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Sunday, July 3, 2011

One From The Archives: 07/03/81 Rush @ Met Center, Bloomington, MN

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

One From The Archives: 07/03/02 The Melvins/Jucifer @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN

07/03/02 The Melvins/Jucifer @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (Top)

07/03/02 The Melvins/Jucifer @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (Bottom)

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

On this day in 2003 I made a last minute decision to go see the Melvins at First Avenue in Minneapolis. I called up my friend Try, who is a huge Melvins fan, sure that he'd want to go to the show as well. For some reson or another he was unable to attend, and I didn't really know anyone else who was a fan of the band, so I was solo for the evening. The memory of this show is kind of a blur as I was drinking more than a few cold beers that day - it was very warm outside and the beers were sliding down nice and easy. I do remember thinking after the show ended, that of the 4 or so times I'd seen the Melvins at that point, that this was probably the most melodic, least noisy and musical performance of their shows I'd seen.

07/03/02 The Melvins/Jucifer @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (Ad 1)

07/03/02 The Melvins/Jucifer @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (Ad 2)

07/03/02 The Melvins/Jucifer @ First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (Ticket)

Friday, July 1, 2011

Cybercrime Fight Hurt by Apathy, Law Enforcement Hurdles

Michael Cooney writes on NetworkWorld:

General public apathy and collaboration with the law enforcement community assure that cybercrimes of all sorts will continue to rise.

That was one of the conclusions from a congressional hearing this week called "Hacked Off: Helping Law Enforcement Protect Private Financial Information."

A big problem we are facing in the fight against financial crimes is that the criminal complaint has almost disappeared. Even when a police report is filed, it is often "so the bank will give you your money back. Case closed," said [.pdf] Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"The understandable hesitation of law enforcement to 'work a case' in these areas has led to an unfortunate form of apathy by the consumer as well as the financial institutions. Large banks lose millions of dollars each year to phishing and malware, but they reimburse the cost to customers and structure the losses into the cost of doing business. Consumers have been trained that if they experience financial losses they should contact their financial institution rather than the police. If they have had their money returned by their financial institution, there is little incentive to share that information with law enforcement," Warner stated.

More here.

Hackers Are Being Radicalised by Government Policy

Loz Kaye writes on the Guardian.co.uk:

Now that the LulzSec boat has sailed over the horizon, it seems a good moment to take stock of the past weeks' "hacktivism" frenzy. We've been bombarded with images of oddballs lurking in murky chatrooms – geeky teenagers who are simultaneously global cyber-villains. Given the reporting, we'd be forgiven for thinking that it's all about the personal obsessions of a few nerds. This would be to ignore the wider context.

LulzSec wasn't an isolated or unique phenomenon. People with passionate beliefs have been using new technological tools to effect change out of a sense of powerlessness. In the last year, I've watched 38 Degrees using the strength of association online to change government policy, WikiLeaks force transparency on those who'd rather run from it, even the amorphous mass that is Anonymous taking a stand on whatever issue they feel deserves their attention.

These tools are now themselves under attack. Lord Mandelson's last gift to us, the Digital Economy Act, is just one of a raft of "three strikes laws" worldwide that threaten to cut off households from the web. Buried in the coalition's Prevent strategy is the assertion that "internet filtering across the public estate is essential". Nor is it solely a British issue; Nicolas Sarkozy called for global online governance at the eG8 in his attempt to civilise the "wild west" of the web.

We're starting to see what this civilising process entails. Open Rights Group revealed that Ed Vaizey and lobbyists held a secret meeting discussing the future of web blocking powers. There was no public oversight and no one asked the net natives. Vaizey has relented a little via Twitter, consenting to open up the discussion – the Pirate Party and I welcome that invitation. It will take more, however, than getting a few NGOs around a table to ease the real sense of anger poisoning the online community.