Amazonia for August 5, 2019
August 5, 2019
The Bezos bulldozer has a bell. It goes “ring, ring, ring.” For information on what may be last week’s most important Amazon story, navigate to our DarkCyber story “Amazon and Law Enforcement: Irrelevant or Something Else?” Other items the DarkCyber research team noted in the past seven days:
JEDI Award on Hold: Amazon the Reason
The Inquirer clarified the JEDI contract decision. The UK online information service said:
The Pentagon is holding off on awarding its $10bn JEDI contract while the Defense Secretary reviews whether it was rigged in favor of Amazon. The contract, expected to be awarded to either Amazon or Microsoft later this month, has been criticized by bit-part actor Donald Trump, who argued that the process was biased towards Amazon.
The UK publication noted:
However, the contracting process for the project, which attracted bids from IBM, Oracle, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, has been marred by issues. Google announced its withdrawal from the bidding in October after employees called out the company out for violating its now deprecated “Don’t be evil” motto by supplying technology to the military. Microsoft employees also published an open letter urging the company not to bid on the project, arguing that doing so would “enhance lethality”.
Perhaps Amazon’s low profile, yet robust tactics, may roil the waters of the Potomac swamp. Amazon now has to slog through a different type of equatorial micro climate. There are dangerous creatures in the swamps on which the nation’s capital is constructed.
eBay Accuses Amazon Seller Poaching
The Wall Street Journal (August 2, 2019, Page B 4) published “eBay Says Amazon Staff Poached Sellers.” The online bookstore allegedly engages in tactics one of its competitors and soon to be victims acts in an un-eBay way. The newspaper reports:
Lawsuit accuses three from e-commerce rival of breaking racketeer laws with alleged lure.
The prey — sorry, DarkCyber meant to say “competitor” — filed a lawsuit on July 31, 2019, which asserts that the online bookstore broke Federal racketeering laws. The result was “harm.” According to Mr. Murdoch’s “real news” outlet:
The eBay lawsuit accuses the defendants of providing quotas for Amazon representatives to to recruit eBay sellers.
DarkCyber wonders if Amazon’s aggressive tactics are different from Amazon’s normal tactics; that is, baked into the culture of the online bookstore?
Amazon is attracting considerable scrutiny regarding its business practices, including the “not our fault” issue regarding Capital One data and the not so surprising delay thrust upon the Department of Defense by President Trump.
Has some of Mark Zuckerberg’s success in doing what he wishes influenced Amazon’s senior managers. When filtered down to the alleged interactions with eBay sellers, perhaps governance is being practiced, just in a way different from eBay’s expectations.
Amazon Sues Employee for Taking a Job at the Google
GeekWire published “Amazon Sues Former AWS Executive for Joining Rival Google Division As Cloud Wars Escalate.” Ironic? Nope, just a Bezos bulldozer tactic. The write up explains:
The executive in Amazon’s crosshairs is Philip Moyer, a Pennsylvania-based former AWS sales executive whose past experience includes several CEO roles and a long stint as a manager for Microsoft. Moyer was the chief executive for software-as-a-service companies Edgar Online and Cassiopae, according to his LinkedIn. In 2017, Amazon hired Moyer as a sales executive for AWS focusing on the financial services industry. By the time he resigned in 2019, he had 13 direct reports and managed 100 employees, according to the complaint. When Moyer accepted the job with Amazon, he signed a non-competition agreement, a contract in which an employee agrees not to work for a competitor for a period of time to avoid sharing confidential trade secrets.
Who will win? The lawyers for sure.
Amazon Security: Good, Bad, or Meh?
Amazon was at the center of the Capital One data breach. Amazon was quick to point out Amazon was not at fault. Capital One asserted that the security problem occurred in infrastructure. So was Amazon at fault? DarkCyber has lost track of the number of security breaches occurring because an AWS customer failed to implement appropriate security on the customers’ rented AWS service. The customer is responsible.
Apparently some elected officials want to know more. Business Insider (note that you may have to pony up some cash to read the article) published “Republican Lawmakers Want Answers from Jeff Bezos on Amazon Web Services Security Before the $10 Billion Defense Cloud Contract Is Awarded” suggests that Amazon is the winner of the competition.
The write up reports:
lawmakers say that they want to investigate because the government is on the brink of trusting AWS with some of the nation’s most sensitive data.
