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This coming Saturday night, January 29, at midnight, , the Zev Brenner show will lead off with with a segment about Yisroel Moshe Weingarten. Weingarten is a Satmar hasid convicted of crimes relating to sexual abuse of his daughter. There will be important new information from Mr. Max Gold, an attorney from the United Kingdom. He represented Leah Weingarten against her father at the request of leading ultra orthodox rabbis in Gateshead. He will discuss the reasons these rabbis got involved and some of the evidence against Weingarten. Others on that segment include Rabbi Yosef Blau and Mr. Abe Kiss of Monsey.
The Zev Brenner Show airs in NYC on WMCA 570 AM, WSNR 620 AM, and in Miami on WKAT 1360 AM.
The show is also live streamed at http://www.talklinecommunications.com/
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On Friday, January 21, 2011, The court tossed out the subpoenas seeking the identities of UOJ's anonymous commenters in the Hersh v. Cohen matter. This means that Google and Yahoo will not be required to turn over the names in question pursuant to the subpoenas. The court noted during the hearing (and as we had argued), the Plaintiffs had not been able to satisfy their burden to demonstrate that any of the statements generally complained about were actionable or even relevant to the current litigation.
On behalf of myself and all Bloggers (Jewish or otherwise) nationwide, I am grateful to the EFF, Matt Zimmerman Esq. and his team, the Fordham Law Clinic and Ron Lazebnik Esq. for their tireless efforts on our behalf and on behalf of all Americans guaranteed under our Constitution to Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression.
Thanks Matt. Thanks Ron.
UOJ
31 comments:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/business/27foreclose.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print
What a sick story from these greedy banker pigs
When dealing with fanatics, never rule out the element of surprise!
In recent weeks Michael Hersh and his rabbi, Aron Schechter of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin have been dealt three major setbacks:
1) A Judge threw out their case against four of the key so-called "defendants."
2) Now, a judge has thrown out their subpoenas of Google and Yahoo to release names of bloggers and Emails.
3) Their legal team has quit for non-payment of services.
But that has not stopped Hersh and Schechter from continuing with their crazy vendettas:
1) Hersh has chosen to become his own "lawyer" and has refiled his case "pro se" meaning that Aron Schechter and others are still helping him with his unholy crusade.
2) Filing on his own pro se, Hersh-Schechter have appealed the dismissal of the case against the four key defendants.
3) At this stage, it is not clear how Hersh-Schechter will respond to the latest rulings by the court that threw out their subpoenas of Google and Yahoo to reveal names.
In other words, while this is an amazing development that SETS BACK the Hersh-Schechter jihad against those they perceive as their online critics, IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY HAVE SURRENDERED OR STOPPED THEIR BLIND QUEST TO DESTROY ALL THEIR ENEMIES and therefore, it also means, that while congratulations and deep thanks and gratitude are due to the EFF, and all its related expert legal staff, and to UOJ for his incredible job of gaining the trust and deploying of such an impressive team to defend the rights of blogs and bloggers to keep on doing what they do best, it's not over until it's truly over, and the fat lady-Hersh-Schechter sing and once and for all it can be confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt that Hersh-Schechter are stopping their craziness and glorified frivolous cases by abusing the courts and legal process.
Hersh-Schechter are wily, vicious and determined, and now they will act like wounded animals, looking for ways to lash out even more!
Look at the way Leib Tropper, another rogue supported to the hilt by Aron Schechter, even after signing on notarized documents that he would quit and leave Monsey, NY, he reneged on that with flimsy excuses, and even went on to battle in courts to keep money from the Kol Yaakov Yeshiva's coffers that he had looted when he was forced to resign as a result of a public sex scandal.
Michael Hersh is still at the top of Aron Schechter's "honor roll" and he is allowed into his office at any time, and to pray and walk into the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin as if he were on a red carpet that does not bode well for what he and his mentor have up their sleeves next.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed!!! These guys are as slippery and as dangerous a den of poisonous snakes!!!
The Yated gang's "WikiLeaks" problem, 14
In light of the latest ruling by the courts to throw out Michael Hersh's crazy demands that Google and Yahoo tell *him* the names bloggers and Emailers who had made comments *he* did not like, can you imagine the shame and horror you would be facing right now had you followed up on *your* threats to gang up on and start "naming" Jewish blogs and bloggers that do not agree with *your* point of view?!
What a stupid-head that would have made you look like!!! Breaking the American Constitution's rights to Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press -- yes blogs and bloggers are actually considered part of the FREE PRESS in a democratic society, while in a dictatorship like in totalitarian Red China and its ideological counterpart totalitarian Haredist Agudath Israel run by tin pot dictators that you meekly serve.
Anyhow, here's some more stuff you should be ashamed of:
In this week's January 28, 2011, latest edition of your USA Yated, your preach editorial (just where did you learn to "write" like that??) "Honest Emunah and Bitachon" while you make some nods in the direction of honesty in "financial matters" -- always a good thing, who can argue with that? -- as you continue on page 61 you state:
"TURNING TO SECULAR COURTS: One of the ways a Jew demonstrates his belief in the Divine source of the Torah's laws of jurisprudence is by REFUSING to turn to SECULAR COURTS for adjudication of legal issues..By patronizing secular courts, he puts on display his belief in society's ideas of what is fair - ideas dictated by human reasoning which are flawed, arbitrary, and tragically limited."
Do you even listen to yourself?!
