Monthly Archives: February 2017

Will Your Old Emails Finally Get Fourth Amendment Protections? – Reason (blog)

Posted: February 7, 2017 at 9:59 pm

Balefire9 | Dreamstime.comOnce again, legislation that would give American citizens better privacy protections for their emails has passed the House of Representatives, but we're going to have to see what happens in the Senate.

The Email Privacy Act aims to correct a flaw in federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Passed in the relatively early days of home computer use, it established a policy that private electronic communications held by third parties that were more than 180 days old could be accessed by law enforcement and government investigators without the need for a warrant. A subpoena delivered to the communication provider was enough. A law this old obviously preceded the arrival and dominance of private email communications, and tech privacy activists and tech companies have been pushing for reform. The way the system stands now can result in people having their old private communications searched and read by authorities without the citizen's knowledge.

The Email Privacy Act fixes some of these problems, though it doesn't fully resolve the controversy Under the act, officials will need to get actual warrants to access emails and online communications, which provides at least a little more judicial oversight. But the warrants are to the providers, not to the actual people who wrote and sent the communications. It will be up to companies to decide whether to pass along the news of the warrant to customers. Neema Singh Guliani, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, says that this is a flaw with the legislation. The original version of the bill required that government provide notice. Without that rule, the third-party provider can resist the warrant if they choose to, but the actual customer probably might not even know.

"If you don't have notice, you really can't effectively [challenge the warrant]," Singh Guliani said. The bill does permit third-party providers to let customers know about the administration of warrants, but also allows for the government to delay this information for 180 days under a handful of exceptionsif the target is a flight risk or may destroy evidence or otherwise compromise the investigation. And while some major tech and communication companies have fought back against orders to pass along data or to keep searches secret, Singh Guliani says we shouldn't have to be "reliant on the business practices of providers that can change over time to make sure people get the full protection of the Fourth Amendment."

Still, the compromise bill is better than the current rules. No representative voted against it last session of Congress, and it passed again yesterday by a voice vote. But while the bill enjoys popular bipartisan support in the House, the last attempt to get it passed hit disaster in the Senate. Senators attempted to meddle with the wording of the bill to weaken it or add other unrelated regulations. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) attempted to add an amendment to expand the surveillance reach of secretive National Security Letters. Sponsoring senators ended up yanking the legislation from consideration.

The Senate sponsors last session were Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont). A representative from Sen. Lee's office said that he intends to co-sponsor the Senate version of the bill again this year, but it has not yet been introduced. This could be the first legislative test of whether increased privacy protections can make its way to and through a presidential administration openly hostile to limits on any sort of investigative or law enforcement authority (as we saw earlier today). President Donald Trump is hardly alone and he's not responsible for its previous problems, but it's nevertheless legislation that should not be struggling at all.

And a little bit of self-promotion: I'll be leading a panel discussion on the Fourth Amendment, tech privacy, and Congressional lawmaking in this March's South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. Singh Guliani will be one of our panelists. Check out the details here if you find yourself in Austin on March 10. Efforts like the Email Privacy Act will be part of the discussion.

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Inconsistent Florida Firearm Laws Pose Potential New Threat to Second Amendment Rights – Bearing Arms

Posted: at 9:58 pm

Florida state law 790.33 articulates, in short, that only the Florida State Legislature can and will regulate statewide laws encompassing anything firearms and ammunition related. This law is in place to ensure the state of Florida in its entirety remains consistent withgoverning gun laws. This safeguardslaw-abiding citizens from beingprosecuted for crossing a county or municipality line and accidentally violatinga local firearm law. Add to that the fact that misinformation or accidental ignorance can become an issue, when these laws can become extraneous and too numerous for the well-intended citizen to keep track of.

While Florida state law renders alllocal firearms laws moot, unfortunately, somelocal laws are still alive in certain municipalities and have remained in place because of an effort to exert some level of local autonomy. These municipalities are aware that these ordinances are illegal in the big picture, but refuse to erase them from their books.

