NSA Spying; Law and Disorder, Prosecutorial Persecutions, Homeless, Bad Cops, Deputy Dicks, Recording, Taser, Guns, Tools

NSA Spying

• NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds—"Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls."
• FISA Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited—"The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government's vast spying programs said that its ability to do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans."
• Government surveillance spurs Americans to fight back

Law and Disorder

• PD: ex-senator's brother impersonated police, commandeered boat
• Citizens who don’t speak English have right to serve as jurors, New Mexico Supreme Court says—Even with the best of intentions, wouldn't this be detrimental to either side as something would most likely be lost in translation?
• Man gets 15 years for stealing donation jar from Rock Hill girl with cancer
• Limbless swimmer finds stolen wheelchair—The theft was pure scumbaggery.
• Missing man walks up to news crew reporting on … missing man

Prosecutorial Persecutions

• Boy Set to Go to Court in Dad's Killing—Why is the state charging the 10-year-old for first-degree murder of the man who beat up his kids for years?
• Sidewalk chalk could land four protestors in jail for a year
• A Powerful Legal Tool, and Its Potential for Abuse—"For years, prosecutors in New York have been using what are known as material witness orders to compel testimony from reluctant witnesses in criminal trials. But has the power to persuade led to coercion and tainted convictions?"

Homeless

• Homeless Man Under House Arrest In Italy Serves His Sentence On The Sidewalk—"Though Codispoti reportedly asked to be placed in jail, where there's at least a roof over his head, his request has been denied in favor of the alternative sentence."
• Michigan's begging law violates First Amendment: federal appeals court
• Quebec: Man ordered to pay panhandler $8,000 for discrimination—"Quebec human rights commission says man's actions were 'highly reprehensible.'"

Bad Cops

• Hostile Policing—"After cops threatened to arrest me and harass me when I took their picture, I decided to test the citizen complaint process to see if it works."
• Violent SPD arrest to cost city $1.75 million—"The city of Seattle will pay $1.75?million to settle a civil-rights lawsuit involving a mentally ill man who suffered severe brain damage during a violent arrest involving 15 Seattle police officers in May 2010."
• Firefighter says he waved at police and was handcuffed and threatened
• Boston Police Don’t Want To Re-Hire Twice-Fired Officer—"In a twist, the city appeals an arbitrator’s decision that gave officer David C. Williams his job back."
• Cleveland police to discipline 75 officers for role in deadly chase
• Trooper Who Conducted Cavity Search Reinstated
• Brooklyn family claims dad dies in NYPD raid

Deputy Dicks

• Deputy files civil lawsuit against 9-1-1 caller after he was injured during assault at her home
• Texas deputy accused of raping mother in front of her children resigns
• OC prosecutors: Deputy pepper-sprayed teen's pizza

Recording

• Video Shows Pembroke Pines Cop Punching Mentally Ill Girl
• Cops accidentally record themselves admitting they harassed activist at rodeo owners' request: "God, we're gonna get sued"
• Cop canned after camera catches him waving gun at clerk
• Washington Man Arrested for Video Recording SWAT Team from Public Sidewalk
• Boston Cop Shoves Videographer Back While Threatening to Arrest him for Battery on Police Officer
• Cameras vs. LAPD: Was A Photographer Interfering or Just Taking Pictures?
• Journalist, Madison alder arrested as Wisconsin Capitol police broaden crackdown

Taser

• Did cops need a Taser, riot shield and shotgun to subdue a 95-year-old veteran?—Who ended up dead. Why are cops getting taser-happy?
• Teenager Israel Hernandez Dies After Miami Beach Cops Catch Him Tagging, Taser Him—Did the officers congratulate themselves with high-fives?
• Sycamore Township man dies after deputies deploy Taser during scuffle
• Man dies a day after RCMP use Taser on him in Leduc, Alta.
• RCMP spokesman on Dziekanski Taser death committed suicide, B.C. coroner says

Guns

• Man Shot Trying to Stop Friend from Driving Drunk—Unfortunately, he died.
• NH Supreme Court defines 'loaded weapon' law—"The New Hampshire Supreme Court says ammunition must be in a weapon and not just near it for a gun to be loaded under state law. [...] Prosecutors argued that the law should be construed broadly to include the proximity of ammunition to the weapon in the interest of public safety." Overreaching.
• The mystery of the vanishing gun inventor—"William Cantelo, a 19th Century inventor rumoured to be working on an early version of the machine-gun, left his house one day and never returned. What happened to him, asks Steve Punt."

Tools

• The curious story of how the lie detector came to be
• The Surprising History and Science of Tear Gas
• Surviving Edged Weapons—Instructional video.

