Facebook disclosed the issue in a blog post on Friday, hours before media reports that conservative-leaning Cambridge Analytica, a data company known for its work on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was given access to the data and may not have deleted it.

The scrutiny presented a new threat to Facebook’s reputation, which was already under attack over Russians’ alleged use of Facebook tools to sway American voters before and after the 2016 U.S. elections.

“It’s clear these platforms can’t police themselves,” Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted.

“They say ‘trust us.’ Mark Zuckerberg needs to testify before Senate Judiciary,” she added, referring to Facebook’s CEO and a committee she sits on.

Facebook said the root of the problem was that researchers and Cambridge Analytica lied to it and abused its policies, but critics on Saturday threw blame at Facebook as well, demanding answers on behalf of users and calling for new regulation.

Facebook insisted the data was misused but not stolen, because users gave permission, sparking a debate about what constitutes a hack that must be disclosed to customers.

“The lid is being opened on the black box of Facebook’s data practices, and the picture is not pretty,” said Frank Pasquale, a University of Maryland law professor who has written about Silicon Valley’s use of data.

Pasquale said Facebook’s response that data had not technically been stolen seemed to obfuscate the central issue that data was apparently used in a way contrary to the expectations of users.

“It amazes me that they are trying to make this about nomenclature. I guess that’s all they have left,” he said.

Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner said the episode bolstered the need for new regulations about internet advertising, describing the industry as the “Wild West.”

“Whether it’s allowing Russians to purchase political ads, or extensive micro-targeting based on ill-gotten user data, it’s clear that, left unregulated, this market will continue to be prone to deception and lacking in transparency,” he said.

With Republicans controlling the Senate’s majority, though, it was not clear if Klobuchar and Warner would prevail.

The New York Times and London’s Observer reported on Saturday that private information from more than 50 million Facebook users improperly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, and the information has not been deleted despite Facebook’s demands beginning in 2015.

Some 270,000 people allowed use of their data by a researcher, who scraped the data of all their friends as well, a move allowed by Facebook until 2015. The researcher sold the data to Cambridge, which was against Facebook rules, the newspapers said.

Cambridge Analytica worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign. A Trump campaign official said, though, that it used Republican data sources, not Cambridge Analytica, for its voter information.

Facebook, in a series of written statements beginning late on Friday, said its policies had been broken by Cambridge Analytica and researchers and that it was exploring legal action.

Cambridge Analytica in turn said it had deleted all the data and that the company supplying it had been responsible for obtaining it.

Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook vice president, hinted the company could make more changes to demonstrate it values privacy. “We must do better and will,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that “our business depends on it at every level.”

Facebook said it asked for the data to be deleted in 2015 and then relied on written certifications by those involved that they had complied.

Nuala O’Connor, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C., said Facebook was relying on the good will of decent people rather than preparing for intentional misuse.

Moreover, she found it puzzling that Facebook knew about the abuse in 2015 but did not disclose it until Friday. “That’s a long time,” she said.

Britain’s data protection authority and the Massachusetts attorney general on Saturday said they were launching investigations into the use of Facebook data.

“It is important that the public are fully aware of how information is used and shared in modern political campaigns and the potential impact on their privacy,” UK Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said in a statement.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said she wants to understand how the data was used, what policies if any were violated and what the legal implications are.

–

Source: Reuters

The post Facebook critics want regulation, investigation after data misuse appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The disclosure follows a report by Gizmodo, which said the artificial intelligence tech was being used to analyse drone footage.

The news site said that many of the search giant’s workers only learned of the collaboration last week via internal emails.

It added that some were “outraged”.

A spokeswoman for Google said that the tie-up involved the provision of software tools to let the US Department of Defense (DoD) make use of its TensorFlow machine learning code.

“The technology flags images for human review, and is for non-offensive uses only,” she added.

“Military use of machine learning naturally raises valid concerns.

“We’re actively discussing this important topic internally and with others as we continue to develop policies and safeguards around the development and use of our machine learning technologies.”

