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29-09-2011 07:31 Visit This site for a complimentary ebook that explains it all tinyurl.com Alessio Rastani went on a UK news channel on Monday to discuss where stock markets were heading. By Tuesday he was an Internet sensation. Was it that he said, as someone who bets against markets rising, that he "goes to bed every night dreaming of a recession?" Was it that he said investment bank Goldman Sachs ruled the world and not governments? Or was it that bloggers started to ask if he was just a "fake trader" who duped the media?

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PODCAST of Alessio Rastani on the BBC World Service Radio FULL VERSION - Part 1 of 2 - Video

The Hawaii politician behind a proposed Internet tracking law acknowledged defeat today, saying that he recommends "that we kill this bill" this year.

State Representative John Mizuno, the lead sponsor of H.B. 2288 (PDF), bowed to what he described as an "incredible" national outcry that arose after a CNET article last week. His proposal would have required virtual dossiers to be compiled on state residents: two years' worth of their Internet browsing.

John Mizuno, Dem. state legislator in Hawaii and a sponsor of the bill, wanted to require virtual dossiers to be compiled on state residents: two years' worth of their Internet browsing.

(Credit: Hawaii.gov)

"It's generated a lot of national attention," Mizuno, a Democrat from Oahu, told CNET this afternoon. "I've taken into consideration the thousands of e-mails (which were often) colorful and passionate, which is absolutely fine... This bill just isn't ready. It needs a lot of work."

What would have normally been a routine committee hearing last week on H.B. 2288 was marked by a broad outcry against Mizuno's legislation -- an echo of the recent protests over the Stop Online Piracy Act -- which went further than other data retention proposals to date. Members of Hawaii's Internet community showed up to warn against the legislation, while industry representatives and groups including the ACLU wrote letters (PDF) opposing it.

H.B. 2288 says "Internet destination history information" and "subscriber's information" such as name and address must be saved for two years.

Mizuno said he believes that approach -- recording both the origin and destination Internet address of Aloha State residents -- is valuable and plans to return to it in 2013.

Police would then have a record of pedophiles "going after the kids, trolling for the kids," he said. "I think both would be very strong pieces of evidence if there's going to be a criminal proceeding."

"While I respect Rep. Mizuno's attempt to assist law enforcement in catching dangerous criminals, his approach is dangerously flawed," Daniel Leuck, chief executive of Honolulu-based software design boutique Ikayzo, told CNET this afternoon. "There is no question that having two years of browsing history for every resident would make it easier for law enforcement. So would warrantless searches of people's homes."

Aryn Nakaoka, president of Hawaii Internet provider Lava.net, who reassured customers last week that his company will "never" store customer data, says he's happy to hear that H.B. 2288 has been withdrawn. Though even if it became law, he said, you wouldn't be able to know what a criminal was doing without "looking at their content or subpoenaing websites which would be the next and very scary step of content monitoring.

Last summer, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) managed to persuade a divided committee in the U.S. House of Representatives to approve his data retention proposal, which doesn't go nearly as far as Hawaii's. (Smith, currently Hollywood's favorite Republican, has become better known as the author of SOPA.)

Mizuno's proposal specified no privacy protections, such as placing restrictions on what Internet providers can do with this information (like selling user profiles to advertisers) or requiring that police obtain a court order before perusing the virtual dossiers of Hawaiian citizens. Also absent were security requirements such as mandating the use of encryption.

Because the wording was so broad and applies to any company that "provides access to the Internet," Mizuno's legislation could sweep in far more than AT&T, Verizon, and Hawaii's local Internet providers. It could also impose sweeping new requirements on coffee shops, bookstores, and hotels frequented by the over 6 million tourists who visit the islands each year.

NetChoice, a trade association in Washington, D.C. that counts eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo as members, sent a letter (PDF) to the state legislature warning that H.B. 2288's data collection requirements "could be misused in lawsuits," including in divorce cases.

Even the Justice Department has only lobbied the U.S. Congress to record Internet Protocol addresses assigned to individuals--users' origin IP address, in other words. It hasn't publicly demanded that companies record the destination IP addresses as well.

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Hawaii politico behind Internet dossier bill nixes idea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A city panel in the U.S. capital voted on Wednesday to repeal a first-in-the-nation Internet gambling law for Washington, D.C., a spokeswoman said.

