zaterdag 16 oktober 2021

 Amazon just launched a new robot that roams around your home, SPYING on you and uploading audio and video to company servers

Friday, October 15, 2021 by: JD Heyes
Tags: AmazonAmazon EchoAstroAWSCongressConstitutioncyber warFourth AmendmentGlitchJustice Departmentlistening deviceMarketingOrwellianprivacyprivacy invasionrobotroboticsrobotssurveillance

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(Natural News) Most internet users aren’t aware of this, but practically everywhere they go online they are taken to destination sites that use Amazon Web Services (AWS).

While most people focus on the awesome, and outsized, economic power of the multibillion dollar e-tailer, Amazon’s influence is largely unknown; after all, the vast majority of internet users don’t care who is hosting a website’s domain or what interconnectivity path they take to get to their online destination.

In addition, AWS provides an incredible amount of cloud computing services as well; the company’s storage capacity and computing power is almost immeasurable. Consider that, for a time, the Pentagon was considering Amazon Web Services, as well as Microsoft, to host its JEDI cloud project. (Update: Both companies will likely make out.) So the point is, Amazon, besides being the world’s most dominant e-tailer, is also one of the world’s most dominant internet cloud players.

Which brings us to why that is a problem for Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Citizen.

In addition to being all of this, Amazon also markets ‘home convenience’ products that present major problems for personal privacy, but which the company gets away with because its products are bought and brought into homes voluntarily (who cares if you didn’t know that your data was being collected — for ‘marketing purposes’?).

CNBC reports on a new ‘home robot’ the tech and e-tail giant is now marketing:

Amazon announced a home robot called Astro. 

Astro is equipped with a rotating screen that’s mounted onto a base with wheels. Amazon designed the robot to appear animated and friendly, with eyes and expressive body movements that respond to user interaction.

The robot can move on its own from room to room and is capable of navigating around objects on the floor or braking to avoid colliding with obstacles such as a pet that moves into its path. A periscope camera attached to the base of the device can be raised or lowered to view objects that are high up.

“I’ve had this robot in my home for about a year, and it does wonderful things,” says Amazon Senior Vice President David Limp.

Okay, cool, right? Not so fast.

“Astro is equipped with Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. It can set and deliver reminders, serve up entertainment such as TV shows or podcasts and control smart home devices, among other tasks. The robot also responds to commands; so if users say, ‘Astro, beatbox,’ the robot will make musical noises,” CNBC reported.

Astro’s ‘voice commands’ mean that the robot is always listening (otherwise how can it respond?). That’s a problem because the device is also WiFi-enabled (which is how it can call up information, songs, entertainment you ‘request’ with a voice command).

We already know from the testimony of industry insiders and experts that these companies like Amazon and Google are information sponges; they absorb every ounce of data on every person possible in order to market to us. That requires constant input of data and storage of that data for later recall, which is a gigantic privacy invasion Congress should have dealt with years ago. Or the Justice Department.

And speaking of Congress and the Justice Department, in exchange for the government being able to access that vast amount of personal data on a whim, Amazon and other big tech companies ‘provide’ the access in exchange for being left alone by pesky government regulators. This is the ultimate “1984” scenario about which author George Orwell prophesied in his dystopian classic novel.

Around the time Donald Trump was about to become president, Amazon introduced another ‘home convenience device’ that is always listening: Amazon Echo. And we warned then, as well, that getting one was a huge voluntary risk of your privacy.

Sources include:

NaturalNews.com

NewsMagus.com

CNBC.com

 

 

What Data About You Can the Government Get From Big Tech?


  4 months ago   (today 16/10/2021)

   

The revelations of a leak investigation started in the Trump administration are a reminder that Big Tech companies often hand over information about their users.


The Justice Department used a court order to seek email logs from Google for four New York Times reporters.Credit...Damon Winter/The New York Times

 Jack Nicas

June 14, 2021, 6:57 p.m. ET


The Justice Department, starting in the early days of the Trump administration, secretly sought data from some of the biggest tech companies about journalistsDemocratic lawmakers and White House officials as part of wide-ranging investigations into leaks and other matters, The New York Times reported last week.

The revelations, which put the companies in the middle of a clash over the Trump administration’s efforts to find the sources of news coverage, raised questions about what sorts of data tech companies collect on their users, and how much of it is accessible to law enforcement authorities.

Here’s a rundown:

What data do the big tech companies collect and store about their users?

All sorts. Beyond basic data like users’ names, addresses and contact information, tech companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Facebook also often have access to the contents of their users’ emails, text messages, call logs, photos, videos, documents, contact lists and calendars.

