We begin with a real security threat from the London Telegraph:
Welby: Artificial Intelligence and gene therapy could hand super-rich ever more power
Archbishop of Canterbury’s dystopian vision of robot future amid Wall Street address condemning growing gap between rich and poor
The rise of robots and gene therapy could allow a tiny ultra-rich elite to amass ever more power while almost everyone else grows poorer, the Archbishop of Canterbury has told an audience on Wall Street.
The Most Rev Justin Welby set out a bleak, dystopian vision of a future in which growing numbers of people live out a “life sentence to poverty” while others act as if they had a “divine right to wealth”.
He also issued an unrepentant defence of his recent comments about inequality in the UK, which have infuriated the Conservatives and led to accusations from some quarters that archbishops should stick to religion not politics.
And from the Associated Press, it had to happen:
Florida man seeks trademark on slogan ‘Je Suis Charlie’
A Miami-area man is seeking to profit from the phrase “Je Suis Charlie,” which became a rallying cry after a terrorist attack in Paris that killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.
According to a Jan. 16 filing at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Latin American Trading Group Inc. applied for a trademark on the words, which translate to “I Am Charlie.” The application says the phrase would be used on a range of products.
The company’s listed director, Joe Marc Gershon, does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment Friday.
From the Asahi Shimbun, also perhaps inevitable:
Tokyo publisher to reprint controversial Charlie Hebdo cartoons in book
A publisher in Tokyo will release a book featuring cartoons issued in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which was the target of a terrorist attack earlier this month that left 12 people dead.
The book, tentatively titled “Islam Fushi Ka, Hate Ka” (Islam satire or hate), will contain about 43 satirical sketches from Europe and the United States, along with corresponding descriptions in Japanese, according to Akira Kitagawa, president of Dai San Shokan.
The contents will include cartoons lampooning the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, Christianity and Judaism, as well as articles contributed by more than 10 experts on Islamic society.
From Deeplinks, the blog of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, the panopticon in esnl’s own backyard:
What You Can Learn from Oakland’s Raw ALPR Data
Police cars mounted with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) wind their way through the streets of Oakland like a “Snake” game on an old cell phone. Instead of eating up pixels of food, these cameras gobble down thousands of license plates each day. And instead of growing a longer tail, ALPRs feed into a giant database of locational data as they conduct surveillance on every driver within the city limits, and sometimes beyond.
This is the portrait that emerged when EFF analyzed eight days of ALPR data provided by the City of Oakland in response to a request under the California Public Records Act.
As cities and counties across the country pursue new law enforcement technologies, EFF is on a mission to use transparency as a counterbalance to mass surveillance. Since May 2013, EFF and the ACLU of Southern California have been engaged in a legal battle with two Los Angeles law enforcement agencies who are refusing to hand over a week’s worth of ALPR data. San Diego County, another jurisdiction, has similarly fought efforts by citizens to obtain access to data that law enforcement has collected on them using ALPRs. Both claim that the records are exempted under the California Public Records Act because they are records of law enforcement investigations. The agencies also argue the public interest in maintaining secrecy in ALPR data outweighs the public interest in learning how and where ALPR systems are being used.
The accompanying EFF video:
Eight Days in the Life of Oakland’s Automatic License Plate Readers
Program notes:
license plate readers (ALPRs), which was released to the Electronic Frontier Foundation under the California Public Records Act. Each red dot is a license plate being captured by a camera mounted to an Oakland Police vehicle. The video compiles this collection into 10-minute increments.
The latest European ISIS alarm, via the Guardian:
Terrorism threat forces closure of Belgian film festival
The Ramdam festival in Tournai is shut down after authorities assessed threats against the cinema complex where it is held
A film festival based in the Belgian city of Tournai has been cancelled over fears that it was being targeted by terrorists.
The Ramdam festival, which was first staged in 2011, had opened its doors on 20 January with a screening of the New Zealand speed-chess drama The Dark Horse and was due to run until 27 January. However, on Thursday 22, police ordered the Imagix cinema complex, the festival’s main venue, to be evacuated, and the festival organisers were forced to suspend activities.
In a statement issued by the mayor’s office and the Tournai police, the authorities said that there was “a particularly high level” of risk of an attack against the complex. In a statement posted on Imagix’s website, the festival organisers said that they “deplored and profoundly regretted” having to announce the festival’s closure, but that “the soul of the festival will be reinforced by these events”.
