DarkCyber for August 27, 2019, Now Available
August 27, 2019
DarkCyber for August 20, 2019, is now available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and on Vimeo at https://www.vimeo.com/.
The program is a production of Stephen E Arnold. It is the only weekly video news shows focusing on the Dark Web, cybercrime, and lesser known Internet services.
This week’s story line up includes: Amazon AWS as an attack launch pad for bad actors; obtaining fake paper and passports; cyber warriors have side gigs; adversarial fashions are for sale; and information about the new DarkCyber series about policeware starting in November 2019.
The feature story this week is reports that some bad actors are integrating Amazon Web Services into their phishing and malware activities. The reason is that the platform is widely available, easy to use, and has an excellent reputation. Many phishing attacks use multiples services, and AWS is becoming a resource that is gaining acceptance among bad actors.
Other stories in this week’s program are:
Jeffrey Epstein, accused of human trafficking activity, had several passports in his home at the time of his arrest. Passports and other documents like a driver’s license can be purchased on the Dark Web and via other channels. Valid passports are available from a number of countries, including Greece. The valid passport from St. Kitts and Nevis cost between $150,000 and $400,000 and up. The lower charge is for a donation to the country’s sustainable growth fund. The $400,000 is the minimum required for a real estate purchase on the island. Crossing a border with fake paper or multiple passports can invite the question, “Why do you have these documents?” Unsatisfactory answers can result in denied entry, fines, or incarceration.
DarkCyber reports that Chinese cyber warriors have discovered how to operate side gigs. The idea is that these individuals use their hacking skills to compromise financial accounts. Another approach is to obtain digital products which can be sold to online game enthusiasts. Gamers will pay for game cheats and special powers to obtain an in game advantage.
For individuals who are concerned about facial recognition, a new fashion trend may be building up steam. Adversarial Fashion has developed clothing which uses designs and colors that can confuse facial recognition systems and license plate optical character recognition readers. DarkCyber provides information about where to order these T shirts, jackets, and other items. Plus, DarkCyber gives the viewer instructions for downloading a report about the technological weaknesses in surveillance systems.
DarkCyber is a weekly production of Stephen E Arnold. The currency series of videos ends with the August 27, 2019, program. The new series of DarkCyber videos begins on November 5, 2019. The new series will focus on policeware with an emphasis on Amazon’s products and services for law enforcement, intelligence professionals, and regulatory authorities in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
DarkCyber programs are available on Vimeo.com and YouTube.com.
Kenny Toth, August 27, 2019
Enterprise Search: AI and a Low Spend
August 26, 2019
DarkCyber Read “Capacity Raises $13.2 Million to Index Emails, Files, and More with AI.” The company was founded in 2017. We noted this passage:
Capacity (formerly Jane.ai), [is] a startup developing a platform that indexes data from apps, teams, and more and enables users to search through the corpus using natural language.
Plus, the system learns and improves over time.
The company’s funding to deliver AI, multi-source enterprise search is “over $21 million.”
One of the founders is CEO David Karandish, formerly the CEO of Answers.com. He is quoted as saying:
[Capacity] is an intuitive, intelligent AI-powered Teammate who gives employees instant access to the information they need to do their jobs well.
The indexing system can process content from such systems as:
- ADP human resource information
- Box
- NetSuite
- Google Gmail
- Microsoft Exchange
- Microsoft OneDrive
- Sage human resource information
- Salesforce
- ServiceNow
- Zendesk
The system includes “a chatbot with natural language processing capabilities that integrates with popular messaging apps such as Slack and Skype.”
We noted this statement:
Capacity can deliver company-wide announcements, like daily news and event notifications, and onboard new hires by providing access to forms that need to be completed. For customers with websites that have FAQ sections, it can be made public-facing to help cut down on customer service requests.
If Capacity can deliver, outfits like LucidWorks will have some explaining to do to its investors.
Stephen E Arnold, August 26, 2019
Amazonia for August 26, 2019
August 26, 2019
Amazon has been criticized in the last seven days. If anything, the scrutiny of the firm has increased. Examples include reactions to good news tweets from happy warehouse workers to stronger hints that government investigations are gathering steam. Other developments DarkCyber noted are:
Amazon AWS Crashes
DarkCyber spotted a report from FXStreet with the disconcerting headline: “The Amazon Web Services Crash Is Causing Havoc with Crypto Exchanges (Could Explain BitMex).” The write up presents this information:
AWS has crashed according to reports on twitter causing havoc at crypto currency exchanges.
