RISKS Forummailing list archives
(no subject)
From: RISKS List Owner <risko () csl sri com>
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2025 19:16:17 PST
Risks Digest 34.52RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Saturday 11 January 2025 Volume 34 : Issue 52ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)Peter G. Neumann, founder and still moderator***** See last item for further information, disclaimers, caveats, etc. *****This issue is archived at <http://www.risks.org> as <http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/34.52>The current issue can also be found at <http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt> Contents:10 killed and dozens injured in pickup-truck attack on New Orleans crowd (Lauren Weinstein)'Fundamentally wrong': Self-driving Tesla steers Calif. tech founder onto train tracks (SFGate)Driver accidentally disconnects autopilot, crashes car (Lars-Henrik Eriksson)Driver in Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion used ChatGPT to plan blast, authorities say (NBC News)It's not just Tesla. Vehicles amass huge troves of possibly sensitive data. (WashPost)Tech allows Big Auto to evolve into Big Brother (LA Times via Jim Geissman)Wrong turn from GPS leaves car abandoned on Colorado ski run (9news.com)A Waymo robotaxi and a Serve delivery robot collided in run Los Angeles (TechCrunch)Waymo robotaxis can make walking across the street a game of chicken (The Washington Post)Trifecta of articles in *LA Times* about cars (Ssteve Bacher)LA Sheriff outage (LA Times)Eutelsat resolves OneWeb leap year software glitch after two-day outage (SpaceNews)Traffic lights will have a fourth color in 2025 (ecoticias via Steve Bacher)FAA chief: Boeing must shift focus to safety over profit (LA Times)ARRL hit with ransomware (ARRL)Taiwan Suspects China of Latest Undersea Cable Attack" (Tom Nicholson)The Memecoin Shenanigans Are Just Getting Started (WiReD)Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping (CBC)Meta Getting Rid of Fact Checkers (Clare Duff)Huge problems with axing fact-checkers, Meta oversight board says (BBC)Meta hosts AI chatbots of 'Hitler,' 'Jesus Christ,' Taylor Swift (NBC News)God can take Sunday off (NYTimes via Tom Van Vleck)Several items Google and Meta (Lauren Weinstein_AI means the end of Internet search as we've known it (Technology Review))Is it still 'social media' if it's overrun by AI? (CBC)AI Incident Database (Steve Bacher)Apple's AI News Summaries and Inventions (BBC)What real people think about Google Search today (Lauren Weinstein)WARNING: Google Voice is flagging LEGITIMATE robocalls from insurance companies to their customers in the fires as spam (Lauren Weinstein)A non-tech analogy for Google Search AI Overviews (Lauren Weinstein)Happy new year, compute carefully (Tom Van Vleck)How to understand Generative AI (Lauren Weinstein)Google censoring my AI criticism? (Lauren Weinstein)U.S. newspapers are deleting old crime stories offering subjects a clean slate (The Guardian)EU Commission Fined for Transferring User Data to Meta in Violation of Privacy Laws (THN)The Ghosts in the Spotify Machine (Liz Pelly:)Spotify (Rob Slade)Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)----------------------------------------------------------------------Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2025 09:09:56 -0800From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: 10 killed and dozens injured in pickup-truck attack on New Orleans crowdDriver was killed by police. It is reported that he shot at them andalso had explosive devices. Pickup is reportedly registered to a 42year old man from Texas. -L------------------------------Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 09:45:55 -0700From: geoff goodfellow <geoff () iconia com>Subject: 'Fundamentally wrong': Self-driving Tesla steers Calif. tech founder onto train tracks (SFGate)Jesse Lyu trusts his Tesla’s “self-driving” technology; he’s taken it towork, and he’s gone on 45-minute drives without ever needing to intervene.He’s a “happy customer,” he told SFGATE. But on Thursday, his Tesla scaredhim, badly.Lyu, the founder and CEO of artificial intelligence gadget startup Rabbit,was on the 15-minute drive from his apartment to his office in downtownSanta Monica. He’d turned on his car’s self-driving features, called“Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” after pulling out of hisparking garage. The pay-to-add features are meant to drive the Tesla with“minimal driver intervention,” steering, stopping and accelerating onhighways and even in city traffic, according to Tesla's website. Lyu wascruising along, resting his arms on the steering wheel but letting the cardirect itself, he said in a video interview Friday.Then, Lyu’s day took a turn for the worse. At a stoplight, his Tesla turnedleft onto Colorado Avenue, but it missed the lane for cars. Instead, itplunged onto a street-grade light rail track between the road’s vehicletraffic lanes, paved but meant solely for trains on LA’s Metro E Line. Hecouldn’t just move over — a low concrete barrier separates the lanes, and afence stands on the other side.“It’s just f–king crazy,” he said, narrating a video he posted to X of theincident. “I’ve got nowhere to go. And, you can tell from behind -- thetrain’s right here.” (He pointed to the oncoming train, stopped about ablock behind his car.) [...]https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/tesla-fsd-jesse-lyu-train-20014242.php------------------------------Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 10:25:39 +0100From: Lars-Henrik Eriksson <lhe () it uu se>Subject: Driver accidentally disconnects autopilot, crashes carA Swedish driver was convicted for reckless driving and insurance fraudafter crashing his Tesla.To show off, he engaged the autopilot at a speed of 70-80 km/h and thenmoved over into the passenger seat. After a short while the carcrashed. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. It was initially seen as anormal car accident and his insurance compensated him for the car which wasa total loss, but his (now ex) wife had recorded everything from the backseat and later turned the video over to the police.The police asked him if he was aware that the autopilot would disengage ifthe driver seat belt was released and he replied that he wasn't.The risk here is not primarily one of idiot drivers but of the increasingcomplexity of modern cars where the drivers don't fully understand how theybehave and there is no real pressure to motivate them. In traffic, you cansee that drivers frequently mishandle such a relatively simple thing asautomatic front and rear lights.In aviation, pilots of larger aircraft have to take formal training tocompletely understand the aircraft systems. Even with smaller aircraft --which may have less complex systems than modern cars -- pilots are expectedto read up on how the aircraft systems operate.(https://www.unt.se/nyheter/tarnsjo/artikel/filmbeviset-trodde-bilen-var-sjalvkorande-kraschade/j8ex8emj, in Swedish and behind a paywall.)------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 06:40:48 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: Driver in Las Vegas Cybertruck explosion used ChatGPT to plan blast, authorities say (NBC News)NBC News (01/07/25) Tom Winter and Andrew Blankstein ; Antonio PlanasThe soldier who authorities believe blew up a Cybertruck on New Year's Dayin front of the entrance of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas usedartificial intelligence to guide him about how to set off the explosion,officials said Tuesday.Matthew Alan Livelsberger, 37, queried ChatGPT for information about how hecould put together an explosive, how fast a round would need to be fired forthe explosives found in the truck to go off —- not just catch fire -— andwhat laws he would need to get around to get the materials, law enforcementofficials said.An OpenAI spokesperson said, "ChatGPT responded with information alreadypublicly available on the Internet and provided warnings against harmful orillegal activities."https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/driver-las-vegas-cybertruck-explosion-used-chatgpt-plan-blast-authorit-rcna186704------------------------------Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 08:46:42 -0700From: geoff goodfellow <geoff () iconia com>Subject: It's not just Tesla. Vehicles amass huge troves of possibly sensitive data. (WashPost)Video footage and other data collected by Tesla helped law enforcementquickly piece together how a Cybertruck came to explode outside the TrumpInternational Hotel in Las Vegas on New Year's Day.The trove of digital evidence also served as a high-profile demonstration ofhow much data modern cars collect about their drivers and those around them.Data privacy experts say the investigation -- which has determined t= hatthe driver, active-duty U.S. Army soldier Matthew Livelsberger, died bysuicide before the blast -- highlights how car companies vacuum up reams ofdata that can clear up mysteries but also be stolen or given to thirdparties without drivers' knowledge. There are few regulations controllinghow and when law enforcement authorities can access data in cars, anddrivers are often unaware of the vast digital trail they leave behind.``These are panopticons on wheels,'' said Albert Fox Cahn, who founded theSurveillance Technology Oversight Project, an advocacy group that argues thevolume and precision of data collected can pose civil liberties concerns forpeople in sensitive situations, like attending protests or going to abortionclinics.Federal and state officials have begun to scrutinize companies' use of cardata as evidence has emerged of its misuse. There have been reports thatabusive spouses tracked partners' locations, and that insurers raised ratesbased on driving behavior data shared by car companies. There have also beencases in which local police departments sought video from Tesla cars thatmay have recorded a crime, or obtained warrants to tow vehicles to securesuch footage. [...]https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/it-s-not-just-tesla-vehicles-amass-huge-troves-of-possibly-sensitive-data/ar-AA1wX8Lo------------------------------Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2025 07:33:49 -0800From: "Jim" <jgeissman () socal rr com>Subject: Tech allows Big Auto to evolve into Big Brother [Another on this topic]Your car is spying on you.That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected onthe driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas last week.Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk's company was impressivebut also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become morelike computers on wheels.Is your car company violating your privacy rights?"You might want law enforcement to have the data to crack down on criminals,but can anyone have access to it?" said Jodi Daniels, chief executive of theprivacy consulting firm Red Clover Advisors. "Where is the line?"Many of the latest cars not only know where you've been and where you aregoing, but also often have access to your contacts, your call logs, yourtexts and other sensitive information, thanks to cellphone syncing.The data collected by Musk's electric car company after the Cybertruckpacked with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump InternationalHotel proved valuable to police in helping track the driver's movements.http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=432286e7-91d3-4e45-9e57-aa95a830767e------------------------------Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2025 03:03:33 -0700From: Jim Reisert AD1C <jjreisert () alum mit edu>Subject: Wrong turn from GPS leaves car abandoned on Colorado ski run (9news.com)Melissa Reeves, 9NEWS, Updated: 10:19 PM MST January 6, 2025The Summit County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) posted pictures on socialmedia of an abandoned car at