ASIC accidentally blocked 250,000 websites due to 'basic' IP address misunderstanding

Updated about 10 hours agoWed 27 Aug 2014, 10:16pm

 

Photo: A technology commentator said ASIC staff misunderstood IP addresses which is a basic concept of the internet. (AAP, file)

 

Map: Australia

The corporate regulator has revealed it accidentally blocked access to 250,000 websites because its staff misunderstood a basic feature of internet technology.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) made the blunder when it tried to blacklist a small number of websites it suspected of defrauding Australians.

In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry looking into which government agencies should have the power to block access to websites, ASIC revealed the staff who ordered the blocks did not realise that suspending access to the site would affect many more hosted on the same internet protocol (IP) address.

The regulator said in April last year it blocked access to two foreign websites called Global Capital Wealth and Global Capital Australia.

In the process, it blacked out more than 1,000 other sites hosted at the same IP address, including a public education group called Melbourne Free University.

Audio: Listen to Pat McGrath's report (PM)

 

The watchdog said after being alerted to the problem it lifted the bans and conducted a review.

The review revealed a previous order had knocked out access to 250,000 websites, although ASIC said 99.6 per cent of those sites contained no "substantive" content.

As a result it ended a run of 10 website blocks ASIC had ordered since 2012 under section 313 of Australia's Telecommunications Act. The watchdog has not ordered a block since.

In its submission, the watchdog said it wanted section 313 maintained but with clear rules around transparency and information sharing among agencies.

ASIC declined to be interviewed for this story.

Misunderstanding 'hilarious and frightening'

Technology commentator Stilgherrian said it was reasonable to expect that people working in ASIC's department responsible for blocking access to criminal websites would understand that one IP address can host more than one website.

"It's absolutely basic to an understanding of how the internet works, how the web works, how even you put together a website to know that there could be any number of websites on one IP address, or there could be any number of IP addresses used by a large website to distribute the load, or to distribute it around the planet," Stilgherrian said.

This demonstrates that, at the time, the people that ASIC was tasking to block websites did not understand even the basics of how websites work.

Technology commentator Stilgherrian

"This demonstrates that at the time, the people that ASIC was tasking to block websites did not understand even the basics of how websites work.

"That's both hilarious and frightening."

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered the parliamentary inquiry into section 313 in July.
University of Canberra's Assistant Professor Bruce Baer Arnold has used his submission to the inquiry to call for a tightening of the law.

"It's fairly vague. And as a society, we want people to behave in a lawful way, but we have a legal system, we have courts," he said.

"People are innocent until they're proven guilty, and we shouldn't have possibly an overzealous official in the Australian Federal Police, or in ASIC, or in a trade practices regulator, a consumer protection agency - or even in the RSPCA - to be able to, for example, take particular information off the net for practical purposes, remove websites, take them offline because, well 'I think it's a good idea'."

abc.net.au 27 Aug 2014

A sign of the times for the new prison island of Australia, where we tell you what's good for you.

A fascist dictatorship not unlike Nazi Germany, but in this case the people are given the illusion that they live in a 'democracy'.

Emails reveal South Australian police push to hit their traffic fine benchmarks

Police are being pressured to “hammer” drivers by strictly enforcing road laws rather than giving cautions. Source: News Limited

 

POLICE are being pressured to “hammer” drivers by strictly enforcing road laws rather than giving cautions if the number they have spoken to within a “reporting period” is too low, documents reveal. 

Emails seen by The Advertiser reveal that a sergeant from the Sturt police station told staff in February this year that “I’m expecting the SSgt (senior sergeant) to have some words.

“We fell below our expected returns for traffic contacts for the last reporting period. We’ll hammer those poor people who choose to drive when we’re night shift.”

In May, a further email from a different Sturt sergeant showed police were still concerned with their figures.
The second email acknowledged three of the station’s teams for their arrest numbers, which were substantially higher than the other teams.

The sergeant then goes on to say: “What I would be aware about is our high caution rate.

