the Internet via BitTorrent.

Symantec is still poring over the leaked code. They still maintain that the code is way out of date, and a spokesperson for the company has stated that they believe that the recent patches will protect customers.

“We’re able to say with high confidence,” said Cris Paden of Symantec to Forbes, “any type of cyber attacks generated by this attack would have old characteristics and look like an attack from 2006 that can easily be stopped using current versions of our solutions. Our customers are protected.”

The saga may be over with the leak of the code, but the next step will be the cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement and the Lords of Dharamaja. Symantec has told the media that the cannot comment on what they know about any evidence revealed or the strategy of law enforcement.

“As to what happens next,” Paden says. “We’re not really sure.”

For those curious, the entire e-mail chain between YamaTough and the false Symantec employee persona is available on Pastebin.com.

Symantec Code Leak Happens Where Sidewalk Ends in Law Enforcement Sting Attempt is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Anonymous Leaked Symantec Source Codes, Crippled Law Firm

Mellisa Tolentino — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:51:21 +0000

Sorry everybody for being silent that much. You won’t believe it but Symantec offered us money to keep quiet. @YamaTough

After weeks of silence, that’s the tweet that came from YamaTough, member of the hacktivist collective Anonymous. According to YamaTough, he was bribed $50,000 by Symantec to keep quiet about the hack that happened in 2006, to destroy the hacked source codes of Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition; Norton Internet Security; Norton SystemWorks (Norton Utilities and Norton GoBack); and pcAnywhere acquired during the said hack, and to retract his earlier announcement about releasing the source codes.

YamaTough is said to have been in communication with a certain Sam Thomas, believed to be a Symantec employee, since January, but kept mum about their communication. YamaTough posted the exchange of e-mail between him and Thomas on Pastebin, though I believe it is not complete since you can’t tell who initiated the communication and how the $50,000 came up in the conversation, if it was offered by Thomas or if YamaTough asked for it in exchange for his silence.

To summarize, the negotiations fell apart when the Symantec employee kept delaying the $50k payment and YamaTough got impatient. The hacker claims that he was just tricking Symantec to see what they were going to do about the hacking, the source codes and the secret communication between him and the Symantec employee.

“In January, an individual claiming to be part of the ‘Anonymous’ group attempted to extort a payment from Symantec in exchange for not publicly posting stolen Symantec source code they claimed to have in their possession,” a company representative said in an email on Monday night.

“Symantec conducted an internal investigation into this incident and also contacted law enforcement given the attempted extortion and apparent theft of intellectual property. The communications with the person(s) attempting to extort the payment from Symantec were part of the law enforcement investigation. Given that the investigation is still ongoing, we are not going to disclose the law enforcement agencies involved and have no additional information to provide.”

According to PCMag, no Sam Thomas was found in LinkedIn connected or employed at Symantec. They also tried contacting Thomas via the e-mail address found on the Pastebin post but received no reply.

About 16 hours ago, YamaTough tweeted:

All the Symantec source codes are now on sale! PcAnywhere, System Works, Internet Security and Norton GoBack with Utilities, NAV

The source code is now available on The Pirate Bay for download.

Attacked by “cowards”

Puckett and Faraj, PC, the law firm that represented Marine Frank Wuterich known for leading his men in the Haditha Killings in 2005 that resulted in the death of 24 civilians, is pissed at Anonymous for shutting down their e-mail and web site. They turn to Twitter to blow off some steam:

PuckettFaraj cyber-attacked Friday by cowards for defending Frank Wuterich from the government the hackers seek to destroy – go figure. – @puckettfaraj

Wuterich plead guilty to charges filed against him, but Anonymous was outraged that Wuterich’s charges were just reduced and he was merely demoted to being a Private, the lowest rank in the service, while U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning could possibly face a life sentence for allegedly participating in the largest leak of classified information in American history to online whistleblowing site WikiLeaks.

“We want to bring attention to USMC SSgt Frank Wuterich who along with his squad murdered dozens of unarmed civilians during the Iraqi occupation,” the manifesto said. “Can you believe this scumbag had his charges reduced to involuntary manslaughter and only got away with a pay cut?”

Puckett and Faraj’s website is still down.

