Old IMF, new world; Selection of new IMF head should be open, transparent: IMFC

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Behind The Headlines By Bunn Nagara

The world continues to change rapidly in economic terms, but some primordial institutions refuse to do so.

AS soon as Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday, European leaders insisted that his successor had to be another European.

The IMF is a global institution with 188 members worldwide. Yet in its 67 years, it has been headed by a European with an American deputy managing director.

With American presidents at sister organisation the World Bank, the IMF’s European front appears to camouflage a dominant US influence. The US wields more influence in the IMF than any other member.

Thus the European clamour for Strauss-Kahn’s successor to be another European translates into sustaining the status quo. The arrangement has seen France taking the lead, with four Frenchmen so far heading the IMF.

Brazil, China, India, Japan and South Africa have challenged that lopsided “tradition” in urging that the choice be based on merit. The tradition of having a European overlord is a colonial-style arrangement that represents neither the IMF’s modern international membership nor the realities of global economic power.

The leading European candidate is French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who is not without problems of her own. A French court will decide next month whether to order a full-scale inquiry into her questionable actions involving big money and high politics.

For Lagarde to be a Western frontrunner despite her personal liabilities shows the weakness of Western candidacies in general. Britain, France, Germany and Italy have expressed support for her candidacy, although Britain had also voiced a possible need for a non-Westerner.

The collective European push for a speedy succession, and for “unity” among European members around a single candidate, reveals something of the politicking for continued Western dominance of the IMF.

A G8 meeting in Deauville, France, in the next few days would “decide” on Strauss-Kahn’s successor. That Russia is a member of that elite club may explain its relatively low profile in pushing for changes in the system among major emerging market economies.

Two months ago, IMF reforms finally moved towards better international representation by including Brazil, China, India and Russia among its top 10 shareholders. Two years ago, they had pushed for more IMF bond purchases to increase their voting share.

The world’s “emerging market and developing countries” together hold the biggest share of votes at 44.7%. However, their lack of unity around a single candidate to succeed Strauss-Kahn has given European members the upper hand in deciding on the successor and IMF policies in general.

This means no “bloc” represents major emerging market economies or their interests. So there is the anomaly of G8 countries, which collectively have a smaller share of votes, coming to decide on the IMF’s future.
That may be tradition, but it is not demo­cracy. The remarks of European leaders themselves have been particularly revealing.

They say the IMF’s next managing director should be a European not because of tradition, which they know is indefensible, but because a European would better “understand” Europe. A European head would have “more intimate knowledge” of Europe’s debt crisis.

Indeed the IMF’s biggest clients are currently European, the major ones being Romania, Ukraine, Hungary and Greece. Other European countries in financial trouble include Iceland, Ireland and Portugal, with Spain and Britain also on or near the ropes.

This in fact means that for an IMF chief to be more professional and neutral, and seen to be so, he or she should be a non-European. For the post to go to a European would risk a conflict of interest.

If Asians had insisted on an Asian head of a global financial institution soon after the 1990s Asian financial crisis, Western leaders would have rejected it as inappropriate. After more than a decade, Asians have learned from that experience and moved on, while the US and Europe have produced crises of their own.

It must therefore be equally inappropriate for a European to head a global financial institution today. If Europe’s best financial minds cannot deal with their several crises at home, what hope is there of solving the world’s larger financial problems?

Even under Strauss-Kahn, who was supposed to better “understand” Europe’s financial mess, the IMF’s pro-cyclical policies made economic matters worse. These policies affected several European countries as well as others elsewhere.

Where special inputs are needed, a non-European managing director can always have access to appropriate advisers. Strauss-Kahn himself had China’s Zhu Min as special adviser at the IMF when China became the world’s second largest economy.

French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said in support of Lagarde’s candidacy that he was “able to verify her popularity among ministers of large emerging countries”. That underlines the importance of large emerging countries, even for France, so they are now asking why any of their candidates is less suitable.

It is not possible to reconcile meritocracy with an insistence on a French candidate for the IMF post. When the European Com­missioner for Monetary and Economic Affairs tried to do so, he tripped over himself.

Olli Rehn said “it is essential that the appointment will be merit-based ... it is a merit if the person has quite solid knowledge of the European economy.”

For European leaders to insist on a European because of his or her assumed superiority would amount to racism anywhere else. But then the IMF is an old-fashioned institution.

There is a more nuanced argument that the personal origin of the IMF’s managing director does not matter so long as he or she can introduce meaningful change. None of the IMF’s European heads has done that before.

Many voices around the world now say that for the needed changes to happen, it would be “a merit” if that person came from the non-Western world.

Selection of new IMF head should be open, transparent: IMFC

 The International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the policy advisory body of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Saturday called for an "open, transparent and merit-based" process in selecting a new IMF head.

"The selection process for a new Managing Director has begun. The challenges we face are pressing, and an early conclusion to the selection process will be advantageous," IMFC Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in a statement.

