Twitter for Verification: The Crypto Approach
October 21, 2020
New York State’s Twitter Investigation Report explores the cybersecurity “incident” at Twitter and its implications for election security. If you don’t have a copy, you can view the document at this url. The main point of the document struck me as this statement from the document:
Given that Twitter is a publicly traded, $37 billion technology company, it was surprising how easily the Hackers were able to penetrate Twitter’s network and gain access to internal tools allowing them to take over any Twitter user’s account.
With the Department of Financial Services’ report in mind, I found the information in “.Crypto Domain Owners Can Now Be Verified With Twitter Accounts for Safer Payments” interesting. Twitter and “safer” are not words I would associate. The write up reports:
Blockchain startup Unstoppable Domains and oracle network Chainlink have launched a new feature allowing individuals or entities with blockchain domains to authenticate themselves using their Twitter accounts. The feature is powered by Chainlink oracles, which connect each .crypto address from Unstoppable Domains to a public Twitter username. The firms said the Twitter authentication could help stem crimes in cryptocurrency payments such as phishing hacks.
In one of our Twitter tests, we created an account in the name of a now deceased pet. Tweets were happily disseminated automatically by the dog. Who knew that the dead dog’s Twitter account can reduce phishing attacks?
Twitter: Secure enough to deliver authentication? The company’s approach to business does not give me confidence in the firm’s systems and methods.
Stephen E Arnold, October 21, 2020
Google to Government: Deeply Flawed Are Your Arguments
October 21, 2020
Google publishes The Keyword, a blog about public policy. The blog presented an essay called “A Deeply Flawed Lawsuit That Would Do Nothing to Help Consumers.” The argument is interesting. The important section is meta; specifically, “The bigger point the lawsuit misses.” The article asserts:
The bigger point is that people don’t use Google because they have to, they use it because they choose to.
One click away from another services, right? People are smart enough to use a service like Swisscows.com, Qwant.com, or Izito.com.
Another key point:
It’s also trivially easy to change your search engine in our browser, Chrome.
Those who use mobile phones can navigate the menus and options in Chrome on a mobile phone or in a desktop computer.
The essay includes “Next Steps.” In this conclusion to the essay, the article states what appears to be the obvious:
We understand that with our success comes scrutiny, but we stand by our position. American antitrust law is designed to promote innovation and help consumers, not tilt the playing field in favor of particular competitors or make it harder for people to get the services they want.
My summary of the essay is: “If you are Googley, you get it. If not, you are not Googley, and there is not much we can do to assist you.”
What happens when governments asleep at the switch for 20 years are told the Google facts about Google? Not much. Habits like a soft bed are easy to get into and hard to get out of.
Ask someone addicted to an opioid, alcohol, shaping information flows, or just doing whatever one wants.
Stephen E Arnold, October 21, 2020
Exclusive: Interview with DataWalk’s Chief Analytics Officer Chris Westphal, Who Guides an Analytics Rocket Ship
October 21, 2020
I spoke with Chris Westphal, Chief Analytics Officer for DataWalk about the company’s string of recent contract “wins.” These range from commercial engagements to heavy lifting for the US Department of Justice.
Chris Westphal, founder of Visual Analytics (acquired by Raytheon) brings his one-click approach to advanced analytics.
The firm provides what I have described as an intelware solution. DataWalk ingests data and outputs actionable reports. The company has leap-frogged a number of investigative solutions, including IBM’s Analyst’s Notebook and the much-hyped Palantir Technologies’ Gotham products. This interview took place in a Covid compliant way. In my previous Chris Westphal interviews, we met at intelligence or law enforcement conferences. Now the experience is virtual, but as interesting and information in July 2019. In my most recent interview with Mr. Westphal, I sought to get more information on what’s causing DataWalk to make some competitors take notice of the company and its use of smart software to deliver what customers want: Results, not PowerPoint presentations and promises. We spoke on October 8, 2020.
DataWalk is an advanced analytics tool with several important innovations. On one hand, the company’s information processing system performs IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook and Palantir Gotham type functions — just with a more sophisticated and intuitive interface. On the other hand, Westphal’s vision for advanced analytics has moved past what he accomplished with his previous venture Visual Analytics. Raytheon bought that company in 2013. Mr. Westphal has turned his attention to DataWalk. The full text of our conversation appears below.
