Department of Homeland Security needs a court order to delete MafiaaFire browser plug-in that routes around seizures of domains suspected of copyright infringement.
Declan McCullaghFormer Senior Writer
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
No judge has ever declared a Firefox plug-in called MafiaaFire Redirector to be illegal. But that didn't stop the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from trying to censor it from the Web.
The Mozilla Foundation says DHS requested the removal of MafiaaFire, which describes itself as a utility that "automatically redirects you to the correct alternate site" if the main domain has been seized by the U.S. government.
Harvey Anderson, Mozilla's general counsel, told CNET today that the request from DHS was made over the phone. Anderson replied in writing, posing a list of questions in an April 19 e-mail, including this important one: "Is Mozilla legally obligated to disable the add-on?"
A DHS spokesman told CNET this afternoon that "ICE's Homeland Security Investigations does not comment publicly on our interaction with Internet intermediaries on intellectual property theft enforcement issues." ICE stands for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division.
The reason DHS doesn't like the MafiaaFire plugin is obvious: It makes the government's tactic of seizing domain names less useful. FirstRow.net, Atdhe.net, and Torrent-Finder.com are among the domains seized on grounds that they're allegedly infringing copyrights of U.S. companies.
One response to a domain name seizure is, simply, to move to a new one, preferably in a top-level domain that can't be easily reached by DHS and the U.S. judicial system. That's what the popular sports video-streaming Web site, Atdhe.net, did after its domain went offline. It's now at Atdhenet.tv (and, just in case, Atdhe.me as well).
MafiaaFire helps to make this process a little easier by redirecting Firefox automatically to the replacement Web site. Its unflattering name arose out of a protest against the RIAA and MPAA--aka "the Music and Film Industry Association of America"--and the "mad-with-power ICE."
If a government official applies pressure on a private company to delete a file or document, that can raise constitutional and free speech issues. In the 1963 case known as Bantam Books v. Sullivan, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a commission's extra-judicial notification that some books or magazines were objectionable was an illegal "system of informal censorship."
"Whether the add-on is unlawful, or whether any speech is unlawful, is for the courts to determine, not for DHS to determine," says Aden Fine, staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. "Nobody from DHS should be going around trying to get speech removed from the Internet before a court decides."
Why You Can Trust CNET
Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.Reviews ethics statement
When to Stream 'Captain America: Brave New World' on Disney Plus
The Marvel flick can kick off your summer streaming plans.
Kourtnee JacksonSenior Editor
Kourtnee covers TV streaming services and home entertainment news and reviews at CNET. She previously worked as an entertainment reporter at Showbiz Cheat Sheet where she wrote about film, television, music, celebrities, and streaming platforms.
ExpertiseCord-cutting, TV and music streaming services Netflix, Disney Plus, Max, Anime, Interviews, EntertainmentCredentials
Though Kourtnee hasn't won any journalism awards yet, she's been a Netflix streaming subscriber since 2012 and knows the magic of its hidden codes.
Anthony Mackie stars as Sam Wilson, who took over as superhero Captain America after Steve Rogers passed him the shield. The story builds on his iteration of the character in the MCU TV series Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and drops Sam into an evil plot that may or may not involve President "Thunderbolt" Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford).
The movie premiered in theaters in February and also features Danny Ramirez, Giancarlo Esposito, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly and Liv Tyler. Scroll on to find out when to stream, and be sure to stay for the post-credits scene.
Streaming release date for 'Captain America: Brave New World'
Marvel's newest Captain America entry will arrive on Disney Plus on Wednesday, May 28. You can get a standalone streaming subscription for a starting price of $10 a month to watch with ads, upgrade to ad-free or save money with one of the Disney Bundles.
Disney Plus carries all Marvel content, including TV shows and movies like Daredevil: Born Again and all the Avengers films. You can sign up solely for the service, or get a bundle that packages it with Hulu and/or ESPN Plus. Bundles cost from $11 to $27 a month.
I Never Knew How Much I Needed NotebookLM. Here's How I Use Google's Information Alchemist
Google's NotebookLM transmuted my garbled notes into something noble.
Blake StimacWriter
Blake has over a decade of experience writing for the web, with a focus on mobile phones, where he covered the smartphone boom of the 2010s and the broader tech scene. When he's not in front of a keyboard, you'll most likely find him playing video games, watching horror flicks, or hunting down a good churro.
