Friday, March 30, 2012
Neonicotinoid pesticides tied to crashing bee populations, 2 studies find
A widely used farm pesticide first introduced in the 1990s has caused significant changes to bee colonies and removing it could be the key factor in restoring nature's army of pollinators, according to two studies released Thursday.
The scientists behind the studies in Europe called for regulators to consider banning the class of chemicals known as neonicotinoid insecticides. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency told msnbc.com that the studies would be incorporated into a review that's currently under way.
A pesticide trade group questioned the data, saying the levels of pesticide used were unrealistically high, while the researchers said the levels used were typical of what bees would find on farms.
"Our study raises important issues regarding pesticide authorization procedures," stated Mikael Henry, co-author of a study on honey bees. "So far, they mostly require manufacturers to ensure that doses encountered on the field do not kill bees, but they basically ignore the consequences of doses that do not kill them but may cause behavioral difficulties."
"There is an urgent need to develop alternatives to the widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides on flowering crops wherever possible," added the authors of the second study on bumble bees.
Last week, a coalition of environmental groups and beekeepers asked the EPA to suspend the use of the pesticide, which is widely used in flowering crops like corn, sunflower and cotton to combat insects.
The studies are the first to go outside the lab and into the fields, where the experts said they detected how the pesticide impacts bees as they collect pollen and pollinate flowers and crops.
Honey bee populations have been crashing around the world in recent years, and pesticides have been suspected, along with other potential factors such as parasites, disease and habitat loss, in what's known as Colony Collapse Disorder. In the U.S., some beekeepers in 2006 began reporting losses of 30-90 percent of their hives, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Combating Colony Collapse Disorder is hardly an esoteric exercise. The USDA notes that "bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value, particularly for specialty crops such as almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables.
'Walmart of weed' opening store in Washington, D.C.
A company dubbed the "Walmart of Weed" is putting down roots in America's capital city, sprouting further debate on marijuana — medical or otherwise.
Just a few miles from the White House and federal buildings, a company that candidly caters to medical marijuana growers is opening up its first outlet on the East Coast. The opening of the weGrow store on Friday in Washington coincides with the first concrete step in implementing a city law allowing residents with certain medical conditions to purchase pot.
Like suppliers of picks and axes during the gold rush, weGrow sees itself providing the necessary tools to pioneers of a "green rush," which some project could reach nearly $9 billion within the next five years. Admittedly smaller than a big box store, weGrow is not unlike a typical retailer in mainstream America, with towering shelves of plant food and vitamins, ventilation and lighting systems. Along with garden products, it offers how-to classes, books and magazines on growing medical marijuana.
"The more that businesses start to push the envelope by showing that this is a legitimate industry, the further we're going to be able to go in changing people's minds," said weGrow founder Dhar Mann.
Although federal law outlaws the cultivation, sale or use of marijuana, 16 states and the District of Columbia have legalized its medical use to treat a wide range of issues from anxiety and back pain to HIV/AIDS and cancer-related ailments. Fourteen states also have some kind of marijuana decriminalization law, removing or lowering penalties for possession.
Nearly 7% of Americans, or 17.4 million people, said they used marijuana in 2010, up from 5.8%, or 14.4 million, in 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. A Gallup poll last year found a record-high of 50% of Americans saying that marijuana should be made legal, and 70% support medical uses for pot.
Marijuana advocates also tout revenue benefits, as well as cost and efficiency savings for not prosecuting or jailing people for pot.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Bedrock of vaccination theory crumbles as science reveals antibodies not necessary to fight viruses
(NaturalNews) While the medical, pharmaceutical, and vaccine industries are busy pushing new vaccines for practically every condition under the sun, a new study published in the journal Immunity completely deconstructs the entire vaccination theory. It turns out that the body's natural immune systems, comprised of both innate and adaptive components, work together to ward off disease without the need for antibody-producing vaccines.
The theory behind vaccines is that they mimic infection by spurring B cells, one of the two major types of white blood cells in the immune system, to produce antibodies as part of the adaptive immune system. It is widely believed that these vaccine-induced antibodies, which are part of the more specific adaptive immune system, teach the immune system how to directly respond to an infection before the body becomes exposed to it.
But the new research highlights the fact that innate immunity plays a significant role in fighting infections, and is perhaps more important than adaptive immunity at preventing or fighting infections. In tests, adaptive immune system antibodies were shown unable to fight infection by themselves, which in essence debunks the theory that vaccine-induced antibodies serve any legitimate function in preventing or fighting off infection.
"Our findings contradict the current view that antibodies are absolutely required to survive infection with viruses like VSV (vesicular stomatitis virus), and establish an unexpected function for B cells as custodians of macrophages in antiviral immunity," said Dr. Uldrich H. von Andrian from Harvard Medical School. "It will be important to further dissect the role of antibodies and interferons in immunity against similar viruses that attack the nervous system, such as rabies, West Nile virus, and Encephalitis."
As explained by Dr. Russell Blaylock in a recent interview with Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, vaccines not only do not work as advertised, but they actually damage the body's innate immunity. Rather than teach the body how to respond to infections, vaccines actually inhibit the immune system's ability to produce TH2-type cytokines, and suppress cellular immunity, which is how the body protects itself against deadly viruses and bacteria.
So once again, the myth that vaccinations serve any sort of legitimate medical purpose has been deconstructed by breakthrough science. Regardless of whether or not the mainstream medical community wants to admit it, pro-vaccine ideology is increasingly finding itself in the dustheap of outmoded pseudoscience.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Yes, Deepwater Horizon Oil Did Enter the Food Chain
Along with the death of scores of marine animals and seabirds, one of the main concerns during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the impact on the food chain. A new study clarifies that impact: Hydrocarbons from the Macondo well trickled into the ocean food chain via its tiniest members, zooplankton.
Deepwater Horizon oil was found in zooplankton up to a month after the Macondo well was finally capped, the study found. Just as other oil spill studies have found, the impacts were patchy — some zooplankton far away from the wellhead showed evidence of contamination, while other plankton close by showed lower levels of exposure.
In any event, traces of oil in these tiny creatures shows they came into contact with the spilled oil, scientists say. Given their importance as a food source for a wide range of animals, this indicates compounds in the oil did work their way into the food chain — and still are.
The study was published in last month's issue of Geographical Research Letters.
Hundreds of Israelis march in Tel Aviv to protest war with Iran
Hundreds of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest against a possible Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Get all the latest updates on Haaretz.com's Facebook page Anti-war protest - Hadar Cohen - 24.3.2012
The protest came amid a recent Facebook campaign linking Israeli and Iranian citizens in their opposition to war between the two nations. Campaign leaders, however, made it clear on their Facebook page that they had nothing to do with the Tel Aviv protest march.
Last week, graphic designers Ronny Edry and his wife, Michal Tamir, unknowingly began a Facebook phenomenon when they uploaded a poster depicting Edry and his daughter with the words, "Iranians, we will never bomb your country, we [heart] you."
That one image sparked a movement of sorts, with hundreds, if not thousands, of images sent from Israel, Iran, and elsewhere in the world, in support of exposing what participants consider to be the human side of the conflict between Iran and Israel.
Monsanto wants to brainwash your children with 'Biotechnology Basics Activity Book'
(NaturalNews) In response to mounting public backlash from the older generation, the biotechnology industry has launched a new propaganda campaign aimed at convincing children that genetically-modified (GM) crops are not only safe, but also an improvement over natural agriculture. Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, and five other major biotechnology companies and associations have collectively released the Biotechnology Basics Activity Book, a colorful guide designed to reeducate children into the false dogma of biotechnology.
