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smart glasses

New App Notifies Users When Someone Is Using Smart Glasses Near Them 

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Smart glasses have become more mainstream in recent years, making it harder to tell when someone might be secretly recording videos in public. Now, a new smartphone app called Nearby Glasses can notify users when they’re in the presence of smart glasses.

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The app scans Bluetooth signals and alerts the user when they pick up on a smart glasses signal. Smart glasses are packed with speakers, microphones, cameras, and AI features, but have begun looking more and more like regular glasses. Meta’s glasses, for example, are sold under the Ray-Ban and Oakley brands, two very popular eyewear companies. 

Last year, according to reports, the company sold over seven million units. Major tech giants like Apple, Google, and Samsung are also working on their own devices. 

The technology itself is also likely to become even more advanced. The New York Times reported earlier this month that Meta is working on facial recognition technology which would allow wearers to identify and pull up information about people through their AI assistant. 

“I consider it to be a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech,” Nearby Glasses developer, Yves Jeanrenaud, told 404 Media.

Jeanrenaud also said that his team began developing the app after they reviewed reports about smart glasses owners using the technology to record people without their consent. Specifically, there have been many reports of men filming inside massage parlors as well as Customs and Border Protection agents using them on duty. 

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Jeanrenaud then explained that Nearby Glasses work by scanning for Bluetooth signals that are broadcast by devices using advertising frames. He used a directory of Bluetooth Low Energy manufacturers to identify the signals used by Meta, Snap, and Luxottica Group, a subsidiary of the company EddilorLuxottica which manufactures Meta’s glasses.

“This is a tech solution to a social problem exaggerated by tech. I do not want to promote techsolutionism, nor do I want people to feel falsely secure. It’s still imperfect,” Jeanrenaud said, explaining that the app can still produce false positives and mistakenly identify VR headsets as smart glasses. 

The app is currently only available to download on the Google Play Store and GitHub for Android devices, but an iOS port is currently in the works. 

“Smart glasses are becoming more and more a part of our daily encounters. However, they are often not easy to distinguish from regular eyewear,” the app’s description reads.

The Future Of Flying: No More Boarding Passes Or Checking In 

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The International Civil Aviation Organization within the United Nations is working to overhaul the flying industry by getting rid of boarding passes and the need to check-in for flights.

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Global Cyber Outage Grounds Multiple International Flights 

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A cyber update recently impacted computer systems internationally, causing flights all over the world to ground while broadcasters were taken off air and banking and healthcare services were affected. 

“An update to a product offered by global cyberscurity firm CrowdStrike (CRWD.O), appeared to be the trigger, affecting customers using Microsoft’s (MSFT.O)Windows Operating System. Microsoft said later on Friday the issue had been fixed,” wrote Reuters.

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CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz stated on social media that the company was “actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts and that a fix was being deployed. This is not a security incident or cyberattack.”

American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines grounded flights early on Friday as well as other international airports around the world, which also reported delays and disruptions. 

Banks and financial service companies in Australia, Germany, India, and beyond sent warnings to their customers regarding disruptions and issues relating to executing transactions. 

“We are having the mother of all global market outages,” one trader said according to Reuters. 

“Microsoft’s cloud unit Azure said it was aware of the issue that impacted virtual machines running Windows OS and the CrowdStrike Falcon agent getting stuck in a ‘restarting state,’ amid an ongoing global outage,” the publication wrote. 

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“We’re aware of an issue affecting Windows devices due to an update from a third-party software platform. We anticipate a resolution is forthcoming,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

CrowdStrike said in an alert its “‘Falcon Sensor’ software was causing Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen.”

“Over half of Fortune 500 companies used CrowdStrike software,” the U.S. firm said.

“This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core Internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, Professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and former head of the UK National Cyber Security Centre.

Some international airports in Singapore, Hong Kong, and India had to check in passengers manually over the cyber outage. 

While companies have been restoring their services, many analysts in different branches are calling this potentially one of the biggest cyber outages in the history of the industry and economy. 

“IT security tools are all designed to ensure that companies can continue to operate in the worst-case scenario of a data breach, so to be the root cause of a global IT outage is an unmitigated disaster,” said Ajay Unni, CEO of one of Australia’s largest cybersecurity services companies, StickmanCyber.

social

Children In Australia To Potentially Be Blocked From Social Media As A Part Of New Pilot Trial 

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In May, Australia’s federal government announced a $6.5 million pilot trial regarding “age assurance technology” as a means of preventing children from accessing harmful and adult content online. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese initially announced that the pilot would work to “identify available age assurance products to protect children from online harm, and test the efficacy, including in relation to privacy and security.”

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“The outcomes will inform the existing work of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner under the Online Safety Act – including through the development of industry codes or standards – to reduce children’s exposure to age-inappropriate material,” he stated. 