"It is also imperative that the process be open, transparent and merit-based, so as to ensure the selection of a highly capable candidate, with the qualities needed to engage with a broad group of stake-holders internationally and sustain the Fund's active and effective role in global economic management," the statement added.

The IMFC, comprising finance ministers and central bank governors, is the primary advisory body of the IMF Board of Governors and deliberates on the principal policy issues facing the IMF.

Former IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned earlier this week after he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid in New York. John Lipsky now serves as acting Managing Director of the Washington-based financial agency.

Source: Xinhua,  

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“God’s Country: The New Zealand Factor”

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Michael Tobias Green Conversations 

Image via Wikipedia

New Zealand may well be the most desirable tourist destination in the world. It is certainly among the most beautiful island nations on the planet, its biodiversity magnificent in every respect. New Zealand’s artistic and scientific communities are remarkable; the nation’s politics a model of true democracy in action. In fact, there are so many wonderful things to say about the country that my co-author Jane Gray Morrison and I were hesitant, in our newly-released Dancing Star Foundation book, God’s Country: The New Zealand Factor, to lavish too many superlatives on a country that might find it difficult to live up to our shared belief in, and love of, this particular nation, her people and her wildlife.

With just over 4 million human occupants, approximately 80 endemic bird species (including those sea birds which visit and breed there), three native bats and countless marine mammals, but no snakes or other predators in the normal sense (other than Man himself), New Zealand – for some 80 million years – has enjoyed relative tranquility.

Then things started to change. Settlers from England, Norway and elsewhere brought cows and sheep and dogs and (inadvertently) mice and rats. Possums were deliberately introduced in the early 1800s for the purposes of hunting and a fur trade (a tragically omnipresent fact today: possums kill native biodiversity). The result of this misstep in many decades past: conservation in New Zealand has meant, in many guises, killing: the killing of bio-invasives. Not just the “eradication” of possums, but the killing of three introduced members of the Mustelid family, namely, stoats, weasels, and ferrets, whose rapacious hunger for native birds (along with that similar hunger on the part of three species of rats, feral cats, dogs, and mice) has exerted horrific impacts upon native species who for millions of years had no concept of fear and are, today, sitting ducks.

This is where immuno-contraception for predators (that might necessitate genetically modified organisms) has become a major public and scientific debate as in few countries. Where human rights versus animal rights has taken on dimensions that countries like the United States can scarcely identify with, given the fact North American birds and other mammals co-evolved with native predators, whether coyote, bobcat, mountain lion, rattle snake or wolverine. Such creatures never existed in New Zealand. The country’s native birds, like the Kiwi, after whom the resident locals have nick-named themselves, never had to worry about being eaten and thus, in a few cases, gave up the need of flight, saving their energy, and becoming ground dwellers (Kiwi and Kakapo, for example, not to mention the numerous species of now extinct Moa as well as a giant penguin nearly the size of the equally giant penguin fossils found recently just South of Lima, Peru).



New Zealand has been called a “capital of extinctions” as a result of the human introduction of those aforementioned non-native mammalian predators. A pet dog once devastated an entire penguin rookery in a single evening on the South Island a few years ago. In addition, there are thousands of invasive plant species, like Darwin’s Barberry or Chilean Fireweed, in addition to non-native wasps that compete for tree sap with native parrots -the two sub-species called Kaka, or Nestor meridionalis.

New Zealand is unique in a myriad of ways, not just because parrots and penguins live side by side, but in the fact that much of her foreign exchange income comes from the sale of animals, shipped live or dead, as well as animal by-products like wool and dairy products. An inordinate amount of New Zealand land has been given over to pasturage for grazing farm animals, a percentage much higher than in the majority of all other nations.

For these, and countless other reasons, New Zealand is truly a template for the study of human nature and ecology. The country probably has more scientists, artists, intellectuals and environmentalists per square kilometer than any other political entity in the world. Her farmers are among the most hardworking, well-read, witty and generous of any. And her history is one that is inextricably tied to the arts, science and exploration. Mark Twain did stand-up comedy in Dunedin after going bankrupt in Connecticut; visits by Charles Darwin, Captain Cook and the great painter William Hodges, as well as (allegedly) Medieval Chinese mariners. Not to mention the original settlers, the glorious Maori and Maorori indigenous cultures.
New Zealand was also the first nation in the world to give women their rights back; to suggest that Antarctica be declared a World Park; and to make itself the first nuclear free nation.

New Zealanders who read of such superlatives will yawn, or exhibit knee-jerk reactions of one sort or another, as should be expected. They share something of a conspiratorial secret (the reason most Kiwi college students who explore the world upon graduation typically return to New Zealand: they know they are living in one of the best countries on earth). Indeed, for most of the world, this is a democracy that represents what a human paradise must look like.

Which is why my co-author, Jane Gray Morrison and I chose New Zealand as a fitting example of a test-case for what the country has exported by way of a welcoming (though somewhat debated) mantra, namely, “Clean, Green New Zealand.” Could it be true?

