government – Page 10

Bitcoin, Blockchain, government, Money Talk

Will cryptocurrency replace national currency in the future?

August 27, 2018

Wrapping one’s head around the craze that is, cryptocurrency can often be downright confusing.

However, despite the influx of uncertainty, the digital commerce could become the global finance standard in the near future.

For starters, cryptocurrency is any form of currency that only exists digitally or virtually, and “usually has no central issuing or regulating authority,” according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Based on blockchain technology, the digital currency market determines the value due to supply (amount in circulation) and demand (volume of buyers and sellers).

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China, government, Internet

China reaches 800 million internet users

August 25, 2018

China’s internet population has now grown beyond 800 million, according to the latest data from the Chinese government.

A new report [in Chinese] issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) put the number of people in China with access to the internet at 802 million. The agency — which is a branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information and is responsible for controlling the .cn country code — estimates that 29.68 million people in China came online for the first time in the second half of 2018.

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Blockchain, government, Internet

Some Americans will get to vote via blockchain this November

August 10, 2018

VOTING GOES MOBILE. The 2016 U.S. election was not exactly the most secure affair. Even though tech companies and lawmakers are still sorting out what happened, that’s not stopping West Virginia from thinking big and bold in 2018.

According to a CNN report published Monday, the state plans to let soldiers who are permanent residents of the state but are serving overseas vote via their smartphones using a blockchain voting app called Voatz. It will mark the first time U.S. citizens can vote via mobile app.

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Big Problems, drones, government, Military

The Army is buying microwave cannons to take down drones in mid-flight

August 9, 2018

The high-powered microwave system would be mounted to an aircraft.

The US Army has a new plan for microwaving drones out of the sky. In a public solicitation last Friday, the agency announced its intention to purchase an airborne high-powered microwave system from Lockheed Martin, which is intended for use against drones. The weapon, which would be mounted to an airplane, would disable fixed-wing or quadcopter drones with a beam of focused radiation.

Drone countermeasures are particularly relevant in the wake of an apparent assassination attempt against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro that was carried out by a pair of hexacopter drones rigged with remote-triggered explosives. Public video collected by Bellingcat indicates the attack was carried out by drones similar to DJI’s Matrice 600. Each drone was equipped with a kilogram of C4 explosive, according to a statement by Venezuelan security forces. The Matrice 600’s maximum carrying capacity is 5.5 kilograms.

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Culture, Globalism, government

One of Estonia’s first “e-residents” explains what it means to have digital citizenship

August 3, 2018

An online community survey recently asked me where I’m based. Without hesitation, I answered “Estonia.” You might ask: as a US citizen, why in the world did I do that? But as crazy as it may sound, Estonia is the country to which I feel most loyal today. I am one of the country’s first “e-Residents,” and I feel more welcome there than pretty much anywhere else in the world.

Hold on: an e-what?

I’m an Estonian e-Resident. A virtual resident, sort of. Let me explain.

In 2014, Estonia, a country previously known as much for its national singing revolution as anything else, became the first country in the world to launch an e-Residency program. Once admitted, e-Residents can conduct business worldwide as if they were from Estonia, which is a member of the EU. They are given government-issued digital IDs, can open Estonian bank and securities accounts, form and register Estonian companies, and have a front-row seat as nascent concepts of digital and virtual citizenship evolve. There is no requirement to have a physical presence in Estonia.

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China, government, Higher Education, Human Behavior

A Chinese university suspended a student’s enrollment because of his dad’s bad social credit score

July 20, 2018

A Chinese student had his enrollment at a university suspended because of his father’s bad social credit score. The father, surnamed Rao, had failed to repay a $29,900 loan and was added to a debtor blacklist that prevented a university from accepting his son. State media reported that the incident also caused Rao’s social credit score to drop.

China is expected to roll out a national social credit system in 2020, but it remains to be seen if citizens will actually be given a “trustworthiness” score or if they’ll just be subjected to more blacklists.

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Big Problems, government, Hot Issues, Human Behavior

What it costs to be smuggled across the U. S. border

July 5, 2018

Bribes and shakedowns. Days in hideaways without food. For many fleeing violence in Central America, this is what thousands of dollars gets them on the journey to the United States.

MATAMOROS, Mexico — Shortly before dawn one Sunday last August, a driver in an S.U.V. picked up Christopher Cruz at a stash house in this border city near the Gulf of Mexico. The 22-year-old from El Salvador was glad to leave the one-story building, where smugglers kept bundles of cocaine and marijuana alongside their human cargo, but he was anxious about what lay ahead.

The driver deposited Mr. Cruz at an illegal crossing point on the edge of the Rio Grande. A smuggler took a smartphone photograph to confirm his identity and sent it using WhatsApp to a driver waiting to pick him up on the other side of the frontier when — if — he made it across.

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Automobiles, Driverless cars, Employment, government, Science & Technology News

Ireland could gain 100,000 jobs by embracing driverless technology

June 2, 2018

A Waymo self-driving vehicle is parked outside the Alphabet company’s offices where its been testing autonomous vehicles in Arizona.

New study calls on Goverment to take active role in making most of opportunities present.

As many as 100,000 high-end direct and indirect jobs could be created in Ireland by 2030 as driverless cars become the norm, a new report claims.

The study suggests the State has the potential to become a leading global hub for companies developing connected and autonomous vehicle technology.

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China, Employment, government, Mass Transit

China’s social credit system has blocked people from taking 11 million flights and 4 million train trips

May 22, 2018

The social credit system in China has blocked people from taking more than 11 million flights and 4 million train trips.

The social credit system is used to punish citizens for bad behavior with numerous blacklists preventing them from traveling, getting loans or jobs, or staying in hotels, and even by limiting internet access.

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Bitcoin, government, Money Talk

SEC decision on Ethereum cryptocurrency could affect others funded by ICOs

May 10, 2018

The SEC is scrutinizing Ether, second only to bitcoin in value, to determine if it should be considered a security; the decision could affect other digital currencies launched through initial coin offerings.

The second most valuable cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, Ethereum, is under regulatory scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which is considering whether it should be classified as a commodity or a security.

An SEC decision to classify Ethereum’s Ether cryptocurrency as a security could have far-reaching consequences for other digital monies originally crowdfunded through initial coin offerings (ICOs).

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government, Human Behavior, People Making a Difference, Science & Technology News

How the world’s first loneliness minister will tackle the sad reality of modern life

April 30, 2018

A woman holds the report of the Jo Cox Commission on December 15, 2017 in Batley, England. The report has highlighted that the UK should appoint a “minister for loneliness.”

Tracey Crouch knows what it’s like to feel frighteningly alone. After giving birth to her first child, Freddie, in 2016, the British lawmaker says that despite having a “network of friends, family and a wonderful partner,” she began feeling cut off from the world. It wasn’t a new sensation; Crouch says she also suffered from depression six years earlier, when she first became a member of parliament. It felt like she was “in a very dark place, a very lonely place” she recalls.

Continue reading… “How the world’s first loneliness minister will tackle the sad reality of modern life”