Egypt's PM heads to Japan for TICAD 9 Africa development summit    National Council for Childhood reviews plan to combat child labour    Egypt's Supreme Organ Transplant Committee strengthens oversight, standards    Indian tourist arrivals to Egypt jump 18.8% in H1-2025: ministry data    African agribusiness market expected to reach $1tr by 2030    Price cuts underway across Egypt, says trade federation report    Zelenskyy seeks US security guarantees as Trump says he can 'end war now'    Israelis protest for hostage deal amid growing pressure on Netanyahu    Serbia's Vucic vows 'tough measures' against protesters after unrest    Egyptian pound down vs. US dollar at Monday's close – CBE    Egypt's FM, Palestinian PM visit Rafah crossing to review Gaza aid    Egypt delivers over 30 million health services through public hospitals in H1 2025    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Fitch Ratings: ASEAN Islamic finance set to surpass $1t by 2026-end    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt's govt. issues licensing controls for used cooking oil activities    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Egypt's Sisi: Egypt is gateway for aid to Gaza, not displacement    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Cyber-skirmishes rage over WikiLeaks
Published in The Egyptian Gazette on 10 - 12 - 2010

LONDON - Skirmishes raged across cyberspace between WikiLeaks supporters and the companies they accuse of trying to stifle the group, with websites on both sides of the battle line taken out of service or choked off by attacks
The UN's top human rights official raised the alarm Thursday over officials' and corporations' moves to cut off WikiLeaks' funding and starve it of server space - something she described as "potentially violating WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression."
Navi Pillay also expressed surprise at the scale of the online attacks that have targeted major American financial players - in some cases denying access to their websites for hours at a time.
"It's truly what media would call a cyber-war. It's just astonishing what is happening," Pillay told reporters in Geneva.
In the Netherlands, a 16-year-old boy suspected of being involved in digital attacks by Wikileaks supporters was arrested.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department was looking into cyber attacks on opponents of WikiLeaks and companies that have stopped doing business with it. Holder spoke at a news conference following a meeting with European Union law enforcement partners on cybersecurity, counterterrorism and data protection.
WikiLeaks has been under intense pressure since it began publishing some 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables, with attacks on its websites and threats against its founder, Julian Assange, who is now in a British jail fighting extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.
US officials say WikiLeaks' actions have thrown diplomacy into disarray, caused countries to curtail dealings with America and, in the case of an earlier release of classified military documents, put the lives of informants at risk.
While US allies have also criticized WikiLeaks, some world leaders have questioned the arrest of Assange.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, questioning the reliability of leaked US cables referring to his nation as undemocratic and corrupt, said the fact that Assange is in custody shows the West has its own problems with democracy.
"Why was Mr. Assange hidden in prison?" Putin asked at a news conference. "Is this democracy?"
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he was surprised by the lack of outcry against Assange's arrest.
"This WikiLeaks guy was arrested and I'm not seeing any protest for freedom of expression," Silva said Thursday in Brasilia. "There is nothing, nothing for freedom of expression and against the imprisonment of this guy who was doing better work than many of the ambassadors."
Many US-based Internet companies have cut their ties to WikiLeaks, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., Amazon.com, PayPal Inc. and EveryDNS. Those moves have hurt WikiLeaks' ability to accept donations and support publishing efforts - and touched off a bout of Web-based warfare.
Retaliatory attacks - which WikiLeaks says it does not sanction - have been claimed by a loose-knit group of "hacktivists" who gather under the handle "Anonymous."
They are using a modified version of software generally used to conduct "stress testing" on websites, according to Paul Mutton, an analyst with the London-based company Netcraft, which is tracking the attacks.
The technique allows even unsophisticated supporters to participate in attacks because all they have to do is download the file, which is then remotely operated to send a stream of bogus page requests to target websites.
Mutton said the number of computers spewing out spam had jumped from 400 to 2,000 machines on Wednesday - relatively small numbers, he said, but still apparently enough to overwhelm MasterCard and Visa.
"I've been surprised at how effective its been," he said. "You don't need huge numbers of people to carry out an attack like that."
The surprise was shared by Internet activist Gregg Housh, who is involved with Anonymous. "I was surprised Visa and MasterCard went down," he told The Associated Press.
Housh said the number of computers at Anonymous' disposal was rising rapidly, now about 3,000 strong. But he also said supporters were running out of anti-WikiLeaks targets.
"So far today, no one has stood up and said, 'Me next,'" he said, noting that some companies threatened by online action - such as Twitter and Amazon.com, were considered too powerful to bring down.
WikiLeaks supporters in Switzerland and Germany have threatened lawsuits against US financial companies who have cut their ties to the website, while judicial authorities in France have put the brakes on the French government's effort to purge WikiLeaks from the country's computer servers.
The Germany-based Wau Holland Foundation, which has described itself as WikiLeaks' main backer, on Thursday protested PayPal's decision to cut ties with WikiLeaks and said about euro10,000 ($13,000) in donations had been frozen.
The foundation rejected PayPal's allegation it was supporting illegal activity and said its lawyer had demanded that PayPal restore access to the account.
WikiLeaks' payment processor, DataCell ehf, said it was preparing to sue Visa and MasterCard over their refusal to process donations to WikiLeaks.
DataCell CEO Andreas Fink said he would seek damages from the US credit card companies, saying "it is simply ridiculous to think WikiLeaks has done anything criminal."
Pillay said if WikiLeaks had broken the law "then this should be handled through the legal system and not through pressure and intimidation."
The flow of online support has also sparked some solidarity on the streets. A pro-WikiLeaks demonstration in Sydney sent about 500 demonstrators into the streets Friday, while in the central Pakistani city of Multan, dozens burned US and British flags in the streets Thursday to protest Assange's detention.
Organiser Tariq Naeemullah called for the Australian's immediate release.
"The brave man was arrested because he was exposing the real face of the big powers," he said.
More pro-WikiLeaks protests are planned for Friday in Brisbane and Monday in London.


Clic here to read the story from its source.