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Fed. Appeals Court Says Police Need Warrant to Search Phone

An anonymous reader writes “In a decision that’s almost certainly going to result in this issue heading up to the Supreme Court, the Federal 1st Circuit Court of Appeals [Friday] ruled that police can’t search your phone when they arrest you without a warrant. That’s contrary to most courts’ previous findings in these kinds of cases where judges have allowed warrantless searches through cell phones.” (But in line with the recently mentioned decision in Florida, and seemingly with common sense.) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Fed. Appeals Court Says Police Need Warrant to Search Phone

World Press Photo Winner Accused of Photoshopping

vikingpower writes “The winner of this year’s World Press Photo award, Paul l Hanssen, is under fire for allegedly having photoshopped the winning picture. The Hacker Factor is detailing the reasons and technicalities for the accusations. ExtremeTech also runs an item about the possible faking. Upon questions by Australian news site news.com.au, Hanssen answers his photo is not a fake. The whole story, however, is based upon somewhat thin proof: three different times in the file’s Adobe XMP block; this does not necessarily mean that more than one file was used in order to obtain a composite image.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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World Press Photo Winner Accused of Photoshopping

Carnivorous Plant Ejects Junk DNA

sciencehabit writes “The carnivorous humped bladderwort, found on all continents except Antarctica, is a model of ruthless genetic efficiency. Only 3% of this aquatic plant’s DNA is not part of a known gene, new research shows. In contrast, only 2% of human DNA is part of a gene. The bladderwort, named for its water-filled bladders that suck in unsuspecting prey, is a relative of the tomato. The finding overturns the notion that this repetitive, non-coding DNA, popularly called ‘junk’ DNA, is necessary for life.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Carnivorous Plant Ejects Junk DNA

UK’s 4G Network Selling Subscriber Tracking Data To Police, Private Parties

Sockatume writes “The Sunday Times has revealed that analytics firm Ipsos MORI and 4G network EE attempted to sell detailed information on 27m subscribers’ activities to various parties including the UK’s police forces. The data encompasses the gender, postcode and age of subscribers, the sites they visit and times they are visited, and the places and times of calls and text messages. Ipsos MORI were reportedly ‘bragging that the data can be used to track people and their location in real time to within 100 meters’ in negotiations. Ipsos MORI has rushed to contradict this in an effort to save face, stating that the users are anonymized and data is aggregated into groups of 50 or more, while location is only precise to 700m. Despite their prior enthusiasm, the police have indicated that they will no longer go ahead with the deal. It is not clear whether the other sales will go ahead.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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UK’s 4G Network Selling Subscriber Tracking Data To Police, Private Parties

Bloomberg Reporters Caught Spying On Terminal Users

theodp writes “Big Bloomberg is watching you. CNN reports that was the unsettling realization Goldman Sachs execs came to a few weeks ago when a Bloomberg reporter inadvertently revealed that reporters from the news and financial data provider had surveillance capabilities over users of Bloomberg terminals. ‘Limited customer relationship data has long been available to our journalists,’ acknowledged a Bloomberg spokesman. ‘In light of [Goldman’s] concern as well as a general heightened sensitivity to data access, we decided to disable journalist access to this customer relationship information for all clients.’ Business Insider is now reporting on allegations that Bloomberg reporters used terminals to spy on JPMorgan during the ‘London Whale’ disaster; Bloomberg bragged about its leadership on this story.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bloomberg Reporters Caught Spying On Terminal Users

IRS Admits Targeting Conservative Groups During 2012 Election

An anonymous reader writes “A recurring theme in comments on Slashdot since the 9/11 attacks has been concern about the use of government power to monitor or suppress political activity unassociated with terrorism but rather based on ideology. It has just been revealed that the IRS has in fact done that. From the story: “The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election . . . Organizations were singled out because they included the words ‘tea party’ or ‘patriot’ in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups. In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said. ‘That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That’s not how we go about selecting cases for further review,’ Lerner said . . . ‘The IRS would like to apologize for that,’ she added. . . . Lerner said the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias. . . . she told The AP that no high level IRS officials knew about the practice. Tea Party groups were livid on Friday. … In all, about 300 groups were singled out for additional review. . . Tea Party groups weren’t buying the idea that the decision to target them was solely the responsibility of low-level IRS workers. … During the conference call it was stated that no disciplinary action had been taken by those who engaged in this activity. President Obama has previously joked about using the IRS to target people.” So it’s not how they choose cases for review (except when it is), and was not motivated by political bias (except that it was). Also at National Review, with more bite. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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IRS Admits Targeting Conservative Groups During 2012 Election