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Trump congratulates UK's Johnson after historic wins, hints at new trade deal
12/12/19 11:09 PM
Thursday, 12 December 2019
Fox News Breaking News Alert
Fox News Breaking News Alert
Republicans erupt as Nadler suddenly postpones impeachment vote near midnight
12/12/19 8:43 PM
Republicans erupt as Nadler suddenly postpones impeachment vote near midnight
12/12/19 8:43 PM
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Fox News Breaking News Alert
David Stern, former NBA commissioner, undergoes emergency surgery after brain hemorrhage
12/12/19 8:04 PM
David Stern, former NBA commissioner, undergoes emergency surgery after brain hemorrhage
12/12/19 8:04 PM
Fox News Breaking News Alert
Fox News Breaking News Alert
House Dems, GOP stretch impeachment session into the night sparring over Trump
12/12/19 6:34 PM
House Dems, GOP stretch impeachment session into the night sparring over Trump
12/12/19 6:34 PM
New story in Technology from Time: Ring Recommends Users Update Their Home Security System Passwords After String of Hacking Incidents
Ring security products are facing criticism after multiple reports that the brand’s in-home security cameras have been hacked, including an incident where an 8-year-old Mississippi girl heard voices coming from the device in her bedroom.
In the security footage, a man’s voice is heard, telling the little girl that he’s “Santa Claus,” and her “best friend.” He also encourages the child to mess up her room and break her TV.
“They could have watched them sleeping, changing. I mean they could have seen all kinds of things,” the girl’s mother, Ashley LeMay, told WMC Action News. “It makes me feel like it’s either somebody who knows us or somebody who is very close by.”
Other incidents have been reported in Florida, Texas and Georgia. In Cape Coral, Fla., for example, a hacker gained access into a couple’s Ring camera and made racist comments about their son.
In a statement sent to TIME, Ring said that they take their devices’ security very seriously, but that the incidents are not related to a breach of security protocols.
“We have no evidence of an unauthorized intrusion or compromise of Ring’s systems or network,” the statement reads.
The statement adds that Ring is aware of an incident where “malicious actors” were able to obtain a user’s login credentials from an outside, non-Ring device and use that same information to log into the Ring device. “Upon learning of the incident, we took appropriate actions to promptly block bad actors from known affected Ring accounts and affected users have been contacted,” Ring says.
Craig Shue, an associate professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, agrees that the hackers are likely getting Rings users’ account information from third parties (like the details used for an email account or streaming service). Using specialized software, they are then able to recycle those passwords and usernames across multiple devices, including Rings, looking for instances where the login data matches. Motherboard has reported of forums and Discord servers whose users collaborate on such hacking projects.
Shue recommends that users create strong passwords, ensure each is unique across their different accounts and devices, and change them regularly. He also recommends enabling two-step authentication on devices where possible; this adds another step to the authorization process by sending a security code to a registered email or phone number when someone tries to log into an account.
Ring also recommends customers change their passwords and enable two-factor authentication. LeMay told WMC that she did not set up the two-factor authentication for her Ring account. She has since disabled the device and plans on returning it.
Shue says that both Ring and its products’ users bear responsibility for their security. “Manufacturers have the responsibility to clean out devices that can be secured and patch any vulnerabilities that come up,” he tells TIME. “Consumers also have to look out for their own self-interest. It hurts us if it doesn’t go well… we have to always be vigilant.”
“I would also encourage everybody to do their own form of risk assessment and determine what they need in these devices and whether it’s worth the risk to have that functionality,” Shue continues. “It’s kind of crazy that we use passwords as a line of defense for a sensitive device.”
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
New story in Technology from Time: Activists and LGBTQ Groups Say These Facebook Ads Spread Dangerous Misinformation About HIV Drugs
Advocacy groups are urging Facebook to remove advertisements that they say unfairly infer that the HIV/AIDS prevention Truvada PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is dangerous, an allegation they say could endanger the people who are most at risk of contracting the disease.
More than 50 HIV/AIDs, LGBTQ and public health advocacy groups released a letter on Monday asking Facebook and Instagram to remove the ads from their platforms.
The ads referred specifically to “Truvada PrEP” (the brand name for one of the medications, dtenofovir disoproxil fumarate, used as PrEP) and in some cases more generically to “PrEP.” There is another PrEPdrug, Descovy (tenofovir alafenamide), which was approved in 2019.
Common side effects for Truvada include stomachaches, headaches and weight loss in some patients, according to Gilead, the biotechnology company that makes both drugs. Descovy has similar side effects, although adverse reactions may be somewhat less likely, Gilead claims. For HIV negative people, PrEP can reduce the risk of infection during sex by 99% when used daily, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In their letter, advocates say that law firms have been targeting the ads toward members of the LGBTQ community, seeking clients who have had more serious side effects from Truvada PrEP, such as damage to their kidneys and loss of bone density. The letter argues that the ads have caused “significant harm to public health” by sowing concerns about the safety of the drug in the LGBTQ community, even though the drug is considered a safe and effective means of reducing the risk of infection.
