177811067
submission
echo123 writes:
President Donald Trump’s media company could soon own $2.5 billion in Bitcoin. On Tuesday, Trump Media announced that it’s working with “approximately 50 institutional investors” to sell and issue $1.5 billion in stock and $1 billion in convertible notes. The company, which operates Truth Social among other services, will be used to establish a large holding of Bitcoin.Trump Media says Crypto.com and the crypto banking platform Anchorage Digital will provide custody services for the company’s Bitcoin treasury.
”We view Bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom, and now Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a crucial part of our assets,” Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in the press release. “Our first acquisition of a crown jewel asset, this investment will help defend our Company against harassment and discrimination by financial institutions.”
The announcement comes just months after Trump revealed plans for a federal cryptocurrency reserve that includes Bitcoin, one of numerous close ties to the crypto industry. The Trump administration has softened the government’s scrutiny of industry misconduct, with the Securities and Exchange Commission dropping lawsuits and investigations involving Coinbase, Kraken, and Robinhood.
177126019
submission
echo123 writes:
Over fifty Democratic lawmakers have signed a letter demanding answers from senior U.S. government officials about a recent potential exposure of sensitive data about American workers.
The letter is addressed to the acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, William Cowen. The independent agency is in charge of investigating and adjudicating complaints about unfair labor practices and protecting U.S. workers' rights to form unions.
The lawmakers, who are part of the Congressional Labor Caucus, wrote the letter in light of news first reported by NPR, that a whistleblower inside the IT Department of the NLRB says DOGE may have removed sensitive labor data and exposed NLRB systems to being compromised.
"These revelations from the whistleblower report are highly concerning for a number of reasons," the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Cowen. "If true, these revelations describe a reckless approach to the handling of sensitive personal information of workers, which could leave these workers exposed to retaliation for engaging in legally protected union activity."
The letter refers to an official whistleblower disclosure made by Daniel Berulis, a cloud administrator in the IT department of the NLRB, who also spoke to NPR in multiple interviews.
In his disclosure, Berulis shared that he initially became concerned in March when members of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the agency and demanded high-level access to the systems without their activities being logged. Those fears escalated after he tracked a large chunk of data leaving the agency at the same time as many security controls and auditing tools were turned off, the disclosure continues.
Ultimately, Berulis became concerned that DOGE, which is effectively led by Trump adviser and billionaire CEO Elon Musk, could have accessed sensitive internal information about ongoing investigations into U.S. companies, witness affidavits and even corporate secrets. The alleged insecure practices and removal of data could also create vulnerabilities for criminal hackers or foreign adversaries to exploit, Berulis explained in his official disclosure.
177035881
submission
echo123 writes:
NLRB employee Daniel Berulis reports on CNN that within 15 minutes of DOGE staff receiving new accounts with access to highly sensitive Department of Labor (DoL) data, someone within Russia logged in with the correct username and password over 20 times, but were rejected by location-related conditional access policies. Additionally a traffic spike of 10Gb of data exiting DoL was witnessed which is highly unusual activity at anytime.
Also, DOGE is using Starlink to exfiltrate data, and Starlink is known to be hacked by Russia.
He also reports this activity is not limited to the DoL, it has been witnessed across the government I.T. infrastructure, and that sensitive databases have recently been exposed to the open internet.
Daniel Berulis also received a clear message to stop looking. Part of the package he received included drone footage of him walking his dog.
Fast forward to 4min 15seconds if you're in a hurry.
= = =
Via ReutersBerulis alleged in the affidavit that there are attempted logins to NLRB systems from an IP address in Russia in the days after DOGE accessed the systems. He told Reuters Tuesday that the attempted logins apparently included correct username and password combinations but were rejected by location-related conditional access policies.
Berulis' affidavit said that an effort by him and his colleague to formally investigate and alert the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was disrupted by higher-ups without explanation.
As he and his colleagues prepared to pass information they'd gathered to CISA he received a threatening note taped to the door of his home with photographs of him walking in his neighborhood taken via drone, Andrew Bakaj, Whistleblower Aid's chief legal counsel, said in his submission to Cotton and Warner.
"Unlike any other time previously, there is this fear to speak out because of reprisal," Berulis told Reuters. "We're seeing data that is traditionally safeguarded with the highest standards in the United States government being taken and the people that do try to stop it from happening, the people that are saying no, they're being removed one by one."
via NPR
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is calling for an investigation into DOGE's access to the National Labor Relations Board following exclusive NPR reporting on sensitive data being removed from the agency.
