Please, please, please watch this great piece from Laura Poitras in The New York Times about William Binney, NSA whistleblower. Fantastic! Poitras and Binney, plus Thomas Drake, are my heros! True American Patriots.
NSA whistleblower William Binney
The Program
By LAURA POITRAS
It took me a few days to work up the nerve to phone William Binney. As someone already a âtargetâ of the United States government, I found it difficult not to worry about the chain of unintended consequences I might unleash by calling Mr. Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agencyturned whistle-blower. He picked up. I nervously explained I was a documentary filmmaker and wanted to speak to him. To my surprise he replied: âIâm tired of my government harassing me and violating the Constitution. Yes, Iâll talk to you.â
Two weeks later, driving past the headquarters of the N.S.A. in Maryland, outside Washington, Mr. Binney described details about Stellar Wind, the N.S.A.âs top-secret domestic spying program begun after 9/11, which was so controversial that it nearly caused top Justice Department officials to resign in protest, in 2004.
âThe decision must have been made in September 2001,â Mr. Binney told me and the cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. âThatâs when the equipment started coming in.â In this Op-Doc, Mr. Binney explains how the program he created for foreign intelligence gathering was turned inward on this country. He resigned over this in 2001 and began speaking out publicly in the last year. He is among a group of N.S.A. whistle-blowers, including Thomas A. Drake, who have each risked everything â their freedom, livelihoods and personal relationships â to warn Americans about the dangers of N.S.A. domestic spying.
To those who understand state surveillance as an abstraction, I will try to describe a little about how it has affected me. The United States apparently placed me on a âwatch-listâ in 2006 after I completed a film about the Iraq war. I have been detained at the border more than 40 times. Once, in 2011, when I was stopped at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and asserted my First Amendment right not to answer questions about my work, the border agent replied, âIf you donât answer our questions, weâll find our answers on your electronics.ââ As a filmmaker and journalist entrusted to protect the people who share information with me, it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to work in the United States. Although I take every effort to secure my material, I know the N.S.A. has technical abilities that are nearly impossible to defend against if you are targeted.
The 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which oversees the N.S.A. activities, are up for renewal in December. Two members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, both Democrats, are trying to revise the amendments to insure greater privacy protections. They have been warning about âsecret interpretationsâ of laws and backdoor âloopholesâ that allow the government to collect our private communications. Thirteen senators have signed a letter expressing concern about a âloopholeâ in the law that permits the collection of United States data. The A.C.L.U. and other groups have also challenged the constitutionality of the law, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case on Oct. 29.
Laura Poitras is a documentary filmmaker who has been nominated for an Academy Award and whose work was exhibited in the 2012 Whitney Biennial. She is working on a trilogy of films about post-9/11 America. This Op-Doc is adapted from a work in progress to be released in 2013.
This video is part of a series by independent filmmakers who have received grants from the BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute.
Check out this interview with NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake from Talk Nation Radio. Drake is one of my heros.
Talk Nation Radio: The War on Whistleblowers With Thomas Drake and Jesselyn Radack
By davidswanson
Jesselyn Radack and Thomas Drake discuss their experiences as government whistleblowers, the retribution they've endured, and the currently worsening pattern of secrecy, intimidation, and persecution of whistleblowers in Washington, D.C.
Jesselyn Radack is a former ethics adviser to the U.S. Department of Justice who came to prominence as a whistleblower after she disclosed that the FBI committed an ethics violation in its interrogation of John Walker Lindh (the "American Taliban") without an attorney present, and that the Department of Justice attempted to suppress that information. Her experience is chronicled in her memoir, TRAITOR: The Whistleblower and the "American Taliban". Radack was this past year's co-recipient of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence award.
Jesselyn Radack is the Government Accountability Project's National Security & Human Rights Director. In her role, she works primarily with national security and intelligence community whistleblowers, including those from the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, NSA and CIA â with a special focus on torture, secret surveillance, secrecy, and political discrimination. (See http://whistleblower.org)
She recently represented former NSA official Thomas Drake on whistleblower matters stemming from the government's unsuccessful prosecution of him under the Espionage Act.
Thomas Drake is a former senior executive of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), decorated United States Air Force and United States Navy veteran, computer software expert, and whistleblower. He is the 2011 recipient of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling and co-recipient of the Sam Adams award. The government's retribution against Drake, for exposing waste, abuse, and incompetence, included charging him under the Espionage Act. The charges fell apart.
