Educational CyberPlayGround: NetHappenings 11-21-19 .org

.ORG Sold to Private Equity Firm, Transparency Diminished

https://epic.org/2019/11/org-sold-to-private-equity-fir.html

The Internet Society announced that it plans to sell the Public Interest Registry, which manages the .ORG domain, and all of its assets to Ethos Capitol, a private equity firm. The announcement follows a decision to remove price caps on domain name purchases that was widely opposed by the user community. EPIC’s Marc Rotenberg, who was a founding board member and former chair of PIR, told Gizmodo he was “very disappointed” by the news. “We built the .org domain with the specific goal of promoting the noncommercial use of the Internet,” Rotenberg said. “There are many models, including ICANN itself, that could allow for effective management of the domain by a non-profit corporation. There are critical elements of transparency and accountability that will be lost when the Public Interest Registry is acquired by a private equity firm.” The PIR website currently states, “PIR‘s believes that a best practice is transparency and accountability to itself, its stakeholders, and the public. The release of our annual IRS 990 Form provides publicly-available financial information to maintain our non-profit status in good standing.”

ICANN CAN’T:
INTRODUCTION to the DOMAIN INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
https://edu-cyberpg.com/Internet/Domain-Name-icann.html

https://mashable.com/article/dot-org-domain-private-equity-acquisition/

TEACH PRIVACY

no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
FBI sought Interpol statement against end-to-end crypto
Backdoors are totally safe and companies should make them, draft resolution asserts. Sean Gallagher – 11/18/2019, 3:35 PM
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/11/think-of-the-children-fbi-sought-interpol-statement-against-end-to-end-crypto/

OOOH THE CHILDREN EXCUSE — WHILE THEY NEVER STOPPED EPSTEIN AND HIS COLLABORATORS LIKE MADAM MAXWELL procurer-in-chief. She has not been charged. And while she presently faces civil litigation, the likelihood of a court appearance is unknown. Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston lawyer who exposed Catholic clergy sex abuse, said in an email attorneys would want to locate Maxwell in the US, as courts here would have legal power to get her to testify.
Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell was a guest at a Jeff Bezos-hosted retreat in 2018, report says
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/01/jeffrey-epstein-friend-ghislaine-maxwell-was-guest-at-jeff-bezos-event.html

“96% of AmLaw 100 firms have privacy practices. Most US law schools lack any privacy courses and don’t have full time faculty in the field. Time for change.

An Open Letter to Law School Deans about Privacy Law Education in Law Schools

 

A massive scandal: how Assange, his doctors, lawyers and visitors were all spied on for the U.S. https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2019/11/18/news/a_massive_scandal_how_assange_his_doctors_lawyers_and_visitors_were_all_spied_on_for_the_u_s_-241314527/

Roger Stone Found Guilty On All Counts
https://crooksandliars.com/2019/11/roger-stone-found-guilty-all-counts

The Real Reason Why Hong Kong Authorities Are Desperate To Regain Control Of University
Many CUHK students suspect that the real goal of the police is to control the internet, as Hong Kong’s internet center which handles 99 percent of the city’s internet traffic is located inside the CUHK campus.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/heres-real-reason-why-hong-kong-authorities-are-desperate-regain-control-university

Chinese killer robots sold to Middle East will leave ‘every human dead’
Fears that ‘fully autonomous’ military drones sold by China to Middle East countries could have dire results with the machines able to decide on who lives and dies
EXCERPT:
China is selling its most advanced “fully autonomous” military drones with fears that it could lead to a bloodbath in the Middle East. The Asian superpower is reportedly selling AI-enhanced combat drones to the region, with potentially disastrous consequences. Prof Toby Walsh, of the University of NSW, in Australia, said: “They would be impossible to defend yourself against. “Once the shooting starts, every human on the battlefield will be dead.” US Defence Sec Mark Esper has said that China is selling drones programmed to decide themselves who lives or dies.
He told a conference on Artificial Intelligence: “As we speak, the Chinese government is already exporting some of its most advanced military aerial drones to the Middle East as it prepares to export its next generation stealth UAVs when those come online.
“In addition, Chinese weapons manufacturers are selling drones advertised as capable of full autonomy including the ability to conduct lethal, targeted strikes.”
An Australian outlet, news.com.au, reports that a state controlled Chinese defence company is negotiating the sale of its Blowfish A3 armed helicopter drone to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Dr Malcolm Davis, an Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst says that it is not strange there is no debate over the sales in China. He reportedly said: “This isn’t a surprise…
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-killer-robots-sold-middle-20882729

CONTROL THE MONEY – CONTROL THE LAW

Abuse of Copyright (3D version) The Nefertiti Bust Meets the 21st Century
When a German museum lost its fight over 3D-printing files of the 3,000-year-old artwork, it made a strange decision.
EXCERPT:
It seemed like the perfect digital heist. The Nefertiti bust, created in 1345 B.C., is the most famous work in the collection of Berlin’s Neues Museum. The museum has long prohibited visitors from taking any kinds of photographs of its biggest attraction. Nonetheless, in 2016 two trenchcoat-wearing artists managed to smuggle an entire 3D scanning rig into the room with the bust and produce a perfect digital replica, which they then shared with the world…
https://slate.com/technology/2019/11/nefertiti-bust-neues-museum-3d-printing.html

APPLE  — 16 page PDF
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU05/20190716/109793/HHRG-116-JU05-20190716-SD036.pdf
Questions for the Record from the Honorable David N. Cicilline, Chairman, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law of the Committee on the Judiciary
Questions for Mr. Kyle Andeer, Vice President, Corporate Law, Apple, Inc.1.Does Apple permit iPhone users to uninstall Safari? If yes, please describe the steps a user would need to take in order to do so. If no, please explain why not.
30. Please describe what types of data Apple collects through Siri and how Apple uses each type of data.

