Monthly Archives: May 2014

Skype communications prove “vital” to NSA surveillance

Posted on by

“‘PRISM has a new collection capability: Skype stored communications,’ a previously confidential NSA memo from 2013 declared. ‘Skype stored communications will contain unique data which is not collected via normal real-time surveillance collection.’ The data includes buddy lists, credit card information, call records, user account data, and ‘other material’ that is of value to the NSA’s special source operations.  Microsoft has remained vague about the extent of encryption protecting Skype communications. The memo suggests that those protections are limited, at least as far as buddy lists, credit card data, call records, and user account information are concerned.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/05/encrypted-or-not-skype-communications-prove-vital-to-nsa-surveillance/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

AT&T and Verizon received one gov. data request per minute last year

Posted on by

“Companies including Apple, Facebook and Google recently updated their privacy policies to disclose all government data requests to the individual users in question, a move meant to appease web denizens worldwide. While US telecoms like AT&T and Verizon haven’t announced plans to do the same, the Washington Post pored through the companies’ transparency reports to turn up a new stat. According to the publication, in 2013 AT&T and Verizon received more than one request every 60 seconds. This number is based on AT&T’s reported 301,816 requests from state, local and federal authorities, and Verizon’s reported 321,545 requests.”

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/06/att-verizon-data-request-per-minute/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

NSA routinely tapped in-flight Internet, intercepted exported routers

Posted on by

“The systems—codenamed ‘Homing Pigeon’ by the NSA and ‘Thieving Magpie’ by the GCHQ—allowed the agencies to track which aircraft individuals under surveillance boarded based on their phone data.  ‘We can confirm that targets… are on board specific flights in near real time, enabling surveillance or arrest teams to be put in place in advance,’ a GCHQ analyst wrote in a PowerPoint slide presentation on the program. ‘If they use data, we can also recover email address’s [sic], Facebook IDs, Skype addresses, etc.’  The technology allows the NSA and GCHQ to get a geographic fix on surveilled aircraft once every two minutes in transit.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/nsa-routinely-tapped-in-flight-internet-intercepted-exported-routers/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

EFF Urges Congress to Strengthen USA FREEDOM Act

Posted on by

“The USA FREEDOM Act includes a definition of call detail records which excludes cell site location data, a provision that will help safeguard the location privacy of millions of Americans from mass NSA surveillance. However, we remain concerned that the bill allows prospective collection—collection of records that have not yet been created—up to 180 days.  The bill does not address the collection authority under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act. The bill fails to fix the ‘backdoor loophole,’ in which the NSA interprets the law to allow searches of the data collected under Section 702 for the purpose of finding communications of a United States person.”

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/05/eff-praises-judiciary-committee-successfully-passing-revised-usa-freedom-act-urges

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Your phone is a gateway for spying on you by anyone

Posted on by

“Technologies called MZ-catchers are very effective tool to finding out the unique identifiers on someone’s SIM card and on their mobile phone to find out who is there. So if you imagine that 20 years ago you might have needed a police officer to stop and arrest someone or to stop and search them and ask for ID to get a full list of everyone who is there, now a very affordable piece of equipment can be deployed. You can set the radius of how far you want to kind of scoop up. And then you get a list of every single mobile phone there, which can be tied back to an individual. So it is an exceptionally powerful tool at unmasking anonymous protest.”

http://rt.com/shows/sophieco/158296-spy-us-eric-king/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

An Easy Solution to Owning Gold Offshore In Your IRA

Posted on by

“Many don’t realize that you can easily own gold internationally inside of a pre-existing IRA.  And you don’t even have to convert it into a self-directed IRA (although this is something all should consider) to do so.  The Hard Assets Alliance (HAA) is the only group I know of offering the ability to own gold, stored internationally, inside a pre-existing IRA without having to go through the process of a self-directed IRA in an easy fashion. The process to set up a Precious Metals IRA has traditionally been slow and cumbersome. But the HAA has put the custodian, the dealer and the storage facility together under one roof and vastly simplified a process that traditionally took 30-45 days.”

http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/3/26/an-easy-solution-to-owning-gold-offshore-in-your-ira-not-man.html-0

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Is Puerto Rico Really the Perfect Tax Haven?

Posted on by

“Anyone who becomes a bona-fide resident of Puerto Rico is now eligible for the following benefits, courtesy of a new law, Act 22:  100% tax exemption from Puerto Rico income taxes on all dividends and interest payments;  100% tax exemption from Puerto Rico income taxes on all short- and long-term capital gains accrued since becoming resident in the territory.  The law is ideal for wealthy US citizens or green card holders who are now paying federal income taxes as high as 39.6% (plus the 3.8% Obamacare tax) on passive income and want to reduce their federal tax liability. If you reside in Puerto Rico and live off your portfolio income, you pay zero tax in the US or Puerto Rico.”

http://www.nestmann.com/is-puerto-rico-really-the-perfect-tax-haven

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Robert Ringer: A Tale of Two Winners

Posted on by

rringer-11

“The words on Forrest Gump’s T-shirt put it more bluntly:  ‘S___ happens.’  And it happens so frequently that a rational person has no choice but to recognize it as an integral part of life.  What’s especially irritating about it is that no matter how smart you are, no matter how successful you may be, and no matter how carefully you plan your financial affairs, sooner or later there will likely be unforeseen circumstances that will register 8.4 at your epicenter.  All anyone can do to prepare for a seismic life shock of such a magnitude is to never forget that Fate sits on the other side of the Table of Life, plotting her next move.  Make your financial moves very carefully.”

http://robertringer.com/a-tale-of-two-winners/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Jack Ma’s U.S. Inspiration Set Path to Alibaba IPO

Posted on by

“The online world opened to billionaire Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., on his first trip to the U.S. in 1995. While visiting a friend in Seattle who showed him the Internet, Ma typed the word ‘beer’ and couldn’t find any Chinese information. He decided to fix it.   Almost 20 years later, Alibaba is China’s largest online retailer, and Ma’s U.S.-inspired brainchild is readying for an initial public offering in New York that could raise as much as $20 billion, potentially making it the largest IPO there ever. The valuation may make the 49-year-old entrepreneur the third-wealthiest in China, with $12.5 billion, and one of the 100 richest worldwide in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-07/jack-ma-s-u-s-inspiration-set-path-alibaba-ipo.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Myanmar’s Yangon Stock Exchange (YSE) On Track For 2015 Launch

Posted on by

“Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and Daiwa Securities Group are tasked with establishing the nation’s first equities bourse since the Southeast Asian country was taken over by a military regime in 1962.  The citizens of Myanmar traditionally traded in gold, U.S. dollars, real estate and used cars, but the YSE will be able to provide an alternative as the country’s economy continues to expand rapidly.  But trading would be difficult without better communication, as the majority of the population of the impoverished country is without electricity, let alone access to a phone or the Internet.  The foreign firms Telenor and Ooredoo have finally received official telecom licenses.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/myanmars-yangon-stock-exchange-yse-track-2015-launch-1563209

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet