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Phoenix666 writes:

Gizmodo:

Nearly two years before the U.S. government's first known inquiry into the activities of Reddit co-founder and famed digital activist Aaron Swartz, the FBI swept up his email data in a counterterrorism investigation that also ensnared students at an American university, according to a once-secret document first published by Gizmodo.

The email data belonging to Swartz, who was likely not the target of the counterterrorism investigation, was cataloged by the FBI and accessed more than a year later as it weighed potential charges against him for something wholly unrelated. The legal practice of storing data on Americans who are not suspected of crimes, so that it may be used against them later on, has long been denounced by civil liberties experts, who've called on courts and lawmakers to curtail the FBI's "radically" expansive search procedures.

The government does store information indefinitely that can be used against you later at a more convenient time.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Signal says it can't allow government access to users' chats

Last week, the Australian government passed the country's controversial Access and Assistance Bill 2018 into law, legislation that allows government agencies to demand access to encrypted communications. Companies that don't comply with the new law could face fines of up to AU$10 million ($7.3 million). A number of companies that stand to be affected have spoken out about the legislation, and Signal has now joined in, explaining that it won't be able to fulfill such requests if asked.

"By design, Signal does not have a record of your contacts, social graph, conversation list, location, user avatar, user profile name, group memberships, group titles or group avatars," Signal's Joshua Lund wrote in a blog post. "The end-to-end encrypted contents of every message and voice/video call are protected by keys that are entirely inaccessible to us." Lund added that Signal is open source, meaning anyone can "verify or examine the code for each release." "People often use Signal to share secrets with their friends, but we can't hide secrets in our software," he wrote. "We can't include a backdoor in Signal."

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

In news that nobody could have foreseen and will be a shock to everyone:

Verizon signals its Yahoo and AOL divisions are almost worthless

The on-paper assessment represents a realization that Verizon's online ad strategy, called Oath, is a bust.

Only a year and a half after it built Oath from the assets of the communications giants Yahoo and AOL, Verizon now says they're virtually worthless. In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Verizon Communications Inc. said it was taking a $4.6 billion charge on the goodwill balance of Oath, the division it created in June 2017 after it spent billions of dollars to buy Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc.

[...] Oath was supposed to be Verizon's big push into web-driven advertising, a bid to compete with behemoths like Google LLC and Facebook Inc. in the U.S. online ad market, which the Internet Advertising Bureau projects could top $100 billion this year. But rather than eat into Google's and Facebook's market shares, Oath's ad revenue fell by 7 percent in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30, to just $1.8 billion.

Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., by comparison, hoovered up $29 billion in ad revenue in the same three months, a rise of more than 10 percent over the previous quarter. [...] Meanwhile, the growth of another player, Amazon Advertising — which outpaced Oath with $2.5 billion in ad sales in the third quarter — has pushed Oath even lower down the food chain.

[...] Writing off 96 percent of its value is like "ripping off the Oath band-aid," Fritzsche wrote. [...] Verizon bought AOL for $4.4 billion in 2015, and it bought Yahoo for $4.5 billion in 2017. It then merged them into a new venture called Oath.

Who could possibly have imagined that with big names like AOL and Yahoo! this venture wouldn't compete well against the mere likes of Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Verizon cuts 10,000 jobs and admits its Yahoo/AOL division is a failure

Verizon's Oath division failing in ad market, and it could get even worse.

Related: Verizon Takes Aim at Tumblr's Kneecaps, Bans All Adult Content

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reaches space for the first time

Virgin Galactic has come a long way since its tragic 2014 crash. The company's SpaceShipTwo has reached space after months of testing, flying to an altitude of 271,268 feet before returning to Earth. The stay was brief (SST fired its rocket for all of a minute), but it was enough to both verify the spacecraft as well as conduct four NASA-backed scientific experiments that studied the effects of microgravity and devices that could handle life support and counteract vibration.

[...] Actual passenger flights aren't likely to happen for some time. Virgin stressed that it wanted to finish its tests "safely," not just quickly. The successful visit to space makes that more a question of when than if, though, and suggests that Richard Branson might be vaguely realistic when he talks about hopping aboard his own flight within months.

