The consequences of allowing a cryptocurrency takeover, or trying to head one off FT Alphaville (registration) In this guest post, economics professor and former Bank of England economist Tony Yates talks about the potential for cryptocurrencies to compete with government-backed money, and what central banks can do about it. The total value of all ... |
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The consequences of allowing a cryptocurrency takeover, or trying to head one off - FT Alphaville (registration)
The blockchain and crypto industry is currently replete with innovations looking to advance the technology and bring about the best results. But could there be a missing link, which when identified can lead to better investments and proper mitigation of risks?
A section of the industry insiders believe that Derivatives could be that missing link, and introducing derivatives to the blockchain could possibly enable investors to better mitigate risks involved in trading cryptocurrencies and allow them to hedge their bets. The success of derivatives has already been proven in the world of securities trading, which can be replicated in the crypto world as well.
The benefits of derivatives will be wide ranging as they will include non-stop trading, instantaneous transactions for fraction of the current fee, nearly no need for third parties except for traditional assets, no downtime, no DDOS type attacks, anonymity and the possibility to execute trades without logging in.
The process of bringing the power of derivatives to the blockchain community is being spearheaded by DCORP. DCORPP has created a platform that will allow derivatives trading in the form of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain where the exchange exists. Users will be provided with a friendly interface and since the exchange is decentralized and operates autonomously there is no need for intermediaries like market makers, bankers or third parties.
The exchange will generate value for the investors, the proceeds of which can be used by DCORP to carry out its venture capitalist activities. DCORP being autonomous and democratic, will, in turn, lead to the democratization of venture capitalism.
Derivatives trading has the potential to unleash revolutionary change in the way cryptocurrencies are traded today, as more investors are bound to be attracted by the opportunity to use hedging mechanisms, which will only enhance the value of blockchain.
The ability to enter derivatives contracts anonymously will also provide additional value to investors and they will also be able to trade existing derivatives contracts by sending Ether to them.
Investors stand to benefit by harnessing the power of derivatives. Traditional derivatives like futures and options will be available, and the investors will also benefit from Futures with Ascending Stakes. The whitepaper elaborates upon the type of derivatives that will be made available on the exchange.
There is also a plan to use the blockchain and smart contract technology to enable talented entrepreneurs and ventures to gain access to funding. DCORP will make it possible for anyone to join the organization either as a shareholder or as a talented contributor. Investors can also participate in the ongoing DCORP crowdsale.
The DCORP exchange promises complete transparency in its operations as the Board of Directors will comprise of 7 elected individuals. Frank Bonnet, the founder of DCORP who will also be a member of the Board of Directors, explains that the voting behavior of the members will be recorded on the blockchain, public and immutable. The members can also be replaced by submitting a proposal and getting the token holders to vote in favor of it.
DCORP intends to carry out a streamlined democratization of venture capitalism, which is not only an interesting idea but also novel, as it enables even non-technical persons to benefit from it.
The introduction of derivatives to crypto can only generate further investor interest as it brings in an element of risk management to venture capitalism.
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Derivatives The Missing Link in The Cryptocurrency World? - newsBTC
Imagine an online gambling ecosystem that is decentralized, meaning that it cuts out the typical middleman between a game-maker or betting operator and the player or bettor. Thats the pitch of Russian company DAO.Casino, a decentralized platform for online gambling operators that runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
In its white paper on the developer site Github, DAO.Casino says it can solve common headaches of online gambling that afflict both game developers and game players, such as: fraud risk; hidden fees; high cost of entry for game developers; operational overhead; player access to funds; player withdrawal delays; and general lack of trust.
If that sounds like a mouthful, lets take a step back. In the cryptocurrency world, much of the press and attention right now is around bitcoin, since the price of bitcoin is flying: its up 200% in 2017 so far.
But the price of a rival cryptocurrency, ether, has seen a bump as well: its up 174% in the past month, to $263. Ether is the currency of the Ethereum network, which is a blockchain for smart contracts.
Price of ether in 2017. (CoinMarketCap)
While bitcoin runs on the bitcoin blockchain, a decentralized, permissionless ledgerand blockchain technology originated with bitcoin in 2009Ethereum runs on its own blockchain specifically designed for smart contracts.
Smart contracts are coded agreements that live in a permanent address on the Ethereum chain. These agreements can interact with other contracts to automatically enact functions.
