TechLetters #188 Russian cyber tools. AdTech wants to listen to physical conversations. $9000/day fines for using Twitter/X in Brazil. U.S. Government demands to censor Facebook. Platform liability.
Security
Russian cyber operators tools. 'Government hackers') using tools that were identical or very similar to those previously created by spyware tool makers Intellex and NSO Group. It is not known how the Russians acquired these tools. The operations detected were aimed at spying on Mongolian government. Data was stolen, such as cookies from the Safari browser (CVE-2021-1879).
Privacy
AdTech company indeed want to listen to us. Via smartphone microphones, smart TV, or who-knows-what) to our conversations, profile us and direct ads. That is a huge privacy invasion.
Technology Policy
Brazil’s Supreme Court has banned Twitter/X in Brazil. People seeking to circumvent the ban using VPNs are to be punished. Even fines of almost $9,000/day for circumventing the ban via the use of VPN!
According to Zuckerberg, U.S. President Biden's administration has pushed for the social network to censor content. About the coronavirus, covid-19. Also content that is 'humorous and satirical'. Zuckerberg called it that, too.
Big Tech platform liability. US court ruled that when a company is choosing what to show to people (e.g. seeks to keep them addicted to sell more ads), they can’t pretend it’s everyone else’s fault when horrible thing happens. Is this the end of liability waiver of Section 230? That would end the current Big Tech economic model as we know it. „The business model of significant corporate actors today, from Google to Meta to TikTok, relies on them being immune from liability for what their users say even as they serve targeted advertising. That business model, of “keep ‘em swiping,” is now in jeopardy”
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