Morning Media Summary

Tech:

US Police increasingly peeping at email, instant messages:
“Law enforcement organizations are making tens of thousands of requests for private electronic information from companies such as Sprint, Facebook and AOL, but few detailed statistics are available, according to a privacy researcher.”

Cisco Gives Up On Flip:
“The biggest change is for the Flip digital video camera business which is being closed down. Cisco acquired Flip as part of its acquisition of Pure Digital Technology in March of 2009 for $590 million.”

Only a carrier could trumpet $500 per gigabyte as a price cut:
“AT&T announced today that it was cutting the price of data access for prepaid customers — those who don’t sign contracts but instead pay as they go — to $5 for 10MB of data access on select smartphones, a major cut from the previous $5 for 1MB. But press reports haven’t done their math: The costs are 50 times what so-called postpaid customers — those who sign a contract and get a bill each month — are charged. An AT&T GoPhone customer pays $500 per gigabyte of data usage, whereas a postpaid Android or iPhone user pays $10 per gigabyte.”

Democratic Senator wants Internet Sales Taxes:
“A Democratic senator is preparing to introduce legislation that aims to end the golden era of tax-free Internet shopping. “

Global Warming / Environment / Energy:

Yellowstone’s supervolcano – worse than we thought:
“University of Utah geophysicists made the first large-scale picture of the electrical conductivity of the gigantic underground plume of hot and partly molten rock that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano. The image suggests the plume is even bigger than it appears in earlier images made with earthquake waves.”

Insurance / Gambling:

DC to offer Internet gambling, becomes first in US:
“The District of Columbia is becoming the first U.S. jurisdiction to allow Internet gambling, trying to raise millions of dollars from the habits of online poker buffs and acting ahead of traditional gambling meccas like New Jersey and Nevada.”

Health / Safety:

Uncle Sam Says No, You Absolutely Can’t Have These Cars:
“They meet the standards of NHTSA’s “Show and Display” exemption. Such cars must be exceedingly rare, historically significant and driven a mere 2,500 miles annually. But if you think a boatload of money and reams of paperwork can get any car into the country, think again.”

Economics:

Hoyer joins Obama in calling past vote on debt ceiling ‘a mistake’:
“House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer has joined President Obama in conceding that he blundered by voting against an increase to the government’s debt ceiling. ”

US deficit up 15.7% in first half of fiscal 2011:
“The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle.”

Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure:
“After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation. Using the methodology in place at that time puts the CPI back near those levels.”

Legal:

Judge Rules ‘I Heart Boobies’ Bracelets Are OK For Students to Wear:
“Breast cancer fundraising bracelets that proclaim “I (heart) boobies!” are not lewd or vulgar and can’t be banned by public school officials who find them offensive, a federal judge in Pennsylvania said Tuesday in a preliminary ruling.”

Could This Email To Paul Ceglia Cost Mark Zuckerberg 50% of Facebook?:
“Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg scored a major victory on Monday, when a U.S. appeals court ruled that the Winklevoss twins could not appeal their previous settlement with Facebook over claims that Zuckerberg had stolen their idea for a similar site. But the victory may prove to be short-lived.”

A Nation of Winklevosses:
“Today, an unpaid contributor to the Huffington Post filed a $105 million suit against the website; its new owner, AOL; and co-founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer. The class action suit, filed by writer and union organizer Jonathan Tasini on behalf of all unpaid HuffPo contributors, proves that we’re becoming a nation of Winklevosses who file legal motion after legal motion every time a pot of money is spotted.”

Labor:

Flawed budget plan guided by SEIU:
“Gary Weeks’ balanced approach to budget is far from balanced. He and SEIU worked this out together.”

Transportation/ Land Use:

Chicago exploring high speed rail system:
“Chicago is moving a step closer to a high-speed rail line running from downtown to O’Hare International Airport.”