Daily Archives: July 5, 2017

STASI: Even Trump can’t body-slam the First Amendment – New York Daily News

Posted: July 5, 2017 at 8:52 am

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, July 4, 2017, 2:05 PM

On the verge of Independence Day, President Trump took time out from his busy schedule of press suppression and destruction of the First Amendment to exercise his right of free speech for himself.

He posted what appears to be a slightly altered video created originally by extreme Reddit user/bigot HanA------Solo who has a history of posting racist, violence-laden filth.

Until our President tweeted out the altered WWE video, HanA------Solo had been fairly obscure, rutting around on the darkest of fringes with hateful posts on his subreddit feed filled with violence, racism and bigotry of every kind.

Jonathan A. Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League CEO, called him out as an individual who "traffics in online hatred and at times violent rhetoric, has created an image labeling CNN journalists with Stars of David and has written about stabbing Muslims among other violent rhetoric."

Celebrities slam President Trumps CNN WrestleMania tweet

Now the creep is a celeb among the hateful, all thanks to Donald Trump and thanks to freedom of speech.

For guys including the President who hate free speech, they certainly know how to use it to their advantage.

Shortly, Trump will head to Hamburg for the G20 where he'll meet with his friend/not friend Vlad the Impaler Putin where he can get some tips from a real pro. Putin is a master at dismantling the independent media, jailing freethinkers, and when all else fails, poisoning critics.

We don't do that. Yet.

Reddit troll takes credit for altered gif of Trump-CNN brawl

Recently I gave a speech sponsored by the Civil Liberties Union about how in 1733, a German immigrant named John Peter Zenger printed a publication titled The New York Journal. He was sued for libel for daring to criticize abusive, corrupt royal governor William Cosby. (No, not that Bill Cosby.)

Zenger's wife kept printing the paper anyway and Andrew Hamilton signed on as Zenger's lawyer.

Even though it was against the law at the time to print anti-government publications, he was found not guilty. Thus began the quest for America's most important freedom the First Amendment, which we are NOW, after 228 years, truly in danger of losing.

That's why the First Amendment freedom of the press, speech, religion, assembly and the right to petition the government comes first before all others.

Trump tweets edited clip of himself at WrestleMania punching CNN

The President is now at war with the press despite declaring "I love the First Amendment! Nobody loves it better than me." If you remember, he tweeted this out just before arbitrarily barring several publications from the daily White House press briefings and even trying to get away with making the use of video verboten.

Declaring his love of the First Amendment by warring against it is as dumb as Gov. Christie lying that he didn't get any sun on the beach that was closed to taxpayers before getting busted.

How can any American, no matter how far to the right, think attempted suppression of the press is OK? It's never OK to bar or try to suppress information in a free society. It's what our ancestors died for. It's what we should at least be willing to fight for.

When it comes to this, our most important freedom, Trump is nothing more than Putin with a shirt on.

ADL slams Reddit troll behind CNN-Trump clip for racist comments

And it's not funny. Anymore.

Continued here:
STASI: Even Trump can't body-slam the First Amendment - New York Daily News

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David Harsanyi: Fighting for the First Amendment, not against gay marriage – The Union Leader

Posted: at 8:52 am

By DAVID HARSANYI July 04. 2017 11:20PM Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, who refused to create a specialty wedding cake for a same-sex couple in Colorado in 2012. The stories dominating coverage distort the publics understanding of the case.

No matter how many times people repeat it, the case isnt about discrimination or challenging gay marriage. But when the news first broke, USA Today, for example, tweeted, The Supreme Court has agreed to reopen the national debate over same-sex marriage. The headline (and story) on the website was worse; it read, Supreme Court will hear religious liberty challenge to gay weddings. Others similarly framed the case.

There is an impulse to frame every issue as a clash between the tolerant and the closed-minded. But the Masterpiece case doesnt challenge the issue of same-sex marriage in America. Gay marriage wasnt even legal in Colorado when this incident occurred.

A person with only passing interest in this case might be led to believe that Phillips is fighting to hang a No Gays Allowed sign in his shop. In truth, he never refused to serve a gay couple. He didnt even really refuse to sell David Mullins and Charlie Craig a wedding cake. They could have bought without incident. Everything in his shop was available to gays and straights and anyone else who walked in his door. What Phillips did was refuse to use his skills to design and bake a unique cake for a gay wedding. Phillips didnt query about anyones sexual orientation. It was the Colorado Civil Rights Commission that took it upon itself to peer into Phillips soul, indict him and destroy his business over a thought crime.

Like many other bakers, florists, photographers, and musicians and millions of other Christians Phillips holds genuine longstanding religious convictions. If Mullins and Craig had demanded that Phillips create an erotic-themed cake, the baker would have similarly refused for religious reasons, just as he had with other costumers. If a couple had asked him to design a specialty cake that read Congrats on the abortion, Jenny! Im certain he would have refused them as well, even though abortions are legal. Its not the people; its the message.

In its tortured decision, the Colorado Court of Appeals admitted as much, contending that while Phillips didnt overtly discriminate against the couple, the act of same-sex marriage is closely correlated to Craigs and Mullins sexual orientation, so it could divine his real intentions.

