WikiLeaks: Too late to unfollow; tric...
Letter From Canada: Why Is America So Furious About Wikileaks?
The most baffling thing about the Wikileaks Cablegate kerfuffle is the massive foot-shooting overreaction across the entire American political spectrum. Here in the rest of the world (okay, in Canada), we’ve already moved on, because (to date) the cables are more shrug-inducing than explosive—but US senators are still in the throes of a bizarre frenzy of rabid chest-beating and tooth-gnashing. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, has called for Julian Assange’s prosecution, despite the general consensus that he hasn’t actually committed any American crime. Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has a slightly clearer-eyed view; he wants the law changed so that Assange can be prosecuted as a terrorist. What exactly do they hope to accomplish? Well, yes. The American diplomatic corps actually comes across as smart and competent in the Wikileaked cables. The tech sector is the only thing America has going for it these days.
Facebook hype will fade
Douglas Rushkoff: Facebook seems ascendant as MySpace declines, with rumors of layoffsBut Goldman Sachs' Facebook investment, he says, is more a sign Facebook is cashing outMurdoch bought MySpace at site's peak; site's popularity already fallen, he saysRushkoff: Social networks wax, wane; Facebook hype obscures that it's likely on way down Editor's note: Douglas Rushkoff is the author, most recently, of "Life Inc: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take it Back" , and "Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age" (CNN) -- All signs for Facebook appear to be pointing up. Mark Zuckerberg is Time's Man of the Year, the movie about him seems likely to be an Oscar winner, and now Goldman Sachs is raising $1.5 billion from its favorite investors on behalf of the social networking company. But appearances can be deceiving. The Times didn't run the piece. Facebook really worth $50 billion? Facebook's 2011 plans: Hackers wanted Now, it's Facebook's turn.
WikiLeaks: WARNING all 637,000 @wikil...
Feds Subpoena Twitter Seeking Information on Ex-WikiLeaks Volunteer | Threat Level
The U.S. Justice Department has served Twitter with a subpoena seeking information on an Icelandic lawmaker who has worked with WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, the lawmaker told Threat Level on Friday. “I got the letter from Twitter a couple of hours ago, saying I got 10 days to stop it,” wrote Birgitta Jonsdottir, a member of Iceland’s parliament, in an e-mail. “Looking for legal ways to do it. Will be talking to lawyers from EFF tonight.” EFF refers to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties group in the United States. On her Twitter feed, Jonsdottir said the government is seeking an archive of tweets she sent out since Nov. 1, 2009 as well as “personal information” for her account. Josdottir told Threat Level that the request was filed under seal by the Justice Department on December 14 in U.S. Jonsdottir has been a strong supporter of WikiLeaks and became a volunteer with the organization last March to help edit and publish a classified U.S.
SoundCloud announces big-name investment – “The Web should not be mute”
Audio sharing platform SoundCloud has received a huge boost today, confirming that it has received investment from major US tech VC firms Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. The value of the investment hasn’t been revealed but the deals see Union Square’s Fred Wilson and Index Ventures’ Mike Volpi join the company’s board. In a blog post, just published, the two companies speak out about the reasons behind the funding. Fred Wilson of Union Square, whose portfolio includes Twitter, Foursquare and Zynga among other well-know web tech names, says “The web should not be mute. It largely is today. That must change…. That well-respected names Wilson and Volpi are joining SoundCloud’s team is significant for the Berlin-based company, which initially targeted itself at musicians but is now expanding to aim at a wider audience. SoundCloud explains that the investment actually took place last year but that it was “too busy building new awesome apps at the time” to announce it.
US wants Twitter details of Wikileaks activists
8 January 2011Last updated at 18:09 Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is currently fighting extradition from the UK to Sweden The US government has subpoenaed the social networking site Twitter for personal details of people connected to Wikileaks, court documents show. The US District Court in Virginia said it wanted information including user names, addresses, connection records, telephone numbers and payment details. Those named include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and an Icelandic MP. The US is examining possible charges against Mr Assange over the leaking of classified diplomatic cables. Reports indicate the Department of Justice may seek to indict him on charges of conspiring to steal documents with Private First Class Bradley Manning, a US Army intelligence analyst. Mr Manning is facing a court martial and up to 52 years in prison for allegedly sending Wikileaks the diplomatic cables, as well military logs about incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq and a classified military video.
After Getting Amazon To Boot Wikileaks, Lieberman Eyes Other Firms (VIDEO)
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, yesterday succeeded in getting Amazon.com to boot Wikileaks off its servers. Now, Lieberman says he's widening his scope. "We've gotta put pressure on any companies -- like Amazon, [which] just cut Wikileaks off from its servers to distribute -- there's a company now in Sweden, I think it's called Bahnhof, which is providing that kind of access to the Internet to Wikileaks," he said on MSNBC this afternoon. As TPM reported yesterday, Lieberman's committee staff called Amazon and asked, "Are there plans to take the site down?" Amazon responded by removing the site, telling the committee it violated unspecified terms of use. TPM yesterday asked a committee spokeswoman, Leslie Phillips, whether Lieberman was planning to reach out to other companies. "The committee is not reaching out to other companies," she said. But his pressure on Amazon is already having a wider effect. Tableau explains on its web site:
