Free Speech
Apple has patented a technology that can remotely disable the camera on your cell phone via an infrared signal. Ostensibly created to prevent people from taking pictures and video at concerts and movie theaters, or to prevent students from cheating on tests, it's only a matter of time
Activism
The FCC's classification of broadband internet under Title II of the Telecommunications Act has been upheld in U.S. Appeals Court. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/14/471286113/u-s-appeals-court-holds-up-net-neutrality-rules-in-full
Events
EFF-Austin board member Heather Barfield has conceived and directed a new play at The Vortex theater titled Privacy Settings. Based on the ancient Greek play of Prometheus Bound, Privacy Settings imagines Edward Snowden in the titular role of Prometheus, the titan whole stole fire from the gods and gifted
Privacy
Watch Edward Snowden teach you how to mod your phone so that if it's been hacked you can no longer be seen or overheard. http://www.wired.com/2016/05/snowden-vice-cell-phone-hack/
Creativity and Innovation
Still have your copy of "The MIT Guide to Lock Picking" from the BBS era, perhaps tucked away with the Anarchist's Cookbook and other favorites? The hobbyist lockpicking scene has exploded in the U.S. in the last decade, and Austin has been a major player
Privacy
The ethics of the mass adoption of facial recognition software and what it means for people's right to privacy and the rise of the surveillance state are questions we're going to have to grapple with sooner rather than later. http://boingboing.net/2016/05/18/russian-
Creativity and Innovation
Javascript is increasingly being used not just for client-side programming and server-side programming with Node.js, but for the creation of traditional desktop applications. This is being facilitated by the creation of the Electron development platform, which is what Slack used to create their desktop application and what
Creativity and Innovation
Services like IBM's Ross can allow lawyers to automate the gruntwork of searching through the entire corpus of law for the information relevant to their particular cases. http://futurism.com/artificially-intelligent-lawyer-ross-hired-first-official-law-firm/
Creativity and Innovation
Be careful if you sign up for Apple Music. Apparently, Apple believes that signing up for the service gives them the right to delete all the music files from your computer, even ones that are songs you personally created. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/apple-stole-my-music-no-s_
Privacy
Locking your iPhone with your fingerprint as opposed to a passcode might not be as secure as you thought it was. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/iphone-fingerprint-search-warrant/480861/
Events
Our speaker this month will be Chris Herndon. Chris is a serial entrepreneur with a geeky obsession for real estate. He most recently co-founded The Guild, a early-stage, Austin-based startup that's combining the charm and authenticity of short-term rentals with the consistent quality and
Government 2.0
The CIA is investing in several tech companies working on mining social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., with the purpose of determining "networks of association, centers of influence and potential signs of radicalization.” https://theintercept.com/2016/04/14/in-undisclosed-cia-investments-social-media-mining-looms-