Featured

 The following is an excerpt fromOut of Sight: The Long and Disturbing Story of Corporations Outsourcing Catastrophe by Erik Loomis (The New Press, 2015):The...

by Terry Parris Jr.

Some of the best #MuckReads we read this week. Want to receive these by email?  Sign up to get this briefing delivered to your inbox every weekend.

Inside the hack of the century (Fortune)

"For years... Sony Corp.'s business decisions have made it a virtual piñata for cyberassailants." #muckreads http://t.co/nF7glAIGtg

— Amanda Zamora (@amzam) June 25, 2015

"Sony's email-retention policy left up to seven years of old messages on servers, unencrypted and ripe for the taking. The company was essentially using email for long-term storage of business records, contracts, and documents saved in case of litigation. When Sony announced plans, in the fall of 2014, to reduce how long emails would be stored to two years—to make the system run better, according to emails, not because of hacking risk—howls of protest erupted at the studio."

Related: Part 1

Under cover of darkness, female janitors face rape and assault (Reveal, Frontline, Univision, KQED)

Rape on the Night Shift. Gripping story about how the women who clean your office are sexually assaulted #muckreads https://t.co/OGy4SQ4RX4

— Amy Julia Harris (@amyjharris) June 23, 2015

"As she cleaned, she'd spot him in the window watching her from outside. He'd sneak up behind her to grab her breasts, she said, and stare at her while saying things like, 'You are so delicious.' Morales regularly pleaded with him to stop, and he laughed at her."

Secret World War II chemical experiments tested troops by race (NPR)

U.S. tested mustard gas on Af-Am soldiers and other minority GIs during WWII. http://t.co/ap8SjJQEqH pic.twitter.com/eV7vn43Gav

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) June 22, 2015

"Edwards was one of 60,000 enlisted men enrolled in a once-secret government program — formally declassified in 1993 — to test mustard gas and other chemical agents on American troops. But there was a specific reason he was chosen: Edwards is African-American. 'They said we were being tested to see what effect these gases would have on black skins,' Edwards says."

Foreclosures fuel Detroit blight, cost city $500 million (The Detroit News)

.@DetroitNews shows the spread of blight across Detroit from 2005 to 2014 http://t.co/BQUS1Gm9T1 pic.twitter.com/LDcbkk1RGg

— Dustin Block (@dustinblock) June 25, 2015

"Detroit had one of the highest rates of subprime lending in the country: 68 percent of all city mortgages in 2005, compared to 27 percent statewide and 24 percent nationwide, according to federal records. ... Blight followed: Up to 78 percent of foreclosed homes financed through subprime lenders are now in poor condition or tax foreclosed."

This is how Uber takes over a city (Bloomberg)

Uber has more lobbyists than Wal-Mart. Wow. @KYWeise story: http://t.co/P1TyNxSyXk

— Jesse Eisinger (@eisingerj) June 24, 2015

"Although Uber promotes itself as a great disrupter, it's quickly mastered the old art of political influence. Over the past year, Uber built one of the largest and most successful lobbying forces in the country, with a presence in almost every statehouse. It has 250 lobbyists and 29 lobbying firms registered in capitols around the nation, at least a third more than Wal-Mart Stores."

Alberto Salazar disputes allegations — some of which were never made (ProPublica)

Everything you need 2 know about #Salazar's 12thousand word doping defence in 2,500 words. Great piece by @ProPublica http://t.co/lP2h6svT8t

— Marcus Ryder (@marcusryder) June 25, 2015

"Salazar said the claims in the ProPublica and BBC stories are based on lies by disgruntled former athletes and employees or misunderstandings of his recommendations or conduct. 'I will never permit doping. Oregon Project athletes must fully comply with the WADA Code and IAAF Rules,' Salazar said in the lengthy post."

#MuckReads Local: Lower income equals lower test scores in our schools (Daily Herald and WBEZ)

Sign Up For the MuckReads Weekly Email

US mobile operator Sprint has been told to pay $30m (£19m) to a company that claimed it used patents it did not own.

