GCHQ survey finds millions using most obvious passwords – including ‘password’, ‘qwerty’ and superhero namesCybercriminals are using increasingly devious scams to con internet users into revealing precious online information. Yet millions of people have saved fraudsters the bother of deploying trickery and temptation by picking bizarrely simple passwords that feature on a new hotlist of online security howlers.One of them, for example, is “passwordâ€. Continue reading...
We test and control drugs, so why do we freely allow the spread of potentially harmful products by unregulated entrepreneurs?The headline above an essay in a magazine published by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) caught my eye. “Facial recognition is the plutonium of AIâ€, it said. Since plutonium – a by-product of uranium-based nuclear power generation – is one of the most toxic materials known to humankind, this seemed like an alarmist metaphor, so I settled down to read.The article, by a Microsoft researcher, Luke Stark, argues that facial-recognition technology – one of the current obsessions of the tech industry – is potentially so toxic for the health of human society that it should be treated like plutonium and restricted accordingly. You could spend a lot of time in Silicon Valley before you heard sentiments like these about a technology that enables computers to recognise faces in a photograph or from a camera. There, it’s regarded as universally beneficial. If you’ve ever come across a suggestion on Facebook to tag a face with a suggested individual’s name, for example, then you’ve encountered the technology. And it’s come on in leaps and bounds as cameras, sensors and machine-learning software have improved and as the supply of training data (images from social media) has multiplied. We’ve now reached the point where it’s possible to capture images of people’s faces and identify them in real time. Which is the thing that really worries Stark. Continue reading...
Months after a Which? investigation into the manufacture of misleading reviews on Amazon, most are still activeConsumers continue to risk being ripped off as a result of fake review “factories†on Facebook that manufacture misleading Amazon product reviews, says Which? It told Guardian Money that “nearly all†of the Facebook groups it uncovered last autumn were still active this month.Earlier this week it claimed Amazon’s system was being undermined by a flood of fake five-star reviews for unfamiliar brands. Researchers analysed listings of hundreds of popular tech products and found top-rated items were dominated by brands with names such as Itshiny, Vogek and Aitalk, many with thousands of unverified reviews. Continue reading...
Hutchins says he regrets his actions and will continue ‘keeping people safe from malware attacks’A British computer security researcher once hailed as a “hero†for helping stem a ransomware outbreak and later accused of creating malware to attack the banking system said on Friday he had pleaded guilty to US criminal charges.Marcus Hutchins, whose arrest in 2017 stunned the computer security community, acknowledged in a statement pleading guilty to criminal charges linked to his activity in 2014 and 2015. Continue reading...
The long weekend is a rare chance for unmediated contact with the world and with our friends. Don’t miss itSpring has come to the UK. The weather invites us to feel it on the skin and not through a window or a screen. Get out there into it, and go there without a phone – unless you’re walking in the mountains and might need to contact the emergency services. For the rest of us, being without a phone is not in itself an emergency, even though it might feel like one at first. Phones do provide us with helpful information all the time. They keep us oriented in the physical world, and position us in the social world, albeit while sharing all this with advertisers. But life was possible without them even as recently as 10 years ago, and sometimes it is worth a visit to that lost age when maps were made of paper and video was something people watched together.There are two reasons at least for trying to make time away from screens this bank holiday. The first is that it is, and ought to be, a true break from work. Anyone who works in an office knows now that email, messaging and phone calls mean that both the office itself and the people who want to deal with it can follow you anywhere, at any time. There is never a moment when you can feel that you have actually accomplished everything that could reasonably be expected. Continue reading...
US firm received $1bn from consortium including Toyota and Saudi ArabiaUber’s self-driving car unit has been valued at $7.3bn (£5.6bn), after receiving $1bn of investment by a consortium including Toyota and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.With weeks to go until the loss-making San Francisco firm’s stock market float, expected to value the company at up to $100bn, Uber said it had secured new financial backing for its plans to develop autonomous vehicles. Continue reading...
