Daily Archives: September 22, 2020

COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Threat

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Public health crises have spawned conspiracy theories as far back as when the Black Death ravaged Europe in the 1300s, as people desperately try to make sense of the chaotic forces disrupting their lives. While modern science offers a better understanding of how diseases infect people and how to contain them, COVID-19 conspiracy theories are spreading rapidly via social media, unreliable news outlets and from our own political leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump. The result: many Americans now believe pandemic-related conspiracy theories—and, alarmingly, those same people are less likely to take steps to prevent the virus from spreading.

In a University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center study published Monday in Social Science & Medicine, researchers surveyed a group of 840 U.S. adults—first in late March, and then again in mid-July—to determine how Americans’ beliefs and actions regarding the pandemic changed over time. Overall, they found that COVID-19 conspiracy theories are not only commonplace, they’re gaining traction. Back in March, 28% of people believed a debunked rumor that the Chinese government created the coronavirus as a bioweapon; that number rose to 37% by July. About 24% believed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exaggerated the virus’ danger to hurt Trump politically despite a lack of evidence; by July, that figure rose to 32%. And in March, about 15% of respondents said they believed that the pharmaceutical industry created the virus to boost drug and vaccine sales—another unfounded theory—compared to 17% in July.

Whether or not someone thinks NASA hired Stanley Kubrick to fake the moon landing has little bearing on the world beyond that person. But in the case of a pandemic—which requires people to follow public health guidance in order to keep one another safe—conspiratorial thinking can have disturbing consequences. Indeed, the Annenberg study found that only 62% of people who were most likely to believe the coronavirus conspiracies said they wear a mask every day when they’re around other people away from home, compared to 95% of non-believers. Furthermore, people who believe COVID-19 conspiracy theories were 2.2 times less likely to say they wanted to receive a vaccine in March; by July, they were 3.5 times less likely to want to be vaccinated.

“Belief in pandemic conspiracy theories appears to be an obstacle to minimizing the spread of COVID-19,” said Dan Romer, Annenberg Public Policy Center research director and a study co-author, in a statement.

Where are people picking up COVID-19 conspiracy theories? Believers were more likely to be heavy users of social media and viewers of conservative media like Fox News, the study found. Meanwhile, people who watch other television news channels were more likely to follow public health guidance and to desire vaccination.

While the researchers say they understand how pandemic conspiracy theories are spreading, they say it’s still a challenge to get believers to reconsider once they’re sucked in. Other research suggests that simply correcting false information doesn’t usually work—and can even cause some people to believe conspiracies even more deeply.

“Conspiracy theories are difficult to displace because they provide explanations for events that are not fully understood, such as the current pandemic, play on people’s distrust of government and other powerful actors, and involve accusations that cannot be easily fact-checked,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Annenberg Public Policy Center director and study co-author, in a statement.

Source: COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Are a Public Health Threat | Time

Some managed Netgear switches suddenly need a cloud account to use its full UI. Also may not update security. Time to change vendor.

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Netgear has decided that users of some of its managed network switches don’t need access to the equipment’s full user interface – unless they register their details with Netgear first.

For instance, owners of its 64W Power-over-Ethernet eight-port managed gigabit switch GC108P, and its 126W variant GC108PP, need to hand over information about themselves to the Netgear Cloud to get full use out of the devices.

“Starting from firmware version 1.0.5.4, product registration is required to unlock full access to the local browser user interface,” said the manufacturer in a note on its website referencing a version released in April this year.

The latest build, 1.0.5.8, released last week, continues that registration requirement. These rules also appear to apply to a dozen or so models of Netgear’s kit, including its GS724TPP 24-port managed Ethernet switch.

“I recently bought a couple of Netgear Managed Switches for business, and in their datasheet they list local-only management as a feature. Only after they arrived we discovered that you only get limited functionality in the local-only management mode, you have to register the switches to your Netgear Cloud account to get access to the full functionality,” fumed one netizen on a Hacker News discussion thread. “I would not have bought the switches if I had knew I needed to register them to Netgear Cloud to have access to the full functionality specified in the data sheet.”

It appears the Silicon Valley giant is aware that not everyone will rush to create a cloud account to manage their network hardware because it has published a list of functions that one can freely access without said registration – for now, anyway.

We’ve asked Netgear to explain the move. The manufacturer most recently made the headlines when, after being informed of a security flaw in a large number of product lines, promptly abandoned half of them rather than issue a patch.

Professor Alan Woodward of the University of Surrey, England, opined: “It’s a conundrum because it is software and you do have only a licence to use it: you don’t own it so one might argue this helps protect intellectual property rights. However, that’s different for the hardware which is pretty useless without the software.”

Woodward pointed to Netgear’s online privacy policy, which, like every other company on the internet, states that data from customers and others can be hoovered up for marketing purposes, research and so on (see section 11).

Source: Before you buy that managed Netgear switch, be aware you may need to create a cloud account to use its full UI • The Register

Trump Pushes to Reap Extensive Biometric Data From Immigrants, Americans, never delete them

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Six million would-be U.S. immigrants face expanded collection of their biometric data, including iris scans, palm-, and voice-prints, facial recognition images, and DNA, under a proposed federal rule. The Department of Homeland Security also for the first time would gather that data from American citizens sponsoring or benefiting from a visa application.

Years in the making, the biometrics immigration rule has garnered more than 160 comments since its Sept. 11 publication. The 30-day comment period closes on Oct 13. A final version could be in place by Inauguration Day.

Immigration and privacy advocates have voiced concerns over who will have to comply with the new requirements, why President Donald Trump is making this push so late in his term, and what it means for a federal agency already claiming a lack of resources.

“The only words to describe this proposed rule is breathtaking,” said Doug Rand, who worked on technology and immigration policy in the Obama White House and then joined the Federation of American Scientists. “It’s clearly designed to drastically expand surveillance of immigrants, U.S. citizens, employers.”

The 300-plus-page plan updates current biometrics requirements so that “any applicant, petitioner, sponsor, beneficiary, or individual filing or associated with an immigration benefit or request, including U.S. citizens, must appear for biometrics collection without regard to age unless the agency waives or exempts the requirement.”

The DHS estimates an additional 2.17 million new biometrics submissions will be collected annually, an increase from the current 3.9 million, under the rule.

[…]

The DHS already collects fingerprints from some visa applicants. The new rule would expand that biometrics-gathering to iris images, palm- and voice- prints. The agency wants authority to require or request DNA testing to prove familial relationships where kinship is in question. The DNA data could be stored indefinitely, under the proposed rule.

[…]

While the current proposal doesn’t expressly reference employers, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be applied to employer-backed visa holders down the road, said Michael Nowlan, co-leader of Clark Hill’s Immigration Business unit. “It’s just amazing to me how broad this is.”

One potential scenario for employers petitioning for visa-holding workers or sponsoring foreign workers for green cards is that legal counsel or even a human resources officer may be required to submit biometrics on the company’s behalf.

[…]

Should Trump win re-election, his administration can use this period of uncertainty to accelerate this regulation and carry it out in the new year. If Trump loses, and his team makes it final it before Democrat Joe Biden takes office, it’s a “huge headache” for the next administration, Rand said.

“It’s basically like burning down the house on your way out,” Rand said.

Source: Trump Pushes to Reap Biometric Data From Immigrants, Americans

This kind of data is dangerous in and of itself. Keeping it in a centralised database is a horrible idea – history has shown us again and again that these are abused and unsafe. And this is data about people that the people themselves, as well as their families, descendants, can’t change. Ever.