It was the year that technology—and the people who create it—seemingly could do no right, and did much that was wrong. As one of my sources put it in a tweet reacting to a dumb tech stunt, “2018 can’t end soon enough.” For the past few years MIT Technology Review has published a list of […]
Surveillance & Technology
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Google and Big Tech Can Shift Millions of Votes in Any Direction…
I am not a Trump supporter. I’m not even a conservative. But I love America and democracy, and I defend truth when I see it, and President Donald Trump is not only justified in expressing misgivings about Google and other tech companies — he seems to have no idea just how big a threat Google-and-the-Gang pose to both […]
Guccifer 2.0 Game Over – Year End Review…
It’s almost two years since I started investigating Guccifer 2.0. Since then, largely thanks to several other independent researchers and their contributions, much has been discovered. The purpose of this article is to go back over all of the discoveries made during the last two years, as well as the various challenges received, and to […]
Facebook’s Massive, Secret Rulebook for Policing Speech Reveals Inconsistencies, Gaps and Biases…
Facebook is attempting to tackle misinformation and hate that its platform has enabled with a massive, byzantine and secret document of rules packed with spreadsheets and power point slides that gets updated regularly for its global content moderators. According to the blockbuster New York Times report, the rules show the social network to be “a […]
How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually…
In late November, the Justice Department unsealed indictments against eight people accused of fleecing advertisers of $36 million in two of the largest digital ad-fraud operations ever uncovered. Digital advertisers tend to want two things: people to look at their ads and “premium” websites — i.e., established and legitimate publications — on which to host […]
“Everything Is Fake”: Ex-Reddit CEO Confirms Internet Traffic Metrics Are Bullshit…
“It’s all true: Everything is fake,” tweeted Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao regarding a Wednesday New York Magazine article which reveals that internet traffic metrics from some of the largest tech companies are overstated or fabricated. In other words; they’re bullshit. Pao was responding to a tweet by the Washington Post’s Aram Zucker-Schariff, quoting the […]
Whoopsie: Amazon Sends Couple’s Intimate Alexa Recordings to Wrong Person…
Amazon accidentally sent the wrong person approximately 1,700 audio files and a PDF containing transcripts of intimate conversations – all recorded over the company’s in-home echo assistant. In August 2018, a German Amazon customer took advantage of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to request whatever personal data Amazon had on file about him. […]
US, Allies Slam China Over Cyberespionage As DOJ Indicts Hackers…
The steady drumbeat of indictments of Chinese companies, hackers and even bad actors allegedly working on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security in recent months has provoked whispers that sanctions against Beijing in retaliation for its hacking and espionage efforts – something that has become a sticking point in the US-China trade war – […]
Amazon’s Alexa Goes Haywire, Tells Customer to ‘Kill Your Foster Parents’…
One of Amazon’s newest projects is researching ways to make Alexa a more human-like communicator for customers, but sometimes the virtual assistant’s language comes across as creepy and offensive. New research is making Alexa better mimic human response, Reuters reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The research sometimes results in awkward moments for […]
This Story’s Legs Are Growing: Facebook Admits That it Allowed Netflix and Spotify to Access Your Private Messages…
Facebook has acknowledged allowing other companies, namely Spotify and Netflix, to access millions of people’s private messages. Responding to a bombshell New York Times report from Tuesday on how Facebook shared user data with partners over the years, the company said it had given third-party companies extensive access to messages. It said this was so […]
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Patreon + PayPal = Antitrust Violation (I’m done)…
Why is Patreon and PayPal’s behavior may finally provide proof of antitrust violation? and Why I had enough…
The Internet Lives…
Of all the anti-Trump hysterias of our age, perhaps the most absurd and extreme was the charge that last year’s repeal of an Obama-era regulation would break the Internet. A year later, the Internet is still working just fine and in many ways much better for U.S. consumers. The Obama strategy was to impose on […]
Warning of Solar Geoengineering’s Dangers, Group Recommends a Global Ban…
A Harvard research team recently announced plans to perform early tests to shoot sunlight-reflecting particles into the high atmosphere to slow or reverse global warming. These research efforts, which could take shape as soon as the first half of 2019, fall under the banner of a geoengineering technology known as solar radiation management, which is […]
Google’s Secret China Project “Effectively Ended” After Internal Confrontation…
Google has been forced to shut down a data analysis system it was using to develop a censored search engine for China after members of the company’s privacy team raised internal complaints that it had been kept secret from them, The Intercept has learned. The internal rift over the system has had massive ramifications, effectively […]
Apple to Build $1B Campus in Texas…
Apple is building a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, as well as three more smaller satellite locations on the west coast. The Austin campus is expected to employ 5,000 people working in engineering, research and development, operations, finance, sales, and computer support, the Associated Press reported. The Texas city is already the second largest […]
OPINION: It’s Time to Take Back Your Data from Google and Facebook’s Server Farms by Giri Sreenivas…
In April 2004, the Chinese journalist Shi Tao revealed an order from the Communist party to censor coverage of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Journalists were instructed to “direct public opinion” and uphold party doctrine in their reporting. Hoping to inform others of the censorship, Tao shared notes he had taken on […]
China Bans the Sale of Nearly All iPhone Models for ‘Violating Patents’…
American chip supplier Qualcomm Inc on Monday said it had won a preliminary order from a Chinese court to ban the import and sale of several Apple Inc iPhone models in China due to patent violations. The preliminary order affects all of the iPhone models from the iPhone 6S to the iPhone X which are […]
Children Who Are Spending 7 or More Hours on Smartphones or Tablets Brains Are Changing, Risking Lower IQs and Declining Memory, Cognitive Function…
Children who use screens for seven hours or more a day are showing signs that their brain cortex is thinning prematurely. The findings show that children are at risk of deteriorating memory function, perception skills and cognitive abilities, according to new major US study. The ongoing $300 million (£236mn) research is funded by the National […]
China’s Huawei CFO Freed on Bail…
A Vancouver judge on Tuesday ruled that an executive of a Chinese tech firm accused of violating U.S. sanctions with Iran will be granted bail, according to media reports. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested on Dec. 1 in Canada at the request of the U.S. As a condition of her bail she will have […]
Jim Jordan Questions Google CEO About Specific Example of Overt Political Bias from Executive…
According to an email chain between Google executives obtained by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and Breitbart News, Google’s Multicultural Marketing development head Eliana Murillo sent out an email November 9th, 2016, detailing how Google had “supported partners like Voto Latino to pay for rides to the polls in key states,” which she characterized as a […]
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