Monthly Archives: August 2017

Quickly – Chicago Tribune

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What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

Attention Quickly: Why not be creative and kind? How about having a TRUMP-FREE day!

Incompetence and ego have started more than one bloody war in history. This situation is exactly what most people feared about electing Trump.

We have a history of leaders starting wars to solve problems at home. If a few million people die, they think that's a fair price to protect their greatness. Any fool can start a war, but once it's started, it almost never goes as expected.

President Trump warned North Korea that his threats "will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes the world has never seen." Great, one unstable madman threatening another unstable madman. We could really use a thoughtful, sober, sane president right now.

Reading about the Buncich trial I found two interesting things. One was the e-mails about ethics and political activities on government time. And the concern about being recorded at these meetings. Everyone knew what they were doing was wrong, yet they were trying to cover their tracks.

Almost every day there is a comment from someone lamenting those who do not let this president "do his job." If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at Mr. Trump, he refuses to do any real work. He is the one that has broken rules and laws that have created a need for an investigation. Don't be mad at the people that criticize his shortcomings, they have that right.

It's been five days since Quickly has posted their hate the president comments. You don't think they ran out of hate, do you?

The Justice Department is siding with Ohio in a legal fight of their state's purging of infrequent voters from its election rolls. They think that if you don't vote in three elections you should be removed. People have the right to not vote in an election, that does not give the state the right to remove them.

Food for thought: If one is willing to betray their own country for money or power, they will turn on their co-conspirators in order to save themselves in a heartbeat.

President Trump promised to tackle the growing epidemic of opioid abuse in the United States after blaming his predecessor for not doing more to stem the surge of drug overdoses. But he offered no specific ideas for how he would do so. To recap, he was really, really bad. I will be really, really good. But I don't know what the heck that I am doing. Everyone good?

Sean Hannity is threatening to sue President Obama over illegal NSA spying. How could he have standing to sue unless he was harmed by unmasking? Another diversion to get the heat away from Russia?

Does anybody know who's picketing Regional Rental and why? They've been there for a while but they don't gave any contact info posted and there's nowhere to pull over to ask what's up. I also will never cross a picket line, so I can't go in and ask.

Fox News has so many problems with their staff. I think a bigger bombshell would be discovering a male Fox employee hasn't been a total creep to women.

President Trump's Department of Transportation just gave a $10 million grant to the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor to upgrade the facility. I wonder how many hypocrites will be there to accept the money and then go home to bash the very hand that feeds them. Will this sore loser syndrome ever end? The president is doing so many great things for our country.

Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico sent President Trump two Tweets. "Hey Trump, I'm watching this really bad reality TV show with low ratings called Survivor White House, I can't change the channel. Sad." "Leaving on vacation, huh? What for? If you're not happy with your job, just leave. After all, it was never for you."

On the Fox News website: "Would you even care if he was guilty?" It makes the argument that things are supposedly going so wonderfully in America under Trump, perhaps no one should care if Trump is guilty of conspiring with Russia to rig the election. This is the propaganda that Fox News feeds the brainwashed.

Trump said, "After 200 days, rarely has any administration achieved what we have achieved, not even close." Right, no administration has achieved this level of public contempt, unbridled stupidity or complete chaos this quickly.

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Quickly - Chicago Tribune

Here’s why IBM Z Mainframe Wants to Encrypt the World – Edgy Labs (blog)

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IBMs new approach to fight cyber criminals is a mainframe that enables encryption of an entire dataset and renders it useless to hackers.

Hackers are everywhere and even ships in high seas can be compromised by their malicious deeds.

According to IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, more than 4 billion records were leaked in 2016 alone, which is over a 500% increase from the previous year.

As cyber criminals keep on keeping up with security companies, theres urgent need to find novel approaches and countermeasures.

Think about it: if all sensitive data is efficiently encrypted and hackers cant decrypt it, they wouldnt be able to take advantage. Their attempts to breach security systems would be pointless.

A recent study by thePonemon Institute reveals that, after using effective incident response teams, the extensive use of encryption is the second factor in reducing the cost of data breach (by anaverage of $16 USD per record).

