News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

US warns space companies about foreign spying

US counterintelligence agencies on Friday warned the American space industry to guard against efforts by foreign intelligence entities to steal research and trade secrets as they try to boost their own countries' space programs.

"We anticipate growing threats to this burgeoning sector of the US economy," a US counterintelligence official told Reuters, adding that "China and Russia are among the leading foreign intelligence threats to the US space industry."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) issued a two-page bulletin, saying unspecified foreign entities were using cyberattacks and techniques such as strategic investment through joint ventures and acquisitions to gain access to the US space industry.
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The document warned companies to be on guard for facility visit requests, and attempts to gather confidential information at conferences. It also said individual employees were at risk of recruitment efforts through offers of travel abroad or consultancy work and payment for proprietary information.

It urged companies to contact the FBI or AFOSI with any concerns of being targeted, as well as to track "peculiar incidents" and establish "insider threat" programs as part of vetting individuals in sensitive positions.

Elon’s Grand Plan: Tesla Is Making Electric Cars with *Even Shorter* Range

Elon Musk’s Tesla is reintroducing “Standard Range” versions of its Model S and Model X vehicles, offering lower price points at the expense of shorter driving ranges.

Electrek reports that Tesla has announced the relaunch of the “Standard Range” versions of its Model S and Model X vehicles. These new versions come with shorter driving ranges and lower prices, making them a slightly more accessible option for consumers at the cost of reduced battery capacity.

In the past, Tesla has released various versions of the Model S and Model X, often differentiated by different battery pack capacities ranging from 40 kWh to 100 kWh. At times, the company has even introduced new trims by simply limiting the capacity of the battery pack through software.

Since the 2021 refresh of the Model S and Model X, Tesla had exclusively offered the “Long Range” and “Plaid” versions of its flagship sedan and SUV. The reintroduction of the “Standard Range” versions represents a change in Tesla’s approach, possibly aimed at capturing a larger customer base with a slightly lower price point.

The newly launched “Standard Range” Model S comes with a price tag of $78,490, a $10,000 reduction from the previous version. However, it offers a shorter range of 320 miles on a single charge, compared to the 405 miles provided by the “Long Range” version.

Similarly, the “Standard Range” Model X is now available at a price that is $10,000 lower than the previous version, and it offers a range of 269 miles, which is 79 miles less than the “Long Range” version.

Comrade Elon: Musk’s Tesla Slashes Prices in China
Despite Promising to Uphold ‘Core Socialist Values’

Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk’s Tesla has recently slashed the prices of its two top-tier Model Y electric vehicles by 14,000 yuan ($1,900) in order to stay competitive in the Chinese market. This decision is viewed as a response to the ongoing price war that has impacted the EV industry in China.

The price cut affects the Model Y Long-Range and Performance models, which will now be priced at 299,900 yuan and 349,900 yuan respectively. The announcement was made on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform.

The Model Y has been a key player in Tesla’s lineup, along with the Model 3, both of which have been best-sellers for the company. The price reduction is seen as a strategic move to maintain Tesla’s competitive edge in the Chinese market, where the company has faced stiff competition from local EV manufacturers.

The price war in China’s EV market was triggered by Tesla last year, forcing other manufacturers to follow suit and lower their prices as well. This aggressive pricing strategy has had a significant impact on the industry, with many companies struggling to maintain profitability.

Tesla’s decision to cut prices comes at a time when the company’s China deliveries have cratered by 31 percent, reaching the lowest level this year. Industry experts believe Musk hopes to boost sales and regain market share in the highly competitive Chinese market.

Elon Musk’s X/Twitter Slows Down Access
to Competitor Websites, Certain News Orgs

The Washington Post reports that Elon Musk’s social media company X (formerly Twitter) has come under scrutiny for its decision to slow down the speed at which users can access links to certain websites. This move appears to be targeted at companies that have clashed with Musk in the past. Users who clicked a link on X/Twitter for one of the targeted websites had to wait about five seconds before seeing the page.

Several websites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Substack, Reuters wire service, and New York Times, experienced delays. The delay impacts the t.co domain, which is a link-shortening service used by X/Twitter to process every link posted on their website. This service allows the paltform to monitor and limit traffic to the target website, which could potentially result in a decrease in ad revenue and traffic for businesses disliked by X/Twitter.

A statement from Charlie Stadtlander, spokesperson for the Times, confirms that they have also noticed the systemic delays and have not received any explanation from the platform. Stadtlander expressed concern over targeted pressure applied to news organizations without clear reasons. The rationale behind the time delay remains unknown.

In a statement, Substack requested X/Twitter to reconsider its decision of introducing a delay on Substack links. “Substack was created in direct response to this kind of behavior by social media companies,” they said. “Writers cannot build sustainable businesses if their connection to their audience depends on unreliable platforms that have proven they are willing to make changes that are hostile to the people who use them.”

