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Google's TensorFlow AI Engine... More Power Tools [For Power?]
by grarpamp 15 Nov '15

15 Nov '15

http://www.tensorflow.org/ http://www.wired.com/2015/11/google-open-sources-its-artificial-intelligenc… Google had unveiled its personal photos app earlier in the day, and O’Reilly marveled that if he typed something like “gravestone” into the search box, the app could find a photo of his uncle’s grave, taken so long ago. More power tools, who is wielding them, why, and who benefits? Does the nobody down the street benefit besides gravestones? How?

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RT assets to be seized due to preaching First Amendment rights
by Zenaan Harkness 15 Nov '15

15 Nov '15

WARNING: Do -not- watch RT (Russia Today), they do not tow the US party line! Well asset seizure is not quite ready to happen but that's what Senator John McCain’s Institute for International Leadership is calling for :) http://russia-insider.com/en/russia-and-putin-are-winning-public-relations-… Of course lecturing America on how it should be upholding First Amendment rights is a pretty ironic way to "win the propaganda war" in America, which this article doesn't hold back in pointing out. Now if only cypherpunks could be so vilified by the MSM for promoting our inalienable right to private encrypted communications...

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When the Party Van is at your doorstep
by grarpamp 15 Nov '15

15 Nov '15

https://archive.org/details/OHM2013-Partyvan http://cryto.net/~joepie91/

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Re: [Cryptography] Bear Bonds - a new crytpocurrency
by grarpamp 15 Nov '15

15 Nov '15

>> And details on "directory servers", "witnesses", "trusted party >> transaction servers". I was looking for details on who or what process selects / runs / chooses these nodes, and how. That and words like 'trusted' are critical in these communities and do we not yet see these established in the quoted things above? What makes them unable to censor transactions? Or to censor other nodes, or unspent outputs? Who has authority for issuing control messages? What are their key practices and defense to various threats? >> An admittedly very brief reading, site verbage, including trademark, >> patent and copyright claims leaves question as to commitment to >> fully decentralized p2p model and opensource. If true, you might find >> quite limited interest here and more interest by banks, govts, and >> commercial. If untrue and misread, please address. This question was not yet answered. These and the license may not be 'notable features' for certain of these communities, and should certainly be detailed in any full and legitimate comparison to Bitcoin... https://www.bearbonds.org/legal/software-license-agreement/ What is the open development model? What aligns you (or not) with the various non-technical philosophies of Bitcoin (to which you already strive to technically compare)? > We currently do not support any network other than Tor. Before introducing a > new network, we would have to carefully consider whether it could potentially > compromise privacy and security. Do you have a paper covering your analysis of Tor in that regard? It would certainly be welcomed and of interest to at least the Tor community.

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State sponsored, unaccountable blackmail - backround to Mohammed 'Jihadi John' Emwazi
by Zenaan Harkness 15 Nov '15

