Alan Turing; Tech Life; Net Neutrality and Telcos; Bad for Business; Bitcoin; Patents; Social Media; Online Text; Clickbait; Music

Alan Turing

• What was Alan Turing really like?
• Computer becomes first to pass Turing Test in artificial intelligence milestone, but academics warn of dangerous future
• No, A 'Supercomputer' Did NOT Pass The Turing Test For The First Time And Everyone Should Know Better

Tech Life

• With the Americas running out of IPv4, it's official: The Internet is full
• Dot Whine: France Angry Over .Vin Domain Names
• House committee approves permanent Internet tax moratorium
• The richest man in Vegas has declared war on internet gamblers—"Eighty-year-old billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson hates email, doesn't text, and wants to stop you from betting online."
• Uber isn't the problem; taxi regulations are

Net Neutrality and Telcos

• Father of "net neutrality" runs for office, wants to block Comcast/TWC merger—"Tim Wu, running for Lt. Governor in New York, says 'cable prices are too high.'" Tim Wu is Tim woof, in more ways than one.
• Democrats unveil legislation forcing the FCC to ban Internet fast lanes—"Leahy and Matsui's proposed ban on fast lanes would apply only to the connections between consumers and their ISPs — the part of the Internet governed by the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules." The real issue is between ISPs and content providers, but this does trickle down to consumers. WaPo
• AT&T claims 'strong' net neutrality would actually ruin the Internet. That's a big leap.—It's bullshit, that's what it is. WaPo
• What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality
• Many Verizon DSL and AT&T customers not getting speeds they pay for
• T-Mobile's CEO Went Off Last Night And Said AT&T And Verizon Are 'F------' That Are 'Raping You'

Bad for Business

• Mobile crammers settle case, forfeit $10M in assets, including Bentley
• Intel forced to pay record $1.4 billion fine for unfair sales tactics
• Chinese site in signal-jammer sting could pay record $34.9M FCC fine—"CTS boldly—and falsely—claimed that some of its jammers were approved by the FCC...."
• Apple settles e-book price fixing class action suit, dodges possible $840M in claims

Bitcoin

• One Bitcoin group now controls 51% of total mining power, threatening entire currency's safety
• Mt. Gox CEO Returns to Twitter, Infuriates Burned Investors
• US Marshal CCs, rather than BCCs, those interested in anonymous Bitcoin auction

Patents

• Supreme Court smashes "do it on a computer" patents in 9-0 opinion—"Court declines to stop software patents altogether."
• The Supreme Court doesn't understand software, and that's a problem
• Patent trolls take their toll—"Patent trolls are, in a sense, legal extortion. These entities, which do not produce a product or sell a service, are set up only to bring about patent infringement lawsuits in hopes of collecting a payday."

Social Media

• The FBI Built the Most Comprehensive List of Twitter Slang We've Ever Seen
• CLAIM: Harvard Has 3.3 Million Facebook Fans And 'About Three Million Of These Are Fakes'
• This Is What Your Facebook Profile Really Says About You
• ABA: Lawyers can scour jurors' social media sites

Online Text

• After Forty-Seven Years, Computerworld, Tech Publishing's Elder Statesman, is a Print Publication No More
• German publishers want an 11 percent cut of Google News
• Journamalism: Google Gesture-edition
• Wikipedia creates new rules, forcing editors to disclose if they're paid—"Change comes after a few high-profile instances of articles-for-hire."

Clickbait

• You Have No Idea What's Behind These Clickbait Headlines! So I'll Tell You!
• A New Weapon In Upworthy's Unlikely War On Clickbait
• The Way One Man Is Waging War On Clickbait Will Blow Your Mind
• The Onion: ClickHole—"Because all content deserves to go viral."