Hey, if you haven't done so already, click on the Become a Fan button on the left margin and become a Fan at my Facebook fan page. Thank you!
As you suffer through the oppressive heat and humidity we're experiencing this summer, you might like to try this magical little kitchen trick. Slice and freeze a couple of bananas, food process with a little cinnamon and allspice and â voila! It's a perfect summer treat. Plus, no lactose, all natural, andthe spices are both anti-inflammatory agents. (Or, add a little cream, nutella, frozen fruit . . . well, you get the idea!) From my upcoming cookbook -- Classic Cooking for the Cranky Colon, a Healthful Helpings Cookbook for Sufferers of IBS, IBD, or Diverticulitis.
While my agent is busy shopping Cranky Colon around, I continue to whittle away at The Plague, sequel to The Wave -- A John Decker Thriller. You can get a pretty good feel for what I'm writing about by looking at the On My Desk section of this site. Some very interesting tidbits in there about cyber-security and malware like the recent virus called Gauss (allegedly related to Stuxnet) discovered to have infected a host of Lebanese bank computers. Is this the US & Israel against Iran and Hezbollah, or something more sinister? You'll have to read The Plague to find out!
Meantime, if you're at the beach trying to keep cool, and you're looking for something to read on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, smartphone or laptop, check out this short story, After the Great Muskie Hunt, dedicated to my father, Zane, who always found time to take me fishing, and whose memory it honors. Please take a moment to download and read it. It's only around 15 manuscript pages, and it's FREE!
We live the lives of locusts, gone in a summer's day. I miss you, Dad!
"After the Great Muskie Hunt"
When his father loses his job, a young painter from New York offers to take him fishing for muskie â a barracuda-like freshwater fish â at Big Eagle Lake, in Ontario, Canada.
"Haunting and beautiful."
Mainsail Reviews
[Click here to check out my Pinterest board for After the Great Muskie Hunt.]
LOOKING FOR SOME SPINE-TINGLING NEW THRILLERS?
ON SALE FOR JUST 99¢ THIS SUMMER
TWO AWARD-WINNING NOVELS OF HORROR!
KISS ME, I'M DEAD.
BEFORE THERE WAS 9/11 . . . THERE WAS 6/15
On June 15, 1904, the General Slocum steamship burned and sank in the East River, killing over a thousand innocent New Yorkers. It was the greatest disaster and loss of life in New York City history . . . until 9/11. In KISS ME, I'M DEAD, this forgotten piece of history serves as the backdrop of an extraordinary story of loss, redemption, justice, and a love that not even death could extinguish.
Mallory Meer is like any teenage girl. She likes to have fun. She thinks her sister is ridiculous. Her parents drive her crazy. She has a crush on Dustin and follows him everywhere.
Mallory even has a summer job â figuring out the truth about the fire on the General Slocum steamship, the disaster that killed her sister. Mallory is determined to find out the truth, and to bring the guilty parties to justice.
Sometimes Mallory gets angry, very angry, and strange things happen when Mallory gets angry. Yes, Mallory is like any other teenage girl . . . except Mallory is dead.
Twilight meets Titanic Ranked one of the Top Ten Children's Books of the year by the Washington Post, Kiss me, I'm Dead was named a Notable Book for Teens by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, a Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Teen's Top Ten, and nominated for a Cybils literary award, a Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) by the American Library Association (ALA), and recently added to Horn Bookâs list of Recommended American Historical Fiction.
The Washington Post said, "(J.G. Sandom) writes with a precision and delicacy unusual for YA fiction," and called the book, "A subtle gem." School Library Journal said, "Kiss Me, Iâm Dead tells a remarkable story in a remarkable way." Horn Book Magazine called the work, "A decidedly unconventional ghost story . . . (and) a tightly wound novel." Kirkus Reviews termed it, "A remarkable account." Romantic Times said, "Kiss Me, Iâm Dead is a book you shouldn't pass up." Midwest Book Review termed it, "a wonderfully different kind of ghost story." And Bookslut.com said, "Kiss Me, Iâm Dead scores on several levels, most notably as a drama that blows apart all preconceived notions of how history can be retold."
