Copyfight; Net Neutrality; NSA Spying; Tech Trouble, Law and Disorder; Patents; Amazon.com; Facebook; Wikipedia; Gaming; Car Trouble, GM

Copyfight

• 15 years ago, Congress kept Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. Will they do it again?—"On October 27, 1998, President Clinton extended copyrights, starving the public domain of new works for 20 years." Lobbyists haven't stopped. WaPo
• Netflix Could Be Classified As a 'Cybersecurity Threat' Under New CISPA Rules
• Philip Morris attacks Marlboro parody, runs into "Web bully's worst enemy"—"Public Citizen: 'You7r client's targets may be addicted, but they aren't stupid.'"
• Dogecoin Users Outraged Over Trademark
• King Candy's Trademark Attempt at Crushing The Banner Saga
• MPAA Targets Reddit Community Over Movie Piracy—Streisand effect ensues.
• Ottawa Citizen: Apology to David Bowie

Net Neutrality

• The Father of Net Neutrality Returns to Do Battle With Comcast
• We don't need net neutrality; we need competition—"Op-ed: 'Unbundled access' actually works."
• Net Neutrality Protesters Arrested At Google HQ—Barking up the wrong tree?

NSA Spying

• Americans as 'vulnerable' to NSA surveillance as foreigners, despite Fourth Amendment—"By manipulating internet traffic to push American data outside of the country, the NSA can vacuum up vast amounts of US citizen data for intelligence purposes, a new report warns."
• NSA queried phone records of just 248 people despite massive data sweep—'Transparency report reveals agency performed queries on 248 people in 2013, despite collecting data on millions of Americans."
• New N.S.A. Chief Calls Damage From Snowden Leaks Manageable—"The director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, described the steps the agency is taking to ensure that no one else can download the information taken by Edward J. Snowden, a former defense contractor." NYT
• NSA spying is a bigger diplomatic strain than Iraq invasion
• US to extend privacy rights to EU citizens
• A review of the Blackphone, the Android for the paranoid—"Custom-built with privacy in mind, this handset isn't for (Google) Play."

Tech Trouble

• The world wide web may be fracturing into a bunch of regional internets
• China's cure for teenage internet addiction is worse than the supposed disease
• Busted: Microsoft-hired agency paying bloggers to write pro-IE posts
• Yup, 1-800-COLLECT is still in business—and charging massive fees—"$42.55 for a 6-minute collect call? It happened to one Ars reader."
• Broken promises: Verizon, Google, and the Chromebook data debacle—In a face-saving move, Google gives $150 credit to those affected.
• Warning over USB chargers after woman dies from apparent electrocution

Law and Disorder

• Aaron Swartz's father: He'd be alive today if he was never arrested
• It's Official: The Supreme Court Is Pro-Cable Oligopoly—Adios Aereo.
• Kleargear Ordered To Pay $300k To Utah Couple
• San Francisco orders parking spot auction app to cease-and-desist—"Parking Monkey CEO: new, innovative firms 'should be regulated and not banned.'" This one's different from Uber.

Patents

• How the Supreme Court might kill software patents
• Patents Are Eating the World and Hurting Innovation
• People, Not Patents
• How Patents Are Stopping Your Microwave From Being Awesome
• White House poised to name patent reform opponent as new head of Patent Office

Amazon.com

• Amazon accused of 'bullying' smaller UK publishers
• As Amazon slugs it out with the big publishers, authors are left cowering
• France passes "anti-Amazon" bill aimed at helping small bookstores—"Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti also called out Amazon's 'dumping strategy.'"
• What's the True Cost of Amazon's Quick Deliveries?
• "Amazon Was a Prison," Says Former Worker

Facebook

• Facebook fights 'largest ever' US court data request
• Facebook tinkered with users' feeds for a massive psychology experiment—Probably not illegal but bordering on unethical. What happened?
• Study: People Hate Happy Couples on Facebook

Wikipedia

• US National Archives enshrines Wikipedia in Open Government Plan, plans to upload all holdings to Commons
• The Unbearable Bureaucracy of Wikipedia—"The legalistic atmosphere is making it impossible to attract and keep the new editors the site needs."
• Wikipedia editors hit with $10 million defamation lawsuit
• Comms agencies "intend to do right" by Wikipedia
• Wikipedia drug entries often inaccurate or outdated, study finds

Gaming

• Meet the developer who spent 13 years making his childhood game Exclusive
• I won't buy Battlefield Hardline at launch, and neither should you
• Watch the brouhaha over 'Watch Dogs'
• "Game Critics Aren't Professionals, They Just Pretend To Be"
• Team Fortress 2: Expiration Date—MOAR.

Car Trouble

• Auto parts price-fixing probe rattles industry
• Ford to pay owners for overstating MPG
• Terrified Of Tesla, NADA Launches Campaign To Tout Benefits Of Franchise Dealerships
• Car industry struggles to solve air bag explosions despite mass recalls
• Volkswagen Once Tried To Kill A Journalist Because Of This Car

GM

• Texas Woman Convicted Of Manslaughter Learns GM Ignition Switch Caused Fiancé's Crash Death
• Blame for 'switch from hell' falls heavily on one GM engineer
• GM recalls 511,508 Camaros for ignitions you can switch off with your knee
• New General Motors Recall Includes Best Sellers—"G.M. said it was recalling more than half a million more vehicles, including full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles that can suddenly switch into neutral." NYT
• GM hit with $10 billion lawsuit—"A new lawsuit says General Motors Co should compensate millions of car and truck owners for lost resale value, potentially exceeding $10 billion, because a slew of recalls and a deadly delay in recalling cars with defective ignition switches has damaged its brand."

