Groklaw news website abandoned over US surveillance

 

 

Groklaw publishes information on technology and patent legal cases

An award-winning legal news website has stopped work, saying it cannot operate under current US surveillance policies.

Pamela Jones, Groklaw's founder, cited the alleged US practice of screening emails from abroad and storing messages "enciphered or otherwise thought to contain secret meaning" for five years.
Groklaw had promised its sources anonymity, but said it could not now ensure contributors would stay secret.
Experts said they were worried that a site like Groklaw was closing.
The US National Security Agency's operations came under the spotlight following a series of leaks to the Guardian newspaper by former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
The NSA has since confirmed that it collected and analysed emails and other "select communications" from non-US persons, and that messages from US citizens were "sometimes incidentally acquired" as part of its operations.
In the wake of the disclosures, two encrypted email services - designed so that no-one other than the recipient could read the messages - have also closed.
One of those services, Lavabit, alluded to harassment by the US government in a statement to its customers when it shut down.

There is a danger that, by encouraging people to contribute, those individuals might be incriminating themselves”

Andrew Alton Patents lawyer

'Impunity for journalists'

"There is no way to continue doing Groklaw, not long term, which is incredibly sad," Ms Jones wrote, adding: "There is now no shield from forced exposure."

Ms Jones suggested that the anonymity of Groklaw's contributors could be at risk, since emails were screened by the US government.
"I can't do Groklaw without your input," she said. "There is now no private way, evidently, to collaborate."
She added: "What kind of world are we living in if the governments of the world think total surveillance is an appropriate thing?"
The website gave no prior indication that it might close, and legal experts have said the development is unfortunate.
"I'm saddened to hear about the demise of Groklaw," said Michael Meurer, a professor of law at Boston University.
"It has been a great source for information about the latest developments in technology law and policy. Several of my students launched their research projects based on what they learned reading Groklaw."
London-based patent lawyer Andrew Alton, of Urquhart-Dykes and Lord, said: "It's been a great resource because it brings together all the available documents, instead of reading second or third hand analysis.
"I understand why Ms Jones has decided it cannot continue.
"There is a danger that, by encouraging people to contribute, those individuals might be incriminating themselves."
Heather Blake, of Reporters Without Borders, said it was an issue of great concern if journalists in the US and UK began to feel intimidated by their governments.
"This has been going on in countries where there have been high levels of impunity for journalists both online and offline," she said.
"Humans have a right to freedom of expression, and freedom of information."
Andrea Matwyshyn, a law professor at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, added: "The final Groklaw post debunked the argument that if one has nothing to hide, one should not be concerned with internet privacy, comparing digital surveillance to the type of dignitary violation committed by a burglar who touches undergarments in a home.
"This comparison will likely strike a chord with many internet users who feel unable to understand who is collecting information about them and for what purpose."
Prominent patents blogger, Florian Mueller, who has been the subject of criticism by Groklaw, noted the website announced it would close in 2011.
"We've had our differences in the past," he said. "But I think it likely that Groklaw will be back."
The site, which was founded in 2003, has focused on technology and patent cases, most recently reporting on a battle between Apple and Samsung.

Sony names PlayStation 4 launch dates

 

 

Shoppers in the US and Canada will be the first to be able to buy the PS4 from stores

Sony has announced the launch dates for its PlayStation 4 console.

The next-generation games machine will become available in North America on 15 November and Europe on 29 November.
Its rival Microsoft has only said that the Xbox One will go on sale some time the same month.
Experts suggested that the latest revelation might help gain the Japanese firm headlines, but that it would be software that ultimately decided which company came out on top.
"Sony has made fantastic progress as it prepares to release the PS4, but the console still lacks a show-stopping exclusive game," said Rob Crossley, associate editor at the Computer and Video Games news site, following the announcement at the Gamescom trade fair in Cologne.
"That will certainly come eventually, but some might argue the most crucial time is now.
"Sony's press conference once again demonstrated the company has an enviably deep and meaningful relationship with the indie developer community... but Sony executives will no doubt be feeling uneasy as the list of major Xbox One exclusive games continues to grow."
Lewis Ward, a games expert at the consultants IDC, agreed that at this point the launch date was of limited importance.
"If it turns out that the PS4 goes on sale a week before the Xbox One, for example, then clearly Sony will have time to itself to make some hay," he said.
"But until we know when Microsoft is going to land I'm not sure what putting the date out there does much beyond making a news story - it won't change people's buying intentions."
Sony said there had already been more than one million pre-orders of its new console worldwide. It added that a total of 32 countries would be able to buy the PS4 during the Christmas holiday season.
Vita price cut

 

 

 A "re-imagined" Shadow of the Beast was announced as an exclusive for the PS4

Previously unannounced PS4 titles unveiled in Germany included:

