World Cup, Sports Corruption; Europe, Asia; MH370; Religion; Media and Transparency, Political Partisanship, Obamanation; Vote Machinations, Campaign Finance Deform; Grand Ol' Tea Party; Immigration, Race and Racism; Your Government Inaction

World Cup

• Iran arrests 2 over World Cup video—"Iran's official IRNA news agency says police have arrested two people who appeared in an online video of young people singing and dancing in support of the country's World Cup football team."
• Defying ban, Iranian women watch World Cup with men in public
• Neo-Nazi Banners, Blackface, and Homophobic Chants: World Cup Fans Behaving Badly
• Suarez World Cup bite sets off Twitter meme frenzy—"Harkening Mike Tyson's famous gnawing of Evander Holyfield's ear, the soccer star is pictured wearing a dog cone, with fangs, as Hannibal, and more."
• Miguel Herrera Is the Most GIF-Worthy Man at the World Cup, Perhaps on Earth
• Cristiano Ronaldo, James Milner, Mario Balotelli, Olivier Giroud: The hottest soccer players at the World Cup
• Bravery of young security officer prevents massacre in Beirut—"Hunch by security officer prevents potential massacre as scores of people were watching World Cup match, but it also costs his own life."

Sports Corruption

• Football match-fixing: Ghana deal casts cloud over World Cup finals in Brazil—Is this what the $3 million is for?
• Fifa Bosses 'Secretly Doubled Their Salaries'—"Football chiefs are accused of upping their pay to £118,000 to compensate for lucrative bonuses that have now been axed."
• U.S. Senator Calls On FIFA To Relocate 2022 World Cup Out Of Qatar
• Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics—"The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing--a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money."
• Banks Wary of Construction Companies After Olympic Debacle

Europe

• Polish foreign minister says country's alliance with US worthless—"According to a transcript of recordings obtained by Wprost, Radislaw Sikorski said 'we gave the US a blow job.'"
• Polish MPs ridicule Cameron's 'stupid propaganda' aimed at Eurosceptics—"Secretly taped expletive-laden conversation reveals EU fallout from prime minister's plans to curb migrants' benefits access."
• Italy arrests 95 in mafia dragnet, solves century-old murder
• Roma boy left unconscious after being savagely beaten and tortured during vigilante attack in Paris suburb
• Tens of thousands march in London against coalition's austerity measures—"An estimated 50,000 people in London addressed by speakers, including Russell Brand, after People's Assembly march."

Asia

• China jails 'New Citizens' Movement' activists—"China has handed down lengthy jail terms to three anti-corruption activists who had called for officials to disclose their personal wealth."
• Chinese police shoot dead 13 attackers in restive Xinjiang
• In Hong Kong, an Unofficial Election Draws Beijing's Ire NYT
• Chinese warships to join US in drills off Hawaii for first time
• Japan failed to report 640 kg of nuclear fuel to IAEA
• North Korea blasts film featuring James Franco and Seth Rogen plotting assassination of Kim Jong Un—This means war.
• Google removes Singapore hate blog against Filipinos

MH370

• 'A bungled inquiry': 100 days after MH370 went missing it is clear Malaysia officials hiding information National Post
• Malaysian Jet Was in Controlled Flight After Contact Was Lost, Officials Suspect NYT
• Australia: Waiting for Malaysians before announcing new MH370 search area

Religion

• Festival of Dangerous Ideas: 'Honour killings are morally justified' talk cancelled
• Christian woman freed after death sentence ruled 'faulty' in Sudan—NISS says, not so fast.
• Malaysian court to Christians: You can't say 'Allah'

Media and Transparency

• The media's moral center: How John Oliver became the sheriff of cable news' wild west—"The 'Last Week Tonight' host digs deeper and pushes his audience harder than either Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert." Salon
• Jon Stewart Is A More Trusted News Source Than MSNBC, Study Says
• Lawmakers unveil major changes to FOIA—"Reform legislation emerges from Senate committee that would overhaul Freedom of Information Act, increase transparency."
• Wal-Mart 'edits' a New York Times op-ed—The fact check fudges facts.
• Hacking trial: Coulson guilty, Brooks cleared of charges

Political Partisanship

• Americans Have Less Confidence In Congress Than Just About Anything, Ever
• Let's Stop Kidding Ourselves: 90 Percent of Congressional Incumbents Will Win Re-election—"All signs tell us that incumbents should be grabbed by their lapels and shoved to the curb—but most won't be."
• Americans have not become more politically polarized—Maybe, maybe not. WaPo

