Anonymous downs government, music industry sites in largest attack ever

Hacktivists with the collective Anonymous are waging an attack on the website for the White House after successfully breaking the sites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA and Motion Picture Association of America.
In response to today’s federal raid on the file sharing service Megaupload, hackers with the online collective Anonymous have broken the websites for the FBI, Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, RIAA, Motion Picture Association of America and Warner Music Group.
“It was in retaliation for Megaupload, as was the concurrent attack on Justice.org,” Anonymous operative Barrett Brown tells RT on Thursday afternoon.
Only hours before the DoJ and Universal sites went down, news broke that Megaupload, a massive file sharing site with a reported 50 million daily users, was taken down by federal agents. Four people linked to Megaupload were arrested in New Zealand and an international crackdown led agents to serving at least 20 search warrants across the globe.
The latest of sites to fall is FBI.gov, which finally broke at around 7:40 pm EST Thursday evening.
Less than an hour after the DoJ and Universal sites came down, the website for the RIAA, or Recording Industry Association of America, went offline as well. Shortly before 6 p.m EST, the government's Copyright.gov site went down as well. Thirty minutes later came the site for BMI, or Broadcast Music, Inc, the licensing organization that represents some of the biggest names in music.
Also on Thursday, MPAA.org returned an error as Anonymous hacktivists managed to bring down the website for the Motion Picture Association of America. The group, headed by former senator Chris Dodd, is an adamant supporter of both PIPA and SOPA legislation.
Universal Music Group, or UMG, is the largest record company in the United States and under its umbrella are the labels Interscope-Geffen-A&M, the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group and Mercury Records.
Brown adds that “more is coming” and Anonymous-aligned hacktivists are pursuing a joint effort with others to “damage campaign raising abilities of remaining Democrats who support SOPA.”
Although many members of Congress have just this week changed their stance on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the raid on Megaupload Thursday proved that the feds don’t need SOPA or its sister legislation, PIPA, in order to pose a threat to the Web.
Brown adds that operatives involved in the project will use an “experimental campaign” and search engine optimization techniques “whereby to forever saddle some of these congressmen with their record on this issue.”

rt.com

Weibo gets the world talking with China

Micro-blogging service attracts 450,000 users in United States
NEW YORK - When Skyler Wiet signed up for Sina Weibo, the Chinese micro-blogging service, several months ago, he had more than one reason.
"My broader interest in China and social media both played a role," he said.
"Hello China. Let's get to know each other better."
That was the first message on Weibo from the New York-based public policy adviser, and it best explains why an increasing number of foreigners are using Weibo.
For Wiet, who is studying Mandarin, joining conversations on Chinese social media channels makes him better engaged with Chinese people.
"It's exciting, especially when they understand my Chinese. It can be equally eye-opening to see how Chinese people are reacting to an international event and to discover that China has someone like Feng Jie (a blogger who has 1.4 million followers on Weibo), who isn't so different from Internet celebrities and reality stars that have emerged in other parts of the world," said Wiet.
According to Sina Weibo, it now has about 450,000 users in the United States out of its total of 250 million as of late November. There is no official record of the nationality of the US users. They could be US citizens, Chinese students or people from other countries.
China's total Internet users hit 450 million early this year - larger than the whole US population - and that number is expected to grow.
Kenneth Wisnefski, founder and CEO of WebiMax, a US-based search engine optimization firm, said Sina Weibo is following the same development pattern as Twitter, which took about two years to be fully accepted before it became the dominant social media platform it is today.
One phenomenon that is getting obvious is that more and more globally recognized figures, including billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and actor Tom Cruise, are becoming Weibo users.
Weibo's overseas users mostly utilize the service to reach Chinese audiences. And for celebrities, their reason is quite simple: to promote themselves or their program in China.
Gates is a popular Sina Weibo user, currently with 2.19 million followers.
Lagarde made her Weibo debut in early November, posting her first message which reads: "Hello Sina Weibo, looking forward to sharing updates here. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF."
By the end of the day, Lagarde's account had drawn about 40,000 followers and had more than 1,000 comments. She currently commands 150,000 followers.
The site also helped politicians like San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, a Chinese-American, to reach Chinese audiences during the recent mayoral elections.
During election day in November, Lee posted messages calling for support. Later that day the first elected Chinese-American mayor posted to his followers on the site: "Thank you San Francisco!"
Wiet, who is working on some research projects on Chinese social media platforms, said it is "a smart investment and a powerful tool to understanding what a huge portion of the global population is thinking".
"On top of all of that, I think anyone who starts getting engaged on Chinese social media channels will find out pretty quickly how interesting it can be," Wiet said.
China Daily

Japanese passenger arrested in Hawaii for punching Delta flight attendant

HONOLULU — A 65-year-old Japanese man has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a flight attendant aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Tokyo to Honolulu.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Sohei Yamanouchi hit the flight attendant once with an open hand and once with a closed fist after drinking multiple glasses of wine.

