Today’s tech Sightings:
Police prepare to remove the body of Steven Stephens, who they say said posted a video of himself on Facebook killing an elderly man in Cleveland before he shot and killed himself following a brief pursuit, in Erie, Pennsylvania, April 18, 2017. (Reuters)
Saving Social Media as Live Streaming Murder Becomes New Normal
It took Facebook three hours to take down one video. Before it did, the video showing the murder of a 74-year-old man in Cleveland was copied, circulated, and watched at least 1.6 million times. CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed the issue on the first day of Facebook’s F8 developer Conference Tuesday. But this is not the first incident. Swedish authorities arrested three men for assaulting and live streaming the rape of a woman to a private Facebook group. And now, Germany is investigating Facebook’s role in inciting racial and ethnic hatred and could hold it accountable. Writer David Glance suggests holding companies hosting these accounts accountable might help.
Microsoft Kills Off Passwords With Authenticator’s New Phone Logins
Microsoft’s latest update to its Authenticator app is out on Android and Apple mobile devices. The app lets users sign in to Microsoft accounts without struggling to remember long and complicated passwords. In a previous incarnation, Authenticator generated one-time codes for two-factor authentication. But the update now lets smartphone users click an “approve” note when signing in to Microsoft accounts. iPhone users will see a validation option requiring an additional fingerprint scan.
Governing Body: No IP Addresses for Governments Shutting Down Internet Access
Internet registry AFRINIC will consider a new proposal at its upcoming meeting in Kenya in June to penalize governments that deny internet access to their citizens. The group manages and allocates IP addresses in Africa and is one of five such regional organizations. The proposal would add a new section to AFRINIC’s rules allowing organizations to deny new IP addresses to countries that order an internet shutdown for a full year.
More:
- Climbing Out of Facebook’s Reality Hole
- Alphabet Seeks 10,000 Volunteers — and Their Health Data — for Massive Medical Study
- Xinhua: Beijing Cyber Regulators to Summon Apple Over Live Streaming Apps
- Telegram’s New Audio Messaging Feature Blocked in Iran
- New Password Guidelines Say Everything We Thought About Passwords Is Wrong
- ‘BrickerBot’ Malware Destroys Unsecured Internet-connected Devices
- Vigilante Botnet Infects IoT Devices Before Blackhats Can Hijack Them
- Ransomware Is Now So Awful It’s Actually Making Us Take Security Seriously
- Instagram ‘Pods’ Are Fighting New Algorithm One Like at a Time
- Enter Gulliver’s Gate: A Tech Mini-world With 100K Toy People
