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Trump Taxes and Tappin | Unfilter 229

chris — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 00:27:52 +0000

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The post Trump Taxes and Tappin | Unfilter 229 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Finding Nakamoto | TechSNAP 244

chris — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 19:56:35 +0000

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Bitcoin’s creator has been found again, we’ll cover what the media thinks they’ve figured out & what we really know.

Then, ‘In Patches We Trust: Why Security Updates have to get better’, a great batch of questions, a huge round up & much more!

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WIRED thinks they found Bitcoin’s Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

Since that pseudonymous figure first released bitcoin’s code on January 9th, 2009, Nakamoto’s ingenious digital currency has grown from a nerd novelty to a kind of economic miracle. As it’s been adopted for everything from international money transfers to online narcotrafficking, the total value of all bitcoins has grown to nearly $5 billion.
Nakamoto himself, whoever he is, appears to control a stash of bitcoins easily worth a nine-figure fortune (it rose to more than a billion at the cryptocurrency’s peak exchange rate in 2014).
In the last weeks, WIRED has obtained the strongest evidence yet of Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity. The signs point to Craig Steven Wright.
Gizmodo thinks it was actually two people
A monthlong Gizmodo investigation has uncovered compelling and perplexing new evidence in the search for Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.
According to a cache of documents provided to Gizmodo which were corroborated in interviews, Craig Steven Wright, an Australian businessman based in Sydney, and Dave Kleiman, an American computer forensics expert who died in 2013, were involved in the development of the digital currency.
Wired’s “Evidence”
An August 2008 post on Wright’s blog, months before the November 2008 introduction of the bitcoin whitepaper on a cryptography mailing list. It mentions his intention to release a “cryptocurrency paper,” and references “triple entry accounting,” the title of a 2005 paper by financial cryptographer Ian Grigg that outlines several bitcoin-like ideas.
A post on the same blog from November, 2008 includes a request that readers who want to get in touch encrypt their messages to him using a PGP public key apparently linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. This key, when checked against the database of the MIT server where it was stored, is associated with the email address satoshin@vistomail.com, an email address very similar to the satoshi@vistomail.com address Nakamoto used to send the whitepaper introducing bitcoin to a cryptography mailing list.
An archived copy of a now-deleted blog post from Wright dated January 10, 2009, which reads: “The Beta of Bitcoin is live tomorrow. This is decentralized… We try until it works.” (The post was dated January 10, 2009, a day after Bitcoin’s official launch on January 9th of that year. But if Wright, living in Eastern Australia, posted it after midnight his time on the night of the 9th, that would have still been before bitcoin’s launch at 3pm EST on the 9th.) That post was later replaced with the rather cryptic text “Bitcoin — AKA bloody nosey you be…It does always surprise me how at times the best place to hide [is] right in the open.” Sometime after October of this year, it was deleted entirely.
In addition to those three blog posts, they received a cache of leaked emails, transcripts, and accounting forms that corroborate the link.
Another clue as to Wright’s bitcoin fortune wasn’t leaked to WIRED but instead remains hosted on the website of the corporate advisory firm McGrathNicol: a liquidation report on one of several companies Wright founded known as Hotwire, an attempt to create a bitcoin-based bank. It shows that the startup was backed in June 2013 by $23 million in bitcoins owned by Wright. That sum would be worth more than $60 million today.
Reported bitcoin ‘founder’ Craig Wright’s home raided by Australian police
On Wednesday afternoon, police gained entry to a home belonging to Craig Wright, who had hours earlier been identified in investigations by Gizmodo and Wired,
People who say they knew Wright have expressed strong doubts about his alleged role, with some saying privately they believe the publications have been the victims of an elaborate hoax.
More than 10 police personnel arrived at the house in the Sydney suburb of Gordon at about 1.30pm. Two police staff wearing white gloves could be seen from the street searching the cupboards and surfaces of the garage. At least three more were seen from the front door.
The Australian Federal police said in a statement that the raids were not related to the bitcoin claims. “The AFP can confirm it has conducted search warrants to assist the Australian Taxation Office at a residence in Gordon and a business premises in Ryde, Sydney. This matter is unrelated to recent media reporting regarding the digital currency bitcoin.”
The documents published by Gizmodo appear to show records of an interview with the Australian Tax Office surrounding his tax affairs in which his bitcoin holdings are discussed at length.
During the interview, the person the transcript names as Wright says: “I did my best to try and hide the fact that I’ve been running bitcoin since 2009 but I think it’s getting – most – most – by the end of this half the world is going to bloody know.”
Guardian Australia has been unable to independently verify the authenticity of the transcripts published by Gizmodo, or whether the transcript is an accurate reflection of the audio if the interview took place. It is also not clear whether the phrase “running” refers merely to the process of mining bitcoin using a computer.
The purported admission in the transcript does not state that Wright is a founder of the currency, but other emails that Gizmodo claim are from Wright suggest further involvement he may have had in the development of bitcoin.
The emails published by Gizmodo cannot been verified. Comment has been sought from Sinodinos on whether he was contacted by Wright – or his lawyer – in relation to bitcoin and its regulatory and taxation status in Australia.
A third email published by Gizmodo from 2008 attributes to Wright a comment where he said: “I have been working on a new form of electronic money. Bit cash, bit coin …”
WikiLeaks on Twitter: “We assess that Craig S Wright is unlikely to be the principal coder behind Bitcoin.” https://t.co/nRnftKPjm9”
Additional Coverage: Freedom Hacker