Officials say the flight attendant was not seriously injured.

FBI agents arrested Yamanouchi after the flight landed Monday morning at Honolulu International Airport. He was charged with assault aboard an aircraft, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $10,000 fine.

He was ordered to give up his passport and stay in Oahu, and was released on $10,000 bond. A hearing is set for Jan 20.

Iran test-fires missiles in Gulf exercise

TEHERAN - Iran said on Monday it had successfully test-fired two long-range missiles, flexing its military muscle in the face of mounting Western pressure over its nuclear program.
An Iranian long-range shore-to-sea missile called Qader (Capable) is launched during Velayat-90 war game on Sea of Oman's shore near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran Jan 2, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]
The announcement came at the climax of 10 days of naval exercises in the Gulf, during which Teheran had warned it could shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of world oil is shipped, if sanctions were imposed on its crude exports.
Analysts say Iran's increasingly strident rhetoric, which has pushed oil prices higher, is aimed at sending a message to the West that it should think twice about the economic cost of putting further pressure on Teheran.
"We have successfully test-fired long-range shore-to-sea and surface-to-surface missiles, called Qader (Capable) and Nour (Light) today," Deputy Navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi told state television.
Despite his use of the term 'long-range', the semi-official Fars news agency said the Qader's range was only 200 kilometers, and no figure was given for the Nour.
Iran is about 225 km at its nearest point from Bahrain, where the US Fifth Fleet is based, and about 1,000 km from Israel. Its longest-range missile, the Sajjil-2, has a range of up to 2,400 km.
Iran said on Monday it had no intention to close the Strait of Hormuz, but has carried out "mock" exercises on shutting it.
"No order has been given for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But we are prepared for various scenarios," state television quoted Navy Chief Habibollah Sayyari as saying.
The US Fifth Fleet said it would not allow shipping to be disrupted in the strategic waterway.
Israeli reaction
Israel played down the military impact of Iran's announcement, saying Teheran's forces were no match for the West's in the Gulf.
An Iranian long-range shore-to-sea missile called Qader (Capable) is launched during the Velayat-90 war game on the Sea of Oman's shore near the Strait of Hormuz in southern Iran Jan 2, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]
Moshe Yaalon, vice-prime minister and minister of strategic affairs, told Israel Radio the exercises reflected Iran's concern about sanctions to curb its nuclear ambitions, and its efforts to suggest its naval forces could match those of the West, led by the United States, in the Gulf.

On that point, Yaalon was dismissive. "Really, this couldn't even be called a fair fight between the two sides." He repeated Israel's call for tougher economic sanctions against Iran accompanied by "a credible military option as a last resort".
The European Union is considering following the United States in banning imports of Iranian crude oil. US President Barack Obama signed new sanctions against Iran into law on Saturday, stepping up the pressure with sanctions on financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank.
If enforced strictly, the sanctions could make it nearly impossible for most refiners to buy crude from Iran, the world's fourth biggest producer.
The United Nations Security Council has already imposed four rounds of global sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities.
Iran has so far shown no willingness to change its nuclear course but Iranian media reported on Saturday that nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili would write to the EU foreign policy chief to say Teheran was ready for fresh talks on its nuclear program.

Yahoo! might trim stake in Alibaba

SAN FRANCISCO —U.S. Internet pioneer Yahoo! is considering trimming its stake in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba and letting go of its share of Yahoo! Japan, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

The publications cited unnamed sources as indicating Yahoo! might raise billions of dollars by cutting its ownership in Alibaba to 15% from 40% and by letting go of its 35% share of Yahoo! Japan.

Proceeds could help the faded Internet star’s plan to transform from an online search engine to a “premier digital media” company and potentially be doled out to sate shareholders irked by its performance in recent years.

Alibaba’s value was estimated in September to be about $13 billion.

The California company’s share of Yahoo! Japan, a publicly traded company in which Japanese Internet firm Softbank owns a major stake, was estimated at $6 billion.

Alibaba has expressed interest in getting back its shares from Yahoo!, which has openly indicated it wants to release its interest in Yahoo! Japan.

The complex transaction would be tax free because it would be done in a way not considered a sale.