|
|
October 13 Photographer Simon Norfolk is speaking at Derby’s Quad gallery on 19 November 2009 at 6.30 pm. book now to avoid disappointment £3 April 15 With the global decline is media due to advertising budgets being cut, it is no surprise that many photographers are finding that commissions are becoming harder to get. This has meant that freelancers have started to look more at the photography stock as a way of earning additional income to fill the gap. But selling stock is a bit of a mine field when you start as your images have to have keywords (tags) so search engines can find your images and this keywording is a skill in its own right; well it is if you want to sell the image. You can obviously get some one to do it for you but this costs, it also takes time and in a recession you need to taking care of clients, finding assignments and not keywording hundreds of photos. There is help though, if not in a scary way from Imense and there Annotator which can read the image and add the relevant keywords, so why is it scary? Well it is surprising to see that a computer/software can pick out how many people are in a picture, decide on their ethnicity read the background and the list goes on, this is a technology that will probably get better in the future and has obvious surveillance applications in addition to being a photographers tool. Although I have not tried the system I did think it was a tad pricey as the top level package is the one that is needed and at the moment the pound is week against the dollar, so is costing a lot more than normal…result of the recession. April 13 Well it looks like the Police in New York are looking to the same draconian laws that snappers in the UK are in fear off according to the New York Post. You may think that no one has been stopped yet under the new terrorism act and photography but that is not the case. When I was covering the Put People First march in London (a few days before the G20 protests) I saw a a police sergeant and a snapper; the policeman was ordering him to delete the images on is camera, I tried to intervene and was threatened with arrest for obstructing an police officer. The snapper had just photographed some police waiting near their vans at Marble Arch. 
In a previous post I referred to the slope of the bath tub which was an analogy for proving your photographic gear. Of course the wise will do heavy testing at all ISO and lighting conditions to work out how the sensor records details in the shadows as well as the highlights. They will also test their lenses for sharpness, flaws and find the optimum aperture for it and so the testing goes on. So back to the bicycle wheel; This is another analogy that relates to the business side of photography or outside services that you use, like printing, webhosting etc. My webhosts recently disappeared from the face of the world wide web, reasons unstated. This left me with my personal websites vanishing, my 5 domains pointing to nowhere and a drop in email service and all just into the credit crunch, so my survival rate with clients going to empty 404 pages and email bouncing back must have thought I had gone bust in the doom and gloom of yet another recession. This left me with at least a couple of weeks solid mess to clean up at a time when I was just to busy. It would be easy to lay blame at the host, but my friend and photography buddy was notified of the closure ages ago, (oh yes the sod gloated about it as well…big time) with tools to move websites and domains to cause as little disruption as possible. Now for some time I have realised that I was not getting service notifications direct, for some years in fact and despite changing my email on there control panel, no joy. so this was a loose spoke in a wheel; as it happens it was not the first. You see that spoke came undone because of another spoke, my ISP years ago was Wanadoo; who I had no problems with but for some reason, were taken over by Orange who decided they were not big enough as a mobile phone company and could play at being an internet service provider. It was these who gave me problems with service; so much so I ended up requesting the MAC code (several times and without internet) and switched and bang goes my ISP email with Wanadoo. Cancelled as I told Orange where to stuff there awful service, and not in a polite terms either. Now what I did not realise at the time was that my email for the webhost was now dead and although I changed it in the control panel there was no way to verify/authenticate the change so this was the first loose spoke, which led to the second loose spoke, before the wheel became broken. In the past I have remedied an alternative services because of poor service on an online archival system. I ditched them after 6 months because their servers went down and the backup failed; it took weeks for them to restore service and it was at a time when I needed to get images to a client urgently. Indecently, it was a right move as before Christmas they went under leaving hundreds of photographers and agencies stranded. In comparison my current archive people have not been down once, since 2005 (or as far as I know, before then when I joined) Yes I pay a little more, but it is at least one weight off my mind, and the service is one to one via a phone, with people who know a lot about the photography business, so the advice extends beyond the archive. If I need help with a difficult pricing job I can phone them for advice, their success is my success as they see it! There are lessons here of course: - If a company niggles away at you because of poor service, ditch them, it makes you out as being un-professional and one day will catch you out.
- The other is to use an online webmail like Google, Yahoo etc for your logins and system notifications, that way regardless of your ISP it will always be available.
