CISPA, Surveillance, Your Rights Online, Privacy, Tech Tracking; Wikileaks; Copyfight; Down Under, Overpriced

CISPA

• It's Official: CISPA is back.
• CISPA Claws Back to Life
• CISPA is Back: Dangerous Cybersecurity Legislation Threatens Online Privacy

Surveillance

• Meet the American Company Helping Governments Spy on "Billions" of Communications
• Software that tracks people on social media created by defence firm—"Raytheon's Riot program mines social network data like a 'Google for spies', drawing ire from civil rights groups."
• US Authorities Can Access iCloud Data Stored by Non-American Citizens Without a Warrant
• FBI Files Unlock History Behind Clandestine Cellphone Tracking Tool
• Canada: Conservatives killing off controversial Internet surveillance bill

Your Rights Online

• European Court Of Human Rights: No, Copyright Does Not Automatically Trump Freedom Of Expression
• EU data law draft uses language—word-for-word—from US, EU corporations
• Arizona Politician Parodied By Fake Twitter Accounts Pushes Bill To Make Online Impersonation A Felony
• Politician moves to make vulgar Photoshopping illegal—"A state lawmaker in Georgia is so perturbed that someone used Photoshop to put his head on a porn star's body that he now wants any kind of lewd Photoshopping to be banned. "No one has a right to make fun of anyone," he says." Butthurt.
• Russia Uses New Internet Censorship Bill To Silence Prominent Reporters Who Criticized The Government
• Internet 'Under Assault' by Censoring UN, Regulator Says
• White House Owes Response To Petition To Fire Prosecutor Of Aaron Swartz And Other Hackers

Privacy

• Why I'm unfriending you on Facebook—"My specific concern with Facebook is what NYU Professor Helen Nissenbaum calls a lack of 'contextual integrity,' – which is a fancy way of saying that when I share information with a certain group or friend on Facebook, I am often surprised by where the data ends up."
• Government watchdog: warrantless laptop searches at border are A-OK
• Homeland Security: Not Searching Your Laptop Doesn't Benefit Your Civil Liberties, So We Can Do It
• OkCupid's New Venture, Combosaurus, Worries Privacy Advocates
• Maryland landlord used tiny cameras to sexually spy on tenants

Tech Tracking

• Path Reaches Settlement with FTC Over Address Book Privacy Concerns
• Google Play privacy slip-up sends app buyers' personal details to developers
• Facebook: We do track logged-out users, but trust us

Wikileaks

• Julian Assange files formal application to run for Australian Senate—Says it's his ticket to freedom.
• Jemima Khan: Julian Assange risks becoming 'Australian L Ron Hubbard'—"Former close supporter of WikiLeaks founder accuses him of obfuscation, misinformation and demanding blinkered devotion."
• Icelandic MP who released WikiLeaks video plans US visit despite legal threat—"Birgitta Jónsdóttir says she has held back from visiting long enough and plans tour to express support for Bradley Manning."

Copyfight

• Keep Megaupload out of our server seizure case, US lawyers say—"They don't want Megaupload to "pre-litigate" its criminal case via Kyle Goodwin."
• Copyright Lobby Groups Want Canada Back on Piracy Watch List
• IP Address Snapshots Not Sufficient Evidence To File Infringement Suit; Prenda Lawyer Faces Sanctions
• Sony Rootkit Redux: Canadian Business Groups Lobby For Right To Install Spyware on Your Computer
• Fall of SOPA explained in 3 minute video
• Site plagiarizes blog posts, then files DMCA takedown on originals—Wow.
• North Korea propaganda taken off YouTube after Activision complaint
• Don't Copyright Me launches to protect US schoolkids' homework
• GameStop: 60% of customers won't buy console that doesn't play used games
• Games Workshop trademark bullying goes thermonuclear: now they say you can't use "space marine" in science fiction

Down Under; Overpriced

• 2011: Online retailing: The Great Australian Gouge
• 2012: Aussies gouged on tech prices, inquiry hears
• 2013: Apple, Microsoft, Adobe Called By Lawmakers To Defend Higher Prices In Australia—A reporter says that "if you chose to fly to the United States to purchase CS6 Master Collection you would save AU$228 over buying a digital copy locally, and it's a whole AU$684 cheaper than buying a boxed copy."

Talk Like a Pirate Day, Language, Tech Effect, Curses, Irony, Cleverest Letdowns Barbarise, Penny Arcade

Talk Like a Pirate Day: 10th Anniversary

Language

• Vanishing Languages--"One language dies every 14 days. By the next century nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favor of English, Mandarin, or Spanish. What is lost when a language goes silent?"
• English language 'originated in Turkey'
• Language X is essentially language Y under conditions Z
• Vowel Movement--"How Americans near the Great Lakes are radically changing the sound of English."
• xkcd: Cautionary Ghost

Tech Effect

• Using YouTube comments, tweets and IMs to teach English composition
• Tu and Twitter: Is it the end for 'vous' in French?
• Google Translate vs. Latin Dummy Text

Curses

• Behind the killing of a pregnant woman--"We have yet to be convinced that the policeman was really trying to stop a citizen from using indecent language and that upholding the law in this case was of such paramount interest to him that not even her state of defenceless and of advanced pregnancy could have deterred him."
• F-bomb makes it into mainstream dictionary
• How America Swears: Here's a Heatmap Tracking Twitter Profanity
• Dear Apple, please will you let me say s***?
• Sex, violence and swearing on film: 100 years of the BBFC--"From counting f-words to examining hours of graphic gore, the British Board of Film Classification reveals the secrets of a century of rating, cutting and occasionally banning movies."

