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BREAKING: Meta Fined €798M For Tying Marketplace Ads To Facebook
by Gunnar Larson 15 Dec '24

15 Dec '24

BREAKING: Meta Fined €798M For Tying Marketplace Ads To Facebook <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2260718?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Christopher Crosby The European Union's antitrust watchdog hit Meta with a €797.72 million ($840 million) fine Thursday for giving its Facebook Marketplace an unfair advantage over rival online classified ads services by automatically showing postings to its social media users. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2260718?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/2260718?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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** My Motivation **
by Satoshi Nakamoto 14 Dec '24

14 Dec '24

Adding a quantum hashing (HashQ) functionality and integrating the post-SHA256 Falcon algorithm for Bitcoin involves considering several aspects: ** Quantum Security: The proposal directly addresses the security concern against future quantum attacks, which is visionary. Post-quantum cryptography is a developing field, and the use of algorithms like Falcon, which are already being considered for digital security applications, shows a proactive approach. However, any implementation of post-quantum cryptography would need extensive review by the cryptography community to ensure its robustness. ** Smooth Transition: Proposing a solution without the need for a hard fork is smart. It allows users to opt-in to quantum security without forcing the entire network to adopt the change immediately. This preserves decentralization and user choice, two fundamental principles of Bitcoin. ** Chain Coexistence: The idea of having a classical chain and a quantum-robust chain coexisting is innovative. It allows for a gradual transition and allows time for the technology to mature and be tested in the field. ** Mining Incentives: Adjusting mining incentives to favor the new quantum chain is crucial for its adoption. This could attract miners to the new chain, but must be carefully balanced so as not to discourage mining on the classic chain until the transition is complete or majority. ** Applicability to Other Systems: The idea of parallel systems that arise from the same branch without altering the original is a concept that could have applications beyond Bitcoin. This modular approach allows for evolution and adaptation without breaking existing infrastructure, which is an elegant design principle for decentralized systems. ** Implementation and Consensus: I want the Bitcoin community to evaluate to implement this change. The community must value stability and security, and any changes, even if parallel, must be seen as not detrimental to the existing network. In summary, I have made this technically advanced proposal to show you a deep understanding of the future challenges facing Bitcoin. The key to its success would be technical validation, incentive design, and community acceptance. If achieved, it would not only strengthen Bitcoin's security against quantum threats but would also establish a model for the evolution of blockchain systems in general.

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Up Next: Environmental Reviews, Wire Fraud & TM Awards
by Gunnar Larson 14 Dec '24

14 Dec '24

Up Next: Environmental Reviews, Wire Fraud & TM Awards <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/2270789?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Katie Buehler The U.S. Supreme Court will hear its final set of oral arguments for the 2024 calendar year starting Monday, including disputes over the proper scope of federal environmental reviews and whether corporate affiliates can be ordered to pay disgorgement awards in trademark infringement disputes. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/2270789?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/2270789?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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BREAKING: Menendez Loses Bid For New Bribery Trial
by Gunnar Larson 14 Dec '24

14 Dec '24

BREAKING: Menendez Loses Bid For New Bribery Trial <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/2273984?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By George Woolston A Manhattan federal judge on Friday rejected former Sen. Bob Menendez's bid for a new trial, ruling there is no manifest injustice after prosecutors alerted the court in November that evidence that was mistakenly loaded onto a laptop given to the jury. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/2273984?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/2273984?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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BREAKING: Supreme Court Will Review EPA Auto Emissions Waiver For Calif.
by Gunnar Larson 14 Dec '24

14 Dec '24

BREAKING: Supreme Court Will Review EPA Auto Emissions Waiver For Calif. <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1886682?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez and Keith Goldberg The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday granted fossil fuel industry groups' request to review a decision backing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act waiver that allows California to set its own greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and run a zero-emission vehicles program, but the justices won't consider the legality of the waiver itself. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1886682?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/compliance/articles/1886682?nl_pk=ab5ce197-c1fb-4d8e…>

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Fwd: New Message :: R000433-082224
by Gunnar Larson 14 Dec '24