Now, the Australian government has expanded the trial program to look into potentially blocking children from accessing social media altogether. They’re currently in discussions with Meta, who owns Facebook and Instagram. 

Multiple campaigns have started with the launch of this trial which worked to push the government to look into banning children under the age of 16 from social media. The government is now looking into how this could potentially be possible and what it would truly look like if it occurred, according to reports.

Communications department acting secretary for online safety, Bridget Gannon, stated that the government will be “consulting with experts, with children, with parents, to understand their concerns and their interests on this issue, and really pulling it together with some policy advice to the government on possible ways forward.”

“We want to understand how different technologies work at those younger ages for that social media work,” she said as reported by the Guardian. 

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Gannon also stated that the department has been speaking with multiple social media platforms like Meta, however, none of those companies are legally required to take part in the trial. In fact, Meta has already hinted that they are reluctant to take on the requirement of verifying the age of all of their users across their platforms. 

Instead, Meta believes that age verification should be the responsibility of app stores like Apple and Google. 

While individuals involved in the trial and within the committee have made the argument that these companies should feel obligated to comply with the trial, regardless of legal responsibility.

Gannon said it would be in these companies best interest to be involved in the trial as it will be informing them on how new codes will be developed and enforced as well. 

She also stated that the department will be working with technology experts to accurately assess how effective various technologies will work and what their impact may be. They will also work to analyze how easy it would be to regulate and distribute that technology over private networks.

paris

You’ll Need A QR Code To Access Certain Parts Of Paris During The Summer Olympics 

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During this year’s Summer Olympic Games, the French capital of Paris will be split into zones for security and safety reasons. If individuals want to enter certain areas, it will be required that they have a pass on their phone in the form of a QR code. 

Special measures will be implemented throughout the entire city starting in July with the Games. Residents themselves will need to apply for a special game pass, “Pass Jeux,” on a platform run by police in order to enter certain zones of the city. 

This system will mainly apply to people who are driving, however, pedestrians will also be required to show a QR code in any areas labeled “gray zones,” which will mainly be around the River Seine around where the opening ceremony will be taking place.

According to Metro UK, the codes will be checked at various access points along the entrances of each zone, which will be guarded by officers. 

Applications for the passes have been opened to the public, and requires individuals to upload various documents in order to be authorized. 

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The opening ceremony gray zone requirements will be in place 24 hours a day for an eight-day period from July 18th to the 26th. 

Once the games officially begin the gray zone will be lifted but drivers will still need their passes at the perimeters of the “red” and “blue” zones which also cover significant areas around the city. The gray zones cover areas where events are taking place. 

“To be granted a pass, people must show proof of identity, an identity photo, their address, and potentially other documents including vehicle registration documents or proof of their employer,” according to Metro UK.

Safety is a huge concern for authorities during this year’s summer olympics. The UK government has warned that terrorists are likely to carry out attacks in France. 

“Zones prohibiting road traffic once the games begin are designed to protect the flow of spectators from the Olympic and Paralympic venues,” organizers said.

“They will be activated each day of the event on the site, 2.5 hours before the first competition and 1 hour after the last.”

balloon

China Spy Balloons Discovered Under Biden, But This Is Not The First Time They’ve Appeared

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According to a senior administration official working under President Joe Biden, the recent sighting of the spy balloon from China is not the first time one has appeared in the US in recent years. In fact, three suspected spy balloons from China appeared over the US during the Trump administration, but were not discovered until Biden took office. 

The official told CNN that the intelligence committee is currently preparing to give briefings to key Trump administration officials regarding the surveillance program from China. The Biden Administration believes that the program has been deployed in five continents within he past several years. 

The Pentagon initially stated that similar balloon sightings had been reported during Trump’s administration following the suspected Chinese spy balloon sighting over Montana last week. 

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“I don’t ever recall somebody coming into my office or reading anything that the Chinese had a surveillance balloon above the United States,” said former Trump administration Defense Secretary Mark Esper to CNN.

A former national security adviser under Trump, John Bolton, reasserted Esper’s point stating that the former administration had knowledge of the surveillance program: “Did the Biden administration invent a time machine? What is the basis of this new detection?”

“The very fact, if it is a fact, that the Chinese tried this before, should have alerted us and should have caused us to take action before the balloon crossed into American sovereign territory.”

An official with the Biden Administration stated the previous incidents were not discovered until Trump had already left office, but no information has been given regarding when these supposed previous sightings happened or how. 

The Pentagon has reportedly briefed Congress regarding the precious Chinese balloon surveillance sightings during the Trump administration that, at the time, flew over Texas and Florida. 

