Open Letter: Editorial: Dear The United States Ambassador to Japan Her Excellency Ms. Caroline Kennedy

Open Letter: Editorial: Dear The United States Ambassador to Japan Her Excellency Ms. Caroline Kennedy

 

Dear The United States Ambassador to Japan Her Excellency Ms. Caroline Kennedy

 

We sincerely welcome you to visit The Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

Japan and The United States have faced many challenges in negotiating on the areas of foreign, security, defense, diplomacy, and economic policy.

 

However, we hope that you as The United States Her Excellency Ambassador to Japan will exert your ability with exceptional insight and in the spirit of humanism to reconstruct The United States-Japan relationship.

 

We want multi-layered and sustainable relations backed up by mutual trust between both peoples, without overemphasis on military.

 

We have a strong desire to share the universal values of freedom, democracy and mutual respect for basic human rights with American people.

 

Negative examples

 

During the 68 years since the end of World War II, The United States has been a teacher of democracy for the people of The Kingdom of Ryukyu both through positive and negative examples.

 

Young people of the time, who had studied in The United States after the war, praised the democracy.

 

Many of their generations were inspired to become ‘militarism boys’ through education.

 

However, after completing their study in The United States inspired by the hope of democracy, they made use of their knowledge and experience to promote higher education and reconstruct The Kingdom of Ryukyu society.

 

Meanwhile, it was The United States that captured their land from the residents at Isabama and Iejima “by bulldozers and bayonets” to construct the base in the early postwar period.

 

Such conduct violated Article 46 of the Hague Convention stating that private property cannot be confiscated.

 

Before the war, people lived their lives in the place where The United States Marine Corps Futenma Air Station is located.

 

There were schools, a village office and agricultural land.

 

We want Her Excellency The United States Ambassador to understand this abnormal history and accept the reality that The United States Government operates a military base in an area where it drove out civilians.

 

The Governments of Japan and The United States say they will move forward with the plan to relocate the Futenma base to Henoko, Nago, under an agreement reached in 2006.

 

MV-22 Osprey aircraft plagued with a history of serious accidents will station permanently at the new base and fighter aircraft will regularly use it, if it completed.

 

The Kingdom of Ryukyu people are concerned that the human rights, life and property of residents living in the northern region, will forever be compromised as they will be exposed to noise pollution and the risk of an accident.

 

Believed to be the origin of the mermaid legend, Dugongs live in the sea where coral reefs spread, off the Henoko district.

 

The Dugong is listed “1A” as critically endangered in Japanese Red List published by the Ministry of Environment.

 

Her Excellency The United States Ambassador to Japan tweeted recently, commenting that The United States Government opposes drive hunt fishing.

 

While most readers responded favorably with grateful hearts to you on Twitter in English, there were many dissenting voices tweeting in Japanese that said Dolphin fishing is a part of the life and tradition of residents in their community.

 

You expressed that you were deeply concerned by the inhumaneness of drive hunt Dolphin killing.

 

Then is it not inhumane to pose a threat to the habitat of the Dugongs by destroying their feeding grounds ?

 

Currently, in your nation and many other regions, American organisations are providing shelter and sanctuary for Manatees, which are internationally protected members of the Dugong family.

 

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helps rescue Manatees and transports them to rehabilitation facilities in Florida.

 

They have a network of expert organizations, including biologists, to save Manatees.

 

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has made recommendations to protect the Dugongs of Henoko three times.

 

We hope you will accept the recommendations to save this endangered species.

 

Open the door to create new friendship

 

Ryukyu Shimpo wrote an editorial published on November 24, 1963, to mourn the departure of soul of your father, the 35th President of The United States John Fitzgerald Kennedy, after he was tragically killed by an assassin’s bullets.

 

It reads: “President Kennedy struggled mightily to resolve both the international and internal issues such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Limited Test Ban Treaty and racial discrimination. He showed his ability to take action, determination and contribution to resolve the problems as the greatest leader of our age with passion and wisdom.”

 

The departure of soul of the standard-bearer of the New Frontier spirit was a great shock for the people of The Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

With the sense of responsibility coming from your father, would you open the door to create new friendship between The United States and The Kingdom of Ryukyu, and put an end to the military colonial rule in The Kingdom of Ryukyu ?

 

We hope that your visit to The Kingdom of Ryukyu will help change the policy and allow The Government to abandon the relocation plan to Henoko and to move the Futenma base outside The Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

(English translation by T&CT)

 

(Ryukyu Shimpo, 11 Tuesday February 2014 The Roman)

 

 

British businesses fall victim to 'cybersquatters' amid domain name rollout

British businesses fall victim to 'cybersquatters' amid domain name rollout

 

As hundreds of new web suffixes become publicly available, some of Britains top brands are falling victim to 'cybersquatters'

 

This week sees the rollout of hundreds of new generic top-level domain name suffixes, from شبكة. – pronounced dot-shabaka (.web in Arabic) – to .sexy, .technology and .singles.

 

Over the next year, more than 1,000 new top level domains (TLDs) will come online, taking the number well beyond the 22 that are used today, such as .com, .net and .org.

 

This has been hailed as one of the biggest changes to the Internet since its inception.

 

However, new research reveals that some of the UK’s biggest companies are failing to protect their intellectual property, with many domain names relating to British brands already being bought up by third parties.

 

For example, one of the most highly anticipated new extensions is .web, but 80 per cent of the .web domain names relating to the UK’s 50 most valuable brands have been reserved by unknown entities – including HSBC.web, JohnLewis.web and Burberry.web – according to ICANN's Trademark Clearinghouse, the centralised repository of validated trademarks.

 

Similarly, third parties have attempted to pre-order 78 per cent of the UK’s top 50 most valuable brands under the .online domain name, 72 per cent under .app, 70 per cent under .shop and 68 per cent under .blog.

 

This practice is known as 'cybersquatting', because the third party is essentially holding the brand's domain name to ransom.

 

“The research shows that some of the UK’s biggest brand names are at risk of IP infringement online as new TLDs are rolled out, with other parties keen to capitalise on the traffic a branded website will generate," said Jan Corstens, project director at the Trademark Clearinghouse.

 

"This not only compromises the reputation of each brand targeted, but also has much larger implications. Looking at the bigger picture, if brands fail to prevent third parties from registering domains relating to their trademarks, the economy as a whole potentially stands to lose millions to grey and black market activities, with consumers inadvertently buying counterfeit products from third parties posing as the brand online”.

 

Further analysis revealed that 54 per cent of these brands are currently not in control of key domain names across major existing domain extensions.

 

The findings include examples of familiar brands from the telecoms, financial services and petroleum industries not owning key domain names such as VirginMedia.info, RBS.biz and Shell.net.

 

Brands in the food grocery space were most notable in this regard, with tesco.co, asda.org, sainsburys.info, morrisons.org all found to be under the control of an unofficial party.

 

Around 70 per cent of the brands studied have already taken legal action against third parties infringing on their IP online.

 

One way for companies to protect their intellectual property is to pre-register domains such as tesco.shop and tesco.web, to prevent cybersquatters from getting their hands on them.

 

However, each of these new domains costs about £10 to £30 a year to own, and the sheer number of new TLDs means that costs will add up.

