The information comes from the folks at AllThingsD, which received a statement from Elon Musk stating: “I agreed to support Fwd.us because there is a genuine need to reform immigration. However, this should not be done at the expense of other important causes. I have spent a lot of time fighting far larger lobbying organizations in D.C. and believe that the right way to win on a cause is to argue the merits of that cause. This statement may surprise some people, but my experience is that most (not all) politicians and their staffs want to do the right thing and eventually do.”

As it turns out, the political action committee is focused on more than just immigration reform and seeing Congress “focus on policies that maximize the potential of our country’s workforce to contribute to the knowledge economy,” if its actions are of any merit. The group has come under fire for backing conservative politicians’ political commercials that focus on things like endorsing the Alaska pipeline and fighting against the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform efforts.

Not everyone believes such funding is against the purpose of the group, however.

One FWD.Us supported, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, told the New York Times earlier this month in a statement: “Our advertising decisions are being made by a very smart team of political operatives who know that passing major reform will require some different and innovative tactics. I’m proud to support Fwd.Us as they work to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Regardless of whether the purpose of the group truly is immigration reform or whether it has multiple areas of interest, it is not hard to see why Musk would abandon it. Tesla Motors, for which he is the CEO, is a major player in the electric vehicles industry, as well as other environment and green-oriented areas. Financially backing a group that, in part, spends his contributions on supporting politicians seeking to drill oil in Alaska would be damaging on the personal level and contrary to many of his efforts. As for David Sacks, the information is purely the by-product of sources, with no statement or official word being given either way.

SOURCE: AllThingsD

That number is up from the 1,811 takedown requests made regarding 18,070 pieces of content during the previous half of 2012, and it’s the highest number of takedown requests that Google has seen during a six-month period since the search giant began to offer transparency reports three years ago.

Google’s legal director, Susan Infantino, says that “it’s become increasingly clear that the scope of government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown,” and she notes that “in more places than ever, we’ve been asked by governments to remove political content that people post on” various Google services.

The most notable spike came from Brazil, which saw a sharp increase from the last transparency report. Google received 697 requests in Brazil, most of which were court orders. This is up from 191 during the first half of 2012. Google says that the reason for the steep increase was due to the municipal elections, which took place during the fall.

As in much of the writings included in the book, the bits included in this Future of Terrorism section do not offer many answers for the questions they raise. Schmidt and Cohen here – and several times throughout the book – speak of the dangers that exist in our modern interconnected world both in prospect and in reality – it could happen, and it could happen again.

In this case, warning about the “importance of digital marketing for future terrorists”, Schmidt and Cohen note that they’re expecting groups to be jumping in with mobile and Internet companies en masse. Schmidt and Cohen give an example account spoken of by a man named Maajid Nawaz, he being a former leader in the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT). He speaks of the group’s movements around mobile-phone companies, specifically Motorola in Pakistan.

“‘We pitched propaganda stalls outside the Motorola offices in Pakistan, then we recruited some Motorola staff, who proceeded to leak the numbers of Pakistan’s national newspaper editors,’ he said. Members of the HT would bombard these editors with text messages full of propaganda, talking points, and event threats.” – Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age

This same contact with the HT group mentioned the fact that these mobile phone carrier employees would also provide members of the group with concealed identities when they themselves signed up for phone service. Schmidt and Cohen suggest that this is only one of a number of situations in which the mobile connectivity we have here in the present will become a potential problem in the hands of extremist political groups in the near future.

They speak also of the idea that groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas might seek to gain influence over citizens with apps that provide services everyday users might find valuable. The book notes how groups such as these gain community support by providing services the larger state will not or cannot provide.

Responding to the obvious counter-point to being able to create apps and sent them to the public without opposition from the government or those that might control the software that appears on smart devices, Cohen and Schmidt suggest the simplest of work-arounds.

“Even if the Apple store blocked their applications under order from the U.S. government, or the U.N. took similar actions, it would be possible to build apps without any official tie to Hamas then promote them through word of mouth.” – Eric Schmidt, Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age

These points connect with chats and keynotes made by Eric Schmidt over the past several years, especially most recently in a transcribed conversation with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. It’s there that Schmidt, Assange, and Cohen collect several hours of material in hopes of including relevant topics in the book. This book is, of course, available digitally starting this week.

To draw attention to that cause, Anonymous has been spreading its mischief as broadly as it can. The Uriminzokkiri Twitter account remains apparently hacked, and the main site itself has been taken down, though it’s unclear whether that’s due to a hack or a denial-of-service attack.

In an expletive-punctuated release the purported team responsible for the hacks describe the campaign as one targeting “oppressing and violent regimes” and calls for an end to the North Korean nuclear program and the resignation of Kim Jong-un. There are also demands for a “free direct democracy” in the country, alongside “uncensored internet access.”

A follow-up release went on to describe a “a chain of long distance WiFi repeaters with proprietary frequencies” that had been used to bring internet access some way into North Korea itself. The system is described as “slow and unstable” however, and subject to retaliation by the government.