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Representative Michael Waltz said in a statement to CNN that “currently, we understand there were incursions near Florida and Texas, but we don’t have clarity on what kind of systems were on these balloons or if these incursions occurred in territorial waters or overflew land.”

“Another Chinese spy balloon also transited the continental US briefly at the beginning of the Biden administration, the senior administration official said. But the balloon that was shot down by the US military on Saturday was unique in both the path it took, down from Alaska and Canada into the US, and the length of time it spent loitering over sensitive missile sites in Montana,” officials stated to CNN.

“Closely observing the balloon in flight has allowed us to better understand this Chinese program and further confirmed its mission was surveillance.”

Biden acknowledged that he ordered the Pentagon to shoot the balloon down last Wednesday when he was initially briefed of its presence over Montana. 

“Shooting it down over water also maximized the possibility of recovering the payload – the equipment carried by the balloon that the US says was being used for surveillance – intact and able to be examined further by the US intelligence community,” officials said.

tiktok

US House Of Representatives Banned From Using TikTok On Their Electronic Devices 

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According to an internal notice sent to the staff of the House of Representatives – obtained by CNN from the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer – TikTok has been banned from any and all electronic devices used and owned by members of the House of Representatives and prospective staff.

The notice stated that the app must be uninstalled from any House mobile device if it’s already installed. This is due to the government’s view of TikTok being a “high risk to users due to a number of security risks.” 

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The US government has also been in talks to ban TikTok from all federal devices in the near future. This ban is a part of a piece of legislation included in the omnibus bill recently signed by President Joe Biden. More than a dozen states throughout the US have also already implemented their own restrictions and prohibitions on TikTok on government devices.

While TikTok hasn’t made any official comment regarding this recent ban on House devices, the company previously stated that the government’s moves to ban the app is a “political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests.”

One of the biggest concerns coming from lawmakers regarding TikTok involves the social media app’s parent company, ByteDance. 

US policymakers are concerned about national security and the risk of the Chinese government pressuring either TikTok or its parent company into acquiring, using, and sharing personal information specifically from its US users. 

This information is thought to be potentially used for Chinese intelligence operations or the sharing of disinformation backed by China’s government. 

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While there hasn’t been any direct instances or attempts of these security breaches occurring, the platform did confirm last week that four employees were fired for accessing user data on TikTok from two journalists. 

The battle between the US government and TikTok has been ongoing since 2020, when the app truly began rising in popularity; partially due to the pandemic and quarantine restrictions that left citizens at home yearning for entertainment. 

Both the government and the platform have been working on negotiations to resolve any potential national security risks so that the app can continue to be used by US citizens. 

“The potential agreement under review covers key concerns around corporate governance, content recommendation and moderation, and data security and access,” TikTok has stated. 

For now, the US government is moving forward with its plans to ban the social media platform from all government used/connected devices, with the potential for wider bans to be implemented in the future.

Snapchat Fights Drug Dealing With Automated Drug Detection System On App 

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Snapchat announced that they will be making a greater effort to combat drug dealing on the platform. The announcement is partially due to the increased amount of drug-related deaths among US high school and college-aged students. 

Snapchat announced that they have adopted improved automated drug detection systems as well as enhancing partnerships with law enforcement. The app will also now have a portal that can be used for educating users on the dangers of drugs. 

“Our position on this has always been clear: we have absolutely zero tolerance for drug dealing on Snapchat. We have a unique opportunity to use our voice, technology and resources to help address this scourge, which threatens the lives of our community members.”

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The increased security efforts come after the CDC warned of a major spike of drug overdoses in 2021, mainly driven by fentanyl; a cheap synthetic opioid that’s 100 times more potent than heroin, and is often mixed with counterfeit pills that young people buy through social media. 

In 2020 fentanyl fatalities rose by 32% when compared to 2019; more than 93,000 deaths. Individuals aged 24 or younger have seen a 50% increase in drug deaths as well.

“Every drug you try now is a game of Russian roulette,” Shabbir Safdar, director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, a non-profit fighting pharmaceutical counterfeits, said. 

A recent study from the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found that pills labeled as Oxycontin, Percocet, Xanax or Adderall are readily available on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and Craigslist. 

Within the past year Snapchat claims it has increased its proactive detection of drug sales by 390%; increasing security efforts by 50% within the last quarter alone. When Snapchat’s systems detect drug dealing activity on the app the account is automatically banned and the creator is blocked from creating new accounts on the platform. 

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The company has also increased their partnerships with law enforcement and improved on response times to law enforcement inquiries by 85% within the past year. 

Snapchat said it is “working with experts to continually update the list of slang and drug-related terms blocked from search results on Snapchat. Other platforms should also take measures to put a stop to the massive rise in online drug dealing. This is not just a Snapchat problem,” said Christine Elgersma, a senior editor at children’s safety non-profit Common Sense Media.

