Buycott: The Consumer Activist App

A new phone app that was rolled out this month scans product barcodes and provides the user with information about the corporations that make the product.  From Forbes:

The app itself is the work of one Los Angeles-based 26-year-old freelance programmer, Ivan Pardo, who has devoted the last 16 months to Buycott. “It’s been completely bootstrapped up to this point,” he said. Martinez and another friend have pitched in to promote the app. . . .

Pardo’s handiwork is available for download on iPhone or Android, making its debut in iTunes and Google GOOG +2.02% Play in early May. You can scan the barcode on any product and the free app will trace its ownership all the way to its top corporate parent company, including conglomerates like Koch Industries.  Once you’ve scanned an item, Buycott will show you its corporate family tree on your phone screen . . . 

BlackBerry Messenger is Coming to Android and iOS

From BGR:

BGR has learned from multiple trusted sources that Research In Motion is planning to bring its beloved BlackBerry Messenger app and service to Android, and eventually to iOS as well. According to our sources, RIM has not yet finalized details surrounding timing or pricing, but we have heard that the company might make the software free to all users. We’re also told strategy is still being developed, however, and RIM may end up charging users a one-time fee or even a recurring fee for access to its BBM service on third-party platforms. . . .

5G: Coming to a Network Near You?

Samsung has announced a breakthrough in the development of so-called "5G" technology that would allow for speeds hundreds of times faster than current 4G networks.  But the company says the new technology would likely not be ready for widespread commercial use for a number of years.  From PCMag:

Samsung said today that it has made a breakthrough in the development of "5G" technology, which will ultimately be several hundred times faster than current 4G networks.

But don't expect to see a "5G" icon atop your mobile gadget in the near future. This is just the beginning, and Samsung said it does not expect the commercialization of the technology until at least 2020.

To make the faster, more bandwidth-intense 5G a reality, networks will need a variety of frequencies, "much like an increased water flow requires a wider pipe," Samsung said. One solution is something known as millimeter-wave bands, but at this point, it is limited to short-distance transmissions.

Unlocking Technology: Lawmakers Propose Bill to Legalize Everyday Behavior

Last year, it was effectively made illegal to unlock your cell phone in order to switch your carriers.  A number of bills have been proposed since then to address the absurd laws currently on the books regarding this matter, but activist and consumer protection groups found many of them lacking.  A new bill proposed in the House is receiving more positive attention.  From Ars Technica:

New legislation sponsored by Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Jared Polis (D-CO) takes a broader approach to the issue. In addition to explicitly legalizing cell phone unlocking, the Unlocking Technology Act of 2013 also modifies the DMCA to make clear that unlocking copy-protected content is only illegal if it's done in order to "facilitate the infringement of a copyright." If a circumvention technology is "primarily designed or produced for the purpose of facilitating noninfringing uses," that would not be a violation of copyright.

For example, Lofgren's bill would likely make it legal for consumers to rip DVDs for personal use in much the same way they've long ripped CDs. It would remove legal impediments to making versions of copyrighted works that are accessible to blind users. And it would ensure that car owners have the freedom to service their vehicles without running afoul of copyright law.

"Americans should not be subject to fines and criminal liability for merely unlocking devices and media they legally purchased," said Rep. Lofgren in a press release.

Blueprints for 3-D Printed Gun Going Viral

The online blueprints for a 3-D printed gun published by a company called Defense Distributed are going viral online, with distribution help from Kim Dotcom's recent venture.  The blueprints have already been downloaded 100,000 times.  From Forbes:

That’s the number of downloads of the 3D-printable file for the so-called “Liberator” gun that the high-tech gunsmithing group Defense Distributed has seen in just the last two days, a member of the group tells me . . .

The controversial gun-printing group is hosting those files, which include everything from the gun’s trigger to its body to its barrel, on a service that has attracted some controversy of its own: Kim Dotcom’s Mega storage site . . .

The gun’s blueprint, of course, may have also already spread far wider than Defense Distributed can measure. It’s also been uploaded to the filesharing site the Pirate Bay, where it’s quickly become one of the most popular files in the site’s 3D-printing category. “This is the first in what will become an avalanche of undetectable, untraceable, easy-to-manufacture weapons that will turn the tables on evil-doers the world over,” writes one user with the name DakotaSmith on the site. “Share and enjoy.”

Obama Administration Wants Backdoor Access into All Internet Communications

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is likely to come out in support of a plan that would require basically all internet communications technologies to include a backdoor that would give government easier access to wiretap and spy on those communications.  Excerpt:

The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III . . .  since 2010 has pushed for a legal mandate requiring companies like Facebook and Google to build into their instant-messaging and other such systems a capacity to comply with wiretap orders . . .

While the F.B.I.’s original proposal would have required Internet communications services to each build in a wiretapping capacity, the revised one, which must now be reviewed by the White House, focuses on fining companies that do not comply with wiretap orders. 

What this boils down to, is government opposition to secure online communications.  Any backdoor into such communications technologies will expose users to unintended threats, because those vulnerabilities will be exploited in unintended ways.  

Your Credit Card Company and Bank are Threats to Your Information Security

Today, online hacktivist group Anonymous has launched Operation USA, which is targeting U.S. government and banking websites.  Ahead of the attack, the US Department of Homeland Security downplayed the planned operation.  According to reports: 

“OpUSA poses a limited threat of temporarily disrupting U.S. websites,” the homeland security bulletin states, saying the attackers will likely use commercial hacking tools in a variety of “nuisance-level” strikes, defacing websites or temporarily knocking them offline.

Once again, the Department of Homeland Security appears to have proven themselves to be both ignorant and inept.  Hackers are already claiming to have leaked detailed credit card information on 10,000 individuals to the website pastebin.  The leak contains names, addresses, home phone numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers, mother's maiden name, the answers to the card holder's so-called "security question" and so on.  Make sure your information is not in the leak, and if it is, take appropriate action.  This hack succinctly demonstrates how woefully inadequate the security protocols are at some of the world's largest banks and credit card companies.  The question we should be asking is not, why would a hacktivist group engage in such malicious behavior.  Your working assumption should be that hackers are ALWAYS attempting to access your personal and financial information.  The real question is why are these corporations that we trust with our personal and financial information so insecure?