Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

T-Mobile Is Selling Your App and Web History to Advertisers allowing extremely fine personal targetting (they say)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In yet another example of T-Mobile being The Worst with its customer’s data, the company announced a new money-making scheme this week: selling its customers’ app download data and web browsing history to advertisers. The package of data is part of the company’s new “App Insights” adtech product that was in beta for the last Read more about T-Mobile Is Selling Your App and Web History to Advertisers allowing extremely fine personal targetting (they say)[…]

Valorant will start listening in to and recording your voice chat in July

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Riot Games will begin background evaluation of recorded in-game voice communications on July 13th in North America, in English. In a brief statement (opens in new tab) Riot said that the purpose of the recording is ultimately to “collect clear evidence that could verify any violations of behavioral policies.” For now, however, recordings will be Read more about Valorant will start listening in to and recording your voice chat in July[…]

Google now selling Earth Engine access to all businesses and governments

Posted on by Robin Edgar

For the past decade, researchers in academia and the nonprofit world have had access to increasingly sophisticated information about the Earth’s surface, via the Google Earth Engine. Now, any commercial or government entity will have access to Google Cloud’s new enterprise-grade, commercial version of the computer program. Google originally launched Earth Engine for scientists and Read more about Google now selling Earth Engine access to all businesses and governments[…]

UK decides AI still cannot patent inventions

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A recent IPO consultation found many experts doubted AI was currently able to invent without human assistance. Current law allowed humans to patent inventions made with AI assistance, the government said, despite “misperceptions” this was not the case. Last year, the Court of Appeal ruled against Stephen Thaler, who had said his Dabus AI system Read more about UK decides AI still cannot patent inventions[…]

FBI warns crooks are using deepfake videos in job interviews

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The US FBI issued a warning on Tuesday that it was has received increasing numbers of complaints relating to the use of deepfake videos during interviews for tech jobs that involve access to sensitive systems and information. The deepfake videos include a video image or recording convincingly manipulated to misrepresent someone as the “applicant” for Read more about FBI warns crooks are using deepfake videos in job interviews[…]

DeGiro online broker fined EUR 2 million for failing to report unusual transactions

Posted on by Robin Edgar

On 23 December 2021, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) appears to have imposed an administrative fine of 2 million euros on the DeGiro of the German company flatexDEGIRO Bank AG (FlatexDeGiro) because the online broker reported unusual transactions too late and incorrectly to Financial Intelligence. Unit – Netherlands (FIU). DeGiro did this Read more about DeGiro online broker fined EUR 2 million for failing to report unusual transactions[…]

China has photographed all of Mars from orbit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

China is claiming that as of Wednesday, its Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter has officially photographed the entire Red Planet. And it’s shown off new photos of the southern polar cap and a volcano to prove it. “It has acquired the medium-resolution image data covering the whole globe of Mars, with all of its scientific payloads realizing Read more about China has photographed all of Mars from orbit[…]

FreeYourMusic Transfers Your Music Library and Playlists Among Any Streaming Services

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] FreeYourMusic is a paid app available for Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and Linux that will transfer your data between Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Deezer, Pandora, Tidal, Soundcloud, and at least a dozen other streaming apps. It also lets you back up and store some of your data locally on your device. Image: FreeYourMusic Read more about FreeYourMusic Transfers Your Music Library and Playlists Among Any Streaming Services[…]

Supreme Court Rules Environmental Protection Agency can’t protect Environment In West Virginia v EPA lawsuit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday in West Virginia vs. EPA in favor of plaintiffs who argued that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the power to regulate carbon dioxide from power plants—the country’s second-largest source of CO2 emissions—without input from Congress. The ruling almost completely disrupts any major plans to fight climate change Read more about Supreme Court Rules Environmental Protection Agency can’t protect Environment In West Virginia v EPA lawsuit[…]

How mercenary hackers sway litigation battles – based on trove of Indian hackers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] At least 75 U.S. and European companies, three dozen advocacy and media groups and numerous Western business executives were the subjects of these hacking attempts, Reuters found. The Reuters report is based on interviews with victims, researchers, investigators, former U.S. government officials, lawyers and hackers, plus a review of court records from seven countries. It also Read more about How mercenary hackers sway litigation battles – based on trove of Indian hackers[…]

A few months in space leads to decades worth of bone loss

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Abstract Determining the extent of bone recovery after prolonged spaceflight is important for understanding risks to astronaut long-term skeletal health. We examined bone strength, density, and microarchitecture in seventeen astronauts (14 males; mean 47 years) using high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT; 61 μm). We imaged the tibia and radius before spaceflight, at return to Read more about A few months in space leads to decades worth of bone loss[…]

Windows Defender Bug Could Be Slowing Down Your PC

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A bug, discovered by TechPowerUp associate software author Kevin Glynn, causes Windows Defender to “randomly start using all seven hardware performance counters provided by Intel Core processors.” A utility Glynn created that monitors and logs performance counters on Intel Core CPUs since 2008 found that the strange behavior results in significantly reduced performance. Bogged down Read more about Windows Defender Bug Could Be Slowing Down Your PC[…]

Coinbase Is Selling Data on Crypto and ‘Geotracking’ to ICE

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Coinbase Tracer, the analytics arm of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has signed a contract with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that would allow the agency access to a variety of features and data caches, including “historical geo tracking data.” Coinbase Tracer, according to the website, is for governments, crypto businesses, and financial institutions. It allows Read more about Coinbase Is Selling Data on Crypto and ‘Geotracking’ to ICE[…]

‘Cryptoqueen’ On FBI’s Most Wanted List – on the run with $2.5 billion ponzi-ing suckers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

