Journal articles on the topic 'Everlasting Security'

Vote privacy is a fundamental right, which needs to be protected not only during an election, or for a limited time afterwards, but for the foreseeable future. Numerous electronic voting (e-voting) protocols have been proposed to address this challenge, striving for everlasting privacy. This property guarantees that even computationally unbounded adversaries cannot break privacy of past elections. The broad interest in secure e-voting with everlasting privacy has spawned a large variety of protocols over the last three decades. These protocols differ in many aspects, in particular the precise security properties they aim for, the threat scenarios they consider, and the privacy-preserving techniques they employ. Unfortunately, these differences are often opaque, making analysis and comparison cumbersome. In order to overcome this non-transparent state of affairs, we systematically analyze all e-voting protocols designed to provide everlasting privacy. First, we illustrate the relations and dependencies between all these different protocols. Next, we analyze in depth which protocols do provide secure and efficient approaches to e-voting with everlasting privacy under realistic assumptions, and which ones do not. Eventually, based on our extensive and detailed treatment, we identify which research problems in this field have already been solved, and which ones are still open. Altogether, our work offers a well - founded reference point for conducting research on secure e - voting with everlasting privacy as well as for future - proofing privacy in real - world electronic elections.

Soil fertility and environmental quality are critical and crucial for survival of humanity at the planet earth. Agrochemicals based farming over 5-6 decades has badly affected the soil biology and environmental ecology in many regions of the world. Ultimately the three basic elements of Nature i.e., soil, water and air have been polluted. Now it is well established that any amount of agrochemicals pumped in cannot restore soil fertility as well as sustainable agriculture production. It is only possible by mediating everlasting sources of energy. Cosmic farming, being promoted by us is based on systematic and synergistic mediating of everlasting source of energy by few simple techniques. Since human body is a mini replica of cosmos, hence food produced and consumed in consonance of natures’ gesture without use of agrochemicals will be Sattvik, full of nutrition and therapeutic values. Horticultural crops are well suited for cosmic production and consumption. The same technique is equally effective for all crops and in each ecological situation. Looking at the current plight of small and marginal farmers and pathetic situation of indigenous cow both can be addressed with assertive promotion of cosmic farming even in remote villages with enormous implications.

Quantum key distribution (QKD) offers a very strong property called everlasting security, which says if authentication is unbroken during the execution of QKD, the generated key remains information-theoretically secure indefinitely. For this purpose, we propose the use of certain universal hashing based MACs for use in QKD, which are fast, very efficient with key material, and are shown to be highly secure. Universal hash functions are ubiquitous in computer science with many applications ranging from quantum key distribution and information security to data structures and parallel computing. In QKD, they are used at least for authentication, error correction, and privacy amplification. Using results from Cohen [Duke Math. J., 1954], we also construct some new families of $\varepsilon$-almost-$\Delta$-universal hash function families which have much better collision bounds than the well-known Polynomial Hash. Then we propose a general method for converting any such family to an $\varepsilon$-almost-strongly universal hash function family, which makes them useful in a wide range of applications, including authentication in QKD.

In today’s everlasting technological world, information and data communication create more devices stay connected to the internet. This lead to achieving development for building different software and internet connection very inexpensive this affected privacy and security. Security today became of the most important issue because day-by-day new technologies are put forward for different purposes of study while these come with a lot of vulnerabilities which makes the exploitation of the data. IoT is also such kind technology which is available for exploiting. For preserving information from such type of attacks we use honeypot which serves as a decoy based technology in a network and these are cost effective and works as a deception model which entice attackers with low vulnerabilities and security. Here are how honeypots used to defend IoT devices from being attacked and gather information about the attackers’ device.

This paper proposes NetVote, an internet voting protocol where usability and ease in deployment are a priority. We introduce the notion of strict coercion resistance, to distinguish between vote-buying and coercion resistance. We propose a protocol with ballot secrecy, practical everlasting privacy, verifiability and strict coercion resistance in the re-voting setting. Coercion is mitigated via a random dummy vote padding strategy to hide voting patterns and make re-voting deniable. This allows us to build a filtering phase with linear complexity, based on zero knowledge proofs to ensure correctness while maintaining privacy of the process. Voting tokens are formed by anonymous credentials and pseudorandom identifiers, achieving practical everlasting privacy, where even if dealing with a future computationally unbounded adversary, vote intention is still hidden. It is not assumed for voters to own cryptographic keys prior to the election, nor store cryptographic material during the election. This property allows voters not only to vote multiple times, but also from different devices each time, granting the voter a vote-from-anywhere experience. This paper builds on top of the paper published in CISIS’19. In this version, we modify the filtering. Moreover, we formally define the padding technique, which allows us to perform the linear filtering scheme. Similarly we provide more details on the protocol itself and include a section of the security analysis, where we include the formal definitions of strict coercion resistance and a game based definition of practical everlasting privacy. Finally, we prove that NetVote satisfies them all.

Internet of Things is an emerging technology in the modern world and its network is expanding constantly. Meanwhile, IoT devices are a soft target and vulnerable to attackers. The battle between malware attackers and security analysts is persistent and everlasting. Because malware is evolving constantly and thus asserting pressure on researchers and security analysts to cope up with modern threats by improving their defense systems. Complexity and diversity of current malicious software present immense challenges for protecting IoT networks from malware attacks. In this paper, we have explored the potential of neural networks for detection and classification of malware using IoT network dataset comprising of total 4,61,043 records with 3,00,000 as benign while 1,61,043 as malicious. With the proposed methodology, malware is detected with an accuracy of 94.17% while classified with 97.08% accuracy

This article examined the repositioning of science and technology education for security and economic growth and development in Nigeria. The wreck on the nation's image by the incidences of insurgency has caused negative effects on the nation's security and economic development. Security issues are presently major challenges in Nigeria, especially in Northern Nigeria. Furthermore, the continuous rise in insecurity and deterioration in the economic development in Nigeria has called for concern among researchers and policymakers over the years. This article highlights the need for rebranding Nigerians through the internal process of repositioning the science and technology education system for national security and economic sustainability. Literature and other research papers using to gather information. The paper recommends that the nation adopt a proactive approach to improving the teaching and learning of science and technology education professionally and empowering youth while taking everlasting measures to curtail the issues of insurgencies in Nigeria. In other words, we need to reposition our youth's mental reasoning and economically empower them to certify the demands of the modern world. Repositioning Nigerian is one of the fruitful tools to achieve this objective, and rebranding directs the power and energy of Nigerians toward academic and productive goals

While it is a rather common business practice, Internet marketing is still an area that continues to evolve and adapt. One of the everlasting challenges associated with this field is being able to insure that the online transactions take place in a secure setting. This construct of security appears to be multidimensional since it can include issues associated with secure ordering, hacker protection, firewalls, identity theft, etc. While the privacy of the online consumers has to be protected, it is important for the marketers to identify the users on the Internet to collect a profile of their interests so that they can adjust their site contents accordingly and deliver advertisements that appeal to their specific preferences. Whether the ultimate purpose is to custom-tailor the online messages or offer appropriate product/service options, it is imperative that the identity of the online consumers needs to be authenticated to make sure that there is no security breach in completing the online marketing transactions. This paper reviews some of the ongoing efforts in preventing the potential intrusions in online practices.

