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Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks

Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos - Wed, 12/08/2010 - 19:51

The opening shot of the First Cyber War was fired when the Obama administration informed a number of Internet companies that had business relationships with WikiLeaks that the whistle blower website was to be boycotted. In short order Pay Pal, Visa and Mastercard ended their relationships with the group, EasyDNS turned hard and Amazon was singing "Hey, You, get off of my cloud!"

At the same time a mysterious series of Denial of Services attacks began to plague the  various WikiLeaks websites. These attacks, in which a website is flooded with bogus traffic to block it up, is the kind of thing the government has called cyber terrorism, but given the circumstances and the target, it is hard not to conclude that the government is ultimately behind it. At the same time, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was hounded and ultimately arrested in an 'unrelated' rape change that, excuse my language, doesn't past the sniff test. And Senator Diane Feinstein called for this un-American to be prosecuted for espionage because he has done what the Washington Post did with the Pentagon Papers.

Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks

Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos - Wed, 12/08/2010 - 19:51

The opening shot of the First Cyber War was fired when the Obama administration informed a number of Internet companies that had business relationships with WikiLeaks that the whistle blower website was to be boycotted. In short order Pay Pal, Visa and Mastercard ended their relationships with the group, EasyDNS turned hard and Amazon was singing "Hey, You, get off of my cloud!"

At the same time a mysterious series of Denial of Services attacks began to plague the  various WikiLeaks websites. These attacks, in which a website is flooded with bogus traffic to block it up, is the kind of thing the government has called cyber terrorism, but given the circumstances and the target, it is hard not to conclude that the government is ultimately behind it. At the same time, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was hounded and ultimately arrested in an 'unrelated' rape change that, excuse my language, doesn't past the sniff test. And Senator Diane Feinstein called for this un-American to be prosecuted for espionage because he has done what the Washington Post did with the Pentagon Papers.

The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next

Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos - Sun, 12/05/2010 - 10:05

Last week we saw an unprecedented attack on the freedom of the Internet by our government. It begin with the seizure of 82 domains by the DoJ and ended with a whole variety of moves, both legal and extra-legal to bring down WikiLeaks or block access to it. Clearly the U.S. government has launched a new campaign to control the Internet and what we can access with it.

Monday's Diary: BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
Friday's Diary: BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!

They have been able to seize domains, as oppose to only block domains, China style, because they are taking unfair advantage of the fact that at present, the root domain servers, although run by an international NGO, are located in the United States and can be served by an American court order.

The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next

Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos - Sun, 12/05/2010 - 10:05

Last week we saw an unprecedented attack on the freedom of the Internet by our government. It begin with the seizure of 82 domains by the DoJ and ended with a whole variety of moves, both legal and extra-legal to bring down WikiLeaks or block access to it. Clearly the U.S. government has launched a new campaign to control the Internet and what we can access with it.

Monday's Diary: BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
Friday's Diary: BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!

They have been able to seize domains, as oppose to only block domains, China style, because they are taking unfair advantage of the fact that at present, the root domain servers, although run by an international NGO, are located in the United States and can be served by an American court order.

China in 1978, a Slideshow

Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos - Sat, 12/04/2010 - 12:32

I had the honor of leading the second China Study Association tour of 50 American educators to mainland China in 1978. Nixon's historic visit to China happened in 1972 and by 1978 China was just starting to open up to western tourist. As such, we were given first class treatment. We flew into Beijing via Belgrade on July 14th. We spent 8 days in Peking, we still called it Peking in those days and stayed at the best hotel in the city, the Peking Hotel. We had breakfast on the train to the Great Wall and were given a banquet by Mr. Pi of the China Travel Association at Pei Hai.

After a week in Beijing, we traveled around a bit. In fact we became the first western tourist to visit Harbin in the north and Shenyang in the west. All too soon our time in China was over and we exited via Hong Kong at the end of July and a few days later took the big bird back to America.

China in 1978, a Slideshow

Clay Claiborne on the Daily Kos - Sat, 12/04/2010 - 12:32

I had the honor of leading the second China Study Association tour of 50 American educators to mainland China in 1978. Nixon's historic visit to China happened in 1972 and by 1978 China was just starting to open up to western tourist. As such, we were given first class treatment. We flew into Beijing via Belgrade on July 14th. We spent 8 days in Peking, we still called it Peking in those days and stayed at the best hotel in the city, the Peking Hotel. We had breakfast on the train to the Great Wall and were given a banquet by Mr. Pi of the China Travel Association at Pei Hai.

After a week in Beijing, we traveled around a bit. In fact we became the first western tourist to visit Harbin in the north and Shenyang in the west. All too soon our time in China was over and we exited via Hong Kong at the end of July and a few days later took the big bird back to America.