Another take on the security problem, which was allegedly not Amazon’s fault, appears in Computing. DarkCyber noted this statement:
Further reports suggested that companies named in the leaked Capital one files, including Ford and Italian bank Unaccredited, may also have been breached. However, Amazon said there is no evidence to support these claims. Speaking to Bloomberg, a spokesperson for AWS explained that the company had “reached out to the customers mentioned in online forums by the perpetrator to help them assess their own logs for any evidence of an issue”.
DarkCyber opines that Amazon will repeat its mantra: “It’s the customer’s responsibility. We just provide the platform.”
Sound familiar? Does the mantra echo Facebook and Google explanations?
There is the issue of the cat loving, former Amazon AWS employee, the past history of AWS customer data breaches, and the $10 billion.
Amazon Acquires E8
Amazon acquired the Israeli storage company founded in 2014. The company builds gear relying on flash memory. The idea is to reduce latency. This company assembles hardware. According CNBC, E8 “boasts that the company’s hardware products “provide up to 10 times the performance of other all-flash-arrays, with consistently strong performance and low latency.” DarkCyber estimates that the price tag was in the $100 million range, but that’s unsubstantiated except by the burritos I fed my research team after the group produced this number. Will Amazon move more aggressively into hardware? Looks like it.
Amazon Oracle Feud: What’s Next?
I thought Oracle was out of the JEDI competition. Oracle apparently got the memo and elects to disagree. There’s an interesting run down of the latest action in this escalating battle. On one side is the Bezos bulldozer and on the other is the fading Russian fighter pilot, Larry Ellison. “Pentagon Rebukes Oracle As Debate over a Massive Federal Contract Turns Caustic” provides a helpful run down of the latest rebuke to the database company which calls Sea World Way home. Either Amazon or Microsoft will get a contract which could be worth $10 billion over five years. Oracle wants the deal, and unlike Microsoft and Amazon, Oracle could use the revenue.
The write up states:
Oracle alleged in a lawsuit that the Defense Department’s bidding process has been plagued with potential conflicts of interest and rigged in favor of Amazon’s cloud computing business. Oracle’s attempt to block the award was rejected earlier this month, with the judge in charge of the case explaining his reasoning in a lengthy document unsealed Friday. But in his decision, the judge posed new questions about the Pentagon’s legal argument for awarding one big contract. DoD spokeswoman Elissa Smith noted in a statement that the judge also affirmed that the Pentagon was “reasonably justified” to award a single contract. Despite the “tension” in the judge’s ruling, the department is planning to move ahead and award the contract in August, nearly a year and a half after it was announced.
Like Oracle’s fight with Google over Java, the old school database company won’t go quietly into that good night.
Just Walk Around Money
DarkCyber’s researchers walk around with a few dollars in pocket, backpack, or purse. Jeff Bezos requires more. “Jeff Bezos Sells $2 Billion in Stock after 4% Stake Transfer.” The money appears to be related to Mr. Bezos’ divorce settlement. MacKenzie Bezos is “official Amazon’s second largest individual shareholder,” according to Bloomberg. (You may have to pay to read the fluff around this factoid.)
Amazon Boxes and Boxes Earn Vendors Boxed Ears
We are fascinated with the matruska doll approach to packaging for some our Amazon orders. “Amazon Will Fine Sellers Who Ship Products in Oversized Packaging” explains that change is coming for offenders of Amazon’s “size” rule. (Will Amazon warehouses follow this rule? DarkCyber does not know. Humans under pressure to package do some interesting things we have heard.)
Amazon Smart Software
Amazon wants its software to be smarter or appear to be smarter. The company revealed a new method for making sense of certain humanoid related actions. The technique allegedly combines text-based search and a custom-built knowledge graph. You can get the Amazon explanation at this link.
Amazon Adds to Its Policeware Data Repository
Gizmodo alleges that “Cops Are Giving Amazon’s Ring Your Real Time 911 Caller Data.” DarkCyber finds this interesting. The online information service states:
The California-based company is seeking police departments’ permission to tap into the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) feeds used to automate and improve decisions made by emergency dispatch personnel and cut down on police response times. Ring has requested access to the data streams so it can curate “crime news” posts for its “neighborhood watch” app, Neighbors.
Good neighbors are important. Community building is a plus. Cross correlated with other data in Amazon’s policeware system could yield some interesting insights.
Amazon Market Position
DarkCyber noted this number: 50 percent and more. The number refers to the AWS share of the public cloud infrastructure market. The capitalist tool pegs the dollar value at over $32 billion so Amazon controls $16 billion or more. The write up says the data come from the Gartner Group. Believe the number or not.