In Patches We Trust: Why Security Updates have to get better

“How long do you put off restarting your computer, phone, or tablet for the sake of a security update or software patch? All too often, it’s far too long”
Why do we delay?
I am in the middle of something
The update might break something
I can’t waste a bunch of time dealing with fixing it if it doesn’t work
I hate it when they move buttons around on me
Installing the update makes the device unusable for 20+ minutes
“Patches are good for you. According to Homeland Security’s cyber-emergency unit, US-CERT, as many as 85 percent of all targeted attacks can be prevented by applying a security patch”
“The problem is that far too many have experienced a case when a patch has gone disastrously wrong. That’s not just a problem for the device owner short term, but it’s a lasting trust issue with software giants and device makers.”
We have all seen examples of bad patches
“Apple’s iOS 8.0.1 update was meant to fix initial problems with Apple’s new eight generation mobile operating system, but killed cell service on affected phones — leaving millions stranded until a fix was issued a day later. Google had to patch the so-called Stagefright flaw, which affected every Android device, for a second time after the first fix failed to do the job. Meanwhile, Microsoft has seen more patch recalls in the past two years than in the past decade.”
“Microsoft, for example, issued 135 security bulletins this year alone with thousands of separate vulnerabilities patched. All it takes is one or two patches to fail or break something — which has happened — to account for a 1 percent failure rate.”
Users get “update fatigue”, If every time they go to use the computer, there is a new update for one or more of: Java, Flash, Chrome, Skype, Windows, etc.
Worse, many drivers and other programs now add their own utilities, “update managers” and so on. Lenovo and Dell have both recently had to patch their “update managers” because they actually make your system more vulnerable
Having a slew of different programs constantly nagging the user about updating just causes the user to stop updating everything, or to put the updates off for longer and longer
“At the heart of any software update is a trust relationship between the user and the company. When things go wrong, it can affect thousands or millions of users. Just ignoring the issue and pulling patches can undermine a user’s trust, which can damage the future patching process.”
“Customers don’t always expect vendors to be 100 percent perfect 100 percent of the time, or at least they shouldn’t,” said Childs. “However, if vendors are upfront and honest about the situation and provide actionable guidance, it goes a long way to reestablishing the trust that has been lost over the years.”

