liberty

As a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged to "strengthen privacy protections for the digital age."

But it wasn't until today, nearly two years after taking office, that the president finally began appointing members of a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.

Obama's first two picks: Jim Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Elisebeth Cook, a former assistant attorney general under President Bush now in private practice at the Freeborn and Peters law firm. The positions are subject to Senate confirmation.

A 2007 law requires Obama to appoint … Read more

Barry Diller, the former entertainment mogul who set out to reinvent himself as a digital-media baron in the past decade with his New York-based IAC/InterActiveCorp conglomerate, has stepped down from his post as CEO of the holdings company.

In addition, one of IAC's largest shareholders, cable company Liberty Media, has fully bought out of the conglomerate, giving up its shares of IAC in return for $220 million in cash and the IAC subsidiary that includes Gifts.com and Evite. The transaction was completed yesterday.

Diller will remain chairman and senior executive of IAC, while the current CEO of … Read more

Although it has touted privacy as a key concern, the White House isn't faring as well as it should in that area, at least according to a report card from a noted privacy group.

Released last week by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), the 2010 privacy report card (PDF) gave the Obama administration a grade of C in consumer privacy, a B in medical privacy, a D in civil liberties, and a B in cybersecurity. Offered by a group of privacy experts at a Capitol Hill briefing, the 2010 report card reflects lower grades in a couple of … Read more

As a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, Barack Obama pledged (PDF) to "strengthen privacy protections for the digital age."

But after 16 months as president, Obama has failed to appoint anyone to a privacy oversight body charged with ensuring Americans' civil liberties are not violated.

Rep. Jane Harman, the California Democrat who heads the Homeland Security committee, on Thursday called on the administration "to appoint the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is mandated by the 2004 intelligence reform law, and which has not been filled."

The 2007 law expanding the board's responsibilities … Read more

World of Warcraft publisher Blizzard Entertainment on Wednesday announced that it has begun closed beta testing for its real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.

StarCraft II has been a long time coming. It is the sequel to the 1998 hit, StarCraft. The new game will feature an entirely new 3D graphics engine, and like its predecessor, will focus on the battle between the protoss, terrans, and zerg. Blizzard said StarCraft II should launch sometime in the first half of 2010.

Already, the company said in a release, there are thousands of people in the beta test. One of … Read more

The final expansion pack (or episode) for Grand Theft Auto IV has been released in the form of The Ballad of Gay Tony. You assume the role of Luis, nightclub owner Gay Tony's right-hand man who must handle his dirty work across Liberty City.

The Ballad of Gay Tony can be downloaded via Xbox Live (for $20) or in a $40 disc form (called Episodes from Liberty City) which also includes The Lost and Damned, GTA IV's first additional episode.

We've had sometime with the final version of the game and here are our thoughts:

Jeff: First thing's first. If you haven't downloaded The Lost and Damned, go out and buy Episodes From Liberty City. It's tough to recall such a great value in gaming prior to this double pack, and Xbox 360 owners don't need a copy of the original GTA IV to jump right in. There is an incredible amount of gameplay value here; it's like getting two full $60 games for less than the price of one.… Read more

The Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has put out a campaign designed to raise awareness of the privacy implications of Facebook's developer platform. It's focusing specifically on the popular "quiz" applications, like "Which Cocktail Best Suits Your Personality?" and "Which Wes Anderson Movie Character Are You?" These are largely one-time-use apps that many a Facebook user clicks on and tries out with little concern.

According to the ACLU chapter, "millions of people on Facebook who use third-party applications on the site, including the popular quizzes, do not … Read more

CARLSBAD, Calif.--Liberty Media CEO John Malone doesn't think his product is going way, but he acknowledged it sure is changing.

Asked by Walt Mossberg on Wednesday whether we will even be using the word television in a few years' time, he responded:

"Probably in five years old guys like me will still be calling it television," Malone said in a talk at the D: All Things Digital event here. But, he added, video will come in different forms, be a mix of live and recorded content, come from myriad sources and be shown on many devices. … Read more

Satellite radio company Sirius XM Radio, despite recording a greater net loss for the first quarter of 2009, says it is encouraged by higher sales.

New York-based Sirius XM on Thursday reported a net loss of $236.6 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with $104.1 million, or 7 cents, in 2008's first quarter. Sales grew to $587 million from $270.4 million in the year-ago quarter, while operating costs dropped 23 percent.

Subscribers to the company's services dropped to 18.6 million, from 19 million at the end of 2008, which Sirius XM attributes to … Read more