Global Media News

Trump's Phone Seen As Potential Security Threat

Donald Trump is now the President and he is still tweeting.  This could put his personal information and the country at a security risk. 

Trump has been using his older Android device to tweet.  There are concerns on whether the device is safe to use and the vulnerability that his phone and personal information could be hacked.  New York showed screenshots of his tweets referring that they are tweeted from Trump's Android device.  The Guardian showed the phone number and emails with asterisks linked to Trump's twitter, shown below. 

Hey @POTUS, On a serious note. Lets fix your Security settings. Should I email you? #GhostOfNoNation @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/FRdMJnZaNr

— WauchulaGhost (@WauchulaGhost) January 21, 2017

The White House declined to comment on the potential security risks.

To use Twitter, it requires the ability to connect to the internet that could put Trump's device at a security risk if a two-factor authentication isn't in place.  This measure requires a password and a code to be sent to his phone.  There's the other risk of Trump using his Android through an unsecure Wi-Fi network, that can reveal his location and personal information.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Intelligence Committee says “The absolutely minimum Trump could do to protect our nation is to use a secure device to protect him from foreign spies and other threats.”  He added that “it would be irresponsible in the extreme for the commander in chief to use an unsecure device that could be easily hacked or intercepted.”

Security experts are concerned because they're unsure if the smartphone is suspect towards thwart hacking.  Hackers could then have access into the phone's camera and microphone.  Security expert Bruce Schneier says “that Android has a microphone, which means it can be turned into a room bug without anyone’s knowledge."  There's also the threat of stingray devices, a surveillance application that could locate the phone's location and different pieces of information.

President Barack Obama was forced to use a secure phone that couldn't text, take pictures, or have music due to potential security risks during his term of presidency.

Kevin Bankston, the director of New America's Open Technology Institute, believes that Trump is the "biggest sitting target in the world."  The security of the account raises concerns considering Trump blasted Hillary Rodham Clinton, for her use of a private e-mail server as Secretary of State.

 

 

Ethiopia Disconnected

Ethiopia is one of the most censored countries in the world, ranking an 82 on Freedom House, (100 being the worst). The country is located in Sub Saharan Africa. It is the second most populated country in the region. Surprisingly, this densely populated country is extremely disconnected from the rest of the world. They have the lowest internet connectivity rate in the world, with only a 4.4% penetration. The minuscule population who is online, has very limited access. Freedom House reports that it can take 6 minutes to log on and open up one email! Consider yourself spoiled next time you clear out your inbox. 

Social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are often blocked in Ethiopia. In one case, the government claimed a social media ban was in order to prevent any distraction from students taking online entry exams. According to AlJazeera, the exam was in fact leaked and shared via social media which led to the ban.

In more serious cases the internet is often blocked to prevent protests and rallies. Earlier this month, the government declared a state of emergency after many people were hurt and 50 people were killed during a protest. The internet was blocked in attempt to prevent demonstrators from organizing further protests. Viber, Ethiopia's most popular messaging app was included in the ban. 

With unreliable internet access and blocked content, citizens in Ethiopia are going to have to resort to primitive means of organization. 

Media Censorship In Dubai

Media Organizations in Dubai are subject to strict content control by the government.

In Dubai the news is incredibly analyzed before the papers hit the news stand. Editrs scans news articles for any vulgar material. Most of the foreign newspapers are viewed as racy and have to be edited. Anything that doesn't meet Dubai's media standards is marked out with a dark line. Magazines, newspapers, books, you name it, has to be regulated before clearance. Although the telecommunications law guarantees freedom of speech, political media cogent is monitored daily. 

The governed are not getting full use of their rights to Freedom of Speech. The 1996 telecommunications law that guarantees Freedom of Speech is overshadowed by the serious regulation of political media. Journalists rely on self- censorship in order to avoid sanctions. The journalists who sensor their work tend to avoid criticizing political leaders, ruling leaders, religion, morals, or government policy. 

The city of Abu Dubai is home to 2,369,153 people. The hot weather and seven star hotels drives traffic to vacationers. The city is a big tourist attraction and is set up to stay that way. The media is censored in order to mold the idea of the city. Its goal is to attract celebrities and investors.  The press are supported by government funding. Neighboring countries such as India censor any reading materials such as magazines, books, or news papers. If the reading materials don't meet the consent of the countries media regulation agency, ( the National Media Council) whole articles can be removed.

