The attackers who carried out the mass hack that Facebook disclosed two weeks ago obtained user account data belonging to as many as 30 million users, the social network said on Friday. Some of that data—including phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, searches, location check-ins, and the types of devices used to access the site—came from private accounts or was supposed to be restricted only to friends.
The revelation is the latest black eye for Facebook as it tries to recover from the scandal that came to light earlier this year in which Cambridge Analytica funneled highly personal details of more than 80 million users to an organization supporting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. When Facebook disclosed the latest breach two weeks ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he didn’t know if it allowed attackers to steal users’ private data. Friday’s update made clear that it did, although the 30 million people affected was less than the 50 million estimate previously given. Readers can check this link to see what, if any, data was obtained by the attackers.
On a conference call with reporters, Vice President of Product Management Guy Rosen said that at the request of the FBI, which is investigating the hack, Facebook isn’t providing any information about who the attackers are or their motivations or intentions. That means that for now, affected users should be extra vigilant when reading emails, taking calls, and receiving other types of communications. The ability to know the search queries, location check-ins, phone numbers, email addresses, and other personal details of so many people gives the attackers the ability to send highly customized emails, texts, and voice calls that may try to trick people into turning over money, passwords, or other high-value information.
Health officials in Michigan this week honored Dr. Eden Wells with the state’s top award for an eminent career in public health—despite that Wells is currently facing several charges in connection with the Flint water crisis, including involuntary manslaughter.
When the Roku Streaming Stick+ launched last year, the $70 media streamer was one of the most affordable ways to watch 4K HDR content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu on a TV. But last month Roku rolled our a new line of Roku Premiere device wit…
When the Roku Streaming Stick+ launched last year, the $70 media streamer was one of the most affordable ways to watch 4K HDR content from YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and Vudu on a TV. But last month Roku rolled our a new line of Roku Premiere device with 4K HDR support and prices starting at just […]
But those new digital tables come with artistic alterations the developers say were made "to meet our age rating obligations" for the E10+-rated game. And those changes have some authenticity-focused pinball fans up in arms.
FCC defends repeal in court, claims broadband isn’t “telecommunications.”
Enlarge/ FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speaks to the media after the vote to repeal net neutrality rules on December 14, 2017. (credit: Getty Images | Alex Wong )
The Federal Communications Commission opened its defense of its net neutrality repeal yesterday, telling a court that it has no authority to keep the net neutrality rules in place.
Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC argued that broadband is not a "telecommunications service" as defined in federal law, and therefore it must be classified as an information service instead. As an information service, broadband cannot be subject to common carrier regulations such as net neutrality rules, Pai's FCC said. The FCC is only allowed to impose common carrier regulations on telecommunications services.
"Given these classification decisions, the Commission determined that the Communications Act does not endow it with legal authority to retain the former conduct rules," the FCC said in a summary of its defense filed yesterday in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Cornell grad student Eddie Lee created hypothetical “Super Court” to study consensus.
Enlarge/ Protesting confirmation of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on October 6, 2018, outside Supreme Court in Washington, DC. (credit: Emily Molli, Nur Photo/Getty Images)
The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court last week raised fears of a hyper-partisan SCOTUS and loss of public trust in the institution—particularly in light of Kavanaugh's highly emotional and partisan testimony during the Senate hearing on the sexual assault allegations against him. But a new study offers a glimmer of hope, concluding that in the long run, there is more consensus than partisan difference in SCOTUS decisions.
It's the first quantitative model to capture detailed correlations in voting patterns of the SCOTUS justices across time. Cornell University graduate student Eddie Lee created a hypothetical "Super Court" to study the voting patterns of Supreme Court justices serving from 1946 through 2016. Neither Kavanaugh nor the other recently confirmed justice, Neil Gorsuch, is included in the analysis, which was recently published in the Journal of Statistical Physics. It builds on Lee's 2015 study examining the voting patterns of the second Rehnquist court (1994-2005), which found justices were far more prone to unanimity in their decisions despite their ideological differences.
It might seem strange to create such a Super Court scenario, but Lee argues that it makes sense to do so, given how much different justices overlap with each other because of their lifelong tenure. So even if Justice A never actually voted with Justice C, both likely served at the same time (and thus voted with) Justice B. This makes it possible to infer from that when Justices A and C might have voted together.
We kick off a new video series by looking at the most unknowable man in the astronaut corps.
What First Man tells you about Neil Armstrong—and what it doesn’t. Video shot and edited by Justin Wolfson. (Transcript available)
Welcome to "The Unbearable Critic," a new video series we're trying out. In it, our intrepid culture reporter and person-with-lots-of-opinions Sam Machkovech applies his critical eye to movies, books, TV, and anything else that catches his feisty fancy.
Our kickoff episode centers on First Man, the Neil Armstrong biopic starring Ryan Gosling that opens this coming Friday. This isn't a full review—we've got one of those from space editor Eric Berger already—rather it's a discussion of the craft and attention to detail that went into the movie (which is something Ars is quite comfortable analyzing; you've seen Tech on TV right?). Machkovech has compiled a list of three important things that the movie explains about Neil Armstrong—and three important things that were left out.
The consensus at the Ars Orbiting HQ is that First Man overall does an excellent job both with the personal and also the technical details around Armstrong's Gemini and Apollo missions—which is gratifying to hear, since CollectSPACE editor (and good friend of Ars Technica) Robert Pearlman was one of the movie's technical advisors. As you'd expect, Ars has quite a bit to say about those details, and we hope you'll give the video a peek.
The Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 is a convertible laptop with a 12.2 inch full HD touchscreen display, a 360-degree hinge, pen support, and an Intel Celeron 3965Y Kaby Lake-Y processor. Samsung introduced the update to last year’s Rockchip RK3399-p…
The Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 is a convertible laptop with a 12.2 inch full HD touchscreen display, a 360-degree hinge, pen support, and an Intel Celeron 3965Y Kaby Lake-Y processor. Samsung introduced the update to last year’s Rockchip RK3399-powered Chromebook Plus in June, and now the company is introducing a new model. It’s pretty much […]
With more than 1.7 million subscribers, ‘Golden Modz’ ranks among the more popular gaming YouTubers. In his videos, he often showcases GTA 5 and Fortnite cheats, referring to them as ‘magical powers,’ which are sold on a linked website. This type of magic is not what Epic Games wants to see and this week they sued Golden Modz and another alleged cheater for copyright infringement.
Last year Epic Games started to sue several Fortnite cheaters, accusing them of copyright infringement.
With these lawsuits the company hopes to stop the cheaters and send a clear message to others who do the same. However, Fortnite cheating remains rampant.
This week Epic Games continued its efforts by suing a rather prominent target, Golden Modz, who they’ve identified as Brandon Lucas. With more than 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube, he is the most high profile target we’ve seen thus far.
The complaint, filed at a North Carolina Federal Court, accuses ‘Golden Modz’ of copyright infringement and also names Colton Conter, a.k.a. ‘Exentric,’ as a second defendant.
“This is a copyright infringement, breach of contract, and tortious interference case in which the Defendants are infringing Epic’s copyrights by injecting unauthorized cheat software (‘cheats’ or ‘hacks’) into the copyright protected code of Epic’s popular video game Fortnite®,” Epic Games writes.
Both defendants have displayed their use of cheats in various YouTube videos. By using these cheats, they inject code into the game which modifies the original, which is a clear violation of copyright law, according to Epic Games.
Even worse, Golden Modz also stands accused of selling cheats online through the websites goldengodz.com and gtagods.com, which are often advertised in his gameplay videos.
“Lucas is operating these websites and selling these cheats and accounts for his own personal enrichment. He posts videos of people using the cheats for the same reason. His ill-gotten gains come at the expense of Epic and members of the Fortnite community.”
Cheats for sale
Golden Modz and Exentric team up on occasion, which appears to be the case in this video. They refer to their cheats as magical powers, informing viewers where to buy these, while hosting giveaways as well.
“At the end of the stream, I’m gonna do a three month of Fortnite magical powers giveaway. Definitely not cheats – wink wink – its magical powers okay,” Golden Modz notes.
According to Epic Games and the video’s title, there is little magical about these powers.
“In some of their YouTube videos, Defendants play (sometimes together) in duos and squads, and joke that the cheat software gives its users ‘magical’ powers, allowing them to ‘troll’ Fortnite by killing dozens of other players and ‘win’ the game,” the complaint reads.
Teaming up
The complaint points out several videos where the defendants showcase their hacks and cheats. Epic has asked YouTube to remove several of these, which hasn’t gone unnoticed.
In fact, last month Golden Modz uploaded a video titled “I am getting sued by fortnite…” which, as it turns out, was rather prophetical. In the video, he notes that many other YouTubers are creating these videos, and he doesn’t really see his actions as problematic.
“I’m almost kind of feeling I’m being discriminated against by Epic Games you know I’m just a kid that’s making YouTube videos and a lot of people were enjoying this,” Golden Modz said.
Epic Games clearly disagrees and the company wants to be compensated for its losses. They’re suing both defendants for copyright infringement and breach of contract, adding several other claims including contributory copyright infringement against Golden Modz specifically.
“Defendants should be permanently enjoined from continuing to engage in the conduct complained of herein, their profits should be disgorged, and they should be ordered to pay Epic’s damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs related to this action,” Epic writes.
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A copy of the complaint, obtained by TorrentFreak, is available here (pdf).
UCSF neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley on the mind—and also, how to write a sci-fi book.
Enlarge/ Artist's rendering of man experiencing awe while regarding the nature of consciousness. (credit: Adult Swim)
Below, you’ll find the third installment of this week’s After On podcast interview. It’s with University of California, San Francisco neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley, about his trailblazing efforts to develop the medical potential (if any!) latent in video games. Check out part one and part two if you missed them. Otherwise, press play on the embedded player, or pull up the transcript—both of which are below.
The main topic today is consciousness. Adam has his own rather eclectic take on this mysterious force and presence. His perspective actually inspired several elements my most recent novel (which like my podcast is called After On). Adam and I discuss his views, and how they infiltrated my writing.
The final chunk of the podcast is a conversation between me and podcasting superstar Tom Merritt. In it, Tom and I discuss my interview with Adam—as well as a chunk of the novel After On. You may want to skip this closing portion.
Last year Epic Games started to sue several Fortnite cheaters, accusing them of copyright infringement.
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