Expert System Has Embraced the AI Revolution
November 19, 2020
It’s official. Expert System S.p. A. (Italy) is now Expert.ai. I know because the firm’s Web site displays this message:
Expert System has moved along a business path like one of those Amalfi coast cliff side roads: Breathtaking turns, chilling confrontations with other vehicles, and a lack of guard rails.
Repositioning a big rig is a thrill for sure.
The company’s tag line is:
It’s time to make all data actionable.
Yep, “all.” Even video, encrypted messages among employees, and confidential compensation data? Sure, “all.”
Plus, the firm has tweaked its description of its focus to assert:
Expert.ai is the premier artificial intelligence platform for language understanding. Its unique hybrid approach to NL combines symbolic human-like comprehension and machine learning to transform language-intensive processes into practical knowledge, providing the insight required to improve decision making throughout organizations.
Vendors of search and content processing widgets are responding to today’s business environment with marketing. Expert System was founded in 1989 in Modena, Italy.
Premier too.
Stephen E Arnold, November 19, 2020
Supercomputer League Tables Shift
November 19, 2020
I noted “Japan’s Fugaku Keeps Position As Fastest Supercomputer.” There were two items of interest in the write up.
First, the machine:
performed over 442 quadrillion computations per second, around three times faster than the Summit system developed by the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Second, the chips in the Fugaku were Fujitsu’s. These may be the the Fujitsu A64FX microprocessor based on the ARM technology.
Intel and IBM are arm wrestling maybe?
Stephen E Arnold, November 19, 2020
Soros: Just in Time 20-20 Hindsight
November 18, 2020
Here’s an interesting quote (if it is indeed accurate):
SFM [a George Soros financial structure] made this investment [in Palantir Technologies] at a time when the negative social consequences of big data were less understood,” the firm said in a statement Tuesday. SFM would not make an investment in Palantir today.
The investment concerns Palantir Technologies. George Soros, who is 90 years young, according to “Soros Regrets Early Investment in Peter Thiel’s Palantir,” includes this statement:
Soros has sold all the shares it’s permitted to sell at this time and will keep selling, according to the statement. “SFM does not approve of Palantir’s business practices,” the firm said.
Hindsight is 20-20. Or is it?
Hindsight bias can cause memory distortion. Because the event happened like you thought it would, you go back and revise your memory of what you were thinking right before the event. You re-write history, so to speak, and revise the probability in hindsight. Going forward, you use that new, higher probability to make future decisions. When in fact, the probabilities haven’t changed at all. That leads to poor judgment.—“Innovators: Beware the Hindsight Bias”
Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2020
DHS Turns to Commercial Cellphone Data Vendors for Tracking Intelligence
November 18, 2020
Color us completely unsurprised. BuzzFeed News reports, “DHS Authorities Are Buying Moment-By-Moment Geolocation Cellphone Data to Track People.” In what privacy advocates are calling a “surveillance partnership” between government and corporations, the Department of Homeland Security is buying cellphone data in order to track immigrants at the southern border. This is likely to go way beyond the enforcement of immigration laws—once precedent is set, agencies across the law enforcement spectrum are apt to follow suit.
Citing a memo that came into their possession, reporters Hamed Aleaziz and Caroline Haskins reveal DHS lead attorney Chad Mizelle believes ICE officials are free to access locations and cellphone data activity without the need to obtain a warrant and without violating the Fourth Amendment (protection against unreasonable search and seizure). His reasoning? The fact that such data is commercially available, originally meant for advertising purposes, means no warrant is required. Consider that loophole as you ponder how much personal information most citizens’ cell phones hold, from our daily movement patterns to appointments with doctors and other professionals, to our communications. Aleaziz and Haskins write:
“When DHS buys geolocation data, investigators only know that phones and devices visited certain places — meaning, they don’t automatically know the identities of people who visited those locations. Investigators have to match a person’s visited locations with, say, property records and other data sets in order to determine who a person is. But this also means that, technically, moment-by-moment location tracking could happen to anyone, not just people under investigation by DHS. In particular, lawyers, activists, nonprofit workers, and other essential workers could get swept up into investigations that start with geolocation data. DHS officials said they do not comment on alleged leaked documents. The agency is aware of potential legal vulnerabilities under the Fourth Amendment. Mizelle states in his memo that there are ways for CBP and ICE to ‘minimize the risk’ of possible constitutional violations, pointing out that they could limit their searches to defined periods, require supervisors to sign off on lengthy searches, only use the data when more ‘traditional’ techniques fail, and limit the tracking of one device to when there is ‘individualized suspicion’ or relevance to a ‘law enforcement investigation.’”
Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported that DHS was purchasing this data for ICE and CBP. Federal records show both agencies have bought licenses and software from mobile-device-data-vendor Venntel. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is now investigating the company for selling data to government agencies.
Interesting dynamics.
Cynthia Murrell, November 18, 2020
Management 2020: This Seems Semi-Obvious
November 18, 2020
I read “Management Needs to Adapt for Out of Sight Employees.” The write up points out with scintillating brilliance:
More than four in ten (41%) decision makers surveyed worry their team won’t stay on task when working remotely. More than a quarter (28%) also feel their boardroom culture discourages remote working, and over half (59%) feel more pressure to be online outside of normal working hours. These factors indicate a need for a top-down shakeup of traditional management thinking and practices.
What about the New Yorker Magazine management methods based on the Toobin principle?
Are the survey’s findings validation of statements like these?
Out of sight, out of mind
I can feel you forgetting me
Where were you when everything was falling apart?
Am I that easy to forget?
How long before I am just a memory?
And then it occurred to me that you don’t miss me at all.
And these?
Opportunity makes a thief?
There’s no better vacation than my boss being virtual
I would prefer a job where I am politely ignored and left to my own devices with unlimited Internet access, cupcakes, and coffee.
Side gig?
Rule one on Zoom: Always be on mute
Thank goodness mom is not here.
Remote management: A work in progress with surveillance apps, video meeting logs, and millennial managers channeling Drucker.
Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2020
Cost of Auditing the US Department of Defense
November 18, 2020
And you thought that your accountant charged too much for doing your taxes. “Pentagon Fails Audit Yet Again, Could Pass around 2027, Comptroller Says” pegs the fees for the Pentagon audit in 2019-2020 at $203 million this year.
How did the audit team conduct its work?
Around 1,400 auditors tested the systems and record-keeping processes on weapons systems, military personnel and property around the world in 100 site visits, 530 virtual visits and samples. The process resulted in 24 standalone audits, comprising the overall audit.
Interesting. Not H&R Block I presume.
Stephen E Arnold, November 18, 2020
Financial Crime: Who Is Winning? Banks, Bad Actors, or Enforcement Authorities
November 17, 2020
I read “Only 1% of Laundered Cash in EU Is Detected — ABN AMRO Wants to Improve That.” The article reports:
Detecting money laundering is like mixing the perfect cocktail.
And how many outstanding mixologists in addition to a high profile outfit like a certain bank in Hong Kong or a top dog in Manhattan are there in the financial crime enforcement units around the world? If the data in the write up are accurate, not too many.
The article points out:
Globally, estimates suggest between $800 billion and $2 trillion in laundered money flows through the financial system every year, and an overwhelming majority of it goes undetected. The Netherlands alone sees $16 billion in criminal money flowing through its financial system.
Then this item of information is provided:
…the European Commission found just 1% of an estimated $190 billion in laundered funds were successfully confiscated between 2010 and 2014.
What are the principal conduits for money transfers? Let’s see. Maybe banks? What is ABN AMRO? According to Wikipedia, the entity is — wait for it — a bank. Why does ABN AMRO, the number three bank in the Netherlands want to do better in this sphere of activity? Just a “good” bank I assume.