Surprise! Google Allegedly Collaborates with Enforcement Authorities
October 21, 2020
Google collects user information to create customized, targeted ads. Google has stated more than once that it protects its users’ privacy, including search history. It might even seem impossible for Google to keep the entire world’s search history given the amount of space needed to store that information…but it is not. CNet shares that, “Google Is Giving Data To Police Based On Search Keywords, Court Docs Show.”
Police need a warrant to access someone’s digital information, but a loophole allows law enforcement to go around privacy laws. Instead of requesting a specific individual’s search history, law enforcement can go directly to Google and request data on anyone who searched for a specific term.
This recently happened in August 2020, when Florida police asked Google to disclose the identities of people who searched for a specific address. Michael Williams, an associate of singer and sex offender R. Kelly, was arrested for arson and witness tampering. Williams apparently set fire to a car that belonged to a witness in the ongoing R. Kelly sex offender case.
Google released the IP addresses of people who searched for the arson victim’s address and one of them led back to Williams. Williams used his phone to search for the victim’s address and that tied him to the crime.
While it is great that a bad actor like Williams is brought to justice, law enforcement could use a reverse order for Google information for evil purposes. The law enforcement could effectively become bad actors with a badge. The large search history information requests are a loophole to the Fourth Amendment:
“ ‘This ‘keyword warrant’ evades the Fourth Amendment checks on police surveillance,’ said Albert Fox Cahn, the executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project. ‘When a court authorizes a data dump of every person who searched for a specific term or address, it’s likely unconstitutional.’
The keyword warrants are similar to geofence warrants, in which police make requests to Google for data on all devices logged in at a specific area and time. Google received 15 times more geofence warrant requests in 2018 compared with 2017, and five times more in 2019 than 2018. The rise in reverse requests from police have troubled Google staffers, according to internal emails.”
Google states they support user privacy and support law enforcement. Google requires a search warrant for broad data requests and they only represent 1% of the total legal demands for user data the company receives.
Broad data requests are a growing concern. Legal professionals are challenging their validity, including Williams’s lawyer. Broad data requests do require probable cause like other search warrants. In Williams’ case, he did conduct other searches that includes the phrases: “where can i buy a .50 custom machine gun,” “witness intimidation” and “countries that don’t have extradition with the United States.” These search phrases were discovered when an individual search warrant for Williams was issued.
Broad search requests have positive results, but all it takes is one misinterpretation of the information to harm an innocent. It also does not take much to abuse this power too.
Whitney Grace, October 21, 2020
Music and Moods: Research Verifies the Obvious
October 21, 2020
It has been proven that music can have positive or negative psychological impacts on people. Following this train of research, Business Line reports that playlists are a better reflection of mood than once thought, “Your Playlist Mirrors Your Mood, Confirms IIIT-Hyderabad Study.”
The newest study on music and its effect on mood titled “Tag2risk: Harnessing Social Music Tags For Characterizing Depression Risk, Cover Over 500 Individuals” comes from the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad (IIIT-H). The study discovered that people who listen to sad music can be thrown into depression. Vinoo Alluri and her students from IIIT-H’s cognitive science department investigated if they could identify music listeners with depressive tendencies from their music listening habits.
Over five hundred people’s music listening histories were studied. The researchers discovered that repeatedly listening to sad music was used as an avoidance tool and a coping mechanism. These practices, however, also kept people in depressive moods. Music listeners in the study were also drawn to music sub genres tagged with “sadness” and tenderness.
We noted:
“ ‘While it can be cathartic sometimes, repeatedly being in such states may be an indicator of potential underlying mental illness and this is reflected in their choice and usage of music,’ Vinoo Alluri points out. She feels that music listening habits can be changed. But, in order to do that, they need to be identified first by uncovering their listening habits. It is possible to break the pattern of “ruminative and repetitive music usage”, which will lead to a more positive outcome.”
Alluri’s study is an amazing investigation into the power and importance of music. Her research, however, only ratifies what music listeners and teenagers have known for decades.
Whitney Grace, October 21, 2020
Pundit Wants Everyone Unplugged
October 21, 2020
Douglas Rushkuff is a prominent writer on technology, media, and the future. According to Coin Desk, Rushkuff believes that when it comes to the Internet’s development: “‘We Blew It.’ Douglas Rushkoff’s Take On The Future Of The Web.” Rushkoff does not like that the big tech companies, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, are monetizing our attention. He recommends that people unplug from screens and return to the world around us.