In other words, the threshold for denying religious liberty and free expression is the presence of advocacy or a political opinion that conflates with faith. The court has effectively tasked itself with determining when religion is allowed to matter to you. Or, in other words, if SCOTUS upholds the lower court ruling, it will empower unelected civil rights commissions which are typically stacked with hard-left authoritarians to decide when your religious actions are appropriate.

How could any honest person believe this was the Constitutions intent? There was a time, Im told, when the state wouldnt substantially burden religious exercise and would use the least restrictive means to further compelling interests. Today, the state can substantially burden a Christian because hes hurt the wrong persons feelings.

Judging from the emails and social media reactions Ive gotten regarding this case, people are not only instinctively antagonistic because of the players involved, but also because they dont understand the facts. In this era of identity politics, some have been programed to reflexively side with the person making accusations of status-based discrimination, all in an effort to empower the state to coerce a minority of people to see the world their way.

Well, not all people. In 2014, a Christian activist named William Jack went to a Colorado bakery and requested two cakes in the shape of a Bible, one to be decorated with the Bible verses God hates sin. Psalm 45:7 and Homosexuality is a detestable sin. Leviticus 18:22, and the other cake to be decorated with another passage. The bakery refused. Even though Christians are a protected group, the Colorado Civil Rights Division threw out the case. The American Civil Liberties Union called the passages obscenities. I guess the Bible doesnt correlate closely enough with a Christians identity.

Or perhaps weve finally established a state religion in this country: Its run on the dogma of social justice.

David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist.

Business Politics Social issues Courts Oped

Continued here:
David Harsanyi: Fighting for the First Amendment, not against gay marriage - The Union Leader

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FAQ | Jitsi | Prometheism.net euvolution.com | Futurist …

Posted: at 8:52 am

Featured questions (hide)

How do I get the latest Jitsi source code?

You could either clone the Git repository from GitHub (see Retrieving and Building the Sources for details) or use one of the nightly source snapshots (check the Download page).

Ive discovered a bug, what can I do?

Please, report it to the developers! Take a look at the Reporting bugs guidelines page describing the steps to report bugs effectively.

Where is the user profile directory?

Jitsis user profile directory is where Jitsi keeps its configuration, logs, etc. Its location depends on the operating system.

Where do I find the log files?

The easiest way to get hold of the log files is to save them to a location of your choice using Jitsis GUI. You can do so by clicking on ToolsOptions (JitsiPreferences on OS X), then selecting the Advanced tab and opening the Logging form. Youll see the Archive Logs button in there.

Check out the screenshot for an even better description.

Important Note: When asked for logs, please make sure that you provide the full set of logs, or better yet, the zip that Jitsi generates when following the above instructions. Please do not send separate files or file snippets as those are likely to be insufficient. If you need to provide the logs for a GitHub issue, send them to Dev Mailing List and link to the thread in the archive or create a Gist and link to it. Please DO NOT paste the log as a comment.

Otherwise, if you really want to know, the log files are located in:

Where is the configuration file?

Jitsis main configuration file is called sip-communicator.properties and is in the user profile directory.

How do you spell Jitsi and what does it mean?

The correct spelling of the application name is Jitsi (jitsi also works). The origin of the name is Bulgarian (spelled ). It means wires and the point is that the application allow you to connect to many network and people just as wires do. Of course no one other than Bulgarians is supposed to know what this means and we picked the name mainly because it was short and sounded good.

Id like to see a new feature in Jitsi, can you do that for me?

Yes, developers take feature requests into account. Send an email to the development list with a detailed description of the requested feature. After we examine its feasibility and decide whether it can be included in the Jitsi distributions you would likely be asked to open a ticket in our issue tracker. It is worth mentioning though, that handling feature requests is highly dependent of the developers availability and there is no guarantee that all requests will be satisfied.

How do I subscribe to mailing lists?

Please visit the Mailing Lists page to learn more about Jitsis mailing lists.

How do I contact the project developers?

You can ask questions concerning usage of the Jitsi on the dev mailing list (Note that the mailing lists are moderated, so, unless you subscribe to them, there may be a delay before your post shows up). For all urgent queries you could also use IRC at irc.freenode.net, channel #jitsi.

How do I send a patch?

Mail patches to the dev mailing list, with a subject line that contains the word PATCH in all uppercase, for example

A patch submission should contain one logical change; please dont mix N unrelated changes in one submission, send N separate emails instead.

The patch itself should be generated from within the project root directory using unified diff format. The following example shows one way to generate it:

You should give your patch files meaningful names. For instance if you fix a socket bug in the foo class do not call your patch file patchfile.txt but instead call it foo-socket.patch.

If the patch implements a new feature, make sure to describe the feature completely in your mail; if the patch fixes a bug, describe the bug in detail and give a reproduction recipe. An exception to these guidelines is when the patch addresses a specific issue in the issues database in that case, just make sure to refer to the issue number in your log message.

Note that unless you are describing a change rather than posting one, we would probably need you to sign our contributor agreement as either an individual or a corporation

I would like to update this wiki what can I do?

Currently, only project developers are permitted to update the wiki. Please send your suggested changes to the dev mailing list.

A wiki page can be updated by appending the string ?action=edit to the current url and refreshing the page. The page will then be displayed with an extra menu line that includes a Page Edit item.

If you click on the Page Edit item, you will be redirected to a logon page. Enter your developer username and password and you should be redirected back to the original page. Click on Page Edit again to access the source content of the page (a quick reference to wiki markup syntax is also displayed).

