The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit challenging a 30-year-old hacking-crimes law, with the civil liberties group saying the law inhibits research about online discrimination.The ACLU on Wednesday filed a lawsuit challenging the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act on behalf of a group of academic researchers, computer scientists, and journalists. The CFAA limits online research because of its "overbroad criminal prohibitions," the ACLU said.The group of plaintiffs in the lawsuit want to investigate online discrimination in areas like housing and employment, "but they often can't," the ACLU said in a blog post. Courts have interpreted a provision of the CFAA prohibiting people from exceeding authorized access to a computer to include violations of website terms of service, the ACLU said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A key specification for exchanging sensor data between vehicles has found a new sponsor, in a move that may help future drivers avoid dangers before they see them.New vehicles are increasingly laden with sensors -- accelerometers, thermometers, radar and lidar (light detection and range) -- and the best of them can use the streams of incoming data to warn of or even avoid hazards such as ice or obstacles.But what if they could share information about changes to a road since the map was last updated or even warn one another of a stopped vehicle hidden by a blind curve? Vehicles might then be able to choose more efficient routes or avoid the need for sudden braking.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A Google security researcher has found high severity vulnerabilities in enterprise and consumer products from antivirus vendor Symantec that could be easily be exploited by hackers to take control of computers.Symantec released patches for the affected products, but while some products were updated automatically, some affected enterprise products could require manual intervention.The flaws were found by Tavis Ormandy, a researcher with Google's Project Zero team who has found similar vulnerabilities in antivirus products from other vendors. They highlight the poor state of software security in the antivirus world, something that has been noted by researchers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Larry Ellison doesn't do "cheap." The Oracle chairman isn't interested in selling the low-cost one- and two-socket servers that make up a huge slice of the server market but yield little profit for the companies that make them. Even if he did, that business is pretty much sewn up by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Dell, and the "white box" makers from China and Taiwan.But Ellison's also a realist, and he knows customers are gradually turning away from his pricey Unix systems in favor of x86 boxes to build scale-out private and hybrid clouds. So to keep customers interested in Sparc, Ellison needs to come downmarket and provide more affordable options.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researcher Chris Vickery has a knack for finding unprotected databases, but this time it’s an especially explosive discovery as he came across a “terrorism blacklist” which contains the names of 2.2 million “heightened-risk individuals and organizations.”Vickery asked Reddit if he should share a copy of the Thomson Reuters World-Check database from mid-2014. He wrote, “This copy has over 2.2 million heightened-risk individuals and organizations in it. The terrorism category is only a small part of the database. Other categories consist of individuals suspected of being related to money laundering, organized crime, bribery, corruption, and other unsavory activities.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Security researcher Chris Vickery has a knack for finding unprotected databases, but this time it’s an especially explosive discovery, as he came across a “terrorism blacklist” that contains the names of 2.2 million “heightened-risk individuals and organizations.”Vickery asked Reddit if he should share a copy of the Thomson Reuters World-Check database from mid-2014. He wrote, “This copy has over 2.2 million heightened-risk individuals and organizations in it. The terrorism category is only a small part of the database. Other categories consist of individuals suspected of being related to money laundering, organized crime, bribery, corruption, and other unsavory activities.”To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
By now, most people who want Windows 10 on their PCs (and some who don’t) have probably installed the upgrade by now.But there is at least one notable exception: If you don’t have enough free storage space on your hard drive, the installation won’t complete. This may result in a “Windows needs more space” dialog box, or one of several error codes (including 0x80070070 – 0x50011, 0x80070070 – 0x50012, or 0x80070070 – 0x60000).INSIDER Review: Enterprise guide to Windows 10
Time’s running out to clear some space and complete the installation. Here’s what you can do to make sure the upgrade goes through:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Android Pay and Apple Pay may be picking up momentum, but cash is still relevant. So what do you do if you’re living a wallet-free life, but need to grab some paper money from the ATM? This is where NFC comes in handy. The same mobile-payments chip that you use with your smartphone at the checkout stand can be used at the ATM, too. Bank of America is one of the first major banks to deploy NFC-enabled ATMs. The company currently offers some 2,800 terminals around the U.S., with 5,200 more coming by year’s end. The nice thing about NFC is that no arduous setup is required. All you need is an Android Pay or Apple Pay profile with your debit card already activated. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft's latest major refresh of Windows 10 will be released publicly on August 2, the company confirmed Wednesday morning.
In a blog post, Microsoft outlined the full list of new features coming with the update, including security upgrades, improvements to Cortana and features aimed at making touchscreen devices with Windows 10 more useful.
