Microsoft sues US government for the right to tell you when the feds are reading your email

“We appreciate that there are times when secrecy around a government warrant is needed,” Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post Thursday. “But based on the many secrecy orders we have received, we question whether these orders are grounded in specific facts that truly demand secrecy. To the contrary, it appears that the issuance of secrecy orders has become too routine.”

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U.S. military claims to be dropping 'cyber bombs' on ISIS

America's military forces are dropping "cyber bombs" on Islamic State terrorist groups for the first time, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told reporters accompanying him on a military flight on Tuesday.

The ISIS internet attacks, whatever the particulars really may be, are part of a stepped-up coordinated effort to put increasing pressure on the militant organization.

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Tom Hayden endorses Hillary Clinton

I don't care about too many people's opinions, in this year's democratic primary, but Tom Hayden is a politician I stop and listen to.

Hayden has been a radical activist, an anti-war protestor, California State Assemblyman, and State Senator, as well as a prolific author. While Hayden has written a number of books, he's best known as the author of the Port Huron Statement, organizing the Students for a Democratic Society, and was indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and incitement to riot at the 1968 Chicago Democratic convention.

Today Tom explains why he is changing his vote from Bernie Sanders to Hillary Clinton.

Here is an excerpt:

I am committed to building a united front against Donald Trump, and working with both Democratic and independent voters toward the best possible ticket and platform for the Democratic Party in November. But sounding out supporters of both Sanders and Hillary Clinton, I'm worried that terrible friction is brewing between the two Democratic camps left in this primary.

Democrats all have to unite to win the White House and Supreme Court this year, building bridges without permanent bruising or the confusion of divide-and-conquer.

The state of the race is in flux. Respect and support for Bernie are rising, though Hillary maintains a 212-delegate edge. As of April 3, The New York Times assessed that Bernie will need “landslide” victories in the battles ahead. He's certain to win more than the 16 states where he has already prevailed. Most of those states have been similar to Wisconsin, where 88 percent of the population is white, an enduring issue for the Sanders campaign. But of the major primaries that are coming up, several might be fruitful territory for Bernie. In New York, Hillary will need to tack towards Bernie on fair-trade issues or face losses in the Rust Belt regions of northern and western New York. Here in California, Bernie trails Hillary by six points, with 7 percent of the electorate undecided. And my sense is that California is winnable for Bernie. Lose or win, Bernie represents the most impressive independent campaign in American history, with the final chapters and legacy yet to be written.

Here is the full text of Hayden's letter, entitled I Used to Support Bernie, but Then I Changed My Mind.

My pets thank Tom for the Hayden Act. When I was a community college student, in Santa Monica, we had the good luck of having a huge student government and activities budget, managed by the students, which I was told was largely due to Tom's work in the Assembly or Senate. He also taught at that same community college, and I took his course on Spirituality and the Environment. It was a good class, he had us read Thomas Berry.

When Tom Hayden tells me he isn't voting for the more progressive candidate, I stop and listen to him.

SAVE COMCAST!

The World Wide Web Consortium, once the world's most trusted source of open standards, is helping Comcast make a DRM standard designed to give studios a veto over the legal use of their programming -- something that would have prevented the cable industry from ever coming into being.
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WSJ: Daily Mail aims to buy Yahoo

Would it be a fitting end, for one of the first and greatest of the American web's dreams, to be eaten by the most infamous of British tabloids?

The parent company of the Daily Mail, the British newspaper and global tabloid website, is in talks with several private-equity firms to launch a bid for Yahoo, the people said. ... A possible bid by Daily Mail could take one of two forms, the people familiar with the matter said. In one scenario, a private-equity partner would aim to acquire the entirety of Yahoo's U.S. operation, with the Mail taking over the news and media properties. Those assets include verticals such as Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports plus Yahoo News and a video operation whose big star is Katie Couric. Yahoo has been retrenching in those businesses-in February the company closed seven digital magazines including sites dedicated to food, parenting and health. In the other scenario, the private-equity firm would acquire Yahoo and merge its media and news properties into a new company that would include the Mail's Web properties, DailyMail.com and Elite Daily, the people said. The Mail would run that business and would get a larger equity stake than under the first scenario.

Yahoo's core business is hard to value because of holdings in successful foreign companies such as Alibaba. At one point, its fortunes were so dire that squinting at it just right made the company seem to have negative value. More recently, an analyst put it at $4.3 billion.

R2-D2 anglepoise lamp

They're $60 at Thinkgeek. (via Geeky Merch)


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Security flaws found in 3 state health insurance websites

Federal investigators have discovered major security vulnerabilities in the state health insurance websites for California, Kentucky and Vermont that could allow criminals to access sensitive personal data for hundreds of thousands of people.

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