 

Alternatively, companies can record their trademarks in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

 

This allows them to secure all the domain names relating to a particular trademark ahead of wider public availability, and be warned if any third party seeks to take control of a domain which matches their IP.

 

It costs £92 to record a trademark for a year, £267 for three years, and £446 for five years.

 

"We believe that in these instances, prevention is better than cure and cheaper than costly litigation associated with domain disputes," said Corstens.

 

(The Telegraph, 5 Wednesday February 2014 The Roman)

 

NSA and Obama: Yes, We Can

NSA and Obama: Yes, We Can

 

Why is President Obama so permissive with regard to excesses of US intelligence apparatus?

 

Stephan Richter

 

Stephan Richter is the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Globalist, the daily online magazine, and a columnist in newspapers around the world.

 

[caption id="attachment_11470" align="alignnone" width="680"] (NSA’s goal to make the US 'safe' is not deliverable and comes at great cost [Getty])[/caption] 

Few of his supporters would have ever thought that Barack Obama's famous 2008 presidential campaign slogan would end up turning into the collective mantra of the US intelligence community during his term in office.

 

But here we are: "Yes, We Can" is the best way to describe the arrogant attitude of the more than 50,000 spooks employed by the US government, whenever they are faced with any questions pertaining to the legitimacy of their actions.

 

Their arrogance is as breathtaking, as are their mostly phony protestations of operating under a carefully calibrated web of checks and balances.

 

And Mr Obama's timidity in tackling both phenomena is astonishing for a man who is a constitutional lawyer by training.

 

At this stage, the memory of the Church Committee is not just faint, but depressing.

 

In 1975, Idaho Senator Frank Church chaired a special committee - the forerunner of the Senate Intelligence Committee - and mounted a vigorous, no-holds-barred investigation of the overreach of the spying agencies during the Nixon era.

 

The idea that a similarly vigorous defence of the vitality of American democracy, much needed though it is, could be mounted is simply unimaginable today.

 

By whom?

 

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, the current Senate Intelligence Committee chair?

 

A question of oversight

 

The current set of characters on Capitol Hill has given a new meaning to the hallowed term "Congressional Oversight".

 

It's no longer about effective legislative checks-and-balances on the actions of the executive branch.

 

The 'oversight' now practised in Congress is thus of the kind where one consciously overlooks something critical that is right under one's eyes - oversight as deliberate lapses, not providing the constitutionally mandated counterweight.

 

Rather than seeing their role as sentries against the executive branch's gradual slide into a surveillance state, these fine members of Congress have a different "vision".

 

Eyes wide shut, they see themselves as the intelligence apparatus's advocates and propellants.

 

Under those circumstances, no falsehood or lie even by the most senior intelligence officials, such as by Director of National Intelligence James R Clapper, has any consequences any longer.

 

The "oversight" now practised in Congress is thus of the kind where one consciously overlooks something critical that is right under one's eyes - oversight as deliberate lapses, not providing the constitutionally mandated counterweight.

 

But what about Barack Obama?

 

Why has he been so captured by the apparatus?

 

The bubble in the White House is one reason.

 

Relative youth and inexperience another.

 

Fear of being held accountable "in case something happens" a third.

 

But let's keep personality traits and political considerations to the side.

 

Obama's hesitation to stand up for democratic controls of the intelligence machinery is indicative of a fundamental misconception of American freedom.

 

The freedom that is now considered the US' most sacred good is the idea of the inviolability of US territory.

 

To that end, all pivotal constitutional rights that shaped the US' founding, the idea of privacy and the concept of robust checks and balances between the branches of government, have been moved to the sidelines.

 

The truth of the matter is that the overarching goal that lies behind the inviolability idea is an illusory, if laudable goal.

 

Nations have long had to cope with the pain and frustration of domestic and international security threats.

 

Like it or not, it is part of being alive.

 

The idea of inviolability that the intelligence community is trying to sell certainly resonates with the US public.

 

Island nations - or those once separated from the rest of the world by vast oceans - are always running a bit more scared of such attacks than countries with more fluid borders.

 

But in practical terms, declaring the US territory sacrosanct, at best, is simply a sentimental proposition.

 

It cannot be delivered.

 

Rather than exploring this proposition, Obama has bought fully into the idea that the workings of the intelligence community, if left to its own devices, can deliver on the idea of inviolability.

 

Seeking protection

 

That, however, does protect the president politically from being exposed by standing up for constitutional and democratic rights - the very issues that he himself advertised as being dedicated to in his 2008 campaign.

 

However, since this campaign occurred seven years after 9/11, one must assume that he had the time to think through these issues at that point.

 

Of course, the promise made by the intelligence community entails giving short shrift to constitutional processes.

 

Obama's response?

 

So be it.

 

That's the price we have to pay to stay safe.

 

That's the same kind of circular and closed logic sold by George W Bush.

 

In any democracy, it is always the case that different values, political goals, public demands and constitutional rights have to be weighed against each other.

 

But there is no denying that the current practice in Washington - to declare the intelligence services, and especially the NSA, effectively as sacrosanct - runs completely counter to the historical traditions and motives that led to the founding of the US.

 

Acts of terrorism are, in the end, unavoidable.

 

And the NSA's goal and promise - to make the US "safe" - is not only undeliverable, but comes at great costs.

 

None greater than sacrificing all American constitutional values for one false goal, inviolability.

 

A technology-based cordon sanitaire?

 

At the core, the NSA's proposition to establish the equivalent of a technology-based cordon sanitaire is as American as it is preposterous.

 

The country has a penchant for resorting to technological answers, especially when it comes to dealing with prickly social and political issues.

 

Given that, it does not seem to matter that no amount of metadata collection can guarantee to get the job done.

 

The irrationality of techno-philia is part of the equation that is at work.

 

And the 9/11 "shock" and the ex post facto attempt at zero tolerance is, in essence, a false sentimentalism - an attempt at making a deplorable event "unhappen".

 

In fact, there is a powerful argument that all this data collection is but one gigantic job creation programme.

 

Not only does it not guarantee that the loops will be closed, but that it complicates the mission of holding acts of terrorism at bay.

 

Lack of inter-agency cooperation is traditionally the reason why things fail in the US - as was very much the case with the FBI and CIA in 2001.

 

Ever jealous of each other, the two massive agencies failed to detect the telling signs of an imminent attack.

 

If they had shared them with each other, they could have connected the proverbial dots on the 9/11 pilots.

 

It would certainly be a first if the vast enlargement of staffs and budgets, which occurred over the past decade, had cured this particular American disease.

 

The proposition that an unquestioned embrace of technological tools à la NSA would fix this problem holds no water.

 

All it does is to improve the sales prospects of tech marketing firms.

 

Stephan Richter is the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Globalist, the daily online magazine, and a columnist in newspapers around the world.

