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New Bill Limits When California Police Can Use Deadly Force

posted Feb 11, 2019, 11:03 PM by Resty Manapat

As a nation, we must address the brutal reality and deadly consequences of police violence. We have seen far too many people, particularly Black and brown people, killed by police. We have seen too many families and communities shattered by loss and tragedy. Enough is enough. We must limit when police officers can use deadly force and take someone’s life.

Current laws in California fail to protect against unnecessary killings by police officers. Officers here — and in much of the country — can use deadly force regardless of whether it was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury. They can kill even when alternatives to deadly force — like issuing a verbal warning, repositioning and calling for backup, or using lower levels of force — are available, safe, and feasible.

It is unacceptable that today in California police officers can legally kill someone even when they don’t have to.

Preserving and protecting human life must be the top concern for law enforcement officers, and our laws should likewise reflect that. Unfortunately, that is not the case. According to the California Department of Justice, police officers killed 172 Californians in 2017 alone, and they did so with startling racial disparities. Of the 172 people killed, more than two-thirds were people of color. Of those who were completely unarmed when killed by police, three quarters were people of color.

California police officers are not only killing people of color at disproportionate rates; they are also killing more people than most departments in the country. California police kill people at a rate 37 percent higher than the national per capita average. A 2015 report by the Guardian found that police in Kern County killed more people per capita than in any other county in the U.S.

The course of action is clear. California lawmakers must start by changing the standard for when police can use deadly force.

That’s why the ACLU of California affiliates — together with our partner organizations, including those led by people directly impacted by police violence — are supporting AB 392: The California Act to Save Lives. The legislation introduced on Wednesday specifically addresses police violence by updating California’s deadly use-of-force law.

AB 392 is a common-sense bill that is modeled after best practices already in place in some departments in the U.S. We know these practices work to reduce killings by police. As with these other bills, AB 392 will clarify that police officers can use deadly force only when there are no alternatives that would prevent death or serious bodily injury. Officers’ conduct leading up to a shooting will also be considered when determining whether deadly force is justified — not just the moment the officer pulls the trigger.

The California Department of Justice recently released a report recommending that the Sacramento Police Department update its use-of-force guidelines following the shooting death of Stephon Clark in Sacramento. Their guidelines align closely with AB 392. Specifically, they call for Sacramento police to more clearly define when force is authorized, require that officers use de-escalation whenever possible, and mandate that officers exhaust all reasonably available alternatives before using deadly force.

Research shows that officers at agencies with stricter use-of-force policies kill fewer people and are less likely to be killed or seriously injured themselves. After Seattle implemented a new use-of-force policy that contains some of the same key elements that AB 392 does, a study by a federal court monitor showed that the policy significantly reduced mid-level and serious uses of force without any increase in injuries to officers or the crime rate.

There is no reason for California lawmakers to shy away from establishing stricter policies on deadly use of force that can prevent unnecessary shootings, keep officers safe, and ensure public safety. AB 392 is urgently needed because every day that goes by without addressing California’s epidemic of police violence is another day that a police officer may violently take another life.

Source: ACLU

Ethereum Scammers Posing as Tech Celebrities Are Running Rampant On Twitter

posted Feb 24, 2018, 12:09 PM by Resty Manapat

Not even Ethereum's founder, Vitalik Buterin, is immune.

Scammers are tricking gullible Twitter users into sending their hard-earned ether (Ethereum’s in-house cryptocurrency) to random addresses with the empty promise of a hefty giveaway. It’s the latest chapter in the neverending saga of scammers exploiting the cryptocurrency gold rush, and the so-called Bitcoin or Ethereum FOMO, or fear of missing out on an investment.

In this case, the scammers are out in the open impersonating well-known figures in the cryptocurrency community or the tech world, such as Ethereum founder Vitalik ButerinElon Musk, and John McAfee. The scammers often reply to tweets from the real accounts they are impersonating, in an apparent attempt to catch distracted users who might not notice that the Twitter handle is different, or that the account lacks a verified checkmark.

A fake account looking for a handout. Screengrab: Twitter

I visited these links and checked the Ethereum addresses they advertise. If someone clicks on the short URLs, they are taken to a page that looks like this:

Screengrab: Author

To further deceive people, those pages includes what looks like a log of Ether payments, both incoming and outgoing. But the logs don’t appear to be real. The scammers also appear to be using other fake Twitter accounts to make it look like they’re giving out ether.

The below screenshot of an Ethereum address used by the scammers—and linked to in the tweets soliciting money—shows outgoing payments, but it is likely forged. If you check the address’s balance on a legitimate blockchain explorer, there are no outgoing payments, only incoming. This particular scammer has gathered more than 40 Ether (roughly $35,000) as of this writing. If you’re keeping track at home, these Twitter accounts posted the link that lead to that address.

A forged transaction log. Screengrab: Author

Buterin himself has called out these type of scams, begging his followers not to trust“ anyone who asks you for ETH on Twitter.”

“Twitter is terrible, part 629: go to this link, but with the space removed. Notice how it is not in fact my tweet,” Buterin tweeted on Friday, showing how easy it is to trick people.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a series of questions asking what the company is doing to stop these scams.

On Friday, scammers were apparently using a new trick to—presumably—circumvent Twitter filters: using a Cyrillic letter that looks like an “r” when posting the word “address,” as malware researcher Mikko Hypponen noted in a tweet on Friday.

Please, do not believe people who are literally promising free money in exchange for your money. They’re probably not going to give it to you. In the last few months, we’ve seen countless examples of these scams. Some scammers impersonate well-known professors on Slack, others even tried—and failed—to scam our own cryptocurrency expert in residence and editor Jordan Pearson. More sophisticated crooks have been targeting people’s online accounts directly, hijacking their SIM cards and stealing their passwords. So be careful with that too and enable two-factor with an app (and not with your cellphone number) if you use exchanges like Coinbase or Gemini.

Study claims most businesses lack cyber expertise to prevent attacks

posted Feb 12, 2018, 9:52 PM by Resty Manapat

The majority of businesses lack cybersecurity expertise to prevent cyberattacks and protect customers, according to a recent study.

Cyber insurance company Hiscox surveyed 4,000 organizations and rated them on a  cyber readiness model that divided respondents into ‘cyber novices', ‘cyber intermediates' and ‘cyber experts' and found that only 11 percent scored highly enough in both cyber security strategy and the quality of its execution to qualify as cyber security ‘experts'

Nearly three quarters, 73 percent, fell into the novice category but not for underinvestment in technology but because firms are failing to support their investment in security technology with a formal strategy, sufficient resourcing and training, and sound processes.

On average, the study fund experts were more proactive with 89 percent having a clearly defined cyber strategy, 72 percent being prepared to make changes after a breach and 97 percent incorporating security training and awareness throughout the workforce.

Researchers noted that divide in cyber readiness between the cyber novices and the cyber experts is mirrored by the firms' expenditures on IT and the proportion of it they devote to cyber security. The study found the average cyber expert spends $2.5 million a year on cyber defense compared while the average cyber novice  only spends $980,000 although it's worth noting that a higher percentage of firms rated ‘experts' were larger firms which would likely have more resources to dedicate.

Dr. Anton Grashion a manager at Cylance noted the complexity of being expert enough to chase threats into the organization if they have not been prevented is also exacerbated by the growing cyber skills shortage.

"Although it was a relatively small data set from which to assess the security expertise of a territory, some of the problem boils down to increasing complexity both in threat landscape and the complexity of building the countermeasures,” Grashion said. “Using the example of the NHS and WannaCry; if the malware had been stopped before it detonated, much of the knock on effect would have been avoided.”

Grashion also noted the basic importance of organizations ensuring all of their systems are patched adn up to date. Experts agree, Ryan Wilk, Vice President of Customer Success at NuData Security said Despite a flurry of high-profile breaches, ransoms and other security incidents, many businesses still think about cybersecurity only as an abstract threat.

"The common wisdom amongst security professionals in 2018 is that if you haven't already been breached, you will be," Wilk said. "Companies need to match this sustained threat level with cyber policies and products that protect them, their customers and employees as well as attempting to raise general awareness of cybersecurity."

Wilk added that firms can no longer rely on passwords and usernames to keep themselves safe from cybercrime, and that more stringent security measures such as passive biometrics or two-factor authentication will need to be adapted.

To Curb Bad Verdicts, Court Adds Lesson on Racial Bias for Juries

posted Jan 28, 2018, 9:09 AM by Resty Manapat

The classic courtroom scene of a witness confidently identifying an attacker by pointing toward the defendant is a moment that can make a powerful impression on a jury.

