Hack where the money is...

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/identity-theft-doubled-during-the-pandemic-as-fraudsters-targeted-covid-19-relief-payments/

Identity Theft Doubled During the Pandemic as Fraudsters Targeted COVID-19 Relief Payments

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says that cases of identity theft skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with incidents reported doubling compared to 2019.

Most of the incidents targeted government relief funds reserved for individuals and small businesses hardest hit by the pandemic.

The FTC announced that it recorded about 1.4 million reports of identity theft incidents in 2020, twice the number of cases reported in 2019. About 394,280 incidents were associated with unemployment insurance benefits, compared to 12,900 incidents reported in 2019.

(Related) Here is why hacking is so attractive.

https://www.elliptic.co/blog/jokers-stash-retiring

One of the World's Most Prolific Cybercriminals Has Retired - And May Well Be a Bitcoin Billionaire

Useful backgrounder.

https://www.muo.com/how-the-top-instant-messaging-services-use-end-to-end-encryption/

How the Top Instant Messaging Services Use End-to-End Encryption

For my “History of Security’ lecture.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/02/medieval-security-techniques.html

Medieval Security Techniques

Sonja Drummer describes (with photographs) two medieval security techniques. The first is a for authentication: a document has been cut in half with an irregular pattern, so that the two halves can be brought together to prove authenticity. The second is for integrity: hashed lines written above and below a block of text ensure that no one can add additional text at a later date.

Is a complete ban the proper option?

https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/12/minneapolis-facial-recognition-ban/

Minneapolis bans its police department from using facial recognition software

Minneapolis voted Friday to ban the use of facial recognition software for its police department, growing the list of major cities that have implemented local restrictions on the controversial technology. After an ordinance on the ban was approved earlier this week, 13 members of the city council voted in favor of the ban, with no opposition.

The new ban will block the Minneapolis Police Department from using any facial recognition technology, including software by Clearview AI. That company sells access to a large database of facial images, many scraped from major social networks, to federal law enforcement agencies, private companies and a number of U.S. police departments. The Minneapolis Police Department is known to have a relationship with Clearview AI, as is the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which will not be restricted by the new ban.

How does this work? Google pays off some publishers to avoid paying all publishers? Would Napoleon approve?

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-france-copyright-exclusive-idUSKBN2AC27N

Exclusive: Google's $76 million deal with French publishers leaves many outlets infuriated

Alphabet Inc’s Google has agreed to pay $76 million over three years to a group of 121 French news publishers to end a more than year-long copyright spat, documents seen by Reuters show.

The agreement between Google and the Alliance de la presse d’information generale (APIG), a lobby group representing most major French publishers, was announced previously, but financial terms had not been disclosed.

The move infuriated many other French outlets, which deemed it unfair and opaque. Publishers in other countries will scrutinize the French agreement, the highest-profile in the world under Google’s new program to provide compensation for news snippets used in search results.

… The accord follows France’s implementation of the first copyright rule enacted under a recent European Union law that creates “neighbouring rights,” requiring large tech platforms to open talks with publishers seeking remuneration for use of news content.

In Australia, lawmakers have drafted legalisation that would require Google and Facebook to pay publishers and broadcasters for content. Google has threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia if the country adopts that approach, which the company called “unworkable.”

Will they still want to shut down big tech if it is paying their bills?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/technology/maryland-digital-ads-tax.html

Maryland Approves Country’s First Tax on Big Tech’s Ad Revenue

… The State Senate voted on Friday to override the governor’s veto of the measure, following in the footsteps of the state’s House of Delegates, which gave its approval on Thursday. The tax will generate as much as an estimated $250 million in the first year after enactment, with the money going to schools.

The approval signals the arrival in the United States of a policy pioneered by European countries, and it is likely to set off a fierce legal fight over how far communities can go to tax the tech companies.

… Bill Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat who is president of the State Senate, was a main driver behind the bill. He said he was inspired by an Op-Ed essay from the economist Paul Romer proposing taxing targeted ads to encourage the companies to change their business models.

