Reid: Angle is "Demagoguing" Immi Issue - TIME

Leader says he's "certain" his opponent is behind ads discouraging Latino voters from going to the polls in interview with Maddow.

Tells the MSNBC anchor she should "dress up as Bill O'Reilly" to increase chances of scoring interview with the GOPer.

On getting Latino voters out to the polls:

Reid: My goal is turnout all voters but I think we have an especially difficult situation which she has created ... All she does is cause people to be afraid. There is no reason to be afraid -- we've got to work our way through this issue. She has not issued one positive statement ... constructive statement about what we do with the issue of immigration. It's something we have to fix.

"We can’t do it with people like her demagoguing the issue. And to think -- to think -- that someone would suggest in America that people should not vote."

"She has been part of an effort to have people not vote ... That's about as un-American as you can get."

Maddow questions whether Angle is directly involved in the ads – says she thought it was an independent effort.

Reid: "Wouldn't you think that if something as negative, irresponsible ... wouldn't you think somebody would denounce it? ... she is in the background, urging them on -- I'm certain."

On Maddow getting interview with Angle:

Reid: "Maybe you should do what she does -- pretend you're somebody else ... maybe you could dress up as Bill O'Reilly."

Maddow: You know she might be more comfortable in that regard ... does anybody have a suit I can borrow."

"I don't think it's the suit, I think it's the face."

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Satisfied with Google's promise to restrain Street View, FTC drops privacy ... - Washington Post

The federal government has ended an inquiry into a privacy breach involving Google's Street View service, satisfied with the company's pledge to stop gathering e-mail, passwords and other information from residential WiFi networks as it rolls through neighborhoods.

Wednesday's decision by the Federal Trade Commission is a sharp contrast with the reaction of regulators in Europe. The United Kingdom has launched a new investigation into Google's collection of unencrypted WiFi data, exposing the company to potential fines. Germany told Google to mark its Street View cars that take pictures of neighborhoods and homes. The Czech Republic banned Google from expanding its mapping software program.

The differences highlight an increasing gap between regulators in the United States, where the freewheeling Internet culture has birthed many of the social networking sites and search engines used worldwide, and governments in Europe and Canada, which tend to be much more aggressive about privacy.

"Part of it is cultural, and part of it is that the U.S. and Europe have radically different privacy regimes," said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the ACLU. "The European model is extensive data protection in private information, and the U.S. model is piecemeal."

The result is a rising number of trans-Atlantic conflicts. The Obama administration has been criticized for its efforts to allow law enforcement to surveil Internet networks, for instance. In addition, the European Union is pushing back against U.S. demands to share data about U.S.-bound air passengers.

Many European nations have laws that sanction or fine companies for learning too much about Web users and sharing that information with other companies. Regulators there tend to focus on consumers' rights to their own information on the Internet. In the United States, companies argue that consumers lose their rights after information is shared with a third party.

U.S. regulators are working on suggestions for how far companies can go with information they collect, store and share about Internet users. Those suggestions, to be released in a report by the FTC in the coming weeks, could result in a legislative road map for Congress. But because of the agency's limited rule-making power, the FTC's report could have limited impact, privacy groups fear.

The advocates also argue that U.S. companies have a strong voice in debates at the FTC and on Capitol Hill over privacy legislation. As a result, critics say, the U.S. government has been more sensitive to how privacy regulation or laws could affect the businesses of Web sites like Facebook and Amazon and media sites, such as The Washington Post and CNN.com.

"We are trying to develop a framework with input of many stakeholders that would be useful as we all go forward on privacy," said Jessica Rich, deputy director of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau.

In a letter to Google on Wednesday, the FTC said privacy concerns from its Street View cars' data collection were allayed when the search giant announced that it would beef up privacy training for employees and not use any collected data for any Google products or services.

"This assurance is critical to mitigate the potential harm to consumers from the collection of payload data," David Vladeck, head of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau, wrote in closing the review.