Fungal infections are everlasting health challenges all over the world, bringing about great financial and medical burdens. Here, inspired by the natural competition law of beneficial bacteria against other microbes, we present novel living microneedles (LMNs) with functionalized bacteria encapsulation for efficient fungal infection treatment. The chosen beneficial bacterial components, Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis), which are naturally found on the human skin and widely used for food processing, can get nutrients from the skin and escape from the immune system with the help of microneedles. Besides, the encapsulated B. subtilis can continuously produce and secrete various potential antifungal agents which can directly bind to fungal cell surface-associated proteins and destruct the cell membranes, thus avoiding drug resistance. After immobilization in the LMNs, the bacteria can stay within the LMNs without invasion and the encapsulated bacteria together with microneedles can be removed after application. Thus, the side effects, especially the risk for subsequent bacterial infections, are controlled to a minimum to ensure security. In addition, strong penetrability of the microneedles enhances penetration of antifungal agents, and their heights can be adjusted according to the infected depth to acquire better therapeutic effects. These features make the LMNs potentially valuable for clinical applications.

The fisherman caught a quantum fish. "Fisherman, please let me go", begged the fish, "and I will grant you three wishes". The fisherman agreed. The fish gave the fisherman a quantum computer, three quantum signing tokens and his classical public key. The fish explained: "to sign your three wishes, use the tokenized signature scheme on this quantum computer, then show your valid signature to the king, who owes me a favor". The fisherman used one of the signing tokens to sign the document "give me a castle!" and rushed to the palace. The king executed the classical verification algorithm using the fish's public key, and since it was valid, the king complied. The fisherman's wife wanted to sign ten wishes using their two remaining signing tokens. The fisherman did not want to cheat, and secretly sailed to meet the fish. "Fish, my wife wants to sign ten more wishes". But the fish was not worried: "I have learned quantum cryptography following the previous story (The Fisherman and His Wife by the brothers Grimm). The quantum tokens are consumed during the signing. Your polynomial wife cannot even sign four wishes using the three signing tokens I gave you". "How does it work?" wondered the fisherman. "Have you heard of quantum money? These are quantum states which can be easily verified but are hard to copy. This tokenized quantum signature scheme extends Aaronson and Christiano's quantum money scheme, which is why the signing tokens cannot be copied". "Does your scheme have additional fancy properties?" the fisherman asked. "Yes, the scheme has other security guarantees: revocability, testability and everlasting security. Furthermore, if you're at sea and your quantum phone has only classical reception, you can use this scheme to transfer the value of the quantum money to shore", said the fish, and swam away.

Researchers are facing significant challenges to develop robust energy-efficient clustering and routing protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in different areas such as military, agriculture, education, industry, environmental monitoring, etc. WSNs have made an everlasting imprint on everyone’s lives. The bulk of existing routing protocols has focused on cluster head election while disregarding other important aspects of routing including cluster formation, data aggregation, and security, among others. Although cluster-based routing has made a significant contribution to tackling this issue, the cluster head (CH) selection procedure may still be improved by integrating critical characteristics. Nature-inspired algorithms are gaining traction as a viable solution for addressing important challenges in WSNs, such as sensor lifespan and transmission distance. Despite this, the sensor node batteries cannot be changed when installed in a remote or unsupervised area due to their wireless nature. As a result, numerous researches are being done to lengthen the life of a node span. The bulk of existing node clustering techniques suffers from non-uniform cluster head distribution, an imbalanced load difficulty within clusters, concerning left-out nodes, coverage area, and placement according to a recent study. Metaheuristic algorithms (DE, GA, PSO, ACO, SFO, and GWO) have the advantages of being simple, versatile, and derivation-free, as well as effectively utilizing the network’s energy resource by grouping nodes into clusters to increase the lifespan of the entire network. In this paper, we explore recently used hybridization techniques (DE-GA, GA-PSO, PSO-ACO, PSO-ABC, PSO-GWO, etc.) for bio-inspired algorithms to improve the energy efficiency of WSNs. This paper also discusses how critical issues can be addressed by speeding up the implementation process, how more efficient data can be transferred, as well as how energy consumption can be reduced by using bio-inspired hybrid optimization algorithms.

Solar Energy is an everlasting source of energy with minimal carbon footprint. However, due to lack of reliability and consistency it needs to be converted into more reliable and effective means that can be used to provide energy on demand. Hydrogen is a promising carrier and is thus an efficient mean of energy to be converted in, stored and transported. A more direct approach towards harnessing Solar Energy is by photo-aided generation of hydrogen via splitting of water using photolysis. Photocatalytic water splitting is therefore a promising method for future energy security. On the other hand strain sensing is a useful technique to measure medium range loads in trusses or tension rods & can easily replace the existing fragile & expensive semiconductor based sensors. This was done by using a composite of TiO2 /Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO); TiO2 (anatase) was synthesized via sol-gel process and the main precursor was titanium tetrapropoxide (Ttip). Titania (anatase) characterized by XRD and photo spectrometry while Graphene oxide was synthesized via modified Hummer’s Method. The obtained Reduce Graphene Oxide was dispersed using Sodium Dodecyl Benzene (SDB) and Hydrazine Hydrate. A drastic synergetic effect was found by simply mixing RGO with TiO2 Solution. This not only broadened the photoactivity spectrum of TiO2 from UV region to the more available visible light radiation but also exhibit strain sensing properties and considerable tunable gauge factor. The photocatalytic effect of our composite was tested by coating it over Polycarbonate & then analyzing emitted gas bubbles in a UV radiation chamber while strain sensing was done by coating it on an elastic substrate & applying loads against values of resistance which were measured. This study will also include the reduction of recombination and band gap of TiO2 in order to synchronize it with the available Solar Spectrum thus maximizing solar-to-hydrogen efficiency.

With the rise of quantum technologies, data security increasingly relies on quantum cryptography and its most notable application, quantum key distribution (QKD). Yet, current technological limitations, in particular, the unavailability of quantum repeaters, cause relatively low key distribution rates in practical QKD implementations. Here, we demonstrate a remarkable improvement in the QKD performance using end-to-end line tomography for the wide class of relevant protocols. Our approach is based on the real-time detection of interventions in the transmission channel, enabling an adaptive response that modifies the QKD setup and post-processing parameters, leading, thereby, to a substantial increase in the key distribution rates. Our findings provide everlastingly secure efficient quantum cryptography deployment potentially overcoming the repeaterless rate-distance limit.

