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."

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

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

MH370; Net Neutrality, Broadband and Wireless; Amazon Prime; Apps, Gaming; Copyfight; Tesla; Haxx0red; NSA Spying and Surveillance

MH370

• Search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 suspended after confirmation it went down in Indian Ocean
• Maybe Those Cold-Hearted Texts to the MH370 Families Weren't So Cold-Hearted After All
• How 'groundbreaking' number crunching found path of Flight 370
• Jon Stewart Mocks CNN's 'F*ck It, Let's Go Nuts' Missing Jet Coverage

Net Neutrality

• Al Franken: Don't let Comcast "manipulate Internet traffic"—"Time Warner merger review should focus on net neutrality and peering, Al says."
• Netflix says it will pay "tolls" to more ISPs, not just Comcast—"Video service calls for stronger net neutrality law that covers peering."
• AT&T Exec Calls Netflix's Reed Hastings "Arrogant" For Net Neutrality Post—Also claims lower bills will result from having no net neutrality.
• After 2 months on the job, TWC CEO will grab $80 million payout if Comcast buys his company
• Not A Joke: Comcast Says No One Is More Dedicated To Net Neutrality Than It Is

Broadband and Wireless

• UK operator Three will limit data tethering to 2GB for new customers, even if the plan is 'unlimited'
• Level 3 blames Internet slowdowns on ISPs' refusal to upgrade networks—"Cogent and Netflix aren't the only ones haggling with Verizon and AT&T."
• Verizon accused of forcing Internet phones on land-line users—"Ratepayers complain that the telecom is pushing unwitting Southern California customers to give up their traditional land lines."
• CenturyLink: Trust Us, You Don't Need Google Fiber
• Google Fiber to study bringing high-speed Internet to low-income areas in Nashville
• Silicon Valley is fed up with slow Internet speeds

Amazon Prime

• Amazon raises Prime price to $99, in first ever price hike
• Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs
• Amazon faces a surprisingly strong backlash against Prime price hikes

Apps

• Dear App Store game developers, knock it off with the useless push notifications
• The Flight of the Birdman: Flappy Bird Creator Dong Nguyen Speaks Out—"How did a chain-smoking geek from Hanoi design the viral hit Flappy Bird - and why did he walk away?" Methinks they spoke too soon.
• How clones, fear, sanitisation and free-to-play soured Apple's iOS gaming revolution
• Apple Highlights Indie Games In "Indie Game Showcase" Section

Gaming

• Xbox VP: It was a mistake to 'sugar-coat' the Xbox One controversy
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Game - 30th Anniversary Edition
• "The Power of Sheng" w. Super Mario—Old meets new.
• This guy went to a Magic tournament and took photos with every exposed butt crack—He got banned for six months.
• Excavation halted of Atari 'E.T.' dump in New Mexico

Copyfight

• Fluke extends a generous hand in $30,000 multimeter trademark issue—"SparkFun ordered 2,000 multimeters from China, but they ran afoul of US Customs." Fluke's statement.
• Copyright Lawsuit Against Medina Bar: 'Unauthorized' Show By Local Classic Rock Cover Band Caused 'Great and Incalculable Damage'—Over-the-topbullshit.
• Musician Claims $5.2 BILLION In Damages In Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Apple, Amazon And CDBaby
• Judge: IP-Address Is Not a Person and Can't Identify a BitTorrent Pirate
• Warner Bros Fights Looming Exposé of Anti-piracy Secrets
• Popcorn Time Is Hollywood's Worst Nightmare, And It Can't Be Stopped—Should the industry adopt the technology?
• Kim Dotcom loses key evidence ruling at NZ Supreme Court—"Dotcom can't look at his own data to prepare an extradition defense."

