POLICE TO CRUISE STREETS FOR UNSECURED WI-FI

Marissa Calligeros March 23, 2012

The Queensland Police fraud squad will be the first in Australia to go on "wardriving" missions to help residents protect their wireless internet networks.
The State Crime Operations Command's Fraud and Corporate Crime Group first touted the wardriving project in 2009, in which police will detect unsecured wireless networks in homes and businesses that are prime targets for cyber criminals.
The project was officially launched yesterday to coincide with National Consumer Fraud Week.
Officers in the Hi Tech Crime Investigation Unit on wardriving missions will drive the streets of Brisbane with a laptop computer, looking for unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
Residents and businesses owners in targeted areas will then be mailed information about how to effectively secure their connection.
Police will return to the area some time later to check whether residents have taken heed of the warning.
Security expert Paul Ducklin, of Sophos, said he liked the idea.
"It's fun, low cost, low impact, and will help to raise awareness of just how public unencrypted Wi-Fi really is," he said.
"For the cops to take the time to give you a low-key personal security hint which might save you some cyberagony in the future - what's not to like about it?"
Detective Inspector Bruce van der Graaf, head of the NSW Police Computer Crimes Unit, has previously said he was watching the Queensland Police operation with interest.
"Apart from notifying people that their wireless is unsecure I don't know what else would be achieved by it but if their trial is fruitful we'd always participate in something that works," he said in 2009.
To critics of the operation, who may believe police could better spend their time seeking out drug dealers and outlaw bikies, Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said the issue was just as important as any other.
"We have known of people whose Wi-Fi has been hacked and used to commit data theft, stalking and other serious crimes such as downloading child exploitation material," he said.
"I would think it's very important to save mum and dad or grandma and grandpa from becoming suspects in a serious crime or possibly losing their life savings, having their identity stolen or losing the kids' inheritance."
Superintendent Hay said police would not drive every street of the city, but rather target selected areas from time to time.
"This is mainly about raising awareness of the issue," he said.
"Unprotected or unsecured wireless networks are easy to infiltrate and hack.
"Criminals can then either take over the connection and commit fraud online or steal the personal details of the owner. This is definitely the next step in identity fraud."
Superintendent Hay said Wi-Fi users without a secure network "may as well put their bank account details, password and personal details on a billboard on the side of the highway".
His greatest concern is "open" wireless connections, otherwise referred to as access points.
"An open or unprotected connection or point allows anyone to use your internet, monitor your activity or steal your identity information," he said.
Also of great concern is Wired Equivalent Privacy encryption, an older form of security which offers limited protection, Superintendent Hay said.
"Having WEP encryption is like using a close screen door as your sole means of security at home," he said.
He recommended using WiFi Protected Access 2 as an adequate means of protection.
"We are encouraging the public not to sit back and wait ... check your connection and make sure it's protected tonight," he said.
- With Ben Grubb

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/security/police-to-cruise-streets-for-unsecured-wifi-20120322-1vmof.html

BILLIONS SPENT BUT ABORIGINIES LITTLE BETTER OFF, SAYS REPORT

Phillip Coorey August 8, 2011

THE circumstances of most indigenous Australians are hardly any better today than they were 40 years ago, despite governments having spent tens of billions of dollars, a scathing internal report to federal cabinet says.

The Strategic Review of Indigenous Expenditure, prepared by the federal Department of Finance, finds that despite efforts by successive Commonwealth, state and territory governments, progress against Aboriginal disadvantage has been ''mixed at best''. Outcomes have varied between ''disappointing'' and ''appalling''.

The federal government spends $3.5 billion a year on indigenous programs but the report finds this ''major investment, maintained over many years, has yielded dismally poor returns''. The report was submitted in February 2010 when Kevin Rudd was prime minister.

Its contents were publicised last night by Channel Seven after the network fought a long freedom-of-information battle.

The document offers no joy for either main party and contains criticism of the Northern Territory intervention, started by the Howard government, and the Closing the Gap strategy of Labor.

''The history of Commonwealth policy for indigenous Australians over the past 40 years is largely a story of good intentions, flawed policies, unrealistic assumptions, poor implementation, unintended consequences and dashed hopes,'' it says.

''Strong policy commitments and large investments of government funding have too often produced outcomes which have been disappointing at best and appalling at worst. Individual success stories notwithstanding, the circumstances and prospects on many indigenous Australians are little better in 2010, relative to other Australians, than those which faced their counterparts in 1970.''

