An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Load up the website This Person Does Not Exist and it'll show you a human face, near-perfect in its realism yet totally fake. Refresh and the neural network behind the site will generate another, and another, and another. The endless sequence of AI-crafted faces is produced by a generative adversarial network (GAN) -- a type of AI that learns to produce realistic but fake examples of the data it is trained on. But such generated faces -- which are starting to be used in CGI movies and ads -- might not be as unique as they seem. In a paper titled This Person (Probably) Exists (PDF), researchers show that many faces produced by GANs bear a striking resemblance to actual people who appear in the training data. The fake faces can effectively unmask the real faces the GAN was trained on, making it possible to expose the identity of those individuals. The work is the latest in a string of studies that call into doubt the popular idea that neural networks are "black boxes" that reveal nothing about what goes on inside.

To expose the hidden training data, Ryan Webster and his colleagues at the University of Caen Normandy in France used a type of attack called a membership attack, which can be used to find out whether certain data was used to train a neural network model. These attacks typically take advantage of subtle differences between the way a model treats data it was trained on -- and has thus seen thousands of times before -- and unseen data. For example, a model might identify a previously unseen image accurately, but with slightly less confidence than one it was trained on. A second, attacking model can learn to spot such tells in the first model's behavior and use them to predict when certain data, such as a photo, is in the training set or not.

Such attacks can lead to serious security leaks. For example, finding out that someone's medical data was used to train a model associated with a disease might reveal that this person has that disease. Webster's team extended this idea so that instead of identifying the exact photos used to train a GAN, they identified photos in the GAN's training set that were not identical but appeared to portray the same individual -- in other words, faces with the same identity. To do this, the researchers first generated faces with the GAN and then used a separate facial-recognition AI to detect whether the identity of these generated faces matched the identity of any of the faces seen in the training data. The results are striking. In many cases, the team found multiple photos of real people in the training data that appeared to match the fake faces generated by the GAN, revealing the identity of individuals the AI had been trained on.

Epic Games keeps piling up lawsuits with app store owners. This time, Google is countersuing Epic for breach of contract. From a report: Epic signed contracts with both Google and Apple, pledging to use the default payment systems for in-app purchases. As part of its push for more open payment systems, though (and to dodge each platform's 30 percent fee), Epic boldly pushed out updates to the Android and iOS apps that switched the payment processing from the platforms' in-app purchases to Epic's in-house system. Google and Apple both allege this action was a breach of their app store contracts with Epic.

Apple sued and got its ruling last month. Epic was ordered to pay $3.65 million in damages, covering Apple's lost revenue from Epic's three months of self-powered payments. Following that ruling, Google wants its missing money, too, and now it's countersuing Epic, hoping for a similar ruling. Google's suit reads, "Epic willfully breached the DDA [Developer Distribution Agreement] by submitting a version of Fortnite for publication on Google Play with a payment method other than Google Play Billing for purchases of in-app content. By doing this, Epic denied Google its service fee under the DDA for any purchases made through the app outside of Google Play Billing." Google continues: "The users that downloaded the non-compliant version of Fortnite before its removal from Google Play are still able to use Epic's hotfixed external payment mechanism to make in-app purchases -- allowing Epic to evade its contractually agreed service fee to Google for those purchases." Google argues that "Epic has alternatively been unjustly enriched at Google's expense" and is seeking restitution of its missing earnings and damages.

A new study (PDF) by a team of university researchers in the UK has unveiled a host of privacy issues that arise from using Android smartphones. BleepingComputer reports: The researchers have focused on Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, and Huawei Android devices, and LineageOS and /e/OS, two forks of Android that aim to offer long-term support and a de-Googled experience. The conclusion of the study is worrying for the vast majority of Android users: "With the notable exception of /e/OS, even when minimally configured and the handset is idle these vendor-customized Android variants transmit substantial amounts of information to the OS developer and also to third parties (Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) that have pre-installed system apps." As the summary table indicates, sensitive user data like persistent identifiers, app usage details, and telemetry information are not only shared with the device vendors, but also go to various third parties, such as Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Facebook. And to make matters worse, Google appears at the receiving end of all collected data almost across the entire table.

