Bridgefy, a popular messaging app for conversing with one another when internet connections are heavily congested or completely shut down, is a privacy disaster that can allow moderately-skilled hackers to take a host of nefarious actions against users, according to a paper published on Monday. The findings come after the company has for months touted the app as a safe and…
Tag: texts
YouTube Bans Thousands of Chinese Accounts To Combat ‘Coordinated Influence Operations’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: YouTube has banned a large number of Chinese accounts it said were engaging in “coordinated influence operations” on political issues, the company announced today; 2,596 accounts from China alone were taken down from April to June, compared with 277 in the first three months of 2020. “These channels mostly uploaded spammy, non-political content,…
Google One Now Offers Free Phone Backups Up To 15GB on Android and iOS
Google One, Google’s subscription program for buying additional storage and live support, is getting an update today that will bring free phone backups for Android and iOS devices to anybody who installs the app — even if they don’t have a paid membership. From a report: The catch: While the feature is free, the backups count against your free Google storage…
Trump Campaign Angry That Cell Carriers Blocked Company Texts To Voters
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: President Trump’s re-election campaign has accused Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile of “suppression of political speech” over the carriers’ blocking of spam texts sent by the campaign. The fight was described Wednesday in an in-depth article by Business Insider and other reports. “The Trump campaign has been battling this month with the biggest…
Google Bans Stalkerware Ads
Google announced plans this week to ban ads that promote stalkerware, spyware, and other forms of surveillance technology that can be used to track other persons without their specific consent. From a report: The change was announced this week as part of an upcoming update to Google Ads policies, set to enter into effect next month, on August 11, 2020. Examples…
Ancient Egyptians saw the sky as crumbling iron tub filled with water
A fresh look at the world’s oldest religious texts suggests ancient Egyptians saw the sky as a water-filled iron container from which chunks fell to Earth as meteorites Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2242507-ancient-egyptians-saw-the-sky-as-crumbling-iron-tub-filled-with-water/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Chinese Agents Helped Spread Messages That Sowed Virus Panic In US: Officials
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The alarming messages came fast and furious in mid-March, popping up on the cellphone screens and social media feeds of millions of Americans grappling with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Spread the word, the messages said: The Trump administration was about to lock down the entire country. “They will…
Man Says He’s Fallen in Love With an AI Chatbot
“Quarantine amid coronavirus could boost the nascent practice of seeking romance and friendship from artificial intelligence,” writes the Wall Street Journal. Long-time Slashdot reader Strudelkugel quotes their report: Relationships were once built face to face. Now dating happens online. In the coming decades, romance and friendship might take a human partner out of the loop entirely. Michael Acadia’s partner is an…
Using Apple CarPlay Impairs Driver Reaction More Than Alcohol, Study Shows
U.K. based road safety charity IAM RoadSmart has released a study showing how in-vehicle infotainment systems can substantially impair driver’s reaction times even more than alcohol and cannabis. AppleInsider reports: The test involved two experimental trials focusing on Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Twenty Android and twenty Apple users would be subjected to the same simulated test route. Each driver drove…
In Fast-Moving Pandemic, Sources of Falsehoods Spread by Text, Email, WhatsApp and TikTok Elude Authorities
Misleading text messages claiming that President Trump was going to announce a national quarantine buzzed into cellphones across the country over the weekend, underscoring how rapidly false claims are spreading — and how often it is happening beyond the familiar misinformation vehicles of Facebook and Twitter. From a report: The false texts spread so widely that on Sunday night the White…