Government

A Few Actual Harms To Be Concerned About From Today’s Government Spying Law

As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN “Other than the vague threat of an Orwellian dystopia, as a society we don’t really know why surveillance is bad,” writes Washington University Law Professor, Neil Richards [PDF]. Today, the United State Senate reauthorized a controversial Obama-supported surveillance law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008 (FISA), which permits intelligence agencies to monitor international communications, sometimes without a warrant and little court oversight. Civil libertarians are up…

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Story

All Journalism Is Tech Journalism Now

As reported on TechCrunch. by JON EVANS I am about to commit an act of meta-journalism. I’m sorry. I hate meta-journalism. I unfollowed GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram (a fine writer) on Twitter some time ago because I could not muster any more interest in articles about articles and blog posts about blogging. I believe that journalists (like people in most professions) vastly overestimate their own importance, significance, and interestingness. But I suppose if I’m going to go meta, an…

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Story Tech

FCC streamlines rules for aircraft broadband, promotes widespread in-flight WiFi

As reported on Engadget. By Amol Koldhekar The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order today that updated regulatory requirements needed to provide broadband services on aircraft. In short, the commission has designated Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft — the broadband modules placed on the exterior of aircraft — as a licensed application and established a set regulatory process for future providers. What this means is that airlines will be able to select FCC-approved systems, verify that…

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