Open Source Drone Mapping Software
May 30, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
Photography and 3D image rendering aren’t perfect technologies, but they’ve dramatically advanced since they became readily available. Photorealistic 3D rendering was only available to the ultra wealthy, corporations, law enforcement agencies, universities, and governments. The final products were laughable by today’s standards, but it set the foundation for technology like Open Drone Map.
OpenDroneMap is a cartographer’s dream software that generates, 3D models, digital elevation models, point clouds, and maps from aerial images. Using only a compatible drone, the software, and a little programming know-how, users can make maps that were once the domain of specific industries. The map types include: measurements, plant health, point clouds, orthomosaics, contours (topography), elevation models, ground point controls, and more.
OpenDroneMap is self-described as: “We are creating the most sustainable drone mapping software with the friendliest community on earth.” It’s also called an “open ecosystem:”
“We’re building sustainable solutions for collecting, processing, analyzing and displaying aerial data while supporting the communities built around them. Our efforts are made possible by collaborations with key organizations, individuals and with the help of our growing community.”
The software is run by a board consisting of: Imma Mwanza, Stephen Mather, Näiké Nembetwa Nzali, DK Benjamin, and Arun M. The rest of the “staff” are contributors to the various projects, mostly through GitHub.
There are many projects that are combined for the complete OpenDroneMap software. These projects include: the command line toolkit, user interface, GCP detection, Python SDK, and more. Users can contribute by helping design code and financial donations. OpenDroneMap is a nonprofit, but it has the potential to be a company.
Open source projects like, OpenDroneMap, are how technology should be designed and deployed. The goal behind OpenDroneMap is to create a professional, decisive, and used for good.
Whitney Grace, May 30, 2024
AItoAI Interviews Connecticut Senator James Maroney
May 30, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
AItoAI: Smart Software for Government Uses Cases has published its interview with Senator James Maroney. Senator Maroney is the driving force behind legislation to regulate artificial intelligence in Connecticut. In the 20-minute interview, Senator Maroney elaborated on several facets of the proposed legislation. The interviewers were the father-and-son team of Erik S. (the son) and Stephen E Arnold (father).
Senator James Maroney spearheaded the Connecticut artificial intelligence legislation.
Senator Maroney pointed to the rapid growth of AI products and services. That growth has economic implications for the citizens and businesses in Connecticut. The senator explained that biases in algorithms can have a negative impact. For that reason, specific procedures are required to help ensure that the AI systems operate in a fair way. To help address this issue, Senator Maroney advocates a risk-based approach to AI. The idea is that a low-risk AI service like getting information about a vacation requires less attention than a higher-risk application such as evaluating employee performance. The bill includes provisions for additional training. The senator’s commitment to upskilling links to taking steps to help citizens and organizations of all types use AI in a beneficial manner.
AItoAI wants to call attention to Senator Maroney’s making his time available for the interview. Erik and Stephen want to thank the senator for his time and his explanation of some of the bill’s provisions.
You can view the video at https://youtu.be/ZfcHKLgARJU or listen to the audio of the 20-minute program at https://shorturl.at/ziPgr.
Stephen E Arnold, May 30, 2024
Telegram: No Longer Just Mailing It In
May 29, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
Allegedly about 900 million people “use” Telegram. More are going to learn about the platform as the company comes under more European Union scrutiny, kicks the tires for next-generation obfuscation technology, and become a best friend of Microsoft… for now. “Telegram Gets an In-App Copilot Bot” reports:
Microsoft has added an official Copilot bot within the messaging app Telegram, which lets users search, ask questions, and converse with the AI chatbot. Copilot for Telegram is currently in beta but is free for Telegram users on mobile or desktop. People can chat with Copilot for Telegram like a regular conversation on the messaging app. Copilot for Telegram is an official Microsoft bot (make sure it’s the one with the checkmark and the username @CopilotOfficialBot).