A mature, wise, successful and concluding diplomatic action would be recorded if the international community would not have ignored the Yugoslav crisis in its beginning, and if it would conference less for the same matter without finding a solution, but it would hold a single international conference for the serious crisis in Yugoslavia, with serious partners and allies, lead by the USA.Why did this not happen, at least in Dayton, when such a crisis had already passed four years since its inception? The answer is rather flagellant for the international community, because unfortunately, in relevant circles of political and diplomatic force, the determination and courage for a consolidated and decisive action for a solution was not created yet.In this conference, a third one in the series (after the ones in the Hague and London) addressing the crisis in former Yugoslavia, determination, courage and bravehood was only on the side of one single international factor, the USA. It had all that, after all failing efforts of the EU in resolving this piece of the crisis, which was now being dealt with by the USA and the Dayton Conference, without having the potential or the pretence to put a halt to the wholesome crisis which had already metastasized throughout the former SFRY area.The Dayton Conference had delegated the Kosovo problem to the Contact Group, together with other matters disputable with the political order in the former Yugoslavia, until a final settlement of peace. For a long time, it was said that the Kosovo issue would have to be tackled by a future diplomatic cycle.The Dayton Peace was considered to be the concluding act of the former Yugoslav dissolution and reconstruction crisis. Disputable matters, left to the competency of the Contact Group, were more related to crisis management, preservation of provisional balances, ensuring mediation and presence of international institutions for the purpose of monitoring. The Contact Group had no power to reach decisions on political and geo-political matters. It would only operate within the framework of the Dayton Peace.[1]The Dayton Conference ruined all hopes of Albanians that something could be done to solve the Kosovo issue, with the same way Kosovo continued to trace, peaceful, subordinating and humiliating. It was ultimately recognized that other paths should be pursued to achieve the everlasting goal of freedom and independence.If what happened, or better said, if what was necessarily to happen for the future of Kosovo, the Liberation War, lead and commanded by the Kosovo Liberation Army, did not happen, Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, the whole region, would still be living in the suffocating stink of blood and gunpowder, in the nightmare of war and genocide, which was rising to an unprecedented tragedy. The Liberation War of Kosovo, with its extent, sobered and cleared, provoked and appealed to the international community to act, as it acted, breaking the taboos established by rules of a past time, and by setting a more solid and serious cornerstone of consolidation of a new political and diplomatic system, which would be more active and more fruitful. With a view of creating a different world, a world of emancipation, hope, courage and progress, this war (KLA war, author note) ultimately detached the international community from the illusion that it had been saved from the Balkan with the Dayton Agreement. The Contact Group – was the most concrete body which could be imagined under a shadow “international community” – was in favour of a compromise, a type of a conflict regulation, which was rightfully unfavoured in the Balkan. (the Contact Group, a group of “great powers” – United States, Russia, Germany, Great Britain and France – was created in 1994, with a view of revitalizing the former International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia ( ICFY ).[2]The EU was rather complex and deeply divided in terms of the Yugoslav crisis. The three most powerful countries, Germany, France and Great Britain, had very different political approaches to the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia. By such approaches, each of the states persisted to use the crisis in ensuring their individual positions inside the EU, starting from political influences and up to the future concepts of European security.[3]Setting from these discrepancies and detractions of policies and interests of greater powers of Europe, and the impossibility of approximating and unifying these extremes, to make Europe a Union in its essence and full meaning of the word, the actions of the USA in resolving the crisis are comprehensible and justifiable. Being the leader and decisive in partial attacks of the Northern Atlantic Alliance, to come to a peace conference by coercion, similar to the Dayton, it was not possible to tackle the whole Yugoslav crisis at one go, in a single conference. In fact, a prior well-studied concept had been missing, because knowing the circumstances and other factors, there would be no one to deal with the matter in terms of coming to a solution. This had another reason, the scepticism of the US in being able to cope with such a large chaos, in terms of tackling the whole Yugoslav problem, which had grown for almost a full century.[1] ALBANIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE (Centre of Albanian Encyclopedia): Kosovo in an encyclopedic view, Toena, Tirana, 1999, pg. 139.[2] Reymond DETREZ: KOSOVO. DE UITGESTELDE OORLOG, translated from Dutch by: Mirela Shuteriqi, Tirana, 2004, pg. 143.[3] Visnja STARESINA: VJEZBE U LABORATORIJU BALLKAN, Neklada Ljevak d.o.o., Zagreb, 2004, pg.49.

The complexity of everyday life, which brings countless challenges, confrontations, obstacles and, of course, beautiful moments, certainly goes beyond the simplified picture that is visible in the public only on the basis of the final “product”. Sport is a segment of society in which the result is clearly visible, and on the basis of which those more or less successful are ranked, but there is a harsh limit beyond which the effort invested is incomparably less appreciated and the achieved result is not adequately valued in society and the media. That dividing line is usually placed before the fourth place and is symbolized by the medals and other awards to those who place above and the certainty of sinking into oblivion for the others. Through research on Yugoslav and Serbian athletes whose greatest achievement at the Olympic and Paralympic Games was the fourth place (a total of 75 Olympic and 13 Paralympic athletes) and also through subsequent conversations with some of them, this global phenomenon, which permeates the world of sports and other segments of society, comes into the limelight. At the same time, through this work, the exceptional results of the athletes from this region are saved from oblivion. Looking at the answers to the key question, it is obvious that the interviewees mostly feel regret, i.e. regret for the missed opportunity to win a medal, often mixed with the feelings of pride, especially when their results are viewed from today’s perspective, bearing in mind that athletes think of the Games as the greatest event in sports. “Being fourth” is an everlasting phenomenon having no end and no unique conclusion, getting new heroes again and again. This paper is an adapted segment, both theoretical and research-based, of the book “Being fourth: Champions without an Olympic medal” (Predrag Đ. Bajić with students of Faculty of Sport, 2021, publisher: Faculty of Sport). The book emphasizes the importance of “the fourth place” through the social and media prism and lists all the athletes whose greatest success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games was the fourth place, starting from the debut of the Olympic athletes in Stockholm in 1912 and the Paralympic athletes in Heidelberg in 1972 to the Tokyo 2021 Games. The condition for selecting athletes was that they competed under the flags of the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and/or the Republic of Serbia. The list also included the athletes in individual sports who competed in Barcelona 1992 as independent Olympic and Paralympic participants without any national symbols, as a result of the UN Security Council’s sanctions against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Finally, the list included those who had no “playing time” but were part of the national team in team sports and those who, at some point in their lives, competed for other countries, provided that they did not win a medal at the Games under their flags. In the book “Being fourth: Champions without an Olympic medal”, the research described in this paper is a segment of a project that includes examples of the practical power of an interview as a journalistic genre in shedding light on this phenomenon through the life stories of 22 athletes whose greatest success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games was the fourth place (Boris Čukvas, Ištvan Semeredi, Franciska Ševarac, Srećko Pejović, Dragan Pantelić, Nikica Klinčarski, Miloš Šestić, Zlatko Vujović, Slobodanka Čolović Maričić, Dragana Pešić Belojević, Nataša Kolega, Svetlana Vujčić, Milan Živić, Dragutin Topić, Dejan Perić, Nedeljko Jovanović, Dragan Škrbić, Nenad Peruničić, Željko Čeliković, Zorana Arunović, Tina Krajišnik and Maja Škorić). This is also illustrated by numerous photos and newspaper reports from the day they reached the fourth place. After these interviews, 6 more athletes who, in addition to the fourth place, also have an Olympic medal, spoke about the phenomenon (Mirko Nišović, Tomislav Ivković, Radomir Rakonjac, Mirjana Đurica Vermezović, Borislava Perić Ranković and Damir Mikec). In this way, a material trace has been left for the years ahead. The collected data were sorted, supplemented and corrected through the conversations with the actual participants, emphasizing the importance of remembering and knowing the past. The project “Being fourth” started as an integral part of practical classes in sports journalism and research skills in the second year of study at the Faculty of Sport of the University “Union – Nikola Tesla” in Belgrade. It was later expanded to include students of other years of study. The goal was to present the “the fourth place” phenomenon as a relevant concept that is recognized not only in sports, but also in the wider social community, and to do so in ways specific to journalism studies. In addition to Predrag Bajić, 24 students from the department of sports journalism took part in the realization of the book. These are the following: Uroš Selenić, Aleksa Janković, Elena Deleva, Đorđe Samoilović, Dušan Fatić, Stefan Stanković, Aleksandar Stajkovac, Ognjen Borjanović, Aleksandar Filipović, Filip Ljubisavljević, Anđelija Ratić, Dušan Krstić, Miloš Dragović, David Radanović, Miloš Petrović, Sara Đorđević, Aleksandar Brežanin, Boško Petrović, Ana Ratković, Nemanja Andrić, Ivan Miletić, Stefan Branežac, Vukić Stojanović and Atanasije Nikolić. The editor was professor Radivoje Petrović, and the reviewers were professors Zoran Jevtović, Vladimir Koprivica and Zoran Aracki. The book also pays tribute to the late founder and dean of the Faculty of Sport, professor Ivanka Gajić. The book promotion was held in the main lecture hall of the Faculty of Sport in Belgrade on March 31, 2022. Among the speakers were Nedeljko Jovanović, fourth at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in handball, professors Radivoje Petrović and Vladimir Koprivica, Jelena Arunović, who is Zorana Arunović’s coach (Zorana finished fourth in shooting both at the London 2012 and Tokyo 2021 Games) and Predrag Bajić. Moreover, on behalf of all the students who took part in the project, Elena Deleva gave a speech, Bojan Sekulić, the president of the Faculty Council, addressed the audience and the promotion program was led by Filip Ljubisavljević. Also, other participants of the book spoke at the promotion. Parts of the book were edited and published in the form of a serial in the Independent Daily Newspaper “Vesti” through 28 articles in the period between June 7 and July 9/10, 2022. They were also published on the Web portal of this daily newspaper.

