The Desire to Lynch: Capitalist Success and a Need to Undermine
February 11, 2020
Forbes, the capitalist tool. Now the magazine seems to be making its doubts about Malcolm’s mantra more obvious. The one of precepts of the capitalist tool is:
Anyone who says businessmen deal in facts, not fiction, has never read old five-year projections. – Malcolm Forbes, son of BC Forbes, who founded the magazine
What may be surfacing is push back against greed, success, and materialism.
DarkCyber found this Forbes’ article interesting: “Skeletons In The Closet: $2 Billion Cybersecurity Firm Darktrace Haunted By Characters From HP’s Failed Autonomy Deal.” This passage caught our attention:
Federal prosecutors were apoplectic, saying Hussain and his co-conspirators’ crimes reflected “an attitude that, like a James Bond villain or a Mafioso, they were above the law.” They also compared him to disgraced WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers.
Hussain is the former CFO of the search and content processing company Autonomy. Yep, the outfit which Hewlett Packard bought for $11 billion in 2011. The purchase price reflected the management acumen of Hewlett Packard, a well oiled Silicon Valley machine.
The Forbes’ article notes:
As a $5 billion civil fraud suit brought by HP in the U.K. rumbles on, the U.S. has pressed ahead with criminal charges in what prosecutors say is the largest fraud case in the history of the Northern District of California. Hussain, who is in the process of appealing his conviction, is the first of the old Autonomy guard to have been found guilty, going down for 14 counts of wire fraud, one of securities fraud and one of conspiracy. Two others—Autonomy founder and ex-CEO Mike Lynch and former finance vice president Steve Chamberlain—were also charged, but Lynch has yet to appear in court and a U.S. request for the extradition of Lynch is pending in the U.K. Earlier this week, Lynch submitted himself for arrest, in what his lawyers described as a “formality” in the extradition process. Lynch and Hussain are the focus of HP’s U.K. civil fraud claim, which lumbered through closing arguments in December and January. They are now awaiting a verdict. Lawyers for all three have professed their clients’ innocence.
Forbes then reminds the reader:
The Autonomy connection persists today; half of Darktrace’s board and six of its eight top executives are ex-Autonomy folks, which included Gustafsson (ex-corporate controller) and co-CEO Nicole Eagan (ex-chief marketing officer).
The most interesting angle in the story is alleged sexual harassment. What we have is a delightful tale of capitalism, Bondism, financial legerdemain, and me-too assertions.
Let’s step back. Is the write up about a brilliantly managed company like Hewlett Packard getting snookered by a company selling text processing technology? Is the write up about the evils of the team assembled by Michael Lynch to bring Bayesian to enterprise search? Is the write up about the personalities involved in the Autonomy and DarkTrace enterprises?
DarkCyber is on the edge of concluding that the real subject of the Forbes’ article is that capitalism is bad.
As Malcolm Forbes alleged said:
Unconsciously I had discovered the commentator’s secret weapon-that so long as you can wield words, it isn’t necessary to know what you’re talking about.
What’s the business of business? The “old” Forbes may have had the answer. The “new” Forbes is going another direction. k
As Malcolm Forbes allegedly revealed:
You’re fortunate when you can afford to be virtuous.
Is Forbes whipping up a lynch mob? That’s an interesting approach to capitalism.
Stephen E Arnold, February 11, 2020
DarkCyber for February 11, 2020, Now Available
February 11, 2020
This week’s program includes three stories. The first describes an open source repository of intelligence-centric and investigative information. The listing of programs and resources is available on Github. The second story explains why facial recognition is of interest to law enforcement agencies. Vendors provide free trials to their systems. The goal is for the vendor to make a sale. The law enforcement agency has an opportunity to learn and test the systems. Because facial recognition is in its infancy, DarkCyber believes that use of advanced systems will increase. The final story provides information about the CIA’s online information service. A free book about the craft of intelligence is reviewed. You can view the video at either of these locations:
The video runs about 10 minutes.
Kenny Toth, February 11, 2020
LexisNexis: Expanding Its Cyber and Policeware Capabilities
February 10, 2020
LexisNexis, once holder of an exclusive with the New York Times, has been working to retain its government and commercial customer revenue. The cyber online business is booming, but legal information remains a difficult business. Lose a Top 50 US law firm as a client, and the canny marketers have to convert a couple of hundred smaller outfits. Why’s this sector difficult? Free or lower-cost legal content and Reed Elsevier’s principal competitor Thomson Reuters.
LexisNexis has not been standing still, but it has been chugging along in the cyber security sector and policeware markets for many years. Oh, you didn’t know? Well, LexisNexis marketing is on a par with Google’s ad group. That’s the creative team which delivered an ageing parent downer to a Super Bowl audience.
