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The definitive, behind-the-scenes account of the rise of the Deep Web; one of the most riveting and important stories of the decade.

Sure, this is a documentary about the Deep Web, Bitcoin and the Silk Road. But as importantly it's an exploration of a pivotal moment in cultural history. The events that are currently taking place at this juncture of the digital revolution will shape our future. 

We are asking you to join the community of our film as we build and launch this ambitious project, and follow us on the journey. We're interviewing some of the greatest and most notorious minds in all areas of this story; hackers, innovators, politicians, free-thinkers and criminals.

We invite you to participate in our film by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

THE DEEP WEB

Refers to all unseen, un-indexed and often intentionally hidden web content. The Deep Web accounts for at least 96% of the World Wide Web. 96%! Think about that! What you see when you surf around the web is a fraction of what's actually going on out there. And a lot of what's going on out there is scary stuff!

BITCOIN

A peer-to-peer crypto-currency that exists outside the control of governments and banks. In a nutshell this is cyber-money that is spent anonymously. Bitcoin has the potential to create a level of global disruption that will make Napster look like child's play.

SILK ROAD

An online black market, trading in legal and many illegal products, including all manner of drugs, using encrypted technology to protect the user's anonymity. I think this mind-blowing, disturbing, weirder-than-Sci-Fi service speaks for itself.

In the last ten years, the digital revolution has swept like a brushfire into every corner of modern life. The world we now live in bears little resemblance to even the recent past. And the changes that are coming will disrupt our lives in even greater ways, some good and some harmful. But this tidal wave cannot be stopped, and its path can best be charted by examining the Deep Web; the vast unseen world that lies at the heart of the Internet and is the engine for the entire technological era. 

Amazingly, the story of the Deep Web has never been told on film. Until now.

The Deep Web on one level simply represents the 96% of the World Wide Web that is unseen by the average citizen and not indexed by standard search engines. But more significantly, the Deep Web is a movement, a philosophy, a tool for revolution, and its foundation was built long before Napster and the iPod, WikiLeaks, The Arab Spring and the revelations of widespread NSA surveillance. 

It is a long and winding road that has brought us to today's landscape of crypto-currency, Internet-fueled revolution and dangerous online black markets. And to explore this world is to better understand the full implications of where we now find ourselves and what may be the best way forward.

Alex Winter (Director/Producer) - Director/Producer of Downloaded.

Anonymous #OpKillingBay

1. Welcome World:
2. "TOKYO — The Japanese village notorious for the dolphin hunt documented in the film "The Cove" has slaughtered a pod of dolphins but spared the youngest animals, activists said Tuesday.
4. Most of the dolphins caught by residents of the seaside village of Taiji on Monday were butchered Tuesday, except for two that will be sold to aquariums and six young animals that were released into the ocean, said Scott West, a member of the Sea Shepherd conservation group who is in Taiji as part of a campaign to protect the marine mammals.Leilani Munter, an environmental activist visiting Taiji from Charlotte, North Carolina, also witnessed the hunt and saw the dolphins being cut up in the slaugherhouse.
6. "There is nothing to prepare you for seeing it in person. I saw these beautiful dolphins being driven into the cove, and they came out dead bodies," she told The Associated Press.
8. For years, Taiji has held an annual dolphin hunt which begins in September and continues through March. It has traditionally sold the best-looking ones to aquariums and killed the rest.
10. But the Oscar-winning documentary – which showed how herded dolphins were stabbed in a cove that turned red with blood – has intensified international opposition to the slaughter.
12. Activists are organizing a protest Thursday at Japanese embassies around the world against the killings.
14. Unlike previous years, Taiji has been setting some of the captured dolphins free, probably because of the growing pressure, West said.
16. The village also has not killed any bottlenose dolphins, the same species as "Flipper" in the 1960s U.S. TV show. Instead, the victims have been risso dolphins and pilot whales, which are also dolphins but don't have the distinctive pointed noses of bottlenoses, West said.
18. No bottlenose dolphins were caught Monday, he said.
20. Last month, Taiji fishermen captured about a dozen bottlenose dolphins, which are still swimming in a netted area in a harbor separate from the cove.
22. A European conservationist group, Black Fish, said it cut nets in that harbor last month but the dolphins did not escape.
24. The young dolphins released Tuesday appeared confused, perhaps looking for their parents, and it was unclear how well they will survive, West said.
26. The Taiji fishing spokesman was not available for comment.
28. Town officials have repeatedly defended the slaughter as a way to make a living in an area where the rocky landscape makes farming and livestock-raising difficult.
30. The town has also been trying to draw tourists to see its aquariums, where visitors can play with captive dolphins.
32. The Japanese government allows about 20,000 dolphins to be caught each year, and defends the hunts as traditional and argues that killing dolphins and whales is no different from raising cows or pigs for slaughter.
34. Most Japanese have never eaten dolphin meat and would find the idea unappetizing.
36. In addition to opposing the Taiji hunt, Sea Shepherd has also harassed Japanese whaling ships.
38. West said Sea Shepherd offered to buy the captured dolphins from Taiji fishermen, raising money through global donations, but that was rejected." - HuffPost
41. If there is any humanity left in you join the cause and support #OpKillingBay.
42. #OpKillingBay aims to stop the corruption abuse at Taiji-Japan
43. Join the cause and make a difference.
44. We are Anonymous
45. We do not forgive
46. We do not forget
47. Expect us.

