Nonprofit consumer protection group Food & Water Watch published a report on Tuesday that demonstrates a partnership between the federal government and a number of controversial biotech companies that have slowly but surely pushed their GMO products on a number of new countries in recent years.At center stage in the report is Monsanto, the St. Louis, Missouri-based makers of genetically-modified crops and genetically-engineered seeds that has continuously generated criticism as of late over its practices both on the growing field and in a court of law. Monsanto is among the most valuable corporations in the US, yet has relentlessly sued small-time farmers across the world over alleged patent violations, often forcing independent agriculturists to go out of business. Legislation signed into law last month provided litigation immunity to GMO companies including Monsanto, and on Monday the Supreme Court sided with the corporation when ruling on a landmark patent infringement case.“The US Department of State is selling seeds instead of democracy,” Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter told reporters. “This report provides a chilling snapshot of how a handful of giant biotechnology companies are unduly influencing US foreign policy and undermining our diplomatic efforts to promote security, international development and transparency worldwide. This report is a call to action for Americans because public policy should not be for sale to the highest bidder.”Food & Water Watch published their findings this week after combing through the roughly 260,000 State Department cables that the whistleblower website first began publishing in 2010, but notes that their statistics specifically come from memos not classified as “secret” or higher.For the most part, wrote the nonprofit, “The State Department strategy sought to foist pro-biotechpolicies on foreign governments” using a four-prong approach: promote biotech business interests; lobby foreign governments to weaken biotech rules; protect US biotech exports and press developing world to adopt biotech crops.As the cables are analyzed, though, the efforts the State Department undertook to advocate for Monsanto demonstrate a willingness to put a US-based company’s profits about the interests and health of those residing in foreign nations.In a cable sent from the Slovakian consulate in 2005, the State Department is told that the local post “will continue its efforts to dispel myths about GMOs and advocate on behalf of Monsanto.” In 2009, a cable out of Madrid, Spain announced that Monsanto had made “urgent requests” to fight off an anti-GMO opposition campaign that posed problems to the biotech industry. Other revelations show pro-GMO efforts waged by the US on behalf of the biotech industry in Hong Kong, the European Union, Egypt and elsewhere.“The State Department’s efforts impose the policy objectives of the largest biotech seed companies on often skeptical or resistant governments and public, and exemplifies thinly veiled corporate diplomacy,” alleged Food & Water Watch.When Food & Water Watch scoured those cables, they concluded that the State Department was conducting off-the-radar negotiations that didn’t seem to advance democracy or American ideals — instead, rather, it found evidence of lobbying used to advance the agenda of thriving US companies that have already purchased the approval of much of Washington.“It’s not surprising that Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow want to maintain and expand their control of the $15 billion global biotech seed market, but it’s appalling that the State Department is complicit in supporting their goals despite public and government opposition in several countries,” Ronnie Cummins, executive director of Organic Consumers Association, said in the press release accompanying the report. “American taxpayer’s money should not be spent advancing the goals of a few giant biotech companies.” Of the 926 State Department cables analyzed by Food & Water Watch, the group found Monsanto appeared in more than 6 percent of the memos, shining light on how a federal agency “worked especially hard to promote the interests” of an outside company.When reached for comment by Reuters, Monsanto spokesman Tom Helscher said, “We remain committed to sharing information so that individuals can better understand our business and our commitments to support farmers throughout the world as they work to meet the agriculture demands of our world’s growing population.” The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.As RT reported previously, that so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” signed into law last month was co-authored by a senator that has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the company — a revelation that didn’t surprise many given that another important figure in Washington, Justice Clarence Thomas, served as an attorney for the corporation before he was nominated to the high court only to eventually preside over a case involving