Whatever...

A place to share stuff that isn't at all fintec related but is amusing, absurd or scary.

Matt White North America editor at Finextra

Marx cashes in on capitalism's crisis

With capitalism taking a pretty bad beating over the last few months, the work of its greatest critic, Karl Marx, is being rediscovered. Apparently, sales of Das Kapital have gone through the roof in Germany as people look for an explanation, and maybe cure, for our current plight. Publisher Karl-Dietz Verlag says it has sold around 1500 copies so...

21 October 2008

Retired Member 

Freeze Fraudsters Out Of Your Credit File Coming Soon

Nick Clegg, leader of the UK Liberal Democrat Party, and David Howarth, MP for Cambridgeshire announced their new party policy on protections against identity fraud during a recent visit to Cambridge Labs to watch a CHIP and PIN attack demonstrated. Credit rating companies are exempt from aspects of the Data Protection Act and can forward personal...

21 October 2008 /retail

Retired Member 

There's a sucker and a scammer born every minute

The latest social engineering trick doing the rounds in OZ is the 'Flower/Wine Delivery'. There's a knock at the door and surprise, surprise, a guy delivering a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine in a hamper. No note or senders details. "Sir/Madam, because the hamper contains alcohol we have to get proof that we delivered to someone over 18...

20 October 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Grand Prix budget cuts? - Hamilton's trophy falls apart

I like the Grand Prix and I couldn't help notice the British winner Lewis Hamilton on the podium at the end of the Chinese Grand Prix - his trophy base fell apart as he waved it in victory. I hope that wasn't as a result of budget cuts, and more likely a quality issue for the manufacturer. It's not as though we don't expect a race winner to wave i...

19 October 2008

Steve Ellis Founder at Finextra Research

The Brokers With Their Hands on Their Faces Blog

http://brokershandsontheirfacesblog.tumblr.com/ Maybe next week will be better...

18 October 2008

Retired Member 

Dark Market is a Minnow, Perhaps Wall St Needs FBI Attention

Given that Wall St has done more damage to the economies of the world than a thousand Osama Bin Ladens could dream of or any Dark Market cyber gang could imagine, perhaps the FBI could turn it's attention to Wall St. Given the excesses of financial wizards and the trillions of dollars of ordinary people's savings decimated by their greed it seems p...

17 October 2008

Retired Member 

CHIP and PIN or No PIN Will Lead to Less Trust in Banks

I have a few issues with CHIP and PIN or No PIN. 1. It is a security failure of the system which renders the PIN unusable, and turns it into a weakness rather than a strength. 2. The system now relies on the NFC CHIP, which communicates by radio frequency and can be cloned, not necessarily as a card, but as a radio frequency signal transmitter/rece...

17 October 2008 /retail

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

An important message from the Central Bank of Jamaica

Flashing across trader's newscreens everywhere on Friday

14 October 2008 /wholesale

Retired Member 

Consumers say No Google or Ebay spying for Advertisers

A poll recently released by the Consumer Reports National Research Center shows that 82% of consumers are concerned about their credit card numbers being stolen online, while 72% are concerned that their online behaviors were being tracked and profiled by companies. Although 68% of consumers have provided personal information in order to access...

14 October 2008 /security

Retired Member 

Australia Guarantees All Deposits and Borrowing

Australian Prime Minister Rudd announced the Australian Government will guarantee all Australian building society, credit union and bank balances without limit. The government will also guarantee all Australian banks' overseas borrowings. The Australian government will also spend $76 billion on capital and public works to stimulate the economy. Ne...

12 October 2008