Support for online gambling had dried up as details surfaced about the roundabout way a contract was awarded to Greece's Intralot, the District of Columbia's lottery operator.

Stepping back from the online project, the city council's Finance Committee voted 3-2 to repeal a 2010 law that would have allowed it, said Denise Tolliver, chief of staff for Councilman Phil Mendelson, a sponsor of the bill.

The full 12-member council will hold the first of two votes on repeal on Tuesday, she said.

"They may start over. I don't think they are that far yet," Tolliver said.

Internet gambling received a blow this week when Mayor Vincent Gray, who has generally supported the plan, backed repeal.

Resistance to the plan had grown as details surfaced about how the law came about. Internet gambling was added to the city's lottery contract months after the contract passed a 2009 council vote. It was legalized through a 2010 spending bill.

No date had been set for launch. Washington would have been the first U.S. jurisdiction to have its own site dedicated to games such as online poker and blackjack.

Gray and other supporters had argued that the District of Columbia needed millions of dollars in revenues from online gambling. But that argument was weakened with the city's announcement in December that revenue in the current fiscal year was expected to top forecasts by $42 million.

Byron Boothe, Intralot's vice president for government affairs, said Washington "was really leading the (online gambling) charge and obviously they dropped the baton."

He said it would be difficult for the District of Columbia to revive the online gambling initiative since congressional sentiment has swung against state or local government oversight in favor of federal regulation.

A number of states are looking at Internet gambling, including Illinois, New York and Hawaii, he said. Nevada's Gaming Commission last year passed a framework to regulate online poker.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

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Washington D.C. steps back from Internet gambling launch

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LilMitch™ x J.StonerBeatz Collab - "Counting Money" [Full-Length] - Video

It takes money to make money. Most investors know that, but with business media so focused on the "how much," very few investors bother to ask, "How fast?"

When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to Western Digital (NYSE: WDC  ) .

Let's break this down
In this series, we measure how swiftly a company turns cash into goods or services and back into cash. We'll use a quick, relatively foolproof tool known as the cash conversion cycle, or CCC for short.

Why does the CCC matter? The less time it takes a firm to convert outgoing cash into incoming cash, the more powerful and flexible its profit engine is. The less money tied up in inventory and accounts receivable, the more available to grow the company, pay investors, or both.

To calculate the cash conversion cycle, add days inventory outstanding to days sales outstanding, then subtract days payable outstanding. Like golf, the lower your score here, the better. The CCC figure for Western Digital for the trailing 12 months is 1.1.

For younger, fast-growth companies, the CCC can give you valuable insight into the sustainability of that growth. A company that's taking longer to make cash may need to tap financing to keep its momentum. For older, mature companies, the CCC can tell you how well the company is managed. Firms that begin to lose control of the CCC may be losing their clout with their suppliers (who might be demanding stricter payment terms) and customers (who might be demanding more generous terms). This can sometimes be an important signal of future distress -- one most investors are likely to miss.

In this series, I'm most interested in comparing a company's CCC to its prior performance. Here's where I believe all investors need to become trend-watchers. Sure, there may be legitimate reasons for an increase in the CCC, but all things being equal, I want to see this number stay steady or move downward over time.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FY = fiscal year. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Because of the seasonality in some businesses, the CCC for the TTM period may not be strictly comparable to the fiscal-year periods shown in the chart. Even the steadiest-looking businesses on an annual basis will experience some quarterly fluctuations in the CCC. To get an understanding of the usual ebb and flow at Western Digital, consult the quarterly-period chart below.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Dollar amounts in millions. FQ = fiscal quarter.

On a 12-month basis, the trend at Western Digital looks very good. At 1.1 days, it is barely changed from the five-year average of 1.2 days. The biggest contributor to that improvement was DSO, which improved 3.7 days compared to the five-year average. That was partially offset by a 3.1-day increase in DIO.

Considering the numbers on a quarterly basis, the CCC trend at Western Digital looks good. At -15.4 days, it is 14.0 days better than the average of the past eight quarters. With both 12-month and quarterly CCC running better than average, Western Digital gets high marks in this cash-conversion checkup.

Though the CCC can take a little work to calculate, it's definitely worth watching every quarter. You'll be better informed about potential problems, and you'll improve your odds of finding the underappreciated home run stocks that provide the market's best returns.

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A Hidden Reason That Western Digital's Earnings Are Outstanding