A documentary on whistleblower Edward Snowden won the Oscar for the best documentary feature, in a shot in the arm for people worldwide protesting against alleged U.S. intrusions into the privacy of people in the country and abroad.The 87th Academy Awards were held Sunday in Los Angeles and presents film awards in 24 categories.Snowden, a former contractor of the U.S. National Security Agency, shook up the security establishment starting in June 2013, when he disclosed through newspapers that the agency was collecting in bulk phone data of Verizon’s U.S. customers, the first of many revelations by him.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Google has opposed moves by the U.S. Department of Justice to extend the warrant issuing authority of magistrate judges to searches of computers in districts other than their own.Innocuous as that may sound, Google is concerned that the proposed amendment would likely end up being used by U.S. law enforcement to directly search computers and devices anywhere in the world.There is nothing in the proposed change to the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41 that would prevent access to computers and devices worldwide, wrote Richard Salgado, Google’s legal director for law enforcement and information security, in a blog post Wednesday.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
BlackBerry has filed another lawsuit against the makers of the Typo keyboard, claiming that the new version of the iPhone accessory also copies its designs and patents.Judge William Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California last year agreed to BlackBerry’s request to temporarily block sales of the first version of the Typo add-on keyboard, which BlackBerry claimed was a knock-off of keyboards on its phones.BlackBerry believes that there is still demand for phones with physical keyboards, despite the introduction by most vendors like Apple of smartphones with only touchscreen interfaces. It announced, for example, the Q10 in January 2013 and the Classic in February last year, which combine a touchscreen and a physical keyboard.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Indian outsourcer Infosys is to acquire Panaya, a U.S. vendor of automation technology for testing enterprise software deployments and upgrades.The cash deal values Panaya at an enterprise value of US$200 million, and is in line with the company’s strategy under new CEO Vishal Sikka to automate processes, including by using artificial intelligence, to cut down on repetitive tasks and accelerate services delivery.“This acquisition aims to use automation to boost the revenue of the company without a corresponding increase in staff,” said Sudin Apte, CEO and research director at analyst firm Offshore Insights. He pointed out that Infosys’ rivals like Tata Consultancy Services already use some degree of automation developed in-house.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Uber Technologies has started a pilot across Indian cities of new safety features for its ride-hailing app, but the new measures may cut no ice with regulators in Delhi where the service was banned.The app will now let users send driver and vehicle details to their relatives and friends, and will also have an SOS button that will enable riders to contact the local authorities in an emergency.Uber was banned from Delhi in December after the alleged rape of a woman passenger by one of its drivers.It announced in January that to keep the service going, it had applied for a license under the city’s revised Radio Taxi Scheme that places tighter controls on taxi operators.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
John Ribeiro