Mediagazer: Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say (Mark Hosenball/Reuters)

3:08 AM ET, August 16, 2013

Top News:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds — The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post:

Court: Ability to police U.S. spying program limited — The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government's vast spying programs said that its ability do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

Discussion: Techdirt, Gawker, @csoghoian, The Switch, @ramez, @micahflee, @inego_, @digiphile and @jayrosen_nyu

Michael Calderone / The Huffington Post:

Edward Snowden To HuffPost: Media Being Misled — NEW YORK — National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden wants to set the record straight after individuals associated with his father have, in his words, “misled” journalists into “printing false claims about my situation.”

Discussion: CNN and New York Magazine

Mark Hosenball / Reuters:

Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say — (Reuters) - Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government's electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier …

Discussion: ZDNet and Hillicon Valley

Mollie Reilly / The Huffington Post:
How The Washington Post Slapped Back The White House

Discussion: emptywheel

Robert Channick / Chicago Tribune:

Robert Feder partners with Tribune — Longtime Chicago media columnist Robert Feder is launching a standalone media blog next month through a partnership with the Chicago Tribune. — The editorially independent Web site, RobertFeder.com, will be owned by Feder, but licensed and marketed …

Bryan Goldberg / PandoDaily:

Take Two — I messed up. — There has been a lot of response to my fundraise blog post on PandoDaily on Tuesday. Most of that response has been negative. And there are many good reasons for the criticism: — It over-simplified the editorial landscape.

Discussion: Digiday, @gitdot, @jeffjarvis, Flavorwire, @amandamarcotte, @saramorrison, Fast Company, @brooke, @erikmal, @atotalmonet, @jayrosen_nyu, Business Insider, @bgoldberg, @spencerchen, @thestalwart and @morninggloria

Jeff Bercovici / Forbes:
What Was This Bro Thinking? Bustle.com's Bryan Goldberg Explains Himself

Discussion: @maura, @abenedikt, @maureenoco, @laureni, @samfbiddle, The Hairpin and Slate

Jeanine Poggi / AdAge:

Al Jazeera America Debut Approaches, With Fewer Commercials — Cable News Network Will Have Just Six Minutes of Ad Time per Hour — Al Jazeera America will have fewer commercials than other cable TV networks when it begins transmitting on Tuesday. — The cable news network will air …

Discussion: Variety, Adweek, B&C, Hollywood Reporter and TVNewser

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Al Jazeera America faces more than the usual new-kid challenges

Discussion: @jbflint

Peter Kafka / AllThingsD:

Viacom-Sony TV Is a Big Deal. It's Also the Same Deal We Already Have. — Viacom's deal to deliver its cable TV shows to a new Web video service from Sony isn't final. — But it is a big deal: As the Wall Street Journal first reported today, this is the first time a major programmer has agreed …

Discussion: @pkafka, @jbflint, Engadget, Wall Street Journal, GigaOM, @shaliniwsj and @tomgara

Brian Stelter / New York Times:
Sony and Viacom Reach Tentative Internet TV Deal

Discussion: @claytonmorris, CNET, Variety, 24/7 Wall St. and @brianstelter

John Ourand / SportsBusiness Daily:

Sources: Distributors Hold The Line On Fox Sports 1 Sub Fee — The frenzied rush that saw several of the country's biggest distributors agree to carry FS1 at launch occurred only after Fox surprisingly backed off its asking price of $0.80 per subscriber per month, according to multiple high-level sources.

Discussion: @whatupay4sports, @ourand_sbj and The Big Lead

Joe Flint / Los Angeles Times:
Fox Sports 1 will launch with DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable

Discussion: Variety, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Reuters, Reuters, BWW TV Stories, Sporting News Bob …, Fox Sports and @auerheat

Philip Bump / The Atlantic Wire:

Syrian Hackers Use Outbrain to Target The Washington Post, Time, and CNN — For a brief period on Thursday morning, the Washington Post's website redirected some visitors to a webpage controlled by the Syrian Electronic Army. In a brief statement, the site didn't indicate how the infiltration occurred …

Discussion: Ask The Post, The Switch, Krebs on Security, Digiday, New York Times, Graham Cluley, Los Angeles Times, @rajunarisetti, Outbrain, CNNMoney.com, The Verge, Consumerist, ZDNet, Featured stories, VentureBeat, Deadline.com, The Wrap and FishbowlNY

Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke / The New York Observer:

Maer Roshan Joins Board of Directors at Assignmint.com — Maer Roshan, former editor of Radar and founder of the recently shuttered The Fix, is joining the board of directors at Assignmint.com, a start-up job management site designed to streamline the editorial process between freelance writers and publishers.

Jack Mirkinson / The Huffington Post:

Were Journalists Deliberately Targeted In Egypt? — Several news outlets and press freedom groups are raising the question of whether journalists have been deliberately targeted in the bloodshed currently engulfing Egypt. — Wednesday saw at least three journalists shot dead, and several others wounded, beaten and detained.

Discussion: Committee to Protect …, freemedia.at, Washington Post, Al Jazeera Blogs, Guardian and Reuters

Aaron Smith / CNNMoney.com:

Buffett's Berkshire dumps Gannett, buys Dish Network — Warren Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway dumped its shares of newspaper giant Gannett according to SEC documents, and took a new position in Dish Network. — In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission …