Mediagazer: Exclusive: ‘Gnosis’ Explains The Method And Reasoning Behind Gawker Media Hack (Colby Hall/Mediaite)

9:45 AM ET, December 13, 2010

Top News:

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

Exclusive: ‘Gnosis’ Explains The Method And Reasoning Behind Gawker Media Hack — Over the last 24 hours Gawker Media's network of sites have been under attack from a group who have identified themselves “Gnosis,” a seemingly mysterious collective of hackers who has been falsely considered part …

Discussion: Lifehacker, The Next Web, Reuters, New York Observer, BlogPost, Urlesque, Techland, Wonkette, The Not-So Private Parts and The Atlantic Online, more at Techmeme »

Gawker:

Commenting Accounts Compromised — Change Your Passwords — Our user databases appear to have been compromised. The passwords were encrypted. But simple ones may be vulnerable to a brute-force attack. You should change your Gawker password and on any other sites on which you've used the same passwords.

Discussion: New York Times, Online NewsHour, Guardian, Runnin' Scared, MediaMemo, Mediaite, NetNewsCheck Latest, The Register, Threat Level, Neowin.net, New York Magazine, Gothamist, New York Observer, The Wire, PC Magazine, CNET News and The Next Web, more at Techmeme »

Colby Hall / Mediaite:
Far Worse Than Previously Thought: Gawker Content Management System Hacked

Discussion: Yahoo! News, Gawker, Runnin' Scared and The Wire, more at Techmeme »

David Carr / New York Times:

WikiLeaks Taps Power of the Press — Has WikiLeaks changed journalism forever? — Perhaps. Or maybe it was the other way around. — Think back to 2008, when WikiLeaks simply released documents that suggested the government of Kenya had looted its country. The follow-up in the mainstream media was decidedly muted.

Gautham Nagesh / Hillicon Valley:
Judiciary panel to take up Espionage Act, legal options against WikiLeaks

Thanks:gnagesh

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Web Focus Helps Revitalize The Atlantic — WASHINGTON — How did a 153-year-old magazine — one that first published the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and gave voice to the abolitionist and transcendentalist movements — reinvent itself for the 21st century?

Discussion: NetNewsCheck Latest, SAI, Fast Company, Magazines Online and The Daily Dish, more at Techmeme »

Amir Efrati / Wall Street Journal:

Rivals Say Google Plays Favorites — Search Giant Displays Its Own Health, Shopping, Local Content Ahead of Links to Competing Sites — Google Inc. increasingly is promoting some of its own content over that of rival websites when users perform an online search, prompting competing sites to cry foul.

Discussion: Search Engine Land, Google Public Policy Blog, SAI, Between the Lines Blog, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim and broadstuff, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

What Privacy Problem? Web Ad Targeter Media6Degrees Raises $17 Million — One way to gauge what's really going on with privacy and Web advertising: Follow the money. If investors really think privacy problems are going to weigh the industry down, it's going to be a lot harder to get checks out of them.

Discussion: paidContent and AdExchanger.com

Amanda Andrews / Telegraph:

Forbes unveils plans to launch a European title — Steve Forbes, the billionaire magazine owner and a former Republican presidential candidate, has revealed plans to launch a Forbes Europe title next year. — Forbes Media, in which Elevation Partners - the private equity firm of U2's Bono …

Discussion: MinOnline, paidContent, Guardian and Talking Biz News

Emily Steel / Wall Street Journal:

Marketers Test Ads in E-Books — The marketing world is drawing up plans to invade one of the last bastions of media that is largely advertising-free: books. — As e-books proliferate, advertisers are experimenting with ways to pitch to consumers while they read, a trend that could change …

Discussion: TeleRead

Nick Davies / Guardian:

Phone-hacking inquiry left a mountain of evidence unexplored — If the Guardian can find numerous News of the World journalists who admit that the newspaper gathered information by illegal means, why can't Scotland Yard? Asks Nick Davies — Here's the riddle.

Discussion: Press Gazette

Sean Macaulay / The Daily Beast:

The Man Behind Piers Morgan — A year ago, agent John Ferriter was almost dead (his heart stopped for three minutes) and figuratively dead (he was fired). Getting Morgan into King's seat was Ferriter's road back. — This January, Piers Morgan will take over from Larry King as CNN's prime …

Wall Street Journal:

News Corp. Crams for Classes — Media Giant Faces Task of Honing Education Strategy — With two moves over two weeks, News Corp. has become one of the biggest players in the increasingly crowded field of corporate investors chasing the next technology to transform American education.

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Washington Examiner Helps Capture Fugitives — The Washington Examiner is known around the nation's capital for its conservative bent, bite-size news reports and price that cannot be beat: it is given away on the Metro. — But in law enforcement circles, The Examiner has also become …

Adam Sternbergh / New York Magazine:

The Stunt Man — Can CollegeHumor's Ricky Van Veen turn viral funny into the future of TV? — unny is not enough," says Ricky Van Veen, the 29-year-old CEO of CollegeHumor, a website devoted to being funny. He's sitting in his corner office in the Gehry-designed IAC building …