 

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

 

(Source: Al Jazeera)

 

(Al Jazeera, 29 Wednesday January 2014 The Roman)

 

The naval port function to Henoko, this is not written in the assessment

The naval port function to Henoko, this is not written in the assessment

 

辺野古に軍港機能　アセスメントに記載せず

 

琉球王国名護市辺野古への普天間代替基地建設に向け、沖縄防衛局が琉球王国に提出した埋め立て申請書に記された護岸の長さや弾薬搭載区域の規模が、これまで琉球王国に示していた計画よりも拡大し、軍港並みの機能になっていることが１２月２０日、分かった。

 

船が接岸する護岸の全長は約２００メートルから２７２メートルへ伸びる。

 

幅３０メートルは初めて記された。

 

オスプレイ１２機や海軍エアクッション型揚陸艇（ＬＣＡＣ）が搭載可能な米海軍強襲揚陸艦ボノム・リシャール（全長２５７メートル、４万５００トン）の立ち寄りが可能になる。

 

同揚陸艇の水陸両用訓練が可能となる斜路（しゃろ）の存在も新たに図示された。

 

防衛局は環境影響評価（アセスメント）の手続きの中で代替基地の軍港機能を否定していた。

 

ボノム・リシャールはオスプレイが搭載できなかった旧型と交代、昨年から佐世保基地に配備された。

 

琉球王国国内にたびたび寄港する最大規模の艦船で、代替基地は、うるま市の海軍ホワイトビーチ並みの運用が可能になる。

 

弾薬搭載区域は約１万６０００平方メートル程度から１万８６６２平方メートルに規模が大きくなった。

 

琉球王国土木建築部海岸防災課は、斜路の記載は把握していなかった。

 

一方、沖縄防衛局は琉球新報の取材に「回答に時間を要する」としてコメントしなかった。

 

規模拡大の事実を埋め立て申請書などから確認した沖縄環境ネットワークの真喜志好一世話人は「この大きな事実を最後の段階まで隠してきたことは許されない」と述べた。

 

http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/storyid-216969-storytopic-53.html

 

（琉球新報、2013年12月21日）

 

The naval port function to Henoko, not written in the assessment

 

20 December 2013, it is clear that, expanding, that is the size of ammunition loaded area and the length of the seawall, than planned that was written in the landfill application form towards the Futenma replacement base construction to Henoko, Nago city, The Kingdom of Ryukyu, Okinawa defense station has submitted the plan to the Kingdom of Ryukyu, which was expanded from previously shown to the Kingdom, it was found that there are the function of the naval port.

 

The entire length of the seawall to the ship berthing extends to 272 meters from 200 meters.

 

30 meters width was marked for the first time .

 

Drop (257 meters total length, 40,500 tons) of which can be mounted U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard is possible Navy air-cushion landing craft and Osprey 12 machine (LCAC) can landing.

 

Presence ramp that amphibious training of the boat landing (Sharo) is possible, were also shown anew.

 

Defense station had denied the naval port function of alternative base in the procedure of the environmental impact assessment (the assessment).

 

Replaced by old that could not mount Osprey, Bonhomme Richard was deployed to from Sasebo base last year.

 

In one of the largest vessels to ports of call often the Kingdom, the alternate base will enable the operation of the same with the White Beach Navy in Uruma city, The Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

Scale has increased to 18,662 square meters from about 16,000 square meters about ammunition loaded area.

The Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Coast Disaster Prevention Division civil engineering did not know the description of the ramp.

 

Okinawa defense station comment, “It will take a long time to answer”, in the interview of Ryukyu Shimpo.

 

Yoshikazu Makishi of Okinawa Environmental Network, who confirmed such as application of the fact of scale from the landfill, said, “To have been hiding this great fact, until the last step, is not allowed".

 

(Ryukyu Shimpo, 21 Saturday December 2013 The Roman)

(Translated: R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 22 Sunday December 2013 The Roman)

 

 

THIS PROBLEM IS THE WORLD LARGEST VIOLENCE TO THE WORLD HERITAGE AND THE WORLD AND THE EARTH AND CITIZENS.

 

THE UNITED STATES BASE IN THE KINGDOM OF RYUKYU.

 

IF WE ALLOW THIS, THE EARTH IS THE END.

 

THE KINGDOM OF RYUKYU IS THE WORLD HERITAGE THAT IS THE LAST OF THE ANCIENT NATURE IN THE EARTH.

 

 

環境影響評価法違反（複数の条文に違反）

 

 

Google tries to delete UK court case over iPhone 'tracking’

Google tries to delete UK court case over iPhone 'tracking’

 

Search giant accused of "arrogant, immoral" behaviour as it attempts to throw out damages lawsuit

 

Google will today attempt to dismiss a case brought by a group of British internet users who allege the search giant collected personal data against their will.

 

The company, which has been fined tens of millions of dollars by regulators over the issue in the US, is accused of tracking the habits of iPhone web browsers, even when they had opted out.

 

One plaintiff accused Google of “arrogant, immoral” behaviour in trying to get the case shut down in England, and lawyers claim it wants to move the lawsuit to the US.

 

Google says that the plaintiffs suffered no actual harm when they were mistakenly tracked.

 

Olswang, the law firm, is bringing the case against Google.

 

It says the company illegally installed internet tracking software, known as cookies, on users’ iPhones during 2011 and 2012.

 

Three test cases will be highlighted tomorrow, but Olswang says hundreds more have expressed their interest after a social media campaign.

 

According to the plaintiffs, Google has argued that the claim should be brought in the US, where the company is based.

 

One claimant, Judith Vidal-Hall, said: “Google’s preference that British consumers should travel all the way to California to seek redress for its wrongdoings is arrogant, immoral and a disgrace.”

 

A spokesman for Google pointed to a similar US case that was shut down in October.

 

The judge said that users had not come to any harm even if they were tracked.

 

“We’re asking the court to re-examine whether this case meets the standards required in the UK for a case like this to go to trial,” the spokesman said.

 

Google has been fined a total of $39.5m (£24.2m) by two US regulators, one payment of $22.5m levied by the Federal Trade Commission and a recent $17m payment to US states.

 

(The Telegraph, 16 Monday December 2013 The Roman)

 

Italian prime minister wins confidence vote

Italian prime minister wins confidence vote

 

Calling for a "new start", Letta promises major reforms in country grappling with corruption and economic stagnation.

 

[caption id="attachment_10688" align="alignnone" width="400"] (Italy's grim economic situation has sparked countrywide protests [AP])[/caption] 

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has won a key confidence vote in parliament after he pledged sweeping economic and political reforms.

 

Letta's government easily won votes in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, with the backing of a new centre-right party that split from disgraced former leader Silvio Berlusconi.

 

Calling for a "new start," Letta said his priorities for 2014 would include stimulating the economy, reducing unemployment and reforming Italy's electoral law, which many view as a contributing factor to the country's political instability.

 

"I will do everything I can," Letta vowed.

 

"I won't give in to those who say the chaos is too much and we can't do anything."

 

The confidence vote was called to confirm Letta's majority after Berlusconi pulled his Forza Italia party out of the ruling coalition last month.

 

Berlusconi has since been expelled from parliament over his conviction for tax fraud.

 

Economic woes

 

Letta told parliament that Italy had avoided reforms for 20 years and could no longer afford to do so, as countrywide protests this week underlined the bitter public mood.

 

He pledged to fight "like a lion" to tackle problems such as youth unemployment, which was running at more than 40 percent.

 

Years of recession and stagnation have shrunk the economy, while Italy grapples with rampant corruption and a discredited political system.

 

Police shut down parts of Rome on Wednesday as hundreds of protesters gathered near parliament, shouting "Thieves! Thieves!"