In the very week and at the very same time that your biggest living rabbinic patron, Rabbi Aron Schechter was handed the biggest slap in the face when the case he has supported in secular court by sending his own son in law Eliyahu Yorkmark to back to hilt with sworn statements that Michael Hersh is a a good guy and that he even falsely alleges that "threats" were made against his father alw and his yeshiva when they are doing it to themseleves -- starting with allowing and encouraging Michale Hersh to go to secular court to toot his horn and try to sue the world for $411 million. Now that is a classical case of hypocrisy and a double standard.
And who has been the "kaporah" for all this in your paper??? You know!!! It's Rav Moshe Sternbuch as you continue to cave in to the Schechter-Tropper-Hersh-Kranczer-Nate the Nut Segal-Shea two faced Fishman-Chaim Berlin mob, to drop the popular weekly parsha essay from Rav Moshe Sternbuch in the Yated. Shame on you for such disgusting behavior!!!
Not only are you a hypocrite, you also back people who are and should be in cherem for their refusal to go to any bais din but fight other frum Jews in secular courts, and you are mevazeh (humiliate) a genuine talmid chochem by refusing to publish his popular and much beloved teachings on the weekly parsha. Shame on you!!!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w3ipkL1Dd10/TUEN81PhRgI/AAAAAAAABs4/1Il52yae0D8/s1600/hersh%2Bcase%2B-%2Bsubpeonas%2Bquashed-742245.jpg
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/us/politics/27issa.html
an observation by Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, in a recent report. Mr. Barofsky wrote that the government’s bailout of Citigroup in 2008 institutionalized the view among investors that large financial companies still enjoyed an implicit government guarantee that they were “too big to fail.”
Mr. Issa noted that Bank of America, already one of the country’s biggest banks, grew considerably larger during the financial crisis by first absorbing Countrywide and then Merrill Lynch.
“I’m not for breaking up companies or taking a heavy hand,” Mr. Issa said. “But if Bank of America is too big to fail, then shouldn’t we be insisting that they be — and I’m not suggesting this — but shouldn’t we be suggesting that they find a way to not be too big to fail in whatever kind of divestitures they need, rather than putting them in that category” of companies that are “effectively backstopped by the federal government?”
Mr. Geithner seemed to imply that future bailouts of big banks were a possibility
What do you expect when those despicable Orthodox Jews vote mostly Republican? How can anyone sleep with this orthodox-style racism running rampant?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/us/politics/28conservatives.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
A bitter dispute over whether a gay conservative group should co-sponsor the conservative movement’s largest gathering of the year has led some prominent supporters to withdraw from the event next month.
Riding the winds of success in November’s midterm elections, this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, beginning Feb. 10 in Washington, is expected to draw such Republican presidential aspirants as Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul as well as thousands of activists.
But conservative pillars including the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, Liberty University & the Heritage Foundation, are refusing to participate, angry that the gay organization, GOProud, has been given a seat at the planning table. These groups are implacable opponents of same-sex marriage, which they say GOProud is implicitly endorsing.
At least one presidential hopeful, Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, has also declined to attend, expressing support for the boycotters.
“GOProud is working to undermine one of our core values,” said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. Letting gay men & lesbians attend the conference is one thing, he said, “but they shouldn’t be allowed to be co-sponsors.”
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has in the past criticized CPAC for being too “libertarian.” He declined to comment for this article but will also not attend.
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/114669819.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UHDaaDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUoD3aPc:_27EQU
For all you Orthodox losers who made fun of Shmarya for years for running a kosher deli into the ground, the only time he was gainfully employed, here is a place selling Rubashkin meat with the backing of Rabbi Zeilengold who put Shmarya in cherem that is also going belly up.
So there!
"Cairo - Egypt Shuts Down Internet, Ups Police Counterterror Unit (VIN: News Source: AP)
Published on: January 27th, 2011 at 08:11 PM
Cairo - Internet service in Egypt was disrupted and the government deployed an elite special operations force in Cairo on Friday, hours before an anticipated new wave of anti-government protests.
The developments were a sign that President Hosni Mubarak's regime was toughening its crackdown following the biggest protests in years against his nearly 30-year rule.
The counter-terror force, rarely seen on the streets, took up positions in strategic locations, including central Tahrir Square, site of the biggest demonstrations this week.
Facebook and Twitter have helped drive this week's protests. But by Thursday evening, those sites were disrupted, along with cell phone text messaging and BlackBerry Messenger services. Then the Internet went down.
Earlier, the grass-roots movement got a double boost — the return of Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei and the backing of the biggest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood.
The real test will be whether Egypt's fragmented opposition can come together, with Friday's rallies expected to be some of the biggest so far.
Social networking sites were abuzz that the gatherings called after Friday prayers could attract huge numbers of protesters demanding the ouster of Mubarak. Millions gather at mosques across the city on Fridays, giving organizers a vast pool of people to tap into.
The 82-year-old Mubarak has not been seen in public or heard from since the protests began Tuesday with tens of thousands marching in Cairo and a string of other cities. While he may still have a chance to ride out this latest challenge, his choices are limited, and all are likely to lead to a loosening of his grip on power...
Video of the shooting of the teenager, Mohamed Attef, was supplied to a local journalist and obtained by AP Television News. Attef crumpled to the ground after being shot on the street. He was alive as fellow protesters carried him away but later died.
The United States, Mubarak's main Western backer, has been publicly counseling reform and an end to the use of violence against protesters, signs the Egyptian leader may no longer be enjoying Washington's full backing.
