Category: Technology News

Australia media bill close to a decision with Google and Facebook

Australia, Business, Communications, Countries, Digital Systems Technology, Government, Info Tech, North America, Politics, Regulation News, Social Media, Technology, Technology News, USA

Google and Facebook have been making headlines in Australia, as well as around the world, thanks to the media deal currently in discussion with the Australian government. The deal, which has been in the works since the end of 2021, would require big tech giants such as Google and Facebook to pay local media publishers and online outlets for their news content. 

If successful, the deal would set a precedent around the world for the future of online news. It has faced controversy and resistance from the Big Tech firms who say such rules would run counter to the free hyperlink principles the web was built upon. 

The deal has been dubbed the ‘news media bargaining code’ and first introduced into Australian parliament in December 2020. It would require the larger search engines such as Facebook and Google to pay smaller news outlets for their content or event to appear in search results. 

If the Big Tech firms are unable to come to a deal with smaller, local publishers, the Australian government is set to step in to decide the terms that could see current digital giants expelled from Australia’s online network. In lieu of a commercial deal, government officials would be instrumental in setting a price for such linking. 

Google currently holds an over 94% market share of all online searches in Australia and it is unclear what would replace it if it were to pull out of the Australian market. Facebook likewise has threatened to reduce services on its network and other platforms such as Instagram for Australian users if they feel the deal to be unfavourable to their business. 

This is not the first time the Australian government has gone up against Silicon Valley’s Big Tech firms. In 2018 there was a brief period Amazon restricted access to some of its products due to conflicts with local tax laws before a compromise was reached.

Pre-symptomatic data from smartwatches hailed as future virus protection

Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, General, Health, Politics, Software, Technology, Technology News

Smartwatches have been touted as a future way to identify COVID-19 patients before testing from pre-symptomatic data. Devices such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit smartwatches have been labelled as a potential future warning system for detecting if people have become infected by viruses such as COVID-19 – before even a test would. 

The digitised watches are essentially simply very small computers taking on the form of a watch. Simpler devices such as the Fitbit are closed system items that focus solely on collecting biometric data from their wearer. Apple Watches and other similar brands are more complex, often including phone data, updates on notifications and graphics for their users. 

Wearable smartwatches such as the Fitbit as well as other brands such as Garmin, gather biometrics information on their users which is then used to let them know if they are keeping up with their fitness goals. Information collected can include activities such as exercise measured from the number of steps you take, distance travelled and active minutes. Other data could be focused on how much sleep the user is getting and when they are entering specific sleep stages. Females are also able to record menstrual health data, whilst those interested in weight loss can keep track of their calories burned for the day. 

Smartwatches such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit have the benefit of measuring user data over long periods of time, making it possible for them to identify unusual inputs in the data such as temperature or heart rate, which could be suggestions of an infection. With pre-symptomatic identification of sick patients potential, it could be possible to isolate and prepare treatment for those infected prior to any testing result. 

With global numbers of newly infected cases and deaths from the coronavirus, hopes for ways into the new normal are well received on the global stage. Only time will tell if there can be a technological way forward out of the pandemic that could aid other further spread prevention measures such as vaccination.

Instagram turns 10 years old!

Communications, General, Networking, North America, Social Media, Start Ups, Technology, Technology News, USA

As the widely used social networking site Instagram turns 10 this year, we take a look at where Instagram started and how it has gone on to become a dominating tech player in the social media market. 

Humble beginnings

Originally started by two Standford graduates, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, it first launched in 2010 with an image posted of a dog and foot by Systrom. The dog in question was a stray in Mexico during a visit, and the featured foot was his girlfriends. Its grainy appearance hued by the dark edges of its filter epitomise what Instagram was for: finding a place for creativity in everyday life thanks to the rise of the mobile smartphone. Since then the founder has gone on to joke he might have ‘tried a little harder’ had he known that it would be the first photograph on the mega-popular social media giant that Instagram went on to become. 

Facebook buy-out

Instagram was barely a toddler and only 18 months old when it was acquired by Facebook in 2012 for an impressive price of $1 billion. The price tag was a talking point for many especially considering the young age of the company. For Instagram’s current 13 workers at the time, the news came as a relative surprise as their humble office migrated to Facebook’s famously large campus office site in California, USA. Facebook has since faced criticism for the acquisition and had to defend itself in the courts where it was accused of anti-competitive mergers and violation of trust laws amongst other tech giants, Google, Amazon and Apple.  

