Firefox could be dealt a devastating blow by the recent judgement that aimed to end Google’s monopoly. Cisco is reportedly planning more deep cuts as its revenue and earnings drop. The US may insist that it be as easier to unsubscribe to offers and the war on Deepfakes – can we detect them in real time?
All this and more on the “yup its really me” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.
Google’s recent legal troubles, aimed at opening up the market to competitors could actually spell disaster for Mozilla Firefox, a popular alternative to Google Chrome.
A U.S. District Judge found Google in violation of antitrust laws, potentially threatening the lucrative deal that keeps Google as Firefox’s default search engine.
According to Mozilla’s 2022 financial records, over $510 million of their $593 million total revenue came from search engine royalties, with Google being the primary contributor.
An unnamed Mozilla spokesperson told Fortune: “Mozilla has always championed competition and choice online, particularly in search. We’re closely reviewing the court’s decision, considering its potential impact on Mozilla and how we can positively influence the next steps.”
If the court’s remedy prevents Google from paying organizations to be the default search engine, Mozilla may need to find alternative revenue sources quickly. And that’s a lot of revenue. Mozilla and Firefox have already been facing some tough revenue challenges.
Laura Chambers, Mozilla’s interim CEO, now faces a test of her leadership. As the tech world watches this antitrust case unfold, the future of Firefox and the broader landscape of web browsers hang in the balance, ironically from an action that was supposed to make for a more competitive marketplace, highlighting the complex relationships between tech giants and their smaller competitors.
Sources include: It’s Foss News
Networking giant Cisco is reportedly planning to cut around 4,000 jobs as it shifts focus towards cybersecurity and AI. This comes on the heels of similar layoffs in February, reflecting ongoing challenges in the tech sector.
The cuts are expected to be announced as soon as Wednesday, coinciding with Cisco’s fourth-quarter earnings report. The company has been grappling with declining revenues and profits, with Q4 revenues forecast to be down about 11 percent year-over-year.
Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins has been pushing to diversify the company’s offerings. The recent $28 billion acquisition of Splunk and efforts to establish Cisco as an AI networking vendor are part of this strategy.
“Cisco hopes to realize $1 billion worth of AI product orders by the end of its 2025 fiscal year,” according to the report.
This move mirrors similar actions by tech giants like Intel and Dell, who have also announced significant layoffs recently.
Hopefully the shrink to greatness and high-priced acquisitions will be the ticket to turning around corporate fortunes, and I’m not being cynical, but if anyone has seen this strategy actually work, I’d love to hear.
Sources: The Register
The Biden administration has unveiled new proposals aimed at making it easier for Americans to cancel unwanted subscriptions and services. This initiative is part of a broader effort to eliminate what the White House calls “unnecessary headaches and hassles” faced by consumers.
Several federal agencies are involved in this push. The Federal Trade Commission is proposing a rule that would require companies to make canceling a subscription as easy as signing up for one. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission is considering similar rules for the communications industry.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is tackling customer service “doom loops” by proposing a rule that would require companies to allow callers to reach a human representative with a single button press.
A White House spokesperson explained: “In addition to robbing hardworking families of their valuable time and adding frustration to our daily lives, these hassles cost us money.”
This consumer-friendly initiative also extends to air travel, with the Department of Transportation now requiring airlines to automatically issue refunds for canceled or significantly changed flights if passengers choose not to accept rebooking options.
As these proposals move forward, they promise to reshape how companies interact with consumers, potentially saving Americans time, money, and frustration in their day-to-day lives.
Sources include: Axios
Deepfake technology is advancing rapidly, making it easier than ever to create convincing fake videos. At the recent DEF CON hacker conference, attendees could create live video deepfakes in seconds, demonstrating how simple it could be to impersonate someone else in a video call.
These tools were impressive when they first hit the market but over the past weeks, they have gotten, if possible, even easier to use and more convincing.
At Defcon a reporter participating in the experiment was able to generate a plausible deep fake of celebrity Meghan Markle in about 10 seconds.
Recently, it was reported that deepfakes were used to allow North Korean hackers to apply for jobs hiding their true identities.
The potential for harm both in corporate and personal life is enormous and alarm bells are going off as we prepare for the impact of this new technology.
But there are some signs that we may be able to fight back against this new threat to our security and privacy.
Also at Defcon DARPA-backed Semantic Forensics (SemaFor) demonstrated a deepfake detection tool at the conference. The detection tool was able to easily and accurate spot a fake that would have fooled the average person.
So as deepfake technology continues to evolve, the race between creation and detection tools will intensify. It will soon be essential for corporate IT to understand this new technology.
But as much as we need to keep up on a corporate level, it’s also critical that we realize that we are also vulnerable on a personal level and need to rethink how much we share of our personal selves online. Deepfakes are being used not only in corporate attacks, but also being used to victimize individuals often by creating fake pictures of them, often involving pornographic fake pictures, referred to as revenge porn.
We’ve posted a link to an organization sponsored by Meta and a number of other companies to assist people who are victimized. It’s a confidential service that claims a great success rate.
We also put a link to a video shared by with us that gives a start warning about how deepfakes can affect individuals. This was shared by one of our listeners.
And Hashtag Trending and its sister podcast Cyber Security Today will be devoting several of our weekend shows to this and other AI and security related topics to help you keep up.
Watch this space.
The following was taken from a link from a LinkedIn post sent to me and originally posted by Endrit Restelica
If someone edits your photo with AI or Photoshop to create a nude photo, and threatens to share your intimate images online.
1. Go to https://www.stopncii.org/ and submit the original photo & the edited photo.
2. They will remove the edited photo from all the places on the Internet.
– You don’t need to talk directly to anyone for this. Your identity will remain confidential.
This is an initiative launched by Meta.
How StopNCII works?
1. Select the intimate image(s)/video(s) you want hashed from your device.
2. For each piece of content, StopNCII will generate a digital fingerprint, called a ‘hash’ on your device. Only the hash is sent to StopNCII, the associated image or video remains on your device and is not uploaded.
3. If your case is created successfully, you will receive a case number to check your case status – remember to make a note of your case number along with the PIN, to access your case after it is submitted. This is not recoverable.
4. Participating companies will look for matches to the hash and remove any matches within their system(s) if it violates their intimate image abuse policy.
5. You can use your case number anytime to check the progress on your case, or if you wish to withdraw your participation.
AI is moving at breakneck speed, and with that progress comes a disturbing reality: deepfakes are becoming so sophisticated that anyone could be the target of a damaging fake photo or video.
Don’t wait to be a victim. Share this information with your friends and family. By raising awareness and knowing where to turn for help, we can combat the spread of deepfakes and protect ourselves online.
Don’t let a simple online share become a life-changing event. Sharing your life on social media is like leaving a digital footprint.
With AI and deepfakes, even a seemingly harmless photo or video can be manipulated in unexpected ways.
Be mindful of what you share online. Especially when it comes to children’s data.
Remember, anything you share online is DATA.
And that’s our show for today. You can find show notes at our news site technewsday.com or .ca take you pick.
Hashtag Trending is on summer hours so there’s no morning news edition tomorrow, but our weekend show will be released early on Friday.
Thanks for listening. I’m your host Jim Love, have a Terrific Tuesday.
