- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

OpenOCD On-Chip Debugger
by grarpamp 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

http://openocd.org/ http://www.openocd.net/

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Zero Days, Thousands of Nights: The Life, Times, and Exploits of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
by Razer 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

From the Intercept writeup: > Rand’s report is based on unprecedented access to a database of zero > days from a company that sells them to governments and other customers > on the “gray market.” The collection contains about 200 entries — > about the same number of zero days some experts believe the government > to have. Rand found that the exploits had an average lifespan of 6.9 > years before the vulnerability each targeted was disclosed to the > software maker to be fixed, or before the vendor made upgrades to the > code that unwittingly eliminated the security hole. https://theintercept.com/2017/03/10/government-zero-days-7-years/ > Zero Days, Thousands of Nights > The Life and Times of Zero-Day Vulnerabilities and Their Exploits > > by Lillian Ablon, Timothy Bogart > > Zero-day vulnerabilities — software vulnerabilities for which no patch > or fix has been publicly released — and their exploits are useful in > cyber operations — whether by criminals, militaries, or governments — > as well as in defensive and academic settings. > > This report provides findings from real-world zero-day vulnerability > and exploit data that could augment conventional proxy examples and > expert opinion, complement current efforts to create a framework for > deciding whether to disclose or retain a cache of zero-day > vulnerabilities and exploits, inform ongoing policy debates regarding > stockpiling and vulnerability disclosure, and add extra context for > those examining the implications and resulting liability of attacks > and data breaches for U.S. consumers, companies, insurers, and for the > civil justice system broadly. > > The authors provide insights about the zero-day vulnerability research > and exploit development industry; give information on what proportion > of zero-day vulnerabilities are alive (undisclosed), dead (known), or > somewhere in between; and establish some baseline metrics regarding > the average lifespan of zero-day vulnerabilities, the likelihood of > another party discovering a vulnerability within a given time period, > and the time and costs involved in developing an exploit for a > zero-day vulnerability. > Key Findings > Rand (PDF report link on right sidebar): http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1751.html

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[OT] [song] ytcracker - the hacker wars + Enforced Transparency – When Hacking Becomes Necessary
by Cecilia Tanaka 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

Bonus: "Enforced Transparency – When Hacking Becomes Necessary." https://hacktivistculture.com/2015/05/06/enforced-transparency-when-hacking… ========== ytcracker - the hacker wars (final V2.0) https://soundcloud.com/ytcracker/ytcracker-the-hacker-wars-final-v20 we run the gamut - freedom fighters griefers bandits hackers spammers phreakers gambit just how far back they can ram it some do damage from the pulpit claim they lead and theyre the culprit others do it from the shadows switching handles when convenient secret treatment question our agenda troll or internet defender? tango down a packet sender going on a ddos bender who intend to take a stand drawing lines in the sand in them silicon wafers and them fiberoptic cables trace enabled pick a side - more than two no black and white shades of gray its more like 50 kinky gifted play the system swiftly moving in and out and under groups to keep it undercover governments then wonder how to follow em like thunder so agents of the state coordinate attacks against their own and other teams compete against each other trying to take the throne motivations differ so the victory conditions shift battleground: the internet - fighting with our fingertips hacker wars - were engaged in a bit of them hacker wars (hacker wars) hacker wars - conflicting over broadband and data stores (hacker wars) hacker wars - were engaged in a bit of them hacker wars (hacker wars) hacker wars - the stakes are high and its a crime just to play on the course old spaghetti western good bad ugly pick your poison and each one makes their noise in different ways so let them boys in every system every outlet every avenue of avarice the mavericks of information face off with the candidates and cameras are there to document the struggle live in person take a peek behind the curtain situations worse than anything the casuals and NPCs could dream of cause this team of brilliant bastards go on tearing the whole scene up journalists in media dont buy what they are feeding ya depleting ya of truth because of influential groups they dont wanna lose their access so they dont care what the facts is let alone reporting pieces they dont preach nor do they practice let the hackers be the source of breaking news by breaking in to every system every outlet let me say it once again so those hackers with the badges keep their jobs and stay employed on that hacker war perpetual deep into the void

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DNA Abuse: Employer / Insurer Discrimination, Minor Crimes, Mandatory Extraction
by grarpamp 13 Mar '17

13 Mar '17

https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/5yzcpi/employees_who_decline_genetic… https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/5yz6ri/california_bill_would_extend_…

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FBI Infiltrated BestBuy GeekSquad to Infiltrate YOU
by grarpamp 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

http://www.ocweekly.com/news/fbi-used-best-buys-geek-squad-to-increase-secr… https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/if-a-best-buy-technician… https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13841504 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13363669 Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs. Assistant United States Attorney M. Anthony Brown last year labeled allegations of a hidden partnership as "wild speculation." But more than a dozen summaries of FBI memoranda filed inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse this month in USA v. Mark Rettenmaier contradict the official line... Other records show how [Geek Squad supervisor Justin] Meade's job gave him "excellent and frequent" access for "several years" to computers belonging to unwitting Best Buy customers, though agents considered him "underutilized" and wanted him "tasked" to search devices "on a more consistent basis"... evidence demonstrates company employees routinely snooped for the agency, contemplated "writing a software program" specifically to aid the FBI in rifling through its customers' computers without probable cause for any crime that had been committed, and were "under the direction and control of the FBI." "The end-run around the Constitution can be summed up in one terrifying word: Outsourcing. ... When the government trains, directs, and pays a "private citizen", that person becomes an agent of the government. This makes those persons subject to the same rules; probable cause, warrants, oath or affirmation. ... The admissibility of evidence found by a private citizen usually turns on the governments share of the search. In other words, how involved was the government? While cases where the government ordered or paid a citizen to conduct the search are fairly straightforward, others aren’t. In determining whether to admit the evidence in question, courts consider questions like: whether the government initiated the search how much control the government had over the private citizen who conducted the search, and what the private citizen’s purpose was in conducting the search. And what was the FBI doing? Oh yeah... paying them..training them...giving them lists of people to search"

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Daylight saving time is just one way standardized time zones oppress you
by Razer 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

"Ryan Hagen, a doctoral candidate in sociology at Columbia University, studies organizations and the sociology of science, knowledge and technology." > As a rational policy, daylight saving time may be ineffective. But as > a social ritual, it retains real value. Our biannual clock-tuning is a > slip of the mask, a glitch in the matrix that reminds us that clock > time is always artificial and arbitrary. > > Standardized clock time is immensely useful. It is no exaggeration to > say that the modern world depends on it: Ships once required it to > navigate. The GPS systems that guide our cars, planes and farm > combines count on standard time to calculate their positions. If you > think setting up a phone call between Washington and London is > difficult now because of differing time zones, imagine if local time > varied by a few minutes between Washington and Pittsburgh, a few > degrees of longitude west. In a society dependent on just-in-time > supply chains and automated trading that works in microseconds, > accurate, precisely calibrated time is as important as electricity. > > But standardized time can be, and has been, used against us. Whether > you get more out of clock time than it gets out of you is largely a > function of your economic security. Almost 90 years after John Maynard > Keynes’s prediction that the future would hold 15-hour workweeks and > lives of leisure, we feel increasingly time-starved. Sociologist Judy > Wajcman, in her book “Pressed for Time,” calls this the “time-pressure > paradox”: Standardized time — in which DST is an archaic wrinkle — > contributes to a world of labor-saving innovations. But the time they > free up is immediately filled by demands for more work, and greater > and more varied demands on our attention. > > We can sketch out three distinct eras of time reckoning between > antiquity and the present... https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/03/10/daylight-saving…

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coinciding with the USA's next "debt ceiling deadline" - Fw: Julie Bishop summons all Aust Diplomats home]
by Zenaan Harkness 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