World News; Whistleblowers; NSA Spying; Economy, Politics; Koch, Public-Private Partnerships; Immigration, Vote Machinations, Racism

World News

• Egypt on edge after at least 278 killed in bloodiest day since revolution—Up to 525 dead now.
• Doctors Without Borders pulls out of Somalia: militants, leaders tolerate attacks on NGOs
• The Colombian Government Is Killing Its Peasant Farmers for Their Land
• Israel: Students offered grants if they tweet pro-Israeli propaganda
• Animation legend Hayao Miyazaki under attack in Japan for anti-war film

Whistleblowers

• Manning Apologizes for Leaks: 'My Actions Hurt People' NYT
• Obama's 'Misleading' Comment on Whistleblower Protections
• Journalist Michael Hastings reportedly working on story about CIA chief before death

NSA Spying

• If Obama wanted an 'open debate' on NSA spying, why thwart one for so long?—"The president asks us to trust him on government surveillance, yet his administration constantly denigrates critics as unpatriotic."
• EFF: A Guide to the Deceptions, Misinformation, and Word Games Officials Use to Mislead the Public About NSA Surveillance
• Intelligence committee urged to explain if they withheld crucial NSA document—"Critics demand answers from chairman Mike Rogers after claims that committee failed to share document before key vote."
• Barry Ritholtz's Cheat-Sheet On Spying
• Yes, Gmail users have an expectation of privacy—"Sending email to Gmail users means you expect Google's servers will process it."

Economy

• Poll: Most Americans Oblivious About Our Falling Deficit
• Rise in TSP loans, withdrawals accompanies furloughs—"Federal employees have been taking out loans and financial hardship withdrawals from their retirement savings accounts at an increasing rate in recent months, new data from the 401(k)-style Thrift Savings Plan data show."
• Americans Giving Up Passports Jump Sixfold as Tougher Rules Loom

Politics

• The historic unpopularity of Congress — in one chart
• The Pariah Shortage—"Graydon Carter writes of our failure to appoint new 'pariahs' due to the subprime-mortgage crisis and Iraq war blunders"
• Walker forced to back off from arresting observers of Solidarity Sing Along
• Three Republicans Who Opposed Sandy Relief Now Demand Disaster Aid For Arizona
• Corporate Lobbying Group ALEC Put Falsified Signatures On A Letter To A Senator, Group Finds
• Is there an Ultra-Conservative Conspiracy to keep Americans dumb and ignorant?
• GOP congressman invites controversial Obama-mask rodeo clown to perform in Texas

Koch

• 'Citizen Koch' Rescued By Small Donors As Documentary Outraises Funds Pulled By PBS
• Video: Koch Brothers Exposed
• New Jersey Republicans Nominate Koch Brothers Operative For Senate

Public-Private Partnerships

• Gov. Cuomo got $100,000 from developer, then signed law giving it big tax breaks
• Jeff Zucker's 15-year-old son leaves Cory Booker's Internet startup over 'conflict' of interest—"Andrew Zucker resigned from advisory board after it was revealed Booker got stock options from startup, which receives investment funds from wealthy Silicon Valley tycoons, such as Google's Eric Schmit."
• Thank you, Tallahassee, for making us pay so much for nothing—"Thanks for passing a law forcing Duke Energy customers to pay up to $1.5 billion in higher rates for a long proposed nuclear power plant in Levy County that will not be built."

Immigration

• Rubio: Pass Immigration Reform or Obama the Tyrant Will Do Even Worse
• Wisconsin DOT official likens illegal immigrants to Satan, then quickly fired
• Meet the Immigration Reformers in Steve King's Iowa—"America's most anti-immigrant congressman is an outlier—even in Iowa's most conservative county."

Vote Machinations

• 92-Year-Old Black Woman Sues Just Hours After North Carolina Gov. Signs Voter ID Law
• North Carolina's Attack on Voting Rights
• Hillary Clinton Calls Voter Fraud a 'Phantom Epidemic'
• Jack Villamaino, Former GOP Candidate, Gets 4 Months In Jail For Felony Voter Fraud
• After Shelby, Voting-Law Changes Come One Town at a Time—"Just over a month after the Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, seven states — five of which were covered under the law — are moving ahead with voting changes that could affect the 2014 Congressional election."
• Texas Brags To Court That It Drew District Lines To 'Increase The Republican Party's Electoral Prospects'
• Rick Santorum Illegally Directed $1 Million Contribution To Super PAC: FEC Complaint

Racism

• Rand Paul: 'I Don't Think There Is Any Particular Evidence' Of Black Voters Being Prevented From Voting
• African-American Republican confronts Priebus: Party treats blacks 'like we don't exist'
• Study shows Jim Crow-era segregation persists in Texas schools

Edward Snowden, NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online; World Politics; Israel and Palestine; China; Montreal; Racism

Edward Snowden

• How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets NYT
• Q. & A.: Edward Snowden Speaks to Peter Maass NYT
• Flipside: What did Edward Snowden get wrong? Everything—"Let me break this to you gently. The government is not interested in your conversations with your aunt, unless, of course, she is a key terrorist leader." But they aren't supposed to be trawling through all these conversations in the first place.

NSA Spying

• White House insists James Clapper will not lead NSA surveillance review—"Officials stress director of national intelligence will have limited role after Obama seemed to imply Clapper would head panel."
• Video: Senator Obama Slams National Security Letters in 2005
• NSA leaks make plan for cyberdefense unlikely—"Whatever trust was there is now gone...I mean, who would believe the N.S.A. when it insists it is blocking Chinese attacks but not using the same technology to read your e-mail?" NYT
• Anti-NSA Surveillance Voters Fighting Uphill Battle
• EFF: Multiple New Polls Show Americans Reject Wholesale NSA Domestic Spying

Surveillance and Privacy

• Irony Alert: Pentagon Now Sees Big Data as 'National Security Threat'—And now the DOD's looking into deanonymization.
• After Multiple Denials, CIA Admits to Snooping on Noam Chomsky—"For years, the Central Intelligence Agency denied it had a secret file on MIT professor and famed dissident Noam Chomsky. But a new government disclosure obtained by The Cable reveals for the first time that the agency did in fact gather records on the anti-war iconoclast during his heyday in the 1970s."
• NZ PM Key: NZers care more about snapper than GCSB—Do Kiwis know they're being spied on?