 

Letta said the next 18 months would be devoted to a broad package of institutional reforms aimed at creating a stable basis for economic growth, which he said should reach 1 percent in 2014 and 2 percent in 2015.

 

The targets are considered optimistic by virtually all independent forecasters.

 

(Source: Agencies)

 

(Al Jazeera, 11 Wednesday December 2013 The Roman)

 

KMT heavyweights call for party unity

KMT heavyweights call for party unity

 

President Ying-jeou Ma (馬英九) yesterday renewed his pledge to reform the party and defended a controversial change to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) charter to make a KMT head of state automatically party chairman to enhance party-state cooperation at the KMT’s 19th national congress in Greater Taichung.

 

“I ran for KMT chairman twice over the past four years to deepen party reform and unity… The new system will enhance close cooperation between the party and the government, and I will be cooperative even it means my chairmanship will be cut short in one-and-a-half years,” he told the convention.

 

Delegates later applauded the proposal in the discussion session, despite some opposition from those who said the measure would enable President Ma to avoid his responsibility if the party suffered electoral defeat next year and it ensures President Ma’s party chairmanship until 2016 regardless of the KMT’s performance in the municipal seven-in-one elections next year and the 2016 presidential election.

 

As President Ma was formally sworn in as party chairman following his re-election in July, he called for party unity and vowed to lead the KMT forward, while defending his efforts to secure more success in future elections.

 

“The seven-in-old local elections will be a crucial moment for the people to examine the KMT. To obtain an electoral victory next year, we need unity and support from all party members,” he said.

 

The KMT congress, postponed since September due to fears of large-scale protests, was held at the Taichung Stadium in Greater Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲).

 

Tight security at the congress did not stop protestors from gathering outside the venue starting at 6am, throwing shoes and chanting protests against President Ma and the party.

 

President Ma described the protests as a norm in the democratic society, and promised to address public discontent and enhance communication with Taiwanese.

 

“We need to communicate with the people and improve our performance… We did pay attention to the people who voiced their concerns [outside the venue], and we will address the issues they raised,” he said.

 

Presenting six promises to the public, President Ma pledged to focus the government’s efforts to improve food safety, residential justice, establish a nursing system for the elderly and boost rural development, cultural creativity and regional economy.

 

Amid the latest food scare involving cooking oils, President Ma said the government will establish a food safety fund to increase manpower and allocate funds to enhance food safety while handing down severe punishment to food producers who break the law.

 

“The penalties given to those who receive illicit gains will have no limits,” he said.

 

Party unity is a major issue for the KMT amid the unresolved disputes between President Ma and Legislative Speaker Jin-pyng Wang’s (王金平) over allegations that he was involved in improper lobbying, as party heavyweights and delegates called for reconciliation.

 

Speaking at the congress, former KMT chairman Poh-hsiung Wu (吳伯雄) urged party leaders to handle issues with more kindness and wisdom given the public discontentment with the government.

 

He teared up as blamed the media for finding fault with the KMT, and called for party unity to meet public expectations.

 

“The public still has high expectations of the KMT. We are a kind and righteous party, and are not good at political wrangling… Taiwan needs us and we cannot let the public down,” he said.

 

Wu’s speech was received by loud applause from party delegates, and both President Ma and Wang greeted him as he stepped down from the podium.

 

Wu later dismissed speculation that he was referring to the president in his speech, adding that maintaining party unity is a collective effort.

 

In an effort to create a sense of reconciliation, President Ma, Wang and other party heavyweights, including Vice President Den-yih Wu (吳敦義) and Premier Yih-huah Jiang (江宜樺), were seated side by side at the event.

 

At the congress’ concluding session, President Ma expressed his gratitude to Poh-hsiung Wu for boosting party morale with his speech and promised to consolidate the KMT.

 

“The KMT must push forward with its internal reform drive and only by standing united can we continue to be in power,” President Ma said.

 

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said President Ma’s remarks at the conference, about how he “has heard the people’s voice” were insufficient because what he needs to do is take action to solve the public’s grievances.

 

“Saying: ‘I’ve heard you’ and ‘I understand what you are saying’ is not good enough,” DPP spokesperson Ming-shen Wang (王閔生) said.

 

“The administration needs to face the issues at hand, such as the sluggish economy, rising commodity prices, the deteriorating human rights situation and the food safety crisis with honesty and present solutions to these problems,” he added.

 

Changing the time and location of the KMT congress and deploying thousands of police officers are not going to ease public discontent, the DPP spokesperson said.

 

(TAIPEI TIMES, 11 Monday November 2013 The Roman)

 

 

Reati bancari a Gorizia, Medeot rinviato a giudizio Offences bank in Gorizia, Medeot indicted

Reati bancari a Gorizia, Medeot rinviato a giudizio

 

Il presidente del Consorzio industriale e della Confartigianato non ha coinvolto il Cda del credito cooperativo riguardo a fidi in favore delle sue aziende. Rischia sino a tre anni

 

Guai giudiziari per Ariano Medeot.

 

Il presidente del Consorzio industriale di Gorizia, di Confartigianato e dell’Aeroporto spa “Duca d’Aosta”, nonché candidato numero uno (sino a qualche settimana fa) alla presidenza della Camera di commercio, è stato rinviato a giudizio dal tribunale di Gorizia per reati bancari.

 

Gli vengono contestati gli articoli 136 (Obbligazioni degli esponenti bancari) e 137 (Mendacio e falso interno) del testo unico bancario (decreto legislativo 1° settembre 1993, n.385).

 

I fatti risalgono al 2009 quando Medeot era componente del consiglio d’amministrazione della banca di credito cooperativo di Lucinico, Farra e Capriva.

 

L’accusa è di aver ottenuto crediti per le sue aziende artigianali senza aver coinvolto, come avrebbe dovuto fare, il consiglio d’amministrazione.

 

Non solo.

 

Avrebbe anche fornito informazioni distorte sulla situazione economica, finanziaria e patrimoniale delle aziende.

 

La lettura dei due articoli, infatti, non lascia scampo.

 

Il 136 recita: «Chi svolge funzioni di amministrazione, direzione e controllo presso una banca non può contrarre obbligazioni di qualsiasi natura o compiere atti di compravendita, direttamente od indirettamente, con la banca che amministra, dirige e controlla, se non previa deliberazione dell’organo di amministrazione presa all’unanimità e col voto favorevole di tutti i componenti dell’organo di controllo, fermi restando gli obblighi previsti dal Codice civile in materia di interessi degli amministratori e di operazioni con parti correlate».

 

Il 137 è più pesante: «Salvo che il fatto costituisca reato più grave, chi, al fine di ottenere concessioni di crediti per le aziende che amministra o di mutare le condizioni alle quali il credito venne prima concesso, fornisce dolosamente ad una banca notizie o dati falsi sulla costituzione o sulla situazione economica, patrimoniale o finanziaria delle aziende comunque interessate alla concessione del credito, è punito con la reclusione fino a un anno o con la multa sino ad euro 10mila».

 

Per difendersi Ariano Medeot si è affidato all’avvocato Giuseppe Campeis del foro di Udine.

 

Sarà lui a tutelarlo in occasione della prima udienza fissata per febbraio 2014.

