Life Spy

PhotoShelter tell it Straight

2008-07-11T16:30:00.001-07:00

How Getty Is Killing the Stock Photo Industry - A Picture's Worth

When we created the PhotoShelter Collection, we aimed to change the face of the stock photography industry by fundamentally altering the dynamics of how photographers were treated, and in turn, providing visual diversity to buyers that simply didn't exist. Tens of thousands of photographers from over 130 countries signed up and started uploading their images to PhotoShelter, and the buyers have followed. Each month we have stolen sales with major clients away from Getty and have become an increasingly large thorn in their side.

So it's flattering to hear that Getty Images is validating our approach and recognizing our success by reaching into the flickr community. No other competitor in their history has forced Getty to change their model. This is a great sign of encouragement for us. Getty's CEO Jonathan Klein describes this new endeavor as "the best imagery from a fresh collection of high-quality images chosen by us from Flickr's diverse and prolific community." If it sounds familiar, it should be, something very similar is printed on our homepage.

But rather than compare lexicon, let's clarify some of the key points and differences of this announcement.

Klein stated in a Seattle Times piece that the deal "for us is not significant, but it's strategically extremely important." Flickr GM Kakul Srivastava corroborated this by saying, "From our perspective, on the Flickr side, we're not expecting this will be a huge stream of monetization for our members...The relationship, in the licensing piece, is purely between the photographer - the Flickr member - and Getty Images itself."

So, if it's not really about making money, what is it about?
Read More>>

Photographers Under Attack!

2008-02-26T12:57:00.001-08:00

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

Photographers Under Attack!

2008-02-26T12:51:00.001-08:00

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TAKE PHOTOS EVERY DAY.

WHAT IF ONE OF THEM SEEMS ODD?

The Metropolitan Police website

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...

Check out the resources for the photographer in the sidebar and download and print the UK Photographers Rights PDF

Whistle-blower site taken offline :: BBC

2008-02-19T02:32:00.001-08:00

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

Whistle-blower site taken offline :: BBC

2008-02-19T02:29:00.001-08:00

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

Polaroid film faces the final shutter

2008-02-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

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

Out of Africa - Reuters Photographers

2008-02-10T16:07:00.001-08:00

Some of these images are very graphic and caution is advised

Out of Africa

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

Write your own Guardian News

2008-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

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

Police seize photographers film

2008-01-22T15:58:00.001-08:00

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.

Banned from owning a camera

2008-01-22T15:53:00.001-08:00

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

Kremlin eyes internet control ...

2008-01-03T04:42:00.001-08:00

The Russian government is looking to create a Cyrillic internet, but is it just another case of Big Brother controlling its citizens?

Gavin Knight
The Guardian,
Thursday January 3 2008

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

Technorati Tags: Internet censorship Russia

Tribune Blogs -- Fly on the Wall

2007-12-24T12:29:00.001-08:00

Camera Guy - Full Text

2007 was an interesting year for newspapers. And I mean interesting like this: Imagine you're parachuting into an orchard of spears. That's how the future of newspaper journalism sometimes looks to those of us drifting slowly down, trapped in gravity's pull.
A few months ago, a longtime friend called to say farewell. He said I probably wouldn't see him again. He had developed a time machine and was going to return himself to 1989, a simpler year when he was much happier. (Fact: there are no time machines.)
This friend is a photographer who worked at a small daily newspaper in a small town. If you've ever worked on a small paper, you know how it is: several assignments per day and everyone in town knows you're the "Camera Guy."
My friend served as Camera Guy for over a decade. It's what he always wanted to do. It's what he loved. But one day the word "multimedia" blew into town and was heralded as the future and savior of his newspaper. After that, going to work became something to be nervous about. With photo-graph-video-tography pushed on him, he was facing the task of mastering a new medium and learning complex software without any training.
He quit.
And you know what? I find it hard to blame him. In fact, I give him a lot of credit for stepping away. If his heart wasn't in it, better to leave than to slog along half-heartedly at something he didn't believe in. Newspapers are in desperate need of believers and dreamers right now, people with passion for storytelling and loads of creative energy. Without them newspaper readers will drift away to more interesting sites. (ratemycorpsepaint.com, for example.) If you're not up for the fight we face, you'll be happier elsewhere. No shame in that.
I think what my friend saw in the future of his newspaper was a shift from quality to quantity. I think he was concerned about doing quick, shallow multimedia pieces. And that spending his time on labor-intensive multimedia would limit the time he could spend making great in-depth photographs of his community.
It could be said that many newspaper photographers are wanna-be artists. I'll gladly put myself in that category, even if you won't. Working at a newspaper provides me with equipment, an audience, and a never-ending stream of assignments to visually riff on. Not every assignment provides the best canvas for my artistic attempts, but there is always another one coming up in a couple hours that might expose me to a beautiful moment or story.
I guess the question my friend had to ask himself was related to that. Is the newspaper of the future a place where he could satisfy his passion for creating something beautiful? Or would it become a lifeless production centre, filled with 24-7 deadlines and weekly multimedia quotas?
With everything up in the air, who knows? Every newspaper seems to be scrambling for the answers and reaching wildly differing conclusions. I've got no answers for you and your particular situation, other than to say that you need to find your own answer.
Back to the time machine. Why is my friend going back to 1989, you ask? It isn't for the hair metal. It was a great year for photojournalism. Nikon released their flagship pro SLR, the F4. The Canon F-1 was still seeing action on the frontlines. Kodak's new T-Max 3200 black and white film let you see in the dark. The first Eddie Adams workshop was held.
It was a different time then. Better and worse than today. In 1989 I attended a photojournalism conference in San Jose where the topic was the future of newspapers People were saying that people would one day read the newspaper on the TV set. They were showing their prototypes for the newspaper of the future. I remember one front page was simply a list of ten headlines, nothing more.
Nineteen years later, the printed edition of the paper still slams hard into my front door every morning. I'll leave the predictions on its future to Dr. Robotnik and his ten-headline front page.

Labels: multimedia, photojournalism

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Tribune Blogs -- Fly on the Wall

pace

2007-12-18T16:32:00.001-08:00

A while ago I attended a seminar held at a leading media law chambers on UK 'frontline' journalism - that is the reporting of events likely to involve public disorder such as, but not limited to, the recent actions against blood sports, GM crops, capitalism and animal laboratories. There were several issues discussed - one being that journalists (or the more inclusive term 'news gatherers') are usually held in the same regard by the authorities as the demonstrators. Allegedly each side either claims news gatherers are collecting information on behalf of the authorities or that demonstrators are posing as news gatherers to evade arrest. Of great concern to those attending was the number of cases of news gatherers being detained and so having their film or tapes confiscated and then being released without charge after their deadlines had passed. A concern was what could happen to news gatherers films, tapes, laptops, PDAs, digital cameras, phones etc. while in custody for they could contain evidence of crimes being committed, not only by the demonstrators but by the authorities, or might contain data that could be copied and stored for intelligence purposes. That happening would undermine the position of all news gatherers and in certain circumstances would endanger their lives.

Under the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE), if the police believe that a news gatherer's notes, film or videotape or any other 'journalistic material' contain evidence of a crime and the news gatherer is not charged with a 'serious arrestable offence', the police have to apply to a circuit judge at a Crown Court to obtain it under 'special procedures'. Journalists can ask the judge to refuse the request to prevent revealing privileged information such as sources. The present law is extremely complex, hence the need for the seminar, and has yet to be fully tested against the subsequent human rights legislation but a basic assumption is that if a news gatherer is detained by the authorities but not charged, the authorities cannot freely examine their journalistic material. The likelihood of journalists suing for false arrest and the PACE legislation should deter fishing expeditions into a news gatherer's notes and films while they are detained but this apparently is not always the case. In one instance police officers detained news gatherers covering a demonstration and refused to acknowledge their status (even though the detainees made strenuous efforts to present their credentials) and refused to accept that their belongings were journalistic material and alleged they were demonstrators and their credentials were faked - despite the established methods of police verification. Other violations of special procedures have occurred while journalists were in custody without being charged but the defence was put that the journalistic material had been separated from the news gatherer during the disturbance and so its status could not be known.

I asked the question if simple labels on the equipment warning of its status could avoid this. I was surprised to learn that this had not been thought of before but after a discussion by the distinguished panel of media and human rights lawyers, including a QC, they urged the media to adopt the labels. The only certainty that labels would be effective would come from putting them to the test. Therefore, for the common good, I provide the label artwork here. The wording has been carefully written (with the previous caveat) to remove any doubt as to their purpose and cover as many applications as could be foreseen.

