ReHacked #94: Proton wins appeal in Swiss court over surveillance laws, Postpandemic career reshaping, FBI orders Google to track anyone searching certain names and more
<...> the top 10,000 individual owners controlled about 8.5 million Bitcoins <...>
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Proton wins appeal in Swiss court over surveillance laws - SWI swissinfo.ch #privacy
On Friday, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court upheld Proton’s appeal against the Swiss Post and Telecommunications Surveillance Service (PTSS) over obligations to store data and monitor email traffic. The court confirmed that email services can’t be considered telecommunications providers in Switzerland, and therefore are not subject to data retention requirements.
Proton founder and CEO Andy Yen said the ruling was an "important first step" in its campaign to advance privacy and freedom, reported Reuters.
These 5 themes are shaping the future of work - Big Think #career #psychology
When it comes to the world of work, COVID-19 has taught us an important lesson: that preparedness is everything.
In a new report, The Changing Nature of Work: 30 signals to consider for a sustainable future, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) examines how workplace developments are likely to influence the way we move forward as a society.
One key finding? That planning for disruption is critical, not only to enable a rapid response to external shocks, but to ensure that any necessary adaptation is inclusive of marginalized populations.
1. The pandemic has highlighted the emphasis we need to put on wellbeing
2. Digital technology will change the way we work forever
3. When it comes to new work models, we’re still finding our way
4. The right conditions at work can help foster inclusion
5. Entrepreneurship is transforming the way we do business
- Investigators are secretly using keyword warrants to help track down criminals
- The relatively new style of warrant orders Google to track and provide user data on anyone who searches specific names, addresses or telephone numbers
- Cybersecurity experts fear that keyword warrants set a precedent for breaching the fourth amendment protection against unreasonable searches
- Google, however, has defended its decision to respond to the federal government's keyword warrants and claims they protect users when doing so
- Both the FBI and Department of Homeland Security have been cited as entities that have or may use keyword warrants
EBCDIC is incompatible with GDPR – Terence Eden’s Blog #privacy
Bank X also explained that the current customer data management application was launched in 1995 and is still running on a US manufactured mainframe system.
This system only supported EBCDIC ("extended binary-coded decimal interchange code"). This is an 8-bit standard for storing letters and punctuation marks, developed in 1963-1964 by IBM for their mainframes and AS/400 computers. The code comes from of the use of punch cards and only contains the following characters…
The fatiguing effects of camera use in virtual meetings: A within-person field experiment. #health #psychology
The COVID-19 pandemic propelled many employees into remote work arrangements, and face-to-face meetings were quickly replaced with virtual meetings. This rapid uptick in the use of virtual meetings led to much popular press discussion of virtual meeting fatigue (i.e., “Zoom fatigue”), described as a feeling of being drained and lacking energy following a day of virtual meetings. In this study, we aimed to better understand how one salient feature of virtual meetings—the camera—impacts fatigue, which may affect outcomes during meetings (e.g., participant voice and engagement). We did so through the use of a 4-week within-person experience sampling field experiment where camera use was manipulated. Drawing from theory related to self-presentation, we propose and test a model where study condition (camera on versus off) was linked to daily feelings of fatigue; daily fatigue, in turn, was presumed to relate negatively to voice and engagement during virtual meetings. We further predict that gender and organizational tenure will moderate this relationship such that using a camera during virtual meetings will be more fatiguing for women and newer members of the organization. Results of 1,408 daily observations from 103 employees supported our proposed model, with supplemental analyses suggesting that fatigue affects same-day and next-day meeting performance. Given the anticipated prevalence of remote work even after the pandemic subsides, our study offers key insights for ongoing organizational best practices surrounding virtual meetings.
Banning anonymous social media accounts would only stifle free speech and democracy | Owen Jones | The Guardian #internet #freespeech #socialneworks
The aftermath of the horrific killing of Conservative MP David Amess should have been a moment for politicians and the public to unite in an effort to protect democracy. Instead, the discussion has been derailed by a push to ban anonymous social media accounts, which would stifle free speech and democratic rights.
Volcanic activity, seismic shifts: WWII ships from Battle of Iwo Jima raised from watery graves – Taiwan English News #nature #history
Eruptions from volcanos in Japan’s Ogasawara Islands have caused movements in the earth’s crust, created a new island, and raised ships sunk during the Battle of Iwo Jima above the sea surface, according to Japan’s TV Asahi.
According to the TV Asahi report, the submarine volcano Fukutoku-Okanoba, situated around 50 kilometers south of Iwo Jima, erupted on August 13.
Researchers from the Comprehensive Volcano Research Center of the National Institute of Earth Sciences and Disaster Prevention of Japan took a flight to observe the area on October 17, and found that a new island had appeared on the surface of the sea at Fukuoka Field.