Obamanation

• Jindal: People Ready For 'Hostile Takeover' Of DC
• South Dakota Republican Party Passes Resolution Calling For Obama's Impeachment
• New report destroys Gov. Sam Brownback's bid to blame President Obama for Kansas budget crisis

Vote Machinations

• Want to Suppress the Vote? Stress People Out—"The latest science-of-politics study suggests that GOP voter intimidation tactics may be more effective than liberals have feared—for biological reasons."
• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand plans to introduce legislation to allow voters to register online—"Under Gillibrand's proposal, states with existing online access would expand their system beyond those with state-issued IDs to let more young people, seniors, minorities and the poor to access and update their own voter records online."
• GOP's voter fraud humiliation: Turns out Wisconsin's worst case is a Republican—"Maybe the real reason Scott Walker and Reince Preibus think their state needs tougher laws is a guilty conscience." Hypocrites. Salon
• Racist tactic emerges in GOP primary fight—"Rachel Maddow reports on how Mississippi Republican candidate Thad Cochran's appeal for African-American votes is being met by conservative supporters of his tea party opponent, Chris McDaniel, with 'poll watchers,' to discourage black voters."
• Wilson precinct official removed—Woman who wasn't able to vote: "I am not rich — just a mom who wanted to vote. And I did ask for a provisional ballot. But I didn't get it."
• Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, the Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever

Campaign Finance Deform

• Calif. lawmakers seek constitutional convention on Citizens United
• 4 Key Takeaways About Scott Walker's Alleged "Criminal Scheme"—"Here's what you need to know about the probe targeting the Wisconsin governor and two of his aides."
• Senate Democrats Re-up Their Dark-Money Disclosure Bill—and Dare GOPers to Block It
• Mayday PAC: The Super PAC Built to Destroy Super PACs

Grand Ol' Tea Party

• Thad Cochran Defeats the Tea Party -- And So Does Everyone Else
• Losing Tea Party Candidate Refuses to Concede in Mississippi Runoff
• The staggering price of crushing the tea party Politico
• Tea Party's embarrassing irony: How its ideal nation rejects basic American beliefs Salon
• In a Do-Nothing Congress, Blake Farenthold is Enjoying the View—"Blake Farenthold, the tea party congressman from Corpus Christi, has settled into a routine where distraction is just part of the job."
• Tea party, police clash in western Wisconsin town—Also: Wisconsin Police Chief and Tea Party Battle Over Bridge Signs and Gay Dating Websites
• Darrell Issa's flailing search for his white whale
• GOP Rep's Chief Of Staff Resigns After Porn Star Tweets Photo Of His Penis

Immigration

• Obama tells Mexico: Illegal-immigrant children won't get to stay
• Limbaugh Floats Theory That Obama Planned Influx Of Undocumented Minors At Border
• Honduras to ask U.S. not to deport Honduran kids
• Few immediate consequences for child immigrants
• Mass migrant graves unearthed in Texas—"Researchers discover mass graves near US-Mexico border containing bodies of unidentified migrants in body bags."

Race and Racism

• Prominent Republican Lawyer Says Ted Cruz Sounds Like A Racist
• Texas Commissioners Unintentionally Vote In Favor Of Slavery Reparations
• Arizona GOPer: 'We All Need To Stomp Out' Spanish TV Stations, Newspapers—¡Ay caramba!
• If Affirmative Action Is Doomed, What's Next? NYT
• Redditor's discovery leads to white supremacist investigation at Army base
• Joe Dorsey's Big Fight: How An Unknown Boxer Knocked Out Segregation In Louisiana
• Stunning Portraits of Mixed-Race Families

Your Government Inaction

• You paid a fee for 31 years that went nowhere
• Opponents Barred From Speaking As Cobb County Approves Braves Stadium
• Congress Is Weighing Some Bafflingly Bad Ideas for Fixing Our Crumbling Bridges and Roads
• How many people would be 'out of work' if USPS eliminates Saturday delivery? WaPo
• Why Can't We Simplify Our Tax System? It Turns Out, We Can.

