Politics

A letter signed by some of the most prolific US-based technology companies such as Apple, Facebook and Google has been sent to the Obama administration and Congress today asking for greater transparency over national security-related data requests. The alliance, rumored yesterday to be readying the document, is now urging the US government to give them Continue Reading →

Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users’ communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company’s own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian. The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the Continue Reading →

Every July 4th, we remember George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, the hallowed presidents etched into Mount Rushmore. What if we replace the four men with the most influential people of our generation? Introducing the ‘Millennial Mount Rushmore.’ There you have it. Mark Zuckerberg, LeBron James, Lena Dunham and Justin Timberlake are the four most influential people of Continue Reading →

237-ish years ago, a great, nascent political experiment fought its way into being. A government of the people, by the people and for the people – just writing the words makes you feel proud. Like many Americans during these past few weeks, I have started to question the state of our Union, and wonder about "the government" in ways I have not wondered about it before. Continue Reading →

When asked about the NSA's seemingly overreaching surveillance, President Obama thoughtfully said, “I think it’s important to recognize that you can’t have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience.” Continue Reading →

Days before an amended online child protection rule by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) comes into effect, Yahoo has laid out its plans to comply with the changes required. The updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which aims to strengthen privacy protection for children under 13 and give parents more control over the Continue Reading →

The Obama administration for more than two years permitted the National Security Agency to continue collecting vast amounts of records detailing the email and internet usage of Americans, according to secret documents obtained by the Guardian. The documents indicate that under the program, launched in 2001, a federal judge sitting on the secret surveillance panel Continue Reading →

Google on Saturday confirmed that it has been contacted by lawyers from the Federal Trade Commission over the company’s $1.1 billion acquisition of the mobile navigation company Waze, which closed in mid-June. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on details of the antitrust review by the FTC. Representatives of the agency didn’t immediately respond to Continue Reading →

Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant. The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence Continue Reading →

Google has filed a petition with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court citing its first amendment rights as it asks for permission to disclose controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests. The company revealed in a Google+ post that it is seeking to separate out federal criminal requests from those related to national security: “We have Continue Reading →