Jul 16, 2013

A different metaphor for China's firewall

by John Naughton

Two years ago, when it was discovered that a U.S. intelligence agency was pouring millions of dollars into a research project on “metaphor,” some people thought it was a delayed April Fool’s joke. This columnist begged to differ, on the grounds that metaphors are ...

Jul 9, 2013

We are the sum of our metadata

by John Naughton

Over the past two weeks, I have lost count of the number of officials and government ministers who, when challenged about Internet surveillance by Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States, try to reassure their citizens ...

Jul 3, 2013

Porn: Do we really want ISPs to censor?

by John Naughton

Dearly beloved: our subject this morning is online pornography and what to do about it. The fact that there is a good deal of erotic material on the Internet is beyond dispute, though the precise amount is unclear. Let us assume that X percent ...

Jun 26, 2013

Beware: NSA knows the power of your metadata

by John Naughton

“To be remembered after we are dead,” wrote William Hazlitt, “is but poor recompense for being treated with contempt while we are living.” Cue U.S. President “George W” Obama in the matter of telephone surveillance by his National Security Agency. The fact that for ...

Finally, 'The Last of Us' is here

| Jun 25, 2013

Finally, 'The Last of Us' is here

by Brian Ashcraft

Finally, ‘The Last of Us’ is here One of this year’s most eagerly anticipated titles, “The Last of Us” is set in a near-future post-apocalypse that’s crawling with zombies. It is around 2030, decades after a fungi outbreak has ravaged America, infecting people and ...

Jun 19, 2013

The NSA has us all trapped

by John Naughton

Watching British Foreign Secretary William Hague doing his avuncular routine in the Commons on June 10, I was reminded of the way establishment figures in the 1950s used to reassure hoi polloi that they had nothing to worry about. Everything was in order. The ...

Jun 12, 2013

You're not a customer, you're just a user

by John Naughton

A reader writes: “Dear John Naughton, As you write about the Internet, I wondered if you knew how long it takes Yahoo to get back to people. I have an iPad, but went to the library to print a document (attached to an email). ...

Do self-driving cars need to cost so much?

Jun 5, 2013

Do self-driving cars need to cost so much?

by John Naughton

“The best is the enemy of the good,” said the 18th-century French writer Voltaire. It’s a maxim that has a particular resonance for tech designers, because it highlights the intrinsic tension between ambition and pragmatism that haunts them. Many perfectly viable products have never ...