Nobody on the panel could see how these labels could hinder the authorities from lawfully carrying out their duties. If you have any qualified comments or have had the opportunity to test these labels, please get in touch.

The format is suitable for the many kinds of mylar® inventory tags which can be printed cheaply and come in various thickness and glue strengths to suit any surface. I am told that printing onto vinyl with a colour inkjet printer produces suitable results. I advise that news gatherers always mark their equipment in case of loss anyway. For me a tape printer label with my surname and a postcode strikes the right balance between size, privacy concerns and the information required. I must also point out that this label wording and artwork is COPYRIGHT and I only provide it for free on condition that no one manufactures to sell or profits by these labels. I have asserted my moral rights as the author. I also have it on m'learned advice that changing the wording does not void my copyright and would be committing plagiarism.

pace

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The Spector of Hope

2007-12-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

The 'Specter of Hope' is a documentary based on the latest work of photographer Sebastião Salgado.

Salgado spent 6 years traveling to over 40 countries, taking pictures of globalization and its consequences - most notably, the mass migrations of populations around the world. In the film, Salgado presents his remarkable photographs in conversation with John Berger.

Go and watch LENGTH 52 min :)

Love in central Stockholm

2007-12-02T10:17:00.001-08:00

Love in central Stockholm, originally uploaded by Jnana-ruddha.

"Homeless also have a sex-life" was their message. They put a bed in Sergels square in central of Stockholm and made out.

Just goes to show the power of flickr comunity, do you think an editor could ever get such a picture via a professional photographer?

Flickr

2007-12-02T10:14:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

100 Journalists arrested in Pakistan

2007-11-20T07:23:00.001-08:00

Journalists arrested in Pakistan

A journalist recovers after the confrontation with police

More than 100 journalists protesting against media restrictions and emergency rule have been arrested in Pakistan, eyewitnesses say.

Most were held in Karachi and several detained in Hyderabad.

Police baton-charged the Karachi journalists after they tried to stage a protest march. Some of them were hurt.

When President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on 3 November, radio and TV news was banned, as was criticism of the government.

Country-wide

Heavy contingents of police were deployed on roads to the Karachi Press Club to stop the rally there.

Police stopped the marchers going to a TV station

It was part of a country-wide protest organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) against the media curbs.

The journalists were planning to hold a demonstration outside the Karachi offices of the ARY TV channel, one of half a dozen news channels that cable operators stopped airing after the emergency was imposed.

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Karachi says police beat up a number of journalists in front of the press club entrance.

The arrests came shortly after the government said it released some 3,400 people jailed under emergency rule.

The release of political opponents has been a key demand of opposition parties who are threatening to boycott parliamentary elections in January.

A number of leading political figures are still being held.

US Plans Case Against AP Photographer

2007-11-19T14:49:00.001-08:00

The U.S. military plans to seek a criminal
case in an Iraqi court against an award-winning Associated Press
photographer but is refusing to disclose what evidence or accusations
would be presented.

The journalist, Bilal Hussein, has already been imprisoned without charges for more than 19 months and there have been many calls and petitions on Lightstalkers for his release and calls for his freedom have been backed by groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists.

An AP attorney on Monday strongly protested the decision, calling the U.S. military plans a "sham of due process."

The military has not yet defined the
specific charges against Hussein. Previously, the military has pointed
to a range of suspicions that attempt to link him to insurgent
activity.

The AP rejects all the allegations and contends it
has been blocked by the military from mounting a wide-ranging defense
for Hussein and claims that Hussein was interrogated at Camp Cropper this year without legal counsel.

Hussein was part of the AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team
in 2005

More information on AP Website

Be your own personal privacy czar

2007-11-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

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

Yahoo settles its China lawsuit

2007-11-13T13:15:00.001-08:00

Source ::BBC

Yahoo senior officers were criticised in a congressional hearing

Yahoo has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against it on behalf of several Chinese dissidents, according to papers filed in a California court.

No details have been given of the settlement but Yahoo will be covering legal costs.

The case alleged that Yahoo had provided information to the Chinese government that had then been used to prosecute the dissidents.

Yahoo said it had to comply with Chinese laws to operate in the country.

A statement released by the World Organization for Human Rights USA, which brought the case, said Yahoo had decided to settle the case following criticism at a US Congressional hearing on 6 November.

'Inexcusably negligent'

A Congressional panel criticised Yahoo for not giving full details to its probe into the jailing of a reporter by Chinese authorities.

Yahoo had been "at best inexcusably negligent" and at worst "deceptive" in evidence given to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last year, the panel said.

One journalist cited in the case, Shi Tao, was tracked down and jailed for 10 years for subversion after Yahoo passed on his e-mail and IP address to officials.

He was convicted in 2004 of divulging state secrets after posting online a Chinese government order forbidding media organisations from marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Yahoo's original response to the lawsuit acknowledged releasing information to the Chinese government.

But it argued that there was little connection between the information the firm gave and the ensuing arrests and imprisonment of its users.

Michael Callahan, Yahoo's executive vice-president and general counsel, then told a congressional panel in February 2006 that he did not know why the Chinese authorities wanted to trace Shi Tao.

Last week, Mr Callahan wrote to the committee admitting that other Yahoo employees had a document saying it was to do with the "suspected illegal provision of state secrets".

Mr Callahan said the information only came to his attention months after he testified.

News media feels force of Musharraf crackdown

2007-11-09T08:59:00.001-08:00

Last Tuesday the owner of Geo, Pakistan's largest television station, sent an email to his senior editors.

"I
have received [a] threatening telephone call last night from ISI,"
wrote Mir Shakil ur Rahman, referring to the powerful Inter Services
Intelligence agency. "They have taken me to a house in Islamabad."

Mr
Rahman did not describe what happened at the spy safe house, but the
following sentence suggested it was not pleasant. "I would like to
advise you to please follow the laws specially [sic] the newly
promulgated law."

He also attached an email from "Sabir".

"Pakistan
Army is the backbone of Pakistan, don't try to damage it, if u do, u
and your family who have looted billions would be hunted down like
rats," it read. "It will just take a few hundred people to smash ur
studios, offices, vans."

As General Musharraf's emergency rule
slides towards a second week, Pakistan's media barons are coming under
intense pressure from his heavy-handed security forces - officially and
unofficially.

Private TV channels have been pulled off air,
stringent new laws prohibit stories that "ridicule" the president, and
many journalists are wondering if the country's television revolution
is over.

"News has become a contraband item," said Imran Aslam,
president of Geo, whose four sister stations are off air. "Now it's
like the old days when we used to tune into the BBC radio to find out
what's happen in our own backyard."

Journalists and proprietors
complain of threatening calls and emails, some by people claiming to be
the Taliban. They are continuing to broadcast, sending stories by
satellite and high-speed internet to a minority of wealthy viewers.

But
with satellite dish prices soaring, most Pakistanis are in the dark,
blind to the great dramas of the past week - clashes between police and
lawyers, human rights activists behind bars, or the sight of their
deposed chief justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, under house arrest
in Islamabad.

"The government's goal is to consolidate their
position in the courts and not to allow protests grow," said veteran
journalist Zaffar Abbas. "At the moment they seem pretty satisfied."

Film,
cartoon and sports channels are allowed, as is Pakistan Television, the
state news station, which presents an alternate reality.

The channel airs Musharraf speeches, anti-Indian propaganda and chat shows hosted by regime loyalists.

"Gen
Musharraf is finally doing what President Putin did for Russia - stop
democracy from turning into total chaos," wrote PTV presenter Ahmed
Quraishi, who on his website this week blames the CIA for Gen
Musharraf's woes.

Television has become hugely popular and
politically influential in Pakistan. Newspapers have a small
circulation, selling just 3m copies in a country of 165 million people,
but the plethora of new TV stations offering 24-hour news and lively
debate reaches tens of millions.

They came of age last March,
when live coverage of anti-Musharraf rallies led by Justice Chaudhry
stoked public outrage and brought floods of protesters onto the streets.

"It was a huge force in the restoration of the chief justice. It really motivated the public," said lawyer Kashif Ali Malik.

Now
the government is leaning on owners like Mr Ur Rahman, demanding they
adhere to a new "code of ethics" that effectively bars any criticism of
Gen Musharraf, who used to boast of his love for the free press.

Journalists
at the stations worry that they will be next to be arrested. In recent
days, security forces have jailed thousands of lawyers, human rights
activists and opposition figures.

"They have a hit list of six or seven senior journalists they want to arrest," said Hamid Mir, a popular presenter with Geo.

Newspapers
are still being published, many carrying detailed reports of state
brutality and angry comment, despite a new law prohibiting anything
that defames or brings into disrepute Gen Musharraf or his government.