It says co-ordination between levels of government and agencies is poor, money is still being wasted and greater rigour is needed when assessing programs, especially the intervention, which Labor has continued.

The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, said the review was commissioned because the government wanted to improve the lives of indigenous Australians. ''Before the significant reform and investment agenda put in place by the government, services and infrastructure for indigenous Australians had faced decades of under-investment and neglect.''

The shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, said governments of both persuasions had not applied the same rigour to indigenous programs as other areas but said it was worse under the current one.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/national/billions-spent-but-aborigines-little-better-off-says-report-20110807-1ihqq.html

ISRAELI DRUG SMUGGLERS HIT AUSTRALIA

ISRAELI drug lords are increasingly targeting Australia for ecstasy smuggling, according to confidential Israel Police intelligence that shows crime syndicates view it as a booming market for the party drug.

Israeli crime syndicates control a significant share of the global ecstasy trade and have a long history of supplying the Australian market.

In March, 47-year-old Israeli man Benjamin Rosenfeld was sentenced in Sydney to 21 years' jail for importing 112 kilograms of MDMA powder, the main ingredient in ecstasy.

The shipment, valued at about $45 million, was organised from the northern Israeli port of Haifa.

According to Israel Police, Israeli crime gangs are smuggling large quantities of ecstasy from production houses in the Netherlands, then into Belgium and Spain. From there the route can be traced through the Middle East to Thailand or Singapore, then to Australia.

"We are well aware that members of the organised families here have established connections in Australia and view it as a lucrative and growing market that they are looking to exploit," a senior member of Israel's Coastal Police central unit told the Herald.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the police source said that Israel Police believed organised crime gangs using couriers who carried smaller parcels of drugs.

"This has been the pattern, especially because South-East Asia and Australia are such popular destinations for Israeli backpackers when they finish military service. They are young people, so this makes it easier for criminals to try to persuade them to carry drugs."

A Thai court sentenced two Israelis to death in November after convicting them of drug smuggling. The two men were arrested as part of a major drug operation and were caught with 23,000 ecstasy pills,which had been smuggled from Europe and were destined for sale in Australia.

The US State Department identified Israel as being at the centre of the global ecstasy trade in a 2003 report and said Israeli crime organisations had obtained control of the European ecstasy market.

"Organised crime is getting stronger in Israel, not weaker. Until we get more resources here to fight the criminals … their smuggling operations will continue to get stronger," the police source said.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, convened a special session of Parliament this week to develop a plan to combat the organised crime crisis. This followed the assassination on Monday of a senior mob figure connected to the Abutbul crime family. Another crime boss, Yaakov Alperon, 54, the head of the Alperon syndicate, was killed in a car bombing in Tel Aviv last month.

Figures presented to an inter-ministerial commission set up by the Israeli Justice Ministry showed that the country's five organised crime families turnover about $4.6 billion a year from criminal activity.

Israeli authorities pledged to devote greater resources to fighting organised crime. An Israel Police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said they were starting to make progress in a crackdown on drug smuggling.

"In recent weeks Israel Police have carried out several [successful] major operations," Mr Rosenfeld said.

This included the bust-up of an international cocaine ring, which led to the seizure of more than 1½ tonnes of cocaine being shipped from Peru.

However, Mr Rosenfeld disputed that Israelis had a major share of the world ecstasy market.

"Yes, there are Israeli cells operating, but our view is that it is a fairly low profile," he said.
December 13, 2008
Sydney Morning Heraldhttp://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/12/1228585118884.html

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'MESSIAH-LIKE FIGURE' IS DOING OWN HARVESTING

January 15, 2011 - 3:00AM

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HE targets the most vulnerable - people fighting custody disputes and bankruptcy proceedings - as well as Aboriginal communities pushing land rights claims.

David Wynn Miller, an American, rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars in just a few weeks teaching his ''truth language'' or ''syntax language'' at seminars across Australia.

He has disrupted several court cases in NSW, including one recently in Lismore in which a man was about to go on trial in the NSW District Court on serious child sexual assault charges.

While a jury waited to be empanelled in November, the accused, John Jarrett, repeatedly told the court, on Miller's advice, that the indictment was ''not written in the correct sentence structure communication syntax language'' and thus the case should be struck out.

Lawyers from the Aboriginal Legal Service stepped in but several hours later Jarrett was ordered to undergo psychiatric testing. The trial is yet to proceed.