You can “try it now.” Just navigate to Microsoft “Copilot for Telegram.” At this location, you can:
Meet your new everyday AI companion: Copilot, powered by GPT, now on Telegram. Engage in seamless conversations, access information, and enjoy a smarter chat experience, all within Telegram.
A dinobaby lecturer explains the Telegram APIs and its bot function for automating certain operations within the Telegram platform. Some in the class are looking at TikTok, scrolling Instagram, or reading about a breakthrough in counting large numbers of objects using a unique numerical recipe. But Telegram? WhatsApp and Signal are where the action is, right? Thanks, MSFT Copilot. You are into security and now Telegram. Keep your focus, please.
Next week, I will deliver a talk about Telegram and some related information about obfuscated messaging at the TechnoSecurity & Digital Forensics Conference. I no longer do too many lectures because I am an 80 year old dinobaby, and I hate flying and standing around talking to people 50 years younger than I. However, my team’s research into end-to-end encrypted messaging yielded some interesting findings. At the 2024 US National Cyber Crime Conference about 260 investigators listened to my 75 minute talk, and a number of them said, “We did not know that.” I will also do a Telegram-centric lecture at another US government event in September. But in this short post, I want to cover what the “deal” with Microsoft suggests.
Let’s get to it.
Telegram operates out of Dubai. The distributed team of engineers has been adding features and functions to what began as a messaging app in Russia. The “legend” of Telegram is an interesting story, but I remain skeptical about the company, its links with a certain country, and the direction in which the firm is headed. If you are not familiar with the service, it has morphed into a platform with numerous interesting capabilities. For some actors, Telegram can and has replaced the Dark Web with Telegram’s services. Note: Messages on Telegram are not encrypted by default as they are on some other E2EE messaging applications. Examples include contraband, “personal” services, and streaming video to thousands of people. Some Telegram users pay to get “special” programs. (Please, use your imagination.)
Why is Telegram undergoing this shift from humble messaging app to a platform? Our research suggests that there are three reasons. I want to point out that Pavel Durov does not have a public profile on the scale of a luminary like Elon Musk or Sam AI-Man, but he is out an about. He conducted an “exclusive” and possibly red-herring discussion with Tucker Carlson in April 2024. After the interview, Mr. Pavlov took direct action to block certain message flows from Ukraine into Russia. That may be one reason: Telegram is actively steering information about Ukraine’s view of Mr. Putin’s special operation. Yep, freedom.
Are there others? Let me highlight three:
- Mr. Pavlov and his brother who allegedly is like a person with two PhDs see an opportunity to make money. The Pavlovs, however, are not hurting for cash.
- American messaging apps have been fat and lazy. Mr. Pavlov is an innovator, and he wants to make darned sure that he rungs rings around Signal, WhatsApp, and a number of other outfits. Ego? My team thinks that is part of Mr. Pavlov’s motivation.
- Telegram is expanding because it may not be an independent, free-wheeling outfit. Several on my team think that Mr. Pavlov answers to a higher authority. Is that authority aligned with the US? Probably not.
Now the Microsoft deal?
Several questions may get you synapses in gear:
- Where are the data flowing through Telegram located / stored geographically? The service can regenerate some useful information for a user with a new device.
- Why tout freedom and free speech in April 2024 and several weeks later apply restrictions on data flow? Does this suggest a capability to monitor by user, by content type, and by other metadata?
- Why is Telegram exploring additional network enhancements? My team thinks that Mr. Pavlov has some innovations in obfuscation planned. If the company does implement certain technologies freely disclosed in US patents, what will that mean for analysts and investigators?
- Why a tie up with Microsoft? Whose idea was this? Who benefits from the metadata? What happens if Telegram has some clever ideas about smart software and the Telegram bot function?
