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China ‘Spy Balloon’ Scare Wakes up the World to New Era of Surveillance
Last Friday, Enildo Altamar and his neighbors looked up into the clear morning sky above Arroyo de Piedra, near Colombia’s Caribbean coast, and saw a white orb floating above them, a smaller version of the moon.
At the time, much of the world was focused on the Chinese balloon crossing U.S. airspace, which was ultimately shot down in dramatic style by a US F-22 Raptor jet off the South Carolina coast. A week later, attention was switched to another floating object, apparently the size of a car, which the U.S. shot down off the Alaskan coast.
What the people of Arroyo de Piedra saw was the other balloon in the high atmosphere that week, which also flew over Costa Rica and Venezuela.
The stakes involved in the Latin American balloon incident may not have been as high as in the U.S. case, as it did not bring the aircraft of one nuclear weapons power in direct conflict with the aircraft of another, and there was not the same public clamor to resort to military action. But the legal issues are the same, as are the questions it raises about the future of global surveillance, and rivalry at the very edge of the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Tech Giants Want What the NFL Has
When Rihanna walks, or is raised, or is lowered onto the Super Bowl stage on Sunday, she will not merely be kicking off the game’s halftime show. She will be culminating Rihanna’s Road to Halftime, presented by Apple Music. The world’s most valuable company is in the first year of a reported five-year, $250 million deal to sponsor one of the most watched live-music performances anywhere, which happens to fit between two halves of a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.
For $50 million a year, a tech behemoth does not just want a good show. It also wants a music video with fans of all 32 NFL teams singing Rihanna’s hit “Stay.” It wants a 10-part streaming-radio series about the greatest Super Bowl halftime shows ever. And it wants to curate an “official collection of 32 playlists featuring the top songs that each NFL team listens to in the locker room, the weight room, and on game day.”
Big Tech, somewhat suddenly, wants in on the NFL in a way that it hasn’t before. But the connections between the league and tech companies have become much deeper in the past two years, even as tech has hemorrhaged jobs lately. The world’s largest companies and America’s most popular sports league have hit a symbiotic stride.
Each is now a unique provider of what the other wants: immense scale and cultural relevance for the tech companies, big money and endless access to technological advances for the league. If anything feels weird, it’s that the match didn’t happen sooner.
U.S. Investigating Elon Musk’s Neuralink Over Hazardous Pathogens
The U.S. Department of Transportation said on Thursday it is investigating Elon Musk‘s brain-implant company Neuralink over the potentially illegal movement of hazardous pathogens.
A Department of Transportation spokesperson told Reuters about the probe after the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an animal-welfare advocacy group, wrote to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg earlier on Thursday to alert it of records it obtained on the matter.
PCRM said it obtained emails and other documents that suggest unsafe packaging and movement of implants removed from the brains of monkeys. These implants may have carried infectious diseases in violation of federal law, PCRM said.
“We are conducting an investigation to ensure that Neuralink is in full compliance with federal regulations and keeping their workers and the public safe from potentially dangerous pathogens,” the spokesperson said.
Australia to Rip Out 900 Chinese-Made Security Cameras From Government Buildings
The Australian Defense Department will rip out more than 900 Chinese-made security devices from government buildings over fears they could enable spying by China.
Australian officials announced the move after a six-month audit revealed the flabbergasting number of cameras, access control systems, and intercoms made by the Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua in government buildings earlier this week. Before the audit, the country’s Home Affairs Department couldn’t determine how many surveillance devices were in government buildings, according to opposition cybersecurity spokesman Sen. James Paterson.
The U.S. banned equipment from Hikvision and Dahua in government buildings last November, citing the “unacceptable risk to national security.” The United Kingdom also took similar action against Hikvision that same month over “current and future security risks.” Like Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. worry that Chinese companies could be forced to hand over sensitive data when asked to do so by the Chinese government, which is required by law.
Colorado AG Says Fight to Rein in Tech Giants Only Just Beginning
Federal and state regulators have faced high-profile losses in recent years in their efforts to bring the tech giants to heel. But Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, one of the Democratic state leaders leading the campaign, says he’s not throwing in the towel.
Instead, Weiser, a key enforcer who is suing Google over antitrust allegations and investigating harms that platforms like TikTok may cause to children, is optimistic and says enforcers are just gearing up.
Google v Microsoft: Who Will Win the AI Chatbot Race?
The James Webb space telescope cost $10 billion (£8.3bn) to build, but it left Google nursing losses of more than $160 billion after the search engine’s new chatbot answered a question about it incorrectly.
Google and Microsoft both announced plans for AI-enhanced search this week, taking the artificial intelligence space race into a new phase. However, the launch of the former’s new chatbot, Bard, misfired badly when the error appeared in a demo.
Shares in Alphabet, Google’s parent, lost $163 billion in value over Wednesday and Thursday. The company remains a $1 trillion-plus behemoth, in large part because of its dominance in search. But for how long?
Microsoft announced on Tuesday that it was using the technology behind ChatGPT, developed by the San Francisco-based company OpenAI, to enhance its Bing search engine and Edge web browser.
China Blasts U.S. Balloon Accusations as ‘Information Warfare’ — Still Insists It Was for Weather
The Chinese government has rejected fresh U.S. accusations over the recently downed alleged spy balloon off America’s east coast, blasting Washington’s “information warfare” while continuing to insist it wasn’t a surveillance vehicle, but instead a weather balloon for collecting research that blew off course.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning further on Thursday described that China did not intend to violate any country’s sovereignty or airspace. She dismissed the U.S. claims as “irresponsible” and asserted it “may be part of the U.S. side’s information warfare against China.”
The ministry also took a swipe at President Biden‘s Tuesday night State of the Union comments directed at China, wherein the U.S. leader said Chinese President Xi Jinping faces “enormous problems” due to the balloon incident.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department issued an update of its findings related to the capabilities of the shot-down Chinese balloon, describing that it was equipped with antennas and other gear “likely” used to sweep up communications.
How to Delete Yourself From the Internet
With so much personal data floating publicly on the internet, consumers have a legitimate interest in controlling the information flow. Some are taking matters into their own hands, opting out of certain data-collection websites or using paid removal services to do the scrubbing on their behalf.
At issue is data collected by scores of online companies called data brokers, which aggregate consumers’ personal information, often selling it to other organizations. This data can include a person’s name, mailing address, birthday, relatives’ names, social media, property value, occupation and other nuggets that can be leveraged for various scams.
For those who are so inclined, there are ways to limit the amount of personal information available on the internet. Many people-search websites such as Spokeo, MyLife.com and Radaris, for example, have procedures to allow consumers to request removal from their database.
For some people, the time and energy they’d need to spend to remove personal information from the various sites are simply too extensive, so they prefer to pay for a service that can do it for them and provide regular updates on the progress. There are a handful of these services, including Abine Inc.’s DeleteMe, Kanary and OneRep.
