What would happen if “the rest of the world” wouldn’t let them reconnect? Just saying.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2194009-russias-plan-to-unplug-from-the-internet-shows-cyberwar-is-escalating/

Russia’s plan to unplug from the internet shows cyberwar is escalating

Russia is contemplating briefly detaching itself from the global internet at some point in the next few months, according to media reports this week.

Despite appearances, the experiment isn’t a sign of the country’s mounting isolationism, but rather part of Russia’s efforts to test its defences against large-scale cyberattack, presumably in the case of an increase in hostilities with either major European powers or the US.

A discussion with my Ethical Hackers. Consider what your lawyers will charge and all those years with no income, just a big roommate named Bubba.

https://www.securityweek.com/cybercriminals-promise-millions-skilled-black-hats-report

Cybercriminals Promise Millions to Skilled Black Hats: Report

Posts on Dark Web forums reveal that one threat actor is willing to pay in excess of $64,000 per month ($768,000 per year) to skilled individuals willing to help them conduct nefarious operations. The salary would go up to $90,000 per month ($1,080,000 per year) for the second year.

Cybercrime groups looking for accomplices who can help them extort money from high-worth individuals, including company executives, lawyers and doctors, promise monthly pays starting at $30,000 per month ($360,000 per year), Digital Shadows notes in their report.

All data is useful if it helps increase sales?

https://www.eater.com/2019/2/21/18235144/dominos-points-for-pies

Machiavellian Mega-Chain Domino’s Wants to Trade Pizza for Data

Domino’s, the normcore pizza chain that’s actually America’s best food delivery startup, recently launched a massive data mining project masquerading as a game where people can win free food.

… On the surface, this might see like just another interactive stunt from Domino’s designed to engender good will among America’s pizza-hungry masses. But the chain is most certainly motivated by other factors beyond merely spreading positive pizza vibes across the land. Over the last decade, the company has masterfully used data collected from online orders and the various iterations of its app, as well as third party sources, to map out local demographics and single out the pizza competition. By harnessing the power of this data, Domino’s is able to offer the most reliable food delivery service across America, while also keeping prices absurdly low.

Register for access.

https://www.infoworld.com/article/3339561/machine-learning/ai-machine-learning-and-deep-learning-everything-you-need-to-know.html

AI, machine learning, and deep learning: The complete guide

Wouldn’t most people buy the most forgiving Digital Assistant? Or perhaps there should be a “lawyer mode” that warns you but will never reveal your conversations?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6733417/Digital-assistants-discuss-moral-AI-report-illegal-immoral-activity.html

Digital assistants should discuss whether to report illegal activity

Smart assistants could soon come with a 'moral AI' to decide whether to report their owners for breaking the law.

That's the suggestion of academics at who say that household gadgets like the Amazon Echo and Google Home should be enhanced with ethical smart software.

This would let them to weigh-up whether to report illegal activity to the police, effectively putting millions of people under constant surveillance.

… Dr Slavkovik suggested that digital assistants should possess an ethical awareness that simultaneously represents both the owner and the authorities - or, in the case of a minor, their parents.

Devices would then have an internal 'discussion' about suspect behaviour, weighing up conflicting demands between the law and personal freedoms, before arriving at the 'best' course of action.

A new definition of antitrust?

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-21/facebook-grew-too-big-to-care-about-privacy

Facebook Grew Too Big to Care About Privacy

Two years ago, a Yale Law School student published what became an influential paper about how antitrust law should apply to one of America’s superstar technology companies, which don’t fit the conventional mold of Standard Oil monopolists.

Now, another academic paper from a former advertising technology executive and Yale law graduate is arguing that Facebook Inc. abuses its power. Titled in part “The Antitrust Case Against Facebook,” its author, Dina Srinivasan, offers a deeply researched analysis of Facebook’s pattern of backtracking on the user data collection that allowed the company to become a star. Once Facebook was powerful and popular, Srinivasan says, it was able to overrun objections about its data-harvesting practices.

The core of Srinivasan’s argument is to treat two anxieties about Facebook — potential abuses of monopoly power and violations of users’ privacy — not as separate but as two sides of the same coin. It’s a relatively novel idea that has echoes in a recent order from Germany’s antitrust authority. (Facebook has said the German regulator was wrong to link enforcement of privacy law and antitrust, and the company said it is appealing the decision.)

The paper was published this week in the Berkeley Business Law Journal from the University of California, and I read a version that has been online for two weeks.