firehose

Ladar Levison, owner of the secure email provider Lavabit, did everything he could to frustrate the government's attempt to access real-time data on National Security Agency (NSA) leaker Edward Snowden's messages.

That included slipping out the back door of his apartment and driving away when the feds showed up with a subpoena; turning over encryption keys as an 11-page printout in 4-point font; and ultimately shutting down his business so the FBI would have no data to collect.

Levison was held in contempt of court

Levison was held in contempt of court and fined $5,000 for every day he did not turn over the keys after the FBI installed a monitoring device on his servers. Without the keys in a "usable electronic format," the FBI could not read any of the data it was collecting.

Levison waited two days, racking up $10,000 in sanctions, then turned over the keys and immediately shut down his company. He's appealing the fine now, arguing that requesting a master set of encryption keys was excessive if the FBI only wanted to monitor one user.

He also claims the order violated the Fourth Amendment and clashed with his business model, which promised users a secure email service. The government's attorneys say these arguments are invalid on appeal because they were not raised in a lower court.

In a brief filed yesterday, the Justice Department argues that its surveillance order was lawful and not unduly burdensome, and therefore Levison should have complied:

The pen/trap order and the search warrant issued by the district court were plainly lawful. The information used by Lavabit to encrypt communications on its systems, what has been referred to as SSL or encryption keys, was both necessary to the installation and operation of a lawfully ordered pen register/trap and trace device as well as subject to disclosure pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 2703. As such, it was within the district court's power to compel the production of those keys.

Furthermore, the government argues that data would be electronically filtered "without reaching any human eye," insuring that only the information requested in the warrant would be collected.

A $10,000 fine actually seems like a small price to pay given Levison's shenanigans and the high profile of the target, who is not named but is almost certainly Snowden. Unless some additional charge is forthcoming, Levison may set a precedent for civil disobedience in the age of electronic surveillance — especially since he was able to raise $100,000 for his legal defense fund.

Robo Faber is an autonomous drawing robot that's programmed to sketch random artworks. Created by LA-based Matthias Dörfelt, the tiny Arduino robot is designed to echo the artist's current creative aesthetic. It's an unconventional take on the self portrait: the concept is that Faber will be an offshoot of the artist's creative thinking that remains frozen in time, replicating his current style long after he has moved onto different things.

Each drawing is made up of predetermined parts coded using Paper.js, a JavaScript library that allows for the creation of complex web animations. Faber stitches together these presets into unique individual artworks formed of perfect curves, straight lines, and everything between. It's highly unlikely two sketches will ever look the same, but Faber clearly has its own style that runs throughout its sketches, as dictated by Dörfelt's programming.

Robo Faber is an extension of the artist's former work. He created a "weird faces vending machine" using the JavaScript library and an Arduino. More recently, Dörfelt used Paper.js to randomize the drawing of flipbooks, and much of that work has gone into programming his latest creation.

Microsoft said it expects to add Windows PC support for the Xbox One controller in 2014, but one developer is already taking an unofficial crack at getting the gamepad PC-ready.

Developer Chris Gallizzi got his hands on an Xbox One controller today and has been hacking away at it, getting Windows 7 to recognize it as a HID (human interface device) controller. While its functions are limited — analog sticks work in games like Hotline Miami and Amnesia, but buttons don't yet — Gallizzi tells Polygon he expects to have working drivers ready soon, perhaps as soon as this week.

Gallizzi says it's part of his job to "break things and make them work for other applications that they were never designed for," but also calls the desire to hack and mod things a hobby of his. He's done similar work with the PlayStation 4's new DualShock 4 controller, getting Sony's gamepad working with Mac OS X software.

Gallizzi says he expects to release his work soon, likely through Sourceforge or GitHub, if you're looking for a way to use your Xbox One controller on PC early.

You can see some of his Xbox One work in progress in a Vine that Gallizzi posted earlier today.

The harsh reality of being an indie developer is that audiences — and even other developers — may not take a studio seriously until they've created  a game for consoles, Octodad: Dadliest Catch developer Philip Tibitoski told Polygon.

Tibitoski expressed the idea that making games for PCs is so common, legitimacy as a game developer is more acutely commanded by publishing a video game to a console like the Xbox 360  or — in Young Horses' and Tibitoski's case — PlayStation 4.

"We're reaching an audience we wouldn't normally reach on PS4," Tibitoski explained. "Normally indie developers and people who play indie games have an idea of who we are, generally, and the audience who plays console games didn't. Bringing Octodad to console would let us reach more people and we thought it was a good opportunity.

"I feel like until you've made a console game, a lot of people don't take you seriously," he added. "It's a weird thing, and I think it's because of what people know. Adults like, say, my parents, will say, 'Oh, you're putting a game out on the computer,' but then you're like, 'Oh we're working with Sony." And Sony is a brand and a company that people see and say, 'Oh, you're doing something real.' It's weird."

Tibitoski added that Young Horses "might" incorporate the DualShock 4 touchpad in the final version of Octodad: Dadliest Catch, but only if they find an appropriate use for it. Like many other developers working on PS4 titles, Tibitoski doesn't want to "stick something in there just because." Unlike Octodad's optional PlayStation Move motion controls, which Tibitoski noted adds a layer of challenge to the game, adding extra features for the DualShock 4 would only feel gimmicky.

Tibitoski said the game went into development for PS4 shortly after E3, and that the porting process was very easy.

"We originally didn't think we had the experience to develop for a console, because we've never had the experience before," he said. "We though, eh, let's just get the PC, Mac and Linux stuff out and finished. But then Sony had been so supportive — hey sent us devkits for PS4, and told us that if we didn't want to do it, it was fine, we could just send them back — and we thought, okay, why not. We tried it and then we were eager to make a console game."

According to Tibitoski, Octodad: Dadliest Catch will launch for Windows PC, Mac and Linux in January on Steam, while the PS4 version is planned for early March. The game will also be compatible with Remote Play.