From the Guardian, another threat:
Confused North Korea accuses Berlin film festival of ‘terrorism’
Officials in North Korea, apparently mistaking the regular German release schedule for the programme at this year’s Berlin film festival, threatened the Berlinale with ‘merciless punishment’ unless they cancel showings of The Interview
North Korea has backtracked on its outraged statement accusing the Berlin film festival of “terrorism” for agreeing to show The Interview at this year’s event. In fact, Pyongyang appears to have confused the film festival, which commences on 5 February, with Germany’s domestic release schedule: The Interview is due out in cinemas across the country the same day.
The North Korean statement read: “The screening of the movie that hurts the dignity of the supreme leadership of North Korea and openly agitates state-sponsored terrorism has nothing to do with the ‘freedom of expression’ touted by Germany. It is evidently agitation of terrorism quite contrary to the purpose and nature of the Berlin International Film Festival.”
It continued: “The US and Germany should immediately stop the farce of screening the anti-North Korean movie at the film festival. Those who attempt at terrorist acts and commit politically-motivated provocations and those who join them in violation of the sovereignty and dignity of North Korea will never be able to escape merciless punishment.”
On to the spooky world with a notable observation from Network World:
US spy program has financial, security impacts, says Snowden
The U.S. National Security Agency needs to consider the repercussions of its spying on electronic communications and data, especially how that impacts U.S. economic interests, former NSA analyst Edward Snowden said today.
“There’s a big question on if the potential intelligence we gain is worth the effort. They’re reducing the trust of the security in American products. This is critical in American industry. It has a real cost, not just moral but financially,” said Snowden, speaking Friday via video at a Harvard University conference on privacy in a networked society. He also said the NSA must understand that the methods it employs to secretly collect data can also be used against the U.S.
Snowden made international headlines in 2013 after releasing classified U.S. government documents that detailed the NSA’s extensive spying programs. Some of those documents, which are still being released, showed that the NSA placed or attempted to insert back doors in hardware, software and Web services from U.S. tech companies. This discourages potential customers and has cost the U.S. at least US$35 billion, said Snowden, citing studies.
From PandoDaily, the lesser of two evils:
Obama said to scrap plans to privatize NSA-collected metadata
President Obama has reportedly scrapped plans to have a private company hold the phone metadata collected through National Security Agency surveillance programs.
Reuters says in a report citing several anonymous security professionals that the plan was abandoned because it’s seen as “unworkable for both legal and practical reasons.” A source told Reuters that the decision is not final, but privatizing the data seems unlikely.
The plan was first proposed after the government faced widespread criticism when the NSA’s worldwide surveillance dragnets were revealed to the public in June 2013, when the Guardian published the first reports based on Edward Snowden’s leaked documents.
Back to Europe and a job lost, via TheLocal.no:
Firm ditches Pegida chief for anti-Islam views
Max Hermansen, the leader of the Norway branch of the anti-Islam movement Pegida, has been taken off the pay roll by a training organization because of his controversial views.
Hermansen, who has organized two Pegida demonstrations in Oslo this year, has been told he’s no longer welcome to give a scheduled course at Opplæringskontoret, a privately-run apprenticeship training office in Oslo, it emerged on Friday.
The leader, who is also employed as a teacher at two public schools in Oslo, had been booked in to train apprentices working in the service and transport sectors.
Radio France Internationale covers more victims:
Islamophobic acts soar in France after Charlie Hebdo attacks, watchdog
Some 128 “anti-Muslim acts” have been registered with police in France, not counting Paris and its close suburbs, since Islamist gunmen murdered 17 people in their 7-9 January killing spree, according to statistics gathered by the National Islamophobia Observatory, which is part of one of France’s two large Muslim groupings, the CFCM.
That breaks down as 33 attacks, mainly against mosques, and 95 threats or insults.
The total compares with 133 in the whole of 2014, which saw a 41 per cent fall from the 226 recorded in 2013.
The figures are an underestimate, according to the observatory, because many Muslims consider it pointless to file complaints with the police.
And the Guardian covers a crackdown:
Syria-related terror arrests up sixfold in UK, police say
Officers made 165 arrests for offences including terrorist financing and attending terror training camp, compared with 25 in 2013
Police say the number of arrests for suspected Syria-related terror offences in Britain increased sixfold last year.
