 Microsoft Sues Justice Department Over Secret Customer Data Searcheshttp://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-sues-justice-department-over-secret-customer-data-searches-1460649720SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. sued the Justice Department on Thursday, saying it's unconstitutional for the government to bar tech companies from telling customers when federal agents have examined their data. The suit, filed in the federal court here, raises a fundamental question of how easily, and secretly, the government should be able to gain access to individuals' information in the cloud-computing era. Critics argue that a person would know if their home or hard drive were searched by investigators, but agents now have the ability - and are using it in thousands of cases - to keep secret their searches of information stored in the massive data centers that power cloud computing. Microsoft's filing sets the stage for another high-profile confrontation between the government and a tech giant, after the Justice Department's February demand that Apple Inc. bypass the security passcode on a terrorist's iPhone. The agency dropped that effort last month after it cracked the phone with help from a third party, but the legal fight over other locked iPhones continues. Microsoft says in its suit that it received 5,624 federal demands for customer information in the past 18 months, and nearly half - 2,576 - came with gag orders preventing the company from telling customers the government was looking at their data. Although the company "always complies with legally binding orders", it said that 1,752 of those secrecy orders had no time limit, so it might never be able to tell customers that the government obtained their digital files. The government "seeks and executes warrants for electronic communications far more frequently than it sought and executed warrants for physical documents and communications - apparently because it believes it can search and seize those documents and communications under a veil of secrecy", the suit alleges. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit. Source: The Wall Street Journal |
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 US corporations have $1.4tn hidden in tax havens, claims Oxfam reporthttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/14/us-corporations-14-trillion-hidden-tax-havens-oxfamUS corporate giants such as Apple, Walmart and General Electric have stashed $1.4tn (£980bn) in tax havens, despite receiving trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, according to a report by anti-poverty charity Oxfam. The sum, larger than the economic output of Russia, South Korea and Spain, is held in an "opaque and secretive network" of 1,608 subsidiaries based offshore, said Oxfam. The charity's analysis of the financial affairs of the 50 biggest US corporations comes amid intense scrutiny of tax havens following the leak of the Panama Papers. And the charity said its report, entitled Broken at the Top was a further illustration of "massive systematic abuse" of the global tax system. Technology giant Apple, the world's second biggest company, topped Oxfam's league table, with some $181bn held offshore in three subsidiaries. Boston-based conglomerate General Electric, which Oxfam said has received $28bn in taxpayer backing, was second with $119bn stored in 118 tax haven subsidiaries. Computing firm Microsoft was third with $108bn, in a top 10 that also included pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, Google's parent company Alphabet and Exxon Mobil, the largest oil company not owned by an oil-producing state. Oxfam contrasted the $1.4tn held offshore with the $1tn paid in tax by the top 50 US firms between 2008 and 2014. It pointed out that the companies had also enjoyed a combined $11.2tn in federal loans, bailouts and loan guarantees during the same period. Overall, the use of tax havens allowed the US firms to reduce their effective tax rate on $4tn of profits from the US headline rate of 35% to an average of 26.5% between 2008 and 2014. The charity said this had helped firms spend billions on an "army" of lobbyists calling for greater state support in the form of loans, bailouts and guarantees, funded by taxpayers. The top 50 US firms spent $2.6bn between 2008 and 2014 on lobbying the US government, Oxfam said. "For every $1 spent on lobbying, these 50 companies collectively received $130 in tax breaks and more than $4,000 in federal loans, loan guarantees and bailouts," said Oxfam. Robbie Silverman, senior tax adviser at Oxfam said: "Yet again we have evidence of a massive systematic abuse of the global tax system. We can't go on with a situation where the rich and powerful are not paying their fair share of tax, leaving the rest of us to foot the bill. Governments across the globe must come together now to end the era of tax havens." Oxfam estimates that tax avoidance by US corporations costs the world's largest economy some $111bn a year, but said it was also fuelling the global wealth divide by draining $100bn from the poorest countries. "Tax dodging practised by corporations and enabled by federal policymakers contributes to dangerous inequality that is undermining our social fabric and hindering economic growth," the report said. Oxfam also singled out British overseas territories such as Bermuda for their popularity with US firms seeking to slash their tax bill by "profit-shifting". In 2012, said Oxfam, US firms reported $80bn of profit in Bermuda, more than their combined reported profits in Japan, China, Germany and France, four of the world's five largest economies. The charity called on the US government to pass the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, including a requirement for firms to report their tax contribution on a country-by-country basis. Country-by-country reporting has been recommended by a host of non-governmental organisations and charities to prevent companies from artificially shifting their income out of the poorest countries. Source: The Guardian |
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 "Why aren’t we earning enough to live?" – how The Divide lays bare global inequalityhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/11/the-divide-inequality-documentary-katharine-round<< The documentary film reveals the toxic social divisions caused by low pay for US and UK workers. (...) The finished film gives moving portraits of the lives of seven people, five in the US and two in the UK, illustrating how economic division creates another division socially, with dangerous consequences for everyone. Its scope is ambitious, looking back over 35 years at the political and economic decisions that have caused the widening divide. The film races from person to person, from one side of the Atlantic to the other, giving sharp snapshots of the problems people encounter as they scrape along in economically divided nations. The documentary attempts to answer the teasing question in the film's subtitle: "What happens when the rich get richer?" >> |