How do I reset my XMPP or jit.si password?

You can reset your jit.si password from within Jitsi. You can do the same for any XMPP account that allows it.

In the case of jit.si, you can also change your password via the web

Why cant I connect to ekiga.net?

NB: the problems described in this section also apply to other providers such as 1und1.de

Short Answer: The ekiga.net SIP servers are configured in a way that prevent Jitsi (and many other SIP user agents for that matter) to register with the service. Please use iptel.org or ippi.com instead.

Slightly Longer Answer: The service at ekiga.net is configured to only accept SIP REGISTER requests that contain a public IP address in their Contact header. This means that registration from Jitsi would fail unless you actually have a public IP address. The Ekiga client circumvents this by using STUN to learn the address and port that have been allocated for the current session. It then uses the pair in the SIP Contact header. This kind of use was common for the first version of the STUN protocol defined in RFC 3489 which was sometimes referred to as classic STUN.

The IETF has since significantly reviewed the way STUN should be used. The new version of the protocol is now defined in RFC 5389 which, among other things, advises against the use of STUN as a standalone NAT traversal utility:

Today STUN represents one of the tools used by complete traversal mechanisms such as SIP OUTBOUND (RFC 5626) or ICE (RFC 5245). Neither of these includes sending a STUN obtained address in a Contact header.

So, where does Jitsi currently stand on all this? At the time of writing, we support the ICE protocol but only use it with XMPP. Use with SIP is likely to come in the near future. The reason we havent implemented it yet is that most SIP servers currently open to use over the Internet, use a technique called latching. When such servers detect you are connecting from behind a NAT, they would start acting as a relay, receiving media from your peers and then forwarding it to you (and vice versa). While this is by far the most reliably way of traversing NATs, it does indeed imply some scalability constraints.

ICE on the other hand would only fall back to relaying if no other way was found to connect the two participants. This is why it is considered as a more optimal solution and why its also on our roadmap.

Note however that the constraints on ekiga.net would continue preventing Jitsi from connecting even when we do implement support for ICE.

Why do I see ICE failed errors when trying to make calls.

Jitsi implements a number of NAT traversal methods as described here. In many situations we will be able to setup a call directly between you and other users but in order to be able to reliably establish calls, your XMPP or SIP provider has to provide relaying capabilities such as TURN, Jingle Nodes or . If looking for services that support these you can try jit.si or ippi. Also note that both you and your partner need to have unhindered outgoing UDP access to the Internet or at least to your VoIP service provider. You DO NOT however need to map any port numbers on your home router. At best this is going to have no effect.

Does Jitsi support STUN? (and how about TURN, UPnP and Jingle Nodes?)

STUN, together with TURN, Jingle Nodes, IPv6 and UPnP, is one of the techniques that Jitsi uses as part of the Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) protocol to handle NAT traversal for calls made over XMPP.

For its SIP calls, Jitsi currently relies on servers to relay media (a technique also known as Hosted NAT Traversal or latching, which would be the case of the majority of the SIP servers used on the Internet today. Note that in terms of reliability Hosted NAT Traversal gives the same results as use of ICE. It even works better in some ways because the connection is setup immediately and no time is waisted for gathering candidates and making connectivity checks. The only downside of HNT is that it may put a strain on SIP providers requiring more bandwidth. This could become a problem especially in environments with a high number of all IP high quality video calls.

It is likely that ICE support for SIP calls would also be added to Jitsi in 2014 especially since this would also help with WebRTC compatibility.

Standalone support for STUN is NOT going to be part of Jitsi. Check out the ekiga entry for more information on the shortcomings of STUN as a standalone NAT traversal utility.

I have a few questions regarding ZRTP, SRTP and VoIP security in general. Where can I find some answers?

Check out our ZRTP FAQ.

Why does my call stay in the Initiating Call status and I can never connect?

A common reason for providers not to respond to calls is that they simply dont get the INVITE request Jitsi sends to them. This can happen if you are using UDP. The Jitsi INVITE requests may often exceed the maximum allowed packet size (MTU) for your network or that of your server. In such cases packets may be fragmented by your IP stack and fragmentation for UDP does not always work well in certain networks. This is what happens when a client supports multiple features ;). To resolve the issue you can do one of the following:

How does on-line provisioning work?

On-line provisioning is the feature that allows Jitsi to connect to an http URI every time it starts and retrieve part or all of its configuration there. On-line provisioning is often used by providers to remotely configure the clients they maintain. It can be used to set any property in Jitsi such as the codecs used, the features that users can manually configure and even protocol accounts.

When requesting its provisioning information Jitsi can transmit any of a number of parameters to the server, like for example: the OS it is running on, user credentials, a unique ID and others. This way the provisioning server can fine-tune the parameters it sends to Jitsi.

For more information, please check our on-line provisioning manual

Are my chat sessions protected and if so, how?

Jitsi supports the OTR encryption protocol. OTR stands for Off-the-Record Messaging and once youve set it up (i.e. clicked on that padlock icon in a chat window and verified the identity of your contact) it allows you to make sure that no one other than you two can read your messages, not even your service provider. You can find more on the OTR mechanisms here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Off-the-Record_Messaging

Should logging be disabled by default when using OTR?