Officers made 165 arrests across the country for offences including terrorist financing, commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, and attending a terrorist training camp, Scotland Yard said. This compares with 25 Syria-related arrests in 2013.
The number of arrests for terrorist offences of all kinds totalled 327 last year, a 32% year-on-year increase.
After the jump, American plans for a Spanish anti-Jihadi base advance, ISIS eyes on Central Asia as Central Asians head off to ISIS in Syria, the Pentagon claims an ISIS body count, Germany’s other history in Syria, a gas station hack attack threat, the Argentinian prosecutorial death story continues to unfold, Nigeria looks to the past for anti-Boko Haram hopes While the Nigerian government rejects an outside military campaign force, RT ranked on a par with Boko Haram and ISIS by America’s state airwaves propagandist, Obama takes a hard line with Pakistan, deadly Bandladeshi violence rages, China continues its Internet crackdown, Chinese basing efforts accelerate on contested islands, and Bejing rises to third place in global military rankings, plus Japan vows to fight terrorism but rules out military action against ISIS. . .
El País covers plans advancing:
Spain to negotiate turning Morón into US base for anti-jihadist operations
Andalusian site could become permanent center in global fight against Islamist terrorism
The Spanish foreign and defense ministries will negotiate with US authorities over converting the Morón de la Frontera air base into a permanent center of operations against jihadism.
The Cabinet greenlighted the negotiation on Friday because bilateral security relations with the US were “one of the most important” issues for Spain, said Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría at the press conference following the meeting.
“Together with our membership of NATO and the EU, [these relations] are part of the three basic pillars of our strategic international relations for national defense,” she added.
ISIS eyes on Central Asia, via Want China Times:
ISIS to sets sights on Central Asia?
The Islamic State, the jihadist group better known as ISIS, was said to have allocated US$70 million in an attempt to destabilize Central Asia, posing significant threats to China’s borders, reports nationalistic tabloid Global Times.
The terrorist group’s leaders reportedly decided to allocate the fund to one of its internal armed organizations, which was formed by a Central Asian group, in an attempt to create a “second front line” in the region.
Islamic militants’ recent attacks in Europe suggest they aim to expand around the world, said Xia Yishan, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies. It is possible that the group will choose Central Asia as its next destination, which would threaten Chinese border territories, said Xia.
As Central Asians head off to ISIS in Syria, via Homeland Security News Wire:
Radicalized Muslims from Central Asia flock to Syria to join ISIS
The Islamic State (IS) is attracting Central Asians to Syria and fostering new links among radicals within the region. Unless the five Central Asian governments develop a credible, coordinated counter-action plan, including improved security measures but also social, political and economic reforms, growing radicalism will eventually pose a serious threat to their stability.
The fallout from the conflicts in Syria and Iraq is a major security concern for Central Asian governments. An International Crisis Group release reports that between 2,000 and 4,000 of their citizens have left for IS-held territory to fight or otherwise support the Islamic State cause. The five — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — crippled by corruption, poor governance and policing, have done little to address a threat as intricate as radical Islam. Instead, they are fuelling further radicalization by curtailing civil liberties and initiating security crackdowns.
The latest International Crisis Group briefing, Syria Calling: Radicalization in Central Asia, analyses the socio-political context behind growing radicalism in the region and argues that a comprehensive solution requires the states to improve coordination between security services, but as importantly to liberalize religious laws and provide greater outreach and economic opportunity to and for young people, including women.
The Pentagon claims an ISIS body count, via Homeland Security News Wire:
U.S. officials: 6,000 ISIS fighters and “more than half” of the group’s leadership killed
The U.S.-led airstrikes campaign has “taken more than half” of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) leadership, U.S. ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones told Al Arabiya News Channel Thursday.
Jones said the airstrikes were having a “devastating” effect on ISIS. “We estimate that the airstrikes have now killed more than 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq,” Jones said.
Jones added that the airstrikes have “destroyed more than a thousand of ISIS vehicles inside Iraq.”
From Der Spiegel, Germany’s other history in Syria:
Decades of Suspicions: Did German Companies Aid Syrian Chemical Weapons Program?
Government documents and information from the Assad regime indicate that German companies may have helped Syria produce chemical weapons over the course of decades. So far, the Merkel administration has shown no willingness to investigate.
For more than 16 months, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has been in possession of a list containing the names of German companies thought to have helped Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his father Hafis build up Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal over the course of several decades. Ultimately, it became one of the largest such arsenals in the world.
