Monthly Archives: March 2015

Jacksonville attorney George Gabel honored as Friend of the First Amendment

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George Gabel has a tie he wears on special occasions: Its red and sprinkled with many tiny American flags.

Those special occasions? He gives a grin: This is the tie I like to wear when Im arguing First Amendment cases.

Those flags, he figures, are a not-so subtle reminder to judges and anyone else of the importance of a free press and open government. Its something Gabel, a Jacksonville attorney with a courtly, soft-spoken manner, has been fighting for since the 1960s.

For that work, he was honored Tuesday in Tallahassee with the First Amendment Foundations Pete Weitzel/Friend of the First Amendment Award.

Frank Denton, editor of The Florida Times-Union, nominated Gabel for the award, calling him a warrior for the First Amendment. He cited numerous cases in which Gabel tangled with judges and politicians on behalf of the publics right to know what is going on, noting that Gabel is always there to stand up in court on behalf of the Sunshine Laws and the First Amendment.

It is a point of passion for Gabel, who likes to quote Thomas Jefferson on the matter. And he mentions a T-shirt that Judy, his wife of 52 years, bought him emblazoned with quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that reads: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Without a pause, he then said: One of the things that matters to me is the First Amendment and open government.

Gabel is an attorney at Holland & Knight and has an office on the 39th floor of the Bank of America Tower, where he has miles-long views of the water and land of his hometown.

Hes become something on an institution in Jacksonville. Walking through downtown toward a lunch spot last week, it was hard for him to get more than 20 yards without someone hailing him by name.

Gabel, 75, grew up in the Murray Hill neighborhood, the second of five children. His childhood was pretty idyllic, he said people seemed nicer then, and life was simpler, safer.

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Jacksonville attorney George Gabel honored as Friend of the First Amendment

Why We Filed a Brief Defending Offensive Speech

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Heres Boston College law professor Kent Greenfield, writing at The Atlanticabout the racist-chant scandal at the University of Oklahoma:

We are told the First Amendment protects the odious because we cannot trust the government to make choices about content on our behalf. That protections of speech will inevitably be overinclusive. But that this is a cost we must bear. If we start punishing speech, advocates argue, then we will slide down the slippery slope to tyranny.

If that is what the First Amendment means, then we have a problem greater than bigoted frat boys. The problem would be the First Amendment.

Catos brief inWalker v. Texas Division(the Confederate flag license-plate case) pokes plenty of fun at government censors who would protect us from offensive speech, but this is no laughing matter.

H/t Trevor Burrus

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Why We Filed a Brief Defending Offensive Speech

21 tips, tricks and shortcuts to help you stay anonymous online

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Avoiding being tracked online is nearly impossible, but here are a few ways to reduce the risk.

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Consider installing Mailvelope.

Mozilla Screenshot of Firefox private window. Mozilla This is perhaps one of the most basic privacy options that just about anyone can take advantage of. The top four most popular browsers - Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari - have a private browsing mode, which can be found in their respective settings menus. With private browsing activated, your browser will not store cookies or internet history on your computer. This has very limited uses and is perhaps really only effective at hiding your browsing history from your significant other, siblings or parents. Private browsing does not securely hide your identity or browsing activities beyond your local machine as your IP address can still be tracked.

Dado Ruvic/Reuters A man is silhouetted against a video screen with a Twitter and a Facebook logo as he poses with a Dell laptop in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, August 14, 2013. The amount of personal data that social networking sites like Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter have harvested from their billions of users is shocking. Head to facebook.com/settings and click Download a copy of your Facebook data and you might be surprised to see just how much information is on file. Everything from who you have poked, what events you have or have not attended and when and where you have logged into your account is logged and saved. Similar levels of data harvesting occurs on all major social media sites. This is the price you pay for using a free service. The only sure-fire way to avoid giving up this information is to delete your accounts entirely. A word of warning, deactivating your account is not the same as deleting it. Deactivating your account is sort of like putting it into hibernation - all your information is stored and can be re-activated if you have second thoughts. Always delete rather than deactivate an account if you wish to completely wipe it.

A large amount of websites track and collect the browsing habits of the users that visit them. These trackers are invisible and most people arent aware that theyre being tracked. Ghostery is a free browser extension - available on all major web browsers - that will reveal these trackers, also known as web bugs. You can then decide which web bugs youre comfortable with tracking you and which ones youd like to block. In total, Ghostery keeps track of over 1,900 companies. Each company has a profile in the Ghostery Knowledge Library, allowing you to better understand who and why someone is keeping tabs on you and what action you would like to take.

Getty Images Hushmail is currently very popular, it provides a private email account with no ads. Most of the well known and popular email services - Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook - are not particularly privacy-friendly. For full Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encrypted emails, consider signing up to a more secure provider. Hushmail is currently very popular, it provides a private email account with no ads, built-in encryption and unlimited email aliases. A limited free service is offered, with more features available for a monthly subscription fee. However, Hushmail is not above the law and in the past it has been forced to reveal user data to U.S. authorities following a court order. The company also logs user IP addresses. MyKolab is a similar service that has not revealed any user information in the past, however, they are also obliged to provide access to lawful interception requests so this still remains a possibility.

Arda Guldogan/Getty Images Keeping your real email address away from spammers is crucial to protecting your identity online. Disposable Email Addresses (DEAs) are anonymous and temporary. They allow users to quickly create new email addresses as-and-when theyre needed, which can then be disposed of after use. This is particularly useful for avoiding spam when filling in forms on websites that require an email address to proceed. Keeping your real email address away from spammers is crucial to protecting your identity online and DEAs are a great solution. Popular providers of this service include Guerrilla Mail and Mailinator, although there are hundreds out there to choose from. Most DEAs are not particularly secure, so it is not advised to use these services to send sensitive information - rather, use them as a way to avoid giving away your own information in situations where you are obliged to do so.

