The Internet - The first Worldwide Tool of Unification ("The End of History")

" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "

" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

Have you seen innovation and invention in the past decade that required thinking out of the box of an old reality? Indeed, you have. I can't tell you what's coming, because you haven't thought of it yet! But the potentials of it are looming large. Let me give you an example, Let us say that 20 years ago, you predicted that there would be something called the Internet on a device you don't really have yet using technology that you can't imagine. You will have full libraries, buildings filled with books, in your hand - a worldwide encyclopedia of everything knowable, with the ability to look it up instantly! Not only that, but that look-up service isn't going to cost a penny! You can call friends and see them on a video screen, and it won't cost a penny! No matter how long you use this service and to what depth you use it, the service itself will be free.

Now, anyone listening to you back then would perhaps have said, "Even if we can believe the technological part, which we think is impossible, everything costs something. There has to be a charge for it! Otherwise, how would they stay in business?" The answer is this: With new invention comes new paradigms of business. You don't know what you don't know, so don't decide in advance what you think is coming based on an old energy world. ..."
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)


German anti-hate speech group counters Facebook trolls

German anti-hate speech group counters Facebook trolls
Logo No Hate Speech Movement

Bundestag passes law to fine social media companies for not deleting hate speech

Honouring computing’s 1843 visionary, Lady Ada Lovelace. (Design of doodle by Kevin Laughlin)

Monday, September 26, 2016

Could e-residency offer a way around Brexit?

Could Estonia's e-residency program offer a way out of Britain's Brexit bind? Kaspar Korjus, director of the country's program thinks that digital nomadism could be the way forward for Britons and British companies.

Deutsche Welle, 25 Sep 2016


Since the referendum result in the UK and the impending Brexit, there’s been a rush of Britons trying to obtain residency within other EU countries so as to remain part of the EU. But the strict criteria often prevents many of them qualifying for an easy route. Now though, the Republic of Estonia might offer a way out of that bind. It has been offering e-residency permits for a couple of years as part of a wider program of e-government. This summer the country saw a jump in the number of Britons applying so they, or their companies, could continue trading as EU entities. DW talked to Kaspar Korjus, Estonia's e-residency program director.

Deutsche Welle: What exactly is e-residency?

Kaspar Korjus: E-residency in the larger context is the new nation state; we are building a whole new digital nation for global citizens. That means that every person on this planet can become an e-resident of this nation. By becoming an e-resident each person gets a digital identity, contained in a smart ID card. Once you get a smart ID card you can log in to the nation state services, you can digitally sign everything and you can be part of this new community.

Estonia has 13,000 e-residents currently
and hopes for 10 million by 2025
Why did Estonia decide to adopt this method? It's not just e-residency, but the whole thing is part of a wider program E-government.

Yes, so E-government has been in Estonia for the last 15 or so years. All Estonians have been voting on line, declaring taxes, getting e-prescriptions, signing all contracts, establishing companies; everything is done using that digital identity. Now we've just opened the borders to everyone else, so that everyone can be part of this.

The reasons are twofold: firstly, it's purely economic, so that Estonia can be bigger. Estonia has a population of just 1.3 million and the internal market compared to Germany for example is so small that we just need more customers outside of Estonia. Secondly, it doesn't add too much cost for us to open these things.

There are billions of people today all around the world who lack access to financial services or lack access to proper business services. For us to open these gates to them, it just doesn't cost us much extra. We already have the legal system, we already have the infrastructure and we already have the services, so we can just offer the same services to them also.

How many e-residents do you have at the moment?

KK: We have over 13,000 e-residents today, and we are still in a beta phase. To become an e-resident each person needs to pay 100 euros and apply online at e-resident.gov.ee and then have one face-to-face meeting at the Estonian embassy. This takes approximately two months and then a person could become an e-resident and access all the services.

Did you see the numbers shoot up after the referendum in Britain because of the threat of Brexit?

That's true, a few days after the Brexit referendum we had a ten times increase in applications from the UK. They were mainly from the start-up and entrepreneurship world. Many start-uppers were afraid of what Brexit could bring, whether they'd still be able to work with EU companies, whether they'd still be able to have employees from the EU. E-residency in that sense allows them and helps them to still run EU-based companies whilst living in the UK.

Britons can live in the UK and work
with companies in the EU via Estonian
e-residency and services
Because essentially it gives them EU membership?

