NEWSLETTERS: Crypto-Gram April 15, 2024 by Bruce Schneier Fellow and Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School A free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and commentaries on security: computer and otherwise. For back issues, or to subscribe, visit Crypto-Gram's web page. Includes: Drones and the US Air Force; AI and the Evolution of Social Media; In particular, five fundamental attributes of social media have harmed society. AI also has those attributes. Note that they are not intrinsically evil. They are all double-edged swords, with the potential to do either good or ill. The danger comes from who wields the sword, and in what direction it is swung. This has been true for social media, and it will similarly hold true for AI. In both cases, the solution lies in limits on the technology’s use. Advertising, surveillance, Virality, Lock-in, Monopolization, more at link: https://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram/archives/2024/0415.html
FEATURED EU: Consultation Response on the EU Renewables Directive Association for EMF Reform has today submitted its consultation response on the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This directive requires all processes to be streamlined in order for Europe to ramp up the production, distribution and use of sustainable energy as quickly as possible, while other forms of energy are phased out as quickly as possible. The idea is to ensure continued growth in total energy consumption at the same time. []With the following justification, we would like to warn against such simplified and faster assessment and decision-making processes as the EU Renewable Energy Directive envisages: Such rapid processes will generally weaken the chances that the now very well – and ever better – documented effects of health and the environment from increased production, transport and use of electricity and of wireless communication will be taken into account in the processes – simply because the time it takes from knowledge development until knowledge gains traction in the public administration is so long. Quite simply, more time is needed to prevent us as a society from continuing to storm into an ecological dead end with rapidly increasing consumption of electrical energy, and do this by means of processes that speed up and lower the assessment and consultation requirements: Today, research-based knowledge about the harmful effects of our use of electrical energy is slowly displacing the outdated understanding that forms the premises for today's radiation protection and the health assessments that arise from this basis and believe that damage cannot be detected. With other, newer and more suitable methods, we currently find effects with a very large potential for harm that can explain significant parts of today's unexplained morbidities among humans and the decline of many insect, bird and other animal species. Today's researchers on the reactions of living organisms to electromagnetism therefore find today's limit values unsustainable and harmful, and in recent decades have stressed the seriousness of a large number of resolutions and requests to relevant administrative bodies, which do not appear to have the ability or interest to take this knowledge into account. https://einarflydal.com/2024/04/16/horingssvar-om-eus-fornybarhetsdirektiv/
NEWS AND NOTES
Academic Malpractice: Examining the Relationship Between Scientific Journals, the Government, and Peer Review | Apr. 16 HEARING Witnesses and testimonies: Holden Thorp, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief, Science Journals, American Association for the Advancement of Science Roger Pielke Jr., Ph.D., Professor at University of Colorado. Nonresident Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/committee-hearings/academic-malpractice-examining-relationship-apr-16/ M 1 HOUR 17 MINUTES
AI: Tech companies produced over three times the number of notable “frontier” AI models compared to academic institutions in 2023, according to a new study from the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). The 2024 AI Index Report also found that the median training costs for these frontier models has reached “unprecedented levels” — nearly doubling over the past year — with companies like Google spending hundreds of millions of dollars just on computational power to train their latest models. Overall, the report notes that the number of powerful AI models originating from U.S. institutions “far outpaces” models originating from the EU and China, though China still leads by number of AI-related patents filed. But common standards for evaluating large language models for responsible behavior remain “seriously lacking,” the report authors found. They said leading AI developers including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic test their models against different benchmarks, making it difficult to systematically compare the risks associated with different AI models. — Mohar Chatterjee https://www.politico.com/newsletters/digital-future-daily/2024/04/15/an-auspicious-world-quantum-day-00152331
AI Computing Is on Pace to Consume More Energy Than India, Arm Says https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-17/ai-computing-is-on-pace-to-consume-more-energy-than-india-arm-says?srnd=technology-vp