To dispel US suspicions, Chinese telecom firm welcomed dozens of journalists into its labsA pillar box red electric train connects Paris, Verona and Grenada via Budapest’s Liberty Bridge and on to Heidelberg Castle in a 120-hectare fantasy business park dreamt up by the Chinese billionaire Ren Zhengfei.Ren, 74, a former Red Army engineer who founded the telecommunications company Huawei in 1987 and still owns a 1.14% stake, asked the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma to recreate some of Europe’s most historic cities. He hoped to inspire an army of 25,000 research and development staff to challenge Apple, Google and Samsung. Continue reading...
News that the company had insecurely stored passwords came on the same day as the release of Robert Mueller’s long-awaited reportFacebook chose one of the busiest news days in American politics this year to admit that millions more Instagram users were affected by a security lapse than it had previously disclosed.At 10 am ET on Thursday, as the attorney general, William Barr, wrapped up his news conference on the release of the report of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, Facebook updated a 21 March blogpost, which revealed it had mistakenly stored the passwords of hundreds of millions of users unencrypted, to include a sentence admitting that millions more Instagram accounts had been affected. Continue reading...
Drivers for both ridesharing companies say riders are paying more for price surges, but drivers aren’t receiving extra payRidesharing companies Uber and Lyft have taken more than 11 billion people for a ride in their relatively short life. And yet the two companies have yet to make a cent in profits. Now, as the companies go public, some drivers think they may have spotted one way the companies plan to close that gap: increasing prices while short-changing drivers.Related: Disgruntled drivers and 'cultural challenges': Uber admits to its biggest risk factors Continue reading...
Number of organisations and individuals permanently banned for being ‘dangerous’Years after the company first dismissed fears it was empowering extremists, Facebook has permanently banned a number of far-right organisations and individuals including the British National party (BNP), the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First .The ban, which came into effect at midday on Thursday, extends beyond the groups and individuals specifically cited as hate organisations: posts and other content that “expresses praise or support†for them will also be banned, as will users who coordinate support for the groups. Continue reading...
Flexible screen failed on several £1,800 tester devices in run-up to public releaseThe screen at the heart of Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold phone, which literally folds in half, has been failing in testers’ hands within days, prompting concerns about the durability of the £1,800 device.The company distributed the device to publications across the US on Monday before its release to the public on 26 April. But within two days testers were reporting that the all-important central flexible screen started to break under normal use. Continue reading...
Company says it has stopped using password verification feature that collected dataFacebook has admitted to “unintentionally†uploading the address books of 1.5 million users without consent, and says it will delete the collected data and notify those affected.The discovery follows criticism of Facebook by security experts for a feature that asked new users for their email password as part of the sign-up process. As well as exposing users to potential security breaches, those who provided passwords found that, immediately after their email was verified, the site began “importing†contacts without asking for permission. Continue reading...
Jason wants to protect his new high-end laptop from viruses but needs data on old SD cardsI’ve just bought a high-end Windows laptop for video editing while travelling around Europe. What steps can I take to prevent any possible infections from being passed on from previous machines on SD cards and external hard drives? Some of the external hard drives go back to machines from 2004 but I have never plugged any of them into any computers other than my own previous Macs and PCs. I work professionally with video, photography and coding, so all of this data is vital.I have a five-machine Bitdefender licence but I’d be prepared to use another protection system, and I’ve looked at Sophos Intercept X. JasonThere are at least three things to think about. First, there’s the threat level: how at risk are you? Second, there’s provenance: how much do you know about your devices? Third, how can you mitigate any risks revealed by the answers to the first two questions? Continue reading...
Stunning all-in-one PC that slides to become drawing tablet is held back by high price and old chipsThe Surface Studio 2 is Microsoft’s beautiful all-singing, all-dancing, all-in-one desktop computer that is quite unlike anything else on the market. But then it should be with prices starting at more than £3,500.Straight out of the box it’s obvious that the Surface Studio 2 is no ordinary computer. Its gorgeous, pixel-dense 28in screen appears to float, held effortlessly by two chrome articulated arms that are invisible when you’re sitting directly in front of it. The small grey pedestal below looks like a weighted stand, but contains the full workings of the PC. Continue reading...
Site co-founded by Fox News host Tucker Carlson has promoted misinformation and is known for pro-Trump contentFacebook’s controversial factchecking program is partnering with the Daily Caller, a rightwing website that has pushed misinformation and is known for pro-Trump content.The social network said Wednesday it had added CheckYourFact.com, which is part of the Daily Caller, as one of its US media partners in an initiative that has faced growing backlash from journalists and internal problems. The collaboration was first reported by Axios. Continue reading...
Lawmakers seek information from IRS, saying American taxpayers face ‘unacceptable’ ambiguity over cryptocurrencyUS lawmakers asked the the Internal Revenue Service how US residents should pay taxes on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in a remarkable letter that shows just how unregulated the cryptocurrency space remains.More than a decade after bitcoin was first introduced, the IRS has released just one public notice on how to pay taxes on digital holdings. That lack of guidance is leaving American taxpayers with “unacceptable†ambiguity on reporting requirements, the letter signed by 21 members of Congress on Monday said. Continue reading...
Problems signing in to Google products from the US, UK, India, Singapore, Europe to Australia resolved after two hoursGoogle experienced a global outage affecting users as they try to log in to the company’s many applications, including Gmail and Google Docs and any site that allows access via a Google account.The problem lasted nearly two hours, beginning around 11pm BST. The company said it was investigating “an issue with OAuth login†and “an issue with Admin console†on Wednesday evening. The problem was resolved just before 1am BST. Continue reading...
MPs vote to block access to Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s BattlegroundsIraq’s parliament has voted to ban popular online video games including PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, citing their “negative†influence, especially on the young, in a country long plagued by real-life bloodshed.Iraq held its first election in 2018 after years of devastating factional violence. Islamic State militants held wide swathes of the country for three years until they were driven out in heavy fighting with US-backed forces in 2017. Continue reading...
Former British MEP is sent stern letter accusing Facebook of ignoring how EU law worksThe EU has told Facebook’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, to rethink some of the company’s rules aimed at protecting elections from foreign interference.Věra Jourová, the European commissioner for justice, said the EU had a clear message for Facebook over its approach to ensuring greater transparency about who funds political adverts. Continue reading...
Sites that fail to verify users are over 18 face being blocked under controversial lawsThe UK’s age verification system for online pornography will become mandatory on 15 July, the government has confirmed.From that date, commercial providers of online pornography will be required to carry out “robust†age verification checks on users, in order to keep children from accessing adult content. Continue reading...
The creator of Assassin’s Creed is making apes of gamers – reconnecting us with prehistoric survival instincts in virtually untouched gaming territoryWhen a game, film or TV show takes on the idea of human evolution, it’s usually concerned with the future. What might humans become? How might technology change us? But Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey’s interpretation is literal. You play as a great ape, part of a small troop in a jungle, swinging through trees, picking up sticks and rocks and trying to figure out how to use them to advance the species. It is a fascinating concept, challenging the player to reconnect with the curiosity and ingenuity that helped our distant genetic ancestors to figure out how to progress.Ancestors opens 10 million years ago with a nature-documentary-style montage of cruel life in the jungle, featuring crocodiles, sabre-toothed cats and giant predatory birds – all eating each other. When an elder ape meets a grisly end in the treetops, the infant creature clinging to its back is thrown to the ground, and you begin the game as a baby desperately searching for somewhere to hide on the forest floor, calling for help. Switching into the body of an adult primate, you pursue the cries through the dense jungle, eventually picking up the infant and returning them to the safety of the tribe. Continue reading...
People had to get by without the search engine giant before it was launched in 1998. But is it possible to live your life – and do your job – without it these days?Halfway through my week without Google, my wife mentions that she would like to go out to see a film that evening, and I agree to deal with the logistics. In what I initially think is an inspired move, I drop by the local cinema on the way home and scribble down all the film times in my notebook. Then my wife insists on going to a different cinema.“Can I do this by phone?†I ask her. “Is 118 still a thing?†Continue reading...
