Sunday, August 31, 2014

Another Bloody Sunday

TODAY: Sad news in Pakistan ‪#‎Islamabad‬ where 300 anti-corruption protesters have been hospitalized, the number of dead, unknown. After violently attacking all media present, police released an official order to cease filming and broadcasting the bloodshed of protesters. 
Government spinners have since claimed that the news cover was escalating and perpetuating the protests.
Many of the injured were media workers, and women who were attending the rally or fleeing the area with their children. The hospitals are subsequently overflowing.
It was day 18 of protests against the present PM there, who, opposition supporters claim is corrupt. They alleged that this morning the PM ordered the police assault against protesters, who for the most part have appeared to engage in peaceful civil disobedience for the duration of the action. 
In the days preceding, the army was called in to support public safety. But, protesters this morning complained that when police opened fire the army presence had vanished, leaving protesters and media vulnerable to attacks.
There is no info available on last night's attacks on the Reporters without Borders or International Federation of Journalists websites, but a few days ago they released this statement. These deaths mark a sudden escalation of violence against journalists in a region already widely considered possibly the most dangerous place in the world for media attacks. 
I haven't posted the photos of the #IslamabadMassacre here - many are from other journos so there are copyright issues and some photos of injuries are quite graphic - so if you want to see more of what is going on check my twitter feed. 
The photos of the civil unrest are really amazing work and I'd encourage all my readers to check them out.The journos in Islamabad are amazingly brave to keep producing such insightful work under such terrifying circumstances. My thoughts are with those media workers who have been injured as a result of simply doing their job. #‎JournalismIsNotACrime‬ Pakistan's media has a long history of courageous traditional Fourth Estate reporting, even under duress.
Additionally, be warned, there is now some fairly strange ISIS-styled, islamo-fascist, anti-semitic propaganda creeping through in the twitter talk about the massacre. So, there appears to be a risk that the Pakistanis' efforts to oust their allegedly corrupt PM, may be getting hijacked by external spinners with an agenda. 
In photos circulating on twitter,  the same tear gas canisters seem to have been used in Islamabad (from the same company) as those used in recent incidents & human rights crises, in several places in the world. There's no context or background to those photos, which just keep popping up everywhere on the internet after every skirmish in any country, so it's not possible to know where the pics come from - could be the same ones getting used over and over by the same spin doctors - I just don't know. Have a look and decide for yourselves, if you are interested in that angle of things. 
I'll post some more news, as I get it, on my twitter account (you don't have to sign up for twitter to read it)  
https://twitter.com/magnetticism or @magnetticism

Sunday, August 17, 2014

An Apple a day keeps the tech-heads in pay

So the long-promised education post became an onerous task after the hacking of my computer and iPhone in mid-July - hence the delays. While my iPhone is still working, it is clear that problems remain and they have curbed my indulgence in podcasts (sadly, I am a retro girl - but podcasts are a really time-effective way of catching up on news, latest education materials, & other info)
The incident brought to a head issues that have existed on and off since I commenced using Apple products for my journalism work. Faraday shields are a worthwhile cause, and it is true that removing the sim temporarily, is relatively easy with Apple products.
I think Apple security issues are an important aspect for working journalists. Some would say that I'm shooting myself in the foot here, but TDM's all about education and reform. So... it's important to note that while the functionality of iPhones makes them an awesome, handy device to work with, they can also be a liability to your security. There, I said it. 

Ultimately, this could then have a flow-on effect on other aspects of security, whether you carry an iPhone thereafter or not. Mine had been immediately replaced with an android unit prior to any physical confrontations.
The persistent security issues that are subsequently - now - under my microscope (thanks baddies, for leaving such a lot of invaluable evidence), seem to revolve around cyber exploitation of the same device's IMEI number - like Assange says, "a mobile tracking device, that also has a phone function" (forgive the paraphrasing).
Most people are conditioned to the simple good-guy, bad-guy myth that the mainstream media has, of course, propagated for centuries.

