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Latest by Andrew Couts

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The Digital Self: ‘Demand Privacy’ should be the new ‘Buy American’

It's time for consumers to make "Demand Privacy" the battle cry of the 21st century, just as past generations made "Buy American" the maxim of the 20th.
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Terms & Conditions: When it comes to privacy, eBay is the anti-Facebook

Online auction giant eBay's new User Agreement and Privacy Policy dissected so you can understand it.
Terms & Conditions: Reddit

Terms & Conditions: Reddit’s user agreement is a joke

Beneath all the pictures, videos, witty headlines, upvotes, and downvotes sits Reddit's user agreement, which the site conveniently turns a blind eye to on a daily basis.

Hacker exposes George H.W. Bush family emails, photos

A hacker named "Guccifer" has stolen emails and photos of the family of former President George H.W. Bush.
se your phone to break these Guinness World Records from your couch

Use your phone to break these Guinness World Records from your couch

A quick guide to Guinness World Records you can set with your smartphone right now.

Terms of Service Tracker keeps companies from slipping one past you

Companies' terms of services and privacy policies can change anytime. Docracy's Terms of Service Tracker tells you when they do.
cell tower [Shutterstock noolwlee]

State of the Web: Why the FCC’s ‘free super Wi-Fi’ plan is probably too good to be true

The FCC wants to lay the groundwork for a free "super Wi-Fi" network across the U.S. Unfortunately, a number of hurdles stand in the way.
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Terms & Conditions: Shoot all the Vine porn you want – it’s allowed

Social video app Vine has come under fire since its launch for allowing pornography to creep into the service's highlighted feeds. And while the company has done what it can to hide its porn stash, the app's Terms of Service in no way forbid users from posting their intimate moments.
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Facebook still has 76.3 million ‘fake’ users

Facebook still has more than 76 million "fake" user accounts, according to its fourth quarter 2012 earnings report.
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Facebook killing it in mobile, but sees profits drop 79 percent

Facebook now has more mobile users than desktop users, and its revenue has jumped 40 percent over last year. But it's net income is down 79 percent, causing Wall Street to punish its stock in after-hours trading.
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State of the Web: Apple, Vine’s saucy secret, and the corporate foot standing on your windpipe

Questions over whether Apple will remove Twitter's new Vine app from the App Store due to pornography lays bare the problem walled gardens create for free speech.
Gmail ECPA

How Google handles police requests for your emails

Google has revealed additional details concerning its policies toward government requests for user data, like emails and instant messages.
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Facebook’s ‘Ask Our CPO’ is just more privacy PR

Facebook's new "Ask Our Chief Privacy Officer" feature aims to boost users' trust in the social network. But at this point, it could do more harm than good.
Twitter transparency report

Twitter gives U.S. government its user data 69 percent of the time

Twitter has released its second bi-annual Transparency Report, which reveals that U.S. government requests for user data increased during the second half of 2012 to 815.
Terms and Conditions MEGA

Terms & Conditions: What’s in your Mega account? Don’t ask, don’t tell

Kim Dotcom's hot new company Mega gives users something no other competing cloud storage service offers: 50GB of free storage space and clever encryption. But Mega's Terms make one thing clear: The risk is all on you.

Hey, Vine users, heads up: All your videos are public

Vine users, beware: All video clips shared through Vine are 100 percent public. And there's no way to make them private – for now.
Skype privacy

‘Open Letter to Skype’ demands Microsoft come clean about user privacy

In an "Open Letter to Skype," more than 100 Internet activists and digital rights groups have demanded that the Microsoft-owned VoIP service become transparent about user privacy.
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Google, Facebook now buying even more favors in Washington

Google spent 70 percent more on lobbying Washington lawmakers in 2012, while Facebook spent 196 percent more. Apple, Verizon, and AT&T were a bit thriftier.
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New Google Transparency Report shows exactly why we need to reform our online privacy laws

The latest Google Transparency Report reveals that two-thirds of police requests for user data lacked a search warrant.
the pirate bay moves to se domain after supreme court sends founders jail

The Pirate Bay documentary ‘TPB AFK’ arrives Feb 8 for free online

'TPB AFK' documentary about file-sharing website The Pirate Bay will debut online, for free, on February 8.
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500px got the App Store axe, but what about all these other R-rated apps?

Apple has removed photography community app 500px from the App Store for allowing access to nude images, despite a hoard of other apps that provide even more NSFW content. But this isn't just another example of Apple's hypocrisy – it's a misstep that could give opportunity to its rivals.
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State of the Web: Why can’t Washington craft better Internet laws?

The death of Aaron Swartz has sparked a new call to amend and create Internet laws worthy of our digital era. But is such a thing even possible with the same bureaucratic machinations we've used for 237 years?
how to watch tweet and follow the 2013 presidential inauguration online obama

How to watch, tweet, and follow the 2013 Presidential Inauguration online

From now until Tuesday, the 2013 Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama will take over Washington D.C., cable news, and much of the Web. Here are all the live streaming video feeds, hashtags, Twitter users, Facebook pages, and apps you need to know to get your Inauguration on.
Terms and Conditions Yelp

Terms & Conditions: Yelp owns your business – forever

Yelp provides consumers with a great way to help choose the businesses we patron. What's not so great: Yelp's Terms of Service say that it can use any of your content however it wants, forever, even if you delete your account (or it gets deleted for you).
I have a dream Internet Freedom Day

MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’ censored from Web on Internet Freedom Day

A video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech uploaded in honor of Internet Freedom Day has been removed from Vimeo for a Terms of Service violation.
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You’re probably unknowingly breaking laws online thanks to the CFAA

Thanks to an unruly law called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, you might be breaking the law by surfing the Web and not even know it.
Personal Fill It launch

Personal.com’s new Fill It app makes quick work of long online forms

Filling out long online forms is a drag. Luckily, Personal.com's new Fill It Web app does all the tedious work for you.
aaron swartz

More than a hacker martryr: Why Aaron’s Swartz’s suicide matters to everyone

The suicide of Internet activist and programmer Aaron Swartz has sparked debate, anger, and introspection throughout the technology community. Here are the lessons I believe we can all learn from his life and his death.
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Batten down your privacy settings; here comes Facebook Graph Search

Facebook Graph Search may create a "discoverability problem" for users – one that could push them to finally get serious about their privacy settings.
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State of the Web: Hacking the tech PR industry

The relationship between consumer technology journalists and the companies they cover is broken – but software companies like Google and Facebook could show us a thing or two about how to fix it.
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Who really built the world’s first curved OLED TV? (Updated)

On the opening day of CES 2013, both Samsung and LG claimed to have released the "world's first curved OLED TV." So which one is telling the truth? The answer, I found, is more complicated than you might imagine.
aaron swartz

MIT, Web community respond to death of ‘Internet hero’ Aaron Swartz

Following the suicide of celebrated Internet activist and computer programmer Aaron Swartz, MIT has promised to investigate whether its actions contributed to his death. Meanwhile, the Web community continues to react to the loss of a hero.
Will.i.am tech visionary CES 2013

You’re not going to believe this, but Will.i.am is a tech visionary

Tech pundits have slammed Black Eyed Peas frontman and Intel's "Director of Creative Innovation" Will.i.am as a poser in the technology industry. And I agreed with them – but that was before I heard him speak at CES 2013.
White House petitions for geeks

White House petitions every tech lover should sign

Say what you will about the White House's 'We the People' petitions: They remain one of the best ways for citizens to have their voices hear by Washington. Here are four tech geeks like me should consider signing.