Anonymous Leaked Symantec Source Codes, Crippled Law Firm is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Physibles Come to Town with First Downloaded, 3D Printed Pirate Bay Ship

Kit Dotson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:49:05 +0000

The introduction of the Internet, vast amounts of storage, and the ability to copy what we see in high fidelity into an electronic form has exploded the copyright issue wide open on a multitude of fronts. However, the concept of being able to turn something inherently electronic into a tangible product has been out of reach—the stuff of science fiction and Star Trek replicators. This is the impetus behind the “physible,” the working-theory of a 3D model that can be transferred over the Internet, downloaded into a machine, and then rendered into an object.

Well, we may not be at the point that we can download cars or appliances, but the first market that might react to what we can do right now is going to be the toy merchandise market. Why? Because The Pirate Bay just shipped its first “The Pirate Bay Ship” via BitTorrent (a protocol limited to the bits-and-bytes of digital media) and had it printed into a real-life model ship made out of molded plastic.

Just last month, SiliconANGLE reported on the rise of the physible pushed by The Pirate Bay. “We believe that the next step in copying will be made from digital form into physical form. It will be physical objects. Or as we decided to call them: Physibles,” they wrote when they announced their new 3D printing section.

An article on TorrentFreak reveals the first physible downloaded via BitTorrent and shipped from Shipways.com by Canadian Charles Randall.

“I was entertained by telling shapeways.com that I owned the copyright on the design though, something they force you to accept in order to have the model printed. But I guess, in a way, we all do,” Randall told TorrentFreak. “I debated just putting it up for sale on the site, but despite the Pirate Bay sensibilities, I didn’t want to entangle myself in any weird controversy for trying to sell it.”

Unlike regular downloads on BitTorrent, 3D objects come with a hefty price tag. Using the cheapest materials available, 3D pirates have to invest roughly $100 to get their new toy made.

“The raw price was about $80 for the material, $6.50 for the shipping, and then I had to pay $15 in Canadian duties,” Randall said.

As with any other form of expression, the 3D models used to make a product such as a toy boat or an action figure from a movie can be copyrighted. Distributing and printing such figures on a 3D printer without permission could be seen as copyright infringement by the parties who hold the copyright—of course, The Pirate Bay wants people to distribute their boat so that’s not going to happen here. Shipways.com themselves requires that people getting artefacts printed and shipped by them affidavit that they own the copyright for this reason.

I’ve said before, I don’t see a multitude of people using even the MakerBot (a home appliance 3D printer) to make themselves copyrighted marketable toys. What I do see people doing is producing busts, and figures of their favorite characters from TV shows, cartoons, video games, and etc. I can see Makers and gamers using devices such as this to produce models that they can use to produce artwork and scenes—imagine how the model train or battle recreation scene might change fundamentally if they could model their figures, trees, landscape, equipment, etc. on the computer and print it out instead of having to get it cast in metal/plastic elsewhere.

Products like MakerBot still don’t paint the figures, as we can see with the Pirate Bay ship; but I see that as a likely next evolution of the physible.

Physibles Come to Town with First Downloaded, 3D Printed Pirate Bay Ship is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Bail Denied Again, Dotcom to Remain in Jail Until Extradition Hearing

Mellisa Tolentino — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:29 +0000

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom appeared in court today in a hearing to appeal North Shore District Court’s earlier decision that denied him bail because he was considered as a flight risk. Unfortunately, the High Court in Auckland, New Zealand agreed with the earlier decision and rejected his appeal.

Dotcom appeared before the court citing his intent to un-freeze his account as the reason to not flee the country and go to Germany.

“I’m aware that if I go to Germany I would be unable to un-freeze my assets. What I want to do is stay here to fight and get my money back. What would I do in Germany with five kids and a wife with no money? It is not an option for me,” Dotcom stated.

Justice Raynor Asher stated that his intent to un-freeze his account was not enough to keep Dotcom in New Zealand and there is a possibility that the FBI did not freeze all of his accounts and that would enable him to flee to Germany where he will be safe from extradition to the US to face charges of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering, and two substantive counts of criminal copyright infringement.

Also, Crown lawyer Anne Toohey, on behalf of the United States Government, told the High Court this morning that since Dotcom’s stay at the Auckland Central Remand Prison, a man known to have forged travel documents tried to visit him, strengthening the possibility of Dotcom’s intent to flee.

