As the scheduled May 15th sentencing for Ross Ulbricht approaches Preet Bharara's office is once again engaging in brinkmanship and shenanigans aimed at subverting actual applications of justice. At the sentencing hearing the prosecution plans to present new evidence, which apparently wasn't good enough for the trial, that supposedly links six overdose deaths to drugs allegedly purchased on the Silk Road. Ulbricht's attorney Josh Dratel has requested the sentencing be delayed another month to prepare a response to the government's latest assertion. Continue reading
Author Archives: Aaron 'BingoBoingo' Rogier
New Web of Trust Web Explorer
At the third annual Bitcoin Conference mike_c unveiled a new web based explorer for the #bitcoin-assets Web of Trust maintained by Kakobrekla's assbot. In his announcement mike_c gives an overview of many of the tool's new features and some of the historical context that created an impetus for this tool's creation. The Btc Alpha WoT Explorer went live to the public overnight.
Vessenes Foundation Draws Near Its End, Vessenes Out As Chairman
The decline of the Vessenes Bitcoin Foundation continues with their developers leaving for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative. In what appears to be an attempt to revitalize their image by amping up their star power the Vessenes foundation has replaced Peter Vessenes as their chairman with First Kid co-star Brock Pierce.
Windows Servers Pwn'd By JPEG Uploads
The Register reports that researcher Marcus Murray has demonstrated an attack which allows malicious parties to take control of servers running modern versions of Microsoft Windows Server by uploading JPEG images. Murray demonstrated this attack at the RSA San Francisco conference and asserts he used this same method on a photo upload portal to crack a United States Government agency's web server. This is one of many ways Microsoft Windows has shown itself to be unsafe for any purpose.
Tennessee House Votes To Allow Bitcoin Campaign Contributions
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that the legislators of the Tennessee State House have voted 61 to 28 in favor of allowing Bitcoin to be accepted as a campaign "gift" in state elections. The bill passed the Tennessee Senate last month and awaits the Governor's signature which could render it law, though given that application of the Gubernatorial veto is rare in Tennessee as it takes the same simple majority from each house of the General assembly which initially passed the bill to override the veto. Continue reading
Seized Bitcoin ATM Returned
The Bitcoin ATM seized by Australian police from a Brisbane business back in October has finally been returned. According to local police superintendent Mick Niland the seizure happened under the mere suspicion the machine was being used for other than lawful purposes.
New York Update: Former NYSE CEO to TeraExchange Former FDIC Chair to itBit
As hard as the State of New York seems to be working to separate itself from Bitcoin in the manner the United Kingdom has, a number of relics from the fiat world are trying to latch on to a simulacrum of Bitcoin shaped in the fiat world's image.
- TeraExchange, represented at the CFTF session on digital currencies has taken former New York Stock Exchange CEO Duncan Niederauer as an advisory director.
- Sheila Blair, former chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has joined New York based itBit exchange on their board. A formal announcement on the subject is expected in the next several days.
Readers are reminded that New York and Manhattan in particular overtly present a hostile legal and regulatory environment unsuitable for actual Bitcoin businesses.
Police Send Spyware To Lawyer For Whistle-Blower
FSPD Chief Lindsey
Police in Fort Smith Arkansas have been caught embedding malware in a collection of documents requested by the lawyer for a whistleblower reporting on misconduct in the department. Attorney Matt Campbell reports that upon the return of a drive he provided to the Fort Smith Police Department for the purpose of receiving evidence, three common pieces of spyware targeting Microsoft Windows computers were implanted into a sub folder on the drive. The spyware includes a keylogger, backdoors, and a command and control utility.
Campell is representing whistle-blower Don Paul Bales in a lawsuit against the Fort Smith Police Department for retailing against Bale's reports of illegal practices within the department concerning employee termination and payroll procedures. Arkansas State Police have declined requests by Campbell to investigate the incident claiming that any potential violations would be merely "misdemeanors" insufficient to involve their investigators. Similarly local Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney for the 12th District of Arkansas Daniel Shue has declined to investigate citing a lack of resources even though their own web page declares Shue's office is "one of the busiest Prosecuting Attorney’s offices in the state." (archived) It remains to be seen if this can be investigated and prosecuted at the Federal level. Continue reading
Brawker Closing
Consumer to Consumer Bitcoin retailing and trading site Brawker has announced its imminent closure (archived). They have ceased processing new orders and are offering until the end of the month for orders in progress to be resolved. Brawker cites a disappointing rate in customer growth over their 18 month history as the primary reason for closure.
Fenton Replaces Murck as Vessenes Foundation Pivots Again
The Vessenes Bitcoin Foundation has installed Bruce Fenton as their executive director replacing Patrick Murck who occupied the office on an interim basis. Fenton was elected by the board with five affirmative votes with one recorded abstention. In the recent election for the this foundation's board Bruce Fenton was a candidate ended the election in fourth place. One of the two candidates to win a seat on the Board, Oliver Janssens won a director's seat running for office with a history of seeking the Vessenes Foundation's replacement with software. After his first meeting as a board member Janssens, who won his seat with 63 percent of the membership's vote exposed the Vessenes Foundation's dire situation, and the rest of the board attempted a rebuttal of the indictment by Janssens. Continue reading