NSA to Control the Stock Market

NSA to Control the Stock Market

Spy agency can easily manipulate the market through latest surveillance hub

Kit Daniels
Infowars.com
May 7, 2014

An upcoming surveillance hub monitoring all investment transactions in real-time will allow the National Security Agency unparalleled ability to manipulate the stock market.

Through the use of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)’s latest database, which keeps investor data in the same centralized location, the NSA could easily capture private, financial data on targeted investors and even influence the stock market as a whole.

And it appears that the dragnet database, called the Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System (CARDS), was designed with such vulnerabilities in mind.

“I can’t think of any other reason that someone would invest so much time and so much effort into trying to monitor every brokerage account in the United States in real time,” Porter Stansberry, the founder of the Stansberry & Associates Investment Research Conference, said on the Alex Jones Show. “That is an enormous technical challenge.”

He also added that even knowing something as simple as how many individual investors own certain securities could be very, very valuable to select interests.

While one of the NSA’s roles is undoubtedly financial espionage, the database will also make it easier for corporate entities and high frequency traders to rig markets.

Indeed, three traders have already filed a lawsuit against CME Group Inc. for selling sensitive data to high frequency traders.

“The plaintiffs allege CME charged exchange and data fees for real-time price data, and purported that the data was sold to the users in real time. The suit further states that CME allegedly also charged high-frequency traders for the ability to see the data before others, including people who paid and continue to pay CME for seeing the same data first,” reports the Wall Street Journal.

Since the 1987 stock market crash, the Working Group on Financial Markets, otherwise known as the Plunge Protection Team, has also been a target of charges of market manipulation.

The government itself routinely manipulates markets with the timing of announcements and the actual execution of quantitative easing and bond buying programs.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the new CARDS database and quoted FINRA’s chairman stating that the dragnet “would provide us with a treasure trove of information.”

Oher revelations in the past reveal that the NSA is more than willing to monitor and manipulate financial transactions.

Last December, the White House report on the activities of the NSA suggested that the spy agency was already hacking into financial institutions and altering the amounts held in bank accounts.

“Governments should not use their offensive cyber capabilities to change the amounts held in financial accounts or otherwise manipulate the financial systems,” the report recommended.

Trevor Timm, a former analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, asked if the recommendation implied that the NSA was already doing just that.

And a few months earlier, in September, German news outlet Der Spiegel reported that the spy agency was also tracking the global flow of money.

Under the “Follow the Money” program, the NSA collects credit card and other financial transactions into its own financial databank, called “Tracfin,” which contains nearly 200 million records if not more.

“Further NSA documents from 2010 show that the NSA also targets the transactions of customers of large credit card companies like VISA for surveillance,” the article continued. “NSA analysts at an internal conference that year described in detail how they had apparently successfully searched through the U.S. company’s complex transaction network for tapping possibilities.”

And the upcoming CARDS database, which a law professor suggested is as tempting of a target as the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, would grant the NSA almost unlimited possibilities to influence the stock market.

Alex Jones will make a rare public appearance as a featured speaker at the upcoming Stansberry & Associates Investment Research Conference in Dallas, Texas on Saturday, May 31. For more information and tickets, please visit alexjonesdallas.com.

This article was posted: Thursday, May 8, 2014 at 5:52 am

Net Neutrality Solution is to Give Crony-Filled FCC Authority Over the Internet?

 

Activist Post
Below is a good video explaining net neutrality.  It clearly describes the brief history of net neutrality, the danger of monopoly players controlling regulators and eliminating competition, and it even offers the solution.
The proposed solution is to reclassify Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as "Common Carriers" so that the FCC can regulate them which the FCC currently has no legal authority to do.
Yet the video readily admits that the cable companies own and run the FCC, so how is the solution is to give a crony-filled agency more power?

If the FCC is in the pocket of the monopoly men, why would you give them more power?

If we've learned anything with a free and open Internet, it's that legacy businesses lose on a level playing field of competition and everyone else wins. This little "truth" blog of ours gets more traffic and has more genuine Facebook fans than a good many dinosaur publishers -- who also want a pay-to-play system.
The FCC (government) proposal to "allow" fast lanes is a red herring designed to scare the public into giving them more power.  They literally created a phony problem that doesn't yet exist for Internet users, activists get lathered in anger in response and demand a solution. Classic problem-reaction-solution manipulation.
We'd better be damn careful about the solutions what we advocate for.
Here's a better solution: Abolish the FCC and eliminate all barriers to entry for new Internet Service Providers. This would prevent monopoly men from having a strongman in the FCC, while allowing true competition to flourish.