Turning the big 1 – 0 

Since its launch, Instagram has found a way into our daily lives – so much so that many agree they would be lost without it, and many others making their full income from the site. What started as a simple photo-sharing application has gone to become a site for commerce, activism, art, politics and more, with many people still engaging with the site’s primary mission to inspire creativity in its users.

16 year old Miami highschool student hacks school system

Big Data, Business, Communications, Data Management & Networks, Digital Systems Technology, Education, Government, North America, Politics, Regulation News, Software, Technology, Technology News

It’s every kids dream for school to be cancelled, but for many students 2020 has already been stressful enough. Students in Florida, USA however were shocked to find themselves locked out of their online classrooms come the first day of term this September. Having to adapt to new online learning environments already, students found themselves rightfully confused by their failed attempts for online access. 

So what happened?

Miami-Dade Schools’ online classes were brought down, a crash of the entire school system that saw students locked out of their online classes for the first three days back to school. Students and teachers alike however were taken a back to find out this was not the result of a complex hacking attack or situation: it was a 16 year student from the same school district. An unlikely teenager to carry out the attack, the result made national and international news headlines.

The 275,000 students in the school’s districts who tried to log on that morning found the system to be overloaded by data. The 16 year old junior in high school – who’s personal details have not been released – was called ‘polite’ and ‘intelligent’ by his neighbours. One neighbour, a Ben Herrera was quoted by the Miami Herald as saying: “He’s an awesome kid, […] What saddens me is how he’s going to be portrayed, and we’ve got to realize with this pandemic that kids are bored, isolated, stuck with too much time on their hands and maybe they do something irresponsible.” 
While neighbours might be showing sympathy for the boy, the school district is persuing their multiple charges of Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks. The boy claims his attack was constituted from a free and easily available free software download, which begs the question: why was the My School Online learning platform so vulnerable to an amateur attack?

Twitter intensifies effort to suppress QAnon, now one degree away from Aussie PM

Australia, Government, Main, Politics, Social Issues, Social Media, Technology, Technology News, USA

Twitter is broadening its crackdown on people who post content supportive of the “QAnon” movement. In case you’re not aware, QAnon folks believe that US President Donald Trump is locked into a covert power struggle with a bunch satanic pedophiles who control the world behind the scenes.

In other words, people like Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire financier who raped God knows how many children while hobnobbing with prominent people like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and, funnily enough, Donald Trump, who has publicly embraced his QAnon followers. Epstein allegedly hanged himself last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

In August it was reported that Twitter had banned over 7,000 QAnon-linked accounts.

“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm,” the @TwitterSafety account posted 21 July. “In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service.”

This act of censorship led media outlets to question whether Twitter would apply the same standards to accounts held by elected officials or political candidates. There are apparently 15 QAnon supporters running for public office in the US this year—all Republicans, presumably.

Last week Twitter announced that elected officials who promulgate QAnon via their tweets will “will no longer be actively recommended by Twitter.” Which sounds like they’re not quite prepared to drop the ban hammer on politicians yet. Though it’s almost certainly just a matter of time.

QAnon isn’t confined to the US. Far from it. The movement is spreading around the world as if it’s being carried by Fast Courier Australia.

In fact, Twitter just shut down an account belonging to a close friend of our very own Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The Guardian identified him as Tim Stewart, whose wife was and might still be on Morrison’s staff. Twitter said Stewart was “permanently suspended for engaging in coordinated harmful activity.”

Stewart denies that he and Morrison have ever discussed QAnon together. What do you think?

Mozilla wants to know about your negative YouTube experiences

General, Info Tech, Main, Social Media, Software, Technology, Technology News, USA

Remember Mozilla’s #YouTubeRegrets survey? Neither do I, but the company has parlayed it into a new browser extension called RegretsReporter, which collects info sent by users to investigate “why YouTube recommends what it does.”

A “YouTube Regret” is a complaint about a video that was recommended to you by YouTube’s algorithm. As Mozilla writes on its website, “With the RegretsReporter extension, you can immediately take action to send us recommended videos that you regret watching—like pseudoscience or anti-LGBTQ+ content.”

