GPS: Ubiquitous and Helpful in Surprising Ways
March 6, 2019
Here’s a little write-up that highlights the power of GPS and WiFi tracking. Digital Trends reports, “It Turns Out That Find My iPhone Is Really Good at Finding a Stolen Car, Too.” Writer Andy Boxall relates:
“After stopping at an intersection, Chase Richardson was carjacked by an armed man who shouted for him to get out of the vehicle. Sensibly complying, Richardson got out, but at the same time left his work-issued Apple iPhone in the car. The criminal also demanded Richardson’s wallet and his own personal phone, then got in the car and drove away. The police arrived after Richardson called 911 at a Walgreens store, which is when the Find My iPhone feature was called into action. The service uses GPS to generally locate a registered device, which in this case was the work phone. The police apparently used Find My iPhone in real time to track down the stolen car. A police helicopter was called in to assist after the car was located, as the thief tried to evade arrest.”
We are pleased to learn Mr. Richardson was not hurt during the carjacking. Boxall mentions other cases where Find My iPhone has led to arrests, and notes similar tools like Google’s Find My Device, Samsung’s device location service, and third-party companies like Cerberus Anti-Theft. Such tools can be a huge help if someone makes off with your phone—or your car. Just remember that tracking software can have unintended consequences; the article closes with this kind wish:
“Whichever you choose, we hope it will only ever be used to find your phone down the back of a couch, and nothing more serious.”
We agree.
Cynthia Murrell, March 6, 2019
A Hip Bro Excuse: We Cannot Modify Our System and Software
March 5, 2019
I was zipping through news this morning, and I spotted “Google to Ban Political Ads Ahead of Federal Election, Citing New Transparency Rules.” The “rules” apply to Canada, not the United States. Google will not sell ads. That’s interesting.
The main point of the article for me was the reason Google will turn down money and leave a giant pile of cash on the table was this sentence in the write up (which I assume is true, of course):
Google is banning political advertising on its platforms ahead of the Canadian federal election because of new ad transparency rules it says would be too challenging to comply with.
Challenge, when I hear the word, means “too darned difficult.” A connotation for me is “what a waste of time and effort.” Another is a variation on the Bezos basic, “Just walk away”; for instance, Hasta la vista, Nueva York.”
Is adapting Google’s ad sense too challenging for a company which has a boat load of talented programmers?
What I find interesting is that Facebook has the same limitation. Do you recall that Facebook users were going to get a control that would allow them to delete some of their data. The delay, I heard, is a consequence of figuring out how to make delete work.
Net net: Two outfits with smart people are unable to modify their respective systems.
Do I believe that technical modifications are too difficult?
Yeah, I believe the moon is made of green cheese as well. The questions these technical challenges beg include:
- What is the specific problem?
- Is the system intractable so that other changes are too great a challenge? If so, what functions cannot be altered?
- What is the engineering approach at Google which renders its software unfixable?
- Are Google’s (and Facebook’s) engineers less effective than technical personnel at other companies; for example, Apple or Microsoft?
- What’s the personnel problem? Is underpaying certain ethnic groups an issue?
Maybe regulations are the optimal way to deal with companies unable to comply with government regulations?
Stephen E Arnold, March 5 2019
IBM: Excited about the Press Coverage of Think
March 5, 2019
Interesting back patting in this IBM publicity about IBM getting publicity. You can find the happy happy information in “How Press Reacted to the Data and AI News from Think 2019.” DarkCyber was disappointed in the coverage of the Watson vs human debate. Unlike Jeopardy, post production was not available. The human judges decided the human beat IBM Watson.
However, DarkCyber provided an analysis of the debate. The human judges were like the three stooges. The debate should have been judged by artificial intelligence systems from Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. The final tally would have fallen to Facebook’s system.
If you missed our analysis, you can find it at this link.
