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UK regulator to hit British Airways with record fine over 2018 hack

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In September last year, hackers stole the data of anyone who booked a flight through the BA website over a two-week period, affecting around 380,000 people. The pilfered data included login details, payment information, travel booking information, and addresses. The attack was coordinated by a well-established group who were also responsible for other security breaches like the one affecting ticket website Ticketmaster UK.

The ICO blamed the incident on “poor security” at BA. Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said: “People’s personal data is just that — personal. When an organization fails to protect it from loss, damage or theft it is more than an inconvenience. That’s why the law is clear — when you are entrusted with personal data you must look after it.”

Previous fines given out by ICO have been for pocket change, like the paltry £15,000 which Cambridge Analytica was fined for failing to hand over its data on an American citizen, or the £500,000 charged to Facebook for its role in the same Cambridge Analytica scandal. This is a drop in the ocean for a huge company like Facebook, although it was the maximum allowable fine at the time at which the incident occurred.

However, with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) now in place, potential fines for businesses which lose customer data can be much higher. The ICO has shown it is willing to crack down in a serious way, by imposing a fine of 1.5% of BA’s global turnover for the year. For airlines which run on very slim margins, this is a significant cut.

Alex Cruz, British Airways chairman and chief executive, said: “We are surprised and disappointed in this initial finding from the ICO. British Airways responded quickly to a criminal act to steal customers’ data. We have found no evidence of fraud/fraudulent activity on accounts linked to the theft. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this event caused.”

The airline may have responded quickly to the breach, but it is still responsible for the poor security which allowed the hackers to access the data in the first place. BA has said it intends to appeal the finding, which the ICO has said it will consider before making a final decision.

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Google is testing a global video play/pause button for Chrome

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The feature could be particularly handy for stopping any annoying auto-play videos, or controlling a YouTube video if you switch to another tab. It would also be a welcome change, considering Google recently removed the ability to mute tabs by clicking on the speaker icon, though you can still right-click on a tab to permanently mute a site. Global Media Controls are more versatile, though, particularly for rabid YouTube watchers, and you won’t need to chase down any offending auto-play tabs.

After playing with the feature for a short time, I found that it could control both audio and video, but not on all sites (it didn’t work with Engadget, for instance). On top of that, the feature was extremely buggy, crashing pretty much constantly when I attempted to use it.

However, it’s still in early testing, and if Google decides to bake it into the main browser, it will no doubt work seamlessly. If you want to give it a shot for yourself, you can download the Canary browser here, then enable the flag chrome://flags/#global-media-controls

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X-rays help astronomers detect spinning black holes

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The team used an in-between galaxy to get clear images of quasars consisting of the black holes, with Chandra offering a sharp-enough image to separate the multiple images that resulted from the lensing effect. From there, microlensing (in this case, magnification using individual stars from the galaxy) helped detect the spin in question. The smaller the region emitting X-rays, the more likely it is that a black hole is turning rapidly.

And in some cases, the holes are spinning at an extremely rapid pace. The hole in one quasar, Einstein Cross, was spinning about as fast as theoretically possible — 70 percent the speed of light. The others were spinning at about half that rate.

You probably won’t see many observations like this. Gravitational lensing by its nature requires an ideal alignment, and this particular observation was studying exceptionally distant quasars up to 10.9 billion light-years away. Still, these could provide significant insights into objects that are elusive by their very nature.

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Russia says it will give soldiers bomb-carrying drones

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There’s no timeline or technical details for these weaponized drones, and it’s easy to be skeptical when Russia has made grand claims about its military technology in the past. Its hypersonic missile program isn’t panning out as expected, for example. With that said, this is a considerably more conservative effort that might stand a better chance of success.

Effectiveness may be a larger concern. Drones can move quickly, but they might not fare well against decent shooters or counter-drone technology. They may be most useful in areas where it’s difficult to anticipate them (such as narrow city streets or indoors) and against combatants that are unlikely to be prepared for anti-drone combat. Whatever happens, it’s clear that robotics will play a greater role on the battlefield in the near future.

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‘Destiny 2’ year two winds down with Moments of Triumph starting July 9th

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Importantly, all the in-game rewards are available no matter which version of Destiny 2 you have — now that the base game is free-to-play, you don’t have to pay a dime to earn emblems, vehicles and other perks. You only need Forsaken if you’re determined to buy the real-world t-shirt that’s available after completing 15 Triumphs. The event wraps up on August 27th, so you’ll have to play often if you’re determined to claim everything.

