Google Inc. told European Union privacy regulators that it has taken down links in response to more than half of the requests it received seeking the right to be forgotten, a person familiar with the matter said.

Google received more than 91,000 requests for links to be removed from its search engine as of July 18, covering 328,000 Internet addresses, a representative of the world’s largest search provider told regulators in Brussels today, said the person.

Google and other search engines were ordered by the EU’s top court in May to take down personal information on request if it’s outdated or irrelevant. Privacy watchdogs from the 28-nation bloc today began considering guidelines for how the new right to privacy should be applied.

The highest number of requests to Google came from France with 17,500 inquiries for 58,000 Internet addresses, and Germany with 16,500 requests for 57,000 addresses, said the person, who requested anonymity because the matter is private.

Mountain View, California-based Google rejects more than 30 percent of takedown requests and asks for information in about 15 percent of the cases, the person said.

Source: Bloomberg

At the beginning of May Russia’s Interior Ministry (MVD) has posted a tender to study the possibility of obtaining technical information about users (user equipment) TOR anonymous network. It is not the first attempt of the Russian Government to limit somehow the use of Tor network.

According to the proponents of the network anonymity, this information may be important to determine the identity of child pornography distributors or drug dealers who find customers on Tor.

According to the data on torproject.org, the number of the network users exceeds 2 million people. 13% of users are from the USA, 8.7% – from Germany, 6.25% – from France, 5.7% – from Brazil and 5.5% from Russia.

Tor can provide anonymity of servers as well as wiring. This allows to create hidden resources on pseudo-domains .onion of the top-level. These resources are also used to commit unlawful acts like the distribution of child pornography, drugs and arms trafficking, money laundering, botnets control, hacker attacks and organization of assassinations.

However, the proponents of the network anonymity say that Tor is typically used by “ordinary people” for secure access to usual websites and not by online predators who want to get access to the hidden resources. The service allows to protect data against unfair marketing; hide the location of children when they use the Internet; access to essential online resources in countries where there is censorship; protect against surveillance.

With the help of Tor, journalists can save not only their anonymity, but the anonymity of their source of information, too. This allows both of them to avoid prosecution for the publication of information of public interest. Journalists and bloggers from countries where there is censorship, with the help of Tor can get access to confidential information and distribute it anonymously. For example, the Anti-Corruption Fund led by Alexei Navalny in June launched Blackbox service, which allows to send anonymous information through Tor.

On torproject.org it is also reported that military and law enforcement agencies use Tor to hide their location and to conduct investigative and intelligence activities. And, of course, anonymous network is necessary for political activists and the informants. In its work Tor uses the largest human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

Source: theRunet

Kaspersky Lab specialists have discovered a wide network for distribution of a range of dangerous software named Koler. This software was aimed at Android devices as well as users’ personal computers. Potential victims were lured by the promise of pornographic content, but risked to get their devices infected with blocker-software. At the screen of the blocked devices was shown an allegedly official message from the police and a demand to pay a fine from 100 to 300 dollars for browsing pornographic materials. Thanks to the type of websites which the victims tried to browse this message had a powerful psychological effect.

Despite the fact that the blocker-software was very basic and could only block the window, the specialists note that the perpetrators used different texts and symbols of law enforcement agencies for 30 different countries of Europe, North and Latin America and Australia. Further investigation lead to discovery of a developed and organized network which ensured the distribution of harmful software.

Users were lured by means if 48 pornographic websites. From there the requests were redirected to the centre of redistribution of traffic system and then victims found themselves on one of many servers which distributed this harmful software. Due to the fact that the viruses were aimed at Android devices as well as personal computers so for each target there was a separate sub-network which distributed similar blockers. According to the statistics received by Kaspersky Lab specialists just on one of the sub-networks with mobile harmful software were redirected more than 170 thousands users. At the moment the growth has decreased – on the 23th of July perpetrators gradually began to close the network and send through the main server deinstallation commands to the infected devices.

«In the wake of the discovered blocker-software we managed to discover not only a major infrastructure of its distribution but also a range of new harmful software for Android, which is not used by perpetrators just yet. Perhaps they are planning to widen their campaign later on. The ease with which perpetrators used the automatised systems and managed to unleash an entire network for the distribution of software may become a bad example which in the future harm many more users in other countries. We have to note that the method of distribution used by perpetrators is quite tricky, but the software itself is rather basic and can be blocked by an anti-virus software of the Internet Security spectum» – noted Vincente Dias, leading expert of Kaspersky Lab.

