Know the enemy.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-army-report-says-many-north-korean-hackers-operate-from-abroad/?&web_view=true

US Army report says many North Korean hackers operate from abroad

North Korea has at least 6,000 hackers and electronic warfare specialists working in its ranks, and many of these are operating abroad in countries such as Belarus, China, India, Malaysia, and Russia, the US Army said in a report published last month.

Named "North Korean Tactics," the report a tactical manual that the US Army uses to train troops and military leaders, and which the Army has made public for the first time last month.

The 332-page report contains a treasure trove of information about the Korean People's Army (KPA), such as military tactics, weapons arsenal, leadership structure, troop types, logistics, and electronic warfare capabilities.

Perspective.

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/08/18/publicly-reported-data-breaches-down-52-exposed-records-way-up/?web_view=true

Publicly reported data breaches down 52%, exposed records way up!

… The report explores in detail how supply chain disruptions, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, has impacted data breach reporting and influenced other trends. In addition, Risk Based Security explains the cause behind the alarming amount of records exposed.

“Misconfigured databases and services have been the key driver behind the growing number of records exposed. When entire databases are left open and freely accessible, a considerable amount of data is put at risk. It is a small handful of these events in Q2 that are responsible for the explosion in the number of records exposed. In the second quarter of 2020, just two breaches alone were responsible for more than 18 billion of the 27 billion records put at risk,” Goddijn concluded.

In case you missed it.

GAO Releases Report on Privacy, Discrimination Risks of Facial Recognition

From EPIC.org:

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has released a key report about privacy and discrimination risks posed by the commercial use of facial recognition. The GAO completed the report in response to research showing the disparate impact the technology has on minorities, including a National institute of Science and Technology study which found that facial recognition systems misidentify Black women at disproportionately high rates. The GAO report finds that, despite improvements in facial recognition technology, “differences in performance exist for certain demographic groups.” The GAO report reiterates the office’s 2013 recommendation urging Congress to update the federal consumer privacy framework to reflect changes in technology. EPIC advocates for a comprehensive federal privacy law and has called for a moratorium on face surveillance.

Should the Secret Service be banned from purchasing data anyone can buy?

Secret Service Bought Phone Location Data from Apps, Contract Confirms

Joseph Cox reports:

The Secret Service paid for a product that gives the agency access to location data generated by ordinary apps installed on peoples’ smartphones, an internal Secret Service document confirms.

The sale highlights the issue of law enforcement agencies buying information, and in particular location data, that they would ordinarily need a warrant or court order to obtain. This contract relates to the sale of Locate X, a product from a company called Babel Street.

Read more on Vice.

You mean, published is not public?

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/navigating-the-legal-landscape-surrounding-web-scraping/

Navigating the Legal Landscape Surrounding Web Scraping

The arrival of the internet brought with it a flood of expansive and predominantly unstructured information. As the economic value of this unstructured information has grown, new technologies for collecting and synthesizing web data have also developed, including the practice of web scraping. By definition, web scraping is the practice of using software programs (sometimes referred to as ‘bots’, ‘crawlers’ or ‘spiders’) to extract information and data from websites, which are then automatically downloaded and sorted, Today, there are approximately 44 trillion gigabytes (44 zettabytes) of data on the web, and web scraping accounts for approximately 52% of web traffic. Businesses across all industries use web scraping for a variety of reasons, including harvesting data for AI, machine learning, or for retail companies to collect competitor prices and adjust their own prices accordingly. In 2014, 22% of website visitors were identified as web scrapers, with a 17% increase in scraping across all industries.

Despite the ubiquitous nature of web scraping, the legality of scraping practices is not widely understood. Even those who work in the cybersecurity field have incorrectly concluded that web scraping is legal because the information on the internet is public domain.

… Breach of contract liability rests on the theory that a contract is formed between a website provider and a visitor through the respective website’s terms of use.

… Under the Copyright Act, copyright protection exists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.

… The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is violated when someone “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains … information from any protected computer.”

What’s tattooed on all litigators?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/who-is-responsible-for-responsible-ai/

Who is responsible for responsible AI?

In 2019, Forrester predicted that there will be three high profile AI-related PR snafus in 2020. It's only August and we've already seen plenty of examples of AI going wrong – the ACLU sued facial recognition provider Clearview for violating a well-known Illinois state biometric law in the US, the UK's Home Office was forced to abandon its visa processing algorithm which was deemed to be racist, and researchers recently found that automated speech recognition systems from Amazon, Apple, IBM, Google, and Microsoft perform much worse for black speakers than white ones.

AI will continue to err. And it will continue to surface thorny legal and accountability questions, namely – who is to blame when AI goes wrong? I am not a lawyer, but my father spent his career as a litigator so I posed this question to him when I kicked off this research. His response: "That's easy -- a lawyer would say, 'Sue everybody!'"

Perspective.

https://www.bespacific.com/remote-work-is-changing-how-productivity-is-measured/

Remote work is changing how productivity is measured

FastCompany: “In March 2020, the largest “work-from-home” experiment in history began. The moment entire companies moved their workforces remote, business owners and employees alike both started to realize new realities about their jobs. For years, people had been told, “It’s essential for you to be in the office,” only to suddenly realize that being in the office wasn’t so essential after all. Zoom calls easily replaced dozens of weekly in-person meetings. Manual tasks such as filling out paperwork suddenly couldn’t be performed the same way, forcing companies to accelerate their digital transformation efforts. Processes that seemed to work fine in a physical office space suddenly showed how dated and inefficient they were. And every executive or manager’s fears of remote employees doing nothing but watching Netflix and playing Xbox all day at home instead of working were eased. Companies all over the world have realized that working from home is not only more efficient but more suitable for the wants and needs of today’s workers. According to one company interviewed by Forbes, as well as research by Harvard Business Review, working from home boosts company-wide productivity—it doesn’t squander it…”

Perspective. (Podcast)

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-social-media-is-shaping-political-campaigns/

How Social Media Is Shaping Political Campaigns

… “If you look at the way that politicians communicate today, it’s very different than the way that they used to communicate five, 10 years ago,” Wharton marketing professor Pinar Yildirim said. “They would speak through the official speakers or they would be on TV. They would be in print or official online newspapers. Today, they are communicating through places like Twitter. And I think that begs a question, why are they doing that? Is there any benefit to communicating on channels like Twitter?”

(Related)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17/tiktok-starts-website-to-take-on-rumors-misinformation

TikTok starts a Twitter account and website, aggregating positive news stories, to "set the record straight" about "misinformation" regarding TikTok

TikTok said Monday that it started a website and Twitter account to address what it called rumors in real time

Will they ever return?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-17/startups-tap-a-new-talent-pool-pandemic-weary-college-students

Startups Tap a New Talent Pool: Pandemic-Weary College Students

With campuses locked down, internships have extended into the academic year.

Tools. (Number Five might be very useful for my International students.)

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/search-engines-find-more-than-google-shows/

5 Search Engines to Find More Than What Google Shows

“Google is synonymous with searching the web, but did you know there’s a lot that Google isn’t showing you? Here are some alternative search engines to search the internet in a way Google won’t. There is nothing wrong with Google Search when it comes to finding web pages. But Google can’t search within your computer and cloud accounts to find a file. Google also restricts itself to the language you’ve set. And why are we helping a corporation get bigger by handing over data in exchange for them earning ad revenue?

For my Computer Security class. Try not to become depressed.

https://www.bespacific.com/these-browser-extensions-will-show-you-exactly-whos-tracking-you-on-the-web/

These Browser Extensions Will Show You Exactly Who’s Tracking You on the Web

Gizmodo: “As soon as you place one digital foot on the internet, chances are that you’re being tracked—and exactly who is doing the tracking and why is often far from obvious. The good news for your user privacy is that there are a growing number of browser extensions that can shed some light on who’s following you around the web and why. All of the browser add-ons we’ve listed here will give you a detailed breakdown of the tracking technologies embedded in a webpage, and help you do something about it—usually by stopping these trackers from working. If you want to know just how closely you’re being watched online, these extensions will reveal all…”

Sound advice.

https://ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/think-321-to-protect-your-business-against-ransomware/77588765

Think 3,2,1 to protect your business against ransomware

… The 3-2-1 rule recommends that there should be at least three copies of important data, on at least two different types of media, with at least one of these copies being off-site. The best part is that this rule does not demand any particular type of hardware and is versatile enough to address nearly any failure scenario.

The ‘one’ copy in the 3-2-1 strategy has to be ultra-resilient. By this, we mean air-gapped, offline or immutable. There are different forms of media which this copy of data can be stored in an ultra-resilient manner. These include tape media, immutable backups in S3 or S3-compatible object storage, air-gapped and offline media, or software as a service for backup and Disaster Recovery (DR).

Can we license this from the Army or do we (taxpayers) already own it? Think the FBI will ask for a backdoor?

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/08/17/army-researchers-awarded-patent-for-secure-comms/?web_view=true

Army researchers awarded patent for secure comms

Authentication is one of the core pillars of wireless communications security, along with secrecy and privacy. The value of authentication in a military setting is readily apparent and mandatory.

Receivers verify that an incoming transmission did indeed come from an ally and not a malicious adversary, therefore maintaining the integrity of communications.

One to order from my library?

https://www.c4isrnet.com/opinion/2020/08/16/t-minus-ai-a-look-at-the-intersection-of-geopolitics-and-autonomy/

‘T-Minus AI’: A look at the intersection of geopolitics and autonomy

China has a national plan for it. Russia says it will determine the “ruler of the world.” The United States is investing heavily to develop it.

The race is on to create, control and weaponize artificial intelligence.

In Michael Kanaan’s book “T-Minus AI: Humanity’s Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power,” set for release Aug. 25, the realities of AI from a human-oriented perspective are laid out for the reader. Such technology, often shrouded in mystery and misunderstood, is made easy to comprehend through a discussion on the global implications of developing AI. Kanaan is one of the Air Force’s AI leaders.

The following excerpt, edited for length and clarity, introduces how, in late 2017, the conversation about artificial intelligence changed forever.

It never rains but it pours.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/14/amazon-faces-antitrust-probe-in-canada.html

Amazon faces antitrust probe in Canada

Canada’s Competition Bureau announced Friday it is launching an investigation into whether Amazon’s conduct on its marketplace has hurt consumers and companies that do business in the country.

(Related)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-germany-competition/german-watchdog-launches-amazon-investigation-report-idUSKCN25C0LW

German watchdog launches Amazon investigation: report

Germany’s anti-trust authority has launched an investigation into Amazon’s relationship with third-party traders selling on its site, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.

“We are currently investigating whether and how Amazon influences how traders set prices on the market-place,” Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

Confusing. Another concession to Russia?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-snowden/trump-says-hes-considering-pardon-for-leaker-edward-snowden-idUSKCN25B10Z

Trump says he is considering pardon for leaker Edward Snowden

… The Republican president's comments followed an interview here Trump gave to the New York Post this week in which he said of Snowden that "there are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly" by U.S. law enforcement.

The new normal?

https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/modern-business-models-will-drive-the-post-pandemic-world/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mitsmr+%28MIT+Sloan+Management+Review%29

Modern Business Models Will Drive the Post-Pandemic World

… These new, three-pronged models go far beyond SaaS and include the following:

1. A community of active B2B and B2C users that creates a network effect due to their interactions.

2. A marketplace that delivers offers from sellers and suppliers to meet customers’ needs.

3. A secured data lake powered by AI that enables customized offers and insights.

We call this new winning combination a modern business model (MBM). In fact, MBMs occupy four of the top 10 spots of the S&P 500’s most valuable companies: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Microsoft. And they are not alone — Shopify, Spotify, and others have adopted this new AI-powered, subscription-based model with marketplaces.

Something for history buffs.

https://www.bespacific.com/naras-presidential-library-explorer/

NARA’s Presidential Library Explorer

“Welcome to the NARA’s Presidential Library Explorer. Permanent records from presidential administrations are held by NARA at their respective Presidential Libraries. This visualization presents the holdings of the Presidential Libraries in descending order from the library the largest number of textual records to the smallest.

• Textual Records Scanned – As of August 2020, there are 1,587,252 scans online representing 0.244% of the estimated total number of textual pages across all Presidential Libraries.

• 650,882,475 estimated total textual pages across all Presidential Libraries (Learn more about these numbers).

I too am trying to be helpful…

https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-08-17

For my Ethical hackers.

https://www.wired.com/story/atm-hackers-jackpotting-remote-malware/

ATM Hackers Have Picked Up Some Clever New Tricks

Perspective. Too extreme or the least we must do?

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/12/china-industry-manufacturing-cold-war/

In the New Cold War, Deindustrialization Means Disarmament

In 2011, then-President Barack Obama attended an intimate dinner in Silicon Valley. At one point, he turned to the man on his left. What would it take, Obama asked Steve Jobs, for Apple to manufacture its iPhones in the United States instead of China? Jobs was unequivocal: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.” Jobs’s prognostication has become almost an article of faith among policymakers and corporate leaders throughout the United States. Yet China’s recent weaponization of supply chains and information networks exposes the grave dangers of the American deindustrialization that Jobs accepted as inevitable.

