Hackers Attack Thai Police Websites to Protest British Murder Verdicts

Hackers attacked Thai police websites on Tuesday in protest against the trial of two Myanmar migrant workers sentenced to death last month for the murders of two British tourists.

The international hacking group Anonymous said on its Facebook page that 14 Thai police websites had been attacked. Of those it listed, nine were inaccessible on Tuesday.

Police on Tuesday confirmed the attack on its websites but said there was no confidential data on the public websites.

"They're not good enough to hack into our system and steal any of our data," police spokesman Dechnarong Suthicharnbancha said.

In a 37-minute video posted on the Anonymous Facebook page on Sunday, a masked person questioned the competency of the Thai police force and its handling of this and other cases.

On December 24, a Thai court found Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 22, guilty of killing Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern Thai holiday island of Koh Tao in 2014.

The investigation into the killings drew allegations of police incompetence, torture and mishandling of evidence. A judge dismissed the allegations of torture, saying there was no evidence it took place.

The verdicts sparked anger in Myanmar where hundreds held protests outside the Thai Embassy in the commercial capital of Yangon, calling for the two to be released.

The words "Failed Law", "We Want Justice", and a hashtag #BoycottThailand were displayed on some of the hacked sites, along with the name of Myanmar-based "Blink Hacker Group".

Reuters was unable to verify who carried out the attack on the police websites.

© Thomson Reuters 2016

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Petitions Seek Pardon for Murder Convicts Featured in Netflix Series

Nearly 200,000 people have signed petitions seeking a presidential pardon for two men featured in a murder mystery documentary on Netflix.

One of the petitions, on the White House website, had gathered more than 20,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

One of the men featured in "Making a Murderer", Steven Avery, was freed from prison in 2003 after serving 18 years for rape. He was exonerated through DNA evidence.

But while he was suing Manitowoc County in Wisconsin over that wrongful imprisonment, he was arrested over the death in 2005 of a 25-year-old photographer named Teresa Halbach.

Avery was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. He insists he is innocent.

His nephew Brendan Dassey, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to life in prison with parole possible starting in 2048.

"Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series 'Making a Murderer,' the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives," reads the appeal in the open petition section of the White House website.

It said there is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriff's department used "improper methods" to convict Avery and Dassey.

If 100,000 people sign that petition by January 19 the White House is required to respond to it.

The petition was opened up on December 20, two days after the streaming launch of the highly popular 10-episode Netflix series.

Other petitions seeking a pardon for the two men are featured on the web site www.change.org.

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Sure, why not? FBI agrees to unlock iPhone for Arkansas prosecutor

The FBI, which just a few days ago was attempting to convince the country of its helplessness in the face of encrypted iPhones, has generously offered its assistance in unlocking an iPhone and iPod for a prosecutor in Arkansas, the Associated Press reports.

TechCrunch has contacted the prosecutor's office for details, which for the moment are thin on the ground — but the timing seems unlikely to be a coincidence. It was only Monday that the FBI announced it had successfully accessed a phone after saying for months that it couldn't possibly do so — and that Apple was endangering national security by refusing to help.

The case is the alleged murder of a couple by two teenagers, and the prosecution on Tuesday received a postponement to the trial in order to request help in unlocking the iPhone and iPod — something the lawyers didn't even know was possible until Monday. Amazingly, the FBI agreed to help the very next day, Faulkner County Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland told the AP. Court documents indicate that a "letter to Snapchat," 10 pages of emails, and over 100 pages of "Facebook records" were being entered into evidence, so the defendant's digital footprint isn't exactly a total blank.

If the unlocking process being used by the FBI is so trivial that it can be offered on short notice to anybody asking nicely, that deeply contradicts the narrative the Justice Department has been building regarding the limitations of law enforcement in accessing encrypted phones.

Again, the specific details of the devices (model, OS version, etc.) are unknown, as is the exact nature of the FBI's offered assistance. Until the court, prosecutor's office, or defender files or volunteers further information (and we'll be asking), this is fairly up in the air.

Featured Image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

US Court Rules Selfie Monkey Can't Own Photo Copyright

A US judge has ruled that a macaque monkey who snapped grinning selfies that went viral last year online does not own the copyright to the photographs.

Activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals brought the case in San Francisco on behalf of Indonesian simian Naruto, who shot to fame last year after a photographer published pictures taken by the monkey with his camera.

Peta petitioned the court to have the macaque "declared the author and owner of his photograph."

But in a preliminary ruling Wednesday, Judge William Orrick said that "while Congress and the President can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act."

The photos were taken in 2011 on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. He later published a book of his photographs, which included two selfies taken by six-year-old Naruto.

The San Francisco-based company that published the book - Blurb - was named as a co-defendant in the case.

