Australia's Political Parties and Parliament Hacked
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| Australia's Political Parties and Parliament Hacked | |
| Number | 754 |
| Broadcast Date | FEBRUARY 18, 2019 |
| Episode Length | 4:54 |
| Hosts | Rich Stroffolino |
Australian political parties get hacked, the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sports committee publishes its final report on fake news, and Ming-Chi Kuo published a note on an all new MacBook Pro design for 2019.
Headlines
- In an announcement to the Australian Parliament, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated that an investigation into a parliamentary hack showed that networks for the Liberal, Labor and National political parties were also effected. Mr. Morrison clarified that there is no evidence of interference for the upcoming national elections in May. The government believes these attacks come from a sophisticated state actor. As a result, electoral commissions have been briefed in all states and territories, and the Australian Cyber Security Centre will make technical experts available to any political party or electoral body.
- The British Parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee published a final report of findings looking into political disinformation online over the past 18 months. The report recommends creating a Code of Ethics for tech companies overseen by an independent regulatory body with authority to obtain records, initiate legal proceedings, and levy fines, as well as privacy law protections for users against inferences made about them. The report also recommends the Competition Markets Authority audit the online ad ecosystem, changing UK election law to require absolute transparency for online political ads, and a review of efforts made by foreign actors to influence elections, including a review of past elections. Facebook received specific recommendations including an Information Commissioner’s Office investigation into their platform practices and use of user data, an audit to check for anti-competitive practices, and requiring distinguishing between "quality journalism" and low quality content. In a statement, Facebook rejects the reports claims of breached data protection and anti-competitive practices.
- The UK's National Cyber Security Centre determined there are ways to mitigate the security risks in using Huawei's 5G infrastructure, according to sources speaking to the Financial Times. While not commenting specifically on the story, the NCSC stated that it had “a unique oversight and understanding” of Huawei, and expected the company to address engineering and security concerns brought by an oversight board last year, and that it is exploring a range of options for the UK's 5G deployment.
- Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo published an investor note claiming that Apple will release an all new MacBook Pro between 16-inches and 16.5-inches in 2019 featuring an all new design. The note also claims that 2019 will see Apple release a 31.6-inch 6k monitor with Mini-LED backlighting, and a Mac Pro with easy to upgrade components. Kuo further claims that the AirPower charging mat will ship in the first half of the year, bilateral charging will come to iPhones in 2019, and that AirPods 2 will support wireless charging.
- Sources tell Reuters that the Chinese ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing will layoff 2000 people, roughly 15% of overall staff from business units outside of their core mobility business. Overall headcount should stay roughly consistent however, as the company is looking to hire over 2000 to focus on safety technology, product engineering and international expansion. The layoffs seem to be the result of slowing growth caused by public safety concerns, after two Didi users were murdered in 2018.
- Software developer Philip Wang has used an open source implementation of a Generative Adversarial network, or GAN, to create a website called Thispersondoesnotexist.com. The GAN runs on Nvidia software and creates a human face every two seconds. As you refresh the website you'll get the latest creation. It's important to note that GANs don't assemble new faces from real faces but learn how to create an image from scratch based on training from image data of real faces.
- Sources tell the South China Morning Post that EA is in talks with Tencent to bring Apex Legends to China. Tencent already distributes Fortnite AND PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds in China. The country just ended a nine month freeze on approving new game licenses. Tencent is still waiting on approval for in game purchases to be sold in Fortnite and PUBG.
- Razer announced it will shutdown its digital games store, originally launched in April 2018, with sales scheduled to stop on February 28th. The company will fulfill all pre-orders already made in the store, and any purchased games will still work as long as game keys are retrieved before the shutdown. Razor will still continue to sell games through its Razer Gold and Silver reward programs.
- A study by gaming researcher NewZoo finds that e-sports revenue will grow 26.7% in 2019 to $1.1 billion. Of this, they predict sponsorships will make up the largest chunk, with $456.7 million, followed by media rights and advertising, bringing in $251 and $189 million, respectively. The growth in revenue corresponds to increased interest, with the study finding 454 million people are now interested in e-sports, a 35% increase since 2017.
Links
| Preceded by: "Week in Review for the Week of 2/11/19" |
Australia's Political Parties and Parliament Hacked |
Followed by: "Coinbase Acquires Neutrino" |