Keystone Resort that was left behind on aski run overnight.The sheriff's office said the driver left the car after it got stuckin the snow, but they left a note on the car's windshield for theresort and police that made it easy to find them.The note explained that the driver was following directions from a GPSas they were on their way to visit a friend who lives in nearbyemployee housing.https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/colorado-news/driver-makes-wrong-turn-keystone-ski-run/73-b54a9f76-451e-44b9-b5e8-014d28963a6d------------------------------Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2025 18:45:51 -0700From: geoff goodfellow <geoff () iconia com>Subject: A Waymo robotaxi and a Serve delivery robot collided in Los Angeles (TechCrunch)On 27 Dec 2024, a Waymo robotaxi and a Serve Robotics sidewalk deliveryrobot collided at a Los Angeles intersection, according to a video that'scirculating on social media.The footage shows a Serve bot crossing a street in West Hollywood at nightand trying to get onto the sidewalk. It reached the curb, backed up a littleto correct itself and started moving toward the ramp. That's a Waymo makinga right turn hit the little bot. [...]https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/31/a-waymo-robotaxi-and-a-serve-delivery-robot-collided-in-los-angeles/------------------------------Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2024 15:24:37 -0500From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe () gabegold com>Subject: Waymo robotaxis can make walking across the street a game of chicken (The Washington Post)On roads teeming with robotaxis, crossing the street can be harrowing -- Ourtech columnist captured videos of Waymo self-driving cars failing to stopfor him at a crosswalk. How does an AI learn how to break the law?https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/30/waymo-pedestrians-robotaxi-crosswalks/------------------------------Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2025 06:42:54 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: Trifecta of articles in *LA Times* about carsLos Angeles man is trapped in circling Waymo on way to airport: 'Issomebody playing a joke?' [Matthew Kruk spotted this one: Mike Johns boarded a driverless Waymo taxi to an airport in Scottsdale, Arizona, but it began spinning in circles in a parking lot. He filmed the moment he was trapped in the vehicle, unable to stop the car or get help. Johns said he almost missed his flight.https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c70e2g09ng9o]LA tech entrepreneur Mike Johns posted a video of his call to a customerservice representative for Waymo to report that the car kept turning incircleshttps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-05/los-angeles-man-trapped-in-circling-waymo-says-he-missed-his-flight-home [Jim Geissman also noted it. PGN]------------------------------Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 09:21:47 -0800From: "Jim" <jgeissman () socal rr com>Subject: LA Sheriff outage (LA Times)A few hours before the ball dropped on New Year's Eve, the computer dispatchsystem for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department crashed, renderingall patrol car computers nearly useless and forcing deputies to handle allcalls by radio, according to officials and sources in the department.Department leaders first learned of the problem around 8 p.m., when deputiesat several sheriff's stations began having trouble logging onto their patrolcar computers, officials told The Times in a statement.The department said it eventually determined its computer-aided dispatchprogram -- known as CAD -- was "not allowing personnel to log on with thenew year, making the CAD inoperable."It's not clear how long it will take to fix the problem, but in the meantimedeputies and dispatchers are handling everything old-school - using theirradios instead of patrol car computers."It's our own little Y2K," a deputy who was working Wednesday morning toldThe Times.https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-01/l-a-sheriffs-dispatch-system-crashes-on-new-years-eveAnd there is more on this -- a "temporary fix".http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=8276009d-5b4b-4787-bece-ec72b2bbe0df [Also noted by Jan Wolitzky. Also, Paul Saffo noted If the trouble began a little after 16:00 local time (00:00 UTC), I would suspect the system was keeping time internally with UTC, but news reports say it started around 20:00. Furthermore, they say the system is old and needs to be replaced, which implies it's handled the end of year successfully many times. Perhaps there's a rollover issue, such as the GPS week number rollover that happened years ago. Since that occurred, my ca. 2000 Magellan receiver is years in error in its dates, though it still navigates without trouble. In fact, it's better than new in that respect. Rarely do I see its positions off by more than 10 feet. PS It still smells like a residual Y2K-type poor retrofix. PGN]------------------------------Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 18:03:01 -0500From: Steve Golson <sgolson () trilobyte com>Subject: Eutelsat resolves OneWeb leap year software glitch after two-day outage (SpaceNews)https://spacenews.com/eutelsat-resolves-oneweb-leap-year-software-glitch-after-two-day-outage/Eutelsat said Jan. 2 it has restored services across its low Earth orbit(LEO) OneWeb broadband network following a two-day outage.The software issue was caused by a failure to account for 2024 being a leapyear… services were partially restored 36 hours after the disruption began31 Dec 2024.