Who controls the security? Often the abuser…

https://thenextweb.com/news/domestic-abusers-are-weaponizing-everyday-tech-and-theres-no-quick-fix

Domestic abusers are weaponizing everyday tech — and there’s no quick fix

Perpetrators of domestic abuse are increasingly exploiting digital tools to coerce and control their victims. Where there is abuse in a relationship, technology will also feature in how that abuse is conducted. Police forces now expect as much, when responding to cases of domestic abuse.

Such technological abuse features everyday tools, from smart devices to online platforms and mobile phone apps. And the information on where to find them and how to use them is easily accessible online, often using a simple Google search.

We found that abusers often have physical access to their partners’ devices and use them to monitor, harass and humiliate. Abusers can force their victims to disclose passwords, PIN codes or swipe patterns to get into their devices so they can install sypware – all without sophisticated tech knowledge.

Geolocation software and other surveillance spyware provide new possibilities for abusers to monitor and track victims’ movements. In our study, we found hundreds of tools online that could be used for these purposes.

Soon, every country but the US will have a Privacy law.

https://www.pogowasright.org/oman-data-protection-law-2022/

Oman Data Protection Law 2022

Oman has recently enacted a new personal data protection law, royal decree no 6/2022 (DP Law), to regulate the processing of personal data in the sultanate of Oman

The DP Law was issued on 9 February 2022 and will come into effect on 13 February 2023. The executive regulations (Regulations), which will clarify various elements of the DP Law, are yet to be released by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (Ministry). The Regulations are expected to be issued within this period (i.e. before February 2023).

Read more at Addleshaw Goddard.

(Related)

https://www.insideprivacy.com/united-states/federal-trade-commission/2021-trends-in-privacy-regulatory-enforcement-and-litigation/

2021 Trends in Privacy Regulatory Enforcement and Litigation

2021 was another busy year for data privacy regulatory enforcement and litigation. With some distance to reflect on last year, we have prepared this post identifying and describing important trends from 2021 that can help provide insight into what to expect in the data privacy landscape in 2022.

Like his real estate deals, “Vast promises, half-vast results.”

https://goodwordnews.com/trumps-social-truth-collapses-in-disastrous-launch-raising-doubts-about-long-term-viability/

Trump’s social truth collapses in disastrous launch, raising doubts about long-term viability

The site had been heralded for months as the crown jewel of Trump’s post-presidential business ambitions, with allies promising it would revolutionize social media and eliminate traditional social networks where Trump is banned.

But early glimpses of Truth Social suggest its offerings are nearly identical to what Twitter and other sites have been offering for years — except tweets are called “Truths” and retweets are called “ReTruths.”

… “The basic thing they needed to be successful in getting someone in the door, they couldn’t achieve,” said privacy researcher Bill Fitzgerald. “The ineptitude of the deployment,” he added, could be a warning of future problems to come: “There is no better sign of a rushed implementation than the fact that you cannot embark person. So I find it hard to understand why anyone would want to believe that these people would keep their information safe.

The site’s problems go beyond its waiting list: its logo — a broken capital “T” with a dot — is identical to the logo of Trailar, a British seller of solar panels for trucks. A company executive told the Washington Post that he was “seeking legal advice to understand the next steps and options available to protect our brand.”

… The site’s terms of service also show it’s designed to benefit from Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which Trump says should be “completely terminated” because it protects tech companies from lawsuits. for what their users post.

Worth trying?

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/22/semi-technologies-search-engine-data/

SeMI Technologies’ search engine opens up new ways to query your data

Companies sit on a lot of unstructured data and often don’t have the capabilities to get much out of it.

Now imagine having a way to store data and actually be able to ask it questions, for example, “When did ABC Company sign its first contract with us?” or “Show me videos that contain blue skies.”

That is what SeMI Technologies is building with Weaviate, a vector search engine

… SeMI’s goal is to commoditize this technology and has an open source business model so that anyone can use it.

Van Luijt gave my colleague, Alex Wilhelm, a look under the hood of the technology last year by creating a semantic search engine that does question-answering on 2021 Techcrunch articles.

Tools & Techniques.

https://www.freetech4teachers.com/2022/02/what-is-sub-image-search-and-why-would.html

What is Sub-image Search? - And Why Would Your Students Would Use It?

Sub-image search is one of the search strategies that I use a lot when trying to find out what an unfamiliar object is. I've used it to identify some old farm equipment, to find the origins of some flea market pottery, and to identify types of plants whose names I don't know. It's that last example that I share in my course on Search Strategies Students Need to Know.

