Facebook says it learned that the actions people take on Facebook—liking, clicking, commenting or sharing a post—don’t always tells the whole story of what is most meaningful to them, so just when you were starting to get used to the way Facebook shows your timeline, it’s time for another shake-up. Read More
After backing down in the most recent encryption debate, law enforcement officials still seem to be coming up with novel ideas about how to keep encryption out of our and criminal hands. The latest bright idea proposes that app gatekeepers Google and Apple could apply some censorship to their stores to prevent users from accessing encryption apps.
The suggestion came from Thomas Galati, the chief of intelligence at the New York Police Department, while responding to a question from Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA). The topic of discussion was around if it would be possible for the US government to impose restrictions on apps that provide encryption services or end-to-end encryption which are located outside of the country. In other words, how could/should the government force foreign app companies to comply with any future encryption laws in the US.
“Certain apps are not available on all devices. So if the companies that are outside the United States can’t comply with same rules and regulations of the ones that are in the United States, then they shouldn’t be available on the app stores, ”– Thomas Galati, New York Police Department
According to a recent survey, many encryption products don’t originate from the US, making legal administration rather complicated. Galati wasn’t the only law enforcement official to have spotted this trend, with others also suggesting to use app stores as a potential fix.
“Right now Google and Apple act as the gatekeepers for most of those encrypted apps, meaning if the app is not available on the App Store for an iOS device, if the app is not available on Google Play for an Android device, a customer of the United States cannot install it,” – Charles Cohen, Indiana State Police
As you probably expected, those within the technology industry were quick to respond to the suggestions rather negatively. Responses pointed out implications ranging from essentially turning Apple and Google into bodies of censorship, to completely undermining the open model behind the entire Android ecosystem.
See also: WhatsApp next on the government’s hit list in the great encryption debate7
Of course, this suggestion does little to address obvious and easily achievable work arounds, such as side-loading applications, rooting, or jailbreaking. Such a move would clearly have major knock-on effects for popular messaging services, such as WhatsApp, that have recently implemented encryption too. Finally, it’s more than likely that those looking to use encryption for nefarious purposes would simply switch to a different operating system or methods of communication. To me, it doesn’t seem like a very well thought-out solution.
Do you think that law enforcement is onto something with this idea?
LONDON — As the Queen celebrates her 90th birthday; one rather famous baker has been busy.
SEE ALSO: Photos of the Queen (and her corgis) released for her birthday
Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain was tasked with baking the Queen’s birthday cake, which is, of course, shrouded in mystery.
According to the BBC, Nadiya chose from eight cake designs, but settled on an orange drizzle cake with vanilla butter cream and orange marmalade.
Though the Royal cake is yet to be seen in all its majesty, Nadiya shared a shot of its many tiers in white boxes, which were waiting to be shipped off to Windsor Castle. …
More about Lifestyle, Baking, Food, Birthday, and Royal Family – Source
Builders acknowledged the growing might of social media. Shiv Priya, executive director at Amrapali, said they cannot ignore social media anymore. – Source
If you are a Motorola fan, and are in the market for a good mid-range smartphone, here is some good news for you: the company has given its Moto X Pure Edition smartphone a decent price cut, although for a limited time only.
The device – which was launched in September last year, and is also known as the Moto X Style outside the US – is currently listed on Motorola’s US site for $349.99, down $50 from its usual price of $399.99.
Although third-party retailers like Amazon are also selling the handset for around $350, getting it from Motorola will give you the benefit of customizing…
Curt Schilling was fired by ESPN on Wednesday, following his latest offensive social media post.
ESPN announced the termination of the analyst and former Major League Baseball ace after he posted a Facebook comment about transgender people.
SEE ALSO: 10 times ESPN employees acted like total jerks
“A man is a man no matter what they call themselves,” Schilling wrote, seemingly in reference to a …
More about Media, Espn, Mlb, Sports, and Entertainment – Source
LeEco held a massive event in Beijing, China, to make few new product announcements. They touched upon a lot of different topics, including television sets and a particularly ambitious project involving making an electric car in cooperation with Aston Martin. However, the meat and potatoes of the event were the three new phones being launched, the Le 2, the Le 2 Pro, and the Le Max 2.
The 2 in the name makes it clear that these are successors to LeEco’s current line of smartphones, the Le 1s, and the Le Max. As such, they aren’t dramatically different and represent a spec refresh for…
Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages is a neat idea system that automatically reformats an HTML web page into a light and speedy version ripe for consumption on mobile phones and potentially strained connections. It’s a sort of mix between the old dedicated mobile sites (which are often broken and lacking in features) and the newer dynamic formatting (which can be too heavy for a phone browser even when written correctly). The AMP system has been going to a few months now, and Google claims that it has “thousands” of publishers on board.
Read More
Google News And Weather Will Get Some Much-Needed Integration With Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Soon was written by the awesome team at Android Police.
WASHINGTON — Global warming has mostly made the weather more pleasant for Americans over the last 40 years, which may explain why much of the public doesn’t rank climate change as big a threat as do scientists and the rest of the world, a new study suggests.
But that perceived benefit of global warming — mostly milder winters — will soon be outweighed by more oppressive summer heat, according to a study in the journal Nature that’s dividing the scientific community.
SEE ALSO: March was Earth’s 11th-straight warmest month on record
“Americans are getting the wrong signal from year-round weather about whether they should be concerned about climate change,” said study lead author Patrick Egan, a public policy professor at New York University. “They’re getting the good parts and haven’t had to pay the price of the bad part.” …
More about Global Warming, Science, Climate Change, and World – Source
