Techmeme
June 17, 2013, 9:10 AM

Top News

Apple:
Apple's Commitment to Customer Privacy  —  Two weeks ago, when technology companies were accused of indiscriminately sharing customer data with government agencies, Apple issued a clear response: We first heard of the government's “Prism” program when news organizations asked us about it on June 6.
USA Today:
3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so  —  In a roundtable discussion, a trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers tell USA TODAY that Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed.  —  When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details …
Jon Russell / The Next Web:
Apple says it received 4,000-5,000 data requests from US officials in the last 6 months  —  Apple has spoken up about the US government's PRISM program and revealed that between December 2012 and May 2013 the firm received 4,000-5,000 requests for user data from the government .
Miyoung Kim / Reuters:
Samsung to launch faster Galaxy S4 smartphone  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co plans to sell a variation of its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone that will transmit data at nearly twice the normal speed, the head of its mobile business said on Monday.  —  J.K. Shin, also co-chief executive …
Guardian:
GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits  —  Exclusive: phones were monitored and fake internet cafes set up to gather information from allies in London in 2009  —  Foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 …
David Barrett / Telegraph:
Google builds new system to eradicate child porn images from the web  —  Google, the internet giant, is to create a global database of child abuse images - which it will share with its rival companies - in a bid to eradicate child pornography from the web.  —  Google engineers are working …
Simon Sharwood / The Register:
SCO vs. IBM battle resumes over ownership of Unix  —  Zombie lawsuit back and wants to suck the brains out of Linux  —  IBM's lawsuit with SCO over just who owns Unix has crawled out of the grave and seems set to shuffle back into US courts.  —  For the uninitiated, or those who've successfully tried …
More: Groklaw and AllThingsD
Washington Post:
State photo-ID databases become troves for police  —  The faces of more than 120 million people are in searchable photo databases that state officials assembled to prevent driver's-license fraud but that increasingly are used by police to identify suspects, accomplices and even innocent bystanders …
Kadhim Shubber / Wired.co.uk:
ISPs to include porn filters as standard in UK by 2014  —  Parental filters for pornographic content will come as a default setting for all homes in the UK by the end of 2013, says David Cameron's special advisor on preventing the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, Claire Perry MP.
Steven Musil / CNET:
Saudi Arabia may block WhatsApp within weeks  —  Popular mobile chat app warned of possible blockage after voice and messaging app Viber was blocked last week.  —  Saudi Arabia plans to block WhatsApp in coming weeks if the makers of the mobile chat app don't comply with local regulations.

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Featured Podcasts

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The Upstarts Podcast:
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Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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.
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