Attitudes toward internet access in North Korea had seemed to be loosening in recent months, with the country even allowing visitors to access the web on their mobile devices in early March. However, the freedom was short-lived, lasting only a few weeks before North Korea clamped back down on it.

Robocalls are allowed on most landline numbers if certain rules are met, but they are strictly prohibited to mobile phones unless it’s for emergency purposes or the person receiving the call has given prior permission. The FCC has cited two marketing companies for making millions of robocalls to mobile phones illegally.

Robocalls were made from Dialing Services of Roswell, New Mexico and Democratic Dialing of Aurora, Colorado, both companies didn’t have permission from mobile phone users to call them. The FCC found that these two companies sent out millions of robocalls in 2011 and 2012, including the 2012 presidential election campaigns.

The maximum penalty for making illegal robocalls to mobile phones is $16,000 per call, which means that if each company made millions of robocalls throughout the past couple of years, they could end up owing billions of dollars in fines. It’s estimated that 4.7 million illegal robocalls were made from Dialing Services and 1.1 million by Democratic Dialing.

Chris Kolker, founder and CEO of Dialing Services, said that his company is “simply a service provider” that makes it possible for another company to make robocalls. He says that his company doesn’t make the calls themselves, and that they “inform customers about the laws, but [the company] cannot possibly police all of them.”

[via NBC News]

In December of 2012 Cook confirmed that Apple would be bringing Apple product manufacturing back to the USA in 2013. One of the earlier mentions of this move was made in May of 2012 where Cook made mention of “things we can do” in the future – and here it is. Parts of the newest iMac have already bore the “Assembled in USA” mark and the Mac Mini has been tipped to be coming to the USA for manufacturing as well.

The State of the Union address spoken by President Obama noted that “after shedding jobs for more than 10 years, our manufacturers have added about 500,000 jobs over the past three.” He went on to list groups like Caterpillar, Ford, and Intel who have moved (or will move soon) sets of jobs to the USA from overseas. Obama made the final mention appear most important: “And this year, Apple will start making Macs in America again.”

According to MacRumors, the Apple CEO was seated just one seat away diagonally from the First Lady Michelle Obama and one seat behind the Second Lady Jill Biden. UPDATE: maybe he moved seats? See image 7 of the box. You can also see the full list of seats in the box at The White House website – note also that Bobak Ferdowsi was there: you’ll remember him from the NASA Mars landing last year without a doubt!

Speaking with Eurogamer about his lovely invention of the M82, various assault rifles, and sniper rifles alike, Barret made it clear that video games that feature firearms with brand names on them have to pay the creators of those firearms a cash sum. Just as it is with video games that show racing cars or shoes with the Adidas logo on them, cash must flow in one direction or the other. It’s much more rare that a simple no-cash agreement will appear between the makers of the video game and the company that holds the rights to the products used in said video game.

The fact that Barrett has worked with companies came first, “yes, we’ve worked with companies to send our sniper rifles into video games.” Simple enough, but which games are we talking about here? Pushed with this question from Eurogamer once again, Barrett said, “Which ones? Our license agreement prohibits us from mentioning a company by name. [but] you are welcome to check out the Call of Duty series.” The video you’re seeing below comes from Piston2x and shows the intense detail included in the Call of Duty series and – perhaps more importantly – how important the actual real-world gun is to those playing the game.

Also of from Eurogamer comes a quote from Martin Hollis, director and producer of the original most awesome multi-player shooter ever made, GoldenEye. He makes it clear that back when the game was released they were told they’d have to remove the names of the guns from the final product likely due to the amount of work they’d have had to do to get licenses back in that transitional time. “I assumed novelists and filmmakers have no compulsion to license”, he noted, “I was not pleased [we had to remove the real names] because it would decrease the realism, or at least the verisimilitude.” Such things are still considered in video games today.

What do you think, gamers, are you more apt to play a game in the guns have real-world names attached to them? And those of you who didn’t realize purchasing a video game could send cash to arms manufacturers – what’s your opinion of the situation now?

[Image via Cod4Source]

This app is made for those who wish to fire large guns at targets in a virtual reality range, devoid of non-mechanized life. The NRA also has two other mobile games, one of them called NRA: Varmint Hunter, the other called NRA: Gun Club. This app is not meant to suggest you take your assault rifle and use it for anything other than target practice, while the Varmint Hunter app certainly is.

NOTE: This article is a column, which means in this case that the opinions included are not necessarily shared by the whole of SlashGear or its associated brands.

Of course when NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre spoke back on December 21st (as quoted from GeekoSystem) about violent video games was certainly not meant to apply to their own NRA-branded app releases:

“There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt, and corrupting shadow industry that sells and sows violence against its own people. Through vicious violent video games, with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat, and Splatterhouse.” – NRA CEO LaPierre

You can download the full collection of NRA gun-firing apps from your favorite app store today. You’ll be able to test out your favorite “true-to-life firearms” as they say in-app, and will be able to destroy countless targets with great ease. You’ll become a better marksman in no time and you’ll be able to compare your high scores to your friends with Game Center integration.

Let us know what you think about this release from the NRA. Are they going against their talk just last month about the evils of violent video games? Are they going the correct route with a video game that promotes the firing of heavy firearms in a safe manner? What do you make of this whole situation?

An awesome website by the name of Citizen Media Law Project shows a chart with all of the laws regarding “Documenting the Vote” with your state listed plainly. In Minnesota we’ve got essentially no laws expressly forbidding cameras or video recording equipment, but “the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State strongly discourages voters from using cameras or video recorders in the polling place.”

Additionally, “a voter shall not reveal to anyone in the polling place the name of any candidate for whom the voter intends to vote or has voted” is a law on the books here in Minnesota. This could very easily be used against you if you’re photographing your ballot. If you’re thinking about letting everyone know who you’re voting for, please feel free to do so, but don’t do it INSIDE the place where you’re voting.

Interestingly enough, Google is once again encouraging YouTube users to video record their voting experience. Make sure you do so according to your state’s laws regarding recording. Better having voted than having recorded what you’d intended to vote!

Also please feel free to watch the following awesome video that shows the final battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, and let us know if you’re missing your favorite candidate in the video, too! Fiscal Cliff battle – fight!

We also had plenty of news about SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which launched for the ISS yesterday. The launch went well despite a rocket blowout, and we learned that the capsule is carrying – among other things – ice cream and silly putty to the space station. Later on in the day, SpaceX released a statement about the minor problems on the launch pad, telling us that the mission should still go as planned. We heard that 10 million iPad Minis are on order, despite the fact that we don’t know for sure that it exists yet, and today Google started calling for more tablet-friendly apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S III was named T-Mobile’s best-selling device of all time today, and speaking of T-Mobile, the carrier received the LG Optimus L9 today as well. A 32GB Nexus 7 model was accidentally shipped to one lucky Japanese customer, and Microsoft has launched free Wi-Fi in both New York City and San Francisco. Windows 8 PCs started showing up early on HSN’s website today, and Microsoft released a Kinect SDK for Windows 8 too. Microsoft has apparently dropped its “Live” branding from its Windows 8 launch, and T-Mobile looks primed to receive iPhone 5 owners with a new NanoSIM delivery.

After being teased last week, Rovio revealed Angry Birds Star Wars today, an announcement that was quickly followed by additional details. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is available for pre-order on Steam today, while Blizzard told us that a World of Warcraft hack that allowed one player to murder others one city at a time has been patched. Pokemon Black and White 2 launched yesterday, and PETA has something to say about it, while Nokia announced that its new Lumia 810 will be bringing the Windows Phone 8 touch to T-Mobile.

That about does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, but before we part ways, we have one original story to cover: Chris Burns tells us why Nokia will need to push its graphic design abilities when it comes to making Windows Phone 8 a success. Enjoy the rest your night folks!

Of course, Xbox Live Gold is a little on the expensive side these days, so if you need a different place to watch the debate, YouTube has you covered. YouTube will be streaming the debate through its Election Hub, complete with commentary and additional footage from its partners like The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, The New York Times, and ABC News. If you live and breathe politics, the YouTube Election Hub is probably your best bet for all-encompassing debate coverage.

Naturally, there are plenty of other places to catch the debate, including Politico, which will be tossing pre-debate coverage into the mix starting at 5PM Pacific Time. C-SPAN will be streaming the debate over at its own Election Hub, and Univision will even be translating the debate into Spanish as it happens. In short, if you want to watch the debate tonight, you have plenty of options to choose from – all you need to do is pick one.

Tonight’s debate will have Romney and President Obama debating over domestic policy. It’s bound to be an exciting debate for some and a bore for others, but it’s one of the best chances we’ll have to see Romney and President Obama go head-to-head on the issues. Where are you watching the debate tonight?

Users that own a Samsung Galaxy tablet that have the Peel Smart Remote TV app installed will be able to provide real-time feedback during the 2012 presidential debates. Users will also be able to use the Peel app to easily switch the TV channel to any of the available stations that are showing the debate.

Throughout the debates, users will be able to “cheer” and “boo” responses from the candidates and to voice their support either for or against. Immediately following each debate, Peel claims they will be the first to provide a broad range of feedback from thousands of other viewers based on what they had to say through the app.

You can also see which candidate that viewers believe dominated the debate most, see which issues that were discussed received the most feedback, and even donate to the Obama or Romney campaigns straight through the app. The Peel app is compatible with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Tab 7.7, Tab 2 7.0, Tab 2 10.1, and the Note 10.1. The presidential debates will be broadcasted live beginning on October 3.

The same goes for HP, which is another company the memo focuses on. In Microsoft’s case, the company used transactions with its subsidiaries located around the world – Puerto Rico, Ireland, and Singapore are all specifically mentioned – to save on its tax bill. With HP, the company had its off-shore subsidiaries give it short-term loans, which meant that HP had tax-free capital to put toward domestic projects. The memo precedes a Senate hearing on this issue, with HP and Microsoft both scheduled to testify today.

This isn’t just limited to HP and Microsoft either – Levin says that he focused on those two companies to highlight a problem present with a large number of US companies. Both companies claim that they haven’t done anything illegal, and that much seems to be true, with Levin blaming this problem on lax IRS enforcement and the presence of too many IRS loopholes, many of which Congress is responsible for. Of course, it’s easy to see why American companies try to avoid paying as much American tax as they can, since the 35% corporate tax rate in the US is higher than in other places around the world.

That high tax rate has technology companies like Microsoft and HP transferring “intangible assets” like patents overseas in an attempt to save a little cash. It isn’t much of a surprise to hear that all of this is going down either, since the tax code in the US is so mind-numbingly complicated that there are plenty of loopholes for companies with good lawyers and accountants to take advantage of. One thing is definitely certain, however: if Congress wants to do something to stop this problem, it has a lot of work ahead of it. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Microsoft has just sent us a statement, commenting on the “complicated tax code” and the “exceedingly complex tax structure” we have here in the United States. The company also talks about the way it operates internationally, and the ways it has contributed to economic growth domestically. Microsoft’s statement is posted below. Additionally, if you’d like to read the full testimony given by Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Worldwide Tax Bill Sample during today’s Senate hearing, the PDF can be downloaded by clicking this link.

Microsoft has a complex business and we must comply with the complicated tax code of the United States, resulting in an exceedingly complex tax structure. That is why we’ve advocated for reforms to simplify the US tax code and make it more competitive with the rest of the world.

One of the business imperatives faced by Microsoft and many US-based businesses today is that we must operate in foreign markets in order to compete and succeed as a company. Foreign revenue growth helps support the growth of our U.S. operations, creating additional U.S. jobs and supporting an economic ripple effect that leads to greater growth in local communities. Our foreign growth has allowed Microsoft to increase our footprint in the U.S.

According to a recent study of Microsoft’s economic impact, we increased our employment by 13.2 percent in the United States from 2007 and 2009. Through our employment, compensation, and purchases of U.S. goods and services, Microsoft’s operations supported roughly 462,000 U.S. jobs. In Washington State specifically, Microsoft has been the single largest contributor to economic growth since 1990; our impact on the state accounted for 32.4 percent of the total gain in state employment.

To compete and grow, we operate a global business that requires us to operate in foreign markets. In conducting our business at home and abroad, we abide by U.S. and foreign tax laws. That is not to say that the rules cannot be improved–to the contrary, we believe they can and should be. US international tax rules are outdated and not competitive with the tax systems of our major trading partners. We believe the US should reform its tax rules to support the ability of worldwide American businesses to compete in global markets and invest in the US.

This Google involvement in the presidential nominations for both of the top two camps as well as the eventual coverage of the final Election Day later this year will have the big G on-the-ground all the way up to your phone. You’ll want to start with the Google Politics and Elections site for up-to-date Google News, YouTube videos and live feeds, and Google+ social networking content on the election process.

Also be sure to see Google’s Live Election Hub for your collection of both national political conventions as well as content between there and the end of the show. You’ll be able to watch debates there as well, and the election night itself will be covered by Google in real time. This interface works from your desktop computer in a web browser of from your mobile device – tablets and smartphone toting a web browser too, that is.

If you’re wondering who you might want to vote for, Google has an Online Voter Guide for you to peruse. There’s a specific place for those of you voting in special situations like military or overseas for whatever reason. This set of sections will lead you straight to information about your different rules and deadlines as well.

Google is also currently in the process of developing new ways for voters to interact with campaigns and the political and public heads between here and final election day. Be sure to stay tuned to SlashGear as well to keep up to day on big drops!

[via Google]

Microsoft isn’t offering this election hub by itself, however, as it has a teamed up with a number of different companies to deliver all-encompassing coverage. Users will be able to register to vote through the dashboard thanks to the Rock the Vote campaign, while Face the Facts USA will be offering information on both candidates. There will also be “live daily polling” provided by the folks at YouGov, so Xbox 360 users will be able to keep up with the rest of the community’s thoughts on the election.

Microsoft has also teamed up with NBC News to deliver daily video content on the election. Perhaps most importantly, Xbox users will be able to watch the three planned presidential debates along with live streams from the Republican and Democratic National Conventions through their consoles. That’s where YouGov’s live polling comes in, as Xbox 360 owners will be able to vote in polls during the debates.

As always, there’s a bit of a catch: most of this coverage will be available to all Xbox Live users, but the really important stuff – the debates and the coverage from NBC – will only be available to those with an Xbox Live Gold subscription. Other than the Gold requirement (which was to be expected, really), this sounds like a pretty great way to get gamers involved in the election, and the information from Face the Facts USA will undoubtedly be appreciated while the candidates are offering their own take on things during the debates. Will you be watching the debates through your Xbox 360?

