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ICANN says it won't kick Russia off the internet
On Monday, Ukraine petitioned ICANN to turn off Russia's internet over its invasion. On Thursday, ICANN politely refused.
Marvel's Avengers showed players' IP addresses on screen after the latest patch
It's best to avoid livestreaming the game right now.
DoJ pushes Google and Apple to ID 10,000 users of a gun scope app
The US government has reportedly ordered Apple and Google to hand over the names, phone numbers and IP addresses of at least 10,000 users of a gun scope app. The data request is part of an investigation into weapons export violations, but it has privacy experts understandably concerned. According to Forbes, this is the first known case of US investigators demanding personal data from users of a single app from Apple and Google.
Why the Internet fell apart today
If you were on the internet on Friday morning, congrats! You were one of a lucky few who maintained their connectivity in the face of a massive, nationwide DDoS attack against part of the Domain Name System (DNS), a crucial piece of digital infrastructure which, when offline, cripples our ability to access the internet. But despite its importance, the DNS is often overlooked -- much like the rest of the behind the scene mechanisms that make the internet work. So before you go resetting your router to see if that clears things up (hint: it won't), let's take a quick look at what the DNS does and how it managed to break so spectacularly earlier today.
Officers' Quarters: State secrets
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook. Privacy and information security has never been a more relevant topic than right now. With the revelation that the U.S. and British governments have been engaged in unprecedented worldwide surveillance of our Internet communications and phone calls, the threat to our privacy is very real. As an officer, you are on both sides of such situations. It's up to you what information to collect about your members and about other guilds. It's also up to you what to keep to yourself, what to share with your guildmates, and what to share with the world. Let's look at some of the privacy issues that officers must face.
VPN for the rest of us: Interview with WiTopia
VPN, aka Virtual Private Network, is a technology that lets you securely share data across public networks. For the most part, when I think VPN, I typically imagine work-related corporate or federal government accounts, or people accessing the net in countries with excessive government surveillance. But there's a lot more that VPN can do. For example, it's an essential technology for sports fans who must shift the geographic location of their IP addresses so they can watch blacked-out sports from their broadcast region. It's also popular with travelers and coffee-shop-based tech workers who regularly access shared WiFi networks. Nothing harshes your caffeine buzz like having your passwords stolen from your over-the-air traffic. Many people use VPN because it's a work requirement. Others purchase a private account for one of the four reasons here: Security. They share public WiFI hotspots and want to protect their data at cafes, airports and hotels. They'd rather not share their personal credentials with identity thieves. Censorship. They need an end-run around corporate (no playing at the office) or government censorship (think China), so they can access services and websites that they'd otherwise be cut off from. Privacy. They want to avoid oversight, tracking and other privacy infringement by websites like Google. Region Shifting. They're looking to shift locations to access georestricted resources like local blacked-out football games or Hulu from outside the US. I recently had an opportunity to sit down with Bill Bullock, CEO of WiTopia, a personal VPN services provider, to chat about the technology. WiTopia has a good reputation at TUAW and several of our bloggers are customers. Its focus is on providing privacy and security for general users rather than aiming at the total-anonymity user base. WiTopia is practically a geriatric, old-age pensioner in this field, having been founded back in 2005. Bullock told me, "Before us, VPN was really thought to be mostly a corporate and government product. We were one of the first to put out a consumer market VPN." Bullock talked to me about security issues and why home users might want to invest in a VPN account. "Our VPN works over any connection across wires or Wi-Fi." Many consumers don't consider how vulnerable shared wired connections can be, but at hotels, users will still be sharing the same network. "If someone's in another room, they may be able to sniff your traffic." People often feel more secure on a wire, but their data is just as exposed. Sniffing your data, or monitoring the traffic eminating from your computer, is a potential problem at public hotspots. "There are a number of tools available that people with little technical knowledge can use. There's one called FireSheep that works right out of the Firefox browser. It could take over a person's Facebook account, Twitter account, etc. You could hijack a session and log into those services. It's an example of a very easy to use tool that a kid could use." Bullock described a number of other attacks such as one called an "evil twin" attack, where a hacker mimics a local hotspot, encouraging unsuspecting users to connect. It's a kind of WiFi phishing you might encounter at a coffee shop or airport. "You go to see what available wireless networks there are, one might be called FREE WIFI. This is a common thing that bad guys use, where someone advertises their laptop as a WiFi network. You're actually logging on to that laptop. At