Remember a loose spoke puts the rim out of line, and other spokes will become loose or break, so when you notice a loose spoke….fix it February 26 THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TAKE PHOTOS EVERY DAY. WHAT IF ONE OF THEM SEEMS ODD? Terrorists use surveillance to help plan attacks, taking photos and making notes about security measures like the location of CCTV cameras. If you see someone doing that, we need to know. Let experienced officers decide what action to take. The Metropolitan Police website Well that was the strap line on the back cover of the London paper today and I predict a lot of stories coming out of it about photographers just trying to enjoy their hobbies, but now being constantly stopped by police, especially in a tourist hotspot like London. Type in CCTV on Flickr (15,439 results) and see how many images you get or try the same on an image search Google (3,130,000 results) hmmm... I doubt very much terrorists are going to be using Nikon D3 or Canon MkIII ds to do this kind of target research but more likely to use an average Joe tourist type of camera, the problem is the non-photographing public have no way of knowing one from the other and G9 users, best take care as it is such a discrete styled camera, even their add shows a compact camera as well as mobile phones, however with the mobile phone its how many they have that makes them suspicious, not the phone itself. 
My personal feelings on this is that it makes me feel like a second rate citizen, like I have been accused of doing something wrong when I haven't and my human rights have been infringed, heck I have even photographed CCTV cameras in the past, for aesthetics and as a statement about the times we live in and issues we face. Check out the resources for the photographer in the sidebar and download and print the UK Photographers Rights PDF February 19 A dedicated website called Wikileakes.org has been forced offline with the courts putting the interests of big corporations as a priority over law, journalism and public interest. Even more worrying is how admin's details, contacts, payment details, IP addresses and any associated data to be handed over under the terms of the court order, which is very worrying as there is no risk assessment as to what that data contains and could be endangering journalists and individuals alike. Wikileaks.org were given just one hours notice of the court hearing which was by email, while the Swiss bank group who brought the court action, remain anonymous In a classic case of Censorship which is increasing as Reporters Without Borders has documented in its 2008 report which is a scathing attack on Public Officials around the world, combined with HotBlack's report on how the UK government was gearing up to stop mobile phones from working with new media, to limit/stop media sharing and social networking websites at their will. Whistle-blower site taken offline 
The case was brought by lawyers working for a Swiss bank A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US. Wikileaks.org, as it is known, was cut off from the internet following a California court ruling, the site says. The case was brought by a Swiss bank after "several hundred" documents were posted about its offshore activities. Other versions of the pages, hosted in countries such as Belgium and India, can still be accessed. However, the main site was taken offline after the court ordered that Dynadot, which controls the site's domain name, should remove all traces of wikileaks from its servers. The court also ordered that Dynadot should "prevent the domain name from resolving to the wikileaks.org website or any other website or server other than a blank park page, until further order of this Court." Other orders included that the domain name be locked "to prevent transfer of the domain name to a different domain registrar" to prevent changes being made to the site. Wikileaks claimed that the order was "unconstitutional" and said that the site had been "forcibly censored". Web names The case was brought by lawyers working for the Swiss banking group Julius Baer. It concerned several documents posted on the site which allegedly reveal that the bank was involved with money laundering and tax evasion. 
The site was founded in 2006 The documents were allegedly posted by Rudolf Elmer, former vice president of the bank's Cayman Island's operation. A spokesperson for Julius Baer said he could not comment on the case because of "pending legal proceedings". The BBC understands that Julius Baer asked for the documents to be removed because they could have an impact on a separate legal case ongoing in Switzerland. The court hearing took place last week and Dynadot blocked access from Friday evening. Wikileaks says it was not represented at the hearing because it was "given only hours notice" via e-mail. A document signed by Judge Jeffery White, who presided over the case, ordered Dynadot to follow six court orders. As well as removing all records of the site form its servers, the hosting and domain name firm was ordered to produce "all prior or previous administrative and account records and data for the wikileaks.org domain name and account". The order also demanded that details of the site's registrant, contacts, payment records and "IP addresses and associated data used by any person...who accessed the account for the domain name" to be handed over. Wikileaks allows users to post documents anonymously. Information bank The site was founded in 2006 by dissidents, journalists, mathematicians and technologists from the US, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. It so far claims to have published more than 1.2 million documents. It provoked controversy when it first appeared on the net with many commentators questioning the motives of the people behind the site. It recently made available a confidential briefing document relating to the collapse of the UK's Northern Rock bank. Lawyers working on behalf of the bank attempted to have the documents removed from the site. They can still be accessed. Dynadot was contacted for this article but have so far not responded to requests for comment. BBC NEWS | Technology | Whistle-blower site taken offline February 12 Polaroid film faces the final shutter By Justin Baer in New York Published: February 8 2008 23:48 | Last updated: February 8 2008 23:48 Polaroid, the US company that introduced instant photography 60 years ago, is to stop making film. The group, which stopped making instant cameras a year ago, will now complete its transition to digital printers, televisions and DVD players by shutting four analogue film factories. Polaroid cameras and the white-bordered prints they produced were common at family reunions and crime scenes alike for decades, reaching peak popularity during the 1960s and 1970s. They would also become a medium of choice for artists such as Ansel Adams, David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg. The advent of digital technology has pushed Eastman Kodak and other veteran manufacturers to abandon film production in recent years. Soon after Polaroid was sold to private investment firm Petters Group in 2005, the management started its own gradual retreat from analogue photography. Polaroid will close two factories in Massachusetts as well as facilities in Mexico and the Netherlands, eliminating about 450 jobs. The company plans to make enough film to last customers until next year, Thomas Beaudoin, chief operating officer, said. He said Polaroid’s consumer-electronics business generated almost $1bn in revenue. The company had high hopes for its battery-powered digital printers, and was in talks with mobile-phone carriers and other potential business partners. He saw this transition as the start of a third era for Polaroid, which existed for its first few decades primarily as a maker of sunglasses and protective goggles for the US military. Polaroid sold its eyecare division last year. The company expects its mobile printers to attract even some of the most devout fans of instant photography. But for those unmoved by the technology, there is a chance another manufacturer will produce the film elsewhere. Mr Beaudoin said: “We’re working very hard to find some alternatives with people who might be able to take the recipe. “We can’t promise anything.” Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008 FT.com / Companies / Consumer industries - Polaroid film faces the final shutter February 11 Some of these images are very graphic and caution is advised February 9th, 2008, filed by David Viggers I’ve been trying to write about some sport images that caught my eye while trawling through the Reuters file but I keep getting hung up on our pictures from Kenya. 