The interview focuses on Rushkuff’s experience writing about the Internet’s early days. He described the early days of the Internet as an altruistic, idealist time, when the Internet was viewed as a way to combat established powers and hierarchies. Rushkuff stated everything disappeared when:
“I think people sense the potential is still there. If we hadn’t weaponized this stuff against humanity in the name of increasing the Nasdaq stock exchange, what may have we gotten? Would we have saved – now it’s too late – civilization? That was the last moment at which we had the potential to change the world. But we decided it was more important to build up our 401(k)s.”
He believes that humanity might have passed a tipping point for civilization’s salvation. The biggest problems are climate change and more diseases. He notes that whenever a new technology is invented such as crypto currencies, people are not using them for their intended purpose. Instead they are being used to generate money and support the old power structures.
Rushkuff advises people to support mutual aid endeavors, where people cooperate and help each other for society’s benefit. Crypto currencies are a way to establish mutual aid and authenticate business transactions without relying on big business and/or banks.
In the 1990s, Rushkuff wrote of the dangers about teaching computers how to manipulate human behavior and thought. Based off how technology is advancing, computers will only get better at understanding humans. His views on the future are thinking, but he does offer some wise words:
“When you only look forward you don’t see your own exhaust. There’s a disconnect from the consequences of your actions.”
Hindsight is twenty-twenty when one rides the Google bus.
Whitney Grace, October 21, 2020
Gartner Predictions: Fresh from the Patisserie
October 20, 2020
I spotted “Gartner Reveals the Top Strategic Tech Trends for 2021.” The write up is an information croquembouche. Here’s what Wikipedia offers as a typical confection whipped up by trained chefs:
This is a croquembouche. A tower of sugar-filled balls, filled with custard. Caramel enlivens the gourmet experience.
What are those delicate balls of goodness? Maybe empty calories or evidence of the wisdom for the saying, “A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips?” The write up states without one reference to a poire à la Beaujolaise or tasty teurgoule. I had to content myself with the jargon and buzzword equivalent of pièce montée.
Here are some examples. Please, consult the original article or the menu available directly from Gartner for the complete list:
- Artificial intelligence engineering, perfect for those who have mastered plain old AI
- Anywhere operations, the bane of real estate professionals with empty buildings and clients who are missing their lease payments. Just WFH and do “operations” from one’s bedroom.
- Cybersecurity mesh. I have zero idea what this means, but there will be reports, speeches at WFH conferences, and maybe a podcast or two from the merry band of brownie makers.
- The IoB or Internet of Behaviors. Yep, that’s where the Rona makes its entrance. Remarkable.
To wrap up, what’s in a croquembouche, a cream puff tower. For starters one needs:
- 30 eggs (raised by a mid tier farmer in New Jersey)
- 4 sticks of butter (from cows who produce milk while consultants’ sales pitches are played in the barn)
- 5 cups of sugar. So far no government health warnings are required.
Perfect those cream puff towers of knowledge and deep thoughts. Who wants seconds?
Stephen E Arnold, October 20, 2020
Freeware Tool GT4T for Translating Text
October 20, 2020
Here is a more efficient solution for those translating from one (human) language to another. Ghacks.net suggests we “Translate Microsoft Office Documents or Text from Any Word Editor and Get Dictionary Definitions Instantly with GT4T.” Writer Ashwin explores the freeware tool and takes us along for the ride with instructions and plenty of screenshots. He writes:
“Translating is no easy task, it requires precision, and you may be constantly looking up words that you don’t know or are unsure about. Opening up the browser every few seconds isn’t going to be productive either if you are working in desktop programs, e.g. Microsoft Word. GT4T is a freeware tool that can help translate text from any word editor quickly. The name stands for Google Translate for Translators, and obviously the program requires an internet connection to work. It does support other translation services, more on this later. The application doesn’t have a GUI window to work with. Instead, it runs in the background, you can access it using a couple of keyboard shortcuts.”
The write-up walks us through setting up the app with the languages one is working with and describes how to translate text in any program. One important caveat—GT4T replaces the original text (in the document and on the clipboard) with the translation, so users will want to save the original version separately. The tool supports the following services, and provides a way to switch between them: Google Neural, Microsoft Translator, Youdao, Yandex, Google Phrase Based, DeepL Pro, Baidu, Tencent, Sogou, CloudTranslation, NiuTrans, Systran, TradooIT, and Papago.
