"It's a year since financial education became a compulsory part of the curriculum for England's 11 to 16 year olds. But do you know the answers to some of the questions in their lessons?"

Recently a totally new concept was launched in some countries, including the UK, based on the exciting digital or crypto currency innovations of recent years, that could actually empower individuals to convert their daily steps into digital money that they can spend, save or whatever, just like our existing currencies. ‘Bitwalking’, as it has been named, could effectively give everyone the freedom and opportunity simply to make money by walking!

Online privacy concerns have been gaining increasing attention over the past decade. Despite the fact that individuals had many privacy concerns even before the world wide web emerged, it seems their worries have substantially increased ever since. Importantly, the hype seems to be justified, as getting our identity stolen over the internet is much more likely and common, than it was in the old times, as there are around 3.5 billion users who prey on you online today, which is quite a substantial number in comparison to the few thousand people who you came across during a lifetime before occurrence of Internet.

                One of the concerns which is present in the minds of most online users is related to the extensive use of cookies, which are utilized by the majority of popular websites in order to track customers’ movement on their page. Even more concerning is the fact that despite the widespread use of cookies, webpages seldom post any privacy-related notices and even less of them have incorporated a formal privacy policy into their website. It is also necessary to stress that the online world has made it increasingly effortless to amass large amounts of user related information, which makes consumers’ frustration even greater.

                Interestingly enough, even though the privacy concerns are discussed a lot in the media, the number of complaints on breaching peoples’ privacy online remains low. A few reasons for this trend might be the privacy policies which companies already have in place, collection of information without analysing them, meaning that the privacy breaches remain hidden and also the consumer related unawareness of the privacy legislation and their rights. Despite the recent proliferation of big data, many companies also don’t know how to utilize the vast amount of information they accumulate, however, with improvement of new web based technologies and increased familiarity with the science behind big data, it is assumed that companies are going to catch up and start using all the data, they have saved on their servers. One of the concerns here is that hackers might access such stored information even before companies figure out how to use them and if hackers go through all the trouble of accessing the information, they probably also know how to use it.

                The greatest issue with all this is not the data collection itself, but companies’ non-transparent ways of going about it, i.e., many websites don’t tell their visitors which data is being collected and how this data is going to be used. On the positive note however, most professional websites are starting to pay more attention to this issue and developing comprehensive privacy policies. One of the initiatives which is contributing to these efforts is the requirement of European Union that all websites contain a pop-up cookie collection statement, which usually also contains a direct link to websites’ privacy policy.

                One of the consequences of online privacy breach can be identity theft. If you want to learn more about it or on how to protect yourself from it, read our “Identity Theft” article and make your presence online more secure. 

Identity theft refers to the situation in which an individual steals your personal information with the intention of committing fraud. Some ways in which this information can be fraudulently applied are through loan applications, tax returns or health related services. Moreover, such actions may ruin your credit rating and even more importantly, they can be costly and time consuming to repair. It follows that keeping your identity secure, especially when you are browsing the web is highly important. Even more importantly, you should educate your children on maintaining online privacy as well, as in the opposite case, identity could be stolen from them and they might enter their adulthood with serious problems to deal with. When identity is stolen from children, the consequences can be even worse than when it is stolen from adults, as it usually takes time for such thefts to be discovered, while children and their parents usually don’t pay to much attention to the child’s credit rating. When the child becomes an adult and starts paying attention, it is often already too late to have any significant impact upon what happened.

According to United States government, there are several distinctive categories of identity theft. Namely, those are child ID theft, which has been described above, tax ID theft, which refers to a situation where the perpetrator gets a hold of victims’ social security number in order to file misleading tax return, medical ID theft, which serves the thief to fraudulently debit your health insure provider, senior ID theft, which is quite self-explanatory and refers to the ID theft from our senior citizens, which are especially vulnerable consumer group in that respect and social ID theft, where the perpetrator accesses and abuses your personal information like pictures, name and other, in order to create a social media account and possibly commit damage to your reputation. It follows that no matter which consumer group you belong to, you’re probably at risk of identity theft. We recommend that you don’t worry about it too much, as it is something which is difficult to influence, however, there are some precautions which you can take, in order to keep your identity as safe as possible.