George Philipas They are so raw, so powerful and uncompromising that even the most accomplished images of cossetted sportsmen performing in completely controlled circumstances seem insignificant in comparison. 
George Philipas What they portray is just hellish - a pile of charred bodies in a church, a young mother lying dead in her home while her distressed toddler wails unattended, a bright-eyed teenage boy with the shaft of an arrow sticking out of his head. 
Peter Andrews People, dirt poor inflicting unimaginable cruelty and suffering on other equally poor people, the motivation for it really doesn’t matter, it is an appalling human tragedy. 
Peter Andrews When I was a kid I remember a truly shocking Oxfam poster with an image of a starving Biafran child, huge wide eyes, tormented by flies, stick thin and with an impossibly distended belly. 
In the intervening period the image of a shocked, wide-eyed innocent has become an overused cypher for suffering in every subsequent African disaster, natural or otherwise, but there is nothing innocent about the look in this child’s eyes, rather there is mistrust and deep, deep hurt. 
Georgina Cranston Given the scenes of mayhem which preceded it I was surprised to find this quiet image and amazed by the potency of the simple gesture of affection. I’ll get back to the sport pictures. Out of Africa - Reuters Photographers February 06 Brand Republic is reporting that Guardian Unlimited, the most visited UK newspaper online, is set to jump on the social networking bandwagon after striking a deal with Pluck, a provider of social networking platforms. The deal will see Guardian News and Media, which publishes The Guardian and The Observer, roll out tools on its Web properties, enabling users to interact with one another and add content to existing articles.
http://short.zen.co.uk/?id=946 January 22 An amateur photographer has told how police seized his film as he was out taking snaps in a Hull shopping centre. Steve Carroll, of Kent, was visiting relatives in Hull in December when he decided to do some "street photography" in the city's Prospect Centre. Shoppers reported him to the police, who took his film because he seemed to be operating in "a covert manner". Mr Carroll lodged a complaint against Humberside Police but an investigation concluded its officers acted correctly. Officers have common law powers of seizure, a force spokeswoman said. More on BBC A paedophile who took pictures of a boy being abused and distributed them round the world has been banned from owning anything capable of taking photographs. More information on the BBC January 03 It's been quite a while since I brought a new camera or even a lens for that matter, so today I have ordered a Canon G9. I have been wanting a small compact for some time carrying the Nikon D2x and its array of lenses flashgun makes for a heavy bag and does not leave a lot of room for carrying much else which is often a problem. The dilemma of course is the image quality, as using a pro camera you get used to fantastic detail and have full control over the settings, exposure, focus etc. So ill see how I get along with the point and shoot Canon G9. The one benefit of the G9 of course is that you can shoot in RAW mode and the camera does offer manual exposure and manual focusing which in my brief try out in the shop looks like it may be quite useable, ill let you know tomorrow The Russian government is looking to create a Cyrillic internet, but is it just another case of Big Brother controlling its citizens? 
