Alphabet Puts Former Federal Reserve Member on its Board

Alphabet Inc. added former Federal Reserve member Roger Ferguson to its board, the latest Wall Street-friendly move by the internet giant.

Ferguson was appointed as a director June 24 and will join Alphabet’s audit committee, helping oversee accounting and finance, the company said Wednesday in a statement.

Ferguson was vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve from 1999 to 2006 and a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates in the U.S. He has been chief executive officer of financial services company TIAA since 2008. He has served on the boards of several companies, including General Mills Inc. and hedge fund giant Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP.

Ferguson’s appointment is the latest example of Alphabet taking a more investor-focused approach. The company hired former Morgan Stanley executive Ruth Porat as chief financial officer last year. It also started buying back shares, controlling costs more and communicating more with analysts. Before 2015, the technology company mostly shunned Wall Street...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-29/alphabet-puts-former-federal-reserve-member-on-its-board

How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds — from a Magician and Google’s Design Ethicist

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes.
I’m an expert on how technology hijacks our psychological vulnerabilities. That’s why I spent the last three years as Google’s Design Ethicist caring about how to design things in a way that defends a billion people’s minds from getting hijacked.

When using technology, we often focus optimistically on all the things it does for us. But I want you to show you where it might do the opposite.

Where does technology exploit our minds’ weaknesses?

I learned to think this way when I was a magician. Magicians start by looking for blind spots, edges, vulnerabilities and limits of people’s perception, so they can influence what people do without them even realizing it. Once you know how to push people’s buttons, you can play them like a piano.

And this is exactly what product designers do to your mind. They play your psychological vulnerabilities (consciously and unconsciously) against you in the race to grab your attention.

I want to show you how they do it...

https://medium.com/@tristanharris/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds-from-a-magician-and-google-s-design-ethicist-56d62ef5edf3

Douglas Rushkoff: Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus—How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity

Google unpaid taxes: France seeks €1.6bn from search giant

The figure is substantially more than the £130m the search engine agreed to pay in back taxes to UK authorities.

However, France's AFP news agency reported that Google might be able to negotiate and may not pay the full sum.

The company's chief executive, Sundar Pichai, is visiting Paris and was due to meet the France's economy minister Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday night.

It is not clear if they will discuss the tax issue.

Earlier this month, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin ruled out striking a deal with the US company.

Google would not comment on reports of the tax demand and French officials said the matter was confidential...

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35655743

The NSA Is Going to Love These USB-C Charging Cables

Thanks to Apple's new MacBook and Google's new Chromebook Pixel, USB-C has arrived. A single flavor of cable for all your charging and connectivity needs? Hell yes. But that convenience doesn't come without a cost; our computers will be more vulnerable than ever to malware attacks, from hackers and surveillance agencies alike.

The trouble with USB-C stems from the fact that the USB standard isn't very secure. Last year, researchers wrote a piece of malware called BadUSB which attaches to your computer using USB devices like phone chargers or thumb drives. Once connected, the malware basically takes over a computer imperceptibly. The scariest part is that the malware is written directly to the USB controller chip's firmware, which means that it's virtually undetectable and so far, unfixable.

Before USB-C, there was a way to keep yourself somewhat safe. As long as you kept tabs on your cables, and never stuck random USB sticks into your computer, you could theoretically keep it clean. But as The Verge points out, the BadUSB vulnerability still hasn't been fixed in USB-C, and now the insecure port is the slot where you connect your power supply. Heck, it's shaping up to be the slot where you connect everything. You have no choice but to use it every day. Think about how often you've borrowed a stranger's power cable to get charged up. Asking for a charge from a stranger is like having unprotected sex with someone you picked up at the club.

What the Verge fails to mention however, is that it's potentially much worse than that. If everyone is using the same power charger, it's not just renegade hackers posing as creative professionals in coffee shops that you need to worry about. With USB-C, the surveillance establishment suddenly has a huge incentive to figure out how to sneak a compromised cable into your power hole...

http://gizmodo.com/he-nsa-is-going-to-love-these-usb-c-charging-cables-1691781672

How the CIA made Google - Part I

This exclusive is being released for free in the public interest, and was enabled by crowdfunding. I’d like to thank my amazing community of patrons for their support, which gave me the opportunity to work on this in-depth investigation. Please support independent, investigative journalism for the global commons.

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, western governments are moving fast to legitimize expanded powers of mass surveillance and controls on the internet, all in the name of fighting terrorism.

