Monthly Archives: August 2017

Letter: The right has hijacked the First Amendment to preach hate … – INFORUM

Posted: August 25, 2017 at 3:46 am

Recently in Charlottesville, Va., the 'Southern strategy' veil was lifted again. White supremacy born out of hatred, bigotry and profound ignorance resulted in chaos, violence and death again!

Fundamentalists like the Huckabee crowd, Robertson's, Falwell's, Bannon's and maybe some of you will offer the usual rationalizations, moral equivalencies and justifications. The fundamentalist right have hijacked the First Amendment to preach their filth of hate and bigotry.

The most dominant flag at this sickening display in Charlottesville was the Confederate flag. The Star Spangled Banner, our beautiful symbol, is flown around the world as a beacon of freedom, hope and decency; something not one of these terrorists would understand, including President Trump. No matter what Trump says he cannot explain away being intellectually and morally destitute.

Please proceed, Special Counsel Bob Mueller. You sir, are a Vietnam combat decorated Marine. You have had your skin in the game, fighting for flag and country. Leave no stone unturned and no one left behind. Justice and decency must prevail!

Jenson lives in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

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Letter: The right has hijacked the First Amendment to preach hate ... - INFORUM

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LA Times: Restrict the Second Amendment at First Amendment rallies – Hot Air

Posted: at 3:46 am

The LA Times published an editorial Wednesday titled Dont restrict free speech. Restrict the right to carry guns at potentially explosive public events. The argument is that free speech is too important to restrict but, for safetys sake, police should be willing to tell people no guns allowed at outdoor rallies. And as the Times points out, its not just right-wing gun owners bringing weapons to these rallies.

Virginia is a preemption state that also allows open carry, and the nation saw the results at Charlottesville, where paramilitary militias men heavily armed with military-style weapons and in some cases battle gear appeared as part of the Unite the Right rally. But far-left groups, including the so-calledRedneck Revolt, a liberal pro-gun group, have alsoparaded aroundwith their firearms at various demonstrations.

That last link is a reference to armed members of Redneck Revolt who showed up in Phoenix last night, but the same group was also present in Charlottesville. The groups own report on the situation says they had 20 members on the street, most carrying rifles:

Today, with hundreds more white supremacists expected to converge on Charlottesville, our Redneck Revolt branches worked together with local organizers to create and secure a staging area at Justice Park, within a short distance of the planned Unite the Right rally location, Emancipation Park (formerly Lee Park). Approximately 20 Redneck Revolt members created a securityperimeter around the park, most of them open-carrying tactical rifles.

Im not sure why the Times failed to point out that there were armed, left-wing militia members in Charlottesville except perhaps that it tends to support what Trump said about there being violence (or the potential for it) on many sides. In any case, the Times suggests this is too dangerous to allow it to continue:

This is a problem that the nation must resolve. A group of self-organized, trained and heavily armed men (and these groups are predominantly male) is a paramilitary organization, and giving it megaphones and parade banners doesnt magically transform it into something peaceful. Adding open carry to a contentious event can put public safety at risk, and thepresence of visible firearmscreates unique problems for the police

Its not the right to speech and assembly that should be restricted; its the right to carry guns in certain potentially explosive situations. Gun advocates like to argue they have the right to bear arms as a bulwark against tyrannical government, but government has a responsibility here as well: to keep people safe.

I suspect the editorial writers for the LA Times are not gun owners and, maybe, dont know any gun owners. But its worth noting that despite having two ostensibly opposing groups of armed people in Charlottesville, no shots were fired. It wasnt the gun owners who got violent, it was the kids with flagpoles and onenutwith a muscle car.

Im not a lawyer so maybe there is some sort of time and place exception that could be used by local police when doling out permits. But it seems to me that, ultimately, the state cant dole out one constitutional right to be exercisedat a time. We dont get to have the First Amendment only if we agree togive up the Second, at least I hope not.

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Lawyer who objected to mandatory bar’s PAC contribution loses First Amendment appeal – ABA Journal

Posted: at 3:46 am

Bar Associations

Posted August 23, 2017, 4:00 pm CDT

By Debra Cassens Weiss

Shutterstock.com

A federal appeals court recently ruled against a North Dakota lawyer who alleged the mandatory state bar violated his First Amendment rights.

Arnold Fleck had claimed the bar should have given him the chance to affirmatively consent before using his money on activities that werent relevant to the practice of law. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed in an Aug. 17 opinion (PDF).