Coindesk has chimed in, reporting that KuCoin is having problems.
If true, one might pose this question:
How reliable is Amazon AWS?
DarkCyber hypothesizes that the answer will be, “Good enough.” But is good enough good enough? DarkCyber is feeling Gnostic today.)
More Publishers Grousing, Squawking, and Releasing Legal Eagles
Reuters reported that top US publishers are suing Amazon Audible. The reason? Copyright infringement. The real news outfit reported:
Audible was sued by some of the top U.S. publishers for copyright infringement on Friday, aiming to block a planned rollout of a feature called ‘Audible Captions’ that shows the text on screen as a book is narrated.
The idea is that Amazon needs to obtain permission to display text on a screen. (Will some produce a motion picture channeling “Snakes on a Plane” with the title “Text on a Screen? The FBI agent could be played by Maya Mavgee maybe?)
Amazon Gives Up Control of It Site and Other Horrors
“Amazon Has Ceded Control of Its Site. The Result: Thousands of Banned, Unsafe or Mislabeled Products” has a serious allegation about the online bookstore. The pay walled story includes a nifty illustration. Here’s a snippet of the image:
Presumably the stuffed animals might harm you. The clock? Maybe it will chop off a child’s fingers. The flashlight? It could explode and remove your entire hand! The sticker? Oh, the sticker?
How many Amazon products are banned? Ars Technica says, “4,100” and references the Wall Street Journal.
The consequences are too horrible to contemplate. Amazon has to clean up its product offerings?
What would this product do to you?
The answer DarkCyber knows not.
PS. For a similar “Amazon is bad” write up. Check out the New York Times’ disclosure that the George Orwell you buy on Amazon may be a fake, rewritten, or some other dastardly bastardization of 1984 in 2019. Source: New York Times, complete with pay wall, begging for email address, etc. from a somewhat needy Gray Lady.
Amazon: Hard Sell at the Pentagon
ProPublica may be doing a type of journalism not practiced at the Washington Post. The nonprofit news out published “How Amazon and Silicon Valley Seduced the Pentagon.” The subtitle is a click magnet:
Tech moguls like Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt have gotten unprecedented access to the Pentagon. And one whistle blower who raised flags has paid the price.
When printed out, the article required 13 pages. Please navigate to the source document or one of the recycled versions of the story.
Several observations are warranted:
- Blowing the whistle on big wheels does not seem to be a career enhancing action. Just sayin’.
- The emphasis on Amazon is okay, but the real subject of the write up is the GOOG. But once Google fired the Department of Defense, changing the title was probably easier than beefing up the Amazon content.
- The Google may have been in a prime position to nab significant billions from the DoD. But quitting Project Maven, opening the door for Anduril Industries, and igniting a certain Silicon Valley big wheel to toss around suggestions of treason was significant.
There is juicy Amazon fruit in the write up. But the Google is front and center in this interesting company.
Will Amazon “win” the JEDI contract? DarkCyber is not sure. We hope it works better than the first delivered F 35 aircraft when JEDI leaves the launch pad. (No, we did not consult an “oracle” for this information.)
Amazon Enhances Australia
ZDNet published “What Amazon Web Services Security Certification Is Doing for Government.” The main idea is that the government of Australia is “now getting its hands on new technology.” DarkCyber learned:
When Amazon Web Services (AWS) achieved protected-level certification earlier this year, which meant it could provide storage for highly sensitive government workloads out of its AWS Asia Pacific region in Sydney, the company’s head of solution architecture Simon Elisha said it helped “unlock innovation” for the public sector.
Will similar benefits accrue to the US if Amazon wins the JEDI competition?
Also related to Australia: ZDNet reports that Amazon now offers a job placement service for Australian veterans. Good for Australian veterans, yes. The initiative appears to be part of Amazon’s effort to teach programmers how to make Amazon the world’s operating environment and know about Amazon’s hundreds of products, services, and functions.
Amazon: Big Revenue, Tiny Profits
The write up “Amazon’s Tiny Profits Explained.” We had a habit of napping in Econ 101 and just studying for the tests in Finance class. Amazon uses a range of techniques to keep profits down. There’s even a hockey stick and earthworm chart to show how the numbers have flower for a decade. Mr. Bezos worked on Wall Street, which may be something to keep in mind.
