IT Executive news

• F5 Networks brings back retired exec after CEO resigns over "personal conduct"

  14-12-2015 23:41
  
  F5 Networks, the Seattle-based application delivery networking company with an increasingly cloud-oriented focus, has announced that CEO and President Manuel Rivelo has resigned "for matters regarding personal conduct unrelated to the operations or financials of the Company."
  Or as F5 spins it in its press release headline on Monday: "F5 Networks Announces Appointment of Long-Time F5 Executive John McAdam as President and CEO."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please clic
  
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• Salesforce scoops up MinHash for marketing intelligence

  14-12-2015 22:22
  
  It's no secret that marketing is a big consumer of big data, so it's perhaps not all that surprising that Salesforce has acquired MinHash. Founded just last year, the tiny, four-person startup has been applying data science to making sense of audience trends.News of the acquisition was uncovered Monday, but terms were not disclosed."At Salesforce, we will continue to pursue our passion for search, data science and machine learning on a much broader scale, as part of the world’s #1 CRM comp
  
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• FAA mandates registration for all non-commercial drones

  14-12-2015 22:08
  
  Drones are one of the hottest tech gifts this holiday season, but if you receive one you'll have to register it with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).The new regulations announced Monday follow numerous incidents of drones invading airspace near airports, where they could cause catastrophic accidents. For now, the policy only applies to hobbyists, and commercial drone operators will be exempt until more rules are passed next year.Like it or not, FAA is right to require drone r
  
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• AT&T and Verizon both working on sponsored data offers

  14-12-2015 21:36
  
  The nation's two biggest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, have entered another competitive arena, this time over so-called "sponsored data," which gives customers access to low-cost or toll-free data.
  In such programs, third-party vendors generally work with the carriers to offer apps or other content to customers without eating into the users' own data plans. The third parties, which can be as diverse as hotel chains or app makers, usually pay for the data that is required to
  
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• Samsung makes last-chance appeal to Supreme Court on Apple verdict

  14-12-2015 21:29
  Samsung is attempting to take its years-old patent fight with Apple to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday, it filed an appeal to the court asking it to take a look at the rules regarding design patents -- rules that haven't been touched in 120 years.The appeal comes on the same day Samsung is due to pay Apple $548 million in damages in relation to multiple patent claims and is something of a last-ditch effort by the company to reduce the overall total due.It relates to an award of $399 milli
  
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• Microsoft Edge sheds more share as users pick other browsers on Windows 10

  14-12-2015 21:17
  
  Microsofts Edge browser, the replacement for Internet Explorer on Windows 10, continues to struggle to retain users, according to multiple metrics sources.Since Edge debuted in late July, Microsoft''s latest browser has shed share each month.Data from three sources showed the decline both globally and in the U.S.; in the latter, the browser -- and Windows 10 -- have attracted a larger percentage of users than overseas' markets. The numbers for each source differ -- largely because of their varyi
  
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• Facebook's Parse launches developer tools for Apple's tvOS, watchOS 2

  14-12-2015 19:55
  
  Parse, the development platform provider owned by Facebook, announced on Monday a pair of new tools aimed at helping developers build apps for the Apple Watch and the new Apple TV. 
  The new watchOS 2 and tvOS software development kits are designed to make it easier for developers who work with Parse to create applications for Apple hardware. They build on the service's existing support for platforms including iOS, Android, Windows and OS X, and provide a variety of services for developers
  
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• Samsung Galaxy S7 likely to get pressure-sensitive display, high-speed charging

  14-12-2015 19:54
  
  Samsung will add a pressure-sensitive display and high-speed charging port to the upcoming Galaxy S7, according to a report on Monday.
  The vendor is also considering a retina scanner for some versions of the new smartphone, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. In addition, there will also be a curved-screen Galaxy S7 Edge, following the pattern set with the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
  Also expected: An improved camera for low-light photos that sits flush to the back of the phone, the Jo
  
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• IT hiring to increase while recruiting challenges remain in 2016

  14-12-2015 19:53
  
  IT managers responsible for finding new talent can expect a busy first half of the year, according to the latest forecast for tech hiring. 
  A solid 78% of hiring managers anticipate bringing on more tech people in the first six months of 2016 compared to the second half of 2015, reports tech career site Dice. Among those who see more hiring on the horizon, 71% plan to boost their teams by 11% or more. 
  Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear to be getting any easier to find skilled talent.
  
