Technology in the News

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The decision to homeschool

nrtoday.com

April 17, 2015

Writing on this topic feels like standing before a giant with a thousand voices and opinions. I will be honest and upfront - I won't be able to represent everyone.

In the recent months I have been approached by almost half a dozen parents who are considering homeschooling. My response is "Do it!" Those are the first words that come out. Some ask if my husband and I area worried about their social life. Um, yes we are. Then they try without accusation to look over at our kids and see if they are normal and not hermits.

Google overhaul would radically alter search results

wnd.com

by Drew Zahn

March 8, 2015

According to an article in New Scientist, the Internet search giant is considering a new algorithm for ranking its search results: one based not on how commonly a site is linked - which is central to its current system - but on how "trustworthy".

In other words, those sites Google says print truth would come up first in user searches, while those sites Google thinks stray too often from the truth would be buried on a later page. New Scientist author Hal Hodson explains: "The Internet is stuffed with garbage. Anti-vaccination websites make the front page of Google, and fact-free 'news' stories spread like wildfire. Google has devised a fix - rank websites according to their truthfulness."

GMO Labels, Not Barcodes

counterpunch.org

by Katherine Paul

March 5, 2015

Tom Vilsack, once again floated the idea of consumers using barcodes to identify foods that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs), as an alternative to requiring food manufacturers to put a label on products that contain GMOs.

Referring to the ongoing debate over GMO labeling laws, Vilsack (according to the Associated Press) told the House during a hearing on agriculture spending: "We could solve that issue in a heartbeat." Solve the issue for whom? Tot-Toting Moms with busy schedules who would need to take the added step of scanning every item in the grocery store, instead of just glancing at the label? Older people who struggle as it is to keep up with rapidly evolving technologies?

Whitehouse.gov caught freezing vaccine choice petition to prevent signatures from reaching 100,000 threshold

naturalnews.com

by Mike Adams

March 1, 2015

A WhiteHouse.gov petition calling for the prohibition of laws requiring mandatory vaccines has been throttled by the White House, buried from public view and finally frozen for over 36 hours to prevent the petition from achieving 100,000 signatures.

The petition, which was rapidly headed toward the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a response from the White House, was frozen mid-day Friday and has remained stuck at 56,791 signatures for over 36 hours.

Why Wal-Mart decided to finally pay its workers more

washingtonpost.com

by Lydia Depillis

February 27, 2015

In the wake of Wal-Mart's announcement last week that it would be raising its entry-level wage to $10 an hour by next year, there's been lots of speculation about why the company did it: Is the labor market really tightening?

"With the changing retail landscape, with the different options that customers have, competition on prices is tougher than we've seen it in a long time, and with that comes an increased premium on experience in the store," says Dan Bartlett, the company's executive vice president of corporate affairs. "We felt like if we're going to make structural changes in all or our stores, we needed to link some of those expectations to a clear sign of what the compensation would be."

FCC Proposal Would Classify Internet As A Public Utility

npr.org

by Krishnadev Calamur

February 4, 2015

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler outlined his proposal in an op-ed in Wired. The plan is backed by President Obama but strongly opposed by some cable companies and their lobbying firms.

Wheeler's plan would pave the way toward regulating the Internet as a public utility, an idea backed by President Obama but strongly opposed by some cable companies and their lobbying firms that say it will hurt investment. [NPR's Joel Rose has reported on this aspect of the story.]

San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Arrested For Intervening Between Police And Her Client

sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

January 28, 2015

San Francisco's public defender has released a video showing police arresting a deputy public defender outside a courtroom for intervening in an interaction between police and her client.

The video shows Deputy Public Defender Jami Tillotson refusing to step aside as a man identified as San Francisco Police Inspector Brian Stansbury tries to take a cellphone picture of Tillotson's client in a hallway at the Hall of Justice on Tuesday.

Secret 'BADASS' Intelligence Program Spied on Smartphones

firstlook.org

January 26, 2015

British and Canadian spy agencies accumulated sensitive data on smartphone users, including location, app preferences, and unique device identifiers, by piggybacking on ubiquitous software from advertising and analytics companies.

The document, included in a trove of Snowden material released by Der Spiegel on January 17, outlines a secret program run by the intelligence agencies called BADASS. The German newsweekly did not write about the BADASS document, attaching it to a broader article on cyberwarfare. According to The Intercept's analysis of the document, intelligence agents applied BADASS software filters to streams of intercepted internet traffic, plucking from that traffic unencrypted uploads from smartphones to servers run by advertising and analytics companies.

License Plate Trackers Send Passenger Photos to Police Databases

thenewamerican.com

by Joe Wolverton, Ii, J.D.

January 3, 2015

Every day, the power of the police (and their federal financiers) to track the movements of every American expands.

A company called ElsaAG North America (a division of Finmeccanica, an Italian defense, aerospace, and security conglomerate) has developed automatic license plate readers (ALPR) and is aggressively marketing its high-tech trackers to U.S. law enforcement. Vigilant Solutions, another ALPR manufacturer, boasts of being a "trusted provider to tens of thousands of law enforcement professionals." The Vigilant database reportedly "contains 2 billion entries," with "70 million additional license plate photographs being added each month."

California lawmakers' campaign credit-card spending often lacks disclosure, Sacramento Bee review finds

sacbee.com

by Jim Miller

November 3, 2014

Lawmakers charged more than $4 million on campaign credit cards for fine eating, plane trips and other expenses reported to be reasonably related to a political, legislative or governmental purpose. Many of the expenses lacked any description.

Some ate in five-star restaurants and reported holding meetings in nightclubs and an amusement park. They bought fruit baskets and wine as gifts. They went to Las Vegas, Hawaii and international destinations. As long as the spending accomplished what state law calls "a political, legislative or governmental purpose," lawmakers complied with state rules for use of their campaign money.

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