Trouble Ahead for Deep Fakes and Fancy Technology?
January 3, 2020
At a New Year’s get together, a person mentioned a review of the film “Cats.” I don’t go to movies, but the person’s comments intrigued me. I returned home and tracked down “How Cats Became a Box Office Catastrophe.”
I noted one sentence in the write which was:
We probably don’t need to remind you of the backlash the internet unleashed upon Cats the moment the Cats trailer dropped. Viewers gasped in horror as Universal’s vision of adding cat fur and features to the proportions of a human body was finally revealed. It was uncomfortable to look at, a clear example of the uncanny valley, where viewers are unsettled by artificially constructed beings that are just shy of realism.
The write then added:
Beyond subjective opinions, critics highlighted several issues including glitchy and unpolished CGI that could have been a result of its rushed production, that took place within a single year. In contrast, this year’s photo-realistic Lion King movie began work in 2016.
Two points: Backlash for the context and the “unpolished CGI.”
What happens when the rough hewn nature of other fantastical technology, swathed in investor hype and marketers’ misrepresentations, is understood?
Exciting for some in 2020.
Stephen E Arnold, January 3, 2020
Riding the Hypemobile for Quantum Computing
January 1, 2020
I am convinced that quantum computing will become a useful approach to solving certain types of problems. Google has already claimed the crown of big time quantum computerism. But IBM, by golly, is going to get to the top of the mountain. Too bad the mountain these outfits are confident flies their corporate flags are in China’s AI province. Yeah, China. Bummer.
But there’s hope for countries without big mountains like those like Amne Machin. No, Machin is not a corruption of machine.
Navigate to “Scientists At Lancaster University Use Legos In Quantum Computing Research.” The write up explains, albeit breathlessly:
Scientists at Lancaster University in England conducted an experiment in which they froze several Lego blocks to the lowest possible temperature, and what they discovered could be useful in the development of quantum computing.
Why?
Lego blocks could be used as thermal insulators. Note that some universities have quiet rooms, animals for students to pet, and counseling services available 24×7. Lego blocks, therefore, are likely to be abundant in some university facilities.
How did the experiment go? The write up reports without much enthusiasm:
“While it’s unlikely that Lego blocks per se will be used as a part of a quantum computer, we’ve found the right direction for creating cheap thermal insulators: 3D printing,” Zmeev [a quantum wizard] said. “Lego is made from ABS plastic and one can also create ABS structures simply by 3D printing them. We are currently studying the properties of such 3D printed structures at ultralow temperatures close to absolute zero.”
Ah, 2020 will usher in many insights into quantum computing which is, of course, just around the corner and may already be powering Google’s advertising machine.
Technology marches forward.
Stephen E Arnold, January 1, 2020
Emergent Neuron Network
December 31, 2019
I want to keep this item short. The information in “Brain-Like Functions Emerging in a Metallic Nanowire Network” may be off base. However, if true, the emergent behavior in a nanowire network is suggestive. We noted this statement:
The joint research team recently built a complex brain-like network by integrating numerous silver (Ag) nanowires coated with a polymer (PVP) insulating layer approximately 1 nanometer in thickness. A junction between two nanowires forms a variable resistive element (i.e., a synaptic element) that behaves like a neuronal synapse. This nanowire network, which contains a large number of intricately interacting synaptic elements, forms a “neuromorphic network”. When a voltage was applied to the neuromorphic network, it appeared to “struggle” to find optimal current pathways (i.e., the most electrically efficient pathways). The research team measured the processes of current pathway formation, retention and deactivation while electric current was flowing through the network and found that these processes always fluctuate as they progress, similar to the human brain’s memorization, learning, and forgetting processes. The observed temporal fluctuations also resemble the processes by which the brain becomes alert or returns to calm. Brain-like functions simulated by the neuromorphic network were found to occur as the huge number of synaptic elements in the network collectively work to optimize current transport, in the other words, as a result of self-organized and emerging dynamic processes.
What can the emergent nanowire structure do? The write up states:
Using this network, the team was able to generate electrical characteristics similar to those associated with higher order brain functions unique to humans, such as memorization, learning, forgetting, becoming alert and returning to calm. The team then clarified the mechanisms that induced these electrical characteristics.