The United States government gives a few recommendations on preventing identity theft, i.e., on keeping your identity secure. Most of them are quite is to implement and we recommend that you start with those. Now let us list the ways in keeping your identity secure. You should keep your social security number safe at all time. Unless you urgently need it, don’t carry it around with you and only hand it to an authorised person when there is no other possibility. It is important that you never give out your personal information over the telephone or the internet, especially if you don’t know/trust the person/company who is on the other side. For example, if you need to pay for something over the phone, rather ask the person to give you their bank account information so you can transfer the money, than giving them your personal information over the phone, as even a company you trust can sometimes make a mistake and hire a wrong type of person, which might abuse your information. When you are withdrawing cash from ATM, giving out personal information at the bank or discussing your health issues with your nurse, always pay attention to people who might be listening in to your conversation. Don’t leave your mail box unattended for days, if you plan to go on a holiday or business trip, ask the post office to hold your mail. Regularly pay attention to any potential changes in your bank account. With the accessibility of online banking and other services which some banks offer, like SMS notification of all bank transfers and withdrawals, this shouldn’t be too big of a deal. If your bank charges for such services, remember that 1-10€/month (my bank charges 1€, I don’t know about charges of others) is a small charge in comparison to having your bank account emptied. Shred paper with personal information before throwing it into the bin. There is a low likelihood that someone is going to go through the trash in order to get a hold of your personal information, but you can never know. Have your smart devices (computers, telephones, iPads, etc.) secured with complex passwords and change those passwords on a regular basis. Whenever possible, your passwords should include big letters, small letters, alphanumeric characters, etc. The more complex the better. Also secure your network with firewalls and anti-virus software. Usually you can find free versions of high quality software online. We use Avast. Remember, taking at least some of the steps to secure yourself is better than taking none of them!

Sometimes, no matter how many precautions we take, our identity gets stolen anyway and in such cases it is important to deal with it as quickly and efficiently as possible. The first thing you need to do is report the incident to the responsible authorities. You can start with the police and they will advise you where to go next. Once you report the crime, you will get a confirmation, which can help you resolve issues with banks, creditors and other institutions you might have fallen out of favour with. If your identity has been stolen on a long-term basis, you can also report it to human rights watch, if your medical ID has been stolen you should report it to medical care fraud office, if tax identity was stolen you should report it to your national tax office, etc.

Recently, law enforcement agencies have noticed a new trend within the identity theft area, which they refer to as synthetic identity theft. In contrast to predominant identity theft style, where the perpetrator steals all the personal information of a person in order to build a fresh identity, synthetic identity theft refers to an instance, where the thief pinches parts of information from different individuals, in order to create an entirely new persona, e.g., a person might steal the social security number of one person, tax ID from another and medical ID from the third person, in order to unify all of them into a single fictitious individual. Because such a scheme is not related to one single individual, it is much more difficult to identify and even more difficult to prevent. It is important to note that children are especially vulnerable to this type of fraud. The only way to deal with synthetic identity theft is to continuously monitor what is happening with your accounts and identity where it matters. If you discover you’ve been a victim, report the incident immediately.

As you’ve been able to observe, there are many distinctive types of identity theft and unfortunately, they are quite common. Thankfully there are many precautions you can take in order to avoid it. If you are interested in protecting your identity online, you could also look up BitBank, which is a company, which specializes in securing your personal information on the world wide web. If you wish to explore more on the topic, we encourage you to browse through other related articles on our website. Lastly, it needs to be restated that you shouldn’t worry about the issue too much, as it is commonly related to sheer luck. Stay lucky J

Today, it has been announced that a new solar-powered invention by the award-winning British company Desolenator can turn seawater into drinking water. While it is believed that the world is rapidly reaching global water crisis level with nearly one billion people lacking access to clean drinking water, it is hoped that this new equipment could lead the way for technological help.

The machine uses patented technology that can transform salt water and other non drinkable water sources into pure, distilled water fit for human consumption. It is capable of producing 15 liters of water per day, using no power supply other than the sun and with no moving parts or filters and is easy to maintain. After the initial purchase the machine needs no extra input of money or consumables and should be able to provide clean water for a household for a period of up to 20 years.

It is estimated that 97 percent of the world’s water is salt water and if we are able to tap into this valuable and available resource we could alleviate the global water crisis in an unprecedented way. Today 0.7 percent of the world’s water comes from desalination and existing technology is expensive, inefficient and dis-proportionally uses perhaps 0.5% of the world’s global energy supply. It is thought that the new invention is different from existing desalination and home water technologies, harnessing solar power in an elegant way, thereby maximizing the use of solar radiation through a combination of thermal, electrical and heat exchange.

The machine is still under development but there is a fully working prototype available http://desolenator.com/  .Interestingly the company has already started an Indiegogo Crowdfunding finance campaign following its success in an accelerator program and has also won a development grant.

