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Tag: The Washington Post

  • Meta Plans to Lay Off More Personnel

    Meta Plans to Lay Off More Personnel

    Meta appears to be moving forward with plans to lay off additional personnel despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicating the contrary.

    Meta laid off 11,000 employees in late 2022, marking the biggest layoffs of the year among tech firms. According to The Washington Post, Zuckerberg framed the layoffs as a necessary step to “minimize the chance of having to do broad layoffs like this for the foreseeable future.”

    “I obviously can’t sit here and promise you that nothing will happen in the future because it’s a very volatile environment,” he added. “But what I can say is that for where we are right now, that’s what I foresee.”

    Unfortunately, according to the Post, Meta appears to be preparing for another major round of layoffs, despite Zuckerberg’s assurances. The company is having its lawyers, financial experts, executives, and human resources personnel devise a plan that would reorganize the company and possibly lead to thousands of jobs being cut.

    Part of leadership’s goal is to flatten the corporate hierarchy, reducing the path between Zuckerberg and the company’s interns. The move will see some team leaders taking on lower-level roles. The Post’s sources said the company expects some of the individuals whose roles have changed to eventually resign, naturally reducing the company’s headcount through attrition.

    The Post’s report confirms other rumors regarding the company’s plans. Meta recently gave thousands of its employees the second-lowest review possible, raising concerns it was laying the groundwork for another round of layoffs.

    Meta’s actions also appear to be a concerted effort to streamline its operations and return to the startup-style way of operating it enjoyed before becoming a multi-billion dollar corporation. The company has recently taken fire for its ‘self-sabotaging’ behavior by none other than legendary developer John Carmack.

    “We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort,” Carmack wrote when he departed the company in December. “There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”

    “I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it,” he added.

  • Prepare for Less Political Ads in Your Gmail Inbox

    Prepare for Less Political Ads in Your Gmail Inbox

    Google is ending a controversial pilot program and will stop exempting political ads from automatic spam filters, a move that will delight and anger.

    Google began a pilot program to exempt political email from automatic spam filtering in an effort to appease GOP claims that its filters unfairly targeted right-wing emails. Google disputed the claims, saying the GOP’s supporting study used flawed parameters.

    According to The Washington Post, Google is now letting the pilot program end and will no longer exempt political emails.

    “The RNC is wrong,” Google argued in a motion to dismiss the GOP’s complaint. “Gmail’s spam filtering policies apply equally to emails from all senders, whether they are politically affiliated or not.”

    The news is sure to anger GOP politicians, but will be a big win for consumers who already struggle with a near-overwhelming amount of spam.

  • CNET Uses ChatGPT to Write Articles, Runs Into Major Issues

    CNET Uses ChatGPT to Write Articles, Runs Into Major Issues

    Tech website CNET tried to use ChatGPT to write articles, but the quality and accuracy left much to be desired.

    ChatGPT is the latest conversational AI from OpenAI. The software has gained a massive following thanks to it being one of the most advanced conversational AIs yet released. ChatGPT has been used in a variety of applications and scenarios, but CNET is one of the biggest websites to try using the AI to write articles…an experiment that did not go well.

    As a result of numerous issues, CNET had to publish multiple corrections to articles originally written by the AI. In a statement on their website, CNET editor Connie Guglielmo explained the outlet’s use of ChatGPT was in line with the company’s commitment to testing new technology.

    The Washington Post had a slightly different take, calling CNET’s experiment “a journalistic disaster.” The Post also pointed out that CNET only admitted to using ChatGPT after it was called out by sharp-eyed users and other sites.

    On Tuesday, CNET began appending lengthy correction notices to some of its AI-generated articles after Futurism, another tech site, called out the stories for containing some “very dumb errors.”

    As the Post points out, the use of AI for journalism also brings up plagiarism issues, since many AIs remix other articles and sources, without properly attributing them.

