Silk Road Judge: Tor Browser Is "Mumbo-Jumbo To Most People On The Jury Right Now"

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Illustrations by Susie Cagle.

The Silk Road trial is a high-tech case of nearly inscrutable levels, and prosecutors are grappling with the burden of having to explain cryptographic technologies to a jury whose demographics lean away from technological sophistication. As Judge Katherine Forrest explained to them on Tuesday, the jury need not have any technical expertise to rule on the issues at trial, since everything they need ought to be presented to them in court. But the prosecutionalthough not for lack of effortseems to be falling short of making sense to the jurors.

In a conference with the attorneys on Wednesday, before the jury entered the courtroom, Judge Forrest complained about the prosecutions explanation of Tor. What [the Tor Browser] is, I think, is mumbo-jumbo to most people on the jury right now. theres room for clarity, here.

Quite early on in the pre-trial process, the judge had asked for the two sides to come up with a glossary of technical terms. But in the end, the prosecution and the defense could not reach an agreement on how the terms should be defined. Although the exact substance and the extent of their disagreement is yet unknown, the filings do show that they often sparred over whether to characterize Bitcoin as a currency (a term favored by the prosecution) or as a payments system (favored by Ross Ulbrichts defense). Another point of contention may have been how to characterize Tor. In the opening statements, the prosecution repeatedly referred to the Tor-hidden service Silk Road as a dark and secret part of the Internet, whereas the defense pointedly mentioned that Tor had actually been developed by the U.S. government for legitimate means.

Only three days have passed and the jury has already been barraged with detailed technical explanations of a dizzying array of cryptographic technologies: Tor, PGP, Bitcoin. The run-downs of these technologies have been interspersed with nearly comical explanations of far more basic elements of the Internethow forum posts work, the difference between forum posts and direct messages, what the Internet Archive is, and the concept of a wiki.

With respect to the last, at one point, the prosecutor asked his first witness, a DHS agent, What is a wiki? The witness began his answer with, Its, uh, its like Wikipedia.

Illustration by Susie Cagle.

For the most part, the prosecutions explanations have been thorough, detailed, and technically correct. Explanations have often been accompanied by exhibits that can only be described as tutorial videos, where Jared Der-Yeghaiyan, the aforementioned DHS agent, walked the jury step by step through how to use Tor, how to track Bitcoin transactions on blockchain.info, and how to encrypt e-mails with PGP. Nonetheless, the prosecution is up against a difficult task: hosting a crypto-party for a group that never asked to be in the room in the first place.

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Silk Road Judge: Tor Browser Is "Mumbo-Jumbo To Most People On The Jury Right Now"

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Vogogo offers free fraud and risk service to cryptocurrency firms

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Summary:Vogogo services are being offering for free following a year of cyberattacks against the cryptocurrency industry.

Vogogo's fraud and risk mitigation service is being released as a stand-alone system to help cryptocurrency companies protect themselves against rising rates of cyberattack.

Announced on Monday, the cryptocurrency payment processing and fraud mitigation company said that high demand prompted the release of the service for free, in both use and integration. In the current threat landscape, it is more important than ever that the enterprise invest in cybersecurity measures -- and the crypto industry is no exception.

In recent times, to name but a few, Mt. Gox, Bitfloor and Bitstamp have all been reportedly the victims of cyberattacks. Hackers are able to hijack mining pools or break into a virtual currency exchange's hot wallet system to steal funds, and unfortunately, many exchanges either close or do not have enough funds left in cold storage to compensate traders.

See also: Police suspect Mt. Gox Bitcoin theft was an inside job

Vogogo, which works with companies including CoinTrader, ANXPro, Rock Trading, QuadrigaCX and BitMEX, offers a fraud and risk mitigation service which validates large volumes of high-risk payment transactions. Each separate individual or business involved in a transaction is verified -- as well as each individual transaction itself -- before being processed.

Vogogo CEO Geoff Gordon commented:

It's also frustrating as we believe these types of sophisticated fraud events can be effectively prevented with the right systems in place. Therefore, we have elected to open up our fraud and risk mitigation services to crypto-based businesses, worldwide, free of cost."

Vogogo's chief revenue officer Rodney Thompson said that the decision to open up Vogogo's service was not only to help combat fraud, but to educate players within the fledgling industry on how to manage overall fraud levels and risk.

The offer allows any crypto-based firm free integration and use of the platform for a minimum of three months for free.

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Vogogo offers free fraud and risk service to cryptocurrency firms

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Exchange Ukash to Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Bitcoin using Ukash GBP/EUR/USD online. - Video

Bitcoin is proving a big disappointment

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Bitcoin is proving a big disappointment. The would-be currency is down 33 per cent against the U.S. dollar so far in 2015, and 71 per cent in the past year. Theres almost certainly more bad news to come.

