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canopic jug writes:

The Mozilla Corporation is known for among other things the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird e-mail client, and its current CEO has written an open letter to the European Commission on the upcoming Digital Services Act (DSA) (warning for PDF). In it she vaguely addresses transparency, accountability, online advertising, and digital markets for a European internet, without addressing The Internet itself. The DSA appears to include proposals to split off a European internet from The Internet at large and model it after the great firewall of China in regards to control and isolation.

In the document, New Developments in Digital Services: Short-(2021), medium-(2025) and long-term (2030) perspectives and the implications for theDigital Services Act, the great firewall of China gets praised repeatedly as something to emulate should the EU split of an internet from The Internet:

To make sure these predictions become reality and to prevent the misuse of digital tools, we advise the European Parliament to take a le ading stance in the global digitalisation. Three main recommendations are given in the study: A European cloud / European internet could secure a reliable, trustworthy digital ecosystem in Europe. Funding programmes for eGovernment would use the innovative capabilities of start-ups throughout Europe to create the most digital and advanced government in the world. And all this should be communicated in a visionary and exciting way, making sure the right regulations are in place, but also encouraging boldness and showing a willingness to change (see Figure 2).

[...] Action Plan 1: European Cloud / European Internet

A European firewall/cloud/ internet would foster a digital ecosystem in Europe based on data and innovation. It would drive competition and set standards, similar to what has happened in China in the past 20 years. The foundations of such a European cloud are democratic values, transparency, competition and data protection.

[...] Technologically, it would require a top-level infrastructure, high-speed 5G or a 6G data network and a firewall. Setting up such a network would promote many European companies and therefore boost business and drive innovation.

Like the Chinese firewall, this European internet would block off services that condone or support unlawful conduct from third party countries.

[...] As e-commerce and remote working solutions became widely used and even smartphone tracking to prevent infections met very little scepticism. Now in the aftermath of this pandemic it's the perfect time to act and to push for ambitious goal in digitalising Europe.

[...] Update 2 of the Visionary Communication Programme: i.e. crypto, quantum computing. Here it is important to include visionaries, think tanks and influences to communicate the update to the public.

Phase 2 of the eGovernment Venture Programme: Testing and evaluating first technologies and ideas developed in the programme.

Initialising the European internet: setting up think tanks to creating the cornerstones and possible pitfalls of such a project.

Long term 2025 – 2030

Update 3 of the Visionary Communication Programme: i.e. 6G, European internet, DNA products. Further communication within the Europe of the new digital goals.

The EFF has also responded to the EU Commission on the Digital Services Act, with a request in the opposite direction, that of putting the citizens back in control and avoiding a situation where there are gatekeepers consisting of only a handful of large corporations.

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takyon writes:

Western Digital is trying to redefine the word "RPM"

[...] new complaint is that Western Digital calls 7200RPM drives "5400 RPM Class"—and the drives' own firmware report 5400 RPM via the SMART interface.

[...] At first blush, this might seem like a non-issue—who wouldn't prefer a drive with a faster spindle speed? Unfortunately, faster spindles don't just mean potentially lower seek latency—they also come with a sharp increase in both noise generation and power consumption.

That increase in noise and power is what got many users on the trail of Western Digital's fake 5,400rpm spindle speed in the first place—those users purchased drives which they expected to roll low and slow, but they got more noise, heat, and power consumption than they expected.

[...] When we reached out to Western Digital in the course of researching this story, a representative confirmed the various forum-goers' and Redditor's conclusions—that is to say, "5400 RPM class" does not actually mean that a drive spins at 5,400rpm.

For select products, Western Digital has published RPM speed within a "class" or "performance class" for numerous years rather than publishing specific spindle speeds. We also fine-tune select hard drive platforms and the related HDD characteristics to create several different variations of such platforms to meet different market or application needs. By doing so, we are able to leverage our economies of scale and pass along those savings to our customers. As with every Western Digital product, our product details, which include power, acoustics and performance (data transfer rate), are tested to meet the specifications provided on the product's data sheet and marketing collateral.

