Erst war LiMux ein Vorzeigeprojekt Münchens, seit dem Amtswechsel an der Stadtspitze im Jahr 2014 gilt die Open-Source-Software als verpönt. Microsoft soll's nun wieder richten. Wie die Abkehr zu bewerten ist, diskutieren wir in einer neuen #heiseshow.
Quelle: Heise Tech News
As an experiment, I hit the like button on the pages of a few Republican politicians and all of a sudden I found myself in a very different part of Facebook then I was used to.
The News Feed is a tool for consuming not just news stories and memes that interest you, but also those that your friends like. Few people — if anyone — use Facebook the way I have. Your friends' interests and tastes have a tremendous effect on what you see. But I wanted to see how Facebook&039;s recommendation algorithms worked in a purely friendless vacuum. What kind of content would it suggest if all it had to go on was what I liked, rather than who?
Quelle: <a href="I Made A Facebook Profile, Started Liking Right Wing Pages, And Radicalized My Newsfeed In 4 Days“>BuzzFeed
Azure SQL Data Warehouse (SQL DW) is a SQL-based, fully managed, petabyte-scale cloud solution for data warehousing. SQL DW is highly elastic, you can provision in minutes and scale capacity in seconds. You can scale compute and storage independently, allowing you to burst compute for complex analytical workloads or scale down your warehouse for archival scenarios, and pay based off what you're using instead of being locked into predefined cluster configurations.
In the latest release of PolyBase in SQL DW, we have increased the row width limit to 1MB from 32KB. This will allow you to ingest your wide columns directly from Windows Azure Storage Blob or Azure Data Lake Store into SQL DW.
When thinking about loading data into SQL DW via PolyBase, you need to take into consideration a couple key points regarding the data size of strings.
For character types (char, varchar, nchar, nvarchar), the 1MB data size is based on memory consumption of data in UTF-16 format. This means that each character is represented by 2 bytes.
When importing variable length columns ((n)varchar, varbinary), the loading tool pads the buffer to the width of the schema in the external table definition regardless of data type. This means that a varchar(8000) has 8000 bytes reserved regardless of the size of the data in the row.
To help improve performance, define your external table with minimal amount of padding on schema data types to maximize the amount of data transferred per internal buffer.
Additionally, it is a best practice to use a medium or a large resource class and to scale up to a larger DWU instance to take advantage of additional memory needed for importing data, especially into CCI tables. More information can be found at our documentation for Memory allocation by DWU and Resource Class.
Next Steps
Give loading with External Tables into SQL DW a try with our loading tutorial.
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Quelle: Azure
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At a cybersecurity conference hosted by Boston College, FBI director James Comey did not discuss his part in the Clinton email scandal, the firestorm over the Russian dossier, President Trump's alarming wiretapping allegations, or unprecedented Russian meddling in the presidential election. Instead, he stuck to that other national controversy in which he maintains a starring role: encryption.
“There is no such thing as absolute privacy in America,” Comey said Wednesday. “That&039;s the bargain. And we made that bargain over two centuries ago to achieve two goals. To achieve the very, very important goal of privacy and to achieve the important goal of security. Widespread default encryption changes that bargain. In my view it shatters the bargain.”
Comey&039;s remarks come just a day after Wikileaks published 9,000 documents and files that it says came from the CIA’s Center for Cyber Intelligence and allegedly detail the agency&039;s ability to hack into phones, laptops, and “smart” TVs.
“It is not the FBI&039;s job to tell the American people how to live.”
To support his argument that ubiquitous, default encryption is limiting the FBI&039;s lawful surveillance powers, Director Comey said the agency received 2,800 devices for which it had had lawful authority to access in the final three months of 2016. The FBI was not able to open 1,200 of those devices, about 43 percent, Comey said. The devices were linked to an array of criminal cases as well as counterintelligence and terrorism investigations and could not be accessed using any technique available to the FBI, Comey added. Although, Comey did not explain how the inability to access those devices impacted investigations.
Comey disputed claims that he is advocating for weaker encryption or so called encryption backdoors into our phones. He insisted, contrary to arguments made by prominent computer scientists and much of Silicon Valley, that firms can retain access to a person&039;s communications while also providing strong encryption. “Here&039;s the deal though: it is not the FBI&039;s job to tell the American people how to live,” Comey said. “I also don&039;t think it&039;s the job of tech companies to tell the American people how to live.”
