Judge rules NSA's phone data collection program is legal, tosses ACLU suit

<div class="imageContainer580xX" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: auto; line-height: 19px; margin: auto; width: 580px;"> <br /> <figure class="oneUp" id="page-lede" style="border: none; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 35px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 580px;"><img alt="nsa" class="galleryImage imgId100154862 " itemprop="image" src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/12/nsa-100154862-gallery.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle; width: 580px;" /></figure></div> <article style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px 15px; position: relative; z-index: 20;"> <span itemprop="articleBody description text" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><section class="page" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. National Security Agency’s bulk phone record metadata collection efforts are legal, turning aside a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union brought against the agency.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> While the collection program “vacuums up information about virtually every call to, from, or within the United States,” it also allows the NSA to “detect relationship so attenuated and ephemeral they would otherwise escape notice,” Judge William Pauley III wrote in his 54-page decision filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> Overall, the metadata collection serves as the U.S. government’s “counter-punch: connecting fragmented and fleeting communications to re-construct and eliminate Al-Qaeda’s terror network,” Pauley wrote.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> There also is “no evidence that the Government has used any of the bulk telephony metadata it collected for any purpose other than investigating and disrupting terrorist attacks,” he added. “While there have been unintentional violations of guidelines, those appear to stem from human error and the incredibly complex computer programs that support this vital tool.”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> The ACLU plans to appeal the ruling, according to a statement it released Friday. “We are extremely disappointed with this decision, which misinterprets the relevant statutes, understates the privacy implications of the government’s surveillance and misapplies a narrow and outdated precedent to read away core constitutional protections,” ACLU deputy legal director Jameel Jaffer said in the statement.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> Details of the NSA’s domestic surveillance practices emerged this year through a series of disclosures by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for the agency. Snowden is now in temporary aslyum in Russia.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> Snowden’s actions, while unauthorized, have “provoked a public debate and this litigation,” Pauley said. The metadata collection program represents “the natural tension between protecting the nation and preserving civil liberty,” he wrote.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.7em; margin-bottom: 0.7em;"> <i>Via: <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2083200/judge-rules-nsas-phone-data-collection-program-is-legal-tosses-aclu-suit.html">PCWorld</a></i></div> </section></span></article>

Judge rules NSA's phone data collection program is legal, tosses ACLU suit

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. National Security Agency’s bulk phone record metadata collection efforts are legal, turning asi...

Read more »

Nvidia’s GameWorks program usurps power from developers, end-users, and AMD

<div class="photo" style="color: #333333; float: left; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin: 7px 14px 10px 0px; position: relative;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img alt="Nvidia logo" class="attachment-single wp-post-image" height="196" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Nvidia-348x196.jpg" style="border-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 8px; vertical-align: top;" width="348" /></span><br /> <div class="box2" style="background-image: url(http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/themes/extremetech/images/bg-box2.gif); min-width: 350px; padding: 13px 0px 2px;"> <h3 style="color: #323232; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px 9px 0px 11px; text-transform: capitalize;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></h3> </div> </div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over the past few months, Nvidia has made a number of high-profile announcements regarding game development and new gaming technologies. One of the most significant is a new developer support program, called GameWorks. The GameWorks program offers access to Nvidia’s CUDA development tools, GPU profiling software, and other developer resources. One of the features of GameWorks is a set of optimized libraries that developers can use to implement certain effects in game. Unfortunately, these same libraries also tilt the performance landscape in Nvidia’s favor in a way that neither developers nor AMD can prevent.</span></div> <div style="color: #333333; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Via: <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/173511-nvidias-gameworks-program-usurps-power-from-developers-end-users-and-amd">ExtremeTech</a></span></i></div>

Nvidia’s GameWorks program usurps power from developers, end-users, and AMD

Over the past few months, Nvidia has made a number of high-profile announcements regarding game development and new gaming technolog...

Read more »