“I understand it is the officers discrepancy (sic), but for any of the ‘fatal five’ (road safety issues) ... strict enforcement should occur.

“Currently, Sturt LSA (local service area) is running at over 30 per cent cautioning.”

A police spokesman said the road safety strategy emphasised the requirement for all police to enforce laws which influenced driver behaviour and adopt a lower tolerance of poor driving behaviours.

“The establishment of benchmarks in relation to road safety policing, for local service areas, branches and other relevant areas assists in achieving these objectives and in reducing the number of fatal and serious injury crashes,” the spokesman said.

Deputy Opposition Leader Vickie Chapman said the Police Minister must confirm whether the benchmarks that police were being required to meet were actually quotas.

“If this is the case and officers are being required to meet quotas for traffic infringements, I am sure South Australians will be rightfully annoyed and disappointed with the Weatherill Labor Government,” she said.
“Police officers want to be out doing their job and protecting the community. They don’t want to be spending time filling quotas.

“The Police Minister needs to confirm once and for all whether his government is imposing quotas on South Australian police officers.”

The police spokesman said road safety “benchmarks” comprise road safety related “contacts” made by police officers and the level of breath testing conducted. “The benchmark process recognises that direct intervention by a police officer, whenever poor driving behaviour is observed, is the best means of modifying such behaviour.”

news.com.au 27 Aug 2014

Police have been on a 'quota' system for quite some time.

What the 'lay person' may not understand is that the police 'force' in its current incarnation in Australia is factually a business, and functions as such.

This fact is deliberately hidden from the masses, and far from a 'conspiracy theory.

An absolute disgrace.

Corrupt courts to stop you from recording - A new Bill

In Australia, the judicature, including the police, politicians and law makers is corrupt to the core, where the only realistic solution for the 'greater good' (of the general populous, and not the system, as referred to in law) is to wipe the slate clean. This is one task that the authorities will never allow to happen.

The corporate media would no doubt pigeonhole anyone who exposes the corruption en masse as a 'conspiracy theorist' or someone with 'mental issues'.

The Australian businesses commonly known as 'courts' operate fraudulently towards their unwitting 'customers' with deceit / coercion / force in order to gain entrance to their estate name. This is a fact that the lay person would not be aware of, nor many a lawyer or barrister would like to disclose to their client.

Corpau has obtained court recordings that show the level of corruption in the Victorian courts.

The corruption extends (but is not limited) to:

• Court recordings are tampered with, 

• Police video evidence is (deliberately?) deleted if it incriminates police,

• False police statements, affidavits,

• Theft of property by police,

• Documents are 'shredded' by the police prosecution,

• (Deliberate) 'Erring' in law,

all with the full support of the authorities.

Many a court case has made it out onto the social media exposing the corruption, but not readily picked up by the corporate media, even though attention has been drawn to that particular incident.

So that the judicature can still function corruptly, WITHOUT any consequences, new laws are being brought into play that oppress the general populous.

NOTE: The validity of the law via the Bill and the later Act is to be put aside for the moment.

A new Bill is being put forward in the Victorian Parliament in order to criminalise any recording in court.

The document is called Courts Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2014 with the internal filename of 571503bi1.pdf  (325KB with 78 pages) available for download at:




ref: http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubPDocs.nsf/ee665e366dcb6cb0ca256da400837f6b/d85614752e9e6511ca257d010026acb7!OpenDocument


Part 5 - Court Security on page 48 of the document is the item of interest for this article.

XL Love: Obese teens more likely to have risky sex and unsatisfactory encounters according to Sarah Varney’s book

Obese teenagers can be sexually active younger and engage in riskier sex. Photo: Fiona Hanson/PA Wire Source: AAP

 

THERE are many reasons for people to lose weight but a new book that delves into how it can nurture sexual dysfunction and a lack of intimacy, is one of the saddest. 

According to the New York Post, new book XL Love looks at the negative impacts of growing up obese in the US and how this influences a person’s first sexual experiences and relationships in adult life.