Thousands protest against mainstream media [RT]

Thousands protest press credibility in march against mainstream media

Thousands of people in the UK and US united in their rejection of mainstream media in a mass protest. Protesters targeted the headquarters of media giants like Fox News, the BBC and NBS, decrying their narrow coverage of world affairs.

The March Against Mainstream Media (MAMM) organized the international protest via social media and challenged the established media to cover it.

In a statement posted on the MAMM website, the organization said big media outlets had two options: “report on the fact that thousands of people are currently protesting outside of their buildings because they are keeping important news from the public’s eyes,” or ignore them.

Image from facebook.com @MarchAgainstMainstreamMedia

Across America people turned out brandishing banners, condemning established news channels.

“Boycott the media!” one banner read in High Point California, while in Kansas city supporters of the movement wearing Anonymous masks delivered the message “America deserves the truth!”

A recurrent theme that cropped up a number of times in the US protests was the media’s coverage of the stricken nuclear plants in Fukushima Japan that were damaged in the 2010 earthquake-triggered tsunami.

"The radiation from that plant is going to reach us and affect us, not just in California but worldwide.  How is it going to affect us, how is it going to affect our water, our food supply, and our way of life?" said one protester to KMPH Fox 24.

Meanwhile in London, supporters of the anti-establishment movement gathered outside the offices of the BBC in a sit-in-style protest.

Image from facebook.com @MarchAgainstMainstreamMedia

Jet Barnett, one of the organizers of MAMM spoke to RT and said the march was a sign that people were beginning to look for their news in alternative media.

“We want mainstream media to listen, to let them know that the people are finally coming together and influence them to make a change,” said Barnett to RT, adding that the organization is fighting to restore journalist integrity.

Confidence in US mainstream media has been declining sharply over the past couple of years with only 44 percent of Americans trusting mass media, according to a Gallup poll in September. The figures for this year are a slight improvement on 2012 when the survey saw trust in the media fall to a record low of 40 percent.

However, a large amount of Americans (46 percent) believe media has become too liberal, compared to only 13 percent who regard mainstream news coverage as overly conservative.

Gallup’s statistics show the steady decline in media trust in America from 2005, with Democrats reportedly having the most confidence in American news outlets.