In filing the lawsuit, Peta had argued that "US copyright law doesn't prohibit an animal from owning a copyright, and since Naruto took the photo, he owns the copyright, as any human would."

Slater insists he owns the rights since he set up the tripod and walked away for a few minutes only to find out that the monkey had grabbed his camera and snapped away.

When the copyright controversy erupted, he said that the widespread distribution of the photos on the Internet had cost him a lot of money by robbing his book of potential sales.

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Karbonn Titanium S205 2GB, Titanium Moghul Budget Smartphones Launched

Karbonn has launched two new budget Android smartphones, the Titanium Moghul and Titanium S205 2GB, priced at Rs. 5,790 and Rs. 6,790 respectively. Both the new Karbonn handsets are now available via retailers in India. Notably, the Titanium S205 2GB was initially announced back in October but will be going on sale only now.

The Karbonn Titanium Moghul (seen above) runs the now dated Android 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box. On the other hand, the Karbonn Titanium S205 2GB runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

(Also see: Karbonn Titanium Moghul vs. Karbonn Titanium S205 2GB)

The Titanium Moghul comes with a 5-inch qHD (540x960 pixels) IPS display with Dragontrail glass for scratch protection. It is a dual-SIM device and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The handset will feature 8GB of inbuilt storage and will come with expandable storage of up to 32GB via microSD card. The Titanium Moghul sports an 8-megapixel rear autofocus camera with LED flash and also houses a 3.2-megapixel front camera. It is backed by a 2000mAh battery and supports 3G connectivity.

The Karbonn Titanium S205 2GB (seen above), on the other hand, features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display with Dragontrail glass. It also features dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) functionality.

Other innards of the handset include a 1.2GHz quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB inbuilt storage with expandable storage support up to 32GB (via microSD card).

Much like the Titanium Moghul, the Karbonn Titanium S205 2GB also sports an 8-megapixel rear and 3.2-megapixel front cameras. There is an LED flash at the back as well. The Titanium S205 2GB packs a 2200mAh battery and supports 3G connectivity.

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Australia's First Fire-Fighting Robot Unveiled

A fire-fighting robot that can sweep away obstacles and clear smoke from burning buildings is the latest weapon being used to fight fires in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state.

NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliot and Fire and Rescue Commissioner Greg Mullins unveiled the country's first remote-controlled firefighting robot, the Turbine Aided Firefighting machine (TAF 20) on Thursday, ABC reported.

The TAF 20 has bulldozer blades capable of moving cars out of the way and a high-powered fan to blow away smoke.

It can also spray water mist or foam from 60 metres and blast water for 90 metres.

The robot will be based at Alexandria in inner Sydney and can be quickly deployed by road or air to where it is needed, Commissioner Mullins said.

"It can be remotely operated up to 500 metres away and sent into situations where it is too dangerous for firefighters, which is a huge advantage as the safety of firefighters is my highest priority," he said.

The robot costs 310,000 Australian dollars (about $226,248 or roughly Rs. 1.5 crores) and was made and imported from Germany.

There is already one in use in Germany and one in Mexico.

It was put to the test last week at a Botany factory fire in Sydney, where Elliot said it proved its effectiveness.

"It will be of great use for our firefighters in battling other large and complex fires, including bushfires," Elliot added.

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Apple CEO Defends Smart Battery Case 'Hump'; Says You Shouldn't Use It Everyday

Apple CEO Tim Cook has defended the "hump" in its recently launched Smart Battery Case. He said that the much-derided hump in the company's new accessory is there because users aren't expected to be using it everyday.

Apple launched the Smart Battery Case earlier this week. The battery pack, which doubles as a smartphone case, comes with a peculiar hump at the back which isn't pleasing many. Responding to the criticism, Cook gave his take on the design, adding that users shouldn't be using the case so often - but only in situations where extended battery life is required, like hiking.

"You know, I probably wouldn't call it 'the hump,'" he told Mashable in an interview. "If you're charging your phone every day, you probably don't need this at all. But if you're out hiking and you go on overnight trips... it's kind of nice to have."

Cook, who said he was aware of people's comments on the design of the Smart Case Battery, also touted the design efforts the company has put in making the accessory. "One of the real insights here is, have you ever used other cases and tried to get them on?" Cook asked the interviewer. "In order to get it on, you'd find it very difficult to get it on and off. So the guys had this great insight to put the bend in along with making it a smart case," Cook explained.

The iPhone Smart Battery Case is the first product of its kind to be released by the company. It is priced at $99 (roughly Rs. 6,600). Several commentators and users alike have used the opportunity to point out design flaws in several other recent products, and question if the company has lost its ability to make beautiful products.

The Magic Mouse 2, which the company launched earlier this year, has its charging port at the bottom side, making it impossible to use when the device is charging. Some people have also mocked Apple for the way the Apple Pencil needs to be plugged into the iPad Pro for charging.

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