Apple let loose with a salty press release explaining how they plan to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act with iOS 17.4 in a few weeks. There's a lot going on in the full developer update, so I'll be brief. NFC chip has been opened up, non-WebKit browser rendering engines are allowed, developers can ask Apple to create an API or give them access to data via an "interoperability request", 3rd party payment processors are now allowed for in-app purchases along with linking to a website to buy stuff and "alternative app marketplaces" can be a thing. All this sound good but Apple has loaded each initiative up with so many caveats and intricate gotchas under the guise of protecting users from malware and scams and introduced complicated fee structures (the "Core Technology Fee" being the most egregious), that it's hard to view them as anything but malicious compliance. Nothing's changing for Australia except for Apple allowing developers worldwide to "submit a single app with the capability to stream all of the games offered in their catalog" - i.e: Xbox Cloud Game Pass or Steam Remote Play can be a thing on iOS!
An AI system used by Sunglass Hut in Texas wrongly identified 61 year old Harvey Murphy Jr as having robbed one of their stores and interfaced with police systems to put a warrant out for his arrest. When Harvey went to renew his drivers licence, he was arrested as the DMV identified him as having a warrant. Harvey was put in prison until he fronted court where he proved he had a legit alibi and the judge dismissed the case - but instead of walking out of the court room immediately, he was gang raped on his return to prison then released a few hours later. Harvey is now suing Sunglass Hut for using that shitty facial recognition technology that led to him being falsely arrested and raped. Sounds like an episode of Black Mirror, but it's not, it really happened. This guy was wrongly imprisoned and raped because a garbage computer system didn't work and a series of people that don't know any better all played along, just like the post office thing in the UK. When will we learn not to blindly trust the computer?
The USA's National Security Agency has confirmed in a letter to US Senator Ron Wyden that (I'm quoting the NYT here, not the NSA - the letter isn't public) "intelligence and law enforcement agencies sometimes purchase potentially sensitive and revealing domestic data from brokers that would require a court order to acquire directly". It's okay though, as the NSA said the data "did not include the content of internet communications". The Senator shot back a letter saying "the U.S. government should not be funding and legitimizing a shady industry whose flagrant violations of Americans’ privacy are not just unethical, but illegal". I know the Senator has to say that, but lol, as if the spooks are gonna just stop sucking at this juicy tit of sweet delicious data. In fact, I think the entire data industrial complex exists not really for ads or marketing (have you seen the quality of internet ad targeting???) but as a way for mobs like the NSA to get the data they want without getting their hands dirty. My tinfoil hat is getting fitted for size as we speak.
If you drive a Tesla, you may be interested in TeslaUSB - a software package that runs on a Raspberry Pi to emulate a USB drive and let you "automatically copy the recordings to an archive server when you get home, hold both dashcam recordings and music files, automatically repair filesystem corruption produced by the Tesla's current failure to properly dismount the USB drives before cutting power to the USB ports, serve up a web UI to view or download the recordings and retain more than one hour of RecentClips (assuming large enough storage)". Sounds interesting and something I should try out over the weekend on my crappy Muskmobile.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.
Security hologram. Dr. Haris Antonopoulos. 10X objective lens magnification. (2018 Nikon Photomicrography Competition)
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