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Amazon Pauses Police Use of Its Facial Recognition Software

Charlotte Henry ·

Following in the footsteps of IBM, Amazon has banned police use of its facial recognition for the next 12 months. In a blog post published Wednesday, the company said that while groups that help reunite families with missing children and rescue human trafficking victims can still use its Rekognition software, there is a one-year moratorium on police usage.

We’ve advocated that governments should put in place stronger regulations to govern the ethical use of facial recognition technology, and in recent days, Congress appears ready to take on this challenge. We hope this one-year moratorium might give Congress enough time to implement appropriate rules, and we stand ready to help if requested.

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How to File Great Bug Reports According to Apple

Andrew Orr ·

Apple shared post to its developer page to give advice on how to file great bug reports. It’s also good advice for people who like to beta test Apple software, so bookmark the page once iOS 14 and macOS 10.16 Redwood have been announced (I’m taking this opportunity to make my macOS name prediction).

You should always file feedback for any bugs you find while developing on Apple’s platforms; after all, we can’t fix problems that we don’t know about. But how can you be sure that the information you provide is helpful for triaging the issue, rather than a bug-solving dead end? Here are some of our top tips for making sure your bug report is clear, actionable, and — most importantly — fixable.

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Facebook Helped Hack ‘Tails’ OS to Catch a Child Predator

Andrew Orr ·

A report today from Motherboard details how Facebook and the FBI used a zero-day exploit for privacy OS Tails to catch a child predator. The reason I’m specifically linking to it is because of this paragraph:

Facebook told Motherboard that it does not specialize in developing hacking exploits and did not want to set the expectation with law enforcement that this is something it would do regularly. Facebook says that it identified the approach that would be used but did not develop the specific exploit, and only pursued the hacking option after exhausting all other options.

That is a slippery slope argument that will be used by politicians, like how Apple does what it can to help the FBI get into terrorists’ iPhones. “But you helped them before, why not again?” More fuel on the EARN IT fire.

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WWDC 2020: iPad Pro Inspired iMac Could be on The Way

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple may use WWDC 2020 to unveil an iMac inspired by the iPad Pro, according to tipster Sonny Dickson. Cult of Mac reported that this could mean thinner bezel.

The new all-in-one is expected to feature significantly slimmer bezels like Pro Display XDR, plus AMD Navi graphics. It has been almost eight years since the iMac got its last redesign, and despite still being a pretty machine, it is starting to look a little long in the tooth today. It’s understandable that many Apple fans want something new. Recent rumors have hinted at a significant iMac refresh — complete with a new design — will come this year. Now tipster Sonny Dickson, who has been accurate in the past, has some new tidbits to share. Dickson says the new iMac will use “iPad Pro design language, with Pro Display like bezels.” He doesn’t go into detail, but this suggests a return to sharper edges, a thinner form factor, and an almost edge-to-edge screen.

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Cloudflare Introduces 1.1.1.1 DNS for Families

Andrew Orr ·

Cloudflare has introduced 1.1.1.1 DNS for families that adds an extra layer of protection to keep kids safe online. There are now two extra variants of the DNS service. 1.1.1.2 can block malware, and 1.1.1.3 can block both malware and adult content.

Introducing 1.1.1.1 for Families — the easiest way to add a layer of protection to your home network and protect it from malware and adult content. 1.1.1.1 for Families leverages Cloudflare’s global network to ensure that it is fast and secure around the world. And it includes the same strong privacy guarantees that we committed to when we launched 1.1.1.1 two years ago. And, just like 1.1.1.1, we’re providing it for free and it’s for any home anywhere in the world.

Good to see Cloudflare offer more options for people. They aren’t the only company doing this either; I’ve rounded up four other private DNS services to use.

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Ireland Subreddit Shutting Down at Midnight in Bid to Stop Racist Trolls

Charlotte Henry ·

The Ireland subreddit is to close every night at midnight local time in an attempt to stop a deluge of racist posts. BBC News reported that it plans to add moderators and filters as a longterm solution.

Moderators said having to check every comment on the social network’s forums had pushed them to “breaking point”.vThe page is now seeking to expand its team of moderators and add filters that can spot posts “hateful” comments.vIn a post on the page, which has 280,000 members, it said: “We’re taking the very difficult decision today to shut down Reddit Ireland temporarily between midnight and 08:00 each day in order to stem the flow of racist/extremist content which is being posted at these times.”

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State of Michigan Launches Map of Free Wi-Fi Hotspots

Andrew Orr ·

In partnership with Connected Nation Michigan, the State of Michigan released a free online map of free Wi-Fi hotspots for citizens who don’t have easy access to broadband (although the tool is there to use even if you do have your own internet).

“This pandemic has shown a real need to tackle the barriers of access, adoption, and affordability to fully enable the opportunities that the internet makes possible,” Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said. “If we are going to close the Internet gap, we need to make sure we’re doing everything we can in the interim to expand access to existing broadband options for communities where it’s not readily available or affordable.”

It’s nice to see such a great tool from my state.