14 Dec '24

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: NYS DFS FOIL Records Access Center <dfsny(a)govqa.us> Date: Fri, Dec 13, 2024, 4:35 PM Subject: New Message :: R000433-082224 To: g(a)xny.io <g(a)xny.io> --- Please respond above this line --- [image: Logo] ------------------------------ RE: FOIL Records Request of August 22, 2024, Reference # R000433-082224 Dear Gunnar Larson, The NYS Department of Financial Services received a FOIL request from you on August 22, 2024. Your FOIL request seeks the following records: *"Today xNY.io - Bank.org seeks access to Shelf Charter records from January 1, 2021 to August 22, 2024 that correspond to New York State's Shelf Charter rule changes. Additionally, we seek access to NY-DFS records concerning xNY.io - Bank.org's Shelf Charter dealings with the Department. Separately to seeking Shelf Charter rule change records, today xNY.io - Bank.org seeks access to NY-DFS policy records concerning the Department’s approach to:-Harassment and Discrimination Policies -Conflict of Interest Policy-Insider Trading Policy-Records Management Policy-Corporate Opportunity Policy"* At the outset, please note the Department does not have any records pertaining to statutory amendments or changes in regulations to the Shelf Charter. Next, your request for “access to NY-DFS records concerning xNY.io - Bank.org's Shelf Charter dealings with the Department,” does not clearly describe the specific records that you seek. Therefore, the Department construes this part of your request as seeking the records you submitted to obtain a Shelf Charter with the Department (“responsive records”). Please note that because you never filed a formal application with the Department, there is no final decision for your application. Please log in to the FOIL Records Access Center at the following link to review the responsive records. FOIL Records Request - R000433-082224 <https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.VEsWrlMiJDg0mXafq1mEXauM…> Moreover, to the extent your request seeks the Department’s internal deliberative materials, those are exempt pursuant to Public Officers Law § 87(2)(g), which exempts from disclosure records that are “inter-agency or intra-agency materials which are not: i. statistical or factual tabulations or data; ii. instructions to staff that affect the public; iii. final agency policy or determinations; [or] iv. external audits, including but not limited to audits performed by the comptroller and the federal government[.]” Such internal records contain opinions, recommendations, evaluations, and other subjective commentary by government employees, and do not contain information that fall within any of the four exceptions to non-disclosure under Public Officers Law § 87(2)(g). The internal opinions, recommendations, and drafts contain the very kind of information that the exemption in Public Officers Law § 87(2)(g) is designed to protect. In New York Times Co. v. City of New York Fire Dep’t, 4 N.Y. 3d 477, 488-89 (2005), the Court of Appeals held that “[t]he point of the intra-agency exception is to permit people within an agency to exchange opinions, advice and criticism freely and frankly, without the chilling prospect of public disclosure . . . [and] to permit the internal exchange of candid advice and options between agency employees.” (See also, Miller v. New York State DOT, 58 A.D.3d 981, 984 [3rd Dep’t 2009])(holding that “[t]he interagency and intra-agency exemption applies to records that are deliberative, i.e., communications exchanged for discussion purposes not constituting final policy decisions.”) Because the deliberative materials contain opinions and internal correspondence between Department employees, they fall squarely within the intra/inter-agency exception and, accordingly, are also exempt from disclosure pursuant to Public Officers Law § 87(2)(g). Accordingly, attached please find the responsive records you submitted to the Department regarding xNY.io – Bank.org’s Shelf Charter. With respect to the second half of your request seeking various policy records, the Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) requires a requester to reasonably describe the records sought, providing sufficient detail so that the agency can identify and locate the records requested. See Konigsberg v. Coughlin, 68 N.Y.2d 245 (1986); In re Farbman & Sons v. NYC Health & Hosps. Corp., 62 N.Y.2d 75 (1984); Matter of Wright v. Hippolyte, 2014 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1247, 2014 NY Slip Op 30705(U) (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County 2014). A FOIL request is