11 Society – Page 265 – Public Intelligence Blog

THE BITCOIN BUBBLE

If you haven't already heard about bitcoin, the first popular cypto-currency, you soon will. The idea for the currency is simple. It's a software system that makes it possible to manufacture and trade (P2P), in a public and decentralized way, a limited digital resource. That's it.

So why the interest in bitcoin?

Simple. It appears to be gaining critical mass as a transactional currency that operates outside of the traditional monetary conduits (banks, SWIFT, etc.). That fact alone has attracted lots of people to the system, despite the fact that it's not built to allow completely anonymous transactions (it can't be, given that it requires network broadcasts of every transaction to maintain the integrity of the system and prevent counterfeiting).

As a transactional currency that operates outside of traditional systems, it's actually a pretty good medium of exchange (particularly if those transactions are small and quick). The problems arise when people confuse bitcoin's role as a transactional medium and its role as a store of value (as in: holding it as an asset).

Continue reading “BitCoin: The Bubble versus The Trust”

2011/06/06

Open Source Anonymous Banking….Here Now!

03 Economy, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, InfoOps (IO), IO Technologies, Methods & Process, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Reform, Tools

What Happens When Anonymous Gets a Bank?

Dominic Basulto on May 18, 2011

bigthink

The same people who brought you Wikileaks are back, and this time, they've created a virtual currency called Bitcoin that could destabilize the entire global financial system. Bitcoin is an open-source virtual currency generated by a computer algorithm that is completely beyond the reach of financial intermediaries, central banks and national tax collectors. Bitcoins could be used to purchase anything, at any time, from anyone in the world, in a transaction process that it is almost completely frictionless. Yes, that's right, the hacktivists now have a virtual currency that's untraceable, unhackable, and completely Anonymous.

And that's where things start to get interesting. Veteran tech guru Jason Calacanis recently called Bitcoin the most dangerous open source project he's ever seen. TIME suggested that Bitcoin might be able to bring national governments and global financial institutions to their knees. You see, Bitcoin is as much a political statement as it is a virtual currency. If you think there's a shadow banking system now, wait a few more months. The political part is that, unlike other virtual currencies like Facebook Credits (used to buy virtual sock puppets for your friends), Bitcoins are globally transferrable across borders, making them the perfect instrument to finance any cause or any activity — even if it's banned by a sovereign government.

You don't need a banking or trading account to buy and trade Bitcoins – all you need is a laptop. They're like bearer bonds combined with the uber-privacy of a Swiss bank account, mixed together with a hacker secret sauce that stores them as 1's and 0's on your computer. They're “regulated” (to use the term lightly) by distributed computers around the world. Most significantly, Bitcoins can not be frozen or blocked or taxed or seized.

Read full article….

See Also:

Open Money

2011/06/062011/06/06

NATO Against Libya: Piracy on a Grand Scale

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society

From Tripoli, Cynthia McKinney recommends this media report.

NATO operation in Libya is “piracy on an international scale”

Russia Television (print and video), 2 June 2011

NATO is not interested in a ceasefire in Libya as it craves regime change inthe country, believes International Action Center activist Sara Flounders.

”What NATO wants is regime change. They want absolute and total control of the largest oil resources in Africa,” she said. “They want ownership of the billions of dollars, more than $70 billion that Libya holds just in immediate assets from those past oil and gas sales. They want control of the whole infrastructure. None of this is about the humanitarian defense of the people of Libya, or of any group in Libya.”

”It really is piracy on an international scale,” Flounders added.

Read article and select two short videos if desired.

2011/06/052011/06/06

Mitt Romney is Not Ignorant–Just Delusional…

11 Society, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence

Mitt Romney is a decent human being with the best of intentions. He is also delusional. He really believes there are only two parties that matter in the USA, and he really believes that the government is unique in being responsive to a free people.

He does not believe we have a two-party tyranny in which 56% or so of the eligible voters vote, and 30% elect the “winner.” He does not believe that the ballot access laws are stacked to eliminate all competitors to the two-party tryanny.

He is incapable of uttering the word “corruption” as in “corruption is the primary characteristic of both of the political parties, of Congress, of the Executive, and of everything associated with them.” Mitt Romney is delusional. He is the best of the “status quo” candidates, the most articulate, and also the most unsuited to actually change anything to restore the Republic.

Mitt Romney is NOT going to make any promises to America, much less the Seven Promises that are fundamental to restoring the Republic and the prosperity in peace of America the Beautiful.

2011/06/052011/06/05

Libya Chemical Weapons & NATO Chemical Threat

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Military, Peace Intelligence

SPECIAL FROM WAYNE MADSEN

Real danger of chemical weapons falling into hands of radical Islamists — and potential of NATO creating chemical disaster

TRIPOLI, LIBYA — Chemical weapons and chemical weapons precursor materials that were declared by Libya to the United Nations and United States but not yet destroyed are stored in warehouses at facilities adjacent to Libyan military bases now being attacked by U.S. and NATO forces. Libyan chemical and environmental engineers now warn that if NATO and the U.S. manage to force Libyan security forces to abandon their positions around the military bases and chemical weapons storage facilities, chemical weapons could end up in the hands of the radical Islamist Salafist forces that make up part of the Libyan rebel coalition force.

One Libyan chemical engineer was blunt in his warning about the chemical weapons and their current lack of security. He said, “the U.S. and U.N. took over responsibility for protecting these weapons, which include mustard gas canisters . . . now, the U.S. and U.N. are placing these weapons in danger of being captured by the “Al Qaeda” forces, being sold on the black market, or being used against the United States after the alliance between “Al Qaeda” and the United States terminates after a rebel takeover of Libya.” The engineer added, “the last time America allied itself with “Al Qaeda” in Afghanistan, they attacked you country. After Libya, they will attack you again.”

Continue reading “Libya Chemical Weapons & NATO Chemical Threat”

2011/06/052011/06/05

Link TV Educating Americans About Real World

04 Education, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Augmented Reality, Civil Society, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Peace Intelligence, Whole Earth Review

Dear Friends far and wide:

Link TV in San Francisco is a precious resource for the progressive/transpartisan communities, and we¹re asking you to join us in making a gift to Link.

In December 1999, our good friend and colleague, Kim Spencer,
http://www.linktv.org/whoweare/staff launched Link TV, the first nationwide television network dedicated to providing Americans with global perspectives on news, events and culture. In the wake of media consolidation. Americans have little access to diverse perspectives on critical global issues, and Link challenges this trend. Today, Link is now broadcast into 35 million homes across the US (largely through DISH, DIRECT TV and with some cable outlets), has 6.7 million regular viewers (many across the political and cultural divides), and provides coverage not found anywhere else in the US.

Link is the only US provider of Al Jazeera English, broadcasts Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! daily, and has won a Peabody Award for its Middle East news program, Mosaic.

Continue reading “Link TV Educating Americans About Real World”

2011/06/05

Cynthia McKinney from Libya: Day Three

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Military, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

From Cynthia McKinney: Tripoli Dispatch – Day Three (includes photos and video link!)‏

From Wayne Madsen (www.waynemadsenreport.com):

June 5-6, 2011 — TRIPOLI, LIBYA. NATO war crimes in Libya exposed

In the current NATO war on Libya, the citizens of European and North American NATO countries are being treated to the largest propaganda blitz by their governments in cahoots with corporate media outlets since the U.S.-led invasions and occupation of Iraq. The situation on the ground in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, could not more different from what is being portrayed by Western news networks and newspapers.

Read rest of article with photos and video link.