Day: July 7, 2017

The professional services industry has taken a special interest in the cryptocurrency technology as many companies are in the process of adopting blockchain technology into their operations. The Big Four accounting firms, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG are no different. In fact, owing to their huge client base and influential position in the … Continue reading The “Big Four” Audit Firms and Their Contribution to Blockchain Technology

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We have all heard the stories of how Chinese chefs use dog meat into culinary creations. While there is some truth to those statements, those “culinary dishes” are mainly limited to China itself. However, one man in New York was effectively selling hot dogs containing real dog meat. Xi Ping Chow was arrested not too long ago.

Hot Dogs Shouldn’t Contain Dog Meat

The term “hot dog” may have gotten lost in translation for Xi Ping Chow. The Chinese immigrant allegedly made hot dogs containing actual dog meat. He used stray dogs in the area as a main source of ingredients for future hot dog sales. This entire story broke thanks to an anonymous tip received by New York City food inspectors. It is good tto know horrible events such as these are ended swiftly.

From the information we have received, it does not appear Chow killed the stray dogs himself. Instead, he scoured the streets for dead stray dogs in the dumpsters of the Animal Care Centers spread through New York City.  These dead animals should not have been left in publicly accessible dumpsters in the first place. It was only a matter of time until someone would use dead dogs – or other animals – as a way to make food.

The entire Chow family has to answer some very tough questions. Sixteen other family members are also under investigation for similar crimes. Considering they all volunteered at different Animal Care Centers in the area, it is not hard to put two and two together. There seems to be a direct correlation between these volunteers and the hot dog business Xi Ping Chow was running.

While it may be hard to say no to a free source of ingredients to sell popular food, this should never have happened. Chow’s lawyer is unaware of any hard evidence regarding the sales of dog meat. Even if there were, he feels this is all a “cultural misunderstanding.” However, it was planned well, which indicates this is more than just a cultural difference.

There are rumors regarding a rival hot dog stand owner who wants to put Chow out of business once and for all. While it seems the Chow hot dog stand was doing exceptionally well, we cannot be certain their competition disliked the Chow family enough to accuse them of this. If dog meat is used to make hot dogs, the arrest is more than warranted. Not to mention the health risks associated with selling dog meat that was scavenged from dumpsters.

New York law prohibits any residents from butchering or slaughtering domesticated dogs or cats to create food or meat products for human and/or animal consumption. If there is any credible evidence to show Chow did exactly that, he may face a severe jail sentence. Considering how his hot dog stand has been in operation for 18 years, who knows how many hot dogs containing dog meat he sold to customers.

The Turkish Education Ministry has decided to remove evolution from biology textbooks and the curriculum of 9th graders. This backwards move has been received very poorly by many, and it is an example of a world that seems increasingly hostile to science and facts.

If You Disagree With a Fact, Discredit It as Opinion

The Head of the Ministry’s curriculum board, Alpaslan Durmuş, announced last Wednesday that Evolution will be removed from the biology books of 14 and 15 year old student in Turkey. He claimed that these students were too young to understand “controversial topics.”

Labeling the foundation for the development of more complex life on Earth over time as a “controversial topic” is an example of science deniers’ latest strategy to ignore facts and spread ignorance. Claiming that it is controversial makes facts vulnerable to opinion. We see this same move with climate skeptics, who can overlook overwhelming factual evidence disproving their opinion. They then have the gall to say that facts are subjective and are even given podiums to speak from to infect otherwise sane minds.

I want to be perfectly clear, facts are not subjective or relative to anyone’s opinions. This is why I, and many others, are outraged by the Turkish government’s decision to pull one of the most enlightening theories -Evolution- from biology books. To call it “controversial” is just salt in the wound, but also fuel to the fire.

This comes as Turkey is working on embedding more religious rhetoric and policy in their government. Most classes will see an overhaul to reflect more religious undertones. The President of Turkey is also consolidating much of his power. Both of these things are out of the norm for Turkey, which has been a historically secular and modern state.

Denial of facts and science are the quickest way send a nation back in time, for the worst. However, many are not taking this without a fight. They are just as upset with this as I am, and have even more reason to be since it is their nation. Many of the points I have already made are  echoed in the comments sections of news reports and on the forums of popular websites.

While the deed appears to already have been done, it is important that critics of this move remain vocal and outspoken. Democracy, science, and knowledge only die when we allow them  to do so. It is the duty of every human to resist when governments, businesses, and anyone else tells you that facts are opinions or that science is controversial.

I am pleased to see so many standing up against this and making their voices heard. Science and facts will always be more important to humanity as a whole than the opinions of misinformed and powerful people. Never let anyone make you question scientific Truth. There are many things that are relative and culturally constructed, but the only place where Truth -with a capital “T”- lives is in sciences and math. Known Truth should never be considered an opinion and learning it should never be seen as “controversial.”

