Techmeme: New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data (The Switch)

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December 10, 2013, 11:30 PM

Top News

The Switch:

NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking — The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using “cookies” and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.

More: CNET, The Verge, Freedom to Tinker and The Next Web

Tweets: @dhh, @emptywheel, @eff, @jcstearns, @juliaangwin, @katecrawford and @csoghoian

The Switch:

New documents show how the NSA infers relationships based on mobile location data — Everyone who carries a cellphone generates a trail of electronic breadcrumbs that records everywhere they go. Those breadcrumbs reveal a wealth of information about who we are, where we live, who our friends are and much more.

More: VentureBeat and The Verge. Tweets: @ashk4n, @kataclyst, @mattblaze, @mattblaze, @fborgesius and @mattbuchanan

Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:

Twitter Apps Updated With New Swipeable Design And Photo Support In Direct Messages — Today, Twitter has announced an update to its apps that bring a renewed focus on direct messaging. The app now features a direct link to DMs in the tab bar and allows you to send photos inside direct messages.

More: Twitter, Wired, SlashGear, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, 9to5Google, iMore, iClarified, MobileSyrup.com, TUAW, Engadget, The Next Web, iDownloadBlog.com, Electronista and Newsy

Tweets: @andylevy, @panzer, @mattbuchanan, @caseynewton and @mikeisaac

John Herrman / BuzzFeed:

Why Twitter Just Joined The Backchannel Wars — Direct messages to the forefront, big photos in tow. Twitter knows: The service that controls messaging controls the world. — Another day, another new messaging app. The only difference: This one is already installed on your phone.

More: PC Magazine, Computerworld, The Verge, ReadWrite, TechHive and Marketing Land

Tweets: @jwherrman, @panzer, @parislemon, @buzzfeed, @parislemon, @benedictevans and @mikeisaac

See also Mediagazer

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Nokia's “Normandy” phone uses a forked variant of Android, a la Kindle Fire — This is Nokia's Android phone — Codename Normandy is ‘full steam ahead’ — Nokia has been building its own Android phone according to multiple sources familiar with the company's plans.

More: Ars Technica, Engadget, Gizmodo, Phandroid, TechSpot, SlashGear, WMPoweruser, Android and Me, TechnoBuffalo, Android Beat, Pocket-lint, PhoneArena, Droid Life and MobileSyrup.com

Ernesto / TorrentFreak:

The Pirate Bay Moves to .AC After Domain Name Seizure — A few hours ago Pirate Bay users were shocked to discover that their favorite torrent site was no longer loading. — Without warning the nameservers were removed from thepiratebay.sx domain, making it impossible to load the site in places where DNS entries were not cached.

More: Kotaku, Motherboard, Inquirer, Polygon, Plagiarism Today, Softpedia News, Daily Dot and Ars Technica. Tweets: @an0nylulz

Brian X. Chen / New York Times:

New York Asks Cellphone Carriers to Explain Why They Rejected Antitheft Switch — SAN FRANCISCO — New York State's top prosecutor is investigating why American cellphone carriers have yet to embrace antitheft software on Samsung smartphones, raising questions about possible coordination among the biggest carriers.

Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:

Yahoo Tells SEC: 31% Of Our Revenue Comes From Microsoft — Yahoo has revealed in a US Securities & Exchange Commission filing that nearly one-third of its revenue last quarter — 31% — came from its search deal with Microsoft, according to a Bloomberg report.

More: Bloomberg, BGR, ZDNet and SiliconBeat

Tweets: @dannysullivan and @sengineland

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Vuzix develops Google Glass-like smart glasses — but with superior optics and standard eyeframes — Vuzix says it has superior optics for augmented reality glasses. The M2000AR is aimed at industrial markets. — Vuzix is unveiling an optical technology for smart glasses today …

More: Quartz, PR Newswire, LAPTOP Magazine, Ubergizmo and SlashGear

Yun-Hee Kim / China Real Time Report:

Google Scraps Plan to Build Hong Kong Data Center — Internet giant Google Inc. has scrapped a plan to build its own data center in Hong Kong and will instead expand its facilities in Taiwan and Singapore. — “While we see tremendous opportunity and potential in Hong Kong …

More: The Next Web, Digits, VentureBeat, The Register, Softpedia News and 9to5Google

Emil Protalinski / The Next Web:

Firefox 26 arrives with Click to Play for Java, new Home screen plus Bing and Yahoo search options on Android — Mozilla today officially launched Firefox 26 for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. Additions include Click to Play turned on by default for all Java plugins, more seamless updates on Windows …

More: The Mozilla Blog, CNET, Engadget, TechCrunch, ZDNet, Threatpost, eWeek and IntoMobile. Tweets: @privacydigest

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

NimbleTV Brings TV Everywhere to New York, Without Permission From the TV Industrial Complex — Want to watch the TV you've already paid for, anywhere you want to watch it, whenever you want to watch it? — You can't. * But NimbleTV says it can change that.

