TPP, Copyfight, DMCA Abuse, FixUbuntu; Facebook, GooTube+, Tech Tracking; It's a Spy, Spy, Spy, Spy World; Surveillance and Privacy; Typhoon Haiyan

TPP

• How Can the New York Times Endorse an Agreement the Public Can't Read?
• The "Largest Corporate Power Grab You've Never Heard Of"
• US patent moves are 'profoundly bad' in leaked TPP treaty—"In new agreement, Obama sides with locked phones and Big Pharma."
• Critics say U.S. is going too far to protect drug companies in trade talks
• Secret treaty leaks, Mexico wants copyright extended even more than US does—"Trans-Pacific Partnership could also threaten Aereo's entire business model."
• US wants to criminalise breaking region codes
• Secret Trade Pact Will Spread U.S. Copyright Rules Abroad
• TPP Leak Confirms the Worst: US Negotiators Still Trying to Trade Away Internet Freedoms
• The Most Nefarious Part Of The TPP Proposal: Making Copyright Reform Impossible
• In Letters to Obama, 151 House Democrats, Bloc of GOP Announce Opposition to 'Fast Track' Trade Authority

Copyfight

• YouTube's defeat of copyright owners is final in Premier League case
• Google wins book-scanning case: judge finds "fair use," cites many benefits
• We Must Start Punishing Copyright Monopoly Abuse To At Least Symmetry
• Copyright Extension Goes Into Effect In The UK: More Works Stolen From The Public Domain
• You can't beat politics with technology, says Pirate Bay cofounder Peter Sunde
• MPAA backs anti-piracy curriculum for elementary school students
• Super Soaker creator awarded $72.9M from Hasbro
• Lil' Kim -- Is A Creepy Skull Thief ...Says Makeup Artist
• Publishers want sites to pay for song lyrics, and they have a point
• Why creating memes is illegal in Australia

DMCA Abuse

• Office Depot Sends World's Worst DMCA Notice To Reddit
• Warner Bros: Our False DMCA Takedowns Are Not a Crime
• Copyright Claim by Hammerpoint Interactive - Infestation: Survivor Stories—Bullying criticism into submission.

FixUbuntu

• Canonical "abused trademark law" to target a site critical of Ubuntu privacy—"'Fix Ubuntu' site accused of trademark violation, asked to change domain name."
• Mark Shuttleworth's response—"Last week, the less-than-a-month-at-Canonical new guy sent out the toughest template letter to the folks behind a 'sucks site.'"
• EFF: Trademark Law Does Not Require Companies To Tirelessly Censor the Internet

Facebook

• Facebook defends using profile pictures for facial recognition—"Facebook has defended its plans to use profile pictures to identify members using its controversial facial recognition technology."
• Facebook Reasserts Posts Can Be Used to Advertise—"The company says it made more clear that postings and other personal data can be used in advertising on the site and reiterated that includes information from teenage users." Hide yo kids. NYT
• How Facebook gets rich leveraging personas
• Privacy Group Can Finally Start Work as Facebook Beacon Suit Ends
• Privacy Group Claims Victory in Facebook NSA Prism Spying Case

GooTube+

• YouTube co-founder wonders 'why the fuck' comments require a Google+ account
• YouTubers bring out the big guns in response to Google+ madness
• Backlash against Google Plus is now too big to ignore

Tech Tracking

• Shoppers' faces to be scanned in advertising push at Tesco petrol stations across the UK—Inspired by Minority Report?
• How to Opt Out of Data Tracking on Your Most-Used Sites
• Ghost in the Cloud: Dealing with data after death—Include in your wills: Delete your browser histories.

It's a Spy, Spy, Spy, Spy World

• How the global spy game is changing—"Revelations of US spying on European allies have hurt America's image abroad but won't irreparably damage transatlantic cooperation on intelligence gathering. Here's why."
• Belgium, Netherlands investigate alleged NSA spying on bank payments data
• Germany cooperated with NSA's partner firm for several years
• 'Royal Concierge': GCHQ Monitors Hotel Reservations to Track Diplomats—"Britain's GCHQ intelligence service monitors diplomats' travels using a sophisticated automated system that tracks hotel bookings. Once a room has been identified, it opens the door to a variety of spying options."
• Australia tried to monitor Indonesian president's phone—"Secret documents show Australian spies targeted the mobile calls of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife." Naturally, they're angry.
• UK: Grilling of spy chiefs 'a total pantomime'—"An unprecedented public appearance by UK spy chiefs has been labelled a 'total pantomime' after it emerged that they were told of questions in advance." The Sunday Times
• Threat from NSA leaks may have been overstated by UK, says Lord Falconer—"Ex-lord chancellor defends Guardian reporting of Snowden files and says he's sceptical of warnings from spy agency chiefs."

Surveillance and Privacy

• In Germany, legacy of Stasi puts different perspective on NSA spying—"Decades after the fearsome secret police were disbanded, victims say Stasi did far more damage to lives." WaPo
• Gov't will notify some defendants caught by warrantless wiretaps
• Writers Especially Concerned About NSA Actions—"An organization of writers says that a large majority of its members have 'never been as worried about privacy rights and freedom of the press as they are today.'"
• Silicon Valley Nerds Seek Revenge on NSA Spies With Coding
• Linus was joking about NSA backdoor—"But such government pressure on technologists is all too possible and real." Salon
• NSA grapples with 988% increase in records requests—"The NSA will neither confirm nor deny that it has gathered information on anyone."
• Snowden effect: young people now care about privacy—"Snowden's whistleblowing prompts consumers to heed privacy settings."