The 30-odd ''law students'' with Miller in the public gallery - all of whom had been at his six-day, $1400 course on the Gold Coast - hailed it a victory. Lawyers present, including the barrister Jarrett had sacked, were stunned.

''The impression I got is [Miller is] doing it all the time … he's creating a great following,'' the barrister, Sam Di Carlo, says. ''This guy should be reported.''

Miller, 62, a retired tool and die welder, is based in Milwaukee and claims to have invented his own language in 1988, based on mathematics and maritime law. He calls the English language a ''fiction''. He writes in capital letters, with an abundance of punctuation, and calls himself the ''king of Hawaii''.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Jared Lee Loughner, the man charged after last weekend's shootings in Tucson, Arizona, was believed to have been inspired by Miller's teachings because of a recent series of YouTube rants he filmed about governments using grammar to control the population. Miller says this is ''ridiculous''.

Authorities have been dealing with Miller's courtroom antics in Canada and the US for more than a decade but he has more recently set his sights on Australia and New Zealand.

In 2001, the Miami Herald reported that Miller had been banned from entering Canada for two years after several cases in which judges had jailed people for contempt of court after they had attempted to use his ''truth language'' to defend tax evasion charges.

Last July and August he toured 10 Australian cities and regional centres including Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth and Brisbane.

He barged into a Family Court matter in Sydney last year in which a couple were fighting the Department of Community Services for custody of several of their children, and attempted to file 40 pages of gobbledegook.

The couple had spent more than $2000 to fly their barrister from Brisbane to Sydney for a session with Miller. ''They were convinced that Wynn Miller had all the magic solutions,'' said the barrister, who did not want to be named. ''[Miller's teaching] was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.''

When DOCS returned the children to the parents two weeks later, Miller's followers lauded him.

The NSW Land and Environment Court last April endured almost two hours of Miller's ravings on grammar and maritime law.

''I'll give you a little secret,'' he told Justice Malcolm Craig. ''Every word that starts in the English language with a vowel, a, e, i, o and u, and followed by two consonants is a word that means no contract … All paper is a vessel in sea of space …''

Miller was representing an engineer, Masood Falamaki, whose long property battle with Wollongong City Council has left him bankrupt.

In December 2009, Miller unsuccessfully applied to the Federal Magistrates Court to appear as an expert witness on ''syntax fraud'' for Falamaki.

The Federal Magistrate Michael Lloyd-Jones dismissed Miller and his supporters as a ''linguistic cult''.

Falamaki is reported to have paid Miller $5000 and says ''people like David Wynn Miller are challenging the judiciary'.

No other people are brave enough to do that.''

Gary Jackson, 52, says the Gold Coast seminar he attended was ''probably the best money I've ever spent''. He says the class of about 40 consisted of people who had travelled from Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and North Queensland, including about six who had lost their houses.

Jackson, who turned to Miller after his house was repossessed last year, says Miller is helping him prepare a breach of contract case in the Queensland Supreme Court using ''syntax language''.

''I would back David Wynn Miller any day rather than one of those snaky solicitors,'' he said.

There are concerns, however, within the Aboriginal community about Miller's influence.

''He's trying to suck us into this quantum language stuff as well because he's going around the place and representing people in court,'' says the veteran Aboriginal rights campaigner Michael Eckford.

One activist, Mark McMurtrie, is listed on court documents as also representing Falamaki.

McMurtrie told the Herald: ''I am neither a student nor supporter of [Miller's] language and law. As a sovereign tribal man of this continent I view his ramblings as relevant to my people.''

Colleen Lloyd, an American who was a partner of Miller's for five years, told the Herald she came under his spell ''during a vulnerable time when I was suffering mercury poisoning and extreme poverty''.

She says people followed him like a ''messiah-like figure''.

Miller's response to several questions via email was mostly incomprehensible. When asked about his Brisbane course next month, which costs $1800 for six days, he wrote (in capital letters): ''When people ask questions on the 'deed of trust' as the trustee and cross-subject-questions, I give them the operational-answers that may help for them to do their own 'learning-search'.

When asked if he had ever been refused a visa to Australia, he wrote: ''No, I hold casino cards and gamble all over the country.'' Regarding the Aboriginal community, he said he was helping ''originees'' to claim back land.

The flyer for the Brisbane course says: ''If you learn how to syntax your contracts you will learn self security. Protect yourself from being harvested.''

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/world/messiahlike-figure-is-doing-own-harvesting-20110114-19r9v.html