AI: The hidden risk of letting AI decide – losing the skills to choose for ourselves As artificial intelligence creeps further into people’s daily lives, so do worries about it. At the most alarmist are concerns about AI going rogue and terminating its human masters. But behind the calls for a pause on the development of AI is a suite of more tangible social ills. Among them are the risks AI poses to people’s privacy and dignity and the inevitable fact that, because the algorithms under AI’s hood are programmed by humans, it is just as biased and discriminatory as many of us. Throw in the lack of transparency about how AI is designed, and by whom, and it’s easy to understand why so much time these days is devoted to debating its risks as much as its potential. But my own research as a psychologist who studies how people make decisions leads me to believe that all these risks are overshadowed by an even more corrupting, though largely invisible, threat. That is, AI is mere keystrokes away from making people even less disciplined and skilled when it comes to thoughtful decisions. Making thoughtful and defensible decisions requires practice and self-discipline. And this is where the hidden harm that AI exposes people to comes in: AI does most of its “thinking” behind the scenes and presents users with answers that are stripped of context and deliberation. Worse, AI robs people of the opportunity to practice the process of making thoughtful and defensible decisions on their own. https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-risk-of-letting-ai-decide-losing-the-skills-to-choose-for-ourselves-227311
AMAZON: Amazon removed Just Walk Out from many of its own stores but wants to sell the system to others Although the company is ditching the cashier-less checkout system at its Amazon Fresh grocery stores, it plans to sell the technology to more than 120 third-party businesses by the end of the year. In some cases, when the system was not able to figure out what happened in a store, a human watches a snippet of video to make sure the receipt a customer received was accurate, Jenkins added. Such reviews happen in a "small minority" of cases, he said, declining to give an estimate. Jenkins also declined to share how many people the company has hired to review and label videos. However, he said it was less than the 1,000 figure cited in media reports. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-amazon.html
BIG TECH: How Big Tech Is Consuming America’s Electricity and Water Cloud computing’s demand for electricity strains a grid that is already predicted to feature power shortages and routine rolling blackouts in the coming years https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/rapid-expansion-of-cloud-computing-may-hit-a-wall-with-limited-supply-of-power-water-5630195
BROADBAND INDUSTRY OCEAN CABLES: The Clour Under the Sea “In the old days we connected population centers,” said Constable, the former Huawei Marine executive. “Now we connect data centers. Eighty percent of traffic crossing the Atlantic is probably machines talking to machines.” https://www.theverge.com/c/24070570/internet-cables-undersea-deep-repair-ships
CHD TV: Smart City Opt-Out + Cell Towers + More on CHD.TV Today on ‘Good Morning CHD,’ host and attorney Greg Glaser interviews two guests on digital infrastructure lawsuits and gets their thoughts on the impacts of technology in communities across the country. To kick off the show, viewers hear from Hollywood actor and father Erik Nicolaisen. Erik, along with CHD, is involved in a significant Los Angeles smart city court case. Following this conversation, Barbara Knudson discusses cell tower litigation that came about after a major telecom company was denied the right to build behind a church in her Washington neighborhood. Listen in, on CHD.TV! https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/shows/good-morning-chd/smart-city-optout--cell-towers/
CHILDREN: Meta Wants to Bring Students as Young as 13 Into Metaverse Company plans to have product available for use in the fall Move is latest prong of strategic push into VR/AR technology (paywall) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-15/meta-wants-to-bring-students-as-young-as-13-into-the-metaverse?srnd=technology-vp
CHILDREN SCREENAGERS: Fearless Parenting - Resolving Screen Time Conflicts “Today, I decided to re-visit this blog from the archives because our last podcast episode, Acing Screen Time Conflicts with Lisa Damour, was so popular about how to have healthier parent-child conflicts that I wanted to provide more help on this same topic. Today’s blog focuses on the powerful parenting approach called the nurtured heart approach. And complimenting this blog, yesterday we posted a wonderful podcast episode from our archive that also examines this approach and provides many concrete action steps:” https://www.screenagersmovie.com/blog/fearless-parenting
EHS DISABILITY: White House and the Dept of Justice held a webinar on the new DOJ rule on broadband access to the disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Wed, April 17, 2024 See the submission from the National Call for Safe Technology (Odette Wilkins and Lisa Smith) made to the DOJ on this issue: https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DOJ-Submission-Docket-144-AG-Order-5729-2023-10-3-23-FINAL.pdf
