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- Apple beats customers in court case
- Kids of today like books
- NSA spies looking to blackmail Muslim clerics
- EC explains how US can patch up spying crisis
- OCZ runs out of cash
| Apple beats customers in court case Posted: 28 Nov 2013 01:13 AM PST Jobs' Mob has won a court battle against its customers who dared to say that the fruity toymaker was stealing their data. The case related to iPhonegate where it was revealed that Apple gizmos were phoning home data on user locations. This made it possible to track which basement the Apple fanboy was sitting at the time. Apple denied using the data. The four plaintiffs claimed that Apple had violated its privacy policy. They said that it had designed its iOS environment to transmit personal information to third parties that collect and analyse such data without user consent or detection. They claimed that they suffered damages by paying too much money for their iPhones and by losing storage space. However US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California dismissed the case saying that the plaintiffs had failed to show they had relied on any company misrepresentations and that they had suffered harm. In other words, the case was fairly weak. After all everyone pays too much for an iPhone, it is part of the requirement for belonging to the Cult of Apple. According to Reuters, Koh said plaintiffs needed to provide some evidence that they saw one or more of Apple's alleged misrepresentations, that they actually relied on those misrepresentations, and that they were harmed by it. Whatever any of that means. |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2013 01:11 AM PST It has been assumed that the kids of today are obsessed with ebooks, but it turns out that they still like paper. According to a survey conducted by Voxburner, more than 62 percent of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer print books to ebooks. Printed books were more popular than movies, newspapers and magazines, CDs and video games. In fact only a third of the age group liked video games. Luke Mitchell of agency Voxburner, which researched questions about buying and using content with 1,420 young adults said that that the results were surprising because everyone thinks that 16-24s are attached to their smartphones and digital devices. The reason that 16 to 24-year-olds prefer physical books is that they are seen as value for money. On questions of ebook pricing, 28 percent think that ebooks should be half their current price, while just eight percent say that ebook pricing is right. The top-rated reasons for preferring physical to digital products were: "I like to hold the product, "I am not restricted to a particular device", "I can easily share it", "I like the packaging" and "I can sell it when used". Others liked books because they wanted to collect them, or they liked the smell or wanted full bookshelves. "Books are status symbols, you can't really see what someone has read on their Kindle," Mitchell said. |
| NSA spies looking to blackmail Muslim clerics Posted: 28 Nov 2013 01:09 AM PST Spies in the land of the free were looking at what sort of porn people were downloading so that they might have a weapon with which to blackmail them. According to another Snowden release, the National Security Agency has been gathering records of online sexual activity and evidence of visits to pornographic websites. It is part of a cunning plan to blackmail or harm the reputations of those who are radicalising others through incendiary speeches. The logic is that a radical Muslim cleric is less likely to be taken seriously if his followers know that he spends his nights downloading "Babes with Jugs". A top-secret NSA document identifies six targets, all Muslims, as "exemplars" of how "personal vulnerabilities" can be learned through electronic surveillance, and then exploited to undermine a target's credibility, reputation and authority. It fails to mention giving similar attention to born-again Christian priests who call for President Obama to be assassinated because they are Americans and immune from spying efforts. This is despite the fact that US presidents are always killed by their own people. Among the vulnerabilities listed by the NSA that can be effectively exploited are "viewing sexually explicit material online" and "using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls". Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the revelations give rise to serious concerns about abuse. He said that the agency is collecting massive amounts of sensitive information about virtually everyone and it knows what you are downloading. None of the six individuals targeted by the NSA is accused in the document of being involved in terror plots and all currently reside outside the United States. |
| EC explains how US can patch up spying crisis Posted: 28 Nov 2013 01:08 AM PST The European Commission has given the US a list of hoops it wants the French-backed junta to follow before it will start trusting it. The moves follows revelations about NSA and UK spying on the world+dog under its PRISM programme. In a missive to the US government, the Commission said that spying on its citizens, companies and leaders is unacceptable and that citizens of EU and US need to be reassured about protection of their data. Meanwhile companies need to be reassured that the existing agreements between the two regions are both respected and policed. In a press release, Viviane Reding, Vice President and EU's Justice Commissioner, said that the European Commission is setting out actions that would help to restore trust and strengthen data protection in transatlantic relations. The Commission listed six areas that the EU and US need to do to restore confidence. This include swift adoption of EU's data protection reforms, improving data protection safeguards, a commitment from the US for making use of a legal framework, addressing European concerns in the on-going US reform process; and promoting privacy standards internationally. Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, said that everyone from internet users to authorities on both sides of the Atlantic stand to gain from cooperation, based on strong legal safeguards and trust that these safeguards will be respected. |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2013 01:06 AM PST OCZ has proven that all is not well in the SSD market by managing itself into bankruptcy. One of the bright spots of the downturn was that SSDs had done well as every tablet in the land needed one. However, OCZ's bank accounts had been taken over by Hercules Technology Growth Capital, because the company had not paid back a loan. OCZ did not comply with certain of the operating ratios and covenants in the loan agreement and the banks gave them all the company's savings. Toshiba, upon hearing of the company's woes, agreed to all of the company's assets in a bankruptcy proceeding. OCZ and Tosh have now completed negotiations on an asset purchase agreement. Under the deal employees will all keep their jobs, but the company will have to file for bankruptcy. Of course Toshiba's offer has to be accepted by the bankruptcy court, and this is by no means a done deal. If the company is not able to agree to final documentation with Toshiba, the Company expects to imminently file a petition for bankruptcy and liquidate. |
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