Senior United States intelligence officials met privately in Virginia yesterday with over a dozen civil liberties groups to field concerns about domestic surveillance operations that have drawn intense scrutiny this summer among an unlikely coalition of Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the US Congress. The closed-door session, convened at the Liberty Crossing Intelligence Campus—a sprawling… Continue reading Top US Spies Meet With Privacy Experts Over Surveillance ‘Crown Jewel’
Author: Wired Magazine
Axon’s Ethics Board Resigned Over Taser-Armed Drones. Then the Company Bought a Military Drone Maker
Company leadership expects to generate more than $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023, it said in an August investor statement. And by 2025, Rick Smith has set a target of reaching $2 billion. According to its own reports, Axon, which went public in 2001, has generated “over $15 billion in wealth” for its shareholders. Still,… Continue reading Axon’s Ethics Board Resigned Over Taser-Armed Drones. Then the Company Bought a Military Drone Maker
The End of Burning Man Is Also Its Future
A hurricane hitting the desert was not on anyone’s Burner bingo card for 2023. Burning Man, the annual 80,000-person bacchanal, happens about three hours outside of Reno, Nevada, in the Black Rock Desert every Labor Day. It’s a place of extremes: extreme temperatures, extreme dust storms, and an extreme lack of water. Climate change, and… Continue reading The End of Burning Man Is Also Its Future
US and UK Mount Aggressive Crackdown on Trickbot and Conti Ransomware Gangs
The United States Department of Treasury and United Kingdom Foreign Office announced today that they have sanctioned 11 people for their alleged involvement in the Trickbot cybercriminal gang. The US Department of Justice also unsealed indictments against nine people whom it says are connected to Trickbot and its sibling organization Conti. Seven of those nine… Continue reading US and UK Mount Aggressive Crackdown on Trickbot and Conti Ransomware Gangs
This Is the True Scale of New York’s Airbnb Apocalypse
The number of short-term Airbnbs available in New York City has dropped 70 percent after the city began enforcing a new law requiring short-term rental operators to register their homes. But despite the new requirements, there are still thousands of listings that could be unregistered. The drop, recorded between August 4 and September 5, the… Continue reading This Is the True Scale of New York’s Airbnb Apocalypse
The International Criminal Court Will Now Prosecute Cyberwar Crimes
For years, some cybersecurity defenders and advocates have called for a kind of Geneva Convention for cyberwar, new international laws that would create clear consequences for anyone hacking civilian critical infrastructure, like power grids, banks, and hospitals. Now the lead prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague has made it clear that he… Continue reading The International Criminal Court Will Now Prosecute Cyberwar Crimes
The Comedy of Errors That Let China-Backed Hackers Steal Microsoft’s Signing Key
Microsoft said in June that a China-backed hacking group had stolen a cryptographic key from the company’s systems. This key allowed the attackers to access cloud-based Outlook email systems for 25 organizations, including multiple US government agencies. At the time of the disclosure, however, Microsoft did not explain how the hackers were able to compromise… Continue reading The Comedy of Errors That Let China-Backed Hackers Steal Microsoft’s Signing Key
Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathom: price, availability, specs
Another factor to consider is anniversaries. Not only is Blancpain right now celebrating its dive watch’s 70th anniversary with a series of special editions, this year is also the 10th birthday of Swatch’s innovative automatic movement Sistem51. Swatch launched in 1983 and built its reputation churning out cheerful and colorful plastic fashion watches. By 2006,… Continue reading Swatch x Blancpain Scuba Fifty Fathom: price, availability, specs
Why This Award-Winning Piece of AI Art Can’t Be Copyrighted
An award-winning piece of AI art cannot be copyrighted, the US Copyright Office has ruled. The artwork, Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, was created by Matthew Allen and came first in last year’s Colorado State Fair. Since then, the piece has been embroiled in a precedent-affirming copyright dispute. Now, the government agency has issued its third and… Continue reading Why This Award-Winning Piece of AI Art Can’t Be Copyrighted
Britain Admits Defeat in Controversial Online Safety Bill
Tech companies and privacy activists are claiming victory after an eleventh-hour concession by the British government in a long-running battle over end-to-end encryption. The so-called “spy clause” in the UK’s Online Safety Bill, which experts argued would have made end-to-end encryption all but impossible in the country, will no longer be enforced after the government… Continue reading Britain Admits Defeat in Controversial Online Safety Bill