In an interview broadcast live on YouTube, President Barack Obama said the anti-government protests filling the streets show the frustrations of Egypt's citizens. "It is very important that people have mechanisms in order to express their grievances," Obama said.
Noting that Mubarak has been "an ally of ours on a lot of critical issues," Obama added: "I've always said to him that making sure that they're moving forward on reform, political reform and economic reform, is absolutely critical to the long-term well-being of Egypt."
"And you can see these pent-up frustrations that are being displayed on the streets," Obama said.
In a move likely to help swell the numbers on the streets, the Muslim Brotherhood ended days of inaction to throw its support behind the demonstrations. On its website, the outlawed group said it would join "with all the national Egyptian forces, the Egyptian people, so that this coming Friday will be the general day of rage for the Egyptian nation."
However, Internet disruptions were reported by a major service provider for Egypt. Italy-based Seabone said there was no Internet traffic going into or out of the country after 12:30 a.m. local time Friday...."
"CS Monitor: Joe Biden says Egypt's Mubarak no dictator, he shouldn't step down...... and wonders what the Egyptian protesters want.
By Dan Murphy, Staff writer / January 27, 2011
Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the PBS NewsHour tonight with the most direct US governent comments yet about the gathering Egypt protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 29-year reign.
Mr. Biden's comments are unlikely to be well-received by regime opponents, as they fit a narrative of steadfast US support for a government they want to bring down. About eight protesters and one policeman have died this week as Egypt has sought to bring down the heavy hand of the state against opponents. Since the US provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt a year, the repressive apparatus of the state is seen by many in Egypt as hand in glove with the US.
Tonight in Cairo, activists said that internet service was being systematically blocked, as was the use of instant messages on local cellphones, despite repeated calls from the US State Department for Egypt to allow social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to remain available to the nation's people. Egypt is bracing for a showdown tomorrow. Organizers have called for massive protests against the regime after noon prayers on Friday, seeking to build on the unprecedented wave of public demonstrations this week calling for an end to Mubarak's rule.
Whether the protests will be as large as democracy activists hope is an open question. Overnight in Egypt, the government was doing everything it could to head them off.
Ahead of a day that could prove decisive, NewsHour host Jim Lehrer asked Biden if the time has "come for President Mubarak of Egypt to go?" Biden answered: "No. I think the time has come for President Mubarak to begin to move in the direction that – to be more responsive to some... of the needs of the people out there."
Asked if he would characterize Mubarak as a dictator Biden responded: “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.”
He also appeared to make one of the famous Biden gaffes, in comments that could be interpreted as questioning the legitimacy of protesters' demands. Monitor Cairo correspondent Kristen Chick, other reporters in the country, and activists have generally characterized the main calls of demonstrators as focused on freedom, democracy, an end to police torture, and a more committed government effort to address the poverty that aflicts millions of Egyptians.
Biden urged non-violence from both protesters and the government and said: "We’re encouraging the protesters to – as they assemble, do it peacefully. And we’re encouraging the government to act responsibly and – and to try to engage in a discussion as to what the legitimate claims being made are, if they are, and try to work them out." He also said: "I think that what we should continue to do is to encourage reasonable... accommodation and discussion to try to resolve peacefully and amicably the concerns and claims made by those who have taken to the street. And those that are legitimate should be responded to because the economic well-being and the stability of Egypt rests upon that middle class buying into the future of Egypt."
Egypt's protesters, if they're paying attention to Biden at all, will certainly be wondering which of their demands thus far have been illegitimate."
Mail Online: Stoned to death with her lover: Horrific video of execution of girl, 19, killed by Afghan Taliban for running away from arranged marriage
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:59 PM on 27th January 2011
* TALIBAN SPOKESMAN: 'Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law. There are people who call it inhuman - but in doing so they insult the Prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country'
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Horrific video footage has emerged of Taliban insurgents stoning a couple to death for alleged adultery in northern Afghanistan.
Hundreds of villagers can be seen on the video standing around as the woman, Siddqa, is buried up to her waist in a four foot hole in the ground.
Two mullahs pass sentence before the crowd begins to throw rocks at her head and body as she desperately tries to crawl free.
But the 19-year-old collapses to the ground, covered in blood - but miraculously still alive.
At this point a Taliban fighter shoots her three times in the head with an AK-47The crowd can be heard shouting allahu akbar as she is killed.
Her lover, Khayyam, is then marched in front of the crowd with his hands tied behind his back.
He is blindfolded with his own tunic and crouches down close to the ground as he tried to protect his body from the stones.
But he is battered to the floor by a barrage of rocks. He can be heard sobbing before eventually falling silent.
The stoning - the first to be documented on film since the Taliban were ousted from power - took place in the district of Dashte Archi, in Kunduz, last August.
Officials said that Siddqa had run away after being sold into an arranged marriage for $9,000 against her will.
She ran away to be with Khayyam, who was already married and had two children, and the pair eloped to Pakistan.
But it is understand that they returned to their home village after being reassured by leaders that they would be unharmed.
It was a terrible mistake. They were dragged from their families' homes at 2am by Taliban fighters and then put before a kangaroo court before being executed.
The incident took place last October near the Afghan border with Tajikstan, a conservative district with a heavy extremist presence.
The area remains under Taliban control, but regional police have said those behind the stoning will be charged.
Police chief General Daoud Daoud told the BBC: 'Special police investigators will be sent there, we will find them and they will be brought to justice.'