Typhoon Haiyan

• This is what Pinoy politicians do during a tragedy—Campaigning by publicizing their pictures on relief goods. Disgusting.
• Philippines: Will aid corruption wreak worse havoc than Typhoon Haiyan?
• Philippine corruption magnifies typhoon's effects

Government Shutdown Day 7, Tea Party, Fucks News, Obamacare, Debt Ceiling; Copyfight, Facebook, iPhone Follies, Valve and Linux; Patent Trolls; Surveillance and Privacy, Gravity

Government Shutdown Day 7

• A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning—"The stand by conservatives that led to the current crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort, waged by a galaxy of well-funded groups, to undo President Obama's health care law." This started right after Obama got reelected. The puppet-masters? The Koch Brothers. NYT
• US shutdown is starting to hit business, says Commerce Secretary
• Dear President Obama: don't cave to the GOP's extortion politics—"The shutdown is political blackmail. If Democrats give in, the GOP will keep putting the US democracy and economy at risk."
• Fareed Zakaria: Government shutdown 'extortion'
• CBS host grills Cornyn: It's like shutting down government and demanding a 'cure for cancer'
• Clueless Republicans hatch incoherent shutdown strategy—"The GOP's fixation on extracting anything from Obama is blinding them to the incoherence of their game plan." Salon
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce backs Republicans who oppose shutdown
• Congressman Doyle Calls on House Republicans to End the Shutdown
• Give Us This Day, Our Daily Senate Scolding—"Senate chaplain shows his disapproval during morning prayer." NYT
• Why The Shutdown Will Last Another Week

Tea Party

• Robert Gibbs: Cruz is the 'Honey Boo Boo' of Washington
• Ted Cruz Says He Has 'Not Remotely' Hurt Republican Image With Shutdown Fight
• Ted Cruz: 'I Didn't Say Republicans Will Win' Shutdown Fight
• Some tea party congressmen find signs of political backlash at home
• Shutdown: The tea party's last stand
• Tea Party radicalism is misunderstood: Meet the "Newest Right"—"Our sense of the force currently paralyzing the government is full of misconceptions -- including what to call it." Salon
• To Understand the Shutdown You Have to Grasp the Mindset of the GOP Base

Fucks News

• The Brainwashing Of My Dad By Limbaugh, Fox & GOP Media
• Fox's Chris Wallace Accuses President Obama Of Trying To "Panic The Markets" Over Debt Ceiling
• Fox Falls For Fake Story About Obama Personally Funding Muslim Museum During Shutdown

Obamacare

• Despite GOP Resistance, Obamacare Competition 'Robust' Among Health Plans
• Some Tea Party-Backed Lawmakers Yield in Obamacare Fight
• GOP Rep. to Rep. Gohmert: We Gave Base 'False Interpretation' That ObamaCare Could be Defeated
• Republicans see shutdown fight shift away from 'Obamacare'
• GOP congressman: We stumbled into war over Obamacare—And Boehner doesn't want to be a casualty.
• Ted Cruz Doubles Down On His Failed Obamacare Strategy—Tying the debt ceiling to Obamacare.
• The Onion: The Republican Party Cannot Stand By And Let Obamacare Destroy This Country

Debt Ceiling

• U.S. Congress enters crucial week in battles over budget, debt limit
• Experts: Be Very, Very Afraid of the Debt Crisis—"Top U.S. officials and economists say the global economy will take a much bigger hit than it did during the recession."
• Lew: 'Congress is playing with fire'
• Goldman: If The Debt Ceiling Isn't Raised And The Treasury Runs Out Of Cash, Then Say Goodbye To 4.2% Of GDP
• U.S. Republicans will not pass 'clean' debt-limit increase: Boehner
• Schumer To Boehner: Prove That A Clean Spending Bill Won't Pass—"Someone goes into your house, takes your wife and children hostage and then, says, let's negotiate over the price of your house."
• White House calls on Boehner to hold vote on 'clean' funding bill
• Boehner: House will not pass bill to re-open government until Obama agrees to negotiate
• House Speaker John Boehner demands cuts for debt limit increase—Only if the cuts are for the military, agriculture subsidies and other corporate welfare baggage.
• Krugman: The Boehner Bunglers—"Don't underestimate the incompetence factor." NYT

Copyfight

• Everybody Let's Stop the TPP: Share These Videos and Spread the Word
• Mozilla Bug Bug 923590 - Pledge never to implement HTML5 DRM
• Record Label Picks Copyright Fight — With The Wrong Guy
• Piracy Isn't Killing The Entertainment Industry, Scholars Show
• Chilean Embassy revokes prize of photo plagiarist—This recidivist, who has a telling history, had appealed to keep the money.

