Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Privacy-tools-seller Windscribe said it failed to encrypt company VPN servers that were recently confiscated by authorities in Ukraine, a lapse that made it possible for the authorities to impersonate Windscribe servers and capture and decrypt traffic passing through them. The Ontario, Canada-based company said earlier this month that two servers hosted...
Archives: Projects
Project
UK worries Starlink and OneWeb may interfere with each other, plans new rules
Enlarge / Artist’s impression of low-Earth-orbit satellites like those launched by SpaceX and OneWeb. (credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / P. Marenfeld) A UK government agency is worried that OneWeb, SpaceX’s Starlink, and similar low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-broadband systems could block each others’ signals. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, proposed new rules today...
Project
Sean Gallagher and an AI expert break down our crazy machine-learning adventure
Enlarge We’ve spent the past few weeks burning copious amounts of AWS compute time trying to invent an algorithm to parse Ars’ front-page story headlines to predict which ones will win an A/B test—and we learned a lot. One of the lessons is that we—and by “we,” I mainly mean “me,” since this odyssey was...
Project
(BPRW) Black Girl Magic Digital Summit Returns to Empower Women
(Black PR Wire) Timed to Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, Boss Women Media – an organization committed to empowering & educating Black women – along with Capital One will come together to host a two-day digital summit on August
Project
Facebook’s Next Target: The Religious Experience
The company is intensifying formal partnerships with faith groups across the United States and shaping the future of religious experience.
Project
Venmo gets more private—but it’s still not fully safe
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Venmo, the popular mobile payment service, has redesigned its app. That’s normally news you could safely ignore, but this announcement is worth a closer look. In addition to making some navigational tweaks and adding new purchase protections, the PayPal-owned platform is finally shutting down its global social feed, where the app...
Project
The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online
Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.
Project
Biden’s Antitrust Team Signals a Big Swing at Corporate Titans
The president has stacked his administration with crusaders who have spent their careers challenging corporate consolidation.
Project
An explosive spyware report shows limits of iOS, Android security
Enlarge / A report this week indicates that the problem of high-caliber spyware is far more widespread than previously feared. (credit: Pau Barrena | Getty Images) The shadowy world of private spyware has long caused alarm in cybersecurity circles, as authoritarian governments have repeatedly been caught targeting the smartphones of activists, journalists, and political rivals...
Project
How Tech Won the Pandemic and Now May Never Lose
As the world reeled, Silicon Valley supplied the tools that made life and work possible. Now tech companies are awash in money — and questions about what it means to win amid so much loss.