The
editor of Dawn, a respected newspaper established by Pakistan's
founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah, said he would not be cowed.

"We
are not in the business of ridicule, we are in the business of
reporting the facts," said Abbas Nasir. "And if the facts make someone
look ridiculous, so be it."

Source :: Guardian

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Thursday November 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Dutch government admits spying on journalists

2007-11-07T07:16:00.001-08:00

5 November 2007

By PA Mediapoint

The Dutch government today admitted officials hacked into a media agency's
computers to find out what stories were being written about them.

The GPD news agency only discovered what was going on when one ministry press
officer rang up to complain about a story that had not even been published.

Marcel van Lingen, editor-in-chief of the agency which serves more than a
dozen newspapers in the Netherlands and Belgium, accused the government of
"spying."

The Social Affairs Ministry "used stolen information to influence (our)
reporting," he said.

The ministry confirmed in a statement some of its employees had accessed
GPD's internal site and apologised.

"It is not our policy and we reject it. The department will investigate the
matter and take steps to prevent it happening again in the future," said a
spokesman.

It invited public prosecutors to investigate whether any criminal acts were
committed. Other news outlets criticised the ministry's action, and The
Netherlands' Union of Journalists' chief Thomas Bruning called it a "kick in the
shins for the independent role that journalism plays."
source :: Press Gazette

The Duty of the Photographer

2007-10-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Out From Behind a Camera at a Khmer Torture House

When I read this I have very mixed emotions, looking at images of people who were tortured just after they had their photo taken. Most look as if they are posing for the family album, but they dont smile, others look afraid...and others have been tortured! (Lifespy)

By SETH MYDANS

Published: October 26, 2007

NYTimes story here

the photos are here

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Oct. 25 — He had a job to do, and he did it supremely well, under threat of death, within earshot of screams of torture: methodically photographing Khmer Rouge prisoners and producing a haunting collection of mug shots that has become the visual symbol of Cambodia’s mass killings

Back Story With Seth Mydans and Graham Bowley (mp3)

Enlarge This Image

Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide

Enlarge This Image

Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide

Before killing the prisoners, the Khmer Rouge photographed, tortured and extracted written confessions from their victims.

“I’m just a photographer; I don’t know anything,” he said he told the newly arrived prisoners as he removed their blindfolds and adjusted the angles of their heads. But he knew, as they did not, that every one of them would be killed.

“I had my job, and I had to take care of my job,” he said in a recent interview. “Each of us had our own responsibilities. I wasn’t allowed to speak with prisoners.”

That was three decades ago, when the photographer, Nhem En, now 47, was on the staff of Tuol Sleng prison, the most notorious torture house of the Khmer Rouge regime, which caused the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979.

This week he was called to be a witness at a coming trial of Khmer Rouge leaders, including his commandant at the prison, Kaing Geuk Eav, known as Duch, who has been arrested and charged with crimes against humanity.

The trial is still months away, but prosecutors are interviewing witnesses, reviewing tens of thousands of pages of documents and making arrests.

As a lower-ranking cadre at the time, Mr. Nhem En is not in jeopardy of arrest. But he is in a position to offer some of the most personal testimony at the trial about the man he worked under for three years.

In the interview, Mr. Nhem En spoke with pride of living up to the exacting standards of a boss who was a master of negative reinforcement.

“It was really hard, my job,” he said. “I had to clean, develop and dry the pictures on my own and take them to Duch by my own hand. I couldn’t make a mistake. If one of the pictures was lost I would be killed.”

But he said: “Duch liked me because I’m clean and I’m organized. He gave me a Rolex watch.”

Fleeing with other Khmer Rouge cadres when the government was ousted by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979, Mr. Nhem En said he traded that watch for 20 tins of milled rice.

Since then he has adapted and prospered and is now a deputy mayor of the former Khmer Rouge stronghold Anlong Veng. He has switched from an opposition party to the party of Prime Minister Hun Sen, and today he wears a wristwatch that bears twin portraits of the prime minister and his wife, Bun Rany.

Last month an international tribunal arrested and charged a second Khmer Rouge figure, who is now being held with Duch in a detention center. He is Nuon Chea, 82, the movement’s chief ideologue and a right-hand man to the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, who died in 1998.

Three more leaders were expected to be arrested in the coming weeks: the urbane former Khmer Rouge head of state, Khieu Samphan, along with the former foreign minister, Ieng Sary, and his wife and fellow central committee member, Ieng Thirith.

All will benefit from the caprice of Mr. Nuon Chea, who complained that the squat toilet in his cell was hurting his ailing knees and was given a sit-down toilet.

Similar toilets are being installed in the other cells, said a tribunal spokesman, Reach Sambath, “So they will all enjoy high-standard toilets when they come.”

It is not clear whether any of the cases will be combined. But even if the defendants do not see one another, their testimony, harmonious or discordant, will put on display the relationships of some of the people who once ran the country’s killing machine.

In a 1999 interview, Duch implicated his fellow prisoner, Mr. Nuon Chea, in the killings, citing among other things a directive that said, “Kill them all.”

Mr. Nhem En’s career in the Khmer Rouge began in 1970 at age 9 when he was recruited as a village boy to be a drummer in a touring revolutionary band. When he was 16, he said, he was sent to China for a seven-month course in photography.

He became the chief of six photographers at Tuol Sleng, where at least 14,000 people were tortured to death or sent to killing fields. Only a half dozen inmates were known to have survived.

He was a craftsman, and some of his portraits, carefully posed and lighted, have found their way into art galleries in the United States.

Hundreds of them hang in rows on the walls of Tuol Sleng, which is now a museum, their fixed stares tempting a visitor to search for meaning here on the cusp of death. In fact, they are staring at Mr. Nhem En.

The job was a daily grind, he said: up at 6:30 a.m., a quick communal meal of bread or rice and something sweet, and at his post by 7 a.m. to wait for prisoners to arrive. His telephone would ring to announce them: sometimes one, sometimes a group, sometimes truckloads of them, he said.

“They came in blindfolded, and I had to untie the cloth,” he said.

“I was alone in the room, so I am the one they saw. They would say, ‘Why was I brought here? What am I accused of? What did I do wrong?’”

But Mr. Nhem En ignored them.

“‘Look straight ahead. Don’t lean your head to the left or the right.’ That’s all I said,” he recalled. “I had to say that so the picture would turn out well. Then they were taken to the interrogation center. The duty of the photographer was just to take the picture.”

View the Khmer Rouge photographs (TuolSleng.com)

Whistleblower? Journalist? Citizen journalist? or just Censored?

2007-10-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

Whistleblower? Journalist? Citizen journalist? Wikileaks writer,
volunteer, supporter or techie? Get advice and talk with other people
like you on the Wikileaks secure chat (also good for safe interviews
with anonymous sources).

Goto https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/Wikileaks:Chat

Click "chat" to the right. Click into the box at the bottom of the
chat page and and start typing. For greater reliability and ease of
use, you can install a chat program as described below. Our chat
system is designed to work on almost any browser in any country. It
has minimal bandwidth requirements and will even work over dialups or
mobile phones.
We will create sub-channels (e.g for the Kenyan election) if there is
sufficient demand (let us know!).

Yahoo accused of misleading Congress about Chinese journalist

2007-10-18T15:31:00.001-07:00

DSC_0630_en
Originally uploaded by Radical_Images

(CNN) -- Yahoo misled Congress regarding information the Internet company gave to Chinese authorities about the journalist Shi Tao, Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos said Tuesday.

Yahoo officials have been asked to testify before a House committee in November about a Chinese journalist's case.

Lantos, a California representative and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, asked Yahoo Inc. officials to testify about the company's role in a case that sent Chinese newspaper writer and editor Shi to prison on a 10-year sentence.

Lantos asked Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang and Senior Vice President and General Counsel Michael Callahan to appear November 6.

"Our committee has established that Yahoo provided false information to Congress in early 2006," Lantos said in a written statement. "We want to clarify how that happened, and to hold the company to account for its actions both before and after its testimony proved untrue. And we want to examine what steps the company has taken since then to protect the privacy rights of its users in China."

The newspaper reporter had posted information under a pseudonym on an overseas Web site called Democracy Forum about a government crackdown on media and democracy activists, Lantos said.

Shi was later arrested in his home in Beijing after Yahoo gave Chinese authorities information about his e-mail account, his computer address, his log-on history and the contents of several weeks of his e-mail, Lantos said.

Lantos said a Yahoo official testified last year that the company knew nothing "about the nature of the investigation" of Shi, a pro-democracy activist now serving time on what Lantos called "trumped-up charges."