Music

• It Doesn't Matter That Amazon's Music Streaming Service Is Lame
• T-Mobile's 'Music Freedom' is a great feature — and a huge problem
• YouTube to block indie labels who don't sign up to new music service

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

Family Day, Domestic Disputes, Husbands and Wives, Parenting, Twins, Reunions; Net Neutrality, Speed Bumps, Trouble with Telcos, Comcast-TWC Merger

Family Day

• Teen, upset at not getting iPhone for Xmas, allegedly pulls knife on dad
• Oakland teen accused of killing sister surrenders to police
• Son obsessed with TV serial killer Dexter murdered his mum in 'appallingly savage' knife attack

Domestic Disputes

• Police: Wife tried to frame husband for porn
• Man killed wife, parrot because they talked too much
• Man assaulted and locked wife in shed after she kept singing 'ding dong, the witch is dead' when his mother died
• Nagging could drive men to an early grave, study suggests
• Dear Prudence: My mother-in-law found out my baby's sex against my wishes—And then told everyone

Husbands and Wives

• Time capsule unearths heartache, joy for Scottsdale man
• Why We Cheat—"Spouses in happy marriages have affairs. What are we all looking for?"
• Wife Dies, Husband Wins Lottery Next Day—Looking out for him one last time?

Parenting

• Touching, Unguarded Portraits of Sleeping Parents-to-Be
• Louis C.K. Gives Parenting Advice to Jimmy Fallon
• Parents to share childcare leave for up to year, says Nick Clegg—"The government has committed to introducing a year of shared leave for new parents by April 2015."

Twins

• Twinsters—'Adopted, raised on different continents and connected through social media, Samantha and Anaïs realized they might be twins separated at birth."
• Stunning Photos Of Identical Twins As Grown-Ups Show How Fate Takes Its Course
• Dear Prudence: My twin brother had a one-night stand, gave her my name, and now we're dating.

Reunions

• Co-workers discover they're brothers
• Man Finds Long-Lost Sibling…at Walmart
• Missing N.Y. man reunites with family after they spot him in AP photo WaPo
• How Facebook found Hailey: Why this Seattle parent shared her search for her teen

Net Neutrality

• The FCC is pretending to back down from its controversial net neutrality plan
• FCC Net-Neutrality Plan in Chaos
• Sanders sends FCC 19K comments protesting 'fast lane' plan—"Whether you run a huge website or a small blog, you should have equal access to Internet users without paying a ransom to providers like Comcast."
• Let's Dissect The Cable Industry's Latest B.S. Argument Against Net Neutrality
• FCC vote on 'net neutrality' will kick off long battle
• America's biggest internet providers urge FCC not to turn their networks into public utilities—"Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and AT&T all agree, which can't be good news."
• Top ISPs threaten to innovate less, spend less on network upgrades—All scare tactics.
• Comcast gave Republican leader 4x more money than Google. Now he opposes net neutrality
• How Big Cable is organizing against net neutrality
• FCC approves plan to consider paid priority on Internet—Thanks Obama! WaPo

Speed Bumps

• Sen. Al Franken Calls For #NoSlowLane
• Yes, Your Internet Is Getting Slower—"Your provider likes it that way. And the government doesn't care."
• Google to Name and Shame ISPs With YouTube Buffering Issues
• Netflix Streams Faster in Canada than the US
• Fast Internet Is Chattanooga's New Locomotive—"Internet service that is inexpensive and lightning quick has allowed the city to attract high-tech businesses, talent and capital." NYT

Trouble with Telcos

• Verizon, AT&T leaving landline phone networks to rot, complaint says
• Opting Out of AT&T's 'Gigapower' Snooping is Comically Expensive
• Comcast plans data caps for all customers in 5 years, could be 500GB—"Cable company already enforces 300GB limit in seven states."

Comcast-TWC Merger

• Time Warner Cable Makes Hilariously Absurd Argument For Comcast Merger
• Full Page Comcast Ad Tries to Sell Public on Time Warner Deal—"At the top of the list is 'net neutrality protection.'" More like protection rocket is what that is.
• This TV Megamerger Would Actually Be Anti-Competitive

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

International Day Against DRM

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

Patents

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

Net Neutrality

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

NSA Spying

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

Surveillance and Privacy

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

Haxx0red

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

Digital Life

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

Tech Death

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

Tesla

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

GM

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

Reviews

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

Unfriendly Skies

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

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

Copyfight

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

Patent Trolls

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

Digital Life

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

IT Jobs

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

Haxx0red

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

Your Rights Online

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

Tech Corruption

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

Broadband and Wireless

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

Comcast-TWC Merger

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

Streaming

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

MH370

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

Planes

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

Trains

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

Automobiles

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

Tesla

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

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.