[via Xbox.com]

As silly as it sounds, the game does tie-in to the actual election, which is coming up here in just a few short months. Chair has announced that it will be giving a portion of the proceeds to the Rock the Vote organization, and indeed, this game is geared toward getting more citizens registered to cast their vote when November rolls around. In fact, players can even get registered right from the home screen of the game, which will no doubt come in handy.

Vote!!! is built on the engine that Chair used to build Infinity Blade, and the goal is to knock your opponent down without taking a hit. You rack up more points the longer you go without being hit, which in turn leads to more virtual votes you can cast for your preferred candidate. As a fun little play on the actual election, Chair will keep a running tally of each candidate’s votes so players can see who’s ahead and who’s lagging behind with the user base. Have a look at the game’s official trailer below to get a better idea of how the game plays.

Like Infinity Blade, players will swipe the screen to attack and use buttons to defend or dodge. Players can earn coins to unlock new weapons and outfits for Obama and Romney, with coins also being available to purchase with real world money. Vote!!! is available for free right this very minute on the iOS App Store, so if you’re a politics junkie, be sure to give it a spin.

[via Polygon]

Well, you can start by checking out Super PAC App for iPhone. The idea is similar to that of Shazam, only instead of identifying music, you’ll be identifying the Super PACs behind political ads. The app is free to download, and all you have to do is hold the app up to screen when you see a political ad. The app will then tell you which Super PAC funded the ad, along with who the PAC supports, how much money that group has raised and how much it has spent.

Even better is that you can use the Super PAC App to examine the claims made in the ad and find out if they’re based on fact. Users will also be able to rate the app by selecting one of four different rankings: Love, Fair, Fishy, and Fail. Creators Jennifer Hollett and Dan Siegel tell Mashable that this app is meant to get ordinary people more involved in politics before Election Day rolls around, and given the wealth of information this app provides, it just might do that.

For the moment, this app is exclusive to iPhone (download), and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like Hollett and Siegel are planning an Android release. They are considering a desktop browser plug-in however, so it may not be long before Super PAC App is usable on PCs. Stay tuned, as we’ll be bringing you any new information about this particularly handy app.

The folks at eSecurity Planet have several reports being pushed this afternoon on the subject, each of them coming to a bit of a consensus over the source of the attack: none of them have a clue. It may seem relatively obvious to you, the reader, on the other hand once you see the subjects of both of the posts that Rueters did not post, and promptly deleted once they realize they’d been posted. Again, Rueters maintains that they were hacked twice in essentially the same way in two weeks, both times the result being a single news blog post on their site.

The first post, according to CNET, was about “the rebel Free Syrian Army suffering setbacks in their battle against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.” The second post, according to CBR Online, was “a false reporting that claimed Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal had died.” Reuters News’ director of global communications Barb Burg had a statement when the first attack occurred which read as follows:

“Reuters did not report the false story and the post was immediately deleted. We are working to address the problem.” – Burg for Rueters

What do you think, folks? What does a major news network do when their most precious resource – their journalistic integrity – is the victim of an attack?

“Investigators have copied all the information from the servers Demonoid and sealed them,” an anonymous ColoCall source tells Ukrainian newspaper Kommersant “Some equipment was not seized, but now it does not work, and we were forced to terminate the agreement with the site.” The source said that Demonoid’s owners – who remain unnamed and are thought to be operating out of Mexico – had backups stored with ColoCall, but the fact that they haven’t used any of them yet suggests that Demonoid has been closed for good.

This raid on Demonoid’s servers coincides with a US visit by Deputy Prime Minister Valery Khoroshkovsky. In his first visit to the United States, Khoroshkovsky apparently discussed copyright infringement (among other topics), though USTR spokesperson Carol Guthrie tells Ars Technica that Demonoid wasn’t specifically mentioned during the meeting. Regardless of whether or not it was, the Ukrainian government seems happy to stand by the US as it attempts to bring file sharing sites down.

Demonoid did what it could to avoid prosecution in the Ukraine by denying access to anyone with a Ukrainian IP address, but that doesn’t seem like it was enough. It’s unclear if Demonoid will return eventually, but we have a feeling it will end up much like MegaUpload. To put it simply, don’t expect Demonoid to be up and running again anytime soon, if ever. Stay tuned, because this definitely isn’t the last we’ll hear of governments taking down file sharing sites.

To get a bit more specific, Binney said that the NSA began forming plans to collect data on American citizens before the events of 9/11 even occurred. 9/11, as you might imagine, gave NSA officials the perfect excuse to roll out the program, and it wasn’t long before Binney ended up leaving the agency. “It started in February 2001 when they started asking telecoms for data,” he said. “That to me tells me that the real plan was to spy on Americans from the beginning.” Binney says that the reason he left the agency is because it started “spying on everyone in the country.”

