He was referring to the way digital currencies like Bitcoin are used to buy drugs like synthetic opioid fentanyl.

In an “ask me anything” session on news website Reddit, he said that the anonymity of digital currencies meant they were linked to terrorist funding and money laundering.

Some criticised him, saying he was ill-informed about the technology.

Asked by one user for his opinion on the technology, Mr Gates replied: “The main feature of crypto-currencies is their anonymity. I don’t think this is a good thing. The government’s ability to find money laundering and tax evasion and terrorist funding is a good thing.

“Right now, crypto-currencies are used for buying fentanyl and other drugs so it is a rare technology that has caused deaths in a fairly direct way. I think the speculative wave around ICOs [initial coin offerings] and crypto-currencies is super risky for those who go long.”

Veteran investor Warren Buffet has previously said that the speculative crypto-currency craze “will come to a bad end”.

Mr Gates has not always been so cynical about Bitcoin. In 2014, in an interview on Bloomberg TV, he said that Bitcoin “was better than currency”.

His less than enthusiastic response on Reddit did not go down well with all those participating in the debate, with some reproaching him for what they felt was an attempt to influence the market. Others suggested that he needed to look again at the Bitcoin white paper.

Charitable donations

In the wide-ranging Reddit chat, Mr Gates told the audience that his top three goals were “reducing both childhood death and malnutrition and ending polio”.

Mr Gates is co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which spends billions each year on education and health projects.

The foundation has also sponsored the development of blockchain – the technology that underpins crypto-currenices – for merchants in Kenya.

Microsoft is also looking to integrate blockchain-based technology for verifying digital identity.

The rise in value of crypto-currency has prompted governments around the world to look more closely at its impact on economies and citizens.

While the technology underlying it is often praised, there are concerns about how it could disrupt the economy as well as its links to cyber-crime and money laundering.

The UK’s Treasury Committee is currently investigating the impact of such currencies.

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Source: BBC

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According to him, such issues were highly complex situations that need to be tackled effectively.

He said the rise in IT-facilitated crimes has become one of the challenges confronting adjudication of criminal offences especially when presenting evidence at the law courts for criminal prosecution.

Mr. Apeatu stated that, cyber-crime has not only become one of the commonest and prevalent crimes in Ghana, but also added that the role of computers and the internet are significant in criminal activities such as human trafficking, drug, terrorism, cross-border crimes and money laundering.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LyAFC8zASAQTUvLN6AsrkDupQINAgPYD”]The IGP was speaking at the formal opening of the Digital Forensic Laboratory at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

The facility will to equip the police force, other law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and businesses to deal with the menace of cyber-crime effectively.

The laboratory will also enable capacity building of the human resource in both the public and private institutions.

The Police Chief expressed concerns about the absence of “forensic-ready” IT infrastructure and systems at many institutions in Ghana, which will help identify and detect cyber-related issues when they occur.

He indicated that, cyber-related crimes have affected all sectors of the economy resulting in monetary loses and reputational damage to institutions that rely on some form of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in their day to day operations.

“Locally, the growth in the Information Technology sub-sector including the introduction of e-payment platforms and products, cashless systems, Mobile Money, e-learning, among others, has led to a significant rise in cyber-related threats.”

The inauguration of the Digital Forensic Laboratory coincided with this year’s National Cyber Security week on the theme “Securing Ghana’s Digital Journey”.

Ghana is one of the countries in the sub-regions with the finest cyber-crime legislation.

Specifically, the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008 (Act 772), is one of the legal instruments available to support investigations and prosecution of cyber-crime cases.
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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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She said this at a seminar at the Labadi beach hotel on Wednesday, October 25, meant to educate companies and individuals who use the internet as a major tool for business.

“Cyber predictions for 2018 and beyond DDoS attacks will increase to 17million by 2020.Data breaches are also expected to grow by 40% a year by 2019” she predicted.

“The number and complicity of cyber-attacks is on the rise and are becoming more and more sophisticated by the day. We have found that digital crime is a growing dimension of crime, and the reason for this is because criminals have the enormity, they can hide behind the dark web and not be seen and operate from anywhere in the world and have a wide reach of targets, working from their homes”

There are 556 million cybercrime victims a year which equates to more than 1.5million per day and 18 victims per second.