Although Google’s former chairman Eric Schmidt became an advisor to the Pentagon in 2016, the firm has otherwise been cautious about being linked to the US military.

It previously pulled one of its robots from a Pentagon-organised competition, despite it being the favourite to win, in part because of such concerns.

Data glut
Gizmodo identified the drone initiative involved as being Project Maven – a scheme announced last July to use computer algorithms to identify objects of concern from “massive amounts of moving or still imagery”.

The idea is to focus human efforts on sections of footage flagged for further analysis and avoid them having them having to wade through all the other hours of recorded material.

The DoD said that its immediate focus would be 38 classes of objects related to the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

“There is no ‘black box’ that delivers the AI system the government needs, at least not now,” said Colonel Drew Cukor at the time.

“The only way to do that is with commercial partners alongside us.”

Google declined to discuss its involvement further.

But the BBC understands that the algorithms it has shared were not designed for face detection, but were instead developed to identify generic objects including cars, birds and trees. It is believed that they are not being used to fly or otherwise operate the drones themselves.

Google is not the only US firm to be involved.

Chip-maker Nvidia has previously blogged about Project Maven and is also understood to be working with the DoD on the effort.

One expert said the relatively cheap cost of operating drones such as the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper had led to a glut of video material.

“The vast quantities of data produced by the US Air Force and CIA – as well as allies like the UK who operate these [drones] in conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan – have long outstripped the processing and exploitation capacity of the traditional human-centric intelligence processing organisations within these countries,” commented Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank.

“As a leading developer of AI technology, Google is an obvious choice for the DoD to partner with, albeit one whose employees and shareholders might be less than 100% enthusiastic about the prospect of working with the military.”

Mr Bronk added that the UK’s Royal Air Force had an even more acute shortage of imagery intelligence analysts, and would probably wish to share access to Google’s AI tech if that became possible.

The BBC has asked the Ministry of Defence for comment.

–

Source: BBC

The post Google tech used by Pentagon ‘to analyse drone videos’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The coins were taken by hackers from Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, leaving tens of thousands of customers out of pocket.

It’s not clear who is in control of the London-based firm Always Efficient LLP.

Mt Gox operator Mark Karpeles apologised to investors and said he was co-operating with the investigation.

The FBI has charged a Russian national with laundering the stolen bitcoins.

Mt Gox matched up those who wanted to buy the crypto-currency with dollars, pounds and other international denominations with those wanting to sell bitcoins, and handled an estimated 70% of the world’s Bitcoin trade.

The exchange was originally set up to trade cards from a game set in a world of wizards, spells and monsters. When it turned its focus to crypto-currencies, it appeared to be a huge success story.

Almost half of Bitcoin trading is done in Japanese yen, and there’s even a Japanese girl group, the Virtual Currency Girls, which reflects Japan’s growing craze for virtual money.

But a group of amateur investigators, WizSec, found that hackers had targeted Mt Gox.

They had systematically pilfered users’ accounts, hiding their tracks from Mt Gox operators for years.

And in 2014, the site’s chief executive, Mark Karpeles, made the horrifying discovery that hundreds of thousands of coins were missing.

When customers found themselves unable to withdraw funds, the site collapsed.

Speaking for the first time about the collapse to BBC Radio 4’s File on Four programme, Mr Karpeles said: “It felt like… when you fall from a building and you see the ground getting closer, and you feel like you are about to die.”

He said the site had rapidly grown beyond his expectations.

“Mt Gox went from interesting project to being, I would say, a daily nightmare of dealing with banks, governments, people I never knew existed.”

How the coins had gone missing was initially a mystery.

But now investigators say almost half the stolen coins from Mt Gox ended up at rival exchange BTC-e.

‘Cyber-crime hub’
The FBI says BTC-e was a hub for cyber-crime and helped to launder money from hacks, including ransomware attacks of the kind that hit the NHS and other organisations last year.

But trying to find out who operates BTC-e isn’t easy. The exchange claimed to be operated by a British company called Always Efficient LLP.

Always Efficient’s registered office is in east London, but the address is shared by several other firms, some of which are thought to be involved in money laundering.

