Amateurs can contribute(?) to cyber war. Perhaps revealing security weaknesses that the military would rather keep in reserve, perhaps drawing retaliation?

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/hactivists-say-they-hacked-belarus-rail-system-to-stop-russian-military-buildup/

Hactivists say they hacked Belarus rail system to stop Russian military buildup

Hacktivists in Belarus said on Monday they had infected the network of the country’s state-run railroad system with ransomware and would provide the decryption key only if Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko stopped aiding Russian troops ahead of a possible invasion of Ukraine.

Less obvious but still warlike?

https://thehackernews.com/2022/01/hackers-exploited-mshtml-flaw-to-spy-on.html

Hackers Exploited MSHTML Flaw to Spy on Government and Defense Targets

Cybersecurity researchers on Tuesday took the wraps off a multi-stage espionage campaign targeting high-ranking government officials overseeing national security policy and individuals in the defense industry in Western Asia.

… Trellix attributed the attacks with moderate confidence to the Russia-based APT28 group, the threat actor behind the compromise of SolarWinds in 2020, based on similarities in the source code as well as in the attack indicators and geopolitical objectives.

Empire building? What if everyone tried to write the rules?

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3648063/sec-eyes-more-expansive-cybersecurity-requirements.html#tk.rss_all

SEC eyes more expansive cybersecurity requirements

Gary Gensler, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has laid out an ambitious cybersecurity plan for his agency that could give it a far more expansive regulatory footprint than it currently has. Speaking to Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Annual Securities Regulation Institute, Gensler said that “the financial sector remains a very real target of cyberattacks” and is becoming “increasingly embedded within society’s critical infrastructure.”

… In his speech, Gensler proposed a series of changes involving new, “refreshed,” or expanded SEC cybersecurity authorities.

Other ways to irritate us.

https://thenextweb.com/news/smart-devices-read-mood-mind-shouldnt-without-consent-syndication

Smart devices can now read your mood and mind — they shouldn’t without consent

… it also got me thinking about other biometric recognition devices which, for better or worse, are already integrated into our everyday lives.

There are obvious examples: fingerprint scanners that unlock doors and facial recognition that allows payment through a phone. But there are other devices that do more than read an image — they can literally read people’s minds.

Trying to keep up...

https://www.insideprivacy.com/united-states/state-legislatures/state-legislative-trends-to-watch-in-2022/

State Legislative Trends to Watch in 2022

… While some states will have these bills under consideration well into the fall, the vast majority of state legislatures will adjourn by early June and thirteen will adjourn before the start of April.

During this early year sprint, there are five general trends that observers will want to keep an eye on in state legislatures.

(Related)

https://fpf.org/blog/addressing-the-intersection-of-civil-rights-and-privacy-federal-legislative-efforts/

ADDRESSING THE INTERSECTION OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY: FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS

… In the coming weeks and months, FPF will be publishing a blog series to provide an informative overview of government efforts to regulate discriminatory data practices through proposed legislation and executive agency enforcement. This blog is the first in the series and will cover federal legislative efforts.

And sometimes you just need an alibi…

https://www.makeuseof.com/best-android-location-spoofing-apps/

The 7 Best Free Android Apps to Fake Your GPS Location

Are you looking for a way to catch those location-specific Pokémon in Go? Want some rare Harry Potter: Wizards Unite "foundables" only available in another country? Or do you just want to fool your friends into thinking you're on the other side of the planet? Well, you need a GPS spoofer, then!

Here are the best GPS spoofing apps on Android. These are all free and don't require you to root/jailbreak your smartphone or tablet. Instead, you can just tinker with a Developer option on your device.

It used to be that super computers were used for advanced physics or predicting the weather.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/24/22898651/meta-artificial-intelligence-ai-supercomputer-rsc-2022

Meta has built an AI supercomputer it says will be world’s fastest by end of 2022

Designed to train the next generation of machine learning systems

… The company says its new AI Research SuperCluster, or RSC, is already among the fastest machines of its type and, when complete in mid-2022, will be the world’s fastest.

… The news demonstrates the absolute centrality of AI research to companies like Meta. Rivals like Microsoft and Nvidia have already announced their own “AI supercomputers,” which are slightly different from what we think of as regular supercomputers. RSC will be used to train a range of systems across Meta’s businesses: from content moderation algorithms used to detect hate speech on Facebook and Instagram to augmented reality features that will one day be available in the company’s future AR hardware. And, yes, Meta says RSC will be used to design experiences for the metaverse — the company’s insistent branding for an interconnected series of virtual spaces, from offices to online arenas.