During the contentious legal dispute last year between Apple and the FBI, many saw the use of metadata and the FBI developing its own in-house hacking expertise as reasonable alternatives to a controversial legal ruling or new legislation on encryption. But Comey said Wednesday that metadata is generally too limited to prove guilt in criminal cases and that building FBI hacking tools would be overly expensive and impractical for broader use.
Comey acknowledged that Americans enjoy a reasonable expectations of privacy in our homes, cars, and devices. But, he added, that with good reason and a court&039;s permission, law enforcement should be allowed to invade our private spaces.
“The advent of default ubiquitous strong encryption is making more and more of the room in which the FBI investigates dark,” Comey said. According to the FBI Director, sophisticated criminals, nation states, and spies have had access to encryption technology for decades, limiting the FBI&039;s ability to monitor their actions. The problem the agency faces now, since the disclosures of Edward Snowden, Comey said, is encryption tools are now widely available, eclipsing a much larger portion of the criminal world from the FBI&039;s view.
“You&039;re stuck with me for another six and a half years.”
Over the weekend, Director Comey asked officials at the Justice Department to publicly reject President Trump&039;s claims that President Obama ordered his phones wiretapped at Trump Tower. But the FBI Director did not address Trump&039;s allegations.
After the election, then President-elect Trump told CBS 60 Minutes that he was not sure if he would ask Comey to resign. In January, however, Trump asked Comey to stay on as FBI Director. At the Boston conference, Comey said he intends to complete his 10-year term. In his opening remarks, Comey said, “You&039;re stuck with me for another six and a half years. And so I&039;d love to be invited back again.”
Director Comey has been invited by the House Judiciary Committee to speak as a witness during the first public hearing on Russian interference in the presidential election. The hearing is scheduled for March 20.
Quelle: <a href="FBI Director Comey: "There Is No Such Thing As Absolute Privacy In America"“>BuzzFeed
Tobias Schwarz / AFP / Getty Images
Over 40 million U.S. households own smart TVs, a category that made up more than half of TVs shipped globally in Q1 of 2016. These high-tech, Internet-connected displays offer viewers the ease of access services like Netflix, games, and social media without a Roku, Chromecast, or other media streamer – but they also may be tracking your viewing habits and listening to your conversations.
“Smart TVs are testing the privacy expectations that consumers developed in the era of traditional television,” said Bureau of Consumer Protection director Jessica Rich in her opening remarks at last fall’s smart TV workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission.
Today&039;s WikiLeaks release revealed that Samsung smart TV owners are particularly vulnerable to spying. Newly published documents detail a program called “Weeping Angel,” an attack designed by the CIA and United Kingdom's MI5/BTSS that makes Samsung smart TVs look like they’re turned off when, in fact, they’re not. The smart TV “operates as a bug, recording conversations in the room and sending them over the Internet to a covert CIA server,” according to the documents.
Here are some settings you should review if you’re concerned about snooping corporations.
In 2015, Samsung drew criticism for its always-on voice detection privacy policy that stated, “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.” Most Samsung smart TVs require users to press a microphone button before using voice commands, but the mic is always listening on models like the PN60F8500, which have voice recognition (“Hi TV”), as well as a built-in microphone and camera.
If you have a Samsung TV, there are several ways to turn off voice recording. On newer TVs, go to Home > Settings > System > Expert Settings > Voice Interaction and turn to off. On older TVs, it may be in Settings > select Smart Features > Voice Recognition > switch to off.
You can also go to Settings > Support > Terms & Policies and opt to “Disagree” with the policies for Viewing Information Services, Voice Recognition Services, and Nuance Voice Recognition and Privacy Notices.
If your TV offers gesture control or facial recognition to authenticate your Samsung account, you can turn this off in the Samsung Account settings menu or cover your camera with a piece of tape.
The “Weeping Angel” attack revealed today, which was designed by the CIA to put Samsung TVs into a fake “off” mode, affects Samsung TVs with firmware versions 1111, 1112, and 1116, sold between 2012 and 2013 with “UNF” in the model name. While the attack suppresses most indicator lights on the TV, the blue LED on the back of the TV remains on.
The only way to defend yourself from this particular attack is to either update the firmware or disconnect the smart TV from the Internet entirely, which would essentially make it a dumb TV.