Net net: Not too many people in Europe’s regulatory entities have paid much attention to Telegram. The entities of interest have been bigger fish. Now Telegram is growing faster than a Chernobyl boar stuffed on radioactive mushrooms. The EU is recalibrating for Telegram at this time. In the US, the “I did not know” reaction provides some insight into general knowledge about Telegram’s more interesting functions. Think pay-to-view streaming video about certain controversial subjects. Free storage and data transfer is provided by Telegram, a company which does not embrace the Netflix approach to entertainment. Telegram is, as I explain in my lectures, interesting, very interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, May 29, 2024
AI Overviews: A He Said, She Said Argument
May 29, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
Google has begun the process of setting up an AI Overview object in search results. The idea is that Google provides an “answer.” But the machine-generated response is a platform for selling sentences, “meaning,” and probably words. Most people who have been exposed to the Overview object point out some of the object’s flaws. Those “mistakes” are not the point. Before I offer some ideas about the advertising upside of an AI Overview, I want to highlight both sides of this “he said, she said” dust up. Those criticizing the Google’s enhancement to search results miss the point of generating a new way to monetize information. Those who are taking umbrage at the criticism miss the point of people complaining about how lousy the AI Overviews are perceived to be.
The criticism of Google is encapsulated in “Why Google Is (Probably) Stuck Giving Out AI Answers That May or May Not Be Right.” A “real” journalist explains:
What happens if people keep finding Bad Answers on Google and Google can’t whac-a-mole them fast enough? And, crucially, what if regular people, people who don’t spend time reading or talking about tech news, start to hear about Google’s Bad And Potentially Dangerous Answers? Because that would be a really, really big problem. Google does a lot of different things, but the reason it’s worth more than $2 trillion is still its two core products: search, and the ads that it generates alongside search results. And if people — normal people — lose confidence in Google as a search/answer machine … Well, that would be a real problem.
The idea is that the AI Overview makes Google Web search less useful than it was before AI. Whether the idea is accurate or not makes no difference to the “he said, she said” argument. The “real” news is that Google is doing something that many people may perceive as a negative. The consequence is that Google’s shiny carapace will be scratched and dented. A more colorful approach to this side of the “bad Google” argument appears in Android Authority. “Shut It Down: Google’s AI Search Results Are Beyond Terrible” states:
The new Google AI Overview feature is offering responses to queries that range from bizarre and funny to very dangerous.
Ooof. Bizarre and dangerous. Yep, that’s the new Google AI Overview.
The Red Alert Google is not taking the criticism well. Instead of Googzilla retreating into a dark, digital cave, the beastie is coming out fighting. Imagine. Google is responding to pundit criticism. Fifteen years ago, no one would have paid any attention to a podcaster writer and a mobile device news service. Times have indeed changed.
“Google Scrambles to Manually Remove Weird AI Answers in Search” provides an allegedly accurate report about how Googzilla is responding to criticism. In spite of the split infinitive, the headline makes clear that the AI-infused online advertising machine is using humans (!) to fix up wonky AI Overviews. The write up pontificates:
Google continues to say that its AI Overview product largely outputs “high quality information” to users. “Many of the examples we’ve seen have been uncommon queries, and we’ve also seen examples that were doctored or that we couldn’t reproduce,” Google spokesperson Meghann Farnsworth said in an email to The Verge. Farnsworth also confirmed that the company is “taking swift action” to remove AI Overviews on certain queries “where appropriate under our content policies, and using these examples to develop broader improvements to our systems, some of which have already started to roll out.”
Google seems to acknowledge that action is required. But the Google is not convinced that it has stepped on a baby duckling or two with its AI Overview innovation.
AI Overviews represent a potential revenue flow into Alphabet. The money, not the excellence of the outputs, is what matters in today’s Google. Thanks, MSFT Copilot. Back online and working on security today?
Okay, “he said, she said.” What’s the bigger picture? I worked on a project which required setting up an ad service which sold words in a text passage. I am not permitted to name the client or the outfit with the idea. On a Web page, some text would appear with an identified like an underline or bold face. When the reader of the Web page clicked (often inadvertently) on the word, that user would be whisked to another Web site or a pop up ad. The idea is that instead of an Oingo (Applied Semantics)-type of related concept expansion, the advertiser was buying a word. Brilliant.