A wealthy Indian news editor, Prem Singh says, "Nude pictures and anything [written] against these countries, especially Dubai. Anything against Islam." Prem would mark over any breasts that are too exposed in news papers or magazine before they are sent to UAE. As reported by Press Reference,  Most of the radio (13 AM, seven FM, and two short-wave) and television (15 total) stations available outside the free-zone are owned by the government with a few notable exceptions. These stations broadcast to around 820,000 radios and 310,000 televisions in the country. 

References:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18292869

BBC News Country Profiles. Available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/ .

Read more: http://www.pressreference.com/Sw-Ur/United-Arab-Emirates.html#ixzz3aGlcWl7k

Verizon Tech News Site Bans Stories on U.S. Spying

 Verizon is getting into the news business. What could go wrong?

Is Vine good for journalists?

     Vine is a mobile video sharing app. It allows its users to create and share six second videos. The videos loop continuously and are posted online. Vine is owned by Twitter. It can be used to show action and explain stories. Journalists use Vine to share videos of breaking news as it is happening. 

eBay's Security Flaw Existed for Months

    A security flaw on eBay's website has been exposing eBay's customers to malicious websites.  This has been happening on eBay's site since Feburary. It has been revealed that by clicking on some of the listings on the site will automatically redirect customers to harmful sites. eBay has failed to fix and inforem users about the security flaw, despite having known since Feburary.

    According to BBC News, an eBay user Paul Castle contacted eBay in order to report the problem in a chat log which outlined the problem in detail with eBay's staff. This is not the first time that eBay has been hit with a security breach. eBay had a massive security breach which happened in May. The breach affected 145 million customers, which was performed by unknown hackers. The information stolen was email addresses, encrypted passwords, mailing addresses, and birth dates.

    The site eBay gives permission to many of their users who sell on eBay to use Javascript and Flash to make their listings more attractive, which is related to the security flaw. The search engine of eBay only allows customers to find completed auctions that are more than 15 days old. In each case of the listings, it appears that cross-site scripting (XSS) was used to steal the customer's information using Javascript. Cross-site scripting (XSS) is not allowed on eBay and eBay uses a range of security features, which are designed to detect and remove the listing containing the harmful codes. BBC News uncovered that many of their listings have been posted for more than 15 days, which posed dangers to eBay's users.

    In an interview BBC News reporter Dave Lee, a spokeswoman for eBay, "The company assures that they have a security team for the site, but the hackers used tactics capable of by passing their security. These hackers intentionally adapt to their code and tactics to try to stay ahead of the most sophisticated security team."      

    The site eBay is being heavily criticized by security experts for failing to react quickly to the problem and allowed it to go on for so long. This is the second time eBay has had security issues this year.  

Brazilian Google Senior Executive Arrested Over a Video?

In late September 2012 one of Google's Senior Executive board members Fabio Jose Silva Coelho was arrested for failing to take down a YouTube video that puts a negative image on a local mayoral candidate. YouTube has agreements with the different countries they operate in because laws was broken justice had to be served. 

The Rio Times reports:

"Police in Brazil have released the country’s top Google executive following his detention for not taking down Youtube clips that violated Brazilian law. Brazil has strict electoral laws that prevent much public criticism of political candidates, a system that some commentators say are out-dated."

Freedom of information took a turn of the worst in Brazil when a Google's senior executive Mr. Coelho is arrested for refusing to take down the video of a political candidate. To make things worst Google owns YouTube so to see a Google employee arrested for  expressing himself and Google not supporting them is really a sad sight.

The New York Times reports:

"An elections court in Brazil has ordered the arrest of Google’s most senior executive in the country after the company failed to take downYouTube videos attacking a local mayoral candidate. Google is appealing the order, which comes after a similar decision by another Brazilian elections judge. In that case, a judge found a different senior executive responsible for violating local election law.An elections court in Brazil has ordered the arrest of Google’s most senior executive in the country after the company failed to take downYouTube videos attacking a local mayoral candidate. "

This is understandable because it puts a negative view on the candidate and could possible change undecided voters minds. Freedom of information has a bigger restriction. Social media is a big part of society and thanks to this people are able to share their feelings about the world around them including politics.

