Day: January 29, 2020

In ‘Sophisticated’ Incident, Dozens of U.N. Servers Hacked including their active directory server

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An internal confidential document from the United Nations, leaked to The New Humanitarian and seen by The Associated Press, says that dozens of servers were “compromised” at offices in Geneva and Vienna. Those include the U.N. human rights office, which has often been a lightning rod of criticism from autocratic governments for its calling-out of Read more about In ‘Sophisticated’ Incident, Dozens of U.N. Servers Hacked including their active directory server[…]

Social media scrapers Clearview Lied About Its Crime-Solving Power In Pitches To Law Enforcement Agencies

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A very questionable facial recognition tool being offered to law enforcement was recently exposed by Kashmir Hill for the New York Times. Clearview — created by a developer previously best known for an app that let people put Trump’s “hair” on their own photos — is being pitched to law enforcement agencies as a better Read more about Social media scrapers Clearview Lied About Its Crime-Solving Power In Pitches To Law Enforcement Agencies[…]

MIDI 2.0 overhauls the music interface for the first time in 35 years

Posted on by Robin Edgar

About 35 years after the MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification was established, instrument manufacturers voted unanimously on January 18th to adopt the new MIDI 2.0 spec. So what’s changing for audio interfaces? The “biggest advance in music technology in decades” brings two-way communication, among many other new features while remaining backwards compatible with the old spec. Read more about MIDI 2.0 overhauls the music interface for the first time in 35 years[…]

Mozilla moves to monetize Thunderbird, transfers project to new subsidiary

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Mozilla Foundation announced today that it was moving the Thunderbird email client to a new subsidiary named the MZLA Technologies Corporation. Mozilla said that Thunderbird will continue to remain free and open source, but by moving the project away from its foundation into a corporate entity they will be able to monetize the product Read more about Mozilla moves to monetize Thunderbird, transfers project to new subsidiary[…]

Google to translate and transcribe conversations in real time

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google on Tuesday unveiled a feature that’ll let people use their phones to both transcribe and translate a conversation in real time into a language that isn’t being spoken. The tool will be available for the Google Translate app in the coming months, said Bryan Lin, an engineer on the Translate team. Right now the Read more about Google to translate and transcribe conversations in real time[…]

Clearview AI Told Cops To “Run Wild” With Its Creepy Face database, access given away without checks and sold to private firms despite claiming otherwise

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Clearview AI, the facial recognition company that claims to have amassed a database of more than 3 billion photos scraped from Facebook, YouTube, and millions of other websites, is scrambling to deal with calls for bans from advocacy groups and legal threats. These troubles come after news reports exposed its questionable data practices and misleading Read more about Clearview AI Told Cops To “Run Wild” With Its Creepy Face database, access given away without checks and sold to private firms despite claiming otherwise[…]

Brave, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla gather together to talk web privacy… and why we all shouldn’t get too much of it. Only FF and Brave will give you some.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

At the USENIX Enigma conference on Tuesday, representatives of four browser makers, Brave, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla, gathered to banter about their respective approaches to online privacy, while urging people not to ask for too much of it. Apple, which has advanced browser privacy standards but was recently informed that its tracking defenses can be Read more about Brave, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla gather together to talk web privacy… and why we all shouldn’t get too much of it. Only FF and Brave will give you some.[…]

Ubiquiti says UniFi routers will beam performance data back to mothership without consent automatically, no opt-out.

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Ubiquiti Networks is once again under fire for suddenly rewriting its telemetry policy after changing how its UniFi routers collect data without telling anyone. The changes were identified in a new help document published on the US manufacturer’s website. The document differentiates between “personal data”, which includes everything that identifies a specific individual, and “other Read more about Ubiquiti says UniFi routers will beam performance data back to mothership without consent automatically, no opt-out.[…]