The AI Overview, based on my team’s look at what the Google has been crafting, sets up a similar opportunity. Here’s a selection from our discussion at lunch on Friday, May 24, 2024 at a restaurant which featured a bridge club luncheon. Wow, was it noisy? Here’s what emerged from our frequently disrupted conversation:
- The AI Overview is a content object. It sits for now at the top of the search results page unless the “user” knows to add the string udm=14 to a query
- Advertising can be “sold” to the advertiser[s] who want[s] to put a message on the “topic” or “main concept” of the search
- Advertising can be sold to the organizations wanting to be linked to a sentence or a segment of a sentence in the AI Overview
- Advertising can be sold to the organizations wanting to be linked to a specific word in the AI Overview
- Advertising can be sold to the organizations wanting to be linked to a specific concept in the AI Overview.
Whether the AI Overview is good, bad, or indifferent will make zero difference in practice to the Google advertising “machine,” its officers, and its soon-to-be replaced by smart software staff makes no, zero, zip difference. AI has given Google the opportunity to monetize a new content object. That content object and its advertising is additive. People who want “traditional” Google online advertising can still by it. Furthermore, as one of my team pointed out, the presence of the new content object “space” on a search results page opens up additional opportunities to monetize certain content types. One example is buying a link to a related video which appears as an icon below, along side, or within the content object space. The monetization opportunities seem to have some potential.
Net net: Googzilla may be ageing. To poobahs and self-appointed experts, Google may be lost in space, trembling in fear, and growing deaf due to the blaring of the Red Alert klaxons. Whatever. But the AI Overview may have some upside even if it is filled with wonky outputs.
Stephen E Arnold, May 29, 2024
Copilot: I Have Control Now, Captain. Relax, Chill
May 29, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
Appearing unbidden on Windows devices, Copilot is spreading its tendrils through businesses around the world. Like a network of fungal mycorrhizae, the AI integrates itself with the roots of Windows computing systems. The longer it is allowed to intrude, the more any attempt to dislodge it will harm the entire ecosystem. VentureBeat warns, “Ceding Control: How Copilot+ and PCs Could Make Enterprises Beholden to Microsoft.”
Writer James Thomason traces a gradual transition: The wide-open potential of the early Internet gave way to walled gardens, the loss of repair rights, and a shift to outside servers controlled by cloud providers. We have gradually ceded control of both software and hardware as well as governance of our data. All while tech companies make it harder to explore alternative products and even filter our news, information, and Web exploration.
Where does that put us now? AI has ushered in a whole new level of dominion for Microsoft in particular. Thomason writes:
“Microsoft’s recently announced ‘Copilot+ PCs’ represent the company’s most aggressive push yet towards an AI-driven, cloud-dependent computing model. These machines feature dedicated AI processors, or ‘NPUs’ (neural processing units), capable of over 40 trillion operations per second. This hardware, Microsoft claims, will enable ‘the fastest, most intelligent Windows PC ever built.’ But there’s a catch: the advanced capabilities of these NPUs are tightly tethered to Microsoft’s cloud ecosystem. Features like ‘Recall,’ which continuously monitors your activity to allow you to quickly retrieve any piece of information you’ve seen on your PC, and ‘Cocreator,’ which uses the NPU to aid with creative tasks like image editing and generation, are deeply integrated with Microsoft’s servers. Even the new ‘Copilot’ key on the keyboard, which summons the AI assistant, requires an active internet connection. In effect, these PCs are designed from the ground up to funnel users into Microsoft’s walled garden, where the company can monitor, influence and ultimately control the user experience to an unprecedented degree. This split-brain model, with core functionality divided between local hardware and remote servers, means you never truly own your PC. Purchasing one of these AI-driven machines equals irrevocable subjugation to Microsoft’s digital fiefdom. The competition, user choice and ability to opt out that defined the PC era are disappearing before our eyes.”
