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Showing posts with label US & Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US & Canada. Show all posts

Thursday, 16 March 2017

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Can a sex toy spy on you?

A Canadian sex-toy maker has been accused of tracking data on the intimate habits of thousands of its customers.
The Ottawa-based company, Standard Innovation, has agreed a collective payout up to a total of C$4m (£2.4m) for users in the US, where the lawsuit was filed.
But where does that leave other sex-toy users?
Are there new forms of protection that people should now consider?

The case against the Canadian sex toy

In Standard Innovation's case, an app was at the root of the problem.
The We-Connect app connected to its We-Vibe vibrator, and the data collected was sent back to the company, including details on temperatures, settings and usage.
A class-action lawsuit was filed in September 2016 by customers who alleged the company violated their privacy rights.
This week, the company agreed its payout for US customers who bought the product before 26 September last year.
Under the deal, those who used the We-Connect app will be paid up to C$10,000 each.
Customers who bought the toy, but did not activate the accompanying app, will receive up to US$199 each.
The settlement only applies to customers in the US, and Standard Innovation says it has since enhanced its privacy notice and app security.

Why would you need an app to use a sex toy?

According to Ann Summers, a British retail chain that specialises in sex toys, the market is becoming increasingly hi-tech.
"Our company has been around since the early 1970s," said spokeswoman Kyrsty Hazell-Page. "Back then, products didn't even vibrate. Then they moved from battery-powered to USB-charged, then came apps and now virtual reality is the next big thing."

The We-Connect app allowed users to control the device's intensity via their mobile phone.
It also enabled a user to allow another user to activate the product from afar via Bluetooth technology.
Standard Innovation said the data it collected was for market-research purposes, but some users felt violated, as the information is particularly personal.
The lawsuit also voiced concerns that the information could be linked to the email address they provided to the company.
The company has since said there has been no breach of our customers' personal information or data.
It says it has also changed its privacy practices, and says "data is used in aggregate and anonymous form that does not personally identify any individual".
At Ann Summers, Ms Hazell-Page said the industry was learning from the case: "We have to be really mindful as it is really important that we protect customers' safety and data in everything we do."
The retain chain, which sells We-Vibe products, said, "We are satisfied with the security changes undertaken by them in September".

How did users find out?

Two hackers at Def Con, a US hacking convention, gave a talk at the August 2016 event called The Internet of Vibrating Things, in which they demonstrated how data is sent from the We-Vibe device to Standard Innovation.

A Hacked By Def Con event at Tribeca Film Festival in 2016Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionA Hacked By Def Con event at Tribeca Film Festival in 2016

The pair, who go by the names of Goldfisk and Follower, also showed how third parties could intercept the data, or even take control of the vibrator and commit what they called "potentially sexual assault".

How risky are sex apps?

"Cybersecurity issues are now in all area of life," said cybersecurity specialist Jessica Barker, who runs website Cyber.uk.
More and more products are being invented with internet compatibility, from light switches to fridges, creating what has called "the internet of things".

"In general, the more connect we are the more this opens us up to vulnerabilities, which all sorts of people could take advantage of," said Ms Barker.
In the US, parents have even been warned about the possibility of baby monitors being hacked.
New EU data-protection laws are expected to have an effect, as, from May 2018, companies could face huge fines if they misuse personal data or fail be transparent about its usage.
The law is designed to protect EU citizens but companies based outside the union will also have to comply if they are serving EU consumers.

Is the CIA interested in your sex habits?

Earlier this month, the Wikileaks website published allegations that the CIA had developed ways to listen in on smartphones and smart-TV microphones.
However, Ms Barker says intelligence agencies "do not have the resource or the will" to be monitoring the average person's sex life.
"What people need to be more concerned about is cybercrime," she said. "If a product can take video footage, this could be used to extort you. We have seen this already in what we call sextortion cases."
This is when a person consents to sending someone sexual images but the recipient turns out to be a fraudster, or possibly part of a criminal gang, who then threatens to release the footage unless they receive a payoff.
Clicking on a suspect file sent via email can also lead to malware infecting a computer, and could allow someone to hack into the machine's camera.
This is not a new crime. One of the most famous cases came in 2013, when Jared James Abrahams, a 20-year-old computer-science student from California, hacked and threatened two dozen women, including a winner of the Miss Teen USA beauty pageant. He was later sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Ms Barker recommends covering the camera lens on your laptop, either by using a sticker, a piece of tape or a widget sold for this purpose.