AbstractEverlasting security models the setting where hardness assumptions hold during the execution of a protocol but may get broken in the future. Due to the strength of this adversarial model, achieving any meaningful security guarantees for composable protocols is impossible without relying on hardware assumptions (Müller-Quade and Unruh, JoC’10). For this reason, a rich line of research has tried to leverage physical assumptions to construct well-known everlasting cryptographic primitives, such as commitment schemes. The only known everlastingly UC secure commitment scheme, due to Müller-Quade and Unruh (JoC’10), assumes honestly generated hardware tokens. The authors leave the possibility of constructing everlastingly UC secure commitments from malicious hardware tokens as an open problem. Goyal et al. (Crypto’10) constructs unconditionally UC-secure commitments and secure computation from malicious hardware tokens, with the caveat that the honest tokens must encapsulate other tokens. This extra restriction rules out interesting classes of hardware tokens, such as physically uncloneable functions (PUFs). In this work, we present the first construction of an everlastingly UC-secure commitment scheme in the fully malicious token model without requiring honest token encapsulation. Our scheme assumes the existence of PUFs and is secure in the common reference string model. We also show that our results are tight by giving an impossibility proof for everlasting UC-secure computation from non-erasable tokens (such as PUFs), even with trusted setup.

This paper provides and analyses a new scheme to address the issue of everlasting cloud storage access systems by providing AES Algorithm based solution. Addressing the issue of Data storage in the recent times is the aim of the paper and is being done using the recent AES Algorithm. Data security and time constraint for data retrival from the cloud server is also taken into account while implementing the scheme

The Blockchain is a release and dispersed ledger. Latest communications and information can be added on to a blockchain but precedent information cannot be obliterated. The Blockchain operation connecting two or more parties is confirmable and everlasting verification of information. In present system A BaaS platform which grant blockchain tune-up over cloud computing system exploitation and method supervising, smart convention investigation with analysis. This research work nearby consistency of BaaS communications. Looking for more exhaustive and adaptable assessment technique for BaaS communications. Transaction through blockchain technology is more secure and reliable, and it collaborate with decentralized cloud computing will get more reliability. The proposed investigation exertion can affect merkle tree in the deliberated algorithm on smart convention presentation optimization and involuntary refurbish. In this system merkle tree allows competent and protected authentication of huge data structures. Our proposed system include a trusted authority or a cloud provider to become a distribute service provider. Each dealer sends their IoT data with communication integrity, authentication code to the cloud server. Every consumer gives to the proceedings they are concerned in on the cloud. Every supplier becomes authenticated data generator on the cloud. Like this, examination contributors otherwise the users know how to optimize applicable apparatus or obtain equivalent defensive procedures according to the evaluation results. The smart contracts deployments and function calls within that block get executed on the node that mines the block cloud based IoT ecosystem proposed by many companies. All IoT devices communicate to the cloud and get global state info from the cloud. Blockchain technology integrated with cloud avoids cyber attack on cloud.

Background: Bangladesh is a developing country; so, it is faced with the great challenge of food insecurity. In spite of achieving self-sufficiency in food production, a huge number of people experience the food insecure situation in this country. Since long time ago, scientists are striving to feed the growing population of Bangladesh. However, this study was conducted to assess the present situation of food security in Bangladesh. Methods: This systematic study investigated the available literature and recorded the related and different dimensions of food security in Bangladesh. Results: Bangladesh has made remarkable improvements in food availability, access, and utilization in the last few decades, but it is not the case regarding the food stability. The country experiences numerous challenges regarding food insecurity. Bangladesh has made significant improvement in cereals (rice) production. Despite the increase in the income of people, the food quality is not good. Unequal land ownership and income distribution have made the food access below par. Food utilization has improved but balanced food intake is still far below the standard. A notable portion of people are still severly food insecure and malnourished. To ensure food security, government of Bangladesh has undertaken several programs but they were not sufficient to cope with this everlasting issue. Conclusion: Despite the improvement in many aspects of food security, people of Bangladesh still lack dietary diversification, which leads to nutritional imbalance. In addition, several factors challenge the food security. Therefore, GOs and NGOs should work from the same platform to address the challenges affecting food security in Bangladesh efficiently.