So what does this mean for the majority businesses that rely on Microsoft products? Productivity gains, yes, but at the price of a vendor stranglehold, security and compliance risks, and opaque AI decision-making. See the article for details on each of these.
For anyone who doubts Microsoft would be so unethical, the write-up reminds us of the company’s monopolistic tendencies. Thomason insists we cannot count on the government to intervene again, considering Big Tech’s herculean lobbying efforts. So if the regulators are not coming to save us, how can we defy Microsoft dominance? One can expend the effort to find and utilize open hardware and software alternatives, of course. Linux is a good example. But a real difference will only be made with action on a larger scale. There is an organization for that: FUTO (the Fund for Universal Technology Openness). We learn:
“One of FUTO’s key strategies is to fund open-source versions of important technical building blocks like AI accelerators, ensuring they remain accessible to a wide range of actors. They’re also working to make decentralized software as user-friendly and feature-rich as the offerings of the tech giants, to reduce the appeal of convenience-for-control tradeoffs.”
Even if and when those building blocks are available, resistance will be a challenge. It will take mindfulness about technology choices while Microsoft dangles shiny, easier options. But digital freedom, Thomason asserts, is well worth the effort.
Cynthia Murrell, May 29, 2024
Apple Fan Misses the Obvious: MSFT Marketing Is Tasty
May 28, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
I love anecdotes seasoned investigators offer at law enforcement and intelligence conferences. Statements like “I did nothing wrong” are accompanied by a weapon in a waistband. Or, “You can take my drugs.” Yep, those are not informed remarks in some situations. But what happens when poohbahs and would-be experts explain in 2,600 words how addled Microsoft’s announcements were at its Build conference. “Microsoft’s Copilot PC and the M3 Mac Killer Myth” is an interesting argumentative essay making absolutely clear as fresh, just pressed apple cider in New Hampshire. (Have you ever seen the stuff?)
The Apple Cider judge does not look happy. Has the innovation factory failed with filtration? Thanks, MSFT Copilot. How is that security initiative today?
The write up provides a version of “tortured poet” writing infused with techno-talk. The object of the write up is to make as clear as the aforementioned apple cider several points to which people are not directing attention; to wit:
- Microsoft has many failures; for example, the Windows Phone, Web search, and, of course, crappy Windows in many versions
- Microsoft follows what Apple does; for example, smart software like facial recognition on a user’s device
- Microsoft fouled up with its Slate PC and assorted Windows on Arm efforts.
So there.
Now Microsoft is, according to the write up:
Today, Microsoft is doing the exact same lazy thing to again try to garner some excitement about legacy Windows PCs, this time by tacking an AI chat bot. And specifically, the Bing Chat bot nobody cared about before Microsoft rebranded it as Copilot. Counting the Surface tablet and Windows RT, and the time Microsoft pretended to "design" its own advanced SoC just like Apple by putting RAM on a Snapdragon, this must be Microsoft’s third major attempt to ditch Intel and deliver something that could compete with Apple’s iPad, or M-powered Macs, or even both.
The article provides a quick review of the technical innovations in Apple’s proprietary silicon. The purpose of the technology information is to make as clear as that New Hampshire, just-pressed juice that Microsoft will continue its track record of fouling up. The essay concludes with this “core” statement flavored with the pungency of hard cider:
Things incrementally change rapidly in the tech industry, except for Microsoft and its photocopy culture.
Interesting. However, I want to point out that Microsoft created a bit of a problem for Google in January 2023. Microsoft’s president announced its push into AI. Google, an ageing beastie, was caught with its claws retracted. The online advertising giant’s response was the Sundar & Prabhakar Comedy Show. It featured smart software which made factual errors, launched the Code Red or whatever odd ball name Googlers assigned to the problem Microsoft created.