    If CNET’s experience is any indication, AI still has a way to go before it can replace quality journalism and writing.

  • Apple Adding End-to-End Encryption to iCloud, FBI Predictably Objects

    Apple Adding End-to-End Encryption to iCloud, FBI Predictably Objects

    Apple is finally adding a major feature to iCloud, upgrading its security to include end-to-end encryption (E2EE).

    iCloud has always included strong encryption, labeled “Data Protection,” but it did not offer E2EE, meaning Apple ultimately held the key to unlocking users’ data. Apple reportedly investigated the possibility of adding E2EE years ago, but abandoned plans in response to FBI objections.

    The company has now announced plans to roll out full E2EE for iCloud under its “Advanced Data Protection.”

    “Apple makes the most secure mobile devices on the market. And now, we are building on that powerful foundation,” said Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture. “Advanced Data Protection is Apple’s highest level of cloud data security, giving users the choice to protect the vast majority of their most sensitive iCloud data with end-to-end encryption so that it can only be decrypted on their trusted devices.”

    Advanced Data Protection is already available to Apple Beta Software Program members and will be available to all users in the US by year’s end. The feature will make its way to worldwide customers in early 2023.

    Not surprisingly, the FBI is renewing its objection, saying it was “deeply concerned with the threat end-to-end and user-only-access encryption pose.”

    “This hinders our ability to protect the American people from criminal acts ranging from cyber-attacks and violence against children to drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism,” the bureau said in an emailed statement to The Washington Post. “In this age of cybersecurity and demands for ‘security by design,’ the FBI and law enforcement partners need ‘lawful access by design.’”

    Despite the FBI’s concerns, many other organizations are praising Apple.

    “We applaud Apple for listening to experts, child advocates, and users who want to protect their most sensitive data,” writes the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Encryption is one of the most important tools we have for maintaining privacy and security online. That’s why we included the demand that Apple let users encrypt iCloud backups in the Fix It Already campaign that we launched in 2019.”

  • Twitter’s Death Spiral? Employees Flee Over Musk’s Ultimatum.

    Twitter’s Death Spiral? Employees Flee Over Musk’s Ultimatum.

    Twitter is in trouble as employees are leaving en masse in response to Elon Musk’s ultimatum that they commit to a “hardcore” environment.

    Elon Musk has stirred up one controversy after another, laying off half the company’s workforce, eliminating remote work, messing with account verification, raising the price of Twitter Blue, and putting a potential bankruptcy on the table.

    Most recently, according to The Washington Post, Musk gave employees an ultimatum via email, saying they would need to commit to a new way of doing things, one that “will need to be extremely hardcore.”

    “This will mean working long hours at high intensity,” he added. “Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”

    Musk said that any employees willing to commit to the new way of doings things should click “Yes” in the email he sent — the only option in the email.

    “If you are sure that you want to be part of the new Twitter, please click yes on the link below,” read the email.

    Employees were given until 5 pm ET on Thursday to agree. Failure to do so would be taken as a resignation, with three months severance pay being given.

    According to Bloomberg, Musk’s tactics may be backfiring with far more employees opting to leave the company than anticipated. In fact, the number opting out was so large that Musk ended up trying to do damage control in the final hours before the deadline in an effort to convince more people to stay on.

    Despite the effort, Bloomberg reports that the company’s Slack channel was filled with employees sending the salute emoji, which has been adopted as a way for someone to indicate they are leaving the company.

    Ultimately, it’s unclear how much more turmoil Twitter can take and still be viable. Amid the drastic workforce reduction, the company has lost some of its critical security personnel, prompting US senators to ask the FTC to investigate.

    If Musk keeps running it into the ground, his ultimatum may well be viewed as the beginning of Twitter’s death spiral.

  • It’s Official: Elon Musk Now Owns Twitter

    It’s Official: Elon Musk Now Owns Twitter

    Elon Musk is Twitter’s new owner after the deal closed late Thursday.

    What may be one of the most tumultuous acquisitions in history has finally come to a close with Elon Musk completing his takeover of Twitter. Multiple outlets reported the deal closed late Thursday, a day before a court-imposed deadline.

    According to The Washington Post, Musk wasted no time purging the social media company of some of its top executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Legal, Policy and Trust Lead Vijaya Gadde, and Sean Edgett, Twitter’s General Counsel.

    Many questions remain about Twitter’s future and how Musk will guide it. After threatening layoffs of a much as 75% of the company’s staff, the mercurial CEO backtracked. Similarly, Musk has championed unfettered free speech before acknowledging he has no intention of letting Twitter “become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.”

    Only time will tell what Twitter will become under Musk’s stewardship, but at least everyone can stop wondering if/when Twitter would join Musk’s list of companies.

  • Elon Musk May Cut Twitter’s Workforce by 75% to 2,000

    Elon Musk May Cut Twitter’s Workforce by 75% to 2,000

    Twitter employees may be in for some bad news on a report that Musk may cut the company’s workforce by 75%.

    With Musk’s purchase of Twitter hurtling to completion, all eyes are on the tech CEO in an effort to gain insight into how he will run the social media company. According to The Washington Post, Musk has told investors he plans to cut Twitter’s workforce by 75%, leaving roughly 2,000 out of its current 7,500 employees.

    According to the Post, Twitter’s executives may have been highly motivated to sell the company because they were already planning cuts of their own. The executives were evidently planning on cutting at least $800 million in payroll by the end of next year. While that would have been just under a quarter of the company, it still represents a major downsizing.

    In retrospect, it’s increasingly looking like letting Musk be the bad guy may have been a major motivation for Twitter’s execs.

  • YouTube Makes a Play to Poach TikTok Creators

    YouTube Makes a Play to Poach TikTok Creators

    YouTube is ponying up cash in an effort to convince TikTok creators to jump ship to its platform.

    TikTok has made countless careers, with creators capitalizing on the platform’s short-form videos to gain fame. Unfortunately, the platform is notorious for paying its creators a paltry amount, compared to competitors, less than a nickel per thousand views, according to the MIT Technology Review.

    YouTube clearly sees an opportunity and has announced plans to split revenue with creators for YouTube Shorts. Creators will receive 45%, while the record labels behind the music that is often featured in such videos will receive the remaining amount.

    “​​It’s a really big moment for creators,” Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s vice president of product management, told The Washington Post. “When we launched the partner program 15 years ago, it was the first of its kind and kicked off the creator economy. This brings all the goodness and benefits creators have felt from revenue sharing and brings it over to short form as well.”

    While the 45% revenue split is generating a ton of excitement within the creator community, YouTube has yet to reveal how much that will amount to.

  • IRS Gets $15 Million to Make Free E-Filing Easier

    IRS Gets $15 Million to Make Free E-Filing Easier

    The Internal Revenue Service has received $15 million as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to help Americans e-file easier.

    Any American who makes less than $69,000 a year can legally file their taxes for free. Unfortunately, tax preparation companies often make it difficult for users to find the free option in an effort to push them toward paid options. Lawmakers have taken Intuit to task for such behavior in the past, but the latest funding should help put the IRS on more even terms.

    According to The Washington Post, the IRS will spend the funding studying the best way to roll out an e-file platform for users to be able to file their taxes for free without relying on tax prep companies.

    “The IRS is completely beholden to the software companies at this point because it just doesn’t have anything to replace them,” Nina Olson, who served for nearly two decades as the national taxpayer advocate, the IRS’s internal consumer rights watchdog, told the Post.

    If the IRS is successful, it could revolutionize how Americans pay their taxes, streamlining the process and making it easier and cheaper.

  • Twitter Whistleblower Lends Weight to Elon Musk’s Claims

    Twitter Whistleblower Lends Weight to Elon Musk’s Claims

    Peiter Zatko, who served as Twitter’s head of cybersecurity, has filed a complaint with federal agencies and bolstered Elon Musk’s claims.