The growing cold war with Russia has a new front besides oil fields and undersea territorial claims: the internet. Russia's government is pushing for greater control over the Russian-language part of the net - and its aim seems to be to create a web that operates in Cyrillic, completely independent from the wider web. The problem for Russia is that its top-level domain - with the ASCII suffix .ru - translates into Cyrillic as .py, the domain name of Paraguay. That could pose security problems for Russian users. Kim Davies, who controls the domain names at the international domain naming agency Icann told the Guardian: "Russia has a second top level domain name of .ru in Ascii code, but is pushing for .rf in Cyrillic." Wolfgang Kleinwachter, special adviser to the chairman of the Internet Governance Forum, says: "The proposal for 'Russian internet' would look at how they can communicate better inside the country. The internationalised domain name gives them an opportunity to do things which are now being tested in China, where they are currently using Chinese characters for three top-level domains: .net, .com and .cn." A tale of two servers The key is whether Russian international domain names would use their own root servers - which decide where to route your internet requests - independent of the existing internet root servers which are mainly based in the US. Kleinwachter thinks that the worst-case scenario would mean everyone would have to register a domain name using the .rf top level domain in Cyrillic. "Then [Russia] would have their own root and it's much easier to control the top-level domain than hundreds of thousands of secondary level domains." That would, arguably, mean Russians are safe from Paraguayan phishing - but it would also give the Russian government more control of the net and leave Russian citizens isolated from the international community. Davies explains that Russian Cyrillic keyboards make it difficult for Russian users to search for domain names using the roman letters of Ascii code. Without a bridge to coordinate it with Ascii code, a Russian-language internet would be cut off from the global net. China's citizens could similarly become isolated from international opinion. "The Chinese have the option now to keep the domain .cn in Ascii code or to cut it." Kleinwachter says. "If they cut it then they have an opportunity to build something like a bridge which would link the Chinese internet to the Ascii internet. The Russians, like the Chinese, discussed this option. My impression is that the Russian Foreign Ministry is much more open to such an option than [China's] Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. Another way would be to give every citizen a fixed IP address, which would go with you wherever you approach the internet." Setting up a new root server would not be expensive, Davies says, but would cause "technical issues". Guillaume Lovet, head of the threat response team at security company Fortinet, explains: "If it's about re-implementing internet protocols, it would be like installing new, additional firmware on our home router, and new drivers on each network-enabled computer at home. If it's about rebuilding everything from scratch, it is comparable to throwing everything in the bin." International isolation Davies says the key downside would be how much the Russians stand to lose out on the global operability of the web unless bridges are built with the Ascii-dominated global internet. "Russians estimate that 90% of the communication will be within Russia and just 10% will go outside," says Kleinwachter. But it's that 10% which would feel the real difference. Kleinwachter says the speculation is that people will need a password authorised by government agencies to use the global internet. The Kremlin therefore would be able to control what communication the individual is having with the rest of the world. The government says that would help it monitor cybercrime. Lovet is more sceptical. "Russia has a very strong academic tradition of technical universities, which form very sharp and competent computer scientists. At the same time, the average income per head is extremely low. This combination creates an explosive cocktail. Any attempt to confine Russian hackers inside some kind of Russian cyberspace is bound to fail." Other security experts go even further. "This will put a wall between cybercriminals and their victims," says Jose Nazario, from Arbor, who works to protect governments and corporations from cyber attacks emanating from Russia. "It makes it very difficult to track Russian cybercrime. Security experts are just starting to get a picture of their methods, and this will slow us down dramatically. It is also an escalation of tension between Putin's Russia and the west." http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/03/internet.censorship November 19 and documentary Photographers Picture this:
A controversial and major political social group suddenly decides to have their annual outdoor event down the road from you. You start to think things over and wonder if you can get access to cover the event without getting lynched by the group, you have done work for other political social groups that blatantly oppose the group you are now considering.
Normally this would not be a problem, but you are aware that due to the group’s reputation, they do check out who is who. It is here that the fun starts; I can type in my name to a search engine and it appears all over the web. I have also done research on the controversial group by visiting their official web site and non official sites. But I failed to stop to consider what my innocent little surf has just divulged about my computer and my location?
It is not unusual for a photographer to research material gleaned online from email and other sources, often on sensitive subjects. By mixing work and pleasure you are opening up to the world who and what you do. If part of your online life is compromised - all of it may be threatened. My Photography website has my name all over it and my home address with all the contact details to pinpoint to where I live and who I am.
If part of your online life is compromised - all of it may be threatened.
The answer is of course to have a dual identity with a false/second web site, but caution needs to be considered as your PC leaks information all over the place, the ideal would be to use a computer solely for the alias identity. This means all login’s email are kept separate, the site is built from the alias computer, all images are kept separate (remember the exif details and file naming etc. that are attached to your images when you make a picture, might need to be changed) all software registration needs to be under a separate identity, too so it is quite a head ache, What you can’t do is book your holiday stuff one minute with your real ID then go back to your alias in the next breath researching some dodgy individual on the same PC.
You can use things like Virtual Privacy Machine or a live boot version of Linux to browse but your ISP will still stay the same.
Have a quick look at Browserspy or Showmyip to understand what website owners can find out about you using nothing more than your internet connection. Defending your privacy is not something that can only be achieved through the right software and a good firewall. Often your best defense is common sense and a canny understanding of hacking and criminal technique. Criminal networks are increasingly using 'social engineering' to trick internet users into divulging passwords and security information. In 2006, Myspace users who clicked on what they thought were legitimate links were actually carried to a criminal site designed to obtain personal data.
You probably have had the email asking to verify your details of from a bank you don’t use, but what about an email from the one you do bank with? A slip you make in your lunch hour on a social networking site or careless lack of interest from an email could see your money plundered and may therefore compromise months of painstaking research in to the barging or worse yet put you, your family at risk.
Bear in mind that you may not be the only person with a stake in your privacy and security. "When a reporter or photojournalist promises confidentiality to a source, he or she should be prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that the identity isn't revealed, whether deliberately or through carelessness.
Remember it’s not just computers that have identity, mobile phones, PDA, wallets/purses, mail and your rubbish and you, also need to be taken care of and you can still bump into someone who knows you for who you really are and blow your cover; it’s a small world. How small, quite a few years ago I was in the middle east with the military, no wars or conflict were happening then but I did bump into a neighbor from across the road who was on holiday, it can be that small…! How easy is it for an operator to search for a mobile phone number on their network and see who it is registered too?
Meanwhile, staff at an Orange call center were found to have shared log-ins, meaning customer information could potentially have been accessed by unauthorized workers. When you think of social movements they have a large number of supporters that are not paid staff, how many work for utility companies, phone companies, councils etc. that may have access to finding your name or address to verify who you are and how you pay for the service and what bank!
Bear in mind that you may not be the only person with a stake in your privacy and security. "When a reporter or photojournalist promises confidentiality to a source, he or she should be prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to make sure that the identity isn't revealed, whether deliberately or through carelessness.
A series of remarkable challenges to the principle of freedom of online expression have been made in the US in the form of lawsuits known as 'cyberslapps'. This occurs when corporations or public figures attempt to intimidate or reveal the identity of people who criticise them online. These lawsuits tend to work because they target people who cannot afford the legal costs of opposing them. It will probably be happening in the UK sooner or later. The subpoenas involved often require ISPs to reveal personal information.
According to cyberslapp.org, a coalition involving the American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Citizen among others, ISPs may reveal your personal information in response to a subpoena before you know about the legal action.
Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) state that the 'current privacy picture in the UK is decidedly grim' yes you heard ‘grim’. This is partly down to the electronic surveillance allowed under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), which places an obligation on 'Communication Service Providers' to provide 'a reasonable interception capability'. In 2003 there were 1,983 warrants for interceptions issued in England and Scotland under the Act. Privacy International says these surveillance powers, coupled with moves towards a national ID scheme and weak Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation, mean the UK is the worst-performing western democracy in its 'surveillance league table'.
Your privacy and professional security may be vulnerable in ways that were scarcely imaginable just a few years ago. Do you think you can be traced by a simple document from your office? Most people would not think so. But the reality is that the US government managed to persuade many desktop printer makers to deploy technology that encodes documents (using tracking dots) in a way that identifies individual machines. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, no law exists to prevent authorities from using the technology to compromise privacy. It also says that other governments are using the technology in surveillance operations
While there are good reasons why journalists and photographers need to take even more care online, there are also ways they can take advantage of new services and technology to defeat the crooks and avoid surveillance. One way of combating laptop theft, for example, is subscription to a service that helps you recover your stolen computer when it is next connected to the internet.
See the Undercover service for Macs and the PCPhoneHome equivalent for PCs. A better way is to have the whole hard drive encrypted, with password access at boot up (see truecrypt link below regarding being forced for password retrieval)Another remarkable service that enables Mac users to detect unwanted outbound connections and 'network parasites' is Little Snitch.
Other helpful tools and sites are listed below.
Email
Most people are surprised about how vulnerable email is to eavesdropping and surveillance. While it is very hard for an 'outsider' to access your mail while it is in transit, your email is at risk at both ends of its journey.An 'insider', such as someone at ISP level or in one of the networks through which your email travels, can access and even edit email content.
Through 'social engineering', someone may gain access to your ISP account or access an unencrypted WiFi network. The recipient of the email may be equally vulnerable and any interception will access the 'plain text' content of ordinary email.One of the best things you can do, therefore, is to encrypt your sensitive email communication and one of the best solutions is the desktop package for home offices available from PGP. It is PC and Mac compatible and works with a range of popular email clients such as Microsoft Outlook 2007, Qualcomm Eudora 6.2 and Apple Macintosh's Mail.
