NEW RESOURCES
GlobalVoices: Myanmar illustrators unite to distribute protest art for free. “A group of 30 artists from Myanmar uploaded more than a hundred protest posters… for free print and use by those rallying against the military coup….The collective noticed that protesters were bringing placards with the illustrators’ art to demonstrations, and indeed many artists had shared their poster designs online for free.”
Fredonia State University of New York: Vanwesenbeeck, UB librarian launch online research guide on anniversary of Zweig’s death. “Department of English Professor Birger Vanwesenbeeck collaborated with University at Buffalo librarian Michael Kicey to develop a new online research guide for Jewish-Austrian author Stefan Zweig (1881-1942). Launched on Tuesday, Feb. 23, on the 79th anniversary of the author’s death, ‘Stefan Zweig: A Guide to Reading and Research’ is specifically designed to assist Anglophone readers and students with their research on Zweig.”
TWEAKS AND UPDATES
CNET: Microsoft reportedly testing xCloud game service for the web. “Microsoft has begun testing a web-based version of its xCloud game-streaming service, The Verge reported [February 15]. The service is being tested with employees ahead of a public preview, the site reported.”
The Verge: Citizen will now tell you why helicopters are flying overhead. “Citizen, the app that turns everyone into a crime reporter, now wants to track helicopters. The company announced today that it’s introducing helicopter tracking to the app, which will explain to users why there are flying vehicles overhead.”
Mashable: 10 best Google Chrome extensions for productivity. “We’re taking a look at the best Google Chrome extensions for productivity. Extra bonus: All of these are completely free to use. You probably don’t need every one of them, but activate a carefully selected few, and people might start to wonder how you manage to be quite so productive…”
AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD
IGN: ‘Archive of All Video Games’ Being Created By Embracer Group. “Embracer Group, which owns a number of video game studios including Gearbox Software, Volition and 4A Games, is creating a comprehensive video game archive which plans to include every video game ever made.”
NiemanLab: Column, the startup to modernize public notices, announces deals with three newspaper chains. “Five months after launching with the goal of modernizing public notices in newspapers, the startup Column has formed partnerships with McClatchy, Wick Communications, and Ogden Newspapers. Column is a public benefit corporation that has received venture capital and makes money by charging a small fee to process the placement of public notices.”
Tubefilter: New ‘TikTok For Black Creatives’ Incubator Unveils Inaugural Class Of 100 Creators. “TikTok has unveiled the inaugural class for its new incubator program dubbed TikTok For Black Creatives, which was announced in January to amplify the voices of Black creators and musicians across the platform. The three-month initiative will see a total of 100 creators participating in motivational town halls with Black entrepreneurs and celebrities, and will also comprise community-building forums and educational events with TikTok executives.”
SECURITY & LEGAL
And in today’s episode of “That actually makes it worse,” from CNN: Former SolarWinds CEO blames intern for ‘solarwinds123’ password leak. “Current and former top executives at SolarWinds are blaming a company intern for a critical lapse in password security that apparently went undiagnosed for years. The password in question, ‘solarwinds123,’ was discovered in 2019 on the public internet by an independent security researcher who warned the company that the leak had exposed a SolarWinds file server.”
New York Times: The long, painful path of net neutrality. “California this week was cleared to enforce its own net neutrality regulation, which (of course) had been challenged in court. This is now a distraction for our elected leaders and corporations when there are more pressing issues. I talked to my colleague Cecilia Kang about the origins of the war over net neutrality (barbershop music!) and what’s at stake.”
The Register: 1Password has none, KeePass has none… So why are there seven embedded trackers in the LastPass Android app?. “A security researcher has recommended against using the LastPass password manager Android app after noting seven embedded trackers. The software’s maker says users can opt out if they want.”
RESEARCH & OPINION
Reuters: Bots hyped up GameStop on major social media platforms, analysis finds. “Bots on major social media platforms have been hyping up GameStop Corp and other ‘meme’ stocks, according to an analysis by Massachusetts-based cyber security company PiiQ Media, suggesting organized economic or foreign actors may have played a role in the Reddit-driven trading frenzy.” Good morning, Internet…
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THANK YOU for the heads-up about LastPass… I’ve been using it religiously (well, agnostically, but with zest) for years and was surprised/disappointed by this news.
A couple things: first, the link provided in the newsletter induced a 404 error. Doing a search of The Register site found the LastPass article here:
https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/25/lastpass_android_trackers_found/
Second: I followed the suggestions from LastPass about how to decline the “permission.” (a) It doesn’t seem to work that way in the Android app’s settings – there’s no “Privacy” setting within that app. (b) The LastPass Vault Web site does let me follow those instructions, but there are exactly two settings to be toggled, neither of which sounds like they quite correspond to The Register’s description: (i) Track History (“Keep track of login and form fill history”) and (ii) Help Improve LastPass (“Send anonymous error reporting data to help improve LastPass”). Item (ii) sounds like a good candidate for disguised trackers, but clicking a little “info” button next to it simply says, “Anonymous data is aggregated but not shared with third parties.”
Soooo… Will check out the Android privacy settings *outside* the LastPass app itself; it might be something controlled on an app-by-app basis by the OS maybe?
Department of Funny Coincidences: the day after The Register piece appeared, the LastPass blog featured this post: LastPass’ Commitment to Privacy and User Experience . There’s no mention of The Register thing, but there is this section:
…which doesn’t sound all that, uh, convincing?
I left a comment at the post asking them to please respond to the specifics laid out in The Register article. Will let you know if I hear anything!
I just wrote you a long reply and WordPress ate it, I think — but I did fix the 404 error!
Okay, thanks. FWIW, I’d also ticked the “Notify of new comments” box and have got nothing but absolute silence so far — so WP’s digestive tract seems to be working just fine, haha.