Government

TSA Confiscates Homemade Battery and Water Bottle, Declares Victory Over Terror

“For six long minutes on June 30, screening operations froze at Jackson-Evers International Airport’s West checkpoint in Mississippi.” Bated breath. “Transportation Security Officer Scot Peele leveraged his training and experience when he detected the suspicious item while monitoring the X-ray image of the passenger’s carry-on bag.” The “explosive-like” item that brought you this tense Jack…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

FCC Asked to Get Carriers to Hurry Up Local Number Portability Already

With all the advances in technology we’ve had over the last couple of decades, you’d think that something as simple as changing your land line number into a cellular one would take hours at most. At least Congress does, and its now urging the FCC to put rules in place that will speed up local…

Tech News Elaine Chow

Senators Propose Bill Banning Higher Cellphone Taxes; We Like This Bill

Just in case you haven’t noticed the outrageous charges on your bill every month, Uncle Sam just loves taxing cellphones and wireless charges. While the average tax rate for most products is 7.07%, on wireless services it’s a whopping 15.9% when you combine the local, state and federal taxes. Not cool. Well, some senators are…

Tech News Adam Frucci

Federal Government Halts Solar Power Projects for Two Years

In order to survey the impact of massive solar power plants on the environment and wildlife, the federal government is freezing new solar projects on public land for about two years. The alternative energy industry is reacting as if the world’s tofu supply has been exhausted, since this effectively nukes new solar power development for…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Russian State TV Digitally (and Messily) Erases Government Critics from the Airwaves

Take a look at the above picture. Notice anything strange? Those legs and that hand next to the guy with the microphone belong to a critic of Vladamir Putin named Mikhail G. Delyagin. The rest of him? It’s been digitally erased from the entire broadcast, a result of his being placed on a “stop list”…

Gadgets Adam Frucci

How to Cover Your Text Message Tracks

It’s Friday, so the mass of stupid and regrettable (and maybe criminal) text messages you wished you never sent is about explode exponentially, as it does every weekend. Google, as you know, keeps your embarrassing search history for “AZN Squirrels Pooping on Bananas” or “Iron Man upskirt” for 18 months. But how long do Verizon…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Border Agents Can Frisk Your Laptop and Gadgets Without Cause

If you don’t want border agents to see nekkid pictures of your significant other, you might wanna leave your laptop at home when you travel abroad. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled earlier this week that computers are like any other dumb luggage, so they’re subject to search even without reasonable suspicion that…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

No More Tax Free Online Purchases For New York With New “Amazon Tax” Bill

In case living in New York wasn’t already expensive enough, state lawmakers passed the “Amazon Tax” bill this week, which will require online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to the state, even when they don’t have physical operations there. New York-based retailers have argued for years that the Amazon loophole gives out-of-state…

Commerce Elaine Chow

Federal Employees Spend Your Tax Dollars on Johnnie Walker Gold, Gambling and… iPods

Shocker: The government blows the money it rips from our paychecks! But now we know where some of that money is going—to buy “iPods, lingerie and socializing” (read: Grey Goose vodka martinis), as well as gambling and internet dating services. The Government Accountability Office (ha) found that half of all transactions by federal employees with…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

The Complete X-Files on The X-Files

The long-awaited X-Files sequel (as yet unnamed) will be in theaters this summer, and even though it’ll have been six years since X-Files fans have seen anything new, there’s already a lot of excitement buzzing around this movie. Will they find the truth? Will they make a believer out of skeptics? Will they finally just…

io9 Kevin Kelly

Larry Niven Tells DHS to Spread Organ Harvesting Rumors

There’s a small group of science fiction authors who call themselves SIGMA and offer the U.S. government advice on futuristic scenarios. Many of them are invited to conferences and events where they dispense wisdom to security types, and just recently one of them — Larry “Ringworld” Niven — offered the Department of Homeland Security some…

io9 Annalee Newitz

DARPA Wants Contact Lenses to Turn Real-Life Combat Into Call of Duty 4

The problem with cool strap-on heads-up displays a few lucky soldiers get to use on the battlefield today is that they’re bulky affairs that make them look like half-assed cyborgs. Plus, the interface is limited. The Pentagon wants to develop contact lenses that’ll put “first-person-shooter-type video game” graphics on top the soldiers’ vision. Yes, they…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

House Denies Warrantless Wiretapping Immunity For Telcos

In a textbook display of checks and balances, the House of Representatives defied President Bush and the Senate yesterday by passing their version of a surveillance bill without legal immunity for telcos. The bill passed by only 16 votes, far from the 2/3 majority needed to override Bush’s inevitable veto. It looks like this legislative…