Image from twitter.com @SaraFirth_RT

Why even atheists should be praying for Pope Francis[Guardian]

Francis could replace Obama as the pin-up on every liberal and leftist wall. He is now the world's clearest voice for change

That Obama poster on the wall, promising hope and change, is looking a little faded now. The disappointments, whether over drone warfare or a botched rollout of healthcare reform, have left the world's liberals and progressives searching for a new pin-up to take the US president's place. As it happens, there's an obvious candidate: the head of an organisation those same liberals and progressives have long regarded as sexist, homophobic and, thanks to a series of child abuse scandals, chillingly cruel. The obvious new hero of the left is the pope.
Only installed in March, Pope Francis has already become a phenomenon. His is the most talked-about name on the internet in 2013, ranking ahead of "Obamacare" and "NSA". In fourth place comes Francis's Twitter handle, @Pontifex. In Italy, Francesco has fast become the most popular name for new baby boys. Rome reports a surge in tourist numbers, while church attendance is said to be up – both trends attributed to "the Francis effect".
His popularity is not hard to fathom. The stories of his personal modesty have become the stuff of instant legend. He carries his own suitcase. He refused the grandeur of the papal palace, preferring to live in a simple hostel. When presented with the traditional red shoes of the pontiff, he declined; instead he telephoned his 81-year-old cobbler in Buenos Aires and asked him to repair his old ones. On Thursday, Francis visited the Italian president – arriving in a blue Ford Focus, with not a blaring siren to be heard.
Some will dismiss these acts as mere gestures, even publicity stunts. But they convey a powerful message, one of almost elemental egalitarianism. He is in the business of scraping away the trappings, the edifice of Vatican wealth accreted over centuries, and returning the church to its core purpose, one Jesus himself might have recognised. He says he wants to preside over "a poor church, for the poor". It's not the institution that counts, it's the mission.
All this would warm the heart of even the most fervent atheist, except Francis has gone much further. It seems he wants to do more than simply stroke the brow of the weak. He is taking on the system that has made them weak and keeps them that way.
"My thoughts turn to all who are unemployed, often as a result of a self-centred mindset bent on profit at any cost," he tweeted in May. A day earlier he denounced as "slave labour" the conditions endured by Bangladeshi workers killed in a building collapse. In September he said that God wanted men and women to be at the heart of the world and yet we live in a global economic order that worships "an idol called money".
There is no denying the radicalism of this message, a frontal and sustained attack on what he calls "unbridled capitalism", with its "throwaway" attitude to everything from unwanted food to unwanted old people. His enemies have certainly not missed it. If a man is to be judged by his opponents, note that this week Sarah Palin denounced him as "kind of liberal" while the free-market Institute of Economic Affairs has lamented that this pope lacks the "sophisticated" approach to such matters of his predecessors. Meanwhile, an Italian prosecutor has warned that Francis's campaign against corruption could put him in the crosshairs of that country's second most powerful institution: the mafia.
As if this weren't enough to have Francis's 76-year-old face on the walls of the world's student bedrooms, he also seems set to lead a church campaign on the environment. He was photographed this week with anti-fracking activists, while his biographer, Paul Vallely, has revealed that the pope has made contact with Leonardo Boff, an eco-theologian previously shunned by Rome and sentenced to "obsequious silence" by the office formerly known as the "Inquisition". An encyclical on care for the planet is said to be on the way.
Many on the left will say that's all very welcome, but meaningless until the pope puts his own house in order. But here, too, the signs are encouraging. Or, more accurately, stunning. Recently, Francis told an interviewer the church had become "obsessed" with abortion, gay marriage and contraception. He no longer wanted the Catholic hierarchy to be preoccupied with "small-minded rules". Talking to reporters on a flight – an occurrence remarkable in itself – he said: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" His latest move is to send the world's Catholics a questionnaire, seeking their attitude to those vexed questions of modern life. It's bound to reveal a flock whose practices are, shall we say, at variance with Catholic teaching. In politics, you'd say Francis was preparing the ground for reform.
Witness his reaction to a letter – sent to "His Holiness Francis, Vatican City" – from a single woman, pregnant by a married man who had since abandoned her. To her astonishment, the pope telephoned her directly and told her that if, as she feared, priests refused to baptise her baby, he would perform the ceremony himself. (Telephoning individuals who write to him is a Francis habit.) Now contrast that with the past Catholic approach to such "fallen women", dramatised so powerfully in the current film Philomena. He is replacing brutality with empathy.
Of course, he is not perfect. His record in Argentina during the era of dictatorship and "dirty war" is far from clean. "He started off as a strict authoritarian, reactionary figure," says Vallely. But, aged 50, Francis underwent a spiritual crisis from which, says his biographer, he emerged utterly transformed. He ditched the trappings of high church office, went into the slums and got his hands dirty.
Now inside the Vatican, he faces a different challenge – to face down the conservatives of the curia and lock in his reforms, so that they cannot be undone once he's gone. Given the guile of those courtiers, that's quite a task: he'll need all the support he can get.
Some will say the world's leftists and liberals shouldn't hanker for a pin-up, that the urge is infantile and bound to end in disappointment. But the need is human and hardly confined to the left: think of the Reagan and Thatcher posters that still adorn the metaphorical walls of conservatives, three decades on. The pope may have no army, no battalions or divisions, but he has a pulpit – and right now he is using it to be the world's loudest and clearest voice against the status quo. You don't have to be a believer to believe in that.