Hunter Biden Hired PR Firms to Airbrush Wikipedia

The President’s son hired FTI consulting, a major PR consulting firm that also worked for Burisma, the Ukrainian energy giant tied to the Biden family.

Hunter, the emails show, sought to delete a line explaining that the National Endowment for Democracy, which he previously worked with, had ties to the CIA. He also pushed to include more official titles from his various NGO board memberships.

On May 28, 2014, an account called “AmeliaChevalier” edited Hunter’s Wikipedia to delete any reference to “disgraced financier Allen Stanford.” Over the next few weeks, more anonymous Wikipedia accounts began rapidly editing Hunter’s page, records show. Archives of Wikipedia show that a month after engaging with FTI, Hunter’s Wikipedia page had dramatically changed, with negative references scrubbed, and lengthy passages added to discuss his volunteer work, service in government, and appointments to various boards and political committees.

One of the more prolific and anonymous Wikipedia accounts making edits to Hunter’s page was a user called “Earflaps,” which made a number of edits, including the deletion of criticism of Hunter’s work for Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm. That account was later identified as a “sock puppet,” a term of art used for the illicit pay-for-play editing by fake accounts, to airbrush negative information off of Wikipedia. An investigation found that Earflaps was one of nearly a dozen fake accounts tied to PR firms hired to carefully manage the image of Russian businessmen.

Paid Wikipedia editing is a common practice on the website, which has become controlled by a cabal of left-leaning editors.

Microsoft’s Xbox Strengthens ‘Hate Speech’ Rules to Ban Gamers

Microsoft’s video game platform, Xbox, is revamping its “hate speech” and “profanity” rules, introducing a strike-based system to ban gamers from games they have purchased if they use the wrong words.

Once a place where young people could blow off steam, online gaming is now a place where gamers have to walk on eggshells for fear of a ban from a gaming ecosystem that often represents hundreds of dollars in purchased games and gaming equipment.

In an interview with The Verge, Xbox player services corporate vice president Dave McCarthy explained the new enforcement system and its place in Xbox’s overall community management strategy. “This is all about player transparency,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t have a way to show our players what their standing was in our community. And this makes it completely clear.”

In the new system, if a player violates the Xbox community standards, they’ll receive a strike. The severity of the violation determines the number of strikes and the length of the punishment. If a player receives a total of eight strikes, their account will be banned from using Xbox services like voice chat or multiplayer for a year. The strike program starts today with everyone on the platform getting a clean strike-less slate.

McCarthy shared that only about 1 percent of the Xbox player base receives any kind of enforcement action and that only a third of that 1 percent goes on to receive additional enforcement actions. Without any kind of standardized program in place, McCarthy said that players would express confusion as to why some enforcements earned daylong suspensions while others would ban a player for a week or a month.

McCarthy said the goal was to create an environment where “everyone feels welcome” — except, apparently, the large number of gamers who enjoy a boisterous atmosphere of trash talk over a corporate world of artificial politeness.

Instead of creating a welcoming atmosphere, it certainly sounds a lot like a repressive cyber environment.

Keystone AI Cops: Facial Recognition Tech
Leads to Wrongful Arrest of Heavily Pregnant Detroit Woman

Artificial Intelligence News reports that the Detroit Police Department (DPD) is facing scrutiny following the wrongful arrest of an innocent woman due to a flawed facial recognition match. The victim, Porcha Woodruff, was eight months pregnant at the time, is the sixth individual to come forward and report being falsely accused of a crime because of the controversial technology used by law enforcement.

Woodruff was charged with robbery and carjacking, accusations she found absurd given her advanced pregnancy. She reportedly expressed her disbelief to the arresting officers, pointing to her visibly pregnant belly and asking “are you kidding?”

This incident is part of a concerning pattern of wrongful arrests linked to facial recognition technology.
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This marks the third known instance of a wrongful arrest in the past three years attributed specifically to the DPD’s reliance on inaccurate facial recognition matches. Robert Williams, who is represented by the ACLU of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School’s Civil Rights Litigation Initiative (CRLI), is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the DPD for his wrongful arrest in January 2020 due to similar technological errors.

Phil Mayor, Senior Staff Attorney at ACLU of Michigan, expressed deep concern over the DPD’s continued use of facial recognition technology despite knowing its devastating consequences. He emphasized that Ms. Woodruff’s distressing experience underscores the urgent need for the Department to cease its use of this technology.
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The deployment of facial recognition technology in law enforcement has been a subject of ongoing debate, with critics raising concerns about its accuracy, racial bias, and potential infringements on privacy and civil liberties. Critics argue that relying solely on facial recognition for arrests poses significant risks and can have severe repercussions for innocent individuals, as demonstrated in Woodruff’s case.