To find out more about the dialectics of this tourism slogan, and all of the “Middle Earth” glories that the “Lord of the Rings” locations made globally manifest, we suggest a visit to New Zealand. She can certainly use your tourist dollar revenues right now, especially in Christchurch, following one of the worst natural disasters in the nation’s history, nearly three months ago on February 22nd, Tuesday, at 12:51 pm, the 6.3 devastating earthquake.

Notwithstanding that tragedy, there is no better place to examine what a human paradise might, could, or should mean in the 21st century.

Copyright Michael Charles Tobias, 2011

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The ‘trilemma’ of capital controls

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What Are We To Do By Tan Sri Lin See-Yan

MY last column examined principles underlying the international monetary system (IMS) as we know it today. I also explained why the IMS isn't working. Today, I want to dwell on one of these principles, namely, the free international movement of goods, services & capital. We have since come a long way in freeing the movement of goods and services.

As a result, currencies of many emerging nations are today readily convertible for current transactions of the balance of payments (BOP). Unfortunately, failure at the Doha Round to further liberalise trade is a setback. Convertibility on capital transactions remains an issue.

First, some history: in the intermediate years after WWII, controls on capital movements were common. Unlike today's controls, directed at slowing down massive inflows of capital, these post-war controls mainly aimed at slowing down outflows. After the UK lifted exchange controls under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, more governments have come to allow freer movement of money into and out of their economies.

Developed countries led by the US blame China’s policy for tightly controlling its currency value, driving “capital into economies with freer exchanges.

While increasing free capital flows can help spur economic growth by enabling more productive investment, the growing volume of inflows into emerging nations has raised concerns. Today, capital controls refer to taxes or other administrative measures meant to regulate those flows.

Exchange control directly violates one of the precepts upon which the IMS is predicated: the world economy relies primarily upon decentralised decision making by billions of individuals and businesses responding to market forces. Government, to be sure, is responsible for influencing these market forces consistent with national objectives, but always without attempting to direct and interfere with individual transactions.

The Bretton Woods accord set up the IMS in 1945 based on this principle and changes made over the years have kept faith with it. Of course, as a matter of practical expediency, in the transition to free capital movements, countries in (what IMF calls) fundamental BOP disequilibrium, that is, with persistent payment imbalances, could temporarily impose exchange controls (previously called Article XIV nations) to enable them to better adjust under IMF supervision.

The French connection

Ironically, it was French socialists who brought global financial liberalisation home to the IMF. According to Harvard's Rawi Abdelal, when capital flight forced socialist French President Mitterand to abort his programme in 1983, it set in motion developments that ultimately enshrined free capital movements as a global objective. And this started first in the European Union in late 1980s, then on to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and eventually, at the IMF under French socialist CEO M.Camdessus (Governor, Bank of France under Mitterand). It was again a French socialist, recently resigned CEO Dominique Strauss-Kahn (now in a New York prison) who distanced the IMF from its long-standing tenet on free capital movements. Speaking in Asia in January 2011, he said: “Capital controls can also play a role, particularly where the surge in capital flows is expected to be temporary or where exchange rate over-shoot is a real danger As long as it's temporary, it may be the only way.”



The trilemma'

Capital will go where it finds the best returns. In the past year, it has been Asia and also Latin America. Recipients of large capital inflows have begun to fret about their impact and on how to “manage” them. Indeed, emerging markets states seek some measure of protection against the new flows of cheap and easy money generated in the US, Europe & Japan. The massive inflows (estimated by the IMF at over US$1 trillion in '11, against a high of US$1.3 trillion in '07) have raised the chances of trade and currency conflicts. A long list of emerging nations from Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, India China to Turkey to Chile, Mexico and Brazil have already imposed capital controls, motivated simply to curb “hot money” that threatens to distort their economies, drive up demand and exert undue pressure on their currencies, and pose dangers of asset bubbles.

In China, besides monetary moves, exporters are allowed to hold more US$ offshore a negative capital control to keep foreign monies out, rather than a loosening of capital controls. Malaysia this week announced more liberal capital measures to promote large investments abroad. In South Korea, a levy was imposed on foreign currency debt held by banks while in Brazil, the tax on capital inflows was tripled to 6%. Indonesia set a minimum one-month holding period for investors of its bonds and India imposed a capital gains tax on all stock trades.

Nations face an economic choice: often 2 out of 3 (trilemma): fixed exchange rate, freedom to set monetary policy and free flow of capital. Having all 3 is impossible; only any 2 of the 3. The US has long had free capital flows and the right to set monetary policy. So, it is forced to live with currency fluctuations. The same orthodoxy is imposed by IMF on the world. The case of Japan in the late 1980s (Plaza'86 and Louvre'87) is classic. However, the IMF faces problems imposing it on China which prefers to give up free flow of capital; it likes very much for China to be like the US.

