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Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Why the feds smashed Megaupload — The US government dropped a nuclear bomb on “cyberlocker” site Megaupload today, seizing its domain names, grabbing $50 million in assets, and getting New Zealand police to arrest four of the site's key employees, including enigmatic founder Kim Dotcom.
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PC Magazine, GigaOM, PC World, Betabeat, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Telegraph, Gawker, New York Times, TechnoLlama, FierceCIO News, Computerworld, The Register, Digits and SlashGear, more at Mediagazer »
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Molly Wood / CNET:
Anonymous goes nuclear; everybody loses? — #OpMegaUpload: like watching “War Games” play out, but with cyber-bombs. — In the aftermath of the Jan. 18 SOPA/PIPA blackout protests, the Internet community had amassed quite a bit of goodwill, flexed its muscles in a friendly, humorous …
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Washington Post, Pastebin, BuzzFeed, Gizmodo, The Not-So Private Parts, Gizmodo, eWeek, WebProNews, Telegraph, Techdirt, UPROXX and The Next Web, more at Mediagazer »
Ernesto / TorrentFreak:
Feds, Please Return My Personal Files Stored at MegaUpload! — The feds shut down MegaUpload a few hours ago. Eight people we charged with criminal copyright infringement charges, and all files hosted on the site were pulled offline. However, do the feds realize that hundreds of thousands …
Discussion:
Computerworld, ReadWriteWeb, ExtremeTech, FACT magazine, TechCrunch, Dice Blog Network, New York Times and Consumer Reports News
Adrian Chen / Gawker:
The Evil New Tactic Behind Anonymous' Massive Megaupload Revenge Attack — The hacktivist collective Anonymous is in the middle of a huge revenge spree after the Feds shut down popular filesharing site Megaupload today. But they're using an evil new tactic that tricks people into helping their attack if they click an innocuous link.
Zack O'Malley Greenburg / Forbes:
Swizz Beatz Does Not Own Megaupload, Says Court Filing
Discussion:
VatorNews, Ben Parr's Entrepreneurial …, The Next Web, paidContent:UK, newsfeed.time.com, Associated Press, SlashGear and BET.com
Jeremy Pelofsky / Reuters:
Megaupload site wants assets back, to fight charges
Discussion:
ITProPortal
Josh Harkinson / Mother Jones:
Inside Anonymous' “Largest Attack Ever”
Discussion:
TechCrunch, SlashGear, ITProPortal, Business Insider and The Firewall
Greg Sandoval / CNET:
Megaupload assembles worldwide criminal defense
Discussion:
CNN, Ars Technica, PC Magazine and PC World
Paul Kane / Washington Post:
SOPA, PIPA votes to be delayed in House and Senate — Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), author of the Stop Online Privacy Act, said on Friday that he is postponing consideration of the bill in response to concerns from critics who said the bill could lead to censorship.
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LAPTOP Magazine, The Verge, Guardian, TechFlash, Reuters, Congressman Issa, Gizmodo, Macworld, CNET, Ars Technica, L.A. Times Tech Blog, Business Insider, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Ars Technica, Politico, DSLreports, The Firewall, Threat Level, Digital Trends, CNET, paidContent, Kotaku, Michael Geist Blog, Pocket-lint, @arrington, The Next Web, NBC Bay Area, Electronista, Policy Blog, PandoDaily, Destructoid, Threat Level and OpenCongress, more at Mediagazer »
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Carl Franzen / TPM Livewire:
Former Sen. Chris Dodd, MPAA CEO, Blasts Congress For Halting SOPA and PIPA — Former Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), now the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, released a statement late Friday morning responding to the sudden announcements earlier from Congressional leaders …
Discussion:
MPAA Blog and @dannysullivan
Marco Arment / Marco.org:
The next SOPA — Every few years, the MPAA's lobbying power, rhetoric, and immense campaign contributions succeed in purchasing a bill in Congress to advance their agenda in a way that's hostile to the technology industry and consumers. — Their bills have had mixed success and usually die …
Discussion:
Clay Shirky and Techdirt
New York Times:
Dodd Calls for Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Meet
Discussion:
TPM, AllThingsD, Techdirt, digiphile, The Verge, Techdirt, Uncrunched, Hollywood Reporter, Digital Trends and MediaPost, more at Mediagazer »
Dan Gillmor / Guardian:
The struggle against Sopa and Pipa is not over
Discussion:
Digital Trends, Computerworld and The ProPublica Nerd Blog
Nate Cochrane / Sydney Morning Herald:
Father of the web backs SOPA protests
Discussion:
@senatorreid, GigaOM, Business Insider and @timberners_lee
David Pierson / Los Angeles Times:
U.S. website blackout draws praise in China
Discussion:
ReadWriteWeb and Letter from China
Robert Andrews / paidContent:
Europe Says It Won't Adopt ‘Bad’ Digital Policy Like SOPA
Discussion:
Forbes, Computerworld, AllThingsD, PC World, New York Times, PE Hub Blog, Tech Europe, Between the Lines Blog, The Verge, CNET, Guardian, PandoDaily, The Next Web, Mashable! and Inquirer
Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:
Publisher Terry McGraw on Steve Jobs and Digital Textbooks: “This Was His Vision” — After Apple's big education presentation yesterday, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw chatted with a gaggle of reporters, and explained things like the logic behind $15 digital textbooks.
