The 451 HTTP error code, first proposed in 2012 as a tribute to Ray Bradbury’s classic novel is now an IETF standard and is the preferred error message for a server to send to a browser when content is blocked for legal reasons. (more…)
New ten-part series on surveillance & corruption from creator of Aaron Swartz doc
Brian Knappenberger, the documentarian who created The Internet’s Own Boy, a beautiful documentary about Aaron Swartz, has announced a new ten-part documentary series called “Truth and Power,” which will show on Pivot.(more…)
Researchers found Twitter users are happy to respond to calls to action from bots, but only if the bots don’t act too human.
“We know of no case where such an addition of exceptional access capabilities has not resulted in weakened security.” (more…)
With video beginning to dominate Facebook, native videos have been dominant in terms of engagement.
A new study by social analytics provider Quintly found that Facebook native videos are drawing up to four times more interactions than videos uploaded from other sources.
Computer scientists are abuzz over a fast new algorithm for solving one of the central problems in the field.
Congress easily passed a thinly disguised surveillance provision — the final version of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA — on Friday; it was shoehorned into a must-pass budget bill to prevent a government shutdown before the holidays.
Born of a climate of fear combined with a sense of urgency, the bill claims to do one thing — help companies share information with the government to heed off cyber attacks — and does entirely another, increasing the U.S. government’s spying powers while letting companies with poor cyber hygiene off the hook. It’s likely to spawn unintended consequences.
“Bro network” an (unfortunately named) open/free IDS that turns all your network traffic into events that can trigger scripts you write. As Nat writes, “Good pedigree (Vern Paxson, a TCP/IP elder god) despite the wince-inducing name.” (more…)
A very special ceremony, honoring the year’s most interesting people and stories from the world of data. Presented by What’s The Point‘s Jody Avirgan and the FiveThirtyEight staff.
Zachary M. Seward picks the best Twitter bots of 2015 for Quartz. My favorite is Derek Arnold’s @FFD8FFDB, which tweets random screengrabs from insecure, internet-connected security cameras around the world.
Former Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde has always been very outspoken about people’s inherent drive to copy things.
Let’s do an experiment. Grab your phone and open up your text messages. Scroll through a text thread until you land on an emoji. Chances are you didn’t have to scroll very far if at all, right?
During Saturday’s debate, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton said the U.S. should commission a “Manhattan-like project,” a reference to the secret World War II-era atomic bomb endeavor, to address the alleged threat encryption poses to law enforcement. She also admitted she doesn’t actually understand the technology.
The story how Silk Road grew into a $1.2 billion operation, and how federal law enforcement shut it down.
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