Since 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an extremely high impact on all facets of the society and will potentially have an everlasting impact for years to come. In response to this, over the past years, there have been a significant number of research efforts on exploring approaches to combat COVID-19. In this paper, we present a survey of the current research efforts on using mobile Internet of Thing (IoT) devices, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and telemedicine for COVID-19 detection and prediction. We first present the background and then present current research in this field. Specifically, we present the research on COVID-19 monitoring and detection, contact tracing, machine learning based approaches, telemedicine, and security. We finally discuss the challenges and the future work that lay ahead in this field before concluding this paper.

The long-lasting conflict between Israel and the Palestinians led to many consequences, unwanted by both sides. Both intentional and unintentional policy decisions brought about extreme security measures taken by Israel which heavily influence Israeli and Palestinian economics and welfare, especially the food market and trade. Right now, it is very hard to trade from both sides since there are too many restrictions, regulations and rules. Public policies in the issues called controlling hurt not only the markets, but the country system itself as public policies have made a very hard criteria to match while trading, especially in the food market, and it led to major losses in welfare on both sides. Moreover, policies that are intended to deal with supply and demand are constantly in a danger zone because of the everlasting conflict, which have major impacts on economy as a whole, and particularly food markets. Examples of such disasters are the following: leaking of nuclear energy and natural disasters and significant changes in the geopolitical arena which leaves both sides uncertain about their future.

Financial transactions in a cashless global are carried out the usage of virtual statistics in place of real banknotes or coins (commonly an digital illustration of cash). [1] Cashless civilizations have existed for the reason that sunrise of human civilization, primarily based totally on barter and different varieties of exchange, and cashless transactions at the moment are possible utilizing credit score playing cards, debit playing cards, cellular bills, and virtual currencies which include bitcoin. However, this newsletter makes a speciality of the term "cashless society" withinside the feel of a motion toward, and implications of, a society wherein coins is changed with the aid of using its virtual equal—in different words, criminal tender (cash) exists, is recorded, and is most effective traded in digital virtual form. A few publications of movement may be coupled to attain a everlasting and applicable result for customers in a cashless society to boom privateness: A new kind of banking carrier that assigns randomised numbers to credit score playing cards, using blockchain to song all man or woman transactions, and a marketing campaign to train and tell key stakeholders approximately safety and privateness dangers so that they have got the gear and historical past expertise to guard their personal statistics earlier than coping with a overseas entity or different 1/3 events (i.e. cybersecurity departments, IT technicians, etc). Both blockchain and card variety randomization are liable to zero-day vulnerabilities, flaws, and ranging ranges of social acceptance. This exploratory observe makes use of a structures evaluation of cashless structures to perceive and have a look at a fixed of social and technical alternatives for a robust cashless gadget that protects customers' privateness even as keeping gadget safety. The statistics amassed and evaluated may be beneficial in uncovering flaws in present day facts integrity and safety procedures. In order to create preemptive countermeasures, it might be useful to study gift and destiny strategies of dealing with privateness and facts safety withinside the contemporary-day age. In a cashless gadget, this studies identifies essential techniques to keep away from the loss of private privateness.

The majority organizations associate blockchain technology with the financial services manufacturing, it has concealed use within the manufacturing, government, healthcare, and education sectors as well. The Block chain is an unlock and dispersed ledger. The Blockchain contract between two or more parties is confirmable and everlasting documentation. The Proposed System is smart market system, in this system Producers can sell the product directly in the market under the municipal counsil supervision or through online using block chain technology in cloud environment. The planned work is to intend a decentralized cloud server. We are powerful authentication where the information regarding all the products is encrypted. Those who have registered in the system come to know the product details about selling and purchasing. A highly developed method in cryptography can be used to address the issue of confidentiality, and some system could even monitor how much contact persons have. The blockchain technology is united with cloud computing to offer the enlarged transparency and efficient market system. The proposed research work can apply merkle tree in the designed algorithm on smart contracts performance optimization and automatic repair. We acquire benefits of the scattered confirmation security of the Blockchain technology for financial transaction verification and influence smart contracts for protected service organization. In this system bitcoin, cryptocurrencies or any other money transfer mechanism is used for transaction. Without a third party dealings may get more profit for both sides. Different types of on-site circumstances are collected and checked by installing sensors that are IoT devices in different services, and on-site calculating devices are restricted slightly if required.

Abstract We present a device-independent protocol for oblivious transfer (DIOT) and analyze its security under the assumption that the receiver's quantum storage is bounded during protocol execution and that the device behaves independently and identically in each round. We additionally require that, for each device component, the input corresponding to the choice of measurement basis, and the resulting output, is communicated only with the party holding that component. Our protocol is everlastingly secure and, compared to previous DIOT protocols, it is less strict about the non-communication assumptions that are typical from protocols that use Bell inequality violations; instead, the device-independence comes from a protocol for self-testing of a single (quantum) device which makes use of a post-quantum computational assumption.