However some companies show passivity when it comes to data encryption; some just dont bother, while others cant afford to encrypt everything.

Current data encryption solutions (on-premises or cloud-based) can degrade systems performance, aside from being too complex and costly to deploy in the first place.

As a result, IBM estimates that, since 2013, of over 9 billion data records stolen, only 4% of the data was ever encrypted, and the company wants to remedy this.

IBMs security solutions span the whole spectrum, from hardware and software to web services, but the company has a universal encryption approach to the problem of data protection.

As a leading tech company, IBM wants to put an end to the global pandemic of security breaches and to do that it is betting on full encryption of sensitive data.

IBM has been making significant progress in cryptographic technology, mainly with its Z series mainframes. We just witnessed the introduction of the 14th generation of thesystem.

Called IBM Z, or z14, the mainframe is a system that enables the encryption of all data contained in databases, apps or the cloud, at any time, with just one-click.

Powered with a novel encryption engine, IBM Z is much faster and can run 12 billion encrypted transactions per day, without being a detriment to performance.

The IBM Z boasts many other features, including Blockchain technology, for businesses of any scale to make use of it.

Nevertheless, IBMs full encryption system might not keep hackers totally at bay. Cyber attacks can still target sensitive encrypted data and steal it.

It remains to be seen if hackers would ever be able to decrypt it.

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Here's why IBM Z Mainframe Wants to Encrypt the World - Edgy Labs (blog)

World’s Leading Physicist Says Quantum Computers Are Tools of Destruction, Not Creation – Futurism

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Weapon of Mass Disruption

Quantum Computers are heralded as the next step in the evolution of data processing. The future of this technology promises us a tool that can outperform any conventional system, handling more data and at faster speeds than even the most powerful of todays supercomputers.

However, at the present juncture, much of the science dedicated to this field is still focused on the technologys ultimate utilization. We know that quantum computers could manage data at a rate that is remarkable, but exactlywhat kind of data processing will they be good for?

This uncertainty raises some interesting questions about the potential impact of such a theoretically powerful tool.

Last month, some of the leading names in quantum technologies gathered at the semi-annual International Conference on Quantum Technologies in Moscow. Futurism was in attendance and was able to sit and talk with some of these scientists about how their work is moving us closer to practical quantum computers, and what impact such developments will have on society.

One of the most interesting topics of discussion was initiated by Alexander Lvovsky, Quantum Optics group leader at the Russian Quantum Center and Professor of Physics at the University of Calgary in Canada. Speaking at a dinner engagement, Lvovsky stated that quantum computers are a tool of destruction, not creation.

What is it about quantum computers that would incite such a claim? In the end, it comes down to one thing, which happens to be one of the most talked about potential applications for the technology:Breaking modern cryptography.

Today, all sensitive digital information sent over the internet is encrypted in order to protect the privacy of the parties involved. Already, we have seen instances where hackers were able to seize this information by breaking the encryption. According to Lvovsky, the advent of the quantum computer will only make that process easier and faster.

In fact, he asserts that no encryptionexisting today would be able to hide from the processing power of a functioning quantum computer. Medical records, financial information, even the secrets of governments and military organizations would be free for the takingmeaning that the entire world order could be threatened by this technology.

The consensus between other experts is, essentially, that Lvovsky isnt wrong. In a sense, hes right, Wenjamin Rosenfeld, a physics professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, stated in an interview. He continued, taking a quantum computer as a computer,theres basically not much you can do with this at the moment; however, he went on to explain that this may soon be changing.

To break this down, there are only two quantum algorithms at the moment, one to allow a quantum computer to search a database, and the other,Shors algorithm, which can be used by a quantum computer to break encryption.

Notably, during the conference, Mikhail Lukin, aco-founder of theRussian Quantum Centerand head of the Lukin Group of the Quantum Optics Laboratory at Harvard University, announced that he had successfully built and tested a 51-qubit quantum computerand hes going to use that computer to launch Shors algorithm.

