Tag: google

US Tech Industry Fears Handing Over Data on Abortion to State Government After Verdict in Roe vs Wade Trail

The technology industry in the United States is bracing for the uncomfortable possibility of having to hand over pregnancy-related data to law enforcement, in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn the Roe vs Wade precedent that for decades guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.

As state laws limiting abortion kick in after the ruling, technology trade representatives told Reuters they fear police will obtain warrants for customers’ search history, geolocation and other information indicating plans to terminate a pregnancy. Prosecutors could access the same via a subpoena, too.

The concern reflects how the data collection practices of companies like Alphabet‘s Google, Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Amazon have the potential to incriminate abortion-seekers for state laws that many in Silicon Valley oppose.

“It is very likely that there’s going to be requests made to those tech companies for information related to search histories, to websites visited,” said Cynthia Conti-Cook, a technology fellow at the Ford Foundation.

Google declined to comment. Representatives for Amazon and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Technology has long gathered — and at times revealed — sensitive pregnancy-related information about consumers. In 2015, abortion opponents targeted ads saying ‘Pregnancy Help’ and ‘You Have Choices’ to individuals entering reproductive health clinics, using so-called geofencing technology to identify smartphones in the area.

More recently, Mississippi prosecutors charged a mother with second-degree murder after her smartphone showed she had searched for abortion medication in her third trimester, local media reported. Conti-Cook said, “I can’t even imagine the depth of information that my phone has on my life.”

While suspects unwittingly can hand over their phones and volunteer information used to prosecute them, investigators may well turn to tech companies in the absence of strong leads or evidence. In United States vs Chatrie, for example, police obtained a warrant) for Google location data that led them to Okello Chatrie in an investigation of a 2019 bank robbery.

Amazon, for instance, complied at least partially with 75 percent of search warrants, subpoenas and other court orders demanding data on the US customers, the company disclosed for the three years ending in June 2020. It complied fully with 38 percent. Amazon has said it must comply with “valid and binding orders,” but its goal is to provide “the minimum” that the law requires.

Eva Galperin, cybersecurity director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said on Twitter on Friday, “The difference between now and the last time that abortion was illegal in the United States is that we live in an era of unprecedented digital surveillance.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

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YouTube Music Rolls Out Support for Android 12’s Media Recommendations Feature: Report

YouTube Music has reportedly started rolling out support for Android 12 media recommendations feature that shows the recent albums and playlists, enabling users to directly start music playback. The new update will show users three recently played tracks in the compact card, while opening quick settings will show six songs, the report added. The compact card is also said to show up when the smartphone has been locked. The notification card for YouTube Music has an option for shuffling tracks and shortcut for user’s offline mixtapes as well.

According to a report from 9To5Google, YouTube has recently started rolling out an update for YouTube Music with support for media recommendations of Android 12. With the new update, media recommendations are said to automatically start appearing after a user has connected an audio device over Bluetooth, like headphones or speakers.

The report added that the YouTube Music application icon and name will appear in the top-left corner, along with three recently played tracks towards the right corner when the notification card is in compact form. On the other hand, opening quick settings is said to show six recently played tracks. The compact card also appears on the lock screen of the smartphone, as per the report.

Users can start playing the track in background on YouTube Music application with a single tap that will also show them Now Playing controls, the report added. The playback recommendations are said to only appear for a few minutes and after this, users will have swipe to access them again. These recommendations will reportedly appear after playback controls and will start playing a different track. As per the report, the notification card will also show a shuffle button and shortcut to start a downloaded offline mixtape.

Users can disable the recommendations for YouTube Music notification card by heading over to Settings > Sound & Vibration > Media > turn off Show Media Recommendations.

The new YouTube Music update is said to appear more widely for Google’s streaming service than in the past and some Spotify users have already spotted so. The report presumes that the notification card will appear in full-height on Android 13.

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Microsoft to Cease Use of Facial Recognition Tool Known for Identifying Emotion

Microsoft on Tuesday said it would stop selling technology that guesses someone’s emotion based on a facial image and would no longer provide unfettered access to facial recognition technology.

The actions reflect efforts by leading cloud providers to rein in sensitive technologies on their own as lawmakers in the United States and Europe continue to weigh comprehensive legal limits.

Since at least last year, Microsoft has been reviewing whether emotion recognition systems are rooted in science.