Most of the video has not been shown because it was too graphic.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid defended the stoning.
He told the BBC: 'Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law.
'There are people who call it inhuman - but in doing so they insult the Prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country.'"
Reuters: "Protests against Egyptian president spread
By Yasmine Saleh and Sherine El Madany
CAIRO | Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:28pm EST
(Reuters) - Web activists called for mass protests across Egypt on Friday to end President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule after protesters clashed with security forces late into the night in the eastern city of Suez.
Emboldened by this month's revolt in Tunisia that toppled its long-serving leader, Egyptians have staged mass protests since Tuesday in an unprecedented outburst of anger against Mubarak's strong-handed rule.
"This is a revolution," one 16-year-old protester said in Suez late on Thursday. "Every day we're coming back here."
Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, who returned to Egypt from Vienna on Thursday, has called for Mubarak to resign and said he would join the protests on Friday.
A page on Facebook social networking site listed more than 30 mosques and churches where protesters were expected gather.
"Egypt's Muslims and Christians will go out to fight against corruption, unemployment and oppression and absence of freedom," the page said, adding more than 70,000 had signed up online...
In his first comments on the unrest, President Barack Obama was careful to avoid any sign of abandoning Mubarak but made it clear that he sympathized with demonstrators...
As in many other countries across the Middle East, Egyptians are frustrated over surging prices, unemployment and an authoritarian government that tolerates little dissent.
Many of them are young. Two thirds of Egypt's 80 million people are below the age of 30, and many of them have no jobs. About 40 percent of Egyptians live on less than a $2 a day.
Facebook, Twitter and other social media have been key tools in drumming up support for protests, advising of locations and even giving tips on how to avoid arrest or cope with tear gas.
"Friday will be the day that we emerge victorious over the tyrants and the despots that have governed for too long," user Abo Mostafa wrote on Twitter.
"We have started the path to freedom and we will not stop," another user, Ali M, said on Facebook.
Late on Thursday, some Facebook users in Egypt reported disruptions to the service and said they were unable to use it. Earlier, Facebook said it had seen a drop in traffic from Egypt.
The government has urged Egyptians to act with restraint on Friday but say they guarantee freedom of expression.
Safwat Sherif, secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party, told reporters:
"We hope that tomorrow's Friday prayers and its rituals happen in a quiet way that upholds the value of such rituals ... and that no one jeopardizes the safety of citizens or subjects them to something they do not want."
Government officials have warned youths against letting the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group and others exploit the protest for "hidden agendas."
The Brotherhood, a banned group, has kept a low profile in the demonstrations. A senior group member said the government was trying to find a scapegoat. Brotherhood members are regularly rounded up.
ElBaradei, 68, who has been campaigning for change since last year, said suggestions that Egypt's government was the only bulwark against Islamist extremism were "obviously bogus."
He told reporters at Cairo's airport he would take part in Friday's protests, but added: "I wish we did not have to go out on the streets to press the regime to act"."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/nyregion/28suspend.html
The number of New York City student suspensions more than doubled in the six years after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg took control of public schools and as the city moved toward a zero-tolerance approach toward misbehavior, according to a report released on Thursday.
The suspensions can be as short as one day and as long as one year, for reasons as diverse as starting a fire, engaging in fights, gambling and cursing.
Black students, who make up 30 percent of the schools’ enrollment, accounted for more than half of all suspensions every year
We are all supprting the Egyptians in their protests against their totalitarian regime.
Deep down, we are quite happy. We love revoltion. We love when the people riot to bring down oppression.
Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon...... bring it on!!!
(except that we really don't know who will take over.... will it be the Muslim Brotherhood?!?! But other than this side point, we secretly love revolution and riots.......)
Only Chareidim in Meah Shearim are terrible lowlives when they riot against their government.
Everyone else..... Kudos to you!
Part One: Haaretz: "Egypt kills all Internet activity as gov't attempts to stem protest tide
Published 10:05 28.01.11 | Latest update 10:05 28.01.11
Move by Cairo ruling party comes after Iran disrupted Internet service in 2009 to try to curb protests over disputed elections; in 2007 Burma's Internet was crippled by military leaders.
By The Associated Press
About a half-hour past midnight Friday morning in Egypt, the Internet went dead.
Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the Internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said.
Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: It unplugged itself entirely from the Internet to try and silence dissent.
Experts say it's unlikely that what's happened in Egypt could happen in the United States because the U.S. has numerous Internet providers and ways of connecting to the Internet. Coordinating a simultaneous shutdown would be a massive undertaking.
"It can't happen here," said Jim Cowie, the chief technology officer and a co-founder of Renesys, a network security firm in Manchester, New Hampshire, that studies Internet disruptions. "How many people would you have to call to shut down the U.S. Internet? Hundreds, thousands maybe? We have enough Internet here that we can have our own Internet. If you cut it off, that leads to a philosophical question: Who got cut off from the Internet, us or the rest of the world?"
In fact, there are few countries anywhere with all their central Internet connections in one place or so few places that they can be severed at the same time. But the idea of a single "kill switch" to turn the Internet on and off has seduced some American lawmakers, who have pushed for the power to shutter the Internet in a national emergency.
The Internet blackout in Egypt shows that a country with strong control over its Internet providers apparently can force all of them to pull their plugs at once, something that Cowie called "almost entirely unprecedented in Internet history."