Vladimir Shalaev, who sits on the International Advisory Board of the Russian Quantum Center and is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University, takes a more nuanced approach to this question, saying it is neither a tool of destruction nor creationit is both: I would disagree with him. I think I would say that any new breakthrough breeds both evil and good things.

He evoked the development of laser technology as an example, saying, Lasers changed our lives with communications, surgery, their use in machinery, but they are also used in missiles to destroy buildings.But I think this is life. Nothing comes with only good, there is always bad as well. So I dont think it is just a destructive technology, it could also be a constructive one.

There is a great deal of truth to Shalaevs assessment. Nuclear technology was primarily developed as a destructive tool. After the war, many more positive applications were found, impacting energy, medicine, and agriculture, among many other fields. Quantum computers may not be capable of the physical destruction of a nuclear bomb, but their potential application in relation to encryption is the digital equivalent, making this topic worthy of reflection in these early stages.

So, if quantum computers do have such dangerous potential, why are we pursuing them? As Lukin expounds, there are other potential applications outside of encryption breaking, applications that many experts are excited about.

For example, Lukin sees enormous potential in quantum sensors. It has the potential to change the field of medical diagnostics, where some of the tasks which require huge labs can be performed on the scale of aniPhone. Imagine the implications for third world countries in parts of the world like Africa. It can really allow to diagnose and treat patients. I think theres actually a huge impact on society, he explained.

Also, the processing power of quantum computers could push research in artificial intelligence (AI) forward by leaps and bounds. Indeed, it could assist this field to such a degree that AI could be a part of the answer to the problem proposed by Lvovsky. To that end, Lukins asserts, Im fairly convinced that, before quantum computers start breaking encryption, we will have new classical encryption, we will have new schemes based on quantum computers, based on quantum cryptography, which will be operational.

Much like lasers or nuclear weapons, the scientists involved in creating quantum computers are unable to predict the total utility of this technology. There very well could be a host of world changing applications for quantum computers. Still, even with just considering the encryption busting potential of the technology, we must remain cognizant of the power we areunleashing.

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World's Leading Physicist Says Quantum Computers Are Tools of Destruction, Not Creation - Futurism

Open source is driving digital transformation, according to mainstream businesses – TechRepublic

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Image: iStockphoto/phive2015

Many of us declared victory for open source years ago, once it came to dominate key industry trends like big data, mobile, and cloud. But the real sign of winning is when mainstream enterprises talk about open source as part of their earnings calls. Once open source becomes a key component of financial performance, the momentum is unstoppable.

Combing through the last few quarters of earnings transcripts, it's clear that open source has arrived...but to very different destinations, depending on the company.

Vendors are perhaps the most obvious place to start the analysis, and here we get wildly divergent perspectives on open source. Despite almost every software company now incorporating open source software into its products, some companies clearly hold on to the idea that open source is a pesky threat.

Not, however, Hortonworks. For Hortonworks CEO Rob Bearden, open source isn't just frosting on his business model: It's the heart of how Hortonworks builds products. Coming off a strong Q2, Bearden credited the open source development model for yielding superior big data tech, even as he took not-so-subtle swipes at Hadoop rival Cloudera:

However, as much as Hortonworks touted open source on its earnings call (10 times on each of the last two calls), supposedly proprietary Cloudera more than doubled that number (referencing open source 21 times on its latest earnings call). For Cloudera, open source is a critical part of its overall product, but not the whole product.

"Our hybrid open source software model combines the best of open source software with Cloudera's proprietary software that meets the exact requirements of large global enterprises and public sector entities, especially in the areas of performance, data security and compliance," Cloudera CEO Tom Reilly said on the call. "These capabilities are not available in standalone open source or from other vendors."

SEE: Why every developer is an open source developer now (TechRepublic)

For less open source-centric companies, open source is less of a focus while remaining prominent. Alteryx, for example, credits open source with changing the industry for all vendors, and talks about "addressing the trained data scientists around the world who are looking for a code-friendly platform that supports open source tools like ARP, Python and Scala to help them effectively do their jobs." In other words, "Hey, so long as data scientists want to use open source tools, we'll support them."

For New Relic, open source simply isn't good enough to compete ("[W]e have seen several open source projects in the past attempt at [Application Performance Management], but it's never been a real competitive threat for us historically").

