Assange e WikiLeaks assolti: non è illecito pubblicare documenti di pubblico interesse, anche rubati. Un tema caro ai lettori di "Uropia il protocollo Maynards"

Stati Uniti, i democratici perdono la causa contro Trump e Wikileaks per le email rubate
L'accusa era quella di aver cospirato e diffuso materiale dannoso per la campagna elettorale di Hillary Clinton nel 2016. Il giudice Koeltl ha stabilito che la pubblicazione di documenti veri e nel pubblico interesse, anche nel caso in cui siano stati rubati, è protetta dal Primo emendamento

di STEFANIA MAURIZI, 31 luglio 2019

Assolti. Dopo tre anni di accuse e un'incessante campagna di attacchi politici e mediatici, Julian Assange e la sua organizzazione WikiLeaks sono stati assolti dal giudice federale di New York, John G. Koeltl, per la pubblicazione delle email dei Democratici americani durante la campagna elettorale del 2016.

Il giudice Koeltl, che secondo quanto riporta la stampa americana è stato nominato proprio dai Democratici, ha stabilito che la pubblicazione di documenti veri e nel pubblico interesse, anche nel caso in cui siano stati rubati, è protetta dal Primo emendamento della Costituzione americana e pertanto non può essere punita.

Si tratta di un verdetto che riconferma un principio che negli ultimi decenni ha sempre garantito al giornalismo Usa di pubblicare documenti estremamente scottanti, anche quando la loro provenienza fosse discutibile, perché magari erano stati rubati o comunque prelevati illegalmente.

La sentenza arriva pochi giorni dopo la testimonianza di Robert S. Mueller davanti al Congresso sullo scandalo Russiagate. La pubblicazione delle email dei Democratici da parte di WikiLeaks che, durante la campagna elettorale del 2016, pubblicò centinaia di migliaia di email interne sia del Comitato Nazionale dei Democratici (DNC) sia del capo della campagna elettorale di Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, è da sempre l'episodio cruciale al centro del Russiagate.

A citare in Tribunale Julian Assange e WikiLeaks era stato proprio il Comitato Nazionale dei Democratici Usa che un anno fa aveva presentato una denuncia penale contro quella che i Dem sostenevano fosse una cospirazione tra la Russia, la campagna elettorale di Donald Trump e WikiLeaks per interferire sulle elezioni a danno della Clinton.

A parte Donald Trump stesso, i Democratici avevano denunciato tutti: la campagna di The Donald, il figlio Donald Trump Jr, il misterioso professore Joseph Mifsud - avvistato per l'ultima volta a Roma e poi sparito nel nulla - il controverso consigliere di Trump, Roger Stone, e altri personaggi finiti al centro del Russiagate. L'accusa, secondo l'azione legale dei Democratici, era quella di aver cospirato e diffuso materiale particolarmente dannoso per la campagna elettorale di Hillary Clinton.

La sentenza di oggi, però, assolve WikiLeaks per la pubblicazione delle email, che rivelarono indubbiamente storie importanti, come il fatto che il Comitato dei Democratici non agì affatto in modo neutrale durante le primarie e boicottò Bernie Sanders a favore della Clinton, una rivelazione questa che portò alle drammatiche dimissioni del capo della campagna dei Dem, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, proprio alla vigilia della Convention democratica.

E le email di Podesta rivelarono anche per la prima volta i discorsi a porte chiuse della Clinton ai giganti della finanza americana. Pochi mesi prima delle elezioni, il New York Times aveva chiesto invano a Hillary Clinton di rendere pubblici "i discorsi lautamente pagati tenuti di fronte alle grandi banche, che molti americani della classe media ancora incolpano per i loro problemi economici".

L'assoluzione di WikiLeaks è indubbiamente dovuta anche al fatto che organizzazioni con una grande reputazione in tema di libertà di stampa si sono costituite in tribunale a difesa del diritto di Julian Assange e di WikiLeaks di pubblicare documenti, anche quando la loro provenienza sia dubbia, purché siano veri e nel pubblico interesse. L'American Civil Liberties Union (Aclu), il Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) e il Knight First Amendment Institute della Columbia University, infatti, hanno supportato sia Assange che WikiLeaks in tribunale, difendendo il loro diritto alla pubblicazione, "nonostante i vizi con cui i materiali siano stati ottenuti, purché chi li divulga non abbia partecipato ad alcun illecito nell'ottenerli", ha chiarito il giudice.

Link originale:

https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2019/07/31/news/stati_uniti_i_democratici_perdono_la_causa_contro_trump_e_wikileaks_per_le_email_rubate-232479862/

Eurostat: oggi il 43,7% degli italiani non può permettersi 1 settimana di vacanza

28% of Europeans can't afford a 1 week annual holiday

31/07/2019

For many people in the European Union (EU), summer means holidays and travel. However, it is estimated that 28.3% of the EU population aged 16 or over could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home in 2018. In 2013 the corresponding proportion was 39.5%.

Among the 28 EU Member States, the countries with the highest proportions of individuals in this situation were Romania (58.9%), Croatia (51.3%, provisional data), Greece (51%) and Cyprus (51.0%, provisional data).

In contrast, the EU Member States with the lowest percentage of people unable to afford a one week annual holiday in 2018 were Luxembourg (10.9%, 2017 data) and Sweden (9.7%).

The source dataset is Eurostat table ilc_mdes02.

Over the last five years, the largest falls in the proportion unable to afford a one-week annual holiday away from home were in Bulgaria (down 35.8 percentage points since 2013 to 30.5% in 2018) and in Poland (down 26 percentage points  since 2013 to 34.6% in 2018). Greece was the only EU Member State in which the proportion increased over the same five-year period, up 2 percentage points to 51.0% in 2018.

A full overview of the Eurostat statistics available on income, social inclusion and living conditions is available here

Link originale https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/EDN-20190731-1

In arrivo una reviviscenza del terrorismo? L'Intervista profetica del Professor J. Maynards

In questi giorni in cui si sono succeduti l'omicidio politico di Walter Lübcke in Germania, attentati alle Ferrovie in Italia, e sono state scoperte organizzazioni terroristiche che pianificavano prossime operazioni, è inquietante rileggere la profetica intervista al Professor Maynards, nel terzo capitolo del libro, scritto tra il 2016 e il 2017 e appena pubblicato:

Ancora sui network pedofili internazionali di alto livello

Jeffrey Epstein: diamonds, cash and fake passport found in raid, prosecutors say

Accusers ask judge not to release him before trial and prosecutors say ‘many individuals’ have come forward who say they are victims

Victoria Bekiempis in New York

Mon 15 Jul 2019 21.01 BSTFirst published on Mon 15 Jul 2019 07.00 BST

Two Jeffrey Epstein accusers offered emotional entreaties in court on Monday, asking a judge not to release the financier before his trial on sex trafficking charges.

One alleged victim, who identified herself as Courtney Wild, said: “I was sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein, starting at the age of 14.”

The financier has been detained in an especially secure part of Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal jail in lower Manhattan, since his arrest earlier this month for the alleged sex trafficking of minors.

Epstein, 66, pleaded not guilty last week. He appeared in court on Monday over his request for house arrest while awaiting trial – which prosecutors vehemently oppose. Judge Richard Berman did not issue a decision, saying he would do so on Thursday.

Prosecutor Alex Rossmiller said the case was getting stronger. Since the investigation, which he described as a “covert” effort that took months, was unsealed, he said “many individuals” who have identified themselves as victims or witnesses have come forward.

Rossmiller, who has repeatedly said Epstein’s wealth would make it possible for him to flee, also cited unknown factors surrounding Epstein’s finances.

During a search of Epstein’s Manhattan home, authorities found a “locked safe” containing cash, diamonds and an expired passport apparently with Epstein’s picture but a “name that was not his”. The passport, from the early 1980s, was from a “foreign country” and listed Epstein’s country of residence as “Saudi Arabia”.

It was also revealed in court that Epstein’s financial information disclosure, necessary for his bail request, ran to just one page.

Rossmiller said the document lacked information on Epstein’s assets, such as diamonds and art, “both of which were [found] in abundance” at his home.

The one-page document was unsealed. It listed Epstein’s net worth as $559,120,954, comprised of nearly $195m in hedge funds and private equity, $113m in equities, $57m in cash and $14m in fixed income, with six properties comprising the remainder.

The document also said the market value of his East 71st Street mansion was just under $56m, not $77m, as prosecutors have claimed.

Wild said publicity had not necessarily made it easier to come forward, as Epstein’s attorneys have argued in court.

“He’s a scary person to have walking the streets,” she said, with a reserved air, wearing a white shirt and black trousers as she addressed the judge.

The second accuser, Annie Farmer, stood and said: “I was 16 years old when I had the misfortune of meeting Jeffrey Epstein here in New York.”

She said it was difficult to come forward because of Epstein’s “wealth and privilege”. Berman asked if she was saying that Epstein engaged in sexual contact with her.

She said: “He was inappropriate with me.”

The judge asked if she would go into details.

She said: “I would prefer not to go into the details at this time.”

The attorney David Boies, who represents some Epstein accusers, told the Guardian: “This is a good judge and I know he will do what he considers the right thing.”