Amazon and Big Cars
“Getting Under the Hood of Amazon’s Auto Ambitions” is mostly Amazon cheerleading. The write up explains that Amazon is active in many facets of the automobile industry. The springboard is AWS, robots, policeware, and alliances. The stakes are high. Apple and Android are in autos, but no company has locked down the “Amazon approach” to market monopolization.
The write up states:
A Reuters analysis of more than 5,000 patents granted to Amazon from December 2016 through May 2019 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicates at least 210 of those patents cover transportation-related topics from drones to automated ground vehicles. The auto-related patent push outpaced tech rivals Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google, whose sister company Waymo is a self-driving pioneer.
But patents are not the principal thrust. The ace in the hole is Amazon’s designs on becoming the provider of an “industrial cloud.” Procurement, management, back office services, and more are part of the plan.
Amazon and Tiny Cars
TechCrunch, which appears to be covering more Amazon information, published “Why AWS Is Building Tiny AI Race Cars to Teach Machine Learning.” According to the write up:
[The “tiny car” play] was really about how do we put machine learning in the hands of every developer and data scientist.
Before you open the door, be sure to check the price tag: $399.
Amazon Emulates Google
Google kills services. Amazon is following in the footsteps of the online advertising company. If you are a fan of the push to order Dash button, find a new shopping pleasure jolt. According to GeekWire,
Amazon will turn off capabilities for Dash buttons on Aug. 31.
The physical buttons are not as slick as talking to an Amazon home device. Geekwire says:
Amazon still operates the Dash Replenishment program for connected appliances that automatically reorder items when supplies are low. The company also created a virtual version of the Dash Button on its website. In addition, Amazon has built out voice shopping capabilities for Alexa, the digital brain that powers Echo devices.
Amazon Speech Engine Gets a New Speaker
“AWS’ New Text to Speech Engine Sounds Like a Newscaster” explains that Amazon’s speech engine sounds like a — well, hmmmm — a newscaster. DarkCyber has heard some pretty interesting newscasters, but we assume that the newscasters are people like the talking heads on US cable television or the morning shows in the UK. Sorry, BBC, with your changes, we can’t understand some of the newscasters getting air time.
The write up reports:
The new newscaster style is now available in two U.S. voices (Joanna and Matthew) and Amazon is already working with USA Today and Canada’s The Globe and Mail, among a number of other companies, to help them voice their texts.
We are disappointed that the North Korean newscaster who recently retired has not been pressed into duty.
The article includes an audio of the Amazon Polly Newscaster. We love that Polly name. Very Victorian. Proper. No association with a parrot, of course.
Amazon and Images: Some Ethical Insight?
We noted “Man Interviewed at Amazon, Didn’t Get the Job, but They Used His Photo on Their Jobs Site,” not for the grammar errors, but for the interesting privileged approach of the world’s largest online bookstore.
The write up reported in good enough English:
…Jordan Guthmann, a VP at Edelman PR, interviewed for a job at Amazon. While he was on the company campus chatting with folks, someone asked to take his photo and he kindly obliged. Guthmann didn’t get the gig, but apparently he at least looked like the right person for the job: Until a few days ago his photo appeared on Amazon’s Talent Acquisition website.
The good news is that Amazon swapped out the photo. The bad news is that the Amazonian behavior reveals a tiny insight about the ethical compass at Amazon. There is no true north, just whatever direction is expedient maybe?
Going Green
Amazon reminds me of a jungle. Green, in this case, evokes renewable energy, not the life and death struggle in the Amazon landscape. USA Today reports that the world’s largest online bookstore is “launching renewable energy projects in Virginia and Ireland.” Perhaps the Bezos bulldozer is turning over a leaf?
Digital Currency
Amazon supports a number of digital currency inspired activities. One of the newer initiatives is putting $100,000 into a competition designed to “Change the Face of Blockchain.” Solve this problem and collect the money:
Yahoo includes this explanation from a content sparkplug:
“You are going to need people who are really good at hardware design, but also people with algorithmic skills,” he said. “My guess is the winning team will have a combination of that expertise.”
DarkCyber thinks that the point of the competition may be to identify potential hires for those supporting the event. Once again: DarkCyber speculation because the environmental impact of digital currency related activities may become grist for someone’s water mill.