RPM means revolutions (or rotations) per minute, in some circles.

I detect another class action lawsuit forming. Save your receipts.

Previously: Seagate Caught Using SMR in Barracuda Compute and Desktop Drives
Western Digital Shingled Out in Class Action Lawsuit

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Camcopter S-100 helicopter drone makes world-first oil rig delivery:

Aviation history was made off the coast of Norway recently as a Camcopter S-100 drone rotorcraft delivered a 3D-printed part to an oil rig after a 100-km (55-nm, 62-mi) flight over the North Sea, potentially opening up a path towards safer, cheaper and lower-emissions servicing of these massive off-shore operations.

The array of North and Norwegian Sea oil platforms built mainly by Britain and Norway are among the most impressive engineering projects of the late 20th century. A vital part of the world's energy economy, they are also very hazardous to operate, having to endure some of the worst weather and sea conditions on Earth.

To service these platforms, the oil companies operate the world's largest fleet of heavy Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) helicopters. These carry two million passengers a year and some of these machines were built especially for North Sea work. Each of these trips is very expensive and dangerous, which is why the least popular part of employee training is suiting up in survival suits and being subject to a simulated helicopter crash in a tank of ice-cold water.

It's a small wonder, then, that the oil companies are taking a hard look at unmanned rotorcraft to take over some of the cargo flights and other missions. According to Nordic Unmanned, the use of drones is not only safer but reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 55 times and lowers operating costs.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

NASA Discovered a Faster, Cheaper Way of Getting to The Moon... And Patented It:

The Moon is both seductively close to Earth and cosmically far away: Decades after the end of the space race, it remains extraordinarily expensive and difficult to actually get there.

The journey just got a bit easier, however, thanks to a freshly published NASA invention.

The agency's patent doesn't cover a new piece of equipment or lines of code, but a trajectory – a route designed to save a lunar-bound mission time, fuel, and money, and boost its scientific value.

On June 30, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted and published NASA's patent for a series of orbital manoeuvres, which Business Insider first learned about via a tweet by a lawyer named Jeff Steck.

The technique isn't meant for large spaceships that carry astronauts or rovers, but for smaller, more tightly budgeted missions tasked with doing meaningful science.

[...] By taking time to swing around the Earth, for instance, a spacecraft can steal some of the planet's momentum and slingshot out to the Moon in a series of long orbits that cost it little to no fuel.

Fuel remains necessary to correct orbits and manoeuvre through space, but every ounce a spacecraft carries is mass that an engineer can't dedicate toward other components, including scientific instruments.

[...] [The new trajectory] enlists the help of Earth and the Moon's gravity to speed up and slow down Dapper [Dark Ages Polarimeter Pathfinder] at the right moments, cutting down on the amount of propellant required.

NASA says this new spin on the gravity assist keeps the flight time to about 2 1/2 months, whereas similar options can take six months.

The trajectory also comes with numerous options to slip a spacecraft into an orbit of any angle around the Moon, at practically any time. And it avoids a zone of radiation around Earth called the Van Allen belts, which can damage sensitive electronics.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

To make a better sensor, just add noise:

Adding noise to enhance a weak signal is a sensing phenomenon common in the animal world but unusual in manmade sensors. Now Penn State researchers have added a small amount of background noise to enhance very weak signals in a light source too dim to sense.

In contrast to most sensors, for which noise is a problem that should be suppressed, they found that adding just the right amount of background noise can actually increase a signal too weak for sensing by normal sensors, to a level that can reach detectability.

Although their sensor, based on a two-dimensional material called molybdenum disulfide, detects light, the same principle can be used to detect other signals, and because it requires very little energy and space compared to conventional sensors, could find wide adaptation in the coming Internet of Things (IoT). IoT will deploy tens of millions of sensors to monitor conditions in the home and factories, and low energy requirements would be a strong bonus.

[...] "Stochastic resonance is a phenomenon where a weak signal which is below the detection threshold of a sensor can be detected in the presence of a finite and appropriate amount of noise," according to Akhil Dodda, a graduate student in engineering science and mechanics and co-first author on a new paper appearing this week in Nature Communications.

