Researchers Expose Industrial Infrastructure Sabotage Risk

Luddite hackers of the world unite!

[ eds. note. The following article by Sean Michael Kerner was written for a pro-tech outlet, but never-the-less, it offers the would-be industrial infrastructure hacker-saboteur some useful inspiration.]

Security weaknesses in industrial control systems could allow hackers to create cataclysmic failures in infrastructure, according to researchers at the Black Hat security conference

Industrial control infrastructure that is used to monitor and manage devices and sensors can be remotely exploited, potentially leading to a cataclysmic failure, according to at least two sets of researchers speaking at the Black Hat security conference last week.

Researchers from security firm IOActive detailed their findings in a session provocatively titled “Compromising Industrial Facilities From 40 Miles Away”. The industrial automation and control systems (IACS) that IOActive researched use wireless sensors to collect data, explained Lucas Apa, security researcher and consultant at IOActive.   

US Border Patrol Violates O’odham Rights

by Ofelia Rivas / O’odham VOICE against the WALL

The O’odham are Indigenous people, members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, a federally-recognized Indian reservation in Pima and Maricopa County of Southwestern Arizona, having continually since time immemorial conducted and practiced the Him’dag, the O’odham Way of Life, hereby declare that the United States Government Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol Forces with malicious intent and with armed aggression have:
 
1. Violated O’odham Rights to Life;
 
by continuous monitoring and surveillance in communities on the entirety of O’odham lands, restricting free movement within communities and entire lands, armed abuse and violent attacks on O’odham members, and driving through yards and fenced-in areas at high speeds endangering lives of O’odham.   

Great Lakes Saved from Nuke Waste Shipments

by Emma Lui / Intercontinental Cry

Communities and organizations around the Great Lakes received heartening news over the weekend. A plan to ship radioactive waste across the Lakes was officially cancelled after years of community opposition.

Swedish company Studsvik announced that the plan was annulled in its interim report for the first half of 2013.  

Funeral March to Bury Big Oil

from the Center for Biological Diversity

a

On July 25, 2013, the Center for Biological Diversity and LoveBomb Go-Go Marching Band hosted a street parade protest to bury big oil in Portland, Oregon. 

Find out more at NoKeystone.org

Twenty-seven Years of Pipeline Spills: What’s Not to Love

from Center for Biological Diversity

G

As the U.S. Senate considers another Keystone vote, a new study released today reveals a deeply troubling history of pipeline accidents in the United States. An independent analysis of federal records has found that since 1986, oil and gas pipeline leaks, spills and other incidents have resulted in nearly $7 billion in damages, more than 2,000 injuries, and more than 500 deaths.

A new time-lapse video documents every “significant pipeline” incident in the continental United States — along with their human and financial costs — from 1986 to 2012. On average one significant pipeline incident occurs in the country every 30 hours, according to the data.    

Caught on Tape: One of World’s Rarest Orchids — Watch Video

from the Center for Biological Diversity

Photo by Ron Coleman

Coleman’s coralroot is a stunning purple orchid that exists in only a few mountain ranges in the Southwest. Fewer than 200 are known to exist in the wild, and they remain a mystery: Biologists don’t even know how the flowers are pollinated, largely because there are so few individuals — and because the elusive plants spend most of their lives underground.

It’s extremely rare to actually see these orchids in the wild. Recently, though, Center for Biological Diversity staff wandered the desert and found two specimens in full bloom; we captured them on video so that you, too, can see this beautiful hermit of the desert in all its glory.

Check out the video of the Coleman’s coralroot below; then read about the Center’s work to protect this orchid and other rare plants and animals in the Southwest’s breathtaking Sky Islands region, where many special species and wild places are threatened by an open-pit mine planned for the Santa Rita Mountains.

Donate Your Car to Earth First!

from Earth First! News

Got an old jalopy in your driveway collecting rust or simply have one too many gas guzzling SUVs? Avoid the hassles associated with selling your old car and donate it to Earth First! today. While other charities promise to give you fair market value for you car, Earth First! will promise to put it to good use in the eco-wars. Your vehicle donation will make a much needed difference in the fight against industrial civilization and its most toxic, earth brutalizing practices. From fracking and tar sands, to clear cuts and environmental racism, Earth First! will help you figure out a way to put your car right in the way of the corporations that are poisoning the air, water and land around the country.

Check out the photos and testimonials below to learn more. Your vehicle donation is central to supporting the resistance.

Hundreds Protest Nickel Mine In Russia, Previous Clashes Resulted in Torched Equipment

from the Moscow Times

VORONEZH — Hundreds of people gathered in a small town in Voronezh region on Sunday for a new protest in their year-long campaign against plans to open a nickel and copper mine in the area, police officials said.

The demonstration was organized by the local anti-mine movement and residents of Novokhopersk who called for halting the mining project. The rally organizers said that about 3,000 people took part in the demonstration, including those from neighboring provinces, while the police put the number at 900.

It is the first mass gathering of the campaigners after the 13-month standoff exploded last month with a crowd of several hundred storming the premises of a geological exploration party and torching cars, construction trailers and drilling rigs.

The miner, privately owned Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), has denied that its mine would harm the environment.

Myanmar Activist Jailed 10 years For Anti-Mine Protest

from Radio Free Asia

Security forces move in to stop protesters plowing fields near the copper mine at Letpadaung Mountain in northern Burma’s Sagaing division on April 25, 2013.

A court in central Myanmar has sentenced an activist to a decade in prison for “threatening national security” after he led a protest against a controversial China-backed copper mine which led to clashes with authorities, according to a fellow campaigner.

Judge Kaythi Hlaing of the Shwebo city court handed Aung Soe, an activist with Myanmar’s People’s Support Network, the 10-year sentence on Monday after convicting him on eight charges linked to the violence on April 25, Moe Moe, also of the activist’s group, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.   

Eco-Terrorism or Diversionary Tactics at Harvest Camp?

by Mary Annette Pember / Indian Country Today

Image from Facebook

Residents of the LCO Harvest and Education Camp in the Penkoee Hills report that three of the Ojibwe Nation band flags posted at the entrance to the camp were torn down and stolen around 4 a.m. July 5 by unknown people in four-wheel-drive vehicles. The flags represented the Bad River, Red Cliff and LCO bands of Wisconsin Ojibwe, groups that publicly support the Camp’s mission of drawing attention to the negative impact of mining in the area. Camp residents are requesting that all Indian Nations send flags to be posted at the entrance of the camp as gestures of support. (The address is Lac Courte Oreilles Harvest Camp c/o 8558N County Rd. Hayward, Wisconsin 54843.)