158764917
submission
FriendlySolipsist writes:
After using the Otter.ai automated transcription service for a recorded interview with an Uyghur human rights activist, Politico journalist Phelim Kine received a disturbing survey from the company asking the purpose of the interview. This was cause for alarm, as the Chinese government is known to aggressively persecute members of the oppressed ethnic and religious minority. Had Chinese intelligence somehow gained access to the recording? Otter eventually provided assurance they do not share uploaded data except pursuant to a valid US subpoena, but journalists need to consider the risk of compromise. Otter does not even allow two-factor authentication except for upper-tier business accounts.
139679214
submission
FriendlySolipsist writes:
Independent journalist Rebekah Jones, a scientist fired by the Florida state government because, she said, of her refusal to manipulate official COVID-19 data releases to coincide with political considerations and who now operates web site floridacovidaction.com, had her home raided by the FL state police who seized computers and cell phones, the Miami Herald reported. The FDLE affidavit in support of the raid was published by the Herald — https://www.miamiherald.com/la... — and asserts that an unauthorized internal message was sent to the "ReadyOps" system within the state Department of Health from an IPv6 address associated with the Comcast account at Jones residence.
78742027
submission
FriendlySolipsist writes:
Blizzard Entertainment has been fighting World of Warcraft bots for years, but TorrentFreak reports Bossland, a German company that operates "buddy" bots, alleges Blizzard sued one of its freelancers and forced a settlement where he turned over Bossland's source code to Blizzard. In Bossland's view, their code was "stolen" by Blizzard because it was not the freelancer's to disclose. This is a dangerous precedent for freelance developers in the face of legal threats: damed if you do, damned if you don't.
61936369
submission
FriendlySolipsist writes:
A dog can be trained to detect computer memory, say the Rhode Island State Police in taking delivery of the second such dog in the nation from the Connecticut State Police. Being able to find hidden computer flash memory cards hidden in drawers and over ceiling tiles will aid their fight against child porn, the police say.
But is there any scientific evidence that such a thing is even possible? Computer parts are made from plastic and metal like almost everything else in a home or office, and computer parts unlike organic plants give off no odor. Without any plausible scientific explanation for how a dog can detect computer parts, is this all just a legal sham to bypass Fourth Amendment probable cause warrant requirements, allowing the human handler to signal the dog based on exactly the kind of "police intuition" that violates constitutional rights?