By default Jitsi stores all chats so that if you need any information from them it would always be available. If you would like to disable this behavior you can currently do so by opening Jitsis Options/Preferences, selecting the General pane and then unchecking the Log chat history option near the top. It is also possible to disable chats for specific contacts, to erase their history. An indicator in the chat window makes it aware at all times whether history is on or off while chatting with someone.

OTR protected chats follow the same pattern and some users have expressed concerns that this might be incompatible with their security expectations. Our position on this is that Jitsis role is to protect your communication. We also strive to offer usability. The current defaults represent these objectives: most people would prefer for their private communication not to be readable by third parties and most of the time people use Jitsi from personal devices where they are in control of the access policy.

In some cases users may wish for their communications not to be stored locally. This can be the case when using Jitsi on devices that others may also have access to. In such cases users need to be able to easily see whether history is being logged. They would also need to easily turn this off and potentially even erase previous history.

Note however that this subject is entirely different from the encryption one. They are separate measures meant to protect you against separate attacks or problems. We dont believe that the need for one would necessarily imply the need for the other. We are hence committed to also keeping that separation in the user interface.

Force SIP Message support.

Some SIP servers (Asterisk in particular) do not announce the MESSAGE support, despite supporting it. If you enable the account property FORCE_MESSAGING, Jitsi will attempt to use MESSAGE for chats, despite your configured SIP server not explicitly announcing this support to connected clients. For example, if your SIP account is john.smith@example.com, go to property editor type that in the search field and look for something like

net.java.sip.communicator.impl.protocol.sip.acc0123456789.ACCOUNT_UID with the value SIP:john.smith@example.com

The property to add in that case would be:

net.java.sip.communicator.impl.protocol.sip.acc0123456789.FORCE_MESSAGING with the value true.

How to add/edit configuration properties.

You can do so by clicking on ToolsOptions (JitsiPreferences on OS X), then selecting the Advanced tab and opening the Property Editor form. There you can search edit/delete or create new properties.

Is there an an Android version of Jitsi?

Yes, but it is still in an early alpha stage and further development has been put on hold until further notice. A lot of the user interface is not yet implemented. You can find the apk on the Download page.

Is there an iPhone/iPad version of Jitsi?

No. Due to the restrictions imposed by the platform it is highly unlikely this answer is going to change.

The cc-buildloop target of ant fails with the following error message: Could not create task or type of type: junitreport.

On some Linux distributions such as Debian, the ant package is actualy subdivided into multiple packages. So when you chose to install junit and ant with the distribution specific package system, dont forget to install ant-optional too.

The cc-buildloop target of ant fails with the following error message: No test with id=IcqProtocolProviderSlick.

Have you created your own accounts.properties file in the lib directory? Youll need to define two ICQ test accounts at least, and preferably some test accounts for the other supported protocols.

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TOR Browser – darkwebnews.com

Posted: at 8:51 am

If you want to browse through a vast sea of unindexed internet, aka the Deep Web, you will have to use something called Tor, otherwise you wont be able to access the Deep Web.

So, what is Tor and why do I need it?

Tor stands for The Onion Router. Youll soon see why the onion and not some other veggie.

It provides fairly good level of online anonymity, privacy and security to the user.

If youve ever stumbled upon a 16-character alpha-semi-numeric hashes followed by .onion, and tried to open it in your regular browser; it returned the This webpage is not available result, right? This address can only be accessed by Tor browser, specially designed to provide a safe and private environment.

Tor browser bundle can be downloaded for free here https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en. There is no need for installation; you simply extract it anywhere on your computer and run it.

If you open the extracted folder with Browser folder in it, you will notice that the actual application is called Firefox, and thats what Tor browser actually is a modified Firefox browser with a set of plugins installed.

However, if you try to install any other plugin you might compromise your anonymity online, and it is not advisable to make any changes in settings unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Dont even enable scripts or flash player, because those applications demand direct internet connection, not via Tor network, which will compromise your IP address and other information and make you an easy target for hackers.

Tor network can also be used for online chatting. Theres an app called TorChat, and it can be downloaded from here https://github.com/prof7bit/TorChat. Many journalists use it for interviews with their confidential sources or whistleblowers.

To put it briefly

Tor is essential; there are no two ways about it. If you wish to browse the deep web, you will have to use Tor. However as I mentioned, it will also protect your anonymity by passing your computer through several relays.

Drawbacks:

The main drawback that I see with it is that it can lull you into a false sense of security. For anonymous browsing, its an excellent first step, but its not the only one you need to take.

For more protection, I would strongly advise using Tor within a VPN service that allows P2P (peer to peer) networking.

Without this, while the sites you visit cant be seen, any eavesdroppers will be able to see that you are using Tor. While that is not illegal by any means, it does stand out, so you lose some of the anonymity you fought to get.

Other non-important drawbacks include not being able to run torrents over Tor, and not being able to use browser plugins.

How deep down the rabbit hole do you wish to go?

Those were really the basics of Tor browser and Tor network and these would probably suffice if you only wish to explore and experiment with it.

But if you want to know the core mechanics behind Tor network and the way it provides the anonymity and privacy, Ill be happy to get into more details about it.

Regular internet

Before going into any details about Tor, let me first cover how the regular internet works.

Lets say that Alvin for example wishes to send a message to Barbara, or visit Barbaras webpage. When Alvin sends his message, a data package is created,containingAlvins message, his and Barbaras IP addresses.