Don't Miss
China puts the squeeze on Web controls
"We have now learned there is much more to the story than Yahoo let on, and a Chinese government document that Yahoo had in their possession at the time of the hearing left little doubt of the government's intentions," said Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey.

"U.S. companies must hold the line and not work hand in glove with the secret police."

In a written statement, Yahoo spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said Yahoo representatives have been truthful with Congress. He called the House committee's accusation "grossly unfair" and said it "mischaracterizes the nature and intent of our past testimony."

During a February 2006 subcommittee hearing on limits to freedom on the Internet in China, Lantos and Smith questioned Callahan about Shi.

Callahan testified to the subcommittee that Yahoo handed over the information to Chinese authorities at a time when it knew nothing about the investigation, Lantos said.

But the San Francisco, California-based human-rights group The Dui Hua Foundation released documents in July indicating police in China had written to Yahoo saying they were seeking evidence about Shi for illegally "providing state secrets to foreign entities," a charge frequently levied against political dissidents in China.

"This new documentation suggests that Yahoo's Beijing office was at least aware of the general nature of the crime being investigated in the Shi Tao case," said Joshua Rosenzweig, manager of research and publications for The Dui Hua Foundation.

Even if Yahoo was unaware of the specific circumstances of the Chinese government's inquiry, "One does not have to be an expert in Chinese law to know that 'state secrets' charges have often been used to punish political dissent in China," said Rosenzweig.

Shi has appealed his 10-year sentence for divulging state secrets, saying he did not know the information he shared was classified. He accused the police of using improper procedures in the investigation and arrest.

In addition, he has filed suit in U.S. federal court against Yahoo and its Hong Kong-based subsidiary.

Yahoo's spokeswoman said the company is working with other companies and the human rights community "to develop a global code of conduct for operating in countries around the world, including China."

Menezes picture 'was manipulated'

2007-10-17T08:46:00.001-07:00

The defence said the image was to show identification problems

Police have been accused of manipulating a photo of Jean Charles de
Menezes so it could be compared to that of one of the 21/7 bomb
plotters.

The image had been "stretched and sized" to form a
composite image of the Brazilian and Hussain Osman to show the jury,
prosecutors told the Old Bailey.

Mr de Menezes was shot dead after being wrongly identified as one of the men who targeted London's transport system.

The Metropolitan Police denies breaking health and safety laws.

Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot seven times in the head on a
train at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005, after being wrongly
identified as Osman.

The Met Police said the composite picture was created to
illustrate the difficulties officers would have had in differentiating
the two men.

'Serious allegation'

But Clare Montgomery QC, prosecuting, told the court it
had been altered "by either stretching or resizing so the face ceases
to have its correct proportions".

The judge, Mr Justice Henriques, told the jury: "A
serious allegation has been made that a picture has been manipulated so
as to mislead."

Making the image brighter has changed the image

Michael George, forensics consultant

Forensics consultant Michael George told the court that
the police composite appeared to have a "greater definition" than the
two images used to produce it.

He produced an alternative composite, shown to the jury,
in which the two faces have different skin tones and their mouths and
noses are not aligned.

Ronald Thwaites QC, defending, asked Mr George whether there had been any manipulation "of the primary features of the face".

Mr George replied: "I don't believe there has been any... but making the image brighter has changed the image."

The court heard the composite was compiled using a 2001
identity card photograph of Mr de Menezes and a photo of Osman taken by
police in Rome, where he was arrested.

Immigration records

Earlier, Mr Thwaites cross-examined immigration official
Paul Roach over a counterfeit stamp found in the Brazilian's passport,
asking if this meant he had been in the country illegally.

Mr Roach told the court Mr de Menezes first entered the
country on 13 March 2002 and was given six months' leave to remain,
before extending his stay, as a student, to 30 June 2003.

The next record was of him arriving in Ireland from
France on 23 April 2005 but there was no notification of when he
returned to the UK.

The court heard how as a person entering Britain from
Ireland, he would have had an automatic three-month leave to remain
which at the earliest would have run out on 23 July, the day after he
was killed.

A counterfeit stamp found on his passport may only have been added after he entered the UK, Mr Roach said.

The trial continues.

UK Can now Demand Data Decryption on Penalty of Jail Time

2007-10-05T15:11:00.001-07:00

By Ken
Fisher | Published: October 01, 2007 - 10:20PM CT

New laws going into effect today in the United Kingdom make it a crime to
refuse to decrypt almost any encrypted data requested by authorities as part of
a criminal or terror investigation. Individuals who are believed to have the
cryptographic keys necessary for such decryption will face up to 5 years in
prison for failing to comply with police or military orders to hand over either
the cryptographic keys, or the data in a decrypted form.

The keys to the (United) Kingdom

The law has been criticized for the power its gives investigators, which is
seen as dangerously broad. Authorities tracking the movement of terrorist funds
could demand the encryption keys used by a financial institution, for instance,
thereby laying bare that bank's files on everything from financial transactions
to user data.

Cambridge University security expert Richard Clayton said in May of 2006 that such laws would
only encourage businesses to house their cryptography operations out of the
reach of UK investigators, potentially harming the country's economy. "The
controversy here [lies in] seizing keys, not in forcing people to decrypt. The
power to seize encryption keys is spooking big business," Clayton said.

"The notion that international bankers would be wary of bringing master keys
into UK if they could be seized as part of legitimate police operations, or by a
corrupt chief constable, has quite a lot of traction," he added. "With the
appropriate paperwork, keys can be seized. If you're an international banker
you'll plonk your headquarters in Zurich."

The law also allows authorities to compel individuals targeted in such
investigation to keep silent about their role in decrypting data. Though this
will be handled on a case-by-case basis, it's another worrisome facet of a law
that has been widely criticized for years. While RIPA was originally passed in
2000, the provisions detailing the handover of cryptographic keys and/or the
force decryption of protected content has not been tapped by the UK Home
Office—the division of the British government which oversees national security,
the justice system, immigration, and the police forces of England and Wales. As
we reported last year, the Home Office was slowly building its case to activate
Part 3, Section 49.

The Home Office has steadfastly proclaimed that the law is aimed at catching
terrorists, pedophiles, and hardened criminals—all parties which the UK
government contends are rather adept at using encryption to cover up their
activities.

Yet the law, in a strange way, almost gives criminals an "out," in that those
caught potentially committing serious crimes may opt to refuse to decrypt
incriminating data. A pedophile with a 2GB collection of encrypted kiddie porn
may find it easier to do two years in the slammer than expose what he's been up
to.

Source: ars technica

Free Burma

2007-10-04T03:29:00.000-07:00

Phonecalls and Texts to be Logged

2007-10-03T04:47:00.001-07:00

Mobile phone data can be used to pinpoint a person's location

Information about all landline and mobile phone calls made in the UK must be logged and stored for a year under new laws.

Data about calls made and received will also be available to 652 public bodies, including the police and councils.

The Home Office said the content of calls and texts
would not be read and insisted the move was vital to tackle serious
crime and terrorism.

But critics said it was another example of Britain's "surveillance society".

The new law, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, was signed off by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in July.

It requires phone companies to log data on every call or text made to and from every phone in Britain.

'Different uses'

Since 2004, companies have voluntarily provided data,
where available, if it was requested, but now they will required by law
to retain it for a year.

Minister for Security and Counter-terrorism Tony McNulty
told BBC Radio 4 that the data could provide three levels of
information, the simplest being about the phone's owner.

"Say some old lady has got difficulties with someone
who's repaired the gas in her house and has a mobile phone for somebody
who's clearly dodgy," Mr McNulty said.

"The local authorities can just get the subscriber information next to that number.

"The second level of data is not simply the subscriber, but also the calls made by that phone.

"And the third level which is purely for the security
forces, police, etc, is not just the subscriber information and the
calls made, but also the calls coming in and location data - where the
calls are made from."

Personal 'profile'

A person's location can be pinpointed to within a few feet by identifying the mobile phone mast used to transmit their call.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group
Liberty, said people were more concerned than ever about their personal
privacy, especially how many bodies had access to their phone records.

"There are actually a very broad range of purposes for
which this information about who we've been phoning and when can be
revealed," Ms Chakrabarti said.

"It includes, for example, the Gaming Board, the Food Standards Authority and every district and county council in the country."

She said requests for information would not be limited to those concerning serious crime and national security.

"We're talking about a profile that can be built of your
personal relationships on the basis of who you've been speaking to and
when."

Public consulted

Mr McNulty said local councils would only have access to data on "a legitimate and proportional basis".

"(To say) that all of a sudden anyone and everyone's
information is available, that all these authorities somehow have the
right to go fishing and snooping, simply isn't the case," he added.

