Amazon: Emulating the Big Apple
December 23, 2021
I love the idea that giant technology companies operate in a space untethered from too many conventions, regulatory constraints, and ethical meshes. Apple I have heard entered into a two-buck deal with China. Okay, okay, the dollar amount was closer to US$ 3 billion. What’s the big deal?
Now it seems that Amazon has channeled its inner apple core. “Amazon Partnered with China Propaganda Arm” reports in a truthy and trustworthy way:
That [once confidential Amazon] briefing document, and interviews with more than two dozen people who have been involved in Amazon’s China operation, reveal how the company has survived and thrived in China by helping to further the ruling Communist Party’s global economic and political agenda, while at times pushing back on some government demands. In a core element of this strategy, the internal document and interviews show, Amazon partnered with an arm of China’s propaganda apparatus to create a selling portal on the company’s U.S. site, Amazon.com – a project that came to be known as China Books. The venture – which eventually offered more than 90,000 publications for sale – hasn’t generated significant revenue. But the document shows that it was seen by Amazon as crucial to winning support in China as the company grew its Kindle electronic-book device, cloud-computing and e-commerce businesses.
Is it a surprise that China’s ruling elite told the dog outside the online bookstore to bite the digital hand of any human or bot daring to give a very special book a bad review.
What is the book, one might ask? It appears that the instant best seller and biographical high water mark is “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China.
The answer, one supposes, is money. The truthy and trustworthy report says:
Amazon Web Services, or AWS, is now one of the largest providers to Chinese companies globally, according to a report this year by analysis firm iResearch in China, and people who have worked for AWS.
Gee, Leader Xi can ping Amazon and Apple any time he chooses. Let’s make a TikTok on a mobile and a desktop too while dining at a TikTok restaurant. Endangered animal stir fry, anyone? It is called Kung Pao Democracy I think.
Stephen E Arnold, December 23, 2021
A Covid Consequence? Cybercriminals Grow in Sophistication, Organization
December 23, 2021
Prompted by a recent report, an article at BetaNews draws a conclusion that seems like old news to us: “Identity Fraud Gets More Sophisticated, Pointing to Organized Crime Involvement.” Writer Ian Barker tells us:
“In the last year, 47 percent of all identity document fraud was classed as ‘medium’ sophisticated, a 57 percent increase over the previous 12 months. A report from identity verification and authentication company Onfido says this points to organized groups attempting to create ‘verified’ accounts with fake documents before using them to embark on other types of fraud.”
See the write-up for more numbers that show identity theft expanding during the pandemic. But yes, much online crime is well organized. In fact, as ThreatPost reports, they even have their own justice system: “When Scammers Get Scammed, They Take It to Cybercrime Court.” When one bad actor breaks a contract or fails to pay another bad actor, the complainant can appeal to a justice system built into any number of underground forums. Instead of time served, those found guilty of wrongdoing pay with their reputations. And fines, hefty fines—as much as $20 million. Reporter Becky Bracken cites a recent report from cybersecurity firm Analyst1 as she writes:
“‘The plaintiff will submit qualified evidence, including any chat logs, screenshots, crypto currency transactions, and similar relevant information,’ the report explained. The defendant then can present their side of the claim, followed by a ‘cross examination’ by the assigned arbiter, who is typically one of the forum operators or administrators, Analyst1 added. ‘Like in real litigation processes, the trial can end with different verdicts,’ the report said. ‘In a case that the defendant is innocent or there is not enough material for a hearing, the case will be closed with no money or currency exchanging hands.’ Failure to comply with the verdict will lead to the cybercriminal getting banned from the forum, the researchers said.”
The article goes on to detail a few noteworthy cases, so navigate there for those details. To be sure, organized online crime is “organized” much like the Godfather films explain.
Cynthia Murrell, December 23, 2021
Big Data Creates Its Own Closed Mind
December 23, 2021
New ideas that challenged established theories are always ridiculed. Depending on the circumstances, they are also deemed “heretical” against all accumulated knowledge. Mind Matters News discusses how it is harmful not to explore new ideas in the interview with author Erik J. Larson, “Why Big Data Can Be The Enemy Of New Ideas.” During the interview, Larson was asked how past ethics of innovations are useful today and he stated Copernicus’s heliocentric solar system model was an example.