The Florida state legislature further regulatespenalties on anyone who chooses to obstruct the state laws by imposing their illegal ordinances.

Tallahassee Mayor, Andrew Gillum, found himself named as a defendant in a lawsuit brought against him by Florida Carry and the Second Amendment Foundation with support of the NRA. The Mayor defends his position, and refuses to remove a law still on the books. This law states that no guns shall be fired in parks located within the city limits of Tallahassee.

The judge in this case recently ruled in favor of the Mayor and all city officials named, finding there has been no wrong-doing on their part. The ruling is currently under appeal, based upon the constitutionality of this law.

Gillum feels he is within his right, as an elected official to enforce and uphold laws that are in his constituents best interests. He feels the state oversight is in direct opposition to what he was elected to do.The flip side to that is that picking and choosing what to uphold is counter-intuitive, andone of the fundamental elements tothis appeal.

What the Mayor is seemingly overlooking with State Law 790.33 is the bigger picture and how it affects all law-abiding gun owners and concealed carriers who reside within his governance and are some of the individuals who elected him into office.

With the appeal of the decision of the district court, its going to be up to Court of Appeals to consider the final outcome.

All law-abiding gun ownersof Florida should pay close attention the outcome of this case could have huge implications for them moving forward.

Author's Bio: Pamela Jablonski

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Mark L. Hopkins: The Second Amendment and Shays’ Rebellion – Wicked Local Stoughton

Posted: at 9:58 pm

Mark L. Hopkins More Content Now

This is the second in a series of columns that relate to the purpose of the Second Amendment and the gun rights issue that continues to fester in our society. The first column pointed out the strong desire on the part of the leadership of the country to have a strong federal government. The focus here is in the feeling of necessity in the leadership to have a means to enforce federal law and to protect the government from citizen rebellions. The Second Amendment became the law of the land in 1791. Prior to that Daniel Shays, a former captain in the Continental Army, became the leader of a citizens rebellion in Massachusetts in response to what Shays and other farmers believed were high taxes and a government that was unresponsive to their grievances. In January 1787, they raided the arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts and continued their anti-government rebellions through the winter of that year. This was two years before the writing of the U.S. Bill of Rights with its all-important Second Amendment. Retired General George Washington was so upset by Shays Rebellion that he wrote three letters commenting on it. Excerpts from these letters follow: But for Gods sake tell me what is the cause of all these commotions. Do they proceed from licentiousness, British influence disseminated by Tories, or real grievances which admit of redress? In a second letter he worried that, Commotion of this sort, like snowballs, gather strength as they roll, if there is no opposition in the way to divide and crumble them. I am mortified beyond expression that in the moment of our acknowledged independence we should by our conduct verify the predictions of our transatlantic foe, and render ourselves ridiculous and contemptible in the eyes of all Europe. Later he wrote, If three years ago any person had told me that at this day I should see such a formidable rebellion against the laws and constitutions or our own making as now appears, I should have thought him a bedlamite, a fit subject for a mad house. Shays Rebellion was eventually put down when a group of wealthy merchants in Boston pooled their resources and created their own militia to quell the uprising. In the early 1790s, a second major rebellion began in Western Pennsylvania. It was called the Whiskey Rebellion and, again, was a revolt against taxes. Thus, the Second Amendment was written and signed into law in the shadow of these two major citizens rebellions. The U.S. Congress reacted to this second major rebellion by passing The Militia Act which gave teeth to the Second Amendment by requiring all military-age free adults to stand for service to enforce the laws of the Union, thereby insuring domestic tranquility. President Washington himself gave orders to form a militia of 13,000 men to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. His words later were ..this is how a well-regulated Militia should be used to serve the government in maintaining a strong security in each state, as the Second Amendment of The Bill of Rights intended. From the letters written by George Washington and the actions of Congress it is obvious that the purpose of the Second Amendment was to strengthen the Federal Government against rebellion and insurrection. It was not, as some contend, to equip the citizens to make war on the government. In fact, it was just the opposite. My first of the three gun rights columns focused on the desire of the U.S. leadership to have a strong central government and the means to protect that government from rebellion. In this column the focus has been on the like-minded efforts of both President George Washington and Congress to put teeth in the Second Amendment so security and an orderly society could be fostered. My third and final column on this subject will come next week.

