Victoria Fox's Blog, page 131

Wikileaks founder: The Assange file

Julian Assange has been in the British maximum security prison Belmarsh for almost five years. His fight not to be extradited to the USA has been going on for much longer. Now there could be a final decision: On Tuesday and Wednesday, the native Australian will be back in court at the British High Court in London. This decides whether the Wikileaks founder can continue to challenge the extradition to the USA approved by the British Home Office – or whether he has exhausted all legal options for objection in the British courts. In the United States he faces a prison sentence of up to 175 years for espionage.

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“Tomb Raider I–III Remastered”: How did they do that before?

My 41-year-old self asks my 14-year-old, “Boy, how did you do that? And how much time do you actually have?” Replies my 14-year-old self: “Dude, I’m 14, how much time do you think I have?! And maybe you’re just spoiled for video games by now.” This dialogue plays in my head as I hop, shimmy, and pull levers through a Tomb Raider level for an hour and a half without getting any closer to the end.

There’s a reason why I’m playing Tomb Raider again after more than 25 years. Last week , Tomb Raider I – III Remastered (PC, Playstation, Xbox, Switch, around 30 euros) was released, a collection of the first three titles in the well-known series from 1996 to 1998, which is now being released for the first time by the US game studio Aspyr Media for current Consoles and modern screen resolutions have been optimized.

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DNS vulnerability: Your computer is vulnerable. For 25 years

Haya Schulman would have liked to wait a few more months before making public the “most blatant DNS attack ever.” To give those affected time to install the updates – after all, attackers could paralyze entire institutions. “A single internet request is enough, for example, to paralyze critical infrastructure such as hospitals or power plants for 16 hours,” says the researcher at the National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity Athene in an interview with ZEIT ONLINE. But as soon as the last patch for the security hole was deployed on Wednesday and it was published in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database (CVE-2023-50387), the first inquiries started pouring in: What was going on? So she’s talking about it now – also because the attack shows how difficult security is in practice.

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WhatsApp stops working forever on these mobile models starting in March

The popular messaging application WhatsApp will stop working on several mobile models starting in March in the European Union.

Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s company that owns the app, has been forced to comply with security regulations necessary to manage the application.

For this reason, the company has decided to remove it from devices with an operating system within Android 5.0 or iOS 12 starting next March 1. Since its older versions do not comply with the new security standards or are outdated, as explained by WhatsApp on its website.

The reason is the entry into force of the Digital Markets Law in the European framework. This legislation forces ‘gatekeepers’ or ‘access guardians’, with more than 45 million users on the European continent alone, to adopt a series of measures to improve the services of their apps.

One of them will be interoperability, which will also allow, starting March 1, to send messages between different platforms such as Telegram or Signal . So the giants chosen by the authorities to act as gatekeepers, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, ByteDance (TikTok), Meta, Microsoft and Samsung, will have to introduce these changes.

None of this will be possible for older cell phones. Check the following listing to see if your device will be affected by the ban:

– iPhone: iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus

– Samsung: Samsung Galaxy Core, Samsung Galaxy Trend Lite, Samsung Galaxy Ace 2, Samsung Galaxy S3 mini, Samsung Galaxy Trend II and Samsung Galaxy X cover 2

– Huawei: Huawei Ascend Mate, Huawei Ascend G740 and Huawei Ascend D2

– Sony: Sony Xperia M and Lenovo A820

– LG: LG Optimus L3 II Dual, LG Optimus L5 II, LG Optimus F5, LG Optimus L7II, LG Optimus L5 Dual, LG Optimus L7 Dual, LG Optimus F3, LG Optimus L3 II, LG Optimus F3Q, LG Optimus L2 II, LG Optimus L4 II, LG Optimus F6, LG Enact, LG Lucid 2 and LG Optimus F7

– ZTE: ZTE V956 – UMI X2, ZTE Grand S Flex, ZTE Grand Memo

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The Saudi STC, Telefónica's new partner, grew by 7.3% in 2023

The Saudi telecommunications operator STC recorded a net profit of 13,295 million Saudi riyals (about 3,293 million euros at the current exchange rate) in 2023, which is 9.24% more than the 12,171 million riyals (3,015 million euros) that it obtained in the previous year, according to the results presented this Monday by the company, which also highlighted the purchase of 9.9% of Telefónica last September.

