Orwellian

Leaked Docs: Dutch Rabobank Blocked Bitcoin for ‘Ethical Reasons’

"Rabobank, the Netherlands’ third-largest retail bank by market share,blocked its customers’ transfers to bitcoin exchanges for ‘ethical reasons’, according to several first-hand customer reports and bank documents leaked to Dutch news sites. When questioned about the blocks, Rabobank apparently told some customers there were 'technical problems' with the transfer, but told others the bank’s own internal Ethics Commission had ruled to disallow bitcoin trading. The documents went on to recommend customers engaging in bitcoin trading be labeled as having a 'higher risk profile' in general." Continue reading →

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Who Will Head the Fed? It Doesn’t Matter

"As leaders in the developed Western world become more authoritarian and move to confiscate wealth, most markets will actually respond very positively. Seems illogical, I know. But the facts of the matter are this: In times of war and potential confiscation of assets, stocks can become safe havens as money is pulled out of sovereign bond markets to be invested elsewhere. Commodities can take flight as investors begin to hoard tangible assets and portable wealth, and the real bull markets in precious metals truly unfold. My top recommendation right now: You can largely ignore the central bankers. Instead, keep both eyes on the leaders in Washington and Europe." Continue reading →

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C.I.A. Collecting Data on International Money Transfers, Officials Say

"The Central Intelligence Agency is secretly collecting bulk records of international money transfers handled by companies like Western Union — including transactions into and out of the United States — under the same law that the National Security Agency uses for its huge database of Americans’ phone records, according to current and former government officials. Several officials also said more than one other bulk collection program has yet to come to light. 'The intelligence community collects bulk data in a number of different ways under multiple authorities,' one intelligence official said. Orders for business records from the surveillance court generally prohibit recipients from talking about them." Continue reading →

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Their Propaganda….Our Propaganda

"The Guardian was able to get a hold of some paintings that were made by a North Korean propaganda artist, for the North Korean people. The paintings depict their 'glorious neighbor' China. Keep in mind, when you see these, that most North Koreans have never been to China. What a glorious place...a Heaven on Earth mixed with The Land of Oz. Fortunately, here in the United States, we have freedom of the press, and it takes hard effort for that press to pull the wool over our eyes! Americans are not so easily fooled..." Continue reading →

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Cybersecurity: The NSA’s Big Budget Action Movie

"The exercise had an awesome name, inspired by the movies: 'Quantum Dawn 2.' On July 18, scads of U.S. banks, stock exchanges and government agencies took part in a digital fire drill — a practice run in the event all of Wall Street came under massive cyberattack. The scope of this exercise was systemwide, full-on meltdown. 'In some cases,' reads a new account of the exercise from Reuters, 'a blue chip stock started to plummet inexplicably. Soon, shocking news about the company hit the market, but unbeknownst to the participant, the news was fake. For others, trading systems were on the fritz, or government websites stopped functioning.'" Continue reading →

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FINTRAC collecting too much info on innocent Canadians: privacy watchdog

"By law, Canadian banks, casinos and thousands of other businesses are required to report all financial transactions over $10,000, and any movement of money they suspect may be linked to terrorism or laundering the proceeds of crime. But in a special report to Parliament today, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart complains that an investigation of the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre, known as FINTRAC, found found everyday financial transactions of ordinary Canadians — things such as down payments for homes and cars, and wire transfers from families overseas to their children studying here. FINTRAC has amassed over 165 million reports." Continue reading →

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European Parliament votes to suspend US SWIFT data exchange

"The European Parliament has voted to suspend its SWIFT data exchange agreement with the US. They’ve called for US access to the SWIFT database to be halted following concerns that the US is spying on the EU, and not simply trying to combat terrorism. EU lawmakers suspect that the US has abused an agreement giving it limited access to SWIFT. As such, they voted to freeze Washington’s capacity to track international payments through the site. The worry comes after leaked American documents indicating the US was covertly tapping into SWIFT were aired on Brazilian television. The US denies any wrongdoing." Continue reading →

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Bank Calls Customer Over Detected Bitcoin Transactions

"Sean Percival today wrote about how he received a phone call from his bank, because 'they detected Bitcoin related transactions,' and they asked him if it was for personal use or business. And, no, it wasn't because of some concern about fraud. Percival clarified that it was just about Bitcoin, and said they wanted to know about 'a spike in activity' with merchants like Coinbase. He later confirmed that it was not even from the fraud department. Percival does not name the bank, other than to say that it's 'one of the biggies.' It will be interesting to see if this becomes a regular thing, and whether or not it'll become yet another path for government officials to try to track Bitcoin usage." Continue reading →

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Capital One closes company’s bank account over mere mention of bitcoin

"Capital One has closed a bank account belonging to a company that produces metal medallions after it started selling commemorative silver and copper bitcoin coins. Rob Gray, CEO of Mulligan Mint, Inc said Capital One gave him no warning before it closed his company’s bank account. He has since contacted the bank, but isn’t satisfied with its response. Mulligan Mint does not accept bitcoin as payment for any of its products, the only connection with the digital currency is that it sells two types of bitcoin medallion. Both feature the bitcoin currency symbol on one side, set on a background of a computer circuit board." Continue reading →

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