Your Rights Online

• Lavabit founder, under gag order, speaks out about shut-down decision—"Levison built e-mail 'by geeks, for geeks'—and then turned off 410,000 accounts." He says, "There's information that I can't even share with my lawyer, let alone with the American public."
• Google: Gmail Users Can't Legitimately Expect Privacy—They already scan emails for ad purposes.
• Larry Ellison: Google is ABSOLUTELY EVIL, but NSA is ESSENTIAL
• Microsoft Bing-bang-bungles local search—"Windows 8.1 is still in preview, but when you do a local search in it, your results will include both local and Bing-provided hits. Microsoft will then use your search terms for targeted ads."
• No, your data isn't secure in the cloud—"In 2012, Google alone received 21,389 government requests for information affecting 33,634 user accounts."

World Politics

• The democratic people's monarchy of North Korea—"North Korea changes ruling principles to legitimise succession of power."
• Italy ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi jail term confirmed
• Bahrain braces for anti-government protests
• Egypt troops clear Morsi protests—"Egyptian security forces move in to clear two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, leaving several dead."
• Bangladesh: The Battling Begums—"The pendulum swings away from Sheikh Hasina and her government."

Israel and Palestine

• Israel Faces Deepening Isolation, Kerry Warns
• Palestinians celebrate prisoner release—"Jubilant reception in West Bank and Gaza for 26 men set free by Israel hours before beginning of peace talks."
• Israel approves another 900 settler homes
• Israel risks loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in EU research grants over settlement row
• 'The Onion' Encourages Israel And Palestine Not To Give A Single, Goddamn Inch

China

• The Price of 'Made in China' NYT
• Chinese tourists appall North Koreans by throwing candy at their kids
• China to ditch its one-child policy as ageing crisis looms

Montreal

• Meet the Montreal protester with $6,500 in fines after she outed cops for misconduct—"During Quebec student protests, Katie Nelson was hit with tickets for jaywalking, spitting and numerous other charges."
• Woman fined $219 for not paying bus fare with exact change—"Montreal mother and child returning from hospital kicked off bus, fined."
• Police fine man $147 for sitting under tree

Racism

• Racist, or good marketing? DVD cover for Australian film 'The Sapphires' causes controversy
• Oprah Winfrey 'victim of racism' in Switzerland: Billionaire told she can't afford expensive handbag at exclusive Zurich store—She has apologized for the media storm that ensued.
• Zimbabwe to get 'black' stock exchange

Fat Tuesday; Obamacare, Bill of Health, Scams, Big Pharma; Issues; Psychology, Wealth; Hypnosis and Mind Control; NSA Spying

Fat Tuesday

• 'There Are No Fat People in Paris'
• Sugary drinks tied to obesity among preschoolers
• NYC ban on large sugary drinks fizzles again
• Obesity rates on the decline among children from low-income families Salon
• How Sleep Deprivation Makes Us Want to Eat Fat

Obamacare

• Boehner Tweets Link Showing Obamacare Works — After Voting to Repeal It for the 40th Time
• Conservatives Concede Defeat In Obamacare Shutdown Fight
• Matchstick men and their marks
• Yet Another White House Obamacare Delay: Out-Of-Pocket Caps Waived Until 2015
• Montana's State-Run Free Clinic Sees Early Success

Bill of Health

• Baffled consumers seek help with rising medical bills—"A new industry helps people decipher and challenge medical bills they don't understand."
• The royal birth cost $15,000. The average American birth is billed at $30,000.—Thanks to greed and gaming the system, prices are out of control.
• 'Paying Till It Hurts': Why American Health Care Is So Pricey
• In Need of a New Hip, but Priced Out of the U.S.—"In need of a hip transplant, and unable to find an affordable solution in the United States, Michael Shopenn turned to a private hospital in Belgium." NYT
• India's Walmart of Heart Surgery Cuts the Cost by 98%

Scams

• California rehab clinics bill taxpayers for fake clients, addictions
• Woman who faked cancer to collect money sent to jail
• Michigan Doc Arrested, Charged With Faking Cancer Treatments

Big Pharma

• Big Pharma Gets 77,500% Return On Lobbying Investment
• Big Pharma "Pay-for-Delay" Crony Capitalism Costing The American People Billions
• India revokes GSK cancer drug patent in latest Big Pharma blow

Issues

• Birth defects linked to bad Valley water
• Medical experiments on kids focus of new book from Abington professor—"The book details one of the darkest chapters in modern American medical research. Infants and children who were institutionalized due to developmental and physical delays became 'cheap and available test subjects' for some medical and scientific organizations in the country."
• Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in North Korea Is a Bigger Problem Than Previously Thought
• Bird flu strain in China 'passed between humans'—"Researchers have reported the first case of human-to-human transmission of the new strain of bird flu that has emerged in China."
• The man with no memory: Navy vet wakes up, speaks only Swedish

Psychology

• When Power Goes To Your Head, It May Shut Out Your Heart
• Psychopathic criminals have empathy switch
• You are how you sneeze—"A Chicago neurologist argues that the way we expel air is indicative of our underlying personality." Salon

