Day: December 27, 2020

China Targets Jack Ma’s Alibaba With Monopoly Investigation

Posted on by Robin Edgar

China kicked off an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at Alibaba Group Holding and summoned affiliate Ant Group Co. to a high-level meeting over financial regulations, escalating scrutiny over the twin pillars of billionaire Jack Ma’s internet empire. The probe announced Thursday marks the formal start of the Communist Party’s crackdown on the crown jewel Read more about China Targets Jack Ma’s Alibaba With Monopoly Investigation[…]

China’s Secret War for U.S. Data Blew American Spies’ Cover

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Around 2013, U.S. intelligence began noticing an alarming pattern: Undercover CIA personnel, flying into countries in Africa and Europe for sensitive work, were being rapidly and successfully identified by Chinese intelligence, according to three former U.S. officials. The surveillance by Chinese operatives began in some cases as soon as the CIA officers had cleared passport Read more about China’s Secret War for U.S. Data Blew American Spies’ Cover[…]

YouTube Class Action: Same IP Address Used to Upload ‘Pirate’ Movies & File DMCA Notices

Posted on by Robin Edgar

YouTube says it has found a “smoking gun” to prove that a class-action lawsuit filed by Grammy award-winning musician Maria Schneider and Pirate Monitor Ltd was filed in bad faith. According to the Google-owned platform, the same IP address used to upload ‘pirate’ movies to the platform also sent DMCA notices targeting the same batch Read more about YouTube Class Action: Same IP Address Used to Upload ‘Pirate’ Movies & File DMCA Notices[…]

Firefox to ship ‘network partitioning’ as a new anti-tracking defense

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Firefox 85, scheduled to be released next month, in January 2021, will ship with a feature named Network Partitioning as a new form of anti-tracking protection. The feature is based on “Client-Side Storage Partitioning,” a new standard currently being developed by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Privacy Community Group. “Network Partitioning is highly technical, but Read more about Firefox to ship ‘network partitioning’ as a new anti-tracking defense[…]

Buggy chkdsk in Windows update that caused boot failures and damaged file systems has been fixed

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A Windows 10 update rolled out by Microsoft contained a buggy version of chkdsk that damaged the file system on some PCs and made Windows fail to boot. The updates that included the fault are KB4586853 and KB4592438. Microsoft’s notes on these updates now incorporate a warning: “A small number of devices that have installed Read more about Buggy chkdsk in Windows update that caused boot failures and damaged file systems has been fixed[…]

No, Cellebrite cannot ‘break Signal encryption.’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Yesterday, the BBC ran a story with the factually untrue headline, “Cellebrite claimed to have cracked chat app’s encryption.” This is false. Not only can Cellebrite not break Signal encryption, but Cellebrite never even claimed to be able to. Since we weren’t actually given the opportunity to comment in that story, we’re posting this to Read more about No, Cellebrite cannot ‘break Signal encryption.’[…]

Dozens sue Amazon’s Ring after camera hack leads to threats and racial slurs – why do you have one anyway?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Dozens of people who say they were subjected to death threats, racial slurs, and blackmail after their in-home Ring smart cameras were hacked are suing the company over “horrific” invasions of privacy. A new class action lawsuit, which combines a number of cases filed in recent years, alleges that lax security measures at Ring, which Read more about Dozens sue Amazon’s Ring after camera hack leads to threats and racial slurs – why do you have one anyway?[…]

Why on Earth Is Someone Stealing Unpublished Book Manuscripts?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Earlier this month, the book industry website Publishers Marketplace announced that Little, Brown would be publishing “Re-Entry,” a novel by James Hannaham about a transgender woman paroled from a men’s prison. The book would be edited by Ben George. Two days later, Mr. Hannaham got an email from Mr. George, asking him to send the Read more about Why on Earth Is Someone Stealing Unpublished Book Manuscripts?[…]

Mysterious water rich asteroid the size of a dwarf planet is lurking in our solar system

Posted on by Robin Edgar

There’s a giant asteroid somewhere out in the solar system, and it hurled a big rock at Earth. The evidence for this mystery space rock comes from a diamond-studded meteor that exploded over Sudan in 2008. NASA had spotted the 9-ton (8,200 kilograms), 13-foot (4 meters) meteor heading toward the planet well before impact, and Read more about Mysterious water rich asteroid the size of a dwarf planet is lurking in our solar system[…]