Monthly Archives: May 2015

Leaked Adult Friend Finder user database still online

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“Adult Friend Finder, one of the largest online dating sites, may have been breached more than two months ago, and the sensitive files—include names, ages, email addresses, zip codes and more—are apparently still online.  British broadcaster Channel 4 reported Thursday that the website had been breached, although information regarding the breach had been trickling out in a low-key way for some time. Adult Friend Finder, which was founded in 1996, has more than 40 million members, according to its website. FriendFinder Networks says it has more than 600 million registered users across some 40,000 websites in its network.”

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2925872/leaked-database-of-adult-friend-finder-still-online.html

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Why the Current PATRIOT Act Debate Doesn’t Matter Much

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“There were 180 orders authorized last year by the FISA Court under Section 215 — 180 orders issued by this court. Only five of those orders relate to the telephony metadata program. There are 175 orders about completely separate things. In six weeks, Congress will either reauthorize this statute or let it expire, and we’re having a debate — to the extent we’re even having a debate — but the debate that’s taking place is focused on five of the 180, and there’s no debate at all about the other 175 orders.”

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/05/why_the_current.html

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Jeffrey Tucker: Is the Liberland Experiment Viable?

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“A three-mile area of land on the Danube river, uninhabited, was not under the control of any nation when Jedlička put up a flag, announced a constitution, and laid out the terms for a truly free society. He and his colleagues have sought international recognition, and the international press has been curious and generous.  Within 30 days following this announcement, governments adjacent to the property blocked access, Jedlička has been detained, and the prospects of a new nation coming into being suddenly look grim.  Absent outside political intervention, is it possible that Liberland can actually be a viable nation with a thriving economy? Absolutely.”

https://tucker.liberty.me/is-the-liberland-experiment-viable/

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Texas, Oklahoma Outlaw Voter-Approved Local Fracking Bans

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“Despite mounting scientific evidence that fracking is increasing seismic activity in the state, Oklahoma legislators are poised to pass legislation preventing municipalities from passing local bans on drilling operations.  Senate Bill 468 would overturn an 80-year-old statute and explicitly prohibits local regulation of certain oil and gas activities—even if such regulation is approved by Oklahoma voters.  Following the lead of Texas lawmakers, who on Monday passed a law forbidding towns or cities from enacting local restrictions on any gas or oil drilling operations, both the Oklahoma House and Senate passed SB 468 with strong majority support.”

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/20/step-texas-oklahoma-poised-outlaw-local-drilling-bans

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State Department Employee Busted For ‘Sextortion’ of Young Women

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“A State Department employee has been arrested and charged with computer hacking, cyber-stalking and extorting college-aged women in what authorities say was a scheme to gather sexually explicit material.  Michael C. Ford, a State Department employee who has worked out of the U.S. Embassy in London since 2009, is accused of using government computers there to conduct the alleged crimes.  Authorities said investigators found a spreadsheet on Ford’s work computer that appeared to summarize criminal activity that included a list of approximately 250 e-mail addresses he may have used to target the women.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/state-department-employee-accused-sextortion-college-aged-women/story?id=31205302

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Apple Sued For Poaching A123 Systems Employees; Settles Out-Of-Court

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“The poaching, which is alleged to have taken place between the middle of last year and the beginning of this year, centered on five employees in total. According to A123, Apple was grabbing ex-A123 employees that were allegedly responsible for some of the company’s more important developments related to lithium-ion batteries and chemical engineering. And when these employees left A123, those projects came to a screeching halt. Apple was in the process of asking for the case to be transferred to federal court in California—closer to Apple’s headquarters, but quite a bit away from A123’s Massachusetts headquarters.”

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484260,00.asp

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Elon Musk reveals Tesla-to-Apple poaching at about 5:1, welcomes ‘iCar’

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“Earlier this year, Musk said Apple was trying ‘very hard‘ to poach Tesla engineers for a secret project, in some cases offering $250,000 signing bonuses and 60 percent raises for the opportunity. With an unmatched ability to consumerize nascent technologies and reports of engineer poaching, some are concerned Apple’s supposed interest in electric cars could be a major problem for Tesla.  As for employee poaching, Musk said Tesla is not seeing significant attrition of engineers to Apple. He offered up a ballpark figure, saying that over the past 12 months Tesla has wooed about five times as many engineers from Apple than the other way around.”

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/06/elon-musk-welcomes-rumored-apple-car-reveals-tesla-to-apple-poaching-at-about-51

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Ford Finally Discovers Silicon Valley

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“To deliver, Ford plans to build a team of about 125 software and user experience engineers, plus business development, IT, and marketing folks, by the end of the year. Some employees will be transferred from HQ in Dearborn, but most will be new hires, lured to the 111-year-old company with ‘very competitive’ compensation, says CEO Mark Fields. A presence in Silicon Valley is big for two reasons: It puts the team working on things like self-driving cars and improved voice recognition technology closer to potential partners like Google, Apple, Nvidia, and even NASA. It also puts them where the talent is.”

http://www.wired.com/2015/01/ford-silicon-valley-research-center/

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Snowden files reveal NSA plans to distribute malware via app stores

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“The US National Security Agency (NSA) planned to use smartphone app stores to propogate malware that it would later use to eavesdrop on users.  That is the latest claim from the trove of secret documents released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.  Over the course of several workshops held in Canada and Australia in late 2011 and early 2012, a joint Five Eyes tradecraft team tried to find ways to implant spyware on smartphones by intercepting the transmissions sent when downloading or updating apps, it adds.  The project was integrated with the NSA’s spying system, XKEYSCORE, which searches smartphone and other traffic as it traverses the internet.”

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2409622/nsa-planned-to-use-google-and-samsung-app-stores-to-spread-eavesdropping-malware

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California Gov. Shuts Down Luxury Bus for Techies

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“Leap, the luxury bus service that rolled out in March, has temporarily suspended its service today after facing a new regulatory challenge. The venture-backed private service had set out to improve San Francisco residents’ daily commute by offering an alternative to public transit. But regulators have stepped in to stop it.  Like many startups that have jumped into heavily regulated industries with the hope of improving a service that already exists, Leap has run headlong into authorities who by now are well-practiced at wrangling with ‘disruptive’ startups.  The company said it has received a cease and desist notice from the California Public Utilities Commission.”

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/leap-suspension-shows-regulators-are-watching-startups/

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