 

Net Neutrality Solution is to Give Crony-Filled FCC Authority Over the Internet?
Activist Post
Wed, 07 May 2014 20:39:00 GMT

Birds Are Losing Their Way

 

What's happening? They are losing their inner-compass...
Heather Callaghan
Activist Post
The migratory pattern of birds - even if it is a dry subject and the aim of comedic cracks - for some odd reason, has always held the high fascination of biologists.
Never more so than now...
That's because the classic experiments were so predictable. Such as a cage with some kind of monitors to catch which direction the bird wanted to travel at night.
That is, until it started going tragically wrong in the mid-2000s.
German researchers discovered in 2004 that the regular experiment became an erratic mystery while observing the European Robin.

They would not orient themselves in a single direction. They would not hop in a direction. They were shut down. They were completely lost. Changing variables like food, light, cages...lots of things - didn't do a thing according to biologist Henrik Mouritsen. For three years they tried to solve the mystery.
That's when they realized they left out one important variable...an invisible one...
The electromagnetic noise coming from all the electronics on the nearby campus. They made a faraday cage of sorts by using aluminum screens in the cages - the birds started jumping again. It worked!
After spending so many years and so much research just to correct a problem occurring with the original experiment, the sure results presented a new problem to biology and the environment at large.
Mouritsen said:

We are absolutely sure that the effect is real.

That's why now, the results could be published just today in the journal Nature. Scarily enough - the levels effecting the birds are 1,000 times below WHO guidelines. Being so immersed in electronics it is going to be a difficult task finding out which electronics are causing birds to lose their way. It could be anything that has to be plugged in.
So far, the bird disorientation only happens in large urban and industrial areas or learning campuses. And they ruled out power lines or cellphone signals because the frequencies they emit are too low and too high respectively. But the frequency band range most responsible is 2 kHz - 5 MHz which would include AM radio, and all area electronic equipment. It is absolutely baffling news to the physicists who will say as Mouritsen recounts, "that can't have any effect."
But he didn't dwell in the realm of conventional physics - he stepped it up a notch to quantum mechanics.
According to The Verge:

"Theoretical predictions suggest that [the disruption] might be an effect of electron spins." Electromagnetic noise might be affecting electron spins in a molecule named cryptochrome, Mouritsen says — the eye protein that some scientists believe plays a pivotal role in avian magnetic orientation. This could cause the molecule's chemical properties to change, and the birds to lose all sense of direction at night. But the theory, Mouritsen warns, is "unproven."

The findings have fascinated other researchers but some say that it's not that big of a deal and the bird can leave the urban area in any direction to gather its bearings. Mouritsen sees it as a growing problem of high electromagnetic radiation that could be reduced by some means.
So it's not just a matter of adaptation. Do birds know to stay away from the city? Will they? Mourisen doesn't know but says, "I'm sure the birds would have been better off if one of their key compasses had never been disturbed."
This certainly wouldn't be the first time animal patterns have been "off" in recent years. It is commonly thought that bees, birds, dolphins and other animals are highly sensitive to electromagnetic radiation. So one would think a little more forethought would go into forays like navy testing experiments around the world. While cell towers seem to be ruled out of the above experiment, they are certainly implicated for having a detrimental effect on mammals.
A couple years ago, I tried to make sense of all the dolphin deaths - like the ones that wound up off the shores of Peru. I speculated because I didn't buy the theory that they just suddenly decided to do it and everyone followed the leader. That was a long time ago and thousands more have died under mysterious circumstances - yet "more research" is always needed.
No, the innate intelligence of animals is much too underestimated; much too disregarded. For the first time ever, they have lost their way.
But where will they go when there is no more room to adapt? Why should they be stretched to the brink of no more adaptation to begin with?
Also See:
The 10 Leading Theories For Dead Birds And Fish
Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.
Recent posts by Heather Callaghan:

• California GMO Labeling Bill Passes Senate Committee
• Left-Right Coalition Introduces Two New Raw Milk Freedom Bills
• Effective Immediately: France Bans All GMO Cultivation

Birds Are Losing Their Way
Activist
Wed, 07 May 2014 20:02:00 GMT

Boko Haram Terror Attack in Nigeria Opens Door to Africom

Boko Haram’s official name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, which translated from the Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad.” The group is a Takfiri offshoot of the Salafi movement. Salafi-Takfiris attack other Muslims and Christians they consider apostates. Boko Haram has worked to impose sharia law in Nigeria, north Cameroon and Niger. It has killed Christians, bombed churches, attacked schools, police stations, governmentinstallations, and has kidnapped western tourists.