Report says an overwhelmingly white and male field has reached ‘a moment of reckoning’ over discriminatory systemsLack of diversity in the artificial intelligence field has reached “a moment of reckoningâ€, according to new findings published by a New York University research center. A “diversity disaster†has contributed to flawed systems that perpetuate gender and racial biases found the survey, published by the AI Now Institute, of more than 150 studies and reports.The AI field, which is overwhelmingly white and male, is at risk of replicating or perpetuating historical biases and power imbalances, the report said. Examples cited include image recognition services making offensive classifications of minorities, chatbots adopting hate speech, and Amazon technology failing to recognize users with darker skin colors. The biases of systems built by the AI industry can be largely attributed to the lack of diversity within the field itself, the report said. Continue reading...
A new ‘digital native’-intended model of the Xbox One won’t play discs, but comes cheaper as a resultMicrosoft has announced a new model of its Xbox One console, a digital-only version that will not be able to play discs and costs less than its siblings.The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is functionally and visually identical to the existing Xbox One S console, apart from the absence of a disc drive. It’s aimed at “digital nativesâ€, according to Microsoft’s Jeff Gattis – primarily teens who grew up without the discs and cartridges that older games relied upon. It is out on 7 May, and will cost £199 in the UK and $249 in the US, significantly cheaper than the other Xbox One models. It will come with Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3 and Sea of Thieves pre-installed on it s1TB hard drive, and a discounted subscription to Xbox Game Pass, which offers a library of more than 100 games for a monthly fee. Continue reading...
by Oliver Wainwright, Stuart Jeffries, Peter Bradshaw on (#4D9T6)
It mesmerised Proust, terrified Homer Simpson and gave us the Hunchback – Guardian critics celebrate Paris’s gothic masterpiece at the heart of the modern imaginationAs Notre Dame Cathedral’s majestic spire tumbled into the inferno on Monday night, live newsreaders around the world decried the tragic loss of this 12th-century marvel. The great timber roof – nicknamed “the forest†for the thousands of trees used in its beams – was gone, the rose windows feared melted, the heart of Paris destroyed forever. What few realised in the heat of the shocking footage was that much of what was ablaze was a 19th-century fantasy. Like most buildings of this age, Notre Dame is the sum of centuries of restorations and reinventions, a muddled patchwork of myth and speculation. Continue reading...
The new PlayStation will feature custom hardware, a solid state drive, 3D sound support and backwards compatibility – but it won’t be out in 2019Sony has announced the first details of its next PlayStation console, but is yet to name it and has confirmed it will not be launched this year.In an interview with Wired magazine in the US, system architect Mark Cerny, who was instrumental in the design of the PlayStation 4, revealed that the machine will feature an eight-core CPU based on the third generation of AMD’s Ryzen processors, and a custom graphics processor based on the forthcoming AMD Navi family, which will be capable of real-time ray tracing, an effect that simulates the path of light through a scene, allowing for incredibly realistic and complex reflections, refraction and shadows. The effect is common in CGI movies, but real-time ray tracing is only just appearing in modern PC graphics cards. Continue reading...
Company executive Peter Zhou said he often had to ‘explain it to them like I do to my kids’Huawei bosses have accused the US government of being “ignorant of technology†and belittling national security concerns with unsubstantiated claims the company is an arm of the Chinese state and its mobile network can be used to spy on western governments.John Suffolk, Huawei’s chief security officer and the UK government’s former chief IT adviser, said US politicians had not produced any evidence to back up claims that Huawei’s forthcoming 5G mobile technology could be hacked by Chinese spies to eavesdrop on sensitive phone calls – or even kill targets by crashing driverless cars. Continue reading...