LexisNexis announce on February 2, 2020:
[Its] Risk Solutions, part of RELX, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Emailage®, a global provider of fraud prevention and risk management solutions. Emailage will become a part of the Business Services group of LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Founded in 2012 and based in the Phoenix metro area with offices across the globe, Emailage helps organizations reduce online fraud by building multi-dimensional profiles associated with customer email addresses to render predictive risk scores.
DarkCyber interprets this a helping entities deal with phishing. The reference to predictive analytics is in line with other companies offering alert services.
We noted this statement from the new LexisNexis human resource:
Rei Carvalho, CEO of Emailage, said, “LexisNexis Risk Solutions is laser-focused on providing its customers a 360 degree view into an identity, which aligns with our mission to help customers who seek fast, low-friction, global digital identity fraud solutions to combat fraud without sacrificing consumer experience. We are thrilled to be recognized as a pioneer in email intelligence-based fraud risk scoring solutions and look forward to aligning our solutions to help organizations fight fraud on a more comprehensive level.”
The “360” references a customer’s ability to see “around” an issue, not from the point of view of other “360” cyber security vendors. LexisNexis has a large collection of content upon which to draw. Cyber security services could be a larger, more sustainable market than the pursuit of search licenses from law firms. There are many lawyers, but not many spend for online as they did in the good old days. Today’s clients often cap research fees. Fear and must have defense are more potent tools in the security sector than the glories of online search when an “answer” may not be found.
For information about this cluster of services, navigate to www.relx.com.
Stephen E Arnold, February 10. 2020
If at First You Fail, Try 10 Times
February 10, 2020
If at first you don’t succeed try eight, nine, 10 times. Ars Technica tells us that “Google’s Tenth Messaging Service Will ‘Unify’ Gmail, Drive, Hangouts Chat.” Writer Ron Amadeo cites an article from The Information (subscription required) when he reports Google is working on another messaging app that sounds a lot like their vision for the Google Hangouts Chat service they added to the GSuite business tools in 2018. Amadeo describes:
“According to the report, this ‘new unified communications app’ will merge functions from Gmail, Drive, Hangouts Chat, and Hangouts Meet. Slack already lets you send messages, share files, and do video chats, which covers most of these apps. Pulling in features from Gmail, though, like the last email you sent the person you’re messaging, would be unique and genuinely useful. One alarming thing about the report is that it refers to this service as a ‘mobile app’ and doesn’t mention anything about a Web or desktop app, which is how many employees primarily use Slack. “News that the app will pull in Hangouts Chat features makes us wonder what will happen to the actual Hangouts Chat service. One of the current plans in the Google messaging mess is to merge Google’s biggest consumer chat platform, Hangouts, with Hangouts Chat, its current enterprise chat platform (despite the similar names, the two apps are unrelated). If Hangouts Chat is merging into something else, does that mean the plan to migrate consumer Hangouts over isn’t happening?”
Good question. We are reminded Google has launched nine previous messaging apps, demonstrating its apparent fear of product commitment. We shall see whether this iteration sticks around long enough to even establish a healthy network of users.
Cynthia Murrell, February 10, 2020
AI Enthusiasm? Curb It
February 10, 2020
Just because a technology is all the rage does not make it right for every organization. Citing a recent study from Lux Research, Information Management reports, “Study Cautions Against Investing Too Much, Too Soon in AI Technology.” The unrelenting hype surrounding AI solutions can prompt managers to invest hastily lest they miss out on the promised payoff. However, when a company implements a solution without properly understanding how it will, and will not, help their particular enterprise, they lose instead. Writer Bob Violino summarizes:
“Most organizations are still struggling with how to successfully integrate artificial intelligence into their businesses, according to a new report from research and advisory firm Lux Research on the state of AI and how companies can improve decision-making around the technology. The study, ‘Artificial Intelligence: A Framework to Identify Challenges and Guide Successful Outcomes,’ noted that decision makers oftentimes do not fully understand the technology and have not thought through the true costs of implementing AI in their businesses. … The report cautions against investing too early in applications that require more advanced AI capabilities, because it said they are often too immature and untested.”
The report advises companies avoid the “technology-first” approach and instead focus on their specific needs. Researchers identified four factors that lead to making a good decision: thoroughly understanding the outcomes AI will create for their organization; look past marketing messages to a product’s actual capabilities; identifying technology that is mature enough to mitigate risk; and being aware of any and all practical challenges to implementation and maintenance.
Founded in 2004, Lux Research supplies intelligence and strategic advice on emerging technologies to its clients in business, finance, and government. To that end, it relies on its own proprietary analytics platform. The firm is based in Boston.