The Commissioner of Insurance at the company, who also graced the occasion, stated that cyber-crime has been persistent but under-reported by victims who fear they might lose their businesses.

“The issue of cybercrime has been something that has been going on for quite some time now. We have had instances where banks have been hit by hackers or fraudsters but unfortunately they cannot come out to say what is happening because every is afraid that if you come and tell the whole that this is what has happened to me people would get scared and take their money out of you bank,” he noted.

Mr. Chark Uekermann of Aves Cyber Security, who gave a presentation on cybercrime and how it works stated cybercriminals are difficult to find, because of the nature of the crimes they operate.

“Cybercrime is probably one of the most difficult things because when you see a physical criminal the police can I identify and arrest him. Has any of you seen a cyber-criminal before? And that’s the problem, you can’t see them,” Mr Chan explained.

“Now cybercriminals coming into our country do you monitor them? You can’t, because they came through zeros and ones, they come through our networks, and that’s the problem because we can’t see them. On average there are five new viruses launched every sec of the day.” he added.

He further advised internet users to exercise the utmost caution in order to ensure that they do not become victims of cyber-crime while using software on their phones or computers.

“Those nuisances updates you get on your operating systems don’t undo those, they are critical because the vendors have identified certain loopholes in the software and they are actually trying to patch it for you, we call it patches. Make sure you do those updates and obviously backup your data” he urged.

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By: Ann-Shirley Ziwu/citifmonile.com/Ghana

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The President, speaking at the opening of the National Cyber-Security Week, and the inauguration of the National Cyber-Security Inter-Ministerial Advisory Council on Monday, mentioned the training of all involved in the arrest and prosecution of criminals as high on his government’s agenda.

“Criminal justice response to cyber-crime is another area of importance. Training for our judges, prosecutors and investigators, especially on cyber-crime legislation and enforcement provisions, is a priority for government. We will enforce existing legislation as we seek to review and update it if necessary,” he said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bsCmajyQVW5VN86nkAV20uTLJBiEJG5P”]President Akufo-Addo, attributing the decision to the changing face of crime globally, also stated plans by the government to equip the country’s law enforcement agencies with state of the art ICT equipment to enable them tackle head-on, the growing canker.

“We also intend to improve the forensic capabilities of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and other law enforcement agencies, including the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), to enable officers to investigate and prosecute cyber-facilitated crimes.”

At the launch of the National Cyber-Security Week, the National Cyber Security Adviser, Albert Antwi-Boasiko, revealed to journalists at a media encounter that the document for the ratification of the Convention on Cyber-crime, also known as the Budapest Convention, would be completed by the end of the year.

According to him, the document for ratification was at Cabinet, awaiting approval, and is expected to be ratified by parliament by the end of 2017.

The National Cyber-Security Week, is on the theme: “Securing Ghana’s Digital Journey” and is expected to create a platform for cyber security vendors and service providers to showcase their services to the public at the Accra International Conference Centre and the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence.

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By: Akosua Ofewaa Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Albert Antwi-Boasiko, the National Cyber Security Advisor, told journalists at a media encounter in Accra on Thursday, that the document for ratification was at the Cabinet awaiting approval.

[contextly_sidebar id=”y8BA80QGryZBNm4DXJrkDEXZySigO7Hp”]He expressed optimism that it would be ratified by Parliament by the end of this year.

As at December 2016, 52 countries had ratified the Convention, while a further four states had signed the Convention, but are yet to ratify it.

The Convention on Cybercrime of the Council of Europe, is the only binding international instrument on the issue and increased cooperation among nations.

It is the first international treaty seeking to address internet and computer crime by harmonizing national laws and improving investigative techniques.

It serves as a guideline for any country developing comprehensive national legislation against cybercrime.

It was drawn up by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, with the active participation of the Council of Europe’s Observer States like Canada, Japan, South Africa and the United States.

The Convention and its Explanatory Report was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe at its 109^th Session on 8^th November, 2001.

It was opened for signature in Budapest, on 23^rd November 2001, and entered into force on 1^st July, 2004.

Cyber Security Week launched

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications haw launched the National Cyber Security Week to scale-up public awareness on cybercrime, and sensitize the populace on the country’s preparedness to deal with the phenomenon.