The Saudi company – controlled by the country’s sovereign fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), owner of 64% of the company – closed 2023 with a turnover of 72,337 million rials (about 17,918 million euros), that is, 7.27% more than the 67,432 million rials (16,703 million euros) that it entered in 2022.

However, its gross operating profit (ebitda) stood at 24,683 million rials (6,114 million euros), which represents a drop of 1.58% in relation to the 25,079 million rials (6,212 million euros) of the previous course.

In this way, STC’s operating margin was 34.12% in 2023, around three percentage points less than the EBITDA margin of 37.19% that the company obtained in the previous year.

“The group’s strong performance during 2023 is due to the implementation of the strategy to enable and benefit from digital transformation to enhance STC’s expansion plans. STC ‘s investment plans to deploy the largest 5G network illustrate its capability to improve the digital economy”, highlighted the CEO of STC, Olayan bin Mohammed Al Wataid.

Growth in other areas

The manager has also emphasized the company’s strategy to “expand in size and scope” through its subsidiaries and to acquire “many specialized companies” in digital consulting, innovative solutions, ‘Internet of Things (IoT), acronym in English) or information and communication technologies (ICT).

In this context, the company has highlighted in the presentation of its results the acquisition of 9.9% of Telefónica at the beginning of last September, an operation valued at 2.1 billion euros and which took the directors of the Spanish operator by surprise.

In addition, it caused the Government to order the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI), dependent on the Ministry of Finance, to acquire up to 10% of Telefónica’s share capital.

Along these lines, STC has also highlighted that in 2023 it acquired United Group ‘s portfolio of tower assets in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia through its subsidiary Tawal for around €1.2 billion.

Special dividend of 1,235 million

The company has reported that it will distribute a “special” cash dividend corresponding to 2023 of 4,984.5 million rials (about 1,235 million euros). Thus, this special dividend will be 1 rial (0.25 euros) per share.

However, the total dividends corresponding to the year 2023 will amount to 2.6 rials (0.64 euros) per title, which represents a disbursement of 12,959 million rials (about 3,209 million euros).

In fact, dividends corresponding to the fourth quarter of the year stood at 0.4 rials (0.1 euros), a total of 494 million euros.

The date of distribution of the special dividend has not yet been stipulated, while the shareholder remuneration corresponding to the last quarter will be distributed on March 14.

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Podcast “Hoss and Hopf”: Wutbürger with podcast

On TikTok , a bald man with blue glasses says that the key to success is to take your life into your own hands. A few videos later, the same man, this time wearing yellow glasses, speculates about how the AfD could win the election: They have to buy half the population a train ticket to Poland and watch it for “three days.” This is a country that is still intact, it is clean there, they have hardly taken in any refugees, and crime is low.

The man with the many glasses is Philip Hopf, co-host of the podcast Hoss & Hopf , which he runs together with Kiarash “Hoss” Hossainpour. The two come from the financial industry: Hopf runs a company that sells price analyzes for investments. According to his own statements, Hossainpour became a crypto millionaire at the age of 18. Both run their own YouTube channels about money. Her podcast is always about self-help tips and the question of how to get rich. But the main focus of the podcast is right-wing conservative slogans, sometimes garnished with racist resentment or an anti-Semitic conspiracy myth.

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Streaming services: It's just TV

Many Amazon customers are angry. “It’s hard to beat in terms of audacity!” says a current review of the Prime Video app in Google’s Play Store. “Absolute trash” in another. Outrageous, cheeky, disappointing, even shitty: the words are clear.

The reason for the numerous negative reviews is advertising breaks. These have been available in films and series on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service since February 1st. This also affects, and this is important, customers who already have an ongoing Prime subscription. If you still want to see content without advertising, you must add the “upgrade to ad-free playback” for an additional 2.99 euros per month.

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European Union: What will change with the Digital Services Act?

The Digital Services Act (DSA) regulates the activities of digital service providers within the EU from this Saturday. The new rules, together with the Digital Markets Act, are intended to create more protection for Internet users within the European Union. The DSA applies in all EU member states without the need for further national implementation by the member states.

All questions at a glance: Who is affected by the new DSA rules?
What changes for users as a result of the DSA? Does the DSA prohibit personalized advertising?
Could the DSA make it easier to identify fake news?
How should the DSA requirements be monitored and enforced? Who is affected by the new DSA rules?