For IBM, which offered just one mention of open source, it's primarily important as a marker for big shifts in the mainframe market ( z14's encryption advance is "the biggest reinvention of our mainframe technology since the reinvention for Linux and open source software 15 years ago"). Yippee.

As for Red Hat, the $2 billion open source leader, open source was called out just five times. For Red Hat, open source is implicit in everything it does.

Outside of tech, however, open source is also getting its due.

There is, of course, blatant misuse of open source. Take, for example, Adidas calling out its partnership with Kanye West as a big part of its open source strategy. No, it makes no sense because it has nothing to do with open source...or software...or, really, anything.

SEE: Why AWS Lambda could be the worst thing to happen to open source (TechRepublic)

Much more interesting, however, is The Bank of New York Mellon's chairman Gerald Hassell, who declared: "[O]ur early commitment to an open source digital platform sets us up nicely to continue to differentiate ourselves in the global marketplace." For a large financial services company to publicly acknowledge the importance of open source to its services is a big deal.

The reason for this comes out in Sabre's earnings call, wherein CEO Sean Menke pointed to open source as a competitive differentiator: "A combination of cloud deployment and ability to integrate open source solutions will allow us to respond to our customers' demand for speed and agility, while balancing our cost." As such, "In 2017, we're accelerating our adoption of the latest open source technology."

As Google, Facebook, and other web giants know, open source (often coupled with cloud) gives enterprises the flexibility to innovate faster. To do it well, companies must invest in developers who, in turn, contribute code and develop both proficiency in a project and the ability to influence its direction. That's open source done right, and it's even better than Kanye West.

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Open source is driving digital transformation, according to mainstream businesses - TechRepublic

Mozilla’s new file-transfer service isn’t perfect, but it’s drop-dead easy – Ars Technica UK

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Mozilla is testing a new service that makes it dead simple and quick for people to semi-securely share files with anyone on the Internet.

Send, as the service is called, allows senders to encrypt any 1-gigabyte or less file and upload it to a Mozilla server. The service then creates a link with a long, complex string of letters in it that's required to download and decrypt the file. Mozilla will automatically delete the encrypted file as soon as it's downloaded or within 24 hours of being uploaded, even if no one has downloaded it.

Send offers reasonable security and privacy assurances. The service uses an algorithm known as AES-GCM-128 to encrypt and authenticate data on the sender's computer before uploading it to Mozilla servers. And it also uses the Web crypto programming interface, which is one of the better-tested ways Internet applications can perform cryptographic operations without having access to decryption keys. Still, Send shouldn't be trusted with the most sensitive types of data, such as files that might land a dissident or whistleblower in prison.

"Of course, you'll probably hear from naysayers who say doing crypto in the browser with JavaScript is a terrible thing," Justin Troutman, a cryptography and privacy expert and program manager at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Ars. "But they're using the WebCrypto API, which is probably the sanest way to do it, if you're going to do it."

Another potential weak point: a quick test by researchers at antivirus provider Bitdefender found that the one-download limitation can be bypassed when two users access the link at the same time. The researchers found that there's a delay of a few seconds for servers to be notified that a download has completed. That delay, they discovered, is longer for bigger files. In certain cases, the delay might allow an attacker to download a file the legitimate parties believe was no longer available.

Another drawback: Send will store basic information on the sender's local device. This information includes the Send identifier for the file, the filename, and the unique download link for the transmitted file. The information, however, is deleted once the sender deletes the uploaded file or visits the Send service after the file has expired. Users are also subject to Mozilla's privacy policy, which, among other things, allows the service to temporarily retain IP addresses in server logs.

Send also collects performance and diagnostic information, including how often users upload files, how long the files remain before expiring, any errors related to file transfers, and what cryptographic protocols a user's browser supports.

Last, the security of the service requires the generated download link to remain private. Anyone who obtains it can download and decrypt the uploaded file.