Simply put, sub-image search is the process of cropping an image to focus on just the most important part and then conducting a reverse image search for that cropped image. Cropping the image removes any extraneous information that isn't helpful in the reverse image process. For example an example of sub-image search, watch this new video that I made. In the video below I provide a demonstration of what happens when I conduct a reverse image search of mushroom surrounded by brown leaves and what happens when I conduct a reverse image search of the cropped version of that same image.

Getting the attention of your Board of Directors keeps getting easier.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/potential-board-liability-for-cybersecurity-failures-under-caremark-law/

Potential Board Liability for Cybersecurity Failures Under Caremark Law

Cybersecurity is now among the most critical risk-areas for companies across industries, and boards of directors must be vigilant in overseeing their companies’ cybersecurity efforts. Failing to do so not only increases risks for the company, but may also expose board members to personal liability. Developments in Delaware’s Caremark doctrine for breaches of fiduciary duty have paved a narrow path for plaintiffs to hold directors liable for failing to adequately address and oversee their company’s cybersecurity and data privacy risks.

… The Court’s 1996 landmark decision in Caremark established a legal framework for holding directors personally liable for breaching the duty of loyalty when the directors fail to “appropriately monitor and supervise the enterprise.” Under Caremark, directors may be liable in two distinct contexts: (1) “a board decision that results in a loss because that decision was ill advised or ‘negligent,’” or (2) “an unconsidered failure of the board to act in circumstances in which due attention would, arguably, have prevented the loss.” For liability to attach under the Caremark theory, the board must have entirely failed to provide any reasonable oversight in a “sustained and systematic fashion,” or the information reporting system on which the board relied must be deemed an “utter failure.”

… In 2019, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a noteworthy decision concerning the Caremark standard. Marchand v. Barnhill involved a board’s alleged failure to oversee the company’s food manufacturing and safety procedures. The company, an American ice cream manufacturer regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, conducted a product recall after a listeria outbreak connected to its products resulted in three deaths. The product recall and related plant shutdowns translated into a monetary loss for investors. Plaintiffs brought a Caremark action against the company’s directors, alleging that the board failed to oversee the company’s food safety procedures. On appeal, the Court reversed the Chancery Court’s dismissal of the Caremark claim and allowed the case to proceed against the directors. The key allegations that the Court focused on in its decision to allow the claim to proceed included: (1) the non-existence of a board committee that addressed food safety; (2) the lack of reports and/or procedures requiring management to keep the board apprised of food safety compliance practices; (3) lack of evidence that “red” or “yellow” flags related to the outbreak and contained in management reports were disclosed to the board; (4) the fact that the board was presented with favorable information about food safety but not advised of negative reports that existed; and (5) board meetings lacked any regular discussions of food safety issues.

A step toward autonomous weapons? Armed drones can find threats autonomously, but require humans to release the weapons.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/21/us-navy-plans-launch-of-middle-east-drone-force-with-allies

US Navy plans launch of Middle East drone force with allies

The United States Navy has announced the launch of a new joint fleet of unmanned drones in the Middle East with allied nations to patrol vast swaths of volatile waters as tensions simmer with Iran.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the 5th Fleet, said 100 unmanned drones, both sailing and submersible, would dramatically multiply the surveillance capacities of the US Navy, allowing it to keep a close eye on waters critical to the flow of global oil and shipping. Trade at sea has been targeted in recent years as Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers collapsed.

… As Yemen’s seven-year-old civil war grinds on, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have dispatched bomb-laden drone boats towards Saudi waters that have damaged vessels and oil facilities.

“What the Houthis are doing, it is an entirely completely different operation that’s offensively oriented,” Cooper said. “What we are doing is inherently defensively oriented.”

Why you really need an upgrade strategy.

https://www.axios.com/att-3g-sunset-wireless-disrupt-devices-728228cf-e15e-48b4-9896-d32dfd93e0ce.html

Ending 3G service sparks fears of an "alarmaggedon"

AT&T's planned shutdown of its 3G network Tuesday has sparked fears that home security systems, medical alert monitors and a range of other devices will stop working.

… AT&T says phone coverage will not be affected, but it's not just phones that use the company's 3G network.

• 3G-connected cars — including some that are only a few years old — may require software or hardware upgrades, or could lose automatic crash notifications and other features entirely.

