Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE – An image showing Ethernet cables used for internet connections. (Reuters)

Cameroon’s Internet Outage Is Draining Its Economy

Cameroon is under international pressure to restore internet services. Up to 20 percent of Cameroon’s population has been denied internet access since January, and the problem persists. By all accounts, the internet disruptions are thought to be politically motivated, targeting long-marginalized English-speaking populations in the country’s northwest and southwest. Neither the government nor internet providers have released any statements regarding the outage.

Microsoft Calls for ‘Digital Geneva Convention’

Microsoft’s president Brad Smith urged tech companies to declare themselves neutral in cases of cyberwar, while committing to 100 percent defense and zero percent offense. Speaking at the RSA computer security conference in San Francisco, Smith called for the creation of a “digital Geneva Convention” to define the rules for cyberwarfare.

New Office Sensors Know When You Leave Your Desk

The British newspaper Telegraph did this about a year ago. Employees discovered little black boxes installed under their desks that were keeping track to see if they were at their stations or goofing off. After the National Union of Journalists complained, the devices were removed. But the reality is there are more than 350 companies today tracking their employees with hidden sensors planted in lights, ID badges and other inconspicuous spaces, allegedly to maintain efficiency. Legally, the companies are within their right – to a point.

More:

• Interview: Why Bill Gates Is Still Optimistic About the World
• Undocumented Tech Workers Brace for Trump’s Next Move
• India’s Biometrics Database Ignites Privacy Debate
• Online Tracking Gets More Accurate, Harder to Evade
• How Vending Machines and Light Bulbs Were Hacked to Attack a University
• Fake Femme Fatale Is Stealing Google Accounts From Journalists, Human Rights Activists
• Researchers Create New Ransomware to Target Industrial Systems
• Ransomware: Should you pay up?
• Chips Coming by June Will Herald Next Generation of Wi-Fi
• Google Now Asked to Take Down More Than a Million Websites
• PewDiePie Dumped by Disney, YouTube Over Anti-Semitic Stunts
• Twitter Rolls Back Abuse Fix Few Hours After Protests