It's not enough, but it's sure a start: with post-PRISM privacy backlash still flaring, Facebook pressed the US government to allow some limited disclosure of gag order demands. This is our first glimpse at how much of our data is handed over.

According to top Facebook attorney Ted Ullyot, for a six month period "ending December 31, 2012, the total number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government entities in the U.S....was between 9,000 and 10,000." The company can only release so-called "bucketed" numbers in a range, but those 9-to-10 thousand requests correspond to between "18,000 and 19,000 accounts." We don't know how many of these requests were executed by Facebook—a Wall Street Journal source says the company "complied at least partially with 79%" of them. This, as FB is quick to point out, is a minuscule fraction of the network's billion-plus user base—but it is only a six month range out of many, many years of global popularity. It's also worth noting that not all of these requests pertained to FISA or national security-related investigations—some of them could have been for "things like a local sheriff trying to find a missing child," says Ullyot. We don't know.

What we do know is that the company claims it's "continuing to push for even more transparency," and what we can hope is that this will (quickly) translate into a better understanding of how, and how much, we're being watched.

Update: Microsoft followed suit, reports the Journal:

Microsoft later Friday said it received 6,000 to 7,000 requests for data in the second half of the year, from all U.S. government and law-enforcement entities in the U.S.

An Egyptair flight from Cairo to New York was redirected to the U.K. this morning after a passenger found a note in the plane's restroom that read "I'll set this plane on fire" and included a seat number.

The JFK-bound flight was instead escorted by British fighter jets to the Glasgow airport, where a technical team is currently investigating. 326 passengers were forced to wait on the plane for more than three hours, but the AP is reporting that they were eventually allowed to get off and wait inside the airport.

The BBC is reporting that a BBC producer discovered the note, which was written on a napkin with a pencil, in a restroom sink three hours into the flight. Flight attendants immediately locked the bathroom and contacted authorities.

Officials say that they will interview and investigate all the passengers before allowing them to resume their flight to New York.

And, in somewhat-related airport security news, this week a nine-year-old British girl was able to use a fake unicorn passport — with a large photo of a stuffed unicorn inside — to get through Turkish customs.

[BBC, image via Twitter]

Driving in a big city can be tough enough, what with pedestrians darting out everywhere and potholes and taxi drivers that seem to have a death wish. But hey, at least you don't run the risk of getting hit by a giant goddamn train every day.

This isn't a trolley or a grade crossing, either, but rather a real train, coming down a real street. It's like that train in Inception.

For over 80 years, freight trains would rumble down the West Side of Manhattan carrying goods up to the stock yards in Midtown, as shown in the glorious photo up top from the H.A. Dunne Archives (where you can buy prints). In 1929 the tracks were elevated and the High Line was built, ending the practice of trains driving down 10th Avenue and just going around hitting everything in their path. Instead, they rumbled above everyone's heads, just going around rattling and making a bunch of noise before the High Line itself was turned into a pretty neat park.

In case you were not one of those people who felt like getting hit by a train on your morning commute, a guy with a flag would ride on a horse in front of the train.

That was it. Your entire warning, besides the noise of the train itself, was a guy with a flag. No, not a bell, or a flashing light, or anything that would remotely help in case you had your back turned. A guy, with a flag, called a West Side Cowboy. They looked like this:

Now I feel totally safe.

Via CurbedNY.

Photo credits: H.A. Dunn Archive, Friends of the High Line

Turkish government security forces used both water cannons and tear gas Saturday night in an attempt to clear Gezi Park, where protesters have been intermittently massing for almost three weeks. Now bulldozers are clearing their encampment. You can watch it all live, here.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Kim Kardashian checked into a birthing suite at Cedars-Sinai this morning in preparation for baby girl Kimye's big debut. Kris Jenner is expected to have endorsement contracts drawn up as soon as a name is chosen.

