Google Android Apps Found to be Sharing Data
September 30, 2010
BBC News
Some of the most popular apps written for Google’s Android phones do not tell users what data they are gathering, says a study by US researchers.
Half of 30 applications studied share location information and unique identifiers with advertisers.
Information about the data gathering was collected using software developed by the team.
App creators should provide more information what will be done with harvested data, they say.
The team of computer scientists from Intel Labs, Penn State, and Duke University chose 30 out of the 358 most popular Android apps that, when installed, ask for permission to get at location, camera and audio data.
Using an extension to the Android operating system called TaintDroid, created by the team, they logged what the applications did.
This revealed that 15 of the apps sent location information to advertisers but did not inform users that data was being shared. Some apps gathered and despatched location information even when an application was not running and some sent updates every 30 seconds.
One application gathered data and sent it as soon as it was installed but before it was run for the first time.
TaintDroid also found that seven of the apps shared unique identifiers, known as IMEI numbers, when sending data. Others despatched phone numbers or SIM card serial numbers.
Trust model
The researchers said that while many Android apps ask for permission to gather information they did not do enough to inform users what was going to be done with that data or who it would be shared with.
They criticised the fact that users must “blindly trust” applications to play fair with data that they gather.
“Android’s coarse grained access control provides insufficient protection against third-party applications seeking to collect sensitive data,” wrote the researchers in a paper about their work.
Mobile security analyst Nigel Stanley from Bloor Research said the loose permission system could prove a boon for hi-tech thieves.
“The blanket permissions a user gives on installing an app can give carte blanche to malware and spyware providers to collect as much private data as they want, under the protective nicety of a simplistic warning from the operating system,” he said.
In a statement, Android creator Google said users necessarily entrusted all computing devices with some of their information.
“Android has taken steps to inform users of this trust relationship and to limit the amount of trust a user must grant to any given application developer,” it said. “We also provide developers with best practices about how to handle user data.”
It added that when apps are installed they show a screen detailing what information that program will access and users must give permission for installation to go ahead.
“We consistently advise users to only install apps they trust,” it said.
The research and the TaintDroid program are due to be presented at the Usenix symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI 10).
Click here for the full report from BBC News
Authorities Plan To Trawl Phone Calls And E Mails For Signs Of “Resentment Toward Government”
September 30, 2010
Infowars.com
By: Paul Joseph Watson
Do you resent the government for enforcing Obamacare or raising your taxes? Write about it in an email or talk about it on the phone and you could be placed under surveillance as a potential terrorist, if frightening new technology being shopped to law enforcement agencies is implemented.
Forget pre-crime and get ready for face-crime, Big Brother is set to unleash a new wave of shockingly invasive and Orwellian technology on the American people if a recent symposium in Hamburg New York is anything to go by. Federal agencies, police departments and others were all in attendance to see a demonstration of a system that trawls phone conversations, emails and instant messages to detect “resentment toward government,” alerting authorities to potential “terrorists” who are then placed under surveillance.
The technology was demonstrated to law enforcement officials, mental health professionals, and military representatives at a recent International First Responder-Military Symposium held at Hilbert College.
“A Swiss professor working with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist who heads the Mind Machine Project there outlined how this program operates through computerized scanning of phone calls and electronic messages sent through e-mail and social networking mechanisms,” reports the Buffalo News.
The system works by detecting “resentment in conversations through measurements in decibels and other voice biometrics,” more specifically the emotional spikes that characterize “hatred and deep resentment toward government.”
“As for written transmissions scrutinized by the computer program, it can detect the same patterns of fixation on specified subjects,” states the report.
Once an individual has been identified as harboring “resentment toward government,” the information can be “passed along to authorities so surveillance can begin.”
Besides law enforcement applications, the program is also designed to aid mental health professionals to help “war veterans” become emotionally stable, chillingly implying that distrust or hatred of government, which was hailed by the founding fathers as a vital virtue, is now considered a mental illness.