15 Nov '15

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/ben-hayes/why-britain-won%E2%80%99… Why Britain won’t talk about crucial elements of Jihadi John’s story Ben Hayes 28 February 2015 The role of our security services in the actions of 'Jihadi John' needs grown up discussion – we must not forget the lessons of Northern Ireland. In “Suspect Community: People’s Experience of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts in Britain”, Professor Paddy Hillyard produced what remains the world’s most detailed ethnographic study of the impact of repressive laws and state policies on what we now call “radicalisation”. That was 1993. Hillyard, a former chair of the National Council of Civil Liberties (now Liberty), had interviewed more than 100 people of Irish catholic descent and provided unequivocal evidence that their everyday treatment at the hands of the British state had boosted support for Irish republicanism, acted as a recruiting sergeant for the IRA and fuelled “the Troubles”. Of course it wasn’t the only “radicalising” factor: Bloody Sunday, a shoot-to-kill policy and state collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries also played their part. As of course did the violence, propaganda and popularity of organisations like the IRA. We could learn a lot from people like Paddy Hillyard and the incremental moves toward truth and reconciliation in the north of Ireland. Instead, this valuable insight is being steadily exorcised from public debate – as are the similar experiences of Muslim communities at the hands of the British state. Yesterday the identity of “Jihadi John”, the ISIS executioner-in-chief, was revealed to belong to British citizen Mohammed Emwazi. The human rights group CAGE – the only organisation in Britain who offers legal support to Muslims who have been interrogated or harassed by the security services (support which is readily available to most others questioned by the UK authorities) – produced a 3,000 word dossier detailing his treatment between 2009 and 2013. This included, inter alia, the surveillance of his movements, the interception of his telecommunications, the orchestration of his arrest in Tanzania and transfer to the Netherlands where he was interrogated by MI5, attempts to coerce him into becoming an MI5 informer, harassment of his family and fiancé, and the prevention of his resettlement in Kuwait – all in the absence of any formal allegation, charge or prospect of official recourse. Since this occurred well before Mohammed Emwazi’s departure from the UK and appearance in Syria as “Jihadi John”, one might have thought our media duty bound to ask whether this and other encounters played any part in his decision to go there. Indeed the most revealing exchange, which should surely have been on the lips of any journalist worth their salt, is the following, spoken by MI5 agent “Nick”: “Listen Mohammed: You’ve got the whole world in front of you; you’re 21 years old; you just finished Uni – why don’t you work for us?” When Mohammed declines, he is told: “You’re going to have a lot of trouble... You’re going to be known... you’re going to be followed... life will be harder for you.” Let us be clear that whatever else may have transpired since this exchange, here is a credible allegation of state-sanctioned blackmail of one of our citizens upon pain of having his life ruined by unaccountable security forces. When things like this happen to Muslims in Arab dictatorships, we talk about “secret police” and “fearsome security apparatuses”. When they happen here, we put our fingers in our ears and demand that Muslims “get over themselves” and condemn acts of terrorism. And so it was that Kay Burley of Sky News duly began her interview with a CAGE spokesman by asking “What level of harassment by the security services here in the United Kingdom justifies beheadings?” – a plainly preposterous straw man argument that literally no-one was making. Liberal pin-up Jon Snow also glossed over the evidence produced by CAGE, before getting down to the most important business of the day: demanding that their spokespeople condemn terrorism, and seeking to belittle them when they question why this demand is only ever made of Muslims, or worse still, refuse to participate in the ridiculous spectacle. It was already a nailed-on certainty that the government and the media would turn the “extremist” spotlight onto CAGE and its supporters in a witch hunt that would make McCarthy blush. But having anointed Peter Oborne the Supreme Ruler of Media Integrity for taking on the Telegraph, perhaps they should ask him what he thinks about CAGE’s treatment at the hands of the establishment. Or reflect on CAGE’s founder and director’s own experience at the hands of MI5, or his three-and-a-half years of illegal detention in Guantanamo Bay and Belmarsh prisons. Nope: they’re just “apologists for terrorism”, guilty until proven innocent. Human rights and social justice groups should be supporting CAGE in its endeavours to uncover the extra-judicial prosecution of the “war on terror” in this country. They won’t because they’re scared of the “public perception”. Much easier to support free expression from behind the comfort of a “Je Suis Charlie” banner. The country should be having a serious conversation about the way “intelligence-led policing” has undermined our national security and human rights by linking the treatment of Mohammed Emwazi to the discredited use of informants and double agents in Northern Ireland, to the links between MI5 and extremist groups, and to an undercover culture that has perverted the pursuit of social and legal justice in this country. It won’t, because we’ll turn a blind eye to anything at the drop of the T-word. Something fundamental has to change if we’re to have the grown-up conversations that can inform these policies, and that can temper the appeal of extremism and violence in all quarters.

