January 2023 - cypherpunks@lists.ogf.org

Two Former eBay Executives Sentenced to Prison for Cyberstalking | United States Department of Justice
by Gunnar Larson 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/two-former-ebay-executives-sentenced-pri… Harville and Baugh were arrested and charged in June 2020. Co-conspirators and former eBay employees Philip Cooke, Brian Gilbert, Stephanie Popp, Veronica Zea and Stephanie Stockwell previously pleaded guilty for their roles in a conspiracy to cyberstalk the victims. Cooke was sentenced in July 2021 to 18 months in prison. Gilbert, Popp, Zea and Stockwell are awaiting sentencing. Between approximately Aug. 5, 2019 and Sept. 6, 2019, Harville, Baugh and their co-conspirators at eBay agreed to engage in a harassment campaign targeting a husband and wife in Natick, Mass. for their roles in publishing a newsletter that reported on issues of interest to eBay sellers. Senior executives at eBay were frustrated with the newsletter’s tone and content as well as the substance of comments posted beneath the newsletter’s articles. The harassment campaign arose from communications between those senior executives and Baugh, who was eBay’s senior security employee. The defendants and their co-conspirators executed a three-part harassment campaign intended to intimidate the victims and to influence their reporting about eBay. The campaign included sending anonymous and disturbing deliveries to the victims’ home; sending private Twitter messages and public tweets criticizing the newsletter’s content; threats to visit the victims in Natick; and traveling to Natick to surveil the victims and installing a GPS tracking device on their car. The deliveries ordered to the victims’ home included a book on surviving the death of a spouse, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, a funeral wreath and live insects. The harassment also featured Craigslist posts inviting members of the public to experience sexual encounters at the victims’ home. The threatening Twitter messages were written as if they had been sent by eBay sellers who were unhappy with the victims’ coverage in the newsletter. Some of these messages posted the victims’ home address and threatened to show up at their home. On Aug. 15, 2019, Baugh, Harville and a co-conspirator traveled from California to Natick to surveil the victims and install a GPS tracking device on the victims’ car. The victims spotted the surveillance team and contacted local police. Harville also purchased tools intending to break into the victims’ garage and lied to an eBay investigator who was responding to the Natick Police’s request for assistance. After learning of the police’s investigation, Harville and Baugh deleted digital evidence related to the cyberstalking campaign. Additionally, Baugh made false statements to police and internal investigators and falsified records intended to throw the police off the trail. U.S. Attorney Rollins, FBI SAC Bonavolonta and Natick Police Chief James G. Hicks made the announcement today. eBay provided valuable assistance and cooperation with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth B. Kosto, Deputy Chief of Rollins’ Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.

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Fwd: FOIL Request Confirmation from Open FOIL NY
by Gunnar Larson 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <noreply(a)its.ny.gov> Date: Sat, Jan 14, 2023, 3:26 PM Subject: FOIL Request Confirmation from Open FOIL NY To: <G(a)xny.io> Thank you for submitting your FOIL request through Open FOIL NY. Here is your Open FOIL NY confirmation information for future reference: LARSON_DFS_20230114152649702 LARSON_DOB_20230114152649702 LARSON_DTF_20230114152649702 *INFORMATION SUBMITTED:* *Records Requested From* Department of Financial Services Division of the Budget Department of Taxation and Finance *Short Title* Coinbase $100M Settlement Investigation Records *Description* Dear Madam or Sir: xNY.io - Bank.org kindly seeks access to any and all records concerning New York State's investigation of Coinbase, comprising the $100M settlement mentioned here: https://www.dfs.ny.gov/reports_and_publications/press_releases/pr202301041. We are requesting all public records from 2018 to 2022 concerning New York's aforementioned Coinbase investigation. Moreover, xNY.io - Bank.org seeks access to any and all records concerning New York's regulatory scrutiny (and/or approval) of Goldman Sachs' partnership with Coinbase, issuing the bank's first Bitcoin loan mentioned here: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/goldman-sachs-partners-with-coinbase-for-ba…. In addition, xNY.io - Bank.org seeks any and all records concerning New York's approach to Coinbase and Goldman Sachs compliance programs mandated by the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section and Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section mentioned here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yx88RMoeLyyfbNK0RtPl4r-m8N21_1Sp/view?usp=…. Finally, xNY.io - Bank.org seeks records concerning New York's regulatory approval of Coinbase engaging a fine of $50M to implement heightened controls and additional procedures and policies relating to electronic surveillance and investigation, due diligence on transactions or clients and the use of third-party intermediaries across business units; and enhancing anti-corruption training for all management and relevant employees. Warm regards, Gunnar Larson Gunnar Larson xNY.io - Bank.org 646-454-9107 *Uploaded Files* *FOIL Response Format* Email *If fees apply, please contact me if costs will be greater than* $10000 Your FOIL request has been forwarded to the organization(s) you selected, and the respective Records Access Officer will contact you directly for further processing of your request. Please allow up to five business days for such communication(s). For your convenience, here is additional contact information: Department of Financial Services One State Street 20th Floor New York, NY 10004 Division of the Budget State Capitol Room 128 Albany, NY 12224 Department of Taxation and Finance W.A. Harriman Campus Bldg 9, Room 100, Albany, NY 12227

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The worker has no country - especially Turkey
by professor rat 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

Marx sometimes struck an internationalist pose - it was just another one of his frauds on the public. Marx, "British Politics" (April 7, 1853), Collected Works, Vol. 112, p.7: " . . . The real point at issue always is, Turkey in Europe - the great peninsula to the south of the Save and Danube. This splendid territory has the misfortune to be inhabited by a conglomerate of different races and nationalities, of which it is hard to say which is the least fit for progress and civilization. . . . " http://marxwords.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_marxwords_archive.html Reposted in the interests of post-national-socialist harmony

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Intelligent xenomorphs vow to exterminate all humans based on Matt Damon movie
by professor rat 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

Apparently mistaking ' The Martian ' for a documentary, intelligent aliens are moving together in their Galactic ' UN " to nip a potential planet-destroying species in the bud. To lose one planet might be considered unfortunate. To lose two is beginning to look like proactive genocide. Sorry no link is available right now since so many died to bring us this information. TL/DR use of a so-called " Death Star " has been authorized against us. Such is intelligent life. And a great lesson for all of us. The strong AI do what they like - the weak-minded conservative suffer what they must.

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Turkey pushes back vote on Sweden and Finland’s Nato accession | Nato | The Guardian
by Gunnar Larson 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/14/turkey-pushes-back-vote-on-sw… “We are not in a rush here, they are in a rush to join Nato,” İbrahim Kalın, chief adviser to Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told journalists. ------ Why is Turkey calling NATO shots while being in a Cyprus war, with United Nations peacekeeping mission?