The outage sets the stage for blowback from the international community and investors. It also sets a precedent for other countries grappling with paralyzing political protests - though censoring the Internet and tampering with traffic to quash protests is nothing new.
China has long restricted what its people can see online and received renewed scrutiny for the practice when Internet search leader Google Inc. proclaimed a year ago that it would stop censoring its search results in China.
In 2009, Iran disrupted Internet service to try to curb protests over disputed elections. And two years before that, Burma's Internet was crippled when military leaders apparently took the drastic step of physically disconnecting primary communications links in major cities, a tactic that was foiled by activists armed with cell phones and satellite links.
Computer experts say what sets Egypt's action apart is that the entire country was disconnected in an apparently coordinated effort, and that all manner of devices are affected, from mobile phones to laptops. It seems, though, that satellite phones would not be affected."
Part Two:
Haaretz: "Egypt kills all Internet activity as gov't attempts to stem protest tide
"Iran never took down any significant portion of their Internet connection - they knew their economy and the markets are dependent on Internet activity," Cowie said.
When countries are merely blocking certain sites - like Twitter or Facebook - where protesters are coordinating demonstrations, as apparently happened at first in Eqypt, protesters can use proxy computers to circumvent the government censors. The proxies "anonymize" traffic and bounce it to computers in other countries that send it along to the restricted sites.
But when there's no Internet at all, proxies can't work and online communication grinds to a halt.
Renesys' network sensors showed that Egypt's four primary Internet providers - Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat Misr - and all went dark at 12:34 a.m. Those companies shuttle all Internet traffic into and out of Egypt, though many people get their service through additional local providers with different names.
Italy-based Seabone said no Internet traffic was going into or out of Egypt after 12:30 a.m. local time.
"There's no way around this with a proxy," Cowie said. "There is literally no route. It's as if the entire country disappeared. You can tell I'm still kind of stunned."
The technical act of turning off the Internet can be fairly straightforward. It likely requires only a simple change to the instructions for the companies' networking equipment.
Craig Labovitz, chief scientist for Arbor Networks, a Chelmsford, Massachusetts, security company, said that in countries such as Egypt - with a centralized government and a relatively small number of fiber-optic cables and other ways for the Internet to get piped in - the companies that own the technologies are typically under strict licenses from the government.
"It's probably a phone call that goes out to half a dozen folks who enter a line on a router configuration file and hit return," Labovitz said. "It's like programming your TiVo - you have things that are set up and you delete one. It's not high-level programming."
Twitter confirmed Tuesday that its service was being blocked in Egypt, and Facebook reported problems.
"Iran went through the same pattern," Labovitz said. "Initially there was some level of filtering, and as things deteriorated, the plug was pulled. It looks like Egypt might be following a similar pattern."
The ease with which Egypt cut itself also means the country can control where the outages are targeted, experts said. So its military facilities, for example, can stay online while the Internet vanishes for everybody else.
Experts said it was too early to tell which, if any, facilities still have connections in Egypt.
Cowie said his firm is investigating clues that a small number of small networks might still be available.
Meanwhile, a program Renesys uses that displays the percentage of each country that is connected to the Internet was showing a figure that he was still struggling to believe. Zero."
January 28, 2011
Unconfirmed reports from Matzav/ Al Jazeera on Jan. 28 say the UOJ army and Aguda police forces are clashing in Brooklyn, Lakewood and Monsey. These reports have come after reports from Jewish-owned Aguda satellite Al-Mesira TV saying Aguda gedoiiilim police leadership extended the curfew from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time to the whole Jewish community. The Internet has also been shut down to anyone whose name is Cohen or any Jewish sounding names.
Computer World: "Egypt's 'Net blockage an 'Armageddon approach'
Cutting off all Internet access 'is on a different level entirely,' says Rensys CTO
By Jaikumar Vijayan
January 28, 2011 01:30 PM ET
Computerworld - The Internet blockade imposed by the Egyptian government in response to growing civilian unrest is unprecedented, both in its nature and scope, according to network monitoring firms.
Unlike other incidents where governments in Iran, Tunisia and elsewhere tried to control the flow of information by throttling specific Internet services and sites, the Egyptian government seems to have simply pulled the plug on all Internet services nationwide.
As of this morning, just a few dozen networks inside the country, including the Egyptian stock exchange, appeared to be up and running. Usually, between 3,000 and 3,500 are operating on a daily basis, according to Internet monitoring firm Renesys. It is still not entirely clear what these networks are or how they are still up and running given the total shutdown of Internet connectivity.
"This is on a different level entirely," said James Cowie, CTO at Renesys. "There's no cutting off the finger to save the patient here. This really is the Armageddon approach."
Countries such as Iran, Tunisia, Russia, China and Pakistan have offered recent examples of how governments can control information by shutting off access to specific services such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Google.
Most of these surgical approaches, however, have been vulnerable to countermeasures, Cowie said. So, for example, when a government blocked access to Twitter, citizens could still access the service by using a proxy server.
"But when you shut down the Internet, the proxy server becomes useless, because you can't get to it. It's very crude, it's a very blunt instrument, but it is extremely effective," Cowie said. "There's no alternative, unless you can build your own Internet."
The only other nation to have taken a similar approach was Burma, which in 2007 shut off all Internet connectivity in the midst of violent civilian protests.
But the situation in Egypt is vastly different because the country is much bigger, and is dependent on the Internet to a much greater extent than Burma, said Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor Networks, a network security firm that has been monitoring Internet traffic to and from Egypt."
