 |
|
A daily dose of today's top tech news, in brief.
|
| |
|
|
You need to hear this.
| |
|
In letter to senator, US Customs and Border Patrol says it will not access data stored on cloud in warrantless searches
In a letter to US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) aimed to clarify its policies around searching digital devices at the border. The letter, written by acting head of CBP Kevin McAleenan, stands by the agency's warrantless searches at the border, reiterating that such searches are rare. McAleenan also distinguishes between data held on the device and data stored in the cloud.
"CBP's authority to conduct border searches extends to all merchandise entering or departing the United States, including information that is physically resident on an electronic device transported by an international traveler," McAleenan writes in the letter. "Therefore, border searches conducted by CBP do not extend to information that is located solely on remote servers. I appreciate the opportunity to offer that clarification."
The letter has brought criticism from numerous security and human rights groups, including from the ACLU, who tweeted a recommendation for travelers to put their phones into airplane mode upon arrival in the United States.
"The phrase 'located solely on remote servers' seems like it's a step toward privacy, but it's unclear what the statement would mean in practice," Ars Technica writes. "After all, many modern apps —notably social media, e-mail, or messaging apps — keep data on remote servers, but a smartphone often also keeps a local copy of the message or relevant data."
Proposed Australian legislation would require tech firms to aid police in decrypting suspected criminal communication
The Australian government proposed a new cybersecurity law on Friday, which would require major technology firms to help Australian police decrypt encrypted communication sent by extremists and criminals. The proposal has met staunch criticism from several fronts, including Facebook, who warned that weakening security leaves all communications vulnerable.
"The new law would be modeled on Britain's Investigatory Powers Act, which was passed by the British Parliament in November and gave intelligence agencies some of the most extensive surveillance powers in the Western world, the government said," the Associated Press writes. "The Australian bill that would allow courts to order tech companies to quickly unlock communications will be introduced to Parliament by November, officials said."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull expressed the government's frustration as encryption makes accessing information increasingly difficult. "We've got a real problem in that the law enforcement agencies are increasingly unable to find out what terrorists and drug traffickers and pedophile rings are up to because of very high levels of encryption.
Facebook told officials it has a protocol to aid police investigations, but it does not have the ability to read individual encrypted messages. "Weakening encrypted systems for them would mean weakening it for everyone," Facebook said in a statement issued Friday.
Microsoft's first Windows Server Insider build rolls out to users
"Following Microsoft's announcement in May of its intention to add Windows Server to the Windows Insider Program, the company rolled out the first preview release of the software last night. The two areas of Server that see the most significant improvements in the new build are virtualization and containers," Ars Technica reports.
"The preview allows exposing more of the underlying hardware capabilities to virtual machines, with support for virtualized non-volatile memory and virtualized power/battery status," Ars writes. "For both containers and virtual machines, networking capabilities have been enhanced to enable a wider range of virtual network capabilities with greater performance."
As with most early access and beta programs, there are significant bugs the company is currently working through, "including some blue screen errors around volume management and some incompatibilities with certain unspecified processors." Though the Windows 10 Insider Program has been a huge success with broad participation, Ars Technica suggests Microsoft may see significantly lower participation with its Server Insider Program, as end-users are less likely to have the resources to experiment with new Microsoft Server builds.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|  |
|
But there's more going on in the world than that.
| |
|
Net Neutrality Day of Action reaches 10 million users, spurs 2 million comments to FCC
This week saw the Net Neutrality Day of Action in full effect, and if you spend any time online, you likely ran into a page prompting you to take action, or a popup simulating what you may see in an age of internet fast lanes. Thousands of websites and services took part, and reached an estimated 10 million internet users throughout the day. The FCC also received more than 2 million comments regarding net neutrality, and Congress received 5 million emails, according to Day of Action.
While the numbers were undeniably impressive, the FCC has repeatedly stated that the Commission is not a democracy, and its members will make a decision they believe is in the interest of the American people, and the market as a whole.
The day of action was still a testament to the broad support current policies have, and showed the Commission, once again, that there is strong opposition to the removal of net neutrality.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
And you can't not know this.
| |
|
Two Apollo-era computers were discovered in the basement of a deceased engineer
Two Apollo-era NASA computers and hundreds of tape reels were discovered in the basement of a deceased engineer in Pittsburg, according to a report by the NASA Office of the Inspector General. The majority of the tapes are unmarked, the report states, but the majority of those that contain information are from Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 fly-by missions to Jupiter and Saturn.
"At some point in the early 1970s, an IBM engineer working for NASA at the height of the Space Race took home the computers—and the mysterious tape reels," Ars Technica writes. "A scrap dealer, invited to clean out the deceased's electronics-filled basement, discovered the computers." The computers were reportedly so heavy a crane was likely used to move them. The reels were picked up by NASA on December 8, 2015, but allowed the family to keep the computers as it is "not in the junk removal business."
"After all the investigation, one final mystery remained unsolved. The NASA computers are labelled with a Contract Number: 'CONTRACT NO. NAS5-2154,'" Ars Technica concludes. "NASA OIG was unable to find any records of any such contract. Given NASA once accidentally erased the Apollo 11 moon landing tapes, perhaps that shouldn't come as much of a surprise."
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