Net Neutrality, Broadband and Telcos; Copyfight, Tech Life, Sharing, Patents; Facebook, Apple, Amazon.com; Gaming, Tetris@30, Nintendo, XBone, Mobile, Gamers

Net Neutrality

• Verizon Says It Wants to Kill Net Neutrality to Help Blind, Deaf, and Disabled People—"Lobbyists are telling Congress that the administration's plan to create internet fast lanes and slow lanes is important for Americans with disabilities."
• Netflix got worse on Verizon even after Netflix agreed to pay Verizon
• Why Verizon won't solve its Netflix problem as soon as Comcast—"Comcast spent months preparing network connections with Netflix—Verizon didn't."
• Netflix: Verizon decided to 'leave three lanes closed during rush hour
• Community Groups Were Duped Into Joining the Telecom Industry's Anti-Net-Neutrality Coalition
• Mobile 'net neutrality' faces new day of reckoning at FCC
• In Harm's Way: The Dangers of a World Without Net Neutrality
• BitTorrent Shows You What The Internet Looks Like Without Net Neutrality; Suggests A Better Way
• Join the FastLane™
• John Oliver challenges FCC head Tom Wheeler to prove he's not a 'f*cking baby-eating dingo'

Broadband and Telcos

• Comcast is turning your Xfinity router into a public Wi-Fi hotspot
• Verizon will miss its deadline to bring citywide broadband to New York
• Verizon has done the seemingly impossible: It's made Comcast look good
• Comcast testing Internet data caps in parts of the country, could become widespread
• The FCC Can't Help Cities Trapped By Predatory Internet Deals With Big Telecom
• FCC looking into complaints that broadband ISPs are dragging their heels
• State laws deprive Americans of broadband Internet, FCC chairman says
• Boulder lost out on Google Fiber because of Colorado's anti-municipal broadband laws
• Google Fiber franchise wins approval from Portland City Council
• Legere pounces on AT&T's decision to raise activation fees

Copyfight

• Obama Blasted for Lumping Critics of Trade Deal Secrecy with 'Conspiracy Theorists'
• In win for libraries, court rules database of Google-scanned books is "fair use"
• IKEA waits 8 years, then shuts down IKEAhackers site with trademark claim—"IKEA lawyers pushed site to go non-commercial or give up its domain name."
• Crushing Blow for Copyright Trolls: Appeals Court Halts AF Holdings' Extortion Scheme

Tech Life

• Selfies replace the autograph The Times
• Theater chain bans Google Glass—"Alamo Drafthouse, with theaters nationwide, bars the eyewear amid piracy fears." Alamo has always had pro-movie-watching principles and do not suffer fools lightly.
• The Pocket Watch Was the World's First Wearable Tech Game Changer

Sharing

• UK: Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest
• CA: Ride-shares warned by regulators: no airport runs
• Uber and Airbnb show the sharing economy is on its way – like it or not

Patents

• New study suggests patent trolls really are killing startups
• Chinese gov't reveals Microsoft's secret list of Android-killer patents
• Facebook wins patent trial that targeted Newsfeed, Timeline

Facebook

• The Dark Side Of Facebook, Where People Lie, Steal, And Make Millions
• Facebook Australia's $60 million a year business that it wants to keep hidden
• #Love: My 'Friends' Don't 'Like' Me
• Yo Facebook, Ban Links With Fake Video Play Buttons
• Facebook Is Beginning to Look Like a Bonafide Online Ad Network

Apple

• Apple Begins Rejecting Apps That Offer Rewards For Video Views, Social Sharing
• Apple recalls millions of iPhone chargers across 37 countries
• Apple Starts Letting Bitcoin Transfer Apps Back Into Its App Store

Amazon.com

• Amazon Stops Taking Advance Orders for 'Lego' and Other Warner Videos—"Amazon, embroiled in a standoff with a book publisher, is using the same hardball techniques with new movies from Warner Home Video." NYT
• Amazon adds lower movie prices to battle over books
• Book Fight: Amazon vs. Publishers—Some letters to the editors.
• How the Government Blew Its Chance to Rein in Amazon
• The Colbert Report: Amazon vs. Hachette

Gaming

• Why Game Developers Keep Getting Laid Off
• Success! Atari E.T. games found in New Mexico dump—"Despite doubters, the first of what could be thousands or millions of buried E.T. game cartridges were discovered in the Alamogordo landfill where Atari buried them 31 years ago."
• Sony making a Last of Us movie -- Who would you cast as Joel and Ellie?—From what little I've seen of the game, I'd like to see feature-length version based on the cut scenes.
• The man who made the game in 'Her' is about to release a game you can play
• Grammy-nominated composer speaks up against union blockage of Game recordings

