This week former Twitter engineer and microcelebrity Moxie Marlinspike unleashed a torrent of criticism against the Gnu Privacy Guard encryption software, which he loosely justified by confusing an etiquette problem with a technical problem. Continue reading
Author Archives: Aaron 'BingoBoingo' Rogier
NY "Environmental Protection" Raid Drives Suicide
Yesterday Dell's Maraschino Cherries in Brooklyn was raided by the New York Department of Environmental Protection and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office under the pretext of searching for violations of environmental protection regulations. The pretext was used because law enforcement had "received a tip" that the thriving cherry business was being used as a front for an operation engaging in marijuana commerce. The "tip" however was insufficiently credible to justify a search warrant from a judge. Continue reading
Half Million Dollar Ransom Made In Bitcoin
For one Canadian expatriate the term "Ransomware" has taken a more literal turn. According to The Tico Times Ryan Piercy was allegedly kidnapped and held for roughly a month by attackers who demanded a half million dollar ransom to be paid in Bitcoin. Piercy arrived home Saturday via taxi, so if Piercy was indeed held for ransom it seems incredibly likely the ransom was paid and the scheme worked as advertised.
Court: No Surveillance Records for FBI Terrorist
The United States Supreme Court without comment denied Adel Daoud, a 21 year old FBI trained terrorist, access to secret court orders which authorized electronic surveillance against him. Without access to the documents authorizing surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act there is no practical means for Daoud to mount a legal defense against the legality of the surveillance he was placed under. Daoud was arrested for triggering a device outside of a Chicago bar which was provided to him by the FBI and which the FBI swears they told him was a bomb. Continue reading
US Political Crisis May Impoverish Homeland Security Department
The New York Times reports that a legislative impasse in the United States Congress might leave the Department of Homeland Security without funds. If this comes to pass, roughly 30,000 employees in mostly administrative positions will be furloughed while the remaining 200,000 employees deemed "critical" would be compelled to report for work as normal. The "critical" employees would be working without the expectation of receiving a pay check.
The Superfish Funder List
In the wake of yesterday's disclosure of Lenovo's appalling inclusion of the Superfish malware on their OEM Windows installs, let us highlight the Venture Capital Firms which made Superfish possible: Continue reading
Seals With Clubs Shutters
On an announcement replacing their normal front page one of Bitcoin's longest tenured poker sites, Seals with Clubs, has decided to close their doors citing "Operational Security" concerns. They cite without specifics several events which occurred around February 11th, 2015 as being the catalyst for the decision, offering that if Seals with Clubs continued as presently structured it would be "in a perpetual state of jeopardy." They are advising users to withdraw their funds as soon as possible. Continue reading
Windows Ecosystem Security Still Horrifying
Today it was revealed that Lenovo has been installing a piece of adware called "Superfish" which uses an SSL man in the middle attack to replace ads served to users and potentially engage in all kinds of other evil. Abuse of unaware users who run Microsoft Windows by computing vendors has a long history which includes many other notable episodes such as Sony proposing a lack of factory bloatware as a premium option to the entire existence of the venture known as "WildTangent." Continue reading
CoinTelegraph: CCN and NewsBTC Advertising Yet Another Scam
In a new article on CoinTelegraph Allen Scott alleges that CryptoCoinsNews and NewsBTC have both been promoting a scam where they advertise a fraud operation which buys bitcoins at above market prices using hacked Paypal accounts before the scam operators stop paying for the bitcoins they "buy" at all. These new allegations come on the heels of CCN and NewsBTC both serving as major advertising partners for the GAW "miners" scam.
Scotland Takes Symbolic Step Towards Online Independence
The Register reports that the Scottish government has moved its online home from 'scotland.gov.uk' to 'gov.scot' in a move that pleases the leadership of the Scottish National Party. Last year a ballot initiative which would have opened the path for Scotland to render the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' instead merely the 'United Kingdom of Lower Britain and Northern Ireland' was defeated. Continued nationalist sentiment and dissatisfaction with English governance has left London forced to continue throwing money at Scotland in an effort to bribe the Scottish people into docility. Continue reading