XKEYSCORE: NSA’s Google for the World’s Private Communications The Intercept by Morgan Marquis-Boire Illustrations by Blue Delliquanti and David Axe for The Intercept One of the National Security Agency’s most powerful tools of mass surveillance makes tracking someone’s Internet usage as easy as entering an email address, and provides no built-in technology to prevent abuse. Today, The Intercept is … Read more
The Sunday Times’ Snowden Story is Journalism at its Worst — and Filled with Falsehoods The Intercept by Glenn Greenwald (updated below) Western journalists claim that the big lesson they learned from their key role in selling the Iraq War to the public is that it’s hideous, corrupt and often dangerous journalism to give anonymity to … Read more
Edward Snowden: World is rejecting mass surveillance Legislation ending the US government’s bulk collection of telephone data is “a historic victory for the rights of every citizen,” former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden said in a commentary June 4 Media Lessons from Snowden Reporting: LA Times Editors Advocate Prosecution of Sources The Intercept by Glenn Greenwald Two years … Read more
The NSA is no longer authorized to spy on US citizens — for now The Next Web by Abhimanyu Ghoshal The US Senate failed to pass legislation extending legal authority of the country’s spy agencies — including the National Security Agency (NSA) — to collect data on American citizens’ communications on Sunday, reports Reuters. Senator Rand … Read more
UN: Encryption and Anonymity Must Be Protected TorrentFreak For the past several years and particularly in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, interest in encrypted and anonymous communications has spread to a much wider audience. Survey: Many Users Never Read Social Networking Terms of Service Agreements All Facebook by Kimberlee Morrison As reported by SocialTimes last … Read more
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
PressRelease here WikiLeaks releases a trove of U.S. diplomatic cables from 1978 Mashable! by Stan Schroeder WikiLeaks has released more than half a million U.S. diplomatic cables from 1978, the whistleblower website has announced. Despite NSA leaks, many Americans haven’t changed their privacy settings Mashable! by Louise Roug Contrary to the view that people have “nothing … Read more
MAIN FOCUS: EU at odds over refugee quotas | 12/05/2015 euro|topics The European Commission will present plans for a quota system that distributes refugees among the 28 member states on Wednesday. Several countries oppose the initiative. This is the right response to the refugee crisis, some commentators note approvingly. Others argue that Brussels is overstepping its … 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
New version of SecureDrop, open-source whistleblower submission system originally created by Aaron Swartz Boing Boing by Trevor Timm At Freedom of the Press Foundation, we’re excited to announce the release of a brand new version of SecureDrop, our open source whistleblower system which media organizations can use to communicate and receive documents from sources. Facebook has open sourced … Read more
Citizenfour takes Oscar for Best Documentary Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour wins Oscar theguardian.com – Andrew Pulver – Feb 22, 7:51 PM – Citizenfour has won the Oscar for best documentary, for its director Laura Poitras, editor Mathilde Bonnefoy and producer Dirk Wilutzky. Citizenfour chronicles the revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden … 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
10 Reasons Why Millennials Follow Brands on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest All Facebook by Shea Bennett A new study has identified ten distinct reasons why millennial social media users follower brands on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. And the top reason varies from platform to platform. Youtube ditches Flash, but it hardly matters Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow … Read more
Turkey’s Family Ministry launches probe into Minecraft video game Turkish ministry has launched an investigation into video game “Minecraft” on grounds that it encourages violence Israel suspends three diplomats over Twitter posts AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (IN DEPTH) Diplomats summoned for disciplinary hearings over remarks critical of PM and foreign minister, and could be dismissed. 71% Check Facebook, Twitter … Read more
Moot Retires From 4chan Slashdot vivaoporto writes Moot bids his final farewell as the administrator of the (in)famous imageboard. The full resignation letter can be read on the site blog (it’s cool, it’s SFW) but for those who are not brave enough to dwell in the “underbelly of the internet” here are some excerpts: “I founded … Read more