Google, Apple, and Microsoft Agree: NSA Spying Undermines Freedom

A total of eight prominent tech companies are urging President Obama and Congress to rein in the surveillance state.

In an open letter to President Obama and Congress, eight of the most prominent U.S. tech companies have demanded that strict new limits be put on government surveillance, citing revelations made earlier this summer, when stories based Edward Snowden's leaked documents began running in The Guardian. "The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual," they argue, "rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change."

They've staked out an extraordinary position. 

Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and AOL all have an interest in restoring public trust in their products and averting new regulatory challenges in countries disinclined to let a spying hegemon control the Internet. My colleague James Fallows has written eloquently about the damage the NSA's behavior could do to U.S. economic might as other countries react to it. The companies could've made a compelling case for reform on those grounds alone. 

More here via The Atlantic

Microsoft Developed A ‘Diet Bra’ That Alerts Women When They’re At Risk For Over-Eating

A prototype of the “diet bra,” which has sensors to monitor a woman’s stress level

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER/MICROSOFT RESEARCH

A team of engineers at Microsoft Research have developed a high-tech bra that’s intended to monitor women’s stress levels and dissuade them from emotional over-eating. The undergarment has sensors that track the user’s heart rate, respiration, skin conductance, and movement — all of which can indicate the type of stressful emotions that lead to over-eating, according to Microsoft researchers. The data is sent to a smartphone app, which then alerts users about their mood.

Researchers hope it could be an innovative solution to stress-induced eating, which is a potential contributor to the nation’s obesity epidemic. Their research on the subject, as well as their design for the new bra, is laid out in a new paper entitled “Food and Mood: Just-in-Time Support for Emotional Eating.”

“It’s mostly women who are emotional over-eaters, and it turns out that a bra is perfect for measuring EKG (electrocardiogram),” Mary Czerwinski, one of the senior researchers at Microsoft, told Discovery News. Czerwinski explained that her team tried to develop an underwear version for men, but it didn’t end up working because underwear is located too far away from the heart.

Read more here via Thinkprogress.com