At a 2021 congressional hearing, Instagram executive Adam Mosseri had to answer questions regarding drug dealing on social media.

“Why are children’s accounts even allowed to search for drug content to begin with, much less allowed to do so in a way that leads them to a drug dealer in two clicks?” asked the Republican senator Mike Lee of Utah.

“Accounts selling drugs or any other regulated goods are not allowed on the platform. The app uses technology to proactively take down a huge number of drug-related posts, Mosseri responded.

Astroworld Victims’ Families Reject Travis Scott’s Offer To Cover Funeral Costs 

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Travis Scott’s offer to pay for the funeral costs of Astroworld victims has been rejected by half of the bereaved families. One of them is the family of nine-year-old Ezra Blount, who was the youngest of the 10 victims who lost their lives from the Texas music festival. 

Scott made the offer last week after multiple lawsuits against him, his team, livenation, and others involved in the festival were filed. A lawyer for the family of 14-year-old John Hilgert responded to the offer recently to the media: 

“The gesture is demeaning and inappropriate. Of all the things this case is about, the cost of the funeral is the least of any concern. This family is set on making change, and ensuring this never happens at a concert again.” 

On Friday November 5th, a crowd surge occurred during Scott’s set at Astroworld. There were around 50,000 people attending the festival in Houston’s NRG Park Complex. 

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Ten individuals have now lost their lives due to the surging that occurred at the event, the oldest of which was just 27-years-old. Blount died nine days after the concert after being placed in a medically induced coma due to the severity of his injuries. 

Scott’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, wrote to the nine-year-old’s family the day after the funeral, offering to pay for the entire service. 

“Travis is devastated by the tragedy that occurred at the Astroworld Festival and grieves for the families whose loved ones died or were injured. Travis is committed to doing his part to help the families who have suffered and begin the long process of healing in the Houston community. Toward that end, Travis would like to pay for the funeral expenses for Mr Blount’s son,” the letter read.

The family’s lawyer, Bob Hilliard, immediately declined the offer on behalf of the Blount family with a letter:

“I have no doubt Mr. Scott feels remorse. His journey ahead will be painful. He must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility of this tragedy.” 

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Other families have called out Scott, and claimed that the rapper’s offer was simply to repair his public image, and if he actually cared about his fans, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place. 

Philip Corboy, the lawyer for the families of Jacob Jurinek and Franco Patino, 21-year-old best friends who were at the concert together, said Scott’s approach to make amends through his legal team leaves the impression “that all he’s trying to do is lessen the public outcry against him.”

“If he’s trying to impress upon the families that he’s sincere and has concern for them and realize that funerals can be expensive, what Soctt’s team did is not the way to do it,” Corboy continued.

“You don’t get a piece of paper in the mail from a lawyer in Beverly Hills who says he represents Travis Scott. These families are raw right now; that lacks any personal touch.”

Tony Buzbee, who represents the family of Axel Acosta (21), also publicly questioned Scott’s motives in choosing to make the announcement that he would pay for the funeral costs through a “press release that everyone could see.” 

“He says he feels sorry for them but he’s quick to say it wasn’t his fault. He’s no different than any defendant pointing fingers to someone else. They don’t want funeral expenses from him. Whatever we get from him we’re going to get through the court system,” Buzbee exclaimed. 

US Mexico Border

Texas Governor Orders National Guard To Assist With Arrests At US-Mexico Border

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the state’s national guard members to help assist the Department of Public Safety in arresting undocumented immigrants at the US-Mexico border. 

Abbott’s order was a part of a letter sent to Major General Tracy R. Norris of the Texas Military Department. The order itself expands upon Abbott’s June declaration which directed the DPS to enforce all federal and state criminal laws. These laws include anything involving criminal trespassing, smuggling, and human trafficking. 

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“That declaration had allowed the use of all available state resources to assist state and local law enforcement in protecting Texans from criminal activity and property damage,” according to news reports. 

“To respond to this disaster and secure the rule of law at our Southern border, more manpower is needed,” Abbott wrote in the letter. 

“DPS needs help in arresting those who are violating state law. … I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border.”

The order comes after the Biden Administration announced its plans to tackle the surge of migration and illegal contraband coming into the country through the border. 

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“President Biden’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities,” Abbott said in a statement.

In June, border authorities stopped around 188,800 crossings, which was the highest for the entire year. The previous high of about 180,000 was set in May of this year. 

“People think that this is a border-related issue and it is, but this is also an issue that affects counties across the entire state of Texas.”

Abbott held a security briefing at the Texas state house in Austin this month, where sheriffs from local communities have expressed concern over a lack of manpower, jail space, and judges on the local level. So while the governor is focusing on combating illegal activity at the border, local authorities are struggling to protect their own communities.