UK spies using foreign loopholes to monitor Google, Facebook and Twitter users
GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence agency, has yet to confirm whether it taps undersea network cables to gather content from ISPs, but we now know how it would justify access if it did. Charles Farr, the Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, revealed that spies could intercept British users’ Google searches, Facebook updates and Twitter posts when servers are located outside of the country. The information came to light after Privacy International, Liberty, Amnesty International and a number of civil liberties organizations issued a legal challenge against GCHQ in an attempt to unravel the secrets of agency’s Tempora data-tapping program, which were revealed as part of Edward Snowden’s NSA document leaks.
British law states that agencies do not have the right to spy on internal communications. However, the same restrictions are not applicable for foreign transmissions. Farr argues that if a Briton was to perform a Google search on a server that is located outside of the UK, it would be classed as an “external communication.” Facebook updates and Twitter posts would likely fall under the same classification, although direct communications like emails may be protected, as the sender and the recipient both reside in the UK.
Worryingly, if content is deemed to be an external communication, UK law states that it can be searched, read and eavesdropped upon, regardless of whether the people involved were suspected of any wrongdoing. Farr’s statement notes that the UK has for “many years faced a serious threat from terrorism,” and that the sharing of data has led to the prevention of terrorist attacks and other serious crimes. Microsoft has already begun blocking US government requests to access European data, and now that intelligence agencies are slowly starting to reveal their data access strategies, more companies could follow suit or begin locally hosting servers.
[Image credit: UK Ministry of Defense, Flickr]
Filed under: Internet, Google, Facebook
Source: Charles Farr Witness Statement (PDF), Privacy International
Twitter puts tweets inside your tweets on iOS and Android
If you think retweeting’s so 2013, then you may want to update your Twitter app now. As The Next Web notes, the latest version gives you the option to embed tweets in your tweets (credit Xzibit or Inception), so long as you’re using either an iOS or an Android device. Take note, though, that embedding’s a bit more troublesome than straight out retweeting. You’ll have to copy the link to someone’s tweet and then paste it into your Twitter app’s text box (on a phone or a tablet, which means exerting double the effort). Also, you’ll have to click and view each tweet individually to see the embedded boxes like in the image above — they show up as ordinary links on the timeline, and your followers won’t even see them as embeds on the web interface.
Still think it’s worth the download? You can get the latest Twitter app from iTunes and Google Play now, and even if the feature isn’t even listed in the What’s New sections, it should be bundled with the most recent updates for both platforms. Since it hasn’t been officially announced, though, this could just be an experimental rollout and not a permanent addition to the apps.
Via: The Next Web
Source: iTunes, Google Play
Iraq blocks Twitter, Google, YouTube and Facebook in effort to stifle insurgency
The Iraqi government has essentially shut off all social networking in the country in an effort to stem the rising tide of insurgent group Isis (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant). The country has found itself thrown into chaos recently as the Islamist militants have overrun the cities of Mosul, Falluja and Ramadi in a march towards Baghdad. Isis, like many of the rebellions in the region recently, has made heavy use of social media for both propaganda and organization. In particular the group has spread its hard line religious and anti-western message via YouTube. Presumably prime minister Nouri al-Maliki has had the services blocked in an effort to disrupt Isis’s movement and planning, and perhaps give the government’s troops an opportunity to strike back.
Of course, it’s no surprise that the militants have turned to social media (just as it’s no surprise to see the government block it when under threat). Plenty of organizations have turned to YouTube as a means to spread their message, even if it is one hate. And uprisings that perhaps we’re more sympathetic too have relied on Twitter for organizing protests and drawing attention to government abuses. And often the response of those in power has been to block those lines of communication at any cost — even if that means taking an entire country offline. Hopefully any censorship in Iraq will prove to be short lived and citizens there can carry on Instagramming their lunch without fear of becoming yet another victim in this tireless conflict.
Update: Both Twitter and Youtube have said they are looking into the situation, confirming to VentureBeat that “some users are not able to access” the services in Iraq, according to YouTube. Facebook chimed in too, though its statement address the political situation more directly:
We are disturbed by reports of access issues in Iraq and are investigating. Limiting access to Internet services – essential for communication and commerce for millions of people – is a matter of concern for the global community.