Of course, this technology completely violates the 4th amendment, but by introducing it as a tool to fight terrorism, authorities hope to skirt around the issue – the problem being that, as we have exhaustively documented, the federal government now sees any political activity whatsoever, be it anti-war protesters on the left, or anti-big government activists on the right, as potential domestic terrorists.
The technology is rationalized by its adherents, who claim that it will help stop terrorists in their tracks, while also being used against ‘troubled veterans and first responders’.
However, the introduction of a program that closely resembles George Orwell’s “facecrime” in 1984 has little to do with fighting extremist Muslims hiding in caves in central Asia, this is all about targeting the American people with total panopticon-style surveillance, while also creating a chilling atmosphere and reminding people that their every conversation, instant message or email is being scanned by super-computers for any sign of extremism or “resentment toward government”.
As we have seen from the MIAC report, the spying case in Pennsylvania, and a host of others in recent years, the federal government defines “terrorist propaganda” as any material critical of the state, therefore any dissent against Big Brother in a phone conversation or an email would automatically trigger the new technology.
This is not only a constitution killer, it represents a hammer blow to free speech. The Internet as a forum of open discourse and free exchange of ideas will be fundamentally damaged if people live in constant fear of being raided by the feds at any minute because they sounded off about the government in an e mail or a posting on a comment board.
Click here for the full report from Infowars.com
Skin Cancer Risk From Tanning Beds Is Minuscule
September 30, 2010
Natural News
By: David Gutierrez
The media have widely exaggerated the skin cancer risks of tanning beds says Ivan Oransky, editor of Reuters Health and treasurer of the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ), writing on the AHCJ blog Covering Health.
Oransky notes that in honor of Skin Cancer Awareness Month, a number of skin cancer groups have issued press releases warning that, in the words of the World Health Organization, “use of sunbeds before the age of 35 is associated with a 75 percent increase in the risk of melanoma.” Concern over this statistic was a factor in a new Delaware law limiting access to tanning beds by teenagers.
In an article for Wilmington’s News Journal, AHCJ member Hiran Ratnayake reviewed the research that led to the oft-quoted statistic off 75 percent increased risk. He found that a review of research from a number of different studies did indeed find an average 75 percent increase in those who used tanning beds. But the original risk was so low (roughly two-tenths of 1 percent) that even a 75 percent increase means a final risk still well under 1 percent.
“Melanoma is pretty rare,” said internist Lisa Schwartz of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., “and almost all the time, the way to make it look scarier is to present the relative change, the 75 percent increase, rather than to point out that it is still really rare.”
According to Oransky, citing relative rather than absolute risk is a common way that doctors, pharmaceutical companies and the media try to make consumers think they are at higher risk of a disease than they really are.
“When you read a study that says something doubles the risk of some terrible disease, ask: Doubles from what to what?” he writes.
“This is not an argument for or against tanning beds. It’s an argument for clear explanations of the data behind policy decisions.”
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Western Surge in Obesity May Have Been Caused by a Virus
September 21, 2010
The Independent
By: Jeremy Laurance
The obesity explosion that has swept the Western world over the past 30 years may have been caused by a virus, scientists have said.
Researchers have discovered new evidence for an illness they have called “infectobesity” – obesity that is transmitted from person to person, much like an infection. The agent thought to be responsible is a strain of adenovirus, versions of which cause the common cold. It has already been labelled the “fat bug”.
There are more than 50 strains of adenovirus known to infect humans but only one, adenovirus 36, has been linked with human obesity.
Now scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have found that children who showed evidence of infection with adenovirus 36 were more likely to be fat. In tests on 124 children aged eight to 18, the virus was present in more than 20 per cent of those who were obese, compared with less than 6 per cent of the rest. Among those infected with adenovirus 36, four out of five were obese.
Children carrying the virus weighed on average almost 50lb more than those who were not. Among the obese children, who accounted for half the total, those with the virus weighed on average 35lb more than the rest.