“Overweight teenage girls can be reluctant to refuse any advances out of fear that they’ll have few chances in the future for romantic and sexual attention,” journalist Sarah Varney writes in her book, citing feedback from therapists.

“Among girls who go though early puberty,” Varney writes, “there is an increased incidence of depression; alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse; riskier sexual adventures; teen pregnancy; and even suicide attempts.”

True love is hard to find when you are overweight. Photo: AAP Image/Joe Castro Source: Supplied

 

Obese girls often go through puberty at a younger age than healthy-weight girls and this means they are more likely to be sexually active sooner, become pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted disease.

“Some 15 per cent of American girls now begin puberty by first or second grade,” Varney writes.

A 2011 study referred to in the book found that extremely obese high-school girls were less likely to have sex overall but when they did, 42 per cent said they had taken drugs or alcohol at the time. This is four times the rate of healthy-weight girls.

It’s a disturbing statistic especially as girls who are drunk or high have been found to go further sexually than originally intended and were more likely not to use birth control.

Pennsylvania State University Professor Jennie Noll, who is quoted in the book, “worries that heavy girls who become sexually active aren’t developing a mature sexual identity that will serve them well on their journey to adulthood.

“They’re just stuck in a cycle. (Some guy is) going to call her beautiful, (and then she thinks), ‘It felt good when that kid came on to me at the party. I slept with him.’ But it doesn’t do anything to move (her) on in a developmental fashion.”

Obese men and women can also find it harder to have a satisfactory sexual experience. Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch Source: AAP

 

Varney said that the picture emerging was of two extremes, girls who were entering adulthood romantically and sexually inexperienced; and those who had sex very early, by the age of 13, and often more recklessly.

“I don’t think either of those cases,” Prof Noll says in the book, “is going to have healthy relationships unless they’ve found Prince Charming.”

Varney also found other physical impacts for both men and women.

“For every 50 pounds overweight you are, you lose an inch of penis,” Dr. Edward Karpman, a California urologist, says in the book.

“A man’s penis is actually fixed to his abdominal wall, holding it in place,” Varney explains further. “The more a man’s fattening belly grows outward, ‘the more it eats their penis,’ leaving them with, according to the doctor, ‘this little nubbin of a penis.’”

Extremely obese men face an extreme version of that, called “buried penis syndrome.”

As Varney explains, “abdominal fat and skin drape out and over a man’s pubic area, causing a host of problems.”

For women, being obese can lead to difficulties reaching orgasm due to decreased blood flow to the clitoris.
If you think it’s not an issue for Aussie kids, think again. Up to 15 per cent of Australian children were obese in 2007-08.

The rate varied depending on age and gender. Boys aged between 15 and 17 years old had the highest rate, with 15.1 per cent obese. The lowest was among girls aged 10 to 14 years old, which was 3.3 per cent.

However, they had the highest proportion of those overweight, at 19.7 per cent.

Australian clinical psychologist Dr Deborah Thomas said while she did not work with teenagers, she could see why reaching puberty early could impact a girl’s sexual development.

“Other girls could still be children, and the boys might have an interest (in the overweight/obese girls) because they are developing and drawn to experiment,” Dr Thomas said.

“They could be using the overweight girls, which is probably not terribly mature on the boy’s part, and really sets girls up to for promiscuous behaviour.”
How fat is fat

In her experience working with adults, she said she thought women were more likely to be ashamed of their bodies than men.

“I think the pressure is still greater on women (to look good),” Dr Thomas said.

But she said it was not that common for people to bring up sex as an issue when they were struggling with their weight.

“Most people are just concerned about how they feel about themselves,” Dr Thomas said. “They feel self conscious in general rather than just about sex.

“It’s often just one of the issues they put aside, that they are not going to entertain that thought, or have a sexual relationship until they lose weight.

“When you are overweight you put off a lot of things: going on a holiday, finding a partner, you put life off.”

news.com.au 4 Aug 2014

NSA asked judge to delete 'classified' testimony without public awareness

AFP Photo

The National Security Agency worked behind the scenes to remove a section of a court transcript after suspecting one of its lawyers inadvertently disclosed secret information in a court case over alleged illegal surveillance.

