Digital Life; Mozilla; Copyfight; Patents; Phones, Haxx0red; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Tesla

Digital Life

• George Takei's take on net neutrality, Edward Snowden and the future of 'Star Trek' WaPo
• The leaked New York Times innovation report is one of the key documents of this media age
• Russia threatens to disrupt GPS navigation in fight over sanctions
• Why the '90s are literally disappearing from history—"As the 1990s recede from view, their most important cultural artifacts are collecting — and turning into — dust." Salon
• Amazing "Sesame Street" video wants you to get off social media and enjoy the world—"Zachary Levi and Bert sing a perfect tune about putting your tiny screens aside and enjoying a beautiful day

Mozilla

• Mozilla Ditches Plans To Display Ads In A New Tab—It looks liked for a while they weren't going to back down.
• Driven by necessity, Mozilla to enable HTML5 DRM in Firefox—"Browser company fearful that users would follow Netflix to other browsers." EFF weighs in.
• Mozilla Adblock bug can dramatically boost memory usage

Copyfight

• Pols to Ad Networks: Pretend We Passed SOPA, and Never Mind About Violating Antitrust Law
• Music Distributor Claims Right to Monetize JFK Speech—"After uploading part of a JFK speech to YouTube, a TorrentFreak reader had a surprise when a music distribution company filed a complaint, claiming full monetization rights on the clip. Why would they do that to material in the public domain ? With the company involved refusing to respond, TF took a closer look."
• Unconstitutionally Long Copyright Terms Stifle Content Creation, Just Ask Disney
• Led Zeppelin is Officially Getting Sued Over 'Stairway to Heaven'
• Worst of DRM set to infest physical law school casebooks—"Offer from AspenLaw: Pay $200 for a bound book … but you have to give it back."
• The Trans-Pacific Plague: How TPP Spreads the United States' Terrible DRM Policies
• Creative Cloud outage leaves Adobe users unable to work—And there's no indication of compensation for subscribers. Offline still wins.

Patents

• Amazon's latest patent is sillier than the peanut butter sandwich patent—"Groundbreaking process includes angled lights, elevated platform, white backdrop."
• Ten states pass anti-patent-troll laws, with more to come—"With reform stalled in the Senate, states do what they can—which isn't much."
• Truce time: Apple, Google's Motorola dismiss patent suits against each other—"The two handset vendors agreed to settle existing lawsuits but don't cross-license each other's technology."

Phones

• The Great Smartphone War—"Kurt Eichenwald explores the Korean compan's record of patent infringement and explains why Apple might win the battles but still lose the war."
• Samsung could have bought Android before Google, but instead chose to laugh Andy Rubin out of the boardroom with his offer and the whole 8-person Android team
• This single screenshot shows why iOS is years behind Android in usability
• An Apple Employee Admits That iPhones Often Won't Deliver Texts If You Switch To Android
• Apple Boosts Japanese Market Share After NTT Docomo Sells IPhone
• The evolution of the $150 cellphone—"From flip phones and VGA cameras to LTE and Android"

Haxx0red

• Significant portion of HTTPS Web connections made by forged certificates
• How I bypassed 2-Factor-Authentication on Google, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and many others.
• Cut Microsoft admin rights to mitigate 92% of threats, study shows
• Symantec And Security Starlets Say Anti-Virus Is Dead—"Is anti-virus finally dying? Sort of, say Symantec and its rivals."

Planes

• The Transparent Airfares Act, hiding the true cost of your flight—"A proposed new law that looks likely to pass is supposed to clarify your airfare but only muddles the picture." WaPo
• Game of Thrones: The Designers Behind Business Class—"Creating new airline seats is so complex that moving from conception to installation takes years, and new first-class seating units can cost more than half a million dollars each."
• Airbus tests prototype of electric airplane

Trains

• China Built A Prototype For A Train Capable Of Reaching 1,800 MPH
• Beijing to the US by train: China outlines plans to connect world by high speed rail network
• Catch a train from the sky! How vertical travel could transform your commute
• How a High-Speed Train Could Transform Texas—"Can Texas Central Railway's proposal succeed where others have failed? Maybe."
• This Superheroic Train Keeps New York City's Subway Safe

Automobiles

• Google: Mastering city street driving—It's using big data "to transform intractable problems into solvable chores."
• Volvo's first self-driving cars now being tested live on public roads in Swedish city
• The Robot Car of Tomorrow May Just Be Programmed to Hit You

Tesla

• Tesla Gets Missouri Break as House Lets Direct-Sales Ban Wither—"Tesla Motors Inc. won't be barred from selling its electric cars directly to Missouri customers after the state's legislature adjourned without voting on a bill the company called a 'sneak attack' on its business."
• Tesla now California's top automotive employer
• Tesla Motors Inc. Batteries: Challenge or Opportunity?
• Elon Musk's Gigafactory: It's Tesla's next big move.
• The Oatmeal: What's it like to own a Tesla Model S—Thanks to Imman's post, Musk is showing interest in helping fund the Nikola Tesla museum.

