A search of WebMoney’s Keiv office allegedly revealed a number of regulatory violations.  It seems authorities are concerned that WebMoney was issuing electronic money without authorization from The National Bank of Ukraine.

Authorities seized computer equipment and “Over 60 million Hryvnas ($7.5 million) held in the bank accounts of companies which were part of in the illegal system,” according  to the Ministry of Incomes and Fees.

Update: WebMoney Ukraine resumes transactions.

WebMoney has its own exchange to allow users to convert between the supported currencies. This change means that users will be able transfer Bitcoin(WMX) to any of WebMoney’s other denominations.

More details here.

“Moreover WebMoney users living in Brazil, Turkey, Portugal and other countries, which together number 70 mn citizens speaking Turkish and 200 mn of Portuguese speaking residents, now get financial and technical support provided in their native languages.”

WebMoney is now available in Russian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese and Indonesian.

From the WebMoney blog.

WebMoney, FBI surveillance, encryption and Thomas Jefferson, GoldMoney, and more.

WebMoney exchanger convicted of ‘conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service’ because he failed to file Currency Transaction Reports. He was also charged but then acquitted of one count of money laundering conspiracy. http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/September12/boruchsentencing.html

Deutschmarks still being used in Germany http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&hl=en&v=M8O_b0Xr5NE&gl=US

FBI begins installation of $1 billion face recognition system across America

“the FBI said that the technology could be used for ‘Identifying subjects in public datasets,’ as well as ‘conducting automated surveillance at lookout locations’ and ‘tracking subject movements,’ meaning NGI is more than just a database of mug shots mixed up with fingerprints — the FBI has admitted that this their intent with the technology surpasses just searching for criminals but includes spectacular surveillance capabilities. Together, it’s a system unheard of outside of science fiction. … ‘the convergence of face recognition, online social networks and data mining has made it possible to use publicly available data and inexpensive technologies to produce sensitive inferences merely starting from an anonymous face.’”

“As of July 18, 2012, the FBI reports, ‘The NGI program … is on scope, on schedule, on cost, and 60 percent deployed.’” http://rt.com/usa/news/fbi-recognition-system-ngi-640/

Anonymous offers some suggestions on fooling facial recognition software here.

The video can also be found at this link. http://rt.com/usa/news/video-surveillance-face-trapwire-237/

While on the topic of surveillance…Thomas Jefferson Used Encryption.

“The state wants to be a universal key holder. … The state argues that encryption offers new and unique protection for terrorists, tax evaders, drug dealers, pedophiles and other miscreants. And, so, new and unique measures must be taken to pull back the dangerous veil of cyber privacy.” “The need for Founding Fathers to encrypt their correspondence is high irony.” http://lfb.org/today/thomas-jefferson-used-encryption/

More good stuff from GoldMoney’s Alasair Macleod. “zero interest rates, have strangled progress. … Governments and central banks cannot face up to this reality, because over-valued assets are collateral for record levels of debt that have accumulated over the last 50 years.” http://www.goldmoney.com/gold-research/alasdair-macleod/central-bankers-and-politicians-running-out-of-ideas.html

‘New Film on the Digital Currency Bitcoin to Celebrate its Premiere in Berlin’ http://bitcoinmagazine.net/new-film-on-the-digital-currency-bitcoin-to-celebrate-its-premiere-in-berlin/#.UEhHMDoGbmc.reddit