New APT group identified, known as Sofacy, or Fancy Bear

“Sofacy (also known as “Fancy Bear”, “Sednit”, “STRONTIUM” and “APT28”) is an advanced threat group that has been active since around 2008, targeting mostly military and government entities worldwide, with a focus on NATO countries. More recently, we have also seen an increase in activity targeting Ukraine.”
“Back in 2011-2012, the group used a relatively tiny implant (known as “Sofacy” or SOURFACE) as its first stage malware. The implant shared certain similarities with the old Miniduke implants. This led us to believe the two groups were connected, at least to begin with, although it appears they parted ways in 2014, with the original Miniduke group switching to the CosmicDuke implant.”
“In the months leading up to August, the Sofacy group launched several waves of attacks relying on zero-day exploits in Microsoft Office, Oracle Sun Java, Adobe Flash Player and Windows itself. For instance, its JHUHUGIT implant was delivered through a Flash zero-day and used a Windows EoP exploit to break out of the sandbox. The JHUHUGIT implant became a relatively popular first stage for the Sofacy attacks and was used again with a Java zero-day (CVE-2015-2590) in July 2015.
While the JHUHUGIT (and more recently, “JKEYSKW”) implant used in most of the Sofacy attacks, high profile victims are being targeted with another first level implant, representing the latest evolution of their AZZYTrojan.”
This shows how APT attackers constantly evolve, and reserve their best exploits for use against high profile targets, using lesser quality exploits on lesser targets, to avoid the better exploits being discovered and mitigated
“The first versions of the new AZZY implant appeared in August of this year. During a high profile incident we investigated, our products successfully detected and blocked a “standard” Sofacy “AZZY” sample that was used to target a range of defense contractors.”
“Interestingly, the fact that the attack was blocked didn’t appear to stop the Sofacy team. Just an hour and a half later they had compiled and delivered another AZZY x64 backdoor. This was no longer detectable with static signatures by our product. However, it was detected dynamically by the host intrusion prevention subsystem when it appeared in the system and was executed.”
“This recurring, blindingly-fast Sofacy attack attracted our attention as neither sample was delivered through a zero-day vulnerability — instead, they appeared to be downloaded and installed by another malware. This separate malware was installed by an unknown attack as “AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\msdeltemp.dll””
The attackers have multiple levels of malware, and can cycle through them until something works, then use that to drop a payload that matches the quality of the target they are attacking
“In addition to the new AZZY backdoors with side-DLL for C&C, we observed a new set of data-theft modules deployed against victims by the Sofacy group. Among the most popular modern defense mechanisms against APTs are air-gaps — isolated network segments without Internet access, where sensitive data is stored. In the past, we’ve seen groups such as Equation and Flame use malware to steal data from air-gapped networks. The Sofacy group uses such tools as well. The first versions of these new USB stealer modules appeared around February 2015 and the latest appear to have been compiled in May 2015.”
“This data theft module appears to have been compiled in May 2015 and is designed to watch removable drives and collect files from them, depending on a set of rules defined by the attackers. The stolen data is copied into a hidden directory as “%MYPICTURES%\%volume serial number%“, from where it can be exfiltrated by the attackers using one of the AZZY implants. More details on the new USB stealers are available in the section on technical analysis.”
“Over the last year, the Sofacy group has increased its activity almost tenfold when compared to previous years, becoming one of the most prolific, agile and dynamic threat actors in the arena. This activity spiked in July 2015, when the group dropped two completely new exploits, an Office and Java zero-day. At the beginning of August, Sofacy began a new wave of attacks, focusing on defense-related targets. As of November 2015, this wave of attacks is ongoing. The attackers deploy a rare modification of the AZZY backdoor, which is used for the initial reconnaissance. Once a foothold is established, they try to upload more backdoors, USB stealers as well as other hacking tools such as “Mimikatz” for lateral movement.”
Lateral movement is a more generic term for Island Hopping, moving around inside the network once you get through the outer defenses
“Two recurring characteristics of the Sofacy group that we keep seeing in its attacks are speed and the use of multi-backdoor packages for extreme resilience. In the past, the group used droppers that installed both the SPLM and AZZY backdoors on the same machine. If one of them was detected, the other one provided the attacker with continued access.”
“As usual, the best defense against targeted attacks is a multi-layered approach. Combine traditional anti-malware technologies with patch management, host intrusion detection and, ideally, whitelisting and default-deny strategies.”

