National Security Agency (NSA)
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Forced Exposure
The owner of Lavabit tells us that he's stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we'd stop too. There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum. What to do? Read More »
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Forensic Scientist Identifies Suspicious 'Back Doors' Running On Every iOS Device
During his talk at HOPE/X Jonathan Zdziarski detailed several undocumented services (with names like 'lockdownd,' 'pcapd,' 'mobile.file_relay,' and 'house_arrest') that run in the background on over 600 million iOS devices...
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Former Microsoft Privacy Chief Says He No Longer Trusts The Company
Microsoft's onetime Chief Privacy Advisor, Caspar Bowden, has come out with a vote of no-confidence in the company's long-term privacy measures and ability or interest to secure user data in the wake of the NSA's PRISM program. From 2002 - 2011, Bowden was in charge of privacy at Microsoft, and oversaw the company's efforts in that area in more than 40 countries...In the two years since leaving Microsoft, Bowden has ceased carrying a cell phone and become a staunch open source user, claiming that he no longer trusts a program unless he can see the source. Read More »
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Former Qwest CEO Out Prison, Blames NSA For Troubles
Revelations made by NSA leaker Edward Snowden would have given former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio a fighting chance to beat insider-trading charges that garnered him a 70-month jail term, says Nacchio, who was released this month after serving four and a half years. Read More »
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From NSA To Open Source : Apps Are ‘Nuggets Of Innovaton,’ Says Sqrrl | #BigDataNYC
Adam Fuchs, CTO of sqrrl, had a noteworthy chat with Dave Vellante and Jeff Kelly at the BigDataNYC 2013 event in New York, covering topics ranging from the Big data lessons learned at the NSA to the NoSQL database. Read More »
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FTC Commissioner: Let Big Data Flourish, But 'Reclaim' Privacy
The issue of privacy in the era of big data has come to the fore recently in the wake of National Security Agency leaks — as it well should, according to Julie Brill, a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Read More »
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German Coalition Favors German-Owned Or Open Source Software, Aims To Lock NSA Out
Germany’s new coalition government listed open source software among its IT policy priorities, and said it will take steps to protect its citizens against espionage threats from the NSA and other foreign intelligence agencies. Read More »
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Google Acquires Nest: Is It One Step Closer To Being 'Big Brother'?
Is Google (GOOG) one step closer to becoming Big Brother? The Internet giant is acquiring Nest, a company that makes smart thermostats and smoke alarms, for $3.2 billion in cash. [...] Nest's thermostats were designed to reduce a homeowner's heating costs; the device learns its user's behaviors and can adjust the temperature autonomously. [...] Read More »
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Google Cookies Are Pretty Mundane. So Why Do Spy Agencies Want Them?
Google cookies used by the NSA aren't much different from typical Web cookies, but when paired with other info, they can help home in on a particular user Read More »
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Google Is Making It Harder For The Goverment To Spy On Your Emails
...The Personal Democracy Forum, hosted in New York City by the digital privacy crusaders at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, marked the one-year anniversary of Snowden's NSA leaks. The event also served to promote the Reset the Net campaign, which is trying to get Internet denizens to protect themselves and fellow Web users against surveillance...
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Google Just Granted Itself The Right To Use Your Name And Photo In Its Online Ads
Google just got a tad creepier. Thanks to tweaks made to its terms of service today, Google will be able to use its users’ names and photos in select advertising beginning next month (November 11). Read More »
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Google Propels Linux To The Top
...What Google has done for Linux, over the past few years, no other company has managed to pull off. By releasing two major platforms, both getting the most out of a Linux kernel, Google has put Linux in more hands than Canonical, Red Hat, SuSE, and any other company to have attempted to bring to life the Linux platform.
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Google: Non-Gmail Users Have No Legitimate Expectation Of Privacy (Updated)
Here's some more bad news to add to the pile of concern over email vulnerability, a brief filed by Google's attorneys has just surfaced and revealed that Gmail non-Gmail users who exchange emails with a Gmail user should have "no legitimate expectation of privacy"—ever. Read More »
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Google’s Schmidt: Impact Of NSA Surveillance Is ‘Severe And Getting Worse’
Some of Silicon Valley’s top leaders issued a stark warning to the federal government Wednesday: If the National Security Agency continues its surveillance practices to the point where it forces foreign nations to localize data, it will destroy the economic impact the tech sector has on the American economy...
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Government Privacy Board Endorses NSA's Internet Spying
The National Security Agency's Internet surveillance programs are legal and effective, according to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, an independent watchdog agency. In a draft report, the panel expresses concern with certain elements of the NSA's massive collection of Internet data within the United States, and outlines several reforms it says would bolster privacy protections and improve transparency.
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