Bada-Big Bang Theory; Fat Tuesday; Obamacare, Big Pharma, Anti-Vax; Hazardous; Pollution, Big Energy; MH370; Ukraine

Bada-Big Bang Theory

• Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed—"Scientists say they have extraordinary new evidence to support a Big Bang Theory for the origin of the Universe."
• Hyperexpansion, Gravitational Waves, and Polarized Light: Oh My
• Stephen Hawking claims victory in gravitational wave bet

Fat Tuesday

• 5 shocking reasons why Americans are getting fatter—"It's not just the fast food..." Salon
• The surprising reason Americans might be obese, anxious and depressed—"New research suggests the answer to a number of modern ailments may reside in our gut." Salon
• Florida Real Estate Scammer Says He's Too Fat For Prison

Obamacare

• U.S. administration says Obamacare enrollment tops 5 million—Claims there are enough to keeps things going.
• Koch Group Abandons Obamacare 'Horror' Stories After Fact-Check Backlash
• Boehner's claim that Obamacare has resulted in a 'net loss' of people with health insurance—Four Pinocchios WaPo
• Former New Hampshire GOP Chair Saves $1,000 A Month With Obamacare
• Expanding Medicaid would be 'sinful,' LePage says
• Where The GOP Might Target Obamacare If It Wins The Senate
• Democrats should play offense on Obamacare WaPo
• How Obama's Healthcare.gov Efforts Got Lost In Translation For Latinos
• Louisiana Suing MoveOn.org For Billboard Criticizing Jindal —For violating trademark.
• When Health Costs Harm Your Credit—"A minor medical bill could block your mortgage." NYT

Big Pharma

• Drug company changes course, gives drug to sick boy—"A company says it will provide medication to a boy whose case has attracted thousands of sympathizers."
• Wisconsin senators heavily support cancer drug bill; no vote planned—"Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Wednesday he's going to unusual steps to block the proposal because a majority of his GOP caucus opposes it, not because his brother is lobbying on behalf of influential insurers to kill the bill."
• Big Pharma still betting on "messed up" Indian drugs market

Anti-Vax

• Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in NYC.—"Measles was considered eliminated at the turn of the millennium. Now it’s back, thanks to the loons who refuse to vaccinate their children."
• Cavallari: She and Cutler not vaccinating their kids—More loons.
• Chilliwack pastor tells congregation vaccines interfere with God's care
• Jenny McCarthy Asks; the Internet Slam Dunks—The body count keeps climbing.
• Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network loses its charity status for fundraising over misinformation claims

Hazardous

• Doctors are top source of prescription drugs for chronic abusers—"Results of federal study show more focus is needed on doctors who are 'problem prescribers,' says the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prescription drugs contribute to more than 16,000 fatal overdoses a year."
• Virginia Beach police officer sues drug company over psychotic outburst—"A Virginia Beach police officer who was jailed for three months after stabbing two Accomack County firefighters and shooting at a third says there should have been warning labels on an antibiotic that briefly turned him psychotic."
• How Industry and the Feds Suppressed Evidence That Plastics Wreak Havoc on Our Hormones
• Woman's stomach explodes after eating too much
• Herbalife wilts on news of FTC

Pollution

• Energy company caught pumping from toxic pond—"Rachel Maddow reports on the discovery by environmental activists of water being pumped from Duke Energy coal ash ponds into local waterways, and a new report that NC law has been changed to protect Duke's coal ash pits."
• Kentucky coal-ash dumping tracked by hidden cameras
• Seafood processing company fined in Kodiak ammonia dumping case
• Cotter negotiates amid spills and uranium spike by river in Canon City
• Ohio groups seek U.S. EPA coal review—"Two Ohio environmental groups asked federal regulators Monday to investigate circumstances surrounding expired pollution-discharge permits at an agency where allegations of coal-industry influence arose during a personnel flap last year."
• Today, Paris's Air Pollution Is Worse Than Beijing

Big Energy

• Wyoming rejects science education standards over climate change—"Reality, legislator argues, needs to comport with the state's economic interests."
• Emails show close ties between Duke, NC regulators—"Internal emails between staff at North Carolina's environmental agency suggest state regulators were coordinating with Duke Energy before intervening in efforts by citizens groups trying to sue the company over groundwater pollution leeching from its coal ash dumps." NYT
• Duke's Coal Ash Pits Protected By Provision In North Carolina Regulatory Bill
• $175M tax break for Marathon refinery buys Detroiters only 15 jobs—"Marathon Petroleum, which received a $175-million tax break from the City of Detroit in a mammoth expansion project, is coming under fire from City Council for failing to hire enough Detroiters."
• Nigerian gold mining: farmers choose death by lead poisoning over poverty—"Unregulated mining in rural northern Nigeria is causing blindness and paralysis among children and making adults infertile."

MH370

• Lost Jet's Path Seen as Altered via Computer—Curiouser and curiouser. NYT
• Key moments emerge in tracking of missing Malaysia Airlines plane
• CNN Host Speculates Whether Malaysia Jet's Disappearance Was 'Supernatural'—More believable than Courtney Love finding the plane.

Ukraine

• Crimea applies to be part of Russian Federation after vote to leave Ukraine—And Russia accepts.
• Ukraine 'will never accept' Crimea annexation, President says
• Ukrainian government refuses to remove troops from Crimea, prepares for war
• Ukraine Is Training Young Protesters to Fight the Russian Army
• Russian government admits economy in crisis as Ukraine weighs
• Russia Will Sanction U.S. Senators—"Putin is set to respond to Obama's sanctions of Russian officials with his own list. Several U.S. Senators and officials will be banned from visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin."
• China warns of dangerous Russia sanctions 'spiral'

Workers and Wage Slaves, Wal-Mart, Unemployment; Banks and Wall Street; Corporations, Thugs for Hire; Customer Disservice, Unfriendly Skies; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Workers and Wage Slaves