“These efforts raised important questions about privacy, the lack of consensus on a definition of ’emotions,’ and the inability to generalise the linkage between facial expression and emotional state across use cases, regions, and demographics,” Sarah Bird, principal group product manager at Microsoft’s Azure AI unit, said in a blog post.

Existing customers will have one year before losing access to artificial intelligence tools that purport to infer emotion, gender, age, smile, facial hair, hair and makeup.

Alphabet‘s Google Cloud last year embarked on a similar evaluation, first reported by Reuters. Google blocked 13 planned emotions from its tool for reading emotion and placed under review four existing ones, such as joy and sorrow. It was weighing a new system that would describe movements such as frowning and smiling, without seeking to attach them to an emotion.

Google did not immediately respond to request for comment on Tuesday.

Microsoft also said customers now must obtain approval to use its facial recognition services, which can enable people to log into websites or open locked doors through a face scan.

The company called on clients to avoid situations that infringe on privacy or in which the technology might struggle, such as identifying minors, but did not explicitly ban those uses.

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Ștefania Mărăcineanu Honoured With Google Doodle Celebrating the Romanian Physicist’s 140th Birthday

Ștefania Mărăcineanu, a Romanian physicist, has been honoured on her 140th birthday with a Google doodle. Ștefania was born in 1882 in Bucharest, Romania, and went on to become one of the pioneers in the discovery and research of radioactivity. Mărăcineanu’s PhD thesis was on polonium, an element that physicist Marie Curie discovered. During her career, she engaged in several interesting researches including studying artificial rain, and also the link between earthquakes and rainfall. She never received global recognition for her contribution to the discovery of artificial radioactivity.

The Google doodle dedicated to Ștefania Mărăcineanu is a digital painting that features the physicist working with polonium her lab. Once you click through, it directs you to search results for Ștefania Mărăcineanu. The Google logo is also modified on the search results page, showing the physicist’s face in place of the second ‘o’. The doodle is visible in only a limited number of countries, specifically, Greece, India, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

As described by Google on its doodle blog post, after graduating with a physical and chemical science degree in 1910, Mărăcineanu began her career as a teacher at the Central School for Girls in Bucharest. It was during this time that Mărăcineanu earned a scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Science and went on to pursue graduate research at the Radium Institute in Paris — a worldwide centre for the study of radioactivity under the direction of renowned physicist Marie Curie. To recall, Mărăcineanu started working on her PhD thesis on polonium, an element that Curie discovered.

Mărăcineanu’s research led to what is most likely the first example of artificial radioactivity. She worked at the Astronomical Observatory in Meudon for four years before returning to Romania to found her homeland’s first laboratory for the study of Radioactivity. As mentioned earlier, Mărăcineanu researched topics including artificial rain and the link between earthquakes and rainfall during her career.

In 1935, when Irene Curie (Marie Curie’s daughter) and her husband received a joint Nobel prize for their discovery of artificial radioactivity, Mărăcineanu had asked that her contribution the discovery also be recognised. However she never received global recognition to her major contribution to artificial radioactivity. In 1936, the Academy of Sciences of Romania elected Mărăcineanu to serve as a Director of research. She breathed last in 1944 in Bucharest, Romania.

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Facebook-Owner Meta Launching High-Fashion Clothing Store for Avatars



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Microsoft Defender Online Security App Launched for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows

Microsoft on Thursday announced the availability of new Microsoft Defender app for Microsoft 365 subscribers. Users across Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows devices with Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriptions will be able to access the online security app now. The Defender app works as a central hub for managing and monitoring the security status across your computers and phones. It is claimed by the company to safeguard data and devices from malicious online threats and it will also recognise third-party antivirus solutions from Norton, MacAfee, and other companies. With the Defender app, users will get instant security alerts and tips to ensure the security of their devices, Microsoft says.

The company announced the release of Microsoft Defender app for individuals via a blog post on Thursday. The cybersecurity app, which was available for preview earlier, can now be accessed on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. It is bundled with Microsoft 365 Family or Personal plans and the features of the app vary across platforms.

Microsoft Defender, as detailed on the company’s forum, offers antivirus and anti-phishing protection for your data and devices. Once installed, you can manage security protections for you and all devices used in your family from the centralised dashboard. This hub will also show the third-party antivirus protection from Norton, McAfee or any other vendors. Besides, the new cross-platform Defender app gives security alerts and tips across different devices. This feature is for now limited to Windows and macOS devices. The company is also planning to add features like identity theft protection and a secure online connection to the framework soon.

