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Submission + - New tool to measure consciousness (nature.com)

Submitted by bmahersciwriter
bmahersciwriter writes: The line between consciousness and non-consciousness is thin, hard to define and, as the Terri Schiavo case taught us, often rife with ethical quandaries. A research team is developing a tool that will be able to quantify just how conscious a person is, which could prove to be quite useful for research and clinical practices.

Submission + - US, Germany To Enter No-Spying Agreement (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: From the solving-nonexistent-problems department. The German Federal Intelligence Service said in a news release that the U.S. has verbally committed to enter into a no-spying agreement with Germany. The no-spying agreement talks were announced as part of a progress report on an eight-point program proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkelin July with measures to better protect the privacy of German citizens. In the progress report, the German government found that U.S. intelligence services comply with German law. Also, the operators of large German Internet exchanges and the federal government did not find any evidence that the U.S. spies on Germans, the government said.

Submission + - NSA Story Leads To First: Spy Vs Spy Guys On Mad Magazine Cover w/ Obama (politico.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Timeless as ever, the usual gang of idiots at Mad Magazine will be poking fun at President Obama and the NSA reports Politico, "Think there’s nothing funny about the federal government invading your privacy? Check out the next issue of MAD magazine. Its latest issue, on newsstands Aug. 28, features President Barack Obama overseeing the magazine’s Spy vs. Spy characters as they sharpen their best eavesdropping devices. (For loyal MAD magazine fans, this is the first time that Spy vs. Spy has been featured as main cover characters.)"

Submission + - Helping Snowden Spill His Secrets (nytimes.com)

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: Great article in the NYTimes Magazine section by Peter Maass. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html

It goes into a lot of detail on how Snowden first attempted to contact Glenn Greenwald (who couldn't use secure communication at first) and then contacted Laura Poitras who was making a documentary about security. Lots of detail about their getting together, vetting each other, and personal threats to Greenwald and Poitras (as well as Snowden) as well as a good timeline of how events unfolded.
After reading this article I am more concerned than ever about the extent of US surveillance and the extent to which the USG will go to suppress information and intimidate whistle-blowers. Good to see that the NYTimes finally publish some real journalism on this subject.
Also... accompanying transcript of "Q&A — Edward Snowden" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/snowden-maass-transcript.html

Submission + - LinkedIn Bans Ads with Female Engineers, Says to Show Male Engineers Only (toptal.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: LinkedIn asked developer site Toptal.com to take down ads containing real female developers as depicted in the blog post due to user complaints. The story has since been picked up by the Huffington Post, PandoDaily, News.com.au, The India Times and many other international sources causing a furious debate. The ads have since been reinstated, though the furious debate continues on Twitter and blogs. What are your thoughts?

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