DarkCyber thinks it understands the profit method. The write up does not tackle a question DarkCyber finds more interesting; that is,
Why does Amazon pay low or no taxes?
The write up has an answer: Investment. We noted:
Amazon’s internal investments also keep its tax bill down, saving the company money. While we don’t know exactly what Amazon pays in taxes, various estimates suggest its rate is low thanks in part to its huge investments in its business. What we do know is that its taxes have provided plenty of fodder for presidential candidates like Joe Biden, who’s mentioned it on his campaign and on Twitter, and Elizabeth Warren, who included the company as an example in her new corporate tax proposal. President Donald Trump has also harangued the company for not paying enough in taxes. Amazon has responded that it’s simply paying what the government says it owes.
How skilled are Amazon’s finance and tax professionals? Skilled enough to keep Mr. Bezos happy.
Oh, Oh, Alexa: Dumber than Google?
We noted this write up by a relative of Debbie Downer called “The Results Are In: Alexa Is Legitimately Dumber than Siri and Google Assistant.” First off, DarkCyber would just say “Alexa is dumber than Siri and Google Assistant.” The legitimately and the results don’t add much. Alexa is dumb could be considered suitable as a headline as well.
The main point of the write up? Alexa is dumb.
We noted this statement:
The venture capital firm recently asked Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant the same 800 questions. Google Assistant was the most successful of the bunch and was able to answer 93% of the questions correctly. In comparison, Siri was only able to get 83% of the questions right, and Alexa got 80%. Samsung’s Bixby and Microsoft’s Cortana, both lesser-used voice assistants, didn’t even make the cut.
I am not sure is I have much confidence in venture capital funded or completed research. The scores appear to fall within the range of competent smart software systems. Keep in mind that accuracy rates with 10 to 20 percent “wrong” answers is likely to make decisions generated by these wondrous numerical recipes wrong— a lot. If one of those questions pertains to the antidote required to save your child, are you going to rely on smart software or a trained physician?
Dumb, by the way, is relative. Identifying rotten tomatoes is different from identifying bad actors. But the name of the game today is “good enough.” That’s what these smart systems deliver. And you know what? That’s good enough, which is something Debbie Downer intuits.
A Vote of Not Much Confidence
The assumption that Amazon is the solution to a range of problems may be correct for some people. “Companies Should Disclose Amazon Web Services as Material Risk” reminds people that “Amazon’s hack prone cloud computing platform” is an issue. The negative paint daub is a reaction to the former AWS professional who breached security at Capital One and possibly more than 24 other companies. DarkCyber noted this statement in the report:
regardless of any potential SEC actions, shareholders should be demanding answers about AWS usage from companies already in their portfolio and those in which they are considering investing.
Amazon Forecast Available
Amazon has made its machine learning technology to the public. Amazon Forecast is a managed service which outputs forecasts. With the technology one can predict demand for products and services. The system also makes it possible to predict infrastructure requirements, energy demand, and similar variables; for example, allocation of police resources. Amazon Forecast produces private, custom models that can help developers make predictions that are up to 50% more accurate than traditional methods.Amazon Forecast automatically sets up a data pipeline, ingests data, trains a model, provides accuracy metrics, and performs forecasts. Amazon asserts that developers do not have to have any expertise in machine learning to use the service. More information is available at https://aws.amazon.com/forecast/. DarkCyber anticipates that as this product matures, its functions will be a direct competitive threat to Palantir Technologies, Recorded Future, and similar policeware and intelware vendors.
Amazon to Increase Staff in Portland
BizJournals reported that Amazon will add up to 400 new jobs in Portland, Oregon. This “real news” item is protected by a pay wall. But a free version with more information is available from MarketWatch at this link. Amazon has been a good corporate citizen. We learned:
The company has created more than 3,500 full-time jobs in Oregon since 2010 and invested over $9 billion in the state, including customer fulfillment facilities, cloud infrastructure, and compensation to its employees.
Amazon India
We reported that Amazon has been chugging toward India. The Amazon facility is, according to Reuters, “its biggest global campus.” Amazon India is growing fast and needs to expand in Hyderabad. How big?
The new campus in India, spread over 9.5 acres and costing “hundreds of millions of dollars”, will house over 15,000 employees, the company said. Amazon has 62,000 employees in India, roughly a third of whom are based in Hyderabad.
Portland’s 400 staff additions sends an interesting signal.