War on Terror, Iraq'd, Darth Cheney, Heritage Flounder-ation, M.I.C., Guns; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Police State, Your Rights Online, Free Speech, Whistleblowing, Facebook, Tech Tracking, Haxx0red

War on Terror

• How the 'War on Terror' Became a War on the Constitution—"Since 9/11, power-hungry political leaders have eviscerated the First Amendment—and we've allowed them to do it."
• A federal judge will review US 'secret court' rulings to see if they were improperly kept under wraps
• Appeals court reverses decision in Chicago terrorism case—"An appeals court has overruled a groundbreaking decision by a Chicago judge to let lawyers for an alleged terrorist see classified surveillance evidence."
• CIA hatched plan to make demon toy to counter Osama bin Laden's influence WaPo
• 'Extremely disturbing' force-feeding tapes cited in Gitmo abuse case
• UK: Student Stabbed To Death On Essex Footpath 'Targeted For Muslim Dress'
• Man says apartment complex called his US flag a 'threat to Muslim community'
• The Colbert Report: Arrest of Benghazi Terror Mastermind

Iraq'd

• No More Mr. Naïve Guy—"On the future of Iraq, President Obama is a cold-blooded realist."
• Eric Alterman Warns: Pundits and Partisans Are Up to Old Tricks in Iraq
• He blew it on Iraq, but makes sense now: Peter Beinart's thoughtful lessons—"If there's one Iraq war hawk worth listening to today, it's this one who's truly grappled with his mistake." Salon
• Karl Rove Unintentionally Predicted the Current Chaos in Iraq
• Petraeus: U.S. Must Not Become the Shia Militia's Air Force
• Iraq crisis: Britain and US must not meddle in Iraq, warns Saudi Arabia—"Saudi Arabia will oppose any US and British or regional intervention in Iraq against the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, the country's ambassador to London tells the Telegraph."
• 1,000,000 Iraqis have fled their homes as ISIS continues armed siege
• The War Nerd: Here's everything you need to know about "too extreme for Al Qaeda" I.S.I.S.
• The Fall of Iraq - What You Aren't Being Told
• Blast from the Past: Dahr Jamail on what happened in Fallujah in 2004: U.S. War Crimes in Iraq

Darth Cheney

• Maybe listening to Dick Cheney on Iraq isn't a good idea WaPo
• Blow: The Gall of Dick Cheney NYT
• Dionne: Dick Cheney, did you really want to go there? WaPo
• The Ed Show: Dick Cheney is still wrong on Iraq
• Watch: Fox's Megyn Kelly tells Dick Cheney, history 'has proven you got it wrong'
• Dick Cheney Should be Rotting in The Hague, Not Writing Editorials
• Interview with Dick Cheney (1994)

Heritage Flounder-tion

• WaPo's Dana Milbank Bombarded For Column On Benghazi Panel That Turned Ugly—Milbank fires back.
• The right's hateful freak show: Dana Milbank vs. Heritage Foundation's abuse Salon
• Why We Shouldn't Be Surprised By Heritage Foundation Event's Islamophobia
  

M.I.C.

• Congress prepares to renew $40bn bill terrorism insurance law—"The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act has never covered a single company from terrorism costs and has earned $40bn in revenue for insurance companies. But Congress is too afraid to end it."
• South Dakota has Raked in $100 Million in Homeland Security Grants Despite No Known Terrorist Threats… Ever
• $40-billion missile defense system proves unreliable
• Golden Hammer: Pentagon sank $3 million in boats that never made it to Afghanistan
• House votes again to prevent retirement of A-10—"The U.S. House today overwhelmingly adopted an amendment to the 2015 defense appropriation bill that would prohibit the Pentagon from spending any money to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt II close-air support jet, a mainstay of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base."

Guns

• Supreme Court rules that 'straw' purchases of guns are illegal
• BLM Shooting Suspect Is Anti-Government Conspiracy Theorist With Pending Gun Charge
• Open-Carry Activists Return to Target With Assault Rifles—"The retailer is in the crosshairs of an escalating fight over Texas gun laws."
• Video Captures MI Police Struggling To Respect Gun-Toting Ranter's Open Carry Rights
• Deadly Brawl Tests "Make My Day" Self-Defense Laws
• Florida dad killed by neighbor's stray bullet as family welcomes home newborn
• Man accidentally shoots himself in penis