Dotcom’s lawyer, Paul Davison, stated that staying in jail was not good for his health and he wanted to spend time with his pregnant wife and that having access to a helicopter and a jet doesn’t mean that the defendant would actually use them to escape. And because Dotcom is high profile and has a unique appearance, it was highly unlikely that Dotcom could leave the country without being noticed by airport security.

During the hearing, Dotcom was given a chance to relay to the court his experiences since his arrest.

The Megaupload founder recalled how he was punched in the face and kicked by police officers when he was arrested in January. He cited that he was approached by a person claiming to be a court prosecutor that could help him with his bail appeal for a sum of money, getting letters from female inmates wanting to befriend him and that a man filed application to visit him who was believed to be an expert forger.

“If people were to approach me and to offer such a service, I would tell them to go to hell,” Dotcom said. “I have no desire to run away.”

Toohey told the court that Dotcom resisted arrest and questioned him about the gun in his open safe inside the room where he retreated to, as well as the numerous credit cards found in his house and at least two passports.

Dotcom stated that when he heard loud banging on his bedroom door, he followed the exit plan formulated by his body guard Wayne Tempero and headed for the Red Room, which was a panic room, and that he was afraid of getting shot. Dotcom added that the gun in his safe was loaded with plastic rounds for self-defense, but he had no intention of using it, as he didn’t know how to, and when the police entered the room he had his hands out, but was still brutalized by the officers.

“One guy stood on my hand so my nail was ruptured causing it to bleed. It was quite agressive,” Dotcom claimed.

As for the credit cards, Dotcom stated that most of them were already of no use, but he just likes keeping them.

Toohey then told the court that the gun was loaded with shells containing buckshots and that police claimed his hand were not visible. Tempero, who previouslu provided security for the Brunei Royal Family and David and Victoria Beckham, also took the stand and was questioned for his eligibility to use/carry a pistol, but has no license to do so. Dotcom’s body guard said that he was going to apply for the license but failed to do so, since the authorities already busted them.

Dotcom must now remain in jail until his first hearing in a U.S. extradition request, scheduled for February 22.

As for the others arrested, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato were granted bail. There’s no news yet for the bail hearing of Mathias Ortmann and Andrus Nomm.

Bail Denied Again, Dotcom to Remain in Jail Until Extradition Hearing is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

MoMo Wins Against Apple, Samsung Confident In EU Probe

Mellisa Tolentino — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:45:18 +0000

Motorola Mobility won a second German patent ruling against Apple over their iCloud service. The Mannheim Regional Court found Apple had infringed a patent used to synchronize e-mail accounts.

Presiding Judge Andreas Voss stated that “The court has come to the conclusion that the wording of the patent does cover functioning that were at issue here.” Apple “wasn’t able to convince the court that it isn’t infringing.”

The ruling allows Motorola to block the sales of devices with access to the iCloud, as well as ask Apple for information about past sales and holds Apple liable for damages.

“Apple believes this old pager patent is invalid and we’re appealing the courts decision,” company spokesman Alan Hely said.

Apple clearly is in a losing streak, as they were recently rejected twice in their request to ban the sale of Samsung devices in Germany.

Samsung Confident With EU Anti-trust Probe

After two wins against Apple, Samsung is quite confident that the anti-trust probe set by the European Union will end well as it would soon find out that they comply with the rules.

“We believe that, upon the scrutiny of the facts, the commission will conclude that Samsung Electronics has acted in compliance with EU competition rules,” Samsung said.

Samsung is under investigation, as the EU believes that some of the patent lawsuits they filed against Apple were considered essential to wireless communications, which must be licensed on a fair and reasonable basis to any company, under an agreement formed by industry groups and, in Europe, sanctioned by the European Commission.

RIM Offers Free PlayBook To Android App Developers

Research in Motion opened their doors to Android app developers in time for the roll out of the BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 OS. They gave the Android app developers until February 6th to submit their repackaged apps.

But it seems like not many Android app developers were interested, so RIM’s sweetened the deal by offering free BlackBerry PlayBooks to those that port their Android apps. RIM’s vice president for developer relations Alec Saunders made the announcement on Twitter.

