Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage

Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms were down across wide swathes of the world Monday. Facebook’s internal systems used by employees also went down.

The company said it was aware that “some people are having trouble accessing (the) Facebook app” and it was working on restoring access. Regarding the internal failures, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, tweeted that it feels like a “snow day.”

The company did not say what might be causing the outage, which began around 11:45 ET. It is normal for websites and apps to suffer outages, though one on a global scale is rare. Users reported being unable to access Facebook in California, New York and Europe.

Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for Kentik Inc., said it appears that the routes Facebook advertises online that tell the entire internet how to reach its properties are not available.

Madory said it looks like the DNS routes that Facebook makes available to the networking world have been withdrawn. The Domain Name System is an integral element of how traffic on the internet is routed. DNS translates an address like “facebook.com” to an IP address like 123.45.67.890. If Facebook’s DNS records have disappeared, no one could find it.

Facebook is going through a separate major crisis after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, provided The Wall Street Journal with internal documents that exposed the company’s awareness of harms caused by of its products and decisions. Haugen went public on “60 Minutes” on Sunday.

Haugen also anonymously filed complaints with federal law enforcement alleging that Facebook’s own research shows how it magnifies hate and misinformation, leads to increased polarization and that Instagram, specifically, can harm teenage girls’ mental health.

The Journal’s stories, called “The Facebook Files,” painted a picture of a company focused on growth and its own interests over the public good. Facebook has tried to play down the research. Nick Clegg, the company’s vice president of policy and public affairs, wrote to Facebook employees in a memo Friday that “social media has had a big impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a place where much of this debate plays out.”

Twitter, meanwhile, chimed in from the company’s main Twitter account, posting “hello literally everyone” as jokes and memes about the Facebook outage flooded the platform.

-Associated Press

Amid array of challenges, Apple unveils new products

Apple CEO Tim Cook strode through a slickly produced video Tuesday to launch a new iPhone, with few hints of the exceptional string of troubles facing his company including policy reversals, a spyware attack and legal fights.

Cook, from an empty, darkened auditorium, raved over upgraded cameras, brighter screens and new features for some of the Silicon Valley giant's other devices such as the iPad.

"These are the best iPhones we've ever created," Cook said, noting Apple's work to design the "very best products and services to enrich people's lives."

Yet a head-spinning series of problems have occupied the recent public discussion of one the world's most valuable companies. 

Due to a long and loud fight over its online app marketplace, a judge ordered Apple last week to allow developers to sidestep its hefty commission on purchases.

It delayed a plan to scan its customers' devices as part of a child abuse prevention move, after privacy advocates howled over the risk of opening a backdoor for government surveillance.

And then Monday it was forced to roll out an urgent fix after cybersecurity researchers found a weakness that allowed Pegasus spyware to infect Apple devices without users so much as clicking a malicious message.

That said, Apple still possesses massive reach in the digital world and beyond, and manages to be worth over $2 trillion.

Its fans cheered the release of the updated products Tuesday, including analyst Daniel Ives who noted "the supercycle for Cupertino," referring to the California city that is home to Apple's headquarters.

"Apple remains in the midst of its strongest overall product cycle in roughly a decade," he added.

- Array of challenges - 

It is true the company has racked up massive profits driven by the demand for its devices as much of the world hunkered down at home due to the pandemic. 

At the same time legal battles, new laws and the scrutiny of regulators around the world has added up to a series of challenges against the company. 

As Cook expounded on iPhone developments, a group fighting to loosen Apple's control over its App Store tweeted its verdict on the new handset.

"Today's rollout of the iPhone 13 only tells us one thing: new iPhone, same bad App Store," wrote Coalition for App Fairness. 

"It's time for @Apple to #OpenTheAppStore and level the playing field for app developers and innovators."

Apple has started to cede ground on its App Store dominance, including in an agreement with Japanese regulators.

It also faces the legislation adopted by South Korean lawmakers, which banned Apple and Google from forcing app developers to use the tech giants' payment systems. 

Yet when the verdict came in a California court Friday, Apple barely complained about the ruling ordering it to ease control over its App Store.

Instead it heaved a public sigh of relief the judge had not found it to be an illegal monopoly, which could have opened doors for regulators and prosecutors to go after the tech giant. 

"We consider this a huge win for Apple," it told reporters. 

Agence France-Presse

Apple issues fix for flaw linked to Pegasus spyware

Apple released a fix Monday for a weakness that can let the spyware at the heart of the Pegasus scandal infect devices without users even clicking on a malicious message or link.

The Pegasus software from Israeli firm NSO Group has been under intense scrutiny since an international media investigation claimed it was used to spy on the phones of human rights activists, journalists and even heads of state.

Researchers at Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog organization in Canada, found the problem while analyzing a Saudi activist's phone that had been compromised with the code.

"We determined that the mercenary spyware company NSO Group used the vulnerability to remotely exploit and infect the latest Apple devices with the Pegasus spyware," Citizen Lab wrote in a post.

In March Citizen Lab examined the activist's phone and determined it was hacked with Pegasus spyware introduced via iMessage texting and that it didn't even require the phone's user to so much as click.