Alexander claims that the NSA only spies on foreign entities, and though he seems to admit that the agency sometimes “incidentally” picks up information on American citizens, that information is restricted – “minimized” is the official word – unless there’s a crime involved. Binney and the other members of the panel, such as ACLU attorney Alex Abdo, pointed out that there are loopholes in the law that essentially allow the NSA to collect information on American citizens while looking into these “foreign entities,” which they can then go back to later if new information on the citizen in question surfaces.

If what Binney and his fellow panel members are saying is true, that’s pretty scary. There are plenty of people out there ready and willing to believe that the government is spying on them, and the NSA doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to stuff like this. Ultimately, Binney says that the the oversight Congress has over the NSA is “dependent” on what the NSA tells them, so there’s no real way of knowing that the agency is telling the truth. Be sure to check out our story timeline below for more information on the NSA.

[via Wired]

In the interview, Cerf says that it was government funding for ARPANET that eventually led to the creation of the Internet. According to him (and it seems like he should know), he says that the ARPANET project was “funded through 1990 by ARPA and other USG agencies” and that work on the Internet was funded from 1978 to 1995 by “ARPA, NSF, DOE, NASA among others.” So, it appears that the government did have quite a big stake in the creation of the Internet since there were so many government agencies providing funding for the development of it.

“The U.S. government, including ARPA, NSF, DOE, NASA among others absolutely facilitated, underwrote, and pioneered the development of the Internet,” Cerf said. “The private sector engaged around 12 years into the program (about 1984-85) and was very much involved in powering the spread of the system. But none of this would have happened without this research support.”

As for Crovitz’s claim that Xerox PARC Labs should get “full credit” for the Internet, Cerf says that while Xerox does deserve some credit for its work on things like Ethernet, the laser printer, the Xerox Network System, and PARC Universal Packet, the credit actually belongs to a larger group of people and organizations that helped make the Internet a reality. “Articles like Crovitz’ distort history for political purposes,” Cerf said, “and I hope people who want to know the real story will discount this kind of revisionist interpretation.”

Even if you already knew all of this stuff, the interview with Cerf is still pretty fascinating, if only because you’re hearing the Internet’s history recounted by a guy who was actually there throughout most of the process. Hopefully Cerf’s interview will help put this silly debate to rest, but many who follow politics know that history is sometimes considered open for interpretation, so we’re not all that confident Cerf’s testimony will be final thing said on the subject.

[Photo via Joi]

Though we don’t technically know any of the group’s members yet, an anonymous source tells The Washington Post that the four Internet giants listed above are among the Association’s most prominent members. In a statement today, Beckerman said that the Internet’s “decentralized and open model” leads to innovation and job creation, and that we must defend against attempts to “handcuff” the currently-unregulated web. The Internet Association even has its own website up and running today, though there isn’t that much to see there at the moment.

The group will be getting things underway in September, and even though Beckerman has yet to lay out a clear policy plan, we think we have some idea of what it will attempt do in Washington. After all, those four companies have all come out in favor of net neutrality at one point or another, and lately we’ve been seeing Washington trying to pass questionable legislation that would directly affect all of them. Here’s hoping that the Internet Association sticks to its guns when it arrives in Washington later this year, because make no mistake about it – with Facebook, eBay, Google, and Amazon all apparently backing the group, it will have enough sway to essentially get whatever it wants.

With Google’s Four Screen ad campaign initiative here, they’re saying that they’ve driven 48% more effectiveness than TV only campaigns. In addition, this Four Screen campaign situation is being shown as 77% more effective in driving campaign engagement. With numbers like that, it’ll be difficult not to turn back ad managers for all major parties looking to push for this election season.

“Voters use an average of 14.7 sources of information to help make their candidate selection and are connected to multiple devices throughout the day (Google/Shopper Sciences, 2011). Whether your goal is a seat on the town council, building up support for your chosen issue, or the White House, integrated marketing efforts must engage voters across four screens: television, computers, tablets and mobile phones.” – Google

Google’s collected statistics include a researched 28 percent of adults across the USA using YouTube and similar sites daily. Also included in this lovely set of factoids is 68 percent of voters using the Internet as their primary source of information on issues and candidates in an election season.

In other words, expect to see quite a few more political advertisements on all screens over the next few months – quite a few more indeed.

The home state of Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, and Nintendo of America has become the first in the nation to allow citizens to become registered voters in a way that’s up-to-date with the current technology. Facebook teamed up with Microsoft to create a secure application that lets users submit voter registrations through the social networking site, on the state’s official secretary of state Facebook page.

Users simply need to enter their name, birthdate, and driver license number. And if you’re worried about that data going through Facebook’s servers, don’t. “Once you start the process, you’re no longer entering data on Facebook. Facebook is not collecting any of the data,” said Washington co-director of elections Shane Hamlin in a Reuters interview. Other plans are already in process in California, Oregon, and Nevada.

[via Chicago Tribune]

Given the current political climate, this could go either way for Electronic Arts. There are many out there who support the legalization of gay marriage, but there are also quite a few who don’t. Electronic Arts, however, doesn’t seem to be all that concerned with PR (be it good or bad), instead highlighting the issues DOMA presents for businesses across the country.

