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Details of lab-made bird flu won't be revealed
by Eugen Leitl 25 Dec '11

25 Dec '11

http://news.yahoo.com/details-lab-made-bird-flu-wont-revealed-223114982.html Details of lab-made bird flu won't be revealed Associated PressBy LAURAN NEERGAARD | AP b Wed, Dec 21, 2011 Related Content Video: Bird flu bug hits HK chicken tradeReuters 1:29 | 841 views A worker wearing a protection suit cull chickens at a poultry farm where the bird b& Article: Hong Kong raises bird flu alert level, bans imports Tue, Dec 20, 2011 WASHINGTON (AP) b The U.S. government paid scientists to figure out how the deadly bird flu virus might mutate to become a bigger threat to people b and two labs succeeded in creating new strains that are easier to spread. On Tuesday, federal officials took the unprecedented step of asking those scientists not to publicize all the details of how they did it. The worry: That this research with lots of potential to help the public might also be hijacked by would-be bioterrorists. The labs found that it appears easier than scientists had thought for the so-called H5N1 bird flu to evolve in a way that lets it spread easily between at least some mammals. "It wasn't an easy decision," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, which funded the original research. The scary-sounding viruses are locked in high-security labs as researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison prepare to publish their findings in leading scientific journals. That's the way scientists share their work so that their colleagues can build on it, perhaps creating better ways to monitor bird flu in the wild, for example. But biosecurity advisers to the government recommended that the journals Science and Nature publish only the general discoveries, not the full blueprint for these man-made strains. Tuesday, the government announced that it agreed and made the request. In statements, the two research teams say they're making some changes, if reluctantly. The journals are mulling what to do, and the government didn't say precisely what should be left out. But Science editor-in-chief Dr. Bruce Alberts said his journal pushed the U.S. government to set up a system where certain international researchers will be able to get the full genetic recipe for these lab-bred strains b especially those in bird flu-prone countries like China and Indonesia. "This is a sort of watershed moment," said Alberts, noting it's believed to be the first time this kind of secrecy has been sought from legitimate public health research. He doesn't want to publish an abbreviated version of the findings unless he can direct scientists how to get the full, if confidential, details. "It's very important to get this information out to all the people around the world who are living with this virus and are working on it," Alberts said. NIH's Fauci said the system should be working very soon, so that international public health officials, scientists and drug companies with "a legitimate need to know can have access to that information." Nature's editor-in-chief, Dr. Philip Campbell, also called the recommendations unprecedented. "It is essential for public health that the full details of any scientific analysis of flu viruses be available to researchers, he said in a statement. The journal is discussing how "appropriate access to the scientific methods and data could be enabled." H5N1 has caused outbreaks in wild birds and poultry in a number of countries around the world. But it only occasionally infects people who have close contact with infected poultry, particularly in parts of Southeast Asia. It's known to have sickened nearly 600 people over the past decade. But it's highly deadly, killing about 60 percent of the time. The concern is that one day, bird flu might begin spreading easily between people and cause a pandemic. The NIH wanted to know what genetic changes it should monitor for, as a warning. In surprise findings, the two teams of researchers separately re-engineered bird flu to create strains that can spread easily between ferrets. That animal mimics how humans respond to influenza. That doesn't necessarily mean the new lab-bred flu strains could infect people, Fauci cautioned. Still, the viruses are being kept under special conditions along with other so-called "select agents" for security and to guard against a lab accident, as researchers try to learn more about just how risky the H5N1 that circulates in the wild really could become. "There is clearly a public health threat that has been lingering and smoldering with regard to H5N1 for several years," said Fauci, who adds that a naturally occurring flu pandemic is much more likely than any man-made one. "Nature is the worst bioterrorist. We know that through history," he said. More information on the two research projects isn't being released until the journals decide what to publish. But in a statement last month, Dutch lead researcher Dr. Ron Fouchier said his discovery showed what mutations to watch for so "we can then stop the outbreak before it is too late." Tuesday, Erasmus Medical Center said researchers were complying with the U.S. request to change their scientific report. But, "academic and press freedom will be at stake as a result of the recommendation. This has never happened before," the statement said. The University of Wisconsin said virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka's team likewise would comply. "While recognizing the potential for misuse of scientific discovery, the research described by UW-Madison researchers is essential for public health, global influenza surveillance activities and the development of vaccines and drugs to counter any potential pandemic," said a university statement. An independent biosecurity expert called Tuesday's announcement a good middle-ground but said scientists should think twice about re-engineering influenza given the potential global consequences of an accident. The two labs involved are highly regarded, but more and more labs around the world can try similar work, noted Dr. D.A. Henderson of the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "Influenza is certainly a unique beast in its capability to spread," said Henderson, who played a key role in the eradication of a different killer, smallpox. "The question is how can we assure experiments like this really aren't done in ways that the organism is apt to escape."

