Airliners carry a variety of computer systems that could become vulnerable to hackers and U.S. regulators haven't imposed adequate counter measures, a government watchdog report concluded. From a report: The Federal Aviation Administration hasn't prioritized cyber risks, developed a cybersecurity training program or conducted testing of potentially vulnerable systems, the Government Accountability Office said in a report issued Friday. "Until FAA strengthens its oversight program, based on assessed risks, it may not be able to ensure it is providing sufficient oversight to guard against evolving cybersecurity risks facing avionics systems in commercial airplane," the GAO report said. Commercial aircraft carry increasingly sophisticated computer systems, including wireless networks, seat-back entertainment, position broadcasts and devices that automatically transmit data to the ground.

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Covid-19 contact-tracing apps that rely on an API developed by Apple and Google and bluetooth technology cannot accurately measure the distance between users on public transport, a recently released study from Trinity College Dublin has found. From a report: The researchers of the study first tested the API on a group of volunteers who switched seats every fifteen minutes in a Dublin tram. They then ran the collected data through the detection rules of the Swiss, German, and Italian contact-tracing apps to see how often they correctly identified contact between users. Based on this, they found that the chance of an accurate detection was "similar to that of triggering notifications by randomly selecting from the participants in our experiments, regardless of proximity." So, no better than random. This finding is the latest example of mounting skepticism among experts regarding the effectiveness of the technology underlying the apps which have been widely released -- but less widely used -- by governments across Europe and more recently the United States. Most contact-tracing apps in Europe and the United States use Apple and Google's exposure notification API, which in turn relies on in-built wireless Bluetooth technology to estimate the distance between two users and whether they've been in contact. What actually constitutes 'contact' is set by the developers of whichever app calls the API, but it's usually defined as being within 2 meters (~6.5 feet) of another user for at least 15 minutes. Once a user uploads a positive test result to a contact-tracing app, it notifies all contacted users and lets them know that they've been at risk of infection.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: It took Soraya Bagheri a day to learn that 450 shares of Moderna had been liquidated in her Robinhood account and that $10,000 in withdrawals were pending. But after alerting the online brokerage to what she believed was a theft in progress, she received a frustrating email. The firm wrote it would investigate and respond within "a few weeks." Now her money is gone. Bagheri is among five Robinhood customers who recounted similar experiences to Bloomberg News, saying they've been left in limbo in recent weeks after someone sold their investments and withdrew funds. Because the wildly popular app has no emergency phone number, some said they tried in vain to intervene, only to watch helplessly as their money vanished. "A limited number of customers appear to have had their Robinhood account targeted by cyber criminals because of their personal email account (that which is associated with their Robinhood account) being compromised outside of Robinhood," a spokesman for the company said in an email. "We're actively working with those impacted to secure their accounts." The issue didn't stem from a breach of Robinhood's systems, the spokesman said.

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The Information: Six months after launching his revolutionary video-streaming service, Quibi, Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg is looking for a buyer. So far, he is coming up short [paywalled; alternative source]. Over the past few weeks, Katzenberg has pitched several tech and entertainment executives about buying Quibi, only to be turned down. Among those he approached was Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of internet software and services, and WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, according to people familiar with the situation. He and his partner in Quibi, former HP CEO Meg Whitman, also made formal presentations to executives at other tech companies, including Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, only to get rejected there as well, the people said. It's possible Katzenberg will still strike a deal. Other companies, including in the gaming industry, could be interested. A spokeswoman for Quibi had no comment. The stakes are high for Katzenberg, a veteran of Hollywood. Quibi was an ambitious idea: a service aimed at people on the go, airing episodes of everything from news programs to dramas with episodes of just a few minutes each. Major talent including Kevin Hart and Chrissy Teigen made shows for the service. Katzenberg raised $1.75 billion to fund the service, including from major entertainment companies including Disney and Warner Bros., Chinese internet giant Alibaba and Madrone Capital, the private investment fund of Walmart heir Rob Walton. But Quibi has struggled to gain traction.

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Microsoft is allowing some of its employees to work from home permanently. From a report: While the vast majority of Microsoft employees are still working from home during the ongoing pandemic, the software maker has unveiled "hybrid workplace" guidance internally to allow for far greater flexibility once US offices eventually reopen. The Verge has received Microsoft's internal guidance, and it outlines the company's flexible working plans for the future. Microsoft will now allow employees to work from home freely for less than 50 percent of their working week, or for managers to approve permanent remote work. Employees who opt for the permanent remote work option will give up their assigned office space, but still have options to use touchdown space available at Microsoft's offices. "The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all of us to think, live, and work in new ways," says Kathleen Hogan, Microsoft's chief people officer, in a note to employees. "We will offer as much flexibility as possible to support individual workstyles, while balancing business needs, and ensuring we live our culture."

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Why do police unions support Trump when Repubs aren't funding local governments. I don't see how that's good for police.

Today's song: I Need a Miracle.

Whenever you eat something with some mass to it, a big Diet Coke is great because it gets in underneath all that and moves it around. I don't know why that feels so good but it does.

AmiMoJo writes: Yelp, the local search and review site, said it would post alerts on the pages of businesses where customers or employees have reported incidents of racism, the latest attempt by a U.S. company to introduce a tougher response system to confront discrimination after the police killing of George Floyd in May. The company, which offers a platform for users to rate places like restaurants, small businesses and popular tourist sites, said in a statement Thursday that it would use a "business accused of racist behavior" alert when there was "resounding evidence" that a business owner or employee had taken racist actions, including the use of racist slurs or symbols. This alert will always link to a news article from a "credible media outlet," Yelp said, without elaborating on which news organizations they considered to be credible or how it defined "resounding evidence." Yelp's announcement raised questions about how the company will enforce the initiative -- and how it will ensure that businesses were not falsely associated with racism or the target of defamatory reviews, which can significantly damage a business. Companies like Google and Facebook have also grappled with the difficult issues of moderating users on their online platforms.

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Twitter, risking the ire of its best-known user, President Trump, said on Friday that it would turn off several of its routine features in an attempt to control the spread of misinformation in the final weeks before the presidential election. From a report: The first notable change, Twitter said, will essentially give users a timeout before they can hit the button to retweet a post from another account. A prompt will nudge them to add their own comment or context before sharing the original post. Twitter will also disable the system that suggests posts on the basis of someone's interests and the activity of accounts they follow. In their timelines, users will see only content from accounts they follow and ads. And if users try to share content that Twitter has flagged as false, a notice will warn them that they are about to share inaccurate information.

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Google has removed this summer more than 240 Android apps from the official Play Store for showing out-of-context ads and breaking a newly introduced Google policy against this type of intrusive advertising. From a report: Out-of-context ads (also known as out-of-app ads) are mobile ads that are shown outside an app's normal container. They can appear as popups or as fullscreen ads. Out-of-context ads are banned on the Play Store since February this year, when Google banned more than 600 apps that were abusing this practice to spam their users with annoying ads. But despite the public crackdown and ban, other apps showing out-of-context ads have continued to be discovered -- such as in June this year. The latest of these discoveries come from ad fraud detection firm White Ops. In a blog post today, the company said it discovered a new cluster of more than 240+ Android apps bombarding their users with out-of-context ads -- but made to look like they originated from other, more legitimate applications.

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If I had a column in a publication that people respected and read, my first piece would be about this. The power in the United States comes from the people. When we make everything about the parties and their personalities we lead the country to authoritarianism.

Every toy, gadget and good you see on YouTube could soon be for sale online -- not on Amazon, but right on YouTube itself. From a report The world's largest video site recently started asking creators to use YouTube software to tag and track products featured in their clips. The data will then be linked to analytics and shopping tools from parent Google. The goal is to convert YouTube's bounty of videos into a vast catalog of items that viewers can peruse, click on and buy directly, according to people familiar with the situation. The company is also testing a new integration with Shopify for selling items through YouTube. A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the company is testing these features with a limited number of video channels. Creators will have control over the products that are displayed, the spokesperson said. The company described this as an experiment and declined to share more details. The moves have the potential to transform YouTube from an advertising giant into a new contender for e-commerce leaders such as Amazon and Alibaba.

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San Francisco-based "co-living platform" HubHaus has collapsed, saying it has no funds, leaving people using its platform to rent rooms in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Washington DC, in limbo. From a report: HubHaus' business model seemed simple enough: lease large, single-family units and then cut them up into as many rooms as possible in order to sublet each room. Upon closer examination, however, there seem to have been numerous red flags. In interviews with tenants, the San Francisco Chronicle found that they were still being charged for services (e.g. housekeeping) that were no longer provided and some were charged double their rent after setting up auto-pay. Landlords told the Chronicle that HubHaus stopped paying for utilities and slashed its leasing payments to them. One former employee also reported that the company consistently paid him less than he earned or would pay him late, causing financial hardship that led him to quit. In a September 30 letter sent to homeowners and tenants, and obtained by the Chronicle, HubHaus owner Diablo Management Group said "HubHaus is completing a liquidation and closure of the company." As part of that process, an analysis by Diablo found there were "no funds available to pay the claims of unsecured creditors (e.g., claims by landlords, tenants, trade creditors, or contractors)."

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The court at 6-3, if it gets to that, will be completely out of sync with the people they're meant to govern. This has to be resolved somehow.

The Constitution doesn't say what we should do, but it isn't up to the Dems, and I wish Harris had said that, it's up to the people.

The people will demand it, as soon as it becomes apparent that the court as configured is going to reverse Roe v Wade. Demand it. It won't be an option for the Dems.

Further, if it is a huge win for Dems, they will be mandated to do something else. Change the Constitution so we have a democracy, not something that can be so easily hijacked.

The press has a lot of gall trying to pin the Dems to "packing" the court. The press are citizens too, and voters, and have an interest in how the country works.

They should ask themselves, before trying to make a controversy, in alliance with the Repubs, do they accept a 6-3 conservative majority?

This circles back to Jay Rosen's View From Nowhere. Now is the time for the press to stop and think, am I in favor of the United States? That is not too big a conflict of interest to carry. Then you should be careful when you try to create controversy.

Remember how the press set up the Hillary's Emails thing. Don't back us into a corner. We're going to have to reconfigure the court if the Repubs do what they plan to do.

We will have to do it. President Biden will do it for us. Stop ignoring the people. We are the government, remember?