Tetris@30

• Tetris at 30: a history of the world's most successful game
• Tetris Turns 30, Creator Says He Still Plays Every Week
• Tetris Creators Talk About Staying Relevant in a Candy-Crushed World
• Video: The addictive game explained in Tetris blocks
• 10 insane covers of the Tetris theme tune

Nintendo

• How we'd save Nintendo
• The Rise of Nintendo: A Story in 8 Bits—"From 'Donkey Kong' to the NES — how a Japanese company took over the American living room. An exclusive first serial from 'Console Wars.'"
• Nintendo announces plan to share ad revenue with YouTube streamers

XBone

• Why the death of Microsoft's Xbox One vision means we all lose—"Commentary: By unbundling the Kinect sensor from Xbox One, Microsoft strips away the console's last differentiating element. The industry and gamers will suffer for it."
• Xbox One doesn't mark the spot—"Kinect's decoupling hasn't been matched with enough exclusive fare to excite us."
• Xbox One ad is switching on Microsoft consoles

Mobile

• Two thirds of players ditch free mobile games in less than 24 hours
• Mobile is burning, and free-to-play binds the hands of devs who want to help
• In just one year, Zynga lost nearly half of its daily active users
• Flappy Bird to return in August as multiplayer game, creator says

Gamers

• Study: Gamers are more educated, more social than the people who make fun of them—"A new study commissioned by Twitch suggests gamers are more social and more successful than non-gamers." WaPo
• Looking at Link Between Violent Video Games and Lack of Empathy NYT
• Aggression from video games 'linked to incompetence'
• Teamwork OP: Riot on making 'good' the easy choice—"That's a paradigm shift: trolls aren't trolls all the time, they're sometimes trolls because they're in a bad mood every now and again."
• Boy Credits 'Grand Theft Auto' Game For His Life-Saving Reaction In Out Of Control Car
• Online gamers witness home invasion; 1 suspect in custody, 1 on the loose

Copyfight; Net Neutrality, Broadband and Telcos; Privacy, NSA & GCHQ Spying; Ransomware; Patent Trolls; Syntax Error; Sharing Economy; The Unfriendly Skies; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Tesla; GM

Copyfight

• Internet users cannot be sued for browsing the web, ECJ rules—"After a five-year case, the European court of justice has ruled that copies of web pages made in the course of browsing the internet do not infringe copyright law."
• YouTube's free speech problem—"YouTube users are finding that the site's policies are ripe for misuse."
• Rightscorp: a business founded on threats of Internet disconnection
• MPAA: Consumer Right to Resell Online Videos Would Kill Innovation
• 'Popcorn Time' Gives Users Anonymity With a Free Built-In VPN
• Kim Dotcom offers £3m bounty in online piracy case—"Megaupload founder in bid to prove US authorities aided by New Zealand illegally targeted him at behest of Hollywood studios."

Net Neutrality

• John Oliver's Hilarious Net Neutrality Piece Speaks the Truth
• Cable Companies Are Astroturfing Fake Consumer Support to End Net Neutrality
• Op-Eds In Favor Of Cable Company F*ckery Are Bought & Paid For By Cable Industry
• AT&T: We'd never implement Internet fast lanes, just trust us!
• Netflix Lets People Know When Bad Streaming Is the ISP's Fault—Verizon tells Netflix to cease and desist which they eventually do.

Broadband and Telcos

• 'A soup of misery': Over half of people say they'd abandon their cable company, if only they could WaPo
• Broadband shouldn't be like cable TV. Why consumers should care about peering.
• Hundreds of Cities Are Wired With Fiber—But Telecom Lobbying Keeps It Unused
• Sonic.net CEO: Tiered Pricing 'Doesn't Make Sense'
• Comcast charged $2,000 for alarm system that didn't work—for 7 years—"Cable company initially blamed customer, then grudgingly issued refund."
• Why Does U.S. Cell Phone Service Stink?
• As Internet behemoths rise, Chattanooga highlights a different path

Privacy

• Europe to force Google, Facebook to abide by EU privacy rules
• Users slam 'creepy' new feature that allows Facebook to listen in
• Woman Sues After STD Diagnosis Posted on Facebook
• Hiding from big data—"IT security: With the increasing commercial use of personal data and multiple security breaches, will people pay for privacy?" The Economist
• Cory Doctorow: Those who have nothing to hide have a duty to protect the privacy of those who do

NSA & GCHQ Spying

• Judge: NSA doesn't have to keep all data as part of key surveillance lawsuit—"Gov't counsel: Forcing us to save Section 702 data would harm national security."
• James Clapper Admits What Everyone's Been Saying For Months: Snowden Didn't Take 1.7 Million Documents
• If The NSA Can't Keep Call Records, Should Phone Companies Do It?
• How the NSA plans to prevent another Snowden—"New rules put in place after Edward Snowden's revelations have unleashed tension among many employees in the NSA."
• How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely
• Inside England's NSA—"The GCHQ is the largest secret ops center outside the United States."
• Wiebe and Binney on Why they Blew the Whistle on the NSA—"Observing corruption, waste and fraud drove NSA whistleblowers Kirk Wiebe and Bill Binney to reveal government wrongdoing."
• Stephen Fry attacks 'squalid' coalition for inaction on Snowden revelations—"Broadcaster denounces government response in speech at conference marking first anniversary of publication of NSA files."