Perspective.

https://www.ft.com/content/2d446160-08cb-489f-90c8-853b3d88780d

Why gaming is the new Big Tech battleground

… According to some, the deal, announced on Tuesday, will greatly add to forces that have already been reshaping the sector in recent years including the streaming of games, leading to the creation of ever-larger gaming empires.

The huge size of today’s gaming audience, which already dwarfs other forms of mass-market entertainment, is playing to the strengths of companies that can build and manage giant online businesses to spread their costs, according to Bing Gordon, a longtime video game executive and venture capitalist.

… Microsoft’s move has still highlighted the rising stakes in a business whose $180bn of annual revenue in 2021 is already double that of the movie industry.

I haven’t seen articles like this for a while. Perhaps war driving is making a comeback?

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-make-a-wifi-antenna-out-of-a-pringles-can-nb/

How To Make a Wi-Fi Antenna Out Of a Pringles Can

I like it!

https://www.bespacific.com/bookfeed-io-an-rss-feed-listing-all-newly-released-books-from-your-favorite-authors/

Bookfeed.io – An RSS feed listing all newly released books from your favorite authors

Likas Mathis – “Bookfeed.io is a simple tool that allows you to specify a list of authors, and generates an RSS feed with each author’s most recently released book. I made this because I don’t want a recommendation algorithm to tell me what to read, I just want to know when my favorite authors release new books.”

(Related) I use Feedly myself.

https://www.bespacific.com/what-is-rss-and-how-to-use-it-effectively/

What is RSS and How to Use it Effectively

A reminder to continue to reference this article by Pete Weiss, What is RSS and How to Use it Effectively. RSS has changed over the years, but remains a significant application for researchers.

Requires us to learn several new technologies…

https://www.makeuseof.com/web3-change-internet-privacy/

How Will Web 3.0 Change Internet Privacy?

… The main goal of Web 3.0 is to put power back into the hands of internet users. It will let users create and execute tools instead of giving large corporations their data to use online services. It uses technologies like blockchain to decentralize the web, removing its dependence on massive third parties.

Perspective. Someone said, generals prepare to fight the last war.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/whats-next-in-war/

What’s Next In War

Autonomous drones, laser weapons, and goggles that can see through vehicles, oh my.

… If Pentagon preparations are any indication, the battlefield of the future will be littered with autonomous drones flying protection missions for infantry squads below that will walk alongside robots that carry their heavy weapons. Vehicle gunners will be learning how to maintain their laser weapons instead of a machine gun. And platoon leaders on austere islands in the Pacific will be able to receive orders from the brass through a network of 5G wireless and satellites.

At Task & Purpose this week, we’re exploring some of these technologies, gear, and weapons of tomorrow. On Tuesday, we’ll examine the Next Generation Squad Weapon program, which aims to replace the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and M4 rifle, a staple of the U.S. military since the Vietnam War, with a more lethal weapon that has greater range and stopping power. Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense, which will apparently turn a Stryker combat vehicle into a helicopter and drone-killing device with a 50-kilowatt laser, is next on the agenda for Wednesday. On Thursday, we’ll talk about an Air Force program that’s hoping to create jet fuel out of thin air, which, if successful, would offer a disruptive capability in logistically-challenging Pacific environments. And finally, on Friday, we’ll take a look at the Army’s futuristic “mixed reality” goggles that will let soldiers see through their vehicles and spot threats in real-time.

Perspective.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/01/how-to-navigate-the-great-relearning-revolution/

Navigating ‘The Great Relearning’ revolution

A Gallup-Amazon study revealed that 48% of workers in the US are willing to switch jobs if offered skills training opportunities.

When COVID-19 forced the brakes on the global economy, millions of people decided to step off the treadmill to refuel their aspirations. As many as 40-75% of the workforce is reported to be considering quitting their current job. This movement has precipitated a talent crisis, fuelling debate on whether this is the Great Resignation or the Great Reshuffle. While each analysis is insightful, I believe we are looking at something completely different; we are at the tipping point of the Great Relearning Revolution.