Duncan Hames, of anti-corruption group Transparency International, said it’s likely to be a shell company.

“People laundering money will set up a network of companies to create layers between the original crime and their attempts to then integrate the proceeds of their crime into the economy,” he said.

“They simply enable a series of transactions to take place to create this distance and to obscure the trail of the proceeds of crime.”

In an attempt to regulate these so-called shell companies, new rules introduced in June 2016 now stipulate that companies must publish a list of “persons with significant control” (PWSC).

Always Efficient doesn’t currently have a PWSC. The person most recently listed, Alexander Buyanov, is a DJ in a Moscow nightclub.

According to Andrei Zakharov, a Russian journalist who tracked him down, Mr Buyanov claims he “knew nothing” of the business.

Companies House told the BBC it had a dedicated team dealing with PWSCs, and took action when irregularities were identified.

‘Real risk’ to UK
The FBI says the man behind BTC-e is another Russian national, Alexander Vinnik.

Documents seen by the BBC detail how the stolen Mt Gox money was laundered through various accounts, usernames and email addresses allegedly controlled by Mr Vinnik.

Mr Vinnik was arrested while on holiday in Greece in July 2017, and is currently being detained in Thessaloniki.
The US Department of Justice now wants to extradite him to face 21 counts of money laundering and other financial crimes in the US.

Mr Zakharov said: “They were on the beach and his wife was swimming, and when she turned back she saw a lot of people with sunglasses near her husband, and that’s how he was arrested.”

Russia has also filed an extradition request for Mr Vinnik on lesser, unrelated charges.

The Greek government is now in the process of deciding between the two requests.

Via his lawyer, Mr Vinnick told the BBC he denies having any connection to Always Efficient.

He added: “BTC-e is just a web platform for buying and selling Bitcoin – not an exchange. As such it cannot be held responsible for the source of money used to buy Bitcoin, no more than a bureau du change can be held responsible for exchanging a stolen $100 note into pounds sterling.”

A National Crime Agency (NCA) spokesman said it didn’t “routinely confirm or deny investigations” but recognised “the very real risks to the UK and the UK’s financial sector from large-scale, complex money laundering.”

He added: “Tackling money laundering is a high priority for the NCA, and we have a number of national and international operations running against the criminals involved, working in close partnership with partners in law enforcement and financial regulation.”

Mark Karpeles was arrested and charged with embezzlement related to payments worth £1.7m. He says these were legitimate loans signed off by an accountant.

He’s also charged with manipulation of data. He denies all the charges – none of which relates to the loss of the 650,000 bitcoins.

He told the BBC he was doing all he could to return funds to customers and added: “I am very sorry that when I was in charge things happened the way they did.”

‘Unprecedented’ rise
Mt Gox is not the only Bitcoin currency exchange to be hacked. Even the Virtual Currency Girls have lost money following another recent Bitcoin exchange theft.

Under Japanese bankruptcy law, the remaining 200,000 Mt Gox bitcoins are valued at £300 each, the price they held when the exchange collapsed in 2014.

Since then, the value has increased to around £7,000 each.

Many investors are now pushing to see their Mt Gox bitcoins refunded at the current price, and a decision is expected within the next few months.

So regardless of the outcome in Mr Vinnik’s case, Mt Gox creditors who lost out might still turn a profit, thanks to Bitcoin’s unprecedented rise.

–

Source: BBC

The post UK firm linked to Bitcoin billions theft appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

To ensure peak performance from its 5G CPE, Huawei uses its self-developed Balong 5G01 chipset – the world’s first commercial chipset supporting the 3GPP standard for 5G, with theoretical downlink speeds of up to 2.3Gbps.

It supports 5G across all frequency bands including sub-6GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) to offer a complete 5G solution suitable for multiple use cases.

The Balong 5G01 makes Huawei the first company offering an end-to-end 5G solution through its network, devices and chipset-level capabilities.

“5G technology will underpin the next leap forward for our intelligent world, where people, vehicles, homes and devices are fully connected, delivering new experiences, insights and capabilities,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group.