Wealth

• Why Those Who Feel They Have Less Give More
• "Big Givers" Get Punished for Being Nonconformists, Research Shows
• Zong Qinghou: China's Richest Man Eats With His Workers and Lives on $20 a Day

Hypnosis and Mind Control

• Manly Sweat Makes Other Men More Cooperative
• Derren Brown seen on Sherlock Holmes set 'hypnotising Martin Freeman's Dr. Watson'
• Harvard creates brain-to-brain interface, allows humans to control other animals with thoughts alone

NSA Spying

• The man who misled Congress on spying will pick Obama’s intelligence review panel—"Misled" is eu-pussy-sm for "lied."
• Snowden: NSA targeted journalists critical of government after 9/11—Is this why the press became so compliant?
• Pardon Edward Snowden—"How do you justify criminally charging a government contractor for revealing an alarming truth that the public has every right to know?"
• What NSA reforms?—"President Obama's message about the government's massive electronic surveillance programs came through loud and clear: Get over it."
• The 1.6 percent of the Internet that NSA "touches" is bigger than it seems—"In deep packet inspection, it's not the size of the data that matters." Although 29 petabytes of data a day is humongous.

Tech History; Law and Disorder, Social Mediation; Copyfight, Piracy, Cable Wars; Australia Tax; Microsoft; Apple, e-Book Price Fixing; Bugs, Malware & Hacking; Surveillance and Privacy

Tech History

• The Evolution of the Web
• Watch: An Amazing Mechanical Computer From 1948
• Say Goodbye to the Tech Sounds You'll Never Hear Again

Law and Disorder

• Indian IT firm accused of discrimination against "stupid Americans"—"Infosys favored Asians in hiring, alleges suit seeking class action status."
• One Small Win Against Lodsys, One of Nathan Myhrvold's Patent Troll Shell Companies
• Federal judge: Bitcoin, "a currency," can be regulated under American law
• Man charged with trying to sell stolen car on Craigslist
• Mail from the (Velvet) Cybercrime Underground—"Earlier this month, the administrator of an exclusive cybercrime forum hatched and executed a plan to purchase heroin, have it mailed to my home, and then spoof a phone call from one of my neighbors alerting the local police."

Social Mediation

• Facebook Brag Leads To Arrest In Dog Burning Case
• Alpha, officials file defamation lawsuit against anonymous online users
• Jurors jailed for contempt of court over internet use—'Two jurors have each been jailed for two months for contempt of court after one posted a comment on Facebook and the other researched a case online." Frightening to have idiots like these deciding cases.
• Man accused of skipping out on Reno bar tab in custody; pub condemned him in Facebook post
• Fired for a tweet?

Copyfight

• Hollywood Keeps Censoring Pirate Bay Documentary, Director Outraged
• The Hole in Our Collective Memory: How Copyright Made Mid-Century Books Vanish
• How We Can Balance Freedom Of Speech And The Rights Of College Athletes—"The root of the O’Bannon case isn’t that EA Sports uses avatars that represent real athletes, but that the NCAA and EA have conspired to fix the monetary value of athletes at zero by refusing to allow them any compensation for use of their names, images, or likenesses."
• Algorithms Are the New Content Creators, and That's Bad News for Humans—"The battle for fair use is unfair to anyone who plays by the old rules and tries to share with the artists because human creatives can't compete with the automated services that aren't sharing with the artists."
• Whining doesn't make you right

Piracy

• Pirate Bay 'Founders' Speak Out on the Site's Past and Future
• Obama administration looks to make unauthorized streaming a felony
• 2,919 Movie Pirates Walk Free as BitTorrent Trolling Scheme Falls Apart
• Lady Gaga 'Applause' Leak Sparks Fan-Driven Anti-Piracy Campaign
• High 'Game of Thrones' piracy is 'better than an Emmy,' says Time Warner CEO

Cable Wars

• CBS Blackout Triggers Surge in TV-Show Piracy
• Time Warner Cable, CBS trade barbs on day seven of blackout
• More Static: Time Warner Cable Denies Cramping CBS's Internet-Video Style

Australia

• The 'Australia tax' is real, geo-blocking to stop
• Parliamentary report urges Australians to bypass online geo-blocks that can double prices for IT products
• The 'Australia Tax' - how vendors are ripping us off

Microsoft

• How Microsoft Lost Its Way, as Understood Through The Wire
• Microsoft cuts Surface Pro price by $100 following Surface RT reductions
• Asus kills its line of Windows RT tablets

Apple

• Apple workers file lawsuit for lost wages due to bag searches—All those unpaid minutes add up and should be compensated accordingly.
• No bathroom breaks: iPhone factory in China accused of egregious labor violations
• Obama Administration Vetoes Apple Product Ban
• Apple iPhone patent violated by Samsung, US trade court rules—"ITC ruling comes as Apple asks court to force Samsung to stop using iPhone features in violation of its patents."
• Android vs. iPhone: Why Apple still has the edge over Google's operating system.
• The Newtonians: Worldwide Cult Ditches iPhone for Apple's Distant Past
• Rush Limbaugh: Apple is Republicans, Google is Democrats

e-Book Price Fixing

• Angry Apple makes hollow threat to bar Kindle, other e-book apps—"'Apple is under no duty to allow other retailers to offer apps on the iPad,' company says in reply to DOJ's e-book price-fixing remedies."
• Publishers object to U.S. remedy in Apple e-book case
• Judge scolds Apple for lack of remorse in e-book antitrust case

