Articles by date
23 May 2013
Virtual Crimes, Real Damages Part II: What Businesses Can Do Today to Protect Themselves from Cybercrime, and What Public-Private Partnerships are Attempting to Achieve for the Nation of Tomorrow by Fernando M. Pinguelo, Wayne Lee & Bradford W. Muller (Virginia Journal of Law and Technology)
In their first piece, Virtual Crimes, Real Damages: A Primer on Cybercrime In the United States and Efforts to Combat Cybercriminals, Pinguelo and Muller offered a straight-forward discussion of the major forms of cybercrimes affecting the government and business community today, along with a review of federal efforts to combat cybercrime and a compilation of federal and state cyber-related statutes and pending legislation.
Peering at bright screens after dark could harm health, doctor claims (The Guardian)
Watching TV or using computers, tablets or smartphones after dark may cause sleep loss and resultant health problems, a leading doctor has warned.
George Soros invests in 'hyperfast' internet firm (The Guardian)
Financier George Soros has led a £50m investment in fibre-optic company Hyperoptic, which lays high-speed lines direct to UK homes.
Swindles and Spam, Lurking in Your Search Results (New York Times)
Most of our ventures onto the Web still begin with a search -- a fact readily exploited by spammers and swindlers who rely on excessive use of keywords, link exchanging and other manipulation techniques to push their content higher in the list of search results, hoping you will click on them.
US Legislators: Electric Utilities Dragging Heels on Cybersecurity Mitigations (Threat Post)
It would seem that what spurs private and public electric grid utility operators to action with regard to cybersecurity isn't the Chinese or Iranians attacking them, but the word "mandatory".
Hackers Find China Is Land of Opportunity (New York Times)
Name a target anywhere in China, an official at a state-owned company boasted recently, and his crack staff will break into that person's computer, download the contents of the hard drive, record the keystrokes and monitor cellphone communications, too.
Twitter introduces 'two-factor authentication' to stop password hacking (The Guardian)
Twitter is introducing "two-factor authentication" using mobile phone verification on the social network, after a number of high-profile cases in which passwords were stolen by hackers.
22 May 2013
Even Before Apple Tax Breaks, Ireland's Policy Had Its Critics (New York Times)
The secrets of how Apple avoided billions of dollars in taxes lie in a low-slung building of glass and brick in the hills of County Cork.
Teens growing cool on Facebook but warming to Twitter, Pew study finds (CIO)
Some teens are growing tired of the excessive sharing and "drama" on Facebook and more are turning to sites like Twitter and Instagram to express themselves, according to a new study.
U.S. Power Companies Under Frequent Cyberattack (Network World)
A survey of U.S. utilities shows many are facing frequent cyberattacks that could threaten a highly interdependent power grid supplying more than 300 million people, according to a congressional report.
21 May 2013
Guantanamo wi-fi shut down after Anonymous threat (BBC News)
The American military has turned off its wi-fi service inside the prison at Guantanamo Bay following threats by the hacker collective Anonymous.
Editorial: Eavesdropping on Internet Communications (New York Times)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a new plan to intercept Internet messages, calls and video chats. Instead of requiring companies like Skype and Google to build surveillance capabilities into their services as it suggested in 2010, the F.B.I. now proposes fining companies that fail to comply with court-ordered wiretaps.
Apple's Web of Tax Shelters Saved It Billions, Panel Finds (New York Times)
Even as Apple became the nation's most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most experts had ever seen, Congressional investigators disclosed on Monday.
Will 'Digital Ethnic Cleansing' Be Part of the Internet's Future? Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, and Steve Clemons discuss the political limitations of the Internet (The Atlantic)
It's easy to assume that a global Internet, with all its promise of scaled communication and education and democratization, will eventually help to foster democracy. But it's also not entirely accurate to assume that. In a conversation with The Atlantic's Steve Clemons yesterday evening, Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen -- co-Googlers and co-authors of The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations, and Business -- made a point of emphasizing the limitations of technological innovation. Particularly when it comes to geopolitical change.
Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are secret backers behind European Privacy Association (Computerworld)
After being accused of a lack of transparency by an independent watchdog, the European Privacy Association has confirmed that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are backers.
EU Digital Agenda chief promises single mobile market by 2015 (ZDNet)
The European Commission's digital agenda chief has promised to break down the barriers between cellular firms across the 27 EU member states before she leaves office in just under two years.
Hackers From China Resume Attacks on U.S. Targets (New York Times)
Three months after hackers working for a cyberunit of China's People's Liberation Army went silent amid evidence that they had stolen data from scores of American companies and government agencies, they appear to have resumed their attacks using different techniques, according to computer industry security experts and American officials.
Warnings over gambling apps targeting Australian youth market (ABC News)
Researchers warn a new wave of simulated gambling applications are aiming to hit the jackpot with a new generation of younger gamers.
20 May 2013
Former Google exec says he has 100,000 emails showing how 'immoral' company avoids paying UK tax (The Independent)
A former Google executive-turned-whistleblower says he has 100,000 emails that expose an "immoral" tax avoidance scheme used by his former employer, that has "cheated" British taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of pounds.
Part Three: Who Controls the Internet? (Government Technology)
In part one and part two of our three-part series, we discussed attempts to regulate the Internet both nationally and globally. Though the future of internet governance is unknown, as regulatory agencies and governments clamp down, cooperation between Internet advoacy groups and regulatory agencies could help avoid increased Internet censorship or possible balkanization.
19 May 2013
Google boss Eric Schmidt may snub David Cameron over company's House of Commons grilling (Independent on Sunday)
The internet giant Google has thrown a veil of corporate secrecy around its billionaire executive chairman, putting in doubt his scheduled attendance at a meeting in Downing St tomorrow with the Prime Minister.
One tax law for us and another for Amazon (The Observer)
On the edge of Rugeley stands Amazon's largest distribution centre in Britain. Life for the workers who trudge around the 800,000 sq ft warehouse is not as bad as it was for the men who once worked in the pits of the Staffordshire coalfield, but that is not saying much. They must carry satnavs, which direct their movements round the stacks and flash warnings from managers to stop dawdling or chatting with colleagues. Britain being the way it is, they have no job security.
Amazon's tax arrangements are nothing short of a work of art. Bravo! by David Mitchell (The Observer)
Amazon has come in for plenty of stick for paying so little tax in the UK. But its actions display such impish wit that it's hard not to revel in the majesty of a terrible thing well done
Google insider exposes 'immoral' tax scam (Sunday Times)
A former Google executive has blown the whistle on a massive and "immoral" tax avoidance scheme that has "cheated" British taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of pounds over the past decade.
18 May 2013
Editorial: Sales Taxes and the Internet (New York Times)
Twenty-one Republicans voted with 46 Democrats (and 2 Independents) recently to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act, a long-overdue bill allowing states to require online retailers to collect sales taxes and remit them to the state where the customer lives. Will the House be so rational? It's a long shot.