All companies that offer digital services in the EU must adhere to the rules in the DSA. Specifically, the law affects internet providers, hosting providers, cloud services, social networks, messengers and online marketplaces.

More rules apply to online platforms than to hosting providers. The strictest rules must be followed by “very large platforms”. These are companies that have more than 45 million monthly users, which means they reach more than ten percent of people in the EU.

What changes for users as a result of the DSA?

The DSA gives internet users concrete rights to be able to defend themselves against online platforms or other users. Online platforms must provide appropriate complaint procedures.

For example, companies must remove sexual violence against children or terrorist propaganda more quickly than before. They should also prevent the spread of false information and partially disclose the algorithms behind the prioritization of content and personalized advertising.

In addition, content or user profiles on online platforms cannot now simply be deleted. In the future, providers will have to explain openly and comprehensibly why they have deleted content or accounts. Users of the online platform can then have this decision-making process reviewed through legal means.

“This law will curb surveillance advertising, hate, hate speech and disinformation, it will strengthen the rights of users and hold online platforms accountable like never before,” said digital expert and deputy chair of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, Alexandra Geese. “This is the first important step to defend our democracy against the business practices of Google, Meta, TikTok and Co..”

Online marketplaces such as Amazon or Ebay are obliged to remove counterfeit products or dangerous toys as much as possible and to warn buyers. In addition, companies must regularly report to the EU Commission to what extent their platforms endanger mental health or freedom of expression.

Does the DSA prohibit personalized advertising?

The DSA also contains new rules for online advertising. Article 24 of the DSA prohibits targeted advertising that exploits the data of minors. In the future, adults will no longer be allowed to be shown advertising based on sensitive personal data. These include, for example, health data and all information that suggests sexual orientation, political opinions or religious beliefs.

Could the DSA make it easier to identify fake news?

False or misleading information about politics could affect people’s opinions and voting behavior. Especially when they are presented as truth by a seemingly neutral authority such as a search engine.

An investigation by AlgorithmWatch and AI Forensics shows that a third of the answers from Microsoft’s AI-powered search engine Bing Chat to questions about the elections in Bavaria, Hesse and Switzerland in October 2023 contained factual errors. The misinformation included incorrect election data, outdated candidates or even fabricated scandals.

AlgorithmWatch now plans to request information about internal data from Microsoft based on the new rules. “Through the DSA we can access data that was previously inaccessible for our research,” said Oliver Marsh of AlgorithmWatch, according to a statement. “This may allow us to see the true extent of the disinformation through Bing Chat and see whether Microsoft’s countermeasures have made a difference.”

How should the DSA requirements be monitored and enforced?

Enforcement of the requirements of the Digital Services Act is primarily the responsibility of the member states. Only the monitoring and enforcement of the DSA against very large online platforms and search engines is carried out by the EU Commission.

EU member states must designate responsible bodies for the enforcement of the DSA. The authorities should then be able to take action against provider violations and impose appropriate penalties. In Germany this is probably the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).

However, it will still take some time until all coordination offices are fully operational – including in Germany. The Federal Network Agency will probably not be legally appointed as Digital Services Coordinators until April or May. In Germany, the DSA will be implemented in the future through the planned Digital Services Act.

If the companies do not comply with the requirements, they face a penalty of up to six percent of their global annual turnover.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) regulates the activities of digital service providers within the EU from this Saturday. The new rules, together with the Digital Markets Act, are intended to create more protection for Internet users within the European Union. The DSA applies in all EU member states without the need for further national implementation by the member states.

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Brussels opens the door to European 'teleco' mergers

The European Commission is softening its approach, following the scrapping of several potential deals, aimed at helping fund 5G and upgrading aging networks.

The European Commission appears to be more open than before to authorizing mergers of European telecommunications operators with the aim of helping finance the rollout of 5G and upgrading obsolete networks from ADSL to fibre. This change of posture

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Telefónica and Liberty Global will create a Netco to segregate broadband

Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) and its shareholders, Telefónica (50%) and Liberty Global (50%), have announced the creation of a network subsidiary in which they will segregate their fixed network assets in the United Kingdom.

The objective, as announced in a statement, is multiple: to accelerate the deployment of broadband in the United Kingdom, to provide new financing options for VMO2 and the creation of an operator that can be an alternative to Openreach , the fili

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