airports, there are lots of people with a laptop, so they blend in. You still get Internet access because they're hooked up to let you do that but all your data is going through their computer and can be seen and captured." By using a VPN connection to encrypt the traffic from your device, it protects you against these kinds of attacks. Even if you end up moving through a dishonest WiFi broker, they can't read your data. "If you're on public WiFi, you should be using VPN," Bullock said. "It's a matter of education. People used to leave their doors unlocked, but now they don't. Does that mean someone will break in the house? We hope not but WiFi is just radio, just like a radio station. Someone with a little bit of knowledge can capture all your data. They compromise your data and can steal your identity. We don't wish to spread paranoia but it only takes one time to really mess up your life." VPN can also be valuable to those who aren't on the move. When at home or at the office, privacy is the major driver to VPN services. "When you connect to the VPN, we assign you one of our IP addresses, so there's a level of personal privacy. Even if you do a Google search, where there will still be cookies, it gives you a level of personal privacy." Bullock explained that many sites track users by IP addresses. What's more, these addresses don't change as often as you might think they do. "Even with dynamically assigned IPs, I've kept the same Verizon IP address for over a year. If I don't have the VPN on, every search I do is tagged to this IP address and stored. "We all do searches on personally identifiable information. Most people don't want to think about it, but likely every search you have ever done in your entire life is stored on a server somewhere and mapped to a handful of IP addresses that can be identified as you. VPNs give you the ability to opt-out of this information gathering." With VPN you join a group of shared IP addresses that essentially anonymize you into a crowd. "We have thousands of addresses. It's a WiTopia address that's shared among many, many, many people. You get to be lost in the crowd; your ID is cloaked. All traces back to you stop at the Witopia gateway." Because of privacy and security, nearly everyone might consider a personal VPN account. The service works on Macs and Windows, as well as on mobile devices. "Apple has done a really good job of supporting VPN protocols. It's very easy to use on an iPhone or an iPad. You set it up once and after that just slide to ON in Settings. Two, three seconds later, you're ready to use the public WiFi hotspot at Starbucks." WiTopia's basic service costs US$50/year with unlimited data and city switching (in case you want to try out iPlayer or watch Hulu). If you don't like the service within 30 days, you can cancel for a full money-back guarantee. So, how does VPN work in real life? I'll discuss my experiences testing the service in my next post, where I go hands on with WiTopia. It wasn't all smooth going, but it gave me a lot to think about.
RIPE NCC handing out its last block of IPv4 addresses, tries to fend off internet survivalism
In a world where IPv6 lives and IPv4 addresses are scarce, network providers must fight for survival... or at least, claim their IP blocks quickly. The RIPE NCC, the regional internet registry for Asia, Europe and the Middle East, warns that it's down to assigning its last set of 16.8 million IPv4 addresses as of this weekend. That sounds like a lot, but we'd do well to remember that the registry churned through about 5.2 million addresses in just the past two weeks. What's left won't be around for long, folks. To cut back on the number of Mad Max-style battles for dwindling resources, RIPE NCC is rationing out IPv4 for local registries in 1,024-address chunks -- and only to those who both have IPv6 assignments as well as proof of a need for IPv4. With just a bit more than half of the RIPE NCC's customers currently on IPv6, that could still trigger a shortfall among networks that haven't prepared for the internet protocol apocalypse. We'd advise that companies stock up on IPv6 supplies before launching the raiding parties.
IPv6 lands today, do you copy?
June 6th has arrived, which means that participating ISPs, hardware manufacturers and search engines must stick to their word and permanently enable the IPv6 address system -- not least as an encouragement for others to do the same. The ultimate purpose? To allow trillions of users to have their own IP address, instead of just a paltry few billion permitted by the IPv4 standard that continues to run in parallel. The risk? That the Internet collapses and we all get the day off work. Evidently that hasn't happened, no doubt thanks to Google and others having tested the system during pilot programs, and indeed Vint Cerf's explanatory video seems to be working fine after the break.
New TERA IP blocking policy contradicts previous En Masse tweets [Updated]
Yesterday we reported on En Masse Entertainment's policy when it comes to IP blocking and region-locks for its upcoming TERA MMORPG. While the company's decision to keep users from Asia, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East off its American servers isn't particularly unusual, it is curious in the wake of several previous statements to the contrary. It turns out that En Masse said it wouldn't engage in foreign IP blocking four separate times via its TERA Twitter account before reversing course with its support post over the weekend. Is the new policy going to prevent you from playing TERA? Tell us what you think! [Thanks to Stilllove for the tip.] [Update: En Masse has responded with an official explanation of the changes. We've included the full statement behind the break.]
