Coronavirus: James Bond Postpones Release Date Because It’s No Time To Die

The release of upcoming James Bond film “No Time To Die” has been pushed back from April To November due to coronavirus fears. “The 25th installment in the storied spy franchise will commence its run on Nov. 12 in the U.K., followed by the U.S. on Nov. 25,” reports The Hollywood Reporter. “It was scheduled to open in North America on…

Judge Forces America’s FCC To Seek New Public Feedback on Its Net Neutrality Repeal

“Earlier this week, the FCC successfully defeated Mozilla’s attempt to undo the commission’s repeal of net neutrality,” reports Engadget. “But, while siding with the body, judges have asked the FCC to determine if repealing the law to prevent a multi-speed internet has had any negative consequences.”
That includes checking if net neutrality repeal has harmed public safety, reduced spending in infrastructure or…

Forbes Criticizes Airbnb ‘Surveillance Bugs To Make Sure Guests Behave’

“So this is creepy,” writes a Forbes cybersecurity reporter, saying Airbnb “has put aside the stories of hosts secretly spying on guests” to promote a new line of devices Forbes calls “surveillance bugs to make sure guests behave.” Vice reports:
As part of its “party prevention” campaign, the home-sharing service is offering discounts on devices designed to alert hosts when there’s an…

‘Ring’ Upgrades Privacy Settings After Accusations It Shares Data With Facebook and Google

Amazon’s Ring doorbell cameras just added two new privacy and security features “amid rising scrutiny on the company,” reports The Hill, including “a second layer of authentication by requiring users to enter a one-time code shared via email or SMS when they try to log in to see the feed from their cameras starting this week… “Until recently the company did…

Should Facebook, Google Be Liable For User Posts?

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday questioned whether Facebook, Google and other major online platforms still need the immunity from legal liability that has prevented them from being sued over material their users post. “No longer are tech companies the underdog upstarts. They have become titans,” Barr said at a public meeting…

New Email-Based Extortion Scheme Targets Website Owners Serving Ads Via Google AdSense

Brian Krebs sheds light upon a new email-based extortion scheme targeting website owners serving banner ads through Google’s AdSense program. “In this scam, the fraudsters demand bitcoin in exchange for a promise not to flood the publisher’s ads with so much bot and junk traffic that Google’s automated anti-fraud systems suspend the user’s AdSense account for suspicious traffic,” writes Krebs. From…

Astronomers reveal rare double nucleus in nearby ‘Cocoon Galaxy’

Allen Lawrence, wrapping up a long career as an electrical engineer, was serious about moving his astronomy hobby beyond the 20-inch telescope he’d hauled to star parties under the dark skies of Texas and Arizona. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-02-astronomers-reveal-rare-nucleus-nearby.html…

Applying advantage distillation to device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD)

Researchers at ETH Zürich and National University of Singapore have carried out a study investigating whether advantage distillation, a classical cryptography technique that has so far never been successfully implemented, can be applied to device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) systems with the aim of creating a secret key for communication between different parties. The term DIQKD describes a novel form of…

Brexit Happens

“The UK has officially left the European Union after 47 years of membership,” reports the BBC. The historic moment, which happened at 23:00 GMT, was marked by both celebrations and anti-Brexit protests. Candlelit vigils were held in Scotland, which voted to stay in the EU, while Brexiteers partied in London’s Parliament Square… Brexit parties were held in pubs and social clubs…

FCC Says Wireless Location Data Sharing Broke the Law

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai told lawmakers Friday he intends to propose fines against at least one U.S. wireless carrier for sharing customers’ real-time location data with outside parties without the subscribers’ knowledge or consent. From a report: The FCC has been investigating for more than a year following revelations that subscriber location data from AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint made…