Yahoo Doesn't Fear Identity Theft In Its Plan To Release Inactive User IDs To Public

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AppId is over the quota

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc on Wednesday downplayed concerns that its plans to recycle inactive user IDs could leave users exposed to hackers, saying only 7 percent of those IDs are tied to actual Yahoo email accounts.

The Internet company, which announced last week it would release user IDs that have been inactive for more than 12 months so that other people can claim them, was pressed to defend the plan after critics warned that hackers who take control of inactive accounts could also assume the identities of the accounts' previous owners.

Yahoo hopes the plan will spark fresh interest in its Web products like Mail, where users prefer individualized user IDs often derived from common names. But criticism of the plan comes at a time when fears over the security of personal information on the Internet have been heightened by revelations of massive U.S. government snooping and international online crime.

Yahoo stressed that it has put in place various safeguards, such as coordinating with other major Web companies including Google Inc and Amazon Inc to minimize the risk of identity theft.

The possibility of identity theft is "something we are aware of and we've gone through a bunch of different steps to mitigate that concern," said Dylan Casey, a senior director for consumer platforms. "We put a lot of thought, a lot of resources dedicated to this project."

Critics say hackers could claim inactive accounts for identity theft. If a Yahoo email is associated with a Google account, for instance, an identity thief with access to the Yahoo email account could use it to reset the Google account password and assume control.

Mat Honan, a Wired magazine writer who has previously written about being the victim of a devastating hacker attack, on Wednesday slammed Yahoo's plan as a "spectacularly bad idea."

"This is going to lead to a social engineering gold rush come mid-July," Honan wrote, referring to hacker tactic of obtaining passwords by deceiving people rather than cracking codes.

But Casey said that the vast majority of inactive accounts were more limited, used for services such as Yahoo's Fantasy Sports that are not tied to an email address and therefore not susceptible to identity theft.

Yahoo will also unsubscribe its inactive email accounts from mailing lists so that their new owners will not receive unwanted mail, Casey said.

"Can I tell you with 100 percent certainty that it's absolutely impossible for anything to happen? No. But we're going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that nothing bad happens to our users," Casey said.

Since the company announced its plans on June 12, users have 30 days to claim their inactive accounts before they are released, Yahoo said.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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Leah Remini May Fear Release Of Confidential Scientology Files As Retaliation For Defection

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AppId is over the quota

Actress Leah Remini publicly left the Church of Scientology last month, but the drama is far from over.

It's been speculated that Remini might fear retaliation, and is wary that 37 years' worth of confidential files and tape recordings with the church could be released in the wake of her exit, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Karen de la Carriere, a former top Scientology executive, told THR there is likely countless information from the thousands of auditing sessions the actress underwent throughout her time with the church. She claims ex-Scientologists who sever ties with the church worry that secret information from "confessional folders" could be leaked and used against them.

But Remini isn't one to bow her head and take it. The "King of Queens" actress plans to release a tell-all book about her time as Scientologist, she revealed to Us Weekly last weekend.

"It will include my experiences, everything that's taboo to talk about," she said.

The TV star and "The Talk" co-host announced her split from the Church of Scientology after "years of interrogations." She was subjected to such probing because she reportedly questioned leader David Miscavige, the church's more disturbing practices and the disappearance of Miscavige's wife, Shelly.

While her family has stood by her side, others celebrity Scientologists have allegedly been ordered to disconnect from the 43-year-old. Still, she remains staunch in her reasoning.

"I believe that people should be able to question things," Remini told People magazine last weekend. "I believe that people should value family, and value friendships, and hold those things sacrosanct. That for me, that's what I'm about. It wouldn't matter what it was, simply because no one is going to tell me how I need to think, no one is going to tell me who I can, and cannot, talk to."

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Israel Cabinet to vote on the release of Palestinian prisoners before peace talks

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In April 1993, Omar Masoud and three accomplices broke into a European aid office in Gaza City, grabbed a young Israeli lawyer working there and stabbed him to death.

Israel arrested Masoud a month later and sentenced him to life, meaning he was doomed to die in prison one day for killing the lawyer in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction.

Now Masoud, along with dozens of other long-term Palestinian prisoners, is up for release as part of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks after five years of diplomatic paralysis.

Israel's Cabinet is being asked to approve a prisoner release in principle on Sunday, as part of a Kerry-brokered deal to get the two sides back to the table.