Click hereto purchase your copy of Kiss me, I'm Dead!
Click here to check out my Pinterest board for Kiss me, I'm Dead.
CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BODY SNATCHER.
Here's the thing about body snatching. You just can't think about what you're doing. You can't feel sorry for the person, or think they look like your mother, your brother or your sister. You can't feel bad. In fact, you can't feel anything. That's the key. Because the minute you start feeling something, it's over. You're dead â pennies on the eyes, dirt on the face dead. It's no way to live, but for some, it's the only way.
Until they come for you . . .
Previously named a Junior Library Guild selection, Publishers Weekly called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher, âA haunting tour of London's underclass during the 1830s . . . Teens will likely be both captivated by Victor's harrowing story as well as his ability to prevail in the face of harsh injustices." VOYA said, "Teen readers will thoroughly enjoy the hair-raising suspense in this historical thriller." Kirkus Reviews called Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher perfect for, âaudiences that relish historical fiction."KLIATT said, "Like M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, this look at sinister events in history makes the era come alive and lingers in the memory." And School Library Journal said, âPart historical fiction and part adventure story, the novel brings excitement to Victorian England . . . Readers will be on the edge of their seats.â
Click hereto purchase your copy of Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher.
Click here to check out my Pinterest board for Confessions of a Teenage Body Snatcher.
And if that isn't enough, BOTH titles are also available in Two Teen Terrors â A Cornucopia Press Collection FOR JUST $1.49!
Click here to purchase your copy of Two Teen Terrors!
STILL LOOKING FOR THAT PERFECT TITLE?
Meantime, THE WAVE, my indie title from Cornucopia Press, continues to outsell all of my Big Six books. Go figure!
AND IT'S BEEN REDUCED FROM $7.99 TO ONLY $2.99! SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? PICK UP A COPY TODAY.
Kirkus said, "Sandomâs strength lies in the verve of his story, with writing that has both muscle . . . (and) brains . . . Races from improbable to crazywild, all in good fun, with Sandom always one step ahead . . . A story with enough manic energy to be worthy of a nuclear explosion."
When Cryptanalyst John Decker of the FBI is assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York, he has no idea he is about to be thrust into a deadly plot of eco-terrorism masterminded by El Aqrab, a diabolical killer recently arrested in Tel Aviv whose calling card is to wrap his victims up with incendiary devices designed to produce flames in the shape of Koranic verses. Some call it aesthetic destruction.
Following the theft of 8 kilos of Highly Enriched Uranium, an ultimatum is issued to the West: Release El Aqrab or a nuclear bomb will be detonated. But, at the last moment, El Aqrab escapes . . . and the authorities never get the bomb.
While Homeland Security is convinced it's headed for New York, only Agent Decker â assisted by brilliant and beautiful oceanographer Emily Swenson â believes the bombâs true destination is La Palma, in the remote Canary Island chain.
Now, Decker and Swenson have less than six hours to prove their theory, defuse the bomb, and prevent a mega-tsunami from annihilating the Eastern Seaboard.
Click here to check out my Pinterest board for The Wave. [WARNING: Some of the images on this board may be disturbing to younger readers.]
I'd like to thank all my fans for your fabulous support of The Wave. I set aside 10% of the profits from the sale of this book to Japanese tsunami relief efforts last year. Your generosity helped thousands of victims.
While The Wave may be a work of fiction, I know from my extensive research how devastating tsunamis and â as seen in my book â mega-tsunamis can be. The events of March, 2011, reminded us just how fragile and fickle our environment is, and how we must do whatever we can to protect it.
Meanwhile,The God Machine, from Random House (Bantam) continues to reach new theo-thriller fanatics. . . especially as an eBook.
Caroline Thompson (author of Edward Scissorhands) said, "Move over, Dan Brown . . . All hail J.G. Sandom . . . (The God Machine) is a thrilling and breathless, rapturously-written and mind-blowing read. Itâll keep you up all night, turning pages as fast as your little fingers can manage." BookPage said, "Sandom has a knack for combining legendary gospels, ancient secrets, star-crossed lovers and Masonic puzzles to create a simmering stew of conspiracy, intrigue and danger that keeps the plot pot boiling until the very end." And the Historical Novels Review said, "History galore, violence, and intrigue fill the pages of this tightly plotted, twisting and turning adventure story . . . Those who love numbers, physics, and a truly unpredictable, suspenseful mystery will relish the facts and ponderings replete in this well-written, mysterious spin-off of The Da Vinci Code. The God Machineis a very impressive historical thriller!"
