Chris Spannos writes:
Widely used metaphors for
understanding today’s mass surveillance — such as references to Nazi Germany,
the Stasi or George Orwell’s Big Brother — run the risk of distracting
attention from the horrors and crimes of past totalitarian regimes. But as measures against present abuses of
power, like the fact that the NSA can collect 5 billion cell phone records per day, such
comparisons can offer important insight. The Germany-based OpenDataCity compared
the volume of records that the Stasi stored to the NSA’s capacity to store
data. They determined that Stasi files
would fill 48,000 filing cabinets, while just a single NSA server would fill 42 trillion filing cabinets. The organization concludes that the NSA can
capture 1 billion times more data than the Stasi could.
Read more on TruthOut.org.
I’ll ask my Indian students what they think.
From the how-shortsighted-can-they-be
dept.:
Daniel Stacy reports:
India is leapfrogging into the
digital future by offering the world’s largest biometric-identity database for
use by tech firms, health-care providers and novice app developers—an
opportunity that excites fans of cyber transactions but worries privacy
advocates.
The Indian government has gathered
digital-identification records, including fingerprint impressions and eye
scans, of nearly all of its 1.2 billion citizens. Now a government-backed initiative known as
“India Stack” aims to standardize ways to exchange the data digitally to
facilitate the transfer of signatures and official documents that citizens need
to get jobs, make financial transactions or access government services.
By allowing developers to
incorporate use of government identification records in their commercial
websites and apps, the initiative envisions Indians—with mobile phones in
hand—using iris and fingerprint scans to sign up for insurance, invest in
mutual funds, receive health-care subsidies and verify their identity for
school examinations.
Read more on WSJ.
So they’re allowing just anyone to get access to the
production database or to get the real data? No test database for development purposes? And where are the background/security checks
on the businesses/individuals to whom they’re granting access to real data?
Seriously??
WSJ’s headline for the story was “India Begins Building on
Its Citizens’ Biometrics.” I changed it
to, “India Begins Exposing Its Citizens’ Biometrics to Just Anybody.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Barbie Is Now A Hologram And Can Help With Dental Hygiene
Toys and technology have always blended well together, and
now, one of the biggest toy classics has ascended to the next level of entertainment.
Barbie, the epitome of girly fun and
fashion, has been upgraded to a hologram. Not only is it incredibly fun to play with
since it can answer questions from
children, it can even function as a decent smart assistant.
Called Hello Barbie, Mattel unveiled their newest offering
during the New York Toy Fair, Wired reports. The
hologram is contained inside a glass box, where the image is projected in a 3D
state. It responds to voice commands as
well, which anyone who has ever used Amazon’s Alexa or Google Home will already
be familiar with.
It can do things like tell the weather and answer
questions, along with giving reminders such as telling kids when to brush their
teeth. To wake her up, users must say “Hello Barbie,” which will make her appear. Once she’s out, users will be able to change
her appearance, make it stay lit at night, or dance and sing.
Is the ‘right to lie about my age’ similar to the ‘right
to be forgotten?’
Nicholas Iovino reports:
A federal judge warned California
on Thursday that continuing to defend a seemingly unconstitutional law that
restricts the publication of actors’ ages will likely
divert more taxpayer dollars to the Internet Movie Database’s attorneys.
“I used to be a lawyer for the
government, and I defended a number of laws that were very challenging to
defend,” U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria told a California deputy attorney
general at a hearing on Thursday. “I’m
trying to remember if I defended a law as challenging to defend as the one
you’re defending now.”
Chhabria was referring to AB
1687, a state law passed in September that requires “commercial online
entertainment service providers” like the movie industry website IMDb to take down
actors’ ages upon request.
Read more on Courthouse
News.
New tools my Forensics students need to understand? Possible applications for Marketing?
Left finds new online tools to fight Trump
… Organizers of
high-profile events, including the demonstrations against the Dakota Access
Pipeline and the record-setting Women's March on Inauguration weekend, are
using a new platform from the nonprofit group The Action Network to improve
communications with members and organize on the fly.
Another
new digital tool is Hustle, a growing mass-texting app, that lets groups better
communicate directly with supporters on the ground.
… The Action
Network's website offers
organizers tools including the ability to send mass emails, promote digital
petitions, and encourage letter writing campaigns from a central hub. Organizers can also organize events, track RSVPs
and sell tickets.
… Hustle CEO Roddy
Lindsay said the app lets organizers maintain “dozens, hundreds or even
thousands” of conversations with those interested in their issues.
Hustle CEO Roddy Lindsay said the app lets organizers
maintain “dozens, hundreds or even thousands” of conversations with those
interested in their issues.
(Related)
For Generation Z, ‘Live Chilling’ Replaces Hanging Out in
Person
Almost every day when they get home from school, Gracie,
age 16, and Sarah, age 14, open the app
Houseparty , where they can video chat with to up to seven of their friends
at once. The sisters, who live in
Danville, Calif., use it to socialize and collaborate on homework, for 15
minutes to an hour. When they first open
it they may be chatting with just one friend, but everyone they’re connected to
on Houseparty gets a push alert that they’re “in the house,” and, soon enough,
the room fills up. It might even spill
over into other rooms, growing organically, just like a real house party.
Teens have been hanging out online for 20 years, but
in 2017 they’re doing it on group video chat apps, in a way that feels like the
real thing, not just a poor substitute. Ranging
in age from adolescents to their early 20s—the group loosely defined as “Generation
Z” —these young people are leaving the apps open, in order to hang out
casually with peers in a trend some call “live chilling.”
This phenomenon is made possible by the sudden
ubiquity of video chat, in messaging apps such as Kik
and Facebook
Messenger , as well as stand-alone apps including Houseparty, Fam, Tribe, Airtime
and ooVoo.
Hang tough, Kim.
Don’t let a bunch of unanimous decisions get you worried.
New Zealand court: Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom can be extradited
to U.S. over fraud charges
A New Zealand court ruled on Monday that internet
entrepreneur Kim Dotcom could be extradited to the United States to face
charges relating to his Megaupload website, which was shutdown in 2012
following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion.
The
Auckland High Court upheld the decision by a lower court in 2015 on
13 counts, including allegations of conspiracy to commit racketeering,
copyright infringement, money laundering and wire fraud, although it described that decision as “flawed” in several areas.
Dotcom’s lawyer Ron Mansfield said in a statement the
decision was “extremely disappointing” and that Dotcom would appeal to New
Zealand’s Court of Appeal.
… High Court judge
Murray Gilbert said that there was no crime for copyright in New Zealand law
that would justify extradition but that the Megaupload-founder could be sent to
the United States to face allegations of fraud.
Something for all my students?
Keeping up with the White house.
Donald Trump nominations list – New White House
administration
by on
Washington Post Graphics – Tracking these 662 executive branch
appointments through the nomination process.
Keeping up with DHS.
WaPo – Memos signed by DHS secretary describe sweeping new
guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants
by on
David Nakamura, The Washington Post – “Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly
has signed sweeping new guidelines that empower federal authorities to more
aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants inside the United States and
at the border. In a pair of memos, Kelly offered more detail on
plans for the agency to hire thousands of additional enforcement agents, expand
the pool of immigrants who are prioritized for removal, speed up deportation
hearings and enlist local law enforcement to help make arrests. The new
directives would supersede nearly all of those issued under previous
administrations, Kelly said, including measures from President
Barack Obama aimed at focusing deportations exclusively on hardened criminals
and those with terrorist ties.
I learned something new! Hitler’s dial telephone surprised me. But the first patent for a dial phone was
issued in the 1890’s.
Telephone owned by Adolf Hitler
sells for $243,000
No comments:
Post a Comment