It gives them an EU company, an EU bank account and EU regulations. So you don't need to apply to each separate EU country for a set of regulations as you would have the Estonian EU entity. Through that entity, you can sell all your services and regulations apply there. That means that none of the Brexit people need to move from the UK to Europe to deal with EU businesses, because they can stay living in the UK and deal with the EU through their e-residency and business in Estonia.

What do you expect from E-residents? Will there be any kind of tax burden?

E-residents usually pay taxes in the countries where they are living and creating value. E-residency does not mean tax residency. It means that e-residents can just use the platform and the business environment to facilitate their businesses.

So is that how you make sure that this doesn't become a kind of tax haven type scheme or a "letter box" company?

Yes, it is exactly the opposite. This is the opposite of something like Panama where people might have gone to try and hide their taxes and hide their companies; because e-residency is a transparent business. Each shareholder and manager is available as information to the public. We are also sharing the tax revenues with local countries and other governments. As everything is digital and so all the transactions leave digital footprints there is no way to hide, or protect any wealth you might have. That's why e-residents who join are those kinds of people who want to share transparency and show they can be trusted.

What do e-residents receive in return?

If a person is outside of the EU, from an emerging market, the main benefit is access to financial services, access to bank accounts, to online payment providers and access to crowd-funding sites etc. Most of the people today can't offer this kind of online business. The second thing is that through Estonia, people and companies have access to the EU business environment. Estonia makes all that very easy and convenient because it is all done digitally. So establishing a company takes just 10 minutes; you can open bank accounts online, everything can be signed digitally, all the contracts and taxes so it is pretty much cost free. The third reason why people apply is the freedom which an e-residency provides. Even if your country offers all the services and is pretty cost effective, people in today's world travel a lot. Sometimes those people's own countries might still require them to be physically present to sign something or declare something, but now people travel all around the world, digital nomadism is everywhere and e-residency helps run your business without having one fixed place of abode.

The more people and countries connected, the higher the value of the network

Have other countries enquired about whether or not they could offer a similar kind of program?

Yes we are actually helping many other governments to adopt this. We don't see this as a competition but rather a partnership because the more governments which offer this kind of services, the more players will be on the network and then the more value it brings to the network. We know that Lithuania is about to adopt it, we are helping Singapore, Japan and the Netherlands. Once a country starts serving its own citizens digitally as Estonia has been doing for the last 15-17 years then there is really no reason why you can't start serving other citizens too who want to take part in your business environment.

Kaspar Korjus is director of Estonia's e-residency program. If you are interested in applying for e-residency, you can go online to e-resident.gov.ee

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Legal eagles recruited to take down drones after successful police trial

DutchNews, September 12, 2016

Photo: politie.nl 
The Netherlands has become the first country to recruit police eagles to take out drones in mid-flight following a successful trial. 

Police began training the birds of prey in January, despite concerns from some animal welfare experts that the exercise could damage their claws. A spokesman told NRC there had been no injuries so far but protective gear could be introduced.

‘A common or garden drone has no impact on the claws of a bird of prey, but very large drones with powerful motors could cause lacerations,’ he said. ‘We are currently looking at protective measures such as a sort of clawed shoe for the birds’ feet.’ 

‘A lot of drones have perished [during the exercise],’ he added. 

The move is in response to concerns about the growing risk of drones being flown in unauthorised airspace, such as close to an airport, or interfering with other aircraft such as rescue helicopters. 

The birds which were trained in the trial are owned by a private company, but police will now recruit their own flying squad for active service.

‘Police have purchased four month-old American sea eagle chicks. From next summer they will go out hunting drones,’ the spokesman said.



Related Article:

Eagles v drones: Dutch police to take on rogue aircraft with flying squad



Sunday, September 11, 2016

Facebook restores Norwegian PM's 'napalm girl' protest post

Yahoo – AFP, September 10, 2016

Phan Thi Kim Phuc delivers a speech in front of a Pulitzer-Prize-winning photo
depicting her running naked on June 8, 1972 during the Vietnam war, during a
lecture meeting in Nagoya, Japan on April 13, 2013 (AFP Photo/Jiji Press)

Oslo (AFP) - Facebook had restored by Saturday a post by Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg which it had taken down over an iconic Vietnam War photo of a naked girl escaping a napalm bombing.

The world's leading social network backtracked Friday on a decision to censor the historic image because it had been flagged for violating standards regarding inappropriate posts.

An active social media user, Solberg defied Facebook early Friday by posting the photograph, helping to bring the weeks-long controversy to a head.

But it was deleted a few hours later by Facebook, in what is believed to be a first such online censorship involving a government leader.

By Saturday morning the post was restored on the Norwegian premier's Facebook page.

The online giant stopped short of apologising, saying: "An image of a naked child would normally be presumed to violate our Community Standards, and in some countries might even qualify as child pornography.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg defied Facebook early Friday by posting
 the photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down a street 
in Vietname in 1972 (AFP Photo/Vegard Wivestad Grøtt)

"In this case, we recognise the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time," it added.

Taken by photographer Nick Ut Cong Huynh for the Associated Press, the 1972 picture of a naked Vietnamese girl running from a napalm attack is considered one of the war's defining images. It was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize.

After Facebook reversed its position on the image, Solberg told the BBC she was a "happy prime minister," saying: "It shows that using social media can make (a) political change even in social media."

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Online spending up by a sixth after high street closures

DutchNews, September 9, 2016


V&D department stores closed this year
F Eveleens via Wikimedia Commons
Online spending is up almost a sixth as high streets are emptying, according to new market research.

In the first half of 2016, the Thuiswinkel.org market monitor reports, Dutch online spending grew 17% to just over €9.5 billion.  The study, conducted by GfK, showed that more than half was on goods like telephones, electronics and clothes and the rest was on services. 

Gino Thuik, industry lead on fashion and lifestyle at research firm GfK, said spending on clothes and shoes increased sharply. ‘This is largely due to recent bankruptcies of several large retailers on the high street,’ he said in a press release. ‘The online channel profits from this drop in physical stores, and this effect is most clearly reflected in areas such as IT and fashion.’ 

Silver surfers are also spending more, with 58% of over-65s buying something online in the first half of this year – although the study suggests they are still wary of using their smartphones for purchases.

Seaside resort brings in lawyers to end the Pokémon hunt

DutchNews, September 9, 2016

Pokemon hunters in Kijkduin last month. Photo: Arie Kievit via HH

The Hague city council has drafted in lawyers in an effort to reduce the number of Pokémon Go players in the Kijkduin dune area. 

Last month the city crowned Kijkduin ‘Pokémon capital of the Netherlands’ but now officials say the hundreds of players are damaging the fragile nature reserve and causing major problems for residents in the seaside resort. 

The city now hopes that the threat of court action will persuade game maker Niantic Labs to remove all the Pokémon from the reserve.

‘These are protected areas and should remain so,’ spokesman Gérald Rensink told the Volkskrant. ‘The game developer should not encourage people to walk through the area. We have made an urgent request to Niantic Labs to switch off the coordinates which cover the protected space.’ 

Lawyers say another option would be to introduce a ban on large groups gathering in Kijkduin. 

Friday, September 9, 2016

Taxman struggles to account for internet earnings

DutchNews, September 6, 2016

King’s Day in Amsterdam: before the
 internet, a rare tax-free moment. Photo:
DutchNews.nl 
The Dutch taxman is struggling to account for people’s earnings in the internet age, reports NOS

Traditionally, certain activities have been seen as hobbies and not subject to significant tax. But a freedom of information (WOB) request from NOS reveals that tax experts are looking at whether they are being tough enough about chasing down revenue from bloggers, vloggers and Airbnb renters, for instance. 

A memo from enforcement and intelligence body the EHI reportedly says: ‘At what level of income is an enthusiast who restores and sells bicycles through Martkplaats pursuing a hobby and at what figure is he an entrepreneur? Should the home cook who opens a pop-up restaurant at home four times a year be seen as a restauranteur? What if this isn’t four times but 24 times?’ 

There is a grey area, says NOS, where people making money on a small scale from Airbnb or renting a car via Snappcar can be seen as amateurs and pay little or no tax on this income – but if you are seen to be running a business, this ‘hobby’ notion disappears and you must pay income tax. 

But the increase in popularity of the sharing economy and online platforms like Airbnb mean the tax authorities do not know if people are declaring all of their business income, as they have an obligation to do. It is relatively costly to investigate as small-time business owners pay little tax anyway. 

The fact that transactions happen online mean the authorities have a better chance of monitoring them, says NOS. Amsterdam city council, for example, is already using digital techniques to ‘scrape’ information from Airbnb to check if people are sticking to renting rules of a maximum of four guests at a time and 60 days a year.