There’s more beyond that. The Solstice of Heroes event is also returning this year, including seven of its own Triumphs as well as the obligatory new gear. Bungie hasn’t set a date for its arrival, but you can expect more details on July 24th. It’s safe to presume everything will finish in time for Shadowkeep‘s mid-September debut.

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The EU’s election interference alert system isn’t working properly

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The political landscape is a significant problem by itself. Russia frequently exploits European websites and far-right political parties to further its agenda, but EU analysts aren’t allowed to send warnings or debunk campaigns when they come from European outlets. The restriction is billed as an attempt to protect free speech, but ultimately limits Rapid Alert System users to either monitoring official Russian outlets or running generic myth-busting initiatives. And then there are the disagreements between countries. When Hungarian leadership repeats Russia’s false claims about the Ukraine, for example, how does the EU go about chastising one of its own?

EU officials disagree with the assessment and believe RAS is an “important clearinghouse” across the Union, according to the Times. The officials contend that caution is vital, and that no other governing body has a system close to this. To some extent, merely having a common foundation for discussing interference helps.

There are signs of things getting better. The task force at the heart of this effort is finally getting funding and dedicated staff. Whether or not it can keep pace is another matter. The EU’s report on election interference noted that Russian misinformation incidents roughly doubled in 2019. There’s no certainty that RAS will be powerful enough to deter meddling in future elections, even if its operators address the core challenges.

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FBI and ICE use DMV photos as ‘gold mine’ for facial recognition data

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A total of 21 states allow the practice, including Pennsylvania and Texas. They frequently have rules for requests (such as the need to link them to active investigations), but they don’t always have strict requirements. Washington state is a notable standout with its requirement for court orders.

As a result, there isn’t much consent or accountability for these searches. It’s not clear who’s being targeted or how many searches lead to false hits, let alone that agents are using facial data responsibly. Some searches have been conducted using little more than email to a state contact, for that matter. These lapses create serious concerns for the privacy-conscious. Georgetown’s Clare Garvie called it a particularl “insane breach of trust” for undocumented immigrants in states where they’re allowed to drive, as these people are being encouraged to submit info that could promptly be used against them.

ICE wouldn’t discuss how it used facial recognition. The FBI, however, pointed to testimony from Deputy Assistant Director Kimberly Del Greco in June. She defended the technology, claiming that it helped “preserve” both freedoms and security. However, that’s not necessarily true. False positives and abuses of power could lead to arrests of innocent people. And without a legal framework that ensures consistent and transparent data requests, there’s no strong way to prevent misuses going forward.

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Scientists store data inside molecules that drive your metabolism

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The researchers have used this method to store images of an anchor, an Egyptian cat and an ibex. They could retrieve the data with about 99 percent accuracy. That’s not where you’d want it to be (imagine if one percent of your phone’s data was corrupt), but it certainly shows that the idea works.

The scientists were quick to characterize this as a proof of concept, and that there’s a lot of improvement left. The plates could be much smaller, and the processes need to be faster. DNA is still currently better for handling relatively large amounts of data.

Over time, though, this molecular storage could make sense for particular forms of information. These molecules are considerably smaller than DNA, they don’t require energy, and they might even be more stable than conventional electronic memory as they’re more resistant to extreme environmental conditions. Molecular storage could be the medium of choice for storing small amounts of data when conventional hard drives and solid-state storage just won’t cut it.

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Amazon asks FCC for permission to launch internet satellites

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They’d use Ka-band frequencies like those Iridium is using in its latest satellites, and Amazon is asking for clearance to use anti-interference technology to avoid headaches. And yes, Amazon is aware of the potential problems with space debris. The satellites would deorbit themselves in less than 10 years whether or not they were still in contact with Earth.

Amazon didn’t mention a timeline for putting the satellites into orbit. However, the FCC filing shows that it has been thinking about this plan for a while. Whether or not it’s timely is another story. SpaceX is already launching its first broadband satellites, and plans roughly three times as many. Although it will take years for satellite constellations like these to roll out, there’s a concern that Amazon might already be at a disadvantage.

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