Supreme Court affirms Rumsfeld’s immunity from torture lawsuits

“U.S. military officials who engaged in ordering or carrying out the torture of individuals in custody can now rely upon an across-the-board legal defense that protects them from being sued for committing what amounts to an international crime, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling on Monday. The court affirmed an earlier ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in 2012 that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could not be sued for personally approving torture techniques used against prisoners held during the Bush administration’s terror war.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Supreme Court affirms Rumsfeld’s immunity from torture lawsuits

All About Bitcoin Mining: Road To Riches Or Fool’s Gold?

“While I have now recouped my investment in mining hardware, you may not be so lucky. Even among ASIC-based mining hardware there is a ranking, a hierarchy based on purchase cost and energy efficiency. Tis folly to think that you’ll be able to run 130 nm ASICminer ASICs in California indefinitely. At some point, you will be outgunned by people running yet-to-be-sold 28 nm ASICs in some rural county of Washington state, where a kWh costs a mere 2.33 cents. Bitcoin mining is not for the faint of heart, nor for the mathematically challenged. Invest only what you can afford to lose. Or better yet, enjoy this crazy sideshow from the bleachers.” Continue reading

Continue Reading All About Bitcoin Mining: Road To Riches Or Fool’s Gold?

Dutch government answers questions about Bitcoin, indicates Bitcoin taxable

“A taxpayer who has a source of income with activities in the course of trade, such as income from business or income from an activity, will have to pay taxes over that in compliance with the provisions of the Income Tax Act 2001. The fact that the benefits from such a source are calculated using a scheme other than the legal tender in force in our country does not make a difference. Such a benefit in the form of a result in Bitcoins will also lead to taxation. However, the determination of a taxed income will mean that the value of the results achieved in Bitcoins must be converted into an amount in euros. For the wage and sales tax, a similar approach applies.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Dutch government answers questions about Bitcoin, indicates Bitcoin taxable

Israeli banks block money transfers connected to Bitcoin pending Israeli central bank regs

“From a check made in the bank it seems that your account contains activity involved with virtual currency. The activity is characterized by issuing wire transfer to a company called MTGOX, through which this currency is purchased. Virtual currency is anonymous and unregulated. Trading them is not regulated and thus poses a high risk for the bank. Therefore, the bank has decided not to allow such activity for our customers, until guidance/clarifications are issued by the Israel Central Bank. You are requested to stop any such activity. We inform you that if you do not comply, we will have to refuse any activity directly or indirectly related to this area of activity.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Israeli banks block money transfers connected to Bitcoin pending Israeli central bank regs

Rep. Peter King calls for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be extradited from Hong Kong

“Peter King, the chairman of the House homeland security subcommittee, called for Snowden’s extradition from Hong Kong. Snowden flew there 10 days ago to disclose top-secret documents and to give interviews to the Guardian. ‘If Edward Snowden did in fact leak the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date,’ King, a New York Republican, said in a written statement. ‘The United States must make it clear that no country should be granting this individual asylum. This is a matter of extraordinary consequence to American intelligence.'” Continue reading

Continue Reading Rep. Peter King calls for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden to be extradited from Hong Kong

Burner Phone – A Simple and Anonymous Disposable Cell Phone

“Our Burner Kit is the simplest, most secure, and most affordable pre-paid cell phone kit in the US. The Burner Kit comes with a quality disposable cell phone, in addition to unlimited voice and SMS messaging for 30 days. After 30 days, just throw away your Burner Kit and you’ll never have to worry about compromising your identity. We take your privacy seriously. You can purchase your Burner Kit using Credit or Debit card or Bitcoin (an anonymous digital crypto currency). Every time you make a purchase we’ll package and ship your order, then destroy all transaction records in our system. We make it impossible to give or share your information with anyone.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Burner Phone – A Simple and Anonymous Disposable Cell Phone

Anatomy of a hack: How crackers ransack passwords like “qeadzcwrsfxv1331”

“Nate Anderson, Ars deputy editor, downloaded a list of more than 16,000 cryptographically hashed passcodes. Within a few hours, he deciphered almost half of them. If a reporter with zero training in the ancient art of password cracking can achieve such results, imagine what more seasoned attackers can do. Imagine no more. We asked three cracking experts to attack the same list Anderson targeted and recount the results in all their color and technical detail Iron Chef style. The results, to say the least, were eye opening because they show how quickly even long passwords with letters, numbers, and symbols can be discovered.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Anatomy of a hack: How crackers ransack passwords like “qeadzcwrsfxv1331”

Black Hat hackers break into any iPhone in under a minute, using a malicious charger

“Security researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have built a malicious USB charger that can inject persistent, undetectable malware onto your iPhone, iPad, or other current-gen iOS device. This USB charger, called Mactans, takes less than a minute to compromise a device once it has been plugged in. Mactans, which is named after the black widow spider’s Latin taxonomy, will be demonstrated by Billy Lau, Yeongjin Jang, and Chengyu Song at the Black Hat 2013 conference in July.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Black Hat hackers break into any iPhone in under a minute, using a malicious charger