• Shadow of the Beast - a reboot of the 1980s Commodore Amiga title - as a Sony exclusive
• Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, a post-apocalyptic game from the UK-based developers of cult title Dear Esther
• Minecraft, the landscape-building title which has already been a hit on the Xbox 360 and PCs

Sony also announced a price cut to its handheld console, the PlayStation Vita.
It said the "wi-fi only" version of the device would now cost $199 (£127) excluding tax - a $50 reduction. It also promised cheaper memory cards.
Similar cuts are being made in Europe. Retailers in the UK are now listing the model for about £170 including bundled games. The machine's price was reduced earlier in the year in Japan.
"The handheld business has not been performing well, but I think a $50 cut will push up Vita sales significantly," said Mr Ward.
"But the real driver over the long term will be must-have games and the choice is still thinner than some consumers would want."

League of Legends players have personal details hacked

 

US players of the League of Legends video game have had personal details including credit card details, email addresses and usernames hacked.

Developers Riot Games confirmed in a statement on their blog that their records had been accessed.
"We're really sorry to share that a portion of North American account information was compromised," it said.

 

Riot Games

"Usernames, email addresses, salted password hashes, and some first and last names were accessed."
Although the passwords had been protected, the company advised that any gamers with "easily guessable passwords" were vulnerable to account theft.
Riot Games is also looking into 120,000 transaction records from 2011 that may have been hacked to find out if users' credit card details have been leaked.
"Our investigation is ongoing and we will take all necessary steps to protect players," the company said.
 

 

Riot Games campaigned for the game to be recognised as a professional sport The company is requesting that US users update their passwords and said they were in the process of introducing new security measures.
"We're sincerely sorry about this situation," the firm added.
"We apologize for the inconvenience and will continue to focus on account security going forward."

 

Riot Games

Last month the US issued League of Legends players with athlete visas, effectively recognising the video game as a professional sport.
Players were given P-1 visas, intended for "individual athletes".
The move was described as "groundbreaking" for eSports, a growing community of professional gamers.
More than 40 million people worldwide play League of Legends.
The biggest tournaments are attended by tens of thousands of fans and receive coverage on dedicated TV channels.
Winners of the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship starting in September will win $1 million (£662,000) in prize money.

Maori head repatriated by Warrington Museum 170 years on

 

 

A mask of the head has been on display at the museum

The mummified head of a Maori will be sent back to New Zealand after 170 years in a Cheshire museum.

The severed head of an island chief is being repatriated at the request of a New Zealand museum due to its cultural importance.
It has been kept in Warrington Museum since 1843, though is not displayed in public as it is sacred to the Maori.
New Zealand's Te Papa Tongarewa is to thank Warrington for its care of the Toi Moko in a special ceremony.
It is expected to be repatriated later in the year.
Though the head itself is not on display, a mask is available to view demonstrating the intricate facial tattoos - or mokos - applied to heads after death to give what the Maori consider the most sacred part of the body additional sacred powers, the museum said.
Heads were smoked and dried in the sun to preserve them.
Museum manager Janice Hayes said: "We don't know the precise origin of the head - we do know that the Maoris used to preserve severed heads for two reasons: either to venerate a loved one or to ridicule an enemy defeated in battle.
"Te Papa Tongarewa has been asking for all such artefacts to be repatriated at their expense and Warrington Borough Council, which currently legally owns the head, has decided to return it."

Autism 'affects male and female brains differently'

 

 

Autism affects male and female brains differently, a study has suggested.

UK experts studied brain scans of 120 men and women, with half of those studied having autism.
The differences found in the research, published in journal Brain, show more work is needed to understand how autism affects girls, the scientists say.
Experts said girls with the condition could be more stigmatised than boys - and it could be harder for them to be diagnosed at all.
Autism affects 1% of the population and is more prevalent in boys, so most research has focused on them.
In this study, scientists from the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to examine how autism affects the brain of males and females.
Male and female brains differ anyway - tissue volume is greater in males.
'Look-alikes' The study looked at the difference between the brains of healthy males and those with autism - and then healthy females and those with autism.

 

 End Quote Carol Povey, National Austitic Society

Carol Povey, Director of The National Autistic Society's Centre for Autism, said: "Historically, research on autism has been largely informed by the experiences of men and boys with the condition.

"This important study will therefore help our understanding of how the condition differs between genders."
She added: "Girls can be more adaptive than boys and can develop strategies that often mask what we traditionally think of as the signs of autism.
"This "masking" can lead to a great deal of stress, and many girls go on to develop secondary problems such as anxiety, eating disorders or depression.
"It's important that we build on this study and more research is conducted into the way autism manifests in girls and women, so that we can ensure that gender does not remain a barrier to diagnosis and getting the right support."

