Monthly Archives: December 2013

‘Seasteads’ offer libertarians the vision of floating cities for the future

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“The 19th century challenge to ‘Go West, young man’ retains a powerful appeal. But for the current target audience – the free-wheeling capitalist dotcom millionaire in Silicon Valley – going west means getting wet.  Not an issue, according to a new design report investigating the feasibility of ‘seasteads’, communities of like-minded, self-governing individuals established on the high seas, free from what its proponents see as the restrictions of nations, welfare systems and punitive taxes.  The seasteading movement has emerged as a political movement – with nods to climate change and land shortages – to create new water-borne city states.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/superyacht-not-big-enough-seasteads-offer-libertarians-the-vision-of-floating-cities-for-the-future-9026242.html

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Why Clipperz is moving out of US

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“We are under attack. And when I say ‘we’, I mean Giulio and I as individuals. Neither Clipperz infrastructure nor your encrypted data stored on Clipperz are exposed to any risk.  It all started in June, right after the announcement of our plans to go paid and Bitcoin only.  What is going to happen now we don’t know. There is yet no formal charge against us, but it’s not completely unlikely that a single district attorney could order the seizure of Clipperz assets including the domain and servers as a ‘pre-trail precautionary measure’.  Clipperz has chosen Iceland because we bet on the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, a jurisdiction to provide protection of freedoms of expression and information.”

https://www.clipperz.com/blog/2013/12/27/leaving-the-US/

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Encrypted chat service Cryptocat for iPhone rejected by Apple

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“Developer Nadim Kobeissi took to Twitter today to blast the iPhone and iPad maker for unjustly rejecting Cryptocat for iPhone, software that was announced earlier this month. Cryptocat made waves for offering a simple way to let two people chat while using end-to-end encryption. The service gained international attention (and some notoriety) in light of government eavesdropping, and its use in countries where free speech was limited. That’s come with some costs: Kobeissi says he’s gone through extra security screenings when traveling; and fearing intrusion from the Canadian government earlier this year, he moved Cryptocat’s entire network to a Swedish nuclear bunker.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/27/5249402/encrypted-chat-service-cryptocat-for-iphone-rejected-by-apple

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The NSA Actually Intercepted Packages to Put Backdoors in Electronics

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“The NSA’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) division, aka premier hacking ninja squad,  has a catalog of all the commercial equipment that carries NSA backdoors. And it’s a who’s who of a list. Storage products from Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor and Samsung have backdoors in their firmware, firewalls from Juniper Networks have been compromised, plus networking equipment from Cisco and Huawei, and even unspecified products from Dell. TAO actually intercepts online orders of these and other electronics to bug them.  SPIEGEL notes that the documents do not provide any evidence that the manufacturers mentioned had any idea about this NSA activity.”

http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-actually-intercepted-packages-to-put-backdoors-1491169592

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NSA can hack WiFi devices from eight miles away

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“The NSA may have the ability to intercept data from around the world, but we now know that it has some impressive (and intimidating) equipment for snooping on nearby targets. The NSA’s big box of tools includes Nightstand, a custom device that can compromise WiFi networks for the sake of inserting spy software. The Linux-powered device can exploit Windows systems from up to eight miles away; it’s unlikely that you’ll catch agents wardriving in the parking lot. Nightstand may not see significant use today given that it dates back to 2008, but its existence suggests that the NSA also has newer, more advanced WiFi surveillance gear at its disposal.”

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/30/nsa-can-hack-wifi-devices-from-eight-miles-away/

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The NSA Reportedly Has Total Access To The Apple iPhone

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“Der Spiegel reported on the NSA’s access to smartphones and, in particular, the iPhone back in September. Today, these reports expand to the NSA’s apparent ability to access just about all your iPhone data through a program called DROPOUTJEEP.  The NSA apparently claims a 100% success rate in installing the malware on iPhones.  Of course, Apple is hardly the only smartphone maker targeted by the NSA. According to Der Spiegel, Android and even Blackberry have been cracked by the agency, though perhaps not so thoroughly. Taken as a whole, each of these revelations and reports paint a grim portrait of government overreach.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/12/30/the-nsa-reportedly-has-total-access-to-your-iphone/

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Is The NSA Changing Bank Accounts?

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“The panels’ recommendations are heartening because they are overwhelmingly critical of the NSA; the panel went so far as to unanimously call for splitting up the agency and for safeguards such as transparency. This is another surprise because the panel was hand-picked by Obama and included the die-hard loyalist Cass Sunstein and former CIA deputy director Michael J. Morell.   Obama quickly indicated his rejection of some of the panels’ recommendations. Meanwhile, everyone should make sure they have a print copy and a screen shot of their latest financial statements on hand. People should consider holding assets in a less conventional place than large and ‘trusted’ financial institutions.”

http://dollarvigilante.com/node/6161

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61% of Canadians expect to Convert to Virtual Wallets by 2019

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“Some Highlights from the Survey:   61% of Canadians expect to change from physical to virtual wallets by 2019. This mobile wallet would include debit cards, credit cards and personal ID.  52% of the smartphone owners spend an average of 70% of the day with their phone within reaching distance.  28% of the respondents are willing to skip morning coffee in exchange for anytime, anywhere internet. 8% are willing to give up their cars for the same.  50% of the people seem to think that face-to-face interactions to be completely replaced by virtual communication by 2019.  25% of Canadians admit to Facebook Instant messaging or tweeting someone while in the same room.”

http://letstalkpayments.com/61-canadians-expect-convert-physical-virtual-wallets-2019/

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Cash machines robbed with infected USB sticks

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“The thefts came to light in July after the lender involved noticed several its ATMs were being emptied despite their use of safes to protect the cash inside.  After surveillance was increased, the bank discovered the criminals were vandalising the machines to use the infected USB sticks.  Once the malware had been transferred they patched the holes up. This allowed the same machines to be targeted several times without the hack being discovered.  Analysis of software installed onto four of the affected machines demonstrated that it displayed the amount of money available in each denomination of note and presented a series of menu options on the ATM’s screen to release each kind.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25550512

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Bitcoin use spreading despite security concerns

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“‘The thing that’s really exciting about bitcoin is that, here in South Florida, we have a half billion people to the south of us who do not have access to a banking system that works well, capital markets, credit – things that we take for granted,’ said Charles Evans, business professor at Florida Atlantic University and one of the founders of the Miami International Bitcoin conference.  ‘I fully expect that Miami could become the ‘Silicon Valley’ of small-scale international finance,’ said Evans, who will speak at the conference.  ‘I defy anybody to do business in South Florida without doing international business.'”

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/technology/bitcoin-use-spreading-despite-vulnerability/story-e6frgakx-1226792056293

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