Tesla motors is recalling ever single Model S sedan after a piece of vital life safety equipment failed on a sedan in Europe (archived). In the failed example the front seatbelt was not properly attached to the outboard pretensioner. This documenetd failure reportedly involved no injuries. Apparently the safety advice "Buckle up buckaroo" is no guarantee of actual safety in Tesla's sedans in their present state. Alleged Silk Road 2 operator Blake Benthall owned a Tesla Model S.
Category Archives: Europe
EU Planning Bitcoin "Crackdown"
Reports are emerging that the European Union is planning some sort of "crackdown" on Bitcoin in the wake of the Paris mass shooting amid allegations that ISIS has some Bitcoins. This is in spite of the declared intention of ISIS and their actual movement to establish a precious metals based monetary system in their caliphate. Estimates floating around in the media suggest that if ISIS has a stash of Bitcoin, its value is roughly the equivalent of 3 million United States Dollars, a figure which is substantially lower than the value of some individual pieces of military equipment which has found its way to ISIS through the United States. Continue reading
Paris Mass Shooters Used Plaintext SMS to Coordinate
According to French police during a raid where they killed the alleged coordinator of last Friday's mass shooting in Paris, a phone was found with plaintext SMS messages used in coordinating the event (archived). The Paris mass shooting different from those in the United States where such events occur with greater frequency in that the the French attack utilized a group of allegedly 8 shooters while such events in the United States more typically involve shooters working as individuals or pairs. French President Hollande has responded to the mass shooting with a declaration of emergency and the suspension of numerous civil rights for French citizens. Hollande has issued statement to the effect of assuring all French citizens regardless of their religious or ethnic background that their civil rights have been suspended equally.
EU Court Rules Bitcoin Above VAT
Yesterday the EU Court of Justice relased a ruling (archived) stating that transactions exchanging Bitcoin for fiat currency are exempt from the VAT (Value Added Tax). This puts Bitcoin exchange transactions in the same VAT exempt class as exchanges between other currencies or similar financial instruments.
Darknet Firearms Seller Pleads Guilty
According to WOOD News in Central Michigan, the local United States prosecutor's office managed to hook allege darknet firearms dealer Ben Cance into entering a guilty plea on charges related to international firearms trafficking and money laundering (archived). Prosecutors secured Cance's plea and his cooperation in other investigations by dropping charges of "machine gun possession" against Cance. The Judge allowed Cance's release on bond to continue so he could continue collaborating with prosecutors and inform on his past customers some of which are alleged to be in the United Kingdom and Poland. The 30 year old Cance is set to be sentenced by Judge Robert Holmes Bell on January 15th in the Grand Rapids United States District Court.
British 'Cultural' Capital Controls Interfere With Commerce
CNN reports that government of the United Kingdom is forbidding a buyer who paid 146,500 pounds formerly known as sterling for a watercolor painting from taking it to his home (archived) outside of Britain. According to the Kingdom's government it hopes that the ban will encourage the buyer, who purchased the piece as the highest bidder at Christie's auction house would make the decision to sell the painting on to a buyer intending to keep the watercolor in the United Kingdom. This is in spite of the fact that no such buyer for the artwork was interested in outbidding the actual purchaser in an auction. The export ban was put into place by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey. Continue reading
Implant ID Chips in Citizens Suggests Finnish Politician
Pasi Mäenranta of the True Finns Party has suggested Finland begin implanting identification chips in citizens (archived) when they leave the country in order to prevent Finns from "abusing" the social welfare benefits offered by their Nordic system when they move to a more affordable foreign location. According to Pasi Mäenranta because "the people" happily let Google and Facebook track them with smartphones there's no way this could be considered an invasion of privacy by citizens. Should a system like this be implemented in Finland it remains to be seen whether emigration from Finland through avenues more traditionally associated with far poorer countries would increase, but such an outcome could be reasonably expected.
UK's Cameron Threatens Online Porn Shutdown Unless Online ID Scheme Implemented
Last week United Kingdom prime minister David Cameron issued an ultimatum (archived) directed at internet porn sites demanding they voluntarily produce an "effective" regime for restricting access based on age or he would act legislatively to either force such a scheme or shut them down. Of course "effective" age filters would necessarily mean the creation of a larger online identity regime. The United Kingdom already forces Internet Service Providers to filter internet connections to block pornography unless service subscribers explicitly opt out of the filtering. Further the United Kingdom late last year restricted the kinds of sex acts which may be included in pornography produced in the United Kingdom for online Video on Demand consumption. Continue reading
France Seeks to Impose "Right to be Forgotten" Globally – New Order
The French Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés has issued an order (archived) to Google demanding that the search provider enforce European "right to be forgotten" protections globally in its search results. Such extraterritorial aggression on the part of regulatory bodies in recent times has been more characteristic of United States government action that that of European governments. There will likely be further confrontation as the French CNIL works to make Google results even more useless than Google itself already has. France has escalated their previous demands to an order. Google intends not to comply with this order.
Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis Resigns in Failure
Greek banks continue to struggle beneath the onerous burden of financial debt imposed by their left-leaning welfarist government and as such are teetering on the brink of insolvency.1 Despite a slew of highly restrictive capital controls and out-of-the-blue "bank holidays" designed to maintain some modest levels of liquidity in the face of branch and ATM queues across the country, the condition of Greece's banks is less than ideal and quite possibly insufficient for long-term survival. Continue reading
The prospect of Greek debt default isn't just weighing down the local economy either. Inextricably intertwined as the global fiat economy is, the Euro has taken some damage, as have a number of stock markets around the world, as many are wondering aloud whether Greece is the canary in the coalmine of paper promises. ↩