Unencrypted WiFi
If you set up a wireless network and a wireless internet connection, then your router will probably give you an option of encrypted access. Use it. Unencrypted or poorly configured wireless networks are frighteningly common. "Most people who buy a WiFi router for home don't bother to set up strong encryption," says Stephen Doig. "When I turn on my laptop at home, I can see half a dozen other WiFi signals nearby, most of them wide open."You should also never use an unencrypted WiFi connection that you stumble upon by chance when you are on the move. These can be 'honey pot' networks that are left open with the aim of luring people into using a conveniently open connection. While your connection is free, your traffic will have no privacy.
Search engines
Most people are surprised to learn that all of the major search engines maintain a record of your search string history. If you have an account with a search engine (for example if you use Google's Gmail) then your history will be directly linked to your name. But even if you do not have an account, your history may be linked to your IP address.
In 2006, AOL accidentally disclosed the records of more than half a million users long enough for the data to be copied and made available from a variety of sources. Some companies defend the logging of search strings, claiming they are developing 'hyper personal' search results based on your interests. But privacy campaigners say the safeguards and privacy policies are far too lax.
Shock and horror
Major companies in the UK have been breaching data protection act
Mr Thomas, the UK’s information commissioner told the BBC there were concerns about internet search engines which keep detailed histories of each individual's online activity.
"We're leaving these electronic footprints right through our lives these days," he said.
The annual report also highlighted a recent glitch on the Medical Training Application Service website which left trainee doctors' personal details open to public view.
A total of 12 high street banks were guilty of discarding customers' personal details - including bank statements, cut up credit cards and loan applications - in unsecured bins outside their premises, the commissioner found. Source BBC
To avoid compromising your privacy:
• Do not put personal information in search strings. For example, do not search for your own credit card number or your address.
• Be aware that your search history will be logged to you personally if you create a search engine account. If you do create an account, modify your search behaviour and delete your search history if you can.
• Consider using other tactics such as blocking cookies or browsing anonymously (see below).
For more information on protecting your online search privacy, see the EFF page on search engine privacy.
Social networking
Networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook are grist to the mill for people involved in the media industry, but you need to maintain your caution to defend your privacy. Social network sites are increasingly being targeted by attackers who set up 'phishing scams' (see below). You need to configure your privacy settings carefully or avoid adding any sensitive information and be careful about how much you reveal to new 'friends'. A common 'social engineering' form of industrial espionage is to befriend someone online just long enough to get them to reveal insider information, the EFF says.
Phishing
The practice of defrauding people by tricking them into divulging access passwords to banking sites and other private information has seen phenomenal growth. The number of unique phishing sites detected by the Anti-Phising Working Group rose to 55,643 in April 2007. These phishing scams hijacked 172 different brands as cover.Typically these scams involve fake emails inviting people to change their passwords or PIN numbers either in direct response to the email or via counterfeit web pages. These attacks have grown in sophistication and complexity and sometimes involve very detailed counterfeit websites that mimic banks, credit card companies and other organisations. What surprises many people is that this counterfeiting can, and often does, involve a fake URL - in other words the URL that appears in the browser looks perfectly normal but, in reality, takes the user to a scam site. If you fall victim to these scams, your entire online identity can be put at risk. For information about how to spot phishing emails and fake websites see:
• Get Safe Online and follow the links to Avoid criminal websites.
• The Anti-Phishing Working Group consumer advice page.
Avoid monitoring and surveillance
Marketing firms monitor web use using 'cookies'. These are small text files that sites place onto your computer that can enable the site owner to monitor your web activity. Most are only accessible to those site owners who placed them; others can be used by marketing companies to track your general web browsing.While it is tempting to block all cookies in order to defend your privacy, cookie use is so widespread that many sites are difficult to use without them. EFF recommends configuring your browser to allow only 'session cookies'. This means that the useful cookies are enabled while the ones that can be used to track your history will expire at the end of your browsing session. But you must remember to quit your browser regularly. For more information about configuring your browser to disable cookies, see this EFF page.
If you do not set your computer to allow only 'session' cookies, then Stephen Doig recommends purging them on a daily basis using your own browser's tools. For more options for managing cookies see this page. But managing or blocking cookies does not hide your IP address from website owners.
One way to defend your work is to find a secure way to browse anonymously. Two of the best options are Tor and Anonymizer.
Both have plug-ins for Firefox browser that is considered less leaky than Internet explorer.
TrackMeNot is a lightweight browser extension that helps protect web searchers from surveillance and data-profiling by search engines. It does so not by means of concealment or encryption (i.e. covering one's tracks), but instead, paradoxically, by the opposite strategy: noise and obfuscation. With TrackMeNot, actual web searches, lost in a cloud of false leads, are essentially hidden in plain view. User-installed TrackMeNot works with the Firefox Browser and popular search engines (AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN) and requires no 3rd-party servers or services.
How it worksTrackMeNot runs in Firefox as a low-priority background process that periodically issues randomized search-queries to popular search engines, e.g., AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. It hides users' actual search trails in a cloud of 'ghost' queries, significantly increasing the difficulty of aggregating such data into accurate or identifying user profiles. As of version 0.4, TMN's static word list has been replaced with a dynamic query mechanism which 'evolves' each client (uniquely) over time, parsing the results of its searches for 'logical' future query terms with which to replace those already used.
Journalists are also advised to view:
Hints and Tips for Whistle-blowers at
http://p10.hostingprod.com/ @spyb...lowers_hin.html
and Security and Encryption FAQ at
http://www.panta-rhei.eu.org/ pan...ndEncryptionFaq
Some more web sites worth visiting.
http://www.truecrypt.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueCrypthttp://
www.freeotfe.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeOTFE
http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Off...ecord_Messaging
http://www.securstar.com/ product...rivecryptpp.php
http://www.panta-rhei.eu.org/ pan...ndEncryptionFaq
http://www.panta-rhei.eu.org/ pan...th
TorAndStunnel
http://tor.eff.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor...nymity_network)
source ::LifeSpy I have been testing a couple of phones a Sony Ericsson K810i which has quite a powerful camera at 3.2 mega pixies and providing you use it within its limitations it provides reasonable quality images, especially for web and urgent news.
The other and at the moment my favorite is the Fujitsu Siemens Loox T830 the built in 2 mega pixies camera is not up to much but as a photojournalist who has a camera with him 99% of the time this is not a problem for me.
It has a voice recorder that you can use to record telephone conversations ideal for interviews.
It also has:
Video recorder
Video phone
Push email
All the things you get on Windows Mobile
Sat Nav
(This embeds location information into your images)
As well as my favorite, the software I have put on is Pocket Phojo, this allows me to attach my Nikon D2x and plug it into the Smart Phone and upload pictures via FTP to anywhere I want. It connects to 3G networks and WiFi hotspots and any other that is open. as soon as I have taken an image on the camera this combination of phone and software uploads it as soon as it is taken. Pre captioning and image editing can also be done prior to upload too.
Now that is an awesome phone for a photojournalist or documentary photographer
Some accessories I have brought so far for it is an in car charger and a solar powered Freeloader
for charging the Loox T830 in remote places like in a field! The Freeloader also powers up mobile phones as well and you can get disposable one shot batteries for a couple of pounds if there is no sun or I am in a heavy urban environment.
My D2X lasts for a considerable time on its own rechargeable battery and I also have a spare, this combination should allow me to keep shooting from just about anywhere.
While the K810i will cover me for the 1% that I don't have my camera
Be your own personal privacy czar 
Some campaigners worry about using social sites such as Facebook Regular columnist Bill Thompson wonders if it is time to create web services that can be trusted.  Like most journalists I know I'm very sloppy about keeping my online communications secure.
I rarely encrypt e-mail messages, leaving them to be read by anyone in the electronic chain between me and the intended recipient. And I use public chat services like MSN Messenger and iChat, even though they send messages as plain text across the network. Partly this is because the tools needed to make communications secure can be cumbersome and complicated, even for someone with a technical background. But partly it is because I have not often been involved in researching stories that are going to bring me to the attention of those with the capabilities needed to tap even insecure online communications. But you never know. Each year I tell my students on the online journalism course at City University that they should take care to protect their files and e-mail. And I point out that once someone e-mails them from a work address then that person can never be guaranteed anonymity in future, simply because it is so easy for employers or the police to get access to e-mail traffic records. They may not know what was said, as reading the contents of e-mail requires permission under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, but they can find out that messages were exchanged. 
 But using commercial services for campaigning or organising raises the same sorts of issues as we see with Hushmail, because the interests of the owners are not the same as those of the users. 
Bill Thompson In the past I've suggested that they get an account with Hushmail, the Canadian company that offers secure encrypted e-mail for its customers. But after revelations that Hushmail has passed on details of supposedly secure e-mails to the Canadian police I think I'll stop. I like Hushmail because it works in your web browser. When you sign in it downloads an application written in the Java programming language, and this encrypts and decrypts your message using your secret keys. Hushmail never sees your e-mail, and so it can't hand it over to the authorities even if they come with a warrant. But the company also offers an easier to use service which does the hard work on its server rather than your computer. And when it does that it has to have access to your original message, at least briefly. So when the Canadian police asked it for copies of e-mail sent and received by someone suspected of the illegal manufacture and distribution of anabolic steroids it could not deny that it could read them. The company has been open about what happened, although it does not seem to have got around to mentioning it on its website yet. But being open isn't good enough, as the issue has highlighted a fundamental flaw in its security model, one that it will be all but impossible to get around. Even its more secure service could be undermined if the company agreed to add a 'backdoor' to its code at the authorities' request. The problem is that Hushmail, like other companies that store and process personal information, is bound by the laws of the country in which it is based and sometimes those laws will require it to betray the confidence of its customers. A newspaper editor in the UK has to decide whether to go to court or hand over leaked documents; a manager at an net service firm has to decide whether to allow the police to access e-mail logs; and someone running a secure e-mail company has to decide whether the privacy of a suspected drug dealer is worth a jail sentence. Usually they do what is asked, and often they are not even allowed to tell users what they have done because of gagging orders. 
It can be hard to keep your messages secret, warns Bill The issue goes much wider than trying to decide who to trust with confidential or possibly incriminating data. It also has an impact on the tools we use to contact our friends or organise activities. The National Union of Journalists is currently having an occasionally fractious internal discussion about the impact of new media on the profession, and the use of social network sites has been raised several times. Some of the participants are simply opposed to these new-fangled technologies, a position that I have little sympathy with. I remember meeting Tony Benn, former MP and lifelong campaigner for socialism, and being pleasantly surprised at his enthusiasm for YouTube and the ways it could be used to amplify a political message. But using commercial services for campaigning or organising raises the same sorts of issues as we see with Hushmail, because the interests of the owners are not the same as those of the users. Trade union activist and online campaigner Eric Lee put it succinctly in a recent blog post when he noted that 'Facebook is a poor replacement for a real online campaigning strategy for unions. And it makes us vulnerable to the whims of those who own the company'. Hushmail seems to offer a good service, but its 'simple' service offers little real security when it matters. Far better to install your own encryption software, like the freely available GnuPG, and take responsibility for your own security. And Facebook may make it easy to set up a group, but it will never be as good as having your own server, your own code and your own security mechanisms in place. Organise a group on Facebook and it belongs to them; organise it on your own server and it belongs to you. Of course doing this takes time, costs money and requires expertise that many campaigners simply do not possess. Perhaps the time is right for a co-operative social network site, one owned by its members and run in their interests. It might never be worth $15 billion, but it could make the world a better place. Source :: BBC November 07 Times travel blog Times Online launched a new service to enable its travel blogging community to submit “postings” through speech, which are immediately converted into text, thanks to SpinVox. Thanks to the service, Times Media hopes it will be easier for users to file in their contributions. The best pieces will be considered for weekly publication within The Times and The Sunday Times.
"The voice post is evocative of a golden age of foreign journalism when correspondents filed their stories by telephone from the far reaches of the globe. The development also reinforces our commitment to user-generated content,” said Zach Leonard, digital media publisher at Times Media.
Users can dial +44 151 266 5764 from anywhere in the world to voice their travel stories, tips and recommendations. Calls from a fixed landline are charged at national call rates.
Users have up to two minutes of voice time.
In the US, the Washington Times uses similar technology with the opposite intent: automatically converting text articles into audio files, through Click-2-Listen.
Source: Brand Republic Frontline journalists sole gatherers vs. one-man news bureaus Despite the radical reorganization of the BBC newsroom, frontline journalists will not be radically affected by the changes, insists head of TV news Peter Horrocks. However, Kevin Sites, a solo journalist, part of a one-man news bureau gathers news using multimedia tools and reports with video, text, and still photography. Is journalism still just on the frontlines or are we heading toward a world of, as Jean Yung of Online Journalism Review calls it “the increasingly popular one-man news bureau?” At BBC most jobs will be cut from news output, to save newsgathering positions. “That’s tough for our journalists who are selecting and processing the editorial in London. But in the end, it must make sense to keep the journalism that’s out in the field and to keep that unique strength the BBC has got and organize ourselves more coherently in London,” says Peter Horrocks. As opposed to BBC, Kevin Sites gathers news using multimedia tools and reports using his videos, text, and photography. Sites’ approach to journalism proved successful. “Under the intimate portraits and videos of ordinary people caught in war, Sites provided links to the chronology of the conflict (BBC country profiles) and to possible solutions (NGOs and political organizations),” reports Yung. The site drew about two million viewers a week. Taking different approaches, it will be interesting to see which method of journalism ultimately proves most successful. Sources: Online Journalism Review
Press Gazette Frontline journalists sole gatherers vs. one-man news bureaus - Editors Weblog November 05 First strike software have just launched the latest version of Plodshop Creative suite CS3
Developed
by Warren Terror Software Plodshop is intended as an image verification
and anti manipulation software for digital images and is to address
major security issues in the industry standard Adobe Photoshop, Picnik,
Tesco Photo ReStyle and Piccasa2 You can see the full product review by EPUK (who are press and editorial Photographers discussion group) here: http://www.epuk.org/Blogs/739/new-epuk-software-release Well
at least they see it for what it is
|
Tools 
Help
