The aerospace industry took flight with ambitious civilian and military projects over the course of 2018, and private investors took notice. Rockets are flying to the far side of the moon. Entrepreneurs are creating new propulsion technologies to take rockets deeper into space and to make flying on Earth more electric. Finally, plans are afoot from […]
View More 2018 ushered in ‘a potential space renaissance’Category: U.S. government
Lawmakers say Amazon’s facial recognition software may be racially biased and harm free expression
Amazon has “failed to provide sufficient answers” about its controversial facial recognition software, Rekognition — and lawmakers won’t take the company’s usual silent treatment for an answer. The letter, signed by eight lawmakers — including Sen. Edward Markey and Reps. John Lewis and Judy Chu — called on Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos to explain […]
View More Lawmakers say Amazon’s facial recognition software may be racially biased and harm free expressionGCHQ’s not-so-smart idea to spy on encrypted messaging apps is branded ‘absolute madness’
Nobody wants to be a third wheel. Unless you’re a British spy. Two of the most senior officials at British eavesdropping agency GCHQ say one way that law enforcement could access encrypted messages is to simply add themselves to your conversations. “It’s relatively easy for a service provider to silently add a law enforcement participant to […]
View More GCHQ’s not-so-smart idea to spy on encrypted messaging apps is branded ‘absolute madness’ACLU asks court to release a secret order forcing Facebook to wiretap Messenger
Earlier this year, the U.S. government tried to force Facebook to secretly recode its Messenger app to allow the feds to listen into an encrypted, real-time voice call on suspected members associated with the notorious MS-13 gang. It was only when reporters revealed that when Facebook declined, the feds pushed the court to hold the […]
View More ACLU asks court to release a secret order forcing Facebook to wiretap MessengerNew U.S. report says that climate change could cost nearly $500 billion per year by 2090
A new report from the U.S. government on the impacts of climate change on society indicates that unless action is taken, climatological events could cost the country nearly half a trillion dollars annually by 2090. The National Climate Assessment is a congressionally mandated report on the impacts of climate change and was culled from the work […]
View More New U.S. report says that climate change could cost nearly $500 billion per year by 2090Interest rates and fears of a mounting trade war send tech stocks lower
Shares of technology companies were battered in today’s trading as fears of an increasing trade war between the U.S. and China and rising interest rates convinced worried investors to sell. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which is where many of the country’s largest technology companies trade their shares, was down 219.4 points, or 3 percent, to […]
View More Interest rates and fears of a mounting trade war send tech stocks lowerAlibaba rival JD sees Singles’ Day revenue jump 27% thanks to offline push
Alibaba may have pioneered the concept of Singles’ Day, the world’s largest shopping day based on sales, but it very much not the only e-commerce giant involved. JD.com, Alibaba’s biggest rival in China, just announced that it sold RMB 159.8 billion ($23 billion) in goods for its Singles’ Day campaign. Unlike Alibaba, which racked up $31 billion […]
View More Alibaba rival JD sees Singles’ Day revenue jump 27% thanks to offline pushCivil servant who watched porn at work blamed for infecting a US government network with malware
A U.S. government network was infected with malware thanks to one employee’s “extensive history” of watching porn on his work computer, investigators have found. The audit, carried out by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s inspector general, found that a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) network at the EROS Center, a satellite imaging facility in South […]
View More Civil servant who watched porn at work blamed for infecting a US government network with malwarePrivacy group calls on US government to adopt universal AI guidelines to protect safety, security and civil liberties
After months of work, a set of guidelines designed to protect humanity from a range of threats posed by artificial intelligence have been proposed. Now, a privacy group wants the U.S. government to adopt them too. The set of 12 universal guidelines revealed at a meeting in Brussels last week are designed to “inform and […]
View More Privacy group calls on US government to adopt universal AI guidelines to protect safety, security and civil libertiesIn its first cyberoperation against Russian trolls, U.S. takes a gentle approach
Russia has been blamed for shutting down power grids, hacking into critical systems, and more recently launching a massive misinformation campaign aimed at meddling with past and upcoming elections. Now, the U.S. is striking back ahead of the midterm elections in an unconventionally gentle way. U.S. Cyber Command, the military wing tasked with offensive cyberoperations, […]
View More In its first cyberoperation against Russian trolls, U.S. takes a gentle approachCIA, NSA and the Pentagon still aren’t using a basic email security feature
Some of the most sensitive U.S. government departments and agencies still aren’t using a basic email security feature that would significantly cut down on incoming spam or phishing emails. Fifteen percent of all U.S. government domains still aren’t employing DMARC, or domain-based message authentication, reporting, and conformance policy on their domains, which email systems use […]
View More CIA, NSA and the Pentagon still aren’t using a basic email security featureU.S. lawmakers warn Canada to keep Huawei out of its 5G plans
In a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio make a very public case that Canada should leave Chinese tech and telecom giant Huawei out of its plans to build a next-generation mobile network. “While Canada has strong telecommunication security safeguards in place, we have serious concerns that […]
View More U.S. lawmakers warn Canada to keep Huawei out of its 5G plans