Ransomware

• We "will be paying no ransom," vows town hit by Cryptowall ransom malware—"Police computers in New Hampshire hamlet crippled by crypto-based ransomware."
• Scary new Android malware holds your data hostage and demands a ransom
• Ransomware On Apple's iCloud: How the Attack Worked

Patent Trolls

• The Supreme Court is struggling to rein in America's rogue patent court
• Patent troll on the verge of winning 1 percent of iPhone revenue
• I beat the patent trolls; so should the US Senate

Syntax Error

• Thanks for nothing, jerkface—Google+ is a minus.
• Apple Maps Are Still Lost
• Lenovo responds after cancelling customer orders due to pricing error
• Woman drops cell phone in toilet, two die in rescue attempt

Sharing Economy

• Why Uber just might be worth it at $18 billion
• Virginia DMV orders Lyft, Uber to stop operating
• Cops In Miami Are Running A Sting To Catch Lyft Drivers
• The Secret Life of an Obsessive Airbnb Host—"Determined to quit his tired government job, one D.C. office drone saves $25,000 by renting his apartment nightly and secretly sleeping on the office floor."

The Unfriendly Skies

• $250,000 violin gets virtuosos bumped from airline flight, prompts viral video
• Man admits pointing laser beam into cockpit of plane landing at PBIA
• Dog Poo Forces Philly-Bound Flight to Make Emergency Landing
• Southwest fined $200,000 for deceptive TV ads
• Chinese kid draws on dad's passport, gets them stuck in South Korea
• One Arrested After Hand Grenade Found in Los Angeles Airport
• After Private Pilots Complain, Customs Rethinks Intercept Policy—"In recent years, more and more pilots have reported their aircraft stopped for warrantless searches by aggressive officers."

Planes

• World's worst planes: The aircraft that failed
• Gov't says airlines should disclose bag, seat fees
• The Harper government to allow passengers to use portable electronic devices during all phases of flight

Trains

• French red faces over trains that are 'too wide'
• China proposes railroad to Vancouver
• $2.34!? Cheapest bullet-train ride in Japan lasts 3 minutes, but memories are forever

Automobiles

• BMW sticks to its guns for future gearboxes—"Of course, with a manual you are slower, but it is more emotional; it now says 'I am a serious driver, I am a connoisseur'. So, we will continue [to offer a manual] even if only ten per cent of customers want it."
• Laserbeam headlights? Not in the US—"Audi's new headlights can't find a place in '60s-era regulations."
• California approves test of self-driving cars on public roads—"Regulations take effect mid-September; rules for the public may come this December."
• Electric car travels over 1,100 miles without a recharge on a new aluminum-air battery
• A new U.S. automaker with a $6800, 84 MPG, 3-wheeled "car" on the way

Tesla

• Tesla boss Elon Musk hints at technology giveaway—He may open up Supercharger patents for electric stations.
• Tesla Model-S launch: an electric car to answer even Clarkson's objections
• Tesla Wins Back The Right To Sell Direct To Consumers In New Jersey

GM

• GM made $22.6 billion. We lost $10.6 billion
• GM apologizes for sending recall notices to victims' families
• Botched recall: 'Fundamental failure'—But GM spares top executives from blame.
• Reich: The Way to Stop Corporate Lawbreaking is to Prosecute the People Who Break the Law
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: GM Ad

Tech and Culture, The Internet; Copyfight; Net Neutrality, FCC, Comcast, Mergers; Patents, Amazon.com, Uber and AirBnB; Haxx0red; NSA Spying

Tech and Culture

• Glassholes accused of hurting restaurant's ratings—"Feast restaurant in New York gets a slew of one-star reviews on Google after one customer is asked to remove her Google Glass."
• How cell phones have made you flaky—"You can cancel at the last minute. You can be horribly late. As this short film shows, cell phones make the flake."
• 5 Ways to Deal With Dinner Party Guests Who Won't Put Down Their Phones

The Internet

• Why the Internet is Getting Bland—"How social media and the search for brand-safety advertising is changing the internet forever."
• The Internet as we know it is dying—"How Facebook and Google are killing the classic Internet and reinventing it in their image." Salon
• The Internet With A Human Face

Copyfight

• What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2014?
• Wil Wheaton: pirate my TV show if you have to, but help my ratings if you can
• Pirated movies shown to prisoners in Lorain County prison
• Stallman: Did You Say "Intellectual Property"? It's a Seductive Mirage
• Comcast, Verizon and Co. Stop Mass Piracy Lawsuits on Appeal
• How Disney learned to stop worrying and love copyright infringement—"For years, Disney was notoriously heavy-handed in defense of its intellectual property. Then along came 'Frozen.'" Salon
• 'Unbeatable' Cinavia Anti-Piracy Technology Cracked by DVD-Ranger

Net Neutrality

• How Google found the best route for the Netflix era
• Forbes: 'Net neutrality is a dumb idea'
• Report: Verizon FiOS claimed public utility status to get government perks—"Still, Verizon campaigns against utility-style regulation that it benefits from."
• Who's against Net neutrality? Follow the money—"The cable industry has not been shy about handing out campaign donations to Congress. So guess who's sending letters to the FCC arguing against Net neutrality."
• America doesn't know how bad its Internet speed is: Sprint's Son

