Techmeme: Project Loon: Google's biggest obstacle isn't technology. It's politics (Kevin Fitchard/GigaOM)

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June 23, 2013, 1:20 PM

Top News

Amir Efrati / Digits:

Google Confirms Antitrust Review of Waze Deal — 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.

T.C. Sottek / The Verge:

Aided by WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden leaves Hong Kong seeking asylum in Ecuador — PRISM whistleblower Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong, according to an announcement from the Hong Kong government made Sunday afternoon. With assistance from WikiLeaks, Snowden is said to be seeking asylum in Ecuador.

Declan McCullagh / CNET:

How Web mail providers leave door open for NSA surveillance — Protecting users' e-mail privacy from the National Security Agency and other intelligence services means using encryption. But with the exception of Google, few companies do everything they can. — One of Google's massive data centers.

Tweets: @mattcutts and @csoghoian

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

In Depth Review: New NSA Documents Expose How Americans Can Be Spied on Without A Warrant — The Guardian published a new batch of secret leaked FISA court and NSA documents yesterday, which detail the particulars of how government has been accessing Americans' emails without a warrant, in violation of the Constitution.

More: SlashGear, Engadget, Web Host Industry Review, TechPresident, InfoWorld and Washington Post

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Source: Snapchat Snaps Up $80M From IVP At An $800M Valuation — It's the second day of summer, and Snapchat has raised an $80 million Series B round at an $800 million pre-money valuation, according to a source. The phat Series B round was led by Institutional Venture Partners …

More: Business Insider

Kevin Fitchard / GigaOM:

Project Loon: Google's biggest obstacle isn't technology. It's politics — The ballon-powered network know as Loon may be one of Google's famed moon shots, but the biggest issues facing the project are grounded right here on Earth. This won't just be a major technological feat for Google.

More: Forbes, ParisLemon, IntoMobile, Softpedia News and Search Engine Roundtable

Lana Lam / South China Morning Post:

Exclusive: US spies on Chinese mobile phone companies, steals SMS data: Edward Snowden — The US government is hacking Chinese mobile phone companies to steal millions of text messages, Edward Snowden has told the South China Morning Post. And the former National Security Agency contractor claims he has the evidence to prove it.

More: WikiLeaks, CNN, CNET, Guardian, VentureBeat, CBS News, Forbes, Agence France Presse, The Next Web and TechPolitik. Thanks:@teawithcarl

Jordan Golson / MacRumors:

Apple Board Modifies Tim Cook CEO Bonus Stock Award to Be More Performance Based — Apple's Board of Directors has elected to modify the award of restricted stock that Tim Cook received after being promoted to CEO in August 2011. The modification, made at Cook's request …

More: AllThingsD, iDownloadBlog.com, PhoneArena, TUAW, Fortune, CNET, Reuters, The Verge, 9to5Mac, GigaOM, Reuters, iClarified and Digits

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

RIP Snapjoy: The Dropbox-Acquired Photo Service Is Shutting Down — Snapjoy, the online photo storage service that Dropbox acquired in December, has some bad news today for its users: it is shutting down. The company noted the information in a blog post, as well as in an email it's currently sending …

More: Snapjoy Blog, TechWhack and App Advice

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Facebook Adds Like Button To Mobile Messages, A One-Touch “OK” — “Alright”, “Yes”, and the much-hated “k” just got a visual redesign. Facebook's iOS and Android apps have rolled out the option in messages to reply with a one-tap thumbs-up Like button sticker.

Tweets: @joshconstine

Hamish McKenzie / PandoDaily:

As Senate preps to pass immigration bill, NVCA study shows value of immigrants to US — The US Senate is on the brink of passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would make it easier for tech companies to hire foreign workers, and for foreigners to come to the US to start companies.

More: GeekWire and VentureBeat

Kevin Poulsen / Wired:

In WikiLeaks Probe, Feds Used a Secret Search Warrant to Get Volunteer's Gmail — The Justice Department used a secret search warrant to obtain the entire contents of a Gmail account used by a former WikiLeaks volunteer in Iceland, according to court records released to the volunteer this week.

More: The Verge, Ars Technica, Mashable and CNET

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