In other words, smart contracts is a fancy way of saying computer programs. For example: on Ethereum, we could exchange the title deed to a car, directly from seller to buyer. In a recent Cognizant survey of 578 financial service firms, 78% of respondents said their firm is exploring multiple blockchain platformsof those, 49% listed the bitcoin blockchain, 42% said Ethereum.
While bitcoin is soaring as a speculative investment, there arent yet obvious mainstream uses for the currency beyond trading and holding it; many in the industry await the killer app for bitcoin.
There is arguably more excitement right now around the uses of Ethereum, since it was created specifically for smart contracts (not for the currency, which is just an incentive token for developers). TechCrunch writes that Ethereum is poised to overhaul open-source development. And Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin (just 23 years old) met with Vladimir Putin this week, who praised Ethereum.
That brings us to DAO.Casino, one of the many startups that believes it can solve a problem using Ethereum. On June 29, DAO.Casino will launch an ICO (initial coin offering), a popular new way of raising money for cryptocurrency startups in which investors buy up the startups own coin and pay for it with a more established coin. Ethereum did its own ICO in 2014, in which investors bought ether using bitcoin. An ICO typically lasts for a month. Think of an ICO as the equivalent of a VC round for cryptocurrency startups. In DAO.Casinos ICO, it will sell BET, its own token, in exchange for ether.
Just dont associate DAO.Casino with The DAO, a leaderless, decentralized network that launched in May 2016 (via an ICO that exchanged tokens for ether) as a platform for Ethereum-based projects and was quickly hacked, one month later, to the tune of $50 million. The entire Ethereum blockchain had to perform a split known as a fork in order to restore all the funds stolen in The DAO hack.
DAO.Casino is not an actual casino itself, but an open protocol for online gambling companies (like an online casino, blackjack game operator, or sports betting site) to build on. (DAO.Casino will also build its own branded games.) It isnt aimed at the end userif an online betting site were to use it, the bettor wouldnt have toknow or see that theyre using a system built on Ethereum. (I could even develop my own gambling site on top of DAO.Casinos protocol and pay out users in BET tokens, but rename them Dancoins.) The companys hope is that online betting sites will integrate with its network to offer games without the casino, a middleman that takes a big cut and may not always be trustworthy.
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If youre confused, dont feel bad. In a blog post back in March, the company addressed the confusion its name creates. Many people wonder why do we have DAO in our name, when the term has previously been associated with a hacked investor-directed venture capital fund. They think and we dont blame them for it that is somewhat an extension of an organization whose security loop couldve cost them millions worth of ether. The post goes on to acknowledge that using the DAO acronym is somewhat giving us bad publicity.
Nonetheless, the company embraced the DAO acronym because of what it stands for, a decentralized autonomous organization (which any blockchain-based project is), even if it now carries the stink of The DAO.
Of course, online betting operators may be hesitant to jump on an Ethereum-based protocol for reasons that have nothing to do with DAO.Casinos name.
For starters, the entire cryptocurrency space still has an air of distrust to it; blame the high-profile Silk Road drug market trial, or periodic hacks of bitcoin exchange sites, all of which stoke negative headlines. As one West Coast bankruptcy lawyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells Yahoo Finance, I get clients all the time that say, I want to take X and make it better by using cryptocurrency, and its always either a way to try to get around something illegal or it solves a problem that really didnt exist.
Keep in mind also that online gambling (or iGaming) is still illegal in most states in the US, even when the website taking a bet is based outside the US. But online gambling thrives outside America, and is a $46 billion market globally.DAO.Casino could face regulatory scrutiny in the US, even though the company would likely make the argument that it is just an Internet protocol, not the gambling operator.
As of January, nearly 25% of all smart contracts on Ethereum were game-related. Thats why DAO.Casino CEO Ilya Tarutov honed in on a gambling protocol. Traditional server-based online gambling sites dont engender enough trust, he says, but using a decentralized network can add transparency.
Tarutov explained it to Coin Telegraph thusly: Game outcomes are determined by equally unpredictable pseudorandom values, and anyone can audit this. Once the game software is audited and deployed, no one can fiddle with it and change it.
