The holidays seem to be coming a bit earlier than expected, as Congress has delivered a gift in the form of no Internet access taxes going-forward.
According to SiliconValley.com, Senate and House members involved in negotiations announced last week that agreement has been achieved on bipartisan legislation to extend permanently a moratorium that bans states from taxing Internet access.
Continue reading “Holiday Present From Congress: No Internet Access Taxes”
While the federal government has wanted access to private electronic information pertaining individuals in its efforts to fight terrorism, the government at the same time has not wished to be transparent to the public about its information gathering techniques. This has been made fairly plain from the fruits of a legal battle that has spanned more than a decade.
The lawsuit resulted from the refusal by Nicholas Merrill, founder of hosted service provider Calyx Internet Access, to comply with a national security letter (NSL) that he received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation as far back as 2004, according to Reuters.
Continue reading “Lawsuit Reveals Extent of FBI Internet and Telecom Surveillance”
Unfortunately, there has been a sharp increase in the number of children who believe what they read on the Internet. This has been brought home by a recent study by Ofcom, as reported by The Telegraph.
This is significant because 8 to 15-year-olds now are occupying double their time on the Internet than they were one decade ago. These “digital natives” who have grown up on the Internet appear to lack the ability to differentiate online truth from fiction. Continue reading “Online, Seeing Is Believing for Kids”
Many people are nervous about the various perils lurking on the Internet. They want to be able to protect themselves and be secure when to comes to their personal data.
Frequent advice given is to make sure to change passwords often, use complex passwords, not open emails or attachments from unfamiliar sources, and to be careful about sending personal data from Wi-Fi hotspots.
Continue reading “Gmail Alerts as to Unencrypted Emails”
When contemplating the world’s largest nations by population, China, India, the United States, and Indonesia might come to mind.
Indeed, their populations are currently estimated as follows:
•China: 1,355,692,576
•India: 1,236,344,631
•The United States: 318,892,103
•Indonesia: 253,609,643
Continue reading “Facebook: The World’s Largest Nation”
Here in the United States, we like to think that we can speak openly and freely on practically any subject while on the Internet. But is that universally true across the globe? Not necessarily!
Indeed, headlines have made clear that certain governments are intent on blocking Internet speech when it is in the interest of those who are in power but not necessarily when it is in the interest of some members of the citizens in those countries.
Continue reading “Government Censorship of Internet Speech”
Homo Sapiens are the most successful human species, so far. Homo Sapiens have thrived in the wake of the disappearance of prior human species like Neanderthals (although we do have some trace Neanderthal DNA from prior inter-breeding). And Homo Sapiens, of course, have greatly surpassed the abilities of other ape species. Need an example? Just take a look at all the recent tech trends for law firms of the future.
But are Homo Sapiens threatened to be left in the dust by another form of being here on Planet Earth? The answer is “yes,” according to none other than Stephen Hawking. And what’s more, Hawking says that we are threatened by our own creation — Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In his recent Reddit AMA, as reported by Tech Insider, Hawking has explained that Artificial Intelligence ultimately will become smarter than and a threat to Homo Sapiens, the current human race.
Continue reading “Hawking: Artificial Intelligence a Threat to Humans”
By now, most of us have grown accustomed to rating products on Amazon or services on Yelp, one to five stars. You might like knowing that the book you are thinking of buying on Amazon has been overwhelming rated five stars with many positive substantive reviews. And it might be helpful to learn that you probably should avoid a restaurant you were considering when most Yelp postings give only one or two stars with comments that tell you explicitly why you should go elsewhere. BUT . . .
How about websites that seek to review human beings in the same fashion as sites that address products and services???
Well, go no further. Coming this fall is an app called Peeple. The mission of Peeple, as stated on its site, is to provide “an app that allows you to rate and comment about the people you interact with in your daily lives on the following three categories: personal, professional, and dating.” The purpose of such ratings and comments supposedly is to “enhance your online reputation for access to better quality networks, top job opportunities, and promote more informed decision making about people.”
Continue reading “Rating People 1 to 5 Stars on Peeple App — Yikes!”
Once upon a time, long ago but not too far away, there was a law firm associate who was working up a case for a senior trial partner with the hope of delivering a well-prepared pre-trial and trial plan.
The associate proudly presented all the miscellaneous supporting legal authorities and the various favorable facts. But what was the senior trial partner’s response? “Stop!”
Is your personal data safe out there in cyberspace? This is the question so many people have been asking lately based on seemingly endless computer hacks. And, unfortunately, the answer to this question might not be what you want to hear.
In terms of recent noteworthy developments, unless you have been living in an isolated cave, you undoubtedly have heard about the Ashley Madison hacking disaster. The Ashley Madison hack does not only present a problem for the site’s users who thought that their personally identifiable information would be secure, but it points to a larger problem beyond this one specific site. Continue reading “Hackers Are Coming After Your Private Data”