Cynthia Murrell, February 10, 2020
Psychology Applied to Intelligence Analysis
February 10, 2020
The mind is a complex instrument and humans are obsessed with understanding it. Psychology is the study of the human mind, particularly behavior in certain circumstances. Human actions change depending where they are and who they are interacting with. The Central Intelligence Agency pays strict attention to the minds of its agents and bad actors. On its Web site, the CIA hosts a library of intelligence information and among them is the book the Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by Richards J. Heuer, Jr.
Heuer is a respected expert in the field on intelligence analysis and the CIA has made his work available for free. Jack David, who worked at the CIA with the Directorate of Intelligence, the Office of Training, and the National Intelligence Council, said about Heuer:
“Dick Heuer’s ideas on how to improve analysis focus on helping analysts compensate for the human mind’s limitations in dealing with complex problems that typically involve ambiguous information, multiple players, and fluid circumstances. Such multi-faceted estimative challenges have proliferated in the turbulent post-Cold War world.
Heuer’s message to analysts can be encapsulated by quoting two sentences from Chapter 4 of this book:
‘Intelligence analysts should be self-conscious about their reasoning processes. They should think about how they make judgments and reach conclusions, not just about the judgments and conclusions themselves.’”
Intelligence analysis is the study understanding complex, ambiguous situations. Heuer’s book focuses on the psychology behind how intelligence analysts come to their conclusions. Think of it as the psychology behind the psychology of decisions and actions. It is an interesting book that delves into a rarely seen part of the CIA’s work and, even better, it is written in plain English, so it is easy to understand.
Whitney Grace, February 10, 2020
The New Term for Failure: Iowa App
February 9, 2020
Every elder generation is critical of the subsequent generations. It is a rite of passage. This pattern is as old as Socrates and other ancient philosophers, but it is more apparent now due to the Internet blasting it in our faces 24/7. Problems with older generations are that their brains have less flexible neuroplasticity and that leads them to misunderstand the youth. It also makes them less likely to try or understand new things, such as technology. Are Generation Z and the Millennials as hopeless as believed? The MIT Technology Review posted a winning essay that answers that question, “We Asked Teenagers What Adults Are Missing About Technology. This Was The Best Response.”
The MIT Technology Review held a contest that asked the question: What do adults not know about my generation and technology? Taylor Fang from Logan, Utah won the contest out of 376 submissions from twenty-eight countries.
Fang relies on the standard poetic prose that favors singular words and short sentences. She repeats Generation Z criticisms, then abandons the poetic prose for the for a more conversational essay that answers the questions. Usually essays and poetic prose do not share the same page or if they do it is not successful. Yang first uses the metaphor that kids “conceal” themselves behind screens, then Segways into how social media allows them to write their “biographies” and find themselves.
All kids and young adults are finding themselves, screaming to be validated in a world they cannot influence or control. Are these rebels without a cause? Yes, but the Internet helps them find the cause and gives them a voice. Generations before the Z and Millennials screamed for a voice, but were regulated to puff pieces and brushed off. The Internet gives youth a voice and an upper hand because they understand technology more than their elders. It is also a creative outlet that helps kids find themselves:
“This isn’t to say that every teenager should begin creating art. Or that art would solve all of social media’s problems. But approaching technology through a creative lens is more effective than merely “raising awareness.” Rather than reducing teenagers to statistics, we should make sure teenagers have the chance to tell their own experiences in creative ways.
Take the example of “selfies.” Selfies, as many adults see them, are nothing more than narcissistic pictures to be broadcast to the world at large. But even the selfie representing a mere “I was here” has an element of truth. Just as Frida Kahlo painted self-portraits, our selfies construct a small part of who we are. Our selfies, even as they are one-dimensional, are important to us.”
Yang inserts Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” as the obligatory inspirational quote from a famous person to affirm there claims that the Internet does not ruin kids inner selves, but rather validates it and creates their identity. She reverts back to the typical poetic prose to emphasis her idea and ends with “We’re striving not only to be seen, but to see with our own eyes.”
Honestly, it’s an essay that pulls from multiple literary techniques to answer why old people are so grouchy about the youth. Yang’s essay is basic, but intuitive for a senior in high school. It won an international contest and offered sympathetic and mindful food for thought. However, her writing technique is all over the place and exhibits the folly of youthful writing. She is focused and ambitious, but in forty years time Yang could be complaining about the next catchy named generation. It is a vicious cycle and a rite of passage.
And Iowa? Youth demonstrate that their expertise has limits? The future beckons for Iowa Apps regardless of one’s age.
Whitney Grace, February 9, 2020
Who Wins in a Show Down: Companies or Countries?
