https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-fbi-icloud-exclusive/exclusive-apple-dropped-plan-for-encrypting-backups-after-fbi-complained-sources-idUSKBN1ZK1CT
More than two years ago, Apple told the FBI that it planned to offer users end-to-end encryption when storing their phone data on iCloud
Under that plan, primarily designed to thwart hackers, Apple would no longer have a key to unlock the encrypted data, meaning it would not be able to turn material over to authorities in a readable form even under court order.
In private talks with Apple soon after, representatives of the FBI’s cyber crime agents and its operational technology division objected to the plan, arguing it would deny them the most effective means for gaining evidence against iPhone-using suspects, the government sources said.
When Apple spoke privately to the FBI about its work on phone security the following year, the end-to-end encryption plan had been dropped
https://www.wsj.com/articles/thousands-of-chinese-students-data-exposed-on-internet-11579283410
https://www.nrk.no/finnmark/filmet-pasientene_-la-apent-ute-pa-sykehusets-interne-nettsider-i-10-maneder-1.14864408
Finnmarkssykehuset vurderer feilen som alvorlig, men har ikke varslet pasientene som ble overvåket ulovlig.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdp95/this-secretive-surveillance-company-is-selling-cops-cameras-hidden-in-gravestones
Special Services Group also offers cameras hidden in child carseats and vacuum cleaners.
https://apnews.com/d38d6dc3c126baed6d2da3f925dab884
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3mdvk/ring-fired-employees-abusing-video-data
The news highlights a risk across many different tech companies: employees may abuse access granted as part of their jobs to look at customer data or information. In Ring’s case this data can be particularly sensitive though, as customers often put the cameras inside their home.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-coast-guard-discloses-ryuk-ransomware-infection-at-maritime-facility/
The maritime facility — believed to be a port authority — was forced to shut down its entire operations for more than 30 hours, the Coast Guard said.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/6/21054270/sony-vision-s-electric-concept-car-ev-announcement-ces-2020
is meant to showcase the Japanese tech conglomerate’s many different strengths, from entertainment products to camera sensors and more.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/12/clinical-lab-pays-hackers-for-the-return-of-data-of-15-million-patients/
Canada’s biggest provider of specialty laboratory testing services said it paid hackers an undisclosed amount for the return of personal data they stole belonging to as many as 15 million customers.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/company-shuts-down-because-of-ransomware-leaves-300-without-jobs-just-before-holidays/
As a result of the botched ransomware recovery process, the company’s leadership decided to suspend all services, leaving more than 300 employees without jobs.
Over the past two years, there have been many cases where smaller companies decided to shut down for good, lacking the funds to pay a ransom demand to get their data back or lacking the funds needed to rebuild their IT infrastructure
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-echo-dot-kids-privacy-violations-puts-kids-at-risk-complaint-alleges/
fails to adequately protect children’s privacy by illegally keeping data on children even after their parents try to delete it
https://wh0.github.io/2020/01/02/scissors.html
Unlike the real world tool it represents, the emoji’s job is to convey the idea, especially at small sizes. It doesn’t need to be able to swing or cut things. Nevertheless, let’s judge them on that irrelevant criterion.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/bmw-and-hyundai-hacked-by-vietnamese-hackers-report-claims/
Many experts have speculated that the Vietnamese government has taken a page out of China’s book and is using hacking groups to carry out economic espionage on foreign companies, stealing intellectual property, and then using it for its state-funded corporations.
China used this strategy to prop its airplane manufacturing sector, and now experts believe Vietnam is doing the same for its fledgling automotive startup VinFast, which started rolling out its first cars out factory lines this year.
https://castro.fm/episode/leoXku
What is the chance of the human race surviving the 21st century? There are many dangers – climate change for example, or nuclear war, or a pandemic, or planet Earth being hit by a giant asteroid. Around the world a number of research centres have sprung up to investigate and mitigate what’s called existential risk. How precarious is our civilisation and what can be done to stop a global catastrophe? David Edmonds talks to four expert witnesses to try and find the answer. 🎙
https://www.economist.com/the-world-in/2019/12/31/what-sci-fi-can-tell-us-about-the-future
https://theworldin.economist.com/edition/2020/article/17372/instagram-will-be-new-front-line-misinformation-wars
FACEBOOK WAS a breeding-ground for partisanship, crackpot articles and conspiracy theories long before America’s presidential election in 2016. The social network is optimised for “engagement”, and encourages people to keep scrolling, clicking and commenting by promoting content that triggers strong reactions. Yet it took the revelation of a massive Russian propaganda campaign before lawmakers, journalists and Facebook users began to take notice of the risks this entails. Something similar will happen with the election in 2020—but this time to Instagram (which is owned by Facebook).
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614941/internet-that-never-forgets-bad-for-young-people-online-permanence/
As past identities become stickier for those entering adulthood, it’s not just individuals who will suffer. Society will too.
The risk is that this will produce generations of increasingly cautious individuals—people too worried about what others might find or think to ever engage in productive risks or innovative thinking.
The second potential danger is more troubling: in a world where the past haunts the present, young people may calcify their identities, perspectives, and political positions at an increasingly young age.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/24/colleges-are-turning-students-phones-into-surveillance-machines-tracking-locations-hundreds-thousands/
Short-range phone sensors and campuswide WiFi networks are empowering colleges across the United States to track hundreds of thousands of students more precisely than ever before. Dozens of schools now use such technology to monitor students’ academic performance, analyze their conduct or assess their mental health.
But some professors and education advocates argue that the systems represent a new low in intrusive technology, breaching students’ privacy on a massive scale. The tracking systems, they worry, will infantilize students in the very place where they’re expected to grow into adults, further training them to see surveillance as a normal part of living, whether they like it or not.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tiktok-navy-idUSKBN1YO2HU
https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/20/21029499/decade-fails-flops-tech-science-culture-apple-google-data-kickstarter-2010-2019