News Items

Edward Snowden Speaking Live Now at SXSW – Watch it Here

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Edward Snowden will be speaking at 12 EST in Austin, Texas at SXSW. This is his first live public speaking engagement since he came forward last year as one of the most famous whistleblowers in history. Since the event is now over, I have replaced the lifestream with a recording of the talk. Enjoy.   … Read more

FBI Launches Investigation into a Private Prison So Violent it is Called “Gladiator School”

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In what is one of the most disturbing private prison stories you’ll ever hear, a facility in Idaho run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in under investigation by the FBI due to claims it was so violent inmates called it “Gladiator School.” So how does a prison transform into such a place? Apparently, CCA was so eager to cut costs that it chose to understaff the facility and hand over control to prison gangs.

I’ve covered private prisons on many occasions in the past, including this CCA facility in particular. I think private prisons are one of the worst ideas possible in a democratic society. I suggest you read some of my prior articles:

A Deep Look into the Shady World of the Private Prison Industry

Idaho Dumps Private Prison Company Due to “Violence, Understaffing and Over-billing”

America in 2013: Florida Football Stadium Named After a Private Prison Company

America in 2013: For-Profit Prisons Get Favorable Tax Breaks

Now from the AP:

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The FBI has launched an investigation of the Corrections Corporation of America over the company’s running of an Idaho prison with a reputation so violent that inmates dubbed it “Gladiator School.”

The Nashville, Tenn.-based CCA has operated Idaho’s largest prison for more than a decade, but last year, CCA officials acknowledged it had understaffed the Idaho Correctional Center by thousands of hours in violation of the state contract. CCA also said employees falsified reports to cover up the vacancies. The announcement came after an Associated Press investigation showed CCA sometimes listed guards as working 48 hours straight to meet minimum staffing requirements.

“The FBI is investigating CCA and looking at whether various federal fraud statutes were violated and possibly other federal statutes connected with the fraud,” Olson said. “They will be working in close consultation with our office. Beyond that I can’t comment.”

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How the Repo Industry is Collecting Data on Virtually Every Car in America

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Privacy is being violated from all angles. The government, private corporations, the list is seemingly endless. While there have been many reports of government agencies using license plate scanners under questionable legality, the role of private corporations and the repo industry has received considerably less coverage. Until now.

Beta Boston (part of the Boston Globe) has published an excellent report into this very disturbing trend. Excepts below:

Few notice the “spotter car” from Manny Sousa’s repo company as it scours Massachusetts parking lots, looking for vehicles whose owners have defaulted on their loans. Sousa’s unmarked car is part of a technological revolution that goes well beyond the repossession business, transforming any ­industry that wants to check on the whereabouts of ordinary people.

An automated reader attached to the spotter car takes a picture of every license plate it passes and sends it to a company in Texas that already has more than 1.8 billion plate scans from vehicles across the country.

These scans mean big money for Sousa — typically $200 to $400 every time the spotter finds a vehicle that’s stolen or in default — so he runs his spotter around the clock, typically adding 8,000 plate scans to the database in Texas each day.

“Honestly, we’ve found random apartment complexes and shopping ­plazas that are sweet spots” where the company can impound multiple vehicles, explains Sousa, the president of New England Associates Inc. in Bridgewater. 

But the most significant impact of Sousa’s business is far bigger than locating cars whose owners have defaulted on loans: It is the growing database of snapshots showing where Americans were at specific times, information that everyone from private detectives to ­insurers are willing to pay for.

While public debate about the license reading technology has centered on how police should use it, business has eagerly adopted the $10,000 to $17,000 scanners with remarkably few limits.

At least 10 repossession companies in Massachusetts say they mount the scanners on spotter cars or tow trucks, and Digital Recognition Network of Fort Worth, Texas, claims to collect plate scans of 40 percent of all US vehicles annually.

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A “Donate to Dorian” Bitcoin Address Has Been Created…$7k Donated in Less than an Hour

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Kudos to Andreas Antonopoulos for taking the lead on this. As time passes, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Dorian Nakamoto is not the creator of Bitcoin, but rather a reclusive old man who just had his life turned upside down by a frenzied press. As the generous folks in the Bitcoin community like to do, we … Read more

Has the Real Satoshi Posted for the First Time in 5 Years?

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Last night, the Bitcoin world was abuzz with chatter that the real creator of Bitcoin had emerged for the first time in five years to discredit Newsweek’s “unmasking” story. I was skeptical of the Newsweek story right off the bat, which read like a page-view baiting tabloid, rather than serious investigative journalism. Despite the fact … Read more

Satoshi Nakamoto Chased by Reporters, Denies Founding Bitcoin

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The LA Times is reporting that Satoshi Nakamoto has been driving around today with an AP reporter and he denies founding Bitcoin. This is interesting because the only “proof” Newsweek had was his comments that he did create it. So somebody’s lying. I was skeptical of the Newsweek story from the start and wrote about … Read more

Obama Signs Executive Order Blocking Certain Russian Assets Due to Ukraine Crisis

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Ok, so this seems like a very big deal and may represent a serious escalation in the soft conflict happening between the U.S. and Russia. As of today, the U.S. seems to be using financial warfare in its response. Not only does this Executive Order issued today appear to block certain Russian assets, it also imposes travel restrictions. The question on my mind now is, does Russia hold some of its treasuries in the custody of the Federal Reserve? If so, are these now frozen?