“Since 2009, Huawei has invested US$600 million in research and development into 5G technologies, where we have led the way with innovations around network architecture, spectrum usage, field verification and more. From connected vehicles and smart homes to AR/VR and hologram videos, we are committed to developing a mature 5G ecosystem so that consumers can benefit from a truly connected world that transforms the way we communicate and share.”

The HUAWEI 5G CPE has two models, low frequency (sub6GHz) 5G CPE and high frequency (mmWave) 5G CPE respectively.

The HUAWEI low frequency 5G CPE is small and lightweight, compatible with 4G and 5G networks, and has proven measured download speeds of up to 2Gbps – 20 times that of 100Mbps fiber.

This provides an ultra-fast experience, allowing users to enjoy VR video and gaming experiences, or download a TV show within a second. The HUAWEI high frequency 5G CPE is available in indoor and outdoor units.

5G networks set new standards for high speed, wide bandwidth, low latency wireless connections, with a peak downlink rate of 20Gbps, support for one million devices per square kilometer and latency as low as 0.5ms.

5G promises an enhanced connection between people and the Internet of Things, raising the potential for the number of devices that can be connected and the amount and type of data that can be shared between them.

Huawei CBG has developed a 5G device strategy which utilizes the high-speed, low-latency, big-connectivity qualities of 5G to create richer, more varied connected experiences for users. This strategy includes smartphones, mobile Wi-Fi, industrial modules and other devices to connect people and objects in their homes, vehicles and beyond.

Huawei has partnered with over 30 global telecommunication carriers, including Vodafone, Softbank, T-Mobile, BT, Telefonica, China Mobile and China Telecom.

In 2017, Huawei began testing 5G commercial networks with partners. Huawei completed interoperability testing and started offering the first round of 5G commercial networks in 2018.

–

Source:

The post Huawei releases first 5G customer-premises equipment appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He is challenging Google’s decision not to remove a criminal conviction he has from the 1990s from search results.

People can ask for online information to be removed from searches if they feel it is outdated or irrelevant.

Google said it would “defend the public’s right to access lawful information”.

“We work hard to comply with the right to be forgotten, but we take great care not to remove search results that are clearly in the public interest and will defend the public’s right to access lawful information,” the firm said in a statement.

The search giant has been asked to delist nearly two million search results in Europe, and has removed more than 800,000 of them.

The right to be forgotten is a legal precedent set by the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2014, following a case brought by Spaniard Mario Costeja Gonzalez, asking Google to remove information about his financial history.

The UK case revolves around a businessman who wants Google to delete links to a criminal conviction for false accounting in the late 1990s. His conviction is deemed spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

The man cannot be named due to reporting restrictions surrounding the case.

The man is being represented by law firm Carter-Ruck, which has yet to respond to requests for comment.

The General Data Protection Regulation, a sweeping change of EU data rules, is due to come into force in May and aims to extend the law to make it easier for citizens to have content removed.

The current case is being heard by Mr Justice Warby and is expected to last several days.

A similar case is due to be heard next month.

–

Source: BBC

The post Google in historic ‘right to be forgotten’ challenge appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The closure of the female-focused publishing business will result in the loss of 100 jobs.

The company focused on a mix of “feel-good news” and videos. Since launching in 2014, it attracted 12 million followers on Facebook.

But the company said Facebook’s changes had been “catastrophic”.

Chief executive Joe Spieser told Business Insider that Facebook’s recent algorithm changes had wiped out roughly 75% of Little Things’ organic traffic and hit its income.

Little Things said it had been in talks to sell its business to another media company. However, in a memo to its staff, it revealed that the buyer had pulled out.

“The businesses looking to acquire Little Things got spooked and promptly exited the sale process, leaving us in jeopardy of our bank debt covenants and ultimately bringing an expedited end to our incredible story,” it said.

Little Things started as a content-marketing page for the online pet food retailer PetFlow, in 2014. Its Facebook page attracted 800,000 followers in June that year.

