I lived in the UAE for six years and had to deal with the banned website quandry. I came up with the following solution.
1) Get an ISP account back here in the states.
2)Telnet to that ISP.
3) Fire up lynx and surf away.
Obviously it doesn't work well if you are interested in viewing graphic laden sites but if you are looking for sites such as Michelle's which is mostly text that works. You can also save graphic files w/Lynx and then transfer them to your local PC in the UAE or elsewhere. This is why the alt option in the IMG tag is important, that text specified by the alt option is displayed in lieu of the graphic in text browswers such as lynx.
Hackers attack
Recognising the importance of the web in the development of Islamic extremism, intelligence services in western countries closely monitor the internet and develop counter-campaigns; the intelligence services are assisted in their efforts in a loose organisation called American Hackers, who work in an organised manner to attack jihadi sites. The famous al-Qal’a website, which claimed responsibility for the London attacks on 7 July, only remained live for less than an hour after that announcement.
Radical Islamic sites, on their part, have developed a high degree of sophistication in defending themselves. On most of the sites, one can find sections called ‘electronic jihad’. These contain information about ‘electronic holy war’ tactics, as well as references to the activities of the ‘Islamic Hackers’ who defend Islamic websites and attack moderate Islamic sites. Occasionally, jihadi hackers congratulate each other in chatrooms for destroying one liberal site or another.
Hit and run
Since jihadi sites are not welcome at the established hosting companies, they usually take refuge in so-called ‘free host’ providers. In order to prevent attack, they often move between locations, informing followers about their new whereabouts through mailing lists. Some jihadi sites containing just books have remained online and intact for years. Sites involved in practical jihad, however, are likely to be targeted. In some cases this leads to a sort of virtual guerrilla hit-and run practice, when a radical site emerges somewhere, is immediately visited by its followers and then disappears again before it is tracked down by its enemies.
Hackers have replaced the news website of Arab satellite TV network al-Jazeera with a stars-and-stripes logo saying "Let Freedom Ring".
Both the Arabic site, at (http://www.aljazeera.net), and the English- language version at (http://english.aljazeera.net) could not be accessed on Thursday (March 27, 2003). Users who tried to log onto the site found a message that read, "Hacked by Patriot, Freedom Cyber Force Militia" beneath a logo containing the U.S. flag. "This broadcast was brought to you by: Freedom Cyber Force Militia," the site said. "God bless our troops!!!"
Al-Jazeera information technology manager Salah Al Seddiqui said someone had hijacked the domain name and redirected it to another server computer. "Our website is working but nobody can see it," Al Seddiqui said.
The al-Jazeera website has faced near-constant cyber attacks since an
English-language version devoted exclusively to the war in Iraq was launched on
Monday. Hackers have blitzed the site with meaningless data in an effort to
squeeze out legitimate traffic and render the site inaccessible, a technique
known as a "denial of service" attack. That attack eased at around 3 a.m. London
time on Thursday, Al Seddiqui said, but the domain name was hijacked shortly
after.
Even 'patriotic hackers' can be fooled into launching attacks against their own interests by exploiting malicious code that purports to attack the other side when in fact it is designed to attack the interests of the side sending it - NIPC advisory
The U of T campus paper wasn't pulled from circulation, nor was the cartoon pulled from the paper's website, despite the huge uproar over the Western Standard's publication of Mohammed cartoons and subsequent pulling of the magazine from shelves by retailers out of fear and political correctness.
The summit Web site states that the group supports the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which have prompted widespread violence across the globe.
"In solidarity with the people of Denmark and in support of freedom of speech, the Intelligence Summit offers free conference admission to Danish passport holders," it states.
[LES KINSOLVING]: The government's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has approved a deal that will put six major ports in the United States under the control of a state-sponsored company based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. And my question: Knowing, as we do, that the Arab Emirate was tied in many ways to the 9/11 hijackers and their deeds, and knowing the critical nature of port security and protecting the nation, will the President step in and stop this deal from going into effect March 2nd?
[White House Press Secy SCOTT McCLELLAN]: Well, my understanding, Les, is that this went through the national security review process under CFIUS, at the Department of Treasury. That is the agency that is responsible for overseeing such matters. And this includes a number of national security agencies -- the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Justice, among others, and there is a rigorous review that goes on for proposed foreign investments for national security concerns. And in terms of specifics relating to this, Treasury is the chair of this and you should direct those questions to Treasury.
The root question is this: Why should the United States have to gamble its port security on whether a subsidiary of the government of the United Arab Emirates happens to remain an antiterrorism ally?
The Committee on Foreign Investment is the wrong place for this decision to be made; it appears to be little more than a rubber stamp.Sen. Chuck Schumer, New York Democrat, among others, is asking tough questions about this deal. For once, we agree with him: President Bush should overrule the committee to reject this deal. If that doesn't happen, Congress should take action. The country's ports should not be owned by foreign governments; much less governments whose territories are favored by al Qaeda.
To address these concerns, the Dearborn ordinance makes it illegal for anyone to use a laser pointer to harass, annoy or injure any person or animal. It's important to note that this law in no way impacts adults or minors who own and use a laser pointer for appropriate purposes. However, the ordinance does prohibit any minor from possessing a laser pointer at all, unless he or she can prove it's for a legitimate purpose, such as a presentation.
Those convicted of violating the ordinance will be guilty of a misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.
In the weeks since it took effect, Dearborn's new ordinance has become the topic of much discussion. Officials in 27 states -- representing a total of 36 cities, and five statewide organizations representing groups of cities -- have called City Hall to get copies of the ordinance.
The FBI said no harm was done and the light did not affect the plane's landing.
On November 22, (2004) the FBI and Department of Homeland Security sent an intelligence bulletin to police agencies to alert them that terrorist groups have shown an interest in using laser beams to try to bring down airliners.
"Terrorist groups overseas have expressed interest in using these devices against human sight," the bulletin said. "The U.S. intelligence community has no specific or credible evidence that terrorists intend to use lasers to target pilots in the homeland."
The bulletin said lasers were not a proven method of attacking aircraft but that they could lead to a crash.
Terrorists have not engaged in a nationwide plot to annoy pilots with laser pointers.
Over the past month (Januar 2005), pilots have reported more than 30 incidents of laser beams being trained from the ground into their aircraft, prompting warnings from federal authorities and new reporting guidelines.
According to federal authorities, there have been about 400 reported instances of lasers being aimed at aircraft since the early 1990s.
If terrorists have lasers designed as weapons, they are likely of Chinese origin. In 1994 and 1995, a company in China offered the ZM-87 Portable Laser Disturber for unrestricted sale. The weapon weighs 73 pounds, including its tripod. According to the June 1995 issue of Jane's Intelligence Review, China marketed the device at arms exhibitions in the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.
A fact sheet for the weapon advertised that it could cause an enemy soldier "to lose combat ability or result in suppression of his observation and sighting operations."
The weapon can cause flash blindness from a range of up to six miles, with permanent eye injuries likely if the target is a mile away.
the Japanese terrorist cult Aum Shinrikyo—which launched the infamous Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995—was discovered to have experimented with the use of lasers as weapons.
Navy contractor Optra Inc. of Topsfield, Mass., designed a laser-detection device for Navy and Marine planes that is about the size of a matchbox and runs on AA batteries. It detects laser beams and warns pilots with a green, yellow or red light, depending on the strength of the beam.
Company President James Engel said the device has a flash memory card that holds a picture of the beam's origin and uses the Global Positioning System to find the plane's location when the laser is detected.
Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons prohibits the use of laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision, that is to the naked eye or to the eye with corrective eyesight devices. The High Contracting Parties shall not transfer such weapons to any State or non-State entity.
A Danish paper publishes a cartoon that mocks Muslims. An Iranian paper responds with a Holocaust cartoons contest - - Now a group of Israelis announce their own anti-Semitic cartoons contest!
Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, has followed the unfolding of the “Muhammad cartoon-gate” events in amazement, until finally he came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so he announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves!