Perspective. I find this interesting.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/21/media-journalism-future-527294

Is the Media Doomed?

From a Big Tech crackdown to the rebirth of local news, 16 future-minded thinkers predict where journalism will be in 15 years.

… The changes in the media industry make it nearly impossible to guess. When POLITICO was born 15 years ago, a digital-first politics site was considered downright disruptive in Washington, D.C. Today, that sounds almost quaint compared to what was on the way: Facebook was a baby, and Instagram was just a twinkle in a code developer’s eye. “Pandemic” meant the Spanish Flu of 1918 — and “Zoom” was a kids’ show from the ’70s. Information now flows in ways nobody was even considering in 2007, and over the next decade and a half, media is poised to change even more dramatically.

… When shunted through digital media, information behaves like water: It flows together, it melds and it finds its lowest common level. The trivial blurs with the profound, the false with the true. The news bulletin and the dance meme travel in the same stream, with the same weight. Content collapses.

Got religion? Let us add you to our list… (Is claiming a religion the only way ‘legal’ way to avoid vaccination?)

https://www.pogowasright.org/18-more-federal-agencies-eye-making-vaccine-religious-objector-lists/

18 More Federal Agencies Eye Making Vaccine Religious-Objector Lists

Sarah Parshall Perry and GianCarlo Canaparo of Meese Center write:

This week, we revealed that an obscure federal agency plans to keep lists of the “personal religious information” employees who had religious objections to the federal employee vaccine mandate.

As it turns out, the little-known Pre-trial Services Agency or the District of Columbia isn’t the only federal agency involved. As we feared, a whole-of-government effort looks to be underway.

A little digging at the Federal Register revealed that there are at least 19 total federal agencies—including five cabinet level agencies—that have created or proposed to create these tracking lists for religious-exemption requests from their employees.

Read more at The Heritage Foundation.

[From the article:

… the federal government decrees that a citizen who seeks a medical exemption or a waiver based on a sincerely held religious belief has automatically consented to being entered in the Database. To put it plainly, invoking the legal right to exercise one’s religious faith risks simultaneously waiving that legal right.

Related:

The Biden Administration Is Making Lists of Religious Vaccine Objectors:

https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/11/breaking-biden-administration-making-lists-of-religious-vaccine-objectors/

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/01/11/2021-28135/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records

Intentional but not hyped.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-nanotechnology-revolution-is-herewe-just-havent-noticed-yet-11642827640?mod=djemalertNEWS

The Nanotechnology Revolution Is Here—We Just Haven’t Noticed Yet

Before there was a “metaverse,” before there were crypto millionaires, before nearly every kid in America wanted to be an influencer, the most-hyped thing in tech was “nanotechnology.” “Nano-,” for those who could use a refresher, means “one billionth,” and nanotechnology generally refers to materials manipulated at an atomic or molecular scale.

… In the more distant future, this technology might yet enable the vision physicist Richard Feynman laid out in his famous 1959 lecture “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” in which he hypothesized about a way to build three-dimensional structures one atom at a time. Achieving even a fraction of what he proposed would open up tantalizing possibilities, from sensors that can detect viruses in the air before we inhale them to quantum computers in our pockets.

Can we do it?

https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3491209

Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence: A Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic decision making are having a profound impact on our daily lives. These systems are vastly used in different high-stakes applications like healthcare, business, government, education, and justice, moving us toward a more algorithmic society. However, despite so many advantages of these systems, they sometimes directly or indirectly cause harm to the users and society. Therefore, it has become essential to make these systems safe, reliable, and trustworthy. Several requirements, such as fairness, explainability, accountability, reliability, and acceptance, have been proposed in this direction to make these systems trustworthy. This survey analyzes all of these different requirements through the lens of the literature. It provides an overview of different approaches that can help mitigate AI risks and increase trust and acceptance of the systems by utilizing the users and society. It also discusses existing strategies for validating and verifying these systems and the current standardization efforts for trustworthy AI. Finally, we present a holistic view of the recent advancements in trustworthy AI to help the interested researchers grasp the crucial facets of the topic efficiently and offer possible future research directions.