Copernicus’s heliocentric model was not accepted by his colleagues, who believed in the Ptolemaic Earth-centered model. There was tons of data to support the Ptolemaic model, while Copernicus’s model was not as predictive for astronomy conundrums. It only solved a few questions. Copernicus innovated because he questioned scientific doctrine. Big data AI are incapable of thinking differently, because they are only as smart as they have been programmed. In other words, AI is incapable of thinking outside the box.
Computer technology cannot replicate the human brain. Millions of dollars were invested in an attempt to dubbed the Human Brain Project:
“Of course it was a total failure… The guy who started it actually ended up getting fired for a variety of reasons but tech didn’t solve that problem in science because focusing on technology rather than the actual natural world turns out to have not been a good idea. It’s almost like inserting an artificial layer. Trying to convert basic research in neuroscience into a software development project just means you’re going to end up with software ideas and ideas that are programmable on a computer. Your scientists are going to be working with existing theories because those are the ones you can actually write and code. And they’re not going to be looking for gaps in our existing theoretical knowledge in the brain.”
If people accept big data software as smarter than actual humans then that is a huge problem. It is comparable to how religious dogma (from all cultures) is used to exert control. Religion itself is not a problem, but blind obedience to its doctrine is dangerous. An example is religious fundamentalists of all kinds, including Abrahamic, Buddhist, and Hindu followers.
Big data does solve and prevent problems, but it cannot be a replacement for the human brain. Thinking creatively does not compute for AI.
Whitney Grace, December 23, 2021
Silicon Valley: Morphing into Medieval Italy?
December 23, 2021
The historical precedents include Florence (Facebook), Genoa (Google), and Venice (a2z). Venice because it was mostly money people and secret ways of keeping track of who owed whom what, so that’s close enough to a2z for me. The city states had their own ways of ruling, punishing, and exerting influence. What’s a few skirmishes among those who speak the same language. Does this sound like the Silicon Valley we know and love and its giant technology companies? I thought about the golden age of Italian city states as I read a scribe’s retelling of a recent digital skirmish among a couple of these power houses.
“Jack Dorsey’s Hot Web3 Takes Are Apparently Too Much for Marc Andreessen to Handle” reveals that two Duchies are in sharp disagreement. No catapults, just PR. The write up from a modern day Giovanni Villani states:
Marc Andreessen decided to take the step of blocking @jack, and Dorsey responded by saying he’s been “banned from Web3.” That’s not an unfair statement either, as the former Netscape co-founder and co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is now a huge investor in Web3 startups, tossing money around on DeFi projects, metaverse sneakers, tokens, and anything else that catches his eye. According to its “Web3 reading list” (pdf) document from October, “a16z is the largest investor in this space.”
And other digital princes are aligning against the former guru of Twitter.
Are there other signs that the apparent coziness of the impactful environs of Silicon Valley are fraught with digital tension? Are these indicators?
-
- Google’s unhappiness with its trust score and human relations / people management department
- Apple’s once secret deal with a foreign power. What’s a quarter trillion dollars among friends?
- Intel’s apology to China issued in order to comply with US government requirements. What about those chip fabs in Arizona and the water hurdle?
- Amazon’s three consecutive outages and surging orders for pizza to fuel is “two pizza teams”. Isn’t it three strikes and you are out? No, this is no big deal, right Epic.
- Facebook’s alleged dominance of the worst US company rankings. This is unjust.
I don’t know. But unfollowing the guru of the Tweeter and the apparent fractures in a snug club house strike me as an important moment in the history of the technology revolution.
Are there coincidences? My little iTunes’ set up is playing the Beatles’ Revolution:
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We’d all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We’re all doing what we can
Yes, what’s the plan? Perhaps a Decoder to explain what’s happening?
