Reuters reports that yesterday U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal ruled against a gag order issued against Yahoo, that would have potentially prevented them from ever revealing they had been subjected to a particular grand jury subpoena. The order in question rather than seeking to compel Yahoo's silence on the matter of the subpoena for a set period of time, subject to potential renewal, sought instead to compel Yahoo's silence until ordered otherwise by the court. Continue reading
Category Archives: News
Amazon Exits Crimea
TASS reports that American retailer Amazon.com is requesting Crimean residents delete their Amazon.com accounts by February 13th, or Amazon will deactivate their accounts by force. This move follows similar abandonment of Crimea by Google and PayPal.
MuckRock: DEA Documents Show Parallel Construction Widely Used
Yesterday MuckRock released a number of United States Drug Enforcement Agency documents acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request. The documents reveal that methods of parallel case construction are widely utilized and trained institutionally within the Drug Enforcement Agency and collaborating agencies, with strong institutional controls in place to prevent knowledge of parallel construction involved in cases from reaching any court officers, including the prosecutors assigned the cases. Continue reading
Ulbricht Show Trial Ends
After being precluded from presenting much of a defense at all a jury has found Ross Ulbricht guilty of running the Silk Road deliberating for around three hours. This falls in line with the money on Bitcoin prediction markets which leaned towards deliberations lasting under six hours. Mainstream press outlets have even begun questioning the competence and intentions behind the way defense lawyer Josh Dratel handled the case over its entire duration.
No Such lAbs Teases Future Developments
In their monthly statement today No Such lAbs teased at a potential future product, a piece of hardware capable of running a Bitcoin node. The venture's aim is to produce user auditable hardware to provide persons with an alternative to opaque open in name only computing solutions. Continue reading
BitMarket.pl Account Closed over HYIP Links
Silicon Angle reports that a likely catalyst for the suspension of bank accounts used by BitMarket.pl is a recurring connection between that exchange and High Yield Investment scams. The accounts were closed by BPH, a bank owned by bezzle economy giant General Electric. Silicon Angle also notes that BitMarket.pl was injured in the EgoPay drama.
Foundation Releases Report and Bitcoin 0.5.3.1
The Bitcoin Foundation released their January 2015 report on their development efforts today. Among other accomplishments was iterating the version number of their reference implementation of the Bitcoin protocol to version 0.5.3.1 and subjecting it to further rigor. Continue reading
Preet Bharara and Dratel Battle Over Defense Witness (Plain Text of Filings)
As the Silk Road show trial continues with Preet Bharara's team and Judge Forrest doing everything they can to suppress evidence that might allow for reasonable doubt, while permitting accusatory evidence without regard for its origin the battle has moved on to challenging the defense's witnesses. Continue reading
McDonalds Creates Limited Redemption Altcoin
From February second through Valentines Day recycled food byproduct purveyor McDonald's will be minting and accepting the limited redemption of their own alternate currency. The currency will be allocated by fiat through a "Lovin' Lead" at each individual store that will select 100 customers at their location and offer them the chance to pay with the alternate currency. Those selected may commit a "Lovin' Act" as specified by the "Lovin' Lead" in order to pay for their "meal" at the cash register. Continue reading
Police Offer Well Surveilled "Online Exchange Zone"
Columbia, Missouri police have recently unveiled an online exchange zone where people might exchange goods being bought and sold on the Internet. All that is necessary to take advantage of this "safe space" for transacting with other members of the public is arranging to meet in the lobby of the police station as this video so helpfully demonstrates. Also emphasized heavily in the video is that in this "safe space" you are prohibiting from bringing or transacting in weapons. Continue reading