user: Dear Boss, Our 2015 Goals Are Impossible

We hope your vacation was restful and fun. All of us on the team are excited to see you on Monday.

Since we got your message with our 2015 goals attached and we had a chance to meet to discuss the goals today, we wanted to send you this email message. That way, you can reflect on our thoughts and suggestions over the weekend.

In case we don’t say it often enough, Stephanie, we think you’re a great manager and we all enjoy working with you. We also understand what you’re up against. You’re a new manager, as well as the youngest manager in the company and the only female leader of a product development group. You also have a new boss, who presumably has a lot to prove.

You’ve done a great job over the past year of listening to us and collaborating with us on problem-solving and envisioning the future for our group. That’s why we were surprised and disappointed to get your spreadsheet of 2015 goals as an email attachment to your cheery “How are things?” message yesterday.

We’ve talked for hours over the past few months about what’s possible in 2015, with our normal superhuman effort and with an extra burst of productivity that could allow us to get even more new products released in 2015. You know what we made happen in 2014 and the year before and the year before that.

You know that both the founding CEO Chuck and our new CEO, Martin, praise our group and your leadership at every opportunity. We’re proud of our work and I know you are too.

summary: Dear Stephanie, We hope your vacation was restful and fun. All of us on the team are excited to see you on Monday. Since we got your message with our 2015 goals attached and we had a chance to meet to discuss the goals today, we wanted to send you this email [...]

Late Night Pokes Fun at iPhone 7

Apple shook up the tech world yesterday with its announcement about all the massive overhaul the tech company is giving its iPhone. After Twitter got done roasting Apple’s controversial decision to remove the iPhone’s headphone jack, it was late night’s turn and Stephen Colbert jumped on the chance to poke fun at the change.

“We have removed the headphone jack, we also got rid of the home button,” asked Colbert, channeling his inner Apple CEO Tim Cook. Those weren’t the only changes, though, because Colbert’s vision for the iPhone 7 were even more groundbreaking: “If less is more, how much more could we less?” he asked. He then unveiled his take on the next wave of technology (“It’s quite simply a solid chunk of metal,” he said) as well as the iPhone’s latest feature, the iFriend, that makes it easy to access all of the iPhone’s best features.

summary: Colbert’s iFriend could dramatically change the way we use Apple’s tech

Tech savvy prostitutes trade pimps for Web pages

And crackdowns that big are raising fears that authorities could be renewing their focus on the escort business.

"I think right now [sex workers] are a huge target because there has been a lot more pressure from various conservative organizations," said Sabrina Morgan, a rights advocate for the sex worker industry. "This is something that has been building steam for several years."

Read MoreJapan's celibacy issue—What's the economic cost?

Today's escorts rely on sites like MyRedBook and The Erotic Review, which receives 500,000 to 1 million unique visitors per month, to raise awareness and advertise their services. Eros, for example, charges anywhere from $100-$400 for escorts to run an ad, depending on location.

In addition, many escorts have their own promotional Web pages where prospective clients can learn more about them and set up appointments. For those sex workers who do not have Web design skills, there are several online services—like EscortDesign and EscortBook—that, much like WordPress, offer easy-to-create templates which can create a professional looking site in minutes.

That gives sex workers who advertise their services online more independence, too. Ninety-three percent of Web-based escorts classify themselves as "independent," compared with the 40 to 80 percent of street walkers who work under a pimp, says Cunningham.

And the more sophisticated and well-designed an escort's site is, the more it helps their bottom line.

"If a prostitute invests in her web site's copy editing, professional photographs, or video, this may signal to potential customers her quality, education level, or income (and thus popularity or success in the market)," University of Colorado law professor Scott R. Peppet said in a research paper. "Such signals matter: evidence suggests, for example, that sex workers proficient in English can charge higher prices and are more likely to attract customers, and that prostitutes willing to reveal an accurate picture of themselves command higher prices."

— By Chris Morris, special to CNBC

summary: Street walkers are still around, but escorts have taken to the Web and seen a surge of interest and a perceived lower risk of arrest.

Congressman introduces bill to end warrantless Stingray surveillance

A bill has been introduced in Congress that aims to control the use of the sophisticated surveillance equipment known as Stingray, following a Guardian investigation which revealed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as the 13th federal agency known to possess the devices.

Stingrays are one of a class of suitcase-size devices known as “cell-site simulators”, which work by pretending to be a cellphone tower in order to strip data and metadata from any phones which connect to them.

They are used by at least 13 federal agencies, and at least 50 local and state police departments, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. A Guardian investigation in April uncovered the non-disclosure agreement that local police departments were forced to sign with the FBI before using Stingrays, which mandated local prosecutors to throw cases in some instances rather than reveal that they used the devices. In October, the Guardian reported that the IRS acquired Stingray technology for undisclosed reasons.

On 29 October, three days after the investigation was published, Representative Jason Chaffetz, the chair of the House oversight committee, along with the rest of the committee, sent a bipartisan letter to IRS commissioner John Koskinen demanding documents detailing the agency’s guidelines, policies and use of the devices.

The Senate judiciary committee is also holding an inquiry into their use, and in the Senate finance committee, Ron Wyden of Oregon also asked Koskinen for details about the agency’s use of Stingray. In response, Koskinen said that it requires a court order for its use.

On Monday, Chaffetz introduced a bill to the House floor which would make it illegal for Stingray technology to be deployed without a warrant by either local, state or federal agencies – a much higher judicial bar for their use than the Pen register, or trap-and-trace, court order which they previously required.

“When you find out the IRS, and potentially others are using this tech – whoa! That’s a bridge too far,” Chaffetz told the Guardian on Wednesday. “If they have [probable] cause, go get a warrant. But if you’re just on a surfing expedition, back off.”

His bill, which is called the Stingray Privacy Act, or Cell-Site Simulator Privacy Act, makes use of these devices without a warrant punishable by a fine or up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Chaffetz said that technology development was moving faster, currently, than lawmakers can keep up. “My 14-year-old daughter knows more about technology than 90% of Congress,” he said. “It’s going to present its new set of challenges for America. The seminal question is: how much liberty are we going to give up in the name of security?

“I think personal privacy will triumph,” he added. “But we’ve got to be really careful.”

summary:

assistant: Legislation from Jason Chaffetz would make it illegal for Stingray technology to be deployed without a warrant: ‘If you’re just on a surfing expedition, back off’