Stephen E Arnold, March 5, 2019
Amazon Policeware Links
March 5, 2019
DarkCyber received a request for the four short Amazon policeware videos we created in late 2018. Here are the links:
October 30, 2018 https://vimeo.com/297839909
November 6, 2018 https://vimeo.com/298831585
November 13, 2018 https://vimeo.com/300178710
November 20, 2018 https://vimeo.com/301440474.
Kenny Toth, March 5, 2019
DarkCyber for March 5, 2019, Now Available
March 5, 2019
Cyber for March 5, 2019, is now available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and on Vimeo at https://www.vimeo.com/321045698 .
The program is a production of Stephen E Arnold. It is the only weekly video news shows focusing on the Dark Web and lesser known Internet services.
This week’s story line-up includes: A new feature called Cybershots with information about authentic AI, Psy-Group, Microsoft malware, and VKontakte; our feature Facebook as a digital problem; and illegal video streaming.
DarkCyber’s feature reviews the UK government’s report which states that Facebook acted as a “digital gangster.” DarkCyber provides a link from which the document can be downloaded. Among the conclusions set forth in the report were re mediating actions which range from increased regulation of social media firms to fines for their behavior. The report included information that suggests that other countries will take enforcement and regulatory action directed at Facebook. Among the countries identified were Brazil and Singapore.
The second principal story focuses on illegal streaming video services. Google has blocked some of these services and legal actions are underway. Nevertheless, streaming video continues to thrive with thousands of first run movies and major US television programs available. Some of the services are operated from Russia or other Eastern European countries. These services make use of sophisticated content delivery services and rely on technology which allows the criminals to spin up a new service when authorities close one in operation. Services available from some illegal streaming services offer Netflix-like interfaces, sell advertising, and charge subscription fees. Legal hurdles and the cost of pursuing enforcement action in some countries increases the difficulty copyright holders face in closing these services.
This week, DarkCyber introduces a new feature called Cybershots. The items in this section of the video news program reveal that one of the companies associated with weaponized social media has gone out of business. Microsoft has unwittingly allowed malware to be distributed from its online store. A company providing policeware has found that one of its marketing phrases has been picked up by a Chinese company and used as the firm’s name. Plus, a customer of the Russian social media service VKontakte received an unusual Valentine greeting, a cyber attack from a disgruntled customer.
Kenny Toth, March 5, 2019
The Web at 30: An Unfixable Situation?
March 4, 2019
I read “As the Web Turns 30, Is It an Out-of-Control Monster’?” The answer to the question is in the article and expressed as a quotation attributed to Francois Fluckiger, “who took charge of the web team after Berners-Lee left for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1994.”
The write up points out that the three major inventions of the 20th century which enabled our “digital society” were:
- The Web
- Internet protocol
- Google’s search algorithms
I also circled:
But he [Fluckiger] lamented the “online bullying, fake news, and mass hysteria” that flourish online as well as threats to privacy. “One has to ask oneself if we did not, in the end, create a completely out-of-control monster.”
What’s the fix? None stated. Interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, March 4, 2019
Facebook and Digital Money
March 4, 2019
Digital currency like Bitcoin is often associated with cyber crime. Rightly or wrongly, Bitcoin evokes images of Dark Web markets selling drugs, an association reinforced by the Silk Road bust.
Facebook, on the other hand, evokes smiles from grandmothers, but a UK investigative body characterized Facebook is more negative terms. My recollection is that the British government sees Facebook as an example of Wild West capitalism which intentionally or unintentionally enables outfits like the now defunct Cambridge Analytica.
I thought about these associations when I worked my way through “Regarding Facebook’s Cryptocurerncy.” The write up asserted:
just because Facebook launches a stablecoin cryptocurrency for peer-to-peer payments doesn’t mean people will actually use it.
Facebook’s possible angle is getting money. The write up points out:
Remittances are the obvious target market here. And it would be huge, and important, and wonderful, if Facebook were to make remittances 10x cheaper and faster … but that would require much more than fast international stablecoin transfers, because, again, those stablecoins are not legal tender at their destination, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but businesses tend to have this whole thing about receiving legal tender.