The Week-long programme would commence from October 23 to October 27, 2017, under the patronage of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Mr. Vincent Odotei-Sowah, a Deputy Minister of Communications, who launched the Week, said it would offer an opportunity to share information and engage key stakeholders on how to ensure effective and robust cyber security ecosystem in the country.

It is on the theme: “Securing Ghana’s Digital Journey”, which would create a platform for cyber security vendors, and service providers to showcase their services to the public at the Accra International Conference Centre and Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence.

It would afford stakeholders the opportunity to discuss pertinent topics such as Cyber Security Governance, Child Online Protection, Cyber Hygiene and Awareness, Cyber Security Solutions and capacity-building workshops on the topics.

–

Source: GNA

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The suspects are aged between 19 and 36. They were arrested in a swoop carried out by the police at Ashaley Botwe on Friday.

According to the police, they seized 36 laptops, 26 mobile phones and a number pen drives in the exercise.

According to the Madina Divisional Crime Officer, SP Joseph Oppong, the exercise was carried out upon tip off.

He said the suspects will assist the police in further investigations.

He revealed that all the suspects were arrested in a single large room in the area.

Meanwhile, the computer and pen drives have been handed over to the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service for further investigation.

The suspects are being processed for court.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Hangzhou Internet Court opened on Friday and heard its first case – a copyright infringement dispute between an online writer and a web company.

Legal agents in Hangzhou and Beijing accessed the court via their computers and the trial lasted 20 minutes.

The court’s focus will be civil cases, including online shopping disputes.

Judges were sworn in and the first case was presented on a large screen in the courtroom.

‘Saves time’

Defendants and plaintiffs appear before the judge not in person, but via video-chat.

“The internet court breaks geographic boundaries and greatly saves time in traditional hearings,” said Wang Jiangqiao, the court’s vice-president, via state media.

In 2016, China began streaming some trials in more traditional courtrooms online in an apparent effort to boost the transparency of the legal system.

Some questioned the move, however.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to broadcast trials online because many people involved in these cases probably don’t want the public to share their personal information,” human rights lawyer Liang Xiaojun told the BBC at the time.

In some other countries, online portals to allow people to resolve legal disputes in cyber-space already exist.

Canada’s Civil Resolution Tribunal starting accepting claims for $5,000 (£3,000) or less in British Columbia in June.

–

Source:BBC

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“I suspect that what is happening is that following recent instructions across the country for government to renegotiate mining rights, these companies are beginning to blackmail the government into giving them more concessions, that’s all that is happening,” Mr. Pratt explained.

Anglogold Ashanti announced its intentions of retrenching its workers due to what it describes as rising cost of production, under performance of employees and unstable world market price of gold.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Pratt criticized the intended action, describing it as totally shocking and a shabby treatment of its employees.

“The people of Obuasi are not a piece of burden only to be employed when things are going well. The people of Obuasi are the owners of that resource, they are the owners of the gold and the shabby of treatment these people by Anglogold Ashanti is totally shocking,” said Mr. Pratt.

Mr. Pratt also questioned why the company’s windfall profits were not used to keep the employees from being laid off.

“Until recently, Anglogold Ashanti and all of them were making windfall profits. Why is that some of those windfall profits cannot be ploughed back to keep workers at work, to keep the people whose resources have made them millionaires?”

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Inusah Fuseini justified the need for Anglogold Ashanti to close its Obuasi Mines.

The Minister noted that the company cannot continue with its operations, taking into consideration its current circumstances.

But in a rebuttal, Mr. Pratt criticized the Minister stance, saying his comments were inappropriate and unjustifiable.

He further noted that the people of Ghana have gained next to nothing from the exploitation of their mines.” All the resources have gone out, we sign the foreign exchange retention agreement with these mining companies which enables them to keep about 90 percent of what they earn here abroad.”

According to him, research suggest that Ghana gets less than 5 percent of the total value of gold that is mined from the country.

“We are being robbed, we are totally robbed and then they(Anglogold Ashanti) come back and tell us that look, we cant take the millions we use to make anymore, so we are going to sack your people, we are going to worsen the employment situation in the country. We are going to make the people of Obuasi go hungry in the addition to the pollution of their environment,”Mr. Pratt lamented.

In that regard, Mr. Pratt noted that the problem presents an opportunity for Ghanaians to take over their mines and exploit their own resources for their own benefit.

Click on audio to listen to Mr. Pratt

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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