Cyberspace

Feds Approve Google’s Plan to Let Political Campaigns Send More Spam

"Swamp my inbox with political spam if you want me to switch to my Yahoo account full time," one user commented on the FEC website in response to Google's plan.

Tech News Jody Serrano Aug 12

Authorities Shutter Sprawling Dark Web Drug Bazaar and Seize $25 Million in Bitcoin

German officials have taken control of the servers of Hydra, a long-running dark web black market, which boasted some 19,000 sellers and millions of customers.

Privacy & Security Lucas Ropek Apr 5

Ukraine Hit with Cyberattacks as Tensions with Russia Continue

Reports show that websites for the embattled nation's defense and financial entities were struck by debilitating attacks on Tuesday.

Privacy & Security Lucas Ropek Feb 15

You Can Now Visit Websites Using Only Emojis 🙄

Opera's web browser now supports emoji-only URLs, which doesn't sound that useful.

Gadgets Phillip Tracy Feb 14

The Apocalyptic Retweets of William Gibson

Nowhere else online captures the relentless, churning dread than the retweets of @GreatDismal.

Tech News Whitney Kimball Sep 25

How the FBI Is Trying to Break Encryption Without Actually Breaking Encryption

An encrypted platform created by the FBI led to over 800 arrests in dozens of countries, but at what cost?

Privacy & Security Lucas Ropek Jun 18

Drug Dealer Taken Down by ‘His Love of Stilton Cheese’

Many men have scaled the perilous ranks of the underworld, soaring to the heights of criminality, only to be laid low by their own personal failings: hubris, ambition, greed. Also the love of cheese, apparently. Police recently identified and arrested a prolific British drug dealer using only an encrypted text message he had sent that…

Privacy & Security Lucas Ropek May 24

Author Bruce Sterling Testified to Congress in 1993 as a Time Traveler From 2015

In 1993, sci-fi author Bruce Sterling testified in front of a House subcommittee about the future of the internet — specifically, what “the Net” would look like in 2015. Sterling was testifying about funding for the National Research and Education Network (NREN) which was a program to complement the backbone network overseen by the National…

Tech News Matt Novak Aug 13

Is This the Color of Cyberspace?

What about the color of software? Or the web in general? This week, William Gibson tweeted a link to a collection of Sherwin Williams’ paint colors—specifically, one called “cyberspace,” a term he of course coined. The link revealed that the company has a whole collection of internet-focused paint colors, each part of a new palette…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jul 15

9 Everyday Items We Never Want to Have Connected to the Internet

Are you ready for the Internet of Things? It’s coming. Soon enough everything in your home will be plugged in to the net. Your refrigerator will know when you’re out of milk, and order more via Amazon! There’s no stopping this advance in human civilization — but here are nine items that we absolutely never…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Dec 18

How to measure the power of a science fiction story

Too often, we hear that a science fiction story has “succeeded” if it predicts the future accurately. But that’s the wrong measure of success. The most powerful works of SF don’t describe the future — they change it. It’s true that SF stories predicted things like satellites, smart phones, and gay marriage before they happened.…

io9 Annalee Newitz Sep 17

The 1986 infomercial for the Neuromancer movie that never was

And now, something completely different. Commenting gladiator LightningLouie has alerted us to this downright amazing promotional video from the late Eighties that was filmed to sell potential investors on a Neuromancer movie. This is the godhead of weird ephemera. In 1986, Cabana Boy Entertainment — “a Hollywood production team consisting of a plastic surgeon’s wife…

Movies Cyriaque Lamar Nov 6

William Gibson says cyberspace was inspired by 8-bit videogames

Over at the Paris Review, William Gibson has finally told the full story of how he invented the term cyberspace — partly by scribbling on notepads, and partly by watching kids playing videogames in early-1980s arcades. Here’s a really fascinating excerpt from a much longer interview with Gibson: INTERVIEWER Where did cyberspace come from? GIBSON…

io9 Annalee Newitz Jun 23

White House Says They’ll Attack If Enemies Hack

The White House released their International Strategy for Cyberspace document, which lays out a general platform for all things internet, but it also addresses their stance on enemies hacking the U.S. and its allies: attack if necessary. From the document: “States have an inherent right to self-defense that may be triggered by certain aggressive acts…