“DOMA presents a number of problems for businesses like EA, as it creates regulatory, tax, and discrimination complications for employers, and that’s why we’re standing against it,” the publisher said. “The underlying lawsuit impacts all employers no matter how big or small, and no matter the industry, and we encourage other business to join these efforts.”

Support of gay rights is nothing new for Electronic Arts. It wasn’t too long ago that various EA employees came together to produce a touching video for the It Gets Better campaign, which aims to support LGBT youth who are bullied by their peers because of their orientation. In June, EA announced that it would be supporting LGBT pride month by marching in gay pride parades in Seattle and San Francisco. Of course, there is also the fact that some of the games EA publishes allow for homosexual relationships, such as BioWare’s Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age 2.

So, you may be asking, what gives? After all, when things like Hurricane Katrina happened, mobile carriers were very quick to enable a mobile donation platform that placed line-item charges on customer bills for relief efforts to places like the Red Cross. It seems that what the carriers are concerned about is the red tape involved with tracking political donations. That is to say, carriers would be responsible for making sure you don’t exceed political contribution caps, and that foreign nationals don’t submit money to campaigns.

But then again, this problem exists with any political contribution platform. All the carriers would need to do is provide some sort of confirmation for users to say that they are abiding by campaign finance law. Per the FEC, text donations would already be capped at $10 per message and $50 per month, so the possibility of extreme fraud is already out of the window. Eventually, the carriers will set everything up.

[via VentureBeat]

One of them is a stark red background with bold white letters promoting “A Better Amercia.” The word “Amercia” appears large and prominent right in the middle of the screen. It’s highly unlikely Romney will take any serious flack for this, but in a campaign this heated, no mistake can be discounted.

The misspelling is already making its way around Twitter and Instagram and all those typical channels. When contacted by TalkingPointsMemo.com, the Romney campaign simply stated that it was “corrected immediately.” However, Apple still has to approve the update, so the flaw is still out there for everyone to see. Obama also has an official iPhone app. He spells America correctly.

[via Washington Post]

Cook sat down with John Boehner, Harry Reid, and Mitch McConnell, although the talks were reportedly introductory and didn’t touch on Apple’s current issues regarding ebook pricing, patent issues, or tax rates. Aides say that the meetings simply introduced Cook to the representatives, and briefly touched on the state of the economy in the United States as well as the current job situation.

One aide describes the meetings as an “act of opening up a line of communication,” and that it was a “first step in what hopefully will be a growing relationship. They didn’t become best buds in one meeting.” An industry source talking to CNN says that Cook has a “strong interest” in policy issues, unlike Steve Jobs, and “recognizes the role an engaged CEO can play in making a difference on those policy priorities.”

Gore is one of 33 individuals being honored as inaugural members of the Internet Hall of Fame, a distinction that is being unveiled at the Global INET 2012 conference in Geneva. Sponsored by the Internet Society, the Hall of Fame is recognizing everyone from political figures who made everything possible from a legal standpoint, to the actual engineers and developers who created it. Gore fits the former category.

The Internet Society praised Gore with the following description: “Instrumental in helping to create the ‘Information Superhighway,’ Gore was one of the first government officials to recognize that the Internet’s impact could reach beyond academia to fuel educational and economic growth as well.” Many people often quote Gore as saying he invented the Internet, but the actual quotation is, “I took the initiative in creating the Internet,” which is admittedly still pretty self-serving.

[via Fox News]

Then it works in a very similar fashion to fantasy football, with participants who pay a fee eligible to take part in a national championship. It’s a social experience that allows users to create “leagues” with up to seven other friends. So far, Fantasy Politics has raised $50,000 in seed money. It has been criticized as being too niche in scope, but on the other side of the coin it has gained praise for making politics fun and interesting.

The website’s CEO Aaron Michel, who started the idea with $1,500 and very low ambitions, says it is like “a gateway drug to a great civic education.” Unlike fantasy football, this game actually teaches players something useful that could impact the fate of the country. Among the other people on the Fantasy Politics team is George Marootian who has 15 years of experience in building software for the financial industry. He’s the company’s chief technology officer. In other words, there’s a lot of brainpower behind this thing. And with the election coming up in just even months, expect it to rapidly grow in popularity.

[via VentureBeat]

The more technical name for a black box is an “event data recorder” (EDR), and some vehicles already have them equipped as part of the standard manufacturing. The bill currently being considered on the floor of the Senate would make them required for all car manufacturers by the year 2015. The point, of course, is to have a perfect record of what was going on in the car, like speed, location, angle, etc, to be able to reverse engineer an accident. Right now, most vehicle incidents rely on a “he said, she said” mentality.

The bill reads, “Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall revise part 563 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, to require, beginning with model year 2015, that new passenger motor vehicles sold in the United States be equipped with an event data recorder that meets the requirements under that part.” Of course, the opposition side points to violations of privacy and all that good stuff. But really, wouldn’t the world be a better place if this law were enacted?