Hours after releasing the fix, Apple said it had "rapidly" developed the update following Citizen Lab's discovery of the problem.

"Attacks like the ones described are highly sophisticated, cost millions of dollars to develop, often have a short shelf life, and are used to target specific individuals," the company said.

NSO did not dispute Pegasus had prompted the urgent software upgrade, and said in a statement that it would "continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world with life saving technologies to fight terror and crime."

- No click needed -

Pegasus has evolved to become more effective since it was uncovered by Citizen Lab and cyber security firm Lookout five years ago.

Pegasus can be deployed as a "zero-click exploit," meaning that the spyware can install itself without the victim even clicking a booby-trapped link or file, according to Lookout senior manager Hank Schless.

"Many apps will automatically create a preview or cache of links in order to improve the user experience," Schless said.

"Pegasus takes advantage of this functionality to silently infect the device."

UN experts recently called for an international moratorium on the sale of surveillance technology until regulations are implemented to protect human rights following an Israeli spyware scandal.

An international media investigation reported in July that several governments used the Pegasus malware, created by NSO Group, to spy on activists, journalists and politicians. 

Pegasus can switch on a phone's camera or microphone and harvest its data.

"It is highly dangerous and irresponsible to allow the surveillance technology and trade sector to operate as a human rights-free zone," the United Nations human rights experts said in a statement at the time.

The statement was signed by three special rapporteurs on rights and a working group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other businesses.

Israel's defense establishment has set up a committee to review NSO's business, including the process through which export licences are granted.

NSO insists its software is intended for use only in fighting terrorism and other crimes, and says it exports to 45 countries.

 Agence France-Presse

YouTube 'creators' fret over impact of new child protection rules

SAN FRANCISCO, United States— Samuel Rader quit his job three years ago to work full time on his YouTube channel, "Sam and Nia," featuring videos of his family life.

The channel created by the Texas-based couple -- with videos of their Hawaii vacation, setting up their backyard pool and other content about "Christian family life" -- has become one of the stars of the Google-owned video service with some 2.5 million subscribers.

But the future is now uncertain for "Sam and Nia" and other YouTube "creators" as a result of a settlement with US regulators that will make it harder to get ad revenues from videos and channels directed at children.


"I went into a minor panic attack when I heard," said Rader, whose channel has taken in a reported $2 million from ads placed along the videos.

"I thought we would have to find a new source of revenues."

YouTube earlier this month agreed to pay a fine of $170 million and change how it handles collected data from children under a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission.

YouTube will treat data from anyone watching children's content on YouTube as coming from a child. It will also stop serving personalized ads on this content entirely, and bar features such as comments and notifications.

The new rules, set to go into effect in four months, have stoked fears in the YouTube community of creators and "vloggers" like the Raders, who live off the advertising revenue.

Shock, grief, fear 

"There's a lot of shock, grief and fear. For many creators, this is their only source of income," said Melissa Hunter of the Family Video Network, a consultancy which also operates a group of channels on YouTube.

"They are people making content in their houses, not huge companies; they're small homemade businesses."

Many questions remain as to how YouTube will define children's content -- intended for kids up to age 12 -- which will be subject to the new rules.

Rader said he has been advised that "we are a low-risk channel because our content is not targeting children."

YouTube is believed to have millions of content creators on its network, who share in the service's ad revenues, estimated to be more than $10 billion annually, though it is unclear how much of YouTube's content is directed at children.

In announcing the new policy, YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki acknowledged that "these changes will have a significant business impact on family and kids creators who have been building both wonderful content and thriving businesses, so we've worked to give impacted creators four months to adjust before changes take effect."

Wojcicki added that YouTube is "committed to working with them through this transition, and providing resources to help them better understand these changes," and would also establish a $100 million fund "dedicated to the creation of thoughtful, original children's content."

Critics of the internet giant said YouTube marketed itself as a destination for children and benefitted by selling advertising to toymakers and others.

FTC chairman Joe Simons said the settlement "prevents YouTube and Google from turning a blind eye to the existence of kids-directed content" on its platform.

Hunter said the creators of family content may collect anywhere from $30 to $100,000 per month, but that "those families are going to make almost nothing on January 1" when the new rules come into effect.

Ending targeting? 

YouTube and creators may still be able to generate revenue from video ads as long as they are not targeted based on data collected from children, although these are far less lucrative.

"Advertisers do spend more for trackable, measurable placements," said Nicole Perrin, an analyst at the research firm eMarketer.

"I'm not sure there is a way to comply with this for kids without limiting some of the revenues on that side."

Shaun McKnight, whose Dallas-based M-Star Media has created several popular YouTube channels which have attracted millions of subscribers, said he and his wife anticipated changes were coming.

"My wife and I thought it was too risky so we pulled back," he said.

source: philstar.com

400 million Facebook users' phone numbers exposed in privacy lapse, reports say

WASHINGTON, United States — Phone numbers linked to more than 400 million Facebook accounts were listed online in the latest privacy lapse for the social media giant, US media reported Wednesday.