Filed under: Internet, Google, Facebook
Source: International Business Times, VentureBeat
Twitter expands Bing-powered translations for iOS and the web
Twitter’s been experimenting with Bing’s translation services for quite some time, but now it’s making it available to more people on a wider range of devices. As spotted by CNET, the company has begun outfitting its iOS app with translation buttons powered by Microsoft’s search service. It’s also making things clearer on the web by displaying a small globe icon beside tweets that aren’t written in English. Results are mixed, as you can see from the image above. Twitter first brought Bing’s services to Windows Phone on mobile and has displayed Bing translation tools inside the detailed tweet view on Twitter.com. Today’s changes make things easier for users who follow non-English accounts or might see more foreign-language tweets in their stream following the start of the World Cup.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Source: CNET
Twitter App Gets World Cup ‘Timelines’ in New Update [iOS Blog]
Twitter has updated its iOS app with a feature called “World Cup Timelines”, which allows users to see relevant tweets about all the games during the month-long 2014 FIFA World Cup.
New for World Cup:
The World Cup Timeline is where all the action happens. In addition to Tweets from your network, you will see relevant Tweets from teams, players, coaches, press, venues, and celebs.
Are you watching the match? Follow it on Twitter and take a peek behind the scenes. See Tweets about the match from teams, players, coaches, press, venues, and celebs from inside and outside the stadium.
The new features mirror changes Twitter has made to its web interface, which allow users to follow Twitter timelines for specific games featuring tweets by relevant fans, journalists, analysts and more. A couple days ago, Twitter also re-introduced “Hashflags”, which automatically insert flags from the countries participating in the World Cup when certain hashtags, like “#BRA” for Brazil, are used.
Twitter is also planning to roll out Timelines for individual teams, including lists of each countries’ players and match scorecards that update scores live.
Twitter is a free universal app that’s available on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Twitter turns off Tweetdeck to ‘assess’ JavaScript security breach
If you’re a Tweetdeck user and can’t login right now — there’s a reason. The service’s webapp contained a vulnerability that let it run scripts embedded in tweets; just reading a tweet could cause a popup to appear on your screen, redirect you to another website, hijack your account or even cause you to retweet something without knowing. Since Tweetdeck is used by many of the social media managers for widely-followed accounts, a flaw that spreads itself could quickly replicate across the service.The official Tweetdeck account claimed the vulnerability was fixed earlier, but that doesn’t appear to have worked, and as a result, Twitter has taken the service down “to assess today’s earlier security issue.” Even though you can’t login right now, it would probably be a good idea to revoke the service’s access to your account entirely until things are resolved.
[Image credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
We’ve temporarily taken TweetDeck services down to assess today’s earlier security issue. We’ll update when services are back up.
– TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) June 11, 2014
Oh dear. That Tweetdeck XSS vulnerability is RT-ing stuff… its just hit @BBCBreaking! pic.twitter.com/8siffmsFxi
– Matt Navarra (@MattNavarraUK) June 11, 2014
@astroehlein tweetdeck is not stripping out dangerous scripting code from tweets. So you can run JavaScript in the context of another user
– Chris Williams (@diodesign) June 11, 2014
Filed under: Internet
Source: Tweetdeck (Twitter)
A quick guide to following World Cup 2014 on Google, Facebook and Twitter
Like a trio of vuvuzelas, the three big internet platforms became a significant part of the World Cup’s background noise in 2010. They have even more to offer this time around: Not just a multitude of ways to follow scores and other stats, but also places to go if you want to trumpet your opinions and listen to those of others. So, we’ve rounded up some of the best advice from Twitter, Facebook and Google on how to get the most out of the new features they’re dishing out for Brazil 2014.
If you’re already au fait with the Twittersphere’s workings, you’ll want to begin your journey at the #WorldCup2014 hashtag page. This main timeline will show you relevant tweets from celebs, teams, pundits and people in your network. On the right-hand side you’ll see quick access to a Teams page, so you can easily find and follow your home nation. There’s also a handy bar down the left that shows the latest scores and upcoming games.
Oh, and remember the three-letter hashtag for your team! Just like in 2010, using this hashtag inside a tweet will magically cause the appearance of your national flag (“hashflag”) to bring some color to your tweet. For example, it’s #URU for all of you Uruguayans.
If you’re not already on Twitter, then you’ll want to start by signing up and saying “yes” at the bit where you’re offered some extra World Cup excitement. This will take you through a couple of easy steps to choose your favorite team and set your wallpaper accordingly. If you’re a true patriot, you’ll keep that wallpaper forever. Forever, dammit.
