We'll screen shocking images of violence and child abuse that proves Syrian torture policy

Shocking Images in Syria

Some of the most graphic images ever to be shown on British television will be screened tomorrow night.

Channel 4 is planning to broadcast shocking film of protesters – including children, teachers and a mayor – allegedly being beaten by members of Syria’s secret police.

It claims the images provide ‘irrefutable prima facie’ evidence that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is torturing its citizens.

Executives have sanctioned the broadcasting of the footage after the 9pm watershed but it was deemed too explicit for the station’s early evening news.

Instead, the documentary, ent-itled Syria’s Torture Machine and presented by Jonathan Miller, will be shown at 11.10pm.

Siobhan Sinnerton, Channel 4’s current affairs commissioning editor, said: ‘Assad’s government has denied accusations of torture. This film aims to establish, through forensic analysis, the extent to which torture is systematic.’

The UN estimates 5,000 Syrians have been killed and 50,000 tortured since the Arab Spring uprising spread to the country in March. More than 30,000 videos showing violent repression have been put on the internet, which Assad’s regime insists are faked.

Now Channel 4 has investigated some of that footage and claims it has verified it, presenting strong evidence that the regime is committing crimes against humanity.

The revelation is expected to cause shockwaves and revulsion around the world. Mr Miller said: ‘We got a group of independent experts, including an exiled former member of the security forces, Syrian translators, a forensic pathologist, a specialist doctor and IT experts to examine the footage.

‘The result is a grotesque collection of verified videos which we believe shows the regime is committing crimes against humanity.

‘The film is too horrific to broadcast on pre-watershed news but we believe it is too important not to show. The world has to know what’s going on in Syria. It’s torture on an industrial scale. And it’s going on right now.’

The images were allegedly sourced from ‘trophy’ footage taken by officers from the four main pillars of the secret police – military intelligence, air force intelligence, the political security directorate and the general security directorate – and mobile phone footage made by protesters and family members.

Perhaps most shocking is what Channel 4 believes is trophy footage of teacher and father-of-six Loay Abdul Hakim al-Amer being tortured and killed. His ankles are bound to an assault rifle so that the soles of his feet can be whipped by Special Forces soldiers.

‘Film me while I’m hitting him,’ one soldier orders. ‘Shall I shoot him and get rid of him?’ another yells. Five days later his body was returned to his family bearing the tell-tale marks of torture.

In another piece of suspected trophy footage, a blindfolded man, his hands tied behind his back, is allegedly kicked and stamped on by soldiers with Alawite accents – the minority Shia Muslim sect to which the President and the army’s officer corps belong. ‘Kick him, kick him,’ one says.

A third shows the mayor of a district in Idlib province being subjected to a foot-whipping technique known as falaqa.

The footage is believed to have been filmed by soldiers from the elite 4th Armoured Division, which is commanded by Assad’s brother Maher. The victim is seen passing out after being kicked in the head.

Professor Derrick Pounder, a forensic pathologist at Dundee University, reviewed 20 videos for the film and concluded: ‘It is crude, physical violence in an extreme form.

‘It would suggest that what was happening was on a wide scale and is carried out with impunity.’

The Mail on Sunday contacted the Syrian Embassy about the film but staff did not respond.

News by Dailymail


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Insight: Apple vs Samsung lawsuit full of secret combat

Apple-Samsung

(Reuters) - The biggest legal battle for the technology industry is playing out in a federal court in Silicon Valley, where Apple is trying to stop Samsung from selling Galaxy phones and tablets in the United States.

In the lawsuit, filed in April, Apple accuses Samsung of "slavishly" ripping off its designs for the iPad and iPhone. Although there is worldwide interest in the case, the proceedings have largely been shrouded behind a veil of secrecy: most of the court papers are sealed, meaning they can't be viewed by the public.

Filing documents under seal has become almost standard procedure in many intellectual-property cases -- like Apple versus Samsung -- as companies claim their trade secrets and confidential information could come out during litigation. Judges have surprisingly wide latitude in deciding what should be kept under wraps and what shouldn't.

Some courts, like the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the case is being heard, have rules requiring that judges specifically sign off on every request to seal a document -- but these rules set no deadline.

In the Apple/Samsung case, some secrecy requests have languished for months while investors, academics and tech bloggers struggled to piece together whatever bits of information were available.