Original Submission

dexcheque writes:

Some folks at NVIDIA have developed a "style-based generator architecture for generative adversarial networks", borrowing from "style transfer literature". It has been demonstrated to generate remarkably realistic (and fictitious) human faces. As impressive as it is, it's not obvious the extent to which the demonstration of this architecture is like a little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays. Regardless, it looks like the AI overlords can now have alleged supermodel girlfriends in Canada too:

The video demonstration is at https://www.youtube.com/

Their explanation/description is at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1812.04948.pdf

Original Submission

t-3 writes:

https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/12/05/dark-side-of-the-forsshe/

ESET researchers discovered a set of previously undocumented Linux malware families based on OpenSSH. In the white paper, “The Dark Side of the ForSSHe”, they release analysis of 21 malware families to improve the prevention, detection and remediation of such threats

[...] Something that wasn’t originally discussed in the Operation Windigo paper, but that ESET researchers have talked about at conferences, is how those attackers try to detect other OpenSSH backdoors prior to deploying their own (Ebury). They use a Perl script they have developed that contains more than 40 signatures for different backdoors.

https://www.welivesecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ESET-The_Dark_Side_of_the_ForSSHe.pdf

Original Submission

NPC-131072 writes:

From Sci-News

Physicists from the PHENIX Collaboration have created droplets of a liquid-like state of matter called quark-gluon plasma, forming three distinct shapes and sizes — circles, ellipses and triangles.

Scientists believe that quark-gluon plasma filled the entire Universe during the first few microseconds after the Big Bang when the Universe was still too hot for particles to come together to make atoms.

[...] The scientists discovered that, by carefully controlling conditions, they could generate droplets of quark-gluon plasma that expanded to form three different geometric patterns.

[...] The results, published in the journal Nature Physics, could help theorists better understand how the Universe’s original quark-gluon plasma cooled over milliseconds, giving birth to the first atoms in existence.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Intel and ESL Commit $100 Million to eSports

Intel and eSports organizer and production company ESL have announced this week a commitment to invest at least $100 million to "shape the future landscape of eSports through innovative technology, tournaments and events" through 2021 in what the companies described as "the biggest brand and technology eSports partnership in history." That's a lot of money, but it almost doesn't seem like it when you consider the duo's belief that eSports will become a billion-dollar industry. Almost.

This partnership isn't new. Intel and ESL have worked together on the Intel Extreme Masters tournament series for Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and other titles since 2006. Intel also sponsors the ESL One circuit for CS:GO and Dota 2, the ESL Pro League for CS:GO and the multi-tourney Intel Grand Slam that challenged CS:GO teams to win four of 10 events in 2018 in exchange for $1 million and gold bars engraved with their names.

Also at CNBC.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

New device could help answer fundamental questions about quantum physics

Researchers have developed a new device that can measure and control a nanoparticle trapped in a laser beam with unprecedented sensitivity. The new technology could help scientists study a macroscopic particle's motion with subatomic resolution, a scale governed by the rules of quantum mechanics rather than classical physics.

The researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands report their new device in Optica, The Optical Society's journal for high impact research. Although the approach has been used with trapped atoms, the team is the first to use it to precisely measure the motion of an optically trapped nanoparticle made of billions of atoms.

[...] The new method uses a light-guiding nanoscale device called a photonic crystal cavity to monitor the position of a nanoparticle levitating in a traditional optical trap. Optical trapping uses a focused laser beam to exert a force on an object to hold it in place. The technique was recognized by the award of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics to pioneer, Arthur Ashkin.

[...] The new device accomplishes a high level of sensitivity by using a long photonic crystal cavity that is narrower than the wavelength of the light. This means that when light enters and travels down the nanoscale cavity, some of it leaks out and forms what is called an evanescent field. The evanescent field changes when an object is placed close to the photonic crystal, which in turn changes how the light propagates through the photonic crystal in a measurable way.

Near-field coupling of a levitated nanoparticle to a photonic crystal cavity (open, DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.5.001597) (DX)

Original Submission

martyb writes:

The Worst Passwords of 2018 are Just as Dumb as You'd Expect;

"Password" will never be a good password. Period.

[...] It doesn't look like we're getting any smarter about our passwords.

On Thursday, software company SplashData released its annual list of the Top 100 worst passwords, and it includes some pretty obvious blunders. Coming in at No. 1 is, you guessed it, "123456," and in second place is, yup, "password." This is the fifth year in a row these passwords have held the top two spots.

Newcomers to the list include "666666" (No. 14), "princess" (No. 11) and "donald" (No. 23).

