Weekly Axis Of Easy #107
Last Week’s Quote was “”The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology.” By E. O. Wilson, winner was Manfred Haase. (Note, some pointed out that Kenroy Henderson won twice, he did not, I lost track and put him as the winner twice. Somewhere I’ve lost track of a winner. Did I mention Gary Henrichs? Gary did you get your renewal?)
This Week’s Quote: “Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.” …by ????
THE RULES: No searching up the answer, must be posted below.
The Prize: First person to post the correct answer gets their next domain or hosting renewal is on us.
In this issue:
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Tulsi Gabbard sues Google for election interference (senior Google engineer)
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DoJ announces anti-trust investigation into Big Tech
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YouTube deletes conspiracy theory podcast as “hate speech”
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SIRI overhears confidential conversations, including sex
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Mozilla to release Tor-mode browser add-on
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Power company’s entire network crippled by ransomware attack
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BREAKING: Capital One discloses data breach affecting 100 million users
Tulsi Gabbard sues Google for election interference (senior Google engineer)
Democrat contender for president is suing Google after the search giant inexplicably suspended her advertising account in the aftermath of the first presidential debate. Tulsi’s campaign committee alleges that her ability to fundraise was impeded along with her ability to spread her message to voters. Tulsi has since released a video calling for a bipartisan effort to combat what she terms big tech censorship.
On a related note, a senior Google engineer leaked to Project Veritas, who has been documenting political bias amongst tech giants, more details around Google’s propensity to use its reach to play favourites. For its part, Google suspended the engineer.
DoJ announces anti-trust investigation into Big Tech
All of this purported bias amongst tech giants has culminated in an investigation being launched by the US Department of Justice’s anti-trust division. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple are expected to come under the gun.
SIRI overhears confidential conversations, including sex
The Guardian reports that “Apple contractors regularly hear confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex, as part of their job providing quality control, or “grading”, the company’s Siri voice assistant”. The report goes on to note that a small portion of all Siri recordings are sent to external contractors who are working on improving its natural language parsing abilities …by listening to the recordings. This practice is not disclosed in Apple’s Terms of Service.
Mozilla to release Tor-mode browser add-on
The Tor Project and the Mozilla Foundation are exploring the idea of including Tor browsing capabilities within the Firefox web browser. Tor uses onion routing protocols to provide anonymity to the end users as they traverse the web. If it moves forward it will likely start as a browser add-on to Firefox.
BREAKING: Capital One discloses data breach affecting 100 million users
Just as I was pushing back from my desk having finished writing this week’s edition, a WSJ news alert hits that Capital One Financial Group has experienced a data breach affecting 106 million users. The alleged hacker in the incident was reportedly arrested in Seattle. One of the largest banking breaches on record.
Emperor Palpatine, I think. He tends to speak of himself in the third person.
I believe that quote is R.A. Heinlein .
Yes I did get a renewal – thank you!
Re your Axis-of-Easy #107 –
This Tor-Mozilla stuff is a bit outdated. Last I heard it was deny-deny-deny.
Mark, time to take some R&R in Barbados. The summer rates are great!
But- someone sent me the following:
>>>Some security expert just stated, after the latest bank info breakin Capital One, that you should use Mozilla as your browser. Amazing in the midst of a serious hack, security experts go marketing! When will IT experts be real. <<<
I trust it wasn't you. 😉
Anyhow, if Siri were listening to me at night, she and her iPhone would die of boredom. And this goes for those listening boxes that Bezos and others are foisting upon us. ( I dread logging onto Amazon to buy something now- it's all "HEY! Talk to Alexa!" crap)
Bezos should plant Alexa in his bedroom for a while, and give all of us access. This might sell it. OR NOT.
Any truth to the rumor that he and his squeeze are planning to be he first Mile-Highers in orbit? Then they can rename hos rocket stuff as Blue Orgasm.