Ranking Member Gerry Connolly, D-Va., sent a letter Tuesday to acting Inspector General at the Department of Labor Luiz Santos and Ruth Blevins, inspector general at the NLRB, expressing concern that DOGE "may be engaged in technological malfeasance and illegal activity."
"According to NPR and whistleblower disclosures obtained by Committee Democrats, individuals associated with DOGE have attempted to exfiltrate and alter data while also using high-level systems access to remove sensitive information—quite possibly including corporate secrets and details of union activities," Connolly wrote in a letter first shared with NPR. "I also understand that these individuals have attempted to conceal their activities, obstruct oversight, and shield themselves from accountability."
176962933
submission
echo123 writes:
DOGE operatives have repeatedly referred to the software company Palantir as a possible partner in creating a “mega API” at the IRS, sources tell WIRED.
Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has plans to stage a “hackathon” next week in Washington, DC. The goal is to create a single “mega API”—a bridge that lets software systems talk to one another—for accessing IRS data, sources tell WIRED. The agency is expected to partner with a third-party vendor to manage certain aspects of the data project. Palantir, a software company cofounded by billionaire and Musk associate Peter Thiel, has been brought up consistently by DOGE representatives as a possible candidate, sources tell WIRED.
Two top DOGE operatives at the IRS, Sam Corcos and Gavin Kliger, are helping to orchestrate the hackathon, sources tell WIRED. Corcos is a health-tech CEO with ties to Musk’s SpaceX. Kliger attended UC Berkeley until 2020 and worked at the AI company Databricks before joining DOGE as a special adviser to the director at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Corcos is also a special adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Since joining Musk’s DOGE, Corcos has told IRS workers that he wants to pause all engineering work and cancel current attempts to modernize the agency’s systems, according to sources with direct knowledge who spoke with WIRED. He has also spoken about some aspects of these cuts publicly: "We've so far stopped work and cut about $1.5 billion from the modernization budget. Mostly projects that were going to continue to put us down the death spiral of complexity in our code base," Corcos told Laura Ingraham on Fox News in March.
176120335
submission
echo123 writes:
Musk says he 'deleted' IRS easy filing team that let Americans file taxes for free online
= = = = =
In a post on X, unelected government official Elon Musk revealed that he has cut the staff of the Internal Revenue Service that oversaw the system that allows Americans to file their taxes for free easily on its website.
A right-wing MAGA influencer called the "direct file" tax program a "far left government wide computer office" that was "built by Elizabeth Warren."
He claimed, "Direct file puts the government in charge of preparing people's tax returns for them," he claimed.
Musk responded by saying, "That group has been deleted."
Thus far, the website remains active.
The Treasury Department said on its website, "Direct File is a historic new IRS service that allows eligible taxpayers to prepare and file their tax return online, for free, including access to help from dedicated IRS Direct File customer support representatives."
It was available in both Spanish and English and wasn't a mandatory program for anyone. Those who didn't trust the system could still fill out their taxes by hand and mail them.
175972859
submission
echo123 writes:
Donald Trump has launched a new meme coin, according to posts from his X and Truth Social accounts last night. The posts, which have come just days before Trump’s inauguration, were initially met with suspicion by many that his accounts had been hacked.
Skeptics highlighted by Decrypt last night pointed to several red flags, such as that the millions of dollars seeding the project came from Binance and Gate, which only serve overseas customers. The coin’s website credits the project to the same group behind Trump’s NFTs, as noted by Cointelegraph , which reports that sources close to Trump’s family confirmed the announcements’ legitimacy.
Both posts remain up as of this article submission.
175291063
submission
echo123 writes:
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, Oct 20 (Reuters) — Billionaire Elon Musk promised on Saturday to give away $1 million each day until November's election to someone who signs his online petition, with the first prize awarded at a PAC event supporting Republican Donald Trump, raising questions about the legality of the payments.
Musk gave a $1 million check to an attendee of his America PAC event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, aimed at rallying supporters behind presidential candidate Trump. The winner was a man named John Dreher, according to event staff.
"By the way, John had no idea. So anyway, you're welcome," the Tesla founder said as he handed Dreher the check.
175204779
submission
echo123 writes:
Republicans target $3 billion in federal contracts after a consultant discloses messages unconnected to his work.
= = = =
Republicans backing Donald Trump are threatening Deloitte, a consulting firm that is one of the federal government’s largest business partners, with the loss of billions of dollars in contracts because an employee shared messages from 2020 in which GOP vice-presidential nominee JD Vance criticized the former president’s record.