“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”
The contest has been announced today on the www.boomka.org website, and the initiator accept submissions of cartoons, caricatures and short comic strips from people all over the world. The deadline is Sunday March 5, and the best works will be displayed in an Exhibition in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Sandy is now in the process of arranging sponsorships of large organizations, and promises lucrative prizes for the winners, including of course the famous Matzo-bread baked with the blood of Christian children.
NBC REPORTER TO WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: 'DON'T BE A
NBCNEWS chief White House correspondent David Gregory warned President Bush's spokesman on Monday not to be a "jerk!"
The heated exchange came during a press gathering at the White House.
Gregory asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan about the Cheney hunting accident.
'David, hold on, the cameras aren't on right now,' McClellan replied. 'You can do this later.'
'Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras,' Gregory said, voice rising. 'Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question.
''You don't have to yell,' McClellan said.
'I will yell,'' said Gregory, pointing a finger at McCellan at his dais. 'If you want to use that podium to try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that's wrong.
''Calm down, Dave, calm down,' said McClellan.
'I'll calm down when I feel like calming down,' Gregory said. 'You answer the question.
''I have answered the question,' said McClellan, who had maintained that the vice president's office was in charge of getting the information out and worked with the ranch owner to do that.
'I'm sorry you're getting all riled up about.'
'I am riled up,' Gregory said, 'because you're not answering the question.' "
According to court documents, Daphne Wright told police she was upset with Darlene VanderGiesen and believed her girlfriend of five years was having an affair with VanderGiesen. Wright admitted to meeting VanderGiesen at the Pizza Hut parking lot where police found VanderGiesen's abandoned car, meaning Wright was one of the last-known people to see VanderGiesen alive.
Bill Xia of Dynamic Internet Technology Inc (DIT) wrote in 2004 on the Chinese search engine query results that he and others have done for public release over the internet. Bill provided materials and tips on what web users to expect from using the Chinese Google version in doing searches when done inside and outside of China and how to avoid such firewall problems. Bill has a reason why he is doing this.
Bill Xia immigrated to the U.S. from China during the late 1990s. Over time he saw how the Chinese government kept a tighter and tighter control over Chinese web users inside China. And because of that frustration, he and few others started Dynamic Internet Technology as way to help Chinese users getaround the Chinese’s firewall.
The seeds of DIT were sown when Xia arrived in the U.S. for grad school in the '90s. Stunned by America's openness, he realized his perception of reality had been warped growing up in China. "I was a believer of the propaganda," he recalls. And when Xia was exposed to all of the information on the Internet, it "started tearing apart what I'd accepted before." At the same time, the repression of Falun Gong at home angered him, though he insists it is Beijing's curbs on free expression that led him to found DIT in 2001. A year later he began building up a roster of clients, including VOA, Human Rights in China (HRIC), and Radio Free Asia.
Fleeting Window The simplicity of DIT's approach belies its effectiveness. The company distributes software, called FreeGate, which disguises the sites a person visits. In addition, DIT sends out mass e-mails to Chinese Web surfers for clients such as VOA, which is banned in China. The e-mails include a handful of temporary Web addresses that host off-limits content and springboards to other forbidden sites.
Keeping one step ahead of the censors is what this game is all about. China's cybercops are so efficient that these gateways typically stay open for only 72 hours, according to Ken Berman, an information technology director at the State Dept.-affiliated International Broadcasting Bureau, which hired DIT and UltraReach to help make VOA's Web content available in China.
The reassessment follows stories earlier this week questioning the designation of the widely-used Freegate programas malicious code. Freegate has 200,000 users, Dynamic Internet Technology (DIT), its developer, estimates. The software lets users view sites banned by the Chinese government by taking advantage of a range of proxy servers assigned to changeable internet addresses. Symantec mislabelled this behaviour as that of malicious code and wrongly-labelled Freegate as malign.