The Cabinet vote would pave the way for a preliminary meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington on Tuesday, followed by up to nine months of talks in the region on setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Such a deal has eluded Israelis and Palestinians for two decades and they have low expectations.

The fate of those held in Israeli jails is an emotionally wrought issue for Palestinians, who view the prisoners as heroes who made personal sacrifices in the struggle for statehood.

A prisoner release – particularly of lifers with "blood their hands" – would go a long way toward giving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a popular mandate to give talks another shot, even if many Palestinians believe Israel's hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not serious about a deal.

Israelis tend to view the prisoners as cold-blooded terrorists, and early releases of security prisoners in previous swaps elicited vociferous objections from the public, including Supreme Court appeals.

For Israel's government, approving the release of prisoners it refused to free in the past – even if in stages and linked to progress in talks – poses the most difficult test so far of its professed willingness to reach a peace deal.

In a statement late Saturday, Netanyahu said that a decision to release prisoners is "painful to the bereaved families, painful to the people of Israel and very painful for me."

Yet, he said, prime ministers "are required from time to time to take decisions that are against public opinion - if it is important to the state," signaling he is pushing for Cabinet approval of the release.

Abbas, meanwhile, briefed reporters on the terms of the upcoming negotiations, based on what he said were Kerry's assurances to him. He said the American invitation would state that the talks will be about establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel, based on the 1967 borders and with mutually agreed upon land swaps.

The Palestinians want to set up a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem – lands Israel captured in 1967. In previous negotiations, Abbas offered to trade 1.9 percent of West Bank land for the same amount of Israeli territory, a swap that would enable Israel to keep some of the dozens of Jewish settlements it has built since 1967.

Israeli officials have declined comment on the negotiations. Netanyahu refused in the past to accept the 1967 lines as a starting point, and it's not clear whether his position has changed.

Abbas said the situation would become clearer after Sunday's Cabinet meeting.

A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians would go to talks without Israel having agreed to a freeze of settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Nearly 600,000 Jews already live there, and thousands of homes are under construction.

In guidelines for the talks requested by the Palestinians, Kerry stipulated earlier this month that both sides have to refrain from unilateral steps, according to the Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a gag order the U.S. secretary of state slapped on the negotiators.

The Palestinians understand this to mean that Israel will slow down settlement construction and refrain from provocative steps, such as announcing new projects, the official said. The Palestinians, in turn, will suspend plans to seek further recognition at the U.N. General Assembly, which last year recognized a state of Palestine in the 1967 borders. Israel fears further international isolation as a result of Palestinian activity at the U.N.

Abbas has argued he would need either a settlement freeze or Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a baseline to be able to resume negotiations.

In Sunday's Cabinet meeting, ministers will be asked to vote on a number of fateful issues, an official in Netanyahu's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

The ministers will be asked to authorize the resumption of talks with the Palestinians and appoint a team – reportedly the premier and three ministers – to oversee the negotiations.

They will be asked to approve an amended bill that would require a national referendum on any partition deal with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu's decision to fast-track the referendum bill has prompted contradictory speculation. Some say this shows the lifelong hawk is serious about a deal this time and wants to silence opposition by ultra-nationalists in his Likud party and his coalition from the outset. Others suspect he is trying to create new obstacles to any agreement.

The Cabinet ministers would also have to approve, in principle, a release of Palestinian prisoners who were arrested before the start of the so-called Oslo talks on interim peace deals in the early 1990s.

Abbas gave Kerry a list of 104 names, including that of Omar Masoud who is No. 77, ranked by seniority. The two longest-held at the top of the list are cousins Karim and Maher Younis, imprisoned since 1983 for kidnapping and killing an Israeli soldier, Palestinian officials said.

When Israeli media reported last week that Israel would only release 82 and that Palestinians from Israel and east Jerusalem would not be freed, Abbas asked Kerry for clarifications.

The U.S. diplomat gave Abbas to understand that all 104 would be freed, said a Palestinian official, also speaking anonymously to avoid violating Kerry's call for discretion. The prisoners are to be released in four stages over six months, beginning a month after the resumption of talks, the official said.

As of late June, nearly 5,000 Palestinians were being held by Israel.

Masoud's mother, 70-year-old Tamam, said she is optimistic.

