Privacy

TECH TREK

Apple’s Got Algorithm

Apple has acquired AlgoTrim, a Swedish software developer that specializes in compression algorithms for mobile phones. AlgoTrim developed algorithms for "lossless" compression, whereby processing instructions in operating systems and applications are not only sped up but require less flash memory.

Facebook on Monday released transparency reports of government requests for its users' data. Privacy groups hailed the move as a positive step forward -- rare praise for the company, which has had a checkered relationship with those groups over the years. Facebook's Global Government Requests Report...

TECH TREK

BBM May Leave the Nest

BlackBerry is looking to spin off its BlackBerry Messenger service into a separate business so as to compete with other instant messaging apps. The company announced back in May that it would make BBM, once available only on BlackBerry devices, available to devices running on iOS and Android as well...

The hacker who uncovered a bug on Facebook earlier this week may indeed get a reward for his efforts, but not from the social network itself. After it became clear that Facebook would not pay Khalil Shreateh a bug bounty for his discovery, arguing that he had violated the site's Terms of Service, a ...

Brazil has proposed new laws that would force e-businesses selling to Brazil-based consumers to store personal data about said customers on local servers. Google and Facebook have raised objections to the plan, saying that such requirements would, in the words of Facebook Brazil, "entail huge costs ...

London editor Alan Rusbridger wrote a column Monday detailing how British law enforcement had destroyed hard drives at his newspaper's offices. The destruction was purportedly to prevent additional leaks about the National Security Agency. Prior to destroying the hard drives, Rusbridger writes, an o...

Facebook, which offers a bounty of $500 or more to anyone who discovers a bug in its system, has come under fire for refusing to reward an out-of-work Palestinian programmer who reported a vulnerability that let people post to strangers' accounts without authorization. The programmer, Khalil Shreate...

The partner of Glenn Greenwald, the journalist with The Guardian who has published a slew of articles detailing National Security Agency surveillance programs, was detained for nearly nine hours Sunday at London's Heathrow Airport. Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, was en route from Berlin to his ...

A hacker was able to gain access to a baby monitor on Saturday night, terrifying a Texas couple as they heard the virtual intruder speak offensively to their sleeping daughter. The parents use an Internet-connected baby monitor that is equipped with a camera to monitor the activity in their 2-year-o...

TECH TREK

Norway Nixes Apple’s Oslo Ogling

Norway's government will not allow Apple to take aerial photos of Oslo, the Norwegian capital, in the company's quest to create 3D images for its mapping app. Satellite images of Norway are fair game, but taking aerial photos requires a license, and Apple's request has been denied. There is reported...

The NSA reportedly is reading communications between Americans and foreigners abroad, despite its denials. The NSA responded to the allegations by stating its activities are lawful attempts to gather intelligence about foreign powers and their agents, foreign organizations, foreign persons or intern...

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

DDoS Attackers Change Their Game Plans

DDoS attacks have long been a weapon of Internet dissidents to punish those they disagree with, while cybercriminals use them to create a digital smoke screen to hide their misdeeds. DDoS attackers typically flood a website with traffic, denying legitimate users access to the server. That tactic sti...

Ireland-based Freedom Hosting, which hosted several servers on the Tor Project's hidden network, has been taken down through a vulnerability in the Firefox browser -- and the FBI is widely suspected of being the attacker. The FBI reportedly is seeking to extradite Freedom Hosting's owner, Eric Eoin ...

Glorious Mission Online, a first-person shooting game launched in China and codeveloped by the People's Liberation Army, lets gamers defeat Japan in the fake quest to take back real islands. The game includes the real-life plot in which China and Japan fight over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, which si...

It wasn't long after the Internet came into widespread use that online privacy became a growing concern. After all, anytime people are connected through their computers and sharing resources online, there's the potential for prying and abuse. Such concerns were compounded with the arrival of social ...

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