Articles like this should help ‘sell’ your Computer Security budget.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-anthem-cyber/anthem-to-pay-nearly-40-million-to-settle-data-breach-probe-by-u-s-states-idUSKBN26L2PW?&web_view=true

Anthem to pay nearly $40 million to settle data breach probe by U.S. states

Anthem Inc said on Wednesday it would pay $39.5 million as part of a settlement with U.S. states attorneys general following an investigation into a massive cyber-attack at the company in 2015.

The second largest U.S. health insurer said a state sponsored criminal group had perpetrated the attack, adding that it does not believe the company had violated the law in connection with its data security.

Speaking of budget planning…

https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/30/cyber_war_fears/?&web_view=true

Business top brass are terrified their companies will simply be collateral damage in a future cyber-war

Organizations need not fear a direct hit – someone knackering the internet or the grid would be enough

… Bitdefender’s latest report, titled 10 in 10, surveyed around 6,000 C-suite bods responsible for cyber security and found [PDF ] “over a fifth” of these said that cyber warfare was one of the most challenging topics they had to convince their colleagues to take seriously.

Another tool.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/github-rolls-out-new-code-scanning-security-feature-to-all-users/?&web_view=true

GitHub rolls out new Code Scanning security feature to all users

Code-hosting website GitHub is rolling out today a new security feature named Code Scanning for all users, on both paid and free accounts.

GitHub says the new Code Scanning feature "helps prevent vulnerabilities from reaching production by analyzing every pull request, commit, and merge—recognizing vulnerable code as soon as it's created."

Each with their own idiosyncrasies.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/gartner-projects-major-jump-in-data-privacy-regulations-from-10-of-the-world-covered-in-2020-to-65-in-2023/

Gartner Projects Major Jump in Data Privacy Regulations; From 10% of the World Covered in 2020 to 65% in 2023

Global research firm Gartner recently conducted its annual Security & Risk Management Summit, and perhaps the biggest headline to come out of it was the projection that the majority of the world will be covered by data privacy regulations by 2023.

This would be a very substantial jump in a relatively short period of time. At present, only about 10% of the world has strong privacy regulations akin to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Gartner believes that the GDPR will be the specific model upon which most of these new privacy regulations are based.

… Gartner is expecting these global changes to be driven in no small part by the GDPR’s “trusted partner” standards for anyone handling the personal data of EU residents.

TikTok could be just the first in a long series.

https://www.bespacific.com/tiktok-technology-overview-and-issues/

TikTok: Technology Overview and Issues

CRS report via LC – TikTok: Technology Overview and Issues, Updated September 29, 2020:” TikTok is a globally popular video-sharing smartphone application (app) owned by ByteDance Ltd., a privately held company headquartered in Beijing, China. It is under increasing scrutiny by the U.S. government as a potential privacy and security risk to U.S. citizens. This is because ByteDance, like all technology companies doing business in China, is subject to Chinese laws that require companies operating in the country to turn over user data when asked to by the government. Researchers differ over how TikTok’s collection of user data compares with other social media apps and whether TikTok poses a unique threat to the privacy and security of its U.S. users… Some believe TikTok and other Chinese-owned apps pose a serious security risk to the United States because Chinese companies are subject to China’s laws that require compliance with government requests for data. Others believe that TikTok has fallen into “the crosshairs of a global technology battle” based on technology trade protectionism (this concept, also called “techno-nationalism,” refers to a country’s refusal or reluctance to import other countries’ advanced technology, as well as to export, or to allow other nations to benefit from, its own advanced technology). Similar situations may arise in the future with other apps created by foreign companies. Options that Congress may consider include (1) developing an overarching legal and regulatory framework to protect the security and privacy of U.S. citizens’ data and communications, and (2) developing a uniform, transparent process to assess and mediate risks posed by foreign apps.

Are we there yet? (Also discussed in a podcast.)

https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-state-of-ai-in-2020-democratization-industrialization-and-the-way-to-artificial-general-intelligence/

The state of AI in 2020: democratization, industrialization, and the way to artificial general intelligence

… In the State of AI Report 2020 released today, Benaich and Hogarth outdid themselves. While the structure and themes of the report remain mostly intact, its size has grown by nearly 30 percent. This is a lot, especially considering their 2019 AI report was already a 136 slide long journey on all things AI.