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman,
said: "Once again this government has been caught red-handed creating
new surveillance state powers with no meaningful public or
parliamentary debate.

The Home Office said the plans had been through a public
consultation and said a senior police officer would have to approve any
request for phone data.

Councils would only be able to use the powers to
"prevent and detect crime - not for the collection of taxes", the
spokesman added.

The new law brings Britain in line with an EU directive on the retention of phone data.

Thirteen Ways to be a Green Photographer

2007-09-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

I remember sitting in a lecture and being amazed at the beautiful printed landscapes of the Peak District that had been taken by the lecturer. Then being equally amazed at his next statement. I no longer make images of landscapes as they are being trashed and I feel it is wrong ethically (he was referring to the fact that it encourages tourism) I was impressed with his stance to say the least. But it has led me to consider how “Green” my photography is in a digital world when I found this article on PopPhoto

The good news: Digital photography has taken huge amounts of chemicals
out of our waste stream, including bleach and silver, not to mention
millions of plastic-coated prints. The bad news: Digital sucks down a
lot of electricity and requires new equipment, which consumes lots of
resources and creates considerable eco-impacts, usually far away. Here
are a few things all photographers can do to be greener.

1. Watch the Power Meter

With digital, you'll need to keep your power consumption under control
if you don't want to warm the planet: Every kilowatt-hour you use
produces about 1.4 pounds of the greenhouse gases that cause global
warming. Choose Energy Star-certified equipment, and turn off or put to
sleep your computer, display, printer, and scanner when you can. Invest
in a power meter like the Kill A Watt to keep tabs on your usage -- you
may be in for unpleasant surprises.

2. Choose Your Power

A digital studio, including your Mac Pro computer, your Epson Stylus
Pro 3800 printer, and your Nikon D80 charger, will consume hundreds or
thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. Make sure that power
is coming from renewable, non-carbon-polluting sources. Through your
utility, switch to wind, hydro, or other sources; it may cost a little
more, but rebates can help with that, and you're making a difference
where it counts, at the source.

3. Recycle Everything

A digital studio will still produce paper waste -- it makes up about a
third of our trash. Recycle every scrap; making a ton of paper from
waste requires about two-thirds less energy than from wood pulp.
Recycle ink cartridges (office stores and online retailers will give
you credit for empties) and, when necessary, electronics. Electronic
waste has harmful metals and chemicals; give it to a recycling plant
that will salvage for useful parts and not just dump it in a landfill.

4. Shoot Locally

Transportation accounts for one-third of the average American's "carbon
footprint" -- the CO2 and other greenhouse gases that contribute to
global warming. If you're typical, you're responsible for about 15,000
pounds of CO2 a year. One round trip to shoot Maui's jungle could
account for half of that.

5. Offset Your CO2

Can't stay home? Can't get your computer, scanner, and printer off the
grid? You can help offset your footprint by buying carbon credits via
companies such as CarbonFund.org and NativeEnergy. Your money will help create renewable-energy sources and meet other conservation goals.

6. Conserve Energy

The basic energy tips you're practicing in your nonphoto life will work
in the studio, too. Using compact fluorescent bulbs and taking a degree
or two off the thermostat in winter (and adding a degree in summer)
will save energy and keep hundreds of pounds of CO2 out of the
atmosphere.

7. Unplug It All

Rechargers and other equipment left on standby create phantom loads
that waste megawatts every year. Unplug rechargers and power down
anything you're not using that has a little green or red light on it.
You'll save money and keep CO2 out of the atmosphere.

8. Watch the Chemicals

Processing in a darkroom? Use chemicals less harmful to the
environment, such as Kodak's Xtol and other ascorbate (vitamin C)
developers. Manufacturers say quantities you use at home can be
disposed via your sewer. Check silvergrain.org for nontoxic solutions.

9. Find Greener Options

Explore recycled papers such as Red River Paper's Green Pix, use
rechargeable batteries (NiMH is better than NiCd), and, if you print a
lot, buy ink in bulk rather than blowing through plastic cartridges.
Extra credit: Get a solar-powered battery charger.

10. Be a Responsible Consumer

Vote for the environment with your wallet: Ask camera, paper, and film
manufacturers about environmental efforts, from recycling to energy use
to materials.

11. Shoot the Change You Want in the World

It's not just how you shoot, it's what you shoot. Think about how your
images can represent solutions or illuminate a new angle on an
environmental problem.

12. Spread the Word

Small steps add up when millions join in. Tell two friends about your
new, greener way of looking at photography. They'll tell two friends,
and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on...

13. Make It Last

A long-lived camera is environmentally friendly. Do your research, buy
great stuff, and treat it right: It takes a great deal of materials,
energy, and pollutants to make a new camera, and pretty much zero to
keep your current one in tip-top shape.

Police Stop and Search

2007-09-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

Abuse of Police Powers and diminishing Human Rights

Last Saturday I was in London looking for interesting doors to photograph and went to the Whitechaple area that has an interesting mix of old architecture with a backdrop of very modern buildings.

I just wondered the streets seeing what I could find with a camera around my neck and had no precise plan or agenda.

I had found several already in the bag and eventually spotted some run-down buildings behind a school and worked my way around to them looking for the street it was on, which I found without to much effort.

One door was painted badly and the side window was missing its glass and had been replaced with beer cans. I went down a narrow side street and there was a sofa on the pavement that I used while I head a drink. After a short rest and refreshment I completed circling the building by going around the block and barley noticed a police van parked up that appeared empty.

I carried on with my mystery tour not finding much of interest in the area I was now in and an hour later I was back near the street with the run-down building and decided to take a seat at the bus stop while I re-thought my non existent plan.

I noticed two police officers come out of the side road I had previously been on and where the police van had been parked up, one a male police sergeant and a WPC.
They started to watch me and at first it didn't bother me, I was trying to work out what they were doing. Then they started to make notes while looking at me they must have been there for about five minutes some other people passed that they half seemed interested in. "May be they were looking for a suspect?" I thought to myself when the police backed of and went back, thinking no more of it, I went back to re-organising myself and went into chimp mode while I looked at what I had got on the camera's playback feature.

I looked up and now saw a few people had gathered and started to look down the street, something was happening; so I got of my perch and had a nose, I could see nothing of interest but about five or six police officers near the van they had parked and the two police officers I had seen earlier about fifty yards down the road from where I was stood, but on the other side.

I decided to take a walk down a bit further to get a better view, it was not as if the gathered crowd were discussing what they had seen, there was no excitement, just curiosity as to why there were police.

As I got to about forty to forty five yards the police sergeant came over and intercepted me. He asked what I had been doing, "photographing doors!" came the reply with half a smile on my face as I knew he was wanting a much better understanding of why was I photographing doors, the response came "doors" he said with a puzzled look on his face. I explained further and in detail which he accepted and asked me for some identification.

I pulled out my Press Card for him and he looked at the details in detail "odd I thought, normally its just a quick glance" I was expecting this to go all the way and ask for my card to be verified by the Gatekeeper, which would have been a first "what was my verification number"...concentrating hard and trying to bring it up from the depths of my mind, while he studded it.

Then a realisation of understanding hit me as I spotted a Police Photographer at the bottom of the street, it was a FIT team (Forward Intelligence Team) that collect information on things like football gangs, Animal Rights and just about any one who goes on a demonstration or protest, blanket intelligence gathering is what they do as far as I am aware.

I had seen them before and recently at the Climate Camp protest at Heathrow and they have never shown a blind bit of interest in me and they have often nodded goodbye when I was bugging out, I have been stopped and searched before too, a quick look in my camera bag and a flash of my press card and that's been it.

The police sergeant asked me for my address and I asked him why he needed it, his reply was a shock "I can't remember the exact words as he had instantly turned from a curios cop to nasty cop in the blink of an eye, and I was still in shock over the change" but he was threatening to arrest me and pointed out that my camera gear will be seized as evidence to which will take considerable time to get back.

I offered to show him what pictures that were on there, he wasn't interested, replying I could have switched memory cards or deleted the images earlier (I assume he was referring to when I was at the bus stop) "Images of what I asked?" in a demanding and raised tone; all I got was silence and a glaring stare...
Eventually I responded that if he phoned the verification line for the press card he could confirm my details, a further silence and glare followed...the WPC had now crossed the road ready to back him up as she was stood to my half right

I had now been stood there for about ten minutes while the sergeant and the WPC were making notes about me from across the road as they were filling out the search form, that he did not want to give me.

