Ethics and Law in New Media, week six

Find and blog about an illustrative case of hacktivism.


Hacktivism is a form of social activism with online solutions. While googling for Hacktivism, I found this document. It says that not any kind of attack is considered hacktivism, but only the websites that have connection to the issue of protest.
I think there have been many different hacktivism attempts to illustrate, but I started to think while reading the Hacktivism Declaration that a form of hacktivism could be such that a whole lot of people would post interesting content about some important event on a black background with a neon or white text. It is extremely difficult to read, and I think that at first you even will not figure out that it is possible to copy-paste the text to a more suitable background, because the content would be so interesting that people's minds are concentrating on reading more than replacing the text onto a more suitable surface. I think this kind of action could be a mild form of hacktivism, what do you think?

Blog about a good case of social engineering

The case of Gazzag with Jenny seems to me her own failure, because she had read the notice that all of her contacts would be invited to the network. I just do not understand her disappointment. I have got similar invites from Hi5, but haven't subscribed, because there are really many social networks that do not work for me or other people. Hi5 and Netlog still send me reminders that my friends have invited me to join their networks. It is the same case when you order a cool ring tone and you will get a whole lot more (even if you do not want to get them), because you have unwillingly (or having not read the terms of condition) subscribed a whole service of ring tones which will be sent to you if you do not send an SMS saying "STOP " (for extra cost, of course).
I once wanted to experiment on such a service, and I really do not remember if there was a teeny-tiny notice on a TV screen saying that if you order this ring tone you will be dragged into a bombardment of ring tones for which you have to pay extra monthly sums. The better for the scammers if you do not read your SMSes, because you will definitely be surprised by an ugly phone bill. I stopped the service paying extra money, but I was at least aware of such a scam for future reference. I believe that there was a warning (which you cannot see anyway, because it is written in a teeny-weeny size and moves away fast). 
Another such case is with cool Internet ads. Like "test your IQ" or "Do you want to know the time of your death?" which are cool quizzes. They get the victims interested and when they have finished their quiz, it wouls be fair that the result comes out, but these clever people trick the victims into giving their phone numbers with an excuse to see the quiz result. They have put a small text at the bottom of the page with all terms of conditions, but they know that usually people do not read small texts at the bottom of the pages, thus it is a great possibility for them to take money out of people. Again, stopping the service also needs payment. 
Take a look at SURMATEST (death test), where you have little text: "Tegu on perioodilise teenusega. Teile saadetakse iga nädal 1 dieedinipp, 1 taustapilt ja 1 polühelin (nädalatasu on 27EEK).Teenuse peatamiseks saatke: "STOP TIPS" lühinumbrile 1818. Polüfooniliste helinate puhul on artistide nimed esitatud üksnes selleks, et tellijatel oleks kergem leida soovitud lugu, ning ei viita mingil moel sellele, et nimetatud artistid oleksid helinad esitanud või välja andnud. Meie helinad töötavad kõikide müügil olevate mudelitega, etc.© 2008 TIMWE S.p.A"
Similar links: IQ test pahandab kasutajaid (Tarbija24.ee) 



Formulate some measures which can reduce the effectiveness of social engineering attempts



Measures have been taken already to avoid such actions.
Estonian publicity tries to educate young people already in order to avoid such attacks. 
First it is absolutely necessary to use an anti-anything software, and a legitimate one.
Second, it is wise for the parents to teach themselves and their kids the basic truths about Internet and other gadget security, one could use links like:
Veebivend
Veebivend 1

Materials connected to the campaign
Materials 1
Internet security, etc.

The wisest thing would be not to befriend with strangers in social networking places and not to give out too much information about yourself, but this is often ignored. 
I cannot think of something new that has not already been said. The best possibility to avoid such cases is not to use any electronic devices, nor bank cards, nothing that can be used maliciously, of course.