This data package travels directly from Alvins to Barbaras computer, making it an easy target for anyone who wishes to intercept the message or learn the information about Alvin or Barbara.

Spooky, isnt it? Even if your messages arent confidential at all; why would you allow anybody to have access to you messages? Its insane.

So, if you want to keep your privacy intact, I suggest using Tor, even for browsing that is not related to Deep Web.

Almighty Tor

How it works?

Well, as mentioned earlier, here is the detailed explanation for the choice of a veggie. Tor stands for The Onion Router and Tor Network is a series of connected routers.

When using Tor, Alvins data package would firstly be encrypted, and then sent through three routers, called nodes, before the data package reaches Barbara.

Mathematical Cryptography comes first

Remember that data package that was created when Alvin sent his message to Barbara? Now using Tor, that data package is encrypted not once, but three times.

Mathematical encryption basically means that you take a set of information, Alvins message, and together with the encryption key you put it in a box.

When opening the box without the decryption key, the message looks totally different than the original data package. It can look like some other message or like a random messed-up code.

To decrypt the code you simply put in reverse take the encrypted data package and the decryption key, put them in the box together, and you get the original message when you open the box. Simple, right?

Now, Tor takes this encrypted data package and encrypts it twice more, both times using different encryption keys.

Journey through a tunnel

As mentioned earlier, Tor is a series of routers connected to form a tunnel. Theyre a set of relays volunteering their resources to forward traffic for Tor users. Now lets see how they work.

After encrypting the data package 3 times, its ready for sendoff. Unlike regular network, the data package is not going directly from Alvin to Barbara.

Its first stop is the entry node the first router or node as they call it.

In order for the data package to reach the entry node it must be addressed to it, right? So, the package contains information about the receiver and the sender, in other words Alvin and the entry node.

Once the data package reaches the entry node its being decrypted only one time. One layer of encrypted information peels and the other will be peeled when it reaches the middle node.

Once the data package reaches the middle node the process repeats one more layer of encryption down.

It kind of reminds the onion layers, no? The package that reached the middle node contains a different set of information about the sender and the receiver: the sender is the entry node and the receiver is the middle node.

Now, Alvins message is sent to the last router, the exit node. The last layer of encryption is peeled at the exit node.

The information of the data package that exit node has received is again different. It contains info about the middle node as the sender and the receiver the exit node.

Once the message has been decrypted at the exit node, it is finally ready for Barbara.

Barbara gets the message that Alvin sent her, but the information about the sender and receiver is different.

Barbara knows it came from Alvin, because he probably signed it, but if anybody intercepts the message and tries to find out who sent it to Barbara, the data package will only give him information about the exit node as the sender.

The only possible way to reconstruct the journey of the message is to have access to all routers and have all three decryption keys.

So, now that you know how Tor works, if you still feel you need more protection, try using VPN with Tor, but thats the story for another time.

The articles and content found on Dark Web News are for general information purposes only and are not intended to solicit illegal activity or constitute legal advice. Using drugs is harmful to your health and can cause serious problems including death and imprisonment, and any treatment should not be undertaken without medical supervision.

The rest is here:
TOR Browser - darkwebnews.com

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How To Search The Deep Web Safely – Gizmodo Australia

Posted: at 8:51 am

The deep web and its inner recess, the dark web those less well-trodden parts of the internet beyond the reach of Google and Bing are not for the faint-hearted or untrained. With the right tools, however, there's little to fear and plenty to discover. Here's how you can start exploring the deep web without having to worry about your digital well-being.

There are a few ways to approach this, but we're going to focus on one of the most straightforward and secure for simplicity's sake. We're going to be using Tails OS, a bootable operating system that includes everything you need to get down to those hidden parts of the web.

If you're still unclear about what the deep web is, it's any part of the internet that's not indexed by search engines anywhere you can't get from just clicking links. A large part of the deep web is made up of .onion sites (like the infamous Silk Road), which use a special top-level domain only reachable by a special browser called Tor. Technically, the dark web is a more illicit subsection of the deep web, though the terms are often confused.

For the curious or privacy-conscious internet explorer, it's worth checking out to see what lies beyond the internet we interact with on a day to day basis. But please note: you should be extra careful when clicking links on the deep web as some can lead to illegal sites. Browse at your own risk.

Fortunately Tails has an installation wizard that guides you step-by-step through the process of setting up the software if you want to create a bootable USB copy of Tails (which we do) then you need a Windows machine and two 4GB+ USB sticks (the first is for an "intermediary" version of the OS).

You're also going to require Firefox, the Tor Browser or a BitTorrent client in order to verify the initial download and confirm it is what it says it is. On top of that you need a Universal USB Installer utility, which the installation wizard directs you to, which will take care of creating the first USB stick using your downloaded Tails ISO.

After that's done, boot from this newly created drive to configure the second one. This official guide takes you carefully through the process. Use the Install by cloning option in the Tails Installer to create your second USB stick, which includes some security enhancements and extras not built into the first one.

Finally, remove the first USB stick, keep the second in place, and boot from it. You're now ready to start venturing out into the deep web. If you run into trouble (and we hit one or two obstacles along the way), then a general web search for your issue or the official Tails support portal should get you moving again.