Purpose The purpose of this study/paper Manipulating Golden Wombs’ (2017) is to show the author’s non-site intervention of authoritarian – undemocratic maneuvering of both women’s and earth’s “golden” wombs. The burning fossil fuels in myriads of flame colors, signal the power and distress of Earth’s wounded womb, memories of war, environmental destruction and human fatality, and descend to decline as extinguished Oil Drops (2017), creating a void. Global warming poses a problem for fossil fuel systems and those who profit from them. Design/methodology/approach The title of this paper has been inspired by Cara New Dagget’s book, The Birth of Energy (2019), posited in the nascent realm of energy “mortalities.” Now, confronting a world warmed by sweltering fossil fuels, the book provides us with a direction to thinking energy beyond the “Calvinist view” of everlasting work. Spellbound by Manipulating Golden Wombs’ (2017), the audience canter around the outer surface of the centrally positioned, circulating luminous “acrylic” oil drops highlighted by hundreds of mono-frequency lamps impregnated with desert biodiversity. A closer look takes spectators through a fiery desert, across the fossil fuel fields into the depths of its scorching oil wells, its womb, as they sense the “real-time” catastrophe that had occurred beyond the gallery wall. Findings These artists’ objective with their interventions is to “root it to the contour of the […] land, so that it’s permanently there and subject to the weathering,” so the audience is “sort of curious to see what will happen to this” (Schmidt, 1996, 225) through the course of time. The works resists the resistance of nature and social culture, as well as of body and intellect by emphasizing the intransience, however complex, of human beings with the ecosphere in which they survive (Novak 2002, 23). The surfacing of the under-surface of the land and ocean life triggers the idea of the private space, which involves role-play, gender norms and the control over women's lives in the capitalist and Gulf societies. Authoritarianism, fossil fuel capital, high-energy use and militarism make the climate politics critical to planetary security. This combustible convergence gave birth to Manipulating Golden Wombs’ (2017). Research limitations/implications Ganz reminds us that devouring less energy appears to be almost unharmonious with the current politics of being “Modern.” Sacrificing energy resonances with abstinence at best, and widespread death and injustice at worst. But, consuming an overload of energy is incompatible with a multispecies existence on Earth. Scientists caution “a cascade of feedbacks could push the Earth System irreversibly onto a ‘Hothouse Earth’ pathway,” the consequence of which could be an uninhabitable, unsafe globe for beings (Steffen et al., 2018). Even though it sounds vivid, it is hard to overstate the crisis in the midst of what environmentalists and biologists term as a sixth extinction event (Kolbert, 2014), in line with a “biological annihilation” that paints “a dismal picture of the future of life, including human life” (Ceballos et al., 2017). Practical implications It is not only the land’s womb that we have hurt; we have miffed the hearts of the water network, and “Othered” and the wombs of many women and most surfaces of the Earth have been penetrated, unconsented! To sustain a biodiverse sphere, to pause the deaths of the planet’s flora and fauna and to thrive on Earth, we need to work on renewable sources of energy based on “new collectively shared values, principles, and frameworks” (Steffen et al., 2018). We need to stop Manipulating Golden Wombs’ (2017). Are we ready to accept the challenge? (Lau and Traulsen, 2016) Social implications Petro-masculinity has multiple global dimensions and manifests in multiple and locally specific ways (Dagget, 2018). This encourages the geographically diverse artists discussed in this paper to embrace alternative visions, to make bold and explicit statements on gender and global diversity, equity and rights. Through history, women, in specific, embodied the entirety of the Ecocene and its life cycle and explored it in the context of their own relationships, health, sexuality, fertility, reproduction, childbirth, illness and inescapably death. The artists’ interventions’ visual physiognomies and intentions point toward a comprehensive agenda of action that leads to remedial courses toward reinstating the biome to a healthy condition. Originality/value Manipulating Golden Wombs’ (2017) enacts the historic all-consuming fires, penetrating the “shared environment,” burning the fossilized fuels exuding from Earth’s penetrated womb. The higher cone-shaped oil drops irradiate the intense dazzling images of oil wells in flames and the desert flora and fauna nestled within the scorching inner arena. This aligns with the private space provided to women. The wombs are smothered in the fuming fires of the Gulf war. The darker, narrower lower oil drops, iconic of the remnants of fossil fuel, are the residual sludge within which the land and water species are enmeshed and ensnared to death. The potency of the enactment of the drops “enables the viewer to see [him/]herself seeing, to become aware of how she perceives the world around [him/]her and in doing so participates in shaping it” (Eliasson, 2009, p. 25) as a form of engagement, which involves an “attention to time, movement and changeability” (pp. 18–21).

