China slams U.S. for discriminating against nation’s tech vendors
China has slammed a new U.S. funding law that will tighten scrutiny of information technology purchases from the country, and said it could severely damage the mutual trust between the two nations.
"The contents of the U.S. congressional act sends a very wrong signal, and could directly affect normal trade between Chinese enterprises and U.S. business partners," the country's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Friday.
The funding law, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama last week, includes a provision that U.S. authorities will vet all IT system purchases made by select federal agencies, including the Commerce and Justice Departments, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. Read more...
Should couples share passwords?
Just how much do you trust your spouse or partner? Enough to share passwords? For some, passwords are the final frontier of privacy not only in financial matters, but in social media and email correspondence. But for others, there are no secrets when you're in a relationship — even risking the potential payback should a break-up sever the happy union.
The New York Times tells us about an "intimate custom" writer Matt Ritchel says is happening between teens in love: "sharing their passwords to email, Facebook and other accounts." The desire to be one even extends, the article claims, to couples creating identical passwords and letting each other read private emails and texts. Read more...
Facebook user or not, you’re being tracked
Heads up to all you Facebook haters out there regularly ripping on us self-absorbed "sheeple" trusting all our personal info to the Big Bro we call Facebook. If you’ve ever clicked on a Facebook profile or page — you know just to see what the big whoop is or whatever — Facebook follows you around the Internet too.
Just exactly how and why Facebook does this was laid out in an exclusive report in USA Today. And while the info gathered through interviews with Facebook representatives may or may not surprise you, the story rattled Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., who now wants Facebook to explain these details directly to Congress.
"Is this a violation to my privacy?" you may be asking yourself, and even if you’re not, Rockefeller, along with others in the U.S. government, continue to ask on your behalf. As Facebook nears a settlement after a two-year investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, Congress, along with the World Wide Web Consortium, are outlining privacy guidelines for all of cyberspace. Read more...