------------------------------Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2025 09:14:58 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: Traffic lights will have a fourth color in 2025It is hard not to recognize the famous red, yellow, and green trafficsignals on roads throughout the globe. By 2025, traffic signals may have oneof the biggest changes because one more color will be added to them. Thisshift aims to meet new increases by AVs and redefine the meaning of trafficmanagement to make it safer and more effective in the future. [...]To further illustrate this strategy, we provide the proposed fourth color,white, which would signal to other drivers that the self-driving vehicle ismanaging traffic conditions. However, unlike the traditional Trafficsignals, which inform other motorists of the behavior expected fromautonomous vehicles at AIs, the White light informs the human drivers tomimic the behavior of the AVs at AIs. This system leverages the idea thatAVs are intelligent vehicles that actively relay information and managetraffic information flow.In the case the AVs get to an intersection, they communicate with thetraffic signals, as well as other AVs, to achieve the best flow. When AVsare in command, a white light informs human drivers what the self-drivingvehicles intend to do. This makes it easier for human drivers to decide whento veer in either direction, thus eagles traffic congestion and making theroad safer. [...]https://www.ecoticias.com/en/traffic-lights-fourth-color/10086/ [Don't fire the traffic-manager programmer until you see the WHITES of his LIGHTS? PGN]------------------------------Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2025 07:47:23 -0800From: "Jim" <jgeissman () socal rr com>Subject: FAA chief: Boeing must shift focus to safety over profitBoeing used to manufacture airplanes and make profit as a side-effect. Thenthey changed to making profits primary with airplanes as a side-effect. FAAtells them to go back to the original model.A year after a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during a flight, thenation's top aviation regulator says the company needs "a fundamentalcultural shift" to put safety and quality above profit.Mike Whitaker, chief of the Federal Aviation Administration, said in anonline post Friday that his agency also has more work to do in its oversightof Boeing.Whitaker, who plans to step down in two weeks to let President-elect DonaldTrump pick his own FAA administrator, looked back on his decision lastJanuary to ground all 737 Max jets with similar panels called door plugs.Later, the FAA put more inspectors in Boeing factories, limited productionof new 737s and required Boeing to come up with a plan to fix manufacturingproblems."Boeing is working to make progress executing its comprehensive plan in theareas of safety, quality improvement and effective employee engagement andtraining," Whitaker said. "But this is not a one-year project. What's neededis a fundamental cultural shift at Boeing that's oriented around safety andquality above profits. That will require sustained effort and commitmentfrom Boeing, and unwavering scrutiny on our part."http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=72e50023-50c9-470e-812e-39984c87cf63------------------------------Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 18:03:09 -0500:From: Steve Golson <sgolson () trilobyte com>Subject: ARRL hit with ransomware (ARRL)American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the U.S. national association foramateur radio, was hit with a sophisticated ransomware attack.https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-it-security-incident-report-to-membersSometime in early May 2024, ARRL’s systems network was compromised by threatactors (TAsing everything from desktops and laptops to Windows-based andLinux-based servers. Des) using information they had purchased on the darkweb. The TAs accessed headquarters on-site systems and most cloud-basedsystems. They used a wide variety of payloads affecting everything fromdesktops and laptops to Windows-based and Linux-based servers. Despite thewide variety of target configurations, the TAs seemed to have a payload thatould host and execute encryption or deletion of network-based IT assets, aswell as launch demands for a ransom payment, for every system.This serious incident was an act of organized crime. The highly coordinatedand execute d attack took place during the early morning hours of May15. That morning, as staff arrived, it was immediately apparent that ARRLhad become the victim of an extensive and sophisticated ransomwareattack. The FBI categorized the attack as “unique” as they hadn't yet seenthis level of sophistication among the many other attacks, they haveexperience with.The ransom demands by the TAs, in exchange for access to their decryptiontools, were exorbitant. It was clear they didn’t know, and didn’t care, thatthey had attacked a small 501(c)(3) organization with limitedresources. Their ransom demands were dramatically weakened by the fact thatthey did not have access to any compromising data. It was also clear thatthey believed ARRL had extensive insurance coverage that would cover amulti-million-dollar ransom payment.------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 11:24:10 -0500 (EST)From: ACM TechNews <technews-editor () acm org>Subject: Taiwan Suspects China of Latest Undersea Cable Attack" (Tom Nicholson)Politico Europe (01/05/25) Tom NicholsonTaiwanese officials suspect a Cameroon-flagged cargo ship owned by Je YangTrading Limited of Hong Kong, led by Chinese citizen Guo Wenjie, wasresponsible for cutting an international undersea telecom cable onJan. 3. The Shunxin-39 was intercepted by Taiwan's coast guard, but roughweather prevented an on-board investigation, and the ship continued on to aSouth Korean port.