• As much as 10% of all public school buses across the country will lose GPS and communications services, according to a filing from AASA, The School Superintendents Association.

• San Francisco warned bus riders that more than 650 prediction display systems at bus shelters that rely on AT&T's 3G service will stop displaying real-time information.

Someone is unsure of their own gender? Who is liable if the school gets it wrong?

https://www.pogowasright.org/amendment-to-floridas-dont-say-gay-bill-would-force-schools-to-out-students-in-6-weeks/

Amendment to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill would force schools to out students in 6 weeks

This will get some children beat up, killed, or driven to suicide.

Sam Sachs reports:

A new amendment to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill would explicitly require schools to inform parents of their child’s sexual orientation, and put a deadline on how soon they must tell the family.

The amendment filed by bill sponsor Rep. Joe Harding, R-Williston, on Feb. 18 changes the bill to instead not only require disclosure, but requires schools to tell parents within six weeks of learning the student is any sexual orientation other than straight.

Read more at WFLA.

Will AI eventually be able to copyright? My AI says yes. If we have a “first encounter” with beings from another planet, can I steal their technology because they (as non-humans) can’t patent or copyright their tech?

https://www.engadget.com/us-copyright-office-art-ai-creativity-machine-190722809.html

You can’t copyright AI-created art, according to US officials

The US Copyright Office has once again denied an effort to copyright a work of art that was created by an artificial intelligence system. Dr. Stephen Thaler attempted to copyright a piece of art titled A Recent Entrance to Paradise, claiming in a second request for reconsideration of a 2019 ruling that the USCO's “human authorship” requirement was unconstitutional.

In its latest ruling, which was spotted by The Verge, the agency accepted that the work was created by an AI, which Thaler calls the Creativity Machine. Thaler applied to register the work as "as a work-for-hire to the owner of the Creativity Machine.”

However, the office said that current copyright law only offers protections to "the fruits of intellectual labor” that “are founded in the creative powers of the [human] mind.” As such, a copyrighted work "must be created by a human being” and the office says it won't register works “produced by a machine or mere mechanical process” that lack intervention or creative input from a human author.

The agency said Thaler failed to provide evidence that A Recent Entrance to Paradise is the result of human authorship. It also stated he was unable to convince the USCO's "to depart from a century of copyright jurisprudence" — in other words, to change the rules.

Be careful. You need to be certain that you are attacking crooks and not a nation state pretending to be a crook,

https://www.theregister.com/2022/02/21/doj_cyber_offensive_policy/

US to attack cyber criminals first, ask questions later – if it protects victims

The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) has revealed new policies that may see it undertake pre-emptive action against cyber threats.

Revealed last week by deputy attorney general Lisa O. Monaco, in a speech at the Munich Cyber Security Conference, the policy will see prosecutors, agents and analysts assess "whether to use disruptive actions against cyber threats, even if they might otherwise tip the cybercriminals off and jeopardize the potential for charges and arrests."

Theft by remote access?

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/02/stealing-bicycles-by-swapping-qr-codes.html

Stealing Bicycles by Swapping QR Codes

This is a clever hack against those bike-rental kiosks:

They’re stealing Citi Bikes by switching the QR scan codes on two bicycles near each other at a docking station, then waiting for an unsuspecting cyclist to try to unlock a bike with his or her smartphone app.

The app doesn’t work for the rider but does free up the nearby Citi Bike with the switched code, where a thief is waiting, jumps on the bicycle and rides off.

Presumably they’re using camera, printers, and stickers to swap the codes on the bikes. And presumably the victim is charged for not returning the stolen bicycle.

This story is from last year, but I hadn’t seen it before. There’s a video of one theft at the link.

Perspective.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/data-privacy-in-2022-protecting-data-during-the-age-of-hybrid-and-remote/

Data Privacy in 2022: Protecting Data During the Age of Hybrid and Remote

Data privacy best practices for safeguarding information have evolved and changed rapidly over the course of the pandemic. Many can agree that privacy in 2022 is different than privacy in 2019; a recent study reveals that more than half of workers (62%) 22-65 years of age engage in remote work at least occasionally, and globally, 16% of companies are fully remote. A twofold condition: we’ve experienced increased flexibility as well as increased data privacy risk brought on by novel working situations.