Personal liability. What a concept!

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/tech-and-telecom-law/facebook-must-turn-over-files-on-ftc-case-to-rhode-island-fund

Facebook Investor Probing $5 Billion Privacy Payout Gets a Boost

Facebook Inc. lost a fight to withhold records in an investor lawsuit probing whether the company overpaid in a record $5 billion settlement with a government regulator in 2019 to protect founder Mark Zuckerberg in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.

A Delaware judge ruled Wednesday that Facebook must furnish some internal files to Rhode Island’s public employee pension fund, which is questioning how the company came to terms with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in the agency’s sweeping investigation of the misuse of consumer data.

The pension fund is looking into whether Facebook directors agreed to pay an additional $2 billion as part of the FTC settlement over the fallout from Cambridge Analytica to shield Zuckerberg from facing personal liability in the case. Delaware law gives investors access to internal files if they raise legitimate questions about mismanagement or self-dealing by directors.

Will no one rid us of this turbulent company?

https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/12/swedens-data-watchdog-slaps-police-for-unlawful-use-of-clearview-ai/

Sweden’s data watchdog slaps police for unlawful use of Clearview AI

Sweden’s data protection authority, the IMY, has fined the local police authority €250,000 ($300k+) for unlawful use of the controversial facial recognition software, Clearview AI, in breach of the country’s Criminal Data Act.

As part of the enforcement the police must conduct further training and education of staff in order to avoid any future processing of personal data in breach of data protection rules and regulations.

(Related)

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/facial-recognition-clearview-patent-dating

A Clearview AI Patent Application Describes Facial Recognition For Dating, And Identifying Drug Users And Homeless People

… The patent filing was made in August — three months after the company said in a federal court that it would take voluntary actions to “avoid transacting with non-governmental customers anywhere.” The patent application, however, describes ways to apply its facial recognition software to the private sector as well as to law enforcement and social work, where it says it could be used to possibly identify people who use drugs or people experiencing homelessness.

"In many instances, it may be desirable for an individual to know more about a person that they meet, such as through business, dating, or other relationship,” the application reads, outlining a means of running a rapid background check based on an image of a person’s face. “A strong need exists for an improved method and system to obtain information about a person.”

The document also describes several other possible uses for Clearview AI, such as to “grant or deny access for a person, a facility, a venue, or a device,” or for a public agency to accurately dispense social benefits and reduce fraud. It also says users could deploy Clearview to identify “a sex offender” or “homeless people,” or to determine whether someone has a “mental issue or handicap,” which could influence the way police respond to a situation.

One unique bio-marker is much like another…

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267502-ai-can-use-the-veins-on-your-hand-like-fingerprints-to-identify-you/

AI can use the veins on your hand like fingerprints to identify you

The pattern of veins on the back of someone’s hand is as unique as their fingerprints and can be used to identify people even with a cheap commercial camera. The technique could be used in smart door locks or even to identify people from CCTV images.

I imagine there will be a few counter arguments.

https://thenextweb.com/neural/2021/02/12/doesnt-make-sense-ban-autonomous-weapons-syndication/

Why it doesn’t make sense to ban autonomous weapons

In May 2019, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) declared, “No AI currently exists that can outduel a human strapped into a fighter jet in a high-speed, high-G dogfight.”

Fast forward to August 2020, which saw an AI built by Heron Systems flawlessly beat top fighter pilots 5 to 0 at DARPA’s AlphaDogFight Trials. Time and time again Heron’s AI outmaneuvered human pilots as it pushed the boundaries of g-forces with unconventional tactics, lightning-fast decision-making, and deadly accuracy.

The former US Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced in September that the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) Program will deliver AI to the cockpit by 2024. They are very clear that the goal is to “assist” pilots rather than to “replace” them. It is difficult to imagine, however, in the heat of battle against other AI-enabled platforms how a human could reliably be kept in the loop when humans are simply not fast enough.

