Category Archives: Technology

May 19, 2012

Senators to Saverin: Don’t come back. Ever.

Posted on May 19, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“Saverin has turned his back on the country that welcomed him and kept him safe, educated him, and helped him become a billionaire. This is a great American success story gone horribly wrong.” Senator Chuck Schumer

Eduardo Saverin’s decision to leave the United States with his money, but not his citizenship, has apparently touched a nerve in the Senate.

Sens. Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey held a press conference Thursday morning on Capitol Hill where they outlined legislation that would prevent the Facebook co-founder from ever returning to the United States.

Saverin, who now lives in Singapore, renounced his U.S. citizenship earlier this year. He will become astronomically wealthy on Friday when his former venture is listed on the NASDAQ. By renouncing his citizenship, Saverin is likely to avoid capital gains taxes on his Facebook shares.

Schumer called Saverin’s decision “outrageous” and labeled his tactics a “scheme.”

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Posted in Fraud, Government, Social Media, Technology

May 13, 2012

Bloodless bean-counters rule over us – where are the leaders?

Posted on May 13, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

These habits are now pervasive across industry and the public services. “Diversity” is always “celebrated”, but it never means diversity of thought. The people who tell you they are “passionate about” X or Y are usually the most bloodless ones in the outfit.


The Armed Forces have fought several wars in the past 15 years, dealing with a Ministry of Defence staffed by people who know nothing about war

Recently, a man got in touch with me who works for the defence services contractor QinetiQ. He wanted to complain about the way it was run. The company, in his view, suffers from “managerialism”.

Managerialists, he says, are “a group who consider themselves separate from the organisations they join”. They are not interested in the content of the work their organisation performs. They are a caste of people who think they know how to manage. They have studied “The 24-hour MBA”. There is a clear benefit from their management, for them: they arrange their own very high salaries and bonuses. Then they can leave quickly with something that looks good on the CV. The benefit to the company is less clear.

I also spoke to a former senior employee of QinetiQ. He corroborated my informant’s points with gusto. He said managerialists were particularly unsuited to industries such as QinetiQ’s, where scientific knowledge is all. He put it simply: “People who are making bits of technology, or servicing them, should know about technology.”

Skills are not infinitely transferable. “You used to be the editor of a broadsheet newspaper,” he said to me. “How do you think a former chief executive of Ford would perform if he suddenly came and edited a national title?” (or, he politely didn’t say, if the reverse were to happen).

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Posted in Business, Europe, Military, Multiculturalism, Political Correctness, Technology

May 12, 2012

A Facebook Founder Renounces His U.S. Citizenship

Posted on May 12, 2012 by ifnm| 1 Comment

He declined to say exactly what simplifications the impending billionaire would enjoy, other than the financial ones. The revelation of the renunciation, published by the State Department at the end of April and reported by Bloomberg News earlier on Friday, comes just days before Facebook is expected to go public.


Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, at an event in New York last year.

Eduardo Saverin, one of the founders of Facebook, officially defriended the United States in September, giving up his American citizenship for the more tax-friendly residency status of Singapore.

Mr. Saverin, who was born in Brazil and has lived in Singapore since 2010, plans to remain in the Asian island nation indefinitely. Singapore has a maximum personal income tax rate of 20 percent and no taxes on capital gains. He gained American citizenship in 1998.

A spokesman for Mr. Saverin insisted his client did not renounce his citizenship for financial reasons. “I have worked with him for over a year, and that never came up,” said Tom Goodman, the spokesman. “Obviously, it was a big decision, but he’s making all these investments in Europe, Asia and the U.S. It just seemed a lot simpler.”

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Posted in Asia, Technology

May 10, 2012

Interpol says organised gangs behind internet crime boom

Posted on May 10, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

He said that US banks reportedly lost $900 million (690 million euros) to conventional robbers last year but $12 billion (9.2 billion euros) to cyber criminals. He also warned of the dangers to global security of cyber attacks, saying that Interpol itself had been hit by the hacker collective Anonymous.