It is important to note that this concerns the collection of data for which there's no option to opt-out, so Android users are powerless against this type of telemetry. This is particularly concerning when smartphone vendors include third-party apps that are silently collecting data even if they're not used by the device owner, and which cannot be uninstalled. For some of the built-in system apps like miui.analytics (Xiaomi), Heytap (Realme), and Hicloud (Huawei), the researchers found that the encrypted data can sometimes be decoded, putting the data at risk to man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks. As the study points out, even if the user resets the advertising identifiers for their Google Account on Android, the data-collection system can trivially re-link the new ID back to the same device and append it to the original tracking history. The deanonymization of users takes place using various methods, such as looking at the SIM, IMEI, location data history, IP address, network SSID, or a combination of these. In response to the report, a Google spokesperson said: "While we appreciate the work of the researchers, we disagree that this behavior is unexpected -- this is how modern smartphones work. As explained in our Google Play Services Help Center article, this data is essential for core device services such as push notifications and software updates across a diverse ecosystem of devices and software builds. For example, Google Play services uses data on certified Android devices to support core device features. Collection of limited basic information, such as a device's IMEI, is necessary to deliver critical updates reliably across Android devices and apps."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: In January 2021, development and support for Adobe Flash was discontinued. That marked the end of an era but in reality, Flash wasn't quite dead. Flash Player is still available in China, something that was exploited by the Clean Flash project to continue making the software more widely and safely available. The Chinese version of Flash receives one security update per month and can be freely downloaded from Flash.cn but also has significant strings attached. It comes preinstalled with an adware program called Flash Helper which, according to security sources, exhibits malicious behavior. Developed by 'darktohka' and previously located on Github, Clean Flash Installer solves these problems and more. "Clean Flash Installer installs this up-to-date freely available version of Flash, but it comes WITHOUT the adware program," darktohka informs TorrentFreak. "As such Clean Flash Installer can be used by anyone to use a relatively secure version of Flash Player after the support for Flash ended."

The developer says that he was inspired to create his tool to keep Flash content alive, something which he says was a huge part of his childhood. Adobe appears to be less enthusiastic about his work and following a DMCA notice filed with Github, the developer platform has nuked the project. In a DMCA complaint filed with Github on October 4, 2021, a legal representative acting for Adobe explains that the Clean Flash Installer project breaches copyright law. "Adobe Inc. is the copyright owner and I am authorized to act on its behalf. Our Adobe Flash Player software has been infringed. The files in question contain our proprietary Adobe Inc. owned copyrighted materials (software code)," it reads, adding that the project must be removed. "As this is my passion project, I am deeply disappointed with Adobe's action. The repository in question only hosts the installer code for the project, which was written by myself and does not contain any infringing code," explains darktohka. "Adobe Flash was a huge part of our childhood, and it's gut-wrecking that Adobe would rather have everyone use super out-of-date versions of the software when versions with security updates are freely available. It makes no sense for them to DMCA an installer that was written independently and makes use of the freely available and downloadable version of the project."

The Pentagon wants defense contractors to cut the ultimate cost of hypersonic weapons, the head of research and development said on Tuesday, as the next generation of super-fast missiles being developed currently cost tens of millions per unit. From a report: "We need to figure out how to drive towards more affordable hypersonics," Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu told reporters at the Association of United States Army conference in Washington. She said cost was something she "would like to help industry focus on." Currently, the U.S. uses cruise missiles which are mature technologies costing less than $5 million per unit to strike deep into enemy territory. But cruise missiles are inferior to hypersonic weapons because they have a shorter range, are far slower and more vulnerable to being detected and shot down. Both Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies are working on hypersonic weapons for the Pentagon. The Pentagon's budget request in the 2022 fiscal year for hypersonic research was $3.8 billion which was up from $3.2 billion they year before.