(Related)

https://owllabs.com/state-of-remote-work/2021/?utm_campaign=State%20of%20Remote%20Work%202021&utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=native

State of Remote Work 2021

Perspective.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/artificial-intelligence-the-future-is-data-capture-not-machine-learning/

Artificial Intelligence: The future is data capture, not machine learning

Adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has accelerated since the pandemic hit as the whole world moved towards digitization. A study by Oxford University and Yale University indicates that AI will outperform humans in many ways and will automate all human jobs in the next 120 years. By 2024, AI will be better than humans at translation, will write bestselling books by 2049, and will perform surgeries by 2053. Machine learning (ML), the proficiency of a machine to mimic human ability to accumulate knowledge and use it to drive insights, is generally considered the basis of AI.

Although AI might depend on its machine learning abilities, we need to take a step back and realize ML doesn’t happen in vacuum. ML is driven by big data, without which it can’t take place. Effectively, therefore, AI depends completely on the amount of data we can capture and the methods we use to process and manage it. For this reason, we need to pay more attention to data capture, transport, processing, and storage if we want to realize the promise of AI in the future.

… Projections from Statista indicate that by the end of 2025, the world will potentially generate 181 zettabytes of data, an increase of 129% over 2021’s 79 zettabytes.

A lack of self-control could doom this project,

https://thenextweb.com/news/trump-truth-social-network-launch-analysis

Brace yourselves, Trump has just launched his social network

… More than growth or revenue generation, Truth needs to avoid Parler’s fate by keeping hate speech at bay. Otherwise, it may risk being removed from the App Store and losing its user base.

Now that the social network has launched, Trump supporters are out with their megaphones, claiming that the app is already a success — but most of them are on…a waiting list. At the time of writing, Truth social’s website is denying access to new visitors — maybe to avoid a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack.

Because they could?

https://futurism.com/microsoft-algorithm-teens-pregnant

Microsoft Created Creepy Algorithm to Predict Which Specific Teens Would Get Pregnant

The Argentinian province of Salta approved the development of a Microsoft algorithm in 2018 that allegedly could determine which low-income “future teens” would be likely to get pregnant, a shocking investigation by Wired reveals.

The algorithm — which Microsoft called “one of the pioneering cases in the use of AI data” — used demographic data including age, ethnicity, disability, country of origin, and whether or not their home had hot water in its bathroom, to determine which of the women and girls living in a small Argentinian town were “predestined” for motherhood.

If not now, certainly in the near future.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-022-00507-5

Why AI Ethics Is a Critical Theory

The ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) is an upcoming field of research that deals with the ethical assessment of emerging AI applications and addresses the new kinds of moral questions that the advent of AI raises. The argument presented in this article is that, even though there exist different approaches and subfields within the ethics of AI, the field resembles a critical theory. Just like a critical theory, the ethics of AI aims to diagnose as well as change society and is fundamentally concerned with human emancipation and empowerment. This is shown through a power analysis that defines the most commonly addressed ethical principles and topics within the field of AI ethics as either to do with relational power or with dispositional power. Moreover, it is concluded that recognizing AI ethics as a critical theory and borrowing insights from the tradition of critical theory can help the field forward.

Perspective.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/software-become-profitability-growth-driver-automakers-says-gartner

Software to become profitability growth driver for automakers, says Gartner

Chief investment officers need to consider five technology trends for 2022 to better prepare for the software, hardware and digital transformations occurring within the automotive sector.

In a statement on Thursday (Feb 17), technology and consulting firm Gartner Inc senior research director Pedro Pacheco said that for the last 100 years, automakers had focused on the mechanical side of car development and had mostly left software to other parties.

"As digital technology becomes the differentiator in the car, software will become the main profitability growth driver for automakers.

"Ultimately, the goal for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will be to turn into tech or software companies," he said.

… Gartner predicted that by 2025, 50% of the top 10 automotive OEMs would design their own chips and establish direct, strategic, long-term working relations with chip companies, while giving up JIT inventory management practice.

… He said Gartner predicted that by 2028, 70% of vehicles sold would utilise Android Automotive operating system, up from today's less than 1%.

Free is good!

https://thehackernews.com/2022/02/us-cybersecurity-agency-publishes-list.html

U.S. Cybersecurity Agency Publishes List of Free Security Tools and Services

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Friday published a repository of free tools and services to enable organizations to mitigate, detect, and respond effectively to malicious attacks and further improve their security posture.

The "Free Cybersecurity Services and Tools” resource hub comprises a mix of services provided by CISA, open-source utilities, and other implements offered by private and public sector organizations across the cybersecurity community.