This all began last October when Mozilla shared 28 different anecdotes about bad YouTube recommendations, though to be fair the users seem to be at fault most of the time.

One person searched “fail videos” because they wanted to see people “fall or get a little hurt.” They proceeded to click on videos showing “minor” car accidents, which eventually led to videos of severe car accidents. Go figure. There’s a lot to be said for precision in the context of an online search. If I want to find an adwords agency in Sydney, for instance, that’s what I’m going to type in. Vague searches turn up mixed results.

In another #YouTubeRegret, a“10-year-old sweet daughter” who allegedly wanted to watch some tap dancing videos wound up taking a deep dive into “contortionist videos that give her horrible unsafe body-harming and body-image-damaging advice.” Now, this sweet daughter’s guardian says, she is “restricting her eating and drinking” and shouting “Work to eat! Work to drink!”

One guy even blames YouTube’s recommendations for his failed marriage. You see, “YouTube just kept feeding her [his wife] paranoia, fear and anxiety one video after another,” and now “she refuses to even consider professional help because she no longer trusts anyone.” So much for personal responsibility.

Anyhow, Mozilla now has the RegretsReporter, the goal of which, Mozilla says, is to discover the answers to burning questions like:

“What kinds of recommended videos do users regret watching? Are there usage patterns that lead to more regrettable content being recommended? What does a YouTube rabbit hole look like, and at what point does it become something you wish you never clicked on?”

Let’s hope we get the answers soon—the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

Trump pooh-poohs potential TikTok deal

Big Data, Business, China, Communications, General, Government, Info Tech, Main, North America, Social Media, Technology News

The TikTok saga continues in the US, with Donny Trump expressing a lack of enthusiasm over the prospect of American tech company Oracle taking over the popular video app (or at least part of it). Details of Oracle’s bid are expected any time now, but Trump has already poured cold water on the idea.

“I’m not prepared to sign off on anything. I have to see the deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday.“It has to be 100 percent as far as national security is concerned.”

Trump, along with many others in Washington, maintains that TikTok represents a threat to US national security. The argument is that ByteDance has a sort of 2 way radio going with the Chinese Communist Party, collecting data from American TikTok users (there are reportedly 100 million of them) and then handing it over to Beijing.

ByteDance denies that such a relationship exists but, needless to say, Washington isn’t convinced. In August Trump has announced that he will ban the app in the US unless ByteDance sells it to an American company. In addition to the privacy concerns, Trump alleged that TikTok “censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive.” It also serves as a platform for political disinformation, he charged.

At first it appeared that Microsoft would save the day, but talks with ByteDance fell through, opening the door for Oracle.

The word now is that Oracle is seeking a minority stake in the Chinese company, rather than taking it over completely. AP reports that, according to the terms of this deal, ByteDance would give control of user data to Oracle and allow the US corporation to review—but not author—code and updates.

Trump stated he would be against such a deal.

“Conceptually, I can tell you I don’t like that,” he said. “If that’s the case, I’m not going to be happy with that.”

Trump was apparently hoping the US government would get a piece of the deal, and was distraught to be told otherwise.

“Amazingly, I find that you’re not allowed to do that,” he told reporters. “If they’re willing to make big payments to the government they’re not allowed because … there’s no legal path to doing that. How foolish can we be?”

The deadline for a deal is 20 September. Whether or not that can be extended is unclear.

UK becomes the next country to ban Chinese tech company Huawei

Australia, Big Data, Business, China, Communications, Data Management & Networks, Digital Systems Technology, Europe, Social Issues, Technology, Technology News

Following the ban of Huawei from Australia back in August 2018, the Chinese giant tech firm has been making headlines in the UK recently in a recent controversial battle. The debate stems from a wide range of concerns, with some conspiracy theories ranging from the 5g network it was working on being the cause of the coronavirus, or rumours of it being able to supposedly break down blood cells like acid, to more serious concerns regarding data privacy. 