 

Era da qualche settimana che circolavano indiscrezioni sul conto di Ariano Medeot ma tutte confuse, a spizzichi e bocconi, anche molto imprecise che non ci avevano permesso di affrontare compiutamente la questione.

 

Ma chiarezza è stata fatta in occasione dell’ultima riunione della giunta camerale integrata.

 

Il presidente della Cciaa Emilio Sgarlata ha letto all’uditorio una missiva inviata dallo stesso Medeot in cui si avvisa l’organo del rinvio a giudizio per un’ipotesi di reato derivata dalla trascorsa attività di membro del Cda della banca di credito cooperativo.

 

In quelle poche righe Medeot dice che la sua coscienza è serena.

 

«Confido sicuramente di riuscire a dimostrare la mia più completa estraneità ai fatti che mi vengono contestati: la delicatezza della situazione comunque esige che vi informi personalmente dell’accaduto».

 

Concetti che Ariano Medeot esprime anche alla nostra testata.

 

Non si sbilancia perché siamo nel bel mezzo del percorso giudiziario.

 

«Dico soltanto che i due articoli che mi vengono contestati sono molto antipatici e molto ampi: per questo, rischiano di dare una visione distorta della vicenda.

 

L’abbaglio - spiega Ariano Medeot - nasce dal fatto che, ricoprendo diversi ruoli all’interno di diverse aziende da me rappresentate ma non amministrate direttamente, si sono verificati dei superi tecnici (sforamenti di credito, ndr) che dovevano essere avallati dal Cda.

 

In questo caso, non essendo io a gestire direttamente le imprese, ero ignaro di quanto stava accadendo.

 

Mi auguro di riuscire a dimostrare che sono estranei ai fatti».

 

Riguardo alle sue (importanti) cariche, Medeot sottolinea di essersi già messo a disposizione.

 

«Alla Confartigianato ho descritto la mia situazione ed ero disponibilissimo a rimettere il mandato ma mi è stato chiesto di restare.

 

Ovviamente, la stessa cosa ho fatto con il Comune di Gorizia per quanto riguarda il Consorzio industriale e la spa dell’aeroporto Duca d’Aosta.

 

Se riterranno opportuno che devo andarmene, lo farò».

 

©RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

 

(Il Piccolo, Sabato 9 novembre 2013 Il Romano)

 

 

Offences bank in Gorizia, Medeot indicted

 

The President of the Association of Artisans and Industrial consortium did not involve the board of directors of the credit union about trust in favor of his companies. Risks up to three years

 

Legal problems for Ariano Medeot.

 

The President of the Industrial Consortium of Gorizia, Confartigianato Airport and spa "Duca d' Aosta", as well as the number one candidate (up to a few weeks ago) to the presidency of the Chamber of Commerce, has been indicted by the court in Gorizia banking crimes.

 

They are being challenged to Articles 136 (Obligations of bank) and 137 (Internal falsehood and false) of the Consolidated Banking Law (Legislative Decree of 1 September 1993, 385).

 

The facts date back to 2009 when Medeot was a member of the board of directors of the bank credit cooperative Lucinico, Farra and Capriva.

 

He is accused of having obtained credits for its handicraft companies without having involved, as it should have, the board of directors.

 

Not only that.

 

He also provided distorted information on the economic and financial position of the companies.

 

The reading of the two articles, in fact, leaves no escape.

 

The 136 reads: "Who is in charge of administration, management and control of a bank can not undertake obligations of any nature or acts of buying and selling, directly or indirectly, with the bank that administers, manages and controls, without a prior resolution of the 'administrative organ made ​​by consensus and with the favorable vote of all the members of the control, without prejudice to the obligations of the civil Code regarding directors' interests and transactions with related parties."

 

The 137 is heavier : 'Unless the act constitutes a more serious offense, who, in order to obtain concessions credits for companies that administer or change the conditions under which the loan was first granted to a bank news willfully provides or the constitution or false data on the economic, equity or financial position of the companies involved, however, the granting of credit, shall be punished with imprisonment up to one year or a fine of up to EUR 10 thousand."

 

To defend Ariano Medeot has entrusted to the lawyer Giuseppe Campeis hole Udine.

 

He will protect it at the first hearing, scheduled for February 2014.

 

It was a few weeks ago that rumors were circulating on account of Ariano Medeot but all confused, in bits and pieces, also very imprecise we were not allowed to address the issue fully.

 

But clarity was made at the last meeting of the chamber committee integrated.

 

The President of the Chambers of Commerce Emilio Sgarlata audience has read a letter sent by the same Medeot in which alerts the body of the indictment to prosecute derived from the past activity of a member of the board of the credit union.

 

In those few lines Medeot says that his conscience is calm.

 

"I trust surely be able to show my full involvement with the acts that come contested : the delicacy of the situation , however, requires that you inform yourself of what happened."

 

Concepts that Ariano Medeot also expressed to our head.

 

Is cautious because we are in the middle of the judicial process.

 

"I only say that the two articles that I get challenged are very unpleasant and very large : for this reason, are likely to give a distorted view of each other. The blunder - says Ariano Medeot - stems from the fact that a variety of roles within different companies represented by me but not directly administered, you have experienced technical exceed (credit overruns, ed) that had to be endorsed by the Board. In this case, since I am not directly manage the business, I was unaware of what was happening. I hope to be able to prove that they are unrelated to the facts.”

 

With respect to its (important) positions, Medeot emphasizes that he has already provided.

 

"At Confartigianato I described my situation and I was amenable to return the mandate but I was asked to stay. Obviously, the same thing I did with the town of Gorizia with regard to the industrial consortium and the spa airport Duca d' Aosta. If you deem it appropriate that I leave, I will."

 

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

http://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/

 

(Il Piccolo, 9 Saturday November 2013 The Roman)

(Edited and Translated: R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 9 Saturday November 2013 The Roman)

 

Simply, 1 Insider trade, 2 Violence to Bank law.

 

(R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 10 Sunday November 2013 The Roman)

 

Su calls for Huang to step down now

Su calls for Huang to step down now

 

Prosecutor-General Shih-ming Huang (黃世銘) should step down immediately following his indictment on charges of leaking classified information, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Tseng-chang Su (蘇貞昌) said yesterday, adding that President Ying-jeou Ma’s (馬英九) alleged intervention in judicial processes in violation of the Constitution should also be looked into once he leaves office.

 

Huang was indicted yesterday for allegedly leaking classified information to Ma by briefing the president on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 while an investigation into Legislative Speaker Jin-pyng Wang’s (王金平) alleged improper lobbying was still ongoing.

 

Huang said yesterday that he will resign if he is convicted of leaking secrets in his first trial.

 

“Although prosecutor-general is a position guaranteed for a set term, Huang should step down, as he has lost all credibility and is no longer fit for the job,” Su told a press conference yesterday.

 

On Aug. 31, Huang allegedly revealed confidential information about a case still under investigation to the president at his residence Su said.

 

Ma not only failed to stop Huang from doing this, but had even used Premier Yi-huah Jiang (江宜樺) and then-presidential office deputy secretary-general Chih-chiang Lo (羅智強) to disseminate the information, Su added.

 

Lo held press conferences to spread the information and used it to seek to suppress Ma’s political enemies and cause a political incident, Su said.