 

Afghanistan Bans Pakistani Papers!

In late September Afghanistan's government put a ban on Pakistani newspaper.  There has always been friction between the two countries but this put it over the top. Afghanistan leaders' man reason for this ban  was because they felt that the Pakistani papers supported the Taliban militants.

The Dawn reports: 

"In a statement, the ministry said the newspapers were a conduit for Taliban propaganda.

 The news is not based in reality and it is creating concerns for our countrymen in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement. ”Also, the newspapers are a propaganda resource of the Taliban spokesmen.” 

This seem to be yet another case of censorship within a country and another battle for freedom of information for that country's people. Although this is  strictly speculation but the government are not taking any chances with this. It is unfortunate because now the people of Afghanistan can no longer receive news from Pakistani. 

The BBC News reports:

"It authorized police to impound Pakistani newspapers in the three eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan. The news paper is a propaganda resource of the Taliban spokesmen" and has ordered police forces in east Afghanistan to confiscate all copies."

With the police of Afghanistan seizing all the Pakistani papers that is currently in the country and stopping all papers from entering the boarders of the country, it is clear that the government is serious and will put down any kind of support the newspapers may bring the Taliban.

Rod Norland and Declan Walsh of The New York Times reports:

"Intermedia Pakistan, an aid group that specializes in news media development, recently conducted an analysis of how Afghanistan is portrayed in the Pakistani news media. Its executive director, Adnan Rehmat, said there was a strong pro-Taliban bias after the 2001"

Afghanistan and Pakistan have always had problems and in the past and Afghanistan has portrayed Pakistan in a negative light and by banning their newspapers makes the Pakistani image worst in the eyes of the people. This could be a possible first step to Afghanistan banning any outside information that would go against the government.

Russian Protestors Caught on Film

In late December 2011 an abundance of videos were taken about the Russian protestors taking to the streets demanding a fair election. This is coming off the heels of the rigged election, the people had enough of their leader Putin. 

Robert Mackey of the New York Times report: 

 "Tens of thousands of Russians filled a street named for the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov on Saturday, demanding fair elections."

The people flooded the streets with signs that mostly displayed their anger towards the current prime minister in hopes that the government's reacts to the protest. Several videos have went viral that Russian people wanted their freedom of speech and  protection of the Russian constitution. The video brought different reactions to other countries around the world. 

 

Russia Protesters' Twitter Blocked by Bots

Back in December of 2011 Russia's political twitters were speaking about the event that happened at Moscow's Triumphal Square. About 50,000 poeople gathered to protest the ballot-rigged election.  As the tweets began to roll out the bots were used to block out any negative comments or tweet a positive comment. The bots targeted anyone speaking on the Triumphal Square and Pro-Kremin messages. 

The BBC News quoted Maxim Goncharov the senior threat reaseacher of the security intelleigence blog:

"Mr Goncharov said the machines, or bots, in this network had targeted chatter about the protests in Moscow's Triumphal Square. The protests followed accusations about irregularities during Russia's recent parliamentary elections.  Some of the chatter on Twitter was organised around the topic name, or hashtag, of #triumphalnaya."

The bots were being used as a away of limiting the freedom of speech in Russia. In the past Twitter's hashtags was used to speak about a specific topic.  The hashtag  #triumphalnaya means is a place to meet. The protesters used this hashtag to speak about the rigged election and the same way the bots were able to block any negative tweets by looking for this hastag.

In article "The Dark side of social media"  Mr. Goncharov said:

"On December 6 2011, a number of pro-Kremlin activists launched an attack on Twitter using bots which posted messages with a hashtag #триумфальная (Triumfalnaya). These bots posted a range of national slogans and crude language. With a rate of up to 10 messages per second, these bots succeeded in blocking the actual message feed with that hashtag."

The bots' mission was successful because the words were blocked out or drowned out. This created an uproar in the country and  part of Twitter world was involved. This is an example of the bots blocking the message on Twitter.