"A group of ten EU countries, led by France, have asked the European Commission to recognize nuclear power as a low-carbon energy source that should be part of the bloc's decades-long transition towards climate neutrality," reports EuroNews. While greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear plants are "comparable" to those released by hydropower and wind, critics argue that the resulting radioactive waste is harmful to human health and the environment. "Despite the urgency to combat climate change, member states are still unable to reach a consensus on whether nuclear constitutes a green or dirty energy source," adds EuroNews. From the report: Tapping into Europe's ongoing energy crunch, the countries make the case for nuclear energy as a "key affordable, stable and independent energy source" that could protect EU consumers from being "exposed to the volatility of prices." The letter, which was initiated by France, has been sent to the Commission with the signature of nine other EU countries, most of which already count nuclear as part of their national energy mix: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania. Nuclear plants generate over 26% of the electricity produced in the European Union.
[...]
Despite the urgency to combat climate change, member states are still unable to reach a consensus on whether nuclear constitutes a green or dirty energy source. The Commission has postponed the crucial decision to let countries conclude the debate. On the one side, Germany, which plans to shut down all its reactors by 2022, is leading the anti-nuclear cause, together with Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain. "We are concerned that including nuclear power in the taxonomy would permanently damage its integrity, credibility and therefore its usefulness," they wrote in July.

On the other side, France, which obtains over 70% of its electricity from nuclear stations, is fighting to label nuclear as sustainable under the taxonomy. As shown by the new letter, Paris has the backing of several Eastern states, which have already earmarked millions for nuclear projects. "While renewable energy sources play a key role for our energy transition, they cannot produce enough low-carbon electricity to meet our needs, at a sufficient and a constant level," the letter says, describing nuclear power as a "safe and innovative" sector with the potential of sustaining one million high-qualified jobs "in the near future".

A report (PDF) from the Commission's research unit released earlier this year indicates Brussels could eventually side with the pro-nuclear team. The paper says greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear plants are "comparable" to those released by hydropower and wind, an assessment shared by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the United States Department of Energy. Critics, however, argue the resulting radioactive waste is harmful to human health and the environment. "Nuclear power is incredibly expensive, hazardous and slow to build," says Greenpeace. Detractors are concerned about potentially disastrous nuclear accidents, similar to those of Chernobyl in 1986 or Fukushima in 2011, which are still deeply rooted in the collective imagination.

The Wikimedia Foundation wins Florida defamation case; intermediary protections effectively protect Wikipedia article. From a story: On September 15th, in a victory for the Wikimedia movement and for all user-driven projects online, a Florida judge dismissed claims of defamation, invasion of privacy, and infliction of emotional distress against the Wikimedia Foundation. The judge found that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes the Wikimedia Foundation from liability for third-party content republished on Wikipedia. In other words, Section 230 helps Wikimedia safely host the work of Wikipedia's contributors and enables the effective volunteer-led moderation of content on the projects.

The case began when plaintiff Nathaniel White sued [PDF] the Wikimedia Foundation in January 2021, claiming that the Foundation was liable for the publication of photos that incorrectly identified him as a New York serial killer of the same name. Because of its open nature, sometimes inaccurate information is uploaded to Wikipedia and its companion projects, but the many members of our volunteer community are very effective at identifying and removing these inaccuracies when they do occur. Notably, this lawsuit was filed months after Wikipedia editors proactively corrected the error at issue in September 2020. Wikimedia moved to dismiss the amended complaint in June, arguing that plaintiff's claims were barred by Section 230.

In its order [PDF] granting the Wikimedia Foundation's motion to dismiss, the court affirmed that "interactive computer service providers" such as the Foundation generally cannot be held liable for third-party content like Wikipedia articles and photographs. The ruling also pointed out that the plaintiff's amended complaint attempted to "hold Wikimedia liable for its exercise of a publisher's traditional function." In other words, the plaintiff argued that the Foundation should be treated like a traditional offline publisher and held responsible as though it were vetting all posts made to the sites it hosts, despite the fact that it does not write or curate any of the content found on the projects. The court rejected this argument because it directly conflicts with Section 230, which clearly states that when third-party content is involved (as was the case here), the online host is not liable for it.