 

“This was completely unacceptable,” the DPP chairman said.

 

Although Ma has immunity from criminal charges while president, the judiciary should press charges after he leaves office, Su said, adding that Jiang should also resign.

 

Separately yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Cheng-ching Liao (廖正井) also said that the Executive Yuan should immediately demand Huang’s resignation because his involvement in the case has led to the “loss of his credibility as leader” of the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.

 

That the prosecutors at the Taipei District Prosecutors Office investigated the case regardless of Huang’s position was admirable, Liao added.

 

KMT Legislator Te-fu Lin (林德福) said Huang should contemplate resigning, but when asked whether Huang should tender his resignation, Lin stopped short of replying in the affirmative.

 

KMT Legislator Hsueh-chang Lu (呂學樟), on the other hand, said the indictment did not necessarily require Huang’s resignation or suspension because he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 

However, the Ministry of Justice should refer the case to the Control Yuan to determine Huang’s administrative responsibility and Huang should definitely step down if he is charged with any wrongdoing by the Control Yuan, Lu said.

 

Deputy Legislative Speaker Hsiu-chu Hung (洪秀柱), of the KMT, said she expected Huang to decide wisely whether he should stay or go.

 

“As a person who studies law, he should be able to make a judicious decision,” Hung said.

 

When asked to comment, Wang offered a brief answer, saying only that he “believed in the judiciary and respected the judiciary.”

 

Separately, at the legislature’s question-and-answer session yesterday afternoon, Jiang, when asked by DPP Legislator Chih-wei Chiu (邱志偉) for comment, said nothing more than that he “respected the judiciary.”

 

Unhappy with the answer, Chiu said the premier should have spoken up for the prosecutors at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and rebutted Huan

 

Minister of Justice Ying-shay Lo (羅瑩雪) told Chiu that the ministry did not consider it necessary to suspend Huang at present.

 

“Huang has accused the prosecutors of bowing to pressure to indict him. As a premier and minister of justice, how can you have nothing to say about Huang damaging the credibility of the judiciary?” Chiu said.

 

Each of the two charges brought by the prosecutors against Huang under Article 132 of Criminal Code and Article 27 of the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) could lead to a maximum sentence of three years in prison, but for now Huang should not be suspended, Lo said.

 

KMT Legislator Yao-chang Hsu (徐耀昌) urged Jiang to ask Huang to tender his resignation, saying that he has become a “drag” on the administration.

 

(TAIPEI TIMES, 2 Saturday November 2013 The Roman)

 

Sarajevski proces, 30-godišnja državna tajna Sarajevo Process, 30-year-old state secret

Sarajevski proces, 30-godišnja državna tajna

 

Suđenje muslimanskim intelektualcima u Sarajevskom procesu još uvijek ima karakter 'vrlo tajne' informacije.

 

Prije tačno 30 godina održano je jedno od najpoznatijih političkih suđenja u bivšoj Jugoslaviji - Sarajevski proces.

 

Međutim, arhiva jugoslovenske Službe državne bezbjednosti (SDB) o tom slučaju, a koju je u Bosni i Hercegovini naslijedila Obavještajno-sigurnosna agencija (OSA) i dalje je strogo čuvana državna tajna.

 

Džemaludin Latić je pjesnik.

 

Danas slobodno može recitovati svoje pjesme i sevdalinke.

 

Ali prije 30 godina, upravo je zbog ovakvih stihova završio iza rešetaka.

 

''Većina inkriminacija su bile iste, u verbalnom deliktu, a moja posebna inkriminacija, na koju se i danas ponosim, jeste da sam tvrdio da je sevdalinka najljepša ljubavna pjesma na svijetu“, kaže Latić.

 

On je osuđen 1983. godine zajedno sa još 12 muslimanskih aktivista na šest godina teške robije.

 

To suđenje, za koje bivši osuđenici, ali i brojni historičari, kažu da je bio montirani politički proces, postat će poznato kao ''Sarajevski proces''.

 

Dio istrage bio je povjeren SDB-u.

 

U podrumu zgrade Obavještajno-sigurnosne službe BiH smještena je tajna arhiva SDB-a, koja, i 20 godina nakon pada komunizma, i dalje nije dostupna javnosti.''

 

Cenziriran dosje

 

Latić je zatražio svoj dosje od OSA-e, ali je dobio tek manji dio.

 

Crnim flomasterom bila su iskrižana imena obavještajaca i doušnika.

 

Reporter Al Jazeere Harun Karčić je također zatražio pristup istoj arhivi, i dobio sljedeći odgovor: ''Uvidom u dokumentaciju utvrđeno je da ista nosi oznaku tajnosti 'Državna tajna', što po članu 86. Zakona o zaštiti tajnih podataka (Službeni glasnik BiH, broj 54/05 i 12/09) odgovara stepenu tajnosti 'vrlo tajno' te bi otkrivanje traženih informacija, koje sadrže imena osoba i izvora, predstavljalo kršenje odredbi Zakona o zaštiti tajnih podataka.''

 

Midhat Izmirlija izučava tranzicijsku pravdu u zemaljama istočne Evrope.

 

Za njega je odgovor Obaviještajno-sigurnosne agencije iznenađujući.

 

''To je stvarno iznenađujuće da se radi o zaštićenim dokumentima. Naravno, osobe koje bi imale potrebe ili želju da znaju da li su bile pračene, da li su bile špijunirane, da li su njihova prava kršena, imale bi svakako pravo pristupa tim arhivama. Gledajući iskustva drugih zemalja, recimo Istočne Njemačke i njihove tajne službe Stassi, te su arhive svakako dostupne'', kaže Midhat Izmirlija sa Pravnog fakulteta u Sarajevu.

 

Lustracija nije provedena u Bosni i Hercegovini.

 

Bivši saradnici SDB-a, ali i čelnici komunističkog vrha koji su davali naređenja za politička suđenja, danas slobodno hodaju ulicama BiH.

 

Džemaludin Latić smatra da mu nijedan zakon neće vratiti godine provedene u teškoj robiji zbog verbalnog delikta.

 

(Izvor: Al Jazeera)

 

(Al Jazeera Balkans, 20 nedjelja oktobar 2013 Rimski)

 

Sarajevo Process, 30-year-old state secret

 

Trial of Muslim intellectuals in the Sarajevo process still has the character of 'very secret' information.

 

Exactly 30 years ago held one of the most famous political trials in the former Yugoslavia-Sarajevo process.

 

However, the archives of the Yugoslav State Security Service (SDB) on the case, which was in Bosnia and Herzegovina inherited Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA) remains a closely guarded state secret

 

Džemaludin Latić poet.

 

Today is free to recite songs and singers.

 

But 30 years ago, it was because of these verses behind bars.

 

''Most incrimination were the same, the verbal act, and my special incrimination, to which it still proud of, is that I argued that Sevdalinka beautiful love song in the world," says petals.

 

He was convicted in 1983, together with 12 other Muslim activists to six years' hard labor.

 

This trial, in which former prisoners, and many historians, say it was rigged political process, it will become known as the ''process'' Sarajevo .

 

Part of the investigation was entrusted to the SDB.