Site took no action to remove posts by Patrick Carlineo alluding to violence against Muslims and US officials, until Guardian reviewFacebook allowed a man charged with threatening to kill congresswoman Ilhan Omar to post violent and racist content for years, and took no action to remove his posts when he was arrested.Patrick Carlineo, of upstate New York, posted several entries to his Facebook page alluding to violence against Muslims and US officials including former president Barack Obama, a Guardian review found. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Smithers Consumer affairs correspondent on (#4D830)
Unverified reviews may be being used to artificially boost products, says consumer groupAmazon’s customer review system is being undermined by a flood of “fake†five-star reviews for products from unfamiliar brands, a new investigation claims.The consumer group Which? analysed the listings of hundreds of popular tech products in 14 online categories including headphones, dashcams, fitness trackers and smartwatches, checking for telltale signs of suspicious reviews. Continue reading...
by Presented by Jordan Erica Webber and Graihagh Jack on (#4D6RC)
This week Jordan Erica Webber and Graihagh Jackson team up to examine the environmental price tag of the fast fashion phenomenon and explore how technology could hold the key to a more sustainable systemThe fashion industry has a problem. It’s producing vast amounts of inexpensive clothes very rapidly in response to the latest industry trends. Great for profits... not so great for the environment or the factory workers making those clothesIn this week’s Science with Everything, Graihagh speaks to Prof Tim Cooper from Nottingham Trent University about the issues surrounding taking your clothes to the charity shop and how some synthetic fibres are contributing to plastic pollution in our oceans. Jordan talks to Orsola de Castro of Fashion Revolution about apps that help map a company’s supply chain and manage your fashion footprint. Continue reading...
Starz criticised over Twitter takedown of users’ links to news story about pirated showsA US TV channel has forced Twitter to remove tweets linking to a news story about pirated content – including tweets from free speech campaigners complaining that the social network was removing other people’s tweets.Starz, the network that airs American Gods, The 100 and Knightfall in the US, sent the takedown requests after the copyright and privacy news site TorrentFreak reported on a leak of promotional copies of those TV shows and others. TorrentFreak’s story did not contain any links to the pirated material, although it did include four screenshots of the content in order to report the alleged source of the leak. Continue reading...
Perpetrator was familiar with airport’s operations, according to BBC PanoramaThe drone attack that brought Gatwick airport to a standstill last December could have been an “inside jobâ€, according to police, who said the perpetrator may have been operating the drone from within the airport.Sussex police told BBC Panorama that the fact an insider may have been behind the attack was “treated as a credible line of enquiry from the earliest stages of the police responseâ€. Continue reading...
Want to dip your toe in the voice-controlled world of Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant? Here are best, cheapest ways to startSales of smart speakers are soaring despite some people’s concerns over privacy, with Amazon’s Alexa leading the charge into homes in various Echo devices and Google’s Home and Assistant snapping at its heels.They come in various shapes, sizes and prices, but if you just want to dip your toe into the burgeoning voice-powered world, what’s the cheapest way to get Alexa or Google Assistant into your home? Continue reading...
Security costs for the tech billionaire and his family more than doubled last year, as an outcry over Facebook’s practices grewFacebook more than doubled the money it spent on top executive Mark Zuckerberg’s security in 2018 to $22.6m, a regulatory filing has showed.Zuckerberg drew a base salary of $1 for the past three years, and his “other†compensation was listed at $22.6m, most of which was for his personal security. Continue reading...
Company issues warnings over workplace environment in public disclosures filed to the SECWhen Uber filed the paperwork for its initial public offering on Thursday, the quintessential bad boy startup signaled to the world that it was ready to grow up. In a letter to potential investors, the CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, acknowledged the “greater responsibilities†the company will take on once it goes public, and promised to act with “passion, humility, and integrityâ€.But references to the company’s checkered past are littered throughout the more than 300 pages of public disclosures filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest “risk factors†from Uber’s past that may come back to haunt its $100bn future: Continue reading...
