A video: “How WhatsApp Makes Money” Main points: 00:01 WhatsApp founders built a free messaging app without ads, in-app purchases or selling user data. 04:12 WhatsApp’s revenue strategy was largely based on attracting investors 08:16 Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp allowed them to extend their surveillance business and collect more personal data. 11:58 Facebook’s acquisition of … Read more
Turkey’s HDP decides to halt parliamentary works after arrest of deputies The Kurdish issue-focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has decided to halt all its parliamentary works following the arrest of nine of its lawmakers, including co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, private broadcaster CNN Türk has reported. Turkey’s crackdown on Cumhuriyet shows true extent of Erdogan’s wrath … Read more
Turkey, propaganda and eyewitness media: A case study in verification for news First Draft News by Eyewitness Media Hub It was around 10:15 pm in Turkey on July 15th when messages started to go around about “strange events taking place in Istanbul and Ankara”. A terrorist attack, some said. A coup attempt, said others. It quickly … Read more
The Wild World of Telegram Stickers Global Voices Online by Kevin Rothrock Telegram sticker set based on Leningrad’s hit music video, “Exponat.” 8 MSN Messenger emoticons that should be emoji Mashable! by Johnny Lieu It’s rare for Microsoft products to invoke a pleasant sense of nostalgia, but MSN Messenger is a piece of software that does. The truth … Read more
Asia is leading the adoption of mobile adblocking; North America is dodging the bullet (for now, at least) Nieman Journalism Lab by Ricardo Bilton The rise of mobile adblocking may not be burning publishers in the U.S. so far, but the story is very different in Asia. Research highlights the impact of the threat of surveillance on … Read more
Untangling the Web: the NSA’s supremely weird, florid guide to the Internet Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Michael from Muckrock found a reference to “Untangling the Web,” an internal NSA guide to the Internet, on Google Books, so he requisitioned a copy from the NSA under the Freedom of Information Act. Decoding your Facebook newsfeed AL JAZEERA … Read more
Award-Winning Citizen Journalist Ahmad Almossa Killed in Idlib, Syria Global Voices Online by Amira Al Hussaini Ahmad Mohamed Almossa, a member of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), was assassinated in Idlib, Syria, by unknown masked men, according to a tweet from RBSS. Here’s the Article on Saudi Arabia That Al Jazeera Blocked The Intercept by Cora … Read more
IETF approves HTTP error code 451 for Internet censorship Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow 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 … Read more
Detekt: A New Malware Detection Tool That Can Expose Illegitimate State Surveillance EFF.org Updates by Eva Galperin Recent years have seen a boom in the adoption of surveillance technology by governments around the world, including spyware that provides its purchasers the unchecked ability to target remote Internet users’ computers, to read their personal emails, listen in … 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
Why you should pay attention to these 8 emerging tech hubs This post originally appeared on the TransferWise blog. TransferWise is the clever new way to transfer money between countries, from the people the people who built Skype and PayPal. A profile of Julian Assange, by his ghostwriter Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, 2011. Toby Melville/Reuters Facebook … Read more
Study: Teens abandoning Facebook Teenagers are leaving Facebook. Why? Because their parents are on it. [Graudian] Euroteens embarrassed to be seen on Facebook But their parents insist they use it, so their personal lives can be scrutinized by the olds. They’d prefer to be on Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat. “Facebook is basically dead and buried,” says Daniel Miller, who led … Read more
Information authoritarians vs. ?information anarchists?: the silent (cyber) war that affects us all NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden finally leaves Moscow airport Hacking attack on Tor allegedly linked to SAIC and NSA The IP address linked to the hacking of Tor bundle has been traced back to that of Science Applications International Corp (a company investigated … Read more