Source: Kaspersky Lab

People who have received military and terrorist training as well as experience of war extremely disturb the authorities and the security forces, as they are unable to track and keep under review hundreds of people coming back to Europe. As a result there was made a decision to amend the anti-terrorism legislation, which now bans potential jihadists to leave France. The decision to ban is going to be administrative: it is going to be taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Suspected passengers will be those who will be suspected by the police and special services in the intention to join any terrorist groups abroad. According to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, restriction on leaving France will last for 6 months and in terms of government can be extended for as long as it is “necessary”. Ex post facto prohibition can be challenged in court – reports Agence France-Presse.

The passport of a suspected passenger will be immediately withdrawn, that will not prevent him to move around the Schengen area, where it is sufficient to have an identity card.

Bernard Cazeneuve said that subsequently French measures will be supplemented by Passenger name record (PNR): airlines will be banned from carrying suspected passengers and will have to notify French authorities right at the point of reservation. If a suspected passenger is able to leave the EU, he will face an international arrest warrant.

The introduced bill will also clamp down on online recruitment, including asking Internet providers to block access to sites that provoke or praise acts of terrorism. Similar mechanism already exists in the French legislation to fight online child pornography.

Source: RFI

According to specialists from China, internet addiction has a narcotic nature. They conducted a number of studies to examine brain activity of 35 people aged 14 – 22. The examinees filled in the questionnaire and according to the results, half of the patients confessed that they have online addiction.

Participants passed the magnetic resonance imaging, which showed that the Internet promotes activation of the same processes in the brain as when people are addicted to alcohol or drugs.

It has been found out, that when people cannot live without the Internet, their pathways between areas of the brain which are directly responsible for the formation of emotions, decision-making, as well as concentration become compromised. Alcoholics, drug addicts and the Internet addicts suffer from the similar processes which slow down the brain functions.

The fact that the addiction to the Internet, as well as to various gadgets is a form of addiction has been discussed by many psychologists. In various European countries and the United States there are special camps for Internet addicts where they can get the treatment.

In turn, a group of British experts was able to determine that another cause of this kind of addiction appears when people use Tablet PC for a long time. Very often, children, for example, prefer to play on the tablet instead of walking or reading.

Source: HUMANOLOGY.ME

Microsoft has started accepting requests from European users who want to remove personal data from Bing search engine. This is evidenced by the placed on-line form on Bing.

This way Microsoft complies with the European Union’s Court of Justice ruling, which serves to provide EU citizens the “right to be forgotten.” The “right to be forgotten” allows people to delete information about them which is “inadequate, irrelevant or no longer relevant, or excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were processed.” A refusal by the search engine can be appealed in a court.

Bing has 2.5 percent of the European search market. Leader of the market – Google - launched its webpage in the end of May and since then it has received over 70,000 take-down requests.

The Bing online form consists of four parts. In the first part it is necessary to fill in with the name, country, contact details and to upload documentation that verifies the information. In the second part the user has to specify if he/she is a public figure. In the third one the user has to identify the pages to be blocked and to provide complete details explaining the reasons. The fourth part is a digital signature.

Microsoft recommends users to “consider the balance” between the applicant’s individual privacy interest and the public interest in protecting free expression and the free availability of information. Sending a request does not guarantee the immediate removal of information as each request will be examined separately.

Source: lenta.ru

Keep in mind that your child needs to feel safe opening up to you about a very painful experience. By avoiding some of the things below, you’ll become a bigger help to your child.

• Do not tell your child to “just ignore it”. While it’s important to help them avoid future attacks by not responding to or blocking the bullying, you want to give your child the impression that together you’re going to do something about this.
• Do not blame your child for being cyberbullied. Even if something in their behaviour may have triggered the bullying, no child deserves to be bullied, no matter what they’ve done.
• Do not criticize them for not coming to you earlier, or for how they’ve handled things. There likely were many reasons they let things go this long before approaching you. Let them know you understand how difficult it’s been to share this, and you’re glad they have now.
• Do not tell your child to retaliate. If your child begins responding, it may escalate the situation and spur the child that is cyberbullying on. It also gives the message to your child that hurtful behaviour is okay.
• Do not contact the parent of the child that is cyberbullying (unless they are already a well-known neighbour or friend). This often makes things worse and can deteriorate into argument or shouting matches. Your school’s teachers or administrators can mediate between parents and help everyone come to a course of action that will help all the children involved. (Those who are bullying often need support as well.)

