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Morning Tech Crawl: Microsoft vs. U.S., Bots 101 and Instagram video channels

FILE -- Bradford Smith, Microsoftís president and chief legal officer, inside the companyís cyber security operations center in Redmond, Wash., Nov. 12, 2015. The company is challenging the use of secrecy orders that prevent it from telling people when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails. Smith says people ìshould not lose their rights just because they are storing their information in the cloud.î (Evan McGlinn/The New York Times)

Credit: NYT

Credit: NYT

FILE -- Bradford Smith, Microsoftís president and chief legal officer, inside the companyís cyber security operations center in Redmond, Wash., Nov. 12, 2015. The company is challenging the use of secrecy orders that prevent it from telling people when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails. Smith says people ìshould not lose their rights just because they are storing their information in the cloud.î (Evan McGlinn/The New York Times)
By Omar L. Gallaga
April 15, 2016

Happy Tax Day, Austin! Well, at least you made it to Friday. Here's what tech blogs are buzzing about this morning.

Microsoft is suing the U.S. government for the right to inform customers when their cloud data is being searched, reports The Verge, among others. It's just one more instance of a major tech company add odds with the government over privacy and surveillance.

Fresh off the news that it's expanding video lengths to 60 seconds, Facebook-owned Instagram is now also adding channel surfing to the mix as it gains traction in video uploads, according to its blog.

Bloomberg reports that Apple is still trying to find ways to make it easier to find stuff in its overcrowded App Store. Is paid search the answer?

Still confused about what bots are and why they're suddenly al the rage at Facebook and MIcrosoft? CNet's Bridget Carey has a great video to get you up to speed.

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Omar L. Gallaga
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