November 2, 2019

Security apathy, smart meter warnings and more: best of the week’s news

By admin In News, Technology No comments

Ben Heubl, associate editor

Cyber attack on India’s largest nuclear power plant confirmed

E&T has written extensively about the defencelessness of some countries’ essential public infrastructure, something that is due to a combination of the emergence of wireless internet-connected devices, ancient tech and bad cyber-security planning and execution.

In the UK, it seems that few really care about security and defence. It remains a low priority, at least among the general public, and becoming increasingly less important, it appears, according to recent polls. YouGov research tracking what are considered to be the top issues facing the country found that defence and security has slipped in the past two years to an all-time low of 8 per cent, on a par with tax levels.

All right, this isn’t conclusive evidence that nobody cares any more about the safety and security of the country, especially with Brexit currently stealing the show. But given an increasing number of cyber attacks on public infrastructure, the growth of internet-connected devices, election meddling and twitter bot campaigns organised by foreign powers, and security concern over companies such as Huawei – about which even the German security service chief has now issued a warning – the topic of ‘safety and security’ seems way too low on the public’s radar.

Tim Fryer, technology editor

Failure to upgrade to smart meters could incur high costs, householders warned

If there’s a curse of modern media, it’s that it opens up the world to everyone’s ill-informed nonsense. Not wanting to be left out, here’s some of mine. The use of smart meters worries me. I resisted getting one for as long as possible until my water company effectively just did it without my consent. At least we don’t have a choice of water companies, so it removes the problems of supplier switching that is mentioned in this news item. I still don’t have a smart meter for the electric.

I resisted because deep down I don’t trust privatised utilities. Whatever they might say in their promotion, their number one priority is to make money for their stakeholders – stakeholders referring to those with a financial input, rather than being the broader usage that encompasses users as well. They only make the money that the users give them.

Having a flat rate per household for water makes it easy to see when water companies put their prices up. When it’s metered, price differences aren’t obvious and can be concealed by undulating usage. My concern always has been that smart-metered utilities are initially cheaper, until everyone has a smart meter, then we’re all at the mercy of whatever price variations the suppliers throw our way.

I have no evidence of this. It may be ill-informed nonsense. But I still don’t trust them.

Fracking under pressure as Johnson considers UK ban

This is exactly what my rant last week was about. This industry, which could have huge economic benefits, without the environmental devastation it is branded with, will likely be condemned by a vocal few who are influencing the politicians, who in turn are offering it up as a sacrificial lamb now electioneering is under way. None of them seem to be prepared to try and understand what fracking is actually all about.

Siobhan Doyle, assistant technology editor

Facial recognition tech struggles to identify transgender people

A new study has found that commercial facial-recognition technology fails to identify transgender and non-binary individuals. Considering that previous studies have shown how software can misidentify women of colour, this comes as no surprise. Indeed, perhaps this new piece of research has added more fuel to the AI bias debate.

I’m just surprised that the answer to whether other genders have been mischaracterised by these computer-vision technologies, accompanied by substantial evidence, hasn’t been established earlier. Nevertheless, once again, this study doesn’t come as a shock.

Twitter to ban all political advertising; Facebook urged to follow suit

Fair play to you, Twitter. Doubtful that Facebook will follow in their footsteps, but one can dream.

Jonathan Wilson, online managing editor

Facebook contractor Cognizant withdraws from content moderation

Twitter to ban all political advertising; Facebook urged to follow suit

Facebook sued over gender and age discrimination

Another week of heavy raindrops from the negative news cloud that seems to hover continuously over Facebook. These three are merely akin to a gentle shower: if you committed to a full-scale news-watch for this social media incubus, stories such as these would become a daily deluge and you would be at risk of drowning in the remorseless flood. In other news this week, Facebook’s Q3 advertising revenue (note: just Q3 ad dollars, not total year to date) was revealed to have risen by 28 per cent year-on-year to $17.4bn. Three months: SEVENTEEN BILLION DOLLARS. That’s approximately the same total amount of money that, a few years ago, the UN called for the world’s richest nations to contribute in order to create a social safety net fund for people living in the world’s poorest countries. Now Facebook is greedily trousering that kind of cash for itself every single quarter. Priorities, anyone?