Those weaknesses or limitations aside, Send may be a better way to transmit files. Many e-mail services limit attachments to 100 megabytes or less. And unless the sending and receiving parties clear special hurdles, the transmitted data can sit unencrypted on e-mail servers indefinitely. Besides the crypto and self-expiration happening automatically, the service also provides an extremely simple interface.

At the moment, Mozilla is describing Send as a test-pilot experiment.

This post originated on Ars Technica

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Mozilla's new file-transfer service isn't perfect, but it's drop-dead easy - Ars Technica UK

What Cryptocurrency Can Teach Us About Political Governance …

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Its a marvel to me to witness what is happening on planetEarth as it regardscryptocurrencies. Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever or whatever he/she/zhe is, began a revolution as big as the wheel and the printing press and the Internet that came before it, or so it seems to me.

With cryptocurrency, nobody can implement their preferred change arbitrarily.

MichaelWuensch / Pixabay

Over $93 billion dollars, and counting,have poured into the cryptocurrency market since Bitcoin wasreleased in 2009. Millions of individuals have come together without central direction to build this worldwide phenomenon.

Changes are happening every day that have global ramifications, all of which are happening without permission by governments, and often in spite of governments supposed authority to control other people. That is trulyawesome.

There is governance, to be sure, as it regards cryptocurrencies, but such governance is without centralized structure. Cryptocurrency manipulation must follow specific rules, and changing those rules requires popular acceptance by users and stakeholders of each given cryptocurrency. Nobody can implement their preferred change arbitrarily. The only thing arbitrary about cryptocurrencies is ones desire to get involved in the hundreds of different systems, and once involved, they must follow the rules.

Nobody can implement their preferred change arbitrarily. The only thing arbitrary about cryptocurrencies is ones desire to get involved in the hundreds of different systems, and once involved, they must follow the rules.

I think theres a model here for political governance, or in others words, governance around the idea that people have rights, and those rights should be protected, with physical violence if necessary. While people mostly agree that behaviors such as murder, rape, robbery, assault, and battery are undesirable and we all should be protected from them, theres a lot of disagreement on the smaller stuff, like whos entitled to what, provided by others that havent themselves committing any of the foregoing behaviors (ie. crimes). Thats not to say that people dont disagree on the big stuff, but the disagreement is morea matter of definition than of undesirability.

The only thing arbitraryabout cryptocurrencies is once involved, one must follow the rules.

Who should decide which entitlements should be enforced? The current model says that for a givenarbitrarily-derivedgeographical area, one entity should decide, even when a party to thedispute and that entity may be influenced in any number of ways. In other words,one size fits all, like it, leave it, or hope you get enough popular support to change it.

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Indian Inter-Disciplinary Committee Submits Cryptocurrency Report – ETHNews

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News world

An inter-disciplinary committee that was formed to assess blockchain-based currencies has submitted its report to government officials.

The world now watches as Indian members of a government-appointed inter-disciplinary committee have released a report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on cryptocurrency regulatory standards, according to a report made August 7, 2017, from New Delhi.

As recently as this April, the committee convened to conduct an all-inclusive review of all blockchain-based currencies. After accepting public comments on the subject during the month of May, the group met to deliberate in June, as reported by ETHNews. While the findings in the report have not been made public, it is very likely that they will have an influence on the country's future stance.

Zebpay, which is a founding member of the Digital Assets and Blockchain Foundation of India (DABFI), is pushing for a solution that allows DABFI to act as "a self-regulatory" organization.

Saurabh Agrawal, co-founder and CEO of Zebpay, highlighted a need for oversight and licensing of crypto-exchanges. "We are for some form of a task force or a controlling body that will be monitoring the activities of exchanges," said Agrawal. "We want ultimately exchanges to get licences just as banks are granted licences."

Once the report is made public, ETHNews will provide additional coverage of its regulatory ramifications.

Jeremy Nation is a writer living in Los Angeles with interests in technology, human rights, and cuisine. He is a full time staff writer for ETHNews and holds value in Ether.