Samsung can also track your viewing habits and send that data to advertisers for targeted marketing purposes. To prevent this tracking, go to Menu > Smart Hub > Terms and Policy > SyncPlus and Marketing > disable SyncPlus.
If you own a Vizio TV, you can disable data collection by going to your TV’s Menu > Settings > Smart Interactivity, or any option with Automated Content Recognition, and turning it off. It may also appear under System > Reset & Admin > Smart Interactivity or Menu > System > Reset & Admin > Viewing Data to Off.
In February 2017, Vizio agreed to pay $2.2 million to the Federal Trade Commission for failing to disclose when and how it collects user information and, more frighteningly, for transmitting the user data while it was unencrypted. “Automated content recognition software,” which was pre-installed on Vizio TVs sold since 2014, captured a selection of pixels displayed on Vizio TV screens and sent that data to company’s servers, where those pixels were matched to a database of TV shows, movies, and commercials. Essentially, the software recorded viewing history without the TV owner’s explicit consent.
LV TVs also include tracking software, but by a different name. On webOS TVs, go to Setting > General > About This TV > User Agreements > and opt out of Viewing Information, Personal Advertising and/or Voice Information. Opting out of Voice Information will disable voice control.
On older TVs, click on Settings > Options > LivePlus and toggle to “off.” Some LG TV models may call this Collection of watching info.
In 2013, LG’s smart TVs were found to have collected and sent data whether or not the Collection of watching info was set to “on” or “off” – but since then, LG pushed a software update that does not collect data when the user has opted out by toggling the setting to “off.”
Go to Home > Settings > TV – About > Legal information > View Privacy Policy and opt to disagree with the policy to prevent the device from sending information to Sony’s servers. Older TVs may show Disable Upload Data instead.
When opting out of privacy policies and other user agreements, you may also be disabling automatic software updates. You may need to occasionally check for your TV’s firmware updates or security patches and update them manually.
Additionally, if you use a streaming device like Roku, Chromecast, or Amazon Fire TV, your viewing information is also being collected. You can opt-out of collection for Chromecast, as well as Amazon Fire TV (Settings > System > Internet based ads to off). Roku collects search history, records voice searches, and uses cookies to track what you’re watching. You can go to Settings > System > Privacy > and turn on Limit Ad Tracking to turn off personalized ads and prevent Roku from passing on identifiable ad measurement data to providers. Apple TV doesn’t collect viewing or search data but, if you opt in, it does record a logfile that helps the company diagnose bugs or system errors.
Services like Hulu, Amazon Video, and Netflix are also tracking your viewing habits, no matter what platform you use. You can delete individual titles from your watch history, and those services will stop recommending similar titles to you – but they are looking at what you’re watching and for how long.
Realistically, you won’t always be able to escape tracking, so it’s important to at least be aware of what data is being collected and where’s it’s going. If your data is being sent elsewhere, make sure it’s through encrypted means, so hackers won’t be able to access it. You may also be able to turn on settings that anonymize the data and keep your personal info out of it (like “Limit Ad Tracking”).
Quelle: <a href="If You Have A Smart TV, Take A Closer Look At Your Privacy Settings“>BuzzFeed
Truthrevolt.org, shown here as the source in a featured snippet on Google, publishes a mix of factual news with hyper-conservative spin and news not supported by facts.
First pointed out by Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the blog SearchEngineLand, the issue concerns featured snippets — which is the text from top search results that Google's algorithm sometimes displays when you look something up. Sometimes, Google&039;s featured snippets show conspiratorial and outright false results from hyperpartisan news sources. MozCast, which monitors Google&039;s search algorithm, says that 20% of searches may return a featured snippet.
If you search for “presidents in the KKK,” Google shows a featured snippet listing the names of five presidents, none of whom were actually in the KKK. Google is pulling the result from thetrentonline.com, a digital publication that bills itself as “Nigeria&039;s premier online newspaper.” No presidents were confirmed members of the KKK, though Harding and Truman faced allegations of membership. As of March 7, 2017, Google is still showing this as the top result for the search query.
It&039;s not the first time this has happened, Sullivan points out. In 2015, Google highlighted a religious answer explaining what happened to dinosaurs, and in 2014 the first result for “king of the united states” was “Barack Obama.”