On Tuesday, January 26, the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence met, recommending not to ban AI for such applications. In fact, Vice Chairman Robert Work stated that AI could make fewer mistakes than human counterparts. The Commission’s recommendations, which are expected to be delivered to Congress in March, are in direct opposition with The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of 30 countries and numerous non-governmental organizations which have been advocating against autonomous weapons since 2013.

Is it too much to ask managers to actually manage? That includes “control!”

https://thehackernews.com/2021/02/poor-password-security-lead-to-recent.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheHackersNews+%28The+Hackers+News+-+Cyber+Security+Blog%29

Poor Password Security Led to Recent Water Treatment Facility Hack

… Now, according to an advisory published on Wednesday by the state of Massachusetts, unidentified cyber actors accessed the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system via TeamViewer software installed on one of the plant's several computers that were connected to the control system.

Not only were these computers running 32-bit versions of the Windows 7 operating system, but the machines also shared the same password for remote access and are said to have been exposed directly to the Internet without any firewall protection installed.

It's worth noting that Microsoft Windows 7 reached end-of-life as of last year, on January 14, 2020

Isn’t the market solution working? I can’t imagine insurance companies selling anything at a loss.

https://www.databreaches.net/is-it-time-to-ban-ransomware-insurance-payments/

Is it time to ban ransomware insurance payments?

Alex Scroxton reports:

… According to [the founding head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)], the ransomware problem is now being exacerbated by victims paying ransoms to their extortionists and then claiming back this sum on their insurance. He described this as an “incentive” that encourages victims to pay to solve their problem quickly.

He told the newspaper it was now time to “look seriously” at changing insurance law to ban payments – or, if not that, to enter into consultation with the industry about how to respond.

Read more on ComputerWeekly.

So phones and computers are like luggage in that they store things. Luggage stores things like drugs or guns. What does an electronic device store that can only be kept out of the US by successful searches? Do border agents search the Internet too?

https://www.pogowasright.org/1st-circuit-upholds-border-searches-of-phones-and-laptops/

1st Circuit Upholds Border Searches of Phones and Laptops

Thomas Harrison reports:

Border agents can turn on a U.S. citizen’s laptop, phone or other digital device, scroll through the data and then confiscate it for weeks even if they don’t have any reason to suspect that the owner is guilty of a crime, the First Circuit ruled Wednesday.

“Given the volume of travelers passing through our nation’s borders, warrantless electronic device searches are essential to … adequately protect the border,” the Boston-based court said in a 29-page decision.

Read more on Courthouse News.

(Related)

https://onezero.medium.com/despite-scanning-millions-of-faces-feds-caught-zero-imposters-at-airports-last-year-e34c32500496

Despite Scanning Millions of Faces, Feds Caught Zero Imposters at Airports Last Year

U.S. Customs and Border Protection scanned more than 23 million people with facial recognition technology at airports, seaports, and pedestrian crossings in 2020, the agency recently revealed in its annual report on trade and travel.

The agency scanned four million more people than in 2019. The report indicates that the system caught no imposters traveling through airports last year and fewer than 100 new pedestrian imposters.

An acceptable reason to surveil you or at least your phone?

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-02-combining-machine-smartphone-tracking-flu.html

Combining machine learning with smartphone tracking data to forecast the spread of the flu

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. including Google Inc. and the CDC has found that it is possible to combine machine learning technology with smartphone tracking data to create an application that accurately estimates the spread of the flu. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes how they created their app and how well it tested against conventional viral spread estimation systems.

The ongoing pandemic has reawakened fears of a much worse scenario involving the spread of a much deadlier virus than SARS-CoV-2. So scientists have been looking at ways to slow the next one, and part of that effort would include using tools that better forecast how the spread escalates. In this new effort, the researchers sought to create a tool based on smartphone data and machine learning that would be as good or better than applications created using commuter data.