The police photographer was photographing people at the bottom of the street and occasionally trying to get a shot of me from the bottom of the street on a 80-400mm zoom, that I did my best to deny him (it was all I could do as a protest at the time) he eventually realised I was serious when I said I wanted a copy of the form that he was probably kicking himself for by telling me I was entitled to a copy.

He explained briefly the form and gave it to me and headed down the street to the other police assembled as I stood reading what he had written.

Under the heading 'Grounds for Search or Reason for Stop' he had filled in "Subject in possession on long lens Nikon camera and paying close attention to police asked why he was doing that he accounted for his whereabouts and actions" That's it... me paying close attention to the police...no actually it was the other way around....had I taken any photos of the police, no

So carrying a Nikon with a medium lens was cause for a stop and search, now that is extremism in my book, just what are you allowed to carry and wear these days

I waked down to the end of the street where the police photographer was. There was a bunch of people, normal and respectable looking, waiting to get in I asked them what was happening, "One replied it was a public meeting against an arms fair."

Peace protesters, how ironic I thought that these people are trying to stop the arms trading, arms that eventually end up in the hands of terrorists potential enemies, that the police and security services try to find and stop, yet the police are trying to intimidate the peace protesters from trying to get arms trading stopped.

What a Wonderful World

Garry Winogrand Video

2007-09-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

One of the great photographers of our time
Garry Winogrand video

Phones for the Photojournalist and Documentary image maker

2007-08-27T07:36:00.001-07:00

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 favourite 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 favourite, 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

Twitter

2007-08-26T16:19:00.001-07:00

Hi every one,
Why not check out my Twitter profile to see what I am doing?

It will make a change to me following what is happening in the industry

Undercover Reporter rumbled at hacker convention

2007-08-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

Undercover reporter Michelle Madigan (Associate Producer of NBC Dateline) got a little more than she bargained for when she tried to sneak in to DEFCON 2007 with hidden cameras to get someone to confess to a felony. When DEFCON staff announced the “spot the undercover reporter” game and told the audience that an undercover reporter was taking video to catch someone confessing to a hacking crime, Madigan bolted from the conference premises followed by a pack of ~150 DEFCON attendees and reporters trying to photograph and video tape her. DEFCON officials never got the chance to bring Madigan on stage to offer her a press badge so that she could cover the rest of the event above board.

DEFCON organizers caught wind of this from undisclosed sources and casually contacted Madigan to see if she wanted official press credentials and a press badge to cover DEFCON. Reporters in the pressroom were then fully briefed on the situation before the “spot the undercover reporter game” so that they could cover the event.

According to Senior DEFCON official “Priest” who works for the Government in his day job, Madigan declined press credentials on four separate occasions (twice on phone and twice at DEFCON). Madigan proceeded to register as a regular DEFCON attendee and even told a DEFCON staffer that she was going to the bathroom to get her hidden camera ready. When a DEFCON goon (staffer) explained to Madigan that secret video taping wasn’t allowed, Madigan not knowing she was speaking to a goon replied that she didn’t think it wasn’t a problem. The staffer then followed Madigan around and watched her as she panned her hidden camera around the entire “Capture the flag” room to get unauthorized video of the members.

Madigan was apparently trying to do a shock piece for NBC Dateline to show middle America how criminal underground hackers had descended on DEFCON Las Vegas to learn tricks of the trade and how Federal Agents were tracking them down. When a DEFCON staffer spoke to Madigan posing as regular attendee, Madigan commented that people in Kansas (reference to middle America) would be very interested in what was “really” going on in DEFCON. DEFCON official “Priest” also had reason to believe that that Madigan was planning to out uncover federal agents attending DEFCON and expressed some serious concern about the safety and privacy of those agents. Because of this, staffers used this to lure Madigan to the room where they planned to out her instead in front of DEFCON attendees in the “spot the undercover reporter” game but Madigan bolted from the scene before her photo was put up on the projector.

The sad part of this story is that Madigan was given every opportunity to get a press pass and get access to any of the speakers and attendees above board. Even after the secret video taping she was offered a chance cover the rest of the conference with an official press badge. This is my second year covering DEFCON and I’ve never had any problems getting photos or video from willing attendees and speakers but that’s not what Madigan was going after. She wanted to paint a picture that would shock “people in Kansas” about DEFCON and that’s not what DEFCON is about. The Feds, Press, and hacker community have built up a level of mutual trust at DEFCON so that we have a place to talk openly and honestly. After taking an unofficial poll in the press room here, not one person appreciated Madigan’s antics.

Source: George Ou

Why documentary photographers should take security seriously

2007-07-16T02:46:00.000-07:00

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 individualall 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 defence 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 neighbour 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 centre were found to have shared log-ins, meaning customer information could potentially have been accessed by unauthorised 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 laterThe 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/TrueCrypt http://
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)

ITV to launch Citizen Journalism Platform

2007-07-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

ITV News will launch a citizen journalism website on 31 July that will also feed user-generated comment back to its news programmes.

The service, called Uploaded, is currently in the last stages of a 100-person pilot phase prior to a national roll out.When launched, the website will feature viewer's contributions to daily debates.

Candid pieces of comment and opinion from 'citizen correspondents' will then be used across ITV news programmes in ‘short chunks’ edited to entice people to visit the website and to complement its TV reporting work.

Viewers signed up to the service will be encouraged to submit short video clips from mobile phones and personal computers.To ensure public exposure, submissions to the site will have to adhere to the same compliance standards as ITV TV news.

Introducing the service at the Future of News conference in London today, Deborah Turness, editor of ITV News, told delegates that Uploaded was a multi-platform format to allow 'real' people to make contributions to news programmes.

"The millions that are blogging, exchanging views online and uploading clips to YouTube are building communities and networks that are excluding us," she said.

"What are we doing about the fact that every second spent talking about news online and outside of our communities is a second spent not watching us, in our environment, on television news?

The truth so far is very little."So much has been said about the rise and value of citizen participation but take a look at mainstream news organisations' output and you'll find a bit where people offer their views right on the fringes of the website or on a show at the dead end of the schedule.

"Our job, presently, is to offer authoritative, impartial coverage of news events - and we won't err from that, but what is the point if, in the long term, viewers drift away because news feels disconnected from the way they are consuming and exchanging information?"

Aside from the editorial value, there is clear commercial argument for connecting with them. These are engaged motivated individuals in a market where we repeatedly talk about all those disengaged and disenfranchised viewers who are going elsewhere for their news. Those same people are finding a sense of interactivity, relationship and community elsewhere.

"She deflected suggestion that Uploaded was simply Vox Pop by another name, saying that viewers were making an active choice to contribute, rather than just being accosted in the street by reporters.

"Other genres have adapted to ensure their programmes have a dialogue with the viewers. So why has mainstream TV news remained a monologue, one-way traffic, in a two-way street?" she added.

"We have been operating in a vacuum, we decide what people should care about, the angles to take, and too often find ourselves second guessing the public mood. Uploaded will offer connectivity and modernity to our output."

source: Journalism.co.uk

Yemen SMS news ban attacked by journalists

2007-06-13T09:20:00.001-07:00

Today I see the first example of a Government blocking new technology for the delivery of news via SMS, I wonder how long it will be before they block the recording of it by Citizen Journalists?

Yesterday I put up a piece form the BBC about how Blair saw the media as a feral beast and said that "The arrival of web based news and blogs and 24 hour television news channels meant reports were driven by impact"
Also in May I did an article on how the UK Government and mobile phone suppliers met to look at how to shut down cameras and video on mobile phones "The Government , Your Mobile Phone and it's Criminal Tendency"

Government bans news sent to mobile phones by SMS message

Reporters Without Borders today condemned new media censorship in Yemen, where access to at least two websites has been blocked since the start of the year, in one case for three months, and the information ministry is now censoring the distribution of news to mobile phones by SMS message.

“It is disturbing that the Yemeni government is attacking new technology in this way,” the press freedom organisation said. “It never showed any open-mindedness towards the opposition media and these new arenas of expression offered a fresh opportunity for the media. The authorities have again demonstrated their determination to control news and information that is critical of them.”

The al-Shora website, which regularly posted opposition articles, was closed on 24 February. It was finally allowed to reopen on 23 May. The socialist website aleshteraki was similarly closed for a week, from 16 to 23 May. The government was worried by the fact that they were controlled by opposition parties. It was also concerned about their coverage of the fighting with the al-Houthi rebels in Saada province.

The information and telecommunications ministry has now banned several mobile phone news distribution services, including those proposed by the companies Nass mobile and Bela Qoyod mobile, on the grounds that they were not subject to sufficient control. The ministry nonetheless said that the authorities could offer such services.