An Atomic Clock Promises Link Between Quantum World and Gravity | Quanta Magazine #physics #nature #science
The infamous twin paradox sends the astronaut Alice on a blazing-fast space voyage. When she returns to reunite with her twin, Bob, she finds that he has aged much faster than she has. It’s a well-known but perplexing result: Time slows if you’re moving fast.
Gravity does the same thing. Earth — or any massive body — warps space-time in a way that slows time, according to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. If Alice lived her life at sea level and Bob at the top of Everest, where Earth’s gravitational pull is slightly weaker, he would again age faster. The difference on Earth is modest but real — it’s been measured by putting atomic clocks on mountaintops and valley floors and measuring the difference between the two.
This word does not exist #fun #link
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, continues to rage in many countries, straining health systems and economies. Vaccines protect against severe disease and death and are considered central to ending the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccines (and SARS-CoV-2 infection) elicit antibodies that are directed against the viral spike (S) protein and neutralize the virus. However, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with S protein mutations that confer resistance to neutralization might compromise vaccine efficacy. Furthermore, emerging viral variants with enhanced transmissibility, likely due to altered virus-host cell interactions, might rapidly spread globally. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants exhibit altered host cell interactions and resistance against antibody-mediated neutralization.
Jeff Allen, Sahar Massachi launch Integrity Institute - Protocol — The people, power and politics of tech #internet #privacy #socialnetworks
Shortly before he left Facebook in October 2019, Jeff Allen published his last report as a data scientist for the company's integrity team — the team Facebook Papers whistleblower Frances Haugen has recently made famous.
The report revealed, as Allen put it at the time, some "genuinely horrifying" findings. Namely, three years after the 2016 election, troll farms in Kosovo and Macedonia were continuing to operate vast networks of Facebook pages filled with mostly plagiarized content targeting Black Americans and Christian Americans on Facebook. Combined, the troll farms' pages reached 140 million Facebook users a month, dwarfing the reach of even Walmart's Facebook presence.
Not only had Facebook failed to stop its spread, Allen wrote in a 20-page report that was recently leaked to and published by MIT Tech Review, but the vast majority of the network's reach came from Facebook's ranking algorithms.
Sara Cultural Centre, Skellefteå - A new home for culture | White Arkitekter #engineering #architecture
The low rise consists of a timber frame with pillars and beams made of glue lam and cores and shear walls in cross laminated timber. The construction helps redistributing loads and enhances structural stability from the high rise. The high rise has 13 floors and consists of stacked 3D volumes of timber between two cores at each end.
The characteristic trusses above the grand foyers are composed of a GLT and steel hybrid that enables a flexible, open-plan space that can host a range of activities and functions within. Flexibility of use guarantees the building’s long-term sustainability by allowing it to adapt to future demands.
The glass façade wrapping the building reflects the sky while revealing the spectacular exposed timber-framed ceiling inside. This ceiling is a recurring motif that guides visitors through the venue. The wood construction is designed to endure Skellefteå’s harsh weather conditions, while also remaining energy efficient. The green roof contributes to thermal insulation, as well as absorbing noise pollution, enhancing biodiversity and delaying rain water run-off.
url redirection - Can I safely preview a short link? - Information Security Stack Exchange #security #internet
curl
curl does not follow redirects by default. The option -I tells it to only download the headers:
curl -sI https://bit.ly/3kwQV20 | grep -i LocationOutput:
location: https://security.stackexchange.com/q/255448/230952Bitcoin is largely controlled by a small group of investors and miners, study finds | TechSpot #blockchain
Bitcoin and other popular cryptocurrencies are more easily obtainable than ever, but that hasn’t changed the fact that a small percentage of users still control the majority of the market. According to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) via Bloomberg, the top 10,000 individual Bitcoin investors control roughly one third of the cryptocurrency in circulation.
It can be difficult to differentiate individual owners from larger groups and exchanges that hold currency for many users, but the NBER was able to skirt this challenge by using a specific data collection method capable of making the distinction. What they discovered is that at the end of last year, the top 10,000 individual owners controlled about 8.5 million Bitcoins while the top groups oversaw closer to 5.5 million Bitcoins.
Female African Elephants Are Evolving Without Tusks Due to Ivory Poaching | The Swaddle #nature
Relentless ivory hunting over decades has caused elephants to evolve in a way we never imagined them to. More and more female African elephants are now born without tusks. In other words, human actions are “literally changing the anatomy” of wild animals, according to a new study.
It is hard to imagine elephants without tusks. These sharp, off-white protruding organs are known to give the species an evolutionary advantage — helping them dig, gather food, strip bark from trees to eat, and defend themselves. “The tusks also protect the trunk—another valuable tool for drinking, breathing, and eating, among other uses,” World Wildlife noted.
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