• "We Have Become a Nation of Hamburger Flippers": Dan Alpert Breaks Down the Jobs Report
• This One Tweet Reveals What's Wrong With American Business—"The real problem is that American corporations, which are richer and more profitable than they have ever been in history, have become so obsessed with "maximizing short-term profits" that they are no longer investing in their future, their people, and the country."
• Where Are Workers Most Underpaid: Apple, Walmart or McDonald's?
• Rep. Keith Ellison: Taxpayers 'are subsidizing' fast food corporations' minimum wage business model
• A Fast-Food Joint Thrives, Even by Paying $12 an Hour
• Henry Ford's 150th birthday: His fight for higher wages—"What good is industry if it be so unskillfully managed as not to return a living to everyone concerned?"
• Observations From A Tipless Restaurant

Wal-Mart

• Sen. Bernie Sanders: Wal-Mart Welfare
• John Fugelsang: What to say to people who still defend Wal-Mart
• Walmart Fight is About the Degradation of Work in America
• Walmart’s firings lead lawmaker to author worker protection bill—He better work fast.
• Walmart Allegedly Overtaxing On 2-For-1 Coupon Purchases

Unemployment

• U.S. economy adds 162,000 jobs in July—"The nation's unemployment rate dips to 7.4%, its lowest point since December 2008. But Americans worked fewer hours and their pay dipped."
• Companies won't even look at resumes of the long-term unemployed
• 4 Reasons Why Millions Of Americans Are Leaving The Workforce

Banks and Wall Street

• The next Federal Reserve chair shouldn't be Wall Street's servant—"Larry Summers brings too much Wall Street baggage to be the top economic policymaker in the United States."
• How the Execs Who Brought Down Bear Stearns Bounced Back—"Five years after their firm crashed and kicked off the financial crisis, these subprime mortgage managers hold top jobs at the most powerful banks on Wall Street."
• Over a Million Are Denied Bank Accounts for Past Errors—"Being rejected for a bank account can lead to a succession of fees for cashing checks, paying bills and wiring money." NYT
• Richmond's pioneering eminent-domain threat—"Taking a controversial plunge into uncharted waters, Richmond is poised to become the first city in the country to invoke eminent domain to address its foreclosure crisis."
• Michael Lewis: Did Goldman Sachs Overstep in Criminally Charging Its Ex-Programmer?
• Ex-Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre liable in $1bn fraud
• Filing: Bank of America may face civil charges

Corporations

• Corporate sell-outs exploit a secret new gimmick—"Craven senators Max Baucus and Orrin Hatch want to shield authors of toxic tax giveaways from the public view." Salon
• Call for constitutional amendment to end 'corporate personhood' on way to Maine Senate
• Welcome to ALICE—"The American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange... may be understood as a very partial antidote to ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the corporate-backed group that has for nearly 40 years provided model state law and connection to corporate lobbyists to its nearly 2,000 state legislator members."

Thugs for Hire

• Rent-a-Paramilitaries Freak Out Wisconsin—"... when the company [Gogebic Taconite] brought in what the Wisconsin State Journal calls 'masked security guards who are toting semi-automatic rifles and wearing camouflaged uniforms.'"
• Corporate Murder in Brazil: Landless Rural Worker Shot by Security Company Hired by Multinational Syngenta
• Groundbreaking Investigation Reveals Monsanto Teaming Up With US Military to Target GMO Activists

Customer Disservice

• Skechers pays up for Shape-ups—"Skechers is finally paying back the customers it's accused of deceiving with the false promise that its athletic shoes would magically tone their booties like reality TV star Kim Kardashian."
• Ayn Rand killed Sears—"How the me-first corporate structure installed by hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert helped ruin the retail giant." Salon
• Steep bar tab: Owner of 8 TGI Fridays to pay $500K for selling cheap liquor as premium brands

Unfriendly Skies

• United Airlines Employee, Girlfriend Reportedly Stole $6,000 Worth of Clothing From Luggage, Cops Said
• Delta accused of forcing paralyzed man to crawl off of plane
• Unfinished Berlin Airport BER Costs 20 Million Euros per Month

NSA Spying

• Here’s what real reform of the NSA looks like—"[Rep. Rush] Holt introduced the Surveillance State Repeal Act. [...] It would repeal the 2001 Patriot Act, which the NSA has cited as the legal basis for its phone records surveillance program. It would also repeal the 2008 FISA Amendments Act, the legal foundation for the government’s PRISM program. And it would extend whistleblower protections to cover employees of intelligence agencies."
• NSA Collects 'Word for Word' Every Domestic Communication, Says Former Analyst—Not just "metadata."
• Newly revealed NSA spy program monitors HTTP activity
• Want NSA Attention? Use Encrypted Communications—"Bad news has emerged for fans of PGP and other encryption services. The NSA is taking a gloves-off approach when you go this route."
• Why have so many liberals been silent about NSA spying?
• Germany Ends Cold War Spying Pact With US, Britain
• How the Snowden Saga will End

Surveillance and Privacy

• "Senator Obama warned about Patriot Act abuses. President Obama proved him right."
• FBI pressures Internet providers to install surveillance software—"CNET has learned the FBI has developed custom 'port reader' software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software."
• Seven telcos named as providing fiber optic cable access to UK spies—"New Snowden leaks show Verizon, Vodafone, and BT share direct data."
• FBI can remotely activate Android and laptop microphones, reports WSJ
• Your TV might be watching you—"The flaws in Samsung Smart TVs, which have now been patched, enabled hackers to remotely turn on the TVs' built-in cameras without leaving any trace of it on the screen."
• You May Have 'Nothing to Hide' But You Still Have Something to Fear
• The Surveillance Society—"Secrets are so 20th century now that we have the ability to collect and store billions of pieces of data forever."