NSA Spying

• House votes 293-123 to cut funding for NSA spying on Americans—"The amendment would also stop 'backdoors' from being built into tech products."
• Inspired by Edward Snowden, Lawmakers Want Missouri to Stand Against NSA Surveillance
• More Snowden Effect: Grayson amendment protects security standards from NSA
• New Ruling Shows the NSA Can't Legally Justify Its Phone Spying Anymore
• Citing "Intense Public Interest and Concern" Over Mass Surveillance, Judge Orders DOJ to Turn Over Secret Legal Opinions for Court to Review
• Court Overturns Sharing Of FISA Surveillance With Defense Lawyers
• How Secret Partners Expand NSA's Surveillance Dragnet
• U.S. officials scrambled to nab Snowden, hoping he would take a wrong step. He didn't. WaPo
• Petition with 150,000 signatures calls on France to grant Snowden asylum
• New Snowden Revelations on NSA Spying in Germany—"An analysis of secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden demonstrates that the NSA is more active in Germany than anywhere else in Europe -- and that data collected here may have helped kill suspected terrorists. "
• Interview with Ex-Stasi Agent: 'The Scope of NSA Surveillance Surprised Me'
• EU states let NSA tap data cables, Danish media say
• NSA helps foreign governments conduct mass surveillance at home
• NSA Can Neither Confirm Nor Deny It Uses The Phrases It Used On A Leaked Slide

Surveillance and Privacy

• Mike Rogers Says Google Is Unpatriotic For Not Wanting NSA To Spy On Its Users
• Apple, Cisco, AT&T join Microsoft in fight against global search warrant
• Canada: Supreme Court Delivers Huge Victory for Internet Privacy & Blows Away Gov't Plans for Reform
• Hackers reverse-engineer NSA's leaked bugging devices—"Using documents leaked by Edward Snowden, hackers have built bugs that can be attached to computers to steal information in a host of intrusive ways."
• LinkedIn must face privacy lawsuit over contact reminder emails, says judge—"A federal judge said on Thursday that LinkedIn must face a lawsuit by customers who claimed it violated their privacy by accessing their external email accounts, downloading their contacts' email addresses and soliciting business from those contacts."
• Following TrueCrypt's bombshell advisory, developer says fork is "impossible"—"TrueCrypt developer withholds permission, suggests 'starting from scratch.'" Something is very fishy—or canary-ish—about this.
• eBay pulls sales of Chinese 'spyware phones'

Police State

• Judge allows US Marshals' seizure of stingray records, dimisses lawsuit—"What began as request for info on cell tracking records turns into surreal tale."
• Cops hid use of phone tracking tech in court documents at feds' request—"ACLU uncovers e-mails regarding Stingray devices borrowed from US Marshals Service."
• Stingray Documents Show Law Enforcement Using 'Terrorism' To Obtain Equipment To Fight Regular Crime
• Legal experts: Cops lying about cell tracking "is a stupid thing to do"—"Deception in legal filings could lead to bad consequences for police, attorneys."
• State Legislators Discussing Laws That Will Put Law Enforcement Surveillance Cameras Inside Private Businesses
• When the Pentagon Wants to Predict Unrest, It's Time to Be Unpredictable
• How an FBI Informant Helped Orchestrate the Hack of an FBI Contractor
• Removal of border agency's internal affairs chief raises alarms—"James F. Tomsheck's removal was designed to sooth critics who say the agency has been too soft on misconduct, abuse and corruption. But his supporters say he is a scapegoat for a broken and byzantine hierarchy."
• UK: Green party peer put on database of 'extremists' after police surveillance—"Political movements of Jenny Jones and Green party councillor Ian Driver were recorded, though neither have a criminal record."

Your Rights Online

• Facebook and the First Amendment: Supreme Court to Consider Online Threats
• The senate is still trying to jam through its hugely controversial cybersecurity bill
• Social media mass surveillance is permitted by law, says top UK official—"Charles Farr's statement marks first time government has commented on how it exploits the UK's legal framework to operate mass interception."
• Google will be forced to make a company disappear—"Inspired by the 'right to be forgotten,' a Canadian court has ordered Google to delete links to a company."
• How to Anonymize Everything You Do Online

Free Speech

• Appeals court throws out $340,000 online libel ruling—"CDA Section 230 prevents 'the speech-chilling threat of the heckler's veto.'"
• How your inbox looks after becoming Internet Enemy #1—"The mayor of Peoria, Illinois, meets anonymous online commenters."
• US Secret Service wants software to "detect sarcasm" on social media

Whistleblowing

• Julian Assange Asks The US To Drop Wikileaks Investigation—"Julian Assange has asked the US Attorney General Eric Holder to respect the principles of free speech and dissolve the Grand Jury investigation into Wikileaks, or resign."
• G20 whistleblower protection laws lacking—"The majority of whistleblower protection laws in G20 countries fail to meet best international standards despite a public pledge to shield whistleblowers from retaliation, a new report has found."
• US Circuit Court Questions Whether Whistleblower Protections Apply Abroad—"A circuit court on Monday probed whether whistleblower protections apply abroad during oral arguments of a case where a former staffer is suing Siemens AG over alleged retaliation." WSJ
• Polish authorities search premises of weekly that revealed tape scandal —"Polish authorities searched the premises of Wprost, the news magazine that published tapes of officials' conversations that have embarrassed to the government, the prosecutor's spokeswoman said on Wednesday."
• Passport Office orders inquiry over photographs leaked to Guardian—"MPs and unions say inquiry is heavy-handed and a waste of money after photographs show stacks of passport applications."