Facebook

• Facebook apologizes for dating website ad featuring photo of Rehtaeh Parsons—She committed suicide over getting bullied on Facebook.
• Facebook Admits Its Ads Are Too Annoying—"Facebook says its ad targeting technology has irked its users and will be upgraded."
• Science proves Facebook is a major downer—"New research reveals the more we interact with the social network, the less satisfied we tend to feel." Salon
• Facebook Requires Social Fixer Browser Extension To Remove Key Features
• The Faces of Facebook—Almost 1.27 billion pictures for facial recognition software to sift through.

iPhone Follies

• Fake Apple Ad Says iOS 7 Will Make Your iPhone Waterproof And People Fell For It
• iOS 6 holdouts complain about large, unwanted iOS 7 download—"Apple's built-in update tool is downloading iOS 7 before people even ask to install it, taking up space that can't be reclaimed."
• Move over, Apple Maps: iPhone 5S motion sensor malfunction may be widespread
• Apple Maps flaw results in drivers crossing airport runway
• iOS 7 and motion sickness: What you can do, and where you can learn more

Valve and Linux

• Valve: How going boss-free empowered the games-maker
• Valve's Steam Machine prototype is tiny, potentially powerful
• Why skeptics should embrace Valve’s new Steam controller
• Can SteamOS drag the PC game industry over to Linux?
• Nvidia seeks peace with Linux, pledges help on open source driver–"Nvidia's move this week (on the same day that Valve announced a new Linux-based operating system for gaming) is a change of heart from the position it took last year after Torvalds' criticism."

Patent Trolls

• Judge tosses Apple motion, allows patent troll Lodsys to continue rampage
• Patent troll Lodsys chickens out, folds case rather than face Kaspersky Lab—"After two years, its notorious patents were going to a jury. Lodsys blinked."
• Angry entrepreneur replies to patent troll with racketeering lawsuit—"Patent trolls are legal. Can one be nailed for extortion? One man is betting yes." Lumen fired back by claiming being called patent trolls was a hate crime.
• Large patent holders hate this reform proposal. That's a good sign.
• Judge orders patent troll to explain its 'Mr. Sham' to jury
• Troll-Killing Patent Reform One Step Closer
• Patent goliath Intellectual Ventures looks to raise another $3 billion
• F.T.C. Votes for Inquiry Into Patent Businesses—"Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, said it would seek information on businesses whose main purpose was to sue other companies to collect patent royalties." NYT

Surveillance and Privacy

• Schneier: Want to Evade NSA Spying? Don't Connect to the Internet
• Technologists To NSA Review Group: Don't Forget About The Interests Of Non-US Persons
• Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry—"NSA won't grant Justice Department lawyers required security clearance."
• Deep Web Users Are Ready To Launch Silk Road 2.0
• VPNs: Is it OK to Monitor 'Bad' Users on Ethical Grounds?
• Selling Secrets of Phone Users to Advertisers—"Advertisers and tech companies are finding new ways to track us on our smartphones and reach us with individualized ads." NYT
• MasterCard joining push for fingerprint ID standard—Preparing for the day when cash is no longer legal tender?

Gravity

• Bad Astronomy Movie Review: Gravity
• 'Gravity' reality check: Alfonso Cuarón and Sandra Bullock talk fact vs. fiction
• Edelstein: Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity Will Delight Physicists, Terrify Everybody Else
• The Camera's Cusp: Alfonso Cuarón Takes Filmmaking to a New Extreme With Gravity
• Meet the Flute-Playing Astronaut Who Coached Sandra Bullock for "Gravity"

Workers and Welfare; Wall Street, Accountability, Europe; Public-Private Partnerships, Sports Subsidies; Syria; Your Rights Online, Surveillance and Privacy; Bugs, Malware & Hacking

Workers and Welfare

• Set Back by Recession, and Shut Out of Rebound—"A lower unemployment rate for older workers masks troubling trends of reduced pay and longer job searches." NYT
• The 5% recovery: Why most are still in recession
• Welfare fraud: 'Damned if you do, doomed if you don't'—"When it comes to violating welfare rules, recipients sometimes do so after suggestions from caseworkers."
• Low-wage Workers Are Older Than You Think—"88 Percent of Workers Who Would Benefit From a Higher Minimum Wage Are Older Than 20, One Third Are Over 40."
• Supreme Court sides with bar staff forced to pay cash shortages with tips—"[Uptown] Drink countered that employees voluntarily paid the shortages rather than be written up for failing to properly handle cash."

Wall Street

• Wall Street's Rental Bet Brings Quandary Housing Poor—"Private-equity firms, hedge funds and real estate investment trusts have bought more than 100,000 U.S. homes, becoming dominant single-family landlords in markets hardest-hit by the housing crash such as Atlanta. As the companies seek thousands of tenants to fill newly renovated properties, their decision whether to lease to low-income Americans with Section 8 vouchers stands to affect both their profitability and poor residents who have been longtime renters."
• Bank Executive Admits to Using Bailout Money to Buy Condo
• Wall Street's greatest enemy: The man who knows too much—"What Michael Winston knows about corporate crimes will horrify you. That's why financial giants want to destroy him." Salon

Accountability

• Five years since Lehman's collapse the unthinkable has become reality—"Our systems of governance have yet to properly address these previously unthinkable outcomes and their profound implications for current and future generations."
• The DOJ Has Corrupted the Rule of Law by Not Prosecuting Wall Street Financial Looters
• Federal Reserve Employees Afraid To Speak Put Financial System At Risk
• Government mortgage fraud lawsuit against BofA headed to trial
• US demands more than $6 billion from JPMorgan to settle claim

Europe

• Spanish police arrest ex-JPMorgan trader wanted in US on fraud charges
• Currency Spikes at 4 P.M. in London Provide Rigging Clues
• Swiss banks to divulge names of wealthy US tax avoiders, pay billions in fines

Public-Private Partnerships

• Some Filthy Facts about the Rich—"Republicans in Congress want to cut the $4.35 a day food benefit to hungry Americans while two-thirds of tax subsidies and loopholes continue go to the top quintile of taxpayers."
• Private lobbyists get public pensions in 20 states
• 50% Of 'Retiring' Senators Now Become Lobbyists, Up From 3% A Few Decades Ago
• Taxpayer Dollars Paid A Third Of Richest Corporate CEOs
• Jindal Poll pipeline, is Louisiana Governor at 50 or 35 percent?—"According to Greg Hilburn of the Monroe News Star, that [50%] poll was conducted by Jindal’s best- buddy and top campaign consultant (Timmy Teepell’s) employer OnMessage."