Since March alone, China has threatened to withhold medical equipment from the United States and Europe during the coronavirus pandemic; launched the biggest cyberattack against Australia in the country’s history; hacked U.S. firms to acquire secrets related to the coronavirus vaccine; and engaged in massive disinformation campaigns on a global scale. China even hacked the Vatican. These incidents reflect the power China wields through its control of supply chains and information hardware. They show the peril of ceding control of vast swaths of the world’s manufacturing to a regime that builds at home, and exports abroad, a model of governance that is fundamentally in conflict with American values and democracies everywhere. And they pale in comparison to what China will have the capacity to do as its confrontation with the United States sharpens.

… The question today is not whether America’s manufacturing jobs can return, but whether America can afford not to bring them back.

Does what you do with it matter?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-quiet-growth-of-race-detection-software-sparks-concerns-over-bias-11597378154?mod=djemalertNEWS

THE QUIET GROWTH OF RACE-DETECTION SOFTWARE SPARKS CONCERNS OVER BIAS

… In the last few years, companies have started using such race-detection software to understand how certain customers use their products, who looks at their ads, or what people of different racial groups like. Others use the tool to seek different racial features in stock photography collections, typically for ads, or in security, to help narrow down the search for someone in a database

… The field is still developing, and it is an open question how companies, governments and individuals will take advantage of such technology in the future. Use of the software is fraught, as researchers and companies have begun to recognize its potential to drive discrimination, posing challenges to widespread adoption.

From the eBook: An Introduction to Ethics in Robotics and AI

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-51110-4_8

Privacy Issues of AI

This chapter sheds light on how private data is systematically collected, stored and analysed with the help of artificial intelligence. We discuss various forms of persistent surveillance at home and in public spaces. While massive data collection raises considerable ethical concerns, it is also the basis for better performance for AI systems.

Download chapter PDF

What tools does Judge Judy need?

https://www.iacajournal.org/articles/10.36745/ijca.343/print/

Courts and Artificial Intelligence

This article explores the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in courts of law. AI raises any number of questions for courts and judges. Importantly, what can AI do for the administration of justice, and what does that require? Complexity reduction is at the heart of court processes, irrespective of subject matter. Not all court work is complex custom work and routine processes have different requirements from complex customised work of the courts. It follows, that forms of information technology, including artificial intelligence, are also not the same for all cases. Which form of AI has already proven itself for these different processes? The work of courts and judges is governed by the standards of proper procedure, including Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, so what does this mean for those working with AI? The Council of Europe has developed the Ethical Principles for the use of AI in the administration of justice. Can legal information be made more usable for AI?

My AI suggested this article but doesn’t agree with it.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.04520

Montreal AI Ethics Institute's (MAIEI) Submission to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Conversation on Intellectual Property (IP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Second Session

This document posits that, at best, a tenuous case can be made for providing AI exclusive IP over their "inventions". Furthermore, IP protections for AI are unlikely to confer the benefit of ensuring regulatory compliance. Rather, IP protections for AI "inventors" present a host of negative externalities and obscures the fact that the genuine inventor, deserving of IP, is the human agent. This document will conclude by recommending strategies for WIPO to bring IP law into the 21st century, enabling it to productively account for AI "inventions".

Perspective. (Interesting interactive graphic)

https://www.axios.com/digital-reality-artificial-intelligence-technology-73086bdb-3101-4aa1-8e65-f28b578ed05d.html

The coming age of digital reality

The next decade of technological advances — in virtual reality and AI — is poised to move more of human life into the digital realm.

The big picture: Moments of great upheaval are often followed by major technological and social innovations. Prompted in part by the pandemic, the 2020s could see the development of a new reality that captures the best of the analogue and virtual worlds.

What's happening: In a recent report, L'Atelier, a foresight company that is part of the French banking giant BNP Paribas, mapped the development of more than 80 current technologies in an effort to predict how they'll change life by the next decade.

Tools.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/15/21370420/telegram-video-calls-os-android?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

Telegram launches one-on-one video calls on iOS and Android

Secure messaging app Telegram has launched an alpha version of one-on-one video calls on both its Android and iOS apps, the company announced, saying 2020 had “highlighted the need for face-to-face communication.” [??? Bob]

… Video calls will have end-to-end-encryption, Telegram’s blog posts states, one of the app’s defining features for its audio calls and texting.

In case you missed one…

https://towardsdatascience.com/top-python-libraries-for-data-science-c226dc74999b

Top Python Libraries for Data Science

… Python has a lot of packages in its arsenal, over 255 thousand, to be exact. The use case of these packages is spread across a huge variety of domains. As we are on the topic of Data Science, we would like to draw your attention to some of the top Python libraries that are widely used by a vast audience, including Data Scientists, Researchers, Analysts, and many others.