The fix is for Facebook to find ways to get organizations to accept Facecoins.
The other angle is:
for Facebook to establish relationships with cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, or — even more dramatically — become or sponsor exchanges themselves.
The write up is interesting, but it left me with several questions zipping through my admittedly limited brain:
- How could bad actors make use of Facecoin?
- Will Facebook provide these digital currency data to government authorities?
- What third party services will Facebook enable through an existing or new API?
- What audit mechanisms are in place?
- What if Facebook’s presumed digital currency is used for illegal activities?
I would suggest that when digital currency becomes part of an organization which the British government views in a less than positive manner, regulatory authorities may be sitting on the sidelines.
Stephen E Arnold, March 4, 2019
Amazonia for March 4, 2019
March 4, 2019
Amazon continues to chug along. Perhaps the most surprising announcement from the Bezos brigade was an initiative to expand in the grocery sector. The Wall Street Journal lurks behind a paywall erected by nice people at NICE. The announcement came when Kroger, one of the large chains, revealed that it was cutting back on accepting Visa cards. Amazon does accept Visa cards and may be targeting Kroger-type outfits with its new initiative.
Other Amazonia included:
The Dash Trashed
Dash buttons are no more. Source: ZDNet
Cutting Delivery Costs
Get your Amazon deliveries on your “Amazon day.” Sounds good. But how costly is it for Amazon to send trucks to the same house twice, maybe three times a day? Amazon won’t say, but just take the cost of a one time delivery and multiple by two or three. The multiple has to be trimmed. Bundle up the deliveries and send one truck once a week. Is this a small step toward the fare thee well to next day, two day, and three day delivery for some Amazon customers? The Prime marketing angle is interesting, but there is a “green” slant as well. Fewer deliveries to the same house becomes an ecological decision, not just a convenience decision. You can learn more about the start of a mechanism for weaning customers who marvel at rapid delivery in “Amazon Sets Up Program for Weekly Scheduled Deliveries.”
Size of AWS
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services revealed that the online bookstore is on target to generate $30 billion from its cloud business. Google and Microsoft covet this revenue scale. There are wannabes like HP, IBM, and Oracle who want to fly into the clouds as well. Source: CNBC
Amazon Translate
Amazon offers machine translation which complements Amazon Comprehend. To use these tools you will need knowledge of Kotlin, a cross platform programming language. Kotlin plays nice with Java. For the details about Amazon Translate, you will find the Translate API documentation the place to begin. Why’s this important? Understanding of Amazon’s tools for its policeware initiative may be useful.
Textbook Creator Subsumed into Kindle Create
Plan on writing a text book in order to make millions? If you are, you will be using Kindle Create, not Kindle Textbook Creator. Digital Reader provides some detail.
Fake Branded Products? Yes, Yes, Yes
Quartz reported that Amazon “has finally admitt3ed to investor that it has a counterfeit problem.” The online information service does not provide much information about why this problem has grown, nor why the issue exists at the world’s largest online bookstore. Amazon measures to prevent counterfeit goods are not working.
Amazon Shipping
Amazon’s unfortunate delivery malfunction is not likely to slow the firm’s push into the land of FedEx. Stamps.com’s CEO agrees. Amazon’s shipping business is likely to be a factor going forward. Stamps.com will partner with Amazon to ship packages. “Aggressive pricing” is likely to be the mechanism to take market share from the likes of FedEx and UPS. Source: The Motley Fool
Sprint Embraces Amazon for Internet of Things Play
The title of the story announcing this deal was “Amazon Web Services to Integrate Its Cloud Services with Sprint’s Curiosity IoT Platform to Bring Actionable Intelligence to the Network Edge.” The buzzword undergrowth is dense. The message is Sprint will run its IoT services on AWS. The article stated:
AWS storage and IoT services will now be integrated with Sprint’s distributed and virtualized IoT core network to provide enterprise customers with optimized traffic routing, processing, and storage of IoT data. Leveraging the AWS cloud and the Curiosity IoT native LTE core, enterprises can now process IoT data locally, distribute IoT applications, and forward data to the cloud to run analytics and get insights to make better and more accurate decisions for IoT applications and machine learning use cases.
