Techmeme: The US Congress won't limit the NSA: individuals, courts, and other nations must step up (Glenn Greenwald/The Intercept)

Open Links In New Tab

Mobile Archives Advertise Site News

November 23, 2014, 9:35 PM

Top News

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Symantec uncovers Regin, a trojan likely built by a nation-state, which has spied on businesses and governments since 2008 — Symantec Uncovers Sophisticated, Stealthy Computer Spying Tool — Computer security researchers at Symantec say they have discovered a sophisticated piece …

More: Symantec Security Response, Computerworld, Engadget, Fortune, Gizmodo, ZDNet, CNET, Ars Technica, The Verge, BBC and BetaNews. Tweets: @michaelreuter

Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:

The US Congress won't limit the NSA: individuals, courts, and other nations must step up — Congress Is Irrelevant on Mass Surveillance. Here's What Matters Instead. — The “USA Freedom Act”—which its proponents were heralding as “NSA reform” despite its suffocatingly narrow scope …

More: Politico, Boing Boing and Gawker

Tweets: @jamesjoaquin, @restore_the4th and @ggreenwald

Alissa Walker / Gizmodo:

Google and Garmin altered directions to the Hollywood sign on behalf of nearby homeowners to keep tourists away — Why People Keep Trying to Erase the Hollywood Sign From Google Maps — The Hollywood Sign might be one of the most recognizable things on Earth. In Los Angeles, it's also one of the most visible.

More: PC Magazine. Tweets: @dsilverman, @alexbainbridge, @norton_tim and @dannysullivan

Mark Suster / Both Sides of the Table:

The one big potential Uber scandal concerns employee access to user data, not targeting journalists for opposition research — In Defense of Uber: An Objective Opinion — The story on Uber has been written about ad nauseam, which is why I've been reluctant to weigh in.

More: AVC, Re/code, New York Times, VentureBeat, NPR, The Register, PandoDaily, VatorNews, Mashable and Upstart Business Journal

Tweets: @danprimack, @msuster, @sarahcuda, @michaelpilla, @mathewi, @maringuy, @ferenstein, @hunterwalk, @thestalwart, @jason, @hblodget, @startupljackson and @mikeisaac

Lane Wood / Medium:

Pando founder Sarah Lacy's allusions to physical threats distort media narrative on Uber scandal

Rachel Feintzeig / Wall Street Journal:

Tech firms competing for talent spawn “workplace coordinators” to manage lavish employee perks — Lavish Perks Spawn New Job Category — At Tech Companies, Aim-to-Please Specialists Provide Yoga Classes, Jell-O Shots — From Muay Thai classes to Zen meditation rooms …

More: Business Insider, Inc.com, Fortune and SiliconBeat

Jerome Groopman / New Yorker:

How 3-D printing is revolutionizing medicine — In February of 2012, a medical team at the University of Michigan's C. S. Mott Children's Hospital, in Ann Arbor, carried out an unusual operation on a three-month-old boy. The baby had been born with a rare condition called tracheobronchomalacia …

Tweets: @mfordfuture and @sub8u

Wall Street Journal:

Samsung considers reorg placing mobile division under co-CEO B.K. Yoon, who oversees TV and home appliance business — Samsung Considering Shake-Up in Management — Co-CEO B.K. Yoon May Assume Leadership of Mobile Division

Felix Gillette / Businessweek:

Behind PayPal-owned mobile payments app Venmo, which processed $700M in payments in Q3 2014 — Mobile Payment Startup Venmo is Killing Cash — Kristen Geil, a writer for an Internet marketing firm in Chicago, heard about Venmo for the first time two summers ago.

Tweets: @avinash and @kaylatausche

Ben Huh / Backchannel:

How Cheezburger survived 3 years of turmoil to create a platform for remixing funny images — Rewriting Cheezburger Saved My Life — Please You Download It … I want to tell you the entire story of how this app came to be, with all the guts and gore.

More: Inc.com. Tweets: @mathewi, @caro, @lazerow, @cindygallop, @paulsingh, @backchnnl, @randyjhunt, @jasonlbaptiste, @eamonleonard and @jguynn. Thanks:@themadhacker. See also Mediagazer

Ian Urbina / New York Times:

Passwords don't just protect data, they reveal our hopes, dreams, secrets, fears, and memories — The Secret Life of Passwords … Play Videos — Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the world's largest financial-services firms, still cries when he talks about it.

Tweets: @codinghorror, @swiftonsecurity, @aldaily, @nytimes, @ala_lita, @nicoleperlroth, @amiraaah, @megan, @nytmag, @stammy, @digiphile, @ethanz and @nickbilton

Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:

Europeans Have Authority To Seek Google Break Up Though Unlikely To Do So — Break Google up. That's the thrust of a “non-binding” resolution the European Parliament is expected to adopt at some point in the near future, according to a report on Friday from Reuters.

More: PC Magazine and Slate

AnandTech:

Full disk encryption on Nexus 6 leads to 62.9% drop in random read performance — Encryption and Storage Performance in Android 5.0 Lollipop — As alluded to in our Nexus 6 review, our normal storage performance benchmark was no longer giving valid results as of Android 5.0.

More: PC Magazine, TechSpot, Android Beat, Electronista, Digital Trends, Droid Life, BetaNews, Ubergizmo, BGR and Android Authority

Sponsor Posts

Google:

Try Gemini 3 Pro — Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life

Shopify:

Shopify's new AI commerce stack — Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.

Zoho:

Zoho People in 2025: A year in review — As we wrap up 2025, we're taking a moment to look back on a year filled with progress and transformation at Zoho People. Our team has been constantly pushing boundaries …

IDrive:

Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Lenny's Podcast:

The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.

Big Technology Podcast:

OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence

The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.

Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.

Hard Fork:

Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song

The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.

Subscribe to Hard Fork.

Access:

Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour

A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.

Subscribe to Access.

Channels with Peter Kafka:

"Neither Side Is Used to Losing." Lucas Shaw on What's Next for Netflix and Paramount in the Battle for Warner Bros.

Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.

Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.

Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:

Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling

Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.

Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.

Add your podcast here

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:35 PM ET, November 23, 2014.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.