- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

The technophiles are busy building a shiny high-tech future...for themselves Don't expect them to take you along
by Razer 18 May '17

18 May '17

> > “From what I’ve gathered, Elon Musk started Tesla kind of like an app > startup, and didn’t realize that it isn’t just nerds at a computer > desk typing,” said one production worker, one of several who asked not > to be identified by name. > > The nasty little weasel "thinks"... "It’s incredibly hurtful and I think false for anyone to claim that I don’t care ~Elon Musk, Tesla CEO With links https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/18/tesla-workers-factory-co… > Tesla factory workers reveal pain, injury and stress: 'Everything > feels like the future but us' > > When Tesla bought a decommissioned car factory in Fremont, California, > Elon Musk transformed the old-fashioned, unionized plant into a > much-vaunted “factory of the future”, where giant robots named after > X-Men shape and fold sheets of metal inside a gleaming white mecca of > advanced manufacturing. > > The appetite for Musk’s electric cars, and his promise to disrupt the > carbon-reliant automobile industry, has helped Tesla’s value exceed > that of both Ford and, briefly, General Motors (GM). But some of the > human workers who share the factory with their robotic counterparts > complain of grueling pressure – which they attribute to Musk’s > aggressive production goals – and sometimes life-changing injuries. > > Ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers > experiencing fainting spells, dizziness, seizures, abnormal breathing > and chest pains, according to incident reports obtained by the > Guardian. Hundreds more were called for injuries and other medical issues. > > In a phone interview about the conditions at the factory, which > employs about 10,000 workers, the Tesla CEO conceded his workers had > been “having a hard time, working long hours, and on hard jobs”, but > said he cared deeply about their health and wellbeing. His company > says its factory safety record has significantly improved over the > last year. > > Musk also said that Tesla should not be compared to major US carmakers > and that its market capitalization, now more than $50bn, is > unwarranted. “I do believe this market cap is higher than we have any > right to deserve,” he said, pointing out his company produces just 1% > of GM’s total output. > > “We’re a money-losing company,” Musk added. “This is not some > situation where, for example, we are just greedy capitalists who > decided to skimp on safety in order to have more profits and dividends > and that kind of thing. It’s just a question of how much money we > lose. And how do we survive? How do we not die and have everyone lose > their jobs?” > Tesla worker Jonathan Galescu says he has seen co-workers collapse or > be taken away by ambulances. > > Musk’s account of the company’s approach differs from that of the 15 > current and former factory workers who told the Guardian of a culture > of long hours under intense pressure, sometimes through pain and > injury, in order to fulfill the CEO’s ambitious production goals. > > “I’ve seen people pass out, hit the floor like a pancake and smash > their face open,” said Jonathan Galescu, a production technician at > Tesla. “They just send us to work around him while he’s still lying on > the floor.” > > He was one of several workers who said they had seen co-workers > collapse or be taken away in ambulances. “We had an associate on my > line, he just kept working, kept working, kept working, next thing you > know – he just fell on the ground,” said Mikey Catura, a worker on the > battery pack line. > > Richard Ortiz, another production worker, spoke admiringly of the > high-tech shop floor. “It’s like you died and went to auto-worker > heaven.” But he added: “Everything feels like the future but us.” > > Tesla sits at the juncture between a tech startup, untethered from the > rules of the old economy, and a manufacturer that needs to produce > physical goods. Nowhere is that contradiction more apparent than at > the Tesla factory, where Musk’s bombastic projection that his company > will make 500,000 cars in 2018 (a 495% increase from 2016) relies as > much on the sweat and muscle of thousands of human workers as it does > on futuristic robots. > > “From what I’ve gathered, Elon Musk started Tesla kind of like an app > startup, and didn’t realize that it isn’t just nerds at a computer > desk typing,” said one production worker, one of several who asked not > to be identified by name. “You really start losing the startup feel > when you have thousands of people doing physical labor.” > > In February, Tesla worker Jose Moran published a blogpost that > detailed allegations of mandatory overtime, high rates of injury and > low wages at the factory, and revealed that workers were seeking to > unionize with the United Auto Workers. > > Moran’s post shone a spotlight on a workforce that is almost entirely > absent from Tesla’s official images of the factory. > > Michael Sanchez once had two dreams: to be an artist and a car service > technician. He said he was “ecstatic” when he was recruited five years > ago to work at Tesla, a company he believed was “part of the future”. > > Now Sanchez has two herniated discs in his neck, is on disability > leave from work, and can no longer grip a pencil without pain. > > Tesla said that the employee’s injury occurred while he was installing > a wheel, but Sanchez said it was caused by the years he spent working > on Tesla’s assembly line. The cars he worked on were suspended above > the line, and his job required looking up and working with his hands > above his head all day. > > “You can make it through Monday,” Sanchez said. “You can make it > through Tuesday. Come Wednesday, you start to feel something. Thursday > is pain. Friday is agonizing. Saturday you’re just making it through > the day.” > > Tesla’s manufacturing practices appear to have been most dangerous in > its earliest years of operations. The company does not dispute that > its recordable incident rate (TRIR), an official measure of injuries > and illnesses that is reported to workplace safety regulators, was > above the industry average between 2013 and 2016. > > Tesla declined to release data over those four years, saying such > information “doesn’t reflect how the factory operates today”. > > The company did release more recent data, which indicates its record > of