Another milestone achieved by Blockchain is the testing of Coinfirm’s platform Trudatum by the largest bank in Central Europe, PKO BP.

We live in an interesting time. That is especially true for people living in San Francisco with the development of a strange story. The taxpayers of SF could soon pay close to $200,000 in damages to an immigrant who was reported to immigration authorities. Since this individual is not wanted for any crimes, it is a breach of the city’s Sanctuary City policy.

Immigrant Settlement Case Makes Headlines

San Francisco introduced a law in 2013 which prohibited law enforcement agencies from detaining people for immigration reasons. The only exception is if said person is wanted for a serious crime. In the case of Pedro Figueroa-Zarceno, there are no outstanding warrants for his arrests nor is he wanted for any serious crimes. However, he was reported to the ICE which swiftly arrestted him.

This entire story started in 2015 when Figueroa-Zarceno walked into a local San Francisco police office to pick up his stolen vehicle. According to his statement, Pedro was handcuffed and detained since the police were “asking him some questions.” These questions were never asked, and he was released shortly afterward. It appears one of the officers conducted a background check on Figueroa-Zarceno and found out he was an immigrant.

Court evidence suggests Figueroa-Zarceno was taken into custody by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shortly after he left the police station. He was detained for two full months. His fiancee -a US citizen- and eight-year-old daughter had to wait for his release. The direct contact between the police offer and ICE is a violation of the aforementioned Sanctuary City policy.

According to a court document, Figueroa-Zarceno was labeled as a “final order fugitive.” The reason for him being labeled this remains a mystery. After all, he was the victim of a crime here not the perpetrator. Figueroa-Zarceno served two days for a DUI in 2012, but there were no outstanding warrants in the system. There was one civil deportation, but that dates back to 2005.

It appears the police officer ran his name through the system and received a hit, which was then confirmed with ICE. After the fiasco, then-Police Chief Greg Suhr already admitted Figueroa-Zarceno should never have been taken into custody after leaving the police station. This is basically the same as admitting this was all a mistake, yet it could end up costing San Francisco taxpayers dearly.

If the investigation confirms there was a violation of policies and procedures, Figueroa-Zarceno will receive a $190,000 settlement. It is possible there will be other “serious consequences” for the people involved in this particular incident, but has not been officially confirmed. A settlement would be the best possible outcome for all parties involved. This is a noble demonstration of San Francisco willing to do whatever it can to uphold their Sanctuary City policy.

Poland’s central bank said today that investors and banks should avoid dealing with digital currencies like bitcoin and ether.

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The WannaCry ransomware attack caused massive damage globally. A lot of computers and entire systems were crippled by this malware over the course of only a few days. It now appears there is a WannaCry variant targeting the Android ecosystem. To our relief, the Chinese police officials have arrested the developers. This goes to show some countries take these issues far more seriously than others.

China Doesn’t Mess Around With Android Malware

One lesson we can learn from the WannaCry ransomware deployment, is how damaging a sophisticated attack can be. Hundreds of thousands of machines were successfully infected by this malware, since it used an NSA-developed exploit kit to infect vulnerable systems. However, it does not appear desktop and laptop computers are the only potential targets for this destructive malware.

There is a version of WannaCry which is designed specifically to target the Android ecosystem. Two men have been arrested due to their alleged involvement in the distribution of SLocker, a powerful Android ransomware. At a glance SLocker looks just like WannaCry, but it works different under the hood. It is not uncommon for developers to rename existing malware if they make minor modifications to the code.

What is more remarkable is that these two developers were arrested in China. Few people would expect China to be home to ransomware developers, but this goes to show the reality is very different. It appears the developers used a clever way of distributing their malware. It was advertised as a free plugin for the Kings of Glory mobile game.

We have seen many malware distribution methods over the past few years. Going after mobile gamers is an effective distribution strategy, especially when considering how Kings of Glory is wildly popular in China. Developers targeting people in their home country is not necessarily the best of ideas and usually attracts the attention of law enforcement.

The SLocker ransomware has than 100 victims, which is good considering how effective some ransomwares are. Victims are asked to pay a $6 ransom, which needs to be paid through QQ, Alipay, or WeChat. There is no mention of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies on this Android variant of WannaCry. That is somewhat surprising, but may make sense. In China, WeChat, QQ, and Alipay are incredibly popular, and sending $6 worth of RMB to another person is incredibly easy.

These arrests show ransomware developers in China are under the extreme scrutiny of the law. It only took police officers five weeks to find the culprits and arrest them. During the arrest, they also found several dozen malware samples on confiscated hardware. Their choice for mobile payments may have caused their project to come to an abrupt halt since none of the payment methods were anonymous by any means.

Regulators must mandate a standard for information disclosure amidst the recent spate of ICOs, an advisor to China’s central bank said this week.

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SWIFT’s Blockchain settlement project has gained 22 more ‘tester’ banks before development ends in October.