DarkCyber finds the emergent behavior interesting and suggestive. Worth monitoring because there may be one individual working at Google who will embrace a nanowire implant. A singular person indeed.
Stephen E Arnold, December 31, 2019
Did You Know This Barn Burned 20 Years Ago?
December 30, 2019
Now let’s be positive. One can play games any time, any place. One can broadcast one’s thoughts any time, any place. One can find objective information any time, any place. What’s not to like?
Quite a bit, according to a newspaper which has tried for years to embrace zeros and ones. No, not embrace, love those zeros and ones. Navigate to “We’ve Spent the Decade Letting Our Tech Define Us. It’s Out of Control” and relive the old news: Barn burned. Horses killed or rustled. Amazon warehouse built on the site.
Yep, old news.
The write up states:
What this decade’s critiques miss is that over the past 10 years, our tech has grown from some devices and platforms we use to an entire environment in which we function. We don’t “go online” by turning on a computer and dialing up through a modem; we live online 24/7, creating data as we move through our lives, accessible to everyone and everything.
Obviously the newspaper continues to write about what happened quite a while ago. The history of online was set when online databases crushed traditional print indexes. Online outfits like Dialog, SDC, and even Dialcom for goodness sakes changed research and journal publishing. Did anyone notice? Sure, those disintermediated. But the nature of online information was evident by 1980. Let’s see, wasn’t that about 40 years ago.
But now we have a decade to consider.
The newspaper notes, almost with a little surprise:
We’ve spent the last 10 years as participants in a feedback loop between surveillance technology, predictive algorithms, behavioral manipulation and human activity. And it has spun out of anyone’s control.
The datasphere surprises, it seems. The basic law of online is that a monopoly structure is the basic protein structure of the digital world. It’s a surprise that once data flow through a system, those data must be logged. Logged data have to be analyzed. More data begets additional data. And there are other “laws” of online.
The venerable newspaper, with its begging for dollars please rendered in #ffff00 is reporting the news.
One problem: The news is really old. The new year is almost upon us. Maybe old news is just safer, easier, and more clickworthy than what is actually scrolling and swiping to the future.
Keep in mind that that Amazon delivery will arrive today.
Stephen E Arnold, December 30, 2019
Online Calendars: Maybe Not for Everyone?
December 27, 2019
Fast Company published an unusual “hey, technology may not be the cat’s pajamas” article. The title? “This Old-School Weekly Planner Runs My Life.” The main point is that writing stuff in a paper monthly planner works reasonably well. For anyone giving a deposition, trying to gather data for a tax audit, or just sitting down with a lawyer—those paper calendars may be more usable than electronic systems. Plus, the calendars are fungible. This hard copy approach can be a net positive in some circumstances.
This very Silicon Valley information service states:
In an era of technological inundation, I’ve found that the one thing that actually does keep me on track is an old-school, pencil and paper weekly planner. It allows me to map out my life, week to week, and pull all my disparate notifications and notes from emails, texts, in-person meetings, and phone calls into one place.
Just a thought that makes sense from a publication which often touts some wonky analyses.
Stephen E Arnold, December 27, 2019
Underground Operations: Some Considerations
December 27, 2019
We believe the greatest dangers posed to modern society come from the air in the forms of intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombs, and armed drones. The Federation of American Scientists, however, explain that US soldiers face subterranean dangers too as explained in a new manual entitled, “ATP 3-21.51 Subterranean Operations -November 2019.”
Subterranean warfare is one of the oldest and most successful forms of combat. Ancient civilizations built underground fortifications to fend off their enemies or used them to transport supplies or as escape routes. In World War II, the Japanese built underground bunkers in their island hopping campaign to fight the Allied Powers. During the Vietnam War, the Vietcong constructed elaborate tunnel systems that ranged for miles and were booby-trapped. In October 1978, a tunnel was discovered on the North and South Korean borders. The North Koreans planned to use the tunnel to attack Seoul and it was estimated the 30,000 armed troops could march through it.