On Sept. 27, Donald Trump Jr. exposed the employee’s name and photograph to millions of people on social media, writing, “Maybe it’s time for the GOP to end Deloitte’s taxpayer funded gravy train?” Others — including Vance’s chief spokesman and a Republican senator — circulated Trump Jr.'s comments, and the conservative website Breitbart published a story naming the man and highlighting his job.
Deloitte receives about $3 billion annually from federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense.
Ethics experts said the episode is a potentially ominous preview of how a second Trump administration might use the enormous power the federal government wields over private industry to punish political acts by individual workers. Although federal contracting laws prohibit cutting off a business because of its workers’ private political views, such threats could have a chilling effect, they said.
alternative link: http://archive.today/YU4vF
175100197
submission
echo123 writes:
Polypropylene and polyethylene can be recycled, but the process can be difficult and often produces large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane. They are both polyolefins, which are the products of polymerizing ethylene and propylene, raw materials that are mainly derived from fossil fuels. The bonds of polyolefins are also notoriously hard to break.
Now, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a method of recycling these polymers that uses catalysts that easily break their bonds, converting them into propylene and isobutylene, which are gasses at room temperature. Those gasses can then be recycled into new plastics.
174915582
submission
echo123 writes:
Signal Is More Than Encrypted Messaging. Under Meredith Whittaker, It’s Out to Prove Surveillance Capitalism Wrong
On its 10th anniversary, Signal’s president wants to remind you that the world’s most secure communications platform is a nonprofit. It’s free. It doesn’t track you or serve you ads. It pays its engineers very well. And it’s a go-to app for hundreds of millions of people.
174784244
submission
echo123 writes:
At the beginning of the year, tech executives were confident that a new generation of artificial-intelligence-powered phones and PCs could spark fresh demand for those struggling consumer categories. They may have been too optimistic. The latest evidence shows that the AI consumer shift is still moving at a slow pace.
174759750
submission
echo123 writes:
SAN FRANCISCO — Google’s master software for some Android phones includes a hidden feature that is insecure and could be activated to allow remote control or spying on users, according to a security company that found it inside phones at a U.S. intelligence contractor.
The security company said it contacted Google about its findings more than 90 days ago and that the tech giant has not indicated whether it would remove or fix the application.
On Wednesday night, Google told The Post that it would issue an update to remove the application. “Out of an abundance of precaution, we will be removing this from all supported in-market Pixel devices with an upcoming Pixel software update,” said company spokesperson Ed Fernandez. He said distributors of other Android phones would also be notified.
The application, called Showcase.apk, is normally dormant. But iVerify was able to enable it on a device in its possession, and the company believes skilled hackers could also enable it from afar. It cannot be removed from phones through the normal uninstall process.
When active, the application downloads instructions from a site hosted on Amazon Web Services. But it tries to connect to an insecure web address beginning with “http” instead of the more secure “https”, so that those calls could be intercepted and the site could be impersonated, with malicious spying instructions sent instead. Http sites are so risky that Google’s Chrome browser warns visitors that they are not secure.
“The application downloads a configuration file over an unsecure connection and can be manipulated to execute code at the system level,” iVerify wrote in a draft of a summary report to be published Thursday. The full 40-page analysis was aided by Palantir and Trail of Bits, an established security company affiliated with iVerify.
174706338
submission
echo123 writes:
Stressing science education, China is outpacing other countries in research fields like battery chemistry, crucial to its lead in electric vehicles.
= = = = = =
China’s domination of electric cars, which is threatening to start a trade war, was born decades ago in university laboratories in Texas, when researchers discovered how to make batteries with minerals that were abundant and cheap.
Companies from China have recently built on those early discoveries, figuring out how to make the batteries hold a powerful charge and endure more than a decade of daily recharges. They are inexpensively and reliably manufacturing vast numbers of these batteries, producing most of the world’s electric cars and many other clean energy systems.
Batteries are just one example of how China is catching up — or passing — advanced industrial democracies in its technological and manufacturing sophistication. It is achieving many breakthroughs in a long list of sectors, from pharmaceuticals to drones to high-efficiency solar panels.
the article continues...
174701176
submission
echo123 writes:
The NASA program to develop a new upper stage for the Space Launch System rocket is seven years behind schedule and significantly over budget, a new report from the space agency's inspector general finds. However, beyond these headline numbers, there is also some eye-opening information about the project's prime contractor, Boeing, and its poor quality control practices.
174517777
submission
echo123 writes:
The plan to “Make America First in AI” and roll back “burdensome regulations” would favor Silicon Valley investors, who are now flocking to support the former president.