Kicking a guy while he is down or did he just finally add that last straw to the camel’s back?

https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2021/02/11/twitter-confirms-trumps-ban-is-permanent-even-if-he-runs-again/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29

Twitter confirms Trump’s ban is permanent, even if he runs again

When Twitter said it had banned Trump, some wondered how permanent the move really was. After all, Twitter long used the justification of “public interest” when explaining why the president was allowed to remain on the platform after saying things that would get other users banned. Following the Capitol riot, and as Trump would no longer be president just a few days following the ban, the public interest excuse didn’t mean much.

But what if he were to run for the position — or another government seat — again?

The company today clarified that the ban is indeed meant to be permanent. In an interview with CNBC, Twitter CFO Ned Segal said “when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform.” He further elaborated “our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence. He was removed when he was president and there’d be no difference for anybody who’s a public official once they’ve been removed from the service.”

Help in a murky area…

https://www.databreaches.net/when-to-report-a-breach-consideration-of-encryption-states/

When to Report a Breach: Consideration of Encryption States

Matt Fisher of Carium writes:

Data breaches grab headlines on a daily basis and arise from a number of different scenarios. However, one question that is not necessarily examined closely (at least in news articles), is whether encryption was in place and why the encryption did not prevent the breach. That rhetorical question does not get into the finding in a number of resolutions through the HHS Office for Civil Rights where lack of appropriately or properly implemented encryption was part of the reason for a penalty.

Matt then considers a number of different scenarios involving encryption to make the point that the determination of a breach when encryption is involved may be more complex than initially thought.

Read more on The Pulse.

A new broom sweeps clean?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-sale-to-oracle-walmart-is-shelved-as-biden-reviews-security-11612958401?mod=djemalertNEWS

TikTok Sale to Oracle, Walmart Is Shelved as Biden Reviews Security

Trump-driven deal had languished as video-sharing app’s Chinese owner mounted successful legal challenges

(Related)

https://www.zdnet.com/article/huawei-requests-us-courts-to-overturn-its-national-security-threat-designation/

Huawei requests US courts to overturn its national security threat designation

It has accused the FCC of making the designation without providing substantial evidence.

I expect this to blow up when both parties claim their political speech is restricted more than the others.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/technology/facebook-reduces-politics-feeds.html

Facebook Dials Down the Politics for Users

The social network announced on Wednesday that it had started changing its algorithm to reduce the political content in users’ news feeds. The less political feed will be tested on a fraction of Facebook’s users in Canada, Brazil and Indonesia beginning this week, and will be expanded to the United States in the coming weeks, the company said.

“During these initial tests we’ll explore a variety of ways to rank political content in people’s feeds using different signals, and then decide on the approaches we’ll use going forward,” Aastha Gupta, a Facebook product management director, wrote in a blog post announcing the test.

We can, therefore we must?

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dp4ek/new-jersey-transit-wont-explain-how-its-face-mask-detection-ai-works

New Jersey Transit Won’t Explain How Its 'Face Mask Detection' AI Works

In late January, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded NJ Transit a $600,000 grant to install face mask-detecting artificial intelligence and heat mapping systems on the River Line, which runs from Trenton to Camden. The purpose of the technology, the agencies say, is to provide customers more information through the NJ Transit smartphone app about how crowded train cars are during the time of COVID-19.

In a press release announcing the grant, NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett said the data collected by the systems is “expected to provide longer-term operational benefits and customer experience improvements,” but neither he nor a spokesman elaborated on what that might mean—particularly whether the agency might at some point compare images captured against facial recognition databases.

… Smith also claimed that face mask detection is not facial recognition. The FTC, however, categorizes face detection —necessary for face mask detection—as a form of facial recognition. The primary difference between the two uses is whether or not images collected by the systems are compared against a database of face templates at any given time.

What is there about me that I own?

https://www.pogowasright.org/fears-over-dna-privacy-as-23andme-plans-to-go-public-in-deal-with-richard-branson/

Fears over DNA privacy as 23andMe plans to go public in deal with Richard Branson

Kari Paul reports:

The genetic testing company 23andMe will go public through a partnership with a firm backed by the billionaire Richard Branson, in a deal that has raised fresh privacy questions about the information of millions of customers.