New technology that can limit the top speed of buses on different roads will be tested on two routes in the capital in a bid to increase road safety.

The BBC has 'set a precedent' by publishing a list of links removed from Google searches, the corporation's policy boss says.

by Leticia Miranda

Earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission voted to ease the way for cities to become Internet service providers. So-called municipal broadband is already a reality in a few towns, often providing Internet access and faster service to rural communities that cable companies don’t serve.

The cable and telecommunications industry have long lobbied against city-run broadband, arguing that taxpayer money should not fund potential competitors to private companies.

The telecom companies have what may seem like an unlikely ally: states. Roughly 20 states have restrictions against municipal broadband.

And the attorneys general in North Carolina and Tennessee have recently filed lawsuits in an attempt to overrule the FCC and block towns in these states from expanding publicly funded Internet service.

North Carolina’s attorney general argued in a suit filed last month that the “FCC unlawfully inserted itself between the State and the State’s political subdivisions.” Tennessee’s attorney general filed a similar suit in March.

Tennessee has hired one of the country’s largest telecom lobbying and law firms, Wiley Rein, to represent the state in its suit. The firm, founded by a former FCC chairman, has represented AT&T, Verizon and Qwest, among others.

James Tierney, director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School, said it is not unusual for attorneys general to seek outside counsel for specialized cases that they view as a priority.

Asked about the suit, the Tennessee attorney general’s office told ProPublica, “This is a question of the state’s sovereign ability to define the role of its local governmental units.” North Carolina Attorney General’s office said in a statement that the “legal defense of state laws by the Attorney General’s office is a statutory requirement.”

As the New York Times detailed last year, state attorneys general have become a major target of corporate lobbyists and contributors including AT&T, Comcast and T-Mobile.

North Carolina is no exception. The state’s Attorney General Roy Cooper received roughly $35,000 from the telecommunications industry in his 2012 run for office. Only the state’s retail industry gave more.

The donations are just a small part of contributions the industry has made in the states. In North Carolina’s 2014 elections, the telecommunications industry gave a combined $870,000 to candidates in both parties, which made it one of the top industries to contribute that year. Candidates in Tennessee received nearly $921,000 from AT&T and other industry players in 2014.

The FCC’s decision came after two towns – City of Wilson in North Carolina and Chattanooga in Tennessee – appealed to the agency to be able to expand their networks.

The vote has rattled some companies. In a government filing earlier this year, Comcast cited the FCC’s decision as a risk to the company’s business: “Any changes to the regulatory framework applicable to any of our services or businesses could have a negative impact on our businesses and results of operations.”

If the court upholds the FCC’s authority to preempt restrictions in North Carolina and Tennessee, it may embolden other cities to file petitions with the agency, according to lawyer Jim Baller, who represents Wilson and the Chattanooga Electric Power Board. “A victory by the FCC would be a very welcome result for many communities across America,” said Baller.

For some residents in and outside of Chattanooga, clearing the way to city-run broadband would mean the sort of faster Internet access that others might take for granted.

For 12 years, Eva VanHook, 39, of Georgetown, Tennessee, lived with a satellite broadband connection so slow that she’d read a book while waiting for a web page to load. In order for her son to access online materials for his school assignments, she’d drive him 12 miles to their church parking lot, where he could access faster WiFi.

Charter, the local Internet service provider, declined several requests by her husband to build lines out to her home. Only last month did Charter connect her home to the Internet. “Even the possibility to jump on [the local utility’s] gigabit network would blow our minds right now,” VanHook said. “There is nothing faster than Chattanooga. Just through meeting them and hearing them speak and having them understand what’s going on, that’s the kind of place I want to do business.”

Related: Obama Wants You to Have Cheap, Fast Internet, But Many Cities Aren’t Allowed to Provide It

A rare meeting between two self-driving cars resulted in one taking evasive action, Reuters reports.

The final round of the first world championship for electric racing cars is due to take place in London.

The UK's National Crime Agency is stepping up efforts to map cyber crime in Britain and the rest of the world.

France's interior minister orders the closure of the low-cost car-sharing service UberPOP after a day of protests by taxi drivers.