February 8, 2020
Do not be surprised, but Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, is getting bigger! Alphabet Inc. is becoming so big that is creating a monopoly in everything it touches. Matt Stoller’s blog BIG, which investigates the history of monopolies, discusses, “Google’s Dangerous Monopoly-Based Foreign Policy.”
In early December 2019, Google told its Turkish business partners that they would no longer support Android phones in Turkey. This decision comes after the Turkish competition board ruled that Google’s changes to contract were not acceptable and asked Google to change its software distribution agreements so users could select which search engine they wanted to use on their OS. Google’s response is similar to what the US ordered Google to stop working with Huawei over security concerns.
The Turkish injunction was filed by Russian competitor Yandex. Google has tried to kill Yandex before by leveraging desktop search dominance, then morphing it into mobile search dominance and Google rose to the top. Russia does not bow to US corporations, so they filed the complaint in Turkey. The European Union discovered Google did the same thing in their countries, but the EU did not have a big search engine to rival Google like Yandex. The EU also allowed Google to create their own solution, which they now acknowledge as a mistake.
Google does not like opposition:
“Google’s response wasn’t just to use the legal system to fight for its rights, but then ultimately obey the law. Instead, Google said it was willing to ‘work with’ Turkey, but as a partner and not as a corporation working within a sovereign nation. It simply said it doesn’t like Turkey’s law, and so it will stop providing Android phones for an entire country. In other words, Google has a private sanctions regime against smaller countries.
There’s something of a parallel to what Google is doing to Turkey, and it’s in China. The U.S. government ordered Google to stop delivering apps to Huawei, and the result is a catastrophe for any attempt to build phones for use outside of China.”
A clash of big companies and big countries seems to be taking place.
Whitney Grace, February 8, 2020
Amazon and Twitch: Monetizing an Interesting Streaming Service
February 7, 2020
The write up “Amazon Might Offer Twitch’s Streaming Technology to Businesses” is an interesting business analysis crafted by Engadget. Like other Silicon Valley infused information services, writing about gadgets is definitely the platform one can use to write about business strategies and tactics.
The write up states:
Twitch would still exist, but Amazon would have a new way to monetize its technology.
Twitch is a collection of individuals who “play” games. As the DarkCyber team has documented for my lectures to law enforcement and intelligence professionals, Twitch serves up a number of interesting digital experiences:
- Pole dancers
- Pirated first run videos
- Streams of protests, some displaying a Russian communications service logo
- Live “instructional” gambling
- Partially clothed individuals (assorted genders)
- A Hollywood Squares style discussion of jobs and other compelling subjects
- Emojis used to signal intent, some good, some bad.
Oh, there are streaming games played by individuals with “rigs” and lightning fast reflexes. Microsoft has been luring the star gamers to its streaming platform too.
Streaming services like Twitch, however, are expensive to operate, but Amazon keeps those costs under wraps. Plus, there may be some risks to the Amazon entity. What type? See the list of content DarkCyber identified above.
The Twitch technology is remarkable, particularly for a person who has never seen what the future of video programming may be like. However, Amazon Twitch looks a bit frumpy when compared to Neverthink, TikTok, and Walnut.
Engadget writes:
Amazon seems to think that Twitch’s streaming technologies could have a lot of value to other companies, thanks to the robustness of the platform.
What could go wrong for business? Stream hijacking? Bad actors using a corporate stream to inject interesting content?
Net net: Amazon may tap Engadget to assist with repositioning the Twitch property. DarkCyber’s view of Twitch is the stuff of my lectures for law enforcement and intelligence conferences, not a free blog. Money losing units at Amazon may not be too popular if bonuses are eroded. Difficulty level: Comparable to selling business Amazon blockchain technology.
Stephen E Arnold, February 7, 2020
Detroit Sure Understands Hollow Out and May Have Google Insight
February 7, 2020
Detroit. Interesting place. DarkCyber read “Google’s Cash Cow Search Business Is Being ‘Hollowed Out’.” If there is one city whose residents and businesses understand the concept, it is probably Detroit.
DarkCyber noted this statement in the write up:
“This hollowing out of search is real,” Mark Shmulik, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, wrote in a note to investors after the results. To maintain growth at even this lower level, Google will have to generate more revenue from its Maps service, image search and shopping search ads, he said.
Why is this an issue? The article states:
Google search is one of the most profitable businesses ever created, helping the company amass a cash hoard of more than $100 billion. It took Google from a garage in Silicon Valley to a trillion-dollar giant that dominates digital advertising, online video, maps and email.
The report points out:
Google can only stuff so many ads onto its website without lowering the quality of search results. On mobile phones, ads often fill the entire screen, forcing users to scroll down if they want to see free listings.
What’s the problem? Mobile search is booming. Yep, but peak mobile may be approaching.
Good points and from Detroit.
Stephen E Arnold, February 7, 2020
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