Bugs, Malware & Hacking

• Confused photocopiers randomly rewriting scanned documents—"Scans can't be trusted as Xerox machines switch numbers around." Dyslexic scanners... huh.
• How do you stop HTTPS-defeating BREACH attacks? Let us count the ways
• Firefox 23 lands with a new logo and mixed content blocking
• JavaScript and Timing Attacks Used to Steal Browser Data
• xkcd: The Mother of All Suspicious Files

Surveillance and Privacy

• Edward Snowden's father gets visa to visit son in Russia
• The NSA is turning the internet into a total surveillance system—"The NSA appears to believe this general monitoring of our electronic communications is justified because the entire process takes, in one official's words, 'a small number of seconds.' Translation: the NSA thinks it can intercept and then read Americans' emails so long as the intrusion is swift, efficient and silent."
• Cory Doctorow: privacy, oversharing and government surveillance—"Globally-renowned science fiction author, activist and journalist gives his views on privacy, oversharing and the troubling concern of government surveillance."
• DIY stalker boxes spy on Wi-Fi users cheaply and with maximum creep value—"CreepyDOL follows you around town, vacuums up wireless digital crumbs."
• N.J. Man In A Jam, After Illegal GPS Device Interferes With Newark Liberty Operations—"Gary Bojczak didn't want his boss tracking him; instead he got federal agents."

Breaking Bad, Comics, Entertainment, Music; Games; Free to Play, Pay to Win; Tilt; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online

Breaking Bad

• The Last Stand of Walter White—"A cancer-ridden science teacher transforms himself into a sinister meth lord. That's the story of 'Breaking Bad.' But it's also the story of how Bryan Cranston became TV's greatest leading man. As the show enters its final stretch, GQ's Brett Martin discovers why Walter White will always live on."
• 'Mythbusters' tests 'Breaking Bad'
• Walter White goes undercover as himself at Comic-Con
• Breaking Bad Jr – Afterwards They Will Explode
• With 2 Hit Series Ending, a Transformed AMC Is at a Crossroads NYT

Comics

• Interview: David Steward II on Founding Lion Forge and Getting into the Entertainment Business
• 'Batman' takes boy battling respiratory illness on Batcave tour
• Watch JOKER RISING - Full-Length Fan Film
• If Woody Allen Made Wolverine
• Hawkeye: Afternoon Stroll—Amazing fan-art.

Entertainment

• Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany—"Collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years."
• JK Rowling law firm pays damages over pseudonym leak—The settlement goes to The Soldier's Charity, as well as the book royalties.
• Netflix, Studios Have Very Different Explanations for Widescreen Cropping
• Massive 'Simpsons' supercut features every movie reference in first 10 seasons
• Nate Silver ESPN: The eight sports problems that the FiveThirtyEight maestro should solve
• Portraits By Erika Saracino
• 33 Skeletor Affirmations To Get You Through Even The Worst Day

Music

• The Rock 'n' Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero—Jason Everman is not your every man (Salon). NYT
• Jimmy Fallon, Robin Thicke & The Roots Sing "Blurred Lines" (w/ Classroom Instruments)
• Daft Punk Punks Stephen Colbert

Games

• Microsoft gives a damn 'bout your bad reputation on Xbox One—"Not living in the past—it's a new generation of Xbox Live community management."
• New Oculus Rift cover shooter is so realistic, players warned not to lean on virtual objects
• 10-year-old saves family in errant car, credits Mario Kart
• Greek Mythology Chess Set
• Blast from the Past: The Ages of Minecraft

Free to Play, Pay to Win

• Apple refunds $6,131 iTunes bill for 8-year-old's unauthorized in-app purchases
• In-app purchasing and $3,000 iTunes bill stun mom
• Why Free-to-Play is a fad —Or, is it here to stay?

Tilt

• Lawsuit Awards $11 Million to Original Madden Programmer—EA accused recycling code and features.
• Zynga loses $15.8M in Q2, nearly half its daily users year-over-year
• Kickstarter tabletop game collapses after bringing in $123K
• Video game suit can proceed—"A federal lawsuit filed against the video-game vendor GameStop Corp. alleges three South Jersey stores sold used games that sometimes cost more than buying new."
• Xbox Live Policies Are Blocking Cross-Platform MMOs like "Final Fantasy XIV" and "Dust 514"

NSA Spying

• Obama touts NSA surveillance reforms to quell growing unease over programs—"President to work with Congress to reform NSA's Fisa court and Patriot Act but made clear that mass surveillance would continue."
• Obama Promises Reform of NSA Spying, But the Devil Will Be in the Details
• Obama Administration Releases Previously Secret Legal Opinion on NSA's Associational Tracking Program
• Obama's Reassurances about Domestic Surveillance are not Reassuring
• Making You 'Comfortable' with Spying Is Obama's Big NSA Fix
• Obama's former adviser ridicules statement that NSA doesn’t spy on Americans
• WikiLeaks founder: Obama surveillance changes vindicate Edward Snowden—Warning: Has un-pausable, un-muteable auto-playing video advertisement. Turn off your speaker before clicking.

