Skype May Be Spying on You!

It has been a while since I've updated, and certainly there has been a ton of interesting/frightening technopolitical news concerning the election that I should be posting, but I wanted to take a break from election news to talk about Skype. I use Skype, and I know a lot of phone losers use Skype.

However, the Chinese version of Skype has a built in monitoring feature that Skype implemented for the Chinese government. It scans for keywords (including "democracy" and "tibet") and reports them. Sound familiar? Skype: A high echelon of communications.

It is undetermined as of yet if the US version of Skype has similar "features."

Read the original article

News Round Up

It's been forever since I updated this blog, good thing no one reads it.

Here's some interesting news tidbits...

2008 Election Protection Toolkit - From blackboxvoting.org,

Evaluating the Security of Electronic Voting Systems - As one would guess, not so secure.

... On a mostly unrelated note, have you seen the McCain ads so dirty that even sleazeball Karl Rove is condemning? A certain party on the right is getting a little desperate.

McCain's Technology Platform and States Outlawing Diebold's Crooked Voting Machines

Two things I read over at Slashdot that I thought I might pass along to you...

A Critique of McCain's Technology Platform

and

States Throw Out Electronic Voting Machines

The State of Ohio Sues Diebold for Rigging Elections

Ohio is a little upset over that whole Diebold fucking the country thing. The state is suing the company for the "voting irregularities" their machines caused. Read the original article.

Grassroots Group Makes Anti-FISA Ad

"If you're one of the thousands of voters angry over the Democrats' cave on domestic spying and telecom amnesty, a new online grassroots movement is now making it easy to buy a local ad on MSNBC, CNN and several other networks, for less money than you'd think." Read the original article.

Unlike McCain, many seniors surf the Web

Nothing serious today, just something somewhat funny (albeit a little scary that a huge decision-maker doesn't know how to use a basic tool to help him make those decisions...)

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/07/21/wired.seniors.ap/index.html

"John McCain is an outlier when you compare him to his peers," Fox says. "On one hand, a U.S. senator has access to information sources and staff assistance that most people do not. On the other, the Internet has become such a go-to resource that it's a curiosity to hear that someone doesn't rely on it the way most Americans do." Read the original article.

GOP cyber-security expert suggests Diebold tampered with 2002 election

New evidence for what we've already known for years... Diebold is rigging elections.

Published: Friday July 18, 2008 A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections. Read The Original Article

Obama disapoints with FISA vote

This is old news, but since this blog wasn't around when it happened, I thought I'd make quick mention of Obama and FISA. There was no question that McCain would give the go ahead to the FISA amendment, but Obama promised otherwise. Unfortunately this wasn't the case. Obviously Obama is certainly not the ideal candidate to begin with, but for those voting realistically, he’s the only alternative. Betrayals like this further emphasize the flaws of the two-party system.

The FISA amendment lets shitbag telecommunication companies off the hook for illegally spying on all of us (at Bush’s command) under the guise of post-9/11 security. From Wikipedia:

• The provisions of the Act granting immunity to the complicit telecoms create a roadblock for a number of lawsuits intended to expose and thwart the alleged abuses of power and illegal activities of the federal government since and before the September 11th attacks.
  
• Allows the government to conduct surveillance of any person for up to one week (168 hours) without a warrant, increased from the previous 48 hours, as long as FISA is notified at the time such surveillance begins, and an application as usually required for surveillance authorization is submitted by the government to FISA within those 168 hours.
  

This move created a lot of backlash towards Obama, which is good. Hopefully he’ll get the message.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/VOIP-and-Telephony/Bloggers-Slam-Barrack-Obama-on-FISA-Vote/

Sadly, even the shitty things like this that Obama does still make him look desirable in comparison to shitbag McCain. That’s depressing.

(not technology related: at least he was still brave enough to publicly and openly post this, which is impressive.)

UPL Team Activism FAQ

Hi There.

Here is the UPL Team Activism FAQ, first published on the United Phone Losers website, and later reprinted in the UPL ezine on March 25th, 2002.