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The post Finding Nakamoto | TechSNAP 244 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Legal Cannabis Fallout | Unfilter 128

chris — Wed, 07 Jan 2015 22:44:24 +0000

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A major downside to the legalization of Marijuana is being missed by mainstream commentators & it’s an issue of critical importance. We explain our position from ground zero.

Plus the tragic shooting in France, another look at the falling price of oil, the Sony hack & of course much, much more!

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Speaking of receiving… Unfilter SWAG level patrons are starting to get these! #bacon

A photo posted by Jupiter Broadcasting (@jupiterbroadcasting) on Jan 1, 2015 at 8:18pm PST

News

Police hunt three Frenchmen after 12 killed in Paris attack | Reuters

Police are hunting three French nationals, including two brothers from the Paris region, after suspected Islamist gunmen killed 12 people at a satirical magazine on Wednesday, a police official and government source said.

The hooded attackers stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly known for lampooning Islam and other religions, in the most deadly militant attack on French soil in decades.

French police staged a huge manhunt for the attackers who escaped after shooting dead some of France’s top cartoonists as well as two police officers. About 800 soldiers were brought in to shore up security across the capital.

The three men being sought include two brothers aged 32 and 34 as well as a man aged 18 from the area of the northeastern city of Reims, the government source told Reuters.

Sharpening Contradictions: Why al-Qaeda attacked Satirists in Paris | Informed Comment

The horrific murder of the editor, cartoonists and other staff of the irreverent satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, along with two policemen, by terrorists in Paris was in my view a strategic strike, aiming at polarizing the French and European public.

The Gasoline Price Crash Continues

CRUDE INVENTORIES:

Crude oil inventories decreased by 3.1 million barrels to a total of 382.4 million barrels. At 382.4 million barrels, inventories are 24.5 million barrels above last year (6.8%) and are well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.

**GASOLINE INVENTORIES: **

Gasoline inventories increased by 8.1 million barrels to 237.2 million barrels. At 237.2 million barrels, inventories are up 10.2 million barrels, or 4.5% higher than one year ago.

Former US cybersecurity official gets 25 years for child porn charges

On Monday, a federal judge in Nebraska sentenced the former acting director of cybersecurity for the US Department of Health and Human Services to 25 years in prison on child porn charges.

Timothy DeFoggi, who was convicted back in August 2014, is the sixth person to be convicted in relations to a Nebraska-based child porn Tor-enable website known as PedoBook. That site’s administrator, Aaron McGrath, was sentenced to 20 years last year by the same judge. McGrath famously did not have an administrator password, a mistake that federal investigators were easily able to make use of.

US Airstrikes against ISIS Destroy 184 Humvees and 58 Tanks

At least 184 Humvees, 58 tanks and nearly 700 other vehicles have been destroyed or damaged in the more than 1,600 airstrike missions that have hit more than 3,200 ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria since bombing began last Aug. 8, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.

In addition, a total of 26 MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 79 artillery and mortar positions, and 673 infantry fighting positions were destroyed, CentCom officials said.

On Tuesday, Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that the cumulative effects of the airstrikes had put ISIS on the defensive and severely restricted the terror group’s ability to communicate and maneuver. The airstrikes have averaged about 11 daily since President Obama authorized them to begin on Aug. 8.