No surprise.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlypage/2020/10/01/ai-has-resulted-in-ethical-issues-for-90-of-businesses/#80adb583ff0e

AI Has Resulted In “Ethical Issues” For 90% Of Businesses

A new report from Capgemini has revealed that 90% of organizations are aware of at least one instance where an AI system had resulted in ethical issues for their business.

The report, titled “AI and the Ethical Conundrum: How organizations can build ethically robust AI systems and gain trust” has found that while digital and AI-enabled interactions with customers are on the rise as customers seek contactless or non-touch interfaces amid the COVID-19 pandemic, systems are still being designed without due concern for ethical issues.

Consider reducing your labor costs to “Trivial.”

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/countries-comparison-robot-workers-robotics-change-tech-manufacturing

These are the countries with the highest density of robot workers

The rise of the machines has well and truly started. Data from the International Federation of Robotics reveals that the pace of industrial automation is accelerating across much of the developed world with 74 installed industrial robots per 10,000 employees globally in 2016. By 2020, that increased to 113 across the manufacturing sector. Asia now has a robot density of 118 units per 10,000 workers and that figure is 114 and 103 in Europe and the Americas, respectively. China is one of the countries recording the highest growth levels in industrial automation but nowhere has a robot density like South Korea.

The first thing we do, let’s automate all the lawyers!

https://www.zdnet.com/article/docusign-analyzer-aims-to-save-legal-costs-labor-with-ai-aided-contract-negotiations/

DocuSign Analyzer aims to save legal costs, labor with AI-aided contract negotiations

… Here's how DocuSign Analyzer works:

• Analyzer breaks an incoming agreement down to individual clauses using AI.

• A risk assessment is provided based on a company's own legal and business standards.

• Risk scorecards are generated and available in Microsoft Work, Outlook and DocuSign's contract lifecycle management application.

• Analyzer offers recommended replacement language from a library of preapproved clauses that can come DocuSign templates.

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.bespacific.com/book-review-a-short-and-happy-guide-to-advanced-legal-research/

Book Review: A Short And Happy Guide To Advanced Legal Research

Via LLRX – Book Review: A Short And Happy Guide To Advanced Legal Research – Nicole L. Black’s review highlights this book’s breadth of coverage and its format, information about a variety of free online tools, including public records databases, newsletters, and encyclopedias, and case law and statutes, fee-based legal research tools, as well as traditional case law and statutory research tools, and cutting edge AI-based legal research and data analytics software.

Resources.

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/top-5-open-source-online-machine-learning-environments/

Top 5 Open-Source Online Machine Learning Environments

Music for the unmusical? Could this find the next Mozart?

https://thenextweb.com/neural/2020/10/01/googles-new-machine-learning-tool-turns-your-awful-humming-into-a-beautiful-violin-solo/

Google’s new machine learning tool turns your awful humming into a beautiful violin solo

… Google‘s new machine learning algorithm experiment, Tone Transfer, makes that fantasy come true — at least to an extent.

The idea is simple. Go to the Tone Transfer site from your Android phone or desktop (Windows or Mac), select “Add your own,” and record your 15-second hum or tune. You can use your voice, tap on your table, or play an actual instrument. Google’s machine learning algorithm will convert that tune into a digital signal, and then you can convert it into a tune with Flute, Saxophone, Violin, or Trumpet.

… You can check out the paper related to DDSP here and try out the tool here.

For better phishing you need better bait.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/this-worm-phishing-campaign-is-a-game-changer-in-password-theft-account-takeovers/?&web_view=true

This worm phishing campaign is a game-changer in password theft, account takeovers

… "The phishing emails were being sent as replies to genuine emails," the researcher explained. "Emails exchanged between our people and our suppliers, our customers, and even internally between colleagues."

This is how it worked: once one email account was compromised, the credentials for the account were sent to a remote bot. The bot would then sign into the account and analyze emails sent within the past several days.

"For each unique email chain it found, it replied to the most recent email with a link to a phishing page to capture credentials," Hays said. "The wording was generic enough to fit almost any scenario and the link to a 'document' didn't feel out of place."