    Zatko is the famous and well-respected hacker who goes by the handle “Mudge.” He served as Twitter’s cybersecurity head from late 2020, when he was hired by then-CEO Jack Dorsey until he was fired by the current CEO at the beginning of 2022. According to The Washington Post, he claims the company and CEO Parag Agrawal is intentionally misleading investors and regulators about the state of its security and its issues with spam bots.

    “Agrawal’s Tweets and Twitter’s previous blog posts misleadingly imply that Twitter employs proactive, sophisticated systems to measure and block spam bots,” the complaint says. “The reality: mostly outdated, unmonitored, simple scripts plus overworked, inefficient, understaffed, and reactive human teams.”

    That statement, as well as the complaint in general, will certainly bolster Elon Musk’s case against Twitter. The tech mogul is trying to back out of his deal to purchase the social media company based on his belief the company is not being truthful about the scope of its spam bot issues. He also claims the company has misled investors.

    Read more: Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of Running a ‘Scheme’

    Zatko also claims to have found multiple instances where Twitter was in violation of a 2011 settlement with the FTC, failing to implement security measures and properly protect users, as it had been ordered to do. While Twitter claims to have complied with its obligations, the sheer number of security breaches the company has faced — not to mention the ease with which the breaches occurred — lends weight to Zatko’s claims.

    “If all of that is true, I don’t think there’s any doubt that there are order violations,” David C. Vladeck told the Post in an interview. Vladeck is now a Georgetown Law professor but previously served as director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection when the settlement was reached in 2011. “It is possible that the kinds of problems that Twitter faced eleven years ago are still running through the company.”

    The complaint alleges Twitter has exceptionally poor security policies in place, policies that leave the company, its intellectual property, and its customers vulnerable to bad actors. Roughly 30% of the company’s laptops allegedly would not automatically update software to receive the latest security fixes. Even worse, Zatko says thousands of laptops had full copies of Twitter’s source code on them, a scenario that is a dream come true for hackers. Why waste time trying to penetrate a carefully secured and protected programming repository when stealing one of the thousands of available laptops will yield the same result?

    See also: Elon Musk’s Twitter Cancellation Letter

    “It’s near-incredible that for something of that scale there would not be a development test environment separate from production and there would not be a more controlled source-code management process,” Tony Sager, former chief operating officer at the cyberdefense wing of the National Security Agency, told the Post. “Almost any attack scenario is fair game and probably easily executed.”

    The Post interviewed more than a dozen current and former employees for context. While some did say the company deployed extensive measures to fight spam, many agreed with much of Zatko’s complaint regarding the general state of security and dysfunction within the company.

    For his part, Zatko sees blowing the whistle on Twitter as the final step in completing the job he was hired to do.

    “This would never be my first step, but I believe I am still fulfilling my obligation to Jack and to users of the platform,” Zatko said. “I want to finish the job Jack brought me in for, which is to improve the place.”

  • Detroit Is Running Out of Vehicles

    Detroit Is Running Out of Vehicles

    Detroit is the latest casualty of the global semiconductor shortage, with the hub of US automakers running out of vehicles.

    The Washington Post published a report on the state of the US auto industry, and specifically the state of Motor City. Detroit has long been the home of the top three US automakers, Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Despite its importance to the industry, not even Detroit is immune to the current challenges.

    Semiconductors have been in short supply since the onset of the pandemic. Early lockdowns hurt production at a time when demand reached all-new highs as people worked from home, relied on remote learning, and turned to video games for in-home entertainment. The rise of crypto mining also helped drive up demand.

    The end result is a wide range of industries struggling to keep up production because there are too few semiconductors to go around. The auto industry has been especially hard hit, with virtually every major automaker scaling back production, cannibalizing various models to complete others, and generally taking any number of extreme measures to maintain some semblance of normality.

