Monthly Archives: August 2016

Rounding error directs “countless” investigators, individuals to couple’s Kansas farm

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“Ever since James and Theresa Arnold moved into their rented 623-acre farm in Butler County, Kansas, in March 2011, they have seen ‘countless’ law enforcement officials and individuals turning up at their farm day and night looking for links to alleged theft and other supposed crime. All of these people are arriving because of a rounding error on a GPS location, which wrongly points people to their farm.  To its credit, MaxMind has since fixed the error in its IP databases by moving the location of a default IP address to the middle of a Kansas lake, but customers do not often update their data, so it could be many years before this issue is fully resolved.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/kansas-couple-sues-ip-mapping-firm-for-turning-their-life-into-a-digital-hell/

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Internet-enabled sex toy sends users’ intimate data to its creator

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“The We-Vibe 4 Plus regularly shares sensitive info with its creators at Standard Innovations Corporation. The couple-oriented vibrator sends its temperature to the manufacturer every minute, and reports whenever you change the vibration level. While it’s not calling you out by name, it wouldn’t take much to piece together details you probably don’t want to share beyond your partner, such as when you climax and what it takes to get there.  As our columnist Violet Blue learned at Def Con, it’s not helped by SIC’s vague policies on how it handles your data.”

https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/10/sex-toy-sends-intimate-data/

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If you use ‘smart’ Bluetooth locks, you’re asking to be burgled

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“Bluetooth-enabled locks are increasingly popular, but an analysis of 16 such devices shows 12 are easily hackable with inexpensive kit and some can be broken into from 400 metres away.  When Rose contacted the 12 manufacturers about these issues, one Chinese manufacturer shut down its website, but still sells on Amazon. Ten other companies simply ignored his messages. One firm did come back to him, acknowledging the issue, but said it wasn’t going to fix it.   The Kwickset Kevo lock has a ‘fantastic’ software security system with strong crypto, Rose said, but should be avoided because the lock was so badly made you could open it in seconds with a screwdriver.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/08/using_a_smart_bluetooth_lock_to_protect_your_valuables_youre_an_idiot/

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A New Wireless Hack Can Unlock 100 Million Volkswagens

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“Volkswagen left not only its ignition vulnerable but the keyless entry system that unlocks the vehicle’s doors, too. And this time, they say, the flaw applies to practically every car Volkswagen has sold since 1995.  One of the attacks would allow resourceful thieves to wirelessly unlock practically every vehicle the Volkswagen group has sold for the last two decades, including makes like Audi and Škoda. The second attack affects millions more vehicles, including Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Opel, and Peugeot.  Both attacks use a cheap, easily available piece of radio hardware to intercept signals from a victim’s key fob, then employ those signals to clone the key.”

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/oh-good-new-hack-can-unlock-100-million-volkswagens/

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Revenue-Hungry States Canceling Back-To-School Sales Tax Holidays

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“[Massachusetts] isn’t the only state to forgo its sales-tax holiday in order to raise additional funds. Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, state legislators are among those that have also decided against holding new tax holidays or reinstating them during the last few years. ITEP estimates that state and local governments that retain the holidays will lose out on more than $300 million in revenue due to the holidays this year. Those losses in revenue come as states are also poised to see aggregate tax revenue growth below 4 percent this year, down from 5.5 percent in 2015, according to Moody’s Investors Service.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/tax-free-back-to-school-shopping-over-as-states-cancel-reprieves

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China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash

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“Investment from China into Silicon Valley, excluding real estate, topped $6 billion by the end of the first half of 2016, with more than half of that spending taking place in the past 18 months, according to the Rhodium Group research firm. Investors have been spurred by China’s growing wealth over the past decade and a government push to develop innovative technologies — particularly in areas such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, where China still lags. U.S. start-ups, for their part, are hungrier than ever for access to China’s cash-rich companies and newly minted millionaires, especially in light of a tighter fundraising environment in Silicon Valley.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-wave-of-chinese-start-up-investments-comes-with-complications/2016/08/05/2051db0e-505d-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html

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Bernanke Advises “Perpetual Bonds” To Japanese Government

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“In April the former Federal Reserve chief warned there was a risk Japan at any time could return to deflation. He noted that helicopter money — in which the government issues non-marketable perpetual bonds with no maturity date and the Bank of Japan directly buys them — could work as the strongest tool to overcome deflation, according to Honda. Bernanke noted it was an option, he said.  Bernanke joined central bank chief Haruhiko Kuroda over lunch this Monday and on Tuesday he attended a gathering with Abe and key officials, including Koichi Hamada, another influential economic adviser.  The central bank didn’t reveal what Kuroda and Bernanke discussed.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-14/bernanke-floated-japan-perpetual-bonds-idea-to-abe-adviser-honda

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After Three Years, IRS Returns $68,000 Seized From Family Bakery

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“The family’s nightmare started in May 2013, when eight armed IRS agents descended on the bakery and began asking questions about a series of under-$10,000 cash deposits (the bakery was a cash-only business). The agents informed the Vocaturas they had seized the bakery’s entire bank account.  When IJ met the Vocaturas, they had almost given up hope. Federal prosecutors and the IRS had been hounding the family for years, first seizing over $68,000 and then threatening the Vocaturas with additional forfeitures and time in prison—all because of how they deposited money in the bank.”

http://ij.org/ll/august-2016-volume-25-issue-4/ij-bakes-fresh-forfeiture-victory-connecticut/

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Judge blasts FBI for bugging courthouse, throws out 200 hours of recordings

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“The FBI violated the Fourth Amendment by recording more than 200 hours of conversation at the entrance to a county courthouse in the Bay Area, a federal judge has ruled.   Federal agents planted the concealed microphones around the San Mateo County Courthouse in 2009 and 2010 as part of an investigation into alleged bid-rigging at public auctions for foreclosed homes.  The FBI recorded private conversations between members of the general public, including ‘two women discussing details of their personal lives that ranged from the private to the salacious.’  The ruling runs counter to a ruling by another judge in the same district, also reported by The Recorder.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/08/judge-blasts-fbi-for-bugging-courthouse-throws-out-200-hours-of-recordings/

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U.S. has lost sight of $70 billion in cash sent to Afghanistan [2011]

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“A blistering audit released Wednesday found that untold amounts of American taxpayer dollars are vulnerable to winding up in the pockets of insurgents, and blames both countries for a dysfunctional tracking system.  How bad is it? Afghan President Hamid Karzai has barred U.S. government advisers from the Afghan central bank, according to Treasury officials who called the bank a ‘hostile’ environment. Nobody is writing down the serial numbers of the cash flying through customs at Kabul International Airport. And the U.S. is having trouble identifying financial crimes because Afghan officials are reluctant to prosecute.”

http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/u-s-has-lost-sight-of-cash-from-70-billion-sent-to-afghanistan-inspector-general-1.149731

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