One of the many sticking points Americans have with the NSA's just-revealed massive spying operation, is that the NSA had repeatedly lied about the scope of the programs to congress, and many senators and congress members were taken off-guard (or at least acted like it) by last week's revelations.

So when the NSA finally decided to hold a classified briefing about their spying program, one could imagine that members of the Senate would make sure to be there, so they could learn how the programs are helping (or not) fight terrorism. Unfortunately, only 47 of the 100 senators came to the briefing on Thursday afternoon, the rest opting to take advantage of the long Father's Day weekend.

The briefing was being done by James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, and Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, along with other security officials. They briefed a whole lot of empty chairs in the secure, bug-proof room.

“It’s hard to get this story out. Even now we have this big briefing — we’ve got Alexander, we’ve got the FBI, we’ve got the Justice Department, we have the FISA Court there, we have Clapper there — and people are leaving,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

It's especially hard for Senators to vote in support of spying programs they've never been briefed on, and yet they do it all the time.

It's time! It's time! The world will never be the same, because Kim Kardashian just had a baby.

TMZ and The Daily Mail are reporting that Kim K checked into a private birthing suite at Cedars-Sinai this morning and popped out a baby girl by the afternoon. Kanye, who has had a lot of experience with things leaking out early this week, skipped a listening party last night to be by her side after Kim told him she was "feeling off".

He apparently was not, however, by her side for the actual birth — he was too grossed out for that. But he'll probably have the chance to watch it on E!, because if a Kardashian does something off-camera, did it ever really happen?

The Ye baby birth was also apparently a month early, meaning that it was possible for Kim to look even more pregnant than she already did. That puts the royal Konception around late September or early October, in case you were wondering. What's next for the krazy Kardashian klan? Kim plans to follow Kanye on tour with the kid.

[TMZ, photo via AP]

Hassan Rowhani (alternately Rouhani) won the Iranian presidential election today with a decisive majority, avoiding a runoff. Rowhani, a cleric, ran on a platform of moderation and reform, speaking about freeing political prisoners, working to guarantee civil rights and to restore "dignity to the nation."

Rowhani has been a central figure in Iranian politics, serving as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative at security council meetings. Rowhani has softened his rhetoric in later years, especially after the crackdown of protesting and dissent following the 2009 presidential elections.

Rowhani campaigned on the promise of a more open Iran, and has vowed to restore diplomatic relations with the United States. Rowhani, as the former lead nuclear negotiator under another relatively moderate Iranian President, has spoken about easing the tensions surrounding Iran's nuclear program.

“Let’s end extremism,” Mr. Rowhani said while campaigning. “We have no other option than moderation.”

While Rowhani's election signals that Iranians (once again) have voted for a more inclusive, open society, the successful presidential election once again cements the total rule of the ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after another one of his insider politicians has become president (obviously they all have to be approved by the ayatollah, but Rowhani is especially close to his Islamist base).

Still, the election marks an opening in the recently dire situation between the United States and Iran, and a small hope for a stronger Iranian economy, free of the sanctions that have crippled daily life.

Gene Wilder made a rare public appearance last week at the 92nd Street Y, telling an audience that he thought Tim Burton's remake of the classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" was an insult.

"I think it's an insult. It's probably Warner Bros.' insult," Wilder said of the 2005 "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" film. "Johnny Depp, I think, is a good actor, but I don't care for that director. He's a talented man, but I don't care for him doing stuff like he did."

Wilder, who turned 80 on Tuesday, may or may not have added, "You get nothing. You lose. Good DAY sir."

[via, image via AP]

A Chilean nanny is accusing an aristocratic family of forcing her into slave-like conditions in their Upper East Side home.

The NY Post reports that Felicitas del Carmen Villanueva Garnica, 50, is suing the socialite couple for allegedly bringing her to America on an illegal passport, paying her less than $2 an hour, and allowing their three children to beat her. Malu Custer Edwards, 28, and Micky Hurley, 35, both deny the allegations.

