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USA Freedom Act is blocked but NSA will stop phone data collection anyway

Publié: mai 23, 2015, 10:52pm CEST par Mark Wilson

Privacy advocates in the US -- and, indeed, the world over -- had pinned great hopes on the USA Freedom Act bringing to an end the mass collection of phone records. Hitting the Senate for the second time this year, the Act was blocked in a 57-42 vote.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act expires on 31 May, and it had been hoped that the hype and momentum surrounding it would have helped push the USA Freedom Act through. Despite making through the House of Representative, the Bill failed to reach the 60 vote goal it needed to hit. But as of 1 June, the NSA will still not be collecting phone data. So what happened?

It seems that the NSA has taken on board some of the vocal opposition to its activities. An official from the agency said today: "We did not file an application for reauthorization." This means that when Section 215 expires, indiscriminate collection of phone data effectively comes to an end.

It's something that will be welcomed by groups such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation which says:

Section 215 of the Patriot Act has been wrongly interpreted in secret by the government for years. We commend every Senator who voted against reauthorizing the unconstitutional surveillance of millions of law-abiding Americans.

While the USA Freedom Act may have failed in its bid for success, Mitch McConnell did not manage to arrange a temporary extension to Section 215. This effectively places the Senate at a stalemate, and it means that mass surveillance will come to an end in just over a week. One opponent of the NSA is Paul Rand who took to the floor for a staggering 11 hours on Wednesday. On Twitter he said:

The Senate has refused to reauthorize bulk data collection. I am proud to have stood up for the Bill of Rights. But our fight is not over

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 23, 2015

Of course the mass collection of phone records is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the NSA's activities, and privacy groups continue to fight against all forms of unjustified monitoring, recording and surveillance.

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Amazon decides to start paying tax in the UK

Publié: mai 23, 2015, 9:13pm CEST par Mark Wilson

The issues of big companies paying enough taxes is something that has a lot of people talking at the moment -- governments in particular. Many companies -- including Microsoft, Apple, Google, and others -- take advantage of financial schemes that funnel money through other countries. Now Amazon has announced that it is to start paying corporation tax on sales made in the UK.

Using a scheme similar to the so-called Double Irish, Amazon had been routing transactions for UK-based sales through offices in Luxembourg. The decision to move these sales to the UK means that the company will be able to avoid the possibility of being hit with a hefty bill if the UK government clamps down on the use of such tax avoidance schemes.

For more than a decade the online shopping giant has used Luxembourg as the financial center for its UK sales. Towards the end of 2014, chancellor George Osborne announced plans to fight back against abuse of the tax system, targeting large technology companies among other corporations.

Speaking to the Guardian, an Amazon spokesperson said: "[Amazon is] now recording retail sales made to customers in the UK through the UK branch. Previously, these sales were recorded in Luxembourg".

It is possible that Amazon will start a trend that will be followed by other tech firms. The threat of being hit by a 25 percent tax if found to be diverting profits through other countries could well be enough to get the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Apple to fall in line as well. With Amazon netting £4.71bn ($7.29bn) in sales in the UK, next year's tax return could make for interesting reading.

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US Govt proposes to classify cybersecurity or hacking tools as weapons of war

Publié: mai 23, 2015, 8:41pm CEST par Manish Singh

Until now only when someone possessed a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon, it was considered to be a weapon of mass destruction in the eyes of the law. But we could have an interesting -- and equally controversial -- addition to this list soon. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that deals with issues involving national security and high technology has proposed tighter export rules for computer security tools -- first brought up in the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) at the Plenary meeting in December 2013. This proposal could potentially revise an international agreement aimed at controlling weapons technology as well as hinder the work of security researchers.

At the meeting, a group of 41 like-minded states discussed ways to bring cybersecurity tools under the umbrella of law, just as any other global arms trade. This includes guidelines on export rules for licensing technology and software as it crosses an international border. Currently, these tools are controlled based on their cryptographic functionality. While BIS is yet to clarify things, the new proposed rule could disallow encryption license exceptions.

The new proposal is irking security researchers, who find exporting controls on vulnerability research a regulation of the flow of information. You see, these folks need to use tools and scripts that intrude into a protected system. If the proposal becomes a law, it will force these researchers to find a new mechanism to beat the bad guys.

As per the agreement, the new definition of ‘intrusion software’ refers to a tool which is capable of extraction or/and modification of data or information from a computer or network-enabled device. The modification also includes tweaking of the standard execution path of a program. In addition, the tool could also be designed to avoid detection by “monitoring tools” (software or hardware devices such as antivirus products that monitor system behaviors or processes running on a device). Tools including hypervisors, debuggers and others that are used for reverse engineering software won’t be considered as “intrusion software”.