Part One: The Washington Post: "U.S. warns against blocking social media, elevates Internet freedom policies
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Friday, January 28, 2011; 2:57 PM
The decision by Egyptian officials to virtually shut down Internet access to the country Friday marked an audacious escalation in the battle between authoritarian governments and tech-savvy protesters. It was also a direct challenge to the Obama administration's attempts to promote Internet freedom.
Internet access was cut off in Egypt shortly after midnight Friday, apparently after authorities ordered the country's five service providers to block it, according to experts. Cellphone service was also severely disrupted.
"The Egyptian government's actions ... have essentially wiped their country from the global map," James Cowie of Renesys, a New Hampshire-based company that monitors Internet data, said on the company's Web site .
The move came roughly a day after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had publicly urged Egypt not to close off access to the technology and social media that were being used to organize demonstrations. On Friday, the administration denounced Egypt's action - first by using Twitter.
"Govt must respect the rights of Egyptian people & turn on social networking and internet," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs warned in a tweet.
U.S. officials concede that Twitter does not a revolution make. But they believe that such platforms have accelerated the pace of protest movements, citing the rapid coalescence of the Tunisian demonstrations that toppled that country's longtime leader, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and the Egyptian demonstrations that erupted this week.
"From now on, any and all dissent movements will have technology as a core component," said Alec Ross, Clinton's senior adviser for innovation.
The Obama administration has elevated Internet freedom in U.S. diplomacy, and Clinton gave a major speech on the issue last year. The State Department is currently working on plans to spend $30 million on Internet freedom projects, including software that enables activists to break through firewalls imposed by oppressive governments.
The increased U.S. focus on Internet freedom, however, has gotten mixed reviews from bloggers and analysts.
Some warn that repressive governments will respond to the U.S. actions by intensifying their own technological assaults on bloggers and dissidents. Activists also worry that those receiving U.S. assistance could be tagged as Western puppets by oppressive governments.
"Having the U.S. and other Western governments as major actors in the Internet freedom field could present a real threat to activists who accept their support and funding," Sami Ben Gharbia, a prominent Tunisian Internet activist, wrote in an essay last fall.
Social media and hand-held communication devices are growing so quickly that U.S. officials are struggling to keep up with their political repercussions. In the past two years, the number of cellphones worldwide grew from about 4.1 billion to over 5 billion."
US Govt supports Judge and EFFs rejection of Hersh and Schechter attack on Internet
Part Two:
The Washington Post: U.S. warns against blocking social media, elevates Internet freedom policies
In Egypt this week, one self-described protest organizer in Cairo, 20-year-old university student Mohammed Hassan, described how he and like-minded friends broke up into cells of four or five that moved to different parts of the capital, and then used their mobile phones to communicate about the presence or lack of police.
"The sites for the demonstration weren't actually the ones announced on television," he said. "We wanted to make sure they didn't stop our protest before it even started."
Internet use in Egypt went from less than 1 percent to 21 percent of the population in the past decade, according to U.N. statistics. Usage is particularly high among the young, educated and urban residents who have formed the core of this week's anti-government protests. There are roughly 160,000 bloggers, who have been influential in raising once-taboo subjects like the military, according to a State Department cable published by WikiLeaks.
But, if activists are recognizing the power of the new technology to help them challenge the status quo, so are governments.
Cowie, the chief technology officer at Renesys, said the Egyptian shutdown was far more dramatic than the Tunisian government's recent attacks on Internet sites used to coordinate demonstrations, or the Iranian government's moves in 2009 to slow down Internet connectivity during protests.
The Tunisian government's actions, however, were also aggressive. According to the Atlantic magazine, Tunisian officials attempted to hack into Facebook and steal the passwords of every user in the country during the demonstrations. (About 19 percent of Tunisians use the Web site). Facebook made technical changes to frustrate the government's efforts.
As Ben Ali struggled to remain in power, Obama administration officials in Washington and the U.S. ambassador in Tunis met with Tunisian officials to complain about the attempts to prevent access to the Web sites with information about protests.
The State Department releases few details of its Internet freedom programs worldwide, saying it wants to protect those who use them. Clinton said last year that the United States was working in 40 countries to help Internet users censored by oppressive governments."
Part Three:
The Washington Post: U.S. warns against blocking social media, elevates Internet freedom policies
"This month, the State Department laid out plans to spend $30 million on such programs as training activists on how to avoid being censored or hacked, and providing Web-based technology to help people break through government firewalls. The money, appropriated by Congress in 2010, is a 600 percent increase from the previous year. The administration has also lifted restrictions on U.S. companies exporting instant-messaging and antifiltering software to countries such as Iran, Cuba and Sudan.
Rebecca MacKinnon, an Internet policy specialist at the New America Foundation, said many activists in places like the Middle East used anti-censorship programs provided by the U.S. government or U.S.-funded groups.
But at the same time, many bloggers worried that their governments could accuse them of being U.S. lackeys if they accept assistance, she said. Further complicating the situation: The American government has been especially eager to promote Internet freedom in countries with which it has tense relationships, notably Iran, MacKinnon said.
"Despite the fact Tunisia had one of the most sophisticated censorship and surveillance systems in the world, Tunisia was not appearing on the Internet freedom agenda. Why? Because Ben Ali has basically received U.S. tacit support," she said.
U.S. officials say they're not using the Internet freedom agenda to prompt regime change or focus on its enemies. Clinton criticized Tunisia and Egypt in her Internet speech last year, they note, and the U.S. government has run Internet freedom projects in both countries.