The Tor Browser is your gateway into the dark web you can actually use it on Mac and Windows too, but Tails OS adds an extra few layers of security, and comes with Tor included. The browser is based on Firefox, so you shouldn't have many problems finding your way around, and will open the Tails OS homepage by default.

As you might expect, browsing the deep web isn't quite as simple as clicking on a few links or searching Google. The best way in is through 'hidden' wikis like this one (note you won't be able to click through on any onion links without the Tor browser) and various others you can find via Reddit or with some clever web searching on sites like DuckDuckGo.

Of course the whole point of the deep web is that casual internet users can't simply fire up Google or read a guide like this to get started easily so finding working, up-to-date links and directories can take some time. Forums, plenty of patience, and occasionally the Torch search engine are your best bets for finding a way into new communities.

The deep web has a reputation for shady activity, but it's also a place for whistleblowing, bitcoin exchanges, and political discussion away from the glare of the public internet. It's changed a lot in recent years as security agencies have become more aware of its presence, and it will continue to evolve in the future.

The Tor browser protects you by routing your traffic through various different IP locations (and you'll probably notice your web connection slows down a lot as a result).

And as we've already mentioned, Tails OS includes extra security features like built-in encryption, and because you're running it on a USB stick you really are leaving no trace. Tails itself stands for The Amnesiac Incognito Live System, which just about sums up why it's one of the best options for some deep web browsing.

Don't compromise that security and anonymity by giving away personal details, including email addresses and so on, and keep downloading to a minimum. Once you've setup Tails, it's generally common sense but if you're up to something illegal, you can't rely on these security measures to protect you.

As for whether using Tor will get you in trouble with the authorities on its own, it largely depends where in the world you live and what you're doing with it, but it's worth bearing in mind that nothing is ever 100 per cent anonymous and secure. For the most paranoid, there's always the option of tape over the webcam but sometimes even that might not be enough.

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An alarming report has revealed the private Medicare card details of any Australian are available to buy via "The Medicare Machine" - a darknet vendor exploiting an alleged vulnerability in the government agency which the seller hopes is "here to stay".

Like most Jalops, I regularly wake up in the middle of the night in a panic, drenched in sweat, screaming the phrase "save the manuals." It's an issue that I've been working on with my therapist for months, but I think I've finally cracked it -- I'm now done worrying about manuals going extinct.

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How To Search The Deep Web Safely - Gizmodo Australia

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How two countries helped drive the recent rise in cryptocurrency prices – TechCrunch

Posted: at 8:50 am

Hugh Harsono is a former financial analyst currently serving as a U.S. Army Officer.

Digital currency prices have soared recently, with reports from the past few months showing enormous valuation increases for currencies across the board.

Bitcoin, Ripple, and Ethereum have all experienced exponential growth, with Bitcoin prices rising to $2,588, Ripple reaching a market cap of nearly $10 billion, and Ethereum growing to a total market cap of over $20 billion.

With supply and demand for digital currencies extremely high in both Japan and China, it is no surprise as to why these two countries are helping to fuel the rise in cryptocurrency prices.

Ability to Withdraw in China?

With access to cheap hardware and electricity, China is the prime breeding ground for mining cryptocurencies, with huge mining pools run by exchanges such as BTCC accounting for more than 60% of the bitcoin networks collective hashrate.

However, the beginning of 2017 saw a governmental crackdown of Chinese-based digital currency exchanges, causing a suspension in all withdrawals, causing the market to suffer heavily with China being one of the top bitcoin markets in terms of trading volume.

Recently, Caixin reported potential changes in the governmental regulatory framework to allow withdrawals last month, specifically mentioning top exchanges OKcoin, Huobi, and BTCC. This potential good news has increased consumer confidence in cryptocurrencies, contributing to their associated rise in value.

Japan: Stepping in to Fill the Chinese Void

With cryptocurrency liquidity in China experienced stagnation earlier this year, the Japanese bitcoin market exploded, with demand reaching new heights.

Previously, Japan represented barely 1% of total bitcoin trading volume, but in recent months estimates put this number as high as 6%, with Japan accounting for nearly 55% of total trade volume on some trading days. This increase in JPY bitcoin trading due to the Chinese inability to liquidate has fueled growth in the digital currency market globally.

Solid Alternative Compared to Government Policy

In China, the tightly-controlled yuan is another reason why cryptocurrency prices have experienced their unprecedented rise in value. The Chinese government has total control over the yuans valuation, traditionally devaluing the yuan to give itself an international trade advantage when the government saw fit.

With the growing amount of private independent wealth in China, cryptocurrency has become viable as an alternative asset class. And cryptocurrencies are being seen as more accessible, less volatile, and increasingly stable, contributing to their recent growth in value.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Japans policy of quantitative easing has resulted in very low, and sometimes even negative interest rates, also caused digital currency values to rise.

The Japanese governments QE policy, intended to spur economic growth, has resulted in significant deflation for the yen, causing a similar decrease in investor confidence in this currency. With no end in sight for this form of Japanese monetary policy, digital currencies have and are currently being used as an alternative asset class, driving their rise in value.

Virtual currencies are quickly being seen as a better asset class by local investors, who fear the volatility of government interference in their specific economies.