Smoke but do not inhale'

Notwithstanding the blaring narrative about peaking in global growth, sovereign debt risks in Europe, fiscal austerity, and “unusually uncertain” outlook for the US economy, many emerging nations continue to be saddled with massive capital inflows, if left unchecked could make some of them self-destruct. While these factors are worrisome, fortunately many of them have built-up enough “fat”. Consider their massive foreign reserves totalling more than US$7 trillion, exceeding 10% of global GDP. These reserves will be used as emerging nations move gradually to adjust to face the structurally impaired consumer demand in the west. This reminds me of FT's Martin Wolf who observed that emerging markets “smoke but do not inhale” global capital. While emerging nations welcome capital inflows (smoke it), it is concerned about speculation, quick exit and reversals, and large net inflows (inhaling is bad for health). This is reflected in their preference to intervene in the forex markets and to recycle the monies (through current BOP accounts and capital flows) into foreign exchange reserves.

Preventing capital inflows from reaching the real economy has been their best insurance against the impact of rising currencies on competiveness, inflation and stroking domestic demand.

Conventional wisdom has it that a nation's reserves are adequate if they are (i) equivalent to 3 months' imports, and (ii) equal to or exceed short-term debt. Most emerging nations easily pass these rules of thumb. China's reserves (at US$3.15 trillion) far exceeded its short-term debt. The reserves to debt ratio of Russia, India and Brazil also points to large excesses. Saudi Arabia and Algeria have reserves that cover more than 2-years imports; Brazil, a year and India, 9-months. Their robust financial health augurs well for the future.

After successfully weathering one of the worst financial crises in history, growth in 2011 and 2012 will slacken saving less and spending more. This policy switch comes at a time when emerging nations recognise that future growth rests in their own hands, and not on the fortunes (or lack of it) of the much indebted west. Although forced to “smoke” massive inflows (including collateral smoke), they should heed Prof Stigliz's (Nobel laureate in economics 2001) advice: “Now that the IMF has blessed such interventions (exchange control) should be a key part of any system to ensure financial stability; resorting to them only as a last resort is a recipe for continued instability it is best if countries use a portfolio of them as management tools.”

Controls stir debate

In Hong Kong, at its 1997 annual meetings, the IMF tried to push deep into capital market liberalisation. The timing was bad as the East Asia crisis was just brewing. The crisis exploded soon enough in a region of high savings with little need for more capital inflows. The crisis showed that free and unfettered markets are “neither efficient nor stable” (Stigliz). Studies have shown that capital controls have helped small nations (e.g. Iceland) to manage. The far reaching surge of cheap and loose money from the US, Europe and Japan into emerging markets loomed so large that even finance ministers and central bank governors who are ideologically adverse to intervention, now believe they have no choice but do so. Hence, the change of stance at the IMF.

At its April meetings, IMF's “guidelines” on managing capital inflows was rebuffed by most emerging nations as an attempt to restrain them, rather than help. As a result, they were delayed for further study. The IMF's recent reversal of its long standing opposition to limits on free capital flows was based on the compelling need by emerging markets to curb surging inflows, which they recognise can fuel asset bubbles and inflation (e.g. China, India and Brazil), and hurt exporters by driving currency value higher.

IMF wanted nations to use exchange controls as a last resort, after they had used other tools including interest rates, currency values and fiscal adjustments. But emerging nations objected vehemently viewing the proposals as hamstringing their policies. Brazil's finance minister called capital controls, “self-defence” measures. Ironically, some major advanced countries, most responsible for the global crisis and have yet to resolve their own problems, are most eager to prescribe “codes of conduct to the rest of the world, including countries that have become over-burdened by the spill-over effects of policies adopted by them.”

Who's to blame?

The controversy is centred on “blame.” Emerging nations blame the US “as a fountain of excess cheap capital because it is holding short-term interest rates near zero and pumping money into the economy by buying government bonds.” Developed countries led by the US blame China's policy for tightly controlling its currency value, driving “capital into economies with freer exchanges.” IMF has a tough-sell to establish a shared understanding around the use of capital controls. It tries to create a “comfort zone” which nobody wants because there is nothing comforting about being judged negatively at the Fund's annual review if they did not follow the rules.

Nations need all the tools at their disposal to prevent financial crises and mitigate massive capital flows. Controls may not always be the first-best response, but they are easy to understand and implement, and have a strong “announcement” impact.

There are of course many pitfalls to controls. Most important is the danger from a self-feeding system of continuing tightening of controls. There is Prof. Cohen's Iron Law of Economic Controls: “to be effective, controls must reproduce at a rate faster than that at which means are found for avoiding them.” Moreover, a partial system of controls would readily breakdown as funds flowed through uncontrolled channels spurred by fear of still further controls.

In the end, a complete system of controls is required. Any policy of attempting to “muddle through” via adopting certain controls only reduces and distorts the volume of international trade and investment. Controls can breed revival of a brand of mercantilism which cannot be for the global good.

Any shake-up of conventional wisdom and comfortable modes of behaviour is bound to pose a challenge.
J.M.Keynes once said “what used to be heresy (restrictions on capital flows) is now endorsed as orthodoxy.” That happened in 1945 at the dawn of the Bretton Woods era. More than 65 years later, it is ironical that we need a similar shift in mindset to effectively meet the challenge.