Still, U.S. lawmakers have made it clear that the Islamic Republic and China are priorities for the Internet freedom projects.
Ross acknowledged that U.S. officials had to be cautious that their aid didn't endanger bloggers and Internet activists in closed societies. And, he said, "human rights organizations, activist organizations, have to make choices about what is in their best interests." Of course, anti-filter technology is of no use if the government has blocked the entire Internet, as Egypt has attempted to do. But it is not clear such a shutdown can last long.
"What happens when you disconnect a modern economy and 80,000,000 people from the Internet?" Cowie wrote. "This has never happened before, and the unknowns are piling up."
Letoeles harabim
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/nyregion/29asylum.html?hpw=&pagewanted=print
Gays Seeking Asylum in U.S. Encounter a New Hurdle
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/01/multi-million_dollar_ponzi_scheme_rocks_orthodox_jewish_community.php
Part One:
I am writing this in the hope that this story will give us a perspective of what a sexually abused child in frum society faces.
If we have a clearer picture of how our children are being silenced by a policy created by the very top of the rabbinic echelons, then perhaps we can work towards change in helping our innocent and precious Jewish nashamos.
I am not going to provide any names, but if anyone wants to discuss this further, they can contact me at HavaNehama@aol.com. I will be willing to discuss details after asking a rav in each case.
Two years ago, I found out that a child in a local elementary school yeshiva in Brooklyn had a father who had molested his older children. He is well-known to the the DA's office in this connection.
I called the social worker at the yeshiva. I asked her if she could arrange for this child to get therapy.
The social worker told me that she had strict instructions from her employers NOT TO HELP this child because the school knew about this child's family, and didn't want to get involved in sexual abuse issues.
I went to speak to the head of this therapy organization, and he told me that what the social worker said was true.
He had instructed her not to help this child because this case was too "messy" and he didn't want to have to report it to the authorities.
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/01/multi-million_dollar_ponzi_scheme_rocks_orthodox_jewish_community.php
The Spetners are members of the local Agudah.
The Goulds were featured recently in the Kollel magazine. I have never heard anything negative about the Spetner family. The brother of this St. Louis Spetner is the Rosh Kollel in Cincinnati.
Although I don't know him personally, I have heard that Spetner's lawyer, Ner Israel Rabbinical College grad Mayer Klein, isn't such a mentsch. One of the people from whom I heard this is a non-Jewish lawyer who I know to have very high ethical standards. This attorney was adverse to Klein, and knew he was an orthodox Jew and as this individual knows me to be a man of integrity, this attorney was taken aback by Klein's lack of ethics given that he is identified with orthodox jewry. I also know of orthodox Jews who are not at all fond of Mr. Klein. Again, I don't know him, it's all hearsay, but I'm just sayin.....
http://caseofisraelweingarten.blogspot.com
Computer World
"News
Egypt reverses 'kill switch' to restore Internet access
Reconnects to Web by announcing border gateway protocol (BGP) routing info, say experts
By Gregg Keizer
February 2, 2011
Computerworld - Egypt returned to the Internet earlier today by reversing the "kill switch" move it made last week when it withdrew router announcements, experts said.
To restore the country's connections, Egyptian Internet service providers (ISPs) re-configured their core routers so that they once again announced their presence, letting upstream providers and other networks reestablish data pathways.
"It was pretty much similar, except reversed, to what happened last week," said Andree Toonk, the founder and lead developer of BGPmon, an open-source tool for monitoring BGP, or "border gateway protocol."
BGP is the protocol at the heart of the Internet's routing mechanism, and is used by routers to share information about the paths data traffic uses to "hop" from one network to another as it moves from a source to its destination.
The speed with which the networks reconnected was evidence that rather than physically plugging in cables, Egypt's ISPs simply began advertising their availability to other networks' routers using BGP, said Toonk.
"That, and the fact that it all happened at the same time shows the disconnect was probably not physical," said Toonk. Nor was the restoration today. "Everything was restored in about half an hour," he said.
According to Toonk's monitoring, the first BGP announcements for Egypt began at 9:30 a.m. UTC, or 11:30 a.m. local time. The start time Toonk cited was 4:30 a.m. ET and 1:30 a.m. PT in the U.S.
Internet monitoring company Renesys also pegged the reconnect time for the bulk of Egypt's networks at around 30 minutes.
Others said it took longer than that. "It wasn't quite as abrupt as last week," said Craig Labovitz, chief scientist at Arbor Networks in Chelmsford, Mass., today. "It took from a half hour to an hour."
The quick restoration of service also meant that the Egyptian government had likely ordered the digital blockage lifted, said Toonk, just as it forced ISPs to go offline last week.
Some ISPs and sites remained accessible outside Egypt during the five-day outage, said both Toonk and Labovitz, who were wary of assigning a reason for their survival when most of the country went dark. "There were a few percent of Egypt's ISPs, maybe four to five percent, that were left online," said Toonk. "Why they remained online, I don't know"."
As reported on Failed Messiah:
"Haredim Move To Ban Facebook
February 02, 2011
Facebook causes the "destruction of families," haredi activists claim.
Behadrei Haredim is reporting that there is a serious attempt afoot to ban Facebook.