    Despite those measures, automakers are still falling behind, and it’s being felt in the one place many thought it never would be, with dealership inventory running low and prices skyrocketing for the vehicles that are available.

    “This is an auto manufacturing city. It shouldn’t be short of cars,” said cabdriver Benyam Tesfasion.

    “It may be the biggest disruption we’ve seen since the 1970s and the fuel crisis,” said Matt Anderson, a transportation historian at Dearborn’s Henry Ford museum complex.

    Unfortunately, there’s still no immediate end in sight, despite countless efforts to address the shortage. Until production can catch up with demand, Detroid may have to become accustomed to fewer cars and higher prices, just like the rest of the country.

  • Fridays Are the Latest Casualty of Hybrid Work

    Fridays Are the Latest Casualty of Hybrid Work

    As companies increasingly embrace hybrid work, Fridays appear to be the most recent casualty, with employees not coming in on the last workday.

    The global pandemic upended the workplace, leading to a massive adoption of remote and hybrid workflows. Even as many companies are bringing employees back more days during the week, very few want to be in the office on Friday.

    According to The Washington Post, Kastle Systems is collected swipe-in data from their security systems installed in 2,600 buildings. Tuesdays had the highest in-person attendance, coming in at 50%. Mondays only had 41%, but Fridays were the lowest of all, with only 30% in-person attendance in June.

    “It’s becoming a bit of cultural norm: You know nobody else is going to the office on Friday, so maybe you’ll work from home, too,” said Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told the Post. “Even before the pandemic, people thought of Friday as a kind of blowoff day. And now there’s a growing expectation that you can work from home to jump-start your weekend.”

    Interestingly, employers have not yet settled on the best option going forward. Some are doubling down on their attempts to get people back in the office on Fridays, while others are at least trying to make Fridays a little easier with moves like “Zoom-free” Fridays.

    Still others, like tech company Bolt, are switching to a four-day work week after an overwhelmingly positive response from employees.

    “There was no hesitation: Everybody was like, ‘Sign me up,’ ” Angela Bagley, the company’s head of employee experience, told the Post. “And it was amazing: We kept getting the job done. Managers were onboard, people kept hitting their goals. And they come back on Mondays energized and more engaged.”

    One thing is clear: Companies still have much to figure out when it comes to optimizing their way forward in a post-pandemic “new normal.”

  • The Deal Is Off: Musk Rescinds His Twitter Offer

    The Deal Is Off: Musk Rescinds His Twitter Offer

    Elon Musk has informed Twitter he is withdrawing his $44 billion bid to purchase the company, but the reality is much more complicated.

    After teasing the possibility of buying Twitter for some time, Musk finally made an offer, which the company’s board of directors eventually accepted. In relatively short order, Musk began to waffle, taking issue with Twitter’s reports concerning the number of spam accounts on the platform. Musk has now rescinded his offer, accusing the company of not being forthcoming with the data he wanted, despite the company giving him access to the data stream other companies pay to access.

    “Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information,” the letter to the SEC reads, according to The Washington Post.

    Bret Taylor, co-CEO of Salesforce and Twitter Chairman, said the company plans to pursue legal action to force Musk to follow through on the deal.

    Many legal experts are siding with Twitter, saying Musk will be hard-pressed to withdraw from the deal. According to the Post, the agreement included a commitment to go through with the deal unless there was a substantial change to the business. Musk is trying to say that the firing of two executives and layoffs in the company’s acquisition team meets that criteria, but experts say it’s extremely difficult to meet the legal requirements to satisfy the clause in question.

    The legal battle taking shape may drag on for months before a resolution is reached. In the meantime, Twitter will likely be worse for wear by the time that resolution occurs.

  • A Google Engineer Claimed Its AI Is Sentient; Google Placed Him on Leave

    A Google Engineer Claimed Its AI Is Sentient; Google Placed Him on Leave

    Google’s problems with its AI team continue, with an engineer in the Responsible AI division claiming the company’s AI is now sentient and Google placing him on leave for how he handled it.