Source: Get Cyber Safe

Until recently, Mary Galligan led the cyber and special operations team at the FBI’s New York office – the agency’s largest surveillance operation. That included tracing and catching hackers and cooperation with them to hunt down other hackers.

1. Passwords should be changed once a month. Passwords are the keys into your life. If a criminal gets access to any of your online accounts or your email, it’s surprisingly easy for them to worm their way into other aspects of your life.

Assume your passwords will periodically get compromised. However, it might not even be the negligence of the user, but the trouble with the network services. Adobe, AOL, eBay, Kickstarter and Yahoo have all had major security glitches in the past few months.

2. Give the wrong contact information at checkout. It is important to remember the fact that every time a store clerk asks for your zip code or phone number, that data gets aggregated. As a result,a lot of trading companies receive extensive database which contains detailed information about each user of the world wide web. So retailers not only have databases that show where you live, but they can find out much more about you, like your salary, credit history and birthday which some users may use for their account passwords.

Recent data breaches show that even large companies aren’t responsible enough to safeguard that information. That’s why Galligan recommends to give clerks a phone number and zip code that aren’t yours.

3. Do not allow anyone to have the scan of your passport. Even if you are asked for a document with a photo, which is designed to verify your identity, weigh the pros and cons. Don’t reveal more than you have to. Your passport has a photograph as well as your birthday details. Next time you are asked for a verifying document, show something else, like your office building badge or a student card, i.e. a document with as less information as possible.

4. In any case, do not use any banking apps. It is necessary to be extremely attentive with all operations that deal with the access to you bank accounts. Good hackers do not need a lot of time to infect your computer with malware. That is why Galligan recommends not to bank consistently on the same computer, particularly when you use the same computer to shop online. You also have to be careful when you work with your bank accounts on the mobile phone.

5. Keep one email account for junk mail only. When companies demand an email address, give them a dummy account reserved for marketing. Spam and annoying advertisements will be sent into your junk mail only. And if those companies get hacked, your real account remains safe.

Source: B2Blogger.com

Sorry, this entry is only available in Казахский and Русский.

Jakarta. An option to report inappropriate content on a popular social media outlet revealed Indonesia as number one for posting online child pornography, according to an activist. Close to 70,000 pictures and videos containing sexually abusive material against minors have been uploaded to the website from Indonesia — more than any other country.

“It’s shocking to see tens of thousands of cases in the social media. In Bangladesh, there are only 3,000 cases,” Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo, an activist against human trafficking and the chairwoman of the Parinama Astha Foundation said on Thursday.

Saraswati said material sexually exploitative of minors is rampant on the Internet, and the child pornography industry generates a profit of around $50 billion per year.

“The summit is planned to be held after the inauguration of the new president. I hope all parties will reach [a common] agreement and sign a memorandum of understanding,” she said. Saraswati said she would invite Interpol, the FBI, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and other institutions with expertise in online financial transactions. “We will also invite Microsoft, the CEOs of Internet service providers like Indovision and First Media, teams from Google and Yahoo, financial profit providers such as Master Card and Visa, as well as banks like BNI, Mandiri and BCA,” Saraswati said.

Saraswati hopes the MoU can serve as a milestone in preventive measures, resulting in access to such pornography websites being blocked.

Nathalia Kira Catherine Perry, chairwoman of the Safe Childhood International Foundation confirmed that Indonesia has the most child-sex-abuse content on the website in question. Nathalia explained that according to Interpol, Indonesia actually comes in 40th for the most heinous cases of sexual violence against children uploaded and viewed on the Internet. But the overall number of cases is on the rise — the total number is astronomical. Based on FBI data, Nathalia said, there are around 750,000 child sex predators on the Internet.

“We’re trying to prevent Indonesia from turning into another case like the Philippines, where children are abused live [streaming online] for payment, turning it into a business,” Saraswati said.

Source: Jakarta Globe