Is all of that data available to law enforcement?

Most of it is. But which data law enforcement can get depends on the sort of request they make.

Perhaps the most common and basic request is a subpoena. U.S. government agencies and prosecutors can often issue subpoenas without approval from a judge, and lawyers can issue them as part of open court cases. Subpoenas are often used to cast a wide net for basic information that can help build a case and provide evidence needed to issue more powerful requests.

With subpoenas, the authorities typically can get basic user data from tech companies, such as when an account was opened; the account holder’s name, address, email address and billing information; and a user’s internet-protocol or IP address. That can show their approximate location when the address was recorded.

The Justice Department subpoenas sought phone records. What about that sort of data?

Investigators often also seek logs of calls, text messages and emails. Such logs include details on who sent and received a call or message and when. Obtaining such data sometimes requires a higher-level request, such as a court order, which is issued by a judge.

The Justice Department used a court order to seek email logs from Google for four New York Times reporters as part of its investigation into leaks of classified information several years ago. The Times successfully resisted the order after Google informed it of the request.

In late 2017 and early 2018, the Justice Department also requested call records, as well as other basic information, from Apple and Microsoft related to people who work in Congress.

Apple and Microsoft complied with those subpoenas in part, but the companies did not send any call records to the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with the companies’ responses.

Apple said that it turned over call records only when the authorities have a warrant and that in 2019 it stopped collecting call logs.

Law enforcement officials are more likely to obtain call logs from telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T.

What can the authorities get with a warrant?

A warrant is a much more powerful investigative tool and can yield all sorts of sensitive, private data about tech companies’ users.

Investigators can get a warrant by submitting an application to a judge that lays out evidence suggesting the subject of the warrant committed a crime. The judge can then issue the warrant for specific information.

With a warrant, officials can get access to far more data than with a subpoena, including the contents of emails, text messages, photos, documents, calendars and contact lists.

Apple, Google and Microsoft store such data on their servers as part of their cloud services for consumers. Those cloud services are frequently used by customers to retrieve information if a phone needs to be replaced.

Facebook also turns over similar private information to authorities with warrants, including messages, photos, videos, posts and location data, it said.

Law enforcement authorities can also use warrants in other ways. Police have issued warrants to Google for any devices that were near where a crime was committed.

The companies say they sometimes work with law enforcement officials to narrow their requests so the companies turn over only information that is relevant to a case.

How often do the authorities obtain such data from the tech companies?

Apple said that in the first half of 2020, the latest period available, it received more than 5,850 requests from U.S. authorities for data related to 18,600 accounts. It turned over basic data in 43 percent of those requests and actual content data, such as emails or photos, in 44 percent of requests.

Microsoft said that it received 5,500 requests from U.S. law enforcement over the same period, covering 17,700 accounts, and that it turned over basic data to 54 percent of requests and content to 15 percent of requests.

Google said that it received 39,500 requests in the United States over that period, covering nearly 84,700 accounts, and that it turned over some data in 83 percent of the cases. Google did not break down the percentage of requests in which it turned over basic data versus content, but it said that 39 percent of the requests were subpoenas while half were search warrants.

Facebook said that it received 61,500 requests in the United States over the period, covering 106,100 accounts, and that it turned over some data to 88 percent of the requests. The company said it received 38,850 warrants and complied with 89 percent of them over the period, and 10,250 subpoenas and complied with 85 percent.

In these cases, U.S. authorities include any federal, state or local law enforcement office.

Do the companies ever resist these requests?

Yes. The companies say they sometimes push back on subpoenas, court orders and warrants if they believe the officials lack appropriate legal authority or if the requests are too broad.

In response to requests from U.S. authorities in the first half of 2020, Apple said it challenged 4 percent of requests and Microsoft said it rejected 15 percent. Google and Facebook did not disclose how often they challenged requests.

Is any data off-limits?

Yes. Tech companies — and law enforcement officials — can’t access data that is end-to-end encrypted. Such encryption means that only the account owner, or the sender and receiver of a message, can see the contents of the information.

For Apple, iMessages, which are text messages sent between two iPhones, as well as FaceTime calls are end-to-end encrypted. Still, if a user backs up their text messages to Apple’s iCloud service, iMessages then become accessible to Apple and can be turned over to the authorities with a warrant.

Apple’s iPhones and some Android smartphones are also encrypted, which has at times led to fights with the F.B.I. over access to criminals’ devices. But law enforcement authorities across the country also regularly use tools that can effectively hack into phones and extract their data.

The End ...

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