Move Over US Medical Database/Taxonomy Experts. AWS Is Now the Sheriff of This Here Domain
The individuals who build controlled vocabularies have embraced the term “metadata”. Goodbye, indexing. Jargon is better. Some of the people who build controlled term lists are into certain fields. Medical terminology is an example which keeps “Taxonomy in a Day” types at bay.
Who should create approved medical terminology? How about the National Institutes of Health?
Wrong.
The correct answer appears in “The ADHA Is Simplifying Its Clinical Terminology Database with AWS.” The ZDNet write up reports like a good “real news” outfit:
the ADHA has developed NCTS 2.0 to be more simplified by taking a serverless approach to the system to take advantage of the AWS shared responsibility model.
DarkCyber thinks that this is important, a harbinger, and an approach coming to America.
Defining terms frames reality. When reality is the AWS SageMaker system, there will be some downstream adjustments that individuals, indexers, and commercial health and database publishers will find interesting.
Change or die in the Amazon forest.
Amazon Bahrain Is Open and Training People
Get trained up or get left at the station. AWS is holding cloud training for Bahrain businesses. Why? you ask.
Trade Arabia states:
the new region adds to the already existing investment of infrastructure from Amazon in the Middle East with the already operational Amazon CloudFront edge locations in the cities Dubai, and Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates.
Amazon AWS Inspires Third Party Hardware
We found “Renesas Electronics Enhanced RX65N WiFi Connectivity Cloud Kit Simplifies Secure IoT Endpoint Device Connections to Amazon Web Services” long winded. The main point is that Renesas built a card which includes on board support for Amazon FreeRTOS. Connection to AWS is, thus, easy. What else is on the device? Here’s a short list: Dual bank flash for over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates and Trusted Secure IP (TSIP). The cost? Just $50.
Amazon Supported Ignite: Farm to Consumer Start Up
All the Farms is a Web site that finds farms. The idea is that a person can locate fresh produce near one’s home. According to the Register Guard:
The US Ignite Startup Accelerator Program, partnered with Amazon Web Services, this year accepted 19 startups from across the country. Each was deemed a business-ready startup with a product that could help create “smart cities.”
Like Google, Amazon wants to spot high potential start ups. If some of those outfits need cloud technology, it is possible that the Bezos bulldozer could hook a needy outfit up to the megawatt outfit’s data center. Any connection to Whole Foods? The write up does not speculate.
Amazon and Blockchain
Amazon has announced that its Managed Blockchain is going to get cloud support through Amazon’s CloudFormation. The idea is that scaling will be easier. Source: FXStreet
Gaps in AWS Security? Your Problem
According to Forbes, the capitalist tool, yes. “The Truth About Privileged Access Security On AWS and Other Public Clouds” reveals that basic security services are provided but:
the free version often doesn’t go far enough to support PAM at the enterprise level. To AWS’s credit, they continue to invest in IAM features while fine-tuning how Config Rules in their IAM can create alerts using AWS Lambda. AWS’s native IAM can also integrate at the API level to HR systems and corporate directories, and suspend users who violate access privileges.
The write up points out:
- AWS can’t protect you
- Use the security model provided
- Use the AWS identity infrastructure
- You can go cross cloud with security.
How? It’s simple. Just assemble the parts shown in the figure below:
Remember how IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft would lock customers in? Amazon uses the same methods.
Partners/Resellers/Consultants
Amazon continues to gather third parties for a Bezos bulldozer ride. Examples are:
Academy Software Foundation. This outfit has snagged AWS as a premier member. Wait. Amazon has joined the movie industry outfit. Source: Newkerala
Druva. The data protection start up enables intelligent data storage on AWS. Source: Silicon Angle
Rockset. The company has released areal time SQL for Amazon’s DynamoDB. Source: MarketWatch
SoftServe. The consulting firm has expanded its relationship with Amazon. Source: Yahoo
Stackery. The serverless workflow software is now available on AWS. Apps can be managed from development to production. Source: Digital Journal
Wespac. The Little Ripper drone is now an Amazon partner.