An exposed server stored 419 million records on users across several databases -- including 133 million US accounts, more than 50 million in Vietnam, and 18 million in Britain, according to technology news site TechCrunch.

The databases listed Facebook user IDs -- unique digits attached to each account -- the profiles' phone numbers, as well as the gender listed by some accounts and their geographical locations, technology website TechCrunch reported.


The server was not password protected, meaning anyone could access the databases, and remained online until late Wednesday when TechCrunch contacted the site's host.

Facebook confirmed parts of the report but downplayed the extent of the exposure, saying that the number of accounts so far confirmed was around half of the reported 419 million.

It added that many of the entries were duplicates and that the data was old.

"The dataset has been taken down and we have seen no evidence that Facebook accounts were compromised," a Facebook spokesperson told AFP.

Following the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when a firm used Facebook's lax privacy settings to access millions of users' personal details, the company disabled a feature that allowed users to search the platform by phone numbers.

The exposure of a user's phone number leaves them vulnerable to spam calls, SIM-swapping -- as recently happened to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey -- with hackers able to force-reset the passwords of the compromised accounts.

source: philstar.com

Facebook services back online after worldwide outage

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Facebook said it was "back at 100 percent" Wednesday evening after an outage on all of its services affected users in various parts of the world.

Online monitoring service DownDetector reported earlier the outage began around 1200 GMT and affected Facebook as well as its Instagram and WhatsApp services.

"The issue has since been resolved and we should be back at 100% for everyone," the company tweeted at 0006 GMT Thursday, adding they were sorry for "any inconvenience."


A Facebook spokesperson, also speaking on behalf of Instagram and WhatsApp, explained that a "routine maintenance operation" accidentally triggered a bug that made it difficult for users to upload or send photos and videos, US media reported.

#Facebookdown and #instagramdown were trending on Twitter as users around the world reported these apps were not functioning.

According to DownDetector, thousands of users around the world were reporting outages, with Europe and North America most impacted. Both individual users as well as businesses and organizations were affected.

"Yes, we are affected by #instagramdown, too," the CIA tweeted during the outage.

"No, we didn't cause it. No, we can't fix yours. Did you try turning it off and back on again?"

Earlier this year, an outage lasting as long as 24 hours that hit Facebook services was blamed on a "server configuration change."

The March 13 outage was believed to be the worst ever for the internet giant, which reaches an estimated 2.7 billion people with its core social network, Instagram and messaging applications.

The company did not immediately respond to an AFP query on Wednesday's outage.

source: philstar.com

Developers sue Apple over app store fees

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — A lawsuit filed Tuesday by developers alleges Apple is abusing its monopoly position in its online marketplace to extract excessive fees from those creating iPhone applications.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California, claims Apple cornered the market with its iOS App Store, collecting a 30 percent commission on all app sales and in-app purchases.

The complaint comes as Apple holds its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California and just weeks after the US Supreme Court allowed a consumer lawsuit against Apple on similar grounds to proceed.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who are seeking class-action status for the suit, said Apple requires developers selling products through the App Store to pay an annual fee of $99, which hurts small and new developers.

They also said that by keeping all iOS apps into one marketplace -- some two million were available last year -- consumers never see most apps.

"Between Apple's 30 percent cut of all App Store sales, the annual fee of $99 and pricing mandates, Apple blatantly abuses its market power to the detriment of developers, who are forced to use the only platform available to them to sell their iOS app," said Steve Berman of the law firm Hagens Berman, which is representing the plaintiffs.

"In a competitive landscape, this simply would not happen."

The lawsuit seeks to force Apple to end its monopoly and allow competition in the distribution of iOS apps.

It also seeks to end Apple's pricing requirement including the minimum price mandate of 99 cents for paid apps.

Apple did not immediately respond to a query on the lawsuit.

In the past, Apple has defended its control of the App Store, saying it enables the iPhone maker to protect against malicious software and maintain quality standards.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that consumers could proceed with a separate lawsuit on app pricing, rejecting Apple's argument that consumers lacked standing because the tech giant was merely an intermediary with app developers.

The class-action lawsuit from 2011 maintains that Apple abuses its monopoly position, resulting in higher prices.

source: philstar.com

Netflix chief Hastings to leave Facebook board

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Netflix chief Reed Hastings will depart Facebook's board of directors at the end of next month, according to a Friday filing with US regulators by the leading social network.

Neither Hastings nor businessman and political figure Erskine Bowles, who have been on the board since 2011, will be nominated for re-election at an annual shareholders meeting on May 30, Facebook said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hastings' departure comes as the social network prioritizes services such as live streaming and on-demand video that compete with Netflix.


Facebook said it had nominated PayPal core markets senior vice president Peggy Alford to join its board, making the tech industry veteran the first African-American woman to join its ranks.

"Peggy is one of those rare people who's an expert across many different areas -- from business management to finance operations to product development," Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in the filing.


"I know she will have great ideas that help us address both the opportunities and challenges facing our company."

Facebook's board members include Zuckerberg, investor Marc Andreessen, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, and Peter Thiel of the Founders Fund.

"What excites me about the opportunity to join Facebook's board is the company's drive and desire to face hard issues head-on while continuing to improve on the amazing connection experiences they have built over the years," Alford said in the filing.

