The digital world, explained.

Jeb BooneJuly 16, 2012 13:15

Starcraft 2: Transgender gamer quietly wins, in more ways than one

Canada's newly crowned Starcraft 2 champion has done more than just beat the best.

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Scarlett, clutching a Canadian flag, takes the stage shortly after her victory in the WCS Canada championship. (Paul Harrison/ESFI World/Courtesy)

The number of top Starcraft 2 professional gamers Sasha "Scarlett" Hostyn has defeated continues to grow, adding fan favorites like HuK, Drewbie and Ostojiy to the list. Last April, at the IGN Pro League season four, Scarlett also managed to beat several top Korean players, asserting her dominance even further.

But in an industry typically characterized as sexist or hyper-masculine, Scarlett has had to overcome more than just top Koreans to assert herself as a legitimate professional gamer.

After a breakout performance at the IGN Pro League Season 4 Starcraft 2 championship last year, the 18-year-old transgendered female from Ontario continued to dominate in Blizzard’s Starcraft 2 World Championship in Toronto on Sunday, becoming Canada’s national champion and earning $15,000.

Jeb BooneJuly 10, 2012 13:54

Anonymous seeks to rid internet of child pornography

In their most ambitious campaign yet, Anonymous launches OpPedoChat, an attempt to rid the entire internet of child pornography.

Anonymous has taken up digital arms against pedophiles operating online in their latest campaign, OpPedoChat.

They have also vowed to completely remove all forms of child pornography from the internet, their most ambitious project to date.

“Anonymous aims to diminish if not eradicate this plague from the Internet. For the good of our followers, for the good of mankind, and for our own enjoyment we shall expel from the Internet and systematically destroy any such boards that continue to operate,” said a supposed Anonymous spokesman in a YouTube video.

The amorphous, leaderless collective has been simultaneously decried as cyber-terrorists and heralded as faceless defenders of downtrodden, children. Anonymous has targeted sexual predators in the past, each time improving their somewhat muddied public image.

Jeb BooneJuly 9, 2012 15:04

Former NSA employees give evidence in online surveillance case

Former employees present evidence against the NSA for illegally seizing and storing electronic communications and passing through US "intercept centers."

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U.S. President Barack Obama signs a proclamation to designate federal lands within the former Fort Ord as a national monument in the Oval Office of the White House April 20, 2012 in Washington, DC. According to the White House, "Fort Ord, a former military base located on California’s Central Coast, is a world-class destination for hikers, mountain bikers, and outdoor enthusiasts who come to enjoy the area’s history and scenic landscapes." (Chip Somodevilla/AFP/Getty Images)

Three former National Security Agency (NSA) employees say the organization has illegally obtained and stored private electronic communications.

The former NSA officials were presenting formally evidence to a US District Court, joining the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, an online privacy advocacy organization, in giving evidence that the NSA have illegally obtained electronic correspondence for US citizens.

With the motion filed earlier this month, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation is asking the court to reject the government state secrets privilege, exempting the organizations from prosecution for reasons of national security. The lawsuit has returned to district court after the US Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the case late last year.

Jeb BooneJuly 2, 2012 13:10

Internet declares its independence

A coalition of activist groups have issued a "Declaration of Internet Freedom" aimed at lawmakers. Will they listen?

The World Wide Web has declared it's independence.

A coalition of activist groups pronounced the internet's liberty today in a "Declaration of Internet Freedom." The document, its signatories say, lists five basic principles that should guide internet policymakers and ensure the future of a free and open internet.

Jeb BooneJune 29, 2012 16:41

Senators introduce new cyber security bill. Is it the new CISPA?

A group of Republican senators have introduced Secure IT, a new piece of cyber security legislation.

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U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is questione by reporters after he left a closed door joint Senate and House Intelligence Committee meeting on Capitol Hill, on June 7, 2012 in Wasington, DC. The joint Intelligence committee met with James R. Clapper,ÊDirector of National Intelligence to discuss administration leaks of classified information. (Mark Wilson/AFP/Getty Images)

A group of Republican senators introduced a new cyber security bill, the Secure IT Act, earlier this week as an alternative the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a bill President Barack Obama pledged to veto.

The bill is backed by John McCain, Kay Baily Hutchison and Saxby Chambliss, among other senators.

Secure IT is similar to CISPA. It would remove the legal barriers that prevent companies from sharing information about cyber threats with one another and with the government, The Hill reported. The bill also hopes to address the concerns of internet freedom and privacy activists that argue cyber security legislation gives government agencies access to American’s online privates information.