Institutional Acceptance of Digital Currency

The rise in digital currency values can also be attributed to institutional acceptance of cryptocurrencies. The recent conclusion of the Global Blockchain Financial Summit in Hangzhou saw intense interest from reputable institutions like Peking University, which is creating an Ethereum center to work on direct application use and protocol improvements in China.

The Royal Chinese Mint, a downtrace unit of the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) dedicated to its electronic banking mission, has even actively promoted the application of blockchain technology, going as far as to allocate resources and developers in experimentation to digitize the yuan.

In Japan, multiple large institutions are now beginning to accept digital currency as a transactional entity, validating its use to the Japanese population as a whole. On the market front,bitFlyer, Japans largest exchange, is currently backed by all three of Japans megabanks: MUFJ, Mizuho, and SMBC.

On the consumer/retail side, influential electronics retailer Bic Camera has partnered with bitFlyer to begin acceptance of bitcoin at its retail locations. Additionally, Recruit Lifestyle, part of HR conglomerate Recruit Holdings, reported a new partnership with exchange Coincheck to use as part of a point-of-sale implementation program. The acceptance of digital currencies by these reputable groups have helped fuel confidence in digital currencies for daily transactions by the Japanese.

This institutional acceptance of digital currencies by powerful organizations in both China and Japan have allowed cryptocurrencies values to rise as a whole.

Governmental Acceptance of Cryptocurrency

It is no secret that the Chinese government has taken steps to regulate digital currency transactions, with their scrutiny and initiatives causing a drop in bitcoin prices to around $1,000 just several months ago.

However, the very fact that the PBoC is seeking to regulate this industry simply proves how viable it is as a legitimate transaction entity, with the Chinese government even taking steps to build their own digital currency.

With the announcement of potential withdrawals of bitcoin on the horizon, the PBoC have just completed a trial run of their own digital currency based on blockchain technology, with participation from major institutions such as the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, as well as Chinas first online bank WeBank.

The Japanese government has also taken huge steps in the acceptance of digital currencies as legal forms of tender, with Japan legally classifying bitcoin as a form of payment just on April 1st.

Ahead of China, Japan has already begun licensure procedures for digital currency exchanges, to be operated under the watchful eye of the governments Financial Services Agency, with market leaders such as bitFlyer already announcing plans to apply for said license, further driving investor confidence in the Japanese market and beyond.

Additionally, the Japanese government announced that the sale of virtual currency under the new Fund Settlement Law would be exempt from the Japanese Consumption Tax (8%), further driving bitcoin growth as an investment vehicle.

The acceptance of virtual currencies by both the Chinese and Japanese governments are driving cryptocurrency growth, with China on the cusp of establishing its own currency, and Japan regulating bitcoin as true legal payment.

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How two countries helped drive the recent rise in cryptocurrency prices - TechCrunch

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How to Avoid Being Scammed by a Cryptocurrency ICO – The Merkle

Posted: at 8:50 am

With cryptocurrency ICOs taking center stage lately, there will be more attempts to scam people as well. It can be difficult to protect oneself against thesescams, butsome basic precautions will keep most people safe. This new digital craze will need to be regulatedsomehow, as the amount of scamscan get out of hand pretty quickly. Below are some basic tips to avoid getting scammed by a cryptocurrency ICO.

The first step investors always need to take is conducting due diligence on a project. Randomly investing in cryptocurrency ICOs can pay off in the long run, but it also greatly increases ones chances of investing in a bogus project. Any ICO that does not have a detailed whitepaper should be avoided, as that is a basic requirement for any serious project. If the company or project cannot convince you of its use cases, you should not give them your money.

Any project that does not want to make the names of its team members public should also raise red flags. If the names and identities are made public, do some research on the people involved in the project. Do not be fooled by big names working as an adviser for a project either. These roles often lack real influence over the direction and execution of projects. Fancy names mean nothing these days, as a lot of information found on the internet is either doctored or utterly fake.

On multiple occasions, we see people spreading fake Ethereum wallet addresses to participate in a specific cryptocurrency ICO. This mostly occurs on Telegram, butSlack can suffer from the same problem. Never trust an Ethereum wallet address given to you by strangers on the internet. Do not ask for these addresses either, as you are only asking to be scammed by doing so. Only use the information provided by the team itself and the address shown on the legitimate ICO website.

Perhaps the biggest threat to cryptocurrency ICOs and potential investors comes in the form of phishing sites. More often than not, we see clone websites for upcoming ICOs appear on the internet. This can affect both CIO and pre-ICO campaigns, which makes it very difficult for novice users to determine which site is legitimate and which one is not. The best course of action is to links spread on Telegram or Slack, other than the ones provided by the moderators and team members.

Since phishing sites look exactly like the real ICO site, investors would almost need to know the official site before it launches. That is very hard to achieve, as most ICO projects want to keep pre-ICO and ICO links undisclosed until the campaign starts. Keeping tabs on projects through platforms such as Tokenmarket will guarantee users will always find the correct URL for a cryptocurrency ICO. It is by far one of the most trusted ICO websites out there.

Even though TokenMarket does a good job to keep track of cryptocurrency ICOs, we will ultimately need a decentralized registry for these types of projects. Adecentralized registry can provide whitelist services to cull the phishing sites from the real platforms. Ensuring people provide the correct information in the first place can be a challenge, though. For some reason, virtually all cryptocurrency ICOs rely on centralized technology, which is problematic to any such efforts.