------------------------------Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 21:11:00 -0500From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe () gabegold com>Subject: The Memecoin Shenanigans Are Just Getting Started (WiReD)The market for absurdist cryptocurrencies mutated into ahundred-billion-dollar phenomenon in 2024. Yes, things can get even morederanged.Around that time, a bunch of other celebrities—from Caitlyn Jenner to AndrewTate and Jason Derulo—were all launching their own crypto coins. Thepile-on reflected a renewed fervor among traders for memecoins, a type ofcryptocurrency that generally has no utility beyond financial speculation.Because memecoins do not generate revenue or cash flow, their value isentirely based on the attention they attract, which can fluctuatewildly. Though some people make a lot of money on memecoins, many otherslose out. With a general euphoria taking hold in cryptoland as the price ofbitcoin rises to historic levels above $100,000, the stage is set for yetfurther memecoin “degeneracy,” says Azeem Khan, cofounder of the Morphblockchain and venture partner at crypto VC firm Foresight Ventures.https://www.wired.com/story/memecoins-cryptocurrency-regulation------------------------------Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2025 11:05:47 -0700From: Matthew Kruk <mkrukg () gmail com>Subject: Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping (CBC)https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/apple-siri-privacy-settlement-1.7422363Apple has agreed to pay $95 million US to settle a lawsuit accusing theprivacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdropon people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, Calif., federal courtwould resolve a five-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations thatApple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations throughiPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more thana decade.------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 11:24:10 -0500 (EST)From: ACM TechNews <technews-editor () acm org>Subject: Meta Getting Rid of Fact Checkers (Clare Duff)CNN 01/07/25) Clare DuffyMark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that Meta will adjust its content reviewpolicies on Facebook and Instagram, replacing fact checkers withuser-generated "community notes." In doing so, Zuckerberg follows in thefootsteps of Elon Musk who, after acquiring Twitter, dismantled thecompany's fact-checking teams. Said Zuckerberg, "Fact checkers have been toopolitically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created."------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 07:08:55 -0700From: Matthew Kruk <mkrukg () gmail com>Subject: Huge problems with axing fact-checkers, Meta oversight board says (BBC)https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjwlwlqpwx7oWhile Meta says the move -- which is being introduced in the US initially -is about free speech, others have suggested it is an attempt to get closerto the incoming Trump administration, and catch up with the access andinfluence enjoyed by another tech titan, Elon Musk.The tech journalist and author Kara Swisher told the BBC it was "the mostcynical move" she had seen Mr Zuckerberg make in the "many years" she hadbeen reporting on him."Facebook does whatever is in its self-interest", she said."He wants to kiss up to Donald Trump, and catch up with Elon Musk in thatact."------------------------------Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 14:19:32 -0500From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe () gabegold com>Subject: Meta hosts AI chatbots of 'Hitler,' 'Jesus Christ,' Taylor Swift (NBC News)Meta says it reviews every user-generated AI chatbot, but NBC News founddozens that seemed to violate Meta’s policies.https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-user-made-ai-chatbots-include-hitler-jesus-christ-rcna186206------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 08:41:43 -0500From: Tom Van Vleck <thvv () multicians org>Subject: God can take Sunday off (NYTimes)from the New York Times 8 Jan 2025To members of his synagogue, the voice that played over the speakers ofCongregation EmanuEl in Houston sounded just like Rabbi Josh Fixler's. Inthe same steady rhythm his congregation had grown used to, the voicedelivered a sermon about what it meant to be a neighbor in the age ofartificial intelligence. Then, Rabbi Fixler took to the bimah himself. "Theaudio you heard a moment ago may have sounded like my words," he said. "Butthey weren't." The recording was created by what Rabbi Fixler called "RabbiBot," an AI chatbot trained on his old sermons. The chatbot, created withthe help of a data scientist, wrote the sermon, even delivering it in anAI version of his voice. During the rest of the service, Rabbi Fixlerintermittently asked Rabbi Bot questions aloud, which it would promptlyanswer.Rabbi Fixler is among a growing number of religious leaders experimentingwith AI in their work, spurring an industry of faith-based tech companiesthat offer AI tools, from assistants that can do theological research tochatbots that can help write sermons. [...] Religious leaders have usedAI to translate their livestreamed sermons into different languages inreal time, blasting them out to international audiences. Others havecompared chatbots trained on tens of thousands of pages of Scripture to afleet of newly trained seminary students, able to pull excerpts aboutcertain topics nearly instantaneously. The report's author draws a parallelto previous generations' initial apprehension -- and eventual embrace -- oftransformative technologies like radio, television, and the Internet. "Forcenturies, new technologies have changed the ways people worship, from theradio in the 1920s to television sets in the 1950s and the Internet in the1990s," the report says. "Some proponents of AI in religious spaces havegone back even further, comparing AI's potential -- and fears of it -- tothe invention of the printing press in the 15th century."Well, we are halfway there. Now all we need is AI-generated parishioners.Think of the savings in time and real estate. Church services can be overin microseconds. No need for church buildings, pews, altars: all virtual.They could repurpose churches as Amazon warehouses, patrolled by robots.