As mentioned, Microsoft Defender comes free of cost, but you’ll need a Microsoft 365 subscription to use the Microsoft Defender app. The Microsoft 365 Personal plan costs Rs. 489 for a month in India, while the Microsoft 365 Family plan costs Rs. 619 per month. Besides, Microsoft is also offering a 30-day free trial for users. It is available for download via Microsoft Store, App Store, and Google Play.

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Google Meet Gets Picture-in-Picture, Multi-Pin Video Options on Chrome Browser

Google Meet gets Picture-in-Picture mode on Chrome. Meet has been one of the most preferable online platforms for official meetings and educational classes. Now the search giant has added a nifty picture-in-picture mode to Meet, which will allow users to see up to four video tiles of meeting attendees in a floating window on top of other applications. Additionally, Google Meet also gets a new multi-pinning feature on Chrome.

Google Meet is getting new features on Chrome. Google took it to its official blog to announce the availability of picture-in-picture mode on Meet for Chrome browsers. Users will now be able to see up to four tiles of meeting attendees while taking a Google Meet call on the web.

The Picture-in-Picture option is accessible by tapping the three-dot menu icon next to the hang-up button on the Google Meet app on Chrome.

In addition to this, the online meeting platform also brings multiple pinning video features. Users can now pin multiple videos feeds instead of one. This feature will give access to adjust the view on the app, according to the company.

“We hope these features make it easier for presenters and meeting attendees to stay engaged with their meeting,” Google commented on the occasion.

The picture-in-picture and the multi-pinning options for Google Meet users have started rolling out on June 16, and are available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers. It can also be availed by the users who use personal Google Accounts.

Google Meet has recently received an automatic transcription feature for educators signed up to Google’s Workspace for Education Plus and Teaching and Learning Upgrade plans. The company also brought polls and Q&A sessions to teachers who use Google Meet to live stream their lessons, potentially opening up more opportunities for interactivity.

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Oppo A57 (2022) Price in India, June 21 Launch Date Tipped



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Google Pixel 4 Face Unlock System Helping Researchers Detect Alzheimer’s: Here’s How

Google Pixel 4 series was plagued by many issues, but it seems that researchers have found at least one use case for its Face Unlock system. A team at University of California San Diego (UC SD) is using the IR sensor, arguably one of the best features of the smartphone, in detecting signs of Alzheimer’s disease. This sensor, coupled with a Dot projector, enabled face unlocking. The same sensor is now being used to record a person’s pupil’s response to specific tasks allowing researchers to identify cognitive impairments.

The Verge talked to one of the researchers of the team and he explained how the whole thing works. The team identified human eyes, specifically the pupil (black spot in the middle of the eye) as a metric for detecting Alzheimer’s — a disease in which brain cells die causing the patient to lose memory. The researchers recorded the response of the pupil to specific tasks that allowed them to identify cognitive impairments via an app. These impairments were based on the pupil’s functions during those specific tasks such as remembering a sequence of randomly spoken numbers.

The app is able to identify impairments by using the IR sensor that Google Pixel 4 uses for face unlock. The reason for using the IR sensor is because these cameras are better at detecting the difference between the eye colour and the pupil as compared to standard cameras, the researchers said. After recording the pupil’s response to specific tasks, the data is sent to the DigiHealth Lab at UC SD where researchers analyse it.

Alzheimer’s disease cannot be cured, but treatment can certainly help. It’s obvious that a smartphone’s feature will not be able to replace an equipment — which could be costing loads of money — specifically designed for detecting Alzheimer’s, but research such as this can provide a cost-effective way to give doctors a headstart for a treatment.

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Google’s Russian Subsidiary Reportedly Submits Bankruptcy Declaration



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Chrome for Windows, Mac, Linux Updates With 4 High-Risk Vulnerability Fixes

Google has released Chrome version 102.0.5005.115 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The new release fixes a total of seven security vulnerabilities — of which, four are marked highly severe. The update is rolling out to desktop users across Windows, macOS and Linux platforms over the coming days. India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) have urged users to install the latest Chrome release on their systems to prevent the reported issues.

The four security issues that are rated with high severity are tracked as CVE-2022-2007, CVE-2022-2008, CVE-2022-2010, and CVE-2022-2011, as Google explained in a blog post.

The vulnerability that is tracked as CVE-2022-2007 is a Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerability, which exists in the WebGPU to API and allows attackers to hack by exploiting incorrect use of dynamic memory. The CVE-2022-2008 flaw, on the other hand, results in out-of-bounds memory access in WebGL.

