Daily Archives: 19. November 2013


19.11.2013 - 22:50 [ Gegen Hartz ]

Facebook-Schnüffelei durch Jobcenter

Der Datenschutzbeauftragte Peter Schaar forderte alle Betroffenen auf, sich bei ihm zu melden, falls vermutet wird, dass Behörden-Mitarbeiter bei Facebook hinterher schnüffeln. „Betroffene, die eine missbräuchliche Erhebung ihrer Daten in sozialen Netzwerken vermuten, können sich jederzeit an mich wenden.“ Inge Hannemann ruft Betroffene dazu auf, sich per Mail an sie zu wenden, falls der Verdacht besteht, das Jobcenter spioniere bei Facebook oder in Foren hinterher

19.11.2013 - 22:19 [ Mother Nature Network ]

What‘s a humpback whale doing in the forest?

This eye-opening video could change your perspective about the oceans.

19.11.2013 - 21:19 [ Boing Boing ]

G4S rips off UK government for £24M, wants to continue receiving government contracts

G4S, the titanic security contractor, has admitted to overcharging the UK Ministry of Justice £24M for its contract to monitor offenders‘ tracking tags. This is the latest mass-scale cock-up from the wildly profitable firm, whose recent hall of shame includes forging documents in order to deport asylum seekers, catastrophic failure to deliver London Olympics security, and complete mismanagement of a South African prison.

19.11.2013 - 20:02 [ WSWS ]

Zeit-Redakteur verurteilt ‚deutschen Pazifismus‘

Die Linkspartei vollzieht derzeit denselben Schwenk. In einer Aufsatzsammlung unter dem Titel „Linke Außenpolitik: Reformperspektiven“ plädieren ihre führenden Vertreter offen für deutsche Militäreinsätze.

Derselbe Wandel vollzieht sich in den Redaktionsstuben vormals liberaler Blätter wie der Süddeutschen, der taz und der Zeit, wie Bittner selbst anschaulich beweist.

19.11.2013 - 18:59 [ Ria Novosti ]

Iran erklärt sich zu Abschluss von Abkommen mit 5+1-Gruppe bereit

Das erklärte der iranische Vizeaußenminister Mohammed Dschawad Sarif am Dienstag in Rom nach Verhandlungen mit Italiens Außenamtschefin Emma Bonino. „Ich denke, dass alle Chancen für einen Erfolg in Genf vorhanden sind… Aber die Lösung kann nur bei der Einbindung aller Verhandlungspartner herbeigeführt werden. Ich reise nach Genf mit der Absicht, das Abkommen gleich nach der Gesprächsrunde abzuschließen.“

19.11.2013 - 18:53 [ Stephanie Westbrook / Electronic Intifada ]

Why Israel has no „better friend“ than Italy

When political leaders from Italy and Israel gather for a summit in Turin next month, they will celebrate a flourishing friendship — one in which Italy helps Israel obscure its bloodstained reality.

The official talk ahead of the 2 December meeting is of political, economic and cultural agreements. Passing under the radar, however, is the intense military cooperation between the two countries.

19.11.2013 - 18:41 [ Watts Up With That ]

Reality is Absent from Michael Mann’s Activist Article on Typhoon Haiyan

A week after typhoon Haiyan stormed through the Philippines, the website EcoWatch ran an article by Michael Mann. The blog post was titled Super Typhoon Haiyan: Realities of a Warmed World and Need for Immediate Climate Action. Michael Mann began with a commendable request for Philippine Red Cross Donations. But after that, once again, we have an activist celebrity—one who masquerades as a climate scientist—using the misfortunes of others in efforts to advance a political agenda. And to make the effort even more futile on Mann’s part, much of the evidence he presented has no basis in reality.

19.11.2013 - 18:34 [ Reuters ]

Syrian army says takes town on north-south highway

Syria‘s army said it pushed rebels out of the southern town of Qara on Tuesday, strengthening its hold on a highway linking the capital to government strongholds along the Mediterranean coast.

19.11.2013 - 18:33 [ Techdirt ]

Declassified Opinion Shows The NSA Exploited Pen Register Statutes To Collect Internet Metadata On Millions Of Americans

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has just released a very large set of declassified documents, covering a variety of topics. (Just a friendly reminder: these documents are being released because of a court order, not because the ODNI loves transparency, no matter how it‘s phrased at I CON THE RECORD.) Of particular interest is one that appears to be the original court opinion that gave the NSA permission to collect bulk internet metadata on Americans, better known as the Stellar Wind program, which ran for a decade before being shut down in 2011.

19.11.2013 - 18:30 [ El Pais ]

Military warns of “radicalized” factions inside its own ranks

„We have discovered in the ET [ground troops] the existence of personnel with clear signs of radicalism (ideological, religious and criminal), which, in the majority of cases, form part of their private lives and social environment,“ the memo begins. „The conduct of these individuals creates fragility in the institution and could pose a security risk.“

While the document doesn‘t specify what types of groups may be infiltrating the military, Defense Ministry sources…

19.11.2013 - 18:21 [ Extreme Tech ]

SOPA rides again: USA’s secret TPP treaty outlaws phone jailbreaks and unlocking, introduces crazy copyright law

Last week, Wikileaks published a draft version of the TPP that dates to this previous August, and the restrictions it places on digital freedoms and consumer rights are incredible. If you thought that the content creation industry had learned something from the failure of SOPA in the US or the international ACTA treaty, you were wrong. Or rather, you were right. What the content industry learned was that treaty negotiations needed to be kept even more secretive. Access to the TPP text is so tightly controlled, even members of Congress were kept in the dark.

19.11.2013 - 13:20 [ Eric Idle ]

Merkel Tapes

NSA Transcript MOST Secret 54/6AT/900042/367bb 10/17/ 13

10.42 a.m. CET

VOICE: Chancellor.

SUBJECT: Ja.

VOICE: It’s Steffen.

SUBJECT: Steffen I’m busy.

VOICE: Angela, this is urgent.

SUBJECT: Surely it can wait till the Security Review this afternoon?

VOICE: I’m afraid not.

SUBJECT: But I’m on a call to Hollande. He’s such a schmuck. He thinks if you can’t cook

it or schtup it you should cut it. That’s his economic policy. He’s such a dork…

VOICE: Madame Chancellor I have to warn you….

SUBJECT: He’s so dumb he couldn’t find his ass in the dark on his own. Luckily he’s French

so he doesn’t have to. (Laughs loudly.)

VOICE: Madame Chancellor….

SUBJECT: I’d give him a dildo for his birthday but he’s already married to one…(laughs.)

VOICE: Stop talking!

SUBJECT: Vas?

VOICE: Shut up already. I’m very sorry Madame Chancellor, but this is not a secure line.

VOICE: This is my cell phone Steffen. You gave it to me. You’re telling me it’s not secure?

VOICE: That is what I’m saying. You are being tapped.

SUBJECT: By whom?

VOICE: The Americans.

SUBJECT: Scheissdumbfer (incomprehensible.)

19.11.2013 - 13:03 [ Eric Idle / Twitter ]

Python meeting this morning. Can‘t wait. Press Conference Thursday will apparently be live on Sky News. I‘ll get you the online URL.

19.11.2013 - 13:02 [ Mirror ]

Monty Python stars reuniting after 30 years away following months of secret talks

A spokesman for the Pythons remained tight-lipped on what form the reunion would take, and whether they would perform live, in a TV special or film.

But he said: „A press conference is set for Thursday where the Pythons themselves will be unveiling their plans to work together again.“