safety incidents went from slightly above the industry average in > late 2016, to a performance in the first few months of 2017 that was > 32% better than average. The company said that its decision to add a > third shift, introduce a dedicated team of ergonomics experts, and > improvements to the factory’s “safety teams” account for the > significant reduction in incidents since last year. > > Musk said safety was paramount at the company. “It’s incredibly > hurtful, and, I think, false for anyone to claim that I don’t care.” > The CEO said his desk was “in the worst place in the factory, the most > painful place”, in keeping with his management philosophy. “It’s not > some comfortable corner office.” > > In early 2016, he said, he slept on the factory floor in a sleeping > bag “to make it the most painful thing possible”. “I knew people were > having a hard time, working long hours, and on hard jobs. I wanted to > work harder than they did, to put even more hours in,” he said. > “Because that’s what I think a manager should do.” > > He added: “We’re doing this because we believe in a sustainable energy > future, trying to accelerate the advent of clean transport and clean > energy production, not because we think this is a way to get rich.” > > Tesla workers who spoke to the Guardian echoed this sense of pride and > enthusiasm for the company’s mission. “We’re changing the world,” > enthused Ortiz. “I can’t wait for my granddaughter to one day go to > class and say, ‘My grandfather was in there.’” > > But that pride did not erase what Ortiz described as a prevailing mood > of “mass disappointment” over working conditions and what he alleged > were avoidable work-related injuries. > > He recently lost the strength in his right arm, a situation he said > was “scaring” him. “I want to use my arm when I’m retired,” he added. > > Others described repetitive stress injuries they linked to working > long hours. Before the company reduced the average time of a workday > in October 2016, workers said they routinely worked 12-hour shifts, > six days a week. Tesla said the change had been “a success”, and > resulted in a 50% decline in overtime hours. > > Sanchez and other workers said they believed more injuries occurred > because, for years, the company did not take worker safety seriously, > with some managers belittling their complaints and pressuring them to > work through pain. > > When workers told managers about pain, Sanchez said they responded: > “We all hurt. You can’t man up?” Alan Ochoa, another Tesla worker who > is currently on a medical leave with an injury, alleged that superiors > “put the production numbers ahead of the safety and wellbeing of the > employees”. > > The company said that Ochoa and Sanchez are especially outspoken > workers whose views do not represent the wider workforce. However, the > Tesla spokesperson added: “In a factory of more than 10,000 employees, > there will always be isolated incidents that we would like to avoid.” > > Complaints about working conditions at Tesla are not universal. “I’ve > got benefits, I’ve got stocks, I’ve got [paid time off],” said a > worker who has been at the company for about a year. “I thoroughly > enjoy my work and I feel I’m treated fairly.” > > Another worker, a temporary employee, said that he sees some teams in > the factory doing group stretches in the morning to prevent injuries. > > When workers told managers about pain, they responded: 'We all > hurt. You can’t man up?' > > However, some Tesla workers argue the company’s treatment of injured > workers discourages them from reporting their injuries. If workers are > assigned to “light duty” work because of an injury, they are paid a > lower wage as well as supplemental benefits from workers’ compensation > insurance, a practice that Tesla said was in line with other employers > and California law. > > “I went from making $22 an hour to $10 an hour,” said a production > worker, who injured his back twice while working at Tesla. “It kind of > forces people to go back to work.” > > “No one wants to get a pay cut because they’re injured, so everyone > just forces themselves to work through it,” added Adam Suarez, who has > worked at the factory for about three years. > > Tesla said it was determined to further improve its safety standards. > “While some amount of injuries is inevitable, our goal at Tesla is to > have as close to zero injuries as possible and to become the safest > factory in the auto industry worldwide,” the spokesperson said. > > Musk has a well-documented tendency to promise Mars and deliver the > moon. His electric car company was, by his own admission, a gamble. > Musk said starting a car manufacturer from scratch was likely “the > worst way to earn money, honestly”, though he caveated that “maybe > rockets are a bit worse”. He said: “On a risk-adjusted return basis, > an auto company has to be the dumbest thing you could possibly start.” > > The company has succeeded at increasing its production rate every > quarter. In the first three months of 2017, the factory produced more > than 25,000 cars – a Tesla record. To meet Musk’s goal for 2018, they > will have to quintuple that rate. > > “I think one of the major problems is that people at the top are > making unrealistic quarterly goals,” said a worker on the battery pack > line. > > Three workers described a management tactic of assigning a monetary > value to every delay on the assembly line. “One time the robot came > down and [the supervisor] came back screaming at us, ‘That’s $18,000, > $20,000, $30,000, $50,000 because you guys can’t get this done,’” > Gelascu recalled. > > Tesla argues the challenge in building vehicles from scratch with new > production and manufacturing methods should not be underestimated, but > that “nothing is more important” than protecting the health and safety > of its workers. > > “We’re trying to do good for the world and we believe in doing the > right thing,” Musk said. “And that extends to caring about the health > and safety of everyone at the company.” > > It’s a more humanistic tone than the one he strikes with investors. > “You really can’t have people in the production line itself. Otherwise > you’ll automatically drop to people speed,” he told investors in an > earnings call last year. “There’s still a lot of people at the > factory, but what they’re doing is maintaining the machines, upgrading > them, dealing with anomalies. But in the production process itself > there essentially would be no people.” >