Amazon High Performance Cluster You Have Always Wanted
A rah rah article which begins, “…Building an HPC system can be complex”, is a must read. HPCWire explains that “High performance computing customers love the breadth of services offered by AWS and the flexibility offered by the cloud to address their computational challenges. AWS provides you with the opportunity to innovate quickly and accelerate your workflow thanks to a virtually unlimited capacity.”
Although a trifle one sided, the article provides a teaser for the more complex explanation which is located on the Amazon AWS pages at this link. Easy? Absolutely. How does DarkCyber know? The word “simple is used to index the page.”
Dash Slows and Then Halts
Amazon has many ordering options. One can talk at Alexa. One can use the Amazon eCommerce Web site. But the Dash button is dashed. DarkCyber learned that Dash has crashed. “Amazon is terminating the Dash button on August 31” said:
The Dash button was created to allow consumers to instantly order a product with the push of a button. The ease of use made it perfect for consumables you often need restocked, such as laundry detergent or paper towels, but served little purpose outside of that.
Killing off dud products or products developers don’t want to work on is a Google tactic. Should Amazon be viewed through Google goggles?
Consultant, Partner, Reseller News
Cerner. The health information technology company has partnered with Amazon. According to MedCity News: “The collaboration will boost the business of both companies against the backdrop of tech giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft vying for healthcare market share in the industry’s shift to cloud-based infrastructure.” For additional color about Amazon healthcare, navigate to “Amazon Web Services Exec Partovi on Where the Biggest AI Opportunities Are in Healthcare.”
KCF Technologies. The tie up with Amazon AWS “a simple-to-use, fully automated, cloud-based backup and recovery solution for Cassandra databases on Amazon Web Services (AWS).” Source: Business Insider
MapleTech. This vendor of property and insurance services has migrated to Amazon AWS. Thus, its customers are now Amazonians. Source: Virtual Strategy
Motion Picture Academy Software Foundation. Amazon has joined. An official of the organization said: “Our membership has almost doubled since we launched the Academy Software Foundation a year ago, and we’re grateful that both studios and software vendors are seeing the value in having a neutral home for collaboration and shared development of open source software.” Source: The Hollywood Reporter
SoftServe. The company has announced an expanded relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) extending SoftServe’s offerings for media and entertainment enterprises. Source: Yahoo
VeChain rolls out is VeChain Thor Blockchain solutions. The venue was Amazon’s Beijing “global” summit. Why’s this important? Beijing. Blockchain. Global. Source: Yahoo
WiPro. This consulting company has teamed with Amazon to create a “co innovation center.” Where is the innovation center in case you want to mosey over and introduce yourself?
This state-of-the-art ‘innovation-in-action’ center, located in Wipro’s campus at Kodathi, Bengaluru…
And what’s cooking in the center:
The center will serve as a multi-disciplinary customer showcase hub for specialized teams to ideate, collaborate, develop and deliver futuristic solutions, leveraging AWS Cloud services in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, augmented and virtual reality, among others.
Source: CIOL
Amazon and Apple: Two Anti Trust Investigation Attractors
The Verge reported that “Amazon cut a deal with Apple to bring direct iPhone sales to its platform for the first time. Now, that deal is coming under scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission.” The main idea is that the deal nuked the market for other Amazon sellers and helped Apple put a dent in folks who were repairing in an un Apple-like way Apple devices.
DarkCyber noted this chunk of the write up:
Still, experts say the Apple-Amazon deal could easily be grounds for an antitrust complaint. According to Sally Hubbard, an antitrust expert and the director of enforcement strategy at the OpenMarkets Institute, the practice of cutting a deal with a brand to shut out third-party sellers who may be peddling counterfeit products or simply just lower-cost versions is called “brand gating.” It’s rampant on Amazon, and it may be illegal, she argues. “You put a gate around the brand and say all the third-party sellers of whatever that brand is get a notice saying you can no longer sell this product on our platform unless you get authorization from the brand,” Hubbard tells The Verge. “But of course the brand is not going to let you sell if you’re under the [minimum advertised price]. Problem is that it’s illegal under antitrust law.”
Fair? You and the legal eagles decide.
Grab Your Popcorn: Re:Inforce 2019 Videos Online
You can get the information presented at one of Amazon’s upscale conferences on your computing device. Just bring popcorn and patience. There’s nothing like low contrast slides and jargon to tell a story. Here’s the link you need.