FBI warns that Anonymous has hacked US government sites for a year

Guardian:

FBI warns that Anonymous has hacked US government sites for a year

Official memo says that activist collective launched a rash of electronic break-ins beginning last December Saturday 16 November 2013 12.07 EST206commentsCampaigners say the Anonymous attacks were in retaliation for overzealous prosecution of hackers. Photograph: Alex Milan Tracy/Demotix/CorbisReutersActivist hackers linked to the collective known as Anonymous have secretly accessed US government computers and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago, the FBI warned this week.The hackers exploited a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December, the FBI said in a memo seen by Reuters, then left "back doors" to return to many of the machines as recently as last month.The news comes a day after an Anonymous activist received a 10-year sentence for his role in releasing thousands of emails from the private intelligence firm Stratfor. On Friday Jeremy Hammond told a Manhattan court he had been directed by an FBI informant to break into the official websites of several governments around the world.Hammond, who called his sentence a"vengeful, spiteful act", said of his prosecutors: "They have made it clear they are trying to send a message to others who come after me. A lot of it is because they got slapped around, they were embarrassed by Anonymous and they feel that they need to save face."He also said the FBI had directed his attacks on foreign websites: "The government celebrates my conviction and imprisonment, hoping that it will close the door on the full story. I took responsibility for my actions, by pleading guilty, but when will the government be made to answer for its crimes?"The FBI memo about the Adobe Systems attacks, which was distributed on Thursday, described the attacks as "a widespread problem that should be addressed". It said the breach affected the US army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and perhaps many more agencies.Officials said the hacking was linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident indicted on 28 October for allegedly hacking into computers at the Department of Energy, army, Department of Health and Human Services, the US Sentencing Commission and elsewhere. Investigators believe the attacks began when Love and others took advantage of a security flaw in Adobe's ColdFusion software, which is used to build websites.Investigators are still gathering information on the scope of the cyber campaign, which the authorities believe is continuing. The FBI document tells system administrators what to look for to determine if their systems are compromised.An FBI spokeswoman declined to elaborate.According to an internal email from Kevin Knobloch, chief of staff to the energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, the stolen data included personal information on at least 104,000 employees, contractors, family members and others associated with the Department of Energy, along with information on almost 2,0000 bank accounts. The email, dated 11 October, said officials were "very concerned" that the loss of the banking information could lead to thieving attempts.An Adobe spokeswoman, Heather Edell, said she was not familiar with the FBI report. She added that the company has found that the majority of attacks involving its software have exploited programs that were not updated with the latest security patches.The Anonymous group is a collective that conducts multiple hacking campaigns at any time, some with a few participants and some with hundreds. Its members have disrupted eBay Inc's PayPal after it stopped processing donations to the anti-secrecy site Wikileaks. Anonymous has also launched more sophisticated attacks against Sony Corp and the security firm HBGary Federal.Some of the breaches and stolen data in the latest campaign had previously been publicised by people who identify with Anonymous, as part of what the group dubbed "Operation Last Resort". Among other things, the campaigners said the operation was in retaliation for overzealous prosecution of hackers, including the lengthy penalties sought for Aaron Swartz, a well-known computer programmer and internet activist who killed himself before a trial over charges that he illegally downloaded academic journal articles from a digital library known as JSTOR.Despite the earlier disclosures, "the majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known," the FBI wrote. "It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed."