Has the wall of secrecy protecting US intelligence-gathering methods become so severe and repressive that even to acknowledge the redaction of sensitive information from public documents is now thought to be revealing too much?
 
It seems the United States may be heading in that dark direction following a recent session of the Jewel v. NSA case, in which the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is challenging the NSA’s power to monitor foreign citizens’ US-based communications and social media accounts.
 
In the course of the ongoing case, which has gained public attention in light of the Snowden revelations, the government told US District Judge Jeffrey White that one of its lawyers may have accidentally spilled the beans on sensitive information, the Daily Caller reported.
 
US authorities wrote a letter to Judge White asking him to remove in camera the classified information from the transcripts, without notifying the public to the change. White not only ignored the government’s request to delete portions of the transcript, but informed the plaintiffs’ attorneys of the government’s request, allowing them to respond in kind.



“We rightly considered this an outrageous request and vigorously opposed it,” senior staff attorney for the EFF David Greene said in a statement. “The public has a First Amendment right not only to attend the hearing but to have an accurate transcript of it. Moreover, the federal law governing court reporting requires that ‘each session of the court’ be ‘recorded verbatim’ and that the transcript be certified by the court reporter as ‘a correct statement of the testimony taken and the proceedings had.’”
 
Greene slammed the government’s request to permanently remove from the court record what it deemed to be classified information, without so much as even showing that something has been redacted (blackened out) in the documents.

“We…argued that under no circumstances should the government be able to ‘remove’ anything from the transcript without indicating that something has in fact been removed, a process commonly called ‘redaction,’ not ‘removal,’ the term used in the government’s request.”

AFP Photo

The plaintiff’s lawyer also asked the court to make all papers filed about this dispute immediately available. Judge White agreed to let government officials examine the transcript, but warned he would “hold [it] to a very high standard and would not allow [it] to manufacture a misleading transcript by hiding the fact of any redactions.”
 
Upon inspection of the transcript, US authorities realized its legal team had not accidentally gave away sensitive information, and withdrew its request. However, EFF said the incident points to the dangers of allowing the government to tamper with documents without any public oversight.

“The incident speaks volumes about the dangers of allowing the government free rein to claim secrecy in court proceedings and otherwise,” the EFF said.

It has also been revealed that Judge White demanded the NSA to stop deleting evidence relevant to the case on three separate occasions. After the third attempt, the NSA said its computers were simply “too complicated” to prevent the deletions from occurring. Upholding national security was also cited as a reason for deleting data.

“The government’s attempt to change this history was unprecedented,” Greene wrote about this week’s actions. “We could find no example of where...such a request had been made. This was another example of the government’s attempt to shroud in secrecy both its own actions, as well as the challenges to those actions.”

rt.com 10 Aug 2014

Another example of corruption in force. 

Missouri police officer Dan Page: ‘I’m into diversity — I kill everybody’

Police officer Dan Page ... “I personally believe in Jesus Christ as my lord saviour, but I’m also a killer.” Picture: YouTube Source: Supplied

 

A POLICE officer in Missouri has been taken off the beat pending an internal review over a YouTube video in which he boasted about being a Jesus-loving “killer.” 

A second officer in the Midwestern state was suspended on Friday after he used Facebook to lash out at protesters condemning the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer.

Meanwhile, some 150 demonstrators returned to the streets of the St Louis suburb of Ferguson at sunset Friday to demand justice for the August 9 death of Michael Brown.

Funeral services for the 18-year-old — whose shooting in broad daylight has renewed a national debate about race and law enforcement in America — are set for Monday.

NATIONAL GUARD STANDS DOWN IN FERGUSON
US ATTORNEY GENERAL: ‘CHANGE IS COMING’
FERGUSON SHOOTER COP ‘A GOOD MAN’

Internal review ... officer Dan Page allegedly shoved a CNN anchor in the middle of a live report from Ferguson. Picture: CNN Source: Supplied

 

Police kept a low profile, in sharp contrast to previous nights when tear gas and rubber bullets were used to disperse hundreds of protesters demanding that Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, be charged with murder.