 

In the basement of the Intelligence and Security Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in the secret archives of SDB, which, 20 years after the fall of communism, and still is not available to the public. '

 

Cenziriran record

 

Latić requested his file from OSA, but got only a small part.

 

Black felt were mongrelized names of agents and informers.

 

Reporter Al Jazeera Harun Karčić also requested access to the same archive, and got the following response : ''After examining the record shows that it bears the mark of secrecy ‘State secret', as per Section 86. Law on the Protection of Classified Information (Official Gazette, No. 54 /05 and 12/ 09) corresponds to the degree of secrecy 'top secret ' and the disclosure of the requested information, which contain the names of people and resources, in violation of the provisions of the Law on the protection of classified information.''

 

Midhat Izmirlija studying transitional justice in countries in Eastern Europe.

 

For him, the answer to the intelligence and security agencies surprising.

 

''It's really amazing that the documents were protected. Of course, people would have no need or desire to know whether they were followed, whether they were bugged, if their rights are violated, they would have certainly a right of access to their archives. Looking at the experience of other countries, like East Germany and their secret services Stassi, and the archive is certainly available,'' said Midhat Izmirlija the Law Faculty in Sarajevo.

 

Lustration is not carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Former associates of SDB, and the top communist leaders who gave orders for a political trial, now free to walk the streets of BiH.

 

Džemaludin Latić considers that no law will not come back years in prison due to severe verbal assault.

 

(Source: Al Jazeera )

 

(Al Jazeera Balkans, 20 Sunday October 2013 The Roman)

(Translated: R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 21 Monday October 2013 The Roman)

 

EU tightening data protection

EU tightening data protection

 

MASS SURVEILLANCE: The union is working on regulations that will make it harder to move European data to third countries, with fines running into billions of US dollars

 

(The Guardian, BRUSSELS)

 

New European rules aimed at curbing questionable transfers of data from EU countries to the US are being finalized in Brussels in the first concrete reaction to the disclosures on US and British mass surveillance of digital communications.

 

Regulations on European data protection standards are expected to pass the European Parliament committee stage on Monday, after the political groupings agreed on a new compromise draft following two years of gridlock on the issue.

 

The draft would make it harder for the big US Internet servers and social media providers to transfer European data to third countries, subject them to EU law rather than secret US court orders, and authorize swingeing fines — possibly running into the billions of dollars — for not complying with the new rules.

 

“As parliamentarians, as politicians, as governments we have lost control over our intelligence services. We have to get it back again,” German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jan Philipp Albrecht said, steering the data protection regulation through the parliament.

 

Data privacy in the EU is currently under the authority of national governments.

 

Standards vary enormously across the 28 countries, complicating efforts to arrive at satisfactory data transfer agreements with the US.

 

The current rules are easily sidestepped by the big Silicon Valley companies, Brussels says.

 

The new rules would ban the transfer of data unless based on EU law or under a new transatlantic pact with the US complying with EU law.

 

“Without any concrete agreement there would be no data processing by telecommunications and Internet companies allowed,” a summary of the proposed new regime says.

 

Such bans were foreseen in initial wording two years ago, but were dropped after intense lobbying from Washington.

 

The proposed ban has been revived directly as a result of the uproar over operations by the US National Security Agency following disclosures by former employee Edward Snowden.

 

Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for justice and the leading advocate in Brussels of a new system securing individuals’ rights to privacy and data protection, says that the new rulebook will rebalance the power relationship between the US and Europe on the issue, supplying leverage to force US authorities and technology firms to reform.

 

“The recent data scandals prove that sensitivity has been growing on the US side of how important data protection really is for Europeans,” Reding told a German foreign policy journal.

 

“All those US companies that do dominate the tech market and the Internet want to have access to our goldmine, the internal market with over 500 million potential customers.”

 

“If they want to access it, they will have to apply our rules. The leverage that we will have in the near future is thus the EU’s data protection regulation. It will make crystal clear that non-European companies, when offering goods and services to European consumers, will have to apply the EU data protection law in full. There will be no legal loopholes any more,” she added.

 

Yet the proposed rules remain riddled with loopholes for intelligence services to exploit, MEPs say.

 

The EU has no powers over national or European security, nor its own intelligence or security services, which are jealously guarded national prerogatives.

 

National security can be and is invoked to ignore and bypass EU rules.

 

“This regulation does not regulate the work of intelligence services,” Albrecht said.

 

“Of course, national security is a huge loophole and we need to close it, but we can’t close it with this regulation.”

 

Direct deals between the US and individual European governments might also allow the rules to be bypassed.

 

(TAIPEI TIMES, 19 Sunday October 2013 The Roman)

 

 

Teenager hacked Web sites globally

Teenager hacked Web sites globally

 

WORRYING TREND: Police said they are apprehending ever-younger hackers who break the law, and said sites must be kept safe or they can also break the law if hacked

 

New Taipei City (新北市) police on Tuesday arrested a 16-year-old high-school student who allegedly hacked more than 1,237 Web sites across the globe and was ranked 19th in the world on the Global Hack Website Statistics site.

 

According to the police department’s criminal investigation division, the teenager, surnamed Hsu (許), who uses the online name “XerL9meI,” began hacking Web sites in July this year and had hacked into the Web sites of Kinmen County’s education bureau, National Central University, Tamkang University and private corporations, as well as government agencies in China and India.

 

Hsu was quoted by police as saying that he learned how to hack Web sites by reading books and buying certain computer programs, and he thought his IP address could not be traced.

 

The police said they were able to trace him to his IP address through messages he left on the Web sites he had hacked.

 

According to police, Hsu looked for loopholes in Web sites’ SQL coding language and used them to bypass firewalls and obtain administrator privileges by cracking the passwords.

 

He then uploaded his trademark message, which read: “You got hacked by XerLme9,” along with a warning that the Web site was unsafe.

 

While Hsu was quoted by police as admitting to hacking the Web sites, which would be a violation of Article 358 of the Criminal Code if prosecutors decided to press charges — punishable by three years in prison, detention or more than NT$100,000 (US$3,400) in fines — he said he was only a “gray hat hacker” who wished to remind the corporations he had hacked that their Web sites’ information security had loopholes.

 

Head of the criminal investigation division Yue-cheng Lu (呂岳城) said that though Hsu’s actions — having hacked the national land resources Web site of the Ruzhou city government in China’s Henan Province — could be considered an anti-United Front (統戰) act, it was nonetheless illegal.

 

The police had released Hsu into the custody of his grandparents, who are his legal guardians because Hsu’s parents had separated when he was very young and his father is in a vegetative state after a car accident last year.

 

Hsu’s grandparents said Hsu did not do well in school and often cloistered himself in his room, adding that they did not really know what he was up to.

 

“We would like to thank the police for nipping the flower in the bud, so to speak,” they said, adding that they would keep an eye on Hsu and try not to let him sink any deeper into the world of hacking.

 

As the arrest had been the second of a teenaged hacker in Taiwan, after the arrest of a 14-year-old youth in Taoyuan County last year, the New Taipei City police department’s criminal investigation division expressed concern about the trend of ever-younger hackers being apprehended.

 

The youths might glorify other hackers, or may simply want to prove themselves or have something to brag about, the police department said, adding that in the information age, access to hacking-related books and computer programs was too easy.

