TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 2014 chief quits amid controversy

SAN FRANCISCO: The chief of browser maker passage of a California law banning gay marriage, a source of inspiration and ongoing help doing what Mozilla is stepping down in the face of controversy move he has never publicly retracted. “We know why we do,” Eich said in the post. stirred by his support of a California bill to ban gay people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s His appointed sparked calls for his removal, and marriage. voluntarily surrendered his because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves,” Baker popular dating website OKCupid posted a message role as chief executive of Mozilla, a corporation said. “We didn’t move fast enough to engage with asking visitors to use browsers other than Firefox. owned by a non-profit foundation of the same name, people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We Firefox is a communally created browser challenging according to a blog post by executive chairwoman must do better.” Baker, indicating a replacement has rivals backed by Apple, Google and Microsoft. Last Mitchell Baker. not yet been determined, said Mozilla supports year, Firefox released an upstart smartphone operat- Eich’s appointment had triggered outrage in the equality and freedom of speech. ing system aimed at challenging the Apple and typically open-minded community devoted to Eich was appointed chief of Mozilla last month, Google duopoly in the mobile gadget market. improving and spreading free Firefox open-source saying in a blog post that he would do his best to Firefox OS will power a new category of $25 smart- Web browsing software. The backlash sprung from take Mozilla to new heights. “People around the phones for developing countries, the California-based news of a cash donation he made in 2008 to support world are our ultimate cause at Mozilla, as well as announced in February. —AFP

Wall St debates if high-speed trade rigs market NEW YORK: Regulators have sharpened scrutiny of high- speed trading in the wake of criticism that architects of the cutting-edge practice have rigged the market against ordi- nary investors. The issue was vaulted to the forefront of public debate by best-selling business author Michael Lewis, who published a book Monday arguing that the stock market has been “rigged” against small investors by stock exchanges, large Wall Street banks and high-speed traders. The FBI acknowledged that it has undertaken a probe of high-speed trading, while the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission pointed to its own probes a day later on Tuesday. The New York attorney general and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission are also investigating. In “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt,” Lewis recounts the story of Brad Katsuyama, a Royal Bank of Canada trader who was puzzled about why his stock transactions became more costly after they were ordered. After investigating the trades, Katsuyama blamed high- speed traders, who employ algorithmic formulas and whip- speed transmission lines to buy and sell stock. “It all hap- pens in infinitesimally small amounts of time,” Lewis said in an interview about his book Sunday on the “60 Minutes” tel- evision news program. “They’re able to identify your desire to buy shares in Microsoft and buy them in front of you and sell them back to you at a higher price.” Tim McCormack, of Boston, exposes a QR code on his camera to a Liberty Teller ATM while purchasing bitcoins at South Lewis joins a chorus of critics who say high-speed trad- Station train station, in Boston. —AP ing firms have tilted the market to win commissions and guaranteed profits at the expense of average investors. Critics argue that high-speed trading firms have succeeded by building computer servers in close proximity to key trad- Yahoo adds more security ing hubs in New York and Chicago and, in some cases, in the exchanges themselves. to thwart surveillance Haves and have-nots “The US stock market was now a class system of haves SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo has added joined Yahoo Inc. less than a month ago had been secretly infiltrating the lines and have-nots, only what was had was not money but more layers of security in its effort to as part of the company’s anti-snooping that transfer information overseas. speed (which led to money). The haves paid for nanosec- shield people’s online lives from govern- crusade. Yahoo and other major tech- Yahoo still lags behind Google’s encryp- onds; the have-nots had no idea that a nanosecond had val- ment spying and other snooping. The nology companies such as Google Inc. tion efforts. In an interview Wednesday, ue,” Lewis wrote in the book. But supporters of high-speed measures announced Wednesday and Microsoft Crop. have made online Stamos said Yahoo hasn’t been able to trading say Lewis and others are mischaracterizing how the include the completion of a system that security a top priority during the last 10 move as fast as it wants because many technology functions and the intent behind the system. encrypts all information being transmit- months amid a series of revelations of its services rely on content and ads They also note that some of the most criticized practices are ted from one Yahoo data center to about US government programs that provided by thousands of other compa- entirely legal. another. The technology is designed to have vacuumed up personal informa- nies, including some that aren’t con- For example, leading exchanges do permit high-speed make the emails and other digital infor- tion about millions of Web surfers in an vinced that they need to encrypt. traders to station equipment on site, but say such a benefit mation flowing through data centers effort to thwart terrorism. The wide- For that reason, Yahoo’s widely used is open to any investor. “Those are services that according indecipherable to outsiders. Search ranging surveillance has been outlined news, sports and finance sections still to our regulator we have to offer equally to all types of requests made from Yahoo’s home page in documents leaked to the media by aren’t automatically encrypted. Visitors traders, including retail investors,” said a person familiar are also now automatically encrypted, former National Security Agency con- to those services can trigger an encrypt- with the exchanges’ thinking who requested anonymity. and the Sunnyvale, California, company tractor Edward Snowden. ed service by typing in “https” before “Everybody can enjoy those services if they pay.” is promising to make it more difficult for The technology industry’s indignant the website’s address. Yahoo is confi- “It is unfair and irresponsible to say that the stock market unauthorized intruders to hack into oth- response has been driven by financial dent that it will be able to persuade its is rigged simply because some market professionals use er services, including video chats, within self-interest as well as an aversion to content and advertising partners to take technology and enhance competition,” said William O’Brien, the next few months. Yahoo strength- government prying. Most serv- the steps needed to enable automatic president of BATS Global Markets. O’Brien and other high- ened the security of its email in January. ices make money from ads that could be encryption of those services later this speed advocates say that high-speed trading is essential to “Whether or not our users under- more difficult to sell if spying fears cause year. providing market liquidity and to conduct efficient trades. stand it, I feel it’s our responsibility to their audiences to shrink. “Some partners already understand The firms play an important role between those who hold keep them safe,” Alex Stamos, Yahoo’s Yahoo, which has more than 800 mil- this is the way the wind is blowing,” the stock and those wishing to buy. Katsuyama, who has recently hired chief information of secu- lion worldwide users, vowed late last Stamos said. “We are moving to a world joined Lewis at times during this week’s book-promotion rity, told a small group of reporters. year to encrypt its data centers by March where all content is encrypted all the media blitz, left RBC to launch his own exchange.—AP Stamos, a former security consultant, 31 after reports that the US government time.” — AP