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Indian Inter-Disciplinary Committee Submits Cryptocurrency Report - ETHNews

Sophie Aroesty – Tablet Magazine

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With ten percent of its earnings going to tzedakah, the new Russian start-up advertises itself as the first kosher currency of the digital age

August 8, 2017 3:00 PM

Move over, Bitcoin: Theres a new digital currency in town, and its taking its cues from the priests who once served in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. BitCoen, a new online currency startup, was created by Russian entrepreneur Vyacheslav Semenchuk. Advertised as the first kosher cryptocurrency, BitCoen boasts all the advantages of the digital world combined with the values and customs of the ancient foundations in the framework of Jewish law. The Jewish law theyre referencing is the practice of giving ten percent of your income to tzedakah. To this effect, BitCoen will give the Jewish community a tenth of its earnings in the form of the coins, according to the Russian publication CNews. The company will also give tzedakah by giving members of the system interest-free loans.

True to its Jewish roots, the company will be seen by a Sanhedrin of sorts, with Semenchuk calls The Council of Six. And while hes not revealing who these mysterious people are, the company has shared that theyll each represent a different economic area: business, politics, finance, technology, public work, and culture. BitCoen advertises this on their website with a circle of icons for each sector, connected bywhat elsea Jewish star.

Judging by the local Jewish communitys response, BitCoen has a bright future. We expect that the cryptocurrency will cover all Jewish communities around the world, Mikhail Lidogaster, Press Secretary of the Chief Rabbi of Russia, told Russian publication Inc. The main guarantor of stability here is the fact that the keys to managing the cryptocurrency will be in the hands of the most respected members of the community, and not in the hands of some programmers.

Sophie Aroesty is an editorial intern at Tablet.

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Sophie Aroesty - Tablet Magazine

Ether, Litecoin and More: Overstock Now Accepts Cryptocurrencies as Payment – CoinDesk

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Online retail giant Overstock has partnered with blockchain startup ShapeShift to accept more than 60 cryptocurrencies as payment at its online stores.

With the announcement, Overstock.com shopperscan now use ether, litecoin, dash and bitcoin cash at checkout, a move that follows Overstock's early embrace of bitcoin as a payment method. Overstock first began accepting bitcoin for payment in 2014, and it has remained active in developing the technology, even launching a dedicated subsidiary to focus on applications.

In statements, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne sought to portray the decision as one that gives its customers greater freedoms outside of the traditional financial system.

Bryne said:

"Overstock is pro-freedom, including the freedom of individuals to communicate information about value and scarcity without relying on a medium created through the fiat of unaccountable government mandarins."

The move further comes at a timeof broader diversification in the cryptocurrency market, which has seen bitcoin's share of the total asset class slip below 50%.

As such, Overstock framed the move as one that keeps it in line with new developments in the blockchain market. Butwhether the company believes this trend will continue remains unclear.

Notably, Overstock said it intends to convert the cryptocurrency it receives to bitcoin, as well as issue refunds using the protocol.

Disclosure:CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in ShapeShift.

Overstock image via CoinDesk Archives

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Ether, Litecoin and More: Overstock Now Accepts Cryptocurrencies as Payment - CoinDesk

There’s a house full of cryptocurrency gurus in San Francisco, and it’s like a modern-day commune – CNBC

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"When we first got this place, I was the only girl who was here and I actually got involved with this place because I have amazing friends," said Toni Lane Casserly, a faculty member at Singularity University, a collaborative technology learning platform.

Lane-Casserly has seen a shift in her years in the space. When she first got there, people were telling her that Bitcoin was used for bad ends. Now people are asking her how they could get involved in the ecosystem.

Another roommate, Viviane Ford, had a similar experience.

"It's funny to see this slowly just gain more and more ground. We used to have a Bitcoin predictor on the window up there and we would guess by the end of the year it's going to hit a thousand or something." said Ford, vice president of Operations at Comma.ai.

"There was one moment where we had a big white board upstairs, a bunch of us were talking about different things and I think Bitcoin hit $2,000," she said, adding that "at that moment we popped a bottle of champagne and celebrated."

Whether Bitcoin or other crypto currencies are flying high or sliding backward, for the visitors and tenants of the Crypto Castle, it's about the game and not the score.

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There's a house full of cryptocurrency gurus in San Francisco, and it's like a modern-day commune - CNBC