Facebook has been grappling with questions over its handling of personal data of its more than two billion users and protects against -- as well as concerns the social network is used to spread misinformation and abuse.

source: philstar.com

FB moves vs indiscriminate sharing of intimate content

MANILA, Philippines — Facebook users sharing intimate images without the consent of owners may find their accounts disabled, the social media company said.

Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, said they recently launched a new detection technology to strengthen efforts to remove non-consensual intimate images on their platforms, including on Messenger and Instagram.

“Finding these images goes beyond detecting nudity on our platforms. By using machine learning and artificial intelligence, we can now proactively detect near nude images or videos that are shared without permission on Facebook and Instagram,” she said.


“This means we can find this content before anyone reports it, which is important for two reasons: often victims are afraid of retribution so they are reluctant to report the content themselves or are unaware the content has been shared,” she added.

Davis said a specially-trained member of the community operations team will review the content found by their technology, resulting in its removal and disabling of the account of those who shared it if found to be in violation of community standards.


The Facebook official said the new detection technology is in addition to an existing program that allows people to securely submit a photo to Facebook that they do not want to be shared on the platform.

“We then create a digital fingerprint of that image and stop it from ever being shared on our platform in the first place. After receiving positive feedback from victims and support organizations, we will expand this pilot over the coming months so more people can benefit from this option in an emergency,” Davis said.

The social media company also launched a support hub where victims can find organizations and resources to support them, including steps they can take to remove the content from the platform and prevent it from being shared further.

“We’re also going to make it easier and more intuitive for victims to report when their intimate images were shared on Facebook. And over the coming months, we’ll build a victim support toolkit to give people around the world more information with locally and culturally relevant support,” Davis added.

Impact on victims

A research conducted by Facebook highlighted the serious emotional and physical consequences of sharing intimate images without consent to victims.

“Sometimes called ‘revenge porn,’ it’s really a form of sexual violence that can be motivated by an intent to control, shame, humiliate, extort and terrorize victims,” said Radha Iyengar and Karuna Nain, Facebook’s head of product policy research and manager for global safety policy programs, respectively.

They said the consequences that victims face vary, depending on the cultural context, although all felt violated, angry and embarrassed.

“Victims in more traditional communities may be shunned and exiled from their communities. Organizations we’ve worked with reported cases in which victims were forced to run away from home to avoid persecution and even physical harm,” they said.

“And many countries lack established support organizations, or viable law enforcement solutions,” they added.

Iyengar and Nain underscored the need to build clear and accessible tools to support victims in reporting a violation.

They also recommended the development of prevention methods such as tools to report and proactively block someone from sharing non-consensual images.

“They are scared and worried that their family, friends and co-workers will see the images. In fact, harm for the victims continues long after the images are removed,” noted the company executives.

“The mental health consequences include anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and sometimes post-traumatic stress disorders. There can be economic and professional consequences for victims, including lost jobs, fewer professional connections and colleagues who tease or avoid them. It can also be difficult finding new employment,” they added.

source: philstar.com

What comes next in Facebook's major data breach

NEW YORK — For users, Facebook's revelation of a data breach that gave attackers access to 50 million accounts raises an important question: What happens next?

For the owners of the affected accounts, and of another 40 million that Facebook considered at risk, the first order of business may be a simple one: sign back into the app. Facebook logged everyone out of all 90 million accounts in order to reset digital keys the hackers had stolen — keys normally used to keep users logged in, but which could also give outsiders full control of the compromised accounts.

Next up is the waiting game, as Facebook continues its investigation and users scan for notifications that their accounts were targeted by the hackers.

What Facebook knows so far is that hackers got access to the 50 million accounts by exploiting three distinct bugs in Facebook's code that allowed them to steal those digital keys, technically known as "access tokens." The company says it has fixed the bugs.

Users don't need to change their Facebook passwords, it said, although security experts say it couldn't hurt to do so.

Facebook, however, doesn't know who was behind the attacks or where they're based. In a call with reporters on Friday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg — whose own account was compromised — said that attackers would have had the ability to view private messages or post on someone's account, but there's no sign that they did.

"We do not yet know if any of the accounts were actually misused," Zuckerberg said.

The hack is the latest setback for Facebook during a tumultuous year of security problems and privacy issues . So far, though, none of these issues have significantly shaken the confidence of the company's 2 billion global users.

This latest hack involved bugs in Facebook's "View As" feature, which lets people see how their profiles appear to others. The attackers used that vulnerability to steal access tokens from the accounts of people whose profiles came up in searches using the "View As" feature. The attack then moved along from one user's Facebook friend to another. Possession of those tokens would allow attackers to control those accounts.

One of the bugs was more than a year old and affected how the "View As" feature interacted with Facebook's video uploading feature for posting "happy birthday" messages, said Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of product management. But it wasn't until mid-September that Facebook noticed an uptick in unusual activity, and not until this week that it learned of the attack, Rosen said.

"We haven't yet been able to determine if there was specific targeting" of particular accounts, Rosen said in a call with reporters. "It does seem broad. And we don't yet know who was behind these attacks and where they might be based."

