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U.S. Senator Rand Paul is currently trying to block the renewal of PATRIOT Act provisions related to the mass collection of phone records in the United States.

The Republican is currently holding the U.S. Senate floor and speaking about the mass collection of telephone call records and other activities in the union. Under the rules, Paul can speak until midnight, which is when a new legislative day will commence.

Paul's twitter account and news outlets are reporting the senator's activity as a filibuster, which is not entirely accurate since he is not actually delaying consideration of a bill. Nevertheless, Paul is using his time on the floor to talk about why it's time to "end NSA spying".

I've just taken the senate floor to begin a filibuster of the Patriot Act renewal. It's time to end the NSA spying!

-- Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) May 20, 2015

On June 1, provisions of the controversial U.S. PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001) will expire. Those provisions are referenced to justify the mass collection of data related to phone calls inside the United States.

It's time for America to get rid of the Copyright Alert System and replace it with the Canadian alternative responsible for a sharp decrease in piracy, an anti-piracy group has said.

Canadian Internet users that are alleged to have infringed copyright by downloading and sharing media online have begun receiving notices forwarded from their Internet Service Providers. While there are still controversial aspects of the program, a group is calling for the system to be replicated in the United States and to replace the comparably ineffective Copyright Alert System (CAS).

The Internet Security Task Force called last week for the U.S. to adopt a system more like that of the Canadian Copyright Modernization Act, citing data that shows a sizable drop in piracy activity on Canadian ISPs.

The data come from GEK-TEK International, which is a firm based in Los Angeles. GEK-TEK monitors online piracy and its business is to extract fees/settlements from alleged Internet piracy for its clients. It's main clients are Nu Image and Millennium Film and it has around 125 clients in Canada, and no doubt it would like to expand its horizons to more content owners.

Here are the figures attributed to GEK-TEK from Canada:

• Bell Canada - 69.6% decrease
• Telus Communications - 54.0% decrease
• Shaw Communications - 52.1% decrease
• TekSavvy Solutions - 38.3% decrease
• Rogers Cable - 14.9% decrease

ISTF wants CAS to be done away with entirely, claiming that it simply doesn't work.

Spotify is broadening its content distribution platform to include support for podcasts and short videos as it stares down rapidly growing competition in the media delivery space.

It's not economically feasible to rely on the volatile music streaming business these days with so many vultures in flight. If you stagnate and stand still you will fade into irrelevancy in an unforgiving market and an every-changing, increasingly demanding digital entertainment space.

Spotify is taking no risks and is squaring up to services like Tidal by adding support for videos and podcasts to its service. It won't be offering what you'd consider "full length episodes" in video, instead subscribers will have access to short videos around 10 minutes or shorter.

With commuters in mind, audio-only streams from video content will also be supported.

Spotify will of course make suggestions of what videos or podcasts you might like, just as it does with music, and content from the likes of ABC, BBC, Comedy Central, Condé Nast Entertainment, ESPN, Fusion, Maker Studios, NBC, TED and Vice Media will be available.

Also announced today is Spotify Running (video below) for those who listen to music when they go for a run. It will match your running tempo (BPM etc.) to music specifically selected for running activity, delivering music in time with your step. Some original tracks will also be available (six at launch).

Microsoft is put a white Xbox One console on sale again this month as part of a Special Edition Halo: The Master Chief Collection Bundle.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection features Halo: Combat Evolved, a re-mastered Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3 and Halo 4. For a limited time, fans can purchase an Xbox One Special Edition Halo: The Master Chief Collection Bundle, that includes a digital download code for the four Halo titles.

The bundle includes a Cirrus White Xbox One console and wireless controller.

Right now, the bundle is limited to consumers in the United States, with a price tag of $349. It will be available for a limited time at U.S. retailers, so long as supplies last.

Kim Dotcom had some more harsh words for the big Hollywood studios, as he faces charges for copyright infringement thanks to his former ownership of Megaupload.

"If Hollywood had some smart people working for them, they would probably have the biggest Internet company on the planet," Kim Dotcom said in an interview. "Instead, it's companies like Apple and Netflix that steal their thunder and this opportunity to monetize the power of the Internet. They completely missed the train."