Facebook

• Facebook Is Now Using Your Browsing History to Target Advertising—Also: Facebook Lets Users Opt Out of Targeted Ads
• Facebook will track users outside of the site, says 'people want more targeted advertising'—Riiiight.
• Creepy Facebook personality test could be dream for advertisers, nightmare for privacy WaPo

Tech Tracking

• Why online tracking is getting creepier—"Online marketers are increasingly trying to track users offline as well."
• Ars tests Internet surveillance—by spying on an NPR reporter—Also: Listen to the results of our Internet spy project
• Resistance Is Futile: Apple And Google Are Going To Track Your Location No Matter What
• Android no longer reveals app permission changes in automatic updates
• iOS 8 strikes an unexpected blow against location tracking
• How Nest Is Already Using All That Data From Its Army of Smoke Alarms

Haxx0red

• AT&T Waits a Month to Notify Customers of Data Breach—"Hackers breached AT&T Mobility and stole social security numbers and call records. AT&T won't say why it waited a month to notify affected customers, and that's a major concern, according to CIO.com blogger Bill Snyder."
• Nokia paid millions of euros in ransom—"MTV News Investigative Team reveals that Nokia became a target of extortion and ended up paying several millions of euros in ransom. The case is unsolved."
• Domino's Pizza blackmailed over mass data leak
• Hacker infects Synology storage devices, makes off with $620,000 in Dogecoin
• Teens Hack Into ATM Just to Let Everyone Know They Can—White-hats.

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

World No Tobacco Day; Workers and Wage Slaves; Banks and Wall Street, Accountability; US Politics, Vote Machinations, Gerrymandering in Florida; Native American, Racism; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online, TrueCrypt, Haxx0red, Facebook and Your Data

World No Tobacco Day

• Child Workers Are Getting Nicotine Poisoning on US Tobacco Farms
• New York raises minimum age to buy cigarettes to 21
• World No Tobacco Day: To tax or not to tax
• UK: NHS could start prescribing e-cigarettes as study finds them 60% more effective than gum or patches
• Top scientists warn WHO not to stub out e-cigarettes

Workers and Wage Slaves

• House GOP Votes Down Measure Aimed At Curbing Wage Theft
• Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor —"As the federal government cracks down on immigrants in the country illegally and forbids businesses to hire them, it is relying on tens of thousands of those immigrants each year to provide essential labor." NYT
• Bond set at $250,000 for Wayne Miller, president of Cathedral Bible College with Myrtle Beach campus—Allegation: "Miller threatened to cancel foreign students' visas if they did not work long hours for little pay."
• Michigan Set to Raise Minimum Wage to $9.25 Hour
• America's middle-class defeat: How Canada shamed the wealthiest nation on earth—"Want to understand what's causing the decay of the American dream? Take some lessons from our friends to the north." Salon
• 40% of EU citizens can't afford a vacation
• Japan creates new national holiday for 'overworked' population
• Robots will replace fast-food workers

Banks and Wall Street

• IMF chief says banks haven't changed since financial crisis—"Christine Lagarde tells London conference banking sector is still resisting reform and taking excessive risks."
• Bank of England governor: capitalism doomed if ethics vanish—"Mark Carney issues strong critique of City behaviour and warns of growing sense that basic social contract is breaking down."
• Obama Administration Spent a Fortune Monitoring Occupy Protests, including Flash Mobs and Yoga Classes—"The documents show monitoring in 2011 and 2012 by law enforcement agencies around the country [NYT], reporting on religious meetings, Christmas caroling and other events."
• Blast from the Past: What Actually Happens At The End Of 'Trading Places'?

Accountability

• Explosive claims on JP Morgan conduct—"A technical support person who worked for JP Morgan in Australia claims the bank regularly misled its New York parent and the US Federal Reserve by failing to report losing trades." SMH
• Goldman, JPMorgan sued over zinc price manipulation
• Los Angeles sues JPMorgan Chase over foreclosures WaPo
• The guy who tried to rig gold prices and cost his bank $44 million
• Icahn, Mickelson are investigated in U.S. insider trading probe: source
• Iran hangs billionaire over $2.6b bank fraud—"Largest fraud case since 1979 Islamic Revolution sends four scammers to the gallows, including tycoon Mahafarid Amir Khosravi."

