A library of snippets
xxx
Your name and navigation history is valuable personal information. The UK Metropolitan Polices’ ‘Digital Control Strategy’ identifies infotainment systems in cars, which store this information, as a new forensic opportunity.
From Connected Rental Cars Leak Personal Driver Data – Infosecurity Magazine
xxx
xxx
Munchee, a San Francisco-based company, had told investors that they were buying a “utility” token, because the digital coin could be used within the app to buy goods and services at a later stage.
In a whitepaper, Munchee had also told investors that the token “does not pose a significant risk of implicating federal securities laws.”
But the SEC said that the company led investors to believe that the value of tokens would increase and be traded on secondary markets — thereby classifying them as securities, which must be registered with the regulator.
From Food app calls off ICO after SEC declares its tokens are unregistered securities
xxx
xxx
“Discover has become the latest credit card company to get rid of signatures as a means of verifying a cardholder’s identity… it’s becoming increasingly rare for consumers actually sign real letters when signing at check-outs”
From “Discover announces that it will do away with signatures by April 2018”.
xxx
To be honest I think I’ll miss signing for purchases in America.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
xxx
xxx
“Technology is changing every industry and it is impossible for me to believe it won’t change our financial system. That’s particularly true because our current system—while stable—is imperfect. Cryptocurrencies can be more secure and more efficient to exchange. They can be inflation-proof and are easier to settle and easier to interoperate. “
xxx
xxx
“While certainly a disruptive idea, evolving our current financial system to take advantage of cryptocurrencies is not a crazy one.”
xxx
xxx
“Bloomberg estimates only 1,000 individuals own 40% of available bitcoin, while the majority of bitcoin creation (mining) itself is also a tight-knit oligopoly.”
From “On Fascism, Identity, Cryptoassets and the Future of Censorship”.
xxx
I saw a fascinating presentation by Ursula Schilling on Infineon on “Securing the Quantum Computer World” in which said was talking about the need to develop cryptography that will be resistant to attacks from quantum computers. It’s a live topic, because if the figures she presented are approximately correct and there will be quantum computers capable of making practical attacks on RSA/ECC with 15-20 years, that means that information currently being secure using asymmetric cryptography (eg, Bitcoin) is essentially being put into the public domain!
xxx
“‘To explain that, one needs investors who are (in our specific case) irrational, woefully uninformed, or endowed with very strange preferences.’”
xxx
I was amazed to hear at Vendorcom that 30% of population’s income doesn’t get reconciled at HMRC and DWP for reasons such as they only handle RTI from BACS and lots of people use faster payments.
Now I understand! Having recently had occasion to send money to HMRC, I was very surprised to receive a threatening letter from them a month or so later. I can’t remember exactly what it said, but it was something along the lines of “we’ve giving up on chasing Google and Richard Branson, so if you don’t send us tenner the boys are coming round to sort you out”. Shocked, I logged on to my HMRC business account to see that it said that a) I owed them the tenner and b) I’d sent them a tenner that was sitting there “unallocated”. I phoned up and the nice woman up North somewhere said that she would “allocate” the tenner to the money I owed them and it was all good. Afterwards, I did wonder why they thought I’d sent them a tenner (ie, was it for no reason, as they seem to have assumed, or was it in payment for the tenner I owed them).
xxx
People may baulk at sharing access to personal data yet millions are happily using online banking and enjoying the functionality of their bank’s online app. Millions more are content to share all kinds of personal data with Google and Facebook, which already offers debit card-linked payments in the UK via its Messenger app.
From Will you let a stranger look deep into your bank account?
xxx
Felix Martin, writing in the Daily Telegraph (5th December 2017) says that “We will end by thanking the monetary cranks for inducing some policy sanity – and making our national financial systems fit for purpose once again”, meaning (if I understand him correctly) that while bitcoin may not in the long run prove to be a viable alternative to the existing fiat currency infrastructure, it will stimulate the development of things that are and thus make money more suited to the new economy.
Snippings