Cyberculture roundup: Strong Passwords, Google’s Transparency Report, Samsung vs. Apple, Cybersecurity Act…

When Will our Email Betray Us? An Email Privacy Primer in Light of the Petraeus Saga

from EFF.org Updates by Hanni Fakhoury and Kurt Opsahl and Rainey Reitman
The unfolding scandal that led to the resignation of Gen. David Petraeus, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, started with some purportedly harassing emails sent from pseudonymous email accounts to Jill Kelley. After the FBI kicked its investigation into high gear, it identified the sender as Paula Broadwell and, ultimately, read massive amounts of private email messages that uncovered an affair between Broadwell and Petraeus (and now, the investigation has expanded to include Gen. John Allen‘s emails with Kelley). We’ve received a lot of questions about how this works?what legal process the FBI needs to conduct its email investigation. The short answer? It’s complicated.

 

Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can’t Protect Us Anymore

from Wired Top Stories by Mat Honan
You have a secret that can ruin your life. It?s not a well-kept secret, either. Just a simple string of characters?maybe six of them if you?re careless, 16 if you?re cautious?that can reveal everything about you.

The New York Times Is Wrong: Strong Passwords Can’t Save Us

from Wired Top Stories by Mat Honan
On Nov. 7, The New York Times ran a story called ?How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away.? Written by Silicon Valley correspondent Nicole Perlroth, the piece reigned over the paper?s Most Emailed List for a full week, and for a good reason: It?s properly freaked out about just how vulnerable we all are

Senate Defeats Dangerously Vague Cybersecurity Act?Again

from EFF.org Updates by Mark M. Jaycox and Rainey Reitman
With your help last summer we helped defeat Senator Lieberman’s Cybersecurity Act. But for some reason, Senate Majority Leader Reid decided to call for another vote on the bill in the lame duck session today. After an hour’s debate, the full Senate voted 51 to 47 against cloture for the Cybersecurity Act, meaning it can’t move forward for a vote.

Cybersecurity fails yet again in the Senate, falling 51-47, leaving the issue on the President?s desk

from The Next Web by Alex Wilhelm

Samsung Won’t Be Settling With Apple, Executive Says

from Wired Top Stories by Christina Bonnington
As expected, Samsung won’t be putting an end to its intellectual property disputes with Apple any time soon, despite Apple’s recent settlement with HTC.

Samsung: We Have No Intention of Settling With Apple Like HTC

from Mashable! by Seth Fiegerman

Samsung: HTC may have settled with Apple, but we don?t intend to at all

from The Next Web by Matt Brian

Apple and HTC end patent dispute, sign 10-year licensing agreement

by Jon Russell

 

7 Landmark Tech Laws Passed in 2012

from Mashable! by Alex Fitzpatrick

 

Why Microsoft Says the Patent System Is Peachy Keen

from Wired Top Stories by Cade Metz
As companies such as Google and Twitter complain that the patent system is horribly broken — bemoaning the quality of patents being issued, the “trolls” that do nothing but try and squeeze money from their patents, and the high cost of patent litigation — other big tech outfits such as Microsoft and IBM describe the landscape very differently. It isn’t hard to see why. Just look at Bart Eppenauer.

Government Surveillance Is on the Rise, Says Google

from Mashable! by Alex Fitzpatrick

RIAA: Pirates Are Bigger Music Fans Than Average Consumers

from TorrentFreak by Ernesto

 

Google issues new Transparency Report, says government surveillance is on the rise

from The Next Web by Anna Heim

Transparency Report: Government requests on the rise

from The Official Google Blog by A Googler
We think it?s important to shine a light on how government actions could affect our users. When we first launched the Transparency Report in early 2010, there wasn?t much data out there about how governments sometimes hamper the free flow of information on the web. So we took our first step toward greater transparency by disclosing the number of government requests we received. At the time, we weren?t sure how things would look beyond that first snapshot, so we pledged to release numbers twice a year. Today we?re updating the Transparency Report with data about government requests from January to June 2012.

 

Google report reveals sharp increase in government requests for users’ data

from World news: Turkey | guardian.co.uk by Dominic Rushe
Authorities made more than 20,000 requests in first half of 2012, with US government making most demands for online details
? Get the data behind this report and charts
Government surveillance of citizens’ online lives is rising sharply around the world, according to Google’s latest report on requests to remove content and hand over user data to official agencies.
In the first six months of this year, authorities worldwide made 20,939 requests for access to personal data from Google users, including search results, access to Gmail accounts and removal of YouTube videos. Requests have risen steeply from a low of 12,539 in the last six months of 2009, when Google first published its Transparency Report.

The Fascinating History of Online Role-Playing Games

from Mashable! by Lauren Indvik

The 10 Keys To Optimizing Twitter Engagement

from social media vb by Morgan J. Arnold
Track Social recently conducted an extended study of major brand activity on Twitter. The results have been collected in the 10 Keys to Optimizing Twitter Engageme

 

Pirate Bay Founder Arrested Again On Suspicion Of New Hacking & Fraud Offenses

from TorrentFreak by enigmax

Apple?s next chip architecture transition will be inconvenient, but not the end of the world

from The Next Web by Mike Vardy

The Most Impressive Live Global Twitter Map, Ever?

by Patrick Meier

My colleague Kalev Leetaru has just launched The Global Twitter Heartbeat Project  in partnership with the Cyber Infrastructure and Geospatial Information Laboratory (CIGI) and GNIP. He shared more information on this impressive initiative with the CrisisMappers Network this morning.

7 Tech Luminaries Who Died in 2012

by Kate Freeman

Cyberattack Reveals Middle Eastern Spy Network

by TechNewsDaily


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