Customers can now tap into near real time video streaming via the cloud. Anduril Industries, are you nervous? Source: Aero News Net
Stephen E Arnold, August 22, 2019
SEO: The Relevance Killer
August 26, 2019
The maker of the AWS-based email platform Send With SES vents some frustration in the post, “The Internet Is An SEO Landfill.” We could not agree more. The entrepreneur describes the advice they have received from SEO consultants, who suggest paying to flood the internet with thousands of unnecessary words about their simple and well-documented product. All to trick Google’s algorithm into elevating their site in search results because, of course, that is how one gets ahead in competitive fields these days. The author is as vexed as we are about this state of affairs; they write:
“Search Engines need some kind of validation to decide what’s popular. What better validation than gossip. And that’s what the internet has become. Full of gossip, junk content, paid posts, con articles, click bait links, sock-puppetry, spam, regurgitated spam, free e-books, self-aggrandizement, fake followers, fake news, – all designed to achieve one thing – con the Search Engine – and you.
We found this interesting as well:
“Don’t the makers of Search Engines know this? Of course they do. It’s just not in their interest to bring clarity. SEO Consultants are an unpaid [by search engines] army of evangelists who channel billions of dollars in ad revenue to Search Engines. Why would a Search Engine want to disown the evangelists when so much money is at stake!
We also noted this statement:
“SEO is easy money. It attracts the bottom feeders of the tech world. It’s easy to make a livelihood off of SEO. Why? Because it requires little skill. The startup costs are little. There’s a huge and easy market … lots of entrepreneurs who will grab at any straw of hope that promises to make their product more visible.”
Ouch! We are guessing the writer did not bite on any of their would-be SEO consultants’ pitches. If only every business would adopt this attitude, we could relegate junk content to the archives of history.
Cynthia Murrell, August 26, 2019
Elsevier: Exemplary Customer Service
August 26, 2019
Academic publishers’ journals are expensive and are notoriously protective of their content. Elsevier is the country’s largest academic publisher as well as the biggest paywall perpetrator. California is big on low cost, effective education, particularly the University of California.
The University of California and Elsevier have butted heads over access for months, but in July 2019 Elsevier pulled the plug on recent research. The Los Angeles Times explains the details in the article, “In Act Of Brinkmanship, A Big Publisher Cuts Off UC’s Access To Its Academic Journals.”
Elsevier’s contract with UC expired in 2018. UC is willing to renegotiate a contract with Elsevier, but UC wants the new contract to include an open access clause, meaning all work produced on its campuses will be free to the public.
Academic publishers usually print scholarly material for free, but require expensive subscription fees to access content. UC wants to change the system to where researchers pay to have their papers published, but not for subscriptions. UC creates 10% of all published research in the US and is the largest producer of academic content in favor of open access.
Elsevier and other academic publishers are profit gluttons, while hiding behind pay walls. UC wants to continue its relationship with Elsevier, but the former agreement would raise subscription and access costs to exorbitant amounts. The University of California found its contract with Elsevier to be cost prohibitive, so they took a stand and demanded open access for UC research.
“UC isn’t the only institution to stage a frontal assault on this model. Open access has been spreading in academia and in scholarly publishing; academic consortiums in Germany and Sweden also have demanded read-and-publish deals with Elsevier, which cut them off after they failed to reach deals last year. Those researchers are still cut off, according to Gemma Hersh, Elsevier’s vice president for global policy. Smaller deals have been made in recent months with research institutions in Norway and Hungary.
We noted this statement:
….Under the circumstances, it looks like Elsevier may have picked a fight with the wrong adversary. While the open-access movement is growing, ‘the reality is that the majority of the world’s articles are still published under the subscription model, and there is a cost associated with reading those articles,’ Hersh says.”
The academic publishing paywall seems to be under siege. There is pressure to reduce costs in higher education and many professors and professional staff are demanding open access.
Elsevier may be perceived as mishandling its customers.
Whitney Grace, August 26, 2019
Hong Kong Live Video
August 25, 2019
DarkCyber did a quick check of Amazon Twitch and Google YouTube at 0700 am US Eastern time. There were no live streams of Hong Kong protests. DLive and Mixer were without Hong Kong streams.
But we did spot what looked like a live stream of the Hong Kong protests on Periscope at this link. Remember live streams go dead often without warning, so DarkCyber cannot provide an updated link.
Questions:
- Why is there no live coverage from Google YouTube?
- Why has Amazon Twitch dropped Hong Kong protest streams? (Note: a Hong Kong protest stream was available at 0734 am US Eastern at this link.)
- Is DLive unable or unwilling to stream the protest content?
Stephen E Arnold, August 25, 2019
The Google: In the News
August 25, 2019
DarkCyber noted this story: “Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims Google Manipulated Millions of 2016 Votes.” President Trump sent a message via Twitter. (One assumes that the account had not been compromised):
“Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought! @JudicialWatch.
