While the scope and power of the Italian Mafia fades in the United States, it is still a pervasive force throughout many part of southern Italy. In fact, the problem of organized crime in Italy is seen by many as both a root cause and exacerbater of that nation's economic woes.
Evan Dashevsky | 05 Nov | Read more
You are being stalked, right now, at this very moment. And by that, I mean your personal information is considered a very hot commodity among people you have never even met.
Evan Dashevsky | 25 Oct | Read more
Your online address books are probably being accessed by the government. But you probably kinda knew that anyway.
Evan Dashevsky | 15 Oct | Read more
Vodafone, the second largest mobile phone carrier in the world, announced that one of its German-based servers has been hacked, and the personal information of two million customers has been compromised.
Evan Dashevsky | 12 Sep | Read more
In response to the leaks from former NSA-worker Edward Snowden, President Obama swore to preserve the sprawling data collection programs, but he also vowed to make a number of reforms, including making government's activities more transparent. And Wednesday, it appears that the government is taking at least a cosmetic step in that direction. On Tumblr.
Evan Dashevsky | 21 Aug | Read more
The Chinese-language of the Dalai Lama's Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has been hacked and infected with malware.
Evan Dashevsky | 13 Aug | Read more
Following the recent corporate self-termination of the encrypted email systems, Lavabit (the same service used by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden) and Silent Circle, Kim Dotcom's privacy-crusading Mega organisation is vowing to step-up with a new encrypted email and voice services.
Evan Dashevsky | 12 Aug | Read more
In light of public concern regarding the wide-reaching XKeyscore surveillance program, courtesy of on-the-lam former NSA data miner Edward Snowden, President Obama announced a number of measures to "increase transparency and restore public trust in government surveillance programs."
Evan Dashevsky | 10 Aug | Read more
Fresh off new Snowden-leaked revelations that the NSA has the ability to record and monitor all Internet activity, came this curious tale from writer Michele Catalano where she claimed that a chance combination of innocuous Internet searches prompted a visit from a "joint terrorism taskforce." You may have seen it tweeted about or shared on Facebook, or even seen Ms. Catalano's fuller re-telling in The Guardian. Turns out it wasn't exactly true.
Evan Dashevsky | 02 Aug | Read more
Google Glass is the bleeding edge of consumer hardware technology. It brings the Internet to your face. But as it turns out, the head-mounted technology might be no match for QR codes, those blocky visual links that were hot a few years ago.
Evan Dashevsky | 17 Jul | Read more
So much for trying to be nice. Yahoo's latest bid to lift itself from the tech also-ran swamp with an email recycling initiative has been criticized for potential security threats to dormant users. To try and calm down the pitchfork-wielding crowd, the company has released a statement describing various security measures that will be taken to insure past users' data and security--but they may not cover all the bases.
Evan Dashevsky | 20 Jun | Read more
A pair of South Carolina lawmakers has introduced legislation that would pave the way for a pilot program involving electronic license plates that could be altered remotely by the state's DMV.
Evan Dashevsky | 17 Jun | Read more
Google announced via blog post a new technology-driven initiative against child pornography. The company is launching a $2 million Child Protection Technology Fund "to encourage the development of ever more effective tools" to fight online child pornography.
Evan Dashevsky | 17 Jun | Read more
Shortly before revealing his identity, confessed NSAwhistleblower Edward Snowden split town and headed for Hong Kong. While Snowden's current whereabouts within the semi-autonomous city-state aren't known, it's clear he isn't exactly trying to dissappear from the world--indeed, he's been granting media interviews.
Evan Dashevsky | 14 Jun | Read more
Microsoft was the first to partner with the NSA in 2007, according to the once-secret PRISM PowerPoint deck. Other big-name tech companies followed, and even the obscure PalTalk joined the fray. But, quite conspicuously, Twitter never joined the government snooping program--there's no reference to the company in the NSA document.
Evan Dashevsky | 08 Jun | Read more