Bird flu strain in China 'passed between humans'

 

Researchers have reported the first case of human-to-human transmission of the new strain of bird flu that has emerged in China.

The British Medical Journal said a 32-year-old woman was infected after caring for her father. Both later died.
Until now there had been no evidence of anyone catching the H7N9 virus other than after direct contact with birds.
But experts stressed it does not mean the virus has developed the ability to spread easily between humans.
By 30 June there had been 133 cases of H7N9 bird flu reported in eastern China and 43 deaths.
Most people had visited live poultry markets or had close contact with live poultry in the week or two before they became ill.
Intensive care Yet researchers found that the 32-year-old woman had become infected in March after caring for her 60-year-old father in hospital.
Unlike her father - who had visited a poultry market in the week before falling ill - she had no known exposure to live poultry but fell ill six days after her last contact with him.
Both died in intensive care of multiple organ failure.
Tests on the virus taken from both patients showed the strains were almost genetically identical, which supports the theory that the daughter was infected directly from her father rather than another source.
Public health officials tested 43 close contacts of the patients but all tested negative for H7N9, suggesting the ability of the virus to spread was limited.
The researchers said that while there was no evidence to suggest the virus had gained the ability to spread from person to person efficiently, this was the first case of a "probable transmission" from human to human.
'Strong warning sign' "Our findings reinforce that the novel virus possesses the potential for pandemic spread," they concluded.
Dr James Rudge, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that limited transmission between humans is not surprising and has been seen before in other bird flu viruses, such as H5N1.
He added: "It would be a worry if we start to see longer chains of transmission between people, when one person infects someone else, who in turn infects more people, and so on.
"And particularly if each infected case goes on to infect, on average, more than one other person, this would be a strong warning sign that we might be in the early stages of an epidemic."
An accompanying editorial in the BMJ, co-authored by Dr Rudge, concluded that while this study might not suggest that H7N9 is any closer to delivering the next pandemic, "it does provide a timely reminder of the need to remain extremely vigilant".

Amazon's Bezos buys Washington Post for $250 million

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Washington Post Company announced Monday it was selling its newspaper business, including the flagship Washington Post, to Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos for $250 million.

Bezos, whose net worth has been estimated at over $25 billion, is acquiring the Post personally and not through Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500). He is gaining control of the newspaper from the Graham family, which has led it for decades.

The Post Company will change its name as part of the transaction, though a new name has yet to be announced. Shares rose 5.5% in after-hours trading Monday.
Washington Post Company (WPO) CEO Donald Graham said he and the rest of the company's leadership "decided to sell only after years of familiar newspaper-industry challenges made us wonder if there might be another owner who would be better for the Post."
"Jeff Bezos' proven technology and business genius, his long-term approach and his personal decency make him a uniquely good new owner for the Post," Graham said in a statement.
Related: The new news business
Bezos said in the statement that he understood "the critical role the Post plays in Washington, DC, and our nation."
"Our duty to readers will continue to be the heart of the Post," he said.
Bezos invested earlier this year in the financial news site Business Insider, and is also the founder of commercial space flight company Blue Origin. He has asked Katharine Weymouth to stay on as publisher and CEO of the Post, and Martin Baron to remain as executive editor, saying in a memo to employees that he will not be leading the newspaper day-to-day.
The deal also includes the Express newspaper, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino and Greater Washington Publishing.
The Post Company will maintain its ownership of media titles including Foreign Policy magazine, online magazine Slate and TheRoot.com, as well as education company Kaplan. It will also hold onto real estate assets including the Post's headquarters in downtown Washington, as well as cable operator Cable One and the Post-Newsweek network of television stations.
Among the Post Company's largest shareholders is Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500), which held roughly 23% of its common shares as of March. Buffett himself served on the company's board until 2011.
The Grahams control the company through their holdings of Class A stock.
Related: Buffett's Berkshire bets on Atlantic City newspaper
Bezos wrote in his memo to Post employees that the paper "will need to experiment" in the years to come, adding that he was "excited and optimistic about the opportunity for invention."
"The Internet is transforming almost every element of the news business: shortening news cycles, eroding long-reliable revenue sources, and enabling new kinds of competition, some of which bear little or no news-gathering costs," he wrote.
"There is no map, and charting a path ahead will not be easy."
The news follows the New York Times Company's (NYT) announcement just days earlier that it had sold the Boston Globe for $70 million to sports magnate John W. Henry. Digital news company IBT Media, meanwhile, announced on Saturday that it had acquired the rights to current-affairs magazine Newsweek for an undisclosed sum.
For most of its 80-year history, Newsweek was owned by the Washington Post Company, which eventually sold it to audio industry pioneer Sidney Harman in 2010. It was later sold to media firm IAC (IACI), which abandoned the magazine's print edition last year.