The German government, a coalition between Merkel’s conservatives and Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel’s center-left Social Democrats (SPD), received the list from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for its “extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.” Together with experts from the United Nations, the OPCW organized and carried out the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons last year.
Berlin immediately classified the list and has since kept it under lock and key. The government says that releasing the names would “significantly impair foreign policy interests and thus the welfare of the Federal Republic of Germany.” It also argues that doing so would be akin to releasing “trade secrets” and as such would violate the German constitution.
A gas station hack attack threat, via Network World:
Thousands of U.S. gas stations exposed to Internet attacks
Over 5,000 devices used by gas stations in the U.S. to monitor their fuel tank levels can be manipulated from the Internet by malicious attackers.
These devices, known as automated tank gauges (ATGs), are also used to trigger alarms in case of problems with the tanks, such as fuel spills.
“An attacker with access to the serial port interface of an ATG may be able to shut down the station by spoofing the reported fuel level, generating false alarms, and locking the monitoring service out of the system,” said HD Moore, the chief research officer at security firm Rapid7, in a blog post. “Tank gauge malfunctions are considered a serious issue due to the regulatory and safety issues that may apply.”
From the Guardian, the Argentinian prosecutorial death story continues to unfold:
Argentinian government points to rogue intelligence agents in Nisman death
Suggests state prosecutor’s allegations of a coverup in a 1994 terrorist bombing and his death are linked to power struggle at nation’s intelligence agency
The Argentinian government has suggested that rogue agents from its own intelligence services were behind the death of a state prosecutor investigating the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires.
Alberto Nisman was found dead in his apartment late on Sunday with a gunshot wound to his head and a .22-caliber pistol by his side, along with a single shell casing.
He had been scheduled to appear before Congress on Monday to answer questions about his allegation that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner conspired to derail his investigation of the attack.
Nigeria looks to the past for anti-Boko Haram hopes, via the New York Times:
To Loosen Boko Haram’s Grip, Nigerian Voters Look to Ex-Leader Who Ruled With Iron Hand
Boisterous crowds packed the streets for the retired general, while young men climbed lampposts, walls and billboards to glimpse his gaunt face. Others danced on careening motorcycles, brandishing homemade brooms, symbols of his campaign.
With Nigeria’s presidential election only weeks away, Boko Haram’s unchecked rampaging here in the country’s north is helping to propel the 72-year-old general, Muhammadu Buhari, to the forefront.
After ruling Nigeria with an iron hand 30 years ago as the country’s military leader, Mr. Buhari is now a serious threat at the ballot box, analysts say, in large part because of Boko Haram’s blood-soaked successes.
While the Nigerian government rejects an outside military campaign, via BBC News:
Boko Haram crisis: UN ‘not needed against Nigerian militants’
Nigeria does not need the help of UN or African Union troops to take on Boko Haram, the country’s national security adviser has told the BBC.
Sambo Dasuki said Nigeria, and its neighbours were in a “good shape” to take on the insurgents.
But he acknowledged the group, which is fighting to create an Islamic state, were a “real security threat”.
From RT, the Russian broadcaster ranked on a par with Boko Haram and ISIS by America’s state airwaves propagandist:
Head of US state media put RT on same challenge list as ISIS, Boko Haram
Newly-appointed chief of US Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), Andrew Lack, has named RT one of the agency’s main challenges alongside extremist groups like the Islamic State and Boko Haram.
Lack, the first chief executive of the BBG, mentioned RT in an interview with The New York Times.
“We are facing a number of challenges from entities like Russia Today which is out there pushing a point of view, the Islamic State in the Middle East and groups like Boko Haram,” he said. “But I firmly believe that this agency has a role to play in facing those challenges.”
Obama takes a hard line with Pakistan, via the Express Tribune:
Ahead of India visit: Terrorist ‘safe havens’ in Pakistan unacceptable, says Obama
US President Barack Obama has said terrorist “safe havens” in Pakistan are unacceptable, The Hindu reported on Friday ahead of a crucial visit to India.
In an interview to India Today magazine which has been published in the upcoming issue of the weekly, the US president also said those behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks should be brought to justice
“I have made it clear that even as the US works with Pakistan to meet the threat of terrorism, safe havens within Pakistan are not acceptable,” Obama said.