Neither passwords nor credit card data was stolen, Rosen said. He said the company has alerted the FBI and regulators in the United States and Europe.

Jake Williams, a security expert at Rendition Infosec, said he is concerned that the hack could have affected third party applications.

Williams noted that the company's "Facebook Login" feature lets users log into other apps and websites with their Facebook credentials. "These access tokens that were stolen show when a user is logged into Facebook and that may be enough to access a user's account on a third party site," he said.

Facebook confirmed late Friday that third party apps, including its own Instagram app, could have been affected.

"The vulnerability was on Facebook, but these access tokens enabled someone to use the account as if they were the account-holder themselves," Rosen said.

News broke early this year that a data analytics firm once employed by the Trump campaign, Cambridge Analytica, had improperly gained access to personal data from millions of user profiles. Then a congressional investigation found that agents from Russia and other countries have been posting fake political ads since at least 2016. In April, Zuckerberg appeared at a congressional hearing focused on Facebook's privacy practices.

The Facebook bug is reminiscent of a much larger attack on Yahoo in which attackers compromised 3 billion accounts — enough for half of the world's entire population. In the case of Yahoo, information stolen included names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and security questions and answers. It was among a series of Yahoo hacks over several years.

U.S. prosecutors later blamed Russian agents for using the information they stole from Yahoo to spy on Russian journalists, U.S. and Russian government officials and employees of financial services and other private businesses.

In Facebook's case, it may be too early to know how sophisticated the attackers were and if they were connected to a nation state, said Thomas Rid, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University. Rid said it could also be spammers or criminals.

"Nothing we've seen here is so sophisticated that it requires a state actor," Rid said. "Fifty million random Facebook accounts are not interesting for any intelligence agency."

___

O'Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.

source: philstar.com

Facebook data scandal

Facebook says it will end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week following a backlash over the Chinese phone maker's access to Facebook user data.

Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, is the latest device maker at the center of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebook's handling of private data.

Facebook said earlier this week that Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a "controlled" way approved by the social media giant.

Huawei said Wednesday it has never collected or stored Facebook user data. Huawei spokesman Joe Kelly said in a text message that the arrangement was about making Facebook services more convenient for users. — AP

source: philstar.com

Musk deletes Facebook pages of Tesla, SpaceX after challenged on Twitter

Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla Inc disappeared on Friday, minutes after the Silicon Valley billionaire promised on Twitter to take down the pages when challenged by users.

“Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you’re the man?” a user tweeted to Tesla Chief Executive Musk. His response: “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.” (bit.ly/2pDcu3l)

Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, which had millions of followers, are no longer accessible.

Musk had begun the exchange by responding to a tweet from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on the #deletefacebook tag.

The hashtag gained prominence after the world’s largest social network upset users by mishandling data, which ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica – a political consultancy that worked on U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.


“What’s Facebook?” Musk tweeted.

Many users also urged the billionaire to delete the profiles of his companies on Facebook’s photo-sharing app Instagram.

“Instagram’s probably ok … so long as it stays fairly independent,” Musk responded.

“I don’t use FB & never have, so don’t think I’m some kind of martyr or my companies are taking a huge blow. Also, we don’t advertise or pay for endorsements, so … don’t care.”

Musk has had run-ins with Facebook Inc (FB.O) founder Mark Zuckerberg in the past.

Last year, a war of words broke out between Musk and Zuckerberg over whether robots will become smart enough to kill their human creators.

When Zuckerberg was asked about Musk’s views on the dangers of robots, he chided “naysayers” whose “doomsday scenarios” were “irresponsible.”

In response, Musk tweeted: “His understanding of the subject is limited.”

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook made mistakes on user data — Zuckerberg

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that his company made mistakes in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users and promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to such information.

The world’s largest social media network is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States about a whistleblower’s allegations that London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user information to build profiles on American voters which were later used to help elect U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016.

Zuckerberg, in his first public comments since the scandal erupted at the weekend, said in a post on Facebook that the company “made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.” (bit.ly/2DHAlUJ)

He did not elaborate on what the mistakes were, but he said the social network plans to conduct an investigation of apps on its platform, restrict developer access to data, and give members a tool that lets them more easily disable access to their Facebook data.

His plans did not represent a big reduction of advertisers’ ability to use Facebook data, which is the company’s lifeblood.


Zuckerberg later told CNN, “This was a major breach of trust. I’m really sorry this happened. We have a basic responsibility to protect people’s data.”

He told CNN that Facebook was committed to stopping interference in the U.S. midterm election in November and elections in India and Brazil.

Zuckerberg said he was open to additional government regulation and happy to testify before the U.S. Congress if he was the right person.

“I’m not sure we shouldn’t be regulated,” he said. “I actually think the question is more what is the right regulation rather than yes or no, should it be regulated? … People should know who is buying the ads that they see on Facebook.”

Facebook shares pared gains on Wednesday after Zuckerberg’s post, closing up 0.7 percent. The company has lost more than $45 billion of its stock market value over the past three days on investor fears that any failure by big tech firms to protect personal data could deter advertisers and users and invite tougher regulation.