All waiting for a command to go active?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/these-hackers-have-spent-months-hiding-out-in-company-networks-undetected/?&web_view=true

These hackers have spent months hiding out in company networks undetected

A cyber-espionage campaign is using new malware to infiltrate targets around the world including organisations in media, finance, construction and engineering.

Detailed by cybersecurity company Symantec, the attacks against organisations in the US, Japan, Taiwan and China are being conduced with the aim of stealing information and have been linked to an espionage group known as Palmerworm – aka BlackTech – which has a history of campaigns going back to 2013.

A (very) little more detail.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/09/whos-behind-mondays-14-state-911-outage/

Who’s Behind Monday’s 14-State 911 Outage?

Emergency 911 systems were down for more than an hour on Monday in towns and cities across 14 U.S. states. The outages led many news outlets to speculate the problem was related to Microsoft‘s Azure web services platform, which also was struggling with a widespread outage at the time. However, multiple sources tell KrebsOnSecurity the 911 issues stemmed from some kind of technical snafu involving Intrado and Lumen, two companies that together handle 911 calls for a broad swath of the United States.

On the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 28, several states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington reported 911 outages in various cities and localities.

For your consideration (and planning?)

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-some-ransomware-attacks-take-less-than-45-minutes/?&web_view=true

Microsoft: Some ransomware attacks take less than 45 minutes

… While Microsoft unceremoniously retired the old SIR reports back in 2018, the OS maker appears to have realized its mistake, and has brought it back today, rebranded as the new Microsoft Digital Defense Report.

(Related) More on ransomware.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/09/negotiating-with-ransomware-gangs.html

Negotiating with Ransomware Gangs

Really interesting conversation with someone who negotiates with ransomware gangs:

Probably impossible to control…

https://www.insideprivacy.com/data-privacy/edpb-publishes-draft-guidelines-on-the-targeting-of-social-media-users/

EDPB Publishes Draft Guidelines on the Targeting of Social Media Users

On 7 September 2020, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) adopted draft guidelines on the targeting of social media users (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines aim to clarify the roles and responsibilities of social media providers and “targeters” with regard to the processing of personal data for the purposes of targeting social media users.

Targeting services allow natural or legal persons (i.e., targeters) to communicate specific messages to the users of social media in order to advance commercial, political or other interests. The Guidelines state that the mechanisms social media providers can use to target users, as well as the underlying processing activities, may pose significant risks to users, including loss of control over their personal data, discrimination and exclusion as a result of targeting on the basis of special categories of personal data, and manipulation through misinformation. The Guidelines also raise specific concerns in relation to children.

On the slippery slope? “We what everything and we’ll keep it forever.”

https://www.bespacific.com/collection-and-use-of-biometrics-by-u-s-citizenship-and-immigration-services/

Collection and Use of Biometrics by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

EFF – “On September 11, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its intention to significantly expand both the number of people required to submit biometrics during routine immigration applications and the types of biometrics that individuals must surrender. This new rule will apply to immigrants and U.S. citizens alike, and to people of all ages, including, for the first time, children under the age of 14. It would nearly double the number of people from whom DHS would collect biometrics each year, to more than six million. The biometrics DHS plans to collect include palm prints, voice prints, iris scans, facial imaging, and even DNA—which are far more invasive than DHS’s current biometric collection of fingerprints, photographs, and signatures. (For an incisive summary of the proposed changes, click here.)…”

(Related)

Privacy of biometric data in DHS hands in doubt, inspector general says

Dean DeChiaro reports:

An inspector general’s report is casting doubt on the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to protect its massive repository of personal data from hackers amid a push by the Trump administration to vastly expand its collection of biometrics through the use of facial recognition and other tools.

The report, released by the DHS inspector general’s office on Sept. 23, found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection failed to protect a collection of 184,000 facial images of cross-border travelers prior to a massive data breach last year. At least 19 of the images, which were collected through a pilot program at the Anzalduas Port of Entry in Texas, were later posted on the dark web.

Read more on Roll Call.

Perhaps a guide for future laws?

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/early-results-indicate-half-of-ccpa-data-subject-requests-are-made-to-stop-sale-of-personal-information/

Early Results Indicate Half of CCPA Data Subject Requests Are Made to Stop Sale of Personal Information

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went active at the start of 2020, and data from the first half of its first year indicates that state residents are primarily using it to opt out of the sale of personal information. Nearly 50% of data subject requests are made for that purpose, compared to 31% for data deletion and 21% for access to collected personal information.