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. —John Milton (1608-1674) Introduction The publication of 12 cartoons depicting images of Prophet Mohammed [Peace Be Upon Him] first in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005, and later reprinted in European media and two New Zealand newspapers, sparked protests around the Muslim world. The Australian newspapers – with the exception of The Courier-Mail, which published one cartoon – refrained from reprinting the cartoons, acknowledging that depictions of the Prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims”. How is this apparent act of restraint to be assessed? Edward Said, in his book Covering Islam has acknowledged that there have been many Muslim provocations and troubling incidents by Islamic countries such as Iran, Libya, Sudan, and others in the 1980s. However, he contends that the use of the label “Islam” by non-Muslim commentators, either to explain or indiscriminately condemn “Islam”, ends up becoming a form of attack, which in turn provokes more hostility (xv-xvi). This article examines how two Australian newspapers – The Australian and The West Australian – handled the debate on the Prophet Muhammad cartoons and considers whether in the name of “free speech” it ended in “a form of attack” on Australian Muslims. It also considers the media’s treatment of Muslim Australians’ “free speech” on previous occasions. This article is drawn from the oral testimonies of Muslims of diverse ethnic background. Since 1998, as part of PhD and post-doctoral research on Muslims in Australia, the author conducted 130 face-to-face, in-depth, taped interviews of Muslims, aged 18-90, both male and female. While speaking about their settlement experience, several interviewees made unsolicited remarks about Western/Australian media, all of them making the point that Muslims were being demonised. Australian Muslims Many of Australia’s 281,578 Muslims — 1.5 per cent of the total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics) — believe that as a result of media bias, they are vilified in society as “terrorists”, and discriminated in the workplace (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Dreher 13; Kabir 266-277). The ABS figures support their claim of discrimination in the workplace; in 1996 the unemployment rate for Muslim Australians was 25 per cent, compared to 9 per cent for the national total. In 2001, it was reduced to 18.5 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent for the national total, but the ratio of underprivileged positions in the labour market remained almost three times higher than for the wider community. Instead of reflecting on Muslims’ labour market issues or highlighting the social issues confronting Muslims since 9/11, some Australian media, in the name of “free speech”, reinforce negative perceptions of Muslims through images, cartoons and headlines. In 2004, one Muslim informant offered their perceptions of Australian media: I think the Australian media are quite prejudiced, and they only do show one side of the story, which is quite pro-Bush, pro-Howard, pro-war. Probably the least prejudiced media would be ABC or SBS, but the most pro-Jewish, pro-America, would be Channel Seven, Channel Nine, Channel Ten. They only ever show things from one side of the story. This article considers the validity of the Muslim interviewee’s perception that Australian media representation is one-sided. On 26 October 2005, under the headline: “Draw a Cartoon about Mohammed and You Must Die”, The Australian warned its readers: ISLAM is no laughing matter. Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, is being protected by security guards and several cartoonists have gone into hiding after the newspaper published a series of 12 cartoons about the prophet Mohammed. According to Islam, it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet. Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to bomb the paper’s offices and kill the cartoonists (17). Militant Muslims The most provocative cartoons appearing in the Danish media are probably those showing a Muhammad-like figure wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse coming out of it, or a queue of smoking suicide bombers on a cloud with an Islamic cleric saying, “Stop stop we have run out of virgins”. Another showed a blindfolded Muslim man with two veiled Muslim women standing behind him. These messages appeared to be concerned with Islam’s repression of women (Jyllands-Posten), and possibly with the American channel CBS airing an interview in August 2001 of a Palestinian Hamas activist, Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: “I described to him [the suicide bomber] how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness” (The Guardian). Perhaps to serve their goals, the militants have re-interpreted the verses of the Holy Quran (Sura 44:51-54; 55:56) where it is said that Muslims who perform good deeds will be blessed by the huris or “pure being” (Ali 1290-1291; 1404). However, since 9/11, it is also clear that the Muslim militant groups such as the Al-Qaeda have become the “new enemy” of the West. They have used religion to justify the terrorist acts and suicide bombings that have impacted on Western interests in New York, Washington, Bali, Madrid amongst other places. But it should be noted that there are Muslim critics, such as Pakistani-born writer, Irshad Manji, Bangladeshi-born writer Taslima Nasreen and Somalian-born Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who have been constant critics of Muslim men’s oppression of women and have urged reformation. However, their extremist fellow believers threatened them with a death sentence for their “free speech” (Chadwick). The non-Muslim Dutch film director, Theo van Gogh, also a critic of Islam and a supporter of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, advocated a reduction in immigration into Holland, especially by Muslims. Both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali – who co-scripted and co-produced the film Submission – received death threats from Muslim extremists because the film exhibited the verses of the Quran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl, and featured four women in see-through robes showing their breasts, with texts from the Quran daubed on their bodies, talking about the abuse they had suffered under Islam (Anon 25). Whereas there may be some justification for the claim made in the film, that some Muslim men interpret the Quran to oppress women (Doogue and Kirkwood 220), the writing of the Quranic verses on almost-naked women is surely offensive to all Muslims because the Quran teaches Muslim women to dress modestly (Sura 24: 30-31; Ali 873). On 4 November 2004, The West Australian reported that the Dutch director Theo van Gogh was murdered by a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan Muslim on 2 November 2004 (27). Hirsi Ali, the co-producer of the film was forced to go into hiding after van Gogh’s murder. In the face of a growing clamour from both the Dutch Muslims and the secular communities to silence her, Ayaan Hirsi Ali resigned from the Dutch Parliament in May 2006 and decided to re-settle in Washington (Jardine 2006). It should be noted that militant Muslims form a tiny but forceful minority of the 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide. The Muslim majority are moderate and peaceful (Doogue and Kirkwood 79-80). Some Muslim scholars argue that there is specific instruction in the Quran for people to apply their knowledge and arrive at whatever interpretation is of greatest benefit to the community. It may be that stricter practitioners would not agree with the moderate interpretation of the Quran and vice versa (Doogue and Kirkwood 232). Therefore, when the Western media makes a mockery of the Muslim religion or their Prophet in the name of “free speech”, or generalises all Muslims for the acts of a few through headlines or cartoons, it impacts on the Muslims residing in the West. Prophet Muhammad’s Cartoons With the above-mentioned publication of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in Denmark, Islamic critics charged that the cartoons were a deliberate provocation and insult to their religion, designed to incite hatred and polarise people of different faiths. In February 2006, regrettably, violent reactions took place in the Middle East, Europe and in Asia. Danish embassies were attacked and, in some instances, were set on fire. The demonstrators chanted, “With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!”. Some replaced the Danish flag with a green one printed with the first pillar of Islam (Kalima): “There is no god but God and Mohammed is the messenger of God”. Some considered the cartoons “an unforgivable insult” that merited punishment by death (The Age). A debate on “free speech” soon emerged in newspapers throughout the world. On 7 February 2006 the editorial in The West Australian, “World Has Had Enough of Muslim Fanatics”, stated that the newspaper would not publish cartoons of Mohammad that have drawn protests from Muslims around the world. The newspaper acknowledged that depictions of the prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims” (18). However, the editorial was juxtaposed with another article “Can Liberty Survive a Clash of Cultures?”, with an image of bearded men wearing Muslim head coverings, holding Arabic placards and chanting slogans, implying the violent nature of Islam. And in the letters page of this newspaper, published on the same day, appeared the following headlines (20): Another Excuse for Muslims to Threaten Us Islam Attacked Cartoon Rage: Greatest Threat to World Peace We’re Living in Dangerous Times Why Treat Embassies with Contempt? Muslim Religion Is Not So Soft Civilised World Is Threatened The West Australian is a state-based newspaper that tends to side with the conservative Liberal party, and is designed to appeal to the “man in the street”. The West Australian did not republish the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, but for 8 days from 7 to 15 February 2006 the letters to the editor and opinion columns consistently criticised Islam and upheld “superior” Western secular values. During this period, the newspaper did publish a few letters that condemned the Danish cartoonist, including the author’s letter, which also condemned the Muslims’ attack on the embassies. But the overall message was that Western secular values were superior to Islamic values. In other words, the newspaper adopted a jingoistic posture and asserted the cultural superiority of mainstream Australians. The Danish cartoons also sparked a debate on “free speech” in Australia’s leading newspaper, The Australian, which is a national newspaper that also tends to reflect the values of the ruling national government – also the conservative Liberal party. And it followed a similar pattern of debate as The West Australian. On 14 February 2006, The Australian (13) published a reader’s criticism of The Australian for not republishing the cartoons. The author questioned whether the Muslims deserved any tolerance because their Holy Book teaches intolerance. The Koran [Quran] (22:19) says: Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. Perhaps this reader did not find the three cartoons published in The Australian a few days earlier to be ‘offensive’ to the Australian Muslims. In the first, on 6 February 2006, the cartoonist Bill Leak showed that his head was chopped off by some masked people (8), implying that Muslim militants, such as the Hamas, would commit such a brutal act. The Palestinian Hamas group often appear in masks before the media. In this context, it is important to note that Israel is an ally of Australia and the United States, whereas the Hamas is Israel’s enemy whose political ideology goes against Israel’s national interest. On 25 January 2006, the Hamas won a landslide victory in the Palestine elections but Israel refused to recognise this government because Hamas has not abandoned its militant ideology (Page 13). The cartoon, therefore, probably means that the cartoonist or perhaps The Australian has taken sides on behalf of Australia’s ally Israel. In the second cartoon, on 7 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched an Arab raising his sword over a school boy who was drawing in a classroom. The caption read, “One more line and I’ll chop your hand off!” (12). And in the third, on 10 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched Mr Mohammed’s shadow holding a sword with the caption: “The unacceptable face of fanaticism”. A reporter asked: “And so, Mr Mohammed, what do you have to say about the current crisis?” to which Mr Mohammed replied, “I refuse to be drawn on the subject” (16). The cartoonist also thought that the Danish cartoons should have been republished in the Australian newspapers (Insight). Cartoons are supposed to reflect the theme of the day. Therefore, Bill Leak’s cartoons were certainly topical. But his cartoons reveal that his or The Australian’s “freedom of expression” has been one-sided, all depicting Islam as representing violence. For example, after the Bali bombing on 21 November 2002, Leak sketched two fully veiled women, one carrying explosives under her veil and asking the other, “Does my bomb look big in this”? The cartoonist’s immediate response to criticism of the cartoon in a television programme was, “inevitably, when you look at a cartoon such as that one, the first thing you’ve got to do is remember that as a daily editorial cartoonist, you’re commenting first and foremost on the events of the day. They’re very ephemeral things”. He added, “It was…drawn about three years ago after a spate of suicide bombing attacks in Israel” (Insight). Earlier events also suggested that that The Australian resolutely supports Australia’s ally, Israel. On 13-14 November 2004 Bill Leak caricatured the recently deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in The Weekend Australian (18). In the cartoon, God appeared to be displeased with him and would not allow him to enter paradise. Arafat was shown with explosives strapped to his body and threatening God by saying, “A cloud to myself or the whole place goes up….”. On the other hand, on 6 January 2006 the same cartoonist sympathetically portrayed ailing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon as a decent man wearing a black suit, with God willing to accept him (10); and the next day Sharon was portrayed as “a Man of Peace” (12). Politics and Religion Thus, the anecdotal evidence so far reveals that in the name of “freedom of expression”, or “free speech” The West Australian and The Australian newspapers have taken sides – either glorifying their “superior” Western culture or taking sides on behalf of its allies. On the other hand, these print media would not tolerate the “free speech” of a Muslim leader who spoke against their ally or another religious group. From the 1980s until recently, some print media, particularly The Australian, have been critical of the Egyptian-born Muslim spiritual leader Imam Taj el din al-Hilali for his “free speech”. In 1988 the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils bestowed the title of Mufti to Imam al- Hilali, and al-Hilali was elevated to a position of national religious leadership. Al-Hilali became a controversial figure after 1988 when he gave a speech to the Muslim students at Sydney University and accused Jews of trying to control the world through “sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, treason and economic hoarding” (Hewett 7). The Imam started being identified as a “Muslim chief” in the news headlines once he directly criticised American foreign policy during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis. The Imam interpreted US intervention in Kuwait as a “political dictatorship” that was exploiting the Gulf crisis because it was seen as a threat to its oil supply (Hewett 7). After the Bali bombings in 2002, the Howard government distributed information on terrorism through the “Alert and Alarmed” kit as part of its campaign of public awareness. The first casualty of the “Be alert, but not alarmed” campaign was the Imam al-Hilali. On 6 January 2003, police saw a tube of plastic protruding from a passenger door window and suspected that al-Hilali might have been carrying a gun when they pulled him over for traffic infringements. Sheikh al-Hilali was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police (Morris 1, 4). On 8 January 2003 The Australian reminded its readers “Arrest Adds to Mufti’s Mystery” (9). The same issue of The Australian portrayed the Sheikh being stripped of his clothes by two policemen. The letter page also contained some unsympathetic opinions under the headline: “Mufti Deserved No Special Treatment” (10). In January 2004, al-Hilali was again brought under the spotlight. The Australian media alleged that al-Hilali praised the suicide bombers at a Mosque in Lebanon and said that the destruction of the World Trade Center was “God’s work against oppressors” (Guillatt 24). Without further investigation, The Australian again reported his alleged inflammatory comments. Under the headline, “Muslim Leader’s Jihad Call”, it condemned al-Hilali and accused him of strongly endorsing “terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, during his visit to Lebanon”. Federal Labor Member of Parliament Michael Danby said, “Hilali’s presence in Australia is a mistake. He and his associates must give authorities an assurance he will not assist future homicide attacks” (Chulov 1, 5). Later investigations by Sydney’s Good Weekend Magazine and SBS Television found that al-Hilali’s speech had been mistranslated (Guillatt 24). However, the selected print media that had been very critical of the Sheikh did not highlight the mistranslation. On the other hand, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell has been critical of Islam and is also opposed to Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war in 2003, but the print media appeared to ignore his “free speech” (Dateline). In November 2004, Dr Pell said that secular liberal democracy was empty and selfish, and Islam was emerging as an alternative world view that attracted the alienated (Zwartz 3). In May 2006, Dr Pell said that he tried to reconcile claims that Islam was a faith of peace with those that suggested the Quran legitimised the killings of non-Muslims but: In my own reading of the Koran [Quran], I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages (Morris). Muslim leaders regarded Dr Pell’s anti-Islam statement as “inflammatory” (Morris). However, both the newspapers, The Australian and The West Australian remained uncritical of Dr Pell’s “free speech” against Islam. Conclusion Edward Said believed that media images are informed by official definitions of Islam that serve the interests of government and business. The success of the images is not in their accuracy but in the power of the people who produce them, the triumph of which is hardly challenged. “Labels have survived many experiences and have been capable of adapting to new events, information and realities” (9). In this paper the author accepts that, in the Australian context, militant Muslims are the “enemy of the West”. However, they are also the enemy of most moderate Australian Muslims. When some selected media take sides on behalf of the hegemony, or Australia’s “allies”, and offend moderate Australian Muslims, the media’s claim of “free speech” or “freedom of expression” remains highly questionable. Muslim interviewees in this study have noted a systemic bias in some Australian media, but they are not alone in detecting this bias (see the “Abu Who?” segment of Media Watch on ABC TV, 31 July 2006). To address this concern, Australian Muslim leaders need to play an active role in monitoring the media. This might take the form of a watchdog body within the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. If the media bias is found to be persistent, the AFIC might then recommend legislative intervention or application of existing anti-discrimination policies; alternatively, AFIC could seek sanctions from within the Australian journalistic community. One way or another this practice should be stopped. References Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary. New Revised Ed. Maryland, USA: Amana Corporation, 1989. Anonymous. “Dutch Courage in Aftermath of Film-Maker’s Slaying.” The Weekend Australian 6-7 Nov. 2004. Chadwick, Alex. “The Caged Virgin: A Call for Change in Islam.” 4 June 2006 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5382547>. Chulov, Martin. “Muslim Leader’s Jihad Call.” The Australian 19 Feb. 2004. Dateline. “Cardinal George Pell Interview.” SBS TV 6 April 2005. 7 June 2006 http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/>. Dreher, Tanya. “Targeted”, Experiences of Racism in NSW after September 11, 2001. Sydney: University of Technology, 2005. Doogue, Geraldine, and Peter Kirkwood. Tomorrow’s Islam: Understanding Age-Old Beliefs and a Modern World. Sydney: ABC Books, 2005. Insight. “Culture Clash.” SBS TV 7 March 2006. 11 June 2006 http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/archive.php>. Guillatt, Richard. “Moderate or Menace.” Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend 21 Aug. 2004. Hewett, Tony. “Australia Exploiting Crisis: Muslim Chief.” Sydney Morning Herald 27 Nov. 1990. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Ismaa – Listen: National Consultations on Eliminating Prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australians. Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2004. Jyllands-Posten. 24 Jan. 2006. http://www.di2.nu/files/Muhammad_Cartoons_Jyllands_Posten.html>. Jardine, Lisa. “Liberalism under Pressure.” BBC News 5 June 2006. 12 June 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5042418.stm>. Kabir, Nahid. Muslims in Australia: Immigration, Race Relations and Cultural History. London: Kegan Paul, 2005. Media Watch. “Abu Who?” ABC Television 31 July 2006. http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/>. Morris, Linda. “Imam Facing Charges after Row with Police.” Sydney Morning Herald 7 Jan. 2003. Morris, Linda. “Pell Challenges Islam – O Ye, of Little Tolerant Faith.” Sydney Morning Herald 5 May 2006. Page, Jeremy. “Russia May Sell Arms to Hamas.” The Australian 18 Feb. 2006. Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. London: Vintage, 1981, 1997. Submission. “Film Clip from Short Submission.” Submission. 11 June 2006. http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2655656?htv=12> The Age. “Embassies Torched over Cartoons.” 5 Feb. 2006. http://www.theage.com.au>. The Guardian. “Virgins? What Virgins?” 12 Jan. 2002. 4 June 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/>. Zwartz, Barney. “Islam Could Be New Communism, Pell Tells US Audience.” Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. 2004. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Kabir, Nahid. "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides." M/C Journal 9.4 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>. APA Style Kabir, N. (Sep. 2006) "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides," M/C Journal, 9(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>.