The write up makes the case that the President was incorrect. The article goes to great lengths to put the likely source of President Trump’s information in context. That’s good.
Nevertheless, DarkCyber was thinking about Google’s past behavior. One example was the International Business Times reports, “Who Is Andy Rubin? Android Creator, Ex-Google Exec Runs a ‘Sex Ring’.” The startling accusation came out in Rubin’s soon-to-be ex-wife’s divorce petition. (There are also allegations around the prenup and financial opacity, which may actually be more relevant to the case, but I digress.) Despite the efforts of Rubin’s legal counsel, a California state judge unsealed part of the complaint in April.
I will spare our gentle readers the details, but it is worth noting Rubin faced charges of sexual harassment while still at Google. It appears things went downhill from there. Writer Kalyan Kumar reports:
“Rubin left Google in 2014 after 9 years of service. His exit followed the uproar over an employee’s complaint to Google Management against Rubin. Google paid him $90 million as a settlement during separation. Google’s handling of the harassment case had drawn criticism as it appeared the company was protecting Rubin despite allegations of sexual misconduct.
We noted:
“After leaving Google, Rubin founded the Essential company, which sought to launch an alternative to Android and iPhone. But that failed to tickle the market. In 2017, he took a break from Essential, after Google ordered a probe into his relationship with the subordinate. A spate of media reports also kept him under pressure.”
For Rubin’s part, his lawyer insists the claims are all bunk, and that could certainly be the case.
Add to the Rubin story Peter Thiel’s assertion that some of Google’s activities could be interpreted as treasonous.
What’s with the criticism of the Google?
- False data about Google’s “manipulations” in the form a tweet from the president of the United States
- A Google executive accused of improper behavior gets a big payday
- A Silicon Valley luminary suggesting Google does not have the interests of the US at the top of its priorities.
And Facebook thought it had a PR problem.
Stephen E Arnold, August 20, 2019
Cynthia Murrell, July 10, 2019
Weapon Identification Cards
August 24, 2019
Interested in weapons? Want playing cards to help you identify devices? If you answered, “Yes,” check out these links which were valid as of 730 am US Eastern on August 24, 2019:
Thanks to Secrecy News.
Stephen E Arnold, August 24, 2019
Google and Details: Hey, Work? What?
August 24, 2019
DarkCyber noted several “real news” items related to what we call “the chill mentality”, one aspect of Google’s management methods.
Example 1: The Next Web reported “Google listed the wrong number for its product hotline, nobody noticed.” That’s one way to be efficient with regard to customer support costs.
Example 2: The Next Web reported “Open-source spyware bypasses Google Play defenses — twice.” Yep, security is Job One.
Example 3: Ars Technica noted: “85 Google Play apps with 8 million downloads forced full screen ads on users.” A paltry eight million downloads. Chill, folks.
Example 4: Slashgear pointed out that “Google just gave Hangouts a temporary stay of execution.” From the death sentence in January 2019 to August 2019, Google is just being flexible. Relax.
Be flexible.
Stephen E Arnold, August 24, 2019
Knewz: Who New?
August 23, 2019
DarkCyber read “News Corp Is Apparently Working on a News App Called Knewz.”
My memory was jarred. What? Knewz. Will this service channel:
- Dow Jones News/Retrieval
- The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
- Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing.
- Factiva?
News Corp. wants to fight back against the “free news” available from the evil upstarts. Well, Google News is no longer an upstart. Facebook, maybe? But what about Bing News, or the quite useful Big Project.
Knews? From News Corp.?
The write up states:
The service will be called Knewz.com, and take the form of both a traditional website and a mobile app. It will draw from a variety of national outlets such as The New York Times and NBC News, as well as more partisan news sites like The Daily Caller and ThinkProgress.
Many years ago, Dow Jones launched a system which made news available.
Here’s a personal anecdote. I subscribe to the dead tree edition of the Wall Street Journal. If I want online access to the News Corp. property, I have to navigate to a Web page or call the hot line. I create an online subscription. But when the print subscription is renewed, I have to do this over and over and over again.
There is no connection between the print and online services. It seems that when I renew the print subscription, the online service would be updated and continue working. But no. That’s just not possible for a company struggling with modernization since the late 1980s and the initiatives of Richard Levine and others.
Is this type of system elegance “Knewz”?
Stephen E Arnold, August 23, 2019
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