Remember. The problem was not AI. Google “invented” some of the intestines of OpenAI’s and Microsoft’s services. The kick in the stomach was marketing. Microsoft’s announcement captured attention and made — much to the chagrin of the online advertising service — look old and slow, not smooth and fast like those mythical US Navy Seals of technology. Google dropped the inflatable raft and appears to be struggling against a rather weak rip tide.
What Microsoft did at Build with its semi-wonky and largely unsupported AI PC announcement was marketing. The Apple essay ignores the interest in a new type of PC form factor that includes the allegedly magical smart software. Mastery of smart software means work, better grades, efficiency, and a Cybertruck filled with buckets of hog wash.
But that may not matter.
Apple, like Google, finds itself struggling to get its cider press hooked up and producing product. One can criticize the Softies for technology. But I have to admit that Microsoft is reasonably adept at marketing its AI efforts. The angst in the cited article is misdirected. Apple insiders should focus on the Microsoft marketing approach. With its AI messaging, Microsoft has avoided the craziness of the iPad’s squashing creativity.
Will the AI PC work? Probably in an okay way. Has Microsoft’s AI marketing worked? It sure looks like it.
Stephen E Arnold, May 28, 2024
French AI Is Intelligent and Not Too Artificial
May 28, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
I read “Macron: French AI Can Challenge Insane Dominance of US and China.” In the CNBC interview, Emmanuel Macron used the word “insane.” The phrase, according to the cited article was:
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for his country’s AI leaders to challenge the “insane” dominance of US and Chinese tech giants.
French offers a number of ways to explain a loss of mental control or something that goes well beyond normal behaviors; for example, aliéné which can suggest something quite beyond the normal. The example which comes to mind might include the market dominance of US companies emulating Google-type methods. Another choice is comme un fou. This phrase suggests a crazy high speed action or event; for example, the amount of money OpenAI generated by selling $20 subscriptions to ChatGPTo iPhone app in a few days. My personal favorite is dément which has a nice blend of demented behavior and incredible actions. Microsoft’s recent litany of AI capabilities creating a new category of computers purpose-built to terminate with extreme prejudice the market winner MacBook devices; specifically, the itty bitty Airs.
The road to Google-type AI has a few speed bumps. Thanks, MSFT Copilot. Security getting attention or is Cloud stability the focal point of the day?
The write up explains what M. Macron really meant:
For now, however, Europe remains a long way behind the US and Chinese leaders. None of the 10 largest tech companies by market cap are based in the continent and few feature in the top 50. The French President decried that landscape. “It’s insane to have a world where the big giants just come from China and US.”
Ah, ha. The idea appears to be a lack of balance and restraint. Well, it seems, France is going to do its best to deliver the digital equivalent of a chicken with a Label Rouge; that is, AI that is going to meet specific standards and be significantly superior to something like the $5 US Costco chicken. I anticipate that M. Macron’s government will issue a document like this Fiche filière volaille de chair 2020 for AI.
M. Macron points to two examples of French AI technology: Mistral and H (formerly Holistic). I was disappointed that M. Macron did not highlight the quite remarkable AI technology of Preligens, which is in the midst of a sale. I would suggest that Preligens is an example of why the “insane” dominance of China and the US in AI is the current reality. The company is ensnared in French regulations and in need of the type of money pumped into AI start ups in the two countries leading the pack in AI.
M. Macron is making changes; specifically, according to the write up:
Macron has cut red tape, loosened labor protections, and reduced taxes on the wealthy. He’s also attracted foreign investment, including a €15bn funding package from the likes of Microsoft and Amazon announced earlier this month. Macron has also committed to a pan-European AI strategy. At a meeting in the Elysée Palace this week, he hinted at the first step of a new plan: “Our aim is to Europeanize [AI], and we’re going to start with a Franco-German initiative.”
I know from experience the quality of French information-centric technologists. The principal hurdles for France are, in my opinion, are:
- Addressing the red tape. (One cannot grasp the implications of this phrase unless one tries to rent an apartment in France.)
