Gregory Ferenstein
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Congress Members Share A Few Ways Techies Can Influence Them
There are 300-plus million Americans and only 535 members of Congress: simple math is the big reason why it’s difficult to have direct democracy in a country with a 500,000:1 ratio of legislators to citizens. So, today, at the tech mega-conference, SXSW, I asked two congressmen (and former tech entrepreneurs) how techies can meaningfully get involved in the legislative process. Chairman… Read More
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Snowden: “We Need A Watchdog That Watches Congress”
Whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed the SXSW audience in a rare public Interview today and gave some policy suggestions about how the government can better protect our 4th Amendment rights. The good news is that congress is already considering many of the proposals he mentioned. First and foremost, Snowden says intelligence agencies need to adopt a “law enforcement” model of… Read More
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Snowden: We Have More To Fear From Government Surveillance Than Google
Whistleblower Edward Snowden gave a rare public interview today at the technology mega-conference, SXSW. When asked whether we should fear surveillance from government or Google more, Snowden argued that the government is unequivocally a bigger threat. “The government has the ability to deprive you of rights,” he said in a live Interview with the ACLU, streamed through several… Read More
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Google’s Jared Cohen: It’s “Obvious” Bitcoin-Like Currencies Are “Inevitable”
Google Director of Ideas and former technology advisor to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Jared Cohen, says that digital “crypto-currencies” like Bitcoin are here to stay. “I think it’s very obvious to all of us that crypto-currencies are inevitable,” he told the audience at SXSW, in conversation with Chairman Eric Schmidt, to promote their… Read More
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Assange Says NSA Holds The Power In The Obama Administration
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange gave a rare talk via video at annual tech mega-conference SXSW, where he came out swinging not only at President Obama but also Google and Facebook. Assange claimed that in the Obama administration, the intelligence agencies “wear the pants” and he called out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as part of “an unprecedented theft of wealth.” Read More
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The White House Is Looking For More Innovation Fellows
The White House is so happy with its internal residential hackers program that it’s making room for another round of job opportunities. Members of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program work under the office of the Chief Technology Officer, and are largely responsible for opening stores of government data to the public and making tools more participatory. Since the program was… Read More
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Google’s Schmidt Says Inequality Will Be Number One Issue For Democracies
Google’s Eric Schmidt told a SXSW audience in Austin today that Google is “very, very worried about” the growing financial inequality and subsequent protests in San Francisco. “The average person there has benefited from the automation, the globalization, the technology,” he said, and predicted that inequality will become “the No. 1 issue of… Read More
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Congressman Denounces SXSW For Allowing Snowden To Speak
A member of the House Intelligence Committee is denouncing the massive technology conference, SXSW, for allowing NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, to deliver a keynote. “Rewarding Mr. Snowden’s behavior in this way encourages the very lawlessness he exhibited,” said Representative Mike Pompeo in a letter to the organization [PDF] calling for his invitation to be… Read More
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Senators Want In-Flight Calls Banned, Warn They Will Cause Fights
Two U.S. Senators warn that allowing in-flight calls will cause hostility among cramped passengers. “We are concerned that the addition of this entirely avoidable aggravation of a confined space will create a possibly hostile atmosphere on commercial flights,” Senators Diane Feinstein and Lamar Alexander wrote to Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox. The FCC caused a national… Read More
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Study Shows Why It’s Worth Your Employer’s Money To Buy Everyone Walking Desks
Desk jobs are slowly killing us. Perhaps even worse than dying early, our office-potato lives are making us more susceptible to joint pain, fatigue, and illness. To fight off these modern diseases, I use a treadmill desk, which keeps me in motion all day long. Unfortunately, treadmill desks are pretty pricey, going for around $1,400 on Amazon. Read More
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Tech Rights Lawyer And Entrepreneur Christina Gagnier Is Running For Congress
Silicon Valley’s role in the upcoming midterm elections is already getting a lot more interesting with a new tech-savvy candidate in the race who is looking to fill the unexpected departure of one-term representative Gloria McLeod. Christina Gagnier would bring rare tech chops to the federal legislature as a long-time digital rights lawyer and startup founder (who also competed in… Read More
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CIA Accused Of Spying On Intelligence Committee
Senator Mark Udall has written a blistering letter to President Barack Obama, claiming he knew of the “unprecedented action” of CIA spying on members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which had prepared a critical 6,000-page report of torture policies. “As you are aware, the CIA has recently taken unprecedented action against the Committee in relation to the internal… Read More
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Khan Academy Gets Rare Partnership To Close Wealth Gap In College Test Prep
Widely popular online learning platform Khan Academy closed a rare exclusive partnership with the College Board to bring free test prep software to the masses. As the College Board overhauls the panic-inducing SAT admissions exam, it’ll be giving Khan Academy access to actual test questions in the hopes of creating a sophisticated learning program aimed at test prep otherwise reserved… Read More
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Congressman Calls To Ban U.S. Dollar In Response To Plea For Bitcoin Ban
Congressman Jared Polis is calling on the Treasury to ban physical dollars in response to Senator Manchin’s plea to ban Bitcoin. “The exchange of dollar bills, including high denomination bills, is currently unregulated and has allowed users to participate in illicit activity, while also being highly subject to forgery, theft, and loss,” wrote Polis in a statement. To be… Read More
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US Accuses Sprint Of Fraudulently Overcharging Millions For Surveillance Requests
The United States is seeking millions from Sprint for allegedly overcharging authorities for the compensation normally paid for assistance with controversial surveillance programs. Sprint inflated its charges by approximately 58%, according to court documents. Read More
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Can Facebook’s Massive Courses Improve Education For Developing Nations?
Facebook is on a mission to prove that social media-empowered education can help some of the poorest nations on Earth. It recently announced a big industry and Ivy League alliance to bring experimental educational software to Rwanda, providing Internet access and world-class instructional resources to their country’s eager students. Read More
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UK Advisor Involved In Britain’s Internet Filter Arrested For Child Porn
A top British Prime Minister advisor, who helped design the country’s controversial Internet filtering program, has been arrested for possessing child pornography. Patrick Rock was arrested at his home a day after Prime Minister David Cameron’s office learned about the investigation. “This is an ongoing investigation so it would not be appropriate to comment further, but… Read More
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Russia Blocks Ukrainian Activists Websites For Encouraging “Terrorist Activity”
As Russia continues its military intervention into the revolution-rocked Ukraine, authorities are now blocking 13 activist websites on the Russian social media network, VKontakte. The Russian Prosecutor’s General Office ordered the agency’s overseeing media, Roskomnadzor, to block off dissident websites, accusing them of encouraging “terrorist activity,” reports the… Read More
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Study: Massive Online Courses Enroll An Average Of 43,000 Students, 10% Completion
Massively Open Online Courses are becoming more mainstream, as more top-tier universities give the public access to their courses. A new study demonstrates continued wide-spread popularity with part-time students looking to substitute otherwise cat-video-filled downtime with ivy league lectures. Examining public data from 279 courses from the most popular MOOC providers (Udacity, Coursera… Read More
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Researchers Find That Twitter Can Locate HIV Outbreaks
Researchers have found that Twitter is a surprisingly useful tool for locating HIV outbreaks. “This study provides the first set of evidence for how real-time social media data might be used for extracting, detecting, and remote monitoring of health-related attitudes and behaviors,” writes the UCLA team. “Results suggest the feasibility of using data from real-time social… Read More