Sports Subsidies

• Do cities gain from subsidizing sports teams?—"Funding is often cut for parks and libraries to help teams pay their bills."
• Clarke seeks slice of soccer team for Orange taxpayers—"If Orange County taxpayers chip in $20 million for a new downtown stadium to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Orlando, then taxpayers should become part owners of any new team, Commissioner Pete Clarke says."
• Spending taxpayer dollars on sports stadiums will not help Detroit

Syria

• Syria chemical weapons attack killed 1,429, says John Kerry
• Putin says US should present Syria chemical weapons evidence to UN Security Council
• 'War-weary' Obama says Syria chemical attack requires response
• Some Context for Our Upcoming Bombing Campaign—"Nearly every American president eventually lets the bombs fall."
• France's Hollande backs US on Syria action
• Syria: Napalm-Like Burns After School Attack
• CNN Caught Staging News Segments on Syria With Actors

Your Rights Online

• US won't let Microsoft, Google reveal more data on FISA orders—"They now suing the government to get trust back from their users.
• EFF Amicus Asks Supreme Court to Review Warrantless Smartphone Searches
• Sec. of State John Kerry Bashes the Internet, Says it's Harder to Govern People with Internet

Surveillance & Privacy

• Feds Back Away From Forced Decryption … For Now
• Cyberspying: Indian Government may ban Gmail for official communication
• It's 2013. We're all being spied on. Why do security software websites not use HTTPS?—"People say that using HTTPS is a performance hit. Locking your car door is also a performance hit, and so is putting on clothes in the morning. Security and privacy is worth a performance hit."

Bugs, Malware & Hacking

• "thereisnofatebutwhat­wemake" – Turbo-charged cracking comes to long passwords—"Cracking really long passwords just got a whole lot faster and easier."
• True story behind Joburg's online security problems—"The City of Joburg said that a 'malicious hacking' was behind its security woes, and a police investigations is underway, but what is the true story?"
• Google confirms critical Android crypto flaw used in $5,700 Bitcoin heist—"Java Crypto weakness could affect security in hundreds of thousands of apps."

Pope Francis, Islamists, Christianists, Sex Abuse Scandals, Oppressiveness, Atheism, Deconversion, In Bad Faith, Religion; Surveillance and Privacy

Pope Francis

• Pope claims that "St. Peter had no bank account" and that the church has fallen into the temptation of wealth
• Pope blames speculation, corruption for 'scandalous' food crisis
• In bold move, Pope names panel to reform Vatican bank—Which spooked some rats.

Islamists

• Mob Attacks Afghan Doctor and Female Patient—"A doctor was attacked and stoned because he and his female patient had been found in an examining room without a chaperon, Afghan officials said." NYT
• Third of teens in Amman, Jordan, condone honor killings, study says—This attitutde has no place in civilized society, no matter the religion.
• Two girls, mother killed over family video—"A family video showing two teenage girls enjoying rain in their house led to their murder in Chilas on Sunday night. Their mother was also gunned down allegedly by her stepson and his four friends."
• Libya: Cementary of British war victims destroyed by Muslim Mob
• Russell Brand cancels Middle East gigs—"Russell Brand has scrapped a number of dates in the Middle East... because of threats from extremists."
• Saudi police stop wedding in park—"A source in the Commission said the wedding was stopped because it violated local traditions as the bride was not covering her face and the groom was holding her hand and hugging her sometimes."
• Controversy erupts over Aceh's dancing ban—"Critics of a new bylaw say Acehnese authorities are undermining the region's rich culture by imposing restrictions on a traditional dance of welcome."
• Pakistan 'blasphemy' girl moves to Canada
• 'Imams promote grooming rings', Muslim leader claims—"The Oxford grooming ring was promoted by imams who encourage followers to think white women deserve to be 'punished', an Islamic leader has claimed."

Christianists

• Swanson Links Gay Kiss and Women Wearing Hats and Pants to Colorado Forest Fires
• Christian TV 'prophet': Native Americans need to 'repent for their ancestors' animism'
• Christian Man Claims Native American Statue On License Plate Violates His Freedom Of Religion, Sues Oklahoma
• Right-Wing Preacher: Star Trek Movie Promotes Bestiality
• FFRF warns Michigan bills micromanage, have religious agenda
• 12-Year-Old Girl Banned From School Football Team for 'Inciting Lust'
• The Daily Show: Left Behind—"Samantha Bee shines a light on Christian Americans suffering from the sting of bigotry and bullying by gay agendists."

Sex Abuse Scandals

• New Jersey Catholic Church spending big to keep abuse victims silent
• Prison for ex-pastor whose sex abuse of three girls covered up for 30 years by Baptists
• Victims may have consented: Rabbi —"A senior Australian rabbi who failed to stop an alleged paedophile from sexually abusing boys at a Sydney Jewish school said some of the victims may have consented to sexual relations and has warned that involving police now would ''open a can of worms.'"

