Newsletter Archives

• MS-DEFCON 2: Closing out the year

  Posted on December 5, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.49.1 • 2024-12-05

  

  By Susan Bradley

  As we close the year of patching, I’m surprised to see that our vendors are facing many of the same issues they faced years ago — governments looking over their actions.

  But this time, instead of scrutinizing monopolies for on-premises software, they are looking at how Microsoft is making monopolizing cloud services as well as coercing governments to use more of their services. Recently, a ProPublica investigation questioned how much Microsoft’s free government outreach to enhance the security of its products was designed to lock government customers into these subscription services.

  Then the Department of Justice asked a judge to break up Google and force it to sell off the Chrome browser and restrict their use of artificial intelligence and the Android mobile operating system. I still remember the lengthy monopoly trials against Microsoft. It seems like the more things change, the more things in technology stay the same. We constantly have a push-pull relationship with our vendors.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.49.1, 2024-12-05).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON AI, AirPods Pro 2, Alerts, Antitrust, Apple, Google, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 2, Patch Lady Posts, Scanners, Windows 11 23H2, Windows 11 24H2

• Perplexity is 10 times better than Google

  Posted on November 11, 2024 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.46 • 2024-11-11

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The chatbot wars are well underway, and one result is that I find myself using the new Perplexity search engine 99% of the time, falling back on Google only to look up a street address or some trivial factoid.

  Google has served up its now-familiar list of 10 links for years. Perplexity also points you to several websites and videos. But its result pages begin with a well-written summary of what you’d learn if you actually visited all those links and vids.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.46.0, 2024-11-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Google, Newsletters, Perplexity, search engines

• Forces shaping the future: The courts at work

  Posted on September 23, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  Three social factors shape the path of future development of technology: government rules, litigation, and consumer actions.

  In last month’s Legal Brief, we reviewed how government rules and enforcement actions are being used to attempt to influence how technology will develop.

  This time, we’ll look at how litigation — both private and governmental — is being used in attempts to influence the path of technological development.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.39.0, 2024-09-23).

  Legal Brief AI, ByteDance, Consumers, Copyright, Facebook, Fair Use, GARM, Google, Legal, Litigation, Meta, Newsletters, NFT, TikTok

• Your government at work

  Posted on August 26, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Max Stul Oppenheimer • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.35 • 2024-08-26

  LEGAL BRIEF

  

  By Max Stul Oppenheimer, Esq.

  While most of the world was distracted by the question of whether anyone in their right mind would voluntarily swim in the Seine, there were major legal developments affecting the tech world.

  In a two-part series, I’ll first summarize what the US federal government has been up to. In the follow-on column, I’ll cover some notable actions taken by state governments and private individuals.

  First, the feds.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.35.0, 2024-08-26).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Legal Brief AI, Antitrust, ByteDance, Credit cards, Deepfakes, Federal Trade Commission, Generative AI, Google, Newsletters, Targeted Pricing, Terms of Service, TikTok

• Google is declaring war on clickbait — but who’s winning?

  Posted on June 24, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Faced with an onslaught of AI-generated websites that invent hundreds of articles out of whole cloth each day, Google says it’s imposed new rules requiring sites to provide original and genuinely helpful information.

  The Mountain View search giant announced recently that changes to its algorithms had reduced “spammy, low-quality content” by 45%.

  It’s admirable that Google is actively trying to eliminate the junk that’s being generated en masse by artificial-intelligence bots. But the search engine’s accomplishment so far is like a naval commander saying, “The ship is sinking from numerous breaches in the hull, but the good news is that we’ve patched 45% of the holes.”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.26.0, 2024-06-24).

  Public Defender AI, Fake Websites, Generative AI, Google, Misinformation, Newsletters, Reverse Phone Lookups

• Browsers and search engines

  Posted on October 30, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  If you are as old as I am, you will remember the revolutionary changes the browser Netscape Navigator and search engine AltaVista brought to our desktops.

  In what now seems like an overnight event, all those research topics that used to require a trip to our local libraries became a mere dial-up call away, using our light-speed, 9600-baud modems. Okay, a little patience was required in those days, even once those ubiquitous modems reached the dizzying heights of 56K.

  At about the same time, we witnessed the start of what was to become a decades-long browser and search-engine war, during which we all have probably changed allegiances several times.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.44.0, 2023-10-30).

  On Security Bing, Brave, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Edge, Google, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Qwant, Swsscows

• How to use Google Labs to experiment with AI

  Posted on August 21, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  AI

  

  By Lance Whitney

  Want to see how AI can work with Google Search, Docs, Gmail, and other tools? Google Labs will give you a taste.

  Google has a lot of AI projects in the works, all designed to bring or expand AI to Search, Gmail, Google Docs, and other services. For now, several of these projects are experiments that you can try out only through the company’s Google Labs service. With Google Labs, you’re able to check out AI features in Google Search, Gmail, and Google Docs. You can also play with an AI-based notebook and a musical AI that will turn your words into music. Read on to see how to access and use these different projects.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.34.0, 2023-08-21).

  AI Generative AI, Google, Google Bard, Google Labs, Google Search, Musical AI, Newsletters

• Beware of Google’s .ZIP domain and password-embedded URLs

  Posted on May 29, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.22 • 2023-05-29

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The security community is up in arms, because Google this month started selling domain names with deceptive endings such as .zip and .mov.

  Even worse, some browsers are allowing usernames and passwords to be embedded into URLs. This means following a link can expose users to viruses without any explicit action (such as clicking “OK”).

  Internet-standards bodies years ago prohibited usernames and passwords in URLs — but hackers still do it.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.22.0, 2023-05-29).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Domain names, Google, Internet, Newsletters, Security
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