EMF: EMF Hazards Summit 2024 Summary, Day 4 15/04/2024 by EINAR FLYDAL Julian Gresser, Rob Metzinger, Dr. Melanie Smith, Prof. André Vander Vorst, Derrick Broze https://einarflydal.com/2024/04/15/sammendrag-fra-emf-hazards-summit-2024-dag-4/
EVs UK (Conservative Woman): Farewell, electric vehicles. It’s been a blast In reality, EV always promised more than it was possible to deliver. Its lifestyle was never sustainable. It consumed expensive and exotic ingredients. It became overweight and destructive to the environment and was addicted to regular injections of watts. If unable to feed that addiction, EV left associates stranded in dangerous places. It had a tendency to explode and its batteries caught fire. EV will be mourned by virtue-signalling politicians, the CCP, Elon Musk, the WEF, Liberal Democrats and David Attenborough but nobody else. https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/farewell-electric-vehicles-its-been-a-blast/
DISCLAIMER: mentions other controversial topics) EMF: How 5G Impacts Insects and Food (also mold) Nikki Florio and Tessa Lena 27 minute interview. This story is a conversation with my friend Nikki Florio https://www.beeheroic.com/ about the impact of geoengineering and 5G on insects and on food. Nikki is a brave, fierce soul and a well of knowledge when it comes to geoengineering and 5G, among other things. This recent conversation was relatively brief, for a longer interview (nearly 3 hours packed with information), please see the interview I did with Nikki in 2022. A fascinating topic we touched upon was in the promoting impact of 5G on mold growth, which would make it a double whammy or even a triple whammy because 5G has a negative impact on human health, allegedly enhances mold growth in the environment and on the inside of people’s bodies, and may be making mycotoxin production more robust.
(I have not listened)
EMF: 4 lessons from our recent digital detox How we found connection in disconnection Here’s what we’ll learn in this article:
1. Why we shouldn’t settle when designing a digital detox
2. How quiet time in Nature isn’t boring but exciting
3. How disconnection from social media leads to true connection
4. Why we like combining digital fasts with infrared light & intermittent fasting
FCC; INDUSTRY First Look at Broadband Labels Overall, the Broadband Labels do not fulfill the FCC’s goals of making it easier for customers to understand broadband products. It is a relief to see most ISPs disclose prices – but if Comcast gets away with highlighting marketing promotional rates, the labels for other ISPs might change soon to match. Disclosures on speeds are mostly a joke – and most customers are going to be surprised to find that their ISP is bringing them faster speeds than what they are paying for (sarcasm alert). For the most part, the descriptions of network practices are not written in plain English to help a potential customer understand the technology being used. The carefully crafted lawyer language in these sections makes it hard for even experienced industry folks to understand network management policies. https://potsandpansbyccg.com/2024/04/15/first-look-at-broadband-labels/
FCC 5G Interference: Service Providers want FCC action against T-Mobile's 5G network Redzone and NextWave want FCC to take action against T-Mobile’s 5G Since T-Mobile began activating its 2.5GHz 5G spectrum competitors have been complaining about it interfering with their network. Bloosurf was the first to complain directly to the FCC to get its license frozen. After this initiative by Bloosurf two other service providers, Redzone and NextWave, have also started complaining publicly. NextWave also wants the FCC to take action as the T-Mobile 2.5GHz spectrum has affected its services in its primary city of New York. The company is building 2.5GHz networks in other cities and has noticed the same interference in those cities. While these complaints are worthy of attention, they have not slowed the pace at which T-Mobile is buying 2.5GHz licenses. It has filed for FCC permission to acquire additional 2.5GHz licenses in California, Louisiana, Kentucky, New York, and North Carolina. T-Mobile’s current pace and plan is a positive thing for it and its customers and competitors are collateral damage https://www.androidheadlines.com/2024/04/fcc-action-against-interference-mobiles-5g.html
5G/HEALTH: Ten New Studies Detail Health Risks of 5G – Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola. BY PATRICIA HARRITY ON APRIL 14, 2024 5G May Cause Neurological and Psychiatric Problems 5G induces cell death in the amygdala, a region of the brain involved in emotion regulation, memory, and decision-making. The amygdala is a region of the brain involved in emotion regulation, memory, and decision-making. So, pyroptosis in this area could be indicative of neurological damage or inflammation, potentially affecting emotional regulation, behavior, and cognitive functions. https://expose-news.com/2024/04/14/ten-new-studies-detail-health-risks-of-5g-analysis-by-dr-joseph-mercola/
LANDLINES CA updateThe judge has cancelled the proceeding schedule until after April 30, his due date for other companies to apply to replace AT&T as the COLR. He will set new dates after April 30. His ruling is linked below. AT&T also sent out a PR letter this week to soothe customers.
