Techno-politics

The legal saga of Aereo, a start-up that offers an $8-per-month TV streaming service, entered a new chapter last week as a California court heard arguments over whether to lift a ban preventing Aereo-style technology from going live in the western United States. The California hearing was just the latest twist in a complex series Continue Reading →

Microsoft and Google are to sue the US government to win the right to reveal more information about official requests for user data. The companies announced the lawsuit on Friday, escalating a legal battle over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), the mechanism used by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other US government agencies Continue Reading →

While Apple has been found guilty of conspiring to fix e-book prices as it sought to launch its iBookstore alongside the iPad in early 2010, five publishers involved in the case have already agreed to settle the cases brought against them by state attorneys general and other class-action plaintiffs. Among the publishers, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Continue Reading →

  I recently wrote about the decline in what used to be called privacy. The definition of privacy is mutable, ever-changing. What was considered private 100 years ago, even 20 years ago, is practically non-existent today. As I wrote in 2006, before the iPhone and all devices that have followed, “Technology Increases, Privacy Declines.” One Continue Reading →

The NSA bugged offices in the UN’s New York headquarters as part of a comprehensive surveillance program, says Der Spiegel. According to files leaked by Edward Snowden, the agency has bugged more than 80 embassies and consulates under a program called the “Special Collection Service.” The program is “intensive and well organized and has little Continue Reading →

The National Security Agency paid millions of dollars to cover the costs of major internet companies involved in the Prism surveillance program after a court ruled that some of the agency’s activities were unconstitutional, according to top-secret material passed to the Guardian. The technology companies, which the NSA says includes Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook, Continue Reading →

Earlier this month, President Obama admitted that the US has “significant capabilities” for surveillance, but also that it shows restraint. Since whistleblower Edward Snowden first revealed the extent of the country’s spying efforts, the Obama administration has repeatedly insisted that the programs are narrowly targeted towards the communications of foreign individuals, that the actual contents Continue Reading →

At a news conference on Friday, President Obama said he was making plans to improve government oversight of surveillance programs in an effort to ensure the protection of civil rights and restore the public’s trust in the government. “Given the history of abuse by governments, it’s right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology Continue Reading →

Apparently Apple isn’t the only company thinking the US Department of Justice’s recently imposed remedies against it were “draconian.” US publishers HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and others have also ganged up on the DOJ with a legal brief opposing the punitive restrictions. In it, they say the watchdog is “attempting to impose a specific Continue Reading →

In the case of a Texas man accused of massive Bitcoin-based fraud, a federal judge has ruled that bitcoins are “a currency or form of money,” and are therefore subject to relevant US laws. The case revolves around Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST), a virtual Bitcoin-based hedge fund that many suspected of being a scam. Continue Reading →