In their paper, the researchers demonstrate the first use of this technique to detect a subthreshold photonic signal.

Journal Reference:
Akhil Dodda, Aaryan Oberoi, Amritanand Sebastian, et al. Stochastic resonance in MoS₂ photodetector [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-18195-0)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Amazon's top UK reviewers appear to profit from fake 5-star posts:

Amazon is investigating the most prolific reviewers on its UK website after a Financial Times investigation found evidence that they were profiting from posting thousands of five-star ratings.

Justin Fryer, the number one-ranked reviewer on Amazon.co.uk, reviewed £15,000 worth of products in August alone, from smartphones to electric scooters to gym equipment, giving his five-star approval on average once every four hours.

[...] Overwhelmingly, those products were from little-known Chinese brands, who often offer to send reviewers products for free in return for positive posts. Mr. Fryer then appears to have sold many of the goods on eBay, making nearly £20,000 since June.

When contacted by the FT, Mr. Fryer denied posting paid-for reviews—before deleting his review history from Amazon's website. Mr. Fryer said the eBay listings, which described products as "unused" and "unopened," were for duplicates.

At least two other top 10-ranked Amazon UK reviewers removed their history after Mr. Fryer. Another prominent reviewer, outside of the top 10, removed his name and reviews and changed his profile picture to display the words "please go away."

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Unraveling the secrets of Tennessee whiskey:

More than a century has passed since the last scientific analyses of the famed "Lincoln County [Tennessee] process" was published, but the secrets of the famous Tennessee whiskey flavor are starting to unravel at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The latest research promises advancements in the field of flavor science as well as marketing.

Conducted(sic) John P. Munafo, Jr., assistant professor of flavor science and natural products, and his graduate student, Trenton Kerley, the study "Changes in Tennessee Whiskey Odorants by the Lincoln County Process" was recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (JAFC).

[...] Munafo and Kerley describe how distillers adjust parameters empirically throughout the whiskey production process, then rely on professional tasters to sample products, blending subtly unique batches to achieve their target flavor. Munafo says, "By gaining a fundamental understanding of the changes in flavor chemistry occurring during whiskey production, our team could advise distillers about exactly what changes are needed to make their process produce their desired flavor goals. We want to give distillers levers to pull, so they are not randomly or blindly attempting to get the precise flavor they want."

[...] The only previous investigation into how charcoal treatment affects whiskey was published in 1908 by William Dudley in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The new study revealed fresh knowledge for optimizing Tennessee whiskey production. Thirty-one whiskey odorants were measured via a technique called stable isotope dilution assay (SIDA), all showing a decrease in concentration as a result of LCP treatment, albeit to different degrees. That is to say, while the LCP appears to be selective in removing certain odorants, the process didn't increase or add any odorants to the distillate. This new knowledge can be used to optimize Tennessee whiskey production. For instance, the process can be optimized for the removal of undesirable aromas, while maintaining higher levels of desirable aromas, thus "tailoring" the flavor profile of the finished whiskey.

Journal Reference:
Changes in Tennessee Whiskey Odorants by the Lincoln County Process, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c03058)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Amazon deletes job listings detailing effort to monitor 'labor organizing threats':

Amazon has deleted two job listings posted to its corporate employment website detailing "intelligence analyst" roles that involved, among other duties, monitoring "labor organizing threats" within the company. The listings, which were posted days ago, first began circulating on Twitter earlier today, before Amazon removed them in response to widespread outcry on social media.

The company now claims the listings were not accurate representations of the roles, according to CNBC. "The job post was not an accurate description of the role — it was made in error and has since been corrected," an Amazon representative said in a statement, although Amazon does not appear to be offering any information as to how the listings were inaccurate.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

SpaceX seeks FCC broadband funds, must prove it can deliver sub-100ms latency:

SpaceX, Charter, Verizon, CenturyLink, Frontier, Cox, and about 500 other companies are seeking government funding to provide broadband in rural areas. The Federal Communications Commission yesterday released a list of applicants for the first phase of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), which is set to pay up to $16 billion to Internet service providers over 10 years.