"I hope everything will work out between Jews and Arabs," she said, speaking in her shack in the Shati refugee camp. Abbas "took a good step by talking about releasing prisoners," she said.

Omar Masoud's family was evasive when asked about the killing, portraying it as the rash act of an immature youth. A recent prison photo of him showed a balding middle-aged man who his mother says often cooks for other prisoners because of his work experience as a teenager in an Israeli restaurant.

Despite considerable opposition in Israel to prisoner releases, polls indicate a majority support a resumption of peace talks. Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet, expressed that ambivalence.

He noted that he opposed a 2011 swap in which Israel agreed to free some 1,000 Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants, but that the upcoming round of talks may be the last chance for a deal.

"We need to understand that the negotiations cart is stuck in very, very deep mud," he told Israel TV's Channel 10 on Friday. "And there are some very painful things that will need to happen in order to get that cart out of the mud."

___

Associated Press writers Ian Deitch and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed reporting.

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FEMEN Tunisia Protest: Topless Activists Cry For Amina Tyler's Release In Tunis (NSFW PHOTOS)

TUNIS, Tunisia — Three foreign activists disrobed in front of the Justice Ministry on Wednesday to protest against the jailing of a Tunisian member of Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN, quickly attracting a crowd of offended Tunisians before the three women were hustled away by police.

The trio, one German and two French, approached the entrance to the ministry wearing coats which they took off, revealing naked torsos scrawled with "Breasts Feed Revolution." Wearing just jean shorts, the women chanted in English "Free Amina" and "Women's spring is coming" as people in the crowd attempted to cover them.

Tunisian woman Amina Tyler scandalized society by posting topless pictures online in March in a FEMEN-inspired protest in which she scrawled "my body is my own and not your honor," on herself. She was later taken into hiding by her family after conservative preachers issued death threats against her. The 19-year-old said last month she wanted to do one last topless protest before she left the country to study journalism in France and was arrested May 19 in the religious center of Kairouan where an ultraconservative Muslim group had hoped to hold a conference before it was banned by police.

Tyler was charged with carrying a dangerous object, apparently a canister of pepper spray, and will appear before a judge Thursday.

The women in Wednesday's protest climbed up on the gates of the Justice Ministry until police pulled them down and hustled them shouting into the building as an angry crowd, many of them lawyers there for work, gathered.

"This is against our religion," said Fatima Zahaouadi, a young woman wearing the black robes of a lawyer but without a conservative headscarf. "For these women to take off their clothes as part of freedom of expression is against our religion and the traditions of Arab-Muslim Tunisian society."

The crowd surrounded the area where the women were being held and when the activists were transferred to a nearby building the crowed surged forward before being fended off by police.

"The Ministry of Justice is not a house of ill repute," said Fawzia Dridi, an angry bystander.

The crowd also attacked journalists attempting to cover the event as well as lawyers who tried to protect the reporters. Police took several journalists into custody to take statements from them as witnesses before releasing them.

Tunisia's prosecutor's office later announced the women had been taken to main police station for questioning before being charged, and their embassies have been informed. The French consul visited the women and said they were in good spirits.

Lawyers said they could be charged with an attack on public morals or threatening public order, offenses which could carry up to a year in prison.

A member of FEMEN who identified herself as Inna told The Associated Press by email Tuesday that the activists were protesting the treatment of women in the Arab world.

"We are attacking the Ministry of Justice one day before the trial for Tunisian FEMEN prisoner Amina to demand to let Amina free and to give up Islamists tradition judging women's liberation," she wrote. "FEMEN is planning first topless action in Arab country as a sign of a big changes ... Femen is announcing the women's spring that (is) starting in Tunisia."

Though it has the reputation as one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East for women's rights, overwhelmingly Muslim Tunisia is still a relatively conservative society and there has been a rise of piety since the overthrow of the secular dictatorship in 2011.

FEMEN, which has carried out semi-nude protests in Europe, has only recently started focusing on the Middle East, especially after Tyler's actions.

Middle East feminists, however, have largely condemned their approach saying their tactics are foreign to the largely conservative region and risk provoking backlash against women and real concerns like achieving equality.

The protests come during a particularly delicate period for Tunisia, where decades of progressive legislation are being challenged by a rising trend of conservatism and there is a struggle over the identity of this North African nation of 10 million.

___

Associated Press writer Paul Schemm contributed to this report from Rabat, Morocco.

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