Former banker, Dr Lin is a Harvard educated economist and a British Chartered Scientist who now spends time writing, teaching and promoting the public interest. Feedback is most welcome; email: starbizweek@thestar.com.my

PKR ordered by ROS to show cause or faces deregistration

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PKR all riled up over ROS show-cause letter threatening to de-register party

 By MAZWIN NIK ANIS, The Star

PETALING JAYA: PKR is crying foul over a show-cause letter from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) asking the party to state "satisfactory reasons" why it should not be de-registered for violating Article 32.2.1 of the party's constitution.

Party secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who claimed Thursday that such a regulation did not exist, said PKR had received the letter from the ROS, signed by registrar Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman, dated May 9.

He said the ROS claimed PKR had intentionally violated its constitution by sacking Rajagopal Andaikkalam on April 1 and April 27 in 2009, without the matter being brought up or investigated by the party's discplinary board.

Saifuddin alleged there was bad intention on ROS' part in sending the show-cause letter because the party could not have violated an article in its constitution which did not even exist.

He said there were 33 Articles in the PKR constitution and Article 32 read that if there was any dispute in the interpretation of the constitution, what was interpreted by its leadership council would be deemed correct and final.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman said the letter was issued according to ROS procedure and that PKR was given the opportunity to explain its position.

"When the ROS issues the notice, according to the Societies Act 1966, the party concerned is required to reply within the time specified, using the same channel, instead of using the media channel because this is considered improper," he said.

He said the notice was according to Sub-Section (2), Section 13, Societies Act 1966, whereby PKR was given until June 9 to give satisfactory reasons why the party's registration should not be revoked.

 ROS asks PKR to show cause

PETALING JAYA: PKR is crying foul over a show cause letter issued by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on why the party should not be deregistered for violating the party's constitution.

The party received the letter from the ROS, signed by its registrar Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman dated May 9, asking the party to state “satisfactory reasons” as to why it should not be deregistered for violating Article 32.2.1 of the party's constitution.

The ROS claimed that PKR had intentionally violated its constitution by sacking one Rajagopal Andaikkalam on April 1 and April 27 in 2009 without the matter being brought up or investigated by the party's discplinary board. It has been given until June 9 to respond.

PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail alleged there was bad intention on the part of the ROS in issuing the show cause letter because the party could not have violated an article which did not exist in its constitution.

He said there were 33 articles in the PKR constitution and Article 32 read that if there was any dispute in the interpretation of the constitution, what was interpreted by its leadership council would be deemed correct and final.

“Even the name of the alleged member whom we had sacked is wrong. We took action against Jayagopal Andaikkalam and the leadership council made the decision on April 26, 2009 and not on the dates claimed by the ROS,” he told a press conference, adding a reply had been sent to the ROS yesterday.

Saifuddin said PKR had sacked Jayagopal for taking part in the Bukit Selambau by-election in 2009 with the intention of contesting against the party's candidate.

Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman said the letter was issued according to ROS' procedure and that PKR was given the opportunity to explain its position.

In an immediate response, Jayagopal said the party should face the music for contravening Article 32.2.1 of its constitution.

“Any amendment to the party constitution does not give the party immunity against discrepancies committed prior to the amendment,” he said.

-The Star May 20, 2011

Firefox add-on with 7m downloads can invade privacy

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Ant Video secretly tracks every website visited

By Dan Goodin

A high-rated Firefox extension with more than 7 million downloads secretly collects data about every website the open-source browser visits and combines it with uniquely traceable information tied to the user, an independent security researcher said.

The undisclosed behavior of the Ant Video Downloader and Player add-on takes place even when the Firefox private browsing mode is turned on or when users are availing themselves of anonymity services such as Tor. The add-on carries a rating of four out of five possible stars and gets an average of almost 7,000 downloads per day, according to official Mozilla statistics.

The revelations raise new questions about the safety of extensions offered on Mozilla's website. A spokeswoman for the open-source developer said the media player, like all public extensions not designated experimental, was vetted to make sure it meets a list of criteria. Chief among them is that add-ons "must make it very clear to users what [privacy and security] risks they might encounter, and what they can do to protect themselves."

"We've looked into the Ant Video Player and found that it does send information about websites users visit in order to power its ranking feature displayed for each website, and also includes a unique identifier in this communication," the spokeswoman wrote in an email. "While this does not violate our policies, we do require it to be disclosed in the privacy policy and the add-on's description. We have contacted the developer and asked them to correct this."

In the meantime, the add-on is available for download on Mozilla's site with no warning.

Messages left through a submission form on Ant.com, where a stand-alone version of the software is hosted, weren't returned. Attempts to reach the developers through other channels weren't successful.
The stealth tracking came to the attention of Simon Newton while he was diagnosing problems with a web application he was in the middle of developing. When he fired up a packet sniffer, he discovered that information about every single HTTP request his PC made was being sent to a server at rpc.ant.com, which used an IP address owned by the Reality Check Network Corp. The data included the external website or internal server being accessed, the time, the browser details, and several persistent browser cookies that contained a Universally Unique Identifier.