To ensure fairness of games, DAO.Casino implements randomness through PRNGs (pseudorandom number generators), and incentivizes users who develop new games, fund the development of new games, operate casinos, and contribute random-number algorithms by rewarding them in BET tokens. The games built on DAO.Casino will operate in BET. (Grossly simplified, Tarutov explains, BET is a security measure.)
For now, DAO.Casino is in beta, and offers a simple dice game as an example of what it can do. More games are coming, Tarutov says, from online gambling operators ready to put their games on DAO.Casinos testnet. In the next few days, the site will add a blackjack game.
You can register right now and youll get a free token to try these games. But their real purpose is to show developers, Tarutov says, that it is possible to implement serverless and fast PRNG methods on Ethereum. It shows that theres hope and direction. Were confident that we can implement one more method before the end of this year which is suitable for multiplayer games. But this is just a start.
Daniel Roberts closely covers bitcoin and blockchain at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter at @readDanwrite.
Read more:
Why Ethereum is the hottest new thing in digital currency
More than 75 banks are now on Ripples blockchain network
Expect more blockchain hype in 2017
Heres why 21 Inc. is the most exciting bitcoin company right now
How bitcoin company Coinbase is staying relevant amid the blockchain craze
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DAO Casino wants to use cryptocurrency to disrupt online gambling - Yahoo Finance
A website started by liberal filmmaker Michael Moore that seeks leaks with damaging information about President Trump lacks adequate security to protect some sources says another website that attracts whistleblowers, WikiLeaks.
Moore launched his own version of WikiLeaks on Tuesday, called "TrumpiLeaks," in order to collect information from "patriotic Americans in government, law enforcement, or the private sector with knowledge of the crimes, lies, and general misconduct committed by Donald J. Trump and his associates." The website boasts "high-powered encryption technology" to protect submitted documents and also offers the option for whistleblowers to email information too.
WikiLeaks said the website, which admits "no form of digital communication is 100% secure," doesn't do enough to protect classified information, but is more reliable than several news outlets.
"Michael Moore's #Trumpileaks is not secure enough to protect sources with classified information but it is better than many newspapers," WikiLeaks tweeted.
The launch of TrumpiLeaks comes one day after the Justice Department charged a federal contractor with leaking classified National Security Agency information to a news outlet.
WikiLeaks is responsible for the publication of a number of leaks over the years, including last year's leak of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's campaign. The U.S. intelligence community believes WikiLeaks is tied to Russian operatives.
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WikiLeaks knocks Michael Moore's 'TrumpiLeaks' for lack of security - Washington Examiner
Welcome to OVERNIGHT CYBERSECURITY, your daily rundown of the biggest news in the world of hacking and data privacy. We're here to connect the dots as leaders in government, policy and industry try to counter the rise in cyber threats. What lies ahead for Congress, the administration and the latest company under siege? Whether you're a consumer, a techie or a D.C. lifer, we're here to give you the big stories...
GREETINGS AHEAD OF COMEY EVE:
--TRUMP: "I WISH HIM LUCK." President Trump on Tuesday offered a cryptic message for fired FBI Director James Comey ahead of his highly anticipated testimony before Congress. "I wish him luck," Trump told reporters at the White House before a meeting with GOP congressional leaders. The comments were Trump's first offline, public reaction to Comey's decision to testify publicly about his interactions with the president.
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
--REPORT: COMEY WILL STOP SHORT OF SAYING OBSTRUCTION. A source familiar with Comey's thinking on the matter told ABC News that Comey will not say Trump interfered with the FBI's investigation, but will dispute Trump's assertion that the former FBI director told him three times that he was not under investigation. "He is not going to Congress to make accusations about the President's intent, instead he's there to share his concerns," the source told ABC News.
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
PRO-TRUMP GROUP BUYING ANTI-COMEY ADS: A pro-Trump group is hitting former FBI Director James Comey as a political "showboat" in a new ad airing later this week, the Associated Press reported. The ad -- paid for by Great America Alliance -- will run digitally Wednesday, and then on CNN and Fox News on Thursday. The ad comes just ahead of Comey's highly anticipated testimony Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. In the 30-second ad, titled "Showboat," a narrator says that Comey "put politics over protecting America," according to the AP. It also says the former FBI director was "consumed with election meddling" as "terror attacks were on the rise."
