Too popular too fast? More like they didn’t think things through.
Zoom reaches $85 mln settlement over user privacy, 'Zoombombing'
Zoom Video Communications Inc agreed to pay $85 million and bolster its security practices to settle a lawsuit claiming it violated users' privacy rights by sharing personal data with Facebook, Google and LinkedIn, and letting hackers disrupt Zoom meetings in a practice called Zoombombing.
A preliminary settlement filed on Saturday afternoon requires approval by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California.
Subscribers in the proposed class action would be eligible for 15% refunds on their core subscriptions or $25, whichever is larger, while others could receive up to $15.
… Though Zoom collected about $1.3 billion in Zoom Meetings subscriptions from class members, the plaintiffs' lawyers called the $85 million settlement reasonable given the litigation risks. They intend to seek up to $21.25 million for legal fees.
… Zoombombing is where outsiders hijack Zoom meetings and display pornography, use racist language or post other disturbing content.
Koh said Zoom was "mostly" immune for Zoombombing under Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which shields online platforms from liability over user content.
Keeping up with a changing world.
New Connecticut Breach Notification Requirements and Cybersecurity Safe Harbor Effective October 2021
Connecticut recently passed two cybersecurity laws that will become effective on October 1, 2021. The newly passed laws modify Connecticut’s existing breach notification requirements and establish a safe harbor for businesses that create and maintain a written cybersecurity program that complies with applicable state or federal law or industry-recognized security frameworks.
… HB 5310, An Act Concerning Data Privacy Breaches.
… HB 6607, An Act Incentivizing the Adoption of Cybersecurity Standards for Businesses.
Imagine an AI programmed to subtly influence children or voters…
Op-Ed: How AI’s growing influence can make humans less moral
… The question of how to make AI ethical is front and center in the public debate. For starters, the machine itself must not make unethical decisions: ones that reinforce existing racial and gender biases in hiring, lending, judicial sentencing and in facial detection software deployed by police and other public agencies.
What is less discussed, however, are the ways in which machines might make humans themselves less ethical.
People behave unethically when they can justify it to others, when they observe or believe that others cut ethical corners too, and when they can do so jointly with others (versus alone). In short, the magnetic field of social influence strongly sways people’s moral compass.
Al can also influence people as an advisor that recommends unethical action. Research shows that people will follow dishonesty-promoting advice provided by AI systems as much as they follow similar advice from humans.
Worth reading.
https://venturebeat.com/2021/08/01/4-conversations-every-company-needs-to-be-having-about-ai/
4 conversations every company needs to be having about AI
All the sessions from Transform 2021 are available on-demand now. Watch now.
… In a recent survey of 700 IT pros across the globe, a whopping 95% said they believe their companies would benefit from embedding AI into daily operations, products, and services, and 88% want to use AI as much as possible.
In the trenches, IT staffers see AI as a way to help them do their jobs faster and better, and they’re gravitating toward it as naturally as consumers have gratitated toward smart speakers at home.
However, a mere 6% of C-level leaders who responded to the survey reported actual adoption of AI-powered solutions across their company.
… Why is there so much challenge to adopting AI and making it stick, then? An AI implementation strategy has many moving parts, and no doubt some companies feel overwhelmed by what may feel like multi-faceted obstacles to adoption. But, in fact, riding the AI wave doesn’t have to be that hard. Kick-starting AI efforts is a lot easier if companies can ask and answer four key questions.
Perspective.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/02/trump-gettr-social-media-isis-502078
Jihadists flood pro-Trump social network with propaganda
Just weeks after its launch, the pro-Trump social network GETTR is inundated with terrorist propaganda spread by supporters of Islamic State, according to a POLITICO review of online activity on the fledgling platform.
The social network — started a month ago by members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle — features reams of jihadi-related material, including graphic videos of beheadings, viral memes that promote violence against the West and even memes of a militant executing Trump in an orange jumpsuit similar to those used in Guantanamo Bay.
The rapid proliferation of such material is placing GETTR in the awkward position of providing a safe haven for jihadi extremists online as it attempts to establish itself as a free speech MAGA-alternative to sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Perspective. An entire industry that grew under my radar.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/square-buy-australias-afterpay-29-billion-2021-08-01/
Twitter's Dorsey leads $29 billion buyout of lending pioneer Afterpay
Square Inc, the payments firm of Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) co-founder Jack Dorsey, will purchase buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion, creating a global transactions giant in the biggest buyout of an Australian firm.
The takeover underscores the popularity of a business model that has upended consumer credit by charging merchants a fee to offer small point-of-sale loans which their shoppers repay in interest-free instalments, bypassing credit checks.
It also locks in a remarkable share-price run for Afterpay, whose stock traded below A$10 in early 2020 and has since soared as the COVID-19 pandemic - and stimulus payments to a workforce stuck at home - saw a rapid shift to shopping online.
The all-stock buyout would value the shares at A$126.21 ($92.65), the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.
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