Facebook representatives including Deputy Chief Privacy Officer Rob Sherman met U.S. congressional staff for nearly two hours on Wednesday and planned to continue meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Facebook was unable to answer many questions, two aides who attended the briefing said.

Zuckerberg told the website Recode that fixes to protect users’ data would cost “many millions of dollars.”

The whistleblower who launched the scandal, Christopher Wylie, formerly of Cambridge Analytica, said in a tweet that he had accepted invitations to testify before U.S. and UK lawmakers.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the Alumni Exercises following the 366th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., May 25, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The German government said Facebook must explain whether the personal data of the country’s 30 million users were protected from unlawful use by third parties, according to a report in the Funke group of German regional newspapers.

‘Scapegoat’

On Tuesday, the board of Cambridge Analytica suspended its Chief Executive Alexander Nix, who was caught in a secret recording boasting that his company played a decisive role in Trump’s victory.

But the academic who provided the data disputed that on Wednesday.

“I think what Cambridge Analytica has tried to sell is magic, and they’ve made claims that this is incredibly accurate and it tells you everything there is to tell about you. But I think the reality is it’s not that,” psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, an academic at Cambridge University, told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

Kogan, who gathered the data by running a survey app on Facebook, also said that he was being made a scapegoat by Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Both companies have blamed Kogan for alleged data misuse.

Only 300,000 Facebook users responded to Kogan’s quiz, but that gave the researcher access to those people’s Facebook friends as well, who had not agreed to share information, producing details on 50 million users.

Facebook has said it subsequently made changes that prevent people from sharing data about friends, and maintains that no data breach occurred because the original users gave permission. Critics say that it essentially was a breach because data of unsuspecting friends was taken.

source: interaksyon.com

MWC 2018 | All-in-one wallet card to spell end of individual credit card?

A single card that allows shoppers to access various payment options from multiple accounts is being displayed at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. Jim Drury reports.

source: interaksyon.com

Here’s how you can get first dibs on the Huawei Mate 10 Porsche Design

MANILA, Philippines — Images of Huawei’s upcoming flagship smartphone has surfaced on the Internet recently and everyone — even the most discerning mobile consumers — is becoming more impatient for its worldwide release.

There’s a good reason why. Carrying the iconic Porsche Design brand, the newest smartphone in the Huawei Mate 10 series is luxurious, powerful and exclusive.

But what’s really special about this smartphone? A lot.

Just from its name, expect the Huawei Mate 10 Porsche Design to sport a luxurious feel. With the aesthetic of Porsche Design, it is constructed with glass uni-body and handcrafted exterior. It is available exclusively in Diamond Black so it looks even more sophisticated.

Inside this sleek phone is an equally impressive memory cortex. Combining 6GB RAM with 256GB ROM, it is officially the highest spec smartphone in the Huawei Mate 10 series.

Another thing to watch out for in the Huawei Mate 10 Porsche Design is its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, engineered for an outstanding smartphone experience.

With the Kirin 970 AI chipset under its hood, the smartphone can learn and adjust its functions to its user’s lifestyle and at blazing speeds. If you like taking pictures, the camera can intelligently detect numerous objects and scenes and automatically adjust the settings to capture amazing images. If you’re a power user on the other hand, the device can optimize its efficiency for the best multi-tasking experience.

The AI technology allows the Huawei Mate 10 Porsche Design to learn your behavior and to evolve around how you use your phone.

Convinced? Well, here’s the good news. Soon, select Filipinos can get their hands on this game-changing smartphone — a source told Philstar.com. He added that Globe will release 20 units, available only to Platinum subscribers.

For now we await the release of Huawei Mate 10 Porsche Design through Globe Platinum. Visit www.consumer.huawei.com/en/phones/porsche-design-mate10/ for more information.

source: philstar.com

STEPPING UP | Qualcomm adds security, battery life features to phone chips

Qualcomm Inc on Wednesday revealed new security and battery life features on its latest Snapdragon 845 mobile phone processor, a chip that customarily powers high-end Android-based phones from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and others.

The chips are increasingly important to Qualcomm’s financial picture while its patent licensing business is under attack from Apple Inc.

Qualcomm’s latest chip features a range of improvements to help it deal with artificial intelligence tasks like recognizing and categorizing images, Keith Kressin, a senior vice president at the company, told Reuters in an interview.

For the first time, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip also features physically separate processor called a “Secure Processing Unit” for storing information like fingerprints and iris scans, similar to technology found on Apple’s iPhone. Previous Qualcomm chips had a “trusted zone” that was not physically separate from the rest of the processor.

“With biometric identification on the rise, it was important to take (security) to the next level,” Kressin said.


The company tweaked various parts of the chip for so-called machine learning applications. While that includes things consumers might notice like image recognition, it also includes behind-the-scenes improvements. For example, the chip will help ensure that a user’s fingers do not accidentally register as taps when gripping the sides of an edge-to-edge display.

Kressin said the chip will also help phones register touch screen inputs when wet. That is a critical improvement because even though many top phone models from Samsung and others are now water resistant, they are difficult to operate with water on the screen.

