Archive for July, 2013
Driving Somewhere? There’s a Government Record of That
July 17th, 2013Via: AP: Chances are, your local or state police departments have photographs of your car in their files, noting where you were driving on a particular day, even if you never did anything wrong. Using automated scanners, law enforcement agencies across the country have amassed millions of digital records on the location and movement of […]
Insecticide Laced Food Kills at Least 22 Children in India
July 17th, 2013Some of this food wasn’t “properly washed” and dozens of children are dead? Via: The Star: At least 22 children died and more than two dozen others were sick after eating a free school lunch that was tainted with insecticide, Indian officials said Wednesday. It was not immediately clear how chemicals ended up in the […]
Millions of Americans Living Abroad: Get Ready to Comply with New and Absurd U.S. Tax Rules or Give Up Citizenship
July 17th, 2013Via: Wall Street Journal: Beware the sledgehammer used to crack the nut. In this case, the nut is the U.S. government’s laudable goal of catching tax evaders. The sledgehammer is the overreaching effect of legislation that is alienating other countries and resulting in millions of U.S. citizens abroad being forced to either painfully reconsider their […]
Michael Hastings’ Body Cremated Against Wishes of Family Members
July 17th, 2013Update: Reporter Misquoting Joe Biggs This was sent in by TB. Thanks TB. Via: Twitter: colleen menzies ?@colleenmenzies 17 Jul Something Fishy @Rambobiggs @peterjludlow: So Hastings’ body is cremated without the family’s consent. wow.just wow. http://www.sandiego6.com/story/hastings-investigation-20130714 …” Details SSG Joe Biggs ?@Rambobiggs @colleenmenzies @peterjludlow nope. Not true. Never said that NomNomDePlume ‘Agent’ Lamo JT aka. […]
June Earnings
July 17th, 2013Total earnings in June came to $889.67. To those who sent funds directly, thank you. Pookie $75 Eileen $125 [!!!] RL $20 DS $25 TB $50 Anon EUR20 TM $10 Thanks to everyone who conducted business via Cryptogon’s affiliate links. The owners of thinkanimated.com and peterbucklin.com earned Cryptogon $180 for signing up for webhosting with […]
Judge Demands Tech Companies Hand Activist Data Over to Chevron
July 17th, 2013Via: Grist: Chevron is attempting to defend itself against a pesky $18 billion-plus judgment for its dirty dealing in the Ecuador rainforest. In the company’s appeal against the landmark judgment, a federal judge in New York has upheld a subpoena from Chevron seeking IP addresses and identity records of people allegedly tied to the investigation. […]
EPA Nukes Radiation Rules
July 17th, 2013Via: EnviroReporter: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s draft EPA “Protective Action Guide” (PAG), posted on its website April 15, allows hundreds to thousands of times more radiation in disasters than the agency had previously allowed. Americans have until Monday, July 15 to comment* even though the EPA made the new PAG effective immediately. According to […]
Microsoft Trying to Create System That Predicts Your Physical Location in the Future
July 17th, 2013Via: Fast Company: Would you like to know how crowded your drive to the beach will be in three weeks? Or where your ex will be on a Friday night next month so that you can avoid him? Adam Sadilek, formerly of Microsoft, now a researcher at Google, and John Krumm, a principal researcher at […]
Japan’s Internet Cafes: Home for the Underemployed
July 16th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: Over the past 10 years, Internet cafes in Japan have become hotels for the underemployed. Many are equipped with tiny private booths, showers, and laundry service and offer reasonably priced packages for overnight users. The monthly rate at one cafe is 1,920 yen ($19) a day. In 2007, according to Japan’s Ministry of […]
The Case for Abolishing the DHS
July 16th, 2013Via: Bloomberg: On Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano resigned to take up a post running California’s university system. With her departure, there are now 15 vacant positions at the top of the department. That suggests it would be a particularly humane moment to shut the whole thing down. The U.S. Department of Homeland […]
