You may have heard that Google+ started culling accounts – businesses first, which didn’t seem like such an awful thing since they’re promising special support for business accounts in the future. But now the crackdown has extended to pseudonyms as well – that’s right, now you have to use your real name on both Plus […]
A Colorado court case could set a precedent on whether the right to remain silent extends to encrypted files. The Justice Department wants a federal judge to rule that defendant Ramon Fricosu must decrypt a laptop that prosecutors believe has evidence showing her guilt in an alleged mortgage scam. Fricosu’s lawyers say doing so could […]
Here’s a quick guide from the EFF on what to do when the police comes knocking asking to search your digital devices. [EFF]
Here’s a dirty little secret: I thought Google Wave was going to be awesome. I admit this so that you can immediately discount everything I’m about to write if you like, but wait, hear me out! If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 48 hours or so then you’ve heard about […]
Internet IDs are a hot topic recently, particularly in light of LulzSec’s aggressive (but abbreviated) campaign against , like, everyone ever. Proponents argue that a system of “trusted credentials”–as they’re ambiguously called now because the technology is still mostly in development–would allow for safer, more secure online transactions. The opposition says that these efforts are […]
Check out this awesome animated infographic dissecting the nature and ramifications of Stuxnet, the first weapon made entirely out of code. This video was produced for HungryBeast, an Australian TV program that airs on Australia’s ABC1 [Vimeo]
A cyberattack on the United States could result in a physical military retaliation under a revised Pentagon strategy. The move probably won’t mean modern-day David Lightmans should expect to see tanks outside their doors, but it could mean some decisive responses: in the words of an unnamed official speaking to the Wall Street Journal, “If […]
An article claiming “Tupac still alive in New Zealand” appeared on PBS.org late last night, and for most readers was probably the first indication that strange things were afoot in the site’s security sector. Hacker group LulzSec (or “The Lulz Boat”) commandeered PBS’s website in retaliation for their recent Frontline broadcast, “Wikisecrets,” which criticized Wikileaks, Julian Assange […]
Contrary to published accounts, dogs do not scoop liquids into their mouths with a spoon-shaped cavity that forms in the ventral surface of a backwardly directed tongue tip. As in cats, an aliquot of liquid adheres to the dorsal surface of the tongue tip and is transported into the oral cavity as the tongue is […]
Mozilla has refused to axe a Firefox add-on that the government says helps users bypass domain name seizures. MafiaaFire Redirector is an automated tool that works a little like a mail forwarding service but for domain names. It hooks up to a central database that tracks when a site moves from one domain name to […]