Dotcom ran Megaupload until 2012 when it was shutdown by a police raid. At the time, the site was responsible for over 25 percent of all traffic on the Internet. Dotcom has been accused of copyright infringement, wire fraud and racketeering and is facing extradition to the U.S. although it is nowhere near a guarantee that he will ever leave New Zealand.

The studios are now trying to bully Dotcom out of fear, he added: "It's like the candlestick maker that didn't like the light bulb when it came along." Dotcom says Hollywood encourages piracy by not releasing films globally at the same time but rather choosing to roll it out sometimes over months. "Because people don't get that access, they are looking for the stuff elsewhere. So it's a problem created by the content creators, I'm not responsible for that."

An Internet Service Provider is working to get free legal advice for customers who are alleged to have downloaded illegal copies of Dallas Buyers Club.

iiNet is one of several Internet Service Providers in Australia that will have to identify account holders based on IP addresses allegedly used to pirate the film. In total, 4,726 IP addresses were allegedly connected to pirating the film, and a Federal Court has ordered their ISPs to identify the account holders linked to them.

Dallas Buyers Club LLC and Voltage Pictures brought the case to court in Australia and ISPs like iiNet resisted calls to identify their customers and provide their personal details. Once the information is handed over, the plaintiffs will be able to make contact with the alleged copyright infringers, but Federal Court Justice Nye Perram has stressed that letters seeking settlement need to be approved by the court, in order to avoid intimidation.

iiNet has provided information for customers who have downloaded Dallas Buyers Club and fear they might be among those identified and pursued for compensation. In the event that a customer receives a letter, iiNet recommends they seek legal advice immediately and makes a big commitment to its customers.

Randall Munroe, Richard Dawkins, Eula Biss and more make up Bill Gates' summer recommended reading list!

Bill reads a handful of books every year and reviews them, making recommendations based on his favorite books. This year he has strayed away from heavier topics like macroeconomics and finance, and is focusing on lighter alternatives that will be entertaining, informative and even humorous reads.

Among his recommendations this year is the noted "What If?" by Randall Munroe, which is a thoroughly entertaining read providing scientific answers to really bizarre questions. The book is funny to read, but still scientifically accurate and the reader can learn a bit about interesting topics (DNA, Ballistics, Ocean sciences etc).

Also from Munroe, Bill recommends "XKCD", which is a collection of material from the XKCD blog.

Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins also gets a nod from Gates for his book "The Magic of Reality" which is intended for a younger audience but can still be read and enjoyed by adults. Dawkins is famed for his ability for making Scientific concepts understandable and appealing to the general public, but in recent years has been known more for his stance on religion. Gates doesn't endorse Dawkins' ideas on religion fully, but still credits him as one of the greatest science writers.

Google will show real-time tweets in search results provided to mobile devices to keep users up to the moment when searching for topics.

For example, searching for information on NASA can show the latest tweets from the organization, up to the minute. The same can be said for pop stars and celebrities, or a trend like tweets about the finale of a TV show while it is airing.

This provides organizations and publishers another way to reach a more global audience on topics that are relevant right now.

To start, live tweets are launching on Google.com in English in the Google app (on Android and iOS) and on mobile browsers, rolling out gradually.

A Popcorn Time fork that works in modern web browsers without downloading and installing an additional app has appeared online.

We really don't expect the popcorninyourbrowser.net to last very long if we are honest. Popcorn Time is a very popular torrent-based movie and TV show streaming solution that plays video content as it downloads. Since the original Popcorn Time ceased to be, there have been multiple forks of continued development.

It has captured the attention of Hollywood because it makes viewing the latest movies and TV shows, in HD, very easy using apps that work on Android, Windows and so on. It sports a very simple interface and will do all the torrenting in the background.

The new site has a responsive search that lets the user find popular films, and with a click will attempt to get the film playing. It is described only as a Mashup of YTS and Coinado.io.

Some brief testing we did showed that it does work but seems rather slow. In any case, we can't see it being online - or at least accessible at the current domain - for much longer.

Two groups claiming to represent the interests of children have reported the YouTube Kids App to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claiming it provides access to inappropriate content.

The two groups - Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy - said they could use the app to find videos that were extremely disturbing and "potentially harmful for young kids to view."

