Future versions of the open-source Firefox browser will include closed-source digital rights management (DRM) from Adobe, the Mozilla project’s chief technology officer, Andreas Gal, announced on Wednesday. The purpose is to support commercial video streams. But this is a radical, disheartening development in the history of the organisation, long held out as a beacon for the open, free spirit of the web as a tool for liberation. As Gal’s blogpost makes clear, this move was done without much enthusiasm, out of a fear that Firefox (Mozilla’s flagship product and by far the most popular free/open browser in the world) was being sidelined by Apple, Google and Microsoft’s inclusion of proprietary technology to support Netflix and other DRM-encumbered videos in their browsers.

Le monopole de fait de Google sur les moteurs de recherche, qui constituent la porte d’entrée principale vers le web, soulève des enjeux de souveraineté et de concurrence importants.

Downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your country. Use at your own risk.

The United Kingdom’s top spy agency is facing legal action following revelations published by The Intercept about its involvement in secret efforts to hack into computers on a massive scale.

Revolutionizing the cash register receipt sounds like the worst kind of startup cliché, but indulge me for a moment.

The story of America’s biggest intelligence leak started simply: with an email.

Google and other search engines routinely field takedown requests to remove material from results that violates copyright, defamation, and other laws. But a ruling today (pdf) by the European Union’s highest court will now require them to consider takedown requests for material that is merely embarrassing or inconvenient, rather than illegal.