Snowden, Surveillance and Privacy; Workers and Wage Slaves; Politics and Economy; Public-Private Partnerships, Uncharitable; Wall Street and Financial Institutions; Corporations; Monsanto; Plane Fare

Snowden

• NSA leaker Snowden on flight to 'third country' via Moscow with WikiLeaks help—So much for extraditing him from Hong Kong.
• Edward Snowden: Shooting the messenger?—"Mainstream media in the US seems to be more interested in the character of the leaker than in the content of the leak."
• Petition to pardon Edward Snowden passes 100,000 signatures, forcing White House response—Non-response more like it, but at this least this continues to keep up awareness.

Surveillance and Privacy

• US spies on Chinese mobile phone companies, steals SMS data: Edward Snowden—"The US government is stealing millions of text messages in their hacking attacks on major Chinese mobile phone companies, Edward Snowden has told the Post."
• Amid NSA spying scandal, the gloves are off for EU's justice chief—"No longer is the EU standing for U.S. lobbying and policy pushing. The EU's Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding is back in the trenches. The gloves are off, and she's fighting back."
• Bill Clinton on NSA: Americans need to be on guard for abuses of power by US—"Former president tells Scottish audience there needs to be accountability and transparency when surveillance is used."
• Pelosi booed at Netroots while defending espionage charges against Snowden
• Google handed over years of e-mails belonging to WikiLeaks chatroom admin—A secret warrant was used to get them.
• NSA surveillance: don't underestimate the extraordinary power of metadata—"President Obama has reassured US citizens that 'nobody is listening to your calls', but it's not the content of conversations that intelligence agencies crave."
• There's a New Fascism on the Rise, and the NSA Leaks Show Us What It Looks Like—"The power of truth-tellers like Edward Snowden is that they dispel a whole mythology carefully constructed by the corporate cinema, the corporate academy and the corporate media."
• Tradeoff—"The stupidest framing of the controversy over ubiquitous surveillance is that it reflects a trade-off between 'security' and 'privacy.' We are putting in jeopardy values much, much more important than 'privacy.'"

Workers and Wage Slaves

• Graphics worker: 'The shouting of the bankers resembled constant gunfire'—"A woman working night shifts in graphics for a major bank, talks of the systematic abuse and poor conditions she faced."
• Former intern: Don't step on us
• Disabled workers paid just pennies an hour – and it's legal
• How I Got Fired from the Job I Invented
• Round Lake village residents in uproar over library employee's firing—"The tiny village is in an uproar, Mayor Dixie Lee Sacks said, over the firing of a well-liked veteran library employee who closed the library 40 minutes early last week, without permission, because of the threat of tornados in the area."
• Firing of Five Walmart Strikers Condemned by Rep. Ellison: 'Completely Unjust and Illegal'
• Laws fail to protect pregnant women who need special accommodations on the job

Politics and Economy

• Poll: Congress' new level of awfulness—"Asked about a list of institutions in American society, only 10% of those questioned in a Gallup survey released Thursday say they have confidence in Congress. That's down three percentage points from last year, and according to their release, 'this is the lowest level of confidence Gallup has found, not only for Congress, but for any institution on record.'"
• Sanders: We must not accept this economic 'new normal'—"Yes, the economy is improving, but too many Americans are being left behind, while the rich keep getting richer."
• Big Lie: America Doesn't Have #1 Richest Middle-Class in the World...We're Ranked 27th!—"America is the richest country on Earth. We have the most millionaires, the most billionaires—and a increasingly poor 'middle class.'"
• Decline and fall: how American society unravelled—"Thirty years ago, the old deal that held US society together started to unwind, with social cohesion sacrificed to greed. Was it an inevitable process – or was it engineered by self-interested elites?"
• Rising US wealth doesn't generate spending surge

Public-Private Partnerships

• State legislators' ties to nonprofit groups prove fertile ground for corruption—"New York scandals reveal unsavory pattern of 'quid pro quo' links between lawmakers and 'charities.'"
• Leaker's Employer Is Paid to Maintain Government Secrets—"Booz Allen Hamilton has become one of the largest and most profitable firms in the United States almost exclusively by serving one client: the government." NYT
• The Great Farm-Bill Ripoff—"A confusing clutter of programs that pay farmers not to farm, reward them for undue risk, write checks to rock stars and Rockefellers, give special treatment to certain crops without rationale, and ladle out welfare to the wealthy while ignoring those on the margins." To everyone's surprise, the Farm Bill goes down in flames.
• Scott Walker Plans To Sell Off Many Of Wisconsin's University Buildings, Prisons
• How Tea Party Favorite Rick Scott Helped Cook Up a Sweetheart Deal for His Florida Friends
• Residents of Blue Mound, a small North Texas town, upset with water veto—"The town's water is provided by a private company...." and Gov. Perry's veto made sure it stayed that way despite the town having "considerably higher water rates than the town's neighbors"
• Flipside: Attempted Land Grab Ends With Voters Booting Entire City Council

Uncharitable

• America's 50 worst charities rake in nearly $1 billion for corporate fundraisers
• Why is Nancy Brinker still CEO of the Susan G. Komen foundation?
• Lax IRS Oversight Fostered Costly Charity Scams

Wall Street and Financial Institutions

• The Last Mystery of the Financial Crisis—"It's long been suspected that ratings agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's helped trigger the meltdown. A new trove of embarrassing documents shows how they did it."
• Obama Rewards Wall Street Again, Thwarts Reform By Sacking Gensler
• A Wall Street regulator’s race against time—"Can Gary Gensler finish the most important piece of financial reform before he’s out?"
• Wall Street is winning the long war against post-crash regulation—"Feeble as it was, Dodd-Frank was a high point of reining in abuses. Thanks to financial lobbying, it's business as usual."
• Credit Unions Fight Back against Big Banks—...and the lobbying efforts "that would strip them of their tax-exempt status."
• UK's Co-op Bank agrees to £1.5 billion 'bail-in' rescue plan
• 6 Unbelievable Ways the Big Banks Are Scamming You—"Five years since the crash, the big banks continue to screw over their customers.:
• Fox commentator paid $50,000 to tout stock
• Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling to leave prison early—"In seeking to reduce the sentence, the government had emphasized that $40 million in restitution, currently held up as Skilling pursued appeals, would be released to victims."
• Depositing a Little Common Sense into the Law—"Did you know that small business owners can be prosecuted for making repeated cash deposits of under $10,000?"