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Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global, Rockefeller Foundation
by Eugen Leitl 25 Dec '11

25 Dec '11

(consider the source) http://www.zerohedge.com/news/stratfor-hacked-200gb-emails-credit-cards-sto… Stratfor Hacked, 200GB Of Emails, Credit Cards Stolen, Client List Released, Includes MF Global, Rockefeller Foundation Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/24/2011 21:10 -0500 This Christmas will not be a happy one for George Friedman (who incidentally was the focus of John Mauldin's latest book promotion email blast) and his Stratfor Global Intelligence service, because as of a few hours ago, hacking collective Anonymous disclosed that not only has it hacked the Stratfor website (since confirmed by Friedman himself), but has also obtained the full client list of over 4000 individuals and corporations, including their credit cards (which supposedly have been used to make $1 million in "donations"), as well as over 200 GB of email correspondence. And since the leaked client list is the who is who of intelligence, and capital management, including such names as Goldman Sachs, the Rockefeller Foundation and, yep, MF Global, we are certain that not only Stratfor and its clients will be waiting with bated breath to see just what additional troves of information are unleashed, but virtually everyone else, in this very sensitive time from a geopolitical point of view. And incidentally, we can't help but notice that Anonymous may have finally ventured into the foreign relations arena. We can only assume, for now, that this is not a formal (or informal) statement of allegiance with any specific ideology as otherwise the wargames in the Straits of Hormuz may soon be very inappropriately named (or halfway so). Chronology of releases from AnonymousIRC starting early this afternoon: #AnonSanta just told us: "Currently rm -rf'n targets and shredding logs" #LulzXmas #Antisec We just hear that #AnonSanta battle-sleigh plundered 200gb of emails and other booty before he started to deliver his presents. #LulzXmas From IRC: "** Are you all ready to witness the rm -rf /* of a major intelligence corporation, live on IRC and twitter?" #LulzXmas 5 minutes and counting. #AnonSanta won't disappoint you. Get on IRC now for the whole spirit of #LulzXmas. FUCK IT, HE'LL DO IT LIVE! FUCKING THING SUCKS, HE'LL DO IT LIVE! | http://mibbit.com/?channel=%23anonops&server=irc.anonops.li | #LulzXmas A wild rm -rf /* appears: http://www.stratfor.com/ | #LulzXmas from #AnonSanta | #AntiSec plundered 200gb of their mails and more booty. #Stratfor #LulzXmas takedown mirrored forever: zone-h.org/mirror/id/1641b& "You do realize how preposterous it is to suggest that #stratfor simply shutdown completely for 2 days, right?" ~ Frank Ginac (IT manager) Merry #LulzXmas to everyone http://imagebin.org/190224 Stratfor rooted. All your base are belong to us. <3 #Anonymous http://bit.ly/ulWECe | #Anonymous/#AntiSec Attack #STRATFOR | #LulzXmas #AntiSec And the kicker: The private (and secret) client list of #Stratfor: http://pastebin.com/8MtFze0s | Not so private and secret anymore. #Antisec #LulzXmas Anon promises that much more is coming: #Antisec has enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of #LulzXmas throught the entire next week. How the Stratfor site looked minutes after the hack: Full letter from George Friemdan to clients as of an hour ago: The full client list as released in a pastebin by Anonymous of all the alleged clients sorted by company name, can be found here. As this is merely an extracted column from a far larger database, we are confident much more very sensitive information, as the bulk of the companies are either in the intelligence or money management business, will be released shortly.