FBI reveals ‘sloppy’ mistakes that connect North Korea to Sony hack

Comey added that the hackers behind the attack, who referred to themselves the Guardians of Peace, made a key “mistake” multiple times when sending emails to Sony employees and publishing leaked data from Sony online.

“Several times they got sloppy,” Comey said at a cybersecurity conference in New York City. “Either because they forgot or they had a technical problem, they connected directly and we could see them. And we could see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IPs that were exclusively used by the North Koreans.”

“They shut it off very quickly once they saw the mistake,” he added. “But not before we saw where it was coming from.”

FBI explains how it linked North Korea to the Sony Pictures hack

FBi director: "Some serious folks suggested we have it wrong" on #SonyHack "They don't have the facts that I have hey don't see what I see"

— Kaja Whitehouse (@kajawhitehouse) January 7, 2015

Comey isn’t willing to spill the beans on everything since it might show how the US collects intelligence, but he’s quick to chide critics who suggest the hack came from somewhere else (such as an inside job) based solely on the publicly available details. “They don’t see what I see,”

Schneier on Security: Did North Korea Really Attack Sony?

I am deeply skeptical of the FBI’s announcement on Friday that North Korea was behind last month’s Sony hack. The agency’s evidence is tenuous, and I have a hard time believing it. But I also have trouble believing that the US government would make the accusation this formally if officials didn’t believe it.

Clues in the hackers’ attack code seem to point in all directions at once. The FBI points to reused code from previous attacks associated with North Korea, as well as similarities in the networks used to launch the attacks. Korean language in the code also suggests a Korean origin, though not necessarily a North Korean one, since North Koreans use a unique dialect. However you read it, this sort of evidence is circumstantial at best. It’s easy to fake, and it’s even easier to interpret it incorrectly. In general, it’s a situation that rapidly devolves into storytelling, where analysts pick bits and pieces of the “evidence” to suit the narrative they already have worked out in their heads.

No, North Korea Didn’t Hack Sony – The Daily Beast

The FBI and the President may claim that the Hermit Kingdom is to blame for the most high-profile network breach in forever. But almost all signs point in another direction.

Taking a look at these addresses we find that all but one of them are public proxies. Furthermore, checking online IP reputation services reveals that they have been used by malware operators in the past. This isn’t in the least bit surprising: in order to avoid attribution cybercriminals routinely use things like proxies to conceal their connections. No sign of any North Koreans, just lots of common, or garden, internet cybercriminals.

It is this piece of evidence—freely available to anyone with an enquiring mind and a modicum of cyber security experience—which I believe that the FBI is so cryptically referring to when they talk about “additional evidence” they can’t reveal without compromising “national security”.

Essentially, we are being left in a position where we are expected to just take agency promises at face value. In the current climate, that is a big ask.

If we turn the debate around, and look at some evidence that the North Koreans might NOT be behind the Sony hack, the picture looks significantly clearer.

First of all, there is the fact that the attackers only brought up the anti-North Korean bias of “The Interview” after the media did—the film was never mentioned by the hackers right at the start of their campaign. In fact, it was only after a few people started speculating in the media that this and the communication from North Korea “might be linked” that suddenly it did get linked. My view is that the attackers saw this as an opportunity for “lulz”, and a way to misdirect everyone. (And wouldn’t you know it? The hackers are now saying it’s okay for Sony to release the movie, after all.) If everyone believes it’s a nation state, then the criminal investigation will likely die. It’s the perfect smokescreen.

The hackers dumped the data. Would a state with a keen understanding of the power of propaganda be so willing to just throw away such a trove of information? The mass dump suggests that whoever did this, their primary motivation was to embarrass Sony Pictures. They wanted to humiliate the company, pure and simple.

High Note

Mother: Medical marijuana is a ‘miracle drug’ for my son

At least three bills are expected to be before lawmakers in Olympia during the upcoming legislative session that could provide clarity to the legal gray area surrounding medical marijuana.

