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