Tesla

• Auto dealers fire back at Tesla CEO: 'This Musk guy, he wants all the profits for himself'—As Gruber says, it's like it's from The Sopranos.
• Lawmaker answers Christie's call on Tesla electric car sales—"A Bergen County lawmaker has introduced a bill that would let electric car retailers, like Tesla Motors Inc., sell directly to consumers."
• Tesla Sales Model Upsetting Traditional Auto Dealers—"Tesla's Musk is focusing his attention right where it should be focused: on the well-being of his customers. If his behavior is threatening to the status quo, then those defending the status quo ought to be looking at changing their behavior rather than running to government for protection."
• Texas to Tesla: You Can't Sell Your Cars Here… But Can We Have Your Battery Plant?—Perry may be making moves.
• Fake Tesla Ad Is Better Than Most Car Ads We've Seen (Even Elon Musk Loves It)

Haxx0red

• Attackers to Basecamp: If you ever want to get back online, pay us or else—"Site fights back against extortion-motivated denial-of-service assaults."
• Judge Refuses to Dismiss Confession, Evidence in Reuters Employee Hacking Case
• ATM malware, controlled by a text message, spews cash

NSA Spying and Surveillance

• White House to propose law to end NSA bulk collection of phone data—"Phone companies will keep data, provided only with new court's order."
• Greenwald: Obama’s New NSA Proposal and Democratic Partisan Hackery—"As for the substantive reform, the fact that the President is now compelled to pose as an advocate for abolishing this program – the one he and his supporters have spent 10 months hailing – is a potent vindication of Edward Snowden’s acts and the reporting he enabled."
• After Reports on N.S.A., China Urges End to Spying—"The Chinese called on the United States to explain its actions after news reports said that the N.S.A. had hacked into the computer systems of Huawei, a telecommunications company." They probably didn't like Obama's answer. NYT
• Schneier: An Open Letter to IBM's Open Letter—IBM claims it's committed in maintaining trust with their clients (does that include the US government?).

St. Paddy's Not-so-Gay Day; NSA Spying, Surveillance State; Your Rights Online, UK Filters; SOPA, Copyfight; Mobile Phones, Broadband; Tesla; Unfriendly Skies; Trains-portation

St. Paddy's Not-so-Gay Day

• Boston mayor skips St. Patrick's parade over exclusion of gay group—Instead, there was a 'diversity float'.
• Guinness pulls out of NY's St. Patrick's parade over ban on gays
• Irish ask: What's the big deal about letting gays in St. Pat's parades?
• Fox News' Defense Of Anti-Gay Discrimination At NYC's St. Patrick's Day Parade
• PSA: Paddy Not Patty

NSA Spying

• Compare the NSA's Facebook Malware Denial to its Own Secret Documents
• Intel panel 'very close' on killing NSA phone programs Politico
• IBM denies links with NSA spying program

Surveillance State

• Lawmaker 'taken aback' by CIA's tough response to spying allegations
• U.S. intelligence officials to monitor federal employees with security clearances
• US defends surveillance before UN rights panel—How the mighty have fallen.

Your Rights Online

• The US is an 'enemy of the internet'
• U.S. to Cede Its Oversight of Addresses on Internet—"An international group, not yet determined, will take over the task of assigning names and numbers for Internet addresses." This may lead to more censorship pressure from governments cracking down on free speech. NYT
• EU: Data Protection, NSA Votes Won; Net Neutrality Next
• Russia: Vladimir Putin stamps on his citizens again, this time with Internet censorship
• Australia: Attorney General's new war on encrypted web services—They want everyone's web browsing history.
• Philippines: Block child porn websites, NTC orders Internet providers—Start of the slippery slope.