Fracking under pressure as Johnson considers UK ban

Given that so much of what comes out of Boris Johnson’s mouth proves to be untrue, forgive me if I don’t believe a word of his new-found concern about fracking. We already know that the Conservative Party manifesto is being written by a corporate lobbyist for fracking public enemy number one Cuadrilla (that same person is also a lobbyist for Facebook and Amazon), which is about as neutral and disinterested as Manchester United’s transfer strategy being guided by a rabid Liverpool FC fan.

Johnson is adept at seeming to make the right noises, faking concern for the cameras and microphones, whilst actually saying absolutely nothing of any concrete value or commitment. Or, as with his repeatedly broken promises about Brexit, he makes wild and hyperbolic statements on which he completely fails to deliver and then blithely refuses to acknowledge ever again. Where’s that ditch he swore he’d rather die in than keep Britain in the EU past 31 October?

As Shakespeare said in Macbeth, it’s all “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing”. Or, as Neil Young sang in Ambulance Blues, with his own political nemesis Richard M. Nixon in mind, “I never knew a man could tell so many lies / He had a different story for every set of eyes / How can he remember who he’s talkin’ to? / ‘Cause I know it ain’t me and I hope it isn’t you.”

Dominic Lenton, managing editor

Facial recognition technology used by police at derby football match condemned by fans

I’m not an avid football supporter, but having taken more than a passing interest in the game at all levels I remain convinced that the sort of anti-social behaviour that South Wales Police say justifies the use of facial-recognition tech to tackle potential flashpoints has little to do with the sport itself. One of the last top-flight matches I attended before switching my allegiance to the frankly more enjoyable experience of turning up every so often to support my local non-league team was a bad-tempered Arsenal-Spurs North London derby at the old Highbury stadium, back in the 20th century.

As many people more familiar with the situation than I am have commented, the issues with racist chanting and threats of violence are down to a tiny minority who are confident that their behaviour won’t be challenged. And they’re the sort of people who would be carrying on like this wherever they were on a Saturday afternoon or midweek evening. The environment of a big football fixture just gives them a bigger platform and greater confidence that they’re unlikely to be picked out.

What this story does provide, then, is an excellent example that’ll illustrate perfectly to the man or women in the street who isn’t up to speed with surveillance technology the pros and cons of ambient monitoring that goes beyond the pervasive CCTV culture which now seems to be accepted as a facet of modern life. On one hand, why worry about being tracked if you’ve got nothing to hide? The technology’s only there to pick out a few people already known to police and hopefully prevent them from causing disruption. On the other, are you happy that simply entering a public space like a football ground means your personal information and likeness may be held on a database somewhere and possibly used for other purposes?

Calls for supporters to wear masks in an attempt to thwart this approach to combatting hooliganism are likely to be self-defeating. What would the hooligans like more, after all, than to be part of a crowd where a significant number of people who aren’t bent on causing havoc are nevertheless masked?

Like much to do with the modern game, at the end of the day it’s down to market forces. If you don’t like something your local club is doing, whether it’s doing random ID checks or putting up the prices of the half-time food and drink, you’re free to take your money somewhere else. Although the disruptive minority, just as they’re driven away from city centres to urban areas by mass CCTV, simply relocating the problems they cause, are likely to be on the move as well because for them it’s not about the football.

For anyone really concerned about this, I’d suggest getting behind your local club, whichever tier of the league they play in. They’ll appreciate your custom and support more and their priorities are likely to be less about setting up high-tech crowd-monitoring systems and more about fixing a leaking roof in the away team dressing room.

Hilary Lamb, reporter

Facebook contractor Cognizant withdraws from content moderation

Technology services company Cognizant has announced that it will be yeeting out of the content moderation business. Cognizant is one of the largest contractors Facebook works with to help review the colossal volumes of terrorist propaganda, hate speech, snuff videos, spam and porn posted on its platforms. Earlier this year, The Verge published two excellent investigative reports into the day-to-day work done by Cognizant employees in Tampa and Phoenix, finding that employees were suffering from substance abuse and PTSD-like symptoms on account of viewing the thousands of ways humans can be evil every single day.

It is important to note that Cognizant’s decision to lay off 6,000 people as it moves away from content moderation is part of a larger strategy (involving greater investment in growth areas such as cloud computing). However, I would not be surprised if these reports – which truly do make content moderation seem like one of the worst jobs possible – have contributed in part to the company’s decision to disassociate itself from the whole business.