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
--FLYNN TURNS IN 600 PAGES OF DOCUMENTS: Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn provided the Senate Intelligence Committee with over 600 pages of documents, CNN reported Tuesday. While most of the documents included business records, some were also personal files that Flynn provided "based on the narrowed requests from the committee," a source familiar with the matter told the news outlet. The Senate panel issued a second subpoena on Flynn's businesses after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination following the first individual subpoena. Flynn handed in the documents on the last day of the deadline to the committee in order to comply with the subpoena.
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
--MCCAIN WILL QUESTION COMEY: Playing theex-officio card.
McCain serves as an ex-officio member of the intel panel because he is chair of the Armed Services Committee. As such, he is invited to attend the hearing during which the committee will hear testimony from Comey on Russian election interference.
THE BIG STORY:
--RUSSIA DENIES ATTACKING ELECTION SYSTEMS MANUFACTURER: The Kremlin is pushing back against a leaked NSA report thatRussian intelligence services hacked a U.S. voting equipment manufacturer."This assertion has absolutely nothing to do with reality," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters, Reuters reported. "We have heard no arguments proving the veracity of this information. ... Therefore we strongly deny the very possibility that this could have happened."
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
--...TOP SENATE DEM - IT GETS WORSE: The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that Russian election interference expanded beyond what was detailed in an explosive leaked intelligence report this week. "[T]he extent of the attacks is much broader than has been reported so far," Sen. Mark WarnerMark WarnerIt's time for Comey to put up or shut up Top intelligence officials dodge questions about Trump interactions Dem senator: FBI director announcement clearly an attempt to 'distract' from hearings MORE (D-Va.) told USA Today. "None of these actions from the Russians stopped on Election Day." The website The Intercept reported Monday that Russian intelligence conducted a cyberattack on at least one manufacturer of U.S. voting software and sent phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before the November election. Warner stressed Tuesday that he does not believe that Russian intelligence agents were able to affect the vote totals. "I don't believe they got into changing actual voting outcomes," Warner said, adding he was urging intelligence agencies to declassify which states were targeted in an effort to put their electoral systems on notice before the 2018 midterm elections.
--...WARNER HIGHLIGHTS WHAT WE DON'T KNOW: Though the report involves hacking an anonymous election systems manufacturer, the report is not about Russia hacking voting machines. In fact, the report never mentions voting machines - it does not specify what type of elections systems the manufacturer made. The report has clues the manufacturer might be VR Systems, which specializes in a wide range of equipment not used to directly record ballots. The only product mentioned in the report, EViD, is for managing poll books - checking people into the voting station. The underplayed component of the report may be the more consequential: Data taken from the manufacturer was used to phish its customers -more than 100 U.S. elections officials.
--...WIKILEAKS WANTS BLOOD: WikiLeaks offered a $10,000 bounty Monday aimed at getting a reporter for The Intercept fired, following the arrest of a government contractor who allegedly leaked an NSA report to the site. The Justice Department announced earlier Monday that it had arrested Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old government contractor, for leaking classified documents to a news organization. It has been widely reported that Winner allegedly leaked documents from the NSA to The Intercept about Russian attempts to hack U.S. elections officials.
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
--...AND A SENATE DEM WANTS A BRIEFING: Sen. Amy KlobucharAmy KlobucharOvernight Cybersecurity: Trump wishes Comey 'luck' | Russia denies voting firm hack | WikiLeaks wants Intercept reporter fired Dem wants Senate panel briefed on alleged Russia hacking Franken dodges on backing 'terrific' Klobuchar for 2020 bid MORE wants the Senate Rules Committee to get a classified briefing on allegations that Russia hacked a U.S. voting systems manufacturer ahead of the 2016 election. The Minnesota senator, who is the top Democrat on the committee, sent a letter to H.R. McMaster, President Trump's national security adviser, requesting that he meet with the panel. "As the Senate continues to investigate the full extent of Russia's attack on our election system, it is vital that we have all of the information necessary to ensure that future elections are safeguarded from foreign interference," Klobuchar wrote in the letter.
A LIGHTER CLICK:
COMEY, COMI, COME.
WHO'S IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
YOUR POLITICAL CLIMATE IN A NUTSHELL:
The attorney for a man charged with trying to illegally obtain President Trump's personal income tax returns last year argued in a court filing that the then-presidential candidate "openly encouraged" hacking against then-opponent Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonBudowsky: Comeys moment of truth Mayors of Pittsburgh, Paris team up for climate change op-ed It's time for Comey to put up or shut up MORE during his campaign.