Launched in 2006, 23andMe sells tests to determine consumers’ genetic ancestry and risk of developing certain illnesses, using saliva samples sent in by mail.

Privacy advocates and researchers have long raised concerns about a for-profit company owning the genetic data of millions of people, fears that have only intensified with news of the partnership.

Read more on The Guardian.

Interesting hack for ‘self defense?”

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvxb94/is-this-beverly-hills-cop-playing-sublimes-santeria-to-avoid-being-livestreamed

Is This Beverly Hills Cop Playing Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ to Avoid Being Live-streamed?

Police officers in Beverly Hills have been playing music while being filmed, seemingly in an effort to trigger Instagram's copyright filters.

… even if the algorithm does not detect the song immediately, someone — for example, a disgruntled police officer—could simply wait until a user posts an archive of the live video on their page, then file a complaint with Instagram that it contains copyrighted material.

I knew there were twits in Congress!

https://www.bespacific.com/libguide-congressional-twitter-accounts-home/

LibGuide – Congressional Twitter Accounts: Home

UC San Diego Library – “Many Senators and Representatives are active on Twitter, often issuing statements there rather than posting official press releases to their websites. This list is intended to help users identify and quickly access the Twitter accounts of those in the current 117th Congress. The lists are arranged alphabetically by last name, and identify the home state and political party for each person. An Excel file is also available for download, if you wish to sort the data in other ways. You do not need a Twitter account to access these sites and read tweets, but you will need an account if you wish to interact (e.g. “like” or respond to a tweet).”

Perspective. Covid changes…

https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/9/22275304/salesfore-remote-work-9-to-5-workday-is-dead-flex-coronavirus?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4

Salesforce declares the 9-to-5 workday dead, will let some employees work remotely from now on

36

‘It no longer makes sense to expect employees to work an eight-hour shift.’

Cloud computing company Salesforce is joining other Silicon Valley tech giants in announcing a substantial shift in how it allows its employees to work. In a blog post published Tuesday, the company says the “9-to-5 workday is dead” and that it will allow employees to choose one of three categories that dictate how often, if ever, they return to the office once it’s safe to do so.

Salesforce will also give employees more freedom to choose what their daily schedules look like. The company joins other tech firms like Facebook and Microsoft that have announced permanent work-from-home policies in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

What to do if the AI homework assistant doesn’t do a good job?

https://theconversation.com/to-succeed-in-an-ai-world-students-must-learn-the-human-traits-of-writing-152321

To succeed in an AI world, students must learn the human traits of writing

Students across Australia have started the new school year using pencils, pens and keyboards to learn to write.

In workplaces, machines are also learning to write, so effectively that within a few years they may write better than humans.

Sometimes they already do, as apps like Grammarly demonstrate. Certainly, much everyday writing humans now do may soon be done by machines with artificial intelligence (AI).

The predictive text commonly used by phone and email software is a form of AI writing that countless humans use every day.

According to an industry research organisation Gartner, AI and related technology will automate production of 30% of all content found on the internet by 2022.

Some prose, poetry, reports, newsletters, opinion articles, reviews, slogans and scripts are already being written by artificial intelligence.

Literacy increasingly means and includes interacting with and critically evaluating AI.

This means our children should no longer be taught just formulaic writing. Instead, writing education should encompass skills that go beyond the capacities of artificial intelligence.

I thought this was well understood by now…

https://www.databreaches.net/north-korea-is-using-cyberattacks-to-finance-updates-to-nuclear-program-un-experts-say/

North Korea Is Using Cyberattacks To Finance Updates To Nuclear Program, UN Experts Say

Edith M. Lederer of AP reports:

North Korea has modernized its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles by flaunting United Nations sanctions, using cyberattacks to help finance its programs and continuing to seek material and technology overseas for its arsenal, U.N. experts said.

[…]

The panel said its investigations found that North Korean-linked cyber actors continued to conduct operations in 2020 against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses to generate money to support its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.

Read more on HuffPost.

