Mainstream News

Twitter CEO defends ‘principled’ data gathering policy

"Twitter is holding to a 'principled' policy on national security data requests and will 'push back' in some cases to protect the privacy of its users, its chief executive said Wednesday. Dick Costolo, appearing at a forum at the Brookings Institution in Washington, declined to comment on whether Twitter had specific requests under the vast data-gathering program called PRISM made public this month. But he noted that Twitter has gone to court in certain cases to fight 'gag' orders and to allow users to be in informed of how their own data is used." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwitter CEO defends ‘principled’ data gathering policy

Texas teen charged with making terroristic threat after online joke

"'LOL' stands for 'laughing out loud,' and 'jk' means 'just kidding,' but police didn’t think it was funny. Neither did a woman from Canada who saw the posting. Justin’s dad says the woman did a Google search and found his son’s old address was near an elementary school and she called police. Justin Carter was arrested the next month and has been jailed since March 27. He’s charged with making a terroristic threat and is facing eight years in prison, according to his dad. 'These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made,' added Carter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas teen charged with making terroristic threat after online joke

Envoy says U.S. loses trust in Hong Kong after Snowden

"The top U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong warned on Thursday of a 'big struggle' ahead to repair Washington’s trust in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Speaking publicly for the first time since Snowden flew from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday despite a U.S. request to hold him to face charges of espionage, Consul General Stephen Young told Reuters that Washington’s confidence was 'shaken'. Young did not specify how any deterioration in ties would play out but added: 'I’ll say specifically in law enforcement co-operation – where we have a whole series of agreements, and protocols and practices – our confidence has been shaken.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEnvoy says U.S. loses trust in Hong Kong after Snowden

American Bar Association: Some basic rules for using ‘bitcoin’ as virtual money

"Techies know that 'bitcoin' is a virtual currency generated by predetermined computers and recognized on traditional currency exchanges as BTCs. Of interest to investors and business owners, bitcoins have skyrocketed into mainstream popularity, as has their price. No government is involved in creating bitcoins, and they are insulated from Cyprus-style bank lockouts. But before joining the BTC revolution, here are seven fundamentals to consider." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAmerican Bar Association: Some basic rules for using ‘bitcoin’ as virtual money

‘How to Make Money Selling Drugs’

"'How to Make Money' is full of useful insights from people who know the drug trade well, including reformed dealers, ex-international smugglers, former cops, pundits, lawyers and government insiders. Interviewees include one-time dealer Freeway Ricky Ross, retired Baltimore cop-turned-activist Neill Franklin and rapper 50 Cent, who sold drugs as a 12-year-old orphan. The film’s emerging portrait of the drug war is of a relentless, historical cycle involving poverty, racism, addiction, corruption, political opportunism, local cops dependent on federal dollars, and a $50 billion, commercial prison industry profiting mightily by incarcerating lots of Americans." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘How to Make Money Selling Drugs’

Judge throws out Abu Ghraib detainees’ torture case citing jurisdiction

"U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee in Alexandria, Virginia said he lacked jurisdiction to hear claims brought by the four Iraqi plaintiffs under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), and separate claims by one plaintiff that he said were barred under Iraqi law. Lee ruled eight months after Engility Holdings Inc, a spinoff of L-3 Communications Holdings Inc, paid $5.28 million to settle similar claims. Photos depicting abuse of Abu Ghraib detainees emerged in 2004. While no contractors were charged, some detainees accused their workers in lawsuits of physical and sexual abuse, inflicting electric shocks, and conducting mock executions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJudge throws out Abu Ghraib detainees’ torture case citing jurisdiction

Right-wing bloggers denied entry to UK for rally with anti-Muslim group

"Two prominent US bloggers who were due to speak at a far-right rally in Woolwich on Saturday have been banned from entering the UK, the Home Office has said. Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who set up Stop Islamization of America, and run the website Jihad Watch, have been forbidden from entering the country on the grounds their presence would 'not be conducive to the public good'. Matthew Collins, from anti-extremism group Hope Not Hate, which campaigned for Geller and Spencer’s exclusion, said the organisation was 'absolutely delighted' by the decision." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRight-wing bloggers denied entry to UK for rally with anti-Muslim group

Steve Wozniak: Snowden ‘Is a Hero Because This Came From His Heart’

"Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is more than a little distressed that the technology he helped develop nearly four decades ago is being used on a massive scale to invade people’s privacy. 'I think he’s a hero,' said the 62-year-old Wozniak, who co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs and invented the Apple I and Apple II personal computers that launched a technological revolution. 'He’s a hero to my beliefs about how the Constitution should work. I don’t think the NSA has done one thing valuable for us, in this whole ‘Prism’ regard, that couldn’t have been done by following the Constitution and doing it the old way.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSteve Wozniak: Snowden ‘Is a Hero Because This Came From His Heart’

Obama promises he won’t ‘scramble jets’ to get Snowden

"US President Barack Obama said Thursday he would not 'scramble jets' to intercept any flights carrying fugitive leaker Edward Snowden and scoffed at spending political capital to win him back from Russia. His comments came as Snowden remained in Russia, where he fled from Hong Kong, stuck in the transit zone of a Moscow airport, apparently unable to travel on to possible asylum in Ecuador after Washington cancelled his passport. Obama, who has been embarrassed by the refusal of first China and then Russia to expel Snowden, insisted the real damage to the United States lay not in international humiliation, but in the exposure of key spying programs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama promises he won’t ‘scramble jets’ to get Snowden

Man Indicted In Scheme To Blackmail Romney Over Tax Returns

"The court document says that Brown never compromised the accounting firm's computer systems, 'and falsely stated that he had stolen tax documents for Willard M. Romney and Ann D. Romney for tax years prior to 2010.' Brown then 'demanded US$1 million converted to 'Bitcoin' and instructed that this sum be deposited in a Bitcoin account for which he provide the account number,' according to the document, to prevent the release of the documents. The letters were printed not on Brown's computer but on a friend's, according to the indictment, as Brown had emailed the person to ask to use their printer, using the excuse that his own printer was out of ink." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMan Indicted In Scheme To Blackmail Romney Over Tax Returns