Newton quickly linked the behavior to the the Ant Video add-on installed on the PC. He said packets captured during a recent visit to El Reg looked like this:

POST / HTTP/1.1
Host: rpc.ant.com
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110422 Ubuntu/10.04 (lucid) Firefox/3.6.17
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflate
Accept-Charset: ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7
Keep-Alive: 115
Connection: keep-alive
Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8
Content-Length: 327
Cookie: __utma=1.1249745586.1303010447.1305056403.1305056954.3; __utmz=1.1303010447.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none); __utmb=1.4.10.1305056954
X-Ant-UID: {0D908E35-A6A6-4326-B03A-CD8409A7FB79}
X-Ant-Agent: vdmoz-2.3.0-stable.linux-linux-i686
Pragma: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-cache
{"version":"1.0","id":1,"method":"rank","params":[{"url":"http://www.theregister.co.uk/","ref":"","uid":"{0D908E35-A6A6-4326-B03A-CD8409A7FB79}","uagent":"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110422 Ubuntu/10.04 (lucid) Firefox/3.6.17","lang":"en-us, en"}],"agent":"vdmoz-2.3.0-stable.linux-linux-i686"}HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Ant.com servers responded with the following:

Content-Type: application/json
Content-Length: 50
Server: thin 1.2.7 codename No Hup
Connection: close
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 20:19:09 GMT
{"version":"1.0","id":1,"code":0,"result":"4,086"}

Interestingly, the unique identifier of Newton's PC didn't change even after he removed the add-on and reinstalled it. The only way he was able purge the tracking ID was to completely revert Firefox to its original settings and then reinstall the Ant Video extension.

"As there is this unique identifier, patterns could be built up about where I go -- for example if I use my laptop at work, at a public wifi hotspot, at home or a friends house -- that [UUID] and cookie can be tied to all of those IP addresses, building a picture of not only what I am doing online, but where I am doing it from," he wrote in a blog post published on May 10.

"What alarms me a bit more is that the data that is transmitted about me and my browsing (even anonymously) is going onto servers in New York, USA," he continued. "What if I were visiting [a] site I did not want anyone to know about? What if the US government subpoena 'Reality check network corp' for all information stored on their servers about my IP address, cookie, or UUID?"

Newton said he tried contacting the add-on's developers to find out if the snoop behavior is the result of a bug, but so far no one has responded to a personal message or his blog post.

The larger lesson here is that just because a Firefox add-on has been subjected to Mozilla's official vetting process there is no guarantee it doesn't do things that many users consider to be invasions of their privacy. With at least 5,000 add-ons hosted on its site, it wouldn't be shocking to find out that Ant Video isn't the only extension that comes with a few nasty surprises. ®

Update

As of late Thursday night California time, the Ant Video Downloader was no longer available on Mozilla's site.
"The page or file you requested wasn't found on our site," the page where the add-on had been located read. "It's possible that you clicked a link that's out of date, or typed in the address incorrectly."
The error message didn't elaborate.

Related stories

• Mozilla refuses US request to ban Firefox add-on (5 May 2011)

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China never intends to challenge US, Arms sales to Taiwan hurt military ties: PLA general

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Chinese General: Don’t Worry, America, Our Military Doesn’t Compare To Yours

 
Chen Bingde (C), Chief of the General Staff of People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China, talks to Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen (R) during a ceremony at Fort Myer in Washington, May 17, 2011. Chen Bingde arrived in Washington late Sunday for a week-long official visit to the United States. (Xinhua/Du Jing)
A top Chinese military officer told US military brass yesterday that China never intends to challenge the United States, and China's military equipments are at least 20 years behind the US' army.

"The world has no need to worry, let alone fear … China's growth," said General Chen Bingde, chief of the People's Liberation Army's general staff, in an address to a packed room of American military officers and faculty at the National Defense University in Washington.

"To be honest, I feel very sad after visiting (the United States), because I think, I feel and I know, how poor our equipments are and how underdeveloped we remain," Chen told a press conference at the Pentagon.

The Chinese general told reporters that China's recent increase of investment in military power is "compensatory in nature," making up for decades during which modernizing the Chinese economy was given the first priority.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Chen's host, stressed the importance of renewed dialogue to minimize risk of misunderstanding.

"What he and I have both talked about is a future that is a peaceful future and a better one for our children and grandchildren. That does not include a conflict between China and the United States," Mullen said.

Chen said he invited Mullen to make his first visit to China as Joint Chiefs chairman.

At the press conference, Chen and Mullen also announced several agreements, including a plan for the U.S. and Chinese militaries to jointly conduct a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise in 2012.

