Bitcoin Tops $1,000 For the First Time An anonymous reader writes with this bit from The Next Web “Bitcoin hit a new milestone today, passing the $1,000 mark for the first time. The virtual currency is currently trading above the four-digit figure, with its highest at $1,030 on Mt. Gox, one of the largest exchanges. Texas Hacker … Read more
2013 Web Index Report Source: World Wide Web Foundation From Press Release: Key findings from the Web Index 2013 include: Targeted censorship of Web content by governments is widespread across the globe. Moderate to extensive blocking or filtering of politically sensitive content was reported in over 30 percent of Web Index countries during the Kim Dotcom … Read more
Pirate Party Gets Observer Status at World Trade Organization Following the launch of the first Pirate Party in Sweden the ?Pirate? movement quickly spread all over the world, and not without success. During the German elections earlier this year nearly a million people voted for the local Pirate Party, in Iceland the national Parliament has three Pirate MPs, … Read more
And the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year Is … ‘Selfie’ Oxford Dictionaries announced “Selfie” as the international Word of the Year 2013, noting its frequency in the English language has increased by 17,000% since last year The Online Dating Engine that Assesses Your Taste In the Opposite Sex (And Whether They Find You … Read more
Million Mask March: anons in the world’s streets Image: “Anonymous Million Mask March on Election day in New York | Knowledge is Power” shared by Michael Tapp in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool. Rally Against Mass Surveillance: Inspiring Pics from the Historic Demonstration On October 26th, thousands of people from all walks of life converged on Washington, DC in a demonstration … Read more
Bugged Bears, Spy Irons, and the Pope: Global Spying Went Nuts Today The Pope is being targeted by U.S. eavesdroppers. Julian Assange is sending packageswith video cameras and GPS trackers. The Russians are using teddy bears to snoop on G-20 officials. Spy chips are popping up in electric irons. Oh, and the NSA, it turns out, has broken into Google and Yahoo’s datacenters. … Read more
Take a Tour of Robocoin, the World’s First Bitcoin ATM Meet the Robocoin: the world’s first bitcoin ATM. It went live last night, after an afternoon of tinkering and testing at the downtown cafe that’s now its home. Online Anonymity Is Not Only for Trolls and Political Dissidents David Plotz: People have a misguided belief in it, … Read more
isoHunt Shuts Down After $110 Million Settlement With The MPAA For more than seven years isoHunt and the MPAA have been battling it out in court and today the case appears to end, for now. Both parties have submitted a request to end the case and isoHunt founder Gary Fung agreed to pay a $110 million … Read more
Google’s Quantum Computer in Limbo After Government Shutdown Google just barely dodged a bullet. The NASA team booted up their D-Wave Two just days before the federal government shutdown would have put a complete stop to the project. But with NASA and Ames almost completely shut down, it’s not exactly clear what’s happening with … Read more
NSA and UK intel agency GCHQ target online anonymity tool Tor, according to leaked Snowden documents Despite the fact that online anonymity tool Tor was developed with US government funds, the NSA really does not like Tor. Android vs malware: how to run a secure, open ecosystem A presentation by Android Security chief Adrian Ludwig at … Read more
London School of Economics: piracy isn’t killing big content; government needs to be skeptical of entertainment industry claims Copyright and Creation, a policy brief from a collection of respected scholars at the rock-ribbed London School of Economics, argues that the evidence shows that piracy isn’t causing any grave harm to the entertainment industry, and that anti-piracy … Read more
In the Silk Road Case, Don’t Blame the Technology The man alleged to be “Dread Pirate Roberts,” the founder and operator of the Silk Road?an online marketplace where bitcoins were traded for a range of goods and services, including drugs?was arrested by the FBI in San Francisco yesterday. The criminal complaint, released today, provides many details about … Read more
Turkey bans gay dating website, app Grindr Gay and bisexual male dating website Grindr has been banned by Turkey’s Directorate of Telecommunication Foursquare continues to focus on the little details. Now tells you where the action is on any given day of the week. Someone must have given Foursquare a kick up the … Read more
Twitter Vs. Facebook: A Tale Of Two IPOs From Facebook Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg?s mouth to Twitter?s ears: The long awaited, much anticipated Twitter initial public offering is upon us. Twitter Plans to Go Public Twitter is the next giant social network with plans to cash in. Academics Launch Fake Social Network to Get an Inside Look at Chinese Censorship … Read more
Anonymity, Privacy, and Security Online 86% of online adults have taken steps to avoid surveillance by other people or organizations when using the internet. Despite precautions, 21% have had an email or social media account hijacked and 11% have had vital information stolen. John Cusack in hacker-land How I spent the weekend: I flew to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and … Read more