Oppressiveness

• Religious Oppression Rises Despite Arab Spring, Pew Study Shows
• Breaking News: 34% of Your Fellow Citizens Want a Theocracy
• Jury finds for Cincinnati teacher fired from Catholic school while pregnant—"A Catholic-school teacher who was fired after she became pregnant through artificial insemination won her anti-discrimination lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati yesterday and was awarded more than $170,000."

Atheism

• Study: "Spritual" people more likely to commit crimes than atheists Salon
• Texas Gov. Rick Perry: Americans have no right to freedom from religion
• "Speak, for the cup of hemlock is not yet on your lips" by jailed atheist blogger Asif Mohiuddin
• Alabama gets their first High School Atheist club. Christian response - death threats!
• After Initially Being Denied U.S. Citizenship Because of Her Atheism, Margaret Doughty’s Application Has Been Approved
• Mayor Who Refused to 'Support an Organization That Does Not Believe in Jesus Christ' Issues Public Apology
• Atheists unveil monument by Ten Commandments in front of Bradford County Courthouse—"1st atheist monument allowed on government property unveiled, says atheists."

Deconversion

• That awkward moment when the primitive tribe you have come to convert to Christianity, instead converts you to atheism.
• Jerry DeWitt: From Minister to Atheist in 5 Simple Steps
• Andrew Brown Has It Wrong; 'New Atheism' Isn't All About Deconverting People

In Bad Faith

• Vatican rentboy and satanism claims revealed by priest
• The "Church" of Scientology trying to manipulate the Internet
• IDF apologizes for book claiming non-Jews do not have equal rights in Israel
• Airline Kicks 100 Jewish Students Off Plane For Not Putting Away Phones
• Barbra Streisand: Women shouldn't sit in back of bus in Israel—"Orthodox Jews in Israel shouldn't treat women as second class citizens."
• Nun admits breaking child's arm
• Ireland agrees compensation for Magdalene Laundries survivors—"The Irish government has agreed to pay up 58 million euros ($75 million) to hundreds of women forced to work at the Catholic Church's notorious Magdalene Laundries after a report found that a quarter of them were sent there by the Irish state."

Religion

• Christian Domestic Discipline: Spanking in the name of the lord
• Bible's strong comeback surprises secular Norway
• The body of Christ is not and cannot be gluten-free
• Megachurch Pastor Asks Congregation To Help Pay For Helicopter Upgrade
• Gimme That Old-Time Religion: A Growing Number of Greeks Bow To Zeus, Apollo, and Hera—Celebrating the summer solstice
• Satire: Key similarity between Christ and Superman is that they're both made-up, say experts

Surveillance and Privacy

• Restore The Fourth: Group Organizes Nationwide Anti-NSA Spying Protests On July 4
• Report: NSA spied on EU institutions—"According to a report in the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the US National Security Agency bugged institutions of the European Union. The magazine cited documents provided by whistle-blower Edward Snowden."
• Lawyers said Bush couldn’t spy on Americans. He did it anyway.
• The World Says Yes To Snowden, No To Obama – OpEd
• The 'One-Way Ratchet' of Executive Power: Was Cheney Right About Obama?—"The sad truth, which Dick Cheney seems to have understood, and which Obama the candidate may have underestimated, is that the accumulation of executive power is, to borrow a phrase from Charlie Savage, of the Times, a 'one-way ratchet.' Particularly when it comes to national security, Presidential authority is easy to accumulate and very difficult to get rid of."
• Chris Hayes Absolutely Nails Hypocrisy On Snowden Leaks
• Camouflaging the Vietnam War: How Textbooks Continue to Keep the Pentagon Papers a Secret
• NYT Public Editor: Who's a Journalist?—""A real journalist is one who understands, at a cellular level, and doesn’t shy away from, the adversarial relationship between government and press – the very tension that America’s founders had in mind with the First Amendment." NYT

Your Rights Online, Free Speech, Surveillance, Privacy; Net History, Old Tech, Inventions, Predictions, Computers, Gadgets

Your Rights Online

• ITU has 'failed,' says ITU's former policy chief--They tried to be sneaky about the process.
• US and UK refuse to sign UN's communications treaty
• The U.N. Fought The Internet -- And The Internet Won; WCIT Summit In Dubai Ends

Free Speech

• Peers vote to remove law banning insulting language--"Peter Tatchell, David Davis, Rowan Atkinson and Keir Starmer are among those who have campaigned against the rule."
• India's Battle for Freedom in Cyberspace--"The arrest of two young women over Facebook comments has renewed a much needed debate over internet censorship."
• China: Cyber anti-corruption campaign proves free speech

Surveillance

• Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal
• Government seeks to shut down NSA wiretapping lawsuit--"Suit over domestic surveillance will reveal state secrets, say DOJ lawyers."
• Stop Congress from Reauthorizing the FISA Amendments Act, a Warrantless Spying Bill--Hope discussions aren't kept in the dark.
• UK: Draft Communications Data Bill to be redrafted - No 10
• Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations

Privacy

• Op-ed—A plea to Google: Protect our e-mail privacy
• FTC To Investigate Apps For Children Over Privacy Lapses
• Shamed by Mugshot Sites, Arrestees Try Novel Lawsuit

Net History

• Video: The BBS Documentary
• Internet Archive: 10,000,000,000,000,000 bytes archived!
• The disappearing web: Information decay is eating away our history
• Dark Social: We Have the Whole History of the Web Wrong
• The State Of The Web 2012

Old Tech

• Return to Antikythera: Divers revisit wreck where ancient computer found
• US Air Force's 1950s supersonic flying saucer declassified
• Witch at Bletchley: 'World's oldest working digital computer'--Watch it boot.

