Access Express | 08/1513
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Tibetan exile government site hacked, serves malware to vistors
Computer security firm Kaspersky Labs found the Tibetan government-in-exile's Chinese-language website has been hacked and is infecting visitors' with malware in what may to be an effort to spy on human rights activists visiting the site.
via reuters 
Staff Picks
The 1.6 percent of the internet that NSA “touches” is bigger than it seems
Last Friday the NSA provided details of its ongoing network surveillance operations, stating it "touches about 1.6%" of information carried through the internet each day. That means the NSA is "touching" more global data than Google processes.
via arstechnica
Google: Gmail users shouldn't expect email privacy
According to a recent court filing by Google, people sending email to any of the company's 425 million Gmail users should have no "reasonable expectation" that their communications are confidential.
via theguardian
From the Access Community
Obama offers weak justifications, inadequate proposals for U.S. spy reforms
Last week U.S. President Obama announced four proposals to reform NSA surveillance. However, even if enacted, these proposals would still fail to protect the civil liberties of U.S. and non-U.S. persons.
via accessnow
After nearly a year, Pakistan's YouTube block may be ending
Pakistan is reassessing its near yearlong ban on YouTube following a challenge by rights group Bytes for All. While activists aren’t holding out much hope, they are looking to an upcoming court decision on reform of internet censorship in Pakistan.
via blogs
U.A.E. attempts to shut down Arab-American news site
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates are making transnational attempts to shut down a site belonging to the Arab-American newspaper al-Watan. The site reports freely on political issues that UAE domestic media cannot due to censorship laws.
via ifex
Taiwanese government tampers with search results on nuclear energy policy
Activists in Taiwan fighting the launch of a nuclear plant are facing a new challenge: search engine censorship. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has admitted to paying to alter search results for keywords related to nuclear energy.
via globalvoicesonline
Obama's reversals on the NSA exposed
It is clear that Barack Obama's attitude to government surveillance has changed dramatically since he became president. But non-profit journalism organization ProPublica has exposed how stark the reversals are.
via dw
Founder of email provider Lavabit speaks out about shut-down
Speaking under gag order about the closure of privacy-minded email service Lavabit, founder Ladar Levison said while he could not share many details, "if the American people knew what our government was doing, they wouldn't be allowed to do it anymore."
via arstechnica
NSA surveillance leaks undermine agency cyberdefense ambitions
The NSA has lobbied the U.S. government to deploy a universal defense for America’s computer networks in order to intercept cyberattacks. But officials say it has little chance of moving forward given backlash against NSA surveillance.
via nytimes
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GigaOM interviews PGP inventor Phil Zimmermann on the surveillance society
Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP, talks about the corrupting nature of big data, the end of privacy, and the rise of the surveillance society in a wide-ranging interview with tech blog GigaOM.
via gigaom
Kim Jong Un inspects North Korea’s first smartphone, an Android clone
North Korea has unveiled a new smartphone, the "Arirang," a clone of the Android operating system. The new phone comes despite the fact cellphone data services are still illegal in the country and that the phone may not be produced in North Korea at all.
via washingtonpost
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U.S. House Intelligence Committee withheld surveillance details from Congress
U.S. Congressman Justin Amash has accused the U.S. House Intelligence Committee of failing to share information on an NSA surveillance program, stating they "did NOT, in fact, make the 2011 document available to Representatives in Congress."
via thehill
India launches open data portal
The Indian government launched an open data portal with more than 3,500 data sets from 49 different government offices. The information is free for anyone to access and use, and to encourage engagement the Planning Commission has organized an app contest.
via techpresident
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