Dr. Mark L. Hopkins writes for More Content Now and Scripps Newspapers. He is past president of colleges and universities in four states and currently serves as executive director of a higher-education consulting service. You will find Hopkins latest book, Journey to Gettysburg, on Amazon.com. Contact him at presnet@presnet.net.

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What is Trump’s 2nd Amendment Coalition? (VIDEO) – Guns.com

Posted: at 9:58 pm

On Nov. 3, Donald Trump announced a group of grassroots and mainstream groups as well as public figures called theSecond Amendment Coalitionwith the sole purpose of protecting Second Amendment liberties.

While many of the groups and individuals already service the mission, it was unclear whatthey would do as a conglomerate.Guns.com caught up with two of its members, gun maker Jesse James and six-time Olympic medal winner Kim Rhode, at SHOT Show in Las Vegas in January 2017 to discuss more about it.

The coalition is really about bringing a lot of industry and experience to the table to help, advise and give him the best advice opportunities to help the industry that we can, saidRhode.

At the top of the list for James is universal concealed-carry reciprocity. If youre fingerprinted and youre double background checked and youre firearm trained to have a concealed carry license in your state, that should transfer to every other state. And it doesnt now, he said. There is currently a bill in Congress that hopes to achieve this.

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First Amendment Support Climbing Among High School Students – New York Times

Posted: at 9:58 pm


New York Times
First Amendment Support Climbing Among High School Students
New York Times
High school students protesting outside the Supreme Court building in Washington. Credit Susan Walsh/Associated Press. Support among American high school students for the First Amendment is stronger today than it has been in the last 12 years, ...
Teens who follow the news on social media are more likely to support the First AmendmentMashable
High School Student Support for First Amendment at Highest Level in a DecadeThe Tiger Media Network

all 3 news articles »

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First Amendment Under Siege as Another Journalist Arrested at Standing Rock – EcoWatch

Posted: at 9:58 pm

By Mark Trahant

Jenni Monet, a Native American journalist, was arrested last week while covering Standing Rock. You'd think that would trigger a lot of support from the national and regional news media.

There is an idea in law enforcement called the "thin blue line." It basically means that police work together. A call goes out from Morton County and, right or wrong, law enforcement from around the country provides back up.

Jenni Monet was arrested while covering the Standing Rock movement last week. But most of the press has been silent about the charges she facesand the implications for the First Amendment.Aboriginal People's Television Network

You would think journalism would be like that, too.

When one journalist is threatened, we all are threatened. We cannot do our jobs when we worry about being injured or worse. And when a journalist is arrested? Well, everyone who claims the First Amendment as a framework should object loudly.

Last Wednesday, Monet was arrested near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. She was interviewing water protectors who were setting up a new camp near the Dakota Access Pipeline route on treaty lands of the Great Sioux Nation. Law enforcement from Morton County surrounded the camp and captured everyone within the circle. A press release from the sheriff's Department puts it this way: "Approximately 76 members of a rogue group of protestors were arrested." Most were charged with criminal trespassing and inciting a riot.

As was Monet. She now faces serious charges and the judicial process will go forward. The truth must come out.

But this story is about the failure of journalism institutions.

The Native press and the institutions that carry her work had Monet's back. That includes Indian Country Media Network, YES! Magazine and the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal. In Canada the Aboriginal People's Television Network reported on the story during its evening news. And, the Los Angeles Times has now weighed as well in with its own story written by Sandy Tolan who's done some great reporting from Standing Rock.

