Portugal’s Piracy Blocklist Censors U.S. Game Developer (Updated) – TorrentFreak


The voluntary anti-piracy agreement between anti-piracy groups and ISPs in Portugal has resulted in some unusual collateral damage. In addition to hundreds of pirate sites, the blocklist now also targets the website of Carbon Games, an American indie game company.

Source: Portugal’s Piracy Blocklist Censors U.S. Game Developer (Updated) – TorrentFreak

Sony On A Rampage Trademarking Common Terms: Attempted Registrations For ‘Let’s Play’ And ‘VRPG’ | Techdirt

It’s no secret that Sony has never been shy about wielding trademark like a cudgel. That said, there seems to be something new brewing with the company in its recent attempts to trademark fairly common terms, worrying some that it would use those trademarks in the same heavy-handed way. The first of those attempts was the recent Sony filing for a trademark on the term “Let’s Play”, which any gamer will recognize as the term for popular YouTube videos showing games being played, often offered by well-known YouTube personalities. While the USPTO had already refused the trademark on the grounds that a prior mark for “Let’z Play” had already been registered, a law firm that specializes in gaming law jumped in to try and have the court instead declare that “Let’s Play” is now a generic term.

Source: Sony On A Rampage Trademarking Common Terms: Attempted Registrations For ‘Let’s Play’ And ‘VRPG’ | Techdirt

For fsck’s SAKKE: GCHQ-built phone voice encryption has massive backdoor – researcher


Well, what did you expect?

Source: For fsck’s SAKKE: GCHQ-built phone voice encryption has massive backdoor – researcher

Scalia dismisses concept of religious neutrality in speech

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday the idea of religious neutrality is not grounded in the country’s constitutional traditions and that God has been good to the U.S. exactly because Americans honor him.

Source: Scalia dismisses concept of religious neutrality in speech

91% of patients who survive opioid overdose are prescribed more opioids | Ars Technica

Examining a national database of health insurance claims, researchers found that 91 percent of patients who suffered a nonfatal overdose of prescription opioid painkillers continued getting prescriptions for opioids following the overdose. And, the researchers found, overdose survivors who kept taking high dosages of an opioid—including morphine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone—were twice as likely to have another overdose within two years.

Source: 91% of patients who survive opioid overdose are prescribed more opioids | Ars Technica

One Of Congress’s Biggest Defenders Of NSA Surveillance Suddenly Aghast That NSA May Have Spied On Him | Techdirt



Of course, this very same Pete Hoekstra, who long defended NSA surveillance, didn’t seem to have much of an issue when the NSA was spying on anyone other than himself. Just last year, in a debate with Glenn Greenwald, Hoekstra mocked the idea that anyone was upset at the NSA spying on foreign governments and said if there was anything to complain about, it was that the NSA allowed such info to leak

Source: One Of Congress’s Biggest Defenders Of NSA Surveillance Suddenly Aghast That NSA May Have Spied On Him | Techdirt