Google does not present the snippets as facts or news, instead describing them by saying, “When we recognize that a query asks a question, we programmatically detect pages that answer the user&039;s question, and display a top result as a featured snippet in the search results. Like all search results, featured snippets reflect the views or opinion of the site from which we extract the snippet, not that of Google.” But because Google highlights and promotes these results, it can give users a cursory impression that Google may be promoting the material because it directly and correctly answers the searcher&039;s question.
After fake news on Facebook played a starring role in the 2016 election, Google has taken a hard stance against fake news sites in its online ad networks, banning hundred of publishers in Q4 2016. Facebook and Twitter, by contrast, have taken a more hands-off approach as they struggle to remain committed to the idea of unfettered free speech while also facing criticism for being a platform on which misinformation spreads. Making things worse is the fact that most Americans believe fake news when they see it.
If you&039;re getting bad search results in the featured snippets box, you can opt out of having them displayed, though you&039;ll need to understand HTML webpage code to do it.
Google said in a statement, “Featured Snippets in Search provide an automatic and algorithmic match to a given search query, and the content comes from third-party sites. Unfortunately, there are instances when we feature a site with inappropriate or misleading content. When we are alerted to a Featured Snippet that violates our policies, we work quickly to remove them, which we have done in this instance. We apologize for any offense this may have caused.”
Quelle: <a href="Google Sometimes Highlights Misinformation In Search Results“>BuzzFeed
Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Access to LinkedIn remains blocked in Russia as negotiations between Russian communication regulators and the networking company dissolved Tuesday following disagreements over data storage rules.
Businesses that store information tied to Russian citizens are required to hold that data on servers located in Russia, but LinkedIn failed to comply, Russian telecom regulator Roskomnadzor said.
According to Reuters, regulators claimed that the Microsoft-owned company had refused to move its Russian user data to sites on Russian soil, “confirming its lack of interest in working on the Russian market.” Russia first blocked LinkedIn last year, following a court decision in which LinkedIn was found to have violated the law mandating the local storage of Russian data.
The local data storage rules came into effect in 2015, amid broader efforts by Russian authorities to exercise greater control over the internet.
A spokesperson for LinkedIn told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the company is disappointed in the decision, but hopes to restore service in the future. LinkedIn also maintains that it has followed the rules in the Russian Federation.
“We are disappointed with Roskomnadzor's action to block LinkedIn as it denies access to our services for our members and customers in Russia,” LinkedIn said. “While we believe we comply with all applicable laws, and despite conversations with Roskomnadzor, including meeting with them in Moscow in December 2016, we have been unable to reach an understanding that would see them lift the block on LinkedIn in the Russian Federation.”
Quelle: <a href="LinkedIn Blocked In Russia Over Refusal To Store Data On Russian-Based Servers“>BuzzFeed
Reuters File Photo / Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO — A misreading of new WikiLeaks documents published Tuesday morning led to mass panic over whether the CIA and allied intelligence organizations could hack into secure messaging apps trusted by millions of people across the world.
The claims were made off a cache of almost 9,000 documents and files that WikiLeaks said came from the CIA's Center for Cyber Intelligence and allegedly detail how the CIA hacks into phones, laptops, and other connected devices. A number of news outlets reported that the documents revealed that Signal, WhatsApp, and other messaging apps that use high-level encryption to ensure that messages are sent and received safely had been compromised.
Cybersecurity experts, however, were quick to point out that the documents simply stated that if a phone was compromised — which is to say if the CIA hacked into the phone itself — any apps on that phone would no longer be secure. This is the equivalent of saying that if your house is broken into and bugged, whispering softly on your phone in your bedroom is not going to make that conversation secure.
The leak is the latest to become public by WikiLeaks, which has come under fire for failing to adequately redact certain documents and also for its role in the US election. Last year the group released thousands of emails detailing the communications of top Democratic Party leaders — which were widely believed to originate from a Russian government–sponsored hack. US intelligence agencies accused Russia of trying to meddle in the US elections and said WikiLeaks had assisted in that cause.
Quelle: <a href="No, WikiLeaks Didn&039;t Just Reveal That The Government Has Access To Your Secure Messaging Apps“>BuzzFeed
Eric Piermont / AFP / Getty Images
After vocally opposing President Trump, Alphabet, Google's parent company, has been making quiet inroads in Republican circles with a series of new hires and administration outreach.