https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M525/K135/525135904.PDF
2-6-24 Transcript for Clovis PPH
https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M526/K148/526148077.PDF
2-22-24 Transcript for Ukiah PPH
https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M527/K221/527221323.PDF
3-12-24 ALJ revised schedule
https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M529/K023/529023136.PDF
3-14-24 Transcript, PPH - Indio
https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M528/K409/528409307.PDF
3-19-24 Transcript, virtual PPH courtesy Nina
NATURE OT: No birdsong, no water in the creek, no beating wings: how a haven for nature fell silent (Sonoma County after the fires) Krause, who has been recording ecosystems from Africa to Latin America to Europe, says it is depressing to hear how the places he visits have changed. His personal library contains more than 5,000 hours of recordings, taken over 55 years from all over the world. He estimates that 70% of his archive is from habitats that have now disappeared. “The changes are profound,” he says. “And they are happening everywhere.” “I’ve got to this point in my life now where I just don’t know quite how to handle it, or how to express it, or what to say – yet I’ve got to tell people what I see and what I hear. Actually, I don’t need to say anything – the messages are revealed through the soundscapes.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/16/nature-silent-bernie-krause-recording-sound-californian-state-park-aoe
PRIVACY: American Privacy Rights Act of 2024: A Renewed Push for a Comprehensive National Privacy Framework Little more than two years from the last significant attempt to modernize our national privacy law in the failed American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), US House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-WA, and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-WA released a “discussion draft” of the American Privacy Rights Act of 2024 (APRA) along with a section-by-section summary. APRA represents a renewed effort to establish a comprehensive national framework for consumer data privacy and advances new provisions aimed at addressing the challenges posed by evolving technologies, particularly in relation to AI systems and the protection of minors. This could be the best chance to modernize our privacy laws, particularly since Rep. McMorris Rodgers announced that she would not seek reelection this year. But there are many procedural hurdles ahead, and final passage is far from guaranteed. https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/american-privacy-rights-act-of-2024-a-renewed-push-for-a-comprehensive-national-privacy-framework/
PRIVACY: Your Brain Waves Are Up for Sale. A New Law Wants to Change That. (paywall) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/science/colorado-brain-data-privacy.html
PRIVACY: Meta shouldn't force users to pay for data protection: EU watchdog https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-meta-shouldnt-users-pay-eu.html
SAFE TECH: Celebrities and Movie stars that practice safer tech
Celebrities and Movie Stars That Practice Safer Tech: Reduce Cell Phone Radiation - Environmental Health Trust
SMART GRID Paul Harding: Waking up in the middle of the night from a smart grid data dump and using a scanner to prove it - 2 short videos 4 AM video here: 3 3/4 minutes here 12 midnight video here: 3 1/2 minutes
SMART METERS UK The Conservative Woman: Smart meters and the winters of discontent In January 2030, when you come home on a calm, cloudy and cold winter evening an hour after sunset, there would be two possibilities: you would be charged a much higher rate for your power or it would simply be cut off, depending on whether the supply is just managing or heading for an emergency shutdown. The only times you would risk being cut off completely are on those occasions when you really need electricity: cold winter evenings. In that case you would have no power for heating (gas-fired boilers have electrical controls), lighting, cooking, the internet or charging your car. There is some better news, though. ‘The smart meters scandal is about to explode in our faces’, claims the Telegraph. There are also apparently almost four million smart meters not working properly. https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/smart-meters/
SMART METERS: A Time-Sensitive Invitation to Protect New Mexico from Smart Meters’ Fire Hazards "PNM, New Mexico’s largest utility, has proposed a Grid Modernizing project that would install smart meters on ratepayers’ homes and businesses. Smart meters are digital, transmitting electronic devices that measure and record energy use. Like any electronic equipment, smart meters will eventually fail (stop working). To ensure that equipment fails safely, the Engineering and Surveying Practices Act requires that PNM employ a New Mexico-licensed professional engineer (PE) to evaluate proposed projects and certify that all hazards have been mitigated."