I recently revisited Google's NotebookLM and I was impressed with how far it's come. It was already good before, but recent updates have have me hooked in and I will keep coming back. Powered by Google's Gemini AI, it can break down complex subjects into an easy to understand format or even help you brainstorm new ideas. If you're a chaotic notetaker like me, even better: NotebookLM will help you make sense of your nonsense.
This isn't just Google Keep stuffed with AI, nor is it just a chatbot that can take notes. It's both and neither. Instead of asking questions to Gemini, only for it to find an answer from the ether of the internet, NotebookLM will only search through the sources that you provide it. It's a dead simple concept that feels like one of the most practical uses of AI, giving way to the perfect study buddy for classes or work. And Google didn't stop there.
Now it can do so much more, and will reward your poking around to see what it can do for you. And features like its impressive Audio Overviews have since trickled down into Gemini itself, allowing it to be used in a much wider set of Google's products. With Google I/O 2025 just around the corner, we wouldn't be surprised if even more features were added.
Below, we'll cover some of NotebookLM's most interesting features and use cases to help you get started.
NotebookLM is a Gemini-powered note-taking and research assistant tool that can be used in a multitude of ways. It all starts with the sources you feed it, whether they're webpage URLs, YouTube videos or audio clips, allowing you to pull multiple sources together into a cohesive package and bring some organization to your scattered thoughts or notes.
The most obvious use case for NotebookLM is using it for school or work. Think of it -- you've kept up with countless classes and typed notes down for every one and even perhaps recorded some lectures. Sifting through everything individually can eventually get you to some semblance of understanding, but what if you could get them to work together?
Once you've uploaded your sources, Gemini will get to work to create an overall summary of the material. From there, you can begin asking Gemini questions about specific topics on the sources and information from the sources will be displayed in an easy-to-understand format. This alone may be enough for some people just looking to get the most out of their notes, but that's really just scratching the surface.
Best on the desktop browser, with apps on the way
NotebookLM's three panel layout
NotebookLM/Screenshot by Blake Stimac
NotebookLM was originally designed for the desktop browser and that's currently the best way to experience it. You can access it from your mobile browser but it can be cumbersome.
There's currently no app available for NotebookLM but one is close to launching. In fact, you can preregister to be notified when it's available for iOS and Android devices right now.
Broken into a three-pane layout, NotebookLM consists of Source, Chat and Studio panels. Both the Source and Studio panels are collapsible, so you can have a full-screen chat experience if you so choose.
While the Source and Chat panels are pretty self-explanatory, the Studio panel is where magic can happen, (though some of the features can also be created directly from the Chat panel). This is where you can get the most out of your NotebookLM experience. Below are some highlights of what you can do.
Audio Overviews
If you didn't hear about NotebookLM when it was first announced, you likely did when Audio Overviews were released for it. Once you have at least once source uploaded, you can then opt to generate an Audio Overview, which will provide a "deep dive" on the source material. These overviews are created by none other than Gemini and it's not just a quick summary of your material in audio format -- it's a full-blown podcast with two "hosts" that break down complex topics into easy to understand pieces of information. They're incredibly effective, too, often asking each other questions to dismantle certain topics.
The length of an Audio Overview will vary depending on how much material there is to go over and the complexity of the topic -- though I'm sure there are other factors at play. In my testing, a very short piece of text created a 5-minute audio clip, where two lengthier and more dense Google Docs I uploaded created a 18-minute Overview.
You can interact with your AI podcasters
It gets even better. Last December, NotebookLM got a new design and new ways to interact with Audio Overviews. If you want to guide the conversation so that key points are covered, the customize button will allow you to do just that. Type in your directive and then generate your Audio Overview.
Now, if you want to make this feature even more interactive, you can choose the Interactive mode, which is still in beta, to join the conversation. The clip will play and if you have a particular question in response to something that's said, you can click the join button. Once you do, the speakers will pause and acknowledge your presence and ask you to chime in with thoughts or questions, and you'll get a reply.
I wanted to try something a little different, so I threw in the lyrics of a song as the only source, and the AI podcast duo began to dismantle the motivations and emotions behind the words. I used the join feature to point out a detail in the lyrics they didn't touch on and the two began to dissect what my suggestion meant in the context of the writing. They then began linking the theme to other portions of the text. It was impressive to watch: They handled the emotional weight of the song so well, and tactfully at that.