US and European politicians have called to protect NSA-style snooping, and to advance the capacity to intrude on internet privacy by outlawing encryption. One idea is to establish a telecoms partnership that would unilaterally delete content deemed to “fuel hatred and violence” in situations considered “appropriate.” Heated discussions are going on at government and parliamentary level to explore cracking down on lawyer-client confidentiality.

What any of this would have done to prevent the Charlie Hebdo attacks remains a mystery, especially given that we already know the terrorists were on the radar of French intelligence for up to a decade.

There is little new in this story. The 9/11 atrocity was the first of many terrorist attacks, each succeeded by the dramatic extension of draconian state powers at the expense of civil liberties, backed up with the projection of military force in regions identified as hotspots harbouring terrorists. Yet there is little indication that this tried and tested formula has done anything to reduce the danger. If anything, we appear to be locked into a deepening cycle of violence with no clear end in sight.

As our governments push to increase their powers, INSURGE INTELLIGENCE can now reveal the vast extent to which the US intelligence community is implicated in nurturing the web platforms we know today, for the precise purpose of utilizing the technology as a mechanism to fight global ‘information war’ — a war to legitimize the power of the few over the rest of us. The lynchpin of this story is the corporation that in many ways defines the 21st century with its unobtrusive omnipresence: Google...

https://medium.com/@NafeezAhmed/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e

WikiLeaks demands answers after Google hands staff emails to US government

Google took almost three years to disclose to the open information group WikiLeaks that it had handed over emails and other digital data belonging to three of its staffers to the US government, under a secret search warrant issued by a federal judge.

WikiLeaks has written to Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, to protest that the search giant only revealed the warrants last month, having been served them in March 2012. In the letter, WikiLeaks says it is “astonished and disturbed” that Google waited more than two and a half years to notify its subscribers, potentially depriving them of their ability to protect their rights to “privacy, association and freedom from illegal searches”.

The letter, written by WikiLeaks’ New York-based lawyer, Michael Ratner of the Center For Constitutional Rights, asks Google to list all the materials it provided to the FBI. Ratner also asks whether the California-based company did anything to challenge the warrants and whether it has received any further data demands it has yet to divulge...

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/25/wikileaks-google-staff-emails-us-government

Google’s Deep CIA and NSA Connections

The Western media are currently full of articles reporting Google’s denial that it cooperated in a government program to massively spy on American and foreign citizens by accessing data from Googles servers and those of other U.S. software companies.

The mainstream media has, however, almost completely failed to report that Google’s denial, and its surface concern over ‘human rights’, is historically belied by its their deep involvement with some of the worst human rights abuses on the planet:

Google is, in fact, is a key participant in U.S. military and CIA intelligence operations involving torture; subversion of foreign governments; illegal wars of aggression; military occupations of countries which have never attacked the U.S. and which have cost hundreds of thousands of lives in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere.

To begin with, as reported previously in the Washington Post and elsewhere, Google is the supplier of the customized core search technology for ‘Intellipedia, a highly-secured online system where 37,000 U.S. spies and related personnel share information and collaborate on their devious errands...

http://www.constantinereport.com/googles-deep-cia-nsa-connections/

NSA uses Google cookies to pinpoint targets for hacking

The National Security Agency is secretly piggybacking on the tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers, using "cookies" and location data to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.

The agency's internal presentation slides, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, show that when companies follow consumers on the Internet to better serve them advertising, the technique opens the door for similar tracking by the government. The slides also suggest that the agency is using these tracking techniques to help identify targets for offensive hacking operations.

For years, privacy advocates have raised concerns about the use of commercial tracking tools to identify and target consumers with advertisements. The online ad industry has said its practices are innocuous and benefit consumers by serving them ads that are more likely to be of interest to them.

The revelation that the NSA is piggybacking on these commercial technologies could shift that debate, handing privacy advocates a new argument for reining in commercial surveillance...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/10/nsa-uses-google-cookies-to-pinpoint-targets-for-hacking//?print=1

chased by google x

A few months ago, I built myself a fake pair of Google Glass. Back then, glass was the cyberpunk edge—the future of wearable computing, the chance for potentially augmented vision. Today, tech bloggers have worn them in the shower and taken photos for their stream. They’ve been reviewed and hacked. The first round of apps have been reviewed and hacked. But there was a moment when glass was the V-2 rocket of consumer electronics. And like the US government, I was going to get myself a piece of that one way or another.