#OpShutLoganRiver by Anonymous to close Utah school

Anonymous launches Twitterstorm to close Utah school over alleged torture of students
Published time: November 12, 2013 20:16

Hactivist group Anonymous has launched a campaign to shut down a Utah boarding school where it claims students have been beaten, tortured, kept in solitary confinement, and sexually abused.

“The only way to stop these atrocities from hiding in the dark is to shine a massive spotlight on them. Nobody can fight for what they aren't aware of,” Anonymous said in press release. 

Former students of Logan River Academy recount undergoing cruel treatment which, according to them, was school policy.

The so-called Twitterstorm, accompanied by the hashtag ‘ShutLoganRiver,’ has been active since Monday. Anonymous has urged users to post tweets containing the hashtag “no more than once every five minutes” to raise awareness of “this billion dollar enterprise of cruelty” and its “often fatal abuses.”

The collective has also drafted a petition on change.org which already has over 900 signatures. 

There is also a website dedicated to the cause, along with a Facebook page called ‘Shutdown Logan River Academy.’ The group has also put together a four-minute video based on testimonies of former students and their parents.

‘Enterprise of cruelty’
Logan River Academy, which calls itself one of “the premier residential treatment centers” on its website, gained the attention of Anonymous after a number of testimonies appeared online.

Twitterstorm participants shared testimonials, reportedly posted by former students and their family members, which criticize the school.  

Former students of Logan River Academy, a facility for teenagers with behavioral and psychological problems such as autism and anger issues, claim they were submitted to solitary confinement for months as part of what the school calls "devo time" - short for "development time.”

“The system called "Devo" is one in which any student who partakes in infract-able behavior is sent to a small room where he is aggressively ordered to sit up straight without looking or communicating with other students,” one of the testimonies from a sender named Max R reads.

Devo time was allegedly handed out to students for “offences” such as having their feet visible from under a desk or bringing a moist towelette from the dining area to clean glasses.

There is reportedly a stricter level of devo time, called “Precaution,” in which students are completely isolated for up to 30 days.

Precaution means that the student’s every move takes place in devo – including sleeping and eating. The student “would literally never leave” other than to walk to the bathroom. But even there, personal hygiene procedures were watched by staff, according to the former students.

“Some students report allegations of being stripped naked for it,” the petition reads, citing student testimonies.

In one of the recent testimonies, a student’s parents write that they pulled their son out of the school “after only 5 months, the last 3 of which were spent primarily in "devo" (solitary).”

Another widely used term, according to students, is “PI,” which stands for “Physical Incident or Physical Intervention.”

It “is an excuse for irritable staff to physically bully students who they don't like,” Max R wrote.

One testimonial given to Anonymous alleged that a member of staff had sexual relations with a student.

Most of the collected experiences echo the testimony of Michael Carter, 28, who spent 13 months at the academy. His 10-minute story on YouTube was one of the first testimonies to surface. 

Logan River Academy denied the allegations, saying the information being shared online is "false, inaccurate and misleading."

"Students are not isolated, secluded, abused or mistreated in any way," the statement issued on Monday said. "To the contrary, students facing an acute and temporary crisis receive increased supervision and support during the crisis to protect them and others and to best provide for their well-being."

Such “increased supervision and support” costs parents between $7,500 and $8,900 per child per month.

“My son died as a result of one of these programs. I would hate to see that happen again,” a testimony from Pamela Spivey from Knoxville, Tennessee reads.

The academy’s co-owner, Jeff Smith, told the Daily Dot that he believes that these allegations have been drummed up by the sibling of a former academy member who was unhappy that his brother was there.

“It’s some people who have an agenda and are trying to damage us,” he said.

Anonymous has asked people to contact the academy and local authorities to “demand investigation into possible abuse” and put pressure on the governor and mayor to force Logan River Academy to stop using "development, precaution, and isolation” techniques.

People Water Share for Taiphoon Haiyan Aid

People Water, a new concious capitalism bottled-water company,

allegedly had an employee go rogue and start a widespread global campaign where sharing People Water's photo would result in $1 going to help the people affected by typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Shocked by the disaster's effects and surprised at the ease of the ability to help (simply by a photo onInstagram), thousands of people joined in .
But was it a smart planned out advertising scheme or a legitimate accident?

