TGIF. Here’s your last tech news briefing for the week, so let’s make it worth your time.
1. A breach of Defence data
The Guardian is reporting that an Australian serving within a military intelligence organisation of a Five Eyes ally has allegedly had his personal data stolen from within the Australian Defence Force’s secure personnel system. The report says Australia’s joint military police unit is investigating an allegation that a serving member of Australia’s special forces unlawfully accessed the data of the intelligence official and posted personal and sensitive data online. The breach is independent to the recent ransomware attack suffered by the ADF’s communications platform ForceNet.
2. An update to Maps, but not for us
Google is pushing out an update to its Maps app that lets you use AR to explore which stores and amenities happen to be in your line of sight. It’s part of the Live View feature, which previously mostly focused on overlaying directions on a video feed of your surroundings, and the only caveat is that it’s currently limited to London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Tokyo. Seeing as I live in none of those cities, I cannot try out the feature and nab a neat screenshot.
3. Intel’s deepfake detector has 96% accuracy
Deepfake technology — where someone’s likeness is digitally placed over someone else’s — has some very spooky implications. Intel says that its new deepfake detection tech, called FakeCatcher, is able to clock a deepfake video 96 per cent of the time. FakeCatcher collects data on subtle blood flow mechanics on a person’s face by scanning the pixels in a video. Then a deep learning AI can determine if the subject’s likeness is authentic or not.
4. Facebook removes (some of the) pointless crap from your profile
Facebook quietly announced it will remove several categories of information from user profiles, including religious views, political views, addresses and the “Interested in” field, which indicates sexual preference. The small but telling change, spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, indicates Facebook wants you to think differently about its platform these days. In the early days of Facebook, people would spend blissful hours filling out their profiles. It was a different time. The change goes into effect on December 1.
Facebook is removing religious views and ‘interested in’ info from profiles from 1 December 2022 pic.twitter.com/SKjSrtwUwm
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 16, 2022
5. What’s the go with FTX?
FTX, the three letters plastered on every tech and finance website for days now, might mean absolutely nothing to you. The short story is that crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried and the company he founded, FTX, spectacularly imploded. If you’ve been out of the loop and want to wrap your head around it, I urge you to give the New York Times piece on the saga a read. As we’ve reported this week, since that NYT article went live, celebrities who promoted FTX have also come under fire. It’s a dirty, messy…it’s a lot. Be safe out there, crypto heads.
BONUS ITEM: This is one giant swarm of nope.
Have a great weekend, folks.