Vort3x | Cybersalon | October 15, 2024
Vort3x, published on the 15th of each month, aims to pick out significant developments in the intersection of computers, freedom, privacy, and security for friends near and far. The views expressed in these stories do not necessarily reflect those of Cybersalon, either individually or collectively.
Prepared by Wendy M. Grossman.
Contents: Cybersalon events | News | Features | Diary
Cybersalon Events
Reimagining The City. Future of Work and Educational Spaces
20th November
1pm to 2.30pm
RSA the Strand, John Adams House, London and online via Zoom
Panel led by Eva Pascoe, Bernard Blauel (Architect of the first Internet Cafes) and Dr Danbee Kim (Neuroscientist, contributing author to “All Tomorrow’s Futures”)
NEWS
Harvard Students in trouble or how to create Real-time Doxing App for Smart Glasses
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A pair of Harvard students have used the commercial reverse face image search engine PimEyes and a large language model to create an app that runs on Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses that identifies strangers on the street in seconds, Joseph Cox reports at 404 Media. The app, I-XRAY, also pulls in other personal information from the web to show home addresses and phone numbers. The students are not releasing the code.
Storm Helene Shuts Down Pure Quartz Supply
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In hitting the southeastern US state of North Caroline, Tropical Storm Helene closed off access to the small town of Spruce Pine, which supplies 70% of the world’s ultrapure quartz, Tommy Greene reports at Ars Technica. The high-purity quartz is essential in making the crucibles on which the world’s semiconductor supply depends. At the Charlotte Observer, Brian Gordon reports that there is only minor damage to the mines, but operations cannot restart until power is restored.
California Governor Vetoes AI Bill
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California governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed the state’s AI safety bill, which would have required those making large AI models to ensure they had kill switches and test them for safety, Kyle Orland reports at Ars Technica. Newsom objected on the grounds that small models might emerge as equally dangerous, and that more tightly targeted regulation would be preferable. Also at Ars Technica, Benj Edwards argues that the spread of deepfakes means that anyone can now claim that anything, matter how well documented, did not happen. At 404 Media, Jason Koebler reports that Wordfreq, software that scrapes the web to analyze the evolution of human language, is shutting down because the spread of AI-generated text has poisoned the source material.
Link Tax Fails to Profit Anyone
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The “link tax” embedded in the EU’s 2019 Copyright Directive is failing to provide benefits, as opponents warned it would, Glyn Moody reports at Techdirt. Publishers continue to struggle to find revenues, they are not sharing what money they do get from the link tax with journalists as they were supposed to, and the promised harmonization of copyright practices across countries has not materialized.
Tim Berners-Lee Shuts World Wide Web Foundation – can we replace it with a new body?
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Tim Berners-Lee has announced that he is closing down the 15-year-old World Wide Web Foundation, claiming that its mission has been largely accomplished, Thomas Claburn reports at The Register. Berners-Lee intends to focus on decentralized technology, in line with his original vision for the web, and the Solid protocol he hopes will enable decentralized storage.
FEATURES & ANALYSIS
Female-founded Femtech Companies Struggle for Funding
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In this article at the Guardian, Amelia Hill presents the results of a study by researcher Ludovica Castiglia in partnership with FemHealth Insights, who finds startups in the area of women’s health are less likely to find funding if a woman is on the founding team, and even less likely if she talks about women’s rights or freedom. Male founders do not attract a penalty for using those words. Castiglia finds that since 2010 female-founded femtech companies in the UK have raised an average of 23% less capital compared with similar male-founded companies.
Smart TVs Watch Users
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In this article at Make Use Of, Gavin Phillips finds that the smart TVs from major manufacturers such as LG and Samsung are capturing details of everything users watch via Automatic Content Recognition by taking screenshots multiple times per second and analyzing the results to serve up targeted ads. Manufacturers make it hard to opt out of ACR, and users’ best protection is to disconnect the TV from the Internet and use a separate streaming device. At Ars Technica, Scharon Harding finds that ads are increasingly being built into TV operating systems. Revenue from in-TV advertising is projected to reach $46 billion in 2025. A report from the Center for Digital Democracy analyzes in detail how TVs surveil their users.
UK Inaugurates Digital Advisory Board – can Fox rescue digital public service?