UK Filters

• No 10 aide arrested over child porn: Police quiz 62-year-old who advised Cameron on web filters and was tipped for peerage
• The Best Story Yet About The UK's Online Porn Filters
• Children can turn off net filters, report finds
• UK pornographers launch new site in response to 'overblocking' internet filters
• UK gov wants 'unsavoury' web content censored
• Turns Out UK Government Only Wishes It Had Special Powers To Censor YouTube

SOPA

• SOPA backers seek to restrict online rights again -- but this time outside the law
• The Rebranding Of SOPA: Now Called 'Notice And Staydown'
• Hollywood's Copyright Lobbyists Are Like Exes Who Won't Give Up

Copyfight

• Copyright Group: Chilling Effects DMCA Archive is "Repugnant"—"If it wasn't for the Chilling Effects DMCA clearing house the actions of those abusing the DMCA would go largely unreported. Still, the Copyright Alliance doesn't like the site, this week describing the information resource as "repugnant" to the DMCA. Unsurprisingly, Chilling Effects sees things differently."
• U.S. Court Orders Seizure of "DVD Ripping" Software Domains and Funds
• Popcorn Time Is Back

Mobile Phones

• Mobile phone 'bill shock' driving victims into debt, Citizens Advice warns—"Charity says 130,000 people contacted it last year for help with unexpected high bills, often caused by error or roaming charges."
• Legislation abolishing roaming charges goes through European parliament—"Mobile phone operators say that domestic charges may increase as a result of ban, which will come into force in December 2015."
• EU Parliament votes in favour of universal mobile phone charger—Applies to plugs, but manufacturers still want to lock in the connector.

Broadband

• Telecom Giants Drag Their Feet on Broadband for the Whole Country
• Nearly one in three American households have no choice when it comes to their internet
• Two simple maps show us how Comcast is about to take over the country
• $5 discount to give up unlimited data? Time Warner Cable customers say "no"
• If You Want To Fix U.S. Broadband Competition, Start By Killing State-Level Protectionist Laws Written By Duopolists
• Google's gigabit gambit isn't going away—"Opinion: Google Fiber appears to be gaining momentum."
• San Antonio City Council OKs Google Fiber contract

Tesla

• Tesla sales will be banned in New Jersey starting April 1st—So much for Christie and the 'free market'.
• Auto dealers push legislation to keep Tesla Motors out of Ohio
• Washington DC: Legislature acts to allow Tesla to sell cars directly—"Tesla can continue to sell cars directly to customers under amended bills passed in the state House and Senate, but it will be the only car manufacturer with that privilege."
• New Jersey Bans Tesla to Ensure Buying a Car Will Always Suck
• Tesla CEO Rips New Jersey Over 'Backroom Deal' Auto Sales Ban
• Car Dealers Are Terrified of Tesla's Plan to Eliminate Oil Changes
• Tesla's 'Gigafactory' sets off 4-state bidding war

Unfriendly Skies

• Asiana Airlines Penalized Over Crash—"In the first penalty of its kind, federal transportation officials on Tuesday docked Asiana Airlines $500,000 for failing to promptly contact passengers' families and keep them informed about their loved ones after a deadly crash last year at San Francisco International airport."
• Airline Pet Handlers Speak Out Against Alleged Animal Neglect—"Two whistleblowers describe chronic, dangerous neglect in United's PetSafe program."
• Louisiana man fined $600 after drunken fight with wife aboard flight
• Why 2,000 passengers just rioted at an airport in China
• Southwest passenger screams for booze, throws gang signs 'for Jesus,' forces PDX landing, court documents show

Trains-portation

• Barcelona-Paris high speed rail link launched
• Japan wants to sell its super-fast levitating trains to the US
• This Insane Chinese Concept Train Doesn't Need To Stop At Stations To Pick Up Passengers

Comcast Merger, Broadband and Wireless; Copyfight and Piracy; Patent Trolls; Digital Life, Tech Death; CIA Senate Spying; Snowden, SXSW, Surveillance and Privacy, Media and Whistleblowers, Cybersecurity

