Hackers have just dumped a treasure trove of NSA data. Here’s what it means.
A group of hackers called the Shadow Brokers has just released a new dump of data from the National Security Agency. This is plausibly the most extensive and im…
Publication
The future of ad blocking
There’s an ongoing arms race between ad blockers and websites — more and more sites either try to sneak their ads through or force users to disable ad blockers.…
Good cop cameras, bad rules: The NYPD's body-cam guidelines need fixing
Last summer, the NYPD asked New Yorkers what rules should apply to the body-worn cameras that police will soon begin wearing. The response was overwhelming: Mor…
Hungary’s government wants to shut down its most prominent university. That may be backfiring.
When Hungary’s government passed a law last week which was effectively intended to shut down Budapest’s Central European University, it surely anticipated that…
Important New Bipartisan Bill To Advance Accountability for International Crimes in Syria
Following on the heels of last week’s chemical weapon attack in Syria, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Bob Corker (R-TN),…
Here's How Tesla Solves A Self-Driving Crash Dilemma
With very rare exceptions, automakers are famously coy about crash dilemmas. They don’t want to answer questions about how their self-driving cars would respon…
Free Police Body Cameras Come With a Price
On Wednesday, Taser International announced it is changing its name to Axon—and that it is offering every police department in the United States free body camer…
Why You Shouldn’t Be Comforted by Internet Providers’ Promises to Protect Your Privacy
This week President Trump signed a congressional resolution to repeal protections—scheduled to go into effect in December 2017—that would have prevented interne…
Reforming Surveillance In the Age of Donald Trump
On Wednesday, the Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R-CA), gave a press conference in which he reported that Trump transition t…
Republicans claim Trump may have been surveilled through ‘incidental collection.’ What’s incidental collection?
The Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes has just said that Donald Trump’s communications were likely picked up by US intelligence…
Supreme Court Says Patent Trolls Can Wait A While Before Suing
In a ruling this week that will cheer up patent trolls, the Supreme Court said patent owners can lie in wait for years before suing. This will allow trolls to s…
Closing the Loop: Sabrina De Sousa Pardoned for Role in CIA Torture and Rendition
"Just a quick note to close the loop on the Sabrina De Sousa case, which I discussed in greater detail here. On the day before she was to be extradited to…