In Ecuador, the nation's head of intelligence agency "has asked the legislature to draft a bill that would outlaw the publication of classified documents, amid growing concerns over a government clampdown on the media," writes Rosie Gray at Buzzfeed. The South American country has been in the news recently for providing shelter to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at its embassy in London, and for offering a travel document to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
Ecuador may criminalize the publication of classified government documents
Snowden's Box: the incredible, illuminating story of the journey of Snowden's hard drive
Dale Maharidge is a journalist and J-school professor who is dear old friends with the muckracking, outstanding political documentarian Laura Poitras. Jessica Bruder (previously) is a a writer and J-school prof who's best friends with Maharidge. When Laura Poitras was contacted by an NSA whistleblower who wanted to send her the leak of the century, she asked Maharidge for help finding a safe address for a postal delivery, and Maharidge gave her Bruder's Brooklyn apartment address. A few weeks later, Bruder came home from a work-trip to discover a box on her doormat with the return address of "B. Manning, 94-1054 Eleu St, Waipau, HI 96797." In it was a hard-drive. The story of what happened next is documented in a beautifully written, gripping new book: Snowden's Box: Trust in the Age of Surveillance. READ THE REST
Happy 10th birthday, TAILS — the real Paranoid Linux!
In my 2008 novel Little Brother, the underground resistance uses a secure operating system called "Paranoid Linux" that is designed to prevent surveillance and leave no evidence of its use; that was fiction, but there's a real Paranoid Linux out there: Tails, The Amnesic Incognito Live System, and it turns 10 today. READ THE REST
Edward Snowden on the global war on encryption: "This is our new battleground"
Since the 1990s, governments around the world have waged war on working encryption, arguing that "civilians" should be limited to using crypto with known defects that allow it to be broken, so that "good guys" can chase "bad guys." READ THE REST
Safeguard your sensitive data with GhostVolt's encryption software
Worrying about data breaches isn't just for the Amazons and Facebooks of the world. Oh sure, you should be concerned if you're one of the 533 million who had info exposed in the latest Facebook breach. But a bigger worry is what happens if customer information, details that you're responsible for, somehow get exposed to… READ THE REST
Save an extra $22 on this handmade Japanese forged kitchen knife set
There are plenty of top-notch quality knives and knife sets crafted all over the world, from Germany, France, and the heart of Europe, to plenty of premium craftsmen in the U.S. But there's definitely something about a finely honed blade made from Japanese steel that still absolutely stops knife shoppers dead in their tracks. For… READ THE REST
HP is unleashing desktops, laptops, Chromebooks, and more at up to 60% off
If you're itching for a computer upgrade, Hewlett Packard is one of the half-dozen brands you can buy sight unseen and know you're getting a quality rig. Of course, where's the fun in buying a computer sight unseen? Right now, HP is giving everybody an eyeful of everything, making loads of renewed and fully restored… READ THE REST