Anyone know what's really happening? Is this the big global reset? With China and Russia stacking up gold at a couple tonne a month each (roughly) for some time now, they're certainly well placed for the next transition, and it's likely the biggest ever in wealth terms... The below is unprecedented for Australia. And the USA's next debt ceiling deadline is coming up too (they're about to hit $20 trillion): http://russia-insider.com/en/tale-two-economies-us-braces-debt-ceiling-cris… Z http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/julie-bishop-to-recall-austr… ABC News FOREIGN Affairs Minister Julie Bishop will take the unprecedented step of recalling more than 100 of Australia’s senior diplomats in a bid to shape the Turnbull government’s foreign policy. A total of 113 ambassadors, high commissioners and consuls-general will return for three days next month in an Australian first, according to Fairfax Media. It’s estimated the meeting will cost almost $1.2 million, mostly in international flights and accommodation. The two-day meeting with the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and a representative from the opposition will be held in Canberra. “At a time of significant global uncertainty, it is vital that Australia harness the experience and intellect of our most senior diplomats,” Ms Bishop said. Julie Bishop says the meeting of Australian diplomats comes at a time of “significant global uncertainty”. “This meeting will be important in strengthening Australia’s influence and standing in the world.” Such meetings have become an established fixture on the calendar in other nations but Australia has traditionally flown staff to regional meeting points. Last year the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade copped criticism for flying nearly two dozen senior Canberra staff to Paris for a three-day regional conference, which partly looked at savings measures. Ms Bishop said the decision to recall the diplomats was “very efficient”. “There is no new money required and I believe it’s a very efficient and effective way of hearing from them on their experiences, observations, their real-time experiences,” she told reporters in Canberra this morning. “These are people situated in countries, in our missions across the globe, over 100 missions, and they are coming back to Australia to be part of our white paper on foreign policy.” _____________________________________ Larry's comments: They are being summonsed home from every country - hmmm ... never before on such a scale - even in WW1 and 2. I suggest potential currency collapse or WW3? or a little less - If it is not that, then why not use Skype or something to hold a worldwide meeting amongst Aust. Diplomats? When Trump brings in the gold standard for USD, every country who wants to buy from USA will need to pay in gold or have a gold based currency - China has been buying gold frantically too. Putin has been wanting the same for some time but it seems he waited to see who became the new USA President before he moves - Putin has been restoring church buildings that were decimated by the Communists right across Russia. He put the Lord's prayer back into Parliament and into all schools. I leave you with those thoughts .............. Larry

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Fw: Dr Peter Aaby--Vaccinating Expert
by Zenaan Harkness 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

