The Linkielist

Linking ideas with the world

How to Find Out Everything Facebook Knows About You

If you can’t bring yourself to delete your Facebook account entirely, you’re probably thinking about sharing a lot less private information on the site. The company actually makes it pretty easy to find out how much data it’s collected from you, but the results might be a little scary. When software developer Dylan McKay went Read more about How to Find Out Everything Facebook Knows About You[…]

IBM unveils ‘world’s smallest computer’ with blockchain at Think 2018

March 19 is the first day of IBM Think 2018, the company’s flagship conference, where the company will unveil what it claims is the world’s smallest computer. They’re not kidding: It’s literally smaller than a grain of salt. But don’t let the size fool you: This sucker has the computing power of the x86 chip Read more about IBM unveils ‘world’s smallest computer’ with blockchain at Think 2018[…]

US cops go all Minority Report: Google told to cough up info on anyone near a crime scene

Efforts to track down criminals in the US state of North Carolina have laid bare a dangerous gap in the law over the use of location data. Raleigh police went to court at least three times last year and got a warrant requiring Google to share the details of any users that were close to Read more about US cops go all Minority Report: Google told to cough up info on anyone near a crime scene[…]

Stem cell therapy cures most common cause of blindness in UK

D Doctors have taken a major step towards curing the most common form of blindness in the UK – age-related macular degeneration. Douglas Waters, 86, could not see out of his right eye, but “I can now read the newspaper” with it, he says. He was one of two patients given pioneering stem cell therapy Read more about Stem cell therapy cures most common cause of blindness in UK[…]

Orbitz Says Legacy Travel Site Likely Hacked, Affecting 880K

Orbitz says one of its older websites may have been hacked, potentially exposing the personal information of people who made purchases online between Jan. 1, 2016 and Dec. 22, 2017. The current Orbitz.com website was not involved in the incident. Orbitz is now owned by Expedia Inc. of Belleview, Washington. Orbitz said Tuesday about 880,000 Read more about Orbitz Says Legacy Travel Site Likely Hacked, Affecting 880K[…]

Telegram Loses Bid to Block Russia From Encryption Keys

Telegram, the encrypted messaging app that’s prized by those seeking privacy, lost a bid before Russia’s Supreme Court to block security services from getting access to users’ data, giving President Vladimir Putin a victory in his effort to keep tabs on electronic communications. Supreme Court Judge Alla Nazarova on Tuesday rejected Telegram’s appeal against the Read more about Telegram Loses Bid to Block Russia From Encryption Keys[…]

Windows 10 S (for Surface) and Cortana force you to use Edge and Bing, and Windows Mail forces links to open in Edge

Windows 10 S, Microsoft’s new locked-down operating system that comes bundled with the Surface Laptop, won’t allow you to change the default Web browser away from Microsoft’s own Edge. Furthermore, Edge’s default search provider can’t be altered: Bing is all you get. Curiously you can download other browsers from the Windows Store, such as Opera Read more about Windows 10 S (for Surface) and Cortana force you to use Edge and Bing, and Windows Mail forces links to open in Edge[…]

Booking Flights: Our Data Flies with Us – the huge dataset described

Every time you book a flight, you generate personal data that is ripe for harvesting: information like the details on an ID card, your address, your passport information and your travel itinerary, as well as your frequent-flyer number, method of payment and travel preferences (dietary restrictions, mobility restrictions, etc.). All that data becomes part of Read more about Booking Flights: Our Data Flies with Us – the huge dataset described[…]

Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology, was given huge access to lots of private data without oversight due to loophole

The program began in 2012 as a partnership between New Orleans Police and Palantir Technologies, a data-mining firm founded with seed money from the CIA’s venture capital firm. According to interviews and documents obtained by The Verge, the initiative was essentially a predictive policing program, similar to the “heat list” in Chicago that purports to Read more about Palantir has secretly been using New Orleans to test its predictive policing technology, was given huge access to lots of private data without oversight due to loophole[…]

The Lottery Hackers

That’s when it hit him. Right there, in the numbers on the page, he noticed a flaw—a strange and surprising pattern, like the cereal-box code, written into the fundamental machinery of the game. A loophole that would eventually make Jerry and Marge millionaires, spark an investigation by a Boston Globe Spotlight reporter, unleash a statewide Read more about The Lottery Hackers[…]

MIT builds Neural network chip with 95% reduction in power consumption, allowing it to be used in a mobile

Most recent advances in artificial-intelligence systems such as speech- or face-recognition programs have come courtesy of neural networks, densely interconnected meshes of simple information processors that learn to perform tasks by analyzing huge sets of training data. But neural nets are large, and their computations are energy intensive, so they’re not very practical for handheld Read more about MIT builds Neural network chip with 95% reduction in power consumption, allowing it to be used in a mobile[…]

Hey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps On My PC Without Asking