Amazon Is Number One in IaaS
IaaS means infrastructure as a service. As if Amazon’s revenues and tidal waves of AWS announcements were not enough, now IT Pro Portal makes it official: “Amazon Keeps Top Spot in IaaS Market.” True, the data come from a very objective source, the Gartner Group. Who’s number two? Microsoft. What happens if Microsoft wins JEDI as Amazon fires bullets into its feet? Gartner’s very objective analysts will reveal the truth in a world of fake news.
Amazon Twitch Watches a Star Leave the Ecosystem
I know you are heart broken that Ninja has jumped from Twitch to Mixer. DarkCyber thinks more of these future Clark Gabels will head for greener pastures. Twitch is cracking down and the changes are annoying the talent who make the service thrive. Source: The Verge
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2019
Capital One and Surprising Consequences
August 4, 2019
DarkCyber noted the ZDNet article “GitHub Sued for Aiding Hacking in Capital One Breach.” According to the “real news” outfit:
While Capital One is named in the lawsuit because it was its data that the hacker stole, GitHub was also included because the hacker posted some of the stolen information on the code-sharing site.
Github (now owned by Microsoft) allegedly failed to detect the stolen data. Github did not block the posting of Social Security numbers. These follow a specific pattern. Many text parsing methods identify and index the pattern and link the number to other data objects.
What law did Github violate? Management lapses are not usually the stuff that makes for a good legal drama, at least on “Law and Order” reruns. The write up reports:
The lawsuit alleges that by allowing the hacker to store information on its servers, GitHub violated the federal Wiretap Act.
DarkCyber thanks ZDNet for including a link to the complaint.
Lawyers, gotta love ‘em because we have a former Amazon employee, a financial institution with a remarkable track record of security issues, and a company owned by Microsoft. What about the people affected? Oh, them. What if Github is “guilty”? Perhaps a new chapter in open source and public posting sites begins?
Stephen E Arnold, August 4, 2019
Flawed Data In, Bias Out
August 3, 2019
Artificial intelligence is biased. AI algorithms are biased against non-white people as well as females. The reason is that the programmers are usually white males and it is usually an oversight to add data that makes their AI algorithms diverse. Silicon Republic shares a brand new ways that AI is biased, this time against poorer individuals: “Biased AI Reportedly Struggles To Identify Objects From Poorer Households.”
The biggest biased AI culprits are visual recognition algorithms built to identify people and objects. The main cause behind their biases is the lack of diverse data. The article points out how Facebook’s AI research lab discovered how biased data exists in internationally used visual object recognition systems. Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Vision, Amazon Rekognition, Clarifai, and IBM Watson use algorithms that were tasked with identifying common household items from a global dataset. Information in the dataset included:
“The dataset covers 117 categories of different household items and documents the average monthly income of households from various countries across the world, ranging from $27 in Burundi to $10,098 in China. When the algorithms were shown the same product but from different parts of the world, the researchers found that there was a 10pc increase in chance they would fail to identify items from a household earning less than $50 versus one making more than $3,500 a month.”
This raises an interesting view on how the AI are programmed to identify objects. One example is identifying soap on different surfaces. In richer countries, soap was identified when it was in a soap pump dispenser on a tiled counter, but in poorer countries it was bar soap on a dirty surface. The AI was 20% more likely to identify objects in richer countries than poor ones. The difference increases with living rooms with a 40% accuracy difference and it is due to the lack of items in poorer homes. The programmers believe the bias is due to most of the data comes from wealthier countries and lack of information from poorer ones.
Is this another finding from Captain Obvious’ research lab? Is it possible to generate more representative datasets? Obviously not.
Whitney Grace, August 3, 2019
The Platform of the Future Is…
August 2, 2019
What’s the platform of the future? Here are your choices:
[a] Artificial intelligence
[b] Neuro linguistic services
[c] Silicon brain implants connected to the cloud
[d] Indexing
[e] Pay to play content.
Did you pick “d”: Indexing.
If you did, you are on the same wavelength as the rock and roll, up and down advisory and analyst firm IDC.
The pronouncement comes from Stewart Bond, research director at IDC Research Inc. (Note: DarkCyber has written reports for IDC. The firm sold these reports on Amazon without DarkCyber’s permission, and IDC did not pay for the use of the DarkCyber reports. How much were our reports? $3,200 for eight pages of goodness? Want to know more? Drop us an email: darkcyber333 at yandex dot com.)
This revelation appeared in Silicon Angle which presented a summary of an interview with IDC Research’s director. Other gems from the write up were:
Pre-existing silos and multicloud can give companies a lot of disparate spaces to scavenge through. The most sensible place to start may be with the available data about all that data — or metadata.