In the filing, Politico reported, attorney Michael Fiser argues for felony charges to be dropped against his client, Louisiana private investigator Jordan Hamlett.
Hamlett was indicted in November after he allegedly USED a federal student loan application tool to try to obtain information from Trump's tax returns. As a presidential candidate, Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his personal tax records.
Last July, as concerns mounted among U.S. intelligence officials about Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, Trump appeared to urge Moscow during a news conference to hack Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's emails from her private server.
"I will tell you this, Russia: If you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said at the time. "I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press."
To read the rest of our piece,click here.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
Links from our blog, The Hill, and around the Web.
A Russian intelligence hacker squadtargeted Montenegro.(The Hill)
Kaspersky Lab is suing Microsoft over antitrust concerns. (The Hill).
Amazon, Reddit and Mozilla are all on board for a July day of net neutrality action. (The Hill)
DHSpledged to consider a bug bounty program. (The Hill)
Filmmaker / unabashed lightning rodMichael Mooreset up a site where you can leak him documents. (TrumpiLeaks)
The most common statistic on the growing cybersecurity workforce gap is that there will be 1.8 million more jobs than trained professionals by 2022. A new estimate projectsnearly twice as many by 2021.(CRN)
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Overnight Cybersecurity: Trump wishes Comey 'luck' | Russia denies voting firm hack | WikiLeaks wants Intercept ... - The Hill
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is speaking out in support of Reality Winner, who was arrested by the FBI onSaturday on charges of violating the Espionage Act.
Winner, 25, a federal contractor with Pluribus International Corp. in Augusta, Georgia, is accused ofremoving classified material from a government facility and mailing it to a news outlet, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The arrest came after The Intercept releaseda classified National Security Agency reportabout Russian military intelligence officers alleged attempt to carry out a cyberattack on a voting software company and on local election officials days before the 2016 U.S. election.
Snowden can relate to Winners experience, as he was charged in 2013with stealing government property and violating the Espionage Act.The former Central Intelligence Agency employee and NSA contractor has been living under asylum in Russia ever since he fled the United States that year.
Winner is currentlybeing held in a federal detention center in Lincolnton, Georgia. Her attorney Titus Nichols fears shes being questioned when hes not present.
Reuters
Snowden, who is president of the board for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, described the Espionage Act as a fundamental threat to the free press in a statement on Tuesday.
He wrote that the World War I era law meant for spies explicitly forbids the jury from hearing why the defendant acted, and bars them from deciding whether the outcome was to the publics benefit.
Snowden says thats especially chilling because Winner was allegedly a journalistic source for a leading American news outlet about a matter of critical public importance, and not a spy.
This often-condemned law provides no space to distinguish the extraordinary disclosure of inappropriately classified information in the public interestwhistleblowing from the malicious disclosure of secrets to foreign governments by those motivated by a specific intent to harm to their countrymen.
Snowden said that if America truly values free trials, Winner deserves to be released on bail.
No matter ones opinions on the propriety of the charges against her, we should all agree Winner should be released on bail pending trial. Even if you take all the government allegations as true, its clear she is neither a threat to public safety nor a flight risk. To hold a citizen incommunicado and indefinitely while awaiting trial for the alleged crime of serving as a journalistic source should outrage us all.
See more here:
Edward Snowden: Prosecuting NSA Leaker Threatens The Free Press - HuffPost
Russian President Vladimir Putinbelieves Edward Snowdens decisionto leaktop-secret information from the National Security Agency was wrong.
Yet speaking in an interview with Oliver Stone for a series called The Putin Interviews,which airs onShowtime on June 12, the Russian president also defended Snowden, a former NSA contractor who is currently living in exile in Moscow.
Related: Putin slams Trump-Russia probe
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As an ex-KGB agent, you must have hated what Snowden did with every fiber of your being? Stone asks Putin through a translator in a clip from the show.
"Snowden is not a traitor," Putin replies. "He didnt betray the interest of his country. Nor did he transfer any information to any other country which would have been pernicious to his own country or to his own people.
Still, the Russian president said he thought Snowden had other options.
I think he shouldnt have done it," Putin said.
