Welcome to the latest edition of Bacon Bytes. This week we talk a bit about how Amazon, Alexa, and why you shouldn’t photocopy your behind at office Christmas parties.
Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t.
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about when it comes to Alexa commands and security, now we have to worry about dog-whistle commands being sent to our devices. Fun fact uncovered in this report: It is not illegal to send subliminal messages to another person, or device. Broadcast networks discourage the practice, but there is no law on the books. Yet another example of how technology moves too fast for lawmakers. Well, in this case, it’s only been 70+ years for television. Makes me wonder what the networks have been doing that we don’t know about. Time to watch “They Live” again, I guess.
EFAIL describes vulnerabilities in the end-to-end encryption technologies OpenPGP and S/MIM
Nice write up describing the flaw in email encryption along with possible mitigations for you to try right now. Here’s another idea: stop thinking that anything you do online is protected. When you send an email, a copy of that email is likely sitting on every server involved in routing the message. Encrypted or not, that’s a lot more exposure than you wanted to know about today.
Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets
And with pictures from the office Christmas party, I’m certain.
You can find whereabouts of any cellphone within seconds
There are many legitimate cases where you would want law enforcement to be able to track a person to a specific location through their cellphone. The trouble with this service is that it can be abused by law enforcement officials, as is the case in this story. But it’s a good reminder that no matter how smart you are with your smartphone privacy, it is likely reporting your location in ways you are not allowed to disable.
Amazon has finished visiting the top 20 contenders for its new HQ
Worst episode of The Bachelor, ever.
Amazon Prime customers to get discounts at Whole Foods
Looking to justify their $20 annual membership fee, Amazon is adding services and benefits for Prime members. I’d be excited for this perk if there is a 10% discount on meat but I suspect it’s going to be on items that aren’t selling and nobody wants.
The Entire Economy Is MoviePass Now. Enjoy It While You Can
This article outlines the business model for 98% of every idea that comes out of Silicon Valley. In an effort to build up as many customers they give away their product at a loss. Once they show how many new customers are signing up, they get more funding. They then attract more customers, allowing them to collect more data, which they can then sell in order to recover some of their losses. Then, they alter their product offerings, due to “rising costs”, and hope they get more funding, or just bought.
See you next week!
