Bankocracy

To Make Sense of the Coins Act, Follow the Money

"The American people might be surprised to learn that for the past 20 years a handful of lobbyists and lawmakers—mostly from states with mining and metal-processing interests—have been pushing a proposal to take away dollar bills, and force the public to use metal coins instead. The advocacy group promoting the Coins Act has the same address as PMX Industries, a South Korean firm located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that supplies the U.S. Mint with the metal used to make dollar coins. The company in 2011 donated a combined $500,000 to the Harkin Institute of Public Policy at Iowa State University named after the senator." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTo Make Sense of the Coins Act, Follow the Money

The Impending Collapse of the Global “Bernanke Bubble”

"In the past few months, the Turkish lira has depreciated by 4.5% against the dollar, while its dollar-denominated debt stands at $172 billion or 22% of its GDP. Goldman Sachs forecasts a further 15% fall in the Turkish lira, spurring a financial crisis as it becomes more and more expensive to buy dollars to service these loans, most of which are short term. Furthermore, 'some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Fed’s largess were . . . among the politically connected elite in emerging nations like Turkey, where vanity towers, glitzy shopping malls and even grander projects to come have become representative of the nation’s new dynamism.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Impending Collapse of the Global “Bernanke Bubble”

Show Me the Manual: An Internet Town Hall [2012]

"Recorded live on location at Code for America, this town hall deals with the question of Incorporation by Reference, a legal technique where private standards become federal law, available only for those with sufficient means to be informed citizens. Featuring Jennifer Pahlka, Tim O'Reilly, Carl Malamud, and the 2012 Code for America Fellows, this program was recorded on May 4, 2012." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShow Me the Manual: An Internet Town Hall [2012]

Maryland: Motorist Rights Group Sues Over Camera Data

"The town eventually responded in June 2012, demanding that Ely pay a schedule of fees for the involvement of various town employees, including $200 an hour for the town attorney. The total cost to access the documents was left open-ended. Ely is not seeking obscure or difficult to obtain records. Instead, he wants the calibration certificates and daily setup logs that must be 'kept on file' under the state's speed camera authorization statute. Already, two localities have been caught violating state law in allowing a private company to operate cameras without documenting the calibrations, as required." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMaryland: Motorist Rights Group Sues Over Camera Data

Secret Service nabs Oklahoma driver’s license equipment burglars

"Two men are accused of committing multiple felony burglaries at metro area tag agencies. They were after the equipment and supplies needed to make Oklahoma driver’s licenses and ID cards. 591 customers had their personal information stolen along with the equipment. We keep piling on security feature like biometrics to our state driver’s license but the weakest link is the local DMV or tag agencies. This sort of crime is happening all over the country. All the personal data and high tech security features in the world will not make the card secure. Instead what it does is make the document a hot commodity for crooks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSecret Service nabs Oklahoma driver’s license equipment burglars

Schoolgirl virginity tests prompt outrage in Indonesia

"The tests would affect students seeking to enter senior high school. The proposal triggered immediate anger, with Education Minister Mohammad Nuh leading the condemnation: 'If you want to protect your children from negative influence, there are others ways. This is not wise.' 'A virginity test is a form of sexual violence against women,' added Masruchah, the deputy head of the national commission on violence against woman, who like many Indonesians goes by one name." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSchoolgirl virginity tests prompt outrage in Indonesia

Tyranny For Profit

"Allan Marx is an Ordnungspolizei Obersturmfuhrer (police lieutenant) in Sebastian County, Arkansas who is pushing hard for OralTox test swabs to be used upon motorists at Fourth Amendment-free 'sobriety' checkpoints. It just happens that Marx is also a distributor for the product. Each case of OralTox swabs retails for about $300. Each case contains 25 individual tests. How many people are forced to run a single Fourth Amendment-free gauntlet in a single county on a single night? Oklahoma, North Dakota, Missouri, Michigan, Colorado, Utah and – of course – New York have already signed up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTyranny For Profit

If You Have Nothing to Hide, Be Very Worried

"Surveillance of health made the eugenics movement possible in 30 states. In North Carolina alone, 7,600 individuals were sterilized from 1929-74. Government ID papers have made checkpoints more productive and less costly. Saying that some government activities have to be more costly is the same as saying they should be constrained. There is a second reason why private information must stay private. It is simply that you may well be breaking criminal laws without knowing it. Many people are not convicted felons only because the government does not know which paper crimes they have committed." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIf You Have Nothing to Hide, Be Very Worried

NSA Funding N.C. State University Lab

"North Carolina State University just secured a $60.75 million grant from the National Security Agency (NSA) to build a massive campus lab for the study of data analytics. The Laboratory for Analytic Sciences (LAS) is expected to create 100 jobs in the area; those actually working in the facility will need government security clearances. The NSA reportedly chose the university because of the latter’s extensive work in data analytics. While a portion of its research will remain unclassified, the bulk of it—including personnel numbers and facility details—will remain firmly under wraps." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA Funding N.C. State University Lab

White House: ‘Difficult to imagine’ authorities demanding destruction of hard drives

"Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor, said that two GCHQ security experts oversaw the destruction of hard drives on 20 July in what he described as a 'peculiarly pointless piece of symbolism'. Rusbridger had told the authorities that the action would not prevent the Guardian reporting on the leaked US documents because Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who first broke the story, had a copy in Brazil, and a further copy was held in the US. White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said: 'That’s very difficult to imagine a scenario in which that would be appropriate.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House: ‘Difficult to imagine’ authorities demanding destruction of hard drives