Yes, indexing, an art practiced for millennia.
We noted this statement:
Companies are realizing that poorly cleansed or inaccurately labeled data are resulting in inaccurate insights. And vendors are rushing to the rescue. The number of vendors offering cataloging solutions has increased about 240% in the last year and a half, according to Bond’s research.
Hmm. What’s the research methodology? Remember that IDC has generated some specious numbers in the past; for example, the amount of time a person in a company spends looking for information. DarkCyber is curious about this 18 month period, the sample, the methodology, and the reliability of the analytic process. A 2.4X increase is robust, particularly for indexing and the accompanying tasks embraced in the sweeping generalization.
And we put an exclamation mark next to this passage:
Multicloud has flung data all over the place. Effective software must have spider legs that can reach out and quickly gather intelligence about it. Data cataloging may do this with machine learning, human annotation, Google-like search features, etc. “I think that’s going to be the data platform of the future,” Bond stated. Informatica Corp. currently leads in this market, according to Bond.
Okay, flinging data all over the place. Colorful. We also noted that Informatica Corp. is the leader in “this market.” Exactly what market are we thinking about. Google, search, cloud—what, which?
Keep in mind that Informatica has been around since 1993, and it has grown to about $1 billion a year in revenue. Impressive when compared to the local tire store, but a bit behind the curve when it comes to data. Amazon in the last quarter generated about $8 billion. Annualized Amazon is about 32X bigger than Informatica. Who will win in the cloud cataloging game? Informatica? Sure it will.
But why the love for Informatica? One possibility is that Informatica is a client or prospect of IDC. That’s an idea worth considering.
And where did this “indexing” pronouncement appear? In Silicon Angle. Here’s the explanation which appeared with the IDC research director’s startling insight:
SiliconANGLE Media Inc.’s business model is based on the intrinsic value of the content, not advertising. Unlike many online publications, we don’t have a paywall or run banner advertising, because we want to keep our journalism open, without influence or the need to chase traffic.The journalism, reporting and commentary on SiliconANGLE — along with live, unscripted video from our Silicon Valley studio and globe-trotting video teams at theCUBE — take a lot of hard work, time and money. Keeping the quality high requires the support of sponsors who are aligned with our vision of ad-free journalism content. If you like the reporting, video interviews and other ad-free content here, please take a moment to check out a sample of the video content supported by our sponsors, tweet your support, and keep coming back to SiliconANGLE.
DarkCyber interprets this information as a way to make “sponsored” content less front and center.
“Indexing” is a sure fire way to generate buzz for a consulting company and maybe, just maybe, some revenue from sponsored video for Silicon Angle.
The video is here.
Stephen E Arnold, August 2, 2019
Trovicor: A Slogan as an Equation
August 2, 2019
We spotted this slogan on the Trovicor Web site:
The Trovicor formula: Actionable Intelligence = f (data generation; fusion; analysis; visualization)
The function consists of four buzzwords used by vendors of policeware and intelware:
- Data generation (which suggests metadata assigned to intercepted, scraped, or provided content objects)
- Fusion (which means in DarkCyber’s world a single index to disparate data)
- Analysis (numerical recipes to identify patterns or other interesting data
- Virtualization (use of technology to replace old school methods like 1950s’ style physical wire taps, software defined components, and software centric widgets).
The buzzwords make it easy to identify other companies providing somewhat similar services.
Trovicor maintains a low profile. But obtaining open source information about the company may be a helpful activity.
Stephen E Arnold, August 2, 2019
A Palantir Founder Considers the Google
August 2, 2019
DarkCyber read “Good for Google, Bad for America.” Interesting essay. DarkCyber noted several items and circled each in our favorite marker color: Truthful Blue.
Let’s take a look at these:
First, Google’s smart software is not advancing:
DeepMind, having now gone on three times longer than the original Manhattan Project, is not clearly any closer to its core goal of creating an “artificial general intelligence” that rivals or replaces humanity.
Second, Google has a smart software research facility in China:
Google decided to open an A.I. lab in Beijing. According to Fei-Fei Li, the executive who opened it, the lab is “focused on basic A.I. research” because Google is “an A.I.-first company” in a world where “A.I. and its benefits have no borders.”
Third, Google has an attitude:
The Silicon Valley attitude sometimes called “cosmopolitanism” is probably better understood as an extreme strain of parochialism, that of fortunate enclaves isolated from the problems of other places — and incurious about them.
