Facebook and Yahoo have petitioned the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for permission to reveal how many personal data requests are made by the government, joining Google and Microsoft in taking a stand against secret snooping. The new suits, which join an amended Google transparency petition the search engine filed today, see Facebook and […]
It hasn’t been long since former CIA technical analyst Edward Snowden leaked a cache of top secret documents which alleged that the NSA was obtaining user data from major internet companies. The companies named in those documents included Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, among others. Most of these companies denied knowing about the PRISM program. Its no secret that the U.S. government does make requests for user data under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or FISA. The companies aren’t allowed to disclosed what sort of requests have been made under FISA. These three companies have petitioned the government to allow them to reveal FISA requests to their users, so that they can provide more transparency to the users.
Rob Bell, Yahoo’s General Counsel, wrote that withholding information about such requests “breeds mistrust and suspicion — both of the United States and of companies that must comply with government legal directives.” Colin Stretch, Facebook’s General Counsel, wrote in a statement that the company believes there’s more information that the public deserves to know. He also said that the information will help foster an informed debate on whether or not the government backed security programs “adequately balance privacy interests when attempting to keep the public safe.” It remains to be seen if the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court decides to allow companies to make government data requests public.
Facebook, Google And Yahoo Petition To Reveal FISA Requests original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Admit it, most of us like to surf channels on the TV when we have nothing to do. Granted that many people find something to do with all different sorts of internet connected gadgets that are available today, some just like to kick back and relax in the old fashioned way. Yahoo says that it has tried to recreate this experience with its new Yahoo Screen app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The company’s mobile team based in New York has developed this app to create an experience that helps users find entertaining videos.
The Screen app offers a simple experience that “turns your finger into a remote control.” It will display channels of content from Yahoo and its partners, users can lean back and watch from no matter where they are in the world. Users can browse through trending clips or search for specific shows. Swipe left and right to skip between episodes and swipe up and down to flip between channels. Yahoo also announced that it has made a deal with Viacom to bring clips from Comedy Central’s best shows. The company says that it hopes to make Yahoo Screen the destination for the “world’s best video creators and their awesome content.” Yahoo Screen app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch is available as a free download from iTunes App Store.
New Yahoo Screen App For iOS Helps You Find Entertaining Videos original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Yahoo wants to make browsing its mobile video content feel more like channel surfing on the old-fashioned tube. The new iOS app out today should help.
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Armed with a fresh new logo, Yahoo’s getting down to business. Today, the company unveiled its first major mobile product: a video-discovery app for iOS called Screen. The service lets users browse trending videos and swipe through channels to watch clips from The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live, in addition to Yahoo Originals programming. The company says it currently has “over 1,000 hours of comedy” on offer — and thanks to a deal with Viacom, that includes plenty of clips from Comedy Central shows. Those using Apple’s mobile OS can download the free app via the second source link below.
Filed under: Software, HD, Mobile
Via: The Next Web
Source: Yahoo! blog, Yahoo Screen (iTunes)
It’s not every day you see Google, Facebook and Yahoo aligned on a issue, but a push toward increased governmental transparency is just the sort of cause that’ll put competing web companies on the same outraged page. All three noted today through their respective channels that they’ve filed petitions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to disclose the number of requests the government has issued for user data under national security statutes. Says Yahoo general counsel Ron Bell:
We believe that the U.S. Government’s important responsibility to protect public safety can be carried out without precluding Internet companies from sharing the number of national security requests they may receive.
It has been alleged that Yahoo (with a spanking new logo) has been handing over private and personal information that affect hundreds of its users to Australian government agents, according to a recently revealed transparency report. Apparently, in the first half of 2013 itself, Australian government agents have already performed 704 requests for access to data that are part of 799 Yahoo accounts or users. Of course, full access to all 799 accounts were not granted, but rather, only 11 of those requests were approved of. Just what kind of information exchanged hands? Well, we are referring to the content of Yahoo emails, uploaded files and Yahoo address, calendar and notepad entries.
Not only that, Yahoo has also allegedly passed on so-called “non-content data”, as part of a response to 305 of the requests, which in turn would allow government agents to gain access to information including the names, locations, IP addresses, login details and billing information belonging to Yahoo account holders. Out of the 799 requests, Yahoo rejected 242 of them, and did not find any data in 146 of the cases. Compared to US government agents, Australian agents were pretty “mild” as their US counterparts made 12,444 requests for data which were related to 40,322 Yahoo accounts or users in the first six months of 2013. Regardless, do you think that one request alone is already too many?
Yahoo Reportedly Hands Over User Data To Australian Government original content from Ubergizmo. 
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You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The topic of government intrusion into the public’s privacy via the technological underpinning of modern life has been a frequent headline this year, and as more information surfaced many tech companies felt the pressure from their users. Yahoo! has been vocal about its opposition to government intrusion, and today has announced its first transparency report […]
Following in the footsteps of Facebook — which revealed its first Global Government Requests Report just a few weeks ago — Yahoo is finishing out the week by publishing data of its own. The firm’s first “global law enforcement transparency report” covers governmental requests for user data from January 1st through June 30th of this year, and the outfit plans to put out subsequent reports every six months. Of note, Yahoo claims that it’s including “national security requests within the scope of [its] aggregate statistics,” and for the paranoid in attendance, you may be relieved to know that said requests comprise “less than one one-hundredth of one percent (<.01%)” of Yahoo’s global userbase. Feel free to dig in at the links below, but sadly, you won’t find anything other than high-level macro figures. (As an aside, that logo.)
Filed under: Internet
Via: Tumblr (Yahoo)
Source: Yahoo Transparency Report
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