1 0

GWOC: Global War On Cash
by grarpamp 18 May '17

18 May '17

https://mises.org/blog/war-cash-old-and-new http://thedailycoin.org/ coinmarketcap.com http://www.coindesk.com/us-national-security-advisor-bitcoin-needs-to-be-un…

1 0

speaking of science - Fwd: Science shock as nearly ALL medical studies deemed "bogus"
by Zenaan Harkness 18 May '17

18 May '17

Speaking of science... -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Science shock as nearly ALL medical studies deemed "bogus" Date: Mon, 08 May 2017 17:00:26 -0500 From: NaturalNews <insider(a)naturalnews.com> To: Science shock as nearly ALL medical studies deemed "bogus" Mike Adams A new book written by a mainstream science journalist declares exactly what I've been telling you for years: *Nearly all medical science is BOGUS and fraudulent*. The entire pharma industry, in other words, is largely a fraud. Most of their drugs don't work. Most of the science is fraudulent because *it can't be reproduced*. *Read the astonishing full article here http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-05-08-science-shock-almost-all-medical-stud…

1 0

Building detailed profiles of Privileged Users' 'baseline normal’ behavior to spot intruders
by Razer 18 May '17

18 May '17

Free eBook if you fill out the form... Feeling lucky? Well do ya cypherpunk? THE GREATEST CHALLENGE OF IT SECURITY: How to distinguish friend and foe? BEHAVIOR IS THE NEW AUTHENTICATION https://pages2.balabit.com/uba-how-to-distinguish-friend-twitter/

2 1

Re: Fwd: [Webinar] Decrypting the WannaCry ransomware: Why is it happening and (how) is it going to end?
by Steven Schear 17 May '17

