Skyway Recommended January 20th to 26th

This week: Google Not in Favor of Data Localization; 30 Years of Mac; Neiman Marcus Data Breach; Canadian Gov Opens Data for App Hackathon; Ukraine Gov Knows Who’s Protesting; Google’s Video Tool to Evaluate ISPs

Each Monday we’ll pass on links to articles we thought were well worth reading from the previous week, for those who live where we do (British Columbia, Canada), work like we do (high speed business internet), and think about things we do (internet trends, internet privacy, internet censorship, cutting-edge technology, etc.). If you don’t want to wait ’til Monday, we usually tweet and link to these as we come across them… (Note: there’ll be no Recommended Reading next week – Mike)

NY Times | Google Pushes Back Against Data Localization

The big tech companies have put forth a united front when it comes to pushing back against the government after revelations of mass surveillance. But their cooperation goes only so far. Microsoft this week suggested that it would deepen its existing efforts to allow customers to store their data near them and outside the United States. Google, for its part, has been fighting this notion of so-called data localization. Read More…

Apple | Celebrating 30 Years of the Mac

Apple’s iconic computer turned 30 last week. Apple celebrates with video tribute…

NY Times | Neiman Marcus Data Breach Worse Than First Said

The theft of consumer data from Neiman Marcus appears far deeper than had been disclosed originally, with the luxury retailer now saying that hackers invaded its systems for several months in a breach that involved 1.1 million credit and debit cards. Read More…

The Vancouver Province | Hackathon to create apps using Canadian government’s open data

Canada’s federal government has an abundance of data and now it’s asking Canadian software programmers and innovators to figure out how to best use it. In Canada’s first country-wide open data hackathon, dubbed CODE for Canadian Open Data Experience,  Ottawa is calling on Canada’s computing and design talent to use the government’s open data to create apps that will help Canadians. Read More…

Vice | Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government’s Ever Sent

“Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”

That’s a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime’s police force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian legislation. In fact, it’s downright Orwellian (and I hate that adjective, and only use it when absolutely necessary, I swear). Read More…

Financial Post | Google launches new video quality report to evaluate ISP network performance

Google Inc. is launching a new service designed to evaluate the connection speeds of Internet providers, in the hopes of identifying which companies are delivering the best experience for consumers who want to watch high definition video online. Read More…