The Goldwater Institute, which represented Fleck, said in a press release it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. The Associated Press has a story.

Fleck had objected because a portion of his mandatory dues went to a PAC that opposed a 2014 ballot initiative known as Measure 6, which would establish a presumption that each parent is entitled to equal parental rights. The measure was rejected by voters.

The state bar dues notice, which was revised as a result of Flecks lawsuit, says bar members can deduct a certain amount from their dues in a Keller deduction for activities that arent germane to law practice. The reference is to the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court case Keller v. State Bar of California.

Keller held that mandatory bars can use members required dues to fund activities germane to regulating the legal profession and improving the quality of legal services, but not to fund nongermane activities that a member opposes.

Fleck had argued the bar should have required him to opt in to use of his dues for nongermane activities, rather than requiring him to opt out. The 8th Circuit said the procedure satisfies Supreme Court precedent.

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Is there anything we can do to stop someone spying on us? – Newstalk 106-108 fm

Posted: at 3:45 am

Last year, a 16-year-old Mexican schoolboy received an unsolicited text message making crude sexual taunts. The text attempted to lure him into clicking on a link at the bottom of the message. Had he clicked on the link, his smartphone would have been secretly compromised, allowing those targeting him to monitor everything he did, steal login details, upload his contacts list and even spy on him through his phones own microphone and camera.

Whoever sent the message was using an incredibly sophisticated piece of spyware created by an Israeli company called NSO Group, which says it only sells its tools to governments and law enforcement agencies around the world. It is designed to track and monitor terrorists and other high-profile criminals.

The researchers say they have no conclusive evidence attributing these messages to specific government agencies in Mexico. However, circumstantial evidence suggests that one or more of NSOs government customers in Mexico are the likely operators.

Many people on this side of the Atlantic reading this report may be shocked to hear of a government using spying tools to hack the smartphones belonging to activists and journalists. At the same time, most people will likely shrug their shoulders and say: Sure why would anyone want to spy on me, Ive got nothing to hide?

But this is not about having something to hide, it is about privacy. There are many things we all do everyday which we dont want most people knowing about: How often did you go to the toilet today? Did you have sex today? Did you look up something online you wouldnt tell your family or friends about?

We are all entitled to a private life, and that goes for our digital lives as well as our offline lives. And so, we should all be concerned about the use of hyper-sophisticated tools like those from the NSO Group being used against a 16-year-old boy.

The simple fact of the matter is that is you have enough resources, then you can pretty much hack into anything as long as it is connected to the internet. The problem for you and me is the cost of compromising our lives is dropping precipitously and the barrier which criminals have to hurdle to find out the most intimate details of our lives is getting lower and lower.

With such powerful tools available, the question arises, is there anything I can do to protect myself? The short answer is not really. If a committed adversary really wants to hack into your smartphone, then they will likely be able to succeed.

However, that doesnt mean you should just give up completely and surrender your digital life to anyone who wants to to take a look.

Here are some basic ways to harden your online security to make what you do more private:

Stop telling them everything:Every online service that doesnt charge you to use it (Google, Facebook, Twitter) is using your data as payment. When you sign up they require a minimum level of information, but ask for a whole lot more. If you dont want Facebook knowing when your birthday is, then dont tell it. If you dont want Google to know what your favorite pet it, dont tell it. Oversharing of information is rife today on social media, and while we may blame Facebook and Snapchat, the real culprit is ourselves. If you dont want anyone to know about it, just dont share it.

Use the Tor browser:Tor, short for The Onion Router, is a modified version of the Firefox browser which anonymizes your identity by routing your IP address through multiple nodes until no one knows where the traffic is coming from or going to. Often associated with the dark web, it is not just a tool for criminals, but one that can be used by anyone who values their privacy.

Dont eat the cookies:Third-party cookies are the little bits of code websites use to track your movements online. They are the reason why Facebook will show you adverts for the nappies you were just looking at on Amazon. Now through every major browser offers the ability to turn off tracking cookies. It wont stop the more determined companies tracking you, but it does shut down the most common vector used by advertisers to build usage profiles.

Patch, patch, patch:Keep your software up to date. One of the easiest ways for any hacker to compromise your system is to use vulnerabilities in older versions of software. So whether its iOS, Android or Windows, always make sure you have installed the latest version available to you.