Google has pulled several "stalkerware" ads that violated its policies by promoting apps that encouraged prospective users to spy on their spouses' phone. From a report: These consumer-grade spyware apps are often marketed to parents wishing to monitor their child's calls, messages, apps, photos and location, often under the guise of protecting against predators. But these apps, which are often designed to be installed surreptitiously and without the device owner's consent, have been repurposed by abusers to spy on the phones of their spouses.

[...] Last August, Google banned ads in users' search results that promoted apps that are designed "with the express purpose of tracking or monitoring another person or their activities without their authorization." But TechCrunch found five app makers were still advertising their stalkerware apps as recently as last week. "We do not allow ads promoting spyware for partner surveillance. We immediately removed the ads that violated this policy and will continue to track emerging behaviors to prevent bad actors from trying to evade our detection systems," a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Apple wants another go in its legal battle against Epic Games. From a report: On Friday night, Apple announced it would ask for a stay on a judge's September order saying Apple would have to allow apps to direct customers to external websites. That ruling would let app businesses circumvent Apple's requirement to facilitate payments only inside of apps, where Apple takes up to a 30% cut. Apple is also appealing the ruling. Because Epic Games is also appealing the nine counts it lost, it could take years before the case is resolved and Apple is forced to make any changes to iOS, the operating system for iPhones, as the two companies wrangle through the appeals process in court. The judge is expected to rule on Apple's request for a stay next month.

Apple's move is a surprising turnaround from its tone following the decision in September. While the company always left open the possibility of an appeal, it portrayed the judge's ruling as a resounding legal win for its App Store business model, which has come under fire from technology rivals, international regulators and members of the U.S. Congress. "We are very pleased with the Court's ruling and we consider this a huge win for Apple," Kate Adams, Apple's lawyer, said in September following the ruling. The Friday night announcement inspired a torrent of commentary from Apple critics. They pointed out the move would preserve Apple's App Store profits by preventing apps from using alternative payment systems. One company announced last week that it was already working on a cheaper, web-based alternative to Apple's app payments -- a move made possible only by the ruling that Apple is now appealing.

Facebook says it will begin clamping down on the illegal sale of protected areas of the Amazon rainforest on its site. From a report: The social media giant changed its policy following a BBC investigation into the practice. The new measures will apply only to conservation areas and not to publicly owned forest. And the move will be limited to the Amazon, not other rainforests and wildlife habitats across the world. According to a recent study from the think tank Ipam (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambental da Amazonia), a third of all deforestation happens in publicly-owned forests in the Amazon. Facebook said it would not reveal how it planned to find the illegal ads but said it would "seek to identify and block new listings" in protected areas of the Amazon rainforest. In February, the BBC Our World documentary Selling the Amazon revealed that plots of rainforest as large as 1,000 football pitches were being listed on Facebook's classified ads service.

RestOfWorld.org tells the story of a libertarian 'startup city' in Honduras that was "supposed to be a privatized, Silicon Valley-funded paradise."

Co-founded by 37-year-old Venezuelan Erick Brimen, "Próspera's founders promised to enrich the local community, even supplying water to a nearby village. But relations with neighboring communities deteriorated. Then, Próspera turned off the taps..."

Próspera's founders believe the future of government lies with privatized startup cities. They belong to a movement with deep roots in U.S. libertarian circles: one that wants to redefine citizenship and governance in tech-consumerist terms. It has gained momentum in recent years, as high-profile Silicon Valley figures, like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, put their money behind startup city initiatives.