Perspective. (Not yet in my library)

https://www.engadget.com/hitting-the-books-the-work-of-the-future-autor-mindell-reynolds-mit-press-163011680.html

Hitting the Books: What autonomous vehicles mean for tomorrow's workforce

In the face of daily pandemic-induced upheavals, the notion of "business as usual" can often seem a quaint and distant notion to today's workforce. But even before we all got stuck in never-ending Zoom meetings, the logistics and transportation sectors (like much of America's economy) were already subtly shifting in the face of continuing advances in robotics, machine learning and autonomous navigation technologies.

In their new book, The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines, an interdisciplinary team of MIT researchers (leveraging insights gleaned from MIT's multi-year Task Force on the Work of the Future) exam the disconnect between improvements in technology and the benefits derived by workers from those advancements. It's not that America is rife with "low-skill workers" as New York's new mayor seems to believe, but rather that the nation is saturated with low-wage, low-quality positions — positions which are excluded from the ever-increasing perks and paychecks enjoyed by knowledge workers. The excerpt below examines the impact vehicular automation will have on rank and file employees, rather than the Musks of the world.

A very brief summary…

https://www.concordia.ca/content/dam/ginacody/research/spnet/Documents/BriefingNotes/EmergingTech-MilitaryApp/BN-62-Emerging-technology-and-military-application-May2021.pdf

VULNERABILITIES OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

This note spots and categorises the vulnerabilities and problems caused by emerging technologies through a literature review and makes suggestions regarding resolving the issues.

o The new technologies of which the vulnerabilities are being considered are:

o Artificial Intelligence (AI), including but not limited to Machine Learning and Deep

Learning

o Internet of Things (IOT)

o Smart Cities including Smart Homes and Self Driving Vehicles

o Block Chains

o Cloud Computing

o Quantum Computing

o Dark Web

The vulnerabilities being investigated include:

o Security

o Privacy

o Trust and confidence

o Fairness, equality and human rights

o Law and policy making

Warning. We don’t understand ethics.

https://new.cultureplex.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Ethical_Skills_We_Are_Not_Teaching_Report.pdf

The Ethical Skills We Are Not Teaching: An Evaluation of University Level Courses on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Society

(Related) Similar questions…

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4001877

Bioethics and the Great Powers

Advances in medicine and technology stand poised to transform the way that humans relate to each other and to nature, even our own. Regimes like China are already enlisting the life sciences to implement troubling programs of biometric surveillance and population control. The bioethics wars are here. America isn’t ready. Democracies are equipped to deliberate on the ethics of cutting-edge approaches to public health, climate change, and biodiversity. But for the first time since 1974, the country lacks even a national authority to guide citizens and policymakers on the moral and social implications of interventions like genetically editing mosquitos to combat disease, or babies for COVID-19 immunity. Hard debates about values and consequences that spill over across borders -- that's precisely where autocracies often fall short. The United States must lead on bioethics abroad by shoring up the institutions that govern experimental research and clinical practice. Now is the time for bold measures to confront the controversies of our time.

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.makeuseof.com/python-developer-tools/

10 Useful Tools for Python Developers

Whether you need Python tools for data science, machine learning, web development, or anything in between, this list has you covered.

Do you know an act of war when you see it?

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/mercks-1-4-billion-insurance-win-splits-cyber-from-act-of-war

Merck’s $1.4 Billion Insurance Win Splits Cyber From ‘Act of War’

Merck & Co.‘s victory in a legal dispute with insurers over coverage for $1.4 billion in losses from malware known as NotPetya is expected to force insurance policies to more clearly confront responsibility for the fallout from nation-state cyberattacks.

The multinational pharmaceutical company sued its insurers who had denied coverage for NotPetya’s impacts to its computer systems, citing a policy exclusion for acts of war. The 2017 malware attack was attributed to Russia’s military intelligence agency, deployed as part of a conflict with Ukraine.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Walsh ruled Jan. 13 that Merck’s insurers can’t claim the war exclusion because its language is meant to apply to armed conflict. The ruling noted that insurers didn’t change the war language to put companies like Merck “on notice” that cyberattacks wouldn’t be covered, despite a trend of attacks by countries like Russia hitting private sector companies.

… The case is Merck & Co. Inc. vs. Ace American Insurance Co. et al, N.J. Super. Ct., No. L-002682-18, summary judgment 1/13/22.