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In this article at Medium, Martha Lane Fox describes the first meeting of the digital advisory board set up inside the UK’s Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology. Fox is one of a dozen people tasked with creating a ten-year vision for digital government and how to improve public services for citizens.
Taylor Swift Changes Industry Copyright Terms
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In this article at TechDirt, Glyn Moody examines Taylor Swift’s impact on music industry contracts. Since Swift invoked the formerly standard contract clauses that are allowing her to rerecord her early albums to retain control, industry contracts have changed to block rerecording for 20 or 30 years instead of just two or three.
Wikipedia Faces Multiple Challenges – it is mobile first, stupid!
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In this opinion piece at the Guardian, Stephen Harrison argues that generative AI chatbots are threatening Wikipedia’s continued existence by using its content without credit, because limiting its visibility means fewer new contributors and editors. Attendees at the recent Wikimania say that attracting new recruits from Gen Z requires better mobile editing tools and more (and more friendly) social interaction.
DIARY
UK Internet Governance Forum – join us there
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November 5, 2024
London, UK and online
This year’s IGF will include a range of fascinating keynotes on topical issues and panel discussions which will explore questions regarding digital inclusion, digital governance, the impact of misinformation and disinformation on democracy and ethical AI.
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November 8-11, 2024
Brussels, Belgium
Freedom not Fear (FNF) is an annual self-organised conference on privacy and digital rights. People from all across Europe meet and work towards more freedom in the digitalised world, plan actions against increasing surveillance and other attacks on civil rights.
Internet Governance Forum – Not quite Dune but nearly
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December 15-19, 2024 and online
Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The 19th IGF, “Building Our Multistakeholder Digital Future”, will focus on four main themes: harnessing innovation and balancing risks in the digital space; enhancing the digital contribution to peace, development, and sustainability; advancing human rights and inclusion in the digital age; and improving digital governance for the Internet We Want.
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December 27-30, 2024
Hamburg, Germany
The 38th Chaos Communication Congress (38C3) is Europe’s largest hacker gathering, featuring lectures, workshops, and other events relating to security, privacy, freedom of expression, and cryptography.
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January 10-12, 2025
Washington, DC, US
ShmooCon is an annual east coast hacker convention hell-bent on offering three days of an interesting atmosphere for demonstrating technology exploitation, inventive software and hardware solutions, and open discussions of critical infosec issues. The first day is a single track of speed talks called One Track Mind. The next two days bring three tracks: Build It, Belay It, and Bring It On.
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February 1-2, 2025
Brussels, Belgium
FOSDEM is a free event for software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate. Every year, thousands of developers of free and open source software from all over the world gather at the event in Brussels. You don’t need to register. Just turn up and join in!
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February 4-5, 2025
London, UK
The third annual State of Open Con will focus on Open Technology including open source software, open hardware, open data, open innovation, open standards, and the value that the open community brings to the UK and its digital economy. Alongside a diverse range of topics, the event promises to include a diverse range of speakers and participants.
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February 11, 2025
Washington, DC, US
Annually attracting over 600 attendees, the State of the Net Conference provides unparalleled opportunities to network and engage on key policy issues. It is also the only Internet policy conference with over 50 percent of Congressional staff and government policymakers in attendance, making it the perfect setting to explore important, emerging trends.
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February 24-27, 2025
Taipei, Taiwan and online
Each edition of RightsCon convenes business leaders, policy makers, general counsels, government representatives, technologists, academics, journalists, and human rights advocates from around the world to tackle pressing issues at the intersection of human rights and technology. RightsCon is where the global community comes together to build strategies and drive forward change toward a more free, open, and connected world.
Cambridge Disinformation Summit
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April 23-24, 2025
Cambridge, UK
The 2025 Cambridge Disinformation Summit is designed to convene global thought leaders to discuss research regarding the efficacy of potential interventions to mitigate the harms from disinformation.
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May 29-30, 2025
Los Angeles, California, US
PLSC started in 2008 to bring privacy law scholars and practitioners from around the world together to discuss current issues in information privacy law and policy. The conference is, first and foremost, a paper workshop. Authors, commentators, and participants all work together to discuss ideas contained in the drafts. PLSC is conducted under the Chatham House Rule.
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August 7-9, 2025
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Since 2006, Netroots Nation has hosted the largest annual conference for progressives, drawing thousands of attendees from around the country and beyond.
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August 7-10, 2025
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Def Con is one of the world’s largest hacker conventions.