Free Wi-Fi may not be your friend:We all love connecting to free Wi-Fi, particularly when were travelling. But this is one of the easiest methods for hackers to compromise a lot of peoples data in a very short space of time. Make sure the network you are connecting to is safe, particularly in locations like airports and train stations.

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A Mysterious New Cryptocurrency Is Surging After Being …

Posted: at 3:45 am

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin speaks at TechCrunch in December of 2015.

By John Phillips/Getty Images.

After catching the eye of both the Singapore government and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ethereumthe second-biggest cryptocurrency in the world, after Bitcoincontinues to skyrocket. On Monday morning, the cryptocurrency was trading at a record-high level of $407.10, more than a 5,000 percent rise since the beginning of 2017, when it was trading at $7.98.

Ethereums founder, Vitalik Buterin, recently met with Putin during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, a signal that the country may be interested in using digital currency to move its economy beyond gas and oil. The digital economy isnt a separate industry, its essentially the foundation for creating brand-new business models, Putin said at the forum. (Russian entities, like the state development bank VEB, have agreed to use Ethereum to help implement blockchain technology in the country). As investors look for a place to put their assets amid mounting geopolitical instability, some are turning to cryptocurrency. Singapores government has released a report saying it has carried out a test using ethereum blockchain technology to create a national digital currency. Regulators in Japan are issuing new rules that make cryptocurrencies like Ethereum a valid form of payment. And companies such as Toyota and Microsoft, which are members of an organization called the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, are throwing their weight behind the cryptocurrency, too.

Ethereum, which has a total valuation of $36 billion, trails only Bitcoin (valued at $49 billion) in terms of market capitalization. Bitcoin has been rallying all year, reaching a high of above $3,000 for the first time on Sunday as a growing number of people turn to virtual currencies as a safer, faster way to exchange money. But Ethereums rally may still have a ways to go: Pavel Matveev, the co-founder of banking start-up Wirex, tells CNBC that Ethereums price could reach $600 by the end of the year.

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Russian Deputy PM Says He Supports a State-Backed Cryptocurrency – CoinDesk

Posted: at 3:45 am

A senior Russian official has thrown his support behind a state-backed cryptocurrency.

In an interview with Russian broadcaster RBC, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that he is in favor of a "crypto-ruble" provided that certain measures are put in place on the security front.

"This theme will develop," he said in translated statements. "But it should develop in such a way that the national economy cannot be put under attack, but rather make it stronger."

Shuvalov isn't the first Russian official to opine on the subject of a blockchain-based ruble. Indeed, the deputy chief of the Bank of Russia remarked in February that the implementation of a national cryptocurrency was "only a question of time." Skorobogatova stated that, after extendeddiscussions withinthe centralbank they were finally ready to move forward with initiative.

The Russian government is exploring blockchain on multiple fronts, including work by health officials to test possible methods that utilizethe tech for exchanging patient information. And earlier this summer, President Vladimir Putin briefly met with ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin.

During the RBC interview, Shuvalov confirmed that the government is considering investing in cryptocurrency mining resources, a disclosure that comes after word emerged that an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin is putting together a bitcoin mine of his own.

The idea that Russia would potentially fund construction of cryptocurrency mining facilities is in itself notable, given that at one point, lawmakers in the countryonce debated harsh measures including prison terms to deter the creation and spread of so-called "money surrogates".

Still, movement on this front is in the earliest stages, accordingto Shuvalov.

"But while this is a discussion, there are no concrete projects yet. In order to develop such centers, it is necessary to prepare appropriate legislation and its regulation," he told the broadcaster.

Image Credit:ID1974/Shutterstock.com

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Bernanke to Give Keynote Speech at October Cryptocurrency Event – Bloomberg

Posted: at 3:45 am

Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, will be the keynote speaker at a blockchain and banking conference in October hosted by Ripple, the startup behind the fourth largest digital currency.

The three-day event, called Swell, starts Oct. 16 in Toronto, Ripple said in a statement on its website. Bernanke, who has criticized cryptocurrencies in the past, will be interviewed by Gene Sperling, the former national economic adviser under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Bernanke wrote that virtual currencies could have long-term promise in a 2013 letter to Congress. However, in a 2015 interview with Quartz, he said bitcoin has some serious problems, including its anonymity and lack of stability. Bernanke was not immediately available to comment.

Since the former Fed chairmans remarks, the largest cryptocurrency has skyrocketed in value, fueling excitement among enthusiasts but skepticism among critics worried that the digital coin is in a bubble.