Irony

• Isn't It Ironic? Probably Not
• Americans don't appear to have a clue about irony
• Ed Byrne slates Alanis Morissette

Cleverest Letdowns Barbarise

• Group: Scrabble Player Caught Cheating at US Event--"One of the top young Scrabble players in the country has been kicked out of the game's national championship tournament in Florida after he was caught hiding blank letter tiles..." Scrabble is sirius bizness.
• Poem which uses all 100 Scrabble tiles
• With Or Without U - IS THAT A WORD?--Sesame Street-worthy.

Penny Arcade

• The Globfather
• The Brute Force Method
• Adjudicator

Relationships, Sex Studies, Sex Toys, Men's Health, Junk, Masturbation, Pr0n

Relationships

• Husband spent £50,000 gameshow winnings in just four months so he wouldn't have to share it with his estranged wife
• In defense of single people--"They're pitied. They're judged. But it's time to give them more respect." Salon
• Overly Attached Girlfriend--Something about this meme I just find so hilarious.

Sex Studies

• Scientist Says NASA Must Study Space Sex
• Sex, Sleep and the Law: When Nocturnal Genitals Pose a Moral Dilemma
• "What happens in the brain during an orgasm?"

Sex Toys

• Sex toys and porn: Can they both change to meet women's needs?
• Grand theft porno: £11k worth of sex toys stolen
• Blast from the Past: Russian bomb squad called in to defuse sex toy

Men's Health

• Circumcision pluses outweigh risks: Pediatricians--Canadians do not agree.
• Every man's favorite sex study--"The headlines were provocative: Semen cures depression! But the study is 10 years old, and far from conclusive." Salon
• Male Birth Control Pill Could Be Ready for Testing in a Year

Junk

• Woman Denies Killing Man With Penis Growth Jab
• The Penises of the Icelandic Handball Team
• At Least We Know Which Side Batman Dresses On
• The David Shorts Store--Michaelangelo's David, that is.
• Dilbert: "This is nuts"

Masturbation

• The court ruled in her favor and now she can masturbate at work
• Satire: Azeri Teenagers Jailed for Masturbation Using Kim Kardashian Photo
• Jehovah Witnesses anti-masturbation video mash-up--Enjoy it before the copyright cops have it taken down.

Pr0n

• U.K. seriously considering "opt-in" policy for online porn
• Pornography is just 'advertising' for prostitution, claims Louis Theroux
• A generation is growing up skewed by internet pornography, court hears, as 12-year-old who raped a schoolgirl is spared jail
• Three Reasons Possession Of Child Porn Must Be Re-Legalized In The Coming Decade--Here's a follow-up.
• Judge sides with porn P2P plaintiff, setting up legal showdown
• German 'porn pirates' to be named--"A German law firm that has been pursuing net pirates says it is going to begin naming some of those accused."
• xkcd: Porn Folder

'Legitimate Rape', The Onion, Abortion and Birth Control, Planned Parenthood, "Honour" Killings

'Legitimate Rape'

• Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of 'Legitimate Rape' Don't Get Pregnant--"Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape with a claim that victims of 'legitimate rape' have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy." What do you think? (The Onion)
• Missouri Rep. Todd Akin says he 'misspoke' on rape and pregnancy--He claims he meant to say "forcible rape."
• Obama On Todd Akin: 'Rape Is Rape'--"And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."
• CNN Host Makes Most of Akin’s No-Show--"When Representative Todd Akin abruptly cancelled an interview with Piers Morgan on Monday night, Mr. Morgan trotted out an empty chair instead." Piers also called Akin a "gutless little twerp" for not keeping his promise to appear on the show. NYT
• Thank you, Todd Akin--"The candidate exposed his party's misogyny, and the swift backlash is reason for defenders of women to celebrate." Salon

The Onion

• Republicans Condemn Akin's Comments As Blemish On Party's Otherwise Spotless Women's Rights Record
• Pregnant Woman Relieved To Learn Her Rape Was Illegitimate
• Akin: I Misspoke—What I Meant To Say Is 'I Am Dumb As Dog Shit And I Am A Terrible Human Being'

Abortion and Birth Control

• Pregnant teen dies after abortion ban delays her chemo treatment for leukemia--Pro-life kills. The Dominican Republic's constitutional amendment declares 'life begins at conception', but this just ended up killing the mother.
• Louisiana Department Of Education Orders School To Drop Ban On Pregnant Students--A public school planned to force pregnancy tests on its students.
• Health Care Reform Leaves Out Young Pregnant Women
• Komen president resigning, founder shifting roles
• Millions Lost: Rush Limbaugh Continues To Be Bad For Business
• Philippines: Catholic bishop goes after Ateneo professors for heresy--They warned other schools they'd be stripped of their status if they supported the Reproductive Health bill. 
• I Wish My Mother Had Aborted Me--"Lynn Beisner explains the difference between the two phrases 'The best choice for both my mother and me would have been abortion' and 'I wish I had never been born.'"

Planned Parenthood

• Actress Elizabeth Banks: Romney won't help women with 'a heavy flow'
• Texas Loses Entire Women's Health Program Over Planned Parenthood Law
• Kansas: All charges dropped against Planned Parenthood

"Honour" Killings

• Pakistani wife in disputed marriage gunned down in court by her brother
• UK court jails parents for life over honor killing of teen daughter
• Punjab girl hires contract killers to eliminate parents for opposing her marriage--"The girl, Manpreet Kaur, wanted to kill her parents and brother as they objected to her decesion of marrying her beau, who was already married." That's a new twist.