As reported on The Verge. By Amar Toor Plague leaves dozens dead after one of the worst outbreaks in years The village of Mandritsara, where 20 people recently died from bubonic plague. (Flickr / Peter Stephens) To most, the plague is a thing of the past — a relic from the Middle Ages, when the disease known as the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe’s population. Yet despite being wiped out across much of the…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Alex Wilhelm Reality is always better than fiction. Today the Securities and Exchange Commission chargeda — now former — Microsoft “senior manager” with insider trading. The employee, Brian Jorgenson, is accused of working with a friend to trade Microsoft stock and shares of its partners ahead of news such as earnings, generating almost $400,000 in profits over the course of the partnership that began in April of 2012. The pair had intended…
As reported on TechCrunch. by Gregory Ferenstein TechCrunch has learned about noted technology investor Tim Draper’s plan to split California into six separate states, including a Northern California slice appropriately named “Silicon Valley.” Draper shared his vision with TechCrunch tonight. He says he’s submitting a polished version to the state’s Attorney General in the form of a ballot proposition proposal within the next 48 hours. “Six Californias” already has a campaign website up and is eager for an…
As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS Google triggered investigations in six European countries when it revealed its unified privacy policy last year, but Spain is the first of the bunch to draw blood. The country just fined Google a total of €900,000 ($1.2 million) for allegedly violating data protection laws through its current approach. The firm isn’t properly explaining why it’s collecting personal information, the Spanish Data Protection Agency claims; it also isn’t saying how long it will keep…
As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS If you need an illustration of the problems with overly stringent copyright laws, look no further than the British Library. The institution has just made its archive of UK website domains available to the public, but you can’t actually visit it from the web — the Legal Deposit Libraries Act requires that you stop by one of six libraries in the country to take a look. While reforms may be coming, the British Library…