Inventions

• Best Inventions of the Year 2012
  
• The 50 Worst Inventions--"From the zany to the dangerous to the just plain dumb, here is TIME's list (in no particular order) of some of the world's bright ideas that just didn't work out."
• Wi-fi, dual-flush loos and eight more Australian inventions
• Mine Kafon--"A short documentary portrait on a designer who has created a low cost solution to landmine clearance."
• How A Foot-Powered Washing Machine Could Change Millions Of Lives

Predictions

• 5 fearless tech predictions for 2013
• Popular Mechanices: 110 Predictions For the Next 110 Years
• 19th Century French Artists Predicted The World Of The Future In This Series Of Postcards

Computers

• ThinkPad turns 20: how IBM's 'black box' defined the laptop industry
• What happens when computers are cheaper than LEGO blocks?--Take a bite of some Raspberry Pi, the cheapest way to play Minecraft.
• Learn By Building Your Own Computer

Gadgets

• Long range WiFi antenna from Illy coffee can
• Brain-controlled helicopter takes mental concentration to new heights
• How to Use a [BUSTED] Cell Phone to Meet 5 Basic Survival Needs
• How To Rescue Wet Gadgets
• xkcd: Home Organization

McKinnon extradition repudiation; Your Rights Online, Copyfight, Surveillance, Do No Track, Tech Tracking, Privacy, DMCA, Piracy, DRM, Paypal

Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked by Theresa May--"Mrs May said the sole issue she had to consider was his human rights."

Your Rights Online

• CISPA Author Ramps Up The FUD: Claims He Can't Sleep At Night Due To 'Unusual Source' Threatening Us--One that's so secret even he can't talk about it.
• German Gov't Inadvertently Reveals Police Monitor Gmail, Skype, Facebook & Use Snooping Malware
• Saudi Arabia Suggests Global Internet Regulations To Preserve 'Public Order'
• Australia: Govt censors pre-prepared data retention bills
• Cybercrime law is suspended by Philippines court

Copyfight

• Canada-EU Trade Agreement Replicates ACTA's Notorious Copyright Provisions
• UN IP group tells Pirate Party: You can't even watch--"In Germany, the Pirate Party has sent a candidate to a state senate; in Sweden, the party has actually elected members of the European Parliament. But whatever its successes, the Pirate Party still won't be able to sit in on proceedings of the World Intellectual Property Organization...."
• Megaupload server seizures finally run into mega-due-process
• Judge Says Fair Use Protects Universities in Book-Scanning Project
• YouTube finally offers a meaningful ContentID appeal process--"But takedown policies are still favorable to large copyright holders."
• ICE Reluctantly Releases A Small Number Of Heavily Redacted Domain Seizure Docs, Holds The Rest Hostage

Surveillance

• The New Zealand institutions that broke our trust--"[T]hat's not a story about Kim Dotcom, that's a story about New Zealand institutions who got it wrong, so wrong, they even broke the law."
• Supreme Court Terminates Warrantless Electronic Spying Case--Giving the telcos the gift of immunity.
• FBI Rolling Out Hi-tech 'Big Brother' Monitoring System
• Why Is The Government Afraid Of This iPhone App?
• The Danger To Privacy Isn't Corporate Data-Mining Or Governmental Surveillance – It's Both Combined

Do Not Track

• Think tank's website rejects browser do-not-track requests
• Ad industry calls IE10's 'Do Not Track' setting 'unacceptable'
• The Do Not Track standard has crossed into crazy territory
• US Congress' Privacy Caucus says DAA's anti-'Do Not Track' stance puts "profits over privacy"
• Europe's Internet chief: Policy makers are compromising privacy with Do Not Track bickering
• Do Not Track is drawing advertisers' fire NYT
• Advertisers launch $1 million campaign to combat privacy concerns

Tech Tracking

• How much do Google and Facebook profit from your data?
• How to stop Verizon (and AT&T) from selling your location data and other usage stats to advertisers
• Verizon iPhone owners have 30 days to opt-out of sharing location, search data and more with advertisers
• Verizon draws fire for monitoring app usage, browsing habits
• Apple: How to opt out of interest-based ads from the iAd network
• An always-on Siri: MindMeld listens to you talk, finds what you need
• Amazon’s Next Big Business Is Selling You

Privacy

• FTC Releases Google Privacy Report – Minus The Juicy Details
• Google accused of spying on Gmail users
• Reading someone's Gmail doesn't violate federal statute, court finds--"SC court says Gmail not "electronic storage" by Stored Communications Act."
• Google told to fix privacy policy by EU data regulators
• Rent-to-Own Laptops Secretly Photographed Users Having Sex, FTC Says
• Students Refusing Tracking ID Cards Unable to Vote for Homecoming?

DMCA

• Microsoft DMCA Notice 'Mistakenly' Targets BBC, Techcrunch, Wikipedia and U.S. Govt
• "Online Thug" DMCAs Critic's Site Off The Internet Over 16-Word Quote
• How a single DMCA notice took down 1.45 million education blogs

Piracy

• Artist Can’t Get Pirated Music Off iTunes, Google and Microsoft Stores--"When The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, found out that another artist was selling a “copy” of his music, he learned that it is pretty much impossible to get it removed. According to Jordan the mainstream music industry only cares about profits, not the actual artists."
• Copyright Scofflaws Beware: ISPs to Begin Monitoring Illicit File Sharing--Six strikes and you're out, but not before you get a little reeducation.
• File-Sharers Buy 30% More Music Than Non-P2P Peers
• Swedish Pirate Party Surges After File-Sharing Host Facility Raided--"Following a police raid on the hosting facility PRQ that coincided with technical problems at the iconic The Pirate Bay, the Swedish Pirate Party is surging in member and activist count."