I’m getting sick of Windows 10’s auto-installing apps. Apps like Facebook are now showing up out of nowhere, and even displaying notifications begging for me to use them. I didn’t install the Facebook app, I didn’t give it permission to show notifications, and I’ve never even used it. So why is it bugging me? Windows Read more about Hey Microsoft, Stop Installing Apps On My PC Without Asking[…]

119,000 Passports and Photo IDs of FedEx Customers Found on Unsecured Amazon Server

Thousands of FedEx customers were exposed after the company left scanned passports, drivers licenses, and other documentation on a publicly accessible Amazon S3 server. The scanned IDs originated from countries all over the world, including the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, and several European countries. The IDs were attached to forms Read more about 119,000 Passports and Photo IDs of FedEx Customers Found on Unsecured Amazon Server[…]

Tesla’s Amazon Cloud Account Hacked to Mine Cryptocurrency

An unidentified hacker or hackers broke into a Tesla-owned Amazon cloud account and used it to “mine” cryptocurrency, security researchers said. The breach also exposed proprietary data for the electric carmaker. The researchers, who worked for RedLock, a 3-year-old cybersecurity startup, said they discovered the intrusion last month while trying to determine which organization left Read more about Tesla’s Amazon Cloud Account Hacked to Mine Cryptocurrency[…]

Uzi Nissan Spent 8 Years Fighting The Car Company With His Name. He Nearly Lost Everything To Win. The legal system doesn’t work very well if you have no money.

Nissan the car company never really cared who Uzi Nissan was. Then it decided he had something it wanted very much—the website www.nissan.com, which he created for his small retail computer business in 1994—and it sued him for $10 million. When the two Nissans went to war, Uzi Nissan prevailed in the end, but lost Read more about Uzi Nissan Spent 8 Years Fighting The Car Company With His Name. He Nearly Lost Everything To Win. The legal system doesn’t work very well if you have no money.[…]

Cisco NFV elastic services controller accepts empty admin password

Cisco’s Elastic Services Controller’s release 3.0.0 software has a critical vulnerability: it accepts an empty admin password. The Controller (ESC) is Cisco’s automation environment for network function virtualisation (NFV), providing VM and service monitors, automated recovery and dynamic scaling. Cisco’s advisory about the flaw explains the bug is in ESC’s Web service portal: “An attacker Read more about Cisco NFV elastic services controller accepts empty admin password[…]

Crooks opt for Monero, paypal, ebay and gamesfor laundering

“Platforms like Monero are designed to be truly anonymous, and tumbler services like CoinJoin can [further] obscure transaction origins,” said Dr Mike McGuire, senior lecturer in criminology at Surrey University and author of the study. Many cybercriminals are using virtual currency to convert the illegal proceeds of crime into hard cash and assets. Digital payment Read more about Crooks opt for Monero, paypal, ebay and gamesfor laundering[…]

2017: Dutch Military Intelligence 348 and Internal Intelligence 3205 taps placed. No idea how many the police did, but wow, that’s a lot!

De MIVD tapte vorig jaar in totaal 348 keer. De AIVD plaatste dat jaar 3.205 taps. Vandaag publiceerden beide diensten de tapstatistieken over de periode 2002 tot en met 2017 op hun website. Source: MIVD tapte vorig jaar 348 keer | Nieuwsbericht | Defensie.nl And of course we have no idea how many of these Read more about 2017: Dutch Military Intelligence 348 and Internal Intelligence 3205 taps placed. No idea how many the police did, but wow, that’s a lot![…]

Microsoft updates its Quantum Development Kit and adds support for Linux and Mac

Today we’re announcing updates to our Quantum Development Kit, including support for macOS and Linux, additional open source libraries, and interoperability with Python. These updates will bring the power of quantum computing to even more developers on more platforms. At Microsoft, we believe quantum computing holds the promise of solving many of today’s unsolvable problems Read more about Microsoft updates its Quantum Development Kit and adds support for Linux and Mac[…]

A video game-playing AI beat Q*bert in a way no one’s ever seen before

paper published this week by a trio of machine learning researchers from the University of Freiburg in Germany. They were exploring a particular method of teaching AI agents to navigate video games (in this case, desktop ports of old Atari titles from the 1980s) when they discovered something odd. The software they were testing discovered Read more about A video game-playing AI beat Q*bert in a way no one’s ever seen before[…]

AI models leak secret data too easily

A paper released on arXiv last week by a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, National University of Singapore, and Google Brain reveals just how vulnerable deep learning is to information leakage. The researchers labelled the problem “unintended memorization” and explained it happens if miscreants can access to the model’s code and Read more about AI models leak secret data too easily[…]

Larry Page’s Flying Taxis, Now Exiting Stealth Mode – The New York Times

Since October, a mysterious flying object has been seen moving through the skies over the South Island of New Zealand. It looks like a cross between a small plane and a drone, with a series of small rotor blades along each wing that allow it to take off like a helicopter and then fly like Read more about Larry Page’s Flying Taxis, Now Exiting Stealth Mode – The New York Times[…]