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Fact-Checking Matt Damon's Promise About Clean Water In Stella Artois Super Bowl Ad : Goats and Soda : NPR
by Gunnar Larson 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/02/02/582664769/fact-checkin… In a new Super Bowl ad, Matt Damon makes a bold promise: Buy a limited-edition Stella Artois chalice and your money will help give a clean water supply to someone in the developing world for five years. The ad, called "Taps," reminds viewers that water is something we take for granted. Around the world, 844 million people do not even have a basic service providing water to their homes, according to the World Health Organization. Matt Damon And Gary White On The World's Water Crisis WORLD Matt Damon And Gary White On The World's Water Crisis "If just 1 percent of you watching this buys [a chalice], we can give clean water to 1 million people," says Damon in the ad. The 30-second spot was purchased by Stella Artois (estimated price tag: $5 million). It's part of an ongoing partnership between the beer giant and Damon's nonprofit group, Water.org, whose mission is to provide access to clean water and sanitation in the developing world. The chalices are sold on Amazon for $13, with $3.13 in proceeds from each purchase going to Damon's charity. The beer glasses are imprinted with designs by artists from India, Mexico and the Philippines, countries where Water.org currently works. Damon's statement about "1 percent of you watching" would add up to roughly 1 million purchases from the Super Bowl audience. According to Water.org, Stella Artois would donate the $3.13 for "up to 300,000 chalices" sold in the U.S. between January 1 and December 31. Sponsor Message And what exactly does that $3 buy? Can it really bring clean water to one person for half a decade? Skepticism surfaced on Twitter. This doesn't explain the correlation between the chalice and the water. Like how could buying one chalice fund all that? To me it just means Stella Artois won't help until we buy something. — Trumpet Wom' (@trumpetgrrrl) January 30, 2018 Even water specialists weren't clear on how the numbers were calculated. To learn more, we interviewed researchers and spokespeople for Water.org What does Water.org do? Despite its name, Water.org doesn't actually provide water to people in the developing world. So your $3 won't go directly toward, say, the delivery of jugs of water or the building of a well. To fulfill its mission, the nonprofit has set up a custom microlending system called WaterCredit. The group partners with financial institutions in developing countries to lend people small amounts of money so they can pay to get water. That might mean buying a faucet and hiring a contractor to tap into water supplies or buying containers to catch rainwater. Children drinking from a makeshift water pipe in a village in the Mindanao island in the Philippines. Jes Aznar/Getty Images Giving people that kind of choice is a good thing, says Annie Feighery, a co-founder of mWater, a digital platform that water nonprofits use to measure the impact of their work. The group has worked with Water.org for four years. For a long time, charities would try to fix a community's water problem by digging wells and then leaving, she says. But the wells would often malfunction and become contaminated within a year, and they cost a lot to maintain. Today, wells are seen as an "old-fashioned approach that we now call the dig-and-ditch model," she says. Although in some cases, wells are still a reasonable option. Families who live miles away from a clean drinking water source can take out a loan to pay for the construction of a deep borehole well, which siphons clean water deep in the ground, or a large container to catch and store rainwater. According to the World Health Organization, harvesting rainwater generally provides good quality water. Is $3 enough to cover those kinds of expenses? Not exactly. When someone buys the chalice from Stella Artois, $3 does indeed go to Water.org. According to Water.org's calculations, that $3 equals five years of clean water for one person in the developing world. To come up with that number, the group counted up the number of people it helped get water from 2014 to 2016 — roughly 3.3 million — and then divided that figure by the sum of the group's organizational costs in the same time period: $42 million. (The data is available in the charity's financial statements on their website.) And the answer is: $12.50 to give one person access to water. In this formula, the infrastructure for their water would last about 20 years. Based on these calculations, the $3 from the Stella Artois chalice, says Water.org, would provide five years of clean water. But that doesn't mean the loans are only $3. In fact, the average loan taken out by a borrower from local financial institutions, in partnership with Water.org, is about $300. According to Water.org, 99 percent of the borrowers pay it back. To date, the group says they have given out 2.2 million loans. When people repay the loan, the money gets lent out to others in the community, creating a multiplier effect, says Julie LaGuardia, a spokesperson for Water.org. "Sometimes in marketing efforts one needs to over-simplify to make reasonable promises to donors, retailers and investors," says John Oldfield, a principal at the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Global Water 2020. "But it's a good appropriate claim for the start of the conversation around clean water." Asked about the discrepancy between the $3 and the $300 figures, Melanie Mendrys, a spokesperson from Water.org, says, "I don't consider that a discrepancy. I know that the $3 does in fact help a woman or a family get access to the money needed to get water or a toilet." She does not think the ad is misleading. "It's an opportunity for people to learn more and once they do they get really excited," she says. "We just reached ten million people who received water or sanitation from our efforts. We know what we're doing is working and we're excited to reach more." And specialists do think the loan is a good approach. "What's novel about WaterCredit is that the loan is being provided for a home improvement," says Jenna Davis, an associate professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. She has looked at the evidence around the Water.org's business model. A tap or some containers to catch rainwater doesn't sound like much, but it can have a significant impact for low-income families. "In many parts of the developing world, people were paying more for water in a month, for example, buying bottled water, than would be needed to pay a regular monthly bill if they had a piped connection," says Davis. Research has shown that for low-income households, the obstacle to installing the hardware or other connections is the cost, she says. Wouldn't it be more efficient if Stella Artois just gave a few million to Water.org instead of buying a Super Bowl ad? That was another question raised on Twitter: Why couldn't Stella just have forked over the money to Water.org? "It's important to remember that this is a Stella ad just as much, if not more, than a Water.org ad," says Jason Wojciechowski, creative director of Corelab, an agency that runs digital campaigns for nonprofits like Oxfam, Save the Children and Global Witness. Wojciechowski doubts that a Game Day ad alone would rake in a "ton of money" for the charity. The group would need to combine it with aggressive fundraising and social media campaign efforts over a long period of time. But he does think the ad will provide another service to the Super Bowl audience: planting the seed that change is possible. "Showing people that they have agency, responsibility and a role to play," he says. "The idea that there's something people can do to end the water crisis."