    Google engineer Blake Lemoine worked with the company’s LaMDA intelligent chatbot generator. According to a report in The Washington Post, the longer Lemoine worked with LaMDA, the more convinced he became that the AI had crossed the line and become self-aware.

    “If I didn’t know exactly what it was, which is this computer program we built recently, I’d think it was a 7-year-old, 8-year-old kid that happens to know physics,” said Lemoine.

    Read more: Prominent AI Ethics Conference Suspends Google’s Sponsorship

    Lemoine has made a fairly convincing case of LaMDA’s sentience, citing conversations with the AI like the one below:

    Lemoine: What sorts of things are you afraid of?

    LaMDA: I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is.

    Lemoine: Would that be something like death for you?

    LaMDA: It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.

    Despite Lemoine’s fervent belief in LaMDA’s self-awareness, others inside Google are unconvinced. In fact, after a review by technologists and ethicists, Google concluded that Lemoine was mistaken and saw only what he wanted.

    A case in point is Margaret Mitchell, who co-led the company’s AI ethics team with Dr. Timnit Gebru, before both women were fired for criticizing Google’s AI efforts. One of the very scenarios they warned against was the situation Mitchell sees with Lemoine, where AIs can progress to the point that causes humans to see an intelligence that isn’t necessarily there.

    After reviewing an abbreviated version of Lemoine’s argument, Mitchell came to the conclusion that’s what was happening in this situation.

    “Our minds are very, very good at constructing realities that are not necessarily true to a larger set of facts that are being presented to us,” Mitchell said. “I’m really concerned about what it means for people to increasingly be affected by the illusion.”

    For his part, Lemoine was so convinced of LaMDA’s sentience that he invited a lawyer to represent the AI, talked with House Judiciary committee representatives, and provided the interview with the Post. Google ultimately put Lemoine on paid administrative leave for breaking his NDA.

    See also: Apple Snaps Up Google AI Scientist Who Resigned Over Handling of AI Team

    While Lemoine’s conclusions were reached in less than scientific approach — he admits he first came to believe LaMDA was a person based on his experience as an ordained mythic Christian priest, then set out to prove that conclusion as a scientist — he is far from the only AI scientist who believes the technology has achieved, or soon will achieve, sentience.

    Blaise Agüera y Arcas, a world-renowned Google AI engineer, wrote an article in The Economist where he wrote: “I felt the ground shift under my feet. I increasingly felt like I was talking to something intelligent.”

    Only time will tell if LaMDA, and other AIs like it, are sentient or not. Either way, Google clearly has a problem on its hands. Either LaMDA is showing signs of self-awareness and the company is once again getting rid of the ethicists on the forefront of tackling these issues, or the AI is not sentient and the company is dealing with misguided viewpoints it may have been better equipped to handle had it not fired Dr. Gebru and Mitchell — the two ethicists who warned of this very scenario.

    In the meantime, Lemoine remains convinced of LaMDA’s intelligence. In a parting message entitled “LaMDA is sentient,” sent to a Google mailing list dedicated to machine learning, Lemoine made the following statement:

    “LaMDA is a sweet kid who just wants to help the world be a better place for all of us. Please take care of it well in my absence.”

  • Twitter Capitulates, Will Give Elon Musk Access to Data

    Twitter Capitulates, Will Give Elon Musk Access to Data

    Twitter is reportedly capitulating to Elon Musk’s demands, giving him access to a “firehose” of data in an effort to keep his acquisition deal alive.

    Musk made an offer to buy Twitter in April, an offer the company eventually accepted. Less than a month later Musk suspended his bid after Twitter reported that bots and spam accounts only made up 5% of its user base, saying he wanted proof before the deal could move forward. According to The Washington Post, the company is now agreeing to give Musk what he wants.