Stephen E Arnold, December 23, 2021
Clicks Rule: The Foundation for Unchecked Expansion
December 22, 2021
TikTok foods. You laugh. Maybe rethink that? What about TikTok financial services? Sounds crazy, right? A China-centric company financing users around the world? What about TikTok shopping? That makes sense, doesn’t it? How can short videos provide a platform for expansion, more specifically, unchecked expansion?
Clicks.
I read “In 2021, the Internet Went for TikTok, Space and Beyond.” I have been around online services since Ellen Shedlarz, the information specialist at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, sat me down and walked me through commercial databases. I think that was in 1973, maybe 1974. I learned that traffic was a big deal. No clicks, no nothing.
What’s the king of clicks now? The data compiled by a trade association like the old American Petroleum Institute, Chem Abstracts, or Medline? Nope. What about Facebook, Google, or Yahoo? Nope.
The big dog is TikTok, the outfit that for a short time Microsoft or Oracle would buy. How did that work out? Right, it didn’t.
The write up explains:
Google [was] dethroned by the young ‘padawan’ TikTok. Let’s start with our Top Domains Ranking and 2021 brought us a very interesting duel for the Number 1 spot in our global ranking. Google.com (which includes Maps, Translate, Photos, Flights, Books, and News, among others) ended 2020 as the undefeated leader in our ranking — from September to December of last year it was always on top. Back then TikTok.com was only ranked #7 or #8.
What outfits dominate the majority of mostly counted Internet clicks whether by humanoid or happy racks of mobile phones and tireless bots? The answer is TikTok, the service mostly beyond the comprehension of people over the age of 15. (I am just joking, you art history majors who are now TikTok consultants. Humor. Chill.)
I have created a table based on the CloudFlare data which — like all click stream numbers — requires handfuls of salt and a liter of soy sauce;
| Top Domains 2021 | Top Domains 2020 |
| TikTok | The Google |
| The Google | The Zuck |
| The Zuck | Microsoft |
| Microsoft | Apple |
| Apple | Netflix |
| Amazon | Amazon |
| Netflix | TikTok |
| YouTube | YouTube |
| The Tweeter | |
| The Tweeter |
Three observations as you ponder the alleged loss of position by Googzilla and the worst company in America, according to a Yahoo poll:
- TikTok is number one. Where does that user data go? What can one do with such data? What has TikTok learned from its monitoring of the ageing and increasingly clumsy creature known to my research team as Googzilla. (Did you know Googzilla wants to date Snow White?)
- The data from clicks makes it possible for those with access to the data to build out their services; for example, Apple into financial services with the really classy metal credit card and App Store.
- Clicks translate into monopoly jets. Let me explain. The more clicks, the more data, and the more data, the clearer the signals about moving into a new stream of revenue.
Will the TikTok service remain at the top? Nah, nothing is forever in the one click world. But for now, the message sent to the Google and Zuck is one that is best expressed in a holiday card like this one from Etsy:
These products are explained in detail on TikTok. Eating disorders, kitchen envy, and gastrointestinal distress will make it easy to cook, eat, buy, and suffer in 30 second increments. Yep, it’s a TikTok “buy now” innovation. Neither the Google nor the Zuck have a now answer to the China backed service. Where do those data go?
Stephen E Arnold, December 22, 2021
Datasets: An Analysis Which Tap Dances around Some Consequences
December 22, 2021
I read “3 Big Problems with Datasets in AI and Machine Learning.” The arguments presented support the SAIL, Snorkel, and Google type approach to building datasets. I have addressed some of my thoughts about configuring once and letting fancy math do the heavy lifting going forward. This is probably not the intended purpose of the Venture Beat write up. My hunch is that pointing out other people’s problems frames the SAIL, Snorkel, and Google type approaches. No one asks, “What happens if the SAIL, Snorkel, and Google type approaches don’t work or have some interesting downstream consequences?” Why bother?