SPACE: The great commercial takeover of low Earth orbit https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/04/17/1090856/international-space-station-axiom-low-earth-orbit/
SPACE: The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth—and governments are on the hook The outer space treaty of 1967 says that the country that authorized the launch (known as the "launching state") is responsible for damage caused to people or things on Earth. The UN's liability convention, which came into force in 1972, also makes this liability absolute for damage on Earth or to aircraft in flight. The concept of absolute liability means that responsibility applies regardless of whose fault it was. Countries are also liable for spacecraft and rocket sections launched by private companies. This is because article 6 of the outer space treaty makes nations responsible for the activities of their citizens in outer space. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-space-junk-earth.html
SPACE: NASA's near space network enables PACE climate mission to 'phone home' These new antennas, in Fairbanks, Alaska; Wallops Island, Virginia; Punta Arenas, Chile; and Svalbard, Norway, allow missions to downlink terabytes of science data at once. Just as scientists and engineers constantly improve their instrument capabilities, NASA also advances its communications systems to enable missions near Earth and in deep space. As PACE orbits Earth, it will downlink its science data 12 to 15 times a day to three of the network's new antennas. Overall, the mission will send down 3.5 terabytes of science data each day. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-nasa-space-network-enables-pace.html
SURVEILLANCE: Hall Of Shame: Congress Votes For Warrantless Surveillance Of Americans https://www.technocracy.news/hall-of-shame-congress-votes-for-warrantless-surveillance-of-americans/
SURVEILLANCE: Hall Of Shame II: Thanks To Congress, The NSA Is ‘Just Days From Taking Over The Internet’ Hall Of Shame II: Thanks To Congress, The NSA Is 'Just Days From Taking Over The Internet' (technocracy.news)
TOWERS ANTENNAS: NYC Comptroller Lander leverages pension fund clout for tower worker safety reporting, but is it necessary? The initial proposal called for a third-party audit of American Tower’s safety practices and their impact on workers, including contractors. It was expected to be shared publicly on the company’s website. American Tower had sought to exclude this proposal from their proxy materials, citing already substantially implemented safety measures and claiming the proposal touched on ordinary business matters, which are generally excludable under SEC rules. https://wirelessestimator.com/articles/2024/nyc-comptroller-lander-leverages-pension-fund-clout-for-tower-worker-safety-reporting-but-is-it-necessary/
UTILITIES: ConEd Gets Nosy, Wants to (Voluntarily for Now) Limit Use of Large Devices During Peak Hours First, it started sending preachy emails about electricity use, and now this. TESSA LENA – Tess Fights Robots Here is an email I just got from ConEd: I am so happy to have Big Brother monitor what devices I use at what time. This is how the Great Reset actually happens: in incremental steps, little by little, gradually then suddenly… by seducing and exhausting the minds. Our minds needs to stay clear.
EVENTS:
APRIL 18, Tonight's webinar on EMF in schools Shelley Wright: retired teacher, director of Canadian Educators For Safe Technology Join us tonight at 7pm EST with Shelley Wright, a retired teacher and director of Canadian Educators For Safe Technology. Shelley also works alongside former Microsoft Canada CEO Frank Clegg, and is well aware of how this technology is now being used against our children. Shelley will be giving a presentation on how wireless devices affect our children on all levels, and will be taking questions after her presentation. We hope you can join us! Here's the Zoom link (please register): https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqf-uqqz4uHdDgx58IBkqY_apSBKfrkvct
Thursdays The National Call on our Federal Bills Committee notices. We meet every Thursday 4-6 pm ET. After you register, you will receive a list of telephone numbers where you can call in to the meeting. Here's the registration link. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlde2sqTovH9epm93rwWcBe0C28YIWctKG