Comcast Merger

• Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal to face antitrust probe
• Time Warner Cable Deal Sets Comcast's D.C. Lobbying Machine in Motion
• Comcast spreads cash wide on Capitol Hill Politico
• Top Official Can't Rule on Cable Merger—"The Justice Department official, William Baer, represented NBCUniversal during its takeover by Comcast and is therefore forbidden from considering the merger." NYT
• Our Rights Shouldn't Come with an Expiration Date

Broadband and Wireless

• In Tennessee, four bills seek to reverse restrictions on public broadband—"Telco lobby angry about prospect of facing competition."
• Frustrated Cities Take High-Speed Internet Into Their Own Hands
• This is why Verizon gets away with charging customers more money
• Our $7 Billion Emergency LTE Network Appears Stuck In Corrupt, Bureaucratic Purgatory
• Ultra-fast 5G broadband to download a film in less than ONE SECOND
• True Detective Finale Crashes HBO GO—Took them 3.5 hours to come back online.
• Why a Netflix Price Increase Is Inevitable

Copyfight and Piracy

• US Solicitor General's Office, Run By Former Top MPAA Lawyer, Shockingly Sides With Broadcasters Over Aereo
• The world's largest photo service just made its pictures free to use—"Getty Images is betting their business on embeddable photos."
• 'Candy' Trademark Bully King Gets Trolled In Exquisite Fashion By 'Trademarkville'
• Popcorn Time Is So Good at Movie Piracy, It's Scary
• Dutch Supreme Court Agrees To Let Rights Group Collect Back 'You Must Be A Pirate' Taxes On Mp3 Players And Hard Drives

Patent Trolls

• Stalking trolls—"Intellectual property: After being blamed for stymying innovation in America, vague and overly broad patents on software and business processes could get the chop."
• Congress gets out club for patent 'trolls'
• Nintendo and HTC score a win against patent trolls
• German court dismisses $2 billion patent troll claim against Apple
• EFF goes to court, quashes patent troll's attempt to grab donor names—"Podcasting patent troll sought 1,300 EFF donor names; it's getting zero."

Digital Life

• 15 Theses About the Digital Future
• Study: 11% of Americans Think HTML Is an STD
• Keurig Insists Coffee DRM Brings 'Interactive-Enabled Benefits' And Is For Your Own Safety—Keep bullshitting.
• Yahoo will block Google and Facebook accounts from accessing its services
• Mozilla anger over Dell Firefox fee—Charging users to install the free browser.

Tech Death

• History's 15 Worst Named Tech Products
• RadioShack closing 1,100 stores after dismal holidays
• How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing—"In the early '90s, Quark boasted 95% market share. In '99, InDesign arrived..."

CIA Senate Spying

• Feinstein: CIA searched Intelligence Committee computers—"Head of intelligence panel said agency appears to have violated Constitution and federal laws." What's Dianne complaining about? Isn't that what she's enabling the NSA to do anyway on ordinary citizens? WaPo
• Snowden accuses Senate intelligence chair of hypocrisy over CIA disclosures—"NSA whistleblower accuses Dianne Feinstein of double standards, pointing out her lack of concern about widespread surveillance of ordinary citizens."
• How CIA snooped on Senate Intel Committee's files—"It's easy to search someone's network when you hired the IT department."
• Why Does Congress Lack the Backbone to Oversee the CIA?—"The spy agency should pay a price for its intransigence. But not enough legislators are willing to defend the oversight role of their colleagues."
• Behind Clash Between C.I.A. and Congress, a Secret Report on Interrogations—"A dispute over a classified C.I.A. report has led to a bitter fight between the agency and the Senate Intelligence Committee, with each side accusing the other of spying on it." NYT
• CIA: We Only Spied On Senate Intelligence Committee Because They Took Classified Documents That Prove We're Liars
• The CIA has brought darkness to America by fighting in the shadows—"After 9/11 the agency was given free rein to break the rules but when allowed to play dirty abroad, it's difficult to stop at home."

