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Snowden’s father says Putin will continue to stand firm

“Lon Snowden’s comments came on the day that President Barack Obama canceled a summit meeting with Putin planned for next month in retaliation for Russia giving refuge to Edward Snowden. “These games of ‘Well, I’m not going to go to this meeting,’ or ‘I’m not going to go to that meeting,’ … I do not believe that President Vladimir Putin will cave to that,” he said. The older Snowden, who was in the Coast Guard for about 30 years before he retired in January 2009, said he ‘wouldn’t take the unauthorized release of classified information lightly, and I did not initially either. The fact is, is now I have a much greater understanding of what has occurred.'” Continue reading →

IRS secretly used DEA surveillance database to launch investigations

“Details of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration program that feeds tips to federal agents and then instructs them to alter the investigative trail were published in a manual used by agents of the Internal Revenue Service for two years. The practice of recreating the investigative trail, highly criticized by former prosecutors and defense lawyers after Reuters reported it this week, is now under review by the Justice Department. An IRS spokesman had no comment on the entry or on why it was removed from the manual. Reuters recovered the previous editions from the archives of the Westlaw legal database.” Continue reading →

Texas man sues GOP lawmaker and husband over months of workplace Tasings

“A 45-year-old Texas man is suing a Republican state lawmaker and her husband over what he calls months of attacks with a Taser while working for them that left him paranoid in his private life. ‘I was constantly looking behind my shoulder, distracted, couldn’t sleep,’ Bradley Jones told KHOU-TV. ‘I would even look behind my shower curtain at home.’ KHOU reported on Tuesday that Jones has filed a civil suit against state Rep. Patricia Harless (R) and her husband, Sam Harless. The couple owns Fred Fincher Motors, where Jones has worked since 2009.” Continue reading →

U.S. government tried to aggressively punish ‘leaker’ journalist in World War II

“The U.S. government attempted to aggressively prosecute a journalist who revealed early in World War II that American intelligence agencies had cracked the Japanese military’s secret code language. According to the Wall Street Journal, recently disclosed Justice Department documents show that government prosecutors contemplated not only punishing the reporter who wrote the story, but staff and editors at the newspaper that printed it, too. It is worth noting that the Tribune at that juncture was published by interests unfriendly to the Roosevelt administration. A grand jury dismissed all charges against Johnston.” Continue reading →

Coinlab to incubate Bitcoin startups

“Venture-backed Bitcoin exchange CoinLab has announced it will start to incubate new Bitcoin businesses, starting with enterprise-scale mining company Alydian. CoinLab won’t be providing any capital or mentoring to existing businesses. Instead it will come up with new ideas for businesses internally, and recruit external management talent to develop the ideas. The first portfolio company CoinLab is launching is Alydian, which is the first company to offer ‘multi-terahash-speed’ mining systems. CoinLab has recruited former Pixelworks CEO Hans Olsen to head up the business.” Continue reading →

Saudi prince reserves portions of Disneyland Paris for $19.5 million

“A Saudi prince spent 15 million euros ($19.5 million) for three days of fun at Disneyland near Paris to celebrate his degree, the group that runs the theme park said Monday. Prince Fahd al-Saud booked entire areas of the park over May 22 to 24 for his 60-odd guests. The festivities included tailor-made events involving ‘rare Disney characters,’ Euro Disney told AFP. Special security was put in place for the prince, one of the park’s top customers, it added. The theme park attracted 16 million visitors last year but Euro Disney has not made any profits since it was set up 20 years ago.” Continue reading →

Federal judge: Bitcoin, “a currency,” can be regulated under American law

“In the case of a Texas man accused of massive Bitcoin-based fraud, a federal judge has ruled that bitcoins are ‘a currency or form of money,’ and are therefore subject to relevant US laws. The case revolves around Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST), a virtual Bitcoin-based hedge fund that many suspected of being a scam. BTCST shut down in August 2012, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last month formally charged founder Trendon Shavers with running a Ponzi scheme.” Continue reading →

Tax jurisdiction: Is space the final frontier?

“The United Nations is boldly going where no international body has gone before. At a meeting of its Economic and Social Council last week one of the items on the agenda was ‘whether a satellite in geostationary orbit could constitute a permanent establishment’ for tax purposes. The hydra-headed attempt to crackdown on tax havens risks failing because it could simply create a whole new patchwork of rules which can be just as easily gamed as the current lot. Alternatively, complexities for firms created by new rules could bring about the most unexpected of unintended consequences……… off-globe finance. In space, no-one can hear you tax plan.” Continue reading →