In a statement today, Symantec said: "A number of our customers drew our attention to what they deemed the suspicious nature of the Freegate software. Upon investigation by our researchers, similarities were noted between how the software operated and how various Trojan horses operated, based on the use of open proxies to penetrate firewalls used to block web sites. As a result, it was deemed a cyber threat and blocked by our software. Since that time, further investigation indicates that Freegate is in fact not a Trojan horse and detection for this program has therefore been removed from Symantec’s virus definitions."
Stunned by America's openness, he realized his perception of reality had been warped growing up in China. "I was a believer of the propaganda," he recalls.China's communist and censorship controls are not going to last long if capitalism is in their appetite. The seeds of democracy begins with a with a single idea. If the flow of information can be maintained, then certainly the idea of democracy and free expression may be realized.
As Google and other U.S. search companies increasingly cooperate with Beijing, DIT is helping the groups like HRIC break through the firewall. Before Google began censoring its results in China in January, HRIC appeared in the top three search results. Although China's Google users would have had difficulty accessing the HRIC sites, which are blocked, they at least knew they existed. Today they don't appear at all in China. But thanks to DIT and others, visitors to its Chinese-language newsletter spiked to more than 160,000 in January, up sixfold in the past 18 months. Says Xia: "If information isn't available on the Internet, it might as well not exist."However, the Human Rights in China (HRIC) website is down. The Google cache page is still there albeit only one page. The Yahoo's cache page has many, many more pages. Archive.org has more on the archive of HRIC. Not sure why the HRIC website is down or when it went down. Could there be something nefarious going on as to why HRIC website went down? Perhaps somebody knows? Although there was a story just recently of one Falun Gong member that was savagedly attacked in Duluth, Georgia three days ago.
Peter Yuan Li--a key figure in the Falun Gong's technologically sophisticated attempt to undermine the Chinese Communist Party--was brutally attacked and beaten in his home in Duluth, Ga., as Forbes was going to press with its cover story on how the spiritual movement is penetrating the Chinese government's hi-tech censorship. At 11:15 A.M. on Feb. 8, according to the Fulton County Police Department Incident Report, Asian men stormed the house of the Princeton-educated information technology technician, bound and gagged and beat him, before fleeing with two 16-inch Sony laptop computers, Li's wallet and yet unknown material from his files."They were not looking for valuables," says Dr. Li, who needed 15 stitches in his face. "They left my daughter's jewelry and camcorder and other valuables."Bill Xia's is a member, too.
But I tell you one thing, do a Google search using "Peter Yuan Li" in quotes, and do a Yahoo search of "Peter Yuan Li" in quotes. Google comes up empty. Yahoo, not so.A member of the banned Chinese sect Falun Gong, Xia is so fearful that Beijing will persecute his family back in China, that he refused to be photographed for this story, reveal where exactly he was born, or even provide his age beyond saying he's in his 30s.
Imam Hussein Aqil recently disputed a claim by the pastor of a local Catholic church that a shrouded, ghostly apparition in a wooden wall panel was "Actually
the prophet Mohammed, and not Jesus as is claimed."
"Look closely at it...I f you look you can see the holy prophet Mohammed, dressed in white gown, turban and gilded scimitar at his side. This is clearly a sign that Mohammed is returning to earth to deliver his faithful from evil."
Indeed, images of Mohammed are popping up all over the Islamic world, in date fronds, couscous dishes and even on dirty window panes on halal meat shoppes. Legions of faithful have reportedly flocked to see the apparitions, convinced they are a holy sign.
CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam
Benson says critics who take the cartoon literally "have completely missed the intent of the cartoon and they don't understand cartooning. I don't apologize to people who don't understand cartooning."
"Firefighters (upset by the cartoon) are generating a lot of heat, but they haven't seen the light," he told KPNX.
"I would suggest that they pull their head out of the smoke and take a deep breath and realize that editorial cartoons are not literal representations of the truth."
Paul Schatt, editorial pages editor for the Republic, agreed. "The whole point of editorial cartoons is to exaggerate to make a point," Schatt said.
