Kaspersky: networks of 8 Eastern European banks were hacked by people entering the premises and planting physical hardware like Raspberry Pi and USB devices – Securelist

https://securelist.com/darkvishnya/89169/

Yuval Noah Harari on Why Technology Favors Tyranny - The Atlantic

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-noah-harari-technology-tyranny/568330/

Artificial intelligence could erase many practical advantages of democracy, and erode the ideals of liberty and equality. It will further concentrate power among a small elite if we don’t take steps to stop it.

How to Stop Apps From Tracking Your Location - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/technology/prevent-location-data-sharing.html

Unlike iPhones, Android phones don’t allow you to restrict an app’s access to your location to just the moments when you’re using it.

Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html

Dozens of companies use smartphone locations to help advertisers and even hedge funds. They say it’s anonymous, but the data shows how personal it is.

Europe should be wary of Huawei, EU tech official says - Reuters

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-china-huawei/europe-should-be-afraid-of-huawei-eu-tech-official-says-idUSKBN1O611X

Ansip said he was concerned because Chinese technology companies were required to cooperate with Chinese intelligence services, such as on “mandatory back doors” to allow access to encrypted data.

Why does 5G have everyone worried about Huawei? - Fifth generation, fifth column

https://www.economist.com/business/2018/12/07/why-does-5g-have-everyone-worried-about-huawei

Western spooks have mused publicly about the risk that Huawei’s kit might be siphoning valuable data back to Beijing, or that it comes with “back doors”

Alibaba already has a voice assistant way better than Google’s - MIT Technology Review

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612511/alibaba-already-has-a-voice-assistant-way-better-than-googles/

It navigates interruptions and other tricky features of human conversation to field millions of requests a day.

Arrest Shakes Huawei as Global Skepticism of Its Business Grows - NYTimes

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/technology/huawei-arrest-meng-wanzhou.html

China sees the company as a pivotal driver of its ambitions for global technological leadership. Increasingly, much of the rest of the world sees it as a potential conduit for espionage and sabotage.

Australia passes sweeping anti-encryption bill giving police power to implant malware and insert backdoors, despite opposition from experts, tech companies - TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/05/australia-rushes-its-dangerous-anti-encryption-bill-into-parliament/

How Facebook is Fueling The French Populist Rage – Monday Note

https://mondaynote.com/how-facebook-is-fueling-the-french-populist-rage-27a86acb9d85

The social network is playing a critical role in one of the worse civil unrest ever seen in France, with no end in sight for now.