US Politics

• Conservatism is losing ground in the US—"Number of Americans describing themselves as social, economic conservatives shrinks, according to new poll."
• Conservatives are losing their edge — quickly WaPo
• Dear GOP: "Duck Dynasty's" Phil Robertson may not help your outreach problem—"Party chair Reince Priebus wants the GOP to be seen as the party of equality. Meet their future leaders." Salon
• Republican Leadership Conference: The GOP’s speakers lineup is a problem—"Why the Republican Party attracts provocateurs, faux martyrs, and grifters in droves."
• America Is Becoming a Bit More Liberal. That's Pretty Unusual Six Years Into a Democratic Presidency.

Vote Machinations

• Americans overwhelmingly side with Hillary Clinton over Karl Rove in brain flap—"Republican strategist Karl Rove may need a different strategy to slow Hillary Clinton's 2016 candidacy." WaPo
• Conservative groups push for voter photo ID requirement in Ohio
• Democrats, stop fighting voter ID laws—"It's a tough concession that could actually work to get more minority voters to the polls." WaPo

Gerrymandering in Florida

• Redistricting Expert: Florida's Gerrymandered Maps Give An 8 Point Advantage To Republicans
• Surprise witness emerges in redistricting trial—"An FSU student who allegedly submitted a map to the Legislature with proposed new districts said he never drew any maps and his name was used without permission."
• Florida may be forced to redraw political districts before midterms WaPo

Native American

• Supreme Court says Mich. can't block Indian casino
• Courts challenge Native American land rights—"Recent cases have undermined tribal sovereignty and economic development, Native Americans say."
• Lawsuit: Casino Built on Native American Burial Ground

Racism

• Unsurprisingly, the Redskins #RedskinsPride Hashtag Backfired Quite Horribly—But that's not stopping them.
• Reports: Donald Sterling To Sue The NBA For $1 Billion
• White Police Lieutenant Awarded $1.35 Million In Racial Discrimination Lawsuit

NSA Spying

• Edward Snowden responds to release of e-mail by U.S. officials WaPo
• Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden would not get a fair trial – and Kerry is wrong—"Edward Snowden is the greatest patriot whistleblower of our time, and he knows what I learned more than four decades ago: until the Espionage Act gets reformed, he can never come home safe and receive justice."
• John Kerry Should 'Man Up' And Admit He's Wrong About Snowden
• Courier Services Deny Participation in NSA Interception Program

Surveillance and Privacy

• Privacy call for internet browsing in the wake of Edward Snowden leaks—"Survey reveals that more than eight out of 10 internet users believe their search history should be kept private."
• German spies want $400M to play catch-up with the NSA—"Confidential documents from the BND, Germany's answer to the NSA and GCHQ, suggest the agency could soon get major funding to improve its online surveillance and hacking capabilities."
• Former Head Of 'NSA North' Says Canadians Are 'Stupid'

Your Rights Online

• User gets prison sentence for using 'Allah CC' nickname on Twitter
• Turkey highest court: YouTube ban violates rights WaPo
• Google sets up 'right to be forgotten' form after EU ruling

TrueCrypt

• "TrueCrypt is not secure," official SourceForge page abruptly warns—"Support for decade-old crypto program pulled, touching off Internet firestorm."
• True Goodbye: 'Using TrueCrypt Is Not Secure'
• Bombshell TrueCrypt advisory: Backdoor? Hack? Hoax? None of the above?—LavaBit 2: Electric Bugaloo?
• TrueCrypt security audit presses on, despite developers jumping ship

Haxx0red

• The eBay hack, the loss of 140 million records, and the PR fiasco—If you still haven't done so, change your eBay password right now.
• Your iPhone has been taken hostage. Pay $100 ransom to get it back—If you still haven't done so, change your iCloud password right now.
• After seven months and no Microsoft patch, Internet Explorer 8 vulnerability is revealed
• Will Everyone Please Quit Bitching About Passwords?

Facebook and Your Data

• Passive listening will soon be a feature for Facebook app during status updates
• Facebook Stops Irresponsibly Defaulting Privacy Of New Users' Posts To "Public", Changes To "Friends"
• Facebook Reaps Billions from Your Data: It's Time to Unplug
• Facebook gives up on automatically posting everything you do online

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