Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Social Media Dragons Exchanging Glances: Blockchain, Bitcoin, Blogger turns tables on cyber-scammer

A French security researcher says he managed to turn the tables on a cyber-scammer by sending him malware. Technical support scams try to convince people to buy expensive software to fix imaginary problems. But Ivan Kwiatkowski played along with the scheme until he was asked to send credit card details. He instead sent an attachment containing ransomware.
He told the BBC he wanted to waste the man's time to make the scheme unprofitable.
Blogger turns tables on cyber-scammer

In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, Brendan Dassey — one of the subjects of the Netflix hit documentary “Making a Murderer” — had his conviction overturned on Friday. In his ruling, Judge William Duffin cited the misconduct of Dassey’s trial lawyer as “indefensible.” He’ll be released from prison within 90 days. [Reuters]

Meet Jerry Guerinot, the Texas defense attorney who’s earned the honor of being referred to as the “worst lawyer in the United States.” He’s represented about three dozen capital murder defendants over the course of 40 years and he has a perfect record — in that not a single one of his clients has been found innocent. [Houston Chronicle]

A judge explains why she finds criminal court horrifying. [VICE]


TaxProf Blog op-ed:  A Derivative Market for U.S. News Rankings, by Adam Chodorow(Arizona State):
Our law and economic brethren never tire of telling us that markets are the perfect solution for just about any problem. So, what is the biggest problem facing law schools? The slowdown in the legal employment market? The steep decline in applicants? Rising tuition? If you ask law professors and administrators, many would likely say the U.S. News & World rankings, which evaluate schools on an ever changing array of factors, often leading to head scratching results. Who doesn’t know of a school that is over or underrated?
It’s time to fact-check all the news

Almost every week, we hear about a couple of new sites that are being launched by two main groups of people. One is veteran journalists who are out of a job — either involuntarily or voluntarily, because they don't like how things are done anymore. They see the direction things going and decide to launch sites in their own community to become entrepreneurs.And second, you see sites being launched by non-journalists who care about their communities and recognize the entrepreneurial opportunities that comes with the decline of legacy publications and the need to fill the information gaps that have been left
As legacy news organizations cut back, local sites are cropping up to fill the void

Blogger Tricks Tech Support Scammers Into Downloading Ransomware

How social media users see, share and discuss race and the rise of hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter – “How social media users see, share and discuss race and the rise of hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter – “Americans are increasingly turning to social media for news and political information and to encourage others to get involved with a cause or movement. Social media also can serve as an important venue where groups with common interests come together to share ideas and information. And at times, Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites can help users bring greater attention to issues through their collective voice. In recent years, these platforms have provided new arenas for national conversations about race and racial inequality. Some researchers and activists credit social media – in particular, Black Twitter – with propelling racially focused issues to greater national attention. In fact, two of the most used hashtags around social causes in Twitter history focus on race and criminal justice: #Ferguson and #BlackLivesMatter. In addition to social and political issues, social media also serve as places where conversations about race intersect with a number of issues, including pop culture, sports and everyday personal experiences…”


Via LLRX.comGreen Files 2016 is a comprehensive listing of green resources and sites on the Internet. These focused actionable resources will assist researchers to discover many subject and topic specific sources published and maintained by sectors and groups including: private, public, NGO, and advocacy communities.



“The transformation of the financial services industry is top-of-mind for everyone in the field and blockchain might be the hottest topic in the rapidly changing world of Fintech. But how can this technology really help financial firms? This report from World Economic Forum takes a pragmatic approach to answering this question. The report builds upon the findings from Deloitte/World Economic Forum report Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services and looks at the impact of implementing distributed ledger technology across nine sectors of financial services. Our findings suggest this technology has the potential to “live-up to the hype” and reshape financial services, but requires careful collaboration with other emerging technologies, regulators, incumbents and additional stakeholders to be successful…”


The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) – The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development has released a new paper that explores the potential for digital currency Bitcoin to facilitate what author Brett Scott describes as ‘truly empowering social and solidarity-based finance’. “Bitcoin has been ambivalently received by many in international development circles,” the report states. “Despite this, the question of whether Bitcoin can be harnessed to build [a] new means of solidarity-based finance remains unanswered. This paper sketches out some key issues practitioners should consider when thinking about cryptocurrency technology.”
Counterpunch reviews Len: A Lawyer In History (affiliate link) about the life and times of leftist criminal defense lawyer Leonard Weinglass. [Counterpunch]

How Silicon Valley’s Palantir wired Washington Politico