Techmeme: “Brightest Flashlight” Android app disclosed location of 50 million people, but FTC imposes no fine (Jeff John Roberts/Gigaom)

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April 13, 2014, 9:35 AM

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David E. Sanger / New York Times:

Obama Lets N.S.A. Exploit Some Internet Flaws, Officials Say — WASHINGTON — Stepping into a heated debate within the nation's intelligence agencies, President Obama has decided that when the National Security Agency discovers major flaws in Internet security, it should — in most circumstances …

More: SlashGear and Inbox. Tweets: @thegrugq, @csoghoian, @declanm, @csoghoian, @declanm, @csoghoian, @shaneharris and @dangillmor

Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:

Private crypto keys are accessible to Heartbleed hackers, new data shows — Contrary to previous suspicions, it is possible for hackers exploiting the catastrophic vulnerability dubbed Heartbleed to extract private encryption keys from vulnerable websites, Web services firm Cloudflare reported Saturday.

More: The Verge, Engadget, Labnotes, Dan Kaminsky's Blog, The Next Web, CloudFlare Blog, Engadget, ZDNet, Digital Trends, Re/code and Softpedia News

Tweets: @eastdakota, @glynmoody, @davidu, @matthewburton, @timbray, @mikko, @grittygrease and @eff

See also Mediagazer

Julian Sanchez / Guardian:

Even if the NSA first learned about Heartbleed this April, it could use the bug to decrypt data retained prior to that — The NSA's Heartbleed problem is the problem with the NSA — What the agency's denial isn't telling you: it didn't even need know about the bug to vacuum your privacy and store it indefinitely

More: Business Insider, Ars Technica, IEEE Spectrum Recent …, Indiana University …, Neowin, BBC, Softpedia News, Electronista, Computerworld, Salon, The Daily Caller and I4U News. Tweets: @normative

Kyle Russell / Business Insider:

A BI reporter whose Google Glass was stolen off his face in SF on Friday reflects on the city's tech protests — I Was Assaulted For Wearing Google Glass In The Wrong Part Of San Francisco — On Friday night, I was assaulted while walking down the sidewalk in the Mission District of San Francisco.

More: Re/code. Tweets: @reformedbroker, @alexhern and @ben_hr

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

“Brightest Flashlight” Android app disclosed location of 50 million people, but FTC imposes no fine — Even judging by the low standards of creepy data-mining apps, “Brightest Flashlight” did something pretty egregious. The free app, which was installed by at least 50 million Android users …

More: Mobile World Live. Tweets: @mims

Fulya Ozerkan / Agence France-Presse:

Turkey PM threatens to ‘go after’ Twitter for tax evasion — Ankara (AFP) - Turkey's prime minister said Saturday he will “go after” Twitter, accusing the site of tax-evasion, after it was used to spread damaging leaks implicating his inner circle in corruption claims.

More: VentureBeat, presstv.ir, Reuters, MWC News, TurkishPress.com, International Business Times and DW.DE

Zenon Evans / Hit & Run:

Let Me Google That For You Act aims to close federal agency selling copies of freely downloadable documents — Sen. Coburn: Replace National Technology Information Service with Google and Save Millions — The National Technology Information Service (NTIS) will sell you a paper copy …

More: Ars Technica, Digital Trends, Mediaite, NBC News, Techdirt, The Verge, Engadget, Gawker and The Wire. Tweets: @reason

Federico Viticci / MacStories:

Reeder 2 for Mac Public Beta Now Available — Nine months after being pulled from the Mac App Store following the Google Reader shutdown, Reeder for Mac, Silvio Rizzi's popular desktop RSS client, is back with a public beta that offers a glimpse at the app's new service integrations …

More: 9to5Mac, iDownloadBlog.com, FairerPlatform, Macgasm, MacNN, The Mac Observer, Lifehacker, App Advice, iMore and Cult of Mac

Jason Del Rey / Re/code:

Jeff Bezos is making payments a top area of focus and investment at Amazon — Jeff Bezos to Amazon Payments Team: Move Faster — The payments industry has been waiting for years for Amazon, with its 215 million credit cards on file, to flex its muscles. Apparently, CEO Jeff Bezos has been, too.

Tweets: @pkafka

The Boston Globe:

Massachusetts governor unveils sweeping legislation to eliminate noncompetes for tech workers — Patrick looks to eliminate tech noncompete agreements — Governor Deval Patrick on Thursday will propose sweeping legislation to make it easier for workers in technology, life sciences …

More: BostInno, Bijan Sabet, Gigaom, VentureBeat and Feld Thoughts

Tweets: @cdixon, @hackerchick, @dittycheria, @masseohed and @danprimack

San Francisco Chronicle:

Salesforce leasing half of planned 61-story Transbay Tower, tallest in SF after 2017 opening — Salesforce makes landmark deal to lease half of Transbay Tower — Salesforce.com will lease half of the planned Transbay Tower in a landmark real estate deal that puts San Francisco's largest …

More: TechCrunch, Thomson IR, PC World, Pulse 2.0, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Softpedia News and bizjournals

Shara Tibken / CNET:

Google's Android VP of engineering testifies for Samsung, says iPhone features weren't copied — Google exec: We never copied iPhone features for Android — Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google VP of engineering for Android, takes the stand for Samsung in its patent infringement trial against Apple.

More: The Verge, Re/code, Gizmodo UK, Wall Street Journal, TechRadar.com, AppleInsider, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, App Advice, Mercury News and PC World

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