SMS messages expressing criticism of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government had circulated in the weeks prior to the ban. The opposition parties denied being behind them. On 7 June, the government announce the start of a debate about a new press law, one concerning new media in particular.

Source: rsf.org

Also more on Journalism.co.uk

The Future of Photo Editing

2007-06-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

The future of Photo editing?

And this one

A tuff job

2007-06-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

You want to know what it is like being a photographer in a conflict zone?

Well take a look at this breif video clip by Kloie Picot's video
Shots that Bind trailer

Jailed Chinese journalist sues Yahoo!

2007-06-11T04:21:00.001-07:00

A Chinese journalist who was jailed for leaking state secrets is demanding compensation from Yahoo! after the internet portal provided information that led to his arrest.

Shi Tao, a 39-year-old former Contemporary Business News reporter, in 2004 re-distributed by Yahoo! Mail an official Communist Party dictate that requested journalists refrain from reporting June 4 protests by dissidents commemorating the 1989 Tianamen Square clashes.

Following a Chinese government request, Yahoo! handed over Tao's identity, after which he was detained and later imprisoned for 10 years.

Shi Tao was awarded the Golden Pen press freedom commendation, last week at the World Editors Forum in Cape Town, for his actions.

At a news conference in Hong Kong yesterday, Mao's mother, Gao Qinsheng, announced he had joined a lawsuit, started by the World Organisation for Human Rights USA, seeking damages from Yahoo!.

Source: journalism.co.uk

Quick Tip

2007-06-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

Ok so it is nearly summer and I get a phone call for a very urgent rush job late in the evening. You know rush like mad to get there on time, all traffic against you and you think that every one is conspiring to stop you from being on time.
Then you end up waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more…by now you are getting cold as the night still is not warm; there is a cold breeze moving in that creeps through your summer coat, there is too much stuff in my pockets so no room for my hands in there and I wait some more…

The person who I need to take the portraits of, now turns up and I find my hands and fingers are cold and a quite numb, but not enough to function on the controls, but if it had been longer that might have been a different story. During winter I have a pair of gloves that live in my camera bag, but they do take up quite a bit of room

I also have the problem in that I still have not found the ideal glove that allows me to keep my hands warm, give me a good grip and allow me to use all the controls on the camera in a hurry,

All my camera bags and chestvest now all boast a lightweight, space saving, waterproof, gripy and very functional pairs of gloves in them and they cost very little.

Latex gloves like the surgeons use can be brought at chemists and are ideal, but I brought mine from a tattoo artist and they are textured surface and black. Your hands get a little sweaty inside but they keep the wind off give warmth allow you to use the controls on your camera and provide good grip as for very cold weather ill have to wait for winter but could be warn under/over a thin thermal pair.

I got 10 pairs for a quid (£1.00 sterling) simple Black Latex gloves

Flickr no longer accesable from China

2007-06-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Copied from Flickr's forum

Since around 12:30pm (Beijing time) on June 7th, users in China have been unable to view images on flickr.com.

Our technical staff have looked into this and determined that it's not a technical issue from our end. Evidence suggests that our image servers are being blocked for many users in China.

We are checking periodically to see if the block is still in place, but haven't detected any change. We hope that this is a temporary issue and we currently believe that it will be. In the meantime, we are investigating our alternatives. Thanks for your patience.

As Stewart stated earlier,

"Unfortuantely, the firewall's administrators don't provide contact details, so we can't just call up someone who makes decisions about which sites are blocked and plead our cases. All we can do at this point is continue to monitor, seek advice from colleagues closer to the region and/or with more experience.

We definitely haven't forgotten about you, but there is not much for us to announce publicly at this point. As soon as anything changes, will let you know. And we're all rooting for you!"

Access to earlier forum topics on this subject now seem inaccessible for some China-based users, so I'm adding this as a locked topic so that we can at least keep you updated.

I'll keep digging for more info, but this is not a good news and it will not help us with our plans to spend some time in China next year for a project using online social networks and web technologies.

Reporter arrested on orders ofGuiliani Press Secretary

2007-06-07T04:21:00.001-07:00

Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones / Jones Report | June 5, 2007

Manchester, NH - Freelance reporter Matt Lepacek, reporting for Infowars.com, was arrested for asking a question to one of Giuliani's staff members in a press conference. The press secretary identified the New York based reporter as having previously asked Giuliani about his prior knowledge of WTC building collapses and ordered New Hampshire state police to arrest him.

Jason Bermas, reporting for America: Freedom to Fascism, confirmed Lepacek had official CNN press credentials for the Republican debate. However, his camera was seized by staff members who shut off the camera, according to Luke Rudkowski, also a freelance Infowars reporter on the scene. He said police physically assaulted both reporters after Rudkowski objected that they were official members of the press and that nothing illegal had taken place. Police reportedly damaged the Infowars-owned camera in the process.

Reporters were questioning Giuliani staff members on a variety of issues, including his apparent ignorance of the 9/11 Commission Report, according to Bermas. The staff members accused the reporters of Ron Paul partisanship, which press denied. It was at this point that Lepacek, who was streaming a live report, asked a staff member about Giuliani's statement to Peter Jennings that he was told beforehand that the WTC buildings would collapse.

Giuliani's press secretary then called over New Hampshire state police, fingering Lepacek

Source: jonesreport.com

New Trespass Laws Enacted

2007-06-02T05:35:00.001-07:00

Entering Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and the prime minister's country

house Chequers as a trespasser has become a criminal act.

Police could not previously make an arrest if that person agreed to be escorted off the site.

But under law which comes into force on 1 June, residences of the Queen have been added to a list of areas where trespassers can be arrested.

Offenders can be jailed for up to 12 months or fined.

The legal changes follow several high-profile incidents where Royal sites

were breached by protesters.

The
law could have consequences for press photographers who are
legitimately covering news stories and I expect to see a further
"additions" to the list of places where trespass is a
criminal  act, as protesters occupy places that the
authorities don't want them.

Source BBC

Subject: Ouch, that hurt!

2007-05-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

An email form John D McHugh who has been shot while working in Afghanistan, for AFP as a photojournalist; his blog makes for an interesting read and shows the reality of what it is like to be a war photographer.

Hi Everyone,

I know that Helen has been emailing most of you thus far,but today I feel strong enough to write a short note.

So, yes, it happened, I got shot. And it sucked! And it still does. But, I am alive, and I consider myself very lucky. Some will say that a couple of inches to the left and I would be fine, but by the same train of thought a couple of inches the other way and I would....not be writing this email. Therefore, I am, once again, to be considered "lucky."

The whole story is too long and difficult for me to write out at the moment. The bare details are not. I was with an American/Afghan Army unit that was on a mission, when a different unit was ambushed close by. We were sent as a QRF (Quick Reaction Force) to help them, but walked into a second, lethal attack. I don't have all the details yet, but I know there were several people killed and wounded, including me. I was shot through the stomach,lower left abdomen, and the bullet damaged my colon and spleen before exploding out through my back. Ouch!

Thankfully I didn't pass out, but managed to take cover. We were in the middle of a big fight, so I think it was 10 or 15 minutes before the soldiers managed to get a dressing on me and get me into a Humvee, at which point we drove out of there, all guns blazing. In remained concious the whole time, and once back at the base, maybe 20 minutes over the worst roads in the world, I was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital, where I was operated on. Due to the injuries to my stomach and bowel, I have been given a colostomy bag ( all jokes welcome) and have been stapled back together. It looks like I have a zipper from my chest down to my groin as well as the entry wound in my stomach and exit hole in my back. So at least the scars will be dramatic.

After a few days I was flown out to a US military hospital hospital in Germany, where I am still. I am on lots of painkillers, my arms look like a pin cushion, and my torso looks like a patchwork quilt. Yes, I am still sore, but nothing like I was originally, so I don't want anyone worrying about me. I should make a full, if slow, recovery.

As soon as it is confirmed that I am returning to the UK, I will tell you more. And as soon as I can I will write out the whole story, and edit the photos. In the meantime, thanks for all the mails so far, and I will see you all soon.

Cheers,

"Lucky" John D

www.johndmchugh.com

Blog

Funny BMW Advert

2007-05-07T17:12:00.001-07:00

I just had to add this one its a really funny BMW advert done by Guy Ritchie and Madona

Newswear Digital Chestvest - Review

2007-05-06T12:40:00.001-07:00

Newswears Digital Chestvest is a simple design that can carry heavy weight well and distribute it over your body

A fantastic piece of kit that is ideal for extending carrying capacity that is often the problem for the digital photographer, especialy when you need to add a laptop and additional items to your gear.