SpaceX would be the first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite provider to get FCC rural-broadband funding. The RDOF and predecessor programs generally fund expansion of wired or terrestrial wireless services by paying ISPs to expand their networks into rural areas where they would not otherwise have built.

As a satellite provider, SpaceX won't need to install wires or wireless towers in any particular area. But traditional satellite providers have obtained FCC funding before despite already offering service throughout the United States. For example, the FCC's Connect America Fund last year awarded $87.1 million to satellite operator Viasat on condition that it provide service in specific parts of 17 states at lower prices and with higher data caps "than it typically provides in areas where it is not receiving Connect America Fund support."

SpaceX could follow a similar model, seeking FCC funding to offer lower-priced broadband in census blocks that lack service, meeting the FCC's speed standard of 25Mbps downloads and 3Mbps uploads. We asked SpaceX about its plans for the FCC funding today and will update this article if we get a response. SpaceX Starlink prices have not been revealed yet, so we don't know what Starlink will cost either at full price or if subsidized by FCC funding.

[...] Like other Universal Service programs run by the FCC, the RDOF is paid for by Americans through fees imposed on phone bills.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Phones for low-income users hacked before they're turned on, research finds:

Rameez Anwar's phone had serious problems. The device, paid for by the federally funded Lifeline program for low-income people, was overrun with pop-up ads that made it unusable. Despite multiple factory resets, the problem wouldn't go away.

"As soon as it detected internet," Anwar said, "it started doing the pop-ups."

[...] Anwar, who says he's tinkered with computers since childhood, suspected the phone had come with malware installed. So he sent it to Nathan Collier, a researcher at Malwarebytes.

Collier confirmed Anwar's hunch: The phone's settings and update apps contained code that allowed them to load malicious apps known as adware. The adware displayed ads that covered users' screens, no matter what they were doing on their phones.

[...] Evidence suggests pre-installed malware plagues inexpensive phones around the world. Earlier this year, Collier found pre-installed malware, a broad range of disruptive or dangerous apps, on a phone made by Unimax and distributed by the Lifeline program. Collier says he frequently sees similar malware on cheap phones outside the Lifeline program. A BuzzFeed investigation found inexpensive phones popular in African countries had similar problems.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

FCC estimates it'll cost carriers $1.8 billion to replace Huawei, ZTE hardware:

Removing and replacing ZTE and Huawei equipment in US networks could cost carriers over $1.8 billion, according to estimates they gave to the Federal Communications Commission. Most of that (over $1.6 billion) could be eligible for reimbursement. However, Congress has yet to appropriate such funds, which could leave small carriers on the hook for hefty bills.

In June, the FCC deemed ZTE and Huawei to be national security threats. The FCC has blocked carriers from using money they receive from the Universal Service Fund to buy or maintain equipment from the Chinese companies. The USF is supposed to subsidize coverage in underserved (i.e. rural) areas.

[...] However, it might be prohibitively expensive for them to tear all of that out and install equipment and services from other suppliers.

[...] Congress has yet to appropriate the reimbursement funds, however, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has urged it to do so.

[...] Meanwhile, in May, Trump extended an executive order that effectively bans American companies from buying and using equipment from the Huawei and ZTE. That order now runs through May 2021.

Or wait until after the election?

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Numerica telescope tracks satellites in broad daylight:

Given how many satellites and bits of orbital debris are now orbiting the Earth, it's becoming increasingly important to keep track of where they all are. A new telescope system allows space agencies and other clients to do so – even in broad daylight.

Developed by Colorado-based company Numerica, the technology is described as being "the first fully-functional, low-cost telescope system that can observe Earth-orbiting satellites in broad daylight at altitudes of more than 36,000 kilometers (22,000 miles)."

Two prototypes have already been deployed and tested at sites in Colorado and Australia, where they were reportedly proven to be capable of detecting objects from low-Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit, both day and night. More are currently being set up at other locations, as part of the broader Numerica Telescope Network.