Prior to the attack, the establishment media covered an announcement on Monday issued by theObama administration stating the United States will send military, intelligence and law enforcementadvisors to Nigeria to help the government there locate and rescue more than 270 teenage girls abducted by Boko Haram.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the team will not be used for military purposes and will share intelligence investigative services in the search for the students kidnapped April 14 from a rural high school in Nigeria’s predominately Muslim northeast. Obama said the abductions may “mobilize the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organization.” In October 2013, the U.S. designated Boko Haram a terrorist group.

In 2012, Obama invoked the War Powers Resolution to increase the number of U.S. military personnel deployed to Nigeria. The incoming Commander of the U. S. Africa Command (Africom) at the time, Gen. David M. Rodriguez, said Boko Haram operations threatened Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Mali and Chad. Rodriguez said the U.S. has authority in Africa in response to the threat posed by al-Qaeda.

In 2012, The Nigerian Tribune reported Boko Harm’s funding was traced to the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia, specifically from the Al-Muntada Trust Fund. In 2005, The Center for Security Policystated “Al-Muntada has, incidentally, been particularly active in promoting Wahhabi-style Islamism in Nigeria… Al-Muntada… pays for Nigerian clerics to be ‘brainwashed’ in Saudi universities and imposed on Nigerian Muslims through its well-funded network of mosques and schools.”

Similar schools, known as madrassas, were established in Pakistan during the CIA’s covert war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. They were financed by Saudi Arabia and its network of charities. “Between 1982 and 1992, some 35,000 Muslim radicals from 43 Islamic countries in the Middle East, North and East Africa, Central Asia and the Far East would pass their baptism under fire with the Afghan mujahideen,” writes Phil Gasper. The Afghan mujahideen would ultimately produce al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

In addition to support by the Saudis, Boko Haram has received indirect assistance from NATO via Libya’s al-Qaeda mercenaries. “During an interview conducted by Al-Jazeera with Abu Mousab Abdel Wadoud, the AQIM leader states that Algeria-based organizations have provided arms to Nigeria’s Boko Haram movement ‘to defend Muslims in Nigeria and stop the advance of a minority of Crusaders.’ It remains highly documented that members of Al-Qaeda (AQIM) and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) who fought among the Libyan rebels directly received arms and logistical support from NATO bloc countries during the Libyan conflict in 2011,” writes Nile Bowie.

AQIM and Boko Haram, however, pose less of a threat in Africa than China does. “The US and France plan to counter the threat along with Africa’s puppet government’s that will pose a challenge to China’s economic and diplomatic influence in the region,” writes Timothy Alexander Guzman.

Nigeria is the 13th largest oil producer in the world. The western Africa nation’s other natural resources include natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc and arable land.

“The US and French governments want to assure themselves that the new Chinese leadership will not continue its beneficial relationships with resource-rich African nations that have been a success in the past.  Therefore, the ‘War on Terror’ will create instability and will disrupt China’s economic growth.  AFRICOM mission is to create war in the name of fighting terrorism and that is what ‘US national security interests’ in Africa is really about.”

This article was posted: Wednesday, May 7, 2014 at 10:53 am

Cops Dead from 9/11 Illnesses Outnumber Officers Who Died in Attacks

Cops dead from 9/11 illnesses outnumber officers who died in attacks - CBS News.

ALBANY, N.Y. - The names of police officers who died from ground zero-related illnesses now outnumber the 60 killed in the 9/11 attacks engraved on the New York State Police Officers' Memorial in Albany.

The names of 20 officers have been added to the black granite memorial. They include 12 New York City officers and one from suburban Peekskill who died from illnesses connected to the attack. That raised the total to 71.