DRM

• Going blind? DRM will dim your world--"Many of us will start losing our eyesight as we age. The digital world can help get round some of these physical impediments - but not if digital rights management and the like blocks our accessibility."
• Übertroll firm bags DRM patent for 3D printing
• PSP Comic Store closing October 30--"PSP and PSP Go owners... will not be able to re-download most comics purchased."

Paypal

• Paypal bans users from joining class action suits
• PayPal Wants to Limit Your Legal Rights Against Them, Here's a Way Around That
• Paypal suspends domestic transactions in Argentina--"Locals were setting up two accounts under different email addresses and transferring money between the two, exchanging local currency pesos for dollars in the process."

War on Terror, Drones Foreign and Domestic, Surveillance, Your Rights Online, TSA

War on Terror

• New NSA docs contradict 9/11 claims--"Over 120 CIA documents concerning 9/11, Osama bin Laden and counterterrorism were published today for the first time, having been newly declassified and released to the National Security Archive. The documents were released after the NSA pored through the footnotes of the 9/11 Commission and sent Freedom of Information Act requests." Salon
• President Obama as 'warrior-in-chief'
• FBI Terror Plot: How the Government Is Destroying the Lives of Innocent People
• Courts Rule US Government Above the Law--"Manhattan Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein has declined to hold the CIA in contempt for destroying videos that it had been ordered by the courts to preserve."
• Sweden Violated Torture Ban in CIA Rendition

Drones Foreign...

• How Drones Help Al Qaeda NYT
• Greenwald: U.S. drones deeply unpopular around the world Salon
• Deadly Drone Strike on Muslims in the Southern Philippines
• CREW calls on Holder to release secret drone strike memo
• CIA Refuses to Confirm or Deny Drone Attacks Obama Brags About

and Domestic

• Poll: Catching criminals is fine, but don't use drones for speeding tickets, Americans say
• TYT: Drones Over America
• Senate bill aims to crack down on domestic drone surveillance--Also going through the House.
• Secret 'Kill List' Tests Obama’s Principles--Get yourself on the national Do Not Kill registry. NYT
• Revealed: 64 Drone Bases on American Soil

Surveillance

• CISPA sponsor: Obama will back down from his veto promise
• Lone Senator Blocks Renewal of NSA Wiretap Program--"Wyden has barred the Senate from a routine vote using a little-used legislative power" ... "because the government refuses to say how often the spy powers are being used."
• House Committee Approves Sweeping, Warrantless Electronic Spy Powers--"A House committee on Tuesday reauthorized broad electronic eavesdropping powers that largely legalized the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program."
• NSA: It Would Violate Your Privacy to Say if We Spied on You
• Canadian government wants to fill airports with KGB-style hidden microphones--The Federal Public Safety Minister, however, has "ordered a stop to the process until a full 'privacy impact assessment' can be completed."

Your Rights Online

• FBI, DEA warn IPv6 could shield criminals from police--"The FBI, DEA, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police say IPv6 may erode their ability to trace Internet addresses -- and warn new laws may be necessary if industry doesn't do more."
• UK: Don't let the state search my internet searches--"The Communications Data Bill is an unnecessary government intrusion into personal privacy - and won't stop paedophiles, as the Home Secretary Theresa May claims."
• Open Letter to Internet Companies: Tell Us How Much We Are Being Surveilled
• Big Brother is watching Facebook and Twitter
• Apple patents anti-surveillance technology that clones your identity online
• How to be completely Anonymous online
• EFF: How to Turn on Do Not Track in Your Browser

Censorship

• Google reports 'alarming' rise in censorship by governments
• Washington State Tries To Criminalize Service Providers For User Behavior; Internet Archive Sues
• 'Censorship creep': Pirate Bay block will affect one-third of U.K.--"Nearly 10 years ago, 'Cleanfeed' was designed to protect the British public from child abuse imagery. A decade later, the same system is used to enforce ISP blocks on sites like The Pirate Bay. How did the U.K. fall into 'censorship creep'?" Slippery slopes.

TSA

• Female Passenger Groped by TSA Gropes Back, Charged with Battery
• Med Student Rescues Body Part From Airport Security
• Watch TSA Nude Body Scanners Get Defeated

Iran, Middle East, War on Terror, Military, TSA

Iran

• Sanctions v. negotiations on Iran Salon
• Canceling the Mullahs' Credit Card: How to sever Iran's financial lifeline.
• Mossad chief holds secret U.S. meetings on Iran nuclear threat, Senate panel reveals
• Risk of 'Accidental' Gulf War on the Rise
• Destination Persian Gulf? US nuclear sub and destroyer enter Red Sea

Middle East

• Afghanistan: Leon Panetta signals end to US combat role
• Did Obama Just Declare Victory in Afghanistan?
• Afghanistan: Violating the prime directive again--"Violating the prime directive was, in fact, the entire mission: we wanted to fix Afghanistan. We were willing to spend a lot of money as long as it produced results. What we've learned is that development aid doesn't work this way."
• U.S. Drones Patrolling Its Skies Provoke Outrage in Iraq NYT
• Pakistan is helping Afghan Taliban, says Nato report