Related: Ripple Is Seeing More Volume in Fiat Currencies, Less in Bitcoin

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How to Learn About Cryptocurrency In The Bitcoin Era – Daily Beast

Posted: at 3:45 am

Today the world of cryptocurrency digital cash that primarily takes on the form of data, usually used for online transactions for goods and services is in the news, specifically because of the prominence of Bitcoin. Demand is high and the valuation for Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency is skyrocketing. The Beginner's Guide to Cryptocurrency Investing provides the basics on how to research cryptocurrencies, to estimate the true value of the market and to invest wisely. And in little time you may be able to start earning a digital fortune. Cryptocurrencies are so appealing to users because they are decentralized and available to anyone. Plus they use advanced encryption techniques to help ensure security and the anonymity of users. Best of all, today you can get the Beginner's Guide to Cryptocurrency Investing for $15.

Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts we may collect a share of sales.

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Estonia wants to launch its own government-backed cryptocurrency called ‘estcoin’ – CNBC

Posted: at 3:45 am

Estonia wants to issue its own virtual currency with the help of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin.

The cryptocurrency, called "estcoin," could be launched via the digital coin community's version of crowdfunding an initial coin offering (ICO).

ICOs enable start-ups to raise funds by selling off cryptocoins, such as bitcoin and ether, in return for cash. They are similar to initial public offerings (IPOs), but differ in that they deal with supporters of a project, making the investment more personal.

The small eastern European country is no stranger to digital innovation. It was the first country to offer citizens of the world "e-residency," a digital ID for non-Estonians that offers access to services like banking, payment processing and taxation.

Kaspar Korjus, managing director at e-Residency, Enterprise Estonia, said that the initiative was about creating a "borderless digital nation".

"A government-supported ICO would give more people a bigger stake in the future of our country and provide not just investment, but also more expertise and ideas to help us grow exponentially," Korjus said in a blog post on Monday.

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Aimwise to Create Standards for Cryptocurrency Crowdsales – newsBTC

Posted: at 3:45 am

AImwise announces upcoming crowdsale as the platform works towards creating standards for ICO in the industry.

The startup ecosystem, especially those related to cryptocurrency and blockchain technology have found ICOs and token sales to be the easiest and the most efficient form of fundraising methods. In the past few months alone, the world has witnessed some of the highest grossing ICOs which raised over a hundred million dollars equivalent in cryptocurrency.

The ease of setting up an ICO and the lack of minimum requirements or regulations make it easier to misuse the process to raise funds for fraudulent projects. With no effective due diligence method in place, those investing in the ICOs take a huge risk. Besides, projects opting for a crowdsale usually rely on ICO hosting platforms, many of which are not completely decentralized and hence not entirely trustless.

Aimwise, a blockchain project has taken into account all the issues surrounding the ICOs and the cryptocurrency ecosystem to come up with a solution. The Aimwise platform, which by itself is based on blockchain protocol aims to create a fair and transparent system that benefits everyone involved in crypto-projects, irrespective of whether they are the creators or funders.

The Aimwise ecosystem is comprised of three different parts an ICO hosting platform, crowdsourced idea incubator and portfolio management tool. It is an initiative of a group of enthusiasts from various industry segments including fintech, banking, corporate law, finance, and blockchain industry.

The Aimwise project is attempting to set high disclosure standards for projects that are opting for an ICO so that there is enough, verified information available for investors to make an informed decision. The decision to whether support the project on Aimwise ICO hosting platform will be taken by third party rating agency and the cryptocurrency community themselves.

Similarly, the platform also aims to help the community members, entrepreneurs and teams to pitch their idea to each other and a wider cryptocurrency community (including experts in various fields) and conduct necessary background research to come up with innovative, validated cryptocurrency projects that can solve real problems. The Aimwise crowdsourced idea incubation program will accelerate the rate of innovation in the industry.

Aimwise will also introduce a portfolio management tool, which will come in handy for investors, as they manage funds and investments by taking well-informed decisions. These decisions are enabled by sophisticated big data algorithms that analyze various data points form the entire Aimwise ecosystem and beyond to suggest profitable investments.

Altogether, Aimwise is attempting to standardize the project fundraising and token sale process in the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. In order to come up with a complete product, the Aimwise team will soon launch its own ICO. The platform will implement most of the best practices during the crowdsale and utilize the funds raised for further development, marketing, and operations involved in making it successful.

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