According to authorities, the 13 died from cancers attributed to rescue andrecovery work at the collapsed World Trade Center towers in Manhattan.

"I live near the World Trade Center. I inhaled the toxic smoke that permeated every square inch of lower Manhattan," New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said. "I know how nobly and heroically the NYPD carried out their duties on that tragic September day and the terrible days that followed."

Silver addressed hundreds of police, relatives and officials who gathered for the annual remembrance ceremony Tuesday at the memorial in downtown Albany to honor officers who died from duty-related causes. He acknowledged it was small condolence for surviving families that the experience of what their loved ones endured will prevent a similar fate for other first responders.

Six died last year, four in 2012, and three before that.

After the ceremony, several declined to talk, saying both the ceremony and what they'd experienced were difficult.

For those who died later as a consequence of the trade center attacks, it has also meant several years of disabling injuries and illness, Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy said. More than half of the 1,360 names on the wall were members of the NYPD, he said.

The names of seven other law enforcement officers were also added to the memorial.

© 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

GOP’s electrifying vote on corporate welfare

 

Today, the House of Representatives will consider the Electrify Africa Act (HR 2548). This bill creates “…a comprehensive United States Government policy to assist countries in sub-Saharan Africa to develop an appropriate mix of power solutions for more broadly distributed electricity access…” In other words, it forces the American people to pay (either directly through income taxes or indirectly via the inflation tax) for electricity projects in Africa.

In addition to being unconstitutional,  programs created by this bill are little more than a form of corporate welfare.  Many of the “development” projects financed by these programs are run by politically-connected US businesses who profit from these taxpayer-financed “investments” in “developing” countries.

HR 2548 ensures that US businesses will profit from “electrifying” Africa by giving a large role to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). OPIC is a US agency that provides insurance and other support to businesses investing in “developing” countries. OPIC thus distorts the marketplace by using taxpayer dollars to underwrite projects that could not get financing in the free-market. In addition, since OPIC provides “political risk insurance” to business, OPIC may remove incentives for some foreign governments to adopt beneficial political and free-market reforms in order to attract foreign capital.

Among the vital “development” projects financed by OPIC are the Istanbul Ritz-Carlton, and Citibank branches in Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan. OPIC is thus the type of program that the “Tea Party” Congress should be looking to eliminate not expand. But the Congressional leadership is not only not eliminating, or even reducing OPIC, they are using this bill as a vehicle to prevent a full Congressional debate on OPIC reauthorization.

Snuck into the end of this bill is 14 words reauthorizing OPIC until 2017. In order to make sure there is no real debate on OPIC or any other issue concerning this bill, it is coming up under “suspension of the rules,” a procedure usually used for non-controversial bills. Under suspension of rules there are only forty minutes of debate, and no amendments are allowed. However, bills brought up under suspension require a two-third majority to pass. I am hearing that there is a growing rebellion on the Hill against this attempt to sneak OPIC reauthorized into law.

Campaign for Liberty members opposed to OPIC, and foreign aid in general, may want to call their representatives and ask that they oppose HR 2548.

Tim Carney has more information on this here.

·

The post GOP’s electrifying vote on corporate welfare appeared first on Campaign for Liberty.

GOP’s electrifying vote on corporate welfare
Norm Singleton
Wed, 07 May 2014 13:30:45 GMT

