TV commercials now include ultrasonic surveillance audio, meant to be detected by malware in any nearby mobile device.

The main wrong here is in the malware, which should be prohibited. However, television regulators should prohibit the inclusion of these sounds in broadcasts.

The hypothetical example in China is silly, because it is easy for Big Brother to determine that several cell phones are in the same place, just through the normal tracking that is done. This tracking, and the remotely-enabled capability to listen on all conversations in the room, are why I call those phones "Stalin's dream", and the main reason why I refuse to carry one.

US thugs only occasionally hit, kick or kill people, but they are very frequently stealing under the cover of law.

Rumors say that imprisoned Syrian free software leader Bassel Khartabil is going to be executed by Assad's men.

Unfortunately there is no better source of information about whether this is true. Syrian thugs are even more secretive about their killings than US thugs.

Deforestation in the Amazon threatens extinction for thousands of tree species that live only there.

Global heating is likely to wipe out large parts of the Amazon rainforest, through drought and fire.

Over 700 human rights activists have been murdered in Colombia in the past 20 years.