Conducted by privacy management firm DataGrail, the Mid-Year CCPA Trends Report 2020 is meant to provide insights to organizations on patterns of data subject requests (DSRs) that they can expect under the new law.

An interesting podcast.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/09/29/1008933/how-ai-will-revolutionize-manufacturing/

How AI will revolutionize manufacturing

Ask Stefan Jockusch what a factory might look like in 10 or 20 years, and the answer might leave you at a crossroads between fascination and bewilderment. Jockusch is vice president for strategy at Siemens Digital Industries Software, which develops applications that simulate the conception, design, and manufacture of products like cell phones or smart watches. His vision of a smart factory is abuzz with “independent, moving” robots. But they don’t stop at making one or three or five things. No—this factory is “self-organizing.”

Free is good. (Also free webinars)

https://www.geospatialworld.net/news/2020-prepare-ai-conference-now-free-for-all/

2020 Prepare.ai Conference now free for all

3rd-Annual St. Louis-based AI & Tech Conference featuring nationally-known thought-leaders across multiple disciplines will now be free and open to all.

[Register here: https://prepare.ai/

It can’t hurt and may attract students who learn best this way.

https://www.govtech.com/civic/Comic-Book-Bridges-Gap-Around-Education-in-AI-Ethics.html

Comic Book Bridges Gap Around Education in AI, Ethics

The Data, Responsibly project, based out of New York University, has taken its research on responsible data management and expanded it to improve messaging around what it means to collect and use data ethically.

You can find this AI comic and future comics here.

For my researchers.

https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2020/09/internet-archive-scholar-academic.html

Internet Archive Scholar - An Academic Version of the Internet Archive

The Internet Archive warehouses all kinds of fantastic materials (and some not-so-fantastic) that can be useful to teachers and students. The trouble with it is the organization is a little clunky for research purposes. Even if you limit the scope of your search to webpages and text you can still spend a lot of time weeding out material that isn't academic in nature. That could be changing now that Internet Archive Scholar is on the horizon.

Internet Archive Scholar is a new project from the Internet Archive. It is focused on providing access to academic articles and journals from the 18th Century through today. Internet Archive Scholar is very new. It's so new that it's labeled as being "in alpha" and when you visit it there is a message warning you that there may be several bugs and that it has not been "officially announced." None-the-less, I gave it a try and made a video about it. Here's my video overview of Internet Archive Scholar.

As I mentioned in the video above, Internet Archive Scholar has the potential to be a good alternative and or complement to Google Scholar. Like Google Scholar, Internet Archive Scholar could provide high school and college students with some good resources to consult that they would not find through a Google or Bing search.

Sounds serious. Has anyone died yet?

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/uhs-hospitals-hit-by-reported-country-wide-ryuk-ransomware-attack/?&web_view=true

UHS hospitals hit by reported country-wide Ryuk ransomware attack

… According to reports coming from UHS' employees, UHS hospitals in the US including those from California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Washington D.C. are left without access to computer and phone systems.

At the moment the affected hospitals are redirecting ambulances and relocating patients in need of surgery to other nearby hospitals.

"When the attack happened multiple antivirus programs were disabled by the attack and hard drives just lit up with activity," one of the reports reads.

"After 1min or so of this the computers logged out and shutdown. When you try to power back on the computers they automatically just shutdown.

(Related) Is this as bad an idea as I think it is?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/ransomware-is-the-biggest-problem-on-the-web-this-big-change-could-be-the-answer/?&web_view=true

Ransomware is your biggest problem on the web. This huge change could be the answer

Making it illegal for companies to pay up when hit with ransomware could finally halt the 'scourge of the internet'.

Practice?

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nationwide-reports-of-911-system-outages-cause-not-immediately-clear/2640684/

Nationwide Reports of Brief 911 System Outages, Cause Not Immediately Clear

Law enforcement agencies across the country reported brief outages of their 911 systems Monday night, and it was not immediately clear if there was a connection with a major Microsoft system outage.

