Before handing over power to Trump, Obama decides to EXPAND surveillance
With Donald Trump about to take over the reins from Barack Obama, privacy groups have expressed concern about what the incoming president will do with surveillance laws. But before that happens, President Obama is still a cause for concern. In the final days of his leadership, his administration has granted permission for the NSA to share the data it intercepts with no fewer than 16 other intelligence agencies.
While this will alarm many, what is particularly troubling is the fact that privacy protections are not applied until after this data has been shared between agencies. The changes in rules amount to a major relaxation of restrictions on NSA activities, meaning that a far greater number of officials will have access to unfiltered, uncensored data about innocent people around the world.
The Church Committee calls on Obama for leniency for Snowden if not a pardon
The calls for Edward Snowden to be pardoned by President Obama before Donald Trump takes office have been getting louder. But while many would like to see him given a get-out-of-jail-free card, there is a growing recognition that this simply might not happen.
The latest call in support of Snowden comes from the Church Committee (nothing to do with the church, rather the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, responsible for investigating illegal CIA activity in the 1970s). In a letter to the out-going president, 15 former members of the committee say that while it is open to debate whether Snowden's actions "merit a pardon, they surely do counsel for leniency".
Obama is not going to pardon Edward Snowden -- and Trump certainly won't
Edward Snowden. A liberal darling, and simultaneously a figure of hate. His surveillance leaks are now legendary, and while the NSA whistle-blower hides away in Russia, there are calls for President Obama to issue a pardon before President Trump becomes a reality.
But Obama is having none of it. In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel, the out-going president was asked bluntly about pardoning the former NSA contractor. His response was: "I can't pardon somebody who hasn't gone before a court and presented themselves". Obama, of course, could pardon Snowden if he wanted, regardless of whether he has faced trial, but he's not going to say that.
CNN and MSNBC embracing Microsoft Pulse for President Obama's final State of the Union
Tonight is President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address. Regardless of your opinion of the man, or his policies, it is certainly monumental. After all, his being elected broke racial barriers; inspiring countless people of various backgrounds. More importantly, however, he has done many arguably positive things. While he has many more months in office, it is still a farewell of sorts.
Hopefully you will tune in for the historic broadcast, and if you do, you might consider choosing CNN or MSNBC. If you are Spanish-speaking, you should consider NBC Universo, and Telemundo too. Am I endorsing specific networks? Not really. I only suggest them because they will be leveraging Microsoft Pulse; something BetaNews readers should appreciate and enjoy.
Google further legitimizes YouTube creators with upcoming interview of President Obama
As the media landscape changes, alternative media is becoming much more popular. Creators on online platforms like YouTube and Twitch are becoming stars, rivaling their mainstream media counterparts. In other words, someone like PewDiePie could possibly attract a bigger crowd than some network TV stars.
Unfortunately, there is still a stigma that being a YouTube creator, for example, is a lesser level of celebrity. Well, Google is aiming to change this, and today, it announces that it will continue the tradition of giving some YouTube stars the opportunity to interview President Obama a few days after his final State of the Union address. Does this further legitimize YouTube creators?
U.S. government embraces HTTPS
When it comes to the web, you expect U.S. Government sites to be very secure. Hell, with all of the money we taxpayers pay, the websites should be the most secure in the world. Unfortunately, this is not the case. You see, not only are many .gov websites not secure, they do not even universally use HTTPS. In other words, there are shopping sites more secure than those of the most powerful nation in the world.
Today, however, this changes. Barack Obama's White House has completed a new standard that all U.S. government websites will be forced to follow. While it is embarrassing that this is only happening in 2015, it is better late than never.
Microsoft welcomes weak Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights
Late on Friday, the White House released a draft proposal for the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2015. It is supposed to grant greater privacy rights to individuals, and sets out a framework in which codes of conduct can be constructed.
The bill comes in response to growing concerns about the amount of data companies store about their customers and users, particularly online. Government surveillance has brought privacy into the public eye, and this is the government's attempt to be seen righting wrongs.
FCC votes in favor of Net Neutrality... just
The Net Neutrality debate has been rumbling on for quite some time now, but today something of a milestone has been reached. After the campaign gained the support of President Obama, Twitter, and many others, today was the Federal Communications Commission vote on a number of proposals put forward by chairman Tom Wheeler.
It is a victory for Net Neutrality and a great step towards ensuring that the internet remain open and free from controls by companies or government. The policy states, among other things, that ISPs may not charge for prioritization of web traffic. The vote was far from being a landslide. Two Republicans opposed to the policy changes kept the result to a 3-2 vote in favor of the proposals.
Obama's proposed overseas earnings tax could hit Microsoft, Google and Apple hard
It is common practice for companies to take steps to reduce their tax bills. One common technique is to channel money through overseas branches, taking advantage of countries that require payment of little or no taxes. If the President's plans to pull in taxes from multinational companies' overseas earning, the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft could be facing hefty bills.
While the proposed 14 percent tax rate is far lower than the usual 35 percent, it could still top up US coffers by up to $238 billion. In addition to a one off tax payment on money currently held overseas, Obama is looking to slap a 19 percent corporation tax on earnings moving forward.
The effect Obama's new cyber laws will have on UK firms
President Barack Obama made clear in his State of the Union address earlier this week that he intends to push through new legislation aimed at tightening corporate cyber security standards across the US. Just as the US’s Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, designed to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures in the wake of the Enron scandal, effectively forced companies wanting to partner or do business with US corporations to comply with its rulings, so Obama’s proposed cyber laws are likely to have a global ripple effect across businesses outside America. Companies based in countries like the UK will need to tighten their own cyber security if they expect to do business with American firms which might otherwise see them as a weak link and potential vulnerability in their communications and data networks.
In his address to the nation on Tuesday (January 20th 2015), Obama said: "I urge this Congress to finally pass the legislation we need to better meet the evolving threat of cyber-attacks, combat identity theft, and protect our children’s information. That should be a bipartisan effort. If we don’t act, we’ll leave our nation and our economy vulnerable".
CNN and MSNBC embrace Microsoft's Bing Pulse for Obama State of the Union
My feelings about President Obama are irrelevant, but one thing is very relevant; the issues. Regardless of whom is president, you should pay attention to what he or she says, so you can be knowledgeable about your country.
If you are someone that actually cares about issues, you are in luck. You see, both CNN and MSNBC are embracing Bing Pulse during Obama's State of the Union. What does this mean? Rather than just consume the speech, you can interact with it by digitally agreeing or disagreeing with the Commander in Chief.
Tick tock, tick tock -- Obama says customers need to be told faster about security breaches
President Obama is calling for more honesty from tech companies when it comes to telling customers about security breaches. Specifically, he wants people to be informed in a more timely fashion whenever a security issue puts their data at risk.
The proposed Personal Data Notification and Protection Act would require companies to contact customers within 30 days of a security breach if personal data has been stolen. The call comes in the wake of several high profile cases in which customers' data was exposed for some time before those affected were informed.
Obama's immigration moves not enough for Silicon Valley
While Republicans are seething over President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration, Silicon Valley headhunters and executives seem to think his plan doesn’t go far enough.
The tech sector is one of the less talked about victims of a broken immigration system: one where the United States trains and then loses some of the brightest prospects in tech. Making matters worse, those trying to stay in the country legally face long wait times as backlogs in processing for green cards get ever longer.
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