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 WhatsApp rolls out full encryption to a billion messenger usershttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/05/whatsapp-rolls-out-full-encryption-to-a-billion-messenger-users<< WhatsApp is updating its messenger app so that every text and voice call on one of the world’s most popular apps will be protected with strong encryption – potentially putting millions more conversations outside the purview of authorities. The development at the messenger company, which is owned by Facebook, is striking given Silicon Valley's recent staredown with authorities over user data privacy. The FBI dropped a court battle with Apple over its iPhone encryption, and Brazilian police recently arrested a Facebook executive because WhatsApp couldn't provide messages sent by a criminal suspect. None of that appears to have deterred WhatsApp founder Jan Koum, who grew up in Soviet-era Ukraine amid surveillance fears and has said that he often heard his mother say things like, "This isn't a telephone conversation". "The desire to protect people's private communication is one of the core beliefs we have at WhatsApp, and for me, it’s personal", Koum wrote in a blog post published Tuesday. "I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn't speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States". The Guardian reported on WhatsApp's plans in March. All of WhatsApp’s 1 billion users, when running the latest version of the app on iPhone, a Google Android device, Nokia or Blackberry, will send and receive messages, attachments and voice calls that engineers say can only be deciphered by the intended recipient, said Moxie Marlinspike, an encrypted messaging developer at Open Whisper Systems, whose technology forms the backbone of WhatsApp's encryption. This means WhatsApp shouldn't be able to facilitate a wiretap of the contents of users' messages, even if faced with a court order. It's unclear if the company will be able to help authorities intercept data on when they use WhatsApp or with whom they communicate. Additionally, WhatsApp will take the unusual step for a consumer app of notifying users if messages are encrypted, Marlinspike said. >> Source: The Guardian |
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 Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putinhttp://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore<< A network of secret offshore deals and vast loans worth $2bn has laid a trail to Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. An unprecedented leak of documents shows how this money has made members of Putin's close circle fabulously wealthy. Though the president's name does not appear in any of the records, the data reveals a pattern – his friends have earned millions from deals that seemingly could not have been secured without his patronage. The documents suggest Putin's family has benefited from this money – his friends' fortunes appear his to spend. The files are part of an unprecedented leak of millions of papers from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm. They show how the rich and powerful are able to exploit secret offshore tax regimes in myriad ways. >> |
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 Pro Counter-Strike Team Wins Round Using Only Tasers, The Game's Riskiest Weaponhttp://steamed.kotaku.com/pro-counter-strike-team-wins-round-using-only-tasers-t-1767814392Counter-Strike's Zeus taser is a very particular weapon. It'll down anybody in a single shot, but it's for use at extremely close ranges, and it can only fire once. In a moment of apparent mania, one team, Selfless, purchased only Zeuses in a round of a pro match. They won. It was the second game of a best-of-three pro match in the Dreamhack Austin 2016 Closed Qualifier. Selfless was up against Bootyclappers, a team best known for having the name "Bootyclappers". Selfless was, in fairness, wiping the floor with their buttock-loving foes. If ever there's a time for a come-from-behind victory (DM me for my address if you’d like to come to my house and punch me) in Counter-Strike, though, it's eco rounds—that is, rounds where one team decides to spend little or no money in order to save up for future weapon/gear purchases. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIJrkB0tU5sSelfless' eco round, however, took everyone watching by surprise, Bootyclappers included. They purchased only Zeuses, a seemingly abysmal idea against a team armed with rifles and a colorful palette of grenade types. They were one degree removed from literally bringing knives to a gunfight. With the aid of some excellent coaching, however, Selfless adapted their style to the weapon and level at hand. Inferno, the map they were playing on, is full of constrained areas and tight corners. On top of that, coach Steve "Ryu" Rattacasa had noticed that Bootyclappers were playing very cautiously, hunkering down and waiting for Selfless to strike. Zeuses in hand, Rattacasa had his team advance slowly, baiting Bootyclappers into a series of haphazard attacks. So basically, dazed and confused, they soared into a giant bug zapper. Rattacasa's moment-by-moment breakdown of the round is really interesting whether you're a big Counter-Strike fan or not. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jmi_BG0QZYIt's always fascinating to hear what was going through a team's head in the heat of the moment, especially when they pulled out a play that nobody saw coming. I, for one, welcome the new all-Zeus meta. Source: Kotaku |
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 US ends case against Apple after pulling data from San Bernardino iPhonehttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/28/apple-fbi-case-dropped-san-bernardino-iphone<< The US government on Monday dropped its court fight against Apple after it successfully pulled data from the iPhone of San Bernardino gunman Syed Farook, according to court records. The development effectively ends a six-week legal battle that was poised to shape digital privacy for years to come. Justice Department lawyers wrote in a court filing Monday evening that they no longer needed Apple's help in getting around the security countermeasures on Farook's device. "The government has now successfully accessed the data stored on Farook's iPhone and therefore no longer requires the assistance from Apple Inc", the government said. It then asked the court to vacate a 16 February court order demanding Apple create software that weakened iPhone security settings to aid government investigators. The Guardian has reported that the technique used by the government has been classified. >> |