Lawyers for Epstein, who is a registered sex offender following a case in Florida 11 years ago, insist home detention and electronic monitoring and a mortgage-backed bond on his Manhattan mansion will be enough to stop him fleeing the country.

Since his 2008 guilty plea to state prostitution charges and subsequent 13 months behind bars, he has been a law-abiding citizen, they have argued.

Pressed by Berman on whether his clean post-incarceration record really indicates that he will stay out of trouble, Epstein lawyer Martin Weinberg said: “It’s not like he’s an out-of-control rapist.

“He does not fit within the paradigm,” Weinberg added.

Epstein’s legal team said they would offer his private jet as collateral and a trustee or trustees could be appointed to live in Epstein’s residence and report any violation. Weinberg also said Epstein would be willing to back his pretrial release with $100m.

Prosecutors cited the potentially thousands of nude and seminude photographs of young females authorities found while searching his home as proof that Epstein remained dangerous. Rossmiller said authorities had identified at least one person in those photos “who has identified herself as a victim”.

Prosecutors maintained that electronic monitoring would just shorten a head start if Epstein decided to flee and dismissed his house arrest pitch as a request to live in a “gilded cage”.

They also alleged that Epstein wired several hundred thousands of dollars “to influence” two possible witnesses.

Multiple accusers have asked prosecutors to seek Epstein’s detention throughout his case, prosecutors said.

Epstein, who purportedly had ties to Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and other powerful men, is charged in a 13-page indictment with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy. It is alleged that some victims were just 14 years old.

Prosecutors contend that from 2002 to 2005, Epstein “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls” and paid some victims to recruit others “in order to maintain and increase his supply of victims”.

These accusers were lured to provide massages “which would be performed nude or partially nude”, the indictment claimed, saying these massages would turn “increasingly sexual in nature, and would typically include one or more sex acts”.

Prosecutors have also claimed that at Epstein’s New York home, “the massage room is still set up the same way it was 15 years ago”, with sex paraphernalia and a massage table.

The New York case comes amid increasing scrutiny of Epstein’s prior case that was spurred by a bombshell Miami Herald investigation.

In 2007, Epstein and the US attorney’s office in Miami, then led by Alexander Acosta, brokered a deal that ended a federal investigation into allegations involving at least 40 teenage girls.

Acosta resigned as Trump’s labor secretary on Friday, following extensive criticism. Weinberg said the deal was approved by the justice department’s former criminal division head, as well as a former deputy attorney general.

Link originale: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jul/15/jeffrey-epstein-latest-house-arrest-request

Zoom: un bug consente agli hackers di accedere alla nostra videocamera

LILY HAY NEWMAN, SECURITY 07.09.19, 11:18 AM

A ZOOM FLAW GIVES HACKERS EASY ACCESS TO YOUR WEBCAM

ZOOM HAS GAINED devotees—and a post-IPO boom—thanks to its dead-simple video conferencing tech. Joining a call is particularly easy; with the click of a meeting URL, the page automatically launches the desktop app, and you're in. But as security researcher Jonathan Leitschuh discovered, that seamlessness comes with a striking set of vulnerabilities for Zoom users on Apple computers—including one that could let an attacker hijack your webcam.

On Monday, Leitschuh publicly disclosed details of how an attacker could set up a malicious call, trick users into clicking a link to join it, and instantly add their video feed, letting them look into a victim's room, office, or wherever their webcam is pointing. In addition, Leitschuh found that attackers could also launch a denial of service attack against Macs by using the same mechanism to overwhelm them with join requests.

Zoom patched this DoS issue in a May update but for now is only adjusting its auto-join video settings, giving users a more prominent way of choosing whether their video feed automatically launches when they click a Zoom call link. Leitschuh says the new fix is not enough to address user privacy concerns or the underlying insecurity of the flow that allows Zoom to launch calls from meeting URLs so smoothly.

LILY HAY NEWMAN COVERS INFORMATION SECURITY, DIGITAL PRIVACY, AND HACKING FOR WIRED.

“Without the user giving any explicit consent nor taking any explicit action, they would be instantly dropped into a Zoom meeting,” Leitschuh says of a malicious Zoom call attack. "By default, Zoom shows video but doesn't send audio, though both settings are changeable. So depending on their video and audio settings, victims would potentially be immediately broadcasting themselves, perhaps even without their knowledge if they're not looking at their screen."

To demonstrate the severity of the vulnerability, Leitschuh published some proof-of-concept attack links; click on them and you'll automatically join a call. Since Zoom hasn't issued the update meant to address this yet, the demo still very much works.