Privacy & Security Adrian Covert May 17

A Brilliant Posthuman Website, Preserved For The Ages

Posthuman Blues by Mac Tonnies was one of our favorite blogs. Since Tonnies’ untimely death in 2009, friends and fans have gone to great lengths to preserve a copy of the entire site, showing how digital creations can live on after their creators. The New York Times Magazine has the thought-provoking story.

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jan 7

A free book about the laws governing virtual worlds

Rutgers University law professor Greg Lastowka has directed us to a free PDF copy of his new book, Virtual Justice: The New Laws of Online Worlds. The book covers the increasingly bizarre legal framework that’s encompassing virtual worlds like Warcraft. Here’s how Lastowska describes his book: Tens of millions of people today are living part…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Nov 6

Digital superstars of a world without privacy, in Greg Pak’s “Vision Machine”

What if you could shoot video with your eyeglasses, edit in your head, and add computer-generated imagery? That’s the premise of Greg Pak’s comic, Vision Machine, debuting at NYCC. He tells us why people are too keen to surrender privacy. Greg Pak is the creator of one of our favorite indie science fiction films, Robot…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Oct 9

US and Europe divided on NATO’s role in future cyberwars

With the Stuxnet virus wreaking havoc on Iranian nuclear plants, NATO is divided on how to prevent and respond to future cyberattacks. Americans advocating a more proactive stance on combating cyber-ne’er-do-wells, an approach America’s NATO allies are skeptical of. The debate stems over provisions in NATO’s new Strategic Concept, or the doctrine outlining NATO’s function,…

io9 Cyriaque Lamar Oct 5

Air Force Salutes Geek Warriors With Cyberspace Badge

The internet warriors of the US Air Force have finally been properly recognized: the USAF just introduced a Cyberspace Badge. It’s about about time the grunts on the front lines of network warfare got their wings. There are three levels of the badge: Basic, Senior, and Jedi Master. But how do you attain one of…

Tech News Brian Barrett May 5

The Best Representation Of Kick-Boxing In Cyberspace Ever Created

Everything about this cyber-security ad is awesome — the explanation of the CyberWorld, the Segway that Jackie Chan rides through Cyberspace on, and the kung-fu battle against malware. Most of all, the final double thumbs-up is AWESOME. [Thanks Jason Scott!]

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Jan 13

Feds Approve Google’s Plan to Let Political Campaigns Send More Spam

Authorities Shutter Sprawling Dark Web Drug Bazaar and Seize $25 Million in Bitcoin

Ukraine Hit with Cyberattacks as Tensions with Russia Continue

You Can Now Visit Websites Using Only Emojis 🙄

The Apocalyptic Retweets of William Gibson

How the FBI Is Trying to Break Encryption Without Actually Breaking Encryption

Drug Dealer Taken Down by ‘His Love of Stilton Cheese’

Author Bruce Sterling Testified to Congress in 1993 as a Time Traveler From 2015

Is This the Color of Cyberspace?

9 Everyday Items We Never Want to Have Connected to the Internet

How to measure the power of a science fiction story

The 1986 infomercial for the Neuromancer movie that never was

William Gibson says cyberspace was inspired by 8-bit videogames

White House Says They’ll Attack If Enemies Hack

A Brilliant Posthuman Website, Preserved For The Ages

A free book about the laws governing virtual worlds

Digital superstars of a world without privacy, in Greg Pak’s “Vision Machine”

US and Europe divided on NATO’s role in future cyberwars

Air Force Salutes Geek Warriors With Cyberspace Badge

The Best Representation Of Kick-Boxing In Cyberspace Ever Created

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Marshall Acton III Home Speaker Drops to a Record Low, the Deal Countdown Has Already Started

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

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MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

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