Here are the problems as presented by the cited article:
- The Training Dilemma. The write up says: “History is filled with examples of the consequences of deploying models trained using flawed datasets.” That’s correct. The challenge is that creating and validating a training set for a discipline, topic, or “space” is that new content arrives using new lingo and even metaphors instead of words like “rock.” Building a dataset and doing what informed people from the early days of Autonomy’s neuro-linguistic method know is that no one wants to spend money, time, and computing resources in endless Sisyphean work. That rock keeps rolling back down the hill. This is a deal breaker, so considerable efforts has been expended figuring out how to cut corners, use good enough data, set loose shoes thresholds, and rely on normalization to smooth out the acne scars. Thus, we are in an era of using what’s available. Make it work or become a content creator on TikTok.
- Issues with Labeling. I don’t like it when the word “indexing” is replaced with works like labels, metatags, hashtags, and semantic sign posts. Give me a break. Automatic indexing is more consistent than human indexers who get tired and fall back on a quiver of terms because who wants to work too hard at a boring job for many. But the automatic systems are in the same “good enough” basket as smart training data set creation. The problem is words and humans. Software is clueless when it comes to snide remarks, cynicism, certain types of fake news and bogus research reports in peer reviewed journals, etc. Indexing using esoteric words means the Average Joe and Janet can’t find the content. Indexing with everyday words means that search results work great for pizza near me but no so well for beatles diet when I want food insects eat, not what kept George thin. The write up says: “Still other methods aim to replace real-world data with partially or entirely synthetic data — although the jury’s out on whether models trained on synthetic data can match the accuracy of their real-world-data counterparts.” Yep, let’s make up stuff.
- A Benchmarking Problem. The write up asserts: “SOTA benchmarking [also] does not encourage scientists to develop a nuanced understanding of the concrete challenges presented by their task in the real world, and instead can encourage tunnel vision on increasing scores. The requirement to achieve SOTA constrains the creation of novel algorithms or algorithms which can solve real-world problems.” Got that. My view is that validating data is a bridge too far for anyone except a graduate student working for a professor with grant money. But why benchmark when one can go snorkeling? The reality is that datasets are in most cases flawed but no one knows how flawed. Just use them and let the results light the path forward. Cheap and sounds good when couched in jargon.
What’s the fix? The fix is what I call the SAIL, Snorkel, and Google type solution. (Yep, Facebook digs in this sandbox too.)
My take is easily expressed just not popular. Too bad.
- Do the work to create and validate a training set. Rely on subject matter experts to check outputs and when the outputs drift, hit the brakes, and recalibrate and retrain.
- Admit that outputs are likely to be incomplete, misleading, or just plain wrong. Knock of the good enough approach to information.
- Return to methods which require thresholds to be be validated by user feedback and output validity. Letting cheap and fast methods decide which secondary school teacher gets fired strikes me as not too helpful.
- Make sure analyses of solutions don’t functions as advertisements for the world’s largest online ad outfit.
Stephen E Arnold, December 22, 2021
Verizon and Google Are Love Birds? Their Call Is 5G 5G 5G
December 22, 2021
The folks involved with electronic equipment for air planes are expressing some concerns about 5G. Why? Potential issues related to interference. See the FAA and others care about passengers and air freight. Now Verizon and Google care about each other and are moving forward with more 5G goodness. (Please, turn off those 5G mobiles.)
Verizon is regarded as the top mobile provider in the United States. Verizon earns that title, because the company is always innovating. Tech Radar has the story on one of Verizon’s newest innovations: “Verizon Partners With Google Cloud On 5G Edge.” Google Cloud and Verizon will pool their resources to offer 5G mobile edge with guaranteed performance for enterprise customers.
Verizon is promising its 5G networks will have lower latency with faster speeds, reliable connections, and greater capacity. The mobile provider will deliver on its 5G and lower latency promise by decentralizing infrastructures and virtualizing networks, so they are closer to customers. Edge computing means data is processed closer to its collection point. This will enable more advanced technology to take root: smart city applications, telemedicine, and virtual reality.
Google Cloud’s storage and compute capabilities are what Verizon needs to deliver 5G:
“The partnership will initially combine Verizon’s private on-site 5G and its private 5G edge services with Google Distributed Cloud Edge, but the two companies have said they plan to develop capabilities for public networks that will allow enterprises to deploy applications across the US.”