Rafi G over at Life In Israel explains who is behind the ban and the rationale for it:
[T]he beis din has been presented with numerous situations of families that have been damaged greatly [because of Facebook]. The askan [activist] said that because Facebook has absolutely no use for business purposes or for parnassa [earning a living], therefore there is no hetter [permission] to use it. That along with the tremendous amount of time it causes people to waste [is the reason for the coming ban].
Rafi notes that Kikar HaShabbat spoke to Rabbi Mottka Blau, the head of the "Committee for the Holiness of Facebook." Blau is leading the initiative to get Facebook banned.
Blau listed these reasons for banning Facebook:
#It is a tragedy that from a young age the haredi community is makpid on separation of the genders. It is incomprehensible that mixing of the genders should be ok in social media.
#people are regularly transgressing issurim of lashon ha'ra and rechilus.
#tzniyus issues in regards to pictures and other things that are shared.
Rafi also notes that Blau says he will redefine the word haredi to include only people who don't have Facebook. He who is haredi does not have Facebook.
May God save us.
[Hat Tip: Undercover Kofer.]"
The Jerusalem Post:
"Pro-Mubarak rioters chase reporters in Cairo hotels
By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST.COM STAFF
02/03/11
Egyptian military arrests foreign media after attacks; State Department condemns "campaign to intimidate int'l journalists."
Supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are storming hotels in Cairo and chasing journalists, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, the Egyptian military began rounding up journalists, possibly for their own protection, after they came under attack from supporters of President Hosni Mubarak who have been attacking anti-government protesters.
RELATED:
'Pro-Mubarak demonstrators are targeting the press'
An Associated Press reporter saw a group of foreign journalists being detained by the military on a street near Tahrir Square, the scene of battles between supporters of Mubarak and protesters demanding he step down after nearly 30 years in power
Two New York Times journalists were reportedly taken into protective custody
Foreign photographers reported a string of attacks on them Thursday morning by Mubarak supporters near Tahrir Square. One Greek photographer was stabbed in the leg.
"There is a concerted campaign to intimidate international journalists in Cairo and interfere with their reporting," State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted on Thursday afternoon.
"We condemn such actions," Crowley added.
On Wednesday, four Israeli journalists were arrested by Egyptian military police in Cairo on Wednesday. They were released hours later. Three of those arrested work for Channel 2 and the fourth is from Nazareth.
Pro-governor protesters attacked reporters on Wednesday, including CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper and his news crew and Washington Post reporters.
On Sunday, Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of Al-Jazeera's offices covering the protests. A statement by Al-Jazeera called Egypt's decision an act "designed to stifle and repress" open reporting. On Monday, six Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested, and released later that day.
The US State Department condemned actions against journalists in Egypt on Wednesday.
State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted: "We are concerned about detentions and attacks on news media in Egypt. The civil society that Egypt wants to build includes a free press"."
The Jerusalem Post:
"'Pro-Mubarak demonstrators are targeting the press'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
02/02/2011
Swedish reporters are held by Egyptian Army, accused of being Mossad spies; 4 Israelis arrested; Anderson Cooper is beaten up.
Pro-government protesters and Egyptian military have attacked reporters from numerous media sources around the world during Wednesday's riots in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Two Swedish reporters were held for hours on Wednesday by Egyptian soldiers accusing them of being Mossad spies, the reporters' employer, daily newspaper Aftonbladet, reported.
RELATED:
Mubarak supporters suspected to be disguised soldiers
British PM: Egypt's gov't must accelerate political reforms
The soldiers reportedly attacked the reporters, spitting in their faces and threatening to kill them.
Four Israeli journalists were arrested by Egyptian military police in Cairo on Wednesday. Three of those arrested work for Channel 2 and the fourth is from Nazareth.
In addition, renowned CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper and his news crew were roughed up by mobs favoring Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, as were Washington Post reporters. Cooper was reportedly punched in the head ten times.
Another CNN correspondent said that pro-government rioters were instructed to target the press.
The US State Department condemned actions against journalists in Egypt on Wednesday.
State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted: "We are concerned about detentions and attacks on news media in Egypt. The civil society that Egypt wants to build includes a free press."
On Sunday, Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of Al-Jazeera's offices covering the protests. A statement by Al-Jazeera called Egypt's decision an act "designed to stifle and repress" open reporting. On Monday, six Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested, and released later that day."
The Huffington Post.
"Anderson Cooper In Egypt: 'I'm A Little Bit Scared' (VIDEO)
February 4, 2011
After two straight days of being attacked on the streets of Cairo, Anderson Cooper brought viewers his Thursday show from an undisclosed, dimly lit room, saying that he was "a little bit scared" for his safety.
Cooper was punched repeatedly and attacked for minutes by a mob of supporters of President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday. On Thursday, another group of pro-government forces smashed a rock through his car window while he and his crew were in it. Cooper had been reporting from the Cairo streets, but by Thursday night he had gone to ground.
"I can't tell you where we are, frankly for our own safety," Cooper said. "Systematically, we have seen journalists attacked...we would like to be showing you instead of...this strange image of us sitting on the floor of an undisclosed location in dim lighting, we would like to be showing you pictures, live pictures, of what's happening in Liberation Square right now, but we can't do that because our cameras have systematically been taken down through threats, through intimidation, through actual physical attacks."
He continued, "I don't mind telling you I am a little bit scared, because we frankly don't really know what the next few hours will hold. And I think there's a lot of people who are scared tonight in Egypt."
WATCH:
"I'm Scared" Anderson Cooper From Undisclosed Location In Egypt [14 minute YouTube video]"
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