Corporations

• Sen. Warren Blasts Pro-Corporate Trend of Federal Courts—"[Y]ou will end up with a Supreme Court that's a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chamber of Commerce."
• In Major Blow To Consumers, Supreme Court Protects Mega-Corporations From Liability
• McConnell: 'Absurd' to ban corporations from having same rights as 'people'
• California To Wal-Mart: Enough! No More Taxpayer Subsidized Profits For You
• Criminal charges laid against Nestle Canada, other companies for chocolate price fixing
• Business Leaders Urge President to Allow G8 to Close Corporate Tax Loopholes
• Flipside: Marlins Park Is Satisfyingly Empty

Monsanto

• Appeals Court Makes Monsanto Promise Not To Sue Organic Farmers
• Monsanto Turns To Blackwater For Increased Security, Intelligence And 'Infiltrate Activist Groups'
• Monsanto snubs Puerto Rico Senate

Plane Fare

• Ryanair plans to put only one toilet on planes in latest scheme to slash fares
• Oof! Airline Fees Rise Yet Again: At Least $200 to Change a Flight
• Give them an inch and they take $773,074,040

Corporate Misconduct, Taxes, Price Fixing, Billing; Unfriendly Skies; Craigslist Scams; Customer Diss-service

Corporate Misconduct

• This Is The Most Epic Brand Meltdown On Facebook Ever—"The two owners of Amy's Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro took over the restaurant's Facebook page last night to fight unruly commenters, and man, was it embarrassing."
• Comic book creator takes on publishers Marvel and DC for right to use term 'superhero'—Perfect example of how corporations step on the competition.
• Dylan Sprouse: Why he and his brother left Disney—The utter gall of those Disney execs.

Taxes

• How to make corporations stop ripping you off—"We created them and bestow upon them great protections -- and get nothing in return. It's time to change all that (NYT)." Or is it even possible (NYT)? Salon
• If Corporate Profits Are at an All-Time High, Why Are Corporate Taxes Near a 60-Year Low?—And taxes on payroll have doubled.
• Apple CEO Tim Cook to propose tax overhaul—Calls for "a dramtic simplification" of the tax code that's rife with loopholes.
• Shell Admits Real Reason Coast Guard Had To Rescue Its Arctic Drilling Rig: Failed Tax Avoidance Scheme
• UK: Now water companies are caught avoiding tax

Price Fixing

• Judge orders Dow Chemical to pay $1.2 billion in price-fixing case
• Oil company offices raided in EU pricing probe—What's the Deal With the Oil-Price-Fixing Scandal?
• U.S. lawsuit accuses vehicle shipping companies of price fixing

Billing

• UK Government bans companies from charging 'rip-off' card fees—"Airlines, travel companies and retailers will today be banned from charging excessive fees when people make credit or debit card payments online."
• AT&T adds 'administrative fee' to wireless bills, stands to rake in hundreds of millions from unwitting customers
• Bell Mobility to appeal ruling in 911 lawsuit—"Bell is liable to nearly 30,000 cellphone users in the N.W.T., Yukon and Nunavut who paid for 911 services they didn't receive."
• Customers free to sue department stores for fake sales that make shoppers think they're getting a bargain after judge backs suit against Kohl's
• Ticketmaster Knows Scalper-Bots Buy Up 60% of Its Seats, But It Doesn't Want to Stop Them
• PayPal denies teenager reward for finding website bug
• Top-shelf scheme: Authorities raid 29 bars for selling cheap liquor as premium products

Unfriendly Skies

• Airline Refuses to Give Refund to Woman After her Fiance Dies
• Man with Tourette syndrome not allowed on flight after saying 'bomb'
• San Diegans kicked off a flight for speaking Russian
• 'I will always love youuuuuuuuu': Woman kicked off plane for refusing to stop singing Whitney Houston song
• Monica Amestoy Sues United Airlines Over Masturbating Passenger

Craigslist Scams

• Man arrested for sending Craigslist sex party to neighbor's house
• A Florida Craigslist Ad Offers 'Custom Time Machine' For $1,000
• Mom who placed Craigslist ad offering son for adoption says she was off her meds

Customer Diss-service

• Hotel bans 'annoying' Down syndrome kids
• Dublin nightclub apologises 'unreservedly' for treatment of wheelchair user
• NJ towing company that shamelessly takes hostage Hurricane Sandy survivors' vehicles gets shamed back to return them
• Ferrero orders super-fan Sara Rosso to cancel World Nutella Day—Guess after fans went nuts on the company, it's back on.
• Flipside: New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto And More By Scanning Your Shopping Cart—Be informed. Vote with your wallet.

