NSA spied on 35 world leaders according to leaked document

The U.S. monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders, according to a National Security Agency document provided by its former contractor, Edward Snowden, according to The Guardian newspaper.

The names of the world leaders is not disclosed in the document of 2006, and access to the 200 phone numbers of the leaders provided "little reportable intelligence," as the phones were apparently not used for sensitive discussions. The numbers, however, provided leads to other phone numbers that were subsequently targeted, according to the document.

The document is likely to add to concerns about NSA surveillance, including its monitoring of phones of political leaders. German officials said this week that U.S. intelligence agencies may have spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone. There have also been reports that the U.S. hacked into the email server of Mexico's former president Felipe Calderon while he was in office, and also spied on Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff.

A report in French newspaper Le Monde alleged that the NSA recorded data relating to over 70 million phone calls involving French citizens over a period of 30 days. U.S. Director of National Intelligence, James R. Clapper said the allegation that the NSA had collected recordings of French citizens' telephone data was false.

Alarmed at the developments, some countries are considering measures. Brazil has, for example, proposed in-country data storage requirements under an Internet bill before the country's Parliament.

The phone numbers of leaders were handed over to the NSA as part of a policy encouraging people to provide the direct, residence, mobile phone and fax numbers of foreign political and military leaders.

The note asking for "targetable" phone numbers was addressed to "customer" departments, which the Guardian said includes the White House and the Pentagon.

Wikipedia Bans 250 accounts!

News reports of groups paying users to write Wikipedia entries, the online encyclopedia has blocked or banned more than 250 accounts, the site announced Monday.

A number of user accounts, "perhaps as many as several hundred," may have been paid to write Wikipedia articles promoting groups or products, Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a blog post.

Wikipedia editors continue to investigate allegations of suspicious edits and so-called sockpuppetry, the practice of using online identities for purposes of deception, she wrote.

Editing for pay has been a "divisive topic" at Wikipedia for years, Gardner said. "Unlike a university professor editing Wikipedia articles in their area of expertise, paid editing for promotional purposes, or paid advocacy editing as we call it, is extremely problematic," she added. "We consider it a 'black hat' practice. Paid advocacy editing violates the core principles that have made Wikipedia so valuable for so many people."

Gardner's statement follows recent news reports suggesting that public relations agencies and other groups have been targeting allegedly negative information in Wikipedia articles. Vice.com recently wrote about PR agencies working as Wikipedia reputation managers, and DailyDot.com reported on an extensive sockpuppetry investigation at Wikipedia.

With the uncovering of alleged sockpuppet accounts, editors "have expressed shock and dismay," Gardner wrote. "Our readers know Wikipedia's not perfect, but they also know that it has their best interests at heart, and is never trying to sell them a product or propagandize them in any way. Our goal is to provide neutral, reliable information for our readers, and anything that threatens that is a serious problem."

Using sockpuppet accounts or misrepresenting your affiliation with a company is against Wikipedia policy and prohibited by its terms of use, Gardner added. "We urge companies to conduct themselves ethically, to be transparent about what they're doing on Wikipedia, and to adhere to all site policies and practices," she said.

Limiting the number of posts in labels page - Blogger

Hi guys, I just used this great article to limit the number of post in labels page on the Blog that you are on right now.
It's from: http://www.bloggersentral.com/ :

1. Changing the code for in-post and Labels gadget labels.

1.             Login to your Blogger account.

2.             Go to Dashboard > Design > Edit HTML.

3.             Back up your template.

4.             Tick the  Expand Widget Templates check box on top right of the HTML window.

5.             Look for following line in your HTML code:

1	expr:href='data:label.url'

You may find more than one instances. Replace them with the following:

1	expr:href='data:label.url + "?max-results=5"'

2. Changing the code for labels menu tabs

If you use menu tabs to link to label pages, the links you use are probably look like this:

1	http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/search/label/YOURLABEL

to limit the number of posts shown, just append ?max-results=5 to the link, like this:

1	http://YOURBLOGNAME.blogspot.com/search/label/YOURLABEL?max-results=5

The codes above limits the list to 5 posts. (You change the number with your own limit).

Once the code is altered, your label pages will only show 5 posts. To view the next set of 5 posts, just click the Older Posts link at the bottom of the page.