Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Twitter agrees to hand over details of people who post racist or anti-Semitic comments after French legal battle Millions use social media to express hatred without revealing identities Prosecutor in Paris argued that Twitter had a duty to expose wrong-doers By PETER ALLEN PUBLISHED: 05:05 EST, 12 July 2013 | UPDATED: 08:14 EST, 12 July 2013 Twitter has agreed to hand over the details of people who post racist and anti-Semitic abuse anonymously on the micro-blogging site, it emerged today. Following a long legal battle, the US-based company said it would cooperate with authorities in France who want to bring alleged criminals to justice. The breakthrough is a significant test case for the millions who use social media to express hatred and anger without revealing their identities. Prosecutors in Paris argued that Twitter had a duty to expose wrong-doers, despite its insistence that people had a right to anonymity. In October 2012, Jewish student bodies ...

Eyeball-Scanning Is Now a Reality, Coming to a Middle School Near You Sorry, tweens, this may mean playing hooky is no longer a viable rite of passage. By Molly Mulshine 11:25am Like something straight out of Gattaca, scientists have developed iris-scanning technology to be deployed at schools, airports and banks, CNN.com reports. From CNN.com: “‘Imagine a world where you’re no longer reliant on user names and passwords,’ Eyelock CMO Anthony Antolino told CNNMoney. ‘If we’re going through a turnstile and you have authorization to go beyond that, it’ll open the turnstile for you, if you embed it into a tablet or PC, it will unlock your phone or your tablet or it will log you into your email account.’” The software is being rolled out at some schools this fall. Kiddies will simply look into the binocular-shaped scanner, and it will “beep if they’re on the right bus and honk if they’re on the wrong one.” Apparently, this is cheaper and easier than having teacher...

Judge rules Apple conspired to raise prices on e-books Reuters – 2 hours 34 minutes ago By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a sweeping rejection of Apple Inc's strategy for selling electronic books on the Internet, a federal judge ruled that the company conspired with five major publishers to raise the retail prices of e-books. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan found "compelling evidence" that Apple violated federal antitrust law by playing a "central role" in a conspiracy with the publishers to eliminate retail price competition and raise e-book prices. The decision could expose Apple to substantial damages. It is a victory for the U.S. Department of Justice and the 33 U.S. states and territories that brought the civil antitrust case. Apple was accused of pursuing the conspiracy to undercut online retailer Amazon.com Inc's e-book dominance, causing some prices to rise to $12.99 or $14.99 from the $9...

Note to all Internet users: Trust no one JULY 09, 2013 Whistleblower Edward Snowden says U.S. telecom companies all collaborate with NSA, accuses Britain of storing every bit of Internet data it can By Ted Samson Customers should assume that American multinational telecom companies are providing the U.S. government access to their personal data, according to whistleblower Edward Snowden. In an interview with Der Spiegel conducted before he went public about the NSA's surveillance programs, the former NSA contractor also said that punishing companies who collaborate with the agency should be "the highest priority of all computer users who believe in the freedom of thought." In the interview, Snowden also said the NSA and Israel co-wrote the Stuxnet worm, which knocked out Iran's nuclear program in 2011, and he asserted that U.S. allies like Britain are engaging in surveillance programs similar in scope to those of the United States. Last month,...

Google Glass: privacy fears continue US senator cites example of personal information being unintentionally captured as Google gathered data for Street View Jemima Kiss guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 July 2013 09.50 EDT Google's claim that it will not need to alter its privacy policy to reflect the impact of its new Glass product has been met with scorn by US authorities. Senator Joe Barton, who co-founded the congressional bi-partisan privacy caucus, sent a detailed letter of concern to Google in May asking the company to clarify how Glass users' data would be protected, as well as the privacy of non-users who could be identified through technology including facial recognition. In a lengthy reply, Google's vice-president of public policy and government relations, Susan Molinari, emphasised that Glass is in a trial phase, that there are no plans for facial recognition to be introduced and that existing privacy policies will protect users and non-users. ...

June 30, 2013 7:18 pm Apple paid no UK corporation tax in 2012 By Vanessa Houlder Apple did not pay UK corporation tax last year, according to its latest filings, which are likely to underline the controversy over the US tech giant’s tax planning. In May, a US Senate committee highlighted Apple’s overseas tax rate of less than 2 per cent, which it said reflected its ability to shift profits into Ireland. Tax deductions from share awards to employees helped wipe out the corporate tax liabilities of the UK subsidiaries in the year to September 2012. In the previous year, the tax reported by the UK subsidiaries was £11.4m. Apple’s tax affairs became the focus of global scrutiny in May after the US Senate Committee accused Apple of avoiding $10bn of US tax a year. It said the company “left very small earnings, and correspondingly small tax liabilities, in countries around the world” because the economic rights to the goods it sold were held in Ireland. In 2011, 84 ...

S Korea introduces fastest wireless network PUBLISHED: 26 JUN 2013 18:28:28 | UPDATED: 26 JUN 2013 20:52:34 South Korea's largest mobile operator is launching what it says is the world's fastest wireless network. SK Telecom has launched a new generation mobile network that offers speeds twice that of its existing long-term evolution (LTE) network and 10 times that of 3G services. The new LTE-Advanced, which will be immediately available in Seoul and 40 other cities, will allow users to download an entire movie in about 40 seconds. The network was launched on Wednesday in conjunction with a new LTE-A capable version of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone, and SK Telecom said half-a-dozen other compatible smartphones were expected to be offered in the second half of 2013. "LTE-A will ... give birth to new mobile value-added services that can bring innovative changes to our customer's lives," said Park In-Sik, president of network bus...