If he didnt like anything at his work, he should have simply resigned. But he went further. Thats his right. But since you are asking me whether it's right or wrong, I think its wrong.
The four-part special from Stone will air a week after Putin's much publicized interview withNBC's Megyn Kelly and comes at a time when allegations continue to swirl that Russian intelligence meddled in the 2016 presidential election and possibly colluded with now-President Donald Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Oliver Stone for series called "The Putin Interviews." Dmitri Lovetsky/Pool/Reuters
During the interview with Stone, Putin also defended the actions of his own intelligence services.
"Our intelligence services always conform to the law," the Russian president said. "Thats the first thing. And secondly, trying to spy on your allies if you really consider them allies and not vassals is just indecent. Because it undermines trust. And it means that in the end it deals damage to your own national security."
Originally posted here:
Vladimir Putin on Edward Snowden's NSA Leak: He Shouldn't Have Done It - Newsweek
A three-judge appeals panel ruled unanimously to overturn an earlier dismissal of a major lawsuit against the NSAs internet data gathering activities.
On May 23, 2017, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court dismissal in Wikimedia Foundation, et al. v. National Security Agency, et al. The suit alleges that the National Security Agencys Upstream surveillance program is in violation of the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
This marks an important step forward in Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA, and a victory for upholding the rights of privacy and free expression for Wikimedia users, the Wikimedia Foundation said in a press release. We stand ready to continue this fight.
The surveillance program known as Upstream was first revealed by rogue NSA analyst Edward Snowden in May, 2013. Under this program, the spy agency taps directly into the internets backbone at switching stations through which vast amounts of internet traffic are routed.
The lawsuit alleges NSAs Upstream surveillance system violates the First and Fourth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Fourth Circuit ruled those allegations had legal standing sufficient to avoid dismissal.
To put it simply, Wikimedia has plausibly alleged that its communications travel all of the roads that a communication can take, and that the NSA seizes all of the communications along at least one of those roads, the judges wrote.Thus, at least at this stage of the litigation, Wikimedia has standing to sue for a violation of the Fourth Amendment. And, because Wikimedia has self-censored its speech and sometimes forgone electronic communications in response to Upstream surveillance, it also has standing to sue for a violation of the First Amendment."
Patrick Toomey, plaintiffs counsel at the ACLU, said the ruling means Upstream "will finally face badly needed scrutiny" in the courts.
The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, the trial court covering the NSAs headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. That courts Judge T.S. Ellis III dismissed the suit in October, 2015, saying the plaintiffs argument relied on probabilities and suppositions.
The Fourth Circuit panel overruled Ellis, writing theres nothing speculative about it - the interception of Wikimedias communications is an actual injury that has already occurred.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, owner of Wikipedia, and eight other plaintiffs including The Nation magazine and Amnesty International. However, those other plaintiffs did not survive the appeals court ruling; their dismissal was upheld on a 2-1 vote.
The NSAs authority for intelligence gathering under Upstream is derived from Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. This section also forms the legal basis for PRISM, an NSA program that dwarfs Upstream in the amount of data it gathers. PRISM collects data with the help of the largest internet companies in the world, including Google and Facebook.
Section 702 will expire in December 2017 unless reauthorized by Congress, and debate on the whether to continue the program is already underway, with the ACLU lobbying congress for significant reforms.
Clapper v. Amnesty International was the Supreme Court culmination of an earlier legal challenge to the FISA Amendments Act. Amnesty argued that it sustained an increase in the cost of securely communicating with its clients, who were ripe targets for government surveillance. The justices ruled 5-4 that these claims were based too much on speculation and on a predicted chain of events that might never occur.
That, however, was before the revelation of details of the FISA 702 surveillance program contained in documents leaked by Edward Snowden in 2013. Armed with those secrets of the inner workings of NSA surveillance, Wikimedia was able to demonstrate that its injury was clear and not speculative.
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Appeals Court Upholds Wikimedia's Case Against NSA Spying Program - Bigger Law Firm Magazine
TechNet wants Congress to grill President Donald Trump's new FBI director nominee on issues like privacy and encryption.
Trump signaled Wednesday (June 7) that he plans to nominate Christopher Wray, a partner at international law firm King & Spalding, as the new FBI director.