More: The Verge, Mashable, VentureBeat, SlashGear and DSLreports

Arik Hesseldahl / AllThingsD:

Stealth Networking Startup VIPtela Raises $33 Million From Sequoia — There's a new stealth mode company to start watching in the software-defined networking space, and it is already raising some significant money. — Sources familiar with the matter tell AllThingsD that VIPtela …

More: VentureBeat

Janko Roettgers / Gigaom:

Chromecast gets Plex, Vevo, RealPlayer, Viki and more with massive app update — A few months ago, a developer source told me that Google planned to release apps for its Chromecast streaming stick in waves. Well, guess what: The first wave is here, and it's a massive one …

More: Plex, Android Central, Gotta Be Mobile, TechHive, Ask The Post, Droid Life, Engadget, The Next Web, MobileSyrup.com, Android and Me, WebProNews, Tubefilter, Softpedia News and The Verge

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:

“We cannot trust” Intel and Via's chip-based crypto, FreeBSD developers say — Developers of the FreeBSD operating system will no longer allow users to trust processors manufactured by Intel and Via Technologies as the sole source of random numbers needed to generate cryptographic keys …

More: The Register, InfoWorld, Gigaom and FierceCIO:TechWatch News. Tweets: @bascule

Lucas Mearian / Computerworld:

Online backup service SugarSync moves to paid-only model — SugarSync, which has offered 5GB of free capacity since its founding, today announced it will only offer that as a trial and that all capacity after the trial will have to be paid for. — SugarSync, an online service for data back up …

More: TechCrunch, Marketwired, Electronista and Gigaom

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

FCC halts AT&T plan to raise Internet prices on Sprint and other rivals — The Internet. It's just a series of tubes. — Kendrick Erickson — The Federal Communications Commission yesterday halted a plan by AT&T to raise prices for “special access” customers, a potential rate hike …

More: GamePolitics blogs and DSLreports

Lisa Eadicicco / LAPTOP Magazine:

HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G1 Sports Pressure-Sensitive Touchpad — HP is refreshing its line of EliteBook Folio notebooks with its thinnest addition to the family yet- the 1040 G1. The 14-inch $1,299 laptop, which is available starting today, measures just 15.9 mm thin and is also among …

More: Engadget, VentureBeat, Computerworld, PC World, eWeek, Gotta Be Mobile, ZDNet and The Verge. Thanks:@akattkisson

Dan Ackerman / CNET:

Dell joins the Chromebook club with the Dell Chromebook 11 — This 11-inch laptop, running Chrome OS, is targeted at schools. — Dell is officially announcing its first Chromebook on December 11. The system, to be called the Dell Chromebook 11 (HP also has a system called the Chromebook 11) …

More: PC World and Engadget

Jonathan Mayer / Web Policy:

Three hops from one phone number may let NSA analyze sizable proportion of US phone records — MetaPhone: The NSA Three-Hop — Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler. — MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating.

More: Daily Dot and emptywheel. Tweets: @glynmoody, @jeff_kaye, @jonathanmayer, @neiljrubenking, @ashk4n and @eff

Tim Peterson / AdAge:

Apple's iTunes Radio Hires Sales Exec From Cumulus Media — Former Cumulus Media Exec Michael Pallad Started Last Week — Apple's iTunes Radio has poached a top radio ad exec as it prepares to offer the service widely to advertisers in 2014. — Former Cumulus Media executive VP-sales Michael Pallad …

More: Mobile Marketing Watch, ValueWalk, MacRumors, App Advice, VentureBeat, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, Cult of Mac, 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, The Mac Observer, Electronista, TUAW and iLounge. Tweets: @jeffschmidt. See also Mediagazer

Chris Welch / The Verge:

Mad Catz now shipping its $249.99 ‘Mojo’ Android game console — Mad Catz has officially joined the crowded field of Android-based game consoles. The company has announced that its $249.99 Mojo box is now shipping. The device — which we previewed back at E3 in June …

More: IntoMobile, WebProNews, Thomson IR, Android Community, Android Police, The Droid Guy, SlashGear, Droid Life and Liliputing

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