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are one of the most effective ways to protect your privacy online. A VPN essentially hides your IP address - your unique online identifier - and runs all your online data via a secure and encrypted virtual tunnel, which can keep websites from tracking your online activity or even knowing which country youre browsing from. These days, there are many VPNs to choose from. Hotspot Shield, TorGuard, CyberGhost and HideMyAss are some of the more popular ones that are currently available. Most of them require a small monthly subscription fee and they dont all provide the same list of features, so its worth shopping around for a VPN that suits you.

Tor Tors anonymity network allows access to the deep or hidden web. Originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind as a way to protect government communications, Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. Tors anonymity network allows access to the deep or hidden web, where websites can be created anonymously and individuals can communicate privately with each other. When using the Tor browser - which can be downloaded for free from torproject.org - it is very difficult for websites or individuals to track your online activity and location. However, while Tor is quite effective at protecting your online anonymity, it can be slow, complicated and restricting. Its also worth noting that while the network can and has been used for good, it has also been used for illicit purposes, such as selling drugs and distributing images of child abuse.

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21 tips, tricks and shortcuts to help you stay anonymous online

My BitCoin mining operation & fixing cooling problems w/ 3D printer – Video

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My BitCoin mining operation fixing cooling problems w/ 3D printer
I #39;m giving you the full tour of my BitCoin mining operation run out of my shed. I also 3D model and print a custom fan shroud to upgrade my mines cooling system using an online modeling program...

By: Barnacules Nerdgasm

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My BitCoin mining operation & fixing cooling problems w/ 3D printer - Video

Talking Stolen Cars for Bitcoin & Sonic the Hedgehog with TannSquid – Video

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Talking Stolen Cars for Bitcoin Sonic the Hedgehog with TannSquid
What we talk about while waiting in a lobby. "Like" on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/MrMario2011 Second Channel http://www.youtube.com/iPsychozoa Stalk Me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/ ...

By: MrMario2011

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Talking Stolen Cars for Bitcoin & Sonic the Hedgehog with TannSquid - Video

Bitcoin to near 5M active users by 2019: Study

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Holden, who authored the new study, predicted that bitcoin's active user base will rise to about 4.7 million by 2019 from about 1.3 million in 2014.

That growth, however, will not directly translate to an increase in the value of bitcoin transactions. In fact, the Juniper report predicts a major drop in the total sum of transaction values for 2015, followed by a gradual increase through 2019. The paper attributes this fall in part to temporary trader concerns over the cryptocurrency's future.

And there are several major impediments for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies' (generally known as altcoins) ascension to the mainstream, Holden said. He pointed to three things keeping the technology within a relatively narrow world: The prices of these digital assets have gone through significant volatility since their inception, exchanges have suffered thefts and mysteriously missing funds, and becoming an active consumer or retail user requires some tech know-how.

Read MoreBitcoin just got serious

"These all make it exceedingly difficult to bring bitcoin, to bring altcoin, into the mass market," he said, adding that technologies like Apple Pay should be the focus of most retailers.

Still, the volatility issue will likely decline, Holden said.

Juniper's analysis expected that some kind of regulation would occur on cryptocurrency exchanges in the short to medium term, which should calm the price movement somewhat, he said.

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Bitcoin to near 5M active users by 2019: Study

What bitcoin will be in 2019: Study

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Holden, who authored the new study, predicted that bitcoin's active user base will rise to about 4.7 million by 2019 from about 1.3 million in 2014.

That growth, however, will not directly translate to an increase in the value of bitcoin transactions. In fact, the Juniper report predicts a major drop in the total sum of transaction values for 2015, followed by a gradual increase through 2019. The paper attributes this fall in part to temporary trader concerns over the cryptocurrency's future.

And there are several major impediments for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies' (generally known as altcoins) ascension to the mainstream, Holden said. He pointed to three things keeping the technology within a relatively narrow world: The prices of these digital assets have gone through significant volatility since their inception, exchanges have suffered thefts and mysteriously missing funds, and becoming an active consumer or retail user requires some tech know-how.

Read MoreBitcoin just got serious

"These all make it exceedingly difficult to bring bitcoin, to bring altcoin, into the mass market," he said, adding that technologies like Apple Pay should be the focus of most retailers.

Still, the volatility issue will likely decline, Holden said.

Juniper's analysis expected that some kind of regulation would occur on cryptocurrency exchanges in the short to medium term, which should calm the price movement somewhat, he said.

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What bitcoin will be in 2019: Study

Watch out…Bitcoin just got serious

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Coyno said it was going to release a tax reporting feature in its program as an increasing number of businesses looked to accept the cryptocurrency as payment.

On Tuesday, Japanese internet giant Rakuten said it would accept bitcoin on its e-commerce platform, while everything from beer to tuition fees can now be paid for with the currency.

In the U.S., bitcoin is seen as an asset and is subject to capital gains tax, while in Germany, it is subject to income tax.

"The main issue is bitcoin is seen as an asset. So when you get that on your books, and the value changes and you buy stuff with it, you get a benefit and that is measured in money. This is a gain that you need to be able to declare and pay taxes for, especially if you are a corporation in the U.S.," Keller said.

So far Coyno has just 200 users. It charges 20 euros ($21.20) a year for a personal account. For companies, Keller said that the fee would likely depend on the number of transactions being made.

Keller told CNBC the company is aiming to raise 200,000 euros ($212,630) of funding to keep it going until the end of the year, and a further 1 million euros in 2016 to help it grow.

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Watch out...Bitcoin just got serious