FCC

• Bill would prohibit FCC from reclassifying broadband as utility—Republican Rep. Latta, bought and paid for by ISP lobbyists.
• FCC to study whether payments to ISPs signal a broken marketplace
• FCC may force Internet providers to stop calling their slow, crappy speeds 'broadband'
• State laws that ban municipal Internet will be invalidated, FCC chair says—"But can the FCC preempt all 20 state laws that limit public broadband?"
• John Oliver wants the internet's worst trolls to yell at the FCC

Comcast

• Comcast CEO has a ridiculous explanation for why everyone hates his company
• Comcast, Blasted By Customers, Disappoints Developers Too—"CEO Brian Roberts strings along app makers, dangling the release of dev tools someday, before addressing the Comcast haterade."
• Comcast promised poor Americans cheap internet, but most of them didn't get it
• Comcast CEO Brian Roberts: It's time to pay the postman. (Just FYI: I am the new postman)
• Washington doesn't care about your cable bill: Why the Comcast merger is inevitable—"By all accounts, the federal government should block such a deal. To understand why it won't, just follow the money." Salon

Mergers

• AT&T is Already Being Misleading to Get DirecTV Deal Approved
• Comcast Employing 40 Lobbying Firms to Get Merger Approved
• A Cable Merger Too Far—"Regulators should block Comcast's acquisition of Time Warner Cable because it would control too much of what consumers watch, read and listen to." NYT

Patents

• How the patent trolls won in Congress—"Trial lawyers and pharma companies teamed up to stop change to patent laws."
• Why The Trial Lawyers May Have Miscalculated In Killing Patent Reform, And How It May Come Back To Bite Them
• Top Patent Judge Steps Down Over Ethics Scandal, Highlighting How CAFC Has Become Too Close To Patent Lawyers
• Payback time: First patent troll ordered to pay "extraordinary case" fees
• Apple wants more money from Samsung, so it's asking for a retrial

Amazon.com

• Amazon Doubles Down on Intimidation Campaign Against Hachette
• Amazon plays hardball -- and puts the hurt on consumers
• Amazon's Tactics Confirm Its Critics' Worst Suspicions NYT
• Amazon acknowledges contract standoff with Hachette—"Internet retail giant admits restricting sales of the publisher's titles but calls it a justified negotiating approach."

Uber and AirBnB

• Rules for Uber, Lyft to Become Law in Colorado
• New York's mayor is proving Uber right about cab cartels
• Uber: the smartphone app that is driving London cabbies to distraction
• After Showdown With Prosecutors, Airbnb Gives Up Customer Data
• Malibu to crack down on short-term rentals via Airbnb, other websites

Haxx0red

• AT&T Hacker 'weev' Demands One Bitcoin for Each Hour He Spent in Jail—Trolling.
• LulzSec hacker 'Sabu' released after 'extraordinary' FBI cooperation—"Authorities credit Hector Xavier Monsegur with helping them cripple Anonymous in lenient sentence of time served."
• US cybercrime laws being used to target security researchers—"Security researchers say they have been threatened with indictment for their work investigating internet vulnerabilities."

NSA Spying

• N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images—"The National Security Agency's reliance on facial recognition technology has grown as it has used new software to exploit images in emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other communications." NYT
• Snowden Docs Expose How the NSA "Infects" Millions of Computers, Impersonates Facebook Server
• Edward Snowden seeks asylum in sunny Brazil
• EFF to Court: There's No Doubt the Government Destroyed NSA Spying Evidence
• Reddit, Imgur, DuckDuckGo, BoingBoing And More Will Participate In Anti-NSA Protests This Week

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.

International Day Against DRM; Patents; Net Neutrality; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; Haxx0red; Digital Life, Tech Death; Tesla; GM; Reviews; Unfriendly Skies

International Day Against DRM

• Watch the trailer for Aaron Swartz documentary 'The Internet's Own Boy'
• Obama Complains That TPP Critics Are 'Conspiracy Theorists' Who 'Lack Knowledge' About Negotiations
• This New York Times Short Dramatizes a Deposition About the Definition of Photocopying—"In 2010, the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office in Ohio changed their policy about copying records. Digital files would no longer be available, and the public would have to make hard copies of documents for $2 per page."
• Hulu attempts to block international viewers who use VPNs

Patents

• In 9-0 vote, Supreme Court makes it easier to get fees in patent cases—"Top patent court almost never makes bad actors pay. Supremes see it differently."
• SCOTUS asked to overturn patent-troll's charter
• The jury is in: Samsung infringes, but damages to Apple are a "mere" $120M—"Apple wins on two patents but loses its damages case, getting just 5 percent."

