Anti-austerity parties soar in Spanish elections as Greece threatens default Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Two new, anti-establishment parties (including one that grew out of the indignados movement — a kind of Spanish precedent to Occupy) took key seats in regional and municipal elections in yesterday’s Spanish election, which is a kind of dress rehearsal for the … Read more
Cloud computing by the numbers: The rise of the private and hybrid cloud Mashable! by Stephanie Walden The proliferation of cloud computing is one of the most impactful trends in the world of enterprise IT today — and the technology is ever evolving. The business model of NSA apologists Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Those talking heads you … Read more
Your Mobile Phone can Detect Earthquakes Digital Inspiration Technology Blog by Amit Agarwal Was it just you or did the ground really shake? Your iPhone, iPad and most newer mobile phones can work as basic seismometers, the same instrument that is used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes and volcanoes. You don’t need to install any apps, just … Read more
The new HTTP/2 spec ushers in hopes for a faster web Mashable! by Christina Warren HTTP, or the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, is a central part of the World Wide Web. On Wednesday, Mark Nottingham, the chai HTTP/2, the first major change to HTTP in 16 years, has been finalized The Next Web by Owen Williams Here is … Read more
Transparency Is No Substitute For Free Speech EFF.org Updates by Eva Galperin and Jillian York / Twitter has released a new transparency report. The company—which scored five stars in our latest “Who Has Your Back?” report—blogged about the release, wrote that “[p]roviding this insight is simply the right thing to do, especially in an age of … Read more
STUDY: Using Facebook for ‘Surveillance’ Can Lead to Envy, Depression All Facebook by David Cohen Want to avoid feelings of envy that might lead to depression? Be careful how you use Facebook. The guy behind GPG, Ed Snowden’s favorite email encryption tool is going broke Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin A ProPublica story getting a lot of … Read more
The Pirate Bay Is Back Online! TorrentFreak Early December The Pirate Bay was raided at the Nacka station, a nuclear-proof data center built into a mountain complex near Stockholm. The Pirate Bay returns from the dead, comes back online The Next Web by Owen Williams Following a raid on a Swedish data center late last year, … Read more
Silk Road Trial Becomes Case Study for Law Enforcement Online All Facebook by Kimberlee Morrison The trial of Ross Ulbricht, alleged admin of The Silk Road (a Tor Network marketplace for the sale and trade of illegal goods), is expected to begin in New York today. The public nature of the trial could result in much discussion … Read more
Is Jetpack Misleading Users to Promote WordPress.com? WPBeginner by Editorial Staff Are you using Jetpack’s publicize feature on your site?Recently while browsing through Facebook, we found several folks sharing links where WordPress replaced the site domain. Along with that, the status also read like this: Michelle Schulp published an article in WordPress. Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Flogged … Read more
Algorithmic cruelty Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow With its special end-of-year message, Facebook wants to show you, over and over, what your year “looked like”; in Eric Meyer’s case, the photo was of his daughter, who died this year: “For those of us who lived through the death of loved ones, or spent extended time in … Read more
President Obama writes his first line of Javascript Mashable! by Stan Schroeder The U.S. now has a “coder-in-chief:” President Barack Obama has written his first line of code Peter Sunde: The Pirate Bay Should Stay Down TorrentFreak A few weeks ago Peter Sunde was released from prison where he’d been serving a sentence for his involvement in … Read more
Firefox to switch default search from Google to Yahoo Mashable! by Karissa Bell Yahoo will soon be the default search engine on Firefox browsers. Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: why only an anthropologist can tell the story of Anonymous Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow BitTorrent Users are Avid, Eclectic Content Buyers, Survey Finds TorrentFreak Each month 150-170 million Internet … Read more
EFF Relaunches Surveillance Self-Defense EFF.org Updates by Jillian York We’re thrilled to announce the relaunch of Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD), our guide to defending yourself and your friends from digital surveillance by using encryption tools and developing appropriate privacy and security practices. The site launches today in English, Arabic, and Spanish, with more languages coming soon. The Younger … Read more
The FBI Director’s Evidence Against Encryption Is Pathetic The Intercept by Dan Froomkin FBI Director James Comey gave a speech Thursday about how cell-phone encryption could lead law enforcement to a “very dark place” where it “misses out” on crucial evidence to nail criminals. To make his case, he cited four real-life examples — examples that … Read more
Self-segregation on social networks and the implications for the Ferguson, MO story …My heart’s in Accra by Ethan Michael Brown was fatally shot by police officer Darren Wilson on Saturday August 9, 2014. After his body lay in the hot street for four hours, Ferguson residents took to the streets to protest his killing. Brown’s death, the … Read more