Alphabet was one of several tech companies that led the charge in opposition to President Trump&039;s initial travel ban — it helped mount a legal challenge, hosted rallies on its campuses, and one of its co-founders took part in an airport protest. Its executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, who supported Hillary Clinton&039;s presidential campaign and had close ties to Obama, even told employees that the administration is going to do “evil things.” Yet simultaneously to that vocal opposition, the search giant has been working to secure its footing in the new GOP-dominated landscape.
Google recently hired two people to help bolster the company&039;s outreach to conservative groups and the Trump administration. Lee Carosi Dunn, who was previously head of elections sales and a Republican lobbyist for Google, is now the head of White House strategy and outreach. And Max Pappas, formerly a top advisor to Republican Senator Ted Cruz, will now serve as Google&039;s manager of outreach and public policy partnerships, working as Google&039;s point-person to conservative advocacy groups.
The company is also looking for an account team leader to helm Republican political advertising. Posted late last week, the position calls for candidates with “a wealth of experience with Republican campaigns,” and “strong relationships with GOP campaign managers, pollsters and general consultants.” In addition to an advanced degree and five years of management experience, the preferred qualifications include “deep relationships in Republican politics.”
Luntz Global, the corporate and political consulting firm founded by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, has also been tapped by the company to help with messaging and outreach to the administration, according to a person familiar with the partnership. Google has worked with Luntz Global in the past. The company is listed as one of their corporate clients among Uber, HBO, Walt Disney and several others. Neither Google/Alphabet nor Luntz Global responded to a request for comment.
Vincent Harris, CEO of Harris Media, who led digital strategy for Rand Paul’s presidential run and managed digital operations for Ted Cruz, told BuzzFeed News that the company has vastly improved its relationships among Republican operatives since he began working with it eight years ago.
“Google always has to be concerned about looking too liberal as a company from the perspective of the Republicans,” he said.
“Their management&039;s politics are often out of sync with the Republican party but from my personal perspective, the company has bent over backwards to try and work with Republican agencies and campaigns.” He added, “They often go out of their way to avoid any appearance of favoritism for Democrats.
Matt Stoller, a fellow at the Open Markets program at New America, whose research focuses on competition policy, described Google/Alphabet&039;s influence during the Obama years as “Wall Street West.”
“They weren&039;t going to repeat the mistakes of Microsoft,” Stoller told BuzzFeed News, referring to that company&039;s antitrust issues during the Clinton administration. “Microsoft showed disdain for Washington and thats why they got hit with the antitrust suit. That&039;s why Google curried so much political favor.”
But courting Republicans in Trump&039;s Washington may come as a challenge. And under the new administration, Stoller thinks the company is in a bind. “There are multiple factions in the Trump world that do not like Google — both corporate competitors who are up against a monopoly, but also some of the nationalists don&039;t trust Silicon Valley.”
Another point of tension exists between the company&039;s valuable engineering workforce, which generally opposes President Trump&039;s policies, and Alphabet&039;s corporate leadership, which has to curry favor with the White House.
Still, Alphabet remains a Washington powerhouse. Last year the company spent over $15.4 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies, and hired nearly two dozen outside firms to help push its priorities. It continues to outspend every other technology company in the nation&039;s capital.
Who President Trump appoints to fill top antitrust posts in the federal government may also serve as a sign of Alphabet&039;s influence in the post-Obama era. Trump has yet to nominate a permanent chair of the Federal Trade Commission or the chief antitrust lawyer at the Department of Justice. How these officials might grapple with Alphabet&039;s sprawling businesses and those of other tech titans like Amazon and Facebook will be closely watched. While regulators in Europe have brought several anti-competitive charges against Alphabet, the FTC closed its probe of the company&039;s search practices in 2013, a contentious move that critics point to as a troubling aspect of Obama&039;s tech legacy.
Three people with knowledge of Trump&039;s staffing decisions have told BuzzFeed News that Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, who has called for the FTC to re-open that antitrust case, is a leading contender for the FTC chair.
Quelle: <a href="Google Staffs Up As It Tries To Find A Way Into Trump Administration Circles“>BuzzFeed
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands spielt sich wie ein Best-of erfolgreicher Open-World-Shooter. Die Jagd auf Drogenbosse ist wenig originell, aber hervorurragend umgesetzt.
Quelle: Heise Tech News