Jeffrey Schwimmer, an associate professor of clinical paediatrics, who led the study published in the US journal Pediatrics, said: “This amount of extra weight is a major concern at any age, but is especially so for a child. Obesity can be a marker for future health problems like heart disease, liver disease and diabetes. An extra 35lb to 50lb is more than enough to greatly increase those risks.
“This work helps point out that body weight is more complicated than it’s made out to be. And it is time that we move away from assigning blame in favour of developing a level of understanding that will better support efforts at both prevention and treatment.
“These data add credence to the concept that an infection can be a cause or contributor to obesity.”
The idea of a viral cause for obesity was first raised a decade ago by Nikhil Dhurandhar, now a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre in Louisiana. He noticed that chickens which died during a flu epidemic in India in the 1980s – caused by an adenovirus – were plump, rather than thin and emaciated as expected.
Further studies revealed that one in five obese people showed signs of adenovirus infections and were on average more than 28lb heavier than people who had never been infected.
Sceptics pointed out that viruses had never been linked with a long-term disorder such as obesity. Dr Dhurandhar said the evidence was as clear as a map of the USA – where the obesity epidemic “has spread like a forest fire from the east coast to the west over the last 20 years”.
Laboratory studies showed the virus infects immature fat cells, prompting them to proliferate and grow more quickly. Professor Schwimmer said: “This might be the mechanism for obesity but more work needs to be done.”
Tam Fry, a spokesman for the UK National Obesity Forum said: “This is fascinating research which is starting to come out from the observations on chickens 10 years ago.
“Obesity is multifactorial – there is no single cause. Genes predispose to obesity, and family background. Then there is the onslaught by the food industry and the advertising industry. There is great value in as many researchers as possible looking in their own areas for the causes.”
Click here for the full report from the Independent
Eating Nuts Lowers Cholesterol
September 30, 2010
Natural News
By: David Gutierrez
Making nuts a regular part of your diet may help lower your cholesterol, according to a study conducted by researchers from Loma Linda University and published in the hives of Internal Medicine
“Increasing consumption of nuts as part of an otherwise prudent diet can be expected to favorably affect blood lipid levels … and have the potential to lower coronary heart disease risk,” the researchers wrote.
The researchers reviewed the results of 25 prior studies that had measured the relationship between nut consumption and blood lipid levels in almost 600 participants. They found that a diet containing an average of 67 grams (2.4 ounces) of nuts per day led to a 7.4 percent drop in cholesterol levels, as well as a significant drop in triglyceride levels. Higher levels of both substances have been linked to a higher risk of heart disease.
The effect was seen in a variety of nut types. The decrease in cholesterol and triglyceride levels was proportional to the increase in nut consumption.
Researchers do not yet understand why nuts, which can be high in saturated fat, may actually lower cholesterol levels. They suspect that some of the plant sterols found in nuts may actually decrease the body’s absorption of cholesterol from other foods.
Various health experts warned, however, that nut consumption should be limited to three ounces per day, due to the foods’ high fat and calorie content. In addition, consumers should avoid sugary or salty nuts and instead increase their intake of plain nuts.
“Apart from salted peanuts at the pub, nuts in sugary cereals or the traditional Christmas selection, nuts have been largely lacking in our diets in the UK,” said Ellen Mason of the British Heart Foundation.
The study was funded by the Almond Board of California, the California Walnut Commission, the International Tree Nut Council and the National Peanut Board. Lead researcher Joan Sabate is also a member of the Pistachio Scientific Advisory Board and has received an honorarium from that institution.
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Think Your Exposure to BPA is Minimal and Harmless? Think Again
September 30, 2010
Natural News
By: Jonathan Benson
Some recent reports about the dangers of the plastic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) insist that people not worry because overall exposure is limited, they say. But a new report published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives says otherwise, estimating that the average person is exposed to at least eight times the daily amount of BPA that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers “safe”.
“Our data raise grave concerns that regulatory agencies have grossly underestimated current human exposure levels,” explain study authors in their report.