The 16-page guide -- which includes word scrambles, fill-in-the-blank puzzles, and matching games -- contains an introductory paragraph that claims biotechnology boosts crop yields, improves environmental conditions, and leads to more nutritious food. Throughout the book, children are told that biotechnology is changing the world for the better, which is a complete contradiction to all available independent science. And yet this guide is reportedly slated for inclusion in some school curriculums.
"This is an activity book for young people like you about biotechnology -- a really neat topic," says the first page of the book. "Why is it such a neat topic? Because biotechnology is helping to improve the health of the Earth and the people who call it home."
You can view the entire activity book for yourself at: whybiotech.com
The guide was produced by a group known as the Council for Biotechnology Information (CBI), a pro-GMO coalition of the world's largest biotechnology companies and organizations. CBI routinely ignores independent science that shows GMOs and their growing chemicals to be dangerous, and continues to purvey the lie that GMO technologies are not only safe, but that they are superior to conventional and organic growing methods.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Twitter sticks together with OWS protesters
Twitter Inc. refuses to give out information on Jeffrey Rae, a prominent OWS protester whose on-the-ground Twitter reporting is followed by thousands. Activists under police scrutiny say a political witch hunt has begun on behalf of “the 1 per cent”.
The microblogging service Twitter says it will not comply with the request two weeks ago by the New York District Attorney to hand over data about an Occupy Wall Street protester. Jeffrey Rae was among more than 700 activists arrested during a Brooklyn Bridge march in New York on October 1 last year.
Bloggers now say it is the beginning of authorities’ digging into the social media black hole, as Rae is now part of a chain of similar privacy requests.
And the protesters who believed Twitter was a secure way to communicate during demonstrations may have another thing coming.
Jeff Rae describes himself on Twitter as a “rabble rouser, agitator, organizer, labor activist.”
On October 1, 2011, Rae received two charges of disorderly conduct and one charge of “Horse/unauthorized Riding/ltd Use Vehicle.” After the arrest he tweeted that he was charged with “failure to obey order, prohibited use of roadway, and blocking traffic.”
That is what the NYPD calls a “disobedient civilian”.
Internet providers to start policing the web July 12
Some of the biggest Internet service providers in America plan to adopt policies that will punish customers for copyright infringement, and one of the top trade groups in the music biz announced this week that it could begin as soon as this summer.
The chief executive officer of the Recording Industry Association of America told an audience of publishers on Wednesday that a plan carved out last year to help thwart piracy is expected to prevail and be put in place by this summer. RIAA CEO Cary Sherman was one of the guest speakers among a New York panel this week and he confirmed that, at this rate, some of the most powerful Internet providers in America should have their new policies on the books by July 12, 2012.
Last year, Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Cablevision Systems and other Internet service providers proposed best practice recommendations that they suggested would help curb copyright crimes on the Web. The end result largely settled on consisted of a “graduate response” approach, a plan that would mean culprits could be issued a series of warnings for illegally downloading suspect material which, after a certain number of offenses, would lead to “mitigation measures,” connection speed throttling and termination of service.
"We anticipate that very few subscribers, after having received multiple alerts, will persist (or allow others to persist) in the content theft,” the Center for Copyright Information said in an official statement last summer as plans were first publicized. Now nearly a year after developments made by the big ISPs were first discussed, the RIAA’s Sherman says that online censorship sanctioned by corporate conglomerates such as Time Warner and Verizon are practically set in stone.
Discussing the road to realizing how to implement the policies, Sherman briefly touched on the technical aspects of the plan this week during the panel. "Each ISP has to develop their infrastructure for automating the system," Sherman said. They need this "for establishing the database so they can keep track of repeat infringers, so they know that this is the first notice or the third notice. Every ISP has to do it differently depending on the architecture of its particular network. Some are nearing completion and others are a little further from completion."
So what does this mean for you? If you’re an Internet user in America, almost certainly something significant. Between Time Warner, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Cablevision, those ISPs alone accounted for around 51 percent of the market in America back in 2008. Figures from June 2010 collected by the United Nation’s ITU division suggests that there are around 240 million Internet users now in the US, which means more than three-fourths of the country’s total population. With those big ISPs only thriving since their last figures were disclosed, 51 percent coverage of the market today would mean that around 120 million users can expect to fall under the umbrella of a massive campaign that could soon see half of the country at risk of having their Internet shut off.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Saudi Arabia And China Team Up To Build A Gigantic New Oil Refinery
The largest oil exporter in the Middle East has teamed up with the second largest consumer of oil in the world (China) to build a gigantic new oil refinery and the mainstream media in the United States has barely even noticed it. This mammoth new refinery is scheduled to be fully operational in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu by 2014. Over the past several years, China has sought to aggressively expand trade with Saudi Arabia, and China now actually imports more oil from Saudi Arabia than the United States does. In February, China imported 1.39 million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia. That was 39 percent higher than last February. So why is this important? Well, back in 1973 the United States and Saudi Arabia agreed that all oil sold by Saudi Arabia would be denominated in U.S. dollars. This petrodollar system was adopted by almost the entire world and it has had great benefits for the U.S. economy. But if China becomes Saudi Arabia's most important trading partner, then why should Saudi Arabia continue to only sell oil in U.S. dollars? And if the petrodollar system collapses, what is that going to mean for the U.S. economy?
Those are very important questions, and they will be addressed later on in this article. First of all, let's take a closer look at the agreement reached between Saudi Arabia and China recently.
Google’s ‘Ambient Background’ Spy Tech
Six years ago we warned readers that Google was planning to use the ambient background noise of a person’s environment to spy on their activities in order to direct targeted advertising at them through technological devices. That has now come to fruition with the search engine giant filing a petition for “Advertising based on environmental conditions.”
“As that title implies, it’s not just background sounds that could be used to determine what adverts you seen on your mobile phone. The patent also describes using ‘temperature, humidity, light and air composition’ to produced targeted adverts,” reports the Daily Mail.
In other words, Google is going to spy on your private conversations, music preferences, TV watching habits, your choice of radio station, and whatever else is happening in your immediate environment, in order to build a psychological profile of your entire life.
The current patent relates to smart phones, but any Inter-connected device could ultimately be used for the same purpose.
Poland's Monsanto action lays 1000s of dead bees on Govt steps
On March 15, over 1,500 beekeepers and their allies marched thru the streets of Warsaw, depositing thousands of dead bees on the steps of the Ministry of Agriculture, in protest of genetically modified foods and their requisite pesticides which are killing bees, moths and other agriculturally-beneficial insects around the globe.
Later that day the Minister of Agriculture, Marek Sawicki, announced plans to ban MON810, which has become ineffective at deterring pests in the US.
GM crops and the pesticides used with them have led to a host of problems (itemized here), including the development of new pathogens. One is associated with spontaneous abortion in cattle and another is responsible for massive methane foaming on manure lagoons which explode, killing thousands of animals in the US since 2001.
The Polish Beekeepers Association organized the protest, joining forces with International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside (ICPPC) and the Coalition for a GMO Free Poland. Targeting Monsanto’s MON810 GM corn in particular, they also called for a complete ban on all GM crops and harmful pesticides.
In 2008, the Polish Parliament banned GM feed, including both the planting and importing of GM crops. “Despite this progressive step,” reports Food Travels, “the European Commission has refused to accept regional bans on GMOs, keeping Polish farmers, producers, and activists on the offensive.”
