From Public Knowledge:Yesterday, new FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler delivered his first formal public address. After a prepared speech that explained his regulatory approach, he moved to a Q&A session. In that session, he appeared to endorse the opposite of net neutrality: allowing ISPs to charge websites and services in order to reach that ISP’s subscribers. In other words, giving ISPs the power to pick winners and losers online.
A wide variety of government officials could gain access to live data concerning users of ISPs and online services including content-hosting sites, without the approval of a judge, under a draft law approved by members of the French National Assembly on Friday.
The measure, a rider on the 2014-2019 defense appropriation bill, would require ISPs and content hosting companies to provide government officials with access to details of their users' activity without judicial oversight. Law enforcement officials can already ask a judge for an order to access such data.
If the bill becomes law, it will no longer be necessary to go via the courts to obtain such access, and the number of government officials who could access the data would be much broader, potentially including those responsible for collecting taxes.
Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter are engaged in a costly tech arms race, with their businesses and cultures at stake. Not against one another, mind you, but a common foe: the National Security Agency.
The tech juggernauts are investing in security technology, lobbying efforts and good old-fashioned PR to thwart U.S. government snooping of their data systems, often without their cooperation or knowledge.
For months, the narrative has focused on data breaches and spying as tech's biggest players quietly stewed over a sense of government betrayal, while assessing threats to their brands because of consumer outrage over invasion of their privacy.
That rise in value has driven hackers to attack online wallet services that store bitcoins. "Each of these companies had been operating officially for only a few months, yet already had entrusted to them millions of dollars that are now in the hands of cybercrooks," Paul Ducklin, head of technology for Sophos in the Asia Pacific region, said Tuesday in a blog post.
Malware writers have also taken a keen interest in bitcoins, with some -- especially Russian gangs -- modifying their crimeware tools to identify and steal any bitcoins found on infected PCs. "There are numerous malware families today that either perform Bitcoin mining or directly steal the contents of victims' Bitcoin wallets, or both," according to a blog post from Robert Lipovsky, a researcher at security firm ESET.
A pickpocket surprised his victim when he posted him a handwritten note of the 1,000 contacts on his stolen iPhone. Zou Bin received the 11-page letter after sending a series of threatening texts demanding his Apple handset to be returned.
He was allegedly robbed after sharing a taxi with a man in the central province of Hunan in China, the Xinhua state news agency reported. ‘I know you are the man who sat beside me. I can assure you that I will find you,’ he wrote in the text message. ‘Look through the contact numbers in my mobile and you will know what trade I am in. ‘Send me back the phone to the address below if you are sensible.’ Zou said he was ‘astonished’ when he received a package containing the note days later, although the thief did not return the stolen iPhone.
Happy Thanksgiving Bitcoin. The value of the so-called cryptocurrency surged above $1,000 as it becomes easier to use as a way to pay and easier to access for investors looking for an alternative to gold.
One Bitcoin was briefly worth $1.073 on Wednesday, up from less than $100 earlier this year, according to Mt. Gox, which hosts and operates a popular Bitcoin trading platform. Later in the day it dropped back to $930.
"Bitcoin is just starting to break out into the mainstream," said Eric Tilenius, executive-in-residence at Scale Venture Partners, who has a small percentage of his investment portfolio in the digital currency.
The Bitcoin community is gearing up for a holiday shopping spree by hosting its own Black Friday event.
Hundreds of merchants will be joining "Bitcoin Friday" on Nov. 29, selling everything from Christmas trees to clothes, to web domains.
Bitcoin Friday deals include unlocked phones from GSM Nation and discounted plane tickets from Cheapair.com. OKCupid, which has been accepting bitcoins since April, will be participating as well.
Media outlets are jumping into the Bitcoin deals bandwagon too: GOOD Magazine is giving away $5 discounts for subscriptions and the Free Press is slashing shipping costs. Reddit is also offering a deal on "Reddit Gold."