Many even question the EPA’s 50 micrograms per day threshold, citing evidence that minimal amounts of the chemical interfere with proper hormone balance, both in children and adults. But at eight times that amount, there is no telling the amount of damage being inflicted.
According to Thomas Zoeller, a biology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, BPA is known to mimic estrogen in the body. It also binds to two other receptors, including those associated with male hormones like testosterone and thyroid hormones. When altered, these imbalanced hormones eventually lead to serious illness.
Some argue that the liver filters out most BPA from the body within a few hours anyway, but scientific studies have shown that this is not the case. Julia Taylor, a biologist at the University of Missouri, conducted a study on both mice and monkeys which revealed that some BPA stays in the blood and remains “biologically active” long after exposure. And such findings can be extrapolated from monkeys and mice to humans because these animals process BPA in similar ways to humans.
“These data should make us reconsider some previously held hypotheses about BPA, such as how quickly it is cleared from the body and the differences in metabolism between species,” emphasized Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, concerning the findings.
Editor’s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support the implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and well-being of all living creatures.
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Age Related Hearing Loss Halted With Folate Nutrient
September 30, 2010
Natural News
By: S.L. Baker
Hearing loss is the most common sensory disorder in the United States, and more than 36 million Americans have lost some of their hearing. Mostly, hearing loss is blamed on getting older. But evidence is accumulating that the real culprit could be a lack of B vitamins — especially folate.
For example, in 2007 scientists from Wageningen University in the Netherlands studied 728 men and women between the ages of 50 and 70 and found that by taking folic acid supplements, age-related hearing loss in the low frequency range was significantly delayed. Then, at last year’s American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting in San Diego, a Boston-based research team discussed evidence showing that when men over the age of 60 had a high folate intake from foods and/or vitamins, they decreased their risk of losing their hearing by 20%.
Now a new study, dubbed the Blue Mountains Hearing Study and headed by scientists at the University of Sydney in Australia, has revealed yet another important link between folate and hearing. The researchers found that when people have low levels of the B vitamin in their blood, they have a significantly increased risk of hearing loss. The research was recently published in The Journal of Nutrition.
The study, which involved researchers from several Australian universities, looked at 2,956 people age 50 and up. Blood levels of vitamin B-12, folate and homocysteine were measured and then compared to the amount of hearing loss in the research subjects. The results? People with low levels of folate (below 11 nanomoles per liter) had a 34% increased risk of hearing loss.
What’s more, elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine (over 20 micromoles per liter) were linked to a 64% increase in the risk of hearing loss. Excess levels of homocysteine have previously been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and memory problems. Too much homocysteine is also believed to disrupt normal blood flow to the inner ear — which could possibly explain the homocysteine and hearing loss connection. And a body of earlier research has concluded adequate B vitamin levels are associated with normal homocysteine levels in the blood.
NaturalNews has previously reported on other ways folate is important to maintaining and protecting health. For example, studies show it may protect from breast cancer and help prevent memory loss, too.
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Breastfeeding Better Than Vaccines at Preventing Infection
September 30, 2010
Natural News
By: Ethan Huff
Researchers in Greece are urging mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for at least the first six months of their lives, based on new research findings. According to the study, babies who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months experience fewer infections than those who are either breastfed for a shorter period of time, or fed formula in addition to breast milk.
Professor Emmanouil Galanakis and his colleagues tracked nearly 1,000 infants for a year, keeping track of their health. They then evaluated how the children were fed throughout their early months of development, and compared the results. They found that fully breastfed kids had significantly fewer infections than the other children.
“Mothers should be advised by health professionals that, in addition to all the other benefits, exclusive breastfeeding helps prevent infections in babies and lessens the frequency and severity of infectious episodes,” said researchers.
Mothers’ breastmilk contains vital antibodies, nutrients, vitamins and immunological factors that babies need to develop natural immunity to disease. In other words, breastfeeding is the optimal and natural way to instill immunity in children, eliminating the need for chemical-laden vaccines that often cause more harm than good.