- Juicing up the investment system and methods.
- Overcoming the ralentisseurs on the Information Superhighway running between Paris, DC, and Beijing.
Net net: Check out Preligens.
Stephen E Arnold, May 28, 2024
Big Tech and AI: Trust Us. We Just Ooze Trust
May 28, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
Amid rising concerns, The Register reports, “Top AI Players Pledge to Pull the Plug on Models that Present Intolerable Risk” at the recent AI Seoul Summit. How do they define “intolerable?” That little detail has yet to be determined. The non-binding declaration was signed by OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and other AI heavyweights. Reporter Laura Dobberstein writes:
“The Seoul Summit produced a set of Frontier AI Safety Commitments that will see signatories publish safety frameworks on how they will measure risks of their AI models. This includes outlining at what point risks become intolerable and what actions signatories will take at that point. And if mitigations do not keep risks below thresholds, the signatories have pledged not to ‘develop or deploy a model or system at all.’”
We also learn:
“Signatories to the Seoul document have also committed to red-teaming their frontier AI models and systems, sharing information, investing in cyber security and insider threat safeguards in order to protect unreleased tech, incentivizing third-party discovery and reporting of vulnerabilities, AI content labelling, prioritizing research on the societal risks posed by AI, and to use AI for good.”
Promises, promises. And where are these frameworks so we can hold companies accountable? Hang tight, the check is in the mail. The summit produced a document full of pretty words, but as the article notes:
“All of that sounds great … but the details haven’t been worked out. And they won’t be, until an ‘AI Action Summit’ to be staged in early 2025.”
If then. After all, there’s no need to hurry. We are sure we can trust these AI bros to do the right thing. Eventually. Right?
Cynthia Murrell, May 28, 2024
Facebook Scams: A Warning or a Tutorial?
May 27, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
This headline caught my attention: “Facebook Marketplace’s Dirty Dozen: The 15 Most Common Scams and How to Avoid Them.” I had hopes of learning about new, clever, wonderfully devious ways to commit fraud and other larcenous acts. Was I surprised? Here’s a list of the “15 most common scams.” I want to point out that there is scant (a nice way of saying “No back up data”) for the assertions. (I have a hunch that this “helpful” write up was assisted with some sort of software, possibly dumb software.) Let’s look at the list of the dozen’s 15 scams:
- Defective or counterfeit gadgets. Fix: Inspection required
- Bait-and-switch. Fix: Don’t engage in interaction
- Fake payment receipts. Fix: What? I don’t understand
- Mouth-watering giveaways. Fix: Ignore
- Overpayment by a buyer. Fix: What? I don’t understand
- Moving conversations out of Facebook. Fix: Don’t have them.
- Fake rental posting. Fix: Ignore
- Advance payment requests. Fix: Ignore
- Asking for confirmation codes. Fix: Ignore
- Asking for car deposits. Fix: Say, “No”
- Requesting unnecessary charges. Fix: Ignore
- Mailing items. Fix: Say, “No”
- Fake claims of lost packages. Fix: What?
- Counterfeit money. Fix: What?
- Clicking a link to fill out more information. Fix: Don’t
My concern with this list is that it does not protect the buyer. If anything, it provides a checklist of tactics for a would-be bad actor. The social engineering aspect of fraud is often more important than the tactic. In the “emotional” moment, a would-be buyer can fall for the most obvious scam; for example, trusting the seller because the request for a deposit seems reasonable or buying something else from the seller.
Trying to help? The customer or the scammer? You decide. Thanks, MSFT Copilot. Good cartoon. In your wheelhouse, is it?
What does one do to avoid Facebook scams? Here’s the answer:
Fraudsters can exploit you on online marketplaces if you’re not careful; it is easy not to be aware of a scam if you’re not as familiar. You can learn to spot common Facebook Marketplace scams to ensure you have a safe shopping experience. Remember that scams can happen between buyers and sellers, so always be wary of the transaction practices before committing. Otherwise, consider other methods like ordering from Amazon or becoming a third-party vendor on a trusted platform.