An old pair of reading glasses, some shaped balsa wood, and pieces of clear acrylic from the edge of a photo frame. Thrift stores are elephant graveyards for commodity goods—one step above having actually caught on fire, knick-knacks, appliances, stereo equipment, and AA-battery personal electronics join the heaps of consumer goodwill that saves these wonderful organ donors from the landfill.

With sanding and grinding, coats of paint and varnish, and long hours studying all the public photos of Glass that were available, I had my own gleaming wireframe of newness. My fake Glass were utterly non-functional. Except of course, for that one crucial function—they made it appear as if I was actually wearing Glass.

I hit the streets. Underneath my dreadlocks, and my counterfeit third eye gleamed ever-watchful. I stalked the city in my cyberpunk-black hoodie and boots, waiting to see what would happen. But nothing had changed. On the face of a White man in jeans and a sport coat, a face computer might appear as an odd addition, a grafittoed augmentation. But when a man with stainless steel hardware in his ears and twisted knots in his hair has an extra piece of plastic above his right eye, no one stops to look twice.

http://www.thestate.ae/chased-by-google-x/

Update: Now We Know Why Googling 'Pressure Cookers' Gets a Visit from Cops

Michele Catalano was looking for information online about pressure cookers. Her husband, in the same time frame, was Googling backpacks. Wednesday morning, six men from a joint terrorism task force showed up at their house to see if they were terrorists. Which prompts the question: How'd the government know what they were Googling?

Update, 7:05 p.m.: Because the Googling happened at work.

The Suffolk County Police Department released a statement this evening that answers the great mystery of the day...

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/government-knocking-doors-because-google-searches/67864/

How Google’s ‘in-house’ results always come out on top: EU investigation shows search giant buries rival sites

Users of Google in Europe will enjoy a greater choice of results, after an EU investigation uncovered Google was giving prominence to its own services.

The report from Brussels was especially concerned about the lack of visibility of rival services - such as maps or weather - on Google.

Google is to provide the European Commission with a list of concessions this week in a bid to head off formal charges and a large fine...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2307060/How-Googles-house-results-come-EU-investigation-shows-search-giant-buries-rival-sites.html#ixzz2Q8HPtYaG

Google Introduces Dead Man’s Switch For Your Accounts

"More than a decade ago, I had an online friend who abruptly disappeared, not answering e-mails or showing up on any of her favorite sites. Did she lock herself out of her accounts? Did her parents cancel their dialup? Did something happen to her? I never found out, and never would. What if you could prevent that? What if you could send a notice out to all of your contacts after you don’t log in to your accounts for a set period, and “will” your data to someone else? There are workarounds to do this, but now such a feature is built in to Google.

No one wants to think about their own death, but not thinking about it has a zero percent chance of preventing it. The Inactive Account Manager (great euphemism) can send your data from many Google services to your digital heirs, alert your contacts, delete the accounts, or do all or none of the above. It affects Blogger, Contacts/Circles (in Google+) Drive, Gmail, Google+ profiles, Pages and Streams, Picasa albums, Google Voice, and YouTube..."

http://consumerist.com/2013/04/12/google-introduces-dead-mans-switch-for-your-accounts/

Just Be Evil: The unauthorized history of Google - YouTube

via youtube.com

Google Australia: ~$1bn in revenue, $74k in tax | Delimiter

Search giant Google has revealed it expects to pay just $74,000 in corporate income tax for the 2011 calendar year in Australia, off claimed local revenues of $201 million, despite the fact that industry estimates have continually pegged the search giant’s Australian income at closer to $1 billion.

In its latest set of financial accounts filed this week with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Google stated that it received some $201.1 million in revenue in the 2011 calender year in Australia. Expenses largely associated with its significant Australian headcount of 568 staff ($143.5 million) and advertising costs ($18.9 million) meant the company made a loss on paper of $3.9 million in that period. Both Google’s revenues and losses were up over calendar year 2010.

In the statements, Google accounted for just $74,176 in taxation for that year, compared with $1.1 million for the year previously. It had $46 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand as at the end of December last year...

http://delimiter.com.au/2012/05/03/google-australia-1bn-in-revenue-74k-in-tax/

Google Chrome behind the scenes

From:  Todd Heberlein <todd_heberlein@mac.com>
Subject:  [Fed-Talk] Google Chrome behind the scenes
Date:  April 17, 2012 8:20:59 PM PDT
To:  fed-talk@lists.apple.com Talk <fed-talk@lists.apple.com>

 "If you've ever wondered how Google keeps Chrome up-to-date behind the scenes, I took some time deconstructing its activities and writing it up. In many ways it acts very similarly to malware used in Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), so I gave the article a purposely provocative title.  Actually... the whole article is a little provocative. I guess I was feeling a little punchy after too many long hours.