One of the little known facts about many vaccinations is that many of the main stream vaccines actually sensitize the receiver to the problems, rather than catalyze the boy's immunity. No blood-brain barrier before the age of 6 months, when that barrier begins to form (takes up to 2 years), means that the toxins, preservatives, heavy metals, animal cell residues and other substances found in many faccines, go into a baby's brain without filtration through the blood brain barrier. Also, injection of vaccine means no filtering through the stomach walls, or going through the HCl in the stomach either (not to mention the lack of blood brain barrier in infants and young toddlers). The question which is not properly answered by the "medical" or "scientific" community is which is less (or more) dangerous: The risks to the receiver of a vaccination from being vaccinated. vs. The risk of contracting a disease for which one could have been vaccinated "against". And finally, assuming such comparative risks were properly (actually scientifically) quantified, whether it is right for "the state" to impose its own assessment of the comparative risks, on its citizens, by force or other (e.g. financial) pressure. This is a real, and not a hypothetical, current issue in Australia, where all financial "family benefits" as they are called here, are being denied to parents who choose to not vaccinate, thereby imposing a pressure upon parents to vaccinate. Zenaan ----- Forwarded message from Gil May <gilmay97(a)gmail.com> ----- Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2017 10:51:18 +1000 From: Gil May <gilmay97(a)gmail.com> Subject: Dr Peter Aaby--Vaccinating Expert *Dr. Peter Aaby has spent more than 30 years studying the causes of excessively high child mortality in Guinea-Bissau, and has published his research in dozens of professional journals. He was awarded the Novo Nordisk Prize for distinguished research on measles and measles vaccination in 2000.* He also has vaccinated thousands of children during his career, and it's this part of his research that is causing a global controversy. With archives of *more than 1 million research files to back him up*, Dr. Aaby has published several papers questioning the safety of the DTP vaccine (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis). His first article appeared 10 years ago. Since then *he has published 34 other papers, all questioning the safety of the DTP*. Offering unequivocal scientific evidence going far and beyond what any other vaccine researcher has done, Aaby and his team give compelling reasons for changing the schedules for DTP vaccination, and for possibly modifying other vaccination protocols. *Information that Could Change Public Healthcare Forever* Clearly, Dr. Aaby has science-based information that could change public healthcare forever – and perhaps even change the vaccine schedule for infants in the U.S. But before you read any further, I urge you to click on the links above and listen to both segments of the BBC's broadcast, *The Vaccine Detectives*. Here, you'll learn about some of Dr. Aaby's studies, which showed that: - A single dose of DTP vaccine not only *doubled the mortality rate* in infants, but *more than quadruped* the rate after the second and third DTP doses. - Vaccines and vitamin supplements have unexpected, long-term effects – good and bad – on the immune systems of children. - There is a *definite increased mortality risk to girls* of combining DTP and measles vaccines. - *Girls were 41 percent more likely to die* if they were given vitamin A at birth, while boys seemed to slightly benefit from the supplement. Once you hear these startling broadcasts, I think you'll understand why I think it's criminal that the CDC and the WHO are possibly risking thousands of children's lives by embarking on new studies that duplicate the decades of research that Dr. Aaby has already done, while they do nothing to address the issues his studies raise. What's outrageous is that they are ignoring DOZENS of studies, not just one or two. For example, in a study published in 2007, Aaby reported that *fatality was* *increased* for children ages 6 months to 17 months old, *if they received the DTP with or after measles vaccination*. The increase was significant enough for Aaby to suggest that *the DTP reduces the benefits of the measles vaccine*. Dr. Aaby also found that a girl's vaccination status is critical in determining her chances of surviving pneumonia: if she's had the measles vaccine as the last vaccination before she comes down with pneumonia, *she's more likely to survive than if her last vaccination was DTP*. And the studies go on, 34 of them, all questioning the safety and/or timing of the DTP. The evidence from Dr. Aaby's research is so compelling that the WHO actually sent an investigator, Dr. Kim Mulholland, to Guinea-Bissau to scrutinize Dr. Aaby's records. But when Mulholland reported that he *couldn't find* *a single thing wrong *with the records, WHO officials seemed disappointed, Mulholland said. Ten years later, the WHO still has neither confirmed nor refuted Dr. Aaby's studies, leading Mulholland to question, "Why is it that the international community is sitting back on their hands and ignoring this?" According to Peter Smith, chair of the WHO's Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), it's because the evidence isn't "sufficiently strong enough" to accept the "hypothesis" that the DTP has a negative effect on children. I suppose that's why the WHO and CDC are stalling making any changes to the DTP schedule while they do their own studies. But the new studies will take years to complete – if ever. Why would they do this? Why would they ignore *data that obviously show that children are dying* *from possible problems with the DTP*, the vaccine schedule, and vitamins given to newborns? Dr. Aaby has the answer: *"If the DTP was to be found to have a negative effect, it would be devastating to the vaccination program," *he said*. "You can understand why they don't like it. But I don't think that's a good reason for not examining the logic."