Tor's most visited hidden sites host child abuse images
Most traffic to sites hidden on the Tor network go to those dealing in images of child sexual abuse a study suggests.
The six-month study sought to catalogue hidden services on the so-called "dark net" and work out which were the most popular.
It found lots of sites peddling illegal drugs but the most popular were those involved with abuse.
However, the researcher behind the study said it was hard to conclude that people were behind all the visits.
Tor, or The Onion Router, is an anonymising system that lets people use the web without revealing who they are or which country they are in. The anonymity offered by the network has encouraged many people to set up hidden .onion sites that offer content, services and goods that it is illegal to sell openly.
Carried out by Dr Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth, the study set up servers to join the Tor network and catalogued hidden services found on it. The system was also able to visit the sites to download HTML content so they could be categorised and to track how many visits each one received.
Traffic to hidden services on Tor represents about 1.5% of all the data passing across the network on any given day.
Over the six months of the study, Dr Owen and his colleagues saw about 80,000 hidden sites on Tor.
"Most of the hidden services we only saw once. They do not tend to exist for a very long time," he said during a speech at the 31st Chaos Communications Congress in Hanover, where he presented his findings.
The top 40 hidden services were involved with controlling botnets - networks of home computers compromised by malicious programs. Many of these botnets have been shut down which has left their client computers fruitlessly polling Tor seeking the now dormant command systems.
The study found that the biggest number of hidden services were dedicated to selling illegal drugs. Also in the top five were underground markets, fraud sites, mail services and those dealing in the virtual currency Bitcoin.
Although the number of sites dealing in images of abuse on Tor is small, traffic to them dwarfs that going to other sites, said Dr Owen.
About 75% of the traffic observed in the study ended up at abuse sites, said Dr Owen.
"When we found this out we were stunned," he said. "This is not what we expected at all."
Despite the findings, Dr Owen cautioned against drawing too many conclusions since he did not know which visits were done by people and which by machines.
"It's not as quite as straightforward as it looks," he said. "It might look like there are lots of people visiting these sites but it is difficult to conclude that from this information."
"What proportion are people and which are something else? We simply don't know." he said, adding that "crawlers" run by law enforcement and other agencies that police abuse sites could be responsible for the steady stream of traffic.
Roger Dingledine, one of the original developers of Tor, also said the methodology of the study - which only scanned long-lived sites to see what content they offered - made it hard to draw conclusions about what people did on the network.
"Without knowing how many sites disappeared before he got around to looking at them, it's impossible to know what percentage of fetches went to abuse sites," he said.
"There are important uses for hidden services, such as when human rights activists use them to access Facebook or to blog anonymously," he added.
"These uses for hidden services are new and have great potential."
Travel firms sue creator of cheap airfare site
United Airlines and travel firm Orbitz have launched legal action against a site that seeks out cheap "hidden city" airfares.
The site finds cheap fares by looking for flights that have a stopover at the city someone wants to travel to.
The two firms allege the site is engaged in "unfair competition" and seeks to recoup lost revenue.
The developer behind the site said he was doing nothing wrong by exposing the "inefficiencies" in airline ticketing.
The legal action has been filed in Illinois.
The Skiplagged website works by looking for longer flights that include a stop in a big city en route to another destination. One example might be flying from New York to Lake Tahoe that has a stopover in San Francisco.
If someone wanted to travel to San Francisco they might spend less on the fare by booking the stopover flight and not travelling to Tahoe than they would simply booking a flight to San Francisco from New York. In some cases, the site suggests, travellers can save 40% or more on ticket fares.
The trick only works with one-way flights. Travellers cannot check in any luggage as that would then travel on to the flight's final destination.
Twenty-two-year-old developer Aktarer Zaman, who created the site, told CNNMoney that he had made no profit from Skiplagged. He declined to comment specifically on the case to CNN.
Mr Zaman has launched a fundraising campaign to gather cash to fight the legal battle against United and Orbitz. So far he has raised $10,538 (£6,776) of the $15,000 needed.
