WASHINGTON – U.S. lawmakers have reportedly authorized the army to begin “kinetic military actions” – to take place on the Internet.

The announcement came with no fanfare, but quietly, in a short paragraph that includes the military budget for 2012.

The House and Senate agreed to give the U.S. military the power to conduct “offensive” strikes online — including clandestine attacks, via a little-noticed provision in the military’s 2012 funding bill.

The power, which was included in the House version but not the Senate version, was included in the final “reconciled” bill that is all but guaranteed to pass into law.

“Congress affirms that the Department of Defense has the capability, and upon direction by the President may conduct offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our Nation, Allies and interests, subject to–

(1) the policy principles and legal regimes that the Department follows for kinetic capabilities, including the law of armed conflict; and
(2) the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.).”

While “offensive” action isn’t defined, that’s likely to include things like unleashing a worm like the Stuxnet worm that damaged Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, hacking into another country’s power grid to bring it down, disabling websites via denial-of-service attacks, or as the CIA has already done with some collateral damage, hacking into a forum where would-be terrorists meet in order to permanently disable it.

The military budget, which approved the classification of the law, states: “Congress affirms that the Department of Defense has the potential for and, under specific directions, can perform offensive operations in cyberspace to defend our nation, partners and other interests, in accordance with the principles and legal systems that the Department defines for the kinetic action potential, inclusive within armed conflict and the resolution of the powers of war.”

The President and his military leaders now have a free way to declare, also, a war on the Internet where they will operate without the need to follow any principles or legal systems that require permission from Congress.

There are also other obscure terms, for example, what do they consider an “offensive action”? Although not specified, the Pentagon’s strategy for “security on the Internet,” is another nice euphemism. They have been occupied in trying to define the meaning of this offensive for months.

It is worth explaining that “offensive actions” may include the release of viruses of all kinds, the destruction of services and the ability to invade the energy control systems in other countries, disabling their power grids and generating complete blackouts.

We stress the fact that the actions “may include” because there are no precedents in relation to net cyber war or war, and these actions can expect to receive similar responses, as with real warfare attacks, keeping in view everything that has been pointed out as offensive in this text

This threat of war is precipitated by cyber-paranoia, prophesying all sorts of cyber-apocalypse scenarios and other cyber-deception to promote fear.

There is no record of any attacks from hackers that have put anyone in real danger, not even at risk, it is “highly dependent on Internet infrastructure.”

The conference report goes on to say:

“The conferees recognize that because of the evolving nature of cyber warfare, there is a lack of historical precedent for what constitutes traditional military activities in relation to cyber operations and that it is necessary to affirm that such operations may be conducted pursuant to the same policy, principles, and legal regimes that pertain to kinetic capabilities.

The conferees also recognize that in certain instances, the most effective way to deal with threats and protect U.S. and coalition forces is to undertake offensive military cyber activities, including where the role of the United States Government is not apparent or to be acknowledged. The conferees stress that, as with any use of force, the War Powers Resolution may apply.

Despite mainstream news accounts, there’s been no documented hacking attacks on U.S. infrastructure designed to cripple it. A recent report from a post-9/11 intelligence fusion center that a water pump in Illinois had been destroyed by Russian hackers turned out to be baseless — and was simply a contractor logging in from his vacation at the behest of the water company.”

Over the last few years, there’s been a drumbeat from D.C. and security contractors about the possibility of “cyberwar,” and the military has been pushing for, and largely receiving, increased funding for internet security research and more power to monitor and operate on the civilian internet.

Chinese hackers, perhaps affiliated with the government, have targeted large U.S. corporations, defense contractors and human rights groups with data-stealing trojans, something Bloomberg News trumpeted Tuesday as an “undeclared global cyber war.”

However, spying isn’t an act of war — just ask the NSA and CIA, who spend billions of dollars a year spying on other countries by intercepting communications and persuading foreign citizens to give the U.S. valuable intelligence. It’s certainly an aggressive state action, and a diplomatic issue. But if spying was an act of war, every CIA agent hiding under diplomatic cover would count as cause for a country to attack the U.S.

Source: Cubadebate, with information on Tribuna Popular TP 

Translated from the Portuguese version by:
Lisa Karpova

A hacker collective, “Anonymous” vows to take down the social networking giant this November.