•People Water's founder & former chief  claimed "EVERY REPOST = $1 @peoplewater will donate $1 for every repost #peoplewater 👍❤️🙏💦" in a caption with the following photo on his personal Instagram.

•People Water's Instagram thanked people who joined/were currently joining the campaign in their Instagram post.

•People Water's Instagram later posted a piece describing the event like an accident/problem in a post on their website's blog and in a post on their Instagram.

●People Water's founder & chief added the word fired in quotes ("fired") in front of his title on his personal Instagram.

●People Water's founder & chief giver (or former) described his view of the incident in an Instagram post on his personal Instagram along with apologies to the company and his fans/supporters, thank-you's, and some motivational wisdom.

"I'm like a cat... I always land on my feet. I will always have a passion for helping people, that will never leave me. Scenes of the children and places I've been are etched into my brain forever. Our lives are so fragile and so short that we can't spend so much time thinking about ourselves, think of others. The world is a lot bigger than just you. Thanks to everyone who has supported me to this point. I will always be THE CHIEF WATER GIVER."

Anon Nation did repost the photo to our Instagram in belief of the campaign having legitimacy.

Anon Nation will continue supporting People Water's social efforts & their "fired" founder & chief water giver's commitment to helping others.

TPP Draft Leaked by Wiki Leaks

Today, WikiLeaks released the secret negotiated draft text for the entire TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. 

The TPP is the largest-ever economic treaty, encompassing nations representing more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The WikiLeaks release of the text comes ahead of the decisive TPP Chief Negotiators summit in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 19-24 November 2013. The chapter published by WikiLeaks is perhaps the most controversial chapter of the TPP due to its wide-ranging effects on medicines, publishers, internet services, civil liberties and biological patents. Significantly, the released text includes the negotiation positions and disagreements between all 12 prospective member states.

The TPP is the forerunner to the equally secret US-EU pact TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), for which President Obama initiated US-EU negotiations in January 2013. Together, the TPP and TTIP will cover more than 60 per cent of global GDP. Read full press release here

Download the full secret TPP treaty IP chapter as a PDF here

WikiLeaks Release of Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)

Advanced Intellectual Property Chapter for All 12 Nations with Negotiating Positions (August 30 2013 consolidated bracketed negotiating text)

Go to start of document

Show table of contents

OWS activists free $15m of Americans' personal debt

'Our primary purpose was to spread information about the workings of this secondary debt market,' said Andrew Ross. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A group of Occupy Wall Street activists has bought almost $15m of Americans' personal debt over the last year as part of the Rolling Jubilee project to help people pay off their outstanding credit.

Rolling Jubilee, set up by Occupy's Strike Debt group following the street protests that swept the world in 2011, launched on 15 November 2012. The group purchases personal debt cheaply from banks before "abolishing" it, freeing individuals from their bills.

By purchasing the debt at knockdown prices the group has managed to free $14,734,569.87 of personal debt, mainly medical debt, spending only $400,000.

"We thought that the ratio would be about 20 to 1," said Andrew Ross, a member of Strike Debt and professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University. He said the team initially envisaged raising $50,000, which would have enabled it to buy $1m in debt.

"In fact we've been able to buy debt a lot more cheaply than that."

The group is able to buy debt so cheaply due to the nature of the "secondary debt market". If individuals consistently fail to pay bills from credit cards, loans, or medical insurance the bank or lender that issued the funds will eventually cut its losses by selling that debt to a third party. These sales occur for a fraction of the debt’s true values – typically for five cents on the dollar – and debt-buying companies then attempt to recoup the debt from the individual debtor and thus make a profit.

The Rolling Jubilee project was mostly conceived as a "public education project", Ross said.

"We're under no illusions that $15m is just a tiny drop in the secondary debt market. It doesn't make a dent in the amount of debt.

"Our purpose in doing this, aside from helping some people along the way – there's certainly many, many people who are very thankful that their debts are abolished – our primary purpose was to spread information about the workings of this secondary debt market."