The newest Snapdragon also has features aimed at virtual and augmented reality headsets. One feature called “Adreno foveation” will let the edges of a headset screen operate at lower resolutions while the center of the screen is sharper, similar to how human peripheral vision is fuzzier than central vision. The technique can save battery live, Kressin said.

Qualcomm does not disclose revenue figures for its Snapdragon chips. But they are an increasingly important part of its business because its lucrative patent licensing business is under attack in a series of legal actions from Apple.

Qualcomm is also facing a $103 billion takeover bid from Broadcom Ltd, which earlier this week said it would nominate a slate of directors to Qualcomm’s board.

source: interaksyon.com

China’s Xi says country will not close door to global internet

WUZHEN, CHINA — Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Sunday the country will not close its door to the global internet, but that cyber sovereignty is key in its vision of internet development.

Xi’s comments were read by Huang Kunming, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s publicity department at the country’s largest public cyber policy forum in the town of Wuzhen in eastern China.

“The development of China’s cyberspace is entering a fast lane…China’s doors will only become more and more open,” said Xi in the note.

Cyber sovereignty is the idea that states should be permitted to manage and contain their own internet without external interference.

China’s Communist Party has tightened cyber regulation in the past year, formalizing new rules that require firms to store data locally and censor tools that allow users to subvert the Great Firewall.

In June, China introduced a new national cybersecurity law that requires foreign firms to store data locally and submit to data surveillance measures.

Cyber regulators say the laws are in line with international rules, and that they are designed to protect personal privacy and counter attacks on core infrastructure. Business groups say the rules unfairly target foreign firms.

China has advocated strongly for a larger role in global internet governance under Xi.

“China stands ready to develop new rules and systems of internet governance to serve all parties and counteract current imbalances,” said Wang Huning, a member of the Communist Party standing committee at the event on Sunday.

The conference, which is overseen by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) invited foreign executives, Apple Inc’s CEO Tim Cook and Google Inc chief Sundar Pichai as well as a Facebook Inc executive.

Google and Facebook are banned in China, along with Twitter Inc and most major western news outlets.

Top executives from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc also attended the forum.

source: interaksyon.com

IS THIS THE END OF THE SECRETARY? | Voice aide Alexa now ready for the office — Amazon

Amazon.com Inc wants to be your new executive assistant at work.

The company on Thursday said that Alexa, its increasingly popular digital aide that shoppers command by voice, is now programmed to handle a range of tedious office tasks.

Businesses can buy Alexa devices that help employees dial into conference calls, manage their calendars, find open meeting rooms and – not surprisingly – order work supplies from Amazon.

Amazon wants Alexa to be everywhere, and it needs more voice data to feed and “train” it so that talking to the assistant feels like talking to a friend. The company is looking to make money in the long term from people shopping with Alexa and using it – rather than Apple Inc’s Siri or Alphabet Inc’s Google Assistant – as their go-to voice technology.

“Meetings always start 10 minutes late” due to small technology issues, Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels said at the company’s cloud-computing summit in Las Vegas on Thursday, announcing the service. “If voice is a natural way of interacting in your home … why don’t we build something that you can actually use at work as well?”

The answer to that question is Amazon’s “Alexa for Business” offering, which lets companies buy Alexa devices like the Echo for employees to share at $7 per month per gadget. That is a departure from Amazon’s normal requirement that Alexa devices be tied to a shopper’s Prime account to unlock all features.

Businesses also can enroll employees’ home devices into their Alexa networks for $3 per month per user. The service lets companies centrally provision and manage devices for their organizations.

The move adds to Amazon’s competition with Microsoft Corp, which bought internet phone and video chat company Skype in 2011 with hopes of improving communications at work. Microsoft has also recently courted businesses with applications of its own voice technology, with programs that convert audio into text and vice versa.

Still, integrating a voice aide that is popular among consumers – whether for bedside tables, dressing rooms, cars or even refrigerators – into the workplace would be a first for the technology industry.

“Alexa and Amazon are being much more aggressive, whether it’s integrating with third parties or going to new markets like this,” said Gene Munster, a veteran equity analyst and now head of research at Loup Ventures.

source: interaksyon.com

Can Europe create the next Google?

LONDON, ENGLAND — Europe is making major strides to eliminate barriers that have held back the region from developing tech firms that can compete on the scale of global giants Alphabet Inc’s Google, Amazon.com Inc or Tencent Holdings Inc , a report published on Thursday shows.

The region has thriving tech hubs in major cities, with record new funding, experienced entrepreneurs, a growing base of technical talent and an improving regulatory climate, according to a study by European venture firm Atomico.

While even the largest European tech ventures remain a fraction of the size of the biggest U.S. and Asian rivals, global music streaming leader Spotify of Sweden marks the rising ambition of European entrepreneurs. Spotify is gearing up for a stock market flotation next year that could value it at upward of $20 billion.

“The probability that the next industry-defining company could come from Europe – and become one of the world’s most valuable companies – has never been higher,” said Tom Wehmeier, Atomico’s head of research, who authored the report.