The electronic token has lots of enduring problems. As a store of value that is not subject to government intervention, it lacks the support of authorities and is always in danger of being banned.

The market was illiquid to begin with and is becoming even more so, increasing the risk of abuse. Bitcoins generate no income, so they count as collectibles more like an artwork than a few shares of Google. In these matters, beauty and value depend on the fickle eyes of the beholder and potential buyer.

Anonymity and free transactions offer some allure. But the former leads to an association with illegal activity. The latter is an illusion, since someone has to pay for the computers used to process and store bitcoin information. Bitcoin miners provide the service in exchange for new bitcoins.

Right now, the biggest problem is psychology. In a more ebullient and inflationary world, the novelty and limited supply of bitcoins might appeal. These days, disinflation and discontent are the dominant themes.

Bitcoins touched $171.41 (U.S.) on Jan. 14 and on Jan. 16 traded at $216. At these levels, the economics of bitcoin mining look terrible. The full cost of production is closer to $600 a token, based on a recent study by Australian researcher Hass McCook. If miners retreat, users may end up paying directly for the service.

Defenders of bitcoin have not given up hope. Their emphasis has shifted though, from the currency to the underlying blockchain processing software. That may be a good investment. It may even be revolutionary. But it will not bring up the price of bitcoin. The currency is suffering an erosion of confidence from which it could be hard to recover.

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Bitcoin is proving a big disappointment

Redcar Bears first up for Workington Comets

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Last updated at 09:06, Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Workington Comets 2015 campaign revs into action on March 26 at Redcar Bears South Tees Motorsports Park in the A66 Trophy.

The reverse fixture is two days later at Derwent Park. The following week Comets will attempt to retain the Ian Thomas Shield in a gruelling two-leg competition against Newcastle Diamonds, with the first leg in Workington on April 4 and the return leg the following night at Newcastles Brough Park.

The first competitive fixture will be in the League Cup away at holders Edinburgh Monarchs on April 10 and will see Workington up against former Comets favourite Craig Cook.

Comets veteran Rusty Harrison will be back at Derwent Park the following day for a third attempt at running his testimonial meeting.

A hectic May schedule starts with a final pair of League Cup fixtures home and away to Berwick before their Premier League campaign gets underway at home to Plymouth on May 9.

Their first Premier League away trip this season will be at Peterborough the next day and the Knock Out Cup kicks off home and away to Rye House Rockets.

The month ends with a stern test which could prove crucial to Comets title chase with league fixtures at home to champions Edinburgh on May 25 and away on May 29.

MARCH 26, Redcar v Workington (A66) 28, Workington v Redcar (A66)

APRIL 4, Workington v Newcastle (ITS) 5, Newcastle v Workington (ITS) 10, Edinburgh v Workington (LC) 11, Rusty Harrison Testimonial 12, Glasgow v Workington (LC) 18, Workington v Glasgow (LC) 25, Workington v Edinburgh (LC)

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Redcar Bears first up for Workington Comets

European Commission approves Novartis' psoriasis drug Cosentyx

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PBR Staff Writer Published 20 January 2015

The European Commission (EC) has approved Swiss drug-maker Novartis' Cosentyx (secukinumab, formerly known as AIN457) to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy.

Cosentyx 300mg is the first and only interleukin-17A (IL-17A) inhibitor to be approved in Europe providing a new first-line biologic treatment option for these patients.

At present, all biologic treatments for psoriasis, including anti-tumor necrosis factor therapies (anti-TNFs) and Stelara (ustekinumab) are recommended for second-line systemic therapy in Europe.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals division head David Epstein said: "With this groundbreaking news from the European Commission, clear skin may now be a reality for patients living with psoriasis.

"Nearly half of psoriasis patients are not content with current therapies, including biologic treatments, showing a significant unmet need for patients.

"Cosentyx, with a first-line systemic indication for treatment of psoriasis will provide patients a better chance of achieving clear or almost clear skin."

In Phase III clinical trials, 70% or more patients treated with Cosentyx 300mg achieved clear skin (PASI 100) or almost clear skin (PASI 90), during the first 16 weeks of treatment.

The European approval follows the recent results of the Phase IIIb CLEAR trial, which showed that Cosentyx was superior to Stelara in clearing skin of patients living with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

The company said that Cosentyx also showed superiority to Enbrel (etanercept) in clearing skin in the FIXTURE study.

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European Commission approves Novartis' psoriasis drug Cosentyx