Trying to allay Western concerns and jitters about a rising China, Chen quoted US president Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous quote "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

In his speech at the National Defense University, Chen said he was optimistic about the future of U.S.-China military relations, which have suffered repeated setbacks. Early last year China angrily cut off most military-to-military contacts after the U.S. announced a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan.

Chen said the U.S. needs to respect China's "core interests," which he said include issues of national unity like Taiwan. The Taiwanese, he said, are considered by all Chinese as "our compatriots and blood brothers and sisters."

The Chinese general equated China's position on Taiwan to President Abraham Lincoln's commitment to preserving the Union. Chen quoted Lincoln as saying, "The Union is unbroken."

Asked about Taiwan's long-standing request to purchase U.S. F-16 combat aircraft, Chen said such a sale would hurt U.S.-China military relations. He asked rhetorically why Taiwan would need to buy American weapons if the U.S. sincerely believes its stated policy that Taiwan is part of China.

Chen appeared to question the validity of the U.S. position favoring Taiwan's eventual peaceful reunification with China. He recounted a conversation earlier Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in which she repeated the U.S. position that "there is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China."

He said he told Clinton: "I've heard that comment, that statement, since I was a schoolboy, and I'm hearing the same thing now I'm approaching my retirement age. I wonder when can I really see the reunification of my motherland."

People's Daily Online / Agencies

US arms sales to Taiwan hurt military ties

A senior Chinese military officer on Wednesday played down media reports about the mainland's missile deployment across the Taiwan Straits, but warned against further US arms sales to the island.

Chen Bingde (R), chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, arrives for a joint news briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen. (Saul Loeb / Agence France-Presse)

"I can tell you here, responsibly, that we only have garrison deployment across the Taiwan Straits, and we do not have operational deployment, much less missiles stationed there," Chen Bingde, chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), said at a joint news briefing at the Pentagon with Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The military development is mainly targeted at the separatist forces," Chen said.

The general, in response to a question about Taiwan's request to buy US F-16 combat aircraft, told reporters that if the Pentagon goes ahead with additional arms sales to Taiwan, it would definitely undermine Sino-US military relations.

"As to how bad the impact will be, it will depend on the nature of the weapons sold to Taiwan."

He urged Washington to review the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which provides a legal basis for the Pentagon to sell "defensive arms" to Taiwan, since cross-Straits relations have undergone fundamental changes over the past decades.

"The US is using a domestic law to handle another country's internal affairsto be honest, it's too overbearing."

The general equated Beijing's position on Taiwan to Abraham Lincoln's commitment to preserving the Union. "The Union is unbroken," Chen said, quoting Lincoln.

Beijing broke off military ties in January last year after the US approved a $6 billion arms sale to Taiwan. China rejected a proposal in June for a visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Military ties only started to warm up at the end of last year. A visit to China by Gates in early January finally eased tension and put relations back on track.

A news release issued after the talks between Chen and Mullen said that the Chinese and US navies will conduct a series of joint exercises to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The militaries of the two countries will also conduct a joint exercise next year in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Exchange visits by navy hospital ships, plus a joint exercise focusing on medical aid, are also on the agenda.

Chen, the first chief of the general staff to visit the US in seven years, headed a delegation that included senior officers from all branches of the military.

The delegation also met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several members of the US Congress.

Both Chen and Mullen emphasized that agreements were reached within the framework of building a "US-China cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefit", a consensus that President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama attained during Hu's official visit to the US in January.

Chen and Mullen highlighted the fact that "a healthy, stable and reliable military-to-military relationship is an important part of the China-US relationship".

Their talks provided an "opportunity to validate our assumptions of each other so we can make adjustments accordingly", Mullen said.

Chen played down Chinese military advances on his trip, telling an audience of US military officers and faculty members at the National Defense University that the PLA lagged at least 20 years behind developed Western nations.

Chen made a similar point later at the Pentagon news conference.

"I can tell you that China does not have the capability to challenge the US," he said, adding that China's wealth and military strength pales in comparison with that of the US. China's navy is 20 years behind the US navy. he said.

"To be honest, I feel very sad after visiting (the US), because I think, I feel and I know, how poor our equipment is and how underdeveloped we remain," Chen said.

"Although China's defense and military development has come a long way in recent years, a gaping gap between you and us remains," Chen said.

"China never intends to challenge the US," he added.

Mutual trust and especially mutual respect and accommodation of each other's core interests are essential to China-US military ties, Chen said.

Chen and Mullen discussed US reconnaissance activities in waters close to China.

The two military chiefs also stressed shared concerns over such issues as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, climate change, energy security and piracy, Mullen said.

Above all, "what he (Chen) and I both talked about is the future, a peaceful future, a better one for our children and grandchildren", Mullen said.

"That (future) does not include conflict between China and the US."

Chen extended an invitation to Mullen and his wife to visit China, an invitation that Mullen accepted.

Liu Lin, an expert on world military studies with the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, said US politicians have a tradition of overreacting to the Chinese mainland's military deployment across the Taiwan Straits.

"It is a domestic affair. But the US uses it as an excuse for arms sales to Taiwan," Liu said.