Some hacks are more for fun than profit, but that can change… Imagine this a ramsomeware…

https://www.vice.com/en/article/88ab33/hacker-poison-florida-water-pinellas-county

Hacker Tried to Poison Florida City's Water Supply, Police Say

On Monday officials from Pinellas County in Florida announced that an unidentified hacker remotely gained access to a panel that controls the City of Oldsmar's water treatment system, and changed a setting that would have drastically increased the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water supply.

During a press conference, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that a legitimate operator saw the change and quickly reversed it, but signaled that the hacking attempt was a serious threat to the city's water supply. Sodium hydroxide is also known as lye and can be deadly if ingested in large amounts.

"The hacker changed the sodium hydroxide from about one hundred parts per million, to 11,100 parts per million," Gualtieri said, adding that these were "dangerous" levels. When asked if this should be considered an attempt at bioterrorism, Gualtieri said, "What it is is someone hacked into the system not just once but twice ... opened the program and changed the levels from 100 to 11,100 parts per million with a caustic substance. So, you label it however you want, those are the facts."

I can remember being asked about this kind of risk years ago. Must have been a smart board member…

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/why-boards-will-require-cybersecurity-scrutiny-during-financial-audits-in-2021-and-beyond/

Why Boards Will Require Cybersecurity Scrutiny During Financial Audits in 2021 and Beyond

Until recently, cybersecurity’s relationship with financial statements focused on fraudulent activities that disrupted a company’s bottom line. However, as breaches continue to rise, industry experts are starting to notice auditors aren’t doing enough to consider the risks created by these attacks. Because of this, in 2021 and beyond, board members, senior leaders and audit teams will need to start integrating cybersecurity into how they view compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and privacy-related mandates like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). And while this will lead to authoritative boards issuing guidance initiatives, it doesn’t mean businesses should wait to act.

To supplement my Computer Security class.

https://www.muo.com/tag/6-free-cyber-security-courses-thatll-keep-safe-online/

The 6 Best Free Cyber Security Courses: Learn How to Be Safe Online

So, misinformation can be both more subtle and more aggressive. Wonderful. How will anyone prove that they (did say / never said) that?

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/uoc--ddc020821.php

Deepfake detectors can be defeated, computer scientists show for the first time

Systems designed to detect deepfakes --videos that manipulate real-life footage via artificial intelligence--can be deceived, computer scientists showed for the first time at the WACV 2021 conference which took place online Jan. 5 to 9, 2021.

… In deepfakes, a subject's face is modified in order to create convincingly realistic footage of events that never actually happened. As a result, typical deepfake detectors focus on the face in videos: first tracking it and then passing on the cropped face data to a neural network that determines whether it is real or fake. For example, eye blinking is not reproduced well in deepfakes, so detectors focus on eye movements as one way to make that determination. State-of-the-art Deepfake detectors rely on machine learning models for identifying fake videos.

Governments have a “Big Brother” strategy. Never doubt it.

https://www.pogowasright.org/the-cbp-used-covid-as-an-excuse-to-install-facial-recognition-at-76-airports/

The CBP Used COVID As An Excuse To Install Facial Recognition At 76 Airports

Joe Cadillic writes:

A recent DHS report titled the “CBP Trade and Travel Report” reads like an instruction manual on how to exploit the public’s fear of COVID. The report is a perfect example of how the Feds used the pandemic as an excuse to install facial recognition cameras across the country.

The report starts out by claiming that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) faced serious hardships because of the coronavirus epidemic.

“Furthermore, passenger volumes for all modes of transportation combined decreased 42 percent, and air travelers specifically decreased 54.2 percent.

When other organizations had a decrease in business, they laid off or furloughed their employees as a result. What did Homeland Security do? They, instead, decided to increase biometric surveillance of everyone.

Read more on MassPrivateI.

Looking at my DNA without permission?

https://www.pogowasright.org/you-have-heard-of-the-bipa-but-what-about-the-gipa/

You Have Heard of the BIPA, But What About the GIPA?

