technology

Free Barrett Brown – 321 Days In Detention Pending Trial

"Having previously been raided by the FBI on March 6, 2012 and not charged with any crime in relation to that incident, on September 12, 2012 Barrett Brown was again raided and this time arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation while he was online participating in a Tinychat session. He was subsequently denied bail and detained without charge and adequate medical treatment for over two weeks while in the custody of US Marshals. On December 4, 2012 Barrett was indicted by a federal grand jury on twelve additional counts related to data from the Stratfor breach. He faces these charges simply for allegedly pasting a hyperlink online." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFree Barrett Brown – 321 Days In Detention Pending Trial

Taiwanese Apple contractor probes claims of labor abuse

"The US rights groups said three Pegatron plants in China impose excessive overtime and employ minors. It also cited crowded dormitories, insufficient fire escape routes and arbitrary fines for perceived minor lapses of behaviour. Apple has also said it will investigate the claims. Pegatron produces consumer electronics like game consoles, television sets and computers for Sony, Toshiba and some other brand name vendors, as well as assembling products for Apple, an official of the Taiwanese company said. It currently has around 110,000 employees, the vast majority of them in the Chinese cities of Shanghai, Suzhou and Chongqing." Continue reading →

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Heart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.

"Devi Shetty is obsessed with making heart surgery affordable for millions of Indians. On his office desk are photographs of two of his heroes: Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi. Shetty is not a public health official motivated by charity. He’s a heart surgeon turned businessman who has started a chain of 21 medical centers around India. By trimming costs with such measures as buying cheaper scrubs and spurning air-conditioning, he has cut the price of artery-clearing coronary bypass surgery to 95,000 rupees ($1,583), half of what it was 20 years ago, and wants to get the price down to $800 within a decade." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHeart Surgery in India for $1,583 Costs $106,385 in U.S.

BGPSEC: More Internet Control In The Name Of “Security”

"BGPSEC is a control that, once fully implemented, would allow the federal government to instantly revoke an ISPs right to advertise specific IP addresses, effectively shutting off all services that exist on those addresses. BGP is a key component of the Internet infrastructure, existing barely above the physical cables and fibers that carry data. BGPSEC provides much more sweeping control over who and what can exist on the Internet. BGPSEC combined with the DNS system which is already managed by the government means a giant step forward for Big Brother. ARIN has already begun offering the capability as a free 'service'." Continue reading →

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The routing security battles intensify

"In essence, what is now being debated in SIDR is whether routing – one of the last areas in which Internet operations is distributed and autonomous – will become rigidified and centralized by what one participant in the debate calls 'slamming a hierarchical PKI into a distributed routing system.' RPKI is being advocated by US government-funded contractors and US government agencies such as the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The engineers leading the revolt against BGPSEC in its current incarnation, on the other hand, are coming from operators – i.e., the people who actually have to run things." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe routing security battles intensify

Paul Rosenberg: The Internet Is Being Slaughtered in the Back Room

"US government-funded contractors and US government agencies (like the National Institute of Standards & Technology) are the big pushers. Many people who actually run things are complaining about BGPSEC. These complaints, however, will either be ignored, or will be used to write still more proposals, with more contractors being hired to address the problems. At the base of it all, however, are engineers – smart guys – who are willing to do whatever they are asked, so long as they get a paycheck. They are forging electronic chains for humanity, and passing it all off as 'a harmless piece of software,' or, 'a systems design.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Rosenberg: The Internet Is Being Slaughtered in the Back Room

Does the Internet Have a Libertarian Future? Interview With Paul Rosenberg

"The entire Internet is kind of being — it’s kind of a re-conquest that’s going on. It got out of control. They weren’t expecting it. The roots actually go back to Sputnik when they essentially scared the people in power in the United States. And they kind of let the smart guys loose — and that’s not exactly an absolutely correct explanation but it’s kind of true — and the Internet grew out of it. And nobody saw it coming outside of a couple sci-fi authors. Just a couple. And it got out of control and they’re essentially taking it back. So we have a lot of problems with that. In terms of avoiding the problems, it can definitely be done. Our company does it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDoes the Internet Have a Libertarian Future? Interview With Paul Rosenberg

Jeffrey Tucker: How the Internet Saved Civilization

"The new world transcends states, borders, charts, and plans. It is a spontaneous order, extended constantly by people’s desire to know and connect. It is the most poignant and beautiful example in our midst of the capacity of people to organize their lives on their own, with the assistance of merchants, coders, promoters, entrepreneurs, and property holders. The CEO of Google recently summed it up in this profound statement: 'The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.'" Continue reading →

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Bitcoin industry leaders launch DATA, a self-regulatory body for digital currencies

"The Committee for the Establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority will 'work proactively with regulators and policymakers to adapt their requirements to our technologies and business models,' said the new group, in an announcement earlier today. The list of backers is a Who’s Who of players in bitcoin. Tony Gallipi, CEO of payment processor BitPay, Chris Larsen, CEO of Ripple and founder of OpenCoin, and Patrick Murck, general counsel for the Bitcoin Foundation, are on board. TradeHill CEO Jered Kenna, who has been negotiating licenses with individual states for his high-net worth bitcoin exchange, is also a member." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin industry leaders launch DATA, a self-regulatory body for digital currencies

Don’t Let Bitcoin Morph into Govcoin

"Recently, Govcoin has become a metaphor for alterations to the core bitcoin protocol that reduce its fungibility, irreversibility or privacy to conform to certain government specifications for an 'appropriate' digital currency. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has not yet confirmed to what extent the implementation of Regulation E by money transmitters will be applicable to licensed virtual currency providers. Also known as the Remittance Transfer Rule, compliance will be required by Oct. 28. It requires, among other items, prepayment disclosure, transaction receipts, and transaction cancellation within prescribed time limits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDon’t Let Bitcoin Morph into Govcoin