• Controversial Artist Matches Influencer Photos With Surveillance Footage

    An anonymous reader quotes a report from Smithsonian Magazine: It's an increasingly common sight on vacation, particularly in tourist destinations: An influencer sets up in front of a popular local landmark, sometimes even using props (coffee, beer, pets) or changing outfits, as a photographer or self-timed camera snaps away. Others are milling around, sometimes watching. But often, unbeknownst to everyone involved, another device is also recording the scene: a surveillance camera. Belgian artis
  • Crypto-Mixing Service Tornado Cash Code Is Back On GitHub

    Code repositories for the Ethereum-based mixer Tornado Cash were relisted on GitHub on Thursday. CoinDesk reports: The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) banned Americans last month from using Tornado Cash, a decentralized privacy service that mixes cryptocurrencies together to obfuscate the original address. The mixer was blacklisted and designated under the Specially Designated National list because the North Korean hacking group Lazarus had used it in the past.GitHub i
  • Ask Slashdot: What High-End Smartphone Is Best For Privacy?

    New submitter cj9er writes: Considering all the privacy issues in today's online climate (all the issues with Meta right now), what is the best high-end smartphone to select? Apple: No way they don't sell your data... Sure, they have privacy for third-party apps, but what about the data they collect from the phone itself? Consider what the revenue is on a single smartphone (say $150), how do you think they have all that cash on hand?Google: Yeah right, Pixel is probably collecting [data] 24/7 co
  • Senators Introduce a Bill To Protect Open-Source Software

    An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: When researchers discovered a vulnerability in the ubiquitous open-source log4j system last year that could've affected hundreds of millions of devices, the executive branch snapped into action and major tech companies huddled with the White House. Now, leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are introducing legislation to help secure open-source software, first reported by The Cybersecurity 202. Cha
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  • Microsoft Edge Found Serving Malicious Tech Support Scam Ads

    AmiMoJo shares a report from Neowin: Anti-malware solutions maker Malwarebytes has recently uncovered a campaign which is serving tech support scams via malicious ads in Microsoft Edge's 'My Feed' section. They provided an image that shows a screenshot of a malvertising campaign where a fake browser locker page is displayed to dupe potential victims. The adware is smart in the way it operates as Malwarebytes has found that the malicious ad banner redirects only potential targets to the tech supp
  • Coinbase Sued For Patent Infringement Over Crypto Transfer Technology

    Coinbase is being sued by Veritaseum Capital LLC, which alleges that the crypto exchange has infringed on a patent awarded to Veritaseum founder Reggie Middleton. CoinDesk reports: According to Veritaseum, Coinbase has used the patent for some of its blockchain infrastructure, and the company is seeking at least $350 million in damages. Middleton and Veritaseum in 2019 settled a case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), paying nearly $9.5 million over charges surrounding the i
  • Hunga Tonga Eruption Put Over 50 Billion Kilograms of Water Into Stratosphere

    An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In January this year, an undersea volcano in Tonga produced a massive eruption, the largest so far this century. The mixing of hot volcanic material and cool ocean water created an explosion that sent an atmospheric shockwave across the planet and triggered a tsunami that devastated local communities and reached as far as Japan. The only part of the crater's rim that extended above water was reduced in size and separated into two islands. A
  • CIA Launches First Podcast, 'The Langley Files'

    The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is launching a podcast called "The Langley Files." As the agency explains, "The mission of 'The Langley Files: A CIA Podcast' is to educate and connect with the general public, sharing insight into the Agency's core mission, capabilities and agility as an intelligence leader... and to share some interesting stories along the way!" Variety reports: The podcast features suspenseful intro music and a narrator explaining that CIA will be "sharing what we can" wi
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  • Alien-Hunting Astronomer Says There May Be a Second Interstellar Object On Earth In New Study

    A pair of researchers who previously identified what may be the first known interstellar meteor to impact Earth have now presented evidence of a second object that could have originated beyond the solar system, before it burned up in our planet's skies and potentially fell to the surface, according to a new study. Motherboard reports: Amir Siraj, a student in astrophysics at Harvard University, and astronomer Avi Loeb, who serves as Harvard's Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, suggest that
  • Vultures Prevent Tens of Millions of Metric Tons of Carbon Emissions Each Year

    An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Vultures are hard birds for humans to love. They are an obligate scavenger, meaning they get all their food from already dead prey -- and that association has cast them as a harbinger of death since ancient times. But in reality, vultures are nature's flying sanitation crew. And new research adds to that positive picture by detailing these birds' role in a surprising process: mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. With their impressive
  • The World's Largest Carbon Removal Project Yet Is Headed For Wyoming

    A couple of climate tech startups plan to suck a hell of a lot of carbon dioxide out of the air and trap it underground in Wyoming. The Verge reports: The goal of the new endeavor, called Project Bison, is to build a new facility capable of drawing down 5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030. The CO2 can then be stored deep within the Earth, keeping it out of the atmosphere, where it would have continued to heat up the planet. A Los Angeles-based company called CarbonCapture is
  • Accused Russian RSOCKS Botmaster Arrested, Requests Extradition To US

    A 36-year-old Russian man recently identified by KrebsOnSecurity as the likely proprietor of the massive RSOCKS botnet has been arrested in Bulgaria at the request of U.S. authorities. At a court hearing in Bulgaria this month, the accused hacker requested and was granted extradition to the United States, reportedly telling the judge, "America is looking for me because I have enormous information and they need it." From the report: On June 22, KrebsOnSecurity published Meet the Administrators of
  • Compute North Files For Bankruptcy As Cryptomining Data Center Owes Up To $500 Million

    Compute North, one of the largest operators of crypto-mining data centers, filed for bankruptcy and revealed that its CEO stepped down as the rout in cryptocurrency prices weighs on the industry. CoinDesk reports: The company filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas and owed as much as $500 million to at least 200 creditors, according to a filing. Compute North in February announced a capital raise of $385 million, consisting of an $85 million Series C
  • Bosses Think Workers Do Less From Home, Says Microsoft

    An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: A major new survey from Microsoft shows that bosses and workers fundamentally disagree about productivity when working from home. Bosses worry about whether working from home is as productive as being in the office. While 87% of workers felt they worked as, or more, efficiently from home, 80% of managers disagreed. The survey questioned more than 20,000 staff across 11 countries. Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella told the BBC this tension n
  • Fitbit Accounts Are Being Replaced By Google Accounts

    New Fitbit users will be required to sign-up with a Google account, from next year, while it also appears one will be needed to access some of the new features in years to come. Trusted Reviews reports: Google has been slowly integrating Fitbit into the fold since buying the company back in November 2019. Indeed, the latest products are now known as "Fitbit by Google." However, as it currently stands, device owners have been able to maintain separate accounts for Google and Fitbit accounts. Goog
  • San Francisco Passes Controversial Surveillance Plan

    An anonymous reader quotes a report from SFGate: In a 7-4 vote on Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors agreed to test Mayor London Breed's controversial plan to overhaul the city's surveillance practices, which will allow police to access private security cameras in real time. Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Aaron Peskin, Gordon Mar, Matt Dorsey, Myrna Melgar, Rafael Mandelman and Ahsha Safai voted to approve the trial run, while Connie Chan, Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen and Shamann Wal

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