Some governments have been drawn to the idea, too, hoping it will attract foreign investment and spur economic growth. In 2013, Honduras passed a law allowing people like Brimen to set up semi-autonomous, privately run cities, "zonas de empleo y desarrollo económico" (zones for employment and economic development), or "ZEDEs" — pronounced "zeh-dehs." These cities are to be governed by private investors, who can write their own laws and regulations, design their own court systems, and operate their own police forces. The Honduran government granted Próspera ZEDE status in late 2017. Subject to limited government oversight and few legal restrictions, a set of for-profit firms incorporated abroad by Brimen and his business partners will govern the city — with ambitions to expand across [its Honduran island] Roatán and onto the Honduran mainland.... This year, skeptical Hondurans organized weeks of anti-ZEDE protests across the country. They fear cities like Próspera will leave ordinary people no better off than they were before, while ceding to profit-driven investors the power to decide what's in the public interest...

Applications for [Próspera] residency require a background check, a Honduran residency permit, and an annual fee — $260 per year for Hondurans and $1,300 for foreigners. Prospective residents will also have to sign something called an "agreement of coexistence," which lays out all the rights and responsibilities of Próspera residents and Próspera's obligations to them. Brimen characterized it as, "if you could make the social contract a real contract." The agreement incorporates Próspera's resident bill of rights, which is modeled on the U.S. Bill of Rights but with some decidedly libertarian twists. Government services will be centralized and automated through ePróspera, an online portal modeled on the much-praised e-Estonia system developed by the Baltic nation. From the comfort of their homes, Prósperans will be able to pay taxes, incorporate a company, transact business, and even buy real estate. They'll be able to vote, too, but their franchise is limited. Residents elect only five of the council's nine members. Landowners vote for two of the five, with voting power pegged to acreage. Buy more land, buy more votes. Próspera's founders choose the four remaining council members, and a six-member supermajority is needed to alter policy.... Government services will be provided entirely by a contractor...

Effective tax rates will sit in the low single digits, and, in place of Honduran courts, there's a private arbitration center. But where the business inducements enter unprecedented terrain is health and safety regulation. Próspera won't impose rules so much as curate prix fixe and à la carte menus of rules. Companies will be able to opt into an existing regulatory regime — choosing from dozens of countries and U.S. states — or they can Frankenstein together an entirely novel code, mixing and matching rules from different jurisdictions and even inventing new ones. [The building code for one new construction site is a pastiche of Honduran and U.S. law.] The lone requirements: sign-off by Próspera's governing council and a liability insurance policy, most likely underwritten, [Próspera co-founder] Delgado says, by offshore insurers.
RestOfWorld carefully chronicles how Próspera became unpopular with locals. In the summer of 2019, Próspera connected a nearby village to its own water supply. Then started billing them. (Though the water bills eventually stopped.) After protests over the fact that few construction jobs went to villagers — and how Próspera's armed security guards began asking pedestrians for identification — several local groups issued a critical statement while villagers elected a new council empowered to speak for them.

It all came to a head when the council asked Brimen to cancel a public meeting (due to surging Covid cases), which Brimen insisted was a violation of his free speech. He held the meeting anyways, local police were sent to break it up, and one of Brimen's bodyguards "scuffled" with one of the officers as his other bodyguards whisked him to safety. The incident made the local news and social media. Then the next month "Próspera Foundation" threatened to cut off the village's water within 30 days if they didn't formally request the foundation's intervention in writing.

The village instead appealed to a local congressman/mayoral candidate, who by mid-January had fully restored the village's water supply.

"California will soon ban the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers," reports the Associated Press, calling it "a move aimed at curbing emissions from a category of small engines on pace to produce more pollution each year than passenger vehicles." California is the only state with the authority to regulate air quality this way, part of an exception carved out in federal law in the 1970s. While other states can't enact their own regulations, they can choose to follow California's lead. Last year, California regulators approved a first-of-its-kind rule to force automakers to sell more electric work trucks and delivery vans. Also last year, Newsom ordered regulators to ban the sale of all new gas-powered cars and trucks in California by 2035 — a date that has since been embraced by some of the world's largest automakers.

California has more than 16.7 million of these small engines in the state, about 3 million more than the number of passenger cars on the road. California was the first government in the world to adopt emission standards for these small engines in 1990. But since then, emissions in cars have vastly improved compared with smaller engines.