I would be a bit upset too.

https://www.pogowasright.org/returning-travellers-made-to-hand-over-phones-and-passcodes-to-australian-border-force/

Returning travellers made to hand over phones and passcodes to Australian Border Force

Josh Taylor reports:

A man who was forced to hand over his phone and passcode to Australian Border Force after returning to Sydney from holiday has labelled the tactic “an absolute gross violation of privacy”, as tech advocates call for transparency and stronger privacy protections for people’s devices as they enter the country.

Software developer James and his partner returned from a 10-day holiday in Fiji earlier this month and were stopped by border force officials at Sydney airport. They were taken aside, and after emptying their suitcases, an official asked them to write their phone passcodes on a piece of paper, before taking their phones into another room.

Read more at The Guardian.

[From the article:

Under the Customs Act, ABF officers can force people to hand over their passcodes [How much force? Bob] to allow a phone search, as part of their powers to examine people’s belongings at the border, including documents and photos on mobile phones.

… The spokesperson said people can be questioned and their phone searched “if they suspect the person may be of interest for immigration, customs, biosecurity, health, law-enforcement or national security reasons”.

This national ID card is only to protect your health, citizen.

https://www.pogowasright.org/illinois-lawmakers-considering-mandatory-vaccine-registry-elsewhere-campus-vaccine-and-mask-surveillance-upsets-students/

Illinois lawmakers considering mandatory vaccine registry; Elsewhere, campus vaccine and mask surveillance upsets students

Steve Korris reports:

Registration of immunizations in Illinois would change from voluntary to mandatory under a bill Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Highwood) introduced last week.

Critics of HB 4244 include more than 10,000 citizens who have filed opposition slips describing the measure as “asinine,” and “unconstitutional.” Many say they are “disgusted” that lawmakers are even considering the action.

The House committee on Health and Human Services planned to take it up on Wednesday, Jan. 19.

Read more at Madison-St. Clair Record.

But vaccine surveillance isn’t the only type of surveillance that is feeling oppressive these days. This week, Peter Cordi reported on student reactions to mask and vaccine mandates in colleges across the country:

Campus Reform spoke to a number of students about their school’s COVID restrictions and health surveillance measures.

Daniel Cona, a junior at College at Brockport, State University of New York (SUNY Brockport) told Campus Reform, “Having to submit proof of my vaccinations to Brockport feels like an invasion of my privacy.”

Michael Gannon, who attends Stony Brook University, which is part of the SUNY system, said he has “considered dropping out so I don’t have to inject myself with drugs that I don’t want in my body.”

Read more at Campus Reform.

Use of AI is becoming more visible.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2022/1/21/22895308/robot-umps-lets-leave-baseball-to-real-live-human-beings-instant-replays-artificial-intelligence-mlb

Robot umpires? Let’s leave baseball to real, live human beings

… The latest assault on our humanity came Thursday, when news broke that Major League Baseball would use an automated strike zone at Triple-A this season. It means robot umpires will be one heartbeat from the big leagues — a ‘‘heartbeat’’ being that thing once used to deduce whether a ‘‘person’’ was alive.

Not funny.

https://dilbert.com/strip/2022-01-22

Is data the same as cash?

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/20/mercedes-future-vehicles-will-have-luminar-lidar-under-new-deal/

Mercedes’ future vehicles will have Luminar lidar under new deal

Mercedes-Benz said Thursday it plans to use Luminar’s lidar technology in future vehicles as part of a broader deal that includes data sharing and the automaker taking a small stake in the company.

… Daimler will share certain data from development and production vehicles with Luminar’s lidars to be used for continuous product improvement and updates.

Excellent summary?

https://www.gibsondunn.com/2021-artificial-intelligence-and-automated-systems-annual-legal-review/

2021 Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems Annual Legal Review

2021 was a busy year for policy proposals and lawmaking related to artificial intelligence (“AI”) and automated technologies. The OECD identified 700 AI policy initiatives in 60 countries, and many domestic legal frameworks are taking shape. With the new Artificial Intelligence Act, which is expected to be finalized in 2022, it is likely that high-risk AI systems will be explicitly and comprehensively regulated in the EU. While there have been various AI legislative proposals introduced in Congress, the United States has not embraced a comprehensive approach to AI regulation as proposed by the European Commission, instead focusing on defense and infrastructure investment to harness the growth of AI.

Nonetheless —mirroring recent developments in data privacy laws—there are some tentative signs of convergence in US and European policymaking, emphasizing a risk-based approach to regulation and a growing focus on ethics and “trustworthy” AI, as well as enforcement avenues for consumers. In the U.S., President Biden’s administration announced the development of an “AI bill of rights.” Moreover, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) has signaled a particular zeal in regulating consumer products and services involving automated technologies and large data volumes, and appears poised to ramp up both rulemaking and enforcement activity in the coming year. Additionally, the new California Privacy Protection Agency will likely be charged with issuing regulations governing AI by 2023, which can be expected to have far-reaching impact. Finally, governance principles and technical standards for ensuring trustworthy AI and ML are beginning to emerge, although it remains to be seen to what extent global regulators will reach consensus on key benchmarks across national borders.

Perspective.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/facebook-second-life-the-unstoppable-rise-of-the-tech-company-in-africa

Facebook’s second life: the unstoppable rise of the tech company in Africa

… Across Africa, Facebook is the internet. Businesses and consumers depend heavily on it because access to the app and site are free on many African telecoms networks, meaning you don’t need any phone credit to use it. In 2015, Facebook launched Free Basics, an internet service that gives users credit-free access to the platform. Designed to work on low-cost mobile phones, which make up the vast majority of devices on the continent, it offers a limited format, with no audio, photo and video content. Over the past five years, Free Basics has been rolled out in 32 African countries. Facebook’s ambition does not end there. Where there are no telecoms providers to partner with, or where infrastructure is poor, the company has been developing satellites that can beam internet access to remote areas.

Perspective. Outcomes are not equal. Worth reading.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2022/01/20/gone-digital-technology-diffusion-in-the-digital-era/

Gone digital: Technology diffusion in the digital era

Productivity growth allows economies to increase output without increasing inputs and is a key driver of economic growth and of income per capita. However, productivity growth has been slowing in recent decades, depressing economic growth. This might appear paradoxical given the fast advancement in technological progress and the spread of digital technologies.

Firms’ varied performances during this period of digital transformation help explain this puzzling paradox. While firms at the global frontier of productivity have continued to increase their productivity steadily, the rest of the business population has not kept pace.

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.makeuseof.com/apps-for-recorded-lectures/

The 4 Best Apps and Services for Recording a Lecture Remotely

Oh, the horror! You could lose your Internet connection!

https://gizmodo.com/senate-weighs-bill-to-protect-satellites-from-getting-h-1848384237

Senators Introduce Bill to Protect Satellites From Getting Hacked

A newly proposed law would enhance cybersecurity for commercial satellites—a move designed to protect them from criminal hacking, which is, apparently, a real threat we need to worry about now.

The Satellite Cybersecurity Act, introduced by Senators Gary Peters (D-Michigan) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), would empower the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to develop “voluntary satellite cybersecurity recommendations” for the private sector, essentially providing a list of “best practices” for how to keep systems secure.

Apparently there is not yet a “Best Practice” model for legislation.

https://www.databreaches.net/pa-senate-passes-bills-aimed-at-ransomware-data-breaches/

PA Senate passes bills aimed at ransomware, data breaches

AP reports:

Pennsylvania’s state Senate passed a package of legislation on Wednesday aimed at preventing data security breaches and requiring victims and law enforcement officials to be notified when they do happen.

The bills’ passage comes barely two weeks after the state’s unemployment compensation system acknowledged that hackers changed bank account information in some recipients’ accounts, so that payments went to the hackers instead.

Read more at New Canaan Advertiser.

[From the article:

… One bill would require the state to develop a strategy to prevent and respond to ransomware attacks. It also would bar state and local governments from using public money to pay for an extortion attempt during a ransomware attack.

It includes an exception for the governor to allow it while a disaster emergency declaration is in force.

The bill, however, does allow state agencies to buy insurance coverage for ransomware attacks. The bill also sets criminal penalties for perpetrators and allows victims to sue for damages.

Will this require the NSA to look at domestic targets?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-to-expand-national-security-agency-role-in-government-cybersecurity-11642604412?mod=djemalertNEWS

Biden to Expand National Security Agency Role in Government Cybersecurity

President Biden on Wednesday expanded the National Security Agency’s role in protecting the U.S. government’s most sensitive computer networks, issuing a directive intended to bolster cybersecurity within the Defense Department and intelligence agencies.

