SB 1177 or SOPIPA is a bill that was introduced by Senator Steinberg (D-Sacramento) on February 20, 2014 to the 2013-2014 session of the California Legislature that prohibits website operators from selling K-12 student data profiles, or using this information to generate advertisements targeting these minors. The impetus for the bill as described by …
Ever since Edward Snowden’s shook the earth with his NSA document release in May 2013, the public has turned a much sharper eye to the data privacy debate. The release no doubt turned the volume up on the issue for many Americans, but it also had our officials changing their tune too. Last Friday …
Facebook recently published a paper on a new technology that it is developing called DeepFace. DeepFace is a system that determines whether two faces in different photographs are of the same person by building a three-dimensional model of the face and rotating it to match it with the face at different angles. The technology has …
The proliferation of digital currencies, following the lead of Bitcoin, has been outpaced only by the companies forming to bet their futures on widespread acceptance of the new technology. A few companies are focusing on self-enforcing contracts, dubbed Smart Contracts or Cryptocontracts. Digital currencies are an enabling technology here in that they allow the contract …
With “Tax Day” looming for many Americans, it seems the perfect time to talk about the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). Bitcoin is a relatively novel form of currency that was first introduced in 2009. Unlike traditional currencies, Bitcoin operates “without central authority” and utilizes “peer-to-peer technology” and functions as a open source of payment around …
On Monday, April 7, 2014, the FTC alleged that Jerk broke federal laws and deceived consumers. The Massachusetts-based company created the social media site, Jerk.com which was active from 2009 until 2013. It also operated under jerk.be and jerk.org. The current jerk.com seems to have nothing to do with the original site. Also included, as …
From Gordon Gecko to Lloyd Blankfein, titans of finance both very real and very emblematic leave Americans with an indelible suspicion that clever Wall Street insiders contort the rules of the game on the backs of honest Main Street investors. Michael Lewis’s book “Flash Boys” certainly does not help. Lewis contends that high-frequency trading (“HFT”) …
Everyone’s used it before—the inconspicuous option on Google Maps that allows you to see, well, almost anywhere. Google Street View, which now spans all seven continents and more than fifty countries, allows its users to “explore world landmarks, discover natural wonders and step inside locations such as museums, arenas, restaurants and small businesses with 360-degree …
Several technology giants, including Apple and Google have lost a hearing which will now allow thousands of technology workers to come together as a group to sue the companies for wages lost as result of a wage-fixing scandal. The scandal was revealed by Silicon Valley website, Pando Daily, after they obtained internal memos from Google …
It seems only fitting that this April Fool’s Day blog post shine a spotlight on a magic trick. Although, perhaps the term “illusion” is more appropriate here. The illusion in question, called Shadows, is the product of famous magician Teller’s imagination. While Teller’s Shadows may be the most poetic magical illusion ever crafted, it gained …