But it is an impression that most psychologists agree is unreliable, especially when the victim or other eyewitness and the defendant are of different races. And it has resulted in people going to prison for crimes they did not commit.

Six years ago, state court administrators gave trial judges in New York the option of telling jurors that in their deliberations, they may consider the unreliability of cross-racial identification.

The state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, went further in a decision issued on Thursday. It told judges that in criminal cases where the identifying witness and defendant appear to be of different races, the defense is entitled to have the jurors told about the unreliability of cross-witness identification if requested.

In the majority opinion, Judge Eugene M. Fahey cited mounting scientific evidence and criminal exonerations in concluding that the “the risk of wrongful convictions involving cross-racial identification demands a new approach.”

People generally have greater difficulty identifying someone of a different race than their own, a phenomenon that scientists have observed for more than a century. One analysis of 39 studies found that participants were one-and-a-half times more likely to falsely identify the face of a stranger of a different race.

Often, jurors do not perceive problems with how witnesses identify people of a different race. In a 2006 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, only 36 percent of over 1,000 jurors understood that cross-racial identification was less reliable than same-race identification, while nearly half believed they were equally reliable.

“The need for a charge on the cross-race effect is evident,” the court said, referring to the instruction. “The question becomes how this instruction is best given.”

The rule issued by the Court of Appeals on Thursday applies to all cases where a witness’s identification of the perpetrator is an issue and the instruction is requested by the defendant, who the judges said must appear to be of a different race than the eyewitness who identified him.

State courts in Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey have instituted rules similar to the new one in New York, while courts in Washington State and Georgia, as well as federal courts in Detroit, Indianapolis and the District of Columbia allow an instruction, at the discretion of the trial judge.

Supporters of such an instruction said it was necessary to reduce the risk of wrongful convictions, which disproportionately affect black men.

The Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal group, said in a brief filed with the court that over 70 percent of the 353 convictions it has had overturned on DNA evidence involved misidentification. And of those, nearly half involve a defendant and a witness of different races. Black men were the defendants in more than 200 of the exonerations handled by the group.

Marne Lenox, who co-authored a brief on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., said the ruling sends “an important signal” across the country.

“This decision helps level the playing field and prevent future wrongful convictions, especially of defendants of color, based on scientifically dubious cross-racial identifications,” Ms. Lenox said.

As courts, legislatures and law enforcement agencies revisit the use of eyewitnesses in criminal cases, she said she hoped they would look to New York and “enact common-sense reform.”

The case that led to the decision involved a black man, Otis Boone, who was convicted of robbery solely on the testimony of two white men who said he robbed them of their cellphones in Brooklyn in 2011.

The victims, a teenager and a man in his 20s, said the robber approached them and asked for the time before snatching their phones out of their hands and fleeing. The older victim gave chase until the robber pulled out a knife and warned him to stay back. The younger man put up a fight, but the robber stabbed him in the back.

Both victims picked Mr. Boone out of a six-man police lineup. The teenager hesitated until he heard Mr. Boone say, “What time is it?”

In ruling that the defense was entitled to the identification instruction, the court ordered a new trial for Mr. Boone, whose original sentence of 25 years in prison was reduced to 15 by a lower appellate court.

The Brooklyn district attorney’s office said it was reviewing the court’s decision and weighing how to proceed.

The trial judge in Brooklyn had rejected Mr. Boone’s request for the cross-racial instruction, partly on the belief that the instruction should not be given to jurors if no expert had testified on the subject at trial. An appellate court agreed with the trial court, but chose to reduce Mr. Boone’s sentence.

Judge Fahey, of the Appeals Court, whose opinion was joined by four of the panel’s seven judges, wrote that the lower courts were mistaken.

Judge Michael J. Garcia agreed that the trial judge had erred in not allowing the identification instruction, but in a concurring opinion, said that his colleagues went too far in effectively making the instruction mandatory. He said requiring the instruction “creates a substantial risk of juror confusion and serves only to hinder, rather than aid, the jury’s critical fact-finding function.”

Judge Leslie E. Stein joined in the concurring opinion. Judge Rowan D. Wilson did not participate in the decision.

Source: New York Times

California crime debate continues, setting stage for bail reform

posted Dec 31, 2017, 6:38 PM by Resty Manapat

California, which had led the nation in cracking down on crime in the 1980s and 1990s by locking up tens of thousands of felons, has dramatically reversed course in the last half-decade, to wit:

•Responding to pressure from federal courts to reduce prison overcrowding, Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature enacted “realignment,” which diverted low-level felons into local jails and probation, thus dropping prison populations by about one-third via attrition;

•Proposition 47, passed by voters in 2014, reclassified many lower-level felonies as misdemeanors, thus keeping offenders out of state prison, and allowed inmates who committed the downgraded crimes to apply for release;

•Proposition 57, sponsored by Brown and passed by voters last year, makes it easier for felons deemed to have committed nonviolent crimes — although there’s a continuing dispute over the definitions of those crimes — to obtain parole.

These major changes have not been without controversy. Many law enforcement officials contend that they mean more criminals walking the streets and committing more crimes. Those on both sides of the debate cite crime statistics, but even when they agree on what data to use, the numbers vary widely from community to community and it’s virtually impossible to show cause-and-effect relationships.

Two new reports demonstrate the lack of clarity.

The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice looked at crime in Los Angeles County — which has a quarter of the state’s population and generates a third of those prosecuted for crimes — during what it calls “the justice reform era.”

In the state as a whole, crimes per 100,000 population dropped 5 percent between 2010 and 2016, the study found, but Los Angeles Country saw a 5 percent increase and the city of Los Angeles a 9 percent increase, led by a 60 percent jump in assaults and 27 percent increase in all forms of violent crime.

This week, the Public Policy Institute of California published a study of realignment, finding that low-level felons who were released from prison into local supervision were somewhat more likely to commit new crimes than similar parolees prior to realignment.

The more startling bit of data, however, is that their “recidivism” rate was 71.9 percent, which indicates that the “correction” part of the penal system isn’t working very well.

These reports and others are grist for the Capitol’s political mill as it grinds on the next big criminal justice issue: bail reform.

A coalition of penal reform organizations is backing legislation by state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, a Van Nuys Democrat, aimed at reducing the number of those facing criminal charges who are locked up because they can’t post bail.

“California’s current money bail system comes at great cost not only to the detained individual and his or her family but also to California communities,” Hertzberg argues. “When wealth and charges alone determine whether or not someone will be released pending trial, community safety suffers.”

Hertzberg’s Senate Bill 10 would curb judges’ power, eliminate local bail schedules and create “pretrial services agencies” to evaluate arrestees on an individual basis. It passed the Senate on a mostly party-line vote but stalled in the Assembly due to opposition from bail bond agents, many law enforcement groups and judges.

As with the crime issue itself, the contending factions throw out conflicting data on how many accused are being held in local jails. Reform advocates say they may be as high as two-thirds of jail populations, while opponents say it’s more like a quarter.

It will be a front-burner issue when the Legislature returns to the Capitol in January.

Source:  San Francisco Chronicle

Why Sexual Harassment Continues to Be A Problem in Silicon Valley and the Startup World

posted Jul 10, 2017, 10:34 AM by Resty Manapat

Silicon Valley has had a problem with sexual harassment in the workplace for a long time, but only now does it seem that the tech industry is coming to terms with the issue.

One indicator: When venture capital firm Binary Capital decided to oust its cofounder Justin Caldbeck after a pair of investigations from The Information and The New York Times revealed that six women had accused him of sexual harassment. The Times report also included numerous stories from female startup founders and entrepreneurs who recounted cases where they had either been harassed or made to feel uncomfortable by men in the industry, many of whom were investors. Among them, the women named high-profile venture capitalists including Chris Sacca, entrepreneur-turned investor Marc Canter and 500 Startups CEO Dave McClure, who resigned from his role earlier this week.

That's on top of the string of controversies at Uber Technologies Inc., which involved two investigations into the ride-hailing startup's company culture, including sexual harassment claims from a former engineer, Susan Fowler. The controversies ensnared Uber for several months, ultimately leading to the resignation of CEO Travis Kalanick and the departures of numerous high-profile executives, including business chief Emil Michael and senior vice president of engineering Amit Singhal.

The allegations have kicked off something of a reckoning among Silicon Valley investors, executives, entrepreneurs and other observers. The New England Venture Capital Association, a trade group, encouraged its members to sign a pledge against discrimination and gender bias. Prominent VCs such as Bain Capital Ventures have since signed on.

LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partners venture capitalist Reid Hoffman wrote a post laying out some of the steps Silicon Valley should take to resolve what he considers "entirely immoral and outrageous behavior." Part of that, Hoffman wrote, is getting people to adopt a "#DecencyPledge" to signify their support of harassment victims. Another, perhaps more influential, suggestion is to build an industry-wide HR function to oversee what happens between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

But in order for real change to take place, Gina Bianchini, CEO of Mighty Networks, a software company that creates niche social networks, said high-profile VCs need to come out in support of the issue.

"I don't think there should be an expectation that women are going to solve this issue," Bianchini explained. "We didn't create this."

The revelations about Caldbeck and other venture capitalists have shed light on an area that has largely been overlooked so far -- the relationship between investors and female startup founders. Female entrepreneurs are placed into an especially vulnerable position when they seek funding from venture capitalists. The VC world is a male-dominated environment, where fewer than 6% of all decision-makers at U.S. VC firms are women, according to Fortune. Lisa Wang, co-founder of SheWorx, a community of female entrepreneurs, said she's experienced first-hand how challenging this relationship can be.

"I had poured my blood, sweat and tears into this company and all I needed was capital to build and sustain my team," Wang explained. "You go into this meeting and the person sitting across from you holds the future of your company."

"So when a woman gets a meeting with an investor and they say 'Hey, just meet me here for a drink,' you leap," Wang added. "Next thing you know, he's not interested in your company and you're like 'I thought this was business.'"

This kind of dynamic isn't just restricted to pitch meetings. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Wang said a high-profile investor tried to grab her face and kiss her. In another instance, an investor bypassed her, thinking that her male colleague was the founder of her food startup, Fooze. And during a serious fundraising conversation, an investor called her cute, she said.

"It's those things that made me realize how difficult it is for female founders," Wang explained.

Wang is trying to make it easier for female founders to report harassment, which SheWorx describes as anything from "egregious stories to the small paper cuts experienced every day," through an anonymous form on the company's website. Wang and SheWorx hope to form a committee of influential lead partners and general partners from investment firms that, using the data, can take action on individuals who were flagged for repeated harassment. In effect, the committee could serve as a pseudo HR body or watchdog that monitors interactions between startups and investors.

Investors, too, need to stop perpetuating the culture that involves inappropriate behavior, like asking female founders "signaling questions" about their marriage status and other details, said Drew Koven, managing director of investment firm LDR Ventures. "You wouldn't ask a man those questions," Koven noted.

Source: TheStreet

Tips for Using Public Wi-Fi Networks

posted Jul 8, 2017, 5:19 PM by Resty Manapat

Wi-Fi hotspots in coffee shops, libraries, airports, hotels, universities, and other public places are convenient, but often they’re not secure. If you connect to a Wi-Fi network, and send information through websites or mobile apps, it might be accessed by someone else.

To protect your information when using wireless hotspots, send information only to sites that are fully encrypted, and avoid using mobile apps that require personal or financial information.

How Encryption Works

Encryption is the key to keeping your personal information secure online. Encryption scrambles the information you send over the internet into a code so it’s not accessible to others. When you’re using wireless networks, it’s best to send personal information only if it’s encrypted — either by an encrypted website or a secure Wi-Fi network. An encrypted website protects only the information you send to and from that site. A secure wireless network encrypts all the information you send using that network.

How to Tell If a Website is Encrypted

If you send email, share digital photos and videos, use social networks, or bank online, you’re sending personal information over the internet. The information you share is stored on a server — a powerful computer that collects and delivers content. Many websites, like banking sites, use encryption to protect your information as it travels from your computer to their server.

To determine if a website is encrypted, look for https at the start of the web address (the “s” is for secure). Some websites use encryption only on the sign-in page, but if any part of your session isn’t encrypted, your entire account could be vulnerable. Look for https on every page you visit, not just when you sign in.

What About Mobile Apps?

Unlike websites, mobile apps don’t have a visible indicator like https. Researchers have found that many mobile apps don’t encrypt information properly, so it’s a bad idea to use certain types of mobile apps on unsecured Wi-Fi. If you plan to use a mobile app to conduct sensitive transactions — like filing your taxes, shopping with a credit card, or accessing your bank account — use a secure wireless network or your phone’s data network (often referred to as 3G or 4G).

If you must use an unsecured wireless network for transactions, use the company’s mobile website — where you can check for the https at the start of the web address — rather than the company’s mobile app.

Don’t Assume a Wi-Fi Hotspot is Secure

Most Wi-Fi hotspots don’t encrypt the information you send over the internet and aren’t secure. In fact, if a network doesn’t require a WPA or WPA2 password, it’s probably not secure.

If you use an unsecured network to log in to an unencrypted site — or a site that uses encryption only on the sign-in page — other users on the network can see what you see and what you send. They could hijack your session and log in as you. New hacking tools — available for free online — make this easy, even for users with limited technical know-how. Your personal information, private documents, contacts, family photos, and even your login credentials could be up for grabs.

An imposter could use your account to impersonate you and scam people in your contact lists. In addition, a hacker could test your username and password to try to gain access to other websites – including sites that store your financial information.

Protect Your Information When Using Public Wi-Fi

Here’s how you can protect your information when using Wi-Fi:

  • When using a hotspot, log in or send personal information only to websites you know are fully encrypted. To be secure, your entire visit to each site should be encrypted – from the time you log in to the site until you log out. If you think you’re logged in to an encrypted site but find yourself on an unencrypted page, log out right away.
  • Don’t stay permanently signed in to accounts. When you’ve finished using an account, log out.
  • Do not use the same password on different websites. It could give someone who gains access to one of your accounts access to many of your accounts.
  • Many web browsers alert users who try to visit fraudulent websites or download malicious programs. Pay attention to these warnings, and keep your browser and security software up-to-date.
  • Consider changing the settings on your mobile device so it doesn’t automatically connect to nearby Wi-Fi. That way, you have more control over when and how your device uses public Wi-Fi.
  • If you regularly access online accounts through Wi-Fi hotspots, use a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs encrypt traffic between your computer and the internet, even on unsecured networks. You can get a personal VPN account from a VPN service provider. In addition, some organizations create VPNs to provide secure, remote access for their employees. What’s more, VPN options are available for mobile devices; they can encrypt information you send through mobile apps.
  • Some Wi-Fi networks use encryption: WEP and WPA are common, but they might not protect you against all hacking programs. WPA2 is the strongest.
  • Installing browser add-ons or plug-ins can help. For example, Force-TLS and HTTPS-Everywhere are free Firefox add-ons that force the browser to use encryption on popular websites that usually aren't encrypted. They don’t protect you on all websites — look for https in the URL to know a site is secure.
  • Take steps to secure your home wireless network.

Source: Federal Trade Commission

When Should Encouraging Suicide Be a Crime?

posted Jul 8, 2017, 4:37 PM by Resty Manapat

Michelle Carter was recently convicted by a Massachusetts judge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, by suicide. Carter played a role in the suicide by repeatedly texting her boyfriend urging him to kill himself, expressing frustration with his delaying it, and assuring him that she would take care of his family’s well-being in the aftermath of his death, a worry that he voiced in hesitating to take his own life. In this column, I will discuss some of the issues that a conviction like this raises for free speech doctrine, the right to die, and traditional conceptions of causation and responsibility in the criminal law.

Free Speech

The Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken the position that Carter’s conviction violates her freedom of speech. At first glance, this might seem like a powerful argument. After all, Carter was expressing her point of view, that her boyfriend should commit suicide and that he should do it sooner rather than later. If she had written an essay or a book arguing either that suicide in general or her boyfriend’s suicide in particular was warranted, that writing would be protected by the First Amendment, and she could not be criminally punished for producing it. Indeed, under the 1992 Supreme Court ruling in Simon & Schuster, Inc. v. Members of N.Y. State Crime Victims Bd., the law could not even direct that the money she made from the writing be placed in a fund for victims, because even that would excessively burden her freedom of speech. So how is what she did different? Does a text message receive less free speech protection than a book or an essay?

In principle no, but in context, the immediacy of the text makes a difference. As a speaker or writer, Carter was protected by the First Amendment in expressing her abstract viewpoints on a particular matter (including whether her boyfriend should commit suicide). Such expression, if objectionable, calls for more free expression arguing the other side of the debate, rather than censorship. That is the hallmark of free speech doctrine. But incitement to imminent lawlessness or violence is not protected by the First Amendment, under the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio. This is in part because there is no opportunity to counter the violent message with a contrary idea, precisely because of the immediacy of what the speech urges. Carter’s texts to her boyfriend seem logically to fall within the category of incitement. She was repeatedly pressing him, through her words, to take his life immediately. This sort of speech is not protected by the First Amendment.