Ashwin describes the pop-up dictionary function and tells us how to create custom profiles with specified languages for different projects. GT4T is available for Mac and Windows, though it does not have a version tailored to mobile devices. Users may notice a “Snore Toast” shortcut in Windows’ Start menu—do not be alarmed, we’re advised, that is just to display toast notifications related to the tool.
Cynthia Murrell, October 20, 2020
LinkedIn and Facebook Envy: A Me Too in Progress
October 20, 2020
LinkedIn is a social media platform for “professionals,” however, it is better described as Microsoft’s version of the classifieds with a lot of interactive bells and whistles. In order to maintain LinkedIn’s relevancy, Microsoft recently upgraded it to include shinier features says Gadgets360 says in, “LinkedIn Introduces Stories, Video Chats, And Other New Features.”
One of LinkedIn’s new features is Stories that is best described as posts with a twenty-four hour self-destruct button. Nothing gets deleted on the Internet and content people posted in their youth can come back to haunt them as an adult. Stories allows LinkedIn users to share updates about their professional life without fear of it becoming a closet skeleton.
There is also a new video calling integration that will make it easier to initiate video calls from LinkedIn messages:
“LinkedIn announced the new features via a blog post. It will now allow users to start a video call over Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or BlueJeans by Verizon directly from LinkedIn messages. LinkedIn said that it aims to make it easy to switch conversations from chat to face-to-face video.”
Other LinkedIn updates include a dark mood, a better, streamline search experience, and flashier message options:
“Other notable features the Microsoft-owned platform introduced include the ability to edit and delete messages, react to a message or Story with an emoji, and select multiple conversations at a time to archive, delete, or mark them as read/unread. LinkedIn has also enhanced the way users can report inappropriate messages. You can also invite others to join an existing conversation, while keeping the original conversation history private.”
With these new features, Microsoft makes LinkedIn more useful but it does not erase its reputation as an “interesting” service among some professionals.
Whitney Grace, October 20, 2020
Now an AI Manual of Style. Too Bad Chicago
October 20, 2020
Writing is fluid. As a form of communication, writing evolves because it reflects the zeitgeist. The current zeitgeist is shaped by advancing technology and the development of artificial intelligence. AI algorithms are still in their infancy, but they are already shaping society. The Next Web explores how AI will influence writing in the article, “Why AI Writing Assistants Are The Next Generation Of Style Guides.”
Style guides influence the writing process as much as the zeitgeist. Whether or not style guides are beneficial depend on the writer’s attitude (most view them as a necessary evil). Differences between styles are arbitrary and all writer’s have a personal preference.
In the analog days, style guides were limited to printed manuals and (as they continue to be today) used for academia and journalists. It was frustrating locating information on how to properly cite specific sources. Indices were not always helpful.
With the implementation of writing software, style guides became automated. The addition of spelling and grammar checks improved the writing process. Electronic versions of style guides included search boxes, which made it easier to locate the correct information, then plagiarism and style checkers added another level of helpful complication.
The newest writing tool is the AI writing assistant. The most popular models are Grammarly and Writer. AI writing assistants include all the features of the above, plus they act like a digital editor. Past writing software detected grammar and spelling mistakes, but they never learned anything beyond the original code. AI writing assistants are programmed to learn with NLP and sentimental analysis.
Using AI writing assistants are as simple as using spell check, plus they are a major upgrade. It makes writing a more passive, yet more active experience:
“The style guide is a thing we do rather than a thing we deliver. Today our responsibilities include managing users, tweaking settings, creating feedback loops, troubleshooting, and reporting. The style guide site as we know it today will change. Publishing a site for style isn’t needed. They may morph to richer, descriptive frameworks, knowledge sharing, and community. Instead, we think about the relationship between it and the writing assistant. You don’t have to know guidelines or remember where to look for them. If the writing assistant provides just about everything proactively, how much do we really need to know? You can debate whether basic competency is required as a user. With technology, is style falling the way of spelling and handwriting? Don’t freak out.”
Experienced writers will love AI writing assistants, because they act like an editor. Others might find them annoying, but teach them the basics in the old way and then they will love the AI.
Whitney Grace, October 20, 2020
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