DarkCyber finds these points thought provoking. What’s clear is that Google has invested in smart software. Its principal value has been to enhance its online advertising revenues. The Loon balloon, while interesting, drifts intelligently. The comparison is apt.
Locating a facility in China makes it easy for information to diffuse from the facility into other sectors. Cooperation with government authorities for some in China is a standard operating procedure. Google may believe that its “basic A.I. research” is compartmentalized. But is that belief warranted?
Finally, the attitude. DarkCyber is not sure what the five dollar word cosmopolitanism means. DarkCyber is not sure about parochialism either. DarkCyber does understand the concept of incurious. Why think differently when certain thoughts are obviously correct.
To sum up, DarkCyber wants to know who benefits from the alleged “cooperation” with China?
Stephen E Arnold, August 2, 2019
Libra Scams Get Ahead of the Facebook Cryptocurrency Launch
August 2, 2019
A digital currency from Facebook—what could go wrong? Rampant fraud, for starters, and that’s before cryptocurrency Libra has even been put into circulation. The Verge reports, “Libra Scams Are Already Proliferating on Facebook.” Writer Jon Porter reports:
“An investigation by The Washington Post has uncovered a dozen accounts, pages, and groups across Facebook and Instagram which misleadingly claim to be official hubs for Libra, Facebook’s proposed digital currency. In some cases these pages, which were only removed after WaPo reported them to Facebook, offered to sell Libra at a discount through third-party websites. Given the proliferation of cryptocurrency scams seen in recent years, it’s not surprising that scammers have descended on Libra given its widespread attention. However, it’s far more surprising that Facebook doesn’t seem to have been prepared for the influx of tricksters on its own service, especially as it struggles to assure regulators that it’s equipped to handle a global currency.”
Yes, the irony has been noted. Cryptocurrency scams have plagued Facebook’s platform before, so it is puzzling they did not take stronger measures to prevent this before even announcing Libra. The company employee in charge of Calibra, the Libra-associated digital wallet, has already been hauled into a Senate hearing. In The Next Web’s article, “Facebook Forced to Take Action Against Fraudsters Peddling Fake Libra,” writer Matthew Beedham tells us:
“Earlier this month, Facebook‘s head of Calibra, David Marcus, faced questions at a senate hearing. Marcus received numerous questions that interrogated many of Facebook‘s claims about its digital currency. Indeed, trust was a common theme and cropped up 69 times during the questioning.”
One representative went so far as to state she thinks Libra is so risky it should be ended before it even begins. Perhaps that would be wise, but what are the chances Facebook will embrace such wisdom?
Cynthia Murrell, August 2, 2019
Palantir: Did ICE Paid $60 Million for an App
August 2, 2019
DarkCyber spotted a short article in Counterpunch. The title?
Records Show Palantir Made $60 Million Contracting with ICE for Mobile App
The write up said:
A critical July 2019 exposé from WNYC based on documents obtained via FOIA request shows how Palantir’s proprietary software, in this case the FALCON mobile app, is essential to the removal operations of ICE and related agencies. As WNYC explained, “FALCON mobile allows agents in the field to search through a fusion of law enforcement databases that include information on people’s immigration histories, family relationships, and past border crossings.”
Counterpunch then shared its own research findings:
Counterpunch has learned that since 2016, Palantir has made more than $60 million in contract awards from ICE for access to FALCON and for Operations & Maintenance (O&M) for the mobile application. This, of course, is solely for FALCON and related services, and likely just scratches the surface of the true scope of Palantir’s profits from collaboration with ICE, to say nothing of Palantir’s lucrative relations with other government agencies such as CIA, DoD, etc.
The write up covers some other information about Palantir. DarkCyber finds the $60 million for an app interesting.
Stephen E Arnold, August 2, 2019
Google: Advertising Not Enough?
August 1, 2019
DarkCyber noted a write up called “Google Is Testing a Monthly App Subscription Service for Android.” The write up asserts:
Google has been testing a monthly subscription service for apps and games, under the name Google Play Pass. The move to a subscription model has been rumored since before Apple introduced its ‘Apple Arcade‘ offering earlier in the year. The package looks almost ready to launch, with $4.99 (£4.12 in rapidly deflating Borisbucks) set as the monthly fee – not a lot considering it gives access to ‘thousands’ of apps, all without adverts and In-App Purchasing (IAP).