If you want to jump straight to the hairy graphic, here it is:

The full article (along with a link to a PDF version) can be found here:

The Advanced Persistent Threat You Have: Google Chrome
http://www.netsq.com/Documents_html/GoogleAPT/

Todd"

DOJ Asks Court To Keep Secret Any Partnership Between Google, NSA - The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

The Justice Department is defending the government's refusal to discuss—or even acknowledge the existence of—any cooperative research and development agreement between Google and the National Security Agency.

The Washington based advocacy group Electronic Privacy Information Center sued in federal district court here to obtain documents about any such agreement between the Internet search giant and the security agency.

The NSA responded to the suit with a so-called “Glomar” response in which the agency said it could neither confirm nor deny whether any responsive records exist. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington sided with the government last July.

via legaltimes.typepad.com

US judge orders hundreds of sites "de-indexed" from Google, Facebook

After a series of one-sided hearings, luxury goods maker Chanel has won recent court orders against hundreds of websites trafficking in counterfeit luxury goods. A federal judge in Nevada has agreed that Chanel can seize the domain names in question and transfer them all to US-based registrar GoDaddy. The judge also ordered "all Internet search engines" and "all social media websites"—explicitly naming Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Bing, Yahoo, and Google—to "de-index" the domain names and to remove them from any search results.

The case has been a remarkable one. Concerned about counterfeiting, Chanel has filed a joint suit in Nevada against nearly 700 domain names that appear to have nothing in common. When Chanel finds more names, it simply uses the same case and files new requests for more seizures. (A recent November 14 order went after an additional 228 sites; none had a chance to contest the request until after it was approved and the names had been seized.)

How were the sites investigated? For the most recent batch of names, Chanel hired a Nevada investigator to order from three of the 228 sites in question. When the orders arrived, they were reviewed by a Chanel official and declared counterfeit. The other 225 sites were seized based on a Chanel anti-counterfeiting specialist browsing the Web.

via arstechnica.com

Google Joins Apple in Push for Tax Holiday

As a coalition led by Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) presses for a tax holiday on more than $1 trillion in offshore profits, it is turning to a well-positioned lobbyist: Jeffrey Forbes, once chief of staff to Max Baucus, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee.

Data compiled by Bloomberg News show that Forbes is part of an army of more than 160 lobbyists, including at least 60 who once worked for a sitting member of the House or Senate, pushing for the repatriation holiday. Their job is to persuade Congress to establish a tax break estimated to cost the U.S. government $78.7 billion over the next decade.

Independent studies have found that the last time this tax break was tried, in 2004, the bargain rate for bringing home offshore profits did little to spur hiring or domestic investment. Most of the money was used to buy back stock.

via bloomberg.com

The dangers of the internet: Invisible sieve

"The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You.By Eli Pariser. Penguin Press; 294 pages; $25.95. Viking; £12.99.Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk

ELI PARISER is worried. Why? Call a friend in another city or a foreign country, and ask them to Google something at the same time as you. The results will be different, because Google takes your location, your past searches and many other factors into account when you type in a query. In other words, it personalises the results. As Larry Page, the chief executive of Google, once put it, “the ultimate search engine would understand exactly what you mean, and give back exactly what you want.” Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, muses that someday it might be possible for people to ask Google which college they should apply for, or which book to read next.

This is only one example of internet personalisation. Mr Pariser, an internet activist best known as a leading light at MoveOn.org, a progressive online campaign group, sees this as a dangerous development. Netflix, Amazon and Pandora can predict with astonishing accuracy whether you will enjoy a particular film, book or album, and make appropriate recommendations. Facebook shows you updates from the friends you interact with the most, filtering out people with whom you have less in common. “My sense of unease crystallised when I noticed that my conservative friends had disappeared from my Facebook page,” Mr Pariser writes. The result is a “filter bubble”, which he defines as “a unique universe of information for each of us”, meaning that we are less likely to encounter information online that challenges our existing views or sparks serendipitous connections. “A world constructed from the familiar is a world in which there’s nothing to learn,” Mr Pariser declares. He calls this “invisible autopropaganda, indoctrinating us with our own ideas..”

http://www.economist.com/node/18894910
http://www.thefilterbubble.com/