Archive for the 'Technology' Category
Adult Fiction Ebooks Outsold Hardcovers in 2011
July 19th, 2012Via: Reuters: Electronic books more than doubled in popularity in 2011, with ebooks outselling hardcover books in adult fiction for the first time, according to a survey released on Wednesday. Net sales of e-books jumped to 15 percent of the market in 2011 from 6 percent in 2010, according to a report by the Association […]
People Who Are Constantly Online Can Develop Mental Disorders
July 18th, 2012Your what hurts? Via: CBS: Get off that computer. A new study finds that constantly being online can affect your mental health. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg recently studied more than 4,100 Swedish men and women between the ages of 20 and 24 for a year and found that a majority of them who […]
NSA Building Dossiers on Every American
July 18th, 2012Are They building electronic dossiers on as many of us as they can? I don’t know, but it sure looks that way. —NSA, AT&T and the NarusInsight Intercept Suite (2007) Via: Network World: Binney was at HOPE and while his entire keynote is not yet posted, journalist Geoff Shively and Livestreamer Tim Pool had an […]
Verizon Wireless Wants to ‘Edit’ Your Internet Access
July 16th, 2012Via: Cnet: What if your wireless provider gave you Internet access and search results according to what it decided was a “priority”? As a Verizon Wireless customer, I’m furious at the idea that it would “pick favorites” over what I was actually looking for — especially if it was an emergency. But that’s just what […]
How Many Child Molestors Work for the NRO?
July 12th, 2012Via: McClatchy: One of the nation’s most secretive intelligence agencies is pressuring its polygraphers to obtain intimate details of the private lives of thousands of job applicants and employees, pushing the ethical and legal boundaries of a program that’s designed instead to catch spies and terrorists. The National Reconnaissance Office is so intent on extracting […]
What Happened When States Forced Amazon to Pay Taxes… Same Day Delivery
July 12th, 2012Disclosure: Cryptogon is an Amazon affiliate. Local retailers (including Walmart), make your time. Via: Slate: Why would Amazon give up its precious tax advantage? This week, as part of an excellent investigative series on the firm, the Financial Times’ Barney Jopson reports that Amazon’s tax capitulation is part of a major shift in the company’s […]
Google Settles with U.S. Government on Privacy Violations
July 12th, 2012Where does $22.5 million show up on Google’s list of expenses? Hmm… In other words, for Google and other companies: Do more of this. The penalty for getting caught is trivial. Via: New York Times: Google and the Federal Trade Commission are near a $22.5 million settlement agreement related to charges that Google bypassed privacy […]
Neurotechnology for Intelligence Analysts
July 12th, 2012Via: The Chronicle of Higher Education: In a small, anonymous office in the Trump Tower, 28 floors above Wall Street, a man sits in front of a computer screen sifting through satellite images of a foreign desert. The images depict a vast, sandy emptiness, marked every so often by dunes and hills. He is searching […]
New Department of Homeland Security Laser Scanners
July 11th, 2012Via: Gizmodo: Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the […]
Executive Order Grants Authority to Seize Private Communications Facilities
July 10th, 2012Via: Electronic Privacy Information Center: The White House has released a new Executive Order seeking to ensure the continuity of government communications during a national emergency. The Executive Order grants new powers to the Department of Homeland Security, including the ability to collect certain public communications information. Under the Executive Order the White House has […]