[via InfoWars]

When you think of Ron Paul supporters, video game developer may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but just has Ron Paul himself has been able to do, Daniel Williams is showing there’s more to someone than meets the eye. His game, which he describes as a “gift to the liberty-loving community, as well as fans of classic gaming,” features some of Paul’s biggest talking points – e.g., going back to the gold standard, and ending the Federal Reserve. Boss battles within the game are meant to by symbolic of the Fed.

Williams was looking for $5,000 to finish the project and release it to the public, which he earned in days of submitting the proposal on Kickstarter. Of course, there’s little chance this will do anything to raise Ron Paul’s standing. He has not won a single state in the primary battles so far, though he has picked up some delegates in states where even the losing candidates could pick up some ground if they gained enough votes. Surely this is more a labor of love for Williams, who hopes other Paul backers will appreciate his ingenuity.

[via WSJ]

Yet somehow, some way, an agency within the UN shipped over a whole bunch of equipment, in what experts are saying was an egregious and likely shady move. HP said in a statement to Fox News, “HP is thoroughly investigating the matter. Compliance with U.S. and international trade laws is a high priority for HP. HP investigates any credible breaches of contractual obligations by our partners and resellers.” But HP is really the small potatoes of this story. The real question is how someone at the UN broke the organization’s own sanctions without getting caught.

There is some question as to whether the UN agents who fulfilled the shipment were just incompetent or if there is something more sinister afoot. Knowing North Korea, though, the latter is what should be expected. There is growing tension between the country and the UN, since former leader Kim Jong Il died and was replaced by his son Kim Jong Un. The country is growing increasingly against the sanctions of the Security Council, and this episode with HP computer equipment is just one part of a potentially much more dangerous puzzle.

[via Fox News]

In addition to downloading unauthorized information about the organization’s contacts and clients, he defaced the BPAS website, with statements on the site calling the people in the organization murderers. Among the comments he added were, “An unborn child does not have an opinion, a choice or any rights” and “Who gave you the right to murder an unborn child and profit from that murder?”

Then he went on Twitter and tried to start a viral awareness of what he had done. If he was smart enough to orchestrate that, he must have known that officials would be hunting him down, which they did. They raided is house last month and said they caught him in the middle of trying to delete files from his computer. He admitted to violating Britain’s Computer Misuse Act. His sentence is to remain in jail for two years and eight months. He’ll be locked away until nearly 2014 for his stand against abortion.

[via Daily Mail]

Rather than make this a huge boost for Google, the more likely story to parlay from this initiative is to show that Republicans are in touch with modern digital technology. Of course, doing that on the one social network that isn’t really gaining any momentum may be antithetical to that goal, but nevertheless the Republican Party needs to at least to something to appear to be in touch.

But moving back to the implications of Google+, there’s an interesting trend that’s emerging here. Perhaps Google+ might become the go-to place for live political coverage. Earlier this year, President Barack Obama hosted a live Hangout on the platform to answer questions from users. And there was also a highly regarded Hangout that took place between the Dalai Lama and Archbshop Desmond Tutu.

[via VentureBeat]

When it comes to Washington, the digital space is coming under increasingly heavy scrutiny. And complete whackjob pieces of legislation like SOPA are showing that politicians have no idea how any of this stuff works or what their signature on a piece of paper could do to fundamentally change the way Americans access data and entertainment these days. As such, it makes perfect sense for Netflix to start putting its foot in the door.

With its PAC, Netflix will be able to make direct donations of up to $5,000 to political candidates. “Our PAC is a way for our employees to support candidates that understand our business and technology. It was not set up for the purpose of supporting SOPA or PIPA,” Netflix wrote in a statement. ” Instead, Netflix has engaged on other issues including network neutrality, bandwidth caps, usage based billing and reforming the Video Privacy Protection Act.”

That last reference is a law that prevents ‘video rental’ companies from disclosing customer rental history, even if the customer consents. That is a big sticking point for Netflix, because it absolutely prevents it from developing any sort of social communication between users about the videos they’ve watched. And as we all know, social sharing is vital for any company to succeed these days.

[via VentureBeat]

In the case of Santorum, sex columnist Dan Savage made up a new definition for the word, then created a dedicated website that connected the word “Santorum” to said definition. Through a process of viral link building, the gross definition became the top result for people trying to search for information about Rick Santorum. Now a similar process is underway for Mitt Romney.

The website SpreadingRomney.com includes a very simple text snipper that defines “Romney” as the act of defecating “in terror.” Political activists and onlookers see this as a deliberate attack on the candidates and their online reputation. Google, though, sees it differently and says it is only trying to be fair. A Google spokersperon told Search Engine Land that SpreadingRomney.com “has been live for about a month and has attracted a fair amount of attention both on TV and online, and Google’s algorithmic rankings are reflecting that fact.”

[via Fox News]