Chrome’s compositing component is also found to have the CVE-2022-2010 issue, which is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. The last high-risk vulnerability, CVE-2022-2011, is a use after free flaw in ANGLE engine abstraction layer.

Although Google has detailed the four highly severe issues, it has not provided public access to the details as a large number of users are yet to bring the fix.

“We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third-party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed,” the company said.

In response to the public disclosure from Google, CERT-In has released a vulnerability note to urge users to install the latest update.

“Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system,” the advisory by the nodal agency said.

The CISA has also encouraged users and administrators to apply the update on their systems.

Users can check for the latest release on their Windows, Mac, and Linux systems by going to Chrome > About Google Chrome. The update can also be installed by clicking on the three-dot button from the right-most corner and then Help > About Google Chrome.

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Apple, Google’s Mobile Browser Dominance to be Investigated, Says UK Watchdog CMA

Britain’s competition watchdog said it was planning to investigate the market dominance of Apple and Google’s mobile browsers, as well as the iPhone maker’s restrictions on cloud gaming through its app store.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Friday it was also taking enforcement action against Alphabet’s Google over its app store payment practices.

It said the two tech giants had an “effective duopoly” on mobile ecosystems that gave them a stranglehold on operating systems, app stores and web browsers on mobile devices.

“When it comes to how people use mobile phones, Apple and Google hold all the cards,” CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli said following the publication of a report on mobile ecosytems.

“As good as many of their services and products are, their strong grip on mobile ecosystems allows them to shut out competitors, holding back the British tech sector and limiting choice.”

It said 97 percent of all mobile Web browsing in Britain last year was powered by either Apple’s or Google’s browser engine, and in addition Apple banned alternatives to its own browser on iPhone.

The CMA said it was concerned this severely limited the potential for rival browsers to differentiate themselves from Apple’s Safari, for example on features such as speed and functionality.

Apple said in a statement it had “created a safe and trusted experience users love and a great business opportunity for developers” through its ecosystem.

“We respectfully disagree with a number of conclusions reached in the report, which discount our investments in innovation, privacy and user performance — all of which contribute to why users love iPhone and iPad and create a level playing field for small developers to compete on a trusted platform,” a spokesperson said.

“We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to explain how our approach promotes competition and choice, while ensuring consumers’ privacy and security are always protected.”

Google said smartphones using its Android operating system offered people and businesses more choice than any other mobile platform, and its Google Play app store has been the launchpad for millions of apps.

“We regularly review how we can best support developers and have reacted quickly to CMA feedback in the past,” a Google spokesperson said.

“We will review the report and continue to engage with the CMA.”

The regulator said it was also worried about Apple blocking the emergence of cloud gaming services, which allow high-quality games to be streamed rather than individually downloaded.

“By preventing this sector from growing, Apple risks causing mobile users to miss out on the full benefits of cloud gaming,” it said.

The CMA said its proposed investigation would further assess its concerns and could result in legally binding orders requiring changes to be made to Apple’s and Google’s practices.

The consultation on the proposed the market investigation reference will close on 22 July.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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EU Unclear on Ban of Cloud Services in Russia Amid Invasion of Ukraine, Amends Latest Sanction Package

The European Union is working on a possible ban on the provision of cloud services to Russia as part of new sanctions against the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine, an EU official told Reuters on Wednesday, noting the measure was technically complex.

If introduced, it is unclear how the EU ban would affect Russia, because top cloud providers in Europe are US companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

The European Union last week adopted a new package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus which included an oil embargo, restrictive measures on Russian banks and a ban on the provision of consultancy services to Moscow.

An initial version of a press release on the sanctions package issued by the EU Council on June 3 also referred to a ban on the provision of cloud services, but was later amended to delete that reference. That sanction does not appear in the legal texts published in the official journal of the EU.

A press officer for the Council said the initial mention of the sanction on cloud services was “a material error”, and declined to say whether it may have been caused by a debate on the matter among EU states.

An EU official familiar with decisions on sanctions said the measure on cloud services was never proposed by the European Commission, but added that the EU was working on introducing the ban in possible future rounds of sanctions despite it being technically difficult.

In a tweet on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said that the editing of the press release by the EU Council had been done without offering a clear explanation and that it suggested a possible watering down of sanctions.

“We must increase the sanctions pressure, not decrease,” he said.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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