------------------------------Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 11:29:50 PSTFrom: Peter Neumann <neumann () csl sri com>Subject: Several items Google and Meta (Lauren Weinstein_* Google gives a million dollars to Trump inauguration, as billionaire CEO Sundar goes full MAGA]* Changes at Meta amount to a MAGA Makeover Kevin Roose, *The New York Times*, 9 Jan 2025, front page of Business Section. [Lauren suggests META == Make Evil Trendy Again.]* Zuckerberg falls in line, goes fully MAGA Joe Garifoli, *The San Francisco Chronicle*, 9 Jan 2025* Google gives a million dollars to Trump inauguration, as billionaire CEO Sundar goes full MAGA, Lauren Weinstein, 9 Jan 2025 [The best government money can buy? PGN]------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 08:47:42 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: AI means the end of Internet search as we've known it (Technology Review))The way we navigate the web is changing, and it’s paving the way to a moreAI-saturated future.https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/01/06/1108679/ai-generative-search-internet-breakthroughs/------------------------------Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2025 06:47:35 -0700From: Matthew Kruk <mkrukg () gmail com>Subject: Is it still 'social media' if it's overrun by AI? (CBC)https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/meta-ai-generated-characters-future-social-media-1.7424641Back in 2010, a 26-year-old Mark Zuckerberg shared his vision for Facebook-- by that point a wildly popular social network with more than 500-millionusers."The primary thing that we focus on all day long is how to help peopleshare and stay connected with their friends, family and the people in thecommunity around them," Zuckerberg told CNBC. "That's what we care about,and that's why we started the company."Fifteen years and three billion users later, Facebook's parent company Metahas a new vision: characters powered by artificial intelligence existingalongside actual friends and family. Some experts caution that this couldmark the end of social media as we know it.For early users of social media, platforms like Facebook and Instagram havebecome "about as anti-social as you can imagine," said Carmi Levy, atechnology analyst and journalist based in London, Ont. "It's becomingincreasingly difficult to connect with an actual human being."------------------------------Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 08:38:38 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: AI Incident DatabaseThis should be of interest to RISKS readers: Welcome to the Artificial Intelligence Incident Database Search over 3000 reports of AI harmshttps://incidentdatabase.ai/------------------------------Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2025 14:32:38 -0800From: "Jim" <jgeissman () socal rr com>Subject: Apple's AI News Summaries and Inventions (BBC)https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cge93de21n0oApple is facing fresh calls to withdraw its controversial artificialintelligence (AI) feature that has generated inaccurate news alerts on itslatest iPhones.The product is meant to summarise breaking news notifications but has insome instances invented entirely false claims.The BBC first complained to the tech giant about its journalism beingmisrepresented in December but Apple did not respond until Monday this week,when it said it was working to clarify that summaries were AI-generated.Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, told the BBC Appleneeded to go further and pull a product he said was "clearly not ready."Mr Rusbridger, who also sits on Meta's Oversight Board that reviews appealsof the company's content moderation decisions, added the technology was "outof control" and posed a considerable misinformation risk."Trust in news is low enough already without giant American corporationscoming in and using it as a kind of test product," he told the Todayprogramme, on BBC Radio Four.The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), one of the world's largest unionsfor journalists, said Apple "must act swiftly" and remove Apple Intelligenceto avoid misinforming the public - echoing prior calls by journalism bodyReporters Without Borders <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2v778x85yo>(RSF)."At a time where access to accurate reporting has never been more important,the public must not be placed in a position of second-guessing the accuracyof news they receive," said Laura Davison, NUJ general secretary.The RSF also said Apple's intervention was insufficient, and has repeatedits demand that the product is taken off-line.Series of errorsThe BBC complained <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0elzk24dno> lastmonth after an AI-generated summary of its headline falsely told somereaders that Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEOBrian Thompson, had shot himself.On Friday, Apple's AI inaccurately summarised BBC app notifications to claimthat Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx27zwp7jpxo> hours before it began -and that the Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal had come out as gay.This marks the first time Apple has formally responded to the concernsvoiced by the BBC about the errors, which appear as if they are coming fromwithin the organisation's app.------------------------------Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2024 07:29:00 -0800From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: What real people think about Google Search todayIt's both notable and deeply depressing how many nontechnical people I knowwho have unprompted told me how much they despise Google AI Overviews, whichthey inevitably describe as usually inaccurate and worthless, at which pointthey usually add how Google Search quality has declined enormously (in theirown words, of course).Then they sometimes say something like, "Hey Lauren, don't you know peopleat Google that you could tell about how bad this is getting?"At which point I usually bite my tongue, which is increasingly feeling likea pincushion as a result.Don't believe the happy face metrics that Google claims -- out in------------------------------Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2025 10:50:22 -0800From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: WARNING: Google Voice is flagging LEGITIMATE robocalls from insurance companies to their customers in the fires as spamBE SURE TO CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDERS! GOOGLE AI DOES IT AGAIN!