In every instance that she did issue a ruling on a sealing motion, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose granted the request. Just this week she approved six more motions to seal. Samsung's most crucial legal brief became available after months of delay -- and then only in redacted form.

The stakes here are high: Samsung had 23.8 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, nine points higher than Apple. Yet Samsung's holiday sales could be jeopardized if Koh, who is expected to rule any day, grants Apple's motion to halt Samsung's sales of Galaxy.

Lack of transparency in the courts troubles many observers.

"For the judicial system as a whole, we want transparency so the public can have confidence in the judicial decision-making process," said Bernard Chao, a professor at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law. "When things aren't transparent, that view is undercut."

In an email on Thursday, Koh declined a Reuters request for an interview on her sealing decisions in the Apple/Samsung case, or about her general policies. However, shortly after the inquiry from Reuters, Koh issued new guidelines governing sealed documents in her courtroom.

Koh's guidelines, posted on her official website, mandated that parties file a redacted, publicly available version of every document that they seek to seal -- at the same time they make the sealing request.

Koh and U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal, who oversees certain procedural motions in the case, are newcomers to the federal bench and were both previously intellectual property lawyers representing companies at large law firms. They have not only granted many of Apple and Samsung's sealing motions, in some cases, they've gone a step further.

During an October hearing on the proposed injunction, Koh, unprompted, asked Apple and Samsung if they wanted to seal the courtroom. When the lawyers said such a step wouldn't be necessary and that they would not mention confidential material during the hearing, Koh commented, "I guess if you all can be careful not to disclose anything that requires sealing, then we can still have that with the open public."

Representatives from Samsung did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday, and an Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Secrecy in the courts is an ongoing concern. The policy body of the federal courts recently reminded judges to limit broad sealing of cases, and interest groups such as Public Citizen and the American Civil Liberties Union frequently intervene in cases where major records are sealed.

For their part, investors look at briefs and filings to see what kind of effect a patent is having on the marketplace, professors study them for novel legal theories, and lawyers track them for developments in intellectual property law.

Like Koh, many federal judges routinely grant requests to seal documents. In the Eastern District of Texas, where the docket is always clogged with patent cases, lawyers don't even need permission from the judge to file documents under seal, said Michael Smith, an IP attorney who practices there.

"The court has made it as easy as they possibly can," Smith said.

Judges say it's a balancing act.

"It comes down to: 'how do you see the interplay between transparency and protecting the interests of the party,'" said U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, director of the Federal Judicial Center, in an interview. "Transparency sounds so noble, so apple pie, but the interests of the parties are important, too."

The release of Samsung's redacted brief this week demonstrates some of the inconsistencies in what gets sealed, and why.

Previously, Koh had sealed a separate document because, according to Samsung, it contained "unreleased product launch dates, and information relating to Samsung's total number of employees, and the number of employees involved in the design and marketing of the products at issue."

Samsung said references to other confidentially-filed motions in the case justified its sealing, and Apple did not object.

But in the key Samsung brief released this week, even the redacted version revealed not only numbers of Samsung employees (more than 8,500 engaged in telecommunications research and development projects), but also the dollar amount of its research and development costs (over $35 billion for electronics product lines from 2005 to 2010).

When there isn't pushback from one of the parties, judges typically grant sealing requests without much scrutiny, said Chao, the University of Denver professor.

"I think at times they are just overwhelmed," Chao said.

Even contemplating closing a courtroom, as Koh did, shows an unusual level of accommodation to the parties, said Richard Marcus, a professor at University of California Hastings College of the Law, and can also erode trust in the courts.

"Locking the courthouse doors in a trial-like situation is extremely rare and requires exceptional circumstances," he said.

In fact, 50 miles from the Samsung/Apple battle, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco has taken the opposite tack in the monster IP fight between Oracle and Google over the Android operating system.

Since Oracle brought suit in August 2010, Alsup has rejected more than a half-dozen requests from the companies to keep material secret and issued a number of harsh warnings.

Among other documents, Alsup unsealed an email drafted by a Google engineer saying Google needed to negotiate a license for Java -- the programming language Oracle has accused Google of infringing.

Google investigated alternatives to Java for Android and concluded "they all suck," the email said. Alsup even read the email aloud during a July hearing. (Google has asked an appeals court to overturn the unsealing).