To appreciate why the distinction between advocacy of a position and incitement is a real one that makes sense, consider a different scenario from the actual one involving Carter and Roy. Imagine that in addition to Carter and Roy, there is a third person, John Doe, in the picture. Now imagine that instead of urging Roy to kill himself, Carter urges Doe to kill Roy. Assume that Doe voices various reasons for hesitation about killing Roy, suggesting at various points that he wants to put off the act until later and that he is worried about the consequences for Roy’s family of losing their son to murder. In response to Doe’s reluctance, assume that Carter tells him that she will make sure Roy’s family will get through the loss of Roy and that Carter very strongly urges him to go ahead and kill Roy right now. After repeated urgings in which she responds to any hesitation on Doe’s part by insisting that he kill Roy immediately, Doe finally kills Roy.

In the hypothetical scenario, it seems much more straightforward to say that Carter’s urgings to homicide cannot possibly be protected speech under the First Amendment. By pushing Doe to kill Roy, Carter implicates herself in the homicide. Under a standard definition of complicity in the criminal law, an accomplice aids or encourages the direct perpetrator with the intention (or knowledge) of helping bring about the criminal outcome. Words can be used to encourage a third party to carry out a crime, and accomplices are often considered as culpable and are subject to the same penalties as the principal perpetrator. Indeed, in our hypothetical example, one might even call Carter the primary actor, given Doe’s hesitation and reluctance to commit the crime without the pressure he felt from Carter. Saying “shoot him now; it’s the best thing” is not protected by the First Amendment, even though an essay on the benefits of murder would be protected.

Right to Die

Another argument against holding Carter accountable for homicide for urging her boyfriend to kill himself is that suicide ought to be a protected right on the part of every competent individual. The law, on this approach, should not be dictating to people that they live if they deem their suffering to outweigh whatever benefits or pleasure that they derive from their lives. If our law recognized a right to suicide, it might seem potentially misguided to hold a third party criminally responsible for a suicide when the suicidal person was simply exercising a right to take their life.

We can say two things in response to this argument. First, our law does not anywhere recognize suicide per se as a protected liberty right. The U.S. Supreme Court, in Washington v. Glucksberg, specifically rejected a right to physician assistance in dying. In a narrow range of cases involving the terminally ill who have six months or less to live, a handful of states and the District of Columbia do allow for assistance in suicide. This allowance does not, however, extend to helping people like Roy, who are physically healthy and wish to die because they are suffering from unbearable mental illness.

Thus, even if Carter had simply provided the means for Roy to kill himself, she could have been held criminally responsible for his death, because neither his suicide itself nor her role in it is considered protected by law. But she did much more than simply help Roy do what he wanted and intended to do on his own. She pressured him to do something about which he had reservations. One might believe that she should therefore have been held criminally responsible for his death even if the law recognized a right to assistance in dying in cases like his. She did not merely help, in other words; she bent his will to her agenda.

In any event, because suicide of a person like Roy is frowned upon by the law (though he is not considered a criminal himself), helping or encouraging him to commit suicide does not fall within any legally protected right-to-die category.

The causation argument connects with how suicide is often seen by the law and by commentators. Suicide is something that one person does to himself or herself, independently choosing to carry out an act of self-destruction. If another person encourages the suicide or otherwise tries to persuade an individual that he should kill himself, those speech acts are arguably superseded by the decision of the individual to carry out his own suicide. Once we know that Roy killed himself, we do not need to look to Carter for a causal account of what he did. We can locate full responsibility in Roy.

The definition of involuntary manslaughter in Massachusetts also may seem ill-suited to what Carter did in writing texts to her boyfriend encouraging him to kill himself. Under the Massachusetts common law, the crime of involuntary manslaughter (of which Carter was convicted) is “an unintentional, unlawful killing caused by wanton or reckless conduct.”

In this context, “wanton or reckless conduct” is “intentional conduct that creates a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm will result to another person.”

What comes to mind in reading these words is a person who drives while intoxicated or who shoots a gun out a window with his eyes closed and kills someone. The person is doing something reckless that is very likely to have direct and harmful consequences, and the risks that he takes come to pass. Someone dies because the person in question drives into them drunk or because he shoots at them with his eyes closed. There is no superseding causal act, as there is in the case of a suicide.

The notion of a superseding causal event (i.e., the suicide) is the strongest argument against holding Carter responsible for her boyfriend’s death. She was not exercising her freedom of speech, and she was not helping him enjoy his protected liberty right to die. But he could have simply rejected her imploring rather than choosing to do what she urged. Isn’t he the causal agent in his suicide, and doesn’t convicting Carter of manslaughter improperly attach responsibility for his actions to her?

Perhaps, but there is a better argument going the other way. A person who is feeling like committing suicide is suffering terrible emotional anguish and, if he is texting with a girlfriend, is likely looking for comfort or someone to help him feel less distress. Instead of trying to soothe her boyfriend, however, Carter took it upon herself to pressure him repeatedly to take his own life. She rejected any hesitation on his part and tried to allay his legitimate concerns about his family’s reaction to his death by pushing harder and by promising (without foundation) that she would somehow take care of his family.

Putting aside the “unintentional” part (because Carter plainly intended for her boyfriend to die, which only makes her actions worse), Carter spoke in a manner that showed a reckless disregard for the grave risk of harmful consequences that her words posed, namely, the death of her boyfriend. Worse than that, she positively pursued the harmful consequences of her words by repeatedly telling Roy to commit suicide and by trying to make him feel bad that he was not already dead.

However one feels about a right to die (and for the record, I believe it ought to be protected), the behavior of Roy’s girlfriend was reprehensible. She did not offer him solace or comfort at a time when he needed it most. She instead hectored him for hesitating to kill himself and pushed as hard as she could for him to finally do what he did, take his own life.

At one point, Roy exited the truck (which was filled with carbon monoxide), and Carter told him to get back inside. This was the judge’s reaction to that conduct: “This court finds that instructing Mr. Roy to get back in the truck constituted wanton and reckless conduct by Ms. Carter, creating a situation where there is a high degree of likelihood that substantial harm would result to Mr. Roy.” Had Carter done otherwise, had she—as the judge so poignantly put it—simply told him to leave the truck where he was suffocating from carbon monoxide poisoning, he probably would not have died that day.

Because she put Roy in harm’s way, Carter had a duty to try to help him escape that harm, and she failed in that duty. He is gone because of what she said to him and because of what she did not say to him, and she understood perfectly what the impact of her statements might be, because it was exactly what she had urged. She did more than take a grave risk with her boyfriend’s life; she strongly urged him to end it when he was obviously vulnerable to her urgings.

If, as the prosecutor suggested, Carter did what she did so that she could have the attention that people give to grieving girlfriends, then that motive is outrageous and ought to be taken into account at her sentencing hearing. But whatever her motives, Carter’s conviction for having killed her boyfriend after what she did (and failed to do) is just.

Source: Justia Verdict

Lottery rigging accomplice used Wisconsin payout for offshore tax scam

posted Jul 7, 2017, 9:48 AM by Resty Manapat

After Robert Rhodes collected a Wisconsin Lottery jackpot that had been rigged by his friend, he used the windfall for an investment scheme that produced another wave of undeserved government money, court records show.

Rhodes, an accomplice in a scandal that has shaken state lotteries, recently explained under oath how he used the $783,000 payout to receive an additional $180,000 in bogus tax refunds. The Texas businessman sent his lottery winnings offshore to buy a phony insurance policy for a personal corporation that never did any business — except receive the lottery prize. He then claimed the policy as a tax-deductible “business expense.”

The upshot: Rhodes received roughly $150,000 from the U.S. government and $36,200 from Wisconsin in tax refunds on the lottery payout. But in an ironic twist, the St. Lucia-based insurer where Rhodes sent his cash would later be accused of duping investors and, in Rhodes’ words, “abscond” with a chunk of the loot.

Rhodes and Eddie Tipton, former security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association, recently pleaded guilty to rigging the Dec. 29, 2007, Megabucks drawing advertised at $2 million. They agreed to refund Wisconsin the $783,000 payout and an additional $18,100 apiece to cover the state tax refund.