Snowden

• Snowden: I raised NSA concerns internally over 10 times before going rogue WaPo
• Snowden Gives Testimony To European Parliament Inquiry Into Mass Surveillance, Asks For EU Asylum
• Snowden has shown the 'huge disparity of surveillance and power', says Gellman—"Government needs reminding that they work for us, says Pulitzer-winning reporter Barton Gellman, who describes Edward Snowden as ending an era of indifference to surveillance."
• Edward Snowden is Becoming the Face of Leadership in America—"He may not even be allowed back on American soil, but Edward Snowden is becoming a pioneer for an America that is finally beginning to value information and transparency over pride and fear."
• Weirdest Snowden leak yet: The NSA has an advice columnist—"'Ask Zelda' column was a favorite among staffers."

SXSW

• Kill the Snowden interview, congressman tells SXSW—"Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo wants organizers of South by Southwest Interactive to back out of their scheduled video conference interview of Edward Snowden." Fat chance.
• Edward Snowden speaks at SXSW, calls for public oversight of U.S. spy programs—And of Congress itself.
• Edward Snowden: 'They're setting fire to the future of the Internet' WaPo

Surveillance and Privacy

• Court Rejects NSA Bid to Hold Phone Data Longer—"A federal surveillance court has rejected the Obama administration's bid to hold onto millions of phone records beyond the current five-year limit."
• Julian Assange: 'We're heading towards a dystopian surveillance society'—"Wikileaks' founder Julian Assange joins Alex Wagner to discuss society 'heading towards surveillance totalitarianism,' his exile, censorship and why Edward Snowden 'has become a symbol.'"
• Digital surveillance: How you're being tracked every day
• Disney Bets $1 Billion on Technology to Track Theme-Park Visitors
• Judge orders Internet commenter's name revealed

Media and Whistleblowers

• Outgoing NSA chief hints at 'media leaks legislation' Politico
• The Guardian's Alan Rusbridger: 'It's Essential to Be Paranoid' NYT
• I got 30 months in prison. Why does Leon Panetta get a pass?—"The Espionage Act should be rewritten to deal with issues of intent and motive, and it should be enforced equally."

Cybersecurity

• Embarrassing stories shed light on U.S. officials' technological ignorance—"One U.S. official asked what an ISP is in preparation for cybersecurity negotiations with China."
• Why Your Mobile Device Isn't As Secure As You Think
• Stop Glorifying Hackers—"I would not learn for nine months that within my short, oblivious interval of defenselessness Guccifer had managed to capture a passwords list I had Gmailed to myself at the office." Maybe she should stop doing stuff like that in the first place.
• HTTPS can't be trusted to obscure private online activity
• Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless, say sons—Sound like a necessary CYA on Apple's part.

The Net, Comcast Merger, Broadband; Digital Life; Windows H8.1; Apple; Facebook; Copyfight, Piracy; Apps; Patents; Ukraine

The Net

• The internet is fucked
• The Year We Broke the Internet
• Americans Would Give Up TV Before Internet
• Thirteen percent of U.S. adults say they don't use the Internet WaPo
• AT&T and Time Warner Cable ranked worst in customer service survey

Comcast Merger

• What's Wrong With the Comcast/Time Warner Merger—"If it's not blocked, a single corporation will be able to dictate digital communications and media content for decades to come."
• Comcast takes lobbying to new heights
• From the desk of a former FCC Commissioner—"Journalists need to generate a national discussion on the future of the internet.

Broadband

• ISPs Want To Destroy The Internet: Spread This Message So We Can Stop Them
• Broadband rage – symptom of a slow, patchy and expensive service—"Complaints are rising, with rural areas poorly served by fast broadband, but there are ways to try improving your service."
• Verizon says gamers should pay more for bandwidth

Digital Life

• Everything's Amazing And Nobody's Happy—"You are living in an age of wonders, says commentator Adam Frank. Every day we take part in activities that once seemed like the realm of science fiction. So why are you so dissatisfied?"
• Happy ending: @N has been restored to its rightful owner—Better late than @Never.
• Watch out for this Netflix "tech support" scam—"A security researcher has found an new twist on the traditional security hoodwink."

