Techmeme: Google executives from public policy and legal teams applaud recent federal court ruling on NSA, USA Freedom Act in Reddit AMA (Damian Paletta/Wall Street Journal)

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May 9, 2015, 5:55 PM

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Kim Zetter / Wired:

The NSA has a program actually named SKYNET that uses phone metadata to track location and call activities — So, the NSA Has an Actual Skynet Program — We've suspected it all along—that Skynet, the massive program that brings about world destruction in the Terminator movies …

More: The Intercept, The Verge, Gizmodo, Engadget, The Next Web and WebProNews. See also Mediagazer

Joel Rosenblatt / Bloomberg Business:

Yahoo sues former employee Cecile Lal, saying she broke a confidentiality agreement by leaking proprietary information to author Nicholas Carlson — Yahoo Sues Ex-Staffer Claiming She Gave Secrets to Writer — Yahoo! Inc. sued a former employee over claims she “brazenly” …

More: Mercury News, BuzzFeed, Re/code, SiliconBeat, Fortune and CNET

Tweets: @tolles, @msquinn, @nichcarlson, @harrymccracken, @hunterwalk, @karaswisher, @sacca, @mikeisaac, @sacca, @ryanbethencourt, @mikeisaac, @johnolilly, @dangillmor, @hunterwalk, @katie_roof, @johnbattelle, @karaswisher, @kevinroose and @sarahfrier

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Uber plans to raise $1.5-$2B more, maybe as early as this month, valuing company at $50B or higher — Uber Plans Large, New Funding Round — Ride-sharing company plans to raise $1.5 billion-$2 billion, valuing it at $50 billion or more — Uber Technologies Inc. …

More: New York Times, VentureBeat and Business Insider

Tweets: @benthompson, @noah_weiss, @scottmaustin and @jguynn

Grant Gross / CIO.com:

After lawsuits over bad reviews, US reps introduce bill making consumer non-disparagement clauses unenforceable; Yelp, TripAdvisor, Angie's List voice support — Lawmakers want to protect the online freedom to Yelp — If the waiter was rude, your hotel room dirty or the plumber sloppy …

More: PC Magazine

Heidi Roizen:

How to build a unicorn from scratch and walk away with nothing, or why deal terms matter more than valuations — How to Build a Unicorn From Scratch - and Walk Away with Nothing. — This is a grim fairy tale about a mythical company and its mythical founder.

Tweets: @benedictevans and @pmarca

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

“Who's Viewed Your Posts?” LinkedIn Adds Analytics To Its Publishing Platform — LinkedIn, the social network for the working world, has been on a mission to add different services to its platform to expand the ways that people use it beyond looking for jobs and basic networking.

More: Official LinkedIn Blog, Marketing Land, The Next Web, International Business Times, LinkedIn Pulse and ZDNet

Olga Razumovskaya / Wall Street Journal:

Russia and China sign cybersecurity deal pledging to not attack one another, counteract technology harmful to the countries — Russia and China Pledge Not to Hack Each Other — MOSCOW—If the U.S. intelligence community believes that Russia poses a greater cyber spying threat than China, what will it make of this?

More: Engadget, Ars Technica, Economist, New York Times, The Hill and Newsweek

Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:

Google executives from public policy and legal teams applaud recent federal court ruling on NSA, USA Freedom Act in Reddit AMA — Google Executives Applaud NSA Ruling in Lively Reddit Chat — Top Google executives fielded a number of questions on Friday about their views on government surveillance …

More: Engadget, The Next Web, 9to5Google and Foreign Policy

Tweets: @timjhanrahan, @casparbowden and @csoghoian

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

LG Watch Urbane review: battery life of more than a day even with screen always on, lacks ambient light sensor, gaudy design for $349 — LG Watch Urbane review — In the three-odd months since I last reviewed an Android Wear smartwatch, the platform has actually grown on me.

More: Android Police, TechnoBuffalo, BGR, eWeek, Computerworld and Android Police

Ángel González / The Seattle Times:

Filing shows Alibaba is now the largest outside shareholder in e-commerce site Zulily with 9.3% of total shares — Alibaba takes big stake in Seattle's zulily e-commerce site — Alibaba Group, the giant Chinese online retailer, has emerged as the biggest outside shareholder in Seattle-based zulily …

More: Bloomberg Business, Reuters, Business Insider, USA Today and GeekWire

Carmel DeAmicis / Re/code:

Pinterest raises additional $186M to complete $553M Series G, adding Wellington and Goldman Sachs, lets employees sell “a small portion” of their stock — Pinterest Adds $186 Million to Series G Round, Lets Employees Sell Shares — Pinterest has completed the rest …

More: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal and Business Insider

Martin Brinkmann / gHacks Technology News:

Google releases Color Enhancer extension to aid the color-blind, and Animation Policy Chrome extension letting you manage how animations run — Two new Chrome accessibility extensions released by Google — Google's Accessibility team has released two new Chrome extensions recently …

More: PC Magazine, Franç, CNET, PCWorld, Ink, Bits, & Pixels, AndroidHeadlines.com and SlashGear

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