Investigators say Tipton installed computer code that allowed him to predict winning numbers on three days of the year, and that he worked with Rhodes, his brother Tommy and other associates to buy winning tickets and claim prizes worth millions in multiple states. Tipton and his brother pleaded guilty last week in Iowa, where the lottery association is based.

Rhodes, a 49-year-old father, pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators in exchange for probation. He disclosed the offshore scheme in a deposition under questioning from Tipton’s lawyer, Dean Stowers, who called it money laundering and tax fraud.

Rhodes, who did not return a message seeking comment on his testimony, employed Tipton at a Houston tech company in the 1990s and they became friends. Tipton supplied him with notecards listing dozens of potential winning combinations before the Wisconsin drawing, and Rhodes bought them, including the winning ticket.

With Tipton’s encouragement, Rhodes formed a limited liability corporation, called Delta S Holdings, to claim the prize. Rhodes had previously visited the lottery association’s office and both worried their ties would be discovered if Rhodes was listed as the winner. The LLC filed a lawsuit to obtain the prize after Wisconsin lottery officials said they couldn’t pay the corporation without a court order.

Rhodes said he then turned to experts for tax planning advice on his windfall, buying a plan that “allowed me to get a tax refund.”

Under the arrangement, Rhodes sent $450,000 to Bancroft Life & Casualty ICC Limited in St. Lucia to buy an “insurance policy” for Delta S Holdings. His tax returns claimed the purchase as a business expense, producing refunds when the governments determined they withheld too much of the prize.

Bancroft recruited tax-weary, wealthy individuals to invest in its insurance. Customers would buy expensive policies that their businesses didn’t need but could write off. Bancroft would loan back up to 70 percent of their premium payments.

Rhodes received a $250,000 loan from Bancroft after buying his policy. He also received an insurance claim for $75,000 for “regulatory changes” that he said harmed Delta S Holdings, even though it never did any other business. Asked what regulations had changed, Rhodes testified, “I don’t remember.” He said its prospects in “real estate” and “consulting” never materialized.

Rhodes said Tipton wasn’t told about the offshore deal until later and received none of the refunds. He said the deal went sour in 2012, when Bancroft became insolvent and the company “absconded” with $150,000 his LLC had left.

“I started getting insurance account records that say all of the money that Delta S Holdings had put there through paying the premium was gone,” he said. “Some expletives followed on my part, you know, what … happened to whatever money was there to pay insurance claims? Well, there is none.”

Source: Wisconsin State Journal

How a Security-Only Network Can Limit Risks from Data Breaches

posted Jul 6, 2017, 11:09 AM by Resty Manapat

A security-only network delivers a higher level of protection while not impacting business critical systems

Cyber attacks are one of the greatest threats facing global businesses today. Hardly a day goes by that there is not a report of another company suffering at the hands of hackers breaching their networks and stealing sensitive customer or proprietary business data. According to the Identify Theft Resource Center (ITRC), there were 781 known data breaches in 2015. This is the second-highest number on record since tracking began in 2005.

Although data breaches and cyber attacks are real risks for all type of public and private organizations, retailers are particularly vulnerable to these crimes. In this competitive industry, these crimes can have devastating effects on consumers and potentially damage the retailer’s brand and corporate reputation beyond repair.

Furthermore, cyber-crimes do not target one class of retailers. Over the past several years, retailers from superstores to supermarkets have reported data breaches, where potentially millions upon millions of consumer debit and credit card information were exposed or comprised.

Emerging Trends

In response to the threats presented by cyber-criminals, many retailers are physically separating the IT infrastructure for their networks based on their primary usage to limit exposure. A prime example is creating a separate network to run physical security applications from the network used for POS data. A security-only network is typically used to host the company’s security devices such as intrusion detection, video, access control devices and related devices along with building automation systems such as HVAC.

The benefits of these networks are multi-faceted. Not only does the security-only network deliver a higher level of protection, but it also offers faster speeds, more bandwidth and easier access to the network for loss prevention teams while not impacting business-critical systems.

Further benefits to a separate network include nearly unlimited access to applications such as remote monitoring of video or remote investigations, allowing investigators immediate access to video and supporting data. Many times, loss prevention teams are relegated to downloading video for investigative purposes in the overnight hours, when the primary network is not being used for POS data. Easy access to video can reduce travel time to specific locations and associated expenses, as well as the time it takes to conduct the investigations.

When the security network is monitored by a certified third-party provider, added benefits include advanced alerts of potential system failure or attempted breach of the network. The monitoring company can also ensure that the network is adhering to the latest network security protocols and has updated anti-virus software at all times.

Who Should Consider It?

Any type of retailer that is looking to provide a safer and more secure environment for its customers’ data while maintaining a higher level of security for its business critical operations is a candidate for a dedicated security-only network.

Selecting a Third-Party Provider

When considering a third-party provider for security-only networks, traditional IT companies that design and implement standard networks may not be your best option. Selecting a company that has the proper certifications for designing networks as well as deep industry knowledge of security devices and how they need to work together will greatly enhance the overall end result.

Certifications such as Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Partner Certification, Meraki Certified, Sonicwall Certified, and security product-specific certifications will ensure successful system integration. Cisco Cloud and Managed Services Partner certification recognizes companies who have attained the expertise in the planning, designing, implementing and supporting of cloud or managed services based on Cisco platforms.

Steps to Consider

One of the first steps is to identify the circuit requirements for the security-only network. Understanding what types of applications are going to be running on the network and how much bandwidth and speed is necessary to support the applications is key. Security-only networks are often based on commodity broadband, so it is important to ensure that the carrier can deliver reliable service and speed at any given location.

Once the network parameters of adequate circuit bandwidth are determined, additional considerations that must be designed into the system include remote (VPN) access and appropriate security measure and rules. At a minimum, there should be a strict password update rule both for duration of password life as well as re-use of passwords used in the past. Ideally, a consolidated security identification system should be established to ensure continuous monitoring of access with biometric or other proven security solutions as part of any access to the network.

If any part of the network is wireless enabled, appropriate security for network access and ongoing traffic monitoring are essential. If they are not part of the system, monitoring to make sure that no additional devices with wireless capability are installed on the system.

Firewall protection design is essential. With the advent of IPv6 and its inclusion in networks, there is a potential for security breach when tools designed for IPv4 are faced with IPv6 calls.

Continuous monitoring for abnormal network traffic, behavior or attempted unauthorized access are discovered, rules for appropriate notification and/or lockout must be determined and enforced.

Data Breaches: One Less Thing to Worry About

The growing threat of data breaches, cyber crime, and the high cost associated with remediating the aftermath of an attack, both in terms of hard dollars and the damage to brand reputation and customer trust, can be devastating to a retailer.

Cyber-crime rates are escalating at exponential levels and cyber criminals will continue to grow more sophisticated in their approach. Now is the time to ensure your business is protected.

The vice president of loss prevention for a leading international retailer summed it up by saying, “Deploying a separate network for security and having an independent team monitor it is one less thing that I need to worry about.”

Source: LPM Insider

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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Throw Back Thursday: Great Reading from My Past #4

This Thursday, I'm featuring a non-fiction book about a fiction writer's reading life.  My Reading Life by Pat Conroy was published in November 2010.  This brilliant author of so many best sellers, including my favorite of Beach Music, died in March of 2016, and the world lost a talented, compassionate, and funny man.  In reading My Reading Life, one can feel the essence of Pat Conroy, as it is the story of his life just naturally told in what he read and where he was and how it affected him and who was instrumental in his reading/life.

First up is the jacket description of My Reading Life, followed by my review of the book.  Even if you've never read a Pat Conroy novel, you will find the book fascinating.  Of course, if you have read Conroy, My Reading Life will charm you in tune with what you've read, especially now that he is gone from us.

Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy’s portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South. He has for years kept notebooks in which he records words and expressions, over time creating a vast reservoir of playful turns of phrase, dazzling flashes of description, and snippets of delightful sound, all just for his love of language. But for Conroy reading is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity.

In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful and often surprising anecdotes: sharing the pleasures of the local library’s vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period he spent  in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, girded by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but also believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of that credo.