From the Guardian, deadly Bangladeshi violence rages:
30 dead as Bangladesh political violence escalates
Many of the casualties have been caused by arson attacks on buses, and more than 7,000 people have been detained
Police in Bangladesh are braced for more violence this weekend after arson attacks, protests, strikes and blockades in recent days left 30 people dead and hundreds more injured.
More than 7,000 people have been detained in the country’s worst bout of political violence since national elections a year ago in which the ruling Awami League was re-elected after a boycott by the opposition.
The latest protests have been called by Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), who wants Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, to resign and call fresh elections. Hasina has said her government will remain in office until her term ends in 2019.
China continues its Internet crackdown, via PCWorld:
China tightens Internet control by blocking VPN services
China is clamping down on unrestricted access to the Internet by blocking services that allow users to get around government censorship.
Several foreign-based operators of virtual private network (VPN) services said Friday that access to their services in China had been disrupted as a result of the crackdown and users are facing a harder time getting to some foreign websites.
Virtual private networks work by establishing an encrypted pipe between a computer or smartphone and a server in a foreign country. All communications are sent inside the pipe, effectively shielding Internet traffic from government filters that determine whether a site can be accessed. VPNs are used by Chinese citizens to get to external news sources and by resident foreigners and businesses for day-to-day communications.
From the Asahi Shimbun, Chinese basing efforts accelerate on contested islands:
China expands construction work in disputed Spratly waters
Beijing appears to have made steady advances in the construction of port and other facilities in disputed waters in the South China Sea, according to photographs obtained by The Asahi Shimbun.
The aerial photos of the area were taken in October. The Philippines and Vietnam also lay claim to much of the potentially resource-rich Spratly archipelago.
One of the photos shows reclamation work at the Gaven Reefs, located 390 kilometers northwest of Palawan Island in the southern Philippines.
A port, some buildings and a heliport can be seen in the latest photo. Compared to images taken in July, reclamation there has progressed rapidly.
And Bejing rises to third place in global military ranking, via Want China Times:
China 3rd in Global Firepower ranking: Vzglyad
China was ranked third, behind the US and Russia, in the latest Global Firepower ranking published on Jan. 21 by Moscow-based online newspaper Vzglyad, reports China’s nationalistic tabloid Global Times.
The US Army topped the ranking while Russia came in second. Following China was India in fourth, the UK in fifth and France in sixth. These were followed by Germany, Turkey, South Korea, and Japan.
The ranking does not take nuclear weapons into account and ranks countries on the weaponry and strength of their army, navy and air force. The ranking considers over 50 different factors, including a country’s economic resources and its geographical location. One hundred and six countries were included in the ranking. An analyst on the news website said that the US military budget far outstrips those of other countries, at US$612 billion. The US is equipped with 8300 tanks, 25,700 armored vehicles, 1700 artillery guns and 1300 rocket launchers. Russia’s military budget is US$76 billion, but the country still managed to surpass the US on several counts: Russia has 15,500 tanks, 27,000 armored vehicles, 4600 artillery guns and 3800 rocket launchers. Russia also has a larger potential for mobilization of soldiers than the US. China’s military budget is US$126 billion, but it had the most warships, at 520, along with 9150 tanks.
From NHK WORLD, Japan vows a fight:
Japan’s new police chief vows to fight terrorism
Japan’s new police chief has vowed to take resolute action against terrorism in cooperation with public security organizations in other countries.
Masahito Kanetaka assumed the post of commissioner general of the National Police Agency on Friday. The 60-year-old joined the agency in 1978 and has served in such posts as chief of the criminal investigation bureau.
At a news conference, Kanetaka referred to the Islamic State group that is demanding a ransom in exchange for the lives of 2 Japanese hostages. He said using human lives as shields to issue threats is unacceptable.
But rules out a military reprisal, via Reuters:
Abe briefing paper rules out Japan strike on Islamic State
Japan’s government considered whether planned legal changes would allow a military strike on Islamic State militants and concluded it did not, as officials scrambled to seek the release of two Japanese captured in Syria, according to a document reviewed by Reuters.
The briefing document was compiled on Friday by Japanese officials at the request of the prime minister’s office, shortly before a deadline to pay ransom for the release of the two men. There was no immediate word on their fate after the 0550 GMT deadline passed.
The capture of two Japanese citizens in Syria represented an “unacceptable act of terror,” the document said. But it concluded the situation did not meet the legal conditions for the dispatch of Japanese forces.