FBI officials and federal prosecutors announced Ignatova’s new designation in a press conference Thursday. Ignatova was charged in 2019 with wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering for her part in the OneCoin crypto company that prosecutors alleged was just a ponzi scheme. Michael Driscoll, the FBI’s assistant director-in-charge for New York Read more about ‘Cryptoqueen’ On FBI’s Most Wanted List – on the run with $2.5 billion ponzi-ing suckers[…]

OpenSea (NFT marketplace) 3rd party vendor leaked all customers’ email addresses – perfect suckers for phishing campaign list

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An employee of OpenSea’s email delivery vendor Customer.io “misused” their access to download and share OpenSea users’ and newsletter subscribers’ email addresses “with an unauthorized external party,” Head of Security Cory Hardman warned on Wednesday. “If you have shared your email with OpenSea in the past, you should assume you were impacted,” Hardman continued. To Read more about OpenSea (NFT marketplace) 3rd party vendor leaked all customers’ email addresses – perfect suckers for phishing campaign list[…]

No anti money laundering Checks For Most Transfers To Unhosted Crypto Wallets, EU Policymakers Decide

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The European Union (EU) finally agreed on landmark anti-money laundering rules for crypto transactions Wednesday, despite industry concerns over the law harming privacy and innovation. The final proposals will mean customer identity needs to be verified for even the smallest crypto transfers, if it’s between two regulated digital wallet providers – but payments to unhosted Read more about No anti money laundering Checks For Most Transfers To Unhosted Crypto Wallets, EU Policymakers Decide[…]

It’s alive! Quit a few people believe their AI chatbot is sentient – and maltreated

Posted on by Robin Edgar

AI chatbot company Replika, which offers customers bespoke avatars that talk and listen to them, says it receives a handful of messages almost every day from users who believe their online friend is sentient. “We’re not talking about crazy people or people who are hallucinating or having delusions,” said Chief Executive Eugenia Kuyda. “They talk Read more about It’s alive! Quit a few people believe their AI chatbot is sentient – and maltreated[…]

Apple’s insider trading prevention guy pleads guilty to … insider trading

Posted on by Robin Edgar

One of Apple’s most senior legal executives, whom the iGiant trusted to prevent insider trading, has admitted to insider trading. Gene Levoff pleaded guilty to six counts of security fraud stemming from a February 2019 complaint, according to a Thursday announcement from the US Department of Justice on Thursday. Levoff used non-public information about Apple’s Read more about Apple’s insider trading prevention guy pleads guilty to … insider trading[…]

Google to pay $90m to settle Play Store lawsuit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google is to pay $90 million to settle a class-action lawsuit with US developers over alleged anti-competitive behavior regarding the Google Play Store. Eligible for a share in the $90 million fund are US developers who earned two million dollars or less in annual revenue through Google Play between 2016 and 2021. “A vast majority Read more about Google to pay $90m to settle Play Store lawsuit[…]

Open source Fundamentalists SFC quit GitHub, want you to follow – because GitHub charges for Copilot feature

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), a non-profit focused on free and open source software (FOSS), said it has stopped using Microsoft’s GitHub for project hosting – and is urging other software developers to do the same. In a blog post on Thursday, Denver Gingerich, SFC FOSS license compliance engineer, and Bradley M. Kuhn, SFC policy Read more about Open source Fundamentalists SFC quit GitHub, want you to follow – because GitHub charges for Copilot feature[…]

‘We Asked GPT-3 To Write an Academic Paper About Itself – Then We Tried To Get It Published’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American, written by Almira Osmanovic Thunstrom: On a rainy afternoon earlier this year, I logged in to my OpenAI account and typed a simple instruction for the company’s artificial intelligence algorithm, GPT-3: Write an academic thesis in 500 words about GPT-3 and add scientific references and citations Read more about ‘We Asked GPT-3 To Write an Academic Paper About Itself – Then We Tried To Get It Published’[…]

New Firefox privacy feature strips URLs of tracking parameters

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Numerous companies, including Facebook, Marketo, Olytics, and HubSpot, utilize custom URL query parameters to track clicks on links. For example, Facebook appends a fbclid query parameter to outbound links to track clicks, with an example of one of these URLs shown below. https://www.example.com/?fbclid=IwAR4HesRZLT-fxhhh3nZ7WKsOpaiFzsg4nH0K4WLRHw1h467GdRjaLilWbLs With the release of Firefox 102, Mozilla has added the new ‘Query Read more about New Firefox privacy feature strips URLs of tracking parameters[…]

A wide range of routers are under attack by new, unusually sophisticated malware

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…]researchers from Lumen Technologies’ Black Lotus Labs say they’ve identified at least 80 targets infected by the stealthy malware, infecting routers made by Cisco, Netgear, Asus, and DrayTek. Dubbed ZuoRAT, the remote access Trojan is part of a broader hacking campaign that has existed since at least the fourth quarter of 2020 and continues to Read more about A wide range of routers are under attack by new, unusually sophisticated malware[…]

‘Toxic’ open source GitHub discussions analyzed in study

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Toxic discussions on open-source GitHub projects tend to involve entitlement, subtle insults, and arrogance, according to an academic study. That contrasts with the toxic behavior – typically bad language, hate speech, and harassment – found on other corners of the web. Whether that seems obvious or not, it’s an interesting point to consider because, for Read more about ‘Toxic’ open source GitHub discussions analyzed in study[…]

Too Little, Too Late, WTO Finally Eases Patent Rights On COVID Vaccines

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In what definitely feels like a case of way too little, way too late, the WTO last week finally decided to grant the TRIPS waiver on COVID vaccines, allowing others to make more of the vaccine without violating patent rights. The WTO has long had this ability to issue a patent waiver as part of Read more about Too Little, Too Late, WTO Finally Eases Patent Rights On COVID Vaccines[…]