Mind Maps
Generating a Mind Map is just one of several powerful features from NotebookLM
Google/Screenshot by Blake Stimac
I'd heard interesting things about NotebookLM's Mind Map feature, but I wanted to go in blind when I tried it out, so I did a separate test. I took roughly 1,500 words of Homer's Odyssey and made that my only source. I then clicked the Mind Map button and within seconds an interactive and categorical breakdown of the text was displayed for me to poke around in.
Many of the broken down sections had subsections for deeper dives, some of which were dedicated to single lines for dissection. Clicking on a category or end-point of the map will open the chat with a prefilled prompt.
I chose to dive into the line, "now without remedy" and once clicked, the chat portion of NotebookLM reopened with the prefilled prompt of, "Discuss what these sources say about Now without remedy, in the larger context of [the subsection] Alternative (worse)." The full line was displayed, including who it was said by, what it was in response to and any motivations (or other references) for why the line was said in the text.
Study guides and more
If the combination of all that Audio Overviews and Mind Maps could do sounds like everything a student might need for the perfect study buddy, NotebookLM has a few other features that will solidify it in that place.
Study guides
After you've uploaded a source, you can create a quick study guide based on the material that will automatically provide a document with a quiz, potential essay questions, a glossary of key terms and answers for the quiz at the bottom. And if you want, you can even convert the study guide into a source for your notebook.
FAQs
Whether you're using it for school or want to create a FAQ page for your website, there's a NotebookLM button that will generate a series of potentially common questions based on your sources.
Timeline
If you're looking for a play by play type of timeline, it's built right in. Creating a timeline for the Odyssey excerpt broke down main events in a bulleted list and placed them based on the times mentioned in the material. If an event takes place at an unspecified time, it will appear at the top of the timeline stating so. A cast of characters for reference is also generated below the timeline of events.
Briefing document
The briefing document is just what it sounds like, giving you a quick snapshot of the key themes and important events to get someone up to speed. This will include specific quotes from the source and their location. A summary of the material is also created at the bottom of the document.
If you need more from NotebookLM, consider upgrading
Most individuals may never have the need to pay for NotebookLM, as the free feature is robust enough. But if you're using it for work and need to be able to add more sources or the option to share your notebook with multiple people, NotebookLM Plus is worth considering. It gives you more of everything while introducing more customization, additional privacy and security features as well as analytics.
Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.Reviews ethics statement
A Cooking Instructor Told Us 4 Foods That Will Ruin a Cast-Iron Skillet
Leave certain foods simmering in your skillet and you'll strip it of all that seasoned, nonstick goodness. Here are four to avoid.
David WatskySenior Editor / Home and Kitchen
David lives in Brooklyn where he's spent more than a decade covering all things edible, including meal kit services, food subscriptions, kitchen tools and cooking tips.
David earned his BA from Northeastern and has toiled in nearly every aspect of the food business, including as a line cook in Rhode Island where he once made a steak sandwich for Lamar Odom.
Right now he's likely somewhere stress-testing a blender or tinkering with a toaster. Anything with sesame is his all-time favorite food this week.
Over time, the wrong ingredients can wreck your cast-iron pan. (Don't worry, steak is good to go.)
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Using a cast-iron pan is more than just a way to cook — it's a ritual, a relationship, a legacy. A well-seasoned skillet can outlast its owner, passed down like a family heirloom, its glossy black surface telling stories of meals shared and flavors perfected.
But even the toughest kitchen tools have their kryptonite.
Cast iron may be rugged, but it's not invincible. Simmer the wrong sauce, soak it too long, or pick the wrong ingredients, and you could strip away that hard-earned seasoning or damage the pan's surface for good. Acidic foods, prolonged moisture, and a few other culinary culprits can turn your skillet from hero to hazard.
To find out exactly which foods to keep out of cast iron -- or at the very least, cook with caution -- I asked Eric Rowse. Rowse is the lead chef instructor of Culinary Arts at the Institute of Culinary Education and shared tips for using the cult-favorite cookware without ruining its surface.
If you want to keep your cast iron slick, smooth, and worthy of its place on the stovetop throne, there are a few things you should never let near it. Here's what to avoid — and why your pan will thank you.