Now, state officials say running a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour emits the same amount of pollution as driving a 2017 Toyota Camry from Los Angeles to Denver, a distance of about 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers). The law Newsom signed also orders regulators to offer rebates for people to change out their equipment, a move aimed at landscaping businesses that use these machines more often. The state budget, approved earlier this year, includes $30 million to pay for this effort.

An anonymous reader tipped us off to a proposed new U.S. policy which would require banks, credit unions and other financial companies to submit reports on most of their accounts to the tax-collectors at America's Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The reports "would break down the numbers to include physical-cash transactions per account, any transactions with a foreign account and transactions between accounts held by the same owner," according to the Arizona Republic newspaper. "The IRS wouldn't receive details on individual transactions but, rather, gross yearly totals."

America's treasury secretary reiterated that what's being proposed "is not reporting of individual transactions or anything of the like. And it would be a simple thing for banks and other payment providers to provide along with the other information they're already providing."

But the Arizona Republic notes the proposal is drawing some concerns — partly because it's been suggested it would cover any account with more than $600: Critics say this would burden financial institutions with new requirements and expose consumers and businesses to privacy incursions and possible data breaches. Supporters contend bank customers would face no new obligations while giving the IRS more information to pursue tax cheats, primarily among the wealthy. They hope to close a tax gap estimated at around $600 billion annually...

The $600 figure isn't set in stone. Some media reports have indicated it could be increased to, say, $10,000 — the level at which banks report transactions in an effort to combat money laundering. A Treasury summary of the plan indicated there would be no further recordkeeping or reporting requirements for individuals or businesses and that taxpayers wouldn't face any burdens at all. The Treasury also noted banks and other financial providers already have access to this information and already report interest income above $10...

About 15% of the money owed the federal government isn't collected, according to Natasha Sarin, a deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department... Just knowing the IRS would have access to some bank-account details might convince more taxpayers to pay what they owe.
The deputy assistant secretary argues there's a direct relationship between the information the IRS has and a taxpayer's voluntary compliance rate. "For ordinary wage and salary income, compliance with income tax liabilities is nearly perfect (1 percent noncompliance rate). In stark contrast, for opaque income sources that accrue disproportionately to higher earners...noncompliance can reach 55 percent...."

"Today's tax code contains two sets of rules: one for regular wage and salary workers who report virtually all the income they earn; and another for wealthy taxpayers"

IEEE Spectrum reports that air traffic controllers for America's Federal Aviation Administration "were confused and frustrated by an increase in military tests that interfered with GPS signals for civilian aircraft, public records show."

The incidents happened for controllers supervising flights over Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, according to their report (shared by Slashdot reader schwit1): In March and April this year, flight controllers at the Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center filed reports on NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), a forum where aviation professionals can anonymously share near misses and safety tips. The complaints accused the FAA of denying controllers permission to ask the military to cut short GPS tests adversely affecting commercial and private aircraft. These so-called "stop buzzer" (or "cease buzzer") requests are supposed to be made by pilots only when a safety-of-flight issue is encountered. "Aircraft are greatly affected by the GPS jamming and it's not taken seriously by management," reads one report. "We've been told we can't ask to stop jamming, and to just put everyone on headings."

In a second report, a private jet made a wrong turn into restricted airspace over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico after being jammed. On that occasion, the air traffic controller called a stop buzzer. "[The] facility manager on duty later informed me we can't ask them to 'stop buzzer' and to just keep putting aircraft on headings," their ASRS report reads. Putting an aircraft on headings requires giving pilots precise bearings to follow, rather than letting them perform their own navigation using GPS or other technologies. This adds work for controllers, who are already very busy at certain times of day...

The Pentagon uses its more remote military bases, many in the American West, to test how its forces operate under GPS denial. A Spectrum investigation earlier this year discovered that such jamming tests are far more prevalent than had previously been thought, possibly affecting thousands of civilian flights each year.