------------------------------Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2024 10:28:03 -0800From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: A non-tech analogy for Google Search AI OverviewsHere's a non-tech analogy to the problem (well, a problem) with Google AIOverviews:Let's say you go to a restaurant. Maybe they're offering free mealsthat day, maybe you're paying. Either way, several plates ofreasonable appearing food are placed in front of you. You ask aboutthe ingredients, but you only get vague answers back if any, and therestaurant refuses to tell you anything about the actual recipes perse.You notice a little card sticking out from under one of the plates. Itreads:"Some or all of this food may be fine. Some or all of this food mayhave a bad taste. Some or all may give you food poisoning. It's up toyou to double check this food before eating it -- we take noresponsibility for any ill effects it may have on you."Still hungry?------------------------------Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2025 09:58:24 -0500From: Tom Van Vleck <thvv () multicians org>Subject: Happy new year, compute carefullyJust some notes to remind you to compute carefully in 2025.1. In the past I recommended Gmail to people because it does some spamdetection, but now Gmail is being exploited to hack people. If you get a(fake) call ostensibly from Google or (fake) notices that your Googleaccount is being attacked, run. Don't click anything.https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2025/01/03/new-gmail-outlook-apple-mail-warning-2025-hacking-nightmare-is-coming-true/?2. If anybody says "now with AI," run.They are not giving you something wonderful for free.3. I have stopped using Google Chrome except for testing web page changes.I avoid "Chrome Browser Extensions" because they have been hacked to do badthings.4. 2.6 million devices have been backdoored with credential stealingmalware. Don't be a victim.https://therecord.media/hackers-target-vpn-ai-extensions-google-chrome-malicious-updates------------------------------Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 10:08:35 -0800From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: How to understand Generative AITo really understand generative AI, you need to keep one simple fact inmind. There is no "Intelligence" in "Artificial Intelligence". OpenAI -- itturns out -- literally defines intelligence in terms of profits!And as we see, Google AI is essentially a low grade moron. But this is truefor all of these systems. This is FUNDAMENTAL to how these systemswork. They are NOT intelligent. They do NOT understand what they're saying.The term "Intelligence" in the context of these systems is merely aMARKETING HYPE term, nothing more.Keep this in mind and the chaos being created by Big Tech at ourexpense is much easier to at least understand. -L------------------------------Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2025 16:51:29 -0800From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>Subject: Google censoring my AI criticism?One of the digest versions of today's mailings, which includedthe messages: 1. The laughs keep rolling in to that fraction question I asked Google (Lauren Weinstein) 2. The execs know their AI is trash (Lauren Weinstein) 3. Sources: Pentagon planning for how to deal with rogue Trump (Lauren Weinstein)was marked by Gmail as dangerous spam, with a red banner declaring it tobe a likely phishing attack. If you can figure out any possible way anyof those messages -- which were sent out as individual messages earliertoday -- could possibly be legit interpreted in that way, I'd love tohear about it.Otherwise, I suspect Google has filters in place to try divert some ofthis criticism into a scary category that people won't read, whetherthat was their actual intention or not.VERY BAD. -L------------------------------Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2025 06:32:54 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: U.S. newspapers are deleting old crime stories offering subjects a clean slate (The Guardian)Civil rights advocates across the US have long fought to free people fromtheir criminal records, with campaigns to expunge old cases and keeppeople’s past arrests private when they apply for jobs and housing.The efforts are critical, as more than 70 million Americans have priorconvictions or arrests – roughly one in three adults. But the policieshaven’t addressed one of the most damaging ways past run-ins with police canderail people’s lives: old media coverage.Some newsrooms are working to fill that gap.A handful of local newspapers across the US have in recent years launchedprograms to review their archives and consider requests to remove names ordelete old stories to protect the privacy of subjects involved in minorcrimes.