This all starts at the Trending World Cup page, which works in a similar manner to Twitter’s hub — albeit with a bit less detail. You can view upcoming matches, but there’s no obvious shortcut to find your official team page — you just have to search for it (e.g., “U.S. Soccer“) and look for the blue tick to highlight the official site. There is, however, a “Fan Map” that shows the locations of millions of footy fans around the world and what, exactly, they’re fans of. It’s a gimmick, perhaps, but it has already proven itself useful in showing that England’s Wayne Rooney is widely detested across mainland Europe.
Compared to the other two, there’s a distinct lack of structure and effort from Google at the #WorldCup2014 page. In fact, there isn’t even one official hashtag — people are just using whatever tag comes to mind, resulting in something of a mess.
Then again, Google has other assets at its disposal that World Cup fans might find useful. Firstly, there’s a straightforward search, which will show up-to-the-minute scores and stats when you search for relevant terms like “world cup” or “world cup uruguay.” There’s also Google Trends, which shows all manner of strange observations about upcoming matches, based on what people are searching for.
If you load up Google Now on your phone or browser, you should automatically be asked if you’re interested in match update cards, and then be asked to select your favorite team(s). And finally, if you haven’t already, check out Google’s amazing Street View tours of the Brazilian stadiums that are about to play host to the angst, happiness and sporting talent of an entire planet.
[Lead image credit: AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo]
Google tweets a picture of a new unknown phone
Google is promoting Google Now and its features via Twitter, but they’re doing it on an unknown device. This of course couldn’t be an accident, so… let the speculation begin.
The phone looks kind of similar to the Nexus 5, but not quite. It’s quite beautiful if you ask us, simple and yet compact, considering it has those gorgeous thin bezels on the sides similar to LG G3. There are 3 options in our opinion. It is a new Nexus 6, Motorola Moto X+1 or an Android Silver phone. We can’t be sure at this point, but our guess is that it’s not the Moto X+1 considering that Google sold Motorola to Lenovo, so it’s unlikely they would promote a Motorola device. Which leaves us with Nexus 6 or an Android Silver phone. We can’t be sure which one considering that there’s been reports that the Nexus program will be replaced by Android Silver. We’ll also go out on a limb here and guess it’s an LG phone, it looks like something between the Nexus 5 and LG G3.
What is your guess? Do you like the phone’s look?
SOURCE: Google (Twitter)
The post Google tweets a picture of a new unknown phone appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Twitter users will pick the Man of the Match during World Cup games
When a football soccer player wins a Man of the Match award, it’s a recognition of their achievements during a particular game. Commentators and other pundits are often asked to decide which of the 22 players deserves that prestigious honor, but when it comes the biggest soccer show on earth, corporate sponsors have more of a say. During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Budweiser, the tournament’s official beer provider, will look to Twitter for inspiration. Four years ago, you may have cast your vote for the best player via the FIFA website, but this time around this Budweiser is hoping it can increase interaction with fans by getting you to cast your vote using the popular social network. At the start of the second half of each game, Twitter voting will open. You’ll then be able to click on a photo of your chosen player and register your choice using the dedicated #ManOfTheMatch hashtag. Are Twitter users representative? What if they’ve been drinking when they vote? Could it be open to abuse? Who knows, but maybe it’s worth noting that the selection process hasn’t always been totally transparent.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Fox Sports
Poet explains why he spammed Twitter with every word in the English language
zealots
– everyword (@everyword) June 2, 2014
Approximately 109,150 tweets. Spread across seven years. Posted automatically by a bot which, each time, simply grabbed a single word from an already published (and inevitably outdated) canon of the English language and threw it out onto the social network. The bot was the brainchild of a poet, Adam Parrish (aka @everyword), whose original intention was simply to the “satirize the brevity of Twitter,” but who gradually came to see the project as a “magical writing experiment.” He learned, for example, that his 95,000 followers had a penchant for words that felt like they told a story, even when they weren’t expressed as part of sentence: words like “sex,” “weed” and “vagina,” which each got around 2,000 retweets. If you read The Guardian‘s interview with @everyword, you’ll see that his other big discovery was about how people imputed meanings to words that were entirely personal or based purely on coincidences in their Twitter feeds — like how a tweet of the word “zealots” apparently became tangled up in the chatter of Apple fans in the midst of WWDC.
Via: Techmeme
Source: The Guardian
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