Right now, medical marijuana is largely unregulated in Washington state. Recreational stores complain that medical retail shops aren’t required to pay taxes or jump through the same administrative hoops. Without legal clarity, medical marijuana stores face the threat of being shut down.

Medical Marijuana a Challenge for Legal Pot States – NYTimes.com

A year into the nation’s experiment with legal, taxed marijuana sales, Washington and Colorado find themselves wrestling not with the federal interference many feared, but with competition from _medical marijuana_or even outright black market sales.

In Washington, the black market has exploded since voters legalized marijuana in 2012, with scores of legally dubious medical dispensaries opening and some pot delivery services brazenly advertising that they sell outside the legal system.

And the number of patients on Colorado’s medical marijuana registry went up, not down, since 2012, meaning more marijuana users there can avoid paying the higher taxes that recreational pot carries.

They’re looking at reining in their medical systems and fixing the big tax differential between medical and recreational weed without harming patients.

“How can you have two parallel systems, one that’s regulated, paying taxes, playing by the rules, and the other that’s not doing any of those things?” said Rick Garza of the Washington Liquor Control Board, which oversees recreational pot.

The difficulty of reconciling medical marijuana with taxed recreational pot offers a cautionary tale for states that might join Washington and Colorado in regulating the adult use of the drug.

Seattle officials have signaled that they intend to start busting delivery services that flout the law and recently sent letters to 330 marijuana businesses warning them that they’ll eventually need to obtain state licenses or be shut down.

Tacoma has also announced plans to close dozens of unregulated pot shops.

Key lawmaker’s proposal: medical pot shops without dried pot

A bill being filed this week by Sen. Ann Rivers would create licenses for medical marijuana dispensaries and require product testing that’s at least as strict as what the state requires in its recreational marijuana stores. But the medical stores could only sell edibles and marijuana concentrates, such as oil — no dried bud. The products would be sales-tax-free.

The bill makes a wide array of changes. Among them: creating a registry of medical marijuana patients and providers, and tightening restrictions on health professionals who authorize medical use. It would have the state Health Department determine what levels of THC, marijuana’s main psychoactive compound, and what ratio of THC to other compounds would be OK for products sold in medical outlets.

It would also strictly limit cooperative gardens. Under current law, such gardens can have up to 10 patients or 45 plants, but there’s no limit on how many cooperative grows are allowed on one property. That loophole has been cited as a reason for the proliferation of medical grows serving hundreds or thousands of patients.
Under Rivers’ bill, cooperative gardens would be limited to four people, one garden per tax parcel

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Thanks for the holiday show : unfilter

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Bitcoin is Legal-ish | Plan B 20

chris — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 15:57:44 +0000

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A landmark ruling in Germany combined with the media’s attempt to label Bitcoin legal status collide this week on the Plan B show. Plus the security warning Blockchain.info users need to know, and Butterfly Labs pokes the hornets nest!

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Bitcoin now \’unit of account\’ in Germany

German government okays Bitcoins for private transactions | PCWorld

The German Federal Ministry of Finance said on Monday that Bitcoin is not a full-fledged currency but that it is permissible to use it in private transactions.

But if companies want to use Bitcoins for commercial transactions, they need the permission of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), said Martin Chaudhuri, ministry spokesman.

Bitcoin now \’unit of account\’ in Germany

While not putting Bitcoins on the same footing as formal currencies such as the pound or dollar, Germany\’s move does mean that people who have speculated in the online cryptocurrency could be liable for capital gains taxes if they sell them less than a year after acquiring them.

People who have held on to them for longer will not be liable, the ministry told German MP Frank Schaeffler, who raised the question with the ministry. German authorities are trying to work out how — or whether — they could determine taxes due on Bitcoin transactions between individuals.