PetFlow was then spun off to become a standalone media company in September 2014.

The company had taken advantage of Facebook’s emphasis on video and produced its own lifestyle and cookery content.

“What happens to the Little Things brand, we all know and love, is uncertain at this point,” it said in a statement.

Gretchen Tibbits, president and chief operation officer for the firm, told the BBC the hardest thing is that “100 incredible people have been impacted”.

The company said it would continue to update its website for the time being but Ms Tibbits confirmed that “today is the last day” for the firm.

–

Source: BBC

The post Facebook news feed changes ‘decimated’ publisher appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Beautifully designed both inside and out, the new notebook and tablet excel at work, at home or on the go for the ultimate mobile computing experience.

Both the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro and HUAWEI MediaPad M5 blend crisp and clear displays, powerful hardware updates and intelligent software advances:

HUAWEI MateBook X Pro:

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro is an ultra-slim, yet full-featured 13.9-inch notebook with an all-new 3K touch-enabled HUAWEI FullView Display and 91 percent screen-to-body ratio.

Powered by an 8th Generation Intel® Core i7/i5 processor, a discrete NVIDIA® GeForce® MX150 GPU with 2GB GDDR5 and a long-lasting 57.4Wh (Typical Capacity) battery – the HUAWEI MateBook X pro is one of the lightest and most powerful notebooks on the market.

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro features Dolby Atmos® Sound System and custom speakers that deliver breakthrough, immersive audio for sound to flow above and around you, making you feel like you’re inside the action.

HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Series:

Ergonomically designed with a 2.5D glass screen and 2K HD, ClariVu 5.0-enhanced display, the sleek and powerful 8.4-inch and 10.8-inch tablets feature speakers tuned by Harman Kardon. HUAWEI Histen technology provides immersive 3D audio and fully supports Hi-Res audio for exceptional sound quality.

The 10.8-inch HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Pro comes with an ultra-precise HUAWEI M-Pen featuring 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity to make note-taking effortless.

“Today’s consumers want more: they expect their technology to be both powerful and adaptable – and Huawei is committed to creating devices that not only meet these expectations, but create experiences that make everyday computing extraordinary,” said Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Consumer Business Group.

“The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro and HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Series are at the forefront of a new generation of mobile computing that empowers every aspect of your life.”

HUAWEI MateBook X Pro

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro is the first notebook to feature HUAWEI FullView Display. The 13.9-inch 3K notebook featuring an all-new 10-point touchscreen has a 3000 x 2000 pixel resolution, 100% sRGB color gamut and is set at a 3:2 aspect ratio, perfect for content creation.

Its stylish metallic body design is crafted with perfect diamond cutting and sandblasting finishing technologies to create an ultra-slim body that is just 14.6mm thin and weighs 1.33 kg, making it comfortable to carry.

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro is available in two iconic colors: Space Gray and Mystic Silver.

The premium design of the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro is matched by its performance. Featuring a powerful 8th Generation Intel® Core i7/i5 processor and a discrete NVIDIA® GeForce® MX150 GPU with 2GB GDDR5[2], it is one of the most powerful and lightweight notebooks on the market.

The HUAWEI MateBook X Pro features Dolby Atmos Sound System – breakthrough, immersive audio with Dolby Atmos and custom speakers. A 57.4Wh (Typical Capacity) battery and Huawei’s low power consumption design provide up to 12 hours of 1080P video playback, 14 hours of regular work or 15 hours of webpage browsing.

Huawei has applied many of its innovative smartphone technologies to the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro to create effortless and intuitive user experiences.

Pioneered by Huawei for the HUAWEI MateBook X, the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro features the super-fast power button 2.0 which enables login in just 7.8 seconds from power off, and 6.6 seconds from hibernation. In addition, the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro features the world’s first recessed camera which discreetly sits on the keyboard – to activate it, all users need to do is press it and it will pop up, ensuring privacy when it’s not being used.