4 foods that will ruin cast-iron cookware
According to Rowse, you can technically cook anything in cast iron -- even fish and eggs -- but some foods react poorly to cast iron if not done properly, leading to surface decay or food with a metallic taste.
1. Tomatoes
It's OK to cook acidic foods such as tomatoes and vinegar in your cast-iron pan but letting them sit for long periods can eat away at the seasoning.
istetiana/Getty Images
"Highly acidic foods, such as tomato and tomato-based dishes, can be problematic on raw iron, poorly or underseasoned cast iron," Rowse says.
"Cooking these foods in neglected cast iron can lead to a metallic taste in the food. If the pan is well seasoned and cleaned out after each use, it isn't a problem."
To be safe, cook some bacon in your skillet afterward to give the seasoning extra protection. As a bonus, you'll have bacon on hand. What you don't want to do is leave the acidic food just sitting in the pan, which can eat away at the seasoning.
2. Vinegar
Most BBQ sauces have a fair amount of vinegar that can damage your cast-iron cookware.
CNET
For the same reason as tomatoes, vinegar can eat away at a seasoned cast-iron skillet, sending you back to square one. Vinegar-based foods like adobo or Carolina-style barbecue sauce are good examples of acidic foods that shouldn't sit in a cast-iron pan for long.
If you do use vinegar in a recipe and cook it in cast-iron, be sure to clean the pan immediately afterward with hot water and salt or a small dash of gentle dish soap.
Avoid cooking citrus-based sauces in your cast-iron cookware for long periods.
Géza Bálint Ujvárosi/EyeEm/Getty Images
While they're may not be a ton of reasons to put citrus in a cast-iron skillet, certain recipes call for a fair amount of lemon or lime juice. A squeeze of lemon at the end probably won't destroy your cast-iron pan, but don't let citrus juice simmer inside of it for long, or your precious patina won't survive the night.
4. Wine-based sauces
Red wine is great to add into stews and red meat dishes.
fermate/Getty Images
Cooking with wine is almost always a good idea. In fact, we have a list of recipes that thrive with a few ounces of red or white. But letting acid-heavy wine braise or simmer in a cast-iron pot or pan for too long could cause the slick patina to erode, leaving you with an unseasoned skillet that food will stick to.
Can you cook eggs in cast iron?
A properly seasoned cast-iron skillet can cook eggs without issue.
Getty Images
While they won't damage your pan, eggs are tricky to pan-fry without having a sticky mess to deal with after. While cast-iron cookware isn't as nonstick as chemically coated pans, it's still a fine candidate for scrambling or frying the morning staple.
"I love cooking eggs in cast iron," Rowse told us. "I have a small 5-inch one that I cook fried eggs in. Cast iron is able to get super-hot, and precise control is harder because it retains heat for longer, and therefore it is more difficult to make small adjustments to the temperature."
What about fish?
I heat my prepared meals up in a skillet or air fryer if I'm home.
David Watsky/CNET
Likewise, many varieties of fish are flaky and tend to stick to surfaces if not managed properly. If your cast-iron's patina isn't properly slicked or is too hot when the fish goes down, you may end up scraping half of your halibut from the bottom of the pan.
How to avoid a cast-iron cooking conundrum
Properly seasoning your cast iron will keep foods such as fish and eggs from sticking.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
First and foremost, you'll want to properly season so you can cook even the stickiest foods without worry.
When cooking acidic foods in cast iron, avoid slow-braising or simmering on the stovetop for long periods. When the food is finished cooking, remove it and wash your cast-iron pan immediately with hot water, a drop of dish soap and a sprinkling of kitchen salt for extra stuck-on foods.
And if you're not sure, opt for an acid-safe piece of cookware as an enameled Dutch oven or stainless-steel skillet.
Internet on the go is great, but make sure you clear your iPhone's cache every so often.
Adam BenjaminManaging Editor
Adam Benjamin has helped people navigate complex problems for the past decade. The former digital services editor for Reviews.com, Adam now leads CNET's services and software team and contributes to its game coverage.
ExpertiseOperating Systems | Streaming Services | Mobile Apps | First-Person ShootersCredentials
Adam has been covering streaming services since 2013 and wants to help people navigate the subscription creep in their lives.
Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him reading and drinking coffee or watching a TV series with his wife and their dog.
