Techmeme
December 19, 2014, 5:00 PM

Top News

FBI:
FBI concludes that the North Korean government is responsible for Sony Pictures hack  —  Update on Sony Investigation … Today, the FBI would like to provide an update on the status of our investigation into the cyber attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE).
Re/code:
Obama calls Sony canceling The Interview a “mistake”, says North Korea acted alone; White House contemplating “proportional response”  —  President Obama Says Sony Made “Mistake” in Canceling “The Interview” Film  —  President Obama, speaking at his year-end presser …
Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:
In new email sent to Sony executives, hackers threaten further release of “sensitive data” pending any “additional trouble”  —  Source: Hackers send new message to Sony  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney)  —  The hackers behind a devastating cyberattack at Sony Pictures …
Rhiannon Williams / Telegraph:
Apple CEO Tim Cook is “deeply offended” by the BBC's labor abuse allegations  —  Apple goes to war with the BBC  —  Exclusive: Chief executive Tim Cook ‘deeply offended’ by allegations made by BBC's Panorama programme that Apple is failing to protect its Chinese factory workers
Andy / TorrentFreak:
MPAA says Google positioning itself as a defender of free speech is shameful  —  Google & MPAA Publicly Slam Each Other Over Piracy  —  Even after running for weeks, the fallout from the Sony hacking fiasco is showing no signs of waning.  In fact in some areas it appears that matters are only getting worse.
Kent Walker / Google Public Policy Blog:
Danny Yadron / Wall Street Journal:
Poll: 45% of Americans have been notified that payment card details were stolen in a data breach  —  Poll Shows Broad Impact of Cyberattacks  —  Just fewer than half of Americans say that a retailer, bank or credit-card company has told them or a household member that their payment card details …
The Reddit Admins / reddit:
Reddit to distribute equity to active users by lottery with ‘reddit notes’ in 2015  —  Announcing reddit notes  —  We raised some funding in September, and we promised to reserve a portion to give back to the community.  If you're hearing about this for the first time, check out the official blog post here.
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Computer intrusion inflicts massive damage on German steel factory  —  A German steel factory suffered significant damage after attackers gained unauthorized access to computerized systems that help control its blast furnace, according to a report published Friday by IDG News.
More: ITworld.com and Gigaom
Ruth Reader / VentureBeat:
Yahoo announces plans to kill off some regional news sites, sunsets Yahoo Classic Games, alerts, and profile sites  —  Today Yahoo released an updated product report for 2014, which highlights the closure of several regional sites.  —  Yesterday the company shut down regional homepages in Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile.
More: Yahoo and WebProNews
Amy Schatz / Re/code:
T-Mobile settles FTC's cramming charges lawsuit for $90M, will give refunds to customers  —  T-Mobile Settles Government “Cramming” Charges for $90 Million  —  T-Mobile settled a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accused the company of profiting from unauthorized charges placed …
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Amazon's smartphone strategy could threaten its retail dominance as local delivery services, retail startups bring innovation to consumers  —  Amazon Not as Unstoppable as It Might Appear  —  Thanks to its ugly spat with book publishers, Amazon has lately been cast as the abominable boogeyman of American commerce.

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Vindu Goel / New York Times:
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Reuters: