Techno-Politics and Tech Culture

Netflix has been one of the most vocal proponents of net neutrality, and now, the video streaming company is taking its fight straight to the top. On Tuesday, the company filed a Petition to Deny document to the FCC, asking the government body to block the merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, two of Continue Reading →

The National Security Agency built a “Google-like” search engine to give domestic and international government agencies access to details of billions of calls, texts and instant messages sent by millions of people, according to The Intercept. The search engine, called ICReach, had behind it roughly 850 billion pieces of metadata in 2007 on calls made Continue Reading →

Think back five or six years ago, to 2008 or 2009, and think about equal marriage for people of the same sex. What did you think? If you were gay (or knew someone who was) and wanted to be married, you had clear and (perhaps) deeply-felt views. If not, perhaps you thought it was right Continue Reading →

Apple has apparently turned on its new content-delivery network, and is reportedly paying Comcast and other big ISPs to move hardware into their data center and build direct interconnects to their networks. This is the exact same evolution that Netflix has been going through, building out its own CDN and agreeing to pay ISPs for Continue Reading →

The politics of the conflict between Hamas and the State of Israel are well documented, and I’m sure you have already formed an opinion about who is at fault and what must be done. This article is not about any of that. It’s not about right or wrong, good or bad, politics or religion … Continue Reading →

Netflix came out swinging in its submission to the FCC over proposed internet “fast lanes,” arguing Wednesday that this would be a bad idea and that the agency should instead focus on forcing broadband providers to deliver the speeds they promise to their customers. In its 28-page filing, which coincides with the close of an Continue Reading →

  The Internet Association, a trade group composed of some of the biggest tech companies in the world, has filed comment with the FCC asking it to intervene in the conflict over payments being demanded by big ISPs. According to a report in The Hill, companies like Comcast and Verizon are charging Netflix and others Continue Reading →

Glenn Greenwald has revealed what he described last month as “the most important in the archive” of documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The Intercept reports that the NSA and FBI have been spying on law-abiding Muslim-Americans — including lawyers, academics, civil rights activists, and a political candidate — possibly without warrants, under Continue Reading →

The chief of streaming-TV start-up Aereo has said his mission to bring unbundled broadcast TV to the Internet has greater stakes than just the fate of his company — and it’s the crusaders, taking on those with power, who fill graveyards. Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia may end up correct on both counts. A 6-3 Supreme Continue Reading →

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled unanimously that the authorities generally may not search the mobile phones of those they arrest unless they have a court warrant. “To further complicate the scope of privacy interests at stake, the data a user views on many modern cell phones may not in fact be stored on the Continue Reading →