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• VMware backs out of planned Virtustream cloud business

  14-12-2015 19:52
  
  Just months after announcing plans to merge its cloud business with EMC’s Virtustream, VMware said today that it is backing out of the deal.VMware informed investors via a regulatory filing that it will no longer participate in the formation of a Virtustream Cloud Services Business unit, but did not say why.The move comes as EMC announced over the weekend that is moving forward with plans to be acquired by Dell for $67 billion, having not received any better offers since the record deal w
  
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• How Notre Dame is going all in with Amazon's cloud

  14-12-2015 19:52
  
  Higher education websites can be suddenly and unexpectedly thrown into the national spotlight. Think of a college football team winning a championship or a natural disaster striking a campus. In either situation, a related traffic spike can flood a website.
  These were some of scenarios that leaders of Notre Dame’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) thought about three and a half years ago when they load tested the university’s website, which had been hosted on a couple of server
  
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• A $2,000 H-1B fee on Indian firms may return

  14-12-2015 19:51
  
  A special $2,000 H-1B fee imposed on large Indian offshore firms but allowed to lapse may return in the spending bill being negotiated by Congress.
  The fee was first imposed in 2010 but expired at the start of the new federal fiscal year.
  This extra fee applies to companies with at least 50% of their employees on H-1B visa or L-1 visas, and is in addition to the other fees paid by employers. Because of its 50% threshold, it mostly hits the large Indian IT services firms, the leading users of th
  
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• Renewable energy passes the 50 percent mark for new U.S. electricity capacity

  14-12-2015 19:49
  
  Electricity generated from renewable sources accounted for more than 50% of all new U.S. energy capacity installations in 2014, growing to 15.5% of total installed capacity and 13.5% of total electricity generation.
  Solar electricity installations lead the pack, increasing by more than 54% and adding  5.5 gigawatts (GW), according to a report from an annual report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). NRELRenewable energy capacity growth from 2004 through 2014.To read this ar
  
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• Cisco will need to tackle these high-tech issues in 2016

  14-12-2015 19:49
  
  As it sets its sights on becoming the No. 1 IT company in the industry, Cisco will continue to face challenges and opportunities in virtually every IT market. Here’s an arbitrary list of 10 areas that will impact Cisco in 2016 as the company evolves to address emerging trends that are shaping the industry in the coming year and beyond.
  The antithesis of Cisco is disaggregation, taking off the shelf switching hardware and mixing and matching multivendor and open source operating systems to
  
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• Video series reminds you why memory cards are not dead yet

  14-12-2015 19:31
  
  Apparently 2015 was the 10-year anniversary of the original microSD memory card. Who knew? Not I … at least not until the SD Association sent me an email pitch about a new YouTube and social media campaign (#choosemicroSD) that's designed to remind consumers, who increasingly look to the cloud for their storage needs, that there's still a place in the tech world for memory cards.The SD Association is an industry group formed in 2000 to "create standards and then promote the adoption, adva
  
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• Google to revoke trust in a Symantec root certificate

  14-12-2015 19:08
  Very soon, the Android OS, Chrome browser and other Google products will stop trusting all digital certificates that are linked to a 20-year-old Verisign root certificate.The announcement comes after Symantec unveiled plans to retire the Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority from public use. This is a widely trusted CA that it acquired along with Verisign's SSL business in 2010.In an alert, the company said that as of Dec. 1, it no longer was using the root certificate, which is trusted
  
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• Facebook's killing photo sync and pushing users to dedicated Moments app

  14-12-2015 18:50
  
  Facebook is shutting down photo sync in its mobile apps, and is asking users to try the standalone Moments app instead.
  Photo sync arrived on Facebook a few years ago, letting users automatically upload photos from their phones’ camera rolls. Those photos were stored privately by default, and users could then choose which ones to share on the social network.
  But on January 10, that feature will go away,TechCrunch reports. Users will have to download Moments if they want to keep syncing th
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: Google updates Maps for iOS to show gas prices

  14-12-2015 18:49
  
  Google's Maps app for iOS has long been ahead of Apple's own Maps app, and now it looks like Google is jumping ahead yet again. In its latest update to Google Maps (Version 4.13.0), the company has included gasoline prices as well as various bug fixes.Will Apple soon follow suit and add gasoline prices to its own Maps app? I'll share my thoughts below but here are some details from Cam Bunton at 9to5Mac:
  First up, and undoubtedly the most useful for drivers is the up-to-date gas prices in the U.
  
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• 5 reasons 2016 will be the year of the 'new IT'

  14-12-2015 18:44
  
  Amit Pandey, CEO of cloud application delivery specialist Avi Networks, says 2016 will be the year of the "new IT." The confluence of cloud environments and applications, along with technologies like software-defined networking, are going to rewrite the rules for IT in 2016, he says.The transformation has been underway for some time, but Pandey says that in 2016, CIOs and other tech leaders will have to revamp the way they approach IT if they want their companies to keep pace and remain competit
  
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• Top 10 tech stories 2015: Transformation and transition

  14-12-2015 18:14
  
  Cloud and mobile computing have created an imperative for the tech world: Change or fail. This year, legacy vendors like Dell, EMC and Microsoft all took major steps to reinvent themselves, sparking some of the biggest tech stories of the year. And all around us we've seen portents of big change at the intersection of tech and culture: self-driving cars, wearable technology, the use of drones for fun and profit. That's prompting increased attention on safety, privacy and public policy concerns a
  
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• Dish Network innovates with analytics, Uber-like customer service

  14-12-2015 17:42
  
  Facing mounting subscriber losses, Dish Network is banking on new technologies to lure brand partners and customers accustomed to ordering digital services online and from mobile devices. The satellite TV provider’s new digital advertising platform relies on sophisticated analytics, as well as software that allows subscribers to track the whereabouts of service technicians en route to house calls, says John Swieringa, who last week was promoted from CIO to executive vice president of opera
  
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• 4 attributes that make a CEO successful

  14-12-2015 16:41
  
  There’s been a lot of drama over at Yahoo. The news that its board had tossed out Marissa Mayer’s plan to sell off the Alibaba stake in order to get the cash needed to fund a turnaround and instead decided to spin out the core business didn’t seem to accomplish the “get the cash” part of the plan at all.This would be like telling your son to sell the family car so you could buy food and having him come back proudly pronouncing he didn’t want to pay the taxes s
  
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• Pandora’s Thumbprint Radio combines all your interests into a personal mega-station

  14-12-2015 16:36
  
  Pandora has a new Internet radio station for all those moments of crippling indecision.
  Dubbed Thumbprint Radio, the station draws upon your entire “thumbs up” history to play both new and familiar tracks. That way, you can start listening to songs you might like without having to specify an artist or genre. The station will continue to adapt as you give more thumbs up to individual tracks.
  To get started, users will need to have at least three Pandora stations, each with at least f
  
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• Amazon yanks hoverboards from store over fire concerns

  14-12-2015 16:35
  
  If you’re shopping online for great holiday deals, at least one popular gift may get a little harder to find. Amazon recently pulled a number of high-profile hoverboard brands from its online store following reports of the electric scooters bursting into flames. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC) is looking into at least 10 reports of the devices overheating and causing fires, according to numerous reports like this one from NBC News.
  The USCPSC isn’t naming names,
  
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• FAA to require consumer drone registration from next week

  14-12-2015 16:29
  
  The U.S. government will start requiring owners of consumer drones to register their aircraft. The move, which has been expected, comes shortly before thousands of drones are expected to be given as holiday gifts.The Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for aircraft registration, has rushed to bring in the rule as an increasing number of aircraft pilots report near-misses with consumer drones being flown illegally.Under present rules, drones must remain under 400 feet in altitud
  
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• The best Live Photos alternatives for the iPhone

  14-12-2015 15:57
  
  One of the best features of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is its Live Photos, a photo effect that brings movement to an otherwise still photo. The iPhone’s camera records 1.5 seconds of footage before and after you hit the shutter button, and the results are nothing short of magical.However, if you’re running an older iPhone, the Live Photos bash is like a party you’re not invited to: You can view Live Photos from afar, but you can’t take them yourself. Luckily, th
  