In its legal filing, United and Orbitz said the site was "intentionally and maliciously" interfering with the travel firms' business and was making it breach its contracts with its partners.
The documents added that "logistical and public safety concerns" meant using "hidden city" tickets was prohibited and, as a result, using Skiplagged broke these rules.
The two firms are seeking damages of at least $75,000 in revenue they claim they have lost as a result of Skiplagged operating.
Source-BBC
Sean Paul cancels Maldives gig
International recording artiste Sean Paul has cancelled a New Year’s gig in the Maldives amid death threats.
The artiste issued a statement to the media yesterday.
“Unfortunately, the world has reached a point where cyber threats must affect real life decisions. With that said, due to safety concerns for my crew and the people of the Maldives attending the Tourist Arrival Countdown, it is with deep regret that I have come to the difficult decision to cancel my appearance,” Sean Paul’s statement read in part.
He also used the opportunity to thank the Government and people of the Maldives for their invitation.
Britain’s Independent newspaper reported the video message carries the logo of the Bilad Al Sham Media (BASM) group, an organisation which claims to comprise Maldivian jihadists based in Syria and the Maldives.
“Sean Paul, if you visit the Maldives, the world will see your burned and blood-drenched dead body,” said cards held by a cloaked figure in the video posted on YouTube last week.
A Twitter account allegedly belonging to BASM denied being behind the threat, revealing in a tweet: “We would clearly like to announce that our media have nothing to do with the Sean Paul death threatening video.”
Haiti deal reached to avert crisis over delayed polls
Haitian President Michel Martelly has reached a deal with the senate and the chamber of deputies to avert a political crisis over long-delayed elections which sparked mass protests.
Officials said Mr Martelly had signed an agreement with the presidents of the two chambers to extend their mandate.
Lawmakers will now have to sign off on the deal.
If it is not passed, Haiti could be left without a functioning government once the mandates expire on 12 January.
Under the agreement, Haiti's deputies would be extended in their posts until 24 April and senators until 9 September.
The deal comes just over two weeks after Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe resigned in the wake of violent protest at the delayed elections.
Former Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe speaks during an interview with Associated Press in Port-au-Prince on 15 December, 2014
Mid-term senate elections had been originally due in May 2012, while the municipal poll is three years behind schedule as Haiti slowly emerges from the earthquake which left much of the country devastated in 2010.
They were postponed again on 26 October - the day they were due to be held - because of an ongoing stalemate between the government and a group of opposition senators over an electoral law.
The repeated delays have triggered protests, some of them violent, by critics of the government, who accuse President Martelly of wanting to rule by decree.
Martelly has appointed Evans Paul, a former radio journalist, as the new prime minister.
Mr Paul has to be confirmed by parliament before he can start forming a government.
Officials say debris of Air Asia QZ8501 is missing plane
Indonesian officials have confirmed that bodies and debris found in the Java Sea off Borneo are from AirAsia flight QZ8501 that went missing on Sunday, a statement by AirAsia says.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said he was "devastated" by the news.
President Joko Widodo told media he had instructed all search teams to focus on finding the passengers and crew.
The Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, disappeared on Sunday.
The head of Indonesia's search operation, Bambang Soelistyo, says three bodies have been retrieved, not 40 as previously stated by naval officials.
The discovery came on the third day of searching. A navy spokesman said rescuers were "very busy now" with the salvage operation.
The AirAsia statement said the remains were found in the Karimata Strait, south-west of Pangkalan Bun in the Borneo province of Central Kalimantan.
Mr Fernandes said: "I am absolutely devastated."
He told a news conference there could now be an end to uncertainty for everyone involved.
"This is a scar with me for the rest of my life," he said.
"It doesn't change anything. There is at least some closure as opposed to not knowing what's happened and holding out hope."
The AirAsia statement said family members would be assigned care providers and an emergency call centre would be set up for those seeking information.
