DARPA AI Contract Goes to BAE
May 2, 2020
We have been waiting for this announcement, but anyone rooting for a startup to snag this DARPA contract will be disappointed. Digital Battlespace reports, “DARPA Awards Machine Learning Analytics Contract to BAE Systems.” Yes, they went with the big, established, and experienced firm. The machine learning analytics services project is part of the agency’s Geospatial Cloud Analytics program. The brief write-up informs us:
“The services will be the first of their kind and will be cloud-based, according to BAE Systems. It will harvest open source data including commercial information and satellite imagery to provide situational awareness reports for the US government. The Multi-INT Analytics for Pattern Learning and Exploitation (MAPLE) technology will be used by BAE Systems FAST Labs to provide an approach which will free operators to query data for specific situations in real-time thus reducing the need for manual analysis. The cloud-based nature of the software makes it flexible and it can easily be scaled up as required by the end user.”
Established in 1999, BAE has grown into a huge operation—it now employs about 83,100 people around the world. The company specializes in a wide range of defense and aerospace systems for military and intelligence agencies. BAE’s DC activities flow from the firm’s Virginia offices.
Cynthia Murrell, May 2, 2020
Banjo: Pressured into Playing a Sad Tune
May 1, 2020
DarkCyber has noted NSO Group’s PR challenge. That low profile provider of policeware is tangled in litigation with Facebook. Years ago Geofeedia made headlines and never quite bounced back.
Policeware and intelware vendors traditionally have operated with a low profile. Most of the vendors offer a “contact” option, but the vendors respond only if the person wanting contact is a “legitimate” actor.
Banjo was no different. Two inquiries DarkCyber made were ignored. Now information about Banjo is plentiful. Deseret News reports that Banjo has ceased operations. The New York Post (hardly a bellwether for the policeware/intelware sector) reports “Banjo App CEO Damien Patton Reportedly Has KKK Past, Helped in Synagogue Shooting”. This article recycles the original report from Medium on April 28, 2020. Even the “real news” outfit Boing Boing jumped on the story.
What’s interesting is that SoftBank invested $100 million in the Banjo outfit. Its due diligence failed to make a connection between Mr. Patton’s past and his role as a policeware/intelware startup. Did SoftBank rely on the same professionals which assisted Hewlett Packard in its assessment of Autonomy?
Several observations:
- PR can have a major impact on a policeware/intelware vendor. This is an important point because dozens of specialist vendors primarily chasing LE and intel contracts are doing more marketing. Is Madison Avenue the right street to take.
- SoftBank has to figure out what to do with Banjo. DarkCyber assumes that other investors will be doing some thinking as well. Is there a way forward for the company.
- The “reason” for missing the bus with regard to Mr. Patton’s biography is a misspelling. That’s quite an interesting assertion. Shouldn’t an investigator, analyst, or researcher note that court documents still have Mr. Patton’s last name spelled correctly. Is “good enough” research the new normal?
Net net: There is good PR and bad PR. Which category does the tale of the misspelling tell?
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Equifax: An Online Celebration of May Day
May 1, 2020
Here in rural Kentucky it is May Day. Some of the dwellers in the hollows wash their faces with dew to beautify their skin. Others erect poles, tie ribbons to the top, and dance. Others, like me, think about spring, the promise of green shoots of corporate responsibility and socially aligned behavior.
How will Equifax celebrate May Day?
If the information in “Over 275 Days Since Equifax’s Data Breach Settlement and No One Has Been Paid” is accurate, the answer is simple. Collect interest.
The write up asserts:
Equifax was rocked by a massive data breach affecting most (56%) Americans. The company agreed to one of the largest settlements of its kind, $700M to be disbursed…
Then the article claims:
Many of you probably read some of these headlines in the summer of 2019, and many more still filled out the forms after promises of up to $125 per afflicted party. There were several deadlines and additional hoops people had to jump through, but 275 days later: no one has been paid yet, and it’s not clear if they ever will be.
How many days have elapsed since the security issue? About 800.
Is this a cause for celebration?
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Google Ad Revenue: What Happens When the One Trick Pony Gets Seedy Toe?
May 1, 2020
Seedy toe?
What’s that? If you live in Kentucky, home of the abandoned Derby you know. If not, your child’s pony is going to be in discomfort. And the costs? You don’t want to know what large animal vets in horse country charge, do you?