not reasonably described if the agency cannot locate the requested record using its indexing or filing system, or, with respect to the agency’s electronic records, there is no single search term or combination of search terms that will result in the location of the record. See Asian American Legal Defense & Educ. Fund v. NYC Police Dep’t, 41 Misc.3d 471 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County 2013), aff’d 125 A.D.3d 531 (1st Dep’t 2015). Additionally, where an agency must manually review voluminous records simply to locate responsive records, courts have held that such a request does not reasonably describe the records sought. Bader v. Bove, 273 A.D.2d 466 (2nd Dep’t 2000), appeal den. 95 N.Y.2d 764 (2000) (finding that a request for “[a]ll notes, records, correspondence, meeting minutes and other records related to the adoption and/or revision of the Village Zoning Code’s prohibition of commercial activity” was not reasonably described). Moreover, when a FOIL request requires an agency to make subjective judgments to determine whether a record is responsive, that request may be found to have not reasonably described the records. For instance, in the Committee on Open Government (“Committee”) Opinion No. FOIL-AO-11960 (February 17, 2000), the Committee opined that a FOIL request that sought records “‘tending to support’ a particular statement, or ‘utilized’, ‘used’ or ‘relating to’ various activities” was not a reasonably described request for records under Public Officers Law Article 6. A response to such a request “would involve making subjective judgments a series of judgments based on opinions, some of which would be subjective, mental impressions”, and require “ascertaining which records might ‘tend to support’ a statement [that] would involve an attempt to render a judgment regarding the use, utility, accuracy or value of records.” The Committee further opined that “for purposes of [FOIL], a request for such materials would not meet the standard of ‘reasonably describing’ the records sought, for such a request would not enable the Department to locate and identify the records in the manner envisioned by that statute.” See also Committee Opinion No. FOIL-AO-12012 (March 28, 2000), in which the Committee opined that a request for “‘documentation utilized by SED to evaluate’ certain needs, actions and functions” was not a reasonably described request for records under FOIL. Based upon the above, this portion of your FOIL request does not provide a reasonable description of records under Public Officers Law § 89(3). You ask for all records related to the Department’s approach to various policies. Your request does not provide a time frame, nor the types of records you seek, nor where these records may be located. Moreover, searching for records that reflect the Department’s ‘approach’ to certain policies requires the Department to make subjective judgments to answer your request, and does not align with the standard of reasonably describing records for the purposes of FOIL. FOIL requires a request to reasonably describe the records sought so that they can be readily identified and searched for. Your request does not provide a reasonable description of records under Public Officers Law § 89(3) because the Department cannot identify where the records that you request are located and therefore cannot search for the requested records. Accordingly, this part of your request is closed. Please note that the Department stands ready to respond to any new FOIL request that you submit that (i) describes with reasonable specificity records that the Department may determine upon a reasonable search are maintained by it, (ii) does not contain ambiguous terms such as “relating”, “concerning” or “supporting” applied to excessively broad categories, and (iii) does not require the Department to engage in looking for a “needle in a haystack” or require Department personnel to guess whether a given record is responsive to your request. In accordance with Public Officers Law § 89(4), you may appeal this determination that your request was not reasonably described within 30 days by completing the Appeals form located on the GovQA portal at Online Appeals Form <https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.VEsWrlMiJDg0mXafq1mEXdfx…> . Sincerely, Stephanie Mazza Associate Attorney NYS Department of Financial Services ------------------------------ To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the FOIL Records Access Center <https://u8387778.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=u001.VEsWrlMiJDg0mXafq1mEXauM…> . [image: GovQA logo]