[...] To compile its list, SplashData evaluated more than 5 million leaked passwords, mostly from users in North America and Western Europe. The company estimates that about 10 percent of people have used at least one of the Top 25 worst passwords, and about 3 percent have used "123456."

takyon writes:

Researchers consider whether supernovae killed off large ocean animals at dawn of Pleistocene

About 2.6 million years ago, an oddly bright light arrived in the prehistoric sky and lingered there for weeks or months. It was a supernova some 150 light years away from Earth. Within a few hundred years, long after the strange light in the sky had dwindled, a tsunami of cosmic energy from that same shattering star explosion could have reached our planet and pummeled the atmosphere, touching off climate change and triggering mass extinctions of large ocean animals, including a shark species that was the size of a school bus.

[...] The effects of such a supernova — and possibly more than one — on large ocean life are detailed in a paper just published in Astrobiology.

[...] A supernova 2.6 million years ago may be related to a marine megafaunal extinction at the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary where 36 percent of the genera were estimated to become extinct. The extinction was concentrated in coastal waters, where larger organisms would catch a greater radiation dose from the muons.

According to the authors of the new paper, damage from muons would extend down hundreds of yards into ocean waters, becoming less severe at greater depths: "High energy muons can reach deeper in the oceans being the more relevant agent of biological damage as depth increases," they write.

Indeed, a famously large and fierce marine animal inhabiting shallower waters may have been doomed by the supernova radiation.

"One of the extinctions that happened 2.6 million years ago was Megalodon," Melott said. "Imagine the Great White Shark in 'Jaws,' which was enormous — and that's Megalodon, but it was about the size of a school bus. They just disappeared about that time. So, we can speculate it might have something to do with the muons. Basically, the bigger the creature is the bigger the increase in radiation would have been."

Megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon).

Hypothesis: Muon Radiation Dose and Marine Megafaunal Extinction at the End-Pliocene Supernova (DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1902) (DX)

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Heavy.com reports that there have been a number of email bomb threats sent out demanding blackmail payments in bitcoin. An example of one message follows:

"Good day. My mercenary has carried the bomb (lead azide) into the building where your business is conducted. My mercenary built the explosive device under my direction. It can be hidden anywhere because of its small size, it is impossible to destroy the supporting building structure by this explosive device, but if it denotates there will be many wounded people.

My recruited person is watching the situation around the building. If he notices any suspicious activity, panic or cops the device will be blown up.

I can call off my man if you make a transfer 20,000 usd is the price for your safety and business. Transfer it to me in Bitcoin and I assure that I have to withdraw my mercenary and the bomb will not detonate. But do not try to deceive me – my guarantee will become valid only after 3 confirmations in blockchain."

So does this sound like somebody who speaks English natively? Can you predict where this is coming from? Can you predict what kind of person sent this? Can you predict what kind of mess this is going to create? Who are you betting is really behind this?

Also at The Register, threatpost, Krebs on Security, and Ars Technica.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Canadian Michael Spavor detained in China as Huawei row continues

A second Canadian has been detained in China on accusations of harming national security, as tension continues between the two countries. It was confirmed on Thursday that Michael Spavor, a businessman, had been detained in addition to former diplomat Michael Kovrig.

Canada drew Chinese protests after it arrested an executive at telecoms giant Huawei at the request of the US. Meng Wanzhou has been bailed but may face extradition for fraud.

[...] Michael Spavor is a businessman based in Dandong, near the Chinese border with North Korea. He has ties to the North Korean government and has met its leader Kim Jong-un many times.

Ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig currently works for a think tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), which has said it is concerned for his health and safety. He is being held officially "on suspicion of engaging in activities that harm China's state security".

However, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, suggested another reason, saying the ICG had not been registered as a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in China and therefore it was unlawful for its staff to work there. Checks by Reuters news agency did not turn up a registration for ICG on government databases for NGOs or social enterprises.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland has said Mr Kovrig's case was raised directly with Chinese officials.

The article has a photo of Spavor standing with Dennis Rodman.

Previously: Canada Arrests Huawei's Global Chief Financial Officer in Vancouver
Arrest of Huawei Executive Causing Discontent Among Chinese Elites
China Arrests Former Canadian Diplomat; Chinese Companies Ban iPhones, Require Huawei Phones

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Duck.com now points to DuckDuckGo, not Google

Non-tracking search engine, DuckDuckGo, is now a little easier to find online after the company acquired the premium generic domain name duck.com — thereby shaving a few letters off its usual URL. This means browsing to duck.com now automatically redirects to DuckDuckGo.com.