Surveillance and Privacy

• Lawmakers say obstacles limited oversight of NSA’s telephone surveillance program
• Jennifer Hoelzer's Insider's View Of The Administration's Response To NSA Surveillance Leaks
• Don’t worry, NSA says—we only "touch" 1.6% of daily global Internet traffic
• Researchers say Tor-targeted malware phoned home to NSA—"JavaScript attack had a hard-coded IP address that traced back to NSA address block."
• A Call to Boycott U.S. Tech Platforms Over the NSA's PRISM Surveillance
• Lavabit's closure marks the death of secure cloud computing in the US—"Once Edward Snowden's use of the email service was public, it was perhaps a given that Lavabit would be targeted by the US."
• Mega to fill secure email gap left by Lavabit—"Kim Dotcom's privacy company Mega prepares 'cutting edge' email encryption service."

Your Rights Online

• Spy access to NZ used as bargaining tool—"The ability for US intelligence agencies to access internet data was used as a bargaining tool by a Telecom-owned company trying to keep down the cost of the undersea cable from New Zealand."
• Facebook used in worker dismissal—"A flight attendant was forced to let her bosses examine her Facebook pages and bank accounts in a stoush over what she was up to on sick leave."
• New tool monitors e-mail language to catch workplace thieves
• No, this isn't a scene from Minority Report. This trash can is stalking you
• Pirate Bay Releases 'Pirate Browser' to Thwart Censorship

Zero-Hour Contracts, Workers and Wage Slaves, Vacation, Wal-Mart, Economy, Poverty; Banks and Wall Street, Accountability, Occupy Movement; NSA Spying, Thanks Obama, Your Rights Online

Zero-Hour Contracts

• They won't be lovin' it: McDonald's admits 90% of employees are on zero-hours contracts without guaranteed work or a stable income
• Zero-hours contracts: What is it like living on one?
• Zero-hours contracts remind me of the great depression – let's stop this—"Being 90, I've seen what poor working conditions do to people. What type of country do we want? It's our responsibility."
• Zero-hours contracts will not create a sustainable economy—"Zero-hours contracts may keep actual unemployment lower, but they also depress consumer confidence and activity – which are just as important for a healthy economy."
• Zero hours casual contracts are not the only option

Workers and Wage Slaves

• Low-wage America
• If Amazon is the future of work, then be afraid
• Sorry, It's Not A 'Law Of Capitalism' That You Pay Your Employees As Little As Possible
• US Companies Thrive as Workers Fall Behind NYT
• Debunking the Minimum Wage Myth: Higher Wages Will Not Reduce Jobs
• Bernie Sanders Exposes The Republican Goal of Abolishing The Minimum Wage
• Colbert: Hitler would have raised the minimum wage—"Stephen Colbert expressed his solidarity with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto, who said striking fast food workers should be grateful for whatever jobs they can get."
• After I banned tipping at my restaurant, the service got better and we made more money

Vacation

• Report: U.S. Only 'Rich' Country That Doesn't Require Employers To Provide Paid Vacation Time
• Americans Don't Take Vacation Even Though It's One Of The Best Benefits Around
• Vamos a la playa: The politics of Europe's summer holidays

Wal-mart

• Walmart Gets Desperate—"The country's largest employer tried to compare the wages of their long-term employees to the stipends of Nation interns. The Daily Beast bought their spin."
• Walmart Agrees To Improve Safety Conditions At More Than 2,800 Stores
• 3 Signs Walmart’s Best Days Are Behind It

Economy

• Obama economy: Part-time jobs swamp full-time jobs—Like the one of the Arizona firefighters whose wife was deemed ineligible to receive death benefits since he wasn't a full-time employee.
• Obama Should Commit to a Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Plan
• Reich: Why Republicans Want Jobs to Stay Anemic

Poverty

• The Charitable Industrial Complex—"We need to shatter current structures and systems to create a society that creates greater prosperity for all. But as long as most folks are patting themselves on the back for charitable acts, we've got a perpetual poverty machine." NYT
• Congressman Scolds Catholic Nun For Asking Government To Help The Poor
• 'Crack baby' study finds poverty is worse for child development than exposure to drug in womb
• Time to take a bite out of food stamps?
• 4 in 5 in USA face near-poverty, no work

Banks and Wall Street

• US regulators 'find evidence' of banks fixing derivative rates—"US regulators have reportedly been handed evidence that traders at some of the world’s biggest banks manipulated a key rate for derivatives, pocketing millions at the expense of pension funds in the process."
• Not even death stops banks from deducting fees—"Bank of America has deducted $12 monthly fees from the account of a customer who died in March. And it can legally continue doing so for years."
• Michael Lewis on Goldman Sachs: The Company Would Flourish Under Totalitarian Rule
• $700k windfall: Russian man outwits bank with hand-written credit contract
• The bailout Wall Street is blocking from Main Street—"Banks representing the nation's largest bond investors are suing the city of Richmond, which last week took steps to take over underwater mortgages through eminent domain."