* *Explosive Data on Other Vaccine Safety Issues also Ignored * It's puzzling why world health officials are so hesitant to trust Aaby's logic, when his tenacious record-keeping already saved lives in 1990, when a new vaccine for measles was withdrawn by the WHO after Aaby alerted investigators that it was possibly harming girls. Later, Aaby and the investigators learned that it wasn't the new measles vaccine causing the problems – it was the way it interacted with the DTP vaccine. The implications of these findings are huge and go far beyond the borders of Guinea-Bissau: *"If I'm right about DTP, you're probably increasing the mortality rate at least 50 percent in this age group,"* Aaby told the BBC. Aaby's records, published over a 10-year period in those 34 studies I mentioned earlier, indicated that it was possible that the* DTP vaccine was making the immune system of girls more susceptible to other infections*. It also showed that vitamin A may* amplify the negative effects of the DTP vaccine on girls! * Again, why are they risking children's lives – particularly girls' – while they wait on more studies? As the BBC pointed out, the vitamin A connection is terribly important because there is a strong push by the WHO to give it to all newborns in low-income countries. Hoping to reduce infant mortality in Guinea-Bissau by as much as 30 percent, Dr. Aaby and his wife and research partner, Christine Benn, gave this supplement to thousands of Guinea-Bissau newborns. They found that boys had a slight benefit by getting the vitamin. *But girls who received the supplement had a* *41 percent higher* *chance of dying* – indicating that there may be a non-specific, gender-based effect of the vaccine and vitamin A on girls that health officials need to address. On this issue, Benn is so sure that *the risks to girls so clearly outweigh the benefits to boys that she doesn't believe any other further studies need to be done on giving vitamin A at birth. * The gender issue is a new concept in vaccine safety because, previously, vaccine trials have only been carried out on men, so as to avoid ill effects on women were they to become pregnant, said Dr. Katie Flanagan, an immunologist who works for the British Medical Research Council. And now that Dr. Aaby's research shows that girls appear to have different responses to both vaccines and vitamins than boys, Flanagan thinks it's a safety aspect that should be studied: "*It makes perfect sense*," Flanagan said. "*Now that Peter (Aaby) has brought this issue up … I think it's time to get on and investigate it and understand it."* Similar trials in Zimbabwe, where 14,000 children received vitamin A, came up with similar results. But, still, the WHO is ignoring this life-and-death information, and forging ahead with three new major studies in India, all giving vitamin A to newborns. This worries Benn, who believes that at least 30 girls died in her own trial, before she and Aaby determined that the vitamin was triggering their deaths. *"This must be explained before we give vitamin A to all girls in Southeast Asia," *Benn said*." I would personally not ever again conduct another vitamin A trial in an area with high mortality."* *The Politics Behind 'Vaccine Safety'* Dr. Aaby is not against vaccines. His life's work involves giving children vaccines, so he's not being "anti-vaccine" by questioning vaccine safety paradigms. He is merely suggesting that from his observations, some vaccines have certain serious adverse events – life and death safety issues – connected to them that warrant slight changes to global health policy and vaccination protocols. It seems simple. But in reality, it appears that vaccines are too tied to industry politics to allow for things like paying attention to data that show increased infant mortality for girls. So what excuses did health officials give the BBC for ignoring Dr. Aaby's work? Here's a sampling of what they said: - Immunization in general is a field plagued by "woolly thinking" with rational argument suppressed by the need to counter "anti-vaccine" propaganda. (Mulholland). - Working out all the possible adverse effects of vaccines poses a dilemma for pharmaceutical companies that have invested billions in vaccines, and for funders like Bill Gates, who have put their faith in vaccines, vitamin supplements and other interventions (Paul Fine, professor, London School of Medicine). - Denying vaccines to children while officials test for possible long-term adverse effects from the vaccines – even deaths – may not be "ethical," (Smith) Woolly thinking? A dilemma for Bill Gates? "Ethical" questions about waiting to make sure vaccines are safe? If that's not all politics, I don't know what is. Personally, I think the non-politically-correct reason that Benn gave for the WHO's and CDC's stalling tactics hits the nail on the head: *"It goes for vaccines and vitamin A, that there is such a fear that the public will get any kind of feeling that there could be anything problematic about the public health interventions."