Before reading this, keep in mind that the dynamic of UPL Team Activism has changed. Six years ago, I envisioned it as a rag-tag group of hackers and UPL junkies engaging in radical politics. Today, I simply see it as this tiny blog, where I will occasionally post some news stories I find that shows the relationship of technology and politics. It won't be anything too radical, it probably won't be updated often, and it will certainly not be a large part of the United Phone Losers (other than maybe a link to this blog and an explanation of what this all is).

So, this FAQ was written when I had different ideas for Team Activism. But it might be interesting to know the roots of this project. A lot of it is tongue-in-cheek. Also, it is 6 years old. Take it with a grain of salt as you read.

---

o What is UPL Team Activism?
o This all sure sounds a lot like cDc Hactivismo...
o Doesn't UPL ever do anything original?
o What are the goals of UPL Team Activism?
o Huh?
o What if I don't agree with the goals of UPL Team Activism? Does that mean I can no o longer read UPL or be a part of the scene?
o Does the presence of UPL Team Activism mean that the UPL zine will be flooded with o political crap?
o Isn't this all a little extreme?
o Can I join UPL Team Activism?
o So if I'm in UPL Team Actvism, I'm part of the UPL group, right?

What is UPL Team Activism?
UPL Team Activism is a group of politically-conscious, socially aware individuals created to coexist with the UPL technology-abuse scene. With the growing fact that hacking is a political act in and of itself, it has become necessary to bring about awareness and promote social justice.

This all sure sounds a lot like cDc Hactivismo...
It does, doesn't it? Although it is eerily similar to Hactivismo, we assure you that at the time of Team Actvism's inception, cDc was not in mind. It was not until the following day that we realized we had sub-consciously stolen yet another group's idea. Oops.

Doesn't UPL ever do anything original?
No. Creativity is unnecessary and therefore counter-productive to the goals of Team Activism.

What are the goals of UPL Team Activism?
As we've stated, our main goal is to spread awareness regarding social justice and civil rights issues, and in this way come up with alternative means to those of the status-quo, and more humane solutions. Through awareness, compassion, direct action, peace, tolerance, and unity, we will be able to liberate ourselves and others.

Huh?
It means we're fucking up THE SYSTEM, d00dz!!!!!11!!!!!~!1!!!1! Disrupting the heirarchial status-quo to create true peace and freedom (no, not corporate freedom - such as the freedom to choose between Coke and Pepsi) through non-violent means.

What if I don't agree with the goals of UPL Team Activism? Does that mean I can no longer read UPL or be a part of the scene?
If you don't agree, fine. We'll think you're a bit naive and you'll lose a lot of Team Actvism's respect, but you're free to participate in the scene and have dumb little arguments with us. However, we find it difficult to imagine how someone can participate within a counter-culture suc as the computer underground without seeing how it relates to everything else. Especially now with those big corporations trying to silence both political actvists and computer advocates (through such means as the RIAA imposing lawsuits against file-sharing, MPAA sucessfully limiting free speech even further, or legislation like the DMCA and similar documents - all this is politics, folks). So, like it or not, if you're involved in the computer underground, you're (perhaps unwillingly) fighting with us. Boy, it sure does suck for you fascist right-wing conservatives to be on our side, doesn't it?

Does the presence of UPL Team Activism mean that the UPL zine will be flooded with political crap?
No. Although there will be a lot more political info within UPL, we'll still have just as much of our normal slop in there to balance out the universe.

Isn't this all a little extreme?
Not if you care at all about who gets to control (or in their case, exploit) your life and the lives of the rest of the world.

Can I join UPL Team Activism?
Yes, in fact you can! If you're a conscious-minded individual who cares about social-justice and making a change, it is possible for you to join. You don't even need to agree with all of our views (however, a good majority is necessary, otherwise what's the purpose of joining?). Just get in contact with linear and after he gets to know you and has a good idea of your views we'll all (not just linear) determine your involvement within Team Activism.

So if I'm in UPL Team Actvism, I'm part of the UPL group, right?
NO! No one is in UPL! There are several staff members, but UPL is not a group. We will not alter our staff list at anyone's suggestion, for any reason. Team Activism is group independent from the UPL zine and website, but acts under the umbrella of the UPL collective. The zine and Team Activism are not the same thing!

We hope this document has answered all your questions. However, any further inqueries you might have can be addressed to activism [at] phonelosers [dot] net