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• Firms expect fines, new costs from Safe Harbor changes

  14-12-2015 15:56
  
  IT budgets are expected to see a rumble of activity in the wake of the Safe Harbor earthquake.
  In a new Ovum survey of IT decision makers at international companies, 70 percent said they expect to increase spending next year, 66 percent expect to have to make changes in their European business strategy, and 52 percent expect to be facing fines.
  In October, the European Court of Justice, citing a lack of privacy protections in the U.S., invalidated the Safe Harbor agreement that had previously g
  
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• Data breaches will affect 25 percent of world's population by 2020, IDC predicts

  14-12-2015 15:53
  
  IDC predicts that by 2020, more than 1.5 billion people, or roughly 1/4 of the world's population, will be affected by data breaches.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Demand for data driven marketers will drive CMO turnover, IDC predicts

  14-12-2015 15:36
  
  IDC predicts that CMO job turnover will continue at 25 percent per year (or higher) through 2018, driven by the recruitment of those rare few who are true data driven CMOs.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Twitter warns users targeted by state-sponsored hackers

  14-12-2015 15:31
  
  Twitter has warned some of its users that they may have been targeted in an attack by state-sponsored hackers.This is the first time that the social media website has issued such an alert, but companies like Google and Facebook have issued similar warnings in the past to their respective users."We believe that these actors (possibly associated with a government) may have been trying to obtain information such as email addresses, IP addresses and/or phone numbers," Twitter said in its notificatio
  
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• Why high IT talent turnover is your fault

  14-12-2015 14:52
  
  Attrition is a major problem in a tight tech talent market, but many organizations have only themselves to blame when employees leave for better opportunities."Turnover rates tend to increase when the economy is strong, because tech professionals are more confident in their ability to secure a better position, higher pay or a better cultural 'fit,'" says Bob Melk, president at Dice.com. Turnover rates have been rising since 2012, according to Dice.com data, and it's an increasingly large headach
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: 3 ways to avoid costly software selection mismatches

  14-12-2015 13:42
  
  Recently, I joined a tech product review forum. This is a volunteer assignment where the sponsors encourage objective reviews. The reviews help prospective customers to make informed buying decisions.My first assignment was to review a robotic vacuum cleaner. I found the product easy to unpack and set up. I needed to watch the robot the first few times I used it, to ensure that the machine did not get snagged on something. After multiple random passes, it cleaned the ground floor of my home. Thi
  
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• 7 things millennials are looking for at work

  14-12-2015 13:40
  
  Things millennials are looking for at workImage by ThinkstockMillennials face a number of misconceptions in the workplace. Are they really all buried in their smartphones and expecting to go from entry level to manager in a month? Recent research shows that's not the case. However, millennials do want more from their employers than free snacks in the break room or a laid-back environment."Millennials will make up more than 50 percent of the workforce by 2020, so it's crucial for companies of all
  
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• IDG Contributor Network: A Picture can say a thousand words

  14-12-2015 13:36
  
  Inefficient delivery of patient care is a significant cause of rising health care costs. Traditional methods of documenting complex processes and workflows do not translate well into the health care setting. Fortunately, an innovative hospital employee, Vinh Ton, has come up with a solution that he submitted to our Innovation Lab in Newport Beach, Calif.Ton created “VisuFlow,” a health care process and workflow diagramming tool that consists of a collection of health care-centric ste
  
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• 12 gifts for IT departments this holiday season

  14-12-2015 13:04
  
  1. Devops and Visual Studio Team Services 
  Gartner’s prediction that 25 percent of Global 2000 organizations will be using devops as a mainstream practice looks conservative when you consider the number of companies promising that their products will meld your developers and operations department into an efficient, agile system. The reality is that a service like Visual Studio Team Services (as Visual Studio Online is now called) gives you a powerful set of tools for everything f
  
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• Search every video-streaming service with Yahoo's new app

  14-12-2015 12:40
  
  Yahoo’s new iOS app will have viewers spending less time searching through streaming apps to find something to watch, and more time actually watching.
  The Yahoo Video Guideapp is a one-stop-shop for finding movies and TV shows that are streaming on over 30 services. With Yahoo Video Guide, you can search for movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon Instant Video, Showtime, YouTube, Xfinity and other channel apps, as well as rent or purchase movies and TV episodes from s
  