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 [GIVEAWAY] Solar Fluxhttp://store.steampowered.com/app/251910Enter this giveaway by posting I want it! on the Steam topic below. The post number will be your entry number. You may only post ONCE or you will be disqualified. The draw will take place on 2 April 2016 at 00:00 hs (UTC). The winning entry will be determined using the random number generator at random.org. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nfservers/discussions/0/385429254937824210RULES:1 - You cannot already own the game. 2 - You cannot be currently banned on any of the [>NF<] game servers. 3 - The game will be given as a Steam key. 4 - I will add the winner to my friends list and message him the game's key. If the friend request isn't accepted within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. |
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 [GIVEAWAY] Ocean City Racinghttp://store.steampowered.com/app/311400Enter this giveaway by posting I want it! on the Steam topic below. The post number will be your entry number. You may only post ONCE or you will be disqualified. The draw will take place on 2 April 2016 at 00:00 hs (UTC). The winning entry will be determined using the random number generator at random.org. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nfservers/discussions/0/385429254937804847RULES:1 - You cannot already own the game. 2 - You cannot be currently banned on any of the [>NF<] game servers. 3 - The game will be given as a Steam key. 4 - I will add the winner to my friends list and message him the game's key. If the friend request isn't accepted within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. |
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 [GIVEAWAY] Super Mustachehttp://store.steampowered.com/app/438180Enter this giveaway by posting I want it! on the Steam topic below. The post number will be your entry number. You may only post ONCE or you will be disqualified. The draw will take place on 2 April 2016 at 00:00 hs (UTC). The winning entry will be determined using the random number generator at random.org. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nfservers/discussions/0/385429254937786061RULES:1 - You cannot already own the game. 2 - You cannot be currently banned on any of the [>NF<] game servers. 3 - The game will be given as a Steam key. 4 - I will add the winner to my friends list and message him the game's key. If the friend request isn't accepted within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. |
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 [GIVEAWAY] The Archetypehttp://store.steampowered.com/app/391120Enter this giveaway by posting I want it! on the Steam topic below. The post number will be your entry number. You may only post ONCE or you will be disqualified. The draw will take place on 2 April 2016 at 00:00 hs (UTC). The winning entry will be determined using the random number generator at random.org. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nfservers/discussions/0/385429254937761556RULES:1 - You cannot already own the game. 2 - You cannot be currently banned on any of the [>NF<] game servers. 3 - The game will be given as a Steam key. 4 - I will add the winner to my friends list and message him the game's key. If the friend request isn't accepted within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. |
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 [GIVEAWAY] Gorky 17http://store.steampowered.com/app/253920Enter this giveaway by posting I want it! on the Steam topic below. The post number will be your entry number. You may only post ONCE or you will be disqualified. The draw will take place on 2 April 2016 at 00:00 hs (UTC). The winning entry will be determined using the random number generator at random.org. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nfservers/discussions/0/385429254937744042RULES:1 - You cannot already own the game. 2 - You cannot be currently banned on any of the [>NF<] game servers. 3 - The game will be given as a Steam key. 4 - I will add the winner to my friends list and message him the game's key. If the friend request isn't accepted within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. |
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 FBI may have found way to unlock San Bernardino iPhone without Applehttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/21/fbi-apple-court-hearing-postpone-unlock-terrorist-iphone<< A court hearing designed to force Apple into compromising its security systems for the iPhone was cancelled Monday at the request of federal authorities, who said they potentially had another way into the San Bernardino shooter's phone. The astonishing reversal kicks the can down the road in what had become the climax of a two year battle over digital privacy between the US government and Silicon Valley. At the same time, the standoff between Apple and the Justice Department drew so much attention that policymakers or another court may weigh in soon regardless. The government has until 5 April to determine whether it wants to pursue the case. Apple's attorneys, in a conference call with reporters, said they do not consider the development a legal victory and warned they could be back in the same situation in two weeks. The attorneys spoke on the condition of not being quoted by name. The company's lawyers said they were as surprised as anyone and learned of the development in an afternoon phone call. The government's potential solution raises its own questions: if investigators figure out a way to hack into the device without Apple's help, are they obligated to show Apple the security flaw they used to get inside? Attorneys for Apple, which almost assuredly would then patch such a flaw, said they would demand the government share their methods if they successfully get inside the phone. >> |
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 [GIVEAWAY] One Day For Chedhttp://store.steampowered.com/app/321030Enter this giveaway by posting I want it! on the Steam topic below. The post number will be your entry number. You may only post ONCE or you will be disqualified. The draw will take place on 26 March 2016 at 00:00 hs (UTC). The winning entry will be determined using the random number generator at random.org. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/nfservers/discussions/0/385428458172348368RULES:1 - You cannot already own the game. 2 - You cannot be currently banned on any of the [>NF<] game servers. 3 - The game will be given as a Steam key. 4 - I will add the winner to my friends list and message him the game's key. If the friend request isn't accepted within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen. |
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