Germany\’s ruling on Bitcoin paves the way for its legitimacy in the EU | The Verge

The most interesting aspect of the German ruling may be the consequences for the rest of the EU. The designation means that any exchange that wants to sell Bitcoin in Germany knows exactly what it needs to do: get a license from BaFin under Article 32 Kreditwesengesetz. Once an exchange is licensed in Germany, it would be allowed to operate anywhere in the EU — a stark contrast from the US, which requires a federal registration in addition to separate licenses from the states.

BFL 600 GH Bitcoin Mining Card

Performance Specifications

600 GH/s nominal performance ( + / – 20% )
350w (0.6w/GH conservative estimate)

Connectivity

USB 2.0 – Monarch cards can be used as an external computer peripheral and chained via USB hub. In this mode it can be controlled via an Android host or standard Linux or Windows computer.
PCI Express – Monarch cards consume two PCI slots when installed in a standard ATX motherboard. The PCIe format used is 1X for maximum compatibility.

Mining Software compatibility

EasyMiner software is provided for Android, Windows & Linux operating systems.
BFGminer – Open source available
CGminer – Open source available
BitMinter – Java Client

Prior to this announcement, BFL’s largest mining rig ran at 500 GH/s and cost $22,484. It required over 100 chips and an enclosure of almost two cubic feet. The new 600 GH/s device will be the first ASIC miner to take the form factor of a standard graphics card.

Blockchain.info Users Need to Update Browser Plugin/Clear Cache

Blockchain.info security [FUNDS STOLEN]

Jesse James has informed me of a problem with the rng used by blockchain.info javascript clients being poorly seeded when initialised in a background webworker task. In some browsers this could lead to duplicate R values being used when signing transactions (Firefox is likely to be particularly vulnerable). This issue effects the transaction signing code only, not the generation of private keys.

Patches have now been deployed, Please ensure you upgrade to the latest version of your Blockchain.info client.

Chrome extension – v2.85
Fixefox extension – v1.97
Mac client – v0.11

Users of the web interface should clear their browsers cache before next login.

Only a handful of addresses are known to be affected thus far. Likely if you have been affected by this problem your coins will have been taken already. All affected users will be refunded in full, please PM me or email help@blockchain.info.

Bitcoin Pick

Myths – Bitcoin

Let\’s clear up some common Bitcoin misconceptions.

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Regulation Dooms Bitcoin? | Plan B 17

chris — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 16:43:57 +0000

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Compliance is the buzzword of the season for Bitcoin, but on further reflection we have to ask – could regulation compliance weaken Bitcoin?

Plus the story of Thailand banning Bitcoin might be exaggerated, how deflation can help the middle class, and the Kickstarter upset of the week!

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Xanny comments on Bitcoin Must Comply
\”Deflation is a death spiral\” is a statist mantra. The US economy experienced slow but steady deflation during the 19th century – during rapid growth, yet they will never teach you that in school. A little deflation rewards savers and doesn\’t hurt anyone. Inflation rewards central banksters.

From adkantor on YouTube

Block Erupter Update

If you ordered an Erupter at 1 BTC, all is not lost yet. A coupon program is being initiated by ASICMINER and distributed by BTC Guild. 30% of the units sold at 1 BTC will be eligible to purchase a 2nd unit for 0.10 BTC (+0.05 Shipping/Handling). The exact method of coupon distribution will be announced when coupon units arrive, which should be around August 5th.
If you have a backordered 1.05 BTC unit, you are GUARANTEED to receive the coupon(s) for additional unit(s) at 0.15 BTC.

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— Discussion —

Did Thailand really ban Bitcoin?

Did Thailand really ban Bitcoin? Don’t be so sure — Tech News and Analysis

A Thai Bitcoin exchange has suspended operations after failing to win a license from the country\’s central bank. However, the outfit\’s conclusion — that Bitcoin is illegal in Thailand — smells funny.