Regardless, says the ICPPC, “None of the nine European Union countries that have already prohibited MON 810 did so by asking the permission of the EU.”
Beekeepers dressed in their traditional working uniforms and ran their hive smoke guns as they marched. Some wore yellow jackets with the misattributed quote of Albert Einstein warning that if bees were to die, humanity would soon suffer the same fate. Though he did not say it, it’s true. Most food crops rely on bees for pollination.
Others wore a variety of original costumes, sported signs and banners and carried bee-like objects to draw attention to the plight of these all-important pollinators. More pictures at Stop GMO Festival.
The ICPPC is asking Polish residents to write Minister of Agriculture Marek Sawicki, demanding that he implement an immediate moratorium on GM crops, without waiting for EU approval:
e-mail: marek.sawicki@minrol.gov.pl tel.: 0048 226231510; fax: 0048 226231788
Thursday, March 22, 2012
What Is Causing The Strange Noises In The Sky That Are Being Heard All Over The World?
During the second half of 2011, a lot of people all over the planet started reporting hearing really strange noises coming from the sky. In some instances the noises produced a loud rumbling such as a train, a thunderstorm or the slamming of a heavy door would make. In other instances, the noises sounded more like "groaning". In yet other instances the noises sounded almost as if a trumpet was playing. Dozens of videos went up on YouTube purporting to document this phenomenon, but the truth is that you can fake almost anything on a YouTube video and many dismissed these strange "strange sounds" as an Internet hoax. However, now entire towns in the northern part of the United States are hearing strange noises in the sky and the mainstream media is reporting on it. In fact, one U.S. town is planning to spend thousands of dollars to hire an engineering firm to investigate where these strange sounds are coming from. At this point a lot of theories about these strange noises are being floated, but so far scientists have not been able to give us a definitive explanation for the source of these strange noises. So exactly what in the world is going on?
This phenomenon made national news again this week because of what has been going on in Clintonville, Wisconsin. Hundreds of residents of Clintonville reported hearing incredibly loud noises coming from the sky for several nights in a row. Even CBS News is reporting on what is happening in Clintonville....
Denmark: Socialism's Prize Nation Slave State
Here are some fun facts about Denmark. Or, facts about Denmark you would find outrageous if you have ever been in a free country.
Being born and raised in Denmark, I recently returned there after 8 years of enjoying the freedom of Mexico. It was very strange to go back and see how what had once been normal for me now baffled me. And when asking other Danes about these things I found their reactions to seem very unusual. To them, that is just the way it is.
Central banks pounce on falling gold
Gold prices have been falling over the past few days and central banks are jumping on this opportunity to buy more gold. Central banks are one of the most important drivers for gold prices so this may signal higher gold prices sometime in the near future.
March 16, 2012 6:51 pm By Jack Farchy Financial Times
A sharp fall in gold prices has triggered large purchases of bullion by central banks in recent weeks, according to several traders with knowledge of the transactions.
The buying activity highlights the trend among central banks in emerging economies to buy gold, even as some western investors are losing patience with the metal. Gold prices have dropped 13.8 per cent from a nominal record high of $1,920 a troy ounce reached in September, and on Friday were trading at $1,655.60.
The Bank for International Settlements, which acts on behalf of central banks, has been buying significant quantities of gold on the international market amid falling prices, traders said.
According to several estimates, the BIS bought 4-6 tonnes of gold, worth roughly $250m-$300m at current prices, in the over-the-counter physical market last week, with purchases particularly strong at the end of the week. The total purchases over the past three or four weeks were likely to be as much as double that, the traders added.
In a note to clients this week, Credit Suisse referred to “aggressive central bank buying seen last Friday”.
The BIS declined to comment.
Central banks are one of the most important drivers of the gold market, holding one-sixth of all the gold ever mined in their reserves, but they disclose few details about their activities.
As a group, they made their largest purchases of gold in more than four decades last year, led by emerging economies such as Mexico, Russia and South Korea intent on diversifying their dollar-heavy foreign exchange reserves. The World Gold Council has also pointed to the possibility of significant unreported purchases by China at the end of last year.
At the same time, European central banks have all but halted a run of large sales.
“Central banks have definitely been looking at gold as an asset class much more closely ever since European central banks stopped selling,” a senior gold banker said. “There has been a huge interest.”
While some countries, such as Russia, China or the Philippines, have traditionally accumulated gold produced by their domestic mining industry, others use the BIS as an agent to carry out purchases and sales on their behalf, preserving anonymity.
The central bank buying comes as gold prices have slid in the past three weeks as strong economic data from the US has lowered investors’ expectations of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve and made other investments, such as equities, appear more attractive.
Gold prices this week fell to their lowest since mid-January after the Fed struck an optimistic tone on the US economic recovery. “It’s clear that the market trend right now is an unwinding of safe-haven exposures, like gold, and a preference for growth assets,” said Edel Tully, precious metals strategist at UBS.
Buying from large physical consumers of gold such as China and India remains sparse, despite the fall in prices. India on Friday announced it would double import tariffs for gold, a move analysts said could damp demand.
“Asian physical demand remains lacklustre,” Credit Suisse said, arguing that gold prices could fall below $1,600. “Gold has now slipped back towards the middle of its long-term trend and has room to drop further.”
Monsanto’s GMO Corn Causing Weight Gain, Disrupting Organs
Are genetically modified foods making you sick and fat? Monsanto’s genetically modified creations have been pegged for causing a plethora of environmental and human harm, but are they also contributing to one of the country’s fastest growing health problems? A study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences shows that GM food is indeed contributing to the obesity epidemic.
While being one of the first to report on a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data of rats fed GM corn, the study effectively ends the debate as to whether GMO foods are safe regarding health. The study found that GM corn fed to mice led to an increase in overall body weight of about 3.7 percent, while also increasing the weight of the liver by up to 11 percent.
“Crude and relative liver weights are also affected at the end of the maximal (33%) GM maize feeding level as well as that of the heart which for corresponding parameters to a comparable extent, showed up to an 11% weight increase…Additional statistically significant differences include … higher … overall body (3.7%) weight.”
But this 2009 study sheds much more light on GMO dangers than mere weight increase.
“There is a world-wide debate concerning the safety and regulatory approval process of genetically modified (GM) crops and foods. In order to scientifically address this issue, it is necessary to have access to toxicological tests, preferably on mammals, performed over the longest time-scales involving detailed blood and organ system analyses.”the introduction states. “For the first time in the world, we’ve proven that GMO are neither sufficiently healthy nor proper to be commercialized…Each time, for all three GMOs, the kidneys and liver, which are the main organs that react to a chemical food poisoning, had problems,” indicated Gilles-Eric Séralini, an expert member of the Commission for Biotechnology Reevaluation.
Needless to say, Monsanto’s GMO crops are causing numerous other problems in our world. While contributing to weight gain, the company’s GM corn has been shown to be creating resistant rootworms — causing farmers to use even more threatening pesticides on GMO crops. Of course the use of Monsanto’s Bt biopesticides has also been shown to to be aiding in decline of our health, recently being found to wreak havoc on human kidney cells. This is an indirect, but very real way GMO crops are causing damage.