The research also serves as another wake-up call to mothers everywhere about the importance of breastfeeding, not only for their children’s health but also for their own.
“We know that breastfeeding is the default method of infant feeding for babies; good for mothers and good for…health,” Janet Fyle from the Royal College of Midwives in the U.K. is quoted as saying in a recent BBC article. “This is why we need to continue our efforts to ensure that we maintain a high rate of breastfeeding.”
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Weight Loss Cure Oral Arguments
September 30, 2010 by KT
Filed under Kevin's Blog
As promised, here is the audio of the oral arguments in my civil appeal of the district court’s judgment of civil contempt regarding The Weight Loss Cure book.
Click here to listen AND click here to help me fight for your first amendment rights!
Yours in health,
KT
Al-Qaeda Plot to Attack European Cities Revealed
September 30, 2010
AFP
Alice Ritchie
LONDON (AFP) – Western intelligence agencies have uncovered an Al-Qaeda plot to launch attacks in Britain, France and Germany by Pakistan-based extremists, security sources and media reports said Wednesday.
“The threat is very real,” a security official based in Europe told AFP, after British and US media reported that militants were planning simultaneous strikes in London and in cities in France and Germany.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that France and Britain had been targeted, explaining that orders had been given at the highest level of Al-Qaeda to punish Europe, and France in particular.
The BBC and Sky News said commando-style teams of militants planned to seize Western hostages and murder them in a manner similar to the attacks in Mumbai two years ago, but the source could not confirm this.
The official said a bomb was a more likely threat than a rampage such as that seen in the Indian city, where 10 gunmen killed 166 people and wounded more than 300 in three luxury hotels, a railway station and restaurants.
US intelligence services learned of the threat through various sources, including by questioning suspects from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which was then confirmed by other countries, the European official added.
US broadcasters ABC and CNN earlier reported that the source of the intelligence was a German suspect detained in Afghanistan.
In Washington, a US official told AFP the threat “was credible” but it was not clear when or where it was to be launched — and if it could take place outside France, Britain and Germany.
ABC reported that the United States was also a possible target and said President Barack Obama had been briefed.
“The threat is, at this point, credible but not specific,” said the US official, who asked to remain anonymous.
The official added: “And while no one should dismiss the prospect of a Mumbai-style operation, it’s entirely conceivable that other modes of attack are in play.”
Top US officials would not publicly comment on the threat for fear of undermining intelligence-gathering operations.
But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “We continue to work very closely with our European allies on the threat from international terrorism including the role that Al-Qaeda continues to play.”
She said any information was routinely shared with key partners “in order to disrupt terrorist plotting, identify and take action against potential operatives, strengthen our defences against potential threats.”
The BBC described the threat as “one of the most serious Al-Qaeda attack plans in recent years” and said it was inspired by the terror group’s fugitive leadership in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Sky News and the Wall Street Journal said a recent surge in US drone attacks in Pakistan’s border areas was aimed at eliminating the plot’s leaders, and had killed some of them.
Pakistan, however, rejected the notion of a plot on its soil.
“We don’t have any credible information from sources that any such planning is taking place or terrorists are planning anything in North Waziristan,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP.
Britain’s Home Office refused to comment on the reports of a plot, but a spokeswoman said: “We know we face a real and serious threat from terrorism.”
She told AFP there was “no change at all” to the national threat level, which since January has been at “severe”, the second highest of five levels, meaning a terror attack is highly likely.
The German government meanwhile said it was aware of Al-Qaeda’s “long-term” aim to attack Western targets, but it had not changed its security assessment.
“At the moment there are no concrete indications of any imminent attacks on Germany resulting from this,” an interior ministry statement said.
France has been on a heightened state of alert amid warnings of an imminent attack, but a source with links to the intelligence service said these warnings were not linked to the newly reported plot.
French officials also said Wednesday they had no new information on a specific threat, although government sources last week said US intelligence had warned of jihadi cells moving back to Europe from Pakistan.
Click here to read the full report from AFP.
