Web first binary teardrops
Pinkslips replace print
World smallest hard disk Scientists of Malchkeon proportions have written data one atom at a time, creating incredibly efficient storage
Speaking in June at a summit hosted by renowned events company TED (which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) in Banff, Canada, Gerard Ryle, Director of The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), took the audience behind the scenes of the 12-month Panama Papers investigation. ICIJ, a project of The Center for Public Integrity, based the investigation on a trove of more than 11.5 million leaked files from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm.
Czech (sic) out TED website to hear Ryle’s account of how the Panama Papers journalists broke the biggest leak in history.
Why Google is helping Australians ...SMH
Why Google wants your medical records BB
How a hacker stole money from Google, Microsoft, and Facebook
Among the more plunderous cybercrime gangs is a group known as “Carbanak,” Eastern European hackers blamed for stealing more than a billion dollars from banks. Today we’ll examine some compelling clues that point to a connection between the Carbanak gang’s staging grounds and a Russian security firm that claims to work with some of the world’s largest brands in cybersecurity. Carbanak Gang Tied to Russian Security Firm?
Cybercrime Overtakes Traditional Crime in UK
“On behalf of the Administration, I am pleased to present for the consideration of the Congress a legislative proposal that would help resolve potential conflicting legal obligations that U.S. electronic communications service providers (“service providers”) may face when required to disclose electronic data by foreign governments investigating serious crime, including terrorism.
"Cloud-Storage Ruling for Microsoft Helps Criminals, Not Privacy": Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg View
Lew Taishoff, CONFIDENTIAL E-MAILS ON A SHARED SERVER. “IRS claims a shared server waives client-attorney privilege, and cites six (count ‘em, six) cases IRS claims say so.”
Queensland Police selling $25k sponsorships to attend fraud symposium at luxury resort
There is no great fraud stagnation in the sharing economy
Report on global digital trends, risks and opportunities
A look at Janelle Eveland Belling, the managing director of ediscovery services and strategy at Perkins Coie. Favorite vacation venue: Prague in the winter. It is always beautiful and romantic, but add a light dusting of snow and it is spectacular. Five favorite technology tools: 1) OneNote. It’s the best way to organize my thoughts, meeting notes, documents, etc. 2) Excel. Who doesn’t love Excel? 3) Sonos. Controlling my music from my laptop, phone, iPad is pretty cool. 4) Swype. It took time for me to get used to it, but now I can’t imagine not using it. 5) Skype. I travel often for work and love that I can have a video chat with my daughter and husband using any device I have handy. [CodeX]
The accounting and tax shenanigans of eBay and its US digital ilk over the past decade clearly demonstrate the point made by George Rozvany that the Big Four have to be disqualified from providing audit and tax advice to the same multinational client at the same time because otherwise the truth goes missing. eBay Scores Own-Goal on Tax
Peter Reilly, Facebook, Leprechauns And The Cayman Pot Of Gold
Leslie Book, NTA Objectives Report Focuses on IRS Future State: Some Thoughts on Technology, Participation and Tax Administration (Procedurally Taxing). “There is little question that tax administration has not kept pace with the vast changes in technology that have transformed our society.”
EU Parliament’s Panama Papers Inquiry Committee elects chair, starts working
Jack Townsend, Chutzpah – Swiss Banker Moans that Switzerland Is Not Protecting Swiss Banks From Their Raids for Foreign Governments
While there is now a significant literature in law, politics, economics, and other disciplines that examines tax havens, there is little information on what tax haven intermediaries — so-called offshore service providers — actually do to facilitate offshore evasion, international money laundering and the financing of global terrorism. To provide insight into this secret world of tax havens, this Article relies on the author’s study of big data derived from the financial data leak obtained by the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The Tax Revolution Institute (TRI) — a Washington-based nonprofit group that promotes “justice and integrity in the tax system” — is taking a whole new approach to shedding light on the Internal Revenue Service: Today, it is announcing the launch of the first-ever independent audit of the IRS.
In the United States, politicians, lawmakers and officials have derided “inversion deals,” which allow an American company to move its headquarters overseas to cut its tax bills. In Ireland, they are celebrating them.
The Irish government on Tuesday revised the country’s economic growth rate in 2015 to 26.3 percent from a preliminary estimate of 7.8 percent. While Ireland’s economy has been on the upswing since the country repaid its bailout, it wasn’t that the Celtic Tiger suddenly came roaring back in an unexpected way. Rather, it was the magic of those inversion deals and other sleights of finance.
New York Times, Faiza Saeed to Become First Woman to Lead Cravath, Swaine & Moore
Panama Papers: The Nigerian lawyers who acted as intermediaries for Mossack Fonseca
Panama Papers: The Nigerian lawyers who acted as intermediaries for Mossack Fonseca
UBS accuses cabinet over opaque policy swissinfo - Chief executive "has criticised the Swiss government for its lack of transparency"
Panama Papers: prominent Australians call for action in open letter to Turnbull
Ontario Securities Commission Announces Office of the Whistleblower Launch Date and Appoints Chief
"... the first paid whistleblower program by a securities regulator in Canada"
What makes good data visualization
Amazon: How the World's Largest Retailer Keeps Tax Collectors at Bay
Australia: Facebook's $33m revenue questioned
Experts Troubled by Treasury Secretary Taking on “Role of Tax Lobbyist” for Apple
David Brunori, Using the Tax Laws to Mess With Markets Really Doesn’t Work (Tax Analysts). “A system based on a broad base and low rates will further economic growth. A complicated, costly carveout for some businesses will not.”
Amir El-Sabaie, Illustrating the Earned Income Tax Credit’s Complexity (Tax Policy Blog). “In order to illustrate just how complicated figuring out if you’re eligible for the EITC can be, we made a flowchart...”
“Some commodity dependent developing countries are losing as much as 67% of their exports worth billions of dollars to trade misinvoicing, according to a fresh study by UNCTAD, which for the first time analyses this issue for specific commodities and countries. Trade misinvoicing is thought to be one of the largest drivers of illicit financial flows from developing countries, so that the countries lose precious foreign exchange earnings, tax, and income that might otherwise be spent on development.”
Banks face
a bewildering array of cyberattacks executed by ever more skillful attackers,
according to a Treasury Department bureau charged with regulating large
national banks in the U.S. Adding to financial concerns over rising interest
rates and riskier credit, are mounting cybersecurity concerns such as phishing,
third-party attacks, assaults on the companies that provide protection for
data, and precision attacks on fund transfer networks, according to a report
from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's National Risk Committee
that was released publicly on July 11. "Operationally, banks are dealing
with existing and constantly evolving cybersecurity threats and increasingly
rely on third parties for essential services."...
How sex workers verify the identities of their clients
HSBC avoided US money laundering charges 'because of market risk'