The group has focussed on buying medical debt, and has acquired the $14.7m in three separate purchases, most recently spending $13.5m on medical debt owed by 2,693 people across 45 states and Puerto Rico, Rolling Jubilee said in a press release.

“No one should have to go into debt or bankruptcy because they get sick,” said Laura Hanna, an organiser with the group. Hanna said 62% of all personal bankruptcies have medical debt as a contributing factor.

Due to the nature of the debt market, the group is unable to specify whose debt it purchases, taking on the amounts before it discovers individuals’ identities. When Rolling Jubilee has bought the debt they send notes to their debtors “telling them they’re off the hook”, Ross said.

Ross, whose book, Creditocracy and the case for debt refusal, outlines the problems of the debt industry and calls for a “debtors’ movement” to resist credit, said the group had received letters from people whose debt they had lifted thanking them for the service. But the real victory was in spreading knowledge of the nature of the debt industry, he said.

"Very few people know how cheaply their debts have been bought by collectors. It changes the psychology of the debtor, knowing this.

“So when you get called up by the debt collector, and you're being asked to pay the full amount of your debt, you now know that the debt collector has bought your debt very, very cheaply. As cheaply as we bought it. And that gives you moral ammunition to have a different conversation with the debt collector."

Mom Blogger Raises $ to Give Away Meals on Thanksgiving

HOME>MONEY

'Scary Mommy' Blogger Raises Money to Give Away Thanksgiving Meals

Nov. 12, 2013

By SUSANNA KIM

SUSANNA KIMMore From Susanna »

Business Digital Reporter

 via GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Jill Smokler, creator of popular parenting blog ScaryMommy.com, which is giving away $50 Thanksgiving gift cards to families, is pictured with her children.

ScaryMommy.com

When a popular "mommy blogger" noticed a number of her 7 million monthly readers saying they were struggling to put food on the table, she thought she would try to give a helping hand by providing gift cards to purchase Thanksgiving meal ingredients.

But after raising $116,517 in only a matter of weeks and with 2,122 families waitlisted for grocery gift cards, the Scary Mommy is becoming Santa Mommy just in time for Thanksgiving.

Jill Smokler, 36, used to be a graphic designer until she started the blog ScaryMommy.com about five and a half years ago when her youngest child was an infant.

Smokler, based in Baltimore, then became a New York Times bestselling author with her books, "Confessions of a Scary Mommy" last year and "Motherhood Comes Naturally (And Other Vicious Lies)" in April.

With an official 501(c)3 non-profit, Scary Mommy Nation, she launched an online Thanksgiving drive on Oct. 25, soliciting donations online from her readers and a number of food brands and grocery chains. Based on an estimate that the cost of Thanksgiving dinner is about $50 for 10 people,Scary Mommy is giving applicants on her website $50 gift cards to their local grocery stores so they can buy their Thanksgiving ingredients.

"My goal is to get a $50 grocery store gift card to anyone who needs one," Smokler said.

In Photos: 3 Things to Consider Before Donating to Typhoon Haiyan Relief Charities

She has already raised enough funds to provide meals for 1,700 people, but she may have gotten more than she bargained for based on the tremendous need of her readers. The stories of need can be heartbreaking.

"How do you explain to your kids why they're eating cereal and ramen noodles for dinner every day while you don't eat at all?" one reader from Ohio writes.

Smokler is working diligently to match donors with applicants, while asking corporations to help offset her PayPal and shipping fees, which she says "are rapidly adding up."

She says with a smile that she "didn't quite keep that in mind when I promised that 100 percent of the donations would go directly to the families. "

She is waiting for PayPal to approve her nonprofit, which will help bring the fees down to 2.2 percent from 2.9 percent.

After the overwhelming response from applicants, she started contacting shipping companies and other firms, "basically anyone I could think of for help," she said.

"The resounding response was that the companies already had charities they were aligned with and couldn't help on an individual basis," she said.

Read More: Discounts and Deals on Veterans Day 2013

She calls the process now "completely overwhelming, but so worth it."

She is hoping her roughly 7 million page views a month or 325,554 Twitter follows will continue their financial generosity so she can provide gift cards for everyone who needs one until Friday, when she will stop taking applications.

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