Trading suspended due to Bank of Thailand advisement / Bitcoin

At the conclusion of the meeting senior members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department advised that due to lack of existing applicable laws, capital controls and the fact that Bitcoin straddles multiple financial facets the following Bitcoin activities are illegal in Thailand:

Buying Bitcoins

Selling Bitcoins

Buying any goods or services in exchange for Bitcoins

Selling any goods or services for Bitcoins

Sending Bitcoins to anyone located outside of Thailand

Receiving Bitcoins from anyone located outside of Thailand

Based on such a broad and encompassing advisement, Bitcoin Co. Ltd. therefore has no choice but to suspend operations until such as time that the laws in Thailand are updated to account for the existance of Bitcoin.

Kickstarter pulls “Bitcoin: The Movie”

Kickstarter pulls \”Bitcoin: The Movie\” project two weeks after launch

Andrew Wong, the entrepreneur behind the movie, launched the crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter on July 16, and had scheduled the project to run until August 15, with a crowdfunding goal of $100,000. However, late last week, the crowdfunding site unexpectedly suspended the project. When Kickstarter pulled the plug, the movie had $15,896 pledged by 154 backers.

The Berlin district where virtual currency is as easy as cash

In Bitcoin we trust: The Berlin district where virtual currency is as easy as cash – World News

BERLIN — A sign above the counter of a popular bar in Berlin\’s hip Kreuzberg district warns customers of owner Joerg Platzer\’s somewhat peculiar payment preferences: \”I believe in honest money — gold, silver and Bitcoin.\”

Platzer\’s Room77 is among a cluster of more than two dozen local businesses to accept the virtual currency for everyday payments. Stickers with Bitcoin symbols on restaurant doors and shop windows guide the way.

Bitcoin activists propose hard fork to Bitcoin to keep it anonymous and regulation-free

Activists want to fork Bitcoin, keep it anonymous and regulation-free

Two anonymous activists have proposed an alternative to Bitcoin, which would fork the protocol to retain more anonymity for users. Labelled \”Bitcoin 2″, the currency would modify the existing bitcoin code to maintain what they call \”the original long-term vision\”, stripping out elements of the protocol that they feel are damaging, and building in support for anonymity protocol Zerocoin.

Bitcoin Pick

Currency — the bills and coins you carry in your wallet and in your bank account — is founded on marketing, on the belief that banks and governments are trustworthy. Now, Paul Kemp-Robertson walks us through a new generation of currency, supported by that same marketing … but on behalf of a private brand. From Nike Sweat Points to bottles of Tide (which are finding an unexpected use in illegal markets), meet the non-bank future of currencies.

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The post Regulation Dooms Bitcoin? | Plan B 17 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Spooky Scary Cyberwar | Unfilter 20

chris — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:41:23 +0000

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After a string of high profile Cyberattacks we could be witnessing the creation of the next generation military industrial complex. Or is President Obama desperately seeking to protect us from same the types of Cyber weapons we’ve attacked other nations with?

Nobody celebrates National Cybersecurity Awareness Month like the US government.

Plus: We start in the United States, which is facing a dramatic “Fiscal Cliff”. We’ll break down exactly what that term means, how it will impact you, and when the supposed deadline is.

Then from Libya to Spain we’ll focus on the important events that developed this week around the world.

And: The first presidential debates have just wrapped, we reflect on a few moments, and play a few of our favorite clips.

All that and a heck of a lot more, on this week’s Unfilter!

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Show Notes:

ACT ONE:

ACT TWO:

ACT THREE: Debates

Romney was stronger than expected?
The Tax discussion seemed rather pointless. Romney remained vague, and neither addressed the 2013 automatic kick ins.
Obama seemed like he did not want to be there, Romney seemed like he wanted the evening.
Did this debate change your view of Romney or Obama?

Song pick of the week:

[asa]B000W0YLJO[/asa]

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Michael Vail\’s Website The CIA visits so should you.

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The post Spooky Scary Cyberwar | Unfilter 20 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.