If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Cryptocurrency Social Trading Startup CoinDash Set for $12m Token Sale – Finance Magnates

Posted: at 8:50 am

CoinDash, a blockchain startup focusing on cryptocurrency social trading and portfolio management platforms, has announced a date for itsupcoming crowdfund.

Learn how to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum safely with our simple guide!

The CoinDash Token Sale will take place on July 17th, 2017, and will last for 28 days or until thefunds raisedreach a $12million hard cap.

In JuneFinance Magnates conducted an interview withAlon Muroch, theCEO and co-founder ofCoindash.The interview was broadcast live and a video recording is availablehere:

In the announcement Muroch said:

As of today, we have thousands of community members from all over the world, an amazing group of product testers that help us improve our platform and an impressive group of partners and advisors who assist us in every step of the way. As a technology company, its the best thing we could have wished for.

Our hard work in the past nine months has brought us to this moment. A moment where we open the doors for our community and the public and ask to take a leap of faith with us. In order for CoinDash to scale and build the best product we know how to, we are inviting you, our community, to participate in our funding event and help us executing CoinDashs vision.

I would like to take this opportunity and thank all who took part in the process and make it possible to bring CoinDash to life. Together we will create the future of trading.

Participation in the CoinDash crowdfund will be conducted by sending Ethereum into the token sales smart contract address.

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How Much Will the Cryptocurrency World Keep Growing? (BTC) – Investopedia

Posted: at 8:50 am

In the world of digital currencies, Bitcoin (BTC) paved the way. The original cryptocurrency has continued to dominate the field, with prices reaching up to $3000 or so per coin at its peak. And yet, Bitcoin is no longer as dominant over the rest of the field as it once was: while Bitcoin used to enjoy a share of the total industry market capitalization around 80-90%, it now represents less than half of the total market cap. Other currencies are racing to catch up with Bitcoin, with Ethereum's Ether token appearing to be the most likely to overtake Bitcoin in terms of market cap. And yet, regardless of whether Bitcoin remains on top or if another digital currency surpasses it, Bitcoin's influence on the industry, and on the world at large, cannot be overstated. The cryptocurrency world is continuing to grow: where will it end up?

Bitcoin's success has spawned over 800 other cryptocurrencies in the past decade. Now, the market for Bitcoins is worth about $40 billion, but the total value of the rest of those currencies is worth even more than that, whent hey are taken together. The next biggest players are Ethereum, occupying about $25.7 billion worth of the total market value share, and Ripple, with about $10.5 billion. Litecoin, Dash, NEM, and many others follow after that. The total value of the industry is hovering just under $100 billion at this point, which is roughly equivalent to the combined values of Weyerhaeuser (WY), Ford (F), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), three of the largest corporations in the United States, according to Business Insider.

One of the reasons that analysts see the cryptocurrency world continuing to grow into the future is Bitcoin's shifting role. For the first time since its founding more than a decade ago, Bitcoin now makes up a minority of the entire cryptocurrency market. For many years the original cryptocurrency completely dominated its competition, but in the past six months or so, Bitcoin has dropped to just 41.6% of the total market. Litecoin, which aims to process blocks at four times the speed of Bitcoin, has been in existence since 2011. Ethereum, launched only in 2015, has ascended through the ranks of digital currencies at lightning speed. And Ripple has made impressive gains thanks to its unique software, which has already been adopted by some of the largest banks in the world in order to increase global liquidity.

At this point, it seems likely that the cryptocurrency world will continue to expand, with more currencies, more customers, more miners, and new technology. Of course, there are also those who speculate that the rapid growth is a result of a bubble, but only time will tell if the digital currency world will come crashing down.

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How Much Will the Cryptocurrency World Keep Growing? (BTC) - Investopedia

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Hackers steal Bitcoin funds from Bithumb exchange traders – BBC News

Posted: at 8:50 am

BBC News

Hackers steal Bitcoin funds from Bithumb exchange traders
BBC News
Bithumb allows its members to buy and sell the virtual currencies Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is South Korea's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, based on recent trading volumes, and one of the five largest in the world. The breach is reported to have ...
Korean Bitcoin Exchange Bithumb Keeps Quiet On Lost Funds, Compensates Hacked UsersCoinTelegraph
Bitcoin is already playing a key role in the unsteady financial systems of some developing marketsQuartz
One of the world's biggest bitcoin exchanges has been hackedBusiness Insider
Fortune -BleepingComputer -The Korea Herald
all 73 news articles »

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Hackers steal Bitcoin funds from Bithumb exchange traders - BBC News

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Daily Archives: July 5, 2017

STASI: Even Trump can’t body-slam the First Amendment – New York Daily News

David Harsanyi: Fighting for the First Amendment, not against gay marriage – The Union Leader

FAQ | Jitsi | Prometheism.net euvolution.com | Futurist …

TOR Browser – darkwebnews.com

How To Search The Deep Web Safely – Gizmodo Australia

How two countries helped drive the recent rise in cryptocurrency prices – TechCrunch

How to Avoid Being Scammed by a Cryptocurrency ICO – The Merkle

Cryptocurrency Social Trading Startup CoinDash Set for $12m Token Sale – Finance Magnates

How Much Will the Cryptocurrency World Keep Growing? (BTC) – Investopedia

Hackers steal Bitcoin funds from Bithumb exchange traders – BBC News

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