"Google received 48,941 requests for data from 83,345 accounts and produced user information for 65 percent of requests. About half the requests come from the US government. Other major sources of requests include Germany, France, and the UK."
"The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it had approved the application of Alphabet Inc—the company that runs Google—to provide the service in emergency circumstances."
"Yahoo said a major security breach in 2013 compromised all three billion accounts the company maintained, a three-fold increase over the estimate it disclosed previously."
"Said Rudd, 'There is currently a gap in the law around material [that] is viewed or streamed from the internet without being permanently downloaded.'"
"Facial recognition is becoming more and more common, but ask anyone how to avoid it and they’ll say: easy, just wear a mask. In the future, though, that might not be enough. Facial recognition technology is under development that’s capable of identifying someone even if their face is covered up — and it could mean that staying anonymous in public will be harder than ever before."
"The information came mostly from US residents, but a percentage also involved UK and Canadian citizens and the company is working with authorities from these countries. Equifax reports that it discovered the leak on July 29th and took steps to stop the intrusion. It then hired a cybersecurity firm to determine the extent of the intrusion and what damage was done. The company reports that it has involved law enforcement, but it’s not clear at this point how the intruders entered the system or exactly what they took."
"Wikileaks founder Julian Assange tweeted a screenshot of Paul’s 'Liberty Report' page showing that his videos had been labeled 'not suitable' for all advertisers by YouTube's content arbiters. Assange claims that Paul was being punished for speaking out about President Donald Trump’s decision to increase the number of US troops in Afghanistan, after Paul published a video on the subject earlier this week."
"Pacemakers from Abbott Laboratories contain critical flaws that allow hijackers within radio range to seize control while the pacemakers are running. The update will require patients to visit a clinic where doctors will put the pacemakers in backup mode while the firmware is being patched. The Abbott letter said that, for certain patients, the update should be performed 'in a facility where temporary pacing and pacemaker generator change are readily available, due to the very small estimated risk of firmware update malfunction.'"
"Windows machines are targeted by the CIA under ‘Angelfire,’ according to the latest release from WikiLeaks’ ‘Vault7’ series. The documents detail an implant that can allow Windows machines to create undetectable libraries. WikiLeaks says the leaked ‘Vault 7’ documents came from within the CIA, which has in turn refused to confirm their authenticity. Previous releases include details on CIA hacking tools used to weaponize mobile phones, compromize smart TVs and the ability to trojan the Apple OS."
"The US government is fighting to keep a former police officer in prison because he claims not to be able to remember the code to decrypt two hard drives under investigation. The ex-cop has twice appealed the decision to detain him, once in federal court and once in the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals. His lawyers argue that holding him breaches his Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate himself. The government is also arguing that, as Rawls didn't use his Fifth Amendment rights in his initial appeal he can't try to use that defense now."