En Masse outlines policy for TERA IP blocking [Updated]
Lawsuits notwithstanding, TERA's North American debut is but a few short months away, and En Masse Entertainment probably has plenty of things on its pre-launch to-do list. One of those things is publicizing its policy on region-based IP blocking, and the firm did just that via a recent update to its support website. The firm will block IP addresses based on region, and Asia, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East are currently included on the company's block list. "While we appreciate that there are players in these regions who would enjoy playing on En Masse servers, it's unfortunate that the vast majority of internet traffic we see from these regions is from cyber-criminals relating to account theft, gold-farming and other hacking behavior," the company says. En Masse will not initially block proxies, but "a proxy or server host will be blocked if it becomes a popular tool for criminal behavior," according to the release. [Thanks to Stilllove for the tip!] [Update: En Masse has responded with an official explanation of the changes. We've included the full statement behind the break.]
Voltage Pictures dismisses 90 percent of defendants in Hurt Locker file-sharing lawsuit
That record-breaking Hurt Locker lawsuit may not be so impressive after all, now that Voltage Pictures has slashed a major chunk of defendants from its file-sharing complaint. Last week, the company voluntarily dismissed about 90 percent of the 24,583 defendants originally named in the suit, according to documents filed with the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The dismissals were made without prejudice, meaning they could theoretically be re-targeted in the future, though the number of those that reached settlements with Voltage remains unclear. The company also identified some of the alleged file-sharers by name, but acknowledged that 2,278 IP addresses remain anonymous. For more details, check out the coverage from TorrentFreak, where you'll find the full list of dismissed IP addresses, along with the recently-named defendants.
Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned
Human rights activists and free speech advocates have every reason to worry about the future of an open and uncensored internet, but researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Waterloo have come up with a new tool that may help put their fears to rest. Their system, called Telex, proposes to circumvent government censors by using some clever cryptographic techniques. Unlike similar schemes, which typically require users to deploy secret IP addresses and encryption keys, Telex would only ask that they download a piece of software. With the program onboard, users in firewalled countries would then be able to visit blacklisted sites by establishing a decoy connection to any unblocked address. The software would automatically recognize this connection as a Telex request and tag it with a secret code visible only to participating ISPs, which could then divert these requests to banned sites. By essentially creating a proxy server without an IP address, the concept could make verboten connections more difficult to trace, but it would still rely upon the cooperation of many ISPs stationed outside the country in question -- which could pose a significant obstacle to its realization. At this point, Telex is still in a proof-of-concept phase, but you can find out more in the full press release, after the break.
Prius Online goes worldwide
IP restrictions are about as much fun as any sort of restriction -- but they're also a sometimes necessary reality in the world of free-to-play games, where licensing companies frequently only accept players from a limited range of national IPs. But as Prius Online continues its open beta, the development team has decided to go the opposite route and fling the doors wide open, allowing players worldwide to access the game with no restrictions on regions. While that alone would be cause for celebration in some circles, the game has also added five new dungeons worth of content for beta testers to enjoy. There's no word on an official launch date just yet, so Prius Online's open beta testers will have to console themselves with the fact that the game is still in the testing stage even though the item shop is open. But you can log in from anywhere, and isn't that worth something? %Gallery-122493%
GreenChip lighting lets you flip the switch remotely, thumbs nose at IPv4 depletion
Despite the looming IPv4 apocalypse, a new lighting system coming out of NXP Semiconductors promises an "IP address for every light bulb." The GreenChip "smart lighting solution" incorporates NXP chipsets into both LED and compact fluorescents to enable dimming, extended lifespans, quick start times, and IP connectivity -- via IPv4 or IPv6. Proprietary network software allows users to control their bulbs from smartphones, PCs, and other devices, enabling them to fiddle with mood lighting -- including adjusting color -- via a specific IP address. So at least when IPv4 doomsday finally descends someone will have their lighting just right. Video and PR after the break.