It's a simple layout that does not get in the way or snag easily, but it may be a disadvantage if you have to belly down in the dirt for that low angle shot. That said it allows you to sit in a car and wear it or ride a bike/motorcycle without hindrance.

It is ideally suited for photojournalists, documentary and sports photographers who need to be able to move fast and have access to their gear fast, the Chestvest is a must have on long protests or riot situations due to its low profile that is not as likely to snag like a camera bag in a tussle.

One disadvantage I did find is the additional pockets on the pouch flaps, these Velcro securely keeping in the contents but, dirt and rain runs straight in to these, so I don't put in anything that will be damaged by rain or water and they could do with an additional "pocket flap" over the top. Newswear do however do an all weather version at a slight additional cost which might be ideal for the old (pre climate change) British climate. Also in their range are press pouches, body pouches, rain covers, Womens chestvest and a documentary chest vest for use with smaller cameras and less gear

Available in Black and a Navy Blue/Grey combination

Designed for the photographer who wants to pack a lot of gear. In addition you can use a camera bag over the shoulder or laptop satchel; It works really well with the Lowepro Stealth AW Rucksack as it adds easy access to essential gear leaving equipment that you are not likely to use in the backpack. Other rucksacks could also offer versatility and the Chestvest adds great functionality with a daysack for walking

Four main compartments are supplemented by four more accessory pockets inside each flap.

It has a hidden pocket for things like id or Press Credentials, but is not suitable for a wallet as it is too small.

Extra large pockets allow storage of up to 3 Digital Camera bodies plus lenses. I found it will take a D2x plus a D70/80 size camera

The two centre pockets fit most telephoto lenses like the Nikon 2.8 80-200mm zoom lens and the 300mm F4 as well as the Canon 70-200mm 2.8 zoom lens and the 300mm F4 telephoto and even the newer Canon 300mm 2.8 lens.

Camera weight is distributed over a number of areas including the chest, back, waist, and shoulders, freeing your body from stress points caused by traditional camera bag designs.

Pockets secure camera gear with large patches of Velcro. No zippers are used. You can add additional pouches can be fitted to the shoulder straps like memory card holders and mobile phone pouches, as well as on the waist belt, but be careful you don't loose function by placing to much or to large items on them.

Adjustable buckles and straps make for a one size-fits-all design that quickly adjusts to any body size or shape and will easily fit extremely tall or short, wide or thin people.

The adjustable straps keep you cool in hot weather and allow the Chestvest to fit over winter clothing when the temperature drops. It can even fit over body armour, but you might end up looking like a paramilitary with the black set so I would urge caution here and opt for the press looking Navy blue and grey set

Fabric is easily spot cleaned with cloth and warm water and is so strong the Chestvest will last for many years.
Powered by ScribeFire.

Technorati Tags: Chestvest, review, photography, photojournalism, documentary

Old School Journalism

2007-05-04T05:31:00.000-07:00

So what has changed can you spot the difference?

The Hire: Powder Keg

2007-05-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

I don't normally go in for all this glitz and glamour of the photographer as a hero, but this is based on a true story

January 13 2001
Times war photographer, Harvey Jacobs was wounded after witnessing the massacre at Nuevo Colon.
In a desperate effort the United Nations sent a vehicle to get him out

Guns and Kids

2007-04-21T14:56:00.001-07:00

A photo Essay by Philip Jones Griffths of magnum fame and author of Vietnam Inc.

Go here for essay

Getty laying of staff at MediaVast

2007-04-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

Getty Images has begun to slash the size of the staff at MediaVast, the competing photo agency it just acquired.

MediaVast employees say Getty reps have been meeting individually with staff members and asked some to leave the company immediately.
The meetings are scheduled to continue Friday.

One employee at the MediaVast office in New York described the mood there as "horrendous" as employees anticipated many more layoffs. The employee described devastated ex-staffers comforting each other outside the Radio Wave building on West 27th Street, where the office is located.

Read more

A place to ethicaly sell your images

2007-04-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Recently, launched Mondolibrary.Net
It’s an image library serving the public interest and nonprofit community. Some of their clients are the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UN-HABITAT and the Clinton Foundation. At mondolibrary they can download images for their various publications.

Mondolibrary says "We believe that messages must cause change. That’s why we want to provide our clients with images which help them create these powerful messages."

The photographer keeps copyright but images are on a royalty free type of license, and there is a sliding fee scale to place your images on. Further, images have to be used in an ethical way by the clients.

They have been communicating heavily with photographers at Lightstalkers on the discussion forums working out the best ways of selling the images, pricing and licensing to keep everything fair

Mondolibrary.Net

365 days of being held by military for being a Press Photographer

2007-04-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

Bilal Hussein, an AP photographer was arrested on 12 April 2006 for being a security risk according to the U.S. Army, as have many journalists been taken in for questioning, however most have been released shortly after. this has not been the case though for Bilal who has no legal representation and no fair trial as that is the nature of the military system.

The full story can be read here: http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003570668

Source: PDN

Why?

2007-04-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

One of the main questions you have to ask your self is WHY do you want to do documentary photography, this mainly comes from the heart and what interests you, what moves you, and what you feel so strongly about you wanty ot stop it.

All of this will be covered later but for the moment watch this video from Witness.org by Peter Gabreil

Its quite moving, but there are also other points, a story can be easily denied, but pictures and video is much harder to deny. A further point is that the latest gear is also not needed.

What makes a Documentary Photographer?

2007-04-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

“So, what dose a documentary tog carry in their bag” is a question I am asked most often by amateur photographers, they are surprised by the response, A-Z street map, pain killers, Pro Plus (caffeine Tablets) Imodium (anti shit’s tablets) spare batteries for camera and flash and two or three lenses.

But its not really what’s in the bag that makes you a good documentary photographer, it’s your knowledge of the area, the understanding of the issues, the research you need to do. It’s also about stamina can you sit around on a cold or really hot day waiting for the picture? How about if it turns out to be a no show can you come back and do it all again, that’s what being a documentary photographer is about, not what is in the bag.

This blog site is going to be a bit of a instructional guide on how to be covert and do research, how to do the grab shot, how to shoot through a window of a car or van, how to communicate with people and above all else, be ethical what you do. We will also look at the gear you need and all that tech stuff that amateurs are fascinated about a camera to me is like a hammer to a builder it’s a tool, nothing magical – in fact it’s a pain try carrying a 2lb lump around with you all day my camera weighs about 5lb without lens or flash and you will soon see what I mean.

Welcome to Life Spy

2006-12-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Life Spy.
This is where I take a look at the strange world we live in, mostly with a camera.
This site will cover things like Street Photography, people and places as well as issues that effect us all.

Life Spy

PhotoShelter tell it Straight

Photographers Under Attack!

Photographers Under Attack!

Whistle-blower site taken offline :: BBC

Whistle-blower site taken offline :: BBC

Polaroid film faces the final shutter

Polaroid film faces the final shutter

Out of Africa - Reuters Photographers

Out of Africa

Write your own Guardian News

Police seize photographers film

Banned from owning a camera

Kremlin eyes internet control ...

Tribune Blogs -- Fly on the Wall

pace

The Spector of Hope

Love in central Stockholm

Flickr

100 Journalists arrested in Pakistan

US Plans Case Against AP Photographer

Be your own personal privacy czar

Yahoo settles its China lawsuit

News media feels force of Musharraf crackdown

Dutch government admits spying on journalists

The Duty of the Photographer

View the Khmer Rouge photographs (TuolSleng.com)

Whistleblower? Journalist? Citizen journalist? or just Censored?

Yahoo accused of misleading Congress about Chinese journalist

Menezes picture 'was manipulated'

UK Can now Demand Data Decryption on Penalty of Jail Time

Related Stories

The keys to the (United) Kingdom

Free Burma

Phonecalls and Texts to be Logged

Thirteen Ways to be a Green Photographer

Police Stop and Search

Garry Winogrand Video

Phones for the Photojournalist and Documentary image maker

Twitter

Undercover Reporter rumbled at hacker convention

Why documentary photographers should take security seriously

ITV to launch Citizen Journalism Platform

Yemen SMS news ban attacked by journalists

The Future of Photo Editing

A tuff job

Jailed Chinese journalist sues Yahoo!

Quick Tip

Flickr no longer accesable from China

Reporter arrested on orders ofGuiliani Press Secretary

New Trespass Laws Enacted

Subject: Ouch, that hurt!

Funny BMW Advert

Newswear Digital Chestvest - Review

Old School Journalism

The Hire: Powder Keg

Guns and Kids

Getty laying of staff at MediaVast

A place to ethicaly sell your images

365 days of being held by military for being a Press Photographer

Why?

What makes a Documentary Photographer?

Welcome to Life Spy