The Church insisted it didn't exist.
They lied.
They said it was just a Masonic legend.
It wasn't.
A two thousand year old secret.
Revealed.
The coded journal of Benjamin Franklin. A hidden map. A legendary gospel. These are the first pieces to an ancient puzzle so powerful it could destroy the very foundation of Christianity.
Once before, Joseph Koster unearthed one of the Church's most deeply buried secrets . . . and it almost cost him his life. But some treasures are too hard to resist. And as Koster puts the pieces of Franklin's puzzle together, he discovers something even more startling . . . and infinitely more deadly.
Now, along with beautiful Indian high-tech mogul Savita Sajan, Koster must race to decode Franklin's journal before it falls into the hands of those who would do anything, kill anyone to suppress it. But in a world of secret societies, ancient conspiracies and Masonic puzzles, locating the prize is one thing . . . staying alive, another.
For as Koster and Sajan are about the learn, the same key that unlocks the doorway to Heaven . . . could open the portals of Hell.
To purchase your copy of The God Machine, click here.
Click here to check out my Pinterest board for The God Machine.
The novel has just come out in Spanish from LA FACTORÃA DE IDEAS. It's available in Europe and Latin America right now, and will soon be available in Spanish in the US as well. Pre-order it now. Later this year, look for it in Turkish too!
Once again, a virus is found wreaking havoc in the Middle East, according to the New York Times. Was it made by the US and American governments? Or, was it made by someone or something far more sinister? You'll have to read The Plague to find out!
A security firm said Thursday that it had discovered what it believed was the fourth state-sponsored computer virus to surface in the Middle East in the last three years, apparently aimed at computers in Lebanon.
The firm, Kaspersky Lab, said that the virus appeared to have been written by the same programmers who created Flame, the data-mining computer virus that was found to be spying on computers in Iran in May, and that it might be linked to Stuxnet, the virus that disrupted uranium enrichment work in Iran in 2010.
The latest virus, nicknamed Gauss after a name found in its code, has been detected on 2,500 computers, most in Lebanon, the firm said. Its purpose appeared to be to acquire logins for e-mail and instant messaging accounts, social networks and, notably, accounts at certain banks - a function more typically found in malicious programs used by profit-seeking cybercriminals.
The researchers said the target banks included several of Lebanon's largest - the Bank of Beirut, Blom Bank, Byblos Bank and Credit Libanais - along with Citibank and the online payment system PayPal.
"We have never seen any malware target such a specific range of banks," Costin Raiu, Kaspersky's director of global research and analysis, said in an interview. "Generally, cybercriminals target as many banks as possible to maximize financial profit, but this is a very focused cyberespionage campaign targeting certain users of online banking systems."
Lebanon experts said that an American cyber espionage campaign directed at Lebanon's banking system would seem to be a plausible possibility, given Washington's concerns that the country's banks are being used as a financial conduit for the Syrian government and for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group and political party.
"The United States has had a number of Lebanese banks under the microscope for a while," said Bilal Y. Saab, a Lebanon expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, who said the banks "operate much like Swiss banks" in terms of secrecy. "A computer virus could completely undermine that," he said.
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab, based in Moscow, said they found the Gauss virus while analyzing the Flame virus in June. Flame is a reconnaissance tool that can capture images of a user's computer screen, record e-mail and chat sessions, turn on microphones remotely and monitor keystrokes and network traffic. It can infect an offline computer through a USB stick or a Bluetooth connection.
Kaspersky's researchers said they were confident that Gauss was the work of the same hands as Flame, because the two viruses were written in the same language (known as C++) on the same platform and shared some code and features. Different people probably wrote Doqu and Stuxnet, the first two state-sponsored viruses to surface in recent years, they said, but all four were probably commissioned by the same state-sponsored entity.
"There is absolutely no doubt that Gauss and Flame were printed by the same factories," Mr. Raiu said. "An early version of Stuxnet used a module from Flame, which shows they are connected. Stuxnet was created by a nation-state - it simply could not have been designed without nation-state support - which means Flame and Gauss were created with nation-state support as well."
