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FCC Forced to Get Public Opinion on Net Neutrality

Andrew Orr ·

A court order is forcing the FCC to once again ask the public’s opinion on whether gutting net neutrality was a good idea. And just like last time, the agency is doing everything possible to distract, deflect, and defend.

In a reminder of just how petty federal telecoms regulation has become, the FCC can’t even take this implicit rebuke professionally. And so it attempted to hide the reality of the situation by flooding its announcements website on Wednesday with suddenly important news and describing the public comment period in the most obscure terms possible.

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Defense Information Systems Agency Suffers Data Breach

Andrew Orr ·

Between May and July 2019 sensitive data like Social Security Numbers were stolen from servers belonging to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), a U.S. defense agency. Earlier this month it notified victims.

The Defense Information Systems Agency has begun issuing letters to people whose personally identifiable information may have been compromised in a data breach on a system hosted by the agency. While there is no evidence to suggest that any of the potentially compromised PII was misused, DISA policy requires the agency to notify individuals whose personal data may have been compromised.

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AI Could Build the Next JPEG Image Codec

Andrew Orr ·

The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) is exploring methods to use machine learning to create the next JPEG image codec.

In a recent meeting held in Sydney, the group released a call for evidence to explore AI-based methods to find a new image compression codec. The program, aptly named JPEG AI, was launched last year; with a special group to study neural-network-based image codecs.

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Twitter Tests Fake News Warning System

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter is testing a fake news warning system on its platform. Bright labels will appear under tweets with misinformation.

Twitter confirmed that the leaked demo, which was accessible on a publicly available site, is one possible iteration of a new policy to target misinformation it plans to roll out March 5.

In this version, disinformation or misleading information posted by public figures will be corrected directly beneath the tweet by fact-checkers and journalists who are verified on the platform, and possibly other users who will participate in a new “community reports” feature, which the demo claims is “like Wikipedia.”

I could see “community reports” abused by Twitter trolls mass-reporting anything they disagree with as fake news. Hopefully Twitter builds a good system.

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This Startup Wants to Build a “GitHub for Data”

Andrew Orr ·

A startup called Gretel wants to build a “GitHub for data” so developers can safely access sensitive data.

Often, developers don’t need full access to a bank of user data — they just need a portion or a sample to work with. In many cases, developers could suffice with data that looks like real user data.

This so-called “synthetic data” is essentially artificial data that looks and works just like regular sensitive user data. Gretel uses machine learning to categorize the data — like names, addresses and other customer identifiers — and classify as many labels to the data as possible. Once that data is labeled, it can be applied access policies. Then, the platform applies differential privacy — a technique used to anonymize vast amounts of data — so that it’s no longer tied to customer information.

 

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This Company Sells Your Credit Card Data

Andrew Orr ·

Yodlee is the biggest financial data broker in the U.S., and it routinely sells your credit card data to investment and research firms.

The Yodlee document describes in detail what type of data its clients gain access to, how the company manages that data across its infrastructure, and the specific measures Yodlee takes to try and anonymize its dataset…Once logged into Yodlee’s server, clients download the data as a large text file, rather than interacting with the data in a dashboard or interface that stays solely within Yodlee’s control, according to the document.

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IRS Sues Facebook for $9 Billion Over Offshore Profits

Andrew Orr ·

The IRS is suing Facebook for US$9 billion, saying the company kept profits in subsidiaries based in Ireland.

The IRS argues that Facebook understated the value of the intellectual property it sold to an Irish subsidiary in 2010 while building out global operations, a move common among U.S. multinationals…Under the arrangement, Facebook’s subsidiaries pay royalties to the U.S.-based parent for access to its trademark, users and platform technologies. From 2010 to 2016, Facebook Ireland paid Facebook U.S. more than $14 billion in royalties and cost-sharing payments, according to the court filing.

If the IRS succeeds this would be one of Facebook’s biggest fines.

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Smartphones Could Help Death Photography Make a Comeback

Andrew Orr ·

The New York Times has a piece today about death photography, and how it’s returning with the help of our ubiquitous smartphone camera.

“But we are returning to the older ways,” she went on, “a movement backward that some say began in the ’70s, with the back-to-nature movement and midwifery and natural births. The natural death movement is part of that. And these photos are unsurprising, too, because we carry our smartphones all the time, and it’s almost like if there isn’t a photo it didn’t happen. Now everyone is a photographer.”

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Apple Leverages iOS for Advertising You Can’t Block

Andrew Orr ·

Tumblr software engineer Steve Streza makes the case that iOS is adware for all of Apple’s services.

iOS 13 has an abundance of ads from Apple marketing Apple services, from the moment you set it up and all throughout the experience. These ads cannot be hidden through the iOS content blocker extension system. Some can be dismissed or hidden, but most cannot, and are purposefully designed into core apps like Music and the App Store. There’s a term to describe software that has lots of unremovable ads: adware, which what iOS has sadly become.

This particularly annoys me with Apple News, where roughly half the space is dedicated to showing me News+ content, even though I don’t subscribe. On iOS you can swipe to “See Less Often” but you can’t do this on iPad.

