December 13, 2023 — “The Federal Communications Commission today adopted new rules to further protect consumers from scam communications by directly addressing some of the biggest vulnerabilities in America’s robotext defenses and closing the “lead generator” robocall/robotexts loophole. The new rules allow blocking of “red flagged” robotexting numbers, codifies do-not-call rules for texting, and encourages… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Records
AI – Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements
Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements, GAO-24-105980 Published: Dec 12, 2023. Publicly Released: Dec 12, 2023. “Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the world and could improve government operations. For example, federal agencies can use AI to analyze drone photos and large datasets. But safeguards are needed to manage AI… Continue Reading
Leading scholarly database listed hundreds of papers from ‘hijacked’ journals
Science: Scopus is giving suspect, non–peer-reviewed papers unwarranted legitimacy, researchers say: “Scopus, a widely used database of scientific papers operated by publishing giant Elsevier, plays an important role as an arbiter of scholarly legitimacy, with many institutions around the world expecting their researchers to publish in journals indexed on the platform. But users beware, a… Continue Reading
Plagiarism doesn’t need AI to thrive online
Vox – A YouTuber’s deep dive on plagiarism tries to make viewers care when creators steal content: “Copying has always been a part of internet culture. Sometimes it’s ethical, sometimes not. It’s almost always incentivized: Once social media began reshaping online life, copying became a go-to tactic for getting views. When copying crosses an ethical… Continue Reading
Apple admits to secretly giving governments push notification data
Ars Technica: “Governments have been secretly tracking the app activity of an unknown number of people using Apple and Google smartphones, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) revealed today. In a letter demanding that the Department of Justice update or repeal policies prohibiting companies from informing the public about these covert government requests, Wyden warned that… Continue Reading
A Bold New Plan for Preserving Online Privacy and Security
IEEE Spectrum: “…We’re all hoping that companies will keep us safe, but it’s increasingly clear that they don’t, can’t, and won’t. We should stop expecting them to.” To ensure that cloud services do not learn more than they should, and that a breach of one does not pose a fundamental threat to our data, we… Continue Reading
Your car is probably harvesting your data. Here’s how you can wipe it
The Record: “It is so easy to vacuum up private data from vehicles that Andrea Amico taught his daughter how to extract text messages from her mom’s car when she was only eight years old. Blue-haired and an engineer by training, Amico has a hacker’s mentality, which has manifested in giving drivers a way to… Continue Reading
Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable”
Ars Technica: “US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is one of the more technologically engaged of our elected lawmakers. And like many technologically engaged Ars Technica readers, he does not like what he sees in terms of automakers’ approach to data privacy. On Friday, Sen. Markey wrote to 14 car companies with a variety of questions… Continue Reading
The Opt Out: 5 reasons to skip at-home genetic testing
PopSci: “In the last decade direct-to-consumer genetic tests like those from Ancestry.com and 23andMe have become ubiquitous in the US. These services cater to Americans looking for distant relatives, a missing piece of their history, or insight into their health. But if you can’t wait to swab your cheeks or spit into a plastic tube… Continue Reading
PDFgear supercharges your workflows for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with AI Copilot
9to5Mac: “Wish you could find a PDF editor with all the features you need without paying for another subscription or an expensive upfront purchase? PDFgear is a cross-platform app that’s truly free with no catches like watermarks, page limits, or in-app purchases. Here’s what’s included with the impressive PDFgear iOS, Mac, and Windows apps, including… Continue Reading
23andMe confirms hackers stole ancestry data on 6.9 million users
TechCrunch: “On Friday [December 1, 2023], genetic testing company 23andMe announced that hackers accessed the personal data of 0.1% of customers, or about 14,000 individuals. The company also said that by accessing those accounts, hackers were also able to access “a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry.” But 23andMe would… Continue Reading
How Citizen Surveillance Ate San Francisco
Wired: “…In San Francisco there’s always another video. New York and London are known for being blanketed with government-run CCTV coverage, but surveillance here is different: It is as privatized as it is pervasive, a culture of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, at scale. In the city where Nextdoor’s offices sit right in the gritty Tenderloin, sharing… Continue Reading