Top venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in the region told Reuters they are increasingly confident that the next world-class companies could emerge from Europe in fields including artificial intelligence, video gaming, music and messaging.


“What we still need to develop is entrepreneurs who have the drive to take it all the way – I think we are starting to see that now,” said Bernard Liautaud, managing partner at venture fund Balderton Capital, who sold his software company Business Objects to SAP for $6.8 billion a decade ago.

The Atomico report is being published in conjunction with the annual Nordic technology start-up festival taking place in Helsinki this week and set to draw some 20,000 participants.

Stronger fundamentals

Capital invested in European tech companies is on track to reach a record this year, with $19.1 billion in funding projected through the end of 2017 – up 33 percent over 2016, according to investment tracking firm Dealroom.co.

The median size of European venture funds nearly tripled to around 58 million euros (£51.1 million) in 2017 compared with five years ago, according to Invest Europe’s European Data Cooperative on fundraising investment activity.

Beyond the availability of funding, Europe has a range of technical talent available to work more cheaply than in Silicon Valley, enabling start-ups to get going with far less funding.

With a pool of professional developers now numbering 5.5 million, European tech employment outpaces the comparable 4.4 million employed in the United States, according to data from Stack Overflow, a site popular with programmers.

London remains the top European city in terms of numbers of professional developers, but Germany, as a country, overtook Britain in the past year with 837,398 developers compared with 813,500, the report states, using Stack Overflow statistics.

While median salaries for software engineers are rising in top European cities Berlin, London, Paris and Barcelona, they are one-third to one-half the average cost of salaries in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is more than $129,000, based on Glassdoor recruiting data.

Pushing up against the limits

Big hurdles remain. A survey of 1,000 founders by authors of the report found European entrepreneurs were worried by Brexit, with concerns, especially in Britain, over hiring, investment and heightened uncertainty in the business climate.

Although Europe has deep engineering talent, many big startups focus on business model innovation in areas such as media, retail and gaming rather than on breakthrough technology developments that can usher in new industries, critics say.

Regulatory frameworks in Europe put the brakes on development on promising technologies such as cryptocurrencies, “flying taxis” and gene editing, while autonomous vehicles and drones face fewer obstacles, the report says.

A separate study by Index Ventures, also to be published on Thursday, found that employees at fast-growing tech start-ups in Europe tend to receive only half the stock option stakes that are a primary route to riches for their U.S. rivals. Yet their options are taxed twice as much.

The Index report said employees in successful, later-stage European tech start-ups receive around 10 percent of capital, compared with 20 percent ownership in Silicon Valley firms.

“There is quite a gap today between stock option practices in Europe and those in Silicon Valley,” Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot said in an interview. “There are other issues where Europe is behind, but we think stock options should be at the top of the agenda.”

Another factor holding back Europe is that regional stock markets encourage firms to go public prematurely, Liataud said.

“Europe has markets for average companies. In the U.S., going public is hard. You have to be really, really good. You have to be $100 million, minimum, in revenue,” the French entrepreneur-turned-investor said. “Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange have not lowered their standards.”

source: interaksyon.com

Facebook to expand AI to help prevent suicide

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc. will expand its pattern recognition software to other countries after successful tests in the U.S. to detect users with suicidal intent, the world’s largest social media network said on Monday.

Facebook began testing the software in the United States in March, when the company started scanning the text of Facebook posts and comments for phrases that could be signals of an impending suicide.

Facebook has not disclosed many technical details of the program, but the company said its software searches for certain phrases that could be clues, such as the questions “Are you ok?” and “Can I help?”

If the software detects a potential suicide, it alerts a team of Facebook workers who specialize in handling such reports. The system suggests resources to the user or to friends of the person such as a telephone help line. Facebook workers sometimes call local authorities to intervene.

Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president for product management, said the company was beginning to roll out the software outside the United States because the tests have been successful. During the past month, he said, first responders checked on people more than 100 times after Facebook software detected suicidal intent.

Facebook said it tries to have specialist employees available at any hour to call authorities in local languages.

“Speed really matters. We have to get help to people in real time,” Rosen said.

Last year, when Facebook launched live video broadcasting, videos proliferated of violent acts including suicides and murders, presenting a threat to the company’s image. In May Facebook said it would hire 3,000 more people to monitor videos and other content.

Rosen did not name the countries where Facebook was deploying the software, but he said it would eventually be used worldwide except in the European Union due to sensitivities, which he declined to discuss.

Other tech firms also try to prevent suicides. Google’s search engine displays the phone number for a suicide hot line in response to certain searches.

Facebook knows lots about its 2.1 billion users – data that it uses for targeted advertising – but in general the company has not been known previously to systematically scan conversations for patterns of harmful behavior.

One exception is its efforts to spot suspicious conversations between children and adult sexual predators. Facebook sometimes contacts authorities when its automated screens pick up inappropriate language.

But it may be more difficult for tech firms to justify scanning conversations in other situations, said Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who writes about tech.

“Once you open the door, you might wonder what other kinds of things we would be looking for,” Calo said.

Rosen declined to say if Facebook was considering pattern recognition software in other areas, such as non-sex crimes.

source: interaksyon.com