Techno-politics

The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI believe they don’t need a search warrant to review Americans’ e-mails, Facebook chats, Twitter direct messages, and other private files, internal documents reveal.  Government documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and provided to CNET show a split over electronic privacy rights within the Obama administration, Continue Reading →

The internet in Syria appears to have returned after a nationwide blackout knocked the country offline for more than 19 hours.  Monitoring company Renesys noted signs of activity at around 14:30 GMT (17:30 local time) on Wednesday.  Local state-run media had reported earlier that a “fault in optical fibre cables” was to blame for the Continue Reading →

According to sources close to the situation, well-known tech exec Jon Rubinstein will be joining the board of Qualcomm, the San Diego-based chipmaker that has gotten a big boost of late for its role in the explosion of mobile devices.  Rubinstein is an interesting and logical choice for Qualcomm, having been a high-profile player for Continue Reading →

The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping — for many a largely tax-free frontier — to state sales taxes.  The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 69 to 27, getting support from Republicans and Democrats alike. But Continue Reading →

In what would have been a blow for BlackBerry, word broke on Wednesday that Apple iOS devices and some Samsung Galaxy phones would be approved for use by the Department of Defense. The DoD has now officially issued those approvals, and not only is iOS not mentioned, but BlackBerry 10 devices have been approved. BlackBerry Continue Reading →

President Barack Obama has nominated former lobbyist and venture capitalist Tom Wheeler to be the next head of the Federal Communications Commission. The White House made the announcement Wednesday. Wheeler’s appointment as chairman of the agency was widely anticipated. His name had been on the shortlist of potential candidates for months. And several news agencies Continue Reading →

The United States Department of Defense will reportedly grant security approval to Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and Apple’s iPhone and iPad running iOS 6 for use by Pentagon officials, according to The Wall Street Journal. Both companies have been pressing officials to grant them clearance and allow Defense employees to switch from outdated BlackBerry devices. The Continue Reading →

In between watching giraffes fight and people who can’t parallel park, you’ll find a new attraction on YouTube this week: live streams from members of US Congress. Today, the video-sharing website announced that all federal legislators will receive the ability to tap into advanced features on their YouTube channels, and yes, this includes the ability Continue Reading →

The White House has joined Tumblr, and oh yes, there will be GIFs. “We see some great things here at the White House every day, and sharing that stuff with you is one of the best parts of our jobs,” reads the White House’s first post on Tumblr. “That’s why we’re launching a Tumblr,” it Continue Reading →

Former US President Bill Clinton has officially joined Twitter, securing the account @BillClinton. The news first appeared in a Tweet from Twitter’s @gov account. The move comes weeks after his appearance on the Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report”, where he was asked about if he used Twitter. It was during the show when Colbert Continue Reading →