The U.S. government's investigation into Havana Syndrome "is turning up new evidence that the symptoms are the result of directed-energy attacks," reports Politico, citing five U.S. lawmakers and officials who've been briefed on the matter: Behind closed doors, lawmakers are also growing increasingly confident that Russia or another hostile foreign government is behind the suspected attacks, based on regular briefings from administration officials — although there is still no smoking gun linking the incidents to Moscow....

The phenomenon is getting more high-level attention as government officials have continued to report incidents in countries across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America throughout the year. Most prominently, Vice President Kamala Harris' August trip from Singapore to Vietnam was delayed more than three hours when multiple U.S. personnel reported symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome in Hanoi...

A Biden administration official emphasized that the investigation is ongoing and has not yet reached specific conclusions... While CIA Director William Burns and lawmakers briefed on the matter have publicly referred to the incidents as attacks, some officials remain skeptical of the prevailing theory, and some prominent neurologists have described that explanation as implausible. But members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who are receiving weekly updates from the intelligence community on the status of the investigation, said the latest information they've received has disproved the skeptics — and in public statements, those lawmakers are increasingly referring to the incidents as directed-energy attacks.
Politico quotes one Republican Senator as saying "There have been new additional attacks, which is very disturbing. It's being taken very seriously now due to the director of the CIA ... [who] has put very highly qualified people on it..."

The Senator also dismissed the theory that the illness was merely psychosomatic. "I don't know how you could argue that when brain imaging is showing a traumatic brain injury, somehow this is psychosomatic."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The Biden administration is weighing an executive order on cryptocurrencies as part of an effort to set up a government-wide approach to the white-hot asset class, according to people familiar with the matter. The proposed directive would charge federal agencies to study and offer recommendations on relevant areas of crypto -- touching on financial regulation, economic innovation and national security. The initiative will also aim to coordinate agencies' work on digital currencies throughout the executive branch. The plan would push departments that have given scant attention to crypto to focus on it. Officials have also considered appointing a White House crypto czar to act as a point person on the issue, one person said.

The draft directive is part of an effort by the White House to craft a sweeping strategy for digital tokens, which have become a growing concern for regulators as they've become wildly popular with average Americans. No decision has been made on whether to release the executive order, two of the people said. Even if President Joe Biden doesn't move forward on it, the administration will still make public its overall strategy for cryptocurrencies, an administration official said. [...] The draft, which has been circulating among senior officials and regulators, would clarify the responsibilities of various agencies and task them with examining relevant topics and reporting back on their findings. The framework would touch a range of bureaucracies, from the Treasury Department and financial regulators to the Commerce Department, the National Science Foundation and national security agencies. Whether it's ultimately done by executive order or another means, the goal of the White House is to take a unified approach to crypto, rather than the more ad hoc approach to financial stability, national security and illicit finance issues during Biden's first nine months in office. The administration also wants relevant agencies to examine crypto in other policy areas, including consumer protection, competition policy, research and innovation, the official said.

A group of 136 countries have agreed to a global treaty that would tax large multinationals at a minimum rate of 15% and require companies to pay taxes in the countries where they do business. CNN reports: Estonia, Hungary and -- most notably -- Ireland joined the agreement Thursday. It is now supported by all nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the G20. The countries that signed on to the international treaty represent more than 90% of global GDP. Four countries that participated in the talks -- Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- have not yet joined the agreement. The Biden administration breathed new life into the global initiative earlier this year and secured the support of the G7 countries in June, paving the way for a preliminary deal in July. Ireland, which had declined to join the initial agreement in July, has a corporate tax rate of 12.5% -- a major factor in persuading companies such as Facebook, Apple and Google to locate their European headquarters in the country. Ireland signed up after the preliminary agreement was revised to remove a stipulation that rates should be set at a minimum of "at least 15%."