Shh…. Android Devs – submit your Android app to BB AppWorld by Feb 13 and get a free Playbook –> tools here:http://bit.ly/w758Ci – @asaunders

Developers registered for the BlackBerry App World are entitled to a 16 GB Playbook if they repackage their Android apps into the compatible BAR file format and submit it to BlackBerry’s App World between Feb. 2 and Feb. 13. The repackeaged apps must meet RIM’s BlackBerry App World Vendor Guidelines.

Symantec Warns Of Mutating Android Trojan

After Symantec retracted their claim that Android.Counterclank was indeed an aggressive adware and not malware, the security software maker now warns Android users of malware that mutates every time is gets downloaded.

According to Symantec, “The applications morph themselves automatically in a few ways every time the threat is downloaded. In addition, manual modifications are also made every few days indicating that the malware authors are actively maintaining this malware family.”

These variants were identified Android.Opfake. and are used in malicious Android apps hosted in Russian websites. The sites hosting Opfake include links or buttons that can be used to download the malicious packages claiming to be free versions of popular Android software.

Vikram Thakur, the principal security response manager at Symantec, explains that the severity of damage, as well as how easily these polymorphic viruses can be detected and fixed, rely on the complexity of the polymorphism.

“If antivirus vendors place their detection on the executable and non-changing sections, all files would be successfully detected,” said Tim Armstrong, malware researcher at Kaspersky Lab. “However, if the Trojan’s executable code were also polymorphic, the challenge of detecting it would be more difficult,” Armstrong added.

HTC Gobbles Dashwire

Dashwire, Inc., the maker of the Dashworks platform that provides mobile and web applications enabling people to easily setup and personalize their smartphones, and seamlessly access their mobile content across multiple screens and services, has been acquired by HTC as they expand their reach to the cloud. It’s a smart move for HTC, which had a less than stellar fourth quarter and is struggling to keep up with other Android OEMs like Samsung.

“Cloud services are key to delivering the promise of connected services to our customers,” said Fred Liu, president of engineering and operations, HTC Corporation. “People want access to all of their important content wherever they are on any device. The addition of Dashwire’s cutting-edge sync services and deep mobile cloud experience strengthens our ability to deliver these services in a more powerful way.”

MoMo Wins Against Apple, Samsung Confident In EU Probe is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Pirate Bay Founders Found Guilty in Sweden Amidst Web Copyright Drama

Maria Deutscher — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:21:00 +0000

Even before the battle over SOPA and PIPA has reached its climax, the media industry is going after the people who are making its copyrighted property available for free online.

The particularly case involving The Pirate Bay has come to end this week, and it set a rather interesting precedence for the rest of the battle between Hollywood and illegal uploaders.

Wired reported that the Swedish Supreme Court decided not to change the sentences of the four Pirate Bay founders who were convicted back in 2009. Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Carl Lundström and Gottfrid Svartholm are currently sharing fines totaling about $6.8 million, as well as 34 months of time in jail split among the four.

There are a lot of interesting twists to the case. The defense was based entirely on the claim that they’re innocent because no pirated material was stored on their servers, but rather in third party locations. The Pirate Way works by providing users links to uploaded video or music found on other sites, instead of streaming content directly like some of the other websites that have been shut down recently.

This wasn’t enough to persuade the judge, and found them to be accomplices. Sweden’s Supreme Court evidently accepted the decision.

Lundström’s lawyer, Per E. Samuelsson, blasted the Supreme Court for refusing to review the conviction. “The verdict is absurd,” he said. “I am disappointed that the court is so uninterested in dissecting and analysing the legal twists and turns of one of the world’s most high-profile legal cases of all time.”

The Pirate Bay is not the first site that took a hit recently. Megaupload has also been forced to cease operations by the authorities, and Ex.ua has been shut down earlier yesterday.

Pirate Bay Founders Found Guilty in Sweden Amidst Web Copyright Drama is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

The Ukraine’s Largest File-Sharing Site Ex.ua Goes Dark After Raid

Kit Dotson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:41:00 +0000

In what’s becoming the dark-age for cyberlockers, Ukraine-based Ex.ua just went dark after country authorities raided the site and seized equipment. According to an article on TorrentFreak, since being founded in 2009 it has been one of the most visited sites in the Ukraine and used to house 200 servers and over 6,000 terabytes of data.

Because the site was widely used to share copyrighted files, several international companies including Microsoft, Graphisoft and Adobe filed complaints against the service. After a six month criminal investigation, this resulted in the shutdown of Ex.ua today…

In addition, sixteen employees were taken in for questioning. At the time of writing it is unclear how many arrests have been made, if any. The authorities did confirm that the site was run by a Latvian citizen.

While Ex.ua bore many similarities the recently felled Megaupload except in a few major axis: the site also permitted users to search shares for particular types of files. Ex.ua permitted visitors to search their stores for files that were “MP3” or “video,” a capability which is quite uncommon for most cyberlockers. In 2010, the RIAA branded Ex.ua a “pirate haven,” and complained about its activities to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

With a multitude of file-sharing websites getting gunned down by authorities at the behest of trade federations like the RIAA and the MPAA it’s a dangerous day to be a file-sharing site in the cloud. Organizations that represent copyright holders in film, music, and software have been quick to make certain that they paint their target as rogue before they sic enforcers on them.

In the case of Megaupload, the sites administrators not only plead that they’ve been following provisions of the DMCA but the case FBI has made against them appears somewhat flimsy.

If convicted of the charges levied against them, operators of Ex.ua could face up to five years in prison.

[Photo credit: same TorrentFreak article about shutdown of Ex.ua]

The Ukraine’s Largest File-Sharing Site Ex.ua Goes Dark After Raid is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.

In the same vein:

Premiumize.me Now Delivers Anonymizing Proxy for Bitcoin Users

Kit Dotson — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:11:30 +0000

German Bitcoin blog, BTC Base, recently interviewed Mika of Premiumize.me, an Internet anonymization proxy service that gives users the option to go online and secure their location from prying eyes. It does so via multiple servers around the world that act as exit-points for Internet traffic and they store very little distinct information about the people who use it (only enough to make certain that they route the data correctly and limit bandwidth.)

Premiumize.me has started taking Bitcoins as payment for services and aside from giving proxies that allow users to access sites that block by region (such as Hulu.com) they also provided services that allowed users to one-click upload/download to file sharing services such as the now-fallen Megaupload.

Also in that process, Premiumize.me protects the privacy and anonymity of users who upload to and download from those sites. This could become important in the future.

“Through our proxy system, our users are already protected very well,” explains Mika, talking about the “one-click-host” service that gives users access to cyberlocker sites via the anonymity proxy. “Downloads of One-Click-Hosters also always run on multiple servers. The host thus sees only the IP address of the server from the last proxy chain.

“Also with us are per user and per hour only a checksum. The first two digits of the IP address is stored and the accrued amount of data transferred per Hoster.”

Recently, cloud-storage and cyberlocker services have appeared in the media after the US raided and seized Megaupload’s assets but little attention has been given to the security of the customers using them. So far, the biggest concern is the number of people who had files uploaded to Megaupload may never see them again and many plan to sue the FBI and the US government for causing the forfeiture of their property. However, it’s well known that trade organizations like the RIAA and MPAA go after individuals as well as siccing governments on websites that they feel infringe upon their intellectual property.

People use the cloud for a myriad reasons, a gigantic majority of which are entirely innocent; but some people also store financial documents, medical documents, or other sensitive personal information in the cloud. I myself encrypt anything that I need access to in multiple locations for storage in the cloud. Other people may feel that they need further protection from not just prying eyes into what they store, but who they are when they store it.

Privacy on the web can be greatly benefited by accepting Bitcoin

Bitcoin itself provides another layer of anonymity when it comes to making transactions happen with services designed to protect privacy. Since a user could obtain Bitcoins from an exchange such as MtGox or another site, this means that once they transfer it into a wallet, it makes it even more difficult for would-be prying eyes to hunt them down out of the wash of IP addresses and payments made to a service like Premiumize.me.

Users in foregin countries with tyrannical governments might greatly enjoy services such as Premiumize.me (in fact The Onion Router, TOR, network was designed specifically to help protect speech in these countries) especially with the addition of taking Bitcoin payments because it would make it even more difficult for their activity of paying for the service to be discovered.

Premiumize.me Now Delivers Anonymizing Proxy for Bitcoin Users is a post from: SiliconANGLE
We're now available on the Kindle! Subscribe today.