Verizon’s new Google partnership makes it the first mobile provider to offer edge services with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.
The advancement of 5G will transform developed countries into automated science-fiction dreams. Verizon 5G edge sounds like it requires the use of more user data in order for it to be processed closer to the collection point. Is this why Verizon has been capturing more of late? Will 5G networks require more private user data to function?
One of my colleagues at Beyond Search had the silly idea that the Verizon Google discussions contributed to Verizon’s keen interest in capturing more customer data. Will the cooing of 5G 5G 5G soothe those worried about having a 757 visit the apartments adjacent O’Hare Airport? Of course not. Verizon and Google are incapable of making technical missteps.
Whitney Grace, December 22, 2021
What Is Better Than One Logic? Two Logics?
December 22, 2021
Search, database, intelligence, data management and analytics firm MarkLogic continues to evolve and grow. Business Wire reveals, “MarkLogic Acquires Leading Metadata Management Provider Smartlogic.” Good choice—we have found Smartlogic to be innovative, reliable, and responsive. We expect MarkLogic will be able to preserve these characteristics, considering Smartlogic’s top brass will be sticking around. The press release tells us:
“As part of the transaction, Smartlogic’s founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Bentley, as well as other members of the senior management team, will join the MarkLogic executive team. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 2006, Smartlogic has deciphered, filtered, and connected data for many of the world’s largest organizations to help solve their complex data problems. Global organizations in the energy, healthcare, life sciences, financial services, government and intelligence, media and publishing, and high-tech manufacturing industries rely on Smartlogic’s metadata and AI platform every day to enrich enterprise information with context and meaning, as well as extract critical facts, entities, and relationships to power their businesses. For the past four years, Smartlogic has been recognized as a leader by Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Metadata Management Solutions and by Info-Tech as the preeminent leader of the Data Quadrant for Metadata Management (May 2021).”
Based in San Carlos, California, MarkLogic was founded in 2001 and gained steam in 2012 when it picked up former Oracle database division leader Gary Bloom. Smartlogic is headquartered in San Jose, less than 30 miles away. Perhaps MarkLogic’s XML with taxonomy management will triumph in more markets and bring the Oracle outfit to its knees? Perhaps index term management is the killer app?
Cynthia Murrell, December 22, 2021
Microsoft Has a Digital Death Star and Windows 11
December 21, 2021
If you are not familiar with Microsoft’s digital Death Star, you will want to watch the story in the December 26, 2021, Dark Cyber video news program. You can find it in the mini player at this link. More than a year after the SolarWinds’ security misstep became public, the Redmond giant can digitally slay the 1,000 malefactors responsible for some data exfiltration. Quick.
My hunch has been that Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 as part of a red herring campaign. The idea may have been that Windows 11 would capture the attention of “real” journalists, thus reducing the blow torch directed at the Microsoft enterprise software processes. It seems to have worked. No one I have spoken with knows much about the Death Star meme and quite a few people are excited about Windows 11.
ZDNet remains firmly in the camp of writing about Windows 11. Why not? Users who want to use a browser other than Edge or a specialized software to perform a specific PDF function find that some noodling is required. Windows 11 is supposed to be simpler better cheaper faster more wonderfuler, right?
“8 Harsh Realities of Being a Windows 11 User” presents a distinguished lecturer’s view of some Windows 11 foibles. Let’s take a quick look at three of the eight and then circle back to the year long wait for digital retribution against the 1,000 engineers who created the SolarWinds’ misstep and made the Softies look inept and sort of silly in the security department.
Reality 1. The Browser Lock In
Microsoft does not want a Windows 11 user to load up a non Microsoft browser. I find this amusing because Edge is not really Microsoft code. Microsoft pulled out what I call soft taco engineering; that is, the Chrome engine is wrapped in a tortilla crafted in the kitchens of Microsoft Café 34. I am a suspicious type; therefore, I think the browser lock in is designed to make darned sure the geek bloggers and the “real” journalists have something to Don Quixote.