War on Terror

• ACLU Wants Obama To Release Targeted Killing Records--"The ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit... seeking not only the legal justification for America's targeted killing program, but the process by which US citizens suspected of terrorism are placed on its so-called 'kill list.'"
• US 'no-fly' list of suspected terrorists doubles in 12 months
• Gary Johnson calls for repeal of the Patriot Act
• CIA Claims Publication of Bin Laden Death Photos Would 'Trigger Violence'
• Congress Woman Outraged as she is Wiretapped...but voted for the Patriot Act

Military

• Pentagon budget will shrink next year for the first time since 1998
• Real Time Panel Embarrasses Dana Rohrabacher After He Claims Obama Wants 'To Gut The Military'
• Republican Senators: Slash jobs instead of defense spending
• U.S. Defense Department can't account for billions for Iraq, audit finds
• NATO allies grapple with shrinking defense budgets
• Working in the US for .23 cents/hour--"Mike Elk, labor journalist explains how major defense corporations are benefiting from prison labor and undercutting wages for millions in the country."
• Quietly, U.S. Moves to Block Lawsuits by Military Families--"Why is the Justice Department trying to make it more difficult for service members and their families to sue the government for medical malpractice?"

TSA

• The TSA's War on Innocent Travelers--"The threat of terrorism has radically diminished. So why is Obama trying to expand the TSA's reach?"
• 'I'm going to destroy America and dig up Marilyn Monroe': British pair arrested in U.S. on terror charges over Twitter jokes
• The TSA Left Suspected 'Pipe Bombs' Lying Around for Six Hours
• TSA agent at D/FW Airport suspected of stealing iPads
• TSA agent at JFK stole $5K from passenger

Occupy Oakland, Bad Cops, Eavesdropping in Illinois, NYPD, Lawsuits

Occupy Oakland

• Police Fire Tear Gas at Occupy Protesters in Oakland
• Scott Olsen, Iraq War Veteran Shot By Oakland Police, Has A Fractured Skul
• Occupy Oakland: Vigil planned for former Marine hurt in protest
• Oakland police and mayor face fresh protest over wounding of veteran
• Occupy Wall Street protesters support injured war veteran
• Oakland Mayjor Jean Quan says she will Minimize police presence and that she supports the Movement
• Occupy Oakland protester Scott Olsen awake ahead of brain surgery
  

Bad Cops

• "We Don't Need a Warrant, We're ICE"
• Some police are barely literate, lawyer claims--"Some British police officers are 'barely literate' because the educational standards required to join the service are so low, it was claimed last night."
• Bungling cops raid wrong home... for 41st time
• Alameda raid mistakenly targets TV reporter's home
• Wrongful Arrest

Eavesdropping in Illinois

• Strict eavesdropping law ruled unconstitutional in Illinois case
• Special Segment: Felony Eavesdropping--"This is the story of Louis Frobe, but it's also about others who have run afoul of the Illinois eavesdropping law, one of the most restrictive of its kind in the country."
• Guy Arrested, Threatened With 15 Years For Recording Traffic Stop In Illinois

NYPD

• Former Detective: NYPD Planted Drugs on People to Meet Drug Arrest Quotas
• NYPD Ticket-Fixing Scandal: Bronx DA Expected To Indict 17 Police Officers
• Eight NYPD cops found abusing their power to smuggle guns, drugs, and cigarettes.

Lawsuits

• Lawsuit planned in Little Rock police shooting--"On the evening of December 9, 2010, 67-year-old Eugene Ellison, a Vietnam veteran, was shot and killed in his home by Little Rock police officers Donna Lesher and Tabitha McCrillis. On that date, Officers Lesher and McCrillis worked as off-duty security guards at the Big Country Chateau apartment complex and entered Ellison’s apartment without a warrant. "
• Traffic Stop Does Not Justify Home Entry: US Court of Appeals rules a cop cannot enter a home over a minor traffic violation
• New York: Federal Court Overturns Search on a Hunch
• A Closing Argument--A lawyer's client was "charged with two counts of attempt first degree murder with a firearm, two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm to a police officer, and four counts of Armed Violence" for defending himself when police broke into his home.
• Taser Case Fails to Stun Full Panel of 9th Circuit

Whistle-blowers, Manning, Wikileaks; The end of the world is here... again

Whistle-blowers

• Charges Against the NSA's Thomas Drake--An indepth article by Jane Mayer for The New Yorker on what Obama's been doing. As Mark Klein, who exposed AT&T's complicity in the US government's wiretapping program, sums it up, "The Bush people have been let off. The telecom companies got immunity. The only people Obama has prosecuted are the whistle-blowers."
• Feds Drop Probe of NSA Wiretapping Whistle Blower
• Court allows constitutional challenge to new FISA law Salon

Manning

• I Am Bradley Manning
• Bradley Manning, then and now
• Bradley Manning case: William Hague accused of 'playing avoidance game'

Wikileaks

• Activist who supports soldier in WikiLeaks case sues U.S. over seizure of laptop
• In Hollywood, A Billboard In Support Of WikiLeaks
• WikiLeaks, get out of the gagging game--"I refused to sign Julian Assange's confidentiality agreement because it would have been not just ironic, but dangerous."

The end of the world is here ... again--The weather ain't lookin' so great this Saturday. Salon