The Native American Journalists Association released a statement immediately:

"Yesterday's unlawful arrest of Native journalist Jenni Monet by Morton County officers is patently illegal and a blatant betrayal of our closely held American values of free speech and a free press," NAJA President Bryan Pollard said, "Jenni is an accomplished journalist and consummate professional who was covering a story on behalf of Indian Country Today. Unfortunately, this arrest is not unprecedented, and Morton County officials must review their officer training and department policies to ensure that officers are able and empowered to distinguish between protesters and journalists who are in pursuit of truthful reporting."

Yet in North Dakota you would not know this arrest happened. The press is silent.

I have heard from many, many individual journalists. That's fantastic. But what about the institutions of journalism? There should news stories in print, digital and broadcast. There should be editorials calling out North Dakota for this egregious act. If the institutions let this moment pass, every journalist covering a protest across the country will be at risk of arrest.

After her release from jail, Monet wrote for Indian Country Media Network:

"When Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman was charged with the same allegations I now facecriminal trespassing and riotingher message to the world embraced the First Amendment. 'There's a reason why journalism is explicitly protected by the U.S. Constitution,' she said before a crowd gathered in front of the Morton County courthouse. "Because we're supposed to be the check and balance on power."

The funny thing is that journalism institutions were not quick to embrace Goodman either. I have talked to many journalists who see her as an "other" because she practices a different kind of journalism than they do.

Monet's brand of journalism is rooted in facts and good reporting. She talks to everyone on all sides of the story, including the Morton County Sheriff and North Dakota's new governor. She also has street cred and knows how to tell a story. Just listen to her podcast and you will know that to be true.

So if we ever need journalism institutions to rally, it's now. It's not Jenni Monet who will be on trial. It's the First Amendment. Journalism is not a crime.

Mark Trahant is the Charles R. Johnson Endowed Professor of Journalism at the University of North Dakota and a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. He writes a regular column at YES!, where he is a contributing editor. Reposted with permission from our media associate YES! Magazine.

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TheWrap Is Hiring a Reporter to Cover the First Amendment … – CT Post

Posted: at 9:58 pm

TheWrap Is Hiring a Reporter to Cover the First Amendment

TheWrap has addeda reporting position devoted to writing aboutmatters relating tothe First Amendment.

The reporter will cover challenges to freedom of the press, expression, assembly and religion inan erawhen those freedoms are under new and severepressures.

The decision follows multipleattacks by the White House on the media, including President Donald Trump referring to the press as the opposition party and top presidential adviser Steve Bannon enjoining the press to shut up and listen. It also follows the rise of fake news sites and a debate over the role of social media networks like Facebook in disseminating falsified reporting. All of these will be the daily reporting territory for this new position.

Also Read: Trump vs. Press Freedom: How Much Damage Can He Do?

TheWrap has posted the following position, and is taking resumes for an experienced reporter and writer:

TheWrap is a news site focused on the entertainment business, culture and media. The subjects we cover including journalism, movies, TV shows and the internet exist because of the First Amendment. From curbs on religious freedom to threats on the news media, we believe the First Amendment is under attack.

As our First Amendment reporter, you will cover every aspect of the First Amendment in America today. You should be endlessly fascinated by this subject, and passionately committed to reporting on freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. You will write about how the First Amendment functions and is challenged in the U.S. today, writing with wit, depth and flexibility.

This beat could fuel dozens of stories a day, so youll need strong news instincts and judgment to prioritize which ones are the most important, as well as excellent time management to balance breaking news, short dispatches and investigative pieces. You wont always need to write fast, but youll have a much easier time if you can. Youll develop a network of sources of all viewpoints, reflecting the reality that governments, corporations, activists and individuals can all prop up or undercut First Amendment freedoms. You should alsobe a deep thinker who will help us define this role in ways we cant yet imagine.

This is a full-time position that includes competitive pay, health insurance and vacation.

Apply toeditors@thewrap.com

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Demand return of First Amendment rights – Wausau Daily Herald – Wausau Daily Herald

Posted: at 9:58 pm

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Letter to the editor 11:32 a.m. CT Feb. 7, 2017

American flag.(Photo: Getty Images/Fuse)

EDITOR: Our First Amendment right, Freedom of Speech, is being repressed more and more each day. Information has been removed from our government websites, government employees have been issued gag orders and the press has been told to shut up.