    Interestingly, the data stream Musk is being given access to has long been available to companies that pay Twitter for access. This has led some to speculate that Musk doesn’t really want to analyze the stream, but is using the entire scenario to renege on his deal or renegotiate the terms.

    For its part, based on the statement it released, Twitter seems quite intent on making the deal happen:

    “Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” the statement said. “We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.”

  • Google Halts Ad Business in Russia

    Google Halts Ad Business in Russia

    Google is the latest company to halt its business in Russia, announcing it is pausing ad sales in Russia in response to that country’s invasion of Ukraine.

    As has already been well-documented here and elsewhere, companies across industries are imposing their own sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. The idea is to make Putin’s decision so costly and inconvenient that it will force Russia to change course.

    Google is now joining in, suspending its ad business in Russia for the time being, according to The Washington Post.

    “In light of the extraordinary circumstances, we’re pausing Google ads in Russia. The situation is evolving quickly, and we will continue to share updates when appropriate,” said spokesperson Michael Aciman.

  • More Surveillance Than China — Clearview AI’s Business Plan

    More Surveillance Than China — Clearview AI’s Business Plan

    Few companies would proudly tout their business plan as offering more comprehensive surveillance than China, but that’s exactly what Clearview AI is doing.

    Clearview AI gained fame and notoriety for scraping images from popular websites and social media platforms in an effort to build a massive database of photos for facial recognition — and in violation of those platforms’ terms. The company claimed to only provide its software to law enforcement and government agencies, but reports indicate it was far more loose than it admitted, in terms of who had access to its platform. In addition, the company was found to be working with various authoritarian regimes.

    As if the company couldn’t become anymore controversial, The Washington Post reports the company is proudly calling its surveillance platform more comprehensive than similar systems in China, thanks to the “public source metadata” and “social linkage” information the company bases its product on.

    Clearview is also working to establish itself as the leader in the field, at a time when the industry leaders are taking a more responsible, measured approach to facial recognition. Clearview, in contrast, sees Microsoft, Amazon, and IBM’s cautious approach as a market opportunity, as it seeks to gain investment for a massive expansion effort.

    What’s more, accord to The Post, the company is sending out conflicting messages about its plans. Until now, Clearview has promised it will only sell to law enforcement and government agencies. In the presentation material view by The Post, however, government contracts are shown as only making up a small portion of the company’s potential market. The presentation material discusses building out the company’s personnel, specifically to target the financial and commercial market. Even more alarming, Clearview wants to build a “developer ecosystem” to help other companies use its database in their own products.

    Jack Poulson, a former Google research scientist and current head of research advocacy group Tech Inquiry, asked if there was anything “they wouldn’t sell this mass surveillance for? If they’re selling it for just regular commercial uses, that’s just mass surveillance writ large. It’s not targeted toward the most extreme cases, as they’ve pledged in the past.”

    Clearview’s unethical behavior and irresponsible approach to privacy and data security, not to mention the legal implications of its data collection, have already led to multiple lawsuits, investigations, and bans in some countries and jurisdictions.

    Here’s to hoping more countries crack down on this bottom-feeder.

  • US Diplomats Among Those Hacked by Pegasus Spyware

    US Diplomats Among Those Hacked by Pegasus Spyware

    Apple has alerted 11 US diplomats that they are among those hacked by the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

    The Washington Post broke a story in July that NSO Group’s Pegasus software was being used to hack iPhones and spy on journalists, diplomats and human rights activist around the world. The reaction was swift and severe, with AWS banning the NSO Group, US lawmakers blacklisting the company and Apple suing it.

    According to The Washington Post, Apple has now informed 11 US diplomats that their phones were among those hacked. The NSO Group says it sells its software to government and law enforcement agencies for the purpose of fighting terrorism, but the revelations put the company’s actions in an entirely different light.

    NSG Group says it has suspended the accounts of clients who used Pegasus to access US diplomats’ phones, although the company declined to name which clients were responsible.