Unfriendly Skies; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; On the Road

Unfriendly Skies

• Reid Tests GOP Outrage Over Airport Delays With Plan To Pay Down Sequestration For Five Months —Lines have been getting longer.
• At United Airlines, Is Polite Disagreement Becoming Grounds For Removal From A Flight?
• African-American passengers sue US Airways for asking them to change out of hoodies
• Berlin airport fiasco an embarrassment for Germans
• Jetstar apologises to shark victim's mum

Planes

• How Airline Ticket Prices Fell 50% in 30 Years (and Why Nobody Noticed)
• FAA: 'No, you CAN'T hijack a plane with an Android app'—"A simulator, as it turns out, is just that."
• Airports in China Hew to an Unswerving Flight Path—"New arrivals are whisked on electronic walkways through a bright, spacious airport terminal that features elegant lounges, free Wi-Fi, speedy security checks and an efficient baggage handling system." NYT

Trains

• Landowners drop lawsuit against high-speed rail
• Japan Is Working On A 300 MPH Floating Train
• China rewrites global high-speed rail pattern in six years

and Automobiles

• Cell phone tracking system reveals how traffic jams start
• To Fight Gridlock, a City Synchronizes Every Red Light NYT
• New Jersey cops go undercover for pedestrians—"Motorists who failed to yield for people crossing the street in Fort Lee paid the price recently when cops went undercover to nab rude drivers at one of the city's most dangerous intersections."
• Ten-year-old invents light-up crosswalks, IBM makes them real
• 'Smart Highways' in the Netherlands will glow-in-the-dark

On the Road

• Why aren't younger Americans driving anymore?
• Booming Sales of Novelty Helmets Boost Toll of Motorcycle Deaths
• Top Gear April Fool's prank shuts Dutch motorway (but Jeremy Clarkson's not to blame)

Air Fare, Tech Planes, Unfriendly Skies, Boeing, Boeing, Scareports, TSA

Air Fare

• American Airlines and US Airways poised 'to merge'
• Passenger steps in to land 747 after pilot falls ill... as he happens to be off-duty pilot
• Budget airline unveils child-free zones—"A Malaysian airline has launched 'quiet zones' on selected flights, where children under the age of 12 are not permitted to sit." Sounds great.
• She Lives In A Boeing 727
• Har Norwegian-piloten noe imot Sverige?—No translation needed.

Tech Planes

• The Beauty of the Airline Baggage Tag
• Discovery Channel Crashes a Jet Plane — on Purpose
• Boeing uses 20,000 lbs. of potatoes to check aircraft wireless network signals
• Solar Impulse 2015: Around The World In A Solar-Powered Airplane
• Are you ready for under-four hour air travel to anywhere in the world?

Unfriendly Skies

• US Air Force veteran, finally allowed to fly into US, is now banned from flying back home
• Family of smokers on airplane forces costly diversion—And they ought to pay up.
• Marine double-amputee's treatment on Delta flight angers other vets
• Unruly passenger taped to seat on Icelandair flight
• Feds: Former Washington travel agent stole nearly 3.7M airline miles from high-end clients
• Travel writer thrown off United flight for snapping photo of his seat
• FCC chair criticizes rule against using tablets during takeoff

Boeing, Boeing

• Boeing Has An Airplane Problem, Not a PR Problem
• Boeing 787's problems blamed on outsourcing, lack of oversight
• Japan Probe Finds Miswiring of Boeing 787 Battery

Scareports

• 'Princess Bride' quote terrifies passengers headed for New Zealand
• Five-year-old Afghan boy found in suitcase in Venice
• Human Heads At O'Hare: Customs Officials Find Shipment Of 18 Severed Heads With Skin Still On

TSA

• TSA Once Again Considering Using Commercial Data To Profile Passengers
• TSA pulls the plug on 'naked' x-ray scanners after maker fails to guarantee privacy
• Travelers left more than $500,000 at airport checkpoints last year, TSA keeps the change
• Kanye West, Kim Kardashian Bypass Security at JFK
• GAO questions using TSA dogs to screen passengers
• Top cellist's bow is damaged—"Alban Gerhardt calls airport security staff 'brutal and careless.'"
• Shh! TSA Wants to Touch Your Kids

Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Law and Disorder, International, Recording, Shooting Spree, Injustice

Planes...

• Horror in Himalayas: Seven Britons on way to climb Everest among 19 killed after their jet strikes VULTURE and bursts into flames
• Snakes on a Plane: cobra forces plane into emergency landing
• Delta kicks musician out of SkyMiles program
• American Airlines to fix seats in 48 757s
• Ach! No End In Sight For Berlin Airport Woes

Trains...

• Woman feels 'disrespected' after being kicked off train--She was talking loudy for hours on her cellphone in the 'quiet' car.
• Thief who robbed Swedish man after he fell onto subway tracks sentenced to prison, deportation
• Railway guard Christopher McGee jailed for manslaughter after 'seconds of negligence' caused death of drunk teenage girl who fell underneath train

and Automobiles

• Report details Traffic Court awash in favoritism
• Amir Khan KOs six yobs trying to steal his £100,000 car
• Deputies: Spring Hill woman tries to bail on $161 cab fare--"He escorted her to his vehicle with the intention of calling law enforcement and she started to resist. At one point, she threatened to 'call rape' if he didn't let her go...."
• Melissa Miller Drives 100 MPH After God Tells Her To
• Police: Driver called for tow but not 911 after deadly crash
• U.S. Postal Service Asking Floridians To Drive Carefully After 14 Vehicles Have Struck Post Offices in 2012
• Russian Insurance Scams--Why are they becoming so prevalent?