GMO crops are known to cause short term damage to nature and your biology, but it is perhaps the long-term consequences that are most concerning. We currently have information and research regarding the detrimental effects of GMO foods in the short term, but they continue to be used while long-term effects are still a mystery even to supporters of GMOs. It is for these reasons, among many others, that GMO crops are continually being banned around the world. Hungary, France, Peru, and others have taken all action against GMO crops and GM foods altogether due to safety hazards these products pose on human health, the ecosystem, and the environment. This article was published at the Natural Society.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Inside the Ring: Beijing coup rumors
U.S. intelligence agencies monitoring China’s Internet say that from March 14 to Wednesday bloggers circulated alarming reports of tanks entering Beijing and shots being fired in the city as part of what is said to have been a high-level political battle among party leaders - and even a possible military coup.
The Internet discussions included photos posted online of tanks and other military vehicles moving around Beijing.
The reports followed the ouster last week of senior Politburo member and Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, who was linked to corruption, but who is said to remain close to China’s increasingly nationalistic military.
Chinese microblogging sites Sina Weibo, QQ Weibo, and the bulletin board of the search engine Baidu all reported “abnormalities” in Beijing on the night of March 19.
The comments included rumors of the downfall of the Shanghai leadership faction and a possible “military coup,” along with reports of gunfire on Beijing’s Changan Street. The reports were quickly removed by Chinese censors shortly after postings and could no longer be accessed by Wednesday.
The unusual postings included reports that military vehicles were sent to control Changan Street, along with plainclothes police officers and metal barriers.
Products Containing Aspartame
Aspartame has established itself as an important component in many low-calorie, sugar-free foods and beverages and is primarily responsible for the growth over the last two decades in the sugar-free market. The safety of aspartame has been affirmed by the U.S. FDA 26 times in the past 23 years.
Currently, aspartame is consumed by over 200 million people around the world and is found in more than 6,000 products including carbonated soft drinks, powdered soft drinks, chewing gum, confections, gelatins, dessert mixes, puddings and fillings, frozen desserts, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops. In the United States, all food ingredients, including aspartame, must be listed in the ingredient statement on the food label.
Several tabletop sweeteners containing aspartame as the sweetening ingredient can be used in a wide variety of recipes. However, in some recipes requiring lengthy heating or baking, a loss of sweetness may occur; this is not a safety issue - simply the product may not be as sweet as desired. Therefore, it is best to use tabletop sweeteners with aspartame in specially designed recipes available from the manufacturers of these tabletop sweeteners. Aspartame tabletop sweeteners may also be added to some recipes at the end of heating to maintain sweetness. The Following Reduced Calorie Products Have Aspartame-Sweetened Choices
- Breath Mints
- Carbonated Soft Drinks
- Cereals
- Chewing Gum
- Flavored Syrups for Coffee
- Flavored Water Products
- Frozen Ice
- Frozen Ice Cream Novelties
- Fruit Spreads
- Gelatin, Sugar Free
- Hard Candies
- Ice cream Toppings
- Ice Creams, No Sugar Added or Sugar Free
- Iced Tea, Powder
- Iced Tea, Ready to Drink
- Instant Cocoa Mix
- Jams & Jellies
- Juice Blends
- Juice Drinks
- Maple Syrups
- Meal Replacements
- Mousse
- No Sugar Added Pies
- Non-Carbonated Diet Soft drinks
- Nutritional Bars
- Powdered Soft Drinks
- Protein Nutritional Drinks
- Pudding
- Soft Candy Chews
- Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup
- Sugar Free Cookies
- Sugar Free Ketchup
- Table Top Sweeteners
- Vegetable Drinks
- Yogurt, Drinkable
- Yogurt, Fat Free
- Yogurt, Sugar Free
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Job seekers getting asked for Facebook passwords
SEATTLE (AP) -- When Justin Bassett interviewed for a new job, he expected the usual questions about experience and references. So he was astonished when the interviewer asked for something else: his Facebook username and password.
Bassett, a New York City statistician, had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. But she couldn't see his private profile. She turned back and asked him to hand over his login information.
Bassett refused and withdrew his application, saying he didn't want to work for a company that would seek such personal information. But as the job market steadily improves, other job candidates are confronting the same question from prospective employers, and some of them cannot afford to say no.
In their efforts to vet applicants, some companies and government agencies are going beyond merely glancing at a person's social networking profiles and instead asking to log in as the user to have a look around.
"It's akin to requiring someone's house keys," said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and former federal prosecutor who calls it "an egregious privacy violation."
Questions have been raised about the legality of the practice, which is also the focus of proposed legislation in Illinois and Maryland that would forbid public agencies from asking for access to social networks.
Since the rise of social networking, it has become common for managers to review publically available Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts and other sites to learn more about job candidates. But many users, especially on Facebook, have their profiles set to private, making them available only to selected people or certain networks.
Drones to host Pirate Bay servers flying over intl waters
Controversial file-sharing website The Pirate Bay has had more than its share of legal troubles over the past few years – investigations, raids, fines. Now the site has come up with a radical new plan: hosting its servers on unmanned flying drones.
According to TPB’s most recent blog post, being down-to-earth is just not doing it for them anymore. So they are looking to take advantage of advanced technologies like the super-small Raspberry Pi computer, GPS-controlled drones and far-reaching cheap radio equipment.
The plan is to mount the cheap radio devices and computers on drones (“Low Orbit Server Stations”) and launch them high above neutral territory over the ocean.
"With modern radio transmitters we can get over 100Mbps per node up to 50km away. For the proxy system we’re building, that’s more than enough. This way our machines will have to be shut down with aeroplanes in order to shut down the system. A real act of war,” the blog says.
For what it is worth, most of the comments on the blog post are very supportive of this outlandish idea. And it certainly would lend support to TPB’s slogan, “the galaxy’s most resilient system”. The question now is: will they actually be able to pull it off?
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs
TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.
But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.
I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.
Monday, March 12, 2012
DARPA Director Regina Dugan Leaves Defense Department For Google
Today brings some rather high-profile recruiting from Google: the director of DARPA, the Department of Defense’s research arm, is leaving after three years of heading the agency to join Google at a “senior executive position.”
The news comes from a DARPA spokesman, who reports that Dugan felt she couldn’t refuse an offer from such an “innovative company.” She has worked at the agency on and off since 1996, and most recently has brought its budget and resources to bear on more practical problems like securing military networks. What role she will play at Google is unknown, but it is probably at least partially security-related.
Dugan was originally a researcher and program manager, and ascended to director status in 2009. Although she has encouraged innovation and some so-called “blue sky” projects (research that may stall or never see the light of day), she has also made efforts to fund what are, by DARPA standards, much more grounded projects. She has a few patents of her own in various areas of engineering and has published a book on engineering thermodynamics.
In November, she appealed to hackers and security experts to consider the problem of the military’s outdated data-protection methods. She seems to have intuited that while robot cheetahs, cornea displays, and hummingbird UAVs are all well and good, the physical battlefield isn’t the only real one. Cybersecurity is increasingly important even in real-world security; NASA just recently said it had been hacked thousands of times, possibly losing valuable and sensitive data to hackers in China.
Dugan is the subject of an investigation (described as one of many “regular audits” but an investigation nonetheless) related to contracts being awarded to a firm for which she was a co-founder, but the DARPA spokesman said the departure for Google was unrelated.
She is expected to make the final switch in the next few weeks, by which time we will perhaps have more information on her new role at Google.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Iceland calls its former PM to account for financial crash
On a low hill overlooking Reykjavik's harbour the members of a small camera crew wrapped in many layers of winterwear are wrestling with the horizontal snow in an attempt to film a short comedy sketch. The set-up of the skit, one explains, involves "a bum, he lives in the park and he is trying to sell tickets at crazy high prices for the show".