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BREAKING: UnitedHealth To Pay $69M In Suit Over 401(k) Fund Roster
by Gunnar Larson 13 Dec '24

13 Dec '24

BREAKING: UnitedHealth To Pay $69M In Suit Over 401(k) Fund Roster <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2273484?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> By Emily Brill UnitedHealth Group has agreed to pay $69 million to settle a class action claiming it included low-performing investment options in its 401(k) plan to preserve its business relationship with Wells Fargo, according to a filing Friday in Minnesota federal court. Memorandum attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2273484?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/banking/articles/2273484?nl_pk=feb6bbba-7878-4d39-be…>

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Fwd: Bloomberg Follow Up
by Gunnar Larson 13 Dec '24

13 Dec '24

Fri, Dec 13, 2024, 8:15 AM ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX) <tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> Date: Fri, Dec 13, 2024, 8:15 AM Subject: Re: Bloomberg Follow Up To: <g(a)xny.io> Cc: <cypherpunks(a)lists.cpunks.org>, <sreader(a)curtis.com> Good morning Gunnar, Thank you for letting me know. I will resend the appt for next week to discuss the Bloomberg terminal and your business. As for the fun fact, hopefully you have the same success!! Have a great weekend, Tom Thomas Murray Bloomberg Senior Relationship Manager 212-617-3923 tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net From: g(a)xny.io At: 12/13/24 08:11:48 UTC-5:00 To: Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX ) <tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> Cc: cypherpunks(a)lists.cpunks.org, sreader(a)curtis.com Subject: Re: Bloomberg Follow Up Dear Thomas: xNY.io - Bank.org is sort-of waiting to hear back, with hopeful news we can work with Bloomberg. Fun fact, Thomas: I am 39, the same age Mr. BLOOMBERG was when he started your firm. Can we schedule a time to speak next Friday, 20 December 2024? Thank you, Gunnar ✌️ -- Gunnar Larson xNY.io - Bank.org 917-580-8053 On Sat, Dec 7, 2024, 6:28 AM Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> wrote: > Thomas: > > Great news. Looking forward to the conversation on the 13th. > > Have a great weekend. > > Thank you, > > Gunnar ✌️ > > On Fri, Dec 6, 2024, 11:19 AM Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX) < > tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> wrote: > >> Thank you Gunnar. >> >> Have a good weekend and look forward to speaking. >> >> Tom >> >> Thomas Murray >> Bloomberg Senior Relationship Manager >> 212-617-3923 >> tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net >> >> From: g(a)xny.io At: 12/05/24 17:46:40 UTC-5:00 >> To: Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX ) <tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> >> Cc: cypherpunks(a)lists.cpunks.org, sreader(a)curtis.com >> Subject: Re: Bloomberg Follow Up >> >> Thomas: >> >> No. Friday 13 December, anytime after 9:00am EST. >> >> Gunnar ✌️ >> >> >> On Thu, Dec 5, 2024, 4:51 PM Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX) < >> tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> wrote: >> >>> Hello Gunnar, >>> >>> Sorry for the delay. Would it be possible to schedule it for next week? >>> Monday afternoon? >>> >>> Thank you, >>> >>> Tom >>> >>> Thomas Murray >>> Bloomberg Senior Relationship Manager >>> 212-617-3923 >>> tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net >>> >>> From: g(a)xny.io At: 12/03/24 19:32:14 UTC-5:00 >>> To: Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX ) <tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> >>> Cc: cypherpunks(a)lists.cpunks.org >>> Subject: Re: Bloomberg Follow Up >>> >>> Thomas: >>> >>> Sure. How is a call on Friday 13 December, anytime after 9:00am EST. >>> >>> Gunnar Larson >>> >>> On Tue, Dec 3, 2024, 1:38 PM Thomas Murray (BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX) < >>> tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net> wrote: >>> >>>> Hello Gunnar, >>>> >>>> I hope are well. I am part of the relationship management team at >>>> Bloomberg and was passed along a note that you were interested in the >>>> Bloomberg terminal. Please let me know if we are able to coordinate a call >>>> to discuss your business, what you are looking to solve for and the >>>> Bloomberg solution. If you are able to provide some times that work best, I >>>> will send over a calendar invite. >>>> >>>> Thank you, >>>> >>>> Tom >>>> Thomas Murray >>>> Bloomberg Senior Relationship Manager >>>> 212-617-3923 >>>> tmurray27(a)bloomberg.net >>>> >>>> >>> >>

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2 Deny Joining Would-Be Trump Assassin To Target Journalist
by Gunnar Larson 13 Dec '24

13 Dec '24

2 Deny Joining Would-Be Trump Assassin To Target Journalist <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/2273292?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> By Pete Brush Two New York City men on Thursday denied participating in a plot to kill a noted journalist and Iran critic, pleading not guilty to murder-for-hire charges that claim they worked for a foreign agent who also is tasked with targeting Donald Trump. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/2273292?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/2273292?nl_pk=ac5a3855-e47c-4403-be…>

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BakerHostetler Can't Ditch RICO Claims In Bankruptcy Fight
by Gunnar Larson 13 Dec '24

13 Dec '24

BakerHostetler Can't Ditch RICO Claims In Bankruptcy Fight <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/2273436?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> By Dorothy Atkins A Texas bankruptcy judge Wednesday trimmed fraud and legal malpractice claims alleging BakerHostetler aided a $100 million insurance fraud scheme, but he refused to throw out civil racketeering claims, finding that the allegations are "well-pleaded," and he must assume, for now, that they're true. Opinion attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/2273436?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/health/articles/2273436?nl_pk=6422bbc2-a823-4be5-9a9…>

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