Think of the fun we could have disrupting traffic on I25 or those mountain roads with no guardrails!

https://thenextweb.com/news/cars-security-and-source-code

Your car is a computer on wheels — and its code can be hacked

We aren’t joking when we talk about cars as big fat data generating computer centers on wheels. If you go on Glassdoor, there’s even an interview question, “How many lines of code does a Tesla have?”

I’m not entirely sure, but even a decade ago, premium cars contained 100 microprocessor-based electronic control units (ECUs), which collectively executed over 100 million lines of code. Then there’s telematics, driver-assist software, and infotainment system, to name but a few other components that require code.

Hire an AI lawyer or get left behind?

https://www.globalcompliancenews.com/2022/02/19/international-artificial-intelligence-in-the-administration-of-justice310122/

International: Artificial Intelligence in the administration of justice

In the not too distant past, many were convinced that Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) would not substantially change the practice of law. The legal profession was considered to be — by its very nature — requiring specialist skills and nuanced judgment that only humans could provide and would therefore be immune to the disruptive changes brought about by the digital transformation. However, the application of ML technology in the legal sector is now increasingly mainstream, particularly as a tool to save time for lawyers and provide a richer analysis of ever-larger datasets to aid legal decision-making in judicial systems throughout the world.

Have we learned to counter disinformation by preemption? Will this work domestically?

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/02/18/preempting-putin-washingtons-campaign-of-intelligence-disclosures-is-complicating-moscows-plans-for-ukraine/

Preempting Putin: Washington’s campaign of intelligence disclosures is complicating Moscow’s plans for Ukraine

… In 2014, the United States and its allies were caught flat footed —not just by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but by the campaign of falsehoods that accompanied it. Designed to warp public perceptions of the annexation of Crimea, delegitimize the government in Kyiv, cast doubt on the existence of Russian operatives in eastern Ukraine, and evade blame for their downing of passenger jet MH-17, these information operations took Western governments by surprise. The U.S. government was slow to coordinate with partners, and some Western journalists, not yet wise to the Kremlin’s playbook, covered “both sides” of events, unwittingly feeding the uncertainty and nihilism about the existence of truth on which Putin thrives.

The Biden administration in particular seems to have learned lessons from this experience. By launching a proactive campaign to call the Kremlin’s bluffs, the White House hopes to foil Moscow’s plans. But even if, as seems likely, it falls short of that goal, Washington’s campaign of disclosures could make it more difficult for the Kremlin to deploy disinformation to deflect culpability for its actions in the aftermath of an intervention, and help build public support in the United States and Europe for a sharper response.

Ready or not…

https://www.makeuseof.com/ways-metaverse-will-change-work/

7 Ways the Metaverse Will Forever Change How We Work

It's going to change everything. The metaverse is coming, and it'll even change how we work, where we work, and the jobs we can do.

A not-so-subtle reminder: Today your website, tomorrow your more critical systems.

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/new-wave-of-cyber-attacks-on-ukrainian-government-websites-knocks-defense-ministry-offline/

New Wave of Cyber Attacks on Ukrainian Government Websites Knocks Defense Ministry Offline

A second wave of cyber attacks in Ukraine knocked a number of websites offline temporarily, including the Defense Ministry’s public-facing site and two major banks.

An earlier round of attacks in mid-January focused on defacing government websites and making threats, but did not do any known damage beyond that. The current cyber attacks appeared to use distributed denial of service (DDoS) techniques to take several websites offline for several hours.

… It’s natural to assume that Russia is behind the cyber attacks on Ukraine’s government websites, but the seeming lack of effort and damage does raise some questions. The first wave of attacks in January, which amounted to nothing more than defacement of a number of government websites, was eventually attributed to a hacking team linked to Belarus intelligence. The Ukrainian security officials believe that the defacements may have been cover for something more serious, and “wiper” malware was reportedly found stashed away on some systems, but the only escalation thus far has been the DDoS attacks which seem to have been fairly easily recovered from.

(Related)

https://thenextweb.com/news/conflict-ukraine-proves-cyber-attacks-are-weapons-of-war

The conflict in Ukraine proves cyber-attacks are now weapons of war

For the past few weeks, Russia has been deploying military forces into strategic positions on Ukraine’s borders. However, there is another, virtual dimension to the escalating conflict: cyber-attacks on the Ukrainian government and business websites and services.