The former nanny filed suit last week, alleging that the couple enticed her to come with them from Chile to America with promises of a $10 an hour paycheck, health insurance, medical care, food, clothes and lodging. Instead, she says, they paid her $800 a month for working 12 hour days (around $2 an hour) and routinely locked her inside their lavish (though post-war) Upper East Side apartment. When she complained about the money, she says Edwards told her no nannies made more than $700 a month.

Garnica also alleges that one of the children hit her with a chair, while another slammed her head in the fridge so hard that she nearly lost consciousness.

Garnica says she began working for the power couple in Chile in December, 2010, when she was assigned to their family by an employment agency. Both Edwards and Hurley are well-known in Chilean society; according to the Post, Edwards is a descendant of Agustín Edwards McClure, a Chilean diplomat and publisher who led the League of Nations in 1922. Her husband, an interior designer, is related to Chile's founding settlers.

Garnica followed the couple when they decided to move to SoHo so that Edwards could study graphic design at the New School. But Garnica alleges that when they arrived in January, 2011, everything changed. The children grew violent and the couple refused to feed her adequately, although they were regulars at Balthazar and "spent lavishly" on themselves.

Garnica says she tried once on President's Day to escape but the Chilean Consulate was closed. Instead she walked to a cell phone store where a clerk gave her a phone and showed her how to use it. She contacted Safe Horizon, a nonprofit victim's group, but did not leave until a month later, when one of the children allegedly slammed her head in the fridge in March, 2011. According to a New York Magazine profile of the couple, they spent the summer following Garnica's departure traveling to Paris, Antibes, Monaco, Nice, Rome, Florence, Portofino, London, and Ireland with their children.

According to the Post, in July 2011, the state Department of Labor ordered the couple to pay Garnica $6,302 in back wages.

[NYP, photo via Facebook]

Yesterday came news that Russian president Vladimir Putin possibly stole one of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl rings during a 2005 meeting. Or at least, that's what Kraft told attendees at a gala on Thursday. Today, president Putin is denying that he stole the ring, saying it was a great gift.

Here's Kraft's version of the events:

“I took out the ring and showed it to [Putin], and he put it on and he goes, ‘I can kill someone with this ring. I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket, and three KGB guys got around him and walked out.”

Now Putin's spokesman is saying that yes, there was some confusion, but after a few days it was decided that the ring was a gift.

"What Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "I was standing 20 centimeters away from him and Mr. Putin and saw and heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift."

The ring is now residing in the Kremlin's library.

Still, Kraft insists that it was never a gift, but was told to make it seem like one by the White House to avoid a diplomatic incident. Wise choice, Bush White House. If Putin takes something from you, best consider it gone, or better, an awesome gift.

Hell's Angels may just be angels now. Earlier this morning, Pope Francis blessed thousands of Harley-Davidsons and their leather-clad riders before a papal Mass at the Vatican.

The motorcycle enthusiasts were in Rome to celebrate Harley's 110th anniversary. According to the AP, a half-million Harley riders were in town for the four-day celebration. Pope Francis — no stranger to suiting up and going for a ride with the wind blowing through his hair — stood in an open-top jeep, driving through the throngs of leather-vest wearing biker dudes.

Pope Francis, ostensibly standing for visibility, was also standing in solidarity; he is now a proud Harley owner. The company just donated two white classic Harleys for the Vatican police to use.

The Pope also, according to the AP, caressed, kissed and chatted with people in the square after the Mass, including at least one person on a motorcycle.

[AP, image via AP]

Buzz Aldrin thinks Tang "sucks".

An FDNY EMT dispatcher stayed on the phone with a stroke victim for eight hours as rescuers tried to pinpoint where the distressed and slurring woman had fallen.

EMT Joann Hilman-Payne got the call at about 1 PM on Monday afternoon, and stayed on the line with the stroke victim, Mary Thomas, as rescue workers went to the locaton they believed Thomas was at, based on a cell phone tower that received her call. But she wasn't there.