Joseph J. Lazzarotti and Jody Kahn Mason of JacksonLewis write:

Enacted in 2008, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14 et seq. (the “BIPA”), went largely unnoticed until a few years ago when a handful of cases sparked a flood of class action litigation over the collection, use, storage, and disclosure of biometric information. Seeing thousands of class action lawsuits, organizations have reevaluated and redoubled their compliance efforts. On January 28, 2021, a complaint was filed in Cook County, IL, Melvin v. Sequencing, LLC, alleging violations of the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act, 410 ILCS 513/1 – the “GIPA”…try not to get confused… which was originally effective in 1998.

Read more on Workplace Privacy, Data Management & Security Report

So long as everyone understands the implications…

https://www.ft.com/content/4c40c890-afd3-40a3-9582-78a66c37a8af

EU ready to follow Australia’s lead on making Big Tech pay for news

EU lawmakers overseeing new digital regulation in Europe want to force Big Tech companies to pay for news, echoing a similar move in Australia and strengthening the hand of publishers against Google and Facebook.

The initiative from members of the European parliament would be a serious blow to Google, which has threatened to leave Australia in protest at a planned new law that would compel it to pay for news.

Facebook has also warned it will stop users in Australia from sharing news if the legislation is passed in its current form.

Probably not as shocking as it seems at first.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-and-snap-inc-call-for-a-gdpr-aligned-australian-privacy-act/

Facebook and Snap Inc call for a GDPR-aligned Australian Privacy Act

… In a submission [PDF] to the Attorney-General's review of the Privacy Act 1988, Facebook called for "effective privacy and data protection" as part of a "globally harmonised framework". It believes failing to do runs the risk of creating a "splinternet", where some countries or regions of the world adopt approaches to privacy and data protection that are mutually exclusive to other regimes.

Now if only someone would write a book explaining lawyers… (Not in my local library, yet)

https://abovethelaw.com/2021/02/new-book-aims-to-demystify-a-i-for-lawyers/

New Book Aims To Demystify A.I. For Lawyers

… Last week, Kira Systems gurus Noah Waisberg and Dr. Alexander Hudek released AI For Lawyers: How Artificial Intelligence Is Adding Value, Amplifying Expertise, and Transforming Careers attempting to provide lawyers with a straight-forward guide to the technology and its potential.

From research to analytics to contract review, the book lays out the potential AI can bring to your practice. It’s almost as if the logic of A.I. permeates the very structure of the book, with multiple asides from other authors adding fresh insights or demonstrated use cases in their own personal styles — no survey of a body of data would be complete without tackling it from multiple perspectives and drawing consensus conclusions.

The future of libraries?

https://www.bespacific.com/internet-archives-modern-book-collection-now-tops-2-million-volumes/

Internet Archive’s Modern Book Collection Now Tops 2 Million Volumes

Internet Archive Blogs: “The Internet Archive has reached a new milestone: 2 million. That’s how many modern books are now in its lending collection —available free to the public to borrow at any time, even from home. “We are going strong,” said Chris Freeland, a librarian at the Internet Archive and director of the Open Libraries program. “We are making books available that people need access to online, and our patrons are really invested. We are doing a library’s work in the digital era.” The lending collection is an encyclopedic mix of purchased books, ebooks, and donations from individuals, organizations, and institutions. It has been curated by Freeland and other librarians at the Internet Archive according to a prioritized wish list that has guided collection development. The collection has been purpose-built to reach a wide base of both public and academic library patrons, and to contain books that people want to read and access online—titles that are widely held by libraries, cited in Wikipedia and frequently assigned on syllabi and course reading lists. “The Internet Archive is trying to achieve a collection reflective of great research and public libraries like the Boston Public Library,” said Brewster Kahle, digital librarian and founder of the Internet Archive, who began building the diverse library more than 20 years ago…”

Opinion: The US has quit trying to be a leader in space.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/02/09/1017683/hope-mars-mission-orbit-milestone-uae-space-program-united-arab-emirates/

The UAE’s Hope probe is about to arrive at Mars in a historic first