Hasta La Gadget!

The PRISM news may have slowed in recent weeks, but the backlash against companies who were accussed of giving the government unmitigated access to their users’ data hasn’t, and these companies are responding to clear their names. Yahoo! is one such company, and it has recently received a victory in court, with a ruling being issued that will declassify a document showing that it fought against FISA orders.

PRISM, of course, is the name of the program leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, in which it was claimed that major US companies – Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others – had given the government direct access to its servers, allowing it to grab users’ data at will. The companies all spoke out against this, stating that such was not the case and that no direct access to information was given.

Yahoo took issue with this, and petitioned for a declassification of legal documents that will prove it fought against the FISA orders on behalf of its users, something that was granted today. Under the order, the Department of Justice is required to make available documents filed in 2008, which Yahoo says contains information proving its innocence and battle to keep information private.

The order came from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, more commonly called FISA, and was then signed by the FISC. Said the ruling: “The Government shall conduct a declassification review of this Court’s Memorandum Opinion of [the Yahoo case] and the legal briefs submitted by the parties to this Court.” We’ll know within the next two weeks how long this declassification process will take.

Shortly after the PRISM accusations had surfaced, Yahoo! denied the claims, and later went on to petition for the right to reveal more detailed data request numbers, something it was granted with fairly substantial limitations. According to the report, the company received between 12,000 and 13,000 law enforcement data requested in last half of 2012.

SOURCE: Daily Dot

Yahoo court document to be declassified showing FISA opposition is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yahoo had claimed that it fought against PRISM since 2008, and now it’s about to land previously-secret court documents to prove it. A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has ruled that the US Department of Justice must declassify the firm’s legal briefs and the court’s decision on the search giant’s attempts to resist the government’s request for user data. Uncle Sam has until July 29th to provide an estimate of how long the declassification will take, and the docs can still have classified portions redacted. As The Daily Dot notes, this is only the second known civilian victory in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courtroom, and it follows a win by the EFF just a few days ago. Mayer and Co. still won’t be able to outline exactly how many FISA data requests they’ve gotten, but we’ll take any transparency from the federales we can get.

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Via: The Daily Dot

Source: United States Courts (PDF)

Yahoo picks up Xobni for an undisclosed sum.

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Yahoo must be starting the summer with an acquisition spree: it bought Qwiki yesterday, and it’s buying Xobni today in a deal that AllThingsD estimates is worth $30 million to $40 million. The acquisition gives Yahoo a developer with experience in creating automatic, connected address books — a perfect fit for a web giant that has been revamping its email and social services. Neither of the new partners is talking about what they’ll create together, although Xobni is no longer accepting new customers for its paid services and has pulled downloads for both Smartr Contacts on Android and Xobni for BlackBerry. It’s a gentler transition than we’ve seen with other takeovers, although we wouldn’t get too comfy when most of Xobni’s services go dark after July 2nd of next year.

Update: Our colleagues at TechCrunch hear that the acquisition price may be over $60 million.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet

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Source: Xobni (1), (2)

This week the folks at Quiki have confirmed that they’ve been acquired by Yahoo, the latter company aiming to make use of the former’s video sharing app environment. That said; if you’re able to keep track of all the clever names for companies aiming for mobile glory these days, you deserve a gold star. Quiki will make Yahoo a real competitor for top spot in mini-video sharing if they keep with the aim of the original app, that’s for certain.

What you’re seeing here is an app that you may have seen appear back at the tech event TechCrunch Disrupt 2010. It was there that then-Googler Marissa Mayer was a judge of apps and digital creations of all kinds, and here that she, now CEO of Yahoo, aims to pick it up.

This app works with filters for video captured by smartphones that are then shared with friends in iOS. At the moment you can have a peek at this app on your iPhone, iPad, or camera-toting iPod touch, and we can imagine an Android app coming up quick as well (especially with Yahoo’s recent efforts in dominating the mobile landscape with apps galore).

“Have you ever listened to an old song and all of a sudden a favorite vacation, concert, or summer memory pops into your mind? The Qwiki app automatically turns pictures and videos that you already have on your iPhone into quick, beautiful movies to share, including transitions and a soundtrack.”

Inside the app you’re also – at the moment – able to edit video, add soundtracks, transition between clips, and generally go wild in making what’s captured as boring into something exciting. Yahoo’s capture of such an app will certainly also be giving Flickr a boost, one way or another.

UPDATE: it would appear that NYC Mayor Bloomberg likes this team a whole lot, as well – almost like a boost for a vote!

“Qwiki is a great example of the momentum in New York City’s booming tech sector,” said Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “While the company was started out west, they relocated here to be a part of our surging tech community… We congratulate them on their partnership with Yahoo!, and hope they continue to grow and thrive in New York City.”

Have a peek at Quicki on your iOS device now and stick around as it becomes clear what Yahoo intends to do with it. It might be smart to keep out of love with this app as it stands today, as all good things transform once acquisiton terms have their say.

VIA: Tumblr (another recent Yahoo acquisition); Engadget

Yahoo acquires Qwiki to battle Vine with video sharing is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.