Kaspersky Lab has declined to speculate on which nation-states were responsible. The New York Times reported in June, based on interviews with officials in several countries, that Stuxnet was jointly developed by the United States and Israel.
Security experts not connected with the lab were less sure that a government was behind Gauss. "It's a fairly large leap, in terms of deductive reasoning, to assume that because they share a common architectural platform, this variant is also state-sponsored," said Will Gragido of RSA, a security firm, who has studied Flame but has not yet analyzed Gauss. "It's possible the code was made available underground and repurposed or reused by cybercriminals."
Kaspersky researchers said Gauss contained a "warhead" that seeks a very specific computer system with no Internet connection and installs itself only if it finds one. "It's done in such a clever way that security researchers cannot analyze it, because they don't know the decryption key that unlocks the true purpose of that program," Mr. Raiu said.
This story in from the BBC talks about how certain parts of Africa are getting most of their Net access via satelite, 8MB connection speeds for around £20 per month. Leap-frogging traditional cable-based solutions, satelite and mobile telephony may bring the Web, e-Commerce and micro-payments to the most remote regions of the earth.
Hylas 2 was the second of three satellites to be launched. Hylas 3 is due in 2015
How do you solve a problem like broadband in Africa?
Some believe it's by looking up to the heavens.
Not in hope of divine intervention, but as an opportunity: satellite-powered broadband could be the answer to Africa's connectivity conundrum.
The internet is, as one US senator once put it, a series of tubes.
His comments went down in internet folklore and were roundly mocked - but his remarks were loosely true. For the internet to get around the world it needs cables - lots of them.
They cost millions, span entire oceans and meander across deserts. Many are laid through some of the world's most volatile areas, such as Syria.
So when it comes to connecting Africa to the high-speed information super-highway, the enormity of the task cannot be over-exaggerated.
Under the sea
In the past few years, the continent has benefited from major investment into its internet economy.
Since 2009, three high-speed internet cables have been laid across the ocean, reaching out from Europe and Asia, and bringing huge speed increases - not to mention lower costs - to east Africa.
Kenya has arguably made the most of this connectivity. In just 12 months after the installation of the high-speed cables, the number of Kenyans on broadband rocketed from 1.8 million to more than 3 million.
With a lot of businesses now able to set themselves up and serve customers online, savings were able to be made across the board.
But cables are expensive - and they break. Earlier this year, cables linking east Africa to the Middle East and Europe were severed in an accident.
Internet users' connectivity suffered for more than three weeks - with data transfer rates in nine countries taking a serious, crippling hit. Such long-term technical problems undermine Africa's credibility as a potential future global technology hub.
Coupled with the logistical barrier associated with enabling internet connections in the most rural parts of Africa, and it's arguable that a rethink is desperately needed.
Up into space
Avanti's rethink launched into space on 2 August.
The company says its satellite, Hylas 2, will bring high speed connectivity to southern and eastern Africa, the Middle East and the central Asia.
The growth potential for businesses on the ground, Avanti chief executive David Williams says, is simply enormous.
"We have always believed there is a huge opportunity for satellite communications services in emerging markets because growth for data and voice services is high whilst supply of telecoms network capacity is low," Mr Williams says.
"This is very attractive to Government and enterprise customers, particularly those working in oil, mining, agriculture, banking and security sectors."
The satellite is the company's second to reach orbit. The first, Hylas 1, went up in 2010, and the company plans another - Hylas 3 - for 2015.
Hylas is shorthand for "Highly Adaptable Satellite", an apt name which describes one of its key attributes - the ability to direct its beams to different areas of the continent in order to satisfy demand.
All of the satellites utilise the Ka-band frequency, which operates in the 30Ghz section of the radio spectrum. Avanti says this means it is able to offer 99.9% uptime, no matter what the weather conditions may be.
It is hoped that the satellites build on the progress brought by the undersea cables and lower the cost of broadband further, be it residential users or those running a business.
Although costs have become far cheaper since cable installations, broadband is still prohibitively expensive.
For example, in Kenya, a small business broadband connection can cost around £60 a month for a relatively slow connection of 256kb per second.
Better than the West
With the new satellites, Avanti says it can offer 8MB connection speeds for around £20 - a dramatic rise in speed coupled with what some believe is a game-changing drop in price.
