Day: July 31, 2010

WikiLeaks publishes 1.4 GB encrypted ‘insurance’ file

A mysterious 1.4 GB encrypted file named “insurance” has appeared on the WikiLeaks Afghan War page that released tens of thousands of secret documents last Sunday.

The “insurance” file is also available for download through bittorrent.

“Cryptome, a separate secret-spilling site, has speculated that the file may have been posted as insurance in case something happens to the WikiLeaks website or to the organization’s founder, Julian Assange,” reports Kim Zetter for Wired Magazine. “In either scenario, WikiLeaks volunteers, under a prearranged agreement with Assange, could send out a password or passphrase to allow anyone who has downloaded the file to open it.”

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Ready to fight dengue in Sri Lanka with ‘any commitment’: President Rajapaksa

The Sri Lankan government is ready to make any commitment for the eradication of dengue from the country, says President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Every citizen has a responsibility to keep their environment clean and tidy, he says. They have a duty to ensure that there is no room for mosquito breeding grounds in their environment. The President said this task cannot be done by the government alone and it needs more public support.

Up to 30 July, official Sri Lankan dengue cases have reached 23,145, with 171 deaths. Colombo, Gampaha and Kandy have the highest infection rates.

Up to 25 July in Malaysia, 27,400 dengue cases have been reported, with 91 deaths. Kuala Lumpur has high infection rates.

In Thailand, 41,136 cases have been officially recorded up to 20 July, with 38 deaths.

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Government ‘speeding up’ island development projects: President Nasheed

Island projects including provision of utilities services like water and electricity, establishing sewerage systems, and roads construction projects, are being hastened by public-private partnerships, said President Nasheed in his weekly radio address.

The President launched three major development projects in Kulhudhuffushi on Thursday including roads, housing and water supply projects.

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Major websites installing ‘new and intrusive consumer-tracking technologies’

More than 100 tracking tools are being installed on Internet users’ computers by many of the US’ most popular websites, according to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal.

Dictionary.com installed 168 tracking devices, and Microsoft’s msn.com, and Google both installed over 100 tracking tools each.

The online encyclopedia, wikipedia.org, installed no tracking devices.

“The state of the art is growing increasingly intrusive,” write Julia Angwin and Tom McGinty. “Some tracking files can record a person’s keystrokes online and then transmit the text to a data-gathering company that analyzes it for content, tone and clues to a person’s social connections. Other tracking files can re-spawn trackers that a person may have deleted.”

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