“CEO Sundar Pichai Spells Out Alphabet’s Positives, but COVID-19 Damage to Ad Revenues Is Only Going to Get Worse” presents a key point articulated by the chief Googler Sundar Pichai:
In March, we experienced a significant and sudden slowdown in ad revenues. The timing of the slowdown correlated to the locations and sectors impacted by the virus and related shutdown orders…Overall, recovery in ad spend will depend on a return to economic activity.
The article also quotes the Google chief financial officer as observing: The second quarter will be “a difficult one.” Google’s CFO did not elaborate on Google cost control measures. Yep, cost control. Important DarkCyber believes.
But back to seedy toe and a lame pony.
The bulk of Google revenues come from online advertising. Amazon is doing a good job of capturing product search and that means that Amazon product ad revenue is likely to track those clicks. That’s bad news for Google as the bad news from the virus disruption affects large swaths of the global economy. Facebook’s ad revenues may have taken a hit in the most recent quarter, but that outstanding, other-directed manager Mark Zuckerberg hungers for more ad revenue as well.
Google may be able to kick sand in the face of dead tree outfits, but the datasphere is a different sort of construct.
Limping ponies will not be invited to parade at birthday parties. Lame ponies can be expensive to make well again.
Here in Kentucky there are only so many places at the Old Friends Farm. Then what? A one way ticket to Fiji? Ponies are a treat of sorts in Oceania. Bula!
Google needs to avoid seedy toe. Amazon and Facebook are not ponies. These outfits are tigers with a hunger for easy prey; for example, a lame pony.
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Google: Another Glitch Down Under
May 1, 2020
DarkCyber spotted this story from ABC.net.au: ‘Publisher’ Google Ordered to Pay $40k in Damages for Defaming Melbourne Lawyer after Court Ruling. Aside from the money, the key point in the write up is the word “publisher.” I wrote Google: The Digital Gutenberg in 2008. The book is now out of print because another wonky publisher nuked itself.
In that monograph, I pointed out that Google was indeed a publisher, a digital Gutenberg. Auto generated pages were content, results lists with YouTube recommendations were reports, and nifty boxes summarizing Machu Picchu were the equivalent of old school pasteboard baseball cards. (Just try and steal those in the 1950s, gentle reader.)
Few agreed with my conclusions in Google: The Digital Gutenberg. Now, 12 years later, it seems as if a Supreme Court of Victoria (Australia) has seen the light.
According to the article, the person who triumphed over Googzilla allegedly said:
“Her Honour has found that Google is a publisher of the defamatory imputations once Google receives notice of a defamatory publication online as a result of the use of its search engine.”
The key word: Publisher. If the other Five Eyes embrace this decision, DarkCyber what other interesting consequences might manifest themselves.
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Google Play: And by Whose Rules?
May 1, 2020
Arstechnica published “Google Play Has Been Spreading Advanced Android Malware for Years.” The write up’s observation which caught DarkCyber’s attention was:
Attackers behind the campaign used several effective techniques to repeatedly bypass the vetting process Google uses in an attempt to keep malicious apps out of Play.
How long has the “inattention” allowed malware? Maybe just about around four years.
With Google doing backtracking on its stellar content verification processes, will the company be able to protect its users from malware?
DarkCyber’s view is that the task becomes more difficult each day. Google’s ability to control its costs is one message conveyed in its financial results. Content curation that delivers reliable results may require more resources than Google is able to provide.
The result?
What we have is what we get it seems.
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
Enterprise Search Craziness: Destiny Adjacency
May 1, 2020
The enterprise search vendors are not to blame. The finger of ineptitude writes boldly:
Enterprise Search Market each qualitative and quantitative records analysis to provide an overview of the destiny adjacency around Enterprise Search Market for the forecast duration, 2020-2025.
You can read the original at this link. Enterprise search has tried a number of snappy phrases to make a utility the potent heart of a 21st century enterprise; for example:
- Semantic meaning
- Natural language processing
- Artificial intelligence
- Precision, recall, and relevance. Yikes, delete those loser words.
DarkCyber believes that “destiny adjacency” is the all-time leader in the meaningless baloney fest that is pulled into the orbit of enterprise search.
Yep, “destiny adjacency”. Maybe a T shirt? A tattoo?
Stephen E Arnold, May 1, 2020
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