PNN #196 Show Notes http://bit.ly/17rMdlJ
http://WeUseCoins.com
What is Common Core?
http://benswann.com/the-most-dangerous-domestic-spying-program-is-common-core/
Another Secret Govt Program: Hemisphere, by AT&T
http://rt.com/usa/at&t-phone-surveillance-dea-325/
Bitcoins Big in Kenya
http://thinkafricapress.com/kenya/mobile-money-kenya-continues-spearhead-mobile-payment-revolution
Wednesday, September 4th 2013. 1 ounce of silver is 25 dollars. 1 Bitcoin is 130 dollars. Peace News Now is brought to you in part by friends of http://WeUseCoins.com. Learn about bitcoin at http://WeUseCoins.com
Joshua Cook writes at BenSwann.com that Common Core Standards, a department of education program, is overlooked but eyebrow-raising. The program involves collecting troves of data about students, some of which is unrelated to education, and storing the data to be analyzed by bureaucrats for who knows what purpose? Data collected will not only include grades, test scores, name, date of birth and social security number, it will also include parents’ political affiliations, individual or familial mental or psychological problems, beliefs, religious practices and income.
All activities, as well as those deemed demeaning, self-incriminating or anti-social, will be stored in students’ school records. Not only will permanently stored data reflect criminal activities, it will also reflect bullying or anything perceived as abnormal.
Perhaps even more alarming is the fact that data collection will also include critical appraisals of individuals with whom students have close family relationships.
It gives the government the ability to strongly influence the futures of every student of public education, and that will soon extend to private and home schools. It provides a way to intimidate students – who already have a difficult time socially – into conforming to norms which are not only social, but also political and cultural. One solution is to take personal responsibility for your child’s education and keep him or her out of the hands of the government.
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In a seemingly endless string of revelations of government spying, RT reported this week that the DEA, or Drug Enforcement Administration, has a more extensive domestic phone surveillance program than the recently uncovered NSA PRISM.
As part of the secret Hemisphere Project, government agents have been paying AT&T to place its employees to team up with police to find and prosecute users of drugs.
And, unlike the much debated NSA data, the Hemisphere data includes information on the location of those making the calls.
The New York Times found out about the surveillance program after it received slides, describing the Hemisphere Project, from peace activist, Drew Hendricks.
The activist said he was sent the PowerPoint presentation – which is unclassified, but marked “Law enforcement sensitive” – in response to a series of public information requests to West Coast police agencies.
The slides revealed that the program was launched back in 2007 and has been carried out in great secrecy since then. One of the slides said,
Quote, “All requestors are instructed to never refer to Hemisphere in any official document.”
Joris Leverink writes for RoarMagazine.com & ThinkAfricaPress.com:
Ever since Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile-network operator, launched the mobile-payment systemM-Pesa in 2007, two-thirds of Kenya’s adult population have subscribed, and an astonishing 31% of the country’s GDP is now spent through mobile phones.
On 1 July, a company called Kipochi launched a new ‘digital wallet’ service that allows Kenyans to not only send and receive money domestically but, using the online peer-to-peer currency Bitcoins, transfer it internationally.
Kipochi will thus attempt to build upon M-Pesa’s achievements, a company originally designed to facilitate the repayment of micro-finance loans but has since grown to become, in The Economist’s words, “by far the most successful scheme of its type on earth”.
However M-Pesa’s success also brought with it unwanted attention from the Kenyan government, who sought to share in M-Pesa’s success by bringing its payments within the country’s tax regime. In response Safaricom has had to increase fees for using M-Pesa, recentlyannouncing it had to raise tariffs for transfers $1 by 10% due to a government-imposed tax.
It is partly in response to these new challenges in using M-Pesa that Kipochi has now emerged. Kipochi believes that by using Bitcoins it has found a way to both get around taxation and facilitate international payments.
Bitcoins are purchased using ‘real’ currencies and then, like M-Pesa credits, stored in ‘e-wallets’ from which payments can be made.
Some see Bitcoin as a potential enabler for the ‘unbanked’ of the world to get more involved in cross-border web based commerce. Others see rich possibilities in teaching rural people online trading techniques.
There is a long way to go – and as with M-Pesa, the more success Kipochi has, the more scrutiny it will attract – but if it catches on, this innovative new technology could prove to be another useful tool in empowering ordinary people.
Peace News Now is on the Next News Network and is brought to you in part by friends of http://WeUseCoins.com. I want you to share this episode, and if you enjoyed it, send some bitcoin to http://Donate.PeaceNewsNow.com/. I’m Derrick J, reminding you that Peace is the way!