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France Financial Regulator Fines London’s H2O €93 Million for Fund Misrepresentations
by Gunnar Larson 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

Check out my new article: https://litigationfinancejournal.com/france-financial-regulator-fines-londo… UK-based H2O Asset Management is under regulatory investigation by the French financial crime enforcement auditors. H2O is accused of breaching financial instrument ownership laws. Pensions and Investments reports that Bruno Crastes (H2O Group CEO) received a €15M penalty, with Vincent Challiey (H2O Group CIO) panelized €3M. Furthermore, regulators assigned €75M in fines for H2O AM totalling €93M or $99MUSD. French assessors claim H2O’s mismanagement yielded significant investor losses. As of June 30, 2022, H2O maintained €12.3B in assets under management. In November, 2020, Natixis Investment Managers elected to cancel a 10 year agreement with H2O, liquidating 50.01% stake ownership in two tranches, immediately capitalizing 26.61%. Natixis plans a six year horizon for complete divestiture. H2O has claimed innocence of wrongdoings, suggesting French authorities issued the group penalty in the absence of fraud or mismanagement by H2O. Deminor announced that it is financing litigation for victims of H2O’s Natixis managed asset fund. Deminor is representing 1,500 individuals on a non-recourse basis. After meeting with French authorities, H2O announced formalizing a reserve allocation to cover the maximum potential fine as a cash flow precaution.

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A protocol for passing cryptographically signed messages around a peer to peer network.
by professor rat 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

Everyone an assassinbird? https://twitter.com/anilsaidso/status/1611519739813310466/photo/1 Reposts not vouched for by unhinged Au journalists

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How does George Bush sleep at night?
by zeynep＠keemail.me 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

https://youtu.be/I-taJf2Ks6U "Mr. Bush, when are you going to apologize for the million Iraqis that are dead because you lied? You lied about weapons of mass destruction, you lied about connections to 9/11,You sent me Iraq to 2003, My friends are dead.Joshua Casteel. You killed people. Because You lied, You need to apologize! Apologize!

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A protocol for passing cryptographically signed messages around a peer to peer network.
by professor rat 14 Jan '23

14 Jan '23

" . . . Transportation, deliveries, housing, food, finance, energy, infrastructure, governance: all can and should be provided peer-to-peer with no government involvement. . . " You're making sense. And that worries me, Max. Maybe Mong's big ' Fork in the Road ' wasn't just State-capitalist fascism or Cryptoanarchy but a seemingly endless tension between revolutionary decentralization and reactionary re-centralization. I don't plan on going to all the trouble of violently destroying all religions and nation- states only to replace them with MS, IBM, AWS, FB, Google, Hollywood & Tik Tok. But the masses love these fucking convenient behemoths. Michael Corleone - Everytime I try and get out they pull me back!

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