Law and Disorder

• Accused shoplifter dies after Walmart security place him in choke hold
• Judge suspended after 'getting a witness pregnant' - months after sending topless picture of himself to married colleague
• Weird news: "Cleaning fairy" sentenced with one year probation--"An Ohio woman dubbed the 'cleaning fairy' after she broke into a home, cleaned it and left a $75 bill has been put on probation for one year." Salon

International

• British engineer hacked to death on his South African farm
• Pakistan: 'Gangster' lawyers of Lahore, from heroes to hooligans
• Naked statue man charged with possessing offensive weapon

Recording

• Supreme Court rejects plea to ban taping of police in Illinois
• California Man Jailed Four Days for Recording Cops
• NYPD cop secretly records evidence of a ticket and arrest quota system
• Miami-Dade School Officials Force Student to Delete Footage of Security Guard Abuse
• University police fire officer after video of altercation goes viral on YouTube

Shooting Spree

• Gun Enthusiast Kills 17-Year-Old for Playing Loud Music; Lawyer Says He Acted "Very Responsibly"
• Florida Man Shoots Unarmed Black Teen After Argument Over Music
• Police Shoot 137 Times Into Car After Chase, Killing Unarmed Couple

Injustice

• The Dark Dangers of Tunnel Vision--"Why police and prosecutors suspect the wrong person—and then dig in."
• A Check on Bad Eyewitness Identifications--"An Oregon Supreme Court ruling shifts the burden of proof to prosecutors to show that eyewitness identification is sufficiently reliable to be admissible as evidence at trial." NYT
• Louisiana death row inmate freed after 15 years – with a little help from DNA

The Unfriendly Skies, Pilot Error, Air Fare, Planes, TSA

The Unfriendly Skies

• Flier claims Virgin Australia policy made him feel like pedophile--"Virgin Australia is taking a second look at its policy of not allowing male passengers to sit next to kids flying alone after a traveler complained the airline made him feel like a pedophile." They should limit to policy to priests.
• United Airlines "Loses" 10-Year-Old Girl, Enters Social Media Hell
• Disabled Vet Says United Employees Kicked His Service Dog, Asked Him If He Was Retarded
• Family film the moment American Airlines 'refused them their first class seats because their son has Down's Syndrome'
• Airlines: You can't wear that
• Weird news: Gay couple sues airline over dildo Salon
• How To Deal With An "Unruly Passenger" On A Cross-Country Flight

Pilot Error

• Air France crash 'due to pilot and technical failings'--What really happened?
• Unruly JetBlue pilot found not guilty by reason of insanity
• Pilot sends plane into dive after mistaking Venus for oncoming plane

Air Fare

• Ryanair CEO: 'Stupid' Passengers Deserve Fees
• Air France asks passengers for refuel cash at Damascus stop--"The crew of an Air France plane that was re-routed via Damascus on Wednesday asked passengers how much cash they could stump up after Syrian authorities refused credit card payment to refuel the aircraft...."
• Chaos as Italian budget airline Wind Jet halts flights
• The frequent fliers who flew too much--"Many years after selling lifetime passes for unlimited first-class travel, American Airlines began scrutinizing the costs — and the customers."
• Labor Tension Rising at American Airlines, As Bankruptcy Judge OKs Union Busting

Planes

• Airlines Studying the Science of Better In-Flight Meals NYT
• Time to Review F.A.A. Policy Gadgets--Cell phones still on the no-fly list. NYT
• New York and London airport avatars: Is faking it better than the real thing?
• Airline squeeze: It's not you, 'it's the seat'
• Airline declares kid-free zone--Single people everywhere rejoice.

TSA

• Court Demands TSA Explain Why It Is Defying Nude Body Scanner Order
• TSA Denies Stonewalling Nude Body-Scanner Court Order
• TSA: Testing Drinks Purchased Inside Airport Terminal Nothing New
• TSA 'chat-downs' investigated at Boston's Logan airport
• TSA detains, interrogates Ron Paul's family and aides
• Man booted from airplane for wearing anti-TSA shirt
• TSA Kicks Woman Off Flight For Bad Attitude--"A TSA screener admitted to a woman traveling through Houston Airport that she was prevented from boarding her flight for retaliatory reasons as punishment for a bad attitude rather than any genuine security threat, after the woman refused to allow TSA agents to test her drink for explosives."

Tech Tracking, Cisco Fiasco, Your Rights Online, Privacy, Surveillance, NSA, Telcos

Tech Tracking

• We Know What You're Doing: Website exposes Facebook stupidity
• Twitter account re-tweets public photos of peoples' debit cards
• Website offers to delete its information about your arrest — if you pay $200 Justice or Extortion?
• Flaws Found in US Watchdog System--"Google has been bypassing technology developed to block tracking systems in order to allow for anonymous browsing."
• Don't let Facebook, Google or Twitter follow you around the web

Cisco Fiasco

• Cisco locks users out of their routers, requires invasive cloud service
• Amid Privacy Backlash, Cisco Says It's Not Logging Your Web History
• Cisco’s cloud vision: Mandatory, monetized, and killed at their discretion
• Freeing your router from Cisco's anti-porn, pro-copyright cloud service
• Cisco backpedals on forced spyware cloud service--Moral of this story: boycott Cisco.

Your Rights Online

• In Rhode Island, lying online is no longer a crime--"The state repealed an obscure 1989 law forbidding fudging facts online."
• Twitter Ordered to Cough Up Occupy User Data
• Do you lose free speech rights if you speak using a computer?--"Scholar argues computer-generated speech is not protected by the Constitution."