Rescuers then filed through all the people living in Manhattan with the same name as Thomas, who was identified by caller ID. Unfortunately, Thomas was a housekeeper working in Manhattan, and didn't actually live in the apartment where she had a stroke.

Verizon workers were finally able to exactly pinpoint Thomas's location at around nine that evening, eight hours after the call had begun. Hillman-Payne had stayed on the line the entire time with the victim, trying to keep her conscious after she collapsed in an Upper East Side apartment. Thomas is now at a hospital in the Intensive Care Unit.

In a letter or recognition for her actions, Emergency Medical Dispatch Capt. Philip Weiss wrote that "throughout the entirety [Hilman-Payne] worked to keep the patient awake, she never lost her own composure and remained calm while attempting to elicit more information from the patient.”

Weiss continues that Hilman-Payne “remained on the phone with the patient for almost eight hours being spelled only briefly for reasons of personal necessity.”

[Shutterstock]

Jeff Garlin was arrested and jailed overnight after he allegedly got in a fight over a parking space with another driver.

According to TMZ, what started out as a verbal argument quickly escalated, culminating in Garlin smashing in "a couple" of the windows of the other driver's Mercedes. Garlin was arrested in Studio City around 3 p.m. yesterday, and released this morning. No word on whether Garlin called the other driver a "pig parker" or not.

On the bright side, Garlin's dropped a few hints that "Curb Your Enthusiasm" could be returning in the fall.

[TMZ, image via AP]

New York City is doing some serious work on the Second Avenue Subway, the first new line built under the city since 1932. The $4.5 billion project aims to decrease commuter congestion for east Manhattan. Check out these pictures. They are incredible.

For more pics, see MTA of New York's Flickr page.

Booz Allen Hamilton, the massive private corporation contracted to work with the NSA to spy on Internet users around the world, is not doing so well after their employee, Edward Snowden, leaked details about its vast spying operation.

Not only is its stock price down 6 percent since Snowden revealed himself last weekend, but its standing as the go-to private spying company the world over is now in jeopardy. It's just been a rough week to be a spook turned private sector cyber-spy.

The Times writes about the tough task ahead for former-NSA director Mike McConnell, who now is vice-president at Booz Allen. Booz Allen has a lot to lose by its failure to keep its employees in line: massive government contracts that are pretty much the main source of revenue for the company. And its customers are not only the United States government — the United Arab Emirates contracted Booz Allen to create their own domestic spying agency.

But Snowden's leak casts a very harsh light on Booz Allen's practices. Namely, how easy is it to get these type of clearances, and why is a private company doing the spying for the NSA (which is the NSA's function)?

The Senate will now try to limit the access that these types of private companies (which act as a revolving door for executives going in and out of the NSA) have to sensitive information.

“We will certainly have legislation which will limit or prevent contractors from handling highly classified and technical data,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Or at least they will try to — the Times reports on how heavily entrenched private contractors are in the security (and spying) world:

Of the 1.4 million people with Top Secret clearances, more than a third are private contractors. (The background checks for those clearances are usually done by other contractors.)

Whether any actual legislation or reform is done about the NSA spy programs that Snowden revealed, at least one multinational private spy agency is hurting in the bank.

National Guard recruitment vehicle "Man of Steel" had the largest June opening weekend ever with $113.1 million in North America. Marijuana recruitment vehicle "This is The End" came in second with $20.5 million.

George Orwell once said that "a humanitarian is always a hypocrite." In the case of Jeremy Johnson, the government is also trying him as a criminal.

Johnson, a Utah businessman who flew his own helicopter to deliver food and supplies to Haitian children after the 2010 earthquake, is being accused by the FTC of perpetrating one of the largest marketing frauds in United States history. The New York Times has a fascinating profile this week on Johnson, who was known for benevolent acts like rescuing lost hikers with his helicopter and sheltering families fleeing polygamy. When Johnson flew to Haiti, he gave away even the shoes off his feet, flying home in just his Paul Smith socks.

