Monthly Archives: December 2013

United Nations Approves Internet Privacy Resolution

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“The United Nations’ human rights committee passed a ‘right to privacy’ resolution that was sponsored by Germany and Brazil. The new document protects the right to privacy against illegal surveillance even in the online world.  The resolution states specifically that governments and companies who deal with surveillance or data interception ‘may violate or abuse human rights.’  Despite the already-long history of the Internet, this is the first time that human rights in the online medium are mentioned, pointing out that these should prevail, everywhere.  Fifty-five countries co-sponsored the resolution, including nations such as France, Russia and North Korea.”

http://news.softpedia.com/news/United-Nations-Approves-Internet-Privacy-Resolution-403948.shtml

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Judge: NSA phone program likely unconstitutional

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“A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional.  U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.  Acting on a lawsuit brought by Larry Klayman, Leon issued a preliminary injunction barring the NSA from collecting so-called metadata pertaining to the Verizon accounts of Klayman and one of his clients.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/national-security-agency-phones-judge-101203.html

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Forced Savings Bait-and-Switch

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“This Reuters article is proposing that ‘firms automatically enroll employees in a pension account and put 8 percent of their salary into it.’ This is not so different than current models that incentivize employees to save by matching donations to pension plans.  But it is different, nonetheless, as the level of coercion has been elevated. The clear message being sent is that Western governments should mandate the stance private corporations should take with their employees.  In the modern era, this is how tyranny arrives. It is advanced step by logical step. And most people simply don’t have the time or discipline to identify the logical fallacies that accompany it.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/34845/Forced-Savings-Bait-and-Switch/

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Reminder: A New Light Bulb Ban Kicks in on January 1

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“For those who are fans of the traditional, yellowish glow of an incandescent light bulb, the time has come stock up.  We’ve already seen the 75-watt variety ushered out with a ban on manufacturing or importing them starting in 2013, but Jan. 1, 2014, starts the same process with 40- and 60-watt bulbs.  Stores are allowed to continue to sell the incandescent bulbs until the supply runs out.  The move forces consumers to switch to LED, compact fluorescent light bulbs and others, which are currently more expensive than the Thomas Edison-invented incandescents but are billed to be more efficient with a longer lifespan.”

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/17/reminder-a-new-light-bulb-ban-kicks-in-on-january-1/

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What’s wrong with Science: Nobel prize-winner attacks elite journals

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“Randy Schekman, one of the 2013 crop of Nobel prize-winners (for physiology or medicine, in his case), levels two charges against such journals. The first is that, aware of their pre-eminence and keen to protect it, they artificially restrict the number of papers they accept.  Second, he argues that science as a whole is being distorted by perverse incentives, especially the tyranny of the ‘impact factor’, a number that purports to measure how important a given journal is. Researchers who publish in journals with a high impact factor—like the three named above—can expect promotion, pay rises and professional accolades. Those that do not can expect obscurity or even the sack.”

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21591549-and-nature-and-cell-nobel-prize-winner-attacks-elite-journals-whats-wrong

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Forget cursive: Teach kids how to code

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“Name the last time, besides your signature, that you wrote or read anything in cursive.  Chances are that you can’t. Neither can the National Governors Association, which left it out of the new Common Core educational standards. In response, seven states — California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Utah — are writing cursive requirements back into the curriculum.  ‘Modern research indicates that more areas of the human brain are engaged when children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard,’ Idaho state Rep. Linden Bateman (R) told the Associated Press. ‘It’s beyond belief to me that states have allowed cursive to slip from the standards.'”

http://theweek.com/article/index/252851/forget-cursive-teach-kids-how-to-code

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Love Child of Bitcoin and GitHub Pays Cash for Code

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“Many open source software projects run on donations. After all, open source is about giving code away for free, and without any revenue, you need some way of covering costs and motivating coders.  BitHub solves that problem by accepting bitcoin donations and collecting them into a common pool. It then monitors a project on the code hosting and collaboration site GitHub, and anytime someone submits code to the project — a process known as a ‘pull request’ — BitHub awards that person a portion of the pool. Open Whispersystems is already using the tool, and the first payment — about $19.12 worth of bitcoins — went out yesterday.”

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/12/bithub/

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Europe’s First Bitcoin ATM Installed in Finland

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“According to Finnish exchange Bittiraha, who run the back-end systems, the machine has been installed in a record store at the Helsinki Railway Station.  Of course, this is not the first bitcoin ATM in Europe, as similar units have been deployed in Sweden and Slovakia, but this appears to be the first permanent ATM in Europe.  The railway station is one of the busiest spots in the city: an estimated 200,000 people walk through the lobby every day. The record store, Levykauppa Ax, has a habit of experimenting with new marketing techniques.”

http://www.coindesk.com/europes-first-bitcoin-atm-installed-finland/

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Swiss banks urge U.S. tax dodgers to come clean to beat deadline

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“Swiss banks are quietly warning wealthy U.S. clients with secret accounts to come clean with the tax man in the next two weeks — or risk jail time, according to several letters obtained by POLITICO.  The letters come ahead of a New Year’s Eve deadline the U.S. government set for about 300 Swiss banks to take deals protecting them from prosecution. In exchange for confessing and shelling out mountains of Americans’ account information, they’ll get immunity. It is a new twist to the traditional bank-client relationship.  Switzerland’s oldest private bank, Wegelin & Co., went belly up because of the Justice investigation.”

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=9CC01C4E-8F67-4637-8EC7-DBE79D2F6803

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Chinese Bitcoin crackdown sparks revenge cyber-attack

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“China’s central bank is thought to have been targeted in a revenge cyber-attack by investors infuriated at government attempts to destroy the local Bitcoin market.  As the yuan-denominated value of Bitcoins collapsed today, the website and official, Twitter-style weibo account of the People’s Bank of China suffered a series of crashes believed to have been caused by hackers.  Although the attacks were not claimed by any group, they followed a decision by Beijing earlier this week that will effectively shut down Bitcoin trading on China’s online exchanges. Bitcoins have proved exceptionally popular in China.”

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/article3952357.ece

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