ExpertiseWeb hosting | Operating systems | Applications | SoftwareCredentials
Apple software beta tester, "Helps make our computers and phones work!" - Zach's grandparents
How many times have you been surfing the web on your iPhone and the loading times of a particular page take forever? Yes, sometimes it can be the website, but if loading times are unusually longer and your internet connection is fine, most likely that's your sign to clear your cache. If you were honest, when was the last time you reset your phone's web cache?
Many of us don't think about cleaning the cache until our browsing experience becomes laggy or unbearably slow. Clearing your cache does more than just speed things up, it will also reset the data stored on any of the sites you visit often. So, don't be shocked if you're treated like a guest on your next visit, the site just needs a chance to relearn you.
It's a good rule of thumb to clear your web cache every month or two, no matter what browser you use (Chrome, Safari, etc). Trust us, your iPhone will reward you in the long run. If you would also like tips to make your phone run faster, try managing your iPhone's storage.
What happens when you clear your cache?
Clearing your cache usually involves clearing website cookies, too. Cookies work similarly to browser caches, except they store information about user data, rather than data on the website itself. Clearing your cookies gives you a chance to reset those preferences, which could improve your browsing experience. Note that clearing your cache and cookies will log you out of sites, which means you'll have to log into them again and reset any preferences. The up-front investment of that time can lead to a smoother experience down the road, and it can be a useful fix if you've recently changed settings that aren't being applied properly.
Here are step-by-step guides on how to clear your iPhone's cache, depending on the browser you prefer.
Watch this: Make Your iPhone Faster by Clearing the Cache
How to clear your iPhone cache in Safari
Safari is the default browser on iPhones, and you can clear your Safari cache in a few short steps. Starting with iOS 11, following this process will affect all devices signed in to your iCloud account. As a result, all your devices' caches will be cleared, and you'll need to sign in to everything the next time you use them. Here's what to do.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Select Apps >Safari.
3. Scroll down to History and Website Data and choose Clear History and Website Data.
4. Choose Clear History and Data in the pop-up box -- you can choose anywhere from the last hour to all history.
Then you're set!
How to clear your iPhone cache in Chrome
It's easy to clear your iPhone cache in Chrome.
James Martin/CNET
Chrome is another popular browser for iPhone users. Google has simplified the process for clearing your Chrome cache, making it much faster to clear your data.
1. Open the Chrome app.
2. Select the three dots in the bottom right to open more options.
3. Swipe over to Settings in the top menu bar.
4. Scroll down and tap Privacy and security.
5. Tap Delete browsing data to open up another menu. Select the intended time range at the top of the menu (anywhere from Last 15 minutes to All time). Make sure that Cookies and Site Data are checked, along with Cached Images and Files. Finally, hit Delete data at the bottom of the screen.
How to clear your iPhone cache in Firefox
If you're a Firefox devotee, don't worry. Clearing the cache on your iPhone is straightforward. Just follow these steps.
1. Press the hamburger menu in the bottom right corner to open up options.
2. Choose Settings at the bottom of the menu.
3. Select Data Management in the Privacy section.
4. To clear everything, choose Web Site Data at the top of the menu and then Clear All Web SiteData. Alternatively, you can choose to clear just your browsing history, cache, cookies, offline web data, tracking protection or offline files.
What happens when you clear the cache?
Clearing your cache removes the website data your phone stored locally to prevent having to download that data upon each new visit. The data in your cache builds over time and can end up being an issue if that data winds up out of date. (My phone had about 150MB of data stored in Chrome when I checked.) Clearing that data gives sites a fresh start, which may fix some loading errors. But clearing your cache also signs you out of pages, so be prepared to sign in to everything again.
How often do I need to clear my cache?
Most people only need to clear their caches once every month or two. That's generally the point when your browser will build up a cache large enough to start slowing things down. If you frequent a large number of sites, you should err on the side of clearing your cache more often.
We process your personal information to measure and improve our sites and service, to assist our marketing campaigns and to provide personalised content and advertising. By clicking the button on the right, you can exercise your privacy rights. For more information see our privacy noticeCookie Policy
Hello, there!
We noticed that you’re currently using an ad blocker.
CNET is able to deliver our best-in-class reviews, tips, buying advice and news to you for free with the help of ads. Please consider supporting our world-class service journalism by removing the ad blocker from your browser. We appreciate you!