Windows H8.1

• Windows 8.1 update coming in spring, to improve controls, allow lower end hardware—And there's talk that there'll be a free version with Bing.
• Users mock Microsoft for asking their help on XP-to-Windows 8.1 upgrades—"After company's plea, users point out that upgrading XP to Windows 8.1 is 'impossible.'"
• Microsoft misjudges customer loyalty with kill-XP plea—"Expert questions Microsoft's strategic sense, calls XP upgrades a shakedown worthy of the 'Sopranos'."
• Windows XP will still get security support in China
• Windows XP: What to expect once Microsoft shuts down support

Apple

• Tim Cook Angrily Rejects Political Proposal Asking for Profits-First Policies—Climate change deniers can suck it.
• Apple CarPlay to bring iPhone experience to your next car's dashboard
• Sapphire crystal screens: why Apple is interested in a gemstone
• Apple wants US court to throw out 'radical' ebooks ruling
• Apple Maps sends skiers down dead-end road to fed-up homeowner
• Apple's Steve Jobs Memorial Statue Has Been Unveiled And ... It's Hideous—Not easy to defend.
• How to photograph a leaked Apple product

Facebook

• This Man's $600,000 Facebook Disaster Is A Warning For All Small Businesses
• How Facebook Exploits Underage Girls In Its Quest For Ad Revenue
• Bratty Teen's Facebook Post Cost Her Father $80,000

Copyfight

• Lawrence Lessig Wins Damages For Bogus YouTube Takedown
• 'To Kill A Mockingbird' Author Settles Copyright Suit Against Hometown Museum
• Candy Crush creator abandons 'candy' trademark efforts—In the US, but not in the EU.
• Keurig Will Use DRM In New Coffee Maker To Lock Out Refill Market
• Google Loses Emergency Bid To Keep "Innocence Of Muslims" Film Online
• Rep. Goodlatte Slips Secret Change Into Phone Unlocking Bill That Opens The DMCA Up For Wider Abuse
• House passes cellphone-unlocking bill with controversial limit on bulk reselling
• MPAA Shifts Its Funding Efforts To Republicans After SOPA Defeat
• Obama Nominates SOPA Lobbyist for TPP Trade Post

Piracy

• YouTube Ordered to Remove "Illegal" Copyright Blocking Notices
• MPAA's latest anti-piracy move accidentally, completely screws Hollywood studios
• Police Raid "Movie Cammer" and Family Twice - Then Drop All Charges
• "Dallas Buyers Club" Makers Censor Comcast On Demand, By Mistake
• Dotcom raid legal, FBI taking evidence not—"Police raids on Kim Dotcom's mansion in 2012 have been declared legal, but FBI removal of electronic information seized in the search was an unauthorised breach, the Court of Appeal has found."

Apps

• App-pocalypse Now—"I'm getting pretty sick of being nagged to install your damn apps."
• Europe invites Apple, Google to discuss 'in-app' purchases
• "Free-to-play" misleading advertising in Europe

Patents

• U.S. top court considers the 'patent troll' problem WaPo
• Inventor who shocked tech world stumped by 43-year patent delay
• Nokia, HTC End Patent Disputes, Begin Partnership

Ukraine

• Ukraine must exercise restraint in the face of Russian aggression WaPo
• G7 condemns Russia military build-up
• Russia blocks web pages linked to Ukraine protests Salon
• US concedes Russia has control of Crimea and seeks to contain Putin
• Poland's Tusk says must stop Crimea crisis expanding to regional conflict
• U.S. Spies Said No Russian Invasion of Ukraine — Putin Disagreed—"A day after U.S. intelligence said there would be no Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin’s troops started coming over the border."