As more and more of these rights are getting taken away, the harder it will be to return them. Do you really want to live in a country where the government controls what you believe by controlling the information that is released to you? If this does not scare you, why doesnt it?

Thank you to all those government employees who are standing up for our rights by archiving this information before it was removed, by creating alternate information sites, by standing up to protect your right to choose what information to believe.

This is not a Democratic or Republican issue. This is a United States Constitution issue. Stand up and demand the return of your First Amendment rights before it is too late.

Mary Hague,

Mosinee

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Trade Coin Club Review: Cryptocurrency exchange Ponzi ROIs

Posted: at 9:56 pm

There is no information on the Trade Coin Club website indicating who owns or runs the business.

Infact, at the time of publication the Trade Coin Club website was nothing more than a placeholder for the companys logo.

The Trade Coin Club website domain (tradecoinclub.com) was privately registered on August 2nd, 2016.

Alexa currently estimate that the two largest sources of traffic to the Trade Coin Club website are the US (22%) and Brazil (18%).

As always, if an MLM company is not openly upfront about who is running or owns it, think long and hard about joining and/or handing over any money.

Trade Coin Club has no retailable products or services, with affiliates only able to market Trade Coin Club affiliate membership itself.

The Trade Coin Club compensation plan sees affiliates invest bitcoin on the promise of an advertised daily ROI:

Every four months each Trade Coin Club affiliate must pay a 25% fee on ROIs paid out.

Referralcommissions in Trade Coin Club are paid out via a unilevel compensation structure.

A unilevel compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a unilevel team, with every personally recruited affiliate placed directly under them (level 1):

If any level 1 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 2 of the original affiliates unilevel team.

If any level 2 affiliates recruit new affiliates, they are placed on level 3 and so on and so forth down a theoretical infinite number of levels.

Trade Coin Club cap payable unilevel levels at eight, with affiliates paid a percentage of funds invested by their unilevel team as follows:

Residual commissions in Trade Coin Club are paid out via a binary compensation structure.

A binary compensation structure places an affiliate at the top of a binary team, split into two sides (left and right):

Both binary sides start off with one position. Once filled, asecond level is generated by splitting each of the two binary positions into another two positions each (4 positions).

Subsequent levels of the binary team are generated as required, with each new level housing twice as many positions as the previous level.

At the end of each day new investment volume is tallied up on both sides of the binary team.

A Trade Coin Club affiliate is paid a percentage of funds invested on their weaker binary side.

How much of a percentage they are paid is determined by their Trade Coin Club affiliate rank:

In addition to investment volume, each Trade Coin Club affiliate must also pay a monthly fee:

These fees are used to pay recruitment commissions via a 312 matrix.

A 312 matrix places an affiliate at the top of a matrix, with three positions directly under them:

These three positions form the first level of the matrix. The second level of the matrix is generated by splitting each of the three positions into another three positions each (9 positions).

Subsequent levels of the matrix are generated in the same manner (up to 12 levels), with a complete 312 matrix housing 797,160 positions.

Positions in the matrix are filled via direct and indirect recruitment of new Trade Coin Club affiliates.

For each matrix position filled in their matrix, a Trade Coin Club affiliate is paid 0.003 BTC a month (so long as each affiliate in the matrix continues to pay their monthly fee).

A bonus 0.003 BTC commission is paid out if a personally recruited earns five times the amount theyve invested.

Trade Coin Clubs Rank Achievement Bonus is based on how much bitcoin an affiliate earns through residual binary commissions a month.

Trade Coin Club affiliate membership fees are based on how much an affiliate invests:

Trade Coin Club represent that revenue to pay daily ROIs is sourced via cryptocurrency trading software.

Our system makes millions of micro transactions every second, making it humanly impossible.