* Sadly, the history of vaccines is riddled with stories like Dr. Aaby's, of adverse events that are largely dismissed by world health officials who fear that acknowledging problems might make the public aware of the truth about vaccine safety. *Where the Money is – and How Vaccine 'Safety' Figures in* Rotavirus vaccine inventor Dr. Paul Offit is often quoted by mainstream media as their "go-to authority" on vaccine issues. He sits on the board of the medical website Medscape.com, as well as on vaccine maker Merck's scientific advisory board. He presently holds the $1.5 million Merck-downed chair in vaccinology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). As a spokesperson for the vaccine industry, Offit has talked about vaccine profits and safety for a number of years. Regarding the profits – or supposedly lack thereof –he wrote in *Health Affairs* in 2005 that drug companies were abandoning vaccines because they cost too much to make. "Pharmaceutical companies are businesses, not public health agencies," Offit lectured the reading public. "They are not obligated to make vaccines." Admitting that "vaccine shortages are not coincidental," Offit threatened more shortages if Congress didn't give cough up more incentives for vaccine companies to stay in business. Those incentives, he said, needed to go beyond what they were already getting through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP). He also said Congress needed to increase funding for the Vaccines for Children Program (VFC), plus give drug companies even greater tax breaks to invest in vaccines. *Complaining that vaccines are held to higher safety standards than other drugs*, Offit said drug companies would be more encouraged to make vaccines if unborn children were included in the NVICP so they wouldn't have to worry so much about losing money through litigation involving unborn children. And Congress listened. By 2007, Offit happily told the New York Times that vaccines were now "roaring back" as money-makers. Those money-makers included the federal government paying drug companies for simply making "milestones" in vaccine development, as opposed to having to wait until a vaccine was actually ready for market, and a commitment by world leaders to fund and purchase vaccines in advance of their being introduced to the market. And what role did vaccine safety play in this new boom market? All you have to do is read this transcript advising health professionals on "countering vaccine misinformation" to know that health officials' concerns are more about convincing the public that vaccines are safe than admitting that some vaccines can, and do, cause harm. *'There are No Risk-Free Choices'* We know that vaccines are not completely safe. The reason we know this is not because of Dr. Aaby's story, but because experts like Paul Offit and even the industry itself tell us they're not completely safe, or without risk. For example, the Merck Manual Online says, "No vaccine is 100 percent effective and 100 percent safe." Researchers studying the limit of risk parents would be willing to accept with a rotavirus vaccine said it this way: "Despite the obvious benefits of vaccination, no vaccine is completely safe." And, speaking as an authority on vaccine "safety" in 2006, none other than Dr. Paul Offit himself told Medical Progress Today* "**there are no risk–free choices with vaccines*." So there you have it: three authoritative healthcare sources saying flat-out that vaccines come with risks, and that they are NOT completely safe. We also know that other scientists besides Dr. Aaby have published concerns about the safety of the DTP, for example, this one suggesting that the DTP could cause asthma in some children, or this one suggesting that it also could cause allergy-related symptoms in children later in life. In fact, there are so many scientific studies questioning the DTP's safety that the National Vaccine Information Center has devoted a whole section of links to these life-and-death studies on its website. So if Dr. Aaby isn't the only one worried about the DTP, why is it that some people are telling the BBC that he could be a danger to the global health system? Or, more bluntly, why are health officials seemingly ignoring Dr. Aaby's DTP studies that, in particular, show a higher mortality rate for girls? Is what Peter Smith said on behalf of the WHO really true – that world health leaders don't believe Dr. Aaby has enough evidence to warrant an alarm call on the DTP? Or would it be closer to the truth that what health officials are really afraid of is that Dr. Aaby's right, and that people will hear about it and refuse vaccines for their children in record numbers in both developed and Third World countries, and thus "endanger" world health officials' global plan for vaccines? The good news is that a growing number of scientists around the world are concerned enough about this issue that they're demanding that world health officials pay attention. In the meantime, I urge you to stand up for healthcare freedom, for the right to choose what is best for you and your children when it comes to vaccines. You can do this by joining with a very good friend of mine, Barbara Loe Fisher, who in 1985 co-authored the seminal book, *DPT: A Shot in the Dark* outlining DPT vaccine risks, and co-founded the National Vaccine Information Center. By making a generous donation to this non-profit charitable organization, you will be fighting for your right to know the truth about vaccines and studies like of Dr. Aaby's that I've shared with you here. If you sign up for NVIC's free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org <http://www.nvicadvocacy.org/> you will get plugged into your state and learn how to stand up for your freedom to legally make voluntary choices about vaccination for your children and yourself. ----- End forwarded message -----

