J.R.McHale

“Countdown to Zero Day – Stuxnet and the Launch of the World’s First Digital Weapon” by Kim Zetter: “Stuxnet, as it came to be known, was unlike any other virus or worm that came before. Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it escaped the digital realm to wreak physical destruction on equipment the computers controlled.” – excerpt at Wired

“The Coming Swarm: DDOS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet” by Molly Sauter (pay what you want ebook)

“Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age” by Cory Doctorow

“Watchdog Report Says N.S.A. Program Is Illegal and Should End.” New York Times

Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board’s “Report on the Telephone Records Program Conducted under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and on the Operations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court” (pdf; 238 pages). Also separate statements of Board members Elisebeth Collins Cook (pdf; 6 pages) and Rachel Brand (pdf; 8 pages)

Some additional background:

“Liberty and Security in a Changing World – December 12, 2013 Report and Recommendations of The President’s Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies” (pdf; 308 pages)

Supplemental Chapter on NSA from Professor James Grimmelmann’s “Internet Law: Cases and Problems” (downloadable pdf; 37 pages) offered on freemium basis.

The federal appeals court decision strking down parts of the FCC’s open internet (a/k/a “net neutrality”) rules, which were originally issued in 2010: pdf.

“Net Neutrality Quashed – New Pricing Schemes, Throttling, and Business Models to Follow; A court loss for ‘net neutrality’ could mean either a new era of innovation or preferential treatment and higher costs.” MIT Technology Review.

Opinion of U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin ruling in favor of Google over the Authors’ Guild in the long-running Google Books dispute: pdf

“Google Books ruled legal in massive win for fair use; Scans that show snippets are legal—they don’t replace the full book.” ARS Technica.

“Why Google’s Fair Use Victory In Google Books Suit Is A Big Deal–And Why It Isn’t.” Professor Eric Goldman in Forbes.

Bruce Schneier and Jonathan Zittrain at The Berkman Center (video: one hour, thirty minutes).

California Lawmaker Introduces Personal Data Disclosure Bill: ‘Right to Know Act of 2013’ Would Force Companies to Tell Californians What They Know

From the SEC today: “The Securities and Exchange Commission today issued a report that makes clear that companies can use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to announce key information in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure (Regulation FD) so long as investors have been alerted about which social media will be used to disseminate such information.”

More at the Securities and Exchange Commission website, including the report (pdf) in its Reed Hastings investigation, which triggered today’s announcement.

And even more at the Wall Street Journal – their analysis of today’s SEC embrace of social media with respect to public disclosure.