Attacks on Ukraine’s information systems are part of a type of hybrid warfare that Russia has been fine tuning for the past couple of decades but is now far more sophisticated.

Cyber espionage and information warfare have become an intrinsic part of recent conflicts and happen on a regular basis between conflicting powers. However, governments do not usually publicly claim responsibility for this type of activity, since this could put them in a position of declaring war against the targeted country and provoking counterattacks and sanctions from the international community. Therefore, evidence that Russia is definitely behind these attacks is hard to establish.

Addressing new technology introduced in the last five years or attempting to delay the law for another five years?

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/fresh-legislation-may-replace-data-protection-bill/articleshow/89624369.cms

Fresh legislation may replace Data Protection Bill

India may draft a completely new privacy bill, people directly aware of the matter told ET, by putting aside the current version of the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 that has been in the making for nearly five years and does not comprehensively address the requirements of the country’s changing technology landscape, they said.

Among the options being discussed is the introduction of fresh legislation that can cater to the ongoing "sea change in the local and global technology (environment)", those aware of the thinking within government circles said.

Not sure I understand the fears that prompted this. How does recognition of AI as a person grant the AI greater rights?

https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2022/2/17/22939000/idaho-lawmakers-new-bill-animals-personhood

Idaho lawmakers introduce a new bill that would bar animals and AI from ‘personhood’

Idaho lawmakers have introduced a bill that would prevent animals, natural resources and artificial intelligence from gaining “personhood status” in Idaho, the Idaho State Journal reports.

What’s happening: Idaho’s House State Affairs Committee on Tuesday introduced new legislation that “seeks to prevent any future efforts to increase environmental protections for animals or inanimate objects by granting them some of the same legal rights a person would have,” according to KTVB.

The sponsor of the bill — Rep. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton — said there’s been a push nationwide for nonhuman entities to gain personhood status in order to limit access to natural resources, according to The Associated Press.

… “We don’t want our children to be inferior to artificial intelligence,” she said. “Children are not equal to bodies of water or trees, so their rights shouldn’t be equal to those as well.”

Were we once courteous? How did we lose that skill? (Good on ya!)

https://www.databreaches.net/this-sites-new-no-help-for-you-policy/

This site’s new “No help for you” policy

From the “Yes-I’m-grumpy-but-you-earned-it Department:”

Over the years, mainstream journalists have reached out to me for information related to breach stories they were developing, and I generally tried to help them. In some cases, that might involve a few phone calls. In other cases, it might be an hour or more of my time on the phone or some phone calls and emails. And I wish I had a dollar for every time a reporter told me that they had no idea how to get to the dark web or that their editor wouldn’t let them go on the dark web and would I be willing to share some data with them?

In any event, in cases where it sounded like a chunk of my time would be needed or I had already been talking to the reporter for an hour to help them understand an incident, I have told the reporters that I was happy to help them but I expected them to link to my site or my reporting on the incident or somehow acknowledge the information on this site and the help they received. They all said they understood, and with one exception, they agreed to that.

Annoyingly, many of those who agreed that they would link to this site or this site’s original reporting and coverage broke their word. Their stories appeared and they never informed their readers that this site had previously covered what they were now reporting or had helped the reporter understand the issues, events, or what HIPAA and HITECH require.

That failure to acknowledge the help and this site happened again recently. Let’s just call it the straw that broke this camel’s back.

This site has a new policy.

I’m done providing free help to paid journalists who just want to use me as a free source or resource without any credit. This does not apply to the regular infosec/data breach journalists because we have a mutually supportive relationship when it comes to sharing information or helping each other. This policy applies to paid reporters from news outlets because they just take and give nothing back to this site. They are now on their own unless they want to hire me to help them for a discounted rate of $350.00 per hour. Or they can go looking for others who may be willing to donate chunks of time to them for free. I am no longer willing to.

This site doesn’t make any money but that doesn’t mean that I can just sit around spending hours helping others earn money for reporting while they don’t credit their sources.

A tool I use frequently.

https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-organize-kindle-library-using-calibre/

4 Ways to Organize Your Kindle Library Using Calibre

Calibre is a hugely useful ebook management software. It allows you to tag, sort, and otherwise play around with the ebooks in your personal library. And if you're anything like us, you may have accumulated a vast number of ebooks in your Kindle library.

It's difficult to meaningfully organize your Kindle ebooks, so here are four ways to organize your Kindle library using Calibre.