Net Neutrality

• Level 3 claims six ISPs dropping packets every day over money disputes
• Comcast is destroying the principle that makes a competitive internet possible
• Mozilla's crazy plan to fix net neutrality and turn broadband into a utility – and why it could work—"Mozilla thinks it has found a way to ensure true network neutrality without going back and reclassifying broadband. Will its regulatory sleight of hand find support?"
• Obama must show he supports net neutrality - here's how

NSA Spying

• Everyone is under surveillance now, says whistleblower Edward Snowden—"People's privacy is violated without any suspicion of wrongdoing, former National Security Agency contractor claims."
• Emails reveal close Google relationship with NSA
• White House seeks legal immunity for firms that hand over customer data—"Obama administration asks legislators drafting NSA reforms to protect telecoms firms complying with court orders."
• Chairman of key House committee agrees to proceed with NSA reform bill—"Bob Goodlatte of Virginia breathes new life into USA Freedom Act after bill to overhaul spy agency stalled by months of delay."
• A reporter, a reddit founder, a lawyer, and an ex-NSA chief walk into a debate
• Hannity Then and Now on NSA Surveillance

Surveillance and Privacy

• US Government Begins Rollout Of Its 'Driver's License For The Internet'
• Privacy price gouging, courtesy of phone companies—"Charging customers repeatedly to make their phone numbers unlisted is nothing more than a money grab by companies that already pocket billions of dollars a year in profit." LATimes
• Apple iOS 7 Updates Silently Remove Encryption for Email Attachments

Haxx0red

• Microsoft patches IE zero-day flaw, issues special security update for Windows XP despite end of support
• Serious security flaw in OAuth, OpenID discovered—"Attackers can use the 'Covert Redirect' vulnerability in both open-source log-in systems to steal your data and redirect you to unsafe sites."
• Hacker hijacks baby monitor, screams 'Wake up baby!'
• Hackers Can Mess With Traffic Lights to Jam Roads and Reroute Cars

Digital Life

• We're sharing more photos but getting less in return
• Can an Algorithm Solve Twitter's Credibility Problem?—Is Twitter dying or not?
• The kid who got kicked by a train conductor could earn a whole lot of money
• The NASCAR Dogecoin car is real and it is beautiful
• Why I quit writing internet standards

Tech Death

• The silencing of the Deaf—"How high-tech implants are being blamed for killing an entire subculture."
• The Decline of Newspapers Hits a Stunning Milestone
• Report: Google to end forced G+ integration, drastically cut division resources
• Godaddy Quietly Ends Email Support – Review Of New Live Chat Replacement
• Sony's in a 'bag of hurt' because of Blu-ray

Tesla

• Why do car dealers and Republicans want to eliminate Tesla?—"Instead of adapting to new market demands, car dealerships spend their money to get politicians to help them hurt Tesla."
• FTC: State bans on Tesla's direct sales model are hurting competition
• Blast from the Past: Strangling Innovation: Tesla vs. 'Rent Seekers'

GM

• Job Crushing or Lifesaving?—"Regulations don’t kill jobs, they save lives." NYT
• Documents show GM's early knowledge of switch defect
• GM to ask bankruptcy court for lawsuit protection—"Company's motion says more than 30 cases have been filed against it since February."
• Blast from the Past: GM recalls almost a million vehicles—"[B]ecause of a problem with the windshield wiper fluid system that could lead to a fire."

Reviews

• One Percenters Control Online Reviews—"Contrary to appearances, online reviews reflect the opinions of the few."
• Audiophile bullshit
• Baybrook Remodelers, Still In The Midst Of Suing People For Negative Reviews, Deploys A Disastrous SEO Hitman
• Oh My Dayum!—Songified review.

Unfriendly Skies

• US Airways sends lewdest brand tweet ever
• Air Canada to consider firing workers in baggage toss video—"YouTube video shows baggage dropped from atop staircase, airline investigating."
• 14-Year-Old Allegedly Tweeted Terrorist Threat And Then Freaked Out When American Airlines Responded—As she throws her "friend" under the bus, other idiots join in [WaPo].
• Australian mistook cockpit for toilet, triggering hijack scare

Copyfight, Patent Trolls; Digital Life, IT Jobs; Haxx0red; Your Rights Online; Tech Corruption; Broadband and Wireless, Comcast-TWC Merger; Streaming; MH370; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; Tesla

Copyfight

• "Copyright troll" Prenda Law completely bombs at appeals court—"Appellate judge is shocked as Prenda's own lawyer can't unwind the 'shell game.'"
• Porn site that spews copyright suits uses lie detectors on defendants—"Malibu Media fights 'copyright troll' label, reveals data about its caseload."
• Major media publisher admits it is "afraid of Google"—"Worries the search giant is turning into a 'superstate' immune from prosecution."
• The Netherlands Must Outlaw Downloading, EU Court Rules
• A band stole a photographer's work and then made his life hell for complaining

Patent Trolls

• Anti-patent-troll bill stalls in Senate, but reformers remain hopeful
• Idaho governor signs patent troll bill into law; New Hampshire working on its own
• Vermont and Nebraska Attorneys General Take Patent Trolls Head On
• Google wins a game of "Escape from East Texas," linking Rockstar to Apple—"Judge: Patent troll 'advances Apple's interest,' must fight Google in California."
• For world's biggest troll, first patent case ends up in tatters—"Intellectual Ventures rolls out the 'inventors'—a lawyer and a lawyer's wife."

