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Google, the Wassenaar arrangement, and vulnerability research
Posted by Neil Martin, Export Compliance Counsel, Google Legal Tim Willis, Hacker Philanthropist, Chrome Security Team Cross-posted on...
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Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 268 posts.
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Leaked TPP Investment Chapter Reveals Serious Threat to User Safeguards
A newly leaked chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement from Wikileaks has confirmed some of our worst fears about the agreement. The latest provisions would enable multinational corporations to undermine public interest rules through an international tribunal process called...
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The Problem with Mobile Phones
Mobile phones have become ubiquitous and basic communications tools—now used not only for phone calls, but also for accessing the Internet, sending text messages, and documenting the world. Unfortunately, mobile phones were not designed for privacy and security. Not only do they do a poor job of protecting your…
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New TPP Leaked Text Reveals Weakening Resistance to Copyright Proposals
When we wrote about the intermediary liability provisions in a reported May 2015 leak of the Intellectual Property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) last month, we hadn't actually seen the text. But thanks to the publication of that leak by Knowledge Ecology International yesterday and...
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White House Doesn't Want You to Know the TPP's Effects on U.S. Copyright Laws
As the White House doubles down on its attempt to pass legislation to fast track secret trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, their oft-repeated refrain about these deals' digital copyright enforcement provisions is that these policies would not alter U.S. law. In a...
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Novelist warns against utilitarian trends in higher education
News, research, and insights from Stanford University.
187
Google to France: We Won't Forget It for You Wholesale
In a move that could set a crucial precedent for all service providers, Google pushed back against the expansion of what's become known as the Right to be Forgotten (RTBF) ruling, and refused to comply with a notice issued by French data protection agency Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et...
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30% of US Workforce Need License to Perform Their Job
Nearly 30 percent of workers in the U.S. need a license to perform their job. It is important to realize that occupational licenses are not mere state-sponsored certificates to signal that workers have completed some level of training; occupational licensing laws forbid people from practicing in their occupation…
191
EFF and Eight Other Privacy Orgs Back Out of NTIA Face Recognition Talks
EFF, along with eight other consumer-focused privacy advocacy organizations, has backed out of the National Telecommunications Information Administration’s multi-stakeholder process to develop a privacy-protective code of conduct for companies using face recognition. After 16 months of active...
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Internet Companies: Confusing Consumers for Profit
A shorter version of this post ran as an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News on October 6, 2015. The ubiquitous blue “Like” or “Share” buttons that you see all over the Internet are hiding an ugly secret. Starting this month, Facebook will use them to track your visit to every Web page that displays...
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My First Death Threat (2004)
Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.
195
How Microsoft Bing Censors the Middle East
Shortly after Microsoft Bing launched in 2009, researchers at the Berkman Center for Internet...
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The Aol Chat Room Monitor Revolt (2014)
In 1999, America Online's volunteer chat room monitors sued the company for back wages. Do today's hot Internet companies risk the same fate?
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EFF to Court: Lifetime GPS Tracking Violates the Fourth Amendment
All too often, new police surveillance tools are initially applied to only the “worst of the worst” and then slowly—but surely—expanded to include an ever-growing number of less culpable individuals. We’ve seen it with DNA collection. And now we’re starting to see it with GPS tracking. That’s why...
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Users Betrayed as Australia Adopts a Copyright Censorship Regime
Since our report last week on Australia's Internet censorship bill, the bill did indeed pass the Senate yesterday, and will become the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015. The new law provides an accelerated process for rightsholders to obtain court orders for ISPs to block sites...
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Paris: You Don’t Want to Read This
You don’t want to read this, and I take no pleasure in writing it, and no one really wants to hear it right now. But I believe it needs to be said. I join the world in grieving for the dead in Paris. I have grieved for the dead from…
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Farewell From Shari Steele
Today is the start of my last week as an employee of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I will be leaving after nearly 15 years as EFF's President and Executive Director, having started as a Staff Attorney back in 1992. As I wrap up things here, I've been thinking a lot about where we've been...
203
Things to Love About Reddit’s First Transparency Report
Here’s something that merits a lot of reddit gold. On Thursday, reddit published its first-ever transparency report covering all of 2014. It’s a summary of all the legal requests to take down content from the site as well as all government attempts to access reddit’s user data. Lots of companies...
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Judge to DOJ: Not All Writs
A federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn took an admirable stand last week when he questioned the government’s authority to compel Apple to unlock a seized mobile device using the All Writs Act. That’s a general-purpose law passed in 1789 that allows a court to require third parties’ assistance to...
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French Constitutional Council Widely Approves Surveillance Law
Update (24 July 2015): The French Constitutional Council shows again its disregard for fundamental rights. This morning, after approving almost all dispositions in the Surveillance law, the Constitutional Council builds momentum by rejecting the Question Prioritaire de ConstitutionalitéThe QPC is a
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Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
For more than 500 years, the honorary degree has provided an opportunity for colleges to build relationships with the rich, famous, and well-connected, in hopes of securing financial donations and cheap publicity.
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Ocean acidification may cause dramatic changes to phytoplankton
A new study finds that increased ocean acidification will dramatically affect global populations of phytoplankton: Some species will die out, while others will flourish, which will affect marine food webs.
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Report on FBI’s Use of Patriot Act Highlights Need for Intelligence Reform
The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) yesterday released another report on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s use of Section 215 of the Patriot Act between 2007 and 2009. The report was long delayed due to declassification and redaction issues, but the timing is...
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Women preferred 2:1 over men for STEM faculty positions
A new study by Cornell psychologists suggests that science and engineering faculty preferred women two-to-one over identically qualified male candidates for assistant professor positions.