Accountability

• Under Scrutiny, Goldman Offers to Speed Metal Delivery—"The bank said it would offer immediate access after regulators began to investigate how delays at commodities warehouses had influenced prices." Too little, too late? NYT
• Industry wrote provision that undercuts credit-rating overhaul
• Justice Department Sues Bank of America Over Mortgages
• JPMorgan: We're Being Investigated By DOJ Over Mortgages
• New Bank Investigations: Real Action, or More of the Same?
• London Whale 'won't face charges over $6.2bn loss at JPMorgan'—"Bruno Iksil, the 'London Whale' trader at the centre of JPMorgan's largest ever trading loss, will not face charges over the incident, according to reports."
• Bavaria top court orders Mollath released from mental institution—"Bavarian judges ordered the immediate release of Gustl Mollath from an institution for the criminally insane, pending a retrial of his case. His incarceration for seven years has been dubbed a legal scandal." Mollath was a whistleblower.
• A Whistle-Blower Who Can Name Names of Swiss Bank Account Holders NYT

Occupy Movement

• NYPD 'consistently violated basic rights' during Occupy protests – study—"Report by NYU and Fordham law schools found 'shocking level of impunity' and department that acted beyond its powers."
• Occupy Nashville wins ruling that TN violated their First Amendment rights
• Pepper-spray cop seeks workers' comp—"The former UC Davis police officer who pepper-sprayed a group of seated protesters at a campus Occupy demonstration in 2011 is appealing for workers' compensation for psychiatric damage stemming from the incident."
• 99% – The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film' Trailer
• Occupy Wall Street May Resume As 'End Wall Street'

NSA Spying

• Edward Snowden, patriot
• There is no terrorist threat: The feds want you to think there is, compliant media goes along Salon
• Breaking Through Limits On Spying—"Apparently no espionage tool that Congress gives the National Security Agency is big enough or intrusive enough to satisfy the agency’s inexhaustible appetite for delving into the communications of Americans. Time and again, the N.S.A. has pushed past the limits that lawmakers thought they had imposed to prevent it from invading basic privacy, as guaranteed by the Constitution." NYT
• NSA cites case as success of phone data-collection program—"The importance of phone logs in disrupting plots has been less clear since the program was revealed."
• Is this $8,500 wire transfer really the NSA's best case for tracking Americans’ phone records? —"The Obama administration and the U.S. intelligence community, under growing public pressure to justify the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance capabilities, have finally offered up a piece of evidence for their case that the program to track Americans’ phone call metadata is necessary to protect national security: a series of wire transfers, worth $8,500 in all, from San Diego to Somalia. In 2008."

Thanks Obama

• Obama's deceptions on Snowden
• Barack Obama pledges greater surveillance transparency
• The president is wrong: The NSA debate wouldn’t have happened without Snowden
• Victim Of Obama's Crackdown On Whistleblowers Says Calling Leakers Spies Is Modern Day McCarthyism
• Press Corps Fails To Ask Any NSA Questions At Obama’s NSA Press Conference

Your Rights Online

• Lavabit's Ladar Levison: 'If You Knew What I Know About Email, You Might Not Use It'
• NSA loophole allows warrantless search for US citizens' emails and phone calls—"Spy agency has secret backdoor permission to search databases for individual Americans' communications."
• The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership—"The primary business model of the Internet is built on mass surveillance, and our government’s intelligence-gathering agencies have become addicted to that data. Understanding how we got here is critical to understanding how we undo the damage."
• US Military Caught Manipulating Social Media, Mass Fake Accounts
• Apple patents tech to let cops switch off iPhone video, camera and wi-fi

Surveillance and Privacy, War on Terror, Wikileaks, Police State; Innocence vs. Injustice, Recording, Bitches Behaving Badly; Fake Rapes, False Assaults; Hoaxes, Scams, Dupes

Surveillance and Privacy

• Lavabit, email service Snowden reportedly used, abruptly shuts down—"I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what's going on--the first amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations like this. Unfortunately, Congress has passed laws that say otherwise. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests." He was "forced to make a difficult decision: to become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away...."
• Silent Circle Preemptively Shuts Down Encrypted Email Service To Prevent NSA Spying
• Email service used by Snowden shuts itself down, warns against using US-based companies—Edward Snowden: 'Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple, and the rest of our internet titans must ask themselves why they aren't fighting for our interests the same way.'
• Obama, tech executives met to discuss surveillance: report—"President Barack Obama quietly met with the CEOs of Apple Inc, AT&T Inc as well as other technology and privacy representatives on Thursday to discuss government surveillance, according to a media report."
• What It Means to Be An NSA "Target": New Information Shows Why We Need Immediate FISA Amendments Act Reform
• NSA to cut system administrators by 90 percent to limit data access
• MAD's "War on Privacy" Cover—Yes, me worry.

War on Terror

• Ted Koppel: America's Chronic Overreaction to Terrorism—"The country's capacity for self-inflicted damage must have astounded even Osama bin Laden." WSJ
• Caustic Light on White House's Reaction to a Terrorist Threat—"The decision to shut some American diplomatic posts in the Middle East has prompted gloating among jihadists and criticism by some officials who say the Obama administration overreacted." NYT
• Unhappy With U.S. Foreign Policy? Pentagon Says You Might Be A 'High Threat'
• DHS Eliminates 197 Million People’s 4th Amendment Rights In "Constitution Free Zones"
• Justice Department Files First Criminal Charges In Benghazi Attack

Wikileaks

• Manning sentencing: judge rejects claim leaks had 'chilling effect'—"Judge rules that State Department testimony is admissible only if the effect came directly after leaks were published."
• Department Of Justice Confirms Wikileaks Investigation
• We need crack investigative journalists in the Senate: Julian Assange—"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has vowed to continue his work on the whistleblowing website if he is elected to the Senate."