The news comes almost a year after the consumer launch of Windows 10, which has been one of the company’s major turning points under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella. The operating system has seen massive (if, at times, unintentional) adoption by both business and consumer users in that time, and these upgrades may further spur adoption across those markets as well.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The Flash Keyboard app has been downloaded more than 50 million times -- but is capable of some extremely dangerous behaviors."It looked like it was a convenient keyboard that had some nice features," said Bill Anderson, chief product officer at mobile security company OptioLabs. "The marketing copy in the app store looked great."For a while, the app was in the top 20 downloads for the Google Play Store, he added.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 6 simple tricks for protecting your passwords
"The problem was that it asked for just about every permission that an app could ask for," he said. "It was an especially long list. And surprisingly, most people said yes. But the permissions were so excessive that it turned this thing into a potentially marvelous way to hack phones."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
How technology is transforming the fashion industryThe ideas flowing through designers’ minds are difficult to capture. Transforming precisely what they think and draw into tangible pieces of work can be laborious and time consuming. And the artists can become frustrated when what they produce doesn’t come out exactly as they imagine it.Technology has eliminated that struggle for many designers. Through the use of multi-material 3D printers, laser cutters and digital printers that print on material, designers are creating fashions exactly as they see them in their mind’s eye. Plus, the new tools enable them to create intricate designs that are impossible to make by hand.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Bowdoin College’s WiFi network encompasses 550 Cisco access points and handles the wireless needs of up to several thousand people depending on how busy things are on the Brunswick, Maine campus. But CIO Mitchel Davis says this WLAN still has plenty of room to grow.The college over the past couple of weeks has been testing new WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy access points and accompanying cloud-based management tools from a Mountain View startup called Mist, formed by ex-Cisco WLAN big shots, as a possible way to expand its wireless services in exciting new ways.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Hackers are stealing credit card information in Europe with malware that can spoof the user interfaces of Uber, WhatsApp and Google Play.The malware, which has struck Android users in Denmark, Italy and Germany, has been spreading through a phishing campaign over SMS (short message service), security vendor FireEye said on Tuesday.Once downloaded, the malware will create fake user interfaces on the phone as an “overlay” on top of real apps. These interfaces ask for credit card information and then send the entered data to the hacker.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Robots are no strangers to the legal profession thanks to tools like LawGeex, but one has emerged recently that appears to be a Robin Hood of the modern world.DoNotPay is the brainchild of 19-year-old Stanford University student Joshua Browder, and it has already successfully contested some 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York. It's free to use and has reportedly saved its users some $4 million in less than two years.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Whether you are Kayaking, Beaching, Rafting, Boating, Hiking, Camping or Fishing, Earth Pak believes they have created the best dry bag on the market for any adventure. Toss in your gear, roll it down, and don't be afraid to toss this bag around. It's designed to last for years and will keep your phone, gadgets and gear dry and protected. It comes in 10L, 20L and 30L size, and all models feature 24-42 inch adjustable shoulder straps. Included is Earth Pak's IPX8 certified waterproof phone case that can fit even the largest phones, with simple snap and lock access and clear windows that allow for picture taking without removing from the case. This bag is currently discounted 50% from $60 down to just $30, and averages 5 out of 5 stars from over 800 customers (read reviews). To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
In January 2014, Google sold Motorola Mobility to Lenovo. Imagine Google CEO Sundar Pichai now telling the Alphabet board that after buying and making Motorola into one of the best mobile device makers in the world, selling it was a mistake and the company should invest billions to recreate it. It would be like GE starting a TV network after it sold NBC to Comcast or HPE starting a PC division after it spun off its PC business.So, what is Google doing?
The Motorola turnaround is a good place to start explaining what Google is doing.Google recruited Regina Dugan, former chief of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), into Motorola during the turnaround. The 50-year-old government agency is charged with preventing strategic surprises from—and creating strategic surprises for—America’s adversaries. DARPA earned a reputation for producing high-impact results quickly. A few of DARPA’s many innovations include the internet, global positioning satellites (GPS), drones and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Sometimes Windows needs a fresh start—maybe a program’s gone awry or a file’s been corrupted. Luckily, Windows 10 lets you do this with a few clicks.Windows 10 has an option where you can reinstall Windows and wipe your programs, but it keeps your files intact. Note that this won’t get rid of any “bonus” bloatware programs your PC vendor put on your computer before you bought it—you’ll have to do that manually—but it will get rid of any software you or someone else installed afterward.Even though Windows says it’ll keep your files intact, it always pays to back up your PC or at least the important files before you do anything like this.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The World Economic Forum has put together a list of the top 10 emerging technologies that will change our lives. The list includes nanosensors that will circulate through the human body, a battery that will be able to power an entire town and socially aware artificial intelligence that will track our finances and health.These are not far-flung visions, according to the forum. They are technologies that are on the cusp of having a meaningful impact.“Horizon scanning for emerging technologies is crucial to staying abreast of developments that can radically transform our world, enabling timely expert analysis in preparation for these disruptors,” said Bernard Meyerson, chairman of the World Economic Forum council that compiled the list of the top 10 emerging technologies in 2016. “The global community needs to come together and agree on common principles if our society is to reap the benefits and hedge the risks of these technologies," he said.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here