… It effectively aligns the cybersecurity standards imposed on national security agencies with those previously established for civilian agencies under an executive order Mr. Biden signed last May.

Your government loves to see your face.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/irs-will-soon-require-selfies-for-online-access/

IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access

If you created an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), those login credentials will cease to work later this year. The agency says that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log in to irs.gov will be through ID.me, an online identity verification service that requires applicants to submit copies of bills and identity documents, as well as a live video feed of their faces via a mobile device.

… Some 27 states already use ID.me to screen for identity thieves applying for benefits in someone else’s name, and now the IRS is joining them. The service requires applicants to supply a great deal more information than typically requested for online verification schemes, such as scans of their driver’s license or other government-issued ID, copies of utility or insurance bills, and details about their mobile phone service.

When an applicant doesn’t have one or more of the above — or if something about their application triggers potential fraud flags — ID.me may require a recorded, live video chat with the person applying for benefits.

Perspective. I guess I missed the law requiring surveillance of plants.

https://hightimes.com/sponsored/cloudastructures-artificial-intelligence-is-revolutionizing-cannabis-surveillance/

Cloudastructure’s Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Cannabis Surveillance

… State and federal laws require that businesses keep their daily operations under constant video surveillance so criminality and malpractice can be stopped in their tracks.

… Cloudastructure’s cloud-based AI video surveillance platform means footage is uploaded via a secure Cloud Video Recorder (CVR) that is inaccessible to the outside world. Once the data is secured in the cloud, a multi-tiered permissions system enables credentialed staff to download the footage from their mobile phone or any device with internet access within minutes. The software is intuitively designed and user-friendly, and Cloudastructure’s employees are ready to help with both the installation and any queries. The company even offers turnkey solutions that ensure the cameras not only meet even the most obscure compliance guidelines, but ensure the cameras maximize their usefulness in detecting crime.

Best of all is Cloudastructure’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), which the company has integrated in such a way so that cannabis entrepreneurs can monitor everything that goes on at their facilities, from dispensaries to farms and warehouses. Their rapid search capabilities include facial recognition, advanced license plate recognition, “elastic searches” which combine those powers, and much more. Thanks to their advanced AI algorithms, Cloudastructure’s surveillance systems can do things their competitors struggle to offer: identifying and tracking suspicious or after-hours visitors, and notifying you immediately of a breach of your facility.

Cloudastructure’s surveillance not only tells you who is on your property, but also how many people there are at any given time. The cameras are trained to pick up on other important details as well, such as a person’s age and gender.

Old does not mean out of touch, but it might mean we need translators.

https://www.bespacific.com/what-the-kids-are-reading/

What the Kids Are Reading

Paul Musgrave – Engaging with the new generation and its media consumption: “…The idea that today’s college students are digital natives who can seamlessly navigate the online world is, well, doubtful. But even more dubious is the unthinking presumption a lot of faculty and institutions fall into of assuming that they were familiar with the now-vanished world of three broadcast networks and Time magazine. The students are fluent in a different world that has nothing to do with the world that we olds were inducted into, and little to do with the digital world that we middle-olds inhabit. And it’s an open question about what world we should be helping students join—or whether we even know much about their world to begin with. When I say the generations live in different worlds, I mean it seriously. Here’s a pair of graphs from recent polls showing two ways of measuring preferences for news sources by generation. Senior citizens live in a world of cable television and even print. Middles live in a world of transition. Yutes live in a post-TV, post-print world of digital sources…”

Does simple law require simple lawyers?

https://www.bespacific.com/legal-simplification-and-ai/

Legal Simplification and AI

Eliot, Lance, Legal Simplification and AI (November 3, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3955411 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3955411

“Many advocates are urging that our existing laws are overly complex and need to be simplified. Interestingly, the advent of AI in the law can readily enter into this same discourse. It might be easier to intertwine AI and the law if the law was simplified, and/or the act of intertwining AI with the law could spur the simplification of the law. Tradeoffs though must be considered.”

Tools & Techniques. Follow your favorite Twit?

https://www.bespacific.com/how-to-search-twitter-with-r/

How to search Twitter with R

YouTube – “See how to search, filter, and sort tweets using R and the rtweet package. It’s a great way to follow conference hashtags. If you want to follow along with the optional code for creating clickable URL links, make sure to install the purrr package if it’s not already on your system.“