Jeb BooneJune 28, 2012 12:20

Salman Rushdie fatwa granted new life in Iran video game

Ayatollah Khomeini's infamous death sentence against Salman Rushdie may be carried out by Iranian gamers in the digital world.

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Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie arrives at the High Court on August 26, 2008 in London, England. Salman Rushdie is suing John Blake Publishing Ltd over alegations against himself and his ex-wife in the memiors of Ron Evans, one of his former Special Branch bodyguards. (Cate Gillon/AFP/Getty Images)

In the world's best known religious fatwa, Iran's Grand Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie to death, twenty-three years ago.

Now, his ruling is being preserved for posterity as a video game.

"The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict" is a computer game in development by the Islam Association of Students, a government-sponsored organization. Finalizing the initial stages of development this week, the game aims to tell Iran’s next generation of gamers about Rushdie’s “sin” of blasphemy.

Whether or not the game will be a first person shooter or a real time strategy game, or something entirely different, is still unknown. However, if anything is to be gleaned from the title given to the game, players will more than likely implement Khomeini’s Verdict — a death sentence.

Jeb BooneJune 27, 2012 11:09

Anonymous declares war on Japan

Anonymous has declared war on the Japanese government and it's recording industry to protest a new anti-piracy law.

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The logo of Anonymous Japan as provided by the op_japan twitter account (Screengrab/Screengrab)

“Greetings land of the rising sun, we are Anonymous,” began the hacker collective's latest press release, in which Anonymous declared war against the Japanese Government and the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

Anonymous said it was launching cyrber-attacks to protest the country’s new anti-piracy law.

The law allows courts to give a two-year jail term or fines of up to $25,000 for anyone convicted of piracy or illegally downloading copyrighted material.

In response to the law, Anonymous launched cyber-attacks on Tuesday against websites belonging to Japan’s Ministry of Finance, Supreme Court, the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Democratic Party. Technicians shut down the finance ministry's website after detecting an intruder on the webserver, offcials at the ministry said.

Jeb BooneJune 22, 2012 10:38

Are DDoS attacks a legitimate form of protest?

A Dutch political party, Democrats 66, may want to give cyber-attacks legal protection.

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Protesters demonstrate against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Riga on February 13, 2012. Around 300 protesters, mainly young people, braved sub-zero temperatures to rally against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement outside the Baltic state's cabinet office, following weekend demonstrations across Europe. ACTA aims to beef up international standards for intellectual property protection, for example by doing more to fight counterfeit goods. But it is its role on the Internet that has fuelled anger online and on the streets. (Ilmars Znotins/AFP/Getty Images)

Democrats 66, a Dutch political party, is seeking laws to protect online protests.

The social liberalism party claims that some forms of online protests are often incorrectly characterized as illegal hacks, perhaps referring to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, according to Novum, a Dutch news agency. DDoS attacks use botnets and large numbers of users to focus traffic onto a website, forcing it to crash temporarily.

Kees Verhoeven, a lawmaker with Democrats 66, announced on Twitter that his party sought laws protecting both online and street protests.Verhoeven said online protests will begin happening more frequently over the next few years. At the moment, DDoS attacks are heavily penalized in the Netherlands.

Jeb BooneJune 21, 2012 11:25

Microsoft tablet freezes during presentation

Microsoft's latest gadget, the "Surface" tablet, freezes during a presentation.

Microsoft's lastest gadget and iPad competitor, "Surface," suffered a failure during a presentation.

Microsoft's president of Windows and Windows Live division Steven Sinofsky was presenting the tablet to a crowd in Hollywood when the gadget crashed in front of the live audience. Sinofsky spoke for an awkward 20 seconds before dashing behind the podium for a backup.

Jeb BooneJune 19, 2012 13:49

Online behavior monitoring sees marked increase in 2012

Browsing history and online behavior monitoring by the web's 50 most-visited websites has exploded.

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An example of targeted ads when inputting "new motherboard prices" into a Google search. (Screengrab/Screengrab)

Data tracking and online behavior monitoring has sharply increased on 50 of the most-visited sites on the web in the last two years, according to a report by Krux Digital, an online data analysis firm based in San Francisco.

An increase in behavioral monitoring is coupled with the rise of online advertising auctions, a technique for selling advertising that nearly instantly increases the profitability of the website.

When a user visits a website, the visit is auctioned off automatically to the highest ad bidder based on the number of pages visited, the length of time spent on each page, and the user’s browsing history. For example, if the user has been searching for “new motherboard prices,” they may receive ads for computer parts sales while visiting a website that monitors their online behavior.

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