This book is the type of book that I love and dread simultaneously. I literally found myself hanging on every word (and they are such magical, illustrious ones)as I slowly turned the pages, fearing that I might miss yet another pithy, entertaining statement from Mr. Conroy. OK, so the only "dread" aspect of my relationship to this book is the arduous task of noting all I wanted to remember with post-it flags and highlighter marks, not to mention looking up a few words whose meaning I obsessively had to learn. There is so much to love in what Pat Conroy conveys to us about his reading life, a prolific one to say the least. Conroy must be the best-read author ever. I'm not sure when he finds the time to write, but, of course, I'm most grateful that he does. I was fortunate to hear this wordsmith speak at a book festival, and remember hanging on his every word then, not just smart this Southern charmer is but laugh-out-loud entertaining. Reading this book was akin to listening to the silver-tongued tale spinner himself. Insights into Pat Conroy's life and growth as an artist are, of course, an inexorable part of what he has read and why. Seemingly ordinary people, starting with his bibliophilistic mother, places, authors, and books devoured are given separate chapters in which Conroy brings each alive with his memory and their value. Gene Norris, a high school mentor/teacher may be singularly responsible for my beloved author channeling his love or reading and writing into a path of genius. I felt a moment of epiphany when Conroy talks about "exactness" as being a "virtue" and responsibility of a writer. As with all meaningful writing, this love story to reading will prompt you to read more, both of Conroy and others. I count meeting Pat Conroy at that book festival as one of the highlights of my reading life. Fortunately, I didn't know just how smart he was at the time, as his down-to-earth Southern civility and habitual smile belie the erudition of his demi-god status. His bearing and manner invite you to blurt out whatever is on your mind, and he greets it with interest and grace. Reading his story of his reading life, as if there is any other kind, one gains  understanding of how an author so brilliant could be so humble.

  1. Great review Kathy, this is on my TBR and I can't wait to read it.

    1. Thanks, Tracey. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Great to hear from you!

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Boot Raspberry Pi from a 16MB SD card

Posted by Mike Redrobe | Posted in PC Hardware | Posted on 12-05-2014

The Pi boots from SD card, and this normally means you have to have at least a 2GB SD card,
but you can instead use a small SD card and a USB pendrive, as I show here.

The Raspberry Pi only needs an SD card at bootup time, it can immediately hand over to a USB pendrive later, and here’s how:

Take one ancient 16MB SD card – yes, 16MB – not the 1000x larger 16GB cards we use nowadays !

You’ll also need a USB pendrive of 2GB or bigger (or usb HDD of course)

1) select your usb pendrive in win32diskimager instead of the sd card, and write the image
(e.g. 2GB raspbian:

2) copy all the pre-boot files (9mb) to the SD card
(I had to remove kernel_emergency.img from the normal boot files as that was 9mb in itself)

3) edit the cmdline.txt on the SD card to read /dev/sda2:

That’s it – all done, put SD card and USB pendrive into the Pi and boot up.

Comments (20)

[…] to make his Pi boot from something he’d found down the back of some prehistoric sofa. With a very minimal amount of work, he was able to put all the pre-boot files (9MB) for Raspbian on the SD card, put the boot image […]

without usb pendrive:

how about instructions for boot to console?

That is great ! Does that mean that we could, after the system is booted up, remove the sd-card and use the sd port to flash other sd-cards ?

Yes you could do that – the SD card is only used for booting (its still mounted at /boot though)

“Pinky! Are you pondering what I’m pondering?” Setting up the Pi as a camera that saves photos out to the SD card in the ‘standard’ way!

How’s the performance compared to running off SD?

How about using more USB pendrives to boot to OpenElec, Retropie, RaspBMC and so on. Will this also work? Or connect a USB pendrive or diskdrive and use NOOBS for selecting the OS on the USB?

Quite interesting.

What if using af harddisk instead of a USB stick – have you tried to measure the performance?

hello im trying with the smallest sd i could find 512mb
and a 2gb usb but its not working im just geting the initial loading screen (the rainbow square) do i need to delet the boot partition from the usb? im using the v1 pi

Hey Man, I just tested it with a 128 microSD & a 16 GB usb drive. It works just great. My steps are as follows (Win 8 / 7):

– Download the latest image.
– Copy the image to USB drive using Win32DiskImager
– Remove the pen-drive & re-insert it.
– “Boot” partition should be visible in “Computer”
– Format your SD Card (MMC do not work).
– Copy all the files from boot partition to your memory card.
– Edit cmdline.txt in SD Card and replace content with this

dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=ttyAMA0,115200 kgdboc=ttyAMA0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/sda2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline rootwait

Put both on RPi and you should have it running in matter of seconds.

How about uboot and the rest via network
or than jumpstart

I’m using a 500 GB WD Elements Portable and the Raspberry Pi has much more CPU resources released, as flash takes a lot of CPU especially when writing. So much more snappier.

For Arch Linux, use /dev/sda5.

so big thx… 🙂

It works but, How can I expand the USB pendrive raspbian size? The .img is 2gb but my pen is 8gb.

I’ve wrote a post on my blog recently how to boot from nfs:

I have found 8Mb card. And I can’t do this. Bad luck:(

i did this boot (was quiet good) and i set the keyboard too in the console, but i cant do anything cause the mouse and keyboard doesnt communicates with pi in the graphycal function. leds are okay on both, but no reaction. why is that?

[…] January 20, 2015: Mike Redrobe discussed on his blog how to do this in May 2014, with great instructions on how to do this under […]

i did what you said and it worked!
at least until some menu where my mouse and keybord didn’t work so couldn’t select anything.

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Swing Love

These two absolutely love to swing. Any park we go to must have swings or its no deal. Liliane and Wesley could play on the things for hours on end if I let them. Liliane is a little daredevil, always wanting to go higher and higher. Wesley, on the other hand, just likes to hang out. He's completely content just letting the wind move him back and forth. I love seeing their faces when they're busy swinging. I have a feeling we'll be alternating between park outings and swimming outings this summer. I'm looking forward to the warm-weather fun we're about to have here shortly. Bring on the heat!

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DB3 Set Up 1st Asia Pacific VIP Lounge in Bangkok

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In conjunction with its plan to target the global digital assets market in 2020, DB3 Digital Bank is setting up its 1st Asia Pacific VIP lounge in Bangkok, Thailand. This marks DB3’s first foothold in the Asia Pacific Region and the VIP lounge provides a point of contact for its many high net-worth clients in this region.

DB3 International Holding Limited is an UK entity and its core businesses include digital currency, block-chain and banking. Its banking license is registered in The Dominican Republic with operations as a private offshore bank, primarily catering to institutions or High Net-Worth Individuals, providing them with global digital assets investment and management services.

2020-03-12 11:40:13.941000

According to source, DB3’s VIP lounge will be housed in the Show DC Block-chain Shopping Arena at Rama 9 district.  It is reported that Rama 9 District is a key business area the Thai government has been developing in recent years. They are said to be very committed in building this area into Bangkok’s newest CBD cluster and position it as the new ASEAN Financial District. In addition to the many commercial buildings and hotels we can find in Rama 9, there are also many heavyweight companies and institutions such as the Thai Stock Exchange, Fortune E-Mall, and the Chinese Embassy in this area.

2020-03-12 11:43:31.610000

Responding to the Thai government’s positioning of Rama 9 as the Asean Financial District, DB3 proceeded to set up its first Asia Pacific VIP lounge in the district as a show of support. The designing concept of DB3 Asia Pacific VIP Lounge will be a combination of elegance, comfy and serene. It is built as a get-together place for DB3 VIPs to come to relax or meet friends. Wines and refreshments are available for all VIPs and accompanied guests. Conference rooms are also available for business discussion use.

2020-03-12 11:47:49.224000

In addition, it is understood that this VIP lounge in Bangkok will be the first but not last in the long list of VIP lounges in the Group’s long-term planning. DB3 plans to open multiple DB3 VIP lounges all over Asia to meet the upcoming demands of its high net-worth clients in this region.

We have now arrived at the second stage of the development of digital currency. The first stage where amateurs worldwide were starting to learn about digital currency investment is over. Now more and more people already knew about bitcoin and other digital currencies and how to invest in them. The digital currency market has officially entered into the second phase, Digital Currency Banking! DB3 Digital Bank, aided by this trend will continue to expand its business globally with a focus on the Asia Pacific Region. With its advance digital asset management model and its simple applications, DB3 looks to keep things simple for its clients as it continue its phenomenal rise to the top.

Contact Detail:

Company Name: DB3 Corporation
Contact Person: Allison lanyork
Email: morningstar.editors@gmail.com
Phone No: +44 (0) 2087983070
Address: 7 charlester street, Winsfield, North London
Country: United Kingdom
Website Url: www.db3bank.com

Source URL : https://kjnewswire.com/5468/db3-set-1st-asia-pacific-vip-lounge-bangkok<

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DKICoverMarketing.inddWhile the current IICRC S500 has information outlining the industry’s “standard of care to be followed,” there are many elements of the document that are not a component of the standard of care. When debaters insist on the incompetent use of the S500, evidence is required to overturn their position.