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[liberationtech] Tahrir
by Eugen Leitl 25 Dec '11

25 Dec '11

----- Forwarded message from Ian Clarke <ian.clarke(a)gmail.com> -----

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(no subject)
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24 Dec '11

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Re: [tor-talk] Automatic vulnerability scanning of Tor Network?
by Eugen Leitl 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

----- Forwarded message from "Fabio Pietrosanti (naif)" <lists(a)infosecurity.ch> -----

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Re: [tor-talk] janusvm still safe?
by Eugen Leitl 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

----- Forwarded message from tor(a)lists.grepular.com -----

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by "Рустам Мешалкин" 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

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Bitcoin's comeback: should Western Union be afraid?
by Eugen Leitl 23 Dec '11

23 Dec '11

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/bitcoins-comeback-should-we… Bitcoin's comeback: should Western Union be afraid? By Timothy B. Lee | Published December 21, 2011 12:40 PM Bitcoin's comeback: should Western Union be afraid? A sign advertising the acceptance of Bitcoin at Neil's Bodega in British Columbia The last time we wrote about Bitcoin, in October, the currency's future looked grim. A series of security incidents had created an avalanche of bad press, which in turn undermined public confidence in the currency. Its value fell by more than 90 percent against the dollar. We thought Bitcoin's value would continue to collapse, but so far that hasn't happened. Instead, after hitting a low of $2, it rose back above $3 in early December, and on Monday it rose above $4 for the first time in two months. It's impossible to predict where the currency will go next, but at a minimum it looks like the currency will still be around in 2012. This presents a bit of a puzzle for Bitcoin skeptics. The original run-up in prices could easily be explained as a speculative bubble, and the subsequent decline as the popping of that bubble. But if that were the whole story, then the value of Bitcoins should have continued to decline as more and more people lost confidence in the currency. That hasn't been happening. bitcoincharts.com Of course, the value of Bitcoin could resume falling at any time, but the currency's apparent stability over the last month has inspired us to give it a second look. How can an ephemeral currency without the backing of any large institution be worth $30 million, as the world's Bitcoins currently are? In the short run, a currency's value can be pumped up by a speculative bubble, but in the long run it must be backed up by "fundamentals"bproperties that make holding it objectively valuable. Dollars are valuable because they're the official medium of exchange for the $14 trillion US economy; euros and yen are valuable for similar reasons. Bitcoin boosters have traditionally suggested that Bitcoin is an alternative to these currencies. But we'll suggest an alternative explanation: that Bitcoin is not so much an alternative currency as a "metacurrency" that allows low-cost and regulation-free transfer of wealth between nations. In other words, Bitcoin's major competitors aren't national currencies, but wire-transfer services like Western Union. Bitcoin is a bad currency While Bitcoin isn't a very good currency, it has the potential to serve as a "metacurrency": a medium of exchange among the world's currencies. The traditional argument for Bitcoins has positioned the peer-to-peer currency as an alternative to conventional currencies like dollars, euros, and yen. Bitcoin boosters point to two major advantages Bitcoins have over dollars: price stability and lower transaction costs. As we'll see, neither of these advantages is compelling for ordinary consumers. The argument from stability mirrors the traditional argument for a gold standard. The dollar has lost about 95 percent of its value over the last century. The Bitcoin protocol is designed to never allow more than 21 million Bitcoins to enter circulation, and supporters argue that this guarantees the currency maintains its value over time. The obvious problem with this argument is that Bitcoins have lost more than 90 percent of their value in five months. It would be pretty foolish for someone worried about the dollar's 3 percent inflation rate to put their life savings into a currency with that kind of volatility. Bitcoin boosters forget that the value of a currency is determined by supply and demand. Demand for dollars is driven by the size of the US economy, which doesn't change very much from year to year. But the demand for Bitcoins is primarily driven by speculative forces, causing its value to fluctuate wildly. Another oft-touted benefit of Bitcoin is lower transaction fees. Banks make a tidy profit charging merchants to complete credit- and debit-card transactions, and these fees raise the price consumers pay for goods and services. Fans tout Bitcoin payments as a low-cost alternative to traditional credit card transactions. But this argument ignores the fact that credit cards provide important benefits in exchange for those transaction fees. If you buy something with a credit card