“In the old days, you put a story in the newspaper and it quickly, if notimmediately, receded into memory,” said Chris Quinn, editor of Cleveland.comand the Plain Dealer newspaper. “But because of our [search engine] power,anything we write now about somebody is always front and center.” [...]https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/04/newspaper-crime-stories------------------------------Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 10:43:21 -0700From: geoff goodfellow <geoff () iconia com>Subject: EU Commission Fined for Transferring User Data to Meta in Violation of Privacy Laws (THN)The European General Court on Wednesday fined the European Commission, theprimary executive arm of the European Union responsible for proposing andenforcing laws for member states, for violating the bloc's own data privacyregulations.The development marks the first time the Commission has been held liablefor infringing stringent data protection laws in the region.The court determined that a "sufficiently serious breach" was committed bytransferring a German citizen's personal data, including their IP addressand web browser metadata, to Meta's servers in the United States whenvisiting the now-inactive futureu.europa[.]eu website in March 2022.The individual registered for one of the events on the site by using theCommission's login service, which included an option to sign in using aFacebook account."By means of the 'Sign in with Facebook' hyperlink displayed on the E.U.Login webpage, the Commission created the conditions for transmission ofthe IP address of the individual concerned to the U.S. undertaking MetaPlatforms," the Court of Justice of the European Union said in a pressstatement.The applicant had alleged that by transferring their information to theU.S., there arose a risk of their personal data being accessed by the U.S.security and intelligence services. [...]https://thehackernews.com/2025/01/eu-commission-fined-for-transferring.html------------------------------Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2025 09:22:06 -0800From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1 () verizon net>Subject: The Ghosts in the Spotify Machine (Liz Pelly:)I first heard about ghost artists in the summer of 2017. At the time, I wasnew to the music-streaming beat. I had been researching the influence ofmajor labels on Spotify playlists since the previous year, and my firstreport had just been published. Within a few days, the owner of anindependent record label in New York dropped me a line to let me know abouta mysterious phenomenon that was “in the air” and of growing concern tothose in the indie music scene: Spotify, the rumor had it, was filling itsmost popular playlists with stock music attributed to pseudonymousmusicians—variously called ghost or fake artists—presumably in an effort toreduce its royalty payouts. Some even speculated that Spotify might bemaking the tracks itself. At a time when playlists created by the companywere becoming crucial sources of revenue for independent artists and labels,this was a troubling allegation. [...]https://harpers.org/archive/2025/01/the-ghosts-in-the-machine-liz-pelly-spotify-musicians/------------------------------Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2024 09:35:13 -0800From: Rob Slade <rslade () gmail com>Subject: SpotifyI have mentioned, at times, that many people seem to be laboring under themisapprehension that the email address rslade () gmail com is theirs.Recently I have had cause to look into Spotify. I don't carry my "tunes"around with me (well, they often pop up as mindworms, but I don't need anyexternal source for that.), and I don't listen to podcasts, so I haven'tused Spotify, and I haven't created an account on it. But I've startedcontributing to a podcast, I didn't need to get a Spotify account tolisten to the podcast. But recently someone sent me a playlist of songs,and I thought it would listen to it and hear what was in it. But Spotify,while it *would* play a free podcast, apparently *won't* play a playlist ofcommercial songs unless you create an account.So I tried, only to find out, yes, you guessed it, there already *was* anaccount under the email address rslade () gmail com. Of course, I didn't knowthe account password. So, I just told Spotify that I lost the password.And it helpfully sent me an opportunity to change it.Whoever signed up for Spotify under my email address doesn't seem to haveany playlists or anything else on the account, so I guess they haven't usedit much and haven't lost anything. Much. Except for the account.Handy for me, though ...------------------------------Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2023 11:11:11 -0800From: RISKS-request () csl sri comSubject: Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks) The ACM RISKS Forum is a MODERATED digest. Its Usenet manifestation is comp.risks, the feed for which is donated by panix.com as of June 2011.=> SUBSCRIPTIONS: The mailman Web interface can be used directly to subscribe and unsubscribe:http://mls.csl.sri.com/mailman/listinfo/risks=> SUBMISSIONS: to risks () CSL sri com with meaningful SUBJECT: line that includes the string `notsp'. Otherwise your message may not be read. *** This attention-string has never changed, but might if spammers use it.=> SPAM challenge-responses will not be honored. Instead, use an alternative address from which you never send mail where the address becomes public!=> The complete INFO file (submissions, default disclaimers, archive sites, copyright policy, etc.) has moved to the ftp.sri.com site: <risksinfo.html>. *** Contributors are assumed to have read the full info file for guidelines!=> OFFICIAL ARCHIVES:http://www.risks.org takes you to Lindsay Marshall's delightfully searchable html archive at newcastle:http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/VL.IS --> VoLume, ISsue. Also,ftp://ftp.sri.com/risks for the current volume/previous directories orftp://ftp.sri.com/VL/risks-VL.IS for previous VoLume If none of those work for you, the most recent issue is always athttp://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt, and index at /risks-34.00 ALTERNATIVE ARCHIVES:http://seclists.org/risks/ (only since mid-2001) *** NOTE: If a cited URL fails, we do not try to update them. Try browsing on the keywords in the subject line or cited article leads. Apologies for what Office365 and SafeLinks may have done to URLs.==> Special Offer to Join ACM for readers of the ACM RISKS Forum: <http://www.acm.org/joinacm1>------------------------------End of RISKS-FORUM Digest 34.52************************
Current thread:
- (no subject)RISKS List Owner (Jan 11)