Among the objectionable content, the groups cited explicit sexual language in cartoons; jokes about pedophilia and drug use; activities such as juggling knives, tasting battery acid, and making a noose; and adult discussions about family violence, pornography, and child suicide, according to a Wall Street Journal blog post.

"Google promised parents that YouTube Kids would deliver appropriate content for children, but it has failed to fulfill its promise," said attorney Aaron Mackey.

Google said it works hard to make sure that the videos that can be accessed through the app are as kids-friendly as possible. It uses automatic filters, user feedback and reviews to determine if access to content should be removed.

A YouTube video blamed for kicking off violence all over the world for perceived offense to Muslims, Islam and the prophet Muhammad should not be banned, a U.S. court has decided.

The "Innocence of Muslims" video was technically a trailer for a longer film that started production as "Desert Warrior". The video caused a surge of violence in some parts of the middle east and the western world for its portrayal of the figure Mohammed from Islam as a fool, a sexual deviant, a delinquent and so on.

Fatwas were issued against the producer of the film, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, and against the cast. What the cast didn't know is dialogue had been dubbed over the film in post-production to add anti-Islamic sentiment.

YouTube voluntarily blocked access to the video in some countries, citing a difficult situation, but it did not remove it in the United States or most of the western world. Google did not find the content of the video in violation to its rules, finding it was about Islam and did not qualify as hate speech against a particular ethnic group.

However, actress Cindy Lee Garcia claimed to have been tricked by the producers of the film and filed a lawsuit against Google seeking to have the footage removed. Garcia had received death threats for her part in the production of the film beforehand, but was relying on a weak copyright claim in order to have the film removed from YouTube, and a district court refused her request.

A man turned himself in to police in the UK to confess to possessing sexual images involving animals after being threatened by ransomware on his PC.

The 61-year old living in Scotland had encountered a run-of-the-mill ransomware infection on his Windows PC in 2013. Unlike more advanced ransomware that uses cryptography to wall off access to files on infected PCs until a ransom is paid, this infection just locked the screen and threw up a phony warning from police.

Such ransomware infections often claim to have detected illegal browsing activity, illegal files such as pornography or copyright infringing content, and threatens to forward the information to authorities unless a ransom is paid. Some even use location information on the PC to pick the relevant police force based on the territory the victim resides in.

In this case, the man in question reportedly paid £100 in ransom to regain access to his files, which actually were never encrypted at all. To his dismay, the access was not restored and fearing he was about to be arrested, he turned himself in to police.

He admitted to possessing hundreds of images of animals of a sexual nature, including horses, dogs and pigs, although he maintained that he never actually looked at them after downloading them.

Notorious Pirate ship sets sail for new shores after a Swedish court ordered the seizure of both thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se domain names.

Once again the Pirate Bay has been forced into evasive maneuvers to thwart legal efforts to sink it to the bottom of the ocean. This time, the Stockholm District Court ordered the official thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se domain names seized, continuing a cat and mouse game that has been going on for over a decade between the Pirate Bay and... everyone.

(Also Read: Canadian copyright notice program reduces piracy by up to 70%, and is heading for the United States?)

In response, the Pirate Bay now has SIX new domain names ending in .GS, .LA, .VG,. AM, .MN and .GD. The new logo on the evasive torrent site features a Lernaean Hydra - a mythical monster from Greek mythology that sports multiple heads - and the new domain names.

Humble as always, the Pirate Bay team congratulated the prosecutor for wasting time and money on this latest effort to slay the beast.

"Congratulations to Prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad. Two years hard work to get us to change two little letters at a cost of $20,000 per letter," TorrentFreak quotes TPB team.

Today we have the first official trailer for the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic featuring Michael Fassbender in the lead role.

The teaser doesn't reveal too much about the film, but we do get to see Fassbender as the genius founder of Apple.

Steve Jobs is directed by Danny Boyle and also has Seth Rogen as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman.

Check out the trailer here:

HTC has confirmed today that they will stop producing their 'mini' line of products as the company focuses on devices with screens larger than 5 inches.

North Asia president Jack Tong said the smaller devices are no longer in fashion in the industry.

In fact, the company's most recent budget offering has lower-end specs but still has a 5.5-inch display.

Truthfully, Apple killed off the 'compact" smartphone market when it moved away from tiny screened devices and launched the iPhone 6 last year.