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States Storing And Selling Your DNA At Birth Without Explicit Notice Consent (TBA: Hospitals Doctors Testlabs Too)
by grarpamp 14 Nov '15

14 Nov '15

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/11/09/dna-data-from-california-newbor… http://slashdot.org/~DavidPoole (KPIX 5) — This might come as a surprise to California natives in their 20s and early 30s: The state owns your DNA. Every year about four million newborns in the U.S. get a heel prick at birth, Danielle Gatto ... was shocked to find, her daughters’ leftover blood was not thrown away. “The state collects the cards and then uses them in a database,” she said. Turns out a non-descript office building in Richmond contains the DNA of every person born in California since 1983. Law enforcement can request them. Private companies can buy them to do research – without your consent. “Everybody has a right to make an informed decision. That is not for the state to decide for them,” said Gatto. The CDPH turned down a request for an interview and wouldn’t explain why it doesn’t ask permission to sell babies’ blood spots. Yaniv Erlich with Columbia University and the New York Genome Center ... demonstrated how easy it is to take anonymized DNA, cross-reference it with online data and connect it to a name. “You need to have some training in genetics, but once you have that kind of training the attack is not very complicated to conduct,” But Gatto thinks the state should have to at least ask her consent before storing and selling her daughters’ DNA. “We are at the beginning of a frontier of so much genetic research, there is no knowing at this point in time what that info could be used for,” said Gatto. ‘The worst thing as a parent is to think that a decision that you are making today may negatively affect your children down the road.” Gatto's husband – state Assemblyman Mike Gatto – introduced a bill this year that would have required signed consent... Opposition from the state and the industry killed it.

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the nature of government
by juan 14 Nov '15

14 Nov '15

http://kissasian.com/Drama/On-the-Job Of course, phillippines is not a first world country and the people who live there are brown. Politics are radically different in the first, white world, ruled by moses and the rule of law.

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Black woman who grew up under segregation and in absolute poverty, must receive diversity training
by Zenaan Harkness 14 Nov '15

14 Nov '15

It just get's better: http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/260759/angry-white-leftists-target-black-co… Bring it on! SJWs, eat your heart out! Evidently human rights, and "social justice", are not quite the same thing...

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Free speech advocates vs Crybullys
by Zenaan Harkness 14 Nov '15

14 Nov '15

Thankfully, there seems to be some contention, discord and potential police involvement, various resignations have already occurred, so such turmoil, around allegations of free speech and violations of free speech, portends well in my book. Bring it on! Great to see fights around the right to, and limits of, freedom of speech. Free speech advocates may be required "to go through the Disciplinary Process if a formal complaint is filed, and that they will be required to attend extensive training for racial and cultural competency" : "Amherst Crybullies Demand Punishment for Student Who Put Up Free Speech Poster" http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/260779/amherst-crybullies-demand-punishme…

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Re: [tor-talk] Bear Bonds - a new cryptocurrency that uses Tor
by grarpamp 13 Nov '15

13 Nov '15

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 8:52 PM, <allen(a)bearbonds.org> wrote: > I'm involved in a project to create a new cryptocurrency called Bear > Bonds(TM). > > One of the notable features for the Tor community is that all communication > is via Tor using Tor hidden services. This includes communication between > users and the network, and all communication between network nodes. Tor is > used for both privacy and security. In particular, since the users are > anonymized, it prevents a node on the network from attempting to send > targeting information to a certain user or group of users. > > If Bear Bonds is successful, we of course plan to give extensive support > back to the Tor community. > > We have a whitepaper, technical documentation and a technology preview > software release on our website at https://www.bearbonds.org. The code is > over 80% complete and we are working to finish it as quickly as possible. > > Please feel free read the documentation and try out the wallet simulation > script. We welcome any comments and questions. > > Thank you, > > Allen > http://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2015-November/027092.html An admittedly very brief reading, site verbage, including trademark, patent and copyright claims leaves question as to commitment to fully decentralized p2p model and opensource. If true, you might find quite limited interest here and more interest by banks, govts, and commercial. If untrue and misread, please address. And details on "directory servers", "witnesses", "trusted party transaction servers". What is your .onion? What networks besides Tor do you have as pluggable (or even multihome) options for when Tor is or becomes incapacitated or unreachable or users simply prefer other?

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