The show in question is taking place in a nearby white building, and the joke turns on the fact that, three and a half years after what is known here simply as The Crash, Icelanders have learned the hard way that you can't, after all, value something worthless simply by naming your price, and then adding zeroes.
That's not to say that what is taking place inside the white building – Reykjavik's Culture House – is not, in its own way, a hot ticket.
In a smart wood-panelled former library on the first floor a special criminal court has been convened for the first time in the country's history. Its purpose is to try the former Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde over the spectacular economic collapse in October 2008 which catastrophically bankrupted the small island nation.
Haarde, 60, is to date the only politician anywhere in the world to face criminal charges over the financial crisis. The charges, which he denies, include "serious neglect of his duties … in the face of major perils looming over Icelandic financial institutions and the state treasury, a danger he knew of, or should have known of".
If convicted he could face up to two years in prison.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the recipes for their soft drinks to avoid being forced by law to put a cancer warning on the label...
Coca-Cola and Pepsi are changing the recipes for their soft drinks to avoid being forced by law to put a cancer warning on the label.
The caramel colouring in the drinks will contain lower levels of 4-methylimidazole, which has been added to the list of carcinogens in California law.
Coca-Cola's recipe is being changed across the US - but will not be changed in Britain or the rest of Europe.
While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning
Diana Garza-Ciarlante, from Coca-Cola
Under the legislation, drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens must bear a cancer warning label.
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo account for almost 90% of the fizzy drinks market in America.
The changes have already been made for drinks sold in California.
The companies said the new recipes would be rolled out across the US to streamline their manufacturing processes.
Friday, March 9, 2012
China to export yuan to BRICS
China is reportedly to begin extending loans in yuan to BRICS countries in another step towards internationalizing the national currency and diversifying from the US dollar.
The Chinese Development Bank wants to sign a memorandum of understanding with the country's partners from BRICS group of developing countries on increasing yuan-denominated loans, while partners increase loans in their national currencies, The Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the talks.
The move aims to increase trade volumes between the five nations and diversify from using the US dollar.
Brazil and South Africa were quick to react to the proposal, saying they expect the lending pledge to be included into a master agreement to be signed in New Delhi on March 29.
“We will discuss the creation of structures and mechanisms for lending in local currencies in order to maximize economic and financial transactions between the countries that are members of the accord,” Brazil’s development bank BNDES said.
China, with 54 per cent of its foreign reserves in US dollars, has been trying to diversify from the currency it believes will weaken soon and for a protracted period.
China agreed to use national currencies with Russia, Belarus and Japan for bilateral trade. The country also decreased its foreign reserves in dollars recently in favor of the Australian and Canadian currencies. +25 (25 votes)
IT'S OFFICIAL: ISDA TRIGGERS GREEK CREDIT EVENT IN UNANIMOUS DECISION
It's for real this time.
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association determined today that Greece's bond swap has triggered a credit event.
That will lead to payouts of credit default swaps—essentially, insurance contracts on holdings of Greek bonds under Greek law—that investors purchased to hedge against the risk of holding Greek sovereign debt.
While expected, this is the icing on the cake of the first developed market default in 60 years.
An auction related to outstanding CDS transactions will be held on March 19. The committee asks that any investor wanting to participate in the auction notify ISDA immediately.
Provocation of a credit event has been a contentious topic in Europe during the last few months. On one hand, sovereign CDS contracts are the only securities that allow investors to hedge and speculate directly against governments. Because the market is so opaque and because many financial institutions are on both sides of this trade, credit default swaps have compounded concerns about the contagion that would occur as a result of a financial shock.
While the market for Greek CDS is relatively small, some traders and officials had been fearful that a credit event was still not fully priced in, and could have some negative consequences.
Monday, March 5, 2012
The top 10 worst sources of aspartame
(NaturalNews) If you think you are making a healthier option because you chose to have diet soda over a regular soda drink, its time to think again. Crafty advertising may have given the term “sugar free” an impression of healthy alternative, but the truth of the matter is that chemical sweeteners are far from healthy.
Despite the dismissive stand of aspartame producers that aspartame is safe for human consumption, various studies over the years have shown that aspartame is actually linked to headaches, migraines, dizziness, tumors and even cancer. The U.S. FDA made public 92 symptoms attributed to aspartame from submitted complaints. Despite its questionable effect, aspartame was approved for use in 1981 and still continues to be so today. Ironically, aspartame was never tested in humans before its approval. Its use in over 6,000 products and by 250 million people has made the public its unwitting guinea pig in a grand experiment 40 years in the making.
Key to health: Low-Sugar, not sugar-free
Stocking up on diet foods is the best way to gain weight. Latest research on aspartame has revealed that it actually increases the risk of weight gain. Being 200 times sweeter than sugar, aspartame appears to be the perfect answer to dieting since it contains only a few calories while still having the sweet taste of sugar. Unfortunately, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, major components of aspartame, trigger the release of insulin and leptins. The latter are hormones that stimulate storage of body fat.
Moreover, large doses of phenylalanine lower serotonin levels and lead to food cravings. Since both real and artificial sweeteners stimulate the taste buds, they affect the same taste and pleasure pathways in the brain. Artificial sweeteners, however, merely activate but do not satiate the pleasure-related region of the brain, proving to be an inferior system in preventing sugar cravings. In the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, researcher Qing Yang – a faculty at the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology – published findings that revealed artificial sweeteners more likely to cause weight gain than weight loss.
This is over and above the fact that aspartame is also highly addictive. The phenylalanine and methanol components increase the dopamine levels in the brain and cause a certain high. This further creates an addiction that is only made worse by the release of methyl alcohol or methanol, which is considered a narcotic. Keeping this in mind, it’s time we reconsider the “health benefits” aspartame is supposed to give.
Products containing aspartame
The following are well-known products that use aspartame:
- Diet sodas
- Yogurts
- Chewing gum
- Cooking sauces
- Crisps
- Tabletop sweeteners
- Drink powders
- Flavored water
- Sugar-free products
- Cereals
The above mentioned popular products are just a few of many that contain aspartame. Despite the rising reports of aspartame’s toxicity, a re-investigation by the FDA as well as of key regulatory bodies worldwide doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. We can only protect ourselves by making a conscious choice to check the label of every product we buy at the grocery store.
If you have complaints regarding aspartame, don’t be shy in making your complaint known. The last thing you want to be is a face in a crowd lining up before a government office that doesn’t have your interest at heart.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Is Artificial Intelligence Taking Over the Stock Market?
In case you weren't aware, machines are now reading the news. Actually, a few thousand machines—probably more—may have already read and scanned what you're about to read for any hint of tradable information. Of course, this isn't just limited to blogs or news disseminated on the web, but social media too.
ai-terminator-killing-for-profitLate last year, a company decided to launch "streams of data from Twitter and the securities discussion site StockTwits that are 'normalized' and ready to be fed to computers for analytical processing...designed for use by hedge funds and high-frequency traders."1
Now, you've got to admit, machines scouring the web for tradable information is a bit sci-fi. Are they just collecting information though or buying and selling on it instantly? The answer is both.
Japan invents speech-jamming gun that silences people mid-sentence
TOKYO (Newscore) - Japanese researchers have invented a speech-jamming gadget that painlessly forces people into silence.
Kazutaka Kurihara of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Koji Tsukada of Ochanomizu University, developed a portable "SpeechJammer" gun that can silence people more than 30 meters away.
