183495406
submission
JoeyRox writes:
New research out of Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology found that the types of Wi-Fi routers we all have in our homes come with a major privacy vulnerability that can be used to identify any human body that comes within their range.
The study, flagged by Gizmodo, used machine learning systems to identify individuals with an accuracy rate of 99.5 percent. To do so, the researchers exploited a vulnerability in a process known as beamforming feedback information (BFI), which was introduced to allow routers to focus Wi-Fi signals on connected devices, as opposed to the older approach, which is to blanket an entire area in coverage.
While BFI is great for network connectivity, it has a major downsides for privacy. For starters, devices connected to a router using beamforming need to send constant feedback in order to be found. As routers send out and receive network feedback, the signal is inevitably impacted by real world factors like pets, walls, and people.
Making matters worse is the fact that this data is basically wide open for anyone to grab — not only is that feedback data unencrypted, it can also be accessed without ever connecting directly to the router.
183437270
submission
JoeyRox writes:
U.S. forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to reports fielded by military officials, an illustration of how the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield.
In a letter shared with Reuters by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, U.S. Central Command said it had "received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater." The message, sent on April 14, offered no further specifics, but Centcom's area of responsibility includes the Gulf, where U.S. forces are facing off against the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz.
183140902
submission
JoeyRox writes:
Almost all of the 20 state-run ACA exchanges are embedding advertising trackers that share personal data with major tech companies, including gender, race, citizenship, and insurance premium information by zip.
“It is very harmful that these tracking technologies are so embedded in these sites because people would expect this information to be private,” said Sara Geoghegan, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, citing research that indicates people alter their behavior online when they know they’re being surveilled.
157629295
submission
JoeyRox writes:
Federal investigators claimed to access encrypted Signal messages used to help charge the leader of the Oath Keepers, an extremist far-right militia group, and other defendants in a seditious plot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Itâ(TM)s not clear how investigators gained access to the messages. Representatives for Signal, the Department of Justice, and Federal Bureau of Investigation did not immediately respond to CNBCâ(TM)s requests for comment.
One possibility is that another recipient with access to the messages handed them over to investigators. The complaint references group messages run on the app, so itâ(TM)s possible another participant in those chats cooperated.
156359095
submission
JoeyRox writes:
Last week, a Reddit user reported that they werenâ(TM)t able to call 911 using their Pixel 3 and later said they were working with Google support to figure out the issue. Yesterday, Google announced what was causing the issue in a reply to the post: an âoeunintended interaction between the Microsoft Teams app and the underlying Android operating systemâ (via 9to5Google).
154416809
submission
JoeyRox writes:
Something is slowing internet subscriber growth at Comcast Corp. and Charter Communications Inc., raising concerns about an end to what has been a huge growth business, with explanations ranging from a slowdown in consumer spending to competition from phone giants. Charter on Friday reported 25% fewer new broadband subscribers than analysts estimated and said the overall number of new customers would fall back to 2018 levels. Comcast, which had earlier cut its subscriber forecast, reported 300,000 new internet customers Thursday, less than half the number added a year ago. Charter’s shortfall raises “questions about whether this is the beginning of the end of the cable broadband story,” said Geetha Ranganathan, an industry analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
141064646
submission
JoeyRox writes:
The Signal app network is down worldwide. Users are able to log in but can't send or receive messages. When contacted about the outage, Signal's COO Aruna Harder said "We have been adding new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every single day this week, but today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. Millions upon millions of new users are sending a message that privacy matters, and we are working hard to restore service for them as quickly as possible." Signal was downloaded by 17.8 million users over the past seven days, a 62-fold rise from the prior week. Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp before selling it to Facebook and then co-founding the Signal Foundation, said that the expansion in recent days had been "vertical".
123669886
submission
JoeyRox writes:
In 2009 a Boeing 737 NG crash landed in a field one mile short of the runway in Amsterdam. The crash was the result of a stall caused by the plane's auto-throttle system pulling back the engine throttles to idle after a fault in an altitude sensor caused the system to believe the plane was over the runway. The official report from Dutch investigators placed most of the blame on pilot error. However an earlier draft of the report cited Boeing's decision to rely on a single sensor for the 737 NG's auto-throttle implementation as partly to blame for the crash, similar to the reliance on a single sensor that would result in two crashes ten years later on the 737 Max. The final report excluded or minimized the impact of Boeing's poor design decision after pushback from Boeing and US Federal safety officials.
103607822
submission
JoeyRox writes:
The Trump Administration announced today that it's withdrawing from Universal Postal Union, an international postage rate system overseen by the United Nations. "The decision was borne out of frustration with discounts imposed by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) that allow China and some other nations to ship products into the U.S. at cheaper rates than American companies receive to ship domestically. The administration argues the system undercuts U.S. manufacturers and allows China to flood the market with cheap goods."
96960001
submission
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.
81996519
submission
JoeyRox writes:
President Obama said that technology companies should work with the government on encryption rather than leaving the issue for Congress to decide. He went on to say that "If your argument is strong encryption no matter what, and we can and should create black boxes, that I think does not strike the kind of balance we have lived with for 200, 300 years, and it’s fetishizing our phones above every other value."
81093187
submission
JoeyRox writes:
A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals a paradoxical aspect of human behavior — people who win in competitive situations are more likely to cheat in the future. In one experiment, 86 students were split up into pairs and competed in a game where cheating was impossible. The students were then rearranged into new pairs to play a second game where cheating was possible. The result? Students who won the first game were much more likely to cheat at the second game. Additional experiments indicated that cheating was also more likely if students simply recalled a memory of winning in the past. The experiments further demonstrated that subsequent cheating was more likely in situations where the outcome of previous competitions was determined by merit rather than luck.
79686079
submission
JoeyRox writes:
Starting in 2016 Asus will ship all phones and tablets with AdBlock Plus integrated into their mobile browser. The ad-blocking software will not only be pre-installed but enabled by default as well. The move to include ad-blocking software on mobile devices is significant because unlike desktop users the percentage of mobile users presently employing ad-blocking software is very low at approximately 2% (https://econsultancy.com/blog/67019-12-alarming-ad-blocking-stats-that-reveal-the-size-of-the-problem/)
79160583
submission
JoeyRox writes:
The recent terror attack in California "reflect an evolution of the terrorist threat that Mr. Obama and federal officials have long dreaded: homegrown, self-radicalized individuals operating undetected before striking one of many soft targets that can never be fully protected in a country as sprawling as the United States." With this new terror risk authorities may begin relying more heavily on citizens reporting suspicious behavior of others. The attack is also expected to renew the debate over privacy vs security for software encryption. President Obama will be addressing the nation tomorrow to discuss the attack.
78889609
submission
JoeyRox writes:
"Decent people see tragedy and barbarism when viewing a terrorism attack. American politicians and intelligence officials see something else: opportunity. Bodies were still lying in the streets of Paris when CIA operatives began exploiting the resulting fear and anger to advance long-standing political agendas. They and their congressional allies instantly attempted to heap blame for the atrocity not on Islamic State but on several preexisting adversaries: Internet encryption, Silicon Valley's privacy policies and Edward Snowden."
