Monthly Archives: June 2015

Money laundering investigation stymied by China, Italy says

Posted on by

“In April, China launched a new initiative, ‘Skynet,’ to trace fugitives and their overseas money and released a list of its 100 most wanted economic criminals. Forty of them are thought to be in the U.S, according to the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Many of the transfers, fractioned into small sums to avoid scrutiny, were a way for Chinese immigrants to avoid paying taxes, according to hundreds of pages of court documents reviewed by The Associated Press. Other migrants were caught with heaps of counterfeit purses and shoes. Police also traced money to men running Chinese prostitution rings.”

http://news.yahoo.com/money-laundering-investigation-stymied-china-italy-says-050440484–finance.html

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

The Dark Web Drug Lords Who Got Away

Posted on by

“Despite Ulbricht’s ultimate punishment, the lesson for anyone closely watching the Dark Web drug trade has hardly been one of inevitable consequences. As independent researcher Gwern Branwen has documented in an ongoing survey of more than 70 Dark Web drug markets created after Ulbricht founded the Silk Road, only five of those sites’ administrators have been arrested. For many of the others, the security model Ulbricht pioneered—using Tor and bitcoin to protect administrators, buyers and sellers—has successfully kept law enforcement fumbling in the shadows.”

http://www.wired.com/2015/06/dark-web-drug-lords-got-away/

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

Jacob Hornberger: Wrong Message in the Ulbricht Case

Posted on by

hornberger1

“Forrest’s draconian sentence isn’t even serving to dissuade Silk Road-type competitors from continuing the same type of operation that Ulbricht was operating. Heck, Ulbricht’s competitors and new potential competitors might well be ecstatic that Forrest has removed Ulbricht as a competitor.  What all too many federal officials, including federal judges, have is a notable lack of understanding about economic principles. Maybe that’s because economics is not taught in law school. If they had such an understanding, they would understand that the more they crack down in the drug war, the worse the problem becomes.”

http://fff.org/2015/06/04/wrong-message-ulbricht-case/

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

FBI admits no major cases cracked with Patriot Act snooping powers

Posted on by

“Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, theFBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations. Backers say the Patriot Act powers are critical and must be kept intact, particularly with the spread of the threat from terrorists. But opponents have doubted the efficacy of Section 215, particularly when it’s used to justify bulk data collection such as in the case of the National Security Agency’s phone metadata program.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/21/fbi-admits-patriot-act-snooping-powers-didnt-crack/?page=all

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

Swiss Bank Refuses Request for Cash Withdrawal, Backed By Central Bank

Posted on by

“A Swiss pension fund manager calculated that he could save his clients a substantial amount of money by withdrawing cash from his fund’s bank account, which was yielding a negative interest return, and depositing the cash in an insured vault.  Exercising his fiduciary responsibility, he notified his bank of an impending large withdrawal of CHF.  The bank rebuffed the fund manager’s request:  ‘We are sorry, that within the time period specified, no solution corresponding to your expectations could be found.’  One banking expert argues that the bank’s action ‘is most definitely not legal’ because the pension fund holds a ‘sight account,’  which gives the holder the right to withdraw cash on demand.”

https://mises.org/blog/swiss-bank-refuses-request-cash-withdrawal

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

The Ominous Warning in Denny Hastert’s Downfall

Posted on by

“The speaker who pushed through financial monitoring provisions of the USA Patriot Act found himself ensnared in the same law. By ‘structuring’ his cash withdrawals to avoid reporting requirements, he aroused suspicions at his bank and gave the FBI reason to investigate. As delightful as it is to see the mighty brought low, Hastert may also be victim of a grave injustice. If the government thinks it can prove Hastert committed a sex crime, the right course would be to file charges and let a jury decide. Law enforcement now has the power to bypass courts and inflict punishment without trial. Before we relish Hastert’s downfall, we should remember that any one of us could be next.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/36329/The-Ominous-Warning-in-Denny-Hasterts-Downfall/

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

NSA conducts mass surveillance of the US internet to find cyberattacks

Posted on by

“According to the new documents, the scanning is enabled by broad legal powers, granted by the Department of Justice and FISA court in 2012. An initial Justice Department order (interpreting Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act) authorized the NSA to target data based on specific IP addresses or threat signatures that were linked to foreign nations. In addition to its surveillance operations, the NSA is tasked with defending official US networks from digital intrusions, a task that’s grown increasingly difficult as states like China have grown more sophisticated.  But according to the documents, limiting the scans to foreign states was too restrictive for the NSA.”

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/4/8729155/snowden-nsa-internet-cyber-surveillance-cyberattack

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

Origami Robot Folds Itself Up, Does Cool Stuff, Dissolves Into Nothing

Posted on by

“At ICRA 2015 in Seattle yesterday, researchers from MIT demonstrated an untethered miniature origami robot that self-folds, walks, swims, and degrades. That’s the title of their paper, in fact, and they delivered on all of those promises: from a flat sheet with a magnet on it, their robot folds itself up in just a few seconds, is immediately ready to zip around on land or water driven by magnetic fields, and then when you’ve run out of things to do with it, drive it into a tank of acetone and it’ll dissolve. This is the first time that a robot has been able to demonstrate a complete life cycle like this, and eventually, it’ll be doing it inside your body.”

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/origami-robot-folds-itself-up-does-cool-stuff-dissolves-into-nothing

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

Millions of US government workers hit by data breach

Posted on by

“Chinese hackers are suspected of carrying out a ‘massive breach’ affecting the data of millions of US government workers, officials said.  The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) confirmed on Thursday that almost four million current and past employees have been affected.  The breach could potentially affect every federal agency, officials said.  Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the attack was thought to originate in China.  OPM serves as the human resource department for the federal government.  The agency issues security clearances and compiles records of all federal government employees.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33017310

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

Finally, a chance to read the contents of the TPP.

Posted on by

“There’s nothing secret about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It won’t kill jobs, undermine environmental regulations, or censor the Internet. Click the button below to read the entire agreement for yourself.”

http://www.readthetpp.com/

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