technology

DEF CON hacker conference tells Feds not to attend

"One of the world’s largest hacker conferences, Def Con, requested that government employees do not attend this year’s annual conference, citing discomfort with federal officials in the wake of National Security Administration revelations. Traditionally, there has been a general acknowledgement that not all federal government employees who attend the Def Con conference do so openly, and a jovial 'Spot the Fed' competition has become commonplace at the Def Con conference. General Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, spoke at last year’s Def Con conference and denied that the government had vast files of information, calling it 'absolute nonsense.'" Continue reading →

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Kremlin turns back to typewriters to avoid security leaks

"The throwback to the paper-strewn days of Soviet bureaucracy has reportedly been prompted by the publication of secret documents by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and the revelations leaked by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The Federal Guard Service, which is also in charge of protecting President Vladimir Putin, is looking to spend just over 486,000 rubles ($14,800) to buy a number of electric typewriters. Pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia said the state service was looking to purchase 20 typerwriters because using computers to prepare top-secret documents may no longer be safe." Continue reading →

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Yahoo wants to make its NSA PRISM fight against U.S. FISA court public

"Yahoo has called on Fisa, the secretive US surveillance court, to let it publish its legal argument against a case that gave the government 'powerful leverage' in persuading tech companies to co-operate with a controversial data-gathering program. In a court filing first reported by San Jose Mercury News the company argues the release would demonstrate that Yahoo 'objected strenuously' in a key 2008 case after the National Security Agency (NSA) demanded Yahoo customers’ information. Yahoo’s move comes as its rivals have also pushed for the government to provide more public clarity on their surveillance of people’s online lives." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYahoo wants to make its NSA PRISM fight against U.S. FISA court public

Venezuelan minister: Facebook users unwittingly work as CIA informants

"A government minister in Venezuela, which has offered fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden asylum, is urging her countrymen to cancel their Facebook accounts lest they be targeted by US snooping. 'Fellow Venezuelans: cancel your Facebook accounts, since you unwittingly have worked as CIA informants! Look at the Snowden case!' prisons minister Maria Iris Varela said in a Twitter posting. Varela also said victims of 'gringo espionage' should file lawsuits to demand 'fair compensation' and bankrupt the US government." Continue reading →

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SpaceX rocket blasts off only to return to its launch pad — without exploding

"The first-of-its-kind reusable rocket made its highest leap to date last month before gently returning to Earth. Video recently released by the private space company showed the 10-story tall vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle blast off to more than 1,000 feet and then slowly descend back to its launching pad in McGregor, Texas. For the first time, the rocket 'made use of its full navigation sensor suite with the F9-R closed loop control flight algorithms to accomplish a precision landing' on its June 14 launch, according to SpaceX. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has explained he hopes to revolutionize space travel with the reusable rocket." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpaceX rocket blasts off only to return to its launch pad — without exploding

Portrait of a Bitcoin miner: How one man made $192K in virtual currency

"Eric has been mining Bitcoins since 2010, and at one point quit a high-paying job as a software engineer to devote all of his time to, figuratively speaking, extract gold from silicon. His move was bold and risky, but yielded an awesome reward: To date, Eric has accumulated 2500 bitcoins, which is worth a cool $191,900 as of this writing. (At Bitcoin’s highest exchange rate, that amount was $665,000.) He doesn't trade them and has no immediate plans to cash out. Instead, he's hanging on to them, and waiting to see how their value changes." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPortrait of a Bitcoin miner: How one man made $192K in virtual currency

Big tobacco stubs out e-cigarette competitors

"In anticipation of Reynolds’ first effort in the e-cigarette market, the company’s lobbyists are pushing laws at the state level that could add costs, paperwork and headaches onto smaller competitors that have largely served the e-cigarette market so far. More worrisome is that the online activities of thousands of e-cigarette consumers, who are looking for a tar-free alternative to smoking, could be effectively outlawed. The number of American smokers who have tried e-cigarettes doubled from 10 percent in 2010 to about 21 percent in 2011." Continue reading →

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Sticky Thoughts: The Market, Not The Government, Gave Us Super Glue

"It was the competitive market that finally gave the product life, but first it had to struggle through an incredible array of barriers, from disincentives to monopoly grants to regulatory restrictions. What might have helped people at daily life since the 1940s took a half a century. Part of that time passage is inherent in the market process, but much of the rest of it was due to intervention. It was not science as such that made the difference. It was science given flight by market forces. At each stage of its development, the market was there, encouraging, prodding, guiding, and leading to the light, despite all odds." Continue reading →

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France will no longer cut off Internet for illegal downloading

"The French Ministry of Culture announced Tuesday that people who illegally download copyrighted works off the Internet no longer have to fear being disconnected for a year under the nation’s controversial anti-piracy law, formally named the High Authority of Diffusion of the Art Works and Protection of the Rights on the Internet (HADOPI). The loss of HADOPI’s disconnection provision is more than just a victory for French socialists — it’s a defeat for U.S. industry groups, which fiercely lobbied prior French administrations to adopt harsh punitive measures against anyone who shares copyrighted content." Continue reading →

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Hacking Law and Governance with Startup Cities

"Startup Cities compete to provide new and better functions—in this case, to provide citizens with services they want and need. One new zone hosting a Startup City might pioneer different environmental law or tax policy. Another may offer a custom-tailored regulatory environment for finance or universities. Still another may try a new model for funding social services. Startup Cities are a powerful alternative to risky, difficult, and politically improbable national reform. If bad social techs lead a zone to fail, we don’t gamble the entire nation’s livelihood. People can easily exit a Startup City—effectively putting the project 'out of business.'" Continue reading →

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