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Patents

Facebook Filed a Patent To Predict Your Household's Demographics Based On Family Photos (buzzfeednews.com) 98

Posted by BeauHD from the not-creepy-at-all dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: Facebook has submitted a patent application for technology that would predict who your family and other household members are, based on images and captions posted to Facebook, as well as your device information, like shared IP addresses. The application, titled "Predicting household demographics based on image data," was originally filed May 10, 2017, and made public today. The system Facebook proposes in its patent application would use facial recognition and learning models trained to understand text to help Facebook better understand whom you live with and interact with most. The technology described in the patent looks for clues in your profile pictures on Facebook and Instagram, as well as photos of you that you or your friends post.

It would note the people identified in a photo, and how frequently the people are included in your pictures. Then, it would assess information from comments on the photos, captions, or tags (#family, #mom, #kids) -- anything that indicates whether someone is a husband, daughter, cousin, etc. -- to predict what your family/household actually looks like. According to the patent application, Facebook's prediction models would also analyze "messaging history, past tagging history, [and] web browsing history" to see if multiple people share IP addresses (a unique identifier for every internet network). A Facebook spokesperson said in response to the story, "We often seek patents for technology we never implement, and patents should not be taken as an indication of future plans."

Submission + - Trump team considers nationalizing 5G network (axios.com)

Submitted by JoeyRox
JoeyRox writes: "Trump national security officials are considering an unprecedented federal takeover of a portion of the nation’s mobile network to guard against China, according to sensitive documents obtained by Axios." This is based on a PowerPoint presentation Axios has in their possession. Two options are described — a national 5G network funded and built by the Federal government, or a mix of 5G networks build by existing wireless providers. A source suggests the first option is preferred and essential to protect against competition from China and "bad actors". The presentation suggests that a government-built network would then be leased out to carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

Submission + - Facebook, Microsoft Back H-1B Expansion Bill as Trump Considers Slashing Program

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Two U.S. Republican lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would more than double the number of temporary work visas that many tech firms rely on to bring in highly skilled foreign workers, reports The Mercury News. "Now more than ever, we need highly qualified workers with the skills employers need to succeed in the information economy," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (UT), who introduced the Immigration Innovation ("I-Squared") Act of 2018 with Sen. Jeff Flake (AZ). According to CNN, the bill would increase the program's base annual allotment of visas from 85,000 to 195,000, exempt STEM master's degree holders from all caps if their employers file for green cards on their behalf (H-1B employees of institutions of higher education and certain "affiliated entities" are already cap-exempt), eliminate per-country limits on employment-based green cards, "recapture" green card numbers that were unused in prior years and make them available for the issuance of additional new green cards to help reduce a backlog for citizens from countries like India and China, and provide work authorization for spouses and children of H-1B visa holders. Execs from Microsoft and Facebook, as well as industry associations, issued statements in support of the bill. The bill has not yet been made available at Congress.gov, but The Hill got their hands on a draft and law firm Fragomen has posted a detailed summary. "This important legislation will modernize the H-1B visa and green card programs while also encouraging increased STEM education in the U.S. to train the next generation of U.S. workers in high-growth fields," said Facebook VP of Public Policy Erin Egan (Facebook is a legally H-1B dependent employer). "Particularly in today’s strong economy, we need to take additional steps to prepare Americans for digital jobs by investing in our domestic STEM training programs," said Microsoft President Brad Smith in a blog post which also argued that "high-skilled immigration programs are critical to meeting our country’s need for skilled talent." He added, "Through the additional fees imposed by I-Squared, close to $1 billion additional dollars could be provided each year to states to support STEM education and build the country’s talent pipeline and support training for U.S. workers to enter STEM fields, including apprenticeships. As we’ve said before, these are fees that Microsoft is more than prepared to pay." Back in 2013, Mother Jones reported that a similar STEM-education-for-H-1B-visas offer Microsoft proposed in return for support of an earlier incarnation of the I-Squared Act left some of its labor and education allies crying bait-and-switch.

Submission + - Flawed Malwarebytes updates causes network connectivity problems (malwarebytes.com)

Submitted by marquis111
marquis111 writes: Malwarebytes pushed out a database update yesterday that caused its web link blocking engine to randomly flag all traffic as malicious, thus causing the computers running it to lose connection to the network, which also precludes those affected computers from receiving an updated database file that fixes the issue.
Wireless Networking

Ford's New Cars To Be Wi-Fi Hotspots 196

Posted by kdawson from the high-speed-internet dept.
clang_jangle writes "Autoblog and others are reporting on Ford's planned extension to its in-vehicle SYNC multimedia systems — to enable SYNC-equipped Fords as rolling Wi-Fi hotspots. Customers would use their existing cellular USB modems, so for already equipped road warriers there would be no extra monthly charges. While there are other ways to get your car online (Autonet Mobile review here), the SYNC system does look especially simple and practical. Last year BMW made some noise about FOSS for their cars, but they seem to have since stopped talking about it. Will we see a FOSS option for automotive infotainment systems in the future?" The capabilities of SYNC even without W-Fi look potentially pretty distracting. Unless Wi-Fi is blacked out for the driver, the safety implications of this development are worrisome.
Software

Getting Through the FOSS License Minefield 96

Posted by timothy from the well-it's-more-like-a-small-blackberry-thicket dept.
dotancohen writes "Here's an exercise: Write a GPLed server for solving Freecell that the graphical game would communicate with using TCP/IP or a different IPC mechanism. Easy, right? Except for that pesky licensing bit. Our own Shlomi Fish gives an overview of the various options in picking up a licence for one's FOSS project, and tries to give some guidelines choosing one."
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Wi-Fi Allergy a PR Stunt

Submitted by ADiamond
ADiamond writes: There is no Wi-Fi allergy. The English DJ claiming a Wi-Fi sensitivity chronicled in Slashdot recently, was a PR stunt to promote his new album. It would appear that the stunt was highly successful, appearing in multiple high-profile media outlets like The Sun, The Telegraph, and Fox News. The article at Ars goes on to discuss the evidence, or lack-thereof, of electromagnetic spectrum sensitivity. Apparently, these publications don't bother to verify their sources. A cursory look into the 2% statistic would have yielded no backing data.

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I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning. -- Plato

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