Hi guys,
Hope you guys are being safe n’ sound online!
OK, some crazy stuff going on, so please read ahead:
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Elon Musk Wants You to Control Your Computer With Only Your Brain Signals
Here’s something ‘seriously-out-of-this-world’ to look forward to in the next 5 years: the brilliant Elon Musk just unveiled what his new Neuralink company has been up to: embedding Bluetooth-enabled chips with 10000 electrodes connected to the brain. “The idea is that stroke victims, cancer patients, paralyzed persons and others would be able reap the benefits of a direct neuronal connection linking a patient’s brain to, say, an iPhone — enabling the patient to control it without having to tap, speak, type or swipe. For instance, stroke victims who can visualize what they want to say, but can’t verbalize it, could rely on the AI to fill the gaps by translating the thoughts into words on the phone.
So you’re essentially communicating directly between your brain and a mobile app, without having to use your fingers to input information. He feels all with the artificial intelligence technology being created, we will have to eventually merge with AI to be able to keep up with them.
Security issues with Bluetooth notwithstanding, this could be the next phase in human evolution…
https://threatpost.com/elon-musk-neuralink-brains-iphones-bluetooth/146552/
https://www.wired.com/story/heres-how-elon-musk-plans-to-stitch-a-computer-into-your-brain/
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The Viral FaceApp Doesn’t Manage Photos All That Different From Facebook
As tempted as we all are to see what we look like 50 years from now, it seems there is one glaringly huge caveat with using the most viral app, FaceApp.
According to the Forbes article “While according to FaceApp’s terms of service people still own their own “user content” (read: face), the company owns a never-ending and irrevocable royalty-free license to do anything they want with it … in front of whoever they wish”
It might not be all doom and gloom for using the app, but there is a good possibility that by giving it access to ALL of your photos, your face will end up training some form of AI facial-recognition algorithm somewhere.
Oh, and one other thing to keep in mind: FaceApp terms of service are VERY similar to Facebook’s, and they use similar AI-type technology to analyze your uploaded photos,
As I mention in module 22 Internet Data Privacy: if the Internet app or service you’re using is free, you’re basically the product
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Facebook Tries to Explain its Ad Tracking to You
A great write up by Mashable that explains how Facebook is trying to make it easier for its users to understand both why they are seeing the ads that are presenting to them, as well highlighting the ways one can go into their profile and edit the specific ad settings that Facebook has applied to their profile as well. Trust me, it’s a real eye opener…
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Browser Extensions are Stealing Your Browsing Traffic, Tax Returns, Medical Data
Turns out, widely used Chrome and Firefox browser extensions have been scraping and selling the data of more than 4.1 million people. These extensions took the URL and other details from your browsing history and sold them to a data firm called Nacho Analytics, who then published them, for a fee.
Because of the way many of the pages were not protected—those published links often allowed people to see the content of the pages themselves. Among the sensitive pieces of information was tax returns, medical information, and even links to Nest cameras.
As mentioned on many occasions during the training, remove all browser extensions you do not need ASAP, and scrutinize any that you are thinking of installing. They have WAY too much insight into your web traffic to say the least:
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Your Own Virtual World Can Now be Hacked as Well
As if we didn’t have enough to fret about in the real world with hackers and scanmers, researchers have now shown that they are capable of hacking Virtual Reality, and altering your digital world without you knowing. It’s just research today, but in 5 or 10 years, when VR becomes commonplace, this is a significant threat that could completely upend those that leave the real world for the virtual.
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You Can Have Your Own Computer for $35!
Check this out! You can basically buy a bare-bones computer for $35. Yes you read that right. The new Raspberry Pi has all the components needed to run an operating system, and external devices such as a monitor and mouse. Great for setting up test systems etc
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How To Securely Wipe All of Your Devices!
A good resource to keep handy if any of you guys need to wipe a personal device before selling/donating/lending it to another entity to use.
Its a very common security issue where mobile phones and hard drives in particular are sold or the Internet with most of the previous owners data easily recoverable from the device. So please make sure you guys wipe these devices securely before sending them on their way!
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Please be safe out there everyone.
#ClickGameOver