Digital Life

• Oculus Says They Didn't Expect Such Negative Reactions to Selling to Facebook
• Google's new Motion Photography Prize transforms humble GIF into high art
• Man Compares His $42k Prosthetic Hand to a $50 3D Printed Cyborg Beast

IT Jobs

• Apple Wants To Keep Evidence That Steve Jobs Was A 'Bully' Out Of Court
• H-1B loophole may help California utility offshore IT jobs—"It is the second major utility in a year to announce IT outsourcing."
• Inside the GitHub scandal: is sexism part of the Valley's DNA?—"Julie Ann Horvath wanted to help other women — and it may have cost her a job." The PR fallout cost Preston-Werner his.
• 12 ethical dilemmas gnawing at developers today—"As software takes over more of our lives, the ethical ramifications of decisions made by programmers only become greater."
• The Secret Shame of an Unacquired Tech Worker

Haxx0red

• Appeals court reverses hacker/troll "weev" conviction and sentence—"Appeals court skirts Computer Fraud And Abuse Act analysis."
• Whitehat hacker goes too far, gets raided by FBI, tells all—"Hacker exposed client's data to teach a lesson, was 'tired of being ignored.'"
• Alleged Heartbleed hacker known for finding flaws
• This reader mocked Heartbleed, posted his passwords online. Guess what happened next. WaPo

Your Rights Online

• Court Declares That, Yes, Bloggers Are Media
• Supreme Court weighing when online speech becomes illegal threat—"High court has never defined online 'speech crime.'"
• General Mills Backtracks on Legal Policy After Angering Facebook Users—"Those terms — and our intentions — were widely misread, causing concern among consumers."
• Twitter parody account holder sought in police raid—"Authorities say Twitter impersonation carries maximum year jail term, $2,500 fine."
• Reddit downgrades technology community after censorship—Moderators maxwellhill and anutensil should quit.

Tech Corruption

• Four US tech firms face $3bn payout over claims they conspired on pay—"Four of the world's best-known large technology companies could face damages claimed of $3bn (€2.17bn) over claims they worked together to keep down pay in the sector."
• HP pays $108 million to settle foreign bribery probes
• Tampa grand jury accuses phone company execs of $33M fraud

Broadband and Wireless

• Verizon led massive astroturf campaign to end NJ broadband obligation—"Some Verizon "supporters" had no idea e-mails were sent on their behalf."
• T-Mobile's next move: Shame AT&T and Verizon into ditching data overage fees
• FCC sets up the 'incentive auction' that will lead to better wireless internet for everyone
• Google Fiber signs franchise agreement with Portland
• Yes, Net Neutrality Is A Solution To An Existing Problem

Comcast-TWC Merger

• Most Senators Overseeing the Comcast-Time Warner Deal Have Taken Money From Both—Including Franken.
• Franken: Comcast Time Warner Cable a competitor until they wanted to merge
• Comcast: Without Time Warner Cable, we can't compete against Google, Netflix
• Comcast named Worst Company in America on the same day it files TWC merger paperwork
• Time Warner Cable Pretends Customer Complaints Don't Exist

Streaming

• Netflix officially comes out against the Comcast-TWC merger
• Netflix Begins 4K Streaming
• Netflix, adding customers and profits, raises prices
• Yes, Netflix And Hulu Are Starting To Kill Cable
• Why Movie Streaming Sites So Fail to Satisfy NYT

MH370

• Malaysian military withheld radar data on Flight MH370 as nations searched wrong area, sources say
• Malaysia Airlines co-pilot reportedly made call before plane disappeared
• MH370 hunt proves too deep for robot vehicle

Planes

• New solar plane is as big as a 747, will circumnavigate the globe
• An Airship The Size of a Football Field Could Revolutionize Travel—"A new fuel-efficient airship, capable of carrying up to 50 tons, can stay aloft for weeks and land just about anywhere."
• You Can Finally Fulfill Your Fantasy of Sleeping Inside a 747 Engine

Trains

• 11,000 Kilometer Proof That Trains Still Win at Moving Stuff Around the Planet
• Siemens wins US high-speed train contract
• Tel Aviv to Eilat in 7 minutes: The first Hyperloop will be in Israel
• China's high-speed rail is so popular, it's hurting the domestic airline industry
• Japanese railway operator to offer maglev tech to US for free

Automobiles

• The Germans Have Figured Out How to 3-D Print Cars—You wouldn't download a car.
• Automakers say self-driving cars are on the horizon
• Glow-in-the-dark roads make debut in Netherlands—"They look beautiful, but they could also save a lot on streetlight power."

Tesla

• Lawmakers approve deal to allow Tesla in Ohio
• Tesla's Musk to '60 Minutes': 'I thought we would most likely fail'
• Evergreen State Signs Bill To Keep Tesla Showrooms Open For Direct Sells
• Five ways Tesla Motors pushes technology change in auto industry
• The future of "Made in America" is Tesla, not Ford
• CBS Says It Made 'Audio Editing Error' With Tesla On 60 Minutes—More of 60 minutes-style hackery. Not as bad as their NSA propaganda piece, I suppose.

Digital Life; Cable and Broadband, Net Neutrality, Cell Phones; Copyfight, Patents; Facebook; Windows H8.1, XP Deadline; Android; Ads; Gaming

Digital Life

• The Selfie and Serendipity's Extinction
• Social Media and the Perils of Looking for 'Likes'
• Virtual Reality is going to change the world
• What You Think You Know About the Web Is Wrong
• Google Earth Finds Woman Trapped On Deserted Island For 7 Years
• After borking high-profile crowdfunding campaigns, PayPal updates policies—"Mailpile, Yatagarasu Attack on Cataclysm, and Dreamfall Chapters all had funds frozen."

