Techmeme: Compare the NSA's Facebook Malware Denial to its Own Secret Documents (Ryan Gallagher/The Intercept)

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March 16, 2014, 9:55 AM

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Nicholas Weaver / Wired:

How the NSA's QUANTUM internet attack system works — A Close Look at the NSA's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool — We already knew that the NSA has weaponized the internet, enabling it to “shoot” exploits at anyone it desires. A single web fetch, imitated by an identified target …

More: theWHIR.com. Tweets: @ncweaver, @scribandotcom, @normative and @normative

Ryan Gallagher / The Intercept:

Compare the NSA's Facebook Malware Denial to its Own Secret Documents — A top-secret NSA presentation reveals how the agency used Facebook to hack into targeted computers for surveillance. — On Wednesday, Glenn Greenwald and I revealed new details about the National Security Agency's efforts …

More: Techdirt, eWeek, SiliconBeat and Threatpost

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Investors Debate The Ethics Of Anonymity Apps — VCs are publicly and privately debating the morality of investing in the burgeoning “anonymish” app space, after a series of negative posts, mainstream gossip, a high profile resignation and even bomb and violence threats have pushed the volume of the debate to eleven.

More: Hunter Walk, Both Sides of the Table, Medium and Re/code

Tweets: @nrrrdcore, @davidbyttow, @msuster, @ginab, @mikeisaac, @pmarca, @pmarca, @tolles, @mm, @lauraglu and @samfbiddle

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Secret Now Warning Users Not To “Defame” Others — It seems that school children are not the only ones who aren't able to handle the power of anonymous social applications appropriately. Secret, the San Francisco-based (and now, newly funded) confessional app, has begun warning users to not …

More: Medium and 9to5Mac. Tweets: @davidbyttow

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

Warner Brothers to “Veronica Mars” Backers: Okay, Okay — Use iTunes or Amazon if You Want — “Veronica Mars” was supposed to be a triumphant mix of Hollywood and crowd-sourcing: Fans of Kristen Bell's old TV show, aided by Kickstarter, helped fund a movie version, in conjunction with Warner Bros.

More: VentureBeat, Los Angeles Times, Flavorwire and Deadline.com. See also Mediagazer

Moisés Chiullan / TechHive:

Why Veronica Mars embraced UltraViolet and angered fans

More: Gigaom, Kickstarter, The Wrap, The Wrap, Engadget, The Kickstarter Blog, IGN, Hollywood Reporter, Boston Herald, iMore, Deadline.com and The Next Web. Thanks:@jsnell. See also Mediagazer

TechCrunch:

Julie Ann Horvath Describes Sexism And Intimidation Behind Her GitHub Exit — The exit of engineer Julie Ann Horvath from programming network GitHub has sparked yet another conversation concerning women in technology and startups. Her claims that she faced a sexist internal culture …

More: Re/code, ReadWrite and Business Insider

Tweets: @mims, @pchap10k, @zedshaw, @aredridel and @nrrrdcore

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:

‘I Know I Look Weird But I Like It’: Meet Shingy, AOL's Dumped On Digital Prophet — About five minutes before I met David Shing in the Sheraton hotel bar in Austin, Texas, his image was going viral through my Twitter feed. Again. For the second time in about a month.

Tweets: @delrey, @mattstraz, @jyarow, @ashfein and @markgurman

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:

Refinements, additions, and un-breaking stuff: iOS 7.1 reviewed — Time to update! iOS 7.1 is here, and it fixes a lot of iOS 7.0's biggest problems. — Aurich Lawson — There were about six months between the ouster of Scott Forstall from Apple in late October of 2012 and the unveiling of iOS 7.0 in June of 2013.

More: iMore, Gotta Be Mobile, MacNN, Cult of Mac, ZDNet, VentureBeat, Phones Review, BGR, Redmond Pie, SiliconANGLE, Business Insider, 9to5Mac, iLounge, iPhone Hacks and Softpedia News. Tweets: @stevesi

Stacey Higginbotham / Gigaom:

Group of ISPs, content creators, and network gear providers plans transparent caching standard — Will transparent caching reshape the future of video on the internet? — When Comcast and Netflix signed a peering agreement last month that lets the two networks directly connect to each other …

More: Fortune

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

Valve replaces Steam Controller touchscreen with new analog face buttons — When we briefly got our hands on Valve's prototype Steam Controller earlier this year, we found the face buttons placed right up against the lip of the circular touch pads more than a little awkward to use.

More: Wired, Engadget, Technabob, Steam Universe, Forbes, CNET, HotHardware.com News, IGN, TechSpot, Joystiq, SlashGear, Polygon, The Verge and Gizmodo. Tweets: @farroos

Richard Lai / Engadget:

Xiaomi launches MIUI for tablets, new Nexus 7 gets first dibs (Update: WiFi version only) — While Xiaomi has yet to launch its very own tablet (the Eden Tab doesn't count), you can now get a first taste of its tablet-friendly MIUI Android ROM, which is available as an open beta for the 2013 edition Nexus 7.

More: MIUI, Phandroid, I4U News, IntoMobile, Gizchina.com and Liliputing

Casey Newton / The Verge:

Hucksters and hustlers: inside the hidden brand orgy of SXSW — Half a decade ago, some of the brightest minds at South By Southwest Interactive came together to create the worst website in the world. Jeffrey Bennett proposed online image search for the blind.

Tweets: @calebgarling, @mikeisaac, @ohthatflo, @joshuatopolsky, @fraying and @caseynewton

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