"Whatever the investments that you see happening, they will [all] make the internet cheaper," says Paul Kukubo, chief executive of the Kenyan ICT board.
"The internet is getting cheaper anyway," he tells the BBC.
"It's getting cheaper on two accounts - investments and also the economies of scale.
"As more people get connected, it's more effective financially to actually invest and therefore the internet gets cheaper."
He argued that lessons can be learned from the mobile networks who, with enhanced technology, were able to offer individuals and businesses attractively-priced internet connectivity, even in rural areas.
As a result, Africa has in fact left the developed world in its wake when it comes to adopting breakthrough mobile technologies - particularly mobile payments such as the hugely popular M-Pesa system.
In Angola, this kind of mobile connectivity is being taken to the next level. In partnership with Chinese telecoms firm ZTE, the country is rolling out 4G mobile infrastructure.
It means Angola, which just over 10 years ago was in the grip of a civil war, will offer its citizens better and faster mobile coverage than is currently on offer in London. Other countries, like Namibia, are attempting to follow suit.
Africa's surge in mobile internet use can be repeated in the fixed broadband world, Mr Kukubo says.
"We've got good examples of people who have made money by providing connectivity to the rural communities," he said.
"The large telephone networks have priced their products in a way that allows people to access it through cellphones."
He believes that by encouraging more businesses to adopt broadband services, the knock-on effect will see a significant change in costs as prices are lowered across the board.
"As consumers [learn] what to do online, you get greater usage, and that usage also drives the prices down, and also drives greater business applications, greater consumer applications.
A "rogue algorithm", huh? Hmmmmmmm. This just in from The New York Times.
By NATHANIEL POPPER
United States stock markets were thrown into turmoil on Wednesday morning after more than 100 stocks were hit with a surge of volatile and unexpected trading immediately after markets opened.
The New York Stock Exchange said later in the morning that it was reviewing âirregular tradingâ that occurred soon after the 9:30 a.m. opening bell in 148 stocks listed on the exchange. Many of the nationâs most popular stocks were among those that saw extreme price swings, including Citigroup, Bank of America and American Airlines.
Traders immediately pointed fingers at one of Wall Streetâs most powerful brokerage firms, Knight Capital Group, speculating that a ârogue algorithmâ kept buying or selling millions of shares of companies for 30 minutes, sending their shares soaring or plunging. The Jersey City-based company said in a statement that âa technology issue occurredâ in the division of the company that uses computer algorithms to buy and sell stocks from other market participants.
As Knight, one of the biggest market makers in the United States financial markets, rushed to contain the problem, it asked customers to send trades to other brokers. Knightâs stock dropped nearly 25 percent on Wednesday morning.
The event draws renewed attention to the increasing fragility of the United States stock markets as they have grown more fragmented and reliant on high-speed-trading firms like Knight. The volatility recalled the so-called flash crash of May 6, 2010, when the entire American market dropped nearly 10 percent in about a quarter of an hour.
On that occasion, stocks recovered from their most extreme losses but still finished down sharply. That event has been blamed in part for the increasing flow of money out of American markets and the waning confidence of investors. The turbulent trading on Wednesday morning did not have the same impact on the broader market as the flash crash, and the benchmark Standard & Poorâs 500-index was trading up 0.3 percent at midday on Wednesday.
The trading problems took place on the same morning that the New York Stock Exchange introduced a new program, the Retail Liquidity Program, that is set to bring it into competition with Knight for orders from retail investors. The program created a platform where orders from ordinary investors to buy and sell shares can be sent to receive a slightly better price than the publicly listed price. The exchange faced strident opposition from Knight and other market participants, which complained that the program would make markets less transparent, but regulators decided to allow it last month.
There was no immediate information from Knight or the exchange on whether the Retail Liquidity Program played a role in the morningâs problems, but Matthew Heinz, an analyst at Stifel Nicholaus wrote a note to clients in which he said that the program âcould have something to do with todayâs confusion as market participants adjust to the new order types and routing methods.â
Jesselyn Radack and Thomas Drake discuss their experiences as government whistleblowers, the retribution they've endured, and the currently worsening pattern of secrecy, intimidation, and persecution of whistleblowers in Washington, D.C.
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