his former employer. But according to Food & Water Watch, the relationship between Monsanto and the government extends beyond Congress and the Supreme Court. In a statement published on Tuesday to accompany their report, Food & Water Watch wrote that the cables detail “how the US State Department lobbies foreign governments to adopt pro-agricultural biotechnology policies and laws, operates a rigorous public relations campaign to improve the image of biotechnology and challenges commonsense biotechnology safeguards and rules — including opposing genetically engineered (GE) food labeling laws.”This week’s report comes just one day after Justice Thomas and the Supreme Court sided with Monsanto in reaching a decision in a landmark patent suit. In the case, the high court said that an Indiana farmer infringed on Monsanto’s patent rights by using specially-made seeds he obtained second-hand without signing a contract with the company. That ruling, however, came just days after the company was hit with comparably bad news: on Friday, the US Department of Agriculture ordered an extra round of tests for new GMO breeds being developed by Monsanto and Dow, putting on hold plans to release to the public laboratory-made crops that can withstand heavy dousing of dangerous pesticides. Both companies want to make available crops that are resistant to the chemicals 2,4-D and dicamba, a move that environmentalists fear will prompt farmers to use more of these toxins.”The danger that 2,4-D and dicamba pose is a real threat to crops…nearly every food crop,” Steve Smith, director of agriculture at Red Gold, told Reuters last year. … Read More
American billionaire calls for breakup of Sony
Notorious for in his power play breakups and dismissals at both Yahoo and Google, Daniel Loeb, the chief executive of Third Point, now has his sights set on Sony. Loed allegedly holds a 115 billion yen ($1.13 billion) worth of shares in Sony, which has a total market value close to $18.5 billion.Loeb’s hedge fund quietly accumulated its 6.5 percent stake, and has indicated he would accept a seat on Sony’s board.According to the NYT’s Dealbook, Loeb hand-delivered a letter to Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai in Tokyo.The Californian jetted to Tokyo this past weekend to deliver the letter, and to meet with senior Sony executives, government officials, and regulators.Mr. Loeb proposed divvying up 15 to 20 percent of Sony shares to existing Third Point investors and also promised $2 billion upfront in cash to ensure the success of the transition.”Our plan shifts that paradigm and we believe, if managed properly, it could result in as much as 60 percent upside to Sony’s share price,” Third Point said in a statement.George Boyd, a spokesman for Sony, said he had no immediate comment.Loeb wants Sony to break up its current structure and spin off part of its entertainment division, which includes its very successful Hollywood production unit, NYT Dealbook reported. Loeb also wants Sony to take a leaf from Apple’s business plan and cut costs by only focusing on a few core products.A profitable venture?Shares of Sony have sunk nearly 85 percent over the last 13 years, losing out to Apple, Samsung, and LG in the electronics market. Despite the slump, Sony remains a very reputable company in Japan, and still has a market value of about $18 billion.Though its sales were dormant over the last 5 years, last week, Sony posted its earnings at $458 million, down $5.7 billion year-on-year. Sony’s operating costs yielded a $2.45 billion profit after a turbulent 2011 when it lost $5.7 billion.Sony has consolidated its American operations- in January it announced the sale of its 37-story Manhattan skyscraper headquarters, which it reportedly sold for a sticker price of $1.1 billion. The sale sent its stock soaring, up 12 percent, its biggest gain since October 2008.Revenue rose 4.7 percent, but investors doubt how flush the numbers are, since the weaker yen has boosted its competitiveness and value overseas. Last week the company forecast a 16 percent increase in profit, as it prepares to launch a new smart phone and television line, in attempt to out-compete its Korean electronics neighbor, Samsung.Smart phone sales are expected to rise to 42 million units, up from 33 million units, according to Sony.Pro AbenomicsDan Loeb, famous for his cut-throat dismissals and distinct management style, which has been chronicled as both ground-breaking and rude at the same time, may clash with the traditional, non-nonsense, Japanese company.Loeb has hailed Abenomics as a ‘huge game changer’ and sees potential in Japan’s market where many don’t.Japan’s Nikkei index has been steadily climbing, and has risen about 40 percent in the last year.“Under Prime Minister Abe’s leadership, Japan can regain its position as one of the world’s pre-eminent economic powerhouses and manufacturing engines,” the hedge fund manager wrote in his letter. … Read More
Are We On The Verge Of Witnessing The Death Of The Paper Gold Scam?