Law enforcement agencies around the country, from Nevada to Pennsylvania and Arizona to Minnesota, tweeted that their 911 systems were down beginning sometime after 7 p.m. ET. Multiple reports indicated outages throughout Delaware and Ohio as well.

Good that someone is thinking this through.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167404820303096?dgcid=author

A framework for effective corporate communication after cyber security incidents

A major cyber security incident can represent a cyber crisis for an organisation, in particular because of the associated risk of substantial reputational damage. As the likelihood of falling victim to a cyberattack has increased over time, so too has the need to understand exactly what is effective corporate communication after an attack, and how best to engage the concerns of customers, partners and other stakeholders. This research seeks to tackle this problem through a critical, multi-faceted investigation into the efficacy of crisis communication and public relations following a data breach. It does so by drawing on academic literature, obtained through a systematic literature review, and real-world case studies. Qualitative data analysis is used to interpret and structure the results, allowing for the development of a new, comprehensive framework for corporate communication to support companies in their preparation and response to such events. The validity of this framework is demonstrated by its evaluation through interviews with senior industry professionals, as well as a critical assessment against relevant practice and research. The framework is further refined based on these evaluations, and an updated version defined. This research represents the first grounded, comprehensive and evaluated proposal for characterising effective corporate communication after cyber security incidents.

Should the US follow this example?

Egypt Issues New Data Protection Law

Ghada El Ehwany and Kellie Blyth of Baker Mckenzie write:

After several years of debate, the Egyptian government has introduced the Republic’s first standalone data protection law, which aims to regulate and protect citizens’ data online. On 15 July 2020, Resolution No. 151 of 2020 (the Law) (available in Arabic here) was published in the Official Gazette. The provisions under the new Law are modeled on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law adopts similar concepts and definitions. It is hoped that the new Law will help Egypt attract foreign investment by increasing consumer confidence in electronic data processing and setting clear parameters for companies looking to capitalise on the growth of the digital economy.

The Law will enter into force three months from when it was published in the Official Gazette (namely, on 15 October 2020).

Read more on InsightPlus.

In case we don’t recognize your face?

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/9/29/21492351/amazon-one-hand-scan-payments-palm-checkout-whole-foods?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

Amazon will now let you pay with your palm in its stores

Amazon accounts for nearly 40 percent of e-commerce sales in the US today, and it takes a cut of even more online shopping by selling payments services and other technologies to external shopping sites. Now, the online retail giant is making a play to grab a piece of brick-and-mortar shopping, too — and it wants customers to literally lend a hand to do it.

Amazon on Tuesday is unveiling a new biometric technology called Amazon One that allows shoppers to pay at stores by placing their palm over a scanning device when they walk in the door or when they check out. The first time they register to use this tech, a customer will scan their palm and insert their payment card at a terminal; after that, they can simply pay with their hand.

What conscience would you want it to have? Could we force all AI to behave like Gandhi, or will they (the AIs) choose another model?

https://bdtechtalks.com/2020/09/28/ai-conscience-patricia-churchland/

Will artificial intelligence have a conscience?

This article is part of “the philosophy of artificial intelligence,” a series of posts that explore the ethical, moral, and social implications of AI today and in the future

Can artificial intelligence learn the moral values of human societies? Can an AI system make decisions in situations where it must weigh and balance between damage and benefits to different people or groups of people? Can AI develop a sense of right and wrong? In short, will artificial intelligence have a conscience?

This question might sound irrelevant when considering today’s AI systems, which are only capable of accomplishing very narrow tasks. But as science continues to break new grounds, artificial intelligence is gradually finding its way into broader domains. We’re already seeing AI algorithms applied to areas where the boundaries of good and bad decisions are not clearly defined, such as criminal justice and job application processing.

… I went in search of a book (or books) that explained how humans develop conscience and give an idea of whether what we know about the brain provides a roadmap for conscientious AI.

A friend suggested Conscience: The Origins of Moral Intuition by Dr. Patricia Churchland, neuroscientist, philosopher, and professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego.

… “Conscience is an individual’s judgment about what is normally right or wrong, typically, but not always, reflecting some standard of a group to which the individual feels attached,” Churchland writes in her book.