Allowing our members to generate profit every second, every hour and every day.

The problem with this assertion is two-fold:

First theres no evidence that Trade Coin Club has any such system, much the less that it generates the promised minimum daily advertised ROIs.

Second, if the owner(s) of Trade Coin Club had such a system, why would they need to solicit investment from affiliates?

Even a modest bank loan would eventually turn into a fortune under a 0.45% daily ROI scenario.

The mandatory 25% ROI fee every 4 months is also another tell, as Trade Coin Club affiliates arealready slugged with monthly fees.

The 25% fee is just a vehicle to trap paid out funds in the system for longer.

The reality of Trade Coin Club is the only verifiable source of revenue entering the company is affiliate investment.

The use of these funds to pay off existing investors equates to Ponzi investment fraud.

Not withstanding the large percentage of invested funds used to pay recruitment commissions, further denting the credibility of ROI generation through legitimate cryptocurrency trading.

On their own, Trade Coin Clubs recruitment commissions make the company a pyramid scheme. Combined with the daily ROI youre looking at a Ponzi pyramid hybrid.

Throw in the lack of information provided about the company, whos running it and the use of bitcoin, and Trade Coin Club is pretty much set up the same as any other cryptocurrency based Ponzi scheme.

Once recruitment dies down and the daily ROI collapses, best of luck getting your bitcoin back from the anonymous Trade Coin Club scammers who stole it.

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Cryptocurrencies: Who Outperformed Bitcoin in January? – Eastern Daily News

Posted: at 9:56 pm

To most people especially those not familiar with other altcoins when they come across the word cryptocurrency, they only think of Bitcoin. Well, this is understandable because Bitcoin is the most popular and the most commonly used cryptocurrency. Since its introduction eight years ago, Bitcoin has been growing at a rapid rate and iswidely referred to as the father of all cryptocurrencies. Other cryptocurrencies have been developed since then, though most of them are not well known. They are really providing real competition for Bitcoin. All these altcoins want a share of the market and, just like Bitcoin, use the blockchain platform.

There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies out there, so its almost impossible to know them all, but there are those that cant be ignored due to their increased number of users and their increased growth in value. Bitcoin has been doing fine so far this month (February 2017) with its price currently above $1,000. In January, however, things were not so good. At one time in January, its price dropped from $1,200, to about $987, in a matter of hours. According to this article, Bitcoin was able to pick itself up because it started the month at $963 and ended at $970 and has continued to grow in February.

Bithubprepared a list of the 20 best performing cryptocurrencies in the month of January 2017. As you can see on the list, Bitcoin performed okay. Looking at the best performers, starting with CounterParty (XCP); its an asset issuing platform. It announced last year that all the functionality of Ethereum will be available on the Bitcoin blockchain. This extended Bitcoins capabilities to include smart contracts. This cryptocurrency gained 70 percent in a month. Moving on to the second best Cryptocurrency performer in January Bitcrystals (BCY). This cryptocurrency acts as the currency in EverdreamSofts free-to-play game mobile game Spells of Genesis. This is an arcade-style game that embraces the blockchain technology in its story line and its economy. Bitcrystals gained 65 percent in January.

MaidSafeCoin (MAID) is the currency behind the MaidSafe network. In this network users can do a lot of things through a decentralized mesh network of computers, which includes creating and hosting websites and also storing private data. MaidSafeCoin grew by 47 percent in January. There are other Cryptocurrencies that were left off thislistdue to their smaller market share, but rose significantly on small volumes hece are worth mentioning. Pascal Coin (PASC) which grew by 10,765 percent, Byteball (GBYTE) grew by 244 percent and Golem (GNT) which grew by 192 percent.

Looking at how the fiat currency, in this case the USD, performed that month; as we have seen in recent years since the introduction of cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies cant match the cryptocurrencies in terms of growth. This is because, unlike digital currencies, they are affected by factors such as inflation and political developments. The US Dollar is reportedto have dropped by 2.6 percent in the month of January.

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