Anonymous will attack Facebook  Nov 5, in protest of the government-social networking complex.  Facebook is taking the threat seriously and is planning a counterattack against  the hackers.

“They have no chance,” a hacker told  WWN in a secret meeting held Palo Alto.  “There is nothing Facebook can do to stop it.  The algorithm has already started.  They are going down.”

Media outlets around the world picked up the story and highlighted the two-week old video, which went viral this week.

Many “IT specialists” at top technology companies are calling the threat a hoax, but the hackers believe this is just a counter move by Facebook and government agencies to keep people using Facebook.

“The U.S. government has been working with Facebook for the last two years, collecting data on every American and citizens around the world.  They are planning to control us all.  We will not let that happen.  Facebook will die on November 5th, 2011.

 The video first appeared on July 16 when a newly created YouTube channel — FacebookOp — uploaded the video “Message from Anonymous: Operation Facebook, Nov 5 2011.”

The manifesto urges the audience to kill Facebook over privacy-related concerns.

The speaker in the video claiming to be Anonymous encouraged hacktivists to “join the cause and kill facebook  for the sake of your own privacy  – and your freedom.”

Some have speculated that Mark Zuckerberg works for the CIA.

“Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your privacy settings, and deleting your account is impossible,” the posts read. “Even if you delete your account, all your information stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time.”

“Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so they can spy all the people from all around the world,” the post added.

For personal safety  reasons, Anonymous has neither confirmed nor denied it is connected to the video.

In recent months, Facebook has faced criticism about its privacy-related policies. In May, a Senate panel questioned Facebook executives for allegedly failing to prevent underage people from having access to the network. Security software company Symantec also has said third-parties like advertisers had access to sensitive data of millions of Facebook users for years.

Facebook has denied there was any security breach, saying no private information could have been passed to third parties. The site also said the Symantec report had ignored contractual obligations of advertisers and developers that prohibit them from obtaining or sharing user information in a way that violates its policies.

WWN has learned that the CIA and FBI are looking for “Anonymous” and plan to do “everything in their power” to stop the November 5th attack.

Check out the video here:

LOS ANGELES, CA – Octuplet mom Nadya Suleman launched a website to solicit donations for her family, but it was immediately hacked by a group of vigilante mothers!

The website originally featured photos of all eight octuplets, a thank you note from Suleman, images of children’s toys and a large donation button for viewers to send money through. Suleman also provided an address where people can send items such as diapers and formula.

Suleman was perhaps not prepared for the backlash she was to receive, as the site was hacked and brought down within hours. The original homepage was left up but defaced, as seen in the screenshot below:

The site was tagged by the famous hacker group MOD, also known as the Mothers of Disappointment. The mysterious group has a history of attacking personal sites they disapprove of, including Britney Spears when she infamously hung dry her sons on a clothes line after a bath, and Angelina Jolie for being Angelina Jolie.

Weekly World News could not reach any members for comment, however reporters did receive a short note from an anonymous e-mail address:

mod will not tolerate the selfish acts of bad parenting
we will remain true to our mission despite any setbacks
viva la maternity
(call your mother, she misses you)

The site has since been restored, and Suleman’s PR representative has stated they are now taking extra security measures to arm against future attacks.

GIVES DAUGHTER CAMOUFLAGE BABY BJORN MADE FOR HUNTING

After the Anonymous group hacked into Sarah Palin’s personal email account, the group gave Weekly World News exclusive photos of Palin’s secret baby shower for her daughter Bristol.

The photos show the gifts for the unborn baby and mother-to-be included the new Jonas Brothers album, lipstick, rifle ammunition and a special snowmobile-adapted baby seat.

Further examination reveals that each guest was given a gift bag of sunless tanner, voter registration cards and ‘Jesus is my Co-Pilot” bumper stickers.

The most memorable photo shows Bristol Palin happily accepting a matching camouflage Baby Bjorn that the Governor uses while Elk and Bigfoot hunting.

Anonymous also included an e-mail from Bristol to her mother, which read:
“thx for inviting levi! he wanted to come but you know how he is when a new xbox game comes out…”