Company illegally shared 34.4m records with 39 companies, information commissioner findsThe parenting club Bounty has been fined £400,000 – one of the largest penalties possible – for sharing its data with marketing agencies without users’ permission.Bounty offers support and advice to new parents who sign up through its website and mobile app, or are directly recruited on maternity wards. Without securing consent from those parents, the company sold their information to data brokers including Acxiom, Equifax and Sky, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said. Continue reading...
Thomas White sentenced over Silk Road 2.0 site and having indecent images of childrenA university dropout who was the “guiding mind†behind an online black market for illegal drugs has been jailed for five years and four months.Thomas White was sentenced at Liverpool crown court on Friday for running the Silk Road 2.0 site on the dark web, and for possessing hundreds of indecent images of children found on an encrypted laptop after his arrest. Continue reading...
by Dominic Rushe and Edward Helmore in New York on (#4CYYK)
Uber reported revenues of $11.27bn for 2018 and a loss of $1.85bn, warning that operating expenses will increase as company goes publicThe ride hailing service Uber made public details about its fast-growing and massively loss-making business on Thursday, as it gets ready to become a public company and warned it may never “achieve profitabilityâ€.The 10-year-old company that has transformed the taxi industry will become the latest Silicon Valley “unicorn†– a private company worth over $1bn – to test the stock market’s appetite for loss-making tech companies. It is set to be the largest initial public offering (IPO) of the year. Continue reading...
The legendary writer talks about his journey through the video games industry, from satirical website Old Man Murray through Half-Life and Left 4 Dead to the founding of a new studio‘I donate to the Guardian, so I’m paying you.†So begins Chet Faliszek as we sit down to lunch in one of the San Francisco hotels that satellite around the Game Developers Conference. One of the industry’s most respected comedy writers and lead developers, the 53-year-old is here to recruit developers to his new studio Stray Bombay, named after his pet cat Boris. With Riot Games veteran and AI expert Dr Kimberly Voll, he is leading a studio that will focus on smart cooperative video games, made for (they say) smart cooperative players.It quickly becomes clear just how much cooperation has been a vital part of Faliszek’s life, from pivotal relationships growing up in Parma, Cleveland, to a comedy writing double-act at infamous early-internet website Old Man Murray, to his run of successful collaborations at a behemoth developer, Valve. With every key moment in his life, he cites the generosity of another person, a pattern which appears to have informed his entire approach to games development, and the sorts of games he wants to make. Continue reading...
Staff review audio in effort to help AI-powered voice assistant respond to commandsWhen Amazon customers speak to Alexa, the company’s AI-powered voice assistant, they may be heard by more people than they expect, according to a report.Amazon employees around the world regularly listen to recordings from the company’s smart speakers as part of the development process for new services, Bloomberg News reports. Continue reading...
Attackers are targeting small businesses and even forcing some to close for not paying up – but there are precautions owners can take to reduce the oddsRansomware is a multibillion-dollar a year business and when you look at it from the aspect of the hacker you can certainly understand why. It’s the first type of malware that actually generates revenue for the attacker. When a company gets hit by a ransomware attack they’re forced to pay a “ransom†– anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars – to “unlock†the files that have been maliciously encrypted. Not doing so causes loss of data … and business.Which is what happened to Brookside ENT & Hearing Services, a two-person medical office in Battle Creek, Michigan. Continue reading...
Victims of ‘administrative error’ say they are being treated as second-class citizensThe Home Office has apologised to hundreds of EU citizens who applied for settled status in the UK after it accidentally shared their details.The Home Office sent about 240 personal email addresses in an email, which could amount to a breach of the Data Protection Act. The department blamed the incident on an administrative error. Continue reading...
Revealed: Ice investigators set up social media profiles linked to a sham university for foreign studentsUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) violated Facebook policy by creating fake social media profiles tied to the University of Farmington, a sham university it created to identify people committing immigration fraud.More than 600 students, nearly all Indian citizens, were caught up in the scheme, which the Guardian has found included fake Facebook profiles created by the nation’s second largest federal investigative agency, Ice’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division. Continue reading...
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