Wednesday, June 09, 2021

Riiight. And my car was stolen because I changed hubcaps. Why does this sound so fishy?

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1004684932/fastly-tuesday-internet-outage-down-was-caused-by-one-customer-changing-setting

Tuesday's Internet Outage Was Caused By One Customer Changing A Setting, Fastly Says

Fastly, the company hit by a major outage that caused many of the world's top websites to go offline briefly this week, blamed the problem on a software bug that was triggered when a customer changed a setting.

The problem at Fastly meant internet users couldn't connect to a host of popular websites early Tuesday including The New York Times, the Guardian, Twitch, Reddit and the British government's homepage.

"We experienced a global outage due to an undiscovered software bug that surfaced on June 8 when it was triggered by a valid customer configuration change," Nick Rockwell, Fastly's senior vice president of engineering and infrastructure, said in a blog post late Tuesday.

"Even though there were specific conditions that triggered this outage, we should have anticipated it," Rockwell said.

But the incident highlighted how the much of the global internet is dependent on a handful of behind the scenes companies like Fastly that provide vital infrastructure, and it amplified concerns about how vulnerable they are to more serious disruption.





Not a single new leak, but still a greater change to find your password in this list.

https://cybernews.com/security/rockyou2021-alltime-largest-password-compilation-leaked/

RockYou2021: largest password compilation of all time leaked online with 8.4 billion entries

What seems to be the largest password collection of all time has been leaked on a popular hacker forum. A forum user posted a massive 100GB TXT file that contains 8.4 billion entries of passwords, which have presumably been combined from previous data leaks and breaches.

According to the post author, all passwords included in the leak are 6-20 characters long, with non-ASCII characters and white spaces removed. The same user also claims that the compilation contains 82 billion passwords. However, after running our own tests, the actual number turned out to be nearly ten times lower – at 8,459,060,239 unique entries:





If you are going to start a Privacy-Tech company, I’d like a job as a ‘bad example.’ I won’t do anything and you can explain to your clients why that might be a bad idea.

https://www.bespacific.com/privacy-tech-industry-explodes/

Privacy tech industry explodes

Axios: “Businesses forced to comply with a patchwork of state and global privacy rules have turned what was once a cottage industry focused on data and privacy into a multi-billion-dollar sector. Why it matters: As COVID-19 pushed consumers online in droves, companies — from Fortune 500 firms to the corner coffee shop — had to grapple with how to legally handle personal data. The privacy-tech companies who know how to do it have been raking in the cash. “Data is on its way to becoming a fairly regulated business, even though we don’t have a national law yet,” said Jules Polonetsky, CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum. “If you’re a restaurant or even a school — and all of a sudden you’re covered by one of these laws — you now have to assess and document that you’re in compliance.”

    • By the numbers: Consumers are more connected than ever, causing data flows to a wide variety of companies to grow exponentially. The average American household now has 25 connected devices, ranging from laptops, smartphones and smart TVs to gaming consoles, smart home devices and connected fitness machines, according to a Deloitte connectivity survey out today…

    • What’s happening: The companies that help other companies process, maintain, and legally maximize use of consumer data are in high demand, and collectively need to mature, according to a Future of Privacy Forum report shared first with Axios…”





Am I missing something? Are manual systems forbidden by the GDPR? I don’t see how it produces automatic violations…

https://www.databreaches.net/smartsearch-issues-warning-over-risk-of-gdpr-breach/

SmartSearch issues warning over risk of GDPR breach

admin posted:

Anti-money laundering specialist SmartSearch said regulated businesses in the housing chain which are relying on manual customer records risk non-compliance more than three years after the GDPR laws came into force in the UK.
John Dobson, CEO at SmartSearch explained even after this time had lapsed a lot of firms did not have procedures in place to protect customer details. This, he said, had been exacerbated with the disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Read more on Mortgage Finance Gazette





Researching AI.

https://www.ft.com/content/dd621de6-4047-46c3-833a-b21bd2423113

Is AI really that intelligent?

Robots are not as clever as billed, but they could be. Three new books argue that the challenge is making these powerful new technologies work for us





Getting AI wrong. I disagree with number 2 “Define fairness for your organization.” Will you thrive if what seems fair to you is unfair to customers? Are others as skewed?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/10-steps-to-educate-your-company-on-ai-fairness/

10 steps to educate your company on AI fairness



(Related) Thinking inside the box? After all, if the waitress at your local diner recognized you and knew how you liked your coffee, that was considered a good thing.

https://www.eatthis.com/news-mcdonalds-being-sued-by-customer-over-latest-technology/

McDonald's Is Being Sued By a Customer Over Its Latest Technology

McDonald's latest tech upgrade which uses artificial intelligence could vastly improve the efficiency of the chain's drive-thru in the future. But some customers aren't thrilled by the prospect of placing their orders through an automated system that ends up collecting voice data without their consent.

The chain's CEO Chris Kempczinski recently said that the company is testing new voice-recognition technology at several Chicago-area restaurants.

And while the reality of AI drive-thrus is still far in the future, one customer is raising a red flag on the legality of such an operational setup. According to his recently filed lawsuit, McDonald's doesn't have permission to use voice-recognition software on customers without their prior approval. In doing so, the fast-food giant is in violation of the Illinois state law. He is suing the chain for using the technology to capture his voice data without permission at one of the Chicago-area test sites in 2020.

Using a voice-recognition system to identify repeat customers, which is exactly what McDonald's plans to do with the technology, violates Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act. BIPA states that collecting biometric information such as voiceprints, fingerprints, facial scans, handprints, and palm scans requires consent from the parties in question. The voiceprints collected by the AI technology can identify customers' pitch, volume, and other unique qualities. The law also requires McDonald's to make its data retention policies public and clarify how long the information collected will be stored and how it will be used.



(Related)

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/beat-the-bots-employer-risk-in-2400540/

Beat the Bots: Employer Risk in Delegating Hiring Practices to Artificial Intelligence— A Dilemma Worth Solving

As the hiring market surges in the post COVID-19 world, companies may be tempted to automate hiring systems by adopting artificial intelligence (AI), freeing up human resources professionals to engage with candidates at a higher level. After the European Commission’s April 12, 2021 proposed legal framework for AI, it is time for U.S. labor and employment and data privacy lawyers to address the looming issues AI use poses domestically when used for hiring purposes.

The two main criticisms lodged against “hiretech” relate to (1) ethical concerns and (2) legal restrictions.





Does that mean Google will be able to operate as a monopoly, like the railroad or the electric company or cable TV?

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2021/06/08/ohio-sues-google-seeks-declare-search-engine-public-utility/7602213002/

Ohio sues Google, seeks to declare the internet company a public utility

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has filed a lawsuit asking a court to declare Google a public utility that should be regulated as such.

"Google uses its dominance of internet search to steer Ohioans to Google’s own products – that's discriminatory and anti-competitive," Yost said in a statement. "When you own the railroad or the electric company or the cellphone tower, you have to treat everyone the same [??? Bob] and give everybody access."

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, is believed to be the first of its kind, Yost's office said.





We haven’t had Phil in to talk cryptography in years.

https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/pgp_at_30/

Cryptography whizz Phil Zimmermann looks back at 30 years of Pretty Good Privacy



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