Source-BBC
Gambia government denies coup plot against Jammeh
The Gambia's government has denied there has been an attempt to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh while he is abroad.
A statement broadcast on state radio said that "contrary to rumours being circulated, peace and calm continue to prevail" in the West African state.
Heavy gunfire had earlier erupted near the presidential palace in the capital.
Mr Jammeh seized power in a coup in 1994 and his critics accuse him of ruling with an iron-hand.
Diplomatic and military sources said soldiers from the presidential guard appeared to have mounted the attack on the presidential palace in Banjul in the early hours of Tuesday.
A British teacher in Bakau, about seven kilometres (four miles) from Banjul, told the BBC that The Gambia had shut its nearby land borders with Senegal.
"Most of the big shops are closed at this point but there's absolutely no military or police presence," he said.
Source- BBC
Cargo Ship Sends Distress Signal Off Corfu Island
A cargo ship believed to be carrying hundreds of migrants near the Greek island of Corfu sent out a distress signal saying armed people were on board on Tuesday, Greek television reported.
Two Greek officials confirmed that a distress signal had been received from the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M but did not give further details on the message.
A Greek frigate, a coastguard vessel and a military helicopter were heading to the area, they added.
“We have information that it is carrying suspected migrants. It is sailing off Corfu,” a shipping ministry official said.
Greece's SKAI television said as many as 700 people may be on board but other reports put the total at 400.
Source-Reuters
Another illegal vessel comes to the TCI on December 25th,2014
A sloop carrying 65 would be illegal immigrants (52 males and 13 females) was intercepted six miles off South Dock by the marine division, Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) at 11:55pm, Thursday, 25 December 2014.
The vessel was captured following a report passed to the police by immigration staff at the government’s coastal radar station.
All Marine Branch assets and officers have since returned safely to Marine Base incident free.
The 65 individuals have been handed over to immigration officials for processing and will be deported at the earliest opportunity. All appear to be of Haitian origin. The sloop was also searched and handed over to Immigration authorities for disposal.
On December 25th 2013, a sloop arrived which resulted in the unfortunate death of 17 illegal migrants.
The Police can be contacted anonymously on 911 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1-800-8477. Tips can also be submitted anonymously in English, French or Spanish on either www.crimestoppers.tc or on Facebook as a fan of Crime Stoppers Turks & Caicos. Crime Stoppers tips are received in the USA.
Police Appeal for Information into Murder on Aviation Drive
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) are still appealing to members of the public for information into a murder which occurred in the down town area of Providenciales on Saturday Dec 27th,2014.
At approximately 3AM (27 December 2014), police received multiple reports of violence at 2005 Club on Aviation Drive in Five Cays.
One victim (approximately 20 years of age) received several stab wounds and was pronounced deceased. Another victim received a gunshot wound and is in stable condition. Two other victims received head wounds after being struck by objects.
Several arrests have been made in relations to the Murder and other weapon-related incidents. Police expresses their appreciation for the cooperation received from the public but continues to seek other witnesses to the events.
Police are urging anyone with information about this incident to call Crime Stoppers on 1-800-8477 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: www.crimestoppers.tc. Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Search On For Missing Plane In Guyana’s Interior
A search is being carried out by aviation officials here following reports that communication was lost with a plane that was flying in the interior of the country.
Aviation personnel on Sunday reported that they lost communication with the Britten Norman Islander airplane shortly after 1pm local time.
The plane, with the registration number 8R-GHE, was being flown by Captain Nicolas Persaud. The sole passenger onboard was a cargo loader whose name was not released.
The aircraft was flying from the gold mining area of Mahdia to Karisparu when communication was lost with the pilot in the vicinity of Region 8.
According to media reports, Annettee Arjoon Martins of Air Services Limited (ASL) said the weather was good at the time contact was lost .
While it has not been confirmed if an accident took place, four planes and a helicopter were deployed to search the area before nightfall.
Source-CMC