If you like this article and want to help empower start-ups with a good socioeconomic cause try: https://www.finance-eco-money.org/fempower/finetech/item/bitwalking-share-the-belief-and-benefits-of-a-new-equal-global-economy-for-all 

The company announced today that Luxembourg has granted Payment Institution status to its European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp, providing the firm with a license across 28 EU member states. The license, which was signed by Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, goes into effect on 1 July, when the firm will open its new headquarters in the Luxembourg

The Luxembourg Financial Industry Supervisory Commission (CSSF) have conducted rigorous security reviews spanning nearly two years togther  with an audit by Ernst & Young. It is thought that marks a new milestone for bitcoin and digital finance in Europe and Bitstamp is a most welcome addition to Luxembourg’s fintech ecosystem.”

Luxembourg is known to recognise the economic potential of bitcoin, digital currency and the blockchain technology. It has set an example for other nations to embrace the industry after having conducted rigorous due diligence on the technology and of Bitstamp as a company. Bitstamp becoming the first nationally regulated bitcoin exchange is perhaps a historic achievement for digital currency.

To mark the occasion, Bitstamp will launch BTC/EUR trading across the European markets, and is offering free trading in BTC/EUR for both new and existing customers for 30 days.

On Thursday 10 March 2016 Citim (Centre for Information on the Third world,55 avenue de la Liberté, L-1931 Luxembourg) launched "Need for Seed" a project to Examine Food Sovereignty, Food Security and cultivated biodiversity.

The event facilitated a free, public, exchange of information on world-wide seed issues, primarily concerning the dangers of genetically modified food and was introduced by Jean Feyder, Ancien Ambassador for Luxembourg at WTO (World Trade Organisation), Geneva and member of the ASTM Board of Directors and author of "La Faim Tue" (Hunger Kills). ASTM stands for Action Solidaire Tiers Monde (Third World Action Solidarity).

Frank Adams, founding member of the Luxembourg SEED network and an expert on cultivated biodiversity & food quality showed slides and lead a group discussion, with several other practisioners from the cultivated biodiversity space, in Luxembourg: Steve Schwartz of Kraizschouschteschgaart and Klouschtergaart, Georges Moes of Natur & ëmwelt, as well as Estrella Catarata, director of the Philippine Network of Food Security Programmes (PNFSP). Madam Catarata is one of ASTM's partners from the Philippines and she informed the group of the current situation regarding small Filipino farmers and their efforts to save seed sovereignty in their country.

The group emphasised the importance of simple and traditional seeds as the basis for the constant struggle on food sovereignty from the north to the south of our planet. Today the standardisation of seeds especially from genetically modified plants endangers our heritage and the precious biodiversity of our food and livelihood.

With the "Need for Seed" project, CITIM, in collaboration with three local players, Network SEED Luxembourg, the private initiative Kraizschouschteschgaart, and Natur & ëmwelt, want to encourage and help us to bring the greatest possible biodiversity to our own gardens and also to help consumers and growers alike to reclaim their self-sufficiency in food production.

MFTSE Affairs S.A., aims to support this new venture and share opinions on FEM.lu

Thursday 26 February 2015 David Shirreff, journalist and writer of various works in the area of business, finance and economics was a guest of TIGFI at “Cercle Munster”, Luxembourg for the 40th monthly finance lunch and spoke on: “Restructuring the Banking System and Ending the Bonus Culture - a Proposal”

A great conference was held just before the summer on Microfinance and Climate change. Bridging academic research with, in the field, practice. It was particularly good to have an insight of how to help the poorest of the poor gain access to affordable finance i.e. finance that does not cost them any more than they spend already on life changing products that are replaced. www.ada-microfinance.org & www.friendship-bd.org/

Money is the thing that has allowed the human race to progress from the days of barter in the caves. We have seen both banks and government controlled central banks that are corrupt so neither should have the right to control progress and the distribution of wealth to our mind!

Following on from the recent pension freedoms introduced which mean that you are no longer obliged to buy an annuity for your complementary pension; the government have realised that many existing annuity holders feel left out. They therefore propose to create a secondary market so that you could sell your annuity back, probably to other institutions who may want to buy.

Luxembourg Finance Minister Pierre Gramegna, was in Paris with a delegation of professionals of the financial sector on the occasion of a seminar for bankers and fund managers held by LFF.

The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes has awarded Luxembourg a “largely compliant” rating in its newly released report on compliance ratings on tax transparency.