REP frequently uses the studies found within the industry’s leading technical document on the subject of structural restorative drying. Generically written, with an abundance of third party references, this document has been used effectively in resolving technical and legal disputes. REP experts frequently quote from this book to bring clarity to the variety of subjects presented by non-experts. You can too!

To acquire your copy of the 532 page hard cover book, please click here.

Do you believe exceptional drying results start with scientifically sound understandings?

Of course you do! Drying success is not solely the result of the tool you buy or the certificate on your wall. A “drying god” emerges when they apply the physics that drive water to change phase from a solid or liquid to a gas and understand how to assess, manipulate and control the water molecule – regardless of its phase.

However, over the course of 3 decades, compromises in accuracy and agenda driven messages have found their way into some formal education programs and even the industry Standards. These compromises and flawed messages are well documented, yet they are persistently taught as fact to the innocent students and even the consuming public and insurance representatives.

Structural restorative drying leaders identify and reject such propaganda and compromises.

Leadership in Restorative Drying is the first comprehensive resource guide to clearly identify several of the scientific errors that permeate the structural restorative drying industry, and substitute it with easy to understand explanations and descriptions. What results? Leaders in restorative drying services are able to engineer an effective drying protocol that accommodates ALL drying strategies: refrigerant dehumidification, desiccant dehumidification, heaters, air movement/exchange… even the choice to open a window. It’s not the tool that dries the structure… it’s the restorer’s skill in the use of their tools.

Courageous leaders are invited to read this book. Stand up and be identified as a bearer of accurate information. Lead in your marketplace.

What REALLY dictates the rate of evaporation? You may be surprised! Do you have a drying plan that defines your daily drying objectives in your drying strategy? Drying is not entirely about psychrometry! Does that make you a heretic? Scientific principles and formulas that dictate how much air movement you need. This will  surprise you! What’s the trick to drying dense materials like wood and concrete? It’s not a specific tool. Multi-million dollar drying jobs. How are they managed?

What’s new?

  • Be ready for the new ideas described in the next edition of the ANSI/IICRC S500 Standard and Reference Guide to Professional Water Damage Restoration. Many are considered within this book.
  • An education road-map that creates a solid career and a loyal employee.
  • How is restorative drying “leadership” developed? Hint: Competence is not defined solely by speed!
  • Psychrometry is now explained with vastly improved visual aids!
  • Have you heard about “triple point”? It’s the key to vacuum freeze drying success.
  • Have you considered all your risks relating to “heat drying strategies” and accountabilities?
  • Does “more” equipment/energy always produce faster drying? Not according to the studies out there.
  •  Can you show your customer how a desiccant can sometimes be a more cost effective approach to drying than an LGR?
  • There is an industry that is up to ten times larger than insurance related drying  and they need your skills!

This 530 page, high quality, full-color book improves upon the industry’s only teaching guide that has been approved for use in all three IICRC WRT, ASD and CDS classes. This book has been recommended reading material for those who wish to attain ACAC CSDR and CSDS certification, the RIA’s WLS and CR program, as well as those seeking a degree from Purdue University with a concentration in disaster restoration. The information in this book assists every expert who seeks to lead in their structural restorative drying competence.

This is an outstanding addition to every restoration professional’s resource library – and especially for those who wish to lead technically and professionally in their local market.


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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Long Awaited Waist Cincher Review!

First off HAPPY NEW YEAR! I finally got around to doing the waist cincher review but there were a few things you all may want to know that I forgot to mention in the video...

Do not, do not, do not exercise in this waist cincher. I have heard/seen waist cinchers that you can work out in but I can't speak on them because I have not used one. The waist cincher can be rather restrictive and it could prevent you from breathing properly during a work out which could put you on the floor (faint and fall out). It does not matter it you fall out all cute like the thing is not to fall out at all. Also working out in the waist cincher can cause it to stretch out of shape and it will no longer be snug around your body which can defeat the purse of what it is meant to do.

I know I may sound like a broken record but I have to say it; nothing replaces eating healthy and regular exercise. Work that 80/20!

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Russell Haskins

call us 020 8787 5961

Honest and reliable service for all your plumbing needs

Gas & Central Heating Services

Russell Haskins Heating & Plumbing Heating Engineers in London can fix all your central heating problems promptly and efficiently. We undertake any types of London central heating work from small, routine jobs like leaking radiators or burst pipes, to bigger, more extensive work including replacements or installations of complete central heating systems.

Please contact our heating engineers now and call us on 020 8787 5961 for a free no-obligation quote.

Our London heating engineers offer an extensive range of domestic heating and gas services, including:

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Search By Topic The Green Supply Chain Distribution Digest
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Category: Manufacturing

Supply Chain News: Made in USA is Real Trend, but Returning Production to US Shores is not Easy for Many

Interest in Reshoring is Growing, but Lack of Suppliers, Skilled Labor are Key Issues

April 18, 2017
SCDigest Editorial Staff

There really are several trends pushing US companies to consider moving at least some production back to US shores.

Those include rising wages offshore, especially in China; pressures to shorten supply chains and become more responsive; and a new president who has vowed to rejuvenate American manufacturing might, and may change tax and other policies to encourage Made in USA.

Supply Chain Digest Says...

About 70% of US and European manufacturing companies said that they were considering moving production closer to their home countries, according to a 2016 survey by the consulting firm AlixPartners.

What do you say?

Click here to send us your comments
Click here to see reader feedback

Companies are taking notice, and many are making the move back to the US - but the journey is often not be easy nor inexpensive.

For example, the Wall Street Journal recently told the story of a company called GAM Enterprises, an Illinois-based manufacturer of manufactuprecision mechanical components used in factory automation. The company started returning some manufacturing to the US three years ago, looking to reduce lead times.

There were challenges. The move ultimately cost the small company almost $4 million and required technical and financial assistance from Illinois and the US Commerce Department's Manufacturing Extension Partnership. It also had huge troubles finding machinists who could operate new small-batch production technology. Even after resorting to a recruiter to fill the spots, the new hires required months of on-the-job training.

But despite all that, it is really happening at GAM. The company doubled its workforce to 30 employees and now makes more than half its components domestically, up from 11% four years ago.

Reshoring is especially challenging for smaller manufacturers. They generally have limited funds, and maybe more importantly lack easy access to credit that most larger firms, especially public companies, enjoy.

And many firms run into a lack of US suppliers for key components, as thousands of factories closed their doors over the past two decades, victims of the offshoring wave. As can be seen in the seen in the chart below, the number of US factories has declined from about 400,000 in 2001 to more like 340,000 in recent years, eliminating waves of potential suppliers in many sectors.

Number of US Factories Down by 20% Since 2001

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics

The lack of a supply base is a barrier to US production that is cited by many existing companies and potential entrepreneurs considering starting US-based manufacturing firms.

Take the example of a company Mobile Outfitters, which sells cellphone accessories. The company produces most of its screen protectors in-house or under contract with US manufacturers, the Wall Street Journal reports. But the Philadelphia company, which has 18 employees, hasn't been able to make some products domestically because of production complexity, such as an ultrathin bumper that it imports from South Korea.

"Cost is not our issue, it is purely the complexity. We spent six months talking to US manufacturers, all who told us what we're trying to accomplish 'is not possible,'" said co-founder Eric Griffin, who expects to sell 250,000 of the items this year. "We looked overseas and got this beautiful product that has everything we wanted."

(Article Continued Below)

The situation is even worse for a company called ElliptiGO, wich makes elliptical exercise bikes. While some of the basic frames for the machines are built in the US, most of the nearly 30 parts used to build a single cycle are made in Asia - with US suppliers basically impossible to find. As a result, the possibility of reshoring production here is a non-starter, even though the market for the end product in the US remains strong.

There are exceptions to this supply challenge. The Wall Street Journal also cited the case of Horst Engineering & Manufacturing Co., a Connecticut maker of precision machine components. The company recently shut down a nine-year-old facility in Mexico and opened a new, 16,000-square-foot shop in the state. Now located four miles from its two older plants and within 30 minutes of most of the company's main suppliers, "it definitely reduces the complexity of our business," said Arthur Roti, general manager of the family-run business. "That supply chain doesn't exist in Mexico."

Despite the challenges, many companies are still looking at reshoring. About 70% of US and European manufacturing companies said that they were considering moving production closer to their home countries, according to a 2016 survey by the consulting firm AlixPartners. That is up from 40% in 2015, according to the survey, which included responses from 107 small, midsize and large companies.

