Snippings

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While we certainly value the upsides of networking, over the years, we’ve learned there is equal value in protecting our time and the relationships we’ve worked hard to build.

From: How to Gracefully Decline a Networking Request.

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KnowBe4 needed a software engineer for our internal IT AI team. We posted the job, received resumes, conducted interviews, performed background checks, verified references, and hired the person. We sent them their Mac workstation, and the moment it was received, it immediately started to load malware.

Our HR team conducted four video conference based interviews on separate occasions, confirming the individual matched the photo provided on their application. Additionally, a background check and all other standard pre-hiring checks were performed and came back clear due to the stolen identity being used. This was a real person using a valid but stolen US-based identity. The picture was AI “enhanced”.

From: How a North Korean Fake IT Worker Tried to Infiltrate Us.

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(Edited)
Excuse me? I’ve been on board bitcoin since 2013. Right now some individuals in tech hold very large amounts and are gaming the system to hold more. The unregulated market is heavily gamed by such large interests and exchanges able to move relatively large volumes and liquidate leveraged positions almost at will with zero overview by regulators. People executing these strategies are the same people critical of central bankers and regulators. Such regulations were instituted for a reason after the 1930 crash.

Liquidity on exchanges may be “enough” for anyone to buy some, but it is low, relatively small exchanges can and do cause huge swings. Just now almost 4% within a hours. That’s no basis for a stable fiat medium of exchange. Nor is there any reason to assume that a stable price can be maintained at any time. It never has been stable.

CBDCs on the other hand can be created by institutions ultimately accountable to governments and voters.

Bitcoin no longer is the libertarian/anarchist’s choice, it’s been veering into authoritarian control, bought even Trump.

From: Kamala Harris campaign seeks ‘reset’ with crypto companies.

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The UN estimates that global money laundering equates to 2 – 5% of global GDP. This estimate seems to have been made in the early 2000’s and based on an IMF report from 1998 – in today’s money that is $2 trillion – $5 trillion annually, which encompasses the size of the UK’s GDP.

Yet just a small fraction of this total is detected – Europol estimate that 2.2% of the proceeds of crime are found and even then only about half of this total is seized.

There is no shortage of anti-money laundering (AML) regulation – the EU is on its 6th AML Directive, first issued in 1991 and the pace is accelerating – there have been three AML directives in the last 10 years.

Compliance with AML regulations is costly. LexisNexis estimate UK banks spent £34.2 billion in 2022 – scaling this up (by GDP) globally implies the global cost of compliance is over $1 trillion annually. Most countries implement AML regulations based on recommendations from an inter-governmental organisation called the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

From: Feed | LinkedIn.

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By 2026, at least 500 million smartphone users will be regularly making verifiable claims using a digital identity wallet built on distributed ledger technology, according to Gartner, Inc.

Decentralized identity (DCI) based on distributed ledger technology is used for user verification, identifying, and tying a physical person to an identity wallet, and for user authentication and authorization, authenticating that user and authorizing them to access resources and data.

Traditional centralized approaches to managing identity data often fall short in user experience, security, and privacy. DCI offers a transformative solution by eliminating central data stores and enhancing user experience through simple smartphone applications. It ensures security via the integrity of robust identity verification mechanisms and preserves privacy through consent management and the use of privacy-preserving protocols such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), which provide pseudonymity. This approach addresses key issues like identity verification, fraud, and account takeovers, making it a superior alternative to conventional methods.

From: Gartner predicts 500 million smartphone users will be making verifiable claims using a digital identity wallet built on distributed ledger technology by 2026.

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Credit card issuers explicitly and directly charge the rest of the economy for the work involved in recruiting the most desirable customers.

From: Anatomy of a credit card rewards program.

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The Commerce Commission of New Zealand has just published a consultation paper on the osts to businesses and consumers of card payments which makes the same point. They summarise the situation clearly: where there is no surcharging, consumers who choose to pay through lower cost card payment options (eg, PIN debit) or cash, subsidise other card users through higher retail prices and where there is a blanket surcharge, debit card users subsidise credit card users.

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Supermarket chain Waitrose went ‘cash only’ in some stores today as its card machines went down.

A spokesperson for the firm confirmed around lunchtime today that its contactless payments were up and running again.

They added that John Lewis had not been affected.

From: Full list of shops, banks, travel companies and events affected by the global IT meltdown – as shoppers are urged to pay in cash after outage left customers unable to make card payments | Daily Mail Online.

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Once you agree, the feature will let you scan and save two types of documents: normal and private. The normal documents, such as your Student ID or business card, won’t require biometric authentication when you add or access them. Whereas, private documents like your Tax ID, Driver’s license, or other government-issued ID cards will require biometric authentication. The feature will automatically identify, scan, and categorize several types of documents, including Loyalty cards, Passports, Resident permits, Student IDs, Tax IDs, Vehicle registration, Voter IDs, Library cards, ID cards, Health insurance, Event passes and tickets, Driver’s license, Car insurance, and Business cards. However, if it can’t identify a document, it will automatically assign it to the “Other” category and give you the option to enter information manually.

From: Here’s an early look at how Google Wallet will let you scan and save anything (APK teardown).

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Does any

Americans for Common Cents is not a registered nonprofit, nor is it a business entity in Washington, D.C. In fact, it really only exists on paper and in cyberspace. ACC has the classic characteristics of a “front group,” a phantom organization backed by business, but with no visible ties to the business.

Weller denies ACC is a front group, and says he has been “very upfront that ACC has a major sponsor in Jarden Zinc Products.”

From: Saving the penny makes cents for zinc-backed front group – Center for Public Integrity.

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The Treasury has placed no new orders for coins this year for the first time as it was revealed that more than a third of UK adults are living largely cashless lives.

Ministers have decided not to ask the Royal Mint for any new coins, believing there are enough in circulation already, as the number of payments made by cash continued to fall.

From: No new coins minted this year for first time.

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A Treasury spokesman said it is not expected to order any new 1p or 2p coins in the coming years, as there are around 27 billion coins in circulation.

 

It was reported that officials were considering scrapping the copper coins altogether, as part of a package of suggestions being prepared for ministers. However, the department denied this was the case, with the spokesman adding: “We are not scrapping 1p or 2p coins. We are confident there are enough coins in the system without the need to order more this year.”

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We should not be investing in producing coins with a better anti-counterfeiting coating, we should be letting coins fade into oblivion, starting with an immediate end to the production of 1p and 2p pieces.

From Let the coins go | Consult Hyperion.

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The Isle of Man is the first part of the British Isles to encourage companies to round prices to the nearest five pence amid declining use of copper.

Due to rising production costs and an increasingly cashless society, the Crown Dependency stopped minting Manx pennies and two pence pieces in 2016.

The island’s currency, the Manx pound, is not legal tender in the United Kingdom, but pound coins and banknotes are accepted there.

Now the Isle of Man Treasury has urged local traders to consider rounding payments “to the nearest five pence” as it prepares for small change to gradually disappear from circulation altogether.

From: Is this the beginning of the end for 1p and 2p coins? The British Isles that say “round up.” – Worldtimetodays.

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Jo Braithwaite, Professor of Law, London School of Economics Law School, LSE, 

Overall, the article argues that the priority for UK regulators should be to develop a more ‘joined-up’ response to APP fraud, and it offers generally applicable insights into effective regulatory responses to this evolving threat.

From: ‘Authorized Push Payment’ Bank Fraud: What Does an Effective Regulatory Response Look Like? | Journal of Financial Regulation | Oxford Academic.

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