Tech Beat by Namecheap – 7 July 2023

With the freedom to work from anywhere, digital nomads are flocking to cities offering idyllic living options and an economical bang for their buck. As they travel to far-flung locations around the globe, they give local economies a much-needed boost. However, as these remote workers travel to places like Colombia, Thailand, and Mexico, they drive up the cost of living and rent, leaving the locals scrambling. While some cities roll out the red carpet for these modern-day nomads, others are clamping down with regulations to keep the cultural ethos and local economy intact. Digital nomads are both the rainmakers and the hurricanes, leaving an indelible impact on the cities they embrace. Learn more in this week’s lead story, Digital nomads: transforming towns with laptops.

In other news

• Google and Meta will start blocking Canadian news stories due to new law. Google has announced that it will block links to Canadian news articles in response to a new law that would require tech companies to pay publishers for content. NPR reports that the Online News Act aims to support the struggling news industry by redirecting advertising revenues from digital platforms to news organizations. Google’s decision comes after Meta also vowed to blackout Canadian publishers on their platforms. The Guardian also points out that Google argues that the “link tax” imposed by the law would disrupt the internet by putting a price on links. The two tech giants have been fighting against the law, arguing that they already drive web traffic to news sites and that paying publishers would be too burdensome. However, supporters of the legislation believe it will inject around $329 million into the Canadian news industry, which has seen over 450 news outlets close since 2008.

• Microsoft, OpenAI are being sued for $3B over alleged privacy issues with ChatGPT. Microsoft and OpenAI are facing a lawsuit filed by sixteen individuals who claim that the companies’ AI products, specifically those based on ChatGPT, collected and disclosed their personal information without proper notice or consent. The complaint alleges that the two companies obtained data for their AI models through unauthorized means, referring to it as theft. The companies are accused of scraping 300 billion words from the internet, including personal information, such as product details, account information, names, contact details, login credentials, emails, payment information, transaction records, browser data, and more. The complaint, as explained by The Register, argues that Microsoft and OpenAI embedded the personal information of millions of people into their AI products, which includes sensitive details like hobbies, religious beliefs, political views, sexual orientations and gender identities, work histories, and family photos.

• Reddit lets protesting mods know their communities won’t stay private. Reddit is pressuring moderators to reopen their private subreddits this week. The company has given moderators deadlines to present their reopening plans and stated that communities cannot remain closed. The consequences for not complying with the reopening request are unclear, but Reddit seems to suggest this is the final warning stage. The Verge reports that as a result of Reddit’s pressure, some subreddits have reopened in restricted mode, where users can view content, but only certain users can post or comment.

• Oddly-uninformed school IT department changes every student’s password to ‘Ch@ngeme!’ Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois made a major cybersecurity blunder during a recent audit. Due to a vendor error, according to TechCrunch, the school reset every student’s password, preventing them from accessing their Google accounts. In an attempt to fix the issue, the school changed every student’s password to “Ch@ngeme!” and advised them to update it later. However, this approach was highly insecure and gave every student the ability to hack into other students’ accounts. One concerned parent tried to reset her son’s password but found that she was able to access multiple peers’ accounts instead. The school eventually realized the mistake and promised to provide a unique password process for each student.

• Kindle bestseller lists are full of AI-generated ebooks. People have found a way to monetize nonsense AI-generated books on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited. Vice reports that the top 100 charts for Best Sellers in Teen & Young Adult Contemporary Romance were briefly filled with books clearly generated by AI. Some strange titles included, Apricot bar code architecture, Department of Vinh Du Stands in Front of His Parents’ Tombstone, and Ma La Er snorted scornfully. One example called wait you love me features a cover with a black-and-white photo of a seagull. Amazon has since addressed the issue, and the books were removed from the bestseller charts, but they can still be found if you search for them. Indie authors are concerned that it could impact their income.

• NASA is developing talking spaceships. Engineers at the US space agency are working on spacecraft with a ChatGPT-style interface that could speak to both astronauts and mission controllers. According to The Guardian, an early version may be installed on the Lunar Gateway, a planned space station that will orbit the moon. Researchers hope to reach a stage where astronauts can converse and query the AI while the AI can alert them to interesting findings it discovers in the solar system. It will also detect and possibly fix glitches and inefficiencies as they happen.

Previously in Tech Beat: The lucrative and shadowy world of location data

Location data is a precious digital resource behind a booming $12 billion industry. From coffee chains to giants like Meta, companies are all too eager to get their hands on your whereabouts. Data brokers play the middlemen, dealing in location data that not only lands in advertisers’ laps but also with law enforcement. While the convenience of location services is undeniable, the invasion of privacy can have life-altering consequences. It’s time to wise up and fiercely guard your digital footprints in an age where every step is worth its weight in gold. Learn more in our article, Location data: more valuable than you think. 

Tip of the week:  Keep your instant messages more secure

Nearly every week, we share stories about two things: attacks on online privacy and breaches of private information. While credit card details and other informatio stored in the cloud are certainly at risk, instant messages have become a major target of scammers (and governments) trying to collect super-sensitive data. Wired recently published a great article offering the best way to keep your instant messages more secure. 

• Switch to end-to-end encryption. Use messaging apps that offer end-to-end encryption, like Signal, WhatsApp, iMessage, and Google Messages. Unlike older SMS technology, this type of encryption ensures that your messages are readable only by the sender and the receiver.
• Turn on disappearing messages. Utilize disappearing messages in apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram. This feature allows messages to be automatically deleted after being read, providing an additional layer of privacy.
• Lock individual conversations. Protect your conversations by locking them with a passcode or using other features like fingerprint lock or face recognition. WhatsApp, for instance, allows you to lock individual chats or the entire app.
• Check your contact options. Restrict who can communicate with you, view your profile, or see your online status in messaging apps to limit your exposure to the wider world.
• Know where your chat backups are. Keep track of what you’re backing up and where those backups live. Since backups can be a potential route for unauthorized access to your messages, it’s crucial to ensure they are well-protected and secure.