Free Talk Live - Published news - Internet Issues

The Silk Road is collapsing – did hackers, gov't or Bitcoin kill it?

Deslock Darkstar — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:28:36 +0000

At 6am this morning, I got an email from one of my sleazier contacts. It simply said "looks like Silk Road has collapsed". I fired the Tor browser you need to connect to the site and, indeed, it wasn't there.

SilkRoad On The Verge Of Collapse; Suffering Massive Hyperdeflation

Deslock Darkstar — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:31:16 +0000

We’ve written on the hyperdeflation problem before. Basically, with Bitcoin prices surging, nobody wants to buy anything, you just want to hold onto your Bitcoins. Conversely, when they collapse, nobody wants to sell. So volatility means nobody wants to transact in Bitcoins, because there’s a good chance that the next day someone will feel like a fool.

Tax-free Internet shopping jeopardized

tlc — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:03:20 +0000

The bill would empower states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.

Ron Paul Calls on UN to Confiscate Domain Names of His Supporters

StrayLite — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 14:42:57 +0000

Is Ron Paul right or wrong in this dispute? Are trademarks valid property? I tihnk he is wrong because he was fine with them using his name while it benfitted his campaign.

Twitter turning over huge amounts of user data to U.S. government

iamodd999 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 08:20:18 +0000

Social networking giant Twitter has released a new report outlining all subpoenaed, court ordered, and search warranted requests made by the U.S. government for private information about the site's users throughout the past year. And based on the figures, not only is the overall number of such requests steadily expanding, but Twitter is also increasingly being coerced into releasing this confidential data without legitimate probable cause or warrant.

Internet Radio Fairness Act debate opens in Washington

ifeeltreadupon — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:01:49 +0000

Google and Pandora Internet Radio support FCC regulators setting pricing for content played over the internet [IRFA (HR 6480 and S3609)]. Musicians, record companies and performing rights organizations are lining up in opposition to the bills.

China Toughens Its Restrictions on Use of the Internet

panax — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:55:41 +0000

The Chinese government issued new rules on Friday requiring Internet users to provide their real names to service providers, while assigning Internet companies greater responsibility for deleting forbidden postings and reporting them to the authorities.

Facebook Opens Up Your Inbox to Outsiders, For a Fee

Mattfree88 — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:28:13 +0000

Facebook Opens Up Your Inbox to Outsiders, For a Fee

Want to send me a Facebook message? But you’re not my Facebook friend?

Pay up.

The social network is overhauling its in-house messaging system with a new set of filters that it says will help users reach out and poke each other more effectively; you can see details here. Part of the overhaul: A test that will allow some users to ping people they’re not friends with, if they’re willing to spend a dollar.

Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants

Cyphase — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 08:31:23 +0000

A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law, CNET has learned. [The] rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies -- including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission -- to access Americans' e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant.

Facebook is Dead.

VoluntaryistRJ — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:22:31 +0000

THE BIGGEST ‘BAIT N’ SWITCH’ IN HISTORY?

"...a near infinite variety of organizations; individuals from all walks of life; and businesses, both large and small, began to detect—for it was almost imperceptible at first—that the volume was getting turned down on their Facebook reach. Each post was now being seen only by a fraction of their total “fans” who would previously have seen them."

Facebook tests prompt asking you to snitch on your friends

johnson — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 15:21:10 +0000

Facebook tests prompt asking you to snitch on your friends who aren’t using their real name. Facebook’s ongoing war on pseudonyms is well-documented. The company wants everyone to use their real name on the social network, and ideally this would be their only identity on the Internet.

Apple rejects app that reports US drone strikes.

thekeychainkid — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 21:06:04 +0000

"It’s the third time in a month that Apple has turned Drones+ away, says Josh Begley, the program’s New York-based developer. The company’s reasons for keeping the program out of the App Store keep shifting. First, Apple called the bare-bones application that aggregates news of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia “not useful.” Then there was an issue with hiding a corporate logo. And now, there’s this crude content problem."

GoDaddy: Yesterday's outage not due to a hack or a DDoS attack

drew0020 — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:49:02 +0000

GoDaddy press release: Yesterday's outage not due to a hack or a DDoS attack

Bruce Willis Legal Fight to Leave iTunes Library "Purchases" to Family

cliff101 — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:17:04 +0000

Think you own your iTunes downloads? Think again. According to the UK Daily Mail, Bruce Willis is considering legal action against Apple in battle over who owns songs downloaded from iTunes. Read the original article for more details.

NH Deputy Secretary of State Recognizes Bitcoin Contributions

abexman — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 00:16:52 +0000

As posted earlier, New Hampshire State Representative Mark Warden is accepting campaign contributions in Bitcoin. His campaign's treasurer recently met with the New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State regarding the Bitcoin contributions. After examining the information, the Deputy Secretary of State said that he did not see anything wrong with the contributions, nor the way they were handled, and that he would take no action.