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U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin addresses a press conference at U.S. Capitol on the future of the Chesapeake Bay
Ben Cardin’s deepfake debacle
US Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, recently joined a videoconference with a top Ukrainian official. The only problem? It was a deepfake.
Cardin believed he was speaking with former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who wanted to chat over Zoom. But according to the New York Times, Cardin grew suspicious when the person posing as Kuleba began asking questions about politics, the upcoming election, and sensitive foreign policy questions. He asked Cardin whether he supported firing long-range missiles into Russia, for instance. Cardin ended the call, reported it to the State Department, and officials at State told him it was a deepfake. It’s not yet clear who was behind the artificial intelligence mask, which looked and sounded like Kuleba.
Senate security officials warned lawmakers and their aides after the incident. “While we have seen an increase of social engineering threats in the last several months and years, this attempt stands out due to its technical sophistication and believability,” they wrote, cautioning that similar incidents could arise in the future, especially ahead of the November elections.Indonesia adds Twitter, Zoom to tech companies that must pay 10% VAT
JAKARTA (REUTERS) - Indonesia on Tuesday (Sept 8) added 12 more companies, including social media firm Twitter and video-conferencing site Zoom, to a list of internet-based businesses that must pay a 10 per cent value-added tax on sales.
Technological Revolution & Surveillance in the COVID-19 Era
Are we in the middle of a technological revolution?
Yes? I feel like a technological revolution should feel more empowering and exciting. It should feel like something good as opposed to something catastrophic. But if you define it as a moment when there's a lot of technological change that will last for years or decades, yes. Think about the way that health, education, working from home are going to change. There are lots of inventions right now because of coronavirus that will stick with us.
With the need for increased surveillance, will microchipping become a thing?
Microchipping is where you put a little microchip inside your body and you can use it to scan yourself in, you can embed data in it, you can use near-field identification. But no, it's not going to become a thing because you can do all that in your phone. Put the microchip in your phone. Carry the phone in your pocket or put it in your watch. Putting it in your skin is unnecessary and kind of gross.
What are the privacy concerns with Zoom?
Nicholas Thompson, EIC of Wired, helps us make sense of today's stories in technology: What are privacy concerns with Zoom and what happened to Skype?
The privacy concerned with Zoom is if you don't password protect the meeting, someone can zoom-bomb-it and take over your screen and share a bunch of nasty stuff. So, password protect your meetings. What happened to Skype? They didn't innovate. They got surpassed. Huge mistake.
Why aren't there more efficient tech solutions to the medical supply shortage?
Because it's hard and massive. The big problem is that most of our medical supplies are made in China, not here. China needs them. It would have been much better if we had diversified, if we had many more ventilator production factories in the United States and mask production factories.
How many Quibi videos can I watch during lockdown?
A Quibi video goes up to about 10 minutes. The company has just launched. 43,000 minutes in a month. So, I guess you could watch 4,300 Quibi's in a month. So, three months, 12,900 Quibi's.