Yahoo "Hacked and Spied" on Millions of Customer Emails | Yahoo Secretly Scanned Customer Emails for US intelligence | Stillness in the Storm Source - CNBC by REUTERS, October 4th 2016 Yahoo last year secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by U.S. intelligence officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The company complied with a classified U.S. government directive, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of the National Security Agency or FBI, said two former employees and a third person apprised of the events. Some surveillance experts said this represents the first case to surface of a U.S. Internet company agreeing to a spy agency's demand by searching all arriving messages, as opposed to examining stored messages or scanning a small number of accounts in real time. That could mean a phrase in an email or an attachment, said the sources, who did not want to be identified. Officer Alex Stamos, who now holds the top security job at Facebook. Challenging the NSA Secret siphoning program
Microsoft sounds an alarm over facial recognition technology Sophisticated facial-recognition technology is at the heart of many of China’s more dystopian security initiatives. With 200 million surveillance cameras — more than four times as many in the United States — China’s facial-recognition systems track members of the Uighur Muslim minority, block the entrances to housing complexes, and shame debtors by displaying their faces on billboards. I often include these stories here because it seems inevitable that they will make their way to the United States, at least in some form. AI Now is a group affiliated with New York University that counts as its members employees of tech companies including Google and Microsoft. Facial recognition and affect recognition need stringent regulation to protect the public interest. The AI Now researchers are particularly concerned about what’s called “affect recognition” — and attempt to identify people’s emotions, and possibly manipulate them, using machine learning. It feels like a conversation worth having.
THE TRUTH ABOUT SECRET WEAPONS AND THE INVOLUNTARY TESTING OF THOSE WEAPONS ON CIVILIANS | Paul Baird | Surveillance Issues Facial recognition technology: The need for public regulation and corporate responsibility All tools can be used for good or ill. Even a broom can be used to sweep the floor or hit someone over the head. The more powerful the tool, the greater the benefit or damage it can cause. Facial recognition technology raises issues that go to the heart of fundamental human rights protections like privacy and freedom of expression. We’ve set out below steps that we are taking, and recommendations we have for government regulation. First, some context Facial recognition technology has been advancing rapidly over the past decade. So, what is changing now? Advanced technology no longer stands apart from society; it is becoming deeply infused in our personal and professional lives. Some emerging uses are both positive and potentially even profound. But other potential applications are more sobering. Perhaps as much as any advance, facial recognition raises a critical question: what role do we want this type of technology to play in everyday society? Politics meets Silicon Valley
Second Chinese Firm in a Week Found Hiding Backdoor in Firmware of Android Devices Security researchers have discovered that third-party firmware included with over 2.8 million low-end Android smartphones allows attackers to compromise Over-the-Air (OTA) update operations and execute commands on the target's phone with root privileges. Mobile experts from Anubis Networks discovered the problem this week. This is the second issue of its kind that came to light this week after researchers from Kryptowire discovered a similar secret backdoor in the firmware of Chinese firm Shanghai Adups Technology Co. Ltd.. This time around, the problem affected Android firmware created by another Chinese company named Ragentek Group. Researchers say they've discovered the issue after one of their researchers bought a BLU Studio G smartphone from Best Buy. They say the smartphone used an insecure Over-the-Air update system, powered by the Ragentek firmware, which contacts remote servers via an unencrypted communications channel.
About Face ID advanced technology The technology that enables Face ID is some of the most advanced hardware and software that we’ve ever created. The TrueDepth camera captures accurate face data by projecting and analyzing over 30,000 invisible dots to create a depth map of your face and also captures an infrared image of your face. A portion of the neural engine of the A11, A12 Bionic, and A12X Bionic chip — protected within the Secure Enclave — transforms the depth map and infrared image into a mathematical representation and compares that representation to the enrolled facial data. Face ID automatically adapts to changes in your appearance, such as wearing cosmetic makeup or growing facial hair. To start using Face ID, you need to first enroll your face. The TrueDepth camera is intelligently activated; for example, by tapping to wake your screen, from an incoming notification that wakes the screen, or by raising to wake your iPhone.