Security items being exported to government users in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the UK -- or the “Five Eyes" nations -- would get some leeway and looser restrictions. This is because the intelligence agencies in these five nations collaborate closely. BIS is seeking comments on the proposed rule -- available to all in the Federal Register -- with a deadline of July 20, 2015.

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Spotify rolls out an improved mobile app

Publié: mai 23, 2015, 8:25pm CEST par Alan Buckingham

For many folks, music gets them through the day, or even life. There's also no shortage of services out there looking to get users to choose them. While some are lesser known, Spotify certainly isn't, as it's an industry leader that boasts 25 billion listening hours since it launched.

Now the streaming company is making some improvements that should satisfy customers even more. Users of the mobile app can expect what Spotify terms a "richer experience" for the Now app.

Included is an improved start page that promises to always provide the right playlists to get users through the day. It will take a bit of adaptation, but over time it learns your tastes and culls music from your personal collection to blend a mix that improves over time.

There's also Spotify Running, which is exactly as the name implies -- it aims to keep your workout motivated. The service promises "We’ve combined the best music on the planet -- recommendations based on your listening history, multiple-genre playlists and original running compositions written by some of the world’s foremost DJs and composers -- all tuned to your tempo and seamlessly transitioned to ensure you’ll never miss a beat. Start running and Spotify will detect your tempo, matching the perfect music in time to your step -- making you a harder, better, faster, stronger runner". This includes a venture with Nike that will bring the experience to Nike+, though that will be later this year.

Also being added is video content and original songs. There will be entertainment news and clips from main sources like ABC and BBC.

Spotify promises that it's just getting started, so you can expect further improvements on the way.

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Firefox for iOS Beta coming to iPhone and iPad very soon -- source code available now!

Publié: mai 23, 2015, 3:17am CEST par Brian Fagioli

I have a love/hate relationship with iOS. My iPad Air is a satisfying tablet; I enjoy using it while hanging out on the toilet, but I feel guilty using it. Why? I have some specific computing beliefs that Apple's operating system is at odds with. Namely, I do not like that users cannot change the default web browser. Even worse, I find it horrible that alternative browser engines cannot be used. While I am sure Apple has its reasons, it is an undeniably bad practice which harms users by limiting choice.

Firefox is not found on iOS for this reason. Mozilla initially refused to cave to Apple and release a neutered version without its own Gecko engine. Last year, however, Mozilla announced that it was bringing a version of the browser to the mobile operating system by saying, "we need to be where our users are so we're going to get Firefox on iOS". While I am still dismayed that browser will not use the Gecko engine on iOS, I've come to accept it as a necessity for Firefox to survive. Today, Mozilla announces that the project is still on track and a beta is on the way soon.

"We want to bring Firefox to every language, platform and device possible. Although we can’t bring the full Firefox experience and rendering engine to iOS due to the restrictions, we saw an opportunity with the latest improvements and tools in iOS 8 to begin development of a Firefox experience for iOS", says Mozilla.

The company further explains, "the Firefox team has been working hard on development of this new browser over the past few months. We are sharing source code in Github for the brave early testers and are also preparing for a limited Firefox for iOS Beta soon. Of course, we would prefer to have a large, open beta, but we must work through the required development and release process to get a Firefox app tested on iOS to get it ready to share with the world".

How Mozilla will choose beta testers remains to be seen. Unlike Android, iOS does not allow beta apps to be posted to the store. Getting beta versions of apps to end users on Apple's OS is a much more convoluted affair. I expect it to be mostly in house, with limited public interaction -- if any at all. Still, it is good news that a beta will be available to testers, whoever they may be, soon.

Open source fans will be happy to know that the source code is already available in GitHub, so maybe we will see some forked versions reach the App Store in the future too. Hell, maybe we will even see the Gecko engine running on jailbroken devices one day! If you want to check out the source code, you can do so here.

You may be asking yourself, however, without Gecko, what is the point of Firefox on iOS? That is a very good question. Ultimately, the benefit is for Firefox desktop users that want to use Firefox Sync on iOS. This is a feature that lets the user sync things such as login credentials and bookmarks between devices (check out the video above). Hopefully Mozilla delivers additional features that make the browser stand out among the competition too.

iPhone and iPad users, are you excited about Firefox coming to your devices? Tell me in the comments.

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