Progressives Unite in Call Against 'Horrific' TPP

Progressives united outside the Capitol building on Wednesday in a rally against the TPP. (Photo: Rachel LaBruyere/ Twitter)Braving thunder and rain, hundreds of protesters rallied outside of the Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesday to declare to the government that "the entire progressive movement is united" in the call to reject unjust trade deals and embrace an economy for all.
Braving thunder and rain, hundreds of protesters rallied outside of the Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesday to declare to the government that "the entire progressive movement is united" in the call to reject unjust trade deals and embrace an economy for all.
"They say 'Fast Track!' We Say 'Fight Back!'" the group chanted, referring to recent efforts by President Obama to push through legislation to cement the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, or TPP, without congressional deliberation. Thus far, the details of the deal have been negotiated behind closed doors, with the only information made available to the public via leaks.
Under the banner "Fair Trade is Not Free," a diverse coalition of environmental organizations, good government groups, farm groups, and over a dozen unions took part in the protest, carrying umbrellas and placards, which read: "Stop Secret Trade Deals."
"Let's show Congress that the entire progressive movement is united in the fight for a 21st century global economy that works for everyone," declared the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which organized the rally.
The TPP has been blasted by critics for undermining labor and environmental standards, as well as the open Internet. "The TPP is a horrific thing," said Kian Frederick, national field director for Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "There's something for everyone to hate."
Frederick, who attended the action, told Common Dreams that she believed the aspect of the deal with the most potential harm is the Investor State Dispute Resolution, which grants global corporations state status, much like NAFTA, allowing them to sue a country for supposed loss or damages if they amend their laws. However, according to Frederick, the TPP goes a step further by allowing a corporation to sue for the loss of future expected profits.
"It's an absolute race to the bottom," Frederick declared, citing the myriad ways a government will be handcuffed to old legislation: food safety standards, environmental standards, labor laws. "If we go through with it, taxpayer money will all be recouped by the corporations."
Public Citizen is hoping the rally draws attention to an upcoming congressional vote on whether to eschew legislative authority and "Fast Track" the trade deal without deliberation or input. The vote will likely occur after the midterm elections.
Speaking before the crowd, Tefere Gebre, Executive Vice President of AFL-CIO America,declared: "This is what solidarity looks like!" Gebre was joined by other speakers including Reps. Rosa deLauro (D-Conn.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Mike Michaud (D-Me.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.

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Progressives Unite in Call Against 'Horrific' TPP
lauren
Wed, 07 May 2014 17:31:50 GMT

First U.S. Smart Gun Sale Will Trigger Ban on Traditional Gun Sales in NJ

 

Melissa Melton
Activist Post
For many gun rights advocates, May Day was a close call for one aspect of gun control. That’s the day that “smart guns” nearly went on the market – which would have triggered a 2002 law in New Jersey requiring that ALL statewide gun sales be ‘smart guns’ within three years of the first date of sale anywhere in the United States.
That would be a critical blow to the right to bear arms in New Jersey, furthering the often absurd efforts of gun control advocates in the wake of Sandy Hook and other exploited tragedies. That’s because many in power don’t just want ‘smart guns’ to be an available option on the market, they want them to replace all other legal firearms.
A Maryland gun store owner named Andy Raymond, owner of Engage Armament, found out about the smart-sale ‘trigger’ clause the hard way, after he stocked them and announced he was set to become the first retailer in the nation of the Armatix iP1, a .22 caliber ‘smart gun’ that requires the owner wear an RFID watch to authenticate and enable the firearm.
According to the manufacturer, “the intelligent iW1 wrist watch arms the weapon for firing and also has the following functions”:

• PIN code entry and PIN code management for weapon enablement
• charge level indicator for watch and weapon
• time-controlled weapon deactivation
• extensive watch functions, waterproof
• interchangeable straps, power supply for 5,000 rounds or a minimum of one year standby, depending on operation. [emphasis added]