“Saddam bugged his own office,”and added confidently that,
“I am 95 percent certain” they are authentic, Loftus said, adding that he planned to invite his conference panelists to judge the tapes and test them on their own. “It’s either the greatest hoax ever pulled off by a [hostile] intelligence service or it’s one of the most important documents to emerge” from the war.The article goes on with Charles Deulfer,
“The data is immense, extraordinary,” said the official, adding that they remain classified because, among other reasons, they provide leads to “sleeper agents and people like that.”
Charles Duelfer, who headed the CIA task force that investigated Iraqi weapons in 2003-2004, said by phone that “Saddam loved to tape himself” and that “thousands and thousands” of hours of him in discussion with his aides have already been captured.
“The Iraqi Regime routinely, almost obsessively, engaged in the recording of its high level meetings,” Duelfer wrote in his report to the CIA, “not in the conventional documentary form of more ordinary bureaucracies, but by way of audio and videotapes.”
Duelfer added, “Despite the highly secret and sensitive nature of CBW [chemical and biological weapons], even discussions in this area are known to have been recorded in this manner.”
Today's memorial service for civil rights activist Coretta Scott King -- billed as a "celebration" of her life -- turned suddenly political as one former president took a swipe at the current president, who was also lashed by an outspoken black pastor
The outspoken Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ripped into President Bush during his short speech, ostensibly about the wife of Martin Luther King Jr.
"She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now that there were no weapons of mass destruction over there," Lowery said.
The mostly black crowd applauded, then rose to its feet and cheered in a two-minute-long standing ovation.
A closed-circuit television in the mega-church outside Atlanta showed the president smiling uncomfortably.
"But Coretta knew, and we know," Lowery continued, "That there are weapons of misdirection right down here," he said, nodding his head toward the row of presidents past and present. "For war, billions more, but no more for the poor!"
The crowd again cheered wildly.
Former President Jimmy Carter later swung at Bush as well, not once but twice. As he talked about the Kings, he said: "It was difficult for them then personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated as they became the target of secret government wiretaps." The crowd cheered as Bush, under fire for a secret wiretapping program he ordered after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, again smiled weakly.
Later, Carter said Hurricane Katrina showed that all are not yet equal in America. Some black leaders have blamed Bush for the poor federal response, and rapper Kayne West said that Bush "hates" black people.
If you disagree with my site and want me to remove it, instead of acting as bully or as victim, I invite you to disprove my charges against Muhammad and Islam. If you can show that what I say is unfounded I promise to remove this site not before confessing that I was wrong and Islam is a true religion. I will also pay
$50,000 U.S. dollars to anyone who can disprove my charges and prove Islam is a true religion in an objective (not subjective) way. This is to thank you for showing me the right way.The Challenge: Disprove my accusations against Muhammad.
Judith Apter Klinghoffer points to this Jyllands-Posten report that Franz Füchsel, who drew this cartoon, has decided to put his drawing of Muhammed up for auction and will donate the money to the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan.
Iran's largest selling newspaper has announced it is holding a contest on cartoons of the Holocaust in response to the publishing in European papers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
It will be an international cartoon contest about the Holocaust," Farid Mortazavi, the graphics editor for Hamshahri newspaper, which is published by Tehran's conservative-run municipality, said on Monday.
He said the plan was to turn the tables on the assertion that newspapers can print offensive material in the name of freedom of expression.
"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons," he asserted.
Iran's fiercely anti-Israeli regime is supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionist historians, who maintain the systematic slaughter by the Nazis of mainland Europe's Jews as well as other groups during World War II has been either invented or exaggerated.
Mortazavi said Tuesday's edition of the paper will invite cartoonists to enter the competition, with "private individuals" offering gold coins to the best 12 artists - the same number of cartoons that appeared in the conservative Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Last week the Iranian Foreign Ministry also invited Tony Blair, the British prime minister, to Tehran to take part in a planned conference on the Holocaust, even though the idea has been branded by Blair as "shocking, ridiculous, stupid".
Blair also said Ahmadinejad "should come and see the evidence of the Holocaust himself in the countries of Europe", to which Iran responded by saying it was willing to send a team of "independent investigators".