17 May '17

Any bets on whether ending cryptocurrency (esp. bitcoin) privacy & fungibility will be near the top of the discussions? Warrant Canary creator On May 17, 2017 11:48 AM, "Cecilia Tanaka" <cecilia.tanaka(a)gmail.com> wrote: Forwarding with tenderness and lots of kisses from Brazil ! <3 Ceci # May 17, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia - http://dayagainsthomophobia.org #LoveIsLove <3 ------- "Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." - Mae Jemison ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <isoc-ams(a)isoc.org> Date: Wed, May 17, 2017 at 2:17 PM Subject: [Webinar] Decrypting the WannaCry ransomware: Why is it happening and (how) is it going to end? To: cecilia.tanaka(a)gmail.com Dear members , As a result of last cyber attack that hit many countries worldwide, our partners from DiploFoundation and the Geneva Internet Platform have organised an open webinar for the community to provide an analysis of the main technological, geopolitical, legal, and economic aspects of the ransomware. Experts from different fields will discuss why ransomware has become a major issue: Can such attacks be prevented by technological measures alone? Is there a need for a legal response, such as Microsoft’s proposal for the Digital Geneva Convention? Is raising more awareness among users the ultimate solution? The webinar will discuss whether it is possible to put a stop to malicious software, or whether they should be considered the price we have to pay for the many advantages of the Internet. Choices on policy will have to be made sooner rather than later. The aim of the discussion is to explore and help make informed policy choices. How to participate? Date: Tomorrow - Thursday, 18th May, at 11:00 UTC (13:00 CEST). The virtual event is open for everyone , just register under this link : https://www.diplomacy.edu/registrations/wannacry-webinar Register to book your seat. The webinar link will be e-mailed to registrants one hour before the start. Regards , -- Nancy Quirós Development Manager LAC Chapters Email: quiros(a)isoc.org Skype: nancy_quiros Web: www.isoc.org

4 8

Fwd: [Webinar] Decrypting the WannaCry ransomware: Why is it happening and (how) is it going to end?
by Cecilia Tanaka 17 May '17

17 May '17

Forwarding with tenderness and lots of kisses from Brazil ! <3 Ceci # May 17, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia - http://dayagainsthomophobia.org #LoveIsLove <3 ------- "Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." - Mae Jemison ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <isoc-ams(a)isoc.org> Date: Wed, May 17, 2017 at 2:17 PM Subject: [Webinar] Decrypting the WannaCry ransomware: Why is it happening and (how) is it going to end? To: cecilia.tanaka(a)gmail.com Dear members , As a result of last cyber attack that hit many countries worldwide, our partners from DiploFoundation and the Geneva Internet Platform have organised an open webinar for the community to provide an analysis of the main technological, geopolitical, legal, and economic aspects of the ransomware. Experts from different fields will discuss why ransomware has become a major issue: Can such attacks be prevented by technological measures alone? Is there a need for a legal response, such as Microsoft’s proposal for the Digital Geneva Convention? Is raising more awareness among users the ultimate solution? The webinar will discuss whether it is possible to put a stop to malicious software, or whether they should be considered the price we have to pay for the many advantages of the Internet. Choices on policy will have to be made sooner rather than later. The aim of the discussion is to explore and help make informed policy choices. How to participate? Date: Tomorrow - Thursday, 18th May, at 11:00 UTC (13:00 CEST). The virtual event is open for everyone , just register under this link : https://www.diplomacy.edu/registrations/wannacry-webinar Register to book your seat. The webinar link will be e-mailed to registrants one hour before the start. Regards , -- Nancy Quirós Development Manager LAC Chapters Email: quiros(a)isoc.org Skype: nancy_quiros Web: www.isoc.org

1 0

[OT] [Human Rights] International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
by Cecilia Tanaka 17 May '17

17 May '17

International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia http://dayagainsthomophobia.org #LoveIsLove <3 * Day Bonus: - Chelsea is Free, yay!!! :D Woohoo!!! \o/ \o/ \o/ https://twitter.com/xychelsea/status/864840675220754436 ------- "Don't let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." - Mae Jemison