Interpol president Khoo Boon Hui

Interpol president Khoo Boon Hui said on Tuesday that organised international gangs are behind most internet scams and that cyber crime’s estimated cost is more than that of cocaine, heroin and marijuana trafficking put together.

Speaking to delegates at the opening of the France-based international police agency’s European Regional Conference in Tel Aviv, Khoo quoted a study by London’s Metropolitan University indicating that “80 percent of crime committed online is now connected to organised gangs operating across borders.”

“Criminal gangs now find that transnational and cyber crime are far more rewarding and profitable than other, riskier forms of making money,” he said.

“Experts have warned that the cost of cyber crime is larger than the combined costs of cocaine, marijuana and heroin trafficking. In Europe, the cost of cybercrime has apparently reached 750 billion euros ($979 billion) a year,” he said.

Khoo cited illegal gambling and credit card and banking fraud as examples.

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Posted in Crime, Gangs, Technology

May 5, 2012

Facebook and free speech under debate in Virginia

Posted on May 5, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“Going to a candidate’s Facebook page and liking it in my view is a political statement. It’s not a very deep one, but you’re making a statement when you like a person’s Facebook page,” Messner said.

The “like” button on Facebook seems like a relatively clear way to express your support for something, but a federal judge says that doesn’t mean clicking it is constitutionally protected speech.

Exactly what a “like” means – if anything – played a part in a case in Virginia involving six people who say Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts fired them for supporting an opponent in his 2009 re-election bid, which he won. The workers sued, saying their First Amendment rights were violated.

Roberts said some of the workers were let go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies while others were fired because of poor performance or his belief that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.”

One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, had “liked” the Facebook page of Roberts’ opponent, Jim Adams.

While public employees are allowed to speak as citizens on matters of public concern, U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that clicking the “like” button does not amount to expressive speech. In other words, it’s not the same as actually writing out a message and posting it on the site.

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Posted in Elections, Free Speech, Social Media, Technology

Firefox creators Mozilla attack Congress; denounce CISPA

Posted on May 5, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

Jared Polis, a Democratic rep for Colorado, issued similar concerns, stating, “CISPA represents a massive government overreach in the name of security” and that “Any America that values his or her privacy should be concerned.”

Silicon Valley’s Mozilla Corporation has tasked themselves with extinguishing a fire, and no, it’s not what you have in mind.

Mozilla, the Mountain View, California-based developers responsible for creating the hugely successful Firefox Web browser, has issued a statement publically condemning the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA. In a memo sent to Forbes’ data security department on late Tuesday, Mozilla’s privacy and public policy official explains that its newly-publicized stance is not one that encourages online cyber attacks, but merely establishes that the company is in favor of protecting the rights of its users.

“While we wholeheartedly support a more secure Internet, CISPA has a broad and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security,” reads the statement. “The bill infringes on our privacy, includes vague definitions of cybersecurity, and grants immunities to companies and government that are too broad around information misuse. We hope the Senate takes the time to fully and openly consider these issues with stakeholder input before moving forward with this legislation.”

Mozilla’s issues with CISPA mirror opposition that was voiced last week on Capitol Hill during debates over the legislation. Rep Jan Schakowsky (D Illinois) said the cybersecurity bill “still fails to adequately safeguard the privacy of Americans” and that the government needs to be able to “combat the serious threat of cyber attacks and still insure that we are protecting our computer systems and the civil liberties of Americans.”

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Posted in Free Speech, Government, Law & Courts, Technology

April 28, 2012

FCC official: ‘Internet freedom’ threatened (Video)

Posted on April 28, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

“Thus far, those who are pushing for new intergovernmental powers over the Internet are far more energized and organized than those who favor the Internet freedom and prosperity.” Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell

[Note: This article was originally posted on December 21st, 2011. The IFNM website was attacked by hackers and many articles are now gone from the archives. As a public service, IFNM is now reposting said articles.]


Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Robert McDowell answers a question during a meeting with editors and reporters of The Washington Times on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011.

The United States is unprepared for an international fight that’s brewing over whether the Internet will remain free from government regulations or fall increasingly under the control of emerging global powers, Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell warned Monday

“The proponents of Internet freedom and prosperity have been asleep at the switch,” Mr. McDowell, the lone Republican serving at the FCC, told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. “Or maybe I should say asleep at the router.”

The 193-member International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a U.N. agency, will meet in Dubai next December to renegotiate the 24-year-old treaty that deals with international oversight of the Internet. A growing number of countries are pushing greater governmental control and management of the Web’s availability, financial model and infrastructure.

They believe the current model is “dominated” by the U.S., and want to “take that control and power away,” Mr. McDowell said. China and Russia support the effort, but so do non-Western U.S. allies such as Brazil, South Africa and India.

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Posted in Free Speech, Law & Courts, Technology

April 27, 2012

Video: Modern Day Slavery … Coming soon to America?

Posted on April 27, 2012 by ifnm| 1 Comment

“We wake up before the roosters, go to sleep after the dogs, eat worse than the pigs.” said a laborer on the conditions at Foxconn.

[Note: This article was originally posted on December 21st, 2011. The IFNM website was attacked by hackers and many articles are now gone from the archives. As a public service, IFNM is now reposting said articles.]

Because of the high demand for Apple products, workers at the Foxconn factory are forced to work like machines and treated worse than farm animals. This is the truth that the media try to cover up. Your iPhones and iPads do not grow on trees … they’re made by slaves. Is this to become a model for the new world order for humans everywhere?


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Posted in Slavery, Technology

April 23, 2012

FBI: Hundreds Of Thousands May Lose Internet In July

Posted on April 23, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers.

For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.

Unknown to most of them, their problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of infected computers around the world. In a highly unusual response, the FBI set up a safety net months ago using government computers to prevent Internet disruptions for those infected users. But that system is to be shut down.

The FBI is encouraging users to visit a website run by its security partner, http://www.dcwg.org , that will inform them whether they’re infected and explain how to fix the problem. After July 9, infected users won’t be able to connect to the Internet.

Most victims don’t even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

Last November, the FBI and other authorities were preparing to take down a hacker ring that had been running an Internet ad scam on a massive network of infected computers.

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Posted in Crime, Technology

April 18, 2012

Feds Order You Tube To Remove Video For Containing “Government Criticism”

Posted on April 18, 2012 by ifnm| Leave a comment

One such example was You Tube’s compliance with a request from the British government to censor footage of the British Constitution Group’s Lawful Rebellion protest, during which they attempted to civilly arrest Judge Michael Peake at Birkenhead county court.

The number of takedown orders received by Google from authorities based in the United States rose dramatically over the past year, with demands to remove information, including videos containing “government criticism,” increasing by 70 per cent.

“In the US, Google received 757 takedown requests across its sites and services, up 70 per cent from the second half of last year,” reports technology website V3.co.uk.

“US authorities also called for the removal of 113 videos from YouTube, including several documenting alleged police brutality which Google refused to take down.”

The figures are revealed in Google’s newly released transparency report, which also details how the number of “user data requests” by US authorities increased by 29 per cent compared to the last reporting period.

The reason listed for the removal of a You Tube video in one instance is “government criticism”. The exact identity or content of the video is not divulged. The report states that the removal requests pertaining to “police brutality” were done on the grounds of “defamation” and are included in that separate category, meaning the takedown order on the grounds of “government criticism” was made by the “executive,” ie the federal government.

The report does not indicate whether or not You Tube complied with the removal request, but it did comply with 63 per cent of the total requests made.

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Posted in Free Speech, Government, Technology