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How Jeff Bezos Built a Data Collecting Empire

Andrew Orr ·

BBC News published an inside look into “Why Amazon knows so much about you.”

“They happen to sell products, but they are a data company,” says James Thomson, one of the former executives interviewed.

“Each opportunity to interact with a customer is another opportunity to collect data.”

Founder Jeff Bezos frames it in terms of being a “customer obsession”, saying the firm’s first priority is to “figure out what they want, what’s important to them”.

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Jeff Bezos Pledges $10 Billion to Help Fight Climate Change

Charlotte Henry ·

Jeff Bezos said on Monday that he will contribute $10 billion in the fight against climate change, Yahoo Finance reported. Not so long ago, the Amazon founder was accused of being stingy after he donated $690,000 towards relief efforts following the Australian wildfires.

The Amazon (AMZN) CEO announced the launch on Instagram, asserting humans can save the Earth by using an inclusive approach that combines the efforts and resources of all stakeholders. “We can save Earth. It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation-states, global organizations, and individuals,” the post stated. “⁣⁣⁣I’m committing $10 billion to start and will begin issuing grants this summer. Earth is the one thing we all have in common — let’s protect it, together.⁣⁣⁣” Bezos, who has a net worth of $130 billion, is no stranger to the climate change fight. In September 2019, the Amazon founder announced: “The Climate Pledge,” which stated that the retail behemoth’s ultimate goal is to become carbon-neutral by 2040.

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Instagram Seems to Think it’s a Startup When it Comes to an iPad App

Andrew Orr ·

When asked why there isn’t an Instagram iPad app yet, CEO Adam Mosseri said the company would like to create one, “But we only have so many people, and lots to do, and it hasn’t bubbled up as the next best thing to do yet.”

Instagram users have been asking for an official ‌iPad‌ app nearly since the social network launched in 2010, the same year that the first ‌iPad‌ was released. Some alternatives include third-party Instagram apps for ‌iPad‌, browsing Instagram on the web on ‌iPad‌, or using the upscaled iPhone app on ‌iPad‌.

The obvious answer is, “Hire more people because you’re owned by one of the richest corporations in the world: Facebook.” But I wonder what the actual answer is. Invasive tracking isn’t as lucrative on iPadOS?

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Iran Hackers Put Backdoors in VPN Servers

Andrew Orr ·

A new report finds that hackers from Iran have been putting backdoors in VPN servers around the world in the “Fox Kitten Campaign.” It sounds like affected companies provide VPN for enterprise, rather than consumers. ZDNet suggests Pulse Secure, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, and Citrix.

Though [sic] the campaign, the attackers succeeded in gaining access and persistent foothold in the networks of numerous companies and organizations from the IT, Telecommunication, Oil and Gas, Aviation, Government, and Security sectors around the world.

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Clearview AI Faces Class Action Lawsuit Similar to Facebook

Andrew Orr ·

Two weeks ago Facebook settled a lawsuit alleging that it violated Illinois privacy laws. Now, Clearview AI is also facing a class action lawsuit in the state.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday on behalf of several Illinois citizens and first reported by Buzzfeed News, alleges that Clearview “actively collected, stored and used Plaintiffs’ biometrics — and the biometrics of most of the residents of Illinois — without providing notice, obtaining informed written consent or publishing data retention policies.”

Not only that, but this biometric data has been licensed to many law enforcement agencies, including within Illinois itself.

All this is allegedly in violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act, a 2008 law that has proven to be remarkably long-sighted and resistant to attempts by industry (including, apparently, by Facebook while it fought its own court battle) to water it down.

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‘Robo Revenge’ Will Block and Automatically Sue Robocallers

Andrew Orr ·

The newest service from DoNotPay is Robo Revenge. It will block robocallers and automatically sue them for you.

Robo Revenge combines both features to automatically add you to the Do Not Call Registry, generate a virtual DoNotPay burner credit card to provide scammers when they illegally call you anyways, use the transaction information to get the scammer’s contact information, then walk you through how to sue them for as much as $3,000 per call under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), a law already on the books meant to protect consumers from calls that violate the Do Not Call Registry. The app also streamlines the litigation paperwork by automatically generating demand letters and court filing documents.

As a reader pointed out below, you’ll find this service within the DoNotPay app.

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AT&T Blocks Encrypted Email App Tutanota

Andrew Orr ·

In certain areas of the U.S. some AT&T users found they couldn’t access their inboxes in encrypted email app Tutanota.

Starting on January 25th 2020, we have had constant complaints from AT&T mobile users who were unable to access their encrypted Tutanota mailbox. While AT&T seemed willing to fix this when we reached out to them, the issue is still not solved and reports from users keep coming in.

While some AT&T users confirmed the block, others said that they were able to access Tutanota. As AT&T has not fixed the issue after more than two weeks, we are reaching out publicly in the hope of getting the attention of the right people at AT&T.

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It’s Time for Encrypted Messaging app Signal to go Mainstream

Andrew Orr ·

Signal creator Moxie Marlinspike is growing the Signal Foundation and adding new features to the app thanks to money from WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton.

Since then, Marlinspike’s nonprofit has put Acton’s millions—and his experience building an app with billions of users—to work. After years of scraping by with just three overworked full-time staffers, the Signal Foundation now has 20 employees. For years a bare-bones texting and calling app, Signal has increasingly become a fully featured, mainstream communications platform. With its new coding muscle, it has rolled out features at a breakneck speed…

I wish I could use Signal but none of my friends use it.

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Man Who Refused to Decrypt Hard Drives Free After Four Years

Andrew Orr ·

Four years ago a federal judge held Francis Rawls in contempt when he refused to decrypt hard drives for police.

The practical result is that, at least in federal court, someone can only be imprisoned for 18 months for refusing to open an encrypted device. That’s probably a harsh-enough penalty to induce most people to comply with decryption orders. But suspects in child-pornography cases might be tempted to “forget” the passwords on their encrypted device if doing so could save them from a conviction and a much longer prison term.

What an interesting case, and I remember reading about it four years ago. I wonder if the court was trying to set a precedent for passwords and the Fifth Amendment.

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Ransomware Hackers Now Want Your Nudes

Andrew Orr ·

Security researchers discover a new form of blackmail from ransomware hackers: They demand nudes instead of money.

While most ransomware strains require monetary compensation in return for a decryptor, Ransomwared is demanding a more unusual payment. Once a computer is infected, a pop up will appear and demand that the victim send the author pictures of “tits” in exchange for an “unlock code.”

Maybe this speaks to my cynicism or just the fact that the world is filled with bad people. But I’m honestly surprised I haven’t heard of this type of ransomware extortion sooner. You could just send random porn, they wouldn’t be able to know if they’re actually your nudes. But they might ask you to hold up a sign with the current date as proof that it’s you. However, what if you just searched online for a nude with a sign, then photoshopped the current date on it? Okay, I need to stop. This is why Charlotte worries about me.

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Darkroom Photo Editor Latest to Go Subscription

Andrew Orr ·

Darkroom is the latest app to move to a subscription model. It affects new users only, and current users won’t lose their premium features they paid for.

For new users, Darkroom will cost $3.99 per month or $19.99 per year. And there is still a one-time purchase option at $49.99. Darkroom hopes that a switch to a subscription business model will increase its revenue and thus expand development of the app.

Subscriptions are annoying, but I don’t blame developers so much as Apple. This is exactly what they wanted because it means more money for them. I don’t Apple will ever add upgrade pricing to the App Store. That doesn’t benefit them. Subscriptions are part of Apple’s new Services business, whether the apps are Apple’s own or not.

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New Mac Pro Facing Lengthy Delivery Delays

Charlotte Henry ·

The new Mac Pro is facing delivery delays, according to MacRumors. This is down to the coronavirus outbreak closing Chinese manufacturing plants.

In many European countries, for example, the base model without any customizations is currently estimated for delivery on March 10. While the new Mac Pro is assembled in the United States for orders placed in the Americas, European orders are assembled in China.  The new Mac Pro also has a February 24-26 delivery estimate in the United States, despite being assembled in Texas, possibly because some components are still sourced from temporarily-closed suppliers in China.

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Czech Authorities Investigate Avast Over Data Collection

Andrew Orr ·

Investigations are underway to examine Avast’s practice of collecting and selling its users’ browser histories.

Avast, which is based in the Czech Republic, claimed it was stripping away users’ personal details from the collected browser histories as a way to “de-identify” the data, and preserve their customers’ privacy. However, the joint investigation from PCMag and Motherboard found the contrary: The same data can actually be combined with other information to identify the web activities of individual Avast users, including their internet searches. As many as 100 million users had their data collected.

I’m glad there are investigations. As I found out last week, there are likely other companies participating in this data collection practice.

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US Reportedly Gave Allies Evidence of Huawei Backdoors

Andrew Orr ·

Although the U.S. hasn’t shared it publicly, it claims to have found actual evidence of Huawei backdoors.

The United States has long claimed that Huawei can secretly access networks through the networking gear it sells to telcos, but the goverment previously argued that it doesn’t need to show any proof. US officials still are not providing such evidence publicly but have begun sharing their intelligence with other countries.

The best part is that, according to The Wall Street Journal, the origin of this report, these backdoors were intentionally put into place for law enforcement. And yet, the DoJ wants Apple to put backdoors in iOS that they swear can only be accessed by law enforcement, and definitely not foreign state hacking groups.

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Remember Neopets? It’s Being Turned Into a TV Show

Andrew Orr ·

Virtual pet website Neopets is being turned into a television show aimed at 8-12 year olds.

As part of the agreement, Singapore-based Beach House will develop new stories and characters, with Blue Ant’s Canadian studio providing animation services.

The show is still in the early stages of development and its format and style aren’t finalized, but Beach House plans to target the series at eight to 12s. The pair are seeking co-production and broadcast partners for the project.

I wish I still had my login information for Neopets.

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