Ahrcanum

Hackers Threaten Internet Takedown on March 31. Earth Hour.

No one likes an April Fool’s Day Joke a day early.  A recent threat supposedly from the hacker group Anonymous claimed it would stop the internet on March 31, 2012.  So far so good.  Our numerous iMacs, iphones, ipads, PC’s, Blackberry’s are still in working order and able to connect online.

The whole idea of shutting the internet gives pause to people who live in countries where connecting to the internet is blocked by governments.  China.  Egypt. USA? Or where one has to sneak through a back door just to send a tweet.  The founding father’s of the United States who gave us freedom of speech must be doing a little dance at their accomplishment. Or maybe they are rolling in the grave?

How much free speech do we really have ?  Well, you can’t yell fire in a movie theatre, and we’re not going to go on about all things that should be common sense not to say.

Give you and example– someone came up with the idea of Earth Hour, and it has spread freely across the internet

More than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011, sending a powerful message for action on climate change. It also ushered in a new era with members going Beyond the Hour to commit to lasting action for the planet. Without a doubt, it’s shown how great things can be achieved when people come together for a common cause.   http://www.earthhour.org/page/about

Whether you believe that we mere humans can impact climate change or not, it is noteworthy how the message has spread across the globe.  Doesn’t seem to be any censorship there.  What we’re having a problem with is government and corporate ability to track just who said what, when and which sites you may  have visited.  And maybe that is the point of the threat of Operation Blackout.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17472447 Maybe just to prove that someone, somewhere can flip the switch off.

We can’t control Anon, but we can control how much information we freely give.

Need an example?  Your iphone is usually set to default daily diagnostic and usage data including location information.

To turn this feature off -Go to Settings, tap General, tap About and look under diagnostics & Usage.  Select “Don’t Send” in order to turn Diagnostics off.

If you don’t, Apple swears honest engine like that, “none of the collected information identifies you personally.” Yeah okay. Before we stopped Apple’s access, they or someone was recording our actions on the device up to 30 times a day. Here’s an idea of what was collected

• deviceid: is a 34 digit code of numbers and letters that we aren’t going to share here
• isAnonymout: true
• Device configld: 101
• triggerTime:  1332544624433        ?what kind of time is that. seconds, minutes,?
• profileid:######
• tgrigger id:  #####
• investigation id: 0
• metricCCDiagnosticAllowed
• {true
• timestamp1:  332544624674
• desired accuracy: -1
• cell Available:true
• wifiAvailable: true
• passcodelocked:false
• airplaneMode:false
• ttff:0
• ttGPS: -1
• bundled:  “com.yahoo.frontpage”
• achievedAccuracy:4904
• achievedSpeed:  -1
• accessoryUsed:  false
• reachability:  2
• powered:  false

Check those time stamps!  Dunno if that is seconds, minutes or hours, but someone was watching where and what we were doing on our iphone at that particular time and we gave them permission unknowingly.  We apparently logged into Yahoo. Then what?  Were we talking to the kids, griping to the mother-in-law, listening to music, Tweeting, on Facebook, searching Safari for a deal on gasoline, watching a video, downloading a movie, buying an app, playing angry birds or looking for a recipe how to cook a bird?  In fact, we were on WiFi, not plugged into a power source, not on an airplane, and our phone was unlocked.

There is no such thing as internet or log on usage privacy. PERIOD.

Phillip Dunkelberger, a former Apple employee and now president of encryption firm PGP, said that the computing power of the iPhone is so great that it will be almost impossible to protect completely.  “There are so many security issues with the iPhone, because it is not just a phone,” he said. “From an IT guy’s perspective it is a Linux computer with communications built in.”   http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/86644,iphone-may-never-be-secure.aspx

Now if someone knows that about little old us, why is the U.S. government now allowing iOS use?

The Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) has authorised the use of Apple devices running the iOS 5 operating system to communicate and store classified information up to the ‘protected’ level in Federal Government.The decision caps a long-running ban on the use of Apple devices for government personnel dealing in classified information. http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/295604,apple-devices-pass-defence-security-check.aspx

We highly doubt someone would take down the net.  Al Gore would never stand for that. lol.  As for a hacker, a government, a corporation, etc., you bet your sweet ass someone is keeping track of you.  Heck-“all you iPhone-owning patent yay-sayers out there, not only is Apple patenting YOUR hand motions to operate electronic equipment but they are also specifically PATENTING tracking YOU”. http://lawpundit.blogspot.com/2011/04/buggy-apple-patent-for-tracking-people.html

Our lives are pretty boring- we farm, we raise kids, we vote, we write, we do the mundane delightful things in life.

Don’t you just want to know what you know they know about you?

Stay tuned and have a good day, one day it will be your last.  God Bless.

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