Alexa, can I have a little privacy please?

https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/27/amazon_audio_data/

Study: How Amazon uses Echo smart speaker conversations to target ads

Amazon and third-party services have been using smart speaker interaction data for ad targeting, in violation of privacy commitments, according to researchers at four US universities.

… The researchers – ... – describe their findings in a paper titled, "Your Echos are Heard: Tracking, profiling, and ad-targeting in the Amazon smart speaker ecosystem."

An example of restraint in the “We can, therefore we must” universe? Will everyone who reads the paper think before they act?

https://www.lawfareblog.com/artificial-intelligence-and-chemical-and-biological-weapons

Artificial Intelligence and Chemical and Biological Weapons

Sometimes reality is a cold slap in the face. Consider, as a particularly salient example, a recently published article concerning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of chemical and biological weapons (the original publication, in Nature, is behind a paywall, but this link is a copy of the full paper). Anyone unfamiliar with recent innovations in the use of AI to model new drugs will be unpleasantly surprised.

Here’s the background: In the modern pharmaceutical industry, the discovery of new drugs is rapidly becoming easier through the use of artificial intelligence/machine learning systems. As the authors of the article describe their work, they have spent decades “building machine learning models for therapeutic and toxic targets to better assist in the design of new molecules for drug discovery.”

… And so, AI opens the possibility of creating new catastrophic biological and chemical weapons. Some commentators condemn new technology as “inherently evil tech.” However, the better view is that all new technology is neutral and can be used for good or ill. But that does not mean nothing can be done to avoid the malignant uses of technology. And there is a real risk when technologists run ahead with what is possible, before human systems of control and ethical assessment catch up. Using artificial intelligence to develop toxic biological and chemical weapons would seem to be one of those use-cases where severe problems may lie ahead.

Does the US have a similar force working to put the truth on social media? Probably not.

https://www.bespacific.com/for-russian-diplomats-disinformation-is-part-of-the-job/

For Russian diplomats, disinformation is part of the job

Washington Post: “As governments and social media companies have moved to suppress Russia’s state media and the disinformation it spreads about the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s diplomats are stepping up to do the dirty work. Russian embassies and consulates around the world are prolifically using Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to deflect blame for atrocities while seeking to undermine the international coalition supporting Ukraine. Tech companies have responded by adding more labels to Russia’s diplomatic accounts and by removing the accounts from its recommendations and search results. But the accounts are still active and are disseminating disinformation and propaganda in nearly every nation, in part because their diplomatic status gives them an added layer of protection from moderation. With hundreds of social media accounts on every continent, Russia’s diplomatic corps acts as a global network for propaganda, in which the same claims can be recycled and tweaked for different audiences in different nations. And, so far, steps to substantially curtail that effort have fallen short…”

Could be Ukranian special forces, or Russian dissidents, or accidents – worth keeping an eye on?

https://www.newsweek.com/explosions-russia-belgorod-ammunition-depot-fire-1701285

Mysterious Explosions Throughout Russia, Belgorod Ammunition Depot on Fire

The sound of explosions broke the stillness of the night in Russia's Belgorod province, near the border with Ukraine, where Russian media reported an ammunition depot was on fire.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in the village of Staraya Nelidovka, some 20 miles from the Ukrainian border, Belgorod's regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, Russian news agency TASS reported.

… Gladkov said that there were no reports of damaged buildings or casualties among civilians, but he mentioned that similar blasts could be heard at the same time in the city of Belgorod.

Belgorod, which stands close to the Ukrainian border near the Kharkiv region, is some 205 miles away from Bryansk, the city where an oil depot was reported on fire on Monday, April 25.

… A Voronezh district civil defense and emergency official said that two loud bangs were heard in the Shilovo neighborhood in the southwestern Russian city, according to TASS.