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News

• US tech companies ask governments to reform surveillance practices

  Eight top tech companies in the U.S. have asked governments around the world to reform surveillance laws and practices, and asked the U.S. to take the lead.

• Tech industry calls for 'oversight and accountability' of NSA surveillance

  Internet companies in the U.S. are demanding that the surveillance practices of the U.S. should be reformed to enhance privacy protections and provide "appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms."

• Yahoo to encrypt webmail sessions by default starting January

  Yahoo will start encrypting the webmail sessions of its users in early 2014 by making HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) standard for all Yahoo Mail connections.

• Tech firms push for NSA surveillance transparency bills

  The U.S. Congress must act quickly on legislation that would make electronic data collection efforts by the U.S. National Security Agency more public, a group of tech firms, civil liberties groups and other organizations said Monday.

• Ad networks agree to take steps against online piracy

  A group of U.S. companies operating Internet advertising networks has pledged to bar websites trafficking in pirated goods from using their services and to take other steps to fight online copyright infringement.

• New AOL Reader product teased just days before Google Reader's shutdown

  Once-mighty America Online appears to be working on a new RSS reader product, with about a week to go before Google pulls the plug on its own Reader.

• Does encryption really shield you from government's prying eyes?

  If you're thinking about encrypting email in light of revelations about U.S. government spying, you may be wasting your time.

• Spy-proof enterprise encryption is possible, but daunting

  Data encryption could help enterprises protect their sensitive information against mass surveillance by governments, as well as guard against unauthorized access by ill-intended third parties, but the correct implementation and use of data encryption technologies is not an easy task, according to security experts.

• Facebook, Pandora and Twitter seize mobile ad display market

  An IDC study has found sweeping changes in how mobile display advertisements are sold, with Facebook, Pandora and Twitter successfully wresting away control from advertising networks over the last year.

• Twitter implements DMARC standard to fight phishing

  Twitter has implemented DMARC, a standard for preventing email spoofing, in order to make it harder for attackers to send phishing emails that appear to come from twitter.com addresses.

• Microsoft accused of infringing old Lycos search patents

  Intellectual property company I/P Engine has sued Microsoft for infringing two search patents it acquired from Lycos.

• MacroSolve adds Sears to companies sued for patent infringement

  MacroSolve, an Oklahoma company focused on enforcing its patents, has added Sears to a growing list of companies it has targeted with patent infringement lawsuits, it said Wednesday.

• AOL revamps AIM with Facebook, Google chat apps

  AIM, AOL's seminal instant messenger app, just received a preview update to pull it out of obscurity and compete with other more popular chat apps like Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Skype and a slew of others that aggregate disparate clients and boast features like video and picture-sharing.

• AOL/Microsoft/Yahoo ad deal: 'The devil is in the details'

  The partnership AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft announced last week to sell each other's "tier 2" display ad inventory could yield great benefits, but they need to pull off a complex integration of business and technology to make it work.

• AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft tie up for display advertising

  Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft have partnered to pool their display ad inventories and integrate their sales platforms so that they can offer each other's ads.