According to documents obtained by CNET, the DEA is upset because the encryption used by Apple's iMessage foils their ability to snoop on those communications. Even with a warrant (increasingly seen as optional these days by law enforcement and intelligence agencies) and the fact that carriers let the NSA snoop on everything in real time, "it is impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices."

Well not entirely impossible; the memo notes that sometimes interception is possible, but it would require the government to conduct man in the middle attacks using spoofed cell towers, something the feds just got busted for using for years without properly informing Judges.

Encryption isn't particularly hard, but as an ACLU analyst in the CNET piece points out, most companies and providers don't put any effort into it:The government has been pushing for years to have wiretap and privacy laws like CALEA changed to provide them with easier access to encrypted services like Gmail.

Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Google; there have been no limit of companies eager to disrupt the pay TV ecosystem, though every one of them have run face first into licensing restrictions imposed by a pay TV sector that very much doesn't want to be disrupted. That doesn't seem to stop the tech press from getting blindly bubbly and enthusiastic every time another company says they're going to try.

You might recall that iiNet, one of Australia's largest ISPs, was sued by the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and the Australian arms of various movie studios for failing to stop the transfer of pirated content across their network. iiNet fought back and won; Company CEO Michael Malone at the time argued the industry's demands for iiNet to play traffic cop were unreasonable if not impossible, and that "these guys are asking us to be judge, jury and executioner."

iiNet's making headlines once again for balking at industry demands, this week walking out of discussions with the Australian government and the entertainment industry over continued efforts to make ISPs responsible for the pirated transfers occurring on their networks.

In the hopes of making global efforts to shut down the website nearly impossible, The Pirate Bay this week announced on their website that they've shifted their entire operation to the cloud. The website is now serving up its bevy of copyrighted goods using a smattering of cloud providers from around the world, a move the group says will not only reduce takedown threats, but will cut costs, improve reliability, and improve security.

You may have read my other article on the various cloud storage services that are available. While that is a fine solution for most people, some want to have a little more control and flexibility over their files and what they can do with them.

A new post over at the Google Fiber blog notes that with pre-registration now closed, 180 out of 202 potential "fiberhoods" in the Kansas City region have qualified for Google Fiber. As we noted back in July, Google encouraged Kansas City communities to participate in a six week rally to determine which neighborhoods were connected first.

Last Friday we noted that broadband streaming game service OnLive mysteriously and suddenly fired all of their employees with no notice or severance package. Significant additional detail has surfaced since then, with the company announcing that OnLive and all assets have been acquired by a newly formed company, with VC firm Lauder Partners being the new company's"first investor." About half of the fired employees will be hired back, with some additional employees brought in on a consultant basis.

During the company's earnings conference call this week (see transcript), Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan said the company hopes to have their network DVR service available to all of the company's customers by the end of the year. After a long but successful legal battle against broadcasters, Cablevision quietly launched their network DVR service (aka the RS-DVR) back in January in portions of The Bronx. The cable operator then expanded the service's footprint to portions of Brooklyn, Long Island and Connecticut. The service stores content at the network head end, eliminating the need for local storage on the DVR -- and Cablevision's currently offering test customers 160 GB of storage for $11 a month.

"Cloud" is the new industry buzzword, but really, it is just a new name for what we’ve already had for the past 10+ years: online server storage. Of course the term "cloud" can mean many other things, but in the consumer space, the marketing speak is typically referring to online storage.