Techno-Politics and Tech Culture

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled unanimously that the authorities generally may not search the mobile phones of those they arrest unless they have a court warrant. “To further complicate the scope of privacy interests at stake, the data a user views on many modern cell phones may not in fact be stored on the Continue Reading →

The US supreme court has ruled that Aereo, the TV streaming service backed by media mogul Barry Diller, is illegal. The justices accepted the argument of the major US broadcasters that Aereo’s service amounts to a violation of copyright law. Aereo captures the over-the-air signals of network broadcasters and streams them to customers via their Continue Reading →

Thousands of crumbling bridges, millions of gaping potholes, billions of dropped calls, limited bandwidth, a fragile electric grid, antiquated nuclear power plants, water and sewer systems that are decrepit and dangerous. This is not the foundation for another “American Century”; it is the disaster of the infrastructure in the United States halfway through the second Continue Reading →

Democratic lawmakers will unveil a piece of bicameral legislation Tuesday that would force the Federal Communications Commission to ban fast lanes on the Internet. The proposal, put forward by Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), requires the FCC to use whatever authority it sees fit to make sure that Continue Reading →

The US Supreme Court on Monday announced that it will consider a case involving a thorny free speech issue in the digital age: at what point does a statement made on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter cross the threshold from protected free speech under the First Amendment to a criminally actionable threat? The Continue Reading →

If you want to use the internet and you don’t want the National Security Agency to see what you’re doing, you basically only need one tool: Tor, a network that anonymizes web traffic by bouncing it between servers. The NSA has been working on ways to get around “the Tor problem” for years without much Continue Reading →

Getting directions on the road from Google Maps and other smartphone apps is a popular alternative to the expensive navigation aids included in some cars. The apps are also a gray area when it comes to laws banning the use of cellphones or texting while driving. The Transportation Department wants to enter the argument. The Continue Reading →

U.S. chipmaker Intel lost on Thursday its challenge against a record 1.06 billion euro ($1.44 billion) European Union fine handed down five years ago, as Europe’s second highest court said regulators did not act too harshly. The European Commission in its 2009 decision said Intel tried to thwart rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) by giving Continue Reading →

The Eleventh Circuit created a circuit split on Wednesday on whether the Fourth Amendment protects historical cell-site information. Last year, the Fifth Circuit held that it doesn’t; today the Eleventh Circuit held that it does. The Eleventh Circuit’s opinion is premised on the idea that some facts are inherently private. If the government learns those Continue Reading →

The ups and downs of Obamacare — from its passage to its rollout and now implementation — have consumed Washington, D.C., and American politics. But for those who run companies — and provide health insurance to more than half of all Americans — not much has fundamentally changed. Health care is still a business disease: Continue Reading →