China tightens grip on VPN access amid pro-democracy protests, Gmail users also affected
If you've been struggling to get your dose of Facebook or Twitter in China recently, then you're probably one of the many Internet users who've had their VPN access -- either free or paid for -- blocked over the last two weeks or so. That's right, the notorious Great Firewall of China is still alive and well, and leaving proxy servers aside, VPN is pretty much the only way for keen netizens to access websites that are deemed too sensitive for their eyes; or to "leap over the wall," as they say. Alas, the recent pro-democracy protests didn't exactly do these guys any favor -- for one, their organizers used Twitter along with an overseas human rights website to gather protesters, and with the National People's Congress meetings that were about to take place (and wrapped up last night), it was no surprise that the government went tough on this little bypassing trick. To make matters worse, PC World is reporting that Gmail users are also affected by slow or limited access, despite the service previously being free from China's blacklist. We reached out to a handful of major VPN service providers, and they all confirmed a significant increase in the amount of blockage -- possibly by having their servers' PPTP IP addresses blocked -- over the last two weeks. One company even spotted the Chinese government subscribing to its paid service, only to work its way into the network to locate the company's PPTP server list, and then put them behind the firewall. Fortunately for some, the better-off companies had backup servers to rapidly resolve the problem, whereas the cheaper and free services were unable to dodge the bullet. This just goes to show that sometimes you get what you pay for. That said, with practically unlimited human hacking power at its disposal, it doesn't take much for the firewall to shut down everything heading its way. For the sake of our friends and expats there, let's just hope that the government will take things down a notch as soon as the storm calms.
Vint Cerf on IPv4 depletion: 'Who the hell knew how much address space we needed?'
Father of the internet, Vint Cerf, is taking one on the knuckles this week for the inevitable diminution of the world's IPv4 addresses. Last Friday, The Sydney Morning Herald ran a sensational story titled, "Internet Armageddon all my fault: Google chief," in which Cerf warned of an end to unique IP addresses "within weeks." The story was, of course, a bit tongue-in-cheek, considering the industry has long anticipated and prepared for said Armageddon. Back in 1977, Cerf led a team of DARPA researchers in creating IPv4, which limits IP addresses to four 8-bit numbers or 32-bits total, providing for 4.3 billion addresses: not nearly enough by today's standards. In the article, Cerf said he never expected his protocol to take off, adding, "Who the hell knew how much address space we needed?" The IPv4's successor, IPv6, which enlists four 32-bit numbers or 128 bits total, was developed soon after Cerf's protocol and is now getting attention from internet giants like Google and Facebook, who will launch World IPv6 Day this June. Considering IPv6 makes for 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses, we probably won't be hearing of an IP apocalypse anytime soon.
ENUM: it's the new telephone number, but it's going nowhere fast
We've heard (ever-so-briefly) about ENUM before, which is generally described as an IETF-sanctioned standard for converting traditional phone numbers into IP addresses. But for the most part, even techies would say that they aren't exactly up to speed on what the protocol offers and / or promises. ArsTechnica has spent a good while underneath the mire, and it has arisen with an in-depth article that spells out how the standard can neatly collate a variety of contact options (email address, mobile number, home line, Facebook account, ICQ name, etc.) into a single address that's recognizable by the internet that we so dearly love. In fact, user ENUM even has the capability to rank contact options by priority, so you could hit someone up via the mobile first and their Twitter account second should they not answer. The issue, however, is that the '"ENUM standard (RFC 3761) demands that ENUM is a public service and that the control of the telephone number lies in the hands of the end-user," and it doesn't take an economist to understand why ISPs and carriers wouldn't be fond of this. Indeed, just nine nations have an ENUM registry in production, and the future isn't looking too bright for the rest of us. Don't fret, though -- chances are Google will have this whole "multiple contact" thing ironed out before the next decade rolls around.
Solving recent connection issues
Many of us, both in and outside of the United States, have been having serious connection issues with the game recently. Not only can we not connect to the game, but we can't even get on the main World of Warcraft website. This can be particularly infuriating because we can't go and find help. When I got dropped in the middle of Kael'Thas (the real fight, not the weeksauce one in Magisters' Terrace), I wanted to take my computer out to a field and yell obscenities at it about PC load letter.WoW Insider feels your pain! After all, imagine having to write about WoW only to find out you can't get into WoW.I wanted to answer a lot of the comments about what people can do. First and foremost, we're not Blizzard. So we can't really say for sure what's going on. We can make educated guesses through. Continue reading after the break for what you can do and where you can go to solve this problem.
Interview reveals some secrets behind MGS: Portable Ops
1UP has chatted with the people behind the upcoming Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and there are a few bullet points that are pretty juicy. [Andrew's note: I'm typing this while Sony continues to not say anything interesting in their press conference.]The classic Kurosawa film Seven Samurai is the inspiration behind your newfound ability to recruit friends in the game.The unique character generated through multiplayer is determined by the IP address of the hotspot you connect to.The characters obviously feature unique attributes. Unsurprisingly, Snake will not be the best character to play as in the game. He's very recognizable, as he's gained quite a bit of infamy by this point in this story.The game is being developed by the same team as Metal Gear Acid, for better or worse.