That’s when he met a wave of criticism – and reportedly threats as well – urging him not to initiate the effects of the law that was written to mandate the replacement of traditional firearms in New Jersey – and perhaps eventually elsewhere. “I would never buy a gun from a retailer that does anything to hurt pro 2A causes. These guys do,” one Facebook user wrote in opposition.
Raymond issued an apology video, citing an onslaught of “drama” after fierce backlash from gun owners. “I did not know I would be screwing you over,” Raymond’s video stated. “I’m terribly sorry…You don’t have anything to worry about from me.” Many gun rights enthusiasts applauded Raymond’s reversal, vowing to now support the store.
“If someone wants to buy a smart gun, that is fine,” Raymond explained in a subsequent Facebook address. “When the law legislates it, that is a sin.”
Meanwhile, the NRA is urging the repeal of the New Jersey law, as many Democrat lawmakers, including State State Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D), who sponsored the bill, are vowing to repeal it, accusing the gun lobby of blocking the sale of any smart guns due to the mandate to override traditional gun sales.
The issue with Andy Raymond’s selling smart guns may be a moot point anyway, as there were reports in February of a California shop preparing to sell the smart gun soon. State Senator Loretta Weinberg apparently already issued a letter to New Jersey’s Attorney General demanding he “certify” that the technology is ready (as the wording of the law called for).
“I expect your prompt attention to this matter and look forward to your reply,” Weinberg wrote. Reportedly, she has not been issued a response.
Silicon Valley investor Ron Conway is backing a $1 million contest for smart gun technology, with emphasis on the smart phone’s fingerprint unlock mechanism. “We need the iPhone of guns. We want gun owners to feel like they are dinosaurs if they aren’t using smart guns,” Conway was quoted in the Washington Post as saying.
Plenty of others in the pro-gun control crowd have been pushing for “smart” solutions on guns… because, you know, anything that’s “smart” is automatically foolproof.
Of course, the idea that the technology works at all or enough to go on the market, and the idea that all its flaws and drawbacks are worked out are two entirely different things.
But if the gun is to be used for self-defense and/or security purposes, it is clear that it is just one more element that must be kept up with and work properly for the weapon to be effective – or in this case, to work at all.
The use of RFID authentication creates numerous problems with privacy, government intrusion, malfunction, interference and hacking. If hackers and robbers band together, they could make home defense inoperable: if a gun was inoperable, or the battery for the watch required to make the gun work was dead, or just the fact that the gun’s red light would give it away to any criminal, make deterrence ineffective as well.
Perhaps worse, if governments used the same “kill switch” technology it has over the Internet and cell phone communications (as the law enforcement community is now advocating as standard), it would act as a “kill switch” to 2nd Amendment rights as well. A world filled with “smart guns” would be effectively unable to resist tyranny… just saying.
Here are some of the arguments made by commenters themselves, wary of the advent of the “smart gun” age on a promotional video for the Armatix iP1:

“Lmao… someone really invented this piece of crap. Lol. ”

“There are more problems with this than benefits…”

“You can keep your “smart guns”. “Dumb guns” are the way to go!”

“Keep your crap ideas out of America! This is a solution looking for a problem. I want a gun that works when needed! Not a gun that won’t work if my watch goes dead.”

“i bet that the NSA can probably lock u out of your gun if they wanted to take u for some reason ( no fighting the military/police) when Martial Law comes with these Guns”

“Great for movies. Can anyone say dead battery or hacked? Keep it simple, stupid (KISS). The last thing a free citizen needs is a gun with an RF signature. That would be as dumb as a President placing monitors in our newsrooms… Where did I hear that?”

“This video plays on fears of an rare (not unheard of, but rare) problem, to sell you on a less-reliable solution. Way to fuel the gun-grabbers’ fantasies."

“So if the watch battery or the battery in the gun are dead then you can’t use it either. Plus what if there is a malfunction with the electronics which are much less reliable than a good gun design. If we all have these in the future, criminals will make jammers so they can break into your house and know that your gun won’t work when you try to defend yourself.”

Darth Varner sums up the argument well in a lengthy comment on the Verge, and why many think that ‘smart guns’ are just a precursor to authorizing only LEOs and special cases to have guns in the first place (as it is now in countries with strict gun control):

A personal protection firearm is something you hope you’ll never have to discharge outside a practice range. Period. It can go unused for extended periods, but if it fails to go bang because you forgot to wear a particular watch, your hand was dirty, it ran out of batteries, or got shorted out due to water exposure you may die.

This is why the fact of the matter is what the article alludes to: there is no market for smart guns. Those who think this is a good idea, are the ones who actually want no guns whatsoever for any reason; any actual person looking to purchase a firearm doesn’t want this. Anything less than 100% reliability is a non-starter. It’s not government conspiracy, it’s simple reliability.

“To follow up this point:

Obviously nothing is 100% reliable. The overall reliability of a given firearm is a product of the reliability (probability it will not fail or malfunction) of all components. So, if there are 5 components, you have:

R1 = c1*c2*c3*c4*c5

This means the overall reliability is always, by definition, lower than the reliability of the lowest. Put differently, it’s actually worse than the weakest link in the chain.

The smart gun tech adds a cascade of new and unnecessary reliability checks to this function, all of which are much higher than the original purely mechanical design.

R2 = c1*c2*c3*c4*c5*c6*c7*c8

Where c6 is the battery, c7 is the presence of the watch, and c8 is a blanket term for all possible electronic failures for any reason. There are a lot of these; I’ve covered a few in other posts.