Are microwaves watching us?

Kellyanne Conway, an advisor to US President Trump, was mocked earlier in the week for comments suggesting that microwaves could be used as cameras to spy on people.
"I'm not Inspector Gadget," she later told US news network CNN. "I don't believe people are using their microwave to spy on the Trump campaign. However, I am not in the job of having evidence."

Kellyanne Conway giving a television interviewImage copyrightASSOCIATED PRESS
Image captionKellyanne Conway told the media "I am not Inspector Gadget", after criticism of her comments on technology surveillance

Technology website Wired looked into the matter and concluded: "Microwave ovens are not an effective spy tool."
Wired referred specifically to the idea of microwaves as cameras. It said the microwave would have to have an outward-facing webcam built into its design before it could be taken over by outside forces.
There are no known microwaves with webcams on the market.
However, the idea has been mooted on online forum Reddit, where a user once asked if one could be created so that you could check on your dinner from a device in another room.

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Trump travel ban: US judge blocks new executive order

A Federal judge in Hawaii has blocked President Donald Trump's new travel ban, hours before it was due to begin at midnight on Thursday.
US District Judge Derrick Watson cited "questionable evidence" in the government's argument that the ban was a matter of national security.
President Trump described the ruling as "unprecedented judicial overreach".
The order would have placed a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations and a 120-day ban on refugees.
Mr Trump insists the move is to stop terrorists from entering the US but critics say it is discriminatory.
An earlier version of the order, issued in late January, sparked confusion and protests, and was blocked by a judge in Seattle.
Speaking at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday evening, Mr Trump said the ruling in Hawaii made the US "look weak". He said he would take the case "as far as it needs to go" including to the Supreme Court, adding: "We're going to win."
Hawaii is one of several US states trying to stop the ban.
Lawyers had argued that the ban would violate the US constitution by discriminating against people on the grounds of their national origin.
The state also said the ban would harm tourism and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers.

Back to the drawing board: Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Donald Trump's first travel ban was suspended because it likely violated the due process rights of individuals with valid residency papers and visas. The battle over whether it imposed an unconstitutional religious test on certain immigrants was put off until another day. That day has arrived.
In its decision, the federal court in Hawaii used Mr Trump's own words - and the words of his advisers - against him. The text of the executive order, Judge Derrick Watson held, could not be separated from the context of the recent presidential campaign, "Muslim ban" rhetoric and all. An order that discriminates against some Muslims, he continued, is just as legally deficient as one that discriminates against them all.
Now it's back to the drawing board for the Trump administration or - perhaps an even gloomier prospect - back to the Ninth Circuit court of appeals, which ruled against the president on the original ban just last month.
After Mr Trump's previous adverse legal ruling, he angrily tweeted "We'll see you in court." Although it took a new travel order to get there, it turns out he was right.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is attending a court hearing in Seattle in his efforts to block the travel ban, described the ruling as "fantastic news".
"It's very exciting. At this point it's a team effort - multiple lawsuits and multiple states," he said.
A court hearing was also taking place in Maryland where lawyers told a Federal judge the travel ban still discriminated against Muslims.
After the ruling in Hawaii, the legal battle is now expected to move to the federal appeals circuit.
Image captionPresident Trump told a rally in Nashville that he would fight the court ruling
Under the revised order, citizens of six countries on the original 27 January order - Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - would once more be subject to a 90-day travel ban.
Iraq was removed from the list because its government boosted visa screening and data sharing, White House officials said.
The revised order also lifts an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees and says Green Card holders (legal permanent residents of the US) from the named countries will not be affected.
But more than half a dozen US states have joined lawsuits in an attempt to block it.
In his presidential campaign, Mr Trump vowed "a total and complete shutdown" of Muslim immigration to the US, and to implement a process of "extreme vetting" in order to prevent violent extremists from entering the US.

Wednesday, 8 March 2017

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America's most hated mom' breaks silence

An Orlando mother who was found not guilty of murdering her two-year old daughter Caylee has broken her silence six years later.
"I'm OK with myself, I sleep pretty good at night," Casey Anthony told the Associated Press, adding that she does not care "what anyone thinks about me".
The 30-year-old complained about her portrayal in the media as a partying child-killer.
Anthony was convicted of lying to police but acquitted of murder.
If found guilty she could have faced the death penalty under Florida law.
"My sentence was doled out long before there was a verdict. Sentence first, verdict afterward," she said.

Casey Anthony at homeImage copyrightAP
Image captionShe never took the stand to testify during her trial

"People found me guilty long before I had my day in court."
The 2011 case drew millions of viewers across the US, with every twist covered on live television.
Anthony was dubbed "America's most hated mom" amid reports she went to nightclubs and got a tattoo in the month her daughter was missing.
Last week the former judge that presided over the case spoke out to say that Anthony "more than likely" accidently killed her daughter by using too much chloroform to calm her before suffocating her with duct tape.
During the trial, her defence argued that the girl drowned in the pool, and that Anthony and her father covered it up.
The government failed to secure a conviction due to the lack of physical evidence tying her to Caylee's death.
When asked about the drowning defence, Anthony hesitated.
"Everyone has their theories, I don't know. As I stand here today I can't tell you one way or another.
"The last time I saw my daughter I believed she was alive and was going to be OK, and that's what was told to me."
She added: "Caylee would be 12 right now. And would be a total badass."

Friday, 3 March 2017

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Arnie exits Apprentice and blames Trump

Arnold Schwarzenegger has quit The New Celebrity Apprentice, saying it has become tainted by Donald Trump's involvement.
In an interview with Empire, the actor and former California governor claimed that low ratings were due to President Trump's credit as executive producer.
He said he would like to work "on a show that doesn't have this baggage".
Mr Trump - who left the show to run for the White House - has previously ridiculed his TV boardroom successor.
In Friday's interview, Mr Schwarzenegger claimed an anti-Trump social media campaign had impacted the ratings of the show, on which he debuted in January.
"When people found out that Trump was still involved as executive producer and was still receiving money from the show, then half the people [started] boycotting it," said the former Mr Universe.
"It's not about the show... because everyone I ran into came up to me and said, 'I love the show... but I turned it off because as soon as I read Trump's name I'm outta there!'
"It's a very divisive period now and I think this show got caught up in all that division," he said, adding that he would decline if asked to host again."
Mr Schwarzenegger has often clashed on Twitter with Mr Trump.
Last month at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, Mr Trump mockingly asked people to "pray for Arnold... for those ratings".
He said the show had been swamped "in comparison to the ratings machine, DJT", using his own initials.
The show, whose 15th season ended last month, averaged fewer than five million viewers per episode.
New York real estate businessman Mr Trump became a household name as the show's host for 14 seasons.
Some 20 million Americans were regular watchers in its first year before the viewing figures tapered to six million for Mr Trump's last episode.

Thursday, 2 March 2017

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Oscar mishap accountants 'will never return' to ceremony

The two accountants responsible for muddling up the main award envelopes at Sunday's Oscars ceremony will not be employed to do the job again, the academy president has announced.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs said that the relationship with the accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) was also under review.
Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz were responsible for Sunday's mishap.
La La Land was mistakenly named best picture instead of winner Moonlight.
The team behind La La Land were in the middle of their speeches before the real winner was revealed.
It has been described as the biggest mistake in 89 years of Academy Awards history.
Mr Cullinan mistakenly handed the wrong envelope to the two presenters.
He gave Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the back-up envelope for best actress in a leading role - rather than the envelope which contained the name of the winner for the best film.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which counts the votes and organises the envelopes, has apologised for the mix-up.
Mr Cullinan tweeted a picture of best actress winner Emma Stone minutes before handing the presenters the wrong envelope, and Ms Boone Isaacs blamed "distraction" for the error.

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