Police State

• N.H. City Wants a "Tank" to Use Against Occupiers and Libertarians—"Concord police listed the nonviolent groups as domestic terror threats in a federal grant application."
• SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police—"It's remarkable that using military weapons and tactics on domestic soil has become a routine means of pursuing nonviolent suspects and low-level investigations, particularly in the war on drugs."
• T.S.A. Now Has Power to Patrol Music Festivals?—More mission creep.

Innocence vs. Injustice

• FBI Found Scientific Errors in 27 Death Penalty Convictions
• Mo. judge fires 34-year court employee for providing document that helped free innocent man
• Finally, Thousands of Old Rape-Evidence Kits Are to Be Tested in Texas

Recording

• Texas state troopers caught on camera probing women's privates aren't isolated incidents: lawyers—"Multiple highway patrol officers in Texas have been captured by dash cams doing 'unconstitutional' cavity searches on women's genitals during traffic stops. Lawyers and civil rights advocates say the 'mind-boggling' searches are all too common."
• Indianapolis "Officer of the Year" Caught on Camera Lying About Arrest
• Police restrain and hit woman—"Surveillance video has surfaced showing police hitting a woman in Davenport, Iowa. CNN affiliate WQAD reports."
• Tourists Beware: Walker's Cops May Come After You—"[P]eople videotaping and photographing the arrests – some of them credentialed journalists - were told that the very act of recording those events made them participants and therefore subject to arrest themselves."
• Witnesses say driver appeared to aim for beachgoers—"Witnesses described a scene of terror and mayhem and said the driver appeared to be aiming for people when a car plowed into a weekend crowd of pedestrians on the boardwalk at Venice Beach in Los Angeles."
• Prosecutors drop felony assault charge against Bison linebacker—Witnesses' stories debunked by video.
• Sex video clears men accused of rape—It showed "her laughing and carrying on with the two alleged rapists – hence, the lack of charges against them and the lodging of the misdemeanor false-report accusation."

Bitches Behaving Badly

• Meet The Horrible Florida Woman Who Filmed Herself Berating Dunkin' Donuts Workers—Follow up: Taylor Chapman is Not Employed Here Anymore
• 'Do you know who my dad is? He's rich': What drunk BMW crash girl said after wrecking three homes in her convertible
• Unruly woman kicked, scratched deputies on CLT-bound plane
• Bystanders cheer as women attack, beat DC drag performer
• Sheriff's investigators believe Julia Merfeld wanted to kill her husband—Hitman to be hired turned out to be an undercover cop.
• Street performer assaulted outside Summerfest—"'I was playing Minnie the Moocher, classic Blues Brothers song. A lady with a child in her hand came up to me, smacked me in my face and said 'don’t play that.' Struve says three African American women confronted her and shouted that a white girl could not play the song."
• South Korean 'Honeypot Gang' Targets Married Men—"Police in Chungcheong Province have discovered a criminal gang running a 'honeypot' operation, enticing married men to have sex with a member of the gang and then blackmailing them."

Fake Rapes

• Twenty-five years after accusing an innocent man of rape, Tawana Brawley is finally paying for her lies.—Guess, the party's over.
• Soldier tells how false rape claims ruined his life
• Mentally Ill Woman Gets Jail Time, Probation For Filing A False Rape Report At UC Santa Cruz
• Michigan Woman Faked Rape And Cancer
• Woman behind bars for false rape claim
• Woman allegedly lies about kidnapping, rape
• Maine: Jury convicts Rockland woman of making false rape repor
• Woman is finally jailed after FIVE false rape allegations against her ex-boyfriends in eight years

False Assaults

• Celebrated Cardinals cheerleader arrested after alleged assault caught on video
• Va woman pleads guilty to false sex assault report
• Kayla Brooke Earl Faked Own Attack To Get Ex-Boyfriend's Attention: Cops
• Woman in UK jailed for lying to police that taxi driver had sexually assaulted her in his cab
• Leeds woman jailed for false sex attack claim which cost £57,900

Hoaxes

• Protesters out undercover officer, accuses her of infiltrating group
• What Katie didn't do—"Over a period of two and a half years, she was the subject of intense 'interest' which she alleges was harassment by a group of rogue officers based in the High Wycombe area – where her police officer ex-boyfriend, Alex Ash, who was disciplined for making inappropriate contact with her, just happened to be based."
• Cops Plead Guilty to Helping Plant Drugs on Woman Sexually Harassed by Judge
• DUI case dropped against lawyer who claimed he was set up, mid-trial, by opposing counsel
• Maine man tried to stage kidnapping and rescue of teenage girl, according to affidavit

Scams

• How 12 Men Morphed Identities and Still Voted, Bought Guns, and Got Married
• Fake cop arrested after pulling over real cops in unmarked car for speeding
• Woman denies marathon fund larceny—"A New York woman accused of scamming almost half a million dollars from the Boston Marathon bombing victims fund has pleaded not guilty to larceny."
• Mommy Blogger Lied About Pink Headband Bullying, 'Baker Acted'
• Lee Tyers put pubic hair in Middlesbrough restaurant curry

Dupes

• Video: Sensing Bullshit
• 'Psychic' who reported mass grave north of Houston must pay $7 million
• After Spending $11,000, Woman Sues Psychic For Not Lifting Curse On Her Love Life