The device works by recording its target's speech then firing their words back at them with a 0.2-second delay, which affects the brain's cognitive processes and causes speakers to stutter before silencing them completely.
Describing the device in their research paper, Kurihara and Tsukada wrote, "In general, human speech is jammed by giving back to the speakers their own utterances at a delay of a few hundred milliseconds. This effect can disturb people without any physical discomfort, and disappears immediately by stopping speaking."
They found that the device works better on people who were reading aloud than engaged in "spontaneous speech" and it cannot stop people making meaningless sounds, such as "ahhh," that are uttered over a long time period.
Kurihara and Tsukada suggested the speech-jamming gun could be used to hush noisy speakers in public libraries or to silence people in group discussions who interrupt other people's speeches.
"There are still many cases in which the negative aspects of speech become a barrier to the peaceful resolution of conflicts," the authors said.
New Terror Laws Feed All Your Private Messages To Big Brother
CNET and the Telegraph report new anti-terror laws force Internet and Phone companies to provide your every phone call, text, email and private social network message to the government
The attack on online privacy is assaulting the public from every angle but the bottom line is the government’s unquenchable thirst to monitor your every thought and communication in real-time cannot be satisfied.
While the excuses run the entire spectrum of excuses from child porn to cybersecurity and hacking to copyright and anti-piracy control, all of those scapegoats have thus far fell short of convincing the public they need to sacrifice their civil liberties to give Big Brother the power to protect them.
Now lawmakers have resorted to the tried and true method of fooling the public into giving up their rights – Terrorism.
Yes, terrorism. The same excuse used to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, enact the patriot act and the NDAA, as well as give the United States the power to assassinate their own citizens and to indefinitely detain and torture anyone they wish based on the mere fabrication of allegations with no evidence to back up their claims.
That is the justification for new totalitarian digital communication monitoring laws that are expected to be announced this May.
Nevermind the fact that the definition of terrorism has been obscured to the point that simple acts like uploading a You Tube video, attending a protest, or even using the one of the long list of terror related words online can put you in the crosshairs of the governments cancerous multi-billion dollar secret illegal surveillance and domestic spy program.
As CNET and The Telegraph report, the new laws will require all digital communication providers to catalog and archive every phone call, text message, email and private social network message sent across their networks and provide them to the government for monitoring.
Your private messages revealed to government in new plans
Broadband providers and phone networks are to reveal to authorities your every phone call, text message, email and private social network message. New anti-terror laws could force phone networks and broadband providers to store our digital communications in databases open to security services to check up on us — and if that doesn’t worry you, just wait until the hackers get their hands on it.
The Communications Capabilities Development Plan sets out the new scheme, as suggested by MI5, MI6, and GCHQ. The government won’t store the data itself, instead requiring Internet service providers and phone networks such as BT, Sky, and O2 to store the information for a year.
Anti-terror police and spies could then see the information to see who you’ve been talking to. Actual phone calls and texts won’t be recorded but details of who called or texted who — and when and where — will be saved.
Your emails and private messages sent through Facebook and Twitter will be saved, as well as your internet browsing history or exchanges between online video gamers.
Privacy groups including the Open Rights Group have lambasted the new plans.
The Telegraph reports that the government has been holding talks with ISPs for the last two months, ahead of legislation this summer. New laws could be officially unveiled as soon as May. Big Brother is watching
Rawesome Foods' James Stewart arrested in $1 million warrant
(NaturalNews) Rawesome Foods defendants James Steward and Sharon Palmer were ambushed in California court yesterday when they appeared for a preliminary hearing about the multiple felony charges that have been ludicrously placed against them for engaging in farm-fresh food production and distribution. In court, they were ambushed with a $1 million arrest warrant (James) and a $2 million arrest warrant (Sharon), then handcuffed and marched away by agents of the corrupt state.
This appears to all be part of California's open war on family farming and real food. Observers present at the hearing described the ambush as something "done out of pure unadulterated intimidation" by a rogue government that has abandoned all law.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Windows 8 Will Have a “Kill Switch”
The very anticipated operating system Windows 8 will have a feature that was never found on PC’s before: A kill switch that can remotely delete software and edit code without the user’s permission. Although Microsoft claims the switch would only be used for software that is downloaded from its app store, no official policies clearly define the actual purpose of the kill switch. In other words, nothing is truly considered “illegal” and that includes issues regarding spying, censorship and free speech. Although the kill switch is promoted as a “tool against malware” it can potentially accomplish much, much more. In fact, it would not be impossible to have all smart-phones and Windows PC’s simultaneously shut down at any given time. The following article from Business Week also mentions the infamous case of Amazon that remotely deleted from user’s Kindle e-readers illegal copies of two books. Which ones? Prepare for intense irony…George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm.
The Kill Switch Comes to the PC
A feature common in phones will let Microsoft remotely disable malware
Janne Kytömäki, a Finnish software developer, was cruising Google’s (GOOG) Android Market for smartphone apps last year when he noticed something strange. Dozens of best-selling applications suddenly listed the same wrong publisher. It was as if Stephen King’s name had vanished from the covers of his books, replaced by an unknown author. Kytömäki realized the culprit was a piece of malware that was spreading quickly, and he posted his findings online.
Google responded swiftly. It flipped a little-known kill switch, reaching into more than 250,000 infected Android smartphones and forcibly removing the malicious code. “It was sort of unreal, watching something like that unfold,” says Kytömäki, who makes dice simulator apps. Kill switches are a standard part of most smartphones, tablets, and e-readers. Google, Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN) all have the ability to reach into devices to delete illicit content or edit code without users’ permission. It’s a powerful way to stop threats that spread quickly, but it’s also a privacy and security land mine.
With the rollout of the Windows 8 operating system expected later this year, millions of desktop and laptop PCs will get kill switches for the first time. Microsoft (MSFT) hasn’t spoken publicly about its reasons for including this capability in Windows 8 beyond a cryptic warning that it might be compelled to use it for legal or security reasons. The feature was publicized in a widely cited Computerworld article in December when Microsoft posted the terms of use for its new application store, a feature in Windows 8 that will allow users to download software from a Microsoft-controlled portal. Windows smartphones, like those of its competitors, have included kill switches for several years, though software deletion “is a last resort, and it’s uncommon,” says Todd Biggs, director of product management for Windows Phone Marketplace.
Microsoft declined to answer questions about the kill switch in Windows 8 other than to say it will only be able to remove or change applications downloaded through the new app store. Any software loaded from a flash drive, DVD, or directly from the Web will remain outside Microsoft’s control. Still, the kill switch is a tool that could help Microsoft prevent mass malware infections. “For most users, the ability to remotely remove apps is a good thing,” says Charlie Miller, a researcher with the security company Accuvant.
The history of kill switches on smartphones and e-readers suggests they’re double-edged swords for the companies that wield them. In 2009, Amazon reached into users’ Kindles to delete e-book copies of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm that had been sold by a publisher without the necessary rights. The ensuing backlash caused Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos to call the move “stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles.”
The reluctance of tech companies to set explicit policies for when they will and will not use kill switches contributes to the fear they’ll be abused. Civil rights and free speech advocates worry that tech companies could be pressured by governments to delete software or data for political reasons. “You have someone who has absolute control over my hard drive in ways I may have never anticipated or consented to,” says Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University’s law school in California. “If they use that power wisely, they actually make my life better. We don’t know if they use the power wisely. In fact, we may never know when they use their power at all.”
Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s vice president of Android engineering, says the search company reserves the use of the kill switch for “really egregious, really obvious cases” of harmful content. Microsoft’s Biggs says the company has used the functionality in its smartphones only for “technical issues and content issues.” Apple declined to comment. Amazon did not respond to several messages.
Like many in his profession, Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder of the San Francisco startup Lookout, which makes security software for smartphones, expresses mixed emotions about the emergence of kill switches. “The remote removal tools are very much a response to the mistakes of the PC era,” he says. “Whether or not it’s an overcorrection, I think history will tell us. It can be done right, but we as an industry need to tread carefully. It’s easy to imagine several dystopian futures that can arise from this.”
One supporter is Janne Kytömäki, the Finn who discovered the Android malware outbreak. He says Google did the right thing by deleting the malware without users’ permission. “What was the alternative?” he says. “Leave those apps installed on 200,000 people’s mobiles? This is something that had to be done.” Source:Vigilant Citizen
Iceland Wants To Adopt The Dollar... No, Not That One, The Other One
Not the US Dollar of course: why would the only country to successfully overthrow the chains of banker tyranny and default in their face want to ever have anything to do with the USD, the source of all the world's problems. No, the dollar in question is that of Canada. According to the Globe and Mail tiny Iceland, "is looking longingly to the loonie as the salvation from wild economic gyrations and suffocating capital controls...And for the first time, the Canadian government says it’s open to discussing idea. There’s a compelling economic case why Iceland would want to adopt the Canadian dollar. It offers the tantalizing prospect of a stable, liquid currency that roughly tracks global commodity prices, nicely matching Iceland’s own economy, which is dependent on fish and aluminum exports." Yes, yes, there are all the fundamental reasons, but more importantly, it is a huge slap in the face of those statists (and the United States of course) who keep repeating no matter the facts that the USD will never lose its reserve status. Here's a hint: it can and it will. And so much for the thought experiment of printing endless amounts of currency in non-reserve format and getting away with everything unpunished. Finally, there is this startling dose of reality from an earlier and calmer time, when S&P, back in 2006, released its long-term baseline scenario of sovereign debt ratings. This oddly prescient table speaks for itself.
ACTA in UK: 10 years in jail for 'illegal downloads'
UK web surfers have caught a grim glimpse of the future with Internet users being threatened with 10 years in jail for “illegal downloading” after a prominent music file-sharing site was shut down shortly after Britain signed the notorious ACTA bill.
It is the first time such a move has been made against Internet users in the UK. The British government introduced regulations in 2009 enabling Internet providers to track users who downloaded illegal content from the web and disable their connection if warning letters had no effect. But signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has brought the conflict to a whole new level.
In Europe, people are taking to the streets in protest at the contradictory Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, with some countries refusing to sign it.
After hackers from the activist group Anonymous attacked practically all US government websites in retaliation, the authorities are now considering adopting their own home-grown anti-counterfeiting laws like PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) / SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).
In February, Britain's organized crime police shut down RnBxclusive.com, a prominent music file-sharing website with about 250,000 subscribers on Facebook alone and up to 70,000 visitors per day.
In fact, the British police effectively took on the role of personal enforcer to the recording industry, standing guard to protect corporate profits. However sad it might be for many, this is a part of a legal game between copyright owners and the police on the one hand, and defenders of the free Internet on the other.
Normally, the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) tackles crimes “that affect the UK and its citizens.” Now, it seems that downloading content from a file-sharing website has been put on a par with “Class A drugs, people smuggling and human trafficking, major gun crime, fraud and money laundering.”
The practices of SOCA, while enforcing its crackdown on “illegal downloading,” raises even more questions. 10 years behind bars for ‘stealing’ £60?
SOCA is threatening anyone who has downloaded content from RnBxclusive.com or even visited the website with investigation, prosecution, and even jail sentences.
Once the police unit gained control of the RnBxclusive web site, it posted a parked page carrying the following warning.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Oceans acidifying at unprecedented speed
Humanity's greenhouse gas emissions may be acidifying the oceans at a faster rate than at any time in the last 300 million years. The sheer speed of change means we do not know how severe the consequences will be.
As well as warming the planet, carbon dioxide seeps into the oceans and forms carbonic acid. As a result the water becomes more acidic.
The pH is currently dropping by about 0.1 per century. This ocean acidification harms organisms such as corals that rely on dissolved carbonate to make their shells. It also disrupts behaviour in some animals.
Bärbel Hönisch of Columbia University in Palisades, New York, and colleagues used the chemical record preserved in rocks to gauge previous ocean acidification events.
The best match for current changes was the Palaeocene-Eocene thermal maximum of 55 million years ago, when vast amounts of methane were released into the atmosphere causing rapid global warming, ocean acidification, and mass extinction. But even then, it took at least 3000 years for ocean pH to drop by 0.5. "That is an order of magnitude slower than today," Hönisch says.
The 300-million-year period that Hönisch and colleagues studied includes the biggest extinction of them all: the end-Permian extinction. This event, 252 million years ago, wiped out up to 96 per cent of marine species. But it probably had other causes.
Acidification is not the only threat to the oceans from greenhouse gases, says Nicolas Gruber of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in Switzerland. Marine life also faces a threat from rising water temperatures and less dissolved oxygen.
"We have to think about these effects co-occurring," Gruber says. While we have information on the consequences of each individual factor, we have no idea what the combined effect will be.
Proof That Smartphones Spying on Us - The Carrier IQ conspiracy
Just weeks ago Trevor Eckhart, a security researcher and Android operating system developer, discovered a mysterious process running in the background of his Android-based device.
This program turned out to by Carrier IQ, or CIQ, and specifically the IQ Agent which is installed on mobile devices from all major carriers before they reach the consumer, totaling some 150 million phones, mostly in the United States.
The software is billed as a diagnostic tool which allows cellphone carriers to “better understand how mobile devices interact with and perform on their network,” according to an official Carrier IQ document which attempts to dispel what they bill as rumors and unfounded concerns of consumers and researchers.
The document is somewhat opaque and esoteric for those of us not familiar with the terminology and technology at work in these highly complex systems but some of it is quite easy to understand.
In the second paragraph of the introduction we read, “We want to thank Trevor Eckhart for sharing his findings with us through a working session that helped us to identify some of the issues highlighted in this report.”
This gives the impression that Carrier IQ was happy to see the findings of Eckhart and what he uncovered, but this is far from reality.
Eckhart discovered that the software was integrated with Android at the deepest levels and was able to monitor, record, and transmit even the most private data and interactions with the device.
He alleged that it could monitor every single individual keystroke and every interaction with the screen for that matter, along with encrypted internet browsing sessions and searches, GPS data, network data, battery data, among other pieces of information which many people would likely like to keep private.
Instead of praising Eckhart and working closely with him as the introductory paragraph might have you believe, Carrier IQ sued Eckhart for copyright infringement because he made publicly available training materials accessible to interested parties, where otherwise they might not have been able to find them on the Carrier IQ website.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, stepped in on Eckhart’s behalf and countered their frivolous legal threat – clearly intended to silence Eckhart and stifle his research – after which Carrier IQ withdrew their threat entirely.
(Infographic credit: Eletronic Frontier Foundation)
The EFF has produced a simplified, but not dumbed-down, explanation of Carrier IQ and how exactly it operates, which you can read here.
For those who are interested in learning more about this program, which is likely active on your device if you own a smartphone, this brief article is an absolute must read.
Carrier IQ continues to maintain their innocence and claim that the software does not record keystrokes (and thus the content of every email, text message, or anything else you might type), but Eckhart’s research shows otherwise.