But according to the government, he also swindled more than $275 million from customers of his company, I Works. His (now-shuttered) online company promised to assist in the securing of government grants, but also signed customers up for pricey subscription services.

The government is accusing Johnson of tricking customers into providing their credit card numbers to I Works, which he would then recharge monthly through a variety of connected entities with names like Grant Search, Center 4 Grants and Business Fund. While this type of "negative option" or "advance consent" marketing — where customers must opt out within a time window to avoid recurring charges — can be legal, prosecutors say Johnson failed to adequately disclose to customers that they were ever signing up for these subscription services in the first place.

The FTC became involved after credit card companies began noticing high rates of chargebacks (customers seeking to reverse charges) associated with Johnson's companies. According to the Times, when more than 1 percent of charges become chargebacks, credit card companies will blacklist the offending company. The government says Johnson eventually maintained more than 50 shell companies in an effort to ensure the banks would process the charges.

"They had no employees, they had no office locations, they were mail drops" said Collot Guerard, the lead FTC attorney on the lawsuit, told the Salt Lake Tribune when the charges were first brought. "They were essentially fronts and they didn't have any substance to them other than lending their name to obtain a new merchant account when Jeremy Johnson and I Works were no longer able to get merchant accounts."

However, Johnson, a six-foot, red-haired, 34-year-old, contends that the FTC is engaging in serious misconduct. He claims that the government has frozen his assets in an attempt to prevent him from adequately defending himself, and says that his company is no different than the myriad of legal opt-out subscriptions, like those offered by American Express, among others. Johnson has also registered multiple URLs and email addresses like http://evilftc.com, that detail his defense against the governmental allegations. Johnson claims he took a polygraph when the charges were first leveled that exonerates him against the charges.

Although Johnson has made it clear that he is not interested in settling with the government, he's been publicly barred from commenting on the case since May. In the meantime, a receiver company has racked up $3.9 million in fees and expenses trying to trace Johnson's assets through his various companies.

[NYT, photo via AP]

Late last week at Peking University in Beijing, China, men wearing skimpy underwear and carrying inflatable friends streaked the university's north campus and tried to jump into Weiming Lake. Then, university security showed up. That's when all hell broke loose.

Note: This post contains content some readers might find objectionable.

Campus security seized the men, who also were carrying guitars, and wrestled one to the ground.

On the men's chests, protest messages were written in black ink. They also carried a small inflatable raft. The men were ushered away by the police.

"This is performance art," Jie He, one of the protestors, told the Beijing News. The men were graduates of the prestigious Peking University and had hoped to go into the music business—only to find it incredibly difficult due to piracy, which has killed revenues.

The idea was that this "performance art" could raise more awareness about music piracy and copyright protection. Or something.

"Holding an inflatable doll while streaking is eye-catching," added Jie He, who wanted to create a stir online.

This past spring, an artist named Li Binyuan caught the imagination of the internet in China after a series of streaking incidents in Beijing with a blow-up doll as well as with a cross. Perhaps this was the inspiration?

Before this latest streaking, the university apparently got the drop on what was going to go down. That's why campus security was supposedly able to quickly intercept the streakers and their air-filled companions.

Since the men wore underpants that covered their genitals with elephant-shaped cod pieces, the protesters dodged an indecency charge, but did disturb the peace. The blow-up dolls even had their private parts covered with tape.

When asked if they thought jumping into the lake was dangerous, Jie He replied, "We are able to swim, and the blow-up dolls are buoyant and could always be used as life preservers."

北大裸奔男抱充气娃娃搞行为艺术 [荆楚网]

两男子抱充气娃娃北大未名湖畔裸奔 [新京报讯]

Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond.

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.