While taking photos of cars and homes, Google's Street View cars were also collecting information about the placement of WiFi networks. After German authorities investigated the practice, Google said its cars had accidentally also collected Internet user data - or payload data - while passing homes.

"We are deeply disappointed that FTC dropped the ball on Google," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "It took other regulators in Germany and Canada to expose the extent of the privacy violation. And the U.S. is saying it will continue to be absent on this issue."

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Apple`s White iPhone Delays Causing Color Coordination Angst - eWeek

Apple executives are attempting to comfort customers dismayed by Oct. 27 news reports that the eagerly-awaited White iPhone would be delayed until spring. Apple is claiming that production of a phone with white plastic proved significantly more challenging than production of the same phone with black plastic. For reasons that remain obscure, iPhone fanciers have been waiting with bated breath for the white version. 

After a few minutes of in-depth research on the problem with white iPhones, I?ve been able to make some basic determinations as to what might be going on here, really. Clearly, making a phone white does not strain the limits of phone production technology. After all, Western Electric was making white phones back in the days of rotary dials. Since that time a number of companies, including Panasonic and General Electric have sold white cordless phones. So the color white clearly does not preclude the phone-worthiness of a device.

Nor does being white keep a smart phone from working. Rim has been making white BlackBerries for a couple of years, and has just announced a new version of the Bold, running BlackBerry OS 6.0, that will come in white. So it has to be something besides manufacturing. Some Apple sources say it?s because the white home button doesn?t match the case. But that reason is also clearly bogus since the existing black iPhone cases and the black buttons don?t match either.  

No, something more sinister is at work here. Perhaps Apple is suffering a case of political correctness run amok? Perhaps by creating a white iPhone, Apple might lose its status of being the coolest phone out there. Or perhaps they?re afraid of being too much like RIM, which is, after all, from Canada, not California which is the home of all that?s cool (as differentiated from cold, which is what Canada has to offer). 

On the other hand, perhaps it?s fear of losing a competitive advantage. After all, Android phones are available in silver and black, but not white. Is this the fear of losing the silver and black market to the Android masses? Think about it. The hyper successful Droid line from Verizon Wireless is black. Most BlackBerries are black, except for those which are red or purple or gold or whatever. Perhaps black is the color of success in phones, just like in the old days when pay phones were all black. 

Or, perhaps the black iPhones have priority on the secret underground iPhone production line because Verizon Wireless likes black phones and there simply isn?t capacity for white phones on the same line. Sometime next spring, after Apple has sold Verizon Wireless its ten million black iPhones, the production lines will free up and they can start using up that supply of non-matching white cases that have been gathering dust since July. After all, who is really going to care if the white home button doesn?t match the white case? Who is even going to be able to tell? They?re on different sides of the phone, after all.

But if white is that big a problem, maybe it might be better if Apple chooses some other color. Granny Smith Green, perhaps? Delicious Red? That won?t come with the marketing baggage of the white iPhone, and it?ll be a lot less boring. And they ARE Apple colors, right? 

There are, of course, solutions. The most obvious is spray paint. The advantage is that you can have a white iPhone in seconds. It?s also cheap, readily available, and if you let it dry properly it won?t cause too many serious health hazards. The primary downside is that you have to be careful what part of the phone you paint. 

And of course, you can buy up scrap Western Electric white phones, melt them down into a nice batch of phenolic resin and cast the iPhone parts from that. The resulting phones will be white, they?ll be cheap and rugged. The fact that they?ll weigh three pounds each is a small price to pay for a white iPhone. 

And of course, you can take a marketing lesson from Steve Jobs and simply deny that your black iPhone is actually black. You can hold a press conference and explain that it?s just a different kind of white, that the whole discussion is just the media causing ?black case gate.? If you think about it, the case is the color it should be. Calling the case black will just show that you?re out of touch. 

Or, of course, you can just wait until Apple gets its act together to make white phones. But where?s the fun in that? 

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