R1 was probably around 99%, probably closer to 99.5%. Firearm design is that good. Add in all of these other factors, though, which include human error and forgetfulness, and R2 is going to be south of 90%, and quite possibly more like 75-80%.

Nobody who understands this would purchase such an item for personal protection. Your life is not worth that chance. [emphasis added]

Related Activist Post Articles:

• Now is the Time to Stop Smart Guns
• Demand a Plan to Stop Smart Guns

Melissa Melton is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple, where this first appeared, and a co-creator of Truthstream Media. Wake the flock up!

First U.S. Smart Gun Sale Will Trigger Ban on Traditional Gun Sales in NJ
Activist
Mon, 05 May 2014 23:15:00 GMT

Nearly 80% of Colorado Sheriffs File Lawsuit Against Anti-Gun Laws [VIDEO]

 

Last year, Democrats in Colorado pushed through restrictive gun control legislation, against the wishes of the majority of Colorado citizens.  The people responded by recalling and removing from office two of the legislators that were key to the law’s passage. The law has also received quite a bit of resistance from law enforcement in Colorado,

Related posts:

1. Report: Most Colorado Sheriffs REFUSE to Enforce Anti-Gun Laws
2. Colorado Sheriffs Unite With Lawsuit to Block Gun Control
3. Colorado Sheriff: We Won’t Enforce New Anti-Gun Laws

Nearly 80% of Colorado Sheriffs File Lawsuit Against Anti-Gun Laws [VIDEO]
Ben Marquis
Mon, 05 May 2014 22:26:50 GMT

FBI Cyber Division Bulletin: Health Care Systems and Medical Devices at Risk for Increased Cyber Intrusions

 

Health Care Systems and Medical Devices at Risk for Increased Cyber Intrusions for Financial Gain

• 2 pages
• April 8, 2014

(U) Cyber actors will likely increase cyber intrusions against health care systems—to include medical devices—due to mandatory transition from paper to electronic health records (EHR), lax cybersecurity standards, and a higher financial payout for medical records in the black market.

(U) The deadline to transition to EHR is January 2015, which will create an influx of new EHR coupled with more medical devices being connected to the Internet, generating a rich new environment for cyber criminals to exploit. According to open source reporting from SANS, Ponemon, and EMC²/RSA, the health care industry is not technically prepared to combat against cyber criminals’ basic cyber intrusion tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), much less against more advanced persistent threats (APTs). The health care industry is not as resilient to cyber intrusions compared to the financial and retail sectors, therefore the possibility of increased cyber intrusions is likely.

(U) A SANS report dated February 2014, indicates health care security strategies and practices are poorly protected and ill-equipped to handle new cyber threats exposing patient medical records, billing and payment organizations, and intellectual property. Data analysis revealed multiple devices (e.g., radiology imaging software, digital video systems, faxes, printers) and security application systems (e.g., Virtual Private Networks (VPN), firewalls, and routers) were compromised. Once medical devices are compromised, malicious traffic is transmitted through VPNs and firewalls. The biggest vulnerability was the perception of IT health care professionals’ beliefs that their current perimeter defenses and compliance strategies were working when clearly the data states otherwise.

(U) According to a Ponemon Institute report dated March 2013, 63% of the health care organizations surveyed reported a data breach in the past two years with an average monetary loss of $2.4 million per data breach. The majority of each data breach resulted in the theft of information assets. Lastly, 45% reported that their organizations have not implemented security measures to protect patient information.

(U) An EMC²/RSA White Paper published in 2013 indicated that in the first half of 2013, over two million health care records were compromised, which was 31% of all reported data breaches. Cyber criminals are selling the information on the black market at a rate of $50 for each partial EHR, compared to $1 for a stolen social security number or credit card number. EHR can then be used to file fraudulent insurance claims, obtain prescription medication, and advance identity theft. EHR theft is also more difficult to detect, taking almost twice as long as normal identity theft.

(U) Reporting Notice

(U) The FBI encourages recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to the local FBI field office. The FBI’s 24/7 Strategic Information and Operations Center can be reached by telephone at 202-323-3300 or by e-mail at SIOC@ic.fbi.gov. FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm. When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people, and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.

FBI Cyber Division Bulletin: Health Care Systems and Medical Devices at Risk for Increased Cyber Intrusions
Public Intelligence
Tue, 06 May 2014 00:46:12 GMT