Kidney issues and bone density issues are also “known possible risks” of Truvada, says Dr. Joyce Jones, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. However, Jones adds, “if [patients] are otherwise healthy, and otherwise don’t have a preexisting problem that would increase their risk for a kidney or bone issue, the risk is relatively low. It’s still something that we need to monitor, but in general people do quite well on Truvada,” says Jones. (She also notes that the newer drug, Descovy, has a lower risk of bone density and kidney issues.)
“By allowing these advertisements to persist on their platforms, Facebook and Instagram are convincing at-risk individuals to avoid PrEP, invariably leading to avoidable HIV infections,” the letter says.
Broadly, doctors say more people who are at risk for contracting HIV should be on a PrEP regime. The CDC warned earlier this year that efforts to combat HIV have “stalled” as the disease continues to infect 39,000 people in the U.S. each year; the agency announced in February that encouraging the use of PrEP was part of its strategy to curb the disease’s spread.
“Unnecessarily scaring people from PrEP [is] taking away from these efforts to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S,” says Jones. “PrEP is not being accessed in the way that it should.”
Rich Ferraro, the chief communications officer for national LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, says that he has been corresponding with Facebook for a few months, urging the social media giant to remove the ads to no avail. His concern is that the ads are reaching men limited access to information about HIV/AIDS and prevention. “Oftentimes, LGBTQ people are not able to or are not comfortable asking their doctors about HIV/AIDS, so they go online for information. And they’re finding these ads directly on their Facebook feeds,” says Ferraro.
Peter Staley, an HIV/AIDS activist and a cofounder of PrEP4All, describes PrEP as like a “miracle drug;” an essential tool for preventing infections. He fears that the ads are eroding years of public health advocates’ work to encourage the use of Truvada since the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012.
“This is what we fought for,” says Staley. “And to have a corporate behemoth ignore us and dismiss our concerns reminds me of the walls of intransigence that we hit in the 1980s from the U.S. government and the mainstream press. They just didn’t care that the disease was spreading. And they’re hiding behind obscure advertising policies and third party institutions that really know nothing about the complexities of HIV treatment.”
Ferraro argues that the ads are a clear violation of Facebook’s ad policy, which prohibits “deceptive, false, or misleading claims” about health products. Advocates say Facebook should treat these PrEP lawsuit solicitations the same way it has treated false claims that vaccines are dangerous: by listening to healthcare experts and taking them down.
However, Facebook argues that, by its standards, the PrEP ads are not in the same category as the anti-vaccine ads. “We value our work with LGBTQ groups and constantly seek their input. While these ads do not violate our ad policies nor have they been rated false by third-party fact-checkers, we’re always examining ways to improve and help these key groups better understand how we apply our policies,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
Jones believes that Facebook has a responsibility to make sure that it’s not permitting ads don’t cause unnecessary “fear-mongering,” she says. “In this new age of social media, having accurate information is the responsibility of these platforms.”
New story in Technology from Time: ‘Fully Loaded,’ Apple’s New Desktop Mac Pro Costs Over $52,000 — and Don’t Forget the $400 Wheels
(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. started selling its new Mac Pro desktop computer on Tuesday, complete with eye-watering pricing options that can push the cost north of $50,000.
The new machine, built in Austin, Texas after Apple got tariff relief from the Trump administration, starts at $5,999 for specifications that some programmers, video editors, and photographers might consider measly. Fully loaded, the computer costs more than $52,000 — and that’s excluding the optional $400 wheels for easily moving the machine around an office.
For some professional users, the cost of Apple’s new computer is just part of doing business. But for most consumers, the Mac Pro’s price is shocking. As one of the most expensive personal computers in the world, some Apple users quickly compared the cost to a car.
The base product includes 256 gigabytes of storage, low for professional computers in the same price range. A 4 terabyte option is an extra $1,400. An 8 terabyte upgrade is coming later, according to Apple’s website, but pricing hasn’t been announced.
To increase the computer’s RAM memory from 32 gigabytes to 1.5 terabytes is $25,000 extra, the main reason the price can exceed $52,000. Apple said a version of the Mac Pro designed to be racked in data centers costs an extra $500 and will launch later. The Mac Pro does not include a display.
Apple put a new Pro Display XDR on sale Tuesday for $4,999.
The Mac Pro’s pricing first came into focus in June when the company announced the product and said that a stand to hold the new monitor would cost an extra $999.
The company also said on Tuesday that it is doubling the cash-back offer for the Apple Card on Apple hardware purchases to 6% until the end of the year. That could make such purchases just a little easier.
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