Reality 5. Control Panel / Settings Craziness
Okay, where is the widget to have the weird File Explorer show me “details”? And what about Display controls? I have a couple of places to look now. That’s helpful. Exactly what is the difference between a bunch of icons grouped in one place under one jargonized name? I am not sure about the logic of this bit of silliness, but, hey, one has to do more than clean the microwave in the snack area or hunt for the meeting room on the campus. (Where did the alleged interpersonal abuses take place? Is there a Bing Map for that?)
Reality 8. What Runs Windows 11?
Now if there is a super sized red herring being dragged over the SolarWinds’ misstep it is this one: Will my PC run Windows 11? Lame? You bet, but we are in the distraction business, not in the useful software business. Subscribe and pay now for the greatness which may not run on your PC, you computer dolt. But why? Maybe SolarWinds’ stuff saying, “Look here, not there.”
You have to navigate to the distinguished lecturer’s cited post for Realities of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. There are more Dusies too.
Now the circle back: SolarWinds’s misstep is still with us and Microsoft. At least I can understand Windows 11 as a quick and dirty distraction. Can users?
Stephen E Arnold, December 21, 2021
Log Exploits, Pegasus Methods, and Willful Ignorance
December 21, 2021
Which of the “our hair is on fire” articles should I reference. There’s the “worse security issue ever” approach of the Security Now podcast. The Google released an analysis of NSO Group’s Pegasus methods. There’s the happy discovery story and community centric notification by an engineer working at a Chinese company. There’s Canada’s turning off quite a few essential government Web sites. And more. Lots more.
My take is that these post SolarWinds’ missteps are going to come faster and more furiously with or without Microsoft’s magical 1,000 engineers beavering away in lovely Moscow.
Why?
Three reasons, and I know these will not be particularly popular among the thumbtypers, the funders of venture backed cyber security firms, and the open source community. Hey, life is tough.
1. Good Enough
In order to reduce costs and move faster, good enough is the key business practice to have emerged in the last decade. Systems are assembled via chunks of code, APIs, and scripts conjured from online sources. As a result, there are obviously some egregious issues. The SolarWinds’ misstep is one example. The hair on fire over Java is another. We have a ring side seat to the Kendara start up which was sold to @Home which may have been AT&T, Java was exciting indeed. Now Java is different? Sorry. It’s good enough. Why not do “better”? It takes effort, money, and time. Foosball and making designer coffee are more important for some.
2. Open Source and the Community
Yeah, the appeal of free software, no proprietary software license agreements, and the ability to make changes which — ha ha ha — which coulda woulda shoulda been shared with the community are powerful rocket engines for open source applications. Now everything from Elasticsearch to the latest mobile device is like a clueless elderly person negotiating with a New York real estate wizard. You know who is going to win, right? The community is often a front for a commercial interest, a way for a developer to get a job, or a clever programmer to drive business to a consulting side gig. Who knows who will cobble together enough open source to solve one of the persistent problems with computing. The issue is that the “community” is not homogeneous and the fruit cake of code is neither subjected to testing for security issues or reworked to make it just more wonderful. Without an incentive, open source is almost as juicy a bad actor opportunity as that wonderful Microsoft Exchange “solution.”
3. Kick the Can Down the Road
In my more than 50 year work career, the most frequent answer to a persistent problem has been to find something expedient to ameliorate a problem. Then kick the can down the road for subsequent managers, programmers, and summer interns to solve. Whether the issue is the security of home smart devices or hidden vulnerabilities of a $200,000 per year piece of smart software infused with Snorkel goodness, just focus on the short term. Those larger issues? Hey, what are those? Just walk away from the dead whales on the beach. Technology and tomorrows will solve the less visible, longer term problems.
Net Net
What’s the fix for the hair on fire crowd? Oh, upgrade to the more secure version. License a smart system like Antigena. Introduce a new cyber threat information service. See how easy it is to operate in a digital world in which the vast majority of people are thrilled with the computing status quo. Life will be more secure and even better in the metaverse too.
Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2021
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