This contributes greatly to the perfect experience of FullView Display. A multi-purpose adapter supports USB-C fast charging widely used in smartphones, meaning users only need to bring one charger when travelling for even greater portability.

By developing a high-speed transport protocol, Huawei Share enables users to exchange photos and files quickly, easily and safely, without USB compatibility problems. The Wi-Fi transfer speed is up to 20Mbps, 100 times faster than that of Bluetooth.

HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Series

The HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Series is the world first tablet featuring a 2.5D glass screen for outstanding viewing experiences and great hand-feel. Both the 8.4- and 10.8-inch tablets take the iconic design of the Series to the next level with a sleek metal uni-body and U-shaped antenna design that is ergonomic and aesthetically pleasing. They are available in two colors: Champagne Gold and Space Gray.

With the HUAWEI MediaPad M5, users can take a world of immersive entertainment experiences with them wherever they go. The 2K and ClariVu 5.0-enhanced display captures even the subtlest details while intelligent algorithms ensure videos stay crisp and clear.

The MediaPad M5 comes with two speakers on the 8.4-inch version and four speakers on the 10.8-inch version, tuned by Harman Kardon and HUAWEI Histen for immersive 3D sound. The support from Hi-Res audio when listening through headphones allows music to be experienced the way artists intended.

The HUAWEI MediaPad M5 is powered by a Kirin 960 Series processor for peak performance whether gaming, browsing the web or catching up on emails. EMUI 8.0 ensures a clean and user-friendly experience.

A long-lasting battery – 5,100 mAh for 8.4-inch and 7,500 mAh for 10.8-inch – is augmented with HUAWEI QuickCharge technology.

Android has been optimized for productivity on the 10.8-inch HUAWEI MediaPad M5 with a ‘Desktop View’ experience that improves navigation for productivity-related activities.

This includes a Taskbar and easy access to files for sharing and editing. The 10.8-inch HUAWEI MediaPad M5 also features ‘Pogo Pins’ that allow a keyboard to be connected, improving productivity even further.

Exclusively available with the 10.8-inch HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Pro is a HUAWEI M-Pen featuring 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity to make note-taking more realistic, easier and effortless.

–

Source: Huawei

The post Huawei unveils MateBook X Pro, MediaPad M5 series appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The postcard verification is Facebook’s latest effort to respond to criticism from lawmakers, security experts and election integrity watchdog groups that it and other social media companies failed to detect and later responded slowly to Russia’s use of their platforms to spread divisive political content, including disinformation, during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Facebook revealed the plans a day after U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller unsealed an indictment accusing 13 Russians and three Russian companies of conducting a criminal and espionage conspiracy using social media to interfere in the election by boosting Republican Donald Trump and denigrating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

The process of using postcards containing a specific code will be required for advertising that mentions a specific candidate running for a federal office, Katie Harbath, Facebook’s global director of policy programs, said. The requirement will not apply to issue-based political ads, she said.

“If you run an ad mentioning a candidate, we are going to mail you a postcard and you will have to use that code to prove you are in the United States,” Harbath said at a weekend conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State, where executives from Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google also spoke.

“It won’t solve everything,” Harbath said in a brief interview with Reuters following her remarks.

But sending codes through old-fashioned mail was the most effective method the tech company could come up with to prevent Russians and other bad actors from purchasing ads while posing as someone else, Harbath said.

Foreign nationals are prohibited under U.S. law from contributing or donating money or anything else of value or making any expenditure in connection with any federal, state or local election in the United States.

The indictment released on Friday laid out in specific detail how prosecutors believe Russians adopted false online personas to push divisive political content, including ads. The Russians also allegedly posed as Americans to stage political rallies in the United States and persuade real Americans to engage in pro-Trump activities.

Harbath did not say when Facebook would begin relying on postcard codes, but said they would be in use before this year’s mid-term congressional elections in November.

A Facebook spokesman declined to provide further details on the plan, but referred to a company blog post from last October announcing plans to roll out more robust identification verification measures for political advertisers.

That blog post did not specify what the verification process would entail.

