SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Cybercrime’s cost at $523b worldwide

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A Washington think tank has estimated the likely annual cost of cybercrime and economic espionage to the world economy at more than US$445 billion (NZ$523 billion) – or almost 1 per cent of global income.

The estimate by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies [www.csis.org] is lower than the eye-popping US$1 trillion figure cited by President Barack Obama, but it nonetheless puts cybercrime in the ranks of drug trafficking in terms of worldwide economic harm.

Full story:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/60096249/cybercrimes-cost-at-523b-worldwide

Strategic Finance Ltd: “Duped investors want full disclosure”

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Deputy editor of the Fairfax  Business Bureau, Tim Hunter (“Chalkie”) has expressed his doubts today about a statement made by the Financial Marketing Authority (FMA) that six former directors of the Strategic Finance Ltd, who were recently banned for five years from directing a finance company, have ” limited personal assets” (Dompost, June 11, 2014). He implies that it was for this reason that  the FMA took the view that they were unable to contribute anything from their own “piggy banks” to help compensate investors who lost millions due to the company’s collapse, and/or contribute to the settlement made between them and their auditors, and the company’s receivers. He argues: “Most likely, for at least some of them, their assets are held in trusts and arm’s length structures that keep their personal assets to a minimum.”

As examples “Chalkie” highlights the residential addresses given by Strategic Finance directors on the Companies Office website, as required by law, that indicate a wealthy lifestyle with assets held in trust. [Read more…]

Sex txts can end with jail

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Your private text messages are officially “publications” and writing something objectionable could land you in jail for 10 years according to a landmark ruling.

The ruling was made in January after lawyers sought to have a man’s sexual text messages to a 12-year-old girl classified as “objectionable publications” so he could be prosecuted for distributing banned material.

NetSafe chief technology officer Sean Lyons, whose organisation advises on digital safety, said “the fact they’ve said you can now call a text a publication – that’s a big deal. It’s another case for all of us in our increasingly connected world – here’s another one of these ‘stop, think and check’ processes before we create content.”…………..

A bill before Parliament would stop such a situation from occurring again. The Objectionable Publications and Indecency Legislation Bill, currently at select committee stage, would introduce an offence of “indecent communication with a young person” where the onus would be on any “sexter” to determine whether the recipient was 16 or older.

A 2014 survey by internet security firm McAfee found that 54 per cent of users had sent or received “intimate content”. For 18 to 24 year-olds the proportion rose to 70 per cent.

Full story here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/10132043/Sex-txts-can-end-with-jail

The John Banks dilemna: Guilty or Convicted?

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If you were to look up the word Convict you will find that an overwhelming number of dictionaries give the definition as

Convict 1. Declare (someone) to be guilty of a criminal offence by the verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of law.

Convict 1. Law To find or prove (someone) guilty of an offense or crime, especially by the verdict of a court:

con•vict  verb (used with object)
1.to prove or declare guilty of an offense, especially after a legal trial: to convict a prisoner of a felony.
2. to impress with a sense of guilt.

Why it matters [and how it applies to the John Banks case]

Source: http://www.transparency.net.nz/2014/06/07/guilty-or-convicted-the-john-banks-dilemma/

[Read more…]

Strategic Finance: Former directors barred from directing finance companies for five years

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The auditors and former directors of Strategic Finance Limited have settled civil action brought by the receivers of the failed finance company and agreed to pay $22 million. Some 10,000 Strategic investors owed $367.8 million have already been repaid 10 cents in the dollar, or $36.8 million, and the receiver, PwC’s, John Fisk, still estimates they will get between 12% and 20% of their principal back following the latest settlement.

The settlement will see former directors Kerry Finnigan, Graham Edward Jackson, Marcel Aubrey Lindale, Timothy John Rich, Denis Grenville Thom and David John Wolfenden barred from directing finance companies for five years. [FMA remains of the view that they are likely to have breached their disclosure obligations under the Securities Act see below]

“The terms of the settlement deliver a strong deterrence message and include enforceable undertakings from the directors of Strategic not to act as a director of an issuer of securities to the public for five years,” Belinda Moffat, director of enforcement of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), said.

But one investor thinks most of those who have lost money will not believe justice has been served, with the directors seeming to have “got away with murder.”

The FMA is refusing to say exactly who will be making the payment. [Read more…]