In addition, the use of more robotics is likely to make the US more competitive versus many foreign rivals, as the technology takes much of the labor costs that drove offshore production out of the equation. The problem, however, is that the number of US jobs in factories is reduced as a result, often substantially, from the use of the robots.

The economics of robotics continues to become more attractive. Owning and operating a robotic spot welder cost an average $182,000 in 2005 and $133,000 in 2014 and will likely run $103,000 by 2025, Boston Consulting says. Robots will shrink labor costs by 22% in the United States, 25% in Japan and 33% in South Korea, the firm estimates.

What are the challenges in bringing production back to the US? How big is the supply base issue? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback section below.

Your Comments/Feedback

Shelley Jordan

Industrial & Supply Chain Engineer & Consultant / Partner, Synergy Solutions Group
Posted on: Apr, 19 2017
I agree with a lot of the obstacles in the article in bringing production back to the USA.  However, I do believe that it is a matter of time and that we can bring production back to the USA.  The more complex the production is in terms of the number of supplies and complexity of supplies, the complexity of manufacturing machinery, the longer it will take.  However, that does not mean that the production will not occur in the U.S.

Just like over time manufacturing left U.S., it can come back.  Things happen in cycles. I am a supply chain strategist and have been involved in long term planning for companies for many years and know that when you have a goal and you stick with a plan, you will accomplish your goal.

Additionally, we have so many great universities and young engineers in U.S., even ones that came here from other countries that would rather stay here and work, if the work is here.  So it is a matter of putting these engineers to work in manufacturing, research, management, training, development, and more.  One major area that is offshore and not here is high tech involving electrical engineering.  But I know that we have great electrical engineers here.  Are they  all leaving and going overseas to work or are they not staying in their field because there aren't any jobs?  A major need we do have for them is to ramp up manufacturing of anything involving EE in U.S.  I believe that covers a lot of our supplies that are stuck in other countries.

Also, if each of the U.S. manufacturers were to define their goals and the problems in the way of their goals and which supplies are not here, then there could be a way to collaborate with other companies that also have the same problems and missing the same supplies.  I believe that the problems can be solved faster (such as ways to train workers faster and better).  For the supplies that are not developed here, there are many companies that need the same supplies, so if it is known across the U.S. what supplies are required, then a bigger manufacturer can be created (maybe a smaller one exists but is having trouble because they are small), to produce these supplies at lower costs and higher quality given that we do have the expertise in U.S. and people can be trained.

It is all a matter of planning, time management and staying focused and believing in your company and the U.S. and beyond that collaboration.

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text:
rating: +109+x

Item#: 5018
Containment Class:
Secondary Class:
Disruption Class:
Risk Class:

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5018 is contained within an air-gapped computer terminal in Site 15. This terminal is physically secured with non-electronic locks and is to remain unpowered outside of authorized testing. Site 15 AI THEIA is to monitor all Foundation networks for suspicious activity fitting SCP-5018's electronic pattern. If discovered, MTF Kappa-10 ("Skynet") and MTF Rho-9 ("Technical Support") are to be deployed immediately to isolate and purge all instances of SCP-5018.

Description: SCP-5018 is an advanced self-replicating malware capable of releasing reinforced magnetic containment locks1 connected to the Foundation network. Analysis of the MCL's indicates that their magnetic field had been disrupted2, causing a subsequent repulsion to occur. How SCP-5018 exhibits this ability, and the entity which created the program is still under investigation.3

SCP-5018's execution command initiates once it confirms the presence of specific parameters in the affected system. The execution of the code triggers the manifestation of SCP-5018-1 within 5 meters of the terminal.

SCP-5018-1 is an indistinct humanoid figure that can only be observed through digitized media and de-manifests when SCP-5018's running code is terminated. Although all attempts at verbal communication with SCP-5018-1 have been unsuccessful, it has been observed to acknowledge others around it through the use of exaggerated body language.4

SCP-5018 was discovered on 9/15/████ on the Foundation's network. Probes scanning for its digital signature detected that the malware was spread over 74% of the Foundation network. Of the detected instances, only approximately 10% of them had been executed, with 8% activating in high-security level sites. How SCP-5018 gained access into the Foundation network is under investigation. MTF Rho-9 has been tasked with its removal.

Addendum 5018-1

Incident Report ID #: 5018-A1

Summary: On 07/19/████, Site 119 initiated a 119/B/Coldsilver Lockdown Response Code following containment breaches of six Large Scale Aggressors, four Non-Terminable Threats, and five other extradimensional anomalous threats. O4 approved the detonation of Site 119's nuclear warhead one hour and thirty-four minutes after the Lockdown Response Code was initiated. Site 68 received a backup of files, sent by Director David Bold, 26 minutes after the destruction of Site 119. Included in the backup was one folder of encrypted files and one image taken after the detonation. Following the incident, MTF Epsilon-11 ("Nine-Tailed Fox") was dispatched to establish a perimeter around the affected area.

MTF ε-11 was unable to locate any threats after Site 119's detonation. However, MTF ε-11 reported sightings of 5 unidentified individuals 3 days following Site 119's destruction. MTF ε-11's attempt to apprehend the individuals were unsuccessful5. MTF ε-11 was immediately relieved by MTF Nu-7 ("Hammer Down") and sent to Site 68 for medical treatment and debriefing. 6 weeks after the detonation, MTF Omicron-2 ("Nuclear Nomads") was sent to investigate the remains of Site 119.

MTF o-2 discovered 15 compromised MCLs in the remains of Site 119. This incident is recorded as the first insertion point of SCP-5018 into the Foundation's network infrastructure.

Addendum 5018-2

Date: 04/03/████

Experiment Number : 5018-A

Protocol: SCP-5018 runs on a standard computer terminal.

Results: SCP-5018 remained dormant for approximately one hour before replicating. Replication continued as a background task for 30 minutes until SCP-5018's code self-terminated. 20 replicates were later discovered in a hidden file.6 The terminal was powered off to prevent the spread of these replicates.

Experiment Number : 5018-B

Protocol: SCP-5018 runs on a standard computer terminal connected to a MCL.7

Results: SCP-5018-1 manifests within the chamber, and is detected by camera feed of the chamber. Researchers within the chamber cannot observe SCP-5018-1, however, SCP-5018-1 acknowledges their presence by shaking its fists at them, then begins to hover over the MCL.

After 1 minute, SCP-5018-1 de-manifests and the MCL is opened. Results are similar to the MCLs in Site 119. A function was later detected running as background process.

Experiment Number : 5018-C

Protocol: SCP-5018 runs on a standard computer terminal connected to a motorized lock.

Results: SCP-5018 was unable to access the mechanism. It then proceeded to replicate as observed in Experiment 5018-A. Computer terminal was powered off.

Five redundant logs have been removed

Addendum 5018-3

On 03/24/████ Site 71 reported a containment breach of 2 LSA's and 1 NTT following an experiment involving SCP-5018 at Site 15. The containment breach was later contained by MTF Rho-9 and resulted in 6 casualties. MTF Rho-9 discovered an activated sequence of SCP-5018 before the incident, which has been included in SCP-5018's documents.

struct group_info init_groups = { .usage = MAGNET_INIT(4) }:

struct group_info *groups_alloc(int dimensiontrans){

group info *group_info;

int nblocks;

int i;

nblock = (magsetpol + NGROUPS_PER_BLOCK - 1) / NGROUPS_PER BLOCK;

/* Establish points of contact for the entire quadrants, not just a portion. Keep intentional files within encrypted folders. Make sure we don't forget password. Type it all as one word, look for Access phrases. /*

nblocks = nblocks ? : 1;

group_info = ketrcont(sizeof(*group_info) + nblocks*sizeof(gid_t *), PSWRD_PHRASE = FALL;

if (!group_info)

return NULL;

This segment has been concluded to control how SCP-5018 terminates power to an electromagnet once it detects a viable MCL. Investigations are ongoing as to the other properties that this computer script exhibits, as well as how this instance was initiated at Site 71.

Researcher's Note: On 03/26/████, after receiving reports of unauthorized experimentation, Site Director Norva removed Researcher Argost from any projects relating to SCP-5018. An investigation of Researcher Argosts experimentation revealed that he was in possession of an encrypted file. Foundation webcrawlers are currently decrypting the file, however no information has been gathered. Researcher McKay has become the new lead researcher for SCP-5018 until otherwise specified.

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