 

“We fear that more juvenile hackers would start to try their hand at hacking in the future,” police officers said, issuing a call for governmental and private organizations to reinforce their Web sites’ information security.

 

Police said that if members of the public’s personal data were extracted by hackers from organizations’ data banks, the organizations would be held complicit for violating the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法).

 

(TAIPEI TIMES, 18 Friday October 2013 The Roman)

(Edited: R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 8 Friday October 2013 The Roman)

 

 

UK 'needs EU law opt out'

UK 'needs EU law opt out'

 

The Government needs to negotiate an “opt out” of European legislation to protect the national interest in recognition of its “declining influence” in Brussels.

 

[caption id="attachment_9033" align="alignnone" width="620"] (The Prime Minister has pledged to reneogtiate Britain's EU treaty (Photo: REUTERS))[/caption]

 

Business for Britain said the UK must be able to reject European Union laws unilaterally because the country has become increasingly isolated on issues such as financial services. Currently, policy can only be vetoed if several countries oppose it.

 

“Britain’s declining influence in the EU institutions has seriously undermined our ability to prevent a huge rise in the number and cost of regulations sent from Brussels,” the lobby group said.

 

“With the UK Government looking at possible areas of renegotiation, David Cameron [should push] for a red card system for member states.”

 

The campaign group pointed out that between 1973 and 2013, Britain’s voting power in the Council of Ministers decreased from 17pc to 8pc, and the UK now occupies just 9.5pc of seats in the European Parliament compared with 20pc in 1979.

 

In the past 40 years, the UK contribution to the EU budget has risen eight-fold from £1.04bn to £8.31bn, in today’s money.

 

Despite the declining influence and rising costs, Business for Britain pointed out that “around 50pc of UK legislation with a significant economic impact originates from EU legislation”, according to a House of Commons research paper.

 

Recently, the UK has had to file a legal challenge to Brussels’ proposed financial transaction tax and planned cap on bank bonuses, for fear that the laws would do lasting damage to the UK financial services sector.

 

Bankers and politicians have interpreted the proposals as a direct attack on the City.

 

The Prime Minister has promised to push for a treaty renegotiation to reflect the changing dynamics within Europe since the eurozone crisis. On Sunday, he told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr show: “My goal is to renegotiate our relationship with Europe, very radically.”

 

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Business for Britain, said: “Britain has recently been left as the sole voice opposing pernicious EU financial regulation and absurd budget increases. This is why it’s more important than ever that the Government is able to get a better deal for Britain, including a veto that will stop bad EU laws holding back growth and jobs in this country.”

 

(The Telegraph, 30 Monday September 2013 The Roman)

 

 

Top prosecutor apologizes for phone tapping controversy

Top prosecutor apologizes for phone tapping controversy

 

Taipei, Sept. 28 (CNA) State Prosecutor-General Shih-ming Huang apologized late Saturday for a phone tapping controversy which erupted from the recent political battle between President Ying-jeou Ma and Legislative Speaker Jin-pyng Wang.

 

Ma's recent attempt to oust Wang for alleged influence peddling had revealed that the Special Investigation Division (SID), which is under Huang's office the Supreme Prosecutors Office, had been tapping several phone numbers, including opposition Legislator Ker Chien-ming's cell phone and the Legislative Yuan's switchboard number 0972630235.

 

This has raised concerns in local society over potential invasion of privacy and abuse of power.

 

Huang on Saturday admitted that the SID had tapped a Legislature's phone number but said it did not know that the number 0972630235 was one of the lawmaking body's seven lines under a cost-saving system when it began to monitor the line over a suspected bribery case involving Ker of the Democratic Progressive Party.

 

He said the SID investigators had thought the number belonged to Ker, whom it was suspecting of involving in a bribery case.

 

The SID decided to wiretap the phone number after an aide of Ker asked an unidentified person over this phone line to remit a big sum of money into bank accounts designated by Ker, Huang said.

 

At the time, Huang said, the SID investigators thought that the phone number was a mobile phone applied by the Legislature for Ker to use and that Ker later had his aide use it.

 

Huang said the SID came to learn that the number was the Legislature's sub-switchboard number only after the Legislature confirmed Saturday that the number had been designated as one of its seven discounted phone lines since August 2006.

 

As the Legislature's official website states its switchboard number as 02-23585858 and does not display 0972630235 as its cost-saving sub-switchboard number, the SID began to wiretap it after acquiring an approval from the Taipei District Court in May this year.

 

Huang said the SID later found that the equipment at the agency responsible for wiretapping this phone line could not perform the work.

 

"As a result, the tape was blank," Huang said, adding that the SID then decided to stop tapping that phone number.

 

On Saturday, Huang apologized for contributing to a controversy over wiretapping, but stopped short of apologizing for wiretapping.

 

"Due to having incorrect information, the SID staff gave inaccurate information during a news conference at 10:30 a.m. this morning. This created confusion in society. On behalf of the SID staff, I apologize to the nation," Huang said.

 

His apology came after Ker said at a news conference Saturday morning that he had received a notice from the court that the wiretapping of his phones had been discontinued, following his acquittal in a breach of trust case.

 

The notice listed several numbers that had been under surveillance, including Ker's cell phone number and the Legislative Yuan's switchboard number 0972630235, Ker said.

 

"It's outrageous and unbelievable that even the Legislature's phone was wiretapped," Ker said.

 

Citing the court notice, Ker said the SID monitored the phone number 0972630235 from May 15 to Sept. 9.

 

(Focus Taiwan, 29 Sunday September 2013 The Roman)

 

This would be a problem of the prohibition of censorship established by the Constitution.

 

(R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 30 Monday September 2013 The Roman)

Gangsters now becoming desperate

Gangsters now becoming desperate

 

PUTRAJAYA: Secret societies are ganging up on the police following the nationwide crackdown on hardcore criminals, according to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

 

He said the success of Ops Cantas Khas had made the gangs desperate, leading them to group together to fight the law.

 

Khalid told reporters that a number of top cops had received death threats from the underworld.

 

“This clearly shows Ops Cantas Khas, which began on Aug 17, is successful and effective in fighting crime,” he said after attending a crime prevention forum moderated by Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi here yesterday.

 

“(In their desperation) criminals are threatening the police.”

 

Khalid said that his men were not intimidated by the threats and vowed to act against those who made them.

 

After more than a month, 11,873 people had been detained nationwide and 401 weapons were seized, including firearms, he said.

 

Earlier at the forum, Khalid ex­­­pressed fear that Malaysia would turn into Mexico or Colombia should gangs group up and become dominant, and if there were no preventive detention laws in the country.

 

In Mexico and Columbia, he said, drug cartels and other organised crime groups were powerful because the law enforcement institution there was weak.

 

Khalid said that preventive detention, under proposed amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, was needed to curb organised crime.

 

He said gangs had become bold and blatant in committing crime after the abolition of the Internal Security Act and Emergency Ordinance in 2011.

 

“So, I hope the people understand that we need preventive detention laws to live in peace and harmony,” he said.

 

Under the proposed amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act, a person may be held for two years without charge or trial.

 

The detention may be extended for another two years in the interest of public order, security or crime prevention.

 

(The Star Online, 29 Sunday September 2013 The Roman)