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• 3 cool Chrome extensions for Gmail

  14-12-2015 12:39
  
  When you finish writing an email in Gmail but don’t want to send it immediately, leaving it in the Drafts folder and reminding yourself to click “send” at another time is the usual course of action. Third-party services that work through a Chrome (or Firefox) extension can let you schedule your email to be sent on a later day and time of your choosing.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
  
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• Illustrated guide to Windows 10 networking

  14-12-2015 12:38
  
  Among the significant changes in Windows 10—the new Start Menu and better integration between the desktop and app interfaces—are some new network-related features and changes. Although the process of connecting to and configuring networks remains nearly the same, there are some new features you ought to explore. One feature in particular can have a negative impact on your network security, if not handled properly.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(
  
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• Apple reportedly pushing iPhone 6s through popup App Store ads

  14-12-2015 12:37
  
  Popup ads are, for better or worse, a fact of life on the Internet. They are not, however, something you'd expect to see in the App Store app for iOS. But as 9to5Mac reported late last week, Apple is apparently using a popup ad in the App Store to promote the iPhone 6s to owners of older devices.
  The popup, first noticed by @dirk_gently on Twitter, includes a basic iPhone 6s ad with links encouraging you to learn more about or upgrade to a new iPhone; a Skip button in the upper-right lets you b
  
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• The 12 days of Raspberry Pi-mas

  14-12-2015 12:36
  
  Happy holidaysWell, the holidays are here in deadly earnest, and one of the best ways to avoid them is to coop yourself up in the garage and tinker with a tiny Raspberry Pi computer. Here’s some inspiration, for the hobbyist who can’t get the 12 days of Christmas out of his or her head.12 drummers drumming…Image by YouTube.comTo read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
  
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• Maximum security: Essential tools for everyday encryption

  14-12-2015 12:34
  
  Encryption is under attack. Regardless of whether you think you have anything to hide, you should be concerned.
  Encryption is the chief means by which we can secure our sensitive private information and communications from prying eyes, and governments around the world are challenging our ability to use encryption technologies by arguing that encryption makes it difficult for law enforcement officials to conduct investigations or monitor suspicious online activity. Their solution? Establishing &
  
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• Microsoft's biggest hits, misses and WTF moments of 2015

  14-12-2015 12:33
  
  Windows 10. Surface Book. HoloLens. Office. Microsoft arguably delivered the biggest updates, changes, and surprises of any major tech company this year, most of them positive.
  While Microsoft deserves credit for the good, it can't escape the bad—and it ends the year with a few notable disappointments. Look back with us on a very busy year for Microsoft. We've winnowed the list to the biggest hits and misses—did we overlook anything that was big to you? Let us know in the comments.&
  
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• Social media addiction is a bigger problem than you think

  14-12-2015 12:32
  
  Social networks are massively addictive. Most people I know check and interact on social sites constantly throughout the day. And they have no idea how much actual time they spend on social media.
  If you're a social media addict, and your addiction is getting worse, there's a reason for that: Most of the major social network companies, as well as social content creators, are working hard every day to make their networks so addictive that you can't resist them.Facebook: I wish I knew how to quit
  
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• Elon Musk and Silicon Valley masterminds join forces to keep robots from killing us all

  14-12-2015 00:56
  
  Whether you realize it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is already everywhere—from the phone you text on to the car you drive. And despite fears of a future robot uprising, the future will likely bring more AI, not less. 
  To help keep the future safe for humanity, Elon Musk and a group of high-tech heavyweights have teamed up to launch a new research non-profit called OpenAI. OpenAI’s mission is “to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely
  
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• Tor hires former EFF chief as executive director

  14-12-2015 00:13
  
  A former Electronic Frontier Foundation executive director will lead the Tor Project, the widely used anonymity tool that frequently comes up in debates over encryption and privacy.Shari Steele was selected in part for her experience in growing non-profits and "will be especially valuable as we continue our campaign to diversify our funding sources," wrote Roger Dingledine, Tor's interim executive director, in a blog post.Steele spent 20 years at the EFF, starting as a staff attorney, then
  
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