The new rate would apply to 1,556 multinationals based in Ireland, employing about 400,000 people. More than 160,000 businesses making less than $867 million in annual revenue and employing about 1.8 million people would still be taxed at 12.5%. Alongside a minimum corporate tax rate, the pact includes provisions to ensure that multinational companies pay tax where they generate sales and profits, and not just where they have a physical presence. That could have major ramifications for tech companies such as Google and Amazon, which have amassed vast profits in countries where they pay relatively little tax. The OECD expects implementation of the agreement to begin in 2023. But even with Ireland and other previous holdouts now on board, the deal still requires countries to pass domestic legislation.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom's Guide: A new survey has reached a startling conclusion: iPhone apps tend to violate your privacy just as often as Android apps do. "Overall, we find that neither platform is clearly better than the other for privacy across the dimensions we studied," say the academic paper entitled "Are iPhones Really Better for Privacy?" and presented by researchers from the University of Oxford. "While it has been argued that the choice of smartphone architecture might protect user privacy, no clear winner between iOS and Android emerges from our analysis," the paper adds. "Data sharing for tracking purposes was common on both platforms." There's one big caveat regarding the new study: It was conducted before the introduction of iOS 14.5 in April 2021, which made opt-in to tracking and app privacy labels mandatory on iPhones.

The researchers analyzed the code, permissions and network traffic of 12,000 randomly selected free apps from each platform that had been updated or released in 2018 or later. Each app was run on a real device, either a first-generation iPhone SE running iOS 14.2 or a Google Nexus 5 running Android 7 Nougat. They found that nearly all (89%) of the Android apps contained at least one tracking library, which was almost always Google Play Services. The numbers weren't much lower on iOS, where 79% of apps had at least one tracking library, most likely Apple's own SKADNetwork, which tracks which ads a user clicks on. However, 62% of iOS apps also ran Google's AdMob ad tracking library, followed by 54% of iOS apps (and 58% of Android apps) running Google Firebase. Facebook trackers were in 28% of Android apps and 26% of iOS ones. In fact, most apps on either platforms -- 90% of Android apps and more than 60% of iOS -- shared data with tracking companies owned by Google. Almost all tracking companies observed were based in the U.S. About 9.5% of iOS apps and 5% of Android ones used Chinese-based trackers; 7.5% of iOS apps and 2% of Android ones used Indian trackers. The team commended Apple for making it possible for iPhone users to block the temporary advertising IDs that flag your phone to advertisers, but the team also saw an ulterior motive on Apple's part. "Apple's crackdown on Ad ID use could be interpreted as an attempt to divert revenue from Google and other advertising providers, and motivate the use of alternative monetization models -- which are more lucrative for Apple," the Oxford research paper states. "Apple has arguably placed a larger emphasis on privacy, seeking to gain a competitive advantage by appealing to privacy-concerned consumers."

A developer who made a tool that let people automatically unfollow friends and groups on Facebook says he's been banned permanently from the social networking site. From a report: Louis Barclay was the creator of "Unfollow Everything," a browser extension that allowed Facebook users to essentially delete their News Feed by unfollowing all their connections at once. Facebook allows users to individually unfollow friends, groups, and pages, which removes their content from the News Feed, the algorithmically-controlled heart of Facebook. Barclay's tool automated this process, instantly wiping users' News Feed.

[...] In response, Facebook sent Barclay a cease-and-desist letter earlier this year, saying he'd violated the site's terms of service by creating software that automated user interactions. Barclay says the company then "permanently disabled my Facebook and Instagram accounts" and "demanded that I agree to never again create tools that interact with Facebook or its other services."

Microsoft just promised it's going to make it easier for its customers to repair the products it sells in the near future. As first reported by Grist, the company will study the environmental impact of right-to-repair and act on its findings by the end of the next year. From a report: The initiative is a reaction to a shareholder resolution filed in June 2021 that demanded the company seriously consider the environmental impact of making its products easier to repair, which itself was fueled by the broader right to repair movement, which has been gaining steam and momentum for years. The shareholders partnered with As You Sow, a non-profit specializing in shareholder advocacy, to help them put pressure on Microsoft. It seems to have worked.