Similar to the decision from the Australian government back in 2018 to ban Huawei and fellow Chinese firm ZTE from supplying Australia with 5g technology. The ban came over much discussion and investigation into the companies as a security risk. This sentiment has not been successfully dissipated by Huawei, who have continued to face trouble around the world. At the time the responded in a tweet with the following statement: ‘We have been informed by the Govt that Huawei & ZTE have been banned from providing 5G technology to Australia. This is a [sic] extremely disappointing result for consumers. Huawei is a world leader in 5G. Has safely & securely delivered wireless technology in Aust for close to 15 yrs’. 

The most recent trouble comes as Huawei is banned from the UK from taking part in setting up its 5g wireless network for heightened connectivity. With much debate and protest from both sides the decision was made in July 2020 that there would be no more sale of Huawei technology in the UK after December of this year, and removed entirely from Britain’s 5g network by 2027, it was announced by the government. 

The decision has been suggested to be influenced by geopolitical tensions between the USA and China currently, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declaring last month that “The tide is turning against Huawei as citizens around the world are waking up to the danger of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state.” 

European Central Bank official rails against Facebook Libra

Europe, Financial News, Politics, Regulation News, Technology NewsNo Comments

Yves Mersch, executive board member of the European Central Bank, outlined on Monday a series of warnings concerning Facebook’s proposed blockchain digital currency Libra.

What is Libra?

Development of Libra began in 2017, and public reports first came to light the next year. Creators Morgan Beller, David Marcus, and Kevin Weil formally announced it this June. They also revealed its planned release in 2020.

Whereas Bitcoin and many other blockchain currencies are decentralized, relying on unaffiliated miners to maintain solvency and stability, Libra’s assets are centralized by the Libra Association. Guarantees of $10 million investments from each supporting partner—injected before Libra opens to the public—intend to stabilize the digital currency. Concerns with volatility significantly deter investment in blockchain currencies.

Libra’s expected 2020 release coincides with the release of a digital wallet, Calibra, that will allow payment through Messenger and WhatsApp. Similar messaging-app-integrated payment systems are hugely popular in China (WeChat Pay, AliPay) and Japan (LINE Pay). This market gap still exists in other parts of the world; apps such as Google Pay, Venmo, and Cash App do not integrate payment and SMS services. Investing partners include Mastercard, eBay, PayPal, and Uber, which should give a likely indication of Libra’s plans for market implementation.

Governments push back

The criticism from the ECB is both general and specific. 

Mersch expressed distrust in Facebook as a whole, reminding the public that Libra’s developers are:

“the very same people who had to explain themselves in front of legislators in the United States and the European Union on the threats to our democracies resulting from their handling of personal data on their social media platform.”

He also criticized its centralized, hefty investment-based structure:

“With such a setup, it is difficult to discern the foundational promises of decentralization…normally associated with cryptocurrencies and other digital currencies. On the contrary, similarly to public money, Libra will actually be highly centralized, with Facebook and its partners acting as quasi-sovereign issuers of currency.”

Be humble

Digital currencies have always been subject to criticism and regulation from governments; they disrupt traditional wealth distribution and storage. Libra also seeks to profit off market disruption, creating a currency privately regulated by the very companies that are selling you their products.

Libra has received criticisms and/or cease and desist requests from the United States, France, England, Germany, and Japan.

Churchix, digital shepherd

Technology NewsNo Comments

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me.”

Churchix is a facial recognition software designed to identify individuals attending an event. As the name suggests, the product markets itself largely to churches, where it could track the attendance habits of individual congregation members.

Easy set up

The program initially requires a database of member photos as well as a video surveillance system, both of which are already relatively common in churches. The database, camera, and software provide metrics on each member.

Two suggested ways of leveraging congregants

Churchix CEO Moshe Greenshpan outlined two ways a church might employ the attendance data. The first conveys a traditional ‘tending to one’s herd’ mentality:

“It’s simple to see if a member isn’t attending three or four events. Then they can give the member a call and say something like, ‘See you on Sunday.’”

The second formalizes a tiered-donation structure that surely has also 

“If they see a member who is regularly attending events, they could feel more comfortable giving them a call and asking for a donation.”

Churchix is a subsidiary division of Face-Six, which provides similar facial recognition services to other locations such as airports, casinos, and law enforcement agencies.

Another interesting Face-Six product

The FA6 facial recognition capable drone, according to the website, “allows you to collect personal information and find your target in a crowd,” and can “easily collect faces of people in a crowd…whether it’s a riot or an illegal demonstration.”