[...] The Numerica system received a US patent on Aug. 11th, and will be presented next month via the online Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies conference. Its tracking capabilities are demonstrated in the video below.

YouTube video: Numerica - Detection from night to day.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

How dangerous are burning electric cars?:

There' s a loud bang, and then it starts: A battery module of an electric car is on fire in the Hagerbach test tunnel. A video of the test impressively shows the energy stored in such batteries: Meter-long flames hiss through the room and produce enormous amounts of thick, black soot. The visibility in the previously brightly lit tunnel section quickly approaches zero. After a few minutes, the battery module is completely burnt out. Ash and soot have spread throughout the room.

The trial, which was funded by the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) and in which several Empa researchers participated, took place in December 2019. The results have just been published.

[...] With the support of battery researcher Marcel Held and corrosion specialist Martin Tuchschmid from Empa, Mellert developed three test scenarios. Experts from the Hagerbach AG test tunnel and the French Centre d'études des tunnels (CETU) in Bron were also involved. "We installed test surfaces in the fire tunnel on which the soot settled," explains Martin Tuchschmid, corrosion and fire damage specialist at Empa. "After the test, the surfaces were chemically analyzed and also stored in special rooms for several months to detect possible corrosion damage."

• Scenario 1: Fire in an enclosed space
• Scenario 2: Fire in a room with sprinkler system
• Scenario 3: Fire in a tunnel with ventilation

[...] The results of the test were published in a final report in August 2020. Project leader Mellert reassures: In terms of heat development a burning electric car is not more hazardous than a burning car with a conventional drive.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for FatPhil and others:

Amazon drivers hang phones in trees to compete for new orders - Business Insider:

Amazon drivers are hanging phones from trees outside Chicago Amazon delivery stations and Whole Foods stores so that they will have first dibs on accepting new orders, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

The outlet viewed footage of drivers syncing their phones up to the devices that are suspended in trees and then parking nearby to wait. Amazon's system chooses drivers based on who is closest to the pickup location — meaning drivers with access to phones even slightly closer to the stores and delivery stations have a leg up on accepting orders before competing drivers.

There is a coordinated group of drivers that uses the process, Bloomberg reported. By using multiple smartphones suspended in trees that alert multiple drivers, they make it more difficult for Amazon to discover their system.

Amazon foils plot using phones in trees to get more deliveries:

Amazon appears to have stopped a strange plot that used phones in trees to game delivery route assignments. Contract drivers talking to Bloomberg said that they're now getting more routes even when they're miles away from the Whole Foods locations that had been hubs for the scheme. The tree-borne phones have vanished along with the people lurking around them, one Chicago driver said.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

A single text is all it took to unleash code-execution worm in Cisco Jabber:

Until Wednesday, a single text message sent through Cisco's Jabber collaboration application was all it took to touch off a self-replicating attack that would spread malware from one Windows user to another, researchers who developed the exploit said.

The wormable attack was the result of several flaws, which Cisco patched on Wednesday, in the Chromium Embedded Framework that forms the foundation of the Jabber client. A filter that's designed to block potentially malicious content in incoming messages failed to scrutinize code that invoked a programming interface known as "onanimationstart."

[...] CVE-2020-3430 carries a severity score of 8.8.

Two other vulnerabilities—CVE-2020-3537 and CVE-2020-3498—have severity ratings of 5.7 and 6.5, respectively.

The vulnerabilities affect Cisco Jabber for Windows versions 12.1 through 12.9.1[*]. People using vulnerable versions should update as soon as possible.

[20200907_115013 UTC: Added (martyb)]

Link to download Cisco Jabber... BUT, I just downloaded a copy of the MSI using that link and found I had "Version: 12.9.0.53429, Build: 303429". Further, the Cisco advisory states that version 12.9.1 is the First Fixed Release. Something does not look right here.

Here are links to advisory entries on: (1) MITRE's Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®) List (2) NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), and (3) Cisco:

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