Open Access Is a Human Rights Issue EFF.org Updates by Elliot Harmon A BBC article has been making the rounds this week about #icanhazpdf, a “secret codeword” that people use to access research papers from limited-access journals. The idea is simple: when researchers—or, for that matter, curious readers—find a reference to an article that they can’t … Read more
Twitter and Google are reportedly launching their own version of “Instant Articles” Nieman Journalism Lab by Joseph Lichterman Google and Twitter are joining the growing group of tech companies looking to optimize publishers’ content for mobile devices. This fall, the two companies are planning an launching an open-source product that’s similar to Facebook’s Instant Articles, Recode’s … Read more
IFLA Publishes a Statement on Privacy in the Library Environment At its 14 August 2015 meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, the IFLA Governing Board endorsed an IFLA Statement on Privacy in the Library Environment. The FAIFE Committee oversaw preparation of the Statement and benefitted from consultation with IFLA units and various Internet civil liberties advocacy … Read more
Now It Can Be Evil! Twitter Reacts to Google’s Alphabet Wired Top Stories by Davey Alba Rarely is the Internet simply handed a joke fest on this scale. A New Company Called Alphabet Now Owns Google Wired Top Stories by Cade Metz Google has reorganized itself into multiple companies, spinning off several of its most ambitious projects … Read more
The value of the witness: How the London attacks changed the news Mashable! by Colin Daileda The night after the deadliest peace-time attack on London, the BBC led its 6 p.m. newscast with a shaky video of screaming commuters, an ambulance siren howling in the background Twitter’s new article preview cards could be a boost for publishers … 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
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
ISIS vs Twitter: A cautionary tale told through data visualization Boing Boing by Bob Parks A report by the Brookings Institution analyzed a sample 20,000 ISIS-supporting Twitter accounts, and sought to answer the question of how suspending accounts impacts the community. Meet the Editors Fighting Racism and Sexism on Wikipedia Wired Top Stories by Issie Lapowsky Wikipedia’s … Read more
Wikipedia Sues NSA Over Dragnet Internet Surveillance The Intercept by Cora Currier Wikipedia is suing the NSA over surveillance programs that involve tapping internet traffic en masse from communications infrastructure in the U.S. in order to search it for intelligence purposes. Which VPN Services Take Your Anonymity Seriously? 2015 Edition TorrentFreak By now most Internet users are … Read more
The complete beginner’s guide to social media benchmarks The Next Web by Kevan Lee This post originally appeared on the Buffer blog. If I were to tell you that a recent tweet of mine received 20 clicks, what would you think? The Creepy Collective Behavior of Boston Dynamics’ New Robot Dog Wired Top Stories by Neel … 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
KickassTorrents Taken Down By Domain Name Seizure TorrentFreak With millions of unique visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) is one the most used torrent sites on the Internet. DARPA’s Memex for searching the deep Web Boing Boing by David Pescovitz DARPA’s “Memex” program is developing new search tools for the vast majority of the Web that isn’t indexed by … Read more
10 Articles To Understand Presidential System Debate in Turkey The Istanbulian by Emre Kızılkaya The debate to switch to a full-throttle presidential system in Turkey has been rekindled this week after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan began to lobby for it actively. Here are 10 news articles or opinion pieces to understand the current debate: #Turkish President … Read more
Silk Road trial verdict: Ross Ulbricht found guilty on all counts Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin Ulbricht faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison. Read the rest Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht found guilty for all 7 conspiracy charges The Next Web by Napier Lopez Today, Ross Ulbricht, known by his online alias “Dread Pirate Roberts,”was … Read more
Zuckerberg’s free-speech rhetoric proves empty as Facebook censors Charlie … International Business Times UK “In comparison with Twitter and YouTube, Facebook cooperates with the Turkish authorities much better,” Yaman Akdeniz, a professor in cyberlaw at Bilgi University in Istambul, told the New York Times. “Therefore it’s not surprising that Facebook . Facebook Caves to Turkish Government … Read more