1 0

Fwd: [tor-talk] Stipends available for the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium
by grarpamp 17 May '17

17 May '17

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Roger Dingledine <arma(a)mit.edu> Date: Wed, May 17, 2017 at 12:57 AM Subject: [tor-talk] Stipends available for the Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium To: tor-talk(a)lists.torproject.org Hi tor-talk! The PETS conference is where all of the academic privacy / anonymity experts gather each year: https://petsymposium.org/ This year it's in Minneapolis, July 18-21. Please consider joining us -- and if you do, be sure to stay for the hike on July 22, which is where many interactions and collaborations move forward. The list of accepted papers is up (and of course it is open access): https://petsymposium.org/2017/paperlist.php Thanks to the generosity of the National Science Foundation and (hopefully) Ford Foundation, we have stipends available again this year, to help get people to the symposium: https://petsymposium.org/2017/stipends.php The deadline for stipend application is May 31. We especially want to use the stipends to attract perspectives and motivations that are different from the usual academic research-and-publishing crowd. In the past we've had great participation from people who care about building and deploying the tools (aka hackers and activists), and from people who care about the societal implications of the research (aka artists and politicians). Thanks! --Roger -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk(a)lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk

2 1

bitcoin incorporated
by juan 17 May '17

17 May '17

Here's a little company called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockstream with direct ties to the most toxic, anti 'cypherpunk' forces on the planet. http://www.coindesk.com/blockstream-21-million-seed-capital/ "Additional investment firms...Google chairman Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, " It turns out that blockstream's 'leaders' are pretty 'influential' bitcoin developers. They seem opposed to increasing the block size limit at the moment but they pretend that their political decision is 'apolitical' 'unbiased' 'code'. Now some background. Bitcoin, allegedly "A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution." keywords, peer to peer, no financial middlemen. Now it gets interesting. Blockstream has a solution to increase bitcoin's capacity, which I don't think can be described as "purely peer-to-peer" and involving no middlemen at all. As a matter of fact, blockstream solution is to create middlemen that will process the vast majority of transaction...because they can't scale bitcoin (technical failure) or they don't want (political failure).

4 3

Well yeah! The whole f*cking NSA... - "ShadowBrokers" 'likely includes a US insider'
by Razer 17 May '17

17 May '17

> WASHINGTON > > Cybersecurity experts believe the hacker who leaked the potent > software tool that powered last week’s global ransomware attacks is an > American – perhaps a disgruntled insider in the U.S. intelligence > community. > > Such a finding would raise the stakes for halting The Shadow Brokers > group, which has bedeviled the National Security Agency with releases > of its hacked weaponized cyber exploits for months. > > One of those leaked NSA tools allowed extortionists to spark havoc > last Friday by encrypting the hard drives of more than 200,000 > computers in 150 countries, the largest such cyberattack ever to hit > the globe. The attackers demanded $300 or more to unlock each computer. > > The NSA did not respond to a request for comment. > > The Shadow Brokers group first surfaced last August, claiming to have > breached the NSA and stolen sophisticated cyber tools. It sought to > auction off the NSA exploits but failed to find many buyers, releasing > some for free. It periodically has resurfaced with statements. > > The latest statement came at 2:16 a.m. Tuesday, a long, rambling > screed that used broken syntax to make it seem as if it were written > by a foreigner with poor English. But the message was filled with U.S. > cultural references that experts said were likely to have come only > from someone with a native’s familiarity. > > “I think they are Americans, and I think they are inside somewhere,” > said Dave Aitel, chief executive at Immunity, a Miami cybersecurity > company, who formerly was a chief scientist at the NSA. “Some of the > idioms they use are straight up native. You have to be a native to use > them.” > > Domestic cultural and political references fill the 1,100-word > statement, which carries the headline: “OH LORDY! Comey Wanna Cry > Edition.” > > In addition to references to James Comey, the ousted FBI director, and > the WannaCry ransomware that the extortionists deployed last Friday, > the statement made liberal use of idioms like “BFF” – or “best friends > forever” – and a vulgar expression that “Late Show” host Stephen > Colbert employed May 1 in talking about President Donald Trump. > With links @McClatchy: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/art…

1 0