Discussion:
MacRumors, 9to5Mac, LAPTOP Magazine, CNET, Beyond Search, The Loop, The Wirecutter, I4U News, paidContent, Techland, PhoneArena, TG Daily, Electronista and Softpedia News, more at Mediagazer »
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Paul Carr / PandoDaily:
iBooks Author Is Not Going To Hurt Publishers. It Might Even Help Them
Discussion:
GigaOM, O'Reilly Radar, Macworld, LAPTOP Magazine, Ars Technica and TeleRead, more at Mediagazer »
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Do we want textbooks to live in Apple's walled garden?
Discussion:
PC Magazine, Bits, Business Insider, venomous porridge, I4U News and iPhone Hacks
Greg Sandoval / CNET:
Facebook in talks to replace YouTube as Vevo's host — Facebook has held talks with Vevo about moving the music-video service away from YouTube and over to the social network's platform, sources with knowledge of the talks told CNET. — While the sources said the discussions are very preliminary …
Alex Chitu / Google Operating System:
New Google Accounts Require Gmail and Google+ — If you try to create a Google account from Google's homepage, you'll notice that Google redesigned the page, but that's not all. You'll now have to create a Gmail account, a Google Profile and you'll automatically join Google+.
Discussion:
PC Magazine, TechCrunch, Search Engine Watch, VentureBeat, The Next Web, Lifehacker, CNET, ReadWriteWeb, Marketing Land, Electronista, Business Insider, Webmonkey, the Econsultancy blog, msnbc.com, Softpedia News and 9to5Google, Thanks:@sidharthdassani
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Mannheim court rejects the first one of Samsung's German lawsuits against Apple — Judge Andreas Voss of the Mannheim Regional Court just pronounced his ruling on the first one of Samsung's seven patent infringement claims against Apple in Germany. Samsung's complaint over a patent declared essential …
Discussion:
Digital Trends, PC Magazine, Reuters, AllThingsD, Android Phone Fans, The Verge, Electronista, Computerworld, DailyTech, Android Phone Fans, BGR, Ubergizmo, Softpedia News, Redmond Pie, London Calling Blog, Inquirer, Macgasm, PalmAddicts, iDownloadBlog.com, Engadget, MobileBurn.com, Fast Company and CNET
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Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
Apple says Galaxy Nexus infringes slide-to-unlock utility model in Germany
Discussion:
Electronista
Tricia Duryee / AllThingsD:
Zynga Confirms It Is Seeking Partners for Online Gambling Initiatives — Zynga is getting ready to try its hand at online gambling. — The company has confirmed to All Things D that it is actively investigating several opportunities, and is in talks with several partners about gambling on the Internet.
Farhad Manjoo / Slate:
The Great and Powerful Reddit — How the site went from a second-tier aggregator to the Web's unstoppable force. — Of all the sites that went dark on Wednesday to protest Congress' misguided anti-piracy legislation, Reddit was the one I missed most. Sure, there were a couple times …
Discussion:
The Atlantic Wire
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Damning Evidence Emerges In Google-Apple “No Poach” Antitrust Lawsuit — Next week a class-action civil lawsuit will be heard in San Jose to determine if Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel, and Intuit conspired to eliminate competition for skilled labor.
Discussion:
The Verge, Gizmodo, Business Insider, Mashable!, ITworld.com, Communications …, The Register, Electronista and BGR
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
First Look: Backplane, The Lady Gaga-Backed Community Platform With All-Star Investors (Invites) — Early last summer we wrote about Backplane, a mysterious startup with impressive backers and some major star power behind it: one of its cofounders, Troy Carter, is Lady Gaga's manager.
Donald Melanson / Engadget:
Don't call it an ultrabook — Every year at CES, the tech-watching masses engage in a bit of trendspotting — an attempt to identify the one or two big themes of the show that may or may not come to define the year in technology. Some years those are easy to spot (tablets and 3D TV …
Discussion:
Technologizer
David Carnoy / CNET:
Exede: The satellite broadband service you've been waiting for? — ViaSat's Exede satellite broadband service has officially launched, with an entry-level package that starts at $50 a month and promises “feels-like-fiber” performance. — Buried among the gadgets, superthin screen OLED TVs …
Discussion:
Examiner