Google’s November FEC filing is in, showing which politicians the company gave money to last month. Right out of the gate we have this $5,000 donation to House minority leader Kevin McCarthy on October 28

 

Google reportedly manipulates search results to hide controversial subjects and favor big business

 

Google scrapped publication of 100,000 chest X-rays over privacy worries
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/15/20966460/google-scrapped-publication-100000-chest-x-rays-nih-project-2017

Facebook, Google Fund Nonprofits Shaping Federal Privacy Debate
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/privacy-and-data-security/facebook-google-donate-heavily-to-privacy-advocacy-groups

Outcry after Facebook sponsors gala featuring Brett Kavanaugh
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/14/facebook-federalist-society-brett-kavanaugh-gala

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the single leading source of anti-vax ads on Facebook

Facebook
In 2019, the World Health Organization named vaccine hesitancy as one of the world’s top 10 global health threats.
The Vaccine journal study is the first to analyze anti-vaccine ads in Facebook’s advertising archive. The archive is an ad disclosure database Facebook created after the platform was criticized for spreading untraceable misinformation during the Brexit referendum and 2016 US presidential campaign.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/robert-f-kennedy-jr-is-the-single-leading-source-of-anti-vax-ads-on-facebook/

Majority of anti-vaxx ads on Facebook are funded by just two organizations
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/13/majority-antivaxx-vaccine-ads-facebook-funded-by-two-organizations-study
Study finds Robert F Kennedy Jr’s World Mercury Project and Larry Cook’s Stop Mandatory Vaccinations bought 54% of ads
Cook uses crowd-funding platforms to raise money for Facebook ads and his personal expenses. The crowd-funding platform GoFundMe banned Cook’s fundraisers in March 2019. YouTube has demonetized Cook’s videos.
Kennedy is the son of the former US attorney general Bobby Kennedy. He also has a nonprofit focused on environmental causes. Kennedy’s brother, sister and niece publicly criticized his “dangerous misinformation” about vaccines in May. They called his work against vaccination, “tragically wrong”.

The flat-Earth conspiracy is spreading around the globe. Does it hide a darker core?
“I don’t want to be a flat Earther,” David Weiss says, his voice weary as he reflects on his personal awakening. “Would you wake up in the morning and want everyone to think you’re an idiot?” 2018 Netflix documentary “Behind the Curve.”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/16/us/flat-earth-conference-conspiracy-theories-scli-intl/index.html

Anand Giridharadas winners take all 
FACT: the non profits of the world by tech giants are only a front for controlling their power and wealth into perpetuity. They are always using the tax right off to control / solidify their power. It is well known. A Plutocrate never changes the world. They cause homelessness but get the tax right off to build housing for the poor etc. need to protect the citizenry from them.

How to hide a billion dollars – Personal finance for pilfering potentates
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/10/10/how-to-hide-a-billion-dollars

Senetor Hawley: Bill would also stop Apple from storing data & encryption keys in China, another major security risk for Americans

Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/16/world/asia/china-xinjiang-documents.html

Japanese Tech Giant Offers Researchers Million-Dollar Salaries
* Lab offers researchers more than CEO to lure top talent
* Focus is on big tech challenges with at least 5-year horizon
EXCERPT:
Telecom giant NTT Group is offering record pay to hire top scientists as it looks to match some of the basic research prowess of global powerhouses including Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc.

The former Japanese telephone monopoly set annual salaries of as much as $1 million for researchers at its Palo Alto, California, labs, said Kazuhiro Gomi, president of the company’s research arm. That’s more than the company pays its chief executive officer and 41-year veteran Jun Sawada, and a rare step for a traditional Japanese company like NTT.

The increased investment in basic science comes as NTT is regrouping its businesses to focus more on cloud computing services and data centers amid a dimming outlook for profit from its mainstay mobile phone carrier. Having star scientists on the lab’s payroll, backed by a 25 billion yen ($230 million) five-year budget, helps the group draw better technology workers and partners as it wages a global war for top talent it needs to expand globally, Gomi said.

“We are competing with companies like Google and Apple,” said Gomi, explaining that the company had traditionally followed the Japanese norm of modest pay. “It wouldn’t be possible several years back.”

Tatsuaki Okamoto, director of cryptography & information security for NTT Research, is an example of a star that has helped draw in other top researchers in encryption, where interest in crypto-currencies has led to surging demand for expertise. Okamoto, an NTT R&D fellow since 1999, is known globally as a key researcher on block-chain technologies for crypto-currencies…
[…]
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/japanese-tech-giant-offers-researchers-million-dollar-salaries/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-19/japan-s-ntt-is-offering-1-million-salaries-to-lure-researchers

NSF unwittingly hired a professor guilty of bullying, highlighting the ‘pass the harasser’ problem
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/nsf-unwittingly-hired-professor-guilty-bullying-highlighting-pass-harasser-problem