iGeniuses is a Houston company that repairs Apple products; it especially touts its ability to repair computers suffering from liquid damage on a fast turnaround schedule. A number of former customers have expressed concerns about the success of the repairs, about longer-than-advertised repair times, and especially about their believe that the company is very slow to respond to questions from customers concerned about not getting their computers back in the expected time.
Category: Censorship
Original “patent troll” law firm is shutting down | Ars Technica
The Niro firm made tech companies shudder and made a few inventors wealthy.
Source: Original “patent troll” law firm is shutting down | Ars Technica
Red Cross Claims Makers Of ‘Prison Architect’ Violated The Geneva Conventions By Using A Red Cross | Techdirt
Let’s start this off by stipulating that the Red Cross is an organization well known for doing very real humanitarian work. While some have raised questions as to exactly how ethically it spends donor money, the organization is still on the front lines in helping those suffering from natural and man-made disasters. All that being said, the Red Cross has also shown itself to wander over the line of sense when it comes to both video games and policing some of its iconography. Recall that the Red Cross insisted, for instance, that games that allowed players to commit what would constitute war crimes also be required to include virtual punishments for those actions. On policing the use of its icons, the organization has suggested in the past that the use of its red cross symbol on theatre costumes constitutes a violation of The Geneva Conventions.
Defense Department Oversight Finds More Evidence Of Retaliation Against Whistleblowers | Techdirt
The heavily redacted report, which MuckRock requested following on an announcement in the January newsletter of the Department of Defense Inspector General, found that the supervisor accused the whistleblower of being a mentally unstable drug abuser in addition to revoking his security clearance for the offense of reporting that colleagues were allowed to leave work hours early and lie on their time cards.
Source: Defense Department Oversight Finds More Evidence Of Retaliation Against Whistleblowers | Techdirt
FBI Says It Has 487 Pages Of James Comey Talking Points, Refuses To Release Any Of Them | Techdirt
“Talking points” aren’t deliberative documents, interagency memos, or documents containing sensitive personal information [b(5), b(6)]. Neither are they documents that might expose law enforcement sources or investigative techniques [b7(D) and 7(E)].They are exactly what the name says they are: points to be used when discussing these issues in Congressional hearings or during press conferences. They are indicative of the public stances the FBI takes on certain issues. There’s nothing secret about them, or at least there shouldn’t be.
Source: FBI Says It Has 487 Pages Of James Comey Talking Points, Refuses To Release Any Of Them | Techdirt
Stupid law of the week: South Carolina wants anti-porno chips in PCs that cost $20 to disable • The Register
And it’s only Monday
John Deere Really Doesn’t Want You to Own That Tractor | Electronic Frontier Foundation
John Deere is at it again, trying to strip customers of the right to open up and repair their own property. In the new License Agreement for John Deere Embedded Software [PDF], customers are forbidden to exercise their repair rights or to even look at the software running the tractor or the signals it generates.
Source: John Deere Really Doesn’t Want You to Own That Tractor | Electronic Frontier Foundation
FCC’s Ajit Pai says net neutrality’s “days are numbered” under Trump
Pai wants to “fire up the weed whacker” and cut down FCC regulations.
Source: FCC’s Ajit Pai says net neutrality’s “days are numbered” under Trump
Woman Sues Google Because SEO Guy Wrote A Mean Blog About Her Company | Techdirt
do me a favor, and look at the caption on the lawsuit, and tell me where Scott Pierson is as a party to the lawsuit?Hmm. No Scott Pierson? Instead, there’s just a giant corporation that didn’t do anything here? Yup. This has all the hallmarks of a Steve Dallas lawsuit where a marginally connected big company is sued because “Hey, they’ve got the money.” The rationale for Google being the defendant is just as ridiculous as you’d expect
Source: Woman Sues Google Because SEO Guy Wrote A Mean Blog About Her Company | Techdirt
The NSA’s Spy Hub in New York, Hidden in Plain Sight
The NSA has operated a top-secret surveillance program out of an iconic AT&T building in Manhattan, documents indicate.
Source: The NSA’s Spy Hub in New York, Hidden in Plain Sight