Is there such a thing?
Ben Monarch, a University of Kentucky College of
Law student, has an article that he has uploaded to SSRN that calls
for amendments to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) to
recognize hacktivism as a defense. Monarch argues that the U.S.
“application of the CFAA and (attempted) simultaneous adherence to
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (“ICCPR”) and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (“UDHR”) are inconsistent.”
Here’s the Abstract:
“Hacker” is an extremely opaque, arguably insidious word. It conjures images of a computer mastermind with an appetite for destruction, theft, and a cocktail of illegal ambitions. This stereotype leaves little room for images of moral crusaders in the tradition of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mahatma Ghandi. Yet, there are hackers who more closely resemble such icons than the cyber-criminals often associated with the hacker moniker. These other hackers have their own label — hacktivists. This article explores the role of hacktivists in democracy and discusses domestic laws that make hacktivist activities illegal. The article further explores how these restrictive laws are inconsistent with democratic tradition and international law, and how domestic law should be reformed to eliminate this inconsistency.
Of course, that might assume that federal
prosecutors and those who wish to use the CFAA for civil litigation
actually give a damn about the ICCPR and UDHR. Those arguing for
amendments to CFAA seem more inclined to consider exemptions for
journalists and researchers than for those engaging in political
protest.
You can download Monarch’s full article for free
at SSRN.
Reference:
Monarch, Ben, The Good Hacker: A Look at the Role
of Hacktivisim in Democracy (May 8, 2015). Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2649136
or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2649136
The real concern is that you can convince the car
there is nothing in front of it.
Researcher
Hacks Self-driving Car Sensors
The multi-thousand-dollar
laser ranging (lidar) systems that most self-driving cars rely on
to sense obstacles can be hacked by a setup costing just $60,
according to a security researcher.
“I can take echoes of a fake car and put them at
any location I want,” says Jonathan Petit, Principal Scientist at
Security Innovation,
a software security company. “And I can do the same with a
pedestrian or a wall.”
Using such a system, attackers could trick a
self-driving car into thinking something is directly ahead of it,
thus forcing it to slow down. Or they could overwhelm it with so
many spurious signals that the car would not move at all for fear of
hitting phantom obstacles.
… “You can easily do it with a Raspberry Pi
or an Arduino. It’s really off the shelf.”
Petit set out to explore the vulnerabilities of
autonomous vehicles, and quickly settled on sensors as the most
susceptible technologies. “This is a key point, where the input
starts,” he says. “If a self-driving car has poor inputs, it
will make poor driving decisions.”
I can see a few (Okay, many) problems with this.
If only “officials” can authenticate the information, then I can
create a bogus license to prove that I'm Millard
Fillmore.
Last year, we told you about Iowa's
interest in launching digital driver's licenses, a move that
might begin the phasing out of plastic licenses currently in use
nationwide.
On Wednesday, the state announced live testing of
what it calls the Mobile Driver License (mDL) in a number of
settings, but that testing will be limited to hundreds of Iowa
Department of Transportation employees.
The license appears on your smartphone,
and looks much like a normal driver's license, including a photo,
date of birth, address and license expiration date. In a
demonstration video, which uses an iPhone,
a quick screen swipe flips the license to its back, revealing a bar
code and the class of the license.
But the feature that really makes the mDL special
is that it allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to instantly
update any information that may change, such as when a driver reaches
the age of 21, or when a driver is hit with restrictions to their
license.
Officials
can check the authenticity of the mDL by using
MorphoTrust's
(the creator of the system) verification app, which acts as a mobile
watermark reader. Using the verification app, a police officer can
check the identity and license details of a driver without touching
the driver's phone.
… Although the Supreme Court recently ruled
that police need
a warrant to search your smartphone, making your smartphone a
part of the process of checking your identity seems like fertile
territory for official intrusions into your device that might not
otherwise occur with a plastic identity card.
(Related)
… Expected to launch next year, MasterCard's
new biometrics software, which is being integrated into the
MasterCard app, will give consumers the option to purchase things by
either offering up their faces or fingers for authentication.
… "When consumers shop on the Internet,
their banks need ways to verify their identities," said
Bhalla. "So this particular product seamlessly integrates
biometrics into the overall payments experience."
The app's fingerprint scanner converts prints into
code, which is stored on the mobile device. Its facial recognition
software, however, is a bit more trendy right now.
Those annoying robo-calls are exempt from the “do
not call” laws as long as they from politicians to us second class
citizens. Imagine how intrusive social media could be if they get
similar exemptions. I think there will be a huge market for ad
blockers that work on everything!
Tech firms are courting campaigns ahead of the
2016 presidential election, where budgets for digital advertising are
expected to reach new highs.
The election will be tweeted, googled, snapped,
liked on Facebook, and shared on numerous other social media
platforms. And Silicon Valley is hoping to turn that engagement into
big profits.
While
billions will be spent on political advertising over the next year,
television remains the prime mover and budgets for digital ads trail
traditional media.
But even by one recent estimate from Borrell
Associates, 9.5 percent of political media budgets could go towards
digital media — a total of $1 billion.
And the very polite argument continues.
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr responds,
point by point, to my
disagreement with his
take on the Microsoft warrant case. I thank Kerr for continuing
the conversation, and make four points in response:
Take me for a ride and I'll buy your stock?
A little more than a year after announcing a $100
million mega-round, we’re hearing from multiple sources that
long-distance ride-sharing platform BlaBlaCar
is in the process of raising another round with Insight
Venture Partners. TechCrunch has learned that the French startup
is raising $160 million at a post-money valuation of $1.2 billion.
… As a reminder, BlaBlaCar is a marketplace
where you can find a driver who is driving from one city to another
and book a seat in advance. It connects people with empty seats with
riders. Drivers can make a bit of money while riders can travel for
cheap. Like Airbnb, the company takes a small cut on every ride
(currently around 10 percent).
Another “Thing” on the Internet of Things?
Automating medicine? (iDoctor?)
The stethoscope, that iconic tool of doctors, has
been upgraded several times since it was invented two centuries ago.
Eko Devices, a start-up led by
three recent graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, is
betting that it is time for another innovative overhaul.
Last Friday, the fledgling company received
approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market its Eko
Core, a digital device that attaches to a conventional stethoscope
and allows it to record, amplify and wirelessly send audio and sound
wave images to an iPhone application. Its software meets federal
standards for privacy and security, the founders say, and it can
transmit its heart sounds and waveforms to the electronic health
records used in hospitals and clinics. An Android app is scheduled
to be released early next year.
Interesting. Perhaps a
“hot air” map to locate politicians?
5
Mesmerizing Maps That Will Blow Your Mind
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