We are moving into uncharted territory. The paper gold scam is rapidly coming to an end. In the long-term, this will greatly benefit those that are holding significant amounts of physical gold and silver. … Read More
US nuclear weapons researchers targeted with Internet Explorer virus
The party responsible for the recently discovered security flaw in the IE 8 browser has yet to be identified, but researchers believe hackers employed a watering-hole attack to specifically target US government employees and contractors who browse a website regularly frequented by staffers in the nuclear sector.Microsoft confirmed on Friday the existence of a zero-day code-execution exploit in IE 8 that, if not fixed, could allow hackers to install malware on a victim’s machine by employing so-called “drive-by attacks.” Indeed, the flaw was discovered only after an unknown number of computers became infected with a backdoor Trojan that was reportedly installed on the machines of web surfers who used IE 8 to navigate to a specific page on the US Department of Labor website.“The Department of Labor site was rigged to redirect users to another site that infected computers with an iteration of the infamous ‘Poison Ivy’ Trojan, which was able to avoid detection by all but two major anti-virus products,” Ben Weitzenkorn wrote Monday for TechNews Daily.According to Microsoft, “The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user within Internet Explorer.””An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website,” the company said.Researchers aren’t sure yet who exploited the flaw and are still assessing any damages incurred by the issue, but they have managed to identify the single Department of Labor webpage that was compromised by hackers: the DoL’s Site Exposure Matrices (SEM) page, described by the agency as “a repository of information on toxic substances present at Department of Energy (DOE) and Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) sites.” The SEM page contains information about the links between toxic substances and recognized occupational illnesses, and was designed to be used by staffers routinely exposed to nuclear elements and other hazardous materials.”The target of this attack appears to be employees of the Dept of Energy that likely work in nuclear weapons research,” security company Invincea announced on their blog.Speaking to NextGov, Invincea founder and former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program manager Anup Ghosh said, “We can infer the target of the attack are [Energy Department] folks in a watering hole style attack compromising one federal department to attack another.”Suspects have yet to be identified, but watering hole attacks targeting specific groups of victims have been routinely used by state-sponsored cybercriminals in the past. Security firm AlienVault added that they believe the attack was carried out by “DeepPanda,” a group of hackers alleged to have previously engaged in cyber espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.Separate from the exploit, the Pentagon released on Monday a 92-page report, the 2013 “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” which discusses in detail the potential cybercrimes that could attack US computers courtesy of the Far East.The Labor Department has since taken the SEM page down, but the damage may indeed have already been done. Although the exploit in IE was only discovered last week, security firm CrowdStrike said its research led them to believe the campaign started in March and infected victims in 37 countries, including primarily machines in the US. Only computers that used version 8 of Internet Explorer and Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 to navigate to the SEM page were vulnerable, but IE is the most widely used browser in America with a market share of roughly 42 percent, according to StatCounter’s April 2013 analysis. … Read More
Adobe Creative Suite becomes subscription-only, kills Fireworks
It was Adobe; in the billiard room, with the candlestick… In a single blow, the software-maker dispatched new sales of “perpetual” Creative Suite licenses and announced the languishing demise of Fireworks. The company today said it will no longer sell Creative Suite bundles (or its individual components) as retail products. In place of… … Read More
Silicon Valley stomps on digital disclosure bill
Known as the “Right to Know Act,” the bill was introduced in February, and was lauded by privacy advocates for offering a pathway to greater transparency for consumers. The legislation is designed to update laws aimed at earlier forms of data collection, such as telemarketing, which is a far cry from the detailed data social networking sites such as Facebook are now able to collect on individuals. Under pressure to create value for investors, the online industry has become adept at harvesting information that can reveal a person’s purchasing preferences, financial activities and even sexual orientation. Most online users are aware of some of this technology, such as targeted ads for specific products that might seem to hound them as they navigate through different websites, though they may not be aware of the specific details. Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, who wrote Right to Know, faced formidable opposition. As the Los Angeles Times reports, the legislation was going up against a broad coalition that included the California Chamber of Commerce, Google Inc., Facebook Inc., cable television companies, as well as marketing and data brokers – the sort of middlemen that specialize in combing through vast amounts of personal data and digest them into profit.For its part, Silicon Valley more than doubled spending on lobbying within California, from $8 million in 2005-2006 to $18 million by the 2011-2012 state legislative session. The state is seen by online companies as a benchmark for the rest of the US in terms of privacy and transparency regulations, and thus keeps a close watch on bills moving through the capitol.Along with legislation such as the Right to Know Act, other states are currently introducing online privacy bills, including the contentious“Do Not Track,”which is both a policy as well as actual technology.As the Electronic Frontier Foundation defines Do Not Track, it is an effort to thwart online web tracking by advertisers, who are using ever more sophisticated methods to both collect data on online users and to direct specific advertising at them.According to the LA Times, some 82% of California voters are concerned about how their information is being collected by corporations, though it might be difficult for much of the public to accurately understand just how much of their personal data is being collected – and to what extent they should be concerned.According to Assemblywoman Lowenthal, the issue is not public support, but rather reaching a compromise with an online industry which seems to bank its profitability on collecting personal data.”Californians don’t need to be persuaded that they should be able to ask a business what it knows about them and who it’s sharing that information with. But in the Legislature, it has become clear that we still have our work cut out for us,”said Lowenthal. … Read More
Daily Report: Intel Chief Sees Many More Devices and Connections
Brian Krzanich takes over a company dominant in PC chips but lagging in making chips for hot products like smart phones and tablets, Quentin Hardy reports in The New York Times. … Read More
