Numerous media outlets are going deep into the NSA's recent Christmas Eve document dump while Der Spiegel is supposing itself to cover new Snowden documents.In addition to the unsurprising post-Snowden revelation that NSA analysts routinely acted outside of their legal ability to monitor, a number of technical revelations came out about the NSA's surveillance abilities as they care to disclose them two years ago. As this document dump was an official agency disclosure take it with a grain of salt or several trucks full of salt as you feel necessary. Continue reading
Author Archives: Aaron 'BingoBoingo' Rogier
Canberra Times: Police Concerned Over Online Drug Purchases
According to the Caberra Times the phenomenon of "tech-savvy young people" buying drugs online is leading to police and "crime experts" expressing concern over the phenomenon. One of the cited "crime experts", Dr Susan Goldsmid of the Australian Institute of Criminology, when asked about the size of online drug markets and the population patronizing them could not offer a response other than saying it was an "unknown" while also offering that it was unlikely in her estimation that users are buying drugs online when they have access to the traditional physical networks typically used for commerce in drugs.
Bitcoin Alliance of Canada Founder Steps Down
A circulating press release which made its way to Digital Journal reports that Anthony Di Iorio, founder of the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada is stepping down as Executive Directory. The release cites a desire to focus on his businesses and his family. Among his his replacement's businesses are CaVirtex which is a Canadian Bitcoin exchange, and a venture that refers to itself as the Bitcoin Strategy Group.
Extortionist Tormented Finney's Last Months
Today Wired published a piece about the struggles of Hal Finney's family at the hands of an extortionist during the last months of his life. Reportedly Hal's wife Fran had not come forward publicly before out of fear that doing so could endanger the investigation, she is speaking publicly now with the blessing of the investigating agent. Among harassing phone calls was an instance of Swatting that forced the Finneys into the yard last winter. The extortionist was seeking 1000 BTC from Hal Finney.
Bitcoin Bowl Recap: NC State Wins (34-27)
Despite putting up the first points and attempting a late comeback, the UCF Knights couldn't overcome the NC State Wolfpack. In the first twenty one minutes of the game the lead had changed hands 4 times with a UCF field goal establishing a score (0-3) followed by an NC State touchdown (7-3), UCF touchdown (7-10), and another NC State touchdown (14-10). After that UCF was never able to retake control of the lead. Continue reading
Reminder: Bitcoin Bowl Today
For anyone interested in catching an American Football game the Bitcoin Bowl is set to begin in roughly twelve hours on ESPN. For people not strictly interested in the American Football being played the game still presents the opportunity to watch for amusing absurdities. Earlier this season a coach had his nose broken by one of his own falling players and Mormon flagship university Brigham Young's football team was involved in a post game brawl after losing to Memphis in double overtime. Continue reading
Butterfly Labs Motion To Dismiss Denied, FTC Suit Survives
The Kansas City Business Journal reports that the Federal Judge overseeing the case, Brian Wimes, has refused Butterfly Labs motion to dismiss the ongoing suit by the Federal Trade Commission. Earlier this month the Judge had allowed Butterfly Labs to fully reopen under court supervision, and in November the court ordered the company to transfer its Bitcoin to a court appointed receiver. after earlier being allowed a limited reopening under receivership. The current Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Butterfly Labs has been ongoing since September 2014. John Humphrey, the Attorney for Butterfly Labs originally filed the motion to dismiss on their behalf back in October.
Discus Fish Donates Namecoins to Namecoin Developers
A posting on the official Namecoin forum reveals that Bitcoin mining pool Discus Fish has donated 20,000 Namecoins to developers to bring the Namecoin client in line with the current Bitcoin client developed by Vessenes' foundation. At present there is a Github repository where code committed to this effort so far is currently available.
Namecoin was the first credible fork of the Bitcoin codebase and remains one of the few altcoins of enduring interest. The Namecoin project was born out of a desire to expand the principles that laid the foundation for Bitcoin's success in reinventing money to doing the same for Domain and other name services. Namecoin was even early enough to get suggestions and code commits from Satoshi Nakamato himself. Continue reading
Sony Now to Release Movie
The movie The Interview whose release was canceled under duress, is now being released. Once again some measure of coercion is likely involved.
GCHQ Says Its Surveillance Ability is Crippled Post-Snowden
According to the Telegraph the British Intelligence gathering agency Global Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, is warning people that it apparently can no longer effectively track people they refer to as "some of the world's most dangerous crime lords." Problems they claim to face in the post-Snowden age include people taking better operational security measures to avoid surveillance as well as a fear on their part to engage in many of the kinds of surveillance that have been revealed because they might be discovered. They also report that cooperation from communications companies has become problematic in smuggling and fraud cases as the companies insist requests concern matters that involve “direct threat to life” now. Continue reading