Dilbert on automated decision making?

https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-08-16

The facial recognition tool of choice?

Clearview AI landed a new facial recognition contract with ICE

Taylor Hatmaker reports:

The controversial facial recognition software maker Clearview AI has a new contract with ICE, the most controversial U.S. government agency. Clearview was already known to work with the branch of Homeland Security fiercely criticized for implementing the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. The new contract makes it clear that relationship is ongoing — and that Clearview isn’t just playing a bit part in tech’s lucrative scrum for federal contracts.

First spotted by tech watchdog Tech Inquiry, the new contract is worth $224,000 and will provide the agency with what is only described as “Clearview licenses,” likely just access to the company’s software services.

Read more on TechCrunch.

[From the article:

Four companies competed for the contract.

I want one!

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/london-scientists-build-ultra-broadband-a4524801.html

London scientists build 'ultra broadband nearly three million times faster' than UK home fibre optic internet connections

Scientists in London claim to have achieved the world’s fastest-ever internet speed - quick enough download the entire Netflix library a split second.

A University College London-- led team used amplifiers to enhance the way light carries digital data through fibre-optic broadband to achieve a record 178 terabits per second - almost three million times faster than the average UK home connection.

… "I think the societal benefit is clear - fast internet for all and a more productive economy.

“It’s important because internet traffic and data has been increasing exponentially over the last 10 years but we have reached the theoretical limit.

"The one other way to increase the capacity in optical fibre is increasing the range of wavelengths and colours that we can use, which is exactly what I’ve done.

(Related) ...but I would settle for this.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/every-village-will-get-optical-fiber-internet-in-1-000-days-pm-modi-in-independence-day-speech-1711415-2020-08-15

Every village will get optical fiber internet in 1,000 days: PM Modi in Independence Day speech

Keep learning.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/search-online-learning-courses-study-partners/

5 Tools to Search for Online Learning Courses and Study Partners

Many universities and schools make their coursework available for free online, in what is called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). You can go for paid courses too that offer legitimate degrees once you finish them.

Finding the right course for your time availability and budget, and completing it within the timeframe, is the difficult part. So here are a few ways to make that search easier.

It’s not a war, but we want to send in the troops anyway. And feel free to shoot back!

https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/14/australian_critical_infrastructure_defence_plan/?&web_view=true

Australian government wants power to run cyber-response for businesses under attack

Australia’s government has proposed giving itself the power to take over private enterprises’ response to cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure.

A new Consultation Paper titled Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Systems of National Significance [PDF] notes that critical infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack, that such attacks are already happening and that the nation needs a plan so that if something nasty happens – like a hack taking out energy suppliers - other industries don’t go down like dominoes.

… Under such circumstances, critical infrastructure operators should be given “appropriate immunities to ensure they are not limited by concerns of legal redress for simply protecting their business and the community.”

(Related)

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/08/14/state-backed-hacking-cyber-deterrence-and-the-need-for-international-norms/?web_view=true

State-backed hacking, cyber deterrence, and the need for international norms

… While Chinese, Russian, North Korean and Iranian state-backed APT groups get most of the spotlight (at least in the Western world), other nations are beginning to join in the “fun.”

It’s a free for all, it seems, as the world has yet to decide on laws and norms regulating cyber attacks and cyber espionage in peacetime, and find a way to make nation-states abide by them.

When your little helper turns on you…

https://thehackernews.com/2020/08/amazon-alexa-hacking-skills.html?&web_view=true

Amazon Alexa Bugs Allowed Hackers to Install Malicious Skills Remotely

Check Point cybersecurity researchers—Dikla Barda, Roman Zaikin and Yaara Shriki—today disclosed severe security vulnerabilities in Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant that could render it vulnerable to a number of malicious attacks.

According to a new report released by Check Point Research and shared with The Hacker News, the "exploits could have allowed an attacker to remove/install skills on the targeted victim's Alexa account, access their voice history and acquire personal information through skill interaction when the user invokes the installed skill."

"Smart speakers and virtual assistants are so commonplace that it's easy to overlook just how much personal data they hold, and their role in controlling other smart devices in our homes," Oded Vanunu, head of product vulnerabilities research, said.

Amazon patched the vulnerabilities after the researchers disclosed their findings to the company in June 2020.