–

Source: Reuters

The post Facebook plans to use U.S. mail to verify IDs of election ad buyers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The company declared that it will refocus its efforts on “a great Twitter experience that’s consistent across platforms” rather than continuing development for Twitter for Mac, a message that doesn’t sound great for TweetDeck lovers.

The Twitter for Mac app no longer lives in the Mac App Store, though its one and a half star rating lives on in the hearts and minds of its few tenacious users, maybe.

Over the years, Twitter has often seen its own official app eclipsed by slicker, more feature-rich third-party clients, which it sometimes buys up. Twitter bought the software that evolved into Twitter for Mac (formerly known as Tweetie for Mac) back in 2010, though it’s largely believed to have languished following the acquisition.

Many Twitter users are expressing their concerns that the company could similarly sunset TweetDeck, a well-loved client with multi-column organization, list-making tools and robust notifications that the company acquired for $40 million back in 2011. For a normal company, ending a product that everyone feels pretty good about wouldn’t be a likely potential outcome, but Twitter isn’t exactly known for making choices in lockstep with the desires of its opinionated user base.

While most people aren’t likely to mourn the passing of Twitter for Mac, the choice does highlight the gaping hole where a solid multi-platform client should go. Considering its resources and the lessons the company should have learned from unnecessary bickering with its development community over the years, it doesn’t seem like a big ask.

–

Source: Techcrunch

The post Twitter is killing its Mac desktop client appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The agency’s director Rob Wainwright told the BBC’s Panorama that regulators and industry leaders need to work together to tackle the problem.

The warning comes after Bitcoin’s value fell by half from record highs in December.

UK police have not commented to the programme.

Mr Wainwright said that Europol, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, estimates that about 3-4% of the £100bn in illicit proceeds in Europe are laundered through cryptocurrencies.

“It’s growing quite quickly and we’re quite concerned,” he said.

Bitcoin – risky bubble or the future?
There many different types of cryptocurrencies but the best known is Bitcoin. They are intended to be a digital alternative to pounds, dollars or euros.

However, unlike traditional currencies, they are not printed by governments and traditional banks, nor controlled or regulated by them.

Instead, digital coins are created by computers running complex mathematical equations, a process known as “mining”. A network of computers across the world then keeps track of the transactions using virtual addresses, hiding individual identities.

The anonymous and unregulated nature of virtual currencies is attracting criminals, making it hard for police to track them as it is difficult to identify who is moving payments.

‘Money mules’
Mr Wainwright said: “They’re not banks and governed by a central authority so the police cannot monitor those transactions.

“And if they do identify them as criminal they have no way to freeze the assets unlike in the regular banking system.”

Another problem Europol has identified involves the method that criminals use to launder money.

Proceeds from criminal activity are being converted into bitcoins, split into smaller amounts and given to people who are seemingly not associated with the criminals but who are acting as “money mules”.

These money mules then convert the bitcoins back into hard cash before returning it to the criminals.

“It’s very difficult for the police in most cases to identify who is cashing this out,” Mr Wainwright said.

He said that police were also seeing a trend where money “in the billions” generated from street sales of drugs across Europe is being converted into bitcoins.

He called on those running the Bitcoin industries to work with enforcement agencies.

“They have to take a responsible action and collaborate with us when we are investigating very large-scale crime,” he said.

“I think they also have to develop a better sense of responsibility around how they’re running virtual currency.”

‘Too slow’
Although British police have yet to respond to requests from Panorama, Parliament is seeking to step up regulations.

The Treasury Select Committee is looking into cryptocurrencies and details of EU-wide regulations to force traders to disclose identities and any suspicious activity are expected later this year.

Alison McGovern, Labour MP for Wirral South who is serving on the committee, has been calling for an inquiry into cryptocurrencies.

“I think that will draw the attention of the Treasury and the Bank [of England] and others to how we put in place a regulatory system,” she said.

“I think probably hand on heart we have all been too slow, but the opportunity is not lost, and we should all get on with the job now.”

–

Source: BBC

The post Criminals hide ‘billions’ in crypto-cash – Europol appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.