Samsung Warns Customers To Think Twice About What They Say Near Smart TVs By Jake Anderson In a troubling new development in the domestic consumer surveillance debate, an investigation into Samsung Smart TVs has revealed that user voice commands are recorded, stored, and transmitted to a third party. The company even warns customers not to discuss personal or sensitive information within earshot of the device. This is in stark contrast to previous claims by tech manufacturers, like PlayStation, who vehemently deny their devices record personal information, despite evidence to the contrary, including news that hackers can gain access to unencrypted streams of credit card information. The new Samsung controversy stems from the discovery of a single haunting statement in the company’s “privacy policy,” which states: Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party. Samsung is a Nuance customer.
Comparing Faces in Images - Amazon Rekognition Currently we are only able to display this content in English. To compare a face in the source image with each face in the target image, use the CompareFaces operation. To specify the minimum level of confidence in the match that you want returned in the response, use similarityThreshold in the request. For more information, see CompareFaces. If you provide a source image that contains multiple faces, the service detects the largest face and uses it to compare with each face that's detected in the target image. You can provide the source and target images as an image byte array (base64-encoded image bytes), or specify Amazon S3 objects. To compare faces CompareFaces Operation Request The input to CompareFaces is an image. CompareFaces Operation Response In the response, you get an array of face matches, source face information, source and target image orientation, and an array of unmatched faces. In the following example response, note the following:
Who Is Running Phony Cell Phone Towers Around The United States? <img class="full-width" style="" typeof="foaf:Image" alt="" data-smsrc="<a pearltreesdevid="PTD454" rel="nofollow" href=" class="vglnk"><span pearltreesdevid="PTD455">http</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD457">://</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD459">www</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD461">.</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD463">popsci</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD465">.</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD467">com</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD469">/</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD471">sites</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD473">/</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD475">popsci</span><span pearltreesdevid="PTD477">. Enlarge Who Is Running Interceptor Towers? "Two in Florida," he says, after taking a look at the 19 interceptors detected around the U.S. in August. August GSM Interceptor Map So should we worry about interceptors? "It looks a whole lot like a dragnet search."
Google ‘fixed’ its racist algorithm by removing gorillas from its image-labeling tech Back in 2015, software engineer Jacky Alciné pointed out that the image recognition algorithms in Google Photos were classifying his black friends as “gorillas.” Google said it was “appalled” at the mistake, apologized to Alciné, and promised to fix the problem. But, as a new report from Wired shows, nearly three years on and Google hasn’t really fixed anything. The company has simply blocked its image recognition algorithms from identifying gorillas altogether — preferring, presumably, to limit the service rather than risk another miscategorization. Wired says it performed a number of tests on Google Photos’ algorithm, uploading tens of thousands of pictures of various primates to the service. A spokesperson for Google confirmed to Wired that the image categories “gorilla,” “chimp,” “chimpanzee,” and “monkey” remained blocked on Google Photos after Alciné’s tweet in 2015.
A Whistleblower Just Exposed How the Government Spies on Your Cell Phone By Derrick Broze The release of a secret U.S. government catalog of cell phone surveillance devices has revealed the names and abilities of dozens of surveillance tools previously unknown to the public. The catalog shines a light on well-known devices like the Stingray and DRT box, as well as new names like Cellbrite, Yellowstone, Blackfin, Maximus, Stargrazer, and Cyberhawk. The Intercept reports: Within the catalogue, the NSA is listed as the vendor of one device, while another was developed for use by the CIA, and another was developed for a special forces requirement. Anti Media has reported extensively on the Stingray, the brand name of a popular cell-site simulator manufactured by the Harris Corporation. As a result, whoever is in possession of the Stingray can figure out who, when, and to where you are calling, the precise location of every device within the range, and with some devices, even capture the content of your conversations. Other devices include:
Worst Anti-Privacy Bill Since the PATRIOT Act, Passes Hidden in a Budget Bill and Media is SILENT By Jay Syrmopoulos On Friday, Congress passed a $1.15 trillion omnibus spending package to continue funding the federal government, which included an already defeated, and extremely controversial cyber security bill, that was inserted into the spending package as a means of assuring its passage. In spite of this massive revelation and horrific blow to privacy, the mainstream media remains mum. While many outlets are covering the passage of the spending bill, they are completely omitting anything about CISA. The New York Times, for example, broke the story Friday morning about Congress passing the omnibus measure. Aside from the tech sites who know about the dangers of this measure, the entire realm of mainstream media is choosing to remain silent. The CISA legislation, which Rep. According to a report by Wired: And miraculously, even in defeat, a bad bill became worse, and a crisis became an opportunity. How to Disappear Off the Grid Completely (Ad)