Partners Make Announcements
Amazon continues to expand its partnering related offerings. Among the partners making announcements last week were:
- D3 Banking platform now on AWS. Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Yahoo links go dead so be prepared.
- Infinitive is now an AWS consulting partner. Source: Business Journals
- RedHat (IBM) offers Kubernetes registry. Source: BetaNews
- Ribbon and its Session Border Control service. Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Yahoo links go dead so be prepared.
- Symantec security integration. Source SDxCentral
- TribalScale is an AWS partner. Source: MarketWatch
- Univa HPC offers cloud solutions on AWS. Source: HPCwire
- Working Group Two offers cloud managed mobile service on AWS. Source: Yahoo Finance. Note: Yahoo links go dead so be prepared.
- Zadara storage. Source: Virtualization Review
Talk with the AI-Mals
March 3, 2019
The rapid pace of artificial intelligence development is not news. For years we have seen these rapid advances on the horizon, but only recently have we reached that tipping point. One of the most interesting recent areas of growth were language, which can become an issue for some professionals. We discovered more from the recent Psychology Today story, “Google and Facebook AI Make New Linguistics Discovery.”
According to the story:
“The researchers found that “the success rates between self-play and paired-play are indistinguishable from each other, strongly implying that a common, shared language emerges as a social convention if and only if we have more than two language users,” and all “that is needed in order for a common language to emerge is a minimum number of agents.”
It’s this independent development of language that has the intelligence community spooked. They are currently already at overload trying to detect invisible cyber threats. The idea that computer AI could invent its own language and further encrypt issues is the kind of trouble that keeps people up at night. The song with the line “talk with the animals” could be recycled to “talk with AI-mals.” Just a thought.
Patrick Roland, March 3, 2019
SIM Swapping: Trust Google?
March 2, 2019
Anyone holding crypto currency should be aware by now of SIM swapping, a hacking technique that involves tricking telecom companies into redirecting the victim’s phone number to the attacker’s device. Now, The Next Web tells us, “Google’s Head of Account Security Has Fix for Crypto currency SIM-Swapping.” Note that the fix involves a physical device, not just a download. Writer David Canellis explains:
“An overt reliance on SMS-based two-factor authentication (2FA) systems has only compounded the problem. While these are regarded as an upgrade to traditional verification methods like usernames and passwords, SMS-based 2FA presents cybercriminals with a clear attack vector. If hackers can take control of a phone number, it would be them who receive the special codes, allowing instant access to sensitive information.
We also noted:
“Google is one of many tech giants to present a solution. It released its Titan Keys last August, a $50 set of hardware devices that cryptographically ties particular devices to accounts, effectively keeping anyone without a registered device at bay. Users connect the Key to a device, such as a laptop or a smartphone, and sign into the account they wish to protect. This can be done via USB, NFC, or Bluetooth. A button then is pressed on the Key which will cryptographically register the device to a user account. It’s not exactly necessary to carry around the Keys, but users will need to have at least one handy to sign in. Purchasers of Titan Keys can also enroll in Google’s Advanced Protection Platform, which provides a supplementary bundle of security measures.”
Canellis notes that crypto currency makes for a tempting target. While typical attacks net hackers a fraction of a cent per victim, a bad actor can make thousands of dollars from one successful attack. The Titan Keys work because they cut out the telecoms—there is no one for hackers to bamboozle. Navigate to the source article for more information on the device and how it works. Canellis observes what could be taken as a warning—today’s world of online banking and mobile apps makes for a less secure banking environment than we older folks grew up with.
Whom do we trust? Google? Another third party?
Cynthia Murrell, March 2, 2019
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