Privacy

• British Airways flies into privacy storm over Google identity checks on passengers--"British Airways today faced a backlash from privacy campaigners after it revealed plans to use the internet to create 'dossiers' on passengers."
• Police, lobbyists defeat attempt to regulate license-plate scanners--"Palo Alto lawmaker's bill would have limited data storage, access by anyone outside of law enforcement."
• Rutgers Webcam-Spying Defendant Sentenced to 30 Days NYT

Surveillance

• Senate Republicans revamp cybersecurity bill--"Like CISPA, Secure IT would remove legal barriers that prevent companies from sharing information about cyber threats with one another and with the government."
• Obama Administration Stonewalls Declassification of Secret Court Rulings--"The Obama administration was supposed to begin declassifying key rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) two years ago. But to date nothing has been made available."
• Court: Cops can read suspect's texts, spring text trap--"Washington state ruling means text messages sent to a friend are not private because people know they're stored on smartphones.

NSA

• Three NSA Whistleblowers Back EFF's Lawsuit Over Government's Massive Spying Program
• Congress Plays See-No-Evil, Pretend-There's-No-Evil, Let-The-Evil-Continue With NSA Domestic Spying
• Why won’t the Obama administration reveal how many Americans' emails the NSA has collected and reviewed without a warrant?

Telcos

• UK: 'Black boxes' to monitor all internet and phone data
• Australia: Telstra logs customer history for new filter--"Telstra has admitted to tracking the websites visited by Next G mobile customers, as part of the development of a voluntary internet filtering system."
• Mobile Carriers Gladly Give Your Data to the Cops, But Not to You

Air Fare, Unfriendly Skies, Flight Fright, Device, No Dice

Air Fare

• American Airlines Files For Bankruptcy In Order to Assault Unions After Doling Out Big Bonuses to Execs
• Casey to US Airways: Please rethink fare hikes--"The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday that when Southwest Airlines Co. drops its flights between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on Jan. 8, the price for a US Airways round-trip ticket will jump from $118 plus tax, to $698 plus tax."
• Delta airlines under lawsuit over lost baggage--"Delta airlines is being sued for how it deals with lost baggage, telling customers they are only entitled to a fraction of reimbursement."
• New Obama Administration Rules Require Airlines To Disclose Full Ticket Prices Upfront
• Why Europe Has The Cheapest Airfare
  

Unfriendly Skies

• How are flight attendants supposed to deal with fornicating passengers?
• The most absurd red carpet ever — at the airline gate Salon
• Fired RIM execs 'chewed through restraints' on flight

Flight Fright

• 30 years after Air Florida crash, skies safer than ever
• What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447
• Qantas Flight Plunge blamed on computer
• Passengers panic over false crash alarm
• BA passenger jet makes emergency landing after both pilots 'pass out' at the controls

Device, No Dice

• Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but It's Not Clear Why--Readers chime in. NYT
• Tests Cast Doubt on F.A.A. Restrictions on Kindle and iPad NYT
• Alec Baldwin Incident Raises Questions About Airlines' Device Policy
• What Alec Baldwin doesn't know about air travel--"Could Words With Friends really bring down a plane? The actor jokes, but cellphone interference can be serious." Salon
• Mythology at 10,000 metres

Corporations, Monsanto and GM Crops, Food and Politics, Air Fare, Cigarettes

Corporations

• A Family’s Billions, Artfully Sheltered--"An examination of public documents involving Mr. Lauder’s companies, investments and charities offers a glimpse of the wide array of legal options for the world’s wealthiest citizens to avoid taxes both at home and abroad." NYT
• Wal-Mart ramps up ballot threats to speed new stores--"In a push to expand across California without interference, Wal-Mart is increasingly taking advantage of the state’s initiative system to threaten elected officials with costly special elections and to avoid environmental lawsuits."
• Corporations Hate Regulation, Until They Love It
• 'Occupy The SEC' Scrutinizes The Volcker Rule For Loopholes
• Occupy Everywhere: Michael Moore, Naomi Klein on Next Steps for the Movement Against Corporate Power
• Rep. Deutch Introduces OCCUPIED Constitutional Amendment To Ban Corporate Money In Politics
• The Fascinating History of How Corporations Became "People" -- Thanks to Corrupt Courts Working for the 1%

Monsanto and GM Crops

• Maine farmer heads group challenging genetics giant
• Judge Who Ruled Humans Have 'No Food Rights' Resigns, Takes Job with Monsanto Law Firm
• Why Is the State Department Using Our Money to Pimp for Monsanto?
• Why Is Damning New Evidence About Monsanto's Most Widely Used Herbicide Being Silenced?
• GM crops: EU parliament backs national bans
• GM crops promote superweeds, food insecurity and pesticides, say NGOs
• Monsanto Corn Under Attack By Superbug The Onion

Food and Politics

• Congress Pushes Back On Healthier School Lunches
• US Congress Seeks to Cut Food Stamp Program
• Feast Your Eyes: 16 Cents of Each Dollar You Spend on Food Goes to the Farm. What Happens to the Rest?
• Sugar Policy: Sweet Deal for Producers, Sour for Consumers--It's been going on for a while.
• War and corruption are responsible for famines, not droughts

Air Fare

• Senator: Travelers Should Be Reimbursed Fees For All Lost & Mishandled Bags
• Spirit Airlines To Charge $5 To Print Your Boarding Pass For You
• United CEO: Airfares Are Only Going To Get More Complicated
• Airline asks passengers for fuel money after they’re left stranded in Vienna
• US Senate to airlines: Stop shafting your passengers (please?)

Cigarettes

• Obama urges Americans to quit smoking, angering Big Tobacco
• 'Unlawful' tobacco pricing leads to £225m fine by OFT
• Judge Blocks Graphic Cigarette Warnings NYT
• Australia cigarette 'plain packaging' law passes Senate
• Should we ban cigarettes?: 'Cigarettes, not guns or bombs, are the deadliest artifacts in the history of civilisation.'