The police department in Glendale, another St Louis suburb, said on Friday it had suspended one of its officers who had expressed contempt for the Ferguson protesters on his Facebook account.

“I’m sick of these protesters. You are a burden on society and a blight on the community,” wrote Michael Pappert, in one of at least five posts that have gone up since Sunday.

“These protesters should have been put down like a rabid dog the first night,” he added.

In a reference to the Boston Marathon bombing, he also wrote: “Where is a Muslim with a backpack when you need them.”

Suspended ... Lieutenant Ray Albers points an assault rifle at a protester in Ferguson, Missouri. Picture: Aaron P Bernstein Source: AFP

 

The Glendale Police Department, in a statement, said it suspended Officer Pappert upon learning about the posts on Friday. It also cancelled a neighbourhood block party for fear it might be disrupted by protesters.

“The matter is being taken very seriously and a thorough internal investigation will be conducted to determine why the posts were made,” it said.

It stressed that Officer Pappert’s posts were “absolutely” not shared by the Glendale police or city government. The suburb of 6000 is 97 per cent white.

Press photographers recognised Officer Pappert as one of hundreds of St Louis area police officers called into Ferguson as crowd-control reinforcements.

One photographer remembered seeing him threatening journalists with a night stick. “He was ready to swing at us,” he recalled.

Dan Page: 'I'm also a killer'

On Wednesday, Ray Albers, a police lieutenant from another St Louis suburb, St Ann, was suspended after he pointed a semiautomatic assault rifle at Ferguson protesters and, using obscene language, threatened to kill them.

His conduct was captured in two videos that promptly went viral on YouTube. Meanwhile, St Louis County Police said Friday it was opening an internal investigation into an officer assigned to Ferguson who, in a 2012 YouTube video, styled himself as a ruthless killer.

“I personally believe in Jesus Christ as my lord saviour, but I’m also a killer,” said Dan Page, a 35-year veteran of the force, who was speaking to a group called the Oath Keepers of St Louis and St Charles.

“And if I need to, I’ll kill a whole bunch more. If you don’t want to get killed, don’t show up in front of me.

It’s that simple,” he said.

“I’m into diversity — I kill everybody. I don’t care,” added Page, who also made disparaging remarks about President Barack Obama, the US Supreme Court, Muslims and homosexuals.

St Louis County police chief Jon Belmar told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper he was “deeply disturbed” by Officer Page’s remarks about killing.

Officer Page — who allegedly shoved a CNN anchor in the middle of a live report from Ferguson — has been taken off police work until the internal review determines whether he should be suspended, Chief Belmar said.

Threatened to kill demonstrators ... Lieutenant Ray Albers is led away by a superior officer after pointing an assault rifle at a protester. Picture: Aaron P Bernstein Source: AFP

news.com.au 23 Aug 2014 

Nicky Hilton is engaged to James Rothschild

The two heirs met at the wedding of a mutual friend.

During an idyllic vacation in Italy (which can be followed vicariously via Instagram), James Rothschild proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Nicky Hilton.

The pair met in 2011 at the wedding of Petra Ecclestone, daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, and James Stunt.

A source tells Us Weekly: “They went on a romantic anniversary trip over the weekend. He took her out on a boat into the middle of Lake Como and he proposed… It was incredibly romantic and beautiful.”

Rothschild is an heir to the European banking dynasty, while Hilton is the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels.

It has been reported that Rothschild flew to the US from his base in England to ask Hilton’s parents for her hand in marriage.

We’re guessing the wedding will be a suitably lavish affair considering the blood running through both families – the perfect meeting ground for another billionaire union.

vogue.com.au 13 Aug 2014

Thankfully the corporate media mentioned the name Rothschild, as maybe the 'conspiracy theorists' would be institutionalised for their 'belief' in some sort of secret banking dynasty the masses have never heard of that control the banking world.

How many thousands of billions of dollars are they worth again?

And you thought Bill Gates was rich?