https://therecord.media/illumina-dna-sequencing-devices-vulnerability-fda-cisa
Several U.S. agencies warned this week about a vulnerability affecting software in devices used for DNA research that would allow hackers access to sensitive patient information.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the company behind the devices — Illumina — said they have not received any reports indicating the vulnerability has been exploited.
Illumina is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of medical devices that handle bioanalysis and DNA sequencing.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/chatgpt-sets-record-fastest-growing-user-base-analyst-note-2023-02-01/
ChatGPT, the popular chatbot from OpenAI, is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a UBS study on Wednesday.
https://restofworld.org/2023/ai-image-china-video-game-layoffs/
Recent breakthroughs in AI image generation have created widespread anxiety in China’s video game art industry.
Given the high quality of AI-produced artwork, many illustrators are losing their jobs to AI image generators such as Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2.
The gaming industry’s job market was already precarious after the Chinese government’s licensing freeze in 2021 threw thousands of game developers out of business.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/04/14/upshot/up-ai-uses.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65689580
A paralysed man has been able to walk simply by thinking about it thanks to electronic brain implants, a medical first he says has changed his life.
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The electronic implants wirelessly transmit his thoughts to his legs and feet via a second implant on his spine.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tesla-workers-shared-sensitive-images-recorded-by-customer-cars-2023-04-06/
https://www.theverge.com/23648726/hp-officejet-printer-region-how-to-change-why
I moved across the ocean and took my printer with me. Then I discovered it was region-locked. A wiser man would have bought a new one.
https://www.politico.eu/article/italian-privacy-regulator-bans-chatgpt/
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/03/android-app-from-china-executed-0-day-exploit-on-millions-of-devices/
Fast-growing e-commerce app Pinduoduo had an EvilParcel stow-away.
Android apps digitally signed by China’s third-biggest e-commerce company exploited a zero-day vulnerability that allowed them to surreptitiously take control of millions of end-user devices to steal personal data and install malicious apps, researchers from security firm Lookout have confirmed.
https://www.ingka.com/news/one-hundred-drones-now-used-across-ikea-retail-for-stock-inventory/
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-finds-18-zero-day-vulnerabilities-in-samsung-exynos-chipsets/
experienced attackers could easily create an exploit capable of remotely compromising vulnerable devices without triggering the targets’ attention.
https://www.nrk.no/norge/dine-pasientdata-skal-sendes-til-amerikansk-sky-_-datatilsynet-advarer-1.16338026
I løpet av noen uker skal Helse Sør-Øst ta i bruk en skytjeneste for å håndtere nordmenns pasientdata. Datatilsynet advarer om at USA ikke er ansett som et trygt land å sende slike opplysninger til, og ber dem sette på bremsen.
https://noyb.eu/en/austrian-dsb-meta-tracking-tools-illegal
the Austrian Data Protection Authority (DSB) has decided that the use of Facebook’s tracking pixel directly violates the GDPR
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The DSBs decision to declare Google Analytics illegal, also applies to the “Facebook Login” and “Meta Pixel” tools provided by Meta: If these tools are used, data is inevitably transferred to the USA, where the data is at risk of intelligence surveillance. European website operators are therefore advised not to include any tools from Meta on their websites.
https://goodinternet.substack.com/p/self-radicalization-with-open-sourced
https://www.wired.com/story/welfare-state-algorithms/
Obscure government algorithms are making life-changing decisions about millions of people around the world. Here, for the first time, we reveal how one of these systems works.
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Lighthouse Reports and WIRED obtained Rotterdam’s welfare fraud algorithm and the data used to train it, giving unprecedented insight into how such systems work. This level of access, negotiated under freedom-of-information laws, enabled us to examine the personal data fed into the algorithm, the inner workings of the data processing, and the scores it generates. By reconstructing the system and testing how it works, we found that it discriminates based on ethnicity and gender. It also revealed evidence of fundamental flaws that made the system both inaccurate and unfair.
https://cyberscoop.com/meta-large-language-model-available-online/
A set of sophisticated large language models developed by Facebook parent company Meta — and intended to be accessed only by authorized researchers — were made available for download on Friday, releasing to the public the most powerful such AI model yet and increasing the likelihood that the technology might be misused.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/privacy-loophole-ring-doorbell-00084979
Police were investigating his neighbor. A judge gave officers access to all his security-camera footage, including inside his home.
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It really takes the control out of the hands of the homeowners, and I think that’s hugely problematic,” said Jennifer Lynch, the surveillance litigation director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group.
In the debate over home surveillance, much of the concern has focused on Ring in particular, because of its popularity, as well as the company’s track record of cooperating closely with law enforcement agencies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/05/ai-voice-scam/
Scammers are using artificial intelligence to sound more like family members in distress. People are falling for it and losing thousands of dollars.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-next-big-threat-to-ai-might-already-be-lurking-on-the-web/
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine-learning experts are warning against the risk of data-poisoning attacks that can work against the large-scale datasets commonly used to train the deep-learning models in many AI services.
Data poisoning occurs when attackers tamper with the training data used to create deep-learning models. This action means it’s possible to affect the decisions that the AI makes in a way that is hard to track.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/28/23618804/google-facebook-login-ads-web-design-hell
There is a new trend among websites where they want my email address before I’m allowed to read their free content. While I sympathize with the struggles of the media business, I am just going to point out something obvious: not reading is easier than reading — and way easier than logging in.
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And confidential to Substack: if I have clicked into a newsletter on the web, blocking my view of the thing I’m trying to read with a subscription pop-up isn’t going to make me more likely to subscribe. It just means I’m probably not going to read the newsletter.