This is a biggie and probably not the last.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/14/oracle-and-salesforce-hit-with-gdpr-class-action-lawsuits-over-cookie-tracking-consent/

Oracle and Salesforce hit with GDPR class action lawsuits over cookie tracking consent

The use of third party cookies for ad tracking and targeting by data broker giants Oracle and Salesforce is the focus of class action style litigation announced today in the UK and the Netherlands.

The suits will argue that mass surveillance of Internet users to carry out real-time bidding ad auctions cannot possibly be compatible with strict EU laws around consent to process personal data.

The litigants believe the collective claims could exceed €10BN, should they eventually prevail in their arguments — though such legal actions can take several years to work their way through the courts.

Report is free with registration.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/new-ponemon-institute-report-indicates-major-consumer-privacy-gap/

New Ponemon Institute Report Indicates Major Consumer Privacy Gap

A new study from the Ponemon Institute indicates that people are increasingly aware of online consumer privacy issues, but also overwhelmingly feel that they do not have the tools to protect themselves and are looking to government to intervene. [They should know better! Bob]

The study, entitled “Privacy and Security in a Digital World,” asked a diverse sample of 650 adults from across the United States about their sentiments toward various aspects of big tech platforms. Consumers indicated that their general trust in online services has dropped in recent years, with particularly sharp increases in concerns about search engines and social media platforms. Very few trust websites in general with collection and sharing of personal information, but only about half seem to be fully aware of the personal protection options that are available to them.

Panic and ignorance – a salesman’s dream?

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/14/21365300/artificial-intelligence-ai-school-reopening-technology-covid-19

The dystopian tech that companies are selling to help schools reopen sooner

Thousands of schools nationwide will not be reopening this fall. But in Las Vegas, the private K-12 Meadows School plans to use an artificial intelligence-powered thermal screening system to keep students safe as they return to classes.

The system will scan for signs that students have elevated temperatures — an indication they might have Covid-19 — as they enter buildings for their classes. If they’re flagged, the students will be asked to wait separately for about 10 minutes, and then get their temperature taken again. If the result is within a normal range, they’re cleared to start their day. If not, they’ll be sent home.

“Things are strange enough. Kids are going to be coming to school with masks. They’re going to be meeting friends with masks,” Jeremy Gregersen, the head of school at Meadows, told Recode. “They’re going to be meeting their teachers for the first time in person in strange new ways, and what we want is for kids to feel welcome and to normalize their arrival at school as early as possible.”

… A slew of firms, many of which already sold surveillance products, are adjusting their technology to the pandemic. The suite of products includes everything from computer programs that can identify whether or not a student is wearing a mask to artificial intelligence that measures how well people are social distancing. Sometimes, these capabilities are sold together as a package.

I can see where this would be a concern.

https://www.cnet.com/news/tiktoks-us-employees-plan-to-sue-trump-administration-over-executive-order/

TikTok's US employees plan to sue Trump administration over executive order

Employees say the order would bar TikTok from paying them.

This could get interesting.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/13/21367966/amazon-liable-defective-products-california-marketplace-third-party?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

Amazon can be held liable for products sold on Marketplace, appeals court rules

Amazon can be held liable for defective products sold on its Marketplace in California, an appeals court ruled Thursday. The California Fourth District Court of Appeals reversed a 2019 trial court ruling and reinstated claims from a woman who says she suffered third-degree burns when a defective laptop battery she bought from a third-party seller on Amazon caught fire.

The decision could have dire repercussions for Amazon, which has argued for years that it only serves as an intermediary between buyers and third-party sellers on the Marketplace portion of its platform. That stance has protected Amazon from liability for Marketplace products, that is, until now. The company is now facing several other lawsuits over defective products in other courts.

For my friends in the English department:

https://hotforsecurity.bitdefender.com/blog/poor-grammar-makes-for-a-poor-extortion-campaign-you-under-attack-pay-us-before-make-drama-23915.html

Poor Grammar Makes For a Poor Extortion Campaign; ’You Under Attack‘ Pay Us ’Before Make Drama’

Try it yourself.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/natural-language-processing-python-seo/377051/#close

An Introduction to Natural Language Processing with Python for SEOs

… We are going to learn practical NLP while building a simple knowledge graph from scratch.

Specifically, we are going to extract useful facts automatically from Search Engine Journal XML sitemaps.

In order to do this and keep things simple and fast, we will pull article headlines from the URLs in the XML sitemaps.

We will extract named entities and their relationships from the headlines.

Finally, we will build a powerful knowledge graph and visualize the most popular relationships.