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New York Times: "Encryption works"
by jim bell 12 Mar '17

12 Mar '17

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/03/11/technology/ap-us-tec-wikileaks-… [partial quote]NEW YORK — If the tech industry is drawing one lesson from the latest WikiLeaks disclosures, it's that data-scrambling encryption works, and the industry should use more of it.Documents purportedly outlining a massive CIA surveillance program suggest that CIA agents must go to great lengths to circumvent encryption they can't break. In many cases, physical presence is required to carry off these targeted attacks."We are in a world where if the U.S. government wants to get your data, they can't hope to break the encryption," said Nicholas Weaver, who teaches networking and security at the University of California, Berkeley. "They have to resort to targeted attacks, and that is costly, risky and the kind of thing you do only on targets you care about. Seeing the CIA have to do stuff like this should reassure civil libertarians that the situation is better now than it was four years ago."MORE ENCRYPTIONFour years ago is when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed details of huge and secret U.S. eavesdropping programs. To help thwart spies and snoops, the tech industry began to protectively encrypt email and messaging apps, a process that turns their contents into indecipherable gibberish without the coded "keys" that can unscramble them.The NSA revelations shattered earlier assumptions that internet data was nearly impossible to intercept for meaningful surveillance, said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Washington-based civil-liberties group Center for Democracy & Technology. That was because any given internet message gets split into a multitude of tiny "packets," each of which traces its own unpredictable route across the network to its destination.The realization that spy agencies had figured out that problem spurred efforts to better shield data as it transits the internet. A few services such as Facebook's WhatsApp followed the earlier example of Apple's iMessage and took the extra step of encrypting data in ways even the companies couldn't unscramble, a method called end-to-end encryption.CHALLENGES FOR AUTHORITIESIn the past, spy agencies like the CIA could have hacked servers at WhatsApp or similar services to see what people were saying. End-to-end encryption, though, makes that prohibitively difficult. So the CIA has to resort to tapping individual phones and intercepting data before it is encrypted or after it's decoded.It's much like the old days when "they would have broken into a house to plant a microphone," said Steven Bellovin, a Columbia University professor who has long studied cybersecurity issues.Cindy Cohn, executive director for Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group focused on online privacy, likened the CIA's approach to "fishing with a line and pole rather than fishing with a driftnet."Encryption has grown so strong that even the FBI had to seek Apple's help last year in cracking the locked iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers. Apple resisted what it considered an intrusive request, and the FBI ultimately broke into the phone by turning to an unidentified party for a hacking tool — presumably one similar to those the CIA allegedly had at its disposal. [end partial quote]

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Opening AMD, and Exploiting Intel EFI, Random MACs, BTC
by grarpamp 11 Mar '17

11 Mar '17

https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/03/10/2110212/intel-security-releases-dete… https://apple.slashdot.org/story/17/03/10/2024214/mac-address-randomization… https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/03/10/2048236/message-for-amd-open-psp-w… https://mobile.twitter.com/Snowden/status/837367956229206016 https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5xvn4i/update_corebootlibreboot_on_… https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/5x4hxu/we_are_amd_creators_of_athlon_… https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/5x4hxu/we_are_amd_creators_of_athlon_… http://gpuopen.com/ https://libreboot.org/amd-libre/ Libreboot calls on AMD to release source code and specs on new Ryzen platforms Recently in the Libreboot project, we've been informed about the new Ryzen platforms being released and sold by AMD. They are currently taking input from the community. Here are ways you can contact AMD to tell them that you demand libre hardware: https://twitter.com/amd https://www.facebook.com/AMD/ https://community.amd.com/places https://www.amd.com/en-us/who-we-are/contact https://twitter.com/LisaSu ceo: lisa.su(a)amd.com chairman: john.caldwell(a)amd.com And.... https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/batsbzx/2017/34-80206.pdf Order Disapproving ... the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust

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