Yao Yunzhu, a researcher at the same academy, said it is time for Washington to "review whether the Taiwan Relations Act, passed more than 30 years ago, is still relevant (in dealing with the Chinese island)".

Li Xiaokun in Beijing, AP, Reuters contributed to this story.

Yoga Improves Quality of Life and Regulates Stress Hormones in Women with Breast Cancer Undergoing Radiation Therapy

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Released: 5/17/2011 3:55 PM EDT
Embargo expired: 5/18/2011 6:00 PM EDT
Source: University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

MD Anderson study first to compare benefits of mind-body practices to simple stretching exercises 
 
Newswise — HOUSTON — For women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy, yoga offers unique benefits beyond fighting fatigue, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

While simple stretching exercises improved fatigue, patients who participated in yoga that incorporated yogic breathing, postures, meditation and relaxation techniques into their treatment plan experienced improved physical functioning, better general health and lower cortisol (stress hormone) levels. They also were better able to find meaning in their cancer experience.

The findings, to be presented next month in an oral session at the 47th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology by Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at MD Anderson, are the latest in an ongoing effort to scientifically validate the age-old belief that mind-body interventions have a beneficial impact on the health of cancer patients. The research was conducted in collaboration with India’s largest yoga research institution, Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana in Bangalore, India.

The study assessed, for the first time, yoga benefits to cancer patients by comparing their experience with patients in an active control group who integrated simple, generic stretching exercises into their lives. “The combination of mind and body practices that are part of yoga clearly have tremendous potential to help patients manage the psychosocial and physical distress associated with treatment and life after cancer, beyond the benefits of simple stretching,” said Cohen.

To conduct the study, 163 women with breast cancer (stage 0-3) averaging 52 years of age were randomized to one of three groups: 1) yoga; 2) simple stretching; or 3) no instruction in yoga or stretching. Participants in the yoga and stretching groups attended sessions specifically tailored to breast cancer patients for one hour three days a week throughout their six weeks of radiation treatment.



Participants were asked to report on their quality of life, including fatigue, daily functioning, benefit finding, depression and spirituality. Saliva samples were collected and electrocardiogram tests were administered at baseline, end of treatment, and at one, three and six months post-treatment.

After completing radiation treatment, only the women in the yoga and stretching groups reported a reduction in fatigue. At one, three and six months after radiation therapy, women who practiced yoga during the treatment period reported greater benefits to physical functioning and general health. They were more likely to perceive positive life changes from their cancer experience than either other group.

Women who practiced yoga also had the steepest decline in their cortisol across the day, indicating that yoga had the ability to regulate this stress hormone. This is particularly important because higher stress hormone levels throughout the day, known as a blunted circadian cortisol rhythm, have been linked to worse outcomes in breast cancer.

According to Cohen, developing a yoga practice also helps patients after completing cancer treatment. “The transition from active therapy back to everyday life can be very stressful as patients no longer receive the same level of medical care and attention. Teaching patients a mind-body technique like yoga as a coping skill can make the transition less difficult.”

Through a grant from the National Cancer Institute – the largest ever awarded for the study of yoga in cancer – Cohen and his team will next conduct a Phase III clinical trial in women with breast cancer to further determine the mechanisms of yoga that lead to improvement in physical functioning, quality of life, and biological outcomes during and after radiation treatment. A secondary aim of the trial, but one of great importance, stressed Cohen, is assessing cost efficiency analysis for the hospital, health care usage costs in general, and examining work productivity of patients.

MD Anderson recognizes the growing body of research indicating that relaxation-based interventions can contribute to the well-being of people with cancer. Through the Integrative Medicine Program, complementary therapies, such as yoga, are offered at MD Anderson’s Integrative Medicine Center, and are used in concert with mainstream care to manage symptoms, relieve stress, enhance quality of life, and improve outcomes for patients and their caregivers. MD Anderson’s Integrative Medicine faculty also conduct research in the biological and behavioral effects of mind-body based interventions; the anti-cancer potential of natural compounds; and, acupuncture to treat common cancer treatment-related side effects.

In addition to Cohen, other MD Anderson researchers contributing to this study include: Kavita Chandwani, M.D., former senior research coordinator and yoga teacher; Robin Haddad, M.P.H. , research coordinator, George Perkins, M.D. in the Department of Radiation Oncology; Amy Spelman, Ph.D., Kayla Johnson, B.S. and Adoneca Fortier, B.S., all staff in the Integrative Medicine Program; Banu Arun, M.D., in the Department of Breast Medical Oncology; and Qi Wei, M.S., Sr. Statistical Analyst. Clemens Kirschbaum, Ph.D. contributed from the Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany. Collaborators from SVYASA include NV Raghuram, B.E.; R. Nagarathna, M.D., and HR Nagendra, Ph.D., founder.

About MD Anderson
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. MD Anderson is one of only 40 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For seven of the past nine years, including 2010, MD Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in “America's Best Hospitals,” a survey published annually in U.S. News & World Report.

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