(Related) At least tell us how your AI works…

https://venturebeat.com/2020/09/28/amsterdam-and-helsinki-launch-algorithm-registries-to-bring-transparency-to-public-deployments-of-ai/

Amsterdam and Helsinki launch algorithm registries to bring transparency to public deployments of AI

Amsterdam and Helsinki today launched AI registries to detail how each city government uses algorithms to deliver services, some of the first major cities in the world to do so. An AI Register for each city was introduced in beta today as part of the Next Generation Internet Policy Summit, organized in part by the European Commission and the city of Amsterdam. The Amsterdam registry currently features a handful of algorithms, but it will be extended to include all algorithms following the collection of feedback at the virtual conference to lay out a European vision of the future of the internet, according to a city official.

Each algorithm cited in the registry lists datasets used to train a model, a description of how an algorithm is used, how humans utilize the prediction, and how algorithms were assessed for potential bias or risks. The registry also provides citizens a way to give feedback on algorithms their local government uses and the name, city department, and contact information for the person responsible for the responsible deployment of a particular algorithm. A complete algorithmic registry can empower citizens and give them a way to evaluate, examine, or question governments’ applications of AI.

Listen to Gartner.

https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/2-megatrends-dominate-the-gartner-hype-cycle-for-artificial-intelligence-2020/

2 Megatrends Dominate the Gartner Hype Cycle for Artificial Intelligence, 2020

… “If AI as a general concept was positioned on this year’s Gartner Hype Cycle, it would be rolling off the Peak of Inflated Expectations. By that we mean that AI is starting to deliver on its potential and its benefits for businesses are becoming a reality,” says Svetlana Sicular, VP Analyst, Gartner.

Five new entrants — small data, generative AI, composite AI, responsible AI and things as customers — make their debut on this year’s AI Hype Cycle, and two megatrends dominate this year’s AI landscape.

Democratization of AI

The democratization of AI means that AI is no longer the exclusive subject matter of experts.

Industrialization of AI platforms

The industrialization of AI platforms enables the reusability, scalability and safety of AI, which accelerates its adoption and growth.

Perspective.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/28/a-quarter-of-u-s-adults-now-get-news-from-youtube-pew-research-study-finds/

A quarter of US adults now get news from YouTube, Pew Research study finds

Around a quarter of U.S. adults, or roughly 26%, say they get news by watching YouTube videos, according to a new study from Pew Research Center, which examined the Google-owned video platform’s growing influence over news distribution in the U.S., as well as its consumption. The study, not surprisingly, found that established news organizations no longer have full control over the news Americans watch, as only one-in-five YouTube consumers (23%) said they “often” get their news from channels affiliated with established news organizations. The exact same percentage said they “often” get their news from independent channels instead.

For my researchers. You probably need several…

https://www.bespacific.com/google-scholar-microsoft-academic-scopus-dimensions-web-of-science-and-opencitations-coci/

Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic, Scopus, Dimensions, Web of Science, and OpenCitations’ COCI: a multidisciplinary comparison of coverage via citations

Martín-Martín, A., Thelwall, M., Orduna-Malea, E., & Delgado López-Cózar, E. (in press). Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic, Scopus, Dimensions, Web of Science, and OpenCitations’ COCI: a multidisciplinary comparison of coverage via citations. Scientometrics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s1119 – “New sources of citation data have recently become available, such as Microsoft Academic, Dimensions, and the OpenCitations Index of CrossRef open DOI-to-DOI citations (COCI). Although these have been compared to the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, or Google Scholar, there is no systematic evidence of their differences across subject categories. In response, this paper investigates 3,073,351 citations found by these six data sources to 2,515 English-language highly-cited documents published in 2006 from 252 subject categories, expanding and updating the largest previous study. Google Scholar found 88% of all citations, many of which were not found by the other sources, and nearly all citations found by the remaining sources (89%-94%). A similar pattern held within most subject categories. Microsoft Academic is the second largest overall (60% of all citations), including 82% of Scopus citations and 86% of Web of Science citations. In most categories, Microsoft Academic found more citations than Scopus and WoS (182 and 223 subject categories, respectively), but had coverage gaps in some areas, such as Physics and some Humanities categories. After Scopus, Dimensions is fourth largest (54% of all citations), including 84% of Scopus citations and 88% of WoS citations. It found more citations than Scopus in 36 categories, more than WoS in 185, and displays some coverage gaps, especially in the Humanities. Following WoS, COCI is the smallest, with 28% of all citations. Google Scholar is still the most comprehensive source. In many subject categories Microsoft Academic and Dimensions are good alternatives to Scopus and WoS in terms of coverage.”

