🛡️ Peskin Embraces Tech, US Battles Cyber Threats, Verified Google Searches
Good morning. It’s Friday, October 04. Today we are covering:
WATCH: SF should 'embrace tech,' Aaron Peskin says
US Takes Down Websites Used by Hackers Linked to Russian Intelligence Agents
Google is testing verified checkmarks in search
A new law in California protects consumers' brain data. Some think it doesn't go far enough.
Why airlines are turning to Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi
Let’s dive in
WATCH: SF should 'embrace tech,' Aaron Peskin says
By Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez via The San Francisco Standard
Aaron Peskin, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, has softened his stance on tech, suggesting that San Francisco should embrace the industry despite his history of clashes with tech companies like Uber, Lyft, and Waymo.
In a recent interview with The Standard, ABC7, and Kara Swisher, Peskin proposed creating an International Center for Tech Diplomacy to manage the ethical development of emerging technologies and bridge divides between tech and other city residents.
Despite advocating for tech, Peskin emphasized the city's ongoing responsibility to regulate industries like robotaxis and discussed his personal recovery from alcohol abuse, as well as his efforts to address city corruption and support housing and small businesses.
𝕏: Aaron Peskin never supported the tech industry in San Francisco and it's disingenuous for him to suggest otherwise. Now, he wants to embrace it? Peskin has been the loudest critic of tech in city hall for years. Everyone knows this. - Adam Nathan • blaze.ai (@adampnathan)
US Takes Down Websites Used by Hackers Linked to Russian Intelligence Agents
By Katrina Manson via Bloomberg
The US government and Microsoft Corp. have collaborated to seize 107 websites used by the FSB-linked hacker group Star Blizzard, which targeted civil society and conducted election influence operations in the UK.
The Department of Justice took down 41 domains while Microsoft executed civil actions against another 66, all to combat computer fraud and abuses linked to Russian intelligence operations in the US.
This operation targets a group active since at least 2016, known for working under the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), further stressing the ongoing cyber conflict between Russia and Western nations.
𝕏: DOJ and Microsoft have partnered to seize 107 domain names that Russian intelligence operatives were using to spearphish and hack U.S. companies and current and former U.S. government employees. - Eric Geller (@ericgeller)
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Google is testing verified checkmarks in search
By Jess Weatherbed via The Verge
Google is conducting a small-scale experiment with blue verified checkmarks in search results to confirm the authenticity of business links and help users distinguish genuine companies from fraudulent ones.
Verified checkmarks have appeared next to the official site links for major companies like Microsoft, Meta, Epic Games, Apple, Amazon, and HP, although visibility varied across different user accounts.
The checkmarks are part of Google's broader efforts to ensure online trustworthiness, using a verification system that combines website verification, Merchant Center data, and manual reviews to confirm business legitimacy.
𝕏: Not a great idea. Since the change in Twitter, my brain automatically relates checkmarks with numbnuts and bots. - Juan Font Alonso (@juanfont)
A new law in California protects consumers' brain data. Some think it doesn't go far enough.
By Jessica Hamzelou via MIT Technology Review
California's new law amends the California Consumer Privacy Act to explicitly include neural data as personal information, giving consumers the right to know about, delete, and restrict the sale or sharing of their brain data.
Critics, including ethicists Marcello Ienca and Nita Farahany, argue the law has significant ambiguities that could allow loopholes, particularly in how inferences from neural data are handled, potentially undermining privacy protections.
The legislation is seen as a pioneering step for the neurotechnology industry and aims to set a precedent for future national and international laws protecting mental privacy, but there is a consensus that more work is needed to cover all aspects of cognitive biometrics.
Why airlines are turning to Starlink for in-flight Wi-Fi
By Jack Kuhr via Fast Company
Air France and United Airlines are among the major carriers shifting their in-flight Wi-Fi to Starlink, which provides much faster speeds (200-350 Mbps) compared to traditional GEO satellite providers (around 20 Mbps).
This move to Starlink is accelerating a trend towards offering free Wi-Fi on flights, with other airlines like JetBlue, Delta, Hawaiian Airlines, and Qatar Airlines also joining in to provide this service at no cost.
The transition to free in-flight Wi-Fi is becoming standard across the industry, making it increasingly difficult for any service to revert back to paid models, as highlighted by tech reviewer Marques Brownlee's commentary on the irreversible trend of free online services.
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