The second video released by Eckhart (seen here) clearly shows the software doing things that Carrier IQ claims it does not, along with others who seek to defend this technology and the erosion of privacy in the digital age.
As a result of Eckhart’s findings, lawsuits have been filed against Carrier IQ, HTC, Samsung, Apple, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Motorola, alleging that it breaches the Federal Wiretap Act, Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Despite the company’s insistence to the contrary, the suit alleges that, “[i]n addition to collecting device and service-related data, Carrier IQ’s software can collect data about a user’s location, application use, Web browsing habits, videos watched, texts read and even the keys they press.”
The establishment media has come to the aid of their corporate cronies, citing so-called experts who “debunked” Eckhart’s findings.
Declan McCullagh, chief political correspondent for CNET (which is owned by CBS Interactive and is thus part of the “big six”) and Dan Rosenberg, a supposed security expert allegedly debunked Eckhart’s findings although their evidence is hardly compelling.
“The application does not record and transmit keystroke data back to carriers,” Rosenberg said, adding that after reverse-engineering the software he found that, “there is no code in Carrier IQ that actually records keystrokes for data collection purposes.”
What is his proof? Well, nothing other than CNET’s claim that Rosenberg “analyzed the assembly language code with a debugger that allowed him to look under the hood.”
We are simply supposed to believe this because he has discovered security vulnerabilities in various systems in the past, after all no one has ever misrepresented the truth for monetary compensation, right?
They also point to another “well-known security expert” named Rebecca Bace who claims that Carrier IQ gave her access to the company’s engineers and internal documents.
“I’m comfortable that the designers and implementers expended a great deal of discipline in focusing on the espoused goals of the software–to serve as a diagnostic aid for assuring quality of service and experience for mobile carriers,” Bace said.
That’s all well and good but the proof is in the pudding and here they’re just telling us that they have pudding somewhere – you just don’t get to see it or verify the veracity of the existence of the pudding.
After all, they’re the experts and we’re just supposed to take their word for it. I guess they missed the appeal to authority fallacy in their studies – or lack thereof – of logic.
Carrier IQ doesn’t even seem to be able to keep the story straight, with their Vice President Andrew Coward claiming that his statement in Wired was a misquote in which he said the software could read text messages.
However, during the interview he did clearly say that carriers are able to collect data which would be able to determine the exact person who is using the phone, what programs they are running, when they charge the battery, what calls they make and where, etc.
His statements are hardly reassuring, even if the claim that the Carrier IQ software does not function as a keylogger is true, which is hardly clear at this stage.
Coward and Carrier IQ have found themselves in a bit of an imbroglio, with Coward saying, “One of the lessons we’ve had from this … clearly we should not have done that cease and desist.”
“What may have been the right response three or four years ago may not be the right response for now and … and we apologized … we did not expect that we would need to be so open and transparent about everything… We recognized as the crisis kind of developed that that was required for us to clear our name. That was a huge learning process,” Coward told CNET.
I find it absolutely astounding that he apparently thinks they would never have to be open and transparent about what their software is collecting and for what purposes.
I guess Coward never thought that it would be discovered and exposed in the first place, so no contingency plan had been created to deal with the massive fallout which we are now witnessing.
When asked about their competitors, Coward said that they only offer over-the-air downloadable software, whereas the Carrier IQ software is embedded into the device to make it not only hard to detect but nearly impossible for any regular user to remove or control.
It gets even more interesting when we consider the fact that Coward (who was identified by The Washington Post as the senior vice president for marketing, a different title than what was given by CNET) revealed, “This week Carrier IQ sought meetings with the FTC and FCC to educate the two agencies … and answer any and all questions,” while adding that he was “not aware of an official investigation.”
Meanwhile, anonymous FTC officials said that they were conducting an inquiry into Carrier IQ and a spokeswoman for the FTC would not confirm or deny an investigation.
However, a public relations contractor for Carrier IQ named Mira Woods told The Washington Post in an email, “We are complying with all investigations at this time as we have nothing to hide … We have been completely transparent through this process.”
Later Woods requested that “investigations” be changed to “inquiries” likely because the statement implies that there are indeed investigations going on currently with which they are complying.
Woods said, “We sought the meetings with the FCC and FTC in the interest of transparency and full disclosure,” thereby claiming that they sought out the meetings and thus were not an investigation.
In an official statement issued later in the day, Carrier IQ said, “This week Carrier IQ sought meetings with the FTC and FCC to educate the two agencies about the functionality of its software and answer any and all questions. Although Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-Chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the practices of Carrier IQ, we are not aware of an official investigation into Carrier IQ at this time.”
The situation gets even more interesting and complex when we consider the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and their involvement in this debacle.
When Michael Morisy, a reporter for MuckRock News, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for “manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data” which was obtained through any Carrier IQ program, the FBI denied the request because it was considered “law enforcement records.”
In response to Morisy’s request, the FBI wrote, “The information you requested is located in an investigative file which is exempt from disclosure.”
Paul Bresson, spokesman for the FBI, would not comment – meaning he would neither confirm nor deny, which in itself is a tacit confirmation – on if an investigation into Carrier IQ was ongoing or if they were utilizing the software for surveillance purposes of their own.
For anyone remotely familiar with issues like this, the words “plausible deniability” leap to mind.
In addressing the FBI’s connection to Carrier IQ, the company said that the data gathered by the software are “not designed for law enforcement agencies and to our knowledge [have] never been used by law enforcement agencies.”
However, this means little to nothing in today’s America in which the PATRIOT Act can gag anyone from speaking of the warrants or investigations conducted by the federal government.
Even if they had knowingly handed over data to the FBI or DHS, or perhaps built the software for that purpose from day one, they likely would be prevented from ever confirming that fact or even hinting at it.
In another statement Carrier IQ claimed, “Carrier IQ [has] no rights to the data gathered and [has] not passed data to third parties. Should a law enforcement agency request data from us, we would refer them to the network operators. To date and to our knowledge we have received no such requests.”
Once again, if they had received such requests, it is very likely the case that they wouldn’t be able to speak about it.
It is clear that it is not the innocent diagnostics tool they would like to make it out to be, as the official responses from some companies have shown.
In an official statement, Sprint said, “We collect enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to address any connection problems, but we do not and cannot look at the contents of messages, photos, videos, etc. using this tool.”
The wording of this statement does, however, imply that the software is capable of doing these things, they just “do not and cannot” view it themselves.
Apple’s statement is most interesting, as they clearly indicate that the software is not only capable of recording keystrokes, but also is capable of recording messages or other personal information.
“We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages, or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so,” the statement said.
The details surrounding Carrier IQ are still quite fuzzy at this point but it is clear that it is not just a diagnostic tool collecting anonymous information to make our user experience better.
Like so much Big Brother technology, it is billed under one purpose and yet is capable of so much more.
Another trend we see repeating here is the constant contradictions, confusion, and misinformation or even disinformation pumped out by the establishment media and their “experts.”
I will continue to follow this story and write future articles about it as more information becomes available and a more clear picture of what this is really up to begins to emerge.
Suffice it to say, I’m not ignorant or naïve enough to think that this isn’t being used to collect private, sensitive data from millions of devices across the United States which is then funneled to centralized government databases.
It would be nice to think this wasn’t the case but I would have to throw out literally everything I have learned in my research, all of which is based in irrefutable facts which one has to either delusionally refuse to pay attention to the information or accept as a reality of the global police state control grid under which we currently live.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)