The logic of circles?

https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-09-29

The US would like a ‘National ID Card,’ but I expect India to be the next country to implement a system like this.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54266602

Singapore in world first for facial verification

Singapore will be the first country in the world to use facial verification in its national identity scheme.

The biometric check will give Singaporeans secure access to both private and government services.

The government's technology agency says it will be "fundamental" to the country's digital economy.

It has been trialled with a bank and is now being rolled out nationwide. It not only identifies a person but ensures they are genuinely present.

Want to take a peek?

https://www.bespacific.com/this-is-how-police-request-customer-data-from-amazon/

This is how police request customer data from Amazon

TechCrunch: “Anyone can access portions of a web portal, used by law enforcement to request customer data from Amazon, even though the portal is supposed to require a verified email address and password. Amazon’s law enforcement request portal allows police and federal agents to submit formal requests for customer data along with a legal order, like a subpoena, a search warrant, or a court order. The portal is publicly accessible from the internet, but law enforcement must register an account with the site in order to allow Amazon to “authenticate” the requesting officer’s credentials before they can make requests. Only time sensitive emergency requests can be submitted without an account, but this requires the user to “declare and acknowledge” that they are an authorized law enforcement officer before they can submit a request. The portal does not display customer data or allow access to existing law enforcement requests. But parts of the website still load without needing to log in, including its dashboard and the “standard” request form used by law enforcement to request customer data. The portal provides a rare glimpse into how Amazon handles law enforcement requests…”

Somehow, I think not...

https://associationsnow.com/2020/09/how-will-ai-change-the-c-suite/

HOW WILL AI CHANGE THE C-SUITE?

… Citrix’s report, Work 2035 [PDF], is based on the responses of 500 executives and 1,000 employees at large and mid-size companies in the United States and Europe, with a focus on artificial intelligence and productivity. In general, an always-on work mentality, combined with better analytics, have led people to wonder what role the C-suite ought to play. A third of employees say leadership will be “partially or completely replaced by technology” by 2035, and though only a small proportion of leaders agree with that, there’s a common feeling that automation will have an impact. Three-fourths of those surveyed say that most organizations will have a central AI department, and 69 percent say the CEO will be working with a “chief of artificial intelligence.”

(Related) You want to move this into the C_Suite?

https://www.bespacific.com/instead-of-optimizing-work-technology-has-created-a-nonstop-barrage-of-notifications-and-interactions/

Instead of optimizing work, technology has created a nonstop barrage of notifications and interactions.

How Work Became an Inescapable Hellhole – This story is adapted from Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, by Anne Helen Petersen. “Instead of optimizing work, technology has created a nonstop barrage of notifications and interactions. Six months into a pandemic, it’s worse than ever. I’m equally ashamed and exhausted writing that description of a pretty standard day in my digital life—and it doesn’t even include all of the additional times I looked at my phone, or checked social media, or went back and forth between a draft and the internet, as I did twice just while writing this sentence. In the United States, one 2013 study found that millennials check their phone 150 times a day; a different 2016 study claimed we log an average of six hours and 19 minutes of scrolling and texting and stressing out over emails per week. No one I know likes their phone. Most people I know even realize that whatever benefits the phone allows—Google Maps, Emergency Calling—are far outweighed by the distraction that accompanies it. We know this….Part of the problem is that these digital technologies, from cell phones to Apple Watches, from Instagram to Slack, encourage our worst habits. They stymie our best-laid plans for self-preservation. They ransack our free time. They make it increasingly impossible to do the things that actually ground us. They turn a run in the woods into an opportunity for self-optimization. They are the neediest and most selfish entity in every interaction I have with others. They compel us to frame experiences, as we are experiencing them, with future captions, and to conceive of travel as worthwhile only when documented for public consumption. They steal joy and solitude and leave only exhaustion and regret. I hate them and resent them and find it increasingly difficult to live without them…”

Perspective?

https://www.bespacific.com/trump-has-paid-no-federal-income-taxes-for-much-of-the-past-two-decades/

Trump has paid no federal income taxes for much of the past two decades

Records Obtained by The Times After Years of Secrecy

“Security? We don’t need no stinking security!”

https://www.databreaches.net/when-coffee-makers-are-demanding-a-ransom-you-know-iot-is-screwed/

When coffee makers are demanding a ransom, you know IoT is screwed

Dan Goodin reports:

With the name Smarter, you might expect a network-connected kitchen appliance maker to be, well, smarter than companies selling conventional appliances. But in the case of the Smarter’s Internet-of-things coffee maker, you’d be wrong.