Stephen E Arnold, November 17, 2020
Palantir Technologies: Once Secretive Company Explains What It Is Not
November 17, 2020
I enjoy once-secretive companies explaining what they are not. A good example of this type of re-formation is “Palantir Is Not a Data Company (Palantir Explained, #1).” The headline makes it clear to me that there will be additional “we are not” essays coming down the intelware pike. The first installment of what a stealth company communicated incorrectly it seems is:
Palantir is not a data company and not a data aggregator.
The write up wants to differentiate from a company like Datminr or Oracle BlueKai and similar firms. These outfits suck up information and then sell access to those data.
Palantir Technologies is not in that “data” business. The company processes the data its clients have, license, or to which the clients link in an appropriate manner.
The essay makes clear that Palantir is a “software company.” That’s true. Much of the software is open source or crafted to perform specific functions which customers pay Palantir to effectuate. (There are partners and integrators who perform other work for Palantir licensees. Most of these companies keep a low profile and do not advertise their Palantir goodness.
Several observations:
- Palantir is a hybrid outfit; that is, it combines open source software, custom code, and consulting to generate revenue
- Partners and integrators contribute expertise and software shims to allow a licensee obtain a desire output from the Palantir system
- Much of Palantir “runs” on cloud services; for example, Amazon Web Services.
Now that Palantir is a publicly traded company, the once stealthy firm which operated as a start up for more than a decade has to demonstrate that it is avoiding some of the public relations pitfalls for intelware and policeware vendors in the public eye.
How difficult is this task? Quite challenging in my opinion.
I am looking forward to the second installment of explaining Palantir.
Stephen E Arnold, November 17, 2020
Virtual Private Networks: Not What They Seem
November 17, 2020
Virtual private networks are supposed to provide a user with additional security. There are reports about Apple surfing on this assumption in its Big Sur operating system. For more information, check out “Apple Apps on Big Sur Bypass Firewalls and VPNs — This Is Terrible.” Apple appears to making privacy a key facet of its marketing and may be experiencing one of those slips betwixt cup and lip with regard to this tasty sales Twinkie?
Almost as interesting is the information in “40% of Free VPN Apps Found to Leak Data.” Note that the assertion involves no-charge virtual private networks. The write up reports:
ProPrivacy has researched the top 250 free VPN apps available on Google Play Store and found that 40% failed to adequately protect users privacy.
Okay, security conscious Google and its curated apps on its bulletproof Play store are under the Microscope. The write up points out:
… A study by CSIRO discovered that more than 75% of free VPNs have at least one third-party tracker rooted in their software. These trackers collect information on customers online presence and forward that data to advertising agencies to optimize their ads.
Who is involved in the study? Possible the provider of for fee VPN services like NordVPN.
Marketing and privacy. Like peanut butter and honey.
Stephen E Arnold, November 17, 2020
DarkCyber for November 17, 2020, Now Available
November 17, 2020
The DarkCyber video news program for November 17, 2020, is now available at this link. This week’s program includes stories and links to information about the legal risks hacking and cracking pose to researchers. The October US Congressional report about the intelligence community’s need for innovation describes the challenges technology presents to more than a dozen agencies. You will also learn about how the former CEO of Google has “diversified his citizenship.” Allegedly a passport granting access to the European Union has been acquired by a member of the US Defense Innovation Board. Fourth, reports of security breaches decreased in 2020. Yet the number of personal data records has surged. Why the mismatch. DarkCyber explains that keeping quiet can present better optics for the organization which remains silent. Also, DarkCyber highlights a dated US electronic warfare diagram which is now circulating via Twitter and other online services as “new.” It presents a view of EW two or more years old. Finally, DarkCyber reports about a consumer drone which can perform surveillance and other actions underwater. With six thrusters, the drone can maneuver like its aerial cousins and deploy a robotic arm available on Amazon’s eCommerce site. More information related to cyber technologies is available in the blog at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress.
Kenny Toth, November 17, 2020
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