Yep, Amazon. On the other hand you can avoid scams by becoming a “third-party vendor on a trusted platform.” Really?
The problem with this write up is that the information mixes up what sellers do with what buyers do. Stepping back, why is Facebook singled out for this mish mash of scams and tactics. After all, in a face-to-face deal who pays with counterfeit cash? It is the buyer. Who is the victim? It is the seller. Who rents an apartment without looking at it? Answer: Someone in Manhattan. In other cities, alternatives to Facebook exist, and they are not available via Amazon as far as I know.
Facebook and other online vendors have to step up their game. The idea that the platform does not have responsibility to vet buyers and sellers is not something I find acceptable. Facebook seems pleased with its current operation. Perhaps it is time for more directed action to [a] address Facebook’s policies and [b] bring more rigor to write ups which seem to provide ideas for scammers in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, May 27, 2024
Meta Mismatch: Good at One Thing, Not So Good at Another
May 27, 2024
This essay is the work of a dinobaby. Unlike some folks, no smart software improved my native ineptness.
I read “While Meta Stuffs AI Into All Its Products, It’s Apparently Helpless to Stop Perverts on Instagram From Publicly Lusting Over Sexualized AI-Generated Children.” The main idea is that Meta has a problems stopping “perverts.” You know a “pervert,” don’t you. One can spot ‘em when one sees ‘em. The write up reports:
As Facebook and Instagram owner Meta seeks to jam generative AI into every feasible corner of its products, a disturbing Forbes report reveals that the company is failing to prevent those same products from flooding with AI-generated child sexual imagery. As Forbes reports, image-generating AI tools have given rise to a disturbing new wave of sexualized images of children, which are proliferating throughout social media — the Forbes report focused on TikTok and Instagram — and across the web.
What is Meta doing or not doing? The write up is short on technical details. In fact, there are no technical details. Is it possible that any online service allowing anyone able to comment or upload certain content will do something “bad”? Online requires something that most people don’t want. The secret ingredient is spelling out an editorial policy and making decisions about what is appropriate or inappropriate for an “audience.” Note that I have converted digital addicts into an audience, albeit one that participates.
Two fictional characters are supposed to be working hard and doing their level best. Thanks, MSFT Copilot. How has that Cloud outage affected the push to more secure systems? Hello, hello, are you there?
Editorial policies require considerable intellectual effort, crafted workflow processes, and oversight. Who does the overseeing? In the good old days when publishing outfits like John Wiley & Sons-type or Oxford University Press-type outfits were gatekeepers, individuals who met the cultural standards were able to work their way up the bureaucratic rock wall. Now the mantra is the same as the probability-based game show with three doors and “Come on down!” Okay, “users” come on down, wallow in anonymity, exploit a lack of consequences, and surf on the darker waves of human thought. Online makes clear that people who read Kant, volunteer to help the homeless, and respect the rights of others are often at risk from the denizens of the psychological night.
Personally I am not a Facebook person, a users or Instagram, or a person requiring the cloak of a WhatsApp logo. Futurism takes a reasonably stand:
it’s [Meta, Facebook, et al] clearly unable to use the tools at its disposal, AI included, to help stop harmful AI content created using similar tools to those that Meta is building from disseminating across its own platforms. We were promised creativity-boosting innovation. What we’re getting at Meta is a platform-eroding pile of abusive filth that the company is clearly unable to manage at scale.
How long has been Meta trying to be a squeaky-clean information purveyor? Is the article going overboard?
I don’t have answers, but after years of verbal fancy dancing, progress may be parked at a rest stop on the information superhighway. Who is the driver of the Meta construct? If you know, that is the person to whom one must address suggestions about content. What if that entity does not listen and act? Government officials will take action, right?
PS. Is it my imagination or is Futurism.com becoming a bit more strident?
Stephen E Arnold, May 27, 2024
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