The twist in this tale is that duck.com's prior owner was Google. And DDG had accused the search giant of anti-competitive behavior — by pointing duck.com to its own search engine, Google.com, and thus "consistently" confusing DDG users (duck.co having long pointed to the DDG community page.)...

[...] [Calls] for antitrust scrutiny of tech giants have been rising in the US. And Google's dominant position in Internet search and smartphone platforms, along with its pincer grip (along with Facebook) on the online ad market, position it for some special attention on that front. So the company quietly passing off duck.com now — after using it to redirect to Google.com for close to a decade — to a pro-privacy search rival smacks of concern over competition optics, at the very least.

Also at Gizmodo.

Previously: Google Throws DuckDuckGo a Bone, Adds Redirect on duck.com Landing Page

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Intel has announced new developments at its Architecture Day 2018:

Sunny Cove, built on 10nm, will come to market in 2019 and offer increased single-threaded performance, new instructions, and 'improved scalability'. Intel went into more detail about the Sunny Cove microarchitecture, which is in the next part of this article. To avoid doubt, Sunny Cove will have AVX-512. We believe that these cores, when paired with Gen11 graphics, will be called Ice Lake.

Willow Cove looks like it will be a 2020 core design, most likely also on 10nm. Intel lists the highlights here as a cache redesign (which might mean L1/L2 adjustments), new transistor optimizations (manufacturing based), and additional security features, likely referring to further enhancements from new classes of side-channel attacks. Golden Cove rounds out the trio, and is firmly in that 2021 segment in the graph. Process node here is a question mark, but we're likely to see it on 10nm and or 7nm. Golden Cove is where Intel adds another slice of the serious pie onto its plate, with an increase in single threaded performance, a focus on AI performance, and potential networking and AI additions to the core design. Security features also look like they get a boost.

Intel says that GT2 Gen11 integrated graphics with 64 execution units will reach 1 teraflops of performance. It compared the graphics solution to previous-generation GT2 graphics with 24 execution units, but did not mention Iris Plus Graphics GT3e, which already reached around 800-900 gigaflops with 48 execution units. The GPU will support Adaptive Sync, which is the standardized version of AMD's FreeSync, enabling variable refresh rates over DisplayPort and reducing screen tearing.

Intel's upcoming discrete graphics cards, planned for release around 2020, will be branded X^e. X^e will cover configurations from integrated and entry-level cards all the way up to datacenter-oriented products.

Like AMD, Intel will also organize cores into "chiplets". But it also announced FOVEROS, a 3D packaging technology that will allow it to mix chips from different process nodes, stack DRAM on top of components, etc. A related development is Intel's demonstration of "hybrid x86" CPUs. Like ARM's big.LITTLE and DynamIQ heterogeneous computing architectures, Intel can combine its large "Core" with smaller Atom cores. In fact, it created a 12mm×12mm×1mm SoC (compare to a dime coin which has a radius of 17.91mm and thickness of 1.35mm) with a single "Sunny Cove" core, four Atom cores, Gen11 graphics, and just 2 mW of standby power draw.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Fentanyl is the deadliest drug in America, CDC confirms

Fentanyl is now the most commonly used drug involved in drug overdoses, according to a new government report. The latest numbers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics say that the rate of drug overdoses involving the synthetic opioid skyrocketed by about 113% each year from 2013 through 2016.

The number of total drug overdoses jumped 54% each year between 2011 and 2016. In 2016, there were 63,632 drug overdose deaths.

[...] In 2016, over 18,000 overdose deaths involved fentanyl, and 16,000 fatalities were due to heroin.

China recently agreed to reclassify fentanyl as a controlled substance to curb sales to the U.S. Will that agreement hold given ongoing trade war tensions?

Also at CBS.

Related: U.S. Life Expectancy Continues to Decline Due to Opioid Crisis
Senate Investigators Google Their Way to $766 Million of Fentanyl
"Synthetic Opioids" Now Kill More People than Prescription Opioids in the U.S.
120 Pounds (54 kg) of Fentanyl Seized in Nebraska
U.S. House of Representatives Passes Opioid Legislation; China Will Step Up Cooperation
The Dutch Supply Heroin Addicts With Dope and Get Better Results Than USA
U.S. Opioid Deaths May be Plateauing

Original Submission