Avast Antivirus Is Shutting Down Its Data Collection Arm
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxejbb/avast-antivirus-is-shutting-down-jumpshot-data-collection-arm-effective-immediately [www.vice.com]
2020-05-17 03:36
tags:
malware
windows
Avast will no longer collect or sell its users’ internet browsing data
...after getting caught.
Somewhat old, but deserves a spot in the archive of malfeasance.
source: cox
People Are Jailbreaking Used Teslas to Get the Features They Expect
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3mb3w/people-are-jailbreaking-used-teslas-to-get-the-features-they-expect [www.vice.com]
2020-02-11 23:21
tags:
business
cars
ioshit
valley
Last week, Jalopnik ran an article about a person who bought a used Tesla from a dealer—who in turn bought it at auction directly from Tesla under California’s lemon law buyback program—advertised as having Autopilot, the company’s Advanced Driver Assistance System. The entire Autopilot package, which the car had when the dealer bought it, costs an extra $8,000. Then, Tesla remotely removed the software because “Full-Self Driving was not a feature that you had paid for.” Tesla said if the customer wanted Autopilot back, he’d have to fork over the $8,000.
source: cox
'Mario Maker 2' Creators Are Using Cryptography to Make Impossible Levels
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qvg5aw/mario-maker-2-creators-are-using-cryptography-to-make-impossible-levels [www.vice.com]
2019-11-08 02:59
tags:
auth
crypto
development
gaming
security
A strange competition has popped up to create levels with audacious passcodes that you could spend a lifetime trying to guess.
source: cox
Inside the Phone Company Secretly Run By Drug Traffickers
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjwbmm/inside-the-phone-company-secretly-run-by-drug-traffickers [www.vice.com]
2019-10-23 06:17
tags:
android
article
hoipolloi
opsec
All over the world, in Dutch clubs like the one Kok frequented, or Australian biker hangouts and Mexican drug safe houses, there is an underground trade of custom-engineered phones. These phones typically run software for sending encrypted emails or messages, and use their own server infrastructure for routing communications.
For MPC, the process of setting up the devices was relatively simple: MPC would take a Google Nexus 5 or Nexus 5X Android phone, and then add its own security features and operating system, according to social media posts from MPC and a source with knowledge of the process. MPC then created the customer’s messaging accounts, added a data-only SIM card (which MPC paid about £20 a month for), and then sold the phone to the customer at £1,200. Six-month renewals cost £700, the source added. MPC only sold around 5,000 phones, the source said, but that still indicates the business netted the company some £6 million. At one point, a version of MPC’s phones also used code from an open-source, security-focused Android fork called CopperheadOS, three sources said.
More: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4yxa/encrypted-phone-company-mpc-helped-martin-kok-murder
source: cox
At the Times, a Hesitance to Hyperlink
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywaeg5/at-the-times-a-hesitance-to-hyperlink [www.vice.com]
2019-10-20 00:43
tags:
media
web
There’s a joke in the journalism industry: It’s not news until the New York Times says it is. This is because the Times often reports stories that other outlets already have without any acknowledgment that they’re doing so.
source: cox
How Google Changed the Secretive Market for the Most Dangerous Hacks in the World
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/59nyqb/how-google-changed-the-secretive-market-for-the-most-dangerous-hacks-in-the-world [www.vice.com]
2019-09-26 19:41
tags:
development
security
For five years, Google has funded Project Zero, a team of hackers with the sole mission of finding bugs in whatever software they wanted to research, be it Google’s or somebody else’s. Are they making the internet safer?
A fair bit of fluff, but one solid point.
For one, Project Zero has normalized something that years ago was more controversial: a strict 90-day deadline for companies that receive its bug reports to patch the vulnerabilities. If they don’t patch in that time frame, Google drops the bugs itself. Microsoft, in particular, was not a fan of this policy at the beginning. Today, most companies that interact with Project Zero respect that 90-day deadline as an industry standard, a tidal change in the always controversial debate on the so-called “responsible disclosure”—the idea that security researchers who find vulnerabilities should first disclose them to the affected company, so that it can fix them before the bugs are exploited by hackers. According to its own tally, around 95 percent of bugs reported by Project Zero get patched within that deadline.
source: green
Yelp is Screwing Over Restaurants By Quietly Replacing Their Phone Numbers
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjwebw/yelp-is-sneakily-replacing-restaurants-phone-numbers-so-grubhub-can-take-a-cut [www.vice.com]
2019-08-06 16:38
tags:
business
food
investigation
ux
valley
web
John Deere's Promotional USB Drive Hijacks Your Keyboard
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pajv5k/john-deere-promotional-usb-drive-hijacks-your-keyboard [www.vice.com]
2019-06-18 18:24
tags:
hardware
malware
opsec
security
Tractor-maker John Deere distributed USB drives that hijacked users’ keyboards and loaded its official website onto the browser. While the John Deere USB drive didn’t do anything to compromise the security of devices it was connected to, it used a method that’s similar to a malicious attack.
I think the real story here is that people still plug in strange devices.
source: cox
Confessions of a Reddit 'Karma Whore'
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3k359n/confessions-of-a-reddit-karma-whore [www.vice.com]
2019-06-02 07:48
tags:
hoipolloi
social
web
Since learning how to master the process of matching content with its best-fitting subreddit, I have gained more than 8 million karma. Of the 250 million or so users on the site, my account is ranked 13th, and I plan to crack the top 10 very soon. According to one statistical model shared in a data subreddit earlier in 2018, my posts that year reached the front page more times than any other user on the site. “The top poster, /u/dickfromaccounting, represents about 1% of all posts that reached the front page,” that analysis said.
Google Thought My Phone Number Was Facebook’s and It Ruined My Life
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmpm43/google-thought-my-phone-number-was-facebooks-and-it-ruined-my-life [www.vice.com]
2019-05-10 00:40
tags:
ai
life
valley
web
As it turns out, if you Googled “Facebook phone number” on your phone earlier this week, you would see my cellphone as the fourth result, and Google has created a “card” that pulled my number out of the article and displayed it directly on the search page in a box. The effect is that it seemed like my phone number was Facebook’s phone number, because that is how Google has trained people to think.
source: cox
I Made My Shed the Top Rated Restaurant On TripAdvisor
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/434gqw/i-made-my-shed-the-top-rated-restaurant-on-tripadvisor [www.vice.com]
2017-12-22 04:30
tags:
best
business
essay
factcheck
food
hoipolloi
life
media
photos
social
web
With the help of fake reviews, mystique and nonsense, I was going to do it: turn my shed into London’s top-rated restaurant on TripAdvisor.
Hot spots are all about quirks, so to cut through the noise I need a concept silly enough to infuriate your dad. A concept like naming all of our dishes after moods.
A very fun read.
source: grugq