"The United States district court is a public institution, and the workings of litigation must be open to public view," Alsup wrote in an October order. Alsup declined to comment, as did an Oracle spokeswoman. Google representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

For David Sunshine, a New York lawyer who tracks technology cases for hedge fund investors, judges like Alsup who challenge companies on sealing requests make the job much easier. "I love those guys," Sunshine said.

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Apple, with eye on media, names Disney's Iger to board

Steve Jobs are seen on Apple's Display

(Reuters) - Apple Inc moved to shore up its board after the death of Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs, appointing Walt Disney Co chief executive Bob Iger to its board to propel its media ambitions.

Iger brings sector expertise and Disney's clout as the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate to bear, as Apple prepares to step up a fight with the likes of Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc over content and its distribution.

Many on Wall Street also expect an attempt soon to shake up the fragmented television market, much as Apple did with iTunes and music years ago.

"Apple is going to get more into content distribution over time on the video side. That's where it makes sense for someone like Bob Iger from Disney to have that relationship with Apple," Morningstar analyst Michael Corty said.

Apple is taking the fight to Internet distribution and the so-called "cloud". It recently launched "iTunes Match", a service that for a fee of $24.99 scans the content of your music library and matches it with music available on its iTunes Store.

Google is expected to announce this week an online music service similar to iTunes.

In coming years, investors are betting that Apple will launch a full-fledged assault on TV, though skeptics say it will prove difficult to arrange distribution agreements with cable and content companies.

Jobs was himself a director at Disney, whose corporate empire encompasses TV network ABC, sports cable channel ESPN, movie studios and theme parks and resorts.

He and Iger forged a strong relationship after Disney bought Pixar -- which Jobs took over in 1986 -- for about $7.4 billion in 2006.

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?

Genentech Inc Chairman Arthur Levinson will become chairman, replacing Jobs, who died in October after a years-long struggle with cancer. Levinson had been a co-lead Apple director since 2005, alongside Avon Products Inc's Andrea Jung.

Apple had lacked a chairman until Jobs in August took the role, relinquishing his CEO duties at the same time because he could no longer fulfill them due to his worsening health. The company argued that co-lead arrangement enhanced its independence.

But analysts have said Jobs' exercised enormous influence over the board. They said his absence would trigger major changes for the board, elevating them beyond being merely advisors to a visionary leader.

The board may have to take more control, be less deferential to new CEO Tim Cook than it was to Jobs and meet more often, they said.

The naming of an independent chairman was welcomed by corporate governance experts.

"The board knows it's going to be under the microscope and Tim Cook knows that as well," said Jim Post, a professor of corporate governance at Boston University School of Management who called for an independent chairman. "The board has to move out of Steve Jobs' shadow and they have to act to like an independent board."

"The steps they have taken today move them in a better direction," he added.

Previously, some experts have raised concerns about how Jobs managed to keep his board in the dark about his health, which was a topic of constant speculation in the years before his death.

In Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography of the Silicon Valley icon, it was revealed the charismatic Jobs had sometimes lied about his condition.

Questions about the board's oversight had also arisen since Apple became one of many Silicon Valley corporations embroiled in the options-backdating scandals in the middle of the last decade.

In a fierce battle to attract and retain talent, Apple and others had resorted to backdating options -- attaching a retroactive validity date -- to make them more valuable. Apple and Jobs were eventually cleared of wrongdoing.

Apple shares were broadly unchanged at $389.12 in after hours trading. They have slid around 4 percent since the start of the month.

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Feds: Cyber Criminals Hijacked 4 Million Computers

Cyber Criminal

An Eastern European pack of cyber thieves known as the Rove group hijacked at least four million computers in over 100 countries, including at least half a million computers in the U.S., to make off with $14 million in "illegitimate income" before they were caught, federal officials announced today.

The malware allegedly used in the "massive and sophisticated scheme" also managed to infect computers in U.S. government agencies including NASA and targeted the websites for major institutions like iTunes, Netflix and the IRS -- forcing users attempting to get to those sites to different websites entirely, according to a federal indictment unsealed in New York today.

The accused hackers, six Estonian nationals and a Russian national, rerouted the internet traffic illegally on the infected computers for the last four years in order to reap profits from internet advertisement deals, the indictment said. The FBI busted up the alleged international cyber ring after a two-year investigation called Operation Ghost Click.