Here’s the text of the Executive Order (emphasis mine):

Executive Order — Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine

EXECUTIVE ORDER

– – – – – – –

BLOCKING PROPERTY OF CERTAIN PERSONS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,

I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, find that the actions and policies of persons — including persons who have asserted governmental authority in the Crimean region without the authorization of the Government of Ukraine — that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. I hereby order:

Section 1. (a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person (including any foreign branch) of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State: 

(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have engaged in, directly or indirectly, any of the following:

(A) actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine;

(B) actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine; or

(C) misappropriation of state assets of Ukraine or of an economically significant entity in Ukraine;

(ii) to have asserted governmental authority over any part or region of Ukraine without the authorization of the Government of Ukraine;

(iii) to be a leader of an entity that has, or whose members have, engaged in any activity described in subsection (a)(i) or (a)(ii) of this section or of an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order;

(iv) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any activity described in subsection (a)(i) or (a)(ii) of this section or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or

(v) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.

(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the effective date of this order.

Sec. 2. I hereby find that the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in subsection 1(a) of this order would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and I hereby suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of such persons. Such persons shall be treated as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July 24, 2011 (Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security Council Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions).

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Newsweek Claims to Have Identified the Creator of Bitcoin – Satoshi Nakamoto

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I have very mixed feelings about the accuracy of today’s article from Newsweek regarding its claim to have discovered the identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. On the one hand, you’d think a major magazine would not make such a bold claim without extensive research and a high degree of certainty. Then again, this is Newsweek.

At the end of the day, since no one can really prove the story right or wrong, it’s certainly possible the magazine merely agreed that it sounded plausible enough and decided it was worth the risk given the page views it would generate.

I tend to have decent intuition on these things, and as I was reading it, something appeared to be off. Perhaps it was the writer’s style, or perhaps just the strangeness of this guy’s personality, but it read a bizarrely to me. The way the guy calls the cops when she shows up to his door. Why would the person who created Bitcoin respond in that way? Also, while on the surface it might seem clever to use your real name in an attempt to remain anonymous, it isn’t really. Everyone trying to figure out who you are will start with searches of Satoshi Nakamoto no matter how stupid it seems.

The one thing that is causing many to speculate that this story is accurate, is the following tweet from Bitcoin core developer Gavin Andresen:

This definitely reads as if Gavin is confirming the article, but it is still unclear to me whether Gavin himself knew Satoshi’s identity, or if he was just communicating with a digital person while working on Bitcoin.

*Update: It seems Gavin has posted a letter to Leah (the Newsweek journalist) on Reddit. He writes:

Hey Leah:

I meant exactly what I tweeted: I am disappointed you (or your publishers) chose to publish enough personal information that people can easily find Dorian and his family.

The pieces might all be public information, but you worked really hard to piece them all together, and the crazy people who might decide it is a good idea to go visit “Satoshi” are likely not as smart or hard-working as you.

And all of your evidence is circumstantial, EXCEPT for the “I’m not involved in that any more” quote, which might simply be an old man saying ANYTHING to get you to go away and leave him alone.

Anyway, I hope some good comes of all this; I hope it stimulates more debate on personal privacy and the role of journalists in our “pan-opticon” world.

So he is clearly not confirming that this man is the creator of Bitcoin. Now back to the original post…

From my perspective, something seems off in this article.

Nevertheless, here are some excerpts, come to your own conclusion:

Two police officers from the Temple City, Calif., sheriff’s department flank him, looking puzzled. “So, what is it you want to ask this man about?” one of them asks me. “He thinks if he talks to you he’s going to get into trouble.”

“I don’t think he’s in any trouble,” I say. “I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto.”

“What?” The police officer balks. “This is the guy who created Bitcoin? It looks like he’s living a pretty humble life.”

Tacitly acknowledging his role in the Bitcoin project, he looks down, staring at the pavement and categorically refuses to answer questions.

I’d come here to try to find out more about Nakamoto and his humble life. It seemed ludicrous that the man credited with inventing Bitcoin – the world’s most wildly successful digital currency, with transactions of nearly $500 million a day at its peak – would retreat to Los Angeles’s San Bernardino foothills, hole up in the family home and leave his estimated $400 million of Bitcoin riches untouched. It seemed similarly implausible that Nakamoto’s first response to my knocking at his door would be to call the cops. Now face to face, with two police officers as witnesses, Nakamoto’s responses to my questions about Bitcoin were careful but revealing.

Not only does it seem implausible, it seems absurd to me. You are just asking for attention and to be outed by doing that.

Far from leading to a Tokyo-based whiz kid using the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” as a cipher or pseudonym (a story repeated by everyone from Bitcoin’s rabid fans to The New Yorker), the trail followed by Newsweek led to a 64-year-old Japanese-American man whose name really is Satoshi Nakamoto. He is someone with a penchant for collecting model trains and a career shrouded in secrecy, having done classified work for major corporations and the U.S. military.

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Video of the Day: Shit Bitcoin Fanatics Say

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Back in 2012, I introduced you to a hilarious video created by my friend Dan Ameduri titled: Shit Gold Bugs Say. If you haven’t seen it, I definitely suggest checking it out. I even make a brief cameo appearance at the 0:57 mark. Today I bring you a new video. Similar concept, different item and … Read more

Meet “Goldfinger” – The $850k Motorcycle with “Many Buyers Interested”

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Welcome back to pre-financial crisis insanity levels. I recall one of the wildest stories from back in early 2008 near the height of the oil price bubble was about how the wealthy in the UAE were spending tens of millions of dollars buying and selling license plates. Yes, just regular aluminum license plates. The most … Read more