Subterranean warfare may seem primitive, but it remains one of the most effective means of combat. Current conflicts within the Middle East and Syria rely on tunnels and the Hamas use tunnels to protect Israeli leaders from air raids:
“Whether to protect vital assets and capabilities, mitigate weapon system and sensor overmatch, to strengthen a larger defensive position, or simply to be used for transportation in our largest cities, subterranean systems continue to be expanded and relied upon throughout the world. Therefore, our Soldiers and leaders must be prepared to fight and win in this environment.”
While tunnels and underground bunkers prove to be reliable, the greatest dangers may come from soldiers and other personnel forced to serve underground.
“Soldiers descending into unknown subterranean spaces often face a sense of isolation, entrapment, and claustrophobia due to the temperature changes, navigating a strange maze of passageways, lack of natural light and air movement, and other factors prevalent in subterranean spaces. Additionally, spiritual, philosophical, cultural beliefs, and previous experiences with subterranean spaces may affect a Soldier’s psychological well-being. The darkness and disconnection from the surface environment affects an individual’s conception of time. Entering unknown subterranean spaces may reduce a Soldier’s perceived sense of security, even before direct fire contact with the enemy.”
No matter the training, a stressful environment will take its toll on a soldier’s mind. Technology to the rescue? Not yet.
Whitney Grace, December 5, 2019
The Real Tesla, Not the Auto Tesla
December 26, 2019
Good old Nikola Tesla. The fellow was not exactly an electrically charged JP Morgan. If you know about the inventor, you may have a flickering sense of his ideas about electricity. But there is another, less publicized facet of his life. For a look behind the towering equipment, navigate to the FBI Vault. There are three sets of PDF files related to this sparking personality. Find the documents at this link: https://vault.fbi.gov/nikola-tesla.
Stephen E Arnold, December 26, 2019
Facial Recognition Glitches: Nothing New When Marketers and the Greedy Explains Technology
December 20, 2019
You can read “Federal Study Confirms Racial Bias of Many Facial Recognition Systems, Casts Doubt on Their Expanding Use” and get a semi coherent explanation about a nifty, much hyped technology.
A camera captures a picture. Software matches the image to a reference image. Software displays the identity of the person in the captured image.
Nothing could be easier, better, faster, and cheaper except when these systems return 25 to 60 percent incorrect matches. Close enough for horse shoes.
The write up states:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, the federal laboratory known as NIST that develops standards for new technology, found “empirical evidence” that most of the facial-recognition algorithms exhibit “demographic differentials” that can worsen their accuracy based on a person’s age, gender or race. The study could fundamentally shake one of American law enforcement’s fastest-growing tools for identifying criminal suspects and witnesses, which privacy advocates have argued is ushering in a dangerous new wave of government surveillance tools.
I am not dragging my French bulldog into this pet store. I do want to point out a few things which are likely to make some people wish I would just go to the warehouse for the elderly and commence the dying thing:
1. None of the whiz bang technologies work in the real world. This means that enterprise search, content management, predictive analytics — don’t work like the marketing pitches say they do. The technologies work under quite specific conditions. When those conditions are not met, the systems go wonky. Clueless managers want to buy a silver bullet, preferably from someone with whom they can relate. When the tech nose dives into the ground, just call the lawyers and procure another system. There’s a reason liberal arts majors don’t take differential equations in college.
2. Engineering demonstrations take place in a hot house. You know. The kind of place that eccentrics use to raise orchids in Manhattan. Take the technology out of the hot house and let 23 year olds use the system, and the results are predictable. There are not enough dollars and people in the world to work through the data to figure out who is who and what is what. Why not guess? The results are likely to be more useful. Shocker. Come on. You know that random guesses can do better than a Bayesian based system which is not retrained on a continuing basis with carefully selected data.
3. Companies and stakeholders are so desperate for sales, opportunities to make presentations, and to convince people to give them money that the truth is squeezed from the engineers’ and developers’ actual statements. For example, the engineer says, “The training data must be updated every day, preferably in real time.” The marketer says, “Set it and forget it.” Yeah, right.
Net net: Facial recognition technology works under the right conditions. Unfortunately the right conditions are not the real world with people wearing sparkly sunglasses, a new hair style, a disguise, or a face that reflects one too many mojitos or a collision with a door.