Tech News Eric Sheline

Whistleblower Says the Feds Are Spying on Your (Verizon) Mobile Phone Too

Not sweating the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program ’cause you don’t have a landline, just a mobile? Tell your glands to kick in again. A computer security consultant working for a wireless carrier—probably Verizon—stumbled upon a high-speed backdoor built into the carrier’s network for the Feds to pull anything from “the billing system, text messaging, fraud…

Tech News Matt Buchanan

NSA Gets the Best AT&T Coverage Around

Yes, this is real, and spectacular. The Billboard Liberation Front has launched an “improvement” campaign on AT&T billboards in the SF area “to promote and celebrate the innovative collaboration of these two global communications giants” with their massive warrantless domestic spying program (explained by a cute bear). We’re waiting for some “Yes, the NSA can…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

DARPA Robot Crusher Truck Earns Its Name

There isn’t anyone inside this six-and-half-ton beast, getting off on smashing through crappy 80s cars. No, the Army’s latest baby, built by Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Engineering Center, is a robot. The Crusher navigates (and destroys) autonomously and will climb four-foot “steps” as easy as it tears up a hill. Apparently other vehicles in their Future…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

Do Not Call (Ever) Improvement Act Signed Into Law

The bill to make the Do-Not-Call registry everlasting—so you never have to remind the government that you hate telemarketers—has been made into a real live law by President Bush. [Consumerist] https://gizmodo.com/hey-telemarketers-dont-call-me-like-ever-354454

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Snuggly the Security Bear Explains: Warrantless Wiretapping Is All About Love and Freedom

If you’re still confused about the whole warrantless domestic spying program that the telecoms colluded with the government on (which is being conveniently shuffled away from official scrutiny, forever), Snuggly the Security Bear by Mark Fiore sums it all up in the absolute cuddliest way possible. [Mark Fiore via BoingBoing] https://gizmodo.com/video-the-at-t-wiretapping-dealio-explained-in-two-min-320277

Tech News Matt Buchanan

Last Chance to Save Our Privacy Rights from Warrantless Domestic Spying

While the Senate passed the bill giving telecoms like AT&T and Verizon a free pass on their collusion with government to warrentlessly wiretap American citizens, there’s one last hope we might one day find out the scope and depth of the program. The House’s version of the bill does not include a telecom immunity provision,…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan

Biometric Social Security Cards Proposed to Combat ID Theft

Two Illinois congressmen are introducing legislation with the goal of upgrading that flimsy paper piece of crap we call a social security card to include a photo, fingerprint and computer ID chip. Recent data shows that nearly $45 billion is lost each year due to identity theft, which makes it increasingly necessary to safeguard our…

Tech News Sean Fallon

TSA Confiscates Homemade Battery and Water Bottle, Declares Victory Over Terror

FCC Asked to Get Carriers to Hurry Up Local Number Portability Already

Senators Propose Bill Banning Higher Cellphone Taxes; We Like This Bill

Federal Government Halts Solar Power Projects for Two Years

Russian State TV Digitally (and Messily) Erases Government Critics from the Airwaves

How to Cover Your Text Message Tracks

Border Agents Can Frisk Your Laptop and Gadgets Without Cause

No More Tax Free Online Purchases For New York With New “Amazon Tax” Bill

Federal Employees Spend Your Tax Dollars on Johnnie Walker Gold, Gambling and… iPods

The Complete X-Files on The X-Files

Larry Niven Tells DHS to Spread Organ Harvesting Rumors

DARPA Wants Contact Lenses to Turn Real-Life Combat Into Call of Duty 4

House Denies Warrantless Wiretapping Immunity For Telcos

Whistleblower Says the Feds Are Spying on Your (Verizon) Mobile Phone Too

NSA Gets the Best AT&T Coverage Around

DARPA Robot Crusher Truck Earns Its Name

Do Not Call (Ever) Improvement Act Signed Into Law

Snuggly the Security Bear Explains: Warrantless Wiretapping Is All About Love and Freedom

Last Chance to Save Our Privacy Rights from Warrantless Domestic Spying

Biometric Social Security Cards Proposed to Combat ID Theft

Artemis 2 Crew Become First Humans to Travel Beyond Earth Orbit Since the 1970s

Artemis 2 Day 2: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Labubus Might Be Labu-Bust After Pop Mart Posts Record Share Loss

Cursor’s New Tool Lets Users Delegate to a Team of Coding Agents

Nvidia Needs to Remind Itself What PC Gamers Actually Want

Iran Says It Hit Oracle Facilities in UAE

‘Invincible’ Season 4 Is Doing Right By Debbie

New Theory Says We’ve Been Overcomplicating the Big Bang

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

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DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

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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

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

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