That announcement came only a day before his fired FBI director, James Comey, is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Some Democrats were seeing the move as an attempt to distract attention from the run-up to Comey's testimony.
Reacting to the news, TechNet, representing technology company CEOs and other top execs, signaled that because of the increasing interaction of the FBI and thetechindustry, Congress needed to get his input on those issues.
Comey and the tech industry crossed paths, and to some degree swords, over the issue of government access to encrypted information, notably in the case of an Apple iphone the FBI wanted to access in its investigation of the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting.
With the nomination of Christopher Wray as director of the FBI, the responsibility now falls on the United States Senate to ensure the nominee will do everything in his power to protect the American people and uphold the rule of law, said TechNet president Linda Moore. Because of the FBI's increasing engagement with the technology industry, this confirmation process must explore Mr. Wrays views on digital privacy rights, encryption technologies, and needed reforms to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act that account for modern advances in cloud computing..."
TechNet executive council members include Microsoft president Brad Smith and Apple general counsel Bruce Sewell.
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TechNet To Hill: Query FBI Nominee on Encryption - Multichannel News
Moneycontrol News
The worlds largest software maker Microsoft has raised concerns over the government putting its weight behind open source software in its recent request for proposal to appoint a managed service provider for its e-marketplace, nicknamed GeM.
The RFP has allocated 50 out of 150 marks to solutions that are built using open source software only; this means that if a bidder does not use open source product only then it would be impossible for such a bidder to achieve the 65 percent qualification marks in solution evaluation and would then automatically become technically disqualified, Microsoft has said in a letter to the government, reviewed by Moneycontrol.
Moneycontrol has accessed a copy of the letter. In an official response, Microsoft confirmed sending a letter in this regard.
We confirm that Microsoft India had sent a letter to the government regarding the e-Marketplace project. The government has taken cognizance of the industrys concerns and is looking at addressing them. We remain committed to the Digital India vision, a Microsoft spokesperson told Moneycontrol in an email response.
The government had floated an RFP for design, development, operation and maintenance of Government e-Marketplace (GeM) on March 21, this year. A new and revised RFP is likely to be floated soon after concerns of various stakeholders.
The letter by Microsoft was written to several ministries and government departments, including the Prime Ministers Office and the Ministry of Commerce.
The letter further said that Microsoft is one of the biggest contributors to the open source community. All Microsoft products and cloud offerings work seamlessly with open source. However, we are strongly against shutting out any technology option, the letter added.
GeM is a platform developed by the procurement arm of the government, the Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D), under the Ministry of Commerce. It was launched in August 2016.
The marketplace was envisioned as an online portal on the lines of Flipkart or Amazon, which will enable vendors and government buyers to directly communicate with each other.
Read also: GeM of an idea? All you need to know about the govt's online marketplace
Referring to the open source software policy of the government, released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Microsoft said in the letter, MEITYs (sic) policy on OSS has not been correctly interpreted or followed
We are disappointed that DGS&D, Ministry of Commerce, which is the apex procurement agency, is violating critical norms of purchasing and going against the frameworks developed by MEITY. This also undermines the Honble Prime Ministers efforts to improve the Ease of Doing Business, the letter said.
In March 2015, the government adopted an open source software policy, which made it mandatory for all software applications and services of the government be built using open source software.
Government organisations shall ensure compliance with this requirement and decide by comparing both OSS (open source software) and CSS (closed source software) options with respect to capability, strategic control, scalability, security, lifetime costs and support requirements, the policy states.
Departments opting for closed source software over open source technology have to justify the choice, according to the policy.
Some of the largest e-government projects in India have been implemented on open source, and the key reason for this is the ability to retain control over the technology, said open source evangelist Venkatesh Hariharan.
He added that in a mission critical project like the GeM, technology independence is even more important and that he wasnt surprised that open source has been given a significant weightage.
Use of free and open source software could lead to estimated savings of about Rs 8,254 crore in Indian schools, and about Rs 51.20 crores in police departments in India, says a 2015 study by Rahul De, Hewlett-Packard Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
The United States, United Kingdom and several countries in the European Union have started preferring the use of open source over proprietary software. Closer home, the Unique Identification Authority of India or Aadhaar project has been developed primarily on open source, as is the goods and services tax network, the IT backbone of the GST.
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Microsoft raises concerns on Government's open source push in GeM - Moneycontrol.com