Cable and Broadband

• FCC sides with local cable commissions against Comcast—"The Federal Communications Commission has upheld a ruling ordering Comcast to stop charging its customers for cable equipment under the guise of service fees."
• New Revelations on Google Fiber Spells More Bad News for AT&T and Verizon
• One big reason we lack Internet competition: Starting an ISP is really hard—"Creating an ISP? You'll need millions of dollars, patience, and lots of lawyers."

Net Neutrality

• Netflix's Net-Neutrality Plea Gets Rejected by the FCC—"But the agency might still regulate negotiations between websites and Internet providers."
• Net neutrality law adopted by European Parliament—It was a hard-fought and won battle.
• Q&A with policy advisor for the ACLU on net neutrality

Cell Phones

• The Netherlands paves the way for carrier-free SIM cards
• MEPs vote to scrap mobile roaming fees in Europe
• Watch 30 Years of Mobile Phones Come Together as a Digital Orchestra

Copyfight

• Sony Blocks Creative Commons Movie With Bogus DMCA Takedown—"It's pretty hard to enrage free software advocates, the Creative Commons movement, and anti-overreaching copyright and anti-censorship camps with a single move, so 'congratulations' to Sony for managing that today. Thanks to a bogus DMCA takedown, the Blender Institute's open movie 'Sintel' is now blocked on YouTube."/
• How Dropbox Knows When You're Sharing Copyrighted Stuff (Without Actually Looking At Your Stuff)
• New judge blasts Prenda's "attorney speak," finds lawyers in contempt—"Judge to John Steele: 'The community is worried about guys like you.'"
• Why Veronica Mars embraced UltraViolet and angered fans—Industry-touted DRM hurting customers, again.
• Google's 'Glass' trademark held back by US patent office

Patents

• US Supreme Court says human DNA cannot be patented—"Human genes may not be patented, but artificially copied DNA can be claimed as intellectual property, the US Supreme Court has ruled unanimously."
• Abstract Ideas Don't Deserve Patents—"The government has too often given patent protection to inventions that do not represent real scientific advances." NYT
• Supreme Court hears argument on a patent worthy of King Tut—"Is the patent behind a global banking lawsuit just 'a man with an abacus?'"
• Supreme Court skeptical of computer-based patents
• Apple, Pfizer, others form 'go slow' U.S. patent lobby group—"[The Partnership for American Innovation] would oppose efforts to make software or biotechnology unpatentable."
• Newegg and friends crush a patent troll
• Podcasts Vs. Patent Trolls: How You Can Help

Facebook

• Why No One Trusts Facebook To Power The Future—"Facebook has a perception problem—consumers just don't trust it."
• Study: 30 percent of U.S. adults get their news from the Facebook feed
• Facebook's new face recognition knows you from the side
• Jerk.com scammed money to remove Facebook-scraped profiles, says FTC—"Take info, post it publicly, ask for money to remove it, do nothing, profit."
• Facebook Friends Help Diagnose A 3-Year-Old With Eye Disease

Windows H8.1

• Was Windows 8 a Mistake? Microsoft Seems to Think So
• Windows 7 outgains Windows 8 and 8.1 in market share again, but Windows XP still above 27%—Buncha stragglers.
• Microsoft's Windows 8 is Less Popular than Discontinued Windows XP—"Windows 8 is still proving to be unpopular, even after its 8.1 update."
• Microsoft Will Soon Bring Back The Start Menu In Windows 8.1
• Fixing Windows 8

XP Deadline

• Windows XP End of Life Breeding FUD, Legit Concerns
• Mathematics of trust: How Microsoft can keep Win XP alive – and WHY
• UK government buys last-minute lifeline with £5.5m Windows XP support deal
• Dutch government pays millions to extend Microsoft XP support
• Windows XP support will be available after April 8—just not for you

Android

• The #1 New Paid App In The Play Store Costs $4, Has Over 10,000 Downloads, A 4.7-Star Rating... And It's A Total Scam
• The Fallacy Of Android-First
• Here’s Why Developers Keep Favoring Apple Over Android

Ads

• Microsoft to start blocking annoying adware by default
• Ad blockers get ad-group exec's blood boiling (Q&A)—"The Interactive Advertising Bureau doesn't like how tens of millions of people use ad-blocking software. IAB's general counsel has a counterattack: block the blockers."
• Research Finds Value Exchange Ads Benefit Gamers, Developers And Marketers

Gaming

• For Kids, Gaming Is Healthier Than Television
• Titanfall's Anticheat Is Now Being Enforced
• How The Most Expensive Game Jam In History Crashed And Burned In A Single Day
• The Guilt of the Video-Game Millionaires—"For many young, successful game makers, who created their work out of a passion for play, riches come with profound cost."
• Candy Crush Firm Slumps In Market Debut
• Tinder Exploited By Bots Promoting "Castle Clash" Game Downloads
• The "2048" game is why we can't have nice things—"The latest viral game breakout exposes the horrible economics of online gaming." Salon