Stephen E Arnold, December 20, 2019
NSO Group: Getting Mostly Fact Free Content Marketing
December 19, 2019
NSO Group is a specialized software and services firm. For years, the company operated off the radar of journalists and other observers. Once again NSO Group is making headlines, and DarkCyber is not sure if this is a good or not so good thing.
“Israeli Spyware Allegedly Used to Target Pakistani Officials’ Phones” reports that “NSO Group malware may have been used to access WhatsApp messages for state on state espionage.” There’s nothing quite like the weasel word “allegedly” and the phrase “may have been used” to raise some questions about this write up in a UK newspaper.
The article focuses on WhatsApp, owned by Facebook. The controversial outfit provides encrypted messaging to millions of people. Facebook is not exactly the world’s most straightforward company because it fancy dances around a number of behaviors.
Is it surprising that specialized firms have developed systems and methods to shine some light on the encrypted messages flowing through a widely used messaging app? DarkCyber thinks that dozens of specialized firms are working on exactly this problem. Do bad actors use Facebook’s and other firms’ encrypted messaging solutions to plan, recruit, and raise money? Yep.
What are governments supposed to do? Ignore the bad actors’ and their low cost, secret communications mechanism?
DarkCyber thinks this is a reasonable question to consider. The write up states, reports, or asserts:
Representatives for NSO declined to comment on questions about whether the company’s software had been used for government espionage.
The company has previously said that it considered it a “misuse” of its product if the software was used for anything other than the prevention of “serious crime and terrorism”. While it is not clear who wanted to target Pakistani government officials, the details are likely to fuel speculation that India could have been using NSO technology for domestic and international surveillance. The government of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, is facing questions from human rights activists about whether it has bought NSO technology after it emerged that 121 WhatsApp users in India were allegedly targeted earlier this year.
Yep, “not clear”, “speculation”, and another “allegedly.” Plus, NSO Group and others cited in the write up declined to comment.
Reason? The information presented is designed to generate clicks and not provide substantive, verifiable facts about what are ultimately decisions by governments of nation states.
Right? Governments. Nation states. Laws. Policies. Maybe nations should not be allowed to operate according to their precepts.
And NSO Group? Back in the spotlight about systems and methods tailored to governmental entities. Perhaps the newspaper should focus on some of the more interesting specialist firms operating in the UK. There are some, and a few might welcome fact based coverage.
Alleged and speculative writing is marketing from DarkCyber’s point of view. NSO Group has customers; the newspaper begs for money. Relevant? Yes, because sensationalism is not helpful for some important specialist products and services.
Stephen E Arnold, December 19, 2019
The Middle Kingdom and Surveillance Technology: Another Revenue and Influencer Opportunity?
December 19, 2019
China empowers 63 ruling entities with surveillance tech.
We are not surprised to learn that China had become a hub of surveillance technologies for repressive governments. The Japan Times’ article, “AI Surveillance Proliferating, with China Exporting Tech to Over 60 Countries, Report Says,” cites a report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The article specifies:
“Chinese companies have exported artificial intelligence surveillance technology to more than 60 countries including Iran, Myanmar, Venezuela, Zimbabwe and others with dismal human rights records, according to a report by a U.S. think tank. With the technology involving facial recognition systems that the Communist Party uses to crack down on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in China’s far western Xinjiang region, the report calls Beijing a global driver of ‘authoritarian tech.’ The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace released the report amid concerns that authoritarian regimes would use the technology to boost their power and data could be sent back to China.”
We also learn China often encourages governments to purchase this tech through soft loans, effectively subsidizing high-tech repression throughout the world. To make matters more ominous, over half these countries have opted in to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure project meant to boost China’s global economic influence.
The report does not stop at China, however. It notes that in Japan the NEC Corporation alone exports AI surveillance tech to 14 countries, IBM does so to 11 countries, and France, Germany, and Israel also proliferate it beyond their borders. According to the report, none of these nations adequately monitor and control the technologies, allowing it to be linked to a “range of violations.”
Cynthia Murrell, December 19, 2019
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