The reality is that security threats can originate from a variety of sources and, increasingly so as time goes on and technology expands. So this type of very basic good-guy, bad-guy myth, may be helpful to the govt for reaffirming a 'developmental' PR-boosting image. However, mainly and more significantly, it obscures the real plethora of risks involved in reporting on important issues that protect the quality of our society's democracy (that is, the 'Fourth Estate' journalism mandate, for all you non-journo readers). The risks come from a wide spectrum of sources, governmental and non-govt.
Plus, most mainstream journos (and others) just don't have access to tech support of the calibre that will ensure their security and privacy. Staff techs may know how to do any number of tasks - play with a graphic or run an anti-virus, but cyber threats can come from people with myriad resources. Intrusions can be every bit as subtle, persistent and penetrating as... investigative journalism. Luckily for me, I have brilliant tech support & learnt very early on from terrific journalism experts, to back everything up in multiple ways.

Despite hackers' malicious intent, they surreptitiously exercise their misconceived idea of entitlement over information. This extends to not just what they as hackers can have, but who else can have it, read it, learn from it, and know it. At the heart of all attacks, is an endeavour to control society. In my case, a great deal of damage, loss & disruption were caused seemingly just to delete two folders of photographs to prevent the public from having free access to those images and the knowledge/power that would have come with them. 

In a global context, the same restrictions are placed on education - who can access knowledge, who can have power and what oppressed groups must serve an elite after being deprived of information and opportunity. 
Almost daily, court reporters diligently catalogue the incidence of data breaches by public officials giving important, private and powerful information to unauthorized parties. Regularly, money is the impetus.

This apparent routine exploitation of the public's confidential data is the tip of the iceburg in view of:
  • The ridiculous numbers of agencies entitled to invade an individual's privacy (as divulged in Senate Estimates 2 years ago - even the most irrelevant of non-govt goups can obtain basic email data and subject lines);
  • Inherent government corruption with limited safeguards; 
  • Terrible public sector and contracted agency recruitment practices;
  • Rapidly advancing communications and social media technologies and
  • Security overload for the average punter, unable to keep up.
= hackers' field day.

Though govt propaganda depicts evolving groups people like Anonymous, as Public Enemy Number 1, not all hackers are socially-minded activists with lofty ideals trying to emancipate society.  The dark net evidences this fact, with ratted webcams, mobile cameras and other surveillance equipment captures, a marketable commodity that few know about - including govt law makers.

Now, about that education post... Where's that back-up...

Monday, August 11, 2014

Quick note

Desperate times call for desperate measures. It would seem that there is not much levity around at the moment, so excuse Junior (gratuitous cat pic to the right).

There are some concerning issues in the news currently and it is hard to blog about upbeat topics when there are such dreadful events suddenly springing up around the globe - ebola outbreaks, war, civil unrest, religious persecution, etc., etc.

It's a gloomy period, for sure. And, I note, that there are many of my readers at present, who are logging in from these very troubled places.

If that's you - I hope that today's post finds you & yours safe and well, and that these troubling times will soon be over.

I'm pulling together a post about education and equality and plan to have that ready over the next two or three days.

I have had a few setbacks over the last couple of months & subsequent delays in posting, with some very persistent persons (I was considering a slightly different 'P' word there) - apparently - endeavouring to delete photos that they no longer want to potentially be in the public domain.

I am speculating about this because the reporting from that very specific period relates to racism-oriented human rights matters - I can only assume which issues were at play and who was behind the hacking & deleting of two folders of photographs from a very narrow window of time. Those of you who read my twitter feed will have read about this some weeks ago. If you want to pick up my daily tweets, you can follow The Daily Magnet @magnetticism

Back up and running, now, anyway. Hooray!

Thanks to those of you who have helped re-build and replace the damaged data and equipment, and to all you readers from all over the world who have hung in there and just keep on visiting and patiently re-reading the archives - new post very soon. Take care.
x Mags.