As a thought experiment, Martin Hron, a researcher at security company Avast, reverse engineered one of the $250 devices to see what kinds of hacks he could do. After just a week of effort, the unqualified answer was: quite a lot. Specifically, he could trigger the coffee maker to turn on the burner, dispense water, spin the bean grinder, and display a ransom message, all while beeping repeatedly. Oh, and by the way, the only way to stop the chaos was to unplug the power cord.

Read more on Ars Technica.

Just as “No good deed goes unpunished,” so too “No new technology goes unabused.”

https://www.zdnet.com/article/pastebin-adds-burn-after-read-and-password-protected-pastes-to-the-dismay-of-the-infosec-community/?&web_view=true

Pastebin adds 'Burn After Read' and 'Password Protected Pastes' to the dismay of the infosec community

Pastebin, the most popular website where users can share small snippets of text, has added two new features today that cyber-security researchers believe are going to be widely and wildly abused by malware operators.

Named "Burn After Read" and "Password Protected Pastes," the two new features allow Pastebin users to create pastes (pieces of text) that expire after a single read or pastes that are protected by a password.

I guess you need to consider what teachers see beyond the kids face…

4th grader suspended for having a BB gun in his bedroom during virtual learning

On September 19, I posted a link to a model opt-out letter provided by the Rutherford Institute for parents to use to preserve their child’s and their family’s privacy rights during virtual learning. Now Gisela Crespo reports another situation that makes such discussions and letters necessary:

A 9-year-old Louisiana student was suspended after a teacher reported seeing a gun in the boy’s bedroom during a virtual class.

The attorney representing the child’s family said it was a BB gun and the school went too far — applying its on-campus weapons policy without considering the privacy of the child and his family.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Friday his office is investigating.

Read more on CNN.

AI & the law?

https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL/article/view/6979

The Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges for the Legal System

The development of artificial intelligence has the potential to transform lives and work practices, raise efficiency, savings and safety levels, and provide enhanced levels of services. However, the current trend towards developing smart and autonomous machines with the capacity to be trained and make decisions independently holds not only economic advantages, but also a variety of concerns regarding their direct and indirect effects on society as a whole. This article examines some of these concerns, specifically in the areas of privacy and autonomy, state surveillance, and bias and algorithmic transparency. It concludes with an analysis of the challenges that the legal system faces in regulating the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence.

Faces are different in the EU?

https://tidsskrift.dk/nnjlsr/article/download/122165/169414/

Police use of facial recognition technology and the right to privacy and data protection in Europe

This article examines the human rights challenges of police use of facial recognition technology from a European perspective. Based on both international human rights law, the European Convention on Human Rights and EU law, the article argues that the technology challenges human rights. The focus of the article is on the right to privacy and data protection, as this right is fundamentally at risk by the technology. Acknowledging that other rights and guarantees are also negatively impacted by the use of facial recognition technology, the article makes reference to the risk of discrimination, and the unregulated cooperation between State and the surveillance technology industry. However, a central point in the article is that irrespective of whether the technology can be refined to eliminate risk of discrimination, and even if sufficient safeguards for cooperation between State and the industry are put in place, fundamental challenges remain in relation to the right to privacy and data protection. The technology captures the unique facial features of an individual known as biometric data which is highly sensitive data and creates an interference with the right to privacy and data protection. By allowing facial recognition, society allows for an entirely new type of intensive surveillance. The use of the technology also entails a risk of chilling effect on e.g. freedom of assembly which furthers negative implications on human rights. The article concludes that when it comes to police use of facial recognition technologies, States should tread carefully and ensure that a sufficient human rights-based regulatory framework and adequate safeguards are in place before considering using the technology.