The revenue streams such a fee would produce are subject to the assumptions plugged into a spreadsheet. Use the “right” assumptions — that is, the ones with the biggest payback to the GOOG — and the analyst can plot the take off trajectory of a Chengdu J-20.
DarkCyber has a few questions:
- Are the likely economic penalties some government agencies may impose on Google sufficiently dire to warrant this “stable” revenue play?
- Are advertising revenues weakening so that an “old school” money making model is needed?
- Is Google assembling a billing model to support its initiatives in online gaming; for example, subscribers get access to pre release digital “goodies” for gamers?
Worth monitoring because this change is another signal that the “old” Google may be fading.
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2019
Amazon and Law Enforcement: Irrelevant or Something Else?
August 1, 2019
I have given lectures about Amazon’s policeware initiative. The information about this facet of the online bookstore’s work has attracted little attention. Rumor has it that one big time reporter tried to ask questions about Ring doorbells and related technologies and found a “No Entry” sign posted.
DarkCyber’s approach is to rely on real news stories. It appears that the Bezos bulldozer has revved its engine with regard to the role of the Ring doorbell and a handful of law enforcement entities. (Yes, DarkCyber perceives an alleged 200 tie ups as a handful. We are talking about the Bezos bulldozer’s pulling capacity. Think in terms of larger numbers. Think Five Eyes. Think financial regulators around the world.)
If the information in Ars Technica is accurate, DarkCyber learned:
Amazon reportedly provides marketing scripts to more than 200 police partners.
If true, this is indeed interesting. LE and intel professionals are not too keen on publicity. Amazon, a master of financial reporting to the SEC, is not like a Hollywood producer using communications to make a dead duck fly.
The write up “Amazon Writes Scripts for for Cops to Sling Ring Home Cameras, Report Says” cites another publication which reproduces an allegedly “real” email. The email includes this text:
Hi, all,
Appreciate your patience here as we are currently hashing out some across the board approaches for these exact scenarios. Given that this has been in the works for quite some time and the circumstances you describe, can we agree on the following timeline of events as a compromise:
Wed, June 5th, Boca PD Onboarding to Neighbors Portal (PS can use portal by commenting and engaging, no external promotion or discussion of portal beyond that)
Thurs, June 6th: Boca Foundation Subsidy Launch Event
Mon, June 24th: Earliest day for any Boca PD neighbors Portal external, public facing announcement (to be coordinated with Ring and reviewed in advance to ensure appropriate messaging and not conflated with Subsidy program)
Please, let us know if this timeline is acceptable! This will allow PD to become familiar and state using portal while given the subsidy program full public attention and greatest chance for success. While sticking with our strict policy of not conjoining the two in practice or in presentation.
This text comes from Engadget.
DarkCyber’s attempt to make sense of this alleged Amazon email to someone in the Boca PD is hypothetical. Here’s what the research team derived from the text of the allegedly “real” email, our open source information about Amazon policeware, and suppositions and rumors floated at conferences.
First, Amazon is providing funds to jump start the “program.” This marketing method is just like the LexisNexis “make the legal information available to law school students.” The goal is to condition young attorneys to use the for fee LexisNexis when they get an job in a law firm, government agency, or non profit. The subsidy essential makes it possible for cash strapped police departments to get access to technology and data. The approach may have some other benefits like good PR for Amazon, police departments, and city officials.
Second, the approach appears to minimize the law enforcement value of the Ring video doorbell to law enforcement. That’s okay, but Amazon appears to view the Ring project as a way to control information flows and decision making within “independent” law enforcement entities. This strikes DarkCyber as a variation of the methods spelled out in the classic “How to Sell Anything to Anybody.” Getting the customer to say “yes” or do what the sales person wants is one theme of this decades old classic.
Third, Amazon is not “connecting the dots” for its policeware system. (If you want a for fee webinar for your team about Amazon policeware, write us at darkcyber333 at yandex dot com.) A key part of the Amazon way to present discrete services as islands which are loosely coupled. In order to connect these islands, one has to be [a] told about the connections by Amazon, [b] take Amazon AWS training and become Amazon certified, [c] grunt around for open source information which is written to make the larger connections in the Amazon policeware system difficult to discern.
DarkCyber finds the Ars Technica write up, the allegedly “real” memo from Amazon to a police department, and the lack of understanding by many Amazon observers interesting.
Amazon sells cameras, dog food, and T shirts, right?
Absolutely, but it also is working overtime to create an Oracle Axiom dominator plus a few other minor things. Definitely “minor.”
Stephen E Arnold, August 1, 2019
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