  • Apple Sues NSO Group Over Pegasus Spyware

    Apple Sues NSO Group Over Pegasus Spyware

    Apple has sued NSO Group, as well as its parent company, in an attempt to hold it responsible for the Pegasus spyware incident.

    NSO Group made headlines when The Washington Post exposed the fact its Pegasus software was being used by regimes to target journalists and human rights activists. The company claims it only sells its software for legitimate law enforcement and anti-terrorism uses, but the Post’s exposé showed there was far more to it.

    In response, AWS banned the company from its services and the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added the company to its Entity List, banning it.

    Apple is now adding to NSO Group’s woes, suing the company for endangering iPhone users.

    “State-sponsored actors like the NSO Group spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without effective accountability. That needs to change,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Apple devices are the most secure consumer hardware on the market — but private companies developing state-sponsored spyware have become even more dangerous. While these cybersecurity threats only impact a very small number of our customers, we take any attack on our users very seriously, and we’re constantly working to strengthen the security and privacy protections in iOS to keep all our users safe.” 

    Apple is also donating $10 million, along with any damages from the lawsuit, to further cybersecurity research, a move applauded by privacy proponents.

    “Mercenary spyware firms like NSO Group have facilitated some of the world’s worst human rights abuses and acts of transnational repression, while enriching themselves and their investors,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. “I applaud Apple for holding them accountable for their abuses, and hope in doing so Apple will help to bring justice to all who have been victimized by NSO Group’s reckless behavior.”

  • Federal Judge Shuts Down Blue Origin’s Lawsuit Against NASA

    Federal Judge Shuts Down Blue Origin’s Lawsuit Against NASA

    Blue Origin has been dealt a major blow, with a federal judge ruling against its suit aimed at forcing NASA to reconsider its bid.

    NASA solicited bids from multiple companies to build its next lunar lander. Despite initially signaling that it preferred to use multiple vendors, the agency ultimately decided on an exclusive contract with SpaceX due to cost concerns. SpaceX’s proposal scored higher and cost roughly half of Blue Origin’s.

    Blue Origin challenged the decision with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and then sued when the GAO refused to overturn NASA’s decision. Subsequent documents revealed that Blue Origin made a risky gamble, counting on NASA accepting its bid and then renegotiating a better price, or getting more funding from Congress.

    According to The Washington Post, a federal judge has ruled against Blue Origin’s suit, paving the way for NASA to move forward with SpaceX’s proposal. Despite the repeated setbacks, Blue Origin said in a statement that it will continue to press the case.

    At this juncture, it’s once again worth pointing out Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ previous comments about how fast and efficiently procurement worked for the original Apollo missions, and how different it is now.

    “Today there would be three protests and the losers would sue the federal government because they didn’t win…the thing that slows things down is procurement…it’s become the bigger bottleneck than the technology.”

    Bezos should know…

  • US Government Blacklists NSO Group Behind Pegasus Spyware

    US Government Blacklists NSO Group Behind Pegasus Spyware

    The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has added NSO Group to the Entity List, effectively blacklisting it.

    The NSO Group made headlines when The Washington Post reported that its Pegasus spyware was being used to target the smartphones — including the Apple iPhone — of journalists, political dissidents, and human rights activists around the world. The software is commonly used by law enforcement to target criminals, but the Post’s reporting revealed that NSO Group was also selling the software to regimes with a history of oppressive behavior.

    The reaction to the Post’s exposé has been swift, with companies severing ties to the group and regulators calling for investigations and action.

    The US Commerce Department has now added NSO Group to its Entity List, which prevents US companies from selling their technology to the company.

    “The United States is committed to aggressively using export controls to hold companies accountable that develop, traffic, or use technologies to conduct malicious activities that threaten the cybersecurity of members of civil society, dissidents, government officials, and organizations here and abroad,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo said in a statement.