and get ripped off, you can dispute the charge and get your money back. In contrast, Bitcoin transactions are irreversible. If you pay a merchant in Bitcoins and he rips you off, (or someone hacks into your computer and makes a fraudulent payment), you're out of luck. Of course, third parties may offer Bitcoin-based payment services that offer features such as chargebacks and fraud protection. But such services don't come free; consumers or merchants would have to pay fees to use them. And there's no reason to think Bitcoin-based banking services would be any cheaper than traditional ones in the long run. Paying with Bitcoins also introduces the inconvenience of fluctuating prices. When people buy things with cash or credit cards, their purchases are denominated in the local currency. Dealing in Bitcoins means customers and businesses must regularly convert between dollars and Bitcoins, and must therefore worry about the fluctuating exchange rate between them. That's a headache few people want. So Bitcoins are not a compelling alternative to conventional currencies. Although there are a few isolated examples of traditional businesses accepting Bitcoins as payment, these seem to be driven more by the novelty of the concept than by compelling economic or technical advantages. Bitcoin as a metacurrency While Bitcoin isn't a very good currency, it has the potential to serve as a "metacurrency": a medium of exchange among the world's currencies. In this role, it has the potential to be a powerful competitor to wire transfer services like Western Union. The longer Bitcoins continue to exist, the more confidence people will have in its continued existence. The wire transfer industry is much less consumer-friendly than the credit card industry. Wire transfer fees can be much higher than credit card fees, and wire-transfer networks offer much less robust fraud protection services than do credit card networks. Moreover, the flow of funds across national borders is heavily regulated. Governments monitor the flow of funds in an effort to stop a variety of activities they don't like. In the US, the focus is on terrorism, tax evasion, gambling, and drug trafficking. (Carrying cash across borders in a suitcase invites similar government scrutiny.) Bitcoin allows wealth to be transferred across international borders without the expense or government scrutiny that comes with traditional wire transfers. An American immigrant wanting to send cash to his family in India needs only to find someone in the United States to trade his dollars for Bitcoins. He can then transfer the Bitcoins to his relatives in India, who then need to find someone willing to take Bitcoins in exchange for rupees. This decentralized money-transfer process will be much harder for governments to control than a centralized money-transfer company like Western Union. And that will make the world's governments upset, since the same technology can be used by an American drug dealer to send profits back to his partners in Latin America. But there may be little governments can do about this. They can attempt to mandate the reporting of Bitcoin transactions, but there's no obvious way to enforce such a regulation, since Bitcoin transactions are easy to obfuscate. At most, governments could prohibit the conversion of funds between local currencies and Bitcoins, but this will merely push the currency underground, not eliminate it altogether. If Bitcoin's value stabilizes, it will also become a way to store wealth beyond the reach of any government. Cash and gold are bulky, hard to move, and subject to confiscation. In contrast, the encrypted credentials of a Bitcoin wallet can be stored securely on a server anywhere in the world. This could make the currency appealing to anyone wanting to place his wealth beyond the reach of the lawba corrupt government official wanting to hide ill-gotten gains, a political dissident who fears his life savings will be taken, or an ordinary citizen worried about the solvency of traditional banks. Bitcoin's role as a way to move and store wealth does not depend on Bitcoins being widely used for commerce. For Bitcoin to work as a viable "metacurrency" only requires that there be a liquid market between Bitcoins and national currencies. Such a market already exists for several major currencies. Chicken and egg Of course, there's a circularity to this argument. Bitcoin's value as a way to move and store wealth depends on the value of Bitcoins being relatively stable against conventional currencies. And the continued value of Bitcoins depends on people finding nonspeculative uses for it. But if the currency continues to retain its value in the coming months (a big if, admittedly) this would be a sign that the chicken-and-egg problem has been solved. And the longer Bitcoins continue to exist, the more confidence people will have in its continued existence. Western Union moved $70 billion across borders in 2010, earning about $1 billion in profits. There's no Bitcoin Inc. to compete directly with Western Union, but the owners of Bitcoins can be thought of as shareholders in a decentralized Western Union alternative. If the Bitcoin network captures a small fraction of Western Union's money-transfer business, the currency's current "market capitalization" of around $30 million could wind up looking downright puny.

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