"The global reach of these cyber thieves demonstrates that the criminal world is... flat," said Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI Assistant Director in charge of the New York field office. "The Internet is pervasive because it is such a useful tool, but it is a tool that can be exploited by those with bad intentions and a little know-how."

Though they operated out of their home countries, the alleged hackers used entities in the U.S. and all over the world -- including Estonia-based software company Rove Digital from which the group apparently gets its name -- to carry out the plot.

According to the indictment, the suspects entered into deals with various internet advertisers in which they would be paid for generating traffic to certain websites or advertisements. But instead of earning the money legitimately, the FBI said the defendants used malware to force infected computers to unwillingly visit the target sites or advertisements -- pumping up click results and, therefore, ill-gotten profits to the tune of $14 million.

The malware was also designed to prevent users from installing anti-virus software that may have been able to free the infected computers.

The six Estonian nationals have been arrested on cyber crime charges while the Russian national remains at large.

"Today, with the flip of a switch, the FBI and our partners dismantled the Rove criminal enterprise," Fedarcyk said. "Thanks to the collective effort across the U.S. and in Estonia, six leaders of the criminal enterprise have been arrested and numerous servers operated by the criminal organization have been disabled."

How the Fraud Worked, According to the FBI

The indictment describes several examples of alleged cyber fraud including two principle strategies: traffic redirection and ad replacement.

In the first case, if a user searched for the websites of major institutions like iTunes, Netflix or the IRS, the search results would return normally. However, if the user tried to click on the link to the websites, the malware on the computer would force a redirect to a different website where the criminals would profit in their advertisement deal.

In the second, when an infected computer visited a major website -- like Amazon.com -- the malware would be able to simply replace regular advertisements on that page with advertisements of their own making.

News by Yahoo

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EBook: The Japanese Rakuten buys Canadian Kobo

kobo

AFP - The manager of the largest Japanese online shopping mall, Rakuten, announced Wednesday the acquisition for $ 315 million (228 million) of Canadian society Kobo reading lights that provides electronic and digital books to sites of booksellers. Rakuten, which just opened in Japan's own virtual library "Raboo" ready, subject to regulatory approvals, to purchase and pay in cash 100% stake in Kobo, to expand its international presence considered promising in this area.

This acquisition marks a new stage for Rakuten, which extends its branches abroad. Kobo is a number of digital books in Canada. The company offers reading terminals enriched with attractive features (links to social networking sites Twitter and Facebook) and boasts a catalog of 2.5 million book titles, mainly in English. Founded in 2009 by Canadian bookseller Indigo, Kobo presents itself as one of the few companies in the sector to be able to resist the giant Amazon, through its partnerships with various distributors in the world, including Fnac in France.

For the founder and CEO of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, "Kobo provides reading experiences with the most community integration of social media, while Rakuten Kobo offers unique opportunities to grow." "This transaction will greatly strengthen our position in existing markets and will allow us to diversify rapidly in other countries and other types of e-commerce", for its part welcomed the Director General of Kobo, Michael Serbin , said in a statement released in North America. The French retailer Fnac cultural products has recently announced the launch of Kobo reading lights in France, which are already offered by foreign chains Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Future Shop, WHSmith, and Collins Booksellers Whitcoulls?

Through its subsidiaries in various countries, claims to offer Kobo Rakuten an even broader international presence in Germany, Brazil, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, and of course, in Japan, where its service Raboo (short Book of Rakuten) is already compatible with a special reading light, and soon Panasonic models with Sony Reader. Rakuten aims to build on its reputation and experience in selling products and services via the Internet and adapt its proven very lucrative for content immaterial. For the first nine months of fiscal 2011, Rakuten has certainly deplored a loss, but this disappointment is due to an exceptional charge